It's Forbidden

Denial

A few days later, Aspen got a text from Steve. He said he wanted to have lunch with her. He told her that he wanted to talk to her and he was tired of them always arguing. And of course so was Aspen so she agreed. She wanted to finally get past arguing with Steve. Especially about Bucky. She wasn't going to tell Steve they were together without Bucky, because technically they weren't officially together yet anyways. But they were. But they weren't. But anyways, Aspen was just going to tell Steve her point of view, and hope to god he would finally take his head out of his America's ass and finally listen.

She didn't need her brothers approval to date Bucky. But she knew that Bucky needed his best friend to come to terms with his relationship with his sister. Even if it wasn't necessarily ideal, Bucky needed to know that him and Steve, were still him and Steve and Bucky dating Aspen, didn't ruin their relationship. Even though Bucky was positive he would still stay with Aspen, because he wouldn't admit this out loud, but not matter how deep his connection and friendship was with Steve, his connection with Aspen was deeper.

So Aspen pulled up to the diner Steve wanted to meet her at. They had decided to meet outside of the compound so they wouldn't get interrupted by anyone or get any outside input while they were trying to have just a one on one conversation. She walked inside and Steve was already sitting down and he already had ordered for both him and Aspen, knowing exactly what she wanted because she always ordered the same things.

Aspen sat at the booth with Steve and smiled. "Hey." She whispers as she makes herself comfortable and takes a sip of the coffee Steve had ordered for her. "Thank you for coming to dinner with me Aspen. I just want to talk and figure this out. I hate arguing with you." Steve tells her. And she completely agreed. She hated arguing with him. "I hate arguing with you too." She says. "It seems like al we've been doing since I got back." she add. And she wasn't exaggerating. 

Her and Steve had been arguing regularly since her and Bucky got back from Wakanda. And she knew exactly why. And so did Steve. He would admit that they had been fighting continuously but he would never admit why. He was too stubborn for that. "It does," he says, "doesn't it." 

"And every time we fight it's about Bucky." Aspen adds. She was trying to dive into the conversation but not point fingers. And that's exactly what she did. She said her statement perfectly, anyone else would have thought, but Steve, he wasn't having it. He was refused to admit that he was only fighting with Aspen over Bucky because he knew it was ridiculous.

He wasn't going to fully deny it either because he knew that their fights were partially, if not all, about Bucky and he didn't want to seem like a liar. "I don't think that's entirely true." Steve says. Aspen is automatically infuriated by his denial, even though it wasn't. full denial, just a partial one. It was still enough to piss her right off. But she tried to keep calm and approach it in a non-accusing manner to try and resolve the issue.

"Most of the time, it is. Especially recently." She says. She can't help herself. She needed to know. She needed a straight answer because she couldn't imagine anything that would make Steve so against her and Bucky being together. There was no reason, at all, why he was making such a big deal, over something that had nothing to do with him...

"Why is it such a big deal?" She asks him calmly. "He would never hurt me." She says. Trying to go through what he could possibly be concerned about. "And I would never hurt him." She says. And she wouldn't. She would rather die than anything happen to him. Steve shakes his head and  looks down at the table. He won't even look at Aspen. Because he knows she's right.

"Im not going to argue with you." He says calmly. "I don't want you two together. That's that." He says as if that answer is going to satisfy Aspen. "I'm not going to explain it." He continues. "I shouldn't need to. You should respect how I feel to not date my best friend." Steve says. Aspen shakes her head and slams her hand down on the table, fed up with her brothers consistent stubbornness despite her efforts to make amends.

"And once again Steve," She starts, "we've gotten nowhere with our conversation." She tells him. "Because you're stubborn, and you're selfish. Bucky isn't a possession." she raises her voice. "He's not just yours." She exclaims. Steve just looks at her. Unfazed. "Him and I had seventy years of mind control. Even if it was mostly with us on ice...we don't need you trying to control us too." She says with tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she goes back to that dark place in her mind. Back to Hydra. She shakes her tears away and laughs to herself. Steve looks at her confused and she stares directly into his sky blue eyes. "And you telling me not to date him," She starts, laughing to herself again, "It makes me want to be with him even more." She says.

"Well are you?" Steve asks. Completely ignoring Aspen. Ignoring her baring her soul. Again. Ignoring her view on the situation. She scoffs and shakes her head at him. "Am I what?" she spits with pure hatred in her tone. Being completely fed up. "Are you dating him?" Steve asks Aspen. Aspen stands up and shakes her head. She stands for a moment, her hand on the table and her other on her hip. She shakes her head and slowly rises her head for her eyes, to meet his eyes. "I don't know Steve." She says. "Am I?" she asks. She throws cash down on the table to pay for her food and she storms out of the diner.