Powerless | b. barnes

07 - mission

T H E only time Ivy spoke to Bucky was at 12:45am on the dot every night to stop his nightmares. But even then they barely exchanged more than a few words. In fact, Ivy usually waited for him to wake up and then left with a simple, "Goodnight Barnes."

Ivy knew that Bucky didn't particularly love that she was helping him. It wasn't like they were close and he probably thought that it was weird or uncomfortable that she cared so much. She hoped he didn't think she was in obsessed with him or something stupid like that. Ivy wanted Barnes' nightmare's to stop so she could actually sleep herself. But she did oddly enjoyed helping him. It was nice to feel needed.

Ivy was still sound asleep when she heard FRIDAY's voice ringing in her ear, "Good Morning, Miss Maximoff. Your presence is required in conference room 'A.'

Ivy groaned and rolled over to look at her digital clock on the bedside table, it was 6:15 in the morning. What the hell could Tony possibly need from her at this ridiculously early time.

Nevertheless, she got up and put sweatpants over the underwear she slept in and kept her over-sized plain red T-shirt on. Ivy planned to find her way back to her comfy, warm bed immediately after the meeting.

Ivy threw on some slippers and trudged out the door, Bucky's door was already open indicating that she was most likely late.

Ivy still took her time getting down to the conference room. Tony could hardly expect her to be fast at this time of day.

She walked into the meeting and was immediately met with all the eyes of her teammates, except Bucky who was intently looking at the floor.

"Ah, Ivy! Nice of you to join us," Tony cheered.

Bucky glanced up at her at the mention of her name. Ivy was glaring back at Tony through narrowed eyes.

"Love the outfit," joked Sam, the rest of the group chuckled.

How could they possibly laugh at this hour?'

Ivy smirked back at Sam, "thanks, Turkey."

"That one can't even fly!" Sam acted offended at Ivy's latest nickname.

"Still a bird," Ivy muttered bluntly, "and an ugly one at that."

"Not much of a morning person, eh?" asked Steve with a smile.

"No," Ivy grumbled, "plus I was up late last night so this is hell."

"Oooh! Doing what?" pried Natasha, "does our dear Ivy have a hot sex life we don't know about?"

Ivy felt a pair of steely blue eyes on her, knowing that she had to choose her next words wisely, "Ha! I wish. No I just... couldn't sleep." It wasn't exactly a lie per say. It was true that she definitely did not have an excited sex life and she always had a hard time sleeping.

With that, the topic was dropped but Ivy looked up to see Wanda staring at her with a concerned look. Wanda knew her sister had nightmares even if she never talked about them.

Bucky was watching Ivy with an expression she couldn't quite interpret. Was it relief that she didn't say anything about their late night rendezvous or guilt that he was the one keeping her up? Ivy couldn't tell.

Bucky wished Ivy would stop helping him so much and get more sleep. Surely, he can figure his problems out on his own. But he was also curious as to why she hadn't told the team that she was helping him. Was she ashamed to be helping a monster like him? He didn't think her to be so cruel, but then again he didn't know her. But if she thought him a monster, why wasn't she afraid of him? And if–