The next morning, Steve pulled up to the same place he'd parked when he dropped Bucky off. He was clutching his coffee tumbler close to his chest, taking sips every now and then. With each sip he felt more and more awake. Hopefully by the time he finished what was left in the mug, he wouldn't feel like a zombie anymore. He had been up late last night, which he now realized was a huge mistake. He had been…distracted, to say the least.

The whole way home he'd been distracted with thoughts of Bucky. Stupid, beautiful Russians, and their stupidly sexy accents. He couldn't stop thinking about how perfect Bucky was. He was exactly his type, and it was just his luck that he had to fall in love with someone so out of his league. Steve knew objectively he was attractive, but he just couldn't see someone like Bucky, so beautiful and so fucking smart, being attracted to him. Steve shook himself out of his self-deprecating thoughts, and just in time, because when he looked up, Bucky was walking towards the car with a bright smile on his face. 'Fuck, he's so beautiful in the morning' Steve sighed to himself. He unlocked the doors, and smiled as Bucky got in and put on his seatbelt.

"Mornin' Steve," Bucky said brightly, entirely too chipper for the early hour. Steve longed to see what Bucky was like when he had just woken up, he couldn't help but think he'd be adorable. All sleepy and soft. Once again, Steve shook himself from his thoughts, damn he needed to stop getting lost in thought.

"Good morning, Buck," Steve replied, as he pulled away from the curb. Much like the ride home yesterday, the ride to work was filled with companionable silence. It was nice, peaceful. Steve loved that they could just sit quietly together, he didn't feel any pressure to fill the silence with awkward small talk, like he felt with other people.

They arrived at the high school, and after exiting the car, they walked together to the staff room entrance. It was late enough that enough students had already arrived, and were either waiting outside in groups with their friends or walking inside the high school. A couple people stopped and stared when they saw Bucky and Steve getting out of the same car, and though Steve couldn't hear them, he knew they were whispering to each other. He decided to ignore it however after a quick glance to Bucky proved that he hadn't seen the students. It's not like anything was going to come out of it anyway, he was sure the students would forget about it in 5 minutes.

He was wrong.

"So, Mr. Rogers, is the gossip true? I hear you were seen getting out of the same car as Mr. Barnes this morning," Tony Stark, one of Steve's students, teased. Class had just let out for lunch period, and Tony had stayed behind. He was leaning against Steve's desk with his arms crossed and a ridiculous look on his face.

Steve huffed and ignored the boy, who happened to be his favourite student. He also ignored the hot blush he could feel spreading across his cheeks. He was hoping that if he just ignored the situation, it would go away. This particular technique had never worked with Tony before, but there was a first for everything, right?

"Come on, Mr. Rogers, I'm your favourite student!" Tony said, grinning. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking like 5'4" of pure energy. Steve looked up, and sighed.

"Okay, yes you heard right," He mumbled, moving to flop down in his chair at his desk.

"I knew it!" Tony cheered, pulling a chair up and sitting opposite to Steve. "So you finally pulled your head outta your ass and asked him out, eh?"

Steve gave him a look for his choice of words, but his heart wasn't really in it. Tony was the only student who could talk to him like that.

"No," Steve sighed, looking dejected. The triumphant look dropped from Tony's face, replaced with a look of confusion.

"Wait, what?" Tony asked, his eyebrows knitted together.

"His car broke down last week, and yesterday I saw him walking home. So I offered him a ride home, then offered to drive him to work this morning." Steve explained, his internal feelings matching the look of disappointment on Tony's face.

Tony was quiet for a moment, then "I'm sorry Steve, I know how much you like him." he said softly.

Steve waved him off, and tried for a nonchalant shrug, failing miserably. He looked down and played with his fingers for a moment, but he could feel Tony's gaze still on his face.

"You know…" Tony started, hesitantly, "He likes you back."

Steve's head shot up, locking eyes with Tony.

"How do you know that?" Steve said, barely able to keep the hope out of voice.

"Pffft, Mr. Rogers, it's incredibly obvious." He scoffed, "You should see the way he stares at you. It's entirely unprofessional." He teased with a wink.

Steve's blush returned and this time he couldn't keep the hope from his thoughts. Was there really a chance that Bucky could like him back? Fuck, he felt like he was in high school all over again. Eventually he shooed Tony off to go eat lunch, but what Tony had said stuck with him for the rest of the day, dominating his thoughts.

Similarly, in the Languages room, Bucky was having the same experience as Steve, however his favourite student happened to be Natalia "Natasha" Romanova, a young Russian transfer student, who Bucky had taken under his wing her first year at Shield Secondary. It was nice having someone to talk to in his native tongue, especially since he preferred to speak Russian when he got the choice.

"So, what's this I hear about you and Mr. Rogers?" Natasha asked, slyly. Bucky looked up from the paper he was marking with wide eyes and a bright blush.

"W-What? What did you hear?" Bucky exclaimed, he hoped that Steve didn't hear whatever rumours were floating around. He didn't want Steve to be uncomfortable.

"Well, there are several theories," Natasha replied, looking amused.

"Natalia," Bucky growled out, he normally was all for the teasing banter, but right now he really wanted to know what people were saying about him and Steve.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay…well the rumour is that you and Mr. Rogers are sleeping together. You arrived in the same car, and everyone knows you're in love with each other."

"W-What?!" Bucky sputtered, his first instinct was to deny it, but he knew that it was pointless to deny his feelings for Steve to Natasha, she was too good at reading him.

"You're in love with Mr. Rogers. Honestly, Barnes. It's completely obvious. You should see the lovesick looks you send each other when you think the other isn't looking. It's truly painful to watch." Natasha stated teasingly, looking at Bucky like he was dumb for not knowing.

"Fuck." He had thought he had been subtle. Sure he had been in love with the guy since they'd become friends all those years ago, but Steve had never shown any signs of reciprocating, and the last thing he wanted to do was make Steve uncomfortable with his feelings. So he hid them, apparently not well enough.

"Is it really that obvious?" He asked, miserably.

"Who knows, maybe it's just obvious to me. I mean it wasn't until today that I heard the students say anything, so maybe it's just because I know you so well." Natasha reassured him, taking pity on him.

Bucky just groaned and hid his blushing face in his arms.

"Well, on the bright side, Mr. Rogers is in love with you too," Natasha said, casually.

Bucky's head whipped back to stare at her.

"How do you know?" Bucky asked, ever suspicious.

"You know Tony Stark? The tiny Italian genius? He's Steve's favourite student. We're friends. We talk sometimes." She replied, like it was no big deal.

Bucky stared at her as he tried to take in all this new information, and she stared back patiently. After a minute, he visibly deflated and sighed.

"Man, I hope you're right," He whispered, it was impossible to keep the hope out of his voice.

"I'm always right," She replied, with a playful arrogance. Bucky gave her a grateful smile, then his eyes took on a mischievous glint.

"So, tell me about this Stark kid…" He teased, but she just rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, he's totally in love with that science nerd Banner," She said, not unkindly. Bucky could hear fondness in her voice.

"If you say so," Bucky conceded, glad that the conversation had been diverted. He knew that she knew he was avoiding further discussion on the Steve topic, and was incredibly grateful that she just went along with it.

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