Can We Keep Her?

The Feeling of Family

Bucky stood in front of the mirror fixing his tie. This was by far the most stress he had ever felt in regards to seeing you. He and Steve had been in a relationship with you for eight months now. Today was the day he and Steve were going to meet your parents. He was terrified. There was no scenario he could imagine that this was going to go well. How could any decent parent approve of their daughter dating two men, one of whom was a known assassin? His stomach was in knots and he couldn't seem to get his hands to work in tandem. He couldn't get the Windsor knot he was attempting to tie to work and the more he tried to fix it the worse it got. His cybernetic fingers suddenly gripped the material tearing the tie in two.

"Fuck!" he cursed. His rage got the better of him for one brief moment and he punched the mirror. It cracked in a spiderweb pattern around his fist and pieces spilled from the frame embedding themselves in the carpet.

Steve appeared in the doorway, drawn to the sound of breaking glass. "Buck?" he said softly, testing the tension in the air.

Bucky looked over at Steve feeling helpless - like he did when he was first learning to share his body with the Soldier after he'd come out of cryo.

"What happened?" Steve asked, approaching Bucky slowly.

When he was within reach Bucky fell into him, collapsing against Steve's chest. Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky, holding onto him tightly. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

"They're going to hate me. How could they not hate me?" Bucky murmured, against Steve's chest. "Not even all of me is human."

Steve pressed his lips against Bucky's head. "Bucky, you're the best guy I know. I know going in, they're going to have their doubts. But give them a chance to know you. You know she's prepared them. They want to know us."

Bucky didn't say anything for a moment, he just focused on his breathing and the slow thud-thud of Steve's heartbeat. "What if they don't?"

Steve laughed and gave Bucky a shove. "Wouldn't be the first guy whose in-laws hated him," he joked.

Bucky let out a soft laugh and straightened out. "I better clean up this mess," Bucky said, looking at the broken glass littering the floor.

Bucky and Steve were suddenly interrupted by the sound of FRIDAY alerting them to your arrival in the building.

"Can you bring her up and just tell her we'll be a minute?" Steve said.

"Of course, Captain Rogers," FRIDAY replied.

"And can you get this mess seen to?" Steve added.

"Right away, Sir."

Steve turned and looked at Bucky. "Alright, let's get you a new tie."

You left the elevator and entered the Avenger's common room. Wanda was sitting reading on the couch, while Sam sat at the table with a pile of papers filling them out with a scowl on his face. They both looked over at you as you entered.

"Big day, huh?" Sam said, by way of greeting.

You smiled and took a seat at the table opposite Sam. "Yeah. I mean, I am sure they're gonna be fine. My parents have always just supported me and I'm not just springing it on them. They know about both of them, and so far so good. But of course, there's always that dreaded 'what if they just don't get along'?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Most people like them. Unless your parents are supervillains," Wanda said.

Sam laughed. "Well, Cap anyway."

"Sam!" You scolded and he laughed even harder. It was infectious. Soon all three of you were laughing and you weren't even sure why.

Steve and Bucky emerged from the stairs. Both were wearing suits. Steve's was a light grey, three-piece he had paired with a white shirt and a black tie. Bucky was in black. The suit was two-piece. Everything including the shirt and tie was black.