She Made The Wish △ Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers

Chapter 18: Confessions

It was two days later, after things had started to calm down, when something monumental happened. After Ophelia had arrived back at the tower, and after she had been cleared from medical, she had gone on a search for Bucky. He hadn't visited her room since her first day back, unlike all of the other avengers (and co.). She was missing him and she needed to talk to him. Needed to thank him.

When she had been in the tower's hospital wing, she had come to a couple of revelations. Number one: she deeply cared for Bucky. There was no way around this- he was a part of her life now. He had weaseled his way into her heart and she had little to no say about that. Not that she was complaining or anything, because come on, there were a lot of worse things in life than befriending someone as great as him.

Number two: Bucky cared deeply for her. He cared enough that he would not only try to keep her safe, but he would also go to extreme lengths to ensure her safety. He didn't have to go back to Hydra, especially as soon as he did, but he went back to save her. Surely this meant that he cared a great deal about her, right?

Number three: she was calling in love with him. This was more of an afterthought than anything. Even though she had known Bucky for over four months, her feelings of nurturing and caring for him were recently starting to develop into something more.

Now, Ophelia was never one that dwelled on certain feelings, especially when they were inconvenient for her. But, how could she not be blinded by this revelation? He was such a huge part of her life- how was she going to deal with this? Seeing him every day?

Only, she didn't see him every day. After he sat down in medical with her as the doctor went over her injuries he left, and she hadn't seen him since. She was starting to worry that he was blaming himself, and that would simply not do. This was how she found herself standing outside his room after hours, the hallway lights barely lighting the space in front of her as she knocked on his door.

She raised her fist to knock a third time when the door swung open, revealing Bucky. His shirtless form was slumped and he had purple rings under his eyes. "Hey Buck, how are you?"

He went to close the door but Ophelia quickly shoved her foot between it and the doorframe. He stared at her for a moment before sighing, knowing that his friend was not going to relent on him. "What?"

"I said how are you?"

"I'm fine." His grim face and poor posture hinted otherwise. She was having none of his shit after days of not seeing him. She pushed past him and into his apartment, taking a seat on his couch. She patted the space beside her, and he reluctantly sat down.

Looking up at him to see his faraway eyes, she had already decided that he needed to talk to someone. Hopefully her. She sighed. "Bucky, this is an intervention."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, mister supersoldier-hearing. An intervention."

He dryly chuckled. "For what?"

"If you don't get whatever it is off your chest, you'll never be able to breathe!" Her shoulders were starting to shake, because once you got her going, oh, she wouldn't be able to stop. Especially when she was trying to help someone. Especially if that person that she was trying to help was her friend. "I could literally play a violin ballad on you, you are so high strung."

"I can deal with it just fine." He replied evenly. Clearly he saw no problem bottling up his feelings. She was having none of that.

"It doesn't matter how you think you are dealing. What matters is that you don't have to deal with it. Not alone."