Only Fools (Bucky Barnes)

0.1

Steve stared out of the crystal clear windows of Bucky's room in the tower, although he could not really make out people below, only seeing their rushing figures, he knew it was a hive of activity out there. He was aching to get out and explore but duty calls and he wanted to be in the tower to greet the new team member.

"It won't be for long Bucky, I promise" Steve spoke to his best friend, trying to get him to come out of his room and meet the new recruited Avenger and welcome her to the team.

Steve was excited to meet her, he loved new people and took a huge interest in learning about those with enhanced abilities. 

Bucky on the other hand did not really care who this person was but decided he would go just to be polite. After all, the whole team had helped him hugely over the past few months he had been there. He had met too many new people recently and it was all a bit overwhelming.

 Being isolated away from socializing with others for so long and then thrown into a busy world of meeting people and helping the world was a lot all at once. But he was managing. Just.

"I can bet you now, as soon as they see me they're going to be scared of me" Bucky sighed. Knowing it was true. 

Nearly everyone except from the avengers were scared of him. All Shield agents seemed to scatter from the room when he walked in and it wasn't doing anything to help Bucky's self esteem or state of mind.

He didn't want anyone to be scared of him. But his winter soldier image was going to take a long time to leave peoples minds. It felt like no one trusted him.

"Listen... I know it may feel like that now, but not everyone is scared of you. It will take time, but you have people around you and everyone else will realize who the real you is soon" Steve reasurred his friend. His eyes darting from looking out of the windows to where the soldier sat on the end of his bed. Shoulders slumped and a defeated look on his face.

"how can everyone realize who the real me is when I don't even know who the real me is" Bucky sighed, his head now in his hands in distress.

Steve walked over to his friend, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. 

"it's going to take time" the Captain spoke. "but I know you can get through it".

Steve was the only person Bucky would ever open up to. No one else knew what went on inside his head, the constant struggle of everyday and the nightmares that haunted him constantly. Everyone could tell there was something not right, which was obvious in every single aspect considering they knew everything that had happened to Bucky in the past. 

But no one ever pushed him to talk about it. Knowing he would speak when he was ready, even if it took him years.

"come on" Steve said eagerly " we don't want to make a bad first impression on the new member" he patted Bucky on the back edging his friend to stand up to follow. 

Bucky passively followed dreading meeting this person the whole walk down the corridor and to the avengers common area. He could imagine the look on their face; smiling at everyone they greeted until they would land on him, their face twisting down in shock and fear.

The pair could both hear Tony speaking as they neared the room, entering the open space where all the Avengers stood around. 

"ah Captain!" Tony spoke throwing a sarcastic smile at him. "you're late"

"I didn't know there was a specific time" Steve spoke, raising one eyebrow up at Tony in amusement. Only then did his eyes flick to the woman who stood next to the billionaire.

"hello, I'm Steve" he spoke kindly, holding a large hand out for the girl to shake. She took his large hand in her smaller one, shaking it gently before releasing it.

"hi, it's nice to finally meet you" she spoke, her voice soft, gaining the attention of Bucky who was stood behind Steve. 

Steve moved ready to introduce his friend to her.

"this is Bucky" he spoke gesturing to the soldier. Bucky stepped forward a small polite smile on his face, trying his hardest to show he was not a scary or intimidating person. 

"hello Bucky" she spoke kindly, smiling up at him. She stuck her left hand out to shake his and Bucky wanted to run.

But instead he stayed, holding his metal hand out hesitantly to not make the handshake awkward. 

She took his hand without hesitating surprising the solider, who looked up in shock meeting her eyes. Her smile never faulted and if she was scared she didn't show any sign of it.

"i'm Arabella" she said realizing she had not actually told either of them her name. Her hand shyly pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen from behind her ear as she was examining Bucky's face, taking in his appearance and committing it to memory as she had done with all the others. 

Bucky brought his hand back down to his side insecurely but she hadn't even stared at it like most people did, acting as if it was completely normally.

Steve watched them interact, noticing how she never flinched at Bucky's arm, smiling to himself as he thought about how happy the soldier must be feeling.

"it's nice to meet you" Bucky spoke quietly.

Arabella was shown to her room by Pepper leaving the Avengers to gather together and chat, talking about what they thought of her.

"what does she do?" Natasha asked, everyone stopped their own conversations to face the red head, then looking to Tony questionably. They were all curious.

"she can control the elements." Tony spoke but he was unsure of himself, the Avengers could pick up on his almost nervous tone.

"you don't sound too sure" Sam chuckled. 

"yes... well... the reason she is here- she has issues controlling how strong her powers are when she uses them. She was taken in by Shield when they found she was the cause of a hurricane-"

"you mean the hurricane along the east coast?" Natasha spoke, her eyes wide in shock.

Tony nodded, biting his lip at the awkward silence that fell over them all.

"that- it killed thousands of people" Clint whispered but everyone heard him, Tony nodded again. "how is she that powerful?"

"we don't know yet, that's why she's here, we're going to help her." Tony spoke "Fury thinks it's the best for everyone, said with the right training she could be helpful to us" 

"since when do we listen to Fury?" Natasha asked.

"since the other option was to have her sentenced and kept in a cell" Tony spoke, causing a deadly silence to fall over the group.

Bucky's heart ached for Arabella, knowing how it felt to have lives lost due to their actions. She had never meant to hurt those people and apart from the war Bucky had never intentionally killed someone. Yet he was to blame for hundreds of lives and he could never forgive himself, much like Arabella felt.

"Just be careful around her, she may look harmless but I can assure you she's not" Tony said.

"you make it sound like she's a killer." Natasha spoke, glaring at Tony. She felt protective over the girl already as she had been the sweetest most kind person Natasha had met in a long time.

"She isn't, she's just temperamental with her powers. Shield have been researching into it and have found that when her emotions are heightened her powers act of defense which we need to be careful of"  

"Shield have been testing on her?" Steve asked outraged. He hated when people were tested on like lab rats when it was not with their consent.

"yes, that's why Fury wanted her here with us. We can help research and test out her abilities without it being against her will. It's a more humane way" Tony said. 

Steve nodded in understanding looking to Bucky who sat there expressionless. 

Things were about to get interesting around the tower.