THE FADING FALLEN ● Bucky Barnes X OC ● 18+ ● ENGLISH [COMPLETE]

Chapter 19

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Two more days passed since the nearly escalated lunch.

The two bullheads stayed away from each other. And even when they ran into one another, they just barked at or ignored the respective one. The first occurred a lot moreso, unfortunately for the rest of the Avengers.

When Tony returned from the engineering lab and entered the training room, he envied his friend Rhodey, who didn't have to watch all the drama.

Shuri didn't make his life as difficult as before, after they had agreed on a peaceful and very productive coexistence. Nevertheless, he was still not completely at peace with her.

"This feels like kindergarten. It's as if one took something from the other."

"Well then, you should feel right at home here", Natasha retorted, appearing out of nowhere in her sports outfit and walking past him.

The punching bag had to take quite a beating, as intensively as Emilia worked it. This didn't escape the attention of Bucky, Steve or Sam, who were practicing some close combat techniques on the other side of the hall.

It amazed Natasha that Emilia still had such stamina despite her previous hard efforts.

Secretly, however, she was looking forward to what this could lead to in the next few minutes. She had a plan to vent the pent up situation between her and Bucky.

The two of them just had to get a good workout.

"Hey, shall we show the fossils over there how it's done properly?"

A little out of breath, Emilia eased off the faded and strained leather in front of her. Her gaze wandered from Natasha to the opposite side of the large training hall.

She began to loosen the bandage loops around her knuckles and grinned smugly with one corner of her mouth turned up over her bare shoulder directly at Bucky.

"You know Nat, they say with age comes wisdom... but I'm not so sure about that anymore. Maybe someone will get a bad idea and risk putting too much strain on their fragile bones."

"Hey hey! I understand you want to go easy on the senior duo here, but I can still keep up with you ladies", Sam called out to the two, pointing a thumb at Steve and Bucky next to him.

He was about to put his words into action when Bucky stormed past him.

"Let's see who's got fragile bones here."

Emilia's subliminal tone teased him. More than he cared to admit. Also far more than her loud accusations and insults did when she suddenly stood in his bathroom in the middle of the night.

Bucky didn't think at all that he had let himself be drawn out. Quite the opposite.

The pent-up anger at her curiosity just needed to come out. What better way to do this than an equal fight. After all, he knew she wasn't to be underestimated.

"You shouldn't annoy older people. They're masters at occasionally giving a shit about anything!"

His verbal counterattack awakened old familiar traits, and not just in Bucky himself.

Steve folded his arms and shook his head with a grin. He was glad to see some more life and that positive fighting spirit in his friend again.

That it had something to do with Emilia, he initially couldn't imagine. But with his reaction, Steve couldn't help but think that it was indeed the case, as she teased him even further.