Blue || Bucky Barnes

110. Dirty Laundry

Aura closes the stairwell door quietly hoping to remain untracked but when she turns the corner she bumps right into Steve.
"Aura. Are you okay? You rushed off earlier." He asks her curiously dropping his hand from Nat's door handle.
"I'm alright, what are you doing in Nat's room?" She raises a brow inquisitively.
"Nothing! I was just getting her a glass of water." He stumbles over his wording.
"Nat has a pitcher on her side cupboard..." On Aura's cheeks grows a wicked smile.
"Oh yeah, I was just filling it up for her, that's what I meant." He nods furiously.
"Okay Steve, goodnight." Her tone is sweet as she leaves him. Steve opens the door again looking at Nat's side table to see it lacking a pitcher. 'Fuck.' He thinks.

Steve paces down the hallway passing his own room and gently knocking on Leia's door. He feels as if he's checking on everyone at this point and given the day Leia's had, it's probably necessary. There's a faint answer so he pushes in seeing her sitting on her bed leaning against the headboard.
"Hey." He mumbles after she nods for him to sit down.
"Hey. You okay?"
"I should be asking you that." Steve looks at her as if asking for answers.
"I've had better days." She manages the smallest of smiles.
"Wanna talk about it?" He asks kindly and her eyes immediately tell him she does.
"I read my files. All of them. I've done some horrible things Steve, worse than Buck." She confesses and Steve looks at her with sudden sympathy. "My file is twice the size of his. I was their toy, completely at their disposal for sixty years... And you all thought his past was fucked up."
"Leia what happened, what they made you do, it was their doing. None of it was you, you were just their vessel as horrible as it sounds. We've all done some messed up things Leia, but they can be forgiven. You aren't the person they made you to be, you're better, stronger. They can't touch you anymore."
"It's just hard to forget sometimes." Leia practically scoffs at the irony of it all. All she's ever wanted was to remember her life and now she's almost begging to forget it.
"I know..." Steve nods slowly letting her words sink in, he too recognising the irony. The silence is comfortable and Leia kind of enjoys it. There's always been something about Steve and since she's known Nat and Wanda perhaps her relationship with him has dwindled but he'll always be her project partner, her first real friend.
"The truth wasn't the only thing I found today..." Steve's look begs her to continue. "My old address. I'd forgotten it but as soon as I read the street name on Erskine's file it came flooding back. 13752 Stanley Avenue, Queens, New York. My mother used to drill it into our heads." Leia chuckles lightly.
"That's where you went today?" He words it as a question though he already knows the answer as Leia nods.
"Yeah."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am. It was horrible, the memories that resurfaced. It looks exactly the same. That's probably a testament to the way I lived, the fact it looks exactly the same after eighty years save for some graffiti here and a shattered window there. The old couch was still there and my parent's bed frame, bronzed with rust."
"I wish you'd asked me to come with you. You shouldn't have had to do that alone." Steve says saddened by his friends recollection.
"I think I needed to go by myself. I found closure actually." Leia breathes out thankful she can talk to him about this and he'll listen. "But anyway..." She quickly wipes the stray tear from her cheek. "What about you, I've talked enough, what's happening with you, how's Emma?"
Steve chuckles at her attempt to change the subject, but he bites nonetheless. "I haven't spoken to her much since we got back, there's just been a lot on my mind."
"Like Nat?" Leia smiles at his suddenly widened eyes.
"No, I mean, it's great that she's back and getting used to that has certainly been on my mind but-" Steve stops when he sees Leia's brow raised, eyes sparkling.
"You've never been very good at lying to me Steve." She chuckles and he sighs in defeat.
"Yeah she's been on my mind." He admits and Leia sits forward expecting him to continue but he stays quiet.
"What happened between you two?" Leia smiles and Steve looks at her ready to spill everything.

*Flashback*

"You win this every single time." Nat peaks at Steve over her hand of cards. They sit in the quiet compound passing the time. It had been almost five years since Thanos' decimation, the remaining Avengers under Nat's command. Steve would often stop in to check on how things were going and each time she would assure him everything's fine. She had Okoye in Wakanda, Rocket, Nebula and Carol off world, and Rhodey working in cahoots with the remaining governments. She had everything under control.
"See you're just lacking the proper motivation to win." Steve chuckles playing another card.
"Well what's your motivation then?" Nat plays her card.
"Seeing your face when I beat you, yet again." Steve's face is smug as he plays a final card winning the game.
"God dammit." Nat mutters throwing her cards into the centre. "Alright I need some of that motivation."
"What about a wager? You write down what you want if you win and I'll do the same. And we'll reveal them at the end." Steve tears a piece of paper in half handing it to her.
"Okay." Nat laughs scribbling down her bet before folding it and placing it aside. She collects the cards while Steve places his folded paper aside as well. She smirks at him while shuffling the cards, something she's proud to be quite good at. "You're going down this time Rogers."
"Not today Romanoff." He takes his pile looking through the selection keeping his poker face strong as Nat does the same. After a few minutes of playing they're down to their final few cards.
"It's over for you." Steve smirks as he places down his second to last card. But as he looks back up expecting to see the familiar look of defeat Nat sends him a wicked grin, placing down her final card.
Nat is shocked by herself as Steve just stares at the lack of cards in her hand. "I think you just lost."
"No." He's in complete denial.
"First time for everything Rogers. Let's see what you lost." Nat snatches up his piece of paper opening it with a cheeky grin. "'Clean my motorcycle for the next four washes. Polish included.' Ooh shame. Instead you have to 'make me food every time you visit'." Nat reveals her piece of paper. Steve just rolls his eyes at her request. "I think I'll play this now, I could use a snack, maybe some bacon and eggs?"
"You're lucky I'm a man of my word." Steve gets up willingly walking to the nearby kitchenette gathering his ingredients and cooking utensils.