The Grey - Steve Rogers + Bucky Barnes X OC Love Story

Chapter 5

"Mr. Stark, where's Tori?" Peter asked, grabbing some breakfast and sitting down in his seat in the dining room.

"Home I assume, why?" Tony asked from across the table.

"Her car is here." Peter pointed out.

"That's weird, she's usually not in until 8.." Tony said, but he shrugged it off. She showed up early the previous day. "She's probably in the lab then." He said. The whole team, minus Steve sat around the table for breakfast.

"Where's Rogers?" Tony asked as the whole team dug into their breakfast quietly.

"I couldn't sleep last night so he sparred with me." Bucky quickly lied.

"Then why are you up?" Nat asked, looking over at him with worry.

"I don't sleep much anyway." Bucky said with a shrug.

The rest of breakfast went pretty quietly, only small talk amongst the group. Steve joined them towards the end of breakfast but was hoping nobody asked him about why he was late.

"I figured we wouldn't see you until lunch, Barnes told us you stayed up with him sparring." Nat said to him when he took a seat.

"Maybe I'll grab a nap later." Steve said with a shrug, he nodded to Bucky, a silent thank you for the excuse.

Victoria woke up alone in Steve's apartment to her phone ringing. She sleepily grabbed it, reading the screen with one eye open. Noah. She sighed heavily before answering.

"Let me guess, already curled up with Peter?" He said as soon as she answered.

"No, Noah. I got sucked into an extra project when I got here. I fell asleep at my desk." She lied. She was a little concerned with how easily she was able to lie, but she hadn't done anything wrong to feel guilty about.

"So then are you on the way home?" He asked.

"No. I still have to do my job, it's my fault I fell asleep at my desk. I can't just leave." She argued calmly.

"Fine. I'll see you tonight." He said.

"I love you." She said with a small, sad smile. "Love you." He said before hanging up. She sighed again, flopping back down onto the pillow for a moment. But she decided she couldn't just lay there any longer so she rolled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Every inch of her body hurt and she couldn't help but notice her forearms were covered in bruises as well as her shins, stomach and ribs. Her thighs ached, her arms throbbed, she felt like she'd done a thousand situps, her abs felt tight and overused. Every step she took she wished she could drop to the floor and crawl. She hadn't sparred so roughly in months, part of her was annoyed with herself for not keeping up with her training.

She smiled when she saw Steve had set clothes out for her, she wasn't sure where he got it but he had a sports bra for her, one of his shirts and a pair of his sweatpants. She didn't bother trying to tame her out of control hair. She just collected all of the thick, curly dark strands, shoving them into a pile on the top of her head and secured it with her overstretched hair tie.

When Victoria was dressed she made her way to the lab, hoping nobody would stop by to see her today, she didn't have an explanation as to why she was in Steve's clothes.

"Hey, bunny. What's with the getup?" Tony asked when he finally reached the lab and saw Victoria sitting in her chair with both feet pulled up, resting them on her seat.

Victoria spun in her chair, looking at him nervously for a minute.

"They're mine. She got here early so I made her spar with me." Bucky interrupted from the doorway. Both Victoria and Tony turned around to look at him.