this side of paradise

by Ninazadzia

Earth-616:

Washington, DC

Day Thirteen

Bucky, Yelena and Enzo had just finished packing for Washington Dulles international airport before they collectively realized a few crucial things:

First—Bucky, per his immunity agreement, wasn't legally allowed to leave the country, without explicit orders from the United States government.

Second—Yelena's Visa and temporary citizenship were null and void, thanks to the Thunderbolts initiative's dissolution—that and she didn't have a valid passport to begin with.

And third—if Yelena and Bucky had no means of leaving the country, then Enzo—their son from another universe—sure as shit wouldn't be able to, either.

"How the hell did you get here, anyway?" Bucky asked Enzo.

From what Enzo had told the two of them, he'd spent the last few days in Ukraine with the remaining Thunderbolts and Avengers, working on siphoning the magic off of the Vibranium. The fact that he'd been able to successfully leave an active war-zone was impressive enough on its own, without factoring in the logistical issues provided by international travel.

"Um." Enzo paused, and rubbed his hands in his hair.

Yelena raised an eyebrow, and exchanged a look with Bucky, before Enzo finally responded.

"I promised I wouldn't say."

Given his evasiveness and how much his face was flushing, it didn't take long for Yelena to piece together what he meant. "Let me guess—someone portaled you over here?"

When Enzo looked up, he didn't nod, but he didn't shake his head either.

"I don't think you get it," he said, slowly. "If I say anything, sh—the person who helped me could get in a lot of trouble."

Yelena nodded. "You mean America Chavez, right?"

Enzo's face fell. "How did you know?"

"She didn't." Bucky crossed his arms, smirking as he spoke. "I mean, it's not that hard to guess, though—from what we figured, she was the only person capable of getting you out of your universe, and bringing you here. And if she could jump you here from your planet, then getting you here from Ukraine should've been a cinch."

"Yeah," Enzo scoffed. He shook his head, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Worst part is, I had no idea just how much she was sticking her neck out for me, bringing me here. But nobody else was willing to listen, and I'd been telling them for days that the Vibranium was too much… I don't know. She wanted to help."

Yelena nodded. She'd noticed what looked like bruises on Enzo's neck the second he walked through the front door (or, rather, love bites), but she knew that was a conversation better tabled for another day.

"So. America." Yelena crossed her arms. "Where's she now?"

"That's just it—Wong and Strange, they realized she was gone, and that I was too. They literally portaled themselves to Bethesda and tracked us down—except we lucked the fuck out, because I was in the bathroom, and they could only find her, and not me. Loki has a cloaking spell on me, he has for the last few years, so as long as they don't know who I'm with, they've got no way of finding me. So she portaled back to Kyiv, told them I was on my way to the Smithsonian to buy me some time, and then I ran over here."

Bucky and Yelena looked at each other.

"We've gotta go," Bucky muttered.

"Yeah, you don't need to tell me twice—"

"What are you talking about?" Enzo asked.

"Wong, and Strange—the Smithsonian is a good forty five minutes from here. The next place they'll probably check is headquarters, and then after that, they'll sure as shit make their way over here."

"I don't get it—" Enzo started, "—why can't we just portal back with them?"

"Because they don't want us there, Enzo," Yelena explained. "In Ukraine. They think we'll be a distraction. So if you want me to get close to the Space Stone, and help you with siphoning the Vibranium's magic, then we've gotta figure out our own way of getting to Kyiv."

They all stayed silent for a moment.

Bucky looked at Yelena. On the counter behind her were the empty coffee cups with the latte's she'd gotten them earlier that day. He thought of that first time they'd met, in Ohio, when he'd greeted her with coffee. Valentina had just gotten off the phone with him, to tell him her coffee order—and she'd the ended the conversation with Bucky by going, "Text me when you're close to her apartment, and I'll give Yelena a call to let her know you're there. Just a word of caution, I don't think she's too thrilled with me right now—some drama from when she was in New York, over the holidays. Nothing you should be concerned about."

"Clint already told me," Bucky responded dryly. He'd seen the Bartons over New Years, where they hosted a number of their friends at their Iowa homestead. Barton gifted him a signed photograph from "Rogers: The Musical," and explained to Bucky and Rhodey an idea he'd come up with after meeting Kate.

It clicked, then and there, as Bucky was looking at the coffee cups.

"That's it."

"What?"

Bucky jerked his head in the direction of a signed "Rogers: The Musical" photograph, one he'd been gifted from Clint Barton for the holidays.

Yelena's stomach dropped. "No."

"C'mon, Yelena, I know you're in touch with Kate Bishop—"

"—that's generous, we're social media friends—"

"—even so. You know what her and Clint have been up to, these last few months. And you know he's probably the only person we know who'd be willing to lend us a jet on such short notice."

Yelena groaned. Enzo's face lit up. "You have a friend with a jet?" he exclaimed. "That's sick."

Yelena snapped "he's not a friend" at the same time Bucky replied, "it's technically his jet."

"Do you really think Barton would be on our side with this one?" Yelena asked. "I mean, I only met him the one time. I don't exactly see him sticking his neck out for me."

"Yelena, Clint was one of the only people I could talk to for over two years. I'm sure Natasha told you why."

He didn't have to elaborate, because Yelena knew exactly what he was referring to—the two years leading up to the Blip, after the Sokovia Accords. When Clint was on house arrest, and when Bucky was in Wakanda, avoiding extradition.

"I don't like it," Yelena muttered.

"Yeah, well, I don't see what choice we have—it's not like we can drive to Kyiv from here. But we can drive to Iowa, and take the Quinjet from there."

It wasn't until they'd finished loading up the car that Enzo finally asked, "so your friend Clint—"

"I told you, he's not a friend."

"—fine, his friend Clint—" Enzo motioned towards Bucky, "—if it's not his jet, why exactly does he have it?"

Yelena and Bucky exchanged a glance. "How much am I allowed to say?" she asked Bucky.

Bucky raised his hands up. "Clint was talking about it pretty openly at his New Year's party. Besides," he smirked at Enzo, "who's he gonna tell?"

Enzo rolled his eyes, even though Bucky had a point.

Yelena shrugged. "That's good enough for me," she said as she turned back to Enzo. "To make a long story short—Clint's turned his homestead into a safe-house for the next generation of wannabe Avengers. I think they're calling it 'The Young Avengers' headquarters, or something corny like that."

Author's Note: another shorter chapter because I'll be 100% honest, I'm in my last few weeks of grad school (+ have also been doing the job hunt, ya girl is officially #employed *insert happy dance here*) + I'm running out of steam, lol. NOT in terms of inspiration (want to make that very clear - I still have a clear gameplan for where this story is going), however I'm a tad burnt out at the moment as it is, and I sometimes worry that I'm shouting into the void with this fic, if that makes sense?

In any case - if you could take a moment to leave me a comment + let me know your thoughts, just know it would be much appreciated xo