#rosecentaur1916

I've never had anyone ask do any of the fun asks with me before! Thank you Ivy! 🥰

I just-

Its funny... the older I get and the more I end up going through therapy the more I find I'm liking characters, that are in canon close to my age. There's only one problem with that... Most of the other people in the fandom... are younger. Which isn't really a a problem. Not at all. Its great! Heck that means the fandom itself is really popular and is reaching a young audience and is a good thing. I just am starting to feel like Wendy when she's made to "grow up" and leave the nursery.

Why keep me hanging? Just tell me you don't want to do things with me anymore... cut me off... give me a clean break so I can heal. Please.

Masterlist Relationships:

Single Mom!Reader Plus Size!Reader x Steven Grant, Single Mom!Reader Plus Size!Reader x Marc Spector, Single Mom!Reader Plus Size!Reader x Jake Lockley Mentioned relationships: James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes x Reader Bucky x Reader

Warnings: SFW for now, but WILL be NSFW later! Soulmate AU

A mix of Soulmate AU Tropes: Initials Marks Radio

Female Reader. Female pregnancy. Single Parenthood. Death/Death like themes (The snap and blip) Greif Body Image Talk Self depreciation. Inaccurate depiction of D.I.D. Mentions of polyamory General Angst Self doubt A bit of canon divergence. This takes place *WAY* after Cairo.

Spoiler alert for.. “Captain America The First Avenger” “Captain America and the Winter Soldier” “Captain America Civil War” “Avengers: Infinity War” “Avengers: End Game” “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” And of course… “Moon Knight” Possible Spoilers For: “Black Widow”

When you were growing up you had always heard the stories about soulmates. How they were found and what would happen the morning of your eighteenth birthday. You didn’t know if you really believed that, that’s how it worked. Your skepticism wasn’t founded at all, and you knew it. You have seen successful soulmates find each other every day. You just weren’t sure it’d work for you. You were overweight, and didn’t think anyone would want someone like you. Let alone three people. You woke up on your eighteenth birthday with 3 sets of initials on your arm, an early 2000’s punk song playing in your head, and a mark down your left cheek. One mark that you had only known of due to looking in the mirror.

You had never heard of a combination of methods for a soulmate to be found, let alone someone having three different sets of initials on their arm. You went to your Mother first thing, alarmed as you told her what was happening. The song in your mind switching to a 70’s singer. The song in your mind had switched up between almost every genre including classical. A majority of the music was in English, but at least a third of it was in Spanish. On top of the Spanish songs, there would be French and Arabic later on. You had no idea who would have such a versatile taste in music, but it was mind bending. 

Your mother was concerned too, but it was lucky that she had met only one person who had something similar happen. She calmed you by telling you about them. They had fallen in love with two people. Those two people’s initials were on their arm. Polyamory being something rare in this world, that’s why she had only heard of one other person with multiple initials down their arm. You nodded mutely knowing that you had three different partners waiting for you out there. You didn’t tell your Mom about the songs, but she did see the mark down your cheek.

“That's from a knuckle being drug down your cheek. Whoever makes that mark is a romantic. Lucky you!” She said. Your heart beat quickly, a romantic type partner was in your future? How in the heck did you get that lucky? There had to be a catch of some kind. You were sure there had to be. Your life was never easy. You shook your head as you returned to your room to get ready for school that morning.  18 years later: It was a few years after the snap and blip. Most of your friends had been snapped away, their partners devastated. The friends that remained some of their soulmate indicators that had been there before the snap had vanished like they had never been there to begin with. They had become upset and depressed. You, on the other hand, still had all three initials, the songs were ever changing, and it seemed the mark on your cheek had gotten darker. You also discovered a mark on your thigh, and your lower back as well. You didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. You had supposed at first when the snap happened that one or two of the sets of initials would have vanished. They didn’t. They stayed put, as though they were tattooed into your skin. Your boyfriend at the time James Barns had up and vanished. You didn’t know what had happened to him, you suspected that he had been one of the victims of the snap. The only trace of him left behind was a little boy, Charles Oliver Barnes, who was born nine months after the snap happened. He had brown hair and bluish gray eyes like his Dad. He looked just like James Bucchanan “Bucky” Barnes. Steve couldn’t apologize enough when they came back from Wakanda. To keep your late boyfriend’s memory alive, you pursued a job at the Smithsonian being the official chronicler of the Avengers. Steve, Natasha and Tony had made sure you had gotten the job. You had known the avengers for years. Soon after you had started moving around the world to work on exhibits you lost contact with them. They were busy and you were busy.

No, Bucky had not been your soul mate. You had given up on the idea. The moment the three different sets of initials showed up on your arm, and your mother explained the idea of polyamory years ago, you decided to reject it. You weren’t capable of polyamory, at least you didn’t think so. You were capable of monogamy. Though you did become a big fan of all of the songs that had floated through your head on a daily basis. You had gotten used to at least a third of the music being solely in Spanish before the French and Arabic songs started. You didn’t know why they were all in Spanish, but some of the most beautiful songs would play across your mind. The ones you recognized were the ones by Selena usually “Dreaming of You,” “I Could Fall in Love” and “Amor Prohibbido” in particular. Yes, a good portion of those are in English, but Salena had released pure Spanish versions of those tracks too. Your job had eventually moved you to London. This was the first time you had worked in London. Period. You had always wanted to visit London, believing it to be a beautiful place, so that when the Smithsonian told you that they were sending you there, you cheered. You were setting up and coordinating displays at all of the museums in London. The National Gallery being the last museum. Their display was so convoluted that you had decided to put them last so you had the most amount of time to deal with them, and them alone. The Smithsonian didn’t care how long you took, just that the job was done.

The most wonderful thing about having to travel for your job was that you ran into all of Bucky’s friends. Including Tony, Natasha and Steve. In spite of losing contact with one another you would enjoy seeing each other. You made sure whenever an Avenger was near you could go and talk to them to get their accounts of what had happened and the time frames for each so you could keep your displays as accurate as possible. As the numbers of Heroes in the Avengers rose, the more people you needed to talk to. You lived across town from the Museum so you always had to take the tube or the bus or a combination of the two. You never knew who you were going to run into or how things would go. You were always in a rush and praying that you didn’t spill your coffee everywhere. This particular morning you had gotten up and headed out early, but thanks to a traffic jam in downtown London you were stuck on the bus. You pushed your headphones into your ear and started blasting one of the songs one of your soulmates had gotten stuck in your head: “Lonely is a man without love.” by Rupert Humperdink. You loved the song so much, and it frequently got stuck in your head after one of your soul mates listened to it. You were enjoying the song just as your bus had finally gotten to your stop. You exited the bus singing the song under your breath as you walked in. You briskly walked towards the national gallery. You thanked god you had no boss or you would have gotten reamed for being so late. You walked through the gift shop from the Egyptian wing of the museum when you heard a shrill voice rend the air.

“Stevie! You’re late again! This is the third time this week.” A blonde woman shouted at a  sweet looking brunette man with slumped shoulders. She stopped and took a deep breath. “You know what?!” A frustrated groan sounded through the air “You’re on inventory again tonight!” She shouted. You watched the blonde woman stomp away. 

You shook your head, that was a lot of commotion for the first thing in the morning. The man looked up and saw you a flush tinting his cheeks, tops of his ears and down his neck. You gave him a sweet smile, a wave and moved on. You didn’t want to bother him and pressed play on your music again.

“They’re listening to it again.” A tenor voice sounded behind you. You froze, and paused your music. “Oh, they must have gotten to work, this is about the time their music stops…” He says. You looked down at your watch and realized that yes, this was about the time you arrived at work. “I can’t believe they like that song so much, I’ve only played it a few times…” He says. Your stomach drops, and you press play again. “What? Again?” He wondered. You pressed pause. “What in the bloody hell are they playing at?!” He is amused and continues his work. Your mouth dries, this is one of your soul mates… holy shit… you hit the play button on your phone again, and sing along as you walk into the gift shop.  “Every day I wake up, then I start to break up, lonely is a man without love.” You sing. The man stills and whips around. Your heart beats.

“How do you know that song? How did you know that’s what I was talking about?” He asks in alarm. You just stare at him for a moment, swallowing dryly. He was handsome in spite of the messy curls that were parted to the side. You couldn’t help but breathe hard looking at him. This is the moment. The moment you thought would never happen. You mustered up your courage and walked up to the counter, a determination set in your eyes.

“Would your initials happen to be one of these three?” You ask and roll up the sleeve of your jumper.

He looks at your arm, and on it are three sets of initials, that he instantly recognizes. S.G. – his, M.S. – Marc, and J.L. – Jake. He looks up at you, his heartbeat quickens.

“You’re the one that keeps playing that bloody song! I only played it a few times!” He laughed.

“Y-Yeah, I took a liking to it. I like the other songs too, but this one, “Land of Confusion” and “Dos Oruiguitas” are all my favorites from my soul mates. I’m glad I found out who this one belongs to.” You smile.

“Steven, Steven Grant!” He says and throws out his hand.

“Y/F/N, Y/F/N Y/L/N! It's lovely to meet you Steven.” You say a warmth radiating from your eyes. Then you see his posture shift, his eyes get harder, the sweet look in his eyes evaporates, and the lovely smile sets into a reluctant smirk.

“Marc Spector.” Says the man in front of you. Your head whips down to look at your arm…. I guess I know who SG and MS are… What about JL?

“Lovely to Meet you Marc.” You said and shook his hand too. Then his posture shifts again, this time a hard and shy look in his eyes.

“Hola, Jake Lockley.” He says holding out his hand. Ah, JL… Jake Lockley…. Okay… wow… three men in one.

“Hola, Jake. It's lovely to meet you.” He shakes your hand once quickly before his posture shrinks again, his eyes soften and get that moony look to them again – it's Steven.

“Yeah, sorry about that, the boys were so eager to meet you they pushed to the front. You’ve adopted our songs, and they appreciate that, though they wouldn’t admit it.” He chuckled and looked up at you again, drinking in your e/c eyes.

“They-they were? They-they do?” You said in shock.

“Y-Yeah… um… just so we don’t lose each other…” He pauses and flushes deeply, “C-Could we have your number?” He asked

“Yes! Of course!” You say enthusiastically. He smiles and pulls out his phone and you pull out yours. You push the button and wake up your screen. There is a picture of you and your son, smiling on the lock screen.

“Oh, who is that?” Asks Steven.

“My son, he’s my world.” You say your eyes take on the fondness of a mother.

“You’re a mother?” He asked, it seemed like a silly question to anyone else, but to you, it was the one thing that you had hoped wouldn’t be a big deal. If they were meant to be your soul mates, unlike James Barnes, then they shouldn’t mind right? They shouldn’t care? You sighed.

“If you don’t want to get involved with me, any of you because I’m a single Mom… I don’t blame you.” A tear streaked down your cheek. It broke your heart to think that they might not want to be with you, because of your son.

“No, no… it's not that… we’re just surprised is all.” Steven says, trying to comfort you. “Oh, Love…” He places his phone on the counter and pulls you into a tight hug. You break down more. His kind words, soothing you and making you ache all at once. Those are his words, but it doesn’t mean the other two feel the same way. You bury your head into his shoulder.

“Oh Love… we might be apprehensive to meet your boy at first, Lord knows Marc is terrified, but he’ll get over it. We’ve all loved you for eighteen years, yeah? We’re not going to reject you just because you’ve had a child. That would be stupid, and cruel.” He hugged you tightly.

“R-Really?” You sniffed looking up at him, your eyes all glassy.

“Really. I promise… that does explain all of the music about kids and newborns and sons about six or seven years ago, eh?” He chuckles.

“Yeah, sorry about that…” You apologized awkwardly.

“No! Don’t apologize you were a new mother loving her son!” He chuckled.

“STEVIE! STOP HUGGIN’ ON THE CUSTOMERS!” The shrill voice of Donna sounded through the gift shop.

You turned right around and glared at the woman. She was bullying your soul mate. You would not stand for it. This was the shouting you heard every morning. The same annoying voice that would echo through the museum at the ungodly hour that you had to arrive there.

“Excuse me, I am NOT a customer. I am the curator for the Avengers exhibit. I am this man's girlfriend. His name is STEVEN. S-T-E-V-E-N! Not Stevie, not Scotty, Steven. Steven with a v! For heaven's sake Donna he is a person. Albeit a late person, I get your frustration, but to be that horrible, mean, condescending, and just an out right bully to a man who is doing his best to please you – you’ve got some nerve.”

Behind you Steven blushes and is quite flustered that you would stand up for him like that. He’s never had anyone do it before. His jaw drops to the floor behind you as Donna’s had in front of you. Your eyes were cold as you regarded the big mouthed blonde.

“I hear you getting after him every morning that I come in. If it's not for him sharing his passion for the relics we keep here, it's for him being late. Yes, I have been here for six months and for six months damn near every day I hear you get after him. Even if we hadn’t started dating I would have gotten after you.”

Donna now looked like a catfish struggling to breathe outside water as she tried to find the words to fight back. Steven looked quite the same behind you. Both of them were shocked that you’d do such a thing. Both of them had similar thoughts that Steven was the last person who deserved your kind words. You wanted to turn around and kiss him to illustrate your point even further, but decided against it. You think you did enough at that point, so instead, you turned back to Steven.

“See you later?” You asked, taking his hand in yours.

“Y-Yeah, see you later, Love.” He said after he had pulled himself out of his daze his right hand came up and dragged his knuckle down your face, right where your mark was. Your heart started to jack hammer in your chest. That touch… even though you’ve had that mark on your face the entire time, he couldn’t have known it was from him dragging his knuckle down your face. You hadn’t known when it first showed up. 

“Have a great day at work, Honey.” You said and squeezed his left hand, then you turned back to Donna.

“You know the curators have more authority. The next time I see you or your security guard harassing or misnaming Steven, I will not hesitate to take it to HR. If you’re going to abuse your power, you do not deserve your position.” You finished giving her a hard look. If looks could kill yours would be murder.

You walked away popping your headphones in your ears and turning on another song one more to soothe Steven “This is Love” from Cinderella. You were a romantic and the soft song would be the perfect mix of romance and calm. You may have imagined it, but you thought you heard Steven sigh behind you as your feet padded across the floor to go up to the offices and eventually the Avengers Exhibit.

Later that day, at lunch time, you went down to the gift shop. Steven was still there as usual, scanning items, shelving products and facing the shelves. You smiled as you watched him. He didn’t know you were there, and so he was muttering to himself as he faced some small figurines of what were supposed to look like Egyptian Ubshabtis.

“What? No… she’s our soul mate, right? She was just tryin’ to help.” He pauses… “No Marc! She had our best interests in mind…” he paused again “...yes… no…. Wait… I never said that… Jake has a point… she was being protective. I’m surprised that Jake hasn’t fronted to tell Donna off before.”

They were talking about you. It made your face heat up a bit. They were arguing over what you had done that morning. To Marc you must have overstepped your bounds. You couldn’t help the painful sick feeling of guilt that swilled in your stomach as you realized what you had done that morning. The man could have stuck up for himself, and you didn’t give him that chance. You had to step in and say something as always. Shoot off your mouth before you could think. Shit… he was right, maybe you had overstepped a boundary. You quietly groaned to yourself before your name grabbed your attention.

“Y/N was just trying to help! Marc stop it. She had our – well my best interest in mind when she did that. She obviously has a big heart, and wants to help someone she cares for…. Yes… bloody hell… Marc! Stop it. Yes she cares. Yes I know we just met… Jake! For Christ Sake! The lot of you need to calm down and listen…” 

Your heart sank, as your hearing seemed to deafen. You became lost and trapped in your own thoughts… Marc and Jake didn’t trust you yet. They didn’t trust that you did, in fact, have their best interest in heart. What was the saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions?” Yeah… it seems this was another paver to put in place on the way to hell.

You really couldn’t blame them – it's not like you didn’t just meet in person for the first time. Yes they may have “known” you for 18 years, but that doesn’t mean they know you. All they’ve known are the songs they hear from your end of the connection at the very least. They haven’t had the time to get to know you completely or you them. There was still a lot about them you didn’t know, and visa versa. You were completely lost in your thoughts, so when you heard Steven gently call your name you jumped through the roof.

“Oh, Love! I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He said his large brown eyes, impossibly more large.

“It's okay.” You breathed and clutched at your chest. “I-I was just lost in thought, that’s all.”

“I see..” Steven said, he still looked worried.

“Yeah, it's okay. I was just preoccupied with a few issues with the Avengers exhibit, and then my kid’s school called… “ You stop and sigh.. “He’s not adjusting well… he’s like his Dad, loyal and will defend the little guy to a fault, so he got in a fist fight at school. The Headmaster called.” You sigh, realizing after you said it that your kid didn’t only get that from Bucky, but he got it from you too.

“Sounds a lot like his Mum too actually…” Steven said with an amused grin on his face, echoing your thoughts.

“Yeah, I guess so… I’m sorry if I overstepped this morning… I–” You cut off, the emotion growing in your chest again. “I just wanted to help. Donna has been getting after you every single morning for the last six months unless you're off. I couldn’t take it anymore. Even if we weren’t soul mates I would have said something. I should have said something sooner.” Steven’s cheeks, ears, and neck all dusted with a flush.

“Th-that’s alright… I appreciate it, Love. I really do.” He smiled. He looked so cute with the flush coloring his tan skin.

“Yeah? I… uh…” How were you going to tell him you heard him discussing that very thing with his alters? You had no idea… but you wanted to confess your eavesdropping. “...I uh, heard your discussion with Marc and Jake…” You felt the swoop of guilt again as you looked at him. 

“Yeah? Oh love, they're just being cautious. They’ve had our entire lives – especially Jake. He’s our protector. It's not you, it’s how they’ve learned to help us survive.” He reassured you with a smile and a squeeze to your shoulder.

“Oh, I see… I thought they just didn’t trust me in general. I mean – I did come out of nowhere, with barely any motivation other than a mark on my cheek and initials on my arm… so I don’t blame them. Even though I’m your soul mate I could still be dangerous I suppose.” You worried at your lip.

“Oh Dearie, it’ll be okay. Its just going to take them time to get to know you.” He smiles.

“I guess so…” You take a deep breath and look up at him, “I came down here to ask you to lunch.” You smiled.

“Oh! Well, that would be lovely, let me talk to Donna to see if I can go on lunch break, yeah?” He nods.

“Yeah! I’ll wait here… maybe I’ll play with this Taweret plush!” You giggle. He gives you a big goofy smile back, and flushes when you return it.

“Yeah, okay… alright…. I’ll be right back, Love.” He says and heads to the storage room.

While he’s gone your insecurities started gnawing at you again. He’s so sweet, and trusting. Why wouldn’t his alter’s be suspicious of your motivations? You could easily take advantage of him if you wanted to. You’d never do that, but they don’t know that. You sigh and shake your head and give the plushie a squeeze.

You looked at your reflection in the case that held the big sarcophagus. Why in the hell would they be interested in you to begin with? You’re not exactly a supermodel. You had the body of a Mom, glasses perched on your nose, and were round in the middle. You shuddered at the thought of them seeing you naked. You know that they’re your soul mates, but that didn’t mean they had to be physically attracted to you.

Yeah sure, you had dated the former Winter Soldier, but that didn’t mean anything. Bucky had a low self worth in spite of how gorgeous he was. He still beat himself up for killing so many people while he was under mind control from the Soviets and Hydra. You had told him so many times it was like he was a different person. That it didn’t count, because he wasn’t Bucky. He wasn’t your Bucky. He was someone completely different. You swore it was that feeling, that lack of self worth that kept him with you. As far as you were concerned he dated you out of a mix of pity and self loathing.

When you had found out you were pregnant with Charles – your Charlie, you had cried tears of hysterical joy. You were happy that you had at least a piece that had remained. That Bucky lived on in his kid. You knew that most people who had been snapped away came back, but Steve had never told you how Bucky died – he just said he was gone. As far as you knew he was dead. Charles was all you had left. You felt lucky that you had Bucky to begin with so it was a narrow margin in your mind that you would have been able to keep a piece of him.

You looked at your reflection. Lost in a session of deep self loathing as you clutched on to the plushie you didn’t even hear Steven walk up behind you. You had nearly started to cry when you heard his soft voice behind you. You nearly jumped out of your skin as you heard his voice.

“I’m sorry, Love… I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He apologized looking contrite.

“Oh, Steven, no! I’m okay, I was just lost deep in thought.” You explained as you dropped your arm down holding onto the Taweret plush by her arm, and wiping your eyes with your other hand.

“Oh, Love! Why are you crying?” His eyes grew large and encircled you in his arms. You buried your head into the crook of his neck.

“Lots of things on my mind, don’t worry…” You sniffle, “...Let's go to lunch, huh?” You suggest trying to change the subject, and putting the Taweret plush down.

“Yeah, alright, Love. Lead the way.” He agreed, and took your hand. You smiled up at him.

The two of you exited the building to have lunch. That was when Steven revealed that he was vegan. You were very happy to hear that as you, yourself had started to eat a diet that was closer to a vegan diet than a meat eaters diet. It was funny, but after Bucky and how much he had loaded up on proteins to keep the lean muscle on his body, and be able to use his mechanical arm, you had shifted to a mostly vegan diet. It wasn’t because you didn’t like the mostly meat based diet; it had just taken a toll on your body. Bucky would have understood. 

“We didn’t get each other’s phone numbers before, huh?” You said sitting down at the table in a mostly vegan cafe a block from the museum. 

“No we didn’t, lemme get out my phone…” He says as he starts fishing into his pocket. You pull yours out of your purse. While he’s making sure his phone is right side up in his hand you open up your phone’s lock screen and pull up the contacts app, opening a new contact. 

“I’m ready when you are.” you smile.

“Give me half a tick here and…” He swipes up his screen and opens up his contact app. “There!” He smiles back. He hands you his phone and you hand him yours.

You type in your name, number, address and email address on his, and even take a picture for his caller ID. He fills out three different contacts for himself and his alters. He takes a picture for his photo ID, but the other two don’t come out for theirs. 

“Just set different emojis or something for theirs until they come around, or photos.” He smiles.

“What do they like?” you ask, taking your phone back and handing his back to him.

“Jake likes cars, his favorite is a 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner, and Marc likes the Chicago Bears.” He recites.

“Perfect! I’ll set their photos to things they like. Jake’s to the Roadrunner and Marc’s to the logo for the Chicago Bears.” I smile. 

“That sounds perfect, Love.” Steven smiled, he paused for a moment like he’s thinking over what he’s going to say next. “Love, how about you tell us about your boy?” He eventually asked.

“You wanna hear about him?” You smiled.

“Yeah, of course! You can tell us the whole backstory if you want, how he came to be and all that.” He encouraged you.

“Well I dunno if you’ll wanna hear about his Dad… his Dad… is dead, and one of the best men I’ve ever known.” You get a bit sad. You haven’t talked about Bucky in a long time. 

“Since he’s a part of the picture that makes up your boy, we’ll listen. Since he’s dead we don’t have much to get jealous about.” He chuckles trying to make an awkward joke. 

“Well…” You take a deep breath trying to delay the inevitable. “...He was an Avenger.” You wait for him to drop his fork, or spit out his drink or whatever, but as you look up, Steven looks calm.

“An Avenger? What’s that?” He asks. 

You’re shocked, it throws you for a loop. He doesn’t know who the Avengers are? Earth’s mightiest heroes? He doesn’t know about Steve, Sam, Clint, Natasha, Bucky, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Scott, Wanda or Vision? You look at him like he has three heads.

“Steven, have you been living under a rock?” You ask in shock.

“No, Darling, in a flat in downtown London.” He answers. You can help but giggle.

“Okay, fine… the Avengers are a group of super powered or highly skilled individuals brought together by Agent Nicolas Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. One of them was my ex boyfriend. His name is James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes. He was also known as the former Winter Soldier from the Soviets, which also happened to be Hydra in disguise.” You explained. 

Steven looked at you like you had two heads. Meanwhile Marc and Jake are hissing in his ear about Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. The Winter Soldier, and the Avengers Initiative that you’re talking about. It seemed that from their military days, they learned about S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra and whispers at the very least about the Avengers Initiative. The Winter Soldier had been brought up during Marc and Jake’s time in Afghanistan. They had never had to go up against the frozen, mindless soldier, but they were all a buzz with rumor. There had been major gossip around the barracks during basic, and beyond. Steven wanted them to shut up, but couldn’t tell them aloud.

“C-Could you give us a minute, Love?” He asked you in a hurry. You nodded quickly, matching his vibe. “Thanks, Love… just give us a minute.” He said, hopped up and rushed to the bathroom.

Shit! You thought to yourself… you scared away another one by talking about Bucky. You had no idea what to do now. If they had left, and left you behind with the bill you were fine. You had taken care of bills for half eaten food by your dates before. This would be nothing out of the ordinary. You had resigned yourself to that fact when your boyfriends came back and took a seat at the table.

“Sorry, Love. We needed to come to an agreement over whether they can hiss in my ear, while I’m on a date.” He chuckled then froze. It was your turn to chuckle.

“Yes, Steven this is a date, you didn’t misspeak.” You assured him, seeing the gears start to turn in his head as he began to overthink. He visibly relaxed.

“Thank you, Love. Now… we have a few questions… not only about the Avengers, but about your ex – Bucky was it?”

“Y-Yes… what would you like to know?” You asked tentatively.

“W-Well, how do you know he’s not dead, and not just a victim of the snap and blip?” He asked.

“For someone who didn’t know about the Avengers you know about the snap and blip?” You asked puzzled.

“Marc had heard about it on his travels.” Steven explained.

“Ah, well… Steve – Captain Rogers, or Captain America… he came back home from Wakanda… he and Bucky – well, we had been on the run… Steve and Bucky were evading Capture by S.H.I.E.L.D. I told him I’d go with. Well, soon before Bucky had gone to Wakanda so the Wakandans could help rid him of his “programing” from Hydra… Steve had promised me he’d come home safe. I believed him. I mean, their job was just as dangerous as it was important. They had only gone out there a couple of years before Thanos had done what he did. Bucky would send me regular updates, and we would have regular visits. He always came to me. I wasn't allowed to know where Wakanda was. A week or so later after his last visit Thanos came…” You pause a haunted look taking over your features.

“You wanna know what the best and worst thing about dating an Avenger is?” You asked.

“What is it, Love?” Steven asked, his attention rapt.

“The News.” You nod and grimace all at the same time. “No the reporters couldn’t get all the way inside Wakanda, but they covered as much of it, and whatever other shenanigans happened outside of Wakanda all over the news.” You say with a shaky breath. “I didn’t see Bucky and didn’t hear the news directly about Bucky until Steve and Natasha officially came home to Washington D.C.” 

“Bucky had convinced me to move back to the states from our safehouse in Romania when Steve and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents had found us. Natasha had originally accompanied me home, citing the Sokovia Accords as to why. We became fast friends after that. She always let me know what was happening after she had switched sides. Even when they were on the run. She and Bucky had wanted to come and get me, but Steve said it was too dangerous, so I didn’t see hide nor hair of Bucky until he settled in Wakanda.”

You pause for a bit. Taking a drink and settling into your thoughts. You don’t catch as Steven seems to do the same thing. Though there’s a slight shift in posture and then a shift back. Almost like one of the others was fronting to check on you. Like he had to make sure you were okay himself. You smile to yourself as you feel loved by your boyfriends.

“So, what happened after that, Love? How does your boy come into this?” Steven asks curiously.

“Well, remember how I had said that Bucky had come for a visit a week before Thanos arrived in Wakanda and the mess that preceded him?” You asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“We had made love on that particular visit. That’s how Charlie was made.” You smiled.

“Ah, I see.” Steven flushes.

“Yeah… Steve and Natasha had come back from Wakanda a mess… I remember seeing the quinn jet land… my eyes had brightened. I was hoping to see Bucky again… then it was just Steve and Natasha… I remember my heart shattering into a million pieces when Steve told me he was gone. Just gone – he never said dead, but usually when someone tells you ‘they're gone’ that's what that means.” Your heart breaks all over again, and tears start to slide down your face.

“Oh, Love! I’m so sorry! You must have cared for him a lot.” Steven said as he reached out for your hand and gave it a supportive squeeze.

“I did.” You sniffed.

“You can tell, Love.”

“Yeah,” you sniffed, “Bucky meant a lot to me, at that time he was my world outside of the songs drifting through my head.” You let out a wet chuckle, and Steven chuckles with you. “A month after the snap I found out I was pregnant with Charlie.”

“Yeah? How did that make you feel?” 

“Happy at first, I had managed to keep a hold of a piece of him. A part of Bucky was always gonna live on in his kid, and THEN!” You pause getting your bearings, “Then I became scared. I was going to be a single Mom of the kid of a super soldier?! My mind was blown.”

“That had to be jarring, is he different from other children?”

“No not really, in the most conventional sense. He’s a normal kid. No superpowers – at least yet anyway - I hear if they’re naturally born they manifest in the teen years, so I have a few years before I have to worry about that.” You take a sip of your drink.

“So, you said Charlie is a lot like his Dad?” Steven prompts.

“Yeah, so not only does he look like his Dad, brunette hair, blue eyes, and things like that, but like Bucky he had a tendency to make friends with and stand up for the little guy. I don’t know how much you know about Steve Rogers, but Steve used to be a little guy. Steve Rogers wasn’t born with the tall stature, and big muscles. Though he was born with baby blue eyes, blonde hair, and was sickly. It was the super soldier serum that Doctor Erskine made that made him tall, muscular, and gave him a clean bill of health.” 

“Bucky told me that back when they were kids up until he was drafted to serve during World War II he and Steve were inseparable except by girls. When he’d say that, Steve would usually roll his eyes!” You giggled, “Otherwise, from a young age Bucky was by his side defending him from bullies and such when Steve wasn’t trying to defend himself and getting beaten to a pulp. Steve is proud of his behavior. He always told me “I just didn’t like bullies, Y/N/N, I wasn’t going to let them get away with it.” I always told him that he should have let them be jerks and ignored them. Bucky always agreed, but told me he’d never leave his best bud hanging. Charlie is just like that, that’s why I got the call from the school earlier.” 

There is a lull in the conversation while you get a drink and Steven thinks over what you just told him. That was a lot of story for just lunch time, and you hadn’t even gotten to how your kid was like Bucky in the soft ways yet. 

“There are other ways he’s like Bucky, not in just the hard, heroic way either. He’s a lover just like Bucky was… Bucky, when not on the battlefield, was a gentle soul. He preferred the gentle things in life. A quiet stream, soft pillows, gentle cuddles. Yeah, sure, he could be tough and burly, but he also could be sweet and sensitive. He liked to sketch, and write. Charlie has seemed to take up Bucky’s love for drawing. Then of course he’s a cuddler! Both his parents are cuddlers.” You chuckle, making Steven smile.

“He sounds like an extraordinary kid, Love. We can’t wa-I can’t wait to meet him. The other’s are telling me I shouldn’t speak for them.” He flushes, and you chuckle.

“That’s okay – you won’t be meeting him for a while. No offense, but even though we’re soulmates I still have to make sure I safeguard both me and Charlie.”

“None taken, Love. We know you have to protect him. Jake understands that most of all. He’s our protector after all.” He says with an understanding smile on his face.

“Thank you, Steven.” A fond look on your face, which immediately changed to one of annoyance as your phone’s alarm sounded. “Shit!” You say looking at it, “We’re due back from our breaks!” Both of you made a cringy “yikes!” like face, packed up and dashed back to the museum.

When you arrive you say your goodbyes, but just as you're about to part ways, Steven does something unexpected. After he gives you a firm hug he gives you a peck on the cheek. He doesn’t even seem to think about it as he goes back to the gift shop. You on the other hand stand there like a love sick puppy watching him go back to work. Thoughts of He kissed me drifting through your head as you make your way back to your office.