7 Days

Four

They stayed out on the balcony for a couple of hours, Bucky ordering room service for lunch. They talked about everything and anything. Ava made Bucky laugh more times than she could count on both of her hands while he made her feel warm all over just from the smiles he would give her.

At around 5 PM they headed back down to go eat dinner per Peggy's request. Clint apologized to Ava when he arrived, Natasha giving him the much-needed nudge. Ava accepted the apology, jokingly threatening him that she would hurt him next time. He rolled his eyes, stating that she wouldn't even hurt a fly.

They were quickly seated for dinner, Tony at the end of the table with Wanda at the other end. Pepper was to Tony's right while Natasha was at his left. Clint sat next to Natasha, Sam on Clint's right side and Bucky next to Sam at Wanda's right. Ava sat on Wanda's left next to Peggy who sat next to Steve who was bumping elbows with Pepper.

Tony ordered glasses of wine for everyone (as always) and gave a short toast before digging into the hot food that was brought out minutes before. The conversation was light and sweet, mostly stories being shared by Tony and Sam about Steve and Peggy. Bucky decided to keep to himself. Although he had known Steve the longest out of everyone at the table he didn't want to share too much. Besides, he had a best man speech to give at the end of the week. 

After dessert, they all groaned as their stomachs felt like they would explode any minute from all the food they had eaten. Knowing that the fullness would equal a wonderful nights sleep, they all said their goodbyes and headed to their respective rooms.

Bucky and Ava dragged themselves back to the room, their eyes heavy-lidded with a soft yawn escaping Ava's mouth. Bucky unlocked the door holding it open for her to walk in first. She slipped off her sandals by the bathroom, padding over to the bed and jumping on it not even caring to change into her pajamas. 

He did the same. The sun, the food, and the alcohol made him way too tired to care about anything else than sleep. Bucky jumped into bed after her, sighing as his body molded into the soft mattress.

"I can't believe I'm this tired." Ava laughed sleepily. "It's barely—" Looking over at the alarm clock on the bedside table she pouted. "—9PM. Am I really this old?"


Bucky turned to lay on his side tucking his arm underneath his head. "Not at all."

Ava did the same, her eyes locking with his gorgeous blue ones. She couldn't lie, Bucky was very attractive and somehow in her sleepy trance and lack of light he was almost angelic looking. Shutting her eyes quickly Bucky pressed his lips into a tight line.

"You okay?"


"Yeah," Ava lied as butterflies began to slowly flutter in her stomach. This wasn't good. "Just-I'm tired. I think I'm going to go to sleep now."


"Okay. Goodnight." Bucky whispered, wanting to reach out and brush the strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear.


Ava didn't reply. Instead, she turned on her right side to have her back facing him. She opened her eyes seeing the moon reflect on the dark water outside. Trying to convince herself that she was just tired and that the butterflies didn't mean anything she finally drifted off to sleep hoping that her feelings would be straightened out by morning.

—

Ava woke up the next morning to an empty bed. Slightly frowning, she stretched comfortably with a long, loud yawn before getting out of bed and opening the sliding door to let in the ocean breeze. She walked over to the bathroom passing the small mirrored closet and taking a look at herself, wincing at the state she was in.