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Saturdays were park days and Tony’s favorite day of the week. He and Morgan didn’t get a whole lot of time to just have fun together, not when Tony averaged sixty hour work weeks between home and office and Morgan did ballet every day after school.
Their life was hectic and hurried and more often than not, dinner was eaten at close to eight pm at night, both Tony and Morgan sprawled in the living room as Morgan finished her homework and chattered about her day and Tony listened as well as he could while filling out reports for work.
But Saturdays? Saturdays were park days, and there was no homework, no reports, no phone calls. Just Tony and Morgan doing whatever they wanted for an entire day and it was Tony’s favorite.
“Slow down, Bug!” he called when Morgan’s skipping turned into more of a sprint. “I’m getting old, can’t keep up anymore!”
“Get a cane then!” Morgan sassed and Tony threw back his head and laughed out loud. At eight years old, Morgan was smart snarky, petty and hilarious and even though Tony knew he would be in trouble when she hit teenage years, for now he just laughed and enjoyed the attitude.
“Alright, seriously!” he called a little louder when the little girl really took off. “You might be shockingly grown up at eight years old, but I still need to be able to see you at all times! Stay close!”
“But Daddy!” Morgan pointed towards the branches of a tree. “It’s a cyanocitta cristata! I need it for my science class bingo board! Quick, take a picture!”
“Cyanocitta cristata.” Tony repeated. “A blue jay? For science class bingo?”
“Bring your phone! Get a picture!” Morgan darted off the path and into the wooded area of the park, ducking and dodging branches, then throwing herself onto her belly to get under a particularly thick bush. “Daddy! Come on! Or Jimmy’s going to win Bingo and I hate that guy!”
“Oh no, not Jimmy!” Tony called back, gamely diving into the woods as well. “I’m coming. Just hold on.”
God, it was ridiculous how quick eight year olds could be when they were chasing something interesting, not to mention Morgan was much better suited to navigating bushes than Tony. Tony was still getting slapped in the face by leaves and branches while Morgan had already popped out the other side and was screeching for her dad to hurry before the cyanocitta cristata flew away and then screeching louder, “OH NO! ICE CREAM! I’M SO SORRY!”
And just as Tony was skirting the last bush, wondering why the heck Morgan was wailing about ice cream, he heard a deep voice ask, “What'r'ya doin’ chasin’ blue birds, honey?”
Uhhhh what?
In no universe ever did Tony want a strange man ever talking to his daughter, much less a man who was calling her honey and apparently had ice cream and–
Tony crashed through the bushes and back onto the path ready to rip some jerk a new asshole for even daring to approach his daughter, but he stopped short when he saw Morgan with both hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes, a man kneeling down in front of her with his hands out placatingly.
“Hey hey. It’s alright. No harm done.” he was saying in that same deep voice. “No harm done, ice cream is replaceable. But blue jays? Definitely need a picture of those. Don’t cry, little darlin’. It’s all okay.”
“What’s going on?” Tony asked slowly. “Bug? You okay?”
"Daddy.” Morgan ran to his side and hid her face in his shirt. “I tripped chasing the blue jay and ran into him and spilled his ice cream and I know you told me to slow down, I should have just slowed down, I should have listened and–”
“Easy easy, sweetie. It’s alright.” Tony soothed her quickly, his heart clenching at Morgan’s rambling. She had the same anxiety he’d had his entire life, and no amount of comfort or reassurance seemed to settle the little girl once she got worked up. In moments like this, all Tony could do is stay calm and try to calm her as well.
“Ice cream is easy to clean up, easy to replace, and there are a thousand blue jays in this park.” He murmured, “Plus I’m sure Mr.–” Tony raised his eyebrows and waited for a name.
“Bucky Barnes.” The stranger stood up–holy crap was he tall– and flashed Tony a quick smile, apparently not bothered in the least by the smear of vanilla and chocolate ice cream down the front of what looked like a very expensive sweater. “But Bucky is fine.”
“Mr. Bucky.” Tony finished. “Will let me pay to get his sweater cleaned and buy a new ice cream cone. You aren’t in trouble for running, sweetheart. This is a park, we are allowed to run at parks, right?”
“I’d be running if I saw a cyanocitta cristata too.” Bucky informed her, and Morgan peeked out at him curiously. “They sure are pretty, huh?”
“You know the scientific names for blue jays?” she asked, little nose wrinkling in near suspicion. “Do you like science?”
“I’ve destroyed a few science fair projects, sure.” Bucky said gravely, but he winked at Tony. “Do you like science?”
“I passed an six grade chemistry exam yesterday.” Morgan got a little braver. “And I’m only eight.”
“Wow.” Bucky whistled “You are much smarter than me, Ms.–”
“Bug.” Morgan prompted and Tony hastened to correct, “Her name is Morgan.”
“But Daddy calls me Bug.” she finished. “Because I’m creepy crawly.”
Bucky chuckled, warm and inviting and Tony cleared his throat because not only was Bucky tall as hell and filling out the ruined sweater with the sort of muscles Tony had only seen in magazines, Bucky’s laugh was pretty amazing too.
Wow.
“It’s uh–” Tony cleared his throat again. “From when she started to crawl. She did the stink bug thing, you know? Butt in the air?”
“My nephew crawls the same way.” Bucky grinned in understanding. “Well Ms. Bug. No harm done, my sweater is fine. Go get your blue jay and have a real good rest of your day, alright?”
“Do you want to help me find one?” Morgan asked excitedly, derailed from her earlier worry by the prospect of trying to find the bird with someone else scientifically inclined. “Maybe you could take the picture cos you’re taller than my dad and could get better pictures!”
“Morgan, I’m sure Mr. Bucky has something to do with his day besides chase birds.” Tony started to say, but Bucky interrupted–
“You know what, Ms. Bug? I think that would be real fun. Especially if your dad comes along.” Bucky’s light blue eyes landed at Tony’s bare ring finger, then tracked up his frame to meet Tony’s gaze. “That alright with you, Mr. Bug Sr?”
“It’s Tony.” Tony blushed a little at Bucky’s suggestive smile. “And um– park days are days just for me and Bug so–”
“Oh I don’t mind!” Bug called over her shoulder as she wandered down the path, concentrating on the branches. “Come on, Mr. Bucky!”
Bucky raised his eyebrows and Tony hesitated, torn between wanting to keep park days just for them and the suddenly startling realization that not only had he been dateless for almost three years, but that life had been so busy late he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had some… private… time.
And whew Bucky was gorgeous and smiling and obviously checking him out…
“What do you say, Tony?”
“If Morgan’s okay with sharing park day, I guess I am too.” Tony finally answered and Bucky’s smile widened. “Let’s go find us a blue jay.”
Morgan clapped her hands in excitement and took off down the path, checking behind every few minutes to make sure Tony could still see her, and with his eyes firmly on Bug as she ran around, Tony asked,
“So. Saturday’s are park days for you too?”
“Oh.” Bucky pulled a hair tie from his pocket and swept his hair up and away from his face, highlighting a defined jaw that Tony had a hard time looked away from. “Saturday mornings I do tai chi in front of the gazebo, so I was just cutting through to get back to my place. Stopped for ice cream.”
“Tai chi, huh?” Tony asked skeptically. “In a two hundred dollar sweater?”
“Is this a two hundred dollar sweater?” Bucky looked down at his ruined shirt in surprise. “I stole it from my friend Sam. He’s such a cheap ass when it comes to paying for drinks I figured he was a cheap ass with his clothes too!”
Tony laughed out loud and Bucky waggled his eyebrows. “Knew you were checking me out, by the way. Good thing Morgan spilled ice cream on me, huh? Otherwise you’d have to find another reason to stare at my pecs.”
“Oh my god.” Tony laughed again and waved when Morgan pointed out a patch of wild flowers. “Was it that obvious?”
“I only noticed you staring cos I was staring too.” Bucky assured him in that same easy tone. “And don’t worry about the sweater. I’ll get it dry cleaned and Sam won’t know the difference. Besides, if I told him I got flattened by a kid chasing a blue bird he’d never let me live it down.”
“He sounds like a peach.” Tony said dryly and Bucky snorted something in agreement. “I’ll reimburse you for the dry cleaning, just send me the receipt.”
“So that means I’ll get to see you again, right?” Bucky prompted. “If I have to find you to get the receipt, I mean. We should make it dinner, you like steak? I know a great place on 4th. Food so good it’ll put you in a coma.”
“Wow.” Tony blinked. “You always ask random guys out for dinner when you walk through the park?”
“Only when they are gorgeous and smart enough to teach their kid the scientific names of common birds.” Bucky replied. “And you know–” a quick glance. “Only when they’re as good looking as you.”
“Wow.” Tony said again, and this time his laugh was a little nervous. “Well um–”
“Daddy!” Morgan shouted. “Mr. Bucky! I found one! I found one!”
The question of a date was sidelined till later as both Tony and Bucky took off jogging to catch up with Morgan, who was practically dancing in place and pointing up the tree.
“Look look look.” She said impatiently. “Right there! Quick! A picture!”
“I got it.” Bucky lifted his phone and snapped a few pictures, zoomed in and snapped another one. “There, how’s that?”
Morgan checked the pictures over then gave Bucky a thumbs up. “Thank you! It’s perfect!”
Morgan was off like a shot again, heading towards the swings at the far end of the park and Bucky turned to Tony. “What’s your number, I’ll send these to you.”
“Look.” Tony took a deep breath in. “Bucky. I’m um– well I’m flattered as hell by the invitation to dinner and it’s been so long since I’ve had a date I probably don’t even remember how to do this sort of thing, but I gotta tell you–”
“Your whole life revolves around your daughter and you don’t have time to date.” Bucky finished, and when Tony’s mouth fell open, he nodded. “I get it. But you know–”
“I was going to say it’s hard to take you seriously when you have pieces of waffle cone on your shirt.” Tony interrupted. “I mean yes, the daughter thing too, but also you know–"
He reached out and plucked a piece from Bucky’s shirt. "You’ve been walking with us for like fifteen minutes and haven’t made a single attempt to clean up, which is both hilarious and makes me worry about how messy you’re going to be at dinner.”
“Ah.” Bucky looked down and then up again. “Well I can fix the sweater issue.” One smooth motion and Bucky stripped the sweater right off, showing off a whole lotta muscles that his black tank top barely covered.
“Oh, look at that.” Tony gulped a little, then glanced up to find Morgan, grateful that she had found the swings and wasn’t currently watching her Dad drool over their new friend. “Tai chi, you say?”
“On Saturday’s in front of the gazebo.” Bucky sounded like he was thoroughly enjoying Tony’s gawking. “So. If I promise not to spill steak sauce on myself? Dinner?”
“…Bug doesn’t like steak.” Tony said slowly. “And I’m sorry, but between my work and her school we hardly have any time together and you’re– wow you’re gorgeous. And I’m flattered, but I’m not giving up time with my kiddo–”
“What kind of food does Morgan like?” Bucky interrupted. “And if you turn me down, I’ll leave it alone. I’d just like to see you again, and Morgan seems great, so bring her along. We’ll get chicken wings and pizza. Pasta. Hamburgers. Whatever.”
“Really?” Tony said skeptically. “You don’t mind?”
“How many times do you run into someone that is not only smoking hot but super smart and has a smile that makes your knees feel all jello-y?” Bucky asked bluntly. “Cos you tick all those boxes for me and I think I’d be a damn idiot to not pursue it. What do you say?”
Tony sent one more look at Morgan, and then pulled out a business card.
“Here’s my number.” Bucky’s eyes lit up and Tony smiled. “Um, Saturday’s are always park days, so why don’t I take the sweater and get it cleaned, I’ll give it back to you next week and you can buy Bug and I some ice cream. Too boring a date for you?”
“Sounds great.” Bucky handed over his sweater. “I can’t wait till next Saturday. Can I text you in the meantime?”
“…yes.” Tony fought against another blush. “That’s fine. Cos you um– you tick all those boxes for me too. In fact, you said cyanocitta cristata and I think my heart skipped a beat.”
“Ah good, my master plan.” Bucky’s wink was practically lecherous. “To spout scientific names and have nerdy single dads fall for me.”
“Working like a champ.” Tony informed him, cheeks burning when Bucky laughed out loud. “Alright, I’ve got to go catch Bug before she attempts something very dangerous off those swings. Um– Saturday?”
“Definitely.” Bucky held out his hand and when Tony went to shake it, Bucky turned Tony’s hand over and pressed a kiss to his palm. “Nice to meet you, Tony.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
Bucky headed back the way he came sweater-less, and Tony stood right where he was, debating whether or not he was going to actually smell the sweater to get another hint of Bucky’s cologne.
“Daddy.” Morgan popped up beside him and Tony jumped.
“Sorry Bug, did I miss your trick?”
“No.” Morgan wrinkled her nose up again. “No, I did some math and I don’t think I can do a back flip. Not enough time to get a full rotation before dealing with some serious face-plantery.”
"That’s my girl.” Tony kissed the top of her head. “Where to do you want to go now?”
“The carousel.”
“Sure baby, come on.”
Tony’s phone buzzed and he opened his messages to the unknown number.
Ask Morgan if Tyrannus tyrannus is on her bingo list, there’s one by the cotton candy stand.
“Bug?” Tony asked. “Is the Eastern Kingbird on your bingo?”
“YES!” Morgan shouted. “DO YOU SEE ONE?!”
“Um, Bucky did, apparently.”
“HE’S THE BEST!” Morgan darted away and Tony sighed and took off after her. “I LOVE PARK DAYS!”
….Tony loved park days too.