Wasn't going to post again soon because I lost where I was going for a bit there. But I've found the path again! I think, it's got some obstacles, but I think I'll manage.
I'm also stressing about other life stuff, personal stuff, so that's distracting me.
Any words of encouragement are welcomed.
Thank you for reading!
Words: 3,057
Ada feels like shit. Guilty really. She hasn't answered Jamie's texts with more than three words at a time. She hasn't had to avoid Peter or MJ much because they finally admitted their feelings for each other and are now in a relationship. That does cheer Ada up a bit but not much. Not that she's not happy for them. So they're in their own little world. Ada suspects they will be for a little while.
It's selfish, instead of just telling Jamie she doesn't want to be friends, she talks to him just enough that he won't think that himself. Because she does want to be his friend but...it's complicated. No time to think about that now.
Pushing open the car door, Ada climbs out and throws her bag over her shoulder. "I'll catch up with you later, kiddo," Mr. Stark waves and motions in the opposite direction.
"Yeah," Ada lifts her arm lazily and heads towards her room inside the compound. She had planned on just locking herself in there all day but once the door closes behind her and her bag hits the floor, she realizes she can't do that. She can't sit still, she needs to do something.
Plugging her earbuds into her phone, Ada loops the cord under her shirt and plays her music before leaving her room. She walks the halls, trying to find something to do. Tony is busy, he said he has stuff to do. Ada hasn't seen the others in a while but honestly doesn't want to be around people right now. Not while sober, at least.
After long walks through the halls, she ends up in the gym. Only because it's empty. Oddly enough. Despite they're video game addiction, the avengers like to workout as well. Though it is the weekend and everyone needs days off. Even heroes. Especially heroes.
Ada isn't one to workout much herself. Other than school. Track and P.E. She actually likes running but with everything that happened. She just hasn't gotten back into it.
Blowing out a breath through her mouth, Ada lightly pushes on the punching bag hanging off to the side. They don't look as heavy as they really are. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure she really is alone, Ada turns back and throws a weak punch at the bag. "That was pathetic," She mumbles to herself and pushes the bag away from herself with both hands.
"Your form is off," Jumping, Ada spins around with a hand over her heart. She'd just looked there, how?
"The hell, man?" Ada mumbles and removes her earbuds as James Buchanan Barnes smiles in amusement by her reaction. "And I wasn't-" She gestures towards the bag weakly. "I was just- I know how to punch."
"Oh, yeah?" He asks while setting something down on a bench. "Prove it."
"Well now I don't want to," Ada crosses her arms over her chest but doesn't move her feet.
"You can break your hand if you don't do it right," He informs her, lips turned up at her behaivor. It reminds him of Steve from before, in an odd way.
"I have punched someone, for your information," Ada tells him pointedly. "And my hand is fine." Maybe her wrist still hurts a little but he doesn't need to know that.
"I'm sure," He says, the sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Fine, if you're so good, you do it," Ada takes a surprising step back when he does punch the bag, sending it flying back. "Show off." She mutters and rolls her eyes. She suspects that wasn't near his full strength either.
"I can show you if you want."
"Why?" Ada questions and furrows her eyebrows, watching the man shrug.
"You never know when you're going to need to punch someone." Opening her mouth to say something, Ada snaps it closed and looks off to the side. I mean, he's not wrong. So copying his earlier shrug, Ada nods.
"Okay, show me your fist," James says after taping the teenager's hands. Ada flexes her fingers a few times before tightening them into a fist. "Good. You don't want to tuck your thumb."
"Or I'll break it?" She asks rhetorically but Barnes gives her a blank 'yes'. "Right." Standing, Ada holds her hands out in front of her and turns them over. "Now what?"
Shrugging, James crosses his arms over his chest. "Punch it," He nods towards the punching bag. Ada looks between him and it for a moment before moving closer to it. She glances at him again before throwing her closed fist towards it.
"Spread your feet more, right foot back," He tells her, watching as she follows his orders from the sidelines. "Arms up, don't lock your elbows. Use your legs and your hips. Put your whole body behind the punch." Ada does what he says and throws another punch, smiling when the bag moves more. She looks over to him but his facial expression doesn't change. "Better. But not perfect."
"Well, you know what they say, nobody is perfect," Ada mumbles while using her left arm to push the bag away from her.
"Hit it again," Ada does what he says and hits the bag. Then again. And again and again. Though her hands and arms hurt, she does feel somewhat better.
"That won't feel good in the morning," Ada mumbles to herself when she unwraps her red hands. The tape protected them from any cuts, but she doesn't doubt she'll have bruises.
"Nope," Barnes says simply, having heard her quiet words. "Ice helps."
"Thanks..." Ada trails off and opens and closes her mouth a few times before just asking. "What do I call you?"
"Bucky is fine,"
"Right, okay," Ada hits her forehead. "Well, thank you, now I can go beat people up." The man turns his blank expression towards her and she holds her hands up. "I'm kidding."
"You couldn't do it anyway," It's his turn to mumble but Ada still hears him and cocks her head to the side. He sees the motion and sees the question written across her face. "Sure, you can throw a decent punch but you're skinny, weak."
"Wow, thanks," Ada deadpans but he ignores her.
"Put in the work, maybe you'd stand a chance."
"'Put in the work'," Ada repeats with a shake of her head. "Sure," The words were sarcastic but when her eyes scan the room, she thinks it might not be a bad idea. "I'm in the city most of the time anyway."
"So?" Bucky says while wrapping his own hand now. "You don't need fancy equipment to train."
"Yeah," Though she doesn't like to sit still, Ada doesn't think she would be able to find the motivation to do so every day. She wouldn't even know where to start. Running, she could do that, that's simple. But anything beyond that, she just doesn't know.
Grabbing her phone from the bench, Ada sits down heavily, her face falling. She'll have to tell Jamie no again to hang out.
Bucky notices the sudden shift in the girl's mood and glances at her from the corner of his eyes. She is awfully skinny, again reminding him of Steve from before. Though he supposes he understands why to some extent. Steve told him what happened. About the accident, her injuries, Stark taking her in. He'll admit to seeing the man differently after learning that.
"Problem?" Ada's head snaps up at his question as if she'd forgotten he was even there.
"What? Uh, no," She shakes her head and looks down at the reminder in her hands that there was in fact, a problem. "Well, no- just. Teenager stuff." She gives a quiet laugh but it falls flat. "Anyway, thanks again and uh, have fun, doing whatever." She gestures around them before ducking out of the room. Time to find something else to distract herself and her shaky hands with.
"Well, hello, stranger," Ada offers Sam a small smile and lifts herself onto her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. "What is this?" He asks when they pull apart, picking up a lock of her dyed red hair.
Ada shrugs and mumbles, "I don't know."
"I like it," Sam says and taps the hat resting over her head but doesn't comment on it. "Come on, the others are wondering where you are." He throws an arm around the teenager's narrow shoulders and leads her down the hallway.
Ada doesn't fight him. She wants to see the others as well but at the same time not. She'd rather be alone right now, she doesn't know why. Her knuckles are sore when she clenches her fists but the pain doesn't bother her.
"Nat and Clint aren't around," Sam tells her before they enter the common room. "But the others make up for their missing presence."
"Oh, I bet," Ada loves Natasha and Clint, she really does but she's glad they're not there. Steve gives her a side hug as greeting and Thor offers his hand for a fist bump - something she had Peter had taught him - and Ada looks up at him and cocks her head to the side. "Did you grow since I was here last?" The blonde god looks to Tony but the man just shakes his head before smiling at his kid.
"I love your hair," Wanda tells her before pulling the girl away from the others. "Want to help me cook? No offense, Vis." The man? holds up his hands as if to say 'none taken' and backs away to give them room by the stove.
"Sure," Ada says slowly, her eyes darting around the room before it settles back on the food.
"Is everything okay?" Wanda's question has Ada's eyes snapping up to meet her, brows furrowing. Why was she asking that? Had she done something to make her suspect...something?
"Y-yeah," Ada nods and turns her gaze down to the sauce and stirs it. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Wanda says slowly after a moment, her eyes lingering on the shorter girl before she turns her attention back to preparing dinner.
When everyone sits down to eat - sans Loki and the people not there - Ada slides down in her seat to make herself smaller. She's hoping it'll make it less likely for people to talk to her. At one point while reaching for her drink, her hand hits it and she knocks it over. Thankfully it was mostly empty and her napkin easily soaks up the spilled liquid. She excuses herself moments later.
The minutes she's alone tick by both quickly and slowly. Ada's body vibrates but she has no energy to pull herself off her bed. So when a knock sounds at the door, she only calls out. "Come in."
Mr. Stark sighs when he lies on the other side of the bed. He doesn't speak at first, instead, he folds his hands over his stomach and copies her by staring up at the ceiling. He's never noticed how blank his ceilings are before now.
"So Pepper talked to me the other day." He starts after a few minutes, eyes still glued to the while ceiling.
"Mhm, about what?" Comes Ada's mumbles response.
"About the day out you guys had," He tells her in an equally quiet voice. "Said you guys went to an animal shelter."
"Yeah, there were puppies. They were cute."
"I bet they were," Tony's lips turn up into a smile but it falls quickly and he sighs. "Do you want to tell me what happened at dinner?"
"Odd subject change," Ada whispers before copying his sigh. "I spilled my drink, so what?"
"You didn't say a single word," He continues, ignoring her words. "Even when Sam made that horrible joke. You love talking to those guys. For reasons beyond me." He mumbles the last part to himself.
Blowing out a deep breath, Ada sits up against her headboard and Tony follows but turns to face her. "Guess it's just not a good day. But that's okay, though," She looks to him and nods. "I do feel better, actually, I think now I'm just tired." And her arms are really sore already.
"How bad?" Tony is no stranger to having bad days.
Looking off to the side, Ada bites her cheek in thought. How do you explain not wanting to move but unable to sit still while your entire body feels like it weighs five-thousand tons? The way her heart constantly feels like it's being squeezed, that food makes her sick most of the time. That the only way she feels better is when she's so drunk or high that she can't even remember why she feels the way she feels all the time, how can she explain that to him? Because she's sure as hell not actually going to tell him.
"Eh, just..." Ada trails off with a shrug when words fail her. She gives Tony a helpless look. "But I'm fine." She weakly punches his shoulder and offers a lopsided grin. Yeah, that definitely didn't hurt her knuckles.
"Thanks for telling me," If only he knew what she wasn't telling him. "Because I need you to tell me these things. When you feel like this. When you're having a bad day, I want you to tell me."
"Okay," Ada whispers, not ready to risk her voice breaking if she speaks any louder. "I think I'll feel better in the morning."
"You think so?" Tony lets his eyes scan her face, looking for any signs of...he's not sure what.
"Mhm," Ada nods and uses all of her energy to lift her lips into a convincing smile. And it's not his fault that he doesn't see through it, she's been doing it for years, after all.
"Alright, kiddo," He squeezes her shoulder before standing from the bed. "Get me if you need anything. I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Mr. Stark," Ada's lips lift upwards on their own at the look he gives her. "Goodnight, Tony."
"Better," He smiles. "Goodnight, kid."
Ada waits until the door to her room is closed before she releases the breath she'd been holding and falls into her pillows.
Despite what she told Mr. Stark, Ada doesn't go to sleep. She tried to, honestly, for about three hours. Lying with one's eyes closed can only be done for so long before you feel like you're going to explode.
After pacing the floor in front of her window for the umpteenth time, Ada sighs and runs her hands through her hair harder than necessary. She marches into her bathroom and flicks the lights on, wincing at the sudden change from darkness. Her pale reflection stares back at her and she grimaces at the already growing bags under her eyes.
She splashes water in her face before leaving the room, turning the lights off behind her.
The hallways and rooms are as quiet as always so early in the morning. Everyones either asleep or at least in their rooms. Ada looks both ways before stepping choosing a way to go. There's no destination in mind, she's just hoping a long walk will help.
All the rooms she passes by go unseen by the teenager. She lets her hand glide along the wall until she finds herself in the gym. She turns the low lights on and looks around at the dimly lit room. Her gaze zeros in on the treadmills and she thinks for a moment. Maybe run would tire her out but her body isn't the problem. Her body is tired, her mind is what's so awake.
Releasing her hundredth sigh of the day, Ada turns her back on the room. She returns to her bed and tries once again to sleep. When that fails, she reaches for the pills in the bottom of her bag. They're not sleeping pills, but she's hoping they'll help. And they do.
Hours later, the teenager awakes, not remembering any dreams she may have had. She pulls herself out of bed and doesn't bother fixing her sheets before dressing. She chooses a long-sleeved shirt, one with holes for her thumbs to hide the bruises lining the back of her hands.
Ada pulls her hat further over her forehead before joining the others for breakfast.
"There she is," Sam calls out when she enters the kitchen. She keeps her head ducked, hoping to pass it off as residual tiredness. "Just in time. Hope you like french toast." For some reason, just those words make her stomach turn. The smell is even worse. Not that Sam can't cook, her insides just have a problem with it.
"Sounds good," She says instead, excepting her food. She eats a few bites but pushes most of it around her plate.
"It's been way too long since I've had any real video game competition," Ada looks up from where her head is resting on her hand to look at Sam. "After breakfast."
"Sorry, birdbrain," Tony appears, sounding far from apologetic. "We gotta head back soon."
"You just got here," He argues but Ada just sends him a small smile while moving to throw away her food. She sets her plate in the sink before returning to her room with the excuse of getting her things together.
In truth, there was nothing to do. She hadn't taken anything out of her bag that she didn't put right back when finished using it. The low throbbing in her head has Ada rubbing her temples. She never thought she'd feel this way, but she's ready to get back to the city.
I think Bucky teaching Ada to punch properly is just adorable. She reminds him a pre-serum Steve, he's just trying to help. Make sure she can handle herself if needed. Like a big brother would.
Hope you guy enjoyed this chapter and let me know your thoughts!
Teasers: "I can't believe you did that," Ada groans and drops her head onto her arms. / He tries to look around the corner but Ada grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls him back. / A silhouette of a man, the tiny light coming from near his mouth creating an even more ominous feeling to the entire situation. /"Nice doing business with you." Who's up to what now?
Sorry for no Loki this time, I just couldn't find a spot for him.
'-'