Peter & Bucky Are Pals

Chapter 15

Peter was sitting at his desk, doodling absently in the margins of his notebook when his Spanish teacher went suddenly silent. It took a second to register as odd in Peter’s mind, and he looked up. He followed the teacher’s nervous gaze to the door, and standing there was an impassive Bucky, his arms crossed.

“Can… can I help you?” the teacher asked, wide-eyed.

“I’m here for Peter. Doctor’s appointment.”

“Okay,” the teacher said slowly, turning to Peter, who hadn’t moved in favor of studying Bucky’s expression. Why was he here? Something must have happened. Bucky raised his eyebrows, motioning for Peter to hurry the hell up. Peter fumbled with his notebook, shoving it in his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He nearly tripped over his chair, and there were a few titters as he scurried to the door. He fell into step with Bucky in the hall, releasing his confusion.

“Why are you here? What happened? Is everyone okay?”

“You have a doctor’s appointment,” Bucky said, giving Peter an unimpressed look.

“I… what? Really? No I don’t.”

“Pepper reminded you last week.”

“No she di…” Peter trailed off, the memory of Pepper informing him that he had his annual physical popping up in the back of his mind. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Bucky repeated, sounding ever-so-faintly amused. “Is right.”

“Wait, how come you’re taking me? Aren’t you… not really a fan of doctors?”

“Banner’s alright.”

Peter wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a joke.

“Pepper got stuck in a meeting. She’ll meet us there,” Bucky said. Peter nodded, pushing one of the the front doors open and holding it for Bucky, who looked briefly surprised before stepping outside. They hopped down the concrete steps to the curb, where a car was waiting. Bucky took a breath before climbing in, and Peter followed. Bucky’s shoulders were taut and drawn up as the car started to move; Peter watched him with concern.

“You didn’t have to pick me up.”

“Wanted to,” Bucky said.

“But you hate cars. And doctors. And… people.”

Bucky shrugged, though it was more of a clenching of his muscles that were already incredibly tense to begin with. “It’s fine.”

Peter looked dubious, and Bucky let out a little huff.

“How was school.”

“Well… My new chemistry teacher is cool. I like her a lot. She lets us do fun labs, like making foam by decomposing hydrogen peroxide. Oh, and she let us make slime the day after our unit test! It was awesome! Except this one kid, he used too much food coloring and his hands got stained blue, like… really blue. It looked like he’d been puked on by a smurf or something. And the guy that sits next to me is actually nice, like, he says hi to me and stuff!” Peter paused for breath to find that the lines in Bucky’s face weren’t as deep, and his shoulders had lowered minutely.