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All Bucky wanted was to buy a cup of coffee.
In the wake of Fury’s death, SHIELD had spiraled into a kind of controlled chaos. It still continued operations as usual, but there was an urgency and agitation that accompanied every task now. As a security engineer, Bucky was in-charge of making sure SHIELD’s data was not yet compromised. It was a very difficult task.
So, he wanted a cup of coffee to survive the rest of the day.
He stood in front of the elevator, yawning. Then, there was a ding. When the elevator doors opened, he was suddenly face to face with the Captain America.
He blinked.
There were three other guys in the elevator. Bucky recognized one of them as Brock Rumlow, head of the STRIKE team. They usually accompanied the Captain on missions. Yet, they didn’t seem to be particularly chummy today.
A part of Bucky wanted to just tell them to go ahead. He could always take the next elevator back down anyway.
But how often was he going to have the opportunity to be standing next to Captain America?
So, he took a step forward.
The elevator went down another floor, and in walked a group of men in business suits.
Bucky’s eyes flickered over to Steve Rogers. His jaw was clenched and he had his hands were holding tightly onto his belt, as though they were itching to throw a punch.
In hindsight, Bucky really should’ve taken that as his first sign.
“I’m sorry about what happened with Fury,” Rumlow was telling Rogers. “It’s messed up, what happened to him.”
“Thank you,” Rogers said.
He glanced over at Bucky, then his gaze shifted to the man right next to Bucky. Whatever he observed seemed to set him on the edge.
Bucky frowned.
The elevator stopped one more time and another group of agents walked in. Bucky recognized Jack Rollins, another member of STRIKE.
Okay. Something was definitely up.
Once the doors closed, Rogers spoke up again.
“Before we get started,” he said, “does anyone wanna get out?”
This was probably the part where Bucky should’ve said yes. Except, he didn’t really get the opportunity to do so before Rollins whipped out a baton and rammed it into Rogers’ side.
“What the fuck?!” Bucky yelped, pressing himself into the corner of the elevator.
After that, it was a flurry of hands and legs being thrown and kicked. A bunch of men had pinned Rogers against the wall, and they were trying to use some sort of magnetized cuff to keep him there.
Bucky looked around, expecting someone else to look as confused as he did. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be totally on board with this plan to attack Captain America.
Rogers put up a good fight, though, despite being horrifically outnumbered. He knocked out several men and dodged the batons that were buzzing with electricity. The magnetized cuff suddenly locked into place, and so he was forced to use only one hand and his legs to fight.
He did it quite well, though.
Bucky reached over to turn off the lock on the elevator. The doors opened again. Bucky made a move to try to run out, but a whole squad of men were pointing guns at them.
Seriously, how did everyone but him know what was going on?
Bucky quickly closed the doors.
Rogers had managed to pull himself away from the wall, and Rumlow was in front of him holding two batons. He was the last man standing. Bucky quietly bent over to pick up Rollins’ baton that had fallen next to his feet.
“I just want you to know, Cap,” Rumlow said slowly, “this isn’t—”
He was interrupted by the shock of electricity Bucky sent through his spine.
“Shit!” Bucky said as Rumlow dropped next to him. “Is he dead? He’s not dead, right?”
Rogers looked him up and down. “You’re not with them?”
“No,” Bucky said. “I don’t even know what the hell’s going on! I work in cybersecurity.”
Rogers pursed his lips and nodded. He picked up his shield and shattered the cuff with it. “Sorry you got caught up in all this, but we have to get out of here. If you’re not HYDRA, then this place isn’t safe for you either.”
He walked over to the doors and pried them open with his bare fucking hands—because he could. Of course he could.
On any other occasion, Bucky would’ve found that really hot.
Right now, he just wanted to make it out of here alive.
(See, at least he had his priorities in order.)
The doors revealed another firing squad making their way down the hall. Rogers cursed and closed it again.
“We need another way out,” he said.
Bucky stared at him. “We’re in an elevator. There’s literally only one way out.”
Rogers shook his head and looked over the window pane. “How are you with heights?”
“I mean, I’m not—” Bucky paused, following Rogers’ gaze. The plan finally dawned on him. “No way. That’s—I’ll die.”
“I promise I’ll keep you safe,” Rogers said, “but we have to go now. We’re running out of time.”
Right on cue, someone banged on the door.
“Give it up, Rogers!” someone yelled from the other side. “You got nowhere to go!”
Without another word, Rogers wrapped his arm around Bucky’s waist and jumped.
All Bucky could do was scream the whole way down.
Rogers used his shield to cushion the fall, and he made sure Bucky was on top of him so he took the brunt of the impact.
“We have to run,” Rogers said immediately as Bucky groaned on the floor. “Come on!”
The logical thing for Bucky to do really would’ve been to put his foot down and stay in SHIELD headquarters. And yet, he found himself running after Rogers anyway.
“I would really appreciate an explanation,” Bucky panted as they made their way to the garage.
“I’m Steve!” Rogers—Steve—yelled over his shoulder. “It’s nice to meet you!”
“I figured,” Bucky said. “I’m Bucky.”
“Well, Bucky, long story short, SHIELD’s been compromised by HYDRA,” Steve explained.
Bucky gaped at him. “HYDRA? As in, the rogue Nazi organization?”
“The one and only,” Steve said with a wry smile. He stopped in front of a motorcycle. “Alright, hop on.”
Bucky stared at the vehicle cautiously. “Where are we going?”
“I need to get a hard drive. Then, I’ll put you somewhere safe.”
And that was how Bucky somehow found himself pressed against Captain America’s back as they zoomed across Washington D.C.
There were worse ways to die, he supposed.
Bucky Barnes was standing inside an Apple store next to Captain America and the Black Widow.
This was his life now, apparently.
The two of them—Steve and Natasha—were discussing what to do with the mysterious hard drive that Fury had given Steve.
“It has a homing program,” Natasha was saying. “As soon as we boot it up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are.”
“I can help,” Bucky offered quickly.
Steve and Natasha both turned to him, eyebrows raised.
He flushed. “I’m a security engineer. Cybersecurity. I can delay the signal sent to SHIELD. Buy us a little more time.”
Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, Steve, where’d you pick this guy up?”
Steve rolled his eyes and looked at Bucky. “You sure?”
Bucky nodded. “I worked at SHIELD. I know what I’m doing.”
Natasha stepped away from the computer and nodded towards Bucky. “All yours.”
They were on the way to New Jersey.
The drive had told them that the drive originated from there. Bucky didn’t have enough time or tools to decrypt the data, so they had to go to the source.
Which was in fucking Jersey.
“I really didn’t expect Captain America to steal a car,” Bucky said. He was sitting in the front seat next to Steve.
The whole thing felt surreal.
Steve smiled softly. “You learn a thing or two in Nazi Germany.”
Natasha leaned over from the back seat. “Steve,” she said, as though Steve was supposed to understand her from that one sentence.
“Romanoff,” Steve said.
She grinned. “Bucky here is a real cutie.”
Bucky turned to her, cheeks warming up. How could she say that about him in front of Steve fucking Rogers?
“Jesus,” Steve muttered.
“That’s what I’ve been missing all this time, isn’t it?” she asked. “I can’t believe it only occurred to me now.”
“Wh—what?” was all Bucky could stutter out.
Steve sighed. “Sorry about her. She’s just been trying to get me to date for the past few days.” He looked over at Bucky, tilting his head. “But, uhm, would you be interested, though? On going out with me?”
Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Are you being forced to ask me?”
“No, of course not.” And if Bucky didn’t know any better, he would assume Steve was blushing.
“I think you’re really handsome. And smart,” Steve said. He licked his lips. “Once all this is over, I’d love to take you out.”
“This is actually painful to watch,” Natasha said.
“Shut up, Nat,” Steve huffed.
Bucky smiled at the banter between them. “If you make sure I don’t die, I’d love to go out with you,” he said.
Steve bit his lip and looked back at the road. “I’ll try my best.”
Bucky did, in fact, make it out alive. And so did a billion other people who would’ve been victims of Project Insight.
The whole mission landed Steve in the hospital, though.
“So,” Steve said when Bucky came to visit, “we’re still having that date, right?”
Bucky grinned.