Touch Me I'm Going to Scream // [Stucky]

Chapter 20

Steve groans and pushes his head under a pillow, not feeling in the mood to get out of bed. He opens an eye and peeks at the bedroom. God, the sun hasn't even come out yet. He's trying to fall asleep when his phone rings again and Steve realizes it must have been what woke him up. His hand shoots from under the blankets and he slides the green icon to answer the call.

"Is it Avengers business?" Knowing Tony, he could be calling Steve at 5 a.m. because he just invented something.

"I don't know, he won't tell me."

"Who?" Steve grunts.

"Secretary Alexander Goodwin Pierce."

Steve lurches out of bed, starting to put his socks on while he balances the phone between his shoulder and ear. "When did he arrive? Has he said what's going on?"

"Less than ten minutes ago, and no, he hasn't." Tony sounds too lucid and Steve assumes he was in his workshop when Pierce arrived at the Tower. "He wants the present Avengers to gather and then he'll start dishing information. Just so you know, I'm not getting into any of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s business—apart from when I dig into their archive, but that's completely different."

"Okay, okay," Steve cuts him off while he struggles to get into his uniform in the dark. He bumps a knee on his bedside table and twirls away from it with a grunt. "Fuck. Where are you right now?"

Once his pants are on, Steve pulls the top part of his suit off the hanger and shoots out the room and into the hallway where he comes to a halt. Bucky looks at him from his door, one foot still inside his room and the other outside. Steve notices his Adam's apple bob when he swallows and Steve waits for him to say something, remaining uniform in one hand and phone in the other.

"Where are you going?" he asks and Steve takes a moment to marvel at the gentle voice; he always expects Bucky's voice to be rougher and he's always surprised by its softness.

"Avengers business," he says, hastily pulling the uniform over his head. "You can go back to bed or drink a shake. You remember how to prepare them, right?"

Of course he does; he's a highly trained soldier.

He refrains from reminding him there is still chicken soup in the fridge. The guy doesn't have short-term memory loss, for God's sake, Steve reprimands himself, again.

Bucky nods his head while Steve struggles with the sleeves. "Fuck."

A cold hand pulls at the fabric, knuckles grazing his stomach. Steve shivers at the contact and freezes when the top of the suit is finally in place. Bucky regards him with mild curiosity.

"Someone's on the phone."

"Huh?" Steve keeps staring with his lips slightly parted.

Bucky's cold hand grabs Steve's and lifts it. Steve's eyes don't shift from the man's face. He fears his staring might be turning creepy—at least his mouth is closed now. Then he hears Tony's voice and he's broken out of his trance. "Oh. Uh, yes." He lifts the phone to his ear, ignoring Bucky's bemused look. "Tony, I'll be there in five."

Steve shoves the cell phone into a pouch. "I don't know how long it will take but you can ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to inform me if you need anything."

His hand is holding Bucky's shoulder and Steve doesn't know when that happened. Bucky looks worse than when they went to their respective bedrooms—actually, the shadows under his eyes seem more pronounced and his posture is slouched. The sun is rising and the light catches in the blue of his eyes. Steve catches Bucky's lips moving.

"What? Sorry, what were you saying?" He refrains from rubbing the remaining sleep off his eyes.

"You shouldn't make them wait," Bucky says. Steve thinks Bucky is just trying to get rid of him but then he notices the apprehension etched in his features.