starks daughter | avengers au fanfic

18 | strategic flirting

The rest of the day was spent with the three men pushing and hauling everything into place, while Madeline sat on the kitchen counter eating ice cream and drinking Diet Coke.

By 5:30 pm, they were finally done, and Madeline promised to properly thank them all for their help.

She did this by ordering a pizza for Sam and promising to train with Steve the next day.

Bucky however, insisted on her not repaying him at all.

"It was a favour, you don't owe me anything." Bucky argued, when it was finally just the two of them left on Maddy's floor.

"So I owe you a favour." She said, walking over to him.

"Okay, so when I need a favour, I'll come to you. Is that what you wanna hear doll?"

"Exactly." She smiled, and put her hand on his arm. "Seriously though, thank you. I would not have been able to do this without you guys."

"It was nothing. If anything you were doing me a favour with this. I get to skip training with Steve two days in a row." He laughed.

"Right. I have to do that tomorrow. Is it that bad?"

"You'll live."

They both stood there, smiling at each other for a moment, only to be interrupted by the elevator dinging.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Tony said sarcastically.

"Fuck off Tony." Madeline smiled, and just to spite her father, she pulled Bucky into a hug. "Thanks so much for today." She said and kissed him on the cheek before they both pulled away from the hug.

"My pleasure.." he stopped himself from adding 'doll' to that sentence, what with her father standing right there. "I'll see you later."

She nodded and bit her lip as he walked past, waving as he got into the elevator.

"Okay, you can stop trying to piss me off now."

"I wasn't trying to do anything but be friendly to your coworkers, just like you asked."

"Yeah, okay, sure. That was a little too friendly but sure."

They both gave each other fake smiles - possibly a genetic trait considering she hadn't picked it up from spending time with him.

"Okay well.. Pepper wants to have a family dinner. Me, you, her, Morgan. Go out to eat. Tonight."

"Okay."

"Okay?" He questioned, sceptical as to why she would agree so fast.

"Yeah. I mean you're gonna be there which isn't great. But I like Pepper. And I love Morgan obviously. So I'll go. What time?"

"Ten minutes."

"Seriously?"

"You're already ready? Just change that skirt, we're going to a restaurant, not a strip club."

"Fine."