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The streets of the city were dark and a bit slippery due to raining earlier that day. The pair ran as fast they could, trying to lose the group of armed men that were chasing them. Why were they being chased? Neither of them knew exactly why, but they knew the armed men were shooting on sight.
“Where’s Sam? He’s not answering” she asked as she kept running behind him.
“Here!” Bucky said as he dragged her into a dark alley. He took opportunity of the dumpster near them and pulled her on the side of it. But Bucky didn’t calculate his strength when he was pulling her, which ended on them bumping foreheads against each other. She didn’t know how to react to this situation – even though she had been friends with Bucky for a good couple of years, it was still awkward to be so close to him, especially after she started developing feelings for the soldier.
“I’m-” she was interrupted by Bucky’s metal hand covering her mouth. He then motioned to the street they were previously in, showing her the armed men passing there.
They stayed like that for a few good minutes until the streets were finally clear. After it was safe, she pointed at his hand, which was still covering her mouth. Bucky quickly took his hand off her, embarrassed by the situation.
“Sorry” he apologized as he got away from her.
“I’m sure this wasn’t the way you wanted to spend your birthday” she trailed off while she walked towards the street again.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m not complaining” he smiled.
“What do you mean, Buck?”
They stopped in the middle of the street, standing in front of each other. Bucky had his hands on the pockets of his black jeans, while she had her arms crossed.
“After all these years, do you really not get it?” his tone was half angry, half normal. It was frustrating for him – he did everything for her, yet she never noticed anything. She stared at him with a puzzled look on her face, still not getting what he was trying to say. “Look, I-I… It’s better if I show you, maybe you’ll finally get it. And if you don’t, I don’t know what else to do…”
“Wha-”
He started to get closer and closer to her. Grabbing her face with both of his hands, he stared between her eyes and lips for a few seconds, trying to gain some courage for what he was about to do. She didn’t move at all, still unsure of what Bucky was trying to tell her.
When he was about to kiss her, she noticed one of the armed men standing just a few feet behind Bucky, gun on his hands, ready to shoot him. Quickly, she grabbed Bucky by his shoulders and switched places with him and, therefore, getting shot with the slug that was intended to hit him. The bullet hit her right on her left shoulder, making her fall on her back immediately, only to get caught by Bucky.
“No!” he screamed.
Sam appeared on a black van just a few seconds later. “Get in!”
Bucky picked her up and put her on the backseat of the car. While Sam drove towards his apartment, the ex-soldier ripped his sleeve off and used the piece of cloth to put pressure on her wound.
“Guys, I’m fine” she said in faint voice, “It’s just a scratch.”
“You were shot. It’s not just a scratch” Sam added as he kept driving.
When they finally arrived at Sam’s apartment, they wasted no time in getting her inside and sitting her on the couch. The Falcon went to grab medical supplies to tend to her wound while Bucky stayed by her side, squeezing her hand.
“Why did you do that?” he asked in soft tone.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You took a bullet for me, literally.”
“You would do the same thing for me, Buck.”
“I would, but I would heal much faster and easier than you. You shouldn’t have done that. I can’t lose you.” He stared her in the eyes for a couple of seconds. This time, she was the one who was leaning in for a kiss.
“I got the medical kit!” Sam yelled as he entered the living room. The couple quickly separated from each other, which made Sam raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m just gonna patch her up and then I’ll leave you two alone. It looks like you have some catching up to do and I don’t wanna be the third wheel.”
Sam did as he said and left as soon as her wound was taken care of. Luckily, the bullet went straight through her shoulder, so all he had to was stitcher her up and then put some gauze on top of it to keep it covered.
“Look, I know you’re gonna lecture me about what happened tonight, but I just wanted to tell you that I would do it again in a heartbeat and I-”
She was interrupted by Bucky’s lips on hers. The kiss was filled with passion, as they both wanted this for months.
“We should have done that a long ago” she whispered against his mouth, making him chuckle.
“Yeah, we should have. Better later than ever, right?”
The couple spent the rest of the night on the couch watching movies, her head on his lap, while his hands were caressing her waist.
“It has been three hours! I’m coming in!” they heard Sam yelled from outside the front door, “Y’all better be dressed!” The Falcon entered his apartment and sighed in relief when he saw his two friends lying on his couch, fully clothed. “I swear if you two had sex on my couch I’m gonna-”
“Relax, we didn’t do anything” she said while trying to contain her laugh.
“Great!” Sam grabbed her feet and put them down so he could sit next to her, “Now scootch over, my favourite show is about to be on, and I don’t wanna miss it because of you two lovebirds.”
She sat up on the couch, between the two men, but with her head on Bucky’s shoulder. He smiled at her and intertwined their fingers together, making her smile as well.
“Oh, I almost forget. Happy birthday, old man.” Sam congratulated him in a mocking tone, “You’re like 110 and you’re still in the game.”
“Hey, I’m only 104!” Bucky protested as he hit the back of Sam’s head.
“Happy birthday, Buck” she smiled before she pecked his lips. Sam made a gag noise, but the couple just laughed at them. The three friends were happy.