acceptance ♜ b. barnes [O.H.]

𝑻𝒘𝒐

Thessaloniki, 2015

James Buchanan Barnes could not cook. He had lived in Paris for six months before moving to Barcelona. After a few months in Barcelona, he moved to Rome, and eventually Venice. Now he was in Thessaloniki, in Greece, and he still managed to burn the bacon. He had been to the greatest cooking capitals in the world and learned not one thing.

He sighed and tossed bacon into the trash. He cleaned out the pan and made the only thing he could cook: an omelet. The sound of someone yawning behind him startled him.

"What kind of omelet are ya making?" the groggy voice asked, knowing that's all he could make.

"Cheese, tomato... that's it," he said quietly.

"Mhm, sounds good."

James Barnes glanced to his right and looked the girl next to him up and down. Her round glasses sat atop the bridge of her nose. Her large brown eyes were still tired, and her short brown hair was a rat's nest.

He checked on the omelet and smiled. She was wearing his t-shirt again.

"Don't you have your own clothes?" he asked teasingly.

"Yeah, but yours are fifty times better," she explained as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

The small apartment had white appliances and sea blue walls. The "kitchen" was a stove, a small fridge, and a sink all lined up on one wall. There were a few cupboards that were mostly empty. The common area consisted of a couch and a small TV to watch the news on. The hall to the bedrooms and their dinky bathroom was to the right of the kitchen.

Lenna smiled at the man before heading out to the balcony. He flipped the omelet onto a plate and brought out two forks. The sea breeze hit him straight in the face as he stepped outside.

The chilly morning air was canceled out by the warm breeze. He handed Lenna the plate before dragging a chair over to hers.

"How much longer do you want to stay here?" Lenna asked.

Bucky didn't say anything as he took a bite of the omelet.

"James."

Another bite.

"James."

"Do we have to leave," he blurted out.

Lenna smiled sadly. She looked down at her hands and tried to ignore Bucky's gaze.

"Can I please cut your hair?" she asked changing the subject.

"Lenna."

"It's getting really ratty, and you don't clean it well enough," she rattled on.

"Lenna."

She froze. "I don't want to leave either," she whispered. "But I need to know..."

James sighed and stood up. He walked inside without another word, leaving Lenna to her own thoughts.

They had been putting off the search for months, but they couldn't ignore it anymore. When they had first met, their goal was to figure out their pasts.

James had a slightly easier time than Lenna since he was Captain America's best friend. She knew where she had to look but was terrified. She was holding something back from him.

He wondered why she would never morph in front of him. She never spoke of the reason and would dodge every question her threw at her. It hurt that she wouldn't tell him, but he wasn't exactly an open book himself.

James Barnes froze at the sound of pounding on his door. He had moved in one night ago, how could anyone have found him. He walked cautiously towards the door and was surprised to find a small girl behind it.

"James," she breathed. "I finally found you."

Bucky Barnes fiddled with his metal hand as he listened to the News. There wasn't anything big going on, only the usual political stuff that never concerned him.

The reporter spoke Greek, but he had picked up enough of the language to understand the reports. The sound of the door to the balcony opening alerted him to Lenna's presence. She placed the plate in the sink and walked to her room.

James let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. A part of him wished they didn't have to leave, and another wanted to fulfill his end of their agreement. Lenna had already helped him learn who he used to be. They had struggled to come to terms with his brutality as the Winter Soldier, but they had gotten through it. They decided to take a break and not worry about her past yet.

Every time the other was ready to begin the search, the other one would opt for more time. They had both agreed Greece would be their last stop before continuing the search, but he had to ruin their domestic bliss.

He ran a hand through his long hair and walked over to Lenna's room. She took the smaller room that James could almost guarantee was a large broom closet. He tried to get her to take a bigger room, but she refused.

He knocked on the doorframe and watched Lenna look at him through a curtain of her hair.

"Wanna braid my hair?"

James loved the feeling of her fingers running through his hair. She would softly brush his hair away from his face and began to twist the strands of hair around each other. He would lean back into her touch and close his eyes. Normally, he would stay silent, but he knew he owed her an apology.

"I'm sorry," he whispered when she reached the occipital bone. She froze. "We can leave whenever you want. We can figure out who you came from."

He furrowed his brow when her hands began to shake. He reached his flesh hand to cover hers. The two sat there as Lenna eventually lost her grip on the braid and grabbed the back of James's shirt.

"Thank you," she whispered pressing her forehead to his back. He squeezed her hand in response.