My Brother's Wedding

Part One: The Invitation

It had been a long and tiring day. Steve had been adamant about tearing Hydra down again, and he started by finding every single one of their bases and destroying them completely. It wasn't an easy job, and it did require you to set your phone down and get your hands messy. Today was the worst day. Because of the exhaustion, your powers weren't being used to their full potential, and you felt like many times you were about to jeopardize the whole mission.

As soon as you had arrived back at the compound you saw Bucky waiting, he'd never admit it but he was waiting for you to come back. He had been worried about you, and he knew how your lack of sleep was affecting every aspect of your life. When you had first signed up to be a part of the Avengers, you hadn't expected to be away from your family this long. You barely had time to reach out and talk to anyone outside of the team. Now don't get it wrong, you loved your team and they were a great 'adopted family', but after so long it just wasn't the same. You hadn't even reached out or texted anyone from your hometown in months. Just before you were recruited and accepted as a part of the team you had finished getting your associate's degree from your town's local community college. It was an easy two years and you got to remain close and in contact with most of your friends from high school. It was great, and sometimes you missed it. You were sure that everyone back home was worried sick, but you swore that you wouldn't fail yourself and peak in high school.

The quinjet had just landed and you ran straight to Bucky to give him a warm hug. It hadn't been long since you'd last seen him, but it felt good to have him, he was truly your best friend. When you put your arms suddenly around his neck you felt him tense up slightly before returning the embrace. He took in in your smell and looked up, catching a knowing smirk from Natasha. You let go of him long enough for Steve to greet him. As you all start walking into the compound, Bucky pulls out your phone from his pocket and hands it to you.

"The damn thing wouldn't shut up and I forgot how to mute it, so I just turned it off for you,"

You flashed him a smile and thanked him. You always trusted him with your phone when you were on missions. You weren't allowed to bring it due to trackers and such, but each time it was returned, it was always handed back to you in the same condition as it was given.

You quickly powered it back on and took a moment to look at your lock screen. It was a picture you had taken beside Bucky after he had fallen asleep while watching some cheesy rom-com with you. You had snapped a selfie beside him and it had quickly become your favorite picture of the two of you together. As you swiped up to enter your passcode, nearly a million notifications and unread text messages appeared on the screen. You also noticed an abundance of missed calls and facetime from your mother.

Oh shit.

Your mom had left a voicemail. Bucky noticed your distress and asked what was wrong, you responded with a shy 'nothing' and made a mental note to respond and listen to everything once you got back to your room. But first, you had to eat. You were starving and starting to feel lightheaded.

***

After a quick dinner, you rushed back to your room. Waving and saying your goodnights to Nat, Steve, and Bucky. Once you had opened your door you sat down on your couch and started looking through your text messages. Your mom had simply said, 'call me when you get a chance' and your brother had texted you a link to something (probably stupid). You had some other older unread messages from your friends that you'd have to get to later. Your main priority was the missed calls and voicemails from your mother. You tapped on it and turned the speaker up, listening clear as possible:

"Hey honey, it's me. Please return my calls ASAP. I know you are busy with your work, but you need to book a flight back home soon. I don't know if you have seen it yet, but your brother is getting married in a month and you are going to be there no matter what. I don't care who I have to call. This is more important than work. Just come and support your brother, bring a date too. Feel free to stay with us. You're going to love Amelia. Make sure to call me back, I love you."

The recording stopped playing, but in your mind, the only things that were being repeated were 'your brother is getting married in a month' and 'bring a date'. You hadn't even known about his engagement so why was your mom hell-bent on you coming to their wedding. You also hadn't forgotten the fact that, with your line of work, it would be nearly impossible to find a proper, non-hero date. Your mom had called three weeks ago, so that meant you had one week. ONE WEEK to prepare.

FUCK.

Little had you known, Bucky was waiting outside your door. Not in an intentionally creepy way. At first, he was just going to check on you and make sure everything was okay but his advanced hearing had picked up the recording and message that your mom had left you. He thought about leaving you for a second and letting you cool off but that thought had immediately been pushed out of his mind. You needed him more than ever right now. You needed someone to support you. And Bucky thought, maybe he could even land a date to that wedding with you.

He knocked on your door. Attempting to give no sign that he had eavesdropped. You opened the door and flashed a fake smile.

"Everything okay doll?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, never been better. Just a little tired is all, but nothing a good movie can't fix. You down?"

You had to get it out of your head. You had to distract yourself from the stress building up after listening to the message from your mother. You weren't planning on telling anyone either. You would figure it all out tomorrow after you get some rest and watch this movie. Plus, a night cuddled up next to Bucky's warm body and eventually falling asleep in his arms and waking up in your bed from where he gently moved you after the movie ended and before he left.

Bucky couldn't disagree. Another chance to let you fall asleep in his arms, he couldn't pass up. Even though it was just something you were convinced 'friends did', you both enjoyed it more than you two would let on. Bucky had decided that after listening to the call he wouldn't bring it up or bother you with the wedding. Who knows, you could already have a date. Bucky tried to push that thought out, instantly feeling envious of whoever the lucky person would be.

He walked into your room and you both snuggled up as you let him pick out the movie. You were so tired that it didn't matter. It wasn't even five minutes into the unknown movie Bucky had picked out before you were asleep. He looked down into his arms where you had dozed off and gently kissed your forehead.

"Goodnight Y/N."