Reveries of Spring│Bucky Barnes

━ 𝟎𝟒

WHEN MARTINA WENT TO OPEN HER DOOR THE NEXT DAY, she was neither shocked nor disturbed to find that Artemis Barton was waiting for her. 

"Hey..." Martina said, trying to figure out with what mythical beast Artemis had engaged in battle with before finding her way to her door. 

Martina had awoken that morning to the booming sounds of Artemis' barks of rage which somehow had traveled through the various walls to her own bedroom.

She was standing just outside her room and seemed to be filled with an overwhelming giddiness to her. However, her face did not match the rest of her with her awkwardly rumpled clothes, the red splotches on her neck, and her unkempt and ruffled hair. 

"Yeah, I know." Artemis rolled her eyes with a playful laugh as she tried to tame the rat-nest that had taken residence in her hair. "I'm assuming you heard me yelling?"

"Well...it was kind of hard not to," Martina admitted, tugging on the sleeve of her hoodie. "What happened?"

"Just the usual," Artemis scoffed, looking down to straighten up her shirt. "My idiot fiance was even more of an idiot this morning than usual. As always, he needed to be put in his place."

"Are you still angry?" Martina questioned, furrowing her eyebrows at Martina's playful tone;

"Oh, absolutely, but..."

"But?"

"But angry sex is too much fun to pass up."

Martina let out a genuine laugh as she shook her head at Artemis, only slightly embarrassed at her brazen honesty about her sex life.

In her relaxed state, Artemis craned her neck behind Martina's shoulder to sneak a look into her room. Martina noticed her nose furrow in confusion as Artemis took in their surroundings.

"What?" Martina asked quickly, feeling suddenly insecure and somewhat annoyed at Artemis' prying eyes. "You look shocked."

"No, not at all..."

"Spit it out, Artemis."

"Fine." Artemis smiled apologetically, sticking her hands in her front pockets as she rocked back and forth. "It's just...I heard all that noise you were making last night. I was about to come in and check on you until I saw Bucky at your door. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so clean."

Martina felt her cheeks redden as she looked down at her feet. "Yeah, um, he cleaned it up after I trashed it."

"Did he now?" Artemis asked with amusement, raising her eyebrows. "Interesting."

Martina didn't appreciate the way Artemis was suggestively looking at her, so as she reached down to grab her shoes, she decided to change the subject.

"So, I took an ice bath last night. It was really nice."

Artemis rolled her eyes but allowed the not-so-graceful change of subject. "That's great."

"Yeah, it worked so well I almost considered sleeping in the freezer like Tony suggested."

"He was joking, Martina," Artemis said seriously, helping her to her feet and giving her a look that suggested her words were of the utmost importance. "Don't you dare tell him you even considered it. We don't want to go inflating his ego." She rolled her eyes and put her hand to her heart. "God knows it's nearly ready to burst."

Martina laughed at the terrified look on Artemis' face and did something that had once come so naturally to her when she was with her firends and enjoying her simple and underrated life.