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There is a guy that works at the nearby McDonalds that’s simply the best looking person that Steve has ever seen in his whole life. He knows that the guy’s name is ‘Bucky’, thanks to the wonderful invention that is the nametag, and Steve finds himself actually choosing to go to McDonalds these days, if only to have a minute-long interaction with the employee.
The first time that Steve encountered the pretty McDonalds worker was on a very cold night in November. Steve was itching to have a warm drink on his walk back to his apartment, and the first place that he saw was the building with the bright golden arches. Now, it is important to note that Steve is not an avid McDonalds customer. He’s never seen the point in going there and getting subpar food and French fries when he could easily get the same exact meal, only better, somewhere else. He realizes, though, that it is certainly a great place to go if you’re in need of warm food (or a warm drink) and don’t want to spend a lot of money.
Anyways, the joint was deserted when Steve walked inside, mostly due to the fact that it was nearing 11pm and it was a weeknight. Bonus: no waiting in line. He easily went up to the counter, where a bored guy was scrolling through his phone. Despite being bent over; Steve could tell that the guy was pretty tall. He had tousled dark brown hair that was just past the bottom of his ears. It looked soft. Steve wanted to run his fingers through it to see if it was.
Wait. Why was he here? Right, hot chocolate.
“Um.” Steve said smartly, in order to get the guy’s attention. He was beginning to daydream about the hot chocolate he was about to order, which was a sign that he needed to get a move on.
At his voice, the employee jerked up in surprise, blinking a few times. As the guy tried to find himself, it gave Steve the perfect opportunity to look at his face.
The guy’s cheekbones were the most prominent cheekbones that Steve had ever seen, which did an excellent job at highlighting the rest of the features of his face. Steve was drawn to look at the long dark eyelashes that were currently fluttering softly.
“Hello! Sorry! Welcome! Are you here to order food?” a deeply rich voice asked quickly, and it was then Steve’s turn to refocus.
“Not food, but can I get a medium hot chocolate?” Steve asked with a small smile. The guy-- Bucky nods quickly and flashes a toothy grin. Steve felt like all of his nonexistent crops had been watered in response to that grin.
“Yeah! That means I don’t have to make food!” Bucky informed him happily, “That will be $3.79!”
Steve had no idea how this guy could be so happy so late at night when it wasn’t even the weekend, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain. He hands over his card, which Bucky swiped and handed back to him.
“Give me a minute!” Bucky said before leaving to go make the drink. Steve definitely did not check Bucky’s ass out in those black slacks. No siree.
It isn’t long before he returned with the hot chocolate, easily handing it over to Steve.
“Have a good day!” Bucky said happily, after Steve got ready to turn around and leave. Before he did, though, he made sure to inform Bucky of something.
He quirked an eyebrow. “Man, the day is over. It’s the evening.”
Bucky blushed, just a little. That was the best thing that happened to Steve all day.
He was going to have to go back to McDonalds.
****
Now, in December, Steve may or may not have a little crush on McDonalds guy. Bucky is just so sweet and happy, he acts like a dork, and he doesn’t act like Steve is ruining his life whenever he goes into the restaurant at night. Which is always nice. They’ve established a nice banter ever since that first ‘day vs evening’ remark, and it’s one of the highlights of his time there.
Sadly, though, his small crush on Bucky did not go unnoticed among his friends. They made him instantly, after suddenly going to McDonalds all of the time when he never used to before. Quickly after joining him one night, they immediately figured out why. And then, they proceeded to do whatever they could to tease and embarrass him over it.
His friends are losers, but he likes them anyway.
One Friday night, they’re lounging around Sam’s apartment, lazily trying to figure out what to do for dinner. In other words, they’re suggesting places which everybody else turns down. It isn’t very effective.
“What about Chopstix?” Peggy asks, which receives a groan from everybody else.
“We had that last week,” Natasha groans, but then she perks up. “Hey, how about we go to McDonalds?”
“No!” Steve declines quickly. It’s on lost ears, though, because Sam and Peggy are both nodding their heads with gleeful looks on their faces.
“Yes, Bucky should be working tonight!” Peggy teases lightly. Steve throws an arm over his face, knowing there was no sense in arguing. Whenever his friends decide to go to McDonalds with him, they insist on sitting at a table and awkwardly staring at Bucky in order to embarrass Steve. He should have been stealthier. Then maybe they never would have found out about his crush.
****
There are only a couple of groups in the restaurant by the time they arrive, and Bucky is currently at the counter with somebody. Steve isn’t currently looking at him, as he just follows his friends into the line.
“Hello, Bucky! How are you tonight? I like what you’ve done with your face,” Natasha greets. Something is different? Steve looks up and to Bucky.
Who is currently sporting eyeliner.
Steve whimpers.
Why is he so hot? Why must he ruin Steve’s life?
Steve naturally cannot stop staring, because Bucky just looks that good in eyeliner. Its smudged around his eyelids, so he doesn’t look like a raccoon, but it is enough to make his grey eyes stand out.
Before he is prepared, it’s his turn to order food. He looks up at Bucky, who is smiling fondly at him, which just makes Steve’s brain short-circuit again.
“Hi Steve!”
He can’t remember what they sell at this restaurant anymore, so he just orders the first thing he can remember that is food.
“Can I get an ice cream?”
Bucky gives him a puzzled look. “You want ice cream, in the middle of December, when it’s like 30* outside?”
“Yup!” Steve confirms.
“Well, alright. Do you want it on a cone or in a cup?”
He goes with cone, because that was the first option that was listed. Steve is proud that he was able to form words at all, in all honesty. He pays, and Bucky turns around to make the cone. Steve turns his head to look at his friends, who are all doing their absolute best to not laugh at him. Well, Natasha is just smirking at him, but for her, that is the same thing.
Bucky returns to the counter with the cone in his hands, ready to hand it to Steve. It would have been a normal encounter, had Steve not made eye contact with Bucky again. Who seems like he’s closer than usual, and Steve easily gets distracted by how gorgeous Bucky looks with eyeliner.
He doesn’t look away when he reaches to take the ice cream, so he does not realize the problem.
Instead of grabbing the treat by the cone, Steve ends up grabbing it by the ice cream.
Once he feels the coldness of the ice cream, Steve and Bucky both break eye contact and look as the cone flops onto the counter, while Steve still inelegantly holds a handful of vanilla ice cream.
“O-oh god.”
Sam, Natasha, and Peggy are quick to let out barks of laughter at the same time Steve feels his face heat up with a dark red blush. He gapes at his hand for a moment longer before snapping back into reality. He turns around to the ketchup counter and grabs like a thousand napkins, first wiping his hand, and then moving to clean the counter. Bucky must have thrown the cone away, because it isn’t there anymore.
“I am so sorry, this is horrible,” Steve says while wiping up the vanilla mess.
“Aw, Stevie. You should know how to hold an ice cream cone by now,” he hears Bucky tease him. In response, Steve looks up and scowls at him.
“I do!”
Bucky leans over, resting his forearms on the counter (away from the mess) while he peers at Steve with a smirk.
“You do, huh. Then, why did you grab the ice cream?” Bucky prompts. Steve pauses in his effort to clean the counter in order to continue scowling at Bucky.
“I was distracted,” he grumbles. Bucky’s smirk widens.
“By what, Stevie?”
Steve has absolutely no idea why Bucky has started calling him that, but he’s pretty sure he likes it. Just like he likes Bucky’s stupid pretty face. And his cheekbones.
“Your dumb face,” Steve informs him bluntly, figuring that he can’t be more embarrassing than grabbing ice cream by the ice cream.
Bucky’s smirk is replaced by a full smile, and his eyes crinkle at the corners, telling Steve that he is happy for some reason.
“You like my face?”
Steve isn’t sure what his friends are currently doing, but he’s sure it isn’t anything good. Though, he can’t find it in himself to care about them right now, because he thinks he might be flirting with the cute McDonalds guy.
“I like your dumb face,” Steve corrects, which earns him an eye roll.
“I’m pretty fond of your face too, Stevie. I think it’s time that I took my break, don’t you think?”
Steve simply blinks at him; not entirely sure what Bucky is getting at. He flashes Steve a cocky smile, before turning back to the ice cream machine. He makes another cone, before doing something on the computer screen.
“All clocked out,” Bucky says, walking around the counter and grabbing at Steve’s hand. Steve wordlessly follows, catching a glance of his friends watching closely. Bucky leads them to a booth, which he gestures for Steve to sit down in.
Rather than sitting on the opposite booth chair from Steve, Bucky slides in right next to him, close enough so their sides were pressed together. Bucky is warm against him. He turns toward Steve, holding the ice cream cone up.
“Here, I will hold this for you since I know how to. Enjoy,” Bucky says, and Steve takes the opportunity of their closeness to flick him on the nose. He does take a lick from the cone, however.
“Are we really about to share an ice cream cone?” Steve questions after Bucky takes a lick.
“Ice cream dates are the best kind of dates, Stevie.”
Wait. What. Date?
Steve blinks a couple of times, in order to process. “We’re on a date? I don’t remember you asking me, Bucky,” he says, just to be an ass.
Bucky shrugs. “Since we both informed each other of our mutual face appreciations, I figured that was basically the same thing,” he answers, holding the cone out to Steve, who takes a bite from the top.
Steve shrugs, finding no fault with that logic. “Well alright. Hello, my name is Steve Rogers. Those are my loser friends over there: Sam, Peggy, and Natasha. I’ve been coming here all the time for a month because the McDonalds worker is hot.”
Bucky blushes slightly, but is quick to recover. “Heya, I’m Bucky Barnes. I work at McDonalds sometimes, and have been frequenting the evening shift in the hopes of seeing the cute blond guy that comes in sometimes,” he grins, which Steve returns.
“So does this mean that I don’t have to come to McDonalds anymore in order to see you?” Steve asks hopefully. Bucky barks a laugh as he finishes up the ice cream cone.
“No, you still have to come because you’re gonna have to visit me at work. That’s what you do when you’re dating someone.”
Steve rolls his eyes. “Whatever, Barnes.”
“I’ll serve you an ice cream cone every time!”
“If you weren’t wearing eyeliner, then I would have never grabbed the cone the wrong way. It makes you too hot for your own good.”
“Well, I had to get your attention somehow!”
“Oh, baby. You had my attention from Day 1. But thanks for getting me to say something,” Steve says, as flirtatiously as he could. Bucky blushes darker than Steve’s seen before, and it’s so much better up close.
~*~