Chapter 11
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“But I thought, Daemon, never knew his old man? I never heard, Li, talk about him either."
You shrugged and continued to braid and rebraid Bucky's hair as you gave Daemon's origin story. It helped keep you calm and, Bucky, just enjoyed the massage.
“Well, how well did you know her though?"
Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in thought for minute before he sighed and threw his hands up.
“She was an experimental solider like me. Sure she had my back, but we didn't have sleepovers and shit."
You nodded and unbraided his hair once again, rubbing his scalp with your fingers. Bucky groaned gratefully as he leaned heavily on you, turning his head until his drooping blue eyes met your brown ones. You laughed as he nuzzled your neck.
“Is someone sleepy?"
“Mhm...but we gotta figure out how to tell your brother about his dream guy. To do that we need to tell him about, Li. To do that we-."
“-need, Steve."
Bucky nodded and threw a hand up again. You sighed and laid down on your bed, bringing the supersoldier with you. You had to apologize. You had no right to hit, Steve, that low earlier without even knowing what the story was. You moved to go, but was held by a metal hand.
“Where're ya going, baby doll?" Bucky asked.
His voice was heavy with sleep, but his eyes were filled with concern for you. You smiled and kissed him on the nose.
“Since, Steve, went off somewhere, I'm going to make him a peace offering for when he gets back. I feel like shit for what I said."
“As you should," Bucky yawned, “He started it though, in your defense."
“Oh, Bucky Barnes not taking Steve Rogers' side? What did I do to deserve such an honor?" you teased.
“Don't push it, babe."
“Sorry."
Bucky stroked your hair and looked into your eyes, searching for what you didn't know. You realized that you were still close to his face. Finally, he sighed and turned away to get off the bed, leaving you flushed as always.
“Need me to come with you anywhere?"
“Just to the kitchen."
“Alright, Bucky, my loyal sous chef, I need you to get me- what the?"
You were digging around in the refrigerator looking for eggs and butter to make the best chocolate chip cookies that Steve's ever had, with your soul mate's assistance of course.
Bucky never expressed much interest in the culinary arts, more content to just watch you serve it up. So the last thing you expected to see was the Winter Soldier putting together cookie batter with ingredients you never thought about using. His eyes brightened as you made your way over to the island.
“Eggs! Just what the doctor ordered!"
The supersoldier took the carton out of your hands along with the box of butter sticks and continued his work. You just stared.
“James Buchanan Barnes, what on earth are you doing?"
“Here tell me what you think, baby doll."
Bucky held his mixing spoon out. The color was a nice tan, no egg shells or butter lumps. You took a hesitant bite and for a brief moment you swore you died and went to heaven. You imagined the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever had and realized they weren't shit.
You snatched his spoon and bowl away from him, moaning a bit at how good it was as you shoveled it down. Bucky let out a triumphant laugh.
“Good right?"
“It's delicious, Buck! How'd you learn to bake like this? What did you use?! Mom never has anything-!"
“(Y/N) calm down! You're getting my batter everywhere!"
He scowled at you and grabbed a dish towel to wipe up the batter you splattered waving your utensil around. You smiled nervously and helped him out. When you two were done, you pushed his batter back to him and the supersoldier laughed and shook his head, while going to dig in the cabinets again.
“I had t' get Steve and I through the Depression, doll. When you have the bare minimum and someone who has nearly every food allergy under the sun, you learn to get creative."
You nodded and analyzed your soul mate's expression. He was intensely concentrated on his work and you could sense some anger coming from him. You put a hand on his arm and he stopped mixing so hard.
“Bucky bear, what's wrong?"
“I-No, it's stupid. Never mind."
“James..."
You your hand on his cheek and he slowly met your eyes. You felt his frustration give way to embarrassment as his face turned red. You stroked his cheek.
“Whatever it is, it's not stupid. Your feelings are never stupid, Bucky."
He looked at you with guarded eyes, but your skin to skin contact made it impossible to to hide the warm, fuzzy feeling growing in his chest. You didn't bring it up because that would lead to questions you couldn't answer. As far as he knew, you could only sense negative emotions. Instead, you just waited until he was ready to talk.
“I- I can't remember the special ingredient. I've been making these again for six years and I still can't figure out what's missing. Steve tells me they're fine, but..."
Bucky sighed and got off your hand, turning his attention back to his thoroughly stirred batter.
“I know it shouldn't bother me, but I just wish I could remember. I want to do something right..."
You frowned at his admission and became a little upset yourself. Someone like, Bucky, should never feel like he's not good enough.
“(Y/N), what's wrong?! You're floating!"
“What? Oh, crap!"
You looked down and you were in fact hovering a good three inches off the ground. You looked up at, Bucky, in panic.
“I'm not ghosting am I?"
“No, no. You're not glowing purple, you're golden...what are you thinking about?"
It was your turn to be embarrassed as the supersoldier stared at you in wonder. This happened one other time that you realized just how deeply you cared for him, but luckily he wasn't around. You quickly thought up a lie so he wouldn't start telling you how you shouldn't have such strong feelings for him.
“Uhh...you missed a spot cleaning up. Right here!"
You pointed at his face and, Bucky, raised an eyebrow. You just smirked, gathered some batter on your finger, and spread it on his nose. You fell back to your feet, laughing and pointing at his look of shock. You were so far gone that you didn't notice the Winter Soldier pick up some cookie dough himself and smear it all over your face and hair. It was his turn to mock you.
“You've never looked better, (Y/N)!"
“You looking for a fight, Barnes?"
His eyes darkened and his smile turned into a cocky smirk as his metal arm made small whirring sounds.
“Believe me, Haunter, it wouldn't be much of one."
You picked up some batter and took a deep breath to concentrate your mutation just enough to be a match for him. You needed to burn off some aggression anyway.
“Big talk, no action, Soldier.
The aftermath of your battle was as sticky as it was satisfying, and it was only by the grace of the night's alcohol before bed that no one heard you two.
You had cookie dough in places it shouldn't be. Bucky's hair was a hot mess and his metal hand had the sweet stuff between all its grooves, as did your braids. You two were not as big a disaster zone as the kitchen though. There was dough everywhere. Grounded into the white window curtains, a chocolate hand print sliding down her new stainless steel refrigerator, some inside the gas stove, and all the pots and pans hanging over the island were caught in the cross fire.
“My mom's gonna kill me..."
Bucky started laughing at your look of fear, one of those laughs that once it gets going it doesn't stop. It just intensified when some dough rolled off you and plopped to the ground.
Now, while you usually thoroughly enjoyed seeing his eyes crinkle, his face flush, and his lungs gasping for air, this was no laughing matter. Your mom could make your deaths seem very accidental.
“James Buchanan Barnes! This-FUCK!"
You punched him in the wrong arm. The regret was immediate as you heard cracking along with instant pain. Bucky stopped laughing as soon as you cursed and gently grabbed your hand in his non prosthetic one and your arm with his metal one. You hissed as he wiggled your fingers around but there didn't seem to be any severe damage, probably just bruises in the morning.
Bucky sighed in relief and kissed your hand along with your scowling forehead.
“Hey, whaddya say we clean up and try this again? Truce?"
“I guess. I could use a shower anyw- don't even think about it, Barnes."
“Just want to save on water, doll."
Three hours later, you and Bucky met up again in the newly cleared kitchen. You gave up trying to scrub the dough out of your braids and just took them out, which is what the hold up was.
“You done with your primping, princess?"
“Oh, please Mr. Only-Organic-Shampoo."
Bucky shrugged and went back into the cabinets to see what else he could put together, while you went with your original plan of your “famous" chocolate chip cookies.
“Didn't your ma ever tell you t' never pick a fight with the Winter Soldier?"
“No, but she told me I'm having his kids," you thought to yourself.
You heard a small pop followed by the earthy mint smell of-
“The rosemary, Bucky? We just cleaned up and you ex-!"
“ROSEMARY! THAT'S IT! Steve hates it, but I snuck it in one time and-!"
Bucky picked you up by the waist and spun you around the kitchen with a giant grin on his face before sitting down on the counter, hugging you in tight. He sighed in content as he buried his face in your chest. You wish you could say you were enjoying it, but he was covered in spice and you were getting a nose full of it.
“You're a swell gal, (Y/N). You know that?"
“Oh, James! Put me down!"
“Baby doll...I'm never letting go of you again..."
He just snuggled you more and you rolled your eyes at his antics, running your nails over his scalp again. He groaned softly and, moved his head around to where he wanted you at. You rolled your eyes again.
“James...why did you squeeze it that hard in the first place?"
Bucky froze which made you stop moving too.
“I-I uh-."
“No, no. I can't- No more than a week, maybe two, I promise. Please just-yes. Yes. Thank you, I'll keep in touch."
Steve walked into the kitchen, his face covered in cuts and bruises. He looked like he was freezing and was obviously exhausted, but the ever increasing amount of self-hatred from the resurfacing memories, Li, tried to take from was keeping him awake. The Captain looked between you and his platonic soul mate.
You felt heat rise in your cheeks thinking about how totally “just friends" this looked with you sitting on the counter with, Bucky, face planting in your chest. It didn't help that you were wearing one of his sweatshirts because you forgot pajamas. Finally, Steve, shook his head with a small smile.
“Whatever it is, I don't wanna know. G'night."
“Hold on, punk," Bucky said, lifting his head, “We need to talk."