Blush - A Peter Parker Imagine

5.

"It's still snowing pretty bad outside so..." Peter shrugged his shoulders as he finished wrapping a dry bandage around your burned wrist, and you felt your cheeks flushing when he lightly brushed his lips over your fingers "Let's watch a movie?"
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About halfway through the film, Peter had gotten a call from Stark about something urgent, and he'd apologized as he opened your window and hopped out, his suit quickly forming around him as he swung away from your building. You were tempted to keep the window open, to let the apartment cool off, but you decided against it.
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"I'm sorry..." Bucky muttered under his breath, leaning against the end of the couch, his hand rubbing his eyes "I shouldn't have done that..."
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A loud noise snapped you out of your self reflective state, and your heart raced as you tried to listen for the source. It sounded like someone, or something, was trying to unlock your front door...

Your hands shook as you grabbed your phone off the coffee table and clicked on Peter's name. It rang, over and over, and then his voicemail finally picked up...

"Hey, I can't answer the phone right now. Leave me a message and uh... I mean I honestly probably won't call you back but still leave me a message."

"Peter... it's y/n..." Your voice was shaky, and you took a deep breath before you continued "Peter please answer... someone is trying to break in and... please, just, just call me back." You clicked your phone off, keeping it gripped in your hand as you quietly moved to your kitchen to grab a knife off the counter "Please... I don't have anything."

The second you saw the doorknob turning, you dropped the heavy knife on the ground, and it barely missed your bare foot. The noise at the front door abruptly stopped... heavy footsteps faded into the distance and you slid down to the floor, still clutching your phone.

You were dialing Bucky's number before you could stop yourself, after trying Peter two more times, and still getting his voicemail.

"What's going on y/n? I thought after what happened today you'd never talk to me again..." He laughed, and you could hear him shutting a door. You couldn't help the quiet sob that escaped your lips, and you wiped your eyes with the top of your shirt "What's wrong?! If Peter hurt you I'm gonna..."

"Someone just... I think someone tried to break in Bucky..."
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"I'm not mad Bucky... It was just, a surprise." You tucked your hair behind your ears, looking up at him to see a relieved look on his face "I like you... but I'm just not ready for that... not yet."

"I hope you'll still trust me." Bucky leaned down to pick up his jacket off the floor, and he draped it over his arm "Because I like you too."
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You were still sitting on the kitchen floor when Bucky entered your apartment, and he had immediately extended his hand out to you, pulling you up and into a tight hug "I'm right here doll."

You heard him kick the knife away, heard it hit the far wall of the kitchen, and the sound made you flinch against him. Bucky muttered an apology under his breath as you pulled away from him, his left hand brushing away the tears still left on your cheek "Now I'm worried that I imagined everything..." You let out a quiet laugh as he took your hand and led you towards the front door, and he opened it and pointed at the ground... that was littered with small slivers of wood from your door, and what looked like the remnants of a lock-picking kit "Shit..."

"I'm gonna have Stark install an alarm system... and new locks." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began typing, and you shut your door and turned towards the kitchen to get yourself a drink "You'll be home tomorrow right?"

You silently nodded at him, picking at the edge of the bandage on your wrist "I was so scared James... what if they'd actually gotten in? What if you hadn't answered..." You wiped your eyes again, your body tensing up when you felt his cool hand on your shoulder "Are you hungry?" You chose to distract yourself, and Bucky stepped back as you opened the cupboard to look for something to make.

"Tomato soup? My mom used to make it all the time. And it was always my favorite, no matter how much she'd had to water it down because it needed to last a couple days..." He smiled at you, his face falling when you didn't return the favor "It's always been a comfort food for me..."

"I only have the canned version..." You again flinched away from Bucky's outstretched hand, your nerves were just beginning to fully react to the stress of everything that had happened "Sorry... I really am glad you're here but..."

"I know you'd feel safer with Peter. It's alright." You felt yourself tearing up again, and you hated this. You hated that your emotions were so out of control lately. Peter finally knew about, and had accepted your past. And he'd been so gentle earlier, when he'd kissed you "I'm sorry I betrayed your trust that night. I shouldn't have kissed you."

"Bucky that's not... that's not what it is." You opened the can of soup and dumped it into the pan on the stove before leaning back against the sink "I'll never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done for me. You... you understood what I'd lost better than anyone. You helped me open up, you helped me get better help. You saved me from whatever it was my life had become..." You'd started crying again, and before you could wipe your tears away with the end of your sleeve, Bucky stepped forward and pulled you into another hug, knowing it would calm you down, knowing exactly what you needed in that moment as the full weight of what had transpired just an hour ago finally hit you. He held you against his chest, so closely that you could hear his nervous heartbeat...

What neither of you saw, was Peter peering though the window. He must have finally gotten your message, and must have raced to your apartment, going by how out of breath he was.

"Shit..." Bucky pulled away from you and walked over to the window, popping it open and looking around outside for a moment before slamming it shut "Peter saw us..."