This is not the Endgame

I just stand by and let you fight your secret war

Bucky went to the team meeting the next day with some updates about an issue with the foundation of the project building and what the architect recommended, but the meeting was late to start and there were no donuts. Ava was late. Finally Nelson, her boss, hustled in. "Ava was mugged last night," he said right off. "She's got a concussion, cuts and scrapes, and a knee injury, so she'll be out for at least a couple of days. It's not an ideal solution, I know, but I'll fill in until she's cleared to come back." And they went around the table, everybody bringing their updates and issues. Ben and Bucky described their situation, and Nelson jotted this down to take to the client. Once everybody was happy, the meeting was over. Bucky had to go check on the rebar situation--their order had been shorted for some reason, and he didn't know if he should call Ava anyway, if she'd want to hear from him. So he kept  his mind on work, nailing down the details and finding solutions to the problems he uncovered. They weren't major problems; the construction company and the architects were experienced and well-regarded, but on a project of this size, there were no shortage of little problems that had to be resolved. Fortunately, Ben was an excellent architectural technician, good at explaining things, and Bucky was learning a lot.

So he kept his concern to himself until he went home, dumped his stuff, and went up for a beer with Steve. They stretched out in the sofa recliners--this was excellent modern technology--and watched the game, eating pizza. Bucky mentioned the mugging, and Steve looked uncomfortable. Bucky reached over and poked his friend in the side where he was a little ticklish. "What?"

"It happened nearby, last night," he said, swatting back. Dammit. Bucky had eaten dinner out after work, making friends with some of the other employees, then hit the grocery store. He hadn't come home til late. "She agreed to come look at an apartment, but she was mugged, a couple of guys were hiding in the alley. Sam was over, he let me borrow his car, tracked down the muggers, retrieved her bag. She'd used pepper spray on them, practically had to pry the canister out of her hand. The cops wouldn't come out," Steve said angrily, "said she could come down to make a report. But she'll be ok, Buck."

"Doesn't really sound like it, from what Nelson said at the meeting."

"She has a grade 2 concussion, she was sensitive to sound and light, dazed, sluggish, had a balance problem. It had gotten better while she was at the urgent care, I took her to the one a couple streets over." Bucky nodded. "She had a big gash over her temple that had to be stitched, and her knee was swollen, reddish, and hot. They diagnosed some damage to the ACL, but not enough that surgery should be needed. She'll have to do some PT, they gave her a brace and crutches." He sighed. "I insisted on her staying the night here, so I could monitor. I'd signed her out." Bucky's initial reaction was to yell about why he hadn't been told, but he thought things through a little. He wasn't her boyfriend, she was kind of his boss. He grunted. "I did have to explain the whole "romantic asexual" thing to her, though. She was kind of nervous about me, said that there's often a disconnect between the private and public faces of famous people even though I seemed ok."

"How'd she take it?" Bucky asked, diverted. There would be an issue if Ava had been rude to Steve.

"Totally fine, actually. I was kind of surprised, but on the other hand, people these days are often a lot more accepting of non-heterosexuality." Except online; he'd checked out support groups and communities, and been taken aback by people's denial of asexuality as a valid choice, that he just hadn't met the right person yet or just had a low sex drive. And romantic asexuality seemed to be a contradiction to them. He'd muttered a curse and not gone back to those sites. He didn't really feel like he needed support, anyway. Bucky and Sam were fine with it, which was what he needed. "She said that she got a monastic vibe from me anyway, whatever that means, and after some reflection, thought that it made perfect sense. She relaxed a lot. Said that there'd been an outside chance that I was one of those guys who say they want to be a woman's friend but were just waiting to make a move, or a closet rapist. That's a terrible thing to do," he said, diverted, and Bucky nodded. "So she slept out on the recliner so she could keep her knee elevated, refused to take the bed. Sam went to the 24 hour pharmacy and picked up a bottle of Tylenol for her. I put the step stool into the shower so she could wash off the blood but not worry about falling over, and after her hair dried she went to sleep. She was much better this morning, left this afternoon. Wanda came over to drive her home." Bucky thought about all this.