goodmourning

“Thanks for meeting me here.” Mel smiles tightly while setting down her bag, a file and then finally shrugging her coat onto the back of her chair.

“Yeah, no problem. Is everything okay?” Bucky notes the shift in her demeanor, the way she glances out of the restaurant’s storefront window into the night.

“All good.” She cracks another smile as the server approaches for drink orders.

But Bucky isn’t stupid and Mel doesn’t just call him for casual dinners out, as much as he wishes she would sometimes. The server shifts to him expectantly and he repeats Mel’s drink order, gaining a ‘seriously’ look from her. He eyes the file, certain that whatever she called about is contained inside.

“How’ve you been?” Mel captures his attention again and a wave of exhaustion tugs him down. “You know, since the break up?”

“Everyone knows about that?”

“It’s absolutely my job to know everything that happens within the New Avengers. Val would kill me for anything less.” A real smile this time.

“I’m fine. Great, even.”

“And nothing weird has been happening?” She asks carefully, thanking the server when the drinks appear.

“You’ll need to be more specific. Our lives aren’t very normal.” The response earns him a frown and an eyeroll.

“Weird, Bucky. Like your apartment complex catching fire last week? Or maybe the bomb threat that was called in on the day you were meant to present legislation that would make it easier for us to be the city’s heroes?”

“I would call that a coincidence.” He shifts under that familiar feeling of exhaustion, trying to shake it.

“I would call that Miss Fortune.”

“Misfortune? That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think?”

“You also lost your dry cleaning and I don’t see your car parked out there.” Mel rattles off, taking a sip of water.

“My keys went missing earlier, I ubered.” 

“It’s Miss Fortune.”

“Would you stop saying misfortune?” He glowers, pointing at something random on the menu when the server approaches for their orders.

“It’s not misfortune. It’s Miss. Fortune.” She emphasizes the last two words and scoots the file towards him. 

But when he goes to reach for it, the mechanics in his arm freeze. A sharp whirring noise comes from his arm, almost like grinding metal and he deftly punches the pressure points that the Dora Milaje often took advantage of, causing the arm to drop from his shirt sleeve to the ground in silence. Mel’s eyes darted from the file still laying on the table to Bucky’s missing limb.

“Don’t say it.”

“I’m not saying anything.” She bites back her amusement while Bucky looks over his metal arm before re-attaching it, “does that…happen often?”

“There’s been some performance issues. But that’s new.”

“Okay now would be the time to look at the file and maybe use your good hand.” She must see the apprehension in his face because Mel pushes the file open before he can make a move. “I looked into your ex.  Actually I started looking  into her when you two first started dating.” “Jealous?” He jokes watching the way her cheeks flush with color, smiling in satisfaction.

“Hardly. You know Val has to pretend to be in control of everything. I couldn’t find anything, which is weird because everyone our age…my age… has a digital footprint.” Mel’s amendment reminds Bucky just how odd their dynamic would be, how odd it had been with her. He may be over 100 years old but he still felt like he was in his 30’s. Mel points to the first page ignoring his silence, “But then I found something.” 

Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Name: YFN YLN. Mutant Abilities: Fortune, Favor, and its counterparts. Code Name: Miss Fortune. It was an ID Card for some type of boarding school. She never brought up her past and Bucky was the last person to push someone for details like that. 

“What is this– she’s a mutant” Mel spoke at the same time as he found the words.

“So let me get this straight, we've got wizards, warlocks, aliens, and now mutants?”

“I mean, I doubt they like that term but yes, we’ve got gifted people…” Mel nods, “She’s causing your bad luck. What happened?”

“We broke up.” Bucky defends himself.

“Mutually?”

“We both needed a fresh start.” 

Just as the server approaches with their food, alarms start blaring and sprinklers start to pour. The file is mush by the time Mel yanks it back towards her and the lights in the restaurant flicker before going out completely. There’s vague yelling from the manager for everyone to stay calm and furious mutters about the building not being up to code.

“She’s here, right?” Bucky asks Mel over the din of the restaurant. “I have a feeling.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s nearby and something tells me she wasn’t so thrilled about the ‘fresh start’ .” Mel responds as the sprinklers slow to a trickle. “ I don’t know why you’d get us a table at the biggest window on the street. I bet she saw us together.” 

“It was supposed to be a blank page…” He sighs. 

After several moments, the manager apologizes that the lights would not be back on this evening, service is canceled and that they were all free to go. The restaurant goers slowly file out of the building yelling slurs and threatening to take to social media over it. Bucky guides Mel out and pushes her right back inside as a string of cars erupt into flames, gas tanks exploding as people scatter away from the danger.