Chapter Text
When he was a kid people had always told him that one day his big mouth would be the death of him. His mother would say it whenever he came through the door with a bloody nose and a black eye after calling out the kid he saw grabbing at a girl in the street. His teachers would say it every time he wound up sitting in detention for making a snide remark about a fact they'd gotten wrong. "James, one day that big mouth of yours is going to get you into serious trouble." They would all say. "Maybe after that you'll finally learn to hold your tongue." If only he hadn't been such a stubborn kid and had actually listened to them, he probably wouldn't be running for his life with all the Earth's mightiest heroes on his tail.
The mission had seemed simple enough. Sneak into the secret base of the Avengers, swipe their weird blue glow cube, get out. What could go wrong? Unfortunately, as he'd been making his way out, that big mouth of his decided to start having some fun. So when he saw the Black Widow and Hawkeye sparring in a nearby room, and Hawkeye being thrown to the ground with incredible force as he walked past, he'd just had to say "Ten points to redhead."Which, obviously, made them both look over immediately, spot him holding a case with a strange blue glow emitting from it, and sound the alarm.
"BARNES!" A voice hissed in his ear and he cursed.
"I have this completely under control, sir."
"Under control!? I'm staring at a flat screen TV right now and you know what I see? The entire Avenger's fleet chasing your reckless ass across the city!"
"That's a minor complication, I'll shake 'em off."
"I did not haul your barely breathing body out of Afghanistan for you to compromise the security of my entire organisation, Barnes. You have until tonight to get that cube here, unseen."
Fuck. He could hear heavy stomping approaching and chanced a look over his shoulder. A giant green rage monster was smashing it's way along the streets with it's eyes locked firmly on him, snarling and roaring fiercely. How the hell did he get himself into these situations? He turned back around and spotted a narrow alleyway a few buildings down that the hulk wouldn't be able to fit into and headed for it, cursing his legs for not being able to run faster. He made it into the alleyway and took a few minutes to catch his breath.
"Christ, Bucky, you need to get back in the gym." He muttered to himself as he stood there panting and listening for any sign that the rest of the Avengers had caught up to him yet.
It was the first mission he'd been sent out to do on his own, although he had a feeling Pierce was probably regretting that right now, but he would be damned if he was gonna screw it up. He glanced around and decided he would be able to make a better escape over the rooftops, seeing as the majority of his pursuers lacked the power of flight. There were ladders leading up to the roof of the building he was leaning against, to he pulled himself up, which was easier said than done when you had to carry a solid metal suitcase up with you.
He crawled out onto the top of the building, staying flat on his stomach and peering over the edge to see if there was any sign of the Avengers anywhere. There was a trail of destruction along the street where the hulk had gone, but apart from that he couldn't see any evidence that the others were nearby. Standing up, he looked around and attempted to get his bearings. It was hard enough to get to the Hydra base when you knew where you were, but he had been chased almost to the edge of the city, and was completely at a loss for which way he should go. Dammit, why couldn't they have equipped his prosthetic arm with some kind of GPS system?
Eventually he decided he'd just move along the buildings that looked the easiest to jump on to, although even that proved a challenge with this damn case he was having to carry. He was about five buildings along and was about to leap onto a sixth when he heard a voice.
"I wouldn't do that." He spun around and saw Falcon landing behind him. Shit, he'd forgotten about this guy. "You gonna hand that over or do I have to take it from you?" He took a step forward and Bucky didn't move. He'd already run out of ammunition in both his guns from his tangle with iron man a few blocks back. Maybe if he'd been smart he would have brought more with him, damn his arrogance. He had two options here. He could hand the case back over and hope it won him some brownie points with the Avengers, but then he'd probably end up top of the list for people Hydra needed to kill. Or he could jump off the building and hope he didn't kill himself. Neither seemed like particularly tempting options, but Falcon was walking closer towards him and he knew he had to do something.
Taking a deep breath he leapt off the edge of the building, grabbing onto the railing of a balcony and crashing in through the window beneath it.
"Oh man that was so awesome, I can't believe that worked." He said to nobody in particular, and started making his way through the, thankfully empty, room and heading down the stairs. There were about five flights of stairs to run down and he made a note to himself to take up step aerobics if he ever managed to make it back. The door he found led back out into another alleyway, which he followed for about five minutes before the sound of gunshots started resonating around and he looked up to see that Falcon had caught up to him and was flying overhead. There was no cover or exit from the alley so he had no choice but to keep running down it, using his metal arm to deflect the bullets raining down on him.
He kept moving until he realised there wasn't any ground left, and that he was standing right at the edge of the docks. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck. He glanced back up and saw Falcon swooping down and stopping in front of him, hovering over the water, smirking at him.
"Give up yet?"
"I don't like you." Bucky knew his voice was barely audible behind the mask they made him wear, but the laughter from the other man suggested he could understand him clearly enough. He used that temporary distraction to his advantage and pulled the ammo-less gun from its holster and hurled it at one of Falcon's wings, catching him off guard and making him lose control. Before he could do anything else Bucky took off sprinting along the edge of the dock, hoping and praying for somewhere he could get out of view. Someone up there answered his prayer and within a few minutes he spotted an old train tunnel that looked like it hadn't been used in years. He darted inside and pressed himself up against the wall, listening out for any sign he'd been caught up with.
He decided it would be safer to follow the tunnel out to the other side, so he started down it slowly, keeping himself pressed against the wall. He must have been following the tunnel for at least ten minutes when he found a rusty looking door. He had planned to just keep moving past it, but when he heard the faint sound of footsteps coming up the tunnel he quickly tried to get it open. The handle was stiff but after a good shove with his metal shoulder the door swung open and he stepped through it, closing it as softly as he could behind him.
He was back outside again now, but the area looked completely secluded and there was no way anybody would ever find it without coming the way he just had. There were some planks scattered around on the floor so he grabbed one and wedged it beneath the handle of the door, hoping that would be enough to deter anyone else who tried to open it.
There was a derelict looking building just across from where he was standing, which looked like a good place to for him to stop for a while and try to get back into contact with Pierce so he could figure out how the hell to get back to the Hydra base. He headed over to the building and tried the door. Locked, dammit. He hated picking locks, TV shows always made it look so easy, or maybe it was easy and he was just an idiot. If only he'd saved one measly bullet he could have just shot the damn thing, but instead he fished the lock pick they gave him out of his pocket and jammed it into the lock, fiddling around for what felt like forever until finally it clicked open.
Quietly he stepped inside, holding the case up in front of him and grinning.
"Can't do a mission on my own huh, Pierce? Well get a load'a this badboy. You can suck my..." Bucky was cut off in his muttering by a blunt force suddenly hitting him on the head, and everything blacking out.
It had been a fairly uneventful morning for Steve. He'd cleaned the entire building from top to bottom twice, and that only passed about 2 hours. So he spent the rest of the morning sitting in the same corner of the same room he'd been in for as long as he could remember, sketching out the same lights that he saw on his birthday every year through the window, and that he would probably have to watch through the window again tomorrow.
He felt the light, needle-like legs of Peg-E as it climbed up onto his shoulder, the faint green light of it's eye shining onto the page of his sketchbook. The tiny robot looked over at him and he sighed.
"You think I should ask him again?" Peg-E didn't say anything, obviously, but it did scratch one of it's legs against his shoulder which Steve took as a response. "I doubt he'll even show up today, Peg, he was only here a couple days ago. I'll be lucky if he even comes down for my birthday." The robot blinked it's green light at him and he sighed again, going back to his drawing, leaning his head lightly on the top of the robot's body.
He hadn't been lying when he said he wasn't expecting a visit today, so he was shocked when he heard that familiar, honeyed voice saying his name as he stood washing the dishes.
"Steven." He spun around and saw the tall, raven haired man smiling warmly at him.
"Loki... what are you doing here?" Loki walked over to him, the sunlight glinting off the gold trimming of his outfit as he moved in and out of the shadows. Once he was about an inch away he reached up and cupped Steve's face in his hands, pressing his lips gently against the top of his head and smiling at him again.
"I missed you, pet. Why else would I be here?" He brushed his thumb over Steve's cheek and tutted. "You look exhausted, what on Earth have you been doing?"
"Just cleaning. I cleaned the whole house twice." Steve shrugged and forced a smile, making Loki laugh lightly.
"You work yourself too hard, pet, you should take a break." He took Steve gently by the shoulders and guided him over to a chair, forcing him down until he sat on it. "Honestly, you and your cleaning. It's obsessive, you know how I hate it."
"It's not an obsessive thing, I just have nothing else to do." Loki frowned at him and the grip he had on Steve's shoulders tightened slightly.
"I've brought you plenty of things to pass the time with, I don't see why you have to blame me for everything. I get you everything you ask for. I got you that sketchbook."
"I've run out of things to draw."
"Then make something up." Steve jumped slightly at the sudden sharpness in Loki's voice. The grip he had on his shoulders became painful for a brief moment before Loki let go of him, sighing. "You know you shouldn't provoke me like that."
"I know, I'm sorry." Steve said weakly, looking down at the floor. He felt Loki's fingers run gently through his hair.
"I don't like upsetting you, pet. It's probably just this." He gestured to his arm and Steve could just about make out blood staining the black fabric.
"Someone hurt you?"
"It's nothing you can't fix, darling." He said softly, keeping his hand knotted in Steve's hair and looking down at him expectantly. Steve nodded and closed his eyes, trying to focus on getting his powers to work. They were pretty touch and go, he still hadn't quite worked out what set them off, but soon he could see the blue glow of his usually blonde hair reflecting off Loki's face. The bloodstain on his sleeve started to clear up, and when he pushed his sleeve up they could both see that his arm was undamaged. "You're so clever, darling, what would I do without you. Now, I must be going, but perhaps seeing as I'm already down here I should take another sample just for good measure." He pulled a small syringe out from his coat and Steve sighed, holding out his arm so Loki could draw some of his blood. As he was sitting there he saw Peg-E out of the corner of his eye, circling around his sketchbook and blinking it's light at him.
"Before you go I... I wanted to ask something." Loki glanced up at him briefly and Steve could already tell this was a lost cause, but he carried on anyway. "Tomorrow's my birthday and... I was thinking... I thought that maybe..."
"Please get on with it, Steven."
"I thought maybe I could go out and see the lights they do every year?" Loki's head snapped up and he gave Steve a stony glare, putting the cap back onto the syringe. "They do them every year on my birthday and I've never gotten to see them properly so I just thought that..."
"Enough!" The yell echoed around the room and Steve looked down at the floor. He felt cold hands cup his cheeks and tilt his head up but he avoided Loki's eyes. "You remember what happened last time you went out there?" Steve nodded, but he was lying. He didn't remember what had happened, he only had Loki's account of it. "I'm trying to keep you safe, pet, I don't want you getting hurt." He looked back up at Loki, whose gaze had softened.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright, darling. I'll see you in a few days time." Before Steve could say anything in response Loki had taken a few steps back and, with a wave of his hand, disappeared in front of him.
Steve pushed himself up from the chair and walked over to where Peg-E was, holding his hand out for it to crawl onto and lifting it up so it was level with his face.
"See? I told you it wouldn't work." He mumbled, scratching at the top of the robots body like it was an animal. "I think you were the last birthday present I was ever going to get." Peg-E didn't say anything, it just blinked it's light at him and started crawling along his arm. Sighing, he headed upstairs and sat back down in the same corner of the same room, going back to his sketches.
He didn't remember falling asleep, but the next thing he knew he was being woken up by Peg-E frantically scratching at his face. He looked over at the robot and opened his mouth to say something when it started pointing one of it's legs towards the staircase. That was when he heard it. Somebody was outside. He could hear the knob of the front door being fumbled with and what sounded like angry muttering.
His heart was racing. He couldn't remember much prior to his last five years here, but he did remember the stories Loki had told him about the kind of people that lived out there, and the kind of things they would do to him if they found out about his powers. He stood up slowly and made his way down the stairs, trying desperately not to make any noise. Once he was in the kitchen he looked around for some kind of weapon, there were knives, but he wasn't sure he could bring himself to do that kind of damage, then he saw a frying pan sitting on the counter and grabbed that. He made his way into the front room and could just about make out the figure of somebody through the glass, fumbling at the lock of the door. He pressed himself up against the wall next to the door just as it swung open and a brunette man dressed all in black stepped through the door, holding a large metal case.
The man didn't seem to notice him. He just stood in the doorway holding the case up and speaking in a muffled voice that Steve couldn't understand through the mask the man had on. Deciding not to waste any more time he quickly sprung up and whacked the man directly on the forehead with the frying pan, knocking him unconscious.
"That was easy." Steve shrugged, pushing the door shut and looking over at Peg-E, who was perched on his shoulder. "And Loki thinks I wouldn't be safe out there." Peg-E just blinked it's light at him and he turned his attention back to the man lying on the floor. "What should we do with him?"
The robot pointed one of it's legs over at the wooden chairs in the kitchen and Steve nodded in understanding, grabbing the unconscious man by the wrists and hauling him across the room. The man was heavier than he looked, but Steve managed to get him up into one of the chairs. He was suddenly thankful that Loki had left him a few things for this kind of situation, which happened to include a pair of handcuffs that Steve could use to secure the man to the chair. He got rid of the weapons the man was carrying, as well as taking off his mask so he could get a better look at his face. From what he could gather, this guy was human, although he knew Loki was capable of making himself fit in with other people so he could never really know for sure, but he looked fairly normal all the same.
Steve turned his attention to the case the man had been carrying, which had a faint blue glow seeping out through the cracks. He went to open the latch when he felt Peg-E scratching at his neck.
"Yeah, you're probably right. I should go put this somewhere." He said, smiling when the robot blinked it's light in approval. There was an empty cabinet in the kitchen, so he shoved the case in there and padlocked the door shut, perching himself on the counter and trying to decide what he would do when this man woke up.