i'm with you, every step of the way

Chapter 5

"Hey Rogers, I see your girlfriend is here with Barney," Tony teased while approaching him. Steve shot him a glare.

"Shut up, Stark. She's not my girlfriend, stop calling her that. And can you just please leave them alone already? They aren't even doing anything to you." he scolded Tony, clearly annoyed. He just doesn't get why Natasha has to be the butt of all the jokes, of everything horrible in high school. She doesn't deserve it; she never fights back to what they throw at her.

The second half started on a good note. They are actually leading, and by the fourth quarter, it was obvious that they would win. Natasha yawned and leaned her head onto Bucky's shoulder, blinking sleepily. It was close to 10 o'clock, which is her usual bedtime on Fridays.

"Aw, is Nat sleepy now?" Bucky asked playfully, in a kind of baby voice. He draped his jacket over her and put his arm around her to make her more comfortable. Natasha smiled and shook her head.

"Not really... just tired. It's getting late." She yawned again and Bucky laughed. "I'm sure we're gonna win though..." she trailed off, her eyes heavy.

"Yeah, do you want to go now? Or finish the game? If we do win, this will be another 30 minutes, with all the pictures and stuff." He told her, looking down at her trying to fight sleep.

"I'll just take a nap right here and... wake... me up.. . when it's over," she mumbled.

"Sure thing, just don't drool on me," Bucky joked. She merely nodded and dozed off.

They ended up winning, with Steve scoring the final touchdown. Everyone erupted in cheers and screams, which to Bucky's surprise, didn't faze Natasha at all. He tried to wake her up but she wouldn't budge so he chuckled and waited for the crowd to lessen before they leave. He found Maria and Pepper who already made their way down to the players and the rest of the school to congratulate them. Maria looked for him and he waved at her, pointing to Natasha who's still pretty sound asleep. Maria just gave him a "go" signal, which means that she and Pepper would probably be off to some party that night. He gave her a thumbs up.

Steve noticed this and followed Maria's line of vision. He saw Natasha sleeping on Bucky's shoulder and something about it made him so mad. He felt his jaw tighten and his fingers clench, but he just doesn't quite know why he's feeling like that. He knows he should celebrate, dammit, he's the next football captain. So he turned around and put a big smile on his face, even though his heart feels heavy and something is just tugging at his brain and bothering him.

When everyone settled down and most of the people left, Bucky tried to nudge Natasha awake again. It didn't work so he shook his head. "This girl can sleep like she's in a coma, geez," he muttered. He moved around and scooped down, opting to just carry Natasha bridal-style, if he ever wants to leave. Because it looks like Natasha would sleep here all night if given the chance. She merely mumbled something incoherent as he lifted her off, her arm dangling over his shoulder on his back.

Bucky chuckled at the sight of her and moved his jacket so it's covering her. She shuffled on his arms as he was walking, burying her face into his neck unknowingly and the thought of it made him smile.

As he was walking out, he passed by Steve by the stadium entrance.

"What happened to her?" he asked, his voice sounding urgent, a bit worried, and accusatory... ? Bucky narrowed his eyes at him.

"Your game was so boring, she fell asleep," Bucky deadpanned, his voice laced with sarcasm. Steve actually looked taken aback by that answer at first, but he rolled his eyes and walked away, clenching his fists.

Bucky caught sight of Natasha's mom's car and walked towards her. Victoria went out of the car, looking shocked and approached Bucky.

"Is she okay?" She asked, a bit frantically. She started to shake Natasha awake.