Never Safe

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The next day was Sunday. It was afternoon, and Bucky was preparing to leave the apartment.

"Please let me come with you!" you begged.

"No. You're grounded. You don't get nice things."

"At least take me to the compound!"

"Absolutely not."

"But why!"

"You know why!"

"Please! It's so boring here!"

"Why do you think I'm going out?"

"Bucky!"

"I said no, y/n."

"Fine. If I have to stay at home, you have to stay too."

"No."

"Ugh! Who even goes out for dinner on Sunday nights?"

"A lot of people. Including Nat and I. So I need to go or were going to be late for our reservation."

Bucky headed for the door. You jumped onto the couch and leaped off of it onto Bucky's back. You clung on tightly.

"Y/n" he sighed. You stayed put. "Stop messing around now."

"I'm not going to sleep until you get back" you mumbled.

"Okay... that's fine."

"You won't be mad that I'm still awake?"

"Of course not. I understand if you wanna stay up. Now can you get off my back and give me a proper hug?"

You jumped down, and Bucky turned and hugged you properly for a second. Then he pulled away and stepped towards the door.

"Don't leave the apartment" he instructed.

"I don't have reason to."

"Make yourself some dinner. No takeaway."

"Fine."

"See you later, assface" Bucky grinned.

"Dickhead" you smiled. Bucky closed the door. Your smile faded as you let out an exhausted sigh and collapsed backwards onto the couch.

***

Bucky got in his car and tossed his phone onto the passenger seat before he started driving. When he was halfway to the compound, it buzzed with a notification. Bucky was waiting for a red light to turn green, so he quickly checked what it was in the mean time. It was a message from you.

"Come back."

Bucky scoffed with a smile on his face as he replied. "No."

The traffic light turned green so Bucky put his phone back down and started driving. He heard it ring, but he ignored it as he knew it was just you. A couple more notifications came through. He ignored those too.

Bucky didn't check his phone again until he arrived at the compound. Even then, when he picked up his phone before getting out the car, he only glanced at the time. He entered the building, heading towards Nat's room.

Before he got there, he saw Steve. When Steve saw Bucky, he turned to sneak off.

"Steve" Bucky called.

Steve faced him with a fake grin. "Bucky. Hi."

Bucky walked the remaining distance between them. "You're a liar. And a coward. An idiot, in general."

"I know. I'm sorry. I should've known better... but to be fair, it was quite funny."

"It was. But never, and I mean never, let her drink under your supervision again."

"I won't. I'm sorry."

"Good. You're forgiven."

"Thanks. So where you off to?"

"I'm taking Nat out to dinner."

"Is y/n in her room?"

"No, she's at home."

"You left her on her own?"

"Yeah."

"Really? So soon?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she hasn't been on her own since before it happened. Was she okay with it?"

"Uh... yeah..."

"You don't sound sure."

"Well, she wanted to come with me, but I just thought she meant that she wanted to hang out with you guys..."

"Maybe she doesn't want to be alone."

Bucky sighed as he remembered something. "She did say she wanted me to stay home with her... oh, I shouldn't have left her on her own. I need to go get her."

"I can go if you need me to?"

"No, no I need to go. I shouldn't have left her in the first place. Can you tell Nat I've gone? Tell her I'm really sorry. I'm going to call the restaurant and push our reservation back an hour."

"Yeah, of course Buck."

"Thanks Steve. I'll see you later."

Steve said goodbye as Bucky started walking off. He hurried back to his car and instantly started driving. He wanted to tell you that he was on his way back, so he picked up his phone. Your text notifications were still displayed on his Lock Screen.

"Bucky, I'm serious."
"Come home. I don't wanna be on my own."
"Please?"

"Shit" Bucky muttered. He felt guilty for leaving you. He decided to call you instead of message. There was no answer. You didn't pick up the second time either. Bucky frowned and put his phone in his pocket, thinking about why you didn't have your phone on you.

He got back to the apartment building, went inside, and jogged up the stairs. He got to the right floor. He paused before walking towards the door.

It was open.

The possibilities of why distracted him for a moment. Then he slowly walked towards the doorway. His eyes widened in alarm as he scanned the apartment. It was a mess. Furniture knocked over, the TV on the floor, glass smashed everywhere, the coffee table broken in two. Bucky took one step so he could see around the couch.

And there was your body laying on the floor.