Monster

Twenty-Two

Bucky felt unusually large in Tony's car. He was tall and had broad shoulders and big arms that took up more space than I anticipated. I once tried to picture Steve bending down to fit in the car, and it got a real laugh out of me. I hadn't considered Bucky, though. Mostly because the thought of him getting into a car with me was absurd.

"Okay, so here's the deal," I said as I drove. "When we get home, you should probably take a shower, and I'll walk you through washing your own clothes because I hate doing laundry. If you want to shave, then you should do that too. I don't know if beards are your thing or not, but I think you might attract less attention without it. Although, it might make you more recognizable. So that's up to you.

"And I'm not trying to bark orders at you or anything. But I think it'll help. Then we can make dinner. I can't afford to keep ordering takeout, and I'm not a very good cook, but I think I have some frozen meatballs and maybe some canned tomato sauce. It probably won't taste very good, but it might be fun. Then we can call Steve."

"I don't want him to know," he said. He was holding his arms around his middle and staring out the windows at the passing city. They were tinted enough that he could relax, but he still looked uncomfortably exposed.

"Can I ask you why?"

"He makes me uncomfortable. I feel better with you." I nodded slowly to myself.

"Alright. We can hold off on calling Steve. But will you please stay the night this time? At least this once? You can leave in the morning after breakfast if you decide you don't want to stick around. But I don't know where you sleep at night. I'm guessing it's on the streets, and I don't like that. I have an extra bedroom, and it has a futon. It's probably not very comfortable, but I'm guessing it's better than the ground."

"I've never heard you talk so much." I laughed. I heard that a lot. I was definitely one of those people who didn't talk much until you got to know them.

"I'm just glad you came back and that you're okay. I was really worried. I guess I'm just relieved. You can tell me to stop if I'm annoying you."

"It's fine. I like the sound of your voice."

I didn't know how to respond to that. It wasn't that I didn't think he was attractive. Especially when he put his hair up and shaved. He had a nice face, pretty eyes, and a body that looked delicious. From what I'd seen of it.

The problem wasn't that. It was just that there were too many problems to count. I couldn't even narrow it down to one. I was supposed to be in a relationship with Steve, for starters. Bucky probably hadn't been involved with anyone since the 40s. At least not anyone being genuine with him. And the biggest problem was that he had far too many of his own issues to worry about and clearly wasn't ready to deal with something as potentially harmful as a romance. On the flip side, it was nice that he felt anything at all and could recognize that it was.

Also, I wasn't sure I was even ready for something like that. I couldn't even fake date correctly. The last guy I dated turned out to be working for Hydra. And how do you even date a man on the run? It's not like we could go catch a movie and get drinks.

I wasn't in the right place emotionally for something boring and stable. Considering my last relationship ended with my knife at his throat.

"Um–right. Well, that's the plan for tonight, alright? Does that sound okay?" I asked. I didn't want him to think I was trying to control him. But I was getting tired of the flighty thing. He needed a place to sleep and eat, and if he was going to try and make it on his own, he needed to get the hang of using modern appliances.

"That sounds fine," he decided.

When we reached the house, I parked in the driveway. It felt even more bizarre that I would be letting him in through the front door like a normal person. We climbed out and he flipped the hood back over his head as I dug through my bag for my keys. Honestly, it was the only downside to having a car with a fingerprint scanner. Now I managed to lose my keys in the car itself.