Get Schooled

Chapter Six: Is This Love?

Steve swallows and takes a deep breath, running his fingers down the cool metal.

"I think... I think it's beautiful." Steve says quietly, hoping Bucky didn't know yet. Hoping he didn't know Steve was harbouring a crush on him, had been doing so since he first saw the brunette. Bucky stares at him, shocked.

"How can you say that? It's hideous, Steve. Makes me feel like a monster, a cyborg." Bucky whispers, hanging his head. Steve puts a comforting hand on Bucky's shoulder and the brunette looks up, he'd never told anyone how he felt about his arm.

"You are not a monster. You hear me? I think it's really beautiful. It doesn't make you any less human, okay?" Steve says softly, and that's what breaks Bucky. The brunette starts crying, he flings himself at Steve and clutches him like a lifeline, hugging him tightly. Steve hugs back gently, sighing.

"Thank you." Bucky chokes out, grip tightening on the material of Steve's shirt. Steve nods and rubs the brunettes' back gently, watching the quaking Bucky in front of him. After a while the brunette pulls away, wiping his face free of the salty, wet tears. Steve looks away to give Bucky some of his dignity, pretending to be interested in whatever was out the window. Once Bucky's cleaned himself up he sighs and scrubs his face with his hands.

"Anything else you wanna talk about?" Steve asks softly, watching his friend with concern. Bucky shakes his head and manages to smile at the blonde.

"How the ____ did you get up here, past the boy toy?" Bucky asks, changing the subject. Steve shrugs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What'd you do." Bucky asks, a shadow of amusement dancing across his face.

"I called him something I shouldn't have. I'm sorry." Steve mumbles. Bucky smirks and claps a hand onto Steve's broad shoulder, the blonde looks up at him.

"Sorry? I'm glad you did that. ____, I would if I had the guts to do so." Bucky smiles, Steve relaxes. They talk for a bit longer, just hanging out with each other. And that only strengthens the love Bucky was steadily growing for Steve. Just the way he is, the way he smiles, how he talks. Just everything. Steve was steadily growing feelings for him as well. Even his metal arm, everything about him.

After a while Steve sighs and gets up, Bucky looks up at him.

"I gotta go, Buck. Or else Ms. Hilda'll be upset." The blonde mutters, rubbing his face. Bucky sighs in response and gets up, facing Steve.

"Yeah, okay. Hey, Steve? Do me a solid and please, don't tell anyone what I told you today." Bucky pleads, eyebrows furrowed.

"I won't. I promise." Steve assures, and with a slight nod he claps Bucky on the shoulder with a smile before walking back out and closing the door gently behind him. Bucky sighs and sinks onto his mattress, his metal hand over the spot where Steve's warm, larger hand rested. He sighs again softly and smiles to himself, turning to look out the window.

"Captain America, huh? Well, God bless America." Bucky mumbles to himself, smiling slightly.

Next day at school Steve found Bucky in the same spot as usual, the dark, shady corner of the outsides of the school, puffing on a cigarette. Steve marvelled at how Bucky could shape the smoke with those full, pink lips of his, the grey smoke twirling through the air as it escaped, making the brunette shrouded with its haze. He loved the way Bucky looked so sexy doing it, puffing the smoke out in the most relaxed way, leaning against the brick wall.

Steve fixes up his hair and saunters towards Bucky, who was staring up at the sky.

"Hey, Bucky." Steve says, Bucky looks over at him and smirks.

"Stevie." He nods at him, pushing himself off the brick wall and walking closer to Steve.

"You changed your hair." Bucky comments, sucking some smoke into his lungs and raising an eyebrow. Steve nods and runs a hand through it, his hair had been gelled instead of just left on its own accord. Bucky puffs out the smog and it swirls around the two, seeming to dance through the air and settle on their clothes.

"Sure did. Wanted to try something different for a while." Steve shrugs like it's not a big deal. Bucky thought his hair looked awesome. He drops the cigarette and crushes it underneath his heel, shouldering his bag and looking back into the sky, sighing. Steve watches him quietly, a rumble of thunder echoes within the air, miles away.

"C'mon, let's go." Bucky sighs, leading Steve into the school. Peggy comes up behind them and taps Bucky on the shoulder, he jumps and whirls around to see her smiling face.

"Do storms give you the jitters, Barnes?" She smirks, he scoffs and rolls his eyes.

"As if, Carter. To what do we owe this surprise?" He huffs, watching her. She grabs a flyer from out of her army bag and hands it towards the pair. Together they lean in and read it, Bucky jittery from the closeness of their faces.

A school dance was being held three days from then, because the staff figured the kids wanted to do something, anything fun for a change. Bucky snorts and hands the paper back to Peggy, who shoves it into her bag.

"Yeah, right. A dance. And who, pray tell, would we go with?" Bucky asks, motioning to Steve and himself at the word we. She rolls her eyes.

"I'm not the one to ask. If you feel so inclined to, ask a lady. There are quite a few smitten by you two. Quite the litter to choose from." Peggy hums, looking at Steve. He flushes pink and bites his lip gently.

"I'll certainly think about it." He mumbles, eyeing the ground. Bucky grinds his back teeth then motions Steve forwards, onto their first class.