Chapter Text
You and Bucky didn’t stay long after you woke in the morning. Little Bob and Linda were both kind enough to offer you breakfast, but the SAT phone had woken you up and had been ringing nonstop since then.
Looked like Steve had noticed when you didn’t make it to camp last night.
You were in for a patented ‘You have disappointed me and all of America’ lecture when you finally made it to camp. You couldn’t wait.
“Are you sure you can’t stay?” Linda asked sweetly as she bustled around her kitchen making you something to go.
Bucky shook his head. “I’m afraid not this time, Linda. Our team was hoping we’d meet them last night.”
“And we kept you, oh. I’m sorry.”
You shook your head. “We had a lovely time. I would have rather been here than there.”
“Even if Little Bob ruined your night?” Linda asked knowingly.
You groaned and buried your face in your hands. You never thought you’d ever say it but; you would never, not ever, be able to live down the night that a Bigfoot named Little Bob cockblocked you.
Sometimes you wondered if you were dead and this was some strange form of eternal torture. Had you really been that bad? Killed that many people?
Linda let out a tinkling chuckle. “Not dead yet, dear. But watch out for the gremlins. They’ll get you if you’re not careful.”
She handed you a lunchbag with a few pastries and reusable coffee mug before she leaned down and pressed a hairy kiss to your cheek. “Off you go now! Don’t want you worrying your friends anymore than you need to.”
You mumbled out an embarrassed thanks before you practically ran towards the cave opening. You heard Bucky mumble a few more things before he effortlessly caught up with you.
“See?” He asked with a grin. “That wasn’t so bad.”
You thought about it for a second, but no. It had really been that bad. “I’m never going to live that down, Buck.” You whined, burying your face in your hands. “They knew exactly what I was thinking.”
Bucky’s chuckle was deep and husky. “Yeah? And what exactly were you thinking?”
You shot him a scathing glare. “Keep asking and you’ll never see it again.” You promised.
Bucky just smirked at you and led you out of the cave system.
The two of you walked in silence, slowly munching on your breakfast as Bucky picked the trail back up and headed you towards camp. Your mind was completely lost on the chaos that your life had become in the past few months. Who could have guessed how often your crazy boyfriend had actually been right about the mess that the world actually was.
You scoffed. “Bigfoot and gremlins.” You muttered under your breath. “I’ve actually gone insane.”
Bucky just shot you a loving smile.
Some forty minutes later, the sounds of camp started echoing around you.
“What do you mean, you can’t track them?” Steve demanded angrily.
“I don’t know, Cap. Maybe because they have a SAT phone. Not a tracker. Seems like maybe you skipped a step if you were so worried about losing them.” Tony’s voice came back riddled with sarcasm.
You and Bucky exchanged amused glances.
“Just . . .” Steve started wearily.
“I know. I know, Cap. Believe me. I don’t want her going missing anymore than you do.”
Your eyebrows pulled down in confusion at that. He was worried about you? But what about Bucky? Why did you have such a bad feeling about that?
The two of you crept closer and Steve’s head shot up as his super hearing picked up on it. “There you are.” His voice was an odd mix of relief and anger.
You gulped.
“Sorry, Steve.” You said. “We got a little . . . side tracked.”
“Didn’t seem safe to travel after dark.” Bucky grunted. “We know how much you care about safety.”
Steve’s narrowed gaze landed on Bucky. He’d clearly caught the double meaning there. You shot him an apologetic smile that you knew didn’t cover shit but Steve just sighed and rubbed at his temples.
“Well. You’re here now.”
You and Bucky exchanged suspicious glances. “You’re not going to ask what happened?” You asked.
Steve opened his mouth to respond but Tony was the one who cut in. “No. We trust you.” He said quickly, giving Steve a pointed look.
All of your spidey senses went on immediate high-alert.
Something was up here.
You crept a little closer trying to hide the way that your body was slipping into a defensive position. “Sure.”
Bucky followed after you, his eyes narrowing on his best friend. “Well. Glad that’s settled.” He said darkly.
“Yeah.”
“Yup.”
“Naturally.”
The four of you continued your narrow-eyed stand off for another few minutes.
“Geez. You four going to do it?” Clint’s voice broke the tension and all four of your heads whipped around to glare at him. He threw his hands up in a symbol of surrender. “What? The sexual tension was getting a little suffocating.”
Steve’s head slumped forward and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s just . . . let’s just get on with things.” He said.
You and Bucky eased your postures a little bit and nodded. “Sure.” Bucky said. “What’s on the agenda for today, punk?”
Steve and Tony were still staring at you as though they were expecting you to make a break for it at any minute. Clint was the one to break the tension again. He grinned as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Ooooh, do we have a treat for you.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Come on. You’re gonna love it.”
You couldn’t help but doubt that but you followed after him towards the middle of the camp where the rest of the team was lounging around. Sharon glanced up as the five of you wandered in and smiled at Steve. “I see you found them.”
Steve grunted. “They found us.” He clarified.
“Never lost to begin with.” You argued under your breath.
Sharon watched you carefully but nodded her head. “Sure.” She agreed with an expression you couldn’t quite interpret. “Well, you’re here now. Do you want to play a game?”
You’d had a rough couple of days, not to mention weeks, so you were in no mood to play nice. You folded your arms over your chest and glared. “Depends. Is a mask-wielding psychopath about to come riding out on a tricycle?”
Sharon shook her head but a slow grin crossed her face. “Well with Barton and Wilson here, I can’t make any promises.”
You shook your head and smiled, tension easing from your frame. “Well, in that case . . .”
Sharon gestured to an empty camp chair beside her and you took it. Bucky grabbed a spare one and set it up beside you while Steve and Tony rounded up the rest of the team.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, all of you were gathered around a metal table in the middle of the woods.
Tony stood at the head of the table, holding something behind his back. “Alright.” He started. “Now that we’ve all made it.” He sent a sideways look at you and Bucky that you both casually ignored. Tony shook his head and continued. “Our inglorious chief over there decided it would be a good idea to play some team building games to help draw us closer together and blah blah blah.”
Steve glared at him.
Tony continued with a grin. “I’m all for trust falls and chants and whatever else, but lets be honest, we do enough of those while at work. So! I thought today, we’d try a little something different.” An evil grin spread across his face and everyone shifted nervously. Nothing good ever came from a Tony smile like that.
“What did you do?” Natasha demanded with a quirked eyebrow.
Tony shook his head in denial of guilt and started pulling something from behind his back. “Welcome.” He paused for dramatic effect. “To the world of Jumanji.”
It took less than a second for the entire effect to come crashing down. Before you even knew what had happened, Bucky had jumped up from his seat, flipping the table outwards, catching Steve, Tony and a poor unsuspecting Clint in the faces. Using the distraction as cover, he grabbed you and threw you over his shoulder before he started jogging towards the forest, ducking and weaving as the team started shouting behind you.
“Wh . . . what is going on?” You demanded, trying to catch your breath every time Bucky’s shoulder knocked into your gut, forcing the air out of your lungs.
“We’re not playing that devil game. They’ll suck your soul in and I’ll never see you again. It’s a damn trap .” He said.
You wanted to argue but what were you supposed to say? For years you’d fought against the truth and the whole time, Bucky had known what was happening. Was it so hard to believe he knew what was happening here, too?
“But . . . the movies . . .” You tried to argue.
Bucky shook his head as he continued weaving through the foliage. “Marketing and propaganda. The devils want you play it, doll. It’s how they get you.”
You pushed yourself up, bracing yourself against bucky’s back as you glanced back towards the clearing you’d just come from. “They’re going to find us.” You warned.
Bucky shook his head, but didn’t answer as he kept his ears trained for sounds of pursuit and towards the river he was chasing. “We’re going to have to go for a swim, doll.” He warned as he narrowed in on the passing river. “We need to hide our heat signals. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
You nodded your head and clung to him. There wasn’t a lot you knew in this topsy-turvey world any more, but you knew that you could always trust Bucky to keep you safe.
Miles away, Clint sighed as he picked up the table and set it back in order. He glanced at the team, minus Steve and Tony who’d gone chasing after you and Bucky and picked up the box Tony had dropped in the scuffle. He glanced at the rest of the team and shrugged. “Well, just cuz a few people lost their minds doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. Anyone want to play?”
He got a series of nods from everyone and grinned as he set everything up. “Alright then. I’ll roll first.”
He rolled the dice and moved his token before he took a card from the pile. “Worlds away and out of sight, you disappear. What a fright.”
Natasha stood against a tree and watched as the entire camp disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She shook her head slowly and pulled out a GPS tracking device and a gun and headed into the forest.