title: I've got this friend (if the right one came along)
category: captain america/thor
genre: humor/friendship/romance
ship: Bucky/Darcy, Bucky & Steve (friendship)
rating: PG-13/Teen
word count: 3,890
summary: While Steve's just trying to be a good friend and help Bucky get reacquainted with the world, he finds out that Bucky's not nearly as alone as he thought he was.
I've got this friend (if the right one came along)
-1/1-
He shouldn't be surprised. Steve had been showing up at his place regularly just about every Friday or Saturday night for months now. After three years of working through things, from the Red Room to his PTSD, both from said Red Room and from World War 2, Steve had taken it upon himself to encourage him to get back out into the world.
For that first year or so, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere without an escort, not even just to walk around the tower on his own. He'd rolled his eyes and complained, but, in the privacy of his own head, he could admit that he liked it. For the first while anyway. They were his safety net in case a trigger was flipped. By the second year, they started easing up on the leash, letting him move around as he wanted to, even if Steve did a pretty good job of shadowing him anyway. He was getting better. He wouldn't call himself healed; he wasn't even sure that was a possibility. But he was dealing with it. His memories were stronger, not all of them good, but they didn't hurt him anymore. There weren't huge, gaping gaps where he didn't know who he was or where he was from or why he was doing something. He had moments, when he woke in a sweat, ready to kill, to attack, to destroy, but he was learning how to cope with those nights. And sure, sometimes he got pissed when Jarvis shut down his room so he couldn't get out, but just like the not-as-stealthy-as-they-thought-they-were former-SHIELD, now Stark-employed, agents that used to follow him everywhere, he appreciated that, as long as Jarvis was there to lock him in, nobody else was going to die because of him.
That comforted him; it gave him a little more room to move around in. It didn't stop most of the agents from flinching whenever they saw him coming, but, depending on the day, that sometimes amused him more than offended him. Despite being a reformed assassin, there was still a part of him that recognized the skill he had and would be more than a little offended if others saw him as nothing more than some lost little boy that needed to hold Steve's hand everywhere he went. He had a history, a bloody one, and he was coming to grips with the things he'd done, but that didn't mean he was any less lethal now. He was just a little more choosy about who he'd be lethal to.
He glanced at the clock when he heard the knock and frowned to himself. There was no way that was the Thai he called for already. And there weren't a whole lot of people who came visiting. Besides, Jarvis usually gave him a head's up if it was anybody he might not be up to seeing. It was after ten on a Saturday, which limited the list of candidates even more. Last he checked, Steve was on a mission and wasn't due back until Sunday. He'd been leaving for a lot of missions lately, which hadn't bothered him much. They spent plenty of time together when Steve was around. He wasn't exactly the guy from Brooklyn that Steve remembered or grew up with, but that didn't make them any less of friends. In the three years he'd spent rebuilding his life, he always knew he could lean on Steve; that, no matter who he was or what he'd done, Steve would always be there. But his recent kick for getting him out into the world wasn't what he was looking for.
He had a beer in hand as he crossed the room, the neck tucked between the tips of two metal fingers. Sweatpants slung low on his hips, he considered how well they'd hold up a gun if he stuck it in the back and paused, reaching toward the end table drawer, where he kept a glock for just this situation.
"I'm unarmed," Steve's wry voice said through the door.
Blowing out a breath, he pulled his hand back, sans gun, and reached for the door instead, pulling it open and cocking his head, an eyebrow raised. "Doubt that," he said in greeting.
Steve shrugged, meaning he probably did have something hidden somewhere on his person. "You gonna invite me in, or what?"
"Thought you weren't comin' back 'til tomorrow…?" He stepped back to open the door further and licked his lips as he walked away, casting his eyes down the hallway briefly. He considered his options as he heard the door close behind him; Steve would be suspicious if he hadn't let him in. Or that's what he told himself, anyway. Steve tended to defer to what he felt up to, careful not to push him unless he needed pushing.
"Finished up early, flew in instead of staying overnight. Thought you might be up for going out? There's a bar a few blocks over, low key, not too crowded. Thought we could get a few drinks, hang out."
"Watch you fail at picking up women?" he added, mouth twitching with amusement.
"Fail's a strong word…" Steve answered, but he was grinning all the same.
"Not really up to it tonight." He shrugged, raising his beer for a swig.
Steve sighed, in that disappointed way of his that still managed to gnaw at his gut. "Look, I know it's hard. Things aren't like we remember it. But you used to like this stuff. Going out, having a few beers, meeting a nice dame to take home for the night…" He paused, his jaw ticking. "I'm not trying to make you who you used to be. I just want to understand what's different. Is it the pressure? The place? The people? I… I need you to talk to me."
"I don't see what the big deal is…" He shrugged, scraping his thumb down against the label on his bottle, soggy from the condensation.
"I just thought maybe you could meet someone… Make a few friends even. I know it's not easy. And I know it can be hard with the others on the team, feeling like you don't fit in or something. So, maybe it'd be easier with a civilian, someone who doesn't know about… everything." Steve sighed, waving a hand as if to encompass the mountain of baggage that he, they, managed to drag behind them wherever they went. "I'm not here a lot. Sometimes I'm gone for weeks. And I'd just… I'd feel better if I didn't think you were alone all the time. Because I know what that feels like. That first year, I didn't really have anyone, and it was… lonely."
He nodded, watching him carefully, and said simply, "I'm not lonely."
At Steve's unconvinced look, he shrugged.
"Listen, Buck, I—"
Before Steve could continue, a different voice interrupted, "Was that knock our Thai food? Because that was fast. Like, reheated and not at all fresh, fast, and that's not gonna fly."
He watched Steve for a moment, instead of looking at her right away, his mouth tilting up as Steve's eyes shot wide, his brows hiking.
"Miss Lewis?"
Darcy paused mid-stride and squeaked. "Not Thai, then. Wow, okay." She tossed a glare in his direction before looking back to Steve. "Hey… Steve… Fancy seeing you here. While I'm in my underwear, and fashionable cat socks."
Steve's eyes fell, more to the socks than the underwear, a grey pair with various colored cats stitched into them. They were her 'wood floors are cold and I'm too cheap to buy slippers' socks, as she'd informed him whenever he brought them up.
"What…" Steve blinked, shaking his head. "I didn't even know you two knew each other."
"Only a little. Slightly. Acquaintances, really," Darcy said, fiddling with her hands, tugging at the end of her Wonder Woman shirt, which was baring a whole lot of mid-riff, and had nowhere near enough fabric to cover both the girls and the pink, leopard print underwear she was donning. He might've found it funny if he wasn't so focused on her words.
With a roll of his eyes, he said, "We've been together seven months."
"'Together' is a strong word," Darcy muttered.
"She's got commitment issues," he added with a shrug as Steve raised a confused eyebrow.
"Considering GI Ken didn't know we were… whatever, I don't think you get to put your judgy pants on," Darcy sighed, rolling her eyes up as she rolled forward onto the tips of her toes.
"He was on a mission," he dismissed.
"Not for seven months I wasn't." Steve stared at him, his brow furrowed. "Why the hell didn't you say something? I've been pushing you to get out because I thought…"
"I didn't have anyone. Yeah, I caught that."
Steve glanced at Darcy and then back to him. "Well, you obviously do, unless I'm reading this completely wrong."
Darcy's lips twitched. "No, we're definitely fonduing…"
Steve cast an exasperated glower in her direction, but she merely chuckled. Putting her hands up, however, she added, "I'm gonna let you two hash out your little spat here… while I go put pants on."
"I kinda like the view," he called after her.
She swung her hand back and fingered him over her shoulder.
He grinned to himself, chuckling as he took another swig of his beer. But as his eyes returned to Steve, he found his best friend looking, well, hurt, for lack of a better word.
"I don't get it…" Steve said. "You could've told me at any time. I mean… Seven months, and you never mentioned that you were seeing someone. I've been bugging you to come out, to meet people, but you already had someone. Why not just say that?"
He didn't answer right away, reaching up to rub at his chin with his knuckles. And after a good half-minute passed of silence, he finally said, "I just wanted something of my own."
Steve frowned, shaking his head.
"Look, I get tailed everywhere I go. They were good about it until you started leaving on missions, and then they were hiding in the shadows again. I ever wanna leave, I gotta take you with me or put up with some wannabe spy following me. It was easier to just stick around the tower. And then I met Darcy and we hit it off. So, I started giving my tail the slip and meeting up with her and, for a few hours, I was just… free. I don't know. It felt good. Like I wasn't some science experiment under a microscope. And when things started getting serious, I wanted to keep it to myself. I didn't want anybody stickin' their nose into it or askin' me if I thought she was safe with me. I worry about it enough on my own, I don't need somebody else breathin' down my neck about it..."
Steve stared at him a long moment before nodding. "I get that." At Bucky's snort, he sighed. "No, I do. It's hard sometimes, always feeling like you don't quite fit. That's why I was trying so hard to get you to come out with me or the team or just to make friends." He rolled his eyes at himself. "I should'a known you'd gravitate to Darcy. She's exactly what you like in a woman."
"Yeah, well, she's a mouth-piece that calls me grandpa, makes me watch too many movies and listen to too much shitty music, but she's also not afraid to call me on my shit, stick cat magnets on my arm, and put up with all my baggage, so…"
"Yeah," Steve said, half-smiling, "Sounds like she's probably good for you."
"Eh, he's probably making me sound better than I am," Darcy said, returning to the room and swaggering across the room until she was beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist loosely and resting her chin on his shoulder, pressed to the metal of his arm before she hopped up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Yeah? And why would I do that?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.
She snorted, reaching up with a hand to tuck some loose hair of his behind his ear. "So I'll take pity on your brooding ass and stick around."
His mouth twitched at the corners as he leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. "You got somewhere else to be, Lewis?"
"Somewhere with food," she replied, grinning.
He scoffed. "I don't get any credit for why you worked up an appetite in the first place?"
"Not as much credit as you want." She bit her lip, her fingers fitting into the waist of his sweatpants and hanging off them, dragging them a little lower on his hips. "But you've got time to make your case, Barnes. Just as soon as I'm finished with my food, you can help me burn it all off again."
He chuckled lowly, staring down at her bright blue eyes. "Bank on it, sweetheart."
A throat clearing caught his attention then and he turned, remembering that Steve was there, and looking more than a little uncomfortable.
Swinging is arm around Darcy's shoulder, unsurprised when she stole his beer for a sip, he shrugged at Steve. "If you're hungry, we've got Thai coming."
Steve paused, looking between them, his mouth forming an 'o' as he considered how he might turn them down.
"You should stay," Darcy encouraged. "You just got back from a mission and you probably wanna catch up." She elbowed him before he could say anything. "Besides, he's totally grumpier when you're not around. And now that everything's out in the open, you can tell me embarrassing stories about him from when you guys were kids back in the Stone Age."
With a snort, he rolled his eyes.
Steve grinned though, nodding his consent. "Sure, I'd like that."
"Cool." Untangling herself from his side, she raised an eyebrow. "You wanna beer?"
"Thanks," Steve said.
As Darcy walked off to the kitchen to grab them each a bottle, Steve joined him over by the couch in front of the television he'd begun using more in the last seven months than he had in the two-plus years prior to Darcy coming into his life. She'd just returned with their beers when a knock at the door drew her eye and passed them each a bottle before walking back.
"Grab the sig," he warned her.
"I highly doubt Jarvis let any bad guys in here and didn't warn us," she replied.
"Darcy," he sighed after her.
"All right, fine, I'll threaten the poor, underpaid delivery person with one of way too many guns you keep lying around on the off chance somebody actually gets into Fort Stark."
He waited for the sound of the drawer opening before he relaxed and then listened to the exchange as she talked to the delivery guy, paid for the food, and returned the gun to its usual place before locking the door and walking back to them. She passed the bags over the couch to him before walking back to the kitchen to get plates and cutlery. "You want anything else while I'm in here?" she called back. "Napkins? Zip ties? Grenades? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you have all three hidden in here somewhere."
"Never underestimate the fun you can have with zip-ties," he answered.
Darcy snorted in reply and he smiled to himself as he pulled out the containers from the bag, glancing at a quiet Steve, who'd taken up space in an overlarge arm chair adjacent to the couch.
At Steve's curious expression, he raised an eyebrow, asking, "What?" in a tone that was entirely more defensive than he meant it to be.
Steve shook his head. "Nothing. It's just… nice."
"What is?"
"This. You. You're comfortable… Happy."
"Don't let the smile deceive you. He's a grumpy old geezer," Darcy said, pinching his cheek as she passed him.
He caught her around the waist, tugging her into his lap just as she put the plates and cutlery down safely.
"Watch it," she said, but she was smiling as she leaned back against his chest.
Her smile fled when his metallic arm slid under her top to rest on her stomach.
"Hey! Cold!" She squirmed against him, shoving an elbow back, though she hardly put any real pressure behind it.
He chuckled under his breath and released her, patting her hip as he pushed her over to sit beside him.
Darcy slapped his knee before shuffling forward on the couch and handing out plates to each of them. She dished out her food quickly, picking out a few things she didn't like and putting them on his plate to eat. He waited until she was finished, watching her with an amused tilt to his mouth, his hands rubbing circles on her lower back.
He could feel Steve watching him, cataloguing everything he did, assessing his actions and figuring out what each one meant. He knew that, tomorrow, when Steve dropped back in to visit and Darcy went back to her place to feed her cat and spend some time by herself, Steve would beat around the bush for a while before pointing out the obvious. Darcy might be hesitating to call what they had a relationship, but he wasn't. His feelings were clear, which was a pretty fortunate thing these days, when too much of his life felt unclear. But with her, it was easy. He was in love with her. Had been for a while now. And her reticence to say they were together didn't bother him too much. He knew how she felt; she didn't always verbalize it and she was careful not to label things, but he knew the way she looked at him and how she touched him, metal arm and all, and the complete lack of fear she had, even when he was having a bad night, while insanely reckless, all added up to something mind-bogglingly simple. She loved him, too.
For the rest of dinner, she poked and prodded Steve to tell some of their less flattering stories. She called it ammo and told them she was filing away every awful and hilarious and embarrassing thing either of them ever did. She laughed freely and loudly and never apologized for it. When her food was done, she curled up against him, her head on his shoulder and her fingers tangled with his, flesh with metal, while his other hand brushed through her hair. She treated Steve much like she did him, like he was just a person, someone she didn't have to put airs on for. It was one of his favorite things about her; that she could sit down with someone she knew was born in the early 1900's, knowing full well that she was the most modern person they could ever meet, and managed not to make them feel like they were dinosaurs. Oh, she might call them dinosaurs, but it was done with affection, with Darcy's personal brand of friendship.
When dinner was long finished and even they were full, he and Steve gathered up the garbage and the dishes and brought them all into the kitchen while Darcy lounged on the couch. They filled the dish washer and rinsed out the empty beer bottles to add to the recycling, before Steve told him, "I'm glad you found her… I know you wanted space, and you deserve it. But I was only trying to look out for you."
He looked over at him, his head cocked a little. "I know. And just because I got someone in my life, doesn't mean I don't want us to still hang out. Just, maybe not at bars, trying to pick up woman." He shrugged. "'Less you want a wingman or something. I could probably give you a few tips."
Steve chuckled, grinning to himself. "Wouldn't be the first time."
He shrugged. "Look, I know this changes things a bit, and I know I should've talked to you about it… And I wanted to, more than once, especially when things were new and I was still figuring out how to be who I am and still be who she needed. But I can't have the training wheels on forever. Doesn't mean I won't need your help or your advice, 'cause I will. I just don't want it from a handler. I don't need a shadow anymore, all right? I just… need my friend."
Steve stared at him a long moment before he nodded. "All right."
"Good." He tilted his chin down and then leaned back against the counter. "You wanna hit the range tomorrow? Work on your aim?"
Steve half-grinned "Sure. Even if my aim's perfect, last time I checked."
"We'll see about that, punk."
He laughed lightly. "Yeah, we will, jerk."
Darcy popped her head into the kitchen then. "You guys kiss and make-up?"
Rolling his eyes, he reached a hand out for her and pulled her in close, kissing the top of her head as she rested against his chest. "Yeah, everything's good in this camp," he told her.
"Good." She squeezed her hands over his arm across her waist. "Wouldn't want my two favorite grandpa's to spend too much time apart."
Steve shook his head, smiling. "I should probably head out. Thanks for having me over for dinner."
"Our pleasure. Maybe next time I'll even greet you while fully-clothed," Darcy answered.
"View wasn't bad," Steve tossed back, smirking.
Darcy laughed. "You're welcome then."
He chuckled to himself and then nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Buck. Night, Darcy."
"Night, Steve," she answered.
He nodded at him in farewell over her shoulder and waited until the door closed behind him until he turned his attention back to her. "Well? You ready to work that Thai off, Lewis?"
Tipping her head back to see him, she raised an eyebrow. "So no talk about how your best friend now knows about our secret relationship?"
He stared at her for a long moment before he smirked. "You called it a relationship."
Her eyes narrowed. "Slip of the tongue."
"Yeah?"
"Mm-hmm. Doesn't mean anything."
"Nothing, huh?"
She shook her head. "I shouldn't be held responsible for the wildly inappropriate things my tongue says."
He stroked his hands down her stomach and settled them on her hips to squeeze lightly. " What other wildly inappropriate things is this tongue saying?"
Darcy smirked up at him. "If I tell you, will you punish me for my tongue's misdeeds?"
He tucked his fingers into the waist of her pants and slowly started pushing them down. "Depends on how inappropriate you get."
She shimmied her hips to help him with her pants and let out a hitched breath as his hand returned to cup her between her thighs. "Very… very inappropriate."
He bent closer to her mouth, his lips skimming hers, as he said, "I'm gonna need a first-hand example."
"How about more than one?"
He grinned. "I can work with that."
At the end of the night, yeah, their relationship status was still a little untitled, but, all things considered, he had a pretty good idea of what it was and where it was going anyway. He could live with that.
{end.}
author's note: this was fun! I'm enjoying exploring their personalities at this point. and I'm still figuring out how Bucky would refer to himself, obviously, which is why I never called him Bucky or James throughout the narrative. awkward. in any case, I hope you enjoyed this. it was mostly just supposed to be fun and fluffy and full of friendship. so, thank you for reading!
please leave a review; they're my lifeblood!
- Lee | Fina