Do You Trust Me? // Bucky Barnes

8

Bucky

"No, Sam." Bucky ran his hands over his face and through his hair as he stared at the ceiling. Everything was getting out of hand and as he sat, soaking in the last few rays of sunshine despite the chill that hung in the air, Bucky could feel that rising acid in his gut that he couldn't seem to shake these days.

"Come on, man." Sam glanced over to where Ava sat and back to Bucky. His eyes were soft but his smile was amused. "I've got Sarah and the boys - I can't take her in."

"You don't live with Sarah and the boys, Sam," Bucky groaned.

"You and I both know my sister doesn't tell me when she's coming to town, Buck."

"Sarah's not planning a trip to New York." Bucky smirked when Sam scowled.

"Buck."

"No, Sam." Pushing to his feet Bucky twisted away from Sam, his eyes automatically honing in on the woman sitting with her back to him.

Her fingers moved deftly, nimbly, and Bucky watched as she pieced together the tiny robot that had once again been taken out by someone Sam had fought off. He watched as she moved with steady strokes and careful precision and as she rolled her shoulders and neck, as if sitting hunched over the tiny bot had brought aches and pains to her small frame. He watched as she brought one hand to the back of her neck and pressed gently against the skin left on display from where she had pushed the dark waves of her hair to the side, and as she let her head fall to the right, exposing the pale column of her neck; delicate and drowning in freckles.

"Peter staying at yours?" The sound of Torres' voice pulled his focus from her and Bucky shook his head as if to clear his mind.

"Yeah," he grunted, his eyes darting back to her momentarily. "Why?"

Torres grinned. "Then so is she. Trust me."

Slowly, Bucky twisted to face Torres - the soldier boy Sam trusted as much as he trusted Bucky; the soldier who knew their little captive on a personal level - and his jaw ticked as he stared. It wasn't that he didn't like Torres. He did. Torres was both funny and intelligent. He was a useful asset on the missions Sam and Bucky were often caught up in and he was a great middle man when Bucky wanted to use his vibranium arm to rip Sam's head off. But something about the way Torres looked at Ava made Bucky see tints of red. And something about the way she looked at Torres made Bucky's blood boil. 

Everyone, Bucky thought, is too trusting.

"Hear me out." Torres held his hands up in surrender as he moved closer to the super soldier staring at him as if he were about to use his head as a football. "I think it's how we win her trust."

"Trust?" Bucky snorted. It seemed to him she trusted Torres plenty.

"Listen, I may just have been the kid with a crush on the Brit on base when Ava and I got close, but we really were friends. She told me stuff about herself, you know, and Spidey - he's our way in."

Sam steepled his hands before him as he leant forwards in his chair and eyed the girl humming to herself as she flicked a screwdriver in the air, caught it, and turned her attention back to Red Wing. Bucky watched him watching her and felt the familiar twist of something uncomfortable in his gut.

"What makes you so sure?" Sam asked.

"She had a kid brother." Torres' voice was soft and Bucky recognised the icy resignation behind his words. Had. Ava Hall had a kid brother. He returned to watching her as Torres continued. "He would have been around Peter's age now. A year older, I think."

Ava

"Want me to make him stop talking?" Peter shifted uncomfortably where he sat against the wall beside Ava's chair. She knew from this position Peter couldn't see the three men talking about her, just as they probably couldn't see him, and so she continued working with a sad smile against her lips.

"You're sweet, kid," she mumbled, her eyes never leaving the work she had in front of her, "but it's okay."

Another rush of wind wrapped its way around her, chilling her to the bone, and a shiver ran the length of her spine. She really did need a change of clothes, and a shower, and it was dawning on her now - as the sun set and shadows danced over the empty lot before them - that she needed a place to sleep. God knows how many people had seen her leaving that bar with Bucky freaking Barnes, but she knew one pair of eyes in her line of business was too many. Returning to her apartment wasn't an option. Her boss had expressly told her to keep her head down, so she couldn't call her for help. Her only option was to go where these guys told her to go, and thanks to Torres, it was looking more and more likely it would be with the one with the staring problem. 

"Think they'll let me just sleep here?" She jutted her chin towards the open door of the warehouse beside them and Peter chuckled.

"No. It's cold and damp and I'm ninety percent sure there are rats in there."

"Rats?" She widened her eyes in mock horror and brought a hand to her neck, as she giggled. "How ever would I survive a night with a few rats?"

Peter rolled his eyes as he tried to stop his grin. "You know, they'd try to eat -"

"Parker. Hall. Move it. We're leaving." The bark of Bucky's order felt like a slap against her skin. He was closer than he should have been - closer than he had been when she was paying attention before she let herself become distracted by the kid with the easy laugh and puppy dog eyes. "And put this on."

If Peter or Sam or Torres asked - even if Bucky himself asked - Ava would have told them that the sharp intake of her breath as the warmth of worn leather draped over her shoulders was just a shock reaction. She told herself that the way her body tensed and her heart began to hammer in her chest as the gentle aroma of citrus and pine invaded her airways was nothing more than her fight or flight instincts warring for dominance. The way she fixated on the smallest area of skin, right at her pulse point, where his fingers had brushed warmth against her flesh, was nothing but surprise. 

She pushed her arms into the sleeves of the jacket and glanced over to Bucky, now standing in a thin black t-shirt, and nodded slowly as she got to her feet. "Erm - thank you. For the jacket."

"Whatever," he grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets and glaring at her as if she and she alone were responsible for all of the bad in his life and Ava shuffled where she stood. "It's getting cold out and you're no use to us if you freeze to death in that ridiculous dress."

Ava grinned. 

"Stop looking at me like that." Bucky started to walk away from her and around the side of the warehouse and Ava moved to follow, with Peter trailing behind.

"Like what?" There was a sing-song quality to her voice as she tried to match his stride and Peter chuckled as she threw a wink over her shoulder.

"Like you're planning something, Sergeant."

"Stop calling me that." Her smile disappeared instantly and she could have thrown something at the back of his head as she heard a smug laugh rumble from his chest. "Asshole."