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simmerandwrite · 1 year

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Lower the Stakes [05] - Enter Alpine

Summary: Bucky Barnes still isn’t sure of his place in the world. For Haley Fisher, making new friends has always felt like a challenge. Though getting a second chance at life gave her the opportunity to reinvent herself and determine where she fit into the world again. It’s time to shift the expectations and determine what she really wants. How does that old classic go? ‘I get by with a little help from my friends.’

(Aka the post Falcon and the Winter soldier friends-to-lovers mini series no one asked for, featuring one ‘grumpy but warming up’ centenarian and one ‘coming into her own’ plus sized original character!) Ready the pre-story here

Chapter summary: Bucky adopts a cat, Haley pretends she doesn't have the flu. Everything is fine. (:

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x plus size original character

Word count: 5k

Parts: Part 01 Part 02 Part 03 Part 04 Part 05 Part 06 Part 07

Notes/warnings: brief mentions of body shaming Haven’t updated this one since August and I’m sorry! It’s a bit of a backburner project but I’m happy to have you here This chapter is mostly told from Bucky’s POV. if you see me out interacting in the wild, it’ll be under @simmerandcry

---

Bucky didn’t consider himself an impulsive person. Not now, at least. Perhaps before, a long time ago, he might have been a lot less careful when it came to his decision making. But after years of strict rule following in the army, and even more torturous reprimands for breaking any rules while being brainwashed into The Winter Soldier, being cautious of every move he made became a nasty habit.

A habit he was trying to break, in some ways.

Like not thinking through every single thing he did and the ripple effect it might have on his future actions. He wanted to start considering immediate gratifications and long term impacts of things, too. But he didn’t want to always take a long time to get there.

Enter Alpine.

All it took was one glance at the stray kitten - who someone at the airstrip had found hiding out in one of the storage sheds - and Bucky knew he couldn’t leave her behind. And although Sam had protested the whole idea as they got onto the plane, the minute the small animal curled up into the crook of his arm, Bucky was set on his own decision.

Now here Bucky and Sam were - back in Bucky’s apartment in New York, getting it ready for life with a cat. Bucky had been a bit heavy handed once they got to the pet store but when he saw the little white furball traipsing through his living room, bounding up her the new cat tree they had built, he felt settled by the entire thing.

And much to Bucky’s surprise, Sam has been more than helpful. Sure, he teased Bucky throughout the whole process but Sam had taken a lot of the anxiety off Bucky when it came to his decision making. Sam had even come back to the city with him before heading home to New Orleans, choosing to spend the night on Bucky’s couch.

While Sam took to the shower, Bucky was sitting cross legged on the floor of his living room, tossing a few balls and toys towards his new companion. When a knock at the door sounded out, a frown grew on his face as the cat ran underneath his couch.

Reluctantly, Bucky stood and slowly headed towards his door. When he opened it and saw Haley standing there, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey,” she started quickly with a little wave. “I sent you a message but I wasn’t sure if you were home. Figured I might just knock and see, since I was in the neighbourhood. I guess I could have called..”

“I just got back this afternoon,” Bucky answered as he ushered her in. “And I never check my voicemails anyway. You alright?”

“Oh yeah. Actually a friend of mine - her cousin is playing a little show at this bar a few blocks from here so I wanted to see if you wanted to come and..” Haley cut herself off and glanced around his living room and kitchen. “Did you get a cat?”

Bucky grinned, eyebrow raised as he glanced around. “What tipped you off?” Stepping forward a few feet, he made a small cooing noise to try and get his new roommate out of hiding. “There she is - Haley, meet Alpine.”

Haley was quick to crouch down, extending her hand out as Alpine approached. “She’s so beautiful.”

As she acquainted herself with the cat, Bucky motioned a hand across the apartment. “And while you’re here...” Bucky had heard the shower turn off before Haley came in. And by the pace of his footsteps.. “I guess I should introduce you to Sam, too.”

Haley turned her head to look towards the small hallway across the apartment, mouth dropping into a small surprised face when she saw Sam enter the room. She rushed to stand up again, “Wow, Captain America in the flesh. Honestly, I sort of assumed Bucky was just making up all his stories about you.”

Sam grinned, eyes rolling as he made his way into the living room. “And you must be Haley. I could say the same thing.”

Haley smiled back at Bucky. “Two real examples of non-imaginary friends.”

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Bucky narrowed his eyes and glanced between them both. He would be lying if he hadn’t tried to calculate what this moment might look like - although he had hoped it would have been in a more controlled environment.

What was Bucky so worried about? Sam, down to his core, exuded both confidence and kindness, and paired with extensive PR training and his years of time with Veterans’ Affairs, he could keep a conversation with anyone. Haley, on the other hand, certainly came across a lot more introverted. She came across a lot more reserved, just like Bucky himself, and it had taken a while for them both to let their guards down.

Bucky hoped that introducing his friends wouldn’t impact the progress they had made so far.

And it only took minutes for Sam and Haley to sort themselves out enough to dive into a conversation. The most unsurprising thing, even, was that Bucky ended up as the outside person in the room. He kept his attention on Alpine, who had become very acquainted with Haley’s lap as she sat on the floor.

It was unimaginably cute to see Alpine’s soft little body curled up against Haley.

“So, what do you think, Buck?” Sam’s question pulled Bucky’s gaze away from Haley’s legs. Bucky had dropped down onto the couch across from them and he narrowed his eyes, unable to figure out what Sam was asking him.

“My friend at work, Dani, her cousin plays guitar in a Fleetwood Mac cover band,” Haley jumped in, noticing Bucky’s confusion immediately. “It’s a little bar, I’m sure it’ll be a small crowd.”

Sam motioned to the sleeping cat. “I’m sure she’ll be okay for a few hours to sleep and explore this place.”

Bucky hesitated. He supposed Sam was right - cats were independent creatures and Alpine likely could use a bit of time to herself to get used to his apartment. “I don’t know that band.”

Sam scoffed, eyes rolling as he stood up. “Of course you don’t.”

Haley offered Bucky a playful smile. “You’re going to love Fleetwood Mac.”

---

Bucky already felt like a terrible cat parent. When he first adopted Alpine, he had every intention for her to be his adventure cat, his partner in crime - wanting to bring her out on trips anytime the opportunity presented itself. But now, after only a month, he was already hitting a snag.

Sam had invited him visit and strategize in Delacroix and Bucky knew he always had a bed at the Wilson homestead. But AJ had a bad cat allergy and Sarah had to put a hard ‘no’ on Bucky bringing Alpine until they could get him on some regular medication.

And now Bucky was once again grateful for Haley. He owed her a lot for deciding to take Apine in for the week Bucky was gone.

“Listen, I appreciate any opportunity where I can work from home a few more days during the week. I mean I have to go into the office Wednesday and Friday for a bit but hopefully by then she’ll be okay on her own.. And maybe it’ll inspire me to adopt a cat, too.”

Bucky sure hoped his continuous chorus of thank yous, plus giving Haley a giftcard for her favourite coffee shop, would express his sentiment enough.

The day he was leaving for Louisiana, he packed up everything Alpine would need for her stay at Haley’s and made his way to her apartment. He felt silly, at first, travelling with Alpine in a special carrier backpack but her happy mewls really solidified he had made the right investment.

Haley welcomed them both in with a smile, excitedly explaining how she had temporarily adapted her apartment for Alpine’s stay.

“I made that little corner area totally open for her box, I read that cats can be strangely territorial when in a new place so hopefully this works for her,” Haley said after shutting the door behind them, crouching down to join Bucky as he carefully put down his supplies and shrugged off the carrier. “I cleaned under my bed and in my closet too, in case she hides away. One website said..”

Bucky turned his head and caught Haley’s gaze. “You did some research about this?”

“I just don’t want you to worry, I guess.” Haley shrugged, failing to hide her embarrassment.

Bucky immediately felt guilty about making her feel bad about any of it. “No, no. I really.. I appreciate it a lot, Hales. I’m sure she’ll do great here with you”

They both stilled as Alpine let out a quiet meow, cautiously making her way out of the carrier and sniffing the rug she had been placed down on. Bucky shifted forward, extending his hand out to give her a comforting scratch behind the ears but the quick movement was already too much - and Alpine was off, quickly scurrying away and finding a place to hide underneath Haley’s coffee table.

Bucky sighed.

“Hey,” Haley sat back on her knees and squeezed his shoulder. “Try not to worry, okay? I promise she’s in good hands.”

---

“Hey! Sorry, I meant you could call me anytime - it didn’t have to be – are you outside?”

“I just finished a run. Is it a bad time?”

“No, no. Looks nice there!”

“A lot of fresh air and trees. Sam says it’s good for the soul.”

“He’s right. Anyway - here, let me turn my video around. Look! Your daughter’s new favourite place to nap - above my kitchen cabinets.”

“Alpine, you daredevil.”

“I am a tiny bit concerned she’ll try to leap up on the bookcase next.”

“Good thing we anchored those to the walls.”

“She’s been an angel otherwise, minus her late night running. How has your week been though? Relaxing, I hope..”

---

Haley (8:05PM): bad news Haley (8:05PM): your daughter may be a future arsonist Bucky (8:09PM): ??? Haley (8:11PM): all I wanted was a nice calm relaxing bath but apparently candles are not kitten proof Haley (8:11PM): I promise she still has all her whiskers Haley (8:15PM): [IMG_3399]

Bucky’s eyes blew wide open as he loaded the photo Haley had sent him. They had been in touch all week as she provided updates about Alpine, which were mostly positive outside of a plant that didn’t survive a fall from Haley’s window ledge.

And Bucky would be lying if he didn’t admit to how much he enjoyed the little updates and check-ins about how his trip was going. He had even sent Haley a selfie of his own, plus a picture of Sam laying on the ground, flipping off Bucky’s camera, after some training had gone awry.

This photo though, of Alpine sitting on the outside of Haley’s bathtub, felt a bit different. Sure, the main focus of the camera was definitely not supposed to be the exposed parts of Haley’s legs in the water, surrounded by soft bubbles and the light coming from candles sitting precariously on the outside ledge. Bucky was supposed to be looking at his little trouble maker of a cat, who was in the middle of extending a paw to swipe the flickering flame from one of the candles.

Yes, he was definitely looking at Alpine and not immediately thinking about Haley’s legs.

“Sarah?” Bucky finally glanced up from his phone, pushing his tongue across his lips as he searched for a second opinion. “I’ve got a real world question for you. About dating and, uh, women.”

One of Bucky’s favourite parts of their evenings in Delacroix was after dinner, when he and Sarah and sometimes Sam, took to the porch. Sometimes they’d chat, other times they’d read in silence together. This time was the latter.

Bucky looked over from his chair and caught Sarah’s curious eyebrow raise as she put her book down. Bucky was grateful Sam was inside watching a movie with his nephews at that moment.

“Oh, I love these.” Sarah moved slightly in her own seat on the porch swing, adjusting the blanket and folding her hands in her lap. “Go ahead.”

Bucky rubbed his jaw, glanced at his phone one more time then brought his attention back to Sarah. “It’s Haley related.”

Sarah nodded, doing her best to remain neutral although they had talked about Bucky’s friend before. “Sure, Haley - your friend with whom your friendship is completely platonic. Right.”

“She just sent me a photo of Alpine but she was in it too, in her bathtub.”

“In her bathtub?” Sarah repeated, making sure she heard that properly. “Like, in a bath. Naked.”

“Yeah.” When Sarah’s eyebrows went up, Bucky backtracked. “No, not like that. It was just her legs. But does that mean something?”

Sarah let out a long breath, tipping her head from side to side as she thought. “Well, I’m not much for sending photos to any man. Because ya’ll never deserve it. But, I don’t know. Is your conversation ever flirty?”

“I have no idea,” Bucky rolled his eyes, reaching for his phone and scrolling through his conversation with Haley. It was always friendly, if a little sparse on his side of things. Although he would admit that the last week since he’d been gone, they’d talked a lot more. And sometimes late at night. But what made a conversation flirty? The time it occurred? The tone?

“Listen, I don’t know Haley. But she could have probably sent that photo without her legs.. That’s all I’m saying. Maybe she’s testing the waters, to see how you’ll react.”

“And how am I supposed to react?”

“You tell me,” Sarah tipped her head to the side and studied him for another moment. “Are you interested in her that way? Do you have feelings for her?”

He tossed his phone onto the small table beside him and sighed. “I.. I don’t know.” Rediscovering his emotions had been a huge learning curve and it was still an ongoing struggle. Every single part of his being had been suppressed without his consent for decades and even now sometimes Bucky couldn’t tell the difference between what frustration felt like and what rage felt like. His spectrum was nearly impossible to understand on his best days and when he let himself even consider some of his feelings, it was an easy spiral into a lot of very dark thoughts. “I really don’t know.”

“If you were any other person in the world, I wouldn’t believe that for a second.” Sarah reached her hand across to grab one of his, giving him a gentle squeeze. “But I can’t imagine these things are fun to sort through for you. Maybe you just need to sit with it.”

“Haley is..” Bucky shook his head, indulging in the comforting touch from Sarah. “She’s one of my closest friends. That’s, uhm, important to me. Really important.”

Sarah let out a quiet laugh and nodded, squeezing his hand once more before releasing it. “Joel.. my Joel, we were friends first. For a long time before we figured it out. Sit with it, Bucky.”

---

Bucky was trying to ignore the pang of disappointment in his stomach when he headed to Haley’s. Given that she hadn’t responded to any of his messages, he assumed she wasn’t home and he’d be letting himself in to retrieve Alpine.

It was strange - when he left for New Orleans, he hadn’t anticipated so much time to reflect. Despite Sam telling him it was supposed to be a vacation, Bucky hadn’t been prepared for free time with all his thoughts. But now, coming back to the city, he felt he had a changed perspective. His late night discussions with Sarah had been both beneficial and a bit of a hindrance, too.

He was really looking forward to catching up with Haley, though - that he knew for sure.

Using the key she had given him, Bucky let himself into her apartment building and headed upstairs. He checked his phone once more and sent her a quick message that he was letting himself in. He followed up with an additional ‘thank you’ text as he twisted the key into her apartment door.

A strange comfort came over him as he walked into Haley’s home. It felt so familiar in a way and he vowed to let himself unpack just what that meant. As the door shut behind him, he peered around the living room, searching for his cat.

Bucky let out a low whistle. “Alpine?”

His eyes darted around the room - he had assumed Haley was at work, but seeing her laptop closed on the kitchen island and a leftover cup of tea on the counter, sitting beside her phone, clearly he had assumed incorrectly.

When he spotted Alpine mewling outside the bathroom door, his feeling of comfort quickly switched to something more awkward. Maybe he shouldn’t have just walked in without confirming she was home, especially if she was going to come out of the bathroom and just see him and -

He stopped his train of thoughts. There was no light on in the bathroom. And was that whimpering? It sounded… painful.

“Haley?” He took a step closer towards the door, taking in a sharp breath as he peered inside. “Jesus - Haley!”

He tried not to think the worst and prayed he wasn’t overstepping when it came to her privacy as he rushed towards her. Inside the bathroom, under the broken stream of sunlight coming in from the rest of the apartment, he found Haley curled up on the ground in a pair of leggings and a big sweatshirt. Halfway between her toilet and bathtub, she had a towel folded up under her head and half of a blanket draped over her body. The other part of her comforter was resting inside the bathtub.

“Hales - what’s going on? Are you hurt?”

Bucky crouched down, politely encouraging Alpine to stay outside the doorway. As was a given for most New York apartments, the bathroom was cramped. He extended out his hand and placed it gently on Haley’s shin.

“My whole body hurts..” Her voice was barely audible. “I think maybe… there’s this flu going around the office and..”

He sucked in a breath. “Shit. Okay. Are you throwing up? Is that why you’ve made a bed on the floor here?”

Haley just shrugged in response, eyes closed tight. “I did, once. Tried to wash my comforter, sort of just stayed here..”

Bucky took a very brief moment to pause, dragging his hand across his jaw before taking action. When he considered his scrambled memories of the past, suddenly something came forward that hadn’t crossed his mind in years.

Steve, his Steve. Curled up in bed, with faulty lungs and an immune system working against him. The same sting took over in his heart as he watched Haley, suffering alone and if he could place a bet, any moment she was going to dismiss him again and -

“Bucky, I’m fine.” He watched as she slowly pushed herself up to sit, leaning her back against the side of her bathtub. “I think I just need to ride this out..”

“Haley,” Bucky shuffled forward, just barely, scanning over her drooping eyelids. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand to press against her forehead. Shit. “You’re burning hot.”

Way too hot.

“I’ll be fine,” she repeated quietly, bringing her hand up to reach for her throat. “Feels sort of like..a knife..”

Okay, Bucky needed to act much more quickly now. “C’mon, maybe we need to go to urgent care or-”

“No, no.” She shook her head, pushing Bucky’s hands away. “I don’t need that.”

“Haley, if your fever is-”

“My deductible is huge. And urgent care is for emergencies.. I’m fine.” Her head lolled to the side and Bucky didn’t hide his baffled laughter.

He sat back on his knees. “How long have you had a fever?”

“Since this morningish.” She shrugged but raised a hand gingerly, motioning to her bathroom counter. “I think it’s getting better..”

Reluctantly Bucky took his eyes off her and sat up enough to see what she was pointing at. On top of her sink sat a scrap of paper, alongside a pen and thermometer. Of course Haley had been diligently tracking her own fever. He sighed, scanning over the numbers she had written down hourly. She never got to a critical temperature but that didn’t make him feel any better about her current state.

“Have you taken anything?” Bucky continued as he rinsed off her thermometer, turning to her again and waiting while she answered.

“Tylenol, a few hours ago. Don’t have any left..”

Bucky nodded then proceeded to urge the thermometer under her tongue, despite her ongoing dismissals that she was okay and he didn’t need to stay.

He took in another long breath as it beeped, displaying a number that wasn’t any higher than she had written down earlier. He extended his left hand out and brushed it across her forehead, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as she let out a relieved whimper at the cool touch.

“Bucky..” Haley closed her eyes and took a deep breath, or tried to. “You don’t have to do this, okay? I’ll be okay by tomorrow.”

He tried to stop his annoyed huff from escaping but Bucky felt his patience dwindling. “Why are you pushing me away? I’m trying to help.”

She squeaked out a laugh. “I called Alex and he sent me to voicemail. And god, when I called my mom - she told me..”

“Hales, look at me.”

Haley opened one of her eyes, swallowing hard. “Okay..”

“You’ve gotta let me take care of you. Please. I’m on my knees here, begging. I want to help.”

---

Haley felt it coming on all week. The fatigue had crept up slowly, the growing aches throughout her body much quicker. And by that Friday morning, it was as if she had been hit by a freight train.

After her early morning team meeting, her teammate Lindsay had messaged her and immediately told her to log off because Haley ‘looked like shit’. Which, although a bit too aggressive for Haley’s liking, did help her turn her computer off quickly. And then she mostly just slept, hot then cold, cold, cold. She tried to sip on tea but it had been difficult to finish, with her sleepy eyes and sore throat.

Alpine, cute as a button, had stayed by her side the whole time. Haley had appreciated having the feline as company all week and giving Bucky updates had been fun and almost flirty at times, too. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what to do about that and her growing, conflicting feelings so she kept them at bay as much as possible.

She had been fully planning on being at work in the office when Bucky came to collect his fluffy white child, too. Instead, though, she was struggling to stay awake and upright and couldn’t even imagine Bucky seeing her in that state.

And then, well, he went ahead and showed up at her apartment. She couldn’t fault him, of course. He had returned from his New Orleans trip and had every right to come collect his cat, especially because he assumed Haley was going to be at work. She just wished he hadn’t showed up after she had decided to make basecamp in her bathroom while trying to clean up her comforter.

But when Bucky offered to take care of her, Haley thought she’d be overwhelmed with shame and embarrassment. Instead though, a rush of good feelings washed over her instead. Safety, comfort, protection.

Before she could even keep trying to protest, Bucky had helped her up off the floor and immediately ushered her back to bed. He pulled the soft blankets off her couch and tucked her beneath them, with a cold cloth resting against her forehead.

“I’m going to run to the pharmacy, okay? I’ll be right back.” Bucky left her phone on the side table, urging her to call him if she needed anything. Alpine curled up against Haley’s legs.

“Keep an eye on her, okay Al?”

Haley dozed off quickly after he departed and it seemed like barely a moment had passed before he was back in her bedroom, stirring her awake with a sea of apologies. He had returned to her with an overflowing bag of supplies, rattling on quietly about all the things the pharmacist had recommended.

After she swallowed down a few pills and shed a few additional tears choking on a disgusting syrupy formula, Bucky left her to sleep once more, not before replacing her cloth with a refreshing cold compress.

“Just rest, Hales. You’ll feel better soon, I promise..”

Thankfully, whatever combination Bucky had administered to her had knocked Haley out - and it seemed like her body really needed it. When she finally woke up again, her head did not feel as heavy and swallowing already felt like a much more normal task. As she sat up in bed, she glanced around the room. It was dark - her curtains were still open and the city lights were spilling in. Across the room, the French doors separating her bedroom from the rest of her apartment were cracked open. Her living room lamps were glowing and she could hear some quiet footsteps coming towards her.

Bucky appeared at the door, pushing one side open gently. “Hey - you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Haley nodded, barely. “You.. you stayed.”

“Of course I stayed.” In a few strides he came in and took a cautious seat at the end of her bed. There was a kitchen towel resting on his shoulder. It made Haley’s chest swirl.

“I’m feeling better, I think.” She shrugged, desperately trying to dismiss the rush of domestic thoughts coming to her mind. “I think I have like ten percent of my energy back.”

A slow relieved sigh escaped Bucky’s lips. “I’m happy to hear that. Apparently this flu has been going around and really doing numbers on people, says the pharmacist I talked to earlier at least. They said by around 48 hours you should be –”

“Wait, Bucky. I’m probably contagious - are you okay with that? I might have immediately passed along my germs and..”

“I was cursed with a very good immune system,” he said simply, resting his hand on her leg. “Don’t worry about me.”

Her lips curled into a small smile. “I think I want to try and have a shower.”

Bucky waited and made sure she could get herself out of bed without collapsing then let her continue on her own, though he did awkwardly offer his assistance if she might need it. Haley tried to ignore whatever that might mean, instead just indulging in the warm water and letting the stream drown out the rest of her thoughts.

God, what a week it had been. She wasn’t entirely sure what had flipped the switch in her but it seemed that all of a sudden, Bucky’s presence in her life was causing her heart to stir. If she had to pinpoint the catalyst, she could blame it on Dani, her closest friend from work. Ever since Haley had brought Sam and Bucky out to the bar weeks ago, Dani had been in her ear about Haley’s friendship with Bucky. And when Dani found out they technically met on a weird non-date at the bar, she had even more questions that Haley couldn’t answer.

Bucky was her best friend, was all Haley could insist. And she tried so hard to leave it at that.

Then, well, this whole flu thing had happened and it was mucking everything up. Haley wasn’t mad Bucky was taking care of her - in fact, she was grateful. But it wasn’t making anything clearer for her.

When she got out of the shower and had changed into a fresh pair of pajamas, Haley finally emerged from the bathroom and found Bucky working in her kitchen. He was standing at the stove, singing something quietly to himself as he stirred a pot of - was that soup?

“Sarah sent me her healing chicken soup recipe - apparently it’s a cure for most ailments,” Bucky rolled his eyes but couldn’t mask his smirk. “If you think you could eat something.”

“I could try,” Haley nodded, sliding into one of the stools at her small island. She sipped the warm broth mostly, indulging in the fresh ginger taste and feeling almost excited that her appetite was slowly returning.

Bucky leaned forward across from her, studying her before pressing a palm against her forehead. “I think maybe your fever broke.”

Haley smirked. “See? I told you I’d be okay.”

“Yeah, yeah. Finish your soup, Fisher.”

---

After they ate, Bucky suggested watching a movie but Haley argued she wouldn’t be able to focus. She still felt tired but was fighting it off. Instead, they just set up camp on the couch.

Alpine perched at the window between the bookcases, watching the world below. Bucky retrieved Haley’s now clean comforter from the dryer down the hall and returned the other blankets to the couch, then dropped onto it.

It happened so organically - the way Haley grabbed the closest pillow from the couch and placed it against Bucky’s hip, laying down and resting her head in his lap as she pulled a blanket over her body. Bucky didn’t question it. And when he adjusted his arm, reaching out to rest it against her side then moving up to run his fingers through her hair, there was no protest from Haley.

Haley relaxed. Bucky settled.

They sat together, quiet. Eventually, Bucky picked up the book he had been reading and used one hand to prop it open and flip through the pages while Haley rested.

When her breathing picked up and he heard a quiet sniffle, Bucky stilled. “Hales?”

“I called my mom earlier. Because when you’re sick, you just want someone to help, right? I figured my mom would.. I know she doesn’t live here but god forbid she tries and offers me comfort. Do you know what she told me?” Haley choked out a laugh, pressing herself further against Bucky. “She said to look on the bright side, because the last time she had a stomach bug she lost eight and a half pounds.”

Bucky’s hand clamped around the book as he took in a sharp breath. “Haley, I’ve gotta say it - your mom sounds really unpleasant.”

Haley reached her arm up and clutched onto Bucky’s leg. “Yeah, that’s a fair descriptor. Her idea of what makes someone valuable though.. I don’t know, it’s pretty broken. I know she loves me but sometimes it feels like she’d like me more if I was.. less.”

Bucky moved his hand from the crown of Haley’s head to rub her back. “You don’t deserve that.” The longer it took Haley to reply, the more anxious Bucky grew. And then, he felt her let out a long breath.

“Thank you for taking care of me, Bucky.”

Bucky let his hand draw circles and shapes against Haley’s back until she fell asleep on him, although he worried she’d wake up with a kink in her neck. Selfishly, he didn’t want to encourage her back to bed - because he liked the warmth of her presence, of her body at his side.

It was dangerous territory - the way an unexpected sense of intimacy had taken over their moment. But Bucky was putting into practice what Sarah had suggested, sitting with his feelings, trying to figure them out.

He had an answer now to Sarah’s big question. Did he have feelings for Haley? Yes. But what made it even worse is that he had no fucking clue what to do about it.

---

thank you again for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts if you enjoyed this chapter. up next: adventures in online dating, again.

#bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x oc #bucky x oc #bucky barnes x original female character #bucky barnes x original character #bucky fanfiction #bucky x female oc #marvel fanfiction #bucky fanfic #plus size character #story: lower the stakes

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