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“Hey guys, look what I found”, Sam shoots, showing to Steve and Bucky a little pink and white chapstick tube. “Someone must have forgotten it or it fell from a pocket.”
“One of the girls probably”, Steve states, “I've recently seen them with little tubes like these, they were all putting it at the same time, complaining about the cold and how it dries their lips.”
Bucky stares at the little balm container in Sam's tanned hand. Raspberry, he only knows one person wearing it, Y/N. He has seen her doing this so many times, looking at how the pink chapstick perfectly fits her lips, how she carefully applies it for it not to go over those two pale pink lips of hers, those two perfect and kissable lips. He pictured himself so many times kissing it, almost feeling the raspberry flavor on his own.
“Buck ! Hey, I'm talking to you”, Steve snaps his fingers in front of his best friend's eyes, making him snap out of his daydream.
“I don't know what you were thinking about that deep, but it seemed really enjoyable”, Sam laughs.
“I was just thinking about something, nothing important”, Bucky bites back at the bird man. “What were you asking me Steve ?”
“If you'd like to do something today, instead of training, Sam and I have some errands to run, and then maybe we can drink some beers.”
“Why not”, the brunette says, “I have nothing else to do.”
“What are we doing about the chapstick ?”, Sam asks, while the three of them walk towards the door.
“That's okay, I know who it belongs to, I'm gonna give it back to her when we come back”, Bucky answers, playing with the little tube in his pocket, making it twirl in between his flesh fingers, thinking about the Y/H/C hair, Y/E/C eyes girl who usually wears it.
Despite his promise, Bucky never gave the chapstick back to Y/N.
“Girls, does one of you have seen my lip balm ? I can't find it”, the young Y/H/C says to her friends.
Y/N is late, what is quite unusual about her, her dad was in the army, so the young woman was always on time, her father keeping repeating her during her youth that punctuality was a virtue. Since her young age, he also trained her a lot, when she was eighteen the SHIELD proposed to recruit her, her father colonel Y/L/N knowing Nick Fury, it was easy for him to show her the progress she made, colonel Y/L/N knowing that his daughter's profile could interest his old friend for his organization, Y/N was athletic and clever, graduated with two years of advance. At eighteen, she refused the proposition, but accepted it when she turned twenty-one, after her college graduation, realizing that she needed more than what her law degree had to give her. She was trained to be a spy and leaned new way of fighting. For her first mission, she was paired with no one else than Sharon Carter who became her closest friend. After the fall of the SHIELD, when Sharon left for working with the CIA, Y/N stayed with Maria Hill to rebuild it, and she started to track the undercover HYDRA agents. And when everything went back to normal after the split of the Avengers, she was integrated in the team of the reformed heroes team.
“Haven't you forget it somewhere ?”, Natasha asks, knowing that her friend has her head in the clouds sometimes.
“I haven't seen it for a few days now. And I really need it, look at my lips, with those polar temperature, they're totally chapped and it hurts. You know me, I'm not the kind of person who complains but, holy hell, this hurts !”
“Do you think that someone stole it ?”, Sharon questions.
“Who do you want to steal chapstick ? Like it's only chapstick, 2 bucks at the Target at the corner of the street. It's just, it's ugly and unkissable.”
“That's okay Y/N, if you don't find it, I still can buy another one to you”, Hope laughs, from the corner of the gym.
“Haha, hilarious”, Y/N replies, making her sweater pass by her head.
“Anyway, since when are you so preoccupied by the appearance of your lips or the fact that they are kissable or not”, Sharon throws the question towards Y/N who adjusts her sports bra.
“What ? I told you it hurts and it's really not pretty to look at”, Y/N answers, her cheeks becoming slightly red.
“I know since when”, Natasha teases, “since it's Barnes' birthday in a few days.”
“This is bullshit Nat, and you know it”, Y/N answers, slightly pissed about the all situation.
“Y/N and Barnes are kissing on a tree”, Sharon starts to singsong.
“Shut up and let's train. I have things more important to do that hear the three of you singing nonsense about me.”
The three other girls laugh and before they even can realize, Y/N managed to put them on the floor.
Meanwhile, in one of the rooms upstairs, Bucky, sitting on a desk chair, listens to Tony incessant babble about his coming birthday. The billionaire already planned about a huge extravaganza for his 102th birthday. Bucky sighs, while Tony shows him the food, the DJ, the decoration, his hand in his pocket, rolling Y/N's chapstick in between his fingers. Since the moment he took it back from Sam, he keeps it in his pocket as a lucky charm. Sometimes when he is alone, he opens the cap of the little tube and smells the raspberry from it, still obsess by the taste this would have on Y/N's lips, the taste it would have if her lips was pressed to his, and just the thought of this, he makes a mental note that they should try it sometimes.
“Barnes what are you doing ?”, Tony suddenly asks. “Are you even listening to me ? And why are you smelling that chapstick like it's cocaine ?”, eyes opening wider at the sight of the little chapstick tube.
“I'm not”, Bucky says, quickly recapping the small lip balm and throwing it back in his pocket, as red as a ripe tomato.
“You know what old man, maybe this party is going to be the perfect way to make the first move. For God's sake Barnes, you're 102, don't act like a teenager. Go, I'll plan that party on my own as you are not even interested in your own birthday party.”
Bucky leaves the room, completely relieved to know that Tony is going to take care of the party all by himself, but totally scared about what the Iron Man just discovered.
Days passed by and the big party arrived like a blink of an eye. As usual with Tony, what was supposed to be a tiny celebration was in fact a huge party involving people that Bucky never saw before that night. Though everyone is dressed casually, he sees her at the other side of the room, she's wearing a simple red dress. The first thought coming through his head is that she looks stunning, even wearing such a simple dress. His eyes travel up to focus on her face, on her lips, she may have bought another chapstick, her lips look shinny, and he wonders if she bought the same flavor, if her lips would taste the same or if they would taste a different flavor. He mechanically dives his hand in his right pocket and starts to play with the raspberry chapstick in it.
From everywhere people are talking, laughing, dancing, but no one really takes care about the man of the evening for now. Steve and Sharon are together laughing with Tony and Pepper, the other members of the team talking to the unknown people Tony invited when Bucky would have rather to just have the team around and the people he knows and likes, he would just have loved a little dinner and a cake, maybe a movie night with his friends instead of being surrounded by people he doesn't even know. It's too crowded and hot in there, and he needs fresh air, plus, Y/N is talking to some guy, probably a hundred times less fucked up than him and a lot younger, around her age. Discreetly, Bucky walks towards the patio door, opens it and walks on the balcony, the fresh air of March hitting his face. He stands looking down at the New York lights, the tiny chapstick tube between his hands. No one even realized that he was gone, he can't blame them, they all have their own lives.
Y/N smiles to the guy who's talking to her, he's a new SHIELD recruit, he's nice, but she's not really interested in what he says, in fact, the guy is quite annoying. Y/N's gaze wanders around the room while he's speaking, looking for a specific pair of blue eyes that she doesn't see anywhere. She continues to scan the room, looking for dark hair combed in a man bun, when she sees it through the window which leads to the balcony.
“So that's how I ended up in director Fury's office.”
“Excuse me Henry.”
“Well, actually, it's Hector”, he corrects her.
“Yes, Hector, right”, Y/N says, faking a smile. “I'm sorry I have something to check.”
Without no more explanations, Y/N leaves him there and starts to walk towards the window. Bucky is out there, fixing a point in the horizon, not looking at anything in particular, a blank expression on his face. Y/N sighs, he's supposed to be the king of the party and then, he's here alone on the balcony, looking at New York. She slides the door open and walks outside.
“Hey, what are you doing here ?”, she says softy, putting a hand on his arm.
“Seems that I'm unwanted there.”
“What makes you say something like this ?”
“The fact that no one cared while I was inside and that no one even noticed that I left.”
“I did, I noticed, and believe me, I would have rather been with you the entire time that guy was talking to me. I never talk to someone that was so annoying my entire life. I couldn't get away, that guy definitely likes to hear himself talking.”
Bucky scoffs at the remark she makes. The wind blows and Y/N starts to shiver.
“You're gonna catch a cold”, Bucky says, taking of his jacket to put it on her bare shoulders.
“Thank you”, she passes her arms through the sleeves and puts her hands in the pockets. “That's way better”, she adds, her hand digging in the right pocket until the tip of her fingers touch a cylindrical object. “What's that ?”, she questions almost for herself when she takes out of the pocket a little tube of raspberry chapstick. “Hey that's mine ! I thought I lost it, but you had it all this time ?”
“I intended to give it back to you and then I didn't”, he answers, looking at his feet, sheepishly. “I'm sorry if this makes you mad or uncomfortable I don't know what I was thinking about or, rather, I know what I was thinking about, I was imaging about how it would taste if you kissed me with that raspberry chapstick on your lips and I thought that we maybe should try it sometimes.”
Y/N opens her mouth, but before she managed to say anything, the window opens revealing an excited Tony behind.
“Here is the birthday boy !!!!”, he giggles, “Oh and I see you've got company”, he adds, wiggling his eyebrows. “Where is she going ?”, he asks, when Y/N passes by him to go back inside. “Did you finally act like a grown ass man ?”
“I think I screwed up”, Bucky sighs, looking at Tony.
“Well at least you tried. Come inside now, you're gonna blow those 102 candles, and we're gonna eat some cake !”
Bucky passes by Tony too, the last closing the window before, heading to a dessert trolley which has a huge cake on it, crowned by 102 candles, a “Happy birthday Bucky” written in the middle. The crowd starts to sing 'happy birthday'.
“Come on Buck, make a wish and blow all of this !”, Steve shoots, an arm around Sharon's waist, his other hand holding a glass of champagne.
Bucky stares at the cake before closing his eyes and makes his wish. Then, he blows the 102 candles at once. Before he even has time to realize that everyone around his cheering, a hand grabs his collar and pulls him down with a firm grasp. A pair of pink lips, with a raspberry taste, collide with his own. Slowly realizing what's going on, he feels some fingertips playing with the hair at the back of his neck. She pushes a little more her lips into his, asking for permission to deepen the kiss, what Bucky gladly authorize, closing his eyes again, holding her tight against him.
“Y/N”, he breathes, once she pulls away.
“I have a confession to make”, she whispers against his lips, also catching her breath, “I also imagined a lot what it would taste if I'd kiss you with the raspberry chapstick.”
The room went silent when Y/N and Bucky started to kiss each other, all the guests eyes and mouth wide open.
“I think this wasn't really the place nor the time to do it in fact.”
“Are you kidding me ? That's perfect, my birthday wish worked”, Bucky states, a wide grin on his lips, hooking his left arm around Y/N's waist before kissing her forehead, while everyone else snap out and start to ask for cake.