"I want popcorn!" Liam shouted, leaning up on tiptoes to try and see into the freezer.
The worker behind the counter, a college-aged girl, giggled, "We don't sell popcorn flavor. How about chocolate?"
Liam looked at her, shocked that she would suggest such a boring flavor, "Nah, I want a cool flavor."
Bucky leaned lazily against the counter, "Like what?"
He cast a look at Carter, but she was helping Mikey read through the different flavors.
"Potato chip!" Liam giggled.
Bucky laughed through his nose, "They've got normal flavors, kid."
Liam groaned, "I want fun ice cream."
Bucky looked at the teenager behind the counter, "What do you have that's fun?"
She wrinkled her forehead, thinking, "There's peanut butter mixed with M&M's and chocolate chips."
Bucky tapped Liam on the head, "How's that sound, kid?"
"I want a scoop with lotsa M&M's," Liam said, reaching up onto the counter.
The girl laughed, "Coming right up. And what's your friend getting?"
Mikey sighed; this was a very overwhelming choice.
Carter poked him playfully in the side, "Hey, I know you know what you want. You just told me."
"Right," Mikey said, shyly looking up at the teen, "Can I get cotton candy?"
She grinned, "Sure can, dude. Cotton candy and PB M&M coming right up."
Liam and Mikey waited for the ice cream impatiently. They leaned against the counter, little eyes trailing the girl's every move as she scooped ice cream into waffle cones.
"Do you want anything?" Bucky asked Carter, "My treat."
She smiled softly, "No, thank you though. I'm good."
Bucky nodded, hating the awkward tension that now filled the space between them.
The girl came back with two giant ice cream cones and handed them to the boys.
They happily shouted, "thank you!" and went to work licking their frozen desserts.
Bucky slid his credit card across the counter and grabbed a handful of napkins before signing the receipt and putting the card back in his wallet.
"Back to the park?" He asked.
Liam and Mikey nodded, too distracted with their ice cream to answer verbally.
Bucky looked at Carter, "You watch one, I'll watch the other?"
She shrugged, "Sure, I'll take Mikey."
She dropped a hand to the boy's shoulder and steered him out the door.
Bucky followed behind, his own hand on Liam's shoulder.
"I'll bet you didn't expect to be sitting in Central Park with a one-armed World War II vet while eating cotton candy ice cream and watching two crazy little boys jump from rock to rock when you agreed to meet up," Bucky said, breaking the tension that had settled over them.
It worked.
Carter laughed and licked at the side of Mikey's discarded ice cream cone, "Well, I was sort of counting on the one armed vet being here. And I'm not about to turn down a tooth rottingly good ice cream cone."
Bucky took a bite from Liam's abandoned cone, wincing against the sudden brain freeze.
"Not trying to pry..." Bucky started, working his way back to whatever Carter was going to tell him before they were mistaken as a couple.
"Which is exactly what people who are going to pry say," Carter winked, smiling. But there was something off in her smile.
Bucky tilted his head, "You may have a point. But," he raised a finger in the air, "I will not admit to prying. Steve is the yenta of this group."
Carter choked on her bite of ice cream, covering her mouth with her hand.
Bucky tapped her on the back, smiling when she scowled at him.
"I can't believe you called Steve a yenta. And yet, I can," she muttered, "But, Mr. I'm-Not-Prying, you're asking about what I was going to say earlier, right?"
"Only if you want to still tell me," Bucky tried for nonchalant, but his voice just sounded strangled to his ears.
Carter fiddled with the hem of her shorts with her free hand. Bucky noticed that they were patterned to look like the American flag; right leg covered in faded stars, left in faded stripes. It felt significant to him.
"I feel like I should tell you," Carter sighed, pulling at loose threads on her shorts.
Bucky wasn't prepared for the rush of words that left her mouth next.
"I broke up with Tim."
Bucky froze, the ice cream cone almost slipping from his hand, "What?"
Carter smiled joylessly, "I broke up with him."
Bucky fought back the rising joy, "Why? I mean, he was a complete ass from what I saw, but you were with him for a long time."
Carter sighed, "Can you hold this?"
Bucky took the ice cream cone from Carter and waited.
Carter twisted her finger against the seam of her shirtsleeve. The maroon shirt was oversized and even though it was short sleeved, the fabric covered hallway down Carter's arm.
"We've been on the outs for a while now. He's not...when I started dating him, Tim was wonderful. But, now, I don't know. Work, something changed. And he's not the guy I fell in love with eight years ago," Carter sighed, her face looking very drawn.
Bucky knocked her knee with his, "You don't have to explain if you don't want to."
"No, I do," Carter said, "When I was younger, I had issues with depression and anxiety and low self esteem. So when Tim came around, I was over the moon. I thought we had a perfect relationship."
Bucky reached behind him and dumped the two melting cones. He had a bad feeling about this story and he didn't want the treats to weigh him down.
"But, um," Carter continued as if she hadn't noticed Bucky's movement, "It was kind of toxic, at least towards the end. And I figured out that I wasn't really in love with Tim, at least not anymore."
Bucky leaned forward, unaware that he was holding his breath. If there were a God, Carter would admit to feeling something for him.
Carter looked down at her hands, "Something about you, Bucky Barnes, is very irresistible."
"Same goes for you, Carter," Bucky grinned.
Carter's lips quirked up into a sort of smile, "Good to know."
One of her hands went up to rub at the skin between her shoulder and elbow. Bucky didn't miss the motion.
"What happened?" he asked, nodding to her hand.
Carter chewed on the inside of her lip, "Another reminder of why Tim and I weren't working out."
She pushed the sleeve up to her shoulder and Bucky could clearly see four purplish, finger-shaped bruises.
Bucky's heart clenched and fire burned in his stomach.
Eyes narrowed and voice cold, he said, "That asshole did this to you."
"I'm not, like, a victim," Carter said, eyes going hard, "This happened once. And I slapped him. So, I'm not like some broken girl from Law & Order: SVU."
"I didn't say that," Bucky said, metal fingers curling into a fist he desperately wanted to smash into Tim's face.
Carter shook her head, "You were thinking it. I didn't tell you about this," she waved her fingers in the general area of the bruises, "because I wanted you to feel bad for me."
"Then why'd you tell me?" Bucky raised his eyebrows.
"I don't...because," Carter shook her head, "Maybe my reasoning sounded better in my head."
Bucky frowned; he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
Hopefully it paid off.
Barely hesitating, he leaned forward and cupped Carter's cheek with his right hand and pressed his lips to hers.
She stiffened for a second and then melted, leaning into the kiss, putting her hand against the side of his neck and kissing him back.
Bucky pulled away, a dazed look in his eye, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..."
Carter shook her head, "No, it was..."
"Sorry, man," a father carrying a little girl on his shoulders interrupted, "Are those your kids? One of 'em is bleeding."
Bucky jumped off the bench and ran over to the playground.
"It was an accident!" Liam wailed, dropping to the floor and sobbing.
"Hey, it's okay," Bucky squatted next to Mikey.
The little boy was sitting up, but he looked shocked.
"Uncle Bucky? My head hurts," he sighed, eyes filling with tears.
"Yeah," Bucky sighed, "I know, pal. Come on, let's get home."
He lifted Mikey into his arms, instructing Liam to grab onto one of his belt loops and to not let go.
Carter skidded to a stop in front of Bucky, "Oh gosh! What happened? Are you okay? Do you need my help?"
Liam broke down into more sobs, "I didn't wanna hurt Mikey!"
Carter brushed her hand over his hair, "Oh, sweetie, it's okay."
Liam's tears had finally pushed Mikey over the edge. He started crying, tears mixing with the blood dripping from the cut on his forehead.
Bucky shushed Mikey and let the boy rest his head against his shoulder, ignoring the blood that was sure to be smeared all across the fabric.
"I want my mom and dad!" Mikey sobbed, clutching Bucky's shirt in a dirty, sticky fist.
"I know, we're gonna go home now," Bucky turned to Carter, "Would you mind walking back with us? I can't keep a grip on both of them."
"Of course, of course. Liam, hang onto my hand," Carter fell into step next to Bucky, thinking that they did look quite domestic.
"Sorry about," Bucky sighed, "well, everything."
Carter looked over at the two boys sitting on the couch, "You couldn't have predicted that."
Bucky poured Mikey a glass of water, "Some things I could have stopped."
He walked away, leaving Carter to her thoughts.
"How ya doing?" he set the water in front of Mikey.
"Okay," the boy sighed, "My head still hurts."
Bucky nodded, checking to see if the bandage was still stuck to his forehead, "It's gonna hurt for a bit. But you and Liam can hang out here with your action figures and cartoons until your mom comes for you."
Liam leaned against Mikey's side, "It was a 'cident."
Mikey patted his head, "I forgive you."
Bucky grinned at the two of them, "Glad that's fixed. Now just relax and call me if you feel sleepy."
Mikey nodded. Satisfied they would call, Bucky headed back to the kitchen.
"Before you say anything," Carter held up a hand to stop Bucky, "I didn't mind the kiss."
Bucky opened his mouth, but Carter cut him off.
"I'm just not ready yet. I like you, James Barnes."
It was the use of his real name that sent a jolt of desire down his spine.
"But I need a little time to sort out my life," Carter reached out and took his hand, "This isn't a no, though. I do want to figure out my feelings for you."
Bucky nodded, "Fair enough. Let me know when I can ask you out for real, though?"
Carter laughed, "Of course. I'll leave you to figuring out a way to explain the bloody head wound to Bruce and Betty."
Bucky groaned, "It's not even that bad."
"You'd better hope he doesn't Hulk-out on you," she giggled, leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Bucky's stubble covered cheek.
Bucky watched her leave, the spell broken when Liam shouted out, "We're gonna see the Hulk?!"
A/N: Okay, so I lied. This one will be four chapters. The next one will be a kind of wrap up.
I'm loving this universe, and I felt really bad for Carter when I was coming up with the reasons for why she would break up with Tim. And now, with this break-up, there's space for Bucky and Carter to finally get their act together.
I have a couple of drabbles that I'm going to work on for "Growing Up Super" and then another idea for a one-shot. So there's still some more coming your way. I am working on an original novel, so I'll be working on that for a bit.
But seriously, drop me a line if you want to chat anything Marvel, or if you wanna talk about what I have planned for this universe. I LOVE talking with you guys =)