Winter's Veil || BUCKY X FEM!OC

*CHAPTER 14*

A/N - Helloooo :0 ik it's a bit overdue, BUT my dog did hit a car (dw she didn't have to go to the vet or anything, just can't walk over bridges now for some reason?). To make up for the almost (probably longer) two-month hiatus I'm gonna post two chapters!!! Yayyyy (If there are any of you guys still reading this, THANK YOU) :)

"What was this again?" I asked, staring at my dinner. I held my bottom lip tightly between my teeth as I perplexed over the flatbread barely holding together the assortment of meats, sauces and salads combined inside it.

"Shawarma. Also known as the best food you'll ever eat," Tony said between mouthfuls of the food, child-like glee shining in his eyes as a pale sauce oozed from the greek wrap and dribbled down his chin.

Tony had spontaneously decided that he wanted to join us for dinner, on the condition that we got shawarma. After a long day of shopping Wanda was ecstatic about ordering a takeaway, seeing as she wouldn't have to cook for everyone. I was equally ecstatic when I heard that Tony would be the one paying.

"Hmph," I mumbled apprehensively as I took a bite out of the food. It was magnificent from the moment it touched my tongue, but I wasn't going to give Stark that sort of satisfaction over me. Instead of letting my body melt into the chair as the flavours danced in my mouth, I lowered my gaze to my plate and kept my face as rigid as my spine.

"Careful King, someone might think you miss Wanda's cooking," Natasha chirped up, causing a chorus of chuckles at the table- minus grumpy Barnes and a nonexistent Clint.

I'd noticed that Natasha was inciting more arguments than normal since Clint left the other day, which made me wonder how much energy they wasted with their little pranks on each other.

I'd also noticed that Barnes had been avoiding me ever since our little 'kerfuffle', only leaving his room when Steve coerced him with food or forced him out on a run. I didn't mind it though, it meant I was able to freely explore the tower when the others were out on missions, and not have to worry about getting the life choked out of me if I turned a corner too quickly. Today was the first time being face to face with him since, and his breathing was infuriatingly quiet and steady, as if the 'kerfuffle' never happened.

I snorted at Nat's accusation, returning my gaze to her smug face and ignoring the melancholy shadow-man to the left of my vision, "You make it sound like that's a bad thing, I'd choose homemade meals over fast food any day," I retorted.

"Awww! You're too kind," Wanda hummed, playfully slapping my wrist as she hid her pink cheeks behind a curtain of hair.

"Cut the bullshit Smokes, you're just saying that to suck up to your new chum," Tony complained, before casting an apologetic grin towards Wanda, "No offence, Carrie."

My eyes shot to Stark as I clamped my jaw shut, I only stayed quiet because he was the idiot paying for this meal. He just wanted words of affirmation shoved down his throat 24/7, and there were only so many I could give him before dropping dead on the floor.

The truth was that I really did prefer homemade meals. My heart sank low into my chest as I thought of all the fast food that was given to me as 'real food' when I was a kid. After a while, I got sick of it; but in New York, fast food was cheap, didn't waste time and was everywhere, so the foster parents always bought it. It was a treat to get a sandwich for lunch.

"I personally agree with Ms. King, although I cannot eat the food, the smell of home cooked dishes are much more enticing." Tony looked as if he had been shot when he heard Vision's opinion, which made me smile to myself.

If the humanoid robot with the highest IQ in the room agrees with me, I'm definitely right.

"Anything is better than boiled food from the '20s, right Buck?" Steve hastily added after noticing Tony's growing frustration, Bucky only grunted in agreement as he wolfed down the rest of his food, seemingly unaware of his friend's futile attempts to deescalate this discussion.