No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 2
Chapter 11: Wide-Eyed, Wrapped in Love (Part 1)

Maria Stark was as cute as a button.

Well, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top field agents thought so. Natasha Romanov was bothered by Maria a bit when they first met, mainly because she always asked her questions that had to do with Bucky Barnes.

Maria Stark was a quiet woman, but nosy. Romanov attributed her persistence to always having her son or husband in danger.

The two of them being in danger meant Maria's life had always been an elegant mess, so Natasha cut her some slack after some point.

She was standing beside Tony's mother and the two of them were looking more toward Bucky and Howard. Tony's father always seemed to have a good time when Bucky was around him.

All of it amused Natasha. Bucky's behavior always seemed to change whenever he was around Howard as well. He always became more sentimental, or...

"So you two aren't married yet?"

Maria found her tongue and got herself started on that nosy behavior. Natasha gave her a soft smile regardless, even though the question made her want to leave the VIP booth.

No, she wasn't married to Bucky Barnes, and Natasha figured she never would be. The truth to that had more to do with the not-so-winter soldier's unspoken behavior.

For years, Natasha had been a bystander and witnessed Bucky's back-and-forth bullshit that he had going on with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Natasha always had a front row seat, so she fixed her posture and gave Maria another smile.

She quietly told her the truth, with a hope that Maria would be satisfied with the response and drop the subject.

"I'm not the marrying kind."

That was it. Natasha let the comment loose and she made note of Maria's reaction. The older woman looked happy at first, then a bit confused. She was confused because on the outside it seemed like Bucky Barnes was overly-attentive toward Natasha.

He was always looking over at her as if he was trying to pull her in close. That was the observation Maria had going on in that moment when she looked over and saw him talking with her husband.

Bucky and Howard were chatting it up over everything, and Maria felt pretty happy where she stood. All of that sort of changed when a commotion began to build toward her left.

Her son started making some noise over on that gigantic stage, and Maria's heart seemed to instantly fill up.

Tony had an old-school video being projected onto a massive screen. The video was some archived footage of the early years of Stark Industries.

Tony was showing the audience a study of energy vibrations and the connection of energy and music. He was enlightening the crowd about how their energy was about to be manipulated, and Tony always made everything amusing.

Maria turned her entire body in the direction of the stage. Bucky Barnes did the exact same movement. His focus turned entirely toward Tony's little show.

Natasha watched him for a while. Bucky seemed very eager. Excited. He almost looked like a little kid.

Chapter: END

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