A little bit of language

"I don't know, Steve, this place looks a little shady," Bucky grimaced, taking a quick look around the bar, having to squint in the darkness despite his enhanced abilities.  There was a heavy haze in the air, a combined stench of old smoke, cheap cologne, and spilled alcohol stinging at his throat with a biting dryness that had him ready to leave before even taking his seat.  A deep groan escaped his throat when Steve clearly ignored his input and dropped onto the bar stool, leaving Bucky no choice but to join him.  "This place is nasty," he continued, grabbing a napkin to wipe the cushion before sitting, "I have no idea why you keep coming in here."

"They have the only bartender in town who gets my drink right every time," Steve smirked, watching you approach.  "Hi, (Y/N)," Steve greeted you enthusiastically, "how's business tonight?"

"Hey, Cap," you smiled back, "busy as ever.  What can I get ya?"

"Usual."

"Hey, I've gotta ask.  One of these times you might surprise me."  You took a step back and turned to Bucky, noticing that he was taking very clear care to not touch the bar and looked just generally uncomfortable.  Sliding the towel that was slung casually over your shoulder into your hand, you took a quick wipe over the scratched and weathered surface and tossed the cloth aside.  "There, I think it's safe now," you offered smugly.  "And what's your name, hot stuff?"

Bucky took advantage of the newly cleaned surface, leaning his elbows against it to lean in as close to you as he could get, finding himself quickly enamored and lost in the color of your eyes that suddenly became his new favorite.  "I'm Bucky."

"Ah, so you're the one that Steve can't shut up about!  We finally meet!"

"Is that right?" he laughed aloud, nudging Steve with his elbow, getting a cold glare in return.

"No, it's not!  I may have mentioned you once or twice, but I can definitely shut up.  Come on, doll," Steve turned back to you with a low whisper and a dark stare, "are you trying to get me in trouble here or what?"

"Wouldn't think of it," you gasped, holding your hand to your heart in mock offense, "you're my favorite customer, Cap!  I can't afford to lose you!"

"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Bucky groaned with a very obvious eye roll that he made sure you both saw very clearly.  "So, okay, what gives?  What's this miraculous drink that only you can seem to make out of any other bar in Brooklyn?  Sounds like I've gotta give it a go."

"Oh, it's nothing, believe me," you smirked, turning away with a chuckle, reaching into one of the coolers beneath the bar.  You produced two dark beer bottles, popped the top from each with your bare hands, which you made sure that they saw, and set one in front of each man with a satisfied nod.  "Enjoy, gentlemen.  I've got to get back to my other customers, so you just give me a holler if you need me for anything."

"I'm sure he will," Bucky mumbled, bringing the bottle to his lips readily while he watched your every move as you walked away.  "It's a beer, Steve."

"Yeah, and she gets it right every time."

"You're a goddamn idiot."

"What?"

"Just tell the dame that you've got the hots and get her number.  You've been hard up long enough.  Get in there and put the rest of us out of your misery."

"No, Buck, it's not like that at all," Steve argued, though the way his eyes followed you had been telling another story, "I come here to keep an eye on her.  I don't like that she works here, and I just want to make sure that she gets home safe every night after her shift."

"So...you're babysitting."

"I'm protecting."

"Did she ask you to?"

"Well...no...I suppose not.  But Buck, watch for a while," Steve nodded subtly towards you, dropping his gaze away when you glanced back his way, "the guys in here treat her like they can do whatever they want with her.  They say things that I can't even repeat without throwing up in my mouth, and believe me, it's been more than once that I've been tempted to break a few hands for where they grab at her."

Bucky's jaw set at the images he was playing out in his mind, making Steve straighten on his bar stool at the sound of metal joints shifting in the metal arm as his anger began to grow.  His eyes darted back and forth, taking in the layout of the dimly lit bar, marking each exit and identifying what he could make into a weapon at any given moment should he need it.  Steve's words and the ideas that Bucky had put together had put him on alert, and his body responded accordingly.  He may have just met you, but that was no matter; if Steve was worried, then it was a burden that he was ready to take on too.  "Why haven't you convinced her to leave then?"

"Trust me, man, I've tried.  A lot," Steve huffed in defeat.  "She said that if she doesn't just put up with it she could get fired.  Guys come in here to see her and that brings in cash for the owner.  She's playing the part without realizing that she's putting herself in a bad situation.  I'm worried that someday someone might take her politeness the wrong way and push too far.  Since I can't get her to listen to me, this is the option that I've chosen."  Steve took a long drink from his bottle and set it on the bar gently, rolling it between his hands as he waited for his friend's reply, but it never came; he glanced to the side to see that Bucky's focus was elsewhere, his eyes squinted and his attentions completely taken.  "Buck?"

"Stay with her," he growled, slamming his own bottle on the bar with enough force to draw your attention from the entire other end of the room.  He took a step away but Steve grabbed his arm, holding him in place when he recognized the expression playing across the man's face.

"Woah, hey, what's going on?"

"Those fellas over there," Bucky nodded towards the door, "they're talking about her and I don't like what I'm hearing."

Steve closed his eyes to focus on listening for whatever it was that Bucky had heard, but it took even more focus to keep his fury in check when he made out what they were saying.  Bucky was watching him eagerly and waiting for him to catch up, his foot tapping incessantly and anxiously on the sticky floor.  "Stop tapping your foot, it's distracting," Steve warned.

"Haven't you heard enough?  Let's go kick their asses!"

"They haven't done anything, Buck.  It's just talk right now, so we can't."

"Are you telling me that we have to wait for them to jump her to do something?  Fuck that!  You go get her and tell her that she needs to leave.  I'll meet you out both front."

"Don't do anything," Steve warned, "we don't want that kind of trouble.  I'll go get her, but you walk straight out that door, you hear me?"

"I hear you," Bucky nodded, not answering quite the way that Steve needed him to.  With a sharp yank of his arm, he got out of the Captain's grip and began to take long strides towards the door; it just happened to be a lucky coincidence that it was where the group of men in his sights were sitting.  He took a stand next to the man who had been the most verbal and grotesque with his ideas as to what to do with you, kneeling down with a falsely friendly slap on his shoulder in greeting.  "Hey, fellas," he smiled without an ounce of welcome, "have you seen that bartender who's on tonight?  I've been in this joint loads of times, but hot damn, I've never seen that one!"

"Right?!" the idiot took the bait readily.  "She may be hot, but let me tell ya, friend, she's a tease.  The guys and I were just saying that we should hang around until after her shift and show her that stringing us along ain't smart-"

Bucky's face hardened and he sneered at the man, grabbing the back of his head and slamming it into the table top with such ferocity that it split the wood and sent him through to the other side of it.  The rest of the men in his group stood immediately and reached down to their sides as if they were carrying weapons, but Bucky only smiled at their combined lack of insight, pulling the glove from his metal hand and taking his jacket off to give them a full view of the kind of pain they were asking for. 

"Don't even try," he warned, "because you won't win this one.  And I can guarantee you, that if I ever come in here again and see any of your ugly fucking faces so much as turned in her direction, you're dead before you ever see me coming.  Are we clear?"

"Y-yes," one of them answered quietly, the only one who could seem to find their voice beneath the paralyzing fear that they were all quickly feeling.  Each of them nodded shakily in agreement, their eyes wide and mouths agape as they watched for Bucky to release them.

"Good.  Now get the hell outta here.  And take this jackass with ya," Bucky hissed, nudging the unconscious man with his elbow.  He watched each of them scurry to leave, tripping over their own feet and bumping into each other like confused animals trapped in a cage.  Once he was fully satisfied that they had left the building and weren't coming back, he made his way outside to meet you and Steve as planned.  He was expecting a much more welcome reception for his chivalrous actions, but what he got left him taken aback.

"What the hell did you do?" you snapped at him, stepping up to meet him with a punch to his chest.  "I'm gonna lose my job because of you!  No one asked you to do that!"

"You need a new job," Bucky shrugged, clearly unimpressed.

"That's not your decision!"

"Hey, doll, I was helping you!  You might say thanks!"

"And I might kick your ass!"

"Guys," Steve tried to interject, but you raised a hand to stop him, glaring at him with so much anger that now he couldn't help but give in to his curiosity and watch this play out.

"They were gonna jump you and do things that I don't care to say out loud!"

"Do you think I'm helpless?"

"I don't know!  You sure let them do whatever they want in there, so maybe you just can't fight back!  You're a lady, so I just assumed-"

"Oh, Buck," Steve groaned, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes, "oh, you're so stupid."  He shook his head in disbelief for just a second, and when he opened his eyes again, the scene before him hand completely changed; Bucky was on his back on the asphalt with you kneeling against his chest and a fist hanging ready above his face.  "Woah!  Woah, hey, guys, come on!"

"I can take care of myself," you hissed coldly and quietly, staring Bucky down intently to make your point clearer.  Looking into his eyes, you could tell that he was being genuine, and that he was trying to help you in the only way that he really knew how, but you were far too angry to be reasonable about this.  You weren't sure if the shaking in your hand was from the cool air around you or from the rush of adrenaline coursing through your veins relentlessly, but you lowered it slowly and out of his sight, pushing up to stand over him and offering no assistance to help him up.  With a final look to Steve, you turned away to go back into the bar, hoping that your boss would be feeling forgiving and let this go.

"Go home," you ordered, not looking back, "you're not welcome here anymore."

~~~

For the next few weeks that followed, Steve and Bucky would take turns waiting outside of the bar each night that you worked, standing well out of your sight as you emerged and walking with you along your route home, keeping in the shadows so that you wouldn't know.  You had definitely proved to Bucky that you could hold your own, but it didn't soothe the worry of either man, and they agreed together that the only way to do so would be to see for themselves that the night at the bar was a one-time thing. 

On this particular night, Steve was taking his turn, waiting in the frigid air for you to arrive, doing his best to keep his breaths shallow so that their warmth wouldn't give him away if you were to see.  He waited over an hour after your shift was supposed to end, but you hadn't come through the back door of the bar like you usually would, and he was beginning to feel that familiar rise of anxiety in his stomach that left him in knots.  He grabbed his phone and hurriedly dialed, growing more and more impatient with each unanswered ring.

"Yeah?" Bucky finally answered.  "What?"

"She's late."

"No she's not.  She's with me."

"Excuse me?  Tonight was my shift- wait, what do you mean, she's with you?"

"I'm at the bar waiting for her.  Might as well join me."

Steve hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket, finding that it wasn't anxiety that he was feeling now, but just pure confusion as to what was happening.  You were very clear that neither of them were welcome at the bar anymore, and they had been ridiculously careful with watching you as you walked home each night; it wasn't likely that Bucky was in there for you to yell at him again, but nothing was really making sense.  If he was up to something, he probably would have let Steve in on it, but as he walked through the door and saw his friend leaning against the bar with a beer in hand, he began to grow suspicious.  "Hey, what's going on?"

"She's quitting," Bucky smiled widely.  He lifted from his stool just enough to reach over the bar and grab a bottle for Steve, removing the top and handing it to him with a nod.  "I gave her an offer she couldn't refuse, and get this," he paused, leaning in close to Steve, "you might even get that chance to ask her out."

"I told you, it's not like that-"

"Whatever, punk, deny it all you want," Bucky shrugged, "but I know horny when I see it."

Steve could only sigh and take a drink, dropping himself heavily onto the stool next to him as he waited too for you to arrive.  The bar wasn't very busy tonight, which may have been why you were choosing tonight to quit, but he also suddenly noticed that none of the regular guys that he had come to know from being there were anywhere in sight.  "Did you scare everyone away, Buck?"

"Can't confirm or deny..."

"Is your last name Romanoff now?" 

"Shut up."

"Okay, so seriously, what gives?  What's this unbelievable offer that she couldn't refuse?"

Bucky's was about to give Steve the details, but instead his eyes lit up at the sight of you when you finally came out of the manager's office, smiling widely and laughing when you ran up to him.  He stood and held his arms out wide, taking you into them and swinging you around in a hug, congratulating you for your bravery in finally leaving the hellhole of a job.  "You did it!  I'll be so happy to walk you out of here for the last time!"

"You and me both!" you readily agreed.  "Hey, Steve!  Did you hear?"  Bucky stopped and released you, letting you move into his arms which were more than ready to take you in.  "Bucky got me a job with Stark Industries!"

"What?  Are you serious?"

"Yeah!  He said that Stark hosts functions and parties like, three and four a month, and as his head bartender I would make enough in one party to equal what I get here in two weeks.  And the best part?  I get to see you guys when he has them at the tower!  Isn't that amazing?"

"T-that...that really is..." Steve sighed, smiling back, but filled with nervous energy as a realization came to him.  "We'll probably see each other all the time."

"I know!  You might even get around to asking me out!"

Steve's face paled immediately and his smile faded away, swallowing thickly and clearing his voice with a faint cough.  He pulled at his shirt collar as if it were suddenly strangling the life from him now, but he considered the idea that death by his clothing might be a welcome alternative to facing both you and Bucky now as you both stared at him for a reply.  "Y-yeah...r-right...um, I don't know-"

"Whatever, Cap, deny it all you want," you snickered, giving Bucky a mischievous wink, "but I know horny when I see it."  You turned and eagerly accepted Bucky's arm as he held it out for you to take, leading you out of the building for the last time, just as he had hoped to do, leaving Steve to slowly come back to his senses and follow behind. 

As Steve watched you laughing and what he could only assume to be as conspiring with his best friend, he easily came to one conclusion that he should have known all along; you just can't take Bucky Barnes anywhere.