Moving walls
Avery’s hands pressed against the solid surface that was seeming less and less like a wall as the seconds passed. She looked up to see—
"Sergeant!" she gasped, mentally kicking herself. What an idiot. She could see his pupils dilating. She’d just had that whole "calling him Sergeant is flirting" conversation. She pulled away and tried to make a run for the hallway that led to her room. However, a hand around her waist stopped her and pulled her back. Bucky leaned down toward her ear.
"You better stop calling me Sergeant if you know what's good for you," he whispered, his voice low and dangerously teasing. Oh God, everyone in the room was watching her.
"Yes, sir," Avery said, immediately regretting it. That probably wasn’t any better. She could hear Sam trying to stifle his laughter. Bucky’s hands dropped from her waist, and then she finally escaped.
Avery was glad she couldn’t hear the conversation from the kitchen. She didn’t want to think about what they were saying. She had clearly shown them that she was incapable of being professional around Bucky. Oh no, she hoped Steve didn’t tell Stark about this. That would mean she’d be back in her apartment, jobless again.
She thought about calling Peter, but that kid had his own love life troubles, and Ned would be zero help. Just then, she heard a knock at her bedroom door. Hoping it was Wanda, she opened it.
"Hey, I just wanted to say I didn’t mean to scare you," Bucky said, standing in her doorway with a look of apology. Avery noticed a small mark of her makeup on his white T-shirt from when she ran face-first into him.
"You don’t scare me," Avery replied. He looked kind of puzzled, maybe even shocked. He made her nervous—she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but it wasn’t because she was scared. "What should I address you as?"
"In front of people, James or Bucky," he said, stepping forward into her room, forcing her to take a step back. "If it’s just the two of us, you can call me sir or Sergeant."
Avery felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. He wanted her to call him Sergeant when they were alone. "Like when we’re like this, I can call you Sergeant?"
"Yes, and what shall I call you, doll?" His accent was doing things to her. He called her "doll," and at that moment, she would have let him call her anything.
"Doll works for me," she replied, almost gasping to get the words out. Somehow, they were closer to the bed than before, and just then—
"Bucky, let’s go! Steve needs us on a mission in five," Sam’s voice echoed, getting louder and probably getting closer to the door. Bucky leaned closer to Avery.
"Don’t I get a kiss goodbye, doll?" He was so close now, and she was frozen, unsure how to reply.
"Come on, Bucky, let’s go. Leave her before she calls HR on you," Sam called from the doorframe, smiling as Bucky walked past him.
"Be nice to our Bucky, girl. He isn’t as scary as he seems," Sam said over his shoulder as he left, after giving Avery a nod in reply.
This was a lot to happen in one morning.