Haunted By Him

Chapter Thirteen

They finish out the train ride with more Bucky training and the Winter Soldier begins to question Natalia's knowledge.

“Bucky wouldn’t look down like that,” Natalia scolds him for avoiding eye contact for the millionth time since they met each other. “Bucky would hold his head up and keep eye contact with the people he’s talking to.”

“What if he didn’t want to?” The Winter Soldier grumps and this is the first time he’s defied her like this and she doesn’t seem to know how to respond. “What if it’s been eight years and he just has problems with eye contact lately?”

“Well, I-” Natalia says and stops herself. Then, she scowls at him. “You think you know more about Bucky Barnes than I do?” She asks. He shrugs nonchalantly.

“I was just saying,” he says. “What if.”

And later that day, he’s slurping the soup she brought him loudly and reclining in his seat lazily.

“Bucky would sit up and eat like a gentleman,” Natalia says and he looks over at her and can’t help but smirk a little.

“Maybe Bucky just broke his ankle and he’d really rather relax,” he says and Natalia glares.

Then again, a few hours later.

“You’re never gonna convince Rogers that way,” Natalia says. She sounds angry. He looks over at her and he’s not even sure what he’s done wrong this time. “You’re certainly not convincing me.”

“Maybe Bucky’s just changed, Natalia,” the Winter Soldier cries and throws his hands in the air. “Maybe it’s been almost a decade and things have happened to him and he just became a different person!” Natalia doesn’t answer immediately and that’s how he knows he’s set something off. Instead, she stares at him and studies his face. He looks back uncomfortably, waiting for her to respond.

“Well,” he finally says weakly. “It’s a possibility.”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “I guess so.” But the way she agrees with him is more like she’s accusing him of something and he sinks back into his seat and glares at the ground.

By the evening, Natalia has quit talking about Bucky, so the Soldier starts talking about him instead. She’s sitting in the seat across from him, flipping through a magazine with a bored expression on her face, when he says, “What do you think Bucky would do right now?” Her eyes flicker up to him, staring at him through her eyelashes and her eyebrows sink in suspicion.

“What do you mean?” She asks slowly and he looks at her and bites the corner of his lip.

“Well,” he says. “You’re so sure he’s a gentleman. Maybe he’d try to strike up friendly conversation.” She keeps her eyes on his.

“Maybe he would,” she agrees. “What would he want to talk about?” The Winter Soldier shrugs.

“Maybe he’d want to talk about you,” he says and her face changes.

“Me?” She exclaims.

“Maybe he’d want to tell you that you’re very lovely,” he says shyly. “And that he’s sorry he’s such a mess.”

There’s a long silence and the Winter Soldier imagines he can hear his own heart beating.

“Are you making a move on me?” Natalia asks, putting her magazine down.

“Depends,” the Winter Soldier says and grins a little. “Is it working?”

A minute ago, Natalia looked irked, but now she’s trying to suppress a smile. She rolls her eyes and when she lets out a breath, her face breaks into a grin.

“Stop making me laugh,” she says.

“Maybe Bucky would tell you that you have a pretty laugh,” the Soldier says and when she looks over and makes eye contact with him, he shrugs overdramatically. “But I guess we’ll never know.”

“What would you do?” Natalia asks him and he offers her a hopeful smile.

“Me?” He says. “I would definitely tell you that you have a pretty laugh. And I would tell you I’ve only heard it once and I’m sorry you can’t be happy more.”

Natalia stares into his eyes and he watches her suck her bottom lip in. She’s leaning towards him and he takes the cue and leans closer, but right when he thinks she might reach up and touch him, she looks away and stands up.

“We get into Magadan tomorrow,” she says loudly. “It’ll be a long day. I’m going to bed.”

He watches her leave and shut the door behind her and he sits in the compartment alone wondering what he did wrong.