stamina (bucky barnes)

40

"Sergeant Barnes is doing much better than we anticipated, so his halfway checkpoint will probably be in a few days." Shuri's voice made Bri's head snap up, her textbooks and note taking suddenly forgotten.

"What?"

Shuri gave her a small smile and took a seat across from her in the large library of their home. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned forward to rest them on the table.

"I am not sure if your witch friend did something, but instead of Bucky being around fifty percent done with treatment, he is now at seventy."

Bri gasped. "That's... incredible."

"I would like to think it was my revolutionary work and your desperation to see your weird boyfriend again." Shuri clapped her hands and gave Bri a smirk. "Also, your friends are all talking secretly in the kitchen without you."

Bri rolled her eyes and twirled a highlighter pen like a drumstick. "I have three exams to take today, so I literally do not care."

"You're really taking this PhD thing seriously. I have no clue who this Bruce guy is that you want to beat so badly."

"Oh, you'd know him if you'd seen him turn green one too many times." Bri muttered under her breath. "What kind of pants does he wear that stretch so much?"

Shuri gave her a look that could only be described as pretending to be convinced and not questioning her craziness.

"I would love it if you could come down to the lab later so I could show you the progress in person." Shuri slapped the pen out of Bri's hand to gain her attention.

"I am not too sure, you know, since you called me desperate."

Shuri shrugged. "I mean, am I wrong?"

"Goodbye. I'll be there later." Bri gave her a thumbs up, without looking away from her messy hand writing, and used her hand to shoo the younger girl away.

Shuri continued on her path to the rest of the Avengers crew to tell them the good news. When she had passed by earlier and saw them huddled together without Bri, Shuri decided to find her first... since it was her significant other under cryo.

She could hear hushed voices and a slight bit of arguing, but she assumed it was all banter as per usual. Some of the conversations she normally heard between them made her realize that she was grateful to live far from New York.

"I can't just leave! I made her a promise." Steve's voice got slightly louder in the midst of the turmoil.

Shuri halted in her step and leaned against the wall that was cornering the kitchen. She had never wanted to be a spy so badly in her life until this very moment.

"Steve, Nat needs us." Sam spoke up. "I cannot help her plan on another continent and Wanda is going to help cover more ground once we get her and Vision together."

"She won't like it." Wanda's voice was much quieter and Shuri could detect a hint of sadness in it. "Bri was already mad that I wanted to be with Vision again."

"I think we all were." Sam and Steve said in unison.

Wanda sighed loudly, immediately getting hushed by the two men.

"You two have a lot more convincing to do if you want me to go." Steve argued. "Bri doesn't want this life anymore and I know she would want us here when Bucky gets out. I mean everyone, except Sam. He probably needs to keeps his distance for a while."

Sam turned to Steve and shook his head. "I know you're trying to be like Bri and break the tension right now, but we're serious. There is a lot going on out in the world right now and there isn't really any one that can help, besides us."