Work Text:
If you’d told Kate Bishop a week ago that the guy who comes into the coffee shop every Wednesday, who orders a large black coffee and hums along every time Taylor Swift comes on the store’s playlist, was the Winter Soldier, she’d have laughed in your face. Of course, if you’d told her a year ago that she’d be working in a coffee shop she’d have laughed in your face then too, so it’s all relative really.
You see, the thing is, being a half super hero/half private investigator for hire? It turns out it doesn’t really pay so well, and Kate now has to worry about things like rent. So the hero for hire business is on a back burner for now, and she’s working in the coffee shop and it turns out it’s not so bad. It pays the rent, and the regulars are plenty nice enough, and she’s not often on the early rush after that time she accidentally (heh heh) tipped coffee down the front of that guy who creeped her out. So, yeah. She likes her job. She can read whilst it’s quiet, and mooch off the shop's free wifi to check her emails for her other job.
Sometimes Clint comes by, mostly just to bug her and to swing free coffee, and they talk about nothing. It was Clint actually, who started the ball rolling on nicknaming the regulars.
See, there’s Twitch, the lady who comes by at exactly half-twelve on weekdays, orders the strongest coffee they can sell her, downs it and leaves by twelve thirty-five. There’s Briefcase Dude who always comes just after the morning rush, and Lemon-Curd Lady and Kate for the life of her cannot remember where that name came from but she suspects Clint.
And then there’s Taylor Swift guy. Whose name doesn’t really look like it should suit him, but then that’s the point of coffee shop names, she supposes.
It takes her a couple of weeks to start to recognise people after she starts, but it’s kind of hard to miss someone who wears a leather jacket even in the height of summer and is built like a brick shit-house. She writes the name ‘James’ on the coffee cup, but he doesn’t look much like a James. A few more weeks, and she’s sure there’s a routine to his visits; usually early afternoon, though sometimes later, always on a Wednesday. She guesses he must have a standing appointment or whatever. Not that she cares, but, you know, even she gets bored sometimes. Especially when the shop’s quiet.
And then the fateful day comes when the shop’s playlist is updated. It takes her a few weeks of careful gathering of evidence, but he definitely, definitely hums every time Taylor Swift is played. And never any when else. She’s even seen the occasional head bob.
Clint doesn’t believe her when she tells him, but whatever.
So Leather-Jacket James becomes Taylor Swift guy. And she thinks they might be friends. Or, not friends, they never talk beyond placing his order and paying, but friendly, maybe. She starts getting his drink ready when she sees him, deliberately changes tracks on the playlist, and she is 100% sure his face lightened just a little bit when she wrote ‘Shake it off’ instead of ‘James’ on his cup that time he stormed into the shop with a face like thunder.
So maybe they don’t talk, and she just makes his coffee, which he drinks sitting by the window watching the street. But they’re maybe-friendly she decides, and she doesn’t hate him like some of her customers.
*
The video is actually three clips cut together.
It starts with grainy black-and-white CCTV footage of the inside of a coffee shop. It looks to be sometime around mid-afternoon, the shop about half-full. There’s a dark haired girl behind the counter, and a tall man wiping down tables at the edge of the screen.
It’s all fairly innocuous, until a man strides through the front door and pulls a gun on the girl behind the counter. There’s a moment where the girl freezes before she starts scrabbling for something under the surface. Before she can find whatever she’s looking for, a dark haired man appears on screen and grabs the assailant by the shoulder.
The video cuts to what’s obviously camera phone footage shot from inside the building. The footage is jerky, and it’s difficult to hear much beyond the scarping furniture and rising panic of the customers.
The camera is more or less fixed on the scene at the counter, and it shows the dark haired man pulling some sort of complicated twist on the assailant’s shoulder that ends in the gun skidding down the length of the worktop. The assailant’s face also ends up smashed against the counter, and the dark haired guy seems to have no trouble pinning him by the back of his neck despite the man's not inconsiderable size and struggle he puts up.
The female barista still hasn’t moved an inch, and is staring at the dark haired man with barely concealed incredulity. “Holy shit,” she half-shouts.
The person holding the phone appears to stumble, and the trio at the counter disappear for a moment before the camera finds them again, only managing to pick up the barista saying something that sounds suspiciously like “Taylor Swift”.
The video cuts again, this time to footage that’s been shot from outside the coffee shop. It’s a clearer view of the group by the counter this time, the camera steadier, but there’s no sound.
The barista and the dark haired man appear to be having a conversation, neither of them seeming appropriately concerned by the fact that there’s a gun-toting assailant held against the counter between them. After a moment, the barista shrugs and turns to the coffee machine behind her.
The footage jumps forwards in time to show that the three people at the bar have hardly moved an inch, but now both the barista and the dark haired man are holding mugs. The assailant is still pinned to the counter.
Shouts of “Police” can be heard off camera, and the footage pans round to show armed police heading into the building. When the camera returns to the coffee shop, police are cuffing the assailant, and the dark haired man is nowhere to be seen.
The video stops.
*
Cassie Lang shared a video
OMG Kate are you okay??????
William Kaplan Holy shit is that #thewintersoldier?
Teddy Altman likes this
Sam Wilson shared a link
Modern Day Heroes
In a world of multi-coloured lycra, and real-life Gods, is there really a call for the everyday, man-on-the-street hero?
Clint Barton shared a video
Only you Katie
Kate Bishop Don’t call me Katie
3 People like this
Kate Bishop feeling tired
I’m fine guys – not even a scratch. Been at the station all evening giving my statement
12 People like this
Clint Barton Pizza dog was worried
Kate Bishop Tell him I’ll see you guys soon
Clint Barton likes this
*
Taylor Swift Guy shuffles into the coffee shop around three the next Wednesday and Kate feels so weird calling him that but he really doesn’t look like a James, and she’s not sure she’s earned the right to call him Bucky, so it’ll have to do. She’s already got his drink ready by the time he reaches the counter.
He pauses as he hands over his money, and looks torn for a moment.
“I’m sorry about last week.”
It’s the most she’s heard him say in one day and the break from their normal routine throws her for a moment, but hey, Kate thinks, we did take down the baddie together. Well, she watched. And the guy with the gun was hardly a hardened criminal. But she’s going with it. Coffee shop bonding, it’s a thing.
“Hey,” she says, “It’s not like it’s your fault, is it?”
He nods briefly, and he looks so determined that she thinks he must have been planning that sentence all week, and isn’t it just the worst that he feels like he needs to apologise? He turns to head to his normal table, and Kate can’t just leave it at that. He might be the Winter Soldier but Kate has a hard time seeing anyone who hums along to Taylor Swift as dangerous.
“Um,” she manages, and at his cocked eyebrow she mentally amends her previous statement; maybe he is a little dangerous. “How come you’re always here? There’s a Starbucks a few shops down?”
A why, why, did you just ask that Kate? Why does it matter where the Winter Soldier buys his coffee? It’s not like he cares that you’re a whole fifteen cents cheaper than Starbucks, God Kate shut up.
He’s watching her warily, and he looks like he’s weighing up his answer carefully. “Barton, uh, Barton says this is a safe place.”
Kate thinks her jaw might drop open a little at that because it’s moments like this that remind her why she loves Clint so much, even though she spends most of her time wanting to punch him.
“Yeah,” she smiles, “I guess it is.”
And because Kate is many, many things, but restrained is not one of them, she carries on. “But why are you always here, you know, like clockwork?”
There’s a set to his eyes, and a tightness round his mouth and Kate could almost tell you exactly what he’s about to say before he opens his mouth. There’s not a hint of shame, but there is a tonne of defiance when he speaks. “I have a standing appointment round the block. With my therapist.”
And damn if Kate doesn’t know exactly how that one feels.
*
He’s not Taylor Swift Guy anymore – it seems rude to call him that now that they actually have conversations. She writes Bucky on his order, and sometimes even feels brave enough to call him that to his face. When they have conversations. Because he now sits at the counter with his coffee and keeps her company.
Kate won’t let him pay for his drinks, and he won’t leave without putting paper money in the tip jar, but it’s part of their routine. She makes him try different drinks, and he still maintains that coffee should be black and strong and the thicker the better, and she tells him he’s wrong. Sometimes she can persuade him to drink hot chocolate, especially if it’s cold and miserable outside.
He still comes in every Wednesday afternoon, and Kate thinks he steps a little lighter each week. She knows a dozen random facts about him, and has a standing date to pitch her shooting against his (she’s practically an Avenger, you know?), and thinks, maybe, they might be friends.
*
Kate Bishop is at work feeling bored
When your regular coffee date bails on you to attend to “important” “Avengers” “business”
Bucky Barnes likes this