Making Up For Lost Time - [James Barnes x Male OC]

8

Bucky's Point Of View

I woke up to his side of the bed cold, and grimaced.

God, why does he have to work?

I slowly sat up, and groaned, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the brightly lit room, due to the curtains being pulled back.

Asshole.

I slid out of bed, and put on sweatpants and a hoodie, walking into my bathroom.

I did what I needed to do, and went into the kitchen-living-room-combo-thingy, getting something to eat.

"Good afternoon!" Tony said, practically yelling it at me.

I glared at him, fully aware that I had dark bags under my eyes, and probably looked like a corpse.

"Long night?" Steve asked, and I shook my head, getting a cup of coffee.

"No."

"Then why are you so grumpy? It's 1 in the afternoon." Tony said, looking at me expectantly.

"He woke me up on accident before he left."

Yeah, and then I had a nightmare, because guess who wasn't there with me?

Steve understood, and nodded in sympathy, giving me a smile.

"Well, he seemed nice, from the ten seconds we saw him." Tony said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Maybe we should go visit him? He never takes a lunch break, so maybe it's time we changed that." Clint butted in, and I looked at him in disbelief.

"He doesn't have lunch?" They shook their heads. "Nope! He works right on through it." Clint answered, and I shot up from my seat.

"Hurry up, we'll ya!?!"

They all grinned, running around as I impatiently waited by the door.

------------------------------------------------------

The receptionist laughed as she saw us, shaking her head as she grinned at Nat and Clint.

"He skipped it again. You better go in there and set him straight."

I was the first person inside the gym, and the first person to see him, standing behind a woman, his hands on her hips, talking to her in her ear as she smiled.

I saw red for a second, before Nat spoke, making my heart swell.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?!"

Stefan's head whipped over to us, and so did the woman's, her smile dropping.

"Go get water." He said to her, tapping her back as he walked over, a confused look on his face.

"What did I do? She came back and asked me to train her. The other two went for lunch and haven't gotten back yet." He explained calmly, still confused.

"And so you were rubbing all over her?" Clint asked, and he scoffed, looking from Clint to me, then to Steve, their eyes locking.

"She didn't have the position right. I was helping her." He answered slowly, his eyes moving to mine.

"I promise. She-- and her friends-- will tell you the same."

I nodded, believing him after I noticed the two other gym bags next to the woman's.

"Ok. Just, how about you don't get that close, yeah?" I suggested, and he nodded, quickly coming closer and hugging me.

"You got it."

I rested my head on his chest, taking a deep breath, before I got down to business.

"You skipped lunch."

He visibly went stiff, his breath hitching in his throat.

"Ok, hold on. I'm just not that hungry. I'll eat when I'm hungry. I don't wanna fill myself up too much and get sick, you know?" He attempted to reason, but one look from me, and he sighed in defeat.

"Fine. What am I eating?"

I handed him a paper bag, before I sat on a bench with him as he opened it, pulling out a sandwich and water.

"You better eat all of this, or I'll shove the rest of it down your throat." I spoke calmly, and he paused, staring at me for a moment.

"Is that a threat?" He asked, the corner of his mouth tugging into a smile.

"No," I answered, smiling at him sweetly, "it's a promise."

He ate it slowly, obviously not actually wanting to eat it, but finished it anyway.

"I hate you guys." He muttered, shaking his head as he swallowed his last bite.

I smiled. "We love you, too." 

He rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway, laying his head on my shoulder.

"So, I thought you didn't have any trainees left because you failed them all. What happened?" Nat asked, cutting through the comfortable silence like a knife.

I, once again, was not happy.

Stefan sighed, not lifting his head as he held my hand, lacing our fingers together.

"They came back this morning, and said that they 'refused to have failed' and wanted to retry. So, their relearning everything and trying again." He explained, turning his head so his face was in my shoulder as he groaned.

"Damn kids." He muttered.

I chuckled, kissing his head. "I thought not giving up was a good thing?" I recalled, an amused smile spreading across my face.

"Yeah, but, you know, sometimes I think-- for less paper works' sake-- it's ok to give up every once in a while." He reasoned, Nat smacking the back of his head while Clint snickered.

"I'll tell Fury you said that." Nat threatened playfully, making Stefan sit up straight and look at her.

"No. No no no. On second though, I LOVE my job, and how hard each trainee tries!" He chirped, standing up as he walked back to the training mat, calling over the woman.

We all chuckled, and I watched closely as he corrected her form, only using his hand to hover over her body, telling her how to move instead of moving her himself.

Good.

Everyone had left, Steve leaving after I promised I would call and let him know if I was staying with Stefan or coming back, and I stayed on the bench, watching as Stefan trained-- just as he said-- two women and a man, before they had all packed up and left for the night.

He came back over to me, and I stood up, smiling at him sweetly.

"You waited for me?" He asked, and I shrugged, my arms going loosely around his neck as his went around my waist.

I had learned the consequences of me having a lack of comfort with using my metal arm; the last time I tried to not use it he tied my metal wrist to one of his wrists for the rest of that day with one of his neck ties.

He pecked my lips twice, pulling away and smiling at me sweetly.

"Come on, let's go have fun."