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It's been a long day. That's Bucky's story and he's sticking to it.
First, a breakfast meeting for people who wake up at stupid hours and think that breakfast should be eaten at seven thirty. Then, an emergency call from the breakfast meeting in the Chicago office when they discovered a huge bug in the code, which turned into Bucky getting his ass reamed by Pierce even though it was fuckin' Rumlow out of DC who was managing the team who actually wrote that part of the code—Bucky was just convenient.
After all the yelling and coordinating between six offices on three continents, the code was fixed enough to go into testing. Bucky could table that project and spend a whole fifteen minutes with Nat between her meetings, the two of them trying to wrangle the status of his newest project, the one that he actually cared about, the one that no one else but her made a priority.
And then it was lunch, finally, at a quarter to four. He almost considered working the next fifteen minutes and just taking his supposed lunch hour at the end of the day, but Bucky knew actually leaving the office before six would take a miracle. So, he hit the elevator, figuring he'd get a breath of fresh air while getting something from a street cart, and that's when it happens.
He's alone, initially, as the elevator starts going down, but on the fourteenth floor it stops and the doors open to reveal a short man in a large, bulky sweater that Bucky suspects is hiding a seriously skinny body, judging by the seriously skinny jeans below it. He's pretty cute, though, with shaggy blond hair that looks soft as it falls into his eyes. The man brushes it away as he steps in the elevator, catching Bucky's eyes and giving him a small smile of acknowledgement before he turns to face the doors, standing to Bucky's left.
And then, as the doors close, the man says, "I love you."
And, well, Bucky's a nice guy. He's not rude. So he responds: "I... love you, too?" It's polite, but curious; if it's a new sort of pick-up line, Bucky figures he doesn't mind letting it work on him for at least a moment.
But the man turns to him, cocks his head slightly, and gestures to his ear.
Which holds one of the smallest Bluetooth devices Bucky's ever seen.
Again: it's been a long day.
Bucky feels his cheeks grow warm and he just nods, gives a little salute with his right hand, and takes a step closer to the elevator wall, away from this man who obviously does not love him, because they don't know each other. He loves the person on the other end of that call. Probably like his wife or something. Maybe a kid.
The other man finishes up with a promise to see that someone soon, and then it's quiet as the elevator dings past the sixth floor.
Past the fifth.
Fourth.
Then there's the soft sound of a throat being cleared. "I mean, well, it's better than you thinking I was talking to myself."
It startles Bucky, enough that he laughs even while his blush hasn't totally faded, and he looks over and sees the other man smiling softly at him. "Yeah, but it makes me either an egomaniac or desperate. Not a great look."
Second floor, and the man who doesn't love Bucky has turned to face him, his smile widening. Bucky feels his face start to burn again, because that smile is blinding and Bucky is not prepared to handle it.
"Hey, you said it back. I think that speaks highly of your character." There's a ding and after another moment the doors open at the ground floor. Bucky doesn't want to look like he's fleeing, so he stands still just long enough for the other guy to take the first step out. But when he does, he also turns so he's backing out, and while looking at Bucky he says, "It was my ma. She's the only one I'm saying that to these days."
Bucky blinks and is so thrown by the comment that the doors start to close, and he has to move suddenly, grabbing the door and hurrying out of the elevator. "That's nice. I mean, that you say it to your mom. Not that you don't, uh, have a... partner."
The grin he gets to that is full of mischief. "Or if I do, I don't love them."
The pronoun doesn't go unnoticed. Bucky looks at him for a second, then narrows his eyes and chuckles. "But you don't. Have one."
"It matter to you if I do?"
The lobby is hardly bustling at this odd time of day, but that doesn't mean it's empty, and a very pregnant woman is approaching them at an impressive speed, so Bucky steps to the side, away from the elevator. He imagines the other man will sense a cue to end this conversation and head on his way, but after the woman passes, he comes over to Bucky, leaning against the wall and by all appearances in no hurry to go to where he was actually headed.
"Does it?" he asks again, which startles Bucky enough into actually answering.
"It might." He knows, in actuality, that this man is at least half a foot shorter than him, but there's something about him that looms over Bucky, and he absolutely can't deny that his attention is captured.
The other man nods, looking like he's considering things. "And I'm going to make a wild assumption here and guess you don't have a... partner—" there's a knowing grin around that word "—either?"
Bucky nods. "That's a fair assumption. Though maybe I'm in an open relationship." He's not, but he has been in the past, and it's nice to see that this guy isn't immediately turned off at the mere concept that someone might be into that.
Instead, he twists his lips a bit. "Well. That's not my business, but I'll say it's not my preferred way of having a relationship."
Bucky chuckles and waves his head. "It wasn't mine, either, though it wasn't so bad with the right people involved." He licks his lips. "But no. Not in any kind of relationship." He might lean in a little closer, who's to say? "My name's Bucky."
"I'm Steve." Steve's smile blinds Bucky with its brightness, and he's an utterly smitten fool.
"It's nice to meetcha, Steve. I gotta tell ya, I was on my way to rush out for a shitty lunch and then go back to work for more hours than I'd prefer to work, but now I'm thinking maybe instead I'd rather ask you out." He tries for a confident grin, but inside he's wondering where that came from.
From the look on Steve's face, he wasn't expecting that question so fast, either, but Bucky's relieved to see the surprise melt away quickly and resolve into a pleased, sweeter sort of smile.
"Yeah. I'd really like that, Bucky. My afternoon and evening are totally free. Where do you want to go?"
Bucky makes a big show of thinking about it, and then grins. "Well. What do you think about grilled cheese and tater tots?" He throws an arm around Steve's shoulder, and starts leading him out of the building.
"Highly. I think very highly of them."
"Great." Bucky turns them towards the nearest subway. "Because this could not go anywhere if you didn't."
Steve scoffs. "I highly doubt that," he says. "You love me, remember?"
It's been a long day, and Bucky's still sticking to that story, but as Steve laughs at Bucky's angry badger face, and then Bucky starts to laugh, too, he thinks maybe he's just a little psychic, too.