A/N So, without further blabla, hre is n´the new chapter for you. I really hope you enjoy it ;)
Invader Johnny: Well, maybe sometime she really will ;)
Byzantium blackberry: Oh god, thanks so much for pointing it out! I really didn't notice I used German punctuation instead of the more approbiate English one *face palm* I already corrected this oneshot and will also look over those already published. Thanks a lot, really!
FinntasticFinn: I love it, too :D
Title: Candy (prompt #18)
Characters: Natasha, Bucky (friendship)
Word count: ~ 1340
It was a lazy Saturday afternoon at the Avengers headquarter. Tony had been invited to some sort of fund-raiser and had taken Steve with him, because quote: "If he can sell war bonds, he sure as hell can help raising money where it is really needed." Before Tony could enlist any other team members, they quickly looked for excuses. Clint decided to spend some quality time with his family and Bruce had this really important project he was working on in the lab. Wanda and Vision decided they'd better not be seen in public and Sam wanted to train more to finally be "not that much slower than Cap." Rhodey had taken an extra shift at his post. When Tony had asked Natasha, she had simply looked at him with her cold Black Widow gaze until Tony decided he'd rather not wait for an answer.
So instead of being dragged to some event she didn't care about, Natasha got a movie and a bag of her favourite toffee she found by chance in a little shop and already got herself comfortable on the sofa in front of the TV. Right now she had a break from being an Avenger or an agent or whatsoever.
The soft steps approaching her didn't even get her to look up; over time she had managed to memorize the steps of every resident in the tower. Relaxed she popped another toffee into her mouth and acknowledged Bucky with a nod when he plopped on the cushions beside her.
"Why you're not with Steve and Stark?" he asked after placing his feet on the coffee table.
Natasha shrugged. "I worked for Stark undercover a few years ago. I had my share of him at events and I would rather kiss a shark than go on another one with him. What about you?"
"Didn't ask me to come," Bucky answered with a tone as if he didn't care but Natasha could see right through it. Being trained as a spy would do that to you.
"If he wouldn't trust you, he wouldn't have offered you a room in the tower. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about." After she had abandoned his side during the fight at the airport it had been hard work convincing him she could be trusted when the team finally got back together again. Natasha didn't believe he would let her go so easily again if she crossed him.
Bucky huffed. "Did you kill his parents?"
"No, and we had that topic often enough. You weren't yourself when you did it. It's in the past. Mopping won't change it." She sighed and to lighten the mood, she told him about her time with Tony. "I was the one to file him as unfitting for the Avengers Initiative when it first came up, so he ended up as a counsellor rather than a fully-fledged member. His pride didn't take it well."
Buck grinned. "I can imagine." Then from one second to another he grew serious again. "But yet he considers you his friend. At least so it seems. I on the other hand… I'm tolerated because Steve fought for it. I know he had a hard time adjusting but I wonder whether I'll ever be someone else than the Winter Soldier."
"It takes some time to adjust, I won't lie to you. But if you have the right guys around you, the ones who believe in you, it's possible."
"How can you know? No offense, but you're a member of the Avengers and of S.H.I.E.L.D. Doesn't seem to me as if you ever needed to adjust to anything." Bucky challengingly raised an eyebrow.
Natasha pulled her legs closer and hugged her knees. "I started as an assassin of the KGB, trained in the Red Room."
"You survived the Red Room? You're kidding me, right? You have to be kidding me."
"No, sadly not. My parents were killed and the KGB took me in, training me for its benefits. I graduated at the age of fifteen. I made a name for myself, so after a few years, Clint was sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to kill me, but instead of doing so, he brought me to D.C., convincing Coulson and Fury to make me an agent. They went with it. Since then I spend my time wiping the blood off of my hands. Sometimes with more success, sometimes with less. Few people trust me the moment they meet me, but that's fine. They would be stupid to trust someone like me instantly." Natasha shrugged nonchalantly.
Bucky cocked his head. "Steve seems to trust you."
"Yeah, Steve is a puppy who trusts everyone patting his head," Natasha objected with a smile. "But there was a time he distrusted me. Changed only after we were hiding from Hydra. He saved my life."
"Glad I could help with that one, though I'm sorry for hunting you. And killing your boss." Bucky offered an apologetic smile. "Although your little shock-thingy really messed with my arm. And your hit on my glasses was just awesome."
Natasha only shrugged again. "They can be pretty nasty but that's the point of the Widow's Bite. And it's alright, you know. You didn't kill Fury and it wasn't the first time you shot me."
"Oh, come on! Are you serious?"
As an answer, Natasha lifted her top a few inches. "Remember the Iranian nuclear scientist? Somehow you pulled us off a cliff near Odessa but I managed to get us out. I was shielding him with my body and you shot him right through me. Bye-bye bikinis."
"Yeah, I'm sure no one wants to look at you when you're wearing them now," Bucky scoffed. "But I'm sorry nevertheless. I almost killed you twice and you're still not telling me to go and find another place to hang out?"
Natasha smiled and let the fabric fall back down before reaching again for her toffees. "Steve said something similar when I told him the story. And you've already tried to kill me thrice, so… I guess I just love the risk."
"Vienna?" Bucky simply asked and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. His metal hand clenched into a fist.
Natasha gently touched his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you for a single encounter," she said with honesty. "I rather look at it the other way around. I managed to survive the Winter Soldier three times, that should be worth some kind of achievement. And to be honest, I would have deserved to die every time. Like I said, there is a lot of blood on my hands. All we both can do is to try and make it up to those who trust in us. Heck, Clint even brought me to his family when he didn't know whether I could be trusted or not. You should have seen Laura's face when I stood in the door." Her smile was full of the warmth only seldom displayed by the Black Widow. "You living at the tower is the first step in the right direction. I got a second chance, even a third while we're at it. Why shouldn't you, too?"
"You really mean this, don't you?"
"Sure. I may be not Captain America, but I only lie when it's necessary." Natasha winked at him and hesitated for a moment before offering him her bag of toffees. "Want some? Just don't tell Tony or else he bothers me he wants some, too."
Bucky grinned his boy-like grin. "Won't say a word. Thanks." It was quiet for some while. Then Bucky asked: "Care to spar later? Need a partner who poses a challenge without using magic tricks."
"What about electric powered tricks?" Her look was too innocent to be real.
"You're talking about your Bites?" Bucky sighed as Natasha nodded. "Fine. But only limited. Otherwise I could be lying on the floor, drooling onto the mat."
"Could be," Natasha agreed with a grin. "You're up for a movie before we take it to the gym?"
Bucky shrugged, leaning back more relaxed. "Sure. Pick something."
Well, my first time writing Bucky. What do you think? Did I handle him quite okay or is he rather OOC?
