NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT (BUCKY BARNES x OC)

Chapter 64

TW: Yelling, Drinking
Word Count: 2300

Nat stuck her hand in the elevator doors and stepped in quickly. Bucky looked confused and I felt very awkward.

"I need to talk to you," she said with no emotion, facing the front.

"My god, I'm never getting out of this elevator," I said, laughing awkwardly as I watched the doors close, leaving me alone with her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"We can go down to your office lab thing," she said blankly. "Don't worry about anything."

"Who said I was?"

"I just know what kind of girl you are," she said, chuckling.

The rest of the ride was silent after she said that. I couldn't help but feel awkward. What did she mean when she said she knows what kind of girl I am? Do I just radiate an anxious energy? Do people talk about me when I'm not around?

She stepped into the lab after I did and looked around while I sat in my desk chair. I let Alpine go, and he did his own thing.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"You changed a few things around since I've been in here last," she said, still examining the place. "It looks nice."

"You were in here for a split second like two years ago. How do you remember that?"

"I just do," she said, sitting down on the other chair. "Anyways, I just want to talk to you about the whole Barnes thing. I know you overheard us on the jet."

"Yeah," I said, trailing off. I was afraid of her. She's a very intimidating person.

"I'm going to clear some stuff up. When Bucky first came to the tower, we just kinda clicked because we went through similar things. I thought we were both attracted to each other, so I started hinting at a friends with benefits kind of thing. He agreed to it at first, but we never ended up doing anything because the next day he called it off. He told me that he thought he might have a chance with you."

"Is that why you would tease me about it and set me up with guys you didn't know?" I asked, laughing lightly. "Do you hate me?" I asked nervously and out of nowhere.

"Kinda," she said honestly, shrugging. "I'm a competitive person, Daisy, and everyone before you joined the team used to think I was so smart, attractive, and badass. I know there's more important things than those three, but all I heard from a lot of people, mostly Bucky, was about how smart and attractive you were. You also have the whole girly, emotional, friendly thing going for you, so I thought that maybe we were just evenly tied."

"You can't compare yourself to someone else, Nat. Were you scared I was going to be seen as 'badass' too? Is that why you'd make rude comments about me going to the gym?"

"Maybe," she said simply. "But you being on the team is why Bucky and I had that conversation. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry all of this happened, I guess. If you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me."

"It's okay," I said, giving her a small smile. "I always thought we were friends."

"I don't do friends, Stark."

"Then what would you call Steve? Or Clint? Friends make everything about life that's sucky so much better."

"I guess you're right," she said uncertainly. She probably said that to get me to stop talking.

"I have one more question." She raised her eyebrow slightly. "If you didn't want Bucky and I to get together, why did you always tease me about getting with him? It seemed like you were practically pushing me onto him."