Housemates

Anna knew that no matter what happened she would never be able to stop seeing people as toys to manipulate. Splitting them into categories of whether they would make a good mark or not, a trait that gave her a slightly jaded view of society. So when she had offered to help keep Bucky off of the world's radar, Steve couldn't help but be wary. Even if Anna had fought alongside them, no one knew a great deal about the eccentric blonde, no one had known she was an enhanced until three days – apart from Wanda, who was sworn to secrecy by the former con artist.

"Why did you volunteer to do this?" Steve asked, finally voicing the question that plagued his mind.

"Because I'm the only one who doesn't isn't tied down by everything happening in their lives. You have a team to lead Steve, Clint has a family, Ivy and Wanda are looking out for Pietro's health while they wait for him to wake up" Anna answered honestly as she sat on the desk "Sam thinks like a soldier and is helping you with the team, Scott has a daughter, T'Challa has a country to run and Kat is running a billion dollar company"

"You could go with Clint, Wanda or Ivy"

"Not completely true, a part of me needs to do this for me. Prove that I can stop manipulating people before I accidentally manipulate the people I love. That I can live a normal-ish life"

"You've been doing that haven't you?"

"Old habbits are hard to kill" Anna sheepishly shrugged as she held up the super soldier's wallet.

"How'd you even …?"

"I was good at what I did"

"I see" Steve muttered as he took his wallet back from the blonde, not sure if he should be impressed or annoyed at her. "Can you keep him off the grid?"

"The only alias that Stark has been to track back to me is Celeste Fielding. That was my first and is one of seventeen"

"Point taken"

….

Bucky didn't know how the hell his new 'handler' had swung the apartment that they were going to be living in. All he had been told by Steve was to just go with it when it came to the former con artist, and Bucky was pretty sure that the young blonde just winged it most of the time.

"Are you sure about this place?" he asked Anna, figuring the nice apartment would draw unwanted attention.

"I've used this place to lay low before, so its fine in that regard. Plus the world is going to be going to be expecting you to be laying low. So do what they don't expect Barnes and relax"

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Not a clue, but there is only one way to find out"

"Does anything phase you Annabelle?"

"Not yet"

"I doubt I will ever be able to understand how you think"

"No one can, so don't beat yourself up about it"

…..

The first week was hard for the pair, Bucky barely slept so he often woke Anna up at 3 a.m. a fact she didn't respond well too. To the former assassin, no matter how old she acted or what she was physically capable of, she was still pretty much a child – given that she was, technically, over seventy years younger than him.

….

"You drink coffee?" Anna asked one of the mornings as she poured herself a cup.

"I guess" Bucky responded as he watched the blonde pour a drink into another cup for him. As she brought the ladybug printed mug to her lips, he couldn't help but focus his attention on her. He was doing what he had when he got a new target, analysing them. Annabelle 'Anna' Winters, 19 years old, enhanced human, occupation: bodyguard for heiress, con artist, thief, doesn't give a straight answer, can talk for hours without revealing anything personal, has twin sister, four claw marks on torso, weak against vibranium, speaks several languages (known languages so far: Russian, French, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Mandarin and German), hetrochromatic eyes and highlights in her hair.

"You okay? You zoned out for a second there"

"Why did you become a con artist? You're so young"

"You are starting to sound your age old man" Anna chuckled as she placed her cup on the counter trailing her finger around the rim. "why the sudden interest in my past? Not even the rest of the team know it"

"We're living together, shouldn't we know about each other?"

"How much do you remember about your past?"

"You don't talk about yourself much do you?"

"Right back at you"

"Why did you dye your hair?" Bucky changed to something a little less personal, well what he assumed was less personal.

"I guess I should throw you a bone. You know that my sister was kidnapped when we were young only at the time that I thought she was dead. It got hard to look in the mirror when all you can see is her staring back at you, even with my eyes, I saw my dead sister. I needed to try and differentiate my appearance even slightly. Plus, purple was her favourite colour and violets are my favourite flower"

"Sorry. Didn't think that it would be such a deep reason"

"Do you know why you were hired to kill me?"

"You were getting close to learning that Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD. You were a that needed to be …. Taken out"

"I guess it's no surprise" Anna shrugged as she placed a hand on the former assassin's shoulder "you know I don't hate you for that, nor do I blame you"

"You should"

"James Buchannan Barnes, listen to me. You tried to kill me, so I get to tell you to stop feeling guilty about it and move on"

"You're stubborn"

"I know how to get people to do what I want"

…..

That night Anna couldn't help but feel anxious, she had told Bucky something personal about herself, something no one other than Kat knew about her. Not knowing what compelled her to answer the question when she could so easily dodge it confused the blonde.

'Never look back darling, it distracts from the now [1]' Victor's words rang through her head as she looked at the photo Steve had taken of them before everything started to go downhill, before Pietro's coma, before Nigeria, before the Sokovia Accords and before she was living with another human being. It was of her sitting on the couch, while Ivy sat on Pietro's lap next to her with the young blonde's feet sprawled over her legs, Wanda and Kat set on her other side with the young billionaire sitting on the back of the couch and leaning forward.

Placing the photo back on the bedside table Anna curled up into her blankets and closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep before Bucky woke up and started to work out. Slowly her eyes started to feel heavy before she fell into a dreamless slumber.

Can anyone guess the reference? It summarises Anna's mentality as she starts to move on with her life.