✔𝚨 𝚸𝛐𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 ➳ 𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝚩𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

Chapter 2

"I've gotta say, didn't expect you to be a dancer," Bucky grinned as he opened the door leading outside of the establishment. The coat Melora had taken off was hanging over his arm, even if they were going outside to cool down and get some fresh air, he had insisted on bringing it.

"What did you expect then?" She asked with a bright smile, and his grin widened further. There was nothing but joy within her.

"Can't say I expected something, to be honest," he laughed slightly underneath his breath, shaking his head for a reason unknown to her, but she followed him out of the door, nonetheless.

The rain outside had weakened, soft droplets hitting her skin instead, and she raised her hand to force the water to not hit her by magical means. Luckily, she was able to remember once again how uncommon those practices were on Midgard before going fully through with it.

"It's better to not have expectations when talking to a stranger, is it not?" She asked, ordinarily shielding her face from the rain as she leaned back against the cold brick wall.

With her leaning against something, he was even taller than he had been when they were dancing. It was not something she had thought about at first. Thor and... they were both taller than her, some of the few people that were.

She had always been taller than most, at the very least that was how it was back in her homeland, but the average Asgardian was taller as well. But between the men where she had been close enough to consider their height, Bucky was still on the taller side.

"Yeah, I s'pose you're right about that," he sheepishly grinned and took a step closer to her, catching her gaze.

Something seemed to drop in her stomach, maybe it was the liquor. She could not pull her eyes off of his, and he was standing even closer than they had while dancing. For a moment, his pupils focused on her lips before going back to her eyes, and he put a hand on the wall by her head.

If only the light around them had been brighter, for all she could see was the darkness in his eyes, and although it stirred something in her, it was far from the brightness of the blues she had seen when they were inside.

"I'm right about a lot of things," she smiled, breaking their connection, and he leaned against the wall beside her as well.

"My mom always used to say that," he spoke with a lopsided smile, plunging his hands into the pockets on his pants.

"Well, it is a saying that you become wiser with age," she said with the same kind of crooked smile. Her own amusement quickly meant it became completely downturned.

"I doubt you're as old as my mom," he chuckled as if something like that would be ridiculous, but Melora knew fair and well how short the lifespan of Midgardians was.

"I reckon you would be surprised," she sadly smiled and fiddled with the rings on her fingers.

The life of a Midgardian truly was short, barely even a blink for her. By now she had lived more than fifteen Midgardian lifetimes. The gift of long life was something that was bestowed upon her, of course, hardly something she could give up.

Although, at times things would be easier if she could wilt as the beings around her did. Watching as creatures or others who you cared for slowly crumbled, became weak while you retained the same vitality as before.

"What? How old are you?" He asked with an amused smirk, and she could see the slight confusion on his face. Telling was not something she had planned, of course, so instead, she laughed. "That's not an answer! You can't be much older than 25."

The amusement on her face was impossible to hide. Melora was an adult that was for certain, having grown out of the problematic age. What exactly constituted as an adult to him was not something she had an answer to, so she chose to not reply.