static | BUCKY BARNES

5

Natasha—or, Nat—is a complicated human being. When Static first sees her when she enters her room, her face was hard and she didn't even crack a smile. Her tense shoulders and stiff steps towards the girl on the bed gives the impression she was alert and ready if she decided to randomly attack. Static has a feeling she's always ready to fight, though.

Natasha sits down on a chair next to the bed and hands over a paper plate with a plastic fork and a glass of water. The water is set on the bedside table, but Static sets the plate down on her lap. The eggs and the pancake heat the bottom of the plate, and Static wishes she could feel the warmth on her thighs.

"Thank you," Static says around a mouthful of half-chewed mushy pancake.

Natasha finally seems to drop the tough exterior, but only for a second. A hint of amusement glints in her eyes and tugs at the corner of her lips.

"I didn't make it."

Static asks who did, and Natasha explains that it was Bucky who slaved over the stove and the griddle to cook the eggs and the pancakes. He mixed the pancake batter himself, and ended up dropping all but one of the pancakes on the floor by trying to flip them with the pan. He also had an apron on, which Natasha claims matched his eyes.

The woman's description has Static smiling like an idiot as a warmth fills her heart. He really didn't have to fix her such a delicious breakfast, yet he did.

When Static tells Natasha she'd like to thank Bucky for the kind gesture, Nat suggests they go see him together.

Static maneuvers her legs out from under her and pushes herself up into a standing position. Once she bends her metal knees a bit, she takes a step, Natasha staying close in case she falls.

Static quickly gets the hang of it and then the two women head for the door. Natasha leads Static out into the hall and into the living room. They don't find Bucky, only Clint fighting over the remote with Scott, and move to the kitchen.

Static follows Natasha around the floor of the tower silently. Her eyes are too busy taking in and examining her unfamiliar surroundings. She scans and memorizes everything from the little dents in the walls to the doors to the faint patterns in the floors. It's like everything she sees is permanently in her mind, like a camera is recording it almost. She blinks and focuses on a small fly buzzing up by a light in the ceiling. Suddenly, when she squints her eyes, the fly gets horrifically bigger. Her eyes widen and she stumbles over her bare metal feet.

Static blinks, and when she looks up, the fly is back to its normal size. It happily buzzes away.

She's preoccupied watching the fly to realize that Natasha's been calling her name. It isn't until she softly grabs her metal arm that she's aware of the woman. She instinctively pulls her arm out of Natasha's grasp, but the unnaturally blond woman doesn't look offended. She only furrows her brow and leans closer to Static.

"Everything okay?" She asks.

Static glances at the light where the fly was flying by before returning her gaze to Natasha. She nods.

"Yeah."

Natasha lets it go, but not after she lets her suspicious eyes linger on the raven-haired girl. She knows that she has shown no signs of posing a threat, but she's always suspicious about everyone. The fact that Static was with HYDRA for over a decade and is practically half robot has her even more on edge.

Natasha straightens and turns around at the sound of a door in the hall opening. Peter Parker, some genius kid who happened to join earth's team of its mightiest heroes because Tony has a soft spot for him, steps into the space. He freezes when he sees the women and gives them a nervous smile.