When Kate Bishop appeared in front of your door, you were equally excited as she was. She didn’t need much to convince you to join her new mysterious team of young superheroes, you were up for the idea immediately. Since then, you and the other members grew together as friends and finally, a family. You trained together, started working as a team and even defeated some villains in New York City. The public started to notice you and soon, the young avengers were the lead story of every newspaper.

Valentina hated you. Of course she did. The young avengers stole the spotlight of the thunderbolts. But luckily, she didn’t need much time to come up with a great idea; pairing both teams. Sort of like a mentor, student dynamic. Even though some of the young avengers members weren’t that young to be precise, but it was better marketing like that.

That’s how you ended up on the couch in the watch tower, in between Kate and Cassie, smiling from ear to ear. You were excited to finally meet the infamous thunderbolts and you hoped they were excited as well. The first one to arrive, Alexei, was definitely the most excited. Yelena, Ava and Bob also seemed happy about the idea, while John wasn’t too enthusiastic about it. But Bucky was the worst. He didn’t even bother to look at them properly. He just waited until Valentina had finished the introductions, before she started to pair the heroes.

You prayed to get paired with Ava or Yelena. Or Alexei. Everything would be better than Bucky. He looked so grumpy and moody that it felt irritating even when you weren’t looking at him. Cassie got paired with Ava and Kate with Yelena, to no one’s surprise. Eli and John would be a team from now on, just like Bob and Billy and Alexei and Kamala. Which left you with… “Bucky.” Valentina said with a smile as she looked up from her list again. “You will work with Bucky.”

You forced a smile on your lips that didn’t reach your eyes as you slowly turned your head to look at the brooding man leaning against the dining table a few feet away. His arms were crossed in front of his broad chest as he finally looked at you, his blue eyes piercing through you. He stayed silent for an uncomfortable amount of time before he pushed himself off of the table. “Follow me.” He said as he turned around and walked off, not even checking if you were coming.

He hated this. It was a terrible idea, in his opinion. It wasn’t specifically about any of the young avengers, it was more because the thunderbolts had been a team for only a few months now. They weren’t ready to take even more responsibility and he knew that Valentina just wanted to improve the thunderbolts reputation. But Bucky really wasn’t in the mood to act all nice and mentoring to someone who wouldn’t be able to keep up with him and only slow him down.

Of course he underestimated you. He just didn’t know yet.

He arrived at one of the training halls of the tower and pushed the doors open. He finally turned his head to see you right behind him, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Show me what you can do.” Bucky simply said as he stepped aside to let you into the hall.

It was huge, but empty. A little confused, you stepped into the hall before turning around to him. “Uhm… what do you expect me to do?” You asked, looking around again. There wasn’t much to do - or show.

You weren’t sure if you really saw Bucky grin amused for a moment, before he started to press a few buttons in the wall. “Do your best.” He simply said, as if that counted as an explanation. But just when you wanted to protest, the lights in the hall flickered and turned dark. A simulation, shot through your mind the moment a silhouette appeared next to you and attacked you. Time to shine.