Bucky & Steve
Bucky rolled his eyes and leaned forward, tip of his finger very gently touching the tip of Steve's had-to-be-throbbing nose. "Bigger right now," he pointed out. "And always on the bigger side, sorry. 'sokay. Your ears keep it in proportion." Bullshit and teasing had always been the primary part of how they communicated - some things didn't change.
His smile faded a little, and he shrugged. "Peggy's in the Capitol. She keeps on top of things. She heard what they were saying. I never told her anything else, 'cept not to try to talk people out of it." She hadn't really believed it either, which Bucky was grateful for. The number of people who didn't seem to was higher than the ones who did, out of those who really knew him at all. It softened the sting of knowing Tony had bought it.
Bucky tilted his head, considering. "You know most of it anyway," he said slowly. "Might as well ... have the pieces that put it together, I guess."
Bucky folded his hands over his legs, leaning forward a little, flesh over metal, hesitating for that moment too long that was new since the Arena, when time got less easy to judge and his own head more difficult to navigate. "Natasha and me weren't really friends," he said finally, slow and quiet. "We knew each other, got along, but not that close." There was something in saying that, it gave him pause, but Bucky wasn't sure what it was. After a second, he let it go. "But we're all in the same kind of deep water, I guess. There was a night - she was supposed to be somewhere, and she didn't get there." Forgot to go, didn't want to. Bucky didn't know which the real reason was, and he wouldn't ask and didn't say. It didn't matter. They were both valid. "She couldn't just say she didn't go and reschedule. It was too high up - friend of Stane's. There's be fallout from not going. For her, for someones he cares about - that's how it goes. So she talked to me. You know ... how it works. People are friends with Stane, they get a night with a Victor. They pay for it, one way or another. Favors, money - something. She needed a reason why she wasn't there. So she asked me to say I asked her for a favor, and paid for her to let me ..." he faded out, then unfolded his hands, gesturing toward his neck. "It's usually just people in the Capitol, but I don't really get around a lot like that without ... needing to go. So someone would believe it was because I had things I wanted I couldn't usually get. There's only a couple of Victors who have a reputation for being crazy or violent. I was the one they'd believe she might do a favor for, even though I wasn't from the Capitol. So I said okay, she made sure she looked like she couldn't have gone out, and that was it. Just a lie. A favor. I could help her, so I wanted to."
Bucky gave Steve a quick, thin smile. "But when people started hearing about it ... talking about it. Believing it. My head's not always all that steady. I didn't handle it all that well with a couple of people." Bucky shrugged uncomfortably. "Way I was tonight - doesn't happen that much anymore. But it used to. Sorry if it ..." He made a face, then just repeated. "Sorry." Mostly that Steve had seen it. Bucky never really had wanted him to see the worst of things, and Steve was seeing a lot of worst lately.
"Anyway, so that's what happened. Then the guy who clocked your nose. I ... knew him. A while back. You already figured out how. And him saying it, smelling blood, everyone knowing after ... I don't know. Guess I checked out for a while. Natasha was helping. She's ... good at this shit. Turning things into something that can be used or blown over. Maybe she just wanted to help, too."
Bucky swallowed and spread his hands. "So that's it. Whole story, I think ... or it was. Now it's got a fake threesome ending. But people still need to think it was real, Steve. That it's something I could do." He gave Steve a look and then kicked him in the calf - not hard, but not that light either. "And you can't try to punch 'em all."