Appellations (Reader X Bucky)

Last Call

He follows your lead to the entrance and holds the door open for you.

You turn to him, "my last name is Shepherd by the way."

He nods in acknowledgement.

Once inside you find a table for two amongst the sea of other diners and drinkers. You pick the menu from its holder and scan it looking for what sounded the most appetizing.

"What are you thinking of getting?" you ask him.

"The steak sounds good," he says still scanning the menu, "how about you?"

"Can't go wrong with a burger and fries," you say closing the menu and putting it back.

Bucky puts his menu back soon after, and moments later the waitress walks over to your table.

"Heeeeyyy (y/n) how's it goin'?" she asks you.

"Hey Maria, it's going good thanks, how you doing? Busy night?"

"As always sweetie, have you finally ditched that Matt," she looks at Bucky and back to you, her eyes playfully wide as she half whispered, "and upgraded?"

You blush at her comment, "this is my friend and work colleague, James. James, this is Maria," you introduce them.

They look at each other and give polite smiles and hi's.

"So what can I get you two?"

"I'll have the burger and fries please Maria, and my usual to drink."

"And can I get the steak and a beer please?" Bucky orders.

"Right away sweethearts," Maria says as she walks back to the bar.

"How do you two know each other?" Bucky asks intrigued.

"I used to work behind the bar on my nights off nursing or if they needed extra staff, which was pretty much always," you smile, "I have some good memories here."

"That she does," Maria says as she sets your drinks down, "has she told you about the 4th of July when she."

"NOOOO!, I haven't told him that, and I never planned on telling him, Mom," you say slightly embarrassed, but you rebuke it by calling her Mom at the end.

"Well James its a doozy," she says trying to playfully embarrass you more, "and what have i told you about calling me Mom," she laughs as she shakes her head walking back to the bar.

Bucky looks at you a little confused and you knew why, "she was basically my work Mom, always keeping me in check and giving me advice when i need it, she says she hates me calling her that but she loves it really."

You both take a sip of your drinks, and you ask Bucky, "so that's enough about me for now, tell me more about you?"

He looks at you as if he didn't know what to say, "you've probably read a lot about me," he says taking a big sip to drown his demons.

"I did," you willingly admit that you had read about the Winter Soldier in the teams mission files. But what you didn't know was that the death of your parents had been redacted, "but i want to hear about your life before all that," you didn't know if you were overstepping some invisible boundary but you felt comfortable with him, "you did have one didn't you?" you add.

He chuckles and smirks, "i did, and it was good from what i remember. I went to school, got good grades, met Steve then went straight into the army."

"Did you always want to be in the army? to become a Sergeant?" you ask.

"Yeah ever since a Lieutenant General came to my high school and talked to everyone about how it was a noble job to fight for your country, to stand up and fight for what you believe in, trying to get us to recruit, and it worked for me."

You sat their in amazement listening to him recall stories from his past.

"Things were a lot simpler back then," he concludes.

You picked up on the hostility in his voice towards the present, "awww there's got to be something you like about the future?"

He looks down and smirks and just before he takes the last sip of his drink he says, "there is."

You could feel his eyes burn into your skin as he said it, you smile into your drink as you too finish yours.

"Do you want another?" you ask.

"I probably shouldn't if I'm driving."

"You don't have to, i can sort that," you say mysteriously.

He cocks his eyebrows but agrees, "sure, you want the same again?" he asks as he collects your empty glass and stands to head towards the bar.

"Yeah, thanks."

After another drink and the two of you finishing your food you both decide to sit on the stools at the bar to watch the band perform. They were a soft indie band so the music wasn't too over powering, you watch them but Bucky watches you. Feeling his eyes on you you swivel in your bar stool to face him, but he quickly diverted his gaze hoping you hadn't caught him. You smile and laugh causing him to side eye you and smirk, knowing he got caught.

"What do you want to know Barnes?" you ask under the impression he was holding back a question.

That wasn't why he was staring at you but he decide go run with it, "what I want to know is," he pauses for dramatic effect, "what you did on the 4th of July that was so embarrassing?"

You groan at the thought but you knew he wasn't going to let up now Maria had gave him a taster. At this point you were a little tipsy, "if I tell you, you tell no one," you bargain.

"Scouts promise," he replies.

"I was working a shift here, my friends were celebrating and they kept buying me drinks, Maria doesn't mind the bar staff drinking the odd one or two but I hadn't eaten much that day as I had been busy with my studies during the day. So the first couple of drinks went straight to my head and I kept sneaking more and on this particular day Maria had rented a mechanical bull," you start to cringe, but a huge toothy grin spreads across Bucky's face, waiting for the juicy part of the story.
"And I couldn't resist having a go, thinking I was Steve or something. So as I jumped on I shouted to my friends, "hey watch this!" and NOTHING ever goes right when you shout that. So the guy starts up the machine and I lasted a good 30 seconds before I was thrown off. As I stumbled to my feet i started to feel sick from spinning around so much, I lost my balance and fell out of the padded area, broke my left arm in 3 places and puked in the corner," you scrunch your face as your cringe at your own words.

When you open your eyes you see Bucky leaning back in his chair laughing, one of his arms loosely wrapped around his middle as he tries to control his laughter, "that's one hell of a story," he compliments.

It made you happy to see Bucky laughing so much, even if it was at your expense.

You sit and chat until Maria rings the bell for last calls.

"Wow we've been here that long?" you say looking around at the now half empty bar, "I'm going to use the restroom, then we should probably head back," you tell Bucky.

"Okay Doll."