#boop the nose of the doggo or bucky?

[buckets-and-trees]

I want to boop his nose!

Tagged by lovely @footballffbarbiex

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[imaginetonyandbucky]

Hi there. I'm always on the look out for some fluff and I've seen this one with others: the 101 Dalmatians meet-cute. Either Bucky and Tony as Pongo and Perdita or as Roger and Anita, I'm good with either. But I def see Bucky more as the scheming doggo or bachelor and Tony as the more prim but subtly interested one. I've taken to imagining the corresponding couple usually to be Steggy or Clintasha but it doesn't really matter since the focus is obvs WinterIron. Thanks xoxo

A/N: It didn’t turn out to be a 101 Dalmatians AU but a general doggo AU, I hope the prompter isn’t too mad at me for that, but I found having Bucky and Tony be different breeds a bit more fitting.

Tony is a Chihuahua mostly because of this picture by Josh Lynch: [clickable link].

Bucky is a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog[wiki link] I found out that the beginning of this breed was a scientific experiment by the czechoslovakian military done in 1955 and if that isn’t fitting.

Their humans are Peggy and Steve respectively, but there is not much pairing happening and it can easily be ignored if that is not your thing.

The fic is in two parts and about 4000 words long.

Warnings: implied dog trauma and past injury

----

Borks and Scritches - Part I

Bucky loved the park.

There was lots of space for zoomsand nice dirt patches to roll around in and Steve, his human, alwaysthrew the flying disk here. Bucky loved the flying disk.

The park also had a lot of otherhumans but there was enough room to stay away from them. Bucky didn'tlike those, he didn't exactly know why, he just didn't, they scaredhim.

Today was a good day, it was windyand Steve threw the disk very far, Bucky ran after it at top speed,even with three legs he was very fast and caught the disk before ithit the ground. Sometimes he did a tumble though when he was too fastand couldn't stop in time. One front leg wasn't enough to get himthrough curves sometimes and he did a roll over his left shoulder,but Bucky didn't mind. It had been a lot worse when his leg had stillhurt, he couldn't run or jump, couldn't even walk properly. It wasbetter not having a leg at all and he was still fast. And sometimesSteve scratched where his leg used to be and it felt so good, likescratching an itch he didn't know he had.

The flying disk was high in theair and Bucky jumped just in time to catch it between his teeth andhe didn't do a tumble. Steve would be proud, he hoped, but when helooked back Steve wasn't even looking. A little disappointed hetrudged back and sat down, holding out the disk.

Steve didn't react, he was lookingat something - someone. There was another human, not far away on abench. She wasn't looking back so Bucky didn't know why Steve was sodistracted. Bucky huffed. He jabbed the disk into Steve's stomach andfinally he had his human's attention again. Steve took the disk andBucky shuffled backwards, ready for another throw.

The disk flew again.

Excited Bucky started a fast zoombut had to stop after just a few meters because the disk did a sadflop and landed on the ground not very far from Steve. Bucky lookedat it, looked at Steve, then looked at the human on the bench andpicked up the disk.

He ignored Steve's calls - now hewas noticing him - and slowly approached the human on the bench, earsclose to his head, tail tugged in. Something had to be special aboutthis one and while Bucky didn't like other human's besides Steve anda few of the neighbours that gave him a sneaky snack sometimes, hewanted to know more about this one.

[Read more ahead]

She didn't smell bad from adistance and when he approached she held out her hand for Bucky tosniff at. Once he had examined her scent more closely he thought shesmelled quite nice, very calm, not aggressive and not scared at all.A lot of people smelled of fear when Bucky got close to them, butthis one had none of the bad smells he had come to associate withother humans. Maybe Steve had smelled that too, but Steve's smellIngskills were quite bad, Bucky knew because he had once hidden sometreats under the couch cushions and Steve hadn't even noticed.

There was also the distinct smellof another dog. Bucky's ears perked up, he couldn't see the dog buthe was definitely there.

Steve was behind him now andtrying to hold onto his harness but Bucky hobbled closer, curious. Onthe other side of the human, there was the dog, in a small - house? -with an opening in the front. It reminded Bucky of his crate at homejust...smaller.

"I'm sorry, he usuallydoesn't do that. Bucky, come back."

The dog was tiny and he hadsquished himself into the back of the container, looking at him withbig black eyes. Bucky could smell he was scared.

"Bucky!"

Bucky turned, Steve's voice wasmore commanding this time and he dutifully gave him the flying diskwhen he held out his hand. He wanted to go back and look at the tinydog again but Steve threw the disk and it's allure was too strong andBucky couldn't help but chase after it. When he came back howeverSteve was talking to the other human and didn't pay him any attentionagain. The tiny dog still smelled really scared, so Bucky walked tohim and gave him the flying disk. It was his favorite toy and it madeBucky really happy, so it had to make the small dog happy too.

Well, he tried to give it to him,but the tiny dog's house was too small to fit the disk into theopening and Steve was bothering him again pulling on the harness. Sohe dropped the disk on the bench, he would have to find somethingdifferent.

"He seems to be reallyinterested in Tony." The female human suddenly said.

"I'm sorry." Steve saidand tried to pull Bucky away. "Usually, he stays far away frompeople, I don't know what got into him."

Bucky was on a mission however andvery easily got loose again to run across the lawn. A stick wouldcertainly fit into the house.

As it turned out, sticks didn'tfit, Bucky didn't understand why, they were perfectly fine sticks, agood size for throwing and chewing, but they didn't fit. It wasfrustrating. Steve had settled next to the other human and they werelaughing at him every time he came back with another stick. He'd showthem though, he had another idea.

It took him some time but afterwandering around the park for some time, carefully avoiding thehumans, and staying in eyesight to Steve so he didn't run away, Buckyfinally found what he was looking for. An abandoned toy. It was abright color and shaped like a bone, it didn't taste like a bonethough and was really soft. He tested if it was a squeaky by bitingdown and to his delight it was. It was perfect.

The toy smelled like another dogbut it was just lying around so Bucky figured he could take it.Happily he ran back to the bench.

Steve jumped up when he saw thetoy, probably very proud of Bucky because it fit perfectly intoTony's house. Bucky placed it very carefully at the entrance and thennosed at it until it was properly inside. Tony uncurled from the backand looked at him, then got up and smelled the toy, and thensomething magical happened because their wet noses touched for amoment and Bucky was overcome with happiness, his tail going haywire.

It only lasted for a momentbecause a human was suddenly yelling and Bucky pulled his head out ofTony's house to growl at them.

"Get your fucking mutt undercontrol! He stole my dog's toy!" A large man was approaching andBucky backed away, towards Steve, grr-borking the entire time. Therewas a big black dog with the human. He wasn't as big as Bucky butnevertheless he tried to be intimidating, he was pulling on hisleash, barking loudly, showing a lot of teeth.

Bucky was scared and soughtshelter behind Steve's legs, the man smelled aggressive and violent.He growled, trying to keep the human at a distance but he came closerdespite all his efforts.

"Hey, no need to be rude.Just a dog being playful, here's your toy." It was Steve's newfriend who spoke and she took the toy out of Tony's house and handedit over. Bucky whined, that was Tony's toy, but he didn't dare doanything else. Steve's hand was on his head and it calmed himsomewhat but he howled pitifully as he watched the evil human leavewith the toy.

"Thanks, Peggy, I think it'stime to go. It was nice to meet you, and Tony."

Bucky howled again when Steve putthe leash on him and tugged him away from the bench, away from Tony.

This was not a good day.

-----

The next day Steve took Bucky tothe park again. Bucky was excited and immediately checked if Tony wasback as soon as they stepped into the park. Unfortunately he couldn'tzoom very well because Steve was still attached to the leash. So hehalf ran, half dragged Steve to the bench and yes Tony was backagain. And Peggy too.

He sniffed Peggy's knees for ashort moment before sticking his head into Tony's house. The littledog booped his nose and Bucky barked excitedly.

"Hey, Steve." Peggysaid.

"Hey," Steve greetedback, "sorry about Bucky. He was really sad yesterday after weleft, wouldn't stop whining and howling, wolf dogs man. I mean, itsounds nice but not at 3 am. You tell me when it's too much for Tonyand we'll go to a different part of the park, alright?"

"I think Tony likes theattention."

Finally Steve detached himselffrom the leash and Bucky was free. He flopped down into the dirt androlled onto his back, Tony was looking out of his house, so Buckyrolled back around, keeping his front low, paw outstretched, rearhigh, he wiggled about woofing encouragingly to get Tony to play.

They were friends now and Buckywanted to play.

"I don't think Bucky's goingto have much luck trying to lure Tony out." Peggy said, soundingsad. "He only leaves his carrier around the house. I still thinkit's a miracle he doesn't growl and bark at Bucky at all. Every otherdog would have bite marks on their nose."

When still nothing happened andTony was just looking at Bucky, tilting his head slightly, Buckyrolled onto his side and huffed. Tony was frustrating, why couldn'the see that Bucky just wanted to play? Bucky closed his eyes,defeated. There was no purpose in his life now if his best frienddidn't want to play, he might as well just lie here. He howled sadlyevery once in a while.

Bucky lied there for an eternity,thinking of all the fun things he could have done with Tony untilsuddenly Peggy yelled and then four tiny paws landed on his rib cage,right were his leg used to be. Bucky's head jerked up and he was noseto nose with Tony, who had the audacity to lick across his muzzleafter letting Bucky wait for so long.

Before Bucky could lick back Tonyjumped off of him and started sniffing the ground. Bucky scrambledonto his legs and followed suit, finally something was happening.

"I can't believe this ishappening." Peggy whispered. "He's never...never donethat."

Tony really was small, when Buckystood next to him his ears didn't even reach Bucky's chest. So Buckywas careful and protected his little friend. They sniffed at theground together and Bucky wasn't even mad when Tony marked over thespot on the trash can that he had marked. They stayed close to thebench but that was alright, there were lots of things to smell anddiscover when one paid close attention.

And after discovering everythingthat could be discovered Tony wanted to play and Bucky was so excitedhe thought his tail was going to fly away from wagging too hard. Theybarked at each other and Bucky snoofed Tony in the stomach, whichTony reciprocated by playfully biting at Bucky's throat. It was allvery fun.

They wrestled a little bit in thedirt, well Bucky was rolling in it and Tony was jumping around andonto him. Until Tony yawned and trotted back to Peggy who picked himup, but instead of putting him back into his house Tony settled onher lap and watched as Steve threw the flying disk for Bucky. Withhis new friend watching Bucky put even more effort into catching it,doing more than one tumble in the process. He made sure to nuzzleTony every time he came back before running after the flying diskagain.

Eventually Bucky was exhaustedfrom all the running and rested his head on Steve's knee for headscratches. Steve and Peggy were sitting really close and so he couldsneak his snout into Peggy's lap and sniff at Tony, who had gone tosleep at some point. Tony didn't seem too interested in Bucky, butBucky was happy nevertheless. He had new friend, he never had afriend before. When Steve put his leash back on he only whined alittle bit that it was time to go home now.

~James