𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐨|| 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 [𝟏]

Chapter Twenty-Five

"That's not fair. You cheated." Bucky says frustrated as Cassie won another round of 'crazy eights'.

"It is fair. I won it fair and square." Cassie reply's, unable to keep her threatening smile down.

"Steve," Bucky says looking at his friend,

"You can't keep putting me on the spot Bucky," Steve says giving him a scolding look.

"Are you on her side?" Bucky says getting annoyed, which lead Cassie to giggle at his face.

"I'm on nobody's side. I just wanna play another game." Steve huffs out, getting tired of his two friends acting like kids.

"I'd like to play another game as well. Barnes?" Cassie giggles as she looks between her two friends, as the three sit around the small wooden coffee table in the living room.

"Fine." The brunette grumbles out as he hands his cards to Steve to shuffle.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five." The blond mutters to himself as he places five cards in front of Cassie and then five in front of Bucky and five for himself.

"How are you so good at this game?" Bucky asks and Cassie shrugs,

"I'm just a fast learner. I mean I was kind of trained to be fast learning." She explains,

"Why were you trained to be a fast learner?" Steve asks curiously,

"Well, the performance you saw me doing in the circus. I've been doing it for years. So it's all muscle memory at this point. But sometimes I forget a move, and that could fuck up the whole thing, so I need to add things in without it being noticeably." She says before taking a drink of water and placing the cup back on the table.

"We also learn other moves, so I need to learn them pretty quickly. Like the entire routine might be changed an hour or two before the performance, so you need to have that routine to the t." She says like it's the most normal thing but the two boys in the room with his look at her shocked.

"So how long does it take you to learn something?" Bucky asks as he looks at her impressed but also shocked,

"Well if it's related to school, a while." She starts with a chuckle "But if it's like dancing or something, maybe a few hours to learn a couple of things." She says again trying to not give herself that much credit.

"That's impressive," Steve says astounded at her,

"Would it not be stressful?" Bucky asks concerned but also proud,

"It is. But after years at the circus, you learn to push that aside and focus on the task at hand." She says trying to get off the subject, but keeping a smile as the two seem to be interested.

"Wow. I wish I was like that." Steve says as he looks down at his cards.

"Well if you what something that much. I believe you can get it." She says with an encouraging smile on her face.

"How long did it take you to learn that quickly?" Bucky asks, the trio forgetting about the game.

"It's progressively. You don't know your getting better at it until you've actually done it." Cassie explains with a smile, but she can see a question lingering around Bucky's mind.

"Somethings on your mind." She states less of a question more of a statement.

"At hate the way you can read people," Bucky says with a chuckle which intern lead Cassie to roll her eyes playfully,

"Which was harder to learn; archery or trapeze?" He asks and she thinks for a second.

"It's kind of hard to say. Most people would think archery, which they would be correct. Archery is simple, but I'm thinking more as an act, and I did it on a horse. It's super hard doing Mounted archery. And that's coming from me, once you've mastered archery, then you can move onto a horse. And even after mastering archery, it's still extremely hard. You need to be able to keep your balance while keeping your bow aimed." She starts and both boys nod at her,