Getting woken up at 3 am by two grown men giggling like five year olds was not Natasha's idea of a good time.
Groaning, she rolled away from Bucky and slid her legs off the side of the bed. He didn't react, other than to shift slightly, adjusting to the loss of her weight beside him. They had been best friends in high school, but despite what everyone assumed about them, they actually hadn't started dating until college. Right after high school Bucky had gone into the military while Natasha had started helping out at a local rec center, teaching abused men and women self defense.
When Bucky had gotten back he had been a mess, his left arm all but gone; a creepily lifelike metal prosthetic in its place. The PTSD had been the worst, the nightmares alone driving him to the edge. Natasha had moved in with him just so he wouldn't be alone and to talk him down when he needed it.
Neither of them were really sure when they stopped seeing each other as friends and found themselves relying on each other for so much more. Part of it, Natasha was sure, was that they were both asexual and she herself was on the aromantic spectrum. Their relationship might have been different, but they were happy, so as far as she was concerned everyone else could fuck off.
Padding into the kitchen, Natasha stifled a yawn as she started a pot of coffee, flicking on a light just bright enough so she could see the counter. While she waited for the coffee she walked over to the connecting living room and snagged her bag off the couch. She might as well work on that stupid term paper while she was up.
Going back to the kitchen she dragged a stool over to the counter before plopping her book down and booting up her laptop. Sighing, she sat down and got to work.
She was on her fourth cup of coffee and almost done with three pages of her paper when she heard a loud laugh and what sounded like something being thrown, a pillow if the muted thud was any indication. Dragging a hand down her face, she saved her document and stood up, murder the only thing on her mind.
Checking to make sure Bucky was still asleep, she threw her hair into a messy bun and reluctantly pulled on a pair of cut off sweats. She really hated wearing pants unless it was absolutely necessary. Usually she just wore her own oversized sweatshirts or stole Bucky's t-shirts and didn't even put on pants for guests. It wasn't that she was trying to show off or anything—god knows she'd been called every name in the book for it—it was just that she didn't care.
She was currently wearing a giant BTS sweater that said J-Hope on the back. She really didn't care what people thought of her taste in music or who her favorite singer was. She was well on her way to getting Bucky invested in the group, as much as he might have tried to fight it. What could she say? She had gotten addicted to the music and the sweater was just way too comfortable to not sleep in.
Slipping on the first pair of shoes she saw, a pair of combat boots just a little too big to belong to her, she opened the door and stepped outside. The cold air that hit her face did more to wake her up than the three cups of coffee she had drank in the past hour had.
Leaning against the railing, so cold she was glad the sweater was long enough to cover her hands - she also liked smacking people with them, but that wasn't important - she found herself staring up at a starry sky that did absolutely nothing to curb her rage.
What the hell were her neighbors doing at 4 in the fucking morning to have them giggling like five year olds?
Shaking her head, she turned and walked a few feet to the right to knock on their door. Stepping back and waiting, she crossed her arms and attempted to look less homicidal than she felt. Somehow, she doubted she was very successful.
It took longer than Natasha would have liked for the door to open and when it did she really wished she'd just stayed in bed.
A blond guy stood in front of her, a now empty bucket of glitter in his hands. The fore-mentioned glitter was now covering Natasha from head to toe.
She stepped back, arms held out in disgust as she tried to shake some of it off. Deciding it was a pointless mission and would take at least five showers to get rid of it all, she gave up and levelled the guy with what Bucky fondly called her "batman glare". He was the recipient of said glare more often than not.
Before the guy in front of her could say a word, another blond guy, slightly shorter and so skinny Natasha was surprised he didn't snap in half just from breathing, appeared behind him. He had a set of thick black glasses settled on his nose and was covered in so many different colors of paint Natasha was sure their apartment was a headache waiting to happen.
"Oh my god, are you okay?"
Natasha blinked slowly at him, incredulous. "I'm covered in glitter. How the fuck do you think I'm doing?"
Before the skinny blond could say anything the one she'd already nicknamed dumbfuck spoke. "Wow.” He sounded almost awestruck, his eyes locked on hers. “You're so pretty."
Natasha stared at him for a long moment before she took the bucket from his hands and slammed it down on top of his head. The skinny one, apparently too shocked to speak, could only watch as she leaned in. "Call me pretty again and I'll cut out your tongue and feed it to you."
Without waiting for a response she turned and left, hoping they both shut the fuck up so she could get some sleep.
~***~
Kicking the door shut behind her, Natasha pulled her sweater over her head and discarded it behind her as she headed towards the bedroom. Letting her hair fall down around her shoulders had glitter falling around her and dropping soundlessly to the floor, almost as if it was mocking her.
Kicking off Bucky's shoes and shucking her pants, she was more than a little surprised to see Bucky sitting up on their bed and giving her a look that said more than any words could have.
"I'm gonna fucking kill them, I swear to god."
Hiding an amused smile, Bucky stood and made his way over to her, brushing some stray glitter off the top of her head. "I've seen worse looks, Tasha."
She really didn't want to punch him. No. Not at all.
"Bucky." She held her hands out, palms up, a look of pure sorrow on her face. "I look like Edward motherfucking Cullen right now."
Bucky snorted. "More like you killed him."
Groaning, she hid her face in her hands. "Bucky, you're not helping. You know I hate glitter."
"It's really not that bad..." Her head snapped up, green eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. "I mean, I've always known you were beautiful, but this really—"
She covered his face with a hand, shoving him away and hoping he got some of the godforsaken glitter in his hair. "I swear to god, James Buchanon Barnes, if you do not shut the hell up..."
She could feel his grin and yanked her hand back before he could do something stupid, like lick her hand or bite her. Yes, both had happened before. She narrowed her eyes as he leaned into her personal space, highly suspicious.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, brushing as much of the glitter out of it as he could. Natasha relaxed, closing her eyes and leaning into his touch, accepting the apology for what it was.
She was starting to sway on her feet, more tired than she'd thought she was. Bucky slid one arm—the cold metal one, which jolted her awake immediately, the bastard—around her waist before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against her own.
Her gaze followed him lazily as he retreated back to the bed. "Go take a shower, Tasha."
Tempted to just flop down next to him, it took all of her willpower just to flip him off and head into the bathroom.
Almost an hour later left her skin feeling raw and she was sure she still hadn't gotten all of the glitter off. She'd probably still find more of it for the next month or so. It was inevitable—every single time Natasha got anywhere near glitter it got all over her and was nearly impossible to get rid of. For no apparent reason the damn stuff stuck to her like glue, no matter how many showers she took.
Wearing nothing more than a black sports bra and a pair of Bucky's boxers, she stepped out of the bathroom, fingers combing through damp red waves in a vain attempt to tame them. Finding the bedroom empty, panic momentarily froze her in place, hands dropping limply to her sides. The last time she'd come back to an empty room she hadn't found Bucky for three hours and he had been seconds away from jumping off a roof almost six blocks away.
"Bucky?" She called out, ice in her veins and a tremor creeping into her voice, terrified she wouldn't receive an answer.
"In here, Tasha," he called out, voice muffled through the closed door. Which was weird in and of itself. They hardly ever closed that door, unless they had guests. But who would be visiting at 5 in the morning?
Natasha froze in the doorway, green gaze locked on the two annoyingly familiar blondes standing next to Bucky. The shorter one was holding a plate of cookies while the dumbfuck was just staring at Natasha, blue eyes wide.
"What, never seen a girl half naked before?" She snapped, glaring at him.
Bucky laughed, walking over and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Be nice, Tasha," he said softly, just loud enough for her to hear, before pulling her over to stand next to them.
"I'm sure she didn't introduce herself, but this is Natasha and I'm Bucky." His smile was genuine, but it was a little too genuine. Not many people were aware of it, but Bucky Barnes was a little shit. "And let me just say, kinda sad I missed out on the paint and glitter."
The tiny blond blushed bright red while dumbfuck just blinked stupidly before he smiled and oh, he was cute. Shit.
"Next time it'll be a party," he said with a laugh.
Bucky just smirked.
Sometimes Natasha really hated her boyfriend.