Pairing: 40s!Bucky Barnes x Rogers!Reader
Summary: Your brother's best friend, Bucky, rescues you at the dance club and walks you home, but you both have feelings that are a bit more than friendly.
Word Count: 2.0k
Warnings: Mention of an attempted assault.
1940
Listening absentmindedly to the brunette seated beside him, Bucky took another drag from his cigarette, his eyes trained on you dancing across the room.
He wasn't sure if you had seen him when you walked in, but he sure as hell did. He couldn't keep his eyes off of you as soon as he caught you walking into the establishment with some of your friends, not even taking six steps into the building without some guy asking you to dance. Although he was there with his own date- a girl he had asked out at the diner yesterday- he regretted it as soon as he saw you in that other man's arms and felt his heart drop to his stomach.
He hated it- thinking that way about you- he knew he shouldn't. He knew it was wrong. You were Steve's sister. There were thousands of eligible ladies in New York and he just had to have feelings for his best friend's little sister.
He should have seen it coming- he had always had a soft spot for you- getting into fights any time someone looked at you the wrong way, making up lies about his sister begging him to ask you to braid her hair just so he could see you without Steve there, and even the simplest things like knowing he laughed harder when you were there laughing along with him.
As much as he hated it, he wasn't the only one who had seen it either- his mom teasing him that one day he was gonna settle down and marry that Rogers girl, him having to slap his hand over his sister's mouth because he just knew the little punk was gonna let it slip one day- he was undeniably soft for you with only you and Steve being none the wiser.
Watching as the guy rested his hand on your lower back, pulling you closer to him, Bucky began to feel his blood boil. Who did this guy think he was anyway? He didn't deserve to hold you close like that. He didn't know you. He didn't know you the way that Bucky did.
As the band continued to drone on in the background, Bucky began to grow tired watching the sight of you two together and was ready to head home until he saw you shake your head adamantly and part from the man, making your way to the far corner of the dance club where the bathrooms were situated, the man you had just been dancing with following behind you.
As soon as you left his line of sight, Bucky put out the cigarette he had been smoking in the ash tray. Cutting off the brunette whose name he couldn't even remember, he pulled out his wallet, leaving cash on the table before standing up.
"It's been nice, doll." He said. "But I'm gonna have to go."
Without another word, he shoved his wallet into his back pocket, striding over to the back corner of the building.
-
Swinging open the door of the bathroom, you saw the man you had just been dancing with waiting right outside the door in the tiny hallway just off the main room.
"Oh!" You exclaimed, bumping into the man you had never caught the name of.
"One more dance?" He asked.
Shaking your head, you chuckled nervously trying to push past him. "No, sorry. I can't." You faux apologized. "My brother's waiting for me at home and I don't wanna worry him."
Just as you attempted to move past him, he pushed you against the wall of the dimly lit hallway and grabbed your hands when you tried to shove him away. Struggling in his grasp you jolted backwards as his head made its way into the crook of your neck.
"C'mon sweetheart." He whispered. "The night's still young-"
"She said no." A familiar voice spoke up from behind him.
Feeling a sense of relief wash over you, you took advantage of the man's distraction and shoved him away from you, Bucky grabbing him by the collar of his shirt as he stumbled into him. Shoving him against the wall you watched as Bucky's face came inches away from the man's.
"Listen man." The guy said throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't want any trouble."
"Yeah?" Bucky asked. "Didn't look like that to me."
"C'mon pal," The guy chuckled nervously. "Just let me go and we can forget this ever happened."
"Y/n?" You heard your brother's best friend ask.
"Yeah?" You answered, standing up straighter.
"What do you think I should do with this guy?"
Wrapping your arms around yourself and checking the time on your wrist watch, you shrugged.
"I don't know, Buck." You sighed. "It's getting late. Steve's gonna wonder where the hell I am. I told him I was just goin' to dinner."
Heeding your words, Bucky pulled the man's face closer to his.
"You got lucky this time."
Once Bucky saw fear in the man's eyes, he felt satisfied, throwing the man to the floor and watching as he scrambled to his feet and ran out of the hallway. Turning back to you, Bucky pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, slipping one out.
"I could have handled that myself, ya know." You said, still leaning against the wall.
Shaking his head, he scoffed slipping the cig into his mouth.
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should." He said looking up at you, pulling a lighter from his other pocket. "You and your brother, Y/n... ya know... sometimes it would be nice to hear a 'thank you'."
You understood what he meant- Bucky was looking out for you just as he always had and as much as your pride hated to admit it- you were glad he had come to your rescue when he did.
Watching him bring the lighter to the cigarette that hung from his mouth, you shook your head.
"C'mon, Buck." You groaned, snatching the lighter from his hand. "Those things will kill you."
"There's a war going on, doll." He said plucking the lighter from your grasp. "I think a cig's the least of my worries."
Hearing the pet name slip from his mouth, you began to feel the heat rise to your face.
In all the time you had known James "Bucky" Barnes, you had heard him call dozens of girls that name, but never you. He had always called you by your name or teasing nicknames like "punk" or "kid"- never "doll". That name was saved exclusively for girls you took on dates and kissed on the walk back to their apartments - not you.
But as he used the name on you for the first time, whether it was an accident or not, you felt butterflies floating in your stomach.
A part of you hated that you didn't hate it and the other wished he would call you that again and again.
"James please." You urged. "You know I hate the smell of those things."
James.
As much as he loved his nickname, the sound of his first name falling from your lips was sweet as honey and so intimate he swore he would do whatever you asked when you said it.
Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, he shoved it back in the pack and into his back pocket, pulling up his sleeve to check his watch.
"You're right." He said, clearing his throat. "It's getting late. Let me walk you back home."
Following him out of the hallway and into the main room, the sound of the band still playing in the background, you spotted the man Bucky had just thrown out speaking to what you assumed was one of his friends. Adverting your eyes from him, you instinctively moved closer to Bucky, wrapping your hand around his bicep.
Feeling your touch against his clothed skin, his heart skipped a beat as he pulled open the door of the club, both of you moving outside into the cool summer night air.
"Why were you here anyway?" You asked, walking alongside Bucky on the sidewalk. "You have a date or something?"
"Yeah."
You felt your heart sink to your stomach.
"But I wasn't interested. I stopped listening to her story about her last date two minutes in."
Just now realizing that you had been holding your breath, you breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry, Buck." You apologized half heartedly, a part of you glad that his date with another random girl he had just met didn't work out.
"S'alright." Bucky assured you. "There's plenty of better girls in the city. I'm walkin' with one of 'em right now."
Glancing up at your brother's best friend beside you, you met his eyes and smiled.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were flirtin' with me, Barnes."
Gazing down at you, your face highlighted by the dim glow of the streetlamp illuminating the sidewalk, his breath caught in his throat. He didn't know what to say next. You had been consuming his thoughts for months- years even- that now as you tested the waters he couldn't find the right words to speak next.
He couldn't risk losing you, but as he admired you in the soft glow of the moon shining above the apartment buildings, he knew he couldn't risk not having you either.
"Would that be such a bad thing?"
Now the one speechless, you stared up at him, noticing the seriousness in his face- not a hint of his usual teasing smirk in sight.
Just as you opened your mouth, you watched as the light switched on in your apartment above.
Shoving Bucky against the wall of the building so he was out of sight, you looked up as the window opened and your brother's head popped out.
"Y/n?" Steve asked. "That you?"
"Yeah!" You called. "I'll be up in a second. I just gotta... fix my shoe."
"Were you talkin' to someone?" He asked, checking the sidewalk below you.
"What?" You asked, shaking your head. "I wasn't talking to anyone. You're hearing things- go back to bed before you wake up the block!"
With that you watched as your brother shrugged, moving himself back into the apartment, slamming the window shut. Emerging from the shadows, Bucky gestured towards the apartment.
"You're lying to your brother now?" He asked. "You really don't want to be seen with me that bad?"
Strolling towards him, you laughed.
"I love Steve, Buck, but sometimes he can be a bit too protective." You said, grabbing the end of his tie. "I gotta go, but..."
Tugging on his tie, you pulled him towards you and when his face lined up with yours, you pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Thanks for saving me, James." You whispered in his ear.
As you dropped his tie from your hands, he stood up straighter, watching with wide eyes as you made your way back towards your apartment, throwing him one last glance over your shoulder with a smile before climbing up the steps and out of his sight.
Feeling the heat rise to his cheeks, fearing that he was blushing so hard anyone could see it even in the darkness of night, he held his hand up to the spot on his face where you had just kissed him, leaning back against the wall.
Feeling his heart thump against his chest, he knew he was done for.
A part of him had always known that his mother was right- that he was gonna settle down one day and end up with the Rogers girl. As much as he had dismissed it, promising "Ma, she's Steve's sister. She's my friend", he knew better. As he stood there leaning against the brick wall of your apartment building on that cool summer night, a part of him knew- as he would recount to you on your wedding day- that it was the end of the string of new girls on dates every other night for him and the beginning of the rest of his life.