The next week went by fast and Sam stopped asking me questions and telling me anything about Bucky which I appreciated.
I've just been doing some work for Tony at the tower. He hasn't spoken much to me since that day with Bucky which has been about a month now. Wow...time has passed by fast, I was thinking of finding Bucky and talking to him but since I assumed he stopped asking for me, he probably didn't want to talk to me anymore. I couldn't blame him though I have been pretty MIA but it seems like it's for the best.
Cole Is gone on a trip and won't be back until next weekend so it told Steve and apparently they are going on a mission. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with following Cole or anything, he wouldn't tell me.
Anyway, Cole was really upset for having to leave considering it's my birthday tomorrow. I reassured him it was fine regardless. I was pretty glad I wasn't going to have to spend any more time with him. I have told Steve however about how he's been asking me a bit about my missions and training this one time we hung out before we hung out for the last time and he left.
ℱ𝓁𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀~~~~~~~~~~~
"𝑆𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑤'𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟?" ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘. 𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑜𝑢𝑡, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑒'𝑠 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒.
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑."
"𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ? 𝑆𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑?"
"𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒."
"𝑂ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦? 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑢𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ?"
"𝑈𝑚 𝑛𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑆𝑎𝑚."
"𝑆𝑎𝑚?" 𝐻𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.
"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑛,"𝐼 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ.
"𝐴ℎ 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡," ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. "𝑆𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦."
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡."
"𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑?"
"𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑠𝑜."
"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒."
𝐻𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.
ℰ𝓃𝒹 ℴ𝒻 𝒻𝓁𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀~~~~~~~~
After that we hung out once more an just had a good time going out bowling and eating before he had to leave for a trip.
I got up, changed into my work out clothes and got ready to workout with Sam.
"Hey Buttercup," he said as I walked in the gym looking like a mess feeling really tired. As I finished rubbing my eyes I looked up to see Bucky their doing weights not really focusing on me. This was the first time I've seen him in person in a month and I wasn't really sure what to say to him after basically avoiding talking to him or giving him any insight on how I was.
"Hey," I said heading over to do some stretches before I started running on the treadmill first.
"You look tired," Sam said as he also did stretches next to me.
"Yeah I couldn't really sleep, I've been up doing some paperwork for Tony."
"Ah I see, I forget you're still sorta his assistant."
"Not assistant per-say."
"It seems like it."
I start up on the treadmill a few feet away from Bucky doing weights while Sam starts to run beside me.
"An assistant runs to get him coffee and shit aside from paper work and such. I don't, I just do paper work and occasionally call back people he needs to talk to and just tell them what he wants me to say so I'm not his assistant."
"True."
"So what are the plans for tomorrow?"
"Uh nothing?" I say laughing. I haven't talked to Tony in a while besides awkward small talk so we haven't really planned to go out. I'm sure he's still upset with me and I don't really feel like doing anything. I told Stacey she could come but of course she told me that the whole week she had to work overtime so it seems like it's just me a tub of chocolate ice cream and Netflix.
"What?"
"I don't really feel like doing anything and Stacey is gonna be too busy to be doing anything."
"You haven't talked to Tony or planned to do anything? Don't you guys go out for dinner every year?"
"Not every year, just when we are too busy to actually do anything."
"And you're not doing that either?" He asks continuing to run sounding out of breath now as I am.
"Nope. It's fine though I don't mind." I say honestly.
I'm not a kid anymore and as you get older people get busy, I get it. I don't expect to always have an awesome birthday. Sometimes you gotta just relax home and I'm happy with that.
He looked upset for me.
"Look, Tony and I haven't really talked in a long time . It's different now and I'm sure he's mad at me or something but I'm fine with it."
"Well, I'll be here so maybe we can watch some movies and get wasted like we used too?" He asked referring to when we used to rant to each other about our lives and get wasted here in the tower or we would go out and go to bars. I remember when It was my birthday a few years back he surprised me by visiting and he we went to the club and he got so drunk that he started to dance on the stage with the people preforming that he got us kicked out and I had to call us an Uber.
"Sounds good," I say with a laugh.
I stop running and play some music from the speakers we have in here.
The song that popped up first from my shuffle playlist was "Kiwi," by Harry Styles. It was perfect and I started getting into it as I noticed Sam and Bucky just looking at me like I was a psycho.
"What? I love Harry Styles," I said continuing running.
After a bit longer running I started sparring with Sam as I played One direction in the back.
I was a lot better than when I first started. Not a pro like all of these guys but good enough to defend myself if needed too.
"For the love of god, do we have to listen to this while we spar?!" He shouted over the music as I continuously block his punches and nearly punch him many times myself.
"What? Can't focus?!" I ask laughing a bit.
I stop the music and play something more casual lowered in the background.
"Better?"
"Much," he says out of breath. "You're getting good."
"Getting? I nearly tackled you."
"Yea because I was distracted by your One Way boys playing in the background," he said drawing circles with his finger towards the speaker.
"It's One Direction and sure, whatever helps," I say laughing a bit as he rolls his eyes.
"Well im gonna head out and shower."
"Alright, I'm probably going to run some more," I tell him as he leaves me in the gym with Bucky who is now running on one of the treadmill.
I actually went to lift some weights since I haven't practiced lifting weights in a bit. I didn't do anything too crazy, just something to help me strengthen my arms.
"Hey," I said to Bucky as he finally looked at me from the whole time I was there besides when I kinda got into my music and he stared at me along with Sam.
"Hey," he said in a monotone voice sounding tired.
"How are you?" I ask trying to make conversation. Not to be rude but I don't want to ignore him like everyone here tends to do and I feel like if I don't try to talk to him right now that's what it will lead to and I would hate that.
"I'm alright," he said looking serious and straight ahead.
"I heard you're making real progress now with Shuri, I'm proud of you," I say smiling now just sitting hoping he'd talk to me more. He must hate me for not going to talk to him at all.
"Thanks, I'm just doing what I got to," he say still looking straight ahead with a monotone expression before looking at me and smiling a bit really quickly.
"Yea," I said not really sure what to say anymore. I hate this, I feel like I'm talking to the Bucky I met when he was first here. It's awkward and he's distant and I can't blame him but I hate it.
"Hey listen, I'm sorry I never got to talk to you when you were in the infirmary all this time."
"It's fine," he sighed. "You weren't allowed to anyway so it was for the best."
I hated that he was right. Does he think that though? That it was for the best? Am I just overreacting on him being upset and really he doesn't care? He sounds mad though, and if I'm being honest I would feel pretty sad if he didn't care. That would mean I've been worrying for nothing when he's been fine without me.
"I gonna go shower," he says finally getting off the treadmill and finishing his workout. He started to walk away until I went to grab his arm.
"Wait!"
He just turns to look at my hand grabbing his arm looking very serious and upset.
"Look I meant to see you okay? I just- I didn't want to get you in trouble."
"I was willing to get in trouble to see you Jane," he said looking at me with a smirk like he was amused when I know he's probably really frustrated with me.
"I just-I felt like an idiot asking about you all the time when you didn't even care to try and see me this past month. You didn't need to of course but It would have made me relax a bit knowing you were ok. If I was pushing your boundaries you could've told me and I would've gladly left you alo-"
"No! No that's not it."
He looks frustrated at my lack of a straightforward answer as to why I didn't see him. Why didn't I? I was afraid of getting close but is it really that big of a deal?
"I just-I..," I say stammering not sure what to say feeling frustrated in myself.
"Hey," he says lifting my chin up to look at his eyes. "It's okay. I understand," he says sighing beforehand and having a softer expression.
"You do?" He does?
He just stared at me looking unsure for a second until he spoke. "You wanna show me some of your new moves?" He asks with a smirk ignoring my question and letting go of my chin.
"My moves?"
"Yea I saw you with Sam, don't think I didn't notice. You're pretty good."
"Oh yeah? Good enough to take on THE Bucky Barnes?" I jokingly ask all dramatically.
"I guess that's what we're gonna find out," he says with a smirk.
We start to spar and I have been getting pretty good. I'm blocking a lot more of his punches at a faster rate then before. Then again I know he's still holding back a bit. I grab his arm and he grabs my hand and I try a trick Nat taught me.
I slide down under his separated legs and kick his legs as he lets go of my hand. I stand up quick kicking him again and kneel him down pinning him to the ground.
The room is just filled with our pants as he continues to stare at me intensely rather than last time when he was smirking at me. This reminds me of last time except I'm the one who has him pinned down.
"I've missed you," he whispers out of breath scanning my face.
I don't say anything at first still feeling out of breath and now somewhat overwhelmed for knowing I wasn't crazy and he did miss me.
"I've missed you," I said honestly.
His serious expression breaks into a smile.
"You're pretty good," he says with a smirk before eyeing down at how our bodies are. Insinuating that I've gotten better.
"Oh please," I say scoffing and getting off of him.
"Only because you're going easy on me," I say lending him a hand getting up.
"I am most certainly not," he says trying to seem serious as he straightens himself up.
I give him a knowing look.
"Okay maybe a little," he says giving me childish smile and turning around to walk out.
"I knew it!"
"Nothing gets past you darling," he says chuckling walking out.