Roommates

Deuxième partie

They'd been here for a couple of hours now and it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. With it being Tony Stark, Bucky expected one of the large parties Steve had told him about, but it was just the team and Jamie's innermost friends and family. This he could handle. It was easier when he knew every one of the guests. Well for the most part. Sitting on the front porch he was being stared at by the talking raccoon who'd try to buy his arm in Wakanda while a grumpy talking tree played a video game of some kind. The sound of Jamie's voice pulled him from his staring contest. Coming to sit next to him she petted the raccoon's head as passed him. "There you are, Bucket. I was wondering where you wandered off to."

Holding one of his little paws on his stomach he bursts out laughing pointing his finger at Bucky. "Ha ha! Your name is Bucket?!"

Through a tightly clenched jaw he tells him as he cocks his head to the side. "It's Bucky."

"Uhuh, she called you Bucket." He sniggers, making Bucky glare harder at him.

Tipping his head towards Jamie he stiffly tells the talking fur ball. "Only she can call me that, raccoon."

Narrowing his beady little eyes he growls at him. "The name's Rocket, Bucket."

"Cause that's better than my nickname." He scoffs sitting up to lean his metal elbow on his knee. How or why he was here had escaped Bucky, but the damn thing was lucky Jamie liked him otherwise he'd have him stuffed and mounted.

Holding her hand out towards the raccoon, Jamie placed her other hand on Bucky's right arm. "Okay boys, chill. This is a neutral zone. That means no fighting, especially not on my birthday."

"Sorry, Jamie."

"Sorry, doll."

"I am Groot."

"What's he sorry for?" She asks, perplexed by the apology from the adolescent tree. Was she able to understand the tree who only spoke one phrase in various ways? His friends certainly seemed to be able to, but Buck was unsure if she'd learned whatever language he spoke.

Briefly looking up at her from his video game Groot said, "I am Groot."

Folding his little arms over his chest Rocket translates for the tree. "He says it's because he wants to make sure he still gets some cake. I swear your boyfriend here has no sense of humor, Jamie." He jerked his furred chin in Bucky's direction.

"Yes Groot, you'll still get cake. He's not my boyfriend and maybe it's because you threatened to steal his arm. Yeah, I heard about that." She says, raising an eyebrow at the mammal when he has the balls to look shocked and offended. Shaking his furred head at him he baits Bucky.

"You tattled to mommy, Bucket? Low blow, asshole." Standing up ready to punt the probably flea infested little mongrel across the lake, Bucky took a step forward. When Jamie jumped between them with her hands pressed against his stomach his muscles jumped at the contact. He wanted them on his skin instead of his shirt.

"Let's go on a walk and cool down." Staring hard at the little miscreant he allowed Jamie to lead him off the porch and down to the water's edge. She kept his hand in hers to make sure he wouldn't go back to kick Rocket's little furry ass. As if he'd let go of her. "So besides that little snafu are you enjoying yourself?"

It was sweet how concerned she was that he had a good time after talking it up so much back at Peter's place. "Yeah, it's nice out here. Kind of peaceful minus the vermin Stark let's run around." Chuckling, Jamie glanced over her shoulder at the porch where Rocket and Groot were still sitting.

"He takes some time to get used to. Believe me I never thought I'd be friendly with a talking raccoon no matter how much I wanted one after watching Pocahontas as a kid." At his confused expression she explains what she means. "It's a Disney movie that whitewashed and glamorized a Native American woman's supposed love for an Englishman from the 1600s. We'll add it to the list."