When I Taste Tequila
Based off the song, Tequila by Dan + Shay
Bucky Barnes x Reader
Warnings: Character death
Bucky sucked in a deep breath of fresh air as he exited his best friends house. The music that blared inside was soon muffled as he closed the white wooden door behind him.
His friend, Steve, always knew how to throw the best parties - ever since their college days which after the years Bucky had adapted to. Being the best friend, he was always required to stay until the end.
“Buck!” Steve opened the door and peeked outside. “Oh good, I was about to have a heart attack. I thought you had left!”
Bucky chuckled at how over dramatic he was being. “C’mon, you know me. There are still a few stragglers in there.”
Leaning up against the door frame, Steve snorted. “Yeah, Clint and Pietro always have to try to out ‘party’ us,” Steve pushed the door open after putting up air quotes. “Let’s go. 3am shots remember?”
Bucky sighed but smiled nonetheless. 3am shots were a tradition. The last drink of the night and as Steve liked to say, ‘only the righteous make it to 3am shots’ and Clint and Pietro made it their life goal to make it to that last shot. Looks like that time had finally come.
“Clint! Pietro! Get in here!” Steve shouted as he and Buck entered the kitchen. As Steve got out four shot glasses, he gave Buck a goofy grin and nodded his head towards the archway that separated the kitchen from the living area.
Catching on, Buck glanced at the entrance just as Pietro and Clint stumbled in. Buck chuckled, his gaze going back to Steve who was also laughing, and shook his head. He didn’t think this was quite ‘making it’ to 3am shots. They just happened to not be passed out.
“Well,” Steve unscrewed the top of the tequila bottle and started pouring the clear liquid into each glass, “happy 3am!”
Bucky watched as Steve slid one too him, the liquid swishing back and forth until it finally stilled.
Bucky swallowed the knot in his throat as he took the shot glass in between his fingers, his eyes scanning his other friends and following them as they all took their shot.
Clenching his jaw, Bucky coughed and shook his head. He hated tequila and not just because of the taste.
“Buck!” His eyes snapped to the living area. His mind started to go a bit blurry as memories tried to reach the surface. This is why he hated tequila - the memories that came with it.
“Buck!” You squealed as you were lifted off the floor. Bucky chuckled as his grip tightened around your legs. He had you over his shoulder so you were dangling behind him.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” Bucky could basically hear your mischievous smirk as he halted.
“You think this is funny,” you repeated as you pinched his butt making him jump.
Bucky’s body kept flinching as you continued to pinch his behind until he couldn’t take it anymore. Throwing you back over his shoulder, you screamed as your body hit the pillows that you and Bucky had placed on the hard wood to lay on.
You smiled up at him as he hovered over you, his smile growing a bit as he shuffled in his spot. Grabbing onto your wrists, he brought them over your head. You were completely trapped.
Your smile started to grow as his other hand made its way to your cheek and started to slowly skim down your face and chest. It was when his hand stopped at your waist that your face dropped.
“James Buchanan Barnes,” you warned and his smile just grew. He loved when you called him by his full name but he wouldn’t dare admit that. “Don’t you dare.”
Of course he didn’t listen to you as his hand continued down your side to the hem of your white shirt. It was a sorority shirt that Bucky had gotten you as an inside joke since the two of you liked to talk about the crazy funny stories that happened on your campus’s sorority houses.
Slipping his hand underneath your shirt it traveled back up and stopped at your side. Your body shivering as his fingertips gently skimmed over your skin.
“Bucky,” you whined as his fingers continued to skim up and down your side.
Bucky smirked. He was having way to much fun with you and as much as he’d like to continue to torture you, Steve was waiting on you two.
He wanted to get one more squirm out of you though so he slowly leaned forward until his nose gently touched yours. A smirk made it onto his lips when he saw you bite down onto your bottom lip. You only did that when you wanted to hide the fact that you were liking it.
His smirk melted into a loving smile as he pecked you on the nose. “C’mon, we don’t want to be late.”
“I had a great night,” Bucky’s date smiled sweetly as she stopped at her front door.
Bucky returned her smile as he leaned against the frame. “Me too.” He honestly did have a great time with her.
She fiddled with her keys as she glanced at the closed door. “I’d invite you in but my roommate is really sick,” she cringed at just the thought. “Kind of a mood killer.”
Bucky gave her a reassuring smile, “That’s okay. Maybe we can do this again sometime?”
She grinned an nodded her head, “I’d like that a lot actually.”
Nodding his head, Bucky slowly leaned forward; his date meeting him half way as their lips touched in a gentle kiss.
“Hey, Bucky,” the bartender greeted as Bucky entered the bar near his apartment, the familiar chime going off above him as he walked through the premise.
“What can I getcha?” he asked, his hand in a beer glass as he cleaned it with a rag.
Bucky sat down on the stool in front of the bartender, his eyes glancing behind him at the alcohol filled wall.
He sighed as his eyes casted down to his hands resting on the bar in front of him. “Surprise me.”
The bartender eyed him and smiled at him softly. “I have just the thing.”
As a shot glass came in to his line of view, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Running a hand down his face, he shook his head at the clear liquid staring back at him.
Tequila.
“You know, it amazes me how completely and utterly clueless you can be,” you all but shouted as you stormed through the front door of your shared apartment.
Bucky sighed as he closed the door behind him. “I honestly don’t know why you’re so worked up y/n/n.”
You arms raised at him as did your eyebrows. “Exactly,” you huffed. “completely clueless.”
“What do you want from me?” you could hear the aggravation in his voice as he went to the fridge to get a beer. “Is this because I wouldn’t go with you to your dad’s funeral? You know I didn’t like that guy; he was a drunk and treated you horribly!”
“I know! But I still wanted you there!”
“Why?!”
“Oh my god,” you let out and exasperated breath as your fists clenched at your sides. “because I love you, you big dumb idiot!” Bucky’s eyes widened. That was the first time the word ‘love’ was mentioned between the both of you.
“H-how...” Bucky was taken back but he was still confused about how that had anything to do with your dad.
“I needed you there,” you sighed, your fists loosening their grip. “Yes, he was horrible to me but he wasn’t always like that. He was still my dad and I needed someone there who loved me because my dad was, sadly enough, all I had left.”
Bucky’s eyes softened as he saw you standing there defeated. Slowly walking up to you, he grabbed you on either side of your face, looking deep into your eyes. “You’re right. I am a big idiot.”
“Big dumb idiot,” you corrected and you both lightly chuckled.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” he bent down and kissed your lips tenderly. “And I love you too.”
Bucky’s head was down casted as he walked, the sound of twigs broke as he passed a big tree.
He was having a rough day. Nothing seemed to go right in his favor and it was starting to take a toll on him.
Getting to his destination, he finally tore his gaze away from the ground, his tired sad eyes landing on a slab of concrete in front of him.
Taking a deep breath, he ran his hand down his face and took a seat on the ground right in front of the stone.
It took him a moment but he finally mustered the courage to actually look at it, tears filling in his eyes as he read the letters etched in the concrete.
Y/n Y/l/n
Whenever he had these hard days, you were the person he’d go to. Every single time. You had a way of making him feel better. Hell, just seeing you made his day sucky day 10 times better.
Glancing down at his hand, he cleared his throat as he unscrewed the cap to the bottle he had brought with him. Taking a swig, his nose scrunched up as it started to burn.
Yes, he tried to stay away from the stuff because the memories that came with it was sometimes unbearable -
- but on days like this he remembered how bad he needed you and reliving those memories were better than remembering that you were no longer here.