Today I Met Happiness

Today I met happiness

'' flower shop of new feelings ,,

[ 04 : unlucky ]

|| pairing : james "bucky" barnes x florist!reader

|| warning : nothing !

|| wc : 3.6k

Ever since you’d found out about James - Bucky - being an Avenger, the two of you’d grown closer. He was more open about who he was, what he’d like. You learned he rather listens to old 40s music than the newer Taylor Swift, which was completely understandable. He wanted to learn how to bake the things his Ma made, muffins and cakes and all that jazz before the war. And when he’s alone in the Tower, he likes to put on soft music and dance to it, pretending he was back in the 40s.

You loved learning more about him, he went from an old customer to a friend, and now, you’d dare say he was one of your closest friends! Despite it barely being 2 months- ah, he was really growing on you. However, with your growing friendship, that also accidentally made it so you were neglecting your other friendships. Especially May, you were both very busy with work, and her being busy with her nephew as well. It was understandable that you both weren’t hanging out much, but you wanted to change that!

You invited May to go out to a cafe with you, one down the street from your flower shop, you knew the person who ran it, Finn.

“Thanks for this, May, gods, I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages!” The both of you hugged, you giving a small squeeze before letting her go and sitting down across from her. “How’ve you been? How’s Peter doing?”

“Oh, we’ve been doing just great! Peter’s been interning at that Stark place and he’s so excited about it, constantly working on stuff that’s supposedly on-” She raised her hands and did air quotes. “- the down low, y’know?”

A small chuckle left your lips as you sipped on the hot beverage in the paper cup you’d ordered, god Finn made the good stuff here. “How about you? You’ve been MIA so much! I was planning on bringing over some pot pie a few days ago, but Peter saw you coming home and said you looked like you were on the verge of collapsing!” May leaned on the table, her brows furrowed, etched with worry as she asked.

“I promise, I’m okay, really, work’s just been busy.” You gave a lazy shrug. It was true, that day you’d gotten 5 calls for special orders for weddings or funerals and such. Even then, you still had to deal with your other, in person customers. “It’s a lot, but I’m enjoying it.”

“If you say so..” She sighed and twiddled with the pastry in her hands before taking a bite. “Y’know, you need to take a break soon.”

“May-”

“I’m serious!” She huffed and chowed down on the pastry, a sigh of relief leaving her lips. “Oh, this is so good,” May muttered before shaking her head. “I can call Happy, get him to send you off somewhere nice, have a chill vacation”

“I thought you knew me better, May, I’m more of a home-body” You shook your head and laughed before processing.. Happy? Who’s Happy? “Wait, who’s-”

“Happy's uh.. Someone I’ve taken interest in.” Her lips were pulled into a sly smile as you gaped. Were you that absent you didn’t know your friend was seeing someone??

“Tell me everything!”

“Well, he works at Stark Industries and I met him through Peter,” She took another bite of her pastry. “He’s a really sweet guy, there’s some weird stuff, but ah, it’s casual”

“I’m really happy for you, May”

“Awh, shucks” She playfully swatted her hand in the air, feigning to be flustered. “How about you? Any guy friends? Maybe lady ones?”

Your face flushed and you shook your head, your eyes glancing outside. “No, no, been waaay too busy for that!”

“Oh, that’s so boring! How about this, I hook you up with someone.”

“May!”

“I’m just saying! You need to get out there, especially after..” May trailed off as your shoulders tensed. Your last relationship hadn’t ended well, cheating and whatnot. It broke you, even though it was a short relationship, cheating never felt nice. After a beat of silence, May cleared her throat. “C’mon! It’d be fun! Plus, Happy knows the Avengers, maybe you could go on a blind date with one of them!”

Your eyes widened at that.. James was an Avenger, well, sort of. Imagine going on a blind date with him, that’d.. Be a disaster. He knew you, you were just friends. No way you’d get hooked up with him.

“I-I’m way too busy for that, May, it’s a nice sentiment, but not for now.”

She just sighed and shrugged, allowing this topic of discussion to be dropped. The two of you started to talk about some random crap, how your other neighbors were loud.. In more ways than one, it was so annoying. How New York felt like it was the new warzone for aliens and Avenger level threats. God, it was a lot. But, it was nice to talk to May about this stuff. You loved her, she was a great friend.

–

After around 1 and a half hours of gossiping with May, the two of you went your separate ways, promising to do this again soon. Which you intended to keep! May had to go out and get some groceries, meet up with some of her co-workers and pick Peter back up from Stark Industries. Unless he gets a ride. You on the other hand? You decided to just head home, have a lazy day.

It was a Saturday, you’d already done your grocery shopping yesterday and the flowers back in the shop should be good until tomorrow evening. You needed to water them and make sure they weren’t wilted. In the meantime you walked back home and immediately bolted to your room to change into something comfy.

Once you put your comfy pjs on, you flopped on your couch and planted your ass on your couch as you watched mindless television. There was a rom-com sit-com playing on the screen, it was something you liked to put in the background as you crocheted, a hobby you recently picked up.

While you watched TV, the time passed as if hours were seconds and soon enough, the bright rays of light that seeped into your windows grew dimmer and dimmer. Soon enough, the evening had come and you were hungry as hell. With a small groan you pushed yourself off the couch and walked over to the kitchen. You didn’t feel like making anything complicated, so you opted for some instant ramen. With a clean motion, you grabbed a pot and put it under the faucet, turning the knob.. Nothing happened. No water, just a weird sounding sputter.

“What the hell?” Again, you tried turning it, nothing. Shit, was it broken? You put the pot down and squatted in front of the sink, opening the cabinet and looking at the pipes.. Yeah, you were out of your specialty with this. Usually, you asked May for help with this stuff, but as stated before.. She was busy. Shoot.

You sat on the cold ground of your kitchen apartment, looking to find any help from a plumber? You didn’t know who you needed for this. The prices were outrageous. Yeah no, you weren’t calling some professional.. You couldn’t exactly call up any family members.. Your only option left was James. Awh, man, you did NOT want to bother him, but.. You’re friends! He wouldn’t mind. With worried hands you dialed his number and put your phone close to your ear. Bucky was an Avenger! He’s probably busy with Avenger shit, here you are asking for sink help.

–

“Ha! You think you can beat me, little man?”

“.. I am a whole foot taller than you, Belova.”

Bucky and Yelena were currently playing cards together, something that Yelena had offered. She knew how out of depth this man was with the modern era. So, to help ease him into it, she offered to play cards with him every Saturday.. Plus, half the Avengers were busy doing something and she wanted to annoy someone new.

“Still, I am undefeated in the game of Gin Rummy. You know, Natasha taught me how to play when I was a kid!” She puffed her chest out in a proud manner.

“I was alive when Gin Rummy was made world wide.” He raised an eyebrow as Yelena made a “psh” noise and waved her hand in the air dismissively.

Before the two could continue the round, Bucky’s phone vibrated in his pocket, Yelena raised her eyebrow as he gave an apologetic look before standing up and walking out of hearing distance. When he saw it was your name, his heart started to beat just the smallest bit faster.

“[Name], what’s up?”

“James?” Your voice was quiet on the other line, nervous. “Heeeyy”

“You sound nervous, what’s wrong?”

“Well.. Oh, god,” He heard as you took a deep breath in and let it out. “I, uh, was trying to make dinner and I needed water to boil, and uh- my sink is.. Broken- and I didn’t know who else to call, my neighbors out, and I can’t pay for an electrician to help, can you..?”

You trailed off with your question, most likely out of embarrassment, Bucky suspected. Though, he didn’t know why you were embarrassed. “You need me to help?”

“Yes, please”

“Send me your address, I’ll be there quickly.”

“Thank you so much, James! I promise, I’ll cook you something when you fix it!” This made the corners of his lips quirk up. With quick goodbyes, he hung up and waited for your text. Once he saw your address, he recognized it. It was only a small ways away, with his motorcycle he’d be there in less than 10 minutes.

Bucky pushed his phone into his pocket and walked back over to the table where he and Yelena were playing. “I gotta deal with something, sorry to cut the game short.”

“Wha- oh, that’s ерунда, where are you going?” She pushed herself up and gave a small glare to Barnes as she watched him grab his jacket and keys.

“None of your business.”

“Oh, come on, Barnes, I won’t tell anyone.”

He just let out a huff, as a laugh type thing and turned around and walked to the elevator, giving a lazy wave to Yelena as he entered. “I’ll be back in a few hours, don’t trash the place.”

“No promises!”

With a ding, the elevator doors closed and he was going down to the parking garage. This was the first time he’d ever gone to your house, and his mind was RACING. I mean, it was just for friends. You guys are friends. Nothing more, nothing less. I mean, it’d be nice to be more, but no. To Bucky, you were someone who was soft, delicate, like a flower. He was some bulldozer who’d hurt you if he got too close. Not like he wanted to hurt you! No, he was just.. Worried.

As he got on the sleek, black motorcycle that Tony had given him as a peace offering, his mind started to calm as he drove. It was dark enough, just past sunset, so the streets were calm. No usual hustle of New York, no. It was peaceful, for once. The only thing he wished was that all the lights that were on during the night were off. There were bright billboards, bright neon signs that pointed to the nearest club. God, he loved clubs back then. They were nothing like what they were now. They were jazzy, sleek, elegant in its own rustic way, y’know? He missed that. The little things of the past.

Once he got to your apartment complex, he double checked the address before pressing the doorbell, or buzzer for you.

“Uh, [Name]?” He asked into the intercom.

“Hey, James! I’ll buzz you in! Again, thank you so muc-” Your voice got cut off as you unlocked the door for him.

Bucky walked through the empty halls of the apartment, his eyes darting for your apartment number. It was a nice place, better than the apartments back then. Even if Bucky was technically on the more rich side of things when he was younger, everyone had their struggles.

Once he got to the door that had your number on a bronze plate, he knocked on the door, and in a few moments there you stood.. Wow, man, maybe this was too domestic for him. You were in your cozy pajamas, a black, white and red flannel patterned pants and a black oversized shirt, cute mismatched socks that adorned your feet.

“James! Oh, thank god you’re here, c’min c’min!” You ushered him in and closed the door once he was fully in.

Bucky turned his head as his eyes darted around your home. It was.. Cozy, really cozy. There were thrifted paintings on the wall, and crocheted items on your couch. It was warm, but not overwhelming, just right. He stepped more into your living room as his eyes glazed over the photos. One was of your high school graduation, one of your family, one of some (he assumes) high school friends, as well as a photo of your university graduation, upon further inspection, your degree was business. There was one more photo, it was you, a brown haired lady and..

“Peter?” He muttered to himself as he looked closer to the photo, his brows furrowed in confusion. In the photo, you and May were on both sides of Peter as he stood in the middle, holding a first place trophy in his hand. A science thing, Bucky didn’t know. What he DID know was that you were friends with the spider boy's aunt and the spider boy.

“James?” You called out from the kitchen and that seemed to break him from his trance. He grunted and walked over to where you were. “Uhh, here’s.. The sink”

“What’s the problem with it?”

“It makes a sort of- fart noise when I turn it on”

The comparison made Bucky crinkle his nose and snort in amusement. He turned the knob, and yup, just like you said, out came the fart noise. Without the stink.

“This is an easy fix, I think it’s just clogged”

“Oh, so I’m just stupid,” You groaned and tugged at your hair. “I’m sorry for bothering you for such a simple issue of it being clogged.”

“You’re not stupid.” He huffed as he started to work on it. The perks of having a metal arm? He didn’t need any tools. Sure, it came with the trauma of falling out of a train, getting experimented on and being a weapon for 70 years, but ah, y’know how it is. “Steve used t’need my help with everything when we were younger”

“Yeah?” You sat on top of the counter as you watched him work.. Now you were not a pervert, but god, he had nice looking arms. The way it flexed under his jacket when he pulled or pushed on something. GOD, your friend was good looking. NOT THAT YOU WERE LOOKING! Aha.. totally not.

“Yeah, one time he broke one of the lights in his room as a kid, he was trying out some random item he got from the thrift shop and it backfired on him, needed it to get changed and clean up the shattered glass,” He spoke with a certain fondness in his voice as he worked on your sink. “I tried to help, he cleaned up the glass, I tried finding some extra light bulbs, but his old man found out and he told our ma’s. His mom and my Ma got pissed at us when they found out” He chuckled and pulled away from the sink.

“That should be good.” He had a small smile as he looked over to you. His heart beating quick as he looked over your face, you had the brightest smile on your face as you listened to his small story intently. You loved whenever he opened up about his past, even something as small or insignificant as that, it just.. Made you feel closer to him.

“Thank you, James.” You hopped off the counter and tried to turn the sink off, and miraculously it turned on! “Oh, thanks so much James!” With a wide grin on your face, you threw your arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He stiffened at this but, with much hesitance, he hugged you back. After a beat of silence, you pulled away and filled up the pot from before. “I’m gonna make instant ramen, if that’s okay?”

“More than okay.”

You hummed in acknowledgement as you put the pot on the stove and started to boil it. “You wanna watch a movie? I have Netflix!”

“Uh, what’d you wanna watch?”

“Oh, I, uh, I was hoping you’d choose?”

He huffed and walked back into the living room. Despite being free for over three years and a half, he still wasn’t used to picking out things for himself, having options. Granted, two of those years were spent with the Wakandans rehabilitating him, but that’s just details.

Bucky scrolled through your Netflix, a small smile on his face as he saw in your recently watched documentary of ‘Captain America : The Original Avenger.’ He watched that documentary, it wasn’t super accurate, but it was better than the others.

“Whaddya think about a World War 2 movie?”

“So you can point out the inaccuracies?”

Bucky snorted and confirmed your assumption. You just rolled your eyes and laughed. The two of you grew into a nice silence as the documentary played. Bucky didn’t sit down on the couch though, he walked around the living room. Looking over the photos, still shellshocked at the fact you knew the spider kid.

–

After a little while, you and Bucky finally had the bowls of instant ramen in front of you as you both sat in front of the TV. Still, he’s pointing out the inaccuracies of the documentary. It was really amusing. Everytime he pointed something out, his nose would scrunch up and his brows would be furrowed just the smallest bit.

Especially if the documentary brought up the Howling Commandos, he’d get pissed at every inconsistency.

“We did not take down 50 men that day, it was 36, god they’re dramatic.”

“You remember?” You asked, your cheeks puffed out with ramen as you slurped it down.

“I remember every mission of mine before- uh, everything.” He took a sip of the soup and took a bite of the noodles. “That mission, Stevie was pissed ‘cause Pinkerton accidentally threw out one of the plans of attack. He got Sawyer to draw it up all over again.” Again, as he reminisced, there was a certain sadness in his voice. Despite it being a literal war, he remembered all the good with the Howling Commandos. They were like a family of his. “Obviously, Steve didn’t stay mad the whole time, just long enough for Pinkerton to grovel”

You snorted at that and finished up your food. Listening to every word of what he said. Usually, Bucky was more closed off, quiet, but when talking about his past. The good parts of his past, he seemed like a never ending sentence. He’d talk fondly of the Howling Commandos, his Ma, his sister Rebecca, and all the trouble he and Steve got into as teens.

Soon enough, the documentary ended and you and Bucky finished your food. He, in a quiet tone, offered to wash the dishes which you complied with. The dishes were one of your least favourite chores. As he washed, you both still talked.

“So how was your day?” As dry as that was, you had no idea how Bucky’s day was, especially being an Avenger. In turn, he gave a lazy shrug, his arms deep into the sink.

“Worked out from 8 to 12, uh..” He had therapy today but he was not going to tell you about that. “Had lunch with Steve and Natasha, no Sam ‘cause he’s out in Wisconsin.”

“Why?”

“Mission, heard some enhanced was causing trouble. He, Wanda, Clint and Banner went.” You hummed in acknowledgement then asked if he did anything else. “I.. Cleaned, I dunno. I don’t really do much around the Tower. Though, Yelena and I were supposed to play-”

He cut himself off and checked the time after he put away the last dish in the drying rack. Shit, it was already 11 PM, how did he not realize 4 hours had passed?? How did he not realize that the documentary was so damn long? Shit, Steve’s gonna ask questions when he gets back home.

“You needa go home?” You had a small smirk on your face, your eyebrow raised at his sudden cut off. With a twinge of embarrassment, he nodded.

“Sorry, just.. Being, uh, me-” He pointed to his metal arm. “People in the Tower don’t really trust me all too much just yet, so I hafta get home.”

“Nah, I get it, no worries, James.” You walked him out and at the door way he put his shoes back on and reached for the handle. Before stepping outside he turned to you one last time, sparing you a small smile.

“I had fun today.”

“Same, we should do this more often”

“Definitely.” He had a soft smile on his face as he stepped out and you closed the door. For a few moments, he stared at your door all longingly, as if he was some teenager who’d just snuck back out of his secret paramour's house.

With a small sigh he turned away from your door. His eyes locked with wide eyed brown ones. Ones that he’d seen way too often back at the Tower.

“Mr. Barnes?”

Of course it was the Spider kid.

|| WOOOOWEEEEE!!! i looove making everyone have connections guys !!! ALSOOO if you wanna be added to the taglist, i'd be more than welcome to add you :3

|| also, small thing, if the russian that yelena said was wrong, blame google translate, i know nothing abt russian

taglist : @iyskgd , @highhopes1008