Love over Blood - Bucky Barnes

Chapter One

Bucky's POV

"Come on man, we've been coming here for two months now. Just ask the damn girl out", I roll my eyes at Sam's ridiculousness. Me ask a girl out? Yeah right. The big bad Winter Soldier doesn't date. I've tried it all before and it never ends well. Not as many people see me as a monster since I helped kick the Flag Smashers asses but every women I've met only seems to take interest in my past, my job as an Avenger or they just want sex. It's incredibly annoying, I'm 107 years old, I don't have time to waste, I want to settle down and build a normal (ish) life for myself but that seems impossible. 

Every weekday morning me, Sam, and Steve go for a run and on our way back I make sure to stop in this cosy little coffee shop. One of the Barista's there is extremely attractive, she always looks at me with the sweetest smile. Her long chocolate hair falls into gentle waves and her eyes are the colour of honey. Sam caught me staring like a dumbass a few times and now I'll never live it down. He's even gotten the whole team in on it, they're constantly badgering me to ask her out. They don't understand how difficult it is for me.

I'm next in line, "Three black coffee's to go please", "Make that to stay" Steve interrupts. I glare at him. The blonde barista, who's name tag reads Cindy, waits for the water to boil as I stand there awkwardly. "Hey uh, is it possible for you to tell us when her break is?" Sam asks pointing at the honey-eyed beauty, "Uh yeah, she has a 30 minute break in about 10minutes", "Great" Sam smiles. Yeah great.

We sit down at one of the booths, "Okay, what're you up to?" I say with folded arms, "Nothing at all" Steve says with a ridiculously big smile on his face.

10 minutes later and she's untying her apron ready for her break- just like Cindy said. "Excuse me" calls Sam, I nudge him in the arm to shut him up but of course, it doesn't work. She makes her way over, "Hi, is everything okay?", "Everything's great. This is my very good friend James" Sam points at me as he stands up, "Here take a seat", she sits down looking very confused and uncomfortable. I am so going to kill them later. "Have fun kids" Sam yells as he and Steve exit the store.

I turn to look at the confused women in front of me "Sorry about them, I don't know what they're playing at. You can leave", I lower my head in embarrassment but to my surprise she says put. "I mean I could stay if you'd like. I'm assuming you're friends took over because you're shy" she smirks, I laugh nervously "Honestly, you don't have too", "Yeah well, unfortunately for you, I want to. So, James. What do you do?".

We spend her whole break talking about my job as an Avenger and how she's enjoying working here. I tell her all about the team and some of the missions i've been on. She tells me that the only mission she's ever been on is looking for a turkey the day before thanksgiving which earns her a very rare laugh from me. "It's been nice talking to you James, but I've got to get back to work". I stand up at the same time as her, "Of course. Uh...could I maybe get your phone number or something? Sorry, I'm a little new to this, I don't exactly know what steps to follow" I chuckle nervously. She smiles at me sweetly "Sure, pass me your phone and I'll put it in". As she hands my phone back to me she gives me a cocky little smirk "Just so you know, there's no specific steps to follow but it's kinda traditional to ask for someone's name at the start of the conversation". Shit. I didn't did I? I look down at her contact on my phone and see that she named herself 'Coffee bitch', okay that's funny but I seriously need to know her name. I call after her with obvious amusement in my tone "So you're not going to tell me?", she turns around and gives me a wink.

When I head back to the compound, my first thought is to kick Steve and Sam's asses but then again I can't be too mad, they did land me a 30minute date with her. Was that a date? I'm counting it as a date. When I arrive onto the common area floor, everyone's sitting around patiently like they were expecting me. "Sooooo, how was it?" Wanda asks enthusiastically. I sit down and tell them that we just chatted about our work and that she has a great sense of humour. Tony sits forward "Did you get her number?", "Yes, I did...there's a slight problem that I may need your help with though". Stark eyes me up suspiciously "What?" He says carefully. I hide my face in my hands as I speak. "I may have completely forgotten to ask for her name and she may have noticed and now thinks it's a fun game of guessing". Tony bursts into laughter while Steve shakes his head. The whole team are quite amused with this which annoys me, "Are you going to help me or not?", Nat pats me on the shoulder "You're alone on this one". Tony stands up and gestures me to follow him "I'm no stranger to forgetting a women's name. I'll check the data base".

We head to Tony's lab where Bruce is hard at work. "How was your date?" Bruce asks. So everyone knows then, there's no secrets with this team I swear. I appreciate that Bruce is taking his time to ask though, he's been incredibly busy lately. "It was good" I reply, Tony swivels around on his chair, "Don't be fooled Bruce. Get this, Manchurian Candidate forget to ask for her name". "Oh man, it's a good job you have a worldwide data base here". Yeah, I guess it is. Tony asks me for any details about her that I know. I describe her appearance and where she works but nothing comes up. "That's strange" Tony states "Why would she not be on here?". I might have gotten something wrong? That's the only explanation I can think of.

Later that day I decide to send 'Coffee Bitch' a text but I'm not sure what to say. I rush to Nat's room and ask for her advice. "Well, what do you want to say?", "I don't know, ask her to dinner?". Nat laughs "Then ask her to dinner. Give her a time and tell her you'll pick her up". Right, sounds easy enough. I type out a text-

Hey, it's James. I was wondering if I could take you out this Friday night?

I check with Nat and she approves so I hit send. Within seconds the speech bubble appears, meaning that she's replying.

Sounds great, let me know the details

I tell her to send me her address and to be ready by 7. "Wow. You cannot stop smiling". I immediately frown "Shut up Nat". She giggles "No I think it's cute. It's about time you found someone you like, I hope this works out for you". "Thank-you". I stay with Nat for awhile and tell her everything I know about this girl. Wanda came in about 5 minutes ago to listen too. It's nice having girl-friends. You can talk to them about things that the guys wouldn't understand. I could never go to Steve for fashion advice, he'd just tell me to wear something basic. Since bonding with Nat and Wanda I've found out that there's a whole new level to dressing than I ever knew there was. There's colour schemes to follow, different items for different settings. It's maddening. "Do you want me and Nat to drop by the coffee house tomorrow and get her name for you?" Wanda asks. I love how happy she is about this, since I've been forced into the dating world she's been so excited for me and every-time I came home early she'd be gutted. Wanda's always telling me there's someone out there who'll like me for me and at the time I thought she was full of shit. I don't think 'Coffee Bitch' knows about my past and if I'm being honest, I don't think I want to tell her. I know it's probably the right thing to do but I don't want to ruin this, she seems great and this is the first women I've taken interest in. I explain my concerns to the girls. "I think it's a little important that she knows but there's no rush. Have a few dates first and if you seriously do see this going further then you should tell her". Nat's right, "But what if it scares her away?". Wanda looks at me sympathetically "Then she's not the right one for you".