Ghost of You

t h i r t y - n i n e

"You're pretty intimidating when you set your mind on something I'll give you that, but not even you can be in two places at once." He pauses for a moment, considering his words. "Or can you?"

I fight back a laugh, something I seemed to be doing a lot around him lately.

"I wish but no." I reply, shaking my head. "I'm a hundred percent human, no super prefix for me."

He gives me a look, it's one I've come to recognize to be synonymous with, "You're being ridiculous."

"Nothing wrong with being human, Jersey."

"Says the super-soldier." I retort. His eyes light up in response.

"Speaking of super-soldiers..." He says, turning so that he is facing me directly, the side of his hip resting against the counter and his arms crossed over his chest.

"God not this again." I sigh, closing my eyes and tilting my head back.

It had been nineteen days since I had arrived here, and not one of those nineteen days had passed without James Buchanan Barnes Jr. finding not-so-subtle ways of asking me about Steve.

"You know you're going to tell me everything eventually anyway." I hear him reason.

When I open my eyes I see the familiar smirk on his face. It's the one he uses when he's so confident he's right, that he has to hold in a laugh at the fact that I could even possibly think he's wrong.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" I ask, turning to face him and mimicking his position as best as I can. My hip is too short to rest against the island the way his is, so I settle for resting an elbow against the counter instead.

"What do you mean?" He questions, looking a little confused. On most of the occassions he's pestered me about this, I either ignore him or immediately change the subject. Now that I actually responded to him, he wasn't sure what to do.

"I mean you've been badgering me about this for over two weeks." I explain. "Why does it matter so much to you to know about what happened with Steve and I?"

"It just does." He says, still slightly taken aback.

"If you want me to tell you secrets about my personal life I'm gonna need a better reason than it just does." I reply, looking at him expectantly.

He's quiet for a moment, clearly trying to think of a better reason. In the end he just shrugs, giving me the exact answer I knew he would.

"He's my best friend." He says, simply.

"And that's exactly why I can't talk to you about this." I answer victoriously. "I'm not going to talk about what went wrong between Steve and I with his best friend."

"So something did go wrong with you two."

Damn it.

That was certainly a short-lived victory. He's looking at me, grinning knowingly. Apparently he knew that if he got me talking about Steve long enough that I would let something slip. He had played dumb, and I had fallen right into his trap. I guess the constant reminders of Steve had worn me down. I was tired of the game, tired of James Buchanan Barnes Jr's search for answers, tired of constantly being forced to think about Steve in the first place.

I stare at him, giving him a look that says "Do you really want to do this?"

He's glaring back at me with a look that says "Yes, I really do."

"None of it matters anymore." I tell him honestly. "Steve's on the run. We aren't on speaking terms. Me and him... It's a thing of the past."

"So was I." He responds quickly. "And so was Steve. Things of the past have a way of sneaking back into our futures. Steve and I are living proof."