Hair tidied and face clean of smeared lipstick Juno made her way back to Henri who was currently chatting with the team, mainly with Thor since he knew him best. Her eyes rest on Bucky who was sat at the counter drinking his second cup of coffee with a smug smile on his face. His sky blue eyes rake over her face and body in a way that had her still throbbing core clenching and an involuntary shudder to run down her spine.
Finished with his coffee Bucky stood up to walk past her on his way to the sink. Coming back he paused next to her to huskily whisper, "I'll see you later. Have fun today, frumoasă."
Unable to verbally reply Juno stood there speechless as she watched him saunter down the hall without a backwards glance. "Everything alright, Jun?"
At Thor's concerned question she whipped around with a blush on her face. She tried to quiet down her pounding heart and not look like she'd just been thoroughly wrecked by her ex less than five minutes ago while her friend who was interested in being more than friends waited for her.
"Yeah, everything is great." Juno winced at her higher pitched tone and tried to look normal much to Natasha's amusement. Damned spy knew something was up between the ex's and was intrigued by what was going to happen. Glancing over at Henri she tilted her head to the elevator. "Ready to go?"
His dark eyes looked from her to the direction Bucky had gone with an expression she couldn't really read, but he nodded. "Of course, mon petit belle."
Saying their goodbyes to everyone Jun and Henri took the elevator down to the lobby. He pressed the button needed and stepped back next to her not saying anything. Shifting guiltily Juno tried to come up with something to say, but she came up empty handed. When they were about ten floors from the lobby when Henri spoke, startling her a little. "You still love him."
Sighing Juno nodded. She had to be honest with him; it was the least he deserved from her. After London Juno never wanted to hurt him the way she had again. "I do. James is someone I'm always going to love. He was my first real love, you know and he's going to continue to be in my life as long as we're both Avenger's."
He doesn't say anything for a moment as he thinks about what she's told him. She doesn't expect him to want to be anything more than friends after she told him all of that which is why she's surprised when he stepped close and grasped her face with both hands. Henri's kiss wasn't as rough as Bucky's had been, but it was just as passionate.
Not able to help herself from feeling a sense of rightness she's only ever felt with Bucky, Juno moaned as she gripped onto his sage green sweater with one hand and his leather jacket with the other. Taking the opportunity of her open mouth his tongue swept in to tangle together with hers as he deepened their kiss. Juno hadn't expected much of a reaction after what happened with Buck, but her heart was pounding hard and her breaths came out in ragged gasps as their kiss continued.
Pulling away just as the elevator dinged to let them know they made it to the lobby he swiped his tongue over his now lipstick covered mouth in a way that reminded her of Bucky's gesture from earlier.
Reaching for her purse he opened it to take out the wet wipes that he knew she always carried just in case. Cleaning off first her face and then his own Henri tipped her chin up with his thumb. "He might have been your first love, but I want to be your last. I have plenty of time and patience for you to see that." Linking their fingers together he smiled down at her and said, "Come, we have a busy day ahead of us."
Wordlessly Juno walked by his side as he led them out of the lobby and outside to Christian and his waiting town car. "Bonjour, mademoiselle, it's so good to see you again."
"Bonjour, Christian. I hope you've been giving Henri trouble in my absence." She says with a warm smile as she lets go of Henri's hand to hug the older man.
Returning the hug briefly with a chuckle Christian opened the door for her to get in the back as Henri went around to the other side. Buckling in he grasps her hand in his to kiss the back of it. "See, I'm not the only one who missed you."
Pressing her lips together to try and hide her smile she asks him where they're going first. "So where are the listings that we're looking at?"
"There's a few close by, but I figured we can check them out last. Christian." He indicated to the older man they were ready to get started.
Easing into the busy morning traffic Christian concentrated on the road while Henri pulled out his tablet to pull up the online listings to give her an idea of what they were checking out.
Juno had him tell her what his top five things that were non-negotiable which quickly cut about a quarter of the listing down. "Alrighty, we've got four, five.. nine places total to check out. Three apartments are close to the Tower here on the lower east side, two on the upper west side; all near the park. Then you have two in SoHo and two brownstones in Brooklyn. Which do you want to hit first?"
"The brownstones. They're the furthest away and will eat up most of our time with just travel. They offer more privacy than the apartments." Sending Christian the addresses to his phone Henri sat back and relaxed, the whole time keeping her hand in his. Juno waited to feel uncomfortable or something, but she didn't. If anything it felt good.
~~~
"I think it has potential, but once the office is set up you won't be in New York as much. That means you won't need a place this big so I suggest an apartment in the city." Juno tells Henri of the second brownstone they had just walked through. It was a beautiful four story house that included a basement that could be turned into a full one bedroom apartment. Obviously that's not what he would want to do, but if he bought and then flipped it he would make his money back and then some.
"Who says I won't be here as much?" He asks her, wandering around the empty spacious living room with his hands clasped behind his back and a small smirk on his face. "The place I buy will be my new home, Jun. That means I intend to be here a majority of the time."
Looking up from her phone in surprise Juno powered it off and stuck it in her back pocket. She couldn't tell if he was playing with her or not, but he needed to take this seriously. "This is a home for a family, not a bachelor. Like I said, an apartment would be better suited for you, Henri."
"Do you think I will be a bachelor forever? I want a wife and kids someday and I would like to have a home ready for them." Coming over to stand in front of Juno he looked down at her with a serious expression on his face. Okay, so he was being serious.
Not able to take what he was inferring, she stepped around him to look at the fireplace to think for a second. Juno thought she should feel at least a little bit of panic at what he was offering her, but the crazy thing was she wasn't. The picture he was painting was something she had been dreaming about for years. Something she had been actually going for with Bucky until almost a year ago. She wanted all of those things. Children, a home, and a loving husband who also wanted all of those things. Turns out Bucky hadn't been ready for it though.
At Tony and Pepper's wedding she'd made the comment about how she pictured their wedding. The same as anyone did when they went with their significant other. She didn't want anything as extravagant as their's obviously. Something much more lowkey. Maybe somewhere outside with just the team because they were all of the family either of them had. Then talk of kids came up.
Juno brushed away a tear that tried to escape at the memory of Buck telling her that he wanted at least one little girl that looked just as beautiful as her mama as he gazed lovingly into her eyes. Not long after Tony and Pepper's wedding is when their relationship had hit the skids. A shift in Bucky's behavior had happened and she didn't know what set it off. He was there physically, but had withdrawn from her emotionally.
She'd backed off on that kind of talk and focused instead on helping him with the present and his amends list. It didn't matter because he refused to listen to any of her suggestions. He'd go off on his own for hours at a time, not telling anyone where he was going or what he was doing. Juno tried everything she could to get him to open back up to her and when nothing had worked she'd tried her last option and well, you know how that worked out..
"Juno, are you alright?" She felt Henri's warm hands on her shoulders. Shaking her head had him coming around to see her properly, his eyes softened at her tear filled eyes. Bringing her closer he held her, rocking her gently back and forth. "It's alright, mon petit belle, I am here." At some point she'd started to silently cry and didn't even notice.
When he told her to think about him while she was with Henri, obviously Bucky didn't mean it like this. As much fun as she'd had with him in the last sixteen hours, fun wasn't all she wanted. Not anymore. Pulling away Juno wiped at her face in embarrassment as she laughed a little to try and make the situation less awkward. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying.
Grasping her upper arms Henri bent his knees to look her in the eyes. "I do and it's okay. Maybe this was a bad idea. Let's head back to the city and check out those other apartments. Then we can get some lunch, my treat." Biting her lip Juno nodded.
When he went to straighten up she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his chest. She could tell he was surprised, but happy by how he cuddled her close and leaned his head on top of hers. Letting Henri hold her gave her a sense of security and love that she hadn't felt in a long time. Turning her face to the side, the view of the street was all she could see around his leather jacket. "Thank you for being so understanding about.. all of this."
"Hey, look at me." Leaning her head back she kept her chin on his chest. "I know what I'm walking into with my eyes wide open. I love you. It should terrify me that I've said that now to you twice and have yet to receive an answer in kind, but it doesn't. I don't know why." He chuckled a little as he shrugged as he cupped the side of her face.
"I love you, Juno and I hope that one day you'll love me as well. Until that day and beyond I want to show you how you're supposed to be loved. I know that anything I say or do is going to be compared to him and I'm fine with that. Just know that I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to." Not expecting an answer or a reply of any kind he brushed away her tears and walked her back out to Christian and the waiting town car.
They headed back into the city to check out the apartments in SoHo. Of course they weren't anywhere close to the standards Henri wanted, but neither were the ones up town. Deciding to just grab some lunch he told her they'd look another day when she had some time to hang out again all day. There wasn't any more talk about love and the future just two friends getting to know one another again. Henri was offering Juno a fresh start and had told her multiple times that he would wait as long as she needed.
Her worry was twofold. What was this thing with Bucky? He said he was still in love with her and she knew he wanted them to be together again, but she didn't want to pick up where they left off. She wanted to everything Henri was wanting right now. Not knowing if Bucky wanted the same thing limited what her options were until she could talk to him. She just wasn't ready to have that talk yet.
Juno's only worry was that Henri's offer had an expiration date. What if she waited too long and he decided that he couldn't be friends after all if she unwantingly broke his heart by leaving him on the hook? She could easily fall in love with him. If Juno thought about it she might already be. It's just with all of this history with Bucky left unresolved she didn't feel like she could give him more. At least not yet. She had a lot to think about and no one she really felt like she could talk about it with.
~~~
When Henri dropped her back off at the Tower she'd told him that she would be staying here for a while so he was more than welcome to visit or she'd come to him. Giving her a brief but meaningful kiss he told Juno he'd call her soon. Heading inside she waved at Happy on her way to the elevator, but as she went to press the call button she stopped in her tracks.
There was someone she could talk to without fear of judgement with just one sentence. Pulling out her cell phone from her back pocket she dialed their number. Biting her thumb nail as she waited for them to answer she glanced around the busy lobby. The voice of one of her most favorite people came through the phone. "Hey Sweetpea, what's what's up?"
"Family date night." Was all she said, but it was she needed to say. Not wanting him to drop the important business he and Pepper were doing she told him she'd come to him. "Since you're in California I was thinking Pink's."
He could tell from her voice she that wasn't ready to talk yet so he told her where to meet him. "Absalutely. Meet me at Stark Industries and we'll take off for LA right after."
"See you soon, Tones." Hanging up she stepped into the waiting elevator filled with office workers for Stark Industries and pressed the hangar button. She'd take the quinjet since it was still checked out under her name.
Juno didn't plan on staying longer than the night so she didn't worry about packing a bag. She had clothes out at his Malibu place and if she did stay longer she'd call Maria let her know. Speaking of she sent off a quick text to Fury and her that she was off roster for at least the next 48 hours. With a solid plan in place she felt a little better knowing that she was going to see her closest friend and confidant.