Hard to Love (Bucky Barnes fanfic)

Chapter 13

I set my plate of food down on the table directly across from where Natasha was sat with her own food. We give each other a look as I sit down and I poke at my scrambled eggs. Neither of us wanting to start. Thankfully after a very long silence, she decides to go first

"So how long?" She asks, bringing an apple slice to her lips

"That's a loaded question Nat. How long what?" I pick up a bottle of syrup and turn it over to drizzle my pancakes. She rolls her eyes playfully

"How long have you and Barnes been together? And why didn't you tell me?" She takes another bite of her apple slices. She sounds almost hurt at the last statement. I chew the inside of my lip

"Why didn't you tell me about Banner?" I retaliate. She seems to wave away my words

"We'll get to me later, now come on. Spill the beans." She leans forward in her seat. Curiosity and wonder plastered across her face. I exhale a deep sigh, softening my features at her

"Believe me, I wanted to. You don't understand how hard it was. But I thought if I told you, you'd go straight to Tony and then..." I trail off, dropping my gaze from hers. She reaches across the table and places her hand on mine

"I wouldn't rat you out like that." She gives me a reassuring squeeze before sitting back in her seat. I read her face and feel a wave of relaxation wash over as I see her words to be true. "But you still didn't answer my question." She continues

I shrug, taking a bite of my eggs. "We aren't together. We can't be. Back on our stakeout mission is when he kind of confessed." She furrows her brows together in confusion

"On the jet, right?" She asks. Now it's my turn to be confused and it's very noticeable

"How did you..?" I feel my heart rate quicken

The jets have cameras and microphones in them!!

I completely forgot! I was so caught up in the heat of the moment that I didn't even think about them! She sees my panicked expression

"Hey, relax. Bucky must've pulled some strings with Steve because the footage and audio are both 'missing' from your flight home."

"How would Steve get his hands on the footage?" I ask, glancing around the room for any spying eyes

"He was on cam duty that morning." She states once again reassuring me. I let out a shaky breath

I can't believe I forgot about the damn cameras

Natasha finishes her apple, "so how'd he confess exactly?" She still had a mouthful of apple as she spoke

I could feel my cheeks get warm at the memory, embarrassment taking over my system. "Well, I uh, I confronted him on why he was being an ass to me all this time and he said he actually didn't hate me, then he kiiiiinda kissed me." I trail off towards the end of my sentence which only makes her that more curious

"Kinda kissed you or kissed you kissed you?" She pries

"Full on kiss. Then he picked me and held me, then I was on his lap but then Tony kept calling me and ruined the moment and-" I babble on but she cuts me off

"Woah woah woah, slow down. So this was an  intense kiss." I don't respond, instead I just nod sheepishly. She lets out a low amused whistle. "Was it good?" She smirks

"SO ungodly good." I exclaim. She chuckles, picking up her muffin

It felt so nice finally being able to tell her everything. Not having to hide and lie to one of the smartest and sneakiest spys known to man anymore felt like a weight had been lifted. And this feels... natural. Like normal girl gossip. No judgment, no stern looks, just girls being girls