Chapter Text
The dim light of the bar helped to disguise your tears. Not that it was an easy job since your puffy, reddened eyes were of no help at all. But you'd heard that this kind of thing helped for broken hearts.
And oh, if your heart was broken at that moment.
It was the third time that night that they refilled the glass of tequila in front of you. The soft music playing in the background helped you relax your mind—blending with the lyrics of old songs, while the tequila served to distract you.
Five years of a relationship.
More faked orgasms than you could count.
The phone number lit up on your screen—and you knew he was going to answer. He said he was always going to do so, but you also knew he was going to unleash all hell if he knew what your boyfriend had done to you this time.
You finally tapped the screen. Really hoping he was going to be busy with a meeting or with some of his colleagues.
“Good night, darling.” His rough-edged voice sounded through the phone.
“Hi, James. Caught you busy?” You mumbled.
“Never for you, sunshine.”
On the other side, Sam signed some contracts Bucky had been avoiding for days. Steve leaned on the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Who’s it?” Steve mouthed to Sam—who mouthed back your name in silence.
“I’m amused she didn’t run away as soon as she learned who Bucky was.”
Sam chuckled.
“So, what do I owe this call to? Do you need some help with your rent again?”
Sam was about to take out his phone to e-wire the money.
“No!” You rushed, “Dear lord, no. That was a one-time thing, James. And I still have the money saved to pay you back, but you haven’t accepted it.”
Bucky shook his head, and Sam stopped himself.
“Talk to me, honey. What is it?”
“Just wanted to talk. You’re kind of my only friend now.”
“Don’t lie. I know you’ve met with Nat lately.”
“James, c’mon. She’s on your payroll—that doesn’t count as a friend if she gets paid to check up on me once in a while.”
“How low you think of me. Nat might be on my side, but she’s pretty much my troubled kid. She would never fake being someone’s friend just because I asked her to.”
You rolled your eyes.
“Where are you at? I can’t hear your usual rom-com in the background?”
“How do you know I’m not at home with my TV turned off?”
“Don’t make me ask Stark to track your phone as we speak.”
“Huh. Being friends with the mob is not always that fun.”
“Is that what I am now? Just a man in the mob—and here I am, thinking I was building an emporium.”
“An emporium of dubious origin.”
“Last warning before I dial Stark on my landline,” He scolded.
“I’m at a bar. Just hanging out.”
“On your own?”
You couldn’t hear, but Bucky stood up and started walking to one of his cars.
From the first day you met him, he realized you were something different. Something he would never have found in the world he lived in. He wanted to protect you from day one. The way you smiled lit up his own world. He had just bought you some coffee and books the first time you met him. He was paying a visit to his sister, Rebecca, at the bookstore he had bought her to launder some money.
You brought five books to the register and were yapping to Lia—Rebecca’s worker—trying to decide on just one.
Bucky stared at you while Rebecca feigned not to notice.
“Why don’t you just buy them all?” He asked, leaning on the desk.
“Oh, well. I can pay just for one.” You furrowed.
Bucky took out his credit card and placed it in front of Rebecca. She was already running the card through the machine while you were speechless.
“No. I mean… I was not asking for…” You were stumbling on your own words.
“Is that coffee shop next door good enough?” Bucky interrupted you, and Rebecca nodded, “Lia, can you go pick coffees for everyone—including you.”
Rebecca took the books from your hands and placed them in a pink bag.
You looked at him like he had three heads.
“James.” He offered his hand to greet you.
You shook his hand and said your name back
“Miss, what can I bring you?” Lia looked at you with puppy eyes—Rebecca giggled and guided her by the shoulders.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“You don’t have to do that.” You looked at him.
“Well, I bought those books, and I want to know why you wanted to buy them. A coffee would be needed for that.”
“Yeah. Kinda wanted to be alone.”
“What did he do now?” He was already heading to the main door.
Sam and Steve shook their head at the same time.
“Bucky’s fucked. That girl has him wrapped around her little finger.” Sam joked.
“And she doesn’t even look his way.”
“Wait, is she still with that Scott guy?”
“I think by his tone, he’s not even going to be alive soon…”
“He didn’t do anything. I think I’m just being dramatic.”
“Don’t you dare say that again. You’re not being dramatic, I don’t care what you did.”
He was already driving all the way to your favorite bar. The only one you visited.
“I found some messages with another girl.”
His hands clutched the steering wheel.
“That’s something big, sunshine.”
His tone was low. Almost a murmur.
He was the most feared man in town. He had a whole emporium at his feet; if he snapped his fingers, your boyfriend would’ve been dead without even looking like a crime. And yet there, he knew if he did that, he would be screwed with you. So, he could say, you were the only person he was afraid to mess with.
“I think I just misunderstood everything.”
You were trying to ease your mind—but deep down you knew he was right. It was a big deal, you felt it like that.
“If you just let me…” He mumbled.
“No, James. We’ve gone through this before… I don’t want him dead. I really love him. And you can’t go around threatening everyone who does me wrong—”
“Oh, so you admit he did you wrong.”
You sighed.
“How did that deal end with Fury?” You asked, trying to change topics.
He chuckled; it was fine. It was going to be a few minutes before he arrived at the bar. He spent the next ten minutes explaining vague things.
He could have been deeply in love with you, but he was not dumb enough to tell you all his details through a phone that could be tapped.
But it had been almost six months since the first time you met, and he had given you enough details that you could’ve claimed the bounty offered for his ass. And you never did, not even when you were struggling to make ends meet. But, instead, you cried on his shoulder for almost an hour because your boyfriend didn’t even want to take one or two double shifts to afford rent.
He made Stark find out who your landlord was and paid two months in advance, and you learned that when you were about to call your landlord to ask for more time—the confirmation of the two-month payment arrived at your apartment.
You didn’t tell Scott. He ‘helped’ you to pay those months, and when you got the full amount, you tried to pay him back. You were on your weekly ‘friendly date’ as you called them. Rebecca’s bookstore with some coffee or whatever thing you had asked for at the moment.
He didn’t even accept it.
“It’s a payback for all the times you had to stay late with me when I needed a warm moment.”
“That’s not something you should pay for…”
“I used to pay hookers to do that.” He said, sipping on his whiskey.
“Am I a hooker now?” You knitted your eyebrows in the middle.
His cheeks blushed immediately. “No!” He shouted, and you burst out laughing.
“I know what you meant, James. And I’m happy you feel comfortable enough with me to do such.”
“Now, are you done with deflecting the topic?” He said, coming back from his memories.
“I’m not deflecting! I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to convince Furry.”
He took his phone and put it back to his ear, “Look at you. Thinking I can’t manage my own business.”
He made his entrance at the bar and looked at you sitting at the bar zone with a watery drink in front of you. That cute dress he had seen you wear so many times, but never got tired of seeing.
“How long has that drink been sitting in front of you without being drunk?”
You furrowed your brow at his question and turned slowly just to see him standing at the entrance. He was wearing a black suit that could kill all the girls at the bar. His woody cologne filled the whole bar, or maybe you were so used to it that you could spot it anywhere, and a beard that he stopped shaving the moment you told him he looked more handsome with it.
“I didn’t ask you to come.” You said when he finally got closer to you.
“You don’t ask for a lot of things, I do the things for you ‘cause… I like your company.”
You smiled, and he tilted his head.
“Now, let’s get out of here.” He placed a bill on the table and made you get off the stool to walk with him—his right hand guided you by your lower back to the exit.
“The bookstore isn’t closed today.” You looked at him, worried. “And I don’t want you to make her close it again just because you don’t trust any other place to hang out with me in.”
“I’m taking you somewhere else. Do you trust me?”
“I did before you asked.” He husked a laugh, and you could swear he made it sound that pretty on purpose.
“I’m kinda busy right now, but I hated the idea of you being alone here. So, what about you coming with me to my place, and then I’ll take you home whenever you ask me. Promise.”
“I—don’t want to interrupt you…”
“You won’t. I’m just signing some things Sam asked me for. We can even go and buy from that restaurant you keep telling me and bring some take-out to Steve and Sam, or they are gonna chew my ass.”
“Is Natasha there?”
“No, sunshine. I’m sorry, she’s traveling now, but I can arrange something for you to see her soon.”
You smiled and nodded.
“My place?” A literal mansion with the biggest garden you had ever seen—multiple cars, a large number of people surrounding it, probably guarding it. “Do you really call this mansion ‘a place'?”
His hand was again on your lower back, and his free hand held the biggest bag of food while you held a smaller one.
“What fuckin’ took you so long?” Two men emerged from one hall.
They didn’t even look at you at first, until the black man nudged the blond’s shoulders.
The blond said your name, more like questioning it.
“Oh… yes… Steve, right?” You offered your hand, and he shook it. “And you must be Sam.”
Both of them nodded. "Nice to meet you.” Steve finally responded.
“We brought you food from my favorite place, hope you don’t mind I chose it.”
You noticed they were rigid in their foot, but both shook their heads.
Bucky tossed the bag at them and made you walk to his office.
“We’ll be in my office. Don’t worry, Sam. You will get your contracts signed in an hour or two.”
He said before closing the door.
“Did… Bucky bring a girl here?” Steve nodded, pursing his lips.
“Apparently.”
“He told us she was young… but how old is she?”
“Twenty-four… Twenty-five next month.” Steve said like he was reciting something.
“Did he make you study her or what?” Steve nodded.
“Well, you should be ready for the cute, pink party you’re going to throw next month for little Miss Sunshine here.”
You were placing the containers on a big table in the middle of the office, while Bucky brought the papers he needed to sign.
“So, you talk about me with your friends?” You teased.
“If any man surrounding me talked to me half as teasingly as you did, he would be a dead man, you know?”
“Yeah, but you don’t like them as much as you like me.”
“And don’t take advantage of that, sunshine.”
He knew you meant as friends. You were always clear that this was platonic.
You never really told him, but you liked him the same way as he liked you, but between your fear of his life, the fear of starting all over again after five years, and the clear age gap between you two. You didn’t want him to know your true feelings.
“I’m gonna be busy for a few minutes. I got some books for you, they are over there on my desk. Read for a while, and then we will talk as much as you want.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to buy me more books…”
“Becca told me you were there last week and only bought one, even when I was very clear that I’d pay for any book you wanted.”
You were going to kill Rebecca for tattletaling on you.
“I—didn’t want to take advantage of it.”
“Well, I’m asking you to take advantage of me.” He placed the paper on the side and continued to the next.
You moved a container closer to him. “Eat, please.”
“Thank you, darling.”
He knew he was in the wrong. He knew he shouldn’t have brought you to his life—but you were that light he thought he had lost when he started this life, and he was sure he was going to make you understand that even if it meant spending his whole time with you by his side.
Some minutes later, he saw you typing on your phone with rushed hands.
“Is that who I think it is?” Bucky didn’t even look up.
“Uh… if I told you no, are you gonna believe me?”
“Not really. It was more of a rhetorical question.” He fixed his eyes on you. “What did he tell you about all those texts?”
“That she was a friend… and I was not seeing the full image.”
“Well, tell him you’re with a friend too. And turn off your phone before I take it.”
You giggled and nodded.
You hated to lie to Scott… But when it was about Bucky, something made you lie. You didn’t even have a good excuse to tell, you were spending your time with an older guy in a bookstore, let alone now in his house.
“Now, you eat. We got a lot of talking to get to.”
After a while, he was finally done with all his signings and took you to the couch in his office.
You were sitting on the corner while he leaned on his side, looking at you—you were explaining the whole situation in full detail. He just nodded and let you finish. He didn’t even gesture all the hate he wanted to show; he wanted you to feel comfortable telling him all the details.
“I’m trying to understand, sweetie. But I can’t. Look at you, why are you wasting your time with that thing?”
You chuckled. “He used to be a good guy…”
“Yeah. And I used to be that too, but look how the tables have turned.”
You rolled your eyes, “You’re a good guy still.”
A smile twitched on the corner of his lip.
“Flattering. But I’m not a good guy.”
“You’ve been nothing but good to me.”
“Well, you’re something different.”
“I’m sure that’s what you say to every woman…”
Clutching the armrest with his hand, he looked at you.
“I’m not even going to dignify what you just said with an answer.”
A knock on his door made him grunt.
“I’m busy, fuck off,” Bucky growled.
“It’s not optional,” Clint shouted through the door.
“Who’s that?” You didn’t recognize the voice from earlier.
“Your call to go home.” He seemed pissed off. “C’mon, sweetheart.”
“Oh…” You furrowed your brow, looking at him with a hint of sadness.
“If this idiot is here,” Bucky said as he stepped outside, where a man with a sleeve full of tattoos was waiting, “that can only mean something went terribly wrong, and I have to fix his mess.”
Clint handed him a gun, and he placed it on his back, tugging it between his jeans and his shirt.
You tried not to look so impressed by the gun, but your eyes were still focused on the arms Clint was still holding.
“But…” You stuttered and stopped, looking at him.
This was a side you had never seen—stern, pensive, tense—his jaw clenched every time he looked at Clint.
“Banner’s gonna take you home, and I’ll call you as soon as I’m free.”
He made you walk faster; his eyes were fixed on the main door. Now, Clint, Steve, and Sam followed him some feet behind, while his hand gripped your arm to be by his side.
“Who’s Banner?” Your weary voice had him on his nerves. He knew you were completely right to be worried—but he hated the idea of him being the reason.
“Go to the jet, I’ll be there in five.” He ordered his men, all of them nodded, and walked past behind you.
A man who seemed too calm to work for him waited in the entrance, too.
“Sunshine, you know who I am, you know the implications of the life I live. Now, you’re gonna follow every instruction Banner gives you. You’re gonna go to your apartment, read whatever you want, wait for my call, and we’ll have one ‘friendly date’ as soon as I’m back.”
“Why does this feel like a goodbye, Bucky?”
Bucky scoffed a laugh. “Not even the toughest man could deprive me of seeing you.”
His eyes were deep—for the first time, the ocean blue nestled in his eyes was almost nowhere to be seen, and being so near him, you noticed those scars that bedecked his face.
“Promise you’ll be fine?”
He looked down, noticing a pink hair scrunchie that wrapped around your wrist. He traced a path from your finger to it, taking and putting it in his pocket. “I think now I need to come back and give you this, right?”
“Be careful,” You mumbled, but before you could say anything else, Banner gripped your shoulders.
“We need to get going.” You saw how Bucky walked without even batting an eye at you.
The drive back home was tense; you fidgeted with the hem of your skirt, and you stared at the city fading through your window.
“You’re a tough one.” Banner finally spoke.
“Huh?”
“You look so innocent, so cute in your dresses—I didn’t even trust you for the first two months. Steve asked me to follow you around for two months straight. We were sure that as soon as you learned who he was, you were going to tattletale on him
You hummed, “Well… It’s not like I’m completely fine with what he does, but… I guess… He’s been kind to me, that should count for something, shouldn’t it?"
“You’re tough, and kind.” He pursed his lips and nodded.
The car stopped in front of your building, and he looked at you, “Do all of us a favor, don’t leave your apartment for a minute, he’ll call you as soon as this thing gets handled. Just don’t put yourself in danger while we’re not near. We need him focused… and you’re quite distracting for him.”
“Oh… I’m sorry, but I’ll do so.” You got out of the car and looked at him, “Nice to meet you, Banner.”
“See you later.”