Shadows and Secrets (A MCU FanFic)

Chapter 19: Hobbys

trigger warning: mild language that may be offensive or upsetting to some readers

Bucky's POV

"Hey, Marjorie?" Bucky called, softly knocking on the door, inadvertently causing it to swing open.

Marjorie's room was very Marjorie—lit with soft, color-changing LED lights instead of the brighter overhead light, the desk was very organized with every art supply imaginable, and books were piled everywhere. Marjorie had a large collection of soft, cuddly things, like throw pillows and stuffed animals, and the furniture was a dark wood color; to give a dark-academia vibe.

She was curled up on top of her bed (dark purple galaxy quilt) with her drawing tablet, and was working studiously while listening to something on her airpods.

"Hi," she mumbled, distracted.

Bucky smiled involuntarily and walked over to sit next to her, so he could see what she was drawing.

It was a beautiful forest scenery in teals and greens, with dragons relaxing in the trees. (Marjorie drew dragons a lot, for some reason. It was cute.)

Marjorie had several different art styles that she could draw beautifully in, and she was currently drawing in a curvy, simplistic yet detailed, flowing style, that was somewhere in between anime and western animation. (Bucky had listened to a lot of her art lectures.) She was adding simple shading details to the flat color layer.

Honestly, Bucky's favorite pastime was watching Marjorie draw. First of all: Marjorie was a really talented artist, and it was impossible not to see the skill she had, but... Bucky mostly liked watching because Marjorie looked so fucking adorable when she was drawing.

Like, she was so focused and determined and she got this cute little crease between her eyebrows and he wanted to smooth in with his thumb and... sigh.

Seriously though, Bucky could stare at Marjorie all day.

She was just so pretty and so adorable and so talented and so smart and so many wonderful things that Bucky loved about her. He could probably make a list of a million things that he liked about her....

Her hair would probably be at the top. Today she had braided it, which had the unfortunate side effect of making him want to unbraid it, and a few of her curls had escaped, framing her face.

He would also put her determination on the top of the list; Marjorie had a way of focusing on a problem and eliminating distractions—whether drawing, hacking, solving a difficult calculus problem that severely confused Bucky, or doing anything else—that was not only admirable, but a useful skill to have.

Which reminded Bucky of her impressive mathematical talent; that should be on the list. Marjorie had skipped several grades, finally graduating at fourteen, and had taken several college level math courses. She was especially fond of trigonometry, (which had to do with triangles but also circles? And something about pi and angles? Bucky didn't understand it at all.) and she could do the quadratic formula (whatever the hell that was) in her sleep. She, Tony, and Bruce occasionally talked about weird numbers and math stuff.

And of course Marjorie's—

"You need a hobby," Marjorie said, pulling out one airpod.

"What?"

"You need a hobby," she repeated. "You know, some activity that you like, and that you do all the time and obsess over, but isn't your job, and is ultimately just a distraction from your many problems. Most everyone has one."