Chapter Text
“It is of the utmost importance that you do not leave this dog alone, Captain.”
Steve looks at the dog. “Does he have a name?”
Doctor Strange sighs. “Jacques-Ignace de la Touche.”
“Pardon?” Bucky asks with a slight French intonation. Steve snorts. Jacques-Ignace de la Touche sticks out its little pink tongue and pants.
Doctor Strange narrows his eyes. “Do you really think so low of me, Sergeant Barnes?”
Bucky shrugs. “It is a Pomeranian,” he explains, looking down at the panting ball of tan fluff.
“He’s a rescue.”
Jacques-Ignace de la Touche looks up at Bucky with something close to adoration. Bucky looks down with something akin to terror. This will probably be Steve’s favorite mission ever.
…
“We’re glorified dog sitters,” Bucky complains, collapsing onto their couch. Jacques-Ignace de la Touche trots along behind him, then struggles to get up to where Bucky is with his short little legs. Bucky grins at Jacques-Ignace de la Touche with a mocking sparkle in his eyes. That is until Steve scoops the pup up and plops him down on Bucky’s chest. Bucky’s eyes widen as Jacques-Ignace de la Touche waddles to Bucky’s shoulder and plops down for a little rest, snuggling close to his cheek.
Steve takes out his phone and snaps a picture. Definitely the best mission ever.
“Doctor Strange just needs us to look after the little guy for a week. We’re superheroes. We can handle it.”
“Maybe you can handle it,” Bucky mutters as Steve makes the photo the background of his phone. “But this is the end for me. I can barely take care of myself, let alone an animal.” As if on cue, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche huffs a little in his sleep, breath warm against Bucky’s cheek. Bucky looks up at Steve, half-panicked. “The guy should’ve called Sam.”
“Sam’s on vacation in Honolulu. Would you really take that away from him?”
Bucky groans.
“Shh,” Steve responds, sitting on the easy chair next to the couch. “You’ll wake Jacques-Ignace de la Touche.”
…
“What’s so special about him?” Bucky asks on Day 3 as he pours water from the Brita filter he bought yesterday for ‘No reason at all Steve, what’s with the interrogation, Jesus Christ you’re so annoying’ into the little white bowl they’ve been using for Jacques-Ignace de la Touche. The pup himself yips at Bucky’s feet, and Bucky pretends to be annoyed as he heads to the fridge to get the home-cooked dog food he’d made the night before out.
“Every living creature is special, Buck. Remember your therapy—“
“Jesus Christ Steve, I’m not gonna murder the little asshole.” He spoons out the food into another piece of Steve’s nice china, then mashes it down so that the depth is equal on all parts before putting it in the microwave. “I’m just wondering how Jacques-Ignace de la Touche ended up with Stephen Strange of all people, that and why we’re never supposed to let him be alone.”
Steve frowns as Bucky putters around the kitchen island, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche following him with as much adoration as usual. If Steve weren’t so smitten with Bucky himself, he may’ve been jealous that the only attention the little pup gives him is when Bucky has physically been out of the house. And usually it’s to make Steve take him to go pee. Anyhow, attention aside, Steve’s been thinking about Jacques-Ignace de la Touche’s relationship with Doctor Strange himself. Not that he doesn’t like Doctor Strange, but he doesn’t seem the type to take in a rescue teacup Pomeranian with attention issues.
“Not sure,” Steve admits as the microwave beeps. The noise makes Jacques-Ignace de la Touche give a little growl, which makes Bucky laugh. Steve smirks, and Bucky blushes and scowls, muttering something about, “It was cute Jesus Christ Steve gimme a goddamn break” as he opens the microwave and pokes at the meat, making sure it’s warm enough.
Steve can’t help but wonder if Doctor Strange wouldn’t mind giving them the pup permanently.
…
Things are uneventful until Day 6, when a crazed man orders his flock of genetically-engineered ravens to attack the city while he stands atop the point on the Chrystler Building, laughing.
“How does he balance?” Bucky asks, holding a wide-eyed, panting Jacques-Ignace de la Touche. One would think that he’d be nervous, what having Bucky grab him in the middle of the day, take him on a motorcycle, then run around the city with him in one arm, gun in the other, but honestly, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche just seems excited that Bucky is holding him. The dog probably thinks that this is a fun field trip for the two of them, rather than a terrifying, life-or-death experience for the citizens of New York City.
Steve offered to hold him, but Bucky had basically snarled at him.
“How’re we gonna get him down here?” Bucky asks, seemingly flustered for the first time since this battle began. They’ve gotten most of the ravens, but their master seems perfectly content to flail his arms like a bird up there.
“Guess we’ll need to go to him,” Steve says. Bucky groans. Jacques-Ignace de la Touche pants. It’s how things typically are.
…
Luckily, Sharon arrives minutes later in (what is probably a stolen, but Steve doesn’t mind) flying car, courtesy of SHIELD. She flies them up, and for the first time Jacques-Ignace de la Touche looks a little nervous. As they fly upwards, he tries to burrow himself into the leather of Bucky’s tactical vest. Thinking Steve isn’t looking, Bucky strokes Jacques-Ignace de la Touche’s head with two fingers, and even though they’re in the middle of a fight, Steve really wishes he had his phone on him so he could take a picture.
“Leave Jacques-Ignace de la Touche with Sharon,” Steve says as they fly closer. The guy can see them now, and his arms are waving even more wildly. Steve can see a flock of the evil ravens begin to congregate behind him, and sighs. “This probably isn’t the best place for him.”
Bucky looks at Steve with wide eyes before looking down to Jacques-Ignace de la Touche. “You be good for Sharon,” he says. They’re looking straight into each other’s eyes with a fierce intensity which, alright, Steve is somewhat jealous of.
Bucky passes Jacques-Ignace de la Touche to Sharon. “Take care of him,” he says before jumping out of the fucking car.
Steve swears, and Jacques-Ignace de la Touche yips as they watch Bucky dive onto the bird guy and tackle him.
They start hurtling towards the ground, but before Sharon can turn the car around, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche leaps from Sharon’s grasp. Which is just great, because not only is Steve’s boyfriend possible raven meat, but the dog of the Sorcerer Supreme is joining him. Today sucks. He should’ve let Daredevil handle this.
And then Jacques-Ignace de la Touche curls into a ball and begins emitting a golden light from his fur.
“What the—“ Sharon begins, but is cut off by Jacques-Ignace de la Touche’s yip. A yip so magnified and loud that the sound waves shake the car. Sharon yells something to Steve, but he ignores it, leaning over the edge of the convertible to stare at what’s going on below him, because it’s absolutely insane.
Jacques-Ignace de la Touche is floating now, his strange golden aura expanding to cover Bucky and the raven guy. They stop moving, suspended in the air. Jacques-Ignace de la Touche yips again, and Bucky separates from the raven man. He drifts in a cloud of gold back to the car, where he settles gently into Steve’s side before the gold wisps dissipate. Bucky heaves in a large breath. “What?” he asks, looking around, frantic.
“It’s Jacques-Ignace de la Touche,” Steve responds, wrapping an arm around Bucky’s shoulders and pulling him in close. He hadn’t realized just how fast his heart had been racing.
And then Bucky pulls away, half-standing to look over the side of the convertible. “Jacques-Ignace de la Touche?” he asks, panicked. “What the hell is goin’ on?”
Steve wishes he could answer that, but frankly, he can’t.
Meanwhile, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche is glowing even more now, eyes turning black as coal. With a great yip, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche seems to explode, raining down fiery gold sparkles onto the raven man, who begins screaming in agony. The gold barrier disappears, and the charred Raven man begins to fall to the street below. Meanwhile, Bucky screams, “Jacques-Ignace de la Touche!” before looking to Steve, helpless and terrified.
Steve stares at Bucky, completely at a loss of how to console Bucky for the explosion of a beloved Pomeranian that didn’t even belong to them. “I—“ he begins, but is stopped by a flash of gold light in front of him, then the small dog that drops onto the carseat between them.
Bucky’s eyes grow wide as he takes in Jacques-Ignace de la Touche, who is panting and staring at Bucky with a wagging tail. Steve is sure that if Jacques-Ignace de la Touche could speak, he’d be asking casually for a treat, as if he didn’t just sort of explode in front of their eyes. Then all at once, tears start pouring from Bucky’s eyes, and he grabs up Jacques-Ignace de la Touche and holds him close to his chest. “You dumb fuckin’ dog,” he says as Steve and Sharon share an uncomfortable giggle, and the swarm of ravens all drop to the ground at once, seemingly dead along with their master.
“Would you mind taking us home?” Steve asks. “I think that dog needs a treat.”
…
Sam never quite gets over the fact that Jacques-Ignace de la Touche can keep up with Steve on a run when he can’t.
“A Pomeranian?” he asks as Steve heads over to the tree he’s sitting under, Jacques-Ignace de la Touche at his heels. “C’mon, that’s not fair.”
“Probably not,” Steve says with a shrug.
After the incident at the Chrystler Building, Steve managed to convince Doctor Strange to let him and Bucky keep Jacques-Ignace de la Touche. Well, really Jacques-Ignace de la Touche did the convincing, what with threatening to explode when Doctor Strange tried to take him from Bucky’s arms. Since then, Steve’s gotten used to having the little guy in their life. While Jacques-Ignace de la Touche obviously still prefers Bucky, he seems to like exerting a bit of his magical powers on a daily run with Steve. Bucky likes it too—Steve’s stopped pestering him to wake-up at the crack of dawn to go running together.
“You headed home?” Sam asks as Steve helps him up.
“Nah,” Steve says. “Heading over to the dog park. Bucky’s meeting us there.” Jacques-Ignace de la Touche perks up at the mention of Bucky’s name, little tail wagging.
“Man, the two of you have that in common,” Sam says, rolling his eyes.
“What?” Steve asks, looking down to Jacques-Ignace de la Touche, then back up at Sam.
“That whole perking up thing whenever Bucky is mentioned. It’s pretty gross.”
Steve grins, then bends down to pick Jacques-Ignace de la Touche up. “Then we both have good taste, don’t we, boy?” Jacques-Ignace de la Touche yips in response, then licks the end of Steve’s nose.
Who knew dog sitting would bring him so many good things.