Winter Soldier

“Why am I not even surprised..” Tony muttered quietly with a roll of his eyes ( and a small smile, but that was something he would never admit ) before he turned to watch Barnes. “Some people prefer arrows. Other prefer guns and whatnot. I know a guy who uses a damn shield as a weapon.” He joked.

“If I had the best booze you could find, would you be all over me? Yeah. Definitely.” he laughed, twirling the explosive arrow between his metal fingers as though it were a drumstick. “So how big a boom does one of these guy’s let off?” The comment about Steve left Bucky rolling his eyes this time. “I know a guy that can hijack his ancestors and use them as a weapon. World ain’t exactly what it used to be, buddy. Shield ain’t that strange a weapon.”

    “ Be my guest. Just try not to finish that off, huh? Exploding things are always fun. They’re over there, next to Dum-E. ” He said, pointing at the pile at the far end of the worktable.

“I’m makin’ no promises, Stark.” The soldier flashed the other man a grin, discarding his empty glass to go and inspect the weapons in question. “Y’know, I never got the hang of these. Bishop and Barton are always ravin’ about the damn things, but gimme a gun any day, y’know?” 

     “ F’course you did. Enjoyed it at least? I’ve got new exploding arrows for Barton, mostly. Feel like checking ‘em out? ”

“Uh huh, and I plan on enjoying a couple more too. Alright, explode-y arrows. Let’s give ‘em a shot. Could be fun.”

      “ I’m sure about that. You know where to find it, you’re more than welcome if you want. ”

“Spy, Stark. I did that like a half hour ago. Thought I’d come see what new toys you got while I’m here.”

       “ Barnes. What brings you here? ”

“Uhh... Well it definitely ain’t because you have better bourbon than I can afford.” 

“Fucking Rosado, okay? I’m pissed off about Rosado leaving.”

        “  –didn’t your parents teach you how to knock?  ”

“They were too busy being dead.”

     “Don’t give me that look. They’re not dead, I actually took them to a hospital. I didn’t have to.”

“This ain’t a ‘why did you beat them so bad’ look, Nat. It’s a ‘why the hell didn’t you just finish the job’ one. Who the hell was ever gonna miss those terrorist nutbags?” 

“Hey! A bad hair day is a serious issue and can ruin everything. That’s not a very good example of a small problem.”

“And it’s a little bit bigger than that.”

“Kate, Kate, Kate... It’s not. At all. Just get a hat. It’s what the rest of the world does. Well, me.” 

There’s a point where she does stare an extra second, lips curving into a secretive smile. She doesn’t need some pledge of allegiance and she’s got half a word out of her mouth to tell him that, but she merely shakes it off and closes the laptop.

           “—I mean not everything since me pickin’ would mean I get          to finish work and go train, so really it’s pick and you approve.         Cajun and ice skatin’? Haven’t had that in a while.”

For a moment, Bucky was too excited, too caught up in the  anticipation that she might just accept his little offer to move  an inch. The second she closed her computer, his tablet was  thrown away, a grin lighting up his face. 

“You wanna go ice skating? Even after last time with Nat, how great that went? You must really want date night.” And she should be happy about that; married nearly two years with date nights are a rarity in the offices of the SHIELD secretaries. She’s fighting a smile as she plugs in the last few words of the report, rolling back in her chair to look at him.

          “Do I get to pick dinner?”

“If I would risk head trauma for her, I’d definitely risk it for you.” he reasoned from where he was sprawled across the couch. The  tablet he was staring down precariously balancing on his chest narrowly avoided his nose as the soldier snapped up at his wife’s  questioning, giving an eager nod. 

“Not with computers but with video games, correct? And let’s be honest, darlin’, you don’t get much done when it comes to logs. I get the logs done so I don’t have to do paperwork for the both of us. ‘Sides, got trainin’ to do. Can’t be out late.”

Kate flinched at the mention of Alex’s name. She had just found out that he was leaving and hearing it from the source made it sting that much more. 

“Will you promise not to roll your eyes and call me crazy if I say I think it’s me?”

“Well, that depends.” he began, leaning back in his chair. “Are you havin’ a bad hair day or have you really goofed?”

“I’m not quitting, okay? And what’s going on is that people are shitty and they do shit things and they suck and it’s all horrible.”

“Well, thank Christ. Dunno if I could take losin’ Alex and you. Alright, clearly it’s not me that’s shit or I’d be deflecting arrows with my damn arm. Who pissed you off, sweetheart?” 

“Can’t speak for anyone else, Honey Buns, but I do know that mine comes straight from the top.”

“Okay, well... First of all? Tell me you ain’t quitting. Then tell me what the hell’s goin’ on.”

“You have to go through paperwork, Buck. That’s just standard protocol, alright? That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Just—-              Make my life a little easier?”

“I know it’s standard protocol. That don’t mean I have to like it.  I’ve got my computer, I’ve got my logs. I’ll get them done. And  once I get them done, we’re doing something fun. With no goddamn computers.”