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The displays in all the shops are pink and red, stuffed with flowers and chocolates and alcohol and stuffed animals. It's a violent intrusion of colour that makes Bucky work hard not to flinch; he mostly just puts his head down and works to ignore the whole thing.
They're in Target to get Bucky some more shirts, 'cos when he moves his arm wrong it has a tendency to catch at cloth and tear. Most things, he just lets FRIDAY or Steve know when he needs something, but he caught a glimpse of the price tag on the last shirts that Tony's AI had considered appropriate and Bucky hadn't dared wear the damned things since. He likes shirts that come in packs of three, shirts that cost about as much as the froofaccinos that Steve has developed a weakness for. And if the shop he buys them in can also net him a set of screwdrivers and a can of WD-40, then he likes it all the better.
Steve's still kinda leery about letting Bucky out on his own, and the only person available and willing had been Clint. Bucky kinda likes doing errands with Clint; he's not well known enough to draw attention to himself, and he has absolutely zero shame. When Bucky had near as dammit had a panic attack the first time they'd left the Tower together, Clint'd just got Bucky's back against a wall and talked quietly to him about who he was bettin' on for winning the Great British Baking Show, glaring at anyone who looked at them sideways.
And sure, maybe there are other reasons that Clint's Bucky's favourite, but they're not ones he's willing to talk about right now.
Bucky walks straight through to the clothing section, bypassing the Valentines entirely except for a brief detour into their vicinity to grab himself a basket. He grabs one multipack of plain white shirts and is just pondering a set of black, gray and red when something thuds into his basket.
"Get these," Clint says, warm in his ear, 'cos he's got no concept of personal space. The multipack he's selected looks like it's cut for women, and the shirts inside are pale blue, purple and pink.
"Not sure they're my color," Bucky says, and Clint makes a disappointed noise and chucks them back on the nearest shelf. Bucky, meanwhile, is investigating the box Clint has saddled him with; it's a brightly colored box of Valentines, a multipack of 32, each of which comes with a temporary tattoo.
It makes Bucky's heart sink a little, if he's honest.
See, Clint is easygoing and mostly light-hearted. Clint doesn't give the impression of taking much seriously, even when Bucky knows for a fact how much he cares. Clint seems, in all honesty, the kind of person who would have absolutely no shame about sending out 32 Valentine's cards, just to see if he strikes it lucky with one.
And Bucky's not sure if it'd be better or worse if one of them came to him.
He decides the healthiest possible response is just not to mention it, and he tosses the multipack of shirts right on top.
In a twist on their usual shopping trips, Clint muscles past Bucky at the checkout and insists on paying, charming the woman behind the counter with an easy smile. As soon as their purchases are bagged up though he goes back to usual, hooking them on Bucky's arm and then dragging him across the parking lot for coffee, telling a winding and convoluted story about an ill-fated trip to Rwanda as they drink and almost making Bucky snort coffee out of his nose.
Bucky's not sure entirely when Clint sneaks the box of cards out of the bag, but there's no sign of it when he gets to his room.
*
The next week passes much as usual. A couple call-outs, a movie night, some kinda silent warfare between Steven Strange and Bruce over possession of a laser pointer pen. Bucky doesn't even register that it's Valentine's day until something's pushed under his door just as he's pouring himself some coffee, although by the time he gets to the corridor there's no one waiting outside.
It's a generic pink card with 'Happy Valentine's!' inside a heart on the front, and inside there's a cute ladybird sticker and a message in scrawled purple ink.
someONE likes you, it says, and Bucky has to force down his grin.
He finds the next one in the main kitchen, the envelope chilly where it's been stacked on top of the eggs. The sticker this time is a smiling yellow heart, and the message makes him swallow hard and hope to hell he's not the butt of a joke.
maybe it's TWO love.
Bucky shoves the card into the back pocket of his sweats, internally wincing as it crumples a little but knowing that it's better than Steve seeing what he's got. There's no hiding the third one, though, tacked to the inside of a kitchen cupboard at head height, and Steve reads it out with disproportionate glee.
me and you, sittin' in a THREE... An owl this time, with its belly covered in hearts, and it's all Bucky can do to prevent Steve sticking it to him right then and there.
The goddamn cards keep coming all morning, every single one coiling something a little tighter in Bucky's gut. They've all got some kinda terrible pun; Bucky thinks the one for fourteen in particular is kind've a cheat.
You're the ONE FOUR me.
Doesn't stop him grinning like an idiot at it, though.
It's no kind of treasure hunt, 'cos they're hidden around the tower in accordance exactly with Bucky's routine; someone's been paying more attention than he thought.
The last one is down in the range, and instead of being tacked up somewhere, or hidden somewhere it'll fall on his head, he finds Clint dressed all pretty in a tight lavender shirt, holding a single purple paper rose and pushing a card into his hand.
Will you (THIRTY) TWO me the honor of letting me take you on a date, it says, and Bucky pinches the bridge of his nose.
"No?" Clint says, and for maybe the first time since Bucky's met him, he doesn't sound carefree at all.
"You're an idiot," Bucky says, and catches hold of his wrist before he can turn away. "And I want you to know that if you tell anyone it was the puns that won me over, I'm gonna break your damned legs."
"That's fair," Clint says, but he says it through a dawning grin; it's a grin that Bucky can't help leaning into, pressing their mouths together in mirrored curls.
Clint wakes up the next morning covered head to toe in 32 temporary tattoos.
Bucky figures it's the least he deserves.