Work Text:
I.
"Will you go to prom with me?"
Bucky looks up from the book he's reading and stares at Gamora. "Excuse me?", he says because there's no way Gamora would want him as her date. They're friends - probably best friends by now - but she's got the hots for Peter.
"What about Quill?"
Gamora just gives him a look and Bucky rolls his eyes. "What did he do this time?", he sighs, but the girl just shrugs and Bucky is so done with this shit.
"Will you be my date, Barnes?" Her voice sounds a lot less friendly this time, but Bucky's no fool, so he shakes his head.
"Like hell."
II.
It's late and everyone else is drunk.
Bucky expected as much, but it's still a bit more unnerving and less funny than what he'd thought it to be. Steve had to stay at home because he broke his god damn middle finger and the coach wants him to heal up perfectly fine - no school, no fun, no nothing. At least Natasha's there and she didn't even drink any alcohol, yet she's passed out on the couch, Clint fast asleep in her arms. Bucky sighs and decides to head home.
He turns around and runs straight into Peter, who stumbles backwards and laughs.
"Ooh watch out, big guy!", he giggles. "Aww, but man, I love you, you know?"
And then Bucky has his arm full of a totally wasted Peter Quill who's clinging to his shirt, still giggling.
"Listen, Barnes…won't you go out with me?", he slurs and Bucky's too sober for this, but that can't be changed with him still being on pretty heavy pain meds.
"You're drunk, Quill.", he mutters and ruffles the boy's hair a slightly. "I'm too old for you anyway."
III.
Wanda is as unsteady on her feet as ever, her face deadly pale and her eyes a bit unfocused. Bucky's the only one nearby and he can't stop himself from pulling her close to keep her from falling. "Watch out, Maximoff.", he grumbles, but she doesn't even look at him. He takes her to the doctor's office and leaves for his classes.
School's out and Bucky's bleeding all over his new shirt, so he pays a visit to the doc, again. It's nothing serious and it takes all of five minutes to patch him up.
Wanda's still there. She seems to be a bit more awake, her face isn't as pale anymore and when he sits down next to her, she has the decency to look at him.
"Thanks, I guess.", she rasps out and Bucky nods it off.
"Don't mention it."
They fall quiet and then suddenly the doc's out of the room and they're alone. Wanda shifts in her chair and then she places her hand on Bucky's arm. He stares at her fingers and is pretty sure that this is heading in a totally wrong direction.
"James.", she starts - nobody has called him by his real name in the past seven months. "Are you free tonight?"
He nods slowly and she smiles. It's not a shy smile, more…a seducing one? Bucky frowns.
"We could spend some time together.", she says while caressing his skin with her fingertips. Immediately, he pulls away and takes a deep breath.
"Wanda…I can't. It's…you see…I'm actually-"
The door bursts open just in time to stop his babbling and in comes Peter, his face a bloody mess. Bucky has never been happier to see him.
IV.
Clint is high on some shit Loki slipped into his coffee and it's Bucky's turn to keep an eye on him. It's rather unnerving because Clint seems to have given up on verbal communication and is signing to him rapidly, but Bucky's not exactly fluent in ASL. He's told him as much twice, but Clint doesn't seem to care at all.
"You're funny, Bucks.", he giggles at some point and crawls towards the older boy on all fours.
Suddenly, he pounces and tackles Bucky to the floor, straddling him and pinning his shoulders with his hands. "Wanna have some fun?", he asks and grins wickedly.
Bucky sighs. "No."
"Aww, Bucks, come on!", Clint whines, but Bucky shakes his head - he's not going to take advantage of a drugged kid, thank you very much. "Not happening, Barton."
V.
"…so when I broke up with Steve it wasn't exactly-" Bucky starts to cough and stares at Natasha. They're at Starbucks again, because Natasha seems to like him and he likes her good enough, too.
"You…and Steve?", he asks and something inside of him twists uncomfortably.
"Yes.", she answers. "We even went to prom together. You should have seen Clint, he was devastated."
Bucky gulps and stares at his coffee. "O-okay…" Natasha watches him like a hawk and then she places her hand atop of his slightly shaking one.
"You don't have to be sad, Bucky.", she soothes, a smile on her lips. "We broke up so…I could be your girlfriend from now on. If you want me to." Bucky looks up and tilts his head. Then his cheeks turn pink and he shakes his head.
"No, no, it's not that-" He hesitates and takes deep breath. "Don't get me wrong, but…I can't be your boyfriend, Tasha."
He doesn't notice the knowing smile on her lips.
+I.
It really is awkward, Bucky thinks. There's Steve, standing in front of him, eyes cast to the floor, face flushed pink. It's cute. What did he just say anyway?
"Excuse me?", Bucky asks and shakes his head to get rid of his current thoughts about Steve's lips. Steve clears his throat and shuffles his feet.
"I...just…do you want to…go to the movies this friday?", he repeats his question and Bucky thinks he might have gone to heaven. It takes him some seconds to answer.
"Um…yeah, sure."
They fall quiet afterwards and Bucky tries to make sense of the situation. "So…is this…are you asking me for a date?", he finally murmurs and dares to look up at Steve, who seems to blush even more. Bucky hadn't thought him to be the shy guy.
"Yeah, maybe…", the blonde answers. "…well, if you…want it to be a date." Bucky smiles and reaches for Steve's hand, taking it into into his own.
"I sure as hell do."