#ann1111fc

 **********

“Hey, Steve.” You greeted the blonde super soldier as you walked into the little make-shift kitchen, deep in the underground London SSR HQ.

“Afternoon, Agent.” He nodded and you rolled your eyes, picking a piece of fluff off your khaki green uniform jacket.

“Seriously, after everything we’ve pulled together we’re still at agent?” You raised an eyebrow drawing a soft chuckle from the man in front of you as he poured a coffee into one of the tin mugs on offer, holding it out to you.

“Sorry, force of habit. Y/N. That better?”

“Much.” You nodded, taking the mug with a thanks, pulling a face as you took a sip. “God, all the technology we have and I still can’t get a decent cup of Joe.”

“Maybe you should have a word with Stark.” Steve shrugged. “He seems to be able to lay his hands on most things, rationing be dammed.”

“Well, you’re the man with the plan and he’s the man that can.” A smirk pulled at your face as you watched Steve fight the urge to roll his eyes. “Anyway, where’s Barnes? Colonel Phillips is riding my ass about a report he hasn’t filed. Keeps moaning on about us being unable to run strategic operations if we don’t actually do any strategizing.”

At that Steve’s face broke into a grin. “He’s hiding.”

“Hiding?” You frowned. “Chester isn’t that scary, he’s a pussy cat if you figure out how to make him purr.”

“Okay there are so many things wrong with what you just said that I’m not even going to go into.” Steve snorted and you flashed him a grin as he continued. “He ain’t hiding from Phillips, he’s hiding from Private Lorraine.”

“Why?” You paused, mug hovering an inch or so from your mouth.

“Well according to Stark who heard from Jones who heard from-“

“Yeah, yeah, skip to the interesting bit about why Barnes his hiding like the cowardly lion” You cut him off and he raised his eyebrows, his smirk growing wider.

“She wants him to ask her to that USO dance gala thing Stark is hosting.”

At that you felt the heat in your neck, jealousy, at the thought of the blue-eyed solider you’d been harbouring a crush on for months, like some love sick teenager, dancing with someone else. You carefully held Steve’s eyes and licked your lips, hoping you hadn’t given yourself away too much.

“Of course she does.” You shrugged, clearing your throat. “But that doesn’t answer my question. Why is he hiding?”

“He doesn’t want to go with her.” Steve shrugged, taking another sip of his drink and this time you did absolutely nothing to stop the grin that spread across your face.

“How come?”

At that Steve hesitated for a moment before he popped a shoulder again, slightly avoiding your eye line. "No idea."

You knew he was lying, he was notoriously bad at it, but before you could call him out, a deep voice spoke from the doorway.

"Sure your Ma told you it was rude to talk about people behind their backs, Stevie." Bucky grumbled as he walked into the room.

"Yeah, and I'm sure yours told you it was rude to do a lot of things that you still do anyway." Steve shot back and Bucky merely rolled his eyes, walking to the coffee pot and helping himself. 

"Well, I’m astounded." You looked at Bucky as he turned around, leaning slightly against the small units that lined the room. "James Buchanan Barnes is fanning a woman away."

"Yeah, I don’t make a habit of it, Doll Face." He eyed you shrewdly over his mug.

"Still, never thought I'd see the day." You hummed, sipping your drink.

Bucky rolled his eyes and gestured with his mug towards Steve. "Now you sound like him."

"So, humour me, Barnes. What is it about her that’s making you run for the hills?"

Bucky hesitated for a moment before he winkled his nose and answered you. "She’s not my type."

"Really? I thought every woman was your type." 

At that, Steve gave a chuckle. "She's got you there, Buck. I don't think I saw you without one before you shipped off."

"Shut up, Steve." Bucky bit back before he gave a low groan. "She's just..."

"Just what?" You scoffed. "Tall, blonde with big, come-to-bed eyes and pouty red lips? What's not to fall over? Dum Dum follows her around like a dog."

"Sweetheart, Dum Dum would probably chase a pig wearing lipstick if he thought he had a chance." Bucky looked at you his eyebrow raised and you heard Steve give a little snort of laughter. You turned slowly to him, and his eyes widened a little as you narrowed your eyes.

"What's your excuse?"

"His excuse?" Bucky paused, mug poised at his lips as Steve began to flounder over his words, a pink flush spreading into his cheeks.

“Yeah, he kissed her.” You informed and Buck gave a loud groan, placing his mug down on the side. "Peggy caught them, big time."

"She kissed me." Steve protested and at that Bucky sighed. 

"What has my life become? Seriously?" He shook his head, his eyes flicking between you and Steve. "I’m hiding because I don’t wanna go dancing with some broad whilst this punks beating ‘em off with a stick."

"Shield." You corrected as Steve made an exasperated noise in his throat.

"I’m in a nightmare, right?" Bucky finished.

"’Fraid not, Buckaroo." You placed your now empty mug besides his on the wooden counter. "But I suggest that you get your report to me on the Dresden raid or you really will be in a bad dream. Colonel Phillips wants them pronto and I'm not taking the flack because you're too lazy to do it."

Bucky groaned. "How am I supposed to think about that with all this other shit going on?"

"Nice to see you have your priorities straight." Steve scoffed and Bucky glared at him but before he could reply, a loud girly laugh filled the kitchen and you saw Bucky still.

"There you are!" Private Lorraine spoke and you exchanged a glance with Steve, a look of utter glee spreading across his face at his friend's discomfort. "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me, Sergeant Barnes."

"Now what on Earth would give you that idea?" You quipped. As usual, she completely ignored you and watched as Bucky turned to look at her.

"Well, you found me." He nodded, a false smile spreading across his face.

"Yeah, I did. So, err, this dance, do you have a date or..."

Bucky took a deep breath, "well, the thing is..."

"Yes, he does." You blurted out, before you could stop yourself. You stepped forward and slipped your hand into his, ignoring the shocked look he gave you as you stood by his side. "He's going with me."

"You?" Lorraine looked at you, her eyebrows shooting up so high they almost disappeared into her hairline.

"Yes, me." You smiled. "So, you'll have to find someone else to go with. I think Duggan might be free."

"Well, suppose there's no accounting for taste." The blonde woman in front of you looked you up and down and you bristled under her glare, your nostrils flaring angrily. Sure, you might not have her model looks, hell, you might not even be conventionally pretty in some eyes, but you sure weren’t going to make her let you feel like shit. You'd been brought up by a loving family who made you realise your worth and that despite what anyone else said, you were just as good as them. You continued to hold her gaze and eventually she licked her lips and looked away.

"Well, erm, that's..." she clicked her tongue against her cheek, before deciding to cut her losses and she left the room.

The three of you stood in silence before Bucky turned to look at you, a smirk spreading across his face. "You, are a genius!" He pressed a kiss to your cheek and you swallowed slightly, feeling the heat in your neck. "I owe you, big time."

"Yeah, you do." You shrugged. "You can start by doing that damned report. And then you’re buying me a drink at the Gala, seeing as we're, you know, fake dating."

"You got it, Doll." Bucky saluted, flashing you a wink.

"Fake dating?" Steve muttered, and you turned to look at him as he shook his head, looking up at the ceiling. "I've heard it all now."

You cleared you throat, and removed your hand from where it was still in Bucky’s and swallowed. "I need to get going. That report, Barnes. Don’t forget."

"Anything for you, Darlin'." Bucky grinned.

You gave him a last little smile, and then turned leaving the room letting out an inward groan.

What the hell had you just got yourself into?

****

“Why did I do this?” You sighed, looking at your reflection in the mirror, shaking your head.

“Because you’re sweet on him.” Peggy matter of factly replied and you shot her a look in the mirror. She gave you a knowing smirk and you sighed.

“I just felt sorry for him, okay?”

“Sorry for him?”

“Yeah, you know what she’s like, she wouldn’t leave him alone.”

“Admirable.” Peggy nodded, stepping forward so she was behind you, reaching up to fix another pin into your up do. “So what’s your master plan? Act the part tonight and break up tomorrow?”

You shrugged. “Haven’t thought that far.”

“I doubt you’ve thought at all.”  The brunette looked at you, her perfectly shaped eyebrow raising slightly.

“You know, you and Steve really are a match made in heaven.” You scoffed, stepping to the side as you smoothed down the dress you were wearing. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it traced your curves perfectly and made a nice change from the uniform you spent every day wearing. “Go take your righteous indignation and discuss it with him. That is if you’re speaking to him this week, I can never keep up.”

At that Peggy pursed her lips. “We’re not discussing me and Steve, we’re discussing you and how you’re going to get through the next however long pretending to date someone you actually want to date.”

“Well, it could be worse.” You shrugged.

“How?”

“I could be about to spend however long pretending to date someone I don’t like.”

Peggy looked at you for a second and you held her gaze, challenging her to say anything more on the matter. Eventually she merely raised her eyebrows before she turned and looked at the clock.

“We should go.”

With a deep breath you took one last glance at your reflection, grabbed the small clutch from the cot in your room and followed her out.

*****

The small dancehall in London's Soho District was packed with soldiers and civilian staff alike, and you accepted the drink offered to you by a waiter as you entered the main room, the Big Band already playing a bluesy-jazz number as background music, whilst people stood around the room, chatting. It didn’t take you long to locate Bucky. He was stood with Steve and the rest of the Howlies by the bar, all of them dressed in their best uniforms. Taking a deep breath, those pesky butterflies fluttering away in your stomach, you made your way over with Peggy and she let out an annoyed sigh as the men all blatantly looked the pair of you up and down.

“You’d think they’d never seen a woman before.” She mumbled and you scoffed out a laugh.

“Well, we’ve been running missions with them for that long maybe they’ve forgotten that we actually have boobs and a vagina.”

At that Peggy stopped to look at you, and the pair of you started to laugh.

“You are so uncouth.” She shook her head at you, as you linked your arm through hers and continued your path towards your team.

“Like I said, I’ve been in the field with these bozos for over a year, guess their bad habits are rubbing off on me.”

“Well, as long as that’s all that’s rubbing off on you.”

“Agent Carter!” Your mouth fell open in mock horror, turning to look at her as she continued facing forward, her lips quirked up at one side in a barely there smirk. “Now who’s being uncouth?”

“Ladies.” Dum-Dum greeted you with a tip of his bowler as you approached and you nodded to him, smiling before you turned to look at Bucky.

“Wow.” His eyes flicked up and down your form again, and you swallowed, a warm feeling spreading over you as his eyes took in your outfit and when his eyes finally met yours he cleared his throat and you gave him a small smile. “You err, look great. I mean, compared to how you usually look.”

At that Falsworth, Dum-Dum, Dernier, Jones and Morita all snorted as Steve let out a groan.

“Thanks. I think.” You frowned.

“No, I err…I didn’t mean it like that.” Bucky hastily began to back track as Dernier mumbled something in French, of which you caught the words ‘stupid idiot’, Jones hastily agreeing. “I just, well, it’s different to how I’ve seen you before.”

“Well a tight dress and courts ain’t exactly practical for hiking through woods and mounting stealth operations.” You shrugged, taking a sip of your drink. “But for the record, you look exactly the same as you usually do.”

At that the men all roared with laughter as Bucky sighed, dropping his head. “Guess I asked for that.”

Bucky watched as you gave him a small grin, before you turned to talk to Jones, and he took the chance to observe you properly. You looked good. You always did in his eyes but tonight, you were a knock out. Your dress hugged the curves of your thighs and hips, nipping in at the waist with a neckline that showed him just enough skin to leave him imagining what it would feel like to pepper your collarbone with kisses. Your hair was set in a perfect style, your lips rouged, you looked effortlessly stylish. He swallowed, sliding his finger in between the collar of his shirt and neck in an attempt to loosen the starched material as he suddenly flushed very, very warm. He felt timid, awkward, and that in itself made him feel a strange juxtaposition of irritated and amused. Bucky Barnes didn’t get nervous around women, that was Steve’s speciality. But here he was, flapping over how best to ask you if you wanted to get a drink whilst that punk was laughing away with Agent Carter hanging off his every word.

No, this wouldn’t do.

With a small cough, Bucky cleared his throat and dropped his hand to the base of your back. “You want a drink, Doll Face?”

You smiled up at him, blinking and nodded. “Yeah, thanks Buck. A gin would be great.”

Bucky waved over the bartender, placed your orders and had just turned back to you when he spotted the woman who’d thrown him into this mess in the first place, Private Lorraine arriving with some other poor, unsuspecting soldier from the unit. Bucky didn’t know his name, not that he cared.

“Hey,” he nudged you and you turned to face him and he jerked his head, “guess this fake date worked.”

You followed his eye-line and visibly bristled a little bit before you shook your head and shrugged. “Poor bastard.”

“You really don’t like her, do you?”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Just a hunch.” Bucky smirked, passing you your drink, before he gestured with his arm for you to follow the group who were now moving away from the bar to find a table. “After you, Darlin’.”

*****

You had to admit, you’d had your reservations but as it turned out, the night was pretty fun. Whilst you’d been hyper aware of Bucky besides you, you felt reasonably relaxed. His arm had dropped round your shoulder at one point, pulling you in for a friendly hug, the way he often did out in the field, and you’d simply enjoyed being as close to him as you were.

Because, fake or not, a chance to date Bucky Barnes didn’t come along that often.

It was a couple of hours later when you both found yourself at the table with Steve who made an excuse he needed the bathroom and left. Bucky snorted as Steve headed across the room and shook his head.

“Bathroom, he must think we’re stupid. He’s gone to find Peggy.”

“Aww, don’t. I think it’s cute.” You smiled, turning to look at Bucky. “Don’t you? I mean we’re fighting a war and in the middle of all this bloodshed and horror, he’s found someone who…” you trailed off as Bucky was watching you, a strange expression on his face. “Or not…am I talking nonsense?”

“No, it’s not that.” Bucky shook his head. “I just, guess I never thought about it that way. But you’re right. Suppose none of us know how long we have left, especially at the moment.”

He trailed off, his eyes scanning yours for something, but what you weren’t sure. You felt your cheeks warm and you glanced down at your hands, before you turned to watch the dancing going on around you. It was crazy when you stopped to contemplate that, in the midst of all the devastation and destruction, life was still going on. Bucky was right, your time could be up in a flash at any point.

“Well, seeing as you put it so eloquently,” you looked at Bucky, jerking your head to the dance floor. “Wanna show me how it’s done in Brooklyn?”

“Do you mind if we don’t?” Bucky shook his head and your heart sank. “I just…well, I…”

“No, you don’t need to explain.” You hastily back tracked. “I just thought it might keep up appearances, that’s all.”

There was an awkward silence, Bucky studying you for a moment with an expression you really couldn’t place and then, well, it all became too much.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” You made the same excuse Steve had given moments ago, and before Bucky could say anything, you rose from your seat and walked away, as dignified as you could, trying not to let the tears that were stinging your eyes fall down your face.

*****

Bucky watched you walk away from him, your movements graceful as you headed round the tables placed around the edge of the dance floor, taking care to avoid the groups of guests as you went. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. This was a mess. It had started out as a bit of fun, you helping him out, because that's what you did, but he'd been a wreck all night. Frankly, being in such close proximity to you was making his head swim.

He'd wanted to dance with you, he'd really wanted to dance with you, but he didn’t trust himself because the truth was he liked you. A lot and he had done so for a while. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself to hold you on the dance floor without trying to kiss the life out of you. So he’d said no, and let you walk away, and the look of hurt on your face was now burnt into his mind. With an angry snort he stood up and stalked to the bar, signalling for another drink.

He stood there, nursing his glass for what felt like an age, seething at his own stupidity until a familiar voice cut through his murderous thoughts.

"Did HYDRA scramble your brain or something, Buck?"

"What?" Bucky's brow furrowed as he turned to look at Steve.

"You’re missing a girl's signals."

"Signals, what are you..."

"Y/N, you dolt." Steve rolled his eyes.

"What about her?"

"She likes you, has for ages."

"I don’t think so, Steve" Bucky snorted.

Steve sighed and leaned against the bar as Bucky necked his scotch. "So explain the look she had on her face as she stalked passed me before.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. "She wanted a dance, dames love dancing. I said no.”

“And why did you do that?”

Bucky took a deep breath and didn’t answer. But he knew Steve could see right through him, the punk always could.

“Buck, what exactly did you think I meant that night at the bar when we first came to England a couple of months back? About Peggy having a friend? I meant Y/N."

Bucky blinked, his mouth dropping open. "What?"

"She's sweet on you. Falsworth told me. I was trying to give you a hint."

Utter frustration lanced through Bucky's entire body and he shook his head. "How in the name of Hitler’s left ball was I supposed to understand that?"

"Well, I thought it was obvious."

"No, no it wasn't, Steve!" Bucky groaned, his eyes flicking around, trying to locate you in the crowd but he felt his heart sink as there was no sign. "Oh, I fucked up, big time."

"Suggest you go fix it then." Steve shrugged, his voice a little slow as he himself was busy looking at Peggy as she walked towards him, smiling. He stood up straight and clapped Bucky on the shoulder, before he walked off, leaving his sergeant alone.

Bucky anxiously continued to search the room with his eyes, and felt his heart jump as he saw a flash of colour the same as your dress, and your familiar profile as you walked onto the dance floor, your hand in Howard’s as the man smiled at you, pulling you into a hold.

Oh, fuck you, Stark!

Without wasting another second, Bucky necked his scotch and moved, striding around the dancehall towards you, not watching where he was going which was why he collided straight into Dum-Dum.

"Woah, Barnes, where's the fire?"

"On the dance floor, I hope.” Bucky sidestepped round the broad man quickly, his eyes entirely fixed on you as he weaved his way round the various couples all in the middle of a reasonable slow dance until he reached the pair of you.

He cleared his throat, gently tapping Howard on the shoulder as your eyes fixed onto his, surprise etched across your face.

“Mind if I cut in?”

xxxx

“Did it work?” Peggy asked Steve as the pair of them stood to the side of the hall. Steve glanced over the dancefloor, just as Howard stepped away from you, kissing your hand in an over-the-top gesture before he turned and walked away. Bucky approached you tentatively, and Steve saw you give the faintest of nods, before his friend took you in a close dancing hold.

Grinning, Steve turned back to Peggy, jerking his head to the floor. “See for yourself.”

As the pair of them watched you and Bucky for a second, Steve’s eyes then fell on Howard who had paused to talk to someone. Almost as if he could sense the Captain’s eyes on him, Stark glanced over, a smug grin crossed his face, and he gave Steve the thumbs up sign.

Steve smiled into his glass, the irony at the fact that Bucky had tried and failed many times to fix him up with gals in the past yet he’d managed to turn the tables in a single try, wasn’t wasted on the Captain.

xxxx

“Funny looking bathroom.” Bucky cleared his throat as he steered the pair of you round in a gentle dance.

“Oh, well I got waylaid a little.” You replied. “And seeing as we’re not actually dating, I didn’t think it was an issue.”

“It’s not, I just…” He was quick to reply as he drew in another deep breath before he shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

 “What for?”

“Before, saying no the way I did. It was rude.”

You took a deep breath, your heart racing as you glanced up at him. “So, is that the only reason you’ve come to dance now? To apologise?”

“Yes, I mean, no.” Bucky stumbled over his words as he shook his head. “No, I wanted to dance. More specifically I wanted to dance with you.”

His admission settled like a bubbling brook in your belly. You wondered why, so you asked, "why?" 

Your mind began quickly doing the math, adding up the moments and signals between the two of you, wondering if what you dared to think was actually what he was thinking too. You were nervous but you remained close in your dance, your eyes flicking between his and his lips as he spoke, the words drowning in your ears, his voice sounding like your head was under water. 

“Because I like you, Doll Face.”

Then, you felt it, your body leaning in just a smidge as you tilted your head upward as his moved just a pinch to look down at you. Your lips brushed his and the electricity took off as he pulled you in for a deeper, slightly less modest kiss, the hand that had been curled around your waist moved upwards at the same time his other released yours from his hold, and calloused palms and fingers cupped your jaw and cheeks. Despite the roughness of his skin, his warm hands felt soft against your face like the finest silk whilst his tongue dipped into your mouth, kissing you in a way that your Pappy certainly wouldn’t approve of.

But you approved, boy did you approve.

The sounds of the big band drowned out the mewl that bubbled from your delicate throat to those around you, but not to Bucky. He heard the elicit sound clear as day, and that was enough. He wanted to get you alone, away from prying eyes.

He pulled back, casting a quick glance around before he looked down at you, "let's get out of here."

It was a suggestion as much as an instruction, and he waited as you blinked, before you gave the slightest nod and he took your hand, turned, and led you from the dancefloor.

****

How the pair of you made it back to your quarters, you had no idea, but here you were, stumbling into the small room, heated kisses being shared as Bucky kicked the door shut, his lips still fiercely on yours. Your fingers were now deftly undoing the buttons of his jacket before you pulled it open with a flourish, shoving it down over his shoulders and arms as Bucky was quickly pulling off his tie and opening the collar of his shirt. Before long, that was also discarded somewhere on the floor and your hands slid up his strong biceps, down his chest, tracing the taught muscle before your fingers hooked into the front of his uniform pants and you turned your attention to his belt, breaking the kiss a little so you could look down.

“Eager, Doll?” Bucky mumbled as his nose nudged at your chin, pushing your head up. His lips trailed across your jaw line, and then down your neck and you tipped your head back, your eyes fluttered shut at the feel of his lips on your skin, relishing the feel of his soft mouth and the delectable gentle scratching of his five-o-clock shadow.

His hands slowly slid up your sides, before they moved round the back, his lips pressing to yours as you felt his fingers gently guiding the zip of your dress down. Once it was undone, you stepped back and allowed it to fall into a pool at your feet. Bucky glanced down and groaned as his blue eyes scanned the stockings, garter belt, lace panties and matching bra.

“Fuck, Sweetheart.” His lips crashed back to yours as he backed you towards the cot at the side of the room.  As the back of your knees hit the metal side of the frame, he gently lowered you down, positioning himself over you, caging you with his arms and his legs as his mouth continued trailing soft kisses down your neck and her jawline.

You were powerless to stop the soft noises of pleasure you were making, try as you might, conscious of the fact the walls in the Quarter-Hall were thin, something you cursed on a daily basis as you could hear the squeak of the cot which belonged to the neighbour to your right as she turned over at night. Luckily for you, your springs were untested so to speak, therefore didn’t make a sound, unlike you at that moment in time.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Bucky suddenly stopped, his mouth hovering by your ear and you stilled, tilting your head to look at him. “I mean, this…well, it aint proper really, but…”

“Since when did you give a damned about being proper with a Dame?” You teased, fingers wrapping in the chain of his dog-tags, but there wasn’t a shred of humour in Bucky’s tone or on his face when he answered.

“When that dame was you.”

You blinked, and looked at his face, finding nothing there but a genuine softness and you were overcome with the emotions and sensations you were feeling and you yanked on the chain in your hands, pulling his head back down as you crashed your lips back to his.

“Yes, yes I do. I want this Bucky, I want it so much.” You mumbled against his mouth and he gave a groan, before he stood up, quickly, reaching for his wallet. He pulled out the small condom packet, one you recognised as the standard issued to all soldiers to avoid them catching anything when they were putting it about during furlough, so to speak, and he sat back down on the edge of the bed, bending down to unlace his boots.

Bucky was mentally cursing the damned things as he felt you stir behind him, the hard mattress of your bed dipping slightly, and he stilled as he felt your fingers gently brushing over the back of his shoulders. Your touch was feather light as your hands gently felt across his broad back and he gave a sigh, tipping his head back slightly to catch your lips in a deep kiss.

“Doll, if you want me to do anything to you tonight, I gotta get these boots off.”

“So take ‘em off.”

“Stop distractin’ me then.” His accent dripped from his tongue as he chuckled, and your lips curled into a smile against his.

“You saying you can’t handle a job with a little distraction?” You gave a tut, but pulled away a little to allow him to finally get the damned things off. “And Steve says you’re our best marksman.”

“Well, what does that Punk know?” Bucky tossed the boots to the floor with a thud, before he quickly raised his hips enough to allow him to slide off his pants. Then, in a flash he turned, pinning you back to the cot, smirking at the giggle that burst from your mouth. His hands trailed down your body, flicking open the clips on your garter straps without so much as a fumble, before the reached up and snapped the hooks at the front of your bra.

He took a moment to appreciate you, the soft, supple lines of your breasts a complete contrast to your toned shoulders and taught stomach, both the result of an extensive training regime.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He leaned over, kissing you softly, his lips tracing a track down your sternum before he softly took a nipple in his mouth, his tongue gently teasing, eyes flicking to your face to watch your reaction. 

You groaned at the sensation, rolling your head back on the pillow, hips bucking upwards as you let yourself go, barely daring to believe that his was happening, but just as you were questioning if you were in some elaborate dream, a low moan from above you caused your fluttering eyelids to jerk wide open. You could feel him hard, pushing against you and your hands moved round to his back.  You dragged your fingers up his spine, as his hand moved down, sliding into the waistband of your panties making your gasp as his fingers slipped into your folds. As he teased you, your hips began to move in time with his motions, groans falling from your lips as the heat began to build in between your legs, deep in your belly.

“Good?” Bucky’s voice was a rasp, and it was all you could do to do whimper softly, your head falling back further as your mouth dropped open, your entire body shuddering as the pleasure lanced through you. You reached down, grabbing his wrist and his eyes moved to yours, waiting.

“Want you.” You whispered softly. Almost as if he’d been waiting for that final bit of permission, Bucky’s fingers hooked into the top of your panties, gently sliding them down your legs, gathering your stockings as he went, a movement he had clearly perfected through goodness knows however many other clandestine liaisons. Discarding them to the floor, he wriggled his way out of his own underwear before he sat back on his heels and you moved, grabbing the packet he’d placed on the small bedside unit before.

Bucky groaned softly as your hands gently wrapped around his cock, sliding the condom down. It really shouldn’t have been as arousing as it was but he was almost ready to blow before he’d even started. Once it was on, he crawled back over you, his thighs gently parting yours a little further and with a steady, slow motion he slid into you, the sensation caused both of you to groan, your head falling back against the pillows as Bucky stretched you, his girth and length filling you completely.

"Fuuucckkk.” Bucky breathed out as your tight heat gripped him, his word little more than a whisper. He moved his hands to snake his fingers through yours, gently pinning your hands by the side of your head as he began to move his hips. He went slowly at first, picking up the speed slightly as you keened underneath him, his dog tags sliding in the valley between your breasts, the metal cold against your heated skin.

Your hips bumped together with every thrust he made and, with each rock into you, he was rubbing against that soft spot deep inside you. Your soft cries stuck in your throat, your senses completely overwhelmed as the fire in your body was raging white hot.

“James,” you whispered his name, and Bucky let out a low groan, his fingers tightened around yours as he gave a particularly deep thrust, making you purr in delight. He raised his head to capture your lips, plunging his tongue into your mouth before he released your hands, his own cupping your face as he continued to move.

In that moment, you could have been anywhere. In a hotel, surrounded by the finest silk sheets that money could buy or on some far away beach in the corner of the world, but instead you were led on a hard mattress in a military base, knowing full well you were in for some serious reprimand if you were caught, but you didn’t care. All that mattered was the man who was currently undoing you piece by piece as the two of you were tangled in your own private dance.

The more Bucky gave, the more you wanted, and as he hiked your leg up round his waist, his fingers curling round the back of your knee you choked out another pant of his name, “James,” as you felt yourself nearing that point where you’d drop over that oh-so-steep cliff edge. The tips of your nails dug into the skin of his shoulders, causing him to groan loudly, his head tipping backwards.

“You feel so good.” His voice was nothing but a whine, and at his praise you gave another low, sultry gasp, your breath now coming in ragged gasps. “God, Y/N,” he moaned loudly as you titled your hips, pushing back up against him, his head dropping slightly. “You close?” he gasped and you nodded softly, your lips falling open and once again he kissed you, hard, his movements speeding up ever so slightly.

“Don’t stop.” You begged, shaking your head as you grasped at his back, “please, so good.”

Bucky felt you shudder underneath him and a few thrusts later your back arched and a soft cry escaped your mouth as your eyes fluttered shut and your head tilted back, mouth open in a now silent scream. He could feel you tightening, pulsing around him as you came and that was it, enough to tip him straight over the edge behind you, the surge and ecstasy of his relief causing his whole body to stiffen as his hips faltered. A groan burst from his mouth as he gave a few final, sloppy thrusts before he collapsed forward, his head burrowing into your neck.

You both lay still for a moment, before Bucky regained enough composure to prop himself up, placing a soft kiss to your lips and as he pulled away slightly, he found you looking up at him, lips swollen from his kisses, heavy lidded eyes blinking slowly in your sated state, and he smiled at the fact you wore that just fucked look so damned well.

“You okay?” He asked softly and you nodded, a smile playing on your lips before you kissed him again.

“More than okay.” You grinned, your nails gently scratching at the nape of his neck. “You got moves, Sergeant.”

Bucky let out a chuckle as he kissed you again, his lips hovering over yours. “Well you weren’t so bad yourself, Agent.”

*****

 “Nice of you to show up.” Colonel Phillips looked at you as you walked into the briefing room. “Late night, was it?”

“Sorry, Sir. I didn’t get much sleep.” You mumbled, avoiding Bucky’s eyes as he looked down at the table, a grin on his face.

“Huh, I could have sworn I saw you leaving the dance early.” Dum-Dum quipped and you shot him a glare as you took up a seat next to Peggy who licked her lips, fighting a smirk.

“Whatever, I’m not interested.” Phillips sniffed before he tossed a file down on the table in front of Steve who reached over to take it. “We have word that HYDRA are intending to move Arnim Zola.”

“Do we know where to?” Steve asked, looking at the file before he glanced up and Peggy shook her head.

“No, this is hot off the press so to speak. Stark’s team intercepted their encrypted broadcast. All we know is that they’re nervous about moving, and that the route has been carefully planned to avoid any long, open distances.”

“They’re going through the Alps.” Phillips moved to a map at the side of the room. “Trying to maintain a cover so to speak. Our surveillance team still has Zola at his current location, but that could change at any time. Captain, I need you to co-ordinate and mount an operation to intercept that train and apprehend him.”

“If you know where he is why can’t we just bust in and get him now?” Bucky asked.

“Because you’ll never get there in time.” Phillips replied. “As we understand he’ll be moving out in a couple of hours. So we’re up against it. The window of opportunity lies about six hours into his trip where there’s a slight break in the mountain cover.”

“How do we know this is kosher?” Falsworth took the file from Steve. “They could be leaving a false trail.”

“We hacked a number of broadcasts, each saying a different thing.” Peggy answered. “But this one held the code words we know HYDRA are using today.”

“And our codebreakers have never let us down before, so I’m willing to take a punt.” Phillips nodded. “Get to it, we don’t have much time.”

There was a flurry of movement around the table as you all stood up, Steve barking instructions at you all to collect what you needed and head to the transportation hub immediately as Dum-Dum mentioned something about zip wires and ambushing the train from above. As you all sidled out of the room, a hand gently closed over your arm and you turned to see Bucky as he fell into step besides you.

“Just so you know, I don’t normally make habit of splitting before breakfast.”

“Oh, you normally eat first?”

“In a manner of speaking.” He smirked and you gave a chuckle. “I just didn’t want you thinking-“

“It’s okay, I get it.” You assured him, and you did. He’d left in a flurry that morning before he could get caught sneaking out of the small room you had in the female quarters and you didn’t hold it against him at all. 

“But, I’d really like to take you out, properly, I mean. When we get chance.”

“You asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah.” Bucky stopped, turning to face you. “A real one this time.”

You smiled and nodded. “I’d like that. Oh, but just so you know, I don’t put out on a first date.”

“No? Then what was last night?”

You hesitated, feeling the heat rising to your cheeks. In all honesty, you had no idea what had come over you last night. You’d never behaved in a reckless manner with a man like that before and taken him home so easily, for fear of getting yourself a bad reputation. That said, you didn’t really care either. You were in the middle of a war, running dangerous missions, any of which could be your last. Life was for living, and as long as you were breathing, you intended on making the most of it.

You opened your mouth to explain this to Bucky, but you stopped yourself and instead you simply smiled at him, your eyes looking straight into those steel-blues which were sparkling with mischief.

“Doesn’t count, it wasn’t a real date.”

“Oh, that’s how it is?” Bucky arched an eyebrow and you nodded.

“Yup, that’s how it is.”

“Well,” He took a deep breath as the pair of you continued walking, “guess I’ll just have to show you a real good time when I get the chance.”

You snorted and shook your head. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”

“It’s been said.” He grinned as you reached the end of the corridor. “But, first we’ve got a German scientist to catch. Think you can contain yourself around me long enough to run a mission?”

“Okay, first off he’s Swiss.”

“What?”

“Zola, he’s Swiss. I don’t know why you all think differently, it’s in all the briefings and his file-“

“Yeah, I don’t read those.”

“Well you should, you might learn something. And second -“ you held your hand up, finger extended, instructing him to keep whatever wise crack he was about to make to himself, “-you’re not that irresistible.”

Bucky blinked before he gave a laugh and shook his head. “You know, I actually learned a fair bit last night.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I learned that you cut a mean rug, Doll-Face.” He glanced around, before he leaned closer, his breath hot on your neck as he whispered into your ear. “And that you look even better with your clothes off.”

The plan was infallible, there should be no mistake, especially since you had proposed it. There were only five more minutes left before the extraction, you started running to get to the meeting place.

Steve hugged you when he saw you, everything had been a success. They had obtained the goal, no one had any injuries nor were there any problems. Since then, you and Steve teamed up for whatever mission there was, not to mention that they were also among the best teams in the Organization.

2023

 After a heated argument, they finally managed to decide which team would go for each stone. You and Steve had to go to Vormir. There was a nervousness in Steve that you noticed, but it wasn’t the same as when he was frozen in ice. No, this tension about going into space ran deeper. 

The idea of getting the stones seemed easy. All you had to do was grab the stones without anyone from the past noticing and getting them back to base. You took Steve's hand as you looked at the stars in space. Who knew that space could be so beautiful. 

"In the end, it was no joke," you said, watching him enraptured as he took in the stars and the endless space around.

"I beg your pardon? “Steve asked with considerable confusion.

"Many years ago, you promised me that you would take me to the stars, and well... now... you fulfilled it.”

He smiled and squeezed your hand, yet he felt restless, he had a bad feeling.

“Y/N, do you think we'll make it?”

“Why wouldn't we? We are the good guys, we always win.”

"But...”

"Thanos took us by surprise, that's all, it was a simple mistake in reality," you replied. 

Steve and you stared at each other after what the Guardian of the Stone told you, neither of you dared to talk. You both had a decision to make quickly as time was running out. Immersed in your thoughts, you unexpectedly made a decision quietly. However, it looked like Steve was reading your thoughts, he didn't want you to sacrifice yourself, he thought there was another possibility.

"There's no way...”

"Steve, it's the only way.”

"NO! No way, I'm not going to allow...”

“I thought you said you had faith in me.”

"Yes, I have it, but...”

You approached him, kissed him while using your powers to knock him unconscious, so Steve could not raise any objections or prevent you from being the one to jump. From the beginning, everyone said they would do “whatever it takes” to get the stones and at this moment that’s what you were going to do. You had left him clues so that only he would understand to be able to make your return if that was even possible.

“All will be well, I promise you, I love you,” you murmured and ran to the edge of the abyss and leaped. As you fell, all the memories of the life you shared with Steve, living together, laughing, stolen kisses, appeared in your mind as if it were a movie until everything became dark.

“There’s a change of plans. There’s a new lead on the HYDRA warehouse we’ve been looking for the last two months so-”

“I’m on it” 

“No you're not. It hasn’t been even 10 hours since you came back from your mission and I know it was a tough one. We expect this mission to be difficult as well so you’re not coming”. You want to argue with her but you know that Natasha’s right. Your muscles are still aching and you could use a few more hours of sleep.

“Okay”, you nod and move to shut the lamp and go back to sleep.

“That’s not all”, Natasha continues, “I was assigned to the stealth mission in Rome but with the new mission you’ll have to do it”

“But didn’t you say that I just had a difficult mission and I need rest?” You grumble with a pout. Natasha smirks at that and pats your shoulder in sympathy.

“You can sleep in the quinjet. Don’t worry, this mission will be easy for you and besides, Barnes is coming with you”, Natasha shrugs and walks out of your bedroom, not before informing you that departure is in 10 minutes. 

8 minutes later, you step into the hanger suited up in your black stealth suit. The suit has a high neckline, a belt, two thigh holsters, and fingerless gloves. You also had two knives hidden in your boots. 

The whole team is in the hanger, except for Bruce. He stays in the compound and will help the team from behind. They are gathered all together in front of two jets, one to each mission.

 “There you are”, Natasha separates from the group with a suitcase and a brown folder. “In here you’ll find everything you’ll need for the mission,” she taps the suitcase and hands you the file. 

“Okay”, you nod and hug her, “be careful”. 

“I will”, she promises, “you too. And hey, try to enjoy the mission,” she says with a smirk. You raise your brows, but you hear your name being called before you can answer back. 

“You ready to go?”, Barnes calls to you from the jet. 

“Yeah I’m coming”, you sigh and enter the jet with your suitcase and the folder. 

“You need a hand?”, Bucky takes a step towards you but you wave him off with a smile.

“I’ve got this.” you push your suitcase in one of the jet’s corners, right next to Bucky’s, and put down the folder on one of the black leather seats. You move to the front of the jet and sit down in the pilot’s seat. With a push of a button, you close the jet and start the engine. 

“Buckle up,” you call to your teammate. A deep hum rumbles from behind you and you take that as your signal. You fly the quinjet out of the hanger, stable it in the air with swift motions of the rudder, and put the plane on stealth mode. You put in the coordinates to Rome and turn the plane on autopilot. “Ok, we’re all set”, you announce as you walk to where you put the folder, and seat down in front of Bucky. 

“Let’s see what we have here”, you mumble while opening the folder. You take out the file with all of the details. “Okay, so apparently we’re a married couple who stays in a nice little boutique hotel”. 

“The target?” 

“A drug cartel that supplies the remaining of HYDRA with money and sometimes even men and weaponry.”

“What does a man like him do in a little boutique hotel in Rome?” Bucky’s voice is filled with skepticism.

“Well, he booked a room for two so he’s here with his current girlfriend. What’s more romantic than a cozy, intimate hotel in one of the most beautiful cities in the world?” you shrug and continue, “besides, a few months ago we found out who his girlfriend is, and we used social media to advertise the hotel and make her pick it”. You can’t help the smug smile from spreading in your face. Once you learned that his girlfriend is known for getting exactly what she wants, you knew what your next step is. You chose the hotel and started to advertise it to her by using social media. With a little investigation, you learned that the cartel was a cheater, above everything, so this mission was perfect for either you or Natasha.

Bucky nods with a small smile on his face. “So we’re pretending to be a married couple?”

“Yes, oh and there are also rings”. you take out from the folder two simple gold wedding rings. You slip yours through your ring finger and hand Bucky his ring. 

He’s a bit stiff as he takes it from you and slips it through his right hand’s ring finger. He frowns as he looks down at his hands, one metal the other flesh and bone. Is he disturbed because he ended up doing this mission with you instead of Natasha? You knew they were close friends, and maybe even more than that? You don’t know. Even though you are quite new to the team, you are very close to the other team members. However, you had almost no interactions at all with Bucky Barnes. It quite annoyed you, if you’re being honest. Of course, it has nothing to do with the little crush you developed towards the super soldier. It has nothing to do with it.

Or perhaps he’s concerned about the mission itself? You know stealth missions like this aren’t his favorite.  

Bucky looks up abruptly, locking eyes with you and making you realize you had been staring at him. You quickly avert your eyes, heat crawling up your neck. 

“You know,” you start but stop to clear your throat, “this shouldn’t be a difficult mission and you’re here for backup if things get messy”

“Which they shouldn’t”, he says and you nod, still avoiding his gaze.

“They shouldn’t,” you agree. 

7 hours later you and Bucky land in Rome and get into shield’s warehouse which is basically a stopping point for you. 

“I’ll meet you here in 15 minutes”, you inform him before disappearing into one of the bedrooms, your suitcase with you. You put the suitcase on your bed and take out from it all the things you need to get ready. 

It takes you 10 minutes to shower, put on some makeup and get dressed in a casual, yet stylish, outfit. 

It also takes you 10 minutes to try to calm your nerves. You are going to spend the next few days with the one team member that barely spared you a second glance when you joined the team, with the one team member you somehow managed to develop a crush on. 

Great. Just wonderful. 

And the fact that you barely spoke to each other in the last 7 hours didn’t help either. But you won’t let it interfere with the mission, because you’re a professional. Hell, that’s why Tony Stark asked you to join the Avengers! Ok, maybe the fact you are a world-class spy and assassin had to do with it. You are in Natasha’s level but you have an advantage. Your face isn’t plastered on the biggest screens in Times square like most of the avengers. 

No one knows how you look like in the intelligence community, and you don’t have an official alter ego name like Black Widow or The Winter Soldier. Instead, the intelligence community gave you different names; Lily of the Valley, Wisteria, and belladonna are the most common ones, but you have many more. Clearly, the community has a thing for flowers.

But all of this doesn’t matter now, because you need to focus! So, you take a big breath and go meet your fake husband. 

“You’re ready?”, Bucky asks you as soon as you enter the kitchen, your suitcase in hand. “Good because we need to head out to the hotel”, his face is unreadable as he takes your suitcase from your hand and moves to the garage. As he passes you a wave of some men’s shampoo washes over you. Weirdly, you recognize the scent. 

You bought it last week for Sam that was “in desperate need of a new shampoo”. You remember asking him “but didn’t you just buy one last week?”, he shrugged and gave you a cheeky smile. You bought it anyway.  

You can’t help the smirk that starts to form on your lips, mystery solved. 

A black car waits for you and Bucky in the garage. He puts your suitcase in the back truck, where his own is already placed. You move to the driver’s seat and put on the seatbelt. A moment later Bucky enters the car as well with a small bag in hand. You don’t ask questions, for now, and just start the drive towards the hotel.

“I’ve brought us som-”, Bucky starts and motions with his bag, but your phone’s ringtone cut him off. He raises an amused eyebrow as the song Barbie Girl starts to play loudly in the car. 

Heat starts to crawl up your neck, you wish you could cover your face with your hands but alas, you’re driving. You take out your phone from your jacket pocket.

“It’s supposed to be ironic”, you mumble while answering the call and hitting the speaker button. “Hello?”

“Guys, It’s Bruce! Do you think you’ll be at the hotel before 7 PM?”

“Yeah, I think we will,” Bucky looks at you and you nod, “why?”

“Well, the target just made a reservation for a nice restaurant so I thought maybe making you a reservation as well”

“Yes, that’s a good idea”, you agree, “this will shorten the mission.”

“Great, so I booked you in”, he finalizes and hangs up.

“Ok, so what I was going to say,” Bucky opens his bag, “is that I made sandwiches”. He offers you one with a smile and a wave of gratitude towards him washes over you. You don’t even remember the last time you ate.

“Thank you”, you say before taking a big bite from the sandwich. Bucky simply grins at you. 

Soon enough, you park at the hotel’s parking lot.

“Okay,” you sigh, “remember we’re a married couple, very much in love”. Bucky nods and takes the suitcase in his big arms, Muscles flexing. 

Not now you internally groan. Now is not the time to gawk at him! Be professional, you scold yourself. You lead the way to the receptionist, Bucky right behind you.

“And remember, leave the talking to me”. You rub your thumb against the golden ring on your finger, making sure it’s there. 

“Hello”, your enthusiastic voice widens the receptionist’s smile, “we have a reservation under the names Emma and Jaime Moore”.

As the receptionist checks in the computer, you intertwine your hand with Bucky’s and look at him, you smile at him sweetly and his eyes soften. You squeeze his hand lightly, approving his acting skills.

“Oh there it is”, the receptionist hums to himself and slides the room’s card to you. He smiles at the little moment you and Bucky created, but the smile falters when he notices Bucky’s metal arm. His body tenses up immediately next to you, but you’re quick to respond, a bit harshly than you intend.

“My husband was in a car accident, he got badly injured in his arm so we had to amputate it. But luckily, we managed to save enough money to get him a metal arm from Wakanda”. Only after you finish talking you realize that you’re holding his bicep tightly with your free hand, and your side is pressed tightly to his side. Why am I upset?

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know”, his voice is honest and genuine. you want to answer but Bucky just thanks him, takes the card, and leads you to your room. 

“You ok?”, Bucky asks once you reach your room. A small grin graces his lips and his eyes look at you intensely. 

“Yeah”, you mumble. You try to avoid his observing eyes so you quickly enter the room. You honestly don’t understand why you’re surprised to see there’s only one bed in the room. It makes sense because you and Bucky pretend to be a married couple. But it doesn’t really matter, if your plan will work you won’t spend the night here anyway.

“We need to start getting dressed if we don’t want to be late to the restaurant”, you say, still avoiding any eye contact with him. You take out from your suitcase everything you need and get into the bathroom to get ready. 

It doesn’t take you long to do your hair and makeup, and even a shorter time to slip into your silver dress. The dress is short with a deep cleavage and exposed back. The dress will do most of the work for you.

You put on silver high heels and take out sleeping pills powder. You neatly stash it into your poison ring. It’s a heart-shaped, gold vintage ring that opens. You’ve used the ring many times before, it never failed you. You slip the ring into your right hand’s index finger and take one last final look in the mirror.

You exit the bathroom and find Bucky standing in front of the mirror brushing his hair. He chose to wear cream pants and a jacket with a white shirt underneath.

He locks his eyes with yours through the mirror and for a moment neither of you say anything. His eyes start to travel down your body, sending exciting tingles up your back. 

“What is this!?”, he bluntly asks. You’re taken aback by the question, you don’t know what you expected him to say but it was definitely not this.

“This outfit? It’s a part of my cover!”

 “Well, it doesn’t cover a thing!”, your eyebrow is up in your forehead before he even finishes the sentence.  “No offence”, he quickly adds.

 “Offence taken”, you say coldly as you exit the door and head to the restaurant, not bothering to check if he’s following.

You spend the whole way to the restaurant in silence. Bucky apologizes a couple of times until you snap at him that you just want to get the target and get back to the tower. 

The uncomfortable silence bothers you and makes you even angrier until you can’t take it anymore. 

“I don’t need your comments about how I look, I have every right to wear whatever I want to wear”

“I know I’m sor-”

“Not to mention, I know what I’m doing and I don’t need you to tell me how I should do my job. There’s a reason why I’m one of the best in the field. I have my methods and they work every single time.”

“I know and I’m sorry it’s just that”, Bucky sighs deeply and runs a hand through his hair, “I just don’t want him to look at you the way I know he would”

You can feel your tensed back relax a bit. He’s just being overprotective?

“I can protect myself. And you got to trust me when I say that I know what I’m doing, okay? We have to trust each other if we want this mission to work out”

“I trust you”, his eyes bore into yours, showing you how much he truly means it. 

“Okay”, your voice comes out as a whisper, and you can’t understand why. Bucky offers you his hand and you hold into it as you enter the restaurant. 

You immediately notice your target and his girlfriend. You bless Bruce for booking your table right next to them. 

“Action in dessert time”, you mumble as Bucky helps you into your chair. He nods and sits in his own seat. You can feel the target’s eyes on you, a shudder runs through your spine, the second time in the evening, but not pleasant as the first one. Nevertheless, you make eye contact, and when he gives you a grin you send him a smirk. 

For the next half an hour you and Bucky order your meals and talk to each other about natural subjects - books, shows and movies Sam recommended him to watch. Yet, you leave out any details that can suggest, to anyone who might eavesdrop, who you really are. You also keep a close eye on the table next to you. 

Fortunately, right after they ordered their desserts, “the girlfriend” excuses herself and goes to the bathroom. You take that as your moment. You excuse yourself as well and move in between the tables. You can see from the corner of your eyes that the target is looking at your body. perfect. You step on your foot, making you stumble and fall right onto the target. 

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry”, you exclaim as he helps you onto your feet, his stare is fixated on your cleavage. Jerk.

“Don’t worry about it”, he grins.

“You’re okay?”, Bucky’s voice is right behind basically pulling you out of his grab. You nod to your fake husband and let him help you in to your chair. You exhale loudly and breathe in again, making it look like your breathless. You reach out for your glass of champagne and raise it to him, seemingly thanking him.

He raises his as well in a wide smirk and drinks all of the golden champagne in his glass. You fight the urge to smirk as well. Gotcha.

You lock your eyes with Bucky’s. He’s smiling but his eyes are full of confusion. Think, you non-verbally tell him. It takes him a moment to understand that when you “fell”, you actually slipped the sleeping powder into the target’s drink. Bucky’s smile widens but you start a conversation so the man at the next table will stay oblivious.

From there the mission goes smoothly. It takes around fifteen minutes for the sleeping pills to kick in. The target and his girlfriend rush out of the restaurant, and you and Bucky aren’t far behind. 

As you reach the hotel you and Bucky pack everything up and suit up. Bucky quickly puts the suitcases in the car as you break into the target’s room. As expected, he’s fast asleep but the girlfriend needs to be taken care of. Even though she’s asleep as well, you fill up a glass with water and put a bit of sleeping powder. You walk to her and start to move your hand up and down her arm. 

“Sweetie? You forgot to drink”, you say in fake concern. She rubs her eyes and reaches to the glass, drinking the water till the last drop. 

“Thanks mom”, she mumbles before she falls back to sleep. You feel bad for a moment for drugging her, she looks like a sweet person. 

“Y/N?”, Bucky’s whisper is right behind you, successfully pulling you out of your thoughts. You turn to him but in the dark room you barely see his face. 

“Take him I get his electronics”, your voice is barely audible but thank to his enhanced hearing, Bucky understands. With the target’s phone and computer you can hack to them and get more information you might need.

Less than five minutes later, you’re already in the car back to the warehouse. The target is tied up, still asleep, in the back  truck. It doesn’t takes you long to hack the hotel’s security and delete all footages of you and Bucky. 

“This mission went quicker than I expected”, Bucky comments.

You hum in agreement, “But that’s actually thanks to Bruce, the mission could have taken another day”. There’s a few moments of silence until he breaks it.

“Ok so I was thinking-”

“This never a good thing”

“You spend too much time with Sam”, his exasperated sigh makes you laugh. 

“True”, you wholeheartedly agree, “tell me”

Bucky looks at you, his eyes soft again. “Well, I had a really good time today and I was wondering… would you like to go on a date with me this Friday night?” 

“I would love to”.

“What you studying?” She asks, it being the most important question when you meet someone at college.

“Psychology, what about you?” You ask sitting down on your own bed, unpacking could wait.

“Oh cool, you’re not gonna psychoanalyse me are you” she smirks making you laugh “and I’m studying Russian” she smiles.

“I’ll try not to, but only if you don’t talk about me behind my back in Russian” you smirk making her laugh.

“You got yourself a deal, you seem like fun, we’re gonna have some good times I can already tell” Nat smiles.

“That is what college is for right?” You chuckle making Nat laugh.

“100%, now as much as I’d love to chat I’m gonna have to love ya and leave ya because I have to go meet the rest of the athletics team, but I’ll catch you later” she says hopping up and grabbing her gym bag.

“Sounds good, have fun” you smile waving as she left.

You smile to yourself grateful that you seemed to have a pretty cool roommate. College so far had been amazing.

Later on you met Nat in the food hall, glancing around you spot her talking to a guy with long silver hair and a brown haired girl.

“Oh hey, (Y/N), this is Pietro he’s on the running team and this is his twin Wanda” Nat smiles introducing you when she noticed you.

“Hi nice to meet you” Pietro says shaking your hand.

“Nice to meet you too, nice accent where you guys from?” You ask when you notice the subtle Eastern European accent.

“Sokovia, but we’ve been living in New York for the last couple years” Wanda explains.

“Oh that’s cool! I’ve always wanted to go to that part of Europe” you smile making the both of them chuckle.

“It’s not as nice as the brochures make out” Wanda chuckles as the four of you sit down with your food.

“There was a war in our country that it never really recovered from” Pietro explains.

“Oh I’m sorry” you sigh.

“Its okay we like it here now” Wanda says with a reassuring smile.

As the four of your eat you chat getting to know each other. You found out that Wanda was also taking psychology so you planned to meet up before your first class and sit together. You were glad you already knew someone in your class so you didn’t have that awkward situation of trying to find a seat.

As you all walked out of the food hall back to your dorm rooms a guy with long brown hair ran over.

“Hey Nat, Nat's friends” he grins his attention mostly on Nat.

“Hey buck, what’s up?” Nat smiles and if you had to guess anything you’d would guess she’d had a crush on this guy.

“The football team are hosting a party this weekend and you’re invited, all of you” Bucky smile nodding over to you and the twins.

“Sounds good we’ll be there” Nat smiles biting her lip slightly.

“Good catch you later” Bucky smiles before jogging off to join his mates who were all watching grinning over at their mate.

One in particular caught your eye, a large very attractive looking blond. Your eyes met his for a moment and for a moment you thought you recognised him but you were certain you’d remember meeting a guy that hot. He sends a small smile your way before turning to Bucky and slapping him on the shoulder before they all walked off.

“You seem to know everyone already” you say smirking over at Nat.

“What can I say I have good connections” she smirks shrugging her shoulders.

“You definitely seem to like Bucky” you point out.

“Hey you said you wouldn’t psychoanalyse me!” Nat complains making you chuckle.

“I didn’t need to, but if it helps I think he likes you too” you chuckle making her shake her head.

“As if” Nat scoffs in disbelief.

“Trust me, he barely looked at me or the twins, it was like we weren’t even here” you tell her.

She just shrugs her shoulders slightly not arguing.

You first week of classes had been great. You had a lot of reading that you needed to do but it didn’t bother you too much since you genuinely enjoyed it. You and Wanda were becoming quick friends, spending time after class in the library studying together. Or you were talking about how Bucky and Nat kept fawning over each other.

“You going to the party tomorrow?” You ask her when you walk out of your last class of the week.

“I dunno, Pietro is going but it’s not really my thing” Wanda says shrugging her shoulders.

“Are you?” She asks.

“Probably but only because Nat will drag me there, only to ditch me for Buck as soon as possible” you say making her chuckle.

“So if you came it would be amazing since it would mean I wouldn’t be all alone when she ditches me” you smirk nudging her shoulder.

“I guess it would be fun” she sighs.

“And you never know there might be someone there who takes your fancy” you say making her laugh.

“Yeah right, the only reason I got invited was because I was stood near Nat” Wanda scoffs.

“Yeah, I’m in the exact same boat, may as well take advantage of my roommates popularity” you tell her making her chuckle.

“Okay fine I’ll go, I’ll see you later” Wanda concedes waving you goodbye as she walked into her dorm building.

When you got back to your own dorm, Nat wasn’t there. She probably had training or something. You use the time alone to your advantage using the peace and quiet to do some work since you almost certainly wouldn’t be doing work over the weekend.

Saturday evening soon rolled around and you and Nat were getting ready to head out. Nat was wearing a simple black body con dress with red heels so high they looked lethal.

“How on earth are you wearing those” you ask as you slip on your own much smaller heels.

“I’m a dangerous woman what can I say” Nat smirks grabbing her leather jacket and slipping it on.

You laugh grabbing your own jacket and bag “well I’m not carrying you home when your feet fall off” you warn her.

“Please if anyone if carrying someone home, it’ll be me carrying you, unless you find some company instead I didn’t miss you checking Bucky’s friend out” Nat smirks as the two of you walk out of your dorm room.

“What? I wasn’t checking him out, I just thought I recognised him that’s all” you tell her waving it off.

“Did you recognise him?” Nat asks.

“No, or at least I don’t think so, I think I’d remember him if I did” you admit shrugging your shoulders.

“Ooh so you do like him” Nat smirks.

“No, I just- he’s-“ you sigh shaking your head “I can admit that I am attracted to him, but considering I’ve never actually spoken to him I can’t say I like him” you explain.

“Okay fair enough, you know since I’m friends with Bucky I might be able to help you there” Nat tells you but you shake your head.

“No it’s fine I’m not necessarily looking for anything right now, plus I promised Wanda I wouldn’t leave her” you explain and Nat nods her head in understanding.

The party was pretty much in full swing when you and Nat arrived. You spot Wanda and Pietro stood in a corner, Wanda looking a little uncomfortable but smiling when she spots you.

“I’ll go grab us some drinks” Nat says heading off while you walked over to Wanda and Pietro.

“Hey, you made it!” Pietro smiles hugging you.

“Yeah, glad you decided to come” you say smiling over at Wanda.

“Well thought I’d at least try it” Wanda says shrugging her shoulders.

“Here you are, don’t ask what’s in it” Nat says passing you a red plastic cup.

You sniff in suspiciously trying to work out how strong it was.

“I didn’t make it too strong, I don’t know what your tolerance is yet” she smirks taking a sip of her own drink.

You take a hesitant sip grateful that like she said it wasn’t too strong. However you would be getting your own drinks from now on just in case.

Like predicted Nat soon disappeared the last you saw her she was laughing and dancing with a large guy with long blond hair.

So you and Wanda stuck together chatting as best as you could in the loud room.

“I’m just gonna go get a refill, you want anything?” You ask Wanda having to shout slightly.

“No I’m good thanks” Wanda smiles.

You weave through the crowds of people slowly making your way to where all the drinks were being kept.

Once you got there you started looking through the depleted selection of drinks. You spotted a bottle of beer in a bucket and go to reach for it but your hand clashes with another.

Looking up you see Bucky’s blond-haired friend looking over at you. You heart skips a beat when your eyes meet his bright blue ones.

“(Y/N)?” He asks looking slightly shocked.

You look up at him confused and shocked that he knew your name. Maybe Nat had told him about you.

“It’s Steve” he adds and your jaw completely drops.

“Holy shit! Rogers, Steve Rogers?” You ask completely shocked.

“Yeah that’s me, god it’s been what 8 years” Steve chuckles shaking his head.

“Yeah oh my god, I didn’t recognise you! You’ve gotten so.. so big” you laugh gesturing to his muscular physique.

You and Steve had been best friends in elementary school. Back then he was always the smallest boy in the year. Often off school with a cold or something else. He’s moved away to Brooklyn in the summer between elementary and middle school and you never saw him again.

“Yeah, started playing a bit more sports and then here I am” steve chuckles rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“How are you by the way” he asks.

“Good so glad to be out of that little town, I’m studying psychology, what about you?” You tell him with a smile.

“Military history” he tells you making you chuckle.

You could remember how he always loved learning about world war 2 in school. Saying how he’d be the first to enlist no matter how sickly he was.

“Why am I not surprised” you chuckle making him laugh and shrug his shoulders.

“Ah so you finally introduced yourself” you hear Nat smirk.

Turning round you see he and Bucky stood behind you, Bucky’s arm around Nat’s shoulder.

“We actually already knew each other” you tell her making her raise a brow in question.

“We were best friends in elementary school before I moved to Brooklyn” Steve explains.

“No way! You’re (Y/N)! God I’ve heard so much about you over the years!” Bucky exclaims.

“What? Really?” You ask in surprise glancing over your shoulder at Steve who’s tip of his ears were turning red.

“Yeah he’s be like ‘(Y/N) would always come visit whenever I was off school’” Bucky laughs.

“You done buck?” Steve sighs.

“Let’s leave the childhood sweethearts to it” Nat smirks patting Bucky’s shoulders and leading him away.

“I’m sorry about him” steve sighs when you turn back to face him.

“No its cool seems like he was a good replacement” you smirks.

“Yeah, we met when I decided to stand up to one of the school bullies and he came to my rescue” steve explains shrugging his shoulders with a small smile.

“You said you’d stop doing that when you left” you laughs pushing his shoulder.

“And you believed me?” Steve laughs making you shake your head at him.

“Yeah because it’s totally my fault” you scoff smiling up at him.

“Hey (Y/N)?” You hear someone say, turning round you see Wanda.

“I’m thinking of heading back home” she tells you.

“Oh okay, give me a sec and I’ll walk out with you” you tell her making her smile slightly.

“Okay I’ll see you outside” she says before ducking away through the crowds.

“I better go, but we should hang out again some more” you smile looking back up at steve.

“Yeah we’ve got a game next Friday why don’t you come along?” He offers.

“Sounds great, I’ll see you there” you smile before heading off to catch up with Wanda.

“So you and Steve” Nat smirks as the two of you walk from your dorms to the sports field.

“You and Bucky” you counter making her laugh.

“Seriously though, what was he like when he was younger” Nat asks.

“The best really, he was such a small sickly kid but made up for that with his massive heart. Nicest kid in our grade always standing up the bullies even if it meant he got beat up” you tell her smiling as you reminisced.

“You sound really close” she points out.

“Yeah he was my best friend, I was devastated when he had to move away. I’d always ask my parents if we could go to Brooklyn so I could visit” you tell her.

“But you and Bucky, am I gonna see a sock on the door later” you smirk nudging her shoulder.

“No, we’ll go to his instead” she smirks with a playful wink.

The two of you walk up the stands finding Wanda and Pietro. Greeting the both of them and thanking them for saving seats for you.

“How you finding that assignment Professor Harkness gave us” Wanda asks as you sit down.

“Oh god it’s so hard! She’s easily the hardest professor we have, bordering on a witch” you laugh shaking your head.

“Oi no class talk you two! We’re here to watch the game” Pietro say scolding the two of you playfully.

“Please you’re only here to watch the cheerleaders” Wanda scoffs making Pietro shrug his shoulders with a cheeky grin.

“Well Nat’s only here to watch Bucky so you aren’t alone there Pietro” you say smirking over at Nat who sticks her tongue out at you.

“Oh so you’re not here because Steve asked” Nat retorts.

“He’s my best friend from elementary school what do you expect!” You laugh.

Your conversations die out when the teams run out onto the field and everyone starts cheering. You see steve call over the team into a huddle and start talking to all of them before the break and move into position.

“Is Steve the captain?” You ask Nat surprised.

“Yeah the team had this camp thing in summer break and Steve didn’t like how Rumlow was leading the team so called him out” Nat explains.

“Let me guess it lead to fight” you chuckle.

“No, nearly though I don’t think Brock really forgave him though” Nat says point over to a guy in the stands who was glaring over at Steve.

“Looks like a piece of work” you mutter.

“Yeah he’s an arrogant asshole” Nat agrees.

You turned your attention back to the game as it kicked off. The entire game seemed really close and there were a few occasions you winced whenever someone took a large hit. You were glad though that Steve seemed to get almost instantly whenever he got tackled.

As the game neared the end there was little between the teams. The team only needed one more touchdown to score. You watch as Steve calls out the play to the rest of the team. As the ball gets passed to him you could see him look around to see who was free to catch the ball. At the last minute he throws the ball to Bucky who quickly runs and scores. The entire field erupting in cheers

You didn’t see that though because your eyes were fixed on Steve who had taken a nasty tackle. He was still on the floor when the final whistle blew.

You watched with bated breath as he slowly sat up, a grimace on his face. One of his teammates gives him a hand and pulls him back to his feet. He stretched out before going to celebrate the win with the rest of team.

“C’mon lets go down” Nat says grabbing your hand to drag you out of the stands and down to the field.

You laugh as she runs over and hugs Bucky who lifts her up spinning her around. You spot Steve walking off the field with the guy you’d seen at the party with the long blond hair.

Steve smiles when he sees you “I’ll catch you later cap” his friend says before heading off to the rest of the team.

“Hey glad you could come!” Steve smiles walking over to you.

“It was a good game! Are you okay though that was a nasty hit you took” you ask him worriedly.

“Yeah I’m fine I’ve had worse” steve says reassuringly.

“That doesn’t help!” You scold laughing.

“I’m sorry, but look I’m fine I promise” steve smiles putting a hand on your shoulder.

“You swear?” You ask him.

“Cross my heart, you know I’d never lie to you” he smirks putting an arm around your shoulders as the two of you walk over to the rest of the team.

“Cap we’re gonna go celebrate at SHIELD you in?” A guy with dark hair and a goatee asks.

“Sounds good Tony, I’ll be there” Steve smiles.

“What’s SHIELD?” You ask.

“It’s the bar we all go to after training or something, you wanna join?” Steve asks with a warm smile.

“Sounds good, is it cool if I bring a couple friends?” You ask, steve nodding his head in agreement.

“Awesome, well I’ll let you clean up because you stink and I’ll see you at SHIELD” you smile patting him on the shoulder, hearing him laugh as you walk back over to Wanda and Pietro.

“We’re all going to SHIELD and you are joining us” you tell them, Pietro instantly agreeing but Wanda seemed more hesitant.

“It’ll be fun sis, gotta get out there and have fun!” Pietro says nudging Wanda’s shoulder.

“Okay fine” Wanda sighs in resignation but a small smile playing on her lips.

You walk over linking your arm in hers “I know that inside you in an incredibly fun outgoing person, we just need to get her out” you say as the two of you walk off towards the carpark.

She smiles shaking her head at you.

“Trust me, I’ve seen that side of you, others would love to see it too” you tell her making her chuckle.

“How are you so confident?” She laughs.

“Well having Nat as a roommate helps, but also just fake it until you make it” you tell her making her laugh.

“Thanks I’ll try” she chuckles.

You meet up with Nat who was joined by another guy in the carpark.

“This is Bruce, Bruce this is Pietro, Wanda and (Y/N)” she smile introducing him.

“You joining us at SHIELD?” You ask him.

“Yeah, Tony’s making me make more friends” Bruce admits fiddling with his sleeves.

“Well you’ve found a good group to do so” Pietro says making Bruce chuckle and relax a little.

Walking into the bar, it was already pretty crowded. Lots a students all celebrating the winning score.

You did have to wait long for the men of the hour to arrive. Everyone cheering when they walked in, slapping Bucky on the shoulders for scoring the winning touchdown.

Steve’s eyes find yours smiling as soon as he spotted you. Soon walking over once he had a beer in hand. Some of his teammates following him over a sitting down in the large booth with you.

Steve took the time to introduce you to everyone properly, you already knew Bucky. But it was nice to finally put names to everyone like thor, clint and Tony. They were all a rowdy lot, but the good fun kind of rowdy. All of them were clearly close, all cracking jokes.

You catch Steve wincing occasionally whenever he laughed too much. He chest still clearly sore from that tackle. But whenever he saw you look over at him in concern he’d give you a reassuringly smile.

It was starting to get late, Nat had already disappeared with Bucky. Wanda was talking with some guy called Vis. You were starting to feel s bit tired so decided to start heading home.

“I’m gonna head off” you tell Steve as you get up.

“Wait I’ll walk you” Steve says quickly finishing his beer and standing up with you.

“You don’t need to do that” you smile waving him off.

“I know but I wanna” he says with a lopsided grin.

You chuckle shaking your head but don’t protest anymore. Waiting for him as he says goodbye to everyone before jogging back over to you. Holding the door open for you with a warm smile.

As the two of you walk back towards your dorm room the two of you chat. Catching up on everything thing that had happened the years you hadn’t seen each other.

You told him what happened to everyone you went to school with. He told you all the mayhem he and Bucky got up to in Brooklyn. Like how Bucky forced him onto the cyclone, and he was sick afterwards.

When you looked up at Steve you could feel your heart flutter and swell. You couldn’t help but smile. You had to admit Steve had grown up into an amazing guy inside and out. Maybe Nat was onto something because you’d be lying if you said you didn’t like him.

Far too soon the two of you were walking up to your dorm building. The both of you slowing down to prolong the inevitable.

“Thanks for walking me back Steve, you really didn’t have to do that” you say turning to face him.

He shrugs his shoulders pushing his hands into his jacket pockets.

“I know but my ma would kill me if I let you walk home alone” he says making you chuckle.

“How is Sarah?” You ask thinking back to how lovely him mom always was, especially since his dad passed when he was a baby.

“She um- she passed a couple years ago, got sick and didn’t make it” steve says quietly looking down at the floor clearly his throat.

“Oh god Steve I’m so sorry” you say instantly pulling him into a tight hug.

You feel him sigh and relax into the hug burying his neck into the crook of your neck.

“Thank you (Y/N)” he sighs with a small smile when he pulls out of the head.

“It’s nothing, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when it happened but I’m here for you now” you tell him making him smile.

“Thank you, sleep well” he smiles.

“You too, rest up and take it easy don’t make that injury worse” you tell him making him laugh.

“Night (Y/N)” he smiles bending down and pressing a chaste kiss to your cheek.

“Night Steve” you smile giving him a small wave as you step away and head inside.

PLEASE LIKE, FOLLOW, AND REBLOG

Series Masterlist / My Masterlist / Challenge Masterlist (Check out all the other AH-MAZE-ING fics!) 

“Nat c’mon” you sigh shaking your head.

“Seriously you guys are basically undressing each other with your eyes” Nat laughs.

“No we are not, we’re just friends” you tell her.

“Okay, okay but you tell me one thing” Nat says leaning forward and holding up one finger.

“Okay” you agree sitting forward waiting for her question.

“Do you like Steve, and don’t do that bullshit of saying yeah he’s my friend of course i like him, I mean do you like him like him” Nat asks.

You sigh leaning back until you were leaning against the wall. Looking up at the ceiling as you try and decide what your answer was. Because yeah you did like him, but you were scared to admit it out loud.

“Nat” you sigh.

“Nope you have to tell me because if you don’t I’m just gonna assume that you do” Nat interrupts.

“Okay, okay fine! Yes I do like him, you happy now!” You exclaim making her smile victoriously.

“Yes because you two can join me and buck on dates” Nat smiles.

“Whoa let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I doubt he even likes me that way!” You point out.

“Oh please! He’s like a love sick puppy around you” Nat laughs scoffing at the idea.

“No he is not” you laugh shaking your head.

“I thought you were supposed to be good at knowing what’s going on inside people’s heads! How can you not see that he likes you” she exclaims looking over you in disbelief.

“Maybe because he doesn’t like me like that!” You fire back making Nat shake her head at you, crossing her arms and looking over at you in disappointment.

“Look Nat we were best friends as kids and it’s been amazing being able to reconnect with him. I don’t want to risk what I have with him, if that means I never admit my feelings for him then that’s fine” you tell her.

She purses her lips looking over at you sadly “are you sure?” She asks.

“Yeah I am” you tell her.

“Okay fine as long as you’re happy” Nat sighs

You were sat in the library alone doing reading for an essay you had to write. You were struggling to focus though. Every time you lost focus your mind wandered to Steve. You’d feel a smile growing on your face before you shook your head. Forcing yourself to look back at the book and focus.

“Hey, you try any harder it won’t just be your nose stuck in the book” You heard someone say beside you.

Glancing up you see Bucky smirking down at you “oh hey buck, how are you!” You ask leaning back in your seat.

“Good, just procrastinating an essay, you?” He asks sitting down beside you.

“Trying not to procrastinate this essay” you chuckle nodding down to your books.

“Fairs, I’m surprised Steve hasn’t joined you” Bucky points out.

You shrug your shoulders slightly “I told him I’d be here but he said he had plans or something and that he’d might join me later” you told him not noticing how his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Huh, that’s weird he didn’t tell me about his plans” Bucky says pursing him lips in thought.

“Weird, maybe they were last minute” you suggest.

“Yeah probably, he wouldn’t blow you off for nothing god that kid is obsessed with you” Bucky chuckles.

“What? What are you on about” you say looking over at him in confusion.

“Oh please he has the biggest crush on you, head over heels for you” Bucky laughs shaking his head.

“No he is not, we’re friends that’s it” you say waving it off, ignoring that little voice in your head that wanted to believe it.

“God Nat was right you are just as blind as he is” Bucky scoffs, smirking over at you.

“Wait did you come here to ambush me!” You exclaim looking over at him in shock.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t” he smirks crossing his arms over his chest.

“God you guys are terrible” you sigh shaking your head at him, moving to pack up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa hold up” Bucky laughs putting his hand on your stuff to stop you.

“Look, Nat thought you might prefer to hear it from his best mate, but he likes you okay he’s just too nervous to ask” Bucky says giving you a sincere smile.

“He’s still that little kid at the end of the day” Bucky sighs.

You bite your lip in thought, okay maybe he had a point. Didn’t make the prospect of it any less scary.

“You ever think it might be scary for me too” you sigh.

“Maybe but he likes you so what can go wrong, just think about it okay” Bucky says standing back up.

“Fine, I’ll think about it” you sigh making Bucky smile victoriously before leaving you to focus on your essay.

It was a lost cause though because if you were struggling to not think of Steve before your little conversation with Bucky. You has no chance now. Sighing in frustration you packed up your books and headed out of the library.

You were in your own little world as you walked back to your little world. Your mind kept replaying all your memories of Steve. Seeing them in a completely new light. You smile to yourself, Steve liked you. Your mind started to think up all the things you could do together if you were a couple. You realised you didn’t really need to think about it, you were gonna tell steve.

You look up smiling, but your step falters when you see Steve step out of one of the dorm buildings with a girl you recognised. It was Carol, one of the cheerleaders. You stepped behind a tree so you could watch without being seen.

You watched as they chatted, Steve putting his hand on her arm with a warm smile. The smile on his face was so sweet and genuine, one you were pretty sure you’d never seen before. But if you had to guess it was a smile reserved for someone he liked. The final nail in the coffin was when you saw him pull her in for a hug.

You fought back the tears, Bucky and Nat were wrong. Steve clearly didn’t like you, he liked Carol. He only saw you as a friend nothing more. You quickly turned away and walked back to your dorm.

You were grateful that Nat wasn’t in meaning you could collapse on your bed and wallow in self-pity alone. The best thing you could do now was to bury all your feelings and move on. The last thing everyone needed was awkward atmosphere.

Ever since you saw Steve and Carol you avoided hanging out with everyone. You used every excuse you could. Work you needed to do. You felt too tired. You had a headache. You even said you had other plans. You didn’t. You didn’t know many people outside of the group.

You just wanted to get over your feelings towards Steve without anyone else knowing. Nat and Bucky already knew, you didn’t want anyone else to catch on.

You were starting to run out of excuses though. So here you were walking to the football game with Nat. You didn’t speak much as you walked to the game. You kept your eyes to the ground, hands in your jacket pocket. Nodding along occasionally to make it look like you were listening.

“Right, what is up with you” Nat asks abruptly stopping and turning to face you.

“What? What are you on about?” You scoff trying to walk off but Nat grabs your arm stopping you.

“Don’t bullshit me, I know somethings up you’ve been moping around for 2 while weeks!” She tells you sharply.

“I’ve not been moping, I’ve been busy that’s all so much so that its tired me out that’s all” you sighs.

“Well something is definitely up, I know you spoke to Bucky, so I thought you’d be all loved up by now” Nat says as the two of you carry on walking.

“No, me and Steve aren’t a thing, friends nothing more” you tell her shaking your head.

“But he had such a massive crush on you!” Nat laughs.

“Its a crush! A stupid childish crush! He’ll get over it, he’s got plenty of other girls falling at his feet, trust me I know” you state turning back to face her.

“Plenty of girls? What do you mean?” Nat asks furrowing her brows.

“Just drop it okay” you sigh rubbing your head tiredly.

“But (Y/N)-“ Nat starts but you interrupt.

“I said drop it!” You hiss sharply.

Nat looks taken aback at your outburst but doesn’t say anything and the two of us continue walking to the game alone.

Sitting down in your seat you instantly spot Carol with all the other cheerleaders. You tried to not compare yourself to her, but it was impossible. She was incredible, very attractive. It was no surprise Steve liked her. So it was no surprise that when the team ran out Steve gave her a wide smile and wave.

You were glad when the game got underway as it gave you something to focus on. Or at least you thought so, you couldn’t take your eyes off of Steve. You weren’t sure if you were breathing the entire match. The visiting team were incredibly rough, each tackle making the crowd gasp. Tony had already been taken off the field with an injury. Pepper running down to make sure he was okay.

It was another close game, but the team pulled though in overtime. You were planning on heading straight home after the game, but everyone grabbed you pulling you to SHIELD. Saying you needed to let loose.

So here you were sat in the corner of the bar sipping on your beer. Watching as the team celebrated another win. You hadn’t seen much of Steve, he was probably too busy celebrating with everyone being the Captain and everything.

When you spotted him leaning up against the bar, chatting with Carol you couldn’t take it anymore. Downing the rest of your beer you grabbed your bag and made your way out of the bar. As you went you passed Nat who stopped you.

“Hey where you going?” She asks.

“I’m tired, I just wanna go home” you sigh tiredly.

“You want me to take you?” She asks with a sympathetic look.

“No I’m good, you enjoy yourself” you tell her before carrying on out.

You had barely walked down the street when you heard someone shouting for you to wait up. You groan to yourself pretending you hadn’t heard him.

“Hey, I’ve barely seen you recently” Steve smiles jogging to catch up with you.

“Yeah I’ve been pretty busy recently” you sighs running a hand through your hair.

“Fair enough, but look let me walk you home and we can catch up” Steve offers as the two of you continue to walk.

“It’s fine steve, go celebrate with everyone else” you tell him.

He furrows his brows slightly “have I done something wrong? Is that why I haven’t seen you? Are you avoiding me?” Steve asks putting a hand on your shoulder to stop you.

You take a deep and shaky breath trying to control your feelings. Because no he hadn’t done anything wrong, not really. It was you that had the problem.

“No Steve you haven’t, I just wanna- just go back to the bar Steve” you sigh.

“What’s going on (Y/N)?” Steve presses.

“Nothing steve, just go back to the bar I’m sure Carol would love for you to go back” you snap storming off.

“Carol? What has she got- oomph” Steve says his sentence getting cut off.

You turn back to see him doubled over clutching his gut. Before you even knew what was going on you saw Brock punch Steve across the jaw, knocking him down.

“Steve!” You scream moving to run over to him.

As you did a guy who you recognised as  one of the players from the visiting team grabbed you holding you back. You tried to get out of his hold, but you couldn’t. Another player grabbed Steve lifting him up from the ground.

“Hey leave him alone!” You shout struggling against the guy that was holding you.

“I’d stop struggling sweetheart, we only wanna hurt Steve here don’t make us hurt you” Brock smirks over at you before turning back round and punching Steve again.

All you could do was watch in horror as Brock continued to beat Steve up. You begged for him to stop but your pleas fell on deaf ears. You could see Steve trying to break free of the hold the guy had on him, but Brock barely gave him a chance.

Eventually Brock stopped, the guy holding Steve dropping him to the floor. Brock then kicked Steve in the gut before he had the chance to get back up.

“That’s what you get for stealing my team” Brock growls before storming off.

The guy holding you back dropped you and you instantly run over to Steve who was groaning in pain.

“Shit Steve are you okay, god stupid question of course you aren’t okay” you say crouching down beside him helping him sit up.

“I’m fine” he groans shaking his head slightly.

“No you’re not, c’mon let’s get you home and fixed up” you tell him helping him up.

“No I’m fine” Steve says as he stands he stumbles slightly so you catch him.

“No you’re not, stop arguing and c’mon” you say wrapping your arm around his waist putting his arm over your shoulder.

You walk him back to his place, helping him down onto his bed. He sits back with a groan, wincing slightly as he did so.

“Where’s your first aid kit?” You ask starting to look for it.

“(Y/N) you don’t need to-“ he sighs.

“Steve, please just let me help its the least I can do” you plead.

Even though you didn’t control the fact that he’d been beaten up. You still felt guilty, for ignoring him. If you hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have been following you home. He wouldn’t have been beaten up like that.

“Its in that cupboard” he says pointing over to it.

You quickly grab it before moving to sit down beside him. You sigh looking at all the different cuts on his face.

“This might hurt a little” you warn him as you start to clean up his cuts.

Credit to him he barely winced as you cleaned up his face. He looked so defeated as you did so. His gaze downcast. As you wiped away the blood from his nose his sad eyes met yours.

“What did you mean when you said about Carol?” He asks quietly.

His question catches you off guard, pausing slightly before dropping your hand to your lap.

“Nothing, I’m sure she’s great, I’m glad you’re happy” you sigh as you toss away the cloth you were using.

His brows furrow slightly in confusion “we’re not- me and Carol aren’t together or anything, we’re in the same class, I’ve been helping her with some of the assignments” he tells you.

This time you look over at him confused “but I saw you a couple weeks ago, you told me you had plans but then I saw you and her walk out of one of the halls and hug” you say still confused .

“Yeah I was helping her out with an essay she was struggling with, and while we were there she got a text from her girlfriend saying she wanted to break up, I was gonna come join you but got swept up making sure she was okay” Steve explains.

Oh god, you had gotten it all wrong! And instead of just talking to him like a normal human being you completely cut him off!

“Wait is that why you were avoiding me?” Steve asks when he notices the shocked expression on your face.

You took a deep breath closing your eyes in a hope that it would make the next bit easier.

“Yes, look i know we’ve been friends since we were kids and I love the friendship we have so much and I don’t ever want to lose you but I really really like you” you say quickly wanting to get it all out before your brain could catch up and stop you.

When steve didn’t say anything you hesitantly opened your eyes to see him smiling over at you. Before you could question it he took your hand in his and leant over to kiss you.

For a moment you were frozen in shock before you melted into the kiss, you hand hesitantly moving to his cheek. Careful not to hurt him.

“Good, because I really, really like you too” he says when he pulls away.

“Really?” You ask not really believing it.

“Yeah, probably sounds lame but I had a massive crush on you when we were little” steve admits the tips of his ears going red.

“Its not lame at all” you smile kissing him once more.

“I’m sorry for avoiding you, if I had just been honest none of this would have happened” you say gesturing to his injuries.

“Hey don’t do that, I should of had the guts to ask you out sooner, buck has been constantly on my case about it” steve say squeezing your hand making you chuckle slightly since Nat had done the same.

“And you didn’t cause brock to do all this, no one did, except maybe me but either way you don’t need to apologise the only thing that really hurts is my ego” he says with a little smirk at the end.

“Well I bet if he didn’t have the help of those guys you would of taken him down” you say making him smile.

“Yeah I had him on the ropes already” steve chuckles making you laugh.

“You should get some rest, let everything heal” you say packing up the first aid kit.

When you move to put the kit away his hand reaches out grabbing yours to stop you.

“Stay with me?” He asks his voice quiet.

“You need to rest” you sigh secretly wanting to stay.

“It’s fine, please, I want to be with you” he pleads.

“Okay fine” you say a small smile playing at your lips.

Steve smiles back shuffling in his bed so he was lying down pulling back the covers for you. You slide in beside him, it was a tight fit considering his large frame. But he just wrapped his arm around you pulling you close so you were cuddled up against him. You gently rest your head on his chest, and your arm across his abdomen.

“I’m not hurting you am I?” You ask quietly.

“You could never hurt me doll” he smiles before pressing another sweet kiss to your lips.

PLEASE LIKE, FOLLOW, AND REBLOG

Series Masterlist / My Masterlist / Challenge Masterlist (Check out all the other AH-MAZE-ING fics!)

Part 1