|| Love Me Better || (Stucky High School AU)

Chapter Five

The room is quiet, the sun barely bleeds into the room because of the black curtains. Bucky's half awake, laying nude, bruised and sprawled on the messy bed. He hears noises. Talking noises. Like someone was mumbling something out of frustration, but he couldn't really make it out.

"I said get up," Bucky finally heard Brock say, and felt a slight push against his side.

"Huh?" He slowly lifts himself up, his brown hair a mess.

"Go to school," Was all Brock said, before he's lighting up a cigarette and he leaves the room.

Bucky looks confused and annoyed for a couple of seconds, then he slowly makes his way out of bed, grabbing some clothes out of his dresser. His legs are shaky and sore as well as his back. He has a sudden urge to cry, but there weren't tears. After he's dressed, he goes downstairs, not glancing at the smoking Brock as he walks towards the door. His fingers nearly touch the doorknob, before he hears Brock:

"Nope. Get back here."

Bucky freezes in place then slowly turns around with a nervous swallow, "Y-You said I could go to school.."

"Not like that," Brock grabs Bucky away from the door, "Go upstairs, you know what to do."

________________

"So, how did the whole thing go with meeting Brock?" Nat asked, shutting her locker.

"Oh, he's a dickhead," Steve didn't hesitate to say.

"You know when Steve insults a person, it has to be true," Sam said with a small laugh, "So what did he say?"

"He didn't let me see Bucky," Steve pressed his back against the wall, crossing his arms, "I told him we were worried since he didn't come to school and he said Bucky didn't want to see anybody.. His house is kinda dirty and he I could tell he wasn't in the mood."

"What happened?" Nat asked.

"It just looked like he was getting angry. He told me to beat it, so I did. I didn't wanna deal with him anymore." Steve shrugged.

"I would've kicked his ass," Nat shook her head.

"Guys, hold up, I think that's him," Sam said, looking toward the entrance of the school.

"Bucky?" Steve looks where Sam's looking. His eyes enlightened when he sees someone with long, brown hair enter the school and walk with his head lowered.

"Oh shit, I think it is," Nat said and then looked up at Steve, nudging him a little, "Go see what's up."

Steve casually walks up to him, placing a hand on the locker, "Hey Buck."

Bucky gasps and jumps a bit at Steve's sudden presence. Once he calmed down, he looks over at the lock and starts to do the combination. His head is slightly down with his hair in front of his face, so Steve couldn't really determine his expression, "Yo.."

"Hey, Bucky. I was kinda worried yesterday. You didn't come to school or answer my calls so I went to Brock's house. He said you didn't want to see anybody."

Bucky's eyes went slightly wide, "I was just asleep.. you didn't have to come to his house.."

"Are you sure, Bucky?" Steve tilts his head with worried eyes.

"Yes," Bucky mumbled. He closes his locker, throwing on his hoodie and he walks away to find his classroom.

"What was that about?" Sam raised a brow.

"Bucky's acting weird," said Steve, squinting his eyes.

_______________

Bucky hasn't said anything to anyone all day, which was worrying Steve and the rest of the crew. Some of them have classes with Bucky, but they've all reported back that he was seeming pessimistic and sad. Maybe even irritated and almost seeming like he was gonna lash out at any moment. Bucky wasn't really the most talkative of the group, but he certainly wasn't quiet either. He spoke his mind, and was a pretty bold dude. The way he's always looking down with his hoodie on gives off a gloomy vibe from him. Bucky doesn't really share his feelings when anyone else is around, but he almost has no problem opening up to Steve. Steve decided that he'd talk to him at lunch.

At that time, Bucky had still sat down with his friends but he wasn't saying anything, purposely excluding himself by averting his eyes away from the group. Nat tapped on Steve's shoulder and cocked her head towards Bucky, indicating he should talk to him. Steve sighed and scooted a little closer to him, "Hey Buck?"

Bucky didn't answer him, his pupils just flickered in his direction. Steve knew he heard him so he just decided to talk, "You've been quiet all day.. you mind telling us what's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Bucky said. It was curt and quick. Like he was saying it just so Steve would stop asking.

Steve knew damn well whenever he heard Bucky- well not just him. Whenever he heard almost anyone he knew say that they weren't telling the truth. Bucky basically had 'im not okay' written all over him, "Bucky. I know you. Just speak to me."

"I said I'm okay, I'm fine," Bucky says in a darker tone.

Steve just wants to say what he's been thinking about lately, the thing that's been boggling around in his mind, begging to come out into spoken words. He leans in closer so the others won't hear and he mumbles, "I know that Brock is doing this to you."

Bucky's face looks at him like he was shocked, plastered red with obvious hurt and anger. The scoff he pulls sounds like a dry laugh, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You don't have to hide it anymore, I can help you, we all can."

"No, Steve. What you need to do is mind your own damn business," Bucky stands up from the lunch table, looking down at the sitting blond.

"Whoa guys, don't get hostile," Bruce says but Steve stands up as well, standing an inch or two taller than Bucky.

Tony sighs, "Well, you tried Bruce.."

"Bucky, stop acting like everything is fine. You keep hiding things from me, you're hiding it from everyone, I already know, okay?" 

"You don't know shit, Steve." Bucky steps closer.

Students were somehow alerted and they start whipping there heads around to see what the hullabaloo was about.

Steve remains calm, ignoring the stares, and places a hand on his shoulder, "Bucky-"

Bucky smacks his hand away, "Don't touch me."

"Oh my god, are they gonna fight?"  Steve was sure he heard a peer whisper from behind, and he can feel all eyes on both of them. Steve never ever would willingly put his hands on Bucky, especially over something so stupid. So he was just gonna stand his ground.

"Okay guys, chill," Sam stands up between them, putting each hand on their chests .

The air was tense for a moment. People started pulling are their phones, anticipating a fight. They continued to glare, until Bucky finally backed down. Slapping Sam's hand out of the way, he puts on his hoodie and walks out of the cafeteria. Disappointed chatter came from other students as they went back to their business.

"What the fuck was that all about?" Clint asked.

Steve ignored Clint's question. He kept staring at the doors Bucky walked through, then sat down in his seat with a sigh, "Nothing.."