June wiped down the counter, counting down the minutes until the bar closed. It couldn't come soon enough. She hated working the closing shift and it almost never happened, making it all the more bothersome when it did.
"Cara better be having the best date ever," June sighed.
"Your favorite whiskey on ice?"
June began grabbing a glass and the liquor bottle before she looked up, a bright smile on her face. "Hey Stranger." Bucky took his glass and handed June cash, mumbling for her to keep the change. He had spent a lot of time going back and forth with himself on whether or not he was even going to come to the bar tonight. Two and a half weeks had passed since he had last seen June after the teasing dinner. Instead of going anywhere he had mostly stayed inside the last two and a half weeks, only leaving for runs with Steve and Sam or to go to the tower.
"I looked up your poetry."
"Alright. I can't tell if you're telling me without telling me that you think it's brilliant or the worst thing you've ever read."
"Telling without telling?"
"Like, polite omission? Though if you were going to do that you shouldn't have told me you've read it at all."
"I don't do polite omission," Bucky shrugged. "I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed hearing it on the youtube."
June laughed, her eyes bright. "I'm glad you enjoyed it on the youtube. What have you been up to? Were you on some secret adventure? Have you saved the world?" Bucky was saved from answering when another customer came up to the bar. June got a rush of customers after that one and the rest of the night she stayed pretty busy until it was finally closing time.
"I'm glad to see you tonight, I was wondering about you," June said when she took his empty glass.
Bucky shrugged. "S'not unusual for me. Sometimes I just… disappear from the world."
June shrugged. "Alright. Well, if you wanna go on another adventure I'm working my normal shift Wednesday."
"What kind of adventure?"
"You figure it out," June shrugged. "That way if you don't show up I'll just do my own thing."
Bucky grinned. "Alright. How are you getting home?"
"I'm walking. I'm just, like, ten blocks over."
"It's late-"
"Don't you start," June warned.
"What?!" Bucky asked incredulously.
"Unless you're walking me home I have no interest in you telling me how it's unsafe. Dudes do that shit all the time. I know it's not the safest, I'm a woman in the world, nothing is super safe because men are such pieces of shit."
Bucky conceded her point was fair. "I'm walking you home."
"I've got a half-hour of cleaning."
"I've got all the time in the world."
Bucky helped with what he was able to do of June's closing duties. It shaved off a few minutes of June's half-hour clean-up but she was pretty spot on with the amount of time things would take. Bucky waited outside for just a few seconds as June set the alarm and walked out of the bar. The city wasn't as noisy as normal and Bucky found himself enjoying the late spring air.
"Isn't it a nice walk?"
"It is. Still don't think it's safe, but it's nice," Bucky answered.
"I didn't say anything about safe, just that it's nice outside," June replied, sticking out her tongue. June began telling Bucky about some annoying customer that was impatient and rude before he had arrived, then talked about an annoying group of girls. She told him that's why she hated working the closing shift the most, the people weren't as enjoyable as her early shifts. "Even though some weirdos come in," June said, bumping into Bucky with her hip.
"This is the prime time to toss you off a bridge," Bucky said, looking into her mirthful brown eyes.
"Too late, this is me," June replied, stopping in front of a five story brick building. "Thanks for walking me home. Rain check on the bridge thing."
"Night, June," Bucky smiled. He watched her walk to the door into her building and waited for her to enter. She cursed loudly when her hand touched the door handle. "What's going on?"
"I locked my bag in the bar. I don't have keys, which means I also don't have keys to get into the bar."
He wanted there to be a better option, literally any good option. But he knew there wasn't. "You can stay at my place. I'll sleep on the couch."
"I want to put up a fight. I don't think you're the type of person that enjoys having people in your spaces… But given that it's either yours or my stoop… I guess lead the way. Is it worth me arguing that I can happily sleep on the couch?"
"Not even a little bit," Bucky answered.
The two walked a short fifteen minutes from June's apartment in a comfortable quiet. Bucky led her up the stairs to his place. He tried to be as quiet as possible, hoping Steve was asleep and had no idea he hadn't been at home.
"Here we are. I'm going to change real quick and grab you something," Bucky said, leaving June in the living room. He returned a few moments later in shorts, a tee-shirt, and a jacket. If June thought it was odd he had on a jacket she didn't say anything.
"We're going to go to a flea market sometime soon and get you some cool art for your walls."
"What's wrong with my walls?" Bucky asked, handing her one of his tee shirts.
"Nothing. But it's obvious you didn't decorate this place," June said. "Or you're really boring and I missed it."
Bucky laughed loudly, as usual, slightly surprised when the sound came from him. He should be used to it by now, at least when he was around June's frankness. "My friend Steve. He put some stuff up, said I would live in here with a couch and a bed and nothing else if he didn't intervene."
"That true?"
Bucky shrugged. "Maybe. I've never thought about decorating."
"How come?"
"This place still doesn't feel… permanent," Bucky said after a few beats of silence. It was something he'd never said aloud and now that he had he made a mental note that it was probably something to talk to his therapist about.
June nodded. "I was like that for a really long time. The place I live now is the first one that has ever really felt like home since I moved up here. Are you sure I can't take the couch?"
"Positive. G'night, June."
"Just so you know sometimes I have crazy ass dreams, especially if I'm sleeping away from home. It's fine though. Night, Buck." June walked into his bedroom, leaving the door open a crack. Bucky smiled to himself, thinking if she only knew about his 'crazy ass dreams'.
He settled himself on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He figured he probably wouldn't sleep much. He didn't want to have any dreams with June there. If he could help it she would never know about his past or his arm, or any of the multitude of things that would give her reason to end their friendship. Bucky had decided, in the time he'd spent away from the bar, that life was more interesting with June in it. If he could keep her at arms length, what was the harm in maintaining a friendship?
"You two are slow today," Sam said, bent over with hands on knees trying to catch his breath. "Nearly caught you both."
"Bucky's probably distracted by the woman that he left at his apartment this morning. As for me, you didn't stand a chance."
"Steve," Bucky groaned. He knew that Steve had dropped it too easily when he saw a figure in his bed. He had come in to fill his water bottle, Bucky not thinking about Steve even possibly seeing June from the sink. In hindsight he felt like an idiot. His bedroom door was open and there was a direct line of sight from the kitchen. Like himself, Steve naturally scanned his surroundings for irregularities.
"Whoa, Barnes! Gettin' some!"
"That's not what I said," Steve exclaimed, blushing. At least Bucky could take pleasure that Steve was embarrassed now.
"She left her keys in the bar she works at. There was no way in hell I was gonna let her sleep outside or look around for a hotel that late," Bucky said. "That's all."
"So this is the same girl as from the bar?"
"Yes. Her name is June."
"When do we get to meet her?"
"My hope is never."
"C'mon, we're friends. If you've got a-"
"Don't finish the sentence," Bucky interrupted. "I haven't told her anything about me… Or my… different life. I want to keep it that way. If she meets the bunch of you then there will be a conversation about how I know Captain America and the Avengers. Then I have a lot more to tell her about my own life."
"Or-"
"Are we here to run or run our mouths?" Bucky asked, standing up straight. He began running without waiting for an answer. Steve and Sam shared a look and laughed a little before again beginning to run.
June rolled over in the unfamiliar bed and stretched before sitting up. The apartment was quiet. She pushed the blankets off her body and walked into the living room. On the coffee table was a note mentioning a morning run.
She couldn't decide if she should leave or wait for Bucky to get back. She settled on staying when she checked her phone and saw it was too early for anyone to be at the bar so she could get her bag, and without her bag she didn't have her keys or her wallet.
June walked quickly back to the bedroom and pulled the top blanket off Bucky's bed and wrapped it around herself, walked back into the living room, and turned on the television. This is where she was fifteen minutes later when Bucky walked in.
He looked at her before laughing. "You look like a caterpillar in a cocoon."
"Soon I'll be a moth."
"Not a butterfly?"
"No, definitely a moth."
Bucky sat on the arm of the couch. "I'm going to take a shower. Wanna get breakfast after?"
"I don't have my bag."
"Yeah, that's why you're here."
"That means I also don't have my money."
"I got it," Bucky said, shaking his head. "Even if you had your bag, I've got it. Sometimes you don't make any sense to me." He said it with a smile and walked off to the bathroom before June could argue, leaving her rolling her eyes. June settled back into the blanket and turned her attention back to the television, her eyes growing heavier.
Bucky walked out of the shower fifteen minutes later to find June asleep on the couch. He sat beside her and decided to let her sleep. They could get breakfast when she woke up.