If you're not a fan of classical drama by Henrik Ibsen, just ignore some of the analysis of A Doll's House. I'm a drama nerd and this is me being a complete geek and I don't care xoxo

Also I know this chapter is a little bit weird in terms of characterisation, but I tried to empathise. I'm not sure if it worked or not…

Chapter 4- What Matters

After the slightly awkward event in Bucky's car, Steve was surrounded by his friends and a lot of Chinese food as an apology from Thor.

"Sorry, again. This wouldn't have happened if I didn't leave you stranded."

Steve shook his head glumly. "It's fine, Thor. Things happen for a reason. If it wasn't today, it was going to be another day. At least I got the rejection over with."

Natasha squeezed his arm. "It wasn't a total rejection, Steve. He has some feelings towards you. Things are just…difficult."

"I know. I really wish he wasn't my teacher. Maybe I could move schools and then it wouldn't be frowned upon."

Tony sighed. "Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like that."

"Why do you choose now to become the voice of reason?"

Tony shrugged. "You need serious right now."

Bruce smiled. "What was the kiss like?"

Clint frowned. "Bruce, what?"

But Steve was smiling dazedly, staring into space as though entranced. "It was…everything. Like, it was both hot and chaste at the same time. It wasn't sexual, it was romantic. I can't explain it. It was the kiss of a lifetime."

Bruce nodded. "And how did you feel about it afterwards?"

Steve fell back down to reality. His eyes snapped shut before fluttering open, new depth lighting the irises. "Needed. I felt like he'd just given me everything I've ever wanted and things I've never even thought about wanting. All with one kiss. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. It was just one of those kisses, you know. Time stopped and the world did too. There was fire and electricity and…his hands were—."

"Um, Stevie?" Tony grinned pointedly at him and he stopped talking as soon as he saw him.

"Too much?"

Bruce smiled. "Maybe just a little bit. You just expressed your feelings without realising it, which is what I wanted to get from you."

"Do you just know how to get into my head?" Steve asked, frowning.

"It's basic psychology," Bruce shrugged.

Clint groaned. "If that's basic, I don't even want to think about taking classes at college. And there Jessica Jones was saying that it was an easy major."

"Was that before or after she rejected you?" Natasha smirked.

Clint pouted, eyebrows shooting upwards. "That's neither here nor there. Anyway, we're here because Steve needs us. My mediocre love life can wait."

Steve picked at his noodles idly. "I don't know, I think hearing about your mediocre love life might cheer me up right now."

Clint exhaled deeply. "Thanks, Steve. Thanks a lot."

Bucky took a drink from the bottle of beer he had been clutching since he returned home with a sigh. Why had he kissed Steve? That had just made things so much more complicated. His best student had just admitted his romantic interest and he had done the same.

And then he had immediately called a halt to whatever was about to happen.

Realistically, Bucky knew why he had done it. He was a teacher and Steve was a student. That was as much explanation as he needed.

But Steve was…captivating in a way that Bucky had never experienced before. He had tried to the adult gay dating scene, but it was tough. People his age were already looking to settle down. Bucky was only twenty-six, but apparently that was in the prime range for settling down with the love of your life. Bucky didn't think so.

Fun was still on the cards, but why on earth did he have to become so heavily attracted to a student? Steve Rogers was pretty much the most irresistible human being Bucky had ever seen and that was no exaggeration. He had wanted Steve from the get-go, and nothing had ceased over the weeks that had passed like he had expected it to. Bucky tried to repeat to himself that he was a senior and was also eighteen, which was highly important and Bucky wouldn't have made a move otherwise. He knew that what he saw in Steve was something else entirely from the norm and it granted him a feeling that he wanted to hold on to for as long as he could.

Steve brought him this giddiness that rose up in his chest and a connection that he shared with nobody else. Steve liked reading his favourite classical novels in foreign languages which meant that Steve spoke foreign languages. Bucky didn't need to know which, he was already impressed and more than turned on.

The kiss in the car and had magical and he knew that Steve thought so, too, which was why it was so important that Bucky end things before they truly begun. If he was getting this hung up over a kiss, he didn't even want to think about what he would be like if he pursued something with Steve. What that 'something' would even be, Bucky didn't know.

All he knew was that he wasn't going to be getting any sleep that night.

Bucky walked into the classroom, determined not to let signs of sleeplessness or awkwardness play on his face. He had a rapport with his students (oh how ironic that was now) and he wasn't about to let that go because of a kiss with one of them. "Hey, guys." He pretended not to notice the look shared between Steve's friends. Steve kept his eyes on his desk, presumably doodling something on a spare piece of notebook paper. He loved looking at Steve's beautiful and concentrated face as he sketched…no, Bucky, you're not supposed to be paying attention to him!

Steve, however, was drawing a series of incomprehensible patterns and swirls, anything to keep him from drawing the laidback English teacher in a way that would only make Steve's cracking heart ache even more.

"What's that supposed to be?" Thor leaned over, frowning.

Steve shrugged. "Anything but what I really want to draw."

Thor smiled apologetically at him. "Hang in there, buddy."

Steve nodded. "Thanks, man."

Bucky rubbed his hands together audibly, making the class look up. "Right, so wanted to take today's class to talk about the themes Ibsen wanted to present in 'A Doll's House'. Anyone got any ideas?"

Natasha raised her hand promptly.

"Ah, Natasha?"

"Morality," she replied with a steely glare on her face, "and whether some things are the right thing to do, no matter what the circumstances are."

Steve wanted to groan, but he knew that drawing attention to himself could cost him everything. He made a mental note to lecture Natasha about when to address the issue at hand.

Bucky nodded cautiously. "Anything further to add?"

"Well," she continued, "Torvald is so disgraced at Nora's actions that he completely disregards that she did it to save his life. This leads me to infer that people are willing to overlook intention, which can save something from being immoral. I think that Nora's intention balances out the forgery but Torvald is so used to underestimating her that he believes that she was being stupid, something that he admitted he found endearing about her as a woman which I find personally repulsive."

Bucky was surprised as her point slowly turned into a tirade. What he thought was personally directed at him was nothing more than a very good point. "Excellently worded, Natasha. So you think that people with good intentions doing bad things should be given leniency?"

Natasha sighed. "You're broadening the scope, Bucky. In this particular instance, given that Nora merely wanted to save her husband's life and put her reputation on the line to do so, I don't think what she did deserves punishment, at least in the eyes of her marriage which was already crumbling anyway. It depends wholly on the issue at hand."

"Well argued," Bucky commended. "Does anybody have anything to share?" Bucky took a deep breath. "Steve?" The whole class knew that Steve was the one Bucky looked to for verbal debates so Bucky knew that he needed to be in character. He didn't realise what he was doing to Steve, however. The boy paled before swallowing and nodding weakly.

"Uh, it address the subject of love for the sake of love."

"And what do you mean by that?"

Steve bit his lip. "Well Nora and Torvald were clearly married for appearances. Nora believed she loved him because that was the situation back then. Women in the late 19th century just wanted to be married and were often urged into it. The man had complete control which is disgusting. Kristine married so she could support her ill family, but Nora thought she had found her true love. He belittled her, but that was nothing but the norm back then. Torvald clearly saw her as nothing other than a possession which becomes clear by the use of animal themes as nicknames."

Bucky was impressed as he always was by Steve's answers. He also knew by now that Steve always had a follow up. "Your conclusion?"

"Some love isn't really love. Sometimes…it's toxic and the ending of the play showed that the best thing for both of them was for Nora to leave."

Now that was directed at him. And Steve had every right to be angry at him. They had kissed so passionately and Bucky had immediately broke things off for his career. It was understandable on both parts, Bucky thought.

Time for a challenge, Steve Rogers.

"But Nora had lied to him for a long time," Bucky countered. He knew the material inside out, but he bet himself that Steve still knew it better.

"When she had been unhappy for a long time, that's not a concern. Torvald doesn't care about that when it all unfolds, he only cares that she's been immoral and that she's brought disgrace to his name. But when he finds Krogstad's second letter redeeming her, apparently all is forgiven and he "loves he more" because of the fact she doesn't seem like a complete failure anymore because his reputation is still intact. He was ashamed of her."

Bucky took that comment with little reaction, though his knuckles whitened considerably. "How many times did you read the play, Steve?"

"Once and I really enjoyed it. I just spent a lot of time thinking about it afterwards."

"I did too. Of course, I had to. My career depended on it," Bucky said probably a little too harshly. He knew that Steve seemed to be hurting, but he couldn't help it. He was human and he was flawed. Natasha was clearly furious with him, or just highly protective of her friend. Probably both, Bucky rather thought.

The rest of the class was frowning and Bucky knew he had to seize control once again. "Alright, so I want you to take a theme and write me a paper about it. For extra credit, pick another piece of literature that was published before 1900 and compare the themes. They can either be similarly portrayed or you can pick works that clash. If you have no knowledge of pre-20th century literature, come and see me for some recommendations. I want at least three pages from you guys, okay? Any questions, stick around at the end of class. And since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you the rest of the period to plan and outline or hit me up with questions."

Steve tightened his grip on his pencil as Bucky turned around to write the assignment on the blackboard for people to copy down if they so desired and his extremely tempting posterior was on display for him to look at. Well, it wasn't as though he could look away.

"Steve," Natasha hissed as Clint threw erasers at his head. He whipped his head around and frowned. "Maybe not so much with that."

"Thanks guys. You keep me honest. And Clint, maybe find another way to get my attention."

He shrugged and fired one at Tony.

Bruce momentarily swapped seats with Clint so that he could further talk to Steve. "Try not to focus on it. It's hard, I know. Clint, Tony, do not make a comment about that or I will personally see to it that your various love lives are the central topics of discussion for at least a month."

Clint glanced at Tony and they both backed down. "Not worth it," Tony muttered. "It's an obvious joke anyway, if Bruce detected it."

"Just focus on your essay," Bruce continued, always the voice of reason, "do you have an idea about what book or play you're doing?"

Steve sighed, shrugging. "Maybe, I don't know yet. I was thinking about doing something Shakespearean, maybe talk about the limits and boundaries of romance and love. Something close to home, you know?"

Bruce paused. "Maybe do something less hard-hitting. A distraction piece of sorts."

"Yeah, that could work. Thanks, Bruce. Really."

Bruce held up his hands. "Just doing my job." He moved back to Clint. "Get out of my seat. And no mocking."

Clint nodded, giving a mock salute in return.

Bucky watched the whole thing with a sad smile, not having time to dwell on Steve's sadness as Thor approached him with a question. "Did you have a question, Thor?"

He nodded and launched into his question. Bucky tried his hardest to pay attention but his eyes flickered to Steve's desk several times and he was once again sketching something that was probably beautiful.

Tucked away in the corner of his sketchbook was the drawing Steve had done of himself and Bucky. Nobody had seen it and all he wanted to do was work on it, but he knew that he couldn't while peering eyes were everywhere. So he settled for drafting his essay outline, despite Bruce's good advice, about toxic love. He was bitter and he wanted Bucky to know it. It wasn't his fault or Steve's, but somebody had to bear the brunt of Steve's feelings. He couldn't keep burdening his friends, so his essay would have to be a medium for emotion instead.

The bell rang abruptly, Steve being the first to leave, everybody else not far behind him. It was the period before lunch, so Bucky didn't take that as a reflection on his teaching skills.

He stood up and paced the classroom, spotting something on the floor by Steve's desk. Curious, he picked it up and turned it over.

A beautiful sketch of...him and Steve, lips locked in a fierce embrace, probably an accurate representation of their kiss the previous day. Bucky drank it in, Steve's talent really jumping out of him.

Then, footsteps. A voice.

"You…uh…weren't supposed to see that."

Author's Note: I know it's been a month and I apologise profusely! Life got in the way, I'm sure you can all relate if you write! Sorry about my inner geek showing! Leave a review if you're so inclined xoxo