Neighbour | Eddie Brock

Tough Day

Bucky knew exactly where to find Steve. In fact, he found him as if he had placed him there himself. This was the oldest, most dilapidated, and out-of-the-way pub in Brooklyn. Although Steve claimed he had adapted to the present, he was living in the past. Until he met Regina, Bucky wasn't any different, really. When Lana entered their lives, Bucky was happy, thinking that Steve would experience the same transformation. He was mistaken.

As he approached Steve, who had his head resting on the bar counter, he asked, "Lana?"

Steve looked up at him, and as Bucky sat on the bar stool next to him, he said, "Have you been crying?"

With his reddened eyes giving it away, Steve stared back at him defiantly. "Are you kidding me?"

After ordering himself a drink, Bucky turned to Steve. "Come on, tell me. What happened this time?"

Steve cupped his head in his hands and started to speak, staring straight ahead.

* * *

"Then I told them..." Venom suddenly paused his story to Sonny and perked up. "They're coming..." He turned to Cher, who was making soft sounds. "No, Cher, they are not having sex..."

Grumbling, he sunk into the chair, his ink seeping into his body. "Eddie's going to be unbearable." He mimicked Eddie in a comically altered voice, "Annie got married. I'm a loser. I can't steal Captain America's girlfriend. Don't bother me, Venom."

Just then, they heard Lana's voice from the front door, wishing good night to Eddie and Venom jumped up excitedly towards the ceiling. After waiting for the girl to enter her own flat, Eddie rolled his eyes at Venom, who was stuck to the ceiling. "Seriously?"

As Venom slithered, wrapping around Eddie's body, he hissed, "Tell me!" When he forcibly made Eddie sit on the couch, Lana was in her own flat, heading to the bedroom to take off her clothes. Ignoring the darkness, she quickly shed her outfit, leaving only her underwear. Finally, when she turned on the light, she let out a high-pitched scream. Steve was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling with tearful eyes.

"Steve Rogers! You scared the hell out of me!"

Running her fingers through her hair, she walked over to Steve. She was surprised to see his watery eyes. "Steve, have you been crying?"

"Why do you ask? To tell Natasha?"

Lana rolled her eyes. "So you heard."

With a tone of voice that always startled Lana as if it was the first time he'd said it, Steve commanded, "Come to me." Although she wanted to say no, every time she heard that tone, she found herself obeying Steve's orders, and she hated it.

Slowly, she climbed onto the bed to sit on Steve's stomach. Finally, when she spread her legs to straddle him, Steve's hands found her hips. Lana giggled, "I thought you were angry with me." As she noticed the smell of alcohol coming from him, she tensed up. Lana didn't feel safe around drunk people, and Steve knew that. Although she trusted him, her anxiety lingered.

Steve replied, "I am." "I had to listen to you cry every time I touched you in front of the Avengers, and every time after that you'd run off to find Natasha."

The woman raised her eyebrows, unable to believe Natasha would betray her like that. Pressing herself closer to Steve's stomach for more information, she shot him a playful look. "Is that why I've been crying when you touch me?"

"Natasha implied that." Steve tightened his grip on her hips.

"I only said that we can't have a proper argument; every fight somehow ends up in the bedroom, Steve."