#dad!bucky x mum!reader

[imtryingbuck]

Neighbours.

~ gif not mine credit to owner ~

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky’s moved next door to you and your children, your children wants to play matchmaker.

Word count: 7,322

Warnings: fluff. angst (only a tiny bit though) children being adorable. reader nearly takes her finger off/blood. mention of a dead beat dad. Bucky being the cutest. Alpine being the cutest. swearing. mention of health insurance problems? I’m British so if I’ve gotten it wrong just…leave me alone. small mention of financial issues/being in debt. 

Masterlist

Opening the door to the apartment you shut it again, opening slowly before repeating the action a few more times, sighing in defeat that nothing had changed you took in the sight of the once cleaned apartment that now looked like a bomb had hit it.

Toys laid out on the floor, your daughters toy prams laying on their sides with the baby dolls hanging out of them, legos scattered around, broken crayons laid amongst the chaos.

“Kids?” You called out as you removed your coat.

“Oh…hi Y/n the kids are next door” Poppy your kid’s babysitter says as she pops her head around the corner.

“With Ms Hopewell?”

“Um no the new guy”.

Your heart stopped. The apartment next door had been empty since you and the kids moved in to your apartment two years ago, hearing that there was now a tenant living there didn’t bother you what bothered you was that it was a man who was alone with your children whilst the babysitter was-

“What was that?”

“They, um their next door” Poppy replies quickly.

“No I got that bit but what I want to know is who just coughed?”

“I-it’s my boyfriend-“

Oh your day just kept getting better and better.

“Get out. Your sacked”

“B-but Y-“

“No. Tell him to put his shirt on and I want you both to leave my home. Now”

The regret of not listening to Marina the mum of your daughters friend who had warned you not to hire the sixteen year old babysitter was hitting full force but at the time you was desperate and in need of a babysitter so you could work. Now you felt foolish that you gave her the benefit of the doubt, just for her to think it was acceptable to bring her boyfriend who you did not know into your home and to allow your children to be next door with a complete stranger.

Not listening to Poppy’s excuses you told her one more time to leave as you went next door where you could now hear your children’s cheerful voices.

The front door to the apartment was open, calling out for your kids where you heard them running towards you.

“Momma”

“What the hell do you think you two are doing? How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers.” You scolded despite seeing them okay and well.

“Mr Bucky isn’t a stranger momma” Cora your daughter says sheepishly.

“Mama” Jasper your son - the youngest out of the two - laughs as he pulls on your shirt.

Before you could reply to either child you hear soft footsteps coming towards you.

“I’m sorry Ma’am-“

“You can’t just let strange kids into your home-“

You cut yourself off when you look up. Not expecting a six foot, built like a brick wall yet looked soft oddly enough man. His bright blue eyes shined through the dimmed hallway, brown hair long enough to be pulled up in a bun that sat low on the back of his head, with a few strands of wavy hair framing his handsome face.

“Momma Mr Bucky has a black arm and it’s cold!” Cora giggled pointing at her left arm.

“Cora!” You scolded, apology on the tip of your tongue before this Mr Bucky laughed.

“It’s true, I do have a black arm” And that’s when you notice it.

“Momma guess how he lost it? Guess, momma guess” Cora jumped around on the spot causing Jasper to do the same.

“I-umm I’m not sure sweetie”

“He didn’t eat his veggies and his arm fell off!” She laughed “he told me and Jaspy that we have to eat all our veggies so it don’t happen to us” her eyes widened comically.

Looking up at the man who you assumed the worst of as he stood there with his arms crossed and a huge grin on his lips making his eyes crinkle.

“It’s true ma’am”

“Mama kitty” Jasper tugs on your shirt again, taking your eyes away from the man to your son who was pointing at a ball of white fluff as it came trotting over “name kitty mama”

“Her names Alpine-“ Cora tries to correct.

“No name kitty” Jasper pouts causing you and the man to laugh.

“You’re very right, her names kitty” he smiles softly. “By the way I’m James, well everyone calls me Bucky” He holds his right hand out for you to shake.

You tried to ignore the way his hand was warm, calloused yet soft, shaking his hand. “I’m Y/n”.

“It’s nice to meet you. And listen I’m really sorry that I had your kids in here, um they were outside in the hallway-“

“Excuse me?”

“T-they were outside” he points behind you “I had just came back from the store when I saw them, um Cora said that Poppy had a boy inside and they were told to play in the hallway” He winces as he scratches the back of his neck.

“It’s true momma. They were kissing” you grimaced and the anger you felt for your now former babysitter increased.

“Cora said you was at work and at the time I didn’t see the harm in letting them in to my apartment b-but now I see I did the wro-“

“No no no, I-thank you.” You cut him off, feeling slightly ashamed for overreacting.

“It’s okay, they’re great kids.”

“Thank you, I best get them back so I can feed them. I’m sorry if they caused any problems for you” you smiled, finally stand whilst picking Jasper up and placing him on your hip.

“They didn’t cause any problems, don’t worry. Bye Mr Jasper bye Miss Cora”

“Bye bye Mr Bucky and Miss Alpine” Cora waves already leaving.

Jasper just waves, his thumb sliding into his mouth.

“Bye Bucky”

“Bye, oh um Y/n… I would wash the bedding, the bedroom closest to this wall if I was you” He says grimacing as he knocks on the wall to his left.

Your bedroom.

“Great. Just great, thanks for the tip”. Giving him a tight lip smile you give him an awkward wave and walk back into your home.

“I-I’m sorry Y/n please just give me another chance” Poppy begs.

“Absolutely not. Now I want you to leave”

“But I need this job Y/n please”

“You told my children, the same children I pay you to look after, to go and play in the hallway so you could have sex in my bed! Oh don’t look so shocked, I found the used condom on my floor - thanks for that. Now don’t come back”

“Wi-will you give me a referen-“ You slammed the door in her face.

The audacity of this girl.

“Mama kitty” Jasper catches your attention and sure enough there’s Alpine walking around in a circle around your two year old.

“How did she get in here?” All you got in response was Jasper sticking his tongue out out you. “Let’s get her back home yeah?”

Now here came the tricky part, did you pick her up? Or just open the door and pray to a higher power that she didn’t run off?

You really hoped that she wouldn’t run off as the thought of chasing after a cat exhausted you but picking up the cat wasn’t your fan favourite either, from thirteen years old you’ve had a fear of touching cats after the neighbours tabby dug his claws into your skin and clung on for dear life.

“Okay bubba I need you not to move, I’ll be right back okay” great parenting leaving a two year old home alone, you scold yourself. Running out of the door and rapidly knocking on Bucky’s.

“Hey, Y/n are you okay?”

“Alpines in my apartment and I’m scared to touch cats so… come get her”

“Shit. I’m sorry I don’t know how I missed her getting out-wait did you just say you’re scared to touch them?”

Rolling your eyes as he chuckles “don’t laugh it’s a real phobia”

That has him practically crying. “So you’re afraid of cats?”

“No, I just don’t like touching them unless they’re asleep-stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry doll- hi Mr Jasper, come on missy you’re scaring our neighbour” he laughs as he bends down to pick up the cotton ball of fluff.

“I’m not scared of her!”

“Whatever you say doll, whatever you say”

“It’s-“

“A real phobia I know” winking at you “where’s Miss Cora?”

“At her friends for a sleepover so it’s just me and little man tonight” even though your daughter is two blocks away, you couldn’t help but miss her and mainly worry despite knowing she’s safe.

“That sounds like fun, I’ll see you”

And just as he’s about to cross over the threshold Jasper interrupts him. “Kitty stay”

“No baby kitty has to go home now”

“No kitty stay mama”

“Not tonight baby”

Here comes the waterworks in 3…2…1…

Jasper burst into a fit of tears, throwing himself backwards kicking his little arms and legs out.

“Kitty stay” he stutters, it breaks your heart hearing him cry like that.

“Ma-maybe if it’s okay with you Alpine can stay for a bit? I don’t mind honestly and she’s great with kids” Bucky offers and at his words Jaspers tears start to cease.

“Yeah umm yeah that’s okay with me” you say smiling lightly at Bucky.

“Behave missy” he tells the cat who’s trying to jump out of his arms, and once she’s free she runs over to Jasper rubbing herself all over him that he starts giggle at her fur tickling him.

“Once he’s asleep just knock on the wall and I’ll come and get her-“

“Stay” you blurt out instantly feeling the heat warm your cheeks “th-that’s if you don’t have anything better to-“

“I would love to” he smiles.

And so Bucky and Alpine join you and Jasper for dinner and some cartoons.

You was sitting next to Bucky on the couch when he taps your shoulder and nods his head in the direction of Jasper and Alpine, you couldn’t help but take your phone out and taking a picture of the two cuddled up together, fast asleep.

Months had passed before you had even realised. Bucky and Alpine spent most of their days now at your apartment, which you couldn’t complain as you now had another adult to talk to.

You had just left to go and get something from the store leaving Bucky alone with the kids. Jasper was playing with his toys with Alpine whilst Bucky and Cora was sat on the couch together.

Everything was good until.

“Momma doesn’t have a boyfriend” Cora told Bucky causing him to choke on his drink.

“Oh…”

“Do you want to be momma’s boyfriend?”

“I erm I’m not sure why?”

“Momma will make you happy, she makes me and Jaspy happy and she makes us dino nuggies for dinner and she reads us bedtime stories and makes sure there’s no monsters under the bed”

“Really?”

“Yep she would do that for you too if you was her boyfriend” the six year old put her hand on Bucky’s left arm as she told him.

“I’m not sure Cora…”

“Why not? Do you not like my momma?”

“I do sweetheart but it’s just a little bit more complicated than that”

“Momma said she likes you, I asked her. You can make her happy and she’ll make you happy. I don’t want momma to cry anymore”

“What do you mean?”

“She cries at night when she’s in bed but she doesn’t know that I know. If you be her boyfriend she won’t cry anymore”

Bucky knows Y/n cries at night, due to his enhanced hearing he can hear her. It pains him to hear her sobs until she’s eventually cried herself to sleep.

The knowledge that Cora knows it happens too makes his heart hurt. She’s six years old and all she wants is her momma to be happy even going as far to ask him - the ex brainwashed assassin who’s over a hundred years old - for help.

And the way she’s looking at him doesn’t help.

“So… will you think about it?” Cora asks when she doesn’t receive a response.

“Yeah I’ll think about it”

Five minutes go by.

“Have you thought about it?”

“Not yet”

“Okay”

Another five minutes go by.

“Now?”

“Still thinking Cora”

Jumping up from the couch when he hears the door come open he jogs over to help you with the shopping.

“Hey, thanks you’re a lifesaver” sighing in relief as the bags are released from your arms.

“No problem”

“Did they behave?”

“Yeah, well apart from Miss Cora” he winks at Cora as she comes over.

“No momma it was Mr Bucky that was naughty”

“Why what did he do?”

“He ate all the cookies and didn’t let me have one” she pouts.

You had to stifle the laugh from coming out as Bucky’s eyes widen and jaw dropped open, gasping dramatically at the claims.

“Y/n it was the other way round! I swear”

“No it wasn’t momma I have witnesses” holding her one finger up to you she runs back into the living room to get the witnesses. Bucky stands there with his arms crossed and lightly tapping his foot.

“They saw it happen” laying her dolls down on the counter she looks at you then at Bucky with a smug smile.

“Y/n whatever they say it’s a lie!”

That time you couldn’t hold the laughter in any more.

“You two…” shaking your head.

Seeing a grown man arguing with a six year old and her toys about them being liars makes you laugh even more.

Later that evening Cora says goodnight to Bucky and Alpine, you hear her ask him “have you thought about it now?” Causing your eyebrows to furrow.

Walking him to the door you ask “what was Cory talking about before she went to bed?”

“Oh nothing doll, see you tomorrow”.

You was in the kitchen cooking dinner when the knock at the door had Cora running straight towards it.

“Hi Mr Bucky hi Alpine”

“Hello Miss Cora”

“I’m a princess today”

“I see, hi Princess Cora” he chuckled.

“Hello, would you like to come into my castle?”

“Yes please, thank you”

Their footsteps got closer towards you, turning round you saw Alpine run past jumping straight on to the couch where Jasper was sitting.

“Momma Mr Bucky’s here” she told you before going back to the living room.

“Hi Bucky”

“Hey, so Cora’s a princess today then?”

“Yep. That’s her fourth dress change since she came home from school”

Chuckling as he sits down on the stool he watches you move around the small kitchen. “Do you need any help?”

“Oh no I’m fine, how was work?” You asked.

“It was fine just the usual, Sam being a pain in my backside”

“Fair enough” you laughed “hey um Bucky I need to ask a huge favour, you can say no okay so don’t fee-“

“Doll ask me”

“Remember you can say no, okay? But I have to work tomorrow as someone’s off ill and it’s Saturday so I was wondering if it’s no issue for you to look after the kids for me?”

He doesn’t even think about his answer as he answers “of course, just tell me when I should come over”

“Really? Oh Bucky you’re a lifesaver, I’ll have to pay you next week if that’s okay?”

“No absolutely not Y/n, I’m not going to take money off you”

“But I can’t ask you to look after them for free”

“Your not, I’m not taking money off you doll and that’s final”

He gets up off the stool and moves into the living room, you hear him tell the kids that they’ll be spending the day with him and the kids cheering.

Ever since you sacked Poppy you’ve been struggling, luckily your boss has been understanding that you need to work certain hours however the hours you now work is way less then what you use to, tomorrow will be the day you work longer that five hours.

Ms Hopewell from next door normally looks after Jasper but since it was the weekend she didn’t need to, plus her daughter was taking her out for the day-

“Shit-fuck goddamnit!” So lost in your thoughts you didn’t realise how close the knife was to your finger that was until you felt the sharp pain and warm sensation of blood trickling down your hand.

“Shi-shoot Y/n are you okay?” Bucky comes running over stopping when he see the blood.

“I’m fine-is it suppose to hurt this much? It really hurts”

“Doll we need to get you to the hospital”

“No, no it’s fine I’ll put a plaster on it-can you hand me the first aid kit from the cabinet”

“Y/n you need stitches-“ He attempts

“I can’t. I don’t have insurance anymore” you mutter.

“What?”

“The kids have but I had to give mine up so I could have insurance for Jasper. I can’t afford to pay the hospital bill Bucky”

You’ve never been ashamed of the fact that you couldn’t afford treatment for yourself it was just one of those things, your kids or you - it was an easy choice. There’s only ever been one time that you slightly regretted that decision and that’s when you broke your ankle just before you moved into the apartment, it had healed fully after nearly a year of being broken and the only time it affects you is in the winter or when you stood up to fast.

You knew he was right about needing to get stitches as you was pretty sure you could see the bone - you couldn’t - but you couldn’t help the shame that crept into your veins admitting it to Bucky that you couldn’t afford to pay for said stitches. The thought of getting another letter with big bold red letters telling you that you was in debt made your heart pang with fear.

Despite the pain in your finger and the cramp that was starting to seep into your hand you was still not going to go to the hospital.

“I’ll pay for it doll. Come on let’s get it sor-“

“No absolutely not. I’m not your charity case Bucky, just pass the first aid kit over and I’ll put a plaster on” You snapped. Instantly regretting it when you see Bucky’s eyes go sad.

“I’m not saying you are Y/n but a plaster isn’t going to do anything doll, I honestly don’t mind paying please just… just let me help you out”

“I can’t Bucky okay, I just can’t ask you to do that for me.”

“Okay. Okay how about I take you to my work place we have a doct-“

“What part of I can’t afford it don’t you understand?”

“She’ll do it for free! If you could stop interrupting me for one second. Dr Cho will do it and she won’t charge I promise.”

Nibbling on your lip as blood splashed down the counter you started to shake your head.

“I can ring her now and ask her to come here if you want?”

“I-will she?”

“Of course give me a minute” he steps away to ring the doctor. “She’s on her way” he comes closer and helps you wrap your hand in the tea towel.

“Bucky, I’m really sorry for snapping I-“

“Y/n it’s fine okay. Cho’s on her way she’s nice and she’ll fix your finger”

“Momma what happened?” Cora goes pale at the sight of blood.

“Momma had a bit of an accident Princess Cora, can you go back to Mr Jasper and Alpine for me?” Bucky says before you had the chance.

“Okay but is momma okay?”

“Yes sweetheart she is, don’t worry”

Cora looks at you waiting for confirmation and when she gets a smile and a nod she runs back to her brother and Alpine.

“Thank you Buck-shit it’s really stinging”

“I know, she should be her-“ the knock at the door cuts him off, just before he walks off he kisses you on your forehead.

Hearing him talk to the doctor your fingers lightly grazed the part where he had kissed, a small shy smile made its way on your lips.

“Cho this is Y/n, Y/n this is Cho”

“Hi it’s a pleasure to meet you, James said that you’ve injured your finger?”

“Hi, and yeah I-I wasn’t looking at what I was doing and sliced myself” awkwardly lifting your hand up that now had dry blood on your arm.

“Hi Miss who are you?” Cora comes over with her hand on her hip.

“Hello I’m Helen”

“Hello Helen I’m Princess Cora, that’s momma, Mr Bucky and over there is Jasper and Alpine”

Helen curtsy’s at Cora making the six year old giggle “It’s nice to meet your family Princess Cora”

The implication that Bucky was apart of your family didn’t slip your notice and by the look of Bucky’s face it didn’t him either, neither one of you said anything to correct her though.

Cora walks off once again and Helen turns her attention back to you, unwrapping the towel she turned to Bucky telling him what she needed out of her medical bag.

With him distracted you looked at Helen “I-I can’t pay you so it’s okay just to put a plaster on it, it’ll be fine in a few days”

“Don’t be silly I’m not charging you” she says softly. “Thank you James, Y/n this might hurt but I’ll try and be as gentle as I can”

It was weird because it hurt until Bucky held your other hand. Strange.

“All done, if it’s easier for you I’ll come back here in a few weeks to remove the stitches”

You thank her once again as Bucky walks her to the door. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay. Bucky I really am so-“

His lips cut you off. Said lips being attached to yours.

“Stop apologising, it’s my turn now - Y/n I’m really sorry for that” he says once he’s pulled away.

“Did you not like it? Was it bad?” You panic, it was your first kiss in over two years to you it was magical but not to him as he apologising.

“God no doll, to both questions. It’s just I should have asked first-why are you smiling like that?”

“C-can I have another one?”

Bucky chuckles just as his lips gently touch yours again.

A week after nearly chopping your finger off and having not one, not two but three kisses with Bucky, he knocked on the door and let himself in like you told him to do.

“Hi Buck”

“Hey doll, where’s my two favourite people in the world at?” Pressing a kiss to your temple.

“Jaspers down for a nap and Cora’s in her room, Buck she’s upset”

“Why? Who’s hurt her?”

“One of the girls in her class is having a sleepover and invited all the other girls in the class, apart from Cory”

Your heart breaking again remembering how sad she looked coming out of school, normally she was all smiles and talking a thousand miles per hour, filling you in on what she had done that day but not today. It wasn’t until you got home where she finally broke down in tears.

“When?”

“Tonight, apparently all the other girls knew and was told not to tell Cora”

“Is her friend going?”

“Abbie? No she’s in a different class so she’s hasn’t been invited either”

“Give me 20 minutes and I’ll be back”

“Where are you going?”

“It’s a surprise doll” he winks before kissing you and leaving.

And sure enough twenty minutes later he was walking back through the door. This time he had two bags in his hands.

“Bucky?”

“Me, you and the kids are having our own sleep over and it’s going to be way better than that snobby-“

“She’s six Bucky”

“And? She didn’t invite the best girl to her sleep over so there for… she’s snobby”

Shaking your head you couldn’t help but smile as he pulled different snacks and drinks out of the bag onto the coffee table.

“So I’m thinking that we’ll make a pillow fort, watch movies and eat snacks and I’ll order us a pizza from Cora’s favourite place?”

Every fibre in your being was screaming at you just say those three words but you couldn’t, not yet at least. You and Bucky wasn’t even dating all you did was share a few kisses, it’ll be weird to blurt out them words.

“Mr Bucky you’re here” Cora says coming out of her bedroom.

“I’m here sweetheart, did your momma not tell you what was happening tonight?”

“No, what’s happening?”

“Us four are having a sleepover”

“Really?” She squeals and runs into Bucky who lifts her up. “Thank you thank you! This is the best day ever!”

You hear Jasper call out for you from his room so you leave Bucky and Cora alone. Picking Jasper up from his bed and walk in to the living room where the two year old says something that stops not only you in your tracks but Bucky and Cora.

“Dada”

His little arms reaching out to the only man in the room. Bucky’s eyes bounce from you then to Jasper, then to you. You can see it in his eyes that he’s begging you to tell him what to do but you can’t, you’re completely frozen.

“Bucky” he says slowly as to make Jasper understand but all he receives is-

“Dada” Jasper giggles and repeats the word a few more times.

Bucky finally puts Cora down and slowly makes his way over to you two and when he’s just in reach Jaspers jumped out of your arms and into Bucky’s. As soon as Bucky has hold of him you walk out of the room going straight to your bedroom. Shutting the door you burst out crying.

“Doll? I’m coming in okay?” It had been close to ten minutes since you had walked out. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry”

“Why are you sorry for?” Wiping your tears he pulls you into his chest.

“I tried correcting him but he just wouldn’t stop, even Cora told him not to”

“Did she say anything to you? About their father I mean.”

“No she just looked really upset.”

“He erm, he-“

“Y/n you don’t have to tell me, it’s okay”

“No no I want to, I trust you. He left, well he kicked me and Cora out when I was four months pregnant. Everything was fine that morning when we woke up, he went to work I stayed at home and when I was putting his dinner out he came home with an envelope in his hands and threw it on the table, he walked into Cora’s bedroom walked out with a huge bag a few minutes later then did the same with our room” wiping the fresh tears that had fallen, you hadn’t spoken about that day to anyone - not even your family.

“He told me to open the letter so I did an-and inside was paper, right. When I read it, it said that he had given up his rights to Cora and the unborn baby. I asked him why he was doing this and he told me I ruined his life when Cora was born and I was doing it again with the new baby, said he wanted to live his life without being tied down. Kicked me and a crying three year old out, at first I thought he had been cheating on me but it turns out he wasn’t, there was no one on the side he just wanted to live his life”

Bucky was practically shaking, you could feel the anger coming from him.

“I found out a few months later that all of our friends knew what he was doing, promised him that they would keep his secret and that he started the process when I was a few weeks along. Everyday he told me and Cory he loved us, spoke to the bump saying he couldn’t wait to meet them all while he and everyone around us knew what he was doing.”

“Y/n… doll I’m so sorry”

“Why it’s not your fault, you know Cory never even mentioned him after it happened not once, I thought she would of because she was such a daddy’s girl three nearly four years old and she knew, she knew he didn’t want her anymore so she never asked when she was going to see him or called out for him during the night. If he had just told me he didn’t want me anymore that I would have been okay with bu-but to not want anything to do with his kids? It didn’t make sense to me”

“Has he even been in contact with you since?”

“No. I got a phone call once from his friend who told me that he was really struggling to sell the house and somehow it was my fault”

“How was it your fault?”

“God knows, he started rambling off then started calling me names when he heard Ms Hopewell’s son talking in the background, said I had moved on pretty quick when I hadn’t. He was there helping me fix up my bed after his mum found out I was sleeping on the floor”

“Doll-“

“Don’t apologise again please Bucky, I got through it I’m fine now. I think hearing Jasper call you dada made unwanted emotions come up you know? You’ve obviously realised that he doesn’t speak much even at two there’s only a few words he can say, I don’t know where I went wrong with that but I’ve tried, I’ve tried teaching him other words but he just don’t.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong Y/n you are an incredible mum, those two kids out there are the most sweetest loving people. Jasper will start talking soon, I just know it”

You tried, you really did.

“I love you”

Oh the silence was killing you.

“I love you too” he smiled softly.

He leant in for a kiss when-

“Is Bucky our new daddy?”

“Not yet sweetheart” not yet played in your mind over and over even as he stands up winking at you and taking Coras hand in his and walks back to the living room.

That night after all the excitement needed to come to an end all four of you climbed into your bed. Cora tucked snuggly in your arms, Jasper in Bucky’s, Bucky’s left arm over your waist pulling all three of you closer to him. Alpine slept curled up in a ball at the bottom.

For the first time in just over two years you went to sleep dried faced and peacefully.

And unbeknownst to you, it was the first time in a very very long time that Bucky only had happy dreams as he slept.

It had been a month since the sleepover and confession, within that month Bucky had practically moved in. Alpine spent all her time with Cora and Jasper, sleeping with Jasper at night.

Bucky had to go on a work trip, he’d been gone for just over two weeks now and to be truthful you was missing him even if you did speak to him everyday, him ringing every night to say goodnight to the kids and speaking to you for a few minutes before he had to leave.

It was Wednesday afternoon and you couldn’t stop worrying when Bucky hadn’t called you the night before or that day. As you was cleaning the apartment the knock at the door made you jump. Cora went to jump up and answer it but since you knew it wasn’t Bucky you told her to stop receiving a frown in response.

Answering the door you froze.

“Hi, are you Y/n?” Nodding your head at the man he smiled. “Hi I’m-“

“Momma it’s Captain America!” Cora squealed from behind you.

Turning his attention from you to Cora he smiled softly “hello you must be Miss Cora, Bucky’s told me all about you”

“You know Mr Bucky? Momma he knows Bucky”

“I-I know sweetie” your eyes still trained on the blonde “would you like to come in?”

“Thank you”

Pulling Cora closer to you, you watched as Steve walked into your home. You couldn’t put your finger on it but for some reason you didn’t like the feeling you had in your stomach. Steve walked into the living room where Jasper and Alpine was.

“Cora take Jasper and Alpine into your room please”

“Why momma?”

“Just do as I say”

Cora listened and picked up her younger brother who had Alpine in his arms and walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her you let out a deep breath.

“Hi, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, is Bucky alright?”

“Yeah he’s fine, he asked me to come over and pick you guys up. It’s better if he explains”

“Where is he?”

“He’s at the tower, I need you to pack some clothes and come with me”

“For how long?”

“Enough for a few days”

“What’s Bucky’s favourite book?”

“Huh?”

“What’s his favourite book?” You asked again with your arms crossed.

“The Hobbit, why?”

“Okay, I’ll be right back”

“Why did you ask me that?”

“Just to see if it was really you” Steve’s laugh made you smile as you walked into Cora’s room.

Once packed Steve stood there holding the bags in one hand and in the other Cora’s hand as they both stood watching with amused smiles as you struggled to get Alpine into the cat carrier that Bucky had brought over a few weeks earlier when you both took her to the vets.

After almost ten minutes of struggling all it took was Jasper to pick her up and place her inside.

Never in your life have you been more thankful for your two year old.

“Bucky gave me his car keys” giving Steve a questionable look, he smiled “he said that he brought car seats for the kids and since we don’t have any laying around the tower it would be better if I took his car”

You didn’t know that he had brought car seats…

“O-oh”

You watched in awe as Steve strapped Cora into her seat that was princess themed easily, when he caught you staring at him “Bucky and I practiced with Morgan, Pepper her mum helped us figure it out. Got to say we’re naturals now” he laughed.

“I honestly didn’t know he was doing this”

“He really likes you and these kids, don’t tell him I told you this but he’s been reading books about kid’s development and stuff.”

“No he hasn’t…” you say as you put your seatbelt on.

“He has. That’s how I found out about you guys”

“I-I’m-wow. I didn’t know”

Steve chuckles at your shocked expression, “like I said he really likes you”

The rest of the drive was quiet between you and Steve, Cora asking the blonde a million of questions about everything and anything and him answering all of them with as much enthusiasm as she gave.

You didn’t have very much time to stare in fascination at the huge tower as Steve pulled into the underground garage, the squeals from both Cora and Jasper had your attention going to where they were shouting, Bucky stood there with his hands deep in his pockets and a large smile on his face as the car pulled up to a stop, going straight to the back door where Jasper was sat.

“Hey little man”

“Dada!”

“I’m here buddy, come on let’s get you out of this seat, yeah”.

Steve had already gotten out and making his way to help Cora out of her seat.

“Bucky it’s Captain America and he’s my friend” she said making both men smile.

“Is he now? Am I still your friend?”

“Of course Bucky! Your my best friend”

You had removed yourself from the car and made your way to get the bags out of the boot when Steve’s voice stopped you.

“I’ll get them don’t worry”

“You’ve done enough-“

“No honestly it’s fine”

"Come on doll, he'll be fine plus everyone's dying to meet you” Bucky says as he places Jasper further onto his hip.

"Are you sure Steve?"

"I'm sure, don't worry"

Reluctantly leaving Steve to grab the bags you take Bucky's free hand and hold onto Cora's, all four of you make your way into the large building.

"Doll, after I introduce you to the team you and I need to talk” Bucky whispered in your ear making you nervous slightly. 

“Ah here’s the Manchurian Candidate’s little family, welcome I’m-“

“Iron man!” Cora cut him off.

“You know who I am then?”

“Yes! You fly in the air and it’s so cool!” She says excitedly.

“I fly too” Sam Wilson laughs - Cora’s eyes go wide at seeing him.

“T-the Falcon! Momma look it’s the Falcon a-and Black Widow an-and Scarlet Witch! A-a-and momma it’s Thor!” She spoke so fast she started to stutter, her entire body shaking with excitement making everyone chuckle.

You all heard hurried footsteps and a voice speaking with a hint of panic come closer. “Are they here? I’m sorry I’m late”

The loud gasp had everyone’s eyes snapping down to Cora - including yours and Bucky’s. “I-it’s Bruce! M-momma he-it-Bruce-Hulk” she lets go of your hand and runs up to a very confused looking Bruce “I’m-your-your hulk! You’re my favourite! I have so so so so so many toys of you don’t I momma? I do Bruce!” Once again everyone chuckles at her, not that she pays any attention to them, too busy looking up at the man who she’s pretended to be when she’s playing.

“Hi, you must be Cora?” Bruce says with a soft hue coating his cheeks.

Her eyes widen comically, turning to you slowly her chest rising and falling fast. “B-Bruce knows my name mo-momma”

“I know beautiful, just breathe okay”

“Can I hug you please?” She asks politely and nearly squeals when he nods and crouches down to her level. “This is the best day ever!” She declares whilst keeping her arms around Bruce’s neck.

Whilst the team was distracting the kids Bucky took your hand and led you both to his room. “I need to tell you something, and maybe ask you something.”

“Okay?”

“When I was in Wakanda Shuri promised me that if I ever wanted to go back I was welcome, and that I could live there, work there, have a life there and… and doll I want to retire, I’m done with this life, I’ve been doing it for so long.”

“Do it.” You said after a few minutes of silence, the hopeful look in his eyes hurt your heart, and even though it meant that what ever you two were was now at an end and you would have to explain to the kids that they wouldn’t see him or Alpine again, you couldn’t find it in yourself to ask him not to go.

“What?”

“Retire, move to Wakanda and have an amazing life there.” You smiled softly at him. “You deserve all the happiness in the world, you deserve to be free Bucky.”

“B-But that’s the thing Y/n, I have you and the kids and I don’t want to leave you three behind.”

“You can always visit or we could visit you?”

Moving closer to you, taking your hands in his, he shakes his head. “No doll, I don’t think you understand. I’m in love with you and I love your kids like they’re my own and I’m happier than I have ever been since meeting you three, I want to ask if you will move with me? If-if not I can stay here with you, I don’t want to lose my family”

For the past year Bucky lived happily in Wakanda, true to her word Shuri welcomed him with open arms and even showed him a farm house that she got built just for him - right where his hut use to be. He had his own farm, his own sanctuary and he loved every single part of it.

Bucky would admit that he had missed New York, especially Steve and the little life he had for himself there but he knew he made the right decision by walking away from it all.

As he was walking towards his home some of the local children were playing with a football, all stopping their game to run over to him, all wanting a hug from the White Wolf as they still called him.

“Daddy!”

“Ah, there’s my little girl! How are you princess?”

“I’m okay, are we going home?”

“You can stay out and play for a little bit? I don’t think momma will be mad.”

“No, I want to go home now.” Watching as she waves goodbye to her friends, she lifts her arms out for him to pick her up.

“You are so heavy now.”

“No I’m not!” She giggles.

Walking through the gate and down the pathway Bucky opens the door, helping his little girl take her shoes off as well as his own, Alpine trots over to them giving them a welcome home meow.

“Momma we’re home!”

They both stand there hearing footsteps come closer to them. “Did you have fun Cory?”

“I did momma, where’s Jaspy?”

“He’s in the living room baby. Hey handsome.”

“Hi beautiful.”

When Bucky asked if you would move to Wakanda with him, you was skeptical, it’s not that you didn’t want to go but you had two children to think about. You asked Cora about it and she seemed happy about moving to a new place, Tony let Bucky take a jet for the four of you to fly out to see how the kids took to the place.

Cora’s jaw dropped wide open when she met Shuri. “A-A real princess!” She stuttered, you thought she was going to collapse the second Shuri opened her arms for the six year old to hug her. Cora instantly made friends with some of the children she met, and when she met the farm animals it was that moment she was sold on moving there.

Jasper seemed happy too, he was fascinated by the goats and wanted to touch each and every one of them. Bucky told you that Alpine now had competition.

After a few days in the beautiful land you came back to New York, the next day you sat the kids down and asked them if they wanted to stay - both shaking their heads- or go to Wakanda - both of them screaming ���yes’. A week later both yours and Bucky’s apartments were empty and ready for new people to call the places home.

“How are my babies doing?”

“Jasper and Alpine decided to wreck the play room.” You both chuckled. “And this little one has been very active today.” Bucky’s hands went straight to your growing bump, his eyes lighting up at feeling his third child move around in the love of his life’s stomach.

Five months ago you found out you were pregnant, and whilst you was happy you couldn’t help but feel nervous about Bucky’s behaviour changing towards Cora and Jasper, when you told him he burst out crying and kept saying that he was going to be a dad again, he kissed you and your stomach. It wasn’t just you that was scared but Cora was as well, Bucky promised that he would love all his children equally, later that night he promised you that nothing would change and that he is still Cora and Jaspers dad regardless.

“I love you and I love our perfect family.”

Tags: @imcinnamoons | @pigeonmama | @capsbestgirl77

[welikeimagines-andfandoms]

Don’t Drink- Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Bucky comforts crying reader when Tony goes too far

Word count: 955

TW: discussions of alcoholism, self harm and neglectful family

Most of the night you had been lively, energetic and maybe even a little flirty with a certain brunette super soldier, but when that question came out of Tony’s mouth, in front of every one, you couldn’t help shrink into yourself.

You are by no means a shy person, I mean sometimes you can be closed off but you’re happy to talk to anyone, which is what you had been doing.

The typical Stark party was starting to wind down and you and your friends had found a couch and were happily talking. You sat sipping your lemonade, now Nat was no longer manning the bar, her amazing mocktails were off the menu. You were both listening and talking to your friends, and everything was going great. Until that damn question rung loud across your friends, and cutting you to the core.

“Well why doesn’t y/n drink?” Tony shouted drunkly, causing everyone to stop their conversations and stare between you and he.

The tension in the room suddenly became thick as some of your friends looked at you with worrying looks, and some glaring at Tony. You didn’t blame Tony, and if he’d just accepted the excuse you gave it would have been fine. He didn’t know about your dad or your family, only a few of the team did, but he didn’t have to push.

“I mean come on, it’s a party, we’re all drinking and having a good time, maybe a few drinks might loosen you up a bit. Maybe if you had a drink or two, you might even get lucky,” Tony winked at you.

This got people annoyed.

“Come on, Tony, that’s enough,” Steve said, both he and Rhodey trying to usher him away, while Natasha held your hand and Bucky looked at you with sweet eyes.

“Well why doesn’t she?” He shouted, refusing to leave and demanding an answer like a child.

This confrontation had flooded you with shame and embarrassment, but now as you stared into his stupid drunk eyes, all you felt was rage.

“Maybe because unlike you, I don’t want to turn into an asshole like my dad! Maybe because if I drink I might cut myself like my mum used to! Maybe I don’t drink because I don’t want to turn into a pathetic alcoholic like you or my shitty fucking dad!” You shouted back at the man, your skin hot, chest heaving and tears began to fill your eyes.

All humour had left Tony’s eyes at your confession and he hung his head in shame, while attempting a weak apology. Not wanting to hear it or hear the pity of your friends, you stormed off. It had been a lovely night, but of course, Tony had to ruin it.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Natasha growled at Tony as your friends watched you storm away.

As Maria and Yelena came over to calm Nat, Bucky made his way for the door you left from.

It didn’t take long for him to find you, following the aching sounds of your crying. The sound of your upset hurt him, but as he saw you sitting on the corridor floor, his heart absolutely shattered.

“Oh, doll,” Bucky gently sighed as he bent down to be face to face with you.

Raising your head from your hands revealed a makeup stained face and blood shot eyes, the sight destroying Bucky even further.

Not wanting any pity from anyone, you tried to stand to leave, but Bucky was faster. He sat down on the floor and dragged you into his lap, holding you so you couldn’t leave and be alone with this feeling.

“I’m here, it’s okay,” he whispered sweetly against your hair, kissing your forehead as he gently rocked you in his arms.

With one hand on your thigh and the other around your arm, he held and rocked you until your heavy cries became light sniffles. Raising your head, you looked into his sweet blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, James, I-I shouldn’t have made such a scene like that,” you quietly apologised with a shaky and rough voice. You looked down to your lap in shame as you pull away from his chest.

The fact you thought you had to apologise for this cut Bucky to his very core, realising what not just HYDRA but your parents must have done to make you feel like such a burden.

“You have nothing to apologise for, sweetheart,” he gently comforted as he tucked pieces of hair behind your ear and he wiped some of the makeup from your face.

“Tony is a dick, and shouldn’t have pushed you like that. I’m honestly glad you told him off, and crying is nothing to be ashamed of,” he continued to comfort.

Holding your cheek in his hand, he stared lovingly into your eyes as he slowly leaned down. Your lips met in a gentle and sweet kiss, one full of comfort, but not pity, full of love and honest feelings.

As the sweet kiss parted, you couldn’t help the light smile that graced your lips.

“There’s my girl,” Bucky whispered sweetly to you.

“Your girl?” You asked hopefully, your smile widen and light returning to your eyes.

“My girl,” Bucky confirmed, “my girl who never has to apologise for her feelings and who I will hold and listen to whenever she needs.”

“Your girl, my James,” you smiled up at him, your hands now resting on his chest.

Hearing you say that you were his and he was yours, filled Buckys heart with so much love, he thought he might explode. A large toothy smile graced his gorgeous face, as he pressed you against his strong chest in a sweet embrace.

[obessedwithfictionalmen]

Co-Stars pt.7

Callum Turner X Actress! Reader

Summary: Emmy Awards... Y/n is nominated, Callum too...

Warning: Pure joy/ Swearing/ use of Y/n/

Y/n's dress:

She made her way on the red carpet with her cast and directors. Photographers were shouting at them. ‘’Y/n, Callum, a kiss!’’ one of them yelled. The couple looked at each other before bringing their face close to each other, only to pull away before their lips could touch, they laughed and kissed rapidly. ‘’Do you guys think Y/n is going to win?’’ another photograph asked. ‘’We hope so!’’ Austin replied, making the woman smile. There they were, the Emmy Awards, Master of the Air as been nominated for a lot of things, one of them being the best supporting actress in a drama show, Y/n was nominated. When the nomination was announced, she couldn’t believe it. Callum was so proud of his girlfriend. ‘’Mr. Hanks, what do you think about Y/n’s nomination?’’ The woman looked at the men she admired when she was younger, he inspired her so much. ‘’I think it’s fully deserved, she worked hard, and I hope her hard work is rewarded’’ He replies. Y/n’s eyes filled with tears; she was touched by his words.

Master of The Air already won 5 awards tonight, it was amazing; but now, it was the time for the best supporting actress in a drama series. Y/n was nervous, she felt like throwing up. ‘’The nominees are Y/n Y/l/n in Master of the Air’’ Y/n blew a kiss to the camera as she watched a little piece of her work on the screen. ‘’You don’t think I care? Every time you go up in the air, I’m terrified that you won’t come back! So, no I don’t understand what it’s like up there, but you don’t know what’s it like here!’’ she yelled. That scene was when she yelled at Bucky. It was an amazing scene. ‘’And the Emmy goes too…’’ Helena Bonham Carter was announcing the winner. Y/n took a deep breath as she, and all her co-stars waited for the results. ‘’Y/n Y/l/n in Master of the Air!’’ She couldn’t believe it, she put a hand in front of her mouth as she looked around her. ‘’You did it, baby!’’ Callum said, hugging her, the rest of the cast joined in the hug. Her first reflex was to take off her shoes, she didn’t want to do a Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars. She quickly kissed Callum before making her way on the stage, barefoot. She got up, hugged Helena, took her trophy and got closer to the microphone. ‘’Oh my god, uh, hi everyone!’’ she said, tears falling from her eyes. The crowd cheered on her. ‘’Where do I start? Thank you to everyone that voted for me. Uh, I’m losing my words. I want to thank Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman for creating this amazing T.V show. Tom, you’ve always been an inspiration for me, I’m honoured to have had the opportunity to work with you. To all the girls out there, keep going, hard works pays off.’’ She had to stop and take a breath; she was speaking fast. ‘’Uh, to my co-stars; I love you guys so much, thank you for making me feel welcomed and making this experience so fun. To my mum and dad, thank you for always believing in me. Lastly, I want to thank my other half, Callum Turner. You’ve always been there for me, since the beginning of all this, I love you so much, baby, I couldn’t have done this without you, being your love interest has been really fun, and you made me comfortable with the exploration I did with the character, with certain emotions. Thank you for being my rock, I love you. Thank you so much everyone’’ she said, blowing a kiss to Callum, before lifting her trophy into the air. Her co-stars were cheering for her at the top of their lungs, Y/n laughed when she heard them.

‘’The Emmy for the best supporting actor in a drama show goes to… Callum Turner, Master of the Air!’’ Callum was smiling so much. He and his girl both won the same award. Y/n jumped in his arms to hug him. He made his way to the stage, hugged Johnny Depp, took his trophy and got closer to the mic. ‘’Wow! Thank you so much, it’s amazing! First of all, I want to thank Tom, Steven and Gary, thank you, God I’m saying the same thing as my girlfriend. Uh, to my co-stars, it’s been a crazy journey, from boot-camp, except for you Barry’’ his comment made the hole cast laugh. ‘’Thank you for supporting me during the process. To my beautiful girlfriend, you’ve been with me since my first movie, we were together ever since. Just like you, I couldn’t have done it without you. Y/n, quit smiling like this, I’m trying to do this without stuttering, you’re making it difficult’’ he said to his girlfriend who had the proudest smile on her lips. ‘’I love you so much. Thank you everyone! Have a goodnight!’’ Callum smiled as he left the stage.

‘’8 wins tonight, congratulations, if we can get back to Y/n, how are you doing, dear?’’ the journalist asked. The ceremony was over, tonight felt like they were ascending to Nirvana. Y/n and Callum were floating on a euphoric cloud. ‘’I’m still overwhelmed at the moment, it just feels really good, having my hard work being rewarded, mine and my boyfriend’s. I try to soak it all in’’ she smiles. Her cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. ‘’ And you, Callum?’’ he stopped looking at his girlfriend to answer the question. ‘’It doesn’t feel real, it’s an amazing night and yeah, I can’t wait to celebrate with them’’ he laughed. They got asked other questions, but when they got in the limousine, everyone was looking around. ‘’8 fucking wins!!!!’’ they all yelled at the same time. ‘’I just won an Emmy!!!’’ Y/n said, showing her statue around. The guys started to laugh; it was euphoria. ‘’You both won an Emmy!’’ Barry said, looking at Callum. He took his girl and kissed her passionately, all the joy and the relief were transmitted in that kiss. It was the greatest day of their life!

[sashaisready]

Since You've Been Gone: Chapter 1

Bucky Barnes x Reader

After a regrettable first meeting in the cemetery, you discover that you have something in common with a certain member of the Avengers. Unfortunately, you can't choose your neighbours, even in death.

(Setting is approx. post TFATWS)

Hi, I'm back! I have no idea where this came from, or where it's going! So apologies as updates may not be consistent while I figure it out. Warnings for death of parents, grief, mentions of cemetery/graves - please tread carefully if these are triggers for you.

🍂

It was a chilly Autumn day, but not unbearable. Your coat could more than handle the frigid breeze. You squinted at the headstone as you crouched on your knees, angling your head to make sure you hadn’t left any streaks or marks from the polish. Satisfied with your performance, you trimmed a few of the roses that were leaning against it before standing and taking a step back to admire your handiwork.

Immaculate as always, so neat you could almost be fooled into thinking you weren’t even outside. You could hear your parents’ voices in your head now, joking about being able to keep their graves far cleaner that you ever managed your bedroom to be, their frequent nags falling on deaf adolescent ears.

You smiled sadly as you looked at the intricately engraved text below their names on the shared stone:

Beloved parents taken too soon,

Waiting in heaven to be reunited with their only daughter

You’d never really like that phrasing; it was a little too whimsical for your tastes – especially all these years later. But a recently orphaned teenager wasn’t exactly an expert in choosing the best headstone wording. You’d been more than happy to let your aunt and the funeral home lead the way, too paralysed by grief to make even the smallest decisions in the hellscape that was death admin.

Still, you’d never want to upset your aunt by getting it changed, there’s a lot of strange emotion tied up in grief even when time has passed, and that mourning teen has become an adult. And it wasn’t like new headstones were cheap anyway…

As you packed up your cleaning kit your attention was drawn to the two graves next to your parents’ - George and Winnifred Barnes. They had both passed several decades earlier, long before your parents were buried next to them. They had died only a few months apart according to the text…maybe they’d couldn’t survive without each other.

It was easy to infer that they no longer had anyone left earthside. The graves had been long untouched, unkempt, and overgrown, the inscriptions getting harder to read – and you’d never seen any evidence of a visitor in all your time coming here. Except of course when the cemetery staff did one of their occasional mass clean-ups of the neglected graves.

About a year ago, you’d started tending to them alongside your parents. You weren’t sure why, it just seemed like the right thing to do. They were neighbours after all. And you’d want someone to do the same for your mum and dad if you weren’t around.

You’d cleaned their stones, wiped away the grime and given them a decent polish. You’d trimmed back the weeds and laid fresh flowers. The first time took a while, but after you’d got them to a reasonable standard it was all pretty easy to maintain.

You’d often wondered who they were. What they were like. The dates suggested they’d died of old age, a luxury your parents didn’t have. Were they kind? Funny? What hobbies did they have? They were around during the war, that must’ve been tough. You knew from the inscriptions that they had children who would’ve been over hundred by now. Maybe no grandchildren which is why nobody came by to see them anymore. It made you feel sad, how we could all be just a few generations away from being forgotten entirely. At least you could try to remember them.

You gave their graves a quick once over, took away the dead flowers and added some fresh roses in their place.

“Well, I’m done,” you said aloud, “see you soon, mum and dad. And you too, George and Winnifred. Sleep well”.

You sighed, walking back to your car and back to your life. You knew all too well that the dead may be still, but the world continues around them.

🍂

A week later you were back at the cemetery with your cleaning kit slung over your back, your arms full of fresh flowers.

“Afternoon, mum and dad,” you said as you placed your kit and flowers down and pulled out the foam pad that you used to kneel on, “and you, George and Winnifred”.

“Work has been kicking my ass this week,” you sighed as you got to work on your parents’ stone. “There’s only so much I can take of Brock’s moaning about the numbers…it’s getting harder not to smash my keyboard over his head – yeah I know, violence isn’t the answer, blah-blah-blah…”

You worked diligently, chatting away as you went through your maintenance tasks. It was nice, talking to them like this. You could say anything, really. No judgements, no admonishment, just silent acceptance of everything you told them. It was a bit like therapy for you. You often imagined your parents were sitting behind you as you spoke, just out of sight.

You liked to use old newspaper to buff up the marble. As you gathered your things together, you glanced at some of the headlines from the copy you’d brought with you. Lots of dreary grimness unfortunately. There was also a longread feature on the Avengers and where they were now, their photographs lined up across the top of the page. It was sad that a few of them were dead now, or at least no longer here. You felt a pang of sadness for their loved ones – you knew what that was like.

You didn’t know all the details of The Avengers and their associates, but like everyone else you knew the basics. It was a strange time, just a decade or so ago nobody had ever thought superheroes really existed…but then all of these ‘enhanced’ people started crawling out of the woodwork, revealing weapons and technology that previously had only existed in sci-fi movies. It was hard to believe, really.

You scanned the newspaper page, looking at the pictures for a few moments. You took your time studying their faces before sighing and placing it back down.

“All done…now let’s help out George and Winnie over here, looks like you guys need some new flowers…and all that heavy rain we’ve been having has really done a number on your stones…let me just-”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the gruff voice behind you demanded, causing you such a shock that you nearly joined your parents.

You spun your body away from the graves, horrified to see a man looming over you as you stared at him open-mouthed in surprise. You hadn’t heard him approach, not quite understanding how you hadn’t noticed him coming at all…

“I said what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he repeated to you, his blue eyes alight with anger.

He was big. Bigger than you. Even under his coat you could see his broad shoulders. A mop of dark hair framed his face, most likely quite an attractive face when it wasn’t pulled into a furious sneer like it was now. He wore black gloves as he pointed at you accusingly. The fact that you were kneeling on the ground while he stood towering at his full height had not gone unnoticed by you.

There was something strangely familiar about him, but you couldn’t place it. Did he shop at the same market as you? You couldn’t quite…

“I’m…I’m just-” you spluttered as you fumbled for the words, still caught in your surprise and the fact that this normally serene time had been interrupted by a stranger yelling at you…

“Get away from there!” he snarled.

You quickly realised he was talking about the Barnes’ graves. You bounced backwards, landing painfully on your ass in your desperation to do what he said. He had a chilling air of authority that you didn’t want to screw with. You weren’t trying to piss off an angry man while you were out here all alone…

“I was just tidying them up,” you managed weakly as you sat up and clutched at the flowers.

“Nobody asked you to,” he scoffed in response as he leaned over and ran a gloved finger over Winnifred’s inscription, “you shouldn’t be clambering all over graves of people you don’t know”.

You frowned as the initial shock of the encounter wore off, now annoyed now at his abrupt rudeness towards you when you only had good intentions.

“Oh, and you know them, do you?” you snapped back sharply as your felt your emotions surge and your eyes water, your cheeks hot with mortification, “well, nobody has been to visit those graves in years so-”

“Yeah, actually I do know them - I’m their son,” he spat furiously.

Your head bounced back in surprise and confusion. You curled your lip and frowned at his strange claim, he appeared to be his mid-to-late 30s at most – many years away from the very elderly man he’d need to be for that to be true.

What was his goal here, exactly?

Was this guy just looking to start an argument and decided you’d be his target? Spouting off nonsense about random graves just to mess with you?

And where did you know him from?

Despite your survival instincts, you couldn’t help but fight back. You didn’t appreciate being messed with at the best of times, let alone when you were only here to visit your deceased loved ones. Who came to a graveyard to fuck with people? And yell at them?!

“Huh? Son?” you scoffed with derision and jabbed a finger towards the inscriptions about their children, “well, that can’t be true as that would mean their kids would have to be over a hundred…and how many one-hundred-year-olds look like you…?”

“I’m 107 years old, actually,” he said venomously. He sounded utterly sincere despite the ludicrousness of his claim. His face was sullen, his eyes piercing.

You ignored the shudder that threatened to roll through you in response. It was a strangely familiar expression on his face.

Where had you seen that look?

“Oh, yeah! You’re 107…Sure!” you laughed sarcastically. “You just have the greatest plastic surgeon of all time, in fact there’s a bunch of centenarians wandering around looking thirt-”

You trailed off as a wave of recognition suddenly hit you and the penny dropped. Oh. Oh.

He wasn’t from the market…

It was him.

Your eyes panned down to the crumpled newspaper lying next to you. The same man’s face scrutinised you from the page, an exact mirror image of the brooding 3D version in front of you. A little older now, but still unmistakably the same man.

Oh!

Now you remembered that same picture on the news. Read about the terrible things he’d done before when he was under hypnosis. For the Nazis? The Soviets? Both? Flashes of recollection hit you at once, disjointed and scattered.

It wasn’t really him doing all of it, it was a mind control thing, they’d said. He was like the Captain…the first one from the 40s. Kept young…somehow. He had a robot arm. Then there was the big government pardon after he’d helped to save the world. The deep dive the New York Times had done on his assassin past. What had they said he was called? Iceman? Winter? Winter hitman?

The Winter Soldier.

Barton? Baines? No, Barnes.

Barnes.

As in…son of Winnifred and George?

Ah.

He must’ve seen your train of thought written all over your face as he nodded solemnly at you.

“Yeah. It’s me. And I only found their resting place a few weeks ago,” he said with disdain.

You got to your feet, taking a few cautious steps backwards. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. You didn’t need to be a jerk - I’ve just been coming here for years, and I’d never seen…”

You trailed off, he didn’t care. His focus was on the graves, one gloved hand gripping the top of his father’s stone as he peered down at the grass below.

You turned to leave, giving him his privacy, “I’m sorry for your loss,” you mumbled quietly as you picked up your kit.

You started to head back to your car, then turned to face him again after a couple of steps. You warily moved back towards him and leaned over, placing a single flower between the feet of his parents’ graves. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t pick it up and throw it back in your face, either.

As you walked away, you thought you felt the weight of his gaze on your back.

🍂

Another week passed and you were back at the cemetery once more, working the usual routine and doing your best to forget what had happened the last time you were here. Upsetting a war veteran slash Avengers superhero by accusing him of not being his parents’ child was impressively incompetent, even by your standards. But in your defence, he did just start yelling at you out of nowhere. And you were only trying to help. And he was a literal defiance of nature, time, and aging…

But then again, people weren’t always their best selves in a cemetery. It wasn’t exactly Happy Hour over here. And you’d probably freak out too if you caught a stranger tinkering around with the resting place of your parents. The parents who died of old age while you were cryogenically frozen and a prisoner in your own body…

You’d done a little more reading up on him, James Buchanan Barnes. ‘Bucky’. The man behind the scary winter soldier mask. The older images of him in his combat gear were chilling, as were the alleged stats of his kills, but mainly you just felt immense empathy for a man out of time. A man who had lost his youth, a limb, his autonomy, and everybody he once knew from his old life.

You tried to put it out of your mind, catching your parents up on what they’d missed and pretty-ing things up a little around their plot. You didn’t touch the Barnes’ this time, just gave them a little wave and concentrated on your own flesh and blood.

You were a million miles away, lost in the quiet fog that often seemed to overtake you when you were working in the cemetery. It was peaceful, really. This was the one place you could switch your brain off and quiet the chatter of your head, just concentrate on the tasks you knew so well by now that your hands did them on muscle memory alone.

You were just adjusting the newest flowers when a voice interrupted you.

“Hey,” it said.

It startled you as you were still in your own world and hadn’t heard anyone else approach. You whirled around slightly panicked as a pair of eyes the colour of sapphires met yours.

It was him again.

“Oh, hello,” you replied quietly.

He stared over at you, wrapped up in his coat as he was last time. His stare was still intense despite appearing much calmer than when you first met him. He wore black pants and boots, his hands tucked away into his pockets, a dark backpack slung over his shoulder. His face was more relaxed than it was during your first encounter. His blue eyes were just as arresting, but the absence of anger made them sparkle rather than burn. He had a soft dusting of stubble across his taut jawline, his dark hair was pulled back behind his head as he absent-mindedly ran a hand over it. He was…

…hot?

Fuck.

He nodded at you in acknowledgement and moved to George and Winnifred’s plot, kneeling in front of their stones. He pulled a candle out from his backpack and lit it with a lighter, placing it between where his parents lay.

You turned away sharply, not wanting to look like you were intruding during what was clearly a private moment of mourning. You focused on your own parents’ graves, clipping back the flowers as quietly as possible.

The two of you continued doing your own thing, the awkwardness thick in the air. You remembered how furious he’d been with you last time. You considered saying something, trying to explain that you were only trying to maintain the graves, but you didn’t want to provide any more ammunition for potential anger. Instead, you continued your routine in silence, keeping your eyes down.

After you finished you packed up your stuff and cleared your throat, ‘uh, bye,” you said quietly to him as you hurried down the path and back towards your car. He didn’t respond, but looked up at you as you passed, studying you intently.

[writingpastmybedtime]

Happy Accident

Pairing: mob!Bucky Barnes x f!Reader

Summary: Bucky and his daughter decide to paint together, but what happens when the little one retells her dream to her dad a little bit too enthusiastically?

Word Count: 690, I know it's short, but I really wanna start writing more about mob!Bucky and his family.

Warnings: None.

Request: Yes.

It had been raining heavily throughout the day, which ruined Bucky’s and his daughter’s plans to go to an amusement park that had just opened up in town. He sighed, looking at his little girl, who was currently slightly snoring, and started thinking of other fun things to do. He suddenly looked towards his daughter’s desk, when a great idea came to him.

Taking out the different coloured paints and a few pieces of paper, he sat on the floor, placing everything neatly next to him. 

“Daddy?”

Bucky glanced at his baby girl, who had just woken up from her slumber. 

“Hey there, little one,” he said, walking towards her and picking the little one up. “How’d you sleep?” 

She hugged Bucky and yawned, obviously still in the middle of waking up. Bucky chuckled and placed her on the floor, next to the paints and brushes. 

His little girl meant everything to him. She was his pride and joy, and he had hired more than enough security in and out of the house the moment he first laid eyes on her. 

The little one smiled up at him and like always Bucky was mesmerised by how someone could look so perfect.

Well besides his wife, who the little one looked like more with each day that passed. He smiled at the thought. Thankful that the world, even though cruel at times, had blessed him with a loving headstrong wife and an adorable daughter, who he could spoil till the end of time.

“Oh, are you going to paint with me?” The little girl squealed, as Bucky nodded.

She automatically turned more zealous, pushing a brush into the blue paint, and drawing a random line on the paper. 

“You know, Daddy,” she began, whilst adding more haphazard objects to the painting, her brushstrokes becoming more erratic by the second, “I had a really funny dream.” Bucky watched his little child in awe, listening attentively to her story, and at the same time doodling an obnoxiously fat cat on a separate paper.

“You were battling a big dragon, who was trying to steal Mummy.” She continued her story, taking hold of the small container for the blue colour. 

“You had this big sword and then you pushed it into the dragon's stomach-” She suddenly jumped up in enthusiasm, making the blue paint in the container fall straight onto Bucky. 

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” The little girl said, trying to hold back her laughter, but failing. Bucky was speechless, looking at his hands and clothes, which were all blue due to the incident. 

“You two look like you’re having fun,” Y/N spoke, looking at the mess in front of her. If only Bucky’s employees could see their mob boss right now, covered in blue paint from head to toe and looking completely helpless. Y/N tilted her head and smiled at the sight of her dear husband.

‘Mummy,’ the little child squealed and ran up to her mum. “I accidentally spilled the blue paint on Daddy, but I didn’t mean to, I swear.” Y/N laughed, looking at Bucky, who was still trying to comprehend what had happened, albeit with an amused expression appearing on his face. Y/N lowered herself to come face to face with her daughter and kissed her on the cheek.

“Go to the kitchen, sweetie, I brought ice cream,” Y/N instructed the little one, who smiled widely and ran off towards the promised dessert. Y/N took another glance at Bucky, who was now laughing uncontrollably, looking at himself through the mirror on the wall. 

“I look like a smurf,” he smiled, looking at Y/N, who just shook her head at him. 

“And to think I married an idiot,” she said to the man who was now walking up to her. 

“You could be a smurf too, you know.” 

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows, but before she could understand what he had meant, Bucky had already pressed his lips on hers, pulling her as close as he could. 

Just to make sure, she’d be stained with the blue paint as thoroughly as possible.

[extremelyblackandwhite]

pairing: dad!bucky barnes x au pair!reader

warnings: age gap (reader is 10 years younger than bucky), smut (18+, dni if under 18)

summary: bucky, y/n and the pte parents.

Y/N’s mouth was drier than every single desert in the world. All she could hear was the sound of her heart pounding against her ribcage as she stared at him. She tried opening her mouth a few times but her words got stuck in her throat, all that would sum from the vibrations of her vocal chords were small wimpers and cut off sounds. Bucky, on the other hand, appeared cooler as he usually was. He was unbothered by the sentence that had just left his mouth, staring at her as if he’d told her a joke or a secret. There was this ... this sense that no matter what she said was gonna end up being the wrong answer. If she told him that yes she’d had her hand in the middle of her legs at the thought of him in sweatpants she was surely fired and if she denied it she would come off as a liar and then she would also surely be fired. Whatever astonishing words came out of her mouth would get her fired and she needed this job. She needed to look out for Sadie, she needed ... she didn’t know why needed to stay here but she needed to. Luckily for her, and unluckily for him, a small little voice interrupted their stand off - if it could even be called that. 

     - Sadie. - Y/N walked past Bucky like a torpedo, lowering down to Sadie’s height. The little girl had sleep in her eyes and was dragging her favourite blankie and stuffed teddy. - What’s wrong, baby?

She merely looked at her au pair before holding her arms up, signalling she wanted to be picked up. Y/N cooed before picking her up, knowing exactly what it was that she wanted. She kissed the top of Sadie’s head, brushing her hair away from her face. 

    - Monsters? - she asked and the two year old nodded. - Uhm, they just don’t learn don’t they?

Bucky had seen Y/N act with his daughter before, actually, he’d seen it plenty of time before but this time something clicked inside of him. He wasn’t sure what it was but something about seeing Y/N be so good with his daughter made his heart skip. He followed the two into Sadie’s room as Y/N began to look around for the mysterious “monsters”. 

    - They know I’m back so don’t worry. - she laid Sadie down in bed. - I’ll make sure they don’t come in ever again. 

    - You promise?

    - Of course, baby. They will never hurt you, you’re too strong. Now you have to go to sleep, ok? 

    - Why?

    - Because you’ll be tired if you don’t, darling. Tell you what, you go to sleep and tomorrow you can help me make Mickey Mouse pancakes. Sounds good?

    - Chocolate chip?

    - We can put whatever you want in them. - she pulled the covers up to Sadie’s shoulder, arranging the teddies next to him. - Goodnight, Sisi. Love you to the moon and back.

    - And more. - she smiled before snuggling against her pillow. 

Bucky held in a sigh, the mere idea that he was stealing this experience from Sadie. Her real mum was probably too busy parading bars and wasting whatever money was left in her father’s credit card rather than care about his own daughter. She was sweet, too sweet for her mother and even too sweet for him. She deserved better. 

    - Night daddy! 

    - Night, princess. I’ll keep a watch out for the monsters. - Bucky blew her a kiss before turning off the lights.

As the lights went off in Sadie’s room and they walked into the hallway, it dawned on her that she no longer had an excuse to avoid Bucky and his question. He seemed to sense that, his mind running between pressing her for an answer of letting her be. He chose the latter one, smirking at her before returning to his bedroom. Y/N swore she could feel her heart thumping against her ribcage as he closed the door to his bedroom? She was off the hook? Right? She was off the hook, so she returned to her own bedroom before he came back to ask why she had been masturbating a few nights ago. She didn’t think she moaned his name, did she? Yet again, why didn’t he look upset? Was he trying to tease her and if so why would he? Maybe he wasn’t teasing her, perhaps all he wanted was to show how incredibly out of the game she was. She didn’t like one night stands, it wasn’t her type of thing. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t find one? Well, to be honest she wasn’t sure, she’d never tried it before. 

Those questions haunted her mind until she went to sleep and maybe they would’ve kept haunting her if it wasn’t for the fact that morning time meant Y/N had to find a way to get Sadie ready, dressed, and out the house for kindergarten which in itself was the impossible task. She thought that perhaps with Bucky around, she’d be scared into not running around yet as she found herself in a chase around the couch with Bucky, she realised she was wrong. 

    - Sadie. - Bucky put himself over the couch to try and pick her up but she slipped through his fingers, continuing her race. - It’s kindergarten time. 

    - No. 

    - Sadie Barnes, if you don’t stop it I swear there won’t be any Bluey for a week. 

    - No Bluey?

    - No Bluey. - Y/N crossed her arms. Sadie looked between Bucky and the au pair, expecting her daddy to lay down the law but he merely shrugged, clearly on Y/N’s side. She stopped her running, walking slowly to the door, before turning around to face the two. - Did you change your mind, Sadie?

She nodded grabbing her yellow raincoat before pouting. Y/N rolled her eyes, smiling before she grabbed her own coat, opening the door and ushering her down and into Bucky’s car. Bucky merely followed, afraid if he said something it would throw off the routine. Instead, he just watched in awe of how she handled his daughter, even in the car as they were both subjected to half hour of the same show until they got to kindergarten. 

    - Your backpack. - Bucky called out for Sadie before she could run to her friends. - Now you be nice at school, yeah? Daddy can’t pick you up today but Y/N will and I will meet you girls for dinner.

    - Bye daddy. - she hugged her dad before rushing away. 

    - Is she always this happy when she gets to school? - Bucky stood by Y/N’s side as they watched Sadie mingle with the other kids. 

    - Usually. 

    - Just the parents I wanted to see. - Y/N rolled her eyes as she recognised the voice coming towards them. Great, just what she wanted to deal with after getting no sleep the night before. - And Mr. Barnes is here, how nice. 

    - Morning Michelle. - Y/N looked around, trying to find a way to escape talking to her. She was one of the PTE parents who took it a bit too seriously, actually, way too seriously. - How are you?

   - I was wondering if I was gonna see you this semester, Mr. Barnes. 

   - Actually ... - Bucky looked down at his watch. - I have to go, I have a meeting. Do you want the car today, Y/N? I can get a taxi to work. 

   - It’s okay, I’m not doing any errands today. I will see you for dinner then?

   - I’ll bring dinner home tonight. Something nice from the Italian place downstairs. 

   - Bye Sergeant Barnes. 

   - It’s back to Sergeant Barnes, is it? - he gave her a smile before walking back to the car and she could not deny she hadn’t stared at him as he walked away. Bucky was an attractive man, an attractive man who she hoped did not hear her moaning his name. 

   - If I had your husband, Y/N ... let me tell you, I wouldn’t leave his side. 

   - He’s not my husband, Michelle and even if he was I would have better things to do than be at his beckoning call. 

   - So he’s single ... - she looked over Y/N’s shoulder to his car. - Huh ... Make sure he comes to the next PTE meeting. 

(...)

Was she starting to enjoy Bluey? She asked as a new episode started and the typical Australian accent filled the sound system. That had to be the only reason why she didn’t want to pull her hair off as the episodes kept going in a repeat sequence and Sadie mouthed the words along. She had to admit it was rather impressive how well she could remember the words, yet again she was sure this set of episodes had been playing for a while now. 

   - I’m home. - Bucky’s voice echoed through the living room and suddenly Bluey was no longer interesting for Sadie as she ran towards her dad. 

   - Hey, Sisi, let daddy put the food down. - Y/N followed after Sadie to help Bucky put down the takeaway bags. - Go watch Bluey while we set the table, ok?

   - Kay! 

   - So ... - Y/N put her hands on the table, staring at Bucky. - I think the president of the PTE wants to take you out. 

   - What? - he stopped mid pouring his whiskey glass. 

   - She said if you were her husband, she would never leave the house.

   - She’s hot, I could give it a try. - he chuckled. 

   - Ugh. - she rolled her eyes. - Please don’t have an affair with the PTE mum, it would make my job much harder.

   - Aw, c’mon, maybe I can sway some things your way. - he continued joking but Y/N merely faked gagged. - That’s alright, Y/N. 

   - No one night stands either. 

   - Someone’s being awfully possessive, Y/N. It’s ok, I’ll only sleep with Michelle if you let me. 

   - Would you?

   - Would I what?

   - Sleep with Michelle. 

   - Why is that even relevant, Y/N? Are you trying to get some data from the PTE meetings or whatever?

   - I don’t know. 

   - Don’t worry, Y/N. Even if I did date someone, the only way you’d lose your job would be if that person could fill your job and become Sadie’s mum. 

   - Oh ... Have you ever found someone? To fill that position. 

   - Not really. I don’t want Sadie to lose another mum and if I’m being honest I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever met someone who could be Sadie’s mum. Other than you, that is. 

   - I’m paid to be an au pair, Bucky and I don’t think I’m that good. 

   - You’re good, alright ... Sadie thinks you’re her mum. 

   - Sadie doesn’t think I’m her mum. 

   - Would it be such a bad thing? - he stood on the opposite side of the table. - To be Sadie’s mum? 

   - If I were Sadie’s mum, I would be your wife. 

   - Ouch, trying to hurt my feelings? - he chuckled. 

   - I’m not your type, Sergeant Barnes.

   - Oh, you’re exactly my type.

[bi-ss]

~ Ties that bind ~

Bucky x reader- arranged marriage.

Summary: You agreed to arrange marriage when you were little, after seeing who you are to marry. You wish you could go back.

Part 1

⚠️Warnings- Sharon being a bitch, yelling, swearing. (Yes, ik not everyone hates sharon, but if you dont, that's ok :) sharon personality isn't my cup of tea. I also made this a little shorter just so I can't make part 3 a little longer and more drama filled)

He sits with a grunt, then fixs his hair and jeans before his mum slaps his hand away and down, tutting as she does so. His dad, gorgeous Barnes, starts chatting with your dad about the empire he's built and what it's become and how's he's changed for the best. This was rudely interrupted by James clear his icky throat.

"Now, mister Ziegler, that's German, isn't it? You don't sound German.." He gets looks from his parent in confusion as they wonder what he's doing. "I know my father didn't drag me down here for nothing." he sounds so cocky... how that will all change.

"My parents are German, moved to Newyork in the 1960's when they were teenagers. And you already know why you're here. Stop trying to act childish to get your way.." silents as he just stares at James before his wife giggles while whispering something in his ear before relaxing. More talking goes on and you honestly zoned out, nodding once in a while to seem to be paying attention, then you hear your name and see the papers you made at 16, then updated at 19. Your father flips the front page and starts reading out the rules, wants, and needs you require.

"Rule 1, I don't care if you really love me, just don't cheat." You sit there, already over James attitude and just him all together. He's been interrupting yours and his parents all night. It's clear he does want this, which makes you want this more. You're now sitting closer to James as his parents wanted to sit together, fair, I wouldn't want to volunteer to sit next to James either. As your dad reads the rules and requirements, his parents nod and seem to agree they are either responsible or able to be done. "Rule 6, adding to Rule 1, all partners must to broken off with -" in the corner of your eye, he's getting more annoyed. It looks like he wanted to talk the whole time but didn't, for some reason, probably self-respect. You were quick to realise he didn't have any self-respect.

You were pushed back to reality when your phone beeped and everyone looked at you, feeling embarrassed you quickly took it out about to silence it but a text reading "ma'am this lady to being quite a cunt" from kerry, kerry never swore, you looked up to your mother, clearing your throat you spoke. "I'm so very sorry, me and my mother must see to something" your mother was about to interjected "urgently" you added so she just nodded and you both quickly but calming went to the office doors and made it down the hall while hearing a screaming woman in the lobby.

"He's my boyfriend. Why should some rich slag have him?!" She roared "hes dating me, I should marry him. " She yelled, "She doesn't deserve him, I DO!!" She sounded pathetic. it's even giving you second-hand embarrassment. Your mother was about to shout, but James beat her to it, shouting her name just for her to look at him, then you. Surprised he yelled, you walked out the white marble grand staircase, your expensive heels clacking on the floor, holding back your dark green floor length delicate dress with diamonds covering your fingers and hands as rings and bracelets. When you're at the bottom, you kick the dress and sigh, "must be so hard being a spoiled brat." she spat at you.

You turn slowly and hum before walking to the kitchen "your boyfriend chose this spoiled brat" you giggled and pointed at your self has you enter the archway out of sight but still in ear shot of the fight that has begun, you stop when you see a sort off familiar face. "I know you, but where." You were behind the counter pouring yourself some Dr. pepper looking at ginger woman on a laptop.

"Natasha, I went to one of your charity events - for cancer," she explained to you and just nodding trying to remember, sitting next to her, "well natasha I'm.." she interrupted and stated she knew who you were. "How are you finding, Sharon?" Nat look at you with fake joy "that's her name" like the dots are connecting "she's a real bitch" she scoff while taking a sip of Dr pepper, Nat laughs a little before trying to conpose herself "she is, she thinks that as she dating James she's the boss of him and everyone else - like in the mob storys" it's your turn to giggle as you remember reading a story about romance in the mob and how they have it all wrong, most the time the big bosses never get in fights or gundowns. "I'm guess you work for James." She starts nodding, smiling. "For 4 years now, ask me anything." She seems to be too happy asking you that. "That's a test, so I won't answer." You shrugged, and she just hums and continued working on her laptop.

"What was her first question?" You look over slightly sipping your Dr. Pepper.

"She didn't get the memo and asked 2.. how big it was and if we ever dated. " She made a silly voice, acting out the quotes. You laughed as Nat roles her eyes, "And before goldy locks trys anything, yes we did for like 5 months." You shrugged and explained you didn't care and the past. Then the screaming from golden over there stopped, and the front door slammed.

James strut in like he own the place, and announce that they were leaving and the wedding would be in 5 days then left. The last part made you look at Nat in shock, but she just nodded. "James always has liked you, like a horny teenager. Why do you think he asked for you to marry him?" She let that float in the air before before she left, making sure she was in ear shot. You seemingly said to yourself that everyone loves you with you heard a small giggle, then the door closing again. What you didn't know was James heard all that, and his heart skipped a beat when it sounded as if you didn't hate him as he thought.

@learisa @unaxv @cjand10 @pattiemac1 @coffee-winter-and-silence

[onceuponaoneshotfanfic]

Something There (Chapter 12)

6.8k words

Roy Kent x Reader

Warnings: Language, fluff, references to smutty things, absolute fluffy fluff

Series Masterlist

A/N: This has... taken a while, lol. Honestly, I've been struggling with how to end this, mostly because I don't want to say goodbye to Roy and Bucky! But, all good (or at least halfway decent) things must come to an end. (Plus, I already know there'll be some blurbs featuring these two!) I hope you enjoy, and thanks for coming along for the ride ❤️

“What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?”

Roy nodded towards me and smirked. “Can I answer for her?”

Another “Manager Monday”. Apparently, people liked seeing Roy and me sitting together and answering questions. According to Keeley, the internet referred to us as the “Mum and Dad” of Nelson Road. It was weird and a little flattering, if I was being honest. And, frankly, getting to goof around and not-so-subtly flirt with Roy on camera during work hours was a pretty good deal.

“No, you cannot,” Keeley chuckled. “Go on then, greatest accomplishment.”

“Winning my Olympic Gold Medal,” I answered, elbowing Roy when I heard his good-natured snicker. “It was something my grandpa and I talked about for as long as I can remember. And he did come see me win it. After that, whenever he introduced me to people, it was always, ‘This is my granddaughter. She’s an Olympian.’” I smiled at the memory before turning to Roy. “What’s yours? That year you led the league in red cards?”

Roy’s smile had my heart doing somersaults. “You fucking know it.”

With lots of laughter and poor attempts to hide our flirting, we got through a couple more soccer-related questions before Keeley broached the topic we both knew she was dying to get to.

“So, the internet has been debating between two couple names for you two,” she announced mischievously. “‘Boy’ and ‘Rocky’. Which do you prefer?”

Roy rolled his eyes. “Keeley,” he growled, as I snorted, “We’re not answering that.”

While we were more than happy to let our friends at Nelson Road know about our relationship and annoy them with our PDA, we had agreed not to make any big public show of things- at least not until the season ended. We were enough of a distraction when we were just a few blurry photos the night of the gala; we didn’t want to take away any more media attention from the club, not when our teams were on the verge of something great.

Keeley rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. But once you two go public, you know better get used to those questions, alright? Because you guys are really fucking cute, and the internet loves you already.”

“We are pretty cute, I’ll give you that,” I chuckled, taking Roy’s hand and smiling at the grumpy coach- my grumpy coach.

In return, he leaned over and pecked my lips gently. “That better not fucking end up online,” he warned Keeley, thick eyebrows raised threateningly.

“We’d break the internet with that little kiss,” she teased, winking at me. “Better be nice to me, or I’m leaking that clip.”

“Careful,” Roy replied with a nod in my direction, affection sparkling in his eyes. “I heard this one’s got a mean right hook.”

~

Roy leaned on the doorframe, enjoying the view. Who would’ve thought that just watching someone put on makeup would make him so fucking happy?

But seeing her standing in front of his bathroom sink and applying that red lipstick had his heart skipping a couple beats. He liked this domestic thing, the sleepovers and the driving to work together and the making dinner and… everything. He wanted more of it, he realized. He wanted more of her. The word was on the tip of his tongue, the word that had been floating around in his head since they got together, since the gala if he was being honest. Maybe even before that, he didn't fucking know. But it was too soon, he knew. Things were already going fast enough and, although she was diving in headfirst just as hard, Roy was still worried about scaring her off.

Her playful eyes met his in the mirror. “Can I help you, Kent?” she teased.

He shrugged and pushed himself off the doorframe so he could stroll over casually. “Just admiring the view.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a slow kiss to her cheek. “I like when you wear that color.” Another kiss to her temple. “Especially when it ends up on my neck,” he hummed.

“Fuck off,” she chuckled, elbowing him gently. “Come on, let me finish getting ready. Otherwise, you’re going to be late to your game, Coach.”

“Fine,” he growled. “But after the match?”

She whirled around and grabbed his face gently, her eyes bright. “After the match, I promise my lipstick will be all over your neck.” She pressed her body close to his. “And maybe some other particular places.” Her red lips formed that smirk he loved, the one he couldn’t believe he used to find annoying. “But only if you win.”

Roy grinned, eyebrows raised at her appealing offer. “Well, lucky for me I’m the manager of a winning team.”

“That is lucky,” she purred, nudging her nose against his. “Now then, can I go put on my new Greyhounds kit?”

His grin widened. “You got a fucking Greyhounds kit?”

She shrugged. “Of course. I’m part of Richmond. I like the fellas. And I’m pretty obsessed with their pain in the ass manager.” She smiled. “It’s about time I start rocking some Greyhound gear.”

Roy’s heart was soaring. He loved wearing her name and number on his back, even if it made their relationship obvious to anyone who was paying even an ounce of attention. And he’d be lying his ass off if he said he hadn’t pictured what she’d look like wearing his name on a kit. Granted, some of those pictures in his head were in his bed rather than at a match, but still. What a fucking dream come true.

“Alright,” he sighed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Hurry up then, Coach.”

Roy probably would have skipped to the living room if it weren’t for this shit knee. With no one around, he didn’t bother hiding his stupid grin, the one he found himself wearing quite often these days. The internet had gone a bit wild with images of him wearing her name on his Whippets kit; he could only imagine the silly little fan edits and TikToks that would surely follow this match.

“What d’you think?”

Roy’s old man heart nearly stopped in his chest. The bright red and blue material hugged her figure perfectly, tempting him to rip it off of her and forget all about his match. The little Greyhound logo settled beautifully over her heart, just like the Whippets manager had weaseled her way into his. He was officially obsessed with the picture in front of him, he decided.

“Fucking perfect,” he hummed. He twirled his finger in a circle, eyebrows raised. He just needed to see one more thing. “Give us a spin, then.”

Her grin widened as she turned around, something mischievous in her eyes. Roy sat up a little straighter, unashamed to be so obviously excited to see-

“Does that fucking say Tartt?” he spat, pure disgust smeared across his bearded face.

Her laughter rang in his ears, almost magical enough to make him forget about this absolute betrayal. He narrowed his eyes at her as she turned back around, shameless amusement on her face. “What’s the matter, Roy?” she teased as she made her way over to where he slumped on the couch. “Don’t you think I look good?”

He reached out and tugged her onto his lap, doing his best to keep his stern expression. “I think,” he growled against her shoulder, pawing at the material, “that you need to take that fucking thing off.”

With a giggle, she grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch, reminding Roy of the night of the gala- their very first night. “Ah, no time to change, I’m afraid.” She pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, careful not to leave any lipstick on his face. “Let’s go, Kent.”

Still grumbling and growling, Roy allowed himself to be pulled off the couch and dragged out of the house. When she wasn’t looking, he shook his head and smiled softly at her. Even with such a stupid name on her back, Roy still thought that seeing her in a Greyhounds kit was his new favorite sight.

He just couldn’t wait to rip the damn thing off of her.

~

“Let’s fucking go, Greyhounds!” I screeched, ignoring the way Keeley covered her ears.

After everything that had happened this season, both on and off the field, it was hard to believe it was coming to an end. Tonight, the Greyhounds were only one victory away winning the Premier League. And, after weeks of wearing Jamie’s name and other players’ names on my back just to mess with Roy (and the internet), I was proudly wearing his name and our number on my Greyhounds sweatshirt.

Keeley leaned close and held out her phone. “You’re already trending,” she teased, showing off a blurry photo of Roy and me entering the stadium, with me wearing Roy’s name and my signature red lipstick as I smiled up at the Greyhound manager. “And so is this.” There was Jamie Tartt, entering the stadium, wearing a fanny pack and, as usual, a hat. Unlike usual, this hat didn’t say “ICON”; instead, it proudly proclaimed “ROCKY”.

I rolled my eyes as the guys took their places on the field. “Is that a reference to that stupid ‘couple name’ thing?” I groaned. “Because you’re all supposed to be helping us keep quiet, you know.”

The sly way Keeley narrowed her eyes had me almost squirming. “Yeah. Because the way you two act during Manager Mondays and wearing each other’s kits is really discreet.” Suddenly, her suspicious expression turned somber, giving me a new urge to fidget. “How’s it all going by the way? You and him? The two of you seem pretty damn happy these days.”

“We are,” I assured her, not bothering to stop my wide smile from filling my face. “He’s… well, you know how he is.” I gave a soft chuckle as I looked down to the pitch and watched Roy lean over to say something to Coach Beard. Perfect, I decided. That was how Roy was; perfect. From the way he stood during games, shoulders squared and all business, to the way he always stole a quick kiss when our paths crossed at work, to the way his strong hands tenderly adored me in bed, to the lazy afternoons on his couch, to the phone calls and texts that flooded my phone whenever we were apart, to the way he made me laugh and smile in between all those moments. Roy Kent was fucking perfect. “He’s Roy.”

Keeley’s voice brought me out of my thoughts. “I do know how he is,” she said carefully. The little clearing of her throat had me turning my eyes to her. Her eyebrows knitted together, as if she thought I would slug her at any moment. “And I hope this isn’t totally inappropriate, but we were talking last week- and he was saying he’s so fucking happy,” she quickly added, probably seeing my slowly raising eyebrows. “He’s just worried about being… clingy?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at how completely apprehensive my friend looked. “Oh, Roy’s clingy as fuck,” I said. “But I like it.” I shrugged, my eyes returning to the gruff man on the pitch that had weaseled his way into my heart. “I… I’m clingy too,” I admitted. “I think that’s why we work, actually. We’re both pretty intense people, we both do everything at full speed, you know? So, one person’s idea of ‘too clingy’ is my idea of ‘absolutely fucking perfect’.”

The smile on Keeley’s face was filled with joy and a bit of relief. “I’m so happy to hear that,” she said, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers. “Really. He deserves the best and you-” She smacked a kiss to my cheek. “-are the fucking best, babes.”

~

The tips of Roy’s fingers tingled as he stared down Jamie, who was making a mad dash towards their opponent’s goal. There were only moments left before stoppage time ended in a tie and the match inevitably went to extra time, which had been a dangerous place for the Greyhounds all season long. If Jamie couldn’t beat both the clock and goalkeeper, it felt like their season would end in defeat. And Roy couldn’t have that. Not this season. Not when everything seemed to be ending so well, on and off the pitch.

Only one defender stood between Jamie and the goal. Roy held his breath as he watched Jamie move this way and that, doing a maneuver he knew Tartt hadn’t learned from any of the coaches on the pitch; he’d learned this particular move from the Whippets. And he’d apparently learned it well, because suddenly Jamie was in front of the goal, kicking the ball and-

“JAMIE TARTT SCORES!”

Less than a moment later, the familiar sound of the referee’s whistle had all of Nelson Road in pure pandemonium. Roy sprinted onto the field, not caring about his stupid knee, and was instantly swallowed by the swarm of blue that was his team. He grabbed and hugged whoever was close by, not caring to see anything other than their wide eyes and wider smiles. He wondered ever so briefly if anything in his career would ever live up to this moment; he knew nothing before ever had. And, if he was being quite honest, he could live with this being the happiest moment of his career.

He was hugging Jamie tight, mumbling something about being fucking proud of the prick, when he heard some of his players call his name in teasing voices. He knew those tones; he’d been hearing them a lot lately, caused by one thing- well, one person- every fucking time.

Sure enough, when Roy glanced over his shoulder, the sight made his smile grow.

There she was, clad in her Greyhounds sweater, running at him. He knew she’d regret this run in the morning- they’d probably spend the whole next day icing ankles and knees- but she didn’t look like she cared. In fact, she looked like she didn’t care about anything other than Roy.

She threw herself into his arms and let him envelop her in a tight hug, one far too tight for two platonic managers to share.

“I’m proud of you,” she huffed into the crook of his neck. “So fucking proud, Roy.”

He released her slightly so she could gaze up at him, her eyes full of adoration and joy. Deep in his chest, Roy held a hope that she would stare at him like this for the rest of their lives. “Fucking come here,” he murmured, his hands leaving her hips to cup her face.

At some point over the season, Roy had lost count of how many times he’d kissed this woman. There were some kisses that were irrevocably stamped on his heart- their first kiss while sitting on his couch listening to Sam Cooke, the kiss in the rain after he’d given her the Team USA football, the sweet kiss they’d shared after he asked her to be his girlfriend- but this was probably his favorite so far. It was soft and slow, and it made the roar of the crowd go silent in Roy’s mind. He knew there was no going back from this; there would be photos of this kiss in the papers, and he’d definitely be asked about it in the post-match press conference. They’d once again be the subject of rumors and speculation, with Twitter users trying to put together a timeline and reanalyzing every little interaction they’d had over these last few months. It was going to be pure fucking hell.

But thankfully, his own personal heaven was in his arms.

When they parted, she wore a wide grin, the kind that made his heart skip a beat. “Congrats on the win, Coach,” she chuckled as she ruffled his hair. “Can’t believe you guys beat us to it.” She kissed his lips effortlessly, as if she kissed him on the pitch every day. “Whatever happened to ladies first?”

Roy shook his head and tightened his grip on her. “Just means the Whippets get to be the grand finale.”

“Grand finale,” she repeated, giving his jacket a tug to pull him back to herself. “I like the sound of that, Kent.”

Roy could’ve stayed on that pitch forever, holding her and kissing her, finally able to show everyone how he felt about her and how she miraculously felt about him. The feeling of winning the whole fucking thing, and having his girl in his arms, and hearing his team shout and celebrate, it was intoxicating as hell.

But, as Keeley reminded him with a giggle, there was pomp and circumstance to get through.

His whole body shook with excitement as he stood by Rebecca’s side and received the trophy. In the smiling crowd, he locked gazes with those familiar eyes. Could his smile get any bigger? he wondered. Surely that would be the morning headline: Richmond’s Roy Kent finally knows how to smile. And damn, if it wasn’t something he wanted to keep doing.

Once things began to die down on the pitch, Keeley began herding him towards the press conference he still had to do before celebrating with the team. He kept an arm wrapped around the Whippet’s manager as he finally made his way through the halls, to the familiar door that led to the press room. He paused in front of it, thinking about all the less-than-stellar moments he’d had in there. Announcing his retirement. Watching Jamie have a meltdown. Throwing a chair at George fucking Willows after being asked about Keeley. Being asked intrusive questions about his love life and the drama of this season. Some crappy things happened in that room, he admitted to himself.

But today? Today he walked in with his head held high; for the first time in a long time, Roy Kent felt nothing but good about himself and his life. His team was officially the best in the Premier League, and he had the girl of his dreams to kiss after the match. He allowed himself a smile as he settled in front of the cameras, enjoying the surprise on the reporters’ faces when they caught sight of his expression. In the back of the room, Keeley gave him a thumbs up before wrapping her arm around the Whippets’ manager, who shot him a wink that had his stupid grin widening.

Yeah. This might be the best fucking day of his whole fucking life.

The clamoring began before he even sat down. Roy rolled his eyes, albeit good-naturedly for once, and pointed to a familiar face, a reporter he didn’t fully hate. “Yeah?”

“Coach Kent, how does it feel to lead the Greyhounds to do the impossible?”

Roy leaned into his seat, determined to at least look relaxed. “Feels fucking great,” he said. “And I’m going to ignore that ‘impossible’ thing.” He smirked at the tittering from the reporters. “Because honestly, this team is fucking incredible. And anyone who thought this was ‘impossible’ for those lads hasn’t been paying attention.” After answering a few questions about the season and the match, he could see the journalists beginning to get restless. It was clear what they would be asking next. He pointed to another raised hand. “You.”

“A certain coach had an… interesting way of congratulating you,” the reporter asked in a timid voice. “Anything to say about that?”

For a moment, he glanced to the back of the room. Not to Keeley, like he usually did during these things, but to the pair of eyes that gazed back with a beautiful mixture of adoration and teasing. Another wink encouraged him to lean forward on his elbows and ignore the heat rising in his cheeks. “There’s a lot I can say about that,” he chuckled. “But, all I will say is this-” He looked directly at those bright eyes. “-I’m fucking mad about that woman. She seems to think I’m alright, which is nice. And she continues to be one of the most impressive managers I’ve had the honor of watching on the pitch. And I am looking forward to seeing her and the Whippets kick some serious ass next weekend.”

More questions were hurled at him, mostly excited and kind ones, but Roy didn’t really hear them. He was too focused on trying not to simply sit and stare at that pretty face that smiled at him and made him feel like he’d won more than the Premier League.

~

I pulled my dark blue blazer on and turned to get a good look at myself in the mirror. Dark blue blazer, white blouse, best jeans, hair up in a ponytail, red lipstick applied, necklace my grandfather had given me around my neck. This was it, I decided. This was the outfit of a Women’s Super League-winning coach.

“You look fucking amazing.” A pair of strong arms wrapped around me as a scruffy kiss smacked my cheek. “Like a fucking winner.” Roy smirked at me in the mirror. He looked damn good in his white Whippets kit, the number six on his back and something that kind of looked like love in his eyes. If my entire season wasn’t on the line, I’d be debating ripping off that jersey and throwing Roy onto the bed. “Gonna wear your gold medal?” he teased.

With an eyeroll, I slipped out of his grasp and sat on my bed. “Just toss me my sneakers, Kent.”

Roy raised an eyebrow as he moved towards my familiar Converse that sat perfectly next to the closet. “Wow, I get to touch the Match Day shoes? What an honor.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled as I took the shoes from him and tugged them on. “I’m hoping your luck from last weekend rubs off on me and the Whippets.” I knew that underneath my joking tone, he could hear my nerves. Roy always seemed to know what was going on beneath the surface.

Sure enough, he sat down next to me and took my hand. “Oi.” His voice was as soft as his gaze. “You’re going to be fucking brilliant.” He kissed my forehead. “Your team is incredible. You are incredible. You’re Coach Bucky. World Cup winner, Olympic champion, NWSL Coach of the Year.” He shook his head as he rattled off my résumé with a smile on his face. “You’ve fucking got this.”

“I know.”

He raised his thick eyebrows at me expectantly. “But?”

“But…” I sighed heavily and let my head fall against his shoulder. “There’s just so much pressure,” I murmured. “It’s our first season. And with all of my personal drama…” I closed my eyes. “I have to win. I have to show that I’m a fucking winner. If I don’t, I’ll forever be that slutty American who slept with Roy freaking Kent.”

He gave me a light shove. “Oi, I thought you liked sleeping with Roy Kent.”

“Roy,” I huffed. “I’m being serious. I need to win today. I have to prove that I deserve to be taken seriously. Everything I’ve built this year is on the line. If we don’t do this, I don’t know-”

“Babe.” Roy shifted and lifted my legs until they draped over his lap. His arms felt like a warm blanket as they wrapped around my waist and tugged me close. “You don’t have to prove shit to anyone. You’re lightyears better at this job than I am-” A snort slipped out of my nose. “-and everyone knows it, no matter what happens today. You are brilliant and accomplished. And if it’s not this year, it’ll be next year.” He gave me a squeeze. “But I believe in you. Your team believes in you. Rebecca and Keeley and all the Greyhounds believe in you. Fuck what anyone else says.” He kissed my forehead, lingering for a moment. “You can always just punch them anyways.”

Fucking Roy, making me laugh and forget my anxiety. As I smiled through my nerves and kissed his mouth, probably smudging my lipstick, all I could think was how badly I wanted him to make me laugh for the rest of my fucking life.

~

The feeling of pride in Roy’s chest was unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life. The energy of the stadium vibrated through his whole body, and he couldn’t help the lump in his throat when he saw how absolutely packed the place was. He walked confidently into the owners’ box holding Phoebe’s hand tight. He smiled down at his bouncing niece, with her bright eyes and her own Bucky kit. She was talking a million miles a minute, reminding him of Keeley, chattering all about how well she knew the Whippets would do and asking if Roy was really going to take her onto the pitch after the match if the Whippets won. Her yammering only stopped so she could give Keeley a hug and take her seat next to the blonde.

“Ready to see your girl in action?” Keeley teased over Phoebe’s head as Roy took his seat.

His broad smile would have been enough of an answer. “She’s gonna be so fucking brilliant,” Roy laughed. “I can fucking feel it.” He narrowed his eyes at Phoebe’s expectant face. “Add it to my tab,” he grumbled.

To his surprise, Phoebe shook her head. “You get a free pass today, Uncle Roy,” she informed him earnestly. “It’s a very big day for Bucky and you’re probably very stressed.” She nodded, her demeanor comically matter of fact. “So, I’ll let it slide. Just for today.”

“Thanks, Pheebs,” he chuckled, kissing the top of her head. He nodded to Rebecca as she took her spot on Keeley’s other side. “Boss,” he greeted with a salute.

“Coach Kent,” she replied, a sparkle in her eye as she saluted back. “Beautiful night for a game, hmm?” Despite her calm tone, Roy could see the way her fingers drummed on her lap nervously.

He smirked at her. “Ready to be the owner of two winning teams?”

She shook her head, holding back a laugh. “Not thinking about it,” she announced firmly. “I am just going to enjoy the match, cheer for our girls, and feel proud of them no matter what.”

Keeley, Roy, and Pheobe all just stared at her until a smile broke out across her face.

“Alright, yes, I’m fucking ready!” She turned her attention to the field, where the Whippets were beginning to line up. “Let’s go, Whippets!”

The quartet were joined in the box by Beard and Nate and Jamie, who looked quite comfortable wearing Kira Malone’s name on his back. There were deafening cheers all around as the Whippets were introduced. Roy’s whole body felt warm as he bellowed their names; even without being head over heels for their manager, Roy would feel beyond proud of these women. He’d watched them work all season long, through sweat and injuries and fatigue and the harsh media. And they’d done it all with smiles on their faces and their heads held high. They were impressive and inspiring, and Roy already knew they would win that trophy.

And they had ninety minutes to do it.

After the players were introduced, the Whippets’ coaches stepped forward to shake hands with the opposing coaching staff.  Of course, every eye in the owners’ box turned to Roy with mischievous smirks on their faces.

Not that Roy noticed. He was too busy jumping to his feet so he could cup his hands around his mouth and bellow, “Let’s fucking go, Buck!”

With that colossal voice of his, no one was surprised to see the manager look up in their direction. Her red-lipped smile was clear as day, and they all oohed teasingly when they saw her blow a kiss up towards them.

“Obviously that was for me,” Jamie joked, turning around and winking at his manager.

“Fuck off,” Roy chuckled as he resumed his seat. He gave the striker a light shove before turning his attention back to the pitch. Fuck, how was he supposed to focus on the match that was starting when she was down there, looking strong and confident and powerful- not to mention gorgeous. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched her in her element, shouting excitedly at her team and reaching out for Luke’s hand every now and then. Some part of him wanted to watch her forever; the other part of him couldn’t wait for the ninety minutes to end so he could wrap his arms around her and celebrate her victory.

A stray piece of popcorn smacked him in the temple and diverted his attention.

Keeley shot him that shit-eating grin and tossed a fresh piece of popcorn into her mouth. “You’re drooling, Roy-o.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and reached over Phoebe’s lap to steal a handful of Keeley’s popcorn. “Yeah, yeah,” was all he could manage. He smiled down at Pheobe, whose attention was rapt with the match in front of her. “Having fun?” he asked loudly, amused to find that her trance was just as intense as the one he’d just been in.

All the little blonde could do was nod, mouth slightly agape, as she watched the Whippets score their first goal of the match. The entire stadium was on their feet, deafening with their shouts and cheers as the players embraced. But of course, the only thing Roy could see was their manager and the way she looked up at the owners’ box, right at him.

~

Lucas was holding my hand so tight he was going to cause permanent damage to my blood circulation. Not that I cared; we had succeeded in keeping the game tied 2-2 all through stoppage time, and now Amanada Camacho had managed to secure a penalty kick. With my free hand, I gripped my necklace tightly, as if the little gold charm would somehow direct Amanda’s kick into the right direction.

The forward made her move, running towards the ball, and gave a powerful kick-

That sailed perfectly into the corner of the goal, out of the goalie’s reach.

In unison, Lucas and I let out sharp screams and crashed into each other’s arms, trading kisses on cheeks and foreheads. When the referee blew her whistle, we sprinted onto the field, greeting our mob of Whippets in a pile of hugs that evolved into a mountain of players and staff tumbling over each other. It was loud and chaotic- and beautiful. Somewhere in the reveling, tears had formed in my eyes, but they didn’t fall until I found myself face to face with Rebecca’s glowing smile and own teary eyes.

“Well done,” she said simply, wrapping me in a tight hug. “Well fucking done.”

I melted into her embrace- fuck, how was this woman so perfect that even her hugs were the best?- and finally let the tears fall. “Thank you for believing in me,” was all I could manage.

She shook her head. “That’s just the Richmond way,” she chuckled as Keeley approached us.

The blonde wrapped us both into a group hug, chattering about how brilliant the girls had been, how brilliant I had been, how we were going to have the biggest celebration ever once we left the stadium, how I’d better have brought a change of clothes like she’d instructed me so we could party properly.

But her excitement was drowned out by my beating heart when I caught sight of a pair of beautiful brown eyes sparkling at me.

“Kent!” I shrieked, breaking free of my bosses’ warm embraces. I sprinted towards him, this time under stadium lights and falling confetti rather than pouring rain, and launched myself into his arms. He caught me with ease, lifting me and letting me wrap my legs around him. With a couple of first place finishes under our belts, we were finally free to be as publicly insufferable as we wanted- which I planned on taking full advantage of. I figured a dramatic kiss on the pitch was a good start, and Roy seemed to agree as he attached his lips to mine hungrily.

“So. Fucking,” he huffed into my mouth between kisses, “Proud.” He held me tighter, pressing my chest harshly to his. “You’re amazing.”

I finally removed myself from the kiss so I could bury my burning hot face in his shoulder. He let me plant my feet back on the ground, but kept his arms firmly around me. “Roy,” I murmured, realizing I had something important to tell him. “I-”

“Bucky!” Phoebe jumped onto my back, nearly knocking me over.

“Pheebs!” I laughed, turning away from Roy so I could hug his niece. “I’m so glad you came,” I gushed. “Your team wins a championship next, right?” When I glanced up at Roy over Phoebe’s head, he was already gazing at me, something soft on his face. He’d been doing that a lot lately, I realized as I returned his smile. This gentle stare that held something significant, something I felt sure one of us would break down and say soon. Something I’d wanted to say since I first ran out in the rain to him.

But I didn’t have time to think about that. Not when my team was calling for me to join them to be crowned the Women’s League champions and hoist the trophy in the air and beam with pride as cameras flashed in our faces.

I was still beaming as I held Roy’s hand in the club the Greyhounds and Whippets took over to celebrate both of our victories; Rebecca was something of a blubbering mess as she took the microphone early in the night and thanked both clubs for their hard work, thanked our coaching staffs for surviving the wild ride that had been our season (Beard raised his eyebrows in our direction, clearly remembering being frustrated enough to lock us in a shed), and above all thanked Keeley for being her partner in the adventure of establishing what she knew would be a great legacy of women’s football in Richmond.

By the time Rebecca finished and called me up to make my own speech, I was close to joining Rebecca in her tears; unfortunately, I knew I wouldn’t look as graceful as she did once my waterworks began flowing. So instead, I focused on smiling as I kissed her cheek and took the accepted the microphone from her.

“How’re we feeling, Richmond?” I was answered with cheers and shouts from our teams and their loved ones. “I’ll try to keep this brief so we can get back to partying- although my Whippets probably already know I’m not as capable of brevity as the Greyhounds say Coach Kent is.” The mere mention of Roy’s name provoked catcalls and wolf whistles from both squads. “Calm down,” I laughed, shaking my head when I caught Roy’s not-really-annoyed eyeroll aimed at Jamie. “I just want to say thank you,” I continued once the commotion subsided. “Thank you to the Whippets, for all of your incredible work and dedication. I think we made it clear to the Women’s Super League and all of England that W.F.C. Richmond has arrived.” Cheers again filled the club, as well as my heart. “Thank you to our fearless leaders Keeley and Rebecca, for believing in us every step of the way.” Keeley’s little bow alongside Rebecca’s refined wave had me giggling into the microphone. “A special thanks to our dear Greyhounds. It was an adjustment learning to work together-” Coach Beard’s exaggerated groan could be heard loudly over everyone else’s teasing hums. “-but we managed.” I shot Roy a wink that was returned with a blown kiss. “And, personally, more than anyone else I have to thank my right-hand man.” My eyes found Lucas’s. “Luke,” I sighed. “You formed me into the player I was so proud to be. You mentored me into the coach I’ve become. You were insane enough to follow me here for this adventure, you held my hand during every scary moment and picked me up every time I fell. We came here for greatness-” I shrugged, gesturing to the assembled group of champion athletes. “- and I think we fucking found it.” Both teams hollered in agreement, but still managed to hear my last few words: “Richmond on three! One, two, three-”

“RICHMOND!”

In a blur of cheers and hugs and kisses, I finally found myself back in Roy’s embrace, accepting the chaste kiss he pressed to my lips.

“Wanna sneak off for a moment?” he hummed in my ear. “After that, I need to give you a proper kiss. And if I do that here, I think Beard might actually be fucking ill.”

I leaned into his touch. “Can’t have that,” I teased back.

We wandered away from the bar, ignoring the eyerolls from our friends when they caught sight of our lovesick expressions. We had warned them early on; they were going to miss the days of our screaming matches and insults. These days, instead of walking in on arguments, they walked in on make out sessions. Jamie had more than a few times accused us of trying to make him go blind. Even Keeley grimaced when I asked if she wanted to continue Manager Mondays next season, clearly regretting asking us to be more affectionate once we were public.

All season everyone bitched at us about getting along. We were only giving the people what they wanted.

Roy clearly knew what he wanted when he found a dark, isolated corner where he could press my back against a column that hid us from view. His mouth melded with mine as his hands lazily stroked up and down my sides. I sighed against his kiss and snaked my arms around his neck, pulling him flush against me. My mind was filled with thoughts of the weeks ahead of us; sure, we’d have a shit ton of press, but once the circus was over, this was all I wanted to worry about. We’d floated the idea of going on some fabulous vacation together, turning our phones off and isolating ourselves in a little bubble of sex and food and laughter. I’d told Roy we could settle plans once the seasons were ended, which he had seemed thrilled about. Or at least as thrilled as Roy could manage. But as I kissed him harshly and melted in his arms, I briefly considered that spending our entire break locked in his house with nothing but takeout, movies, and his bed sounded just as good as whatever destination he had in mind.

Still, we’d worked hard and gone through a lot; we deserved a damn vacation.

“You’re fucking incredible,” he mumbled as he began to wander down my neck. “Seeing you on the pitch today… and up there with your speech…” He groaned softly and pressed a slow kiss to my collarbone. “Don’t think I’ve ever loved you more than I do right now.”

My grip on him tightened as my body tensed up. Not bothering to hide my wide smile, I tugged at him until his face was inches away from mine. “You love me?”

His smile was sloppy and bashful, my favorite sight. “Fucking ’course I do,” he murmured as he brushed some hair out of my face. “You’re something special, you know that? I think I’ve loved you since that moment in the shed at the fucking retreat, hearing you say we were both going to win the whole fucking thing. Called it ‘fairy tale shit’.” He touched his nose to mine. “This right here, this is some fairy tale shit.”

“It is,” I breathed before closing the space between your mouths, pulling Roy into a tender kiss. Before I could deepen it into something a bit harsher, he pulled back, eyebrow quirked playfully. “What?” I chuckled.

“I love you,” he whispered, raising both eyebrows now.

I nodded, trying to hide the grin that was growing on my face. “So I heard.”

He rolled his eyes and took my face in his hands. “Anything you care to say to me, Coach Buck?”

He knew. Of course he fucking knew. He knew from the way I kissed him and the way I looked at him and the way I held him close whenever I could. He knew from the way we made love at night and made breakfast together in the morning. He knew from the way our fingertips brushed when we passed each other at work. He knew from the million little things we shared every day.

But sometimes, a fella needs to hear the words.

“Fine,” I huffed, all faux exasperation as I tugged his face back towards mine. “I guess I love you too.”

Taglist: @optimisticsandwichgladiator@reading-blogs@callmecasey81@ladygrey03@puckyou-forpuckssake@royalestrellas@shineforever19@rae4725@burnafter-reading@her-fandom-sanctum@infinetlyforgotten@giggling-sewer-ginger@whataloadofmalarkey@agentstarkid@kingleahhh@tortilla-maria1@geekgirl1996@amatswimming@meg-ro@spicyraccoonlordking@spaghetti-dad187@needlesthreadandbuttons@elissaaa@imsoluckyeverythingworksoutforme@reverieisaway@djskakakaksjsj-blog@thatonedogwithablog@allthetroubleiveseen@sunderland-6@netflix-addict@paranormal-is-my-life@jill2629-blog@itsbuzzfeedbitch@pretzelactivist@amieinghigh@kashee-h@beingalive1@mythicalbinicorn@needyomega@kno-way-home@janalustare@sssatorus@its-a-rich-mans-world@confessionsofatotaldramaslut@hesitant-alien33@katie-sheep-111@bonesbonesetc@seacactusplant@thebookwormlife @dreamscape22 @rae4725@timelordhunterandmysterysolver@littleesilvia@anonurs@itswhateveripromise@chewymoustachio @gcidrvsh @katdahlali @ohwauwdoritos @lemoonandlestars @perfectwhispersvoid@seatbacksandtraytables@kingleahhh@maackiimoo @isuspectitwasthenargles @bannsshheeebiittcchhhh @charkachow @gcstnml @queen-of-the-downtown-scene

[littlebabyyd0ll]

mdni 18+! seriously pls go away if ur under 18! fall works for every day of october! some scary, some cozy, and almost always smutty. probably shouldn’t have called this ‘kinktober’ as not every day will be a kink, yolo. a lot of works will include ddlg themes, size kink, daddy kink, fem!reader and hyper feminine themes. you are responsible for your own media consumption. all pieces will have warnings at the beginning of their works. wishing you all the spookiest, ghoulish october ever! 🙀

masterlist ! navigation ! support my work

01. The Lion and The Lamb, Part One. (vampire!king!eddie munson x princess!reader)

02. Subdrop (dom!steve harrington x sub!reader)

03. Sapphic Age Gap (MILF!Nancy Wheeler x reader)

04. Trick or Treat (Daddy!Bucky Barnes x Little!reader) [plot has changed to a halloween party!]

05. First time parents (Dad!Steve Harrington x Mum!reader)

06. Sugar Daddy (CEO!Steve Rogers x reader)

07. Size Kink (Daddy!Ari Levinson x reader)

08. Overstimulation (Bodyguard!James Potter x Princess!reader)

09. Age Gap (DILF!Joel Miller x reader)

10. Dacryphilia (Daryl Dixon x younger!reader)

11. Hot cocoa and kisses (Daddy!Ari Levinson x Little!reader)

12. Mommy Kink (Nancy Wheeler x reader)

13. Daddy Kink (Daryl Dixon x reader)

14. Dry Humping (Eddie Munson x reader)

15. The Lion and The Lamb, Part Two. (Vampire!King!Eddie Munson x Princess!reader)

16. Stockholm Syndrome (dark!rick Grimes x reader)

17. Make-up sex (Remus Lupin x reader)

18. Cock Warming (Ron Weasley x reader)

19. A/B/O (Alpha!Steve Harrington x reader)

20. Babysitter (Joel Miller x reader)

21. Serial Killers (Ghostface!Steve Harrington x Ghostface!Eddie Munson x reader)

22. Safe Word (Steve Harrington x crybaby!reader)

23. Body Worship (Joel Miller x reader)

24. On The Run (Psycho!Eddie Munson x Psycho!reader)

25. Dumbification (Daryl Dixon x crybaby!reader)

26. Stepbrother (Stepbrother!Peter Parker x Stepsister!reader)

27. Thigh Riding (Dom!Remus Lupin x Sub!reader)

28. Brat Taming (Dom!Eddie x Sub!reader)

29. Refrigerator light (Dad!Steve Harrington x Mum!reader)

30. Pet Play (Dom!Bucky Barnes x Sub!reader)

31. The Lion and The Lamb, Part Three. (Vampire!King!Eddie x Princess!reader)

[mrs-barnes-rogers-writes]

Sometimes Your Soul Family Is The Only Family You Need - Part 2

Marvel AU

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader x Steve Rogers

Summary: 18 months ago you were a mess but with the help of your close friends you start to rebuild your life. Your soul friendships maybe chaotic but they're your family, just as you're theirs. With one of them about to have a baby, you and your misfit friends are here to visit. But will you stay? And what will the small town think of you having two soulmates and why do you keep finding yourself in the same place as a bunch of hot bikers.

"Sometimes families are assholes, sometimes your soul connections mean far more than family ever can. Sometimes your soul family is the only family you need." - Nurse Maggie

Chapter Warning: Premature labour mentioned, mention of miscarriage

Chapter Summary: The reader and Ryan arrive and the fluttering in readers chest is nothing right? RIGHT???

Your ass was well and truly numb, and Ryan had possibly napped more than he ever had. You glanced over at him in the passenger seat. Passenger Princess.

Ryan had come into your life at a time you needed him most. You'd left home, quickly after your soul letters had appeared. They weren't your standard letters though. You had two lots of letters on your wrist and to say your family was shocked was an understatement.

Your Dad had immediately branded you a whore and made it clear you weren't welcome in the house anymore. Your siblings, all older and already with homes of their own, either shrugged or pointed out it WAS his house.

A very emotional phone call between you and an old school friend, had led you to pack a case and grab your passport. Days later you were in Spain working the season at a fancy hotel.

You and Ryan had started on the same day. Both of you escaping home. You for apparently being a whore and him for being gay. You were allocated a small one bed apartment to share and a friendship was formed. After an issue with accommodation, and more people joining the season, you were joined by Annemarie, Darcy and Wanda. The snap of being soul friends happened the moment they stepped into the apartment.

Over the next few weeks you would all begin to come back together, as Annemarie welcomed her baby. It was sooner than it should be and the knots in your stomach had meant you'd not ate all day. You were probably the most worried you'd ever been. You didn't want her to go through what you had. She was much further along in her pregnancy and it would make it hundreds time worse.

Your baby, a boy you'd thought, would have been..............STOP. Stop it right now, you told yourself as the lump formed in your throat and a tear ran down your face.

You spotted a sign for Brook Town and placed your hand on Ryan's leg and tapped lightly.

"Ry, Ry, Ryyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

"Urghhhhhhhhhhhh, this better be good"

"Were almost there."

"Oh. Babe did we even stop?"

You shook your head.

"Y/N! You should have taken a break!"

"It's fine. I just want to get there. I don't want her to be on her own."

Ryan's heart sinks when he realises. This isn't just about getting to your best friend quickly, it's that she has someone with her.

"Babe, she's not on her own. Daniel is there."

"I know, I know. You know what I mean." she reply glancing over at him, and he knows immediately what you mean. He still thinks of you in that hospital bed. How you looked so alone when he'd arrived, even when your Mum had decided to make an appearance.

He squeezed your arm and leaned over planting a kiss on your cheek.

"I know, I know."

"She only has him right now."

"I know and he probably needs us too. His family are still on vacation right?"

"I think so." you replied as you're mind started to wander again, Ryan squeezed your arm again. You smiled at him and pushed your intrusive thoughts back.

"So the pie shop and then the hospital right?"

"Yep" Ryan replied, pointing to the row of stores as you approached it "it's the second one along."

You parked immediately in front of the store, the evening setting in meaning it was a quiet time for shoppers. The store was open for another fifteen minutes but that didn't stop Ryan rushing in.

"I'll go in, you take a break, hopefully they haven't sold the pregnant lady's pie."

You snorted with laughter as he dashed in, deciding stretching your legs was a good idea. Your legs cramped up as you tried and you groaned loudly as you got out.

"Fuck me."

You heard a snort of laughter and looked around to find a set of piercing blue grey eyes looking at you. And there it was the fluttering in your chest.

[justyouraverage-simp]

daddy day care// steve rogers

pairing: dad!steve rogers x reader, slight bucky barnes x reader (platonic)

summary: when bucky goes on a mission and it goes wrong causing him to become a 6 year old boy once again who better to look after him than his two best friends.

warnings: none currently

a/n: guess who's back! i'm finally writing again and im so happy! ive been so busy with college and work but as it's christmas i've had time to write. i am currently working on my first request and i'm so excited for you to read it but first have this fic!

Y/N and Steve were sat in the living room watching TV when their four year old daughter, Sarah Jamie Rogers, came rushing into the room clutching one of her teddies and she had a silver princess crown on her head. 

“Daddy, when's uncle Bucky going to be back?” She asked.

“Either tonight or tomorrow princess,” Steve said.

“Ughh, okay” Sarah groaned

“Why baby what’s wrong” Y/N said to her daughter who was now pouting slightly.

“I need someone to play tea parties with” Sarah stated as if it was common knowledge.

“I can play with you princess all you have to do is ask” 

“No I don’t want to play with you, you don’t play it properly”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you could play tea parties wrong” Steve said jokingly, poking his daughters ribs causing her to giggle but then she stopped and wore a sad expression on her face once again. 

“You don’t wear the princess crown or the b-b-”Sarah stutters, looking to her mum for help. 

“Boa baby” Y/N said.

“Boa and without it it’s just not the same” Sarah said slightly whining. 

“Well, I’m sure when Buck gets back I’m sure he will want to play with you” Steve said, pressing a kiss on her forehead, “But until then why don’t me, you and mummy have a movie afternoon and I’ll go get some snacks and we can cuddle hmm?” 

“Yeeeaaahhh” Sarah yelled loudly, jumping onto the sofa elbowing Steve in his crotch causing him to grunt, standing up slowly and walking out the door. 

-

It had been two days since Bucky, Sam and Tony were due home from their mission and it was causing Steve and Y/N to worry none of them were answering their phones or had even contacted anyone in those two days.

“I’m worried they should have been back ages ago” Steve said pulling Y/N in closer rubbing his thumb up and down her arm absentmindedly.

“I know, if we don’t hear from them by tomorrow we will start to panic okay” Y/N said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

-

The next morning Steve and Y/N are awoken by loud banging on their bedroom door. Steve gets up and opens the door to see Sam stood panting.

“You’re back, what took so long,” Steve said, pulling Sam into a hug.

“Yeah um about that, we had a slight problem. Tony tried to fix it but without his tech he couldn’t so we had to come back”

“Why, what happened?” Y/N said standing next to Steve.

“It’s hard to explain, it’ll be easier to just show you” Sam said as he turned and rushed down the corridor. 

As Y/N and Steve entered the living room they saw Tony with his back to the two of them talking to Pepper who seemed slightly stressed but no Bucky in sight and that’s when Y/N heard it, the sound of tiny feet running across the floor and the sound of a small child's laughter. 

Y/N turned expecting to see Sarah except she saw a small brunette boy with bright blue eyes, Bucky.

“What the hell happened on that mission” 

“He may or may not have temporarily been captured by Hydra” Sam muttered 

“What!” 

“They have developed a new weapon, they used it on Bucky and when we found him he was a child” 

“So how do we fix this?” Steve asked as he watched Bucky jump onto the sofa giggling. 

“I’ll have to see what they actually did to him before I can reverse it, so it’s going to take a while,” Tony said.

“Okay, so what do we with him until then because he can’t be left alone, he’s a kid” Y/N said 

 “Well…” Tony said looking between Y/N and Steve, “I think it’s pretty clear who should look after him”

“I mean he isn’t wrong” Sam said “You two do actually have a kid that’s around the same age as Bucky”

“So does Tony” Y/N said

“Technically Morgan is older and I can’t look after him as well as try and reverse what they did all at the same time” 

“Maybe it would be good for us to look after him, he is your best friend and it will be good for Sarah to be around someone her age a bit more. We both know she misses Bucky” Y/N said as she turned to Steve.

“Okay, we will look after him” Steve said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

-

It had been three hours since Bucky returned and to say Y/N and Steve had their work cut out. Bucky was a ball of energy and with the serum it made it 20 times worse and when he was put in a room with Sarah and the two were wild. The two had always been close and when they were together they were always up to something and causing some sort of trouble and now they were the same age it was worse, mainly because Bucky now had the same energy levels as Sarah so he wasn’t getting tired as quickly so he could run around just as much as she could now. 

Y/N and Steve were laying on the sofa with her head resting on his lap as he rubbed her forehead slowly with his thumb. 

“Are you feeling okay? You don’t look so good” Steve said looking down at Y/N.

“Yeah just tired, they’ve just worn me out” 

“You sure, you’re not getting sick or anything are you?” 

“No, just tired. I think it’s cause I don’t have the serum but all three of you do” Y/N said, smiling up at Steve.

“Okay but if your tired go to sleep sweetheart”

“I’m okay, I just need to relax a little” Y/N said, although within twenty minutes she was fast asleep. 

-

It was the next morning and Y/N was standing in the kitchen making Bucky and Sarah breakfast whilst Steve was on a run, suddenly Y/N was hit by a wave of nausea. Holding back the urge to be sick when Sam came into the kitchen. Tony was slowly getting closer to solving what happened to Bucky and is working on something to bring Bucky back to how he should be.-=

“Can you keep an eye on the food and the kids please” Y/N asked Sam trying to talk quickly to get to the toilet quicker. 

“Yeah, you okay?” Sam asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

“Um maybe” Y/N said as she walked quickly to the toilet. 

She opened the door and kneeled in front of the toilet, shutting the door with her foot. 

“Hey, Y/N you okay?” 

Y/N recognised that voice from anywhere, Nat. Nat had become Y/N’s best friend, she was the reason her and Steve were together, for every big moment Nat was there. Her and Steve’s wedding, the proposal, Y/N finding out she was pregnant with Sarah, Sarah’s birth. It only made sense for her and Bucky to be Sarah’s godparents. 

Nat could hear her being sick and knew she hated it luckily she didn’t really have that problem with Sarah’s pregnancy. “Oh, Y/N.” Nat said, pulling her hair into a ponytail and tying it with the hairband she had on her wrist. “I know, just get it all out” She said, rubbing her back slowly. 

After a few minutes, Y/N sat up and leant against the wall next to Nat. “I think I might have food poisoning, I told Tony the chicken didn’t look cooked” Y/N said wiping her mouth with some tissue. 

“Babe, we all had the chicken and your the only one that’s ill” Nat said, that’s when it hit Y/N.

Her period was a few days late. She felt sick. Her hormones have been slightly out of whack but she assumed it was having another child around causing her to be slightly more reactive. But now that she thinks about the symptoms as a group she realises she felt the same around 5 years ago. When she found out she was pregnant with Sarah. 

Y/N jumped up and rushed to the bathroom that was connected to her and Steve’s bedroom with Nat following behind her. She could hear Nat calling her name but the adrenaline currently rushing through her veins. She rushed over to the sink and dropped to her knees and began rummaging through the cupboard. As she reached into the back corner that was when she felt the box. She opened the box and pulled out the white package. 

It had been 3 minutes and Nat was sat on the bathroom with Y/N. Y/N reached over to the white stick that rested near her feet. She picked it up and flipped it over. 

Pregnant.

Tears filled Y/N’s eyes as she felt Nat pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around Nat. Y/N wasn’t even sure how to feel, she felt overwhelmed. Would Steve be happy? How is Sarah going to react? And then there’s Bucky. Y/N is currently looking after two children and it’s hard work. Would she cope with three?

“Hey, look at me. It’s all going to be okay” Nat said as she wiped the tears off Y/N’s cheek with her thumb. Nat could tell that Y/N was overwhelmed. It happened when she found out she was pregnant with Sarah. Her mind just goes into overdrive thinking about all the possible outcomes, some good but some bad. 

The door opened causing Y/N and Nat to look towards it and saw Steve. 

“Hey, what's going on in here? It looks slightly dodgy. Should I be concerned?” Steve said as he walked into the bathroom leaning against the wall opposite the girls. 

“You should always be concerned rogers, you wife is sexy”

“Oh really Romanoff? I haven’t noticed” Steve said as he leant down to press a kiss onto Y/N’s lips, using his index finger to tilt her chin up. That’s when Steve noticed the white stick laying on the floor. 

“Y/N?” Steve said with a questioning tone in his voice “Is this what I think it is?” Y/N nodded quickly. Steve had never been so happy, his smile grew and he placed another kiss on her lips. Nat knew they needed a moment alone so she left and went to spend time with Sarah. 

He had always wanted a family pre-serum but after he came out of the ice he lost the desire. He couldn’t see himself having children with or marrying anyone other than Peggy. That was until he met Y/N. She changed him for the better and everyone around him noticed it, especially Bucky. When he came back from Wakanda he was finally ready to meet the girl his best friend wouldn’t shut up about and to say all three were nervous would be an understatement. Steve wasn’t sure what he would do if the two most important people in his life would get on but he couldn’t have been any further from the truth. The two immediately got on like a house on fire, if anything they got on two well. It was common for the two to pick on Steve. Especially once Sarah was born. It was Y/N’s idea to give Sarah the middle name Jamie in honour of Bucky. He saved Steve’s life multiple times and for that naming her child after him was the least Y/N could do. 

-

It had been a week since the pair found out they would be welcoming another life into the world. They were both laying in bed with Sarah in between them with Steve subtly rubbing Y/N’s stomach when they heard a knock at the door. Sarah immediately jumped up and opened the door. 

“Hey uncle Tony”

“Hey kiddo, where’s your parents?” Tony said, shocked slightly by the small person that opened the door.

“What do you need Tony?”  Steve said, standing behind Sarah with Y/N next to him. 

“I’ve done it, I can bring him back” Tony said, being careful what he said not knowing how much Sarah knew about the Bucky situation. 

“Are you sure?” Y/N asked, “It won’t hurt him will it?”

“Well I mean it might a little bit but it won’t cause any more damage to him” Tony said as Sarah ran off and grabbed her doll that was laying on the floor.

“That’s great, when can you do it?”

“Now. Where is he?” 

“Uh, terrorising Peter with Sam” 

“Okay let’s go save the kid and sort out that issue” Tony said as three of them leave with Sarah following behind, although she notices Nat and immediately runs to her. 

-

When they entered Tony’s lab Y/N was holding Bucky in her arms. Tony walked over to the two with a vial with a clear liquid in and handed it to Y/N. She placed Bucky on the floor and Bucky turned to look up at Steve.

“Stevie” Bucky said causing Steve to bend down onto one knee to be at Bucky’s eye level.

“Yeah buddy”

“I don’t want to drink the nasty liquid”

“I know but if you want to be back to yourself then you need to”

“What if I like being small? I don’t want to be big” Bucky exclaimed causing Steve to chuckle. “And Sarah will be sad she told me she likes me being little cause we can play all day” 

“I know but Sarah will have a new friend in about 8 months so she will be okay” Steve said quietly ruffling Bucky’s hair. Bucky looked slightly confused at first but then realised what they meant, Y/N was pregnant. 

“Hey, Bucky. I know you are feeling scared but I promise we would never do anything to hurt you, it will just be a little uncomfortable. We just need to get the old Bucky back” Tony said, kneeling next to Steve. The two had a complicated relationship and it took a while but eventually the two managed to put aside all the drama and tension  and are now civil. 

Bucky took the vial into his hand and poured it down his throat. He felt the liquid run through his body causing him to grunt.

-

Steve and Y/N walked into the living room where Nat and Peter were sat on the floor playing with Sarah. 

“Hey, there’s our little princess. Are you having fun?” Steve said as he picked Sarah up who came crashing into him.

“Yeah, we were playing princesses”

“I can tell” Y/N said looking at Peter who had a crown on his head and a tutu. 

“UNCLE BUCKY” Sarah screamed, wriggling out of Steve’s grip and colliding into Bucky’s legs. 

“Hey munchkin” Bucky said as he scooped up Sarah. 

“How are you big again” Sarah asked squeezing Bucky’s cheeks together

“Uncle Tony helped me out so now we can play again”

“But I liked when you were small, we could play more” Sarah said whining slightly.

“I know munchkin but we can still play, I will always play with you. You know that” Bucky said, pressing a kiss on her forehead.

Y/N looked over to Steve after seeing Sarah’s putty lip she felt guilty. She knew it was the hormones but there was one thing she knew would cheer up Sarah.

“Steve”

“Yeah baby” He said, wrapping an arm over her shoulders, looking down slightly at her.

“I think we should tell her” 

“You sure?”

“Yeah plus she will probably get suspicious soon” 

“Hey, it’s up to you. If you think we should tell her then we’ll tell her” Steve said pressing a kiss onto Y/N’s lips.

“Sarah, baby come here for me please”   

Bucky placed Sarah on the floor and she skipped over to her parents who were now sat on the sofa. 

“Hey princess”

“Hi mumma” Sarah says as she is placed between the two of them.

“We have something to tell you” Steve said 

“What is it?”

“You know how Peter is Morgan’s big brother?” 

“Yeah uncle Tony adopted him”

“Yeah exactly so how would you feel if you were to be a big sister in about 8 months” Y/N said, studying Sarah’s reaction which was a very confused one. 

“Mumma has a baby in her tummy” Steve said causing Sarah’s jaw to drop.

“A baby? How did it get there?” Sarah asked Y/N

“We will explain it when you are older princess” Y/N said chuckling as she kissed Sarah on the forehead. 

Sarah looked down at Y/N’s stomach for a few seconds and then lent in closer to it placing a kiss on her mum’s belly. 

“I love you baby”

[imtryingbuck]

No Better Than My Husband

~ gif not mine credit goes to owner ~

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: Readers husband is having affairs, so reader does the same

Word count: 1,513

Warnings: Angst and Fluff, swearing? Cheating, Sharon being a bitch. Terrible writing as always.

Masterlist

Y/n’s husband really thought he was being smart about his indiscretions, not that his affairs shocked her, but he truly believed she was some dumb naive housewife due to believing this, he started getting sloppy. At first it pained knowing her husband was entertaining another woman whilst she was at home alone, being nothing but faithful and devoted to him. When his first mistress found out that she wasn’t the only side piece he had she had messaged Y/n all the pictures, videos and messages between the pair, it was meant to hurt her but she already knew her husband was seeing other women behind her back.

The thought had crossed her mind at first to confront him but she knew better, she knew no matter how many tears she showed him he wasn’t going to change. She watched her mum do the exact same thing with Y/n’s dad, he promised her he’d stop and it wasn’t until his untimely death that she had found out that not only was he still seeing the other woman but was engaged to her and the cherry on top was that he had borne a 8 year old son.

So no she wasn’t going to confront him, leaving him to truly believe that his beautiful naive wife didn’t know that when he said he was having a business meeting it was actually him fucking another woman.

However what he didn’t know was that whilst he was having these “business meetings” she was in the arms of another man.

The first time she slept with Bucky she ran to the bathroom to puke up, she felt disgusted, she felt like she was the worst of the worst. The second time she slept with Bucky the guilt was still there but not as strong as before. Now after every time of meeting up with him she didn’t care, she loved the attention he showered her with but most of all she craved just being touched and not necessarily in a sexual manner.

Bucky thought she was truly the most beautiful woman to ever exist, he found out she was married after he gained the confidence to talk to her. The shock and anger he felt was showed on his face when she spoke about her husband’s affairs. Trying to get his head around the idea of how man could have someone like Y/n as a wife just to cheat on her truly baffled him.

Now Bucky lays there trying to catch his breath after spending nearly two hours of happily pleasuring over and over again the goddess that he has the upmost respect for. He knew he was in deep with her, he knew that it wasn’t just sex for him and he hoped that it was the same for her.

Keeping a soft gaze at her ever so slightly trembling form he broke the silence “So I was thinking, don’t give me that look missy, I was thinking about introducing you to my friends? They’ve heard everything about you and they want to meet you but only if your comfortable with that”

“I don’t know Buck, you told me they know I’m married and they probably think the worst of me”

“No baby they don’t, I told them about him and how he’s cheating on you none of them judge you for doing the same”

Shakily sighing “okay but only if your really sure about this”

“Never been more sure beautiful”

They share a kiss which quickly grew more intense. Bucky was more than happy to continue showing her affection and love.

The day had arrived to meet her lovers friends and to say she was nervous was an understatement the thought of them judging her scared her, she knew she wasn’t a bad person she did anything for anyone. Never in a million years did she think that the man who took a vow to love and be faithful to her would break said vow, but here she was five years into marriage her husband betraying her with four women - that she knows of - she was tired of being mocked and treated like a fool so she decided to return the favour. However now she was in too deep, she had fallen in love with Bucky. So she truly hoped his friends didn’t judge her too much.

Bucky had agreed to meet her outside the cafe that was close by the tower, they shared a kiss and made their way to where his friends were. The whole time Bucky was reassuring Y/n that it was going to be okay.

Standing in front of the Avengers was intimidating but when they greeted her happily the nerves that was settled throughout her body melted away. Conversations flowed effortlessly laughs were shared, that was until Sharon spoke up from where she was sat. “So Y/n Bucky says you’re married? At first I was shocked that he could sleep with a married woman but now meeting you I understand”

Y/n felt uncomfortable under Sharons intense gaze, she definitely didn’t like her tone. After shifting to try and get comfortable she finally found her voice “My husband has been cheating on me for a long time, I never intended to do the same but I met Bucky one night and one thing led to another and well now I’m here” ending her sentence with a shy chuckle. Bucky took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles in a comforting gesture.

“Don’t you feel slightly ashamed of yourself? Because you should”

Not knowing how to reply she just looked down at her clasped hands, of course she felt ashamed of herself, of course she hates herself for being no better than her husband. It was one moment of weakness that if she had to do it all over again, she would. She would do it all over again without a second thought and that, that is what she hated about herself.

The room had fallen into an uncomfortable silence, everyone was pretty annoyed with Sharon for spoiling such a happy time. The looks that were shot at Sharon made Y/n feel like she had done something wrong. She never wanted to cause any problems with the group of friends. A few beats passed when Y/n glanced at her watch then bent down to get her bag and coat that was at her feet, her movements caused Bucky to jump up. “You don’t have to go” 

“I do, I need to get home” turning to the group “it was an absolute pleasure meeting you all, thank you for a great time, bye” Not listening to the protest coming from Bucky and his friends, she walked out the room to the elevators. Bucky had ran inside just before the doors had closed.

“Baby ignore Sharon, she’s just being rude for no reason. I’m sorry” 

“It’s fine Buck. Honestly. I need to let you know now that I’ve finally filed for divorce. I’ve already packed my stuff and moved into an apartment. He’s on a “Business” trip ah. I really feel hard for you Buck, I’m sorry” The shiny doors came open and she all but ran out before Bucky could reply.

Four months had pasted since Y/ns confession in the confined space of the elevator, four months without speak or seeing the super soldier. The messages and phone calls that came from Bucky and her now ex-husband had gone off none stop. The messages from her ex started off with him apologising and begging her to come back, he’ll change. Which turned to him taunting her, blaming her for his actions. When it came to their divorce to be finalised he had showed up with mistress number 4 hanging off his arm, he thought this move would hurt her but all it did was make the judge give her way more money than she originally asked for.

Bucky’s messages consisted of apologies too, along with pleading her to meet him. But was also filled with him telling her he loved her.

One Sunday the rain was pouring down heavily in the late afternoon when a knock on the door startled Y/n, trying to calm her racing heart she made her way to the sound. Opening her door her heart stopped.

“W-what are you doing here Buck? How did you find me?”

“Nat”

“Okay? Still didn’t answer the first question”

Instead of answering her Bucky walked straight up to her, touching her face with freezing and delicate hands he searched her eyes for any reason to pull away. Finding none he moved closer and closer till his cold plumb lips touched hers. Kissing one another always took their breaths away, no matter how many times they’ve done it. Reluctantly pulling away he rested his forehead on hers and smiled.

“Be mine and I’ll be yours” Bucky’s heart was hammering rather hard inside of his chest awaiting her response, and instead of verbally responding she pulled him into the apartment letting him kick the door behind them.

~ banners credit goes to @sweetpeapod ~

[frostironfudge]

Labyrinth - Bucky Barnes - Chapter III

Summary: labyrinth (noun), a complicated set of paths and passages, through which it is difficult to find your way. Bucky and You would do anything for Steve and Wanda, your respective best friends. In an attempt to avoid a tradition Steve and Wanda come up with a lie involving their best friends.  A lie, that involves building a labyrinth. Bucky and You begin to build but will you two find your way out or be caught in it?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader, (Modern AU)

Word Count: 9.2k || Dividers: @firefly-graphics

Warnings: fluff, angst, swearing, a lil drama, sorta steamy moments, reader's boss is a meanie, a look into the past of the reader and bucky, romanian words have translations written in parentheses.

Main Masterlist || AO3 || Fic Masterlist

Bucky’s leg bouncing out of nervousness. Winnie is staring at them pointedly. Becca is trying to not laugh. Steve wants to run away, he really does. 

“So you got him fake engaged.” Winnie states, Steve nods. 

“So that you don’t have to follow tradition.” She states again. Steve nods again. 

Becca laughs again. Bucky shoots her a glare. 

“James Barnes, you do not glare at your sister.” She snaps, glaring at him. 

“Sorry Ma.” Bucky looks back at his hands, the ring in place. 

“Do you like this girl?” She questions. 

Becca represses her laughter again, knowing the ins and outs of the issue at hand. Steve groans, burying his head in his hands. 

“I don’t like her, she’s Wanda’s best friend so it worked out that way.” Bucky explains again. 

“Did you ask her to come over?” She raises a brow. He nods. 

“She should be here any minute.” Bucky gazes outside just as your car turns onto the driveway. Alpine perks up from her sleeping spot near the window, sunlight illuminating her white fur. 

Everyone’s eyes are on your approaching form, you’re holding a box. Bucky rolls his eyes. 

Alpine scratches at the window in recognition, you smile seeing her. 

The little pathway is lined by solar lamps with tiny butterflies made on them. You take a few deep breaths before ringing the doorbell. 

Bucky opens the door. 

“Hi.” You smile, he opens the door further to allow you inside. 

“You can take off your shoes here and wear those.” He points at the home slippers. You nod, manoeuvring the box and switching footwear. 

You falter a little, Bucky’s hand moves around the small of your back to steady you. You’re flush against his chest. Your skin heats at the proximity. 

Your gaze moves to the cut and bruise, “Did you ice it again?”

He’s about to respond, Winnie clears her throat from the archway leading to the living room, Bucky steps away from you. 

“Thank you for inviting me to your home, Mrs. Barnes, I got these for you.” You move forward and elevate the box lightly. “It’s made with sugar free ingredients. Bucky mentioned his dad has diabetes, so even he can have it.” 

Winnie smiles, “That’s generous of you.” 

“Wait, I know that logo, that's Confection Confession!” Becca gleams, taking the box away from you, “I had their stuff at a friend’s party and followed them on instagram literally the best desserts, damn I want to order another cake right now.” 

“You did?” You ask surprised. 

“They have the best desserts that I’ve eaten in so long, mum you remember those party favour cookies?” Becca turns to Winnie. 

“Oh my, those just melted in the mouth.” Winnie sighs dreamily. 

You grin happiness coursing through you, Bucky rolls his eyes. 

“Y/N actually is the person behind Confection Confession.” Steve adds, the mother daughter duo look between each other then at Bucky. Then at you. 

“Well have a seat I’m sure we have a lot to discuss.” Winnie motions for you to follow. 

“I’m slicing up these mini cakes.” Becca grins bounding over to the kitchen. 

“Steve, go help Becca.” Winnie requests, he makes his way over giving Bucky and you a thumbs up.  

You wonder if Wanda was here would you be more at ease. 

Bucky moves to the opposite side, leaving you to face his mother and him. Alone. You fiddle with your bag, Alpine lunges at you. 

“Alpine!” You coo, she rubs her face against your stomach, purring and settling onto your lap. 

“I see she’s met Alpine but not me.” Winnie raises a brow at her son, you look at him, Bucky for the first time in your life seems nervous. 

“Ma…”

She gestures for him to keep quiet, her questions begin, general questions getting to know you. College, hobbies, degrees, and work. You ask her questions as well, Bucky’s hard gaze is fixed upon you. Waiting for you to fuck up.

“So, what have you thought about telling others?” Winnie questions after a silence envelopes for a few moments. 

“Others?” You question, your eyes shift to Bucky then back to his mother. 

“Your family dear, I’m sure they would have been as baffled as I was.” She explains with a soft smile.

Bucky watches as you try to keep the smile on your face, your hand clutches the sofa, the other stays on Alpine. 

“My family and I aren’t on speaking terms.” You tell her. 

“I see, well, family is family, sometimes they don’t understand, sometimes we don’t, but if it gets too much and too bad, distance will help heal wounds.” She advises and you nod. 

“Thank you.” you say, not knowing what else can be said.

“Right,” She glares at him, “now, Y/N, Bucky tells me that you both have agreed to this fake engagement.” She turns to face you again. 

You nod, “Wanda and Steve don’t believe in the tradition, and if they follow the tradition to the finest of rules, then the couple who are shortlisted are rude, obnoxious and judgemental towards both of them and others.” 

“Sharon and Brock Rumlow?” She looks towards Bucky, her eyes lingering on his jaw. 

“Yes, he, James got hurt defending me against Brock.” You explain. 

“You don’t call him Bucky?” She wonders, “May I ask why?”

“We aren’t that close in general, and he’s never corrected me.” You shrug, petting Alpine. Bucky scoffs. You narrow your eyes at him. 

“Do you have any ulterior motive?” She questions, Bucky’s eyes widen.

“Ma, what the hell?” His voice raises, Steve and Becca walk in reverse back to the kitchen. 

“I don’t, I’m doing this for my best friend. I don’t have any interest, romantic or otherwise. I have no motive other than having my best friend be happy.” You explain. 

“I worry about him, it's been so long since he ever brought anyone home and now this for a minute I thought it was true and I was upset.” She gives you a warm smile. 

“I can understand, I’d be worried and protective about my child as well.” You add, she nods. 

“So how can I help?” She claps her hands. 

“You have to do nothing.” Bucky tells her to stand up. 

“I’m the mother in law, I need to know my daughter in law.” She says it as if it is simple. 

“No, you don’t need to bond with her. We’re not interacting beyond the required events. Now if your curiosity is quelled can she go?” He gestures to you, you look down at Alpine. 

“Sweetheart, don’t mind him. You can stay as long as you’d prefer, I’m sure Becca would love to ask you more questions regarding baking.” She requests, you shake your head to dismiss her concern. 

“I, it’s fine, this is difficult to deal with and he isn’t wrong, the more minimum we keep it, it's easier to keep track of the lie.” You explain, carefully shifting Alpine as your phone rings. 

“Excuse me.” You shift slightly checking the notification. 

Unknown Number: hi, just wanted to place in my order for the day after is that possible? - Zeenath N

Y/N: hey yes, you can just let me know what your order constitutes and I’ll revert with the amount and payment link and pick up details, I don’t offer delivery. 

Zeenath N Delivery 25th: 1 box of 12 chocolate chip, 1 box of red velvet, 1 box of peanut butter and chocolate chip, 1 box of raspberry and 1 assorted brownie gift box

Another message comes in,

Marianne: hi i’m on my way back, can I pick up the order earlier? If it’s inconvenient let me know.

Your eyes move up to Bucky, he glares at you as if checking your phone is a sin, you give Winnie an apologetic look. She smiles as if to brush it off.

“I have an order that is being picked up earlier, I need to leave, I’m so sorry to cut this short. Becca can always contact me anytime, I’d be happy to speak with her more.” You stand. 

Winnie smiles yet again, “Thank you for agreeing to meet us.” 

“The pleasure was mine, James, he spoke very highly of you, as has everyone I’ve met who knows you. Today I know why.” You beam, she chuckles. 

You move towards the door, catching Steve and Becca eating the cakes. They wave at you with their mouthfuls. You laugh. 

Winnie nudges Bucky to see you off. Begrudgingly he gets up, following you. He says nothing watching you. You look up at him wearing your shoes. 

You smile at him while leaving. 

“Thank you, for coming over on short notice.” He nods, while watching you move to the door. 

“She’s a sweet person, I figured it might happen given what happened yesterday.” You shrug. 

He hums. You turn walking to your car, pulling out of the driveway. 

When Bucky returns inside everyone is in the kitchen devouring the dessert. 

“She reminds me of something.” Winnie observes, as Bucky retrieves a glass of juice for himself. 

“lumina soarelui (sunlight).” He answers back in Romanian absentmindedly. His shoulders tense when he realises. 

“ai dreptate (you are right).” His mother replies, not trying to make a fuss. 

Bucky heads out of the kitchen towards his old room. 

Becca and Winnie share a look and a smile. Steve tilts his head looking amongst the three Barneses. Becca points at the sky and draws an outline of the sun on the kitchen table. 

Steve’s eyes widen, he looks on after Bucky he’d heard those words before everything went to shit. 

Six Years Ago. 

The gathering at Steve’s is in full swing, parents out of town and the need for a weekend party to let loose. Wanda grins at him, his heartbeat picks up. Music is thumping and the bass is deliciously enticing.

She grabs your hand excitedly to finally catch his eye, unknowing that all this time she’s all Steve sees, you laugh, holding on to the box you carried. Steve invited you as well and Wanda said the two of you would bring dessert.

Which meant she over whisked the batter while dreaming about Steve’s arms and you had to take over and restart it while she kept daydreaming. Another tug on your arm has you into her bright eyes.

“What?” You ask, the feeling of being watched takes over your side, you know when you lift your gaze to your right you will see him. 

“Bucky is staring at you.” She whispers, your skin heats. 

You look up sure enough he’s next to Steve but his eyes are on you. You smile at him, his lips quirk up in the slightest before Brock touches his arm to divert his attention.

It's always this way, you always find each other even in the most crowded of rooms. The way something within you would urge you to look and there you would find Bucky. 

“Imagine if we date best friends being best friends?” Wanda squeals excitedly, breaking you out of your pining.

“If he even likes me, I’m the one harbouring a crush.” You shake your head dismissing the thought.

“You need to give yourself more credit, Y/N.” Wanda sighs as you both finally make it into the kitchen, you open the box that harbours the sweet treats and hand Wanda two pieces to take to Steve. 

Bucky enters the kitchen then, Wanda grins at you, wiggling her brows and giving you a thumbs up. You fumble with the corner of the box.

“Would you, would you like to try one?” You nervously ask him, his eyes move from you to the box of brownies.

“What kind are they?” he moves closer, the scent of chocolate and caramel greet his senses.

“Chocolate and Caramel with a little sprinkle of sea salt.” you grab a tissue and hand him a piece. 

You don’t want to creepily watch him take a bite, but you also want to know his reaction. Bucky eyes the sweet treat, it does smell heavenly and you gave him a corner piece, he loves those pieces.

Brock enters the kitchen, 

“Hey Y/N.” he greets and goes towards the brownie box, “You made these?” 

You nod, “Yeah, have one.” you push the box towards him.

Bucky glares at Brock for interrupting. Though there was not a conversation occurring it still felt as if it was a moment only for the two of you.

“Sharon’s searching for you.” Brock says, Bucky makes a displeased sound. 

Brock eyes him, your eyes fall to the brownie but Bucky hasn’t eaten it.

“Okay, um I’ll go find her, enjoy the brownies.” You look at Bucky, smiling at him again before leaving. 

Sharon pulls on your arm dragging you towards a group of people, “Here she is!” she beams. You give a nervous laugh.

“Y/N this is Quinten Beck, he’s a colleague of Brock and Quinten this is the Y/N you have been asking about.” She acquaints the two of you. You to him, he’s smiling at you.

“Hi, I must admit, I’ve asked Brock about you more than I ask him about work related things.” Quinten laughs, you smile.

“I hope I don’t cause too much trouble.” You rub the back of your neck.

“On the contrary you make the trouble worth it.” He gives you a charming grin.

Your eyes dart towards the kitchen, Bucky stands there looking at the two of you. A scowl etched on his face. Your brows furrowed, were the brownies not good? 

Quentin taps your shoulder and you look back at him. 

“So tell me what does someone like you do apart from baking really good cookies?” Quentin chuckles, leaning closer as you explain your current life, completing your degree and an internship. 

You make a note to watch the clock, five more minutes and you would find Bucky. You would tell him how you feel. 

Maybe ask him out on a date? You had a cake batter ready at home to either cry with or celebrate.

You hoped it was the latter.

Present. 

You don’t understand why your mind brings forth the six year old incident again. Maybe because you finally registered the date. 

Quentin decided to promise you with a promise ring that he intends to replace it with a diamond one within two years, which would be today. 

Five years ago, one year after meeting Quentin had asked you out. 

You fell headfirst, when the man upon whom your heart was harbouring a huge turned into a heartbreaking revelation.

With Quentin you saw your entire future but then the rose tinted glasses began getting scratched and the grey reality seeped in, the only thing that he gave was heartbreak. 

You shut the pandora’s box, the break up was over two years old, you had moved on yet things ached. 

Now you had a fake engagement ring. 

You want to laugh. 

You realise how abrupt everything was at the Barnes household, you partly wonder if they know what he said to you. That they enjoy food items he doesn’t eat even a bite of with a passion. 

You often wonder what would have happened if you didn’t meet Quentin, what would happen if you said no to the date. Would you still have intimately known heartbreak?

Breaking out of the reverie you smile at the little girl accompanying her mom, Marianne for the cookie package pick up. She grins up at you, her pigtails bouncing. You give her an extra M&M cookie, the one you packed when you heard her sweetly asking her mother when they would pick up the desserts over the phone.

They thank you before making their way out. 

Heading back up to your apartment, you sigh, reaching for your phone to call up Wanda. 

She picks up on the third ring. 

“Hey how was it with his mom and sister?” She questions. 

“It was okay, my brain decided to recall I was supposed to be engaged to Quentin now.” You sigh. 

“I didn’t realise how difficult this would get for you.” Her voice is full of concern. 

“It isn’t, it’s just, I don’t know how to explain it. It doesn’t hurt anymore, it’s more like why was the hurt there?” You exhale. 

“You want me to come over with take out and we watch movies?” She suggests as you smile. 

“No, I know you have date night, maybe this weekend?” You counter the offer. 

“Y/N… you know I will forgo date night, Steve will understand.” Wanda’s brows furrow, Steve gestures to know what’s wrong. 

Wanda mouths ‘Quentin’. Steve’s jaw tightens, both of them hated him for what he put you through, your revelation that the antics were not a one time occurrence left a sour taste in their mouths. 

Guilt also swarmed, of not being there. Steve and Wanda were too enamoured with one another and when you decided to tell her you would like more time spent with her, she mistook what you meant which led to the rift while you were already drowning.

“I know he would but I’d rather go be surrounded by books today. I need a fictional boyfriend to take care of me.” You laugh, Wanda chuckles. 

“Maybe a brooding, grumpy to everyone but you kind?” She adds fuel to the fire. 

“God yes, pretty eyes and taller than me, just crushes me to his beefy chest.” You add, your brain instantly has Bucky conjured up. 

“And the hug turns into something hot and smutty?” Your best friend giggles but your brain oh your brain reminds you of how Bucky’s scent cascaded over you. 

The way those droplets of water traversed over his chest, the way his lips felt against yours, warm calloused hands teasing your flesh. 

How would that feel?

“O-oh,” You breathe.

“Are you getting off right now?!” Wanda screeches. 

“What no, my brain was just, just thinking of, of, Damon Salvatore.” You defend. 

“Right.” She says in a tone of disbelief. 

“What is the tone for?” You open the bottle of water. 

“We both know you aren’t thinking of Damon Salvatore.” She teases. Your skin floods with warmth. 

“Are you thinking of Damon’s arms wrapped around you or a certain brooding man who cooked you dinner and made sure you were taken care of?” She adds, grinning smugly. 

“Stop grinning smugly, I can hear it all the way here.” You warn. 

“Hmm, go to the bookstore also Steve says he knows a nicer independent one if you want to go somewhere new.” She suggests and Steve's eyes narrow. 

“Yeah sure, send it to me?” The timer dings, “I’ll speak to you later and have fun on date night.” You bid each other goodbye. 

Steve watches his fiancé have that little scheming look on her face. 

“What are you scheming?” He questions pulling her into his lap. 

“Who said I’m scheming?” Wanda feigns innocence. 

“You have that same look as the time you got me brownies six years ago and then we ended up making out.” He brushes his lips over her jaw. 

“Well, send me that bookstore’s address Bucky frequents.” She requests as his lips move along her neck. 

“You little genius, you noticed too.” He grins, retrieving his phone. 

“Of course I am, they just need to be locked in a room and bang it out.” She shrugs. 

“A bookstore isn't an appropriate place to bang—,” he pauses when she raises a brow, “For others, we’ve done it doesn’t mean everyone should.” He completes. 

“Well see, they just need a nudge. We’re simply nudging.” Wanda grins forwarding the address. 

Steve then diverts her lips back upon his own. 

Bucky finds solace among the scent of paperback books, the looming walls of books provide contentment. It had been a hard week after the pathetic weekend of lying. And then the admission of truth to his mother. Thoughts of you plagued him less often as his mind was preoccupied with important things. Yet his mind brought him back to you. 

He’s away from that honeyed scent of yours, it's somehow even more addicting than when you carried the scent of dark chocolate with a lingering caramel.  

His brows furrowed as he reread the back cover of the book he held, the scent of honey engulfed him again. 

“I’m dreaming.” He mutters, trying to focus on the summary. 

A book falls at the end of the aisle, he glances towards the source you’re placing the book back. 

“It’s worse, I’m in a nightmare.” He places the book back wanting to get out of the aisle. 

“Excuse me, Sir, Mister? Hey, you left your bag—, Oh, James… Hey…” he notes that you sound surprised, you recognised him from the arm ink matching it with his height. He’s in a short sleeved black t-shirt that clings to the body you’ve come here to forget. 

A week full of thoughts plagued by him and his stupid face and his even stupider body that won’t leave your brain. Or rather your brain won’t leave the images. 

He turns, taking the bag and going to the reading section not acknowledging your presence. 

You bite the inside of your cheek, if he wanted to act like strangers then fine so be it. You turn to the shelves trying to find the books from your to be read pile. Specifically something that had physical intimacy and not just sex but maybe sex and smut would do. 

This entire week tested you in every way possible. The conversation with Wanda and her sending you the address almost had you out the door. Then there was a panicked call from your Boss. That entire ordeal took the entire week to sort through. Therefore, you would not let James Barnes ruin your new book night. No, he would not ruin you finding a book boyfriend to fawn over and maybe cry over in case there was angst. 

Picking up the titles you make your way over to the reading area. Which is unfortunately packed. You sigh, so much for reading through some of the books to decide which one you wanted to take home. You walk around with a pile of six books, trying to find even a single chair. 

Bucky watches you from his corner seat trying to find a place in the crowded area. He spies at least six books in your hands. He scoffs. There is an empty chair opposite to him available, your gaze finds him, your lips press into a thin line. You don’t notice the empty chair yet.

You glance down at the titles, maybe you should not have gone overboard in search of your next book boyfriend. You sigh. There was no space here to sit and read and possibly have a coffee from the attached café. 

Bucky watches as you gaze down at your books and then he watches you turn away. Setting the books on the shelf near you, taking out your phone and taking a picture of the spines. You contemplate putting them back or finding another corner to sit in to read. Maybe sitting in the aisles?

Another once over has you pause, you notice the empty seat near him. Your eyes narrow at him. Bucky gazes back down into his own book, finding where he left off. You make your way over, maybe the back area has more seats.

A shadow crosses over Bucky, “No you cannot sit there–,” 

“Son?” An elderly voice seems taken aback, he pauses looking up at the old lady.

“I’m so sorry I thought you were someone else, please, sit.” He shifts his things from the table making space for her.

Your laughter finds his ears, he turns to you, sitting to his left. 

“Dear?” The old woman looks at Bucky, “My husband would be joining me soon. Will you join that young woman, she has an empty seat?” 

“I don’t think she would–,”

“Excuse me, young lady?” She cuts him off by looking towards you. .

You look at the old woman waving her hand to catch your attention. 

“Yes?” You ask, looking at her with a smile.

“My husband will be joining me, and I can’t move too much once I sit, would it be alright for this young gentleman to join you?” She requests, you look at Bucky with a shit eating grin.

“Of course.” You say a tad too cheerily. 

Bucky rolls his eyes, getting up and taking the seat opposite to yours.

“Thank you.” The lady smiles and then her husband joins her, kissing her forehead before sitting down and handing her a book.

Bucky’s gaze shifts to you as you pick a book from your pile, then he frowns noticing your ring is gone. You peek from the top of your book at him, finding his gaze fixated on your left hand.

“It’s in a necklace,” You show him the chain that harbours the ring, “Kneading dough batches so..” Your gaze falls to his empty hand.

He reveals the same necklace fix he did, “Gym.” is his one-word reason.

Silence takes over the two of you again and Bucky reads, you look back into your book. The main male character is talk, slightly grumpy and blue eyed, nope.

You switch the books, okay this one has green eyes okay, sleeve tattoo. Nope. 

Bucky watches you bemused huffing and switching books after ten to fifteen minutes of reading. When you look up he looks back down at his own book. 

He hears you huff in frustration, you switch your book again. 

This book better have a guy who does not remind you of James Barnes or so help you god. You begin reading satisfied that the guy is the opposite of Bucky in physical reminders. 

Brown eyes, taller than the female lead, no tattoos, no hair that is sort of long and frames his face in a way that is both groomed well or looks effortlessly messy but good. You peek up, Bucky’s bicep bulges as he runs a hand through his hair, licking his bottom lip as he reads. 

What was the male lead doing in your book? 

You look back down, then the words ‘pulled her into the shower’ cloud your vision. The next scene in the book has you shift around in your seat, the way they move, the way the male lead speaks to her, with such need but control, praise and husky whispers. 

On the brink of him losing into her, you clear your parched throat. 

Shifting again, skin heating as the scene progresses.  

Bucky looks back up at you, you’re constantly shifting in his peripheral vision. It is getting annoying but then his eyes study you. 

Your breathing rate is elevated, your lips bitten, oh, your knee bumps against his own as your thighs clench. 

He smirks, then takes his phone out to search for the book. You don’t even notice his absence as he returns with the very same book. 

You don’t notice as he reads it with so much intrigue. You exhale finally as the two chapter sex scene ends and the book is still in the first five chapters. You’re in for a ride. 

“So did you like the move he made on page thirty five?” Bucky’s voice is like ice cold water to your heated skin. 

“What?” You look up and catch sight of the book in his hands,“Why are you reading—,” 

“I found the summary appealing.” He shrugs, cutting you off, “Now did you like that or what was it that had you squirming in your seat?” He turns through the pages, long, thick digits, featherlike over the page you almost envy the book. 

“I don’t think you need to know.” You snatch the book out of his hands, “Why don’t you read the other book, Mr. Fiance.” 

He chuckles, “So easy to get under your skin, Ms. Fiancé.” picking his original read again. 

He has to bite his own tongue, the female lead in his book now moves closer to the male lead. His brain recalls the way your skin feels, the way your scent drowned him and he didn’t want to reach for the surface. 

Bucky finds his blood rushing somewhere other than his brain, because all his brain can think of is the feel of your fingers on his jaw, how you would look perched on his lap, face to face with him and how it would be to have your lips within reach. 

He shuts the book, placing it with a thud on the table. You look up then shrug looking back down. 

Bucky clenches his jaw. What the fuck was wrong with his brain?  

He is not supposed to harbour these old thoughts, they stopped six years ago.

Six Years Ago.

Bucky finds himself drawn to you. In any room he can find you, and when he does your gaze finds him. It might be creepy the way he searches for you. It might sound ridiculous but he feels as though the two of you are drawn to each other like magnets. 

You sneak a glance at him, he watches that pretty grin of yours take over your face. Wanda says something to you and you meet his eyes with your mesmerising ones. 

Then you smile, Bucky’s own lips lift in the slightest and then Brock opens his mouth and taps his shoulder. 

“Yo Barnes, who are you gonna tap tonight?” Rumlow sniggers. 

“Act a little mature aren’t you a company owner now?” Bucky shakes his head, taking a sip of his drink. 

“Oh come on, I know Quentin already has his sights set on a girl, tell me who is it for you? Steve’s a lovesick puppy for Wanda so it ain’t your best friend’s girl.” Brock turns watching the area for anyone he could guess would be Bucky’s interest. 

The man being questioned watches you head to the kitchen, his feet move, pulling him towards you. Today, today, he would finally ask you out. Enough mirror practices, enough asking Steve about you. 

You’re giving Wanda two pieces of whatever you’ve baked. He can feel the comforting aroma of chocolate wrap around him. 

Wanda leaves, giving him a knowing grin and she gives you another glance. 

Then you ask him with nervousness if he’d like a piece. You give him his favourite corner piece.

Then, Brock enters, breaking the damn moment. 

Then, Sharon wants you. 

He clicks his tongue irritated. 

He watches you leave then takes a bite of the brownies, he moans at the melting taste. 

“Geez control yourself, it's not that great.” Brock rolls his eyes, then himself takes a bite and hums in delight. 

“Right, control yourself Brock.” Bucky quips mouth full with another piece. Holy fuck he wants to kiss your hands and your forehead. 

“I think I’m going to ask her.” Bucky mutters out loud, his taste buds humming in delight. 

“Ask her for the recipe?” Brock wonders, watching him. 

Bucky shakes his head, “Man I can’t bake for shit, I wouldn’t even want to, I want to ask her out. She’s the one that has my attention.” 

“You want to fuck, Y/N?” He asks in disbelief. 

“No, I want to take her out on a date.” Bucky states, “Why do something short term when I want to have long term things?” Bucky thinks it's the brownies making him speak to Rumlow so openly. 

Rumlow nods, “Uh huh.” Then he retreats from the kitchen. 

Bucky eats another piece, winces as the box is almost empty. 

Tough luck for the others. 

As he steps out, he finds Quentin Beck intently conversing with you. Bucky scowls, that man is a second rate human being with zero morals and then you look up at Bucky, as if you will find answers from him. 

He notes that you seem confused, shit he’s scowling, when he looks back at you after looking away. You’re already speaking to Quentin again. 

Bucky heads outside through the back door, needing to gather his thoughts, he would ask you tonight. He’s not going to let the chance go.

Present.

Bucky taps his card against the machine, it whirrs printing the receipt for the croissant and coffee. Why was his mind bringing back old memories he doesn’t understand? However, it reminds him why he shouldn’t daydream or think about your lips. 

That entire night was proof that he was better off without you being his actual partner. It changed his entire perspective about you. The way Wanda and Steve painted you to be this amazing person, this sweet, caring soul? Bullshit. 

Even now you fooled the old lady just to get back at him. With your stupid sunshine smile and your stupid happy all the time attitude and your stupid lips that are so soft he just wants to feel them on his mouth. Or that stupid needy sigh that wants him to be the one to coax all the possible sweet sounds from your mouth.

He really should have a better word than ‘stupid’ to describe his disdain. 

He moves to the pick up counter, shaking his head. Out of sheer stupid curiosity, he wants to check in on you. 

‘You really need a new word, Barnes.’ He mutters.

“Talking to yourself?” You chuckle from beside him, picking the juice bottle from the fridge near him.

“I do enjoy my own company.” He answers, leaning against the counter.

“I never doubted that, you do have a big enough ego.” You pat his arm.

“Really? I felt I didn’t have enough space to accommodate mine with your ego right there, sunshine.” He smirks when your face puckers.

You scoff, choosing to ignore him to look at the food section, only to find it empty. 

“I’m sorry we’re out of food items Ma’am. Sir, your order.” The server walks over with Bucky’s order tray.

“Thank you.” Bucky takes the tray.

“Oh that's okay. I’ll just have this,” You hand over the bottle for it to be scanned. 

Bucky makes his way back to the table, confusion laces him as your things are on the table where the elderly couple were sitting and not opposite to him. He places the tray down, taking a sip of his drink. 

You return with your drink, wordlessly taking a seat, away from him. 

The crowd dwindled now, most of the seats empty. 

“Did you like the scene? When she straddles his lap just after his shower and chases the stray water droplet with her tongue?” Your voice has a sultry edge, Bucky sputters his coffee. 

Wiping his mouth with a tissue he looks up at you. 

“You read my book.” He accuses.

“I got my own copy.” You hold it up. 

“So tell me, the post shower scene or ooh, ‘she sat right next to me, her body heat radiating against mine, if her hand on my thigh moved any higher she would know how even the mere presence of her has me aching, wanton, needy to have her—,’”

“Okay that’s enough.” He snatches the book out of your hands. 

You giggle, taking a sip of your juice. 

Bucky shoves the book into his pile, as he’s eating the croissant you watch for his response to it, you knew it was a chocolate filled one.  

His blue eyes close, he hums slightly setting it down. Your gaze finds the stray smear of chocolate at the corner of his lips. 

Bucky picks his book back up moving through it with his left hand. Continuing to eat his croissant at regular intervals. 

You wonder if that night you waited for his reaction or if it was good you left. You get back to your book as well, the past had already haunted you enough because of Quentin. 

Six Years Ago. 

Quentin listens intently and you hear him go on and on about the project with Brock that was picked up by an investor and now on their way to make their first million. 

Your eyes scan the room for Bucky but you don’t find him. Once the conversation with Quentin dwindles to the five minute mark you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom but you find yourself shutting the door because Wanda and Steve forgot to lock it while making out. 

Heading to the kitchen you find the brownie box almost empty. You smile heading to retrieve a bottle of water. 

“Hey so what do you think of Quentin?” Sharon startles you.

“Oh um, he seems nice… Have you seen Bucky?” You ask and she frowns.

“Why do you want to see him?” she gives you a disapproving look.

“I just wanted to know if he liked the brownies… and, um,” Your cheeks heat again, “I sort of wanted to ask him out.”

“Oh sweetie, he, I don’t even know if I should tell you, Brock was here when he had them and he saw you talking to Quentin…” Sharon reaches out to touch your arm, sympathy laces her tone, “Brock told me, that Bucky said and I quote, ‘Of course she would need to leech off of a rich guy. The baking skills will take her nowhere.’” 

“He-He what?” You can’t believe it, but the scowl on his face combined with this, your heart sinks. 

“I’m sorry babe.” She frowns, rubbing your arm again, “but hey, at-least Quentin thinks you’re amazing.” 

“I, I, think I need some air.” You mutter gently moving her arm away and stepping towards the back porch, away from the noise.

Present. 

Bucky’s done with his little meal, the coffee cup empty, he lifts his gaze to you. You've been staring at the same page for over a minute. He shrugs, he’s not responsible to ask you where your mind is, he sure as hell doesn’t care. 

Checking the time he gathers his things, the books he wants to purchase in one hand and the ones he will place back in the other. 

You bring yourself back to the present, finding yourself on the same page, a small peek towards Bucky; you see him walk away. You don’t feel bad about his lack of interest in speaking to you. It used to hurt initially but now it was just routine.

You look back into the book, finding the male character arranging a sweet date for the female character based on something she mentioned in passing. Yeah, he’s your book boyfriend now, smiling to yourself you continue reading.

Bucky finds his steps feel as though they are going through muck. Slowed down and unwilling to move forward as he walks to his car which is unsurprisingly parked a few spaces from yours, he settles in, looking back at the bookstore as you’re making your way out.

You’re busy texting on your phone, another work emergency was seeping in and you had to rush back home to your work laptop. The goddamn attachment won't open and more texts are coming in on the office group. Mindlessly you trace your path to your car.

Bucky was going to lose his mind, the parking lot is half empty, it's late and you’re distracted. He knew this place is safer and they have security cameras covering the lot but it wouldn’t hurt for you to be alert.

You run a frustrated hand over your hair, unlocking your car and settling inside. The light in the car shows Bucky your head bagging against the steering wheel. Then you hit the steering wheel. 

Then you look up to the roof of the car, the automatic light turns off, not before he notices your tears.

Six Years Ago.

Bucky spies you leaving the area looking almost at the brink of tears. You wipe a stray few away. His hardened gaze moves to Quentin. Before he can find his way to you, a hand blocks him. He follows the arm to Brock.

“What?” He questions.

“Don’t man, I’m looking out for you.” Brock says with concern, Bucky watches him.

“Why not?” 

“She isn’t a girl you want to deal with…” Brock lets the sentence hang.

“I just want to tell her about the brownies.” Something about this doesn’t sit right with Bucky.

“Man, I told her about you loving them so much you ate the entire batch almost. She,” Brock pauses as if to gather himself, “she said she was surprised you knew and understood decadent and rich flavours given your financial upbringing.” Brock’s last sentence rings in Bucky’s ears.

His upbringing was difficult, mother and father working to the bone to provide, he worked hard for his scholarships and worked part time as well to build a better life for all of them, Becca took up tutoring as well. It was not an unknown fact but to think you said that then sought out one of the only other rich men at the party? 

Bucky’s jaw sets, his concerned gaze towards you melts into an iced glare. 

“You okay?” Brock questions him.

“I need to be alone, I’m going into Steve’s room.” He mutters, moving to the staircase.

Watching Quentin open the sliding door to the back and smile at you.

Present. 

Bucky often wonders what would have happened if he confronted you. Told you off about speaking that way about his financial situation. Sometimes he wonders if you got the rich life you wanted with Quentin, judging by what he heard about it being a gruesome break up from Steve. 

You must have sobbed at the loss of a chance at a Black Amex Card. 

Switching the ignition on and moving gears he pulls out of the lot even while you remain there. He shoves down the reminiscing emotion that once wanted you for himself. That sometimes wonders and wishes to know what could have been? 

The thought lingers unfortunately more than the required or stipulated time he allocates for stray thoughts to take over. 

Well into his work day as well, then it comes crashing down. Pathetically. 

“Barnes! You son of a bitch!” John cheers walking into the communal kitchen and eating space. 

Bucky places his lunch in the microwave. 

“Yes, Walker?” Bucky looks at the man.

“You didn’t tell us!” John states, then Bucky notices the other staff members. Lemar, Jimmy Woo, Darcy Lewis and Monica Rambaue all look at him with giggy smiles. 

“I’m confident you all got the memo of the merger proposal this morning?” Bucky glances at all of them. 

“You little sneaky boy, show me the ring!” Darcy surges forward. 

Oh. Oh fuck no. 

“H-how the fuck?” His eyes widened. 

“Lemar saw the two of you calling each other Mr and Ms. Fiancé.” John explains, clapping his hand on Bucky’s back. 

“Also saw them wear their rings like necklaces, great hack man.” Lemar commends. 

“Who is she!” Darcy grabs his hand, the two of them started as junior position holders and make a cut throat team at Kamal. 

“Why is this relevant?” Bucky wishes the microwave would just be done. 

“Oh come on, you got engaged and we don’t even know? I demand a picture.” She insisted again. 

“Don’t push him.” Monica chastises. 

“Where was this enthusiasm when I wanted to show my baby’s pictures?” Jimmy questions. 

“Jimmy, you show us three hundred versions of the same picture of your cute baby, this is Barnes’ girl.” John rolls his eyes. 

“If I show you her picture will you back off?” Bucky reluctantly grabs his phone. 

“Yes; but we want to know when, how, her name, her job.” Darcy counts off on her fingers looking at everyone. 

“Yep, then you get to eat your meal.” Lemar chuckles as Bucky shoots him a glare. 

He opens the folder that had the polaroids scanned. He opens the one that is a selfie. All of them coo and John whistles. 

“Damn Barnes, lucked out.” He commends. 

Bucky holds back an eye roll , “Six months ago,”

“You got engaged six months ago and told none of us? You didn’t tell Yusuf!?” Darcy swats his arm. 

“Well I’m private and—,” 

“And Barnes won’t conjure up a family to get in the Boss’ good graces like someone did.” Jimmy interjects and all eyes shift to John. 

“What? Okay I just wanted an in, all of you thought about it at one point.” John raises his hands in disbelief when no one agrees. 

“More information, Barnes.” Darcy demands. 

“Six months engaged, we fell in love, her name is Y/N, she works in web design but she also bakes.” Bucky tucks his phone back and the microwave beeps, he leaves the area to the solace of his office. 

He hoped nobody would blab to Yusuf. He’d admit to his boss. 

Right. Admit to his family oriented man of a Boss he is in a fake engagement. With a woman he hates more than anything. 

Bucky runs a hand through his hair, the worrying gesture resulting in a few pieces of his hair falling forward. Why the fuck did you have to come to his bookstore?

The stupid ring, he takes it out of the necklace and slips it on. 

The stupid, stupid, stupid—

“Son, when I gave you that advice I didn’t realise you were engaged.” Yusuf’s voice greets him. 

Bucky will end whoever blabbed. 

“Sir, I—,”

“You should have told me.” Yusuf chuckles, “I might have been pushy, I understand.” 

“No, I just, her family isn’t on good terms with her so we didn’t want information going out too much, they don’t really approve of a lot of things.” Can Bucky shut up?

“Oh, that is saddening to hear, I usually don’t pay attention but the kitchen was filled with chatter. I hope you are happy, James.” Yusuf moves a hand forward, Bucky grasps it. 

“Be sure to check your email, the work plus family dinner is this weekend, I insist you bring your fiancé. Oh and it is a sort of potluck, my wife cooks wonderfully but I insist she not worry about feeding several people.” Yusuf grins, Bucky nods. 

“We can take care of dessert. My fiancé, she bakes, I’ll have her pay attention to have it absolutely Halal.” Bucky adds, that's it, he’s going to do cardio at the gym. That is his punishment for not shutting his fucking mouth. 

“That is kind of you, I look forward to meeting the soul who has captured my best investment banker’s heart.” He chuckles, “I’ll leave you to your meal, give my regards to the to be missus.” 

Yusuf steps out Bucky deflates, oh fucking hell. 

“Okay I can have that—-,”

“No, you will not ‘can have’ I want it done now.” Your boss cuts off your team member. 

“Ma’am, please we’re already trying to put out fires, the code isn’t working we need time to rewrite.” You defend. 

“Are all of you incompetent? What the hell do I pay you for? You work from home. Honestly, Y/N stop your stupid baking and focus on the work that actualy pays yours bills.” She scoffs. 

There is a momentary silence engulfing the zoom meeting. 

You grip the edge of your chair. Pressing into the wood. 

“I, we can have a brainstorming session.” You offer, trying to not let the words hurt you. Not like you haven’t heard them before. 

“Finally some fucking work.” Your boss rolls her eyes. 

“You can’t speak that way.” Yelena, the newest recruit, pipes up. 

“Newbie, quiet.” Your team member glares at the webcam. 

“Glaring at the webcam means you’re glaring at everyone, including the boss.” Yelena sniggers, you press your lips into a thin line, trying not to laugh. 

“Oh dear god, are any of you competent?” Your boss is taking a deep breath meaning there is a rant incoming, there is knocking at your door, you frown it’s six thirty PM. 

Shutting off your camera you carry the laptop to the door; setting it on the little table. 

Bucky stands there at your doorstep, “I need to talk to you.” He states. 

“Oh for the love of God, are you doing your stupid fucking baking get on your damn webcam, I want this stupid website fixed today or so help me god I will hire a new team!” Your boss yells, you open the door gesture for Bucky to get inside. 

Quickly making your way back to the couch you re-allow the camera access. Bucky walks in, he keeps his distance sitting away from you on the couch. 

“I lost connectivity so I had to shut the camera, we will work on it I assure you, but we need to speak to the client to understand what is the main problem—,”

“The main problem is the website your team designed is failing.” She groans, rubbing her temples. 

“Okay so we re-work the coding, Maria—,”

“Oh no no you all are writing a new code from scratch.” The boss roars, cutting another team member off. 

You wince, Bucky frowns at your laptop. Your boss is horrible. 

“We cannot come up with one from scratch. It will take us longer to get back to the client.” You pipe up in defence.

“Listen up, I don’t need you to tell me how to do this, I need you to follow and what would you know–,” Her voice gets cut off.

“Oh, oh we can’t hear you.” Yelena looks concerned, “oh no, your mute button isn’t working? Maybe you should restart your device.” She advises.

Your boss is frustrated, she slams her laptop shut, leaving the meeting. 

“Is she always this crazy?” Yelena questions after shutting the record meeting button.

“You have no idea.” Maria rolls her eyes.

“I think we need to go over her head and look at the code.” You press, they all give their agreements.

“Nice going kicking her off.” Maria laughs, the conversation begins to flow to something else, you mute yourself then look up at Bucky. His gaze on you.

“Sorry about that, what did you want to discuss?” You ask, lowering the volume of their chatter.

“Your boss is crappy.” He states, not knowing how to broach this subject.

“Yes.” You agree, waiting for him.

You reach over offering a bottle of water from the side table.

“Look, my colleague saw us last night, at the bookstore.” Bucky begins speaking as he turns the ring over his finger.

“Oh, um, did you want me to clarify it’s nothing?” You ask, maybe this was someone he wanted to date.

“No, the opposite actually.” He meets your eyes.

“I don’t think I follow…” 

“The entire office knows that I am engaged, my Boss is a big family person and invites family oriented people to this sort of potluck dinner every month. He invited us.” He exhales.

“You want to lie to your Boss?” You raise a brow.

“We’re lying per se, this is just another person.” Bucky shrugs.

“Okay.” You look back at the screen, nothing is really going on, everyone is on mute on their phones.

“You’re in agreement?” He sounds baffled.

“This is important for you right?” You look back at him.

“Yes.” He nods as well.

“Then I’ll help.” You shrug, “It’s a potluck right? I presume you want to take a dessert item?”

“They eat only Halal.” He says, you nod.

“Just tell me the number of people I’ll have the mini cakes I made for your family and a list of allergies as well. I don’t use anything Non-halal so I don’t need to alter recipes.” You explain, entering the date into your phone with a reminder.

“I’ll pay you for the cakes.” He says, you shoot him a glare.

“You aren’t paying me for them.” You warn, your boss returns and everyone joins in faces morphing into worry.

You press unmute to hopefully block the rain of fire.

“Don’t be stubborn Y/N, just take the damn money.” Bucky says, your hand pauses over the keyboard.

“Who is that?” Your boss questions.

You close your eyes, trying not to freak out. Bucky runs a hand over his tired face.

“Are you in cahoots with another company? I will fire you.” Your boss warns.

“I am not in cahoots with anyone, that is my fiancé.” You might as well go in the ditch further in which Steve and Wanda threw you.

“I don’t buy it, show me your ring and your fiancé.” Your boss demands.

“He’s camera shy.” You defend, Bucky rolls his eyes moving over next to you.

“Oh my.” Maria fans herself.

“Okay, how did you land him? I want to know.” Yelena scrunches her nose, laughing.

You purse your lips, 

“Well as you can see, I am not camera shy, I was on my way out and disturbed her unfortunately.” Bucky wraps his arm around your waist, pulling you flush against his side.

“James.” Your eyes widen at his antics.

“It’s okay.” He gazes down at you, intently into your eyes.

His tongue peeks out, moving over his bottom lip. Your lips part with a soft exhale.

His eyes move down to your lips, then back up to your eyes.

Your palm wrapped around his wrist, he raises his hand, the strand of hair against your temple pushed back.

“So much better than the shitty movie I saw last night.” Yelena breaks your moment.

Bucky shifts, you move out of his grasp. He stands, his palms forming fists. Get a grip. He warns himself heading into the kitchen.

You clear your throat, “As I was saying, I think we can do the code thing.” 

“Right,” Your boss’ eyes bounce between the two of you, “Let's push this to tomorrow.” 

Everyone wholeheartedly agrees, the meeting ends before you can even process anything.

“Okay. Tip for next time Mr. Fiancé, you don’t need to be all knight in shining armour.” You speak moving to the kitchen, walking towards him, hand grabbing his arm. 

Bucky takes steps towards you. You move back and your back is against the fridge. 

He gazes down at you, his blue eyes darkened as he searches for something within your gaze.

Bucky’s hands hesitantly rest on your waist, your fingers wrap around his wrists. His jaw tightens, he supinates his forearms, your wrists now in his large palms, raised above your head.

Your breath hitches further, his face mere inches from yours, his thigh between your legs. 

You meet his gaze, swallowing, with your heart hammering in your ribcage. You slowly realise a part of you wants to know how his lips feel against yours, once again. His breath fans across your face, hints of mint lingering. 

“De ce devii din nou raza mea de soare? (why are you becoming my ray of sunshine again?)” His deep voice wraps around you, the words unknown but it sounds as though he has asked you a question. His forehead rests against yours but only fleetingly.

Warm hands leave yours, you support yourself against the fridge as Bucky leaves your apartment with a soft click of your door.

Everything from six years ago crashes into you, the watching each other from afar, the being forced to do activities so that Steve and Wanda could hang out. The way you saw his smile for the first time when you cracked a stupid joke to Wanda but she didn’t laugh only he did, the way your heart hoped and hoped for Bucky to look at you as someone worth something more than friends. 

The way he broke your heart without saying anything to your face.  

A.N: please let me know what you think! thank you for reading!!

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A Friendly Smile From the Past - 1

A/N: Hi there! Just another wee work in progress. Let me know what you think of it :) I'm new to Tumblr and how it works, so like I don't know how to tag pages together and whatnot heh! So please be patient with me! This is also posted on my Ao3 under the same username!

Pairing: CEO!Bucky Barnes x Reader [with College!Bucky/High School!Bucky in Flashbacks and mentions].

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

“You have got to be kidding me! You seriously have got to be kidding me!” I shouted out frustrated and annoyed as I rubbed my hands down my cheeks instead of pulling on my hair because mum always said it would make my hair fall out faster. Not that rubbing on my cheeks helped either. Staring up at me from the desk was the letter I had been dreading. I knew there would be cuts, but I didn’t think I would be one of them. I have always gone above and beyond for this firm. I strove for greatness, and we were recognised more and covered in the media because of the cases I took and won. I glanced at the door where my name had once been etched, now empty. I sighed and bit my bottom lip trying not to cry, ‘do not show any signs of weakness’ my inner voice was screaming at me. ‘You are going to hold your head up high, you know they’ll regret this decision’. Breathing slowly I continued packing up my office, shoving everything into the boxes. 

Oh god, how are my parents going to take this? It’s not like I was fired, but dad thinks that being let go and being fired are the same exact thing. I can just imagine it now, the words that would be uttered  “Honey, they would have kept you if you were truly as great as the media portrays you to be”. To say my relationship with my dad is complicated is an understatement.

I should have taken that offer from the firm in the city, Johnson & Sloane when I had the chance, but what did I do? I chose to stay, in the small town with no growing career opportunities because dad had gotten sick. Even though our relationship has been difficult since the split, I stayed due to obligation, of trying to be the perfect daughter. 

“You know if you stare any harder at that letter you’ll probably remain cross-eyed” Natasha’s voice brings me out of my thoughts. I chuckle softly but it sounds pathetic. “If it helps you’re stuck with me until we find new jobs,” she says walking over and placing her hand on my shoulder as we both stare at the wall. The last item to take down and pack is my law degree. The one I worked my ass off for.

“I’m glad you’re here Nat” I whisper softly as I try to find the courage to take it down. A squeeze of my shoulder is all it takes for me to reach out and take it down, placing it in the box. 

Nat and I have been friends since we were in diapers, well technically since the womb. Our mothers are the best of friends and live across from each other. We grew up doing pretty much everything together, we had the same circle of friends. But there were some things that differed. In high school, Nat was the cheerleader and went on to be the captain, she was popular and loved by everyone. I, on the other hand, was involved in the drama club and debate team, I knew everyone and everyone knew me. Where Nat would barely try in classes, I worked twice as hard. Sitting exams was a scary time because I would worry about her not studying. I think that might be one of the reasons we ended up going to the same university because even though we may be different we couldn't live without each other, but also she wouldn’t have been able to pass any of her papers at university without me. We depended on each other because our lives were intertwined. 

When I decided to stay where we grew up because dad got sick, she didn’t hesitate one second “If you’re staying so am I, we go through this together”. I couldn’t be more thankful to have her by my side through everything good and bad. I will, however, always feel guilty because she decided to stay here, she broke up with her boyfriend Steve - they dated through high school and through university. They truly were meant for each other, but Steve wanted to play football professionally and had been drafted to play across the country, an opportunity he could not pass. 

I remember overhearing the conversation, it was hard not to. A screaming match in her room while the rest of us sat in the living room, it was one of our last hangouts before graduation and we would all move away to our respective job offers that we had lined up. 

“Why? Why can you not come with me? Do you not love me anymore is that it? We have talked about this since high school, you said this is what you wanted” Steve had sounded so broken, I knew he must have thought Nat was slipping through his fingers. “I know, we did, but plans change, life doesn’t go to plan” she had said “It’s not my place to say why I’m going back home, just that I am, she needs me” Her voice had remained emotionless but later that night, Clint and I had held her till she had passed out from crying. I had begged and pleaded in tears to her so that she would not tell anyone what had happened, that instead of moving to New York to live out my big lawyer dreams, I was going back home. I begged her to go with Steve but she was so stubborn and knew I would not be able to do this without her. “Please don’t do this to us, we have something so beautiful baby, I can’t see a future that you aren’t in Nat, please” Steve had begged her and I knew it pained her deeply. Steve never knew who Nat had meant by ‘she’, I think he might have thought it was her mother. 

“What do you think of Johnson & Sloane?” I ask softly as I pick up my box and follow her to the desk outside my- the office where her box sits but mainly contains office supplies and a photograph. Nat barely personalised her desk, but the one photo she did keep was the university photo of all of us after we had won the football game against our rival university during our final year. All of us girls had been dressed up in our colours to support the boys. Nat, Wanda, Sharon, Pepper and I had our hair in pigtails covered in glitter and ribbons. We had gone the extra mile. Steve, Vis, Tony, Sam, Thor and Bucky had all been playing and were covered in dirt and sweat. Bruce had been on medic duty that night and Clint had injured himself so he had been benched. We were all smiles in that photo, back then we thought we would be friends till the end of time no matter where we would have ended up.  

“You should have taken the offer when you first got it,” she said as we walked towards my car after handing in our work ids and office keys to security. After placing the boxes in the trunk and accidentally slamming it shut a little too hard, I don’t think it was accidental. I turned to face the building, leaning on the car. 

“I know I should’ve, but,” I said and stopped. But what? Dad had made progress and things had been looking up. I could have gone, made a break for it, and started growing my career. Used the middle-tier firm as a jumping stone to make it to New York as I had dreamed of. But mum would have been disappointed. She had grown used to my presence being back since university. She also depended on me. Since the split with dad, she had been on her own, living her life through me at times. 

“Your parents, I know,” she said softly leaning against the car too. I glance over at her “I truly am grateful to you, you know. You didn’t have to come back with me, but you did. You gave up your relationship with Steve and you shouldn’t have. He’s still single you know, it’s the main thing the media will write about him. I think he’s waiting for you, you should go. Take this opportunity and go to him” I say as tears form in my eyes, the guilt eating away.

“Y/N,” she said softly and sighed. She turned her head and met my eyes “I chose to stay, to follow you home. You’re my family, yes I loved Steve, and I still love him, but you mean more to me in the world. Partners will come and go, but you, you’re my family and I would do anything for you. You didn’t even ask me to come with you, you begged me to go with Steve even though your world was crumbling down. You were the brightest law student and you had massive offers to make a name for yourself in New York. How could I just leave you to face demons without support? You are my home. You don’t have to ask, just like I never ask you for anything, yet you’re always by my side.” 

I couldn’t meet her stare. I felt ashamed. “As for Steve, he could have reached out, he could have come back home. He could have called, he could have fought harder for us. But” she said a soft crack in her voice, “he remained silent” I finished for her. I reach out and squeeze her arm softly. 

“You’re no better though,” she says “What do you mean?” I ask confused as we both start getting into the car. “James Buchanan Barnes,” she says a little too smugly for my liking. The mention of his name makes my heart stop. “What about him?” I ask playing indifferently. “You both were in love with each other and never confessed your feelings. The only other person you have been as close to as I was him,” she said “You just stopped communicating?” she asks raising her perfectly shaped eyebrow. I sigh softly “Oh please, he was not in love with me,” I say rolling my eyes but my heart hurts. Bucky and I were super close growing up, sure he had Steve and I had Nat and the four of us had been close. He was my best friend and one day since moving back home the messages and constant video calls slowly started to fade to one-word messages and 2-minute calls to absolutely nothing from him. I had never told him and he had sensed something was wrong during that last hangout but I never once said a word to him about it. He had also had a job offer in New York and would always ask to meet up and hang out but I would always say I was busy, but the truth was I was miles away from there, too scared to tell him the truth. 

“One day the messages stopped coming and he didn’t call anymore,” I say softly which is why I moved on. "Plus we haven’t heard from the rest of the group since graduation, we all fell off the communication wagon. Our entire group has been together since high school, and sure Steve, Bucky, you and I longer than that, I thought we would be in constant contact, us against the world ya know? But it just faded away like those days didn’t mean anything at all” I say softly 

“You know that’s not true, it did mean something, I guess we are all just busy with our lives,” she says softly. “But at least we are together”, “forever” I agree with a soft smile as we head back to the apartment.

-> Next Chapter

[binkszamsstuff]

A lovely day

Dad stucky x mom reader, fluff, pouty bucky, mention of smut 🤫😉 sooooo much fluff!!!! This is an au of if the avengers got their happy ending

Steve, bucky and y/n all sat on the couch with their baby boy Grant. Still in their pj's well bluey plays, all of the parents watching too about the amazing family of healer dogs.

The chubby 11 month old giggles as bingo and bluey (the two daughter dogs) pretend to be granny's. "Aw baby! Do you like bingo? That's funny huh?!" Y/n coos to her baby boy, grant sits in his walker. His little fat fingers make grabby hands to his mum.

Y/n grunts as she picks him up, the chubby super soldier baby squeals then pats his mother's face. His dad's chuckling "hi bubba, wanna go on a walk?" Steve asks.

Bucky pauses the cartoon and the family get their coats and shoes on. Spring was right around the corner yet the chilly breeze still lingered.

With grant now in his stroller and his three parents right behind him, his dad bucky pushing while papa Steve and mommy y/n held hands.

The family of four walked in their small town to Wanda's and Nats bakery for some late breakfast.

"Hi! Oh baby grant!" Wanda's eyes went wide with joy when she saw her nephew.

Wanda had been baby crazy since grant was born. Her boys were 10 now so she didn't get the old cuddly baby love she missed. Her nagging at vision to have another before, maybe a girl.

Natasha came out of the back with flour on her cheeks and nose. "Hey guys!"

"Hey natty, hi Wanda" the three parents said, grant babbling in his seat.

"What can we get for ya?" Wanda said

Steve spoke "how about a slice of lemon bread with a Carmel coffee for y/n and a bagel with extra cream cheese. Bucky wants a Panini and a red velvet cup cake....can I get a black coffee and a cheese Danish. And for grant and a strawberry cupcake. Thank you " Steve knew everyone's order he took it very seriously to make sure he knew the little things about his husband and wife. It warmed y/n and Bucky's heart.

The family sat down and in 10 minutes the food was out. Bucky laughing as y/n feed grant some of her lomen bread, his little face scrunched up and eyes wide. Steve holding him in his lap trying not to laugh at his boy.

Then the little family laughed some more as Wanda took pictures of grant with cupcake all over his face, bucky pouting because his baby stole his cupcake too.

After grant was cleaned up and the four of them said their goodbyes to Wanda and Nat. They decided to take a walk through the flower gardens at the park.

Y/n took some pictures of her son and husbands, the chubby baby in aw with the texture of the flower petals.

"I love you" Steve said to y/n his eyes soft and warm as he watched the mother of his child hold their baby while showing him the flowers.

"I love you too Stevie, I love you Jamie" y/n returned the sentiment

"I love you all" said bucky.

After the late morning walk, they got back home. Grant asleep in Steve's arms while bucky and y/n struggled to pack away the stroller.

With the sleepy baby upstairs, the parents had a romantic time listening to music while cooking dinner, and dancing.

"let's have another baby" bucky said smirking.

The end, and they lived happily ever after !🫠💖

This makes me want to be a mom sooooo bad, and stucky as my husbands. Lol 💖

[extremelyblackandwhite]

pairing: dad!bucky barnes x au pair!reader

warnings: age gap (reader is 10 years younger than bucky), smut (18+, dni if under 18)

author’s note: sorry for being mia, this chapter ended up quite long so i divided it into two, the next coming out mid week.

masterlist

look at this godforsaken mess that you made me ...

To say tonight had been filled with surprises was an understatement. Starting at the restaurant when Sadie threw most of her cutlery to the ground, to the waitress flirting mercilessly with Bucky and him not noticing it, Y/N had to admit, it had taken her mind from the outcome of her viva. The night ended with the two walked through the front door, Bucky holding a sleeping Sadie against his side while Y/N held her plushy. They walked up the stairs to Sadie's bedroom, putting her in bed and tucking her in surrounded by the countless plushies she had.

The two parted ways to change, Y/N changing out of her dress and into her pyjamas while Bucky changed into his joggers. They met up downstairs, Y/N being the last. She spotted him turning on Netflix, setting pillow and making popcorn.

      - Mine better be sweet. - she walked up from behind him, sitting on the counter.

      - I can't believe you like your popcorn sweet. - Bucky handed her the bowl he'd set aside from her. - They're better salty.

      - I'm sorry, I forgot old men can't have too much sugar. - she put a popped kernel on her tongue, letting it dissolve.

      - I'm 37, Y/N. You'll be 37 one day too.

      - Yeah in ten years. - she chuckled, jumping from the counter and onto the ground. - Should we watch 13 going on 30?

      - I said it was up to you and I meant it. - he walked her to the couch, taking a seat after she did. - So tell me, you're an Ohio girl. What's in Ohio?

      - I'm not an Ohio girl.

      - Your parents have a farm there.

      - I told you they bought it after I moved out for college, the first time. I'm actually from Hartford.

      - Hartford? How unbelievably old money of you. - he joked. - My grandad's from Hartford.

      - Actually, my parents inherited the house from my grandmother. She died before I was born and was a bit eccentric. The house had been in the family for ages but it was a pain to look after and with my mum staying home to look after me, it just wasn't a financial good decision to keep it in the family anymore.

      - I'm sorry. That must've been tough. I think I would have a stressful time if my parents sold my childhood home. I want to leave it to Sadie, you know?

      - They sold it to a contractor so they'll probably demolish it but it used to have this massive tree in the backyard and my dad couldn't afford one of those plastic swings so he got some rope and he made me a makeshift one hanging from the tree. Obviously, I kinda got bored of the swing as I grew older and moved to try and use the rope to climb the tree.

      - Y/N. - he chuckled, moving in closer to her. - You're supposed to be the responsible one.

      - On my 8th birthday, I fell from it. Had a cast for ages and mum helped me bedazzle it.

      - Bedazzle it? My, my, Y/N, weren't you a sparkle razzle dazzle girl. - he chuckled, trying to imagine a younger version of Y/N running around with a bedazzled cast. - Did you like it? In Hartford?

      - It was nice but my favourite thing was being close to Yale. My dad used to take me there every Saturday because I wanted to go to Yale but I didn't get in.

      - Their loss. You want some whiskey?

Bucky got up to go to the drinks cart, while Y/N turned in the couch to stare at him. She liked him this way, calm, understated, away from all the Prada suits and the leather shoes and YSL long coat, just casual and comfortable in his home. It was ... hot, in a way which she would not admit in front of anyone but herself. He poured her a glass before pouring one for himself.

      - We haven't picked that movie yet, doll.

      - Finding the conversation boring already? - she took a sip of the amber liquid. Bucky always had good drinks. - I was about to ask about your education.

      - My education?

      - Yes, I'm curious. I assumed you went to college.

      - Okay, hum ... my mother wanted me to go to Eton like her father but I got kicked out so then I went to Collegiate School here. After that, I went to Stanford Business School and loved it so much that I wished to never go back.

      - You went to Stanford?

      - Why is that so shocking? I'm not particularly stupid, I reckon.

      - No, no, it's just that Stanford is in California. You are a New Yorker in my eyes.

      - That's where I started dating Sadie's mother.

      - Really?

      - Well, some would call it dating but honestly it was just us fucking in as many seminar rooms as we could. She was seeing someone else, I was seeing someone else. Sex was good though.

      - My god, aren't you a little fuckboy? - she giggled at his comment. There was an ease at how they communicated, an ease which Bucky only experienced with his close friends, only a few of them.

      - C'mon, early 20s with all the girls at my feet? What did you expect me to do?

      - Hey, I have a question, don't feel insulted but why did you like Anna?

      - Well ... - he shrugged. - I grew up with Anna, I knew her before Steve. Her mother and my mother were close so she was always there. She was quite annoying as a kid and then at college she was just attractive and she was smart. She's really smart, I hope Sadie gets some of that from her.

      - Did you love her?

Bucky paused, looking at her as if she'd asked him an unanswerable question. He felt he'd fare better with questions such as what happens when we die or if God exists.

      - There's different kinds of love. I did love Anna and I will always somewhat love her because she gave me my kid but it's not the same kind of love that I think people feel for a partner.

      - I understand.

      - I know I make it sound like I hate her and believe me I do but she is an absolutely fantastic woman. She's a terrible mother but if Sadie is as smart and charismatic as her, that'll do her good.

      - You must've really loved her. - she pulled her knees towards her chest, laying her chin on top of her kneecaps. - Was she the love of your life?

      - No. - he chuckled, taking another sip of whiskey before turning to look at her. - You're young, you'll have a lot of nice, stupid loves but it doesn't mean it's the one.

      - You, James Buchanan Barnes, believe in the idea of the one?

      - My parents have a great marriage even though my mother faints at the mere mention of anything less than decent. He really loves her you know? They have these stupid renewal vow ceremonies ever 15 years and they still look like kids in love.

      - That's really sweet.

      - What about your parents?

      - My parents? Well, let me think. My dad he's from Brooklyn and he met my mum on a field trip to Hartford, she's the one from Hartford. They wrote to each other every day like crazy, apparently my grandfather told my father off for spending all his pocket money on stamps. Eventually they met up, slept together and got pregnant with me. Dad got a job at a company downtown of Hartford and my mum worked at a beauty counter and honestly I'm surprised I have no brothers.

      - Your parents didn't go to college?

      - No. - she giggled. - My mum got pregnant at 18 and my dad, well, he never really liked school.

      - You really are one of a kind, Y/N.

      - There's a thousands of me. You probably slept with a few.

      - You just had to jab me there, hadn't you? - he threw his arm over her shoulder. - I'll have you know that you are not my type.

      - Uhm, my boobs too small?

      - What? - he blushed before looking at her chest and noticing her was looking at her chest. - No. They're fine. Stupid question.

      - You're the one who said I'm not your type.

      - You're uptight.

      - I am not uptight.

      - You, Y/N, are the most uptight person I have ever met. It's not an insult, you're probably second on the uptight list followed by me.

      - Sounds like an insult.

      - C'mon, Y/N, when was the last time you did something you didn't consider at least fifty five times?

      - Christopher.

      - Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about him but he doesn't count. Christopher is safe.

In a way, maybe. Christopher was a safe option even if he wasn't an option anymore. He was the exact kind of guy you would bring home, stable enough that no big surprises would come from him. He was perfectly fine for someone, just not for her. Yet, Bucky was right, very much right about Christopher being safe.

      - You think I'm a mouse.

      - No, no. - Bucky rose his hands in defense. - I don't think you're a mouse. I'm just saying you play it safe.

      - I'm a mouse.

      - What's the problem with playing it safe?

      - Well, I have what 3 years left of my twenties. I don't think I should be playing it safe. Did you play it safe when you were twenty?

      - Don't use me as an example. I was a fuck up when I was in my twenties, heck, even in my early thirties.

      - You turned out fine.

      - So did you. - he moved closer to her. - You are great the way you are, Y/N. I don't know why you think you're not.

Y/N turned around to face him, he was close. She could feel his warm breathe on her exposed elbow and could see his face so close, she could make up the light freckles that were dotted all over his face and the pattern his facial hair grew. He was gorgeous.

      - You like me, right?

      - I wouldn't have hired you if I didn't. - he brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing down her jaw. - Even if you are argumentative.

      - That's not what I meant. - she looked away from him, sitting up straight against the couch. - You said you liked me just the way I am. What did you mean?

      - I meant I like you the way you are. It's pretty self explanatory.

      - You're not funny.

      - Well, Y/N, I like you. I like the way you argue with me, how when you're upset you scrunch your face like you're about to explode but it just looks cute, how your glasses always fall to the tip of your nose when you're studying, how you play around with Sadie like she's your own. I like you.

      - You like me?

      - I love you.

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