For the Love of the Game // Bucky Barnes

Part Seven

"Where the hell's my girl?" Bucky Barnes was squinting from the outfield, putting very little effort into his warm up with Sam. He had been eyeing the stands next to the dugout for a solid ten minutes, aching to catch a glimpse of you.

"She told you she'd be a little late. Stop worrying so much, man," Sam said. He tossed the ball to Bucky who barely looked over in time to catch it.

"Nat's already here though."

"Yeah, and y/n had to drive herself since office hours ran late. Some people have cars of their own and don't have to steal other people's."

Bucky groaned. "C'mon, are you still mad about that? That was weeks ago and you didn't even need it that day!"

"Still woulda been nice to let me know! I'm glad you got the girl, Buck, but you left a bunch of empty water bottles in my damn cup holders!"

"Can you two shut up? I'm trying to focus."

"Oh shove it, Tony. You're not even warming up," Bucky called back.

Tony opened his eyes from his seat in the grass. "I'm meditating, dipshit. Pepper says it's good for centering yourself."

"Thor!" Sam yelled. "Come remove this garden gnome from the field. I need the extra space and you're the one with the big arms."

"Why is my assistance needed?" Thor asked, turning away from his warm up with Pietro.

"I need you to pick this guy up, and toss him as far as you can."

"Hey!" Tony barked. "You just watch. This is gonna be my best game yet and then all you uncentered idiots are gonna be lining up to ask me—"

"Super strange that none of you are actually warming up over here," Steve interrupted, returning from the coin toss between teams. "We're batting first by the way. Fury put the line up on the fence. Get set up."

The team obliged, all jogging over to the dugout. Bucky stayed back a bit with his eyes still glued to the seat you should've been taking up. You said you were going to be five minutes late at the most. The game was going to start any minute now.

"What's got you all antsy?" Steve asked.

Bucky barely glanced his way. "Y/n's still not here. I'm not hovering or anything, but last time this happened I had to go pick her up all bruised on the side of the road."

"Well, last time she wasn't your girlfriend and you were still in your 'let's piss her off and make bad decisions' stage."

"Ha ha, very funny." He pushed Steve's arm in jest. "Seriously though, I'm a little worried about her."

"Give her a quick call then," Steve offered. "We have a few minutes until we bat and you're not first on the lineup. I'm sure she just ran into some traffic."

"Yeah... yeah good idea."

In truth, you probably were just stuck in traffic and Bucky was being overly paranoid, but everything had been going so well between the two of you and he wanted to keep that up.

The weeks following your first date had been pure bliss for him. All of the things he longed for—even just the small things—had fallen into his lap now that you trusted him. The smiles in between classes. The hugs after games. The silent brushes and sweet kisses in dim light and his favorite, right in the sun. Even the way you looked at him drove him crazy.

Because you were his.

You hadn't told him that you loved him yet. That was mainly because he hadn't let you. Each time it looked like you were about to, Bucky would smother your mouth in a kiss and leave you dazed.