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Bucky knocks at Yelena's door. Yelena doesn't respond to him, but he can hear Yelena and Ava's laughter from the room. He rolls his eyes, then opens the door without her permission.
The laughter vanished. Yelena and Ava turn to Bucky and look at him in confusion. "...What?" asks Yelena.
"I knocked, but you didn't respond." Bucky replies. He steps up to her room and put a shopping bag on the carpet.
"You went shopping? What is it?" asks Ava curiously while she and Yelena sit on the carpet to see what is inside the shopping bag.
"A DYSON AIRWRAP?!" Yelena gasps as she see the box. "You went to the mall to buy this?"
"No. I asked Mel to get it." answers Bucky. He sits next to Yelena.
"Then how could Mel got it? I mean... how could Val agreed to buy you this?" Ava opens the box and unboxes the multi-styler.
Bucky thinks for a while. "Just told Mel, we need... you know. A styler for hair. Just in case we need it for... I don't know... Maybe public appearance."
Yelena gives Bucky in a big confusion. What a stupid excuse. "Weird."
"It's not mine, both of you can use it too. And also Bob... if he wants," Bucky replies. "Do you know how to use it? Can you teach me?"
Ava sighs, "You asked the wrong people."
"Everything is on TikTok. It's not that hard!" Yelena replies. She opens her TikTok app and searches a 'Dyson Airwrap Tutorial' on the search bar.
Of course, Bucky doesn't know how to access that. Well... he is not that bad at using technology. Sam and Shuri used to teach him how to use computer and smartphone. But for using social media... Nah... Bucky would never do that. It's still weird for him.
"Okay, I got it!" Yelena seems excited and asks Bucky to turn around. "Let me try this on your hair,"
Yelena tries to style Bucky's hair based on the tutorial she saw from TikTok. And surprisingly, she is very good at the first try.
"I think you should open a salon when you retire someday," Ava suggests
Yelena smiles proudly at her craft. Bucky's hair looks very good and suits him very well. "I think you look alike Flynn Rider from Tangled,"
"You should keep this hair during missions. You only need to seduce our enemies!" Ava tells him which successfully makes him turn to her and frown at her.
But yeah, after looking at himself in the mirror, Bucky admits that this hair style looks good on him. It's definitely not his style, but trying new things is not wrong... right?
Thanks to Sharon's suggestion that day...
"Now, my turn!" Ava pushes Bucky aside so Yelena can style her hair next.
Bucky just sighs and let this kids trolling around with their new toys. Yelena and Ava screams enthusiasticly looking at Ava's curly hair. Thanks to Yelena's magic hands.
"Why the both of you always scream everytime you are together in the room?" asks Bucky.
"We do slumber party every weeks," Ava replies in the middle of Yelena's experiment on her hair. "Sometimes Mel joined us too... Sometimes Bob."
"And technically, now you join our slumber party." Yelena adds
Bucky had a younger sister named Rebecca. When they were young, they spent a lot of time together. Rebecca also taught him how to braid hair, how to do 40s make up, well... Bucky was familiar with girly stuff back then. But he still clueless about what slumber party means, Rebecca never taught him about that one.
"What did you do at slumber party? Like girl stuff?" Bucky asks confusedly.
"Well... not only girly stuff. We are also having a sleepover, playing games, gossipping." Ava explains all those activities they called fun.
"Well, my Korean sheet masks arrived this morning. I think we should try it tonight," says Yelena while showing off dozens of sheet masks she purchased from Amazon.
Bucky glares at her, "Really? You spent your money on something like this?"
"It's fun, Bucky!" Yelena hisses at him. "And it's also very relaxing. Right, Ava?" Yelena throws her a sheet mask.
"Yep!" Ava replies while catching the sheet mask.
"I am a nice person, so you get one too." Yelana throws Bucky another one. Bucky rolls his eyes.
Bucky just following the skin care routines that Yelena and Ava did. From cleaning the face using the cleansing balm, washing the face using face wash, and how to place the sheet mask on his face. It feels weird to Bucky at first, maybe because he has a beard on his chin.
But Ava was right, it's very soothing and relaxing. Now Bucky ends up lying at the carpet, squeezed by Yelena and Ava beside him. Both of them force Bucky to tell them a story from his battle during World War II... and also the battle between Avengers and Thanos.
"Don't you feel anxious? Aliens could come and invade earth anytime. How are we going to prevent it? We couldn't even survived from Bob when he was a Sentry." Ava asks.
Yelena releases a sigh, "Exactly my question,"
"Not only aliens, but also androids and wizards," adds Bucky. "Sam said that."
"When? You talked to Wilson?!" Yelena surprises at his answer.
"A long time ago. Geez. He still ignores me until this day." Bucky corrects her while looking at Yelena.
Ava chuckles, "You guys so old married couple coded,"
"Great, Wilson hates us. Public hate us. We are sooo doomed," replies Yelena, then she closes her eyes.
"Have you ever wonder about living a normal life?" Ava opens up the conversation. "I want to go to school, or working at Barnes & Noble."
"Yeah," Yelena replies. "Thinking about building a family. Marrying someone. Having children. Maybe one day, after retiring. I want to adopt a child."
Bucky gives them a loud chuckle. "Bold of you to assume that people like us are going to achieve that one day."
"Why are you so negative about that? It's not impossible!" Yelena defends her opinion. "Look at Clint Barton and his family. It is possible!"
Bucky rolls his eyes, "It's not as simple as that,"
"Scott Lang is also living his best life with his daughter and Hope Van Dyne." Ava added Yelena's opinion.
Yelena grins, as in she successfully proving anything, "See!"
"Still, there must be a sacrifice. It's not as beautiful as it seems." Bucky still stands on his opinion.
Ava looks at Bucky, "Why are you so cynical? You don't want to have family?"
"I'm too old for that."
"I'm really curious, have you ever been in love with someone?" Yelena turns at Bucky.
Bucky scoffs and pushes Yelena's head to look away from him. "As I said, I'm too old for that."
"Tell us about those girls," Ava insists, and so does Yelena who looks at him curiously. "Just anyone who you see recently, we don't care about your lovers from 80 years ago."
Bucky peels the sheet mask from his face because it's been more than 20 minutes, then he wakes up after lying on the carpet. "Why would I tell you that? I don't even care about who both of you see."
Ava peels her sheet mask and wakes up, "Yelena had several dates with Kate Bishop!" She points out Yelena with her finger.
"Ava!" Yelena wakes up and looks at Ava with disbelief look.
Bucky only frowns his brows, "Who is Kate Bishop?"
"The new Hawkeye. I don't know, some random girl who trained by Clint Barton." Ava explains.
"She is not a random girl, she is a professional archer!" Now Yelena is arguing with Ava.
Bucky is just watching the both of them arguing to each other. First, he doesn't care with Yelena's personal life. Second, who the hell is Kate Bishop?
"We are not a couple, Okay? Not yet!" Yelena clarifies the situation.
Bucky just shakes his head. "I don't care."
"After all those dates? Come on! You are soooo slow!" Ava mocks her this time.
Yelena looks more furious, "It's a progress, Ava!" then she sighs. "I don't know, I think we are better be just friends."
Ava scoffs at her answer, "Lame."
"Ava thinks Walker is attractive!" Now it's Yelena's turn to roast Ava. Ava throws a pillow at her immediately.
"What?!" now Bucky looks unpleasant this time. Oh, he does care now.
"Yes! She couldn't stop thinking about that moment when Walker caught her and carried her in bridal style on one mission." Yelena explicates the situation to Bucky.
Bucky turns at Ava and shakes his head. "No. You can date anyone in this world but Walker. You deserve someone better." The old man tries to lecture her this time.
"I don't have a crush on him, okay?!" says Ava. "It's just a flash thought! I mean... yeah he is kind of nice-"
"Jesus..." both Bucky and Yelena are growling.
"No, but really. Think about it. Walker is very helpful during every mission. He protected us many times, right? Even though we trash talked him everyday." explains Ava. "He is nice... if he shuts his mouth."
Yelena raises her brows, "Okay. Kind of agree about that."
"Then how about you?! You also attracted to Bob, right?!" And now is Ava's turn to attack Yelena back.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Bucky yells at Yelena. Now Bucky is more surprised. This conversation is getting crazier.
Yelena feels extremely frustrated, "No, I'm not! It's not like that! Fuck, Ava!"
"You said he is cute! Well in fact, he is..." says Ava. "But you are so touchy and care a lot with him. I mean yeah, we all care for Bob."
"So what? It doesn't explain anything! I only care about him." Yelena insists harder this time.
"Just look the way Bob looks at you. It's different! Bob doesn't look at me that way." Ava argues back at her.
Bucky feels so dizzy. This is too much information for him. "Yelena, Bob is not in the easy position. He's very unstable. It's good for treating him well, but if you did it for something romantic... I don't think it's the right time."
"I know, and I don't, Bucky." Yelena assures him.
"Good."
Both Yelena and Ava turn at him with the interrogating look. "Good what? You haven't told your story yet." says Ava.
"I didn't promise anything." replies Bucky. "Both of you who willingly revealed those too-much-information stories. I wasn't the one who asked for it."
"Aw, come on, Bucky!" Yelena growls at him. "There is nothing more embarrassing than thinking Walker is attractive."
Ava gives her a dead glare.
Bucky sighs really hard. "I dated Sam's sister." He finally reveals the story.
Both Yelena and Ava remain silent. They are just looking at each other, and... "HAHAHAHA" both of them laughs very loud. Ava rolls over at the carpet, and Yelena holds her ache stomach because of the laughing.
"God, it's so funny!" Ava couldn't hold her laughter.
"Shut up." replies Bucky. "It's a short relationship."
"No," Yelena tries to control her breath. "It's just funny to think about both of the Wilsons are pissed at you right now." Yelena and Ava giggles immediately.
Bucky just give them a dead stare. "Yeah, thank you for your note. Very insightful."
"Then what happened between the both of you?" asks Ava.
Bucky thinks for a while. He tries to analyze what was the problem that time. "It's complicated," he answers. "Sarah has two children, and her relationship with her ex-husband wasn't really good. She kind of..."
"Traumatized? Not ready?" Ava guesses.
"Yes," answers Bucky. "To think about my past... I don't think she is gonna happy if she finds out about that. She is a good person and just a civilian, she doesn't deserve a messy life because of me. It's better be like this, so we split in good terms."
"Ouch. That is kinda sad actually..." says Yelena. "I'm sorry for laughing at that."
Ava feels sorry either. Moreover, she was the one who laugh the loudest. "Shit. Sorry, Bucky."
"That's fine, really." replies Bucky.
"Then?" asks Yelena.
Bucky frowns. "I've told you the story!"
"Really? Just one? In your 108 years life?" adds Ava. "You've been living too long, just tell us another recent one."
Of course... there is more. He hasn't tell them about Sharon yet. Bucky is not going to fall for them again. They can't fool him this time. "No. Just Sarah." he lies to them.
"Oh, really?" Yelena looks at him with that interrogating look.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bucky responds unhappily.
"So this is how are we gonna play... Okay." Yelena still gives him that intrigued look.
"Play what?"
"What? You know something? And you didn't tell me?" Now Ava is the one who curious.
Yelena smirks, "Please don't tell Bucky."
"Sure, I'm a good secret keeper!" replies Ava. Pretending Bucky is not THERE with them.
"So, last week, Bob saw Bucky was walking out of the bar with a woman. A pretty woman and she has a blonde hair!" says Yelena.
"WHAT?!" Ava gasps at her, acting to be shocked. "Is Bob sure it was him?"
Bucky is so done with them.
"Bob was unsure at first. But thinking about Bucky was going somewhere in the night RIGHT after we went back from mission... I think he was right." now both Yelena and Ava look at Bucky.
"Done?" replies Bucky lazily.
"So, who is that lady?" asks Yelena. "I'm not going to ask if it's really you. Because it must be 100% you."
"Pretty... Blonde... Who is that..." Ava seems interested to guess that woman. "That must be your old friends..."
Bucky sighs really hard this time, "It's Sharon."
"Sharon?" asks Yelena. Her brain thinking about something. "Blonde... and pretty... Sharon... Who is it?"
"What happened between the both of you? Another complicated story?" asks Ava.
Bucky just raises both of his brows. "Sort of," he answers. "We are not officially dating, Okay? We are just friends. We only talked... yeah. We only talked that night."
"Seriously, Bucky. You are a very BAD liar." says Yelena.
"I'm not lying. We are not in serious relationship." Bucky replies. "Well... yeah... we kissed that night,"
"Cute," says Ava with a wide smile. "Then what happened?"
"Yeah, we become closer after that. She is staying abroad, so we texted. Sometimes she called me." answers Bucky.
Yelena gasps in a sudden and she closes her mouth. "Shit! Please don't say the Sharon that you meant is Sharon Carter?!"
"Damn it." Bucky curses. "Yeah, you must be familiar with her. She probably was your sister's friend from S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Holy fuck!" replies Yelena, still in shock. "Wasn't she... Steve Rogers' girlfriend? or ex? I remember Nat told me that before." Yelena gives him a disbelief look. "You dated your best friend's ex?!"
Bucky rolls his eyes, "They were not officially dating! Also, Steve left her."
"That's still very wild, Bucky." replies Yelena.
"Yeah. Kind of wild, indeed. They kissed in front of my eyes back then." Bucky tells them. Yelena and Ava look more surprised.
"Wait..." Ava stops him. "Sharon Carter from S.H.I.E.L.D., that would be funny if she is a relative of Peggy Carter."
"Yeah, Peggy was her aunt."
"HOLY FUCK!!!" both Yelena and Ava screams uncontrollably. Bucky is absolutely tired with them at this point.
"Weren't you, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, and Tony Stark's dad used to be friends?" asks Yelena.
"Yeah, we were."
"You are crazy, really." Ava judges him. "You dated your best friend's ex and also your friend's niece. It's an achievement. No one do it like you. So proud of you, buddy." Ava pats his back.
"For hundreds time, we are not dating." Bucky gives them another clarification.
"What do you feel about her?" asks Yelena. "I mean she is quiet a catch. She is hot."
Bucky is thinking about Sharon. Yelena was right, Sharon is hot. She has a pretty face, beautiful hair, good body, long legs. He didn't remember about the reason why he fell in love with her. It just happened.
"God, he must be so in love with her." guesses Ava by looking at his expression. "If you are really in love for her, go for her. You only lived once, old man."
Bucky raises his brows up. "It's not that simple. She is staying abroad. She is living the life that I don't even understand and want to know."
"Why? Is she a black market mafia or something?" asks Yelena, half joking.
"I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe, worse. I don't want to know, Okay?" answers Bucky. "I care for her. I don't want to make her feel like she is alone. Maybe she is not a good person, but she saved my life many times."
"Yeah, that is love, old man. Congratulations." replies Yelena.
"It's not that simple. We can't be easily together." Bucky says. "I can't promise her a future. I would never have a normal life, and I don't want to make her suffer from it. I could be dead tomorrow, nobody knows."
"If you are dead, then the rest of us are dead-ly dead." says Ava.
"She replied to your message and call, right?" asks Yelena.
"Yeah."
"It means she is happy with your presence in her life. Don't waste the opportunity, Bucky. The world could ended anytime, so you better tell her that you love her." said Yelena.
Bucky never be this open to anyone after a very long time. He did open to Sam, but he never told him his personal love story. It's a random and wild conversations between him, Yelena, and Ava. And surprisingly... this random talk really open up his mind to be brave to confess his feelings.
"I think your story on this week's slumber party is the craziest," Ava comments.
"Shut up." Bucky replies.
In a sudden, they hear a knock on Yelena's door. The door is opened a little, and they see Bob's head is peeked on it.
"Hi, Bob." greets Yelena.
"Hi, I awaked and heard you and Ava yelling. Just make sure that the both of you are okay," says Bob while opening the door widely. Bob is carrying Alpine on his arm. "Oh, hi Bucky."
"Hi," Bucky greets him back. "Is Alpine awake too?"
Bob releases Alpine from his arm to give her back to Bucky. Alpine walks and sits on Bucky's lap. "Yeah. I think she awaked and bored, so she came to my room and woke me up."
"Hey, Bob was sleeping. It's not polite to wake him like that." Bucky scolds Alpine.
Among the all of them, Bob is the closest one to Alpine aside from Bucky. Bob is the one who take care of Alpine when they are heading to mission. Bob is really good at handling pet, he also take a good care of Mr. Cucumber, Yelena's guinea pig.
"Are you sure we are not the one who woke you up?" asks Ava. "Sorry... we are too noisy."
"Yeah, sort of. But it's fine! Really..." answers Bob. "I'm leaving, sorry for interrupting your conversation."
"What are you talking about? Come and join us here, we are going to have a sleep over." orders Yelena.
"What..." Bucky disagrees about it. But Yelena shoves his arm. "Yeah. Join us, Bob." says Bucky.
"Seriously?" Bob's face looks happy to hear the invitation.
"Yes! Come here, Bob!" Ava says.
It's kinda weird to Bucky for having a sleep over with Yelena, Ava, and Bob. But at the same time, it feels less lonely for him to have company. Bucky thinks he is going to sleep very tight tonight without any nightmare.