You've spent most of your time tanning with Natasha either talking about something or reading a magazine or book. You've also been to the beach a couple of times and you played volleyball there which was pretty fun since Bruce was always falling down trying to catch the ball and Thor didn't quite understand that he is not supposed to catch it. Today you split up since some of you wanted to try surfing while some preferred to do other activities at the house. Actually only you, Bucky, and Cap went even though Sam wanted to come along but he got seasick from driving on the boat earlier so you figured that he should have some rest first.
The three of you, everyone with a surfboard in one hand and a wetsuit in the other, headed to the beach. It was a challenge to put on the wetsuit since it was just so tight but you managed to do it after some time, but still struggled with zipping up the zipper. "Wait let me", Steve said helping you close it. "Man these suits are tighter than the ones we have to wear during our missions", you said doing a couple of stretches before grabbing the board. "Let's do this.", you said looking at them and receiving a nod of agreement.
It was tricky keeping your balance on the board once you managed to find the right wave and stand up, but after a few tries you got the hang of it and you were surfing around doing some small jumps and trying new tricks, before falling in the water. You climbed on the board and paddled to Steve and Bucky who were sitting on their boards watching you. "That was amazing (Y/n). I'm impressed.", Steve admitted, while you sat back up on the board.
Just as Bucky was about to say something you notice a giant wave coming right at you. "Woah look at that one! That's definitely going to be my wave", you said slowly paddling your way towards it. "Are you sure (Y/n)? It looks pretty big, maybe you should wait for another one.", Bucky shouted behind you. "Nah I've got this", you shouted back full of confidence.
The wave was indeed massive but you didn't let it scare you off so you climbed on your board and surfed alongside it, fully concentrating on trying to remain on the board as long as possible. But before you could realize what was about to happen, the wave started to come down at you not giving you any time to react. You stumbled to the front landing awkwardly on the board and a sharp pain shot through your right foot. The wave pushed you underwater making you fight to swim to the surface but the strong force was just not letting you. You started to panic which resulted in you not being able to hold your breath for as long as you wanted to. The water started to enter your lungs causing a burning sensation and making you beg for air. Finally, something pulled you out allowing you to cough out all the water while you tried to breathe in the fresh air.
You were coughing like crazing and fighting for air that just didn't seem to want to enter your body. The person who pulled you out was now running and carrying you out of the water. He quickly placed you on the sand and patted you on the back harshly, making you cough up, more like vomit out, all the water that entered your body. You could finally took in a big breath of air that felt amazing compared to the burning sensation you felt before. You closed your eyes breathing in and out again finally being able to take notice of your surroundings. "(Y/n)? (Y/n)! Are you crazy?! That wave could have killed you! I told you not to do it!" Bucky was shouting, he looked furious. You could see his hands shaking and his eyes were wide open staring at you with such a scared and worried expression. "Bucky", you weakly said with a smile feeling lightheaded and suddenly very sleepy. "(Y/n)? Don't close your eyes now, stay with me!", Bucky said before all the lights suddenly went out.
When you opened your eyes again you were laying in your bed at the beach house. The curtains were closed, drenching the room in darkness. You sat up looking around the room to only find an open first aid kit on the nightstand. You slowly stood up and opened the curtains to let some light in, but it was already dark outside.
After sitting back down you looked at your right ankle trying to carefully move it. Surprisingly it didn't hurt too bad and you could walk on it pretty well it only hurt if you moved it too much. You sighed. That could have ended up worse than it did. You had a light headache but that could also come from the fact that you were starving since it was already evening, so you carefully, to not hurt your ankle, made your way downstairs where you were greeted by everyone sitting in the living room watching something on the television.
"(Y/n)!", Natasha said being the first one to spot you before running to you to hug you. "When I heard that you almost drowned I got so scared... Don't you dare do this to me again, you hear me?", she said angrily but relieved that you're alive. "It was nothing Natasha, I'm totally fine", you said. "It was nothing?! (Y/n) you could have died out there if I wasn't there!", Bucky screamed looking at you with rage. "I told you not to do it and you still did!"
"I thought that I could take it, calm down nothing serious happened", you said tensely, trying to calm the situation but failing miserably. "You think that everything is a game huh? Well, it's not! Gosh, you are so selfish, always only thinking about yourself!", he continued while walking towards you. "Me, selfish? I didn't ask for you to save me so stop pretending like I am a child who doesn't know better.", you shouted back feeling the anger rise in your body the more he come closer to you. "Really? You didn't need me to save you? Well if I wouldn't you would be dead right now. Is that what you wanted huh?! Because it clearly seemed like it.", he said looking furiously at you.
You wanted to say something but you just didn't know what. Yeah, you needed to admit that it was pretty stupid of you to try to face such a huge wave. You weren't even sure why you did it in the first place. Maybe you wanted to prove yourself in front of them, but he didn't have to yell at you in front of everyone like he is scolding a little child. It made you feel powerless, weak and most of all vulnerable.
You looked around and noticed everyone staring at you, making you uncomfortable in your own skin. You didn't want them to see you that way so you turned around and walked out. "(Y/n) where are you going? Wait!", you heard voices calling you not really caring who it was, the only thing you wanted at that moment was to be left alone with your feelings. So you stormed off not knowing where you were going but you didn't care.
━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━
You didn't come far because you still had an injured ankle so you sat down on a random bench where you made sure that you were alone. Then you started crying. You were never one to start crying after small arguments but all the negative emotions you never let out, because you always told yourself that it would make you seem weak, pilled up and this just made it all come out at once.
Suddenly you heard footsteps coming closer so you tried to wipe away the tears before anyone saw you. "(Y/n)?", Steve said approaching you and taking a seat next to you. "Go away.", you whispered trying your best to not sound so miserable, but failing. "I don't want you to see me like this", you continued, hiding your face by looking to the side. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. I cried too... A lot of times, especially after Peggy died.", he said while looking into the distance. "You might see it as a weakness, but it just shows that you are human. It's better to let it out than to let it turn into anger.", he said rubbing your shoulder to comfort you.
"Why did you come here?", you asked after your tears stopped and your sobs silenced. "I know how lonely it is to cry by yourself. So I wanted to be there for you. And I came to give you this." he said holding up a paper bag out of which he pulled out pastry that he handed you. You almost forgot how hungry you were but remembered when you breathed in the heavenly scent of it.
"Thank you Steve.", you said before taking a bite. You two sat there for a while until you calmed down completely and ate all the pastry he brought with him. "Thank you again for coming here, I feel much better now.", you said looking down at your feet.
"Do you know why he did it?", he asked. "Why Bucky screamed at me? No... I don't", you replied fidgeting with your hands. "Because he cares about you.", he answered leaning back while looking at you. "Because he cares about me? But that doesn't make any sense. He embarrassed me in front of everyone and made me look like a child. How does that have anything to do with caring?", you asked looking back at him.
"We are talking about Bucky, sometimes he does unreasonable things, but what I know for a fact is that you scared the shit out of him because he really thought you were going to die in his hands." "Language", you said making yourself smile. He chuckled and continued: "You have no clue how long we had to convince him that you only sprained your ankle and that you will wake up after some rest. He even spent the first few hours sitting beside you in your room until we could convince him to go downstairs. He can sometimes be pretty stubborn and what he did earlier was beyond right, but he only did it because he couldn't bear the thought of losing someone again." You sighed. He's right, you would have reacted the same way and you, just brushing it off as it being "nothing serious", made it even worse.
"Thank you for telling me this. I think we should slowly return to the house, it's getting pretty late and I don't want them to be concerned.", you said standing up. "You're right. I could use some sleep now.", he said also standing up and helping you walk to the house since you were not supposed to walk much on your sprained ankle which was now hurting. When the two of you arrived at the house the lights were completely off making you assume that everyone was already in their room, probably sleeping since your vacation ends tomorrow and everyone wanted to make the most of the day by waking up a little earlier.
Trying your hardest not to make any noise, you two climbed up the stairs and Steve helped you to your room before returning to his. Bucky's room was right across yours and it felt wrong to just walk by and not say anything so you knocked at his door. After a minute of no answer, you started to say: "I don't know if you're still awake, but if you are... I... I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for acting the way I did earlier and that I scared the shit out of you. It really wasn't my intention and I should have listened to you. I'm really sorry."
You waited a few moments before going into your room, but just before you could close the door his opened and he stepped outside. "I'm sorry that I acted like a complete asshole and that I shouted at you. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I felt like the biggest idiot when I saw how it made you feel. Can you forgive me?", he whispered while looking at you with an expression full of guilt. "I will forgive you if you forgive me too." "Deal", he answered with a little smile.
Suddenly another door opened and Peter appeared saying: "If we are all already apologizing I think this is the perfect time to say sorry for eating your cookies that you left on the counter yesterday." You gasped audibly whispering: "That was you? How could you. I trusted you.", while placing a hand on your chest. Another door opened and Tony appeared saying: "Great, now I will forgive you three for waking me up so please can we now all go to sleep finally." You could hear laughing coming from Thor's room and Natasha shouted from her room: "Good night everyone. Sweet dreams, especially you two love doves.", while not being able to hold in her laugh. You shook your head already plotting your revenge while giving Bucky one last look before closing your door and going to bed.