Infatuation One Shots | Bucky Barnes

Steve Falling in Love

Steve Rogers did not mean to fall in love with Catherine Stark. It was purely an accident. In his mind he could only love one woman, Peggy Carter. That was until the daughter of the man who helped create who he was walked down the stairs of the SHIELD atrium. He knew exactly who she was. He had seen her picture and file. He knew she was apart of something he had worked so hard to get rid of, but that did nothing to stop the way his heart pounded against his chest when she walked up to him with a sweet smile.

She was caring. It was something that surprised him. She took him right under her wing with no questions asked. She was helpful even at 3:00 am when he couldn't figure out to get the TV to work for the millionth time. She was strong, but not just in the physical sense. She had been through things no person should. She had fought. She had killed. She had survived, somehow. She was beautiful. No one could deny that. He had seen her in dresses and skirts and uniforms, but his favorite was when she wore shorts and a t shirt. 

She would walk around the tower or compound with bare feet revealing chipped, pink nail polish. She didn't seem like a pink girl. She seemed more like red; fiery, passionate, dangerous. She could melt or kill you with one look. Then again, Steve Rogers hardly knew anything about women. He didn't know if it was love at first sight. He had told himself that he wouldn't allow that to happen to him, but Catherine made it too damn hard not to fall in love.

He thought about gaining the courage to ask her out on a date after they shared a moment. He was the one that found her next to Phil Coulson's body. He was the one to comfort her when Tony went through the wormhole. It was the first time he saw her cry and it absolutely shattered him. She was still guarded. She was so secretive. Then again, so was he. They both kept things from one another and Steve supposed that would have lead to some sort of damage inflicted.

Steve thought about asking her out again after their mission to rescue the crew of the Lemurian Star. That was until he overheard her conversation with Rumlow. He watched as she openly flirted with him and felt a pang of jealously. She never spoke to him that way. She checked on him after the mission though. Partially because Fury wanted her too, but she could have just left. Instead, she walked with him. She went to the stupid museum that he gone to so many times before hoping that the writing and history on the walls would change. He would wake up and be the 1940s again.

They both lived in their pasts. Steve openly. Catherine privately. And it both would bite them in the ass in the end. She knew Bucky. Well, not the Bucky he knew, but she still knew him. He had trained her. He was the reason she was with Hydra in the first place. He could tell she was lying when she asked about the nature of their relationship. She had loved him, but Steve could see that she was still in love with him. Bucky was everything Steve was not; charming, confident, knew how to talk to ladies.

No wonder Catherine fell for his best friend. He watched her search for Bucky along his side for nearly a year. She told him she was doing it for him, not to find Bucky. He almost asked her out when they were walking along the streets of New York City during Christmas. The Rockefeller Christmas Tree was just ahead. She had her hand wrapped around his forearm, dragging him to see the lights. That night she shone like one of the Christmas lights on a tree. She was so bright, so mesmerizing.

He watched as she struggled with Tony creating Ultron. She knew why he did it, but it still didn't help after they leveled an entire city. Catherine stayed in Sokovia for days helping the people that were affected, pulling bodies out, sifting through rubble. She didn't complain once. The exhaustion was written all over her face when she returned to the broken tower. He wasn't the best cook, but he managed to make her a warm meal. They didn't say anything as they sat on the couch, eating while she cried silent tears for everything she had witnessed.