Aftermath (Bucky Barnes)

Chapter Twenty Five

One Week Later

Dani's Point of View: I was sitting at the bar of a very crowded Avengers Tower, I was drinking very heavily.

It was my birthday party Natasha planned all by herself and it was fun, except Bucky and Victoria were practically grinding on each other in front of me.

I felt sick and there were too many people here, It was crowded and hot.

I sighed and felt someone sit next to me. "This is your party you're supposed to have the most fun." Steve said and put on a sympathetic smile.

"I'm just not up for it tonight." I said and he put a hand on my back. "Tony is going to make a toast, how about after that we get out of here and go do what you want. I can give you your gift."

"Sure" I said and smiled. Steve really did know how to make me feel better.

Tony approached, Drunk as hell, in his suit. This was not going to end well, I thought. He dragged me up on stage and screamed into the microphone

"Let's here it for Dani! She's finally 27!" Yes, I'm still pretty young.

I grabbed he mic, "Thank you all for coming, it means more than you can imagine. And thank Natasha for all the booze!" I said and took a shot in front of everyone and they all cheered. Everyone was drunk so laughed and continued on.

Then Steve grabbed my hand and we walked away from the crowded party. That's before someone grabbed my arm. I turned around and it was Bucky with Victoria.

"Where are you two going?" He asked. "I'm not feeling the party tonight, Steve's taking me out." I said and he slugged an arm around me.

Which I would like if he wasn't so drunk. I pushed him off me, "Can we come?" They asked and Steve obviously didn't want that.

"No." Steve answered firmly. "It's my turn to take her out, you obviously can't treat her right." Steve snapped.

"Steve..." I said and he calmed down. "Let's go." I said and we walked away holding hands. I looked back and Bucky looked a little threatened and insecure.

He walked me outside to his bike. He handed me a helmet. I put it on and he revved up the engine.

"Hold on." He said and I wrapped my hands around his chest.

We sped off and he took me through the empty streets and it was beautiful, I never come out in the city at this time of night. "I love the city."

"Me too." He added.

He pulled over in the parking lot of an old looking diner. He walked me inside and we got a table in the back.

"It's adorable here." I smiled and the waitress handed us our smoothies.

"Your gift! I almost forgot." He said and pulled out a tiny wrapped present. "Open it." He smiled

I opened it and it was a framed picture of all of the Avengers in their suits with a message of a memory on it. "You like it?" He asked and I smiled and nodded

"I love it, and you wrote about the first time we met, aww Steve." I said and walked over to his side of the booth and kissed his cheek.

"Let's read them together." He said and we did, Bucky didn't write his, I could tell because it wasn't his handwriting. But, I skipped over it anyways.

"This is the best gift I've gotten, and the only one so far." I said and he put an arm around me. "Trust me, everyone got you one." He said and showed me a ton of texts on his phone of everyone bragging about what they got me.

"I never got to tell you this, um, but it must've been tough for you to find me half dead in an alley, I know how much I mean to you... I just wanted to apologize to you." I said and he hugged me so tightly. He kissed my head.

"I thought you were dead, the whole world did." He whispered and kissed my forehead again, then brushed my hair out of my face and started to lean in.

My heart was racing, I was a little drunk, I didn't know what I wanted and this seemed to be right, in the moment.

So I leaned in as well and it wasn't the same like how Bucky and I kissed, I love Steve, but not the way I loved Bucky.

I pulled away before anything else got to weird. "I'm sorry." I whispered and we were both red.

"I'm sorry" we both said again, at the same time.

"Let's just go home." He said and I nodded. The ride back was silent but I hugged him one last time. "Thank you for he best gift ever!" I said and walked him to his room, the party was still going on downstairs, I could hear it.

"Will I see you back downstairs later tonight?" He asked and I shrugged. "I'm not sure, we'll see."

"Well goodnight Dani, I had fun with you." He smiled and I kissed his cheek. "Me too, 'night"

I walked back to my room and changed into a comfortable light dress incase I decided to go downstairs again.

I then laid on my bed and smiled at the gift Steve got me. It was adorable. He was so thoughtful but I don't want to think about our kiss, I'm definitely not over Bucky.

But I need to move on, but I don't want Steve to be my rebound. He deserved someone sweet.

I decided to go have fun, I didn't need Bucky to be happy.

I walked downstairs and the party was even crazier than before, I noticed Bucky and Victoria arguing over something stupid and ignored it. I walked by and scoffed at them.

I looked around for anyone I knew and found Wanda at the bar. I walked over and she looked up, "What's the matter?" I asked her. "Well I can't get drunk, in case I lose control over my powers." She said and I hugged her. "I'm sorry, let's hang out then," I smiled and she did too.

We spend the rest of the night making jokes and telling stories. I loved Wanda, we actually did have a lot of fun, I was sobering up as well so I hope I'd remember the fun we had.

Natasha even came over and we all gossiped and had a great time together, it felt like I never left