December 12, 2014

"Nice undercover look. So covert. Very civilian. Much innocence." Bellona Drager was taunting the former Winter Soldier's fashion choices before the pair departed to purchase more of their ever-necessary supplies of coffee and plums. It had taken her a while to convert her subconscious anger at him to lighthearted sarcasm, something which should have been easier for her than it actually was. Perhaps because she was more used to teasing and joking around Tony, Steve, and the other Avengers than with the former Winter Soldier. However, once both of them had become used to using jokes to verbally lash out at the other, be it in fun or as an outlet for the tension that was apt to arise between them, their wars of words could grow exponentially ruthless.

Bucky Barnes had just finished his multi-layered outfit that was more likely to conceal several weapons than her own with his usual baseball cap. "Nice hat," he shot an accusing finger her way. "Wonder where you got the idea from." Her nondescript baseball cap was identical to the one he had just placed on his head.

"From some anachronistic punk," Bellona slipped into Romanian. Whenever the two travelled in public, they spoke the country's native language, but when alone they spoke English, as their own native language possessed a certain nostalgia that was addicting.

"Very funny," Bucky replied in the same tongue, though his tone put a halt to any further banter as he slid open the lock on the door. "Now let's go before it gets dark."

Bellona popped on a pair of her favorite sunglasses and followed Bucky out of the apartment, down the hall, the stairs, and into the bustling city street. The sun was beginning to droop in the horizon, casting long shadows over the urban landscape. Its waning rays did naught to ward off the creeping chill that was seeping through the city, though neither of them were very much affected by the plummeting temperature.

"Two men, ten yards behind us, heading this way," Bucky murmured into her ear. With the calmness that came from experience, her braids twitched as she casually snuck a glance over her shoulder and spotted who he was referring to.

"An officer and his trainee, two weapons — pistols," she said in a low voice. "Minimal threat. I'm thinking the officer's shift ends soon, his trainee can't wait to leave, probably has a date with a girl."

Without slowing their pace, Bucky shot a look down at her, utter disbelief stunning his face. "How can you tell that?"

"The officer looks irritated, his trainee is jumpy, is checking his appearance in every reflective surface, and keeps eying the flower vendor across the street."

Suavely, Bucky shot a look at them and then laughed under his breath. "You're right."

"Now where do we want to get plums from? I like the Italian guy who gives me flowers."

"I'm not overly fond of him," Bucky's response was gruff as his eyes swept the street around them, observing everything.

Bellona snickered with dark amusement. "I'm not overly fond of flowers either. I just think he's funny."

"No, you just like the attention."

"And you like plums so let's go," she snatched Bucky's hand in her own and led him down and across the street to where the stocky dark-haired Italian vendor had his produce set up. He was young, early twenties, studying medicine at a nearby university — he would often pull out a textbook when business was slow. He sold fresh fruits and vegetables with a coalition of his friends, many of them Romanian, several of whom owned or worked on local farms just outside the city where the fruit they sold was grown.

"Giorgio!" Bellona hailed the young vendor as she approached. The Italian glanced up from his battered textbook and smiled widely, revealing crooked teeth but delighted eyes.

"Ciao, bella!" He greeted the girl magnanimously in Italian before switching to patchy Romanian. "You come for plums?"

"How does he know your name?" Bucky whispered down to her, quietly enough that only another super-soldier would be able to hear him.

"He doesn't," she snickered as Giorgio shot her a lively wink and Bucky's eyes narrowed in annoyance as the Italian started rattling off about his latest shipment of fruit.

"How many lei for a dozen?" Bellona smoothly interrupted his enthusiastic chatter.

"Twelve lei, twelve, but maybe it can be less for la bella donna, huh?"

"La bella donna thinks it should be less," Bellona teased the fruit vendor, who was ignorant of the fact that the former Winter Soldier, standing next to her and shooting him suspicious glances, was entirely able to understand Italian; Bellona having taught it to him on their extensive car rides around Europe in retaliation for his deciding against going to Italy.

"Then maybe it can be less, maybe it can be less, but ah… bella, what's this in your hair?" Both Bellona Drager and Bucky Barnes froze as the flirtatious Giorgio reached a hand towards one of the girl's braids, the very one that contained the dormant power of a thunderstorm. They almost expected there to be a deafening crack of thunder, but there was only the cracking of the Italian's silly grin. "You're hiding flowers in your hair now, eh bella?" He babbled, pulling off a cliche magic trick as he pretended to pull a flower from behind her ear and immediately presented it to her.

"I hide many things in my hair, Giorgio," Bucky could tell her giggle was fabricated as she took the blood-red flower from him and tucked it into her right braid. "But you're hiding plums from me."

"Ahh, never bella, never would I hide the best plums in the world from such a beautiful girl!" Giorgio turned and gestured to his latest stock of the fruit. "The freshest in the world, Giorgio's plums, the finest in the universe!"

"We'll take six," Bucky finally cleared his throat, giving the Italian an icy look as he jumped into the conversation. He was getting that sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that he associated with Bells "improvising" something as he watched from a distance. Except he wasn't sure what she was improvising right now, seeing as he was standing right next to her.

"Twelve lei."

Bellona tightened her grasp on Bucky's left hand, feeling his bubbling irritation. "But Giorgio," her voice was a calm purr, "you said it could be less." She didn't necessarily care how much money they spent, she just found it entertaining to watch the Italian fawn over her and Bucky to grow annoyed at someone other than herself.

"I do not study economics, bella," Giorgio winked before slipping into Italian. "I said it could be less for la bella donna. But I'm charging your boyfriend full price."

Bucky Barnes was so stunned by the vendor's statement, Bellona Drager almost burst into gales of laughter. Evidently, he knew she was struggling to not burst into sniggers because he shot a withering glare down at her, before promptly averting it towards the Italian, who unconsciously took a step backwards upon sighting the glacial look in the Winter Soldier's eyes.

"But how much for me, Giorgio?" Bellona asked in Romanian, her voice containing a subtle warning for Bucky to stand down. "And he's not my boyfriend."

This seemed to thrill the young vendor; his face lighting up like a child's on Christmas morning. "Take as many plums as you desire, bella, if you'd do me the honor of meeting me at the cafè down the street in the morning…. Call it a date, if it please you."

"Bag six of them for me." Her voice was calm, a finger lightly tapping the back of Bucky's gloved metal hand as she felt it contracting. The Italian complied with her order and soon handed over the bagged fruit. She took them with a gracious smile, then released Bucky's hand from her's and held it up to him, without taking her eyes off Giorgio. "Twelve lei." Bucky handed her the money immediately, and she in turn, handed it to the Italian. "Thank you for the plums, Giorgio, but I already have a date in the morning."

"Ah, unlucky, unlucky!" Giorgio cried good-naturedly in Italian, "though your date isn't unlucky… ciao, bella, until next time, then!"

She was smirking at him when Bucky clenched her hand in his again and steered her away from the fruit vendor, almost dragging her down the crowded street.

"I told you I don't like him," he grunted once they'd melted away into the crowd. "He's a flirtatious punk. And what do you mean you already have a date in the morning?"

Bellona's laugh was like the low toll of a bell cutting through a thick fog. "A date with my coffee. Which we need to get right now." She tugged her hand out of the iron grip of his left metal one and held out her wrist to him, tugging back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal the metal bracelet clasped around her wrist.

"Why?" Bucky asked, his eyes widening as he gave her a searching look, knowing she wanted him to remove it and wondering for what possible reason she would need to use elemental power in the middle of a Bucharest street with dozens of civilian witnesses around.

She deliberately lifted her sunglasses just so she could roll her eyes at him. "Can you just do it, Barnes?"

The bracelet responded to the touch of his metal fingers, even under his thick glove, and it unclasped itself, falling into his palm. Bellona reached up with this hand and plucked the scarlet flower from her braid. Bucky watched it burn to ashes at the touch of her fingers, and she let the dust float away, scattered in the twilight breeze that cooled the street.