Taming The Ghost

Chapter 11

"That, uh, that thing that you did," Bucky stumbled after being sat in silence for a short while at his usual table in the back corner of the dining room with me, "Thank you. For standing up for me. You didn't have to."

"It's ok." I replied, swallowing my cereal and smiling across at him "I'm just sick of people treating you like a lesser person. You may be in our, well, their captivity, but that doesn't give anyone the right to talk down to you because of the things you were forced to do or the person you once were." To this, Bucky said nothing. He just smiled sincerely before continuing with his food.

I watched him as he ate, his long brown hair flopping in front of his face creating a curtain to shield him from anyone who wasn't close enough to see through it. I thought it was a privilege to be one of the lucky few who could see his face screw up in distaste when his orange juice turned warm, or to see the satisfaction on his face as it relaxed when he'd finished or was full.

Before I knew it, Bucky had finished his food and was looking at me with an amused grin plastered across his face.

"What?" I said, coming back down to Earth

"You having fun there?" he chuckled

"Oh, God, was I staring?" Bucky nodded in reply, laughing at the look of embarrassment mixed with horror that was on my face. "How long?"

"About five minutes unless you were doing it while I was eating as well."

"I'm sorry." I said, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks, making them burn crimson.

"It's ok. It's not like you can help that I'm beautiful." At this I laughed with a mixture of humour and amazement.

"I see you're getting your sense of humour back then." I said in between laughs.

"Yeah, I think you've uncovered something in me over these past couple of days." he said after he'd finished laughing along with me, although his laugh was more of a shy one, as though he was unsure of whether he should be showing this much emotion.

"Is one of those things vanity? Because you seem awfully sure of yourself." I giggled

"Oh, really?" So you weren't staring at me because you think I'm stunningly attractive?" When he said this, I burst out laughing and reached across the table to lightly tap Bucky's shoulder playfully. When I touched his metal arm he flinched and I stopped laughing, bringing my hand back over to my side of the table as Bucky's whole demeanour changed and his face became cold as stone. It was a stupid move to begin with, but for a minute I forgot that he was the Winter Soldier. I forgot that he was one of the most highly trained assassins in the world. I just saw him as a person. Just Bucky. A friend. All of the safety concerns melted away one brief moment before flooding back all too soon.

"I'm so sorry Bucky, I don't know what I was thinking. I-" I tried to explain my actions before Bucky cut me off

"It's okay, really." he forced a smile "I have to get used to human contact and combat sooner or later, even in its smallest form."

"Baby steps." I said, relaxing slightly

"Baby steps." Bucky repeated, this time sporting a genuine smile.