static | BUCKY BARNES

10

Bucky doesn't like to be contained. It makes him feel trapped, like a caged animal. It makes him want to run and pump his legs as hard as he can as he whips through the wind away from confinement, so he'll never be there again. The close proximity of other people, or even just objects like the walls or chairs, causes his heart to race.

Here, as he sits in the conference room watching a mandatory presentation for some-what new branches of the Avengers directed by Maria Hill, he feels all of this.

It's only him, Peter Parker, Maria Hill, and a few aliens that are in the works of becoming allies with the Avengers. One's green, one's got red vein-like vines running over his skin, one's a teenaged tree, one's a raccoon, one's got antennae, and the last is what appears to be a human. Although everyone in the room is supposed to be listening to what Maria is saying, no one really is. The aliens are distracted, Peter's checking out his new web-shooter on his wrist in awe, and Bucky—well, Bucky can't concentrate from being too confined.

He pops his knuckles under the long desk that seats all the super heroes and tries not to focus on how the walls seem to be closing in or how the stripes on the wall remind him of iron bars.

The only thing that gets Bucky through the overwhelming confinement as the presentation goes on is thinking about Sparrow. He brushes off always having her on his mind as just curiosity. Which isn't completely false, but not completely true, either. Bucky doesn't know why he suddenly wonders how soft her skin is. 

As soon as the thought pops up, he frowns.

Why would he wonder that?

The presentation ends with a few last words from Maria before the odd bunch of heroes is dismissed. Peter looks up from messing around with his web-shooter, surprised. He probably zoned out and didn't realize how much time had passed.

Bucky, still confused about his thoughts, exits the conference hall. He sets off towards Sparrow's room.

A few steps toward the room, Peter Parker steps into stride next to him. Bucky looks down at the teenager.

Peter glances over his shoulder at the aliens standing in the doorway of the conference hall. Without losing his stride, Peter asks, "So what do you think of those new guys?"

Bucky doesn't really care about them as long as they mind their own business. But, to amuse the boy, he answers, "They seem useful."

"Eh, I guess," the boy says, looking up at Bucky. "But I'm pretty sure the one with things sticking out of her head wants to lay eggs in my brain. Plus that green girl scares—"

"It was nice talking to you, kid," Bucky says, cutting Peter off before entering the kitchen, leaving him alone in the hallway.

Peter scratches the back of his head. "Oh, um, yeah. Definitely. It was nice talking to you too, Mr. Barnes."

Bucky's already out of earshot before he could finish his sentence. He crosses the kitchen and enters the living room. He enters the hallway again that way. It may have been an inconvenience to take that way to the hallways where the woman heroes' bedrooms are since the hallway he was previously in lead straight to it, but if it meant shaking off a pesky teenager that never stops talking, then it was worth it.

Bucky makes it to Sparrow's bedroom in thirty seconds tops. He knocks on the door three times, pauses, then knocks twice more. He waits for her to open the door or to hear movement on the other side, but nothing happens.