Althea

Part Eight

Bucky and I spend the rest of the afternoon together, he starts off teaching me the basics, slowly building up and stepping through combinations of moves and practice-fighting together.

We do this for a couple of weeks, spending anywhere from an hour to an entire afternoon/evening training. My favourite weapons to work with are the knives, they give you so much control over them and can be extremely deadly.

It feels good to be learning again, and Bucky and I seem to work so well together the time goes by insanely fast.

I'm hesitant though, to enter a sim and fight like this, so it takes some convincing but finally, after three weeks of training together, he gets me into the ring and agrees we'll do it together so he's there to help me if I go blank.

"If I suck at this-"

"You're not going to suck Althea, you know what you're doing, just believe in yourself."

It's crazy to think that someone like me isn't confident about everything they do, but I have always been hard on myself to be perfect. I used to think that because of who I was I had to do everything right, I couldn't make any mistakes, and I've never really been able to shake that.

I nod at Bucky and we step into the simulation together. It comes completely naturally, fighting alongside him. It's like we are one being instead of two, he is an extension of me and I him.

It's not long before the last holographic enemy falls to the ground and I turn to Bucky, a huge smile taking over my face. I'm about to say something when I realise we've gathered a crowd.

"That was intense." Wanda comments and everyone nods in agreement.

"Sister, I've seen you fight before but never like that. That was mesmerising." Loki says, a look of admiration on his face.

"Well I can't take all the credit, I had a great teacher." I smile at Bucky and he smiles back which just makes me blush again. I don't know what it is with this man and making me blush but he does it on a daily basis.

"It was nothing, it was all you really."

I'm about to scold him for not taking credit for what he did to help me, when Steve speaks up, informing us that there's suspicious activity happening in a city I'd never heard of before.

"It's only just come up on our radar but I think we should go check it out, just to be safe. This could be another Hydra location."

They had informed me about Hydra not long after I arrived, and I knew how important it was that we stayed ahead of them at all times.

"Suit up."

Everyone parts ways to get ready for the mission but I stop Bucky before he can leave.

"Bucky, in all seriousness, thank you for everything."
He rubs his hand along the back of his neck and shrugs.

"Hey, it's the least I could do for everything you've done for me since we met."

I smile at him softly, and he smiles back. I take notice of how content I feel here with him, and this time don't scold myself or try to push down the emotions.

We stand there for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, and I can feel us gravitating towards each other. I can feel his breath on mine and I'm sure he can hear my heart racing. I lean up, ready for our lips to touch when -

"Ally, Bucky, come on, we've gotta go!"

I jump back a little and clear my throat, breaking eye contact with him and realising what was about to happen.

"We should um- "

"Yeah we should go."

We're both already in combat gear so we head down to the quinjet and jump on board with everyone else, ready to take on whatever Hydra was about to throw at us.