There were days that Bella considered leaving Atlantis, she never felt like she did a lot to assist with the fight against COS, or that she really fit in. She had friends, and she knew some people but she still sometimes felt like she didn’t completely fit into the mix of Atlantis. There weren’t a lot of underwater missions, and that’s the only place she was all that useful.
She’d been training more to try and get more fit and maybe bit a little bit more useful. She’d been in the gym for a couple of hours before laying down on her back looking up at the ceiling weighing the pros and cons of staying or opting to leave Atlantis.
She was ticking off the pros of going home when someone came in, she sat up quickly and looked over at the man who entered. Bucky Barnes. She knew who he was, but she doubted he knew who she was, she wasn’t all that well known.
“Hi, sorry, I’ll get out of your way.” She said as she started to bounce up.
Having been up to see Sharon a little earlier, Bucky decided to get a few laps in before he left and headed back. He’d already had a good workout with Steve earlier that morning, but he still felt like he needed to let loose some built-up energy. It had been a little while since he’d been mission-bound, so he figured he needed to get that energy out somewhere. Maybe he could schedule a team practice later in the week.
He sat his bag down on one of the benches and started to move towards the center of the room to begin a few stretches when someone sat up from the floor. A young girl that he recognized but didn’t know much at all.
“No, you’re not in the way,” he insisted and shook his head. “Taking a bit of a break?”
The last thing Bella wanted to do was get in the way or feel like she should be doing more or less or something better.
Bella gave an awkward smile as she shrugged. “Not really, I’ve been here a while, I was just thinking and resting before going for a swim in the ocean.” The swim wasn’t for training, it was for herself, Bella hated life when she wasn’t in the water enough. The weather might also seem weird for it but she’d gotten used to the colder water since arriving over a year ago.
Bucky was a little surprised at the mention of a swim considering the weather that was still pretty cold on most days, especially for a swim in the ocean. “You’re better than me then,” he said. “I’d have to stick to the indoor pools at least for a little while longer.” He’d been in colder water but not since he’d been able to make choices for himself.
“Please feel free to stay, though, if you were going to continue here a while longer. I don’t mind the company.” There were times when he wished to work out or train in solitude, but often lately be preferred not to be alone.
“I’ve found that having a partner sometimes helps with motivation.”
Bella smiled. "I would too, but they aren't big enough and it gets really boring," it had taken her a long time to get used to the fact that there weren't secrets about who people were in Atlantis. Anyone could look her up and know she was a mermaid. "I'm a mermaid." She blushed as she said it, she still wasn't completely used to sharing who she was.
"I'm not sure I'd be up to your standard," Bella warned with a wary expression. Last she wanted to do was slow anyone down.
A mermaid? That one actually did surprise Bucky. He’d recognized her when he’d first come into the room, but they’d never had much interaction. “Wow,” he said with a small smile. “That’s really cool.” And different. There were plenty of extra-powered people in Atlantis, but being a mermaid was definitely unique. “But yeah, I bet that pools wouldn’t really be your first choice when going for a swim.”
He shook his head. “I used to train a lot when I was.. previously employed. The circumstances were much, much different, and I often didn’t like the methods I was asked to train, but the one-on-one time helping someone? I don’t mind that at all. I mean, if you’d like to. I don’t want to pressure you into any sort of training you don’t want to do. Please feel free to say no.”
Bella blushed, she still found it awkward, but at least he didn't run screaming, not that most people hated or were terrified of mermaids, studying them, however, that was always a risk that Bella feared. AT least Atlantis didn't seem to be interested in studying her. "They're a little small, and most people don't want to share a pool with someone going a lot faster than they are." At least that's what she'd been told once.
"If you are sure, I wouldn't mind getting better, I can fight under the water pretty well, but on land, I'm not as coordinated," Bella admitted, but she also felt like it would be stupid not to take him up on it, he seemed like he actually cared about helping and she missed with Enzo, so why not right?
“I’m sure. Though I can say that fighting underwater is something I’ve not really ever had to do. Swimming and staying hidden, yes, but not specifically fighting. Considering the climate here, I think that’s a good skill to have.” During his original training and conditioning as Winter Soldier, Bucky had spent many hours testing his lungs for how long he could force himself to stay underwater, but that was usually just to get from point A to point B without detection or to maintain the element of surprise.
“We can get going now or since you’ve already been here a while, we can set up another time to get started. I’m here most every day whether doing team training on my own, so I’m not usually too hard to find.”
Bella smiled with a slight blush, she hoped it'd be useful, but if she was honest, she hadn't felt very useful lately. "I can always help with tips underwater," Bella offered in return.
She thought for a moment. "Maybe a little later? I've been here a couple of hours and still need to swim and do my homework." Scrunching her nose at the thought of homework. "But maybe tomorrow, if that would work for you?"
“Tomorrow works just fine. That way I can get back into the training mode and think of some routines we might be able to go through.” He’d probably need to go through a few basics just to get an idea of what she knew and where her skill level was to start off with at first. He just hoped that it wouldn’t be either too boring or too rough on her. Bucky had trained a lot of operatives and agents, but he had trained them as the Winter Soldier. Not Bucky Barnes. Unless you counted Steve. He’d tried to teach that scrawny kid how to throw a punch for years.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” He asked with a small smile. “Either around 10am if you prefer morning or if afternoon, around 3:30pm or so?” He wasn’t sure if she had any other obligations, so he thought it best to give her a couple different options. He would be around the building somewhere regardless of the time since he had other training to do both with his team and some solo training too.
"Tomorrow it is, 3:30 is good!" She said with a smile nodding her head to gather her stuff and ehad out to go take a cold swim.