Work Text:
Bucky walked into his shared apartment and carefully placed the carrier bag on the floor after closing the door behind him. He set down the plastic bags filled with cat food, toys, and other supplies from the pet shop onto the floor and knelt down to open the bag. Almost immediately, a white cat jumped out, and began exploring the apartment. Bucky smiled, standing up and watched as the cat sniffed around. He picked up what he’d bought, and went on to find a place for the new pet’s bed, and water and food bowls.
All the while ignoring the fact that he had yet to discuss this with the person he shared the apartment with: Sam Wilson.
Neither of them had ever really thought of getting a pet before, considering how busy they were, not allowing them to spend much time at home. A pet meant having to be at home more often to take care of them, something they’d sort of been unable to do.
But when Bucky was on his way back from getting lunch, he heard mowing as he was passing by an alleyway, and there he found the white cat he’d taken back home. Alpine, was what he’d named her, officially deciding to keep her after having taken her to the vet to get her checked up. Before he knew it, he was at the pet store buying her toys, a bed, food, and anything else that she’d need to be comfortable at home. Still ignoring the nagging thought at the back of his head that was Sam.
After finding a place for Alpine’s things in the living room, Bucky made his way to their bedroom to wash up and start making dinner. It was Sam’s turn to make dinner tonight, but Bucky wanted to make sure to stay on Sam’s good side if he wanted to suddenly drop the news that he had adopted a cat without telling him in advance.
He found Alpine in the bedroom sniffing around their belongings. Bucky smiled and knelt down before her, reaching to pet her head. She leaned into his hand, making his heart burst with adoration. “Y’know...Maybe he’ll like you. He’ll be mad, but he’ll definitely like you.” She meowed back, and Bucky took that as her agreeing with him.
He stood up and headed for the bathroom to get cleaned up. Once he was done showering, he got dressed and made his way back to the kitchen, and began preparing dinner. Bucky decided he’d make Sam’s favorite, hoping it’d help his cause further.
Just as he got started boiling the pasta, he heard the door unlock and quickly washed his hands and dried them off before making his way to the door. Sam walked in, looking exhausted. “Hey, how was your day?” He said, taking Sam’s jacket from him as he took it off. Sam furrowed his eyebrows, caught off guard, but he decided not to question it. “Um...Tiring. How was yours—Wait, are you making dinner?” He asked, glancing over to the kitchen. Now he was getting suspicious.
“Yeah, thought I’d get started while you were still out.”
“Bucky...What did you do?”
Bucky feigned offense. “I didn’t do anything.”
Sam rolled his eyes and gave him a stern look. “You are a shit liar, Bucky. Now, what did you do?”
“Can I walk you through a hypothetical?”
“Not this again,” Sam sighed.
“Okay, fine—“ Bucky walked over to the couch where Alpine was lying and set down Sam’s jacket on the back of it. Sam furrowed his eyebrows and followed him to the living room, eyes widening seeing the white cat sprawled on the couch, looking at him with big blue eyes.
“Bucky...”
“Before you get mad: she’s clean, vaccinated, and not chipped. She’s also super nice and cuddly. Oh, and her name is Alpine.” Bucky picked up the cat and held her up to his chest, looking over at Sam with an expression that sort of mimicked Alpine’s, big blue eyes and all.
Sam wanted to be mad, he really did. But seeing Bucky standing there with Alpine made his heart do that little jump whenever he saw something cute, so he couldn’t bring himself to get angry with the other man.
He pursed his lips and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You really should’ve told me about this sooner.”
“I’m sorry, it was a spur of the moment decision.”
Sam scoffed and shook his head, but he was smiling. He reached his hand out and pet Alpine’s head, who meowed back at him, those big blue eyes still trained on him. “Okay, she’s kinda cute. She also looks a bit like you.” Bucky’s cheeks went a bit red, making Sam chuckle. “Fine, we can keep her. You said her name was Alpine, right?”
“Yeah, but we can name her something else if you’d like.”
“No, Alpine’s nice. It suits her. You’re in charge of dinner until next week though.”
“Ugh, fine.”
Sam smiled and leaned over, kissing him gently before pulling away. “I’m gonna go wash up. You better go check up on that pasta.” Bucky’s eyes widened and he quickly set Alpine on the floor before running over to the kitchen. “Shit!” Sam laughed and made his way to their bedroom. Man, he really had it bad.