Frankie wrapped the hair tie around her second dutch braid and looked in the mirror. The skin underneath her eyes was dark and her skin, peppered with freckles, was drier than usual. She made a mental note to get some moisturizer. Sighing, she quickly put her mascara on then dressed in a light blue t-shirt and black overalls.
"Alright, time to make this more homey," Frankie said to herself. She locked her door as she heard the door across the hall from her open.
"It's you," she said, surprised when she turned and was faced with her neighbor.
His eyebrows raised. "It's you."
Frankie laughed. "Tony gave me a list of places I could live that he would argue with me about when I told him I didn't want to live in the tower. Wonder how much he paid the landlord to make sure this is the only one I saw."
Bucky laughed. "Do you think he's really that manipulative?"
"I think he's really that crazy when it comes to the safety of people he cares about," Frankie shrugged. "Do you wanna go shopping with me?"
Bucky's eyes raised. "I thought you weren't letting anyone go with you."
"Well I wasn't going to. But I think you're probably the person on the team least likely to try and learn every single thing about me and report your findings. So. You can come. If you want. I wouldn't mind the company if I'm being honest. I do like people, in small doses. I would have asked Pepper to come if we didn't have totally different tastes."
"Alright," Bucky agreed. "Why not?"
"Do you need to do any errands? What were you leaving your place for?" Bucky blushed slightly and started walking. Frankie followed, taking the stairs two at a time to keep up with Bucky.
"Don't fall," Bucky exclaimed, slowing down when he realized what she was doing. "I need to leave my apartment once a day, even if I don't have a reason to. I tend to… I would stay in there forever and not talk to anyone until Steve came to force me out."
"Funny that you mention it, that's pretty much what I was doing for two months before I started working for Tony."
"Where are we going for your furniture?" Bucky asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know," Frankie said thoughtfully. "Let's start at some antique stores. If nothing else there should be some great glassware there."
"I'm kind of surprised you don't already have glassware."
"Well, all that's in my house is a blanket and television. Oh, a pillow too! Everything else I set on fire before coming here."
"Makes sense," Bucky shrugged. "I know a place you might like, c'mon."
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"Alright. So, let's see," Frankie said, turning around her apartment. "Plenty of glassware, some decorations. Vases."
"We need to get flowers. I think empty vases may be bad luck," Bucky said from the kitchen, where he was putting said glassware away.
"Alright, flowers. Got it. Ok. So I think we found everything I need except a couch and maybe an armchair, a bed frame, and a mattress." Frankie paused, then gravely said, "Bucky."
"Frankie?" Bucky poked his head through the kitchen's pass through.
"I think we need to go to… IKEA."
"Alright," Bucky nodded.
"Do you understand what you're agreeing to?"
Bucky laughed. "I've never been in an IKEA. I assume it's a furniture store? Am I wrong? Should I go change and grab more weapons?"
"More weapons?"
Bucky pulled a knife from his boot and another from his pocket. "I don't travel without weapons."
"Smart. I think that's plenty of weaponry. Alright, let's go. When we're done we can come back and have dinner. Do you think they'll deliver everything to me today if I throw around Tony's name?"
"I think you can call Tony and tell him to have a truck waiting outside of IKEA and it can all happen today."
"Good thinking. So far it's good you've been around today," Frankie said. She pulled her phone out as they walked out of her apartment to call Tony and see what kind of strings could be pulled.
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"Honey," Frankie whispered. "There are people in our kitchen."
Bucky lept from the velvet couch. "And they didn't even knock!"
Frankie laughed and stood, looking at the couch thoughtfully. "I don't know if I really like this couch or if I really like velvet."
"Get the velvet armchair and a different couch," he suggested.
"That's actually a great idea. Alright, will you write the tag information for that one down. Let's go to the couch paradise."
The two walked around the couches and sat on fifteen before, at the last one, Frankie exclaimed it was the one. She liked that it was wide and long, making it so she could extend her legs and her feet just barely hung off the edges. It came in a variety of colors and patterns and she decided on a burnt orange floral pattern because she thought it would look nice next to her armchair. En route to the beds they stopped by coffee tables and found one she liked, along with chairs that would look nice with the kitchen table she'd gotten at the antique shop.
Frankie walked around looking, a sense of frustration building inside her. She knew it was mostly due to how long they'd been in IKEA. She was definitely ready to leave. "I don't know what I want," she yelled, throwing her hands in the air.
Bucky's eyes widened. "Alright. What don't you want?"
"What?"
"What don't you want?"
"I don't want too soft. I don't like things that are too comfortable. But I don't want a rock either. I kind of just want to get a lot of blankets and set up a pallet on the floor." An odd look crossed Bucky's face. "I mean, like, I know I deserve to have a comfortable space or whatever. My last therapist told me I need to get a bed to work through my shit but, like, what does she know?"
"Get a bed, doesn't mean you have to sleep in it but it's there when you decide you want to," Bucky said, not quite meeting Frankie's eyes. "Besides, it's Tony's money and he has a lot of it."
Frankie let out a breath. "Alright. You're right. This one, good enough. And that bed frame. We'll need to stop somewhere else for sheets and blankets, maybe a Target so we can get some food and alcohol."
"And a bodega for flowers," Bucky added.
"You're right. Let's, and I hate to say this, go back and look at sheets and stuff here. That way we can get food and alcohol at the bodega. I'd rather support one of them."
"I'll meet you over there. I need to write down the bed and mattress tags."
Another two and a half hours passed and in that time Frankie had picked out sheets, blankets, and more pillows. She got some cool mirrors and a few picture frames, as well as some cool light fixtures Bucky promised to hang after dinner. They picked up champagne, several different cheeses and meats, fruit, pesto, and bread. By the time they were back to their apartment building, Frankie walked inside to find that her furniture had been delivered, assembled, and put in its proper room.
"Will you put all this on plates and pour some champagne? I want to move things around just a little," Frankie said, looking at Bucky.
"Tell me where you want the lights first, I think it will be better than these awful overheads. I never have my overheads on," Bucky said, his nose wrinkled.
"Do whatever you think," Frankie shrugged.
The two quickly set out to complete their tasks. Frankie pushed all the furniture from in front of the television and rolled out the varying shades of green shag rug she'd found. It reminded her of grass. Once the rug was placed she put the coffee table back and moved the couch and armchair closer to the rug and set things up the way she wanted. Bucky turned the overhead light off and plugged in the lights he had strung up along the edges of the room.
"Oh my gosh, this is so pretty," Frankie gushed. "I love it!"
"Told ya. Food on the coffee table or the kitchen table?"
"Coffee. I wanna sit on the floor on the shag rug. Oh! Will you put the meats on a separate plate?"
"Sure. Do you not eat meat?"
"I eat fish occasionally, but no."
"People are so strange now," Bucky laughed. "When I was a kid it was a meat and two vegetables every night. Except when we had Mom's spaghetti. It was amazing." A sadness came over Bucky that Frankie wanted to ask about, but he hadn't poked about any of the things she had said that definitely would make anyone else ask questions and she figured she owed him the same courtesy.
"I don't begrudge anyone else's choices," Frankie shrugged. "I just feel better not eating meat."
"You wanna do the honors?" Bucky asked, tilting the champagne bottle at Frankie.
"No! I'm so scared of champagne corks. I just really love champagne."
Bucky pointed the bottle away from the cork putting them in line of fire and opened the bottle with ease. He poured two glasses into green coup glasses and handed Frankie one.
"Cheers, neighbor." Bucky clinked their glasses.
"I'm glad you came with me on all these things," Frankie said, taking a sip of champagne.
"Can we agree that no one needs to know about this?"
"Oh absolutely. I don't want any of them knowing anything about me that I don't want them to."
Bucky laughed. "That makes two of us." She had the sense that they could become friends, if for no other reason than they were the only two that weren't so goddamn nosy.
