[THIRD PERSON POV]

"Your a cheater Davina Penton... A lying cheater." Bucky snarled at the solemn girl sat across from him.

Steve glanced awkwardly between the couple, looking all around the room to help distract himself.

"I am not a cheater James Buchanan Barnes.. I'm just amazing great at monopoly, and you suck... Right Steve?" Davina snapped before turning her head towards the captain, a pleading look showing for him to take a side.

Steve shook his head and laughed anxiously. "I'm Switzerland, not taking sides." He mumbled, terrified of getting on either friends bad side.

"Pussy-"

Bucky's childish comment directed towards Steve was cut off by a sharp glare from Davina.

Bucky instantly shut up and looked down at his metal hand as he clenched his fist multiple times, earning a metallic clicking sound.

It was exactly one week since Bucky and Davina's return to the compound. Bucky had seemed to recover from the change with ease. Davina.. Not so much. 

The part of her mind that used to torment her during her HYDRA days had returned to torment her some more. Steve had suggested talking to someone, a therapist maybe. But Davina had shut down that idea in seconds.

She found eating to be slightly easier with Bucky around. As long as she was distracted and having a good time with the people she had missed so much over the last year, things were good.

Wanda had come and gone with Vision, although it seemed that they had their own place now, somewhere down in Louisiana. Natasha seemed to be preoccupied with other matters, Davina remembered Steve telling her that Natasha was thinking of spending some time away from the compound and with her sister in Oregon. 

Tony had come by once with a teenage boy he seemed to have almost adopted. A small town crime-fighting spider thing, Davina wasn't really sure what his deal was. 

In truth, Davina had never seen the group more split up, everyone was busy doing their own thing, everyone except Davina, Bucky, Steve and Sam. Though she was pretty sure even Steve was working on his own thing.

The compound was quiet, the brunette never thought she'd miss Tony's unnecessary events, Bruce's babbling on about her mental health, Vision's lack of respect when it came to using doors instead of floating through the walls.

Davina cringed at the memory of Vision entering her room whilst her and Bucky were... Exploring each other. The girl would never be able to look Vision in the eye ever again after that day, she was much too mortified.

The group was quiet for a few moments before Davina starting speaking, her words earning an amused grin from Steve and an irritated glare from Bucky.

"If you go swimming with your arm.. Will it rust?" She pondered, a smirk forming on her lips.

Bucky simple glared at her, flinching harshly when a small, circular shaped object was thrown at him from across the room, sticking onto his metal arm.

The trio slowly lifted their head in the direction of Sam, who was holding a fistful of magnets and aiming for another throw.

Davina burst out laughing, slipping off her chair and landing on her ass as another one of Sam's magnets hit home on her boyfriends left arm.

Steve groaned loudly, stifling the laughter that was clearly trying to escape his body. He brought his head into his hands and massaged his temples, a desperate attempt to ignore the usual chaos which took place around him.

"Throw one more of those... See what happens Bird Man." Bucky growled, his eyes growing dark as he yanked off the magnets and threw them on the floor.

"I think i'll take my chances." Sam grinned, throwing another magnet.

This time, instead of the object landing on his arm, Bucky caught it in his palm with unnatural reflexes, crushing it in his hand.

Davina chuckled at the sound of the magnet crushing under his strength, her laughter going completely out of control at the look of sheer terror on Sam's face.

Bucky rose slowly from his chair and suddenly sprinted after Sam, who was running, screaming at the top of his lungs down the hallways.

Steve and Davina were left alone, their laughter dying down after a few minutes. Davina lifted herself up from the floor to which she had fallen onto, sinking back into the comfort of Stark's luxurious couch cushions.

"Was he always so..."

"Childish? Brutal? Terrifying?" Steve answered with a slight question.

Davina chuckled softly, her gaze shifting to the man she had gotten close enough to call her friend. They'd come a long way since her capture in the woods, a long way indeed.

"H-has he changed?" She asked softly, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her loose shirt.

She heard Steve exhale as he sat up slightly straighter. "Not in a bad way Vinnie." He paused, thinking over his words carefully before continuing. "He's grown up, Bucky used to be- he used to be someone that didn't care for much. No responsibilities, no commitments. Now.. Now he has someone to live for." He smiled at the girl, who's cheeks seemed to be giving off a soft, rosy glow.

"Are you sure your not just saying that?" She chuckled, shifting slightly in her seat to sink further back into the cushions.

He scoffed and started packing away their long-forgotten game of monopoly. "I wouldn't lie to you Davina, you know I wouldn't."

Davina smiled, satisfied with the answer she had been given. The pair were silent again, though it wasn't the long, awkward silence she was used to. It was a comfortable silence, the only sounds being the soft shuffling of their game being packed away.

Once the lid was on the box, he turned to face her, leaning back into his own armchair. 

"How are you?" He pressed gently.

"I'm fi-"

"Don't give me that, i'm fine, crap Vinnie. Come on." He raised an eyebrow, cutting off the false reassuring words she had trained to exit her mouth in response to that question.

She smiled a strained smile. "I'm doing okay Stevie. Really, i'm okay."

Steve's eyes bore their way into hers, scanning them for any sign of lies. He sighed heavily.

"I ask because I know you don't like to talk to Bucky about this stuff-"

"I don't like to talk to anyone about this stuff Steve." She breathed heavily. "You seem to forget, I grew up in a place where feeling anything at all was bad. I was taught that emotions make people weak when I was four... All that isn't just gonna go away after a year and a half here.." She whispered.

Steve opened his mouth to speak, but she continued to talk, already assuming the words that were bound to come out of his mouth.

"It's okay Rogers, I am getting better. HYDRA isn't going to take away my humanity.. I won't let them. Not now... Not ever."

Word Count : 1221

Ahhh okay- So I know i'm being really slow on updating compared to what you guys are used to with my past updating patterns. But i've just started my last semester for this year, so end of year assignments are coming up pretty soon. I'll update whenever I can <3

Love you hoe balls to the moon and back <3

P.S : Ignore all the spelling errors that you most likely found in this chapter, it's the middle of the night and I couldn't be bothered to go over and check for any mistakes.