„Scott!" I gasped in shock and took a step back. „It's not what it lo-" I started, but there was no fooling him.
„Oh please, this is exactly what it looks like. You're wearing the same dress as last night, you're make up is all smudged up and your hair! Don't even let me get started on that!" Scott interrupted me and chuckled. Bucky had come to the door and looked pale, while Scott seemed to be quite amused by the whole situation.
„How long has this been going on for? And what exactly is going on here? I thought you two don't like each other and this whole arrangement-" he drew a circle in the air with his index finger "was supposed to be a punishment?" I sighed, and then looked at Bucky. He shrugged slightly and nodded, and I understood. I turned back around towards Scott and started explaining the gist of it.
"Listen Scott, you cannot tell anyone, not under any circumstances, ok?" I asked first and he nodded. "Fine." "Buck and I aren't dating. We're just... having fun. That's all. And if you tell anyone-" I explained, but Bucky interrupted. "If you tell anyone, I will personally make your life hell, pal." He said, but it seemed forced. The more I got to know him, the more I was starting to feel like he wasn't actually that much of a badass scary guy. Not as much as he seemed.
He was scary enough for Scott to gulp and nod though, looking like he had just seen the devil. He was still kind of new to the avengers, and Bucky just needed to so much as angrily look at him and he almost pissed his pants.
"Of course, I-I won't!" He promised and held out his hands in the air to underline his promise. "Have... fun you two. Oh and uhm Barnes, the reason I came up here in the first place... Tony wanted to speak to you. He said it's about some government stuff, I don't know what he's talking about though. He's in his office." Scott informed Bucky, who suddenly turned pale again. „I...I'll be there in a minute." he rasped and cleared his throat. „Alrighty. Then my job here is done! See you!" Scott said, waved and then disappeared towards the elevator.
„Everything ok, Buck?" I asked, my voice full of concern. He had grown even paler and looked incredibly nervous. „This is... it must be the decision on wether I'm being pardoned or not." he pressed out and looked to the ground. „Why are you so nervous then, shouldn't you be excited?" I asked, a bit confused. If it were me, I wouldn't still stand here, I'd be RUNNING downstairs.
„Well, what if they decided not to pardon me? What if I'll have to go prison for the rest of my life or if... or worse? I know would deserve it, but it scares the shit out of me." he admitted quietly. I gulped, but then decided to take a step closer to him. I grabbed his hands, squeezed them, and when he rose his head to look up at me with his fear stricken eyes, I tried giving him a reassuring smile.
„Listen Bucky. I'm sure they decided to make you a free man. None of what happened was your choice, you didn't even do it consciously! And now look at you! You're an avenger, using what they did to you for the good in the world! You, Bucky Barnes, are not a bad man, as much as it pains me to say that. On the contrary, you're a truly good person. Ok? So... I'm sure they decided to pardon you. They'd be stupid not to." I barely whispered the last words, as I noticed our faces were so close, I could feel his soft breath on my face.
„Thank you, doll." he whispered and smiled. And then he quickly, barely noticeably, glanced down to my lips, but slowly took a step back. I cleared my throat and decided to make an offer. „If you want to... I could come with you. So you're not alone when he tells you what they decided to do." „I'd love that. But maybe...", he looked me up and down, „... you should get changed and brush your hair, so he doesn't..." „Yes, don't worry, I'm already on it!" I assured him and chuckled.
After I was done, I found Bucky waiting for me by the elevator. He was kneading his hands nervously, but at least he wasn't as pale anymore. When he noticed me, a smile played around his lips and it seemed like he calmed down a little. „Let's do this!" I said and put a hand on his left shoulder, when I pressed the button to the floor with dad's office.
Bucky and I spent the way to dad's office in silence, but when we reached the door, Bucky stopped and took a deep breath. „You've got this, Bucky." I said reassuringly. And then we stepped into my father's office.
„Barnes! I see Lang found you! And squirt! Nice to see you're still taking the punishment so seriously, but this is a... private matter. So you can wait outside, please." Dad said and I gulped. I wasn't allowed to stay? That couldn't be good.
„But Dad, I-" „I want her to stay. Please, Stark." Bucky asked and looked at Dad. Dad's eyes went from me to Bucky, and then he sighed. „Fine, whatever." he said and waved a paper folder with Bucky's name on it. It was quite a big folder. I wondered what's written about him, since I knew pretty much nothing about him... but that wasn't important at that moment.
„See this Barnes? Your file got even heavier. They wrote minutes of their discussions, it took them days to make a decision. Do you want to read through it?"
„I'd rather not." Bucky responded with a shaky voice and I could see him sweating from the corner of my eye.
„I figured."
Dad proceeded to open the file and flipped through it to the very last page.
„Let me get straight to the point, I don't want to keep you on the rack for too long." Dad said with a serious face. I looked over to Bucky, who looked defeated. Granted, my dad was rarely ever this serious, but wouldn't there be policemen or something if he wasn't pardoned? By clearing his throat, dad regained my attention and started to read the statement.
„After thoroughly viewing the evidence and discussing the case at hand, I hereby declare James Buchanan Barnes pardoned, provided he fulfills the following list of requirements:
- monthly sessions with a psychiatrist for one year
- thoroughly filled out mission reports and no solo missions for one year
- monthly volunteer work at a social non-profit facility of his choice for one year
James Buchanan Barnes, you are officially a free man!"
Dad declared and reached out to pat Bucky's shoulder, but to my surprise, Bucky grabbed me by the waist, lifted me up and spun me around with the biggest smile on his face.
„Wow, Bucky let me down!" I laughed and when he did, he pulled me into a tight hug. „I did it." he whispered.
„This screams party, if you're asking me!" Dad declared, but neither of us responded. I pulled back though and looked right at Bucky. „I told you, Barnes. No need to be nervous!" „Yes... you're right. Maybe I should start listening to you..." Bucky said and let out a soft chuckle.
„Earth to Barnes and daughter! Party tonight to celebrate this?" Dad asked and looked at us with nothing but utter confusion at how close we were.
„No Stark, not today. We can all watch a movie maybe, but I don't want this to be celebrated... I didn't exactly achieve something with my own strength, if you know what I mean?" Bucky said and I knew what he meant. „Hey now, you've been trying your very best to be a better person! Steve told me about how you secretly took off at night a few times to help out at a homeless shelter, you're going on missions to take Ocatvius down for good... You're trying everything to be a better men. So respectfully, that's bullshit. It is your achievement!" I set the record straight and he seemed like he tried his best to hide a smile. „What she said. Barnes, we have to throw you a party!" Dad insisted and Bucky sighed. „Aren't we going to have enough parties with the Christmas time starting?" Oh, he had a point. I had completely forgotten about that! It wasn't very long until Christmas and I didn't have any gifts! Good thing Barnes and I didn't gift each other anything.
"Fine." Dad let out a heavy sigh. "I'm letting you off the hook for now, but you better believe me when I'm saying there's going to be a party for your birthday!" He said and Bucky rolled his eyes with a grin on his face. He knew he didn't have a say in this matter, so he just accepted his fate. "Whatever you say, boss." He said and I let out a giggle. "Hey now! I don't like that the two of you are ganging up against me now!" Dad complained. "Us?" I asked innocently. "We would never! And now if you'll excuse us!" I added and then pulled Bucky out of dad's office.
"Wait, Y/n, where are we going?" He asked as I dragged him towards the elevator. "You're going to tell the others! And then we'll go training like we planned to, after that you can go to your room and be all gloomy, but you have to share your success!" I ordered and Bucky sighed. "You're exhausting. Did anyone ever tell you that, Y/n?" Instead of a response, a giggle escaped my throat as I dragged him towards the living room.
"Guess what guys!" I said and everyone's heads turned towards us. Bucky stamped from one foot to the other uncomfortably, but I didn't care. Bucky had worked hard for this and he deserved the recognition. He deserved to see that, despite of what he thinks, he did achieve something by winning back his freedom.
"Bucky has something he wants to share with you guys!" I added and took a step back, so everyone's gaze fell on the nervous super soldier.
"Well I... I may have just received the news that... I'm being pardoned...." He says and before I knew it, Sam jumped over the couch and gave Bucky one of those "bro hugs", Steve congratulated him, Nat screamed of joy and all the others were full of excitement at the news they had just heard. Bucky endured it all, and with every handshake, his previously nervous frown turned into a bigger and bigger smile.
A few minutes later, Bucky had already dragged me to the training area.
"You know.... I really needed this. Thank you." He said after grabbing a bottle of water from his locker. "I told you. You did achieve something and you can be proud of yourself!" I said and returned the smile.
"I guess... you might be right." He said and chuckled. "You guess? I AM right. I always am. Just like I could beat you in a fight any day!" I retorted, knowingly playing with fire. The only way I'd ever win was if I used my powers, which dad had never allowed me to. But if I don't use them while practicing, how would I ever gain control over them?
"Oh are you sure about that?" He asked, cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "If you're so sure, show me." He said very confidently and even though that confidence was hot as fuck, it also made me realize that I may have made a mistake.
"W-what about warm up?" I asked and tried my best not to let it show how nervous I suddenly was. Bucky took a step closer to me and whispered "Oh please, warm ups are for losers... when you're on a mission, you don't have time to warm up." A shiver ran down my spine and I realized that it really really was a mistake. But I had no choice. It was my fault after all. I just had to throw him against a wall or something. I can make this work!
"Fine..." I said and let out a nervous breath, but Bucky just chuckled. "I'm messing with you Y/n. You should see your face! Go warm up a little, after that we can spar. Maybe I can teach you a few... tricks." He said and winked. I just rolled my eyes and then made my way to the treadmill.
**
After we had both finished warming up, I was ready to face him. I guess running does give me courage after all... I still hated it though, but jow I was ready. Ready-er. Bucky and I stepped into the ring. "Ready?" He asked and smirked at me. "Oh you should ask yourself that!" I said. Jesus fucking Christ, I needed to tone it down with that attitude when I had no idea if what I was about to do was even going to work! But there was now time left to think, Bucky immediately jumped into action throwing the first punch that I dodged with ease. Instead, I had grabbed ahold of his arm and was about to throw him over my shoulder (or attempt to, because, ya know, that man is a fucking rock, even if it's all just muscle), but he managed to free his arm. I should have known better to grab ahold of his metal arm.
Bucky and I continued fighting, throwing punches, dodging hits until eventually, Bucky had me pinned to the ground, sitting on my back. "Are you finally going to tap out and accept that I'm better than you?" He panted out of breath. "Never." I pressed out and then it was showtime. First, I let a towel fly against his head. That confused him enough to slightly loosen his grip, allowing me to wiggle my way out.
"What the hell was that?" He asked, his voice full of confusion. I used that moment of abstraction and landed a punch. Bucky's head jerked back towards me and he looked super confused, but then he quickly composed himself, which meant it was time for part two of my plan. I was finally going to try the kind control/mind reading part of my powers. I had never used them before, but there had to be a first time, right? I looked at Bucky and concentrated so hard that I felt blood dripping out of my nose, but Bucky stopped. First he looked confused, and then something in his expression changed, and then suddenly, I found myself in a dark, wooden house that I hd never seen before.
"Fuck! Where am I?" I whispered nervously and looked around, only to find a woman standing tight next to me and a man with a belt in his hand, yanking someone over the couch.
"Dad, no!" That someone screamed with a raspy voice and I immediately recognized the voice.
"Bucky!" I shouted, but nobody seemed to have heard me. Suddenly, the man lunged out and then... hit Bucky with the belt buckle. I screamed and wanted to run towards Bucky, but I couldn't move. It was like I was glued into place. But the young Bucky, who was now being beaten up badly, suddenly looked up at me, and the pain stricken face turned into an angry, disappointed one and as quickly as I had been catapulted into the strange house, I was now brought back to the compound.
Bucky was standing in front of me, panting. He looked furious and took a step back when I looked at him. "Did you seriously just fucking mess with my head? What the fuck." he whispered. "Bucky, I can...-" "Save it, Stark." he hissed, grabbed the towel I had previously thrown at him and then ran out of the training room, leaving me and our friendship in shambles.
I fucking messed up.
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