𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄━︎━︎ B. Barnes ✓︎

𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

CHAPTER EIGHT:
GAINING HUMANITY

"GOD, WHO KNEW GAINING humanity back could be so difficult." Fallon sighed, throwing her head back into the chair. "Humanity means you have to care, caring gets you hurt, there's so many downsides to it."

"You're not wrong." Bucky told her, sitting back down on the couch as he looked at the redhead. She looked at him once more, patiently waiting for him to continue. "But, there are upsides to it as well."

Fallon cocked a perfect eyebrow at the male. "Like what?"

"Friends, emotions―︎which can be a bitch, I know―︎but after being . . . what I was. What I used to be, it's great having emotions back, having humanity back feels amazing. Though, I'm still working to get there, being forced to hide from the public eye dampens the process a little."

"Yeah, understandable." Fallon nodded her head. Fallon stood up from the chair, walking over to the closed windows and peeking her eyes out to the outside world, watching as people walked down the streets, minding their own business. "They're looking for you, are they not?"

"They'll always be looking for me." Bucky muttered, standing up and joining Fallon's side. He let his eyes roam the outside world too and Fallon turned her head to look up at him. He looked so innocent, standing there and trying to keep his life in balance as much as he could whilst trying to hide from the world. Her eyes scanned his face, his body posture that always seemed to be tense, he was being blamed for something he couldn't necessarily control. Her eyes left his frame as she felt her jaw clench, anger flaring inside her as thoughts of HYDRA flew through her mind. They were the same in more ways than one, and that made Fallon angry, to know that someone else had to go through something she did.

Bucky's eyes left the window to look at the fiery redhead that stood beside him. Her jaw was clenched, her arms crossed over her chest and he could almost feel the anger flowing from her body. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to see if he had said something that set her off. Fallon was the one to break the silence.

"I'm sorry." She softly told him, almost surprising herself at how sincere she sounded. Her voice wasn't rough and guarded, it was gentle and almost heartbroken. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

"Everyone goes through something, we can't control it, there's no need to be sorry for it."

"Yeah, but no one should go through that." Fallon emphasized. She let out a humorless laugh. "I don't know what god I pissed off at the age of twelve, but apparently I deserved what I got." She let out another scoff. "I don't even remember my family. Fuck HYDRA and what they did to us."

"Cheers to that." Bucky sighed with the nod of his head. Fallon removed herself from the window, sitting back down in the chair as she placed her hands over her face.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How can you sit here and do absolutely nothing. I'm bored as hell." Fallon said with a small laugh.

"I don't do absolutely nothing." Bucky defended himself. "I go out and explore the city sometimes. I do have to eat so I go to the markets and get food."

"Food." Fallon said, snapping her fingers. "I haven't ate today."

"Well why haven't you done that?" Bucky asked, raising his eyebrows a the girl.

"I sorta got side tracked. . . " Fallon said, shooting the man a small smirk before she stood up and made her way into his kitchen, not caring if he wanted her to eat his food or not (she was still working on her whole humanity thing). She opened his fridge before pulling out some grapes and turning to face him. Bucky leaned against the door frame of the kitchen, his eyes watching Fallon as she went through his cabinets and fridge before holding up a thing of grapes and taking one before popping them in her mouth and closing her eyes in delight. Bucky found his lip twitching up in a smile, watching the girl fade into a completely different element than the assassin she was.

As she glided through the kitchen, Bucky watched her and noticed how she seemed so pure, and not like the assassin that she was trained to be. She was smiling as she ate the grapes, whether she knew she was or not was something he wasn't sure of. Her shoulders were relaxed for the first time since she'd entered his apartment. Fallon looked like a completely different person than the assassin he had met in that restaurant that was prepared to have his head on a stake.

Fallon took a sip of her water that she had fixed herself, swallowing the grape she had been chewing before she suddenly felt Bucky's eyes on her. She turned her head, her green eyes meeting his grey-blue ones. She cocked an eyebrow at the male. "Didn't your mother tell you that it's rude to stare?"

Bucky couldn't help but smile lightly at this. "My apologies, ma'am. I couldn't help myself."

Fallon felt butterflies suddenly fill her stomach when he spoke to her, his words making a feeling she wasn't quite familiar with sprout inside of her. Fallon swallowed but kept her amused façade up. "Oh? And why's that?"

"I don't know you looked so. . . peaceful for once."

"I looked peaceful?" Fallon quizzed, amusement lacing her voice. "Out of all the times I looked peaceful, it was when I was eating food?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just telling you what I saw." Bucky said, raising his hands in defense. Fallon had to force herself to look away as she felt her lip start to twitch upwards, an actual smile almost making its way onto her face. Almost.