Apologies for the belated chapter list of excuses:
1) I took a little detour to work on a couple Tasertrick prompts. Those were fun!
2) Alan Rickman. If you don't know me well, I have vast love for this man. The news about his death made me very sad to the point where I would have just written a lot of angst and sadness.
3) I wrote through this chapter a couple times, a little unsure of it. There's a long going on and as always I'm trying to reveal mystery bits and backstory bits and offstage action without cramming it down the reader's throat. I think it's one of those chapters where if this were an original book, I might go back and be able to work it better once I have the entire picture. As such..here it is and my best effort for a first draft.
Because of the delay, this chapter is unbetaed, so please excuse gross mistakes.
Please also excuse my writing of British accents. For some reason a particular character was sounding like Ron Weasley in my head so I sort of just went with it haha
Bucky followed the usual protocol and with Jarvis's assistance, found a remote place in the countryside to land the jet where they were unlikely to be discovered. Darcy slept through the flight, bunked in one of the onboard barracks. Bucky found her curled up into a ball, her glasses askew on her face. She appeared to have just collapsed onto the cot and passed out before getting the a chance to make herself comfortable.
He crouched down next to her sleeping spot and ran a gentle hand over her soft, brown hair. A soft, sleepy murmur slipped from her lips, eyes half blinking, but not quite awake. Bucky's lips twitched in amusement, feeling an unusual pull in his chest.
"Time to get up, doll. We're here."
The air was crisper than in New York, the sky cool and gray, but calm. Darcy pulled on her olive army coat and grabbed a knit hat from her bag before pulling on her boots and a scarf.
Bucky was doing post flight checks and reporting in to Steve while she readied herself, finishing up when he heard her boots on the steel floor behind him. She leaned over the controls, examining the green of the forest on the other side of the window.
"Did we time travel? This doesn't look like the London I know."
"We're about 40 clicks from the city limits," he answered.
"How are we getting into the city?"
Bucky pushed out of the pilot's chair and headed toward the ramp, expecting Darcy to follow along. He grabbed her travel bag on the way out and shouldered it, already having loaded up his own. "We'll take the bike."
"Bike?" Her sleepy eyes went wide. "As in M-motorcycle?"
"Yep."
Bucky continued down the ramp, to where the bike waited for them. Darcy approached the vehicle as if it were a sleeping lion that could pounce at any time.
"I'm not really a motorcycle girl. Is this even safe?"
She hovered in the middle of the ramp. Bucky sighed, walking back up and taking her hand to pull her down to the ground level, her feet reluctantly stomping the entire way.
"Do you think I'd let you on the bike if it wasn't perfectly safe?" He shifted her arm so he could get her bag over her head and strap it close to her body for the ride.
"You'd 'let' me on the bike? As in you have control over what I do?" She arched a brow.
Of course independence and her damn stubbornness would be the thing to beat back her fear. Bucky smirked at the fire in her jade eyes, giving her bag strap one more yank. She shook against the pull, but didn't budge, her eyes staying locked with his.
"Well, if you're too scared…" he waved the extra helmet in his hand back and forth, taunting her.
Darcy scrunched her nose and snatched the helmet from his grasp. "I see what you did there, Barnes."
"There's my brave girl." Bucky knocked her on the chin and laughed when she scoffed and batted his hand away.
The pair tugged on their helmets and Bucky slid onto the bike. Darcy scooted on behind him, her front snug against his back, her hands locking around his torso in a death like grip.
Bucky grunted and shifted.
"One word," Darcy warned, "about how I'm holding on too tight and Hydra will look like a kiddie day camp compared to what I'll do to you."
Bucky bit down on his response and let her wiggle tighter into him, kicking the bike into gear and revving the engine. He swore that kicking it up to sixty so fast was a complete accident and in no way was a ploy to see if Darcy would hold on even tighter. He allowed himself a moment's satisfaction when he felt her squeeze his stomach and then turned his focus to getting them in to the city.
He wasn't sure who might be waiting for them when they got there and he wanted to be prepared and alert for anything.
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By the time they made it into the city, Darcy had discovered one very important thing.
She was never, ever getting on a motorcycle ever again. Even the guilty pleasure of having an excuse to hold onto Bucky couldn't make her get on that crazy contraption. It was hard to secretly cop a feel of his abs when she was terrified for her life.
Darcy was white knuckling Bucky's leather jacket by the time he parked around the block from Erik's street. She jumped off and threw the helmet at him as soon as they were on stable ground.
He laughed shamelessly. "Come on, doll. My driving wasn't that bad."
"Don't tell my mom I said this, but she was totally right about boys on motorcycles." She brushed and huffed her tangled hair out of her face, praising Asgard that she was alive.
"Drama queen."
Darcy opened her mouth to retort, but the combination of his playful blue eyes and sexy smirk made her stop. It was a rare sight on Bucky's face. She figured she'd take it as reward for being so graceful about the motorcycle.
London was everything Darcy remembered. Cool and gray, anonymous. It was easy to get lost in the crowds, everyone meandering, involved in their own little lives. The clouds overhead threatened rain, but Darcy could tell by the shades of gray it was an empty threat. The day would most likely stay clear and gloomy.
She did a little spin on the sidewalk of the tree-lined street, examining her surroundings.
Without asking, Bucky had somehow known the way to Erik's flat. The plan wasn't to walk right up, knock on the door, and check on her friend. Instead they would lay low for a while, scoping out the neighborhood, pretending to be tourists. Bucky would get the lay of the land and have a chance to assess any potential threats.
"Come on," he nodded, in the direction of a more populated street.
Darcy strolled beside him, eyes darting to every person they passed, wondering if they were a spy or an enemy. How was she supposed to tell if someone was a threat? What did threats look like? Unless there was a big dude, with a mean face, dressed in all black and pointing a gun at them, she felt that she was unlikely to spot someone suspicious.
Bucky threw an arm around her shoulder and she jumped into his side, startled by the contact. "Relax." He whispered into her hair.
Darcy's heart thumped, she licked her lips. Bucky's arm stayed around her side. "How do we know if there are any bad guys?"
"We'll circle a few times, see if we pick up any tails. Or recognize something out of the ordinary. See that woman with the dog?" Darcy followed his gaze to a short haired, blonde woman with a bulldog going to the bathroom by a tree. "Fido should finish doing his business and she should be gone the next time we head around."
""Fido?' Looks like more of a 'Sparky' to me."
"Is there ever a time when you aren't a smart ass?"
"Maybe when I was still in the womb."
"Just pay attention, but act natural. Don't look like you're paying attention."
Darcy thought she got the gist of what he was saying. Pick up the details, pick out the ordinary and compare it to the too ordinary. Find what was out of place.
"What about the guy there?" There was a man, with a black umbrella, reading a newspaper on a bench. "Who reads a newspaper anymore?"
She was pressed against him enough to feel his chest rumble as he laughed.
"Good point," he conceded. "Anyone else watching, they'll notice us, too. They'll wonder why we're strolling around the block repeatedly." His pace slowed, quick eyes passing behind her head. "Doll, promise me…If someone starts following, you do everything I say. If I say hide, you hide. If I say get back, you get back. If I say run you say—"
"Like hell I'm leaving you behind."
Bucky frowned. Darcy knew that wasn't the answer he was looking for, but he didn't know her at all if he thought she'd say otherwise.
"Darce—"
"My Taser is in my pocket, if anyone gets close to me, they're getting shocked back to the dark ages."
"Someone wouldn't necessarily need to get close to hurt you." His voice strained against the words,
Darcy was scared and nervous, but there wasn't much use in worrying about it now. If there was danger to be found within those few blocks surrounding Erik's flat, then they were already in it. Sooner or later, the switch would flip.
Bucky brought them to a stop and all of Darcy's senses went on alert. "What do you see? What is it?" He pushed against her shoulders and turned her to face the storefront and sign. A man exiting with a coffee rushed past them. "A café?"
"We're going inside."
"Why?"
His mouth curved. "Because it's morning and you haven't had your caffeine yet."
Darcy grinned. "You know me so well."
Inside the little shop was a small queue of people waiting to place orders. Darcy gazed lovingly at the pastry display, while Bucky covertly surveyed the other customers hanging out at the wooden tables, some alone with reading materials or laptops, others chatting away with friends. "Want anything?" Darcy asked. Bucky grunted. "You haven't eaten, either. I'm getting you a bagel."
Darcy ordered two coffees and two bagels with extra cream cheese.
"Use your card."
Darcy arched a brow at his tone. It sounded like an order more than a request. "Well, if that's the kind of guy you want to be, I guess I'll be the sugar mama." She smiled at the younger cashier, who shook her head at the exchange.
A few minutes later, they got their breakfasts, stopping at a table for a few quick moments to eat. Bucky stared out the window.
"Sorry," he said to her, watching a cyclist ride by. He was apologizing for his tone. "I meant in case something happens. In case Steve or Stark need to track us, they'll know where you've been."
Darcy chewed her bagel. "I understand."
His mouth twitched and he pulled his gaze away from the window to meet her eyes. "For the record, that's not the kind of guy I am. If I could, you'd never spend a dime."
"Hey! I can pay for my own bagels and coffee and whatever else, just like any other red-blooded female. It's the 21st century dude, going Dutch is a totally acceptable thing with couples."
"Going Dutch?"
"Halfsies," she explained.
Bucky shrugged, tearing off a piece of bagel and popping it into his mouth. "Well, what if I wanted to pay for everything?"
"You'd actually want to spend all your money on a girl?"
"Wouldn't be hard. I don't have any money." Darcy rolled her eyes at his smirk; he was such a smart ass sometimes.
"Pretend you're as rich as Tony. How about then?"
All the tension that Bucky had been exhibiting on the street and in line had completely vanished. He was at ease now, leaning back in the wooden chair, legs stretched out, arm slung over the back of the empty chair next to him.
"If I had Tony's bank account and it were the right girl…I'd buy her the moon if she wanted it."
A little bit of Brooklyn boy slipped into his words. It was such a cheesy thing to say, a line pulled straight out of another time. But his smile, his charm, all made it work. Darcy was slowly realizing, over coffee and bagel and recon, that she wanted to be the girl who deserved the moon.
She quickly finished her food and most of her coffee, and then double-checked it was cool for her to go to the bathroom herself. Bucky hesitated at the notion of splitting up, but since the door was in his eye line, he gave her a nod of approval.
Darcy made sure the whole trip lasted less than a minute.
When she appeared again, the earlier tension that he'd been showing had returned.
"Let's go," he said. He held up her olive jacket so she could slip her arms inside.
Bucky held the door for her on the way out, keeping a hand at her back until they established their path on the sidewalk. He steered them in the direction further away from Erik's flat.
Darcy flinched, when Bucky reached down and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight.
"Sorry," he muttered, feeling her jump. She wanted to tell him she wasn't surprised-disgusted that he was holding her hand; quite the opposite, actually.
"What were we talking about earlier?"
"Umm," Darcy floundered, overly aware of his hand in hers. He had his gloves on, to mask his metal hand, but she could still feel the heat through the leather. "Paying for dates?"
"All your boyfriends make you pay when you go out?"
"It's not like that. I can tell a cheap guy from a guy who has respect for my independence," she told him. "Besides, most of the dating I did was in college and dating in college usually means you're both poor as hell. So, unless both parties are paying their share of a fancy meal, then we probably aren't going to get to have one. That's the Darcy Lewis Dating Philosophy."
Bucky stopped and turned to her, using her hand to tug her closer. "Darcy Lewis Dating Philosophy?"
He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and gave her a smirk that turned her knees to Jello. She swallowed his switch between tense, to relaxed, to flirtatious making her head spin.
Of course, she opened her mouth to respond, an ungraceful yelp coming out as he pushed her into a small alcove.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, her eyes glued to his. His body pressed near hers was entirely distracting. Stunned to the point of being on autopilot, she moved her arms around his waist, meeting the feel of something cold and metal peeking out of his waistband.
A gun.
He was armed.
Of course he was armed. He probably had a dozen guns and a hundred knives on him at that very moment.
Because they were on a mission. She hadn't meant to forget.
"What's going on?" she asked, a niggling feeling that he didn't actually want to slam her up against a wall an make out with her taking over.
"We're being followed," he said bringing his face closer to her. To a passerby, they would look like a couple, stealing a few kisses. "Someone took an interest in you when you got up to use the bathroom in the coffee shop."
"Who?"
"Male. Brown hair. Red hat. Black jacket."
Following their cover, Darcy lifted herself onto her toes. She craned her head, angling her lips as if she planned to kiss Bucky behind his ear and along his jaw. Her arms wrapped around his neck, hoisting herself to look over his shoulder for their tail.
This time, his breath caught, one of his hand gripping her waist. It was the metal arm. A thrill went through Darcy, but she told her libido to simmer down.
Darcy's eyes scanned the block for a red hat. She spotted it. Him. Brown hair, red beanie hat, a black jacket and, "Messenger bag with patches all over it?"
"Yeah."
The man stopped, realizing that he'd been noticed and quickly turned away.
Darcy disentangled herself from Bucky and darted in their tracker's direction. She heard Bucky spew something out in colorful Russian that was probably a swear.
"Darcy!"
"Ian!" She called out. "Ian! Wait!"
Her ex-boyfriend turned, shifting his red cap up his forehead, and offered a nervous grin. Darcy stopped in front of him, staring up at his sheepish face.
"Hey, Darcy. I thought I saw you."
"Ian," she repeated his name once more in disbelief. "Were you following us?"
Ian's nervous smile was all teeth as he looked between her and Bucky behind her. "Sorry. I saw you in the café. I didn't expect to see you here, in London, I mean. I thought—what are you doing here?"
"Visiting Erik," Darcy answered, earning an admonishing noise from the man behind her. "Oh, uh sorry. This is Ian. Ian this is—"
"James," Bucky replied for her, shooting her a confused glare. The two men shook hands, Ian wincing at the force of "James's" grip.
"Nice to meet you," he said as he pulled back, shaking out his hand. "You said you're visiting Erik?"
"Yeah. He called Jane so we figured we'd check up on him."
"He's not around actually. He headed out of town about a few days ago, asked me to watch over his flat, feed his fish. I've been crashing there the past couple nights."
Darcy passed Bucky a look. "Notice anything weird?"
"Nothing weirder than usual, for Erik, ya know?"
Darcy nodded. Erik had been a bit of a strange bird since everything that had happened with Loki. His bouts of insanity often manifested in interesting ways. "Well, we were hoping to maybe stay…"
Ian looked at both of them and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Come on, he should be back soon. He's never gone for more than a few days."
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Maybe there was a correlation between brilliance and the inability to keep anything in order. Bucky was beginning to think so, judging by the state of Selvig's apartment. There were papers everywhere, random decorations lining the walls that had no rhyme or reason. Foster's office space had been much the same. There was a large fish tank pressed against the wall of the living room, but Bucky didn't spot any life inside the tank.
Soda bottles overflowed from the recycling and boxes were left unpacked.
Maybe Ian was just a bad houseguest.
The young man was in the kitchen, Darcy perched on a stool as he made tea and explained the doctor's whereabouts.
"He's been going on trips, usually weekends. Calls me up, says he'll be gone for a couple days, asks me to watch the place and then comes back. This is the longest trip he's taken."
Ian scratched at the back of his head, just under his cap, and lifted the kettle from the stove.
"Do you know where he went? Did he say when he was coming back?"
"He never says. I asked him if it was safe and all he said was he was visiting a secret girlfriend. That's a lie."
"How do you know?" Bucky chimed in.
Ian flinched at Bucky addressing him directly. "Have you met Selvig? He's barmy. Good bloke, but I can't imagine him ever attracting a woman."
"Where do you think he's going if he's off having some secret sex-capade?"
"Science thing," Ian shrugged, passing Darcy tea. Bucky watched him closely, noticing the amount of sugar he deposited without having to ask. Exactly the way Darcy preferred. "Both Doctor Foster and Erik had their secrets. And so did you…"
He trailed off meaningfully, scratching at his neck again. Apparently it was a nervous habit.
"Have you heard from him recently?"
"No but, I mean I'm sure he's fine, if he called you and Jane."
"He cancelled a non-existent visit with us."
"You know he forgets everything that doesn't have to do with whatever research he's working on. I'm sure he had it in his head that there was a visit scheduled and forgot to actually mention it to either of you."
"Don't do that," Darcy countered. "Don't do that thing where you pretend like I'm making something out of nothing."
"I'm not, I'm just saying…" He sighed. "You go digging for all this stuff—"
"Stuff?"
"Danger. There are some of us who are just trying to live normal lives, ya know?"
Bucky didn't like the guy's tone or the way he was talking to her. Darcy shut him down with a frown and a turn of her head.
"I need to make a call." Ian excused himself from the room.
Because Darcy was refusing to look up, Bucky moved in front of her field of vision.
"We've got to figure out where he goes."
"Agreed," Bucky replied.
"Being secretive about research is on thing…being unsafe while sciencing…" Finally she looked up at him. "You don't think I'm making too much out of this?"
Bucky didn't think that at all. Darcy had been right about Hodges' and the attack. He knew from her history that she'd help connect a few dots during the Convergence and also in New Mexico. The girl had a good gut instinct and the smarts to see things that seemed to slide by everyone else. One way or another, he knew Darcy would be determined to figure out what was going on. And Bucky would follow her until she did.
They spent the afternoon at Selvig's. After a moment of insecurity that morning, Darcy seemed to recover just fine, ordering Ian to help dig up all of Erik's recent research files. She called Jane, asking for ideas where Erik might be making trips, but Jane told Darcy that he'd refused to tell even her where the energy anomalies were occurring, lest Jane try to make the trips herself.
"Ya know," Ian complained, rifling through files. "I'm not your intern anymore."
"No, you're my ex, which means I have total and complete right to boss you around and be as mean to you as I want."
Normally, Bucky would have applauded that sass and saccharine smile that came along with it. But instead he was tripping over the "ex" part of her insult.
Ian ducked his head and went back to work, while Bucky continued feeling a little useless. Research really wasn't his forte. Instead he busied himself with checking out windows and scanning the apartment for bugs. Once he'd discovered the former relationship status of the boy and Darcy, he decided it was a good time to do a weapons check.
The younger man gulped at the sight of the guns and knives Bucky drew from his person, placing each deadly weapon on the dining table with the care of a doting lover and giving every one a thorough inspection.
Darcy had gone to the bathroom when Ian finally decided to take a chance and break the tense silence between them.
"So, James," he squeaked. "You work for S.H.I.E.L.D then?"
"Not really," Bucky grunted, not bothering to look from his gun. He shoved a magazine back into his SIG Sauer, hard enough to make Ian jump.
"You an—and Darcy. I saw you outside the café. You two—err..?"
Bucky snapped his eyes to Ian, hitting him with a look that dared him to finish the question. The boy scratched at his neck. He was saved when Darcy came back into the room.
"Hey, Ian, didn't you say there were news paper clippings somewhere that Erik was hoarding?"
"Yeah, bedroom. I'll grab them."
When Ian disappeared, Darcy sent an arch look in Bucky's direction. He was trying to appear innocent and confused, but she wouldn't be Darcy if she didn't see right through it. "What?"
She answered with a snort and went back to the workspace she'd carved out for herself on the couch. "Nothing," she muttered. "Testosterone!" She coughed, exaggeratedly patting her chest.
"Bless you," Bucky countered.
"Pulling out all the guns…real nice touch."
Bucky grinned to himself as Darcy settled back into her research.
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Nothing about Erik's research seemed to connect. It was all as manic as he'd been when they'd seen him stark naked on television months ago. Which, to say the least, was disappointing. She thought Erik was doing better. It made her all the more worried for the man to be heading off alone. All the notes he left behind were about meteorology. Erik was an astronomer; she wasn't sure what the hell rain and snow had to do with stars and planets. Unless he'd suddenly taken up storm chasing as a weird side hobby.
Ian tried to help with what he could. He spent most of the time running in and out of the living room and giving Bucky a wide berth. Around four in the afternoon on the second day, Darcy felt that she'd hit a dead in with all of her possible leads. So instead she did something she hated doing more than anything. She cleaned.
Erik's flat was a total pigsty. Ian had done a crappy job taking care of it, aside from keeping the fish alive. It took her some time to get the little Beta to poke its head out from its hiding place inside of a sunken pirate ship and greet her.
Darcy wasn't the most organized girl in the world, but she was relatively clean. Clutter was her problem, leaving take out Chinese on the kitchen counter for so long that it was beginning to grow its own eco-system was not.
Strangely, she still craved Egg Rolls even after getting a huge whiff of spoiled Lo-Mein.
After dinner, Ian went out to meet friends at the pub to watch football and Darcy talked Bucky into a quick nap. She promised to scream really loud if someone came into the apartment to kill her. Bucky left the bedroom door open and she knew she'd be lucky if he actually slept for more than fifteen minutes.
Since it was the first time he'd actually be sleeping in close proximity to her since the-almost-stabbing-incident-she-preferred-not-to-speak-of, he quizzed her on the super secret sleep words before he agreed to some shut eye.
Bored, restless, and unable to sleep herself, she grabbed a pillow and blanket and took advantage of the swinging bench on Erik's balcony. It was a few floors above ground, perfect for some privacy and a fair place for stargazing. There was a telescope at the far end, a few potted plants wilting from neglect.
The sun sank into the sky, bathing the London night in a rich, dark blue. City life wasn't great place to get a good view of the stars, but Erik's balcony view beat out the window in her Stark Tower apartment hands down.
Darcy curled her feet under her and wrapped herself in the blanket, laying back to look up at the sky and let her mind go blank.
"It's not safe to be outside alone." She must have been dozing; she didn't hear Bucky creep up to the sliding door. His admonishment lacked any real feeling, though. "If you wanna sleep, do it inside."
"I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking…with my eyes closed."
Bucky scoffed, stepping out to join her. He gripped the iron railing, looking out into the back alley and the windows of the other apartments that faced them. She knew he was looking for danger, scanning for threats.
"We used to do this in New Mexico. Jane and Erik and I. We'd go up on the rooftop of the lab and just chill, looking at the stars. Sometimes together and sometimes alone. I sit and wonder what the hell I was doing and how any of the science crap was actually going to help me with my future. I thought about quitting a thousand times and going back to Virginia, putting off graduating until the next semester when I could find some lobbying internship in Washington."
"And now what are you thinking?"
She tugged at Clint's bracelet on her wrist. "I think I'm worried that I'm not going to find my friend, or worse, that I won't like what I find when I do."
"You'll find him."
"How do you know?"
"Cause you're Darcy Lewis, second most stubborn pain in the ass I know. You won't quit until you get the job done." Darcy tucked her chin down and smiled to herself at the conviction in his voice. Conviction that was directed at her, even if she wasn't entirely sure she deserved it. "Come on, you out here by yourself makes me nervous."
He nodded his head in the direction of the living room and Darcy hoisted herself away from her comfy seat, blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She paused in the doorway and turned back to him. "Second most stubborn pain in the ass?"
"Steve has you beat."
"Hmph," she snorted. "I need to step up my game."
Bucky just shook his head and gave her shoulder a little shove to move her back inside.
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The next morning, Darcy discovered a severe lack of coffee and breakfast supplies in Erik's fridge. She convinced Bucky to escort her down to the corner shop to pick up a few items, since they would conceivably be there for the next couple of days. Erik would probably need groceries when he got home, anyways.
The quick trip gave Bucky a chance to do another perimeter check. Everything was clean and quiet. That bothered him. He checked in with Steve again and Darcy called Jane to see if she heard from Erik. Still nothing. That bothered her.
Darcy was cracking eggs into a frying pan and Bucky was having coffee, when the door jiggled. Her heart stopped and Bucky moved a hand toward some hidden weapon.
Ian walked in and she deflated.
"Walk of shame?" she teased.
The younger man shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the coat rack, nudging back his red hat. "Yeah, I'll need a confessional for the things I got up to with my study group last night," he said. "I crashed at me mate's."
Bucky watched Ian study Darcy for further reaction, but her focus went back to breakfast and making a plan for the day. It was then that Ian caught sight of Bucky's hand.
"Bloody hell!" Ian's eyes went wide at the sight of metal glinting in the morning sunlight.
Bucky tensed and Darcy dropped her spatula, wondering where to turn her attention first. "Ian, it's not polite to stare at the deadly assassin's metal arm. Bucky—"
"A-assassin?" Ian stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hold on—you're the solider from the leaked footage. With the giant metal arm!"
S.H.I.E.L.D. had done a fairly good job at wiping all of the captures of The Winter Soldier from the internet, but people still saw, and some made back ups before the originals were taken off line. It was not unlike George Lucas trying to make the Star Wars Christmas special disappear. Just because he embargoed the original film, didn't mean the proof that existed wasn't out there.
"Fucking hell! Darcy! This is who you move onto? No wonder you wouldn't answer my calls. I can't bleedin' compete with this." Ian waved his hand in Bucky's general direction. The jittery science student had become irritated enough that he was no longer self-conscious about his behavior around Bucky.
"Whoa hang on! First he and I aren't—like that. And second, if you want to go into that it was you who dumped me."
"I didn't mean to!"
"Didn't mean to? Didn't mean to? Oh like you accidentally tripped and fell down and broke up with me?" Her voice went up in volume and pitch.
"I was trying to tell you. I don't know why I did it. The next day I just didn't—I don't know. I don't know what happened." He slid his beanie off his head, holding it in his hands. "Darcy, I know I said things…the last few times we did talk. I worry about you, I worry about you living near the Avengers and being involved in all this outer space stuff with Thor and-"
"What am I supposed to do? Pretend like I haven't seen what I've seen? Pretend I don't know what I know?"
"Darcy—"
Darcy went on, silently thanking Bucky for slipping out of the kitchen and away to the bedroom to give him privacy. She didn't really want an audience for a long overdue fight with her ex. The problem with breaking up long distance was it took away the chance for a screaming match of closure.
"Ian, everything you said about me willing to fight for everything but you was true. Not because I don't care about you, I do and it took you breaking up with me to realize that. We just…like you said, I'm not going to be a hero. But I wanna be…something. Something that matters."
Ian dragged a face over his hands. "I wish I could rebuttal but I don't even remember the things that you're saying I said. I don't remember the conversation we had that night. I don't—"
Darcy's gasp cut him off. "Oh my god, Bucky!"
Darcy didn't find out what else Ian didn't remember. He stopped cold, face going ghost white. A gun clicked behind his head, the barrel pressing into his hair, and Bucky's cold stare focusing on the back of his neck.
"Bucky," she said, using caution, using the most gentle voice she could manage under the circumstance. "What are you doing? Put. The. Gun. Down."
Bucky's eyes flicked to hers and she saw exactly what she was afraid of seeing.
The Winter Soldier had no intention of lowering his gun.
So yeah, Ian sounded like Ron Weasley in my head as I was writing. I don't know why.
Also, I've never been to London (fingers crossed one day!) so my descriptions are possibly horrible. I'm picturing TV shows and movies in my mind.
I snuck in some tidbits I developed of Darcy and Ian's relationship in this chapter, but didn't focus too much on it, because I wasn't sure that any of it was relevant. Basically, they clashed a lot over Darcy kind of being an adventure/hero junkie (not that she realizes it) and Ian basically had his fill of adventure after the events of TDW and want to just be a normal guy.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all the follows/comments/kudos :)
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