The Avenger, The Assassin, and The Vigilante || B. Barnes

First Home

Officially pardoned, Bucky found himself feeling relaxed for the first time in a very long time. Their afternoon and evening with Dugan, Gabe, and their families helped to make him feel at ease. Each of the former Commandos told stories from their days together as those around them listened intently. Not a single set of ears was tuned out as they laughed at Dugan's stories of Bucky and Allie arguing on the battlefield before Steve joined in with stories about them as teenagers. Allie in return told plenty of stories about the boys. 

Allie, Steve, and Bucky all found it difficult to say goodbye as the evening wound down. The men exchanged their hand shakes, but Allie didn't hesitate to hug them once more. Even with as old as weak as they had become, she could feel as Gabe and Dugan each gave her as tight of a squeeze as they could. Dugan gave her a reassuring smile, and for the first time in eighty years, Allie started to be at peace with what had happened.

Making their promises to keep in touch and to try to get together in the near future, Allie, Steve, Sam, and Bucky left the Commandos. As Allie, Steve, and Bucky boarded the Quinjet in order to return it, Allie grinned as she noticed the beautiful hand carved shelf and the box with a red bow on it. As she walked over to it and took a peek inside the box itself, she looked over at Bucky.

"The Wakandans are thoughtful," she grinned at him.

A beautiful record player sat inside the box. Allie remembered the nights were she and Bucky would play record after record as they danced. Bucky remembered the celebration of the Commandos success on their first mission. The way he had thought that she livened up the room before she went to sit with him. The way she'd kissed him for the first time that night.

"Yeah," he agreed. "They are."

The flight wasn't long for the three before they arrived back at the little tarmac that they had left from that morning. Steve and Bucky quickly loaded the Wakandans' gift into Steve's car before they left for Steve's apartment.

Allie was grateful for the outcome of the day, to see her old friends. She just wished that Wanda could have been there.

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"You had to pick this couch?" Steve grumbled as he and Bucky struggled to fit the pieces through the front door of Bucky and Allie's new apartment.

"In my defense it looked really nice in the store," Allie argued as she began directing them through the door.

"She's right," Bucky groaned as they managed to slowly wedge the large pieces through the door. "It did look really nice."

"I just don't understand why it has to be so hard to fit through this door," Steve rolled his eyes.

Allie and Bucky had quickly picked the apartment that they wanted to move into. As a part of Allie's pardoning condition, she had begun to earn a salary as she sat on call for the government in addition to earning funds from her time training with the Avengers before Romania and Germany had happened. She used the start of the funds to purchase basic furniture for their new home.

Bucky hadn't felt too compelled one way or another when it came to the furniture. Despite being present during furniture shopping, he didn't have the strongest feelings one way or another about colors or patterns. He was simply happy to finally have a place that he and Allie could call their home. He agreed on the couch, a basic kitchen table, a bed, and a dresser.

As she chose the different pieces of furniture, Allie wondered what she may have picked if it had been when they first started planning their life together. She imagined their home would have looked much different than their apartment did, but she couldn't help but be excited that they were in the apartment that they were in.