Then I saw him, standing in front of me with a photograph in his left hand. I stared at his left arm for a while. I recognised the arm at once - the famous metal arm that Sergeant Barnes, Captain America's best friend, owned. I tilted my head to the right and squinted my eyes. Right, the red Russian star was not there. This arm must be the one Shuri made for him, and I had to admit, the Wakandian upgrade was pretty cool.
My eyes shifted to his face. No doubt, he was Sergeant Barnes. It had been around a year since I had read the papers about the Infinity War, or what some people called World War Three. Sergeant Barnes was one of the Avengers who saved earth from alien threat.
I didn't speak. My eyes were fixated on his gorgeous hair (which he had cut short after the war), his beautiful blue eyes and his mUScLEs. Oh my, he was very handsome in person. He was clean shaven, which made him lose the Jesus-like look he previously had in Wakanda. After a moment of admiration, I cleared my throat and asked, "Sergeant Barnes... How can I help you?"
My heart was racing. I just could not believe I was speaking to an Avenger, one of earth's mightiest heroes.
"I'm your great grandfather, Rachel," he smiled.
"What... did you... just say?" My legs weakened and my palms were clammy with sweat.
"I," he placed his hand on his chest. "Am your great grandfather."
"Are you fucking serious?" I laughed and fumbled with my hair. I turned to the lady at the counter and asked again, "So you're saying that that man, Sergeant Buchanan Barnes, is my great grandfather, my only relative I have left in this world?"
She nodded. Sergeant Barnes handed me a brown envelope. "They mailed this to me yesterday. I came here to pick you up today. Check it out for yourself."
I pulled the contents out of the envelope. I read the documents in disbelief. A month ago my parents died in a fire, leaving me alone in an orphanage. Now, I was told that I still had a great grandfather, who was also an avenger.
A very hot avenger. Wow.
"You might want to load your stuff into the car?" He pointed to my baggage and to the blue car parked just across the street. I nodded did as he says.
Sam Wilson got out of the car to help me load my stuff into the boot of the car as we waited for Sergeant Barnes to come back.
The silence made me tense up so I decided to break it. "So... How's Red Wing?" I asked, really hoping that that came off as a joke.
Sam looked into the rear mirror and spoke, "He died in the war BUT fret not because Shuri made me a new bird." He turned around to face me. "I call it, Black Wing." Sam then fished out a phone and showed me a picture of Black Wing. "Pretty cool huh? Cooler than Tony's!" He winked.
Just then, Barnes was back. As soon as he climbed into the seat behind Sam, he stared at Sam through the rear mirror and said, "Can you move your seat up?"
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Sam grumbled and moved his seat up, much to his delight.
"So, where are we going?" I asked.
"To Target, to pick Steve up," Sam replied.
"Well we kinda forgot about Steve and rushed to pick you," Sergeant Barnes added. "Steve joined me and Wilson for a shopping trip at Target today because Tony's on a honeymoon with Pepper. He usually hangs out with Tony on weekends but now that Tony's got Potts, so Steve has started joining us instead."
"Interesting... anyway, where will I be staying at? Barnes' or Wilson's?" I asked.
"Sam will do."
"And call me Bucky instead. I prefer that name. As a matter of fact, I live with him in one of Tony's 'extra' house."
I nodded in disbelief. Not only was I going to live with Bucky, I was going to live with Sam too. (can you hear the cries of a fangirl)
Soon, Sam pulled over beside Target and Steve tore the door of the passenger seat off, throwing it towards the car park. "Havin' a good time huh? I stood there waiting for you guys to come for almost an hour! Man, I had no money so I couldn't even donate anything to that blind man sitting there playing the uke!"
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"We are deeply sorry Steve, but MUST YOU DO THAT? RIPPING THE FUCKING DOOR OFF?" Sam yelled.
Bucky leaned forward and whispered into Steve's ear, "He's just angry because he has to call Tony to deliver a new car door from the Stark Tower and he hates to call Tony who is on his honeymoon."
Steve turned to Bucky. "Why?"
"The last time he called him the entire phone call was full of moans and he didn't even get a legitimate answer! After that Tony hung up and was unreachable since."
Steve glanced at Sam and climbed into the car. After a while, he managed a soft "sorry".
//
The rest of the journey was silent until we got out of the car in front of the house that Sam and Bucky shared. Bucky and Steve helped me with my baggage while Sam parked the car in the garage.
"I'm curious, do superheroes get any days off?" I turned to Steve , who was holding up my close-to-exploding luggage with a finger. "I mean you guys do save the earth, counter-terrorists kinda stuff, it seems like you guys are always there to help."
Steve winked and replied "I nevAr freeze" with some weird accent that sounded Wakandian. I stared a him, confused, until Bucky enlightened me with the fact that Steve was simply trying to mimic a friend of theirs', T'Challa, who also happened to be the king of Wakanda. His attempt was very much of a failure though, Bucky added.
I smiled. Maybe living with the world's mightiest heroes wasn't that bad. In fact, it was very much better than living in an orphanage. I loved it here, I mean, superheroes are normal human beings who lead normal lives after all, aren't they?
