AUGUST || Bucky Barnes x OC

3

"Don't be such a jerk, Buck!" Sam yelled, stumbling across the grass covered backyard trying to steal the football from him. Bucky was laughing at his attempts, and ended up throwing it across the entire yard. "I give up!" Sam threw his hands up and walked back towards the porch.

"oh, don't be such a sore loser Sam!" Bucky teased.

Sam responded by giving him the finger as he walked away.

Steve had already opted out of the game 20 minutes ago when Sam and Bucky had gotten into a bet about who could score the most tackles. He had realized then that the two weren't interested in playing football, but rather just beating each other up for fun.

"Feel accomplished?" Steve joked, handing Sam a glass of lemonade.

It was early June heat, which meant the days were sticky hot but the nights were still chilly.

"Man, he's annoyingly competitive," Sam pointed out. 

"I don't know why that still surprises you, Sam" Steve laughed at his observation, which had been made way too often throughout the 10+ years that they had all been friends.

The porch door creaked and Rebecca, Bruce and Valerie's mother, peeked her head out.

"Boys! I think your fourth band member has arrived!" her voice contained a smidgen of mischief. 

The guys all looked at each other before bolting around the large house. Bucky took the lead, jumping through the tall grass and being very careful not to stomp on any of the rose bushes. Steve was right behind him, and lastly Sam.

As they turned the corner of the house they were met with the large Cadillac escalade that had just pulled into the driveway. Although they were all grown, mature, and some may even say sophisticated, men; they never failed to act like feral boys when they were all gathered.

Bruce jumped out of the car and they all joined in a huge huddle, jumping around in a circle and screaming.

Once their ceremonial jack-assery was done, Bucky grabbed Bruce by the neck and shook him lovingly. "There he is! Our man of the hour! Who'd you bring?" Bucky turned to the car and spotted Aunt Jen. Being his charming self, he opened the door for her and respectfully shook her hand as he addressed her as Ms. Banner.

"Oh please, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Jen!" She pulled him in for a hug, and then greeted the other boys.

Bucky peered through the open door to find the person sitting in the back seat, and saw Valerie.

Their eyes met in a quick glance before they both looked away. Bucky stepped back and Valerie fidgeted with the door handle to step outside as quickly as possible.

"Baby Banner!" She heard a familiar voice belt out, and immediately knew it was directed at her. Her name had been "Baby Banner" all throughout High School.

"Sam-tastrophe!" She responded joyfully, trying to stretch out the amount of time before she would inevitably have to say hi to Bucky.

Sam wrapped her in a big hug that lifted her off the ground, twirling her around. "Look at you!" He grinned when he put her down. Next was Steve.

"Bring it in, Val!" He opened his arms and Valerie jumped right in. "Oh, Stevie! I missed you guys!" she whispered as they embraced.

"It's been, what? 2-3 years?" Steve exclaimed, almost as if he was yelling at her for having been gone for so long.

"Actually I think it's more like four" She giggled as she took off her sunglasses and hung them on her tank top.

"Either way, it's been way too long!" Sam concluded "How about we move this reunion into an air conditioned space" He urged.