Change of Pace

Pick Up Problems

Bucky watched Bella's shoulders sag with relief when she spotted him in the hallway outside of her final class, he didn't like that he'd caused her so much tension but he felt infinitely better after his jaunt through the woods.

"Bucky!" She fell forward into his waiting arms, and he swung her up onto his shoulders. "Do you feel better? You look better."

"How are you?" He asked instead, his hands squeezed Bella's shins as he shuffled his hands around to hold her steady. "Look tense." He offered.

"Oh! Well, there was this guy in my last class -"

"Wouldn't happen to have been the one that ran out like his ass was on fire?" Bucky grunted, his hackles rising despite not knowing the situation. Bucky knew men, and he knew boys, and he knew what they were like.

"Yeah, I guess," Bella giggled half-heartedly, hiding her mouth behind her hand as she did so. "I think he was unwell or something, the teacher sat me beside him and he stayed as far from me as he could on the desk the whole lesson. It was weird."

"Well, I wouldn't go getting weepy-eyed about it until you've figured out what's going on there. You could be right about him being sick," Bucky rumbled thoughtfully, trying to distract Bella from the self-consciousness that she was exuding. "And if he isn't sick, then it might be my fault. I mean, I'm sure the kid saw what I did in the canteen."

"Bucky, no one blames you for what happened in the canteen. You scared a lot of the guys, of course, but everyone understood." Bella's hands smoothed through Bucky's hair, and she began to scratch at his scalp with barely-there fingernails.

They made it to the office at a slow meandering pace, Bucky becoming less tense under Bella's hands, and Bella softened as she helped him whilst giving him directions to the office.

Bucky set her down outside the office doors, motioning for her to go on in. He didn't really want to see that creepy old woman again. He wasn't interested in being lusted over. With a short huff of amusement, Bella entered the office, the door barely shutting behind her before that kid from her last class was running out of it and, subsequently, into Bucky.

"Shit!" Bucky exclaimed as the kid began to flop backwards, his arms shooting out to hoist him back up with his shoulders. "You okay, kid?" He shook the boy lightly, observing the pale skin which burnt Bucky through the dark coloured long-sleeved tee which he wore, and the very faint flush of colour that rested high on his cheeks as he stared up at Bucky through dazed golden eyes. His hair looked as though the kid had been clutching his head, and suddenly Bucky was very, very sure that the boy was unwell. "Okay, okay," he hummed, carefully picking up the kid and cradling him against his chest, noting that all of the areas where they were in contact seemed to burn. "Shit, alright," Bucky was about to risk being in the presence of the sleazy office woman once more when he looked at the boys eyes again and realised something. "You have golden eyes!" He cried in relief, glad that he didn't have to go into the office space, smiling his relief to the boy. "You must be one of Emmett's brothers, I'll take you to him."

"You'll take me?" The boy asked, voice sounding spacey.

"Of course," Bucky nudged the office door open until he could see Bella but not the office woman. "Bells, I'm taking this kid out to his brother. He ain't feeling too good." He called, turning and leaving before she could respond.

"You're still here?" The boy reached a hand up and began to tap a solitary finger against Bucky's cheek in a rhythmic fashion.

"I told ya I'd take you to your brother, didn't I?" Bucky responded gruffly, clearing his throat to refrain from barking at the kid to stop touching his face.