She did her work through the movies that she really did not care for but James found some form of interest in, or the ones that she could sing by heart or the ones that she could quote by heart too. Paperwork, the one thing that Robin hated about working for Pepper, the paperwork seemed like it could go on forever and ever. So one morning, after the kids had gone off to school and James was in one of his sleep forever states, Robin laced on her running shoes, pulled her hair back, and thought about taking a run when James finally rose from his dead state, right as she had her hand tightly around the doorknob. She could have left, she could have just walked out as if she hadn't heard him wake, she had even left him a note saying that she was going off for a run, but she found herself sigh and move back into the apartment, she was desperate for a release, she wanted to just run off all of her problems with work. . . well paperwork, but she went back into the apartment and smiled to James, pulling her headphones out of her ears.
" Hey Tiger, good to see that you weren't out for a whole day this time." Robin smiled as James rolled his eyes from the couch.
" How long was I asleep for?" He mumbled through a stretch that made Robin tilt her head to get a better view of his body.
" Um. . . lets see you feel asleep in the middle of Titanic last night, so I'd say right around seven and it's nine right now. You didn't move, trust me, you didn't move like an inch, so around fourteen hours straight. Before me, when did you sleep?" Robin asked as James just kept stretching, dropping the topic right then and there. " Listen, I was going to go for a run, I could stop somewhere on the way back and grab us something to eat. You feeling doughnuts and coffee?"
" I'll go with you." James said as he got up from the couch.
" What?! No, James you are still healing from your little accident with a knife. Do you really think that you should be out running around?" Robin asked as James chuckled.
" Do you really think that being stabbed in the side is the worst thing that has happened to me?" He chuckled as he went into the bathroom with some clothes to change into.
" Well until you started to chuckle like that I did. Man that boy can be so creepy at times." Robin said as she shook her head, guess she had a running partner now.
Robin was redoing her hair when James came out in some black shorts and a shirt that had had the sleeves cut right out of them. Robin had bought it for him one of the first days that he had been here, thinking that he would wear it as a night shirt, before she learned that he didn't sleep with a shirt on. It shocked her a little, that he was going to go out wearing something that basically showed all of his metal arm off, but she didn't press on it either. She liked the fact of how comfortable he was with his arm, even if it was just for a walk. But she had to mess with him as she went behind him and started to pull his hair into a ponytail, telling him that it would keep him cooler, and wondered how he had ever worked out before without putting it up. He looked cute to her, with his hair up in a tight bun, he looked like someone still that she had seen in the past, someone that she had seen before. . .
They decided that they were going to run the East River and finish up in the park. Robin knew that this man was going to run faster than she was, that he could probably do five laps in the time that it took her to do one, but she just tried to keep up and James started to slow down if he left like he was going too fast. She kept her music in most of the time, it was the one thing that could keep her going when she felt like she could just flop over and die. Sometimes she would just break into a full paced run before lunging herself at James, making him topple over and fall into the nearby grass, making them stop and just break down laughing. The one times that she did it, they fell into the grass and James rolled over so that he was hovering just inches above her, Robin laughing just as hard as she had the first time that she had done it. Her body heaving from running that fast to catch up to him that their bodies touched at some points.
" Gotcha." She said when she was finally able to catch her breath.
" Guess you did." He whispered as he knelt down and kissed her on the lips, making her whole body go numb for a moment. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest, though it was not from the run, and bet that James could feel it as well.
They could go from acting like they were just friends for days at a time with only the few cute kisses here and there to full on public displays of affection the next without even really thinking about it. When they did get like this though, it was a need and desire thing, they could spent a whole day just doing nothing but kissing, neither of them seemed to really mind just saying at first base. Robin wrapped her arms around she neck, pulling him down closer as she felt his metal arm wrap around her waist, pulling her in closer to his chest. It felt wrong, being in a public space and having a full on make-out session, but Robin didn't care at that moment, she only saw James. The way that James looked at her, the way that he smiled down to her, it seemed like the only person that James saw, basically ever, was her. But something stopped them, something that made Robin and James start laughing as she pushed James off to get a better view of what was happening.
" No, no, no!" One guy was yelling as they sat there in the grass and watched another guy coming up on the guy, and quick.
" Hey look, it's what I did to you!" Robin whispered as they both chuckled, knowing that she looked nothing like the blonde male.
" On your left!" The other guy called out as he shot past the first male.
" Ahh!" The first yelled out in frustration as he started to run faster after the other.
" Wanna really fuck with some people today?" Robin asked through a smile as James gasped out as if he was completely opposed to it.
" Yes, yes, how are we going to do it?" James asked as Robin busted out laughing, not expecting him to be so ready for that.
So they did it. Robin on the left of the man and James on the right. She had to run as fast as she could just to be at some what of the same pace as the other man, she knew that just as soon as they cleared the man that she would be on the ground, not able to breath, and would be there for about a half an hour. But she also knew that it was so going to be worth it too, just because of the way that that man had reacted to the other, so they just jogged around the edge of the water until the first guy showed up yet again and then they started booking it. She really didn't care if the guy just rolled his eyes or if he would be so angry that he would start chasing them or if he would just laugh at him, she just wanted to see James laugh and to be able to laugh with him and have a little fun. She was after all, like her brother said, a wild child and wild children needed to have as much fun as they possibly could when they possibly could. They caught up to the first one pretty easily, running as fast as they could.
" On your left." Robin cried out, laughing as the guy just groaned, knowing that he was being mocked.
" On your right." James said as Robin instantly started to laugh as they kept running, Robin hoping to atleast catch a glimpse of the first guy again.
" Hey. . . wait!" The first guy starting to yell as Robin looked back, he was looking right at them, he didn't seem mad or angry, but he looked like he really needed something. So she started to slow down as James looked back, too he did until he saw the man's face and Robin noticed that he seemed panicked. " Wait! I know you! Steve! Steve! I've got him! He's here." The man started to run full force towards them, making Robin scream as she felt an arm wrap around her waist and started to run with her like that, as fast as he could carry them.
" What the hell is happening?" Robin screamed as James just kept running as fast as he could, she could see from around her shoulder that the other man, this Steve, was coming at them from that side as the other man was running at them from behind.
" I know them!" James yelled back. Great, the one time that he didn't need to know anything about anyone, he had to know people who were chasing them.
" Are they from that Hydra thing?" Robin screamed as both men started to catch up, they didn't have guns, they didn't show any weapon, they were just running at them.
" Nope." James said as they both looked back and Robin finally caught a glimpse at this Steve and felt her heard jump, hell she even knew him, that was Captain America!
" Holy shit! What the hell did you do to get these guys after you?!" She yelled as James swerved and ran right past the man and kept on going with Robin still hanging there.
" Stuff." James hissed as he kept running but the man was getting closer and closer.
" Speed it up, James!" Robin screamed as she pulled her leg up and pulled her shoe off, hucking it as hard as she possibly could at the man that she had grown up knowing as a hero. It hit him right in the head, making him stop just long enough for them to get around a corner and blend in with the rest of the people rushing to and form their places. She knew that Cecilia would never forgive her if she knew that Robin had just hit Captain America in the face with her running shoe. Robin had to hobble around because of her missing shoe, she was starting to get a little annoyed with how many shoes she had lost in the past week.
" How on earth did you get fucking Steve Rogers chasing after, holy fucking shit you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Robin yelled as James pulled her into a parking garage. " You really are him! You are fucking Bucky Barnes. Wait. . . James Buchanan Barnes oh my Christ!" She screamed, kicking the cement wall as hard as she could. She was so angry and really didn't even know why she was this way.
" Listen, I am sorry that I didn't tell you, I really don't even know who I am right now, I would have told you, really I would have, but the way that you doubted your sister, the way that you just brushed it off, I didn't know how to tell you that. . . that that's who I think I am. Everyone says that is who I am, everyone, I remember things from my past, but. . . but they just don't make sense, like you said, how can it be?" James asked as Robin kicked the wall again, this time with the foot that didn't have a shoe.
" Fuck!" She screamed as James came beside of her and she squeezed onto his hand as tightly as she could until the pain subsided.
" I. . . I understand if you dislike me now. I did lie to you." He said as he gently let go of her hand, the sorrow in his eyes was something that made her heartbreak.
" How could I dislike you, James? We've known each other for what, six days now? That's not even a week. Some people would call me a prude for what I have done with you in six days. We. . . we barely know one another. I'm pissed at myself, I mean I should have known, you look just like him, you don't know who you are, and I guess whenever I bring up the name Captain America or Steve and you go off into one of your dazes should have told me all I need to know. Besides, my sister is a pretty smile little shithead, I guess I should have known that she would have figured out who you were before anyone else could have." Robin smiled lightly as she laced her figured around the mans metal arm, making him flinch for a moment, he still held onto her with his good hand as if she were made of glass, he didn't dare do this, but she did. " Besides, no one can tare me away from you, remember?" Robin smiled as she looked on to the street to find that no one was running or looking for them, just normal people.
" You're like no one I have known before." James whispered as he gave her a kiss on the side of the head.
" Well you don't remember many people, so I wouldn't bet on anything." She smiled as she pulled him back into the street and started walking as if they had not just ran away from Captain America and new sidekick. She bumped James lightly with a smile as they finally got to the little cafe that she loved to go to. " So, Bucky, you remember anything else that you feel like you should tell me about?" It felt so wrong to call him by that name.
" I. . . I think that I used to live around here, somewhere in New York." James said as she pulled him to the back of the cafe where there was a booth that could fit two people.
" Uh huh and is Captain America chasing you around because he is looking to get back with his best friend or are there crimes against humanity that you have been meaning to tell me about?" Robin chuckled as James just kind of looked away. " We'll leave that for another day when you figure out how to tell me about said crimes against humanity." Robin nodded as she got up and ordered some doughnuts and two of the largest cups of coffee that she could get, bringing back it all and about a mountain of different types of sugars.
" What is this all about?" James smiled as he looked down at the table, a box filled to the brim with doughnuts and a colorful pile of sugars.
" The woman up front, her name is Anja sweet old lady. She seems to think that you are too thin, that you have been through too much not to enjoy some doughnuts. And the sugars. . . well I don't know how you take your coffee so I asked for a few extra packets and well, you can see how that went over." Robin chuckled as she took a few and started to pour it into her coffee. " She's a nice old lady, she came here from Germany after the second World War." Robin sighed as she looked to James, yeah, she was going to keep calling him James, Bucky just seemed so wrong to her, it seemed like a sacred name.
Anja's doughnuts were some of the best that Robin had ever had. She handmade every one of her doughnuts and they all seemed like they came from heaven when Robin ate them. Robin didn't care what kind she got from that woman, it could have been lemon or plain and she would have eaten every bit of what that woman would give to her. Her coffee, well it was so so, but her doughnuts were something that Robin could eat every day until the end of time. Anja always made sure to pack enough for Simon and Cecilia, knowing that Robin took care of them both she would pack as many as she could fill into the box, and then, when she came in with James – who was too thin in Anja's eyes – she came to their booth with another fill box, on the house, for the kids back at home and for James, who she just lightly touched his face and then walked back to the counter. Robin did not understand what had happened between the two of them, she really wanted to know though, but she had a bet that they had met before, when James was Bucky, when Bucky was with Captain America, saving the world. But they ate in piece, Robin swinging her legs back and forth until James finally trapped her feet between his, never looking up from his doughnut with just a powered-sugar smile on his face.
" You think that we can get back to our apartment without being chased through the city by superheros? I can still barely feel my legs just from our run, so I can only imagine how you are feeling from running and carrying me." Robin said as James chuckled at her.
" Our apartment huh?" He questioned as she smiled.
" Well you do live with me now, so it's ours." Robin shrugged as she started to chug her coffee down.
" I think that we should be able to get back there just fine." James said as he looked around the booth towards the street, the lunch rush was going to be started soon and they should be covered pretty well by that.
" Good, cause I want to get back home and take a nice long, cool, bubble bath before the kids get home." Robin said as she jumped up from the booth, picking up the box and a half of doughnuts that she still had left, and started to walk away from the booth. " And you are going to join me." She smiled as James nearly jumped from the seat and started to follow her out, making her laugh as he slipped his arm around her waist.
" You two behave out there!" Anja yelled from her place at the counter, waving to the two.
" Us? Behave? Common Anja, you know me and you know that I cannot keep myself out of trouble! How do you think that I met this fool?" Robin called back, making Anja chuckle.
" You two come back soon, with the children, I want to see them!" She said as Robin nodded to her.
" Will do Anja, you have a nice day!" Robin nodded.
" Have a good day, Ma'am." James added as he held the door open for Robin as they slipped into the busy streets, James seeming like he wanted to get home faster that Robin did.