static | BUCKY BARNES

7

Sparrow's new alias has spread through the Avengers. Everyone has adopted the new name for the young woman, and now a week after she woke up at the Avenger Tower, she hasn't been called Static for days. And she's glad; from the little information Bucky gave her about the organization that held her captive and took her memories away, it's a name she would like to forget. She tried to pry and get Bucky to spill more about HYDRA and why they had her, but all he let out was that they kidnapped her when she was sixteen and now she's twenty-two. She can't get anything else out of him, but she's lucky he even said anything. The others haven't said a word about her situation.

Whenever Sparrow is with Bucky, which is pretty often, she tries different tactics to attempt to gain more information. She wants to know more about herself, and she's starting to get sick of not knowing why she's the way she is. Every morning she looks in the mirror and sees a freak in the mirror. She tries to scold herself and tells herself that she's not a freak or a monster or whatever atrocious word that pops into her mind that morning. But not knowing what she actually is isn't helping at all. It makes her question everything—what if she really is a monster?

The Avengers are only called for important things, and the world hasn't been threatened lately, so they've all been meandering around the tower for the past several days. Sparrow observes the routines of the others and develops one of her own.

She wakes up at six every morning, eats a bowl of honey-nut Cheerios, brushes her teeth, watches the sun rise from the window in her room, and then goes to work out in the gym on the floor below. She's never alone in the gym, and she always feels intimidated by Natasha sparring with Clint or by Bucky punching the life out of a punching bag. Tony makes an appearance every few days, working on lifting weights and then jogs for a while. However, all the nerves of not feeling like she's good enough to work out in the same space of the fit heroes are effaced when she actually starts working out. Sparrow's metal limbs make it easy for her to lift a two-hundred pound dumbbell. Her legs could run forever. The only weak part of her is her abdominal muscles—so she focuses on that.

After her daily workout, Sparrow will head back to her room and mess around with her eyes and other mechanical parts until lunch. After lunch hits, she usually just hangs around and finds someone to be with. She ends up with Bucky a lot.

Right now, she's sitting on the couch in the main living room watching some sitcom on TV with Bucky reading a book on the other end of the couch. He looks so engrossed in reading that Sparrow isn't sure he even knows she's sitting a few feet from him. He does, though; he was focused on the words on the pages, but once the raven-haired girl sat on the other end of the couch, he can't think of anything but her. It takes an effort for him to keep his eyes on his page and not studying Sparrow.

Bucky was doing a good job keeping his focus on the book in his hands for a long time. It isn't until two episodes of the sitcom Sparrow's watching pass that it starts to get difficult.

Finally, he gives in. His eyes flicker to the girl curled up to the arm of the couch. Her chin is perched on her fist as she stares intently at the screen. There's a small crease in between her eyebrows, her concentration set.

And then her eyes snap to Bucky's. He immediately looks back at the book, but he knows he was caught. He prays his cheeks don't redden.

Sparrow tilts her head to the side curiously. Her gaze hasn't left Bucky since she caught him watching her. His hair falls limply in front of his eyes, shielding his face from her. She grabs the remote from the coffee table and turns the volume down a few notches.