Knowing You’re Happy Makes Me Happy @sunflowergirl522 - Tumblr Blog

Jun 4

Big Guy

Pairing: Hockey Player!Grumpy!Bucky Barnes x Short!Sunshine!Reader

Summary: You and your friends move into a house for the new semester of college to find out a group of team members from The Avengers, your schools hockey team, are also moving in right next door. You become fond of the big guy on the team and he becomes fond of you. Also Bucky is 6'4 and beefy in this because I say so.

Word Count: 20K

A/n: I feel like the ending is a little rushed so if it feels that way to you guys please know it was because I couldn't wait to share this with you.

Masterlist

“I still can’t believe your mom bought you a fucking house.” Wanda says to Kate after the two of you get out of her car and greet your other friends who both beat you there after breakfast.

“I know! Rich parents who knew?!” Kate’s mom had bought her a house after finding out how many dorm parties went on on your floor alone, deciding she’d be able to focus more if she was away from all of that. “Y/n, I can’t wait for you to see the kitchen you’re going to just fall in love.”

“Is it big?” Your eyes light up at the idea of baking and cooking in a big kitchen instead of the small barely there kitchen in the old dorm. Kate just zips her lips before popping open the trunk of her car with a press of a button. You all ignore the sound of the motorcycle and other cars pulling into the driveway next door as you fall into easy conversation and start unpacking boxes from trunks.

“I’m gonna warn you, the inside is a bit of a fixer upper.”

“How?”

“It’s just so boring and plain. Yels is honestly going to have so much fun decora-” Her word turns into a shriek as she backs up from the door instead of opening it. Unknowingly drawing attention from the men next door.

“What’s wrong?” You don’t stop till you see it and then you freeze where you are. There next to the door under the porch lamp is a spider, its long legs working on spinning its web. In reality it’s probably smaller than what you and Kate are seeing it as because your arachnophobia is almost paralyzing and hers is only just a little better. After being frozen in place for a minute you drop the box you’re holding before rushing off the porch.

“Guys, it’s just a spider just squish it.” Wanda says while stopping next to you and not making a move to do it herself.

“Why are we all stopped?” Yelena joins the two of you then after stacking bags on her shoulders and stacking two boxes in her arms. When you look at her like she’s crazy she shrugs. “I don’t want to make a lot of trips.”

“What’s going on over here ladies?” One of your new neighbors makes his way over and you recognize him as Sam Wilson from your school's hockey team and the man dead set on winning Wanda’s heart.

“There’s a spider blocking the damn door.” Kate answers, turning around then to face the four of you. Sam’s mouth forms an O and Wanda turns as she hears a familiar car pull up and park next door.

“Pietro?!” She yells out as a greeting as he starts moving toward his twin. “Get your ass over here and do your brotherly twin duties and kill this spider!” You know for a fact that he was always the designated spider killer in their home growing up because he was even in the old dorm. Even though Yelena and Wanda aren’t afraid of the arachnid like you and Kate they still freaked them out a bit so anytime there was a spider Pietro would have to come over and get it. You all have him on speed dial still from it.

Before he can speed over there’s a slam from the porch drawing all of your attention to Bucky “The Winter Soldier” Barnes who jumped onto the porch unnoticed and slammed his motorcycle helmet against the porch wall effectively getting rid of the pest there. Your mouth gapes a little at his towering form, you’ve seen him on the ice when you’ve gone to Pietro’s games but being this close to him was something else because he was just so big. Tall and broad and just made of muscles.

“Can we get moving again?” He huffs out stomping back over to the cars parked in their driveway.

“If you ladies need anything don’t hesitate to come a-knocking.” Sam sends a wink Wanda’s way before rushing over to help unpack cars.

“Can we get moving again?” You deepen your voice to mock Bucky’s grumpy tone, laughing after you speak and moving to the porch to pick your box back up. Pietro doesn’t go straight to helping his roommates and instead makes his way over to his twin to wrap her in a hug.

Kate unlocks the door and leads the way inside and you and Yelena look at each other before going to rush to pick rooms.

“Guys wait, slow down. I sorta picked everyone's rooms out already.” Kate calls for you guys as you fight to get to the stairs first. How Yelena’s still so fast with carrying so much you’ll never know.

“That’s half the fun in a new house.” Yelena huffs out acting more annoyed than she is.

“Yeah but as long as you’re living under my roof you’ll follow my rules. Oh I’ve always wanted to say that!” Kate claps with excitement.

“Well unfortunate news the hockey numbskulls live next door so we have to deal with Pietro and his friends invading our space now.” She makes it sound like she’s unhappy with it but you know she’s thrilled to have Pietro so close by even if it means putting up with Sam’s flirting.

“Let me show you guys your rooms and give you a tour before we finish getting stuff out of the car.” You follow in line behind Kate up the stairs like ducklings would their mother. “First up, Yelena’s room!” She spreads her hands to show the name tag she made out of construction paper on the first door with Yelena’s name written on it. “It’s not giant or anything but, you get a walk in closet.” She opens up another door once in the room to show off all the room inside. It’s a perfect pick for Yelena since she has the most clothes out of all of you. She places her stuff on the bed before going to check it out. “Every room has a bed, a dresser, and a desk. Anything else we decide we want I’m not above using my allowance to make the house more of a home.” Kate explains motioning towards each piece of furniture.

“Next up Wanda’s room!” Yelena stays back in her room for a minute mapping out the closet as you and Wanda follow Kate out. There’s another piece of construction paper on the door that she motions to again with a flourish before opening the door. “Lots of windows so you can have however many plants you can fit in here. Though obviously you can put them throughout the house too.”

“Oh Kate, this is awesome! I’m gonna get so many different monstera and peperomia.”

“And now for the showstopper, Y/n here’s your room.” You follow her out of Wanda’s room and to the last bedroom. You smile at your name on construction paper before she opens the door to the biggest room yet. “You have plenty of room to put bookshelves around and the best part is…” She trails off as she opens the door to the attached bathroom. “Tada! Your own personal shower and everything. Figured you’d be doing like all the cooking so you should get the room up here with its own bathroom. Oh! But also there’s this.” She rushes towards the window that faces the back yard and opens it up before opening the screen too. “You can go lay or sit on the roof whenever you want because it's flat and sturdy enough here.”

“Kate you’re the best you know that right?”

“I know. Now let’s recollect everyone and finish the tour.”

She shows you guys the bathroom for Yelena and Wanda to share that has two sinks and a separate door inside that gives the toilet its own privacy before taking you all downstairs. The living room is to the left of the stairs when you’re coming down and it’s completely empty and the dining room is on the other side with just a round table and four chairs. She explains how Yelena has free reign to decide how to decorate it and that her mom sent her back with a credit card specifically for getting furniture and whatnot, which Yelena took from her hand and pocketed immediately excited to start shopping after getting her stuff inside. Upon actually entering the dining room your mouth drops at the beautiful big kitchen that it opens up to.

“Kate, what the hell?” You run your hands over the finished butcher block top of the island as you take it all in. The kitchen takes up basically the whole back of the house with glass doors that lead out to the patio once the counters end. The counter space is insane and you’ll definitely have enough room to spread out while you bake or cook.

“I know! I told my mom that the only thing we needed other than the four bedrooms was a big kitchen and did she deliver or what?!”

“Go Eleanor!” Wanda cheers, swinging an arm around your shoulder, taking it in with you while Yelena opens a door to a walk-in pantry and then the other door that leads to a laundry room.

“Kate, where's your room?” You ask as you realize there’s not another room on this floor.

“I’m taking the whole basement. It’s finished with its own complete bathroom and I figured I could practice archery down there too. I’m gonna go get the rest of my stuff out of the car.” Wanda turns and follows her out and Yels stops to look at you before following them as if to ask ‘are you coming’.

“Go ahead Yels. I wanna peek in all the cupboards and cabinets first.” She nods and leaves you to it.

Bucky was getting Sam's last box when he looked over and noticed you for the second time that day. You’re swinging a bookbag on and closing the now empty trunk of a car before turning and picking up the duffle bag next to you. He can practically see the gears turning in your head as you stare at the big box on the ground, hands on your hips, bag getting ready to slide down your arms. His feet are moving before he even decides to do anything.

“Oh, thank you!” Your surprised but cheery voice greets him as he picks up the box for you. You expect him to hand it to you but he just gestures with his head for you to lead the way to the house. “Oh!” It’s silent for a couple seconds before you start talking again. “I’m Y/n. You’re Bucky right? You’re on the hockey team with Pietro.” He nods to answer your question. “Thank you for killing the spider earlier and for this. You’re a real knight in shining armor.” You motion towards the box as you walk up the steps of the porch. He nods again, adjusting the box so he can open the door and hold it for you. You’re small compared to him he takes in and realizes as you squeeze past him into the house.

“I said I would be right out to help you, what are you doing?” Yelena comes around the corner from the dining room to yell at you for getting the rest of your stuff by yourself just to stop short at seeing Bucky with your box in his arms. “Barnes.” They nod to each other in greeting.

“It’s okay Yels, Bucky helped. Thank you again!” You thank him again as Yelena takes the box from his arms and heads straight up the stairs to put it in your room and you rush to follow her waving to him as you do.

Bucky looks at your back like you’re crazy for just leaving him, a stranger, alone in your entryway. He could be anyone or do anything. He shakes his head before leaving, shutting the door behind him and getting back to the lone box in the back of Sam's truck.

“Okay so you want a green kitchen? I can work with that.” Yelena is sitting at the island on her laptop across from you as you knead the bread dough you’ve been working on. She’s been asking you how you want the currently too white kitchen to look and all you’ve really been able to tell her is you want it to be green. “What about this?” She waits to turn her laptop around until you’re done spraying your bowl and you look up as you put the dough in it for its first rise. “Sage green on the cabinets and island but cream colored walls?”

“I like the sage green. You don’t think the cream will be too bland?”

“If it is, I'll paint you flowers or something all over the walls to help fit with your cottage kitchen dream.” Wanda sits next to Yelena in the seat she had originally pulled over for you.

“In that case that’s exactly what I want Yels. The cream and sage green make it happen.” You uncover the first two loaves of bread you started making from their second rise then put them in the preheated oven. “Okay, you get me for thirty minutes, let's find a couch we can collapse on.”

Wanda yells down the basement stairs for Kate before you all go sit on the floor in the living room surrounding Yelena’s laptop.

“Printesa! What did we do to deserve you stopping by?” Pietro opens the door and greets you after you knock. The nerves that were filling your body at not knowing who would answer disappear at the familiar nickname.

“I have gifts!” You hold out the picnic basket in front of you to show it. Pietro can smell the freshly baked bread from the closed basket and quickly ushers you into the house.The set up is similar to your own, their kitchen is smaller though you notice as he leads you straight there.

“What’s going on here?” Sam who was sitting at their table with take out follows the two of you. Bucky looks over from where he was filling his bottle up at the fridge surprised to see you standing in his kitchen.

“I made a thank you present for taking care of the spider yesterday.” And for helping with the box but you don’t say it, you just look at Bucky as you speak and hope it translates. “I don’t really know what hockey players can eat during the season. Are you guys technically in your season? I don’t even know but anyway typically I would make cookies or brownies or something and if it was just Piet I would’ve because he cheats all the time.”

“You’re yapping Printesa.” He only interrupts you because of how you just outed him in front of his teammates. Normally he enjoys listening to you ramble on. He hopes you know that, you do and if you didn’t the look he shoots your way of ‘stop snitching’ would be all you needed to know that’s the only reason he tells you to shut up.

“Right, sorry.” You send a sheepish smile his way and open the basket starting to pull out all of the sandwiches you had made earlier. “Anyway I figured sweet treats were a no go so I made a bunch of sandwiches for you guys. There’s ham and turkey and salami and chicken. Some have lettuce and tomato, others don’t because I don’t know what everyone likes." There's a warmth in Bucky’s chest as he watches you all smiles continue to pile sandwiches on the counter for him and his teammates. Sandwiches you had made just for them trying to make sure there was something for everyone. He’s almost positive he’ll be able to taste the care you put in making them. He steps closer to study you while Sam abandons his food completely to find one he wants to eat. “Oh! And one grilled cheese just for you Piet.” You had the tupperware container that was at the bottom of the basket to the twin next to you and he fist bumps before opening up to eat it while it was still warm. He groans as he takes a bite of it.

“Your bread is always the best!” You can feel your face heat up at the often told compliment still not able to take it. Your ‘thanks’ is quiet not wanting to draw attention to it.

“Wait, did you make the bread?” You nod to answer Sam. “That’s so cool if this is what we get when we kill spiders, come over or call whenever you have one. Buck write down all our numbers for her.” Bucky rolls his eyes at Sam but goes over to the fridge to rip a piece of paper from the notepad magnet anyway.

“Sam, please tell me you’re not leaving food out already. Oh, hello. Steve Rogers.” He holds his hand out for you to shake and sends you one of his famous smiles.

“Hi! Y/n Y/l/n. I brought sandwiches.” You gesture to the piles beaming at him while you do. Your phone vibrates then and you turn back to the basket to pull it out. “Oh, would you look at the time? I gotta get back before Yels picks a bad dining room table.” She could never but you all love to tease and joke that she would without all of you. You collect the basket and wave to the men in the kitchen. “Enjoy boys!” No one pays that much attention as you leave except for Bucky, who realizes that A you’re leaving without the numbers Sam made him write down and B Pietros a dick for not seeing his guest out, but what else was new really.

A hand on your shoulder stops you on your way to the door, the warmth of it seeping into your skin. When you turn around your nose almost bumps into a chest so you quickly take a step back and look up to look at Bucky’s face. Your breath hitches a little at just how much bigger he is than you and you hope he doesn’t notice, he does. He holds out the list of numbers for you to take and you do, not noticing the way that your fingers brush his, he does though.

“I can’t believe I almost left without this privileged information.” You lay it gently in your basket while Bucky examines you like you’re a piece of art which you might as well be. You’re beautiful in the way that sunbeams peaking through clouds or trees are beautiful. He has a momentary vision of you sitting in the secluded field of flowers, one he often visits to be alone, and basking in the warmth of the sunbeams that he so often does. You say bye to him again breaking him out of whatever trance he was just in and turn to keep leaving.

“Thank you. For the food.” His deep hesitant voice stops you in your tracks as you open the door.

“Anytime big guy! I’ll text ya!” You wink at him and then you're gone. Bucky can’t help the small smile that forms on his face before turning and going up to his room to finish getting ready for the gym.

You end up making a group chat, called ‘The Spider Killers’ with the numbers you were given and your household so they can all get each other's numbers and if you guys need one of them you could just message the chat. That way if only one person is home you’re not just going from person to person. Kate is quick to ask if you, her, and Wanda can hang around their house the next couple days because Yelena got painters to agree to come paint rooms in the house on short notice so when the furniture gets delivered no one has to worry about covering them. Which Wanda added before anyone can say anything that even if it’s a no Pietro will still let you all in at the same time that you said you’d cook everyone dinner if it’s a yes. Steve and Sam both agreed, Pietro jokingly said no and for Wanda to check on her twin attachment issues, Bucky didn’t respond. Which you took as him saying yes because surely if he had a problem with it he’d say so.

Yelena’s going to stay behind at the house to make sure they’re using the right shades of colors she wants and to help where she can. One of her favorite things about decorating and renovating is the hands-on stuff and you love to joke that you’ll see her on her own show one day and she’ll have to introduce you to Chip and Joanna. And while you’d be glad to help everyone knows that inevitably you’d trip and spill a paint can the way you did helping Kate paint the archery range purple. Kate and Wanda just want to let the professionals be the ones to take care of it.

“What do you want, Sam?” Bucky finally answers his phone as he steps off the treadmill from his cool down sprint. This is the third time he’s called after sending a few texts asking where stuff is in the kitchen that Bucky’s been ignoring knowing that everyone else is home.

“Can you pick up pasta sauce on your way back? We need it for dinner.” There’s only what Bucky can describe as chaos in the background with muted yelling and he’s pretty sure the Mario Kart music coming from the tv.

“You couldn’t just text me that?”

“You weren’t answering your texts. And we’re in the middle of a very competitive grand prix so we can’t leave to get it. No, I don't want to hear it! I’m pretty sure you’re using smart steering when we said it wasn’t allowed!” Sam gets distracted with an in person discussion making Bucky grimace as his voice raises in his ear moving the phone away from it as he does.

“Fine, I'll bring back sauce.” He’s not sure if Sam is paying attention or if he hears him at all before hanging up on him.

When he does get home he goes straight to the kitchen without looking in the living room, his headphones thankfully blocking out whatever yelling was going on. He’s had to be around for too many of these things that Sam and Pietro get too into and it’s even worse if they get Joaquin over to play with them. But since he doesn’t hear anything or look in where he would’ve found Wanda trying to distract Sam so Kate could beat him nothing can prepare him for looking up and finding you in the kitchen. He was digging the damn sauce out of his bag and putting it on the counter when he looked up and over to see you looking at him expectantly.

“What?” He asks as he takes his headphones out cringing a little hoping it didn’t come out as rude as it sounded to himself. Your face contorts as if you just realized something mouth forming an ‘oh’ before you’re beaming up at him.

“I was just saying hi big guy. I hope you didn’t drive with those in, that’s dangerous you know. Oh! You brought the pasta sauce, Sam said he was gonna take care of that.” You grab the jar when you notice it turning it around to examine it. Bucky suddenly finds himself hoping he got the correct one and wishing he put a little bit of effort into picking a jar instead of grabbing the first one he recognized.

“Sam taking care of it was bothering me to do it.” His voice is gruff and annoyed but he’s less annoyed about getting the sauce since it was for you.

“Well, thank you. Normally I would make my own sauce but when I’m feeling a little lazy with it I just get a jar.” You whisper the second half of the sentence like it’s a secret only the two of you know.

“What are you doing here?” Your smile falls a bit at his roughly asked question and he has the immediate urge to punch himself in the face, an urge he doesn’t exactly understand.

“Did you not see the texts yesterday? Everyone else okayed us coming over.”

“Muted the chat when it started blowing my phone up at the gym.” Which he only did after saving the numbers he didn’t have and putting the sun emoji next to your name.

“Oh.” It’s the saddest oh he’s ever heard and it makes him immediately start racking his brain to find out how to make it better. “Well we have painters over our place today and tomorrow so we’ve been here to stay out of their way. But if you have a problem with it we can go somewhere else to-”

“It’s fine. Come back tomorrow.” Your smile comes back full force and before you can start thanking him Kate’s calling you into the living room to see how she beat Sam. Bucky’s left alone in the kitchen for a minute before he swings his bag around his shoulder and heads up to his room to empty it out. When he comes back downstairs he heads straight back to the kitchen seeming to know that’s where you would be without even looking.

“Hello again!” Your chipper voice greets him without you turning around from the stove where you’re cooking the beef for the meat sauce part of your spaghetti. “Can you get the pasta out of my tote on the island?” He does as you ask and brings both boxes over to you placing them on the counter next to the stove. He goes looking for a big pot to boil water in next. “Are you gonna help me?” You ask when you notice what he’s doing, eyes on him as he starts to fill the pot up with water.

“Yeah why not?” He shrugs his answer and he’s rewarded with your beaming smile again, his world gets just a little bit brighter with it.

“I wish I had my phone on me. We’d have some music while we work then but I left it at the house by accident and I didn't want to get in the way of the painters to go get it.” Bucky doesn’t think about it before he pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens Spotify before holding it out for you.

“Put whatever you want on.”

“How was your day?” You ask after putting the soundtrack to Howl’s Moving Castle on for background noise wanting to also talk with the grump next to you while you work together.

“Okay.”

“Come on, give me something more than that.” You tease him. “What did you do all day?”

“You’re nosy aren’t you?” He’s teasing right back and maybe he’s a little flirty with it too. It gets you to laugh and he absolutely relishes in the sound of it, immediately wanting to get you to do it again.

“And you don’t like to talk much huh? That’s okay though I’m known to talk enough for the both of us.”

“I worked and then went to the gym.” He answers your original question after a moment of silence. You light up more than you already were, which Bucky almost can’t believe is possible the same way he’s having a hard time believing that that reaction happened just because he told you something small about himself.

“Where do you work?”

“The rink. It’s nice pay and I can use the ice whenever I want.” It’s where most of the hockey team worked because of being able to go in before and after hours to run drills. That and they’re good at working schedules around practice and games.

“Ooo that’s cool. You know I’m actually the worst at ice skating? Piet tried to teach me once a couple years ago but I got away from him and fell and hit my head real hard on the ice so we weren’t there long.” Bucky fills with anger quickly at the thought of Pietro, or anyone really, letting you fall on the ice. It doesn’t matter if you were far away from him, if you were unsteady on your feet he should have been right next to you. “I’m actually really good at roller skating though, well good as in in comparison to on the ice. It’s probably because the wheels are set up differently because I’m just as bad at roller blading. Honestly I should probably just not be on wheels or blades, it’s safer that way.” You laugh at yourself as you drain the meat and add it to the sauce you had heating up on the stove. The sound relaxes him and he focuses on dumping the noodles in the now boiling water.

There’s a knock at the door then and Sam yells for Bucky to get it because they’re in the middle of a race. He grunts before going to see who’s at the door causing you to chuckle to yourself. The change from seemingly almost normal guy who talks back to grump is incredibly amusing to you. You can hear the muted greetings before someone enters the kitchen behind you.

“Smells good in here.”

“Yels! How’s my kitchen looking?” You hug your friend as she stops next to you.

“It’s not started yet. The living room is done and the dining room has one coat, the second and the kitchen are getting done tomorrow. And then the couch and stuff should be here Thursday.”

“I’m so excited to go back and see how it’s turning out! Kate and Wanda are playing Mario Kart with Sam and Pietro if you want to go get them all. Dinner’s almost done.” She nods and gives you another side hug before heading to get everyone and leaving you to make sure the pasta is fully cooked and draining it.

When everyone is seated with their food in front of them you catch yourself sneaking glances at Bucky to see his reaction to it while also trying to accept Sams and Pietros compliments on it without feeling like your face is gonna catch on fire. Dinner goes by with easy conversation and it’s almost like you’ve all known each other forever. Which is only really true for you, Wanda, and Pietro who you've been friends with since high school. Kate and Yelena quickly joined your close knit friend group freshman year of college and now it would be nice to include Piet’s closest teammates to it.

“Tomorrow we can play Mario Party instead.”

“Tomorrow you’re all going to the gym to get ready for the start of the season.” Bucky interrupts Pietro’s plans and his two teammates immediately begin listing reasons they have to stay back. Sam insists they’re fine and can skip just one more day and Pietro insists they have to be at the house to keep the three of you company.

“Buck’s right. We’re all gonna hit the gym tomorrow.” Steve says as he enters the room having gotten home from his own shift at the rink when Bucky brought it up.

“But what about the girls?” Sam’s hands spread to motion at the four of you from his spot on the floor since there weren’t enough chairs.

“I’ll stay back. I’m the only one who’s actually been going regularly.” Bucky announces getting up with his empty dish and taking yours on his way to the kitchen.

“This is so unfair.” Sam and Pietro both pout like kids, their heads both hitting the wall as they throw them back with groans causing you to burst out laughing and a smile to show up on Bucky’s face. One he’s glad no one can see as he faces the sink.

The next day after Bucky lets the three of you in he excuses himself so he can finish unpacking, which had been his original plan for the day before he knew you’d all be there. And you, Wanda, and Kate play five hundred with the cards you brought. You keep an eye out the whole time you play in case you spot Bucky coming downstairs so you can ask him if he wants to play too. You wanted to go search him out when he disappeared up the stairs before you had a chance to ask him but didn’t want to invade his space if he didn’t want you to. You guys play a couple rounds before you leave your friends to continue playing to go curl up on the couch with your book.

“Pietro said they’re bringing pizza home so you don’t have to worry about cooking anything.” Wanda collapses next to you on the couch and you put the sticker you use as a bookmark in between the pages to mark your spot before closing it.

“Did you just leave Kate in there to clean up?”

“Loser had to.” She shrugs and lays her head on your shoulder before you can get up to go help your other friend. “How’s your book?”

“Good like always.” You’re rereading one of your all time favorites before going back to your to be read pile. “Why are they bringing pizza?”

“Something about them working up an appetite at the gym and not wanting to wait for food. Honestly I’d bet you any money Pietro starts eating it on the way home.”

“I wouldn’t bet against you. He can’t even wait before digging into takeout bags even if we’re ten minutes away from eating.”

“Are you guys talking about your twin's annoying habit of eating all my fries?” Kate comes in with a mock annoyed expression on her face as she sits next to Wanda.

“I see you’ve all made yourselves at home.” Bucky says as he comes downstairs to find you all on the couch, your friends watching something on the tv and you back to your book glancing up here and there to watch with them. His words come out with the only emotion behind them being annoyed when he couldn’t be any less. He’s enjoyed hearing your laughter float through the floorboards to be his music while finally unpacking. And he thoroughly enjoys seeing you comfortable in his space especially when you look up and give him a dazzling smile, one that rivals the glimmer of sun on water.

“Hey Bucky! Where have you been hiding all day? You missed all the fun of five hundred.” You fake a pout but it doesn’t stay long enough for Bucky to offer playing now to get you back to smiling. “The guys are bringing home pizza by the way. I think they’re on their way back now.” Bucky knows that they’ve been texting him about what pizza to get and in Pietro’s own words make sure the girls don’t have cards all over the table because they’re digging right in.

“Okay.” You open your mouth to say something else to him but Sams barging into the house yelling about it being dinnertime before you can. Bucky glares at his friend because of it which no one thinks twice about because of how often it happens.

“Boy am I glad I didn’t take that bet.” When Pietro comes in with a slice of pizza already halfway eaten in his hand you nudge Wanda and the two of you start laughing. He soon joins the three of you in the living room, placing a box of pizza on the coffee table and making you scoot over so he can sit on the other side of you.

“So what are we watching?”

“Put on Step Brothers. Speedball here hasn’t stopped quoting it all day.” Sam says as he comes in to sit on the other couch his plate piled with slices in hand.

When Yelena comes over later to let you guys know the painting is officially done you’re all in the living room except for Bucky who’s pretending to scroll on his phone in the dining room where he’s actually just watching you and how you throw your head back laughing at the movie.

You’re obsessed with the kitchen and you make sure Yelena knows that as soon as you see it. But the light brown she picked for the living room is going to suit it nicely and the bachelor blue, the name of which you only remember because of Kate making a joke about you all being bachelors, the dining room is doesn’t clash with the colors of the kitchen. Something you were nervous about with how it just opens straight up to it. You had even told Yelena that she could change the colors of the kitchen if it didn’t work but she insisted it would, you should’ve believed her.

Yels more than anything though was excited to show you all the surprises she had. She had painted all of your rooms, hiding it successfully with her ploy of having all of you sleep in the basement with Kate for a sleepover in the new house the previous night and making sure to save her room for last. Kate got a light purple, her favorite color and it matches her archery uniform. Wanda got a whiter room, so the walls can reflect light better for her plants. And you got a nice shade of what you would just call orangey red but Yelena called red earth, she said it fits with you well and she would’ve given you a yellow room if she didn’t hate all the options she was shown so much. It’s safe to say you’re all as obsessed with your rooms as you are how the kitchen turned out.

The next couple days are hectic and full of chaos as furniture starts getting delivered. The table and chairs for the dining room come first and you’re pretty sure none of you were ready for it to be so big that the delivery men would have to carry it around the house and through the sliding glass door in the back. The lift top coffee table for the living room comes that same day just a little later. The couch and the tv stand don’t come until the next day both at different times and the couch took the delivery men a hot minute to get all inside the house. It was exhausting watching them go back and forth and you were all glad that it was the last furniture delivery until someone decides they need something else.

The minute they were gone and the giant sectional was the way you all wanted it you piled onto it and laid there joking about ‘if only there was a tv’ and ‘why did we get a coffee table if we can’t even reach it’ ‘we should’ve just gotten a bar table to go behind the couch’ and ‘well we still could’. You and Wanda actually fall asleep on the couch that night after being up late reading together and are woken up the next morning by Kate, who starts talking about going shopping after breakfast to get a tv and couch blankets.

Shopping takes you guys the whole day and you were glad that you and Wanda took her car instead of all taking Yels. Kate ends up getting the biggest tv she could find for the living room and insisting that it’s a necessity that there’s one in each of your rooms even though you all agree that that’s a little overkill. She had just said to suck it because she was the one with the money and stuck her tongue out. You’re pretty sure the employee who helped load them into Yelena’s Jeep thought Kate was crazy.

Yelena picks out probably, definitely, too many different blankets for the couch and a big storage basket to keep the ones not in use. That alone took forever to the point that you and Kate had walked away from her and Wanda and when you came back they were still picking some out. While they did that though you and Kate picked out stuff for the two of your private bathrooms and the shared half bath downstairs. You know better than to try to pick stuff out for Yelena’s and Wanda’s.

And to finish shopping off Kate tells Wanda to go crazy in a plant nursery. Where she basically pulled a Ron Swanson in Home Depot when an employee came up to ask if she needed any help. Her car ends up being almost overflowing with plants and pots and potting soil while everything else gets shoved into Yelena’s.

The first few days of classes go by without a hitch but also without much excitement. Every class is just going over the syllabus and getting out early. It was nice if not a little redundant. It helps that you share some classes with Wanda, she always helps make the boring days better. Wednesdays and Thursdays you don’t have any with her though after going without knowing anyone in your Wednesday classes you sort of started to dread your Thursday ones, knowing that it was likely to be dull too. That is until you look up from your laptop in your Directed by Women film class at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Bucky! Sam!” You wave to them from your seat in the back of the room as they come in the door to your right. Bucky prevents the smile from forming on his face as he takes you in and immediately goes to sit next to you wanting both to get away from Sam’s rambling about how this class will definitely give him brownie points with Wanda and to get the seat before anyone else can. You laugh as Sam shoves past his friend to get there first, happy to see you as much as you’re happy to see them. And in order to sit next to both of them you move over a chair leaving Bucky with the seat in the corner next to the window. “Did Pietro also convince you guys to take an easy A film class?”

“Yeah.” Bucky answers you not noticing the way your gaze stays on him the whole time he sits and you ask the question as he busies himself with getting his own laptop out.

“So…is it safe to assume that since you’re here that-”

“No Wanda took the Zombie media one with Kate and Yelena. I would’ve too but I love Greta Gerwig and I was curious to see if Twilight would be part of the curriculum.” You look back at the syllabus you pulled up on your screen then. “Honestly though this is a pretty stacked list of films and I’m excited to watch and dig into them.” Sam turns your laptop to face him rather than doing the work of pulling it up on his own.

“Oh hey Twilight is on here.”

“I know!” You're all excitement as you exclaim it both because your new friends are in the class together and having one of your favorite comfort movies on the list.

“I don’t know any of these.” Bucky speaks, grumbles really because he didn’t even pick this class he made Sam pick for him. It’s not that he’s mad about it, he’s more than ecstatic to see you in one of his classes, something he’ll never admit to anyone, but he thought Sam would put him in a class with movies he’s seen.

“What?” You turn towards him, the shock clearly written on your face. “How? Have you lived under a rock?”

“Bucky doesn’t watch movies.”

“I watch movies.”

“Yeah, boring long ones.”

“Just because you and Pietro have the attention spans of flies doesn’t mean The Lord of the Ring movies are boring.” Bucky points at Sam, annoyed that they’re having this argument again.

“Steve doesn’t like them either, he's just too nice to say anything.” Bucky knows Sam is just trying to rile him up; he knows Steve likes them enough to watch them every once in a while.

“None of you have to watch them with me then.” You laugh at the two of them bickering and Bucky almost freezes completely when you turn your gaze to him, eyes shining at him.

“I’d watch them with you big guy. I like Lord of the Rings.”

“Yeah?” He’s almost breathless with the word, something Sam will definitely make fun of him about later.

“Yeah.” It’s then that Bucky smiles at you for the first time and your heart nearly leaps out of your chest because God is it a great smile and you’ve just decided that it’ll be your mission to get him to smile as much as possible from now on. Your teacher starts talking then and you have to forcibly pull your eyes away from the man next to you. That doesn’t stop him from watching you though, enjoying how you light up with excitement at what the curriculum is.

The next time you see Bucky is a couple days later when you’re sitting on the roof outside of your window leaning back on your hands as you watch the stars. You happened to glance over to see him in the window facing you at his desk working on something on his laptop. A smile graces your face and you find a bit of rubble next to you and ping it off of his window to get his attention, something you didn’t actually have to do because he had noticed you immediately when he sat down. And instead of reading an article for class like he was supposed to be doing he was studying how peaceful you look staring up at the sky. He never wished that he shared Steve’s talent for drawing till this moment when he wants to capture it and keep it for himself tucked safely away in a notebook.

When the piece of shingle hits his window he stops pretending to not be looking at you and makes a show of lifting his head away from the screen in front of him and towards you. You send him an enthusiastic wave, getting a quick wave of his hand in return before mouthing ‘wow’ motioning to the sky and then using your hands to show that you’re mind blown at the view. This causes him to let out a chuckle and you find yourself wishing you were able to hear it. His attention goes back to his laptop and you lay back again. When he finds himself getting distracted once more and getting another flash of a scene in his secret field with you laying next to him staring up at the sky that he knows has more stars in it at night than here he decides that this just won’t do if he can’t get any work done. The next night when you go out to the roof the first thing you do is glance over to find that Bucky’s moved his desk.

Tuesday you’re running late for class and in your rush to leave land on your ankle wrong going down the porch steps. It bends under your weight and you curse as you go down because of it. The pain in the moment leaves you to just see white and for a second you don’t feel anything before it hits you full force. Bucky who was getting back from the gym hears your exclamation and he’s over next to you before either of you know it.

“What happened?” His voice is full of worry, something you don’t notice as you grit your teeth at the pain.

“Nothing, just twisted my ankle a bit. I’m good.” Your voice doesn’t hold any of your normal cheery demeanor, it’s cold and dismissive, you don’t even call him big guy in greeting like you usually do, and Bucky can tell that it wasn’t just a bit. You grab onto the railing on the steps and pull yourself up to stand grimacing at the weight on your right foot before adjusting all of it to your left. Bucky notices immediately.

“How about we just sit down?”

“No, I'm fine, I have to get to class. I’m running late already.”

“Oh no you don’t.” He doesn’t stand up to get in your way until you try walking away, almost falling as you half step on the ankle you just twisted. Your face contorts each time you try to put weight on it trying to sidestep him but failing each time.

“God, move Barnes!” Bucky’s eyes widen at your angry use of his last name before they narrow at you. Your own eyes widen at the look on his face and you can’t move away quick enough to avoid him throwing you over his shoulder just careful enough to not jostle your ankle too much.

“Where are your keys?”

“I threw them in a river. Put me down!” You yell at him wiggling around trying to get free so you can keep trying to head to class, which you do realize is a bad decision but you can’t start missing in just the second week. He moves up the steps and stops at the door.

“Stop being a fucking brat.” You freeze at his words and the growl in his voice as he says them, not sure how to feel about finding that as hot as you do. Your frozen state gives him the ability to fish out your keys from your jacket pocket and unlock the door. Before you know it you’re being dumped onto the couch and Bucky has one knee on it next to your feet while he unties your shoes to get them off. He’s gentle while he takes your right shoe off but more forceful with the left one. When his finger tips touch the top of your right sock you shoot up in a sitting position holding your hands out to stop him.

“Woah what are you doing?”

“I need to see how bad it is.”

“I told you I’m fine, it’s fine.” You seeth through clenched teeth annoyed that he won’t just take your word for it and leave you to your own devices. He responds with gentle pressure on your ankle causing you to gasp at the pain that shoots around it like a circle unable to contain it at how sudden it was. He immediately feels bad for causing you pain but he didn’t know any other way to get you to shut up and let him work.

“Yeah, no it’s not. Now will you let me make sure it’s just a sprain.” You huff and cross your arms leaning back letting him slowly, carefully peel your sock off grumbling about how it’s not sprained. He feels around your ankle and rotates it in a few circles analyzing your reactions to it all. “It’s not fractured but I’d say you definitely sprained it.” He stands then placing your foot down gently. “Stay there. Don’t. Move.” He puts emphasis on his words before turning and leaving the house.

Bucky lets out an aggravated sigh when he’s outside before rushing next door so he can grab his laptop and stuff to take care of your ankle hopefully before you decide to not listen to him and start trying to walk on it again. Why you’re being difficult about this he doesn’t know but he’ll make sure you listen to him about this. He knows from watching teammates and hearing about players in other sports just how bad a sprained ankle can be.

You roll your eyes at his demand as soon as the door shuts behind him. You mock him to yourself but listen to his words anyway at least for a little bit. But then you start to get hungry and he never said he was definitely coming back, though that could be heavily implied. You wait another minute listening for any movement on the porch and when there is none you smile and start to scoot your way off the couch before trying, and failing at first, to stand. You’re crossing in front of the entryway when the door opens again and you freeze, turning to look at Bucky’s hulking figure like a deer caught in headlights.

“What are you doing?” He eyes you down as he pauses in the doorway, your book bag that you dropped when you fell on one shoulder and his own bag on the other.

“Getting a snack.”

“Should’ve waited. Stay on your left foot.” He demands after shutting the door and going into the living room to put the bags down next to the couch.

“Stop telling me what to do.” You listen to him though regretting trying to walk to the kitchen.

“I’d be able to if you would’ve listened from the get go. Are you able to get back to the couch?”

“I’m hungry.” You shake your head in defiance and move your foot in a way that you slide closer to the dining room.

“Yeah, I’ll get you something. Can you get back to the couch or do I need to carry you to it again?”

“I’ve got it.” You shuffle slide on one foot for a bit before starting to limp back to the couch. “I wanted my sugar strawberries. They’re in the fridge in the glass container with the red lid. Oh and grab a spoon too.” You go back to the couch settling further in than you were before, your ankle hurting as you use your feet to push yourself into the corner of it. When Bucky comes back in he hands you the container and your spoon before bringing his bag up to rest next to him. He pulls out the bandage and the ice pack he brought over with him when he moves to grab your ankle you pull it back to you cringing as you do so.

“What are you doing now?”

“Wrapping and icing your sprain.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing which it probably is but you’re not used to people taking care of you like this.

“It’s fine I can do it.” You place the container behind you on the bar table you all did end up getting for behind the couch before holding your hands out. “Give it.”

“Why do you insist on fighting me?” Bucky’s voice is softer than it has ever been and it throws you off. “You’re hurt, just let me take care of you.” Something in his voice, probably the unspoken pleading, has you giving in and moving your ankle into his hold while you focus back on your snack. Bucky wraps the bandage snugly around your ankle before grabbing one of the big couch pillows and propping it up. You jump as the cold from the ice pack seeps through the bandage as soon as he puts it on.

“It’ll need to stay elevated.” He explains as he moves up the couch to sit next to you dragging his bag with him to get his laptop out. “I’ll check on the pack in a bit to take it off and put it in your freezer so you can use it again when it refreezes.” He reaches behind him and then hands you the tv remote that he had grabbed. You take it from him watching as he opens his laptop and pulls up his email without looking at you.

“Are…are you staying?” You ask in a timid voice after a moment of silence not understanding why he would after you had just been so mean to him when all he was trying to do was help you.

“Yeah. Gotta make sure you don’t try walking on it again out of spite or stubbornness.” He glances at you with a half smile on his face so you know he’s partly joking having sensed a change in your previously hostile demeanor to a more somber one. He goes back to emailing his teachers about missing class. You turn on The Office for something to watch and the two of you are silent again for a bit.

“Thank you.” Your voice is quiet and you’re looking down at your slices of strawberries as you speak. Bucky might not have heard it if he wasn’t right next to you.

“For what?”

“Taking care of me. I’ve never really had anyone do that for me. In my house it was a very like take care of yourself and stay out of the way environment. So I’m sorry about being mean earlier.” A pang goes through Bucky’s heart thinking of you getting hurt and having no one to help you at any age.

“Nah you’re good. Weren’t even that mean, trust me I know mean. Besides you’re in pain we all lash out sometimes when that happens.” You laugh at that and it’s like a weight is lifted from his shoulders, happy to see you smiling again.

“Don’t I know it! You should see this place during shark week since we’re all synced up.” He smiles at you.

When Bucky’s laptop is put away, the sugar strawberries are tried for the first time, and the ice pack is in the freezer you get him to bring you one of the big blankets and convince him to get under it with you. The two of you fall into easy conversation while you watch The Office and at some point you fall asleep on Bucky’s shoulder. When the girls get back to the house worried about why you weren’t in classes or answering your phone they find the two of you asleep, Bucky's arm wrapped around your shoulder, your head on his chest and the tv still going.

They debate with each other over whether or not they should wake you. Wanda wanting to to find out why you weren’t in class, Kate wanting to let you rest knowing how little you actually sleep, and Yelena getting her phone out to snap a picture to send the group chat. The flash that she forgot she had on causes you to stir as you begin to wake and for Bucky to immediately wake up a little disoriented because he’s not used to falling asleep in the middle of the day. But not moving too much so you can stay comfortable in your position if you don’t wake up. You need your rest and he knows from experience how much being in pain can zap the energy from your body.

“Girls.” He nods in a greeting, his voice hushed.

“Hey Bucky!” Kate exclaims before Wanda shushes her. Bucky glares because of the volume of her voice and you wake up all the way.

“Hey guys. What time is it?” You yawn as you speak and move to sit up straight.

“Close to four.” Yelena answers looking to see if the photo she had taken was ruined by the flash, it wasn’t.

“Oh my god I need to start on dinner. I should’ve put an alarm on or something but I didn’t think I’d pass out.” You move to get up but Bucky uses the arm around your shoulders to keep you back against the couch. Which doesn’t go unnoticed by your friends.

“How come you weren’t in class? Are you already skipping without me?” Wanda mocks being hurt from just the thought of you not skipping with her.

“Oh!” You pull the blanket up over your feet so they can see your wrapped up ankle that’s still propped up on the couch pillow. “I twisted my ankle a little and Bucky demanded I stay off of it.”

“She sprained it.” He rolls his eyes as you undermine your injury again. “I don’t know how bad it is but I’m sure it’ll swell by the morning.” When he goes home he’ll have to talk to Sam about coming to confirm his thought of it being just a grade one sprain.

“I’m fine. I keep telling you.” It’s your turn to roll your eyes at him. “Wands remember when I rolled my ankle on the stairs the day before our graduation trip? It’s like that.”

“Oh so your ankle is fucked and you’re not fine.” She says remembering how much pain that time had caused you.

“You’ve done this before?”

“I am too fine.” You ignore Bucky and focus on Wanda. “Remember I was walking around an amusement park two days later?”

“That doesn’t mean you were okay! Pietro and I even tried to get you to let us reschedule the whole trip but you were too stubborn. And your ankle hasn’t been the same since you roll it way more often than you did and there’s that weird clicking thing!”

“What weird clicking thing?”

“Oh do you wanna hear it’s so cool that it does this.” You answer Bucky this time ignoring Wanda as you begin to rotate your left ankle it clicking each rotation. “Sometimes there will be a really big one that hurts for a second.” You keep going and Bucky’s eyes widen as he hurries to stop you from doing it anymore. You flinch as you pull both feet up towards you to prevent him from doing it and Yelena snaps out of looking at her phone.

“You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“What?!”

“You’re not gonna be able to get up the stairs and Bucky’s right you need to rest it.” Yelena crosses her arms showing that there’s no debating with her but you still try.

“What if Bucky takes me upstairs like he brought me in here?”

“Unless Bucky wants to stay the night to make sure you can get back down here, because I know you won’t stay up there all day tomorrow, then no dice.” You light up and turn towards the man next to you.

“It could be like a sleepover! We can stay up all night and watch movies and gossip and snack.” He just stares at you, not quite sure how to react to your excitement of spending time with him which you take as him about to turn you down. “Please big guy, I just wanna be in my bed.” Your soft and a little sad voice does him in and he starts to get up off the couch. “Where are you going?”

“I didn’t exactly make an overnight bag when I originally came over. But you’re letting Sam take a look at your ankle when I come back.” He turns to go only catching a glimpse of your giant smile at his words.

“So what happened?” Kate asks after Bucky leaves sitting by your feet and bringing them into her lap so she can examine the wrap job on your ankle without you realizing because she knows you’d make a big deal about it if you did.

“I was rushing to my first class because I was running late and landed on my ankle wrong going down the porch steps.”

“When does Barnes come in?” Wanda takes Bucky’s previous spot as Yelena speaks.

“He saw it happen and then threw me over his shoulder like a neanderthal when I kept trying to go to class. And then he wrapped and iced it staying to make sure I didn’t walk around on it which was so unnecessary. He’s got a real attitude problem.”

“No babe, that's you.” Wanda pats your shoulder. “And I’m sure you’re leaving some parts of the story out to make yourself seem better. We know you get mean when something is wrong. We love you even with that though.”

“Well, well, well look who decided to come home. Did you have a nice nap?” Sam teases Bucky as soon as he sees him enter the house.

“How do you know I napped?”

“A little birdie told us.” He shows Bucky the picture of him and you on the couch that Yelena had sent the group text.

“Delete that. You need to come with me when I go back over to the girls place.”

“A, I can't, it's just in the messages now and B, why?” Sam follows his friend up stairs and to his room where he watches him start packing.

“Y/n sprained her ankle want you to make sure it’s not worse than I think it is.”

“Oh shit really?” He doesn’t wait for an answer before leaving to rush over hoping to God it wasn’t worse than Bucky thought. Bucky would’ve followed him, wanting to be there when he checks your ankle out, wanting to make sure he was gentle and doesn’t twist it too far any way to make you grimace the way you’ve been doing, but he has to make sure he doesn’t miss anything he’ll need because he knows he won’t be coming back once he gets you upstairs. But Sam being on his way over puts more of a rush in his movements.

Pietro and Sam show up at the house at the same time, the former only knowing what was wrong because he was getting home as Sam rushed out the door. He muttered a ‘Jesus Christ’ before just beating him to the door not bothering knocking. He remembers the last time you did this just as well as Wanda, how despite how in pain you were you still tried to do everything normally, how the only reason you hadn’t made food like the original plan had been was because he convinced you he had been craving chinese, how Wanda had to distract you while he got all the bags in the car so you wouldn’t insist on helping, and how they kept acting like they needed breaks at the stupid fucking amusement park you insisted on still going to just so they could get you off of the foot that was obviously bothering you. He knows that you’re stubborn and annoying and mean when someone shows the first hint of trying to, in your own words, baby you when they’re just trying to look out for you. He and Wanda have both been on the receiving end of that enough times that they figured out ways to do it secretly.

“Printesa! Your favorite twin is here!”

“Oh god who told you?” You groan knowing that he only came in the way he did, rushing into the living room his gaze immediately going to you and then down to your ankle before back up, because he found out about your not a big deal injury.

“That you’re a klutz and messed up your good ankle? Sam.” He points his thumb over his shoulder at the man coming in behind him after shutting the door. “I’m feeling like pizza tonight! You guys want some? Great, I'll order it.” You miss the shared look he and Wanda have before he starts to talk and instead brush it off as Pietro just inviting himself over like you’ve been sure would happen from the start.

“Alright I’m gonna have to unwrap your ankle to check it out.” Sam sits next to Kate on the couch and you just nod and look away, biting your tongue instead of fighting him knowing this was Bucky’s one stipulation to him staying. And right now all you want is him close his presence helping you feel better for some reason, and it’s definitely not because of the urge to take care of you rolls off of him in waves or the crush you may or may not have on him.

Bucky enters the house in time to hear you going on to Sam about how your ankle really isn’t that bad. When you let out a yelp that cuts you off mid sentence he’s rushing into the living room. He finds Sam with your ankle in hand and your own hands covering your mouth wide eyed like you were shocked the sound came out of you. Everyone else’s eyes are wide and looking at you.

“What are you doing? I told you to check on her ankle not torture her.”

“I am checking on it, Buck. I didn’t even bend it that far.” Sam defends himself, sensing the energy around his best friend that emerges when he’s tempted to lose his shit on someone. The last thing he wants is for Bucky to hit him the way he's seen him do others. “It’s not bruised right now and it looks only a little swollen. Keep an eye on it though because I’m sure it’ll balloon up compared to the other one overnight. You were right it looks like a grade one sprain but if it starts to bruise it might be a two.” He looks at you then. “Stay off of it as much as you can for the next two days, keep it wrapped and elevated. Icing it here and there wouldn’t hurt either.” He doesn’t say that if the pain ebbs quicker that you can walk around on it sooner sensing you’re the type to start lying about it that way, but he’ll make sure everyone else knows.

“Two days?!” You whip your head up to look at Bucky. “How trustworthy even is Sam?” The aforementioned man brings a hand to his heart and his face crumbles in a mock heartbreak. “I mean what gives him the right to decide what’s wrong with me?”

“He’s studying physical therapy and helps the nurse with our team during the season.”

“Oh. Still two days seems excessive, give me a night to sleep it off and I’ll be good as new!”

“Sorry, doctor’s orders.” Sam lightly pats your ankle before getting up. “Kate, can you wrap her ankle back up? If I'm late to relieve Steve at the rink he’ll make me do extra cardio in the gym.” Sam leaves then and Kate just gets up and hands the bandage to Bucky seeing the look on his face and recognizing it because it’s one that she sees a decent amount. One that shows the worry for you specifically after an injury whether it’s you cutting yourself in the kitchen or running into corners on furniture and a big bruise forming on your thighs or sides because of it. She’s seen it on Wanda’s and Yelena’s and even Pietro’s enough that even if it’s trying to be disguised she can see it.

“Pizza’s ordered!” Pietro comes back into the living room having hung back even after the pizza was actually ordered so he could ask Sam in hushed voices how bad it was, a conversation Kate and Yelena joined into and one you would’ve heard if you weren’t busy still insisting to Bucky that you were fine. Pietro takes a seat next to Wanda while Kate and Yelena pull the sections of the couch out to make room for the coffee table to fit in front of them. Bucky takes Kate's previous seat pulling your bad ankle into his lap and leaving your other to fall to the ground without the inner sections of the couch being there.

“You wanna play five hundred?” Yelena asks, sitting on the opposite side of the table knowing that it’ll be a great way to distract you from your ankle.

“Hell yeah I do!” You shoot up into a better sitting position at her words. Kate shuffles the cards and Pietro digs in the table for a notebook and pen to keep score.

“I’ll keep score!”

“No you won’t.” Yelena snatches the notebook from his hands. “I’m not having you feed points to Wanda and Y/n again. Bucky can keep score.” She throws the notebook into Bucky’s lap who catches the corner of it before it can hit your ankle.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“You’ll just write our names down and after each round we’ll tell you how many points we’re gaining or losing and you’ll keep doing the math until someone reaches five hundred.”

“Pietro can’t be trusted because he adds on points to whatever those two say.” Kate chimes in after you finish explaining it, motioning with her head towards you and Wanda.

“You guys caught me one time!”

“And who knows how often you did it without us realizing!”

“And we had no idea that it was happening.” Wanda says in a way that tells everyone she definitely knew it was happening. Something everyone caught onto with how poorly she acted surprised when Kate and Yelena caught him. Neither of them know that you knew too and that it was your idea to begin with and the twins have yet to rat you out.

A pillow gets thrown at her which she hits straight into Pietro's face causing you to laugh. Bucky smiles at seeing the light come back into you after it being missing since your fall. It’s the smile and companion look on his face as he watches you that has Yelena snapping another picture to send the group chat later. It’s a look that tells her he’s already in deep for you whether he realizes or not and she’ll have to start plotting with Kate as soon as possible.

Kate ends up winning after battling for it with Wanda for a while. The pizza got delivered near the end of the game and sat on the dining room table ignored by everyone but Pietro until the final rounds finished. You all eat while watching the first Harry Potter movie at Wanda’s request. And when the pizza’s gone and the movie’s over Pietro takes the dishes into the kitchen and loads them into the dishwasher before saying his goodbyes.

You argue with Bucky about how you’ll get upstairs hating that your friends side with him rather than saying you’d be fine to walk upstairs. It’s only when he threatens to throw you over his shoulder again that you give in and agree to hopping on his back. You hug the girls goodnight before begrudgingly letting Bucky help you climb onto the couch and latching onto him. You try to ignore the feel of his big hands looped under your knees to keep you steady and the warmth that seeps through your jeans from them, instead focusing on keeping your grip on his bag that he put in your hands so he could hold onto you and making sure your arms don’t end up choking him while you direct him to your room. Not that you needed to, you all still have your name tags that Kate made up.

“You care if I use your shower doll?” Bucky asks after depositing you on your bed he had rinsed off in the gym when he was done but has yet to have a proper shower. The pet name slips out without him even noticing but it feels like a whole flight of birds has taken off in your stomach. All you can do is shake your head not thinking about how he can’t see you do it with his back still to you until he turns around giving you an expectant look, hands still rummaging through his bag to get clean clothes out.

“Oh sorry no go ahead it’s right through that door.” You gesture towards it before bracing your hands on your bed to get ready to stand.

“Can I trust you not to move around while not in eyesight?”

“I just wanna change while you’re in there and then I promise I’ll be back in bed.” You hold your pinky out and he follows your lead wrapping his bigger one around yours leaning his head down to kiss his hand the same time you do yours. “I can’t believe a big guy like you knows how to properly pinky promise!” You’re giddy with your excitement over seeing the giant man duck down to seal it with a kiss.

“I have a younger sister.” He shrugs before turning and heading into the bathroom, leaving you to adjust to the new information while you change into your pajamas, an old hockey jersey with Pietro’s number on it and sleep shorts. You’re tucked in bed with your current rewatch of The Nanny on when Bucky comes back out in sweats and a short sleeve shirt. It’s the first time his right arm and it’s sleeve of tattoos are on display for you. You can feel yourself staring wanting to know what they are but also ogling the way the shirt hugs his biceps before he breaks you out of your stupor.

“Nice shirt.” He nods his head in your direction as you look over at him where he’s shoving his stuff back in his bag. Your smile widens as you realize it’s an Avengers jersey from last season.

“Thanks! Piet gave it to me for being his number one fan! Of course then Wanda complained and we have matching ones now.” You stand quickly enough to stumble and wince at the same time to turn around and show Bucky the back with Maximoff across your shoulders and the number 73, the twins' birthday, underneath it.

Before looking at it Bucky rushes over to steady you since your hands worry about holding up the shoulders to give him a better view of it instead of being free to catch yourself. When he does look up he has to ignore the acidic feeling eating away at his stomach at seeing Maximoffs name on your back when he wants it, needs it now that he knows it’s an option, to be his.

“Careful! Jesus it’s like you just have no self preservation instincts.” He changes the topic, hoping to ignore whatever jealousy there is for his teammate being close with you.

His, big, hands on your hips guide you to sit back down and their warmth sinks in through your shorts and as soon as you’re sat back down you’re covering your legs with the blanket to hide the goosebumps along your flesh and squeeze your thighs together. You find yourself wondering how you’re going to survive the night next to him if this is how your body chooses to react to just the heat of his hands when you know for a fact that you’re a cuddler when you sleep despite trying otherwise. Yelena hates having to share a bed with you during your friend getaways because of it.

“What are you watching?” Bucky’s face scrunches up and his head turns to look at the tv as Fran laughs.

“The Nanny.”

“Why does she sound like that?”

“It’s part of her charm. Sit, I’ll start the show from the beginning since you’ve obviously never seen it.” You pat the bed next to you and grab the remote to go back to the first season before he can even think to argue about it. Not that he would, the excitement in your eyes was enough to sit next to you and be tortured by a nasally voice forever. Bucky finds it to be a trend in his life now to want to keep you happy.

“As you wish.” He says as he slides in next to you causing you to gasp and look at him.

“Like from The Princess Bride?”

“The what?” Bucky knows what you’re referring to, he loves The Princess Bride. He however doesn’t want you to realize that he had meant it similarly to the way Westly meant it and hopes that you don’t notice his cheeks going pink like he’s sure they are at almost being caught.

“You know what, add it to the watch list. We have to educate you on film Mr. Only watches Lord of The Rings.”

“I don’t only watch Lord of The Rings.” Bucky groans in a joking way before letting out a chuckle and sending butterflies to your stomach. You have to force yourself to look back at the tv so he doesn’t catch you trying to memorize his smile but that doesn’t stop you from watching from your periphery and the smile never quite leaves his face the rest of the time you do.

You fall asleep around a season in after insisting you weren’t tired and you definitely weren’t yawning. Bucky can’t help but to smile at it when he notices you’ve dozed off. As he’s about to get up and use the light of the tv to find a spare blanket to move to sleep on the floor you move so your head rests on his lower chest. At first he freezes not sure what to do, even though the only difference between now and earlier is you’re in bed instead of on a couch, before he decides to just get comfortable. He slowly adjusts so he’s laying flat instead of in his propped up half sitting position making sure he jostles you as little as possible. Once he’s repositioned your head ends up resting closer to where his heart is than his stomach and his left arm stays laid out under your neck and shoulders. When your arm moves to wrap around his waist and pull him closer in your sleep, your body molding into the side of his, no one would be able to wipe the smile off of his face if they tried. Bucky falls asleep soon after arm wrapped around your shoulders and that smile still there.

Bucky wakes up first the next morning at first a little disoriented at the feel of another person in his arms and the smell of your strawberry shampoo surrounding him but once he finds his footing he holds you closer to him burying his nose further into your hair and adjusting his hips so you wouldn’t be able to notice his morning wood. It’s been a while since he’s woken up with anyone in bed with him or even held anyone the way he’s holding you and he makes sure to take the time to relish it because he’s not sure when the next time he’ll experience it again. He doesn’t fight the urge to go back to sleep for once until you start moving in his arms.

You groan as you start to wake up and turn onto your other side wapping your arm around the object next to you. Which would normally be your pillow or the stuffed dog you’ve had since you were a kid so you freeze when it’s a warm body. As Bucky’s scent invades your senses when your nose gets buried in his chest you slowly open your eyes and turn your head up to look at him. Your eyes go wide when they meet his and you scramble back away from him missing the look of disappointment in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t even think to warn you about my cuddling habits at night. Oh God you probably think I’m a nut. I bet you were so uncomfortable I’m sorry.” Bucky’s face scrunches up as you begin to ramble and he reaches out to put a hand on your arm to interrupt you.

“Hey, hey! It’s alright. Was I or was I not also cuddling you?” That stops you in your train of thought completely as you take in his words and think about exactly how you had woken up, his arms already wrapped around you before you turned and started cuddling him. A grin overtakes your features in a way that reminds Bucky of when it happens to the Grinch in the animated cartoon and you look back over at him.

“Bucky Barnes, are you a secret cuddler?” There’s a playful accusing tone to your voice as you speak.

“Never been much of one must be just having a cute girl next to me that made it happen.” Your face heats at his words and you can already feel yourself overthinking on if he’s flirting with you or not.

“I have to pee.” You blurt it out fast before rushing out of bed grimacing when your ankle takes on weight but dealing with it as you get to the bathroom as quickly as you can. As soon as the door is shut you lean your back against it and let out a breath of air. You stay against the door internally freaking out about Bucky’s flirting for a minute before deciding to give whatever energy he gives you back and actually going to the bathroom and brushing your teeth. When you leave the bathroom he’s pulling his toothbrush and toothpaste out of his bag.

“It’s all yours.” You point your thumb over your shoulder to the bathroom and hobble your way back to the bed to sit down.

“How’s it feeling today?” His head nods towards your ankle.

“It’s fine, much much better than yesterday.” You’re partially lying, it does hurt less than it did but you had tried to feel it up in the bathroom and you’re pretty sure it swelled up a little bit. He hums in response before going to brush his teeth. When he’s back he goes straight to look at said ankle in question.

“Oh sweetheart.” His voice is soft and it’s almost like it pains him to see your injured ankle the way it is when he unwraps it. There’s a little bit of bruising and it did swell but not as much as either of you were worried it would. “Be honest, how is it feeling?”

“It does feel better, really. Still hurts but nowhere near as much as it did yesterday. Promise.”

“Okay.” He’s gentle as he wraps it back up, resisting the urge to drop a kiss to it. “Do you want to get dressed before we go downstairs?”

“Are we gonna be going anywhere today?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then no, I'll stay in my pjs all day.”

“Alright, hop on then. And then I’ll make you some breakfast and we can watch more of that show from last night.” He turns around and crouches a little so it’s easier for you to climb onto his back. You grab your phone before wrapping yourself around him.

“Wow breakfast and The Nanny you sure know the way to a girl's heart!” You’re beaming as you rest your chin on his shoulder and his hands go to secure your legs.

“I try.” Bucky chuckles and his hands playfully squeeze your calves before he starts heading downstairs. “What do you wanna eat?”

“Can you make French toast?” He drops you on the couch carefully, still being aware of not jostling your ankle too much.

“Yeah. I’ll be back with the ice pack for your ankle, get comfortable and get it elevated. I’ll start on breakfast after.”

You wait to actually start the show until he gets back with the food but get it ready between him sticking a pillow under your foot and resting the pack on your ankle and going to make your breakfast. You spend the time he’s cooking to scroll through your phone and text the girls about how you’re doing the chat blowing up when you tell them that Bucky’s cooking for you and that you’re letting him. Since you’ve never been one to let other people cook instead wanting to be the one to take care of it. But this time you don’t exactly have a choice in the matter and, not that you would admit it to anyone, you’re kind of enjoying being taken care of.

When he comes back with french toast topped with powdered sugar and strawberries you could’ve started drooling. Once you put syrup on it and take a bite you swear up and down to him that it’s the best french toast you’ve ever had. He doesn’t believe you because he’s had your food and knows how good your cooking and baking is. But the way you moan at almost each bite and continue to tell him how good it is almost has him believing you. It also makes it hard to focus on the show you insist he needs to watch because it’s, in your words, a classic. He’s quick to take the dishes away to wash them when you’re both done eating even though you insist you can just do them when he starts to let you move around on your own again.

“Do you have anything you have to do for your classes today that you’re missing?”

“No, my professors just told me to go over the powerpoints they’ll be posting later. Do you?” Checking your emails to see if any of them had responded to your sorry I won’t be in class one was one of the things you had done while he cooked. Bucky nods to answer your question.

“Gotta read a couple articles. So I’ll be right back just gotta go grab my laptop.”

“Okay. I’ll be here.”

When he comes back you continue watching the show with him glancing up now and then in between paragraphs. He gets completely distracted from his article though when you scoot closer to him and rest your head on his shoulder. You turn your head up towards him when you feel his eyes on you for longer than just a glance.

“What? Oh! Is this okay? Sorry I just sorta seem to want to gravitate towards you. Like your arms metal and I’m a magnet.” You let out a nervous chuckle and before you can move away he’s leaning more into you.

“It’s okay doll. Make yourself comfortable.” You beam up at him then before wrapping your arms around his arm and nuzzling into it. It’s very hard for him to keep focused on the article pulled up in front of him then. Thankfully it was the last one he needed to read and he was more than halfway done with it. When he does finish it he wraps the arm around your shoulder after tossing the closed laptop to the side of the couch allowing you to cuddle into his side.

“You know you’re way less grumpy today than you normally are. You’re all cuddly and smiling and talkative.”

“Must’ve woken up on the right side of the bed.” You duck your head down and bite your lip, faking paying attention to Fran and Maxwell to hide the giddy smile that his words send to your face.

The day goes by with the two of you cuddled up on the couch watching The Nanny. Bucky makes you a sandwich for lunch just the way you ask for it and even lets you sit in the kitchen with him while he did it to give you some sort of movement. He had hovered the whole time you made your way in and back to the couch ready to catch you if you tripped or swoop in to pick you up if you grimaced a little too much. Thankfully neither option happened. And when Wanda, the first of the girls to get home, comes in she finds the two of you on the couch again much like yesterday and can’t help but smile. Bucky misses the feel of you against him when you straighten up to talk to her as she sits by your feet. Yelena gets home not long after stating that Kate will be back late because she picked up a shift at the cafe and let you know that she’s letting Stan, the owner of the place, know that you won’t be able to work for a bit because of your ankle. Which you had started to argue about before abruptly shutting up when she shot you her no nonsense look knowing it was pointless then.

She joins you all on the couch after grabbing bags of snacks, throwing your favorite flavor of Dot’s pretzels your way and Wanda's oreos into her lap on her way to the other side of the couch with her own hot cheetos in her hands. You all sit there talking to each other, Bucky chiming in here and there but mainly just listening, with the show on in the background and Bucky finds himself enjoying himself amidst it all. It wasn’t boring like when he briefly had a dorm to himself and it isn’t chaos like what he lives with now. It’s the closest he’s felt to living at home with his sister and parents and he sinks in the comfortability of it all like a stone in water. He even doesn’t mind when Pietro shows up and makes everything louder and a little bit more chaotic with changing the show to some comedy and reaching over people to steal some of their snacks.

By the time Kate gets home Pietro is passed out, head leaned back against the couch and snoring and you’re halfway to following him. Bucky hands your Dots to Wanda as he greets the new addition that just collapsed on the couch next to Yelena complaining about it being a long day. Then he slowly moves you to lean against the corner you’re sitting in before making his way off the couch in the moment hating how big it is the way you all have it set up because of how he has to scooch down it. He bids the girls a goodnight before leaning over and picking you up to take you upstairs. You mumble a bit more asleep than awake before leaning into him, Bucky’s quick to turn around before anyone can see the smile that brings to his face. But it’s just a moment too slow because Yelena does notice it and one of her own appears.

You wake up the next day rolling over and stretching your arm out searching for Bucky’s warmth to find your bed empty and immediately opening your eyes. You find Bucky in gym shorts and shirtless doing pushups on the floor. Your sleepy eyes rake over the tattoos that cover his right arm once more, having an urge to grab it and get him to let you trace them with your fingers.

“Bucky?” Your voice is croaky with sleep as you lean over the bed to look at him more. “What’re you doing? What time is it?”

“Early.” He doesn’t have to look at his phone to know that he had set an alarm to get up at five and maybe only twenty minutes have passed since. “Was supposed to hit the gym this morning but didn’t wanna just leave you.” Your heart picks up at the thought and you go back to laying on the bed completely when he finishes his reps and stands up.

“Oh. You could’ve gone.” He goes to say something but you interrupt. “Or maybe not, I probably would’ve gotten up to look for you. But you can go now big guy, I'll stay here.” Your eyes close and Bucky smiles as he realizes you’re ready to pass out again.

“I’ll be back soon okay?” You nod burrowing into your pillows and blankets some more. “Go back to sleep, doll and I’ll be back before you wake up.” He leans over and drops a kiss to your forehead like it’s second nature for him before he realizes that he’s even doing it. A small smile shows on your lips at it and Bucky straightens up, throws his shirt back on, and grabs his bag before heading out. Yelena nods in greeting when she sees him from her spot in the dining room with her morning tea and tells him about the key hidden outside before he can leave.

After he had been at the gym for a while some of his other teammates show up, each one going to their own area except for Sam and Pietro. They make a beeline straight for him when they spot him doing bench presses. He immediately wishes he had both headphones in knowing they’re about to slow him down when he’s been trying to get done as quickly as he can in order to get back before you wake like he said he would.

“How’s my stubborn Printesa?” Pietro asks.

“Fine.” Bucky huffs out his response not wanting to dignify the question with his dumb pet name for you with an answer. He focuses back on the bar in his hands to ignore that acidic feeling that’s eating away at him again.

“Is she staying off that foot?”

“Yeah.” If Sam hadn't been the one to ask he wouldn’t have answered.

“Yeah I was over last night, she stayed sat on the couch leaned into Bucky the whole time.”

“Wait, you were over last night? Where was my invite?”

“I have a standing invite because of having a twin on the inside.”

“So in other words you just walked in and made yourself at home?”

“Pretty much.” Pietro shrugs as he and Sam go back and forth and Bucky lets out an annoyed growl as he places the bar back on the brackets.

“Are you two here to workout or just bug me?” He doesn’t give them time to respond before making his way over to the treadmills, digging his headphone case out of his bag to put the second one in so they can’t bother him anymore.

“Will the two of you get to work and stop annoying Buck!” Steve comes in at the end and Bucky sends a thankful nod to his friend, getting one in acknowledgement back.

“Sir yes sir!” Pietro fake salutes before nudging Sam towards the squating area.

Admittedly Bucky doesn’t run as far as he normally does but as the clock ticks closer to seven he gets more anxious to get back to you. While part of it is because he said he’d be back before you wake up and intends to stick by that even though you probably, definitely, didn’t even hear it another part of it is he doesn’t want you to wake up and decide to try to get downstairs on your own. He waves to Steve and Scott on his way out, the latter ecstatically waving in return and causing Steve to laugh while Bucky rolls his eyes at how excited he is all the time. He stops at home before heading back next door wanting to grab clean clothes for the night and drop all of his dirty clothes off.

He does still make it back before you wake up. You’re hugging a spare pillow to your chest and Bucky smiles at the sight even though he wishes he was there in place of it. He knows he smells of sweat though and instead of changing and rejoining you he heads straight into the bathroom to shower.

When you wake up again the shower’s running and instead of Bucky you’re cuddling with the pillow he must’ve been using with how it smells like him. You stretch starfish style and let out a satisfied groan when your shoulder pops before sitting up in tandem with the water turning off. You don’t pay it any mind though, instead rolling your neck to crack it you freeze though your neck still tilted to the side when you spot Bucky in just a towel in the doorway of the bathroom. You’re both frozen in space eyes wide for a moment before he speaks.

“Left my bag out here.” You can only nod as your eyes take in all of the bare skin that’s revealed to you. You can’t help but marvel at the man in front of you only snapping out of it once the doors shut again. Your face immediately heats up as you realize the way you had just been gaping at him and you fall back into bed pulling a pillow over your face to hide from the embarrassment of it.

“Y/n? What are you doing?” Bucky asks as he finds you a chuckle falling from his lips at your muffled ‘waiting for death’ in response. He sits next to you leaning over and trying to gently remove the pillow only lifting it an inch before your arms lock it down again. “C’mon dollbaby.” The pet name practically causes you to melt, something that Bucky stores away for later, and allows him to remove the pillow but doesn’t stop your hands from covering your face instead. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m an idiot who just gawked when I should’ve responded to you or looked away at least.” An amused smile takes its proper place on Bucky’s face at your response.

“Does it make it better or worse if I tell you I would’ve done the same thing if roles were reversed?”

“You would’ve?” That gets you to peek through your fingers and look at him.

“Of course I would’ve have you seen yourself? I can barely keep my eyes off of your legs in your sleep shorts!” You laugh more at the way he says it than the words themselves. “There she is.” His voice goes soft as your eyes meet his and his hand goes to caress the side of your face. There’s suddenly suffocating tension in the room and all Bucky wants to do is lean down and kiss you and all you want is for him to do it. But instead he pulls away and stands up putting some distance between the two of you. “You want breakfast again?” He crouches for you to get on his back like the morning before.

“Yeah. What do you normally eat after going to the gym in the morning?” You get up and get on letting him carry you downstairs.

“A giant helping of oatmeal.” He spreads his arms out hoping, praying, to hear you laugh again for his wish to be granted before they go back to making sure you’re secure on his back.

“I think we have some of the apple kind in the pantry. You could make us oatmeal, maybe add some fruits like strawberries or bananas.”

“As you wish.” You want to call him out on it again but he had already said he’d never seen The Princess Bride and Bucky wants to run and hide because you’re sure to catch on to his lie if he keeps saying it.

The two of you have big helpings of oatmeal with Bucky having a bigger portion and finishing what you couldn’t eat and continuing to watch The Nanny. Your day continues like that until you realize you’re both missing your film class. He reassures you that Sam will be taking notes on what they say in class and sharing them with the two of you so you can respond in the discussion post your teacher is gonna post later and that if you want to you two can watch it then. So after lunch, which consists of your favorite takeout, the two of you put on Don’t Worry Darling and you take notes on it as you watch it about how it depicts men’s desire to control and how it critiques society's expectations placed on women so it’ll be easier to answer the discussion post.

“Oh shit is this The Nanny?” Sam asks later when he just walks in.

“Yeah!”

“What, you don’t knock anymore?” You and Bucky respond at the same time you completely unbothered with Sam’s unexpected presence and Bucky completely bothered by it.

“Pietro said he just shows up, I’m gonna just show up. Now move over Buck this shows the best!” He tosses the notebook open to where he took notes during the film class into Bucky’s lap before squeezing in between the two of you despite all the room on the couch.

“You know the show?”

“My sister would watch it all the time so naturally I got into it.”

“You can’t just walk into their place without them knowing you’re showing up.”

“Pietro does it and Y/n doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Oh I don't, we used to leave our doors open randomly when we were still in the dorms and talk to the people who walked past.”

“You’re gonna start locking your door.” He points at you after he has a moment to take in the new information you just told him. “And you go sit on the other side of the couch.” He points at Sam then before pointing over his shoulder to the other couch corner not appreciating the fact that Sam forced his way into his spot next to you.

“Relax Buck, you can sit next to your girl again later. I won’t be here for long.” Bucky grumbles to himself before moving over some more so he’s not pressed up against Sam anymore. He folds his arms across his chest as his friend resituates himself to get comfortable. You don’t notice Sam call you Bucky’s girl and Bucky doesn’t comment on it or how it calms down the unreasonable possessiveness that was just taking him over.

Sam doesn’t leave until after dinner which consists of Mac and cheese and chicken both made by Yelena and the second Harry Potter movie is over, Wanda’s pick. When he does leave Bucky immediately moves back to sit next to you and you’re quick to lean back into his warmth. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Yelena or Kate who share a look with each other but does go unnoticed by Wanda who moves to your other side in between you and the couch corner to show you pictures of the plants she’s thinking of getting to add to the collection around the house.

“So Bucky, when’s your first game of the season?” Kate asks, drawing his attention from you to the other two girls, one sitting criss-cross and the other with one leg stretched out and the other bent.

“Two weeks, practice starts tomorrow morning.”

“God, that means Piet’s gonna be over all the time to ‘fuel up’.” Wanda groans in mock annoyance and uses finger quotations around what he always says when he shows up after practice.

“Bad news Wanda, I think that means Sam’s gonna be over too.” You all laugh as she lets out an actual groan of annoyance at Yelena’s definitely correct assumption. “I bet it’s safe to assume you will be too Barnes?” She smirks in his direction.

“Why are we all apparently coming here after practices?”

“Because Y/n’s collecting hockey players like pokemon cards with her cooking.”

“I’ve been cooking for Pietro after practices for a while now.” You explain for Bucky when you recognize the confusion still behind his eyes. “You’re all welcome to come with him even though I’ve only really interacted with you three.”

“You’re not gonna be feeding a whole team every couple days.”

“Says you.” You mumble to yourself low enough that Bucky’s the only one who catches it. You get a squeeze of your thigh from him in response.

“Yeah, and I’m right.” He whispers it in your ear sending a shiver down your spine.

“Fine, just your household then.” You keep the for now part to yourself this time and he nods in agreement knowing there’s no stopping that.

“I have an early shift tomorrow so I should head up for the night.” Yelena says as she gets up. “Wanda you should too otherwise you’re going to be a zombie and affect our tips.”

“I hate when you’re right.” Wanda reluctantly gets up too before turning to you Bucky and Kate. “Night guys see you tomorrow.”

The three of you aren’t long to follow. You and Kate talk about how you both want to have a craft night soon while Bucky just sits and listens happy to just watch the two of you get excited over the ideas of doing paint nights or clay nights or whatever other crafts you’re both naming. He admittedly stops paying that much attention and instead is focused on watching how your eyes light up and you start to talk with your hands the more excited you get. The second you start to yawn though he’s insisting it’s time for bed and lets you slowly hobble up the stairs on your own this time knowing you’ll have to be able to do it tomorrow while he’s gone.

“When’s your practice tomorrow?” You ask him as the two of you brush your teeth next to each other.

“Early, I’ll probably be gone when you wake up. And then I have a shift at the rink so I won’t be over when Pietro shows up after practice.”

“Are you gonna start staying at your place tomorrow then?” You speak with your toothbrush in your mouth and Bucky nods before leaning down to spit into the sink.

“Yeah, I probably should. How’s your ankle feeling? You think you’ll be okay on it?”

“It feels a lot better. I'll be fine to walk on it tomorrow I think.”

The two of you don’t even try to act like you won’t end up cuddling that night immediately getting comfortable wrapped up in each other's arms once you’re in bed. Neither of you wanting to start sleeping alone again after tonight but knowing that there’s no other option with the excuse of him needing to stay because of your ankle no longer being available once you start walking on it. You had forgotten how nice it was to sleep next to another human being like this since your last relationship and Bucky’s never had anyone to sleep next to where it was as nice as it was sleeping next to you. He had never craved another person's presence quite like how he craves yours. It’s almost painful for him to unwrap himself from you in the morning when he has to go and he drops a kiss on your forehead before leaving longing to be coming back to you after.

The days go by and your ankle slowly goes back to as normal as it can. The only difference is you tend to bend it awkwardly just enough to send a quick zip of pain up it before it’s fine again now. But they also go by with the hockey players next door making themselves at home in your home after each practice. Sam and Pietro are over all the time, Pietro because he’s family and Sam because he’s this close to getting Wanda to say yes to a date, his words.

Bucky finds any excuse he can to stick close to you. He helps you cook if there’s still anything left to make when they come over or bake if you feel like making a dessert. He sits next to you at the dining table, sickeningly close as Sam teases him with later, and just watches you, studies you really, when you’re not right next to each other. His favorite time to watch you is when you have them over for breakfast and you cook while they sit in the dining room talking with the girls. You move about the kitchen with an elegance you don’t have anywhere else and hum to yourself normally with soft music on in the background. The morning sun shines on you and he’s caught you just basking in it a few times. You’re just utterly and completely beautiful in your element and it always pushes him one step closer in the direction of taking you to his field.

The Avengers win their first two games of the season and for both all of you show up dressed up to match with the boys, a pact you had all made with Pietro when he started complaining about having to wear suits. And while the four of you don’t get quite as dressed up as the team, Yelena and Kate show up in business casual outfits and you and Wanda dress in what Pietro calls kindergarten professional. Which means fun colors and not a lot of skin showing you both wear your matching overalls once Wanda with a long sleeved red shirt and you with a loose green sweater underneath before you switch to your cute flowery skirts.

It’s not enough to distract Bucky. Sure his eyes get drawn to you during breaks or when he gets penalties, which has happened less him not wanting to be as violent on the ice now that he knows a sweetheart like you is watching him and not wanting you to see his rough edges even if you may have seen them before. But he takes the game too seriously to let his eyes stray from the puck while he’s actively playing. No matter how much you stick out in the crowd or how the sunshine you emit as you cheer them on could melt the ice. It’s not until the third game of the season that he gets a little bit distracted. You show up in a corset top sundress and a cardigan and Bucky can’t help but keep stealing glances your way, hating that he can’t stop himself from looking at your tits like some kind of school boy. Little does he know he’s not the only one who can’t help but look.

It’s halfway through the game when Bucky lines up in front of Brock Rumlow, Hydra’s known enforcer who they just switched to play right wing instead of left, and the look on his face already has Bucky knowing he’s about to say something to piss him off.

“That’s some fan you guys got over there Barnes.” He nods his head in your direction. “I’m tempted to get the team to just let you guys score just to watch her jump up and down and cheer.”

“Don’t fucking look at her Rumlow.” Bucky growls out in response not wanting him to even think about you.

The match goes on and Bucky is hyper aware of where Rumlow is the whole time and how he skates by the glass in front of you and Wanda. He suddenly really misses Yelena’s guard dog presence that he knows would deter his attention but her and Kate couldn’t make it this game. It’s not too long before The Avengers score and the crowd goes wild with cheering and when Bucky should be searching out your beaming smile he’s watching Rumlow look your way.

When they get lined up again Brock whistles as he slides into place in front of Bucky.

“That dress really hugs her just right bet it’d look better bunched up around her waist while I-” The ref blows the whistle to start and immediately Bucky’s tossing his stick down and flicking his gloves off with Brock following suit. Bucky doesn’t waste any time grabbing onto him and starting to swing. He sees red as they fight and it doesn't take long before Bucky has Brock knocked out and they’re both going down on the ice. He stays there until the refs come to separate them and once he’s up he heads straight to the penalty box knowing he’s going to get a five minute penalty for fighting on the ice. He’s smirking when he turns back towards the rink enjoying how disoriented Rumlow is as he gets up from the ice.

After the game, that The Avengers had won, you and Wanda wait in the parking lot for the boys. Pietro’s the first one out, the rest of them not far behind him, and he runs over to the two of you as soon as he spots you. The three of you do your regular celebratory group hug before you turn and immediately seek out Bucky to give him a hug. His arms wrap around you and a smile slowly forms on his previously angry looking face. As soon as you’re in his arms thoughts of Brock Rumlow’s leering are out of his head.

“Wanna go somewhere?” He speaks into your hair and you smile into his chest while you answer.

“With you big guy? Always.”

“Wanda, I'm stealing her.” The two of you separate except for your hands that Bucky had entwined together.

“Have fun!” Your friend says as she waves to you.

“But what about celebrating?” Pietro asks because you were all supposed to go out for an early dinner.

“Celebrate without us.” Bucky calls back not pausing as he leads you to Sam’s truck that he convinced him to let him borrow with the thought that he’d be able to take your spot in Wanda’s car. He opens the passenger side door and helps you in before rounding his way to the driver's seat. He’s quick to shed the suit jacket and loosen his tie once he’s in the car and you bite your lip and look away before he can glance your way again, hoping he didn’t catch you ogling him because Bucky Barnes looks damn good in a suit but even better when he’s getting out of one.

“So where are we going big guy?” You ask a few minutes into the drive.

‘Somewhere secret.” Bucky’s been speeding trying to get you there as soon as possible while not going so fast that he could get the two of you into an accident. His dreams are about to come true quite literally because all he seems to be able to do at night is dream about you laying with him in the field.

“Ooo a surprise. I love surprises! I didn’t get a lot of them growing up. Presents were unwrapped if there were any and my family didn’t really do anything out of a schedule. There was one time I thought my parents were going to throw me a surprise party but they had just forgotten my birthday.” Bucky’s grip on the wheel tightens, it seems everything you say about your family is bad and you say it so nonchalantly that he knows it’s just how you were always treated. “So I’ve never had one of those despite how much I’d like one.” Bucky stores that information away for later as he pulls into a parking spot near a trail that leads to the field.

“Do you bring me out to the middle of nowhere to kill me?” You ask as he helps you out of the truck, his tie now discarded and the sleeves of his button up rolled up while his suit jacket is clutched in his hand. It’s hard for you to tear your eyes away from his forearms but by some miracle you do.

“No, c’mon.” He chuckles at your joke and grabs your hand again to lead you along the trail. He keeps you close to him under the guise of making sure you don’t trip, which he’s doing that too, but really it’s mainly to have you close. And you’re all too happy to be close to him. Your comfortable conversation goes stagnant as the trail opens up to the clearing and you take in the field of flowers in front of you.

“Wow!” You’re breathless as you take it in and Bucky gives you a moment before pulling you to the spot he normally sits in where it’s mainly just grass. He sits and spreads out the jacket brought with the two of you for you to sit on so you don’t get grass stains on your pretty dress. You slowly sit taking in the sight around you before tuning into a bee on one of the daisies. Bucky leans back on his hands and studies you. He was right, you do make this place even more beautiful.

“This is so beautiful, Bucky.”

“Ya it is.” He’s looking at you something you don’t know because you’re too busy touching the petals of a pink flower.

“I bet you bring all the girls here.” You tease him as you pluck the flower you’re studying to twirl between your fingers.

“I’ve only ever brought you dollbaby. Steve doesn’t even know about this place.” You turn your head to look at him, your eyes meeting his. You’re shocked to hear it and the way that he’s looking at you combined with the bomb he just dropped your heart feels like it’s just completely overflowing. And before you even know what you’re doing you’re leaning over and placing a kiss on his lips.

“Sorry! I don’t know-” You’re quick to start to pull back, shocked by your actions but you don’t get far before Bucky’s hand is on the back of your neck stopping you from going any farther, he’s positively beaming which you would argue is a better sight than the field you’re in.

“Ain’t nothing to be sorry for.” He pulls your lips back to his knowing that he’s about to be an addict.

Bucky Taglist(12/30): @the-chocoholic-writer @vanillamaa @sailormajinmoon @enlyume @collywobbl @valhalla-kristin @nojamsonmytoast @esoltis280 @aactuaaltraash @cali-888 @moonNooon @Minami97

Marvel Taglist(14/30): @lieswithoutfairytales @sugarbutterbailey @1-800-ch3rry @neenieweenie @fluffy-bnny @bunnyweasley23 @chaoticevilbakugo @trikigirl271 @chxosunbound @mazerunnerrose @goldylions @literally-a-ferret @angelgirl45367 @supraveng

Everything Taglist: @matchabbarnes @bubsonnobx @practicalghost @katsukis1wife @crustyowos @yourfavdummy @protecteddiemunson4vr @kennedy-brooke @m00nkn1ghts @rory-cakes

sunflowergirl522

I just binged Off Campus and it made me think of these two

#fic reblog

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