i hate you but

“Auntie y/n, do you know which way my room is?” Olivia questioned, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she examined their new place. Their old house, it was generic, it wasn’t what her mother would have wanted.

Yes, it was spacious, but nothing about it seemed as though it was a home. Sure, Cassy tried to make the house feel like home, but it was all still so generic. That was why she went behind her husband’s back to create the blueprints for her dream home.

“Not really. There’s only one way to find out,” y/n smirked, igniting a fire in Olivia’s eyes.

“And I can explore the penthouse? Are you sure you don’t need help unpacking things or anything?” Olivia rambled, her eyes still filled with excitement.

“Liv, sweetheart, you live here and I think you should explore a bit. When you go find your room, you can take the boxes of your things—they’re labeled, don’t worry—to your room and you can start to unpack if you want. Bucky and I will handle the rest of the boxes,” y/n smiled reassuringly, earning an excited nod from Olivia. Eagerly, the girl rushed towards the first door she could find.

“Who said I was going to do anything else from this point on?” Bucky questioned, raising a brow at y/n.

“Oh, come on, Barnes! You said you were going to help and I need to go pick Jackson and Ethan up in a few hours, are you sure you aren’t going to help?” y/n pleaded, her e/c eyes piercing deeply into his, planting a seed of doubt in his mind.

“I am helping! I’m helping by holding on to Allie like I’ve been doing all day. I’ve been told multiple times by some of my buddies from SHIELD that holding a baby is a tiring job,” Bucky insisted, earning a glare from y/n.

“Whoever said that better be working as tech support or any job that doesn’t require them to go on the field or I am going to get them fired—plus, you’re a super soldier! Carrying Allie should be absolutely nothing compared to anything you’ve done for the job,” y/n scoffed as Allie looked up at y/n upon hearing her name, still very confused about what her aunt was saying.

“Okay, maybe I was talking to Dan from tech support, but come on! It’s very important that you have someone holding onto Allie,” Bucky grinned proudly.

“Or I could leave her in the walker that’s somewhere in one of these rooms,” y/n pointed out.

“And risk having her crash into things?” Bucky gasped before turning to Allie, “Can you believe your aunt? She’s a child hazard and I should be around more often to take care of you, right?”

“Yeah!” Allie exclaimed excitedly, bouncing happily in Bucky’s arms.

“Well, if you want to stay around more often, maybe you should actually help unpack things,” y/n frowned before an idea popped into her head, “What if you unpack Allie’s things? You guys can even play around with the toys and things when you’ve unpacked them.”

“Why didn’t you just start with that, l/n? Come on, Allie, let’s go get your toys!” Bucky exclaimed excitedly, grabbing one of the boxes labeled with Allie’s name in search for one the room that seemed like it would be Allie’s.

Three doors down the hall, he found a room, decorated with a lovely sea theme with empty white shelves lining the room, the floor covered with a fluffy crème carpet. Upon noticing it, Bucky popped off his shoes, careful not to get his muddied boots onto the carpet.

“Ooh!” Allie exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she sees the room.

“You like your room?” Bucky smiled, looking down on her, earning an eager nod from the toddler, “Well, your aunt got it all ready for you. She’s actually a hell of a woman,” Bucky chuckled.

“Sleep?” Allie questioned, pointing towards the crib.

“You’re tired already? Well, I guess you had a long day, huh?” Bucky questioned, moving to set Allie into the plush crib, making sure her head aligned with the small beige pillow in the crib.

“Night night,” Allie mumbled, her eyes slowly shutting as she began to fall asleep. Bucky didn’t understand why y/n said taking care of Allie was difficult at times. He’d been with her for hours and the toddler was now asleep.

Whilst Allie was asleep, he began unpacking everything from the boxes, tucking all Allie’s baby clothes into the white drawers in the corner of the room, fawning over how tiny the clothes were. Then, he went on to put Allie’s plush toys aligned on top of the drawer.

This is what he’d dreamed of at some point. Sure, considering the times changed it wasn’t exactly the idea he had in his head in the ’40s, but he’d always wanted to decorate a room; to fill it with the tiny belongings of his own kid.

He never knew why, but being around y/n and her family reminded him of those dreams he’d kept from the ’40s. He felt as though Allie was the closest thing he could have to having his own kid, while y/n was the closest he could have to—well, a friend, or so he thought.

“This place is looking good. Wait, damn, are those boxes empty?” y/n leaned on the open doorframe, her eyes widening in shock. Bucky, who was seated next to the bottom drawer as he’d placed all Allie’s shoes in, looked up at y/n with a smirk.

“What? Am I being more productive than you are?” Bucky chuckled, raising a brow at y/n.

“For your information, I finished unpacking all of Jackson’s things and I think I should leave Ethan to how he wants to organize his things, so I’m done!” y/n grinned proudly, before receiving a chuckle from Bucky.

“I think you forgot something,” Bucky pointed out, further confusing y/n.

“You live here yet you haven’t unpacked anything you own,” Bucky chuckled, watching as a look of realization formed on y/n’s face.

“Shit, you’re right! But I have to pick up Ethan and Jackson from school in a while and I don’t think I have time to hail a cab and to unpack everything. I left my car in the compound and I’m getting reacquainted with the ways of public transportation,” y/n winked proudly.

“Well, I could drive you,” Bucky suggested, making y/n shake her head in disapproval.

“I only needed your van to move the things. You don’t need to stick around longer than you have to now that Allie’s as—ALLIE’S ASLEEP?” y/n’s eyes grew wide with shock as she saw the toddler sleeping peacefully in her bed, snoring ever so slightly.

“Well, yeah, is that a bad thing?” Bucky questioned, raising a brow at y/n.

“Not really. How’d you get her to sleep, did you tell her one of your boring stories from the good ol’ days?” y/n quipped, earning a huff from Bucky.

“Do you want to borrow the van or not?” Bucky raised a brow at y/n.

“And you’re doing this out of the non-existent goodness of your own heart and not because the van is rigged with explosives—not to kill me, but to injure me to a point that it hurts so much that I wish I was dead instead?” y/n questioned, crossing her arms over her chest, squinting at Bucky in suspicion.

“Wow, that was oddly specific and it’s a good idea, but no, my van is not rigged to kill you or anyone so you can relax,” Bucky chuckled at y/n’s antics.

“Wait, can you just fetch Ethan and Jackson? As much as I want to be a good aunt and pick them up myself, I can’t disturb Allie from her sleep or leave Olivia unsupervised,” y/n frowned before Bucky shook his head, tossing her his keys.

“Or you could just drive the van yourself, pick up the boys, go to the tower, leave the van there, get your car, and drive back here,” Bucky suggested, raising a brow at y/n. Her eyes went wide with shock at his suggestion.

“You know you’re going to have to stay here for an hour and a half if I do that, right?” y/n questioned, raising a brow at Bucky.

“Yes, I’m fine with that,” Bucky huffed, getting impatient with y/n, “so, can you go fetch your nephews now, or are you waiting around for something?” Bucky questioned, raising a brow at y/n.

“Just to be clear, the fridge is empty right now so there’s nothing for you to raid while you’re here,” y/n reminded him before heading down to the lobby and getting into Bucky’s van, driving off to Jackson’s preschool. The guard, upon seeing y/n’s newly-laminated fetcher’s pass, allowed y/n entry into the school.

“Auntie y/n!” Jackson exclaimed excitedly, rushing into y/n’s arms as she kneeled to get to his level, returning the embrace.

“Are we going to pick up Ethan and Livvy like mommy does?” Jackson questioned, looking up at y/n with his big e/c eyes.

“Yes, we are. Come on, let’s go,” y/n smiled down at Jackson before leading him to Bucky’s van and driving to Midtown.

y/n was surprised to be greeted by a hug from Ethan the moment she stepped off the car as he told her about how he got one of the tests back from his teacher and how he aced that test, shocking y/n at his will to suddenly converse with her.