#but this is so easy so far??? clean them morning and night w saline or salt water and its fine???

[crookedkingdom]

staring suspiciously at my new helix piercings in the mirror bc they don't hurt at all, aren't even slightly red or inflamed, and i slept on them last night accidentally and they still seem fine

[babygirl-diaz]

Objection Part 2 of 3

(You can read part 1 over here)

It's one of those rare lazy days when Sam doesn't have to be on a mission or deal with his Captain America duties. This gives him the time to finally get things done around the apartment, like clean up and do laundry.

For once he even gets to cook his dinner rather than get takeaway. He even cheats a little and makes himself a dessert. Chocolate fudge sundae.

When he's done, he finally sits down with a book he's been meaning to read for months when there is a loud knock on the front. Startled, he looks at his phone and realizes that it's 11 PM and wonders who could it be at this hour. This is Bucky's apartment too, so he doesn't need to knock, and Sam wasn't expecting anyone. Carefully, he gets out of the couch and heads towards the door. Looking through the peephole, he finds a familiar face on the other side.

"Daredevil?" He inquires, quickly opening the door.

It was Matt, fully dressed in his Daredevil gear, but he wasn't alone. He was struggling to keep Bucky up, who looked bruised.

"What happened?" Sam reacts quickly. He moves to the other side of Bucky and moves his flesh arm around his shoulders, before leading him and Daredevil to the couch. They dump Bucky on it and Sam gets down in front of him.

"A couple of men got the drop on him and beat him up pretty bad," Daredevil tells him.

Sam looks up at the man dressed in red and glares at him, despite knowing the man couldn't see him scowling. "Where the hell were you?"

"I-- I tried to get there on time but I was too late."

"He needs the hospital!" Sam reaches out to gingerly touch Bucky's cheek.

"No! I don't need the hospital" Bucky catches Sam's hand with his own and tries to give him a smile that doesn't look convincing at all.

"Of course, you don't," Sam grumbles. "Stubborn asshole." He examines the wounds on his face and they don't look too bad. There is blood on his jacket and Sam slowly moves it to the side to notice a blood-soaked t-shirt underneath. "You were stabbed!" Sam exclaims. "And you say you don't need the hospital?"

"It's not deep. It's just a slash," Matt replies.

"You're a lawyer, not a doctor!" Sam snaps. "Sorry," he quickly adds when he notices Matt flinch. "Look, Matt, I get that you have to protect your identity and that's why you couldn't take him to the hospital, but I can."

"That's not why I didn't take him to the hospital." Matt sounds offended. "He insisted on coming home instead."

"He's right," Bucky chimes in. "I don't need the hospital. It really is just a slash. Matt can wrap it up and I'll pop some aspirin and I'll be better by tomorrow morning. You can go to bed."

Matt will wrap it up. You can go to bed. Bucky wanted Matt to take care of him. That brought back the ache in Sam's heart that has been there for the past two weeks since he has found out about Bucky and Matt.

"Okay," Sam replies sadly. "I'll get you the first aid box, Matt." When he returns, Sam notices Matt had taken off his mask. One of his hands was in Bucky's.

Sam feels that anger and frustration in the pit of his stomach once again. He tries to keep it at bay as he brings the first aid box to Matt and dumps it on his lap.

"Try not to bleed out on the couch," he tells Bucky with an edge in his voice.

Back in his room, Sam doesn't close the door behind him. Instead, he keeps it slightly ajar as he watches the scene outside, ready to step in and offer Matt his help if need be.

Matt helps Bucky out of his jacket and shirt. When he opens the first aid box, he takes out a bottle and shows it to Bucky. "Is this the saline?"

"No, that's hydrogen peroxide." Bucky digs through the box and finds the saline before handing it to Matt. "That's the saline."

"You do realize Sam would have been quicker at this than me, right?"

"You're my boyfriend. You're supposed to help me."

"I'm not your--" Sam's eyebrow furrow at that, but then Matt quickly says, "I'm not your nurse though."

Bucky guides Matt's hand to where the wound is and Sam feels another pang in his heart. Bucky hisses in pain when Matt cleans the wound and Sam has a powerful urge to go there and push Matt aside and help his friend himself. He'd be tender with Bucky.

Bucky scoots forward and lets Matt wrap the bandage around him, and Matt practically engulfs the other man in his arms.

Sam has enough of them and he closes the door behind him and falls into his bed.

***

"Good to see you didn't bleed out," Sam comments the next morning when he wakes up and finds both Bucky and Matt still in the apartment.

Bucky wraps his arms around Matt's waist as he says, "Well, my boyfriend here took good care of me."

He turns Matt around in his arms and presses a kiss to his lips, much to Sam's surprise.

The anger and hurt rise through Sam once again, and he feels like punching something, but he ignores the urge and heads out the door for his run.

***

"I can't do this anymore, Barnes," Matt tells him one night as Bucky is hanging out with him on the rooftop.

"Can't do what?" Bucky asks. "You thinking about retiring?"

"What?!" Matt exclaims. "No! I meant I can't do this fake relationship anymore."

"Why?" Bucky asks, worried. "Did I do something wrong? Did I take it too far?"

"It's not you, man," Matt replies. "I am in an actual relationship now."

"Wow..." Bucky trails off. "With who?"

"My best friend, Foggy."

Bucky can't help but feel a little jealous. He wasn't jealous of anyone in particular. He was just jealous of the fact that Bucky was in a relationship with his best friend while Bucky was pining over his.

"Congratulations, man," Bucky genuinely meant it.

"Look, I'm the last person who should give any sort of advice, but maybe you should just tell Sam how you feel."

"I can't tell him, Matt," Bucky says, desperately. "I will only hurt him."

"You are so full of shit," Matt tells him. "You're hurting him now."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. I am usually the one who is out of the loop, but even I know that he's hurting."

"I'm a monster, Matt." Bucky gets up from the ledge and paces the rooftop. "You don't know half the things I've done."

"Maybe not, but whatever you did, it's in the past. You can't let that define your today."

"Pot. Kettle."

Matt sighs and gets up as well. "No one brainwashed me, Barnes. I make my own choices. If anyone is the monster between us, it's me."

"You don't kill people, Matt," Bucky argues

"Yeah, but I leave them half-dead, which is probably worse. The point is that you're not a bad person. You were just in a bad circumstance and no one understands that better than Sam. So talk to him. Tell him how you feel."

"I can't, Matt. I just can't."

***

It's another quiet night a week later and Matt doesn't need his help, so Bucky goes home early. He knows Sam is probably still up but part of him yearns to see his best friend.

As he suspected, Sam is up preparing for his Good Morning America interview tomorrow morning.

"Hey," he says, clearly surprised to see Bucky. "You're home early."

"Yeah, I had nothing to do tonight." Bucky shrugs. He gets two bottles of beer from the fridge and hands one to Sam.

"Thanks, man, but I can't drink tonight. Gotta turn in early."

"One beer ain't gonna hurt you, Sam," Bucky replies

Sam sighs and picks up the bottle before settling on the couch next to Bucky. He keeps his distance by sticking to one side.

"So how are things with you and Matt?" Sam asks casually as he takes a sip of his beer.

"Good." Bucky lies easily.

Sam fidgets with the sticker on his beer bottle, clearly contemplating something, and Bucky really wishes it isn't what he thinks it is.

"Bucky— I— I need to talk to you."

"Sam, sorry, man, I'm feeling sleepy. Can we talk tomorrow?" Tomorrow Bucky will go back to his old routine. Leave home before Sam is up and return when he's asleep. That way they can avoid the talk.

Bucky gets up from the couch but Sam catches the wrist of his bionic arm. He gets up as well, and Bucky looks up at him.

"Bucky, please, I've been gathering up the courage to say this for days so just let me."

The pleading tone of Sam's voice breaks Bucky's heart.

Sam steps closer to Bucky and looks him directly in the eyes. "I love you."

Bucky's eyes widen in shock. He can't believe just how easy was it for Sam to say that. "W- what?"

"Yes... I love you."

"I am with someone else, Sam."

"Bullshit," Sam growls, much to Bucky's surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, bullshit," Sam repeats himself. "I ran into Foggy Nelson last week. He told me he was buying a birthday present for his boyfriend Matt."

Shit. Bucky gulps and turns away from Sam. "Sam--"

"Sam what?" Sam grabs Bucky's arm and forces him to turn around. "Look at me, Bucky. Why did you lie to me?"

Bucky refuses to look at Sam and throws his hands up in frustration. "Because... because deep down I knew how you felt and I— I don't feel the same way."

"You're lying," Sam says adamantly. "I am not an idiot, Bucky. I can read it on your face. You feel the same way. So tell me why you are running away?"

"I am not running away. I love you but only as a friend!"

"I don't believe you, James," Sam doesn't back down. "If you don't feel the same way, then why won't you look at me?"

The second Bucky looks into those beautiful brown eyes, his resolve almost breaks. Almost. "I don't love you, Sam."

And just like that, he breaks Sam's heart.