Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

Preparation

It was hours before Bucky returned, and Erin hadn't moved an inch from her place on the couch, still staring at the now blank television screen, thoughts whirring through her head like trains on a track. She almost didn't notice him come back in until he shouted, slightly too excitedly:

"Get changed, Erin!"

She whipped her head around in shock at the unexpected noise and was surprised to see him standing in the doorway, a look of pure excitement on his face. All traces of embarrassment from their kiss a few hours ago had disappeared.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Put something nice on, I'm taking you somewhere."

To say that she was surprised was an understatement. First he had told her that they couldn't get too close, and now, only a few hours later, he was asking her out. On a date?

"What kind of nice?" She couldn't help but notice the brightness that had appeared behind Bucky's eyes. What had he seen on his walk that had made him change his mind?

"A dress, preferably."

A shot of ice ran up Erin's back. She didn't do dresses. Not since Poland, at least, when her legs had been sliced up so badly it had taken months for the wounds to close. She didn't want people looking at her scars, wondering where they had come from.

Bucky noticed the look of abject terror on her face and immediately backtracked.

"Or trousers," he stumbled over his words, knowing instantly what the problem was, "You could just wear trousers and a nice top."

Trousers and a nice top, she could do that.

She nodded and stood up from the couch, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head, looking at Bucky with curiosity.

"Where are we going?"

He merely raised an eyebrow over an impossibly blue eye, a glint of humour on his face.

"That would ruin the surprise, Jefferson."

She rolled her eyes, certain that she wouldn't be getting any more information out of him on the whereabouts of their unexpected date. Instead of trying, she just shook her head in amusement and strode over to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Dress nice? She hadn't dressed nice in months, she barely knew how to do it anymore.-

Erin's wardrobe was unsurprisingly packed to the brim with a mixture of grey sweatpants and black tank tops, her usual form of attire. There was the occasional smart shirt stuffed in behind something, she usually wore them when an inspector was coming into the University, or if her lecture was being observed by one of the other professors. But as for something that she could wear on a maybe possibly perhaps date? There was nothing at all.

She heard a muted purr and looked down to see Crookshanks rubbing up against her calf, transferring her body heat into the muscle of Erin's leg.

"What am I going to do, Crooky?"

The cat merely purred again in response. Not surprising, but not quite the reaction that Erin was looking for. She rolled her eyes and continued to search in the closet, looking desperately for anything that could be considered 'nice'.

Her eyes stumbled upon something she hadn't worn in years. A knee length dress with a fitted bodice and a flared skirt in a deep shade of blue. She sighed with regret as she fingered the soft fabric. If it had been a year ago, she would have slipped the dress on with no hesitations, but she was a different person now. The scars on her legs were a tattoo of a time that she didn't care to remember. A few weeks after she was let out of the hospital after her return from Poland, she had made the mistake of going into the town centre wearing a pair of denim shorts, completely oblivious to any problems. She remembered as if it was yesterday, the looks that people gave her. Their eyes travelled to her thighs before her eyes, widening slightly as they took in the damage, then raising to her face in something akin to pity. That was the one thing she couldn't stand, their pity. A young boy had asked his mother 'What's wrong with that lady's legs?', and instead of giving him a proper answer, she had shooed him away with a red face and a glance at Erin that didn't meet her eyes.