*narrator pov*
You woke up the next morning to someone knocking on your door.
"Mmm. Go away" you mumbled into your pillow.
The door opened and you groggily rolled over to face Bucky.
He was leaning against the doorway with his hands in his pockets, staring down at you.
When you did not say anything, he seemed to take it as an invitation to sit down next to you.
He placed a hand on your shoulder and stroked it softly.
You sat up and crawled under his arm.
You brought your knees up to your chin as you leaned onto his side.
Bucky held you close to him with his arm still around you.
He kissed the top of your head.
"We're gonna go in twenty minutes, okay?" he said.
"Okay" you agreed quietly.
You turned your head and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"Love you baby" you whispered.
"I love you too doll."
Bucky left and you changed into one of the very few outfits you had, then you completed it with one of Bucky's jumpers.
When you went downstairs, Tony, Pepper and Morgan were in the kitchen.
"Good morning sweetie" Pepper smiled. "Bucky is waiting for you in the car."
"Quick pancake?" Tony offered.
"Hm. I shouldn't keep him waiting" you paused, but grabbed one nonetheless. You stuffed it quickly in your mouth, and let Morgan top it with squirty cream.
Bad idea.
It went more on the rest of your face then in your mouth.
"Bye!" came out muffled as you hadn't swallowed.
You ran out the house, mouth full, and jumped in Bucky's car.
He chuckled at the mess you had made of yourself.
"Shut up and drive" you laughed while licking your lips.
Bucky wiped some cream of your nose, and he licked his finger as he started the car.
You cleaned yourself up as he drove, and you put your hair up in a ponytail to keep it out of your face.
For the first hour or two you listened to the radio, soloing karaoke while Bucky grinned at you.
After a while, you changed to listen to some quieter more relaxing music.
You closed your eyes and let yourself drift off to the soothing tune.
You began to dream, but your imagination started to taunt you.
You dreamed of things you desperately wished would go away.
Thanos' voice rang irritably through your head.
"Your people, you couldn't save them... all dead because of you... your brother, you are responsible for his death... you killed him... it's all your fault... you are the monster. No wonder why your own father wanted you dead."
Flashbacks raced through your head.
Visions of your brother's death pained you.
Your head hurt as you recalled stepping over the unconscious bodies of your friends at the battlefield.
"You failed y/n. I can never forgive you. You're the reason I'm gone. You are the reason! It's your fault! It's all your fault!"
The sound of Loki's voice screaming at you in your head shocked you back to reality.
You opened your eyes, breathing heavily.
"Y/n, honey, you okay?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah" you sighed. "Just, um, just a bad dream, that's all."
"Sure?"
"Yeah."
Bucky turned off the busier road and pulled over the car on the quiet little street.
You looked at him questioningly.
He leaned over and kissed your cheek. His face stayed close to yours as he smiled "we're here."
"We are?" your eyes instantly lit up and you sat up in your seat.
Bucky nodded and you quickly got out the car.
When you realised you had no idea which way to go, you waited impatiently for Bucky to hurry up.
He showed you to the building door and opened it for you.
You started to run up the stairs excitedly.
"Y/n" Bucky called when you were half way up.
You spun round and you caught the keys he tossed at you.
You continued up the stairs and found the right door.
The key fitted and turned as it should and you swung open the door.
There was a large ish open space, with two doors on one wall, and two large windows that looked out onto the street on another. There was a mattress on the floor, and a fridge next to an oven. Nothing else.
Bucky finally joined you and hugged you from behind.
"So what do you think?"
You were speechless.
"I was thinking you can decorate however you want and you can pick out our furniture, and I know it's kinda smaller than what you're used to, I mean you had a lot more space at the compound..."
"Bucky" you interrupted. "It's perfect."
You spun around and pulled his hand to stand in the middle of the room.
"I love it! We're gonna live together Buck! We have our own home! Just for us!"
"Yes we do" Bucky grinned.
———
A couple of hours later, you were in a Brooklyn shopping mall after having done everything you needed to at the apartment.
The first thing you did was buy milkshakes as lunch.
"Hey do you remember when I spilt a milkshake on you when we all went shopping together" you laughed.
"I remember. You spilt it on my favourite jacket."
"Yes but I bought you a new one to make up for it."
"But you always steal it."
"Sorry" you chuckled.
You walked on, slurping your drink.
"So" Bucky said. "Are we gonna talk about last night?"
You slurped through your straw unnecessarily loudly.
You swallowed and sighed dramatically.
"Nope."
"I just think-"
"Hey do you think they sell that in blue?" you pointed at a shirt in a random window, completely ignoring him.
"Y/n..."
"Bucky I'm not changing my mind. I don't care what you say."
"But-"
"End of discussion."
Bucky paused before speaking again.
"You can be very stubborn sometimes, anyone ever told you that?"
You drank from your cup noisily again.
"Yup."
"I think it's cute."
"I know" you smirked.
Bucky rolled his eyes and put his arm around you.
"I love you baby" you smiled.
"I love you too. And I want you to know that that will never change no matter what you do or what you think of yourself..."
"Bucky I swear to god I will not hesitate to ruin another item of your clothing with milkshake."
"Oh you wouldn't dare.... come on there's dresses in here."
He took you into a dress shop and waited patiently as you picked a few to try on.
He waited outside the waiting room for you.
Soon, you came strutting out in a silver glittery dress, that was cut extremely short.
"Now this I like" you grinned.
Bucky looked you up and down, and his eyes focused just south of yours.
"James" you smirked.
"Hm? Yeah I like it too."
"I can see that."
Bucky snapped back to reality and made eye contact with you.
He stood up and slid a hand round your waist.
"You look beautiful doll" he declared. "But you think this is appropriate for Stark's party?"
"Oh no. Not 'elegant' enough. No, I was thinking I could buy it and wear it to the party I'm going to with Peter next week."
"You're going to that?"
"Yeah why not?"
"With you dressed like that, I could think of a few reasons."
"Oh see now I want to go more."
"Well if you really want to..."
"I wasn't asking for permission baby" you smirked as you stroked a finger across his lips. You leaned your face closer for a second, then spun round quickly to head back into the changing room.
Your ponytail hit him in the face slightly, and he shook his head, smiling as you walked away.
You changed into a new dress.
"Okay I think this is the one" you called from inside the changing room.
"Let's see then" Bucky answered.
You poked your head round the curtain.
Bucky questioningly raised an eyebrow.
You smiled and poked your head back inside.
"Y/n?" Bucky asked.
You emerged again a couple of minutes later, wearing the clothes you had came in.
"What happened to the dress?" Bucky wondered.
"I want it to be a surprise."
"There's only like four hours until I'm going to see it."
"Well you're just going to have to be patient then" you said teasingly, then turned to a nearby saleswoman. "I'll take both the dresses in there please."
"Of course" she hurried off to bag them.
You took Bucky's hand and headed to the cashier desk.
They brought over a bag and told you the price.
You nodded and started rummaging through your purse.
"Fuck" you muttered.
"Is there a problem?" the cashier asked.
"Yeah I can't find the card" you groaned.
"I could take a name?"
"Um. Okay" you said, still looking in your purse anyway. "Just put it under Tony Stark. Shit, Buck I think I lost his card. "
"How convenient" the cashier frowned.
"Excuse me?" you looked up.
"You think you're the first person to try that?" the cashier half laughed at you.
Bucky could see you getting pissed.
"Here y/n I'll pay for it" he went to pull out his wallet.
You looked back in your purse one more time, and pulled out the card.
"It's fine I found it" you glared angrily at the cashier as you handed it to her.
She looked at the name, then at you questioningly.
"If this declines, I'm calling security" she warned.
"Go ahead."
She swiped the card, and it accepted first time.
You smiled at her smugly as she handed it and your bags to you.
"So sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day" she fake smiled back.
"Oh I will."
You walked out the store.
"Bitch" you muttered.
Bucky chuckled and put his arm around you until you got back to his car.
You drove back to Stark's cabin.
"Finally!" Tony called when he saw you pull up on the gravel in front of their house.
"Sorry Tony" you climbed out the car quickly with your bags and ran up to him.
"You have fun?" he asked.
"Mhm" you smiled as you handed him his card back.
"She almost hit someone" Bucky lied.
"Okay that is so an exaggeration!"
"She did get mad at someone though" he grinned.
"No, I- , okay maybe a little bit. But they were a bitch!" you cried. "Shit, where's Morgan? Fuck... FUCK! Im so sorry Tony."
"May I suggest you shut the hell up before she hears you. Go get ready, we're leaving as soon as Happy gets here."
"Okay" you gave him a quick friendly kiss on the cheek before running to your room with your bags.
Getting changed was going completely fine on your own, until you picked up your hair brush.
———
Happy arrived at the cabin, and Tony checked his watch.
"Where the hell is y/n?" Tony asked Bucky.
"I don't know. She wanted to surprise me in her dress so I was given strict orders not to disturb."
Tony rolled his eyes in annoyance and ran up the stairs two at a time.
"Y/n" he knocked on your door, but did not wait for you to answer. "Happy's here we're gonna... go."
You were sitting at a chair in front of a mirror, holding a hairbrush. You were barely moving.
"Y/n are you okay?" he asked cautiously.
You slowly turned to face him.
"Natasha did my hair" you whispered blankly.
Tony sighed pitifully and sat on the bed.
"Do you... not know how to do your hair?"
"No I do... I'm not stupid. It's just... Natasha did my hair."
Tony frowned.
"Hey come here" he patted the space in front of him on the bed.
You went to sit next to him, but you were extremely confused when he told you to turn around.
"Brush" he held out his hand, and you smiled as you understood what he was doing.
"Okay I'm not a professional" he admitted as he began to run the brush through your hair.
"Thank you Tony."
"I'm really stupid, y/n, aren't I?"
"Yes. But given the decisions you make on a regular basis I'm going to need you to be more specific" you giggled weakly.
"I shouldn't have planned a party. It was too soon."
"Maybe. But maybe a party is what everyone needs."
"Yeah. Who doesn't love alcohol?" Tony laughed.
He brushed through your hair a minute longer, before deciding he was crap at it.
"You know what? Your hair looks beautiful when it's down."
You turned and smiled at him.
"Thanks for trying I guess."
"Any time."
Tony watched as you stood up in front of him and brushed out the crinkles in your dress.
"Oh and y/n... you look absolutely amazing."
