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“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Sasha’s voice echoed through the quiet room, and Bucky cringed a little as he came around the corner, already hushing his child despite not having him in his sight.
“Sasha, shhh!” Bucky said sternly, “remember, an indoor voice at the library!” he frowned down at his offspring, who had collided with his knees as Bucky had rounded the corner fully. Sasha looked up at his daddy with big green eyes and blinked innocently up at him.
“Sorry daddy,” Sasha whispered, “I forgot,”
“It’s okay, Sasha, just try to remember that we use our indoor voices at the library so we don’t disturb the other folks who are reading,” Bucky said, as he picked Sasha up with a small grunt - Sasha was getting too big to be picked up, but Bucky was reluctant to give up the chance to give Sasha a quick hug and take in his soft toddler smell of nutmeg and cloves. Sasha nuzzled Bucky’s neck also, his instincts to get comfort from his father’s scent still strong and not yet something he should be embarrassed to do in public. Bucky knew it wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t do this without Sasha protesting, so even though his back protested Sasha’s weight, Bucky would keep picking him up while he still could.
“Now, Sasha, what were you so excited to show me?” Bucky asked after a moment, pulling back to look at his son. Sasha broke into a grin again, twisting around, and pointed towards the back of the children’s room, where the story time was held in the corner with all the cushions and beanbag chairs.
“I told Mr. Steve about you, daddy, and you should go meet him!” Sasha piped cheerily, “He’s the new librarian, and he did all the voices in the books he read to us today!”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Bucky grinned at his son, who turned back around, nodding his head furiously, “Well, that’s pretty cool, now isn’t it?”
“Yes! He’s the best reader, ever!” Sasha grinned back, wiggling with excitement as Bucky started to head toward the reading area.
Sasha had already begun to chatter away about his current favorite book when Bucky got to the reading nook and was struck dumb by the sight of the librarian who was cleaning up the space after the twenty or so pups had made it explode during story time.
He was tall and blond, with a shoulder-to-waist ratio that would make Bucky jealous if it didn’t make him so distracted that he forgot to keep walking. He was wearing a sweater vest, shirt, and slack combo that had no business looking that amazing, and the cherry on top was the pair of thick-rimmed black glasses Bucky just barely caught a glimpse of as the librarian, Mr. Steve, turned to put something back on a shelf.
Bucky tried to subtly sniff the air and was able to just make out the smell of black currant and bay, a combo both unique and delightful and very clearly Omega. Bucky hoped to whatever higher power there was that was the man’s natural scent, not one of the masking colognes that altered or completely did away with a person’s scent. It was lovely, and Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he had been so attracted by someone’s scent right off the bat.
Moving closer, Bucky tried to gather himself, project an air of calm and collected all while giving himself a small pep talk - he used to have game, and as his mother so helpfully pointed out, he could be charming when he set his mind to it. He covertly looked for a ring or a bonding mark, and he was relieved when he saw no evidence of either. He picked up his pace a little bit and was already rehearsing his opening line, trying to keep it light-hearted but also clearly interested at the same time. He could do this, even if he hadn’t had practice in quite some time.
Alas, he had completely forgotten Sasha and Sasha’s love of trying to leap out of his arms at random times. Sasha had yelled something, and leaned forward, trying to escape Bucky’s arms in an attempt to get to the floor and scamper towards Mr. Steve. Bucky, completely unprepared for the sudden shift in his center of gravity, tripped over his own feet, and stumbled, an undignified yelp escaping as he tried to right himself and not drop Sasha all at the same time.
*****************
Steve was just finishing picking up the reading area, quietly pleased with how well it had gone. It was his first solo story time without one of the senior librarians assisting, and no major calamities had happened, so Steve was counting it as a major win, especially since Sasha Barnes, a notoriously active pup if the other librarians were to be believed, had sat, enraptured, the whole 30 minutes. Afterward, when the rest of the children had scattered, Sasha had even come up to Steve and told him, serious as a five-year-old could be, that Steve did the best voices ever, and was better than even his daddy. This small interaction had made Steve laugh, and he was still riding the high of a job well done, humming quietly to himself and already starting to plan which books he would read next week.
He had heard someone approaching - the excited chattering of a young one was hard to keep to a dull roar, and Steve figured if the parent or guardian needed him, they would ask, and so he would keep doing what he was doing - it was almost all cleaned up at this point anyways.
He was just turning, a stack of soft books for the babies in his hands, ready to set aside for cleaning purposes, when he heard the strangled yelp and caught flailing movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinct took over, there was a child in the other person’s arms, and there was no way that a fall was not going to happen without intervention. Steve lunged and managed to get there in time.
Never before had he been quite so grateful for his rather unorthodox build for his designation, the man he had just caught was broad and thick with muscle, and although Steve was a little taller than him, the pup and his guardian outweighed Steve by a decent amount. The pup giggled, delighted with the unexpected fun, and exclaimed,
“Mr. Steve! Daddy! Mr. Steve saved you!”
Steve glanced over, and realized it was Sasha, and apparently Sasha’s father, who he had just kept from a bad tumble. As everyone tried to get their bearings, Steve caught the other man’s scent, a wonderful mixture of honey and tobacco that made Steve want to curl up in it and purr. Steve tried his best to step back, blushing, but Sasha had other ideas and was tugging on his sleeve, keeping him close and much too near that enticing scent for Steve’s sanity.
Distracted as he was by Sasha, Steve didn’t notice Sasha’s dad regain his footing until he pulled back just a little bit, and Steve had to bit back a tiny whimper at that scent moving away from him. He looked over into brilliant grey eyes, surrounded by crinkles as the man smiled sheepishly at him. Trying to be subtle, Steve looked him up and down, not spotting a wedding ring or a bonding mark, and felt a small thrill go through him. He didn’t want to assume, but a tiny flicker of romantic hope sprang to life in his chest nonetheless.
“I have to admit, I’m not normally that clumsy, but I’m glad you were there to save us,” Sasha’s dad’s voice was deep and rumbly, and his smile was catching. “That would have been a bit of a nasty tumble, and I’m not as young as I used to be, I don’t bounce as well as Sasha does.” He winked at Steve and shifted Sasha to sit better in his sculpted arms.
“No worries,” Steve returned the smile, and prayed that it was a smile, not a manic grin that was stretched across his face, “I’m just glad you didn’t squash me, that might have been hard to explain to workman’s comp.” He winced a bit, his brain-to-mouth filter was apparently on the fritz again, but luckily the Alpha laughed at his poor attempt at a joke, making Steve relax a bit.
“I suppose I should introduce myself, since I’ve already practically thrown myself and Sasha at you,” He grinned, offering Steve a hand to shake, “I’m Bucky Barnes, and this little whipper-snapper is Sasha.”
“Daddy!” Sasha giggled, “Mr. Steve already knows my name!”
“I’m just being polite,” Bucky turned to talk to his son, his eyes soft, and Steve felt his heart melt a little bit. Sasha smiled, and snuggled up against his father’s chest, pretending to be shy, although Steve caught a gleam of mischief in his green eyes. Bucky nuzzled his wild mop of brown hair, and then turned back to Steve, opening his mouth when Sasha’s voice pipped up,
“Daddy?” Sasha whispered,
“What’s up, Sasha?” Bucky asked, giving Steve an apologetic smile before he turned his attention back to Sasha.
“You should ask Mr. Steve out to coffee since he saved you.”
“Oh?” Bucky raised an eyebrow, trying to get a better look at Sasha’s face. Steve noticed Sasha’s mouth twitch with a smile, but he very convincingly said with an almost neutral voice,
“Cause it’s the polite thing to do, Daddy.”
“Uh huh,” Bucky snorted, rolling his eyes, “I think it’s probably more that you want a cookie, but I’ll let you tell yourself it’s for the sake of our manners.” Here, Bucky looked up, meeting Steve’s eyes again, and smiled hopefully, “Well, what do you say? Care to go get a thank-you coffee with Sasha and me? We do appreciate it.”
“That’s really nice of you,” Steve started, “but I’ve still got a few hours left on my shift,” he smiled sadly, and Bucky’s scent took on a distinctly disappointing tinge, making Steve quickly pull his phone out of his pocket, and hurry on, “but what if I text you when I get off, and we could go somewhere then? If it doesn’t mess with your plans today, of course, I don’t want to impose.” He trailed off, trying to stop his nervous rambling.
Bucky’s grin was bright and radiant, and he reached for the phone, quickly punching in a number, a second after which a ding sounded from his pocket.
“Sounds great, Steve, it’s my day off, so we’re just hanging out anyways, so just let us know when you’re ready and we’ll go from there!”
“Perfect!” Steve grinned, and they stood there for a moment before Steve suddenly remembered he was still on the clock and needed to get a few more things finished up. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later then, Bucky, Sasha.”
“Sure will,” Bucky laughed, turning to walk away, waving like a dork, “have a good rest of your shift!”
“Bye!” Sasha called, waving over his dad’s shoulders, smile bright and full of self-satisfaction.
But surely he was making that up, Steve thought to himself, Sasha was only five or six, and surely he had had no hand in making his father quite literally trip into Steve’s arms, right? Of course not, he was just being silly and was just overly excited about his coffee date. He turned back to work, humming under his breath, already daydreaming about how it was going to go. The rest of his shift couldn’t go fast enough.