Frost

Chapter 110

"You should really enjoy this."

"I'm going to."

"I know you are."

"Yeah."

"Face each other," Dr. Raynors repeated, causing the three to finally turn their chairs toward each other so they were sitting in a triangle. "Let's do it. Let's stare!"  Bucky said with false enthusiasm, on the one hand to further agitate Sam and on the other to maintain the smile on Ivy's face that she had been failing to hide for a few minutes. "Get close," Raynors said, and Bucky grabbed Ivy's chair to pull her a little closer to him, while Sam moved a little closer to them on his own. "This is a good exercise. Thanks, Doc." Ivy, meanwhile, had to blink to get rid of the tears that were trying to escape her as much as the laughter in her throat. Bucky's Vibarnium arm grabbed one of Ivy's thighs and threw it over his leg so the two were almost sitting on top of each other.

"All right, good. All right, Sam get closer. Come on, a little closer. Bucky, leave Ivy alone. You don't have to put her on top of you!" sighed Raynor annoyed, to which Bucky gave her a look that was supposed to say something like "Then where's the point?". "I don't want to get near those two" Sam said a little louder, which made Ivy roll her eyes and grab his chair, pushing it a little closer to them. "Which way you want to go? Right or left?" Bucky asked him as their knees bumped against each other. "Do you have to have your legs open? You know what? Fine. Here. You happy now?" Sam moved one of his legs between Bucky's and sat so close to them that there was no room for Ivy's other leg, so she bent it and put it under her ass.

"All right."

"All right."

"Good. Fine."

"We're locked in. "

"I don't like it. I need my personal space."

"That's a little close," Bucky agreed with Ivy, though he only objected to Sam being so close to them. If Dr. Raynors hadn't stopped him, Ivy would be sitting on his lap right now. "Very close. That's what you wanted, right?" asked Sam, upset, pointing back and forth between the three of them. "Guys. Good. Now look at each other. You need to look at each other in the eyes. There, you see? That wasn't so hard." What Dr. Raynors didn't seem to notice for the moment was that Sam and Bucky had started a staring contest going on, while Ivy had secretly taken out one of her knives and was playing around with it during the staring contest between the two men. "Wait, what are you doing? Are you having a staring contest? Ivy put the knife away!" she said sternly, which made Ivy roll her eyes and put the knife away. "Just blink" Raynors seemed to be at her wits end, especially when she snapped her fingers in front of Sam's and Bucky's faces, causing them both to blink. "Sweet Jesus. All right, James, why does Sam aggravate you? And don't say something childish."

"Why did you give up that shield?" asked Bucky after a few seconds, staring Sam squarely in the eye. Ivy's own eyes moved to Sam, who crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Why are you making such a big deal out of something that has nothing to do with you?" he replied instead of answering Bucky's question. "Steve believed in you. He trusted you. He gave you that shield for a reason. That shield, that is... that is everything he stood for. That is his legacy. He gave you that shield, and you threw it away like it was nothing," Bucky replied, and Ivy reached for his hand as his voice began to tremble. Sam may not like to understand why the matter was so important to Bucky, but Ivy did.

"Shut up," Sam said, which this time also made Ivy give him a warning look. He could at least try to listen to why it was so important to Bucky. "So maybe he was wrong about you. And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me" Bucky said, his voice breaking at the end, which made Ivy clench his hand with both of hers. She didn't know how this exercise was going to help them, because somehow it felt like everything was getting worse. "You finished?" Sam seemed to shrug off Bucky's words, making Ivy mutter his name in warning as Bucky breathed heavily, trying to calm down again. "Yeah." He glanced over at Ivy briefly and smiled gently at her, though she could tell he was only doing it to make her feel better, which produced the opposite.