Always Fight | Bucky Barnes |

32

I've never been to a family reunion, but I imagine that this is what one feels like. 

"Thor!"

"Queen of Snakes!" 

I laugh as I jog up to Thor, who is holding a can of beer in one hand and cheese whiz in the other. Nonetheless, he's the same old Thor who traps me in a massive bear hug that sweeps me off of the ground before putting me back down. He takes a swig of both cheese whiz and beer, and I can't help but giggle. With his new shape, his hugs are much fluffier and I have to admit that I love it. 

"How are you, my friend?" He asks. I smile, nodding to him.

"Better than I have been in a long time. You?" I ask. Thor smiles, trying to make it look believable. 

"I am...well, I am as good as I can be" He finally responds, taking a longer swig of beer than usual. 

We all have our ways of grieving, our mourning patterns. Who am I to judge someone else's? From the looks of it, though, Thor has needed someone to let him grieve and then get him off of his ass for a long time. Over the years, I found that doing next to nothing in the face of grief and loss only leads the mind further down he spiral of pain and depression. Now that he's here, hopefully we can be here to help pull him out.  

Rhodes and Nebula got in not too long ago, but Rocket left with Bruce to go get Thor before I could see him. So, when the little raccoon marches up to the side of Thor, I can't help the smile that tugs on my face.

"Rocket, good to see you" I greet. He nods to me, taking a wrench into his hand.

"You too, blondie. Hey, once we get all the idiots back, I think your boyfriend's arm is a good compensation, don't you? I mean, these services don't come cheap" Rocket bargains. 

I chuckle, shaking my head at him and turning to lead the both towards where Tony works with Bruce and DJ on their machine. 

"So is that a yes?" Rocket asks.

"I've missed you, Rocket" I laugh out, leading the two up to the group, "How's it coming?"

"So far so good," Tony responds, standing up and brushing some grease from his hand onto his shirt, "You weren't kidding when you said your niece was a genius. Do you think I could steal her every so often? I mean, the kid's got brains" 

My eyebrows dart upwards at the high praise and I look over to see DJ blushing as she works silently next to Bruce. I've known her long enough to know that she's desperately trying to restrain herself from squealing and fingerling right here and now. 

"Fine with me if its fine with you, DJ" I respond, trying to not sound smug. 

"Yup, fine with me" She blurts out before I even finish my sentence. She then clears her throat and gets back to working. 

We work alongside the others, all inputing where we can and beginning to do a preliminary brain storm. We agree that a trial run is necessary and that once that's done, we'll have to ration out what little PYM particles are left that will help us time travel back to get the stones. Once we all go back and get our stones, we'll come back and set things right. 

Easy enough, right?

Before long, we agree that Scott will do our test run since he's already done one before. Just as a  group splits off to suit him up and prep him, those of us left to finish up the machine look up at the sudden sound of the doors pushing open to the massive room. 

When I turn, my heart zips into my throat. 

Clint, followed closely by Natasha. 

A warm smile, edged with sadness and hesitation, spreads onto my lips and I walk over to the pair, meeting them halfway to the machine. I greet Nat first, hugging her with a reassuring squeeze when she holds me tighter than usual.