Chapter Text
After Bucky embarrassed himself and Steve left chuckling, he ate dinner. He asked Clint if he rent any rooms for the night and luckily, he did have some rooms available. After washing his face, Bucky went up to his room. Untying his shoes, Bucky sat down on the soft bed. The nightstand had a pot of burning incense that smelled of lavender. It was heavenly.
Bucky changed into some comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt before lying down on the bed. He grabbed his phone which was charging on the nightstand beside his bed and texted his mother of what happened today. He waited for a couple of minutes, scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, before his phone vibrated.
He read the text message and smiled.
You have already made your grandfather proud. Love you.
Placing the phone back on the nightstand, Bucky’s hands were on the back of his head. Bucky sighed before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep.
The next day, after taking a shower and wearing his clothes from last night, Bucky paid his bill and ordered some breakfast.
After that, he asked Clint where he can meet Mayor Fury to which Clint replied, “You can see him during his morning routine of checking for litter around town. You can easily spot him cause of his eyepatch.”
Bucky thanked Clint and proceeded to find Mayor Fury. When he stepped out, Bucky couldn’t believe his eyes. You don’t get this kind of air from his old apartment in New York! Bucky took a deep breath of air. It smelled and felt fresh, clean, crisp. Bucky didn’t even notice his big smile before a deep voice behind him spoke.
“Good morning, stranger?”
The voice came from a man with short black hair but had white tufts on his sideburns. He had on a blue shirt but also a white lab coat. Bucky also noticed a few bandages on his hands and wrists.
“I was looking for Mayor Fury? I’m the one who’s going to move in to the Barnes farm. My name is Bucky, Bucky Barnes.”
The man blinked before smiling. “My name is Stephen Strange. I’m the doctor of this town.”
“That explains the lab coat,” Bucky chuckled.
“Well, I saw Mayor Fury picking litter a while ago, he was there.” Stephen pointed towards a house with a pink house with white walls.
Bucky thanked him and walked towards the house the doctor pointed. As he was walking, he noticed a plaza on the middle of the town that had houses and shops dotted around it. Festivals are probably a thing here.
He rounded a corner and saw a dark-skinned man in a black coat and an eyepatch placing a baby bird on its nest up on a birdhouse. Bucky walked towards him before the man looked up and saw Bucky.
“Barnes?” To which Bucky nodded. The man smiled and patted his hands on his coat. “The name’s Fury, probably heard it from our townsfolk here. I can finally get the stuff your grandpa gave me when you came here to inherit your family’ farm!”
“Thanks, sir.” Bucky replied to the man. “No worries, I’m done with my walk anyway.”
Bucky followed the man to through the plaza towards a path littered with shrubs of that same orange fruit he saw yesterday. “Salmonberry season is here,” Mayor Fury said, grabbing some of the orange fruit from the bush. “Salmonberry, they’re a bit sour but the orange ones are sweeter than the red ones. You can gather some and sell them or cook them if you like.”
Bucky nodded and ate a few. They continued on their path until they arrived at the Barnes farm.
Grass was everywhere. Branches, stumps, rocks scattered the land. “The house was a bit dilapidated but I told Tony, he’s our carpenter, to replace the wood every two years,” Fury said, trying to show Bucky the land.
Bucky couldn’t believe his eyes. His grandfather’s farm needed work, a lot of work.
Mayor Fury held the door, motioning to Bucky to enter. As Bucky entered the cabin, the flooring and walls seem to be in good condition. A TV could be seen in the corner as well as a few other things were present. All in all, the cabin is livable, at least until Bucky could afford better stuff.
Mayor Fury proceeded to crouch under the bed and drag a box from under it. It looked pretty old.
“Here are the things your grandfather told me to give you. Some seeds, tools, a few hundreds, and a bag!” Fury chuckles while opening the box.
Bucky thanked the mayor. The mayor had to excuse himself because he was needed elsewhere. Then, Bucky was alone. He sighed and got to work.
After changing to a more comfortable work and storing his tools in his bag, he set off to do some farm work. Bucky stepped outside and began to remove weed from the ground with his scythe and till the land using his hoe.
After tilling, he placed the turnip seeds on the ground and collected water from the nearby pond with his watering can and used it to water his seeds.
After that, he went up to the mountains through a path he found by clearing a path near the left of his cabin. As he was trudging up the mountains, multiple plants could be seen scattered around the ground. As soon as Bucky gathered everything up, he continued.
A few minutes later, Bucky came across a house with what looks to be an observatory beside it. Bucky knocked on the door. Behind it, he could hear noise and shouts. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a brunet man, goggles could be seen on his forehead. His clothes were covered with black soot and oil.
“G’morning! You’re the new farmer! I heard a lot about you!” The man said. “My name is Bucky Barnes but you can call me Bucky. I was just wandering the village, meeting and greeting the townsfolk.”
“That’s a great idea! The name’s Tony Stark,” the man then motioned to the other man to enter, “I’m the electrician and carpenter here.”
Bucky followed Tony around his home, noting the multiple circuits, robots, and devices littering a room of the house. “If you want something built on your farm, you can speak to my wife, Pepper. You name it, I can build it. Barns, silos, coops, stables, and other stuff are just some of the things I build.”
Later, while Bucky was showing the map of Snowpeak Valley, a woman with strawberry blonde hair walked down the stairs with a baby on her arms.
“Are you the new farmer? Hello! I’m Tony’s wife, Pepper, and this is Morgan, our daughter,” the woman, Pepper, said. “Bucky here has been introducing himself to people here. I just told him he can hire us to build him all sorts of stuff!”
At that moment, Morgan chose to open her eyes and start to cry. Pepper started to console her with shushes and rubs. “That’s right, Bucky. Well, Harley’s out with Peter so I can’t show you what we can provide. But please, excuse me,” Pepper said before retreating upstairs.
Bucky decided he should leave the parents to themselves. Bucky excused himself to leave and also promised he’d visit again. He stepped outside and continued until he came across the same red-head that was with Steve last night.
“Good afternoon,” this prompted the woman to turn her head, “my name is Bucky. I’m the new farmer who took over the Barnes farm.”
“Natasha, I’m the one operating the guild, just east of here,” the red head said to the farmer. “So, what’s this boulder doing here?” Bucky asked.
“Some Hydra co moron used a lot of bombs and managed to create a landslide. They’re told us that they would remove this a week ago but as you can see, they reneged on their promise.
It was then that Bucky’s stomach grumbled. Bucky blushed while Natasha (call me Nat) laughed. “C’mon, let’s get lunch.”
They made their way towards the Snowpeak Saloon before bumping with a brown-haired short man. “Bruce! How are you!” Natasha said to the man. “Good Nat! Oh, are you Bucky?” The man said, turning towards Bucky.
“Yeah! I am. I’m new here so I want to introduce myself to everyone but I think everyone already knows me.”
“Well, this is a small town so news travels fast!” Nat said. “I am the curator and librarian of the town, with my husband. You might know him from–”
“Good afternoon, my friends!” A new voice said, Bucky saw the long-haired blonde man from last night walk across a bridge and wrapped his hands on Bruce’s.
“This is Thor, my husband,” Bruce said, hiding his blush. “Aye, I am Bruce’s husband! We both curate the library and museum just south of the blacksmith!”
The couple entered the saloon before Bucky whispered to Natasha, “how come he is a librarian if he talks way too loudly?”
Natasha chuckled before answering, “he isn’t like that in the library. He’s actually very smart and very quiet if he’s working.”
“Huh,” Bucky said before following Natasha inside the saloon.
Inside, Bruce and Thor already sat down on a table, talking and looking lovey-dovey. Man I haven’t dated in a while . . . Bucky thought.
Natasha and Bucky went up to Clint and ordered food. When they have already sat down with Bruce and Thor, the group started talking about their day.
“How’s the farm, Bucky?” Bruce asked.
“Great, I have removed some of the weed and chopped the branches and rocks to make way for crops,” Bucky replied.
Soon, the food arrived. They ate while enjoying more conversations amongst themselves.
When they had finished eating, Sharon cleaned their table and they paid for their food. Bruce and Thor waved at Natasha and Bucky before going back to the museum while Bucky excused himself and went to explore more of the village.
Bucky wandered south of the saloon and came across a bridge. After crossing it and walked few more, he arrived at the beach. The white sand and blue sea was beautiful and refreshing. The sound of the waves crashing relaxed Bucky.
Wandering around the beach, he saw multiple shells and clams scattered around the area. He noticed a cabin near the entrance and wondering who lived there. Turns out, his question would be answered as Pietro stepped out of the building. He saw Bucky walking towards him and waved at the brunet.
Bucky returned the gesture and waved back. “So, you live here?” Bucky asked the silver haired man. “Yeah, me and my sister Wanda moved here a few years ago. She got married and moved in with her husband. I live here on the beach because I love fishing,” Pietro answered.
The duo walks towards the fishing store just south of Pietro’s cabin. A kind looking man stepped out of the shop. He waved and smiled at the two men before placing multiple cage-looking things on the waters below the deck.
“Those are crab pots. You can craft them if you have enough experience. They can catch fish for you and if you place multiple crab pots, you can catch multiple fishes easily!” Pietro said to the other man while showing him how it works.
“Yeah, but it has more chance of getting trash though,” said the man, Phil, who placed them a while ago, “everyday, you need to clean them since if the crab pot is dirty, fish won’t get inside.”
Bucky, Pietro, and Phil all returned inside. Phil showed Bucky a fishing rod, “I owe a great deal to your grandfather, I want to repay him by giving you this fishing rod, for free of course.”
Bucky thanked him and Pietro and Phil showed him different baits to use. Bucky told them he won’t buy bait right now because he’s low on cash, “next time,” Pietro said. The two men waved good bye to Phil and went out. Pietro said he was actually heading to Wanda and her husband for dinner.
“C’mon, Wanda would appreciate the company. She loves visitors and I know she would love you!” Pietro said. It took a few more minutes before Bucky nodded in agreement and followed Pietro.