Rude Boy: Blue Series 1 (Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes Modern California AU)

Thirty-Three

After knocking -- and receiving no answer -- Sharon pulled out the spare key. The key was poised in her hand, but when she was about to use the key, she paused. Maybe she should've just waited. Maybe she should try calling again.

Shaking her head, Sharon pushed all the doubts aside and pushed the key into the lock. Quickly unlocking the door and pushing it open, Sharon didn't want to invade on Steve's privacy. But Sharon just wanted to check up on Steve. Especially after Bucky messaged her, asking if he had done something wrong.

"Steve?" Sharon called out, peeking her head into the apartment. Not seeing Steve in the open concept area and noticing that the curtains were still drawn, Sharon opened the door fully.

Stepping into the apartment, Sharon's heart started to race with the anxiety of everything that could go wrong. Sharon tried to keep her voice calm as she questioned, "Steve?"

Nothing.

Sharon's breathing was quickly becoming erratic and her fear made her sound angry, "Steven?"

Crossing the apartment towards Steve's bedroom, Sharon's footsteps were heavy. She gave his closed bedroom door a quick rap before opening it without waiting for an answer. When Sharon spotted Steve laying in his bed, Sharon wanted to stay mad and give Steve a piece of her mind.

However, once Sharon noticed that Steve was awake and simply staring at the wall, the anger seeped out of her and her early concern furiously took its place. Sharon took a step closer to Steve's bed and softly asked, "Steve?"

Not wanting to answer, Steve shook his head and pulled the comforter up, over his head. Sharon sighed and kicked off her shoes as she climbed onto Steve's bed. Knowing that Steve sometimes got like this, Sharon simply laid behind Steve. She lifted the comforter, and briefly hesitated before wrapping her arm around Steve's midsection.

"Are you okay?" Sharon softly asked.

Clearing his throat, Steve lied, "Yeah."

"C'mon, now," Sharon playfully nudging her body against Steve's.

Steve placed his hand over Sharon's and gave it a soft squeeze. Sharon could always tell. Sharon always knew. Although Steve typically hated when Sharon called him out, he couldn't help but also be thankful. Steve appreciated how much Sharon cared. He was lucky to have a friend like her.

Resting her chin on Steve's broad shoulder, Sharon asked, "What happened with Bucky?"

Shaking his head and weakly sighing, Steve answered, "Nothing."

"You sure?" Sharon questioned, looking down at Steve. Steve nodded and Sharon informed Steve, "Bucky thinks... He thinks he did something wrong."

"He didn't do anything," Steve honestly replied.

Sharon briefly studied him, even though just by the rawness of his voice told her everything that she needed to know. With Steve's honesty, Sharon asked, "Then why haven't you returned his messages?" Steve shrugged and Sharon continued, "Why haven't you returned any of our messages?"

Annoyed, Steve snipped, "Because I haven't."

"Hey, no need for that tone," Sharon chastised.

"Well," Steve stated, pushing the comforter off of them and sitting up to move further away from Sharon, Steve falsely clarified, "I'm fine."

"You're not," Sharon stated, watching as Steve stood from the bed.

Steve's jaw momentarily clenched as he said, "Yes, I am."

"Why are you getting so --"

"Maybe I just want to be left alone," Steve interrupted.

Sharon climbed off Steve's bed and followed Steve into his kitchen, "Okay. Fine. But don't you think that a quick reply would be better than completely ignoring us."

"I'm sorry that I'm such an inconvenience," Steve snarked and took a drink from his freshly opened bottle of water.

"No," Sharon reprimanded, "Don't pull that shit." Steve rolled his eyes and Sharon tried again, "We're just worried."

"You don't have to be," Steve demanded, "I'm fine."

"Yeah," Sharon sarcastically agreed, "You sound fine."

Steve narrowed his eyes at Sharon. Then, Steve asked, "How did you even get in here?"

"I used my key," Sharon simply explained.

"I thought you didn't like doing that unless it was an emergency," Steve scoffed, leaving the kitchen to head back for his bedroom.

Sharon defended herself, "It was an emergency, Steve." Again, Steve scoffed and Sharon continued, "Jesus, you seriously expected us to just be okay with you dropping off the face of the --"

"I didn't drop off --"

"You called in to work," Sharon loudly spoke over Steve.

"Everyone needs a break every once in a while," Steve's voice rose as well.

"You haven't answered any messages or calls," Sharon continued, ignoring Steve's loud tone with her own. "You didn't even go to Kismet --"

"Oh, no! The worst offense," Steve mocked, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Do you have to be such a fucking prick every second of the god damn day?!" Sharon yelled, surprising Steve.

The anger was simmering in Steve and he held his hand out, "I want your key."

"What?" Sharon questioned with a heavy brow.

"I don't want you coming in here any time you want," Steve declared. Then, knowing that it would get to Sharon, he said, "It's rude."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Over the three years of their friendship they had had several fights, but nothing like this. Steve kept his expression stony and Sharon's eyes quickly flittered among his features, realizing that he wasn't messing around.

Slightly sagging in the disbelief and the hurt, Sharon softly agreed, "Fine." She picked up her shoes and turned to head towards the door. Dropping the shoes, she began slipping them on as she removed the key from the keyring. A part of Sharon was hoping that Steve was bluffing and that he would change his mind.

Once the key was removed from the ring, and Sharon realized that Steve wasn't bluffing, Sharon set the key down on the counter. Turning to face Steve, Sharon calmly stated, "I'm not sure what's going on with you, but I hope you figure it out. For all our sake. We care about you, Steve. We just want to make sure you're okay."

With that said, Sharon left, and Steve allowed his strong demeanor to crumple. Sliding along the length of the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Tears slid over his cheeks and the only thing that Steve could do was try to not think about anything.