James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
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"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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Days passed, and Bucky never texted me back.
I knew they weren't in too deep to use their phones; I'd called Natasha to ask what sort of groceries she wanted me to stock her kitchen with, and she'd answered and gave me a list. Granted, I'd heard gunshots in the background, and she'd had to put down the phone for a few minutes while I listened to her beating someone up. So I imagined Bucky was busy as well. I tried not to read too much into his silence.
I'd started sleeping on Wanda's couch. The first night that Nat was gone, I hadn't felt comfortable enough with Wanda to ask to stay with her. I'd only met her the previous day, after all.
But I'd heard a knock on the door of Nat's apartment before I went to bed that night. When I opened it, Wanda was smiling and holding up a bottle of rosé.
She'd told me that she thought I wouldn't want to be by myself. And that was true. But I think she'd wanted a friend too.
As it turned out, she had more wine in her apartment, and by two in the morning, I was drunkenly painting her nails (and a large area of skin around her nails) and telling her how beautiful her cuticles were. We passed out on her bed with The Office autoplaying in the background.
The work week was stressful. My mom had seen some pictures online of me hugging Tony in the coffee shop, and I'd lied to her when she called in a panic, asking why I was around an Avenger again. I told her I just met up with Tony for a coffee. I'd have to tell her I was quitting and coming back eventually, but I'd do it in person, where I could make sure she would be okay.
I'd turned in my resignation, so I was wracked with guilt at leaving them short a professor for next semester, and I still had to get my students through finals.
After four nights of hearing me complain on her couch as I graded and emailed, Wanda had become invested in my students. "Did Hunter ever get his shit together?" she asked as I began entering grades on Friday night.
"Nope. He failed."
"Dammit, Hunter!"
"He'll be fine. Rich parents."
Wanda shook her head in disgust. "What about Heather?"
"A on the final. Brought her to an 89% for the class, but I'm bumping it to an A."
"Amazing. Iconic. Inspirational. Both of you."
"We try."
"Hey, did Bucky ever text you back?"
"Nope," I laughed. The way she said it made me feel like a teenager at a sleepover. I'd never experienced that before, and I couldn't imagine Wanda had either. It was fun. Something about having gossip to discuss with her was almost worth the sting of rejection.
"He must be dead."
"Um, I hope not. He's probably busy."
"Dead makes more sense. It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't take 5 seconds to text you otherwise. I've been in his head. He's basically obsessed with you."
