Just Roommates

Chapter Three

His little excuse for going to bed early wasn't even close to the truth, but it worked. He texted Steve, knowing the man always ran on Saturday mornings- and practically every morning. Steve was nice enough to let him join and accepted coffee after. They had planned to hang out later that evening anyway, but the jump start was welcome.

Bucky stayed up the first half of the night tossing and turning, thanks to those stupid emotions she had evoked in him.

With what felt like 15 minutes of sleep, the alarm blaring at him received a stern glare. He grunted out of bed on little to no rest, grabbed some workout clothes, and eased out into the hall as quietly as possible, not to wake Y/N.

She was an early waker, so he worried about the chance of running into her, but tip-toed around to prevent alerting her.

Going into the kitchen, he found a note next to the coffee pot where everything was set to start a serving, and all that he needed to do was press the on button.

Hope your run with Stevie goes well! Remind him we have the club opening tonight with the crew. You know how he feels about those kinds of scenes ;) -Y/N/N <3

He smirked at her kind gesture. She was infamous for little notes and small acts of service that made everyone's life a touch easier. It was second nature for her to make people's day a little brighter. Something he'd always admired about her.

Damn, it. This wasn't helping his chaotic mind.

He grabbed his coffee quickly, drinking it as he drove to the park, where Steve and his meeting point were. And still... The gears in his head had yet to slow down.

"Hey, Buck," Steve greeted. He came around the side of Bucky's car and found him leaning against the hood, watching the sunrise, and drinking from his travel mug.

"Hey man," Bucky cleared his throat, smiling softly and putting the cup in the car as they moved to stretch.

"It's been a minute since you've joined me for a morning run. What's going on?"

"Uh, nothing much. Just needed to clear my head some."

As Bucky stretched, Steve watched him carefully, and his long-time friend felt his gaze burning into him.

"What?" he looked up at him, pausing his toe-touch.

"You're terrible at hiding things, you know?" Steve smirked, mimicking his stretch.

"I don't know what you're getting at," Bucky shook his head and pulled a leg to his chest, balancing on the other.

"We're going to play it that way?" Steve chortled as he swapped to stretch his arms.

"I'm not playing anything."

"You're right. You're just prolonging the inevitable discussion you called me to have. And last I checked, games are supposed to be fun," Steve shrugged, pulling his arm across his chest and holding it in place with his other.

Bucky didn't respond but instead looked away as if avoiding eye contact would stunt the conversation from happening at all.

"What's really going on?" Steve sighed, moving closer and giving Bucky a sincere look.

Bucky looked at him and saw there was no point in avoiding it. He had used Steve as an excuse, but there was an unconscious reason he had. He knew he could talk to Steve about anything and that he needed to have this conversation whether he wanted to or not. Or else he'd have many more sleepless nights, and who knew what other kinds of issues?

"I-I honestly don't know, man."

"Work trouble? Girl trouble? Life getting you down?"

"Roommate trouble?" Bucky replied quietly.