[2] instability ▷ bucky barnes

[9] ▷ hungover

"SON of a-" "Good morning to you too, Brex." Artemis jested playfully as Brexa sat up slowly, holding her head with one hand as the other kept her balanced.

"What the fuck did I do last night?" Brexa asked, leaving Artemis to chuckle. "Oh, you know, the usual that every ex-Hydra agent would do on their Friday nights off." Artemis chuckled, causing Brexa to raise her eyebrow, but immediately regret it after it sent a sharp pain through her skull.

"And what would that be, my dear friend?" Brexa asked dully, holding her palm to her head in an attempt to make the pain stop. It didn't.

"Well, you fell off the table and broke your nose. You laughed about it, then started crying, and then from there you rolled out your entire story about your unc-" "Wait, wait, wait." Brexa said, her eyes widening as Artemis said the most recent thing she had done.

"I told you... I told you what happened to me?" Artemis only nodded her head solemnly. "No worries, mi amigo. Who do I have to tell anyway? You're the only person on this earth at the moment that I'm making contact with. Seriously," Artemis said, trying to soothe out the anxiety that she could see building up on top of Brexa.

"And even if someone asked, I wouldn't tell them. I'm a good secret keeper, and I've learned how to block my thoughts from other people. A pro to the many cons of working alongside someone who could read minds for a couple of years." Artemis shrugged, standing from her sitting position on the bed.

Brexa's eyes eventually adjusted normally to her surroundings, all the sharp sounds in her ears, and the intense glares that the sun was making while peeking through the window. She groaned as she sat up, realizing that she had slept on a blanket in the floor.

She stood up and arched her back in a stretch, rubbing at her face as she followed Artemis out of the bedroom. "Damn, I have to go back to work today. Care to join? It's a lot more fun kicking ass when you're there to watch me." Brexa inquired, standing behind Artemis who was fixing a glass of water from the leaky faucet. When the cup was nearly full, Artemis spun around and handed it to Brexa.

"Drink this, and chill out for a little bit. Why not just take the day off if you don't feel too spiffy?" Artemis asked, and Brexa rolled her eyes.

"First of all, there needs to be some type of money tree in this household and I assume its going to be me-" "Who said I was broke?" "Arty. You're living in an abandoned apartment that you're not even paying rent for. Plus you don't even buy anything to eat or... you know what? You might be loaded if you don't buy anything." Brexa said with a shrug, turning the cup up and chugging the water slowly.

Artemis sighed. "I'm feeling a little scandalous tonight. How about you skip work and we go shopping or something normal women would call fun." Artemis said, and Brexa snorted.

"You just called me normal? I'm honestly very, very offended right now." Brexa jested and Artemis smirked. "Good. I like offending people and making them feel like they have no place in the world. It's my job." Artemis shrugged and the two shared a small chuckle before the room became silent.

It wasn't a complete silence, there were still a couple of car honks and Artemis could have sworn she heard a gunshot as well, but let it slide.

"You know, we still haven't even gotten down to business." Artemis said, which made Brexa give her a quirked eyebrow. "Business? As in, like, sex-" "Don't even finish that." Artemis cut in with a raised hand, yet a smile was forming on her face.

"Business, as in, what I adult-napped you for." Artemis said as she took a seat on the chair directly in front of the sofa, where Brexa took a seat. "Ohh, you mean like your memories? That type of foo-foo lame shit? I ain't with it." Brexa said, which caused Artemis' eyebrows to narrow. "What do you mean?" She asked, and Brexa looked at her with a sly smile. "I was kidding, Arty. It was a joke, a reference to some dude on Vine who said that."

"What's a Vine? Like a tree vine?" Artemis asked, and Brexa sighed as she muttered, "God, you've got a lot to learn," before speaking louder again.

"A Vine is a type of social media that shows viral videos of idiots getting hurt or people saying stuff really funny that people like. I had Vine once. I got annoyed eventually and deleted it." Brexa explained, and Artemis nodded slowly, her eyebrows narrowed in complete confusion as she tried to decipher what Brexa meant.

"Okay, listen. I'll make a deal with you, Brex." Artemis said as she leaned foreword, capturing Brexa's attention. "If you give me an hour of your time, you can run off and be a little rebel for however long you want, but you still have to come back, because if I'm being completely honest, company is nice. Deal?" Brexa smiled as she nodded, but then stopped. "But," Brexa inputted.

Artemis stopped and quirked an eyebrow at her. "But, what?" Artemis asked incredulously. Brexa smirked.

"But, I'll only seal the deal if you promise me you would go out on the town with me tonight like you said earlier." Brexa said, and Artemis chewed on the inside of her lip.

She was a wanted criminal, they could take her to jail and give her the old death-row sentence. She looked back at Brexa with pursed lips. "I don't know, Brexa. I could get caught." At that, Brexa let out a cackle.

"Since when do you care? You are the infamous Artemis Schmidt. No one can stop you, even if they wanted to. It wouldn't have been the first time you've taken down some cops. The last time you did it, it was the talk of the year back at the base in Florida. I was stationed there and you walked right over our heads. Believe me, I was a total fangirl over you back in the day. Nearly got myself killed trying to take a glance at your face one day. Funny how now I'm the only person you know and talk to." Brexa said, then chuckled afterwards.

Artemis' eyebrows narrowed. "I must have been some prize then, eh?" She asked, the humor in her tone deepening. Brexa shrugged and took another sip of her water. "Oh, yeah. And I totally shipped you and the Soldier when no one else did." Brexa jested, and Artemis' head snapped to Brexa, nearly scaring her. "The Soldier?" Artemis asked, her voice cracking. Hearing that name made her heart feel as if it were shattering into a million pieces. "James Buchanan Barnes," She whispered afterwards, tears forming in her eyes as Brexa watched in confusion.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything." Brexa apologized just as a tear fell from Artemis' eye, but she quickly wiped it away and looked at Brexa with a sad smile. "You didn't hurt my feelings, Brexa. Don't worry. It's just that every time I hear that name, I just feel so much hatred towards it. But James... something links those two together. James, — no, — Bucky, brings me so much happiness. Every time I hear it I just want to laugh, smile and cry all at once. I need to find this person. I need to." Artemis rambled, and Brexa smiled fondly on the other side.

"I'm a good tracker, and considering you found me, you're a good one too. So let's work together and we can find your Buky." Brexa said with a short wink and Artemis narrowed her eyebrows. "My what?" "Buky," Was all Brexa said before shutting her mouth and never speaking a word until Artemis had asked her to. Artemis found it highly amusing as the two got to work.