All I Want Is Everything

Making decisions

When I was seventeen, I did what people told me, uh
I did what my father said, and let my mother mold me
But that was long ago, I'm in

Control
Never gonna stop
Control
To get what I want
Control
I like to have a lot
Control
Now I'm all grown up (Ah)

Janet Jackson, Control

Bucky closed the door behind Ella and leaned against it feeling drained and bewildered. A little shaky, like he'd had a near miss with a hurricane. He took a deep breath, got a beer from the fridge to fortify himself and left the cap by the sink, and called Steve.

"What's up?" his friend said cheerfully.

"Do you have some time right now?"

"Yeah, I've got nothing planned today," Steve said. "What's up, Buck? You sound stressed." His tone was worried.

"I don't quite know how to explain," Bucky said before taking a pull from the beer. "You need to come over. We need to discuss some things between us."

"Is this about Nat?" Steve asked carefully.

"No." Bucky was definite, leaning against his fridge.

"Ok, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Great. The door will be unlocked, just come in. And bring your guitar."

Steve made it to his friend's house in record time. "What's going on?" he said, a bit wild-eyed, brandishing his guitar.

Bucky smiled a little. "Ok, calm down. It's not entirely horrible. Ella was here earlier." Steve winced, setting down his guitar case and small amp.

"Oh, god."

"Shh. Listen. This is important. She was at some party for her birthday—" Steve nodded.

"Nat and I were there too."

"I'm sure that was family fun for everybody," Bucky said dryly, and Steve smiled half-heartedly.

"Yeah, I don't think she was very excited to see us. I made my apology, but...I don't know. There's been a lot of time passed, I did really bad things."

"Pierce and Carter were also there."

"I didn't see them." Steve's frown matched Bucky's.

"They offered her a contract."

"That's not surprising. They must be kicking themselves after the success of 'Honey.'"

"Yes. But crucially, they said that cutting us loose would free up a chunk of money for her contract."

"They said that to her?" Aghast, Steve dropped into the biggest armchair, his favorite.

"Yes." Bucky was tense. "Out loud, explicitly. So here's the thing."

"Did she come to gloat?" Steve asked abruptly.

"No." Bucky shook his head, his fingers picking at the hem of his shorts. "Whatever the opposite is. They put her into a whole new gear. Maybe a new dimension, and I think they're going to regret that. She was pissed. I thought it was about the arm, but that's the least of it."

"What's wrong with the arm?"

"Nothing, it's like she just burst into flame and came out with all these ideas. It's going to be fine. It's going to be awesome, actually. She was very careful about what she told me, didn't give much detail, but said that if it was her, she'd let SSR drop her, then take her demos to other labels."