Steve's Weekly Friday Torture
"Steve," He gets himself together enough to answer, "Steve Rogers." "Well, Steve Rogers, it's been a pleasure. I'll see you around." With that said and done, Bucky shoots a wink at him, grabs his order, and swaggers his way out of the shop. "Damn," Steve registers Natasha whistling, "The man-candy's got game." And so begins Steve Rogers' Weekly Friday Torture.
Stucky – Cracky College/Coffee Shop AU
Written in thirty minutes as a shitty bday gift to my friend last year. I don't ship or read Stucky at all lol, I mainly reside in the Glee Faberry fandom, but still posted this for the sake of archiving. Don't flame me if it's OOC or bad, 'm sorry lmao.
X-X-X-X-X
Steve doesn't dislike his occupation at the Brooklyn Barista, per say.
He gets to meet new people, listen to their stories, and do a service to all those run-down college students needing some caffeine to get by after a bad day.
But when 'all those run-down college students needing some caffeine to get by after a bad day' also applies to him, it's really damn hard not to.
"Black Americano. And get to it." Especially when jerks like these show up.
But it's what's putting food on the table, so Steve sucks it up, flashes a smile, and mutters a strained 'Thank you for your order and have a nice day', barely getting a grunt in reply.
So it's not like Steve hates his job.
Hate is a very strong word, after all.
But sometimes, Steve really, really, really dislikes his job.
He's behind on his rent, has a ton of essays to hand in, and the freshmen he helped tutor had driven him up the wall earlier today. He casts a glance to the clock and praises the Lord that it's almost closing time, because he's cranky and frustrated and he just wants to go home and curl up with a good history documentary dammit.
"Bad day?" Natasha asks from her spot manning the coffee machine, offering a sympathetic smile.
Steve sighs and shakes his head. "You have no idea."
Thankfully, there aren't many customers left, so Steve counts his blessings and prepares to wash up. He's almost finished when the chime of the doorbell rings throughout the small coffee shop, and he stifles a groan. But no matter. He has a duty and he intends to fulfill it, even if it's just serving coffee.
"Good afternoon, welcome to the Brooklyn Barista, what can I get you?" He tries to smile at the man now in front of him, but he's 98 percent sure that all his face is doing right now is making a weird distorted grimace. Great first impression there buddy, now we've lost another potential regular. Stupid face making stupid…faces…gah stupid brain to go with it too.
He's shook out of his train of thought when, to his surprise, the man chuckles and smirks, "You're cute."
Steve flushes and fumbles out incoherencies, making an even bigger fool out of himself. Dammit, Steve, you're supposed to be acting professional, not like a bumbling bimbo. Just because this guy looks, oh…okay, oh wow, gosh he's actually absolutely gorgeous, wait what was he supposed to be thinking about again?
Blue eyes stare back at his own in soft amusement, waiting for a reply. Ohmygod, a reply?! Oh crap what was proper etiquette for this sort of situation? 'You're stunning, marry me' seemed too forward, because that was like, at least fifth date stuff, right?...aaaaannndd now he's thinking about fifth dates? He's as good as doomed, at this rate he would be engaged before the guy even ordered!
…Though he supposed that death would be very sweet indeed. Just imagin-
Get it together Steve!
Steve's not sure how he went from grumpy and tense to 'third-grader with a crush' and tense, in the good way of course, in the span of three minutes, but Natasha finally takes pity on him and swoops in like a white knight(if that knight was broody and sarcastic, maybe). "His answer is 'I think you're really cute too, so give me your order and your number to go, and we can make beautiful babies together.' Got it? Good, I'll leave you two to it." And just like that, she saunters off into the sunset, except Steve isn't in the car with her, and he definitely isn't getting his happy ending.
Instead, Natasha had just crushed his hopes and dreams of making through this alive. May the Lord save him from this now.
"We'll see about that," The man simply continues to smirk at him. "Cappuccino for Bucky, and maybe your name too?"
"Steve," He gets himself together enough to answer, "Steve Rogers."
"Well, Steve Rogers, it's been a pleasure. I'll see you around." With that said and done, Bucky shoots a wink at him, grabs his order (okay Nat, now you chose to finish your orders quickly?), and swaggers his way out of the shop.
"Damn," Steve registers Natasha whistling, "The man-candy's got game."
And so begins Steve Rogers' Weekly Friday Torture.
X-X-X-X-X
"I can see you glancing at the clock every five seconds, Rogers, maybe stop fantasizing and get your ass in gear and actually work, yeah?"
Okay, so maybe Steve's staring at it a liiitle more frequently than usual, and it's maaaybe because Bucky had come at exactly 6:56 P.M. last week and it's 6:55 P.M. now, but there's nooo way Steve is pinning over a guy he's barely met, right?
(He totally is.)
So when he hears the familiar sound of the doorbell, he straightens and hones in to the beautiful specimen just entering the establishment. Natasha snorts, "Steve, you're not going to war. Get yourself together."
Steve flushes(what is with him doing that everytime Bucky steps foot in here?) and of course, because the universe hates him, Bucky reaches the counter right on time, "Hey cutie," he dips his head at Natasha, "And other cutie," earning himself a laugh, "Cappuccino please. With a side of your gracious affections, of course."
"Sure…and um," Steve, you know how to flirt remember, you see Nat do it every day for goodness sake, and brain, you actually have to function once in a while! "You already have them?"
Natasha face-palms, pretty much summing up what Steve's feeling at the moment, but thankfully, Bucky seems to find his lack of eloquence endearing for some reason Steve cannot fathom, as he just laughs and goes to collect his coffee.
Steve stutters out, "H-have a nice day!"
"It is now that I've seen you." It's accompanied by a wink that sends Steve into another blushing fit.
Yup. He walked right into that one. Eyes wide open.
X-X-X-X-X
"Steve?"
"Yes, Natasha?"
"It has just occurred to me that Man-Candy, somehow not turned off by your moronic tendencies, had just come in again, and you. Did. Not. Ask. Him. Out."
"Oh."
X-X-X-X-X
"Hey Steve, you look dashing as ever. Cappuccino as usual."
Steve had practiced rather religiously the night before to be charming, but now that Bucky was right in front of him the blond was finding it very hard to recall what was he about to say. Because look at those arms!
A rather sharp jab to the ribs from Natasha sends him tumbling, both literally and metaphorically over his words. "On-On the house!"
At Bucky's raised eyebrow, Steve recollects himself enough to elaborate, smiling sheepishly, "The drink. It's on the house. A lovely drink for a lovely…man?"
As with all his attempts to flirt, Bucky takes it all in stride and laughs, then going to take his order, smiling coyly. "My hero, saving me from the exhaustion monster."
"No…Problem?"
X-X-X-X-X
"Steve, you're killing me here, when are you going to make a move?"
Steve nearly drops the plate he's holding to the ground at the mention of the object of his affections, since Natasha hadn't teased him about it in a few days. Like always, he turns as red as a tomato, "What if he doesn't even like me?"
Natasha snorts, not even deeming it worthy enough to reply.
"I'm serious here!" Steve may or may not be pouting very hard right now. "Why else hasn't he asked me out instead? Maybe he's just flirty with everyone!"
Natasha simply sighs, "Auntie Nat has to do all the work, doesn't she?"
X-X-X-X-X
An hour after Bucky leaves the coffee shop the next week, Steve receives a few texts.
Unknown Number: Thanks for your number under the cup
Unknown Number: I was wondering when u were gonna give it to me ;)
Unknown Number: This is from the pretty-boy that has a big crush on you btw
Unknown Number: Bucky, if that wasn't clear enough lol
Unknown Number: I'll pick you up after you get off work next week, yeah?
Unknown Number: And maybe if you play your cards right you'll be doing some other form of getting off ;)
Steve instantly blushes, but a massive grin finds its way to his face soon enough. Before he can reply, his phone is plucked right out of his hand by Natasha, who had insisted on crashing at his dorm after work, to which he finally understands why now. "Nat!"
When he manages to snatch it back, he finds big bold letters staring at him.
You: Bring flowers, I like to be pampered
You: And also bring some chocolate for Natasha, she's the reason I got my head out of my dumb ass
And just like that, Steve's Weekly Friday Torture turned to Steve's Weekly Friday Date with Bucky.
Maybe his job wasn't so bad after all.