This is Our Design

The Evening Passes, A Rose Petal Falls Part 4

Notes:

I am sincerely sorry for the hiatus. My grandma has been diagnosed with cancer, my mom is stressed, my studies as a dancer is crumbling because my leg isn't getting any better. I've been trying to write every day, I swear, but the anger and anxiety in my chest has kept me from focusing on the other part of my life that I love.

Thankfully, though, some things are getting better and I'm starting to get more ideas flowing. Hopefully, you will forgive me for this gigantic cliffhanger that I had left you with in the previous chapter without some sort of warning. I'm sorry!

P.S. I'll be back to edit this some more. I know that the timeline of this story wasn't very thought out and has probably confused some of you. But, anyway, carry on.

Enjoy!

       "Where were you all this time?"

       Bucky knew he was going to ask that day. He had seen the curiosity his eyes, the skipping breathes in his chest, throbbing veins stretching tanned skin. Pulsing. Itching.

       He opened his mouth, but—

       I can't

       We can't

       Steve!

       —choked on his own saliva, sinking deep into the mattress, bones locked in place.

        "Well," Twisting his torso to look at Steve upset his stomach momentarily and set a new wave of nausea through his gut. They were acting cautious around each other. Acting like strangers forced to inhabit the same room while the people who prayed for their friendly becoming contained their awkwardness through forced smiles. Bucky went to juvie for theft, but people looked at him like he killed someone. They stared as he walked down the halls of Avengers High, puckered their lips like squeezed lemon fruit, pursued him and Steve like flies. The claustrophobia was overwhelming.

       "I,", A gentle breeze curled around his neck length locks, tickling his nape; he tucked them behind his ears. "It's pretty anti-climactic and boring and vague, but-"

       "Whatever you know I should hear, just tell me. Don't beat around the bush, Bucky."

       "Right." The brunette tried not to feel afraid as he placed a gentle hand over Steve's forehead, noticing that his skin was feverish and red. He stroked the fringes of neat, even bangs and carded them to meet his knuckles, where the palm of his hand massaged gently over the Steve's scalp. Out with it, then.

       "Ever heard of Barnes Company, its owners Winnifred and George? They're loaded, filthy rich, world renowned, and the greatest pretenders I've ever met. I used to steal from them." He let Steve process this information, continuing as he felt the blonde flush with goosebumps. He scoffed, crossed his ankles, and tugged at Steve's hair. "They were actually my parents? Nah. No. They were nothing to me and I was nothing to them, Steve, I wasn't supposed to be born. I mean, they wanted a successor to take over when they were older, but they wanted one later, not during one of the largest lawsuits against their rival company they had ever dealt with since competition had begun to rise. Not when the company was underway of crashing completely."

            He wasn't supposed to be born? Steve didn't understand.

            "Winnifred fucked the CEO of the company they were fighting against, some other pretentious buyer, and they completely screwed over everybody in court. Nobody won, in the end, and it was just the Barnes, red-necked and at each other's throats every day since then on. She carried an accident inside her stomach."