THE WOLF AND THE MOUSE: A BUCKY BARNES & NICK FOWLER MOB AU

CHAPTER SIX

pairing: enforcer!bucky barnes x fem!reader; mob boss!nick fowler x fem!reader

warnings?: pet name (sweetheart/topolina), not proofread

In the early days of...whatever the hell this sham engagement was, you knew Nick had full intentions of keeping you in the manor under 24/7 supervision. He had the entire manor outfitted to your tastes, to your interests. Your own personal design style was perfectly embedded into every wall hanging, in every rug, in every piece of seating. But it was most especially prevalent in the manor library. Wall-to-wall shelves housed your favorite books from the time you fell in love with reading until now. It was perfectly Beauty-and-the-Beast-esque, complete with the being trapped in a palace part.

The only thing the beast forgot about was making the beauty fall in love with him before showing her the library.

Because every time you were in there, you were reminded of the blood splattering the floor and walls of Bucky's apartment. You were reminded of the cool metal of Nick's gun, how he'd pointed it you until he unloaded it on your love. You couldn't get the image out of your mind.

Not even now, as you organized and re-organized and organized the shelves again and again and again. His touch was everywhere in this damned manor. You could never escape it.

"Meow!"

You looked down, watching as Alpine snuggled up to your lap, trying to nestle her way into your arms. "I know, I miss him, too," you said, picking her up and cradling her in your arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I wish he was still here."

"Meow meow!"

"Yeah. I think about him a lot, too. Sometimes, I delude myself into thinking he's still here. Funny, isn't it? How the...dead never leave, even long after they've been buried." You scratched behind her ears, letting out a sigh. "I hope he's okay, in whatever afterlife there is. I hope he's doing better than us."

Alpine squirmed in your arms, so you let her go, watching as she scampered over to her favorite windowsill, resting in the sunlight. Sometimes, you wished you could be like that. You wished you could forget about everything that's happened. Pretend that Nick was your Bucky, that all of this was okay, that you were living a dream life with a dream man.

Instead, you were cursed with the knowledge forever weighing on you that you'd lost everything, that you had everything ripped from you, for this dream life to become your reality.

You pushed yourself up, dusting off your jeans. "I need more shelves," you mumbled. "Need to get my own shelves."

You left the library, walking down the hall to Nick's office. The door was open, him looking up as you reached the doorway.

"Topolina," he said, smiling. "I thought you were going to be re-organizing the library all day?"

"Um, I was wondering where you got the shelves from? I, uh, wanted to get some more," you said. "Kind of make it like an actual library, with aisles and stuff."

Nick perked up, his smile widening. He liked that. He liked the sound of you making this manor more like it was your home. To him, that meant you were finally accepting your place. "I'll take you to the store. Had them custom ordered, just for you. I can help you with ordering the new ones, yeah?"

You nodded, knowing it was better to agree than to fight. At least if he was happy, he wouldn't hurt you more than he already had. And if you denied him this...You fought the urge to shudder, remembering all of the times he's bent you over that very desk he was sitting at, reminding you again and again and again that you would always be his.

So, you let him take to the store. It was a small shop called Howlies Furniture. It actually wasn't far from your bookstore, which surprised you since you had never noticed it before. But perhaps that's because you never really looked for it either.

"Mornin' Fowler," the owner said, wiping his hands as he finished polishing a few pieces. His eyes flicked to you, widening slightly. "What can I do for you today?"

"The missus wanted some more of those shelves I had you make."

"Ah, those were nice shelves. Can't blame ya for wantin' more." He held his hand out to you, which you took, shaking it. "It's nice to meet ya, ma'am. I'm Steve, by the way."

"Y/N," you said. "I was actually hoping for shelves that were more freestanding than attached to the wall. I was wanting to make the library, you know, more like a library."

"I see. Well, I'll run to the back and grab some designs I've got pre-made and we can use those to start narrowing down what specifically you want?"

You nodded. "Works for me."

Steve disappeared to the back of the store as Nick wound his arms around you, pulling you close to his chest.

"I'm glad you're being cooperative now, topolina," Nick whispered against your hair. "Isn't this easier?"

"Mhm. Oh, shoot," you muttered.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked, pulling away to look at you.

"Nothing, I just left my phone in the car, and I'd written down some things I'd like and—" You shook your head. "I'm just gonna grab it, okay? I'll be back in two shakes and a shimmy."

Nick almost looked like he wanted to say he'd go with you, but instead he nodded. "Don't be too long."

"I won't." You paused. "Promise."

You walked out of the store, turning to the left to walk down to the alley where the car was parked. For a moment, you considered running. But you remembered he had eyes and ears everywhere, so you didn't doubt that if you tried, you'd be caught and drugged back kicking and screaming. And, well, Nick was being nice today, and you didn't want to ruin that at the moment.

But as you grabbed your phone from the back of the car, shutting the door, starting to turn to walk back to the store, a flash of movement caught your eye. A strong, muscular build. Long, dark hair. The glint of a metal arm. No. It couldn't be... Could it?

"Bucky?" you called out. "Bucky, is that you?"

The figure froze. "Sweetheart, I—"

"Topolina, is everything alright?"

You whipped around, watching as Nick walked up to you. "Huh?"

"You were gone for a while, topolina. I was worried."

"Everything's alright." You looked back at where the figure was. He was gone. You wondered if you'd just imagined it. "I...just thought I saw something."

Nick's jaw clenched and unclenched. "You saw something?"

You kept staring at the spot the figure had been. Had it been Bucky? Could he be alive? No...you'd seen Nick shoot him. You'd seen the blood pour out of him. You'd seen the light leave his eyes. That couldn't have been him. Your Bucky wasn't alive. Because if he was alive, that would mean—

"I-I'm not feeling well. I'm sorry. Can we leave, please?"

Nick's brows furrowed together. "Topolina—"

"Please, can we go home?"

Nick sucked in a breath, like he wanted to press further. But it was the first time you'd called the manor "home". It was progress. It was all progress. And he wasn't the kind of man to kick a gift horse in the mouth. So, he said, "Alright. Let's go home, and you can rest, okay?"

"Okay."

But you knew that no amount of rest would ever make you feel okay. Not when Bucky might be out there.