flirting with fire ⋟ bucky barnes ▪︎ oc

thirty-six.

She enjoyed a smoke by herself, collecting herself, 'he is leaving me,' she thought as she exhaled with a sigh.

She looked to her right and saw Nebula with her blue hair and gold nose ring, dressed as violet from willy wonka in an indigo sweat suit, sitting with Gamora with green hair and a face painted orange.

Poppy smiled, "Willy Wonka is one of my favorites." The girls smiled up at her, Nebula beaming, "Poppy, hey! I gotta say, red is without a doubt your color."

Poppy smiled and felt a calmness as she puffed slowly, "thank you for that, it was a last minute change. I didn't know you two knew each other," Poppy finished her last puff and put the last bit out on the cement with a small squat before throwing it away. Gamora smiled, "sisters actually."

Poppy looked between their bright head of hair, Nebula adding, "Dad is a hairdresser, we've always been bold." They both laugh and Poppy joins them, and with a bow of her head, she turns to leave. "Have a good night ladies, it was nice to see you! Have fun!"

They wave, Gamora adding, "let's do coffee sometime, Poppy!"

She nodded and walked right back in with her hood up and a hardened stare. Pietro was right next to the door when she entered, eyes on her. He had taken point on security after begging Happy and Tony, Poppy made Happy nervous so he was more than willing to give her over to him.

Pietro was entirely fixated on the hooded, orange haired siren, "I am here for whatever you need, Miss. Stark." She looked at him, "I prefer just Poppy, thank you."

She turned and looked around seeing all the people she had to mingle with and she got to work. She schmoozed her ass off with most of the investors and artists she was meant to. She found herself staying busy enough to fake having a good time, until Loki and Thor waltzed over like there wasn't a boundary crossed weeks before. She turned and moves the other way, lifting a champagne flute to her lips on the way.

Finding herself bumping into The Petal Pushers and having a fun time with them, though short, chatting about their next tour and the girl Liz has been seeing.

When Poppy would look around, she always felt eyes, but Loki's eyes felt hateful and heavy, like when she paid too much notice to them she felt violated and belittled, wrapped in discomfort and she hated it.

She made her way toward James while he was in conversation with a few guys from Clutch and the girl, Gwen, he just signed. She smiled at everyone and introduced herself, joining into the conversation about the shift in top 40 within the year. After a while the conversation died down and everyone moved on, she tried to deny the anxiety filling her feeling so watched, it felt cold and vulnerable.

James looked down at her, "what's wrong, Poppy?" It was at that moment she knew he was done, he never used her name and she hated the way it sounded all of a sudden. He didn't mean anything by it, but she felt it hit her like a bus.

She bit back the tears, "Loki is making me really uncomfortable and staring."

He looked her over, "well, dressed like that and making quite the entrance, I can't blame anyone for staring."

His words were harsh and mean, he was hurting, badly. The girl he loved killed someone, the who didn't matter to him, but he hadn't taken a moment to realize how much she was hurting too. She nodded, "he has been following me for weeks, I can feel it."

He shook his head, "stay for another hour or two and then go home. I'll call you tomorrow." The ache he felt while reflecting on leaving this beautiful piece of him was agonizing, because from the first week he knew her, life was only going to be with her. She felt like the future to him, now he wasn't sure he could do it.