The Boss [COMPLETED]

Listen

It was like Bucky had frozen. He was completely still, staring at you, not one inch of him moving except for his chest, and even that was barely perceptible. You struggled to swallow the nausea that had come back up to your throat, feeling like a hard lump of betrayal that wouldn't go away.

You were still leaning against the door, supporting yourself to stand, and you started to push off it. Slowly. As though the man in front of you was a wild animal, and you couldn't spook him by moving too fast.

"Bucky," You whispered, and he only blinked in response. "I need you to know that I had no idea it was him until yesterday. You need to know that, okay?"

He stayed silent. Eerily and unnervingly silent. You felt nervous and shaky as you took a single step forward. He didn't react, so you took another. You figured it would be another five steps before you would reach him, and maybe if you just explained it while taking it slow, he would have calmed down by the time you got to him.

You took a step forward.

"From what I know, Nick and Adrian were best friends when they were kids. Part of the same organisation I'm told, working together, until Nick wanted to move somewhere else, take charge of his own branch once he came of age. Adrian met my mom, they got married, they had me. I have some memories of Nick at my house, at the holidays, like he was just another one of my uncles or something."

Another step. Bucky's eyes followed you.

"The next thing I remember is being told my mom died, and Adrian said it was Nick's fault. Said that she would be alive if it wasn't for him. That's when we moved to the Midwest, and then I started to be involved. And it was a couple of years after that I realised how horrible Adrian really was, what he was doing, the people he was hurting."

Two more steps left.

"I tried to change how he was handling things. I tried to persuade him to take different routes to get what he wanted, to do things in a better way. But he was awful to me, saying that it was always needed, saying I wasn't experienced enough to know. That I wasn't worth his time to explain. Then I was getting cut out of certain meetings, but being given tasks where my hand was forced. That's when I decided I had enough."

One step left. You could hear Bucky breathing, deep and heavy. He was trying to control it, to calm himself down. Hopefully he had actually listened to you, and it wouldn't be as bad as you thought.

"I left eight years ago. I didn't want to be part of that world anymore, I didn't have any kind of relationship with him anymore. I hated everything. So I left. And after a year of going from state to state, I met Nat, just by chance at a bar one night. She told me about her job, and I jumped for it. 6 months later, I told her the whole story. She helped me change my name and protected me ever since."

You waited, to see if he would say anything. He didn't. So you took the final step to him, and reached up a shaky hand to his jaw.

"Buck..." You whispered.

Then his hand snatched your wrist away from him, and his expression finally changed.

Anger.

"Get out." He said.

"Bucky please I -"

"I said get out." He repeated, louder this time.

"No, I told you to listen, just -"

He kept his grip on your arm and stormed across his room, dragging you with him. You protested, shouting his name, trying to pull your arm away, but it was solid, and fueled by his emotions. Wrenching the bedroom door open, he pushed you into the hall, finally releasing your arm, making you fall to the floor, with him walking straight past you.