Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the late post, I've been trying to apply for jobs, and it's a mess
Thanks goes to overlordred for prompting this chapter, I had it kind of planned to happen eventually but you gave me the pieces I needed to make it fit nicely in here
I apologise now for my Russian, I don't speak Russian at all so it's probably awful, but if any of you know Russian and have corrections to offer or are willing to help me with any Russian in the future, please let me know
After that, Steve eventually managed to get Bucky to agree to leaving his rooms a little. In the short time he had been there, they had become his safe haven, a harbour he was hesitant to leave.
It started with simply walking down the hall to Steve's room, then a little further to Wanda's room at the other end of the hall. Steve got him to train in the gym, provided he woke early enough to get there before anyone else did.
He hadn't tried training the small animal yet, but he was considering it. Maybe Steve was right, and it would help him to focus, but there was something about the childlike playfulness of the small animal that he didn't want to disturb yet.
It accompanied him wherever he went though, either walking alongside him or resting in his arms. When he trained he laid it down and instructed it to remain where it was on the sidelines, and for the most part it obeyed him, though often it was very tired and simply slept through practice.
"You're getting better. Didn't think that was possible." Steve said to him as he wiped his brow on his shirt, having just wrapped up their training for the day.
"There is always room to improve. You're getting better as well." Bucky replied.
Steve tossed him a water bottle and he caught it and unscrewed it, taking a long drink.
"Feel up to grabbing some breakfast with me? I think there's pancakes today." Steve offered. Bucky considered it. On the one hand, he did need to expand his boundaries, and it had been a few days since he had done something big and new. On the other, did he feel up to going somewhere with the potential of interacting with people he didn't know?
"Okay." He felt like he'd made the right decision, Steve was smiling.
He picked up the bouncing small animal and they walked to a smaller lounge area near the cafeteria, which was delightfully empty, and Bucky realized Steve was most likely well aware of his strong dislike of too many people watching him. He nodded to Steve gratefully as they walked in, and he sat down on one of the bar stools.
"I'll grab us some, any idea of how many pancakes you want?" Steve asked.
"An average amount." Bucky shrugged and set the small animal down, and it ran to paw at Steve's leg.
Steve smiled and knelt down to rub its head. "Don't worry, I'll grab you some food too." It barked happily and Steve shooed it back to Bucky, who picked it up and set it on the table.
Steve left, and returned a moment later with two stacks of pancakes and a dish of the portions the small animal was designated to eat. Bucky set the small animal back on the floor as Steve set the dish down and it pounced on the food, making Steve smile a little. He sat down nearby in one of the more comfortable chairs and they both dug in.
"Did I used to be skilled with women?" He asked Steve after a minute. He remembered many women coming in and out of his life, all near his age.
Steve nodded. "Yeah, you were great with them. Class-A flirt. They flocked to you."
"What did I do?" Bucky didn't quite get how it all worked.
"You were attractive, and hey, you were a smooth talker. Always knew what to say to dames." Steve shrugged. Bucky thought about it, and he did remember some of what he had said to the women he remembered. It was still a little fragmented, but overall he figured he had a sense of what these women liked about his words.
Steve finished eating and set his plate aside. The small animal walked up to him and tried jumping up next to him in his chair, and both Bucky and Steve were amused by the attempts.
"Come here little guy." Steve picked up the small animal and set it in his lap. The small animal attempted to attack Steve's hands, pouncing where they were resting, and Steve pulled them away with a slight smile and rubbed its head. "You're a good boy aren't you?"
Bucky watched them, and he felt a certain fondness in him at the sight.
He finished eating as Natasha walked in, and he considered the conversation he had just finished, and what he knew about her.
"Hey boys." She nodded to them both as she walked to the bar, behind which most of the drinks were kept.
"Hey." Steve nodded to her.
("Hey beautiful.") "Эй красавица." Bucky said to her casually. Clint walked in as he did so, and both he and Natasha gave him very odd looks. Natasha's looked confused while Clint's looked almost surprised and amused. Steve started to look worried, but both Clint and Natasha looked away and went back to what they were doing, sitting down near Steve and getting a drink, respectively. From the amused look on Clint's face he assumed he had done it right, so he kept going, leaning on the table to watch Natasha.
("Are you doing anything later?") "Вы делаете что-нибудь позже?" He asked as smoothly as he could manage. Natasha looked up from the bottle she was pulling out of refrigeration to give him another confused look as she poured two drinks, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Clint silencing Steve, and he seemed to be enjoying watching this.
("Are you trying to flirt with me?") "Вы пытаетесь меня соблазнить?" She seemed almost disbelieving, like she had been caught off guard. The soldier inside of him kept this in mind in the event that he needed to distract anyone, but the Bucky of the past felt much more present, and he was simply enjoying this.
("That depends on whether or not it's working.") "Это зависит от того, является ли оно работает." He felt an almost playful smile on his face as he spoke, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Steve looking extremely confused and Clint grinning in surprise.
("Not in a million years.") "Не через миллион лет." She was cautiously casual with her reply, and he could sense that on some level he was a threat, but for now she was letting that go to see where Bucky was taking this.
("That your first attempt since the 40s?") "Это ваша первая попытка с сороковых годов?" She took a sip of her drink.
("Well-") "ну-" He was cut off by the small animal jumping away from Steve and pawing at his leg, playing a little with the hem of his pants. "What is it small dog?" He knelt down to rub its head and Natasha walked to Clint and handed him his drink.
"I'm gonna go whip up the new recruits."
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." Clint nodded, straight faced, and Natasha left.
Bucky picked up the small animal and sat down, and Clint's face slowly broke into a smile, then laughter.
"Oh man, that was great. You've got some moves." He grinned at Bucky.
"Someone please explain what just happened?" Steve looked very confused, and a little concerned. Bucky realized he most likely did not understand Russian.
"I think I just flirted with her." He summed up. This did not remove the look of confusion from Steve's face, it simply heightened it.
"You what?" He seemed almost shocked, and a little impressed.
"That was hard-core flirting. Good too." Clint smiled, and translated the short conversation for Steve.
"Wow. Where'd that come from?" Steve was smiling a bit as he looked back to Bucky, but still seemed a bit shocked.
"I wanted to practice. To see if my memories were correct, about how to flirt with women. I don't think I was very effective, she said no." Bucky shrugged.
"Natasha won't hook up with you. It's her policy never to mix work and pleasure, you have as much chance as Captain Virgin here does." Clint nodded to Steve.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Trust me Buck, those are the exact same moves you pulled on dames in the 40s. You've still got it, she's just a hard nut to crack. Are you actually interested in her?"
Bucky considered. She was an interesting figure, both a threat and possible ally, but if Steve meant in the same way as the other girls he had flirted with the answer was a definite no.
He shook his head, and looked down as the small animal barked and nudged his hand, and he returned to rubbing its head. "Do you think I should be interested in her small dog?"
It pawed at his hand and nudged its head against it as he kept rubbing it gently. He took this as a no.
"I should head out. Nat'll kill me if I'm late for training the new kids on the block." Clint finished his drink and stood. "Nice going Bucky. See you Cap."
They both nodded goodbye to him, and he left.
That night Bucky and the small animal visited Wanda. He felt bad about not having visited earlier in the day, but when Steve had brought him back to his room he had showered and read, and the book took him longer than expected to complete.
He knocked on the door twice and it opened on its own. Wanda was brushing her hair, sitting cross legged on the center of her bed. He came in and sat down at the end of the bed, and helped the small animal up after it attempted to leap up. It promptly crossed to her lap and curled up.
"How was your day?" She asked him with her usual kind smile.
"Eventful." He sighed softly. "I expanded a little more, to... Some room near the cafeteria, Steve took me there to eat pancakes. And I flirted, or at least I tried to."
She looked up. "Who were you flirting with?"
"Natasha Romanoff." He was beginning to understand the shocked stares now. Apparently this was some kind of accomplishment.
"You flirted with her and she did not kill you?" She slowly faded from shocked to almost amused.
He nodded. "She did not even attempt it."
"Tell me everything." She set her brush down and leaned on her knees watching him.
He went through the details of what had happened, pausing for a moment whenever she yawned tiredly.
"That is impressive. I would not have thought you to be a flirt such as this." She smiled, picking up her brush again and continuing to brush her hair.
"I was pretty good before everything happened I think. Steve said I was very good with women." Bucky shrugged a little. "I was not very successful with her."
"Natasha does not do these things. They are for missions only I think. When she does not have to stay-" Wanda cut herself off with a long yawn.
"You need rest." Bucky noted, and she nodded a little. He stood and took the small animal from her lap as she set the brush aside and laid back and pulled the blanket over herself, and Bucky found himself assisting her with it on instinct. She looked a little surprised but didn't stop him, and he remembered where he had learned this behaviour. He had done it a lot with little Steve, when he was sick.
"Good night Wanda." He said quietly, and she smiled a little.
"Good night Bucky. Good night small dog." She rubbed the small animal's head for a moment before pulling her arm back under the blanket and closing her eyes.
Bucky went back to his room and did the same, laying there silently with the small animal resting next to him until he eventually went to sleep himself.
Thank you so much for reading, be sure to review and follow because (except for this time) I post new chapters every Wednesday, and I love seeing what you guys think and what you want me to do going forwards
