The Coffee Shop Girl ~ Bucky Barnes

Chapter 12

Bucky's hair stuck to his forehead as he walked back inside after his morning run. He had woken early and decided to go out before he could persuade himself out of it. He wasn't looking forward to encountering Steve after standing up to him the previous day, but at the same time he was aware that he couldn't get away with hiding in his room all day, seeing as Katia was around.

His muscles were aching slightly from running in the cold air, but it was nothing compared to Russia. The burning pain and the freezing weather there had ruined his perception of the cold - combined with the effects of the super soldier serum of course.

As he stood perfectly still in the lift, waiting for it to reach the floor he had been designated, he thought to himself. He had seen Steve running that morning, but the man had been going too quickly for Bucky to keep up. Though Bucky had a form of the serum, it was not perfected in the way Steve's was and so his stamina was not quite so impressive. Plus, Steve had obviously been running much faster than he usually did, making it clear he didn't want anyone to run with him. He had lapped Bucky more than once in the hour or so he had been running and the brunet had decided it was not worth the effort in trying to keep up with him, especially given that he didn't really want to talk to the man.

The lift stopped with a soft ping and Bucky stepped out, quickly making his way to his own room to avoid anyone else. He shut and locked the door behind him, taking a quick shower to dislodge some of the sweat and grime, before he dressed again and stepped back into the lift. His hair was still glistening with tiny droplets of water, but he couldn't see the point in drying it manually when it was short enough now to dry itself.

When the lift reached the communal floor, he walked out again, heading straight over to the sink and filling a mug of water for himself, taking a sip before he glanced around the room. There were not too many people around; Natasha was sitting on the sofa, with her legs curled up beneath her in the way she often did first thing in the morning, Steve was sitting across from her, a strange expression on his face as he took generous sips from the glass he was holding. He looked rather irritated and Bucky hoped internally that the emotion wasn't going to be direction towards him. On the other side of the room, Barton was sitting in front of the television, a controller in hand - he appeared to be playing the same game he and Wilson had been the previous day, though Bucky didn't know what it was called.

Bucky took a breath, realising that he had been unconsciously ignoring the pangs of hunger that were shooting through his stomach, and opening the fridge to see if there was anything to eat. He wasn't in luck, there was a single bowl of pasta which appeared to be growing its own mould - something Bucky knew could mean it was part of a science experiment, or could mean that the teammates were idiots and prone to forget about stuff that wasn't immediately obvious. Deciding that it was probably the second one, Bucky pulled out the bowl and tipped the pasta into the bin earning an indignant noise from Barton.

"That was my pasta." He objected, dropping the controller he was holding and walking over to the bin with a look of genuine upset on his face.

"It was covered in mould." Bucky stated bluntly, expression emotionless as he looked at the man, who now appeared to be retrieving the pasta from the bin. A pointless endeavour, as Stark had rigged it to be deposited straight into a container downstairs.

"That wouldn't have stopped me." Barton complained and Bucky rolled his eyes.

Ignoring the whining man, he crossed the room towards where the ingredients were kept, thankful for the sudden moment of silence as he walked through the door and closed it behind him, successfully blocking anything Barton was saying.

It did not take as long to collect the ingredients that morning as it had the previous time, as Bucky was able to remember where almost everything was kept, and the few things he needed assistance with were soon found with the help of FRIDAY. As he walked out of the kitchen with the bags of flour and boxes of eggs in hand, Barton gave an excited yelp.