Only a Memory | Bucky Barnes

Chapter 25: One Step at a Time

Between having a new boyfriend and dealing with his sister Bucky didn't have much time for his friends. When he wasn't worrying about his sister, he usually wanted to spend time with Steve before his other friends. Although he felt guilty for this, in a way, Steve was actually his best friend.

At least, that's the way it had been. The two still hadn't made up, and Bucky wasn't exactly ready to face Steve at school just yet. It wasn't as if they had a huge fight, Bucky was just in a pissy mood overall. It was probably just as simple as telling Steve he was sorry, but he was afraid that Steve wouldn't think so. He didn't want to end up saying the wrong thing.

The next day came rolling around, and it was already off to a bad start. Bucky spent the morning tiptoeing around his sister, who avoided him like the plague. She had an outburst, insisting she would get to stay home. Bucky never envisioned it getting to this point, though he supposed it wasn't surprisingly. In the end, Winifred convinced her to get her ass out the door and onto the bus, which she had almost missed.

As much as Bucky didn't want to go to school, it would be at least a little less suffocating than staying at home with his sister.

He arrived at school shortly after, and though since the cold winter weather his friends still hadn't migrated back to their bench at the front of the school, it was never hard to find them. Everyone's lockers were scattered, but they usually congregated around Wanda and Pietro who always got to school first.

Everyone was already there. Mostly. Bucky was unsurprised to find that Steve was missing, but he had probably just decided to shift back to Tony and the others. Bucky allowed himself to breathe as he said hello to everyone.

"Where's Steve?" Pietro asked him. When Bucky didn't have an answer he added, "you guys have been acting strange lately."

There was a few nods in agreement and some noncommittal noises. The sound of a student wailing down the hall caught everyone's attention for a few moments, but Pietro spoke up again, drawing them back to the conversation.

"Whats going on between you two?" It was like he was staring directly into Bucky's soul, and Bucky just had this feeling that he wouldn't get away without an explanation.

Another distraction came in the form of Steve Rogers himself. Bucky didn't even notice Steve until there was a hand on his shoulder and he startled, looking back to meet Steve's eyes. He tried to catch a glimpse of what Steve was feeling in those eyes, but there was nothing.

"Hey, Buck," Steve said.

"Steve," Bucky said, and it was all he could do not to sound surprised.

The tension was still high; Bucky could feel it. But suddenly Steve had just decided to act as if things were normal, at least in front of their friends, and Bucky wasn't sure if he should go along with it or not.

"Are you busy during lunch?" Steve asked, and it was such a strange thing to ask considering it was usually just assumed that they would spend their lunch together, and if it were otherwise, Bucky would tell Steve. Expect, of course, things just weren't normal between them. Strange was now perfunctory, when only days ago they were tied at the hip.

Whatever act steve was playing only did little to convince everyone around them.

"Actually, I—"

It was all just a series of being interrupted, first by Steve and then by the bell. As much as he didn't want to go to class, he was suddenly grateful for the opportunity and didn't waste any time hurrying off to his locker to grab his books.

The rest of the day continued on like this, with Bucky trying to avoid Steve and he wasn't even sure why. He had wanted to patch things up with Steve, and now that he had the chance he was afraid. He didn't want to make things any worse than they already were, and as it was talking to Steve was like walking through a minefield.