GROW (BUCKY BARNES x OC)

14

Inside the elevator that suddenly felt way smaller than ever before, Aurora squeezed against a wall, holding Olivia's hand. Suddenly in such close proximity with all the bodies of her friends, she felt self conscious in her bathing suit. Was it too short? Too "scandalous"? She wished Wanda and Nat hadn't left already, because then she could've compared with them. She trusted their opinions and both women had impeccable fashion advice.

Bucky watched Aurora nervously fidgeting in the elevator. It took great restraint to keep himself from staring at her exposed skin through the shear cover up she wore. She stood against a wall, but with the rest of them in there, Sam was standing close to her. For some reason, that made Bucky feel agitated. He tried to subtly shift towards the elevator buttons in a casual manner to discreetly cause them to shuffle around a bit. Now Bruce was by Aurora, which Bucky seemed to find somewhat better of an alternative.

They arrived at the floor of the pool and filed out. Aurora gasped at the huge room with the ginormous pool. There was even a small kiddy pool, that she was pretty sure no one had used before. Across the room there even was a water slide. Olivia gleefully laughed in excitement before hurrying over to put her tower down on a pool chair.

"No running, Livi! It's dangerous to run by a pool, it's wet and could be slippery." Aurora called.

"You're such a mother." Sam teased her, causing her to roll her eyes. She walked over to put her stuff down on a pool chair. Her eyes flickered to Wanda standing by the pool and Natasha wading in the water. Both of their swimsuits were bikinis and reassured Aurora she wasn't showing "too much" skin.

She still felt a bit nervous in her deep purple suit though, so she sat down on a chair and watched Wanda walking into the water with Olivia in the shallow end. Movement caught her eyes and Aurora noticed the male Avengers taking off their shirts- all except Bruce who had apparently worn a swim cover up. Even Vision was shirtless where was swam by Wanda's side.

Aurora didn't know why, but the sight of the shirtless men didn't really freak her out. It just seemed normal. Even Thor's totally ripped body just seemed casual. They began to spread out across the pool and jump into the water. She noticed who was missing a split second from spotting him sitting down beside her.

"Hey Bucky." She smiled, looking over.

Her heart skipped faster as she noticed he too was shirtless. It wasn't a big deal. All the other guys were doing it too. It wasn't a big deal.

"Aurora." Bucky greeted with a smile.

He thought she might've been avoiding looking at his exposed chest again, but her eyes seemed to skim over everyone else's bodies naturally. Was it the arm? The skin where his metal arm met his flesh was deeply scarred. Actually, most of him was deeply scarred, but then again so were most of the other Avengers. Natasha even had a scar from where he had shot her in the stomach when he was the Winter Soldier. It must be the metal then. Or maybe his scars looked worse than the others.

"Do you want to get in?" Bucky invited.

Aurora made a face. Now that she was here, swimming seemed more daunting. She worried that she would drown, even with all the Avengers nearby. Drowning was silent. Quick. Deadly. She'd read about the dangers of drowning in an article about important things to know to keep children safe back when she was expecting Olivia.

"I- I can't. I can't swim." She shrugged.

"Wanda said she'd help." Bucky reminded her gently.

"She's focused on Olivia. I prefer it that way, actually, more of her focus can go to supervising her rather than making sure I don't sink." Aurora laughed but it wasn't a happy sound.