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“What are you doing?” Bucky said. He’d just gotten out of the shower, towel wrapped around his hips, to find his best friend and roommate sitting on the side of his bed, tapping away on Bucky’s phone. “You’re going to be late.”
“I’ll be fine.” Steve glanced at the clock and then back down at the phone. “Sam always gets there a few minutes early to open the doors - nobody will notice if I’m a little late again. Just wanted to download this real quick before I forgot.”
Snatching the phone out of Steve’s hands, Bucky gave him a shove. “Download what?” His gaze caught on the cheerful app logo and he looked back up at Steve. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“You need to meet new people.” Steve told him. “This whole hermit thing is not a good look for you, and it’s not like you ever accept Tony’s offers to hit the town.”
“I’m not going clubbing.” Bucky glared, but Steve was as immune to his darker moods as ever.
“Nor should you. You are a lot of things, but definitely not the clubbing type.” Steve rolled his eyes as Bucky’s glare intensified. He stood, stretching nonchalantly. “It’s a hang out app, not a hookup one. You don’t have to sleep with them, just go out. Have some fun. Maybe you’ll even make a new friend.” Steve closed the door, leaving Bucky alone with the siren call of the glowing phone screen.
Bucky sighed as he sat on the side of his bed, flipping through profiles with the barest glance at each. His thumb stilled as a golden retriever filled the screen. He scrolled down the page to the bio.
Making friends as an adult is fucking hard. Wanna skip ahead? Talk to me as if we’ve known each other for ages.
Intrigued despite himself, Bucky tapped on the message icon and bit his lip, considering what to say. Talk as if they already knew each other? The only other friend he had was Steve… he closed the app and opened the messenger chain with Steve, glancing through old messages for inspiration. He copied one from the day before, then pasted it in the chat window of the dating (friending? whatever.) app.
Last night I dreamed about this weird stick bug that was weirdly also a scorpion? And it killed a hermit crab. No freaking clue what that was about, but I’m going to blame the post-midnight pizza. The older I get, the more I feel for the gremlins.
He sent the message before he could second guess himself. He closed the app and switched over to the koi fish game for a bit, swimming around and eating every other fish he could find in the pond. As he was about to close the game and set aside the phone to get dressed, a notification from the dating app popped up, notifying him of a reply. He tapped it, and it opened.
Man, that sucks. Bonus points for the weird creatures, all my dreams these days tend to be variations of me losing teeth, which I’m told is a sign of stress. What do I have to be stressed about? Certainly not being in my 40’s with my life still a chaotic mess and enough friends I can count on one hand with fingers left over. Anyways, don’t blame pizza for your messed up subconscious. Pizza is life. Pizza is love. Pizza is all things good and wonderful. As is sunbathing and swimming. I could never be a Mogwai, Gremlin 4 lyfe.
Bucky snorted, typing a reply before he even realized what he was doing.
I agree, sounds like your life is easy peasy lemon squeezy. Have you tried just not being stressed? Or yoga? I play a fish game online that is very zen.
He paused, wondering if the sarcasm will translate through text, or if it just sounds like a douche. Biting his lip, he forged on.
I hereby apologize to the gods of Pizza for spreading falsehoods about the gloriousness that is baked bread and cheese. I see now the error of my ways, and will pray for forgiveness. In other news, the sunbathing sounds fake - it’s been raining for the last week here. Pics or it didn’t happen.
Bucky managed to get dressed before giving into the temptation of checking the app again, to find another message waiting for him. This one was attached to a picture: a handsome guy sitting on a pool chair in purple swim trunks. Short blond hair, purple sunglasses, a mischievous smile. Nicely muscled arms that were way more distracting than they had any right to be. It took effort for him to tear his gaze away long enough to read the attached message.
And yet, it was sunny two weeks ago. Funny how time works. Never took up yoga, but if that was your subtle way of asking how flexible I am… play your cards right and I might tell you about my secret past in the circus.
Bucky blushed, thinking about that body swinging and twisting like an acrobat, and wondered if the guy was just teasing or if he really had some tricks up his sleeve.
Bee-tee-dubs, your apology isn’t accepted yet. I’m going to have to see that you’re truly repentant before you can be absolved of your blasphemy. What do you say to a slice-off tomorrow, 7pm?
Bucky felt a surge of vindication and mentally scoffed at Steve - this was totally a hookup app. And yet, he still found himself intrigued by the stranger enough to want to take him up on the offer to meet.
It’s a date.