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One fine morning, inside the Avengers HQ training grounds and during a training session, Steve and Sam are sparring while Bucky observes from the bench. Barnes’ waiting for his turn to step on the mats and he’s accompanied by his girlfriend Blake, who’s waiting for Wanda to come down and train with her (given the two women’s similar powers).
Since the young lady is reading a book to pass the time, and not engaging in conversation with her boyfriend, the Sarge opts to entertain himself by flipping and tossing one of his trusty knives. It’s a small one that he always carries with himself in case of emergencies. Years spent in the Army and as the Winter Soldier have imbued him with enough paranoia to carry at least one weapon at all times.
Nevertheless, the man does the seemingly inane action not only because he’s bored, but to practice his dexterity as well. That’s one of the many ways in which he keeps himself sharp and maintains his movements well oiled and fluid. He’s so good at it that the practiced motions feel natural to him.
The little display of prowess manages to catch Blake’s attention, prompting her to stop reading in order to watch her boyfriend’s show of skill and ability. She’s so fascinated by it that she can’t help but wonder about the man’s range in handling different objects with the same proficiency. That, in turn, ends up inciting her to ask if he can do the same thing with other objects.
“You are really good at that. Can you do the same with other things?” Blake asks while watching her boyfriend’s fluid motions with fascination.
She never gets tired of witnessing Bucky’s ample arsenal of skills and talents, nor how the man showcases them with such practiced ease as if they were second nature.
“What do you mean?”
Buck asks in return after stopping his motions, brows furrowed in confusion while he comes to a standstill, slightly turning towards the girl sitting beside him. Doing that, he’s confronted by Blake’s curious gaze fixated on his hands.
“I don’t know, like pencils, I guess,” offers her briefly as a way of explanation.
As always, Blake’s terse replies leave gaps that have to be filled by whoever is the person talking with her. However, given how much time they spend together, Barnes is already used to that.
“I think so,” tentatively answers Buck, considering if he could flip a pencil as he does with a knife, believing that it wouldn’t pose much of a challenge to him.
Still, he finds the sudden topic a bit odd since he never even wondered about such inconsequential things.
Leave it to Blake to come up with something like this, he thinks amusedly, letting a tiny smirk show up on his face.
“You know, I’ve been wondering the same for a while now,” pipes in Steve, having been paying attention to the couple’s conversation alongside Sam.
The two men decided to take a break right as Blake made her first question regarding Bucky’s knife-flipping ability. And with their interest piqued about the subject, they decided to walk closer and join in on their conversation.
“Yeah, me too,” agrees Sam, crossing his arms over his chest as he pins down Barnes with an intense gaze.
Just by looking up at him, Buck knows that there’s something mischievous brewing inside Wilson’s mind.
“I always see you flippin’ knives around like it’s no big deal. What about other stuff?”
The Falcon questions in the same way as Blake did, wanting to steer the conversation into a demonstration.
“I mean, I probably can. I never tried before,” concedes the Sergeant with a thoughtful expression, already letting himself be swept by the idea of trying out whatever the other man has in mind.
Because he knows that Sam is already going through a mental list of things that he wants Bucky to try flipping.
And that’s exactly how the little group of four Avengers end up leaving the gym in order to try out the practical side of “Blake’s theory”. It didn’t even take much convincing from Wilson to get the other three to agree with his idea since they were all already thinking about the same thing. That’s what leads them to discover that Bucky can juggle pretty much anything with ease.
At the same time, when Wanda arrives at the gym she’s surprised to find the space completely devoid of people despite knowing that she would meet her training partner there. But with Blake nowhere to be seen, she decides to go back to the lounge in search of the missing girl.
Maximoff arrives at the communal kitchen and finds Blake sitting at the counter, alongside the three other men that were previously at the gym too. They are all watching Bucky juggle an assortment of things, ranging from kitchen utensils to various kinds of trinkets the onlookers found in their vicinity. But it’s only after the initial shock wears off that she decides to wordlessly join them as another spectator.
“Do you have any more hidden talents?”
Wanda asks after they all run out of things to give Bucky to try and juggle.
She’s still a bit confused about how they all got there, to begin with, but she just chose to go along with it. However, she couldn’t help her curiosity, wanting to know more about Barnes’ unknown talents.
“I have no idea, actually,” replies Bucky with honesty and a bit of intrigue.
He really doesn’t know, but given how many years he spent having his memory wiped by Hydra, he wouldn’t be surprised if there were any other skills he possessed that he wasn’t currently aware of. Either practical or just silly ones.
“Guess we’ll have to find out then.”
Sam makes the proposition with a smug and slightly sinister grin plastered on his face, already enjoying imagining putting the other man through the grueling and annoying quest of finding all the other things he knows how to do but have forgotten about.
After all, Bucky’s mild suffering usually fuels Wilson’s amusement.