Who: Sharon Carter and Bucky Barnes When: Backdated, December 21 Where: Street outside a cafe What: Random Encounter with a kiss Rating/Warnings: Low/None NOTE: Bucky has been in town for a while even though he's just been added to the game as of tonight! ♥ Status: Complete
Sharon left the cafe, holding a mocha and shivering just slightly. She’d spent time in New York, other places, she could handle the snow… for the most part. But her time in Southern California (her time apart from the snow last year) had softened her quite a bit. Not to mention how comfy her life was (how regular her temperature was) since she’d had Viv. She was a little spoiled nowadays, though she was enjoying bringing out her warmer clothes. Jackets, boleros, ponchos and scarves (not all at once) she hadn’t worn in what felt like ages. Gloves, too. And hats. All fashionable choices, too, to be sure.
She came out of the cafe and turned left down the sidewalk. There was a little archway between the sidewalk and the parking lot. This time of year it was covered in both christmas lights and snow, though other times it was ivy-covered and quite pretty. Sharon didn’t think twice about the archway until she stepped underneath it and … got stuck. She couldn’t move forward. She couldn’t move backward. She was stuck under the archway, holding her mocha, shivering a little in the chilly air. A strange sensation came over her, and she glanced up. Her stomach sank as she saw the mistletoe hanging above her head.
Oh. God.
~*~
Cold made the ache in his shoulder worse; Bucky wouldn't complain about it no matter how bad it got because he figured it could have been worse. They could have amputated. He'd rather have an arm which half-worked than no arm at all. He'd taken to going out for coffee in the mornings since it seemed to help. Who knew it could get so cold in California? No movies had ever shown it snowing for Christmas in Orange County as far as he could recall.
He kept his head down when he walked these days. It was easier to avoid making eye contact than to have to deal with someone wanting to be a good Samaritan, ask him if he needed help. Once upon a long, long time ago, Bucky had been the one asking his good buddy Steve if he needed help, telling him how it wasn't shameful to ask for it when he needed it. Things had been different before the service.
Bucky hadn't been some cripple before.
"What the---"
Stuck in place, unable to move forward or backward, Bucky barely stopped himself from turning the air blue with curses as he recognized he appeared to be trapped under an archway with a woman. She had the look for someone classy. Idly, he thought his mother would have approved of her winter wear. Few people in California seemed ready for cold weather, but this woman certainly was from her jacket to her gloves.
Words failed Bucky as he felt himself leaning down against his will. Fighting the impulse was an impossibility. One moment he was staring at a woman thinking she looked nice in the cold; the next, Bucky was kissing her wondering if his lips were chapped or not because hers felt so soft in comparison. What the Hell was going on?
~*~
Just before Sharon was able to call out for help, she saw a somewhat familiar man headed her way. His eyes were downcast, so she didn’t have a good look at his face, but she could have sworn she’d seen him somewhere--she could have sworn she should know who he was. Her call of help changed almost instantly to a call of warning, but it was too late. He’d come too close, was drawn in as if by some gravitational force.
Heart thundering, fingers trembling Sharon opened her mouth to try and apologize, to try and explain; this wasn’t her fault! She would never have done something like this on purpose! But then… but then… Then he was kissing her.
Jesus. How long had it been since Sharon had been kissed like this? A very, very long time. Far too long. The instinct to struggle, to pull back, to try and avoid such a thing was sucked away as she felt the warmth of his lips against hers. All thought left her mind for a moment, and she let herself enjoy it. The kiss moved quickly from a simple peck on the lips to something a little hungrier. Sharon’s free hand lifted to rest against the man’s chest as she kissed him, and she even felt her foot lift behind her--as if she was a girl from a different era.
~*~
What was wrong with him? Kissing some stranger on the street as if they were in love?
Bucky didn't know, but he did know he could wrap his good arm around her waist to pull her to him, nip at her soft, soft lips with his teeth, and swipe his tongue against the area to soothe the tiny hurt. She was so soft. It was as if he'd been trapped in a world of hardness only to fall into the arms of an angel. No angel had ever come for James Buchanan Barnes when he'd been hurting; the closest he'd ever gotten had been a hug from a saint on Earth by the name of Steve Rogers.
As suddenly as he'd fallen into her, kissing her, Bucky felt the world right itself.
He could move again though he didn't make any effort to remove his arm from around her waist.
"So," he murmured against her lips, "I'm Bucky Barnes. It is very nice to meet you, angel."
~*~
It was a playful kiss, a fairly passionate kiss. She probably should have been embarrassed about how desperate she was in his arms, but for the moment Sharon didn't care. She felt herself melting against this stranger, careful not to drop her hot mocha--though a part of her wanted to. She wanted to wrap her own arms around him, tangle hands in his hair, kiss him until they were both breathless.
The urge had come on so sudden and so strong, and it left just as suddenly. Though she remained wrapped up in the daydream, longing to stay in it for a moment longer. Just a moment longer...
His words made her open her eyes, though she didn't pull away. Oh, God. That feeling she'd had, the idea that she'd seen this man before? It must have been true. She'd seen his file, his photograph, his military record. She knew who Bucky Barnes was--in her Dreams, at least. Best friend of Steve Rogers, born March 10, 1917, died in winter, 1945. Could this possibly be... the same?
"Sharon Carter," she whispered in response. A little smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "And the pleasure is all mine."
~*~
"I'd prove you wrong on that Miss Carter, but I have a feeling I might gain the attention of the local police if I got that graphic with you in the middle of the street."
His hair fell forward around his face as he grinned at her. She was pretty, blonde, definitely more his type than Steve's which was its own kind of irony. Bucky wished for the thousandth time he'd taken the time to go get his hair cut. Between his physical therapy and trying to find work as a disabled vet, he'd focused on higher priorities than getting a haircut. Steve would have died before he'd let his get so out of control, but no one needed to tell Bucky how much he paled in comparison to Steve.
Raising his good hand to brush up the back of his fingers along the curve of her cheek, Bucky traced the smirk in her features. She was beautiful enough to be an angel. It was no wonder she'd felt so good against him. His wardrobe was seriously lacking, but he was grateful his jeans were loose enough not to shame him in public. It'd been a long time since he'd been a teenager; Bucky was too old to get away with reacting to a kiss from a stranger, even if that stranger was beautiful enough to be an angel.
"You want me to let you go? I normally don't do the He-man thing. It was instinct more than anything else."
~*~
Sharon gave a little laugh, feeling her cheeks grow hot. She supposed that forward flirtation wasn't out of the question considering she'd just had her tongue in his mouth. "That's the sort of thing we might have to fight a little harder against."
Even with the shaggy hair, the jeans, whatever, he was still handsome. Sharon realized in that moment that she could have been caught under the mistletoe with just about anyone who happened by on the street. Luck was on her side, it seemed, that it happened to be someone she sort of knew, someone that was... well, Bucky. She wasn't going to complain.
"It is a little strange to be cuddled up with a stranger, but... you're warm, and it's cold..." She pretended like she was considering it for a moment, flirtatiously, then shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not keeping you from anything important, am I?"
~*~
There were things he could have responded with to flirt back with her. Bucky knew how to flirt. Women had been easy for him in a way they'd never been for Steve. Flirting had paid his bills for a while when they'd been growing up. Older women had liked the way he looked, liked letting him take care of small chores for them in exchange for extra cash to support his family, and they'd certainly liked it when he'd started basic training for the Army.
The whole thing about liking a man in uniform wasn't a cliche for no reason.
Instead of flirting, Bucky answered her honestly, "No. You aren't keeping me from anything more important. I was only heading out for a cup of coffee. The heat wakes me up, takes the edge off a little for me. I don't work right now."
He wondered what sort of work Sharon Carter was in. She seemed very certain of herself and her body was a knock-out. Bucky would have believed she was a model, an actor, a singer, anything she said? He'd have believed. In all honesty, he thought he would have believed her if she'd told him she actually was an angel.
"I can promise to keep you warm if you don't have anywhere to go for a while? Get you a fresh cup of whatever you're drinking?"
~*~
They needed to talk, didn't they? After the kissing and the flirting... Sharon wasn't about to let him just disappear from her life now. If she had anything to say about it, anyway.
If their lives in this world mirrored their lives in the Dreams, Sharon could assume a few things about Bucky. Was he in the military? Did he know Steve? Sharon knew that Steve had recently shown up because he'd gone out with Peggy a few times. She didn't want to make assumptions, though, and wanted to know more about the guy she'd just kissed with enthusiasm.
"It's still pretty fresh," she said, and finally pulled back just enough to get a good look into his face. That was the face she remembered from the photos in her Dreams. Charming, boyish... She lifted a hand to trace along his cheek this time, a little surprised at how warm his skin felt under her fingertips. Hopefully she didn't just give him a chill. "But I won't say no to the keeping warm part. We should get you your coffee and go sit inside."
~*~
His face had no scars on it. Bucky knew women seemed to be fine with touching his face before his body. The last time he'd gotten intimate with a woman, she'd asked him first to turn off the lights -he'd thought she was shy- and then she'd asked if he wouldn't mind putting his shirt back on. Bucky had politely asked her if she wouldn't mind putting her shirt back on before leaving his place.
That had been the last time Bucky had invited a woman back to his place.
Sharon seemed familiar to him. He couldn't place from where, but there was no inclination in him to move away from her hand. Bucky told himself it was because her fingers were cold and he'd promised to keep her warm.
He always kept his promises.
Steve Rogers would vouch for that and he was the world's first, best, and last Boy Scout as far as Bucky was concerned.
Reaching up with his good hand, Bucky tangled her fingers in his own, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as he read the name on her drink cup. He knew the place. It was close which was why she had likely been heading his way with it. Serendipity? A chance encounter which led to exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right people? Bucky would take it even if he hadn't ever believed in it before.
"Let's head back to where you bought yours so they won't throw us out for bringing in outside drinks. I'd hate to have to cut my time with you short for a cup of coffee."
~*~
Sharon didn't have scars. Not those kind. She did have one scar no one had seen yet, hadn't had the opportunity to show it off. Not yet, anyway. She wasn't thinking along those lines, she was just happy to be a girl. Flirting with a handsome boy who seemed to want to flirt with her, too.
His fingers slid through hers and Sharon felt warmth flooding through her. Her heartbeat picked up, too, when she felt his warm palm against hers.
"Good idea. We'd hate to have to sit outside in this weather." Because if he thought getting kicked out was going to make her want to run away and hide? He had another thing coming. They could always sit on the curb, but who wanted that at this time of year? The snow, the cold, all of that. It was nice to curl up in front of a fire in this weather, but sitting outside? Her hot mocha would turn into an iced one pretty quick. Okay, maybe not iced, but luke-warm for sure.
"I usually just grab whatever's closest to work. Normally it's a Starbucks. But I was out on assignment, so... This place is good. Are you a regular?" She didn’t release his hand as they walked back toward the cafe.
~*~
"You could say that," Bucky agreed, "I like to walk. This is about as far as I get before I need to find something warm to drink in this weather. When it's warmer? I go looking for something cold at about this same distance. They generally don't hassle me here."
Vets got a bad rep in some neighborhoods. They weren't wealthy nor would they ever be wealthy if they were riding the disability train like Bucky. Some expected them to wind up begging on the streets or sitting around taking up space to make use of the free AC in the heat or the free heat in the strange cold they were experiencing. Bucky had never used a place in that way. He paid his dues as they came up.
It didn't matter to him he'd already paid through his service to their country.
No one got a free ride in life.
No one.
They went in with Bucky holding the door open, releasing Sharon's hand only to let her walk in before him. He nodded to a booth in a corner which was open. They could watch the street, see the snow coming down if it decided to start up again, but they'd still be warm. Bucky only drank straight black coffee anyway. His order never took long at the counter.
"I'll be right over. Save me a seat, would you?"
He winked at her before heading to the counter to place his order.
~*~
Sharon nodded. Walking was good. She enjoyed taking long walks, too. Stopping for something either hot or cold to drink along the way made for a nice treat, though Sharon was trying to cut back. She still had a little bit of baby weight to lose. It meant more jogging than walking, more hours spent training at the Agency. But she was getting there. She was a lot closer now than she'd been.
Her fingers felt cold when he released her hand. Not that it was chilly, they were inside after all, but the loss of skin-on-skin contact was palpable. Sharon brought both hands around to hold her to-go cup. "Thanks," she said when he held the door for her, and then she smiled at the barista behind the counter.
A slight flush came to her features at the wink. Or was that from the cold? "Wait, you want me to save you a seat? So demanding." It was teased with a smirk, then Sharon headed over to the booth to settle in. Her heart was still thundering. She still couldn't believe what'd just happened.
~*~
Demanding? Sure. Bucky could agree with that assessment. He had a tendency to see what he wanted and go after it. Time wasted was time gone forever. He knew better than anyone how fragile life was and how fast it could all be over. The number of friends he'd helped carry onto a plane home versus the number who'd walked with him back onto the plane was staggeringly different.
He paid for his drink with a five dollar bill, telling the harassed young woman behind the counter to keep the change. She looked as if she could use a decent tip. Bucky had been there himself. It had taken him eleven months to get his disability approved; his income had been nonexistent in the meantime. He'd lived in VA hospitals, a rehab center, moving to couches, and eventually into a shelter before the funds came through.
Bucky tried to mask the extent of the injury to his arm by tucking his hand in the pocket of his jeans. It gave him a debonair look if the nurses at the VA hospitals he'd been in were anything to go by.
Settling across from Sharon, he took a sip of his coffee before asking, "So are you single? I hate the idea I kissed another man's girl. Or another girl's girl. No judgments here."
Bucky hardly had room to judge with the way he'd lived his life.
~*~
Sharon was staring out the window, trying to keep her eyes off of Bucky as he ordered, then picked up his cup. When she’d first slipped into the booth, her eyes had wandered over his form--the back of those baggy jeans. A sigh escaped her, and she caught herself having… thoughts. It was a flight of fancy, though. Bucky was amazing so far, but he was likely to turn around and flee if he knew what kind of baggage Sharon came with.
He slipped into the booth and she turned to him, brightening considerably at the sight of him, her smile growing. She felt heat creeping up her cheeks again, which was turning out to be a constant when he looked at her with those amazing eyes.
“Oh, no, I’m ...single.” There was a moment of hesitation before the word ‘single.’ She was going to say free, but that wasn’t entirely true. She amended, “I’m free to kiss whoever I like. And men are my gender of preference.” She lifted the cup to her lips for a sip, staring at him over the top.
“What about you, Bucky? Am I in danger of some other girl attempting to scratch my eyes out now?”
~*~
"Not a chance. I prefer women, but lately women haven't been preferring me. Who knew all it took was magic mistletoe to get me a coffee date with an angel?"
He was flirting shamelessly, but who could blame him? Sharon had a charming flush to her face which made her look younger. They were acting like teenagers. It should have been awkward, but all Bucky wanted to do was see how far he could press it.
Slouching further into his side of the booth, he reached up to brush his hair back with his good hand. His face was rough, but he'd shaved the day before. Bucky figured he didn't look too much like a hooligan though he knew most women seemed to prefer the clean-cut look like Steve sported.
"I seem to be putting a lot of things off to be honest. Everything from finalizing the place I live to getting a haircut. Do you believe in destiny, Sharon? Everything happening for a reason to lead up to how something is supposed to go?"
~*~
Sharon smirked at being called an angel. It wasn't the first time, but it also wasn't often that she was called something so flattering. She shrugged her jacket off and draped it over the back of the booth beside her. Her hat, scarf and gloves were gone now, too, tucked into the pockets of her coat. "Those other women don't know what they're missing." She admitted. The kiss had caught her completely off guard, but had also taken her breath away.
Whatever it was he'd done--shaving, not shaving, whatever--it was working for him. Sharon flipped a little hair over her shoulder, incredibly glad she'd done her beauty routine this morning and curled her hair, applied mascara, all that extra stuff. Hopefully she looked like a proper lady, and not an exhausted, stretched-too-thin mom trying to fake her way through the day.
"I dunno. If you'd have asked me that twenty minutes ago, I might have had a different answer." It was flirtatious again, she was following his lead. "But now? I'm not so sure." There may have been a reason they were thrown together under that archway. "Why do you ask?"
~*~
People responded to good lines. Men, women, it wasn't about gender; it was about confidence. Bucky had that in spades so long as he had a way to cover up the wasted ruin which had once been his left arm. Some men left the service disabled worse than him, far, far worse, and they came out with less as a result. He would always be the kind of man who counted his blessings before his burdens.
"If I were going to lay a line on you? I'd say 'Because I think we're destined to be.' Since I'm not that guy -or I've mostly grown out of being that guy- I'm asking because I believe in destiny. Fate. Some higher power. I have to because I'm still here and a lot of the guys I served with? They aren't."
He wasn't special. Bucky was a Hell of a long way from being a saint though he tried to be less of a sinner than in his youth. The only reason he could figure for him to have survived the incident he'd lived through? Someone wanted him to stick around. Bucky had something left to do in his lifetime. Every other possibility was ridiculous. He would never manage to cure cancer or save the President or anything major.
Bucky wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing with his life, but he was sure there had to be a reason he still had it to live.
"I was in the service. Army. Special Forces. Now I'm---not anymore. I haven't figured out what I'm doing from here. What about you? What kind of work do you do?"
~*~
Sharon would have replied that they were past lines now. He could lay on all the lines he wanted--she was already sitting here with him, having a coffee. Right? But would that seem too desperate? Because Sharon didn't want to seem desperate. She sure was, she felt it deep within her tummy. She was desperate, but she didn't want him to know she was.
Though she was flattered, Sharon agreed about the line. Maybe they weren't destined to be, but they were destined to be here. Together. Today. Something threw them together, and she was so glad it had.
Ah. Military. Sharon should have known. This was Bucky Barnes, after all. Had he served with Steve Rogers? She couldn't ask without having to explain how she knew. So she'd save that for later. "I was a detective with the Orange County PD for a while. Before that I worked undercover in New York. And now I work for a private security agency." That was an acceptable way of explaining it without going into detail about the insanity, right?
"I should have guessed you were military," she teased, playfully. "You kiss like a soldier."
~*~
"I haven't kissed any soldiers, but I'll take your word for it. I will say I know I fuck like an animal. My apologies for the language. I figured you'd prefer I was direct seeing as you're former police."
Cops had hated Bucky growing up. He'd caused more problems for them than any five kids on the same block. Steve was that kid who'd never back down from a fight while Bucky was the kid who wouldn't let the fight take down Steve. He finished anything Steve started until Steve didn't need him to do it any longer; even then, Bucky would throw in because it was what a friend did for a friend.
Steve was almost the same as a brother to him. Bucky was as proud to fight for Steve as he had been fighting for his country.
Considering the possibilities behind private security, he mused aloud, "Private sector has its perks. Better equipment. Fewer regulations. All the power without half the throttling back from the government. Are you field still or have you settled into a life behind the scenes? Somehow I can't see you being happy working purely from a desk."
He could see her happy working with him on a desk, but he kept that to himself.
~*~
Unfortunately, Sharon had been mid-sip for that sentence, and mocha nearly came out of her nose. A laugh turned into a cough and a sputter, and she lifted her napkin to press against her mouth so she wouldn't make a mess across the table. She hadn't been expecting that. Not in the slightest. But hey, the man knew his style, and being able to come out with it like that was impressive. She liked his confidence.
Once she was sure she didn't have mocha dripping from her nose, she lowered the napkin again, smirking. "Well, then. I suppose maybe I'll get to find that out for myself someday."
She was flushing. But that was from choking on her coffee. Really. Cough.
It was a nice thought, though. It'd been a very, very long time since she'd been with a man. The last time she'd been rather pregnant, and though it was a good time, she wasn't emotionally connected to the man she'd been with. Sharon could do the friends-with-benefits thing, she could disconnect physical and emotional, but at this point in her life she didn't want to anymore. She wanted the whole thing, and she was willing to wait for it.
"I've just been put back into field work," she said. "And my roommate-slash-best-friend has recently been hired by my agency, so I've been training with her. That's been a lot of fun."
~*~
A wicked smirk stole over Bucky's face at Sharon's reaction. He'd wondered if she were one of those modern types who was free with her favors or 'sexually liberated' as they said or if she were someone who preferred a relationship. Bucky had no problem with either type of woman. Too few had wanted him for more than sex for him to judge one way or the other. Curiosity drove a lot of his actions; Bucky would admit it freely if asked otherwise he simply presented himself as he came.
"If I'm a very lucky man or Fate keeps dealing the cards in my favor? I hope so. You are everything I like in a woman."
He thought about asking what she liked in a man. It could be fun given the way she was flushing. There were benefits to both decisions. Mostly Bucky held his tongue because he didn't want to make her think he was only interested in sex. He could take it or leave it these days. Sometimes it made him feel more alone than being alone.
Best friends were a safer topic for him.
"My best friend is out here. I came to see him. Be near him, I guess. It's hard right now because so much of my family is gone. My squad was almost wiped out overseas. I'm originally from New York though I guess that's a little obvious. I still have some of the accent."
Some. Bucky had done undercover himself before which had gotten rid of the harshest tones of his Brooklyn heritage.
"It sounds nice to be able to live and work with your bestest."
~*~
At least he was amused by her total choke. Sharon was giddy and embarrassed, and thankful that he wasn't turning tail and running. Yet, anyway. They hadn't talked about Viv. She wasn't planning on bringing that up, either. Not the first time they met.
"Is that so?" Sharon asked, curling both hands around her to-go mocha cup. Though she was probably far too old to try and play coy, she did it, anyway, batting her eyelashes at him in a playful way. "Well, then, Bucky Barnes, you should ask me on a date. A proper one." As if she'd say no.
The subject of his best friend came up, and she wanted to glomp on it. But she also didn't want to come across as too desperate or ... stalker-like. "Your friend lives around here? Is he from New York, too?" As if she didn't know.
Sharon hated that she was keeping so many secrets. After she finished her undercover gig, she told herself that she'd keep fewer secrets. This felt like a step backward. "It's really wonderful. Do you get to work with your friend at all?"
~*~
Releasing his coffee cup, Bucky reached across the table to touch Sharon's hands, tracing her fingers where they clasped around her own drink. The cafe felt smaller, more intimate somehow when they were flirting. It was likely a passing fancy for her. She could have been embarrassed about the kiss or wanted a reason to seem less free with her favors. It could have even been she really did find him attractive.
Bucky knew it wasn't until he brought out the wasted flesh which was his left arm people could see how far he was from being the whole man he appeared at first glance.
"Would you step out with me, Miss Sharon Carter? It'd be a great privilege I'd feel honored to have and I do promise to take you somewhere worthy of your time."
What kind of place would Sharon like to go to? Bucky wasn't too certain as he didn't know her specifics as of yet, but he would make the effort. Generics weren't his thing when he was stepping out properly. It'd been a while, but he knew how to treat a woman. His mother would have slapped his head around if he hadn't treated a woman the way she deserved after asking her to step out.
He pulled his hand back, smile fading slightly at the question about his work status.
"I see Steve. Steve Rogers. He's my bestest from back in Brooklyn. Grew up in the same area together so he's also a New York boy. I literally don't work anywhere. Not now. I'm---on disability. Is that a problem? I hope not."
Bucky could understand if it was since what woman wanted a cripple when she could have a whole man?
~*~
There was something about the way Bucky said step out. It made her flash back to the old-fashioned guy she'd read about in Steve's file in her Dreams. The James Buchanan Barnes who lived and died in another world, stalwart and true, fighting alongside Captain America. It made Sharon think of Doris Day and "vintage" dresses, a dance card and staticky radio. She liked the feeling.
But her smile faded when his did, when his hand pulled away from hers. "Hey," she reached forward to take hold of his hand again, running her fingers over his palm with a strong grip. "It's not a problem. Don't be silly," it wasn't stern, exactly, but she meant every word when she added, "it would be my honor to step out with someone who's given so much to the protection of our country."
~*~
Talking about his injuries was never comfortable for Bucky. He hated the way it made him feel, helpless and a failure. No man wanted to be reminded of his worst loss repeatedly. The best he could manage was a smile at her response. She was certainly a singular woman though plenty of people could offer the words. It took a lot more than words to handle looking at the extent of his injuries head-on.
"Thank you for that. I knew you were my kind of girl when we kissed. Or at least I hoped I knew. Let's set up a time for that date and I'll plan on showing you a good time."
He squeezed her hand before releasing it to fish out his cell phone.
The planner function kept him in line more often than anything else. Bucky hoped Sharon could see him again soon. They 'clicked' in a way he'd never expected to have with a woman after his retirement from the field. He'd thought his chances were all dried up. It seemed Fate had different plans for him. He knew he should have already moved on out to see Steve sooner. All the best things in his life came from knowing Steve.
This could work out, Bucky thought, it really could.