Work Text:
Sam had forgotten he needed to stop by the other VA office across town today to pick up a file before he went into work. He was in such a rush to get out of the apartment that he doesn’t even stop to say goodbye and the lunch he had packed the night before sits in the fridge, forgotten.
Steve is already waiting for him on a bench outside of the VA when he finally makes it in. Sam forgets his lunch at least once a week. It wasn’t hard to guess that today might be the day with how much Sam had been rushing around that morning. He offers a lunch bag bearing the logo from Sam’s favorite deli and cocks an amused eyebrow.
Sam rolls his eyes and accepts it with a kiss, but when he gets upstairs he sees his office door is already open. Bucky is sitting at his desk and looking over the various items on it with interest. He’s never seen the inside of Sam’s office. He doesn’t venture outside on his own very much still. He says the cold weather makes the joint of flesh and metal ache but Sam knows that he still doesn’t quite trust himself to go out without Sam or Steve, even after a year of living with them.
Sam sees the lunchbox he had packed the night before and forgotten at home sitting on the desk. Bucky looks up when Sam enters the office and shrugs, a faint expression of uncertainty on his face. The three of them had moved well beyond the boundaries of friendship many months ago, but Sam and Steve both knew that Bucky was still afraid his place in their lives was fragile and temporary.
"I just thought you might want this," he says before noticing the bag in Sam’s hand, his eyes darkening noticeably. His face pinches and he stands up suddenly, grabbing the lunch box and heading for the door behind Sam.
"I’m sorry, I should have known you’d just pick something else up. This was.. This was stupid, I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea," Bucky mumbles, stalling when Sam puts his arm out to keep the other man from leaving. He looks up through the fringe of his bangs, his lower lip jutting out stubbornly.
"No, man. You came all the way over here, just to make sure I got this, right?" Sam asked quietly, drawing his arm out of Bucky’s way so that he could grip the hand holding his lunch box and carefully prying the fingers open.
Bucky relinquishes the insulated container and folds his arms over his chest instead, shoulders shrugged up and eyes downcast.
"Took the subway. Not a big deal or anything," he replies and Sam sees straight through that one. Bucky hated public transportation. It was too cramped and offered no easy route of escape. It had been a year since Bucky escaped Hydra but he still woke up every day with the fear that they would come for him again.
Sam sighed and snaked his free arm around Bucky’s waist, tugging him close.
"I didn’t have time to eat breakfast, before I left this morning. So I would’ve had to skip out this afternoon for something else, anyways. Now I don’t have to," he soothes, pressing his lips to the lines creasing Bucky’s forehead. He feels them smooth out beneath his touch, and grins a little at that.
"Besides, how can I say no when two incredibly attractive, thoughtful men bring me lunch, because they knew I wasn’t nearly caffeinated enough to remember this morning? I’d have to be crazy to not love every second of that," he added, drawing back so he could meet Bucky’s gaze again.
The former assassin looks faintly embarrassed at the attention, but placated. Sam realizes that Steve had left to meet Natasha for lunch in the city after dropping off the sandwich at the VA for him and that for Bucky to get home now he’d have to go back on the subway, or call a taxi. Neither of those options appealed to Sam, and he knew that Bucky must have been dreading it since the moment he stepped into Sam’s office.
That left only one option, really.
"Want to stay and keep me company, today? It gets lonely, sitting in here by myself, and today’s the day I have to submit all my paperwork, put in my requests, and so on, so it’s just me and my desk," Sam offers, quirking his eyebrow at Bucky. The other man puts up some pretense of having to think about it but Sam knows he’s got him hook, line, and sinker the moment he offers him the bag with Steve’s lunch in it.
"Could use some help with this monster sandwich, too. I think Steve forgets the rest of the world doesn’t eat as much as him, sometimes."
His tone is teasing and he’s pleased when it gets a smile from Bucky, who takes the bag and goes to drag the chair opposite Sam’s desk around so it’s settled next to his own chair, sitting down heavily on the cheap plastic and metal. It groans faintly from the weight of Bucky’s metal arm but Bucky seems unpeturbed as he starts to open up the bag. The smell of pastrami and brown mustard fills Sam’s office.
Sam chuckles and leans over his desk so that he can nudge under Bucky’s chin, capturing his mouth in a soft kiss. Bucky’s lips part when Sam swipes his tongue across them, and only when he feels Bucky’s fingers curling into the front of his shirt does he finally break the kiss, an amused grin on his face.
"Thank you, Bucky. Really. I’m happy you came all this way just to make sure this forgetful fool doesn’t go hungry today," he murmurs and moves around his desk so he can sit in his own chair, setting the lunchbox down on the floor beside it.
Sam sees Bucky shrug again out of the corner of his eye but also catches the smile on his face as he breaks off a chunk of pastrami sticking out of the end of the sandwich.
"I’m happy I came, too."
Sam decides that maybe he should forget his lunch more often.