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When Bucky gets out of bed that Wednesday morning, he puts on navy sweatpants, steps into his slippers, and grabs a hoodie. Not bothering with style at this hour, he only steps into the adjacent bathroom to wash his face and pee before taking the direction of the kitchen.
When Bucky passes the threshold, the first thing he sees is Loki, half laying on the counter and looking outside. He must have sensed Bucky already, so the super soldier only mumbles a hello then goes straight for the coffee maker.
Loki randomly popping up isn’t something strange. He does that fairly regularly actually, so Bucky doesn’t bother reading into it. It’s morning, he’s in the kitchen and is hungry. Food first, thoughts later.
When Bucky goes to the shared living room a few hours later to retrieve a book he forgot there the previous day, Loki is present. He looks pretty bored, but again, this is Loki so nothing out of the ordinary. He often looks like that, whether he is feeling bored or not.
Bucky ignores him dutifully, just in case his presence or actions could make the guy’s interest land on him, and leaves with his book. Not that he hates the guy - they have interesting conversations sometimes, they can bond over similar trauma, and they even have fun occasionally - but he just wants to read in peace.
The third time Bucky sees Loki is for lunch. A lot of people are here today, so they decided to have a group meal. Now, Loki mostly keeps to himself as he usually does. What makes Bucky look at him twice, is the fact he doesn’t look so bored anymore, but pensive. That, usually, doesn’t bode well when Loki is the main interested party. Nothing happens during lunch, though, so Bucky doesn’t dwell on it. He keeps it in mind, but doesn’t mention it as he leaves to prepare to do some training with Sam. While he’s made fun at their expense before, it never hurt anyone, so he isn’t worried.
What rings a few alarm bells is Loki waiting for him as he makes his way out to the area he and Sam are supposed to meet. Loki is polite and asks if he can accompany them, because he is ‘curious to see how they train’. It’s very unusual of him. While Loki is a good fighter, as their occasional sparring sessions prove, he isn’t fond of exercising and never observes anyone during training -unless he’s here to make fun of Thor.
Bucky accepts nonetheless, because Sam never said no to people observing them before, and the two of them walk in silence. When they reach the rendezvous point on the edge of the forest, Bucky realises why his subconscious rang the alarm: Loki doesn’t look bored at all anymore. He’s not smiling, but the expression on his face is one of faked disinterest. Whatever made him lose his look of boredom, Bucky is probably going to learn about it soon.
Bucky puts the thought away for now: whatever Loki did - or is about to do- he probably can’t intervene .This is also no use to wonder or stress about it, they will adapt to whatever happens, when it happens. For now, Sam. Sam who is always punctual and who should arrive anytime soon. Bucky can’t see him walking, so that means he probably will have started earlier to fly a little for fun.
A few minutes later, Bucky hears something distantly, then sees a point in the sky. Good, Sam is here. He turns to Loki to tell him Sam is about to arrive by the air, but catches himself at the last moment. Loki looks… Well, Loki suddenly looks very pleased with himself and a lot like the cat who got the cream - and the canary... This is not reassuring, at all.
Loki must feel him watching, because he turns his head and asks ‘Why the long face, Barnes?’
Something is going to go wrong. Bucky doesn’t have the time to reply before Loki looks behind him and his face breaks into a grin. Then, Bucky knows Sam is arriving because he can hear the flutter of his wings.
Except Sam’s wings don’t make normal wing sounds. They’re metal. They’re not bird wings. What’s -
“DUCK, BUCK!”
It’s the emergency -and frankly, the fear- he hears in Sam’s voice that makes him crouch, rather than the -ridiculous- order. Two seconds later, Bucky is very glad he did, because there is a zooming noise above his head, then another.
Bucky lifts his head just in time to see a dark brown feather fall down in front of him at the same time Loki starts laughing. What the hell?
Where is Sam? Bucky tunes out Loki’s laughter for now, and whips his head around to try to find his friend. It isn’t very hard: Sam is flying so randomly that Bucky’s eyes catch sight of him in a few seconds. That doesn’t explain what the man is doing, but at least Bucky has a visual.
Suddenly, Bucky sees Sam and whatever he’s chasing -because he’s definitely flying after something- start to fly towards Loki and him. Why isn’t he using Redwing to intercept it?