Bucky
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"Bucky, can I talk to you, alone?" As she said it I could see my name almost get stuck in her throat, the effort it took for her to address me directly.
I was still reeling from her taking me down so easily, not even slightly out of breath.
I felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, I nodded mutely, noticing Cam pushing away from us.
"Well that is clearly my queue to go lay in bed with Doritos." Cam said, smiling at us.
I noticed as she got to the doorway, she mouthed 'thank you' to Juliette who had watched her the whole way.
I was stunned, unable to say anything, do anything more than turn to look down at her as Cam left.
"Don't leave." Juliette said, her voice strong but quiet, it made me snap my head back around to assess her.
Cam told her. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"She'll be fine, it's just until this gets sorted." I said, finding my voice.
"Not just for her." She said, I frowned at her "For everyone. I'm not asking to be your friend. I don't want to get to know you or anything, but I'm not being the reason you leave." She said, clearly uncomfortable having to talk to me, she wasn't able to look at me.
The bravado she'd just had, the courage leaking from her body every second she was alone with me.
The way she was watching me, the way her eyes roamed everywhere but my face, the way her eyes lingered on my arm, like she was scared of me, like at any second I could hurt her, snapped something inside of me.
She just had me on my ass in less that six seconds, yet she was looking at me like I was the problem, like she was the victim, still the victim.
"I'm not staying to alleviate your guilt." I snapped, fists clenching.
Her eyes moved from my arm, snapped up to my face. My stomach clenched.
"It's got nothing to do with guilt, I just don't want to be someone's excuse to run." She frowned at me, disgusted.
She was the reason I was running from my home, it was her fault, and the look she threw me snapped something further. I wasn't the problem anymore. Cam's words, Steve's words, Wanda's pleas into my head, everyones words seem to flood me in that moment.
"That, right there, that is why I can't stay here." I growled at her, nodding at her expression. "The way you look at me like I'm still him, like I broke you is why I can't stay here." I felt my shoulders tense and she gasped.
"Do you even remember what you did to me? You <I>did</I> break me, you ruined me." She spat back, her small fists curling, like she'd hit me if she didn't think I'd hit back. I wouldn't.
"No." I shook my head, stepping closer to her. I saw it, the fear behind her eyes, the urge to step back, the urge to shrink away from me and it just fuelled my rage. "You were broken long before I stepped foot in that place." I could feel the glare on my face, the rage.
She didn't move, her chin snapped up, not backing down. I saw it behind her eyes, the fear fade away and made room for her own anger, the courage she'd had when she walked into the room seeping back into her body, spreading through her veins.
"Fuck you." She growled back, her breathing as heavy as my own.
Her body so close, the way her eyes burned into my own made my body tingle, my breath speed in a way that wasn't wholly the anger.
