Chapter 7
“Hey man.”
Barton came out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him, just as Bucky was putting the groceries down on the countertop. He nodded back at him in response.
“Sleep well?” Barton asked brightly. Bucky answered without looking at him at him “Sure.” As if he was going to be having that conversation with “Hawkeye” any time soon. He finished unpacking the grocery bag, and then they both just stood awkwardly looking at each other over the kitchen counter. Bucky considered asking him about the marks outside the window, then thought better of it. The goal here was to minimise the shit these two were bringing into his day. He formulated a new question.
“Coffee?”
Christ that took way too long for a one-word question.
“Thanks.”
Bucky turned away to start the coffee on the stove, and checked his watch. They needed to hurry this up. “Your partner up? You two want breakfast?” He pressed his thumb along the seam of his left shoulder absently as he spoke. The arm was starting to ache again.
“Sure, thanks. But she's not my partner.”
“Uh-huh”.
There was silence between them while Bucky scrounged together a breakfast and Barton sat himself at the counter, nursing the coffee Bucky handed him like it was his last lifeline. After an ungodly length of time Clint finally broke the silence.
“So here’s a crazy question-”
His crazy question was cut off by a loud thud, followed by a muffled shriek and a whole load of barking from the other room.
Oh shit. He’d really thought he had more time.
“Fuck” Bucky said, moving around the counter to head towards the bedroom. He wasn’t halfway across the room before the door burst open and Kate appeared, bow in hand and an arrow flying straight for him.
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Kate never missed. It was a point of pride for her, the fact she hadn’t missed a shot since middle school. She supposed it was still technically true, as the arrow did hit him in the left shoulder exactly where she’d intended – close enough to the heart to ensure the tranq. entered his bloodstream quickly, but nowhere that the arrow tip itself was likely to do any lasting damage. What she hadn’t intended of course, was that the arrow would just...bounce off like that.
There was a second where she just stared at him in confusion, mouth hanging open in disbelief. Just long enough for his expression to change from surprise to pure rage as he stared at the tranq arrow, now lying uselessly on the ground. And then he was striding towards her, growling out a “What the fuck”, eyes black. It was, she could freely admit, absolutely terrifying.
But Kate was practically an Avenger now. An Avenger-by-association. A probationary Avenger even. She couldn’t let a little thing like abject terror slow her down. So acting like the practically-a-professional-Avenger that she was, she coolly (not frantically at all) nocked another arrow and sent it flying after the first.
And this time the arrow didn’t bounce off.
Nope, instead of that, moving faster than Kate thought humanly possible, he raised his left hand and just...batted away the speeding arrow, like you might a pesky fly. He didn’t even slow his stride.
And then the bow was being ripped out of her hands as she felt a warm hand wrapping around her throat, lifting her into the air like she weighed nothing.
Huh, she thought, so this was how she was going to die.
The last thing she felt before her vision went black was a vague disappointment that she wouldn’t get the chance to tell Clint “I told you so”.