That kiss had lingered warm on Cleo's cheek after James had left her that night. The flush of a beautiful yet dizzying thrill she felt was hard to shake. A man that good looking and that protective? Who wouldn't want a kiss on the cheek? She'd been reluctant to even wash the makeup from her face, knowing that she'd be washing away that feeling. The man she'd met at the Royal dinner was an entirely different one than she'd first met. He was funny and sweet and chivalrous. His eyes sparkled. Cleo understood that every moment wouldn't feel like that for him, that he had a lot to work through, but the potential for it was there and that gave her hope for him.
The following day Cleo had laid low, her head a little swimmy. She slept in and stayed in sweats for the day but the day after, she was out and about again. She had responsibilities to keep up with.
As Cleo walked, she pulled her hair up high on her head and put it in a ponytail as she headed to the facility where they treated the injured animals. Her own little veterinary clinic... well, her fathers, and now hers. As she rounded the corner that would take her past James's house, she couldn't help herself as she slowed her pace. She hadn't seen him since the night of the party. She... wanted to see him. But as she made her way fully past his house, a small frown crossed over her face. She wondered where he was, what he was doing. She hoped he was happy somewhere.
Meanwhile James sighed as he stood in the window of his house, looking outside. "You think I'm stupid, don't you?" He asked, then turned to look at Steve sitting at his table. "Should I talk to her?"
Steve's eyes were already on his friend, a slightly smug smirk tugging at his lips. "The answer to both of those questions is yes," he said, nodding surely. "She isn't avoiding you, why would you need to avoid her?"
"Ugh," James rested his head against the wall. "I told you! I kissed her cheek and now I... I feel weird about it I guess."
"What feels weird?" Steve asked with a one shouldered shrug. "Are you worried she didn't like it? Or that she did?" he questioned, raising a brow.
James sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I don't know. I think... I'm worried I liked it and she didn't."
"You saw how red she was when she was talking to you, right? She blushed when you danced. She let you walk her home," Steve laid out, sitting back in his chair to stretch out his long, thick legs. "You're overthinking it. I get it... I do. You don't wanna be wrong." He understood that feeling, not wanting to put yourself out there to be let down one more time. "I just really, really think you should talk to her."
"What would I even say?" James let himself slide down the wall until he was sitting beside the pile of blankets that he used for a bed.
Steve sighed quietly, feeling for his friend. He'd been so confident once. Maybe too confident, though, at times. Maybe now he could find that balance. He stood up from the chair at the table and he lowered himself down onto the floor across from the dark-haired man. He considered his advice for a solid moment, but eventually he nodded lightly. "I'm telling you man, just start with hi," he suggested. "She'll smile, you'll smile. And that's the look you want to try to keep on her face."
James grinned just barely as the image came to his mind. "She has a nice smile," he commented. A really nice smile.
"Yeah, she does. And the one she has for you is even nicer than the rest," Steve observed as objectively as he could. He truly wouldn't want to set Bucky up for failure. If he thought there was a chance at this point that this whole potential with Cleo might end up in flames, he wouldn't encourage him.
"I don't know where she is to even go see her right now. Cleo does stuff around the village and in the clinic." James knew he was making excuses. But he felt... scared. Eighty years was a long time without dating anyone. He didn't think he could even remember how.
Steve narrowed his eyes on Bucky and didn't respond right away. Instead, he slid to move next to his friend against the wall, leaving some space between them so he didn't feel crowded. "I hear you..." No but. Nope. Just a completely innocent observation. "Is there anything that we're... doing right now?" he asked, gesturing around them. "We're sitting and talking. Is there a reason that couldn't be done while walking around the village?"
James rolled his eyes but let himself chuckle. He looked over at Steve with a raised eyebrow. "I guess not."
"Hmm... that's interesting," he mumbled with a shit-eating smirk. "What do you say? Want to walk and talk? Or am I really pushing too hard?" If he was, Bucky could tell him. He wouldn't be upset.
"I don't mind walking," James answered. "I don't know how much talking I'll be doing though."
"That's alright. You did most of the talking for me back in our day, I can do it for you now," Steve replied, pushing himself easily up to standing again before he held his hand out to help up James. "I can also just stay back if you'd rather walk alone. I don't want you to feel like you have a chaperone."
James shook his head as he accepted the offer to help him stand. "You're my best friend Steve. You're not a chaperone."
"Yeah, well... you were definitely my chaperone a few times," Steve replied with a light chuckle. He meandered towards the door and waited for Bucky before he opened it and stepped into the warm sun. They'd seen Cleo walk past but he didn't see her now. "The weather here is nicer than Brooklyn, that's for sure."
"Yes, it is," he readily agreed. "There's no smog or anything either. Just clean air. It's nice for a change." James followed Steve outside and let his door shut on its own while he followed him along the path.
"This place is great," Steve said, stretching his arms a little as he walked. "I would get it if you just wanted to stay here. Nothing says you've gotta go anywhere. Your life gets to be yours now."
"I haven't really thought about it," he said honestly. "There are other people that are not happy that I am here. I don't belong. But I really don't belong anywhere."
Steve rolled his eyes. "There's one person who isn't happy you're here. And clearly you can set a boundary with him." M'Baku had slinked away after the party. "You can belong wherever you want... Are these the things I say that make people want to punch me?" he asked with a smirk.
"How did you know about that?" James questioned. "Nobody was around last night."
"M'Baku was talking about it," Steve pointed out. "He was angry. Once he nursed his ego, he was adamant that T'Challa do something. T'Challa said no, of course."
"That's going to go around the whole village," James sighed. "I don't know if I'll enjoy this."
"The only people who will care are the Jabari. That tribe is less evolved, they choose to be that way. It doesn't mean we have to be okay with it," Steve suggested. "Besides, Cleo would set the record straight."
James nodded, trying to get his breathing down to normal, realizing he was starting to panic. "You're right... you're right."
Steve reached out and pat Bucky on the shoulder. "You have the support of the Royal family. Just breathe. I know you're not used to things going in your favor, but you should start to get used to it."
"That's hard to do after everything that's happened in my life, Steve. I'm trying... it's just hard." James continued to follow Steve down the path, turning into the village once they reached it.
Steve frowned, carrying heavily that so much of the bad that had happened in Bucky's life had been his fault. A result of something he'd asked Bucky to do. There would never be a way to repay him for his sacrifice. "I know... I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely. "If there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask."
James turned and looked at Steve with furrowed brows. "Why're you apologizing? You haven't done anything wrong."
Steve sighed. "I'm just sorry that you have to do this at all. Deal with this much... I wish you didn't have to shoulder it alone. Though... you do have a stronger shoulder than me," he said, making an effort to lighten the mood with a small smile.
He scoffed. "Yeah, until I have to have surgery to be fitted with the new one. Shuri still hasn't told me when they're doing that."
"The new one is going to be even stronger than the one you have now. It'll be a helluva lot lighter, too," Steve remarked as they moved through the village. He slipped his hands into his pockets and looked ahead of them, spotting a building further out. One he hadn't noticed before. It looked like a medical building of some kind, maybe a clinic? Ooh. "Animal hospital," he read aloud.
James nodded. "It's the vet clinic. I pass it on my evening walk, when I get out for exercise. Cleo works there."
The place was huge, though he supposed you would need quite a large space to help heal an elephant. "She's everywhere around here," Steve noted with a pleasant smile. "Farm animals, wild animals, battle animals, house pets... she's busy." They continued in that direction, though Steve didn't pick up the pace. "We could go see if she's there..."
"She is a busy gal," he agreed. "I don't know if she'd be in or busy, but we can go if you want to."
"This isn't about me," Steve reminded him. "I thought you might be interested in knowing what she was up to. Stop delaying talking to her."
James sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm nervous Steve. I don't know if it's going to be weird or if she'll even want to see me."
"Every interaction has the potential to be weird, you just have to laugh it off," Steve advised, knowing it was easier said than done. "It's okay to be nervous. I'm sorry. I'm pushing too hard. I'm sure you'll run into her soon, as long as you're not actively avoiding her."
"No, I like the push, really. It's overwhelming, yes, but it gives me a bit of a goal for once." James looked over at Steve. "You're helping more than you think. If you weren't here, I'd stay holed up until the kids made me come out to play."
A smile found its way onto Steve's expression. "A hundred-year-old man only coming out to play with kids? Sure, that's normal," he teased. "Come on, let's go see if she's there. Her initial reaction will tell us a lot." It will put you at ease, pal. Just put one foot in front of the other.
James snorted and shook his head. "Really Steve? An old man joke?" He let Steve take the lead and walk into the clinic before him, instantly hearing a dog bark, signaling they'd walked into the lobby.
"We're easy targets for those, Buck. Get used to it," Steve teased as he stepped into the clinic, a brown and white dog running up to them as they entered, barking.
"Hey pal, how are you?" Steve asked the dog, crouching down to offer his hand to sniff before petting him.
From the back of the clinic, Cleo heard the dog begin to bark, so she finished washing her hands before she made her way up front. "Akilah!" she called out to the dog, "Are you being..." Words ceased as she stepped out from behind the door that led to the back of the clinic and her expression lit up as her eyes settled on the two men. "Oh wow, hi," she greeted, eyes landing on James's beautiful blue ones for a long moment before she turned to Steve as well. "It's nice to see you."
"Hi..." James greeted in return, noticing the blush on Cleo's cheeks. "We thought we'd come to visit. Steve's never been in the clinic."
Cleo was so caught up in James's eyes that she almost didn't even realize he was speaking. She shook her head quickly to snap herself out of it and nodded. "Right! Well, welcome," she said with a friendly smile cast toward Steve. "There's not much to see out here, come on back," she continued, waving the two of them back toward the entrance she'd emerged from.
"Great, thanks so much," Steve replied, glancing back at Bucky to give him a knowing look. "Looks like a smile to me..." Someone who didn't want to see him wouldn't smile like that.
James discreetly rolled his eyes, so only Steve would see him do so. They followed Cleo into the next room, full of kennels on one side, and an operating table on the other side. "This is a lot higher tech than I thought it would be," he admitted.
"Welcome to Wakanda," Cleo replied with a wry smile. Everything here was high tech. Vets around the world would be wildly jealous of what she had access to. "I can do endoscopic surgery without even having to cut the animals open. We have the capability to perform any kind of scan... it's pretty revolutionary," she explained proudly.
"So do you ever do outside consults?" Steve asked, meandering over to the kennels. While some were occupied with house pets, there were a few wild animals resting as well.
"I do," she confirmed with a nod, smiling at James since Steve was turned away. "I've seen the Queen of England's corgis once or twice."
James walked around the lab table, looking at all of the equipment. Everything had its proper place and was completely spotless. She took great care of everything. He smiled to himself as he continued to listen to her and Steve talk, now leaning against the far wall, near a kennel that housed a litter of puppies, which were suddenly trying to get his attention.
"Have you met Rocket yet? I'd love to hear your take on him," Steve said with a casual smile.
"No, but I've heard things," Cleo replied with a light laugh. She heard the puppies rustling and she turned, a different smile breaking onto her expression. "Uh oh, look who's awake," she said in an almost sing-song way as she moved over to the kennel and crouched down. "Hi everybody, give me one second," she said to the litter as she went about unlocking the front and allowing them to scamper out, several of them immediately running to James's feet. As she stood up again, she laughed a little and turned her eyes up to James. "You have friends."
James looked down, watching as they climbed over each other to get to his pant legs and boots. "I can see that," he chuckled.
Steve laughed and leaned against one of the counters. "I think you've created a bit of an army there, Buck."
"I don't know about that," he answered, deciding to slide down the wall and sit down so the puppies could climb on him.
A bright, bubbly laugh escaped Cleo as she watched the puppies flock to James. Oh my god, now I know what the hot super soldier looks like with puppies. I can never forget that now. She crouched onto the ground and gently lowered herself onto the floor, one of the puppies hobbling over to her.
"Hey Pi, come here cutie," she cooed to the three-legged puppy that was still learning to balance himself. "Let me see how your incision is," she said, cradling the puppy to take a look at where she'd had to remove his leg due to an injury.
"Pi?" Steve questioned, raising a brow.
Cleo glanced back at him and her expression shifted to a more knowing one, preparing for these two strapping men to realize just what a nerd she was. "Well, he has... 3.14 legs..." There was a small stump of his thigh remaining.
Steve's face shifted to one of amusement and he chuckled at her response, shifting his eyes to Bucky. "I'm gonna call you Pi," he joked.
James glared openly at Steve while one of the pups began pulling on his shirt. "If you do, I'll throw you into next week."
Steve laughed at his friend's threat and shook his head. "Message received," he replied, raising his hands in defeat.
Cleo couldn't help but laugh at the banter of the two men. "Has anyone ever told you two that you sound like brothers?" she asked, setting Pi back down in her lap right side up and she scratched beneath his chin.
"We grew up together," Steve smiled. "I think we've known each other since we were eight, maybe nine."
"We even lived together a while before the second war happened," James added. "We're as close to being brothers without being blood."
"Wow... what are the odds that both of you would become super soldiers and that you'd reconnect? That's wild," Cleo replied, a little in awe of what it took for them to reunite. "I always wanted a sibling. I spent a lot of time alone. But I had animals and they were enough most of the time."
James grinned. "He was already a super soldier when he rescued me the first time," he recalled.
"Wait, you've been rescued more than once?" Cleo asked, raising a brow. "Aw, you have a knight in shining armor too..." she teased.
Steve chuckled. "His infantry was captured by what became known as Hydra in the forties. I rescued him then and again when I found out he was alive seventy years later."
"Wow, seventy years..." Cleo mused. What were the odds? Highly unlikely, that's what they were. "It's really cool that you guys have each other." She turned her gaze back to James as he sat against the wall, seeing that one of the puppies had comfortably settled against him. "I think you might have to take that one home."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," James replied as he looked down at the pup that had fallen asleep with his head on his leg. It does feel nice to be trusted though.
"Company is good for them... and for people," she suggested with a small smile, picking Pi up into her lap again. "What about you, Steve? Need a puppy? I also have some newly hatched parrots; they live a really long time. You'd always have a friend," she asked a bit more teasingly, glancing back at Steve.
Steve chuckled. "I'm good right now. I still move around too much. But it's not a bad idea for Buck."
James looked up at Steve with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't had a dog since I was a kid."
"And did you like having a dog then?" Cleo asked, hand busy scratching the head of Pi. "Honestly, sometimes dogs are more fun to interact with than people. They just sort of love you implicitly, unless you harm them."
"From what I remember, I enjoyed it." James looked down at the pup again and rubbed its small head.
"Well, it's settled," Steve declared, a smirk shifting onto his expression as he looked down at his friend.
Cleo laughed and shook her head. "I'm not in the business of forcing dogs on people, Captain. Even if I think it could be really good for them..."
James rolled his eyes as he continued to pet the pup. "How big will they get? I don't want something I could hurt."
"So, these pups are some kind of mixed wild dog mystery breed. Wild dogs tend to be bigger. Probably at least the size of a large German Shepherd," Cleo assessed based on the paw size of presumed age. "They're working dogs. They're strong. I think you'd be fine." It wasn't up to her, though.
"Could... I do a trial run?" He asked. "See if I can take care of one?"
"Absolutely," she agreed as a brighter smile smoothed across her face. "If at any point you want to bail, just let me know and I'll scoop 'em up. No judgment," she assured him. Animals could be so therapeutic for trauma survivors. She hoped it would work for James.
"Aw, Buck, you're a daddy now," Steve joked from the corner, chuckling dryly.
James rolled his eyes at Steve's antics as he picked up the pup that was asleep against his leg and laid him against his chest. The puppy never woke up. "Thank you Cleo."
Cleo's heart melted into a giant puddle as she watched James with the puppy, who was instantly so comfortable with him. That puppy would never know who James had been made to be for all of those years. A puppy would love him unconditionally. That idea was a beautiful one to her. "You're welcome," she replied more softly, speaking only to James. "I can bring things by later that you'll need. Food, a bed, all those things."
"I'd like that," James said, a soft smile on his face. He looked down at the pup, feeling his body relax. Feeling happy almost felt... wrong, but it felt good at the same time. He looked up at Cleo again, then over at Steve. "What now?"
Cleo could feel him relax, the energy around him changing and the warmth in her expression was unshakable for now. "Well... whatever you want," she suggested with a small laugh, knowing that wasn't entirely helpful. "You can stay here and keep bonding, or you can take him outside, or home... whatever sounds good to you."
What if I want to spend more time with you? James nodded, but didn't move. He was still surrounded by tumbling puppies as they played and tussled about. A low growl left his throat, getting the puppies attention, causing them to stop what they were doing and tilt their heads in curiosity.
The sound James made pulled a bright laugh from Cleo, watching as the puppies responded to him. "Uh oh... what is that you guys?" she said playfully to the puppies.
A contented expression settled over Steve's face. There was a lightness present in his friend right now that he felt grateful to witness. As Cleo and James interacted, he pulled his phone out and saw that he had a few texts from Sam. "I'm gonna make a call, I'll be outside," he said, an excuse to give the other two some time alone.
Cleo turned to glance at Steve as he spoke and she offered him a friendly wave before he stepped out. She felt a faint flourish of nerves in her belly but exhaled slowly to release them as she turned to smile at James again. "You'll have to come up with a name for him."
"I don't know where to begin with that," James admitted. He watched as one of the pups found a toy, causing the rest to follow, which allowed him to stand. He walked over to Cleo, holding his pup in his arm. "Do you have any ideas?"
As James stood Cleo did the same and she rested Pi on his three legs before he scampered off with the others. She pursed her lips as she thought and stepped in closer to him, gently petting the puppy cradled in his arm. "What about... you were a Sergeant right?" she asked, raising a brow. "Sarge might be a good name. Or... name him after someone you care about."
James looked down at the puppy, trying to think of something to call him. "What about something that means freedom?" He asked.
"Freedom..." Cleo muttered to herself in thought. "Alhuryia is the Arabic word for freedom," she offered, Arabic being the language she first spoke, though she quickly added English. And Wakandan. And others. "Liberté in French, libertad in Spanish..."
"What about something like... Eagle? Would that be too weird?" He asked.
Cleo furrowed her brows a little but kept her smile. "Why would that be weird?" Cleo asked, a faint chuckle in her voice. "I named a dog after a mathematical symbol. So admittedly my judgment may be off."
James chuckled. "I like it as a name."
"Eagle and James... sounds like a boutique store that sells candles that smell like tobacco or something," she mused, realizing quickly how awkward that probably sounded. She brushed a little loose hair behind her ear and nodded. "I like it... do you like it, Eagle?" she asked, leaning in just a bit further to scratch under the puppy's chin.
"I think it fits him." James swallowed hard, watching Cleo get closer. I wonder if she's thought about what I did last night? He watched Cleo give Eagle attention, which made him smile.
It was easy for her to get caught up in playing with the puppy but the closeness to James pulled her attention up to his eyes. I could swim in those. "How about..." she began, breathing slowly to keep herself from giving into her nerves. "Let's take things back to your place now, allow him to get used to it, and you?" She would go with him. She... wanted an excuse to keep spending time with him.
James nodded. "I would be okay with that. I'm not sure if Steve will join us or not. It sounded like they might have pulled him in for a meeting."
Cleo glanced back towards the door Steve had exited through and nodded, brushing that off. "It's okay if he doesn't," she suggested, biting the inside of her lip a little as she smiled a bit more nervously. She cleared her throat to give herself a moment. "I'll go grab a few things and be right back out," she said, taking careful steps back toward the stockroom. She gathered dog food, a few toys, a collar and a bed before she reappeared, pulling a cart behind her that she used when she needed to transport several items. "I'm ready when you are."
"We can go now if you want to," he replied. James quickly helped wrangle the puppies back into their pen before following Cleo out of the clinic. He looked around for Steve but didn't see him, which made him a bit concerned. I wonder where he went?
Cleo gladly accepted his help in closing up and as they walked out into the street in the direction of their houses, she too looked around for Steve. "Think he got called to something important?" she asked, glancing back at James. She could sense something just a bit off. "We can call him..."
"He would call if it was really important. He's supposed to be off duty for a couple of weeks," James answered. He shuffled Eagle around a bit in his arm as they turned and began walking. "My phone is back at the house anyway."
"Oh, okay. Well, you can check it when we get there," she replied, a smile on her face as they began to walk back down the street of the village. Cleo felt a flutter of nerves in her belly at the realization that they would be fully alone. The nerves weren't... bad, though. Not necessarily. "So, Eagle is house trained, but he is still a puppy so there's potential for accidents. I'd recommend looking before you step in the dark."
James nodded. "Understandable. I uh... might need your help with training him. It's been a long time since I've had to do anything like this."
Cleo's face lit up a little more as she glanced in his direction. "I can definitely help with that. Don't worry, I won't let this little guy run all over you," she replied with a light laugh. "You know, dogs are excellent judges of character," she mused as they walked through the village back towards their homes. "He's very calm with you. That means you make him feel safe."
"Hmm... I can't remember a time when I made anyone feel safe around me." He looked over at Cleo as they walked only to look down at the dirt path again, feeling a blush ride in his cheeks.
"Well... you made me feel safe last night," she shared, her smile softening a little as she saw that faint pink in his cheeks. "You're a good man, James Barnes. The rest of us will believe that for you until you can believe it yourself."
He nodded to appease her, but felt the tightness in his chest at her words. If only I could take your words to heart. James turned them to the left as the path split, now headed towards the hill that would take them home. "Thanks... for the kindness."
Sometimes Cleo just wanted to shake him, anything to make him accept what others were saying about him. It would take a while, she understood that. She just wished it was easier. "I'm just being kind, I mean it," she pointed out gently. "Last night could have been a lot worse if you weren't there. You stood up for me. You had no reason to, but you did it."
"Any real man would have," he smiled. "Nobody should treat a woman like he was treating you and I plan on keeping an eye on M'Baku because of it." When they reached the base of the hill, James stepped in front of the wagon. "Could you take him? I'll haul the wagon up the hill for you."
Cleo couldn't help but smile a little to herself. She wasn't someone who couldn't take care of herself, but she did feel intimidated by M'Baku's size compared to her. Her eyes turned up the hill as James spoke and she nodded, grateful for his offer. "Absolutely," she agreed, dropping the hand of the wagon to take Eagle from him. "So was that something you did in the forties? Stood up for people who needed it?"
James chuckled and nodded. "I have lost count on how many times that I pulled Steve out of fights. He hated bullies, and still does, but he was a lot smaller before the serum. He was beaten up a lot, but I was always there to save his ass."
Cleo laughed an airy laugh and shook her head. "James Barnes, saving people's asses since nineteen thirty-something. That should be your superhero slogan."
"Maybe," he laughed as they reached the top of the hill and began heading towards his house.
"There's nothing saying you have to be a superhero, though," Cleo added with an easy shrug, scratching behind Eagle's ears. "You could be whatever you wanted... what do you think you would have done if you hadn't gone to war?"
James huffed, trying to wrap his head around the thought. "I... I think I always would've gone to war. It was just something that I always wanted to do. To serve... like Steve."
"So you registered, you weren't drafted," she said in understanding, "What if you... had made it home? Did you have plans?" she asked more gently, glancing up at him. "Or did you not even really let yourself think that far ahead?"
"I didn't think that far," he answered honestly. "But... I wanted to try and make life better for Steve and I, maybe find a girl I could call mine." James shrugged. "I guess it just wasn't in my deck of cards. The deck I was dealt was a bit more... insane."
The butterflies that occupied Cleo's stomach fluttered again at his mention of a girl. She liked the way he said it. A girl I could call mine. "Maybe the cards you've turned over so far... but you aren't at the bottom of the deck," she noted, grateful to reach the top of the hill. "You could still find... whatever you want. Besides, a guy who looks like you with eyes and a smile like yours? You can find a girl just by looking around."
James snorted as he turned to the left, towards his home. "I don't think there's a girl out there that would be willing to deal with my craziness. I have too much from my past that I carry with me." He looked down at her, then at Eagle, who was now awake and looking around. How can she get me to talk so freely? This is the most I've spoken in... years.
A sadness fluttered into her smile as he counted himself out like that. That had to be a lonely feeling, that feeling like no one would ever be able to stick through tough times with him. She turned her eyes to the path in front of them that led directly to his house. "Just you wait... you'll find one," she said as she found the words. Last night... he'd kissed her cheek. Had that just been a pleasantry? Something carried over from a simpler time?
"Maybe one day. It would be nice to share time with someone other than Steve," he chuckled, then looked over at her. "Although, I really do like spending time with you, Cleo. It's... easy to talk to you."
Her breath caught, another flutter of nerves coursing through her. She blushed against her will and though her nerves told her to look ahead, she pushed herself to look up at him. "I like listening to you talk," she replied as they stepped up to his home. "And, James, I..." she began, but she struggled to get the words out. She forced a slow exhale but she finished. "I liked the kiss on the cheek last night."
James' eyes widened, turning to face Cleo. "You did? I thought... I might have overstepped."
A nervous, girlish smile slid across her lips and she nodded, clearing her throat a little to rid it of the tension that had built up. "No, no, you... I think it was the perfect step."
"A perfect step?" James asked, raising an eyebrow at her while showing off a smirk. He resembled a bit of his old self, a bit of the natural flirt peeking through. "What would the next step be?"
Cleo dropped her head back and laughed lightly as he so easily became irresistibly flirty. She bit her lip as she considered her response, shrugging coyly. "I don't know, maybe... maybe you ask me to do something with you on purpose. You know, eat a meal or have a drink or... train a puppy," she replied with a sideways grin.
"I already asked you for help with Eagle," he pointed out. James turned and walked the last few steps to his front door and opened it. "I apologize in advance. It's kind of bare in here. I don't have much in the way of decorations."
Cleo stepped in behind him and took in the nearly bare space around them. It wasn't all that surprising, though. "Do you even know what you like as far as decor?" she asked, lowering herself down to the floor to release Eagle. "Good thing is, there isn't much for a puppy to get into. You're already puppy-proofed." She had this natural ability to find the bright side of a situation. To flip things on their heads. "He will probably want to sleep wherever you are, so I'd recommend settling his bed close to yours."
James nodded as he watched Eagle eagerly begin sniffing around curiously. He didn't want to tell her that the pup would probably sleep with him, or that he tended to sleep on the floor in a pile of blankets. "I honestly haven't thought about decorating."
"Well, you're a guy from the olden days. I wouldn't expect that decorating is something that was ever much on your radar," she offered with an easy smile. "And I guess... you don't have to stay here after Shuri is able to help you. You'll get to decide your next steps for yourself."
Pulling out a chair, James sat down with a soft sigh. "I haven't thought much about leaving here. I guess I could go back to New York... but it's not the New York I remember anymore."
Cleo meandered over to a chair across from James and lowered herself into it, bending at the waist to pet Eagle as he wandered by. "I'm sure they'd let you stay," she shared with an easy shrug. "It's not like you create problems. You solve some of them." He was working to solve her M'Baku problem, after all. "Are you gonna... get a new arm or do you want to learn to function without one?" she asked innocently. "You don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable..."
James rubbed the back of his neck as he remembered. "Actually, if Steve's not here when it happens, I'll need help after having surgery to be fitted for a new arm. Shuri hasn't told me when it will be yet."
"Oh, well I'll be around. I can help," she offered without any hesitation. "I know she's focused on ridding you of the trigger words first. How has that been?" she asked as she tilted her head, meeting his eyes. "Any... progress, or do you feel different yet?"
"I've... asked for a bit of a break," James answered. "We're supposed to try again in a few days. But no, I don't feel any different. I don't know how I should feel, honestly."
Cleo's smile dropped a little as he spoke. There was nothing she could do here to be helpful, not really, other than support him in whatever ways he would let her. "Maybe there's... no right way to feel. I mean, your situation is a little unprecedented..." She pulled her ponytail over one shoulder and loosely twirled it in her fingers. "Which in turn means there's no wrong way to feel either."
James leaned back in his seat as he watched Eagle suddenly run across the floor with a cloth in his mouth, happy he'd found a prize to play with. "I guess that's true. I'm just happy to feel anything. Emotions are coming back... it's remembering what they are that's difficult."
Her face lit up at the sight of the puppy darting past them, clearly starting to feel a bit more comfortable. She turned her attention back to James though and nodded, though she found irony in what he said. "It's funny, I... my whole life, I've had big emotions. Emotions that sometimes don't even feel like mine. I'm really sensitive to what people are feeling," she shared, praying she didn't sound crazy. "Maybe, in some way, I could be helpful..."
"You've already been helpful," he said softly. Slowly, James leaned forward and grasped Cleo's hand that rested on the table. "Being able to talk to you has been nice. Normally I only talk to Steve about myself. Besides telling Shuri what I have to."
The connection of his hand wrapping around hers bloomed those beautiful nerves all over again and she raised her eyes to his, the lines on her face relaxing. Cleo smiled a crooked half-smile as she spoke. "I wanna hear anything you want to share," she told him honestly and she shifted her hand in his to be able to hold his more securely. "I... like you, James. There's something special about you. I can just see it."
A slight pink rose to James' cheeks at Cleo's words. He looked down at their joined hands, decided to run his calloused thumb across the back of her hand. "I like you too."