Adagio

Steve Rogers always kept his room clean and organized. And bland. Bucky would call it boring, but that was too rude to say. Well, too rude for referring to Steve, at least. He’d definitely refer to Elektra as boring. Their personal style differences made Steve a weird person to help Bucky redo his apartment. That wasn’t to say that it wouldn’t be fun, however. Steve was doing his best to win back Bucky’s favor, and that had a lot of benefits for Bucky. Like the KwikTrip stop. And taking him back home overall.

Bucky told Steve that he could go to his own house and catch up with his parents, but he insisted on helping Bucky pack up stuff instead. He was pretty much what his mom would call a “real gentleman”.

There was no one in the house when Bucky and Steve arrived, presumably because Bucky’s parents were out for their weekly dinner at the local country club. Probably one of the things Bucky missed least about living at home. Something about the country club just screamed homophobia. The absence of his parents made it a lot easier for them to move his stuff out. His parents, specifically his mom, were incredibly nosey and would want to hear everything about both him and Steve since they had last seen them. Also his parents had an idea of what happened, and interaction with Steve opened up the possibility of them finding out the truth. 

Bucky’s old room was very much filled to the brim. There were tons of posters and drapings on the walls, rugs and towels on the floor, and assorted chachkies. 

Steve walked to the far corner of his room and picked up the lava lamp. “See, this is why I wanted to come. Our cool lava lamp.” 

“That’s the best thing in here. For sure should go in my apartment bedroom. Or maybe the bathroom, that would be kinda cool,” Bucky said. 

Steve laughed, “Buck, I think this would take up half the floor space in your bathroom. We’ll probably have to order a shower curtain and bathmat online and call it a cool bathroom.”

“Sadly, I think you’re right,” Bucky responded. “Do you think I should bring my old bedding or just buy new bedding?”

There were bright orange and yellow tie-dye sheets on Bucky’s bed. The pillow covers were a part of the matching set, but there were also three circular, yellow throw pillows of varying sizes. He had an orange duvet cover on and a light pink color he had crocheted in middle school to top it all off. Out of everything, the blanket he’d made was a for sure take. 

Steve thought about it for a moment before saying, “Take everything but the duvet. I hate the sunburst, always have. Maybe we could get one with cute polka dots or something.”

“I can vibe with polka dots,” Bucky said.

Being the helpful guy he was, Steve unmade Bucky’s bed. And, being way too attracted to Steve, Bucky watched him instead of doing anything productive. Suddenly, Steve turned around and tossed Bucky the bottom sheet to fold. Bucky blushed, surely Steve noticed that he’d been staring at him instead of doing actual work. And he didn’t want Steve to think he’d won that easily.

“I am physically incapable of folding a bottom sheet, so I’ll fold all the other sheets if you can do that,” Steve stated.

Bucky just nodded in response, still embarrassed by being caught. The fitted sheet was a pain in the ass to fold, but Bucky was happy to do a favor for Steve. They filled up an entire box with the bedding. Now it was time to move on to the floor and walls.

“I don’t know if I want a rug in my bedroom,” Bucky said. “And I definitely don’t want one that’s huge in my living room. I stretch in there and stuff and I like doing that on the hardwood floor. Especially if I’m doing stuff like actually practicing. Imagine trying to turn on a rug, that sounds like a death sentence.”

“I would comment on that if I were able to relate,” Steve commented. 

“Well, if my bedroom is going to be orange and yellow, my living room needs to be something different,” Bucky reflected.

“Maybe blue and purple?” Steve suggested. “Then you can put the lava lamp out there.”

“Steve, that is absolutely perfect. I love it,” Bucky gushed. 

They found a pretty blue rug quickly, seeing as he didn’t have many rugs and blue was a popular color. Also, his wall drapings were basically just sheets on the wall, so they pulled down some blue and orange ones and filled another box with them. They looked around the room for random decor items and easily filled up three boxes worth. It was definitely enough to fill up his apartment.

“I told my parents I was gonna be here tonight, so I should probably go see them before we go home,” Steve said. 

“I can come with, I don’t really wanna stay here alone,” Bucky said.

Steve lived two houses away from Bucky, so they loaded everything into Sam’s SUV and walked over to his house. It was a walk very familiar to Bucky. Starting in elementary school, he would go over to see Steve constantly. Whether it be a weekend, before school, or after school, Steve and Bucky were hanging out together. When they got to high school, they started being a little more sneaky about it. The people Steve hung out with really didn’t like Bucky, so it was easier for them to just hide their friendship.

The feelings that walking to Steve’s house brought suddenly started flooding back into Bucky’s memory. The excitement he always felt in elementary school and middle school, the fluttery nervousness in early high school, and the dreadful anxiousness in late middle school. But the feeling that came back the strongest was the fluttery nervousness. The butterflies in the stomach, the rapid heartbeat, and the sweating all started happening again. It was exactly like when he first discovered he had a crush on Steve.

Steve wasn’t a super oblivious person, so Bucky was sure he could sense what was going on. Bucky was starting to fall for him again.

“Hi, Bucky,” Steve’s mom, Sarah, greeted as they walked into his house. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen you.”

It had been a really long time since Bucky had been to Steve’s house. Junior year was the last time. But he had seen his parents since then, of course. They had gone to graduation and just seen him around town in general, it wasn’t a huge town.

The house still looked the same as it did back in high school. It was very much a midwestern house. Yes, the guest bathroom was beach themed. There was even still a framed photo of Steve and Bucky on the wall. Actually, not just one. There were at least five. It didn’t feel weird, considering Sarah and Joseph were ignorant to their falling out. 

This kitchen was where Steve and Bucky had first kissed. It was where they always hung out after school, eating snacks and talking. It was also where they got into their first fight over hiding their relationship. For Bucky, Steve’s kitchen wasn’t just a room: it was a place where his life had changed.

“It has been. It’s nice to see you again,” Bucky responded. 

“We’re so excited to hear you got such a big role,” Sarah enthused. “We’re going to come down and see it next month when you perform. I assume your parents will go down to see it as well. That’s the night we should go see it, we haven’t been out with them in so long. Back when you boys were still in high school, we used to hang out all the time. I miss those days.”

Steve tossed Bucky a water from the fridge and sat at their bar counter. “So do I.”

Bucky blushed a little bit. It was good that Steve missed that time, but it still made Bucky embarrassed. It was odd to think that Steve wasn’t the dick Bucky had thought him to be for so long. He was actually a nice guy, just like he had been when they were kids. 

“How long are you boys doing to be staying here? I have enough food to feed you for a week,” Sarah said, smiling at them.

“Oh, we can only stay for a little while,” Steve said. “We have rehearsal tomorrow morning as always.”

Bucky could tell Sarah was sad that they weren’t staying. And honestly, he felt bad for it. Sarah was one of the sweetest people Bucky knew, and she felt like more of a mom to him than his own mom during much of his childhood. It wasn’t that his mom was a bad mom, she just worked full time whereas Sarah was a stay at home mom. Sarah was always the one who had cute snacks for them after school and made sure they had all their homework done.

“We’ll probably come back to visit again soon, though,” Bucky added. 

Sarah smiled. “That would be amazing. You know, everyone around here misses you two. Everyone loves you.”

Well that was a straight up lie. Or at least it wasn’t the truth. It was surely true for Steve, he was the town sweetheart. Everyone around town knew and loved him. Bucky, on the other hand, was pretty much the town outcast. He was always seen as weird, especially considering the one sport he did was ballet. Losing his arm only cemented that position, even if that was the fault of the town royalty. 

“We miss everyone, too,” Steve said. “It’s really nice being able to still see Sam everyday. And Bucky, of course.”

“I’m so glad you were able to find such good friends. And that they stayed friends with you for so long,” Sarah stated.

“And it’s helpful having friends in the same line of work as you,” Steve added, smiling at Bucky.

“It’s super nice. Hey, can we bring some drinks on the road with us?” Bucky asked.

“Oh, of course,” Sarah answered.

Bucky walked over to the fridge and inspected its contents. Of course, there was cherry vanilla Pepsi for Steve. Since he was allowed to start drinking soda, Bucky had never seen Steve drink anything else. It was practically an addiction. Luckily, Sarah was an anti-soda person. All she had was orange sparking Bais, but that would suffice. Bucky grabbed one, as well as a cherry vanilla Pepsi for Steve. Hopefully it would be a good enough clue to both Sarah and Steve that it was time to go home.

“Well, ma, it was nice seeing you again,” Steve said, getting up and hugging Sarah.

“You guys need to come back soon for an entire weekend, okay?” Sarah requested.

“There’s nothing we’d like more,” Bucky said.

Sarah was, of course, a midwestern mom. That meant that it took around fifteen minutes to say goodbye before Bucky and Steve could get back on the road. They’d packed Sam’s SUV very full of Bucky’s stuff, so they wouldn’t be able to get it all unpacked and decorated that night. But that just meant that they’d have to spend more time together, so Bucky was okay with that.

“I could drive, you know,” Bucky suggested as they drove out of their hometown. “You don’t have to do all the work.”

“See, I’d be okay with that, but I’m not quite sure how much Sam would like that. You didn’t have the cleanest driving record when we were kids,” Steve replied.

It was true, Bucky was a bad driver in high school. He always hit curbs and sped up to make the orange lights. Now, however, he was a much safer driver. He’d almost rear ended an old lady about two years ago, and that was the end of reckless driving for him. 

“I promise I’ve changed by now. I still literally do not have any tickets. I was just very into… efficiency when we were younger,” Bucky said.

Steve snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

Steve paused for a moment before saying, “It was really nice to see my mom tonight. It was too bad my dad was working. And too bad your parents were out. I haven’t seen them in such a long time. Do you go and see them a lot?”
“Well, I rarely go back home,” Bucky answered. “I don’t really have the best memories associated with it there. But I do call them, like, once every two weeks. So that counts for something, I think.”

“I agree because I pretty much do the same. I mean, I try to go down to visit every once in a while, but the company makes me so busy. Obviously you know that. We barely have any free time,” Steve said.

“And our hometown is so far away from the company that it’s pretty much impossible to just go down for, like, dinner.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“And I don’t know about you, but I still have to practice even when we don’t have rehearsals. Like, I have to stretch and workout every day, which takes up a considerable amount of time.”

“I’m not gonna lie, we have a lot less responsibility with all that than you guys do. I guess I still have to practice a little outside of rehearsals, but it isn’t, like, three hours a night or anything.”

“Then maybe we should start hanging out after work more, if you don’t really have that much stuff to do.”

“I thought you always had a lot to do.”

“I think I could clear out my schedule a little bit for you.”

It wasn’t technically a romantic advance, but Bucky had kinda intended it to be. He wanted to date Steve. He was such a sweet, attractive, overall great guy. And when they used to date it worked out well. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the most accurate statement. Their dating had gone well until people started to figure out what was going on. But now it would be acceptable for them to date.

“You know, I’d really like that, Buck,” Steve said, smiling at Bucky and setting his hand on his knee. 

With that advance, Bucky felt sure that Steve was also looking for a romantic relationship. He decided to lean in a little, preparing for a kiss.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Steve started to slow down and pull over.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked, a little alarmed.

“Something’s going on with the car, not quite sure what yet,” Steve answered.

Yeah, maybe it was a good thing Bucky didn’t drive.

“I gotta go check out the situation,” Steve said.

He got out and opened up the hood. Bucky was super annoyed that they had to have car issues right as he was about to make his move. Maybe there wasn’t even anything actually wrong with the car, Steve just didn’t want to date him. But then he wouldn’t have been acting as open to it as he had been: unless he just changed his mind when Bucky started to return the actions. Steve got back into the car after a few minutes.

“Yeah, that battery’s dead. Looks like we’re gonna be here for a little while.”