The ghosts we hide (Winter Soldier x OC)

Twenty six

"So what kind of thing were you thinking?"

I look up from my phone to stare at Peter, eyebrows raised.

"If I knew that I wouldn't have asked you."

"Oh - oh yeah, right." He mumbles, making guilt settle in my stomach.

Sighing, I move from my position in the window to sit next to him on the bed, keeping a careful half a meter between us. Peter watches me with clear brown eyes, hands tucked into his grey hoodie.

"I'm sorry." I say, fiddling with my fingers. "I just find it annoying that I don't know how to do it myself."

We sit in silence for a moment before I look up to meet his gaze. He grins at me then, excitement clear on his soft features.

"I get it." He shrugs, pulling his hands from his hoodie. "Give me your phone for a minute."

"What, why?"

"Just gimme."

Narrowing my eyes, I pull the sleek rectangle from my own pocket and hand it hesitantly over. Peter is on it in an instant, reminding me that I need to set a password. Though there's not really any point in guarding something that has nothing on it.

"Where are all your apps?" The kid gasps, looking back up at me.

I shrug.

He shakes his head at me in light disappointment before turning back to the screen, sticking his tongue out in concentration. He taps away for a few minutes as I stare into space, thinking back to the other morning.

Bucky was gone when I woke up.

Instead, one of the red blankets that usually sit folded at one end of the sofa was draped over me. If it weren't for this small detail, I think I could blame the whole encounter on my imagination. I haven't seen him since, just heard his door close on his way back from the newly repaired training room.

"Ok, So..."

My attention snaps back to the kid, eyeing my phone dubiously as he holds it out so I can see the screen.

"I've downloaded Netflix and Spotify for you. You need accounts for them but Mr. Stark has a whole group Netflix which you can use, and you can make yourself a free Spotify profile. And then there's this..." He explains, clicking on a little widget on the phone. "This is Pinterest, and you can basically search for anything on here and it'll come up with examples that you can 'pin' to a board."

I raise my eyebrows at him, mildly confused. He lets out a small chuckle, turning his attention back to the screen.

"Ok, So for example, I could search 'teenage bedroom' and it would come up with examples." Peter says, typing the words into the search bar and pressing go. It comes up with lost of images of rooms, some covered in neon lights, others draped with millions of plants.

I watch over his shoulder as he scrolls down a seemingly endless page, scanning each picture in turn.

"I like that one." I mumble, pointing at a mostly plain room with a wall decorated in posters.

The kid grins and clicks on the photo.

"So once you've got one you like, you create a board and save the image to it. It'll save it there and you can go back later and look over everything you've collected."

"What did you say it was called again?" I ask, looking up from the phone.

"Pinterest."

"Oh! So you 'pin' your interests. I get it now." I grin.