Faces of Bucky Barnes - More One Shots

11. How I Really Feel About You

The movers were scheduled to arrive the following day and I still had so much to pack for my move to the Avengers Tower.  After a year of dating, when Bucky Barnes, current Avenger and my boyfriend, finally asked me to move in with him into a larger apartment, I said yes.  He was everything I ever wanted in a man; just old-fashioned enough to treat me with courtesy and respect, but modern enough not to be threatened by my career that took me away every so often on research trips as I flew around the world, becoming familiar with places I would write about in my novels.  Sometimes, he even came with me for a time, or met me there after finishing his own mission.  There wasn't much writing done during those times, but his presence certainly added to the romance of those locations, which always made its way into my books.

Being drop dead gorgeous didn't hurt either, as I still couldn't believe this man with the body of a god and the face of an angel, had eyes only for me.  I could spend a lot of time listing off my own perceived deficits, but Bucky didn't want to hear them from anyone's lips.  In his eyes, I was perfect, beautiful even when I was on a tear while writing, had bloodshot eyes and stringy hair, while wearing my sweatpants that were a little too tight, so my muffin top was visible.  Maybe it was part of his being a 1940s man, but he seemed to like a little padding on a woman's body, and he certainly liked mine.

Right now, he was helping me finish packing for the move, something I had procrastinated about for several weeks as I finished a final draft of my latest novel before sending it to my editor for fine-tuning.  He offered to pack my bookcases, filled with my eclectic and diverse collection of books, memorabilia, and knickknacks, doing a good job until he came to the last one.

"How many different versions and souvenirs of Pride and Prejudice do you need?" Bucky asked.

He was standing in front of what I called "The Shrine," my collection of all things related to Jane Austen's masterpiece.  It included several different collector book editions; a hardcover one, in dark brown leather with gold gilded letters, a cloth bound edition in red with silver lettering, a special illustrated hardcover edition with protective sleeve and my paperback edition that I actually used to read whenever I felt the need to resume my acquaintance with my favourite title.  There were DVDs of all the movie and television versions, including the special collector's edition of the BBC/PBS series starring Colin Firth, and Jennifer Ehle.  Then there were the literary texts about Pride and Prejudice, followed by the knickknacks, souvenirs, and the photo album with the photographs of the various actors that I always took with me to comic cons, premieres and any other occasion where I might run into one of said stars, in the hopes of getting their autographs.  It was my obsession and until Bucky started packing the individual items into boxes, I don't think he realized how much I loved the book, the series, and the movies that I couldn't watch enough times. 

"Says the man with a bookcase full of Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books and the DVDs," I replied from the linen closet.  "But I'm fine with that because I know you love them and they're good books, good movies, and your Gandalf action figure is pretty cool."

He appeared in the hallway, leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed.  His face was so serious and for a moment I wondered if he was offended that I brought up his own obsession.  From the floor I looked up at him.

"What?" I asked.

"How come you've never asked me to watch any of the movies?" he asked.  "I know you've seen all of the Tolkien movies.  Yet, you've always saved your Pride and Prejudice movies for girls' night.  Is there something I should know?  Are they like Bridgerton and you watch them for the sex scenes?"

"No, there are no sex scenes in Pride and Prejudice although I'm sure there is a porn version somewhere if I Google it."  I shuddered.  "I would hate to think what they would do with it.  Have you never read it?"