Chapter Text
It had been two weeks since they were assigned to be partners on the AP Gov project.
Bucky and Darcy had met multiple times since then, and Bucky was having the time of his life.
But, at this moment, he needed to concentrate. He was taking his lunch hour to get some passes in before the rivalry game that night.
Steve and Sam were out there with him. Sam was practicing field goals, and Steve was making Bucky throw farther and farther down the field when Bucky heard Darcy’s voice.
He turned around, football still in hand. She sounded upset. Where was she?
Steve jogged up, and Sam wasn’t far behind, “Buck, what’s wrong? Is that?”, Bucky didn’t pay him any attention, realizing that Darcy’s voice was coming from behind the field house. “Uh oh, come on, Sam, we gotta make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy!”
Bucky sprinted around the corner, and felt fire burn from his chest to his finger tips, pure rage rising to the surface at what he saw.
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Darcy was being cornered by Brock Rumlow, “You don’t know what you want, Lewis, but I do, and I can give it to you.”
God, she hated him, she thought as she was made to feel small by his presence. He wasn’t even that much taller than her, or all that much muscular than her brother, but there was something about him that made her feel two feet tall.
She cleared her throat, “Rumlow, I already said no. No means no.” She didn’t want to have to cause him physical harm because she really didn’t want to get into trouble.
But then she remembered that she had seen Bucky out on the field. She wasn’t alone. Even if she felt like she was, she always had help just around the metaphorical corner. She could stand her own.
And, as Bucky rounded the corner, he saw Rumlow lean even closer, trying to kiss Darcy as he moved to grab her boobs.
But, Darcy was having none of that. And she kneed that prick right in the balls, pushing him over as he went down.
She looked up at Bucky, eyes wide and said, “I think I may have a panic attack now.”
Bucky rushed up to her as Sam and Steve rounded the corner, turning the rage he felt into fierce protectiveness, and he hugged her as tightly as he could, rubbing circles into her back.
“Come on, come on, let’s get out of here, Stevie and Sammy can deal with Rumlow,” he said, both of them nodding and rolling up their sleeves.
They walked around the corner of the building, still clinging to each other, and they made it to the nearest set of bleachers.
Bucky pulled her down into his lap and kept holding her tight as she took deep breaths, keeping her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
She burrowed her face into his neck, and he could feel hot tears running down to his shirt.
“Darce, that was real brave of you. You did a good job, sweetheart. ‘M so proud of you.” He smoothed her hair down. “You did the right thing, that was the right thing to do.”
Darcy let out a sob, and clung to Bucky’s shirt even tighter.
“Just let it all out. We’ll sit out here as long as we need to, okay?” He kept running his hands over her hair.
She took in a ragged breath, “Okay.”
A couple minutes later, she sniffled a little, pulling back from where he held her to look him in the eye, but still holding onto the handfuls of his shirt she had grabbed at some point.
He looked down at her with a soft smile, “Hey.”
She rested her head on his chest. “Hey, yourself.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“Thank you, Bucky.”
Bucky thought about how much he wanted to tell her that he would always protect her because he wanted to spend everyday with her, beside her. He thought about telling her that she was wonderful and kind and intelligent and beautiful, and of course any guy would jump at the chance to hold her after she’d saved herself. He thought about confessing his feelings. But, he remembered that he had time, and since he was in it for the long haul, he could wait until she was ready.
So instead, he smiled and said, “Anytime, sweetheart. Whenever, wherever.”