Bucky straightened up in front of the mirror, wishing that he had purchased the full length one at the store, as it was hard seeing himself in this one.

He had only just started buying some more furniture for his apartment, realizing that the first time he invited Leah over that he only had one chair, which made playing board games a little awkward. He also only had one couch, if it could be even called that, as it could barely fit him and Sam on it without their knees touching.

Now he had another small couch in the living room, which completely clashed with the first, but Bucky wasn't changing his mind. When he felt the softness of the fabric in the store, it was all he could do to stop himself from snuggling into the couch, right there in the store where everyone could see him, consequences be damned.

Leah laughed so hard at the mismatched colours that she went and ordered a cover for his first couch from some place online. He was still amazed that you could order something online and have it in your hands a day or two after. She then insisted on adding a couple of throw pillows, for a more inviting touch.

Bucky tried to tell her that he didn't need to make his apartment seem inviting and that the pillows weren't really necessary but she shook off all his objections. "Besides -" she said as she positioned the pillows on his couches, "One of these nights you'll want to bring some pretty girl back, and you'll want her to be comfortable, won't you?"

Bucky paused, his mouth stuck open in an awkward 'O' shape at Leah's comment. He really….really didn't see himself dating anytime soon, or maybe ever. He and Sam made jokes about it all the time, but he really did feel like an old man in a younger body. He still had trouble understanding the modern world, let alone creating an intimate relationship in it. He really enjoyed Leah's company, but they were just friends….she knew that right?

Realizing that he had been lost in his own thoughts for a while, he forced himself to look back at Leah. She was looking worried about his lack of response, his sudden quietness. But his look must have encouraged her enough to voice her final comment, one he had not thought about for a long time. "Or maybe, a handsome man back?" She added softly, watching for his reaction.

His first instinct was to deny it, vehemently. He could feel his whole body tense, metal hand tightening into a fist. But then he watched Leah, who was waiting patiently for his reaction, no judgement at all in her face. This wasn't the 1940's anymore, he reminded himself, taking small, deep breaths to try to calm his body. This was his friend, who never showed an ounce of judgement towards him, even when she found out the truth about who he was. And this was just one more piece of that truth that he longed to share with someone else, even if it was his first time voicing it out loud.

"Yeah, or maybe a handsome man," he agreed, cracking a small smile once he saw a matching one on Leah's face. And that's all there was to it.

Bucky shook his head at the mirror; who would have known that the first time he came out to someone, that it would be over throw pillows on a couch? But then he made a face. Because the next thing he did was joke back to Leah if she knew where to find a handsome man…

He should have started backpedalling the moment he saw her eyes light up with excitement. But he had been riding the adrenaline of coming out and her acceptance, and he just went along with it. Leah set him up on some app that he barely understood how it worked, and the messages started flooding in.

And now, he was frantically trying to make one last decision before he went on his first official date...with a man…

He quickly punched in Leah's number, knowing that he needed an actual vocal opinion, not some text message filled with smiley faces. But he got her answering machine and then remembered that she was on the evening shift that night. Shit.

His finger hovered over Sam's contact, knowing that Sam said to contact him if he ever needed anything. But was dating advice really what Sam was offering? He didn't really have any other option because he didn't think his 76-year-old neighbour would be able to even see him, based on how thick the lenses were in her glasses, let alone provide helpful advice. Sighing loudly, Bucky clicked on Sam's number and waited, half hoping that Sam wouldn't answer.

"Hey man, what's up?" Sam answered after only a few rings.

Bucky could hear that slight drawl in Sam's voice and couldn't help but smile. He didn't notice it when they first started conversing, Sam often hiding the Louisiana accent. But Bucky noticed that when Sam was more relaxed, more content, that his accent was more prevalent in his speech.

"Do you have a second? I….I need an opinion," Bucky asked, looking for the button to make the call into one with video. "But, first, I need you to promise that you aren't going to laugh."

"I promise," Sam said, sounding serious enough for Bucky to click the Facetime button. Sam's face lit up his screen, the man obviously sitting outside on the deck at his sister's place. No wonder he sounded relaxed; Bucky was pretty sure that was his favourite place to be.

"Okay, let's say you were about to go on your first date with a man you met online. Would you be more bothered by a guy with a metal arm or a guy with no arm?" Bucky asked, frowning slightly as he looked at his appearance in the small mirror. He currently had the vibranium arm off, sitting on the bed out of sight. Shuri had made a handful of shirts for him that tucked in the extra fabric on a shirt and kept it secure with a zipper, so he thought he looked pretty good in the burgundy top he had on but still wasn't sure.

"Wait, wait, did you decide to enter the 20th century by trying out online dating?" Sam asked with a grin.

Bucky could tell he was about to start chuckling and cut him off before he could go any further. "Hey, hey, you said you wouldn't laugh," Bucky said with a frown, starting to wonder if he shouldn't have called.

"Sorry, man, I was just having this funny mental image of you swiping at photos on Tinder," Sam said, obviously pushing down his laughter. "Hey, do you want me to grab Sarah? She might have a better idea of what the ladies are looking for?" He asked, making a move to stand.

"No, no," Bucky said, shaking his head. "My date….isn't a woman; it's a man," Bucky said, stumbling over the confession a bit. He watched anxiously for Sam's reaction. He didn't think that Sam was homophobic, but it also was something they never chatted about. Heck, he wouldn't have known it was more accepted if it wasn't for his own research on the topic. Sexuality, relationships, and gender weren't exactly Hydra's or the Avenger's focus.

"Oh," Sam replied, and paused, not saying anything else for the moment. Bucky tilted his head, not really sure how to interpret that sound, but luckily Sam didn't keep him waiting for long. "I'm sorry for making an assumption about your sexuality, man."

Bucky felt a pang of guilt. Sam sounded really apologetic, and he didn't need to be at all; it's wasn't his fault that Bucky was only now telling him that he's...bisexual, yes, that's the word. But still, he pushed on with his questions; he had to get to the restaurant soon. "Yeah, so, I don't want to get into the whole, I was Hydra's pet assassin on the first date, but I also don't want to weird him out without the arm either. What do you think? How does this look?" And Bucky held the phone back a bit, allowing Sam to see his outfit.

Maybe he needed to take a psychology course...or what was it that they called it in that show...profiling? Because once again, he could not for the life of him decipher what was going on with Sam's reaction. Upon seeing Bucky, Sam shifted forward, but Bucky wasn't sure if he was either trying to see Bucky's outfit better or just changing his position because he was uncomfortable. Bucky could also see Sam bite his lip slightly, which he thought meant that Sam was feeling uneasy. He could feel his stomach sink. Why did he let Leah talk him into this?

"-man," Sam said, pulling Bucky out from his spiralling thoughts.

"What?" Bucky asked, confused because he didn't catch the first part.

"I said you look good man, like really good," Sam said, leaning back into the chair, a soft smile on his face. "And Bucky, the right guy will like you regardless of the arm, so just keep that in mind, okay?"

Bucky nodded, not able to find the words to respond.

"Now, do we need to go over safe sex for the 21st century?" Sam asked, grinning into the phone.

"Fuck no," Bucky said, shaking his head back and forth. "I'm going to pretend I never heard those words come out of your mouth." With that, Bucky gave a little wave and clicked the hang up button. Giving himself one last look over in the mirror, Bucky grabbed his leather jacket and headed on out.