#sss2016

“Everything you’ll need is in the bag and just call if you have a question. Thanks again for doing this,” Becca said and gave Bucky a quick hug before pressing a huge bag into his hand.

“No problem, you and Mark need this weekend for yourselves. And I love spending time with my niece. Am I right, Bailey?” Bucky said, adjusting the five-year-old on his arm and smiling at Becca. When his sister had asked him if he could babysit her daughter for a weekend because she and her husband wanted to spend some time alone he had immediately accepted.

Bailey was the cutest little girl he knew and it really wasn’t a problem for him to look after him. After all, Bucky loved spending time with his family and so Becca and Mark finally had some time to relax because with Christmas in a few weeks there wasn’t much stress-free time.

“Now get outta here before I change my mind,” he said jokingly and pushed Becca slightly out of the door after pressing a chaste kiss against her cheek.

Becca chuckled and kissed Bailey goodbye before walking back towards her car in which her husband was already waiting for her.

“Sooo… What are we gonna do now, huh?” Bucky mostly said to himself and put Bailey down.

“I wanna play a game!” The little girl announced and looked up to her uncle with big blue eyes. And who could say no to those eyes?

“You wanna play a game? All right. I just know the perfect game we can play,” Bucky said and pulled his favourite game of when he was a child out of the board game cupboard that was standing in his living room.

The next couple of hours were filled with Bucky playing with Bailey, drawing and a tickle war that ended with both of them collapsing on the sofa, breathing heavily. That was until Bailey announced that she was hungry and wanted spaghetti with sausages just like her mother always made them.

“All right,” Bucky mumbled to himself, standing in the kitchen and wondering how his sister would make this meal. Starting to heat the water he figured that she probably made it like every other person.

As soon as the water was cooking, Bucky put the noodles in and began cooking the sausages in a pan. He had to admit that he was a bit proud when he was finished cooking. It looked just like when Becca had made it when he had visited them.

“Bailey!” Bucky called out while setting the table for both of them to eat. His niece had been awfully quiet to whole time and only now Bucky began to wonder what the reason for that could be. Especially when Bailey didn’t answer after his second call.

Slowly beginning to panic Bucky looked for her in the living room but she wasn’t there.

“Shit,” he cursed and searched through the other rooms on the first floor but Bailey wasn’t in any of them. Maybe she was upstairs. This could also explain why she hadn’t heard him.

Bucky forced himself to stay calm and not panic before he was sure that Bailey wasn’t anywhere in his house. After frantically looking through every room upstairs and not finding Bailey anywhere he really began to panic. What should he tell Becca?

“I’m sorry but I lost your daughter after not even three hours looking after her?” Oh god, Becca would kill him. And not meant as a joke, no, Becca would literally kill him. Bailey was her one and only and when she would hear that she was missing… Fuck, Bucky was so screwed.

Running a hand through his hair he returned downstairs and couldn’t believe what he was seeing there. Bailey was standing in the living room, cheeks red and feeding a carrot to what was looking like a dog with antlers.

“Bailey” Bucky exclaimed in relief and knelt down beside his niece to pull her into a hug. “Where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!”

“I’m sorry, uncle Bucky,” Bailey said, looking down at her feet obviously ashamed that she had scared her uncle this much.

“It’s okay,” Bucky sighed, running a hand over his face. “Just tell me where you’re going next time or your mummy’s gonna kill me.”

Bailey nodded and then looked up with a huge grin on her face. “But I found one of Santa’s reindeer.”

Only now Bucky actually realised that there was a dog with antlers standing in his living room that definitely wasn’t his. And he was currently munching on one of the carrots Bailey had given him.

“Bailey, that’s a dog. Where did you get him?” Bucky asked and showed his niece that it was actually just a dog by lifting the antlers from the head of the animal. Bailey’s moth formed a small o.

“He was outside in your garden, uncle Bucky.”

Bucky let out a groan. This would most likely mean that this was one of his neighbour’s dog. And this meant that he now would have to go ask all of his neighbours if they were missing a dog and explain the circumstances why exactly this dog was now eating carrots in his living room.

But right after Bucky had his realisation somebody was knocking on his door and when he opened it his really hot and also really cute neighbour was standing in front of him, looking nearly as panicked as Bucky must have had when he was looking for Bailey earlier.

“Hey, uh, sorry to disturb but have you seen my dog? I was just letting him out earlier and he must have decided to explore the neighbourhood a bit.” Steve – the name of his hot neighbour – gave him a crooked smile.

“Is he wearing antlers?”

Steve seemed confused at that question and maybe slightly embarrassed but nodded. “Uh, yeah, he is.”

“He’s in my living room eating carrots. My niece mistook him for one of Santa’s reindeer. I’m sorry,” Bucky said nervously and ran a hand through his hair.

To his surprise, Steve began to laugh.

“That’s… that’s okay. It’s probably also my fault for putting antlers on Cap or otherwise this confusion would never have happened. How old is your niece?”

“Bailey’s five,” Bucky said, admiring the hearty laugh of his neighbour.

After Bucky had explained to Bailey that they couldn’t keep the dog she had invited Steve and Cap for dinner and since Bucky didn’t want to seem unfriendly he had agreed. And he had to admit that this really hadn’t been a bad idea. He had to thank Bailey later.

“So, uh, good nigh then,” Bucky said and awkwardly waved at Steve who was standing already outside his door, holding his dog on his arm with his abnormal muscles.

“Yeah, good night. And thanks for dinner.”

“Oh, uh, no problem. But it really wasn’t that special.” Bucky shrugged shyly and looked at his feet.

“Well, I don’t know about Bailey but that definitely were the best spaghetti with sausages I’ve ever eaten in my life,” Steve said and grinned at Bucky.

“Maybe you could come over some time and I try to cook something for you? Maybe as a date?”

Bucky’s eyes widened slightly and he struggled to find the right word before spluttering out, “Yeah, I’d like that.”