We walked out of the compound together and luckily only Peter saw us but his jaw DROPPED.
He was stunned and I'm so glad Bucky didn't see.
Now we are walking on the sidewalk on the way to some restaurant. We haven't said anything to each other, Bucky is just walking. With a purpose I hope.
"We're here." he says suddenly.
I don't hear him at first, too buried in my thoughts.
The back of his hand hits my chest and stops me in my tracks.
I look up at him and he removes his hand.
"How many in the party?" the hostess asks.
"Oh, just the two of us." i say back.
She smiles. "Aw, you two are so cute." she says as she leads us to our table.
Bucky shoots me a nervous glance.
"No, we aren't together." I fire back quickly. Bucky grins and i shake my head at him
We sit down and as the hostess leaves and she gives me the "he's really cute!" look.
"What are you going to get?" Bucky says, breaking the silence.
I look up from the menu I'm hiding behind. "I don't know, maybe a burger."
"Can i ask you a question?" i say, putting the menu down.
"I'm gonna get a burger too," Bucky says.
"What? No that's not what i was going to ask you."
"Oh, sorry." he says, laughing it off. "What were you gonna ask me?"
Bucky looks up at me.
"How are you adjusting to life? I mean, everyone thought you were dead for 70 years, and now you're back in the real world, i just thought maybe you might have been more surprised?"
"I don't really know, maybe i just haven't had time to fully react yet. Really take it all in."
I nod in agreement.
"Hello! What would you like to order?" our waiter says
"Um hi, could I just get a burger and fries?"
He scribbles something on his notepad and then glances over to Bucky.
"I'll have the same thing." he says, handing the waiter both of our menus.
"Thank you! Your food will be out soon!" he says, walking away.
"Thank you." Bucky says as the waiter walks away. "So back to you." Bucky says looking over at me.
"Me? Last time I checked we were talking about you." I say.
"You already know about me, I wanna know about you."
"I already told you, my favorite color is yellow, I love coney island and i snuck into a Taylor Swift meet and greet."
"Did i tell you i listened to her songs the other night? Steve gave me his phone, it's amazing how everything is on like a little box now. I listened to a few."
Now this puts a smile on my face.
"Really? What's your favorite song?" I ask excitingly.
"Never grow up." he says.
"Why is that?" I ask, staring more deeply into his dark blue eyes.
"I never got to grow up." he watches carefully as the smile fades from my face.
"I'm sorry if that was a bit much, I haven't gone out to eat with someone since 1942."
"No it's ok, i don't feel like i got to grow up much either."
We sit together for a minute, not saying anything at all. The only noise is the music playing in the restaurant and the soft chatter of everyone eating.
Some people are looking over at Bucky and me, but don't say anything. Some of them are smiling, others not so much.
I look up at Bucky and I'm a bit surprised to see that he hasn't taken his eyes off of me.
The waiter brings out our food after another minute.
"How's your day been so far?" Bucky asks me, slightly coughing due to choking on his food.
"It's been fine I guess, Peter asked me to help him with date plans for him and this girl tonight."
He looks up and starts laughing. "Peter? On a date? Never thought that would happen and I've known him for 2 days."
I start laughing with him. "I know, that's crazy."
"What's the worst date you've ever gone on?" he asks me.
"Ooh um, ok, His name was Ralph and we went out to a bar together and he saw his friends there and just left me there by myself. No money, no ride home. I kept calling him until he finally answered and picked me up and took me back home."
He gazes into my eyes again. "Wow, that's pretty terrible, but i think i've got you beat."
I squint. "Alright James, let's hear it."
"Her name was Lucy and she claimed she 'forgot something in the car' after i told her i'm a pisces. She drove off and told her friends to stay away from me."
"Wow, over the color blue?"
He smirks and looks down.
"But hey," i say "look at you! Getting some memories back! That is progress!"
"I guess." he says.
We both finished our food and walked back to the compound, it's later now, we were there for a while.
Why is it when i'm with him, he makes 5 minutes feel like forever? I just lose track of everything
"Thank you, Bucky." i say as we walk into the compound. I stop in my tracks and so does he.
I give him a hug.
At first he tries to reject me, but then he takes it. Despite having a metal arm, he's really good at hugging.
I gently tilt my head, just enough to see his face, but not to break the hug.
He's smiling.
Maybe he isn't a monster after all.
