Fine Line (Bucky Barnes x OC)

Undercover

Luna walked into the conference room Monday morning to wait for the weekly briefing to start. She was the only person in the room, so she took a seat towards the end of the table. She sipped her coffee as she looked through the documents Tony had sent out. She was about half way through the file when Bucky and Steve came walking into the room.

"Morning, Luna." Steve said happily.

"Hey, Steve." Luna responded, without looking up from the file.

"Pain in the ass." Bucky greeted.

"Grumpy cat." Luna said.

"Can't you guys play nice?" Steve groaned.

"It's all in good fun, Stevie."

"Sure it is." Bucky mumbled under his breath.

Luna continued looking through the file. Her eyes widened when she got to the last page and saw the mission summary.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She yelled as she sat forward in her chair.

"Damnit, Luna. You're gonna blow our eardrums out. Super soldier hearing, remember?" Bucky grumbled.

"Did you see the mission summary, Bucky?"

"Nah, figured I'd wait for Tony to go over it."

"Oh, you're going to want to see it. Your hearing is going to be the least of your problems."

Luna tossed the file to Bucky who began reading over the summary. His mouth dropped open and he stood from the table.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Bucky dropped the file and looked over at Luna.

"Yep. I think Tony hates us."

"What are you two complaining about?" Sam asked as he took a seat next to Luna.

Bucky slid the file across the table so Steve and Sam could read the last page. Sam looked between Bucky and Luna with a twinkle in his eyes, then started laughing. Even Steve chuckled a bit. Luna and Bucky stared as Sam laughed harder and doubled over.

"I'm sorry, but this is great! You two...have...to..." Sam trailed off as his laughter continued. At this point he had tears rolling down his face.

"It's not that funny, Sam." Bucky said.

"Oh, but it is. You two hate each other and now you have to go undercover and pretend to be a couple!" Sam screeched.

"Can I kill him?" Luna asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'll help." Bucky grumbled.

"Look at that, you two are already resolving your differences." Steve offered.

"Are you condoning murder, Captain?" Luna quipped.

"Well, no, but at least you agreed on something."

"Always looking on the bright side, huh Stevie?" Luna said.

The rest of the team filtered into the room and settled in, waiting for Tony to start. Luna stood abruptly before Tony could speak and leaned her palms flat on the table.

"Why do you hate me, Tony?"

"Not sure what you mean, Luna."

"Oh yes you do, tin man. For all the book smarts you have in that big brain of yours, you don't have any common sense. Bucky and I will never pass for a couple. We can't stand each other."

"You ever heard the saying 'there's a fine line between love and hate'?" Tony crossed his arms and raised his chin.

"That makes no sense. There's a very clear, defined line between love and hate." Bucky countered.

"Thank you!" Luna gestured towards Bucky. "See, we hate each other. So much. I mean, I'd willingly kill him for a Snickers! It doesn't even have to be a full size one either, I'd take a fun-size Snickers."

"I'd kill her for free." Bucky countered.

Luna nodded her head animatedly as she looked from Bucky to Tony.

"Look, there's another thing you agree on!" Steve said with a smile on his face.

"Actually, love and hate can coexist for many different reasons." Vision started to elaborate, but Wanda gently touched his arm to stop him.

"You know how we talked about timing, Vis? Now is not the time." Wanda whispered and patted his arm.

"I will go with Luna if needed." Thor volunteered.

"Yes! Why can't I take one of the gods with me?"

"I would be more than willing to go, darling." Loki cooed at her.

"I bet you would." Bucky grumbled.

Irritation burned in his chest and he scowled at Loki who was giving Luna his best bedroom eyes. Steve looked at Bucky sideways and leaned over to him.

"Careful Buck, someone might hear you and think you actually care about her." Steve smirked at him and Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Who even says this has to be a guy-girl mission? I'll take Nat or Wanda. That'll be way more passable than me and Bucky." Luna continued.

"I'm feeling a little left out here." Clint said.

"Okay, that's enough!" Tony yelled and rubbed his temples. "I work with a bunch of children. The mission is set. It's you and Bucky. No replacements. Now, can we please get back to the brief?"

Luna dropped into her seat with a hard scowl set on her face. The mission was supposed to last for approximately eight weeks. They would be monitoring the activities of a suspected terrorist who the government thought was planning an attack on the capital. As a newly married couple, they would move into the house next door, becoming the ideal neighbors and friends to Thomas and Megan Price. Gain their trust and gather intel. In and out. Easy peasy. Except for the couple part.

Luna hadn't been close to a man in years and for good reason. How was she supposed to be that close to Bucky? How was she supposed to pretend when she didn't even have a jumping off point of what a good relationship looked like? This mission might be the hardest thing she had ever had to do in her career, but she was a professional, she could do this. Right?

A/N: Hoping to post the next part the middle of next week, but I'm going to start editing Bound to You tomorrow in order to submit it to the Wattys. 😬 Have no fear, I'll post as regularly as I can! I should also have another one shot up either tomorrow or Monday!