Fireworks: A Bucky Barnes Romance

Chapter 10

Sandhurst was dead. The muffled flash-bang underneath him sent both Sam and Bucky jumping backward.

Now that Bucky could breathe, could take a moment to extend his senses past survival, he realized that he was hearing Jimmy Woo's voice over the stadium speakers. "Second section, head to the tunnel on your left. Third—"

Bucky and Sam turned toward the field to look. They couldn't see Jimmy, but he was clearly directing a relatively ordered removal of the remaining crowd. More than a few people were already stretched out on bleachers, clearly injured, but the people around them seemed to be helping. One man held a wadded up T-shirt to a cut on a woman's head. Another woman was fashioning a makeshift splint out of a rolled up magazine with the president's face on it.

Sam took a step forward. "I should go help."

Bucky put a hand on his forearm. "Let's give it a few minutes."

Sam frowned at him.

Bucky shrugged. "You could cause a panic, buddy. You were just firing at the president."

"I wasn't firing, I didn't have a gun. I need to let the scene coordinator know I'm no longer compromised."

"Yeah, for sure. But between the two of us, who has more experience scaring the crap out of people? I do. Don't swoop down there all at once."

Bucky turned back on his earpiece and heard Monica asking Darcy for a status update. Bucky gave their update next, and Monica acknowledged.

"Good to hear, Sergeant Barnes. Please advise Cap not to fly over just yet though. POTUS is furious; people are scared. Maybe get out of sight."

Bucky raised his eyebrow at Sam.

"Oh, shut up," Sam said. "Has anyone explained the phrase passive-aggressive to you? It's really annoying."

They climbed up the stands, stiffly and more than a little painfully, though neither admitted it to the other.

Bucky jerked open the door of the press box. "Sarah? Darcy?"

Sarah flew toward them and Bucky opened his arms, wrapping her in a hug.

Sam made a disgusted noise. "Wow, thanks. This is what I was trying to avoid."

Sarah reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hug.

"Don't you say anything sarcastic for a full minute," Sarah warned her brother. "I need a minute just knowing you both are good."

Bucky smiled, feeling Sam's arms come around them.

"Yeah, whatever," Sam said.

It was perhaps more than minute when Darcy coughed. "So," she said matter-of-factly. "I just took a picture of your group hug, and I'm putting it on twitter and all, cause trust me, that'll go further in undoing what happened today than all the official statements in the world. But I am an ethical user of social media," she smiled, "so I'm letting you know."

Sarah stepped back, wiping her eyes. Bucky's and Sam's may not have been precisely dry either.

Darcy continued, "What's more, Sam's disc was visible so I'm just gonna go ahead and explain in a twitter thread. They're going to yell at me later, but eh." She typed for a moment. "You may not be aware, but I have millions of followers on youtube. It was Thor's face that kicked it off. That boy can smile."

Sam's hand went to the back of his head. "What's the word on getting rid of these things?"

Darcy finished typing. "Well. It's not great. It looks like Sandhurst used the microsurgical techniques he perfected with his exoskeleton to attach the discs. They connect at a molecular level, and other than gouging them out, it's going to be a job for surgery. I bet with robotic-assisted lasers they could come off with only the outer layer of skin."