The Serum || b. barnes

eight - восемь

It was bright and early in the morning and I was regretting my offer to drive Bucky and I to the max security prison in middle of nowhere Siberia, where Zemo was being held. Sam was running late because he was in Louisiana, so it was the two of us in a small rental car.

It was a 4 hour drive and I wasn't sure where I was going. We had just got on the road, and I was busy clicking away on my phone as I was driving, Bucky glaring at me as I tried to see if there was an exit coming up.

"What?" I asked noticing him out of the corner of my eye. He turned his attention to the road and tilted his head, popping his neck.

"Are you going to give me the silent treament the whole drive?" I asked leaning on the center console of the rental car we were in.

"There's only 3 more hours left, so maybe," Bucky said in a snarky tone. I couldn't help but laugh. He seemed caught off guard by my laughter and sunk into the passenger seat.

"Okay summer soldier," I remarked as he rested his head against the headrest.

He snapped turning to look at me, his eyebrows furrowed together trying to intimidate me.

"It's Winter-"

"Yeah I know," I took a hand off the steering wheel, waving it about as if I was clearing the air of my comment. He looked back at the road, assuming his resting position, which didn't seem very comfortable. The rental car was on the smaller side, so Bucky seemed to be squished beside me.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked after a moment of silence. I shrugged slouching into my seat, before thinking of a question.

"How did you meet Mr. Nakajima?" I asked thoughtfully, peeking at my blind spot before changing lanes.

"At that sushi restaurant on 75th,"

"Oh that's a few blocks from where I worked at the Bonsai Sushi restaurant," Bucky gave me a look of disgust, I couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" I asked, taking my eyes off the road for a second.

"No offense, but that's one of the worst sushi places, I've eaten at," Bucky hesitantly said.

"Ouch," I laughed, leaning onto the center console, one hand still on the wheel.

"I said no offense," Bucky said putting his arms up in surrender with a small laugh.

"I'm kidding, it's the only place that was hiring when I was looking for work, and stayed because I make decent tips," I explained to Bucky. He nodded, scratching the back of his neck. There was a small awkward pause, as I was figuring out what to ask next.

"Why did you leave S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Bucky asked catching me off guard. I blinked a couple times, clearing my thoughts.

"I basically was recruited when that agent picked me up in that Siberian orphanage. My whole life was nothing but training, fighting and being the best I could be at everything I was doing, then it was missions. It just wasn't fulfilling for me," I shrugged looking over at Bucky. His face was relaxed and he seemed to be genuinely interested.

"So when I turned 18, and S.H.I.E.L.D. legally didn't have any say in what I did, I left. Siberia was the first place, I went before I came back to the states," I explained to Bucky who had a look like he was putting a puzzle together.

"To go back to the orphanage?" He asked taking his gloves off, resting them on his knee as he flexed and closed his metal hand.

"Yes and no, I basically just ran around for a month looking for anyone that vaguely looked like me, or had the last name Levitsky," Bucky laughed.

"And how many people had the last name Levitsky?"

"Way to many fucking people," I laughed with Buck, "I mean seriously what was I thinking, there were so many better ways to go about that, and eventually I did try different ways, but people were either not willing to talk, or just didn't know."

"Good try though," Bucky smiled at me, moving his arm to hold onto the handle on the roof.

There was a pause again, but this time it wasn't awkward, it was like hanging out with a friend you hadn't seen in a long time.

"How old were you when Steve and you met?" I asked playing with a stray thread on my jeans, still focused on the road.

A big grin spread across Bucky's face at the thought of Steve.

"We met when we were kids, raised like siblings. Steve was always the one getting picked on, and I was the one coming to his rescue..." Bucky trailed off, I assume he was recalling a bad memory at how somber his features looked now.

"Until he took that serum and became Captain America. He was the one saving me, I followed him into every battle, until I fell and Hydra found me," Bucky got quiet looking down at his metal arm, opening and closing his metal fist again.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say. Bucky turned his head and looked off at the world rushing passed us on the highway we were on.

"How do you not know how you got the super soldier serum?" Bucky asked looking back at me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"When S.H.I.E.L.D. adopted me, they took some samples of my blood and found it in my system. You have to remember I have no memories before I turned like 8 or so," I explained to Bucky and he seemed to shift uncomfortable in his seat.

"I asked about super serum too when I was in Siberia, but obviously no luck with that."

"What were you thinking just walking around different villages?" Bucky chuckled pinching the bridge of his nose. I rolled my eyes and shoved his metal arm.

We shared a look of awkward, before bursting out laughing again.

"This thing is badass, I have to say," I said knocking on his metal arm. Bucky rolled his eyes.

"I know you've told me,"

"I'm just saying," I said taking my hands off the wheel, putting them up like I was surrendering.

"Would you keep your hands on the wheel, damn," Bucky said reaching out grabbing my hands, placing them on the wheel. I blushed as Bucky's human hand lingered for a second, looking at a scar on my hand.

"It's no metal arm, but at least it's a pretty cool scar," I joked.

"Would you just drive please," Bucky shook his head before leaning back in his chair with a big smile on his face.