James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
;
"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Bucky laid in bed quietly, calming down, for about half an hour. I didn't speak. I waited for him to break the silence.
"How much did you hear?" he asked quietly. "Did you hear...what set me off?"
"I heard that there was something Steve wanted me to do that you didn't like," I said. "I thought it had to do with Brock Rumlow, right?"
"Yeah," he said, not elaborating.
"Do they want me to go talk to him?" I guessed.
"Yeah. They're gonna ask you in the meeting today. He knows something. Says he'll give up a base, but he'll only talk to you."
"I'll do it."
"I know you will." He pulled me in, making me shift over to lie directly on top of him, wrapping both arms around me. "I don't want you around him."
"I'll be okay."
"And I don't want you to have to shrug it off because you're afraid I'll lose my fucking mind again if you let on that you're upset."
"Really," I told him, lifting my head to look up at him. "I'm okay."
"I'm gonna go with you. They won't let me in the room, but I'll be right outside."
"Okay. When?"
"Today, probably."
"Ooh, are they gonna let me on a Quinjet again? Silver lining."
"What? To get upstate?"
"Upstate? Tony told me they transferred him to Texas."
"Well then he either had it wrong or lied to you. My guess is he lied to make you feel safer, knowing you wouldn't look into it."
"Why wouldn't he think I'd look into it?"
"Baby...you don't exactly like to talk about it. And you sort of...avoid things. You avoid reminders of it."
"I don't avoid things!"
"There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you processed it. If that's how you need to deal with it, then that's how you need to deal with it."
"That's not how I need to deal with it, though," I said stubbornly.
"Okay. I'm not trying to argue with you, baby. All I know is that you've almost never mentioned it to me, and when you have, you've been quick to change the subject. That's all."
"Well, what do you wanna know about it?" I was still feeling defensive.
"Nothing, baby." He sounded exhausted. "I really, really didn't mean anything by it."
"I'm sorry," I said, laying my head back down when I took a second to consider. "I think I'm upset with Tony for lying to me and I displaced it onto you."
