Powerless | b. barnes

19 - risk

" H E Y Wands, what's up?" Ivy asked as she waltzed into the kitchen the next morning.

After Bucky had apologized the night before, they remained in each others arms for a long time. It seemed like Bucky really needed it. What Ivy hadn't realized was how much she needed it as well. Not only had she been surprised to discover how much she yearned to give Bucky a hug, she also realized how long it had been since someone clutched her so tightly, as if letting go was simply not an option. The rise and fall of their chests seemed to sooth the two hardened Avengers, serving as proof that neither was going anywhere.

Before long, they both fell into a deep sleep. With Ivy massaging her fingers into Bucky's soft hair while she comforted him, no one could blame him for drifting off into dreamland. Although with Ivy, Bucky felt like he was always in dreamland, whether he was awake or not.

Unfortunately, Ivy woke up the next day to an empty and cold bed. For a moment she thought she may have dreamed the night before but she decided that it felt way too real for it to be fake.

So as she met her sister in the kitchen that morning she was feeling both happy and utterly confused with her feelings.

Ivy plopped down on a stool across the island and watched her beaming sister as Wanda bustled around the kitchen.

"I am packing snacks for a date with Vis today," Wanda replied happily, "we are going go-karting!"

"Snacks?" Ivy donned a puzzled look, "Vision can't even eat?"

"Yes but I can and a girls gotta eat, my dear," Wanda chuckled.

"I'm so happy for you, Wands," Ivy smiled fondly at her younger sister, "I'm so glad you found your joy again. I've missed it."

Wanda sighed, "Ives... you will be happy again one day too, I promise."

Ivy scoffs, "Yeah that's what everyone says. It's easier said than done. How did you do it after Mama and Papa, Pietro and Hydra, just everything? How does one recover from so much trauma? I just don't know if I can ever get over it all," Ivy looked down at her hands. She'd never admitted that fear to anyone before.

She watched as Wanda used her telekinetic abilities to lift a knife and start chopping a few carrots on the wooden cutting board in front of her.

"Who said I got over it?" Wanda replied, she tilted her head and looked at Ivy. Sadness swam in her kind green eyes, "I still think about Pietro and our parents everyday, it still hurts me. I guess I've just learned to cope with it. I think once you have enough joy in your life to balance out the pain it gets a little easier. I'm not saying it hurts less, because it doesn't, but I can live with it now."

Ivy nodded. Oddly, that made a lot of sense to her. Wanda is the one person in the entire world who knows all that Ivy has been through, because she went through it with her. The only other person she's started to open up to about her past is—

"Ivy," Wanda started, breaking off her train of thought, "you've got to stop avoiding good opportunities in your life."

Wanda nodded towards the living room that was a mere twenty feet away. There, sitting on the love seat and chuckling at something Sam said, was Bucky Barnes.

God, how Ivy adored to see him smile. If she was to have only one goal in life it would be to make sure that Bucky Barnes never felt the need to frown ever again.

Wanda lowered her voice to a whisper, "I, for one, think you two would be perfect together. He's broken, you're broken. He's pretty, you're pretty. You have a lot in common, " Wanda smiled sardonically and began to put her veggies into a paper bag.