Never Safe

Chapter Seventy

You were still leaning against Nat when you woke up, but no one was sat to your left. Bucky had moved.

You sat up, rubbing the tiredness from your eyes before looking around to see who was there. Steve, Sam and Clint were on one couch, Wanda and Bruce were on another, while Thor was still asleep on the floor beside the coffee table. The TV was on. Nat had had her arm around you; she gently pulled you closer to her when you moved. You faced her and smiled tiredly.

"Good morning" she smiled back. "You sleep alright?"

"Mm, I'm still tired." You cuddled up to her and pulled the blanket that was covering you up to your chin. You watched TV in silence for a few minutes before you asked: "where's Bucky?"

"He went with Maria and Tony to have a meeting with Fury."

"Oh. What about?" 

"It's nothing" Nat shrugged.

"Bucky's in trouble" Sam laughed from the other couch.

"Really?" You looked to Nat for answers. "What did he do?"

"Like I said, it's nothing really. He just misplaced something for work."

"What is it?" 

"A flash drive."

"Was it important?"  

"Yes, very" Steve chimed in. "If it wasn't, they wouldn't be having this meeting. It had intel that Bucky collected on one of his missions. Fury's most likely yelling at him for losing it."

"You know, this never would have happened if he'd handed it over when he was supposed to" Clint argued. "Fury should've given him shit as soon as he was two minutes late."

Your eyes fell to your lap as you fidgeted with your fingers. You knew Bucky had been too busy for work recently, and you knew you were the reason. The conversation continued around you without anyone noticing how your face had fallen.

"You're just mad he yelled at you for handing in your mission report late" Wanda said to Clint.

"It wasn't fair!" Clint cried, causing the others to laugh. "I finished it the day he wanted it; sue me for eating lunch before giving it to him!"

"Yeah, that meant you weren't only late, there was also hot sauce on it."

"Oh, barely!"

By this point, Steve had noticed you weren't really paying attention anymore. He called over to you. "Hey, y/n, you alright?"

"Hm?" You looked up when you heard your name. When you saw Steve, you faked a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Sure?"

"Mhm." 

"Wanna come with me to the kitchen to start making breakfast?"

"Um, yeah. Okay." 

You both stood from the couches and headed for the door, leaving the others to their conversation. Steve took your hand as he walked through the halls with you.

"Are you sure you're alright, trouble?" he asked, squeezing your hand like he was going to squeeze the truth out of you. Instead of again reassuring him you were fine, you merely shrugged.

"What are you thinking about?" 

You hesitated to respond for a moment. "Just... it's just that Bucky's getting in trouble for missing out on work and he's missing out on work because he's had to deal with me... I feel bad, Steve."

"Honey, you have no reason to feel bad. You can't phrase it like that, like he's 'dealing with you'. He's taking care of you. You are more important than work to him. And to me too."