Holding On | Bucky Barnes

18 | Friday, January 15th

"Everyone up, meeting now."

I'm surrounded by darkness, but I swear I can hear Tony's voice.

"Wakey wakey. Everyone needs to be at the conference table in five minutes. No exceptions."

I lift my head confused, seeing Bucky's expression mirroring my own. No light filters through the curtains, so the room is almost pitch black. "What?" I ask, looking up to the ceiling.

Bucky groans, running a hand over his face. "It's five in the morning. What the hell is going on?"

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"Morning, Fury and Tony are calling a meeting. They will explain details further there."

That's all she's gonna tell us?

"It's five in the morning," I groan, dropping my face into the pillow.

"Stark sounded pissy, we should get down there," Bucky grumbles, pulling the blanket off.

I'm going to murder them.

I didn't fall asleep until after two.

"Doll," Bucky chuckles, reaching over the bed and grabbing my arm gently. "Come on."

I sigh and push up, knee-walking to the edge where Bucky stands. "Morning," I grumble, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Morning," he smiles, giving me a quick peck on the lips.

Why are you smiling at five in the morning?

I glare at him and pull my arms away, then step off the bed, heading into the closet and finding a sweater before tugging it overhead and walking blindly to the door.

"Careful," Bucky chuckles, hands finding my shoulders to guide me.

"Let me walk into it, that way I have an excuse to stay in bed."

Bucky laughs behind me and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling the door open. "Morning," Bucky greets Rhodey who steps from his room.

"Morning," he smiles.

I put up a hand in a half-wave, trying to keep my eyes open. We descend the stairs and when we get to the common area I see Steve in the kitchen, pouring coffee into mugs. "You're my favorite," I nod. I hear Steve let out a 'yes' as I take a mug and head to the fridge. After adding some milk, I wander over to the conference table and drop into a chair, pulling my knees up and taking a big sip of coffee.

"Tired?" Nat asks.

"Mhmm. I'm gonna need more," I mumble, gesturing to my mug. "Why is this meeting so damn early anyways? Couldn't it have waited till at least 8?"

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., patch me through to the screens," I hear Tony say over the speaker before a close-up of his face appears in front of us. "Happy Friday, everyone. I'll be at the Compound in about... three minutes. And Y/N, no, it couldn't wait. There's been—Ah, Fury's calling in. He'll explain."

Fury appears on a second screen, emotionless as ever. "Morning. Sorry to wake you all up so early, but we've got a location for O'Conner's weapons manufacturer. They've been operating out of a ghost town in the Northern Territory of Australia, about a hundred miles northwest of Alice Springs. I got word from a few agents doing recon that it appears they are preparing to leave their site, which is why you have all been woken up so early. We assume they will be evacuating at nightfall, and since Australia is twelve hours ahead of us, you need to get moving. Even at top speed, it'll take the Quinjets at least four hours to get there, so you have thirty minutes. Get the gear you need and be on the jets. You can form a plan on the way."