Chapter Text
They were going steady.
“This is nowhere close to going steady, Sam,” the annoying mini-Sarah in Sam’s brain chimed in.
How else do you define steady then? Mini-Sam argued back. We live together, we almost always sleep in the same room together, he makes pancakes for me every fucking morning.
“Living together was a strategic move. He crawls into your room and sleeps on the floor because he has nightmares. He is a social eater. If he lets you grab a smoothie on the way back from your morning run, he won’t have any incentive to eat. That’s why I taught him to make your favorite pancakes.”
Mini-Sarah was somehow ever more unbearable than the actual Sarah. At least the actual Sarah didn’t do much but smirk occasionally.
Mini-Sam wouldn’t back down that easily. You just don’t want me to have a boyfriend.
Mini-Sarah laughed. “You don’t want yourself to have a boyfriend. If you do, stop using the pulling-pigtails technique. If it didn’t work out for you with Jessica Sanders in pre-school, it’s not going to work now.”
*-*-*
Okay, Sam had not been very forthright with his crush but it was pretty evident, he felt. If Torres knew about it and Rhodey knew about it and Sarah knew about it and Sharon knew about it and… you get the gist. How could Bucky not know about it? Sam was pretty sure Bucky too knew about it and the back-and-forth banter, jabs and ribbing was just how they flirted. It seemed pretty damn obvious to Sam.
That was until the army guys stepped in.
See, it started out as nothing. It was a big rescue mission and they needed back-up. So of course Sam agreed to let the government send in some more guys as back up. The mission was over in no time- clean and easy. And Sam genuinely had fun on the way back. This company felt familiar. After all, he was one of them. The joking around, the leg-pulling. Being alone with Bucky had its own perks. Which man didn’t want to be gazed upon by Bucky Fucking Barnes? And the staring had honestly done a great deal of good for Sam’s ego. Especially because…
“Captain America doesn’t get to sleep around, huh?” one of the military guys hollered.
(“Walker. John Walker,” he had introduced himself a while back.)
“Shut up, man,” Sam muttered., quickly glancing at Bucky to see his reaction. That guy seemed to be staring at everyone else like they were a particularly irritating and difficult to solve maths equation. As much as Sam enjoyed the company, he knew Bucky didn’t. The guy was probably trying to figure out if he could curl up inside one of the empty ammunition cartons for the rest of the journey. Sam could tell them about the thing between him and Bucky but… he probably should tell Bucky about the thing between him and Bucky first. Damn you, Mini-Sarah.
“Oh! Ohhh! He’s trying not to blush!” the guy called Hoskins laughed as he slapped Sam on the back.
“What are you, fourteen?” Sam rolled his eyes before turning towards Walker, “It’s not like you all get to go on a lot of dates either. Been there, done that, remember?”
Walker let out a laugh. “That’s only if you have very strict preferences,” he winked at Sam, “I believe…” he turned towards Bucky to directly catch his eye, “We all need to be a bit more… flexible.”
That was… odd, Sam thought. The guys were justifiably intimidated by Bucky initially. And when it became evident that he had no intentions of participating in their banter, they had respectfully left him alone. Until this.
Did Walker think Bucky was… what? Homophobic? Sam could barely stop himself from laughing out loud. If only the history books had been accurate… well, if they had been accurate, they would also have been banned from the middle school curriculum across the United States. Sure, Bucky Barnes was a true American hero. He also was the biggest equal-opportunity slut in the tri-state area.
But that was also in the past. Bucky had barely looked at any other man but Sam in the twenty-first century. Sam had some justified doubts about his relationship with T’Challa but who was he kidding? King Cat was way out of Bucky’s league. Out of both of their leagues to be honest.
Which made it all the more… bizarre when Bucky’s face turned a very vibrant shade of pink.
Was he… blushing? Why would he blush at what Walker said?
Wait.
Twenty-five seconds. That’s how long it took for the realization to sink in.
John Fucking Walker was flirting with Bucky. And Bucky was actually being pretty receptive towards said flirting.
“Should have told him sooner,” Mini-Sarah reminded him.
Fucking hell, Mini-Sam facepalmed.