T’Chucky Weekend Day 3: Apartment Building AU
Voices filter through the door from the hallway. Bucky looks up, brow furrowed as he tries to place them. One of them is clearly Sam’s, but the other voice is less familiar. A low, beautiful rumble speaking in accented English. His heart skips a beat. Bucky sets down his post work out shake and strains his ears to listen. But their voices are muffled through the wall and he can’t make out a single word.
A moment later, the front door opens, and he no longer has to wonder what’s going on beyond his walls.
“Hey, thanks again man! I’ll be right over!” Sam says enthusiastically.
Bucky blinks, completely caught off guard. What’s happening? What’s—oh. It’s him. His ridiculous, teenage-level infatuation, can’t get him out of his mind crush.
“It’s no problem at all. I’ll see you soon,” the other man says, a lovely grin on his face that Bucky can’t help but stare dumbly at.
Bucky must look like an idiot, as he gapes slack-jawed at the stranger, with his shake hanging in mid air halfway to his mouth… and he realizes this when both men turn to him, and an awkward moment passes when no one says a thing.
“Buck? You alright there?” Sam asks, an eyebrow raised, amusement written on his face at his roommate’s expense, along with the barest hint of concern.
“Wha—I—uh—hrmmph—” Bucky blushes red at the embarrassing sound that came from his throat. Heat rises all the way to the tips of his ears. He clears his throat quickly and tries to make the best of the situation. “H-hi… hello…”
“Hi.” The stranger’s voice is warm and soft, and he grins at him in a way that makes Bucky think his legs might give out soon.
Bucky opens his mouth to reply, to say something—anything. But his mind’s gone blank and he’s clearly a lost cause because Sam rolls his eyes and turns back to the stranger.
“My roommate Bucky. Don’t mind him. He’s… not usually like this.”
Bucky silently curses Sam under his breath. But their neighbor just grins and it’s so radient that Bucky goes from being mad at Sam to thanking him for bringing him here to grace their apartment with his presence.
“I hope to see you both soon.” The other man turns to Bucky to give him a small wave, and then he’s gone to continue down the hallway to his own apartment. Apartment 203. Not that Bucky knows this because he’s a stalker or anything. He just happened to notice what apartment the guy goes in to. It’s not weird at all.
Sam finally closes the door behind him and Bucky’s shoulders sag like a bag of bricks.
“You know him?” Bucky whispers under his breath like the guy might somehow still be listening.
Sam gives him a look like he’s lost his mind. “Yeah dude, that’s our neighbor. Real friendly guy.”
Bucky stares at his roommate as envy seethes deep into his chest. He’s been in this rut for weeks! What he’d give just to have a single conversation with the guy! And Sam has the audacity to act like it’s no big deal.
“What’s his name?!”
“T’Challa.”
“T’Challa,” Bucky repeats softly, testing it on his tongue.
“Yeah he’s from Wakanda. He’s only been in the states a few weeks. A bit of a culture shock for him,” Sam says with a soft laugh.
“I can’t believe you talked to him,” Bucky moans.
“What, you got a crush on him or something?” Sam teases.
“I’ve been trying to talk to him for weeks!” Bucky throws his arms up in distress, protein shake completely forgotten. “Every time I’m in the elevator with him, he’s on the phone—speaking some foreign language that I can’t understand, but oh my god he’s hot as hell.”
“You know… you could always just… knock on his door to talk to the guy.” Sam shrugs his shoulders, a smirk on his face. “Just a suggestion!”
Bucky groans. “Cold feet,” he mutters under his breath.
“The guy’s really nice,” Sam says, walking around Bucky to get to the fridge. “He invited us over to use his HBO account. Game of Thrones marathon. You down?”
Bucky blinks. “Us?”
Sam laughs. “Yeah, us. You too. So pull yourself together. I don’t want you drooling and choking over your words all night.”
Bucky laughs nervously. “Right. Of course not.”
“Alright, I’m going to get cleaned up before heading over. Do I hear the shower running?” Sam points in the direction of their bathroom.
Bucky nods. “Yeah, Steve’s in there. We just got back from the gym.”
“The guy doesn’t know how to shower at his own place?”
Bucky snorts. “We can’t get rid of him.”
“No, we can not.” Sam says as he walks around the counter to his own room.
Bucky distractedly gives his shake a swirl before taking a swig of it. His heart’s already fluttering in his chest at the thought of seeing, actually talking to the handsome stranger who’d caught his eye when he first moved in weeks ago. And he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him since.
Never in his life has Bucky considered himself the shy type. But every time he sees the guy, T’Challa, whether it’s passing him in the hallways, seeing him at the mailboxes, or spending a ten second elevator ride together if he’s lucky enough—he always gets tongue tied and choked up. He’s twenty seven years old, it’s fucking embarrassing at this point. This should not be happening to him.
But tonight will be different.
Tonight he’ll be smooth. Suave. Cool. He’ll impress him with his wit and humor!
But then Bucky groans to himself and drops his head into his hands. Who is he kidding? He’ll be lucking if tonight goes well and he doesn’t embarrass himself too much. Usually flirting comes second nature to him. Usually they’d be on their third date by now. He just can’t explain why this guy has such an effect on him.
A loud knock on the front door interrupts his thoughts.
Bucky walks over to it, swings the door open and—it’s him.
T’Challa stands on the other side and gives him a small smile.
“H-hi,” Bucky stutters. He’s gone wide eyed again.
“Hello,” T’Challa says.
“C-can I help you?”
“I was going to order pizza delivery for dinner. I wanted to ask you and Sam if you have preferences.”
“Um… I—I pretty much eat anything, so I’m good on my end. Sam hates anchovies. So whatever you get should probably have extra anchovies on it.”
T’Challa laughs. He genuinely laughs, and Bucky gives himself a silent pat on the back. His heart flutters, and he tries not to let it show.
“I uh—I never got the chance to welcome you to the building,” Bucky says. “I—I see you all the time, but—well, you’re on the phone a lot…” Bucky says lamely.
T’Challa smiles. “Yes, I see you a lot too. I had meant to say hello sooner, and introduce myself. I’m usually on the phone with my sister. She is home in Wakanda. She’s very far away.”
Bucky swallows and says softly, “it must be tough, being so far from home.”
T’Challa nods. “It’s gotten better with time. It’s nice meeting new people too.”
Bucky snorts. “You might change your mind once you get to know me better.”
T’Challa’s grin widens. “I doubt that.”
Bucky blinks. Is that a hint of flirtation that he detects? He’s just about to turn up the charisma when they’re both interrupted by the sound of a door opening behind him.
“Hey Buck, do you mind if I borrow some clothes from you? I forgot to bring a change of clothing with me.”
Bucky’s facing T’Challa with his back to Steve, who’d just come out of the bathroom. So he gets a pretty clear view of the expression on T’Challa’s face. His eyes widen in surprise, then they flicker supposedly between Bucky and Steve behind him, and then his gaze falls.
Bucky braces himself and turns around. Sure enough, there’s Steve, his best friend since grade school, stepping out of the bathroom dripping wet, looking like a golden adonis come to ruin Bucky’s chances at happiness.
“I uh—I should go,” T’Challa says quickly behind him.
Bucky whips his head around. Thoughts are rapid firing in his head, with the primary one being panic. Because Steve doesn’t live in this building, and he’s here coming out of Bucky’s shower, asking to borrow Bucky’s clothes, and now T’Challa clearly thinks that he’s Bucky’s boyfriend and it’s all so wrong that he could literally scream.
But T’Challa’s already gone.
“Damnit Steve!!”
“What did I do?”
He doesn’t answer him. Instead he rushes out the door after the other man. “Wait wait wait! Please! It’s not what it looks like! It’s—it’s not—”
“I don’t know what you mean,” T’Challa says gently, clearly looking like he wants nothing more than to go back to his own apartment and exit this situation.
“That’s Steve, he’s just a friend. My oldest friend actually. The guy hangs around here a lot. But him and I are strictly on a friends only basis.”
T’Challa’s looking less skeptical but still not completely convinced.
“Um, okay. I uh…” Bucky laughs nervously. “Okay, confession time. I’ve had the biggest crush on you since you moved in here. I—I don’t want to come off as super weird or anything, but uh… those ten seconds that we spend together in the elevator on days where I’m lucky enough to bump into you, and you’re just talking on the phone with your sister, it’s… it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Like, half the time I’m wishing you’d get off the phone so that just once I could say actual words to you, and the other half of the time, I’m hoping that you never stop talking just so I could hear more.” He takes a shaky breath and watches a soft smile form on the other man’s face. He takes it as a good sign to continue. “I—I think you’re really cute. And… I like you a lot… I know we don’t know each other at all, but I’d love to take you out to dinner some time.”
A full grin breaks out on T’Challa’s face. “I’d like that very much.”
Bucky grins brilliantly and has to fight the urge to jump for joy. “Thank god,” he says, laughing softly.
“Are you still up for a Game of Thrones marathon?”
Bucky nods quickly. “Steve will probably be joining us. The guy eats like a horse. Better order an extra pizza just for him.”
T’Challa leads the way and they walk side by side to his apartment. “Let’s order now, it’ll be ready by the time your friends come over. Perhaps you should order for them. I don’t want anymore misunderstandings tonight,” he says jokingly.
Bucky nods, a grin on his lips. “No problem.” He sneaks a glance back in the direction of his own place, like the others might be sneaking around, listening.
“I was serious about those extra anchovies.”
