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Bucky was in a hurry, to say the least. He wasn’t at the point of rushing it, but he getting pretty damn close.
He was in the process of making the best damn pasta salad ever. He didn’t mean to brag, but yes, that was his specialty. It was pretty amazing, again, not bragging, but no one else could make pasta salad like him. Natasha had asked him to make this one thing for her little get together today and well, normally he wouldn’t be rushing, Bucky always had a plan, but you see, he had slept in a bit later than he had wanted to (he went out last night, so sue him), so, yes, he was in a bit of a rush at the moment, but it was fine.
He would get it done in time and still be on time to the party.
He was in the process of grabbing the jar of mayonnaise and taking the lid off, when, well, he tried to twist the cap off, but it wouldn’t move.
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Bucky asked the jar as he tried to twist the cap off again.
But it didn’t move. Not one bit. It didn’t even budge. Bucky’s hands were sore from trying to twist the stupid cap off. He took a deep breath and set the jar down on the counter and took a step back, taking another deep breath.
It was just a stupid jar.
He was strong enough to open a god damn jar. He was even using his good arm too. Seriously, this shouldn’t be a problem. He pushed a strand of hair from his face and stepped up to the counter.
He could do this. He could twist a cap from a jar.
He grabbed the jar and twisted the cap, except the damn thing didn’t move.
“Motherfucker!” He shouted, throwing the jar in the sink. It clanked against the sink but Bucky didn’t care. He was too busy pacing around his kitchen.
This was so fucking ridiculous.
Why in the hell had he grabbed a jar?
He could have just grabbed a plastic container and this wouldn’t be happening to him. But no, he had to have quality mayonnaise and only the best come in jars, right? And Bucky had to have the best.
He looked up at the clock, and let out a loud sigh of frustration. He was going to be late. He hadn’t even showered yet. He wasn’t even dressed yet.
“Dammit!”
He ran his hands over his face. He was not going back to the damn store to pick up another jar of mayonnaise. It just wasn’t happening. It was too late for that. He was going to open this damn jar if it killed him.
He grabbed the jar and ran some hot water, hoping that maybe that would do something.
Nope.
He grabbed a butter knife out of a drawer and hit it against the lid, to loosen it up. That would do it. It had to. That always worked before.
“Shit!” Bucky hissed as the lid refused to move. “What is it with this goddamn jar!” He shouted. He was just about to say hell with it when he heard movement upstairs.
No.
He would not go running to his upstairs neighbor (one whom he had never met before) to ask them to open a jar of fuckin’ mayonnaise for him.
He jumped when his phone went off. He reached out to the counter and answered.
“Hello?”
“James, why aren’t you here? It’s 11. I thought were gonna show up early?” Was it already 11 already? Bucky glanced back at the clock and jesus, had he really spent a half hour trying to get a goddamn jar open?
He wasn’t going to be able to feel his fingers tomorrow.
“I’m sorry Nat, this has just not been my morning. I will be there by noon, I promise.”
“Alright. You know, I think Clint might have invited that Stephanie girl you are so fond of.” Bucky rolled his eyes. He had already called things off with Stephanie so he could try and date Adam.
Not that it really worked out in his favor. Adam had rejected his sorry ass and now Bucky didn’t know what he was going to do if Stephanie was there. She had been quite upset with him when he ended things.
“Great.”
“Oh, have you moved on from her already?” If Bucky was near her he would have hit her. She knew good and well that he had broken things off with Stephanie. He had told her all about it
“Whatever. I’ll be there by noon.” Bucky said, quickly hanging up.
He didn’t want to do this.
Lord knows how his ego would be hurting after this. But he needed to get this stupid salad made.
He grabbed the jar and quickly made his way outside. He was already up the stairs when he realized that he still hadn’t bothered to get dressed at all. He was still in his flannel pajama pants and that was pretty much it.
His hair was probably a disaster, being the usual greasy catastrophe it usually was whenever he woke up.
Great.
He really hoped his neighbor wasn’t some old lady who would be traumatized by seeing his lazy ass in this kind of state, and that of his visible messed up left arm.
He had a lot of surgery done on it, so it didn’t look as bad anymore, but the scarring was still not something pleasant to see.
He stopped at the top of the steps and took another deep breath. He could still go back. He hadn’t knocked yet, there was still time. He could just say ‘fuck it’ and go to the store on his way to Nat’s and buy a container of pasta salad instead.
But Nat would know. She could always tell the difference. She would kick his ass if he showed up to her apartment with something he bought from the store. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
He could hear movement on the other side, so someone was home at least. Bucky didn’t think he was prepared as to who would be on the other side. No matter who it was, Bucky would leave this encounter with a very bruised ego.
“Coming!” It was a dude. Great. Of course it was a dude.
Not that Bucky had a problem with it being a guy, but still, this was going to make it even more embarrassing if he had to come and ask for help on opening a jar to another guy.
Watch this guy be the equivalent to a Greek God or some muscle man. He would probably laugh right in Bucky’s face and throw the jar right back at him for good measure.
The door opened and well, there stood the skinniest guy Bucky had ever seen. He looked like he could still be in high school, (of course that wasn’t the case, you had to be at least 21 to rent an apartment from this place). But he looked young.
The man was about a foot shorter than Bucky, blonde hair dropping in his face, and he was wearing clothes that were about two sizes too big for in. In fact, the man looked like he had just woken up as well, except for the small fact that he was covered in paint. Fresh paint.
Bucky could smell it from the door. And if he craned his neck hard enough, he could see an easel set up in the middle of the living room.
But the man, once he wiped his bangs away from his face, he was actually quite cute. Not only that, he was actually kind of beautiful. Bucky must have been staring because the man just raised an eyebrow at him.
Bucky didn’t miss that he did give him a quick once over. So that was a win in his book. Of course, once the man probably saw his arm he most likely became quite disinterested.
“Can I help you?” The man said, and right. Bucky was up here with a purpose. He wasn’t up here to just stare at the hot neighbor, although, if Bucky would have known this guy lived above him, he would have made his presence known to him much sooner than this moment.
“Um, yeah? I’m Bucky, I live right under you in 15D. I, well, you see, I have this party today and I always make this pasta salad, its sort of my specialty and all that junk, but like, I can’t open this fuckin’ jar and just…” Bucky didn’t know why he continued to even bother to ask. This man was so small, there was no way he would be able to open the jar.
If Bucky couldn’t, then this man sure as hell wouldn’t be able to open.
“You came all the way up here to ask me to open a jar of mayonnaise?” The man said, a small smile appearing on his lips.
“Yeah?” Bucky replied and god, this was embarrassing. The man just laughed as he leaned against the door frame.
“Why didn’t you just go get yourself another jar?”
“Well, I just bought this one so I wasn’t going to go back out and get another one.”
“Store bought? You know some grocery store pasta salads are actually really quite good.”
“Yeah, but my friend, she lives off this stuff, and she would have my ass if I showed up to her party with store bought stuff. Everything has to be homemade for her.”
“Ah, she one of those people?”
“Yes she is.” Bucky let out a small laugh. He loved Natasha, but sometimes, sometimes she was just too damn picky.
“Well, let me give it a try.” Bucky smiled and was about to give it to him when he decided that maybe he should just go buy another one.
“You know, I can always go and get…”
“Nonsense.” Steve reached out and took the jar. “You already wasted this much time right? You might as well use the damn jar.” Bucky just watched as Steve twisted the cap and he heard the distinct pop!
What. The. Fuck.
Bucky wanted to just melt into the ground right that second.
Was this some joke? What had he done to deserve this?
Did life hate Bucky that much?
The man looked up at him and smirked at him. Bucky could feel the smartass comment coming.
“Don’t even say anything.” Bucky said, taking the jar from him.
“I guess you loosened it up for me?” The man said with a shrug. He looked so smug about it too. The little punk.
“Yeah. Thanks though. I really do appreciate it.”
“No problem. If you have any other problems, don’t be afraid to ask.” Bucky just nodded as he made his way back downstairs, wanting to get away from the man as quickly as possible.
It’s not that he didn’t want to be with him, just, standing there half naked holding a jar of mayonnaise wasn’t exactly the best way to be his charming self.
Besides, he was still in a hurry.
He was in the process of mixing in the mayonnaise when he realized that he never did ask for the guy’s name.
Dammit!
Bucky walked into Natasha’s apartment and handed off the salad to someone he didn’t know. He didn’t even really care at the moment. He just had to find Natasha.
“There you are!” Natasha shouted from across the room. Bucky may have jumped, he wouldn’t admit it at the moment, but he did. That tone in her voice always makes him a bit jumpy. “James, it is 12:30. You were supposed to be here ages ago!”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. But I have had the absolute worst morning. You won’t believe it.”
“Oh I won’t?” She said, crossing her arms, smirking up at him. “This doesn’t happen to involve a jar of mayonnaise, does it?” Bucky’s face dropped. How did she know about that?
“How…?”
“Guilty.” Bucky’s head shot up at the familiar voice. He turned around quickly, looking to see if it was indeed who he thought it. It was the guy! His upstairs neighbor!
But why was he here?
“Steve here told me the hilarious story about how you couldn’t open up a jar of mayonnaise.” Bucky didn’t have the ability to speak at the moment.
He was too busy looking at Steve. He looked a lot different than he had when Bucky had seen him merely an hour ago. He was in a pair of the tightest jeans Bucky had ever seen and a nice button up shirt that really brought out how blue his eyes were. He didn’t look like some teenager anymore.
He was downright gorgeous.
“Why are you here?” Bucky blurted out before he could reel himself in. Give it to Bucky to just blurt something out once he found the ability to speak.
“James, that’s not very nice.” Natasha said with a sly smile, shoving passed him. “Where is this pasta salad? It better be as amazing as always.” She said as she looked back at him. “I wouldn’t want all your frustrations to be a waste.” Bucky looked back at her, giving her a look before flipping her off. She just laughed as she walked into the kitchen, leaving Bucky alone with Steve.
“My friend Sam, he is friends with Clint and invited me along today since I didn’t have any plans. I also know Natasha from work, so I was invited anyways.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean to sound rude or anything…”
“I’m sorry for telling the story to Natasha. I just thought it was adorable, I had to share.”
“Adorable, huh?” Bucky, giving Steve his signature smile as he took a step forward. Steve just laughed, putting a hand against Bucky’s chest.
“Yeah, that isn’t gonna work on me, Mr. Barnes?”
“What can I do to impress the ever so great Steve…oh, I never did catch your last name? Even though you seem to know mine already.”
“Rogers. I sort of inquired about the really hot neighbor that showed up on my doorstep to Natasha when I got here. When I mentioned your name was Bucky, she immediately knew who I was talking about.”
“Oh, so now I’m the hot neighbor?”
“You always were.” Steve’s eyes widened as he looked down at the floor. “I mean…”
“It’s alright Stevie, I’m glad you think I’m hot. I think you’re pretty gorgeous yourself.” Steve’s head shot up at that.
“What?”
“Yeah, and well,” Bucky leaned forward so that he was right next to Steve’s ears. “If you ever want to come over and help me open some other things, you know where I live.” He pulled back and noticed that Steve was blushing, and Bucky would bet that he was blushing from head to toe. “See you around Steve.”
Bucky then turned and made his way into the kitchen. He looked back and saw that Steve was looking over at him with a predatory look in his eyes. Bucky never would have expected from him, judging by his size, but damn if Bucky wasn’t the most turned on he had ever been.
He hated to admit it, but damn, he was never so thankful that he couldn’t open a jar of mayonnaise.
If he had been able to, he never would have met the love of his life.