Soul Reader

Part 7

Warnings: Swearing, angst, I think that's it?

 BUCKY'S POV

Him and you have been getting closer over the last week and he's loved it. You just seemed to get him in a way only Steve does. You don't judge him when he has his bad days, when he doesn't want to talk, when he has to let some of the horrors out as the burden becomes too much some days. 

He never spoke much to Steve about the details, but he did with you. You listened every time and every time he finished he expected disgust, anger, judgement but he never found it and he was more grateful than he thought you knew. 

He didn't know when it happened, how every time he walked into a room he sought out your eyes. How he watched you from the corner of his eyes, how he tried to be near you as much as he could. He didn't know when you had started to become one of the most important people in his life, but he knew he was screwed. 

He tried to ignore the feeling in his chest every time he saw you. He tried to push the feeling down, not wanting to jeopardise the friendship you had formed. He always had a voice in the back of his head telling him you didn't feel the same way he felt about you. The voice told him he wasn't good enough for you, that he would just ruin you. So, he pushed his feelings down, down until it was just a small ache in his chest.

He was thinking about you and all of this when Sam approached him in the kitchen. He looked kind of frantic which wasn't really his style, and Bucky was instantly suspicious when Sam rushed over to him with relief on his face. 

Sam sounds breathless as he says, "heyyyy, Bucky, just the man I wanted to see...so look, I need a favour-".

Bucky cuts him off before Sam can ever explain what the favour is with a swift and dull 'no'. 

Sam rolls his eyes and carries on as if Bucky hadn't spoken, "so, there's this girl I like and I'm supposed to meet up with her in an hour, but she brought a friend with her and I need a wingman to distract the friend as I work my godly powers", Sam finishes with a smirk and Bucky pretends to play along, nodding to his story and returning Sam's smirk before going completely deadpan and repeating his earlier 'no'. 

 Sam huffs in annoyance as he says, "look, there's no one else here that can help me, don't you want to help your friend get laid?", Bucky scoffs at him and flips him off. 

He didn't want to help Sam out anyway, but his thoughts kept drifting to you. He felt like if he were to go out flirting with another girl that he'd be cheating in some way, which was completely irrational because you weren't even together, but it just didn't sit right with him. 

Sam kept at him though. He kept asking and wouldn't leave him alone. Bucky's patience was wearing thin and he was a couple of whiney words away from punching him in the face. Sam gets desperate as the clock nears eight and he grips Bucky's arm saying, "c'mon man pleeeeese, I'll do anything man". 

Bucky caved, he didn't have to stay long and you didn't even have to know...not that it even mattered because you didn't think of him that way anyway. He left with Sam not long after he agreed and he instantly regretted it from the moment he stepped outside the compound.

YOUR POV

You come out of the gym after a late-night training session with Nat. You feel pumped and Nat said she was really pleased with how you were coming along. You practically skip along the corridors to find Bucky and tell him you could probably kick his ass now. You were smiling like an idiot as you poked your head into the kitchen, he wasn't there so you tried the living space, but he wasn't there either.