Opening the door, Steve was greeted by none other than the one and only, Bucky Barnes. On his way towards future valedictorian. Compassionate cat -- Flerken -- sitter. Cutest boy in school. Everything that a boy next door with Old Hollywood looks was expected to be. Including a great kisser.
Just as he did every other morning that he picked Steve up for school, Bucky pressed a sweet kiss to Steve's lips. Steve knew that out of everything that he would miss once he left, he'd miss this the most. So, Steve pushed the approaching deadline out of his mind and laced his fingers with Bucky's.
Skipping the last step like a child, Bucky cheerfully hopped down from the large wrap around porch and waited for Steve to catch up. As they crunched over the fallen red and orange leaves, Bucky asked, "Are you ready for Coulson's test?"
"Sure," Steve yawned as Bucky dropped his hand to open the passenger door to his hand-me-down dark green 1970-something Chevrolet Cheyenne truck. Playfully, Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky's chivalrous gesture and climbed into the truck. Making sure to place a sweet kiss on Bucky's check as he did so.
Closing the door once Steve was settled, Bucky headed around the front with a large grin on his handsome face. Steve tried not to think about how much he'd miss that. How much he'd miss Bucky as a whole. Especially the way Bucky took Steve's hand in his and brought their linked hands up to his mouth to press a sweet kiss to the back of Steve's hand.
"So, I was thinking," Bucky started, backing out of the Odinson house drive and onto the street. Steve kept his gaze on the sign in the front yard that read, Nine Realms Antiques, and squeezed Bucky's hand, showing him that he was listening. So, Bucky continued, "Maybe we could go apple picking."
"Apple picking?" Steve repeated, turning his gaze from the colorful Autumn tree-lined street to his boyfriend.
"Yeah," Bucky confirmed with an easy grin. Teasingly, Bucky shook Steve's arm and added, "See all the pretty colors. Maybe lose our way through a corn maze. Maybe even cuddle and drink some hot cider."
The more Bucky spoke, the more Steve's smile slipped from his face. His brows furrowing together as he started thinking about how nice all of that sounded. Thinking about how it sounded like a good day. About how Steve wanted nothing more than to do that.
Reading the room, Bucky amended, "Unless you don't want to."
Still stuck in his head, Steve shook his head and said, "No."
"It was just a thought," Bucky continued and reassured, "But we don't have to."
"No," Steve repeated, scowling through the windshield to his future because it had a real way of messing everything up.
Realizing that he just told Bucky that he didn't want to do that, Steve snapped out of his thoughts and quickly corrected, "I want to."
Halting at the stop sign, Bucky glanced over at Steve, "If you're agreeing just to make me happy, we're gonna have a real problem, pal."
"James Barnes, when, in the past thirteen years of us knowing each other, have I ever done that?" Steve challenged, quirking a brow at his boyfriend.
Bucky fought the grin that was trying to break free on his face and lost as he corrected, "Fourteen. It's gonna be fourteen years. Remember? I met you on your second birthday."
"Right," Steve confirmed, his brows deeply furrowing as a frown overtook his face. Glaring at the dashboard as he mumbled, "How could I forget?"
"Might be going senile in your old age, punk," Bucky teased, letting go of Steve's hand to ruffle his blond hair.
Feigning annoyance, Steve pushed Bucky's hand from his head, but he couldn't hide the fond grin on his face and he complained in jest, "Keep both hands on the wheel, jerk."
"You love me," Bucky beamed with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Tips of his ears burning, Steve shoved at Bucky's shoulder and muttered, "Jerk."
Bucky simply took Steve's hand in his again and laced their fingers together. Even though neither had confessed those words to each other, Steve was certain that Bucky knew that he did. Love him, that is. After all, they had clicked from the first moment they met on Steve's second birthday. It was a simple Halloween party at Carter's Daycare where Bucky, dressed as a vampire with his brown hair slicked back and a white painted face and red lipstick, toddled over to Steve, who had been dressed as a classic black bat with wide fabric wings, sat off to the side looking at picture books.
Despite himself, Thor had claimed, "Destiny." While Loki unhappily cursed, "Trouble."
From that day on, the pair had been inseparable. Going through childhood as best friends. Full of sleep overs and birthday parties and shared classes. Steve wasn't sure when exactly he fell in love with Bucky along the way, but he knew that when Bucky kissed him on his fourteenth birthday, it felt right. Deep his bones, it did.
Which made the looming deadline fill Steve up with so much dread that it made him sick. It shouldn't have, but it did. And Steve knew that it was because of Bucky Barnes and his stupid affection.
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The Chilling Adventures of Steve Rogers: Book One (Magical Hydra Horror AU)
Fanfiction"As though his feet were controlled by something other than himself, Steve stepped out of the trees. Not paying attention to any of the other figures standing as still as statues, Steve crossed the well-lit area. His eyes roamed over the boy. He was...
