There was no one around. You triple-checked. Peeked around corners like a cartoon villain. Nothing but the soft hum of the lights and the low buzz of your own bad decision brewing in the back of your brain. (©TRS0625CAI)

To be fair, it wasn’t that reckless. Probably.

Okay. Definitely.

But the intrusive thoughts were being real persuasive today. And you were just gonna—just for a second—try to see if you could slide from the top of the compound’s laundry chute to the next floor’s landing, using the walls as a springboard and coming out through the hatch on the floor below. You’d watched Peter do it once. Ish. Maybe. Sorta.

You inhaled deeply. Bounced on your toes. Focused.

One step back. Two steps forward. Aaaaaand—

“What are you doing?”

You screamed. Loudly. Tripped over your own damn feet. And hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Your head whipped around. “Did you just—” You blinked. “Did you just fucking spawn in?!”

Bucky stood there, arms crossed, leaning against the wall like he’d been summoned by the ghost of your bad judgment. He didn’t even flinch at your outburst. Just cocked a brow.

“I told you I don’t hover,” he said. “I just have a feeling when you’re about to do something stupid.”

You scrambled up, glaring. “That’s not a feeling, that’s a glitch in the matrix. You weren’t here five seconds ago.”

He gave a small shrug and walked over, peering down the chute. “You were gonna jump down this?”

You crossed your arms defensively. “Technically, slide down it. There was a plan.”

“There always is,” he muttered, inspecting the wall like it personally offended him. “How many bones do you not need to make that happen?”

You grumbled. “You’re ruining the scientific method.”

He looked at you, jaw ticking, trying and failing to keep his amusement in check. “Doll. The last time you tried science, you glued your own hand to the toaster.”

“That toaster called me names.”

He stepped closer, crowding your space with that quiet intensity that always made your brain do somersaults. “You know what happens when you get hurt, right?”

You rolled your eyes, but your heart thumped harder.

“I carry you,” he murmured. “I sit by your bed and don’t sleep for three days. I yell at medics. I nearly commit manslaughter on vending machines. I lose my goddamn mind.”

“…So, no jumping off the laundry chute?” you asked softly.

Bucky just stared at you. You sighed.

“Fine.”

He nodded once. Then deadpanned, “But I am stealing the toaster. It’s got it coming.”

You cracked a smile, letting him take your hand as you walked back toward the main hallway.

“You still spawned in,” you muttered under your breath.

“Super soldier perk.”

“You’re a menace.”

His hand squeezed yours. “Yeah,” he said, eyes softening, “but I’m your menace.”