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You and Bucky were sitting in his favorite sushi bar having a relaxing evening. You’d been dating for about three months now, and you couldn’t be happier. Bucky was everything your ex wasn’t: kind, considerate, caring, attentive, and hot. It had taken him 6 months just to get the courage to ask you out, and another 2 months for you to get over your panic of another man trying to date you.
But Bucky had worn you down. He gave you space when you said you weren’t sure; he even went so far as to assure you that even if you didn’t want to go on a date, he would still like to enjoy your company as a friend. That had shocked you most. The few people (men, women, and non-binary) you had attempted to date since your last failed relationship had all been all-or-nothing. You would start out as great friends. Then one date later it was “you either date me or we never speak again”. And you hated that.
It had made you feel like you were only good for sex. It didn’t help that one of your exes all but said that.
“Michael, sometimes it just feels like you only want me for the sex!” You had cried, frustrated that your boyfriend wanted to have sex, and you wanted to go on a date. He had tried to tell you that ‘sex is a date’. But you wanted to go to the movies and actually watch the movie, unlike what he wanted to do, which was have you give him head in the theater. Or go mini golfing, but he would want to have sex behind the windmill. You would suggest going to a baseball game or something, and he would complain it was too public to have sex.
Michael had reeled back and backhanded you across the face, sneering at you. “Don’t you ever say that again! I’m not like that! I don’t just want you for sex!” he had spat. “And if you ever say that again, you’ll fucking regret it! Got it!?”
But Bucky was different. Three months in and you two still hadn’t done the horizontal tango, and Bucky never asked for it, always respectful when you pulled away from a makeout session. He never questioned you. Always telling you it was at your pace. You hadn’t told him your whole past yet, and he hadn’t told you all of his.Or.. you have told him very, very, little about your past. And you know a good deal about his thanks to the internet. But he hasn’t talked much about it to you, so you let him tell you what he wants, and he lets you tell him what you want, and it works.
“Have you ever had sake?” he asks after ordering one for him while you ordered a Jasmine tea.
“Hmm… I think I might have tried it back in my early twenties, but I don’t remember. I know it’s, like, one of the strongest drinks out there.” You smile. “Why? Trying to get me drunk, Buck?”
“Never,” Bucky smiled. “So what did your coworker do today?” he asked, leaning towards you, resting his chin on his hand to show you have his full attention.
“Oh my god, don’t -” You groan, rolling your eyes. “Listen, I don’t know how that man passed 8th grade, much less managed to get a job at Watercrest.”
The insurance company you worked for appeared to have recently decided to hire about 1200 new employees to keep up with their growing auto policies, but in their haste to assist with the current levels of tasks and call volume, they appeared to have forgotten to train the new employees on even the most basic of auto insurance rules.
“So in the last week alone, I swear to God, he asked if the customer doesn’t carry rental coverage, if we can cover a rental car for them, and then approved a fucking Stark Enterprise electric car for a claimant because he thought that we owed for a comparably priced vehicle when we owe for the same size of vehicle. The claimant was driving an A Series, the little compact car they initially set out with? Our insured only has so much liability coverage! If we max out the coverage on a super high luxury rental, we won’t be able to repair his own vehicle! But apparently that never occurred to him! Like - How? I seriously want to just snap on him sometimes. And then - THEN! Oh, god, he asked what ‘outstanding’ meant.” You huffed and turned to pour yourself a cup of tea. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t answer him without being an absolute bitch, so I had to leave the group chat. I swear…”
Bucky chuckled, nodding at your words. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you. I just can’t imagine someone being that incompetant.”
“You’ve never worked in customer service. Trust me, the general public is 100% incompetant,” you mutter bitterly as you drink your tea. “What did you do all day? Just lounge around with Alpine?” You smile. Bucky’s cat, Alpine, was one of your favorite things about Bucky. He loved that little furball, and it just made you love him more.
“Oh, I'm sure she would have preferred that. But I went out -”
“Y/N?
Your head snapped around as you heard your name being called by the one voice you really wished you had never heard again.
“Oh my god, it is you!” Michael says as he walks over to you, arms out as if he’s about to hug you.
You instantly duck, sliding off your chair and pressing yourself into Bucky’s side to avoid the hug.
“Michael? What are you doing here?” You ask as Bucky’s metal arm instantly wraps around you protectively.
“It’s such a small world! I’m here on vacation with my wife!” Michael says so happily. If he’s put off by you avoiding his hug, he doesn’t show it. “What are you doing here?”
His wife. The woman he cheated on you with the entire three years you were together. The woman who, after he broke up with you, started harassing and bullying you relentlessly online. She’s one of the many reasons you no longer have any form of social media.
“I’m … also on vacation. Michael, meet my boyfriend, Bucky. Bucky, this is my ex, Michael. We were just enjoying dinner, if you -”
“Michael, they don’t have any vegan options.”
You can’t stop your face from contorting in a grimace as you hear her voice.
“I’m sure you can find something on the menu,” Michael says to his wife, his eyes never leaving you. You hate it. You wished he’d get the hint and fuck off. “Hey, why don’t we eat with you? I haven’t seen you in … oh, what has it been? 10? 12 years now?”
Too soon. You think. “I think it was about 8, actually.” You say, remembering the time he had cornered you in a grocery store and forced you to hug him or cause a scene. You had hugged him then, you had just recently ended with another one of your exes at the time and didn’t have it in you to cause a scene. “But we really don’t have much to catch up on. I’m sure there are other places you can sit.”
“ You .” His wife (you never did bother to learn her name, perhaps you should have), sneered at you. “You’re the bitch who cost Michael his job!”
You sigh, shaking your head. You hadn’t cost him his job. He had cost him his own job by reaching out to you and performing unnecessary and unapproved work on your workstation. You had simply gone to your manager and advised what he was doing. It wasn’t your fault they fired him. You had actually asked them not to, because you were afraid of retaliation.
“I didn’t -” you start but are immediately cut off by her piercing voice.
“Your fucking bitch, we were about to have our fourth child when he lost that job! I’m still paying back that hospital bill!” She tried to lunge at you, but Bucky was faster.
Before she had even taken her second step, you were suddenly behind Bucky and the chair he had been sitting on, and Bucky was manhandling her into a hold to keep her from you.
“No one harms my gal,” You hear him growl at her as he glares at Michael. “I suggest you both leave unless you want to be forced out.” He was doing his best to control himself. You knew he was. He had the ability to break both of them in half without breaking a sweat or blinking an eye. But he was fiercely protective.
You had assumed as much, after nearly a year of knowing him, but you had never seen it in action before.
“You just assaulted my wife!” Michael cries, but he’s backing away, the coward.
“No. I stopped your wife from attacking my gal.” Bucky’s glare hardens even more, if that’s possible, and you shiver. You’d never been so attracted to him, or frightened of him. “Now like I said. I suggest you leave.” He lets Michael’s wife go, but non-too-gently pushes her in the direction of the door. “Now.”
“Mr. Barnes, the police are on their way to assist if you need?” Your waitress informs Bucky, knowing both of you. She knew neither of you would cause a scene or trouble intentionally. “I still have them on the phone if you want.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, will it?” He raised an eyebrow at your ex. “This place has security cameras?”
“Of course, Mr. Barnes. It was all caught.”
“Fuck - come on, let’s just go.” Michael grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her out of the bar.
Immediately, Bucky was back by your side, pulling you into a hug. “Hey, you alright, doll? You’re shaking.”
“I’m fine,” you say, trying to shake your nerves. You hated that even after all this time he still affected you so badly. “I’m fine. Can we, uh… can we just eat?”
“You sure? We can leave if you want.”
You shook your head, determined to not let this control you today. “No. No. I want to eat. Please?”
“Of course…” Bucky nodded, pulling your chair out for you. “Do you want some sake? It might help calm you?”
You chuckle a little and shake your head. “No, no, I’m alright with my tea.”
“I’m brewing you a fresh pot,” The waitress smiles, winking at you. “If it makes you feel any better, she was a fucking cunt.”
The laugh that bubbles up and explodes out of you is surprising, but refreshing. “Ohh, I bet.” You say, smiling at the waitress then at Bucky. “You should have seen the texts and DM’s I got from her after he broke up with me.”
~*~Fin~*~