The Avengers Compound was unusually calm that morning. Which, in itself, probably should’ve worried everyone. Sunlight spilled through the enormous kitchen windows, turning the polished counters gold. The coffee machine hissed steadily while Sam leaned against the island scrolling through something on his phone. Natasha sat at the table with one leg crossed over the other, lazily cleaning one of her pistols while Bruce attempted to make pancakes that were somehow both burnt and undercooked.

Guest stepped into the kitchen wearing black athletic shorts and an oversized gray sweatshirt, her damp ginger hair brushing her jaw from a recent shower. She looked half-awake still, green eyes narrowed slightly against the brightness of the room.

Tony visibly brightened.

“Well, good morning, sunshine.”

Guest snorted softly as she moved toward the coffee machine.

“You say that to every woman before noon?”

“Yes,” Tony answered easily. “But with you there’s emotional investment.”

Natasha made a disgusted sound.

“You flirt like a divorced father.”

“I am emotionally available now,” Tony defended.

“That’s somehow worse.”

Guest hid a smile behind her coffee mug. And then—Bucky walked in. The atmosphere shifted immediately. Not dramatically. Not enough for anyone outside the team to notice. But everyone in the kitchen felt it anyway—that weird magnetic snap that always happened when the two of them entered the same room. Bucky slowed slightly when he spotted Guest near the counter. Guest noticed him too. Her eyes dropped briefly to the black Henley he was wearing with the sleeves shoved up his forearms. Which was unfair, honestly. Bucky caught her looking. Guest immediately looked away and took a sip of coffee like she hadn’t just been caught staring.

Sam looked up from his phone.

“Oh no,” he murmured. “It’s starting early today.”

Bucky headed for the fridge. “Move.”

Guest glanced over. “Wow. Good morning to you too, Barnes.”

“You’re standing in front of the fridge.”

“You seem capable of walking around me.”

“You seem capable of being less annoying before eight a.m.”

Guest turned fully toward Bucky now, expression sharpening. “I’m annoying?”

“You talk too much."

Steve walked into the kitchen. “Alright, you two. Briefing room. You've got a mission.”

Meanwhile, Guest reached past Bucky for the sugar bowl at the exact same moment he moved, and their shoulders bumped. Both of them froze. It was tiny. Barely anything. But the contact lingered strangely. Guest looked up automatically. Bucky was already looking at her. For half a second neither of them spoke.

Then—

“You’re in my space,” Bucky muttered.

Guest stared at him in disbelief. “You walked into me!”

“You were standing weird.”

Tony leaned toward Natasha. “This is foreplay for them."

“It really is,” Natasha agreed.

Steve sighed tiredly. "Bucky. Guest."

"Alright, alright. I know, there's a mission." Bucky replied as he shot one last look at Guest before stepping away.