Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

An Old Friend

"Are you alright?" Steve asked warily. Erin scoffed out a laugh.

"He's currently sitting on my couch with my cat eating his way through an entire box of Reese's pieces. He's fine."

Steve let out a sigh of relief he didn't realise he'd been holding in.

"I've been helping him to get his memories back," she explained, "With the serum, you know. He mentioned you, so I thought-"

Steve nodded, already picking up his bag and heading out of the gym.

"Where do you live?"

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"You hungry?" Erin asked, looking over to Bucky, who was sat on the other side of her couch, completely engrossed in the television, which was half way through Beauty and the Beast. Crookshanks was curled up in the space between them.

"Shh." Bucky muttered, transfixed by the screen. It was near the end of the movie, and Gaston and the townsfolk had gone in a mob to try to kill the Beast. Erin smiled and rolled her eyes at his response, getting up from the couch and picking up an orange from her fruit bowl. She peeled the skin off and threw it in the trashcan, jumping back onto the couch ungracefully and causing Crookshanks to grumble angrily at her for the unexpected movement.

She wordlessly offered Bucky a segment of the orange, and he smiled at her, taking it and popping it into his mouth, before settling back in to watch the remainder of the film. He looked a lot better than he had that morning, when his eyes had been lined with dark circles. He'd put the thin black sweatshirt on again, zipping it up to his sternum.

Erin had purposefully wrapped a thin black silk scarf around her neck to hide the bruises from earlier. Bucky had noticed it. He kept glancing at it guiltily, but hadn't said anything. Eventually, Erin had sighed and snapped, 'I'm not about to shatter, Barnes. It takes a lot more than a choke to scare me off.'

Bucky had pursed his lips, but stayed silent. He didn't believe her.

The film finished not long after, and Erin stretched her arms above her head, masking a yawn. Bucky turned to her, his eyes lit.

"That," he said, "Was incredible."

Erin let out a snort and pulled her legs up underneath her, sitting on them on the couch.

"Who knew you'd end up such a Disney-lover?"

There was a knock on the door that made both of them jump. Erin stood up and walked over, glancing through the small eye-level hole to see who was outside.

It was him.

She turned to Bucky, a slightly guilty look on her face.

"Don't hate me for this."

He quirked his eyebrow, confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"I invited someone over," Erin admitted, "I thought it would be good for you-"

Bucky was up like a shot, walking towards Erin with a purposeful stride. He reached her in only three steps, looking down at her with an expression of fury.

"You had no right," he hissed, "I'm in hiding, Erin. I don't need anyone here but you."

She rolled her eyes, all too aware of the proximity. They were so close that she could feel the heat rolling off Bucky's torso in waves. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling. Her heartbeat increased slightly, her breathing hitched. He was angry at her, leaning over her.

Without thinking, she took an involuntary step backwards, and Bucky straightened as soon as he noticed, a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"Hear me out. You know him."

"I don't know anyone, Erin-"

She turned around and unlocked the door, opening it to the bulky form of Steve Rogers, blonde hair and blue eyes and infuriatingly perfect jawline all in place.

"Holy crap you're taller than I thought you were going to be..." Erin muttered, but Steve wasn't looking at her. He was looking right past her into the eyes of the man who, a few seconds ago, had been looming over Erin like a dark cloud.

"Buck..." His lips formed the word but no sound came out. Steve took a large step forwards into the apartment and raised his arms, enveloping the shorter man in his massive grip. Bucky flinched for a second, not used to such close contact, before raising his arms in response and replicating the hug. Steve took a step back, his arms on the dark haired man's shoulders.

"God, Buck. I missed you."

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