how you get the girl
summary: the one where bucky falls in love at first sight. and then is an idiot
pairing: bucky x bartender!reader
word count: 2.1k
warnings: explicit language, modern au, reader has tattoos (full sleeve mention), use of marijuana (mention of reader smoking a joint), consumption of alcohol, simp master bucky barnes, nat and maria are everyone's fav lesbian couple, steve and sam are cockblocks (but they don't mean it), if natasha was my best friend i would get more shit done, taylor swift dont sue me for the title
a/n: nobody asked for this and yet here it is. shout out to the three people who said they wanted me to post, this is for you besties xoxo
sorta beta read by @sweetdreamsbuck but all mistakes are my own bc i refuse to proofread 90% of the time
main masterlist
Bucky didn’t want to be out. He would much rather be on the couch with Alpine, watching New Girl, but Natasha was very persuasive. It was an unfortunate circumstance.
And now Nat had disappeared to the bathroom with Maria and god knows they wouldn’t be back for a while. That girl had stamina.
Steve, Tony, and Sam had been “on their way” for twenty minutes now, which meant Tony was being a diva and Steve had bailed, and Sam was doing his damn best to convince them to still come out. All in all, Bucky figured he had at least another 30 minutes before he was faced with one of his friends again, and what the hell was he supposed to do until then?
He contemplated facing Natasha’s wrath in the morning and just heading home before she got back, when he caught sight of a new bartender he hadn’t seen yet. It must have been a shift change, because you did some sort of elaborate handshake with the bartender that had previously been serving him, before he shrugged on his jacket and headed back through the kitchen door.
He was mesmerized by your movements - washing glasses and filling a line of shots for the rowdy frat boys on the other end of the bar - but his jaw dropped when you finally shed your own jacket and revealed a full tattoo sleeve on your left arm, beautiful florals and nature and everything in between. It reminded him so much of the tattoos on his own arm, before the accident that left him with a hunk of metal in its place. He was so captivated, he swore he had to wipe a line of drool from his mouth before you saw it.
But you had that stunning look of I will fuck you up if you even try me that Bucky so often donned, and he’s pretty sure he fell in love right then and there. He was ready to put aside every qualm he had about socialization and ask you out.
Until you spoke to him.
“What can I get ya, babe?” Your voice sounded like something from his dreams - soft and sweet and nothing like your exterior appearance. His words turned to ash on his tongue, and the surprise must have shown across his face, because you broke out into a bought laughter. “You’re cute, I’ll give ya another beer on the house.”
You turned away to grab another bottle, and he downed what was left of his own in a desperate attempt to keep from word vomiting his undying love for you. What the hell was wrong with him?
Once you finished serving another few people and made your way back to his end of the bar, he had finished his first drink and got to quick work on the second one you handed him. He felt your eyes study him intently as the cool liquid made its way down his throat, and you were still staring when he set the bottle back down on the bartop.
He didn’t know what to do, and you seemed to snap out of whatever trance you were in and gave him a slow smile.
“You waiting for someone?” Your voice sounded hesitant in a way that didn’t match your demeanor, and this helped dissipate a bit of his nervousness.
“Kinda. A few of my friends are on their way, maybe, and I’m pretty sure my best friend is screwing her girlfriend in your bathroom. Sorry.”
You threw your head back laughing at this, as if you were not at all surprised, and he could tell by your slight flush that it was genuine.
“I thought I saw her dragging someone in there on my way in. Good for her.” There was a mischievous glint in your eye at that, and it caused an easy smile to spread across his face.
“Yeah, they’re in love, it’s pretty gross,” was his reply, but the joking tone in his voice kept that grin on your face. Was this love?
No, no fucking way.
He took another swig from his beer, looking for an excuse to calm down his racing thoughts. He was just about to reply, something stupid, probably, when a burly man called your name from the other side of the bar.
And what a fitting name it was, beautiful to match the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. His heart did loops as he watched you mix a drink with expert precision, and he knew he had to up his game. You were the type of girl who deserved a lot more than cheesy pickup lines at her work place, but he had to start somewhere.
“So, doll, what-” and he was cut off by the clasp of a large hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Steve to his left, with Sam just behind him. Great. Awesome.
By the time he turned back to the bar, you had moved in the opposite direction, something that may have been disappointment on your face, or maybe that was just his wishful thinking.
He didn’t get to speak to you after that, besides ordering another round, and when he tried again, Nat and Maria were finally back, looking more than a little disheveled. It wasn’t until a few hours, and his friends were finally calling it a night, that he got to say more than a couple words to you.
He had told everyone else he would catch up with them, and waited by the end of the bar for you to finish with another group of customers. You looked happy, if not a little shocked, to see him waiting for you, but made your way over anyway.
“Ya need something, sugar?” The lilt in your voice made him smile, and he mustered all the courage he had been saving throughout the night.
“Uh, yeah, kinda. I know you probably get this a lot, especially working here, but I think you’re gorgeous. And I would love to get to know you better. So. Yeah.”
Your giggle set him into a flurry of thoughts, and he wasn’t able to tell if you were laughing at him or merely the situation. Then you held your hand out, another fit of giggles at the confused look in his face, before he finally understood what you wanted, and he put his phone in your hand.
Once you were finished, you slipped it back into the pocket of his jacket.
“Have a good night…”
“Bucky,” he supplied, realizing he never told you his name. “Bucky Barnes.”
“Have a good night, Bucky Barnes.” You threw a wink his way, before getting back to work.
He caught up to Steve and the others with a new number in his phone and a lightness in his heart.
–
And then Bucky stared at your contact for two days straight, not sure what to say or how to say it or when to say it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been on a date. He didn’t remember it being this hard.
He finally settled on a short message, something he hoped would get you to answer, but not too eager.
Bucky: How do you feel about coffee?
Y/N: is that a trick question?
Y/N: meet me at the coffee shop on myrtle in an hour <3
A heart? A heart. Maybe he did have a chance.
He got there 12 minutes early, wanting to see you when you came in, not wanting you to wait on him. He had only just sat down with his coffee when you came in the door, somehow more beautiful than the last time he had seen you.
You waved as soon as you spotted him, but made your way to the counter to order coffee first. When you finally settled in across from him, he had a smile to wide his cheeks hurt, just from watching the grace in your movements.
“So, you stare at me enough yet?” Your voice snapped him out of his trace, and his smile turned a bit sheepish. You laughed at the blush that spread across his cheeks before continuing. “I’m kidding. Mostly. I think it’s cute.”
“I think you’re cute. Uh, I mean. Wait, no, that’s exactly what I mean.” Something about your warm demeanor made it easy for him to loosen up, and soon he felt just as comfortable talking to you as any of his other friends - this was a big deal for him, considering he didn’t socialize much outside of his circle.
It felt like hours had passed, the two of you talking about nothing and everything, before you finally got up, saying you had to be at the bar for your shift soon. He took your cup from your hand, throwing it away before following you out to the sidewalk. There was a breath of awkward silence, neither of you sure how to say goodbye.
Finally, as if you were sick of whatever little game was playing out, you leaned forward, tilting your head up to face him. Instead of kissing you - right there on the crowded sidewalk, like both of you wanted - he turned his head, and your lips caught his cheek instead.
When you took a step back, he felt his heart drop to his feet, because you looked so thoroughly gutted, he felt like he had just kicked your dog.
“See ya later, Barnes.” Your voice was so quiet and meek, so unlike the fiery personality he had come to know, and it hurt him even more as he watched you turn on your heel and head in the direction of the bar.
He didn’t know how much time he spent there, staring at the corner where you turned longingly, but he finally accepted defeat and headed back to his apartment.
To his surprise, Natasha was on his couch with a bowl of popcorn when he walked through the door. He regretted ever giving her a key, not that she really needed it. My mother was a Russian spy, she always said. Sure.
“How was your little date?” Because of course that was the first thing she would ask. Perks of telling his best friend everything, is she never let it go.
So, instead of playing off as no big deal, he sulked into the couch and told her everything.
“Boo,” she said, throwing a handful of popcorn at him. “You suck.”
“I know.” Trust her to make him feel even worse.
“I’m giving you exactly one episode to mope, and then you’re going to that bar and fixing your fuck up.” And that was that, because you don’t argue with Natasha.
Fifty minutes later, he was outside the bar, working up the courage to go in, when he spotted you down the alley that lay just beside it.
Not giving himself a chance to think about all the ways this could go wrong, he headed towards you. As he approached you, the strong scent of weed hit his nostrils, and he realized you were smoking a joint right outside the kitchen door. You were his fucking dream girl.
You finally spotted him as he was a couple feet away, looking up from your phone at the sound of gravel under his boots.
“Oh, hey,” you said, promptly looking back down at your phone again. Okay, he deserved that a little.
“I’m sorry, doll. I know I’m an idiot. It’s just been a while for me, and I wanna do right by ya. Give me a second chance?” He knew good and well he was whipping out the puppy dog eyes, trying to at least get a laugh out of you before you kicked his ass to the curb. And laugh you did; a full, hearty laugh, smoke streaming from your mouth and nose, before you snubbed out the joint and slipped your phone in your jeans pocket, taking a step towards him.
“Okay, Barnes, how are you gonna make it up to me then?” You were so close he could smell the floral undertones of your perfume, still there under the scent of the weed and the bar. To him, it smelled like everything you were - perfection.
“Well, first, I’d like to start by kissin’ you, if that’s okay.”
“Took ya long enough,” was your only reply before you pulled him towards you by the front of his jacket, reaching on your tiptoes to press his lips to yours.
taglist *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
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i've been shit at keeping up with who goes where on my taglist, so if you would like to be removed from the permanent one and onto another (series only, bucky only, steve only, etc) just shoot me a message!
