lullaby of woe × marvel one shots

we would've been timeless | winterwidow

three times steve rogers met black widow and one time he met winter soldier again.

1945

"That little guy from Brooklyn that was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I'm following him." Bucky said, his voice partially drowned out by the racket filling the club. His eyes shifted to Steve and he smiled, before picking up his glass and taking a sip out of it. "But you're keeping the outfit, right?" he teased.

"You know what?" Rogers answered, arching an eyebrow and turning to look at a nearby poster with his image on it. "It's kinda grown on me."

The singing started to die down as the clicking sound of heels joined the racket, making the gathered man unsure about how they should act in this unusual situation. Not often a woman like Agent Carter joined this kind of company.

Steve and Bucky leaned back simultaneously to get a better look at what caused the shift in the atmosphere. Both stood up when Peggy stopped in the doorway.

"Captain." she greeted, coming closer.

"Agent Carter."

"Ma'am," Bucky said, getting only a slight nod in the answer, the woman's eyes already focused on Steve and Steve only. Another very unusual event for Sergeant Barnes to be straightforwardly ignored like that.

"I see your top squad is prepping for duty," Peggy remarked, glancing at the other men on the other side of the room.

"You don't like music?" Bucky asked. He wasn't one to give up his fight this easily, even if he saw clearly that his chances were near to nonexistent.

"I do, actually." she agreed. "I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"The right partner." and once again, not even a glance in his direction, not even a flick of eyes.

"Which will be me I hope." a new feminine voice suddenly reached their ears, followed by clicking sound characteristic for heels.

Bucky turned, surprised. Steve followed suit, Peggy did too, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Allow me to introduce my friend, and colleague, Agent Rushman." she nodded at the newcomer. Maybe an inch shorter than her, with curled hair that barely reached her shoulders, and even in the dim light was fiery. Her eyes were green and successfully took all of Bucky's attention away from Peggy, now reserved only for the stranger.

"Let's not be so formal, shall we?" she suggested. "Natalie Rushman, but all my friends call me Nat."

"James Buchanan Barnes, but everyone calls me Bucky." he did not waste a second introducing himself, and as a gentleman he was or at least tried to keep up an appearance of one, as long as someone was watching, he placed a kiss on her hand. "And you're welcome to be my partner," he added with his trademark smirk.

Steve chuckled, seeing his best friend back in his element and once again as the ladies' man Barnes had been ever since he could remember, the memories of kid Bucky grinning at girls back in the sandbox still clear in his mind. The sparkle in his eye didn't escape Rogers' attention, as well as the fact, that he didn't step away from Natalie's side even for a moment, after Peggy left, saying that she hopes that she was leaving her friend in good hands, her words also a warning. But from what Steve noticed in the short time he got to spend with the redhead, she wasn't one to need a hand in protecting herself.

And when it comes to the question if Bucky's hands were 'good ones', Rogers wasn't one to judge that, but he never heard a woman complain. And Natalie didn't look like she was about to be the first, Steve thought, when out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed them leave together, into the dark rainy night, mischievous smirks on both their faces, Bucky's cheek already smeared with her lipstick.