Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I’m in position. Over,” Bucky said, crouched down with his communicator in his ear and eyes on the target. He started moving slowly, his steps silent as he approached. “Are you in position? Over.” 

“I am. Over,” came his teammate’s voice through the comm. 

Bucky dove, tucking and rolling so that he landed right beside his target and then scooped it up and lifted it above his head, Liho, the cat, meowing confusedly where he was suddenly in the air. 

“Target acquired on my end. Have you gotten yours?” 

“Not yet. Two secs,” Masha said, and Bucky looked over to see golden curls and green eyes appear from behind the kitchen counter. She pulled herself up easily and landed with the kind of grace only her mother had ever displayed before. 

She leapt onto the other counter and landed effortlessly, opening the cabinet and taking out the cat treats before jumping down and running over to Bucky. 

“Mission successful. Targets acquired. Back to HQ.” 

“You got it, Agent M.” 

Bucky followed the small girl across the kitchen and into the living room back into the fort they had built complete with Liho’s bed, snacks for themselves, her StarkPad, and several stuffed animals who were all taking on various other necessary rolls. 

“Director Furry,” she said, “we captured the ferocious creature and got snacks to make it happy.” 

“Good job agent,” Bucky said in an even gruffer voice than his own, puppetting a stuffed bear as he did so. “Here’s a million dollars and a promotion. Now you can go to space if you want.” 

“Ooh, space!” she said, turning to Bucky and tugging on his shirt sleeve excitedly. “I don’t think mama and dad have ever been to space before.”  

“Nah, I don’t think so either. You’d be the first in the family, Superspy.” 

“Cool,” she said, grinning wide and bright, the one missing tooth directly in the front of her mouth making her smile that much more endearing. 

“So, what next?” 

“Snack time,” she said. “We gotta refuel so we can be ready for anything.” 

Bucky nodded and just barely avoided rolling his eyes at the so obviously Steve phrase. He wondered when she would have heard him say it but then again Bucky wouldn’t put it past Steve to practice some of the bullshit he liked to say in the mirror. 

“Very true. Good call, Agent.” 

She nodded happily and then stopped. “I thought I was promoted? I get a new title, right?” 

“Oh no, my bad. You do. Now you’re Top Agent.” 

Her eyes grew wide. “Is mama a top Agent?” 

Bucky nodded. “The toppest of them all.” Because when it came right down to it, Bucky would gladly take second place to Natasha’s skills any day. 

“Whoa. So cool,” she said quietly, silent for a few seconds as she thought about that and then she reached for a bag of gummy bears and handed it to Bucky to open. 

Bucky had managed a lot in his post-Hydra recovery, going so far as to even become an Avenger in only four years. However the biggest and scariest challenge so far had come eight years ago when his two closest friends had told him they were going to have a baby. 

When Natasha and Steve sat him down and let him know he was going to be a godfather, Bucky had at first just laughed. The two of them had been together for almost a decade at that point but no one could be expected to believe the news that they were having a kid wasn’t some kind of practical joke. 

They were Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers after all. They were the only two Avengers who actually liked being busy and going on missions. Bucky thought perhaps it was an accident at first but then as he realized it wasn’t a joke, he listened to them explain that they had been trying for a while and finally they were going to have a baby. 

The responsibilities he would have if anything should ever happen to them was terrifying but at the same time they were Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers. Nothing was ever going to happen to them so he was able to accept it at the time by understanding that his role was mostly fun, caring uncle. 

Everyone in the tower was involved with Mariya from the moment she was born. She wanted for nothing and there had never been a safer child brought into the world. She had the best tutors Tony could find and for certain subjects, the Avengers themselves taught her. 

Mariya—whose name meant ‘beloved’ in Russian and who Bucky and Natasha often called ‘Masha’—was eight now. She spoke seven languages, could shoot a bow and arrow with decent accuracy, and had an in-depth knowledge of a variety of PhD subjects as well as a deeper understanding of space and who else inhabited it than most people would ever get to have.  

The first time Bucky had ever been asked to babysit while Steve and Nat went off on a mission together, he’d been terrified. Taking care of a non-powered, fragile citizen in danger for a few seconds was one thing but a child? A small child? 

Even though, as Thor had pointed out, Masha was probably near-indestructible considering whose daughter she was and also the fact that she had a diluted version of the serum running through her veins, Bucky had still been worried he would accidentally hurt her or just not know how to do something vital that he should have known. 

Six hours and only one pep talk in the mirror later, Steve and Nat returned to their then two-year-old sleeping soundly after her dinner. Bucky was only slightly frazzled and the two of them had noticed immediately, exchanging smirks and then wishing him a goodnight after thanking him. 

Now, babysitting her was a breeze. Of course because she was older and could communicate what she wanted or needed but also because she and her Uncle Bucky were two peas in a pod. 

Bucky dug out all of the green gummy bears, holding them in one hand as he gave her the package to eat the rest. He ate one of them and she looked up and scrunched her nose in distaste. 

“The green ones taste bad.” 

“I know. I got them all out,” he told her, showing her the handful. “So, what do you want to do now?” 

“I don’t know. Can you open this too?” she asked, grabbing Liho’s package of snacks. 

Bucky opened it and tipped a few into her hand and the black cat came over and sat patiently in front of the young girl that she loved and would follow around the apartment. Liho ate from the small girl’s hand, grumbling happily as she did and then Masha went back to her own snack after Bucky had cleaned her hand. 

“Maybe we should eat actual food.” 

She looked around at all of the snacks they had scattered in their fort, a gummy bear in her hand just about to go into her mouth. 

She hummed as she thought and Bucky just watched in amusement as he always did to see if he was going to recognize Steve, Natasha, or something uniquely Masha. 

“Maybe. Dad won’t be happy about all the snacks.” 

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Bucky said, crawling out of the fort and getting to his feet. 

He reached in for Masha and pulled her out quickly, tossing her into the air as he pulled her out and catching her again. She giggled, her cheeks going red as she asked him to do it again and he did, tossing her high into the air and catching her easily and securely again. 

“Okay, dinner time. What do you feel like? 

She tapped a finger to her cheek in thought. “Purgers.” 

“Try again. That’s not a food.” 

“Is too.” 

“What is it?” 

“Pasta burgers.” 

“Sounds awful.” 

She booed him, dropping her head against his side. “I’m going to ask Uncle Bruce then.” 

“Why would Bruce make you pasta burgers?” 

“Because he is a softie. Mama says so.” 

It was true but Bucky still didn’t think he would do it, mostly because purgers was not a food. 

“Okay. Go ask Bruce.” 

Masha made an unhappy grumbling sound, one small hand grabbing a fistful of Bucky’s hoodie and holding on, her forehead still resting against him. 

“No? Not gonna go?” 

“I want you to make it.” 

“I’m not making purgers. That’s not a real food. Who told you it was?” 

“Uncle Clint.” 

“Of course he did,” Bucky said with a sigh, leaning down to scoop Masha up and get her situated on his back so she could watch him cook like she always did. “Compromise?” 

“What is the offer, Agent?” she asked him, her tiny arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his middle. 

“I’ll make pasta with meat sauce. Basically purgers, right?” 

She huffed, thought about it, and then said, “Yeah, okay. And garlic bread.” 

“And garlic bread but then you also have to eat broccoli.” 

She groaned dramatically, her head dropped onto Bucky’s shoulder as she huffed and accepted her fate. She lifted her head again and said, “You are a very good negotiator.” 

“Yeah? Make sure you tell your parents that too.” 

Steve and Natasha arrived back home early the next morning. They looked exhausted but Bucky had seen in the group chat that their mission was a success. 

They found their daughter and her uncle asleep on the couch, a blanket over them both and A Bug’s Life playing on mute. Mariya knew how strong and competent her parents were but that, of course, didn’t stop her from worrying. And whenever they went away, she couldn’t sleep in her bed. 

She had to at least try to stay up and wait for them on the night they were supposed to return. So Bucky stayed up with her as long as he could but they both lost the fight. He woke the moment the door-lock sounded, his hand slipping under the pillow behind him for his knife and then releasing it when Steve’s head poked around the door. 

Liho came shooting out of whatever abyss she had melted into to greet them.  

“How long has she been out?” Natasha asked, crouching beside the couch to brush Mariya’s hair away from her forehead and press a kiss there. 

“Couple hours.” 

“Any issues?” 

“None. She even ate her broccoli.” 

“Oh?” Steve asked, surprised. “How’d you manage that?” 

“I had to make her a made up food Clint told her was real. We found a compromise but I get why he lost babysitting privileges. That’s the fourth made up thing he’s convinced her is real.” 

“That and he taught her how to make makeshift explosives. That’s teenage stuff. She’s too young now,” Natasha said, tucking a stray curl behind Mariya’s ear. The young girl continued to sleep soundly. 

Nat turned to look up at Steve who was smiling softly down at his daughter and then bent to easily scoop her up and carry her to her room. 

Bucky sat up and stretched, yawning as he did. 

“You guys look tired. Sure you don’t want me to stay a while longer?” 

“It’s okay. We’ve got her now. Thanks, Bucky. You’re a good uncle. She loves you a lot.” 

Bucky smiled, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Steve head upstairs with her. “Yeah, well, she’s a good kid. Makes my job easy.” 

“Sure, well, not that we wouldn’t have chosen you anyway given our options,” she began with an amused smile because although all the Avengers had babysat before, Bucky had the best record so far, “but she asks for you every time. So whatever you’re doing with your easy job, you’re doing it right. Thank you.” 

The smile on Bucky’s face wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Of course he knew Marsha cared for him and of course he had noticed that he did more with her than her other uncles—especially since he was the godfather—but to hear she actually wanted to spend as much time with him as she did? God, that made him happier than he had ever thought he could feel again. 

As terrified as he had been of this responsibility in the beginning, he couldn’t imagine anything he would rather do with his life. No title he had these days—Avenger, hero, the reclaimed Winter Soldier moniker—was as precious to him as ‘Masha’s Uncle’ was. 

“Of course. It’s my pleasure. I love her too.”