Falling (Bucky Barnes)

3 - Icky Human Interaction and Secrets

Elissavet stands up from her desk. She finally finished her drawing. It's dark, but she uses it as a coping mechanism. She nods her head in approval before going to the kitchen to leave her teacup in the sink.

Walking downstairs, she sees Vision, Wanda, Sam, and Steve all sitting in the lounge. They are conversing casually about their plans for the next holiday, Halloween. She silently walks over to the sink, hoping that they don't notice her. She notices that Wanda seems to be debating what she should go to the Halloween party as and asking for some advice from the men. She hopes this will be enough to deter them from noticing her. Unfortunately for her, Steve spots her when she silently sets the cup down in the sink. "Hey Elissa!" he calls over to her.

She suppressed her urge to grimace and looks up with a smile, "hey Captain."

"Come talk with us! We haven't seen you much today," he urges. He wants to hear what she is thinking of going as and perhaps she'd have a better opinion to give Wanda. He's not sure what Wanda should go as either.

She inwardly groans. He is always trying to get her to be around people. She supposes it's sweet, but she really doesn't like being around people. At least Wanda is here. The two girls aren't as close as Natasha and Pepper are to Elissa, but women are easier to trust than men, no matter how great they seem.

Elissavet walks over to the lounge and sits on the three-person couch they just so happen to be the furthest away from people. "So how are you doing?" Steve asks, offering her a warm smile.

She shifts uncomfortably, everyone is watching her, "oh, I'm doing well, you?"

"I'm doing good, thanks," he replies. She nods and returns to the awkward silence. Looking down, she begins to fidget with her perfectly manicured nails; Pepper, Natasha, and Wanda had a girl's day, they managed to drag Elissavet with them, much to her complaint. Although she'd never let anyone know how much she had fun, nor how much she needed a distraction from the voices in her head. Now, Elissa just wants to go back into her room and hide. She hates being the center of attention. This is a known fact.

"So what are you planning on going as for the Halloween party?" Steve questions.

"Oh, I'm not sure."

Steve nods and turns to Wanda, "maybe you two could go out and find a costume together."

"Ooh, we should!" Wanda enthusiastically nods her head in agreement, sending Elissa a bright smile. "We can invite Nat and Pepper too!"

"Yeah," Elissa says with a weak smile as she looks back down at her fidgeting hands. She's not sure if she even wants to dress up, but she knows that the girls will make her.

Looking up, she sees Clint walk into the room. Steve greets him, "Clint! Hey, I haven't seen you or Romanoff all day!"

"We were out on a mission, she's still taking a shower," Clint explains. He casually saunters over to sit next to Elissa. When he plops down they all notice Elissavet stiffen up and try to subtly scoot away from him. She looks down at her fidgeting hands so she doesn't notice the worried and confused glances she receives from everyone around the room.

Steve notices how she immediately scoots away and how her body curls up. Elissa doesn't notice it, but it is a large change from her original -although still tense- stance. She looks terrified even if her face doesn't reflect it. It looks as though she's trying to make herself small. Steve takes a mental note of this along with the other strange things he's noticed about her.

Clint feels horrible for making her uncomfortable so he stands up right away, deciding to just go get a glass of water and sit somewhere else so it's not obvious that he's moving because of her.

When he jumps up from the couch to get water, Steve, Wanda, Sam, and Vision see her flinch slightly. Steve also notes that she tries to hide it. This only adds to the list of strange things he's noticed of her. It's almost as though she doesn't trust them. But that can't be it, right?

I mean, she trusts them... right?

Elissavet looks up to see everyone's eyes near her. Everyone looks at the elevator door that Natasha comes in from, thankful that it's behind Elissa so it looks like they were all looking at Nat instead of her. "Hey," Natasha greets the group, sitting one cushion away from Elissa.

Natasha knows about Elissa's past. She had picked up on her behaviours very easily and questioned her. She and Pepper are the only people that know about her past.

Natasha always makes sure to subtly keep the guys at a distance from her or to keep them from touching her. She also makes sure that no one sits by her. Elissa feels the most comfortable around Natasha and Pepper because they know about her and the issues she struggles with. They do their best to help and to be there for her.

"So how was the mission?" Wanda inquires.

Natasha shrugs, looking at Clint, "honestly, it was too easy." Clint nods his head in agreement as he goes to sit on the couch by Vision, glass of water in hand. He is directly across from Elissa, so he has the perfect view of the elevator.

He sees Bucky in the elevator holding a beautiful bouquet of red roses. He raises an eyebrow with confusion, having missed the earlier conversation. His confusion only increases as Bucky's eyes grow wide and he sprints into the nearest hallway.

Elissavet sees Clint's confusion and she turns her head to try and see what he is confused about, but all that is there to give away that there was a person standing there is the sleek elevator doors slowly closing. She frowns and turns around. She doesn't want to interrupt Natasha, who's talking about the mission, so she instead settles on giving Clint a confused look. Clint just shrugs and shakes his head with his brows furrowed.

He doesn't understand why Bucky would have a bouquet of roses. Is it an important day or something? He can't recall any important things happening today. Perhaps someone gave them to him? But why would they give Bucky roses?

Shoot, should he have gotten something to give to Bucky? Clint curses his memory thinking he forgot something important.

Elissa sighs and tries to focus on Natasha's conversation. She wants to go to her room, but she doesn't want to be rude and leave while she's talking, so she instead settles on fidgeting with her ring she got from her баба.