Another Cliché Love Story // S. Rogers & B. Barnes

twenty

Bucky

The brunet gaped, mouth open as wide as it would physically go, eyes frozen open in shock. He either didn't notice or didn't care about the people bumping into him as he stopped in front of Rue 21, blocking the entrance.

Standing there, directly in front of him, was Steve.

Of course I jinxed myself last night.

"Oh, hey Buck!" Right on cue, the blond boy turned and saw Bucky staring wide eyed at him. He grinned and jogged over to the brunet, his eyebrows rising.

Steve looked him up and down, his ocean eyes lingering on the shorter boy's open mouth before reconnecting with his stormy eyes, smirking a little. \

"Close your mouth, Buck. You don't want to catch flies, now do you?" He smiled cheekily, and Bucky snapped his mouth shut, blushing a bright shade of red as he glanced to the side. Steve chuckled, and Bucky couldn't help but glance up and be captivated by his crush's amazing laugh.

Bucky sighed inwardly, his face curling up into a hopeless smile, before he snapped himself out of it.

"Um...what are you doing here, Steve?" Bucky asked, sticking his hands in his pockets and making sure not to say 'Stevie'. The boy in question looked down, and Bucky followed his gaze, finally noticing a shiny nametag with his name written haphazardly on it.

Bucky blushed. "Oh."

"Yeah." Steve smirked down at Bucky, who looked away. He cleared his throat and thought about Steve in retail, before snorting in amusement.

"You must absolutely hate it here, Mr. I'm-so-good-with-people-but-refuse-to-acknowledge-it-because-I'm-just-perfect-at-everything-and-I-don't-want-anyone-else-to-feel-bad," Bucky labeled Steve, who barked out another laugh, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm surprised you got all of that out in one breath," he mused, and Bucky shrugged nonchalantly before saying the worst thing he could ever say, to his crush.

"I have a lot of practice going off of just one breath."

Steve's eyes went wide, and he choked on his spit. It took Bucky a few seconds to realize what he'd said, but when he did he stumbled backwards, slapping his hand over his mouth as his eyes bugged out.

Steve's choking eventually turned into full blown laughter, and he even had to bend over, clutching his stomach. Bucky just stared at the ground in shame, his hand still clamped over his mouth as he silently cursed his whole existence and prayed that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

Steve was still laughing when Bucky looked up and he just closed his eyes, so disappointed in himself.

Out of all the things I could've said, I went with that. Great job, Bucky.

Bucky shook his head and, not even sparing Steve a parting glance, spun on his heel and hightailed it out of that suffocating store, taking a deep breath of fresh mall air when he exited.

"Holy fu–"

"B-Buck!" Steve called, still laughing. Bucky looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, there was a red-faced Steve, grinning widely at the brunet who looked so embarrassed of himself. \

"That was...that was great," he breathed out once he reached Bucky, still winded from his laughing fit. Bucky blushed harder, thinking of what he said again.

"No, it–it really wasn't," Bucky said, and Steve shook his head.

"Yes, it was. It was fucking hilarious," he admitted, and Bucky internally beamed at the notion that Steve thought he was funny.

"Yeah, well...sorry," Bucky mumbled, unable to think of anything else to say. Steve straightened, his smile faltering before coming back full force, a mischievous glint in his ocean eyes.

"What're you sorry for? Sucking di–" Bucky surged forward, latching his hands onto Steve's mouth before he could finish his sentence. He made sure not to press too hard on his nose, remembering the fight that him and Tony had not two days prior. The blond laughed around Bucky's fingers, his lips brushing against the soft flesh of Bucky's hand.

Bucky almost passed out.

"Will you be quiet?" He hissed, blushing furiously as he glanced around, looking to see if anyone was looking. Thankfully, they weren't. "This is a family friendly establishment, Steven," he scolded Steve, who rolled his eyes.

When it was clear Steve wasn't going to finish his sentence as soon as Bucky removed his hands, the brunet sighed and took a step back, taking his hands with him.

Steve cleared his throat, and looked Bucky in the eyes with a slight smile.

"I think I prefer Stevie to Steven, don't you?"

Bucky almost died of embarrassment.

"I-I-"

"Don't apologize, Buck. I like it," Steve smirked down at him, and Bucky dropped his gaze to the ground.

The amount of embarrassing things I've done around this boy is getting way too high for me to handle.

"I'm–" Steve rolled his eyes and slapped Bucky's shoulder, cutting him off.

"I just told you not to apologize. Don't you listen?" At this, Bucky gaped at Steve.

"I do listen, I was just going to–"

"Apologize, and then apologize again, and then finally leave but you won't be able to stop thinking about it for the rest of the week. Am I right?" Steve cut him off once more, and Bucky froze, his eyes locked on the blond's. He opened his mouth to counter, but closed it when he realized that's exactly what he was going to do.

"I know you, Buck. I know how you work, how you think." Bucky's eyebrows drew together.

"We've only been lab partners for a week, though." He argued, wondering how Steve would already know how he worked. Steve shrugged in response, reaching over and grabbing two hoodies from a rack.

"Yeah, but we've been friends for longer. We just need to repair that friendship, yeah? Now, which do you like better: red, or blue?" Steve held up the hoodies in front of him, his eyes darting between Bucky and the clothes.

Bucky blinked, bringing himself back to the present. He'd had to keep himself from drooling.

"Um...for you, definitely the blue." He offered, and Steve glanced back up at him before lifting the blue hoodie higher.

"You think?"

"Yeah, it matches your eyes." Bucky answered truthfully, only realizing how meaningful and embarrassing–yet again–his words were when Steve went rigid.

Fucking hell, can I just have a normal, FRIENDLY conversation with my FRIEND instead of making it totally awkward?

"Um, I mean–" Bucky tried, running a hand through his hair and stumbling over his thoughts, trying to think of a recovery.

"Thank you, Bucky." Steve finally looked up at him, and Bucky blanched at the darkness of his eyes. There was an unknown emotion swirling around his irises, and it made Bucky's stomach flip.