Imagine If You Assembled The Avengers: Volume 2

Hey, Neighbor (Rogers/Barnes x reader)

"What's that smell?" Bucky grimaced when he entered the kitchen of his and Steve's small Brooklyn apartment. "You're cooking again, aren't you?"

"Would that be a problem?"

"Apparently."

With a quiet chuckle, Steve set the large spoon he was using on the top of the stove, turning to face his roommate with a smirk and leaning against the counter top with his arms crossed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember being on the receiving end of a lecture not so long ago, about how you're the only one who does anything around here. Cooking happened to be at the top of that endless diatribe of pointless arguments."

"Pointless arguments?" Bucky snorted, moving next to Steve to grab the spoon, gently taking a small sampling of the contents of the large stainless steel pot behind him and blowing on it gently before bringing it to his lips. "If it got you to listen, how do you call them pointless, my friend?" He took a small sip and shook his head at the taste, groaning with a toss of the spoon into the pot. "Good, lord, I take it back. Totally pointless. Oh, man, that's awful, Steve."

"That's because I'm boiling dirty sponges."

"You punk bastard!" Bucky choked, spitting into the empty sink next to him. "Why did you let me do that?"

"I never actually said that I was cooking. You're the dumbass who didn't stop to look at what was in the pot of boiling water."

Bucky reached out and punched Steve in the arm, hard enough to knock him off balance so that he had to grab the counter top to keep upright. Steve threw a punch in return, tipping Bucky back and onto his rear with a loud thud. Before he could stand to retaliate, a firm bang from the apartment below stopped the two men, and Steve reached down to help his friend up.

"Sorry! We'll keep it down!" Steve yelled towards the floor, apologizing once again for being too loud. "We need to find a main-level place, man. They're gonna kick us out eventually."

"To tell ya the truth, I kinda judge them for not kicking us out already," he nodded in agreement. When another loud bang happened, but neither of them had done anything to warrant it, they looked at each other curiously with Steve's attitude quickly shifting to one of worry. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Yeah, I'm with ya," Bucky replied quietly, cocking his head to the side to listen further. "Is that (Y/N)?" To any other person, all they would've heard was silence, but with the two super soldiers overhead, privacy was a bit more challenging if they tried to listen in. "Is she...crying?"

Steve quickly turned off the stove and nodded, "yeah, that's what I thought I heard." Another bang resonated up from the floor, stopping the two before they had a chance to leave. "Someone just left, come on." Steve turned the handle of the door and pulled it open only to come to a quick halt, seeing you sitting on the floor across the hall from their entry, your legs pulled up and your head down to muffle your tears.

"(Y/N)?" Bucky rushed towards you and sat at your side, "hey, kiddo, what happened?" When you only shook your head and didn't reply, he decided to take a different approach to get you to talk. "It's Steve's cooking right? Believe me, I want to cry too, it's just sooo bad."

"No," you finally relented in a whispered laugh, "it's not that." When you lifted your head, Bucky's eyes saddened at the sight of your tears flowing down your cheeks even though you braved a weak smile for them. "It is pretty awful though, Steve."

"Seriously! I'm not cooking!"

"I tasted it," Bucky whispered, "it was worse than Army slop."

"Because you were tasting sponge water, you idiot," Steve retorted.

You looked from one man to the other, your tears beginning to subside as you listened to them bicker, and a small, genuine smile began to curl at the edges of your mouth. "You know how to cook though, right Buck? I know Steve can't, but if you're tasting sponge water and not knowing the difference, I'm honestly a little worried."

"What do you mean, you know Steve can't?"

"Your attempts are legendary around here, Cap," you answered. "You know that the fire alarms are linked throughout the building, don't you?"

"I...did not...know that..." he mumbled, sheepishly leaning back against the doorframe. He waited patiently for you and Bucky to stop laughing at his expense, watching for his moment to shift the conversation back to you. "So, (Y/N), what's going on?"

"My parents are assholes."

"Hey, watch the language," Steve scolded, while Bucky broke out into restrained laughter.

"Says the guy who just swore at me not even five minutes ago."

"But she's a kid, Buck."

"Oh, Steve," you groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose in mock frustration, "where do you think I learned my best stuff from? The walls are paper thin around here."

"From me?! Shit."

"Exactly," you smiled, taking a shaky deep breath to build a little confidence and looking back at Bucky while Steve came to terms with his new revelation. "They kicked me out. I guess I came up here because you guys are easy to talk to, and I really had nowhere else to go."

Steve was jolted from his thoughts and self-punishment at your words, looking to Bucky before taking a seat on the floor at your other side. He leaned back against the wall and pulled his long legs up, trying to cross them in front of himself in the small space next to you. "Can you tell us why? It's okay if you don't want to, but maybe we can help."

"I like girls, Cap. Not much you can do to help there."

Bucky leaned forward and took your arm to turn you to him, taking care to be gentle with his metal hand. "That's it? That's why they kicked you out? What a dick move."

When you broke out into a near-hysterical laughter, bending to hold your stomach and a new wave of tears rolling down your face, all Bucky could do was shrug and look to Steve for help, but he was just about as useful.

"Oh, Bucky," you panted, wiping your eyes, "I just told you that I'm a lesbian, and you throw out the phrase, 'dick move'? You're precious."

"You are precious," Steve mocked and winked, pushing his legs forward and letting out a small groan as he stood. "Alright, (Y/N), so do you think we should go talk to them?" Your face went immediately serious and the laughter was gone. Steve held a hand out to help you up, which you willingly took, reaching your other hand down to assist Bucky.

"Uh, no. That would be a terrible idea, Cap. They made it pretty clear that this is the final decision. But, maybe you could help me look for a place that would take in someone my age? Preferably not a dishwasher box in the back alley?"

"You're moving in with us," Bucky said very definitively with a nod of his head. "Done."

"Woah, slow down," you replied, backing away a few steps, "are you sure about that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the offer, really, but I'm not about to intrude on you. That's not why I came up here."

"Can you cook?" Steve asked plainly with a glance to his roommate, who in turn stared at you with an eagerness for you to answer.

"Yeah, I can hold my own."

Steve clapped his hands together excitedly and reached down to grab your bag, giving it a gentle toss into their apartment and holding his hand out for you to enter. "Great, dinner is in an hour and Buck didn't like my soup."