The Lunch
“VISION I MEAN c’mon man, just try something. Even soda. What’s the point of being a sentient robot if you can be taken down by a sip of diet coke?” Bucky said, inching his diet coke closer and closer to Vision.
“James, as I’ve already informed you, I cannot drink or eat. It clogs up the machinery in my throat and chest. One time, I had a piece of gum and I lost most of my motor control. It was horrific, truly, wasn’t it darling?” Vision asked Wanda, looking at her while his hand rubbed circles on hers.
Vision and Wanda’s love is…mesmerizing. The fact that a witch was in love with a robot is cause enough for admiration, but the depth of their love is something I want more than anything. I know that Wanda would upheave the world for Vision, and he would do the same. Nothing would stop the other from defending their soulmate, and they always gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling when I look at them.
“Oh guys, it was horrible. We didn’t even know that it had caused the problem until I scanned his chest and saw the piece of gum. You’re so funny sometimes, darling.” Wanda and Vision became lost in a no, you’re cuter debate, excluding them immediately from any conversation.
“Alright, now that we lost the ginger and the robot, what do we talk about now?” Sam asked, hands resting behind his head as he leaned back on the two legs of his chair. Steve was trying to do something on his phone, so that left just Bucky, Pietro, Sam and I sitting in silence.
“Shots?” I said, raising an eyebrow as I slowly got up from my chair to go to the bar.
Pietro put his hand on my arm, silently telling me to sit down and said, “a lady never buys her own alcohol. I’ll be back.” I giggled, blowing a kiss at Pietro as he walked away.
“He’s so dreamy and chivalrous, don’t you think, Steve?” I nodded at the huge man that was currently being taken down by an iPhone 12, specifically the Facebook app.
“Yeah, y/n, I agree.” Sam started crying from laughter at Steve, and Bucky soon joined in, his metal arm making a dent in the arm of the chair from laughing so hard. I giggled too, but attempted to quiet down as Pietro returned with five shot glasses filled with yellow liquid. I gagged a little when I realized it was Fireball—I didn’t realize we were still freshmen in college.
“What’s so funny over here?” Pietro asked, passing a glass to everyone except Wanda and Vision—they don’t drink.
Sam was in stitches and couldn’t even form a sentence, and Steve was still looking just as confused as Pietro. “Steve thinks you’re just so dreamy, P.” I said, wiping at tears from the corners of my eyes. Bucky now had his hand on my knee, breathing deep in an effort to stop laughing. It wasn’t working; and now I couldn’t breathe.
“Guys, I never said that!” Steve yelled, finally catching onto what he had agreed to. Sam and Bucky simultaneously started telling him that he had in fact agreed, and would’ve known if he wasn’t being bested by a ‘handheld smartphone’ (Bucky’s words, not Sam’s. Not a surprise to anyone).
Steve eventually started laughing, and the rest of us were able to calm down. I eyed the shots on the table. I’m not sure why Pietro got five; alcohol doesn’t really work on him, Steve, or Bucky. Sam and I were the only ones who would fall victim to the cinnamon liquid.
“Okay, so, I have a proposition.” I said, pausing to see everyone’s response, “so, alcohol really isn’t effective on Steve, Buck, or P, so…I vote that Sam and I split all five.” Sam looked at me, initially shocked, but was game immediately.
“Okay, mind girl—” Bucky and Steve started laughing immediately at Sam’s attempt at a failed nickname, but I let it slide—there’s not really a lot to joke about telekinesis with. He’ll get it next time. “Okay, y/n/n—not mind girl, because apparently that doesn’t work even though Bucky is tin man, but, okay guys, sure. You take three, and I’ll take two—the gentlemanly thing to do is to always give the woman more than yourself.” I scoffed at Sam but accepted, and Bucky lined the three shots up in front of me.
“Should we do a speed competition, bird guy?” I challenged, using an equally as bad of a nickname as ‘mind girl.’
“Guys, it’s 11:30 in the morning,” Wanda said, glancing at Vision for backup, “and you’ve been out in the sun all day. I don’t want you guys to get smashed before noon.” Bucky, Sam and Steve immediately started booing Wanda, and Pietro joined in, much to Wanda’s surprise. They started bickering in Sokovian, so I took that opportunity to get a leg up on Sam.
Bucky caught my eye, and like always, had my back. “GO!” He shouted, and I immediately downed one shot before Sam could even register what Bucky had said. By the time I had downed the third, Sam had just finished his first. Bucky held my hands up in victory, and immediately began whooping, and Pietro joined in, hoisting me into the air.
I was a little confused why I was being shoved almost into the ceiling fan, but, I let Pietro have his fun. He’s always a little rowdier than everyone else, and that’s something that I love about him. He has a different energy, more chaotic and impulsive than anyone else’s, which helps the fun factor at the Avenger’s compound. He’s big on pranks, and things like forcing shots down non-mutant or super-strength throats. It’s fun for him, and I never complain.
“Pietro, she’s going to yak, I mean really, put mind girl down.” Steve said, making use of the word I had taught him (yak), and Sam’s awful nickname that I guess is going to stick. I took it upon myself to modernize him, Bucky, and Banner, and bring them out of their weird old-timey and just eccentric shells. It worked for the most part—they all got iPhones and were using ‘cool-teen lingo’ (just try and guess who coined that phrase—spoiler alert: Steve).
“Can we work on my Avengers name?” I asked everyone at the table—I was the only one without a superhero alter-ego name. When I was met with incredulous looks from everyone at the table, I continued, “I mean, there’s the Winter Soldier now the White Wolf, Captain America, The Falcon, Vision, Quicksilver, and The Scarlet Witch. To be fair, Vision, your name is your Avenger’s name, but, also, you’re a robot. No offense. But y/n doesn’t really work as my name-name and alter-ego name.” Vision motioned to me that there were no hard feelings, and I could almost see the gears in his mind turning, trying to come up with a name for me.
“What are your powers again?” Sam asked, rocking again on his chair, and I could see it in his eyes that the alcohol was hitting him, and it was hitting me, too.
I giggled, “um, I can kind of move things with my mind now, I can communicate with other people in my mind, read thoughts, and control the elements. Like water, earth, air and fire. I can also light myself on fire, which I’m not really sure I understand that at all, but, it’s all a work in progress.” I finished my list, and looked around at everyone, who were all deep in thought.
“So, hear me out: mind girl.” Pietro said, not even making it through his sentence before breaking up with laughter, and we all followed.
We sat around for what seemed like an hour, but was really only ten minutes.
“Okay, so I’m trying to think of things related to the elements. I feel like that’s easier and more niche, because the mind shit will make you into a witch, and Wanda has dibs on that one, doll.” Bucky said, resting his head on his right hand, his left hand resting on my knee. “That being said, the only thing I can think of that relates to the weird mind shit and the elements, are Tarot cards. One of those cards is ‘Temperance’ and she brings balance in. I feel like you did that with our team, and with everything in your life. She stands pouring liquid from one cup into the other, showing that she is always replenishing, and always working, just as you do. You stop at nothing to help and restore the balance in conflict, and you manage the elements. I think it’s perfect.” Bucky finished, and everyone around us started to murmur in agreement.
“You may now only refer to me as Temperance from here on out.”
***
We got back to our room, and by we, I mean Bucky carrying me and Sam being held up by Steve. We were fucked. I can understand me because I took three shots (and then two drinks after to celebrate my new name), but Sam’s is a little dramatic for a man of his size. This is retrospection, of course, because I really hadn’t been able to form a sentence in that moment.
Bucky brought me into my room, and placed me on the bed. I sat up immediately, “I can’t lay down here dirty. I’m wearing my outside clothes, baby.” I said, not catching that I had just referred to the infamous Winter Soldier as baby.
I should mention that we weren’t an item, nothing had ever happened outside of our flirting. I knew that he had feelings for me, and me for him, but I had never said anything like that.
“Oh, I’m baby now? I like the sound of that.” He smirked, taking my shoes off as he knelt on the floor. When those were off, I walked into my bathroom to shower, and told Bucky to not go anywhere, “oh, believe me, I’m not missing this.”
After a much-needed shower, I got dressed and returned to the room to find Bucky scrolling through what looked to be Instagram. He put his phone down when he saw me, hair all fucked up and there was definitely makeup underneath my eyes, but to me, I thought I looked really amazing. Drunk minds.
“Hi,” I whispered, sitting down next to Bucky. My hand found his cheek—I love his cheeks. I love his face, his eyes, his arm, his body. “You’re so…beautiful, Buck.” I whispered again, my finger running all over his face.
“That’s you, y/n/n. Always, you.” He took my hand and placed it in mine, and his other hand began stroking my face. “I’ve been mesmerized by you from the moment I first say you, scared on the front steps of the prison aka the compound. You have an air about you, baby, that pulled me in and I’ve never been able to escape it.” It was Bucky’s turn to whisper, and his face was getting closer and closer to mine.
My breathing hitched as I stared into his blue eyes. He stared into my brown ones, and his hand stopped moving. I inched my face closer, and closer, and…
We kissed.