Love over Blood - Bucky Barnes

Chapter Twenty

Opal's POV

Hunter's birthday starts off like it usually does. He wakes me and James up extremely early and we head downstairs. "WOW!" Hunter yells. The living room is filled with balloons and banners and then his presents are scattered all over the sofa's. He rushes over and rips open everything. We sit there for around an hour as he makes his way through the large pile, a smile never once leaves James' face. Hunter runs over and hugs us both "Thank-you so much". We then dig into our breakfast- pancakes with icing and sprinkles, Hunter's traditional birthday meal.

Around 2pm we all shower and get ready. Me and James planned to take him out for food and then Tony has a surprise for him apparently so we've been ordered to take him over to the compound. James wasn't happy about me leaving at first but it's Hunter's birthday and I have more energy now. He knows not to fight me on this.

Bucky's POV

After our lunch at Hunter's favourite place- McDonald's, he's definitely following Opal, we head over to the compound.

As we walk in, the whole common area is decorated in banners and balloons "SURPRISE!" Everyone yells, Hunter runs forward to the huge pile of presents stacked in the middle of the room. Opal's in shock "Tony?", "Hey, you're both apart of the family now. You can expect this on yours too" he points. Opal hugs him tightly "Thank-you".

Everyone gathers around while Hunter opens his cards and presents, every person on the team bought him something and he's over the moon. "Dad look! Auntie Nat bought me a nerf gun" Natasha smirks devilishly at us "Start them early, right?", Opal laughs whilst I just shake my head. Steve got Hunter a small plastic shield that looks just like his and Sam built him a toy redwing that I swear was prompted by my hate for that thing. "Alright, uncle Tony's turn" we all roll our eyes amusingly. He snaps his fingers and in comes Happy and Peter pulling a large wagon filled with presents. Everyone's mouths are agape "It's like three Christmas' in a row!" Hunter laughs, He tears every bit of wrapping paper while Opal takes photos to send to Cindy.

"Hey little guy, I got you something" Peter smiles, Hunter opens the bag and it's a photo frame filled with pictures of Hunter and the team. Hunter smiles "This is my favourite gift". He's such a sweet kid, honestly. What child would prefer a picture over 200+ toys that me and Opal's going to have fun trying to fit in his room.

We spend a few hours at the compound. We sing him happy birthday and cut his cake. After we've eaten Bruce asks Opal if he can give her a check over, they've been in the lab for around 20 minutes now, surely it wouldn't take that long. I head down there "Hey, you ready to go see Cindy and your grandparents?" Opal jumps "Oh, yeah, sure, okay". She's acting strange "Everything okay?", "Oh yeah, Bruce said I'm practically all better now. Thanks again Bruce and thank-you for making Hunter's birthday special".

Hunter has thanked everyone at-least 50 times already, we practically had to drag him out.
On the drive to Nora and George's I continue to ask Opal if everything's okay, she says yes but I know she's lying. Once we park outside the house Hunter jumps out and runs straight in, so I lock the car doors "Alright, tell me what's going on", "Nothing James now drop it". I'm shocked by her attitude, "Fine" I get out and slam the car door behind me.

Opal's awfully quiet and it doesn't go unnoticed. Cindy calls her out of the room and I assume she's spilling everything to her. I can't help the feeling of jealousy creeping it's way up, why wouldn't she tell me? It's after 9 when we decide to head home, Hunter's fallen asleep so I carry him to the car.

The drive home is quiet and so is the rest of the time we spend together. I decide to go up to bed, leaving Opal alone like she so clearly wants.

I toss and turn for about an hour before I decide to give up. I'm not going to sleep clearly. I go downstairs expecting to see Opal asleep on the sofa but to my surprise she's sitting up staring at the blank TV, she's so lost in thought that she doesn't even notice I'm here. I take a seat next to her, she slightly jumps. "Did I do something?" I ask worriedly, she lets out a sigh "No, I'm sorry. I just don't want to talk about it", "I'll drop it as long as you can promise me it's nothing serious". She leans into my side and promises I have nothing to worry about.

The next few days Opal's back to normal- sort of. She's completely healed but her mood is still a little low. I check up on her constantly but remember not to push it, she'll tell me when she's ready. I can't deny that I'm not worried though but she promised. She wouldn't lie, right?