The Mimic

146

"Hey! Get back here!" Y/n exclaimed with a laugh as one of the village children ran up behind the stall to tag her. She knew that she should've kept working, but y/n was a child at heart, and there was no way in hell that she was going to ignore a game of tag.

She was so, so excited for the festival. Her and Bucky had missed it last year due to them travelling around the world, so there was no way that she was going to miss this one too. Wakanda felt like home to her, and everyone treated her like family - even the elders welcomed her with open arms - so to be able to have a whole night of partying with them felt like the best idea in the world. However, the thing that she was most excited about was the fact that she was going to be able to spend it with Bucky.

Yes, they practically spent every waking hour together, but this was different. This was going to be the night that y/n finally convinced Bucky to dance with her. Without him knowing it yet, he had no choice. Yes, she loved to be able to know that Bucky was only watching her on the dancefloor, but it was her dream to be able to dance with him in a busy crowd. There was something so fun about dancing with no cares in the world, and she wanted Bucky to experience that. They'd danced together, of course, but never in public. Usually it consisted of a slow dance on the kitchen tiles, but y/n wanted more, and Bucky had no choice but to do that tonight.

"I'm gonna catch you!" She called out, a bright smile appearing on her face as she heard the child's laughter over the hubbub of the crowd. Y/n raced as fast as she possibly could without tripping or crashing into anyone, which was a very hard task, but it was a skill that she'd had to learn. She was practically a master at navigating the marketplace at top speeds. She knew all of the shortcuts, all of the possible routes, everything. She had to, it was an essential skill if she was going to win a game of tag against a bunch of children.

The amount of people y/n had to apologise to was immense as she ducked under tables and jumped over grills, but everyone just seemed to laugh. They were used to it by now. Some stall-owners had even created specific jump areas for y/n and the children to use. It was all a lot of fun, even to the people watching. The parents loved y/n, she was the perfect sibling/auntie to every kid, and the fact that she joined in on their games was even better. She had that childhood innocence that a lot of people had lost over the years.

*****

In complete contrast to the chaos that y/n was creating, Bucky was having a pretty peaceful afternoon.

He was alone with nothing but the sound of nature (and the occasional goat bleat), and it was heaven to Bucky. He didn't mind doing a bit of manual labour if it meant he got to enjoy such a beautiful environment. Plus, the tan that he'd get from being out in the sun all day was all that it took for y/n to allow him to take the job.

Speaking of y/n, Bucky had something very special planned for the festival tonight. Something that would hopefully start a new chapter of their lives. No, it wasn't wanting to start a family, they'd already had that talk, and the answer was a pretty resounding 'no'. Neither y/n or Bucky were stable enough to start a family, and being Avengers played a pretty big part in that. There was no way they could raise a child between missions. They wanted their kid to have a normal life, and that wasn't going to happen if their parents are coming back from missions clinging to life.

Bucky's plan consisted of a piece of paper, and a tiny velvet box that may or may not have a ring inside of it.

The piece of paper was a property deed. He'd been researching different properties with T'Challa for months, and this one just seemed to be the perfect one. Not only because it was a beautiful town, but the fact that it was in Westview, New Jersey. The town that y/n used for Fred and Darlene's place of origin during their first trip. It was perfect.

Usually Bucky would choose a house instead of a property, but the idea of building it from the ground up was so exciting to him. They could create their dream home together. Everything would be exactly how they wanted it, and they could do it all together. He already knew that y/n would be up for the challenge. God, he couldn't wait to see her reaction.

The velvet box was pretty self explanatory, to say the least. And Bucky was terrified over it. He'd been having nightmares about it going wrong, even though there was no way that y/n was going to say no. Proposing just seemed to be the perfect next step in their lives. They'd be a newlywed couple, building their dream home together. Just imagining the ring on her finger caused a bashful smile to appear on his face. Y/n Barnes. What a name.

However, Bucky was suddenly ripped from his happy thoughts by the sight of Shuri and T'Challa walking toward him.

He let out a small sigh, laying out food for the goats to eat before he strolled toward the pair. Just by the look on their faces he knew that it wasn't just a random visit. He watched as Shuri lifted a briefcase onto one of the bales of hay, and, as she opened it up, it revealed a brand-new vibranium arm.

Yeah, that festival wasn't happening tonight.

"Where's the fight?" Bucky asked in defeat, the feeling of disappointment starting to build in his chest. Tonight was supposed to be a perfect night, he'd planned everything. He'd even planned what song was going to play when he proposed, but instead he was being launched back into action.