Little Wing - Bucky Barnes x OC

Messy

A/N: Oof. So much pining and confusion in this bitch.

Put on Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, or Jimi Hendrix and get ready, babes.

~

The last few days had been painful to say the least.

Since Dove's parents had returned home Sunday night, her mom was trying to coddle her to an irritating extent. Not that Dove was too surprised by the reaction to her injury. Sarah was a natural caretaker and she made it no secret that she loved when her kids needed her help.

As boring as it was, spending days in bed allowed Dove to get a lot of writing done. She would journal frequently and had even written a couple short stories. A lot of the time— as much as she hated to admit it— she found inspiration from her confusing feelings about Bucky.

Finding herself caught on the phrase 'I thought he didn't like me'. Not only inking it down on paper, but finding the sentiment repeating itself over and over again in her mind like a broken record.

She had thought over their evening together in her head dozens of times. Running over the looks and touches and statements that resonated with her. But it seemed like the more she thought, the more puzzled she felt.

Their interactions had been far and few between since then. Bucky was still staying over at the Rogers' house, but he would always slip out before noon. Running off to whatever it was that he did with his time and was usually gone for the remainder of the day, returning late in the evening to make sure he could avoid Dove as much as possible.

He didn't want to be so distant with her, especially since their time together had been such a big step in the right direction, but he wasn't sure if he could trust himself. The more time he spent thinking it over, the more clear it was to him that he had some sort of attraction to the girl.

He had convinced himself that all he really wanted was just one night with her. Just one night— one hour, even— if only to determine whether he wanted her for another night and then maybe one more after that. But what Bucky didn't realize, was that wanting to test desire is nothing more than a ruse to get what one wants without having to admit just how bad they really want it. And he did. He really fucking wanted it.

The thing was, whenever he actually saw Dove over those few days, he reacted like she was a hot iron. Instantly recoiling in on himself at the mere sight of her and seemed almost scared to get too close. Every time they had seen each other in passing, he wore the same harsh expression. The self directed upset came off as something bordering on impatience and unspoken rage, leaving Dove feeling completely shut out by him.

Early one morning, she had bumped into him in the hallway upstairs during one of her uncomfortable hobbles over to the bathroom. He watched her struggle to walk, unsure if he should help her or not. Trying to stifle the part of himself that found her disheveled appearance endearing. He liked how thin her pajama shirt was and how her hair was messily strung about her features. Maybe a bit too much. He was only able to mutter a barely audible "hi."

Dove had said nothing back to him, barely sparing him a glance, but she felt his eyes bleeding into her back as she continued her embarrassing limp down the hall.

All that to say, being on bed rest for days with only her contradictory thoughts to keep her company, she was desperate to get out. Practically diving out of bed the second her parents were gone for work. It was the first day there was no pain when she stood to her feet, so she knew she was ready to get back to enjoying her summer.

She took a long shower. Shampooing her hair and even shaving her legs for the first time since she was injured. It was something that had been much too hard to do with only one working leg and bandaged knees up until then.