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“Hey guys, welcome back to my channel,” Bucky said into his camera. “Today we’re going to be exploring an abandoned, probably haunted building I found out in the middle of nowhere. Bad idea? Probably.”
He started to make his way up a rocky path towards an old, dilapidated house with boarded windows and overgrown weeds poking up through the boards of the front porch. The stairs creaked as he stepped on them, bending enough that he worried they might crack.
“I’ve barely made it into the house and I’m already worried for my safety,” Bucky joked for the video. “Let’s see if the front door opens.”
The doorknob was still a dull bronze but the door was warped and faded. Bucky set his camera on the deck railing so he could keep filming and forced the door open with a little effort. He went back to grab the camera, satisfied to find he didn’t have to find a broken window to climb through.
As he stepped through the door, there was a creak from somewhere in the house. Bucky didn’t think much of it; it’s an old house and he was likely the first person to set foot in it in years. He slowly panned the camera around the room to give his subscribers a good look.
The door opened into a large, bright living room with a worn couch, broken coffee table, and knocked-over lamp. There wasn’t much, but it looked like the remaining furniture was left on purpose by whoever lived there before. He walked further into the room and sneezed when his footsteps kicked up dust.
“This is so creepy,” Bucky said as he looked at a yellowed picture resting on the coffee table. It looked like a nice, normal family. “Like, where did they go? Why did they leave this stuff?”
He set the photo down and walked into the next room, the kitchen.
“Should I open the fridge?” Bucky asked the camera. He put a hand on the handle, debating if he really wanted to see if there was anything in the fridge. “Okay, fine. I’m gonna open it. Oh, gross, there’s a carton of milk in here! Definitely not opening that. Yeah, I’m gonna move on.”
He shut the door quickly, stepping back to the middle of the room to shuffle through the cabinets. There wasn’t much; just a few mismatched mugs and plates and a couple cans of green beans. Bucky picked one up to examine it, cringing when he saw the expiration date had passed years ago.
“Okay, let’s go see what else is here,” Bucky said, finding a hallway of closed doors. He heard another creak and froze. “Did you hear that?” he whispered. After a few seconds of silence, he laughed at himself and reached for the nearest doorknob. “It’s fine, it’s just an old house, I’m not about to get violently murdered.”
The door opened into a pretty bare bathroom, and he didn’t spend much time there except to see if the water worked (it didn’t) and to check behind the molded shower curtain for ghost murderers. Surprisingly, there were none.
“Okay, just a few rooms left,” Bucky said. “Honestly, this is significantly less haunted than I was hoping, but whatever.”
He opened the door into the next room down the hall. It looked like a kid’s bedroom, with blue walls and bunk beds shoved in a corner. There were broken and faded toys scattered across the floor.
“See! This is what I was looking for,” Bucky said, picking up an old doll. “This is the creepiest thing we’ve seen so far, right?”
There was a rustling noise from the closet, and Bucky whipped around to stare at it.
“That was just a rat, right, guys?” Bucky said in an attempt to reassure himself. “I’m gonna open this door and a ghost is absolutely not going to come out and eat me. Okay, on three? One, two-”
He pulled open the closet door, heart rate settling when he wasn’t immediately attacked. His relief was short-lived, however, when he spotted a man sitting curled up on the closet floor.
Bucky screamed, jumping back and dropping his camera. It rolled to the side but continued filming, still pointed at the stranger. Bucky was about to run out of the house and all the way home with or without his camera when he realized the man was screaming too. He shut his mouth and stared wordlessly, hands in his hair as he attempted to calm down.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked the second he could speak again.
“Who am I? Who are you?” the man asked. He looked much too tall to be hiding in a small closet.
“I’m- I’m Bucky,” Bucky said. “I’m a youtuber. I was exploring for a video. Sorry, I didn’t think there was anyone else here.”
“Wait, really? I’m filming a video too. Steve Rogers,” the guy said, standing up and holding out a hand. Bucky shook it, noticing for the first time that Steve was actually pretty cute. If he didn’t still feel like he might spontaneously combust, he would almost definitely say something witty right now.
However, as it was, he said something dumb.
“Why are you in the closet?” he asked.
Surprisingly, Steve laughed. “Trust me, I don’t make a habit of staying in closets. I was already in the house when you walked in; I was worried you were here to get me in trouble for trespassing. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Well, you scared me half to death,” Bucky said, leaning down to pick up his camera. Relieved that it wasn’t at all broken, he held it up and Steve waved. This was going to be such a weird video to edit.
“Can I make it up to you over coffee?” Steve asked.
“Only if it’s a date,” Bucky said, then seemed to realize what he just said and turned a rosy red before Steve smiled at him.
“It’s absolutely a date,” Steve said. Such a weird video.
Oh, right. The video. Gesturing at Steve to wait for a second, he turned the camera around to give a short ending before switching it off.
“So, you doing anything today?” Bucky asked.
“It sounds like I’m going on a date,” Steve said. “Unless you’re busy?”
“I am not,” Bucky said.
Six Months Later
“Hey guys! Welcome back,” Bucky said into his (slightly newer) camera. Steve was also in frame, waving at their audience. “Today, me and Steve are going bowling, which I happen to be great at.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said. “We’ll see.”
They spent the night passing the camera back and forth as Steve won three games in a row. By the time they left, Bucky was fake pouting while Steve grinned.
“No fair,” Bucky said. “How was I supposed to know that you’re so good at bowling?”
“Alright, sorry, sorry,” Steve said, pressing a kiss to Bucky’s forehead. Bucky good-naturedly shoved Steve off his shoulder, gesturing to the camera he was holding.
“Not in front of the kids,” he joked.
“Oh, right,” Steve said. “Maybe we should do an endscreen.”
“Alright, you know how it works,” Bucky said, “Like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell, whatever. Thanks for watching! See you next week.”
Right before the video ends, you can see Steve tackle Bucky in a hug as Bucky laughs and curls the camera protectively into his chest, making the screen go dark.