"So wait, let me get this straight. You found the wild horse your dad told us about and almost got to pat it!?" Natasha exclaims as she sets down her tray at their usual lunch table.
"Yup", Bucky says, picking up his sandwich. "But dad scared it away and now I'm grounded."
"Unlucky."
Bucky nods, looking over at Bruce who had barely said a word since first period and opens his mouth to ask the said boy a question, when Natasha's phone went off.
Natasha rips her phone from her black jeans pocket, a light blush tinting her cheeks as she types a reply.
"Let me guess, Clint?" Bucky asks, only to be waved off by his friend as she continues to stare down at her phone.
Bucky and Bruce share an eye roll before Bucky asks, "Bruce, do you really not mind coming out and helping at the ranch? I know how important basketball is for you."
Bruce only smiles , giving a shake of his head. "Of course I don't mind. I'd much rather hang out with you then those assholes."
Bucky chuckles, "thanks. My dad really appreciates it."
"No problem, dude. You're my best friend, of course I'm gonna be there to help."
Grinning, the two boys dug into their lunches provided by the schools cafeteria and continues to converse.
But only a few seconds in on a new topic they had begun to talk about, Natasha slams her hand down on the table. "Holy shit! Guys, guess what!!" She screams, causing students to turn and stare at their table.
"What?" The two boys ask in unison.
"Clint's moving to our school!!"
The sandwich Bruce had been holding fell from his hands, a frown replacing the grin he had on his lips just moments prior. "He's.. what?" He stammers out, pain clear in his hazel eyes. Bucky frowns.
"Clint. He's moving to our school." Natasha repeats happily before looking back down at her phone as it once again went off.
"Thats... great, Nat. We'll finally be able to meet him." Bucky responds, staring over at Bruce who was now looking down at the table.
"Yeah. That's... that's great."
Natasha smiled at her two friends before looking down and typing on her phone. Bucky on the other hand couldn't tear his gaze off of Bruce, worry beginning to bubble in the pit of his stomach.
Bucky placed a hand on his friends arm. "You okay?" He whispers gently, rubbing Bruce's arm with his thumb.
Bruce looked up, giving him a fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." He responds, patting Bucky's hand with his before standing and picking up his tray. "I should.. I should get going.. don't wanna be late.."
Bucky watched his friend walk away with his shoulders slumped, confusion and worry clear in his icy gaze. "That was weird." He thought aloud, "we still have 20 minutes."
Natasha only shrugged. "Maybe he had to talk to a teacher?"
"Yeah.. maybe.."
The two sat in silence for the rest of lunch, only conversing and making eye contact whenever the boy would ask what the time was. The silence caused Bucky to sigh. He hated silence when he was around friends. Your meant to be talking, not bloody texting and ignoring your friends.
Much to Bucky's relief, the bell rung, causing the groans of students to echo throughout the cafeteria. "Come on, Nat. We can't be late." Bucky mumbles, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"Okay, Okay." Natasha mutters, slipping his phone back into her pocket before following the boys lead and slinging her bag over her shoulder.
As the two began to walk to their last class of the day, Natasha's arm linked with Bucky's, she cleared her throat and looked over at him. "Hey, Buck?"
"Yeah?" He questions, taking a seat at his desk.
"Do you mind if I invite Cling to help out at the ranch?"
He sighs, "really? I was kinda hoping it'd just be the three of us." He says, giving her a look of annoyance.
"Come on, we're always hanging out and Cling really wants to meet you. Please?" She begs, giving the frowning boy a pout that he just couldn't say no to.
"Fine. But no couply stuff, you hear me? You're at mine to work. Nothing else"
She nodded happily, giving him a grin. "Yes, Thank you!"
Without another word, the red headed girl pulled out her phone and quickly sent a text to her boyfriend before going onto Bruce's contact.
"I'll text Bruce and tell him we'll meet up in the car park"
Bucky nods. "okay."
****
Bucky watched the clock intently, waiting for the hand to just hurry and hit 3 o'clock. Their science teacher was still rambling on about something that they were going to be beginning a project on, and that something Bucky was not listening to, and was asking the class random questions.
"How fast does flesh eating bacteria spread... James?" The teacher asks, causing the entire class to cast their gazes on the dazed out boy.
"James!"
At the yell of his name, Bucky shit his head in the direction of his teacher, trying to ignore the stares from his classmates. "W-what?" He stammers out.
She sighs, "did you hear my question?".
"No, sorry Miss." He mumbles softly, looking down at his desk as he felt a blush rise to his cheeks.
"Okay, I'll repeat myself. How fast does flesh eating bacteria spread?" She asks, harsh eyes glaring at the embarrassed boy.
"U-uh.. well it depends on what case because well it's a bacterial infection that spreads quickly through the tissue surrounding the muscles, and in some cases death can actually occur in 12 to 24 hours."
Shock glazed over her eyes as she stared at her student, quickly containing herself before muttering. "Yes.. that's correct."
But before the teacher could finish her ramble, as if right on que, the bell blasted through Bucky's eardrums. "Okay, class dismissed." She grumbles, walking over to her desk.
The whole class was filled with groans of relief and smiles as the students hurriedly left the classroom, Natasha and Bucky close behind when they were stopped by their teachers gruff voice. "James."
Bucky stopped his flee to the door, nodding for Natasha to wait outside before turning on his heel and giving his teacher a nervous smile. "Yes, Miss?" He asks.
"Please pay attention in class. You know how annoying it gets for us teachers when students don't pay attention."
"I know, I'm sorry"
"Okay. Just don't let it happen again."
Bucky gave a simple nod before turning back around and continuing his walk out of the class room and into the hallway, finding Natasha leaned up against the lockers with her arms crossed.
"Sorry bout that, she just wanted to growl at me."
"It's fine, let's just go. I'm pretty sure Oliver's waiting for us." She responds, linking their arms.
The two made their way outside and into the car parks where they found Bruce awaiting their arrival, leaning against his freshly washed car.
"Bruce!" He calls, giving a simple wave and a smile.
Bruce lifted his head at the sound of his name, a grin lining his lips once he had spotted his two friends. "Hey!"
"Who's ready to spend the rest of the afternoon looking after animals?" Bucky asks, looking between the two.
His friends grin, "we are!"
Bucky smiled, finally. We're back to normal.
****
The three friends after an hour of driving eventually made it to Bucky's ranch, finding Tony already at the gate, unlocking it at the sight of Bruce's car.
"Hey dad." Bucky spoke from the open passenger seat window, a happy smile upon his peach coloured lips. "I didn't expect you to be at the gate."
Tony chuckles, ruffling his sons hair. "I heard the car from down the driveway so I thought I'd be nice and open it for you." He says, leaning up against the fence behind him. "Anyway, is guessing you learnt nothing interesting at school?"
Natasha and Bucky shrugged, whereas Bruce grinned and shook his head. "Actually Mr Stark, these two were telling me about how they learnt about flesh eating bacteria in science! It's so weird yet fascinating, I wish my parents would let me do science with them."
"Wow, I never knew there was flesh eating bacteria. Guess I gotta be careful then with any wounds I might get."
"Anyway dad." Bucky spoke, sitting back fully in his seat. "We should hurry and get ready before it gets too late. Is there a list of anything in my room of what you'd like us to do."
Tony nods, "yep. There's a list on your bed of everything I need you to do. And yes, go quickly, it's already 4:30."
With a simple wave and the nod of their heads, the three teenagers drove down Bucky's driveway, keeping clear of some of the roaming chickens and workers before parking beside Tony's truck and leaping out of the car. Bruce stretched his arms up above his head, flinching at the sound of his back cracking as he leant backwards.
"Man, I seriously cannot wait to get out there." He mutters, locking his car and stuffing his keys into his pocket.
Bucky nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too. How about you Nat?" He asks, turning around to find her back facing him as she looked out at the driveway, hand above her eyebrows.
"Uh? Oh, yeah. Can't wait."
Bruce gave Bucky a look of confusion, to which the younger responded in shrugging his shoulders and mouthing, "dunno."
With a sigh, Natasha turned around to face her two friends and mumbles. "Should we head in?"
Bucky nodded, leading the way inside of his cool home as they all toed off their shoes and headed towards his bedroom that was situated on the other side of the house and down the hall. Once they walked inside, Bucky grabbed at the list set out atop his bed, finding three piles of old folded clothes set out for the three of them to wear while they worked.
"Okay, so today we need to clean out the stables, put in some fresh hay and make sure their water buckets are full before we put some of them out into one of the paddocks so they can stretch their legs." He says, placing the piece of paper on his bedside table.
Bruce smiles, "awesome."
Natasha mirrored the smile before grabbing her pile of clothes in a bundle in her arms. "I'm gonna go and get dressed in your bathroom. I won't take long." She says, leaving the room once the boys gave her a nod.
The two boys waited for the sound of the lock before beginning to get undressed beside one another, throwing their clothes messily into separate piles on the bed. "Hey Bruce?" Bucky asks, slipping a shirt over his head.
"Yeah?"
"Um.. I don't think Nat told you this but.. Clint's coming out. I didn't want him to, but he just really wanted to meet us."
Bucky watched as his friends face dropped at the mention of Clint's name, freezing what he was just doing. "O-oh.."
"Yeah." Bucky mumbles, placing a kind hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
Bruce nods quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine." Before shrugging away Bucky's hand and slipping the shirt he was lended over his head, walking at a fast pace out of the room. Bucky stared after him in utter shock, the realisation of his friends hitting him like a brick and causing him to gasp. "Oh no."
Natasha then came out of the bathroom carrying her clothes, placing them down on Bucky's desk before asking, "where's Bruce?"
"Already outside, I think."
"Oh okay. Well are you ready then?"
Bucky nods. "Yep, let's go."
He followed Natasha out of the room and towards the sliding door, finding Dodger waiting for them with Bruce giving him a scratch under the chin. Bucky smiled warmly as he chucked on his boots and walked over to them, Natasha right behind him.
"He bud." He coos, giving his dog a kiss atop his head. "How are ya?"
Dodger only barked, giving a happy wag of his tail as an indication to say he was happy. "Naw, he's so cute." Natasha mumbles, giving the excited dog some scratches behind his ears.
Bruce rolled his eyes, "can we go?" He growls, sounding impatient.
"Uh Yeah, sure."
Bruce led the way toward the stables, Dodger staying right by his feet and causing Natasha to scrunch up her nose at her friends angry figure. "What's up with him?" She asks, to which Bucky sighs at.
"I told him that Clint would be coming out."
"Okay, And why is he upset about that? It's not that big of a deal, is it?"
"Well, maybe he was just hoping it would be the three of us, because if I'm being honest, we haven't hung out as a group in weeks. Your only focus seems to be Clint, what about us?" Bucky huffs, crossing his arms and walking up ahead to join Bruce.
The two walked in through the stable doors, smiling at the sight of the horses turning their heads and neighing happily.
"So, what're we doing first sir Buck?" Bruce jokes, placing his hand on his forehead and doing the salute signal.
Bucky chuckles, rolling his icy blue eyes. "Well, sir Bruce. First, we have to clean the stables. Now, get to work!"
Bruce gave a light nod before walking over to one of the wheelbarrows in the corner of the stable, filled with spades and rakes. He grabbed at the handles and pushed it over, "who's stable do you want me to clean out first?"
"Um, you see that pinto over there?" Bucky asks, pointing towards the back left corner of the stable.
"Yeah"
"That's Scout. Can you clean out his first?"
Bruce nods, "yeah, sure."
As he went in and cleaned out Scouts stable, Bucky walked out to find Natasha sitting outside, chin resting in the palm of her hand.
"What are you doing out here all alone?" He asks, taking a seat down next to her.
"Just thought I'd sit here and wait I guess." She mumbles, looking at the ground.
"Oh, okay. Um, do you think you could go to that shed over there and get us some hay please? We'd love the help."
Natasha smiles, "sure."
Bucky got up from the ground and dusted his pants off to go back inside the stable when the sound of Natasha speaking his name stopped him in his tracks.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about always hanging out with Clint. I guess I just really like him and he's actually kind to me, unlike my ex."
Bucky shook his head, "it's fine. We just got lonely not having our annoying friend around."
Natasha scoffed and smacked his leg, "rooodee."
Chuckling, Bucky placed out his hand to help her up, and pulled her into a hug.
"I love you, I'm sorry for getting so grumpy before." He mumbles into her shoulder, smiling when she squeezed him tightly.
"It's fine, and I love you too."
They hugged it out for a few seconds, rocking back and forth when the sound of Bruce calling out to him cut the two from their embrace.
"Oh, shit. I left Bruce working in the stables."
Bucky quickly pulled away and ran back inside to find Bruce standing there, arms crossed. "Who do I do next?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.
"Oh, um... you can do smoky if you want"
Bruce raised his fist in the air before yelling, "YES!!" Loudly, heading straight over to Smokey.
Bucky have a small giggle, "okay, I'll do Gypsy."
******
Here's the second chapter! Thanks sm for reading!!
~ Maddi❤️