Chapter Text
Bucky realized it was a mistake the instant the four of them sat down to brunch at a tiny cafe in the middle of town. His arm tensed on the back of his gal’s chair, wanting to grab her and sprint away. She noticed and put a warning hand on his thigh.
In front of them, Steve sat with his newfound lady love. Bucky noted with a certain amount of satisfaction that the man looked like he’d been through the ringer. It was the least he could look like, Bucky decided, after he’d almost been the reason Bucky’s own girl had been stolen away a while back.
Beside Steve, an unfamiliar woman sat with her arms folded across her chest as she leaned back in her chair. Everything about her posture said that she was just enjoying a day out with her boyfriend and his best friends, but Bucky hadn’t been born yesterday. He saw the way her eyes bounced around, taking everything in with almost tactical precision and he knew she was more than she seemed.
He didn’t want her anywhere near his girl.
A woman like that invited too much trouble.
Bucky grunted as an elbow suddenly collided with his ribs and he forced a smile to his face as he took in the woman in front of him. “Hi, doll, I’m Bucky.” He greeted, stretching his hand out for her to shake.
The woman shook his hand easily, not even flinching as he squeezed roughly. Bucky very reluctantly gave her a few points in her favor for that. “Nice to meet you, Buck-Buck.” Aaaaaand she lost all the points just as quickly. “The name is Starr. Belle Starr.”
Bucky’s eyes narrowed and his eye twitched. “Like the famous western outlaw?”
‘Belle Starr’ winked sassily and resumed her relaxed pose. “The one and only.”
Bucky’s jaw clenched for a few seconds but beside him, his girl laughed heartily and clapped her hands. “Oh! Are we making up names now? Okay! I’ll be…” She pretended to think about it for a moment and then her face lit up with an evil grin that matched Belle’s so perfectly, Bucky nearly had a heart attack. “I’ll be Beth Johanssen.”
Belle’s eyes twinkled and she nodded in approval. “Does that make Berry Berry Blue Balls here Dr. Chris Beck? Because if so…” Belle trailed off and made an over the top chef’s kiss gesture before she looked Bucky up and down. “I can kind of see a resemblance.”
Beside her, Steve choked on his coffee and threw out a hand in a karate chop motion across the table. “Don’t bring him into this. Trust me, doll.”
‘Belle’s’ eyes narrowed in challenge and her lips twisted into a smirk. “Bring who in, darling? Sebastian Stan?”
Bucky lunged up from the table so fast, his chair knocked back and a dozen eyes snapped in his direction. ‘Beth’ didn’t even bat an eye as she leaned over, while still sitting in her own chair, righted his, and pulled his arm so hard Bucky collapsed back into his chair. “Buck-Buck here is a little sensitive to the topic.” She said, patting his shoulder condescending while sharing a twin smile with ‘Belle’. If Bucky hadn’t been so upset, he might have heard the warning sirens already starting to ring.
“Really?” ‘Belle’ asked carefully. She drank the last sip of her coffee and frowned down at the cup. “Care to tell me all about it while I go get a refill?” She asked.
The warning sounds were growing louder, but only Steve seemed to notice as he glanced back and forth between the girls. Bucky just narrowed his eyes on his oldest friend.
“Sure.” Bucky’s girl said, fishing Bucky’s wallet out of his pocket as she stood up. “It’ll be my treat!”
Bucky sent her a dark look, but she ignored it entirely as she linked her elbow through ‘Belle’s’ and the two women skipped away leaving Steve and Bucky alone entirely.
The tense silence lasted for all of two seconds before Steve broke. “So I’m back-” Bucky cut him off almost immediately. “She’s not for you.”
“Excuse me?”
“That girl. ‘Belle.’” Bucky raised his hands and made quotation marks around the name. “She’s not for you.” He repeated.
Steve scowled. “I don’t think that’s for you to decide.”
“When it involves my punk ass friend and my best girl, it absolutely is.”
Steve shrugged his shoulders defiantly. “Well this time it doesn’t. I like her, Buck. Can’t you try… for me?”
Bucky stewed in silence for several minutes as he turned the request over in his head. On the one hand, if Steve was busy with a girl of his own, he’d be less likely to ruin Bucky’s own love life. On the other hand, Bucky really didn’t like the trouble this girl in particular was sure to bring.
“She’s not for you.” He finally settled, nodding his head once as though it had been decided.
Steve ran a hand down his face and grumbled under his breath. “Listen, jerk-” Whatever tongue lashing Steve was about to unleash was quieted as a nervous waiter hesitantly approached the table.
“Uh…. Mr’s Rogers and Barnes?” He asked carefully, wringing his hands together.
“What?” Bucky barked out a little more forceful than he needed to.
The waiter winced, and Bucky cleared his throat. “Sorry, what can we help you with?” He tried again.
The waiter’s head bobbed rapidly as he scrambled for the pocket of his apron. “It’s just that… these two girls… they came into the cafe and asked for a pen, right? And they wrote this on a napkin and asked me to give it to you. I don’t normally do this, see? I’m sure you get this all the time, but I thought… well… they did give me a really big tip, right? And I didn’t think it would be a big deal… so I’m just going to leave this right here…” The waiter dropped a napkin on the table and darted back into the cafe before Steve and Bucky could even open their mouths in question.
Bucky’s eyes narrowed on his retreating back, but Steve reached over and carefully took the napkin in his hands.
He read the words once, twice, and then a third time before what little color was in his face drained away and he shot a careful look in Bucky’s direction.
“What is it, punk?” Bucky demanded, leaning forward to snatch the napkin out of Steve’s hands.
Steve took the moment of distraction for what it was and threw a handful of bills on the table before he pushed out of his chair and started speed walking towards the tower.
Bucky took less than a second to understand why.
There, on a napkin, in handwriting he recognized better than his own were twenty-five damning words:
“Beth-a-Belle, adventurers extraordinaire invite you to participate in the biggest game of hide and seek of your life. Catch us if you can.”
Bucky was going to
kill
everyone.