Lana stepped back onto the concrete sidewalk where she'd disappeared and blinked at the sudden light. While it was still early, the sun had awoken and started the process of sharing that state with the animals by shining brightly.

William appeared behind her, seemingly alarmed by the portal, and with a playful pull, Lana moved him away, his unasked question answered by Steve coming after them.

"What time is it?" he asked, his hair glistening slightly in the sun.

"23 minutes past 5," William read aloud from his wristwatch.

"You've been up all night, you should go get some sleep," Lana told him, squeezing his bicep supportively.

"Wish I could, but apparently there's a bug in the system, so I've got to get on that. You've been up all night, too, go sleep yourself," William suggested.

"I would, but the factory in Thailand promised to send the contract today, I was hoping our lawyers could look at it immediately so we can get to work, so I need to work out some kind of training for the sales employees to do," Lana explained, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"I thought you put Simon on that?" William asked.

"When do you normally get in?" Steve interrupted their chatter, looking between them.

"Bit earlier than today, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Lana assured him just as Bucky stepped into the space next to them, the portal disappearing behind him.

"Did you crack the file?" Lana asked William, suddenly remembering how the night had been spent.

"I did, yeah," he replied, nodding slightly.

"And?" she prompted.

"His story checks out," Steve answered for him. Lana bit her lip, nodding slightly.

"Go read it," Bucky told her with an eyeroll, knowing exactly what the face she was making meant. She sent him a small smirk.

"Thank for helping out today, Steve," she said, pulling him into a one-armed hug before jumping up the few steps and entering their offices.

"William?" A voice exclaimed, a face appearing in the door Lana had entered through, probably having figured out his location from her. The brown eyes suddenly narrowed suspiciously.

"Captain America?" the young man asked shocked, suddenly forgetting all about William.

"No, this is Kevin Amerya, he's... New," William lied unconvincingly.

"Oh... 'Cause he looks a lot like Captain America," the guy pointed out.

"He gets that a lot," Bucky told, sending the guy a look that definitely would end the topic of conversation.

"Did you have something to say, Anwar?" William asked, gaining the guy's attention again.

"Right! The Times wants to know if today is good for a phone interview. They also want to send a photographer," Anwar told.

"Uh, yeah, that's fine. Actually, have the photographer come tomorrow, I won't have time today," William corrected himself; "Just work it out with Ruben." Anwar sent an affirming nod before disappearing again.

"I should probably get going," Steve told, pocketing his hands.

"Might be best," William admitted with a small grin.

***

"Am I supposed to pretend I haven't noticed we're at home?" Bucky asked Lana, who was sitting by the dining table scrolling down her phone. Bucky himself was leaned against the counter, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

"No, if you don't recognise where you live we need to call a doctor," Lana replied dryly; "Not the one we saw yesterday, though, because I'm still mad at him for kidnapping me."

"Which time?" Bucky asked, smiling at Lana as she rolled her eyes at the question.

"Both," she replied.

"Ah. Why aren't we at work?" Bucky asked instead.

"You're an avenger, we're at the avengers tower," Lana excused it with a shrug.

"Alright, why aren't you at work?" he followed up.

"I'm a SHIELD agent, I'm at the avengers tower," she muttered.

"Why aren't you at your other job?"

"Because this is my primary job. The other is a side project. It's a hobby," Lana informed, locking her phone to pay attention to Bucky.

"A hobby with almost two hundred employees," Bucky agreed, turning around to grab the mugs.

"I have a thing called work-life balance," Lana informed him.

"You don't have a life or balance. The other day I tossed you a book and you almost fell," Bucky reminded her, sending her a condescending look before placing the mugs on the counter.

"You didn't toss it, you catapulted the damn thing like it was on fire," Lana scoffed.

"Why would I throw something on fire at you? Why not just throw it away from me so I didn't get burned?" Bucky asked.

"Because it's not about not getting burned, it's about getting me burned. Because you hate me," she reminded helpfully.

"Ah, right," Bucky agreed, pouring the coffee while Lana followed him with her eyes. Even with his back turned to her, he had a certain posture giving his back some sort of attractiveness she didn't think possible. The way the muscles of his back worked beneath the grey t-shirt, the way his hair fell to his neck without any attention of his, seeming entirely black in the artificial light of the kitchen.

"So, it has nothing to with the photographer coming today?" Bucky asked, pulling Lana out of her thoughts.

"Why would it have anything to do with that?" Lana asked.

"Because you don't want your picture in the paper, because you want William to get sole credit, because you don't want attention?" Bucky suggested, placing the mug in front of her and not bothering moving away after. Instead, he placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, his face right in front of hers in the most provocative manner possible. Lana narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips unhappily, not looking away from the confronting look of Bucky.

"My apologies, I was unaware anyone was in here. Shall I leave?" Thor offered politely.

"No, come on in," Lana told as Bucky took a quick step away from her.

"You're up early," she commented, not wanting to give Thor room to think about how close the two had been just moments before.

"Yes, Steve offered a round of training and I couldn't refuse such an offer. He is a good warrior," Thor mentioned, opening a cupboard and rummaging through it for some food.

"I'm sure he is," Lana agreed, smiling calmly.

"Granted, he is but midgardian, but even so. Mighty, perchance not, but skilled indeed," Thor continued, pulling out a box of poptarts.

"But not as mighty as a god?" Lana asked, trying to sound insuspicious.

"Certainly not," Thor laughed.

"So he wouldn't... Be able to use one of the stones?" Lana asked, ignoring the glance Bucky shot at her.

"I imagine he might be able. The stones are not hard to use, simply difficult to master. Even I would struggle doing so," Thor explained, putting two poptarts on a plate and leaving the empty box on the counter.

"But Loki managed," Lana pointed out quickly; "He could use both the space stone and the mind stone, right?"

Thor sat down across from her, swallowing the bite of poptart he'd been chewing.

"He is practised in theory, but he could only use one at a time. And even so, he had to conceil them in wielding tools. Pathetic," he added with a slight scoff at his brother.

"Wielding tools?" Lana asked, glancing at Bucky who stood leaned against the counter with raised eyebrows, his smirk hidden behind the mug he was sipping from. Something about seeing her hinting at her thoughts, something about her being so ridiculously obvious and everyone so ridiculously oblivious to it was amusing to him.

"Such as the scepter and the tesseract. He would have not been able to do such a thing as manage them without those assisting him," Thor told; "Not like I, who's hammer needs no vessel for its power!"

"Isn't the hammer the vessel?" Bucky challenged, not able to resist teasing the proud God.

"Because the power has no other form! It is not as if the power is an object of Mjølner, Mjølner is the carrier of it! Mjølner is a stone of its own!" Thor argued decidedly.

"Yes, you're very strong," Lana agreed, trying to get the conversation back on track. Bucky rolled his eyes dramatically and turned his attention back to his coffee.

"But, using all six stones at once, would you be able to do that?" Lana asked.

"I might," Thor claimed, raising his chin slightly, not having noticed the crumbs on his chin.

"Would Thanos?" Lana continued.

"Thanos is no stronger than I!" Thor told her offendedly.

"So he wouldn't be able to use all six at once?" she asked quickly.

"Surely not!"

"So to do that, he'd need a... What did you call it, a wielding tool?" she asked, glancing at Bucky, who was paying careful attention to the conversation.

"I... I suppose. That is one good point," Thor said slowly.

"Is there such a thing?" Bucky asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I cannot imagine. What use would one have for such a thing? Gathering all stones would easily prove impossible," Thor claimed unsurely.

"But that's what Thanos is trying to do," Lana pointed out logically.

"And we will prove it impossible," Thor insisted.

***

"I need to talk to Loki," Lana told Bucky once they were alone again, Bucky's lips quickly becoming a fine line.

"I don't like him," he muttered unhappily.

"That's why you're not coming," Lana informed, standing from her seat.

"What? You're not talking to him alone," Bucky disagreed, stepping forward.

"Why not?" Lana asked, placing her cup in the sink.

"How about; 'cause he's dangerous?" Bucky suggested annoyed.

"He's our teammate," Lana reminded as she turned around, sucking in a breath as she realised Bucky had followed her to the sink and stood right behind her.

"So you say," he agreed in a, however quiet, also hard voice. His face was stern as his eyes refused to move from hers, which were flickering unsurely between his.

"James, please," she tried, placing a hand on his upper arm to get him to listen, not worried about being trapped between him and the counter.

"I don't trust him," Bucky told her quietly, letting his head fall slightly, only causing them to suddenly be entirely even in height, meaning their faces were right in front of each others.

"You trust me," Lana reminded in a whisper, realising he could probably feel her breath as she spoke.

"I don't trust a lot of people," Bucky muttered, unconsciously moving his hands to her sides, both resting calmly on top of her shirt.

"You trust me," Lana repeated breathlessly, glancing at the lips of her enemy, roommate and friend.

"I trust you," he repeated almost soundlessly, closing his eyes as their lips neared.

A tune sounded suddenly, and Bucky was by the kitchen table in a second, his hand reaching for the gun tapped to the underside of it.

"It's just my phone," Lana told him, gasping slightly for breath as she rejected the call from William, placing her phone on the counter before running a hand through her hair.

"Oh," Bucky realised, letting his hand stop in the air before standing up straight again.

"I should..." Lana began, feeling as if her voice ran out of words.

"Yeah," Bucky agreed, clenching his teeth together as he looked at Lana.