Chapter Thirty-One

                                    

                                          
*narrator pov*
That evening, you went back to your new room in the compound. Nat had already unpacked for you, and had lay it out exactly like your old room. Unfortunately, she was no longer opposite you anymore. 
Your room was between Steve's and Bucky's. 
There were three more rooms on that floor, on the other side of the hallway, but Tony had failed to mention who two of them had belonged to. You knew that one was initially meant to be Peter's. 
You wheeled your chair into your room, and pulled yourself up onto the bed. 
Instead of sleeping, you lay down and cried for a while. 
It was getting late when you were finally starting to fall asleep.   
"NOOOOOOO!"
You sat up in bed as the scream rang out from the room next to you. 
"Bucky?" you muttered to yourself. "Bucky!"   
"NOOO!" 
You couldn't tell if Steve had heard in the room on the other side of yours as you didn't hear him move. 
Bucky screamed again. 
"Fuck it" you thought and rolled out of bed. You ignored your wheelchair and limped towards your door. 
You stumbled and grabbed onto the handle, trying to pull yourself up straight. 
Your arms ached as they were still weak with the burns from the fire, but you managed to stand up straight. 
You continued to limp unsteadily out your door and down the hall, to Bucky's room. 
You didn't hesitate to quickly open his door. 
"Bucky..." you called as you held yourself up on his doorframe. 
He had sat up in the bed, sweating from his forehead and shirtless chest. He looked up at you. 
"Y/n? What are you doing here?" 
"I... I heard screaming. I thought you were in trouble" you looked down at your feet. 
Bucky grinned from his bed. 
"And what exactly were you planning to do? Save me?" 
"I- I don't know. I was just checking you were okay." 
"Yeah. It was just a nightmare." 
You paused at the door, and Bucky watched you intently.    
"I should, um, get back to my room then" you smiled weakly and turned to leave. 
Bucky frowned as you started to limp away. 
"Y/n wait" he got out of bed "here let me help." 
"No Bucky" you protested slightly, but he already had his arm around you.  
He walked you back to your room and helped you into bed.    
He fluffed the pillow for you and you lay back as he sat next to you. 
"Have you slept yet y/n?" he asked as he stroked his hand through your hair. 
You paused and shook your head slowly. 
"Okay. You really should get some rest" he whispered and started to get up. 
"Bucky. Can you stay with me? Just for a little while?" 
"Um. I could get Steve for you" Bucky offered reluctantly. 
"No. I don't want to wake him. But if you don't want to stay, that's fine."
"No. No it's fine I'll stay. Just for a little while though." 
You shuffled over in bed and Bucky lay down next to you. 
You closed your eyes and tried to sleep, but couldn't get comfortable. 
You tossed and turned in bed, painfully as your limbs ached from the injuries. 
Bucky noticed you struggling to sleep. 
You rolled over again and he decided to reach out his arm and pulled you towards him. 
"Buck..." you objected, but as your head landed on his bare skin, you felt comfortable. 
You leaned into him, and closed your eyes. 
Bucky put his arm around you and stroked up and down your back. 
You were finally able to fall asleep in his arms. He stayed awake until he was sure you were completely passed out. 
He smiled as you slept peacefully, then started to get out of bed. 
He slowed down as you stirred, but didn't wake up. 
Bucky crept out your room and back towards his. He ran into Steve in the hallway.  
"Bucky? What are you doing?" 
"Nothing. I had another nightmare and y/n came to my room. She was worried and hadn't slept yet, so I just took her back to her room." 
"Is that it?" 
"Yeah... that's it..." Bucky paused as he noticed Steve's doubt. "I think she's asleep now, but you might want to check on her." 
"Mhm" Steve nodded, and Bucky returned to his room. 
Steve opened your door, and saw you were lying on the bed with your eyes closed. You half opened one when you heard the door creak. 
"Steve?" you groaned.  
"Hi y/n" Steve smiled "trouble sleeping?" 
You nodded and closed your eyes again.  
"You coming?" you whispered after Steve had been stood in the doorway for a while. 
He joined you in bed, and he put his arms around you. 
He fell asleep quite quickly, and you fell asleep too for a while. But you woke up again just an hour later. 
You crawled out of Steve's arms and left him in your bed. 
You limped to your wheelchair, and left your room. 
You went to the end of the hallway and sat in front of the window. 
The view showed some fields, under the moonlight and stars. 
"It's beautiful isn't it?" a young woman walked up next to you, which shocked you slightly. 
"Wh-who are you?" you asked nervously. This couldn't possibly be someone that broke into the compound, you thought. Something like that couldn't happen again. Surely. 
She looked at you and smiled. She gently placed a hand on your shoulder and opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped. Her eyes flashed red and she stepped back, and your head suddenly hurt. 
"What did you just do? What happened?" 
"Oh my god. I'm so sorry..." she whispered. 
"St-stay away from me..." you slowly moved backwards away from her. 
"Y/n wait. I-" she stepped closer to you. 
"How do you know my name? Get away from me!" 
You got up from your wheelchair, in an attempt to get away quicker. 
You were successfully limping away, until someone flew through the wall in front of you. 
"Oh hello." 
"What the... FUCK!" you fell backwards onto the floor as a red skinned man hovered above the ground in front of you. He tilted his head in confusion as you, and the woman behind you got closer. 
"NO. Who are you? Get away from me!" 
"Y/n Odinsdottir?" the man questioned. 
"I didn't mean any harm..." the woman said. 
You crawled backwards against the wall and tried to pull yourself up, but your arms were still too weak. 
You stared between the man and woman that were staring back at you. 
"STEVE!" you screamed. "STEVE!" 
"Y/n?!" he came running out of your room, and spotted you on the floor.  
Bucky's door also opened, and he ran out into the hallway too. 
"What's going on?" Bucky asked. 
"I swear I didn't mean to. I- I accidentally read her mind..." the woman started. "I'm so sorry." 
"It's okay Wanda" Steve sighed. 
You looked up at him, full of worry. 
Steve smiled softly at you and bent down to help you up. 
Bucky pushed over your wheelchair, and Steve sat you back in it. 
You held onto Steve's hand tightly. 
"Y/n, this is Wanda and Vision" Steve introduced them. 
"Hello y/n" Vision nodded. 
"Hi" Wanda smiled. 
"Um. Hi" you muttered. You were a little embarrassed for screaming, and you lowered your head. 
"Hey y/n it's okay" Steve assured. He bent down and put a hand on your cheek as he kissed you gently.  
"Y/n, I'm really sorry for that" Wanda apologised. 
"No, it's okay. I think..." you said cautiously "Um Steve can we go back to my room? I- I want to try and get some more sleep." 
"Right. Okay" Steve nodded and you returned to your room. 
———   
The next morning you woke up next to Steve. He was already awake, and he had been smiling at you as you slept. 
"You watching me sleep is creepy sometimes" you muttered.  
"I can't help it. You're so pretty and peaceful when you're in bed" he smiled. 
"Oh Steve it's too early for flattery" you groaned. 
"What's with your bad mood this morning?"
"I'm just tired. And hungry." 
"You wanna get some breakfast?"  
"Definitely."  
"You wanna go to the kitchen and I'll be there in a bit?" 
"Mmhkay" you kissed him gently and rolled out of bed.  
You sat in your wheelchair and left for the kitchen. 
Bucky was alone in there.  
"Hi" you smiled awkwardly as you passed him to get to the freezer. 
"Hi... what are you doing?" 
"I want ice cream for breakfast" you opened the freezer door and looked up at the shelves. 
Bucky grinned and leant back on the counter, watching you try and reach for the ice cream.  
You looked at him, unimpressed.  
"Will you stop smirking and help me?"  
"No." 
"Oh come on!" 
"No. You can't just have ice cream for breakfast." 
"Yes I can. Now can you please get it down!" 
"No." 
"I swear to god I will run over your foot." 
"No you won't." 
"Yeah? Wanna test that?" 
He smirked, so you headed towards him, successfully running over his foot with the wheel of your chair. 
"Ow." 
"Oh please. That didn't hurt" you glared at him "can you please get me down the ice cream now? I'm hungry."  
"No. Have some proper food." 
"I don't want proper food. I am crippled. I get what I want. I. Want. Ice cream." 
Bucky rolled his eyes, but grabbed the tub off the shelf for you.     
"Finally. Thank you. Wanna split it?"  
"No I'm okay" he nodded and watched you cover your face in chocolate. 
"You let her have ice cream?!" Loki yelled as he came in and saw you eating. 
He stormed over and took it off you. 
"Hey!" you cried "I haven't seen you in like a week and this is how you greet me? I was literally in a plane crash since I last saw you. Give me back my breakfast!" 
"Nah I don't think I will" Loki grinned and started eating the ice cream. 
"Ugh. Bitch."  
"I'm sorry" he put down the ice cream and hugged you. "Are you okay?" 
"No. You took my ice cream!" 
"Tony told me what happened at the hospital." 
You looked down at your lap and Bucky put his arm comfortingly on your shoulder.  
"I don't want to talk about it..." you muttered. 
"Y/n, seriously, are you okay?" Loki asked. 
"Yeah, I'm fine." 
You looked at Bucky and Loki, both pitifully looking down at you.   
"I want this back" you declared and grabbed the ice cream, rolling over both their feet simultaneously as you went to sit at the table. 
"We are here if you need to talk y/n..." Bucky nodded. 
Loki looked questioningly at Bucky for a moment, but ignored it. 
"Whatever. I'm not talking about it" you shrugged. 
"Not talking about what?" Steve came up behind you and hugged you from behind, kissing you on the cheek. 
"Nothing baby" you smiled, and turned to kiss him properly. 
You saw Wanda and Vision standing just behind him. 
"Oh. Hi" you nodded then turned back to eat the ice cream. 
Steve sat next to you, and the others sat opposite you. 
"Y/n I'm sorry for scaring you last night" Wanda apologised "I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." 
"I apologise too. Wanda has warned me about flying through walls" Vision added. 
"Um. Uh, it's fine. I'm sorry too. For, uh, screaming in your faces and not trusting you" you muttered. 
"No, you had every right. Given what you've been through" Wanda sighed. 
"Right..." you were wondering how she knew about everything, but assumed that Tony probably told her. 
"We are here for you y/n" Vision said. 
"Will people stop saying that" you complained and lowered your head to avoid eye contact with anyone. 
"We're only saying it because we need you to know that we mean it" Steve lifted your chin with his finger so you were looking into each other's eyes. 
"Y-yeah I know. But..." 
"No buts. Now I'm gonna train with Bucky for an hour or two. Will you be okay?" 
"Yeah." 
"Okay good" he kissed you before getting up. 
"Bye Steve. See you later." 
"Bye y/n. I love you." 
You paused and stared at him. "What?" 
"What?" Steve repeated back to you.  
"You love me?" 
"Uh, yeah" Steve's cheeks tinted red slightly. "You don't have to-"
"I love you too Steve" you smiled.