Chapter 6
You took a look around after stepping out of the car with Steve. All you could see for miles was camera flashes and people waving their hands. It looked like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. Along the red carpet was a multitude of reporters interviewing some of the other Avengers.
After taking the sight in, you look to your left and see Steve observing you. When you catch him, you notice a quick blush consume his cheeks, but he gives you a quick smile and gestures for you to continue walking. As soon as you start, you see Mr. Stark walking with Pepper towards you. On his way, he pulls one of the reporters aside and she starts to follow him too.
He makes his way over, giving Steve a weird glance as he introduced you to the reporter. He then goes on to talk about how she's going to do a special article on you two sometime soon. After that short and awkward conversation, you continue walking toward the tower. People were yelling all over and calling your name, asking you to pose and smile with Steve. You couldn't understand why people were so desperate to have images of your relationship.
After finally getting into the building, you are suddenly engulfed in introductions from Mr. Stark's business partners and friends. The issue many congratulations and go on their way whispering to everyone else about you and Steve. Speaking of him, you had admired his attitude the whole evening. Upon meeting Steve and talking to him you understood that since coming out of the ice, he has suffered from mild anxiety. Tonight though, he had been very relaxed and always had you at his hip, in case something happened and you needed help. It was nice to have someone like that, even though you saw Steve as just a colleague and this was your first task at your new job. It helped you to think of this mission as a job, all your life you had managed to convince people to feel a certain way towards you, so how was this any different?
"Attention! How is everyone? Thank you all for attending and celebrating Y/N and Steve on their relationship going public. I have seen these two love birds hanging around the compound together and it's so nice to see them finally able to share it with you all tonight. Y/N and Steve would you please join me up here and share a kind word with your guests?"
Shit. What do I say? Go on about how amazing my fake boyfriend is?
As you walked up on stage, which Steve held your hand and helped you up onto, you managed to pull off a pretty solid speech about your "wonderful boyfriend, who is always there for you," and yeah, you made it extra sappy, just so people would believe you if your act wasn't already convincing enough. Once you both had walked off stage, you departed from Steve's side and beelined it to the bar. For once in your life, you would have no one hit on you at the bar, since everyone already knew you were happily taken. Well, never mind, you thought. Someone had come up behind you and hugged you.
"Hey," they whispered in your ear.
You immediately recognized the voice.
"Adrian?" you turned around and hugged him back. It had been a few weeks since you'd seen him. You managed to fill him up to date on your life. And since no one had told you who you could and couldn't tell about the mission, you decided to play it off like you and Steve had fallen the moment you two met when you had first arrived at the Compound alongside Adrian and Widow. He seemed genuinely happy for you and Steve, you'd always seen him as a friend nothing more and nothing less. It was nice that there was no tension, and that nothing had changed because of your dating life. Eventually, he waved and disappeared into the crowd. You had seen Steve in the corner of your eye a few times talking to other people, but your main priority was getting some alcohol into your system so you could get rid of all the built-up tension inside.
After a while, at the bar, you had run into Thor and he offered you some of his Asgardian drink, you quickly agreed and took a shot, and holy shit did it burn going down. By then you'd already had a few drinks in your system so you weren't bothered by how much alcohol content it contained. You hadn't seen Steve that much after the speech you two gave. He was still talking around and making more impressions, which wasn't something you felt like you should have to be a part of. And yes, you were drunk. You'd only meant to have a few drinks, but what the hell. You were at a Stark party, did it much matter?
Suddenly Widow came by your side and yanked you away from the bar, she pushed you on stage and told you to choose a song to sing for karaoke. From what you overheard, Adrian had told her that you two had gone out and sang every Thursday before you came to the Compound. You couldn't remember any songs and were having a hard time focusing, so you chose the first thing that came to mind. "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift.
You started singing to the best of your abilities, which wasn't that good. You had started yelling the bridge of the song out and you made sure to put on a show for your audience. As soon as the chorus came on and prompted you to sing "Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane" you made eye contact with Steve. You both started laughing, and he went back to conversing with the others. It was a short-lived but funny moment now shared between the two of you.
After the song ended, you were winded and felt like it would be best to escape the crowd for a little while and get some fresh air. So, you snuck out onto a small balcony where you thought no one was.
Bucky Barnes was standing in the shadows of the balcony, as he'd spent most of his evening. He'd only gone in to grab a drink and flirt with the bartender a bit and then returned out here, alone. The only reason he'd agreed to attend this seemingly stupid event is to support his best friend, Steve. He hadn't even met you, he didn't know what you looked like other than the brief description that Steve had given him. He had been deep in thought before he heard the balcony door open and looked up to see who it was. He saw your blue dress and then looked up to see your profile. Of course, you hadn't noticed him yet, he had hoped you wouldn't. He wasn't in the mood to talk. All he knew was that you were some pretty girl, probably here with a rich businessman.
"Ohmygosh, I can't fucking believe that I sang that song. And we made eye contact at the worst verse," you mumbled quietly.
Bucky could hear you clearly due to the serum and its abilities. You still hadn't realized he was standing there, or even listening to you. It took you a moment to gain composure before you glanced in the corner and saw the bluest of eyes watching you. You immediately flinched back until Bucky retreated from the shadows. Before anything was said, Steve opened the door.
"Oh, I see you've met Bucky," he said with a smile.
You nodded back, still a little shocked from discovering that he was there. Steve put his arm around your waist, pulled you closer, and formally introduced you to Bucky. Bucky grumbled and walked off, eyeing the bartender whose shift he knew was about to end. He was only slightly disappointed to find out that you were with Steve. He quickly walked up to the girl who had served him earlier and made his move.
You and Steve were on the balcony together. He was telling you about some of the couples he was talking to and just talking about his night in general. You actively listened until you interjected and changed the subject.
"So, what's the deal with your friend? I came out here and he just stood in the dark corner waiting for me to leave."
He explained that that's just how Bucky has been since coming back to the compound after escaping Hydra. You had nothing to respond with, you still weren't aware of Bucky's entire past. Steve felt it wasn't his story to tell. So you didn't know anything other than that. Especially the fact that he used to be The Winter Soldier. Steve had intentionally left that part out, for fear that he didn't know how you would respond to that information.
You'd left it at that. You walked back into the tower together, eyeing Bucky talking to a random girl. You wondered if that was his date. You had told Steve outside that you were going to head out early, and you reminded him that you probably wouldn't remember a lot of the evening because of the alcohol in your system. He laughed at your joke and when your ride was at the building waiting to take you back to the Compound, you had Steve walk you out and you made sure to kiss him on the cheek and tell him a bye in front of the lingering cameras. The party had died down since the beginning, and only a quarter of the people out front remained there but even the drunk you put on a show.
It had taken about an hour to get back to the Compound. You had gone alone and when you tried to get out of the car and head in, you tripped and fell. The driver hadn't noticed, which was good, but you needed to get to bed quick before you did anything super embarrassing. The drink Thor had offered you earlier was taking its toll on you. You picked yourself up the best you could and waved the driver off. You were on your way to your room when you ran into Bucky escorting the girl he was talking to earlier out the door. It was obvious what was going on, you tried your best to continue but you were having a hard time finding your way to the elevator and your room.
You were trying to remember what Natasha had shown you a few weeks ago during the tour that you hadn't paid attention to. You managed to make it to a living area before crashing on the couch there. You didn't care who saw you the next morning, but you'd rather sleep on a couch that passed out in some hallway. By the time you adjusted on the sofa, you were already almost knocked out completely pushing aside any thoughts as you let your mind and body rest from the party.