Dark Arrow

Chapter Nine

"Hey shell head!" I called out as I walked into Tony's lab, smiling as AC/DC blared through the speakers. It made me forget about the whole conversation with Steve that had been playing on my mind for the last few days. "Where are these new arrows you promised?"
He turned the music down so I no longer had to shout at him. "Okay, who's pissed you off?" He asked as he went back to whatever he was tinkering on, on the screen in front of him.

"No one," I lied; not wanting to get into the whole conversation with Steve. Tony was nothing if not protective. "At least not yet," I threw him a wink causing him to smile at me.

He rolled his eyes, "fine don't tell me." He pointed over to the workbench in the corner. "New arrows are over there, try not to blow up the compound." I placed my hands on my hips becoming immediately defensive.

"That was one time! And it was your fault, you failed to tell me what the fucking things did." We both laughed at the memory, he'd challenged me to shoot a laser on the wall. A shot I'd happily and easily made until the arrow exploded and sent me flying backwards, not to mention the damage it had done to the living area.

"Yeah but it was so worth it to see the look on your face." He teased as he walked over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"So what do these ones do?" I asked as I picked one up, the tip wasn't designed to kill so I knew instantly it was a trick arrow. He smiled at me, a mischievous grin on his face. "They explode." I couldn't help the way I lit up like a little kid at Christmas, "yes!" They were my favourite kind, you could take out more than one target with these. Not to mention the fact you could shoot them just to deter someone from going near something too, the blast would simply knock them to the ground.

***

After carefully putting the arrows away I fell back on my bed, fighting back the urge to punch something. 'Not even close.' The words were still rattling around in my head no matter how hard I tried to get them to stop. More than once I'd considered calling Steve to ask what he'd meant, but every time I chickened out. At this point I wasn't even sure if I wanted the answer.

I was miles away, lost in my own thoughts when my phone beeped beside me.

Drinks tonight? I'm buying.

I smiled at the text from Bucky, swiftly typing back a reply.

You always buy, but yes. Usual place at 8?

Yep.

The blunt reply threw me for a moment, it was rare that he gave one word answers, at least to me anyway. I shrugged it off for now, knowing I'd bring it up with him later. I had a skip in my step as I began getting ready, it had been a while since I went into town with Bucky. I deserved some fun, and I was most definitely going to have it tonight.

***

After texting Rain, Bucky walked into Nat's room. "For the record I still think this is a bad idea." His girlfriend, while charming and hot as hell; was nothing if not a meddler. If he wasn't so head over heels in love with her, he might've fought back against her idea a bit more. Nat poked her head out of her bathroom, a cheeky smile on her face. "Yeah, you may have mentioned that once or twice now."

"Oh so you did hear me then," Bucky teased as he kicked off his boots before sitting on her bed. Nat walks over to him, swaying her hips in a seductive way. "Did you ask her or not?" She sits on the bed cross legged next to Bucky, her shorts giving him a nice view of her long legs. "Yes," he bites out, taking his eyes off her legs. "What about Steve?" She asked as she climbed onto his lap.

His hands gripped onto her hips, no matter how many times they were close like this he still couldn't believe his luck. "Why am I doing all the leg work for your plan?" He sits up, burying his face in her neck. "Because you're less likely to end up with an arrow in your eye." Nat countered, knowing exactly what Rain would react like when she found out. While she adored Rain, she knew how stubborn she was. Bucky lifted his head, raising his eyebrow at her. "You sure about that?" Because he wasn't.

"She loves you, she'll forgive anything you do." Nat placed a soft kiss against his lips, trying to get him to stop scowling at her. A few more kisses across his face and he finally smiled. "You know I hate you sometimes," he teased as he rolled her underneath him.

"Yeah I know. I love you too."

***

Dead on 8 I walked into the bar, ready to tease Bucky about me actually being on time for once. However when I opened the door and looked at the bar, I nearly turned around and walked right back out. "Oh Bucky Bear, you are a dead man." I mumbled, opting to at least go and say hi to him. Steve sat at the bar, seemingly lost in his thoughts as I approached him. "Let me guess, Bucky wanted to see you."

His head snapped round as I leant on the bar, making no move to actually sit down. I wasn't staying. "Something like that," Steve nodded his head before finding his bottle of beer more interesting than me. He seemed to have something on his mind, part of me wanted to ask if he was okay. Then I remembered the last time I tried to be nice to him and how much that backfired.

"Great," I slapped my hand down on the bar before pushing off of it. "I'm just gonna go."

"He opened a tab, you could just stay." He spoke to me, but never once actually looked in my direction. I gave his offer a moment of thought before I answered him.

"Tempting, but what's the point if you can't get drunk too?" He pulled out a small metal flask from his jacket that was slung over the back of his chair.

"Asgardian ale, one drop in every drink does the trick." He even graced me with a small smile.

Fuck it. What's the worst that could happen?

I shrugged my leather jacket off, putting it on the back of my chair. "Well it would be rude not to spend his money." I returned the small smile he gave me, trying not to sour the mood before we'd even started.

Steve watched as I sat down, "on one condition." I leant my chin on my hand as I flagged down the bartender.

"And what might that be Captain?"

The words that left his mouth next, had me trying not to completely choke on the beer I'd just taken a sip of.

"You're not a brat for the entire evening." I blinked a couple of times, making sure that I'd heard him right. There was something about him calling me a brat that had me tingling, in all the good ways. I subtly squeezed my legs together, screaming internally for the feeling to go away. This was Steve after all.

"A brat huh?" I could hear how flirtatious my voice sounded, but there was no changing it now. "I'm surprised you even know what that means."

He didn't answer me, instead opting to order us a few more drinks. To say tonight was going to be interesting was putting it mildly. Yet after his brat comment, I found myself almost excited to spend time with him.