The young Castillo woman has never asked anyone out on a date. She's always been the one who's been asked out, but she's never been the one to ask the question.
The first time she was asked on a date, she was 14. His name was Matthew Pham and they had biology together. He was shy and nervous, as was Dia after he asked her. She didn't know what to do or say, but she kindly said no. Class was awkward for them after that but only for a short while, for Matthew had asked another girl out and they began to date.
High school was a struggle for Dia. Aside from classes and balancing her friends, and family, she was discovering herself, her sexual orientation, and to top it all off, dealing with the loss of her parents during her senior year.
She didn't date much during high school, but she had a boyfriend during her junior year, Bryan Stephens. He asked her out, she said yes. They went out a couple more times and then he asked her to be his girlfriend, again she said yes. Bryan was her first relationship, it was fun and sweet. It lasted the whole school year and they went to junior prom together. But like all teenage relationships, it came to an end.
Dia did have crushes in high school, both boys and girls, but she never acted on either of them. It wasn't until after high school that she began to date women. But again, they asked her out. Even her first girlfriend, Harley Cromwell, was first to ask.
She thought that after that relationship, she would be able to ask people out, overcome her anxiety or stop being shy, but she couldn't. She crushed from afar, she couldn't bring herself to tell Brunnhilde how she feels– how she felt about her.
So perhaps it was that Dia was tired of being the one asked, instead of her doing the asking, or she wanted to overcome the anxiety that was building up inside of her, whatever it was it gave her the courage to ask the guy she likes out on a date. The best part was that he said yes.
Now she hopes that Joshua will be able to understand that she asked his great uncle out on a date.
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Joshua explored the Avengers compound as he went into rooms and chatted with a few members of the team. He was asked about his black eye and he told them that it was because of a book. Stupid, he thought, really stupid.
The place is bigger than he thought, he got lost for a minute but was able to find his way back to the main areas. Soon enough, Joshua found the game room and gasped when he saw all the games. They only have three games at the bar, Pac-Man, Galaga, and a Jurassic Park pinball machine.
Meanwhile, there are about ten games in that game room, and probably the same amount of board games stacked on a shelf. He spotted the large television and the many game consoles set up.
"Have they really played all these?" Joshua questioned as he eyed the games in their boxes, neatly lined up on a shelf.
"Yes, we get bored" Bucky answered, startling Joshua. He quickly turned around and his eyes landed on Bucky who's sitting on the couch with his head thrown back.
"What are you doing?" Joshua asked the man.
"Thinking" Bucky answered, not moving an inch.
"You look like my cousin's kid when he wants attention"
Bucky raised his head and stared at Joshua wide-eyed "cousins kid? Please don't tell me that I'm a great-great-uncle"
"No. The kid is from my dad's side" Joshua answered. Bucky sighed in relief and sat straight on the couch.
"How did the glaring go?" Bucky asked.
Joshua smiled at the question "fine. I mean, if Steve wasn't afraid of Natasha before, he is now"
"I believe that" Bucky nodded.
Joshua didn't go deeper into the room to inspect the games and potentially play with them, instead he casually walked over to the couch where Bucky is sitting on and plopped himself on the other end of said couch. He tapped his fingers on his thighs but then moved his hands and rested his left arm on the couch arm. It was there for two seconds before he moved his arms again, and tried to make things less awkward.
Bucky saw everything and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion "what are you doing?" He asked.
Joshua sighed and dropped his arms to his sides "I don't know. Trying to make things less awkward, I guess"
Bucky smiled "they were fine until you moved your arms around like a bird learning how to fly"
"Funny, I'm told I look like that when I dance" Joshua chuckled.
"Really?"
"Actually, Isaura's exact words were, 'you look like a bird having a seizure'" he looked up at Bucky as he said that.
"Wow" Bucky laughed.
"Yeah, well, she's right. We went to high school together so she's seen all my embarrassing dances" Joshua informed "and it wasn't enough that I went to school with my brother because not only would he pretend not to know me, but I got about half of his old teachers and they were all like 'oh, so you're William's brother' one of them actually said 'oh my god, there's two of you!' when she saw us together"
"Oh god, that's horrible" Bucky laughed.
"I know" Joshua nodded.
"I mean for the teachers. Having to deal with two of you– I only know you and you exhaust me"
Joshua narrowed his eyes at Bucky and grumbled under his breath. Both men stayed quiet for a minute, thinking of what they can talk about. What do a great-uncle and a great-nephew talk about?
"So" Joshua cleared his throat "you're my nana's brother"
At that moment, Bucky heard himself from earlier that day, when he tried to make it less awkward between himself and Dia after they confessed their feeling to each other "So, I like you and you like me...interesting"
"Wow" Bucky grinned and slowly shook his head.
"What?" Joshua asked in confusion.
"Nothing, it's just...nothing. Yes, I'm the brother" Bucky nodded.
"Cool" he nodded "so can I have five dollars?" Joshua wasted no time on asking a newly found family member for money.
"What? No! Why?" Bucky furrowed his eyebrows and turned his body to face Joshua.
He shrugged "Nana always gave me five dollars"
"I'm not giving you money"
"Wow, uncle cheap" Joshua joked.
"Excuse me! That's great-uncle cheap to you!" Bucky glared at Joshua, who pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at his great-uncle. The stare down lasted for about thirty seconds before they both erupted in loud laughter.
Their laughs soon subsided and then it was quiet again. Bucky and Joshua haven't been alone in a room together, so they haven't actually talked about their family situation. They know they will have to talk about it sooner or later, it's just they don't know how. How do they go about it? How do they even begin? Maybe with an easy question.
"Hey, Josh" Bucky spoke up after a moment of silence.
"Yeah?" He smiled.
"How many children did Becca have?"
Joshua was momentarily confused. He knew they would have to go through the great confusing talk, he just didn't know when. But now is as good a time as any.
"Two" he answered "uncle Robert and my mom, Vanessa"
"And does he have children?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah. Scott and Kimberly. So you have three great-nephews and one great-niece" Joshua grinned "and you have to give us all five dollars"
"Again with the money!" Bucky rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Nana Becca gave us money! If you really love your sister, and her children and her grandchildren, you should continue with the tradition of giving us money!" Joshua argued.
Bucky ignored him and continued to ask his questions "who did Becca marry?"
"My grandpa" Joshua answered and Bucky narrowed his eyes at him. He giggled before answering "my grandpa's name was Jack Proctor. Don't ask me when they got married because I have no idea, if you want to know more about them, you can ask my mom"
"I'm not giving you those five dollars" Bucky told him when he sensed Joshua's kind tone at the end.
"Ah, fudgecakes" he pouted and sank into the couch, placing his hands over his stomach. He kept his gaze forward, staring at the blank tv screen, but he looked at his right to see Bucky copying his mannerisms. Joshua blinked and is now staring at the tv again. "So what do I call you?" He asked Bucky.
"Huh?" Bucky turned his head to Joshua.
"What do I call you?" He repeated, turning his head to Bucky "you're my great-uncle. What do I call you?"
"You can call me Bucky" he suggested.
"I don't know if you remember, but I had a dog named Bucky and it'll just be weird for the two of us if I call you by that name" Joshua reminded.
"Right" Bucky nodded.
"Great-uncle Bucky?"
"No"
"Uncle Grumpy" Joshua joked "because you're grumpy!"
"I will end your bloodline" Bucky threatened.
"You're my bloodline"
"I will end it" he pressed.
"Fine. Okay, Grunkle Bucky. Like from Gravity Falls" Joshua suggested.
"I don't know what that is, but no" Bucky shook his head.
"Imma call you Grunkle Bucky" Joshua said "yeah, that sounds nice" he nodded and faced forward. Bucky opened his mouth to argue but closed it. Just talking to Joshua exhausts him, besides he's still freaking out about Dia asking him out.
Bucky sighed and faced forward, thinking about what happened with Dia and how he'll freak out when he tells Steve later.
"She liked music, Nana Becca" Joshua began "She used to play her old records and we would listen to them. Old or new, didn't matter, if she liked it, we would listen to it. Mixtapes, cd's, playlists in iPods, then phones"
Bucky turned to Joshua as he spoke about the moments he spent with his grandma. He saw the smile growing on his face, and even though he's facing forward, he can see the shining in his eyes.
"I learned all these useless facts about music. Release dates, album names, the artists. Useless music information and all the good music, I got it from her" Joshua continued "somewhere along the way, I passed that on to Dia and now she has all kinds of music. Great playlists"
"Yeah, she's made a couple of playlists for me" Bucky informed.
"She does that" Joshua nodded "sometimes she pranks us at the bar, annoys the hell out of us" he grumbled, remembering the salt and pepper diner, recreation.
"If you had to pick one song to describe Becca, which song would it be?" Bucky curiously asked.
"Oh that's easy" Joshua smiled, confidence in his voice "She's A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones"
Bucky made a mental note to listen to the song later. Deciding to move on from talking about his sister and Joshua's grandma, he sighed and brought up another topic of conversation "so, tell me, how did you meet Sam's sister"
Joshua but his bottom lip, his cheeks turning a rosy red "I swear, I didn't know she's Sam's sister. I didn't even know Sam until you guys came into the bar and he thought that Dia was a stripper– oh my god, how did he get that idea?" He laughed loudly at that, remembering how confused Sam, Vision and Pietro were when they found out the truth.
"She made a very convincing display" Bucky muttered. It was his turn to blush.
"I'm weak!" He wheezed out.
"Let's move on. Tell me about Sarah"
"Will you give me five dollars?" Joshua smiled.
"No" Bucky pursed his lips and shook his head.
"Sad but okay"
•••
I cry because I haven't updated in a month, because this chapter is short, because it took me all of yesterday to write Dia's part. I cry because of many things I didn't like with this chapter but here it is.
Nearly three weeks ago I wrote on my message board that I was at a quinceañera and asked if anyone has pictured the Avengers at a party. Then I pictured Dia inviting them to a quince and I lowkey wanna write a chapter? I don't know??
Also, this is why Vision died, he wasn't smart enough.
Tumblr is out of control.
HIS ANKLES ARE EXPOSED!!