It was a Monday afternoon during the month of July when you noticed a particular agent strolling down the halls of Avengers Tower. You were no stranger to such agent. In fact, you knew quite a lot about him. While you were finishing up today's paperwork at your desk, you stole glances at him from time-to-time whenever he was close by. He looked distraught. Something was definitely on his mind. You wanted to ask but Bucky wasn't the type to go ahead and confess his feelings to someone. He bottled them up as usual.
Even after you, Steve, and Sam helped him re-adjust to this new world after the incident with Hydra and SHIELD, he still wasn't the same. Steve had told you many stories about Bucky and what kind of man he used to be. You knew that it would be a long time until Bucky was himself again. But this new attitude he had wasn't bad either.
"Hi, (Name)," a gruff voice said.
Your typing slowed to a stop and you looked up to see Bucky standing by your desk. You hadn't noticed his presence at all. Well, he wasn't a master assassin for nothing.
"Hi, Bucky. Is there anything I can help you with?" you asked with a kind smile.
He sighed and without another word, he turned around to show you the thick wad of gum in his hair. Your jaw dropped and you had to stifle a giggle to not anger him.
"Did Tony do that?"
"Yeah," he muttered.
"What for?"
"He's an ass," Bucky stated gruffly. "But I broke one of his toys as revenge. Can you help me with this?"
You quickly looked over your computer to make sure that all of today's work was saved before turning off the computer and gathering your things. You slung your bag over your shoulder.
"Yeah. Just come with me to my room and I can help you out."
"Thanks, (Name)."
"Not a problem," you grinned.
Bucky followed you into the elevator where you swiped in a special card that allowed you access to your floor. Ever since SHIELD was disbanded, most of the Avengers lived in the tower and since Tony had guests coming in and out of the tower, he gave everyone a special card key so that no one would walk onto their floors by mistake (or on purpose). Your floor was number sixty-four. The ride up was long and silent. When the doors opened up with a ding, as usual, JARVIS played a soothing melody from one of your favorite soundtracks that was more relaxing. You set your bag on the couch and guided Bucky back to the bathroom in your bedroom.
"Alright, this should actually be really easy to fix. My aunt told me of this one trick that we could use if you'd like but you'd have to wash your hair afterwards."
"I'm willing to try anything just to get this out of my hair," Bucky grumbled.
"Gotcha!"
You got a stool for him so that he could sit in front of the bathroom mirror and then quickly went to the kitchen. You returned to the bathroom with a jar of peanut butter in hand. Bucky raised an eyebrow when he saw it but didn't question it.
"I'm just gonna put a dab in your hair, alright?"
"Okay."
You put a dab in his hair over the affected area and started to work the peanut butter into the gum, trying to make it dissolve. To quicken the process you grabbed a comb and evenly brushed over the area. The gum wad was becoming smaller, meaning success! Bucky watched you the entire time through the bathroom mirror. At first it was like being watched like a hawk but then you figured you'd be giving the same look if someone were doing this to your hair. The look would be even more menacing however, if he had his eyes smudged with black.
"I'm almost done," you told him.
He nodded, letting you finish your work in peace. Soon, the gum had dissolved and Bucky's hair was gum free. Now all he needed to do was wash his hair. You passed him a towel and then reached underneath the bathroom sink to grab a special shampoo that wouldn't make Bucky's hair smell like he just frockled through a field of flowers.
"You can use this to wash out all of the oil in your hair. It's the only shampoo that I have that works for both men and women. It's a new product but I heard it's really good."
He glanced at the bottle once.
"You want me...to shower here?" he asked unsure. "Is that alright?"
"It's fine with me," you smiled.
He nodded once and you quickly left the bathroom and headed back into the living room to watch tv while Bucky showered. When you heard the water running, you had to try your best to not picture droplets of water rolling down his skin. The thought made you turn red in the face.
"Pervert," you chided yourself. "He's an Avenger and you're a secretary anyways. You might as well just settle for the security guard at the front entrance. David's nice at least. And he's got that beard going on."
You heard the water come to a stop and quickly shut up, mentalling kicking yourself for talking to yourself again. It was a habit you really needed to stop before someone caught you. Bucky came out of the shower except with just a towel wrapped around his waist. Picturing him half naked and wet was definitely not as good as actually seeing it for yourself. How on Earth could this man still be single? Well, you were still stumped on that.
"You have a hair dryer I can borrow?" he asked.
"U-Uh yes, yes I do!"
You ducked your head, not wanting Bucky to see how hard you were blushing. You went into your bedroom and got out your hair dryer and handed it to him. Bucky went back to the bathroom and started to dry his hair and hopefully, get dressed so you wouldn't be a shy mess around him. You waited for him in the kitchen this time, sitting at the island stool and popping a few grapes in your mouth. After sometime, the hair dryer was turned off. You no longer heard it but you didn't see Bucky come out.
"(Name)....come here. Now."
The tone of his voice didn't sound good at all. It made you gulp nervously before tiptoeing your way to the bathroom and peeking in to see what was wrong. For the second time that day, you had to keep yourself under control and not laugh out loud. Bucky's long luscious hair, was now short and so puffy, a poodle would be jealous.
"Is something the matter?" you asked innocently.
".......Why yes, (Name). Something is wrong and what's wrong is my hair. Why the hell do I have poodles hair now?"
Now this time you couldn't resist the urge to giggle. It didn't help that Bucky then gave you his death stare to shut you up. With hair like that, he didn't look scary at all. You took a deep breath to calm yourself down. You grabbed the bottle you had given him to wash his hair and realized that most of the instructions were in another foreign language. You were able to recognize one word: dog. So that would explain why Bucky's hair had turned out so big and fluffy.
"Alright don't get mad but....I may have given you dog shampoo by mistake. And it's looks like this stuff was pretty strong too."
His right eye twitched and without another word, he left the bathroom and headed straight to the kitchen. You followed him and saw that he was frantically looking through all of the cupboards.
"Um, is there something you need, Bucky?" you asked him.
"Where are the scissors?"
"What for?"
He didn't answer at first and continued looking for the scissors. You sighed and walked to the drawer that was near the fridge and pulled out a pair of scissors. You handed it to him and he replied a small thank you before hurrying back to the bathroom.
"Bucky, wait!" you called, running after him.
He closed the door on your face and tried opening it only to discover that it was locked.
"James Buchanan Bucky Barnes!" you growled. "Open this door now!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Damn it, don't make me get Steve up here. He will break down this door and you know it."
There was a moment of silence on the other side.
"(Name)...I'm cutting my hair."
"....What?"
He opened the door slowly and you saw that he was being serious. Bucky had already chopped most of his hair off and was working it to look like it had been before.
"Wow....you're actually doing a good job," you said impressed.
He gave a small smile. "Thanks."
He left the door open so that you could see him cut his hair. He was doing a very good job and he was actually starting to look like the Bucky you once saw in pictures before the war happened. Eventually he finished. You didn't know which one you like more: long haired Winter Soldier, or short haired Bucky. Both hairstyles proved to make him look very attractive.
"How'd I do?" he asked.
"Great," you smiled at him. "It looks really good. Maybe you should give me a haircut sometime."
Bucky set the scissors aside and ran his hand quickly through his hair to make sure that no small hairs lingered. He turned around so that he could face you while leaning back on the bathroom sink.
"Or....how about I take you out on a date instead?" he smirked.