the tables have turned | steve/bucky

chapter twenty three

Natasha took a long swing of her coffee, allowing her calculating gaze to switch back and forth between me and Bucky on the other side of the counter. She'd been doing that for the past few minutes.

After popping in our living room like a fucking phantom, Natasha simply walked past us and disappeared into the kitchen without so much as a 'hello'. Bucky and I only followed her in when the aroma of vanilla bean infested our noses.

So here we all were now; Natasha's eyes narrowed in suspicion and Bucky's loud wheezing becoming more and more unnerving. Still, no one spoke. To describe the atmosphere, the word awkward wouldn't do the justice... dicey, maybe? Natasha was quite unpredictable sometimes. And the last time we were together, we'd almost been killed. I felt kinda shitty for not checking up on her. I guess I was so invested in Bucky that I simply forgot about everyone else... Was that why she was here? Was this unbearable silence payback for ignoring her? The elephant in the room wasn't even sure why he was there. Hmm...

"You gonna talk, Romanov, or are you just gonna sit there with that stupid look on your face?" Bucky snarled out of nowhere.

Natasha's eyebrows dropped dangerously. "Oh hello, James. Didn't recognize you without your arm. Tell me, where is that appendage now? Shoved up someone else's asshole?"

Bucky's mouth dropped a little. His eyes were fixed on Nat with this look of 'how dare you'. There was something going on between them; there was a certain tension that surely couldn't sprout out of nowhere. I wanted to just butt in and ask what the fuck was going on, but suddenly they were speaking another language.

"Ooh, low blows now, eh Natalia? And you'd know a lot about low blows."

She folded her arms, looking away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? You don't? Does my dick in your mouth ring any bells?"

"Guys..." I started. "English, please..."

Natasha's eyes flung wide open. "OH, OKAY, NOW I'M REMEMBERING IT. DOES YOU THAT ONE TIME YOU FUCKED ME ON TOP OF ALL THOSE DEAD BODIES AFTER THAT WEAPON BUST IN SINGAPORE COME TO MIND? BECAUSE I CLEARLY REMEMBER YOU BEGGING ME TO DO IT. 'OH, THEY'RE GOING TO HELL ANYWAY, MIGHT AS WELL MAKE SURE THEY ENJOY THE RIDE', YOU SAID."

"They probably did enjoy the ride. I know I did..."

"You're a pig!"

"Shut up, you loved it. Oh, and that scar on your hip—the one you say I gave to you by shooting right through your body... I think we both know how that really happened."

"You're speaking nonsense..."

"C'mon, Natalia! You remember the winter we first met... how you were riding me and I grabbed your hips and my metal finger punctured your skin. Remember how the screams of pain mixed with the screams of pleasure?"

Natasha's lips pulled into a reminiscing smirk. "How can I forget..."

Out of the blue, they were smiling at each other—almost laughing! That whole foreign screaming contest a few seconds ago had the two standing up snarling in each others faces like two rabid dogs, and now they were all smiles and googly eyes.

I wanted to interfere when Nat brought her hand up and brushed the side of Bucky's face, but something told me that they needed this... whatever the hell it was.

"Does Steve know about what we had?" Natasha asked.

"No. I will have to tell him eventually, though. But I'm not sure how he'll take it..."

"Steve has a good heart. You and I both know that. Just be honest with him; tell him everything there is to tell." Natasha's cheeks pinkened when Bucky grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm glad to see you again, Natalia."

"Likewise, James."

"Okay guys, are you done? I don't want to put this circus on hold, but we've got an event to go to tomorrow night and me and Buck have nothing to wear."

Nat and Bucky ripped away from each other, awkwardly scurrying back to their original standoffish positions as I spoke. Natasha picked up her steaming cup of coffee again, this time using her sweater sleeves over her hands to make mittens like the mothers in TV commercials do. Her fiery hair naturally fell in a wave in front of her face, making herself look like an innocent girl just enjoying a cup of Joe with her friends. And that may have been what she was trying to do, but Nat was known to have hidden agendas. I mean, I still didn't even why she was in my house...

"Stark's event, right? I don't have anything to wear for the ball either. I think a nice black dress would be nice..." said Natasha.

"Black? No! White will look better on you." Bucky protested. The two started smiling at each other again. I had enough. Swiftly, like an actor leaving center stage, I exited the kitchen. If they wanted time alone to do whatever the fuck they wanted to do, then fine. They could speak their fancy language and do that googly eye bullshit on their own time, not mine.

I stormed out to the car, where I sat fuming in the drivers seat until they decided to join me... whenever the hell that would be.

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note: oh, yes, an entire chapter dedicated to the undermined buckynat issue. what? you didn't see that coming? ;) haha! jealous steve is the best steve.

oh, and just so we're clear, the italics signals that bucky and natasha are speaking to each other in russian. of course, steve has no idea what they're saying... but that's probably a good thing, right?