Just like you

Yo-yo of emotions

Embarrassment and pure mortification filled Katherine at being caught with Bucky half dressed and partially armless in her room on her first day. By Rogers and Wilson no less. Sensing her distress Barnes stepped in front of her to give Katherine the cover she needed to reattach her arm and pull her shirt back on while he did the same. She watched as he rotated his metal arm before slipping his shirts over his head and gently tugging them down into place. Their easy going and casual conversation had felt so natural that it hadn't occurred to her to close the door or try to hide until the other two men showed up.

Glancing over his broad shoulder to make sure she was ready Bucky turned back to his friends explaining what happened. Not that it lessened the hot blush rising up her neck to the tips of her ears any. "Katherine was showing me that my arm came off which would have been nice to know. Shuri never mentioned it to me. I guess it must have slipped her mind."

Noticing that Rogers' smile had fallen off at the sight of her layering back up he nudged Wilson's side and shook his head to get him to stop teasing. His ocean blue eyes landed on the small arsenal sitting on her coffee table with amusement. Changing the subject for something a little less personal he asked, "How are you settling in, Blake?"

Not feeling covered enough she grabbed her jacket and pulled it on, zipping the sideways zipper half way and stuffed her right hand in the pocket. "I've only been here for less than an hour, but so far so good. Um, if you'll all excuse me I've got to find Tony."

Trying to make up for making her uncomfortable, Wilson gave her a congenial smile. "Well if you need anything don't hesitate to find one of us. We'll be more than happy to help."

Waiting until they left Bucky turned back to her seemingly ready to apologize but he had nothing to be sorry for. It had been her need to have a moment of relief from the heaviness of her arm that had started the whole thing. Walking towards the door she apologized to him. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your friends."

Placing a hand on her arm after she closed her door he kept her from taking off. "I wasn't. Well not really anyway. Are you okay? I hope you know Sam's a knucklehead, but he didn't mean anything by his comment."

"It's just- no one outside of the team who helped me with my surgeries and recovery has seen what my," She gestures at her arm. "Looks like and I guess I'm still really self conscious about it. Don't get me wrong. I love my new arm, I just.."

"It's still new and you're coming to terms with it. I get it. Kind of. I'm dealing with all of that now. The whole time I was with Hydra I didn't need to be self conscious because they took away the part of me that cared, but now that I'm sort of me again.." He scrunches his face a little as he thinks of the words. "People look at my arm for the things I was made to do. That's why I agreed to let Shuri replace it, but even with this new one it feels like people just see me as a freak. A danger to society that's being let out to roam around ready to attack any random person on the street."

Taking his metal hand in her matching one Katherine linked them together as she ran the fingers of her left hand over the backs of his knuckles tracing the gold pattern lightly. "I will say they are pretty cool, but we both know the damage they can do and I don't mean just to other people. They're a constant glaring reminder of what happened to us." She trailed off getting lost in her memories.

Giving her hand a squeeze, Bucky dipped his head to get her to focus on him instead of replaying that day over in her head. "That's very true, but they're also a reminder that we're still here. That we survived. I for one am glad we did because it means I got to meet you."

Lightly laughing Katherine pulled her hands away but didn't hide them this time. "You're a really sweet guy, James. Seriously you are. Here I was trying to make you feel better and you come along saying all that." At his sort of bashful grin she playfully nudged his arm with her elbow. "Almost got my heart fluttering."