play pretend | BUCKY BARNES

twelve

Bucky had sent you a few more texts after his original one asking if you wanted to watch a movie that night, but you didn't reply.

Leaving him on opened wasn't exactly the nicest thing ever, but it was the right thing for you to do in that moment.

You had finally come to terms with your feelings for Bucky, and after everything he had done for you, a part of you thought that maybe, just maybe he felt the same way.

You had stupidly thought that maybe the universe had brought you two together that afternoon at your office for a reason, maybe your favourite shirt was coffee stained for a reason.

But the thought of him texting you while with another girl made you feel physically sick.

You had only known him for a month and now, here he was, managing to make you feel awful without even trying.

Your mind kept wandering off to different times you had spent together, and the feelings you had felt at those times. You had pushed them away at first, but now you knew it was more than that, it was more than a weird feeling in your stomach.

You couldn't get that night out of your head, the night where all you felt was alone, surrounded by darkness, stuck in a pitch black tunnel in which you thought there was no light at the end.

But as it turned out, there was a light, your light just wasn't who you expected it to be...

"Let's go out." He said spontaneously, in which you raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"What?-"

"Not like... That." He cleared up. "Let's just get out, get you some fresh air. It will make you feel better, I promise."

This man was crazy. 

"Bucky- It's almost..." You checked the time on your phone, "It's almost midnight, nothing will be open."

It really had been a long time you had been sitting there, it was midnight?!
"No, I know a place. An ice cream parlour-" He replied, "It's open 24 hours. Steve would always take me when- After- ... It doesn't matter. But anyways, Steve would always take me in all hours of the night. I haven't been in about 2 years so it would be nice to go again?"

"I-"

"We don't have to if you don't want to... I just thought it would make you feel-" Buckys excited tone quickly replaced with something more sincere and concerning.

"No- I want to."

The excitement you saw on his face that night was unbeatable, that ice cream parlour obviously had meant a lot to him, you didn't know why it meant a lot to him, or why he and Steve ended up there so many times in the middle of the night, but it meant a lot to you that he was going to share that place with you. It broke your heart when you saw how disappointed he was when he realised it had shut down.

You took a deep breath, and pushed the Bucky thoughts out of your head.

He was with someone.

Another girl.

That other girl wasn't you, and you were just going to have to accept that.

If he wasn't with you, then he wasn't the one. There where plenty more people out there who you could grow to care for as much as you do Bucky, and maybe, just maybe you could start the hunt for them tonight.

If the chance for you to meet someone was available, then you promised yourself that you would bite the bullet and take it.

—