Project Z (Bucky Barnes Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

For the rest of the day Zara tried to avoid everyone because of her earlier outburst. It was embarrassing for her and I'm sure Tony wanted to try to talk to her and she didn't want that. 

She was in the kitchen finally getting something to eat because she figured it was time to face some of the team. 

As she was cutting some strawberries for her bowl of fruit, Bucky walked over to her to try to talk to her. 

"I know what you're going to ask and I'm fine." She said and he shook his head. 

"That's not what I was going to ask." He said and she looked up at him. 

"I remembered the second day I got here. I didn't know how to tell you do I didn't." Zara explained and he just looked at her. 

"I know you're going to remember unpleasant things and I have too. That doesn't mean you're alone and it doesn't mean you can't talk to me about it. I've remembered murdering people as they begged for me to let them go. I talked to Steve and he just listened. I can do that for you. It doesn't have to be pleasant memories, but you can talk to me about this stuff." He said and she looked at him for a minute, just looking into his crystal blue eyes. 

She nodded and looked away, focusing on the fruit in front of her. 

Bucky just looked at her for a second before kissing her check gently and walking away to the gym that was in the tower. 

Zara stopped cutting fruit and just looked at her hands for a minute. She looked in the direction that he walked. She put down the knife and just looked in that direction before. 

"You okay Zara?" Tony asked behind her and she whipped around to look at him. She glared at him and he sighed. "Are you okay?" He asked again and she shook her head. 

"Go fuck yourself." She said and he laughed a little. 

"If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that I would have so much more money than I already do." He said and she took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. 

"Listen, I don't need any type of half assed apology from you. What I need is for you to realize you don't control the whole world and that you have killed innocent people who you don't even know that was killed by your weapons." She said as she went back to cutting her fruit. 

Tony just looked at her and nodded a little bit. He turned around and walked away without saying another word. 

Zara sighed and put down the knife and walked out of the kitchen and to the gym. She needed to vent but didn't want to talk, so she could learn to fight. 

As she walked into the gym she saw Bucky with headphones over his ears and he was beating the hell out of a punching bag. He was focused on the punches and he wasn't exactly wearing a shirt. Where his metal arm meets his shoulder was red but she wasn't focusing on that. 

She walked in and walked over to where Bucky was punching. He looked up and saw her just standing there. He slipped his headphones off of his ears and looked at her, out of breath. 

"Hey." He said and just looked at her while waiting to see what she wanted. 

"Train me, teach me how to fight." She said and he raised an eyebrow. 

"What?" He asked and walked over to his bag to get a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face. 

"Teach me how to fight." She said again and he nodded a little as he wiped the sweat from his face. 

"Okay, okay, first change." He said and pointed at the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing. 

She nodded and walked over to the small locker room that was there to change. There wasn't a lot she could do but she changed into a sports bra and leggings that were probably Natasha's but she was sure she wouldn't mind if she borrowed it. 

Zara nodded a little at her reflection before nodding and walking out to meet Bucky. As she walked out he just looked at her for a second. 

"Uh, okay first I gotta know if you can punch." He said as he was looking at her and trying not to stare. 

She nodded and walked over to him and he held up his non-metal hand for her to punch. He nodded at her to punch his hand and she did. It was a little harder than he thought it was going to be but it could still use some work. 

"Okay not bad, what will help is you putting your body weight into the punch. So twist your body a little bit and that helps a little." He said, demonstrating the technique for her. 

She nodded and did it again when he held up his hand for a second time. 

"Okay better, do it a couple more times." He said and she shook her head. 

"I want to actually do something though. I know how to punch, teach me to actually fight." She said and he sighed and looked at her. 

"Why do you want to learn how to fight?" He asked and she just looked at him. "What made you come ask me to teach you to fight?" He asked. 

"I'm sick and tired of feeling defenseless. I'm looked at as the weak on, the one who can't do anything for herself. I'm tired of feeling like I can't do anything to help myself!" She exclaimed, getting louder and louder with each word. 

Bucky took a step towards her and took her hands gently in his. "Hey, calm down Z. You are not weak and you know how to fight. You're just going to have to learn how to control your power and you'r going to be okay." He said and she looked up at him. 

They were inches apart and just looking into each others eyes and just looked at each other for minutes. 

"Okay we have a lead on where Ultron is. We need to go to Africa." Steve said running into the gym. 

Zara and Bucky separate and they both nod while scrambling for words. 

"I need to go change." Zara said as she walked quickly out of the room and to her floor. 

Bucky just watched her walk out of the gym and sighed as he looked at Steve. 

"You okay Buck?" Steve asked and Bucky just kind of shook his head a little bit. 

"I'll be okay though. Just girl trouble." Bucky said as he picked up his bag and walked quickly to his floor to recover from what just happened between him and Zara.