shield | b. barnes

"You know I can feel you staring at me, right?"

[Bucky]

I fix my baseball cap before wiping the sweat off my hands onto my pants. I stare at the faded green door and hesitate before knocking. 

There's no going back now. 

After a few painful seconds, the door opens to reveal a skeptical Corinna.

"Bucky..? What are you doing here?" She asks in uncertainty.

Shit. I didn't think this through.

"Hello? Earth to Bucky." Corinna calls out as she waves her hand in front of my face.

"Oh, um – I was wondering if we could...If we could –" I mumble as I struggle to think of what to say. 

I shouldn't have come here. I should've just stayed at the tower with Trisha and Jay. 

But then an image of them kissing pops into my head, reminding me of why I decided to come here in the first place. "I was wondering if I could hang out here. Your friends might as well be fonduing." I mutter awkwardly as I look away from Corinna's gaze. It's only for a fleeting second though, because the sound of Corinna's bright and bubbly laugh makes me look up. I watch her in wonder. 

Her head is knocked back with one arm clutching her stomach, while the other held the door. I think this is the first time I've ever heard her laugh and for some reason, it brings a nostalgic feeling upon me. 

She wipes a stray tear as she moves to the side, allowing me to enter her apartment.

"Oh Bucky, did you just call sex 'fonduing'?" She teases, looking back at me with a smirk.

I falter in my step as I stare at her sparkling eyes. I know she's teasing me, but I don't care. Out of everyone, she's the only one who doesn't act like I'm a ticking time bomb. 

"Yeah. Why? You guys don't say that anymore?" I ask as I step into her narrow hallway. 

"No, but honestly, I like it." Corinna replies as she closes the door behind me. She turns around to look at me, her eyes still sparkling with humor from before. "Well, it's good you got out of there. They can go at it for hours." She says as she walks past me into the living room. 

I hesitantly follow her. 

What if I'm disturbing her?

"I'm uh...sorry about not calling you before uh...coming here." I say as I awkwardly stand near the foot of the couch she's sitting on.

"It's fine. I could use the company anyways." She replies, waving  her hand. "Why are you still standing? Come and sit, I promise I won't bite."  

I grunt at her reply before sitting down next to her.

"So...why'd you decide to come here of all places?"

I turn to face her, but avert my gaze as soon as they fall on her intense brown orbs. I shrug in response. I don't know why I came here.

Lies. You know why, Bucky.

Okay, fine. Maybe I do know why I came here.

"You don't act like you're walking on eggshells around me." I mutter, turning to face the TV. I wait for her reply, but it never comes. Slowly turning to face her, I notice that she's turned away from me. Her hands are tightly clasped together in her lap, and even though she's not looking at me, I can see that she's in deep thought. A thought that seems to be troubling her since her eyebrows are scrunched together. But just like that, she turns to look at me again. Her troubled expression from before is completely gone and is not replaced with a neutral look.