p class="MsoNormal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"12:00 AM Avengers Building, Two years after Civil War/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I walked to the window looking out into the field just outside of the Avengers building. Outside it was pouring rain and pitch black besides the occasional lightning. Everyone in the house was up trying doing something or other seeming relaxed but there was something tense in the air. We were all waiting. Wanda and Vision were in the kitchen making some sort of desert. There was a smell of cinnamon filling up throughout the rooms. I glanced back around and found Sam sitting on the couch looking anxious. He had one leg over the other and his hand was wrapped around his ankle, which was resting on top of his other knee. His foot was shaking from impatience./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Clint came up to me then looking outside intently. "Well this should be interesting, Nat!" he smirked. I could see his reflection in the glass. I turned and smiled at him. "That's one way to put it." I knew Clint was only here to watch how tonight would go down. "Ooooh," Clint yelled, pointing out towards the sky, "I think they're coming!" Everyone was at the window now looking out and sure enough with the next flash of lightning we saw the chopper in the distance. We looked out in silence and with every strip of light it got closer and closer until it vanished from view. When it landed, we all heard a great thud on the ceiling and everyone looked up. Sam started to shake his head and stated, "I still don't know about this. Tensions are already running high in this place."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Everyone turned towards the stairs when we heard footsteps coming down. Steve appeared first. He was dressed in his civs. His brown boots first making an appearance down the clear glass staircase then a pair of kaki and then his back covered in a white t-shirt. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths as Steve followed the curve in the staircase to face us. Steve looked at me. His eyes seemed weary and there were bags under his eyes. I raised one of my eyebrows and gave him a questioning look./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"No one seemed to notice though. Everyone was staring at the other pair of shoes that appeared on the staircase, a pair of Samba classics to be precise. And there he descended. The Winter Soldier with his stupid tight black jeans and black jacket. I honestly don't think he owns clothes in any other color. Steve left the staircase and I started walking his way. "Welcome back, Cap," I stated. Bucky was right behind him. We made sort eye contact but I quickly looked away. "Let's get this out of the way, Nat," he sighed. "Everyone in the conference room," he announced to the room./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"No one said a word. We sat in the conference room in complete silence for an uncomfortable amount of minutes. The only people standing were Steve and Bucky. Steve at the front of the table and Bucky behind him in the corner, half of him covered in a shadow. I think it follows him around honestly. Steve was rambling about being nice to Bucky and he'll only be staying with us temporarily and how he doesn't want any fights and water under the bridge, etc./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Every time I looked up Bucky was looking at me. I was just starting to get really irritated when Clint nudged me and asked, "What's with the stare down from Shadow man, Nat?" I shrugged my shoulders. "How should I know?" He giggled. "Maybe he has a crush on you!" I nudged him in the ribs. "Shut up, Clint." The meeting ended with Steve dismissing us. We all went our separate ways. Steve went to show Bucky his room and I walked Clint out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I slipped in through his door making no sound at all. He was unpacking some of his clothes in a black duffel bag. Typical. He didn't look up as he said, "What can I help you with, Nat?" I scowled at the back of his head. "Don't call me Nat," I said firmly. I could see him smirking in the reflection of the window in front of his dresser. "Why not? Everyone else calls you that," he stated. I walked over to his twin mattress and gave it a couple bounces as I said, "Only my friends get to call me that and we aren't friends."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"He stopped putting his clothes and chuckled as he turned around to face me. He leaned against the dresser and shrugged his shoulders. "More of a lover, I'd say," he smirked. I sat still on his bed now looking him straight in the eye. "I guess this means you remember," I stated. "I remember all of it," he replied. "Have you told him?" I asked looking away. He folded his arms. "No," he replied. I smiled politely at him and stated, "Good." He smirked again. "But what will you give me not to say anything?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""This isn't a joke, Bucky," I stated. He was still wearing that stupid smirk. "Oh so you can use my nickname but I can't use yours? Fine," he replied, " I won't tell him. I won't tell anyone. Not that anyone will actually want me to talk to them here." I chuckled. "I think you've tried to kill everyone here. You can't blame them for not welcoming you with open arms. Not to mention you've shot me twice now." He lifted one of his fingers and got a questioning look on his face. "But did you die?" he asked. "Plus I'm pretty sure I said I was sorry and made up for it."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""You're a dick, Barnes," I said as I lifted myself off of his bed to leave. He let me get all the way to the door before he replied. "I'm pretty sure finding me in Murmansk a year in hiding after Hydra went down and secretly keeping that fact from someone who was so desperately trying to track me down is a dick move. And don't give me any bullshit about wanting to hide the fact of what it is we exactly did there. You could have left that out," he exclaimed. I hesitated with my hand on doorknob but said, "Stop staring at me. It's noticeable." Then I walked out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I woke up in the middle of the night to someone walking up the hall towards my room. You should always be in the defense so I slipped out of bed and got to my door as quickly and quietly as possible. My heart began to pound as I heard the steps getting closer. I heard the last stomp near my door and threw open my door and jumped out. I collided with something very solid./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Whoever it was flew backwards but landed effortlessly and silently. It was then that I knew who it was but before I could say anything, he came back at me. I tried to dodge him but I was too late and we both landed with a soft thud on the floor, he used his body weight to pin me down. He whispered in my ear then, "This position feels a little familiar." He gave a little chuckle afterwards./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""What the fuck are you doing, Barnes? You scared the shit out of me!" I exclaimed before I gave him a quick jab to the ribs. I might mention that this was a horrible idea because all of his body weight came crashing down on me, knocking the wind out of me causing both of us to lay there trying to control our breathing. That's the state we were in when the hall light flashed on. We both looked up. I had to see who it was upside down./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I walked to the window looking out into the field just outside of the Avengers building. Outside it was pouring rain and pitch black besides the occasional lightning. Everyone in the house was up trying doing something or other seeming relaxed but there was something tense in the air. We were all waiting. Wanda and Vision were in the kitchen making some sort of desert. There was a smell of cinnamon filling up throughout the rooms. I glanced back around and found Sam sitting on the couch looking anxious. He had one leg over the other and his hand was wrapped around his ankle, which was resting on top of his other knee. His foot was shaking from impatience./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Clint came up to me then looking outside intently. "Well this should be interesting, Nat!" he smirked. I could see his reflection in the glass. I turned and smiled at him. "That's one way to put it." I knew Clint was only here to watch how tonight would go down. "Ooooh," Clint yelled, pointing out towards the sky, "I think they're coming!" Everyone was at the window now looking out and sure enough with the next flash of lightning we saw the chopper in the distance. We looked out in silence and with every strip of light it got closer and closer until it vanished from view. When it landed, we all heard a great thud on the ceiling and everyone looked up. Sam started to shake his head and stated, "I still don't know about this. Tensions are already running high in this place."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Everyone turned towards the stairs when we heard footsteps coming down. Steve appeared first. He was dressed in his civs. His brown boots first making an appearance down the clear glass staircase then a pair of kaki and then his back covered in a white t-shirt. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths as Steve followed the curve in the staircase to face us. Steve looked at me. His eyes seemed weary and there were bags under his eyes. I raised one of my eyebrows and gave him a questioning look./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"No one seemed to notice though. Everyone was staring at the other pair of shoes that appeared on the staircase, a pair of Samba classics to be precise. And there he descended. The Winter Soldier with his stupid tight black jeans and black jacket. I honestly don't think he owns clothes in any other color. Steve left the staircase and I started walking his way. "Welcome back, Cap," I stated. Bucky was right behind him. We made sort eye contact but I quickly looked away. "Let's get this out of the way, Nat," he sighed. "Everyone in the conference room," he announced to the room./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"No one said a word. We sat in the conference room in complete silence for an uncomfortable amount of minutes. The only people standing were Steve and Bucky. Steve at the front of the table and Bucky behind him in the corner, half of him covered in a shadow. I think it follows him around honestly. Steve was rambling about being nice to Bucky and he'll only be staying with us temporarily and how he doesn't want any fights and water under the bridge, etc./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Every time I looked up Bucky was looking at me. I was just starting to get really irritated when Clint nudged me and asked, "What's with the stare down from Shadow man, Nat?" I shrugged my shoulders. "How should I know?" He giggled. "Maybe he has a crush on you!" I nudged him in the ribs. "Shut up, Clint." The meeting ended with Steve dismissing us. We all went our separate ways. Steve went to show Bucky his room and I walked Clint out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I slipped in through his door making no sound at all. He was unpacking some of his clothes in a black duffel bag. Typical. He didn't look up as he said, "What can I help you with, Nat?" I scowled at the back of his head. "Don't call me Nat," I said firmly. I could see him smirking in the reflection of the window in front of his dresser. "Why not? Everyone else calls you that," he stated. I walked over to his twin mattress and gave it a couple bounces as I said, "Only my friends get to call me that and we aren't friends."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"He stopped putting his clothes and chuckled as he turned around to face me. He leaned against the dresser and shrugged his shoulders. "More of a lover, I'd say," he smirked. I sat still on his bed now looking him straight in the eye. "I guess this means you remember," I stated. "I remember all of it," he replied. "Have you told him?" I asked looking away. He folded his arms. "No," he replied. I smiled politely at him and stated, "Good." He smirked again. "But what will you give me not to say anything?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""This isn't a joke, Bucky," I stated. He was still wearing that stupid smirk. "Oh so you can use my nickname but I can't use yours? Fine," he replied, " I won't tell him. I won't tell anyone. Not that anyone will actually want me to talk to them here." I chuckled. "I think you've tried to kill everyone here. You can't blame them for not welcoming you with open arms. Not to mention you've shot me twice now." He lifted one of his fingers and got a questioning look on his face. "But did you die?" he asked. "Plus I'm pretty sure I said I was sorry and made up for it."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""You're a dick, Barnes," I said as I lifted myself off of his bed to leave. He let me get all the way to the door before he replied. "I'm pretty sure finding me in Murmansk a year in hiding after Hydra went down and secretly keeping that fact from someone who was so desperately trying to track me down is a dick move. And don't give me any bullshit about wanting to hide the fact of what it is we exactly did there. You could have left that out," he exclaimed. I hesitated with my hand on doorknob but said, "Stop staring at me. It's noticeable." Then I walked out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"I woke up in the middle of the night to someone walking up the hall towards my room. You should always be in the defense so I slipped out of bed and got to my door as quickly and quietly as possible. My heart began to pound as I heard the steps getting closer. I heard the last stomp near my door and threw open my door and jumped out. I collided with something very solid./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"Whoever it was flew backwards but landed effortlessly and silently. It was then that I knew who it was but before I could say anything, he came back at me. I tried to dodge him but I was too late and we both landed with a soft thud on the floor, he used his body weight to pin me down. He whispered in my ear then, "This position feels a little familiar." He gave a little chuckle afterwards./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""What the fuck are you doing, Barnes? You scared the shit out of me!" I exclaimed before I gave him a quick jab to the ribs. I might mention that this was a horrible idea because all of his body weight came crashing down on me, knocking the wind out of me causing both of us to lay there trying to control our breathing. That's the state we were in when the hall light flashed on. We both looked up. I had to see who it was upside down./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p