#dateless

“I—no. We just click. He’s like my work husband. “Though I don’t have a husband outside of work,” you sighed and shook your head. It was always the same story. People ask you if you and Bucky are dating, and you must tell them the truth. “I wouldn’t mind dating Bucky, but he never asked me out.”

“What?” The other women gasped, looking at you in disbelief. “But…you are always so close. He’s joking and laughing with you. Barnes is mostly reserved, but with you, he’s relaxed and nice.”

“I know,” you admitted. “It’s just…” You don’t know how to explain to your colleagues that you waited for Bucky to make a move for almost as long as you have known him. Over time, you gave up and settled for friendship instead of a relationship. “I think we would be a great couple.”

“RIGHT!” They all agreed, cheering you on. Some even told you to make a move on him instead of waiting any longer.

Unbeknownst to you and the women, Bucky heard every word. His features darkened for a moment before he walked off.

“Movie night, sleepover, and margaritas?” You tugged at Bucky’s sleeve. He was sipping his coffee outside the building, lost in thought. “Come on, Barnes. It’s Friday, and the world is wide open for us.”

“Uh—maybe,” Bucky cleared his throat as he watched your colleagues leave the building, “you should stop touching me around our colleagues. People will get the wrong idea and think we are dating.”

“Oh,” your eyes widened in surprise. Bucky never seemed to mind when you touched and got close to him. “Yeah… and we don’t want that, right?”

“Right.” He nodded, confirming your worst fear. Bucky didn’t want to date you. You felt like a fool asking him to spend his Friday night with you, only for him to turn you down.

“Okay. Maybe I should go now.” You awkwardly glanced at Bucky, waiting for him to tell you he didn’t mean what he said. “Have a good weekend. See you on Monday, James.”

Bucky watched you walk off. He frowned deeply, wondering if telling you not to touch him all the time had hurt your feelings.

“…and then he said", You choked on tears while talking to the stuffed bear Bucky won for you at a fair a few months ago. "I should stop touching him in public as if I’m some freak or an obsessed stalker.’”

The bear sat opposite you, staring at you with its black eyes. “I don’t know what has gotten into him, Bucky Bear. He was always so nice, and we had so much fun. I believed there was something more between the two of us going on.”

You sighed deeply and wiped a stray tear off your cheek. “I guess we were wrong all this time. Bucky just isn’t into me. I should act like a good colleague from now on and leave him alone.”

“Y/N, good morning,” Bucky huffed when you walked right past him. It seemed that you purposely ignored him. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

“Good morning, James. Sorry, but I must go. I have a meeting in a minute.” You lied, but it didn’t matter. From now on, you’ll fulfill his wish and stay away from Bucky. It’d only confuse people, watching you cling to a man you couldn’t have.

“Wait—uh. Are you alright?” He asked, looking at you with those baby blue eyes that used to melt every resistance you built over the years to not get your heart broken.

“Sure.” You quipped. “Everything is fine.” You hissed the last word before walking off.

“Fine?” Bucky tugged at his tie. “Okay…good…that’s good…” He glanced at your colleagues, who looked like they were in shock.

“Man, you fucked up big time…huh?” One spoke his mind.

“What are you talking about, punk?” Bucky asked, glaring at the man. “Got something to say?”

“If a woman tells you she’s fine, or something is fine, you should run, buddy,” the man laughed at Bucky. “Run like the damn house is on fire. You should know the rules. If a woman tells you she’s fine, it’s quite the opposite.”

Bucky squared his jaw as he watched you disappear down the hall. “You don’t know Y/N at all. If she says she’s fine, she’s fine…” He felt a knot in his stomach, something he hadn’t expected.

Bucky replayed your last conversation in his head. You left him in a hurry and called him James. You never called him James before. It’s always Bucky, or Bucky Bear.

You kept yourself busy with emails and spreadsheets, avoiding to run into Bucky at all costs. You’d become an expert at pretending that things were fine, but every time you thought about your last conversation, you wanted to tear up.

In his office, Bucky stared at his monitor. “I should talk to her,” he muttered, frustrated. “I never wanted to hurt her. It’s just…”

After work, you hurriedly left your office to avoid running into Bucky once again. If only you could stay away from him for a while, you’d be able to lick your wounds and get over your stupid crush on your colleague.

He didn’t let you go so easily. Bucky leaned against the lobby wall, pushing off it the moment he saw you. “Hey, Y/N,” he said, voice softer than usual.

“James, hi,” you replied, stopping a little further away from him, not getting any closer. “I wanted to head out. Do you need anything?”

He stepped closer, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

You nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Bucky saw right through your fake smile. His shoulders slumped as he stepped even closer. “Y/N, I didn’t want to hurt you. I just—I didn’t know how to… I’m not good at ...”

You searched his face, confused about his mood change. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“I heard them talk to you about…us.” He admitted it, looking anywhere but at you. “You’re my friend… maybe my best friend. I… I never had a female friend…well…I have my cat, but that’s a different thing.”

You nodded, unable to speak.

“You see… I didn’t want to fuck things up between us by…” Bucky looked conflicted. “We are friends, and we are good together. If I asked you for more…”

“More?” You questioned.

“If I asked you out,” he finally said. “You’d turn me down, and I didn’t want our friendship to end. I wanted things to stay the way they were to not lose my friend.”

“Ask me out.” You repeated his words, your heart fluttering. “Oh…” You thought all the time that he made your heart race whenever he was close to you. “Why didn’t you ask me out?”

“I tried, but…chickened out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Would you… I mean…could you imagine going on a date with me? Be honest.”

“Yeah… I mean…why not?”

Bucky wanted to turn to leave. He stopped in his tracks, blinking a few times. “Wait? What did you say?”

“I said yes… I think.”

“Oh…okay.” Bucky turned around. He swallowed thickly as you stood in the middle of the lobby, staring at each other for a moment.

“So…movie night and snacks?” You asked, nervously tugging at the seam of your jacket. “You’ll pay for the snacks…of course.”

“Of course,” he chuckled, his arm wrapping around your shoulders. “Will Bucky Bear be there, too? I think it’s time for a serious talk. He can’t sleep in my woman’s bed from now on…”

Regina didn’t speak but the stare she threw at her was enough of a warning to have Mary Margaret scurrying down, cheeks aflame. Behind her, she could see Regina’s voice calling for Ava’s attention as the girl’s voice seemed to ask for something, the tautness on her voice obvious on the way it floated through the no empty corridors.

“She said no.”

The quickly typed message was quickly answered with another from another particular brunette with a very distinctive red streak.

“Really? I wouldn’t have known.”

Mary Margaret didn’t see the dripping irony but she certainly felt her own sadness at the impossibility of pairing Emma with Killian. It was, she thought while sighing dreamily, opening the door of her own classroom and coughing loudly to her rambunctious students, a match made in heaven.

A heaven Regina certainly didn’t believe in at the end of her morning, one riot from her students later and her own promise to them that she was going to be in the trip. No matter the rumors Mary Margaret’s intentions had already started.

Pinching the bridge of her nose and looking through the windows of her class to the patio, she clenched her jaw once again at the thought of Emma being subjected to Kilian’s never-ending attempts to be charming. Face darkening out of anger, she checked her clock, glad to see she still had several minutes of recess.

A thought that got interrupted by none other than Emma sauntering on her class with a cheeky smile tugging her lips.

The blonde approached her by the window and stared outside with her before coughing dramatically. Her fingers were stained with dried ink and the detail made Regina smile inwardly as she also sighed, knowing fully well what was about to transpire. Something she had hoped that wouldn’t happen until that night.

“I’ve been told that I’m going with you to the trip.”

The sentence didn’t hold Emma’s smirk and Regina shot the younger woman a warning look that didn’t truly get hold on Emma as the blonde stared at her, smugness obvious on the way she kept snickering. Regina, not wanting to enter into the game, merely growled.

“Apparently you scared Mary Margaret to death. I heard Grace asking Ava what happened while coming here. Did you know they are making bets?”

That certainly give Regina a pause as she glanced at Emma feeling slightly embarrassed by the way she had behaved with Mary Margaret hours before. From the two it was usually Emma the one who first lost her bearings but Killian’s mention had certainly brought the worse on the brunette. Something Emma obviously saw in the way she kept her posture open and relaxed even if she still kept on smirking at her, obviously quite happy with herself.

Clearing her throat, Regina let her arms fall at both sides of her frame, sighing briefly before speaking for the first time since the beginning of the recess.

“About us?”

Emma hummed before covering her mouth with her left hand, a chuckle making her tremble before she run a hand through her tresses, eyes still trained at the other side of the windows. Something that told Regina that the younger woman was far more worried that she truly let her know; despite everything both of them made a point of trying to not to be seen far too much together during school hours. Emma’s presence was telling enough and for that Regina let her own reserves drop for a moment, quickly caressing the blonde’s back with one swirling motion before letting her hand drop again.

“They seemed pretty keen on us being together.”

That had the two of them chuckling. It had been at first a running joke between them; how long would it be before someone noticed. Apparently, they already had their answer.

“Ruby also asked me.” Emma added as their chuckles died out, an easy smile making her entire face glow even under the somewhat grey light of Maine’s midmorning sun. “Not about us being together but it was obvious… what she thought. Did you really told Mary Margaret to back off?”

The sudden question threw Regina off balance just in time for the bell to ring the end of recess, the voices of students quickly filling the corridors at the other side of the door one again. Biting her bottom lip in one quick motion Regina rose her chin and muttered a quick “And what if I did?” That got Emma snickering before she stole a small peck from her. The kiss quick enough that by the time Emma was already moving away the door of the classroom opened to let the two women see Ava Zimmer staring at them with one giant grin.

“I knew it!”