In the morning James made it to the diner dressed in his uniform, he also had Natasha, Wanda, Pietro, and Clint trailing him. He walked in and was greeted by Peggy and Sharon. "I come to work with our first customers of the day." James hears a groan from back in the kitchen and Peggy sighs, "Tony, I don't want to hear any moaning from you." Tony sighed and said, "Why am I here again?" Peggy rolled her eyes, "Because Bruce is sick and you are my god child who loves me and will do anything to help me." There were no more sounds of complaints.
Peggy smiled, "I heard you about you four and I wanted to congratulate you." Natasha smiled, "Thank you, Peggy, by the way how have you been?" They all sit down at the counter, ordered their food, and start up a conversation, James didn't have work until 7:30 but always came early to eat his breakfast here. James is only kind of listening, but he can't stop thinking about yesterday, about Steve Rogers. He's not sure why but he's felt a weird yearning for the man since he woke up. He thought about mentioning it to Peggy because she's the wisest person he knows, but then again it just didn't feel right for some reason.
The door rang and James heard Peggy say, "Oh, Steve, it's wonderful to see you again! Come meet some of our regulars!" Steve walked over and Natasha smiled, "Hello, I'm Natasha Romanoff and the goddess next to me is my soulmate, Wanda Maximoff. Then those two shoving their faces with food are Clint Barton and his soulmate, Pietro Maximoff. Then the strong, sullen silent type at the end is James Barnes." Steve smiled, "Nice to meet you guy and to see you again, Bu-James. I'm Steve Rogers." Peggy smiled, "He's Captain America." There was a groan from the kitchen and Tony walked out, "God I hate this guy."
Steve's eyebrows shot up and Peggy waved Tony off, "Don't take it personally, Steve, he's just got some daddy issues." Tony scoffed, "Do not!" Peggy rolled her eyes, "This is Tony Stark, you probably remember his father, Howard Stark. He always talked about you." Steve nodded like he understood, "Ah, Howard Stark, what a great man." Tony rolled his eyes and then Clint spoke up, "I've been to your museum exhibit, aren't you supposed to be dead?" Steve laughed, "You would think, but I've been a popsicle for the past decades. They defrosted me not too long ago." Natasha then said, "Why'd call James Bu-James?"
Steve looked like he saw a ghost, "Well, I, um, just messed up his name. I only met him yesterday," Clint looked at Steve real hard then at James but said nothing. Steve smiled, "So do you think I can get something to eat, I just finished my morning run?" Peggy smiled, "Take a seat and look at the menu, whatever you want Tony will whip it up for you." Steve smiled and went to sit next to James.
He looks at the menu and then at the James, "Got any suggestions there, James?" James looked at Steve and said, "For you I'd suggest the Captain America breakfast, it comes with four blueberry pancakes, seven slices of bacon, 3 eggs, a hash brown, a couple of strawberries, and your choice of two slices of toast, a bagel, or a biscuit. You also get your choice of strawberry, grape, or blueberry jam." Steve's eyes widened and checked to see if it was actually on the menu and of course it was, exactly as James said.
His head snapped up, "Peggy, what the hell?" Peggy smirked, "Using your name sells things to this day, Steve," Steve laughed, "Well I'll have that, eggs scrambled and toast with strawberry jam." Peggy smiled, "Sure thing, Tony, you best get cooking." Tony groaned, "Fucking Captain America." Peggy placed a coffee in front of Steve, "I promise he won't poison your food." Steve laughed and looked back at James, "So James, I'm sorry about yesterday."
James shook his head, "Don't worry, Steve, it's all okay. Had some Captain America things to attend to." Steve smiled, "Can I ask you a few questions about yourself?" James shrugged, "I guess so, go ahead," Steve took a sip of his coffee, "So what's your favorite show or movie, I'm knew to all this and have some down time, I need some suggestions?"
James laughed, "Well my favorite shows are Criminal Minds, F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Psych, Sherlock, and Game of Thrones. When it comes to movies I'm a big fan of Clueless, Mallrats, What a Girl Wants, Titanic, and Romeo + Juliet." Clint spoke up, "Four out of those five movies are chick flicks that Nat showed him." Steve smiled, "Well if he says they're good I believe him." Steve made a note in his phone on both the movies and shows he should watch, that way he can talk about them with James.
The next question Steve hits him with is, "What are some songs and musical artist you like?" James smiled, "Well I absolutely love David Bowie, Coldplay, Muse, TLC, The Strokes, Maroon 5, and The Smiths. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by the Smiths is amazing, What Ever Happened by The Strokes, Because by the Beatles obviously, Imagine by John Lennon, and No Scrub by TLC." Wanda blinked at James and said, "What even is your music taste? It's not even like it's bad, it's just all over the place." James just rolled his eyes and corrected Steve on the spelling of the Beatles, which he spelt Beetles.
Next Steve asked, "So what is your favorite restaurant around here? Favorite snack foods? Drinks?" James just smiled and answered, "Besides here I really like Antonia's, it's an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. With snack foods I absolutely love Doritos and any Little Debbie's snacks. Drinks I really like chocolate milk," Clint scoffed, "You sound like a child, Barnes." Steve noticeably swallowed at the name and James rolled his eyes, "Can you mind your own damn business, Barton?"
Sharon walks over and puts two plates in front of Steve and says, "Eat up, Rogers. Barnes, go clock in." Steve starts to dig in and James get's up, "Nice talking with you, Cap." Steve smiles around his bite of pancakes and James feels his heart tug s bit, but he pushes it away and smiles back.
James goes to clock in and Sharon follows him, "It looks like someone has a crush on Captain America," James scoffed, "I'm not his soulmate so it doesn't matter. His is dead and I have yet to meet mine." Sharon nodded, "For all you know you may never meet your soulmate and he could be dead, you wouldn't know." James frowns, "Why would you ever say that to me, Sharon? You know it's cruel. I don't say anything about you not meeting your soulmate, I don't say harsh things like that. There are certain things people just shouldn't say about people's soulmates and you know it."
His voice was raised, he was frustrated because it was cruel to suggest such things. Sharon shook her head, "I'm just trying to help, James. It's naive to not think about these things!" James clenches his fists, "I do think about these things, Sharon! All too often! I can't remember anything I go off what men in suit told when they pulled my ass out of a cryogenic chamber in Siberia! For all I know I've already met them and they think I'm dead or maybe they're dead and I was saved the pain of them telling me he was dead!"
He must have gotten pretty loud because Tony walked back and said, "Hey, Barnes, cool it. Is everything alright?" James took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm going to wash some dishes." James walked away leaving Sharon and Tony to watch him walk to grab the dirty dishes from Tony making the six meals and went to wash them.
As he washed the dishes he tried to think about a soulmate, trying really hard to think if he had already met them. He just ended up with a lot of flashbacks to the war, which did him absolutely no good as they were so vivid. He couldn't move, all he could do was remember. It was all too much and he could feel himself crying but that didn't stop the flashbacks.
Tony had noticed that all he could hear was the water running, not the sound of dishes, or even James moving. He went to look at James who was block from his line of sight by a slight jut of a wall. He saw James frozen, crying and shaking. His eyes looked distant and like he wasn't really there. He spoke softly, "James, are you okay?" There was no response so he spoke louder, maybe James couldn't hear him over the running water, "James? You alright there, man?' Still no response. Tony didn't like this and decided to go get Peggy.
She was talking to Steve and he said, "Peggy, I think there's something wrong with James. He isn't moving and I can't be his attention, he has this distant look in his eyes and I didn't want to touch him. Does he have PTSD?" Steve stood up, "Good job not touching him, son. Peggy, I got this." Peggy nodded, "Be careful, Steve." Steve nodded and walked to the back.
He found James by the sink. He carefully turned off the water and spoke, "James, are you okay? Are you having a flashback?" No response. He sighed and looked at James, he felt immediate guilt and sadness rush through him. He spoke again but this time in a strong and steady tone, "James Buchanan Barnes, are you alright?" Still no answer. Steve bit his lip, "Bucky, please." That seemed to do the trick and James's head snapped to look at Steve, "Steve?"
Steve gave a soft smile, "Are you okay, James? Were you having a flashback?" James looked down at the fork that had bent in his tight grip. "Yeah, I got frustrated with Sharon because she suggested that my soulmate was dead or I was never going to meet them. I got upset and tried to think if it was possible I had already met them, but even though I tried to think so hard about it all I got was flashbacks from the war." Steve nodded, "It's okay, James, I understand; it happens to the best of us. How about we go on a walk and we can talk about it. It could help talking about it to someone who knows what war's like."
James shook his head, "I have to work. I'm going to have to find a new apartment soon and I need to get the hours in." Steve laughed, "If you think Peggy is going to let you go throughout the rest of the day after that you have another thing comin to ya." Peggy walked in and said, "Steve's right, James. Go take a walk, you need. If it'll make you feel better I count it as a vacation day and you'll still get paid. Your mental health comes first. Plus you gave Tony a real scare, he's worried about you now. Rest and talk to Steve, he's a wonderful listener and usually knows all the right things to stay." James nods, "Alright, Peggy, I'll see you later."
Steve and James leave and James turns to Steve, "Before we go on this walk can we stop at my house so I can change? Don't tell Peggy but I hate this uniform." Steve laughed, "Of course we can." James smiles, "Follow me, I live just down the street."