You lived in a quaint apartment complex overlooking Manhattan, your job - a Special Operative Agent with Shield. Your work could be very taxing, working late hours and early mornings that sometimes left you sleeping at the base because you were too tired to go home.
The keys clicked into the door as they locked it, footsteps coming from behind you down the hall. You looked down, spotting your neighbour walking toward you.
"Morning, Bucky." You smiled, him grunting in response and walking out the door and down the stairs. This was normal for you, but you still made sure to say hi everytime you saw him. You always admired his courage for what he went through back in Russia, and one day hoped to hear him say good morning back - you couldn't see this happening in your lifetime.
You headed down the stairs and into the building's parking complex, unlocking the door of your Shield class car and placing your travel mug into the holder. Your fingers gripped the wheel tightly, tensing with your hold. It was too early to be angry, but you knew today was going to be a hard day. The debriefing yesterday had already set you up for todays work, and it definetely wasn't going to be easy. You flicked the ignition and pulled out, spiralling down the complex and hitting the main road. As you got to the first red light, you put some music on and turned the dial up to an acceptable volume, humming along to the radio as you drove to the Shield base. The drive was pointless, you could walk if you really wanted to it was so close to home.
A voice rang out through the PA at the base, calling all active Agents to the conference room. The threat from the debrief yesterday had escelated seriously - a mission needing to be organised, and quickly. Your lukewarm coffee slid down your throat in a big gulp as you walked to the conference room, opening the door to atleast a dozen agents sat around the table, breakfast foods laid out down the middle. You pulled out a chair and sat down, grabbed a split and buttered bagel and took a bite into one half.
"Anyone know what's going on now?" You asked, still half asleep.
"We're not sure yet, Jen, Fury's on his way down. Said it's urgent." An agent chimed from across the table, looking up toward you.
"I'd expect him to be here already if it's that urgent." You laughed and took another harsh bite of your bagel. You'd spoke too soon as the door opened, Director Nick Fury walking in and standing at the left end of the table, leaning forward and placing his palms on it.
"There was another attack in London last night. The Chitauri ripped up half the city. Loki wasn't there and his trackers have gone offline. He's off grid. I'm assembling three teams to go there tonight and I need everything you can find picked up and brought back as soon as possible."
You swallowed a swig of your coffee hard, knowing you would be one of the chosen ones. You hated the missions outside of the US, they were always the more difficult ones and they were rarely ever solved with just a few agents.
"Dean, Hill, Coulson - you're on team one. You'll have the help of a favour I pulled from Tony Stark."
"Who's the favour?" Taking another bite of your bagel.
"Sergeant James Barnes." You almost choked when you heard Nick say his name. This was about to become even worse - the most awkward mission you could imagine. "Dean, you'll be staying with Barnes, Hill and Coulson will be staying together."
"Why do I have to babysit him?"
"Because you know him better than us."
You scoffed. "We live a few doors apart and he dosen't even speak to me, I wouldn't call that knowing him."
"A few doors apart is more than enough for you two to partner up. Deal with it." You leant back in your chair, spinning ever so slightly to the side in annoyance. This was your worst nightmare. He couldn't ignore you for long now.
"Team two is Hann, James, Lang and Whittaker. Team three is Ryan, York, Carey and West." He pushed three pieces of paper into the table, splitting them off toward the different teams. "These are your maps, above and below London. I want team one in central and east London, team two in the west and north and team three in the south. You leave at 19:00 so I suggest you get packing. We don't know how long this will take. Rescue and extract, and get any threats off of their backs as we try and cover the damage from here." He then passed out ear pieces and different comms equiptment.
"What about Barnes?" Your face told him blatently how unimpressed you were. The thought of a mission with him and no deadline made your skin prick with anxiety.
"What about him? He's already being prepped over at the Avengers compound. I've told him to be here for 18:00. I want you to meet him at the doors, Jen. Introduce him to the team and give him a rundown of what's going on."
"I thought he was being prepped?" Your tone growing sarcastic. Nick rolled his eyes. "Yes, but he dosen't have the maps and plans. He needs them from us."
"Fine. 18:00, got it."
"Dismissed."
You got up and walked back to the car park, racing back home to pack atleast a weeks worth of supplies - clothes, toiletries, rations and electronics. Of course, when you walk into the building Bucky was there too.
"So we're working together now, hm?"
"Looks like it." His voice was snappy, almost as if he didn't want this conversation to carry on. This pissed you off.
"Well leave your attitude at the door, James. We have work to do."
"My name is Bucky."
"Whatever, Chucky. 18:00, don't be late." You laughed internally as he let out a growl, you slamming your door behind you. Atleast you had enough time to chill out and grab a quick nap before you headed back out. You packed your bag and had a brief shower, setting an alarm for 4:30pm and getting into bed afterward, reading the time from your phone and then putting it back down. 7:24am. You could get away with 5 hours of extra sleep.
You started to stir just after 12, getting up and going to make yourself a coffee - which was interrupted by a harsh knock on the door. You grabbed the fluffy white robe from the back of the bedroom door and put it on, before opening the door almost shocked at who it was.
"Ah, Plucky, what can I do for you?" You fought to keep your composure and a straight face, but you were laughing so hard internally that it was almost difficult to hide it.
"You can stop that now." He snapped. "I brought you coffee, thought if we're gonna be on a mission together that we need to stop being so harsh."
"You need to stop being so harsh on me, you mean." You opened your door wider, inviting him in.
"Yeah, okay whatever. I didn't know how you had yours so I just got you a black coffee and you can add your own stuff."
"Thanks, that'll do. Make yourself at home." You pointed your hand in the direction of your couch as you pulled some oat milk from the fridge and splashed a small amount into the to-go cup. "Has anybody briefed you yet?"
"Nope. No idea what we're up against. Guessing you do?"
"The Chitauri - Loki and his little pals. Demolished almost the whole of London overnight and now we're left to pick up the pieces. I'd of said this was more suited for you and your superhero friends but, apparently not. Why did they add you to the team?" You turned around, leaning back into the open kitchen counter and taking a sip of your coffee.
"I kept asking for missions but none came up. This one did, so I took the chance. Told me that there were Shield agents on it but I didn't know you were gonna be there. Tony only told me after I said yes."
"What, because you'd of said no if you knew beforehand?" Your eyebrow raised. Judging off of how he ignored you in the building's halls, it was an obvious answer as to why he would've said no. He clearly didn't like you for whatever reason. He didn't answer your question, so you left it at that and went to put your uniform back on.
You pulled your Shield catsuit over your body, the tight leather snapping back onto your skin. You slipped on your thigh holsters, dropping the gun down on your bed, pulling your hair back into a mid ponytail and putting some lipbalm on. You grabbed your gun and knife, your packed bag, your combat boots and your leather jacket so you could put them all down when you got back into the living room.
Bucky was still sat on the couch, legs spread open in an unbothered manner as he stared out the floor to ceiling windows. Police cars wailed from the streets of New York and helicopter lights flickered in the sky. He snapped back into reality with the dull thud of your things hitting the floorboards.
"I didn't even notice you'd left."
"Course you didn't, Ducky."
"Thought I'd told you to stop that."
"Must not of been listening." You shrugged a plain shrug and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. You placed one down on the counter and then threw the other at him. He caught it with his metal hand centimeters from his face.
"Nice reflexes, you're gonna need em."
"Obviously." He groaned sarcastically but with a straight face.
"No need for the attitude now, Lucky."
His face immediately ran cold with anger. "I told you to stop."
"You need to lighten up, soldier. I'm not having a killjoy on my team. This is a hard enough mission as it is, I don't need you raining on the parade too."
"I'm not raining on anyone's parade." He clenched his jaw tightly, holding back his anger.
"You're raining on mine.." Your sarcastic tone pulling through stronger now, making Bucky more visually angry. His fists clenched at his sides as he turned his head to look back out the windows. Usually you'd apologise to people if you were being too jokey, but he didn't deserve an apology. You were getting your back for the daily grunts and glares that he had thrown your way for the past three years.
"Want a refill?"
"What?"
"Your coffee.. Do you want a refill?" You tried to lift the tension in the air but you couldn't seem to shift the sarcasm from your voice. After all the death and destruction you had seen working for Shield all these years, you would rather be sarky than show any emotion at all - it made your life a little easier and your demeanour harder to dig through.
"Thanks. Black, two sugars." He held out his to-go cup for you to come and get from him like a dog. You took it from his hand and refilled it, following his exact instructions so that he had nothing to find fault with. You put it down onto the coaster ontop of the coffee table with a somewhat strong slam, walking back over to the counter and leaning back. You pulled out your phone as it beeped in your back pocket.
Tony was calling you. You pressed accept and held your phone to your ear.
"Stark."
"Jen. How's it going?"
"How's what going?"
"Bucky, he's in your apartment isn't he? First time for everything.."
"Oh, did he snitch on me for being too mean?" You glanced at Bucky who's head quickly shot in your direction, your eyebrow raising as your lips pursed.
"Uhhh, kind of.. He needs to get used to it if he's gonna be working with you for a while. I told him that, but sometimes I think the computers in his brain start crashing."
"I tried to tell him that. One tough cookie ain't he?"
"Too tough for a cookie, more like a cinder block." Tony laughed.
"I'd say a cinder block is a great comparison." You looked back over to Bucky, offering him a sarky smile, which made his eyes roll and his head turn back to the window.
"Have you briefed him on everything? We're all on standby if anything goes south."
"Thanks, Tony. I've told him as much as I know. All the maps and plans are back at the base with Fury."
"What time are you heading back there?"
"Gotta be there for 18:00."
"Cool, I'll come pick you up. 17:50?"
"Sounds good to me. You don't need to though, y'know?"
"I'll try break the ice a little."
"Is that a Winter Soldier pun, or a Captain Rodgers pun?"
"Bit of both." He chuckled. "Smell ya later."
The phone beeped as the call ended. You had a lot of time for Tony - He was the one who helped you qualify for Shield in the first place. He said he could feel the potential coming from you and that he'd make a few calls - That's exactly what he did, and now you're a highly decorated operative. In a way, you owed it all to him, but you had to be good in the first place to even get an interview with Fury, so you knew deep down it was really all your hard work. "Tony's meeting us here at 17:50 so make sure you're ready by at least half past. Go home if you want."
"I haven't finished my coffee yet."
"You know what I meant."
He didn't say another word, his eyes screamed murder as the anger drowned him. You didn't really care, aslong as he didn't take it out on you on foreign fields. You didn't see it as a walk in the park with a friend - you were at work. If he couldn't get along with you, fine, but you were still a team and needed to work as one whether he liked it or not.