You're My Mission

Steve placed a full bottle of whiskey in front of Bucky and another in front of himself, passing over a squared glass as well.

“I think that’s overkill,” Bucky commented with puzzled eyebrows.

“If your super soldier serum is anything like mine, it’s going to take a lot to get a buzz,” Steve clarified while effortlessly spinning the lid off his bottle. Bucky glanced uncertainly at me while I poured myself a glass of wine.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not the one who has to wear the Captain’s outfit later,” I shrugged.

“I reckon he’s going to chicken out,” Sam said as he joined my side, leaning onto the breakfast bar with his beer bottle.

“Not allowed to! We had a deal!” Natasha called from the fridge before popping open her own beer. Clearly a man of his word, Bucky opened his bottle of whiskey and poured himself a hearty portion to ultimately make the night easier on himself.

“All right, so I was thinking,” Steve began while placing his already empty glass on the bench, making me pause with surprise that he had downed a good amount of whiskey so quickly. “We need to get to know each other a bit more. So, since we’ve all got SHIELD in common, how about we share something about our work or training that the others don’t know about. Nothing too personal, just interesting, to get the conversation going.”

“Oh come on, I worked for SHIELD for two seconds before it was brought down,” Sam remarked. Steve resisted the urge to scold him by smiling instead, and no doubt literally biting his tongue.

“Okay, I’ve got one,” Natasha said as she swung onto the stool next to Bucky and then swivelled to face him. “You shot me, and now I can’t wear bikinis.”

Bucky’s eyes widened as he tried to process what he had just heard, and the room fell into an unpleasant silence and left only the music channel playing on the TV to make the situation slightly less awkward. I could tell that Bucky was struggling to make sense of Natasha’s monotonous words, uncertain if she was joking or being dead serious. Instead of reaching out and comforting him, I gripped onto my wine glass and awaited his reaction. He could handle this himself, I was sure of it.

“I… don’t remember that, sorry,” Bucky stammered. Natasha reached for the bottom of her shirt and lifted it to reveal a nasty scar on her lower left abdomen.

“Yeah you’re right, you would look just absolutely awful in a bikini,” Sam sarcastically teased, lightening the mood immediately. Bucky looked to him and caught the drift, realising that Natasha hadn’t meant to be harsh.

“At least you don’t have a metal arm, that would look weird,” Bucky offered with a weak smile. Natasha grinned and then nodded at him.

“Your turn,” she encouraged and Bucky paused to think of a good enough story.

“It was my second day of training, before I was shipped to the 107th, and I hadn’t had much sleep for the last couple of days because I was so damn nervous and excited,” Bucky began, stopping to catch Steve’s eye and share a grin. “Anyway, I made a silly mistake during a training session and my instructor declared me a dead man because I had messed up.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes wasn’t a perfect soldier?” Steve teased with mock surprise. Bucky jabbed his elbow at his friend as he chuckled.

“Of course not. And I managed to piss that man off so much he gave me a punishment of not participating in the rest of the training sessions that day.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” I said with a shrug.

“Instead of training, I had to hang around my group and scare passersby. My instructor said I had to be a ghost for the day,” Bucky finished, his gaze dropping from embarrassment.

“That is by far the most brilliant military punishment I have ever heard of,” Sam stated before bursting into laughter, unable to hold it back any longer. Bucky muttered a thanks, inaudible as we all laughed at his great story, finding it difficult to picture the bulky man sneaking around as a playful ghost.

The conversation continued like that while we all drank and bonded with each other, Sam and Steve having the most amusing stories to share while I always changed the subject when storytelling duty fell on me. It wasn’t as though I didn’t want to talk with everyone, just that my training and long-term mission hadn’t included any downtime or fun experiences. I had been a focused and determined woman, and I didn’t really stray from that path.

Fortunately Sam got to a point of drunkenness fairly quickly, which meant that I was able to remind him of his deal with Natasha. He slumped into the hall and then into Steve’s room where Steve had left his uniform lying out, returning a few minutes later with a dramatic entrance and pose.

“You look ridiculous,” I blurted, the first person to control my laughter enough to actually speak. The navy blue sleeves dangled from his arms and legs, making Sam appear far lankier than he actually was, and the silver star and stripes on his chest were crumpled.

“Yup, definitely worth it…” Natasha remarked as she stared at Sam, a smirk dancing on her lips. Sam gave us a twirl on Steve’s request before mumbling that he needed to get out of the wretched suit and disappearing from the lounge. All eyes then fell on Bucky.

“I’m not drunk enough,” he protested with a wince.

“You’re not getting out of it,” I said with a shake of my head. Desperate, Bucky turned to Steve with a pleading expression but Steve wasn’t budging. Bucky downed the rest of the whiskey in his glass before trailing out of the room, Sam returning a few moments later. While he laughed with the other two about how stupid he looked in the uniform, I stared at the wine in my glass and anxiously awaited Bucky’s return. It was so good to see him participating, acting like a normal human being who hadn’t been brainwashed and abused, and the thought of that put a smile on my face.

It vanished when I heard the door click open. My eyes flicked up and the other three fell silent as we all stared at the emerging figure.

“Come on guys, say something,” Bucky awkwardly chuckled, clearly confused as to why he wasn’t receiving the same treatment that Sam had.

“You look…” I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence. He looked damn fine. His body matched Steve’s in terms of being an incredibly muscular physique, and he filled out the uniform. It just so happened that the suit also gave him the patriotic hero appearance, turning him from Steve’s mischievous sidekick into a mature leader, and that was a sexy look on him.

“I don’t think there’s much point in me being Captain America anymore; you look better in the suit than I do,” Steve added to my stunned response. Bucky relaxed at the compliment and sheepishly grinned.

“It looks good, Barnes,” Natasha agreed. “But how does it feel? Like you’re exposed? Being stared at for your looks instead of kicking ass like you should be?” Bucky laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, lesson learned,” he grumbled while turning on his heel to get changed into something more loose-fitting.