The Spark

Nat has me start off with warm-ups. Which I thought was meant to be easy, to i.e. warm you up.

But no. She had me running around the training room with Steve until I was staggering and Sam Wilson was laughing his arse off as he watched. Steve kept on running, not even breathing hard as he passed me every God damn time.

“God damn it Sam, stop laughing at me!” I yell as I fall onto the floor, rolling onto my back as I breathe heavily, my eyes following Steve’s fit body as he effortlessly stops, his eyebrows raising into a smirk as he lifted his water bottle up to his mouth.

“Oh (Y/N), I’ve endured this whole running thing from Cap for ages, so I’m gonna enjoy it when it happens to someone who isn’t me” Sam snorts, rolling me a fresh water bottle across the floor, which I grab eagerly.

“Thanks Sam” I say begrudgingly, sitting up as Nat chuckles at me.

“Now it’s time for training to actually begin!” Natasha says joyfully, obviously enjoying my pain. I groan as she grabs my hand and pulls me up onto my feet.

“Go on Steve, this is just me and (Y/N) now. Go and beat that punching bag of yours” Nat smirks as Steve chuckles, walking over to the far side of the gym and attacking a punching bag with casual ferocity.

“Anyway, come on (Y/N), we’ll start with hand to hand combat, just to see how much I have to train you”

I pause. Should I tell her that I had four years experience in martial arts and a couple of years of Street fighting? I smile to myself, walking over with Natasha to the sparring mat. Nah, I think I would like to surprise the Avengers for once.

“Don’t be scared Sweetcheeks, Nat will be nice!” I hear Tony yell from outside the training room and I laugh softly.

“Let’s start”

Five minutes later, everyone seems surprised that I’m not pinned to the floor yet, Natasha included. But I didn’t attack, I dodged and avoided, staying away from Nat’s hands and feet. We are whirling around each other, and I’m feeling rather confident that I could win, when I see him. Bucky.

He was leaning against the training room door, his dark hair tied up into a messy bun nestled on the nape of his neck. His muscled body was covered by a tight, grey, long sleeved shirt which hid his metal arm and his red shorts reached his knees, slightly accentuating his muscular thighs.

His piercing eyes are what distract me the most, and Natasha tackles me, pinning me to the floor, straddling my waist.

“Rule number one. Don’t lose focus of your opponent” Natasha grins, and when she goes to get up, I grin back at her and flip her onto her back, straddling her waist in return.

“Rule number two. Don’t give up till they have given up too” Natasha chuckles at my words, grabbing my hand as I pull her up. I jump out of her reach, eyeing her carefully, but she just shakes her head, placing her hands in a peaceful gesture. I relax as the present Avengers converge around me, crowing praise and surprise. I look back at Bucky, to see him slowly walking towards us, a smirk growing on his lips.

“That’s my girl” Sam yells, wrapping his arm around me in a side hug. At this I can feel Bucky’s gaze burning into my back.

“(Y/N), where did you learn all that?” Nat smiles at me, her hands on her hips.

“Sorry Nat, I kind of forgot to mention that I have four years of martial arts training and a couple of years of street fighting under my belt” I smile apologetically at her, and she rolls her eyes.

“I bet no one here can last longer than five minutes with (Y/N)” Sam yells out, and I turn to him, my mouth gaping.

“Sam!”

Sam shrugs, grinning at me.

“Aww come on (Y/N), are you telling me you couldn’t take anyone here for at least five minutes” I go to answer, but someone interrupts me, a deep familiar voice.

“How about me?”

We all turn around to see Bucky standing there, a hand rubbing his neck as he looks at me, a smirk on his face.

“Buck” Steve’s voice breaks the silence, and I see him standing beside me, his eyes sad.

“Buck, we talked about this” Steve starts to shake his head.

“Wait a minute, I want to do this” I place a hand on Steve’s shoulder who looks at me curiously.

“I want to go up against Bucky” I raise my eyebrows at Bucky, who looks slightly surprised at me agreeing with him, but he schools his expression back to his blank look.

“All right, you heard the lady, everyone back up” Sam yells out, guiding everyone off the sparring mat, leaving Bucky and myself alone, facing each other.

“So, do you do this often?” Bucky’s voice is soft, quiet, as he takes a step towards me, a playful smile on his lips.

“Was that a pickup line Mr Barnes?” I say incredulously, my head tilting in confusion. Bucky takes a step forward, his mouth opening to say something before he lunges at me, his arms going for my waist. I easily side step him, and it takes him a couple of steps before he regains his balance. He turns around, a genuine smile on his face.

“So that’s how it’s going to be?” I chuckle, my eyes never leaving his as we circled the mat, both of us on our tiptoes.

“Sorry sweetheart. Remember, we are testing you” Bucky reminded me, before he goes onto the offence.

The next couple of minutes are a flurry of blocked fists and attacks, and it seems we are matched in strength and speed, but Bucky was definitely better at skill. Though I managed to avoid getting pinned by staying out of his reach, being cautious, as both of us had our instincts flick on.

I could hear the faded voices of Nat and Steve in the background, but all I could see was Bucky’s ice blue eyes, my body slowly going into automatic, mimicking Bucky’s style. I could feel the air around me, the minute movements of Bucky’s muscles giving him away as he went for a complex martial arts manoeuvre. I use his momentum against him and everyone gasped as I pin Bucky to the floor. Bucky grunts, sending us both rolling over until he’s on top, grinning down at me as he straddles my thighs, pinning my arms under his knees as he plants his hands on either side of my head. He leans down, his lips brushing my ear.

“I win” He whispers. I chuckle as I buck him off onto the mat beside me, clambering on top of him as I flip him over, pinning his hands behind his back.

“I think you’ll find, Mr Barnes, that it is I who has won” I chuckle, patting his back before I jump off him, retreating off the mat as he chuckles deeply, his hair loose around his face as his bun had come undone.

I grin at him, extending my hand for a peaceful handshake. His eyes flick down to my extended hand, then back up to my eyes, his gaze burrowing into me. Then, hesitantly, he reaches his hand out and grasps mine, the cold metal contrasting against my warm skin.

“I definitely want a rematch” he says in his deep voice, and I’m glad that my face was already red as I felt a blush rush up my neck. I smile at him, my eyes gleaming.

“That can be arranged” I promise as I step back, my fingertips brushing his metal ones as I slip my hand out of his. He looks down, a smile on his face as he steps back. And when he sneaks a peak back up at him, I mouth words at him.

“Library, same time?”

He nods, then disappears back into the shadows, and the rest of the Avengers converge around me, praising me on my skill. I was basking in the glow on the outside, but on the inside, I just wanted to read a book, in my library, with Bucky. I was looking around the room when I see Natasha eyeing me with suspicion, which disappears when I notice her looking.

“Hey (Y/N)! I heard you beat Frosty” I hear Tony behind me, and I turn around to get a face full of Tony’s chest as he envelops me in a hug.

“Ah Tony!” I yell, my voice is muffled into his expensive suit. When he laughs I can feel the vibration echo through his chest into my cheek. I push back, and Tony let’s me, but keeping an arm over my shoulder.

“You know I’m sweaty, right?”

“Arh, who isn’t? Doesn’t matter, it’s movie night tonight!” Tony yells that last part out, and Nat, Sam and Clint both whoop in excitement. I look around in confusion, and Steve takes pity on me, pulling me out of Tony’s grasp and guiding me to the side of the room, away from the rowdy group of Avenger.

“Tony has these movie nights every fortnight or so, and he goes all out. He cooks home made snacks and we all sit around on beanbags and couches and watch movies, Tony’s pick” Steve makes a face, and I laugh.

“Go on (Y/N), the nights starts at around 8, you have a couple hours, go clean up, relax for a bit. You can ask Jarvis to remind you”

I nod, pulling away from him and the rest of the group as I slip out of the door, heading back to my floor.

…………………….

I quickly shuck my clothes off onto the bathroom floor and step under the forceful spray of the water, revelling in the high power pressure as it kneaded out the knots in my back, pouring over me in streams. I closed my eyes as I leaned my head back and let water pour over my face, when I hear the bathroom door open.

I squeak in surprise, looking around the fogged up glass partition to see Natasha sitting on the toilet seat, legs crossed as she looks at me.

“Natasha!” I yell.

“Oh come on (Y/N), we’re both females” Nat sighs, her eyes rolling at my yell. Then she leans forward, tossing me a towel which I wrap around myself, leaving the shower on as I stare at her.

“Nat, can’t this wait till I finish my shower?” I sigh, exasperated as she shakes her head.

“No. I want to know how you beat Barnes. It’s almost like you could anticipate his movements in the last half”

I sigh, rubbing a hand over my face as I look at her through my fingers.

“Nat, I don’t know what to say. He must have slipped or something” I falter at Nat’s don’t-give-me-this-bullshit expression.

“Nat, I don’t know what to tell you” I sigh, shrugging my shoulders.

“I want you to tell me what you are hiding from me” Nat says forcefully, her eyes boring into mine.

“God damn it Nat” I snap, running a hand over my face.

“Only Wanda, Bruce and Tony know about this. You can’t tell anyone” I say forcefully, Stepping out of the shower as I concentrate on my hands, and they burst into flames.

Nat gasped quietly, her eyes roving over my hands. I quickly clench my hands and the flames go out, and then with an idea in my head, I turn to the still running shower.

“Um, I haven’t tried this before, so, sorry if you get wet”

“Wait, what?” Natasha’s voice fades away as I turn towards the shower, my hands out as I bend my fingers, seeing the water and how I wanted it to bend in my mind.

And then it does.

The water stops hitting the floor and it forms into a sphere, the sphere filling up with water until it was full. My eyes furrowing in concentration, I hold the sphere of water with one hand while I manipulate the air around the tap handle, turning it so the water halted.

Breathing heavily, I use both my hands to levitate the ball of water in front of Nat. The water is swirling around in it’s bubble, and Nat, who was watching in awe, reached out her hand to touch it, her fingers breaking through the surface, and the water swirls around her fingers.

“Christ” I breathe out, my arms trembling with the mental effort. I can feel the control slipping away so I whip it away, throwing it into the shower as it bursts again the wall, gurgling down the drain.

“(Y/N), I didn’t realise” Natasha starts, taking a step closer to me. But I wave my hands at her, shooing her out of the bathroom.

“Go on Nat, scat. I’ll see you at the movie spot” Nat opens her mouth to say something but I stop her.

“Jarvis can guide me Nat, it’s fine. Just, don’t tell anyone, okay?” I open the door for her, waiting for Nat to walk about. Nat nods and walks out, closing the door behind her.

God damn it.

…………………

“Jarvis, buddy, where’s this movie night thing going on?” I walk around my bed to my bedside table, pulling my phone off the charger.

“The movie night is occurring on the communal floor. I can direct you if you would like?”

“That would be great Jarvis. Thanks buddy” I stride out of the door, entering the elevator, and in a few minutes the door ding open to reveal the communal floor.

“(Y/N), if you look to your right, you’ll see a red door. Through that is the movie common room where you will find the rest of the Avengers.”

“Thanks Jarvis. Talk to you later buddy” I start to walk towards the red door and Jarvis says thank you and turns off. I walk to the door, slipping through it, revelling in the dark shadows that flanked the walls, shadows that I slipped into. I found a chair that was in clear view of the movie screen, but still in the shadow and against the wall, observing the other Avengers chatting amongst themselves as they waited for Tony to arrive.

I smiled to myself as I watch Natasha flirt with Bruce, his cheeks flushing red as she held his hand. Love was in there between those two. I saw Steve, Sam and Clint chatting together as Wanda and Pietro raided the snack table. I started to look around for a familiar, silver armed man but the scraping of the chair beside me distracted me. I turn my head to see the man I was looking for.

“Hey” I smiled at Bucky.

Bucky didn’t say anything, just holding out a block of Dairy chocolate at me with his flesh hand. I sigh softly, taking the chocolate from him with a smile. Our fingertips linger, until he pulls away, tucking his hands together in his lap.

“Thanks James” I pause as Bucky looks up at me.

“Um, can I call you that, or do you still prefer Buc-“Bucky’s finger silences me, the pad of his flesh finger resting against my lips lightly.

“Anything you call me is fine (Y/N)” His voice is soft, like always, a gruffness in his tone as he took his finger away. My eyes light up, a smile on my still lips. I nod. Breaking the block of chocolate in two I offer one half of it to him. He shakes his head, but I refuse to take no for an answer. Slowly, I reach for his metal hand on his lap, waiting for him to flinch or pull away, but he doesn’t. I gently hold his hand, placing the chocolate in his palm and folding his fingers over it. He smiles, his hair falling over his face, turning his face and hiding his eyes from me.

Steve was watching this from across the room, ignoring Natasha as she rambles on. Steve was instead focused on how gentle (Y/N) was with Bucky, how she was patient and didn’t try to talk with her mouth, she spoke with her actions, which he knew Bucky appreciated. He watched in amazement as she reached for Bucky’s hand, his metal hand. He half expected Bucky to pull back, but he doesn’t, letting her press the chocolate into his hand, then manipulate his fingers so they close.
Natasha finally notices that Steve wasn’t paying attention to her, and she looked in the direction he was looking, and sighed.

“Ah, young love” Nat coos, and chuckles as Steve swats her gently with his hand. “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just glad that Bucky is finally opening up to someone” Steve trails off.

“Even though that person isn’t you” Natasha finishes his sentence, and Steve sighs.

“Yeah. You’re right. But I’m still glad that he has her. And vice versa” Steve looks at (Y/N). “She may be trained in martial arts but she still needs to be protected”

Steve looks over at Natasha when she is uncharacteristically quiet, and coughs to grab her attention, her eyes flying from (Y/N) back to Steve.

“What?” Steve asked curiously.

“Nothing” Nat murmurs, quickly walking away from Steve as Tony enters the room, laughing his face off as he holds a bucket of popcorn. Steve just rolls his eyes, turning back to watch Bucky and (Y/N).

Halfway through the movie, I was still sitting the same way that I had sat down. Back straight, feet firmly on the floor, my hands folded on my lap. Unlike (Y/N) on my right, whose body had rotated a whole 90 degrees until her back was fully against the seat, her legs hanging over the right-hand side of her chair, and her head only 10 centimetres from being in my lap.

I was entirely focused on her, not even watching the movie anymore, just watching the side of her face that I could see, the roundness of her lips, the smoothness of her cheek, the curve of her eyelashes. I don’t know why I was so comfortable around her, or even attracted to her, but I couldn’t help myself. She made me feel almost human. But I understood why the old Bucky would have liked her. She has fire, making her one of the wolves in a group of sheep, the sheep being most of the girls that were in this era, much weaker than the dolls from the 40’s that Steve and I were used to. I knew that something had happened to her in her past, but I wasn’t going to probe, she didn’t for me.

I was staring at her hair, in my own thoughts when she must have sensed me staring at her, as she turned her eyes away from the movie and tilted her head sideways till she was looking straight up at me. When she catches my eye, I blush slightly, but still continue to keep my gaze on her, which produces a small smile on her face. She chuckles at me, her (Y/E/C) eyes sparkling in the dark of the room.

Gently, she breaks off a piece of chocolate and pops it into her mouth, letting it melt. And then, almost as an afterthought, she breaks off another piece and holds it up to my lips. I freeze, but she persists, holding her hand there at my lips, our gazes locked together as her eyes conveyed safety and warmth. Slowly, I part my lips, and she gently places the block of chocolate on my tongue.

I savour the taste as we both turn back to watch the rest of the movie, my hand gently reaching out to play with the ends of her hair, subtly enough that she doesn’t notice. A smile presses the sides of my lips up as I watch the rest of the movie.