[Corinna]
It's been 3 hours since I've said good night to Bucky and I still can't fall asleep. My thoughts are racing through my mind a million miles a minute and every single one of them includes Jay, Rumlow, and Bucky.
I groan softly as I sit up, dropping my head into my hands, regretting the action instantly as a dull pain erupts in my right arm.
"Well, if I can't sleep, I might as well make my time useful." I mutter to myself as I get out of bed.
I quietly walk over to my desk and turn on the table lamp and huff in annoyance when I see that my laptop isn't there. That means I left it on the coffee table. "Great."
I blindly make my way into the living room, making sure that I didn't step on the squeaky floorboards since Bucky is asleep on the couch. I wrap my arms around my body as I feel the cool breeze come in through the broken window and make a mental note to myself that I have to get it replaced before leaning over to take my laptop from the coffee table.
As I turn around, I hear Bucky turn in his sleep and I instantly stop moving. I wait a couple of seconds to pass before taking another step, but I hear soft groans coming from him. Within seconds, they get louder and I turn around in alarm.
From the light pouring in through the window, I can see a deep frown settled on his face as he mumbles something in his sleep. Suddenly, he yells something unintelligible, causing me to quickly put my laptop back onto the table and cautiously walk over to him.
As I get closer, I notice that he has a thin layer of sweat on his forehead despite it being chilly in the room. I hesitantly bring my left hand towards Bucky's shoulder, not sure if I should wake him up or wait a few more minutes to see if he'll calm down, but his tortured expression makes the decision for me.
I gently shake him, "Bucky, wake up!"
His eyes are still closed and he's still mumbling something with a frown so I decide to shake him a little harder. He sits up suddenly, his left hand wraps around my neck immediately as I clutch his metal arm, struggling to breathe.
"Bu-bucky," I mumble through my jagged breaths. I continue scratching against his metal arm, trying to make him let go, but I fail terribly.
Bucky abruptly pulls his hand away from my throat as he quickly stands up. I fall to the floor in a fit of coughs as I try to get some air back into my body.
"Shit. I'm-I'm sorry, Corinna. Are you okay?" He asks. He doesn't make any movement to come near me.
"Yeah, yeah," I say between coughs. I push myself off the floor and turn to look at Bucky as I rub my neck. He's looking at me guiltily, his mouth set in a tight line as his hands lay limply by his side in fists. "I'm fine Bucky, don't worry about it," I say, cautiously taking a step towards him. He doesn't say anything as he looks at me with a frown. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
He shakes his head, looking away from me as he runs a hand through his messy hair. "No."
I pinch my lips together, looking down at my laptop, thinking about what I should say next. "Well, I don't think both of us are going to be getting any sleep tonight, so might as well make a move on our hunt for Jay," I say casually as I walk past Bucky to turn on the lights. I walk into the kitchen to grab a glass of cold water before walking back out and handing it Bucky, "Here." He wordlessly takes it from my grasp, before downing it.
I walk over to the couch and push the afghan I gave to Bucky to the side before sitting down. I reach over for my laptop and a pen and notebook before sitting back in my seat. I turn to give Bucky an expectant look, waiting for him to sit next to me. He seems to be having an internal debate about something, but he finally walks over to sit next to me.
I hand him the pen and notebook before opening my laptop. "Since he's not like other criminals, we're gonna have to get creative with our hunt," I explain as I open my terminal to type in some code.
"What are you doing?" Bucky asks, leaning closer to me to get a better view of my screen.
"I am currently hacking the traffic cams to see where Jay ran off to after he jumped off the roof."
"I have no clue what you just said." He replies quietly. His shoulder brushing mine as he sits back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"That's why you're our designated writer," I mutter, my eyes scanning the video footage on my screen.
***
Bucky and I have been awake for almost 4 hours now and it was currently 6:30 in the morning. With a yawn, I set my laptop on the coffee table and grab my phone to shoot Trisha a text.
Corinna: Can you pick Bucky and me up please?
Her response comes almost instantly.
Trisha: Bucky? He slept over????
I roll my eyes at her message.
Corinna: Relax, it wasn't like that. Can you pick us up, yes or no?
Trisha: Yeah, I can pick you guys up. Chill grouchy pants.
I scoff at her message before locking my phone and chucking it back onto the table. I turn to look at Bucky who's furiously writing something down.
"I'm gonna brush my teeth," I announce before heading to my bedroom. I choose my outfit for the day, which is a dark grey full sleeve shirt and a pair of black distressed jeans, before walking into the bathroom to brush my teeth and change my clothes.
After changing, I take a spare toothbrush and walk out of my room. "Brush your teeth old man," I say, throwing the toothbrush at him. He gives me an unamused look before getting up to go use the bathroom.
I walk into the kitchen and turn on the coffee machine before walking over to my refrigerator to see what I had that we can eat for breakfast. "Well, looks like we're having waffles." I mutter as I stare at my almost empty refrigerator.
I turn around to get a mug out of a cupboard before pouring a big mug of coffee for myself. I take a sip of the piping hot, bitter liquid before setting it off to the side to prepare the waffle batter.
"What's for breakfast?" Bucky asks as he enters the kitchen.
"Ever have waffles?" I ask, glancing at him.
He shakes his head with a frown, "I don't think so."
"Well, they're delicious and we're gonna have 'em for breakfast." I say, opening various cupboards to set out the ingredients. I turn around and bump into something hard and almost fall back if it wasn't for the pair of hands that are wrapped around my waist.
"Sorry," Bucky breathes, looking down at me with an intense gaze. I stare up into his piercing blue eyes, my mind going blank at our proximity. His eyes drop to my lips for a couple of seconds before connecting back to my eyes. His minty breath tickling my face as he slowly leans forward. I clutch his shirt – waiting, but a faint knock at the door brings us back into reality. I quickly let go of his shirt and step back. Bucky sighs with annoyance and I have to bite back a smile before turning around to open the door.
"That was fast," I say, stepping to the side to let Trisha in.
"Perks of waking up early in the city, there's barely – whoa, it's cold." Trisha says, stuffing her hands in her parka.
Shit, I forgot about the broken window.
"Oh, um – "
"Hi," Bucky greets, holding a mug of coffee.
"Hey Buck, long time no see," Trisha jokes before walking into the living room, "What the hell happened to your window, Corinna?!" She turns around in bewilderment.
"Uh," I turn to Bucky, silently asking him to help me out.
Bucky subtly shakes his head with a sigh before replying. "Corinna forgot her keys, so I had to use my arm to break the window," he says smoothly before taking a sip from his mug.
I give him a thankful look before nodding my head at Trisha, "Yeah, you know me, I'm always forgetful," I say, rolling my eyes.
Trisha crosses her arms over chest, looking suspiciously at the both of us. "Yeah, okay," she says slowly before walking over to the window. "So you decided you had to break the entire window?"
"Bucky couldn't fit otherwise," I reply quickly, silently pleading Trisha to let it go.
Trisha picks up a shard of glass from the floor and inspects it quietly for a few moments before chucking it to the side and getting up. "Is that coffee I smell?" she asks, walking into the kitchen. I close my eyes, sighing in relief before walking past Bucky to enter the kitchen. I don't miss the disapproving look he gives me, but I choose not to do anything about it.
"You want some waffles?" I ask Trisha as I begin to whisk some eggs together.
"Do you even have to ask?" She replies, standing next to me with her coffee.
***
After Trisha dropped me at work, I used my free period to do some more digging on Jay's location, but I was only able to narrow it down to a 10 mile radius. I sit back with a huff. "Where are you Jay, stop hiding from the inevitable."
A few moments later, I hear someone entering the classroom. I quickly close the window on my laptop before looking at the person. "Principal Petitt, what can I do for you?" I chirp.
"Ms. Chen, I'm just going to get straight to the point. How do you feel about being the mentor for our school's decathlon team?" Mr. Petitt asks as he leans against a desk right across from mine.
"Uh...is this a tough question?" I ask with a frown.
"Well, as you know, summer is 3 months away and that means it's time to hold tryouts for our decathlon team. So I was talking to Mr. Nelson about who should lead our decathlon team to D.C. and he mentioned you."
I look at him quietly, unsure of what to say. It's not like I really had anything better to do with my life, but I really didn't want to spend anymore time here than I needed to. I open my mouth to decline, but Mr. Petitt interrupts me.
"You get paid."
I close my mouth to rethink my previous answer. I can use some extra money, considering the fact that I had to replace my window and who knows how expensive that's going to be.
"Okay, I'll do it." I say with a sigh.
Mr. Petitt nods his head with a smile, "Good. I have high hopes for you and the team, Corinna. You're one of our best." He says before leaving the classroom.
I stare at the door he just walked out of in shock. Did he just compliment me? Who knew the grumpy Mr. Petitt could afford to give out compliments. I sit back with a satisfied smirk. Now all I have to do is make sure I get the best students this school has to offer.
I re-open the window on my laptop that displays various traffic camera feeds, but sigh in irritation when the bell rings, signaling that class is about to start. I silently watch as students pile into the classroom, thinking about possible decathlon candidates, but the bell rings again, which meant that I had to start teaching.
I stand up and turn on the projector, "Today, we're going to be learning about program structures." I announce before displaying sample code.
It seems like only a few minutes since I started lecturing the group of students, but the sound of the bell alerts me that I managed to keep my students awake for an hour. I sit down in my chair as I watch students rush out of the classroom. I open my laptop again and decide to program and alert for whenever the cams spotted Jay.
I look up for a few seconds and notice that there are a few students still packing their stuff up. My eyes land on Peter and then it hits me. He's the perfect candidate for the decathlon team. Although he seems to be in a daze whenever class is going on, his grades are one of the best – in my class at least.
"Peter," I call out.
He looks up, startled. "Ye-yes Ms. Chen," he replies, stuffing his notes into his backpack before clumsily hoisting it up onto his back.
"You're a freshman right?"
"Yes, Ms. Chen," he replies, nodding his vigorously.
"How do you feel about joining the decathlon team?"
"Um, I- I really haven't thought about it." He replies, running a hand through his hair.
"Well, think about it. It's a good way to get involved and I think you're perfect for it." I explain, giving him an encouraging smile.
He nods his head with a small smile, "Sure Ms. Chen, I'll um think about it."
I nod my head, satisfied with his response, "Well that was all I wanted to talk to you about. Enjoy the rest of your day Mr. Parker."
"Um, thanks Ms. Chen, you too," he replies before rushing out of the room.
I turn back to my laptop with a sigh before setting up my program to find Jay.
"You can't hide forever, Hardy." I mutter as I furiously type away.
--------
Yeah, this was a filler chap. But since my last chapter was extremely long, I don't feel that bad about it LOL. Also, we find out where Corinna teaches and it's at MIDTOWN HIGH, WOOOO. I couldn't help myself, I love Spiderman so I wanted to incorporate him into the story. ALSO, how'd you feel about that almost kiss between Corinna and Bucky?? I was thinking about having em just kiss, but then I was like naah, let's just stretch it out a bit longer LMFAO. *inserts smirking emoji*
Anyways, THANK YOU FOR READING!! We are like 4 reads away from 1.5k reads :') I never thought I'd actually have people reading my story, let alone, people from 12 different countries!! It's crazy and I really really wanna let you guys know that I appreciate each and every single one of you. I felt unmotivated to write a couple months back bc I was having writer's block and no one was really reading it so I was kind of like "what's the point?" but I'm glad that I pushed myself to write bc damn, 1.5k reads?!?! That may not be a lot to some, but for me, it's A LOT and it's surreal that people actually read this story. So yeah, I just wanted to get that off my chest.
Vote, comment, share, you know the drill and have an amazing morning, afternoon, evening, or night depending where you are in the world. :)