Bucky stood in front of the bathroom mirror, scissors in hand. He sectioned of the top layer, breathed in, and began to cut. He cut it nearly the same as Steve's, but a little longer on top. He cleaned up, washed his hair, and dried it with a towel. He dried it with a with a towel. It was begging to regain some what of a loose curl. When it had been longer he had always brushed it and pulled it back, and if it he hadn't, it seemed to straighten out.
He walked out of the bathroom, and Steve was sitting in one of the chairs on the wall opposite the beds, reading. Hearing Bucky walk out, he looked up. His eyes widened, and he just stared for a second.
"Does it look okay?" Bucky asked, running his hand through his hair nervously.
"Uh- Yeah, actually, it looks great. It's just a big change that I wasn't expecting is all." He said with a laugh. It was drastically different, all though exactly the same as he had had it before and during the war.
Bucky ran and jumped onto his bed. "I'm going to sleep." His face was buried in the pillows, and causing his voice to be muffled.
"I guess I will, too, then." Steve said. He set his book down on his nightstand, turned the lights of and got in bed.
"Oh." Bucky said, and turned on the lamp on his night stand.
"What?" Steve asked, as he sat back up to look at Bucky.
"Natasha and I are- I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't know what you'd say and I don't like to tell you things in front of everyone, but I know what I'm doing, I think anyways. I'm ready. But, Natasha and I are-"
"Dating?" Steve asked, a hint of excitement or maybe eagerness in his voice.
"What? No!" Steve could see the blush creeping onto Bucky's face, even in the dim light. Bucky stared at the floor, and took a second. "She wants me to go on a mission with her, and I said I would."
"Oh." Steve said. It was completely monotone. There was no hint or indicator of any meaning. Just "Oh." Bucky had expected him to have said something more like "Are you sure?" or "Shouldn't you think about it a little first?"
"I know you don't want me to get in anymore trouble or anything, but they need me. They're going after Brock Rumlow, and no one knows Hydra like I do. Especially Rumlow, I mean, I've been around him a lot and I've been on the inside. I-"
"You should go." Steve said.
"What?" That was not the answer he expected. He knew even though Steve had seemed been encouraging him to go ahead and take the field test, he was nervous about Bucky going back into the field. A mission where he was going after one of his "Handlers" that may lead anywhere in the world, with Natasha Romanoff was not ideal. Especially for his first mission away form Hydra.
"If you feel ready you should go." Steve said. Bucky could tell he was sincere.
"You think it would be okay?" Bucky asked. Something Steve had noticed about Bucky since he had been away from Hydra was his somewhat lack of independence. Although Bucky had always asked for Steve's opinion, and Steve likewise asked for Bucky's, it had been hardwired into Bucky's brain that he needed confirmation from someone else before making a decision, small or large.
"I'm not your mom, Buck. You're the only one who can decide this. No one is going to make you go, and no one is going to make you stay. It's you're choice. Don't feel pressured by them to go, but don't feel pressured by me to stay. This has to be your choice. No one else's." Steve said. Even though it had only been about a week since they had been officially reunited, he had been to pick up on these little things that had changed.
They held eye contact for a long while. Bucky suddenly looked at the floor. "Oh, okay, well, goodnight." He turned the light off and rolled over to his side.
"Goodnight." Steve said
It was silent for nearly half and hour, but Steve could tell there was something else Bucky was needing to say. He didn't know how long it would take him to say it, but it wasn't worth it to fall asleep before Bucky said it.
"I mean, I was going to go if you wanted me to or not. I mean, I would go but I would want you to be okay with it, but even if you didn't want me to I would still go. But not in a "I'm going just because you want me to" way. More of a "I'm going because I need to go, and you're being bossy" kind of way. No, that was rude. I mean I can make my own decisions, like, on my own and-"
Steve laughed, and cut him off. "I know you can." Steve said. He had learned many years ago that if he didn't cut Bucky off, Bucky wouldn't stop talking for quite a while.
"Like when I got offered that job and said no. I made that decision without asking anyone." Bucky said.
"Yeah. I still don't know why you said no." Steve said. It had been just after they had moved in together, and Bucky had set out to find a job. He had gotten an offer for $25 dollars a week to do paper work and filing at a news paper company, and had turned it down because it had been a paper work job. He later (several months later) had realized that it had been a very stupid decision, and had gone back. This time he was offered a job writing for the news paper instead of just filing them away, and had excepted it.
"Me either. But I have made some good decisions, like when I left home. No, that was dumb, too."
"It wasn't dumb, or a decision, really… If you want to go on this mission, go. It might be good for you. You'll get to know Tasha better, and I know you want to." Steve said. You could hear the smirk in his voice. "And you don't make dumb decisions all the time. Just sometimes. All of us do. I mean, some more than others, but everyone makes them." He said as an after thought.
"Okay, yeah, thanks."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Bucky woke up at about 8:00 o'clock A.M. Steve was already up (He was always up early). Since he was going to a meeting with fury, he decided to wear some of his clothes that weren't sweat pants and rummaged through his draws to find the pair of dark blue jeans and the blue button up. He walked to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. His hair was sticking up in every direction, and wouldn't seem to go into place, and after multiple attempts to comb the curls out he decided it didn't look that bad. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and walked down to the common room.
He walked into the kitchen, got a cup of coffee, and sat down in his seat. Clint and the kid Steve had told him about where sitting opposite to him. Clint looked like he was about to fall asleep on his bowl of cereal, and the other kid was staring straight in front of himself, not focused on anything in particular. Clint looked up at Bucky and his eyes went wide.
"What." Clint said. "Did you do?!"
"I cut my hair."
"Why?!" Clint was yelling now.
Bucky snickered. "Uh, I don't know. Long hair was kinda gross. I didn't really like it, I guess."
"But now you don't look like the same type of cool. I thought you where Tony when you where getting coffee!" Clint had calmed down somewhat.
Bucky laughed. "Have you seen Steve anywhere?"
"Why? Does he not know either?" Clint asked.
"Yeah, he knows. I was just wondering." Bucky said.
"I guess he's with Sam or something. I haven't seen him. Ya know, you're really attached to him. The first thing you ever ask me is 'Where's Steve?'. Oh! This is Matt. He's staying with us. Matt, this is Bucky." Clint said.
"Hi." Matt said, with out making eye contact. He looked just as tired as Clint. Bucky studied him for a second.
"Are you blind?" Bucky asked.
"What?" Matt said. He had a bit of an alarmed expression on his face, and he looked over at Bucky.
"Are you blind." Bucky repeated.
"You can't just ask people things like that, Bucky. It's rude, and he's not blind. Why would you think that?" Clint said.
"Uh, well, actually-" Matt started.
"What." Clint said, deadpan.
"I am."
Bucky laughed. "Did you tell them yesterday?"
"Uh, no." Matt said.
"You should tell Steve, then. I don't think it'll be a problem." Bucky said.
"Why would you lie to me?" Clint asked.
"I didn't?" Matt said.
"Why didn't you tell me? I asked if you knew what Bucky looked like and you just said 'no.'." Clint asked.
"Well, I don't." Matt said.
Bucky choked a little on his coffee. Clint decided to let it go, and they carried on with a new conversation. Bucky drank his coffee, and the other two ate their breakfast. Occasionally Bucky would contribute to the constantly changing conversation, but he mostly kept his focus on drinking his coffee.
Steve, Sam, and Natasha walked into the kitchen. They where covered in sweat, and wearing their workout clothes. Bucky had yet to join them at there workouts. He preferred to do it on his own, for now at least. It was a good source of alone time, which whether by his own causing or the fact that he was living with several different people, he didn't seem to have very much of it.
The three each got some coffee, Sam got a bowl of cereal also, and they sat down at the table with the others.
Sam and Natasha's eyes kept going back to Bucky. He almost looked like a different person. Bucky knew Sam had something to say, he always did, but he just kept staring.
"Stop staring and say what you're gonna say." Bucky said, after a few minutes of the starring.
"I didn't know Steve could cut hair." Sam said.
"He can't." Bucky replied.
"I can't. I always mess it up." Steve confirmed.
"You've not been anywhere, so, Natasha?" Sam asked, looking over at her.
"I didn't do it." She said. Raising her hands in defense.
"I did it myself." Bucky said.
"Well, it looks really pretty." Sam said. Bucky rolled his eyes.
They sat silently a while, but it wasn't long before Clint blurted out "He's blind!", and pointed at Mat. Steve looked over at Bucky and raised an eyebrow; and Bucky nodded his head. Nobody said anything. They all decide silently that Coulson could find out on his own.
Bucky's phone buzzed. He checked his text messages.
Just reminding you about our meeting today.
Natasha had text him from across the table. He hadn't seen her do it, and guessed no one else had either.
Didn't know if you wanted anyone to know yet.
He text back. It doesn't matter. Steve knows. It wont be a problem.
Good, She said.
Later, Bucky and Natasha meet up at at the door leaving the common room.
"Are you ready?" She asked. She was wearing black pants, and a dark green shirt.
"Yeah." Bucky said. They went down the elevator to the floor Tony had allowed for SHEILD to use, and Natasha knocked on Fury's office door, and walked in. He wasn't there all the time, he was usually at the official SHEILD building, but he had an office at Stark tower, too.
"Natasha, James. How are you?" He said. He was sitting behind his desk. On his desk where two files, ands a medium sized box.
"Fine." They both said in unison. There where two chairs in front of the desk. Natasha sat down, and Bucky followed suit.
"Here's the mission." Nick said, as he handed them the files that had been stacked on his desk. "And here's you're suit." Fury opened the box. He pulled out a full body suit. It was solid black, but as it came up from the waste it was split. The split section had an America flag type pattern made to look similar to Steve's. Seriously. Bucky thought. Second he pulled out a black pair of pants, and a black jacket. Better. Furry placed them back in the box and handed it to Bucky.
"Now, a few things have changed since I last talked to you, Natasha." Fury started. "We're still after Rumlow, and the leads you gave us where correct, and we where able to locate him. But just as he was leaving. We lost track of him, but we know he is still in Europe. Your job will be to find him, and get as much intel on any Hydra bases, or agents that you can find. Once you are close to finding him, contact us and we'll send in a team to help you bring him in. You're not to shoot if at all possible." He made direct eye contact with Bucky as he said not to shoot Rumlow. Bucky maintained the eye contact. Fury went over a few more things, and they all departed.
Two days later they where set to leave. Bucky was in his room making sure he had everything he needed, or Steve was making sure he had everything he needed. Bucky was laying on his bed watching. They hadn't talked anymore about Bucky leaving, but Bucky could tell Steve was a little anxious. Bucky wasn't sure how he felt about going on a mission again. He was excited, but at the same tim he almost felt… Angry. He hated Rumlow, and Fury knew that. Anyone that had read his file would only be right to assume Bucky would hate Rumlow. Bucky had tried to track him down while he was on the run, but could never quite catch him. He had tracked him down to being in Serbia, but Steve had distracted him from that. He had planed on putting a bullet in Rumlow's head, and disappearing again.
Although he was glad things had turned out how they had, he still wanted to rid the world of Brock Rumlow, and he realized he wouldn't be able to do that in the meeting.
He decided that he would go with SHEILD's plan. Bucky knew that they where stupid to want to bring him in alive. He had escaped the first time they had him, and Bucky was tempted to go against his orders. But he didn't want to start off on a bad foot. While he knew he couldn't break the rules he could bend them, and that was something he had learned to do effectively at a very young age. He was actually going through different scenarios of what would be counted as "not possible" to bring him in alive when Steve told him he had forgotten to pack his toothbrush. He got it, and handed it to Steve.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, why?" Bucky replied.
"You where making a face. Kinda like when Dum-Dum was teasing you about-"
"You don't need to finish that sentence. And I'm fine." Bucky smiled, and went back to his bed. He actually fell asleep, and slept until it was time for him to leave. Steve woke him up.
"It's time to go." Steve said.
"M'kay." Bucky mumbled. He got up and grabbed his bag. The two stared at each other for a few seconds. The both went in for a hug at the same time.
"I'll see ya." Bucky said.
"Call me anytime." Steve said. Bucky nodded. He found Natasha and they left.