You're my number one
You're the one I want

- "Geyser" by Mitski

Part One: Don't encourage her

Bucky stands among the pile of rubble, letting out a long breath with his hands in his jacket pockets.

Since they defeated Thanos, they've had to rebuild, and part of the process is rebuilding the Avengers Facility. All Bucky can smell is ash and mud, and Sam lets out a sigh from his spot beside Steve.

"My room can be here," Bucky says, circling his gloved hand for a second before shoving it back into his jacket.

"Jacuzzi?" Sam says, and Bucky nods.

"Master bathroom, somewhere…"

Bucky takes a couple steps. He glances up to meet Steve's gaze. His friend just raises an eyebrow.

"Here."

"Nice," Steve replies. He glances at the sky for a second, sighing.

He's been doing that a lot lately. Bucky wishes there was something he could do.

"What can we do, today?" Bucky asks, and Steve thinks for a second.

"Some… old friends are moving up. They were gone, before," Steve says. "They'll be working with Banner with R&D."

"Who?" Sam asks.

"Thor's girl. Or, she was," Steve says. "Jane Foster. She was working on researching the Bifrost for years, she was nominated for a Nobel Prize. We could have used her."

Thank God for the Quantum Realm. Bucky thinks about that every day, that they may not have ever come back if Scott Lang was dusted like everyone else. Thinking about the what-ifs for too long is no longer a good idea. Bucky knows Steve constantly wrestles with the what-ifs.

"Stark recommended her?" Bucky asks, quiet.

"Yeah. And her assistant, who's apparently a pain in the ass."

"To Tony?" Sam asks, and Steve nods.

Everyone mentions Stark, all the time. It's unavoidable. His funeral was last month, and then everyone took a break. It was never discussed, but suddenly everyone was going away and taking the time to process the last battle.

Bucky's eyes rest on his shoe. He will never have a chance to right his wrongs with Stark. He saw Morgan at the funeral, which made his heart heavy. Bucky doesn't want to spiral so he brings himself back, listening to Sam and Steve.

"We could help pack their equipment in one of the shipping containers," Sam says, and Bucky nods.

They walk away from the black earth that covers what remained of the original compound, and Bucky sees a truck pulling up. It's beaten up, and he can make out two people in the front of it.

"That her?" Sam asks, and Steve nods. "What are their names again?"

"Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis," Steve says softly, crossing his arms as the three men stand together.

"I need to… start writing people's names down," Sam mutters. "Too many names to remember, man. And with like a system to know their powers."

"They don't have any powers."

When the two women open the doors of the truck to jump down, Bucky instantly disagrees with Steve. His eyes are drawn to the brunette, who wears a pair of glasses and a maroon beanie, a thick flannel shirt tied at her middle, her leggings accentuating her curves.

Bucky's nostrils flare and his eyes go wide for a second before he tries his hardest to tamper it down, but Sam already notices.

"Damn. Barnes."

"Shut up," he hisses. His feels his cheeks flush.

This hasn't happened in years. He actually has no idea when it last happened, probably when he was a teenager experiencing all those new hormones, his testosterone in overdrive.

Jane and Darcy walk up to them, and they're really short. Like, tiny. But fierce.

"You got a place we can put our shit?" Darcy asks Steve, instead of opening with a greeting or any sense of propriety.

Bucky wants to tackle her for that alone, and the thought is overwhelming to him. He has no idea where this is coming from. He looks at the ground before he gives himself away.

"Over there," Steve says, pointing to one of the shipping containers they had Rocket fetch with Nebula in his ship.

"Thanks," Darcy says.

"I'm Jane," Jane Foster says, and she takes Steve's hand to shake it.

"I'm Steve Rogers."

"Yeah, no shit," Darcy interjects, and she's walking back to the truck.

Bucky's eyes fall to her ass and he closes his eyes for a second.

Oh, no. He wants to bite it, and he's disgusted with himself for the sudden urge. He grits his teeth.

"Don't mind her. She's just… Darcy," Jane says.

Darcy's opening the back of the truck, and she calls out:

"You dumbasses gonna help, or are those muscles for show?"

Sam snorts, and Bucky feels himself smile. Steve just takes a deep breath and replies:

"Doll, you'd be surprised."

Her head reappears for a second, eyebrows raised in challenge.

"Don't… engage. It just encourages her," Jane mutters.

"I heard that!"

Bucky feels excited, and wonders what to do with these new feelings. If he can call them that. Maybe it's just lust and it's been too long.

He and Sam walk over to the end of the truck, and Darcy's standing inside it with her hands on her hips.

"Hey," she says, flashing a smile down at them.

Fuck, she's adorable. She has a gap between her front teeth and Sam returns her smile easily.

"Hey, yourself," Sam replies.

Bucky doesn't reply, feeling self-conscious. Apparently he longer remembers how to talk.

"He's quiet," Darcy says, nodding at Bucky before her gaze lands back on Sam.

"Yeah, don't mind him."

Bucky frowns and Darcy starts to laugh. She turns away and Sam watches Bucky watch her, grabbing his shoulder to spur him on.

"Stop," Bucky hisses.

Darcy picks up a box, grunting with the effort and moves back toward them, handing it to Bucky. She gestures to a couple filing cabinets.

"Steve and I will get it," Sam says. He nudges Bucky, who shoots him a glare. "Go show Darcy where the container is."

"That's okay," Darcy says. "I can find it."

"No, he wants to help," Sam insists, and Bucky grits his teeth again.

Darcy shrugs. She hops out of the truck, and Bucky feels his heartrate pick up when she looks at him expectantly. Bucky looks toward the container in the distance and starts walking with the box in his hand.

He used to be a goat farmer. At least then he didn't have to worry about looking like an idiot in front of a beautiful girl. At least the goats didn't tease him.

He misses those goats. Maybe he should get a couple from Wakanda and retire from having any kind of social life.

He knows he's being dramatic but he's almost in panic mode all of a sudden, walking Darcy to the shipping container. He shoves the door with his shoulder easily and Darcy stares at his strength, and he can almost see the thoughts forming in her mind.

"Were you here, for the battle?" Darcy asks. Her voice echoes inside the container along with their footsteps.

Bucky puts down the box and looks at her, nodding.

She blinks at him a couple times, waiting for an explanation.

"You were dusted, right?" she asks, and he nods.

She has no idea who he is. It's somewhat liberating, except he wants to get to know her. He wants her to smile at him and be around him longer than this, but doing that means telling her the truth.

"I feel like…" she murmurs, and Bucky meets her gaze. "I feel like I know you."

Bucky blinks at her.

"I feel like I know you, too."

Jane ducks inside the container with a computer monitor in her skinny arms, placing it on the floor. Sam and Steve follow her in, carrying the two filing cabinets.

His moment with Darcy is over. The two women start to whisper and he ducks out, hearing Jane at the last minute blurt:

"Don't you know who he is?"

His heart sinks and he walks back to the truck, trying to push it away, let it go. It was only a matter of time. He glances at Darcy for a second as they keep moving stuff out of the truck, and her whole demeanour has changed, she seems less carefree.

Later that day when they're finishing up, Steve catches his eye for a second and deflates a little for him. Frankly, Bucky is sick of being the person Steve worries about all the time.

"Don't," Bucky says, cutting off whatever his oldest friend was about to say.

Darcy and Jane are sitting together on some milk crates next to their shipping container and he lets out a sigh.

Today has just been full of his own foolishness.