The Pen is Mightier! (penismightier) wrote in chaotic_library, @ 2014-08-17 11:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | bucky barnes, marvel, pepper potts, pg-13, short story, steve rogers, tony stark, yuuo, yuuo: marvel |
[Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers; PG-13] Everything In Nature
Character/Series: Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers; Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: PG-13
Notes: In which I take almost 20k words to say nothing. No. Seriously. Ed gave me wonderful, short things full of sound and fury, and Bucky? He gives me novels worth of nothing. Jerkface.
Title: Everything In Nature
Author: yuuo
Word Count: 9981 (18536 total)
Summary: The only thing bad about going to the roof, particularly in the chillier weather, was that the concrete underneath him was cold, and blue jeans didn't do much to block it.
"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose."
-Garrison Keillor
The only thing bad about going to the roof, particularly in the chillier weather, was that the concrete underneath him was cold, and blue jeans didn't do much to block it. Bucky was actually starting to regret his decision to go up there. While his long-sleeve shirt and light jacket kept the rest of him from feeling the bite in the air, his ass wasn't much protected until his body heat had a chance to warm up the spot he was sitting on.
He hadn't been up there in about a month, which he felt a little proud of himself for, as dumb as that seemed to him. But, as Steve pointed out, it meant that Bucky was handling the past better than he had when he'd first moved in with Steve and was spending every other day or so up there for hours on end.
That day wasn't even a big deal, he probably could've gone without going up at all, but he was still shaking off a queasy feeling in his stomach. He'd been rudely awoken that morning by falling out of bed, although that had at least woken him up from the nightmare he'd been having. Steve had tried to get him to talk about it, but there wasn't really anything to say. It'd been nothing but a constant sensation of falling, which always twisted up his insides. Nothing new, nothing that needed anything more than some time in the cool fall air until his brain could finish transitioning back into the present.
He let out a deep breath, watching the air condense into a thin fog that dissipated. Damnit, it was cold. Why the hell was it so cold? Oh, right, because it was late October. At least it was better than the summer; the heat from the sun on his left arm tended to conduct that heat right up to his port. It hadn't caused burns yet, but it'd made it uncomfortable.
Then again, with the winter came potential frostbite. He really needed to find a place that stayed a balmy seventy degrees with no humidity. He'd have to try to talk Steve into moving to this mythical paradise.
Bucky was just fixing to get up- his seat had finally warmed up, naturally, but the rest of him was getting cold -when something bumped against his hip. His first thought was a grenade based on the weight and size, and his instincts kicked in and he immediately rolled away from it, ending with his left side facing the potential explosive, with his mechanical arm bent up to protect his face from possible shrapnel.
But it wasn't a grenade, which, thinking about it once the adrenaline dropped, didn't surprise him. What it was, however, did surprise him. The kitten that had walked into him was puffed up to what looked to be twice its size, back arched and hopping back. He blinked a couple times, relaxing and lowering his arm, before looking around for any sign of an owner.
There was clearly nobody up on the roof with him. How the cat had gotten up there, he couldn't imagine. He stood and walked over to the orange tabby that was still fluffed up. He'd obviously scared the shit out of it with his reaction to its introduction. The kitten flailed a bit when Bucky picked it up, then pressed itself against him, shivering. He realized it'd probably approached him because it was cold and he was a warm body.
Bucky didn't even need to question his decision to take it inside with him, tucking the kitten under his arm before heading back down the fire escape to his apartment window. "Steve, you got your laptop?" he asked as soon as he was in the apartment.
"I was just checking news," Steve said in response. "Why?"
Bucky turned around from shutting the window to see Steve with a cup of coffee that was still steaming and his laptop open in front of him. "Look up what human food is safe to give to a cat." He moved the tiny bundle of fur in his arm. "Someone on the roof found me."
Steve's eyebrows raised. "How did a cat get up on the roof?"
"No idea," Bucky said. "I'd guess one of the neighbors, but I'm not sure why they'd leave-" he cut himself off, flipping the kitten onto its back in his arms and examined the squirming animal for signs of what gender it might be, "-her up there."
While the kitten managed to get herself off her back and back into a shivering bundle in Bucky's arms, Steve looked back at his laptop, typing away. He scrolled, clicked, then stayed silent a moment. Bucky walked over to sit at his usual place at the table on Steve's left side.
Steve looked away from his computer to look at the cat, who was curled up in the crook of Bucky's arm and was probably barely visible to Steve. "Think she's old enough to eat solid food?"
Bucky managed to wrestle the kitten out of her hiding spot enough to get a good look at her. "I think so." The kitten made a pathetic squeaky noise that might've been a meow, then once again tried to burrow her way down between his arm and his chest as much as possible. "Hey," he said, adjusting his grip on her to keep her from slipping out from under his elbow and falling to the ground.
"It looks like we could probably give her some of that chicken salad we made for sandwiches," Steve said. "You get that, I'll go check with our neighbors, see if she belongs to anyone." He stood, leaving Bucky to handle the cat.
Bucky set her down on the table and got up, heading for the kitchen. He heard her make that pitiful noise again as he opened the fridge, and glanced over at her just in time to see her making ready to jump off the table. She didn't look big enough to make that jump without hurting herself. If there was ever a time to be grateful for his improved reflexes and speed that didn't involve him or Steve in mortal peril, that was it, as he sprinted the ten feet from the fridge to the table, catching the kitten just as she fell. "Jesus!" The kitten clung to his flesh arm, tiny claws digging into his skin past the jacket and shirt he wore. He adjusted his hold on her. "You are entirely too small to make that," he scolded her, then went back to the fridge with her in tow.
The kitten shied away from the fridge once he'd opened it, trying to once again disappear into the crook of his elbow. He grabbed the tupperware container with the chicken salad and deposited it on the counter. He poked around the cupboards, looking for something small enough to put some food in that she'd be able to eat out of, finally settling on a small plate that was really entirely too big for how little food he was going to put on it, but they didn't have much else that could be used.
He set the kitten down on the floor so he had his hands free to get her food, which proved to be a mistake when she started trying to climb his leg. He yelped- goddamn, kitten claws hurt like a bitch! He scowled down at her, then gave in and picked her back up. "I need another arm," he said, trying to scoop out a small tablespoon full of food onto the plate without dropping the kitten. He looked at her. "I have no idea how my mother managed to handle four human children. One fuzzy one is bad enough. And you aren't yelling in my ear like a cranky toddler. Thank you for that, by the way."
She responded by trying to lean out of Bucky's grip to get to the food. He had to juggle her and the food before managing to get her and the plate to the table. Bucky dropped both on the table, then went back into the kitchen to put the tupperware back in the fridge. He kept a paranoid eye out on the kitten, making sure she didn't try to wander off the table again, but she was intent on eating.
And talking around mouthfuls of food.
"Seriously, cat?" He shook his head, putting the chicken salad away. "Chew, then talk. You're as bad as Paul was." While she ate, it occurred to him to get her some water. He just hoped he wouldn't have to figure out how to set up an impromptu litter box, because they had precisely jack nothing that could even pretend to do that job.
Hopefully, Steve would find the kitten's owners before that became an issue.
The kitten had finished eating and was trying to play with Bucky's flesh fingers instead of letting him pet her when Steve came back. Bucky glanced back at him over his shoulder. "Any luck?"
Steve shook his head. "Nobody's claiming her. I can't figure out how she got up there if someone here didn't take her up, though."
Bucky looked back at the kitten, frowning. That just didn't make sense. There was no way a cat could get up on that roof without human help, unless someone was engineering flying cats or something stupid like that.
"Now what do we do?" he asked, looking at Steve again. "We're gone for weeks at a time sometimes, we can't keep a cat." Despite what he wanted. He was already growing fond of the little bundle of fluff; he'd always had a weak spot for cats. He used to spend his allowance buying cat food to give to the neighborhood strays, which annoyed his mother to no end. She liked cats well enough, but the strays tended to congregate en masse around the Barnes home because of Bucky's bleeding heart. But, she'd said, it was better than him spending his money on candy and getting sick on too much sugar.
Steve walked over and sat in his usual place, watching Bucky play with the kitten. "We could probably take her to a vet, see if she's chipped."
"Chipped?"
"Microchipped," Steve said. "They put a computer chip into the animal and register the owner's information to it so that if the pet goes missing, it can be returned to its home."
Bucky raised an eyebrow at Steve. "And how do you know about this? You haven't been finding stray animals that I don't know about, have you?"
Steve shook his head. "No, I read it on Wiki. Don't remember how I got to that article."
"And you say I spend too much time on the internet."
"I spend time learning," Steve said. "You spend time trying to traumatize yourself and anyone around you."
Bucky decided to occupy himself with examining the kitten for signs of fleas or ear mites. "You act like that's something new," he said. "Besides, I'm usually looking at completely unrelated things and just get very unfortunate enough to find that shit."
"The hornet's nest?"
"That, you and Tony had coming," Bucky said. "Good news, I'm pretty sure she didn't invite fleas in."
Steve reached over and rubbed the kitten's ears. "That's a relief. Fleas are hard to get rid of."
"Yeah, I remember when you and your mom's apartment got infested," Bucky said. "We had to meet up in public because Mom didn't want one or the other of us dragging the damn things into our house."
Steve gave him a dirty look. "You remember that part, I remember being itchy all the damn time."
"If it makes you feel better," Bucky said, "I felt bad for you." He looked at the kitten, who'd rolled over onto her side for belly rubs and was purring loudly enough that Bucky probably could've heard her over headphones. "Now, the question. How are we going to transport her to the vet? We don't have a carrier."
"You'll have to hold her," Steve said.
Bucky stood. "You're never going to let me drive, are you?" he asked, scooping up the kitten and tucking her safely under his jacket, curled up on his arm. She protested a bit, but settled down when he started rubbing her whiskers.
"Nope," Steve said, grabbing his jacket and keys.
For the most part, the kitten- who Bucky was pointedly refusing to think of by a name, which given his inclination to name anything and everything in his life, was a difficult task -handled the car ride pretty well, although she cried a lot. She didn't flail around or try to get away, though, which meant no claws digging into Bucky. He called that a win.
Steve had found a vet that worked exclusively with cats, which Bucky hadn't realized was a thing in modern day, but it meant the kitten wouldn't be scared by larger animals like dogs, which reduced the chances of her clawing him up, trying to get away. Just because he could take an injury like a champ, didn't mean that kitten claws poking into his skin like tiny needles were exactly comfortable. So he didn't complain that the office was a bit farther away than whatever the closest one had been.
"So what do we do if she's not owned?" Bucky asked as Steve parked.
"I guess we take her to a shelter," Steve said, turning off the car and getting out. "She's a kitten, she'll get adopted."
Bucky frowned, locking the car up after getting out. "I'd rather adopt her myself," he said. He didn't entirely know of any standards or regulations on animal shelters in the modern day, but at least once upon a time, animals surrendered to shelters were put down without much hope for finding an owner.
That didn't sit well with him.
Steve looked at him. "Bucky, we can't have a pet, you said so yourself."
"Then I'll trick Tony into taking her," Bucky said, opening the door to the office, letting Steve go in first.
"Good luck with that," Steve said. He paused and looked at Bucky. "You're the one holding the cat, why are you holding the door for me?"
Bucky glanced down at the bundle of fur hiding just under his jacket, then looked up at Steve. "Habit," he said. "How about, instead of blocking the door, you go in and let me in?"
Steve shook his head, walking in ahead of Bucky and letting Bucky follow him in. "When are you going to break those habits?" he asked. "It's not like you have to watch me for an asthma attack or anything anymore."
"Steve, I've had those habits for years. I'm probably not breaking them any time soon."
Steve made a frustrated noise, but let it drop as they approached the receptionist. The receptionist was studying Steve intently, then raised his eyebrows. At least, Bucky thought the receptionist was a man. He couldn't really tell, the receptionist was the very picture of androgyny, so for lack of any other ideas, Bucky settled on thinking of the receptionist as a man until proven otherwise.
"Captain America?" the receptionist half asked, half stated, acting like he wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not.
Steve looked at Bucky. "How did I know that was probably coming?"
Bucky took a second to force himself to speak, not yet quite in the habit of doing so in public. "You're famous."
Steve turned back to the receptionist. "We found a stray cat at our apartment," he said. "We just wanted to see if she's chipped so we can get her back to her owner."
"Easy enough," the receptionist said. "I'll take the kitty to the back and have one of the vet techs scan her."
Bucky surrendered the kitten from her hiding place under his jacket, and the receptionist took her and disappeared into the back.
All in all, it took less than two minutes before the receptionist came back, kitten in one arm, a slip of paper in his free hand. "Here," he said, handing the paper and cat to them. "She was chipped, that's the owner's contact information so you can get her back to him."
Bucky took the cat while Steve took the paper and studied it. He frowned. "This is one of our neighbors."
Bucky looked around Steve's shoulder to read the paper. "Was he home when you knocked?"
Steve's frown deepened. "Yeah, he said he didn't have a cat." He grabbed his cellphone out of his pants pocket, stepping away from the front counter. Bucky followed him. "I'll call him, just in case." Steve dialed the number on the paper, and then waited for the other line to pick up.
Bucky idly pet the kitten, trying to keep her calm, while listening to Steve's side of the conversation. Judging by Steve's expressions as he and their neighbor talked, Bucky could only guess that it wasn't going well. Steve's reaction quickly went from concerned, to confused, and then right into pissed off territory. Bucky raised an eybrow, waiting expectantly for Steve to tell him what the hell their neighbor said once Steve had hung up.
"He deliberately dumped her," Steve said, his jaw clenched tight enough that Bucky almost couldn't understand what Steve was saying. "Said something about her being sick, and then said some extremely nasty things that I don't even understand how they connected."
"That bad, huh?"
Steve didn't answer that, turning back towards the reception desk. The receptionist looked like he was trying to maintain a neutral expression, but Bucky had a feeling he'd heard the whole thing. When he spoke up, it only confirmed that suspicion. "Did he say what the kitty's sick with?" he asked. "It might be something we can treat."
"Not really," Steve said, jaw still tense. "He said something about not wanting- well, I won't use his exact words, but he made it sound like she was sick with some disease that only affects gay people."
Wait, what? Bucky stared up at him, trying to figure out exactly what their neighbor could've meant by that. What kind of stupid reasoning took that jump?
The receptionist sighed. "He's probably talking about FIV," he said. "In a nutshell, it's the feline version of HIV, which used to be thought of as a gay man's illness, since it was widespread in the gay community. You'd think after thirty years, we would've figured out otherwise. We can test her to be sure, it takes about ten, maybe fifteen minutes in house, if you want."
"What exactly is it?" Steve asked.
"What, FIV?" the receptionist asked. "It's a virus that attacks the immune system of the cat. If I had to guess by how the little lady is acting, I'd say she's probably already into the asymptomatic stage. She could stay in that stage for only a few months, or many years. It varies. When it does eventually progress to FAIDS, it becomes a problem, because the immune system can't fight off infections, so secondary infections can become deadly."
Steve looked at Bucky, likely the same thoughts going through their heads. Bucky nodded, then Steve turned back to the receptionist. "Go ahead and test her. We have time to wait."
The receptionist once again took the cat into the back, and returned within a minute, going back to his normal duties, leaving Steve and Bucky to wait. Steve paced a bit, clearly still agitated by his conversation with their neighbor, while Bucky sat stone still in one of the chairs in the waiting area, plotting horrible, horrible death for said neighbor. Who the hell abandoned a kitten, sick or not? Their neighbor, apparently, which led to more thoughts of murder and mayhem to inflict on the heartless prick.
Bucky wasn't sure how long it was before a vet tech came out, the kitten in hand, but he had a feeling it was probably less than fifteen minutes. Sure as hell felt longer.
The vet tech was a brunette of average height, and after a second, Bucky realized that her brown hair had purple highlights in it. He'd probably never get used to the trend of dying one's hair unnatural colors. When did this trend even start? And what was wrong with natural colors?
He realized that he was feeling his age when his next thought was 'kids these days'.
"Okay," the vet tech said, not yet handing over the kitten. "She did test FIV positive. But that doesn't necessarily mean she's got the virus, just the antibodies. But the risk is still there of her having the virus and it developing into FAIDS. I don't know if Morgan told you, but a cat with FAIDS can become very expensive to take care of. I don't know your financial situation, but if you decide you don't want to, or can't keep her, there's a no-kill shelter called The Cat House about a mile from here."
"What are her chances of being adopted?" Steve asked. Bucky wasn't sure if he was grateful or not that Steve had been the one to voice that little shared thought. On one hand, knowing would let him decide what to do with the kitten, on the other, he had a feeling that if it was bad news, it was just going to upset him.
The vet tech gave them a sympathetic look. "Honestly? It's hard to say. She's a kitten, and kittens have a good chance of being adopted, but sick and injured kitties tend to get overlooked. She might have a chance, she might be stuck in the shelter for the rest of her life, however long that might be."
Yup, there was the bad news, and with it came a queasy feeling of Not Happy.
Steve looked conflicted, barely glancing over at Bucky, before starting to speak. "We'll take her to the shel-"
"We'll take her home," Bucky interrupted.
Steve shook his head. "We can't keep her. You said so yourself."
"I'll trick Tony into taking her. He's home regularly, and he can afford the vet bills."
Now Steve just looked like he thought Bucky had lost his mind. "And how are you going to do that?"
Bucky hesitated. He hadn't really thought about that part; Tony didn't seem like the kind to take in a dependent, not even a tiny, furry kind. Then a wonderfully evil thought occurred to him. "Pepper."
Steve obviously hadn't been expecting that answer, as he looked like he was seriously considering that. "Pepper," he finally agreed, then looked back to the vet tech. "We have a friend that might take her."
The vet tech handed the kitten over to Steve, who passed her along to Bucky. "Good luck," she said. "I hope you can convince your friend to take her. I have a personal philosophy that every kitty deserves a good home."
Steve motioned to Bucky. "So does he," he said, flashing Bucky a consternated look.
Bucky made a point of not reacting to that.
The vet tech- Mandy, they found out her name was -recommended picking up at least a few days worth of cat necessities until Tony could come get the cat, things that he could potentially take home with him to use until he was able to go out and get more permanent things. Which meant a trip to a pet store. While most pet stores allowed pets in, both Bucky and Steve agreed that it'd be less stress on the kitten for them to drop her and Bucky off at home while Steve went to the store on his own.
On his way up the stairs to their apartment, Bucky had to squash the desire to stop by at their neighbor's apartment and visit all sorts of violent things upon his person. Assault charges would probably not make Steve very happy. And if Steve were unhappy, there was a distinct possibility that he wouldn't post bail.
Once he and the kitten were inside and the door was safely locked behind them, Bucky put her down, letting her wander around. She'd been squirming the entire trip home, and while he had no problem outpowering her, it was a bit difficult to keep her still without crushing ribs or bruising her. So he was very happy to put her down and let her walk off her restlessness.
"Just don't find a corner or anything to leave us a present in to clean up later," he told her, shrugging out of his jacket. "You can wait until Steve gets home with a litter box for you."
The kitten didn't pay him any mind, immediately wandering off to explore the couch. He watched her a couple minutes as she climbed up the arm, and he silently decided to thank everything that they weren't actually keeping her, because Steve had this thing about furniture. Now that he could afford nice furniture, he got a bit twitchy about it not looking nice.
Spill one cup of coffee and your roommate goes nuclear on you.
Deciding that she'd cause minimal damage at worst without supervision for the whole two minutes it'd take him to piss and wash his hands, he left her in the living room to go to the bathroom.
Bucky had barely gotten into the bathroom when he tripped over something, flailing his arm out to catch the edge of the sink to keep from landing on his face. He righted himself and glanced down to see the kitten right under his feet.
"How the hell did you get in here so fast?" he demanded. "No, this is not happening. Get out."
The kitten, naturally, completely ignored him to go play with the towels on the towel rack.
"You are just reaffirming my decision to never have kids," he said. "Out." After once again being ignored, Bucky gave up and closed the door. Of course, the kitten had to make things as awkward as possible.
He left the kitten where it was in the bathroom, hoping that she would refrain from mangling the towels she'd been playing with. Towels were far easier and cheaper to replace than a couch was, but Steve still had this hang up about nice things. He probably wouldn't appreciate finding out that his towel had been clawed up the next time he stepped out of the shower.
But, after having his privacy invaded, Bucky was inclined to let the kitten do whatever she wanted and let Steve deal with it when he came home. Bucky was a softie for animals, particularly cats, but having a living creature sit there and watch him piss was enough to make him empty his bag of fucks to give and walk away for awhile. The kitten would be fine.
Bucky occupied himself by cleaning the extra chicken salad off the plate that the kitten hadn't eaten earlier, then sticking the plate in the dishwasher- oh, what a wonderful invention, the dishwasher. Why couldn't it have been around when he was a kid and forced to clean the dinner dishes every night? He hated the chore more than any other job he'd been given. The invention of the dishwasher was one of modern man's greatest achievements, as far as he was concerned.
From the direction of the bathroom, Bucky heard a pathetic kitten cry. He worried that she might've trapped herself somehow, so he shut the dishwasher and headed back down the hall. The kitten made that noise again, this time distinctly from inside the bathroom. Bucky turned on the light, to see the kitten sitting in the middle of the room, crying and shaking a bit. Upon seeing Bucky, she got up and attached herself to his legs.
"What, did you forget I left?" he asked, picking her up. She curled up in his arms and started kneading his flesh arm. He didn't understand how she could possibly have gotten that afraid to be left in the dark in the bathroom when there was still light and sounds of someone being home outside the door, but she obviously had. "I don't know if you've got abandonment issues, or if you're just dumb. I'm going to pretend it's abandonment issues, because I don't want to give up on your intelligence. You found me, after all."
She buried her head against his arm in response, and any irritation he'd had at her violation of his privacy disappeared. It was pretty much impossible for Bucky to stay mad at an animal for very long, and this kitten was taking full advantage of that. Most people would probably think he was too emotional because of that, but Bucky would rather be a softie than to have no emotional reaction at all. He'd done that for decades as Hydra's weapon, and that had probably almost screwed him up more than the chemicals and machines had.
This modern day view of masculinity could go find a bull to cozy up to.
He sat back down at the table before realizing that he probably would've been better off on the couch with the TV on, since he didn't exactly have his flesh hand free to use the touchscreen on his tablet. Well, shit. He looked down at the kitten. "If I put you down, will you go find someplace to sleep where you're not going to be afraid of the dark?"
Bucky wasn't really expecting an answer, so he carefully extracted her from his arm and set her down on the table in front of him. He had a feeling that if he just put her on the ground, she might try to climb his leg again, and this way, she could be as clingy as she wanted and he'd be free to amuse himself with his tablet while they waited on Steve. The idea of just holding the kitten and letting her sleep for the next twenty minutes or so didn't sound very entertaining.
He looked at the kitten, grabbing his tablet. "Thank you for being mobile so I can put you on the table and not get accused of abuse," he said. She crawled over his metal wrist, pawing at his flesh hand and completely ignoring the fact that he was trying to use that hand to turn on music. She paused and looked up at him, then butted her head against his hand.
For a moment, he could only study her, feeling a sort of exasperation that was far eclipsed by the fact that he was complete putty in that tiny kitten's paws. Oh hell. "All right," he said, taking only another second to turn the music on his tablet on, then set it aside and turned his attention to her. "What do you want?"
She made herself pretty clear by pushing her head against the palm of his flesh hand. "Well, at least you know how to communicate," he said, rubbing her ears gently. She began to purr loudly enough that he half wondered if the neighbors would hear. He knew that was silly, but she was certainly louder than any cat he'd ever interacted with as a child.
Bucky propped his mechanical elbow up on the table, resting his chin on his fist as the cat molested his hand to direct all sorts of scritches and pets over her face. If he wasn't careful, he might've been lulled to sleep by the repetitive motions of his hand and her purring. He was convinced that there wasn't a bad mood in the world that couldn't be at least set aside by the purring of a cat.
By the time Bucky heard the door unlocking, the kitten had fallen asleep, using Bucky's hand as a pillow. He didn't have the heart to make her move so he had use of his hand again.
"I'm back!" Steve called in, making a decent amount of noise with what he was carrying.
Bucky glanced over his shoulder back at the entry way. "You wake the baby, you put the baby back to sleep," he said.
Steve stared at him, clearly struggling to figure out what the hell Bucky was talking about, until Bucky leaned to the side so Steve could see the still sleeping kitten. Bucky wasn't sure how she'd stayed asleep through all that noise, but for the moment, he was glad she did. He'd have an excuse to shove the chore of setting up the litter box onto Steve.
"She looks like the apocalypse couldn't wake her," Steve said, but he had lowered his voice a touch. "Bucky, you're a marshmallow."
"Don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my reputation," Bucky said, moving back into a more upright position, still not moving his hand from under the kitten's head.
Steve set down a small litter pan with an equally small box of litter in it on the floor next to the table, and then a plastic bag that looked like it had a couple cans of cat food and a food and water bowl in it. "I suppose you're not going to wake her so you can come help set up her food or box, are you?" Steve said, giving Bucky a look that said 'you make me tired all over and some days I think I should hit you for it.'
Bucky didn't change his expression in the slightest, looking up at Steve, then pointed to the sleeping kitten. "Do you want to wake this?" Steve gave him a stern look, crossing his arms over his chest. Bucky tried to stare him down with that bland expression, but after a moment, he realized he wasn't winning this one, and sighed. "You're a heartless bastard," he said, then carefully scooped the kitten up. "C'mere, you," he said to her. She protested being woken with that tiny squeak of hers, but otherwise didn't squirm as he got up, holding her carefully. "Let's go set up her box, she probably needs to use it by now."
Steve reached down and grabbed the litter pan and the box of litter. "That's what I kinda figured," he said.
With a bit of smug satisfaction, Bucky noticed that despite Steve's insistence that Bucky get up and help, he still didn't have to do a thing, since Steve took it upon himself to take the box and litter to the spare bedroom that used to be Bucky's. All Bucky had to do was stand there and hold the kitten that was still waking up and making it known that she didn't appreciate having been woken up in the first place.
He was probably an asshole for not helping, but really, setting down a litter pan and pouring some litter into it was hardly a two person job. So he didn't feel all that bad about it.
Once the box was set up, Bucky put the kitten down by it. She made a point of investigating around it before walking into it. Bucky backed away. "I'm going to give her privacy," he said, stepping out of the room. "Just because she's rude enough to not do that, doesn't mean I want to stand here and watch her use the box."
Steve followed him out. "What, she followed you into the bathroom?" Bucky nodded in consternation. Steve choked, covering his mouth with his hand, but Bucky could see the stupid ass grin on his face despite that. "Just remember, it's better than a human kid following you in."
Bucky made a face. "I don't know how our mothers ever put up with that," he said.
"Because they're better people than we are."
"That, I don't buy," Bucky said. "Your mother might've been, you had to get it from somewhere. But my mother was just insane. You're not a good person because you raise four bratty kids, you're a lunatic."
Steve gave him a shit-eating grin. "And you got it from somewhere, so mystery solved."
Bucky punched Steve on the arm. "You're a jackass."
"I have to be to keep up with you," Steve said, walking back to the table where he'd left the bag with the food and bowls. He pulled out a small blue bowl and handed it out to Bucky. "Here, you get her water. I'll take care of her food."
Bucky took the bowl, still giving Steve a dirty look. He was just about to head to the kitchen when he heard the kitten crying again. He looked back towards the hallway. "Seriously? We're in here," he called back to her. Within seconds, she came running out of the back rooms and tangled herself around Bucky's feet, before standing up on her hind legs and stretching her front paws up to hook her claws on his jeans. He stared down at her. "You are like a toddler asking her mother to pick her up when she doesn't need to be carried anywhere."
"So you're saying you're her mother?" Steve said, cracking open a can of wet cat food.
"Screw you," Bucky snapped, then picked up the kitten and dropped her on the table. "He's got food for you," he told her, pointing at Steve. "Stay here, and this time? Don't try to jump off a table that's too high for you to jump from."
The kitten stood up on her hind legs again, reaching up and grabbing his hand. She pulled it down to her and rubbed her face against his fingers. Steve laughed. "She's gotten attached to you."
Bucky pulled his hand away and nudged the kitten towards Steve and the bowl of food he'd prepared for her. "Yeah, well, animals like me," Bucky said, turning away to fill the bowl he was holding with water. "Someone has to."
"Oh come on, Bucky," Steve said. Bucky glanced over as he filled the water bowl. The kitten was already eating again, and like earlier, talking while doing it. "I like you," Steve continued. "Pepper likes you. And Tony does too, even if he doesn't seem to know how to show that without being an asshole about it."
Bucky made a dismissive noise, not really reacting otherwise to that as he walked over and set the water bowl on the table next to the food bowl. The kitten stopped eating briefly to sniff the water, then went back to her food.
"I think the only person that doesn't like you right now is you," Steve said, taking his usual seat at the table and sliding his laptop over to himself.
Bucky scowled at him. "Can we not try to dissect my brain right now? Get a hold of Pepper."
Steve pulled out his phone, hesitated, then looked over at Bucky. "You sure about this? We could keep her."
"I thought we agreed that we couldn't," Bucky said, a bit bewildered that Steve was even asking.
"The main reason you gave was that we're gone a lot," Steve pointed out. "We could always ask Sam to catsit. I know you don't know him well, but I'll vouch for him."
Bucky considered half-heartedly. If Steve trusted Sam, Bucky knew he could too. But he still felt uncomfortable at the idea of leaving a pet with someone he didn't know. But it wasn't just his lack of trust in Sam that made him reluctant. "And what if she gets sick while we're gone? Vet bills get expensive and those places tend to ask for payment up front. He may not be bad off, but he might not be able to afford her."
"I could always get a credit card to let him use in those cases," Steve said, clearly not buying that as Bucky's real reason. Damn punk knew Bucky too well for that.
Knowing that Steve was not going to let this go until Bucky 'fessed up to his entirely too sentimental reason, Bucky decided to look at the kitten rather than at Steve. He felt a bit mentally squirmy the longer he maintained his silence, because the longer he stayed quiet, the longer Steve waited patiently. Bucky sighed. "If she gets sick and dies while we're gone, she's dying without her family there. That seems like a pretty shitty way to go."
Steve sat back in his seat. "And there's the real reason. Bucky, you didn't have to hide behind those excuses. You know I'd understand that."
"Yeah, well, that's because you're gooey inside," Bucky said, a bit grumpy. "I'm not."
"The hell you aren't," Steve said. "If you weren't, you wouldn't have been willing to be friends with the scrawny kid that everyone wanted to beat up."
Bucky was about to protest that what Steve said was different from getting gushy over an animal, but that damn cat just had to come over at that point and start trying to play with his metal fingers. He stared at her. "You're ruining my case," he told her.
Steve laughed, giving Bucky a smug grin. "I told you. Face it, Bucky, you have emotions again. And that's not a bad thing. Besides, you need more good ones, you brood too much."
"You're a punk," Bucky said without much feeling behind it, mostly paying attention to the kitten, letting her try to attack his hand. He was sure she thought she was winning. "That's not good for your teeth, you know," he said as she tried to chew on the ends of his fingers. She didn't seem to care.
"So I ask again," Steve said. "Are you sure you want to give her to Pepper and Tony?"
Bucky didn't answer at first, picking up the tiny animal and settling her on his flesh arm, holding her as she continued to attack his fingers without a care that she'd been moved. It was sorely tempting to say no, to keep her. Steve was right, having something else to be happy about besides his friends would probably be good for him, and if he were honest, he missed fussing over small animals.
But there was still that thought that she might die without him there for her. And that left a lump in his stomach.
Finally, he drew in a deep breath. "Call Pepper," he said. "If she says no, we'll figure out something."
"All right," Steve said, turning his attention back to the phone he still had in his hand. Bucky figured he was sending her a text instead of a call when Steve kept typing, and never brought the phone to his ear. "I'll try to get her on a video call," he said. "That way she can see the fuzzball for consideration."
Steve turned the laptop slightly so Bucky could see the screen if Pepper was available to chat. Bucky ignored the computer for the moment, knowing that Pepper probably wasn't going to sign in until after a reply text at the very least. He let Steve stare boredly at his phone while Bucky put his attention on the kitten, who'd flipped herself onto her back in his arm, purring quietly and looking ready to fall asleep. Bucky couldn't help but smile, rubbing her belly lightly with one mechanical finger.
He looked up when he noticed Steve watching him. Steve looked vaguely amused. "It's good to see you back to your old self," he said. "The Winter Soldier never would've held a cat like a baby. Or at all."
"Shows you what you know," Bucky said, no heart in the protest. "It drove Pierce nuts that I'd be careful about animals when on an assignment. Almost let one get away because I stopped to get a dog out of the way of the gunfire. I seem to recall getting into trouble for that one."
Steve raised his eyebrows. "You actually did that?" At Bucky's nod, Steve shook his head with a faint smile. "That should make you feel better, then. They couldn't take everything away from you."
Bucky didn't answer, not sure how to. In some ways, Steve was right. In a lot of other ways, he was very wrong.
Steve's text tone going off on his phone saved Bucky from having to think further on that subject. Steve grabbed his phone, eyed it, then set it down and scooted his chair a bit closer to Bucky to put both of them in the camera range on the computer. "She'll be on in a second," he said. "She just got done with a meeting and is on her way back to her office."
"Oh. Shit." Bucky felt a bit guilty. "I forgot today was a workday. We probably should've waited until the weekend."
"And if we'd gotten a call before then?" Steve looked at him.
"Well played."
Bucky glanced down at the kitten, still gently rubbing her exposed belly. She was sleeping, or close to it. She was either completely asleep and snoring, or she was just awake enough to be purring. He couldn't quite tell.
Steve's video call program pinged, drawing Bucky's attention away from the kitten that he was trying to stop himself from naming if Pepper said 'no'. Steve clicked on the button to accept the call, and Pepper's face appeared on the screen. She smiled, although she looked like she might do well with another cup of coffee. "Hi, guys. So what's this about a present, Steve?"
Bucky looked at Steve. "Appealing to a woman with gifts? I taught you well."
"And you thought I was never listening," Steve said, glancing briefly at Bucky, then back to Pepper. "How much of a gift it is entirely depends on you. How do you feel about animals?"
Pepper's smile turned into a confused frown. "You want to get me a pet? That's kind of a strange gift."
"It's not exactly a glamorous one, either," Steve admitted. "Nature gifted it to us, and we're trying to regift it to you. Hope you aren't offended by that."
"Not really," Pepper said, then glanced away from the camera. "Not now, I'm in a meeting," she said to someone off screen. "It won't take long, tell him I'll be with him in fifteen minutes, if it's longer, I'll let him know." Then she looked back at the screen as the door to her office shut loud enough to be heard over the call. "Sorry, a client showed up a bit early. Anyway, what's going on?"
Steve looked at Bucky, then at the kitten. Bucky glanced down at her, and sighed. She was still sound asleep. Steve scooted his chair over a bit so Bucky could slide his more into view of the camera to show the animal to Pepper. "I found her on the roof. One of our neighbors dumped her."
Pepper looked like she melted, making a sad little cooing noise. "Poor thing. Who dumps a kitten so tiny?"
"Our neighbor," Bucky said, barely holding back a growl. He still wanted to punch the guy a few million times or so. "She's FIV positive, he didn't want a high-maintenance pet."
"That's the kind version," Steve said. "We'll spare your temper the full reason."
"Probably a good idea," Pepper agreed. "I have to be nice to my next meeting, sadly. Even though I'd rather step on the guy's toes."
Steve flashed her a lopsided grin. "Need some hired muscle to loom over him for you?"
Pepper's smile lit up her face. "Aw, you're so sweet. But if you keep that up, Tony might get jealous and then I have to deal with him." She turned her head slightly, looking more in Bucky's direction. "Why can't you guys keep her? Not ready to adopt yet?"
"We haven't even gotten married yet, Pepper," Bucky said, struggling to keep from laughing. "One step at a time." Steve reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. Bucky looked at him. "Wake the baby, you put the baby back to sleep." Steve didn't give him a verbal reply, just gave him a long-suffering sigh. Bucky turned back to the computer. "We aren't always home consistently," he told Pepper. "You two are, for the most part."
"True," Pepper said. "What about a catsitter?"
"We considered that," Steve said. "But if she gets sick, there's a decent chance she might not make it before we can get home. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to die alone in a strange place."
Bucky silently thanked Steve for putting that idea out as his own.
Pepper's shoulders did that wilting slumping again. "Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. That's too bad, she seems like you, Bucky."
"Don't let him fool you," Steve said with a jerkfaced smile. "She owns him at the moment. If she weren't sick, he would've already named her."
Bucky gave Steve a sour look. "You act like I'm the only animal lover around here."
Pepper wrinkled her nose at Bucky. "You're adorable." Bucky gave her an offended look and kicked Steve's ankle under the table as Steve started laughing. Pepper sat back, looking at the sleeping kitten. "It'll take some doing to get Tony to agree to it," she said. "He's never outright said no to a pet, but he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want small dependents running around."
Bucky raised an eyebrow. "You mean he's the one that actually makes the decisions in that household?"
Pepper tried to look innocent for about three seconds before her smile turned perfectly wicked. "I like to let him think he does. Makes him easier to manipulate to my bidding."
"So make this seem like Tony's decision," Bucky said. "You want a gift, we need help finding a place for a gift, brilliant idea to kill two birds with one stone. Are there any gift-giving days coming up? Anniversary or birthday?"
"Sadly, no," Pepper said. "Give me two hours, max. You'll either hear from him that he's reluctantly on his way to DC to pick her up, or from me that even my feminine wiles couldn't budge his black little heart."
"Thanks, Pepper," Steve said.
She smiled. "Always happy to help a friend. And besides, she looks adorable. But anyway, I have to go, I've got an impatient client sitting outside my office."
They exchanged goodbyes, then the call disconnected and Steve moved his laptop back around to its usual spot. Steve looked at Bucky. "Now we wait. Any ideas what we'll do if Tony says no?"
Bucky looked down at the bundle of purring fluff curled up in his arms. "I guess we'll keep her and hope for the best," he said.
Steve made a noise that might've been agreement. When nothing more was said, Bucky tuned out Steve clicking around on his laptop, focusing instead on the sleeping kitten, rubbing her whiskers gently. She squirmed a bit, but didn't wake up, just settled into a slightly different position and kept sleeping.
Bucky smiled, then bit back to urge to sigh. He knew he should set her down on the couch to sleep instead of fussing at her to keep from getting too attached, but it might've been too late. A tiny, quiet part of him hoped that Tony would say no, but the rest of him refused to take the chance of the kitten's family not being there for her if her illness carried her off. So making the Stark-Potts household her family was the better option.
"What're you going to do, hold her for the next two hours?" Steve asked, and Bucky looked up at him to see that the jackass looked like he was doing his best not to laugh. "You can't use your tablet with your left hand."
Bucky scowled at him. "She's comfortable. When she wakes up, I'll move her."
"So you're just going to sit there like that?"
Bucky opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, realizing that he was about to sound like a new mother who refused to be separated from her newborn and slumped in his chair a bit with a sour look on his face. "Shut up."
Steve laughed. "You're a teddy bear. It's no wonder your mother was frustrated when you refused to marry and give her grandkids. You were good with your siblings."
"Being good with kids doesn't make for father material," Bucky said. "I remember a lot of times where I gave up and dragged the little brats to our parents because I was about to go nuclear on them."
"You were a kid," Steve pointed out. "You mellowed as you got older. That's normal."
Bucky raised an eyebrow at him. "And now that my temper's short again, you still think this would be a good idea?"
Steve gave a pointed look to the sleeping kitten, then up to Bucky. "I think that's a pretty good indication that your temper isn't as short as you think."
For a second, Bucky just studied Steve, tilting his head slightly. "I'm a bit concerned where this conversation is going, Steve. Why are you wanting to saddle me with kids?"
"I'm not," Steve said. "I'm just telling you to give yourself more credit. You're not a completely heartless assassin, you don't have to act like you're being caught at something you're not supposed to do just because you're turning gooshy over an animal."
Bucky made one of those faces that his mother constantly warned would freeze on his face if he didn't stop. "You were laughing at me, you asshole."
Steve tried to look innocent for a moment, then shrugged with another one of those way too amused for his own good grins. "Maybe a little. You try to act like you don't care about much anymore. And yet, there you are, holding a kitten like she's a baby."
"Technically, she is a baby," Bucky said, trying to deflect the conversation a bit. "She's a baby cat. Baby does not exclusively apply to the hairless primate kind."
"Hairless primate?" Steve raised an eyebrow.
Bucky pointed at the kitten. "She's a furry feline." Then he pointed at Steve. "You are a hairless primate. Or did you fail biology in school?"
Steve propped his chin on his fist. "I suppose better a mercenary hairless primate than a performing hairless primate."
"I remember that picture," Bucky said, sitting back slightly, careful to not wake his bundle of purrs. "You must've been looking in a mirror when you drew it." Steve gave him a dirty look, and Bucky pointed at the kitten again. "Before you try to hit me, remember that if you wake the baby, you-"
"-put the baby back to sleep," Steve finished. "Your mother said that too much. It stuck in your brain."
"It's a good way to stop excessive noise and violence," Bucky said. "Especially when your baby sister is colic."
Steve shook his head. "You know, as much as I liked your siblings, I am just as glad that I was an only child. Knowing my mother's luck, she would've ended up with two kids with a ton of health problems."
"She would've found them worth it," Bucky said. "She found you worth it."
"My mother was a saint, that's why," Steve said, the faint smile on his face not quite matching the exasperated tone of his voice.
"If the only requirements for being a saint is finding a kid with health problems worth caring about, then I'm better than Saint Michael himself," Bucky pointed out. "Stop that. And you say I'm self-deprecating."
"We all have our moments," Steve said. "I've even heard of Tony having them. I never saw them directly, but Pepper has, and I have no reason to think she's making it up."
"I think Pepper is incapable of lying to her friends," Bucky said. He glanced down at the kitten as she moved again, waking up enough to make that squeaking noise that passed for a meow. "So are you going to wake up now, or do I not get my arm back?"
She squirmed like a turtle on its back, so Bucky took that as a sign that she wanted up and set her upright on the table. She stretched, yawned, scratched her ear, then promptly walked right across Steve's laptop keyboard to her water dish that was still on the table.
Steve stared at his screen. "She just did a Google search that brought up some Korean guy named 'L Jiu.' I think." He looked at the kitten. "I hope you do that to Tony frequently. He deserves it."
Bucky rested his face against his palm in a way that mostly smothered the amused grin on his face. "I won't argue with that."
"If we end up keeping her, I'm training her to walk on your tablet," Steve said. "My keyboard doesn't need cat litter pieces from her paws stuck under the keys."
"Because my sensitive touch screen tablet needs a five pound kitten walking on it." Bucky kicked Steve's ankle. "You're a jackass."
Steve kicked back at Bucky's foot. "I learned from you."
"The hell you did!" Bucky stomped down on Steve's toes. Steve yelped. "You were a jackass long before I met you."
Steve laughed. "I was five when you met me, how long did I really have to be like that without your influence?"
"You're Irish, Steve, being a jackass is in your blood." Then he pointed at Steve sternly. "And if you dare start talking in that stupid accent your mother taught you, I will kick you again."
That just made Steve laugh more. "You only hated that because you couldn't understand what I was saying."
"That's because the accent is stupid," Bucky said. "I think you would've been beat up for that alone."
"That, and the way I walked," Steve said.
Bucky shrugged. "Column A, column Beee- shit!" Bucky sat forward, half standing from his seat as the kitten perched on the edge of the table, readying herself to jump. Steve looked over, then grabbed her. Bucky sighed, sitting back down. "Cats have no survival instinct."
Steve set the kitten down on the floor. "That's why they have nine lives," he said. "I'll put her bowls on the ground. Might keep her off the table."
Bucky watched the kitten wander around while Steve put her bowls on the floor, just inside the kitchen on the tile floor. "Tony deserves the heart attack she'll give him," he said, already believing that she'd be adopted by Tony and Pepper.
"He deserves a lot of things," Steve said, moving to sit back down. He paused at the sound of claws on furniture and turned. The kitten was trying to climb up the couch. "Not my couch," he snapped at her. Naturally, she didn't listen.
"Steve, your couch will survive kitten claws until Tony can come get her," Bucky said with some exasperation. "You won't even notice anything wrong with the damn couch."
With a sigh of frustration, Steve turned back around to look at his computer than over his shoulder at the kitten. "If we end up keeping her, I'm going to stick double-sided tape on the couch until she learns to keep her claws off."
"You'll have to tape the towels then, too," Bucky said.
Steve looked at him. "She got the towels, too?" Bucky nodded, trying very hard not to laugh at him. Steve shot another dirty look over his shoulder. "For being tiny, you sure are destructive. I used to know someone like you."
"Rebecca was a force of nature," Bucky said. "The kitten is a kitten that can't cause that much harm. You can't compare them."
"They're both female, the comparison is accurate," Steve said, turning back around to give a grumpy look at his computer.
"And now you see why I never wanted to get married," Bucky said, picking up his tablet.
Continue to Part 2