Sweet Like Arsenic (B. Barnes) ✔

12 | bolognese

< A/N >

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   "Petunia won't talk." Bucky and I said at the same time. Shocked, I turned to glance at him, and he replicated my actions. Feeling my cheeks turn red, I looked down at the floor of the lounge back at the Avengers facility.

   "Of course she won't. I'm just wondering when she didn't kill herself." Bucky said.

   "She doesn't want to die. She wants to offer Shield Hydra's secrets in exchange for her freedom, but doesn't know if she's face repercussions from Hydra if she did so."

   "How typical," Bucky noted, and I nodded in agreement.

   We were silent for a few minutes. "Was Canto the scientist who experimented on you?" Steve broke the silence.

   "I'm leaving." I sighed, not ready to answer the question. "What do you guys want for dinner? I want to cook one last meal before I got sent back to my cell."

   "Donatella," Steve began, his eyes softening and filled with sorry. "I think it's time—"

   "For dinner!" I jumped in. "You know that I cook the best here."

   Nobody argued.

   "Who wants some baked spaghetti bolognese with shitloads of cheese?" I asked faux cheerfully, watching Kelsey smirk once she got what I was trying to do.

   "I'll help. Our diets require a salad or something remotely healthy." Steve offered with his eyes narrowed, but I couldn't help but grin. He dropped his shield on one of the sofas. "Give me a second to change. The suit is squashing my arse."

   He does have America's ass.

   Around half an hour later, the kitchen was filled with the lovely aroma of bolognese sauce and melted cheddar cheese. Steve stood with one hand on his hip and an egg in the other.

   "Remind me again; why do we need to fry an egg?" Steve asked, trying to hide his annoyance. He tried to turn around, but I stopped him.

   "Watch the pasta, idiot." I huffed, just as annoyed. I imagined him rolling his eyes as he poured a bit of oil and cracked the egg into a frying pan.

   He chuckled. "Assassin being passionate about cooking? Now that's a first." Steve frowned, then smiled. "Actually, Bucky is as well."

   I walked up to the stove with a serving plate to scoop up the spaghetti. "My parents cooked. So did my grandparents. And my great grandparents. They all loved cooking, well, apart from my great-grandma. She hated fire."

   "Does it have to do with your mother's powers?" Steve asked, flipping the egg.

   "I guess so. Jeanette Meyer was famous in Hydra for hating all forms of heat. That was why Petunia made fire manipulation her first power."

   Steve nodded, turning around to speak again.

   "Wait, how do you know about my grandmother? But actually—watch the egg, idiot!" I barked, almost dropping the pan I was holding. He complied, turning around.

   We lapsed into a comfortable silence—me grating some cheese, him frying the egg. When the sizzling came to a stop, and the spaghetti was in the oven, baking, we both stopped at the same time, admiring the mess we'd made in the kitchen.

   "What happened between you and Bucky?" Steve asked not unkindly, a quizzical look on his chiselled features.

   "Nothin', why?" I replied in an almost singsong manner.

   "Have you realised that he's more... open around you?" He pried, knowing that I'd eventually tell him.

   "Not at all."

   Steve leaned on the kitchen island, waiting for me to continue.

   "But I do find him cute."

   Steve smiled. "I think he's smitten by you."

   "But, after I told him that I killed for Hydra, he became a bit... distant. I guess he's just disgusted by what I've done. I am, too." I paused, hesitating for a second before continuing. "I've stopped killing for quite some time, though. That's why I resigned from Hydra. I didn't want to kill any more people - it sounds sadistic, but I just got tired of it."

   "How did you get to leave Hydra? No-one ever leaves them without being killed." A third, soft voice came from the door.

   I was too busy looking at my fingernails to notice Bucky standing at the door, listening to every word I've just said.

   "Nobody ever leaves Hydra, not really. I... I, uh, quitted in exchange for my family's undying loyalty (fidelity!) to Hydra, meaning that I got to leave the goddamned place while my whole family stayed."

   I swallowed, then continued. "The terms of the resignation were that if I aided another organisation, my family, namely my brother, would be used as leverage against me. There a chance that my brother's being hurt right now for me being here."

   I dared to look up at Bucky, who'd walked over to Steve.

   "So, Tella, your brother is being punished for you being here, right now?" Steve asked.

   "Possibly," I replied simply, turning my back on him and pouring myself a glass of water from the jug next to the serving plate.

   I sipped the water shakily, feeling the glass of water slip out of my hands. I watched it fall onto the tiled floor, the water spilling everywhere.

   "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, "Do you know where the rags are? I clean that up, I'm so sorry, really sorry, oh god-"

   "Tella, you're rambling," Bucky stated, deciding to rest his flesh hand on the small of my back. He guided me to a high seat on the island, bending down slightly to look at me squarely in the eyes.

   "Why didn't you tell us about your brother?" He ordered, his voice strained with concern.

   "Why would I? I was your prisoner. All I wanted to do was to escape." I said bitterly. I looked over to where I was earlier - Steve was cleaning up the mess I'd made with a mop he found somewhere.

   "Do you?" Bucky asked, eyebrows raised gently.

   "Do I..."

   "Do you still want to leave us?"

   I titled my head, biting the inside of my lip before answering. "I honestly don't know."

    Bucky smiled softly, taking a step forward.

   "Tella, I used to believe that no one cared about me, that I was the only one facing problems in the team." Bucky put his hands on my shoulders - making me remember that night when he had a nightmare. "I didn't let anyone in, choosing to dig myself into a hole that I couldn't have gotten out of without help from Steve."

   I tilt my head to the side, motioning him to continue.

   "Just know that you can confide in me, yeah? I might not be the kindest person in the world, but you can trust me, doll." Bucky hoisted himself up into the seat next to mine, turning so he was facing me once again.

   "Why should I? I don't know who I can trust anymore, Bucky." I began, remembering my graphic design company that seemed to have existed a lifetime ago. "I hired ten workers, just ten, expecting them to be graphic artists and only graphic artists. I can't believe that I trusted goddamn Hydra to stay out of my life after leaving them for good. They promised me, Buck. They promised."

   Clenching my hands into two tight fists and allowing overgrown fingernails to dig into the palms of my hands, I made up my mind:

   I was going back to Hydra to get my family back.