Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

Captain America: The First Avenger (18)

...And then I met him.

BELGIUM - DAY

The men swarmed Rhiley. The snow around her melted. Without hesitation, they aimed their guns her way and kept a careful eye locked on the target.
They were scared, Rhiley knew that "What's wrong, boys?" She could see it in the way they looked at her, "Cat got your tongue?" She raised her arms up and with ease, the guns are pulled from the grips of the soldiers. She smirked when they backed up.

Rhiley made eye contact with one of them, "Boo." and dropped the guns right on them.

"I'm starting to see the resemblance," Steve commented.

Rhiley stepped over one of the unconscious men and locked eyes with the Captain. "What was that?"

"You and Howard." Steve doesn't even have to look at the enemy soldier to his side who thought he had gotten a jump on the Captain. He threw the shield, knocking the man down. "Peggy told me how similar the two of you are and I couldn't see it until now." He caught his shield with ease.

"And what's that?"

"You both are dramatic."

"Says the one with that-" Rhiley pointed at the shield in his hand. "And remind me to talk with Peggy for talking behind my back."

"Duck!" Steve shouts, throwing his shield.

Rhiley dodges it watching it knock someone out that had snuck up behind her. "I knew he was there." She said.

"Of course." Steve smiled passing her to pick up his shield. "Just thought I'd help out."

"Well, thank you."

"Anytime."

"I am here. I'll always be here."

A loud knock on James's door caught his attention rather quickly. It was late and they had just gotten back from their Belgium mission. He couldn't exactly pinpoint who would be knocking at this time other than one of the men pranking him. But when he opened the door and found Rhiley with a bottle of rum tucked beneath her armpit he couldn't help but think if this was a prank it was quite the delightful one.

"Can I come in?"

James hadn't even moved to invite her in. "Always." He had been distracted by the fact she was even talking to him. Since the little burn incident, Rhiley's been keeping her distance. Sure, they've bickered when out on missions and around the others but she refused to even be in the same room as him alone. "Missed me?" He asked, ignoring the pit in the bottom of his stomach as he closed the door.

Of course, it had pained James to watch her pull away. But everyone he talked to told him to give her space and let her come back around on her own term. It took everything in James to ignore his own gut feeling and he wish he hadn't.

"You know it." Rhiley set the bottle down on the nightstand. The room was a standard military one. Nothing outstanding, or even different from her own. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Never." James was confused, she seemed fine. "Um-" he's felt speechless around Rhiley multiple times before. This time felt different though - he couldn't really pinpoint what though. He wanted to move past his bandage hand and what had happened to get it bandaged in the first place but he was waiting to see what she chose to do. It was Rhiley's move.

"Peggy called me a dumbass today." Rhiley finally spoke up grabbing one of the two plastic cups she had brought in with the bottle. "I keep having to remind her I'm not the brains of the twin set." She filled up one and then the other. "I'm the bronze."

"Why did she call you that?" James asked, acting as if he didn't know.

"She told me to stop avoiding you." She handed him a cup.

"You were avoiding me?" He asked, taking the cup and shrugging, clearly acting clueless "I didn't even notice."

Deadpanned, she only stared back. "I may be a dumbass but I'm not blind-" She paused, "or deaf, I know you've been talking about me. You do realize it's very hard to keep anything from spreading in a place like this and I'm not just talking about rumors."

"I don't know what you're talking about." James shrugged again, taking a sip of the liquor.

"Oh, that's a load of shit." She laughed, "I know you well enough to know you've been getting advice from other people because I know damn well you would have been clinging to me 24/7 if it wasn't for the advice they gave you."

"I wanted to give you space."

"No, you didn't." Rhiley corrected him, "They told you too." She took a step back before walking over to the bed to sit down.

"You're correct. I actually wanted to give you the opposite of space. I wanted to cling onto you like a desperate koala bear." He finally said what he wanted to say. James walked over and sat down next to Rhiley before taking another drink. "Where did you get this?"

"I stole it from Howard." Rhiley sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I've already told you, you don't need to apologize for-"

"Not from that." Rhiley already knew what James was gonna say, "I meant for avoiding you. Peggy was right, I was a dumbass for that."

"Well." James looked away, not disagreeing.

Rhiley shook her head lips fidgeting upward. She shoved him with her shoulder. "You remind me of someone."

"Oh?" James was curious, "Do tell."

"She was a pain in my ass." She glanced over, "just like you are."

"Well, she sounds like a lovely person."

"I'm the reason she's dead."

James was slightly caught off guard by the switch in tone. He looked at Rhiley and saw the emptiness in her stare. She swirled around what was left of her drink. "I got her killed. I'm the reason she's gone." She shakes her head, "I don't want to hurt the people I care about anymore and when I saw that look on your face I got scared."

"Wow there," It was James' turn to throw Rhiley off. He gently scooped her chin in his hands and caught her gaze with his. She hadn't been expecting the sudden physical contact but she wasn't rejecting it. "I need you to understand something-"

"But-"

"No." James cut her off and his lip twitched up into a small smile like he had a thought pop into his head that he kept a secret from Rhiley. "I like you-" He finally said but something else was at the tip of his tongue it had been the thing that made his lip twitch up into a little smile. 'I Love you' he had said quietly to himself but he's been saying that since she first walked into his life. But he kept it to himself because that's not what she needed to hear. "and I trust you."

His hand moved from her chin and up her cheek. James noticed the way Rhiley moved into his touch. It was just a small shift in weight but it was there and it made his heart swell. She had walls that he would spend forever climbing and yet he knew they were also crumbling because of him why else would she be this terrified?

"And I'm gonna spend the rest of my life being the biggest pain in your ass there ever was."

"You are my blue crayon, the one I never have enough of, the one I use to color my sky."

~ A.R.Asher