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Suitcase full of clothes in one hand and Alpine in his carrier in the other, Bucky came to a stop in front of the door and knocked. After a few moments, the door opened, and he came face to face with a disgruntled Steve Rogers.
“Hello Captain Rogers. My name is Agent Bucky Barnes. I’m going to be your SHIELD-assigned bodyguard for the next week or so to help you get acclimated to the twenty-first century,” Bucky explained with a smile, before the door was promptly shut in his face.
***
Bucky sat outside Steve’s door for a good hour, knocking every now and then. When that proved unsuccessful, he decided to start talking to Steve through the door. When that failed, he broke out his horrible singing in an attempt to annoy Steve into compliance. He gave up on that strategy when curious neighbors started poking their heads into the hallway, giving him strange looks.
Quickly running out of options, Bucky decided it was finally time to break out the beast—Alpine.
Alpine’s regularly scheduled dinner time was soon approaching, and the thing about Alpine was when he was hungry, he made sure everyone in the vicinity knew. Alongside this, like all other cats, Alpine hated closed doors.
“All right, sweetheart. Work your magic,” Bucky said as he opened the door to Alpine’s carrier, scooping him out and placing him in front of Steve’s door.
Like clockwork, Alpine immediately began meowing his little lungs out while scratching at the door. The high-pitched yowling went on for about five minutes before Steve’s door finally opened once more.
“You can come in if you can turn that thing off,” Steve said, giving Alpine an annoyed look before he retreated back into the apartment, leaving the door open.
Bucky smiled, gathering his things. “Good boy,” he murmured, kissing Alpine on the head as he carried him into the apartment.
Stepping inside, Bucky’s heart gave a sad clench at how cold and impersonal the apartment was. It was expected, of course, as Steve had only been out of the ice for about a week, but Bucky would’ve expected SHIELD to give him some wall art at the very least.
“Bathroom’s down the hall. The couch is a pull-out bed and there’s sheets in the closet. I’m turning in for the night,” Steve said mechanically.
“Woah, slow down. Can’t we talk for a bit? Don’t you wanna get to know the stranger who’s gonna be sleeping in your home?” Bucky asked.
Steve shrugged. “Not home,” he said, making Bucky immediately regret his word choice. “And I know enough already. You’re here because apparently SHIELD thinks Captain America needs a babysitter.”
Bucky shook his head, his brows drawing together. “I have no idea what SHIELD told you, but that’s not why I’m here at all. I’m here to support you. And if you really want me to go,” Bucky paused, hesitant, “I’ll go. But I want to help you in any way I can.”
Steve stared at him for a moment. His jaw was so tense Bucky was worried his teeth would crack. “Goodnight, Bucky,” he finally said before retreating to his bedroom.
***
Bucky woke to the sound of a startled shout. He bolted up, metal fingers instinctually wrapping around the knife he stashed under his pillow. His eyes quickly scanned the room and his stomach dropped when he saw Steve’s door was open.
“Captain Rogers?” Bucky called, his knife held in front of him as he crept towards Steve’s room. Once inside, he found Steve sitting pin straight. He stared at Bucky, eyes wide.
“What’s wrong?” Bucky said, lowering the knife.
“There’s something in the apartment. I think it’s in the room now,” Steve said.
“Are we compromised?” Bucky asked. “Hydra?”
Steve shook his head. “I don’t think so. Just an intruder of some sort.”
Immediately after the words left his mouth, a white blur darted out from underneath the bed and into the living room.
“There!” Steve shouted, throwing his pillow like Bucky had seen him throw the shield in old war movies.
Bucky dodged the pillow, making his way into the living room to pick up Alpine and cradle him to his chest. He made his way back into Steve’s room.
Seeing Steve, Alpine immediately gave an innocent meow. Bucky gave a tired laugh. “Sorry about that, it was just Alpine. He’s learned how to turn doorknobs. I would’ve introduced you two earlier, but,” Bucky trailed off, “Well, you know.”
“If being my bodyguard is just protecting me from a cat, I’d probably find a new job right about now,” Steve said.
Bucky’s face softened as he set Alpine on the ground. “You think I’m a quitter?” Bucky asked, picking up Steve’s pillow and tossing it back on Steve’s bed.
Steve caught the pillow, considering Bucky for a moment before he swung his legs out of bed. “You hungry? Let me make it up to you for starting off on the wrong foot today,” he said, leading the way out of the bedroom.
Once in the kitchen, Steve began looking through the fridge and pantry before he turned around and gave Bucky a sheepish look. “Well, this is embarrassing. Are you up for eggs? Because that’s all I’ve got.”
Bucky laughed, shaking his head. “It’s all right. We can go grocery shopping tomorrow.”
Steve stared at Bucky as he closed the pantry, a small smile appearing on his lips.
Well, would you look at that. Progress already, Bucky thought.
“All right. Goodnight, Bucky,” Steve said.
“Goodnight, Captain Rogers,” Bucky said as he watched Steve return to his room.
”Call me Steve,” was all the blond said before he closed his door with a click.
***
“Three dollars for a loaf of bread?” Steve exclaimed, appalled.
Once he’d managed to calm down after being overstimulated at all the bright and confusing sights, sounds, and scents of the grocery store, Steve immediately started complaining about how everything was priced.
Bucky nodded, taking the loaf from Steve and placing it in their shopping cart. “That’s inflation for you, pal.”
So far, Bucky had taken them to the fruit and vegetable section, the pasta and breakfast food aisle, and now the bread aisle. He figured this should be their last stop for the day, not wanting to oversensitize Steve too much by introducing him to the enigma that was frozen food and microwave dinners.
As they made their way to the cashier, Steve came to a stop and glanced at a small child and their mother. The child was wearing a harness-like contraption, attached to a leash in the mother’s hand.
“So that’s what you do to kids in the future now, huh?” Steve asked, a confused look on his face.
“Maybe I’ll get one for you,” Bucky said. “I heard you jumped on a grenade in basic and consistently jumped out of planes without parachutes. Planning on doing anything like that while you’re under my watch?”
“Maybe if I get bored.”
***
While they'd survived their first full day together, Bucky dreaded the next day they had ahead of them. Today he would be going over major historical events Steve had missed while in the ice. It would be heavy, to say the least.
Steve and Bucky sat at Steve’s kitchen table, Bucky’s notes covering the surface. “So, it’s important to remember a lot of this info is from a U.S. perspective, which has its biases, but we can start here for now,” Bucky explained.
For now. It was dangerous, this kind of hopeful thinking. Thinking he and Steve would have a future together after this week. They had only met two days ago. Plus, he was Captain America, and Bucky was just a SHIELD agent, after all.
Bucky started at the end of WWII. Not wanting to linger too long as it was still probably a fresh wound for Steve, he immediately dove into the Cold War and the moon landing. From here, he started describing cycles of protest of the 50s and 60s. Steve’s eyes lit up as he listened attentively to Bucky’s explanations of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement, Third World Liberation Movements and anti-war movements, because apparently after already having two world wars, they still persisted after Steve had given his life to the cause.
They came to the late 70s and early 80s. “Here we start seeing the Gay Liberation Movement,” Bucky explained before hesitating a bit. “But I need to preface everything by saying I’m gay. I like men. So if that’s a problem—”
“No!” Steve quickly interrupted, almost startling Bucky with his insistence. “Not a problem at all,” he added, this time more subdued.
Bucky looked at Steve before a small smile tugged at his lips. “Okay, good,” he simply said.
Bucky explained various terminology—different ways people identified, and how sometimes this changed over a lifetime, or sometimes people didn’t feel the need to place a label on themselves, and how all of these experiences were equally valid.
He explained the AIDS epidemic, the War on Drugs, 9/11 and even more warfare in the Middle East. He explained how they had their first Black president now, who would be entering his second term in the coming year.
Bucky paused for a moment as he took a drink of water. He watched Steve carefully, who was clearly visibly shaken after hearing everything Bucky had just told him. Like a dam, it all broke forward at once, and Steve began to cry.
“Oh, Stevie. Come here,” Bucky said as Steve practically collapsed into his arms. He couldn’t even bring himself to care about the accidental slip of a pet name. He was supposed to be Steve’s bodyguard. If he couldn’t protect Steve from all the ugly in the world, at least he could provide this.
Bucky rested his chin on top of Steve’s head, stroking his hair with his metal hand as he cried into Bucky’s chest. Once Steve’s crying finally calmed a bit, Bucky spoke in hushed tones, rocking Steve gently. “All right, we’re going to engage in one of my favorite practices of the 21st century now,” he said.
“Which is?” Steve asked in between sniffles.
“Ordering Thai food and eating our feelings,” Bucky said with a smile.
***
“You know, I’m now realizing I forgot a very important date during our history lesson,” Bucky said as they made their way through their pad thai and pumpkin curry.
“What’s that?” Steve asked.
“March 10, 1984,” Bucky said.
Steve’s brows furrowed. “What happened then?”
Bucky grinned. “Yours truly was born.”
Steve snorted, nearly knocking over his Thai iced tea before taking a sip. “Tell me your history now,” he said after setting down his cup.
Bucky sighed, trying to figure out where to start. “Well, I was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, but then my parents and I moved to Brooklyn when I was two. They had my baby sister, Becca, when I was five. The first half of my life is pretty uneventful, until I hit 17. That’s when I lost my arm in a car accident,” Bucky said, wiggling the fingers on his left hand.
“Bruce Banner was developing a new prosthesis program, and he and his team reached out to me and my family. That’s when I first became involved with SHIELD. At 18, I went to college, studied physics and astronomy, and based on my grades, SHIELD wanted to hire me. That’s when Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson recruited me. You’ll meet them soon enough,” Bucky explained.
“I’ve been working with SHIELD for about five years now. First it was just backroom logistics, but eventually I graduated to field work. After my first year with them, I decided to adopt Alpine,” Bucky said, smiling down at the cat as he wove in between his legs, begging for food scraps. “And here we are now.”
Steve whistled. “All this time I didn’t know I was sitting with Einstein over here.”
“Well, one of us has to be the brains in this operation,” Bucky said with a laugh, immediately scolding himself for allowing himself to think like this once again. He pushed the thought away before turning to Steve. “But now you’ve let me blabber on too much. Your turn. What’s your history?”
Steve leaned back in his chair, stretching. “Well, back in my day…” he began, laughing when Bucky rolled his eyes.
“You probably know a lot from what the history books say, but I was born a little before the end of WWI—they called it the Great War. My Pa died overseas, leaving me and my Ma. She came over from Ireland and she was a nurse. As luck would have it, she was given a son who had just about every health ailment in the books. I didn’t let that stop me, though. Constantly got into fights, and it drove her up the wall,” Steve said.
“Ma worked so hard to provide for us. She died when I was 18. After, I did odd jobs here and there. I also sold commissions. Mostly sketches, but also paintings when I could get my hands on paints.”
“I didn’t know you were an artist,” Bucky said.
Steve gave a small, sad smile. “History books don’t really care about that kind of stuff.”
Bucky shook his head. “We’ll have to add sketchbooks and paints to our next shopping list.”
Steve gave a small laugh this time. “That’s how it was for a time, I guess. Then the war came. I had nothing for me in Brooklyn, and I never liked bullies, so I kept trying to enlist. Finally met Abraham Erskine and well…” he tapered off, eyes looking a bit misty now.
Bucky gently placed his hand on top of Steve’s, giving a reassuring squeeze. They sat in comfortable silence for a while longer.
“Buck?” Steve asked after a moment, almost timid.
Bucky’s eyebrows rose. “Hm?”
“Bisexual,” Steve said, hesitant as he tried the word out for the first time. “I think that’s what I am. Bisexual.”
***
After the emotional day they’d had yesterday, Bucky wanted to spend today going over something much more lighthearted—the Internet. Of course, not everything online was entertaining, but at least the more annoying subjects would more likely be headache-inducing rather than tear-inducing.
Bucky brought his laptop to the kitchen table, setting it in front of himself and Steve. They had talked about stopping by the Apple store to get Steve his own phone and computer, but Bucky’s laptop would do for now.
First, he decided to show Steve how to use email, word processors, and other apps on the computer. He then pivoted to show Steve how to use your basic search engine. A wave of fondness overcame Bucky whenever Steve would type “Google.com” into the Google search bar, or when he first typed his inquiries as if he were speaking to a person—Hello, Google. I would like to go to www.Google.com please.
From there, they graduated to social media, focusing mainly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and YouTube. He also showed Steve how to use Netflix. Following this, memes, of course, were inevitable. Steve seemed to have found a favorite in Grumpy Cat, out of everything Bucky had shown him.
Bucky also showed him broad overviews of pop culture throughout the decades—popular books, music, movies, TV shows, and celebrities. They couldn’t tackle everything in one day, of course, but they’d started to write a list for Steve to make his way through when he had the time.
After their broad lesson, Bucky told Steve he could borrow his laptop for the rest of the day. He immediately disappeared into his bedroom with the device.
Alpine sauntered up to Bucky, now that he finally had his human’s undivided attention. Bucky scooped him up, rubbing his forehead. “What have I done, Al? He’s like a teenager with an internet addiction. I think I’ve created a monster.”
***
Bucky’s eyes widened when he looked through the search history on his laptop.
He honestly didn’t mean to see any of it, wanting nothing but to protect Steve and his privacy—that was quite literally his job, for fuck’s sake—but he’d seen it and there was nothing to be done now except show Steve how to delete his search history in the morning.
The first few were fairly harmless: How to interact with a cat. Art stores near me. Art history 1945-present. DIY Thai recipes. Interior design how-to. Fashion tips 21st century. Funny Grumpy Cat memes. YouTube Grumpy Cat compilation.
The next few, not so much: Veteran support group.Therapist near me. What is PTSD? Queer history 1945-present. Am I bisexual? quiz. Zodiac sign July 4. Zodiac sign March 10. Cancer/Pisces compatibility. How to ask a man out on a date as a man.
It was such an invasion of Steve’s privacy, Bucky didn’t know what to do with himself. Of course, he was ecstatic that it seemed his feelings for Steve were reciprocated, but he didn’t think he could see Steve in the morning, knowing what he knew now.
He needed to get it together. He knew he had to tell Steve what had happened somehow, but he didn’t think he could bear to do it verbally. He’d spent these past few days finally gaining Steve’s trust, all to screw it up with one mistake.
Bucky sighed, pulling at his hair and scrubbing his hands over his face. Beside him, Alpine gave him an annoyed look as he jostled the pull-out couch with his movements.
“What do I do, Al?” Bucky whispered.
Alpine stood up, stretched, and walked across Bucky’s lap and keyboard as if there wasn’t an entire bed available for him to maneuver around before he settled on Bucky’s other pillow.
“Rude,” Bucky said, shaking his head. He then turned back to his computer screen, where Alpine’s paw had accidentally opened a new tab.
Bucky stared at the screen for a moment, before turning back to Alpine, eyes widening when it dawned on him. “I take it back. You’re a genius,” he said.
***
The next morning during breakfast, Bucky pulled out his laptop and handed it to Steve without saying a word. Steve’s brows furrowed as he took the device, eyes scanning the screen. A Google tab was open with something Bucky had searched up.
How to let the guy you’re a bodyguard for know that you accidentally saw all of his really personal Google searches and that you’re so sorry and feel horrible, but at the same time you would very enthusiastically say yes if a bisexual Cancer born on July 4 asked you out on a date.
Once he finished, Steve’s gaze shifted to look up at Bucky. His expression was unreadable.
“Please tell me you don’t know any other people born on March 10,” Bucky said, eyes nervously searching Steve’s face.
Slowly, a smile broke out over Steve’s face. “Of course, it’s you. March 10 is a very important day in history, after all.”
Bucky gave a relieved laugh. “I’m sorry again. I didn’t know how to tell you face to face.”
Steve’s smile grew into a beaming grin. “Well thank god, because I didn’t know how to ask you face to face either,” he said, reaching for Bucky’s hand. “Guess I should start googling some restaurant suggestions for where I should take you.”