Chapter 2170: 38
Chapter 38: Bucky Gets a Job...Somehow
Notes:
I am snowed in at the moment. So four day weekend for me, I wrote an entire chapter yesterday. It's been nice, other than having to dig the cars out.
Chapter Text
Daisy really should have expected it when she spotted the reporter loitering by the entrance to Kyle's ninja gym. Of course the media would know she was working with Kyle for the charity run. It was probably the easiest way to nab her. She should probably talk to him about temporary security. Like yesterday. Or mention to Yuri that the police should probably drive their patrols through the block more often. Probably.
She considered her options, well Darcy had said she'd need to at some point. With a muttered curse she hopped off the roof and softened her landing enough not to break anything as she hit the sidewalk. She blinked as the reporter practically shoved her phone into her face. "Quake!"
"Uh...hi?" Daisy wasn't actually sure what to do with a reporter this enthusiastic. The part of her that had been trained by May catalogued the age, eagerness, and slightly manic energy marking the reporter down as junior, trying to make a name for herself, and very far down the totem pole. Also based on the look in her eyes a fangirl. Which...shit she had fans now didn't she?
The reporter actually flushed slightly. "I'm Betty with Columbia University's Student Paper and I was hoping you could answer some questions our readers have for you?"
Daisy realized that Betty was probably actually the same age as her. Which wasn't that bizarre to see someone well adjusted and the same age. "Sure, though if I get a call I might need to leave early."
"Right, so Joanna S. wants to know who would win in a fight, you or Hulk?" Betty was clearly reading from a list of student questions. It was rather charming.
She dropped a hand onto her hip and let herself smile slightly. "I'm not sure, I've never fought him." Her head cocked to one side. "Probably him? My powers don't come with super strength or stamina or anything and his definitely do. And he heals so even if I could hurt him he'd probably outlast me despite it. So probably Hulk."
"Cool, so Jason P wants to know if you're going to be joining the Avengers?" Betty was so desperately trying to be serious. It was kind of hilarious how she was clearly completely star struck at the same time.
Daisy shook her head. "Not really. I mean if they needed my particular abilities I'm more than willing to help out. And I know if I asked they'd help me and Spiderman out. But I'm here to protect New York. And the occasional SHIELD job."
"But you and Spiderman have been spotted with several members of the Avengers. Particularly Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and the Falcon." She pressed, her stance surprisingly resolute.
Daisy brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are around the same age as Spiderman and I. We're friends."
"So my next question is a bit of a follow up to the last. Bong-Cha wants to know if you broke up with Spiderman for the Falcon?" Betty was vibrating, she was clearly invested.
The sound of disbelief that came out of Daisy's throat wasn't one she knew she could make. It was silly too because she'd known it was coming. But god the whole thing was so beyond ridiculous she couldn't help it. "No, I'm definitely not in any way romantically involved with the Falcon. Dude's forty something. I don't mind older guys but not by twenty years. The flying is just super cool. Tell me you wouldn't ask for a flight if you had the chance?"
"You didn't say whether you'd broken up with Spiderman, and you haven't been spotted together in a week." Betty pushed.
Daisy snorted. "A friend called in a favor and I've been kinda busy. Spiderman can more than handle the neighborhood without me. It doesn't mean we're fighting. He's way too excited about the 'lone patrol' thing anyways."
"So you're still seeing each other outside of hero-ing?"
"It's kinda hard to completely miss someone you live with." Daisy faked a freeze, Darcy owed her for doing this. She raised an open hand to her face. "We can't pretend I didn't say that can we?"
Betty stared at her, there were practically stars in her eyes. "OMG, you live together!?"
"Fine, yes we live together. And if he doesn't stop leaving legos on the ground where I end up stepping on them I'm going to throttle him." Daisy let out a long resigned sigh. It was kinda fun to pretend to have been caught out. "He's more of a dork than his videos make him out to be, he blubbers during Pride and Prejudice, has a terrible sense of his own limits, will eat nothing but junk food if left to his own devices, and is constantly hanging from the ceiling because he thinks it's funny. But he's also the single best guy I've ever met."
Betty looked like she might actually keel over from sheer joy. It took her a solid five minutes to calm down enough to keep talking. Finally the girl cleared her throat. "Right, um.. So Aaron V wants to know what you think of the Barnes trial."
"Barnes needs like an army of therapists, a vacation and to be left alone to heal. I met him, Darcy needed someone as security who could subdue him if he got triggered or something a couple months ago. Dude just feels tired. Like I've never met anyone that bone weary before in my life. He mostly just knits scarves and hats while hiding in the Hulk containment room with his cats."
Betty blinked. "Cats?"
"Huh? Oh right. Spiderman and I got him these two rescue cats. I mean the guy's lonely and basically in a self imposed solitary confinement. We thought it'd be good for him. I mean Steve, the therapist, and the lawyers are the only ones who really talk to him."
The poor student reporter actually seemed kind of stumped at that. Like the idea of The Winter Soldier having a cat and being lonely was bizarre. But she clearly rallied. "Right, moving on, Katie V has a long question for you. Last week you escorted two drag queens safely back to their apartment after a performance. Does this mean you support gay rights?"
Daisy smiled at that. "They were hilarious, I think I almost cracked a rib laughing so hard." She really needed to drop by and say hi again. "But yes I support gay rights. It'd be kinda ridiculous if I didn't all things considered."
"All things?" Betty seemed slightly confused, but a certain light in her eye said she'd picked up the implied subtext.
Well Darcy was going to kill her, but whatever. "I'm bi, also an inhuman who grew up in the system. My answers are always going to be in support of a minority. Like just feel free to mark that one off. Judging people for who they are is ridiculous."
"Right." Betty swallowed, she looked fairly baffled and definitely overwhelmed. But she kept going. "So Nanami W want's to know what's it like to be a superhero?"
Daisy paused at that one. "It's not...it's not for me to judge whether I'm a hero or not. I wouldn't say I am one. I'm not here in New York because I decided to come be a hero. I'm here because Spiderman is. He's the one you should ask about the hero stuff. I've never been a person to watch injustice and not do something. But I'm not…" She shrugged. "It's complicated and really I'm not the one to ask. Rogers, Spiderman, even Stark are the ones you should ask about that sort of thing. Or Thor maybe. But it's not as clean of an answer for people like me."
"But you save people?" Betty pointed out like it was obvious.
She rocked back on her heels. "There's a lot of people who save others. EMTs, firemen, doctors, I mean just because I run around looking like this and punch people doesn't make me better than anyone else. Working with SHIELD I met some of the most heroic people imaginable. I mean I wouldn't even be here if the poor biochemist on our team hadn't done everything to save us despite not being a medical doctor. Or Fitz going on a mission behind enemy lines to deactivate a sonic weapon of mass destruction, despite not having even passed his field assessment. Which check out those files from the dump. There's lots of people who are heros, a mask and being part alien aren't what do that."
"Trent P wants to know who would win in a fight, you or Black Widow?" Betty scrolled further through the list of questions.
Daisy accepted she was going to be here for a while. "Without powers her, with powers me but that's in a fair fight. I'd probably bet on her in any sort of combat situation outside of a spar."
////
Jane sipped at her coffee. She was bleary eyed, still in her pajamas, and trying to find her new pen. It had little galaxies on it and Erik had found it for her. Sorting through the stacks of papers on her desk she was quite intent on finding her pen. Damn it. Humming she accepted the poptart shoved into her hand.
Munching on her poptart she paused as she saw a sheet of calculations that were… "Darcy, did I do sleep math again?"
"Who knows Janey." Darcy was elbow deep in the guts of something. "FRIDAY, did the Janey do the sleep math again?"
"Last instance of math while sleeping was nine days ago." FRIDAY replied.
Jane stared at the math. Huh… "Ian didn't you organize my notes before we left?"
"Dr Selvig, you and Dr Lewis all wanted me to organize your notes? I'm working on it." Ian replied from where he was...working on a desk with paper towers higher than his head.
She blinked and looked around the lab. It had been deteriorating from Darcy's usual chaotic organization since Darcy had been more involved with the science and whatever she was doing outside of the lab. "Do we need another assistant?"
"Intern! Do you need help?" Darcy looked up from the guts of..honestly what on earth was that?
Ian's cheeks turned a bright red at Darcy's full attention being on him. "What? No I can do it!"
Darcy rolled her eyes. "I didn't say replace you, I meant get a minion of your own for coffee and shit, so you have more time for notes."
"Oh." Ian blinked, his mouth slightly too open as he stared at Darcy. "Then uh..yeah?" He nodded seemingly coming out of whatever fugue state he was in. "Yes that sounds good."
Darcy nodded. "Cool, Janey you don't mind if the new minion has a dark and stormy past? Cause I think I know someone."
Jane stared at Ian who was pretending not to be eagerly listening in. She looked at Darcy who was pointedly ignoring the intern. "I'm doing the interview."
"You never do the interviews? I showed up at your office and interviewed you before I started working for you." Darcy stared at her in confusion. "You hate interviews. They give you like science flashbacks to the doctoral boards and funding presentations."
This was all completely true. Jane may not register everything around her, but she had registered the painful awkwardness around the lab though. No. Not even for the sake of avoiding an interview would she let Darcy add more drama to the lab. No. "I'm doing the interview."
"I'm wounded boss lady." Darcy pouted at her.
Erik patted Darcy on the head. "There there."
Jane bustled into the apartment of Darcy's pick for the new lab assistant. She'd put on actual pants and showered. No sense scaring the new minion before he'd even seen the lab. Her eyes caught the startled looking man on the couch. "You!"
"Me?" Bucky Barnes pointed at his own chest. He blinked. "How did you get in here? You shouldn't be in here."
Jane ignored most of that. "I hear you like science and technology and need a job?"
"Huh?" He stared at her. "Sorta?"
She nodded, crossing her arms while looking at him. "Have you ever slept with Darcy Lewis?"
"No!" He actually blanched in the appropriate level of horror for someone who knew what a hurricane of a person Darcy was.
Jane gave a relieved sigh at that, her eyes stayed narrowed though. "And you can swear to never sleep with her? Because I cannot deal with some lab triangle or trail of broken hearts or whatever productivity sucking drama she inspires in the intern multiplying."
"I can promise not to do that? I think Tony might actually kill me if I even thought of it." Bucky looked fairly amused as if pieces of a puzzle were beginning to make sense.
She eyed him, he didn't look stupid and he was already involved in their weird world of crazy. He'd do. "In that case you start tomorrow. You can work weekends and file paperwork in the evenings after you get back from your trail. Ian will send the paperwork."
"Um...what?" Bucky blinked.
Jane rolled her eyes. "You got the job, if you could work on a lab technician certificate that would be useful as well."
".....I didn't apply for a job though?"
////
Wanda stared at what she'd thought was an empty drawer. These Stark apartments were massive to a degree no one could possibly use all of the space. So she'd expected the drawer to be empty...it had very familiar flannel and black tank tops in it. And familiar underwear she was also quite familiar with.
Her cheeks heated as she closed the drawer sharply. When had that happened? She looked at the second bedside table next to her bed. There was a glass of water, a Starkpad, and a spare Quake face mask. She turned and made her way into the main room of the apartment.
"Pietro….how long has Daisy been living here?"
He looked up from where he'd been studying fire accelerants. A faint tingle of amusement accompanying his smirk. "From a different perspective how long have you been living at the Parker house?"
"I…" Wanda processed that. Well that was something wasn't it. "I don't think Daisy knows." She finally settled on. Which she was actually unsure of how that was going to go. "Do you think...I mean….Daisy is not good with…"
Pietro snorted. "You'll be fine."
"She doesn't...slow?" She wasn't sure how to explain the slight fear she felt from Daisy when it came to them. Fear which Daisy responded to with panic, fleeing or punching the thing in the face that had caused that.
Her brother stared at her, his emotions were vibrating with amusement. "Wanda, she's in love with you. We both know that. And she's a spy, she'll catch on eventually."
"I'm being silly." Wanda slowly and deliberately breathed in and then out. She was going to have to talk to Daisy about it though. Which...they really hadn't spoken much about the particulars of their relationship. Her powers were a bit of a crutch there really.
Pietro seemed to follow her thought process. "Or, you could just not mention it to our favorite inhuman till she realizes you two are basically moved in together? It will be hilarious."
"I would never." Her eyes narrowed. "You and Darcy made a bet about this didn't you?"
He just grinned unrepentantly. "Can you blame us?"
"Yes I can." Wanda swept out of the apartment. She was sure Peter and Daisy would be happy to help make their siblings' lives miserable for betting on something that personal.
Wanda lowered her feet on the edge of the building, her powers fading as they no longer were needed to hold her aloft. Her lips twitched as she spotted Spiderman, complete with a christmas sweater over the suit, swinging down the street after a car that was swerving as it squealed down the street. Hot on his heels were police cars, sirens blaring.
She considered joining in only to smirk. It would seem she wasn't needed.
Quake dropped down straight in front of the fleeing vehicle, her vibrations acting like a brick wall stopping the car in a terrific crunch. She stood there like an immovable object while Peter swung in ripping the door off and pulling the criminal out. It would be cool if they weren't wearing matching Christmas sweaters over their suits.The siblings high fived as the cops came squealing to stops as they arrived at the scene.
Her powers lit up as she stepped off the side of the building. She glided gently down to the pavement where Daisy had just shoved the remains of the car out of the way of traffic. Wanda smiled in greeting as she landed. "I see you two have things handled."
"Hey Wanda!" Peter waved while hopping over. "Something up other than a concussed bank robber?"
Wanda smiled at the kid. "I was going to ask if you two wanted to get ice-cream. But I can see I'm interrupting your afternoon."
"I don't know, unless something else comes up I think we could be available." Daisy winked at her while stepping away from the police officer she'd been speaking with. "Whatcha think Spiderman?"
"Supes chill!" The eyes on Peter's mask moved with his facial expressions giving a pleased expression.
Wanda let a thread of her power touch Daisy, just enough the questioning on whether they could talk later would be understood.
Daisy looked at her curiously, while nodding slightly. "So thoughts on the sweaters?"
"Is that a santa spider?" She looked at the design on Peter's chest.
He was clearly grinning. "If I have to wear a sweater we have to wear ones with style."
"Style?" Wanda couldn't help her amused lilt to her voice.
Daisy dropped her arm over Peter's shoulders. "Tis the season. Don't think you're getting out of one of these for christmas dinner. We already got enough for everyone." And there was genuine affection and excitement there. Even without feeling much from Daisy without her powers connecting them, she could feel that.
Wanda had a feeling the sweaters were Daisy's idea. She accepted ridiculous Christmas sweaters were in her future. Also Pietro's. If she had to wear that so did he. "This will be our first Christmas you know, we never celebrated it."
"Do we need to hunt down a dreidel or something for you guys?" Daisy asked, seeming to realize why that would be immediately. "Or uh..the candle thing?"
She couldn't help her laugh at that. "Maybe next year, but we haven't celebrated since we were children. I'm not sure we'd even remember what to do."
Daisy had an expression under that mask of hers that meant Wanda should probably be expecting at the least, traditionally jewish food at christmas dinner.
"So ice cream?" Peter interjected excitedly.
Wanda felt peaceful, her head on Daisy's shoulder as they sat on a shipping container. Peter slinging himself through the training gauntlet. She hadn't had roots, real roots like this since before. Just before. Before Ultron, before Hydra, before the bombs.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Daisy shifted.
She sighed, straightening so she could turn and look at her girlfriend. "I noticed something in the apartment this morning."
"What? Did Pietro bring home a girl again?" There was laughter in her voice, a light to her eyes that said she was happy and relaxed.
Wanda really hated that there was a chance this would change that. "No, he's been spending most of his time in the labs bothering Darcy." She had accepted her brother was going to come home with green hair or without eyebrows or something someday soon. "I realized you have a couple drawers in my room. And a lockbox for your guns, and there is a very hideous zombie coffee mug."
"Yeah?" Daisy's head cocked to the side slightly, her brow furrowed ever so slightly. "And you're using more of my closet than I am and we have those weird crackers you like in the pantry. I mean you've got a seat at the table that's just your seat?"
Wanda resisted reaching out to touch Daisy with her powers. It wasn't...she needed words for this. "You're aware we essentially live together?"
"The agreement to stop trying shower sex because even with powers one of us was going to get a concussion was a sign?" Daisy's lips twitched upwards in amusement only for her to still unnaturally, the very air stilling around them as well. "You did know that right?"
Wanda reached out taking Daisy's hand and squeezing firmly. "I hadn't but I was unsure how you'd react to it. We haven't been dating long enough that it would be typical for us to be doing so." She watched her girlfriend's face. "I'm not upset, slightly confused at how we ended up moving this quickly when we started...slow."
Understanding dawned on Daisy's face, her emotions flowing easily instead of being tightly held in. She laughed. "I think that may be my fault. I've always crammed relationships into down time and admittedly now it's sort of almost all down time."
"That...no that doesn't make sense. What?" Wanda relaxed though, it wasn't the response she'd been expecting but that was a good thing. Still baffling.
Daisy grinned. "Wanda think about my past relationships, I mean Miles and I were probably good? I mean we were fairly stable for cyber terrorists who traveled a lot and only really spent a dozen weekends holed up in shitty hotels. Most of our relationship was via the web. Before that what, fooling around in high school? Then Ward who I just flirted with between missions. Really, typical SHIELD relationships burn hot for short periods of time."
Shifting, Daisy closed off ever so slightly, but not all the way. The pain was palpable even to Wanda without her powers.
"Lincoln and I..it was so busy. We were barely friends and then at war with each other and then I spent so long convincing him to come in. Then we had so little time together. And what we did was crushed into training and evenings afterwards. It wasn't that long between us starting and Hive." Daisy looked away.
Wanda considered what she knew of typical relationships, frankly she hadn't had the time herself back in Sokovia. But it made sense. Inside SHIELD everyone lived in tight quarters. The only privacy to be found was the bunks, and even then only senior agents had private quarters. A relationship for an agent would have to be typically passionate, but brief. Missions or death ending things, and everyone knowing the likely end. "I am sorry you lost him."
"So am I." Daisy looked back at her, smile tight. "Not that.."
"I know." Wanda knew that Daisy loved her. It wasn't a contest, and even if it was Daisy loved so completely once she let herself it would be foolish to ask. "I love you, and I am sorry you lost him."
Daisy leaned in kissing her chastely. Her emotions slammed against Wanda like a freight train though.
Gasping Wanda pulled back, her eyes burning with tears that were not her own. "Daisy?"
"I love you." Daisy reached up cupping the side of her face. "I am so, so grateful for this, what we have."
Wanda reached grabbing Daisy's shoulders, pulling her so close her breath whispered past Daisy's face. "Always. I'm not going anywhere."
She felt like she was burning as Daisy pulled their mouths back together. Her powers boiled with it as they connected. She felt the stars and the earth, their powers merging as they burned. Pain, and love and loss and hope all mixing, turning between and within them.
Daisy pressed as Wanda pulled. Wanda barely noticed as her back hit the top of the container they'd been sitting on. She was too caught up in the feedback loop they'd created to care, she just needed Daisy closer. It ached and consumed.
All things considered it was probably a good thing they were too caught up to properly start ripping clothing off. Definitely a very good thing.
"OH MY GOD MY EYES! THAT'S MY SISTER!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone