Work Text:
Bucky works at a small coffee shop on the corner of a Brooklyn street that only the locals knows exists. The pay isn't great but it covers the necessities and the fact that hardly anybody knows the place exists means he gets to spend ninety percent of his time talking to his best friend Natasha Romanoff.
"Steve" the cute blonde that comes in during his night shift is just an added bonus.
Steve always came in at around 3am when nobody else was around, wearing a sweater that was obviously several sizes too big from the way it drowned his small frame. Nearly every time Bucky saw him he was covered in different colored paint from whatever art piece he was working on that particular night.
The first time Steve had walked into the coffee shop Bucky had been falling asleep with his face on the counter(even then Steve thought he looked adorable.)
"Long shift?" Steve smirked as the tall, or at least taller than him, barista shot up his dark hair falling from his messy bun and a faint blush climbing his cheeks.
"I-uh, yeah sorry" After the initial embarrassment of falling asleep at work passes, Bucky swears his heart stops for at least a second the first time he looks into the smaller mans blue eyes. It takes him longer than socially acceptable to realize he hasn't asked for Cute Blonde's order. "What can I get you...?"
"Steve, my names Steve," Bucky couldn't take his eyes off the small smile that seemed permenantly attacthed to Steve's face. "and just a coffee thanks."
Apparently all of Bucky's usual charm had flown out the door the very moment Steve walked him, stared for a few more seconds but silently turning around to make Steve's coffee.
When he'd finally finished internally cursing himself for what an idiot he was, he turned to give Steve his drink. The smaller man opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something before shaking his head and paying before he walked out the door without another word.
Bucky watched him leave and let out a quiet groan before dropping his head back on the counter. He'd just let probably the most beautiful man he'd ever seen go because he was too busy staring to do anything.
--
Their second meeting, and everyone after that, went much smoother which was probably down to the fact that Bucky actually managed to do less staring and more talking after embarrassing himself the first time.
As the shop was pretty much always empty at three in the morning apart from Natasha who would occasionally be seen eating a blueberry muffin on a small stool next to Bucky, the two men nearly always spent at least twenty minutes flirting and talking, although Nat would argue it was all flirting. After a while it almost felt like they'd known each other since they were children.
Bucky knew everything about Steve from his mother dying a couple of years ago to when his best friend Sam had fallen down the stairs, drunk, pretending he could fly. And Steve, well Bucky told him pretty much everything about himself.
Everything was great they had a routine and obviously Bucky had spent many a shift trying to build up the courage to ask Steve on a date but he always came to the same conclusion, that if Steve wanted to go out with him he would have asked already. So he stayed content with flirting over the counter at a ridiculous hour because he'd always had a thing for cute hipster guys in too big sweaters. Or maybe it was just Steve.
So everything was fine or at least it was until a few hours before Steve was due to come into the shop and Nat decided now was the perfect time to get involved in Bucky's dating life, or lack thereof was probably more accurate.
"So are you ever gonna make a move or do you plan on flirting over the counter forever?" She hadn't even lifted her eyes from the book she was reading to address him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about", it only took her lifting one eyebrow for him to crack. He'd never been good at lying to her. "I'm fine with it if he is. If he wanted something more then he would have said so right?"
"Are you kidding me Barnes?" This time she did look up from her book to look at him like he was the worlds biggest idiot. "Maybe he's as oblivious as you are and is thinking the exact same thing and is waiting for you to do something and if you don't I will."
She went back to her book as Bucky stood gaping. She did have a great point and the thought of her talking to Steve about how into him Bucky was, was much worse than the thought of rejection.
When Steve came in a few hours later Bucky tried to act normal, like nothing was wrong, like he wasn't about to risk their entire friendship. And it worked mostly, though that might have been to the fact that Nat had relocated to the back room to give them some space. Bucky listened to Steve talk about his day for a while before moving to make his coffee. He'd decided after much deliberation that writing his number on Steve's coffee cup was the sure fire way to get a date. Or never see him again, but he was halfway through writing out his phone number it was too late for cold feet now.
He handed Steve the cup message first so it would be hidden in his hand till he turned it. Oh God what if he didn't see it and just threw away he cup, this was a terrible plan. Bucky was about to call him back but Steve was already out the door.
This was it Bucky was never going to see Steve again he'd go back to falling asleep on counter tops and accept that he was going to be alone forever, Nat was a terrible influence he was never going to take her advice again.
Halfway through deciding to buy a cat so he wasn't completely lonely the door opened. Looking like he'd run a few blocks, Steve was now stood directly in front of Bucky only the ship counter in between them. Before Bucky could even say anything Steve was grabbing the front of his shirt and pull their lips together.
Somewhere behind him Bucky heard a small 'finally' but he was more interested in the lips pressing against his, slightly chapped from the Brooklyn wind. The kiss couldn't have lasted more than ten seconds but it felt like it had lasted minutes and he wanted more. Still in shock, his brain trying to catch up with what had happened Bucky saw Steve give he the same smirk he had when they'd first met and yeah Bucky definitely wanted to see a lot more of that.