"Have you thought about a trauma therapist?" Claire asked, taking a sip of her martini.
June shrugged. "No, I guess not. But maybe it's a good idea. I think part of what is bothering me the most is that, like, there's this nagging voice that my parents were right and that it isn't safe for a girl alone in the city. I mean I know that's ridiculous," June said quickly, "I've lived here for years and this is the first time anything shitty has happened."
"And it could have happened anywhere," Claire added.
"Exactly," June nodded. She looked away from Claire as two customers came into the bar. The two men sat next to Claire.
"Hey, what can I get for y'all?"
"Whiskey on ice," the man with short, dark hair said.
"I'll take an ale," the man with lighter hair ordered.
"Holy shit, you're Iron Man! And you're the bird guy!"
"The Falcon," he corrected with a scowl. "My name is Sam."
"This is my rude ass friend, Claire," June said, rolling her eyes. She turned away to make the drinks and sat them down in front of the two Avengers.
"Do we get a superhero discount?"
June rolled her eyes. "When you save my ass, for sure. In the meantime…"
Tony laughed loudly, handing over his card. "I like you."
"Thanks. I hope it will be helpful at some point and not just meaningless that you like me."
"Now who is the rude one?" Claire exclaimed. June rolled her eyes and walked away to tend to some other customers. She came back a few moments later and returned to her conversation with Claire.
"Do you know anyone? I've stayed at Bucky's like every other night this week. At some point he's gonna stop letting me. I don't imagine Luke will want me to crash at y'all's for too long either."
"Anyone?" Claire asked, still distracted by the Avengers she sat beside. "And Luke loves you. He wanted you to stay with us until I told him you were somewhere else, don't be silly."
"Trauma therapists. Or trauma group talks."
"Well… No. But I'm sure we could find something online," Claire said.
"Sorry to interrupt ladies, but I might have some suggestions. I've done a lot of work with soldiers with PTSD."
June looked at him for a few moments. "My apartment got broken into. I think I need to start staying at home again sooner rather than later."
"Oh that's probably not necessary," Tony said under his breath.
Sam shoved an arm into Tony's rib. "You got some paper? I'll write a few things down that you can look into. I don't run any of them so you don't have to worry about that," Sam offered.
June smiled and grabbed a napkin and a pen for Sam to write on. "I really appreciate that."
"Any interest in home security?" Tony asked. "Free of charge."
"I can't- That's way too much and you don't even know me," June said, cheeks turning slightly pink.
Tony shrugged. "Kid, I have plenty of money. It won't break me to install some security tech in your house. Here's my card, if you decide you want it just give me a call."
Bucky sat down at the table between Steve and Peter. He had grown to like the teenager's presence. He was earnest and awkward and funny. June was working a double and would be off late, leaving him without the dinner plans they had gotten in the habit of making throughout the last week. He decided to take up Pepper's dinner invitation.
"What's going on with Sharon, Cap?" Natasha asked, a playful glint in her eyes.
Steve rolled his eyes. "She's a friend."
"A very attractive friend," Wanda added.
"So is Natasha," Steve defended.
"So it's not Sharon, it's Nat?" Bucky asked, a grin on his face. He was glad to not be on the teasing end of a relationship with a female for once.
Groaning, Steve took a roll and passed the plate of bread around. "She's Peggy's niece."
"Sometimes I think all of you have a secret meeting to discuss who you're going to gang up on for the night," Pepper said.
"It's never you though, Pep," Tony said, kissing her cheek.
"Yeah, we would never be dumb enough to insult the person doing the cooking. Plus you're so great, how could anyone say anything bad to you?" Peter said.
"Here, here!" Tony said, raising a glass. "To Pepper!" Everyone followed suit, raising their glasses in Pepper's honor, wide smiles on everyone's face and a blush on hers.
"You should bring June to dinner sometime, Buck," Steve said casually. "It's been a month now, at least."
"Of course she's welcome!"
"We're just friends-"
"Friends meet their friends friends and have dinner," Natasha exclaimed.
"Normal people," Bucky reminded. "This is the most abnormal group of people in a room together."
"You still haven't told her anything?"
"Nope."
"Well you're going to be mad, my favorite Manchurian Candidate," Tony began. Bucky felt his jaw tense as he waited for whatever was to come next.
"What did you do?" Steve asked, his posture now tense and ready yo restrain Bucky.
"Sam and I went to the bar June works at today-"
"Are you fucking kidding-"
"Calm down, man, let us finish," Sam said, totally unbothered by Bucky's murderous glare. "We didn't say we knew you or anything. She was talking to a friend at the bar, some Claire chick. We just offered her some trauma therapy groups and some free home security."
"It was less creepy then what you wanted me to do," Tony said. "Setting up spy tech in someone's house is way easier when they know you're doing it."
"I don't want to spy on her," Bucky grumbled. He felt torn between remaining angry and grateful they wanted to help. "I just want to make sure she's safe and if she's not I want to know immediately and know who it is and how to find them."
"You don't sound crazy at all," Natasha said, rolling her eyes.
Bucky sighed. "She's a good person. She deserves to feel safe."
"So what will you say if she mentions talking to Tony and Sam?" Wanda asked.
"I don't know." Bucky felt a rain cloud over him just thinking about it. June said almost everything that popped into her head. He had no reason to think this would be any different. So it was clear - he either had to tell her about himself and his past or lie. Bucky remained lost in thought the rest of their meal.
"You going to meet June or coming home first?" Steve asked as they walked the darkened streets.
"Home. I'll go up to the bar a little later and bring June back. I need more time to figure out a game plan."
"You two are getting pretty close- Hear me out, I am not saying romantically," Steve quickly added, "I mean you two are friends and if you keep being friends at some point your past is going to catch up with you. You need to make sure it's on your terms..."
Bucky sighed. "You're a punk… I know you're right." He took his phone out of his pocket to see a text from June saying she was off early and she and Claire were going to stay at her apartment tonight. "For once luck is on my side."
"What do you mean?"
"Claire is staying with June tonight. I don't have to deal with it. Not now, at least." Relief washed over him.
"Wanna come to my place and watch a movie?"
Bucky shook his head. "Any other time I would say yes. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week. I'm so on edge when June is there because of my nightmares."
"Have they been bad lately?"
"No… Which makes me ever more on edge when she's around because I don't want to accidentally do anything to hurt her."
The two men climbed the stairs to their homes. "Get some rest Buck. I'll see you bright and early for a run."
June stretched, laying back into the grass. Her stomach was exposed to the sun but it's warmth felt so good she left her shirt up. "How's it sleeping in your bed instead of your couch?"
June had been walking through the park when she saw Bucky jogging and waved him down. She felt embarrassed because if she was honest with herself she had been avoiding him the last week. She had lied and said that Claire was spending the nights with her at her apartment but in reality she'd been staying home alone. She felt guilty over how many nights Bucky spent on a couch in his own home. In the week since she'd last seen, or really even spoken to Bucky, she had gone to one group therapy session and had Tony install security in her home.
Bucky looked down and shook his head. "Fine. I'm more interested in hearing how sleeping in your bed has been though."
"It's been better. I've even stayed alone a couple nights. I went to this therapy thing and got some security installed. I feel like I'm probably overreacting. I don't know," June shrugged, looking away from Bucky.
"You don't have anything to be embarrassed about, ya know. Being a woman comes with enough threats in the outside world. There shouldn't be threats in your own home too."
June felt even more foolish for avoiding Bucky. She rolled to her side, rolling into his side. "I'm glad we're friends, Buck."
Bucky smiled down at June. "Me too." He squeezed her shoulder and the two fell into easy conversation. He counted himself lucky that she hadn't specifically mentioned Tony or Sam. It seemed more and more like things could stay normal, at least for a little while longer.