Five's a Crowd | Stucky / Marvel Polyamorous LGBT Romance

Chapter 21: Nicky

TW: Anxiety, panic attack, mentions of past abuse

"Not that I don't love you to absolute pieces, doll face, but I am so excited to get out of here," Nicky joked, cramming the final t-shirt into his suitcase. Bucky walked over and lazily sat down on top of the suitcase, flattening it so Nicky could wrench the zipper closed.

"You're the best," he said, leaning up to kiss Bucky's smiling mouth.

"Don't lie, you're going to miss being the undivided focus of all of my attention."

Nicky paused for a moment. He had been trying to find a way to bring this up for a while now and oddly this formed the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm sure Loki will be excited to get some of your attention...finally."

Bucky glanced down at him sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's not supposed to mean anything, just that I'm sure he's been missing you a lot and seeing as how you weren't really hanging out with him much before the trip-" Bucky stood up abruptly and stalked across the room.

There wasn't very far to go in the normal sized hotel room, and he came up short at the bathroom door, probably debating whether to go in and slam it closed dramatically. That's probably what Nicky would have done.

"Bucky..." he said flatly.

Nicky didn't chase after him, instead he stood up and walked over to one of the beds. He plopped down on the edge of it and leaned back on his hands, watching Bucky begin to pace around the room.

"What is it love...you can talk to me, come on. Are you...do you not like him like that?"

Nicky wasn't quite sure what would happen if that were the case. He absolutely adored Loki and from some brief conversations he'd had with Charlie over text, it seemed so did Charlie. Even Steve had grown quite attached to him. He didn't think that if Bucky was no longer interested in Loki it would be a huge problem, but it could really hurt Loki. Nicky wasn't positive, they hadn't talked about it explicitly, but from the way Loki looked at Bucky he was pretty sure he was falling for him, hard.

"No! Of course I like him. I like him so much it's..." he trailed off looking away from Nicky.

"It's... scary? Intimidating? Making you feel insecure like how you did with me and Charlie...?"

Bucky's eyes flashed, but not with anger, with something else Loki couldn't quite grasp at before it disappeared again, like a drawbridge slamming closed.

"Well....I think that's part of it actually. I was so excited to really get my relationship going with Charlie and... I mean I told you. While you guys were on your trip where you met Loki....we had an absolutely amazing time together. Then I feel like Loki arrived and it was such a whirlwind and then COVID just keeps getting worse... I don't know I'm- I'm feeling detached from everyone and I feel like I'm failing in all of my current relationships so how could I ever be a good partner for Loki..."

Nicky stood up and walked towards him. He stopped a few feet away so we wouldn't corner him, but he held out his arms and Bucky stepped into them immediately.

"Well... as one of your partners, how about you ask me how I'm feeling?" Nicky suggested quietly, brushing Bucky's hair away from his forehead.

Bucky whined, a soft noise he held in his mouth before letting it out over Nicky's shoulder. "Are you- do you feel like- like I'm failing you?" He tightened his fingers in Nicky's shirt, and he held him even tighter.

"No. Not even a little bit. I am...sad that you've been feeling all of this and didn't feel like you could come to me with it though. That makes me feel a little like I've failed you."