2023
It's been several months since Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff gave their lives to bring back the trillions murdered in the decimation.
In the wake of the post - apocalyptic clean up, and the entirety of the universe adjusting to home the life...
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"And I'm looking in the mirror all the time Wondering what she don't see in me"
Rick Springfield, Jessie's Girl
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M U S I C was playing loudly from Bucky's room the day after his talk with Charlie. It was louder than he usually played his music, so much so it was shaking the walls and the few pictures that were hung up.
He was walking around the room, half listening to the song and half thinking about his plans this week. After the initial invitation from Charlie, he was also invited to spend tomorrow afternoon with Charlie at the grocery store because she had shopping to do for the holiday.
Bucky offered to help her.
Now, Saturday evening, he was more than excited for the next day.
Limelight was playing on the stereo, and had been on repeat for almost an hour now. The song reminded him of Charlie and when he danced with her a week ago.
He liked the memory.
And when Sam Wilson returned home from the long day, he was more than surprised to hear the loud music from upstairs.
His feet carried him down the long hallway, where Wanda Maximoff was walking in pajamas. "He's been listening to the same song for an hour. I think I will kill him." She said through a tired and accented voice.
"What the hell has gotten into him lately?" Sam said with a smile. It was no secret that Bucky hadn't been Sam's favorite person in the past, but now that so much time had past since Germany, they were friends. And Sam cared for him deeply.
"I do not know. I do not care." She grumbled as she walked past.
Sam frowned slightly at Wanda; knowing fully well that she still hadn't healed over the traumatic past. But he would find her in a moment, first he needed to figure out why the hell music was playing so loudly.
When he got to the door he knocked, and then when there was no answer, he pushed the door open very slowly.
"Bucky?" He yelled over the music.
The former Solider was sitting at the metal desk, with his hands spreading the pages of a notebook. His handwriting decorated it in messy handwriting, with lines connecting distant memories.
Blue eyes looked up from the notebook and his eyes laid on Sam, though the music was loud he had heard him from outside the door. He lowered the volume of the music.
"You seem to be in a mood. Is this Rush? Have you finally moved on from the twentieth century?"
"What do you want?"
"I came up here to figure out why you were blasting music like a sixteen year old. I'm guessing you had a good day?"
"It's a good song."
Sam sat down at the edge of Bucky's bed. "Does this have something to do with that coffee shop girl. Peter told me her name is Charlie."
An immediate sigh fell from the man and he rubbed his tired eyes. "Why does everyone want to be involved in my business?"
Though Sam knew it wasn't a question, he answered it anyway. "Because there's nothing else to do around here. Come on man, tell me about her?"
Bucky thought about it for a moment. The days that he would sit and gossip about girls were long gone, very long gone, and so was the man he would talk about them with. Talking to Sam about a woman, or anything too personal, felt like a betrayal against Steve Rogers and that was a feeling Bucky couldn't shake.
"It's just nice to have a friend. Outside of this... world." Was all he said before he looked back at his notebook.
"Peter said you said that she was cute." He pushed on.
Bucky sighed through his nose and then turned around. "If I tell you will you leave me alone?"
"Maybe." Sam said with a smirk.
"We're friends. That's all there is to it." Bucky said with a straight face. "She invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her and her brother."
"So you're meeting the parents already? That's my man."
"Her parents died, a while ago. She takes care of her brother on her own."
"Oh," Sam's smile fell. "Well..." He wasn't sure what to say. "She must be something special then. I can't wait to meet her."
Bucky watched as he stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to go check on Wanda. She's been having a tough time lately. I don't know what I'm going to do with her. Steve was good at this stuff..."
Then Sam walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him.
It was in that moment that his words clicked in Bucky's mind, and he realized that if things were to go as he hoped they would, Charlie would one day be introduced to the people he lived with.
