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Post by Ray on Nov 30, 2015 19:00:04 GMT -7
"I give compliments when they're true." Bucky replies, a little amused that she seems so amused. He knows he doesn't always say a lot, especially around her when she's visiting Steve or hanging around their mismatched group of would-be heroes. And when he does say something, it's either dreadfully blunt and to the point, or another example of his dark humor that's always a little more sarcastic than it should ever be. But it's not because he never has anything to say, or that he has any particular dislike for any of them (Barton excluded, but that's a different story for a different time). Simply, the time when he felt like the silence had to be filled with something, anything, has long since passed. This isn't the thirties, when he was a dumb kid who thought he was charming. This isn't the war when long stretches of pure quiet made him feel like he was already choking on his deathbed. This isn't Hydra, where someone else's words filled his mouth for him. He only ever speaks if he wants to. Only ever says precisely what he wants to say. Only ever tells his own truths, no one else's.
Sometimes Steve has a way of loosening his tongue against his better judgement, and Nat always seems to know exactly what he means, silent or not. But he's not a mute.
Bucky glances over his shoulder towards the apartment, blue eyes scanning the destruction. He doesn't blame her for opting out of this. Hell, he is too.
His eyes flick back to Teresa's face as she thanks him, a strange sort of surprise overcoming him unexpectedly. After all she'd seen, especially from him, a thank you was hardly the thing he anticipated. He stands up a little straighter, a sliver of a furrow forming between his dark brows as he looks her face over. "You're welcome." He finally says.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 30, 2015 19:17:37 GMT -7
Teresa nodded once when he said about the compliments and she had to admire him for that. Loads of people gave fake praise when the people didn't need it. It caused them to get big egos and think that the world owed them so much when that wasn't the case. She never got compliments much but when she did she cherished them. But it felt weird, if she was honest, to be getting a compliment from him but she wouldn't dismiss it all the same.
She held his gaze for a moment before she took a deep breath. "Well seeing as I don't have a cell and I'm staying with Lexi the last thing I need is for her to send out a search party for me, I better head out." Teresa gave him a smile and then took the glove off and put it with the bow. She was actually feeling a bit sad about leaving it here but the last thing Teresa wanted was for Tony Stark to hunt her down and take the bow from her.
Teresa looked around the room once more before she sighed and then turned on the spot. "Oh," she said and turned so that she was looking at him and walking backwards at the same time. "That t-shirt looks really good on you" she said in a tease before grinning and putting her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. Her jacket was still in Steve's apartment but if Bucky put it to one side then she'll grab it the next time she comes in. It wasn't as if the jacket was one that she needed to have on her all the time, she did have others so she could afford to have one stay there for now.
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Post by Ray on Nov 30, 2015 19:57:04 GMT -7
Bucky tips his chin upwards, having momentarily forgotten in the midst of chaos that she'd have somewhere to be. He's grown too used to their rag-tag team having plans that revolve around maybe catching an episode of that show they like, maybe, before something else breaks somewhere in the world. Steve barely has time to eat an actual meal between missions, let alone maintain an actual, normal, relationship with anyone outside of the tower. Which is probably why Teresa consistently has to come to him, rather than the other way around.
He arches a brow at her compliment, head cocking slightly to the side. Bucky glances down at his undone leather jacket and the black tee underneath. It's stained with blood, even if it doesn't look like it is, but like most of his combat gear it's a tight fit. Bucky shrugs his shoulders, and lifts the bottle to his mouth for another drink.
As he does, he slips to the side a step, setting the bottle down once more before he moves away from the bar. "You going to take a hundred flights of stairs?" He asks, rolling his tongue against his lower lip, reminding her subtly of the crumbled elevator laying at the bottom of a very long shaft. She could, if she wanted to, though that wouldn't be a fun journey down. Especially not passed the crumbled bodies in the stairwell only a few floors down.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 30, 2015 20:14:22 GMT -7
Teresa was halfway across the room when Bucky spoke once more reminding her about the fact that she would have to walk down the stairs and then bit on her lip as she stopped, turned and looked at him. "Oh yeah" she said and then bit down on her lip before looking around.
If she was honest the last thing she felt like doing was walking down all those stairs, she might be fit but she definitely wasn't that fit. She put her eyes back on Bucky "Want some company?" she asked and watched him. Teresa knew that she would have to make her way down the stairs at some point but that didn't have to be right now. Just as long as Steve had a comfortable couch then she was more than happy with staying for a little bit.
Teresa really was going to have to get a message to Lexi some how but for some reason she had a feeling that Lexi wouldn't be back for a few hours and probably wouldn't know that she wasn't there. When she was on her own, Teresa would often take a drink up to the big bedroom upstairs and just watch the traffic from her bed. It's what made her choose that room every time so if Teresa wasn't home before Lexi then it would be noticed because she would think that Teresa was in bed anyway.
"Well I'm going to be staying even if you don't want company" she said with a smile and then looked over at the door. But maybe it was best if they both got out of Tony's apartment. The last thing she wanted to do was be caught in here with all the damage. Lexi was going to have to wait for a while. The pounding in her heart was now starting to slow down which she is thankful for because it might clear her head a little bit.
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Post by Ray on Nov 30, 2015 20:36:34 GMT -7
Bucky considers it for a moment, just like how he considers whether or not he wants to take the liquor with him. He remembers the bottle of whiskey -- or was it tequila? -- waiting for him downstairs, and shakes that thought off. Ever since he came to stay at Stark Tower, more for Steve's benefit than anyone else's, he's kept a steady surplus of alcohol conveniently tucked away throughout the apartment. He can't get drunk, not really, and Sam always gives him a disapproving look every time he chugs half a bottle in one sitting, but most days it's all that keeps him from wanting to take a swan dive off of the 100th story balcony.
Worst part is, he'd actually survive the fall.
"I'm not complaining." He replies to her offer of company, walking back towards the metal door to the stairwell, casually avoiding stepping on someone's outstretched hand. "JARVIS, please tell me Stark has a clean up crew." He says aloud as he opens the door, once again allowing Teresa to pass through first. Steve's apartment is only a couple floors down, so the walk will be short.
"Already on their way, sir. This is not, as Tony says, our first rodeo."
"Figures." Bucky mutters, descending the stairs with a little less fervor than he climbed them. He stops Teresa a floor down so he can grab his mask from Tony's lab, before he continue on down. The door to Steve's place still hangs barely on it's hinges, and after Teresa steps back into what's most likely the only orderly spot in the tower, he slams the door back into place forcefully.
He sheds out of his leather jacket not too steps in and throws it onto the nearest armchair. He runs both palms over his face, his metal hand cold and adding no real comfort. "Drink?" He asks, glancing back towards Teresa as he makes his way to the kitchen. The bottle of liquor -- scotch, turns out -- is still waiting there, condensation bubbling along the glass.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 30, 2015 20:54:32 GMT -7
Teresa nodded when he said that he's not complaining. Good. This was probably the first and only time she would actually stay in Steve's apartment so she was taking every bit of opportunity she could get. Plus she didn't know when she would be back in New York, although she said that all the time to Barton and would end up back in his apartment a week later saying that she needed a break from school work.
She scoffed when JARVIS said about the clean up crew were already on their way. Well at least they were doing it and not Bucky and Teresa. They would know what they were doing plus at the moment she really didn't care too much about what was needing to be done.
They moved down the floors, the first one being grabbing Bucky's mask from the lab and then finally they came down to where Steve's apartment was and she raised her eyebrow at the door. Teresa couldn't deny that she was now starting to feel the affects of the evening. But right now she just wanted to get on the couch and put her feet up.
She smirked when he slammed the door back into place and then tried to hide the laugh that was trying to get out of her. It just seemed like a moment that probably should've been caught on camera but luckily for him and unluckily for her she didn't have her cell with her. Teresa moved over to the couch and fell backwards on it when he asked if she wanted a drink. "Please" she said and put her head back against the cushion behind her. This definitely felt better.
They were away from the mess downstairs and back into the privacy of an apartment.
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Post by Ray on Nov 30, 2015 21:15:25 GMT -7
He pours two glasses, deciding that maybe it's better not to try his luck at getting drunk if Teresa is staying for a little while. He carries both, and the bottle tucked under his arm, back to the couches where she's made herself comfortable. He takes a seat in the armchair, his leather jacket thrown haphazardly over the back, and slides the nearly full glass towards her. "Ura." He murmurs in Russian, holding up his own glass in a salute. He slumps back against the chair cushions, finally sitting down after nearly two whole days of doing nothing but standing. He's used to it, but that doesn't mean his knees don't get cramped up and his body doesn't ache. Though he's not sure if it's the same ache he used to feel, back when he was a twenty-something year old sleeping in freezing cold foxholes. It's different, somehow. It's deeper. Lingering somewhere in his bones or his cells or what's left of them. And it never lasts.
He swishes the scotch in his mouth before laying his hand along the arm of the chair, bottom of the glass resting upon the leather. Bucky toes off his combat boots, forgoing taking the time to undo the straps and laces, before setting his socked feet on the marble coffee table.
For a moment, he tries to think of small talk. Something Steve would say. He and Teresa always get along so well, while Bucky just drinks in the background with Natalia, telling bad jokes mostly. Bucky flicks his gaze back towards the girl, and pulls his lower lip between his teeth.
"Y'know you could be one of them, right." He finally says, voice a little gravelly from wear. "Part of the team." He adds on, waving his glass a little jokingly in the air like makeshift quotation marks. "You're good enough."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 1, 2015 8:59:46 GMT -7
Teresa closes her eyes for a moment and and the only sound is Bucky pouring drink into two classes. She slowly opens her eyes and takes the glass from him and settles back. She holds her glass before smiling and taking a drink and biting down on her lip as she did. Her father usually drank this stuff, mostly at ten in the morning but that was up to him on what he wanted to do with his life.
The silence is heavy between them but in honesty she doesn't want to break it just yet. It was perfect, the silence of a room especially after the amount of noise they had come across upstairs. Teresa pulls a leg up under her and leans her head back before putting her arm, and the hand with the glass, on the arm of the couch and looks over when he breaks the silence.
"You mean be at SHIELD's beck and call?" she said and raised her eyebrow. She scoffed and looked around for a moment before settling her eyes on him once more. "I've been to SHIELD HQ" she admitted after a moment "It was actually the day I ended up back in the '40's" Teresa smiled and looked down. "The building was impressive and so overwhelming and scary all at the same time."
Teresa remembers the feeling of both being excited and overwhelmed by how big the place had been and if she had been honest it wasn't anything like she had expected, but then again she really hadn't had time to think of what the place had been because Barton, unexpectedly she might add, said that they would be going to SHIELD HQ. She was sure if she did join the organization that Barton had just got out of then he would do his nut, in fact she wasn't sure how Graeme would take it either. Quitting college to become some spy that goes around the world and putting herself in danger all the time. It sounded exciting, and scary.
She shook her head and put her brown eyes on him. "I don't think I'm ready for that just yet"
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Post by Ray on Dec 1, 2015 12:27:16 GMT -7
"You don't have to go through SHIELD." Bucky replies, a faint smile lingering around the corners of his mouth. He doesn't know why, maybe it's the excess adrenaline or the scotch, but her hesitation is a little funny to him, if not endearing. Ten minutes ago, she had been so willing, so ready, to raise a little hell. The bow fit so naturally in her hands and she might deny it but Bucky saw her grinning nearly the whole way through. It reminds him of someone. Hell, it reminds him of a couple someones, both of whom are arguably the best of the best and always will be. "Stark is barely a consultant at best." He continues, lowering his gaze to his glass as he runs a fleshy finger around the rim. "She's too...unpredictable." Bucky uses Steve's words, which are funny coming from the kid who decided to jump out of an airplane over enemy lines despite orders telling him not to.
Bucky would have said, Stark is too much of an ass.
"But that didn't stop her from convincing Steve and Sam to shack up here and form The Friendly Neighborhood Superfriends." He says snarkily, the smile ticking up a little more. Bucky gulps down the rest of the scotch and sits forward to set the glass on the marble table. He pulls himself all the way forward to his feet, standing up without the slightest hint of aches. "Who knows. You could become the new Hawkeye. All you need is a little training." He shrugs a little, and moves around the couches towards the hallway to the left.
"I'm going to change. Need anything?" He asks, glancing back.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 1, 2015 13:03:17 GMT -7
When Barton had said that he worked for SHIELD,she had wanted to find out what it was like to work for an organization like that. She found out over a year later when they went to HQ and she had found it scary to even be in the presence of all the agents there. Then Barton decided to leave and she caught glimpses from him what they were like. She had backed away but even she couldn't deny that it would be pretty awesome to work along side Steve and the others.
Teresa didn't look surprised about the fact that Tony Stark was too unpredictable. You only had to look at everything here to see that whoever said it was telling the truth. "Well this definitely is a nice place so she gets marks for that" she said and looked around the apartment once more.
She finished up her drink before leaning forward and putting the glass on the table too. Working in a bar back home opened her up to any sort of drink even ones that she didn't actually like to drink. Teresa looked up at him when he started to speak and bit down on her lip. Today had been a one off, it was more than likely that she would get home and wouldn't be able to use the bows she got in the spare room of the apartment. But she wanted to give it a try. God, she so wanted too. "I'll think about it" she admitted and smiled before watching him walk away from where she was sitting.
"Something to sleep in would be nice" she called over her shoulder at him before standing up and inspecting the living room more better.
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Post by Ray on Dec 1, 2015 13:31:34 GMT -7
Bucky gives a curt nod and disappears down the length of the hallway. He barely waits until he's crossed into Steve's room before he pulls the black tee over his head and off, carefully pulling his metal arm through to avoid tearing yet another shirt. Carelessly, he tosses it aside, telling himself he'll pick it up later. Steve is, and always has been, neater than him. Even when he comes home from missions, bloody and exhausted and barely able to stand on his own two feet, he'll take the time and effort to hang up his uniform and his shield as if Colonel Phillips himself, god rest his soul, is likely to come in and inspect. Bucky isn't as concerned. He isn't messy, but hell if he's going to fuss over a little clutter.
He digs through the wooden drawers of the four-level dresser, yanking out something comfortable. It's been a long couple of days; it'd be nice to play domestic Bucky Barnes in sweats rather than sit around as the Winter Soldier, thinking too long about all of this.
He tugs on a black sweat-pants, clearly Steve's based on the SHIELD logo printed on the right hip, and pulls a red Henley over his head. He tugs at the hem so it falls naturally around his waist, before plucking up the clothes set aside for Teresa. They're simple, nothing fancy; a plain blue t-shirt that's going to be big on her, and a pair of Steve's work-out shorts. The freakishly big asshole has a freakishly small waist for his size, so his shorts are bound to fit Teresa way better than Bucky's. Not that Bucky even owns shorts.
To be honest, the only reason Bucky can think of for why Steve does is a general appreciation of his own legs.
"Here," Bucky murmurs as he shuffles back out into the living room, handing the bundle of clothes to Teresa. "Brought a blanket, too." He admits, draping the light silver blanket over the back of the couch. It's softer than hell, and big enough to wrap the entire team in. "Sorry if there's cat hair. Ghost likes it." He admits. Right on cue, the little grey and white cat pads quietly behind him, running the leg of her slim body along Bucky's ankles before darting off across the apartment. Probably to sleep on Steve's drawings since her cocoon in the closet was disturbed. "Shpana." Bucky huffs a little fondly, before reclaiming his perch on the armchair.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 1, 2015 13:54:08 GMT -7
Silence descends once more as Bucky walks off to get changed and she glimpses down the hallway in time to see Bucky remove his shirt and she swallows hard. Teresa rolls her eyes and looks away. This time she takes the living room in properly. It was definitely a different style to the one they had just come from. But if she was honest, this looked a lot more homely than Stark's had.
Her mind slid back to what Bucky had said, could she become the next Hawkeye? Especially when it is actually Barton's name. Teresa would have to give it a huge think when she was home because it would mean changing at lot of stuff but the one thing she wouldn't do was move into Stark tower. No, she was sure that she could still live in Mystic and be part of the team.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Bucky and she turned around and looked over at him before she smiled her thanks. If she was going to be staying the night then she would rather do it in something a bit more comfortable than jeans and t-shirt. "I don't blame her" she admitted.
The blanket definitely looked comfortable and she was actually eager to get under it plus she was grateful for staying here. Teresa hesitated for a moment and then looked over at him. A question burning on her lips and she was eager to ask but at the same time hesitant about it. Teresa cleared her throat and just went for it. "Why do you say things in Russian?" she asked and put her eyes on him. "Just out of curiosity rather than anything" It wasn't the first time tonight she had heard it and was wondering why he said things in that language.
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Post by Ray on Dec 1, 2015 14:15:17 GMT -7
Bucky kicks his feet back onto the coffee table, contemplating turning on the TV to watch something other than Justin Hammer's sweaty face playing on repeat in his mind. There's never anything on, nothing that ever does anything more than serve as background noise. Sam's been determined to show him what he calls the classics, but Steve always ends up far more invested than Bucky. Most TV is static. Comedy and drama made out of uninteresting situations.
Their life is far more impossible. Far more entertaining.
He reaches forward to pour more scotch in his glass instead, blue eyes flicking to catch Teresa's as she breaks the comfortable silence. A brow twitches upwards slightly at the question. Most of the time he doesn't even realize he does it. People rarely mention it, other than Natalia who's perfectly fine snickering at his quickly worded Russian comments or isn't shy to chastise him when he slips in between dialects like they're all the same thing. "Habit." He replies simply, twisting off the top on the bottle and tipping the liquor out. "I uh...lived in Russia for a long time." He doesn't know what bugs him worse about saying that. The fact that there hadn't been much living in the USSR, or that a long time equaled nearly sixty years of his existence. He's spent more time speaking Russian than he has his own native tongue; to the point that English feels foreign on his tongue.
"Guess it's hard to break." He murmurs, lifting the glass to his mouth.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 1, 2015 14:31:46 GMT -7
Teresa nods and then smiles slightly. "I guess it is" she said and then clears her throat before going off in search of a bathroom.
When Teresa finds the bathroom, she shuts the door and starts to get changed. Her thoughts turn to Bucky and on the fact that she didn't know a lot about what happened to Bucky to turn him this way. When she had left Brooklyn, after being pulled back to SHIELD HQ, he had been the guy who took both her and Steve out to a club on a double date but that was after she had met the Bucky that she was talking too now.
Before she went back, if she was honest, she didn't have much of a conversation with Bucky, or Steve for that matter, but it had all changed and when she was in Brooklyn she had found it hard to adjust to the boy that she had met and was so beautifully normal and nothing like the Bucky now. Now, however, it was hard to think of him in anyway shape or form as something other than the Bucky now. It was all very complicated in her head that sometimes it gave her a headache just thinking about it.
Teresa got changed into the clothes she would be sleeping in and pushed the thoughts, for now, of past Bucky out of her head. She now had a lot of questions but wasn't sure if they were really better off unsaid. She moved to the mirror and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before she gathered up her clothes, and boots, then left the bathroom. The t-shirt was actually pretty snugly even if it was too big for her.
She came back into the living room and put her clothes down on the floor with her shoes and grabbed the blanket before getting back on the couch. "Thanks so much for letting me borrow these" she said with a warm smile.
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Post by Ray on Dec 1, 2015 15:02:02 GMT -7
When Teresa disappears, Bucky forces himself back out of the chair. Now it's not just Hammer's face, or the bodies being swept clean upstairs, or the girls he saved from the dock that he needs to clear from his mind, but Russia as well. The deep seeded cold threatens to settle in his bones if he lingers too long on that thought.
He wanders to the kitchen, searching the cabinets for food or more alcohol or whatever he can find that's somewhere in between. There's an unopened bag of chips -- maple bacon, Bucky reads with a small unsure frown, already guessing they're Sam's -- and a box of Strawberry Poptarts that Steve hasn't snacked his way through. He grabs both, and a cold carton of rocky road ice cream with two spoons before laying the pile across the marble coffee table. He stands there for a breath, not sure what to do with himself, before he turns on a socked heel and head to the other side of the apartment.
The place is bigger than it looks, which is already pretty fucking big. Steve's wing lays on one side of the living room and kitchen, with his bedroom, private bathroom, and so-called "office" that's really just where he stores his shield, his uniform, and the variety of equipment he keeps organized and prioritized. Sam's wing is on the other side.
Bucky shoulders open the door to Sam's bedroom, not bothering to pretend like he doesn't do this often. By this point, Sam just tolerates it and lets it go. It's the same size as Steve's, which means it's about the same size as the entire apartment he and Steve used to share back before the war, but not as terribly neat. Like Bucky, Sam doesn't mind a little clutter. His old baseball bat from high school sits propped up against his dresser, and a couple empty bottles of beer have been arranged tidily in a group on top. His bed hasn't been made, the blankets and sheets twisted together and pushed to one side. His running shoes sit haphazardly in the middle of the floor. Crouching, Bucky scans the rows of movies Sam has stored in the narrow nook of his bedside table. His taste in TV might be shitty, but Sam's movies haven't disappointed so far. Bucky picks one at random, only giving the front and back a brief glance before he rises and leaves the room otherwise untouched.
He's back in the living room only seconds before Teresa returns. He drops into the arm chair and tosses the dvd onto the coffee table. "They're Steve's, so you can thank him when he gets back." Bucky smiles a little.
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