Bucky walked toward his apartment, grocery bags hanging off his arms and a smile on his face. Alpine trailed behind him, the soft pad of his paws making little against the floor. His day was going well, and it was going to get better once you arrived. His mind went back to his conversation he had with his therapist last time.

"James, you are alone and have no friends. You barely have three contacts in this thing." Dr. Raynor said tossing the phone at him.

Bucky caught it with ease, his reflexes kicking in. He rolled his eyes at his therapist's statements and decided the couch was a very interesting color. He had finally convinced himself to sit on the darned thing. Dr. Raynor sighed and rubbed her hands over her face in frustration.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. How old are you, 6?"

"106." He retorted with a smirk. "You're a century off, doc."

"Whatever, I don't have time for this. I'm giving you a month to make a new friend. Though with your attitude, it might take 20 years."

"Thanks, doc." Bucky mumbled leaning back against the couch. "Really boosts my confidence."

As he thought back on the memory, he smiled. In your face, Dr. Raynor! He did make a friend, and he had your smiley face text to prove it. Setting some of the groceries down to fetch his keys, he heard an all too familiar voice.

"Hey Jamie!" He heard a voice call from across the hall.

He leaned his head against his door with a sigh. Not her again. Did she not learn from last time? Bucky shot Alpine a pleading look and turned toward Dot, who had now moved closer. She was holding a plate of cookies this time. He looked closer to see what kind they were, and he held back a grimace. No, no, please not again. He remembers last time she made him chocolate cookies and he almost died. Like seriously, he threw up the whole day after he had eaten those death traps.

"Hey Dot." He said with a tight-lipped smile.

She lightly shook the plate of death in her hands. "I made some more cookies for you. I know how much you liked then last time."

"Oh yeah. Absolutely delicious, but I'm, uh, on a diet. Yeah, therapist's orders and all. It's a shame really because those cookies were so good last time." He lied as he shrugged.

A frown crossed Dot's features for a second. "Oh, are you sure you can't have just one cookie?"

Bucky leaned on the balls of his feet and let out a breath. "Sorry, I'm on strict orders."

"Well, now I don't know what to do with these."

"Hey, do you know Carl on 3B? He just moved in, I'm sure he'd love a little welcoming gift." Bucky suggested hoping she would leave soon, he really needed to start that chili for dinner.

She thought about it for a second and nodded her head. "I guess. Well, bye Jamie. Bye kitty."

Dot went to pet Alpine, but he jumped back and hissed at her, causing her to retract her hand extremely fast. Bucky bit back a smile as Alpine rubbed against Bucky.

"Sorry about that. He doesn't do well with strangers." Bucky said before turning around and unlocking his door.

Dot walked off with an eyeroll, and Bucky let out a sigh of relief. Grabbing the rest of his groceries, he walked entered his apartment. Alpine nudged the door closed as Bucky set his things on the counter. Walking toward Alpine, Bucky scratched Alpine behind the ears and under his chin, causing purrs to vibrate against Bucky.

"Good job, Alpine."

~~~~~

You were nervously strumming your fingers against the steering wheel of your car as you stared at the Bucky's apartment building. Checking the time on your phone, 6:30 stared back at you and you sighed. When you got nervous you came to things early and waited in your car hoping your nerves would calm down enough before you actually had to go inside. Now was a perfect example.

Checking your hair for like the hundredth time, you slumped against the leather seat of your car. What happened to your boost of confidence earlier when you were carrying on a decent conversation with Bucky? That was probably the most decent conversation you had had with another person since the snap. After sitting in the car for a while longer, going over conversations in your head, you stepped out of your car.

Clinking your phone again, the screen showed 6:55. Taking a deep breath, you walked toward the apartment building. You found his apartment easy enough and hesitantly raised your hand to knock. You hand awkwardly hung in the air for a few seconds.

"Come on, Y/n, just do it!" You scolded yourself.

You did three firm knocks and panicked. Great, now he was going to open the door.

~~~~~

Three knocks echoed through Bucky's apartment, and he looked at the time on the stove. It was 7 already? Stirring the chili one more time, he looked at Alpine.

"She's here, buddy!" Bucky said as Alpine just meowed from his position on the couch.

Rushing toward the door, he tripped over his feet, landing on the floor with a thud. Alpine lifted his head up and looked at his owner, when he decided his owner was fine, he laid back down. Bucky cursed as he scrambled back up, smoothing out his hair. Did you hear that? Hopefully not. Getting to the door without anymore accidents, he opened it with a smile.

~~~~~

Maybe if you booked it now you could leave before he opened the door. You heard a loud thud and a couple muffled curses. Just before you were ready to bolt, he opened the door with a bright smile.

"Come in. Dinner's almost ready." Bucky said tilting his head inside as he opened the door wider for you.

You were about to ask about the thud but thought better of it. Entering his apartment slowly, your eyes took in his decorations and furniture, or lack of rather. Alpine was curled in a ball resting on the couch lazily, and that seemed to be the only kind of furniture in his living room besides the small TV. He seemed to notice because he spoke up.

"I, uh, don't really like a lot of things in here. Makes it harder to escape or something if there's a bunch of stuff in the way." His face tinted pink as he talked, his right hand scratching the back of his neck unconsciously.

"Hey," You said raising your hands up in defense. "I'm not judging. And I have to say it smells amazing in here."

"Thank you. That would be the chili. It's almost done, then you can decide if I'm as good as a cook as I think I am." He said with a small laugh.

He gazed at you with a soft smile and your stomach fluttered. What the heck was that? Your stomach had never done that before. You felt warm all of a sudden, but it wasn't a bad feeling, you decided. After a little chit chat, you watched as Bucky grabbed two blue bowls from his cupboard. He poured some Fritos into the bowls and then scooped some chili from the pot and cover the chips with it. He sprinkled some cheese on top with a smile and turned toward you.

"Ta da! Now you can add lettuce, tomato, olives, whatever you want. I, uh, didn't know what you liked, so I grabbed a little of everything."

After adding the toppings you wanted, you followed Bucky to his small circular table. He watched eagerly, waiting for you to take the first bite. Once you did, he leaned forward a bit. You let out a small moan at the warmth and taste of it. You chewed it for a little bit, letting the flavor seep onto your tastebuds.

"Well?" He asked, his beautiful blue eyes focused on you. "What do you think?"

"Bucky, this tastes amazing. Literally one of the best things I've had." You said as Bucky leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile.

"I'm glad you like it, doll."

Your stomach fluttered again. Did he just—?

"Gosh, I'm really sorry, that just slipped out. I—"

"It's okay. I, um, I thought it was cute."

Red blossomed on his cheeks, and he looked down at his food, and you thought he looked utterly adorable. He took a couple bite of his food and you followed suit. After a few bites, he swallowed and looked back up at you.

"I—"

A couple knocks on his door interrupted his sentence. "Open up Barnes! I know your cybernetic butt is in there. I want to talk with you, and since you won't answer my texts, I decided to confront you!"

You looked at Bucky and his face had annoyance written all over it.

"Who's that?" You asked.

He grumbled and clinked his fork against his bowl. "That would be the annoying Samuel Wilson. A.K.A. The Pidgeon."