Disclaimer: I own nothing belonging to Marvel.

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Author's Note

So I have been wanting to write a Bucky Barnes story since I went to see Civil War and I'm now just getting the chance. I have a couple story ideas – some even plotted out start to finish – but I felt for my first go at a Bucky story and my first time writing an OC that this was the one to begin at.

I love the opposite attract couples and since this story starts pre-war that means pre-war Bucky - yum! We didn't get to see a whole lot of Bucky's personality pre-war, but I always imagined him as being confident, charming, kind, playful and sexy (while knowing it hehe), I can imagine him charming the panties off a lot of girls lol, but not in a fuck them and then dump them way of course, he's too much of a gentleman for that, am I right? So this is my rambling way of saying my OC in this story will be very shy, self-conscious, a bit naive, sheltered and never been kissed!

Hope you guys are interested, let me know what you think? Pretty please? With sugar on top? 😊

xoxo

Chapter One

Saturday the 30th of November 1940

The first time Kathleen laid eyes on James Barnes was the day Steve had moved into the apartment next door to her and her aunt.

The moment she had seen him she knew she had never seen a more handsome man, not even in the moving pictures she rarely got to see. He had a confident carefree attitude and she could easily imagine him in smoky dance halls charming girls onto the floor and into his strong arms with a devilish smile.

But Kathleen hadn't ever officially met him in the six months following his arrival into her life. Yes, he would hold the door to the apartment complex open for her and mumble sleepy good mornings to her. One time he'd been reading the newspaper, walking, saying a distracted hello, and opening the door for her to pass under his arm without bending – that's how short she was – all at the same time and she didn't know why but she found that moment adorable and she liked to look back and remember it.

They had never made eye contact though, and one of the reasons was because Kathleen was way too shy to be so direct with him. She also suspected that he either thought she was just some kid because of her short stature or he never really thought of her or noticed her at all, she was just a passerby in the hallways.

The prick of the needle piercing her finger pulled her from her daydream and she peeked up at her aunt who was listening to her shows and knitting in her chair to see if she had noticed her no doubt glazed over expression, but she was too engrossed in her knitting letting Kathleen sigh in relief. Her aunt said daydreaming was for kids and stupid people; Kathleen had been brought out of a daydream many times by the smack of her aunt's switch on her scarred hands, she much preferred the little prick of her sewing needle.

Just then James' deep laugh travelled through the thin walls of the little apartment she shared with her aunt, making her smile.

James always seemed happy and fun-loving; she'd often seen him strolling into Steve's apartment with a devilish grin and a confident swagger before hugging his small quiet best friend; both obviously happy to spend time with each other, even on the days Kathleen knew Steve was too sick to leave the apartment.

The only time she ever heard Steve through the walls was when Bucky was in there with him, making him laugh and have some fun.

Kathleen wished she had a friend like that, a friend who would be there for her the way James was there for Steve; a friend she could have little jokes with, and maybe go out shopping and dancing with. A friend who would stand up for her, and a friend she could stand up for in return, but she was not that lucky.

Her only friends were her 80-year-old great aunt and her three fat cats, which Kathleen could admit was pretty sad considering the cats hated her and hissed at her as she walked by, and her aunt – Kathleen more than suspected – hated her for the unwanted responsibility thrust upon her after her mother and father had died.

Aunt Gertrude liked to remind her of her generosity in not putting her straight into an orphanage when she was just 2 years old; she loved to remind her of that fact as she made Kathleen scrub every surface of the apartment to the sound of her aunt's bitter mumblings and strict commands.

"Those boys have no respect! Making all that racket when there's an old woman living next door, no respect I tell you!" Her aunt raved, and though Kathleen had never wanted to roll her eyes more than in that moment she stopped herself lest her hawk of an aunt catch her and hit her with her cane, again.

Thank God she doesn't have that switch anymore. Kathleen thought and then mentally gave herself a pat on the back for throwing it away after her aunt had hit her hands so hard she'd bled all over the carpet.

At least the carpet was red, I didn't have to buy a new one with the little money I had.

"You best keep away from their like Kathleen, you do not want people to think you're a street walker!"

"Yes aunt Gertrude," Kathleen replied mechanically as she mended a tear in her aunt's glove. This was not the first time her aunt went into a rant about 'those boys next door.'

But to Kathleen they weren't boys, especially James. No, he was most definitely a man. But he barely noticed her and especially when he had that beautiful redhead on his arm all the time. Part of Kathleen was a little sad that she never got a second look – or a first look really – but mostly she was glad she was invisible to him because if he were to ever start a conversation with her or look at her directly she knew she would just embarrass herself completely.

Kathleen could never really talk to men, she just didn't understand them and not a lot of men had tried to speak to her; aunt Gertrude liked to say that men only wanted one thing from a woman and it wasn't to hear her talking. She knew what her aunt really meant – Kathleen wasn't that naïve – but she wanted nothing to do with it.

She was 20 years old, and she still had never been kissed and she was perfectly fine with that.

Kathleen tried to pin up her frizzy brown waves into some kind of curl, but as always she failed miserably. She applied a light dusting of powder to her face but nothing more as her aunt wouldn't allow it. She then buttoned up one her calf length second-hand dresses; the brown one with the little yellow flowers. She hated it but her other dresses needed to be either mended or washed and she just didn't have the time that day.

Kathleen did not want another lecture from her aunt about tardiness and making an old woman wait, so after throwing on her coat she raced from the apartment to the shop down the street for some groceries before racing back with a hidden box of lavender scented soap for herself. It was as she was turning into her hallway at a fast pace that she smacked into something big and solid causing her to drop her groceries before falling onto her backside right in the middle of the hallway with a gasp of shock.

She looked up to see what in God's name she had run into when she saw the shocked handsome face of James Barnes staring down at her.

Absolutely perfect Kathleen, of course it's him you fall on your butt in front of!

"Damn doll, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," he spoke as he reached his hands down to grip her arms and pull her up onto her feet.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" He looked her over with concern shining from his blue eyes making her embarrassed blush spread and brighten at his close attention.

"Um … I–I'm okay, I'm sorry!" Kathleen looked away from his big eyes and dropped to her knees to quickly gather her groceries into the now ripped bag. She picked up and dropped a small box of crackers no less than three times in her haste to gather her things and leave this handsome man and the embarrassing encounter she was now experiencing.

She heard him chuckle as he bent down to help her, moving a lot slower and surer than her.

"Here doll, let me help." James' fingers brushed hers as he took the box from her flustered hands before placing it in the bag, but Kathleen quickly pulled her hand away from his and kept her eyes down so as not to catch his eye and see his reaction to the spreading blush caused by her clumsiness.

"Th-Thank you," she mumbled as she stood with the now full bag secure in her arms.

"I'm Bucky, Bucky Barnes." He stuck his hand out between them to shake and Kathleen hesitantly placed her small hand into his rough one.

She peeked up to see him smiling gently at her with raised brows. "Kathleen O'Connell." He gently shook her hand and she looked down and away from his gaze before pulling her hand from his to take out her keys while moving to her apartment door.

"Did you just move in Kathleen?" He asked her with a curious tone.

She stopped with her back to him and closed her eyes in sadness and realization; she really had been a ghost to him the past few months that Steve had lived next to her.

"I've lived here for four years," she spoke softly, her eyes focused on her door as she swung it open and closed it behind her without looking at him again; she didn't want him to see how much his blindness of her hurt her, and oh boy did it hurt. Even though she always knew as she passed him in the hall and sometimes out on the streets of Brooklyn that he never saw her, to have it confirmed by him hurt her more than she realised it would.

She didn't really blame him; she wasn't much too look at. She was only 5ft with an average figure and face. She wasn't eye catching, people didn't look at her and admire or cringe at her appearance. And she knew it didn't help that she couldn't afford nice clothes as most of her money was handed to her aunt on the days she got paid, although even if she had the money her aunt was strict and had certain rules about how a woman should dress and behave; flashy bright clothes with tight skirts and red lipstick were forbidden.

Her aunt had been a Matron at an all-girls boarding school for many years; she had been a mean strict woman when she was younger, and she was an even meaner and stricter woman now that she was old. She had never married and Kathleen new she was bitter about that even though she liked to pretend it had been her choice not to marry. Her aunt didn't want Kathleen to get any attention from a man and Kathleen suspected it was part spite and part fear, fear that she would be left alone. What her aunt didn't realize was Kathleen was nothing like her, she was too kind to even think of leaving her 80 year old aunt alone, whether she was married or not.

Aunt Gertrude was the only family Kathleen had left, and being reminded that her aunt could have dumped her at some orphanage but didn't had made Kathleen grateful to her, her aunt had made sure of it.

Bucky stood in the hallway staring at Kathleen's door as she softly shut it behind her.

Did she really live there the whole time Steve had? Surely he would have noticed?

He made his way back into Steve's apartment with a frown on his face and questions on his mind. "Hey punk," he called into the apartment before seeing Steve at the little kitchen table, sketching something.

"I thought you left for your date with Dolores," Steve asked distractedly as he focused his attention on the sketch in front of him.

"I did, but I ran into the girl from across the hall, and I mean that literally; I had to pick her up off the floor." Bucky smirked and casually placed his hands in his pockets before leaning on the door jamb to the little kitchen.

"You did what? Is she okay?" Steve asked worriedly. Kathleen was a tiny thing; she was even smaller than he was.

"Yeah, she seemed fine, but how long has she been living there?"

Steve just looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? She's always lived there."

"I've never seen her before today." Bucky shook his head.

Steve looked up at his friend incredulously. "Buck… really? She's always been there." Steve put his pencil down to give his best friend his full attention. "We've passed her in the hall a million times and sometimes she helps me out when I'm sick, she makes me soup."

Bucky blinked as he thought back and realised that yes, he actually did remember her, he just never gave her much thought; a few times he actually thought she was a kid, she was that small.

"Damn, I feel like a right dope now." He brushed his hand through his hair and shook his head at himself. He had been pretty consumed with trying to get Dot to go out with him and then eventually going steady with her that it seemed he missed a few things. "She must think me a real jerk, no wonder she would hardly look or talk to me."

"That's just how she is Buck," Steve told him with a shrug, "she's extremely shy."

"Really?" Bucky smiled remembering the big blush spreading across her freckled cheeks.

"Bucky don't, leave the girl alone, she has enough to cope with." Steve stood and made his way to the stove; he needed something to warm his bones from the Winter chill.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothings wrong with her, it's her aunt. She used to be a Matron at a girls school and now she bullies Kathleen into doing everything for her. I swear that woman barely lets her leave the apartment." Steve shook his head before turning to face Bucky with a serious face.

"That's awful," Bucky murmured with a frown.

"I know, I caught her hitting Kathleen with her cane once and I tried to help but–" Steve shrugged sadly– "Kathleen asked me to leave it, she said that I would just make it worse."

"The girl sounds like an angel looking after an old bat like that."

"Buck!"

"What? The woman's hitting the girl, a girl that's probably a 100 pounds soaking wet; she deserves no respect, old woman or not," Bucky stated.

Steve shook his head, but he wore a smile while doing so. Bucky hated bullies as much as Steve did, it was how they met.

"I better go, Dot will have a conniption if I'm even a minute late." Bucky sighed.

Steve shook his head but kept his mouth shut and Bucky appreciated his restraint; he knew Steve wasn't the biggest fan of Dot, but he was hoping they would both come around to each other one day.

He pulled on his gloves as he made his way out the door and paused outside Kathleen's door a moment, he shook his head at his blindness and insensitivity, and walked out into the freezing air to his car.

Later that night he couldn't concentrate during the whole date with Dot and finally when she confronted him about it he told her what was bothering him, her reaction was the same as his and she planned on taking a look at the girl next time she was over at Steve's.