Stay with me, please. x Bucky Barnes

Chapter 13

"Do you want to do extra rounds today or why are you so slow?" Bucky laughs at me. He's already dressed and waiting for me to get out of my sleepy state. Technically, Steve, Bucky, and I were supposed to meet 5 minutes ago... "Give me a second," I laugh and put my head into my hands. I sit on the edge of my bed, my workout clothes already next to me. I just have to get up and put them on... but god I'm so tired.

"I'll go down and make some coffee, ok? Just move your butt and get ready!" He walks up to me and gives me a quick kiss on my head "And maybe, hide your hickeys."

"That bad? I'm pretty sure Steve already knows anyway," I laugh and finally get a bit of motivation to get ready. I grab my stuff and make my way to the door. "I mean if you want, you can leave them be," Bucky pulls me back. My back against his chest. "I don't mind at all," he whispers while his hand moves to my neck and makes my head look up to him. "I don't mind either."

"Good," he kisses my lips before letting go of me and walking out of my room. I follow him until we go our separate ways. As I enter the bathroom, I see my neck for the first time. I look ridiculous and it's definitely going to take quite a while to cover them up.

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"Hey! What's up, pal? You seem off," I can hear Steve laughing as I'm on my way into the gym. And there they are. Steve is standing over a helpless Bucky, pushing him down with afoot. I make my way to a bench, where I put down my stuff before I join them. Bucky is still laying on his stomach even tho he could have moved by now since Steve put if foot away.

"Good morning, guys. Long night, Buck?" I ask laughing as I bend down to him. He answers with a grunt before he pushes himself off the ground. "Get ready, Nina. We have been waiting for a while," Steve commands while walking to the bench. He sits down and takes out his phone, which gives me the opportunity to give Bucky a short kiss on his cheek. "Are you alright? Steve is right... you seem a bit off."

"I'm good. Tony wants to talk to you later tho," he gives me a short smile before he starts to walk toward Steve. "Now get your ass moving. Two rounds extra for your sarcastic question." I roll my eyes at him, but since I don't want to argue with him, I just start running. The gym in the old Stark Tower had everything you might need to get fit, the new one has everything you could ever imagine. Besides the stuff that my dad invented, we also have treadmills, which means technically I wouldn't even have to run real rounds, but Capsicle is a bit old fashion when it comes to training.

Every now and then I look over to Steve and Bucky, maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems like they stop talking whenever I'm close enough to hear them. I think I've heard Peter's name and something about a mission. When I come close to them again, I can clearly see Steve giving Bucky a little tap on his arm. He immediately stops talking and turns to me "Are you done?"

"My lung is burning... I think I am," I chuckle and sit down next to them. "So what have you been talking about? What's up with Peter?" I drink a bit of my water as I wait for an answer. They exchange a short look before getting up nearly in Synchron. "We can't tell you yet," Steve says with an apologizing smile. "Is that why my dad wants to talk to me?"

"Probably, you don't need to worry though. It's not too bad," Bucky says and reaches for my hand. Nothing too bad, huh? Sounds super promising already... He pulls me up and we all walk to the fighting area. "The plan for today is, to see how well you perform when you have to fight off two people. We start easy on you of course. You'll start with Bucky, and when I feel like you are ready, I'm joining in. Alright?"

"Alright!" I walk closer to Bucky who is already standing in the middle of the fighting area. "Don't worry, doll. I won't hurt you," he says with a cocky smile. I give him an innocent smile before I kick away his left leg and let him fall on his butt. "Oh, I don't think you have to hold back," I chuckle and lend him my hand. Bucky and I keep fighting for a while. Even tho I do win a few times... I got a feeling Bucky is only letting me win.

"Ok guys, I think that's enough for today. We're just going to keep going tomorrow alright?" Steve laughs after I had fallen on my back for the fifth time in a row. "Totally fine with that..." I say exhausted and slowly get up. The three of us are getting ready to leave as we hear footsteps behind us.

"Nina, are you done? We need to have a talk," the voice of my dad appears. I turn around to him and see Peter standing next to him. "Yes, just a moment. Can I go change beforehand?"

"That won't be necessary. If you are reasonable it's not going to take long," Tony says as he's already making his way out of the gym. He seems annoyed but to be honest he's always a little annoyed. That's part of his image I would say. "Reasonable? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You really don't want to have this talk right here," he says in a threatening tone. He knows. There is no other reason for him to be mad at me. How did he find out? Or did I do something else?

"Hey... follow him. It's just going to get worse." Bucky whispers into my ear before he kisses my temples and bushes me forward. If my dad didn't know before, he knows now... great job.

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"What's wrong with you, kid?! I thought you had a bit more in your brain!" My dad keeps and keeps yelling at me. "You know damn well what he did to our family! How can you fall in love with someone like that? He is a murderer!"

"Are you out of your mind?" I finally say something back. He yelled at me for the past 10 minutes and I swallowed every stupid comment he made but that's one too much.

"Choose your next words wisely, kid!"

"No dad, now you are going to listen to me! Bucky didn't do shit to this family, HYDRA did! Don't blame him for something he had no control over. You call him a murderer? Did you forget that you killed people too? To this day, people get killed with your weapons so you better shut up. Dad, I think I really love him and if you can't deal with it, it's not my problem."

"I know that and I'm trying to better myself," my dad tries to defend himself.

"So does he. Treat him the way, you want to be treated... it's only fair. You wanted us to get along, remember? Now, please don't make things complicated again," I sit down on my seat again and stare at the ground.

"You really love him?" My dad asks after a few seconds of silence between us. He walks over to me and bends down to me. "I do... please don't force us to break up," my voice cracks as I look up at him.

"It's ok, but if I ever see him hurting you... he's a dead man," Tony laughs a little at his own comment but deep down we both know he is serious about it. "Thank you," I smile and give him a tight hug. "He won't hurt me, I promise. Can I go now or do you want to yell at me some more?" I joke to cheer us both up. I know that my weapon comment hurt him. He tries his best to be better than the old him, but I just had to remind him about his past.

"Actually, you can't go. I'm making it quick though, so you can tell Manchurian Candidate about the good news," he walks back over to his desk and hands me a file. "You have to go on a little mission with Peter. Inside is every little detail you need to know."

"A mission? Why me?" I ask as I start looking through the pages. There are a few pics of two guys, Dylan and Jacob, information about the super-soldier serum and... oh hell no, a student ID with my face on it. "I have to go to school again? Seriously?"

"It's a High school... no one would buy it if we send Natasha in there," he chuckles as he explains. "Peter is going to protect you from afar. They are students in his school, but our little Spidey boy isn't the most popular boy there. You just have to be friends with them and find out if they are behind the drug or just some dealers, ok? Easy, right?"

"Sounds absolute fun," I say sarcastically before I actually start laughing. "When does it start?"

"Tomorrow, sweetheart."