[ Video, action for Tony's building ]

[vdova]

[ The video feed clicks on, and Natasha looks neutral and blank. ] Thank you to everyone who worried. I'm fine. [ She pauses, and then furrows her brow, her eyes growing steely. ] Lensherr. I'm watching you. [ And with that, it ends. ]



---

[ Later on, Natasha can be found curled up on a couch, reading what looks like an old tome, bound in leather, title printed in gold and mostly faded on the spine and cover. She's let herself in, and has chosen a room, all without any of her new flatmates realizing it.

And as far as they're concerned? She's all better. ]

Comments

[ontheropes]

[ Bucky officially decides that she's prettiest when she smiles. He kind of figures that it's a rare thing others get to see from her, so he kind of treasures this little moment. Keep it to himself. He's glad he can make her smile after what happened.

He shakes his head lightly at her question. ] She was the headmistress at the orphanage Steve and I grew up in. She was pretty much everyone's grandma so all the kids called her Nan. [ Bucky looks down into his mug and smiles at the thought of her. ] She was a tough old bird.

[vdova]

[ Natasha nods in response, slender fingers cradling the mug in her hands, his own smile something she, in turn, likes to see. Granted, his isn't something rare, and indeed, is something freely given to anyone, it still makes her heart flutter a little bit when she sees it.

Maybe because it looks so much like the smile of someone who, long ago, she did her best to make sure smiled her way.

Bucky still unsettles her, his face, his voice, his build something deeply familiar to her, but she has, recently, started to wonder if that's because he reminds her of a past best left there, or if it's because her attraction to him makes her nervous. The butterflies in her stomach make their way up to her chest when they talk, even briefly, and the influx of emotion, the uncontrollable aspect of it unnerves her.

What unnerves her more is that she finds herself not minding much that she lets her walls down a little bit around him.

There's a chuckle at his description of the woman, and she smirks a little teasingly, raising an eyebrow at Bucky as she reponds. ] Well, with the two of you hanging out at swinger bars, she'd almost have to be, wouldn't she?

[ontheropes]

I don't think she could ever decide if she loved or hated that I dragged Steve around everywhere. [ He snickers under his breath and shakes his head. He'd thought about Nana lot lately, wondering what happened to her after they both went off to war. She'd still been alive last he'd heard, but now that they were in the future.... well, he hoped she lived the rest of her years well. ]

If y'ever need an embarrassing story about Steve, I'm full of them. [ He's teasing clearly but he gives her a little wink. ]

[vdova]

[ She returns the wink with a teasing little smile over her coffee mug as she takes a drink. ] I'll keep that in mind if I ever need blackmail against the dear Captain. [ She sets the mug down, and tilts her head to the side. ] What about you? Got any embarrassing stories?

[ontheropes]

[ He outright laughs at that. ] Yeah, quite a few. I had a streak when I was a kid that there wasn't anything I'd do or try to do. [ Bucky looks up at taps at his chin. ] Think there was one time I tried to climb up a fence to impress this girl at the park. Ended up getting my pants caught and they just ripped clean off. [ He grins and looks back down at her. ] And the orphanage was three blocks away too.

[vdova]

[ The story elicits a chuckle from her. She is, actually, quite impressed-- most guys wouldn't bother telling someone something like that, not when they were in flirt mode. Bucky just scored a few more respect points. ] I'm guessing Nan wasn't too happy with you then, either?

[ontheropes]

She took one look at me and laughed the bobby pins outta her hair. [ Bucky just smirks and shakes his head at the memory. ] I was like ten, can't be too embarrassed about crap you pulled when you were a dumb kid. Makes for good stories to tell when you're drunk.

[ He looks over at her and his smile turns small and genuine, though he still sounds a bit amused. ] I'm sure you've seen some crazy shit when you were spyin' on people, huh? [ He figures it's not best to ask about her; if Natasha wants to tell him, she will. ]

[vdova]

If I told you, I'd have to kill you. [ She's kidding.

Probably.

Although... ] I should probably tell you one of mine, so we're even. [ She reaches down and traces a finger on the rim of her coffee mug, staring into it as she talks. ] When I was younger, going through my training... I had this teacher that I had a sort of.. school girl crush on. He was trying to teach me how to subdue an attacker much bigger than myself, with the move Clint likes to call my 'thigh choke hold'. I wanted to impress him, so I insisted he let me try it without any aid from him. [ She laughs a little at the memory-- it's only pained because it feels strange to tell him this, when part of her feels like he should know it already. Hopefully he'll only take it as embarrassment. ] Of course I fell flat on my face, and completely missed the target. My pride was more wounded than anything else, though, and I have to admit-- it was the first time I heard him laugh in a way that wasn't... sad.

[ontheropes]

[ He puts his mug down on the counter as she starts to talk, swallowing the last bit of coffee. When he starts to tell the story, he's genuinely surprised. He didn't expect a personal story, if anything he'd be expecting to hear about some government official caught wearing women's underwear or something like that.

But no, she tells him something about her childhood too. Bucky's heart gives a few hard thuds when he fully realizes this and ducks his eyes ever slightly in a sudden fit of self consciousness. Well, and affection. Natasha just keeps surprising him.

He looks back up at her when she finishes and smiles. ] I'm sure he needed that, your embarrassment aside. [ He stops, not really knowing what else to say. ] Thank you. [ Well, okay, that works too. ]

[vdova]

[ The thanks surprises her visibly, and she glances at him, searching his face. ] For what?

[ontheropes]

[ His ears are tingling a bit pink. ] For sharing that with me, I guess. [ He laughs and reaches back to rub the back of his neck. ] You didn't have to and I appreciate it.

[vdova]

[ There's a pause. Normally, Natasha lets logic dictate her actions, thinking things through at least a little bit before she does them. But this? The only thing that she can think about this is that it feels like the right thing to do. She reaches up, as she steps close, placing a hand on his cheek and rising up on her tiptoes to kiss him softly. It's gentle and brief, meant to be more of a 'you're welcome' than any sort of seduction, but she only pulls back a little bit when she's done, her voice low. ] I wanted to.

[ontheropes]

[ Oh. Oh. Bucky stands completely still as she steps forward, his eyes fluttering closed when her hand touches his cheek. His head swims when her lips touch his and he's too knocked off his feet to even try to kiss her back, but he doesn't care.

He licks his lips slightly as he opens his eyes and finally lets himself breath. Wow, he feels drunk. In the good kinda way. ] I... I'm glad.

[vdova]

[ She is relieved to notice it's less awkward than she might have thought it would have been, at least for her. She brushes her thumb across his cheek gently, and then pulls away fully, taking a last drink of her coffee and setting the mug in the sink. She glances at him one more time over her shoulder as she exits the kitchen, giving him another one of those real smiles, the kind that reaches her eyes. ] Me too.