Dear James|| Bucky Barnes

three

a/n - this chapter's heavily inspired by that one ep of tvd (you'll know after reading it) i haven't watched it in years but it came to my head the other day and i was like, yup, i'm doing that)

_

Hope's sat on the kitchen island sipping a big cup of coffee. She's in deep with the book she's reading. Bucky's gone, though. She doesn't know when he left, in fact, she doesn't care. She's just glad he's out of her hair. She's already up and showered. She's wearing her favorite bikini with shorts and a cover up. She can't quite believe she agreed to take part in a bikini car wash with wanda, but anything for charity, right?

She feel's sick at the thought of what she did last night, or at least what she tried to do. Pietro's attractive, gorgeous even. And the whole reason they called things off last year was to keep the friendship they had. But here she is, doing the exact opposite, trying to stick her tongue down his throat.

"morning" Steve walks around the island before reaching for the bread and pops a slice in the toaster.

"hey" she mumbles, distracted by the words on the pages.

"watcha readin?" He asks as he leans back on the kitchen counter. "just some cheesy romance book" she explains as she shows him the cover.

"ah yes. Not a bit of me, too cliche. I feel like it ends up giving real life standards that are far too high" he explains as he heads to the fridge and pulling out a carton of OJ. Hope chuckles, the familiar words clicking immediately. "what?" he asks.

"Nothing, you just remind me of my friend, Nat. She always said that too"

"might have to introduce me to her one day" he raises an eyebrow. A part of her wants to throw up from his comment, but the other part of her knows Nat would smack her silly if she found out Hope turned down the possibility of her meeting her weirdly attractive step brother.

"i grew up in new York, you know?" he pours a glass of orange juice and takes a seat the opposite side of the island.

"you did?" she asks taking a sip of her coffee.

"yup, Brooklyn. My dad still lives there"

"Danbury. i like new York, but this is where home is" she smiles. "how do you and Barnes know each other?" she asks, finally.

"Bucky? we met at college. Guess it was just pure luck my mom met you'r dad who just happens to live in the same town. Bucky's a cool guy"

"cool guy for a total ass" she spits under her breath, but loud enough for Steve to hear. he chuckles "you knw Bucky said he has no idea why you dislike him so much"

"yeah, course he doesn't. That boys head's so far up his own ass he doesn't even know what day it is" Hope growled before taking a sip of her coffee. Steve leaves and Hope heads out not long after, she says goodbye to her father and Sarah and walks to the top of the street as she waits Wanda. The high school isn't a far walk from the house. The concept of washing a bunch of car's in a bikini makes Hope rather uncomfortable, but according to Wanda, its an event that happens every year at the school after everyone's finished for summer, and usually ends up being pretty fun.

As Wanda and Pietro approaches Hope, she mentally cringes for a minute, not prepared for the awkward conversation she was gonna have to have with the boy. They're both dressed for the occasion, Wanda in a red bikini and Pietro in blue swim shorts. Don't look Hope, don't look