Chapter Text
The first time Bucky meets nurse Rogers, it’s after dropping off a college kid with alcohol poisoning in Dr. Carter’s capable hands, Sharon just shakes her head at the kid and waves Bucky good-bye. He’s turning the corner headed back to the ambulance bay where Clint is waiting for him in the truck when he rams into this tiny figure in blue scrubs pants and a white undershirt, the kid is cute, blond and blue-eyed, barely reaching Bucky’s shoulder and so slim that if Bucky didn’t have amazing reflexes and reached for him in time the kid would be on the ground from their encounter.
He has to be a patient, so small and pale, Bucky tells him so when he tells him he should be in bed instead of wandering around the emergency room. The glare he gets in return is so intense it’s actually impressive. He watches as the kid pursed his lips before he informs him tartly he's actually a nurse and that Bucky is making him late to start his shift so can he move out of his way already.
He doesn’t move fast enough for the kid it seems because he get an eye roll and annoyed sound before he’s walked around. It’s not really Bucky’s fault that he was momentarily distracted by the nice shape of the blond’ mouth.
It’s fair to say he doesn’t make a great first impression.
*
“Patient is male, late 50’s, experiencing shortness of breath and chest pains,” Bucky calls out as he and Clint push through the emergency room doors. “Alert on the ride over.”
Tiny blond nurse nods, as he takes over, asking the patient his name, what medication he’s on and what he was doing when the pain started.
Bucky watches as the guy calmly but efficiently works, it’s obvious he experienced enough as he asks all the right questions and follows protocol, he still looks like a teenager though which is probably why Bucky can’t help himself when he asks if he’s sure he’s got it or if he should get someone older to help him.
The look he gets is just as great as the last time and Bucky can’t help the twitch of his lips even when he knows smiling will make it worse, once again, not his fault angry looks good on the nurse.
*
It’s an hour later, Bucky is about to leave the hospital again having just finished the last run of his day, he’s looking forward to clocking out, going home where a nice cold beer and day old pizza is waiting for him when he hears it.
“Hey!”
Bucky turns around at the shout to find tiny blond marching up to him, the frown from before still firmly in place. “Yes?”
“What the hell was that before?” The guy asks obviously annoyed by his tone and the way he places his hands on his hips.
“What was what?” Bucky asks playing dumb.
He gets a huff for his efforts and Bucky bites down on his bottom lip to keep from smiling at the way it ruffles the little fringe over the kid’s forehead.
“You know what, that crack about me not being old enough to work on Mr. Kane earlier,” he continues. “I’ll have you know I’m 28 years old okay, that good enough for you?”
Bucky raises an eyebrow, disbelieving. “There is no way you are 28, you don’t look old enough to shave.”
“Are you a jerk to all strangers, or do I just bring it out in you?” he’s asked and Bucky just shrugs because he really doesn’t have an answer, he’s normally very charming and polite, his mama raised him right after all. He’s attracted to the man in front of him, he’s aware of that, the guy is too cute not to be attracted to him, but his usual form of flirting isn’t the pulling pigtail strategy he seems unable to stop using right now.
He gets another eye roll for his non-answer and the guy reaches to his back pocket pulling out his wallet and from in it his ID. Bucky jerks back when it gets shoved in his face.
“Satisfied?”
Bucky ignores the address that tells him he’s from Brooklyn like Bucky and focuses on two things, the fact that the guy’s age is really 28, making him a year older than Bucky and the fact that his name is Steve Rogers.
“Well?” Steve prompts, tapping his foot when he stares at the ID a little longer.
“Nice picture, Steve,” he answers with a teasing smirk and Steve takes the ID from his hand. Steve turns to leave, mumbling the work Jerk, once more.
“Hey,” he calls out and Steve stops, his fist clenched and Bucky watches as he takes a deep breath, his spin pin straight. He tries for a more genuine smile when Steve faces him again.
“Bucky,” he continues and gets a confused frown. “My name.”
He’s met with silence and he shrugs feeling a little awkward. “Now we’re not strangers, could help with me not being so much of a jerk.”
Steve rolls his eyes again as he turns to leave again but this time it’s with the tinniest smile on his lips, so maybe not so bad in the end.
*
“Patient is male, 6 years old, fractured arm,” he says as Steve walks up to him. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he gets back as Steve focuses on the little boy, who is trying to be strong and not cry as he cradles his splinted arm, to be honest the kid is doing better than the mom who Clint is trying to calm down.
“Hey, bud,” Steve says softly as he runs a hand over the boy’s head. “Wanna tell me what happened.”
The little boy sniffs and points at the broken toy wings that are next to him on the gurney. “I was playing Falcon.”
“Ah,” Steve answers in complete understanding. “He your favorite superhero?”
The little boy nods.
“You have good taste,” Steve continues. “I have a friend, Sam, Falcon is his favorite too.”
“What’s yours?” Bucky can’t help but ask and he gets a surprised look, Bucky’s not sure if it’s the question or if Steve forgot he was even there, he hopes it’s not the latter.
“I’ve always been more of Captain America fan myself,” Steve answer giving him a quick look before looking back at the boy.
The boy thinks for a moment and then nods. “He’s cool too, he and Falcon are friends.”
Steve smiles down at the boy and Bucky takes a calming breath because that has to be the most amazing smile he’s ever seen, so far Steve has been like a thundercloud around him, his own fault, he knows. But now smiling like that Steve is like sunshine.
“I’m going to call over Dr. Romanoff, she’s the bone doctor, she’s fix you up lickety-split,” Steve assures the boy and then looks at him. “Stay with him while I call her and talk to his mom?”
“Yeah,” Bucky nods, he watches Steve walk off but turns when the boy lets out another sniffle, the boy’s brown eyes are now filled with tears just waiting to be spilled. “Hey buddy, it’s going to be okay.”
Out comes the lip quiver and Bucky can feel himself panic.
“I swear, I know you’re scare and in pain, but Natasha, that’s Dr. Romanoff is going to fix you up,” Bucky says quickly and starts to roll up his left sleeve.
“See, I got hurt too once,” he’s showing off the scars on his arm. “And Natasha was my doctor, she fixed me up and I’m good as new.”
The boy stares at his arm, wide eye.
“She’ll put on a cast and you’ll get to pick the color,” he continues. “You have a favorite color?”
“Blue,” the boy says quietly, the tears, for now seem to have been prevented.
“She’ll make it blue then.”
“Yeah I will,” says an easy voice behind them and Bucky turns to find Natasha with Steve next to her, Steve is looking at his exposed arm with a soft expression that makes Bucky feel like he’s showing off much more than his messed up arm, he rolls down his sleeve quickly.
“Hey, James,” Natasha greets him and now Steve looks curious.
“Tasha,” he nods in returns and smirks at Steve. “You didn’t think Bucky was my given name right?”
Steve shrugs. “I just figured your parents didn’t like you.”
There’s a soft snort to their left, but when Bucky looks, Natasha is completely focused on the boy.
Steve starts to walk away, his part done for now.
“James Buchanan Barnes”
“That’s a mouth full,” Steve answers as he leans against the nurse’s station and reaches for a chart. “That doesn’t disprove the parents not liking you theory, since they nicknamed you, Bucky.”
“Actually it was my sister, Becca, who started it, it just stuck,” Bucky says leaning against the station too. “Luckily I can pull anything off.”
Steve chuckles slightly, it’s not much but it’s already one of the greatest sounds Bucky’s ever heard. “Modest I see.”
Bucky just smiles and looks at Steve, his smile widening when Steve starts to turn a bit pink the longer he watches him, he opens his mouth ready to ask Steve if he want to go get coffee or something when Clint walks over to them.
“Barnes, we got a call, let’s go,” Clint turns to Steve and nods. “Rogers.”
“Barton.”
“You guys know each other?” Bucky asks, feeling a little betrayed that his friend knows Steve and has never mentioned him, he feels that someone so pretty should have been mentioned and introductions made at some point. That goes for Natasha too.
“He’s Wilson’s platonic soulmate,” Clint says with a grin when Steve lets out a bark laugh, Bucky tries to ignore the spark of jealousy at how much louder and free it is compared to the small laugh he pulled out of him earlier.
“Wilson knows him too?” Bucky asks, because he knows Wilson, he runs the VA group therapy that works with the hospital, after he came back from the war with a fucked up arm and an even more fucked up brain, he had helped with Bucky’s PTSD while Natasha helped with his arm.
Clint just waves off the question. “Like I said soulmates, we gotta go.”
Bucky turns to Steve who has quietly been watching them. “Later?” he says and it sounds very much like a question, out of the corner of his eye he can see Clint raise an eyebrow, but he refuses to blush and instead focuses on Steve, who looks a little bemused.
“Sure,” Steve says slowly. “Later.”
*
“So I asked, and you are friends with everyone I know,” Bucky says in lieu of greeting when he finds Steve in the hospital cafeteria and sits across from him. He doesn’t tell him how he asked Clint or how Clint took to teasing him mercilessly because the guy is an asshole but he doesn’t miss a thing and saw a mile away where Bucky’s interest lie. “So my question is how come we’ve never met before?”
“I’ve been lucky?” Steve says in the form of a question and the words would hurt if it weren’t for the teasing grin on his pink lips and the amused glint in his baby blues.
Bucky feels a wave of affection that the impish look on Steve’s face and is helpless but to smile. “You’re a little punk you know that?”
Steve tips his head back as he laughs, loud and bright, it exposes the slim pale column of his neck and Bucky wants nothing more than to lean over and just suck on every inch of available skin. Jesus Christ, he can’t remember the last time he was this attracted to someone.
“So I’m going to get some coffee,” Bucky starts, pointing at the service station in the corner. “Want some?”
Okay so that’s a copout to actually asking the guy for coffee but it’s a start damn it. Steve smile and turns a touch pink, it gives Bucky hope that he understands the meaning after his awkward request.
“Sure, two sugars, little bit of cream please,” Steve says with a speculative look on his face.
“Coming right up,” he stands, half way across he looks back to see if Steve is still watching him, he is, more importantly he seems to be staring at Bucky’s ass. Bucky raises an eyebrow and get to see a delightful brighter pink hue take over Steve’s face. Bucky turns back fast to hide his wide grin, if he mentally fist pumps that stays with him.
*
“Patient is male, 27 and a complete idiot,” Clint calls out ignoring the glare that Bucky gives him out of his currently only good eye and just pushes him forward.
“Oh my god.”
Bucky cringes, for once not happy to hear the familiar voice, ever since their coffee three weeks ago he and Steve have been in a good place. That first coffee led to more coffee’s, some even outside of the hospital. They’re becoming friends, the underlying current of attraction always present between them, he has been making an impression, progress had been made. He’s not sure a bloody face and knuckles was going to help that.
“What happened?”
“Moron here doesn’t know when to walk away or to duck when a fist is flying to his face apparently,” Clint answers for him, his voice tight with anger but also concern.
“You’re an asshole,” he grumbles. “And I’m fine.”
Clint rolls his eyes. “Like I said idiot, Steve deal with him, I can’t deal with his level of stupidity right now and he listens to you better anyway.
Bucky opens his mouth to answer back but gets a hand held up to his face, before Clint walks away to the waiting area, leaving him and Steve in the for once, quiet ER.
“Come on,” Steve says placing his hand at the small of Bucky back and guiding him to corner of the room. Steve closes the curtain around the hospital bed and sets about pulling out what he needs to clean him up. “Sit.”
“I’m fine, Steve,” Bucky complains even as he sits down.
“Is bleeding the definition of ‘fine’?” Steve cocks his head to the side, annoyed, and it’s been a while since he’s annoyed Steve, it still looks good on him. “You want to tell me what happened?”
“I got into a fight.”
Steve rolls his eyes as he steps up to him, placing the first aid kit next to Bucky, he taps on Bucky’s knees and Bucky spread them to give Steve space to step between them, making Bucky hyper-aware of how close to him Steve is. “No shit, Buck.”
“Language, Stevie,” Bucky murmurs with a slight smirk that pulls at his split lip.
Steve ignores him and just holds his face with a gloved hand as he sets about cleaning him with a cotton swab. “Who did you get into a fight with and why?”
“Some asshole Clint and I work with,” Bucky answers, enjoying the gentle way Steve holds him. “You know Rumlow right?”
“Brock?” Steve asks, his distaste clear in his tone and face.
“See,” Bucky exclaims. “He’s a dick.”
Steve swabs under his eye softly. “No comment.”
“That just means you agree,” Bucky argues.
“You’re getting off topic,” Steve reminds him. “What was the fight about?”
“Nothing,” Bucky evades, now uncomfortable, because how does he tell Steve that the fight was about him.
Steve frowns, and this close it even more adorable than ever. “Bucky Barnes, don’t lie to me.”
Bucky sighs tiredly. “Clint and I were talking at the station, he was teasing me about something and Rumlow overheard, he made a stupid comment and got punched in the face for it.”
“Must have been some comment.”
Bucky doesn’t answer, he doesn’t say how Clint had been teasing him about his obvious crush on Steve and how Rumlow had overheard laughed and joked that with how tiny Steve is it might be fun to hold him down and make him take it, make it hurt. He does say how the comment made Bucky see red, that the idea of Rumlow or anyone forcing or hurting Steve had made him sick to his stomach and that next thing he knew fists where flying, he gave as good as he got, Rumlow in the end was worst off. He doesn’t say how it took more than just Clint to pull them apart.
“You’re not going to tell me?”
Bucky remains silent.
Steve sighs softly. “I thought you trusted me.”
“Steve,” Bucky says helpless at the sad look on Steve’s face.
“Forget it,” Steve says tiredly and starts to back away.
Bucky reaches out quickly holding on to Steve’s scrubs, it makes his bloody knuckle ache. “Don’t, please.”
“It’s fine Buck,” Steve tries to reassure him, but fails. “You don’t have to tell me anything, we’re not that close.”
“That’s not true and you know it,” Bucky answers now annoyed.
“Whatever,” Steve mutters.
Bucky rolls his one good eye at the childish tone unable to answer but with a childish gesture of his own and he knows it probably looks ridiculous. “What does it matter anyway?”
Steve glares at him fiercely. “It matters because you came into my ER bloody, it matters because he said something so bad that it upset you, it matters because you’re still upset and I don’t know how to fix it if you don’t tell me.”
“It’s your job to fix my mood now?” Bucky challenges. “That part of your nurse training.”
“No,” Steve says strongly, but deflates in the next breath. “But I still want to.”
Bucky lets out a sound at the way Steve says that, the way he’s looking at him now. He knows that look, it’s the one on his own face when he catches his reflection whenever he’s around Steve. Bucky swallows hard, his hands that have been holding on to Steve’s shirt pulls him close, his hold light enough that Steve can pull away if he wants to, his intent clear from the way Steve’s eye widen and gaze goes to his mouth.
Bucky presses his lips softly to Steve’s, the barest touch. Steve mindful of his cuts, keeps the kiss just as soft. It’s probably the most innocent kiss Bucky has ever had and also the best. His stomach clenches as Steve sighs into his mouth, his hands reaching up to cradle his bruised face like Bucky is something precious and to be taken care off.
It’s could be seconds, it could be minutes before Steve pulls away, the smile on his face reminds Bucky of sunshine again.
“I was wondering when you’d find the guts to finally do that,” Steve comments, pressing his forehead against Bucky’s. “Almost a month of coffee dates and no move.”
“You knew?” Bucky asks surprised and gets a snort in response.
“You’re so obvious Buck,” Steve says amused. “So, so obvious.”
Bucky can’t help but laugh. “You punk, you couldn’t put me out of my misery then, here I have been questioning if you liked me back or not.”
“You were a jerk when we first met,” Steve answers. “Had to make you sweat a little.”
Bucky shakes his head amused and pulls Steve in for another kiss.
*
“Patient is female, late 30’s…” Bucky calls out, smiling when he sees his tiny blond boyfriend already waiting. “Hi, sweetheart.”