April Showers | Bucky Barnes x Reader AU

9 | motivation

"Friendship–my definition–is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble."
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

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When they step through the doors of White Wolf, April launches herself at Bucky. Her arms wrap around his middle and he stumbles a little, a small grunt escaping his lungs with the impact.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Y/N laughs as her daughter bypasses her completely. She shouldn't be surprised that April has formed an attachment to the man in such a short space of time. She did too, after all. Bucky is, however. It's knocked him for six how April has seemed to accept him and trust him so quickly and in all honesty, it absolutely terrifies him. After how reckless and selfish he's been in his life since he broke up with Y/N, he doesn't feel like he deserves it in the slightest.

"Did you enjoy your bagel?" April asks Bucky with wide eyes. Bucky gives Y/N a sideways glance as they realise the uneaten bagel is still in the bag and on the floor of his apartment. Both of them completely ignored it in their hurry to get back to April. Y/N stifles a giggle as Bucky looks down at the small brunette.

"Loved it! Thank you, trouble."

April grins up at him, satisfied with his answer.

"I'm gonna go let Steve know I found you," Y/N says to Bucky, placing a hand on his arm. She lingers there, eyes meeting his as they share a secret smile before she turns to April. "Grab your stuff, munchkin. We're gonna head to do the boat tour in a minute."

As she walks away, she hears April asking Bucky if he's coming with them. The excitement in her voice makes Y/N's heart melt and when she glances back before turning the corner, she sees their daughter clutching Bucky's hand as he takes her to get her backpack ready. If it was possible to fall any harder for the man, she just did.

Steve's office door is closed when she reaches it and she hears voices on the other side. Knocking quietly, she waits. When a faint 'come in' sounds through the dark wood, she opens it to see Peggy sitting in the chair opposite Steve. Her compact is sat in the palm of her hand as she reapplies her ruby red lipstick.

"Oh, sorry!" Y/N apologises but gives Peggy a knowing look. Her instincts were clearly right that night at the restaurant. "I didn't realise you had a meeting scheduled today." She says casually as she watches the blush creep up her friend's neck.

"Just discussing some potential new authors," Steve clears his throat as he answers and adjusts his tie.

"Right, yep. Anyway, I was just stopping by to say I found Bucky. He's all good, we're all good." She smiles.

Steve nods and Peggy excuses herself, she leans into Y/N's ear as she passes.

"Not a word out of you." She hisses playfully, knowing full well Y/N will call her later to get a full rundown of what happened. The two women were professional colleagues first, but very quickly became close friends as Peggy helped Y/N work through the ups and downs of her book.

"You were gone a while." Steve muses once Peggy leaves the room. He shrugs his suit jacket back over his broad shoulders and circles his desk before gesturing to the door. He follows behind Y/N as they make their way back to the lobby.

"Was I?"

Steve grabs at her wrist just before they're about to turn the corner and she turns with a jolt, eyebrows furrowed.

"Just... be careful, Y/N." He murmurs.

Y/N frowns. Who's he to tell her to be careful?

"You don't know me, Steve."