Bedeviled [Bucky Barnes] DISCONTINUED

04

"Don't be such a scaredy cat!" I exclaim with a laugh as Bucky lets out a groan.

"I only have one hand left to lose! This is unfair." He complains as he turns his hand, palm facing the ceiling.

"Well at least you know where you're going to get hit. I can never know, I still have both of my hands."

"Oh, poor you!

We're playing a game to pass some time.

We both have our hands, or in his case, a hand, in front of us, palms pointed up. We take turns to try and slap our palm against the other's and if the other flinches before the slap or gets hit, they lose.

We're both adults and we're playing a game I saw some kids play in the street that I used to live on.

But what else is there for us to do?

That's right; nothing.

We could talk, sure, but we've already pretty much covered all the topics we could think of. I know Bucky almost as well as the back of my hand. From what I've heard, I know I could read him like a book if he ever tried to hide something from me. I also know he could do the same to me.

I love how close we have gotten during the time we've been here. It's a wonder how neither of us have been dragged away to the gates of Hell. By that I mean the room where the people get tortured.

I try not to think about it all that much but it's hard. It gets harder and harder with each day that passes.

"Ha! Got ya." Bucky cheers as he finally gets to slap my palm successfully.

"Oh, geez," I mutter and let out a chuckle, shaking my head slightly.

"What's up?" He asks, brows creating a crease in between them.

"I just got lost in my thoughts," I say and raise my palms again.

"About...?"

"When did you become so nosy?" I laugh.

"When you started hiding things from me," he says in a serious tone which makes my smile falter. "So, since the beginning, I guess."

I swallow the lump in my throat that appeared only few seconds ago. "What do you mean I'm hiding things from you?"

"Whenever I try to ask you about Jack, you change the subject."

Like I said, we've covered almost all the topics we could think of.

I feel my fists clenching as I hear the name. "I'm not ready to talk about him."

"Can you please just tell me how you knew him?" Bucky says with pleading eyes.

I turn my head away from him, avoiding his gaze for a few seconds before finally giving in. "He was my brother," I say quietly. "You probably could have figured it out from our shared family name."

"What do you mean 'was' your brother?"

"He died in the battlefield," I say matter-of-factly and see a slight change in Bucky's demeanour. I tense up as I notice a guilty look in his eyes. "Didn't he?" I ask carefully.

"C'mon, palms up," he says, trying to change the subject.

"James," I say in a warning tone, my breathing becoming erratic.

"Marie, you don't want to know wh—"

"Yes, I do!" I fight back. "I have the right to know what happened to my big brother!"