you & me. legal. forever.

5. Knowledge Bombs

"I'm home!" Bucky called as he walked into the house a few weeks after Sam's visit. He had just come from a meeting at school with his advisor. He'd majored in International Relations, with a minor in 20th Century History, joking that he was cheating since he was there for so much of it.

Doubling down on courses, as his enhanced processing and speed reading capabilities made it easier to whizz through material, he studied year-round and over breaks to take on as much as possible. He liked to say that it was one of the few good things that came from his serum.

Their dog Laika ran up to greet him, and he bent down to pet her. "Hey girl! Where's Zoe? Did she fall down a well?" he teased the animal when he didn't see his beloved anywhere on the main floor of their home.

"Right here!" she called out, running down the stairs and jumping into his arms. "How was your advising meeting? Are you dean of the History department yet?" She joked as she kissed him hello. "And why do you always ask the dog where I am? Has she ever answered you? Sometimes I think you two are in cahoots, causing trouble..." she laughed, shaking her head.

"Who says we're not?" He smirked. "Isn't that right, Laika? Who's my favorite crime fighting partner? Not Sam! No! Never Sam!" He joked while nuzzling the dog, who had jumped up to put her paws on him.

"You two need your own show or something." Zoe chuckled, walking towards the kitchen. "Thoughts on what you want for dinner?"

"Actually, I was kind of thinking we could go out tonight." He smiled. "What do you say?"

"We don't have to cook? Sounds perfect, let me get a sweater." She walked back towards the stairs, stopping in front of him. "So the meeting went well, I take it?"

"Really well. But we can talk about it over dinner." He kissed her head before she ran up the stairs. "Sorry, girl, you're not invited." he said to the dog as he scratched her ears.

Once they had put their orders in at their favorite old school diner, Zoe was all questions. "So?! What happened? How many more semesters do you have? How's the thesis going?"

"Well..." Bucky scratched the back of his neck. "That's the thing. I did it."

"You did what?" Zoe asked, confused. "You do a lot of things, please specify."

"My thesis was accepted. I'm done." He reported. "My petition to graduate has been approved as of semesters' end. I'll officially be a college graduate, for whatever it's worth these days..."

"HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!" Zoe screamed. Several other restaurant patrons turned towards her. "What? My amazing nerd of a boyfriend just completed his undergraduate degree in less than 2 years! I'm excited!" She laughed. "Sorry to disturb..."

"I couldn't have done it without you, love..." he chuckled at her enthusiasm. "I didn't know I had it in me. There's no way I would have done any of it without your help and support."

"And proofreading." She cut him off, laughing harder. "You can't spell for shit."

"True." He laughed, then got quiet for a moment. "So...now that I'm done with my undergrad..."

"Where are you thinking you want to apply for grad school? Follow up question, do you actually need grad school, or are you just doing it for your own curiosity? Either way, I'm behind you a million percent." She beamed at him from across the table. Just then their food showed up. Zoe looked down at her usual club sandwich order and frowned. "Excuse me, I didn't order beans, ma'am." She called to the waitress.

"We're good." Bucky called out to the server. "It's fine."

"What the hell are these?" Zoe poked at the gooey looking beans beside her usual.