NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT (BUCKY BARNES x OC)

Chapter 68

TW: Domestic Violence
Word Count: 3255

The mission went pretty well. I felt bad when I'd hear Steve answer the phone every night to talk to Bucky after a nightmare. I was only up during those hours because I've been waking up about every hour for an unknown reason.

It was a Thursday afternoon and I was at the lab, happy to be back from wherever it is that I went. I got home yesterday and went over to Cody's, but everything went wrong and I ended up leaving.

"I thought I told you to go to the gym ten minutes ago," Cody said, bursting into my lab with no warning. I immediately tensed up.

"I'm sorry. I got distracted by my work," I said, turning to look at him.

"Did I ask for an excuse?" He punched me in the face. I tried to recover from it quickly. My hand immediately grabbed it, feeling blood. "Fuck!" He looked at his hand before back at me. He grabbed me by my hair and made me look at him. "I'm sick and tired of you not listening to me! The next time I tell you to meet me somewhere, I expect you to."

"O-okay," I said, feeling myself start to cry.

"Stop crying," he said, pulling his hand away from me roughly. "Stupid bitch. We're just not going to train today, I guess. I'll see you at my place tonight at eight. Wear something slutty and cover that damn bruise up," he said, grabbing my face and inspecting the bruise. "I'm always good at hiding the marks, so if anyone thinks I'm beating you, I'm going to be so fucking pissed. Can't believe you made me punch you in the face," he said, storming out of my lab.

I quickly reached for a tissue and pressed it against my swollen cheekbone. He must've been wearing a ring or something on his knuckles because I bled. I started crying, wondering how I got myself into this position. I tried to calm myself down.

After a few minutes, I heard familiarly heavy footsteps from down the hallway. I sighed quietly.

"Hey," Bucky said gently from the doorway. I held the tissue on my face and silently cursed, knowing I wouldn't be able to avoid him. "I'm having problems with the arm. Tony said he couldn't help me and told me to wait for you to come back. I know this probably isn't what you wanted to do on your first day back. C-could you look at it real quick please? I brought Alpine." I could tell he was nervous just from his voice.

"Sure," I said, not turning around. I quickly threw the tissue away and grabbed the scanner. I heard him move to the examination table and sit down. I turned to face him. "You know the drill," I said, trying to keep everything lighthearted. I saw Alpine on his right shoulder and I pet him with a smile.

"What happened?" Bucky asked gently, looking at my cheek. He was searching my face, probably for other bruises.

"Mission went a little wrong," I said, shrugging.

"Didn't you get back yesterday? This looks fresh," he said, grabbing my shoulders lightly. He tilted my head up gently with his right hand. "What happened to you?" I felt a tear slip down my face.

"Nothing," I said, smiling at him. "Let's figure out what's wrong with your arm." I started the scanner up and went to put it next to his arm.

"Brooklyn Daisy, who did this to you?"

"One of the bad guys," I said, shrugging.

"I already talked to Steve, and he said you didn't get hurt on the mission."

"What even is it? I have no idea of its existence."

"It was that Cody idiot, wasn't it?" He asked, tensing up. "Hurry up and fix my arm so I can go beat the shit out of him with it."