peace [bucky barnes]

21

"I got a call from a damsel in distress?"

Eden rose her head from her cross-legged position on the carpet, smile lighting up her sullen face as she found Bucky's bright eyes glinting with humour from further down the hall. He strolled toward her with his hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket, maintaining her gaze with playful smirk on his lips.

"Very funny, Buck," she joked, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank God you're here, I'm bored out of my skull."

He came to a stop in front of her, staring down at her from his massive height with a fond smile. His eyes softened as she offered him a toothy grin, her head tilted back against the door to look up at him, brown twinkling. Taking another step toward her, he hooked his fingers under her chin, gently holding her jaw while he continued to admire her. His gaze didn't leave hers as he slowly bent his knees, crouching down to her level with that same smirk, keeping her chin in his palm.

Eden's cheeks flamed at the intensity of his eye contact, following him as he dropped to the floor, his face dangerously close to hers. She swallowed nervously, locked on his steely blue, doe eyes wide and unblinking. The breath shorted in her throat as he pulled her toward him, meeting their lips in a tender kiss, so sweet it stunned her for a moment.

He chuckled softly as he pulled away, thumb grazing her cheekbone, admiration shining in his eyes as hers slowly fluttered open.

"Hi," she spoke, her voice a breathy whisper, corners of her mouth curved into a dazed smile.

"Hi honey."

He gave her one last peck before he rose to his feet, releasing her from his grip, and held out a gloved hand toward her. She took it with a grateful nod, using him as a propellant to hoist herself up, standing at full height in front of him (and still feeling tiny).

"Who let you in?"

"Some old guy who was leaving the building. I waited outside and he came out, took one look at me and held the door open," he grinned, lacing their hands together. "How long did they say maintenance would be?"

Eden sighed, shaking her head, glancing at her front door behind them before she replied, "Another hour or so. They get off at 5, so the guy had already gone home."

When she'd left the office almost two hours before, she was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing evening indoors with Saffy; she was going to order takeout, run a bath, have a glass of wine, the works. She thought about it all the way home, pondered over what food she was going to get, almost salivating as her starved brain ran through all the options. She could practically taste the monstrous burger she was going to order as she reached her front door, relief flooding her at the finish line, and she dug around frantically in her bag for her door keys, so impatient she felt like she could burst.

She couldn't find them.

After emptying the entire contents of her bag out on the carpeted floor, she let out a frustrated yell, realising they must have fallen out either in the car or at the office. Knowing that luck was never on her side, she trudged back down to the parking garage, dejected and annoyed, already sensing she wouldn't find them in her car - and she was right. Angry tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she called maintenance on her way back up to her apartment, unable to hold them in when they told her she'd have to wait a couple hours for them to send somebody out.

Bucky received an emotional call seconds after she got off the phone with them, quietly crying in the hallway as she explained what had happened, not wanting to attract the attention of any of her neighbours. In true Bucky fashion, he left his apartment immediately to come to her rescue, sound of her tears spiking his chest, wanting to fix whatever was wrong with her as soon as he could.