Sunday Afternoon, Near the Causeway

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve had spent, at Bucky's flailing behest, Saturday hanging out in his basement. He'd drawn, he'd gotten his syllabus in order, he'd done about a thousand push-ups...it hadn't been too bad, actually. But he'd gotten sick of being cooped up, and he was pretty sure Bucky would've dragged Natasha out of town as soon as the convention was over, so here he was, out for a run.

Occasionally, Steve miscalculated.

((Yeah pretend this was posted earlier? I sort of...fell asleep.))

Comments

[imablackwidowbaby]

And here was a lovely redhead in the parking lot, attempting to steal Bucky's squishy--he had some argument about how, since capitalism had won the Cold War, he deserved the Victory squishy. She didn't agree with this.

And then she saw Steve. "Oh my God!"

[screwyoumarvel]

"Hello, Natasha," Steve sighed.

[imablackwidowbaby]

"Oh my God!" Yes, that appeared to be all the English she remembered. This was...quite a shock.

[zimniisoldat.livejournal.com]

And that sound would be a gun being cocked. "Ten minutes," Bucky grumbled. "Ten minutes and I would've had her off the island none the wiser but no."

[imablackwidowbaby]

Natasha turned toward him slowly, utterly unsurprised to find him pointing a gun at her. "You knew?"

[zimniisoldat.livejournal.com]

"Of course I knew, Natalya, if I hadn't known your boss would've been dead before he hit the ground," Bucky said patiently. When it came to Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes didn't mess around. "I will kill you. You know that, right?"

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve knew he should say something, but honestly, he didn't know what. So he pretty much stood there, watched the standoff, and wondered if he could stop Bucky before he pulled the trigger.

[imablackwidowbaby]

"I know," Natasha said, not taking her eyes off Bucky's gun. "I won't tell. I mean--" her eyes cut to Steve briefly. "You have your reasons, I assume."

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve nodded. "It's not time. Buck. Put the gun down."

[zimniisoldat.livejournal.com]

Bucky sighed and holstered his sidearm. "Come on," he said to Natasha. "Let's go so you can tell Stark what a wonderful time we had at MercCon not seeing Steve Rogers."

[imablackwidowbaby]

"Why would we have seen Steve Rogers?" Natasha asked, though she kept casting glances over her shoulder at Steve. "That's absurd, Steve Rogers is of course dead."

[screwyoumarvel]

The last thing Steve heard Bucky say before they got into the car was, "Smart girl."

And then they were gone, and Steve was left standing by the causeway thinking of all the ways that could have gone better. Or, for that matter, horrifically worse.