Sky Cuddles and Bathroom Floors
Peter helplessly gestured to the limp body in his arms, and Bucky’s eyes widened.
“Shit! Maggie- what the hell happened?” Bucky picked her up easily and carried her to the couch, which was made up with wrinkled blankets and a squashed pillow. Clearly, Bucky had been sleeping there.
Maggie grunted at Bucky and pointed at Peter. “You know this dipshit?” Bucky nodded as he came over from the bathroom holding bandages and a wet rag. “Well,” continued Maggie, “your friend here saw me checking out security and poking around for surveillance and attacked me in the alleyway, and then- then he dragged me into some fuckin’ warehouse and fuckin’ tied me up and scared the LIVING HELL out of me and THEN proceeded to punch me a few times for good measure.” Maggie grinned drily. “But, oh, ‘loose lips sink ships’, right? So I held out, Sarge! I- I fuckin’ held out!” The speech ended with Maggie’s voice cracking on the last word, and she burst into a fit of callous laughter.
Meanwhile, Bucky dabbed her cuts with the wet rag. Once he was finished, however, he stood up slowly, and turned towards Peter. He fixed him with a crippling death stare. Peter quaked where he stood, his eyes fixed and glassy, still gaping at Maggie.
“Mr. Bucky- Mr. Barnes- I’m so sorry, I- I thought she was breaking into your house and she had super strength and she wouldn’t tell me anything otherwise-’’
Bucky cut Peter off with a grunt, his lips pressed in a thin line. “Get out.”
“What? Where?”
“Just go to the bathroom and close the door, for fuck’s sake,” he hissed angrily.
Peter was expecting a punch or a kick or a slap across the face. When none came, however, he scurried into the tiny bathroom and shut the door hard behind him, holding in sobs.
When Maggie’s, Bucky’s, and eventually Sam’s voices had quieted down finally, Peter put a hand on the doorknob of the bathroom and tried to tug it open, but the door wouldn’t budge. It took Peter a minute to realize that he’d been locked into the tiny bathroom. He was too tired to break the door down, so with a strained sigh he curled up on the cold bathroom floor, still wearing his suit (minus the mask, meaning he couldn’t communicate with Karen) and stained with blood. He fell asleep in two minutes flat.
Peter awoke, several hours later, to the bathroom door sliding open. He was stilled curled up on the bathmat next to the sink. Maggie stood in the doorway. She looked okay (thank goodness); she wasn’t shaking too badly, and her cuts and bruises had faded.
“Holy shit, dude. Are you okay?” She sat down next to him, her eyes filled with concern.
Peter chewed his lip angrily. He supposed that he deserved the brief stint of imprisonment in the bathroom for the stunt he pulled with Maggie and the interrogation. “I’m okay. I’m okay now.”
“Me too,” said Maggie quietly. “You know, I was thinking. I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“We need some help today, the three of us. Me, Bucky and Sam, I mean. We could use your help.” Peter kept his eyes fixed on the floor for a moment before he was able to look back at Maggie.
“I’ll help you. Of course I’ll help you. I feel terrible about what I did.” Maggie cracked a smile when he said it. Peter couldn’t help but grin too. “I gotta tell May - my aunt, she worries - but I’m sure she’ll be fine with it s’ long as Sam’s there.”
Maggie presented her idea to Sam in the kitchen. She sat cross-legged on the countertop, her eyebrows raised inquiringly. Peter leaned uncomfortably against one wall, and Sam stood near the stove, his arms crossed, frowning.
“I guess so. We could always use more backup. I’ve seen you in battle, kid, and you gave me and Bucky a run for our money back at that airport in Berlin.” Peter grinned at Sam’s compliment. “Speaking of Buck, I’ll give him a stern talking-to for locking you in the bathroom overnight.”
“Thanks,” said Peter with a grin. Sam chuckled.
“I’m cooking breakfast. We all better eat up, because we have a long day ahead of us,” he said, opening the fridge.
Eggs were scrambled and served. Maggie and Peter both wolfed down their breakfasts, neither of them having eaten in several hours. Half an hour later, Bucky returned from finishing up surveillance. He was wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap (his “incognito disguise”) and was clutching a scrap of paper. “I was out finishing surveillance, found this note next to our door.” He set down the paper on the tabletop in front of them. In neatly typed print, it read:
79th and Pillsbury
2 a.m. 14 Jun
Come alone. Tell no one.
Sam raised his eyebrows as he read the note. “Well, we’ve already told a few people, so that last bit isn’t gonna happen. We’re not coming alone. Only an idiot would do that, and we’re not idiots.”
“Agreed,” said Maggie.
“And,” continued Sam, “we should treat this like a hostage negotiation. Peter and Maggie will provide backup. Swing down if you need to, but otherwise just web ‘em up and keep them in your crosshairs.” Maggie and Peter nodded accordingly.
Bucky did too, looking at Sam all the while. They made eye contact for a moment and had a brief, silent conversation before nodding again. The four of them all nodded and stood from the table.
The rest of the day was spent going over the plan.
“We know that the Power Broker has hacked the power grid that brings electricity to most of the eastern seaboard. They are threatening to shut it off indefinitely if we don’t follow their instructions and compromise with them. A mass power outage could be disastrous, and would certainly cost lives. So the plan is: we get there, speak to the Power Broker, and get out. Simple.” Sam finished. Maggie nodded and glanced at Peter, who stiffened slightly but nodded. Bucky grinned when Sam finished talking, and the four of them went their separate ways to prepare.
Peter spent hours mixing batches of new web serum and carefully loading them into his launchers. Maggie cleaned her guns and rifles, and wanted to practice shooting targets on the roof, but Sam wanted to use the roof himself, and heavily objected to the firing of guns indoors.
He practically begged Bucky to try out a cool trick with him on the rooftop.
“C’mon, it’ll be super badass.”
“No, Sam, I really don’t wanna fly!”
“James- please. It’s gonna be so cool.”
“Fine. But don’t call me James.”
Minutes later, standing on the roof, Sam had his wings on as usual. Bucky looked terribly disgruntled, but let Sam show him how to do this “cool trick”.
First, Bucky held out his arms to either side (“I look like an idiot.”). Then Sam stood just behind him, held him by the waist, and lifted them up into the air with his wings (“Holy SHIT! PUT ME DOWN!”). Once this was mastered, Bucky tried it whilst holding a knife and kicking a punching bag which had been propped up on the rooftop. Then they tried it with Bucky holding an assault rifle and shooting at targets on the roof.
Eventually, the two were able to work well like this. Bucky would punch a punching bag, Sam would toss him a gun, and then swoop over and wrap his arms around Bucky’s waist and pick him up. It did look pretty badass to Sam’s credit.
After one of the tries (minus the assault rifle), Sam kept his arms tight around Bucky’s waist and lifted him up into the air and over the city to the other man’s intense protest.
“Samuel! Put me the FUCK down!”
“No can do! This is fun!”
“NO THE FUCK IT ISN’T-”
Bucky let out another yelp as they hovered over the city. Sam secured a belt around Bucky’s waist so that he wouldn’t fall, but he still kept his arms around Sam’s neck like a lifeline.
“You enjoying this?” Sam questioned softly. He nuzzled his chin next to Bucky’s cheek to get a better view.
“This is terrifying. But nice. Still terrifying.” Bucky replied quietly. It was peaceful to float up there, with the wind in their hair and all of New York spread out beneath them.
Two minutes passed. Sam still had his arms around Bucky’s waist, and Bucky had his arms around Sam’s neck. They descended carefully onto the rooftop to the sound of applause from the alley below. Upon looking down, it was Peter and Maggie, both wearing huge grins. Peter whistled appreciatively, and Sam carefully set down Bucky before hovering down to see what the kids were doing.
“Dude! That was so cool! And badass! And adorable!” Peter was gushing.
“See? I told him it would be cool,” panted Sam. He lifted back up to the roof, where Bucky stood with a grin.
“What’d the kids want?”
“They wanted to let you know how badass we looked while doing that.”
“It was cool, actually. Thanks for talkin’ me into it.”
“No problem whatsoever,” said Sam with a smile. He and Bucky looked at each other for another moment longer before the turned and went back to their training.