Elevated

Nora went back to work. It was a little tempting to take another day because she’d been kidnapped and her burned arm ached. It was a lot tempting to take another day because Bucky spent the night in her apartment. They cooked dinner, walked Luna through the park, and played a game of scrabble because Bucky didn’t say a lot, but she wanted to know what kind of words he might use if he did.

He was very good at it, but she had to tell him twice he couldn’t use words that weren’t English. When she asked, he told her he spoke four languages, which was ridiculous. She was extremely impressed because she hadn’t managed to learn a dozen words when she’d lived overseas. She was also devastated because the idea of him speaking French to her was enticing, and she didn’t think it was something she’d hear anytime soon.

They slept with his arm wrapped around her and if he woke up in the middle of the night she didn’t notice. It was difficult to drag herself out of bed when he was still undressed in it, but she managed and was impressed with her own willpower.

They had cereal for breakfast. Bucky made the strangest face when he had a bite of the Fruit Loops. Nora really couldn’t tell if he liked them or not, and when she asked, he didn’t answer. He ate the entire bowl and seemed annoyed about it.

They walked to the tower because it was early and stopped at the diner for coffee on their way. It was extremely mediocre, but Nora really liked Doris.

She remembered to panic a little in the elevator up to the lab. It had been a long time since she’d freaked out. She didn’t usually when Bucky and Luna were with her and the only explanation she could think of was that the events of the week had rattled something loose. Bucky wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her back and she felt soothed.

She remembered in the hallway as he walked her to the dented lab door, “Oh! I’m gonna ask Darcy why she's so sour towards Clint. Jane told me she’s been harboring some kind of grudge for years.”

Bucky nodded, “He needs the help.”

“Has he ever even asked her to hang out?”

He chuckled, “No.”

The doors whooshed open in front of them. Bucky walked her all the way to her desk. The lab looked the same as it had before she got kidnapped and Nora let the weirdness wash over her. It was difficult to reconcile the awful event with the normalcy of regular life continuing onward.

“Alright Nora?” Bucky slid a hand down the length of her arm, assessing her expression seriously.

“Yeah. It’s just been a strange week.” She scooped up the box containing her second new phone of the year where it sat near her tablet, “It was good, and then awful, and then really good again. I think I might have a bit of emotional whiplash.”

He pulled her into a hug, resting his cheek on the top of her head. Nora let the warmth of his body settle into her. Luna pressed against their legs, the slow thump of her tail against Nora’s jeans keeping time.

“Maybe I should take a vacation,” Nora said finally.

“Italy?”

He sounded so serious she laughed, “Do you speak Italian?”

“Yes.”

Maybe someday, Nora thought, he would speak Italian to her instead of French.

Bucky lingered a while and kissed her before he left. It was strange to be alone in the lab again. She’d been mostly distracted from Wednesday's entire debacle for days and sitting by herself it tried to creep in. She refused to let it.

She flipped on a half dozen machines, set up her phone, and sat to spin her pen. They hadn’t really decided what direction to head with their research now that they’d proved Bruce’s idea. But Nora had a thought. One that jumped into her mind half formed when she’d been trying to recall Jane’s temporal equation in that stupid warehouse.

Nora didn’t lose her pen. Instead, she started to write with it.

Bucky didn’t really want to leave Nora alone in the lab, but she had work to do. He supposed he had things he could be doing as well. He was the last man to the gym, despite being not much later than usual.

He figured it was better to get it over with and took a seat next to Sam on a bench. They watched Steve pummel Clint who was apparently sucking again. It was a little hard to watch. Steve eased up in a way Bucky hadn’t, and which only extended the man’s misery. Sam let out a low whistle when Steve swept out a hard kick that sent Clint to the ground. Bucky frowned. Clint for his part, shared their frustration. He let loose a string of violent swearing from the mat when he managed to suck in a solid breath.

Steve looked uncomfortable, “Clint this is getting out of hand.”

The swearing continued with venom.

Bucky cleared his throat, “Nora said she’d ask.”

The swearing stopped. Clint rolled up to sit, legs akimbo, and fixed Bucky with a nervous look, “Ask what?”

“‘Bout Darcy’s grudge.”

“Grudge?” He looked panicked, “What grudge?”

Bucky shrugged. He didn’t know why Clint thought he’d have any idea when Nora hadn’t asked yet.

“Oh fuck, you don’t think Nora will tell her, do you?” Clint was starting to lose colour, “I haven’t even- if she-“

Bucky scowled. He’d been trying to help, and the man was spiraling, “Fuckin’ relax.”

Clint didn’t, but he did flop back and stop swearing in favour of covering his face with both hands.

“You have a good weekend?” Sam asked. It was an innocuous question that Bucky saw right through.

“Yeah.” He answered anyways.

Sam nodded, “That’s good.” He let the pause stretch. Long enough that Bucky thought he might really have gotten the message and butt out. Steve was glancing between them, eyebrows raised. He clearly wasn’t buying it. It took seventy seconds, “Did Nora spend the whole weekend at your place?”

“No.”

“Oh right, you went to hers.” Bucky frowned at Steve. There had been a time when Steve didn’t feel the need to inform a third party of his every move, “Hey, how much time did Nora spend in your clothes?”

Bucky punched him.

“Bucky!” Steve threw up his hands, looking stricken.

Sam landed on the floor with a “Fuck!”

Bucky was proud. He’d remembered not to use his metal hand and hadn’t hit Sam in the face. Eighty years ago, he might’ve thrown a punch for the same sort of question. Bucky hadn’t been a saint, he’d taken plenty of people home, but he’d never felt the need to air a lady’s business. And none of those ladies had been Nora.

“The fuck, Steve?” He grit. Bucky could’ve punched him too. He wasn’t sure when Steve had become the kind of person to talk out of turn.

Clint had jolted up when Sam hit the floor and was wearing a look like he couldn’t believe things were going sideways again. At least nobody could blame him this time.

Steve threw up his hands, “I just- I was surprised!”

“Ow!” Sam shouted up at him, hand clapped to his shoulder.

Bucky didn’t know why the fuck Steve would be surprised, they’d lived together. He squinted at Steve. A thought occurred to him. They kept all being surprised at his managing a relationship with Nora. That was a little fair, he was a broken individual who couldn’t string together a full sentence. But he hadn’t always been. He remembered how to treat someone right, and he wanted to try.

Clint was failing miserably at handling his crush on Darcy. Sam had been on a string of bad first dates, and no second ones. Steve, to his knowledge, hadn’t been on a date in eighty years. They kept giving him shit but none of them could manage a romantic relationship to save their lives. He thought they might all be pretty fucked if he was the one that had it together.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said sincerely, “I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.” He shot an extremely hard look at Sam.

Sam briefly took on a look of outrage. Probably at Steve thinking he should be the one to apologize after getting punched. It fizzled pretty quickly at the matching look Clint gave him, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude to Nora.” He was quiet for a second, “I did mean to give you shit. She just got kidnapped!”

Bucky pointed at him and said, voice full of all the ice that lingered in his veins, “Stop.”

The room went mercifully silent. Bucky was aware it wasn’t a great look. He hadn’t intended for things to go that particular direction, but there was no explaining it without stating some extremely private business and it was none of theirs anyways.

He fixed a glare at Steve and pointed to the ring, “In.”

Clint scrambled out and Steve watched Bucky warily as he made his way in.

“Buck.” Steve implored.

“Get in.” He grit again, standing in the middle of the mat, “So I can hit you.”

Nora liked to get everything in the open with words. Well Bucky couldn’t manage that, but Steve was bigger than he used to be. He could hit him a few times and hope the point sank in.