Can We Keep Her?

Acceptance

Steve sat in the middle of several piles of clothing looking lost. He'd started to try and clear out some drawers for you to use, so he'd taken his pajamas out of one drawer. He didn't want to mix them with Bucky's though, so he thought he'd consolidate his t-shirts into one drawer. They didn't all fit, and he'd taken them all out and thought he'd put some on hangers. In the meantime to free up a second drawer, he'd thought he'd put his socks and underwear all into one drawer. They didn't all fit either, so he was now methodically going through each item of clothing and deciding if it might be something that was worn out enough to get rid of.

Bucky came in and looked at the chaos on the floor and shook his head. "Is now the best time to be doing that, pal? She'll be off work in less than an hour."

Steve looked up at Bucky feeling completely helpless all of a sudden. "I just wanted to give her some drawers. She made room for us at her place."

Bucky laughed and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know that just throwing all your things on the ground is the best way to make some space for her." He crouched down and ran his hands down Steve's arms. "This is the first time she's staying over. I'm sure she isn't going to just bring a whole bunch of stuff to keep here. How about we just go buy a new set of drawers for her? There's enough room in here for another set."

Steve groaned and ran his hands down his face. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Not as smart as you'd have people believe," Bucky teased. He leaned forward and kissed Steve softly on the lips. When he pulled away he started putting everything back in its rightful place. "Why are you making such a big deal about this anyway? We sleep at her place all the time. She's met everyone. What are you worried about?"

Steve threw his socks back into the drawer. "I don't know," he said with a sigh. "I feel like when we go stay with her it's like we're getting a holiday from our lives. Her letting us into her life is like vacation time, where we can be young and carefree and just Steve and Bucky how we used to be. Now we're going to bring her into this... mess. What if she can't handle Captain America and the Winter Soldier? What if it's too much and she leaves?"

Bucky grabbed Steve by the wrist and spun him to face him, pulling Steve against him and hugging him tightly. "That's kind of how I feel all the time. For me, it's not a vacation going to her. It's just me dragging along my shit and dumping it on her door. But she picks it up every time. She's stronger than you give her credit for. Besides... if we're going to do this, we gotta go all in."

Steve smiled and rested his cheek on Bucky's shoulder for a moment, his heart feeling just that little bit heavier for Bucky's confession. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I do know that."

Bucky smiled and carded his hand through Steve's hair before standing back and looking at him. "I think we're keeping her, pal. I think at this point, we don't even have a choice."