The Distance - A Bucky Barnes x OC Story

Chapter 8 - Puzzle Pieces

Avengers Compound, New York - April 2025

Bucky put the black suit jacket on and stared at himself in the mirror. That night was the premiere of the movie about the Kree invasion. All the Avengers were invited to the premiere. But only Bucky, Sam, Torres, Wanda, Clint and the girls could come. The rest of the Avengers were either busy with missions or just too shy to show up at the premiere. He wasn't sure he wanted to come, but Sebastian had invited him. So he decided to come to respect Sebastian's invitation.

It had been a month since they last went out to space to search for Kang. After they returned from Kitson, the Avengers had a big meeting where everyone complained of the same thing, which was that they couldn't find anything about Kang in the places that they had visited despite having clues from Wanda. She had been getting more visions about Kang, but none of her visions led them nearer to find out where Kang was. So they all decided to pause the mission for now until they find more clues of Kang's whereabouts. There had been no more attacks from the Kree either. So for the past month Bucky had fallen back to the same routine as before which were training the SHIELD agents, testing weaponry and helping Bruce in the R&D department. He was running a hand through his hair, tidying it, when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Bucky.. are you ready?" Kate's head popped out from behind the door.

"Yeah, Kate. I'm ready." Bucky said, turning around after making sure he looked presentable in the suit. Underneath the suit he wore his usual black shirt and he completed the look by putting on a pair of black trousers and black loafers.

"Wow, you look.. nice." Kate complimented him.

"Oh, thanks. You look nice yourself." Bucky blushed and looked up to see Kate, wearing a black suit, white buttoned up shirt, black trousers and black stilettos. Her hair pulled up into a bun and she had put on some make up.

"Thanks. I thought you would be complaining about my masculine look. Wanda has been complaining non stop, saying I should have bought a dress. But I'm not comfortable wearing one." Kate shrugged.

"Well, I think you look great either way." Bucky smiled and Kate blushed. Well, Kate really did look good. He thought she was a beautiful young woman. But, he didn't have any feelings for her. Having spent almost a year together on the space mission he had grown close to Kate but just as a friend. She, like Wanda, was like a sister to him.

"Aaawww... Thanks Buckaroo.." Kate smiled and Bucky chuckled. Buckaroo was a nickname Kate had given him. She was the only one who could get away calling him that.

"Shall we?" Bucky asked.

"Yup, come on. I think everyone is ready." Kate nodded and they left Bucky's room.

The premiere of the movie was held at Regal Movie Theatre, Battery Park, lower Manhattan. Sebastian had rented a limousine for the Avengers to take them from the compound to the venue. Kate, Riri and Kamala were so excited to ride on the limo. They kept on taking selfies all the way to the venue. Bucky, Sam, Torres, Clint and Wanda just chuckled looking at the girls' antics.

When they arrived at the venue about an hour later they found the place packed with press and fans. The limo stopped right at the entrance of the venue. When they got out of the limo, flashes of light from cameras blinded them. Everyone wanted to take their pictures or shake their hands. It was a little chaotic. Suddenly Bucky could see Sebastian broke through the crowd.

"Excuse me.. guys.. guys.. stop harassing them! Come on!" Sebastian approached them, flanked with several security guys who immediately made human barricade between the Avengers and the people around them.

"Sorry about that, guys." Sebastian said after they successfully entered the venue, safe behind the glass door of the venue.

"It's okay, Sebastian. We figured it would be a little chaotic." Sam chuckled.