Building Bridges
Summary: When your apartment is being fumigated, your cousin offers his home for you to stay. You soon find out about Sam’s ongoing feud with the guy across the hall but when you meet his cute roommate, the pair of you come up with a plan to put an end to it.
Word Count: 1842
Pairings: Steve x WOC!Reader
Warnings: Fluff, fake dating, mild swear words
Your apartment complex had recently been fumigated. Naturally when you told your cousin Sam about it, he offered to you a place to stay and to move all your things out of there until you could move back. Sam was a great guy but within the first two days, he was starting to grind on your nerves with the amount of complaining he was doing about the guy who lived across the hall from him. “Bucky did this, Bucky did that,” it was always over the most trivial stuff. Frankly, you were getting sick of it.
One afternoon, you were bringing back groceries when the bottom of one of the bags just decided to break.
“Oh, come on!” you groaned, kneeling down and trying to salvage what you could.
“Here, let me give you a hand with that…”
You looked up to see one of the most gorgeous men you have ever seen coming to your rescue.
“Thanks,” you smiled, feeling butterflies flutter in the pit of your stomach as he smiled back at you.
With Steve’s help, you were able to pack away the some of the items into the other bags and he offered to carry the larger items that would fit.
“I haven’t seen you around here before. I’m Steve.”
“I’m Y/N. I’m staying with my cousin Sam while my apartment is being fumigated.”
“Sam Wilson?” he asked.
“Yeah. You know him?”
“He’s my neighbour,” he sighed. “My roommate has been fighting with him it’s just so…”
“Petty?” you supplied.
“Exactly,” he chuckled.
You were about to respond when Sam interrupted you by clearing his throat. You turned to see Sam standing in the doorway with his arms folded across his chest.
“Y/N, can I talk to you for a minute?”
You rolled your eyes before turning back to Steve.
“I’ll see you around,” you smiled, heading into the apartment.
“What were you doing talking to that guy?” Sam asked, with all the tone of an overbearing father.
“One of the bags broke and Steve stopped to help pick them up,” you replied, gesturing to the groceries in your arms and setting them down on the counter.
“He probably arranged this…”
“What?”
“Barnes. He probably arranged for the bag to break and sent Steve in to seduce you and hurt you to hurt me…”
You couldn’t believe the words you were hearing.
“You’re not serious…”
“I know how his mind works…”
“Dude, you don’t even know how your mind works. Look, I’m going to get dinner started. Try not to hurt yourself while you’re sitting over there thinking your weird little thoughts,” you smirked.
If Sam kept up with all his annoying behaviours, you were definitely going to have to put in a call to his sister. That would certainly be one thing to put him in his place.
…
A few days later, you were heading out almost at the same time as Steve.
“Y/N, good to see you again,” he smiled.
“Good to see you again,” you smiled back.
“Listen, I hope Sam didn’t give you too much grief,” he sighed, recalling his conversation with Bucky.
“He’s just being impossible. Some crap about Bucky sending you to seduce me to hurt him.
“Bucky gave me a similar lecture about you using your feminine wiles and something about never trusting anyone related to Sam Wilson.”
You both laughed a little at the utter nonsense the two men were spouting.
“Could I take you out for coffee sometime? I think I’d like to get to know you better.”
“I’m not busy now,” you smiled.
“Great! I know a great little café down the street,” he replied, leading the way.
“So, how did whole stupid feud thing get started anyway?” you asked.
“It’s been going on for so long now it’s hard to remember. I think it had something to do with a parking spot or a noise complaint and it just escalated from there just getting more and more ridiculous,” he explained.
“That doesn’t surprise me. My cousin can hold a grudge. He still brings up the time I lost one of his toys when we were kids.”
Steve chuckled as he listened to you, enjoying hearing you talk about your past.
“I love Sam like he’s my brother but he can really get on my nerves sometimes,” you sighed.
“Same with Bucky,” Steve laughed.
“I just wish there was something we could do to make them get along. I mean, there’s no real reason they couldn’t. Surely they’re both sensible guys to some extent. There must be something…”
Steve thought for a moment.
“You know, if we started being friends, they would have to start being nicer to each other,” he said, just putting the idea out there.
“I have a better plan. We should just start dating. That would really annoy them!” you grinned.
Steve’s face flushed at the suggestion which you found rather cute.
“You mean like… dating, dating?”
“We don’t have to really date, but if they think we are, they might actually have be nicer to each other,” you explained.
A smile slowly crept across Steve’s face.
“I like the way you think, Y/N.”
Over coffee, you formulated your diabolical plan.
…
By the time you got home, Sam was waiting for you.
“You were with him again, weren’t you?”
“What are you, my jealous husband?” you scoffed.
“I’m your cousin, Y/N. I care about you and I don’t want to see you get hurt…”
There was a sincerity in his eyes that made you smile softly.
“I know and I love you too, cous but I’m a big girl now and I’m fully capable of making my own decisions… in fact… Steve has asked me out on a date tonight and I have accepted…”
Not exactly a lie, Steve had asked you out to dinner but it was more of a friendship dinner than romantic.
Sam’s eyes widened and he stood there stammering.
“But… but…”
“No buts. I’m going and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. Besides, how often is it that I go on dates?”
That kept him quiet for a while. Your last relationship was with a real jerk of a guy and since then you had been careful about your dating selection. There was something in the back of your mind that told you Steve would be much better than your ex was but you could tell he was shy so you wouldn’t push it any further than he wanted to go.
…
The next morning, you woke up early to start on the next stage of your plan. Checking that the coast was clear, you beckoned Steve in from across the hall and into the room you were staying in unnoticed. You waited until you heard the sounds of Sam starting his morning routine before emerging from your room.
“Morning, Y/N. How was your date?” Sam asked, not even trying to hide the bitterness in his voice.
“It was good,” you smiled, trying to keep yourself from laughing.
“Morning, doll,” Steve drawled, scratching his head as he walked out of your room shirtless.
“Morning, sweetness,” you smiled, giving him a peck on the lips.
Sam’s jaw dropped.
“You… and he…?”
“Okay, so my date went great,” you grinned, wrapping your arms around Steve.
He smiled and nuzzled your neck. Sam stood there babbling, unable to form a coherent sentence before announcing he had to leave. You both waited until he was going before moving onto the next stage of the plan. This time, you smuggled into Steve’s room and waited for Bucky to start his morning routine. When Steve gave you your cue, you walked into the kitchen wearing Steve’s shirt.
“Morning, honey,” you greeted, giving Steve the same chaste kiss as before.
Steve smiled and wrapped his arms around you as you sat on his lap. Much to your delight, Bucky gave the same dumbfounded reaction as Sam.
“You… and her… you…?”
“What can I say, Buck? You were right about her feminine wiles,” Steve purred, giving you a warm kiss that left you feeling dizzy.
Bucky was even more flustered at Steve revealing his previous conversation.
“You know what, I think I’ll just grab something on my way out…”
It was only after Bucky had made his exit that you both burst out laughing.
“Did you see their faces?!” you cackled.
“I know right?!” Steve chuckled.
After the laughter died down, you realised you were still sitting on Steve’s lap.
“Sorry,” you muttered, standing up and feeling your face heat up.
“It’s totally fine,” he smiled. “Would you like to stay for breakfast?”
“You know, I really would,” you smiled back.
…
Over the next week, you saw Steve a lot and during that amount of time, you and Steve grew closer together. You learnt more about each other and showing signs of affection were becoming easier. It didn’t feel like you were acting anymore, instead, it felt perfectly natural, like you were meant to be a couple.
One afternoon, you were hanging out with Steve at his place. You were cuddled up to his side and watching a movie together. Suddenly, Bucky walked in followed by Sam, looking calmer than you had ever seen them in one place together.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” Steve asked, pausing the movie.
“We have come to a decision,” Bucky began.
“Yes. We have decided if you’re going to continue this relationship, we will try to get along… for your sake,” Sam continued.
“Really, Sam?” you smiled.
“Really, Y/N. We see how happy you make each other and we’ve decided we’re not going to stand in the way of that. We’re going to grab a bite to eat and catch a ball game if you want to join us,” he offered.
You and Steve looked at each other and smiled.
“Actually, we’re good here but you go ahead.”
“Alright. We’ll catch you later then,” Bucky shrugged. The pair of them started another petty argument on their way out but quickly put an end to it when they were reminded of their promise.
“Looks like our plan worked,” Steve smiled.
“Looks like it,” you smiled back.
“You know, we really should tell them we were faking it this whole time,” he mused.
There was a quiet moment before Steve leant in, giving you a tender kiss on the lips. You placed your hand on the back on his neck to deepen it a little as Steve held you a little closer. Eventually, you had to break for air.
“Then again, we have a pretty good thing going,” you breathed, moving in for another kiss.
