Closed starter for @cagedshewolf
Losing Natasha had been the worst thing that had happened to Clint Barton. She had been his best friend and they had done so much to get Bucky back for her, only to have lost her in the end. Worst still was having Bucky come back and having to tell him what happened. If he’d felt bad, it was nothing compared to what Bucky felt.
Bucky had been riddled with guilt. One moment he’d been fighting in a battle to save the universe with his girlfriend and best friend and the next thing he knew, everything had changed and Natasha was gone. The fact she’d died bringing him back - him who was not worthy of any of this - it was almost too much to live with.
So the two men, who had lost so much, had leaned on each other. And in their grief, something new grew out of it. Something neither of them had expected. They’d fallen in love. It was weird to have a relationship form based on their shared love for another person but it had happened. And rather quickly they’d gone from supporting each other through grief, to falling in love.
They’d moved out to Brooklyn together, determined to try and just have something normal together and things had been going well. They had a cat and a dog, and occasionally helped out with a fight, but they’d made a kind of happiness around the grief they felt. They were playing videogames when there was a knock at the door.
“It doesn’t count as a win if I have to get up,” Bucky said, still using his controller as he went to pull the door open. He was too focused on the screen to look at who it was and just assumed it was one of the neighbors. “Hey, what’s up?” he said.