fossilised | For Steve

Good, glad you see it my way.

[She directs him to write down all of the things she's said so far.]

New shirt, jeans, and a haircut. Nice deodorant, some shower gel to make you smell good before, and I think you'll be good to go.

[Her smile softens and she comes around the kitchen island to put a hand on his arm.]

It's going to go great, how could anyone not love you?

[Steve hugs Natasha back, tight enough to project his insecurity even if he HAD been doing a good job hiding it.

Natasha's probably his oldest and best friend that's anywhere near close to where he is now. Of course, there's Peggy - childhood friend type and all - but she lives an ocean away now and is dealing with her own divorce and love triangle between the sweet waitress Angie and the apparently sexy but probably crazy Dottie who is strangely great with Peggy's daughter though.]

I just... I don't want to screw this up. I've never felt so attracted to someone like this before, Nat. Also we live in the same building so if it bombs this is going to be super awkward.

Try not to think like that, this isn't something super serious, it's a first date.

[Despite her words, she hugs him back just as tight. She knows that he's an all or nothing kind of guy, the sort that she used to tease back in school who'd fall for someone and already be doodling wedding plans by lunch.]

Just get to know him better, let him get to know you. Trust me, Steve, nobody who gets to know you doesn't love you... even Tony loves you in his own, weird, messed up sort of way.

[Steve steps back finally, making a bit of a face at the 'even Tony loves you' comment, though he's got that fond smile coming back out again.]

Thanks, Nat. Alright, lets get these errands started before I second guess everything.

[He shoves the shopping list in his back pocket along with phone, wallet, and keys.]

Oh... he, uh. [Steve pauses, gives a little grin, and blushes a bit.] When he put his number into my phone he listed his name as "Buck Me". That was before I asked him out, too.

[She snorts, clearly amused at the idea that poor Steve will have to look at that joke name every time he wants to send a text now.]

God, he sounds like just as much of a dork as you... and you really still had doubts that he was into you? Straight guys don't put a number like that into another guy's phone, you doofus.

[She shakes her head and moves towards the door, just as the sound of people coming up the stairs starts up, Bucky and Becca's voices easily heard along with the quiet clatter of dog claws.]

Becca, give me some of the damn food. I can carry something, I'm not completely incapable.

I never said you were. I just couldn't get to the gym today, so this is my workout, quit being selfish and wanting me not to work out. Just keep Yasha out from under my feet.

Becca. [Bucky sounds more annoyed now.] Just give me the stuff, you didn't have to follow me up here, I can handle it, so--

[Their voices fade as they head upstairs, Nat shamelessly with her ear pushed up against the door.]

That's him, right? We should go out and say hi.

[Steve does not protest that Natasha had called him literally right after Bucky had done that and then come over, so he actually didn’t see it until much later that night.

He COULD change Bucky’s name in his phone. He hasn’t, though. It gives him a little thrill every time he looks at it, so sue him.

Hearing the commotion outside the door and through the hallway, Steve tries to picture Natasha meeting Bucky and his sister. Of Bucky’s sister meeting Natasha. Of the potential new dog in the mix. It may be too many people for Bucky.

If they run into them in the hall, though - they can always just say hi and bye. They were, genuinely, just heading out anyway.

Steve gives Natasha a very serious look.]

Behave yourself.

[Please, please, no explicit comments. Even if Bucky seems like a major flirt as well - Steve couldn’t take it. He opens the door to head out to the stairwell. If they manage to run into Bucky and Becca, well, they’ll say hi. If not, Steve is seeing Bucky tomorrow. No pressure, really. Breathe.]

[Oh, Steve. Natasha gives him a truly gleeful look that should have him running for the hills and immediately heads out before he can change his mind. She might not be related to Steve, and she's not about to give Bucky the shovel talk, but she is as protective over Steve as Becca is over Bucky and wants to make sure that he's pinning his heart on someone worth it.

She can be scary when she wants to be. Clint sometimes jokes that being a ballet dancer is just her cover, and she's really a spy or KGB agent sent here to infiltrate them all. That usually leads to Natasha emphasising her Russian accent and talking about the 'motherland' and 'comrades' all night.

Bucky and Becca are halfway up the next staircase and might not have noticed Steve, except for Yasha, the new dog, a large and beautiful German Shepherd. She's well trained, as a service animal should be, and so she wants to get the scent and lay of everyone in the building. She tugs on her leash enough to make Bucky stumble back down the stairs and nearly fall in a heap at Steve's feet, only just managing to keep his footing.]

Oh.

[Goddamnit, Barnes, why is he always looking like an idiot when he comes across Steve?]

Uh, hi. And hi to you too, ma'am, I mean-- miss, I mean--

[Natasha interrupts with a smile on her face.]

Actually, just Natasha will do.

[Steve’s hardly better than Bucky there.

Seeing him stumble he moves forward to assist, though Bucky catches himself and it means Steve is just now standing much closer to him than is strictly necessary for a conversation really and he’s got that sort of breathless smile of a person who is noticing absolutely nothing else in the world save for the person right in front of him.]

Hi.

[A second later of course he remembers, right, Natasha is here. Natasha who could possibly ignore Steve’s plea to behave herself, and with a new dog and Bucky’s sister around.

This could be very, very bad. Steve, quick, get ahold of the situation.]

Natasha - she’s the friend I’m always talking about. My former roommate too. She just came over to help me on a couple errands that needed doing. … Cute dog.

Thanks. She's called Yasha, she's the-- what I was telling you about.

[It's stupid to be cagey, Steve has probably told his beautiful former roommate that Bucky's a vet with a new service dog, but it's instinct that has him hiding it all the same.

He glances up the stairs, looking like he'd really rather be anywhere but here.]

I'll walk you down, I was just going down to escort my sister out anyway. Becca, this is Steve, Steve this is Becca.

[Becca doesn't look impressed as she descends the stairs, glaring at Bucky though she doesn't say anything about why, just forces a smile and holds her hand out towards Steve.

Natasha raises an eyebrow, but chooses not to comment, instead embarrassing Steve like he feared she might.]

Uh huh, we need to run some errands to make sure Steve is all pretty for tomorrow.

[Rebecca has no idea how much Natasha probably just saved her life right then. As Steve shook her hand he was debating whether he should pretend this was their first meeting or say something to Bucky after all when Natasha has to pipe up like that.

He hadn’t mentioned the fake arm or the service dog, actually. He did mention Bucky was a vet, and even if Steve didn’t bring up the PTSD he did originally talk about Bucky in the context of the class Steve met him in and Natasha was always keenly observant when it came to people so Steve doesn’t doubt she could guess even if he said nothing at all.

He still goes a little red.]

It’s fine, don’t worry - Natasha is clearly going to ignore my plea for her to behave herself so it’ll be better for my sense of shame if she doesn’t have more chances to go into embarrassing college stories. I’m, uh. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, though.

[Becca is spitting mad. The whole reason she argued to carry all this stuff upstairs was so she could get a look at Bucky's apartment - she's nearly sure that he's living in a terrible way, and she's worried about him, but he'll never let her in if she just drops round.

Now she's being essentially forced out again, because she's not going to embarrass him by arguing in front of Steve and his friend. Damn it. She looks so angry as she stalks downstairs, barely giving him a backwards glance.]

Yeah, forget it. I can walk myself out, James.

[Bucky sighs, making an apologetic face at the other two.]

Sorry, uh-- I would like to hear those embarrassing college stories sometime, though, everyone needs good blackmail material.

[Natasha laughs.] Oh, I like him. But I better go, Steve might cry if I start to tell you about the time he got arrested by campus security for running across the quad naked when Clint stole his clothes at the pool, and then his swimtrunks while he showered--- oops, guess I just told you. Oh well.

NATASHA!

[Riiight, there goes Steve’s face. Of all the stories you could tell, Natasha -

Bright red, Steve grabs Natasha’s arm quickly to direct her DOWN THE STAIRS AND AWAY.]

ByeBuckyI’llseeyoutomorrowgoodtoseeyou

[Yes all that is said in one single breath as Steve makes as fast a retreat out to the sidewalk as he can manage. And then he’s glaring at Natasha a glare that is the closest to pure murder as Steve Rogers has ever done in his life.]

[It's a shame that Steve beats such a hasty retreat, because he'll probably miss the quite rare sound of Bucky genuinely laughing. He does call after him to say goodbye, but it's again likely missed with how fast Steve is dragging Natasha outside.

She's nearly helpless with laughter, having to lean against the wall outside the building as Steve glares at her.]

W-What's the matter, Steve? I was a-- haha-- a total accident.

[With any luck Steve will get another chance to hear that, ideally under more favorable circumstances.

Instead he’s outside, too busy glaring at Natasha.]

You know what - I can handle the shopping by myself, thanks anyway. I will consider calling you on Monday.

[She's not about to be cowed, she knows that he's a big puppy underneath his rippling muscles, so she reaches out and grasps hold of his arm.]

Oh, come on, Steve, don't be a big baby. He liked it, he was laughing.

It was one request, Natasha!

[He is a big softie, and he’s more hurt than angry. Steve probably does get too easily embarrassed about things, but this is a guy he’s still getting to know who Steve very desperately wants to think well of him.

So, you know, Steve is also still so red he’s practically glowing.]

I know, and it was a request, not an order, so I decided not to grant it.

[She does stop laughing, though, and looks up at him with a glimmer of that perceptiveness shining through.]

Besides, the tension needed breaking. He's obviously had a fight with his sister, it was awkward, and everyone needed a distraction. I'm sure you'll sacrifice your pride for that.

[Any bit of anger hanging around drains pretty thoroughly at that. Much as Steve hates to admit it, Natasha is right. She’s usually right.

He covers his face with his hands and just sort of slumps to the sidewalk, his back against the brick of the building.]

He’s going to think I’m an idiot now and never want to see me again.

[She leans down to press a light kiss to the top of his head.]

You are an idiot, Steve, so he can be forgiven for thinking that. But I bet you my whole salary this year that it won't change how much he's looking forward to tomorrow. Now come on, we have a lot of shopping to do, no time to sit and mope about naked arrest stories.

[Steve's embarrassment isn't going to go away any tim3 soon, but she's right in that they're burning daylight here. He gives her another glare that's more sort of pathetic than actually angry before giving a great sigh and pulling himself back to his feet.

His mood will improve the more they're out, anyway. Even if getting condoms and some very flattering tight pants does make him sputter a bit.]

[She makes him buy both the condoms and the flattering tight pants, as well as a shirt that sets off the blue of his eyes, and talks him out of a tie (seriously, Steve, this isn't the 1940s). She also gets him some nice new sheets for his bed, a shampoo that smells like coconut and a body wash that compliments it. A haircut is the last thing on the list, just to make him properly neat and tidy.

After that, there's nothing much for her to do except drop him home and wish him luck, more sincerely than she's done anything yet.

Bucky has spent an evening also worrying about what he's going to do, rummaging through his pathetic backpack of clothes to pick out an outfit he hasn't worn since before he shipped out, and sorting out the dog. She makes too much noise on his floors, something that grates through him with every step, and she ends up having to fulfil her duties by bringing him out of a panic attack by the time night sets on.

Come morning, Bucky is ready. His hair is washed and neatly brushed, though left loose, and he's wearing dark jeans that look as if they've been painted on for how tight they are, and a leather jacket over a pale t-shirt. Yasha has also been brushed up to look good, now all he has left to do is pace until Steve comes to knock for him.]

[Eleven o’clock on the dot and Steve is knocking at Bucky’s door. He’d already showered and made a bunch of pancakes and have them all set out with a cloth over them to keep them warm, though he left things out in case Bucky wants more.

Steve may have woken up before the crack of dawn for all his fretting. He made quite a bit of pancakes to make up for that fretting. Even the shower doesn’t really mask the scent, so he ends up smelling mostly like coconut pancakes when he goes to get Bucky, trying not to fidget at the door.]

[Yasha is the first out of the door, giving Bucky the chance to once more slip out and close the door before his crummy apartment can be seen. Not that he makes it much further than his closed door before just stopping to gape a bit.]

Wow, Rogers.

[Wow indeed, how is he real? He's like one of those fantasy men, too perfect to exist outside of a daydream.]

You look gorgeous.

[Again, Steve is a little too distracted by Bucky himself to even try getting a look in his apartment anyway. Steve thought Bucky was attractive before, but seeing him all done up in bad boy splendor... If he does that low flirty voice again Steve knows he'll have no chance.

He swallows the lump in his throat. The first attempt at a hello doesn't really het anything more than an 'uh' but the second mostly works.]

Uh- H-hi, uh. Good morning. You look, um. Are you really single? You can't be.

[To be looked at like Steve is looking at him now is something special; it didn't used to be because he used to be assured of his looks and his appeal to others, but with how he feels about himself these days it's amazing. He can't help it, he takes a step closer to their already close proximity and presses a light kiss to Steve's lips. God and that's sinful because he wants to do it again as soon as he steps back.]

I'm kinda hoping that I'm not single, you're right.

[That is way too forward for a first date but it comes blurting out anyway. Jesus, Barnes, cool it or he'll go running a mile.]

Sorry, uh, I mean... this is Yasha, my dog.

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