The Coffee Shop Girl ~ Bucky Barnes

Chapter 18

The café was quiet when Natasha and Bucky walked inside, well quiet compared to normal anyway. Perhaps half a dozen or so regular customers sat at the tables which filled the room, the low buzz of conversation passing between them in the way it does on a sleepy Saturday morning when no-one is truly awake or wants to be. Nobody looked up as the small bell hanging above the door rang out as they walked in, something both of them were rather glad of, not particularly caring to be recognised on that particular morning.

Katia was bustling around behind the counter, her hands moving quickly between different mugs and jars as she tried to find what she was looking for. Bucky had realised on his fifth or six visit to the café that all of the jars which lined the counter had braille markings to indicate what everything was. It had never before occurred to him quite how Katia knew exactly what was contained within every jar without having to ask someone, but it was a perfect method in his eyes. After all, it wasn't something which would inconvenience anyone else working at the café and he was almost certain there must be other blind or visually impaired workers there, so it wouldn't just be Katia who was helped by the simple adjustment to the system.

Bucky made a special effort as they crossed the room to make his footsteps louder. He had learned very quickly that Katia had good hearing, but his normal instinct to stay almost silent made it very difficult for her to recognise his presence unless he purposefully made himself known. He had decided long ago that if that meant making sure his steps were unreasonably loud in his eyes, that was what he would do, even if he still struggled to remember to do so whenever he entered the establishment.

"Good morning, Bucky," Katia's voice greeted him, a smile gracing her lips as she welcomed him, recognising his stride well enough from how much he had been there over the previous few weeks. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Bucky replied, doing his best to make sure his answer didn't appear too short, and though Katia's brow furrowed momentarily, it quickly smoothed out once more and she nodded brightly.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it, is there anything in particular you want today, or will it just be the normal?"

"Just the normal, thanks." Bucky told her and Katia grinned once more, quickly turning to pick up one of the many mugs lined up on the worktop behind her.

"Great, you can just take a seat if you want. I'll be there in a minute."

"Wow," Natasha drawled, raising an eyebrow at the woman behind the counter. "Now I feel ignored."

Katia paused in her movements, turning back to face Bucky and Natasha with a flicker of surprise obvious in her expression.

"Natalia?" She asked, barely waiting a second for the woman to respond before she through her arms over the counter and caught the red head in a tight hug, bouncing up and down on the spot from excitement. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I don't know who you think I'm here for, but I don't exactly frequent many other cafés in New York." Natasha replied, wrapping her arms around the brunette woman before she pulled back. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing great," Katia told her with a genuine smile, her face still shining with irrepressible joy at the presence of her best friend. "How's Clint doing?"

"That's actually also part of why I'm here," Natasha informed her, shoving her hands back into her jacket pockets. "He asked me to talk to you about Christmas."

"Ah, of course." Katia nodded solemnly, her smile falling as she spoke. "We can chat once my shift's over if you like. I'm actually only supposed to be working a half day, so I'm done in an hour or so if you can stick around until then. We can head back to my flat for a while."