Crawl Home To Her

Part 14: Meet The Family

As Bucky got more attached to Valerie, the other people in the house got more and more curious. Eventually Bucky invited her to come over for dinner. If it would get his friends off his back he'd do anything. Besides, he was kinda excited to introduce her to his team. After all they were his family, and their support meant the world to him.

Y/n was excited for the dinner. At least excited was what she chose to call the feeling in her chest whenever she thought about the woman. Excitement was supposed to feel like your whole chest constricting right? She'd spent days planning the meal with Sam and her brother. Everything was going to be fine.

Sam was stressed. He could feel how nervous Bucky was about the girl meeting everyone and it was rubbing off on him. He and y/n had spent days agonizing over what to serve and right when they thought they had it together, Bucky all of a sudden remembered that she was a vegetarian. Of course she was. Of course there was one more fucking thing to stress out about. The whole menu had to be reworked and Sam was at the end of his rope. "Next time you bring your girlfriend over, I'm making you cook." Bucky laughed at that but Sam was serious. Y/n had already worked herself into a frenzy making dessert, and Clint was eating Sam's ingredients more than he was helping him cook.

Clint was a little worried about his sister. Ok, a lot worried. She might've been putting on a contented front but he could see right through her. She had a nasty habit of shoving down her true feelings to keep the people she loved happy. It was no secret to him that she wanted Bucky. She'd spent a long time mourning the fact he'd never known how she felt after the blip and had even planned on telling him before he left that one awful night. But he knew better than to push her, if he pushed now she'd just shove it down further. Eventually she'd come to him, but he had to wait.

Valerie arrived exactly on time with a smile on her face and a bottle of champagne in hand. Y/n didn't miss the smile on Bucky's face after the woman kissed him hello. "Hey, it's so nice to finally meet you guys!" Her voice was sickly sweet as she introduced herself to the roommates. "I've heard so much about you guys from James! He speaks very highly of you all."

As they ate dinner, y/n had an uneasy feeling. But she seemed to be the only one. Her brother and Sam spent the whole night talking and laughing with Valerie. "I've just got to get your salad dressing recipe before I go home tonight! Everything was just fantastic!" Sam beamed as Valerie complimented his cooking.

Bucky was confused. Everything was going great right? Valerie was fitting in great and everyone was having a great time. But something felt off. Then it hit him. Y/n had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole night. She was usually laughing or trading wildly exaggerated stories like the rest of them during dinner, but tonight she was acting almost shy. It was incredibly out of character for the woman sitting across from him. As they retired to the living room for desserts, he pulled her aside, "Are you alright?" He hesitated. "You've been really...quiet tonight."

Shit. Apparently she hadn't been hiding her discomfort very well. "I'm totally fine, Buck." Liar. "I'm just tired, I had to get up early to start making the rolls." Technically she wasn't lying. She really did have to get up to make the rolls at an ungodly hour that morning. She shot him a reassuring smile that seemed to satisfy Bucky, as he nodded his head before joining Valerie on the couch.

Clint shot a questioning look at his sister, but she just shook her head quickly before going to grab dessert from the fridge. As she passed around the little chocolate desserts she and Bucky had spent a good chunk of the day making, she couldn't help but laugh at the memory of Bucky's first attempt at making dessert back when they were living in Bucharest. "What's so funny?" Sam asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the first time Bucky tried to kill both of us via cookies back when we barely knew each other." She tried unsuccessfully to hold back another laugh as the memory replayed.

"I don't think you ever told us that one." Clint said. He knew Bucky was well trained but he didn't know that cookies could be a weapon.

Y/n took her seat and began to regale the group with the story, Bucky turning redder by the second. He'd only been living with her for about a month and he had wanted to surprise her with cookies when she woke up so had tried to make some in the middle of the night. It hadn't exactly gone according to plan though and instead of waking up to fresh baked cookies she woke up to a "small" kitchen fire and a very defeated looking Bucky.

Valerie thought the story was hilarious and despite Bucky's embarrassment at his poor baking skills he couldn't help but smile at the memory. "In my defense, I hadn't used an oven in like 75 years."

"Oh come on, you still burn all the baked goods you make on your own." Y/n teased, "You might be a great cook, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to be your baking partner for the rest of your life."

"I could help you out." Valerie chimed in. "I love baking."

At that, Bucky smiled and leaned in to kiss her. "I'd like that."

Y/n felt her heart sink in her chest and her smile faltered for a moment. But she quickly pulled it back up. She was happy for him. Happy. Besides, it's not like she had a monopoly on his baking. He was a grown man and he could do what he wanted with his time.

Sam and Clint didn't miss the look on y/n's face when Bucky kissed Valerie. They shot each other a worried look, but knew better than to say something. As worried as they were, it would have to wait until later.

The night continued and eventually it was time for Valerie to return home. Bucky offered to walk her to the car and the other men took the opportunity to talk to y/n. Before either of them had the chance to say anything to her she asked them, "Did either of you notice anything weird about her?"

"No?" Clint was lost. The girl had been sweet and seemed to be head over heels for Bucky.

"Not really." Sam said. "I mean she was a little perky, but I don't think that's a bad thing."

"I don't know, something just felt weird." She couldn't figure out exactly what it was but something about the girl was just bugging her.

"Are you sure you're not just jealous?" Sam asked as gently as he could. He may not have had confirmation of her feelings, but he was smart enough to see that there was something a little more...intense than friendship between her and the grumpy super soldier. Clint internally cringed as Sam asked the question, there was no way she'd ever admit it now.

"What? Why would I be jealous of her? I can fucking teleport! She doesn't have anything that I want!"

"She has Bucky." Clint said softly, immediately regretting it when he saw the look on his sister's face.

"So? What does that have to do with-"

Before she could continue Bucky came back into the house. "So? What'd you think of Valerie?"

Y/n hesitated for just a moment, wondering if she should tell him the truth, but there was hope in his eyes and she could see how much he wanted her to like the other woman. "She seemed really nice and I can tell you like her a lot." She was tired. "I'm really happy for you."

"We all are." Sam chimed in.