Two Sugars

Chapter Four

You took that as a cue to scramble to your feet, the attacker going limp and slumping down against the wall. Jesus, there must've been a good chance he was actually dead.

You swallowed harshly and tried to speak but your voice was shaking, a faint whisper all that you could muster.

"Buck? How did you-"

"Are you hurt?" He sounded more pissed than concerned, throwing an accusatory look in your direction. You shook your head feebly. "The hell are you doing walking around here in the dark? What, you can't look after yourself?"

A pathetically weak gesture towards the pepper spray still gripped in your palm did nothing to appease him. He marched over, grabbed it from your hand, removed the cap and detached the plastic safety tag that you didn't even know was on there. Whoops. He just stared at you sternly for a second as you stood in front of him, shaking, holding back tears. You would've given anything in that moment for a kind word, for any kind of comfort, but you got nothing from him. He picked your bag up and started walking towards the main street.

"Come on."

Your legs were trembling but you just about managed to propel yourself forwards. As you passed the lifeless body sprawled on the floor you looked over, wincing at the blood weeping from his open mouth, but relieved when you saw that he was still breathing. You didn't care whether that piece of shit lived or died but you did care about whether or not Bucky had just straight up murdered someone in front of you. You really hoped that leaving him alive was intentional.

Your short-tempered saviour briskly walked you towards the subway stop, staying a few paces ahead of you the whole way. You would've yelled at him to slow down but the prospect of trying to make conversation with him after all that was more than you could handle.

He reached the top of the stairs leading down to the station and abruptly stopped, holding your bag out but intentionally avoiding looking directly at you. After taking it from him you waited for a second, but he didn't speak.

"So, is that it?"

You got no answer. Not a look, not even a nod.

You scoffed, shaking your head in frustration as you headed down the stairs. Maybe this was how it would work now, you had no choice but to stay away and try to heal but he was allowed to just dive back into your life whenever he saw fit and make you feel guilty for needing help.

The very least he could've done was send someone else to follow you around, at least then you wouldn't have to start trying to forget him all over again.

***

You were tired the next day. You'd barely slept, going over the events of the evening over and over again in your head. It happened so fast that you'd barely had a chance to process it but, as soon as you lay down in bed, it all hit you at once. Once the floodgates opened they were almost impossible to shut off.

You caught a glimpse of yourself in the shiny metal of the coffee machine and sighed at how red and puffy your eyes looked. This was just your default appearance now. Moving over to the window, you scanned your eyes up and down the street in search of your invisible escort. You figured that, now you knew who you were looking for, he'd be easier to spot. You were wrong. For the whole day, every time you got a free second, you were back in that spot. There was no sign of him anywhere.

The clock eventually ticked over to closing time, so you locked yourself in and started cleaning up. Another thing that had been playing your mind all day was how the hell you were going to get home. Your subway station was going to be closed for the rest of the week but you were convinced that, if you attempted to walk to the other one on your own again, Bucky would drop out of a tree, bundle you into a burlap sack and try to drown you in the river.