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Steve was so happy that he could almost jump for joy.
Almost.
He settled for pretty much skipping through the aisles instead.
He had come to this library every day for the past few months hoping that this one book would be in. Just this one book. And every single time he came in, it was out. One day he had come so close to getting it. Some woman had checked it out just ten minutes before he got there. Ten minutes before him. It was ridiculous and it was about to drive Steve insane.
Sure he could have easily just ordered the book from a different library, or hell, he could have just bought the book. But no, he was stubborn and he was going to wait for this book to get in so he could check it out from here.
And today, well today was his lucky day.
He had walked into the library not feeling very lucky though. It had been raining all day and of course, since Steve can’t drive (he can’t afford to get his license and well, cars were kinda dangerous and he had missed the bus, twice) he had to walk. So he was soaking wet and he knew it was probably hopeless to even go to the library anyways.
The book wasn’t going to be there.
But he had hope. It could be there. So he risked getting sick to go to the library after class and see if it was there.
And well, he knew he had made the right decision when he walked in because Natasha, the beautiful but could possibly be a secret assassin red head smiled at him when he walked in and informed him that the book was indeed in and Steve almost screamed right there at the front desk.
But he didn’t want to make a complete idiot of himself, so he refrained.
Natasha had just smiled and told him to go for it.
So yeah, Steve was now making his usual trek down the book aisles at a not so normal pace as he rounded the last corner to where his book was supposed to be located. Steve could hear the Hallelujah chorus start playing in his head and yeah, this was it.
He made his way down the aisle with just that little skip in his step and the chorus was getting higher and higher and it was close to reaching its climax because he could see the book. It was in his vision and it was really there.
It was like the book was singing out for Steve to just reach out and grab it. He was so close he could almost taste it. Victory was finally his.
He reached out and was just about to take it when another hand snaked its way through and took the book right off the shelf.
What the fuck.
Steve immediately saw red because dammit, that was his book. He has been waiting months for it to be there and when it finally was, some asshole decides to just take it from him.
Didn’t he see that Steve had been reaching for it?
Someone would have had to be blind to not see that? And if they were, they were totally in the wrong section anyways. So the person had obviously seen it and had just chosen to ignore his hand and be a complete douchebag.
Steve took a deep breath because he really didn’t need to get into a fight at the local library. He could do this calmly and collected. He could.
“Excuse me, but I was reaching for that book.” Steve said as he turned his attention to the person who had taken the book from him. And, well, Steve about had a heart attack.
The person who had taken the book was this tall, handsome man. Steve couldn’t help but stare. He was so beautiful. He was well built and looked to be about Steve’s age. He had longer brown hair that was tied back in somewhat of a ponytail/bun thing. Something that would have been somewhat of a complete turnoff to Steve but hey, this guy pulled it off perfectly.
The guy was wearing a pair of skinny jeans with black high top chucks and an oversized sweatshirt. And the only weird thing Steve could find wrong with him was that he had a glove on his left hand.
But none of that mattered. No matter how hot this stranger was, Steve was not going to let him just take his book from him. Not after he had waited all this time.
“Were you now?” The man replied and god, his voice was perfect and it so did not send a chill up Steve’s spine. Definitely not.
“Yes. I was. And I would appreciate it greatly if I could please have the book.” Steve crossed his arms and did his best to glare at the man. Maybe if he could intimidate him, he could get the book back, without having to use force.
Although the man would be hard to intimidate since Steve was quite a bit shorter than him. But Steve could make do.
“I don’t know, I mean, I did grab it first.” Wow, this hot stranger was such a little smartass.
“I don’t think you understand, sir.” Steve all but hissed out. He had to remain calm and collected. Calm and collected.
“Bucky.”
“What?” Steve looked up, a confused look on his face. But the man just smiled down at him.
“My name is Bucky. If you’re gonna lecture me, you might as well use my name.” Steve took a deep breath. He sure was cocky, Steve would give him that. But he was not going to let the man keep the book.
“Alright, well, Bucky. I have been waiting for this book for months. I have come in here, almost every single day, to see if that book had been returned. And finally, finally, it is here. And you just snatched it right out of my fingers.” Bucky laughed at that.
“I most certainly did nothing of the kind, um…”
“Steve.” He grunted out. Bucky just smiled, unfazed by it all.
“Steve.” Bucky all but purred out and well, Steve was finding it hard to stay mad at him. Especially if he kept saying his name like that. “I did not take this book out of your delicate little fingers. It was on the shelf and I took it from there. It was free game.”
“But my hands were pretty much on it. How did you not see them? I basically had the book in my grasps.”
“Oh. I guess I wasn’t really looking.”
“Please. Can I just have the book?” Steve must have said something right because Bucky’s demeanor changed from playful to absolutely sinful and almost predatory.
“I may be persuaded to let you have the book, if.”
“If what?”
“If you agree to have coffee with me?” Steve was positive that his mouth dropped open. Was this guy serious? He looked up at Bucky to see if he could see through the ruse, because it just had to be, but the man actually looked kind of nervous. His predatory look long gone.
“Coffee?”
“Yeah. I’ll pay and everything.” Steve looked up at the guy because this had to be some sort of joke. No one asked Steve out. Ever. But this was exactly what it was sounding like. This man was asking Steve out.
“Um…” Steve really didn’t know what to say. The man was gorgeous, he would give him that. But he didn’t know him. This man was a complete stranger.
But was it worth a shot?
“You don’t hafta…” The man mumbled out and Steve could see the man shrink in on himself and he seemed just as bad as Steve did when it came to dating. It was oddly adorable.
But it was just coffee. Nothing bad could happen. It was just coffee. Steve could do this. He was impulsive most of the time. Why not be impulsive now?
“Sure.”
“What?” Bucky was so surprised by Steve’s answer that he dropped the book. Steve let out a little laugh. He asked Steve out even though he felt like Steve was going to say no. Bucky was proving to be quite the interesting person.
“I’ll go have coffee with you.”
“You’re not fuckin’ with me?” “No. I really thought you were the one that was fuckin’ with me.” Bucky let out a small laugh as he bent down and picked up the book.
“No, um, well, if you are free now, we can go get that coffee. I know a really good place downtown.”
“Sure. Coffee sounds wonderful on this gloomy day.” Steve gave him a small smile and Bucky just lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Well then, oh!” Bucky handed the book over to Steve. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Steve took the book from him and made his way up to the front desk. Natasha was just smirking at him as she checked out the book from him. Bucky just stood behind him, looking through the pile of free bookmarks on the counter.
When Steve walked away, Bucky handed him one that had the American flag on it.
“Really?” Steve responded with a smile.
“Yup.” Bucky replied with a mock salute. Steve just laughed as he put the bookmark in the book and walked out of the library.
Three weeks later found Steve lying on Bucky’s couch, feet propped up on Bucky’s lap as he read through the book. The same book Bucky had almost taken from him. He hadn’t had much time to read it since most of his time had been preoccupied with going out with Bucky and just being with Bucky.
Turns out, they had a lot more in common than Steve had originally though.
Bucky was in the middle of playing on his Playstation when the doorbell rang.
“You expecting someone?” Steve asked, not even looking up from his book.
“Um, yeah actually. Come in!” Bucky shouted and Steve set the book down when he heard the sound of heels clinking against the floor. Steve hadn’t really had the chance to meet any of Bucky’s friends so he wanted to make a good first impression.
He and Bucky haven’t been dating that long so he didn’t want to mess up this early on.
“James.” Steve’s head shot up so fast at the sound of the familiar voice.
It was Natasha.
No way.
“What?” Steve choked out. This couldn’t be happening. The world was not this small.
“Natasha is an old friend of mine.” Bucky replied with his trademark smirk. Steve just stared at him, not quite believing that this was happening.
“No.” Steve whispered as Natasha crawled over the back of the couch and plopped down behind Bucky.
“Yes. You see, Bucky here has horrible tastes in women and even more horrible tastes in men, so, I saw you coming into the library all the time and thought you two would be cute. I made Bucky come in and he saw you and well, he wanted to give you a chance so I tried to think of some way to set you two up.”
“And the only way you could think of was for him to try and steal my book?” Bucky just laughed.
“It worked though, didn’t it?” Steve honestly was too impressed to be angry. Besides, he still got Bucky in the end, so it didn’t even matter.
“You are such a jerk.” Steve said, kicking Bucky in the leg.
“Hey now. You know you like me.” Steve just looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Natasha laughed as she stood up and walked to the kitchen. “Steve?” Steve set the book down on the coffee table and slowly crawled over to him.
“Let’s just say, you’re lucky you an adorable little shit, James Barnes.” Bucky just smirked as he pulled him in for a kiss.
“You little punk.”