Opposites Attract

Eighteen

"This sucks," Natalia complained as she handed Bucky a bucket full of soapy water. Bucky looked over at her, both exasperated and amused.

"Now wouldn't it suck if you actually had to do the work?"

She sat on the steps outside the house and looked at him. "It wasn't me who disappeared with my boyfriend late at night," she responded, her Russian accent noticeable in a handful of her words.

Bucky tilted his head a little and shrugged as he got to work cleaning the van. "You aren't dating anyone."

"Dmitri," she said simply and Bucky stared up at her incredulously, pausing his movements.

"And you never told me?" He pretended to look offended as he resumed scrubbing the windshield with a soapy sponge. "I thought we were friends, Natalia."

"And my love life is not part of the package deal," she replied, grinning as she leaned back. Bucky smirked and rolled his eyes.

They chatted animatedly as Bucky crossed off his outdoor chores. When he was done that, he went inside to do what was left indoors -- clean the windows, make the beds, scrub the bathroom, tidy the kitchen, sweep and mop, and finally, wash the walls. At that last point, he was pretty sure his parents were messing with him, but he did it regardless. When he finally checked the time, it was after five -- Steve was back from school, finished one of his exams.

Bucky bolted upstairs and looked at his mom, who was sitting up and reading to Teddy and Rebecca -- a sign of a good day. He sat next to her and casually leaned over. Winifred raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yes, you can go ask him how the exams went."

Bucky beamed and kissed her cheek. "You are seriously the best, you're my hero, you're amazing -- "

"Alright," Winifred dismissed. "Go before I change my mind."

Bucky hurried out and up to the attic, opened the window and leapt across. In another bound he was over the railing and knocking on the door. Steve opened it and let him in with a quick smile.

"Hey," he breathed.

"So bad day. What happened?" Bucky sat on the edge of the bed and waited, telling from a glance that something was wrong. Steve looked at him and sighed, feeling jittery. He sat with a thump beside him and Bucky took his shaky hand. His anxiety was kicking in again.

"Exams are ridiculous. My idiot brain decided to panic," Steve chuckled, shaking his head at himself. Bucky pulled him closer and kissed the side of his head, and Steve closed his eyes. Bucky could almost instantly soothe him with a glance or a simple gesture, and he loved it every single time.

"You know you're smart, Stevie, I bet you did great. What subject was it?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Socials, math is tomorrow," he answered. Bucky made a face.

"Disgusting. Well, either way, one down and one to go, yeah?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah." He suddenly raised an eyebrow as he thought. "Aren't you grounded or something?"

"Mom let me come see if you were okay," he explained, playing with his fingers. Steve smiled and gently held his hands.

"For how long?"

It was Bucky's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why, you missed me?" he teased as he leaned forward, tilting his chin up. "'Cause I won't lie, I have missed you a lot. Quite a lot. I can only handle so much Natalia."

Steve smiled at that and played with his hair. "I'd love to catch up, sweetheart, but I also don't want to be grounded for the rest of my life," he mused and Bucky pouted as he pulled back to sit on his knees.

"Okay," he agreed, reluctantly. Steve lifted his chin up and gave a patient smile.

"We'll do something," he assured and gave him a quick kiss. "Promise."

Bucky stood and nodded, smiling softly. "I'm holding you to that, doll."

Steve grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

////

A few days passed by slowly. Bucky had no idea his dad could be so progressive. He was patient and, while he was still confused and didn't quite understand, he was trying, and he refused to talk down on Steve in any way. Steve's mother, on the other hand, was understandably a name they didn't mention. The past few days of Bucky's grounding were slow, but at least they were finally over.

He was ready for summer to kick off. He would be able to see Steve more often, and sometimes when he got down, that's all that lifted his spirits. Charlie still constantly teased him, Rebecca as well, but Bucky'd stopped worrying about that weeks ago.

"Do we have everything ready for Sunday?" They'd decided to go ahead with the barbeque idea, to try and get more comfortable with the neighbors -- the Rogers' included.

George nodded at Bucky and smiled. "We have pounds of all sorts of meat. That's all we need."

"Vegetables? Fruit? Chips? Drinks? It's a barbeque party, not a meat celebration," Winifred said as she brushed by, energised by the idea. She'd been more alive than anyone else had seen her in recent times; Bucky loved seeing her smile so often.

"Meat celebration," Charlie said slowly and raised an eyebrow at his mom. "That... doesn't sound like fun."

She waved him off and Charlie smirked as he walked away. They still had a whole week to wrap things up.

Bucky glanced over the guest list his mom had written down -- some neighboring families he hadn't even heard of, such as the Morgan's -- a family Emma was getting close to. The Rogers' were there as well, and the Romanovs. Natalia was going to bring Dmitri -- she'd decided it was time for her best friend to meet the boyfriend.

All in all, Bucky was looking forward to Sunday. Everything was beginning to look up -- exams were over, his parents were okay, and he was happy.

////

"So. Sunday?" Bucky was on Steve's bed, and Steve was sat on the floor, sketching him. Steve smiled up at him, wiping a smudge of charcoal off of his cheek.

"Yeah, sure," he hummed. Steve was finally relaxed -- he'd passed his exams with almost flying colours. He was looking forward to seeing the Barnes's again, but a little anxious about his dad meeting them all. Bucky smiled and leaned back, his eyes bright.

"Y'know, we have a week off," Bucky said casually, a mischievous grin on his face. Steve raised an eyebrow and hid a smile behind his sketchbook. "We could finally do something fun."

"I still owe you that date, don't I," Steve mused as he worked a little more on the sketch. Bucky smiled sweetly and leaned forward to look at the drawing.

"Nothin' special, I'm a simple guy," Bucky dismissed with a teasing smile. Steve rolled his eyes playfully and set the sketchbook aside, turning his attention to his boyfriend.

"You'll see," Steve promised. "I've got something planned."

Bucky raised his eyebrows and smiled. He couldn't wait to see where the week went.