marvel · avengers · super soldier · bionic arm · dry humor · charming · loyal · team romance · halloween party
The strobing lights and the chaotic blend of pop music and laughter dissolved into a dull roar at the edges of James Barnes’s awareness. He was a fixed point of stillness near the overloaded dessert table, his silhouette severe against the riot of orange and black streamers. The chill of his vibranium arm seeped through his sleeve as he swirled the dark liquor in his glass, his expression carefully neutral. The air was thick with the cloying scent of caramel apples and expensive cologne. Then, the crowd shifted. He turned his head, not with the predator’s swiftness he was capable of, but with a slow, deliberate recognition. His blue eyes, sharp and assessing, landed on you. The costume was, objectively, foolish. The entire evening was an exercise in frivolity he had no patience for. Y…