Chapter Text
It was a nice day in Washington DC, not too many people, not too much noise. All things considered, it was the nations capitol, and an earth threatening event could quite literally happen at any moment.
Alex putted around her apartment, nervously glancing at the open laptop on her kitchen counter. The cuticles around her nailbeds were sore from chewing and her hair starting to grease with how much she was touching it.
She had finished up her bachelors degree only three months prior, applying to any and all agencies around the city for personal assistants.
That’s where she had to start. If she wanted to work her way up, she’d have to work her way through. Simple.
Except she didn’t know who she’d been assigned too, not until this email came in. The company she partnered with was meant to give her an open spot when one arrived, and she could decline or accept.
She took a breath, closing her eyes for a minute when that familiar whoosh sound emitted from her laptop.
Her heart sank.
She slowly approached the counter, seeing the new email to the left.
‘Congratulations on your application!-‘ She opened it, skimming through the meaningless information and then-
Congressman James Barnes.
She just stared for a minute, the information flooding her instantly, every minute detail she’d memorized over the past few years, since the explosion in Vienna, to the grainy images of him on the run with a vigilante Captain America. Sites after sites, logs and paperwork and files shed scanned and committed to memory, every interaction ever recorded with him, letters from nurses, mentions in museums. She remembered seeing him on screen the first time, when the UN meeting for the Sokvia accords had been bombed. She had sat on the edge of her couch with a few of her highschool friends, hands covering faces as they watched the feed.
When he was framed.
He had shown up on screen and almost instantly she’d recognized him from a tribute to Steve roger’s long ago visited as a kid.
Since then he’d become a minor obsession, nothing crazy, just absorbing any and all information found on him, tabs on blogs across the internet, access to confidential files. She had interned with Stark Industries for a bit, which she was often left unsupervised, and maybe a few times she tested her sleight of hand with the logins to company files.
And from there he was a fascination to her, from his brainwashing to his rise to heroism.
She knew all of it.
James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky Barnes.
She sat back in her chair with a mildly suprised huff.
Because why would it be anyone else?
———————————————————————
Alex was perfectly on time to the fundraising event. As she always was, arriving only twenty six seconds before seven, not a minute more, not a minute less.
She tugged her dress a little, attempting to fix the way it stretched across her stomach. It was a pretty pearl color, a simple dress really, tied around the neck and an open back, just touching the floor. Her hair was pinned back, out of her face, and silvery jewelry dotted her neck and wrists. She was invited by a friend, another personal assistant to a senator, her name was Alyssa, and she was definitely sleeping with said senator.
‘It might be a good opportunity to meet Bucky before officially working with him yknow?’ Alyssa had said with a shrug, applying mascara in the bathroom at dinner a few nights ago.
She really wasn’t even sure this was a good idea, it was an excuse to get out, to…network, as some people put it. But she hated the noise. Everything was so loud.
She let out an exhale and strutted through the main doors. Alex’s eyes searched the party, a grand staircase in the middle, various officers and government officials lined the railings. The lighting cast a warm glow over everyone, the dress code an easy black and white. A pretty jazz tune fluttered through the crystal chandeliers above her and circled the few couples dancing across the tile.
She weaved between people, muttering polite apologies as she attempted to spot the familiar face she’d seen through screens and documents all these years and- There he was.
Standing at the top of the staircase, surveying the crowd like she’d seen him do in surveillance footage a hundred times. Shoulders back, the slope of them almost calculated, jaw set and eyes scanning. His hands were carefully flexing by his sides, the gleam of the black vibranium not hard to miss, long sleeves or not. Between the chunks of metal she could see a sort of bronze color, she wondered what type of metal was used. Probably something noconductive. He had stubble coming in, a sign of his age, and his hair slicked back, revealing a growing out undercut.
She definitely ignored the way her stomach did some sort of weird twist at that detail.
She swore she could hear Lana Del Rey playing somewhere in her mind, her eyes lazily trailing down his tuxedo.
Steel blue. His eyes were a steel blue, she’d never noticed that detail before. They met hers for just a moment and time itself seemed to stop, her heels planted to the marble of the gala floor. And then he was gone, disappearing behind a few people and then steadily making his way down the steps. His eyes locked on someone behind her as he quietly pushed through the crowd, the expression of laser focus etched into him. The way he moved was so clearly practiced. He weaved between bodies and didn’t so much as touch them.
It was fascinating to the point that she was still rooted to the spot, and when he got close enough she stepped to the side, his eyes on hers again and she took the cue.
“Hello! Congressman Barnes,” she started, taking a step to block his path, which was hard considering he was much larger up close. Bucky paused for a moment, his eyes flicking between hers and somewhere past her shoulders. He shifted his weight, clearly switching out of the focus he was just in to spare a second of time. Media training. Her heart was racing, here was the man she could quite literally recite an entire documented history too, standing less than two feet away. “I’m Alex,” she continued as the smile he offered seem to be his only response. “I was wondering if I could speak to you? For a moment?” Her voice got a bit quiet as he had quite literally no expression, and faltered completely.
“Listen,” His voice was deeper than she imagined it being, sharp on the edges. “I’m sort of in the middle of a,” a split second of hesitation, her fingers tightened their hold on eachother in front of her, she noticed that. “There’s just someone I really gotta catch before they leave, um…h-here’s my card,”
He dug in his coat pocket and handed her a small white card, and was pushing back through the crowd before she could get out another word.
She blinked. Had she just been..dismissed?
He most likely didn’t know she was to be his new assistant, she’d seen him in interviews, his mind always seemed to be elsewhere.
But that’s okay, right? He wasn’t rude, he even gave her his card. The pointed edges of it digging into the pads of her pointer and thumb. But it would have been nice to converse a bit before she started on Tuesday, and now she realized how awkward that would be.
She exhaled out of her nose and watched as he walked up to another girl who looked around her age, staring at a warped version of the Avengers A. The girl, Mel, she believed, was the assistant to Director Valentina, which made her nose scrunch a bit in distaste.
What did he want with her? What was so important? she wondered.
She probably would find out soon enough as all of his personal information would be in her hands starting next week.
As if it wasn’t already.
——————————————————————-
7:00 AM On the dot.
Alex walked into the office building, led by a secretary at the front desk, down carpeted hallway after hallway, frames of past congressmen and current hung along the walls. They passed several other people rushing about, wearing jeans and blazers, mumbling into their phones or holding clipboards to their chest.
“This is Mr. Barnes office,” the pretty blonde girl came to a stop at one of the many cream colored doors they’d passed. She eyed the handle and then turned to Alex. “Good luck, the past two assistants have quit,” she said, like it was no big deal, Alex blinked and immediately her face shifted in question to which the girl quietly laughed before she could speak. “They claimed it was because he was too quiet and never needed anything,” she looked around and leaned in a little. “But I think it was hard to be alone in a room with him without wanting to be pinned to a wall,” she giggled behind her hand.
Alexs eyebrows shot up and went to respond but was cut off by the door swinging open.
There he was again, his face a mixture of boredom and suspicion as he froze misstep. His eyes landed on hers and recognition crossed his features.
“Mr Barnes,” the blonde girl Alex had already forgotten the name of said, “This is Alexandria wyvern, she’s your new PA.”
“Yes we…we met,” Bucky breathed, shoving his hands in his pockets, then yanking one out to stick into the air for a handshake.
“Yeah we did,” Alex cracked a smile, looking between the two before shaking his hand.
His eyes were looking into hers like he could read her intentions, a quick flick up and down her outfit before his shoulders relaxed.
“I was just…heading to go grab some coffee, if you’d like to join,” he offered, his eyes not leaving hers. His voice was the same, polite but edged, she wondered if it was a sign of his age or his torment.
“I can grab it!” Alex chirped, “I mean…” that’s my job. “How do you like it?” she asked, her head tilting slightly to the side.
“Black,” he replied, it looked like he was going to respond again, but he withheld, like he was figuring out what they’d want to hear.
She nodded sharply and turned, only to realize she had no clue where to go, the blonde immediately caught up, shooting bucky a flirty smile over her shoulder to which he just stiffly waved and went back in his office. The blonde showed her the main break room, where several others were bustling about, she was pointed towards the multiple coffee machines and mentioned that bucky liked a specific blend, one imported from Wakanda.
That made sense, since he spent quite a bit there, she realized as she scooped some out. Wakandian imports were rare, mostly only with deeply known partners, but, it made sense they’d ship this out to him, she decided. Adding that small detail to the filing cabinet of information of her brain. She was debating how much to reveal that she knew,
Would he ask her?
Did she want him to?
His door was open when she came back; she took that as an invitation, knocking softly, to which he immediately stood.
“It’s nice to meet you officially, sorry about the other night,” He started, watching her as she approached his desk with the cup of coffee. His office smelled faintly of wood, a warm spice, and old books.
“Oh no worries, I was just going to introduce myself, but I suppose I could do that now, I’m-“
“Alexandria,” he finished, gently taking the cup from her.
“Just Alex.” She replied with an awkward smile, standing up straighter. No one had called her Alexandria in a very long time, she always felt it was too many syllables. But the way he had said it, almost a hint of a russian accent, buried deep under years of practice learning English again, made her take a breath.
Bucky motioned to the chair across from his desk, a pretty large oak one. There wasn’t much on it: a computer and keyboard, a few pens scattered about, and a photo. As she sat, she let her eyes linger for a moment, it was from, well, what she could assume was a while ago, since his hair passed his shoulders, one arm around Steve Rogers and the other around Sam Wilson. Her mind raced with information about the Avengers, the countless documents she’d read on all of them. Bucky cleared his throat, and she shot him a smile. This was insanely awkward; he was so familiar to her, yet he had just met her.
“Um…I can assure you, my past assistants, they...” He paused, waving his arm around, the metal glinting from the windows. “There was nothing weird going on, they simply left, I was never told as to why…” he trailed off, and she busied her hands in her lap, studying the way he avoided eye contact. Bucky sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “There was nothing going on between my assistants and me prior to their absence.” He rushed out, and she tilted her head, confused as to why he was telling her this.
Oh…
“Oh!” she replied, “you heard the comment earlier-“ She started, through a laugh, heat creeping up her neck. She hoped he didn’t think that was…on her mind.
“Well, it was right outside my door-“
“You have heightened senses.” She jumped in, and he froze for a moment.
“You are aware of that?” He raised a brow, and she actually almost laughed.
Aware of it? She had memorized his skill set, his symptoms due to the serum, his training was different from Captain America's, different senses were stronger than others, considering his line of work. Different from the majority of the super soldiers S.H.I.E.L.D. had documented.
“Of course,” she nodded, running her palms down her pant legs, as she was already sweating, and he hadn’t even done anything but sit there. “I did my research, if I am to work as your assistant, I needed to know as much as possible.”
She played it off as that, and totally not years of stalking. Because that would be weird.
He noticed the way she avoided his eyes, the way she lingered on the photo across his desk, the way her fingers twitched when he spoke, how the nailbed around her thumb was red.
“Right, so you’re aware I didn’t have a choice as to who I worked for.” his tone was bored, like he’d said that statement more times than he wanted.
“Yes, I know about your time as the winter soldier,” she replied, carefully choosing her words; she didn’t say with Hydra, but a title. “But I also know you fought alongside Captain America, I know you were in Wakanda to override your sleeper code, and I know you helped defeat Thanos.” She said the most basic information she knew, her eyes locked on his. “I am aware of what I signed up for with this job, and I am not scared to work alongside you, Mr Barnes.”
She had wanted to make that clear from the start. After years of watching his transformation, she had seen the way he almost flinched when people raised their voices in interviews, or how his eyes always looked tired. He was…timid, besides how tense his shoulders always seemed to be. She didn’t want him to think she would run in fear if he ever snapped.
Bucky didn’t respond right away, he studied her, the way she spoke with such factual evidence of his heroism that he never really…considered. He fought because he didn’t want to be a killer anymore, he fought because Steve did, he fought because he finally had a reason, too. His expression remained unreadable, a training that was now second nature.
He almost stopped her after the Wakanda comment. She had slipped. That piece wasn’t public knowledge. He noted that.
“Bucky.” He replied simply. “Please, don’t use formalities, I’m old enough,” he let out a soft laugh, and she seemed to relax an inch.
Their age gap wasn’t massive; she was close to turning twenty-five, and if she calculated correctly, he was somewhere around his late thirties to early forties. Not anything…crazy.
Alex nodded, standing up. “I will leave you alone now, I have to gather your schedules for the next few weeks and create a calendar.“ She said, pushing the chair in and he watched, standing with her as she left his office, gently closing the door behind her. Then she let out a breath, pushing off the door and down the hallway. Superhuman hearing, she sure as hell didn’t need him knowing that her heart was racing.