A/N:
If you like this story, please check out the Kickstarter for my book. It was made a Project We Love, but I still need all the help I can get.
The link is on my profile page, because this site won't allow external links.
A month had passed since Bucky had moved into the Avenger's complex, and he was adjusting very well for someone who had been brainwashed and tortured for seventy years. Now he only tried to kill people when they woke him up from a nightmare or took the last Pop Tart.
Steve had started sparring with him, and they were both learning a lot. Bucky taught him Sambo, and he taught Bucky non-lethal tactics. The lessons were mutual, but there was a power dynamic that Steve was starting to hate. Bucky waited for Steve's nod of approval before he did anything, whether it was teaching Steve a new throw or pulling a knife on Tony for eating the last Gone Nutty!
Bucky and Steve never fought. They never even argued. Not even when Steve took the last Wildlicious Wild Cherry on purpose.
Bucky was doing so well that the Avenger's decided he was ready for a mission.
They were going to search an abandoned Hydra facility in Stuttgart that Zola had worked at for a brief period during the war. They'd been searching for intel on how he'd uploaded his mind, which Tony said should be impossible due to stochastic neuronal activity. They'd gotten a second opinion from Dr. Strange in case Tony was just upset because he didn't know how to do it, but Dr. Strange had concurred. Mind uploading was impossible.
Stuttgart was their only lead. They didn't expect to find anything, but they had to look anyway. It was Bucky's first mission, other than protecting Steve. Now Steve knew how his ma had felt on his first day off school.
"You've got everything you need?" he asked for the third time. "You've got the power bars I packed for you?"
"For the fourth time, yes."
He must have lost count when Bucky was in the bathroom. (Steve had insisted he went before they left.)
"Sorry." Steve sighed. "It's just our first mission together since the war, and so much has changed."
Bucky put his real hand on Steve's shoulder. "Hey, I've been on more missions than you, punk."
"What did you call me?"
"Relax," said Bucky. "Everything will be fine."
"Wait. What did you call me?"
"Nothing." Bucky dropped his hand. "Let's go."
"Buck, are you're starting to remember?"
He shrugged. "A little. I didn't want to get your hopes up. You're right. Things have changed."
"Bucky..."
"I'm still the good looking one though." Bucky actually smiled. "That hasn't changed. Now stop worrying. Everything will be fine."
Everything was fine, right up until Tony saw the Cadbury chocolate egg.
It was sitting on the control console in the operations room, next to a coffee cup and an ancient Ditsch pretzel.
"Do you think this is still good?" Tony asked, already reaching for it.
Bucky grabbed his wrist.
"Okay," said Tony. "One: You cannot possibly claim the chocolate, which has been here for decades. Two: I wasn't actually going to eat it. I was just going to see if it had fossilized enough that I could use it to prop up my particle acelerator. I'm thinking of inventing a new element. Three: Ow."
Bucky let go. "It's a bomb."
"What?"
He picked up the pretzel and took a few steps away from the console. Everyone else followed suit. Bucky threw the pretzel at the chocolate egg, which resulted in a surprisingly impressive explosion.
"Zola picked it up from the Nazis," said Bucky. "When their forces were pulling out, they planted bombs in everything from first aid kits to chocolate bars. Zola used Cadbury Eggs. He thought it was funny. You know. An Easter egg."
"Death by chocolate," whispered Tony.
"Unlikely," said Bucky. "Your suit would have protected you from the blast. Since your helmet was up, you might have gone blind, but you probably wouldn't have died."
"Probably." Tony gave Bucky a sideways glance. "Thanks anyways."
They split up to finish searching facility, but they didn't find any Easter eggs, symbolic or otherwise.
"Time to call it?" asked Nat. She'd accompanied him and Bucky. Rhodes and Tony had taken satellite buildings. Sam and Bruce had taken the second floor.
Steve nodded. He was about to say as much through the comms when they crackled with static. There was the sound of crashing metal was followed by a grunt of pain.
"Sam? Sam, sit rep!"
"The South stairs collapsed." That was Bruce. "Sam has a gash on his leg. Looks clean, no arterial splatter, but I'm going to need help carrying him. If I turn into the other guy, I'll take out the rest of the building."
"On it."
Steve started running south, mentally recreating the floorplans he'd glanced at before the mission. He heard Bucky and Nat fall into step behind him. They found Sam lying in a small pile of rubble. Bruce was holding his coat to a gash on Sam's leg, but it had already soaked through.
Steve saw a first aid kit on the landing and reached for it. He realized his mistake a second before he heard Bucky's shout.
