"Sam shut the fuck up!" Bucky was driving his very drunk friends home after one of Tony Stark's famous parties. They were completely smashed and held no regard for the safety of their lives or others, so Bucky was on ride duty. He hadn't touched a drink all night.
His thoughts were slightly preoccupied by the red head he'd found in a closet and ended up making out with. The memory of her hips grinding against his brought unwanted reactions and a stoned Sam noticed. "Hey Steve ma man Buckeroo's been giving the D." He laughed and flopped out of his seat belt. Bucky scowled and tried to shove him back. Sam just snorted and twisted in his seat, trying to climb into the front. Bucky batted him back, slightly distracted and ended up cutting into the wrong lane. He quickly left Sam alone and drove back on the right side of the road.
Unfortunately Sam took this as an invitation to continue and drunkenly hit the dashboard. "Man I wanna drive. Yeah I'd be sooooo coooool." His words slurred and he went cross-eyed. Steve in the back laughed.
"Yeah Buckyyyy let Sam drive. He's the best." He giggled to himself and Sam nodded along to his words.
"No way Sam. Just sit still we're almost home."
"Nah man, let me drive!" His mood changed quickly and he tugged Bucky's arm off of the wheel. "Let Me Drive!!!"
"What the fuck!"
"Go that way!"
"Fuck off! STEVE!"
"C'mon Buck, Sam issss fffine."
"Wilson back the fuck off."
"NO! Let me Drive!"
Bucky tried to wrestle the wheel back as Sam made a desperate grab. Horns blared and headlights flashed as their car swerved all over the place. Bucky finally managed to gain control but Sam rammed into him and sent the car lurching off to the side. They heard a sickening crunch of metal and bone as something connected with their bonnet.
Bucky slammed on the breaks and Sam and Steve fell silent as he kicked open his door and dropped to the pavement. Broken glass was scattered across the road and smoke rose from beneath the hood. They seemed to sober up as they stumbled towards their friend and recognised the twisted metal frame of a once was bike. Bucky was leaning over a still figure, her red hair spilled on the concrete was the same shade of blood that pooled beneath her. One leg was bent unnaturally and they could see the jagged shard of bone poking through the skin.
People screamed and sirens wailed as an ambulance came closer. They didn't think it would make it on time. She was deathly pale and her chest neither rose not fell. Her helmet was cracked straight down the middle and lay like a broken shell. Bucky knelt by her side and tried feeling for a pulse. There was none. He started trying CPR as tears welled in his eyes and spilt down his cheeks. He'd just killed a girl. He'd just murdered her. Sam was in shock and had sunk to the floor all affects of alcohol completely evaporated. Steve crouched in front of him trying to get him to respond.
Paramedics arrived on the scene and gently pulled the boys away. They hoisted the girl onto a gurney and wheeled her into the ambulance, securing monitors and IV lines to her. Steve tried to wrap an arm around Bucky but he shook it off. He was mad at them and mad at himself. But mostly mad at them. He turned on Sam and threw himself at him, screaming and crying as he drove his fists into the boy. Sam just took it, his own tears mingling with the blood from a busted nose.
Bucky was pulled off and the police got involved. Their car was towed away and they were given a ride to the nearest hospital. Officers questioned them but decided not to press charges until later as everyone was emotionally distraught. When they asked for the name of the girl an almost silent Natalia slipped from between Bucky's lips. Natalia, the girl not three hours ago he'd made out in a closet with. Thick tears fell.
The boys parents found them in the waiting room and pulled them each respectively into hugs and showering them with kisses and questions. Shortly after an anxious, surprisingly sober, Stark burst in. A lanky sandy haired boy hot on his heels. "Roger's what happened? Where's little Red?" Steve just nodded towards the operating theatre with puffy eyes. The sandy haired boy glared furiously at them.
"Which one of you shit heads did it huh? Come on own up! OWN UP!" His voice rose in an angry scream and Bucky's mother went over and embraced him. He started sobbing. "She's like my sister. We're all each other's got, well apart from Stark." He carried on crying and all three boys looked guiltily at the floor.
Hours later they were approached by a doctor. She looked down at the rag tag company of teenage boys, their mothers having gone to the cafeteria to let them work through it. Clint nudged the others awake and they looked up at her hopefully. "Are you here for Miss Natasha Romanoff?" Bucky looked slightly confused but Clint and Tony nodded. The doctor sighed and placed a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Unfortunately she didn't make it. Injuries to the head would have killed her but when her ribs shattered shards of bone punctured her heart and lungs. She was dead before the ambulance got to her. I'm sorry for your loss."
The temperature dropped. Bucky felt rage boil within him and turned, slamming his fist into the metal bench and denying it whilst also breaking his hand. Clint sunk to the floor and rocked back and forth whilst Steve and Sam both sat consumed with guilt. "Oh what the hell!" Tony drew a flask from his pocket and downed the whole thing whilst weeping. The doctor looked slightly alarmed at their outbursts but none the less invited them to see her body. They accepted.
First was Sam and Steve who apologised and cried. Then was Tony who took one look at her body, choked out a farewell and drew out another bottle. Next went Clint who sobbed whilst cradling her. He talked to her for almost half an hour before he was forcibly removed. Finally it was Bucky. He couldn't. He took one look at her broken form and all his anger disappeared. Instead it was replaced by guilt and remorse that clawed up his throat and teared at his insides. "I never really knew you but if it helps well I mean you can't hear me so what the hell, I'm really glad I met you tonight but then I also hate that I met you 'cuz it'd be easier now. I regret not knowing you and I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. I'm sorry for everything." Tears choked him and guilt crawled up his throat, he bent to the side and vomited. The force sent him to his knees and he couldn't find the strength to get up. He lay there wracked with sobs, kneeling in his sick and weeping for a girl he'd never really cared to know. But it was too late now. She was gone.
She was dead.
He only wished he knew her better.
