part time soulmates, full time problem

The Ball

Over the next week, you kept your head down. You tried to avoid staring at Bucky for too long, and just focused on attending training when you were scheduled to by Tony. You found that you enjoyed close combat the most, using little gadgets or knives to subdue your opponent. All of the weapons were plastic for now, which Steve said was only while you were practising and getting to grips with them.

Nat swapped the fake knives out a couple of times for you. She never complained if you accidentally nicked her. In fact, it seemed to make her more fond of you, more determined to teach you something else.

It seemed that Wanda and Peter were the best at pinpointing where you were during your sparring sessions, which shouldn't have surprised you considering the powers they had. It was a fun challenge trying to dupe them time and time again.

You had yet to fight Bucky, but you watched him enough to know the way he fought. He knew you were watching every time. Whenever the day came that you would train with him, you felt like you had a good idea of how to defend yourself. He fought seamlessly, like he was barely trying, swerving out of the way, his movements fluid and automatic. His opponents - usually Sam or Clint - always ended up on their backs on the floor.

You wouldn't mind losing to him.

One morning, you opened your door ready to head to the training room to find Tony standing on the other side, launching immediately into a speech about how you're going on your first outing.

It took you a few seconds of dumbly blinking at him before you could process what he had said enough to formulate a response.

"I'm not ready." You said, your hands shaking as you stared at Tony, who just shook his head and gestured for you to follow him. Closing your bedroom door behind you, you followed him down to the elevators, trying to push away the thoughts of Bucky from last night's unexpected dream and focus on the issue at hand.

"It's a simple one. We're gathering intel, so no face to face combat, unless you get spotted that is. But of course, you are hardly ever spotted, so it'll be a walk in the park."

"Tony I really-"

"Now, you'll need a dress. A nice one. The Ball is out in-"

"A Ball?! My first mission is at a Ball?!" You asked incredulously as the two of you walked down the corridor.

"Your first intel gathering task is at a Ball, yes." He answered with a roll of his eyes. "So, get a new outfit, and come to the briefing this afternoon after your training."

He pushed open the doors to the training room he had led you to, where Steve and Sam were already sparring together. Once you stepped into the room, Tony waltzed off somewhere else. Apparently, your conversation about this Ball was over, at least until that afternoon.

The briefing was short. Tony had been right - there was no mention of combat strategies, just attending the Ball, eavesdropping on each of your targets, and getting back out. There was a strict non-engagement rule to be followed - basically, you weren't allowed to punch the guy and make them tell you what their plans were. Bucky and Nat grumbled about how much more efficient they could be without this rule in place.

The hope was that these individuals would help you gather intel on some weapon that the team were trying to find. What the weapon was though, you weren't sure. Maybe you weren't well established enough to be privy to that information. The more famous Avengers were going as red herrings, as it was assumed that attendees would be able to tell who they were. The less famous of the team were then given the higher level targets, in the hope that they would be too focused on Steve and Tony's whereabouts to notice someone else following them.