Bucky never did talk to Stacy. How could he tell someone that he wasn't a monster when he didn't even believe it himself? It was like trying to convince someone to be a vegetarian while eating fried chicken.

The rumours weren't so bad. He figured that Natasha had something to do with that.

Natasha had come over to his house again the second and last day of his suspension. They talked again for some time, though this time nothing about Bucky's incident. The conversation had drifted to Steve a few times, to which Bucky was quick to change the subject. Natasha didn't fail to notice this, of course. She suspected a greater truth that Bucky hadn't even realized himself.

He still got a few stares as he walked through the halls, though he could deal with that. It wasn't much more than he was used to, anyhow. Most of the time he had at least one of his friends at his side, and whether it was Pietro giving a snide remark or Peggy's malicious glare, something started to make people avoid Bucky altogether. He wasn't sure if it was better or worse.

It was that, and new rumours going around that had made people forget all about Bucky and Alexander Pierce after only a week. Rumours were like wildfire in Brooklyn. Surprisingly, even Winifred had heard of this one. Albeit, Bucky was almost sure it was because Rebecca had told her.

"So, I hear Steve and some girl named Peggy are dating," Winifred had said one day while they were eating dinner. Bucky gave Rebecca a look that could kill. She smiled innocently back at him.

"Those are just rumours, Ma," Rebecca said, painfully aware of Bucky who had his fork held back, loaded with mashed potatoes as if it were a catapult. Winifred didn't seem to notice this, though Bucky swore he saw George winking at him.

Winifred turned to Bucky. "What do you think?"

Bucky shrugged. "I think that I don't really care, either way."

As he said it, he knew that it was a lie. He didn't know why he cared at all, but he did. He supposed it must have had something to do with the fact that Peggy was his friend, and he didn't want Steve to take that away from him. Or perhaps it was that Peggy hadn't said anything to confirm or deny the rumours yet. Yes, that must have been it. Peggy usually told him everything. She had begun to open up about her crush on Steve, so it was rather surprising that she wouldn't say anything about this. If they were actually together, she would've been super excited and would've wanted to tell Bucky about it right away.

So Bucky came to the conclusion that they must not have been together. What was that feeling? Was it hope? About what? He shouldn't have cared. He didn't.

"I didn't realize that mashed potatoes were so fascinating," Rebecca said, snapping Bucky out of his reverie.

Bucky set his fork down. Suddenly, he didn't have an appetite at all, when moments before he was starving. There was a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach. It was like his heart knew exactly why he was bothered by the idea of Steve and Peggy being together, but his brain refused to accept it.

"I was just thinking," he said finally.

"About Steve?" Winifred asked. Rebecca snickered. It was one thing for his sister to tease him about Steve, but for his own mother? He needed to get out of there.

"May I be excused?" Bucky stood up, not waiting for an answer.

"But you've hardly eaten anything," George said.

Bucky ignored him. He pushed his chair in before stomping up the stairs to his room. Of course, at the time he was only making this worse for himself. If his family didn't suspect anything before, they definitely did now.

In the end, Bucky realized that these new rumours about Steve and Peggy weren't much better than the ones about himself.

He had a new theory, too. Perhaps he was so bothered by these rumours because back when he and Steve used to be friends there was no way that Steve could get a beautiful girl like Peggy. He hated to admit it, but most girls did tend to avoid Steve, especially at their age. Apparently, he was too skinny and too short. It never stopped Bucky from being Steve's friend, though he supposed that was different.

Now, Steve had no trouble getting whatever girl he wanted. While Bucky could've easily made all the twelve year old girls swoon back in the day, it seemed the tables had turned. Was Bucky not attractive anymore? Why did girls not like him?

Yes, this was exactly why the rumours bothered him, he decided. He would prove that he could get a beautiful girl. There was plenty, he supposed. There was Peggy's sister, Sharon. He didn't know if there was a certain code about not dating a friend's sister, so he crossed Sharon off his list. Maria Hill was quite pretty too. There was others that had caught his eye from time to time. The thing was, he never found himself particularly interested in any of them.

It was the day after when Bucky was talking to Peggy and he finally broke down and asked her about Steve.

"You can't pretend that these rumours don't exist forever," Bucky said. "You'd tell me if you and Steve got together, wouldn't you?"

She laughed and set down her sandwich. "Really? That's why you've been so distant?"

"I have not been distant!" Bucky protested loudly. A few people glanced over curiously, but Bucky didn't notice them. He was too focused on Peggy's accusation. Had he been distant? He hadn't meant to be. He wasn't mad at Peggy. He told himself that multiple times.

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Please, don't think I haven't noticed that you've been talking to Clint and Pietro more lately." Pietro glanced over at the sound of his name. "You don't even like Pietro."

Pietro scowled at that, and turned back around to talk to Wanda and Vision, though now he was listening in to their conversation, and despite trying to be discreet Bucky was well aware that he kept glancing over.

"That's not true," Bucky said, more for Pietro's benefit then his own. He didn't like Pietro much, but it was mostly because their conversations consisted of him teasing Bucky about Steve, or if Peggy was there him teasing her about Steve, which Bucky didn't like much either.

Peggy began to eat her sandwich again, leaving them in an uncomfortable silence. Pietro was sat beside him, and Bucky found he didn't really want talk to him. There was also Wanda and Vision, but they were talking to Pietro, so that meant they were out of the picture.

Bruce was apparently at the library with Tony, and Bucky wasn't sure how he had managed that one. Next to Steve, he was probably the most popular guy in the school. Though Bucky suspected that was only because of how rich he was. They were doing homework together, history homework, although Bucky was sure they had no history homework. And now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure that Tony was in their class.

Clint was nowhere around. That didn't make sense. Out of all the people at their lunch table, Clint was the least likely to be missing. Yet he was nowhere to be seen. Ultimately, this left Bucky with no one else to talk to.

He had begun to rethink asking Peggy about Steve. Whenever he brought Steve up, the conversation always turned around to him and Steve, like the topic was a black hole that no matter what he did, he couldn't help but be sucked into.

But Peggy wouldn't give it a rest.

"Why do you care so much about Steve, anyway?" she asked.

Bucky sighed. "I've told you. We were best friends." He emphasized on the word best, as if somehow it would lead her to believe there were others, but in reality Steve was his only friend.

Again, he wasn't sure why this had to matter.

Peggy swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. "Yes, but I've had friends before that aren't my friends anymore, and it's not really that big of a deal."

"This is different. I was hoping when I came back from Russia it'd be to something familiar, but Steve wants nothing to do with me." His voice cracked at the end, which he hated himself for.

"I don't think that's true," she said, shaking her head. "I would know. We, um—"

"So you are dating?" Bucky interrupted.

Peggy's cheeks reddened. "No. We've just been talking lately."

Bucky believed her. That face she wore—it was of someone who clearly wanted it to be more than just 'talking' and probably wouldn't hesitate to prove that it was more if asked. Either way, it definitely sounded like it would be something more soon enough.

Pietro had long since abandoned listening to their conversation. In fact, he wasn't even there anymore. Everyone had left their table, leaving it deserted but for Bucky and Peggy.

"Oh." Bucky winced when he realized that he actually sounded relieved. Peggy would think that she liked him. He should explain that—

"He talks about you a lot."

"He does?" Bucky spluttered.

"Yeah. Mostly about how you used to be friends. He always sounds sad about it."

He scoffed. "Sad? I find that hard to believe. If he was sad about not being my friend anymore he would at least try to be my friend again."

"To be fair, you haven't tried to be his friend either," Peggy pointed out, in a scolding tone that almost reminded Bucky of his mother.

Bucky couldn't exactly disagree with her. The only reason why Bucky never talked to Steve was because he figured that Steve just didn't care about him anymore, but he was beginning to wonder if they were having similar thoughts. In the end, it was only logical that Steve made no attempts to befriend Bucky again because he now had plenty of other friends.

Bucky didn't say anything to her again, so they lapsed into silence, this time with it being slightly less strained than the last.

**

It seemed that Bucky could never escape from the rumours that drifted through the school. For once, this rumour wasn't directly related to him, nor did it affect him in any way. Regardless, he hardly believed it when he heard about it.

Bucky had spent his first few weeks of school watching Clint pine after Natasha. He remembered when he first realized that Natasha had returned Clint's feelings. It was ridiculous to watch them, being well aware that the two liked each other but neither were making any direct moves. He never had any plans of getting in between their love life, but if that had dragged on for much longer Bucky wouldn't have hesitated to give Clint a gentle push in the right direction.

As it was, Bucky was fairly certain that Natasha had swallowed her pride and made the first move. It was the only time that she had shown any vulnerability at all. Bucky thought she needn't have anything to worry about—it was fairly obvious that Clint adored her.

It seemed that lately things went from one rumour to the next. At least this time he wouldn't be having to hear anything about Peggy and Steve. Everything about them seemed to fade away into the background, what with the interest of Clint and Natasha. However, Bucky couldn't miss the looks Peggy shot in Steve's direction, and smiles he would send back.

Because Clint and Natasha were an even more unlikely couple than Peggy and Steve they seemed to get even more attention. Bucky was never sure why the whole school was so interested in other people's relationships.

To Bucky, these weren't just rumours. He had heard them first from a boy named Vernon Baker, but it didn't take long for Clint to confirm these rumours. When asked, he had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face that couldn't help but be contagious. Bucky knew immediately.

Clint had abandoned any previous anger he had towards Bucky, which Bucky had thought lasted much longer than necessary anyway.

He found that he wasn't as angry—if he was angry at all—about this as he was when he heard about the possibly of Steve and Peggy. His earlier excuses were crumbling around him, and he had yet to figure out why he was so bothered, even after Peggy had said they weren't dating.

What was wrong with him?

**

A/n: This is completely random, but lately I've been reading too much on wattpad so that when I'm reading an actual novel I forget I'm not on wattpad anymore. I'll read something, and then I'll think have to check the comments and it makes me so disappointed when I realize there is none.

How in the world does this have 700 reads? Thank you so much everyone who reads this!