The Coffee Shop Girl ~ Bucky Barnes

Chapter 3

As Bucky sat looking at the phone in front of him, he debated returning it to its previous position and doing something else. When he had retrieved the piece of paper and phone, he had been determined to call the bakery, but once he was sat with them in front of him and all of the numbers entered but not dialled, he was feeling less sure. He knew that Katia had said he could call whenever, but he would feel bad if he interrupted someone. He sat staring at the phone for over five minutes, and was still pondering over the dilemma when someone else walked into the room.

"What are you doing, Manchurian Candidate?" Stark asked, making Bucky jump as the assassin realised that he hadn't heard the man enter the room. Stark did not wait for a reply as he dropped his Iron Man mug into the sink, filling it with water before walking over to where Bucky was sitting and seeing the phone in front of him. He peered over in an attempt to see the number Bucky had not yet called, and looked surprised by the answer. Bucky attempted to stop him as Stark pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear.

"Hey, I don't know who this is but if you wouldn't mind passing me to Kat that would be great." There was a lengthy pause before Bucky heard another voice on the end of the line. He was suddenly glad of being a Super Soldier as it meant that he could hear both sides of the conversation, despite not being on the phone.

"How many times have I told you not to call me 'Kat', Tony?" Katia's voice asked, making Stark grin brightly.

"Not enough times yet, apparently." There followed a muttered complaint from Katia which was too quiet for Bucky to catch more than a couple of words. "Now, that isn't very nice."

"You're not very nice." Katia responded and Stark grinned, not seeming to take the insult personally in the slightest. "But why are you calling, and why aren't you using your own phone? Please tell me you aren't in some stranger's house again."

"I can't believe that you would think that." Stark grumbled. "It makes me look bad when my best friends think these things about me."

Katia scoffed, "Like it isn't a reasonable presumption."

It seemed Stark was unable to refute this claim, as be quickly switched topic. "Anyway, the Manchurian Candidate was sitting heat with the phone ready to call you for so long that FRIDAY told me, so I helped him out by clicking the call button."

"Sorry, who?" Katia asked, her tone making it clear she was confused as to who he was referring to, whilst also being somewhat sick of his ridiculous nicknaming system.

"Barnes." Stark muttered, looking slightly miffed that he had to say someone's actual name for once.

"Bucky?" Katia asked and at Stark's him of approval, Bucky heard her demand to speak to him. "Well, pass me over then. It's none of your business anyway Tony."

"Everything that happens around here is my business, Kat." Stark responded, passing the phone to Bucky before he could catch the woman's indignant reply.

Bucky stood awkwardly with the phone in his grasp for a moment before hesitantly lifting the technological marvel to his ear and waiting for the woman to speak.

"Catch you later, Manchurian Candidate!" Stark shouted back over his shoulder as he filled a mug of coffee and disappeared into the lift. Bucky ignored the man, knowing that there was no point riling him and making him come back into the room.

"I take it from that, that I'm with you now, Bucky." Katia's voice came through the speaker and made Bucky jump. He still wasn't overly fond of the new technology even though he was far more capable of using it than Steve - Hydra had always brought him up to date with weapons and technology as they often wanted him to hack computer systems as part of his missions. Realising that he still hadn't replied to Katia's statement, he shook the thoughts of the group out of his mind and formulated a reply before speaking.

"Yes, Stark is gone." It was shorter than what most people would have said, but Bucky felt it an achievement that he had given an answer with more than one word and so he wasn't too worried about the particulars.

"Good, I can't really deal with him in large doses, he flickers between being an arrogant idiot and a mother-hen so much that he gets on my nerves a bit."

"Just a bit? You're doing better than the rest of us then." Bucky hadn't even realised he was saying the sentence until he heard the laughter emanating from the woman on the other end of the call. "I didn't mean to say that."

"I'm glad you did." Katia managed to force out between bouts of chuckles. "I love Tony, honestly, but sometimes he just needs someone to take him down a peg or two, even if not to his face."

Though Bucky felt uncomfortable for saying what he had about Stark, he was also happy that he had made Katia laugh, the woman seemed nice enough and if Natasha trusted her then she couldn't be all that bad.

"Anyway, I presume there is a reason you are calling, aside from Tony that is." Remnants of laughter still trickled through into Katia's voice as she spoke, having not yet moved on from Bucky's previous statement.

"I finished the bread." Bucky told her, hesitating for a moment before adding. "I was wondering if I could get any more."

"Of course you can." Katia assured him and Bucky heard her call out to someone away from the phone before returning to talk to him. "How many loaves would you like? And would you like to try any other types?"

"No thanks, but I was wondering if I could get some for everyone else as well as just or me." Bucky felt a bit nervous about asking, not sure if the woman would be inconvenienced by the extra detail of his order.

"Sure thing!" Katia exclaimed, calming the Super Soldier as he breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll pick out a couple of types I know Tony loves and you can try to make them last more than a day."

"How should I pay for them?" Bucky asked, well aware that there were many online payment methods shops seemed to love using these days, though he was none too fond of using the Internet in the knowledge that people could track anything he did - having often done this to other people during his time as the Winter Soldier.

"Well if you have a credit card you can pay when we deliver, or you're welcome to bring in the money next time you come into the shop."

"I think that might be easier." Bucky told her and Katia gave a hum of agreement. Bucky was just about to hang up on her when he heard a voice as someone entered the room.

"Tony said you were on the phone to Katia. Is there any chance I can speak to her?" Clint asked, making Bucky wonder just how many of the teammates the woman knew. Bucky did not offer any resistance as he passed the phone to the blonde and began making his way back to his room. He was feeling pretty good about managing to call Katia, even if it did take Stark interfering for him to actually talk to her at all, and decided that he deserved a day holes up in his room surrounded by sketchbooks and pencils as he did his best to capture his feelings on paper.