Chapter 3
February 15th
Bucky wakes up the day after Valentines Day, not that that should be specified as he pretty much treated it as any other day. Of course the bar was busier than usual but he agreed to work the whole day (from opening to closing at 2am) so he could feel less guilty about spending more time at the house he paid so much to be separate from the world. It's not like he really needed the money, he pretty much owned the bar at this point, but he figured it was only fair for his workers to not have to spend the whole day there, plus he really didn't mind. It spared him from watching some French romance movie that had a 80% chance of being depressing by the end.
The morning light blinds him after minutes of being awake and he moves out of the bed only regretting renting a house that was all windows for a second. The dog, which he decided to call Jack, nudges him with his nose because he obviously wasn't moving fast enough.
"Yeah, yeah," He lightly pushes the sweet but demanding dog away.
He prepares breakfast for himself and his smaller companion. A bagel with cream cheese for him and a dry dog food mixed with wet dog food for Jack. Of course on one side of the bagel he doesn't fully cover it with cream cheese, Jack knows why.
Sure enough Jack scarfs down his food and sits down patiently waiting for Bucky to mostly finish his breakfast. His wagging tail thumps against the floor in a rhythmic 'pat, pat, pat.' Bucky laughs as he chews slowly on his last half of his bagel, the noise getting faster. Bucky rolls his eyes dramatically "Alright since you're been such a good boy," Bucky turns to Jack with the last piece of his bagel in hand. Jack starts moving back and forth on his hind legs but he knows not to jump
"Sit." Bucky says gently and Jack stops rocking. "Stay..." Bucky holds up the bread and Jack stays. "Good boy!" He holds out his hand for Jack to take the piece. He doesn't snatch it but rather spends a millisecond sniffing Bucky's hand and slowly opens his mouth to grab with his tongue. It's the oddest thing but amuses Bucky. He pats Jack's head as the dog appears to smile after swallowing the treat. Bucky walks away from the kitchen and Jack follows with only 6 inches separating them.
And he does that all day throughout the day. When Bucky sits down to write or watch tv Jack is right by his feet curled in a ball. When Bucky gets up to go to walk around or grab a drink, there's Jack. Even when Bucky goes to the bathroom, though he closes the door to it when he walks in, Jack is right in front of the door tail wagging when he's done.
Today after sitting by his desk and writing for a few hours Bucky decides to go out for some fresh air. He's not concerned when he leaves the door open a little longer and Jack gets out. The dog doesn't go anywhere besides 6 inches from Bucky's heel. However, when Bucky walks out, he notices the flag on the mailbox is up again. Odd because it was down yesterday and he knows he didn't send anything out, matter of fact he was here all day and didn't even see any postal worker come by so it's not like they would've stuck it up. Well since he's outside anyways he might as well go check. He walks down the walkway, his boots stomping on the wood followed by the clickity clack of Jack's paws behind him.
Bucky is surprised when he opens the mailbox to find a letter addressed to him with no envelope. It's from Steve, the old renter. He grabs it despite the weirdness of it being there, he knows he didn't see a postal worker and he's even more sure he didn't see some other car come and drop off the letter, and he checked his mail yesterday. Unless this Steve came by at night? Well that only weirds Bucky out even more. He opens the letter regardless and has slight relief when he doesn't find a loc of his hair in the creases of the paper.
He reads Steve's letter, his eyes scanning the paper quickly, brows furrowing with confusion and curiosity. He turns to look at the now famous paw prints and he can clearly see they're not the least bit faded, matter of fact it hasn't even rained to wash some of it away. He continues on. He lets out a small chuckle and shakes his head at Steve's question.
What year is it? This guy was definitely losing it. Bucky laughs. What did this place do to him that this man didn't know the year all the sudden? He walks up to the house, note in hand and dog following behind him.
He grabs a piece of paper from his writing notebook when he walks in, still chuckling to himself. He takes out his pen to write Steve back. Pen cap in his mouth he laughs again as he starts writing out to Steve.
Steve,
I do go by Bucky but mostly to my friends...and customers. Formally I am James. But maybe someday you can call me B.-- That is very odd about the prints. They're not faded at all here. Haven't noticed any chipping on the handrails either besides what made me paint them in the first place. I'm sure you're right no one is playing a trick on us but you're question is still umm...concerning haha What year is it? The fact that I'm even writing this makes me laugh but.... 2010. Year of the Tiger. Start of a new decade :D.
I don't think you're crazy (but I'm definitely making sure my door is locked)
- Bucky James Bucky James “Bucky” Barnes
Bucky laughs. Not believing he actually had to tell someone what year it was like he was in Back to the Future or that British show everyone was obsessed with. Professor How? Or something.
He makes his way back down the walkway to the mailbox, Jack of course close behind, and puts the letter to this mysterious old renter in it.
“Come on boy,” He says to his furry shadow as he makes his way back up to the house, trying not to chuckle too much almost as if he was saving Steve the embarrassment despite him not being here. He glances behind him, noticing he doesn’t hear the noise of Jack’s paws hitting the wood behind him. Jack is sitting by the mailbox and Bucky turns fully around as he looks at the dog. Bucky’s brows furrow in confusion. Jack has never paid attention to the mailbox before but here he was sitting in attention right by it.
“Jack? Come on boy.” Bucky says again.
Jack gives a quick look to Bucky then back at the mailbox. He lets out a loud bark to the box and a low growl. He looks back to Bucky and runs to him. Bucky starts walking again and Jack is back to being half a foot behind him. Bucky breathes out a sigh of relief not realizing he had held it in.
Jack follows him inside the house like normal and Bucky didn’t realize until a few seconds ago he really doesn't want to let Jack go. It had only been a little more than a week but he grew attached to the dog quickly. He was afraid just now when Jack wasn’t right behind him that maybe his time with Bucky was done, like Bucky was just a visitor in this dog’s world. He’s not sure why that hurts him so much. Could be the rejection of so many people in his life and he can't even keep a dog as a companion? Okay, Barnes, you're thinking about this a little too seriously. And sure enough Jack is still right by his side now, not letting Bucky have any space or privacy. But Bucky doesn’t mind. After Bucky finishes preparing his dinner and giving Jack his dog food he watches as the dog scarves down his food and then sits and waits at Bucky's feet. He just smiles at Jack and pushes a quarter of his dinner aside to save for the animal.