I fell to the floor and clutched my stomach.

"Get up," the Winter Soldier growled.

I gritted my teeth and did as he said.

"Your defences are sloppy," he said.

"I know," I growled. "You've told me that a lot."

"Then improve them," he said, his voice a deep growl.

He moved, fast like lightning. I threw my arms up in defence and kicked out. I hit him in the knee. He barely buckled and continued coming at me. Soon enough, he had me pinned down.

A traitorous thought crossed my mind.

If he wasn't so hell bent on making my life a living hell, I would probably enjoy being pinned down by him.

The thought made me want to gag. Although it was undeniable – he was hot.

After he gave me about seven more bruises, however, the thought was far from my mind.

*

I woke up from my memory-dream. I groaned and rolled over. The girls talking about Bucky was really getting to me. Sure, I could admit it – he was hot – but the fact that they kept talking about it was bringing back memories.

I got up and stretched. I had been working on my powers and dancing and walking in stilettos for a week now, and I was good at everything except the dancing.

After checking the time and realising that it was way too early for any sane person to be up, I decided to try to practice dancing. By myself.

I made my way down the halls and to the ball room. What the hell did Tony even need a ballroom for?

I played the music and shook myself. I placed my hands in the air where they were supposed to go and began to move. I stood where I thought I was supposed to stand, and I thought I was doing a good job. Until I tripped myself over.

I lay on the floor and groaned.

"Come on, y/n!" I grumbled to myself. "It's dancing! It shouldn't be this hard!"

"You know, talking to yourself is one of the first signs of insanity."

My gaze whipped to the door to see Bucky leaning against the door frame.

"Funnily enough, I already knew that, Bucky," I said, rubbing my face.

Bucky chuckled.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

I looked up at him.

"Do you like having your toes attached to your body?" I questioned.

Bucky laughed, and I smiled a bit.

"If you can dance, why haven't you been teaching me?" I asked.

Bucky scratched the back of his neck.

"The others aren't quite sure where we stand in terms of our... relationship," he said.

Relationship. He didn't say friendship. Did that mean he thought we weren't friends?

"Where do you think we are?" I asked, getting up from the floor.

"Well, we're not quite friends," Bucky said. "You get under my skin really easily, but... I like spending time with you."

I pursed my lips.

"I feel the same, I suppose," I said.

Bucky smiled at me. He held his metal hand out to me.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

I snorted and took his hand. The metal was cool against my skin. Luckily, Bucky was wearing a normal t-shirt rather than the tank tops he usually wore, so I didn't have to worry about placing my hand against his skin.

"Now, we're gonna go slow," Bucky said. "Step here, and then here."

We danced around the room to silent music. I occasionally stood on his toes, but after a couple of hours I had it pretty much down.

"You're doing really well," Bucky said once we'd stopped dancing.

"Thank you," I said.

He looked like he was going to say something else, but I spoke first.

"Why were you awake?" I asked.

Bucky's lips thinned and he didn't say anything for a moment.

"Nightmares," he said.

I nodded, understanding that sometimes you just needed to get up and about to forget about them.

"What about you?" Bucky asked. "I really don't think that you had the motivation to just come here and dance."

I wanted to laugh, but I didn't.

"Nightmares," I said.

Bucky nodded.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No," I said.

Not to him. I couldn't talk about the memories to him.

Bucky nodded slowly, as if hurt. I frowned, afraid that I'd ruined what we had slowly built.

"I'm gonna go have a shower," I said.

I walked away, leaving him alone in the ballroom.

↢◈↣

A week later and I was ready for my mission. I could dance properly, thanks to Bucky, and I could walk in stilettos. My powers were pretty much under control and I didn't even have to wear my gloves around the tower anymore.

"So, Nat, Sam, and I are going to be at the party if you need help," Clint said as we were going over the mission files. "You need a date as well."

"Okay..." I said, waiting for the rest.

"The only other person we have is Bucky," Clint said cautiously.

"Okay," I said shrugging.

"You're – you're okay with that?" Clint asked, slightly taken aback.

"It's for the mission, right?" I said. "Besides, I don't hate him all that much."

A couple of people cocked their heads, but I ignored them.

Soon enough, the night arrived. I wore a black dress that was tight at the waist and then flared out. It stopped just above my knees. I wore a pair of black stilettos and had my hair up in a nice updo. As my date, Bucky wore a nice suit.

Tony, Steve, Clint, Wanda, and Sam all got into a car. Tony, Steve, and Wanda were all backup. Natasha, Bucky, and I got into a separate car. We drove to the venue – which happened to be Ricky Valdez's house – and I twisted my fingers.

"You'll be fine," Bucky murmured.

I nodded, not quite believing it. Bucky reached out for me with his metal hand. I grabbed it, thankful for physical contact without having to concentrate on not seeing anything.

"Alright, we're here," Natasha said.

The usual redhead was now blonde and wore jeans and a shirt. She was going to get changed later, once she'd dropped off Bucky and I.

"You ready?" Bucky asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said.

Bucky squeezed my hand once and let go. I took a deep breath before plastering a smile on my face and stepping out of the car.