Cold as Ice - WinterWidow One-Shots

The Hitman and The Bodyguard

The message almost made her laugh. God, if he was like Steve, she was going to have a blast messing with him. For now, though, she'd try to play nice.

From Natasha: No, not at all :) considering you're familiar with my work already, you were the best choice

She spent the rest of her evening texting him and trying to get to know her future roommate. Aside from the name she'd seen on his application―James Buchanan Barnes―and the little information that Steve had shared with her earlier, she really didn't know much about him.

By the time she learned that everyone called him Bucky, she had already taken to calling him James. It had been weeks and the name had stuck since it was the only name she knew him as. At least, it had been until she'd had a conversation with Steve where it had taken them both much too long to figure out they were talking about the same person. Almost as soon as the conversation had ended, she sent James a text.

From Natasha: You never told me you went by Bucky. I just made a fool of myself in front of Steve

It was a few hours later before she got a response but when she did, it made her laugh out loud in her empty apartment.

From James: Consider it payback. He swore up and down he didn't know anyone named Natalia when I told him you'd given me the apartment

With a snort, she realized she had never actually told him her name. Her legal name had been on the rental agreement which meant he could only have gotten it from there.

From Natasha: No one calls me Natalia. I go by Natasha

From James: Too bad, it's in my head at this point. You'll be Natalia forever

It was only fair since she doubted she could bring herself to think of him as Bucky.

Despite needing the rent money, it wasn't easy to find a good move-in date. At first, James had mentioned moving in immediately. They had set a date, but he had to cancel last minute when his work pulled him out of town.

It was good timing, though, because Natasha was assigned to Fury's personal security detail last minute for the same day. In any other situation, she would have told Fury to find someone else because her roommate was trying to move in. When word got out that Fury was the Winter Soldier's next target, however, she'd had no choice but to go.

She didn't have time to send him a text that said anything other than "ok", but he must have been just as busy because he never replied anyway.

When she finally remembered to text him and ask about a new date, she was just getting back from Washington DC and sporting a new bruise across her ribs thanks to that goddamn Winter Soldier. Kevlar vests were a godsend, but the bruise left after getting shot through one was certainly a pain. Although she knew better, the pain seemed worse knowing that the shot had come from the Soldier.

There were days when she was sure―would swear up and down―that the Winter Soldier had made it his personal mission to screw up all of her jobs and maybe even kill her in the process. At first, it had seemed a bit like a game. Now, it was more annoying than anything.

Nursing her bruised ribs and taking another dose of painkillers, Natasha checked her phone to see if James had responded yet. He had.

From James: Does two weeks from now work?

It did and Natasha set the new date in her calendar.

The weekend before James was set to move in, Natasha spent the day cleaning. She knew that if Fury had his way and assigned her to Stark later that week, she wouldn't have any time. The billionaire was a friend, but he was also a bit paranoid and apparently needed a bodyguard in order to attend his own expo.