Do You Remember?
Bucky was picking at the chocolate cake he’d bought from the lunch line, watching as Natasha and Clint shared a plate of pasta bake and Tony made fake, slurpy, kissing sounds, playing some romantic love song on his phone. Thor came and sat next to Bucky, getting out his lunch: two grilled chicken breasts, some brown rice and broccoli. He’d finished his protein shake in second period so now the beast of a man just had water. Bucky zoned back in when he heard Nat talking:
“Yeah, Clint, I’m alright at art, but God you have to see that Rogers kid’s work. Holy hell. No one can compete with it.”
Bucky smiled slightly, seeing how Nat reacted to Steve’s art work, remembering when Steve used to draw him things when they were younger.
“Yeah, well what d’ya expect?” Clint added, “All those art folks are bent. Michelangelo, Da Vinci.”
Bucky’s smile faltered, brows furrowing at ignorant friend.
“Honestly, I’m surprised you can even pronounce words that big.” Tony stated, “And careful how you describe them, though. You sound like a right homophobe.”
Clint rolled his eyes, “Well, I’m not.”
“Yeah, but you sound like one.” Bucky barked.
“Please, like you can say anything. You’re the one that dropped Rogers when he told you he’s one of them.” Clint scoffed.
Bucky huffed and abruptly stood from the table, throwing his cake in the rubbish on his way out of the hall. Natasha was the only one whose eyes followed him out.
“Did you guys do the homework?” Natasha asked, leaning over so she faced Steve and Bruce who sat beside her.
“Yeah,” Steve replied, holding up a sheet of paper with spider-like handwriting covering it, “but I don’t think a lot of it’s right.” He made a subtle move to look at Bruce’s work that was in front of him.
“Steve!” Bruce complained, playfully nudging him in the arm, “I told you that I would have helped you with those chemistry questions!”
“Well, I wanted to do it by myself this time.” Steve said, folding over his paper.
“Hey,” Nat elbowed him, flashing him a smirk, “at least you did the homework.” The way she winked at him made him smile a little. He only stopped when he noticed the change in Natasha’s face.
“What is it?” He asked, noticing her eyes were fixed on the doorway. When she didn’t reply, he turned around to see Tony and Bucky enter the room. Steve indulged himself by taking a few seconds to look at Bucky. His expression was harsher than usual, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown. Steve didn’t have to look at his eyes to know they were still the colour of cinnamon. He could sense he was staring for too long and quickly re-directed his eyes to look at Bucky’s hands, which were clenched tight into fists.
As if it was instinctive, Nat stopping leaning her arm on Steve’s shoulder when Tony’s eyes met hers.
“Tasha, dearest,” Tony called, Bucky walking ahead of him until he was seated at the back of the classroom. “Stop pitying them and come sit with us!”
Both Bruce and Steve turned to look at Natasha, half-hoping that she would defy the charms of the Stark boy and stay with them, but she only rolled her eyes and said, “Sorry guys, but I don’t to give them more of a reason to be pricks to you two.” She flashed a sympathetic look before standing up. Before she left to sit at the back, however, she held both her hands up and made them into fists. Both Steve and Bruce exchanged a smile before fist bumping Nat, the three of them nodding before she left.
About ten minutes into the class period a cover teacher actually turned up, thankfully stopping Tony saying something along the lines of, Hey, you know we can leave if a teacher doesn’t turn up within the first fifteen minutes of class, right guys? The sub seemed way out of her depths looking through the cover work, obviously chemistry wasn’t her strong point. After reciting what was written on the cover sheet and telling everyone to place the homework in the tray, she sat back in her chair and started scrolling through her phone. No one handed in their homework.
“So, Romanov, care to explain why you were pandering to Spangled Banner over there?” Tony asked, nonchalantly jotting his name down on his worksheet.
Nat rolled her eyes a second time, “I can have other friends outside the clique, Stark. I even talk to Jane and Darcy in maths!” She fake gushed, “Should I stop accommodating them as well and breathe only to excite you and your ego?” She clasped her hands together in mock endearment.
Tony shoved her, “You twat.” He muttered, “Anyway I need your help with beating your lovely, handsome, bird enthusiast of a boyfriend in the stupid prank war.”
“If it’s so stupid why don’t you forfeit?” Bucky proposed.
Tony gasp dramatically, “James Buchanan Marjorie Helen Barnes! I am a Stark! And Starks don’t forfeit!”
Bucky shook his head, laughing through his nose. He picked up his pen and started the cover work–it wouldn’t take that long.
“The score is tied right now, three to three,” Tony was saying to Natasha, “And that Clinton of yours is getting more and more creative with his pranks. They’re not even traumatising. They’re just annoying. How the fuck did he get into my house to cover the entire entrance with cups of water?”
“He has his ways.” Nat smirked.
“I know Thor’s helping him! The bastard.”
Although Bucky loved his friends immensely, he couldn’t help but find their conversation incredibly boring. He’d seen all of the pranks Clint and played on Tony and visa versa. They were pretty funny, but Bucky knew it would get out of hand soon enough, so he didn’t really want to play a part in it more than he had to. The chemistry work was tedious: covalent bonds? Alkenes? Alkanes? Who cares! Definitely not Bucky. And it seemed, as the teen overheard, neither did Steve. Leaning back in his chair and pushing baseball cap over his eyes on the pretence of napping, Bucky continued to eavesdrop on Bruce and Steve’s conversation.
“...She’s your mum, Steve, and you guys are close. I think you should tell her.” Bruce was saying.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to upset her.” Steve ran his hand through his short hair, “She loved Bucky and if she knew we fell out because he’s small minded that would just hurt her. Look, she’s been on my case asking why Bucky never comes over anymore since you and I’ve been friends. I can handle it.”
The strain in Steve’s voice caught Bucky off guard. He hadn’t meant to cause Steve to lie to Sarah. That’s not the reason we fell out, Bucky thought, wanting so badly to tell Steve the truth.
“Yeah, but if Sarah doesn’t know the truth she’s going to end up inviting Bucky and his parents over for dinner and then you’re both screwed over.” Bruce reasoned.
“I can handle it.” I can’t.
Bruce shook his head, going back to his work, “You’re a stubborn piece of shit, you know?” He laughed.
Steve giggled, “Oh, I’ve been informed of that on many occasions.”
Bucky bit his lip, angry that he’d been a jerk to Steve and pissed off that he’s still too much of a coward to believe the truth himself. He tactically positioned his cap so he could just see Steve’s profile: it was like looking at a framed photograph. All of the edges of his jaw were soft and rounded, the teen’s sandy hair like a crown on his head. God, Bucky really missed ruffling that hair. He missed seeing Steve smile that ridiculous toothy grin. The smile that was just for him and no one else. He missed the way the two of them would spend hours just laying on the grass of Steve’s garden, staring at nothing, talking about nothing. He missed Steve, but knew it wouldn’t be as easy as going up to him and saying hi. He had been an asshole and made it a lot more complicated. Why did you have to be such a dick? He thought, unable to look at Steve’s face any longer and instead fixing upon the boy’s hands. They hadn’t changed one bit, for they were still small and soft and delicate and…
“Barnes?” Tony said, snapping his fingers in front of Bucky’s face, “you still alive?” Tony had knocked off Bucky’s cap, causing him to quickly avert his eyes from what he was looking at. “What were you doing?”
“Just nappin’” Bucky muttered quickly, crossing his arms as he tried to ignore the knowing way Natasha looked at him. “What is it?”
“You need to help me plan how I’m going to get Barton back.” Tony said in an overly enthusiastic tone, before proceeding to ramble on about his next move. All Bucky could decipher was something similar to white noise.