Chapter 3
Bucky fell back on the bed, sighing in relief. He was glad he was alone and had a little bit of time to think. Things had definitely improved, and for that he was immensely grateful. What troubled Bucky was the conversation he had overheard. Of course, Bucky wouldn’t mind if Steve was into guys, that was fine by him. He was just worried it might interfere with their overall relationship if Steve was interested in Bucky. In the long run, if Steve pursued it, Bucky could end up losing the job due to certain predicaments. Things always seemed to come up, and the last thing Bucky wanted was to put his new job at risk.
After clearing his mind, Bucky decided to explore the estate a little more before heading back down to the kitchens. He examined the map given to him by Steve and decided to go look at the gardens out back. Navigating turned out to be simple enough as long as Bucky paid enough attention to the map, and soon he was walking out onto a patio that overlooked a large expanse of tulips, lilies, rose bushes, flowering trees and finely trimmed ivy.
Stepping stones were placed throughout the garden, creating clear paths through the foliage. Bucky hunched over to examine the multi-colored tulips when he heard someone clear their throat. “Excuse me, exactly who are you?” A young man asked, tapping Bucky on the back.
Bucky jumped in response to the sudden noise, tumbling down off of his feet and onto his butt. “Oh, sorry, I’m Bucky. I work for Steve; it’s my first official day,” Bucky informed the man, who was feigning interest by stroking his goatee.
“Right, I was told about you. And what are you doing here, Bucky?” The man seemed rather defensive and almost upset that Bucky was there. This confused him.
Bucky stood back up to face the man, apologizing once more. “I didn’t mean to intrude, Steve just gave me some free time to calm down. This whole place is pretty overwhelming. He gave me a map and I figured I’d look at the garden. It’s lovely, by the way,” Bucky added, smiling at the stranger. “So, who are you?”
“The name’s Sam,” the man said reluctantly, holding a hand out to Bucky, “and I’m in charge of landscaping.”
Bucky shook Sam’s hand, his smile widening at that. “You’re the gardener!” He realized, nodding in respect. Sam mumbled something about preferring the term ‘landscaper.’ Bucky chuckled to himself, glad to have met yet another new person. Sam seemed nice enough, it was just a bit tough to talk to him at times, or so it seemed.
“Anyway,” Sam began, moving on, “As of now these gardens are still in progress. We’re trying to get them ready for the upcoming birthday party, I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now. Feel free to drop in later, but we’re kind of busy right now.” As if on cue, a figure appeared hauling a bag of soil overtop of their heads.
“Where should I set this down?” They called out, clearly directing it at Sam. Sam waved ‘bye’ to Bucky then hustled over to his helper.
Bucky went back inside the mansion and located the kitchens on the map. He still had half an hour until he had to go there to get Steve’s dinner, but he figured it’d be better to get there early on his first day in case he got lost. Bucky made good time on his way to the kitchens, only making one or two wrong turns and quickly correcting them. By 6:30 he had reached the kitchens a good fifteen minutes early. Not wanting to disturb the workers, he wandered around a bit more until he found himself back in the dining room. This time, the first thing he noticed was the large portrait of a woman with blonde hair and a gentle smile. Though Bucky had only seen a few of Steve’s paintings, the portrait looked a lot like Steve’s style. Underneath the portrait was a plaque with the name “Sarah Rogers—May she rest in peace.”
Questions began to fill Bucky’s mind: who was Sarah Rogers? How had she died? Was this way Steve wasn’t fond of the dining room? Bucky realized it was almost time to grab Steve’s dinner and rushed out before he could piece anything else together.
“Bucky, nice to see you again,” Thor said, holding the door open for the shorter man. Thor was wearing the same apron as earlier, and his hair had been pulled back into a tight bun. “I’m assuming you’re here for Steve’s dinner,” he said knowingly.
“Yes, that’s right,” Bucky responded, looking back and forth. As always, the kitchens were busy and Bucky had no idea what to get Steve. “If you don’t mind me asking—“
“OUT OF THE WAY!” Someone cried, toppling over and dropping a pot of soup on floor. The clang of the pot silenced all of the workers and Thor slowly turned his head, annoyance written on his face rather clearly. Bucky jumped out of the way as the liquid slowly trickled across the floor, not wanting to mess up his new clothes. “I apologize, it won’t happen again,” the person whimpered, desperately trying to wipe up the soup.
“Isn’t that what you said last time?” Thor asked, raising an eyebrow. The younger boy shrugged, smiling mischievously. “I apologize for Peter, he’s new. Tony convinced us to hire the guy.” They moved past the spill and to a cart a few stations over. “Here’s the dinner, you can take the whole cart if you’d like or you can just put it on a tray. Just do whatever works best for you.”
On the cart was a gourmet cheeseburger with large steak fries and a coke. Bucky was puzzled as to why such a wealthy person would eat a fatty hamburger. Thor chuckled, notices Bucky’s expression. “That Steve,” he said with a knowing smirk, “he is the most American guy I’ve ever met.”
Bucky raised an eyebrow, accepting this new tidbit of info as he raised the tray off of the cart. “That’s nice to know, thanks Thor,” Bucky bid farewell, exiting the kitchens with the meal.
“Bye Bucky, see you later!” Thor called back, an honest smile on his face.
Because Bucky was carrying the tray, he couldn’t really get his map out. Luckily, Bucky’s memory was working splendidly that evening, and he was able to navigate back to the room, arriving right before the clock struck seven. “Steve?” He called, leaning against the door. He couldn’t quite open it at the moment.
There was some fumbling inside, then a click as Steve unlocked the door and let Bucky in. Bucky almost dropped the tray when he saw Steve, fresh out of the shower. Steve wore a towel around his waist, but that was it. Beads of water ran down his face and his short blonde hair was a soaking mess. “Sir…” Bucky began, jaw agape, “I’ve got your dinner here.”
Steve smiled, accepting the tray and waving Bucky in. “Sorry about my appearance, I’ll get dressed real quick,” Steve said bashfully, shutting the door behind Bucky. Bucky did his best to ignore Steve’s finely sculpted back as he ruffled through his drawers for something to put on. Bucky didn’t notice the way his muscles rippled underneath his skin and he definitely didn’t watch each droplet of water roll down Steve’s back. After what felt like forever Steve grabbed a few articles or clothing and scurried into his bathroom, getting dressed swiftly. When he entered his main bedroom once more, he realized that Bucky hadn’t moved. “You can have a seat, Bucky,” Steve told him as he sat down to his dinner. Bucky nodded, glancing around the room until he found a chair in the corner of the room.
“So Bucky, I’ve made you a list of everybody living at the estate so you don’t get any surprises. The only people here at the moment, aside from the staff of course, are the Maximoff twins. Our family adopted them, I’m sure you’ll encounter them eventually. Clint Barton, a close family friend also stays with us, but he’s away on vacation right now. The upcoming birthday is his kid’s. We’ve also got Dr. Banner, Tony works for him. They’re building something complex and expensive, I’m a bit old fashioned so I don’t really follow their research. Other than that, everybody’s got relatives that’ll visit occasionally. You’ll be alerted, of course, when the others return.” Steve was trying to hand Bucky a new sheet of paper, but had started talking and wasn’t quite sure where to stop for breath.
Bucky held his hand out, taking the paper from Steve. “Thank you, sir.”
“You can call me Steve you know, as long as you do your job,” Steve said, backing away from Bucky and heading back to his meal. “Staff dinner is at seven thirty, so you may leave if you wish.”
Bucky was still looking over the list when Steve caught him off-guard. “Leave already?” He asked, pulling his eyes away from the list and looking at Steve instead. “Should I report back to you afterwards, or will you be good for the night?” For his first day on the job, Bucky didn’t feel like he did a whole lot. The only labor he did was bringing Steve dinner, and really, how difficult was that?
“You can drop by afterwards, I can give you a bit more work for tomorrow,” Steve said, almost as if he could hear what Bucky was thinking. As not to disturb Steve anymore, Bucky left quickly and quietly.
“Bucky?” A familiar voice asked, the footsteps behind him speeding up, “Bucky!” She exclaimed, confirming that it was him. “Yes, I thought he’d hire you. It’s me, Natasha, remember?”
Bucky turning, taking in the redhead. She was dressed in all black clothing, similar to before, and her shoulder length hair was loose and curling around everywhere. Bucky wasn’t sure if he should be afraid of her after last time or not. “Hey Miss Head of Security,” Bucky quipped, causing Natasha to roll her eyes.
“Sorry about that,” She said, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I gotta intimidate the new guys, you know? Make sure they know what they’re getting into. I’m still watching you, Bucky,” her smirk told Bucky that she was just playing with him, but she still spooked him a bit. “So are you on your way to the staff dinner?” She asked, falling into step with him as they traversed through the halls.
“Yeah, Steve told me it starts at 7:30,” Bucky answered politely, trying to get Natasha’s trust.
“Sure does,” she confirmed as she took a sharp turn to the left, “you can sit next to me if you want, I can introduce you to the rest of the guys.”
“Thank you!” He smiled, doing his best to engage in the conversation. “So, how long have you been working here?” Bucky inquired, glancing at his new friend.
Natasha smiled, thinking back to the past. “Quite some time,” She reminisced, a fond smile on her face. “Almost ten years, I’d guess.”
Bucky nodded, impressed by how long she’d been there. “And I’m assuming you like it here?”
“Yes, I love it. Steve is such a kind guy compared to other bosses, I’m sure you’ve realized that by now. Just don’t get on his bad side, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.”
They reached the kitchens a few minutes early, and Natasha began to fraternize with a few new people Bucky hadn’t met before. Sam joined them, making a few bad puns before Thor called for their attention. “As some of you know, we’ve got a new member to the family,” Thor bellowed, his voice filling the whole room. “Bucky Barnes, a kind gent. For clarification, I thought I should explain how dinner here works again, because some of you still don’t get it,” Thor sneered at a certain group of people, causing the crowd to erupt in laughter. “Anyway Bucky (and others,) we work like a buffet. Find a plate, get in line and grab what you can, whilst being orderly. Those causing trouble will be sent to the back of the line. Once we’re done, everybody helps to clean up. Now how about we let Bucky go first?”
The crowd was a bit less enthusiastic about that, but still agreed with Thor. The blonde had clearly earned the crowd’s respect. Natasha showed Bucky to the plates and helped him with figuring out where the line started. Soon, a long, winding line had formed behind Bucky and everybody was piling mounds of food on their plates. “We usually go sit in the dining room if you want to join,” Natasha hinted, elbowing Bucky lightly.
“We’re allowed in there?” Bucky questioned, looking at Natasha with a doubtful face.
“Of course we do, no one else ever eats there!” She urged, pulling him along after her. Just like she said, a good group of people had gathered in there. Amongst them was Sam, Peter, and, to his disappointment, Tony. Thor was right behind them. “How’s the gardening going, Sam?” Natasha teased as she sat down next to the animated man, who had been in the middle of telling a highly exaggerated story. Sam frowned at her, shaking his head in disappointment.
“Just fine, how’s babysitting?” He retorted, a sly grin on his face.
The two began to babble back and forth as they ate their meals, exchanging laughter as they did so. Bucky sat down next to Natasha, listening in and being quite amused by their shenanigans. Bucky began to feel as though this could become his home, that he could feel appreciated here. “Bucky? Bucky?” Natasha asked, poking him out of his trance.
“Yeah?” He asked, turning towards her. “Sorry, I kinda zoned out.”
“Don’t do that on the job, buddy,” Sam joked, giving him a half-assed smile from the other end of the table.
“Is that suggestion from experience?” Bucky jeered, causing Natasha to let out a short, brief chuckle as Sam’s face fell.
“Bucky Barnes, who would’ve thought…” Sam said, his smile forming again as he shook his head and rolled his eyes in disbelief. Dinner went on like that, joking with Sam and Natasha as well as having meaningful conversations with Thor. Tony didn’t speak to him, which he was glad of. Tony did, however, glare at him for most of the meal. Bucky did his best to brush it off, just because Tony didn’t like him didn’t mean no one else liked him.
Bucky thanked Thor for the meal, helped to clean up and then made one last stop at Steve’s door before heading to bed. “Sir, do you require any more help for the night?” Bucky asked after tapping on the door softly.
“No, it’s fine for today. Tomorrow, could you bring my breakfast at 7:30 rather than 8:00? I’d like a little extra time in my studio before the day starts,” Steve said, his voice fairly muffled through the thick wooden door.
“Of course, sir. 7:30,” Bucky repeated, praying that he’d remember to get up early enough. Steve didn’t say anything else, so Bucky left to door and meandered back to his room. On the way there, he ran into Tony. “Oh, hello!” Bucky said with a nod and a smile, making Tony flinch.
“Don’t speak to me,” Tony said, bumping into Bucky as they passed. Bucky stumbled, looking back at Tony in disappointment. He really wished they had started out on the right foot, it troubled him that Tony disliked him so much.
“There’s nothing I can do about it now…” Bucky sighed, lazily pushing open his door and flopping onto his bed. “Breakfast at 7:30….”