dreamwritesimagines

[dreamwritesimagines]

Declassified [16] - Subtlety

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Coworkers are supposed to be professional.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.6k

Series Masterlist

This morning was proving to be perfect already.

You dangled your legs off the high stool, resting your chin on your fist while you kept your eyes on Bucky who was by the stove, busy with the pan. Even if you had told him coffee was enough of a breakfast for you, your argument fell on deaf ears so now you were drinking your coffee as he prepared breakfast for you and himself in your small kitchen.

While you were openly ogling him.

You were pulled out of your haze when your phone vibrated with a text from your father, and you bit inside your cheek, typing a quick reply before raising your head.

“Bucky?”

“Hm?”

“Did you mean what you said last night?”

He looked over his shoulder to shoot you a mischievous grin. “You are gonna have to be more specific than that.”

You could feel your cheeks burn as you bit back a smile, forcing yourself to focus.

“When you…” you trailed off. “When you said you aren’t meant to be a politician?”

That made him pause for a second before he turned to look at you better.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just know that things are moving too slow. In the Congress, or in the politics for that matter.”

“Well, you can’t change the world in only a couple of months.”

“But that’s the problem, it feels like I haven’t even done anything in these couple of months,” he told you. “Everyone in the Congress is taking their sweet time.”

“That’s how bureaucracy works,” you assured him as Caleb’s door opened. “It’ll take time, it doesn’t mean you won’t get stuff done. You’ll just need to be patient.”

 “Are those pancakes?” Caleb asked as he came to pull himself a stool. “That’s awesome! Are they blueberry or chocolate chip ones?”

“They’re not for you,” Bucky said and Caleb gasped dramatically.

“But I’m hungry!”

“Caleb—” you started but Kelsey’s door opened, she peeked her head out to wave at you, and then closed the door again. You stole a look at Caleb.

“What is going on with Kels?”

“I don’t know, but I want pancakes,” Caleb insisted. “Bucky, what do you expect me to do, pass out from hunger? Who’s gonna be your communications director then?”

Bucky opened his mouth to retort, but you all turned your heads when Kelsey stepped out and pulled a blindfolded guy out of her bedroom.

“Babe, this is kind of a weird way to leave your place.”

“Blindfolds are my kink,” Kelsey answered as she led him to the door. “It just turns me on, you have no idea.”

Bucky pulled his brows together while Caleb chuckled, going to the counter to fill himself a cup of coffee.

“But we’re not even gonna have sex?” the guy said and Kelsey nodded.

“It’s still a kink, not all kinks have to lead to something,” she said and opened the door, then pushed him outside. “I’ll call you, okay? Keep the blindfold.”

She closed the door and turned to give Bucky a bright smile.

“We’re having pancakes? Awesome!”

“Okay to repeat; I’m making my girlfriend pancakes, not you two.”

“So what, we don’t get pancakes because we’re not dating you? That’s illegal or something.”

“It really isn’t—” He heaved a sigh in defeat when you pulled your brows together to shoot him a pleading look. “Fine. Sit down, Kelsey.”

“Kels, do you want coffee?”

“Yes please!” she said and jumped to sit on the stool next to you. “Morning Birdie.”

“Morning Kels.”

“I can’t wait until you’re president and I can write about this in my memoir,” Kelsey told Bucky while he put a pancake on your plate to give it to you, then grabbed two other plates and poured more pancake mix on the pan.

“I’m not gonna run for president, and you’re not writing a memoir.”

“His hair was tousled because of last night’s activities,” Kelsey mused while Caleb chuckled and put Kelsey’s coffee mug in front of her, then sipped his own. “The tormented look in his eyes seemed calmer now, as if the morning came with—”

“Tormented look in my eyes?”

“Shush Bucky—as if the morning came with promises of peace. As he walked around the kitchen, half naked…”

“I’m fully clothed,” Bucky defended himself, motioning at his shirt and jeans, and Caleb shook his head.

“Artistic license. Sex sells. Keep going Kelsey.”

You covered the giggle threatening to escape you by clearing your throat, and dug into your pancakes.

“The tattoo on his back—”

“I don’t have tattoos.”

“And whose fault is that, Bucky?” she retorted. “The tattoo on his back caught my attention, and he turned around as if he was taken aback—”

“Please stop narrating me,” Bucky said, putting her plate in front of her and she grinned up at him.

“Only because you asked nicely.”

You pointed at Kelsey with your fork. “That would be a bestseller.”

“Stop encouraging her, Birdie.”

“I’m a supportive friend!”

“Maybe after your book we can buy a couch.” Caleb took his plate from Bucky, making his head whip up.

“I was going to ask you that,” he said. “Why don’t you have a couch?”

You threw your hands up in exasperation. “A couch is a big commitment, okay?”

“…It’s just furniture.”

“It’s something we’re gonna see all the time,” you argued. “What if we walk in one day and decide we hate it? It’s a risk, so we need to take our time to figure out what kind of couch we want.”

“Not to mention, we have more important expenses,” Caleb added. “Such as alcohol and candles.”

Bucky stared at you.

“I just realized I have no idea what I’m paying you guys,” he said. “Do you need a raise? You do need a raise, right?”

“I mean I wasn’t gonna mention it but there is someone in this room who put in a lot of work last night for a raise.”

Kelsey’s jaw dropped. “Whoa!”

“Dude!” you exclaimed and Bucky glared at him.

“Caleb, you have two seconds to apologize—”

“What? No, I meant me!” Caleb waved his hands in the air. “Me! I barely slept last night because I was trying to come up with an excuse as to why Birdie will be hanging out with you this weekend when those whispers start.”

You looked between them. “What’s happening this weekend?”

“I forgot to tell you yesterday,” Bucky said. “Sarah is throwing a dinner party and Sam mentioned the boys were saying they missed me, so I figured maybe we could go to New York for the weekend.”

“Ah, sure!” you said and turned to Caleb. “What will you say to people?”

“That it was a team thing and all three of us were there,” he replied. “Which, we will have to be. Kels?”

“I’m totally fine with that, I missed New York a lot.”

“So did I,” Caleb said. “Also I’m offended, Birdie. I would never imply that.”

“I know.” You pouted and reached out to squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“If anything, it’s Bucky who deserves a raise, because what I’ve heard last night—”

“Caleb, I’m gonna lose my shit on you,” you deadpanned while Kelsey grinned, and Bucky shook his head with a sigh. Caleb held up his hands.

“Just saying,” he muttered. “Hey, do we have syrup for the pancakes?”

                                                  *

The rest of the week passed way too fast. There were still many things to do by the time you went to New York, and if it was another time you would’ve worked at Sarah’s place but as Bucky had said, the boys had missed him so you didn’t want to keep interrupting them with work.

Which meant you, Bucky, Caleb and Kelsey had to work at Sam’s place until it was time to go to Sarah’s for the dinner party. When Sam walked into his place, you were going over the financial report Congressman Murray’s team had sent you and taking notes, Bucky was reading another file that Congressman Riley had sent him, Kelsey was working on her laptop and Caleb was busy with his phone. Sam flung himself on the couch and Kelsey stole a look at him, then returned to her laptop.

“Hey, are you guys done?” he asked. “Sarah says most of the neighbors are arriving in like half an hour.”

“I’m ready for it to be done, does that count?” Bucky ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus, this thing is like one thousand pages.”

“Try making a sense of your schedule,” Kelsey told him. “I’d take reading a packet over this right now. You’re not allowed to sleep next week, just so you know.”

Bucky raised his coffee cup as if mocking a toast and turned to you.

“How is it going for you?”

“I’m going to kill whoever wrote this report,” you muttered through your teeth without taking your eyes off the page. “The whole team. I can’t even get to the next page, the references make zero sense.”

Sam hummed. “Does anyone want anything to drink before we go? I’ve got beer?”

“That’d be amazing, thank you Mr. Wilson.”

“Not for me, thank you.”

“I can have one.”

“Not me, thank you Sam.”

Sam went to the kitchen to grab three beers, then came back to hand one to Bucky, one to Caleb and uncapped his own to sit down on the couch again.

“Why is this goddamn café not sharing any pictures?” Caleb grumbled, making both you and Kelsey groan at the same time.

“Jesus Christ!”

“I am going to slam my head on my laptop and hope it gives me a concussion, I swear to God…”

Sam looked between you. “What’s going on?”

“These two are being terrible friends, that’s what’s going on.” Caleb gestured at you and Kelsey, making you narrow your eyes.

“You’ve been whining about this barista for the last three days!”

“It feels like three months.”

“He saw a barista at this coffee shop near Capitol three days ago,” Bucky explained. “He didn’t get his number, so now we all have to suffer because he refuses to go there to see him again.”

“I can’t!”

You turned to Sam. “When we first won the election I thought I’d be witnessing the making of laws, being in rooms with so many important people and changing the world and such. You know what happened instead? Yesterday, the commandant of the Marine Corps turned to me and asked; ‘Can you make your friend shut the fuck up about the barista?’ Mind you, this is a man who was trained to withstand warfare, he lasted like merely half an hour in a room with Caleb and his obsession.”

“He was exaggerating!”

“He didn’t look half as uncomfortable when Kelsey accidentally opened a dick pic from her soon to be boyfriend in front of him, that’s saying something!”

Kelsey’s eyes widened as Sam started laughing.

“Pump the breaks, he’s not gonna be my boyfriend!”

“I left you alone for five seconds.” Bucky stared at Kelsey who waved a hand in the air dismissively.

“It was an accident, and as Birdie said—it doesn’t matter, he won’t be my boyfriend.”

“He stayed over twice now.”

“So has Bucky.”

“Well yeah but Bucky is—” You turned to him. “We’re still dating, right?”

Bucky blinked a couple of times. “…Yeah?”

“Bucky is my boyfriend.”

Sam raised his brows. “You had to ask?”

“You never know,” you muttered. “And Kels, the fact that you’re not kicking him out after sex means something.”

“It means I’m too lazy to kick him out, there’s a huge difference between a guy who’s boyfriend material and a guy who you don’t mind spending the night with.”

Bucky tilted his head. “What’s the difference?”

“A boyfriend is someone you like having sex with and spending time outside the bed with,” Kelsey said. “This guy is just convenient. I’d drop him in a second if Sam asked me out, for example.”

Sam’s head shot up in surprise and he blinked a couple of times as if trying to wrap his mind around the idea while Bucky pulled his brows together, looking between them.

“Whoa, Kels…” Sam said as you bit back a grin at the look of complete shock on his face. “I’m flattered, but you’re in your 20s and—”

“Oh please don’t tell me you’re gonna give me the age excuse when these two are here.” Kelsey gestured at you and Bucky, making your jaw drop.

“Why am I being thrown under the bus?”

“The guy could’ve dated your grandmother, I feel like it is relevant to this conversation if that’s the only obstacle between me and Sam—”

“I already asked for a full list of everyone he slept with back in the 40s,” you argued while Bucky ran a hand over his face. “My grandmother is not there.”

That seemed to have pulled Sam out of his shock. “Seriously?”

“Legend has it she was quite fast,” you muttered, and Caleb checked his phone again.

“What if I never see him again?”

“What if you had the guts to go to that café again?” you grumbled and Caleb pointed a finger at you.

“What if he turns me down? What if he’s in a relationship? What if he’s a secret spy who can’t date civilians?”

“I’m just gonna go back to the report while you talk nonsense if that’s okay,” you said while Sam sipped his beer and Bucky pushed the file away from himself, but as soon as your eyes fell on the next line, you felt the anger spark back into life. “Motherfucker!”

“Birdie, how about—”

“Who wrote this?” you exclaimed, slamming your pen on the page. “No seriously, did they hire a first grader? Who the fuck wrote this report—you know what? New plan. Me and Kels and Caleb dress up as Three Ghosts of Christmas and visit the other congress people in their homes so that they’ll back up this packet. It’d be more effective than whatever abomination this financial report is supposed to be.”

“I call dibs on Porthos,” Caleb said, “he was the hot one right?”

“Aramis was the hot one,” Kelsey replied while Bucky and Sam exchanged glances, and you clicked your tongue.

“Porthos was the fashionable one I think.”

“Fashionable is hot.”

“Eh, debatable.”

“I can’t believe I’m willingly becoming a part of this conversation, but those are Three Musketeers, not Three Ghosts of Christmas.” Bucky deadpanned and you tilted your head.

“Are you sure?”

“Baby, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol,” he said patiently. “Why would he name his characters French?”

“Why do British do anything?” you asked back and Caleb grinned at Bucky.

“Did you know him?”

“Did I know Dickens?” Bucky repeated with a straight face while Sam stifled a laugh. “No, Caleb. I did not know the famous Victorian author Charles Dickens who was born in the early 19th century.”

“Athos, Porthos, Aramis.” Kelsey counted with her fingers. “Wasn’t there a fourth musketeer?”

“D’artagnan, and he wasn’t a musketeer,” Sam said, still trying to control his expression. “Didn’t you three graduate from Ivy League? Top of your classes?”

“I had a 4.0 GPA but not in literature,” Kelsey said. “Uh, what were the names of the ghosts then?”

“They didn’t have names, Kelsey.”

“What, Dickens didn’t bother naming them?”

“Okay, that settles it.” Bucky snatched the report from your hands. “We’re done for the day, okay? Nothing any of you say makes sense at this point.”

“Yeah, and Sarah is waiting.” Sam downed his beer and stood up, Kelsey and Caleb following him suit, and Bucky tugged you by the arm gently while you hung onto the edge of the table.

“Wait no, I need to finish this page!”

“Nope.” He pried your fingers off the table and helped you up. “Come on. Enough work, let’s go.”

                                                       *

You really liked spending time with Sarah and her friends. As Sam had informed you before, their parents were prominent figures in their neighborhood, always running to anyone’s help in any way they could, and apparently Sarah had followed their footsteps. You could tell she was a very important figure in everyone’s life, they both loved her and respected her and her family.

So the dinner party was a success as usual, and as midnight approached, everyone left one by one. You and Bucky had kept your distance in front of everyone, acting as if you were friendly coworkers even with his jacket draped over your shoulders, and Caleb had asked you to be careful before he left with Kelsey to their –and your- favorite club back when you still lived there. The only people left in the garden besides you were Sam, Sarah, AJ and Cass, but you and Bucky weren’t going to act like a couple in front of Cass and AJ just in case, so you both kept up appearances while Cass told you about his favorite comic book excitedly and AJ played with his tablet, showing Bucky and Sam how to strategize, Sarah watching his sons with a soft smile.

“So the idea is to get out of the castle?” Bucky asked and AJ nodded.

“Well, you’re a knight and you’re supposed to find the treasure, storm the castle and then get out.”

“And I can use fire?”

“Depends. You need to gather the stones first, and also you need to kill the dragon and save the princess, then you get fire skills.”

“Then I save the next princess?” Sam asked and AJ nodded.

“Well yeah,” he said. “There is a princess in every level.”

“And then, the villain kidnaps his girlfriend!” Cass told you, making you gasp.

“No!”

“Yes!”

“And then what happens?”

“Well he—okay so, he needs to find his team.” He pointed at the page and you leaned down to see the characters better. “And he does, and the team finds his girlfriend, but he breaks up with her.”

You made a face. “Why?”

“To keep her safe of course,” he said. “But then! Then she starts dating someone else in his team!”

“That’s a terrible idea.”

“Yeah!”

“But let me guess, she’s heartbroken.”

“So is he!” Cass insisted. “He didn’t want to break up with her.”

“Then he should’ve told her the reason why.” Sarah told him while you nodded. “Honesty is very important.”

“Exactly.”

“I feel like keeping his girlfriend safe is more important,” Bucky pointed out and you rolled your eyes at him.

“She can keep herself safe.”

“He just said she got kidnapped.”

“Because he wasn’t honest with her from the beginning, keep up,” you told him. “Sarah is right, honesty is the key here.”

Cass looked down at the page, then looked up at you.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked curiously, making Bucky’s lips twitch into a grin. Sam stifled a chuckle and Sarah raised her brows, looking between you and Bucky.

“Yeah Miss Honesty, do you?” Bucky teased you and you scrunched up your nose at him, then turned to Cass.

“Well yeah, but he is being kind of too arrogant for his own good so I’m not introducing him to anyone yet.”

A look of exaggerated betrayal crossed Bucky’s handsome features and Sarah let out a laugh while AJ frowned.

“But why are you dating an arrogant guy?”

“What would he do if a villain kidnapped you?”

“Burn the world down,” Bucky answered Cass’ question, making you bite back a smile and Sarah let out a laugh.

“Come on boys,” she said, standing up. “Time for bed.”

“But mom!”

“Can we stay up a little longer?”

“Nope. Come on, we talked about this.”

“Can Uncle Sam tuck us in?”

“He absolutely can buddy,” Sam said, standing up as well. “Let’s go.”

“Say good night, boys.”

“Good night!”

They hugged you and Bucky before following Sam and Sarah into the house, and you got up from your seat to get the water bottle on the other side of the small table but as soon as you did, Bucky grabbed your hand and pulled you down for you to sit in his lap sideways. You let out a laugh, a fire burning your face.

“Bucky!” you exclaimed, your head whipping around to check whether anyone could see you and he grinned.

“Everyone went to bed, and there are no journalists on the roofs.”

“My father happens to own a satellite.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he muttered, stealing a kiss from you. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you whispered before leaning in to kiss him again, raking your nails over his stubble. His piercing blue eyes closed in bliss for a moment before they opened again, the soft light shining in them making your heart skip a beat.

“You okay?” he asked as he helped you readjust his jacket over your shoulders, running his hand up and down your arm. “Still cold?”

You shook your head. “Nope, I’m fine now. Thank you.”

He entwined his fingers with yours, then took a deep breath.

“So, I need to ask you a question,” he said. “It’s been bothering me the entire day.”

You tried to ignore the familiar anxiety flipping your stomach and licked your lips.

“What is it?”

“You seriously haven’t read A Christmas Carol?”

A huff of laughter climbed your chest and you pushed at his arm while he gave you a proud grin.

“No?” he insisted. “Never?”

“I watched the movie.”

“The movie doesn’t count—that book is a classic.”

“In my defense, it wasn’t in my library probably because I was in fact raised by Ebenezer Scrooge.”

“Still no excuse. It’s Dickens.”

You scrunched up your nose. “A deal breaker, huh?”

“I just don’t know how we’re gonna get over that one, Birdie,” he teased you back, but his grin faded slightly as his eyes searched your face. You were quite familiar with picking up even the smallest clues when it came to his expression, so you could already tell he was in deep thought by the way his brows furrowed.

“What is it?” you asked and he licked his lips, then cleared his throat.

“Speaking of deal breakers,” he said. “Uh…hypothetical question.”

“Hm?”

“What would you say if I told you I’m not sure I’ll be running again after this term?”

Your eyes snapped up to his, your father’s voice echoing in your mind before you forced yourself to snap out of it and focus on Bucky.

“I’d say it’s your life,” you said softly and he shook his head.

“You are a huge part of my life,” he insisted. “I want this to be a choice for both of us, not just me.”

A pleasant warmth filled your chest and you played with the hair at the nape of his neck, trying to find the right words.

“Is this you asking me if I’d still be with you if you didn’t run again?” you asked. “Because I think you know the answer to that question.”

“Which would be...?”

“It doesn’t matter what you do.”

Fondness gleamed in his eyes. “Doesn’t it?”

“Nope. I’ll still be in love with you whether you’re a congressman or—or I don’t know, a DJ or something.”

He made a face. “No thank you, I’ve heard what you guys call music in those clubs of yours.”

“In those clubs of ours?” you said with a giggle. “Wow. If you’re gonna be talking like that, I’ll have to get you a rocking chair and a pipe.”

“See, I bet your grandmother wouldn’t say that back in the day,” he joked with a grin while you narrowed your eyes at him. “What did you say her name was again?”

You gasped dramatically and poked him in the ribs, coaxing a clear laugh out of him. The sound was so lovely that it made you smile as well before he held your wrist to tug you closer to him so that he could kiss you again, but you pulled back when you heard Sam’s voice.

“Bucky Barnes actually laughs,” he said with a grin as he walked past you to fling himself on the garden sofa. “I guess people are right, love can change a man.”

Sarah slapped him on the arm gently.

“Stop that,” she told him before she sat beside him. “You guys are very cute.”

“Aw thank you!” You beamed at her while Bucky rested his chin on your shoulder, and Sarah motioned at him.

“And just so you know, I told him to make a move ages ago.”

“Oh, we all did.”

“Well, Sarah was right.” Bucky reached out to grab his beer bottle. “Not you, Sam.”

Sam stared at him. “We told you the same thing.”

“Sarah has a different way of saying it,” Bucky defended himself before he tilted the bottle slightly to offer it to you. You took him from him to take a sip, then gave it back to him.

“The dinner party was amazing, by the way,” you told Sarah. “Thank you so much for having me here as well.”

Sarah scoffed, waving a dismissive hand in the air. “Don’t mention it, you’re family now.”

The simple sentence was enough to make your throat tighten when you were overcome with emotion, and you found yourself playing with the sleeves of Bucky’s jacket to distract yourself. You weren’t used to this; your family was, in a lack of better words, not welcoming or warm, so the fact that Sarah told that to you meant more than she knew.

“So, did you miss New York yet?” Sam asked you and you heaved a sigh.

“So much,” you said while Bucky took a sip. “I mean DC is nice, don’t get me wrong but…”

“It’s not New York,” Bucky muttered and you nodded.

“Exactly.”

“You’ll come back eventually,” Sarah said with a shrug of her shoulders. “How’s everything at work, by the way?”

“Well, she was planning on killing people before we got here.”

“Bucky!”

“You said, and I quote—”

“You would want to kill them too if you’ve read the report I’ve read,” you retorted and turned to Sarah. “So we’ve started working on this bill draft for the veterans, and if we pull it off it’s going to be amazing, but we’re supposed to have a specific report and the bad thing is, the team who wrote the report consists of idiots.”

“Sam said you were working on something with clean energy too?”

“Oh that’s gonna pass the senate like lightning,” you said. “Gray has a wonderful team.”

Bucky scoffed and took a sip of his beer, and you shot him a look.

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You don’t have to.”

Sarah frowned. “You don’t like Gray?”

“Oh I like Gray,” Bucky answered with a dry smile. “I don’t like his team.”

“A specific person in his team which— I told you before,” Sam added and nodded at Bucky, then turned to you. “I think you two made the right call keeping it secret, but things like that will happen. You need to get used to that especially for the time being.”

A look of realization dawned on Sarah’s face and she nodded.

“Both of you,” she said. “I mean, no one knows you two are together. Secret relationship is fun, but…”

“But it’s going to have its challenges, like people hitting on one of you while the other has to play it cool,” Sam said. “Sooner you realize that, the better.”

 Even the idea of watching someone hit on Bucky while you had to sit there and smile was enough to churn your stomach in anxiety, but you managed to keep yourself busy by taking the bottle from Bucky to sip on it again.

“Oh I know,” you said, keeping your voice completely calm. “Very much aware of it, no worries.”

Knowing it and being able to pull it off were two different things, though.

You would find that one out soon enough.

[dreamwritesimagines]

Aw thank you darliiiing🥰

Brian is so sweet!🩷

Bucky easing Birdie's worries🥰 Their dynamic will be very cute🩷

Declassified [15] - Whim

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Misunderstandings can create issues.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist

You couldn’t even decide on the exact reason why you were so on edge at this point.

Maybe it was your secret relationship.

Maybe it was the fact that your father, who had half of the Congress in his pocket, had threatened your secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was the fact that you knew if the said relationship came out, you would be torn to pieces.

Or maybe you were drinking too much coffee.

You tried to balance the coffee cup tray on your arm while you checked your emails on your phone with your other hand, humming a song to yourself and making your way down the hallway to Bucky’s office. You quickly typed in your response, rolling your eyes and stepped into the office, then made a beeline to Kelsey’s desk past Tim and Lisa’s.

“Here you go,” you said, putting the tray on her desk so that you could take out her cup of coffee and yours. “Considering you didn’t come home last night, I’m guessing it was a long night.”

“And a fun one,” she said, her gaze drifting to the corner of the room. “Speaking of fun, promise me you won’t overreact.”

You took a sip of your coffee. “Hm?”

“And that you’ll give him a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hi ma’am!” A voice came from the corner of the room, making you look over your shoulder. The young guy at the corner couldn’t be older than twenty and he was holding a file to his chest, an excited smile lighting up his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, I promise you won’t regret it.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Um…hello, who are you?”

“I’m Brian,” he said, rushing to shake your hand but tripping over the strap of his satchel on the floor in the process. “Sorry! Cong—Congressman Barnes hired me to be your intern.”

“He’s adorable, I want to give him chocolate and wrap him in a blanket,” Kelsey commented while you gawked at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Birdie, don’t overreact,” Kelsey reminded you and you took a deep breath, irritation making your jaw clench.

“Excuse me for a moment, Brian,” you said through your teeth and made your way to Bucky’s office, knocked on the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind you. Bucky’s head shot up, a smile pulling at his lips as he stood up.

“Morning darling.”

You had to remind yourself not to melt as he approached you to pull you closer, but you forced yourself to pull back, making him tilt his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?”

“Nope.” You pointed at the door. “You hired an intern for me?”  

Realization dawned on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, before you say no—”

“I am saying no.”

“We talked about this.”

“You talked about this.”

“I gave you two options,” he reminded you. “Time off or this. You chose this.”

“Yeah and we said I’d give the okay!”

“And you didn’t give the okay to any of them,” he said patiently. “I gave you a stack of resumes, you looked me in the eye and pushed them off the desk into the trash can. I’m half convinced Alpine learned that trick from you.”

“So your solution was to—to—” You flailed your arms. “To intern trap me?”

“Intern trap you?”

“It’s like baby trapping me but worse.”

He rubbed his forehead like confusion was giving him a headache. “That’s not a thing—how is that worse?”

“I can follow my parents’ example and give the baby to a goddamn nanny!” You snapped, stomping on your foot. “Who am I gonna give the intern to?”

“No one,” he said. “He’s here to help you with the workload.”

You shook your head. “I don’t need help.”

“I’m not risking another panic attack, sweetheart.”

“I’m not gonna have a panic attack!” you hissed. “I can handle the workload.”

“I’m not saying you can’t—”

“You are saying I can���t!” you insisted. “Assign him to someone else.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, the familiar insecurities churning your stomach again as you scoffed a laugh, pacing in the room.

“Bucky,” you said, trying your hardest to stay calm. “I can’t have people think I’m incompetent—”

“No one is going to think that,” he told you. “There are so many people who have interns.”

“Yeah, incompetent people who can’t do their own jobs!”

“Just give him a chance,” Bucky said. “You might like him. You don’t even have to give him anything to do on his first day, just give him a tour or something.”

“A tour?” you repeated and went to the door to swing it open, then leaned back to the doorframe. “Brian, would you like a tour of the Capitol?”

He nodded his head like an excited puppy. “Yeah!”

“Great.” You pointed at the entrance. “There’s the door, you can just—”

You were cut off when Bucky said your name, the serious tone of his voice making you frown at him, and as if on cue Congressman Riley walked through the entrance.

“Good morning,” he said. “Barnes, you’ve got a moment?”

Bucky stole a look at you, then nodded at him.

“Uh, sure.”

“Hi there.” Congressman Riley greeted you as he stepped into Bucky’s office and you forced yourself to smile at him.

“Hello sir,” you said and turned to Bucky. “Before I forget, Mr. Barnes, I’m afraid I won’t be staying after hours today, but if you need any assistance with the packet, you can contact anyone else on the team.”

“Oh, not this evening I’m afraid, I have this mental health thing I need to attend to,” you said, your voice completely professional. “It was on the calendar, has it escaped your notice?”

He was smart enough to understand what you were referring to.

“I was under the impression we would work on that together.”

“Let the girl go, Barnes,” Congressman Riley joked. “She has a health thing. I can lend you someone from my team for the evening.”

Bucky raised his brows at you, and you smiled at him.

“Have a wonderful day,” you said and walked out of the office, with Brian rushing after you to catch up with you.

“Ma’am?”

“Come on,” you told him. “Time for your tour, I guess.”

*

For the record, you were aware that Brian wasn’t to blame.

The guy, as Kelsey had put it, was kind of adorable. He hung onto your every word, he was excited to be in the Capitol, he was apparently a genius and you could already tell that he was hardworking.

He wasn’t the problem. You were.

Your head was swirling with insecurities, the ones that you knew were nonsense but still couldn’t stop. The idea of not being good at your job, the idea of people seeing your shortcomings such as your inability to cope with stress in the form of a panic attack, the idea of being replaceable; they all made a terrific combination to sink your stomach and fill you with fury.

Did Bucky actually think you weren’t going to be able to focus and do your goddamn job now that you two were dating? Was this his way of letting you down gently and take away your responsibilities one by one, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to recognize what was happening?

Maybe this was the first step of changing your position in the Congress; finding someone that you could teach the ropes, and then putting him where you were.

Your eyes were darting over the same line for what felt like the hundredth time when you heard someone pull the chair across from yours and plop down, making your head shoot up.

“Is this take your kid to work day?” Lucas grinned, jerking his head in Brian’s direction. “Or a school trip?”

You sulked. “Very funny.”

“What is your name, Victorian orphan?”

“I’m Brian.” Brian quickly extended his hand to shake Lucas’s. “It’s an honor, sir. And I graduated college this year actually, but I got accepted when I was sixteen, that’s why I look younger than other interns.”

Lucas turned to you. “Are we breaking any child labor laws by employing him?”

“No sir, I’m nineteen—”

“Don’t take him seriously,” you told Brian. “Brian, this is Lucas. Lucas, Brian is my intern. He’s gonna be uh…around.”

“You’ve got an intern?” Lucas asked with a small laugh. “Whoa, maybe I should apply to work for Barnes. I’ve been begging Gray for an intern for like a year.”

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Brian said breathlessly. “Seriously, I—it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Adorable and a genius.” Lucas pointed at you with his thumb. “Your mentor scared the shit out of an Executive Assistant on her first week, and I’ve seen her bring an adult man to the verge of tears when he tried to pull rank on her. She’s gonna eat you alive, welcome to politics.”

“Again, don’t listen to him.”

Lucas lowered his voice as if he was giving Brian a secret. “There’s a reason we call her Hurricane on Heels.”

“Brian you’re not gonna be calling me that, and Lucas, stop hazing my intern.”

“This brings back memories though,” Lucas said with a smile. “Do you remember your first internship?”

You groaned. “Yep. I still have everyone’s coffee orders memorized.”

“I was summoned to bring condoms to my boss’s place in the middle of the night,” he muttered, making you let out a laugh.

“There was this one time, they sent me to the archive and I had to sort out all the documents in the last decade and put them in chronological order,” you said. “I didn’t go home that weekend, basically showered with my deodorant, and Max—my boyfriend back then— had to bring new clothes to the firm so that I could look presentable on Monday.”

“We’re not gonna do that to you, interns aren’t allowed in the archives,” Lucas motioned at Brian. “You’d better memorize everyone’s coffee orders though. Or condom preferences.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you told him. “You’re here to learn the job, not to be anyone’s butler. If anyone else other than me tries to give you any work, you come and tell me, alright?”

Lucas hummed. “Look at you breaking the trauma chain.”

“It’s no problem, I can—I can bring coffee or…condoms, ma’am,” Brian said, making you grimace.

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that, Brian,” you said while Lucas chuckled. “Neither will anyone else at the office. And stop calling me ma’am.”

Lucas drummed his fingers on the desk. “See, this is why people will vote for you when you run for office, Hurricane. No one will have anything bad to say about you.”

You raised your brows. “I’m not gonna run for office.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been told I don’t look good in pantsuits,” you deadpanned. “Did you see the revisions I sent you?”

“Mm hm. I sent you an email on Sunday, you didn’t get back.”

You licked your lips.

“Yeah my…my phone was acting weird, I had to get it fixed.”

“Here I was thinking you were enjoying your Sunday away from your phone,” he joked and you shot him a look.

“Have you met me?”

“Yep. Exactly why I sent you that email on a Sunday, you workaholic.”

“Takes one to know one, Lucas.”

He leaned back on his chair. “Speaking of work,” he said. “I need your help with something.”

“The clean energy bill?”

“Nope,” he said. “A buddy of mine is working on this Constituent Outreach Packet, I have no idea why Lawrence gave him that but I promised him I’d help him out but it never hurts to have someone else look it over.”

You took a look at your schedule, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Sure.”

“You’re an angel,” Lucas said, letting out a breath. “I’m serious, I’m buying you dinner sometime.”

You scoffed a laugh at the mental image of Bucky hearing that.

“Don’t intimidate my intern and we’ll call it even.” You brushed him off as you grabbed your files and stood up. “Come on Brian. You can sit and observe while we work.” 

                                                 *

Focusing your whole attention on the packets and bills and revisions had worked, at least until you left the Capitol. You had made sure to stay away from Bucky’s way and didn’t drop by the office for the entire day; opting to go straight home instead.

Yet, now that you were alone with your thoughts, you were way too restless. You had tried to distract yourself but nothing helped with the uncomfortable sinking in your stomach, or the spiraling in your mind.

And to make today even more fun, you had a stress headache.

Even though you knew you were being nonsense and that Bucky would never plan to push you out of the picture, that stupid voice in your head refused to shut the fuck up, so here you were, simmering in your bed with your eyes closed in an attempt to soothe the headache. You grimaced when someone knocked on the door and opened it, making you slide deeper into your sheets, pressing your palms on your eyes.

“Caleb, whatever it is, it can wait.”

“We’re gonna have to disagree on that one.” Bucky’s deep voice shot through the quiet room, making you lift your hands from your eyes and sit up straight. Your heartbeat got faster at the sight of his handsome face even though you were still irrationally angry about the intern issue, not even noticing he had his hands behind his back like he was hiding something as you got up from the bed.

“Caleb let you in?”

“Mm hm.”

“Thanks a lot, Brutus!” You called out and heard Caleb’s groan.

“We have been listening to the same Lana Del Rey song for four fucking hours!” he replied. “Enough is enough, I’m like two seconds away from crashing Kelsey’s date just to listen to something else.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Bucky, but before you could say anything he whipped out a bouquet of flowers behind his back and held them out for you.

Oh dear God, you were actually going to melt.

You couldn’t help but smile, but then your head shot up, panic filling your system.

“Bucky, if any journalist saw you at the door with flowers—”

“I didn’t use the front door.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Come again?”

“I climbed up the fire escape.”

“…You climbed up the fire escape as in the old, half broken death trap on the outer wall?” You pointed at the window and he nodded.

“Yeah. We need to do something about those stairs.”

You tried to resist the urge to fling yourself into his arms, pausing for a second before you took the flowers from him.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “They’re very beautiful.”

He offered you a tightlipped smile.

“Birdie…” he started but you walked past him to make your way through the living room to the kitchen, ignoring Caleb sitting by the kitchen island, snacking and working on something on his laptop. Bucky followed you suit, and out of the corner of your eye you could see him exchange glances with Caleb while you rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“Kels brought a vase, where did we put it?”

Caleb pointed at one of the cabinets and grinned. “How come I don’t get flowers, Bucky?”

“The same reason why you don’t have to be here right now,” Bucky said and he frowned.

“Listen, I pay rent so I’m planning on making my money’s worth,” Caleb said as you cut a small part of the stems. “Although, thank you for climbing the fire escape and making my job easier, it would’ve been a bit difficult to explain that pic to the public.”

“Making your job easier was the only thing in my mind,” Bucky deadpanned and Caleb pointed a finger at him.

“Listen here, Congressman Cullen—”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“She didn’t tell you who Edward Cullen is?”

“She only told me about uh— about Pedro Pascal.”

“I still cannot believe you didn’t know Pedro Pascal before us.”

“I’m not good with pop culture, that’s your job.”

You filled the vase with water, put the flowers into it, picked it up and made your way back to your room with Bucky following you, Caleb calling out after you that he would put his earphones on and turn the volume to max just in case you wanted to make up. Bucky shook his head slightly, closing the door behind him as you put the vase on your small desk.

“Can we talk?”

“Depends,” you said. “Will I be talking to my boss or my boyfriend?”

The look in his eyes was almost reprimanding. “Your boyfriend.”

“Terrific,” you pointed out, crossing your arms. “My boss is being an ass.”

“For doing what you and I already agreed to?” he asked. “You gave me no other choice, Birdie.”

“You had a choice,” you protested. “Not hiring an intern, for example.”

“Why are you so against this?”

You opened your mouth then closed it again, your lips pulling into a petulant pout as you glared up at him.

“No seriously,” Bucky insisted. “You didn’t react like this to any of the interns who were helping you out during the campaign. What changed?”

“They weren’t helping me out, they were helping the team.”

“I’ve heard them talk about you giving them work numerous times.”

“Well—it—” You threw your hands up in exasperation. “It was different.”

“How?”

“Would you have done this anyway if you and I weren’t dating?” you asked back, making him frown.

“I told you I would do this before I had any idea you reciprocated.”

Anxiety churned your stomach and you ran a hand over your face, leaning back to the small desk.

“Birdie I’m really trying to understand—”

“Are you replacing me?” you cut him off, unable to keep the question in any longer and Bucky let out a scoff of laugh as if you had made a joke in the middle of a very important argument, but a look of realization dawned on his face upon seeing your expression.

“Jesus,” he said after a pause. “You’re serious.”

“No shit I’m serious, Bucky!” you snapped. “What is the plan here? Is this—like, is this your way of letting me down easy? Like, you’re gonna divide my responsibilities and I’ll have to teach people my job so that it’ll be easier to replace me?”

He gawked at you, seemingly at a loss for words which made it easier for you to rant as you paced in the room.

“You don’t think I can handle the pressure because of that stupid panic attack, or things changed because we’re dating so I’ll have to find my successor for a smooth transition in the office, is that it? Diminish the work I do—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Bucky stopped you. “Sweetheart…”

“I don’t know what influenced that decision, being my boss or being my boyfriend but either way, I can take care of myself, and you can’t be my boyfriend at work, not to mention I was working on my career long before I became your girlfriend—”

“I know that,” he assured you. “That’s not what is happening.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not the 1940s anymore, you know?” he joked, his lips twitching into a teasing smile. “You’re a little old fashioned if you think career and relationship have to be counteractive, get with the modern times.”

“So this is about you thinking I can’t handle it because of the panic attack and trying to replace me, and then you—”

He cut you off by leaning down to kiss you, effectively shutting both you and your mind at the same time. His flesh hand cradled the back of your head while his vibranium arm sneaked around your waist, and you melted into his chest, a sigh leaving your lips when he pulled back. His hand slipped from the back of your head to lift your chin gently, your eyes fluttering open, that familiar daze taking over you again.

“Can I defend myself against that very creative theory?” he asked and you pouted with a frown, forcing yourself to focus.

“So you deny it.”

“Vehemently,” he added and a small chuckle vibrated his chest. “Wait, who do you think I’m replacing you with?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “Brian.”

“So in other words, I’m putting a baby deer into a spaceship cockpit and hoping for the best?”

“He’s a genius—”

“In case it has escaped your attention, so are you darling.”

“I didn’t get accepted into college when I was sixteen though,” you pointed out. “And it doesn’t—it doesn’t have to be Brian. Maybe you’re just dividing my responsibilities until the right candidate comes along.”

He smiled softly. “Or maybe I’d rather resign myself than to replace you?”

You rolled your eyes. “Bucky, I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he told you. “Come on, you know it as well as I do that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“That’s really not true.”

“And the minute you decide to change jobs or quit, I might as well because that won’t work out, and even if it did, I won’t even want to be there. What am I going to do in the Congress if I don’t have you, just hang out?”

“You need to give yourself more credit,” you insisted. “I didn’t win the election, you did.”

“Mm hm. Thanks to whose efforts?”

“The team!”

“The team did a pretty good job but you made the whole thing happen,” he said. “And besides, I don’t…”

You tilted your head when he paused, your anger forgotten. “What?”

“The more time I spend in the Congress, the more I feel like I’m not meant to be there,” he muttered. “Like I’m not meant to be a politician.”

You pulled back a little, your stomach dropping when you remembered your father’s words.

“Bucky…”

“That’s not the point—the point is,” Bucky said, “I didn’t hire Brian to replace you, or undermine you. You know me better than that.”

You couldn’t help but bury your face into his chest just so that you could blink back the tears before he could even see them rushing to your eyes. He nuzzled into your hair, his hand cradling the back of your head again.

“I’m trying to make things easier for you,” he muttered. “Just that, alright? I know you’re very much capable of doing things by yourself, but why did we win the election if you’re still gonna be taking on everything by yourself?”

“So that people will see,” you mumbled into his chest and he hummed.

“People already saw,” he told you. “You’ve proven yourself, sweetheart. You don’t have to go above and beyond, everyone is already impressed.”

You entwined your fingers with his vibranium ones and took a deep breath, his pleasant scent filling your nostrils and soothing the insecurities in your mind almost immediately.

“You should’ve told me,” he said. “Instead of avoiding me all day.”

“I was busy with my intern,” you replied, making him huff out a laugh.

“And the verdict?”

You pulled back a little to look up at him.

“He’s not half bad,” you muttered. “I didn’t even ask you, why did you hire him? I mean, I get that he’s a genius and everything, but why him from all the other resumes?”

“He graduated from the same college as you,” he said. “I figured you’d want to mentor someone whom you have something in common with.”

You could feel a smile warming your face.

“Not to mention, Kelsey said the guy is cute so he’s not gonna be annoying to you,” he added, making you giggle.

“He is cute. Kels does have a point, one look at him and I want to wrap him in a blanket and give him chocolate.”

“See? Not annoying, that’s a plus.”

You bit inside your cheek, then cleared your throat.

“Very well then,” you said. “I can put him on spellcheck duty for now. And maybe content check of references and footnotes in packet drafts.”

“There we go.”

You pursed your lips, rubbing at your eyes with a frown.

“Sorry,” you mumbled. “About this whole thing. I don’t know why but I have this thing, I keep thinking people will say I’m incompetent and my mind spirals and…”

“Anyone who says that about you won’t get to repeat that, it’s a little hard to say things if all their teeth are broken.”

A laugh climbed your throat. “You can’t be my boyfriend at work.”

“As you keep telling me.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve though he was sulking. “That’s the only reason why we wasted time talking about packets yesterday instead of going to a supply closet after the meeting.”

Your eyes widened. “There were other people in the office, Bucky!”

“My point about the supply closet.” He pulled you into a kiss, lifting you off the floor. You let out a squeal that turned into a giggle as you both fell on the bed and he propped himself up on his arm to see you better, the fond light in his eyes making your cheeks burn. His thumb stroked your cheekbone before he pressed his lips to your temple.

“Still quiet?”

You could swear your heart was melting but you managed to nod, then rested your palm on his chest, his strong heartbeat drumming under your hand.

“Still warm?”

You felt him smile.

“Yeah,” he said as you pulled his shirt off his head, his dog tags dangling between you before he leaned down to kiss you, but you grasped the chain of his dog tags, turning your head to look at the door before you gazed up at him.

“We’re not alone though,” you whispered, making him smirk at you.

“Think you can be quiet, beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but grin, then tugged at the chain of his dog tags to pull him into a kiss.

[dreamwritesimagines]

He's trying so hard to be the perfect boyfriend. He's gonna crash out 🫤

Oh he will darling, and so will she😈

Like, that whole secret relationship thing will make things very intense 😏

[dreamwritesimagines]

Aw thank you honeyyy🥰

Brian is adorable lolll😂

Oh the next chapter is gonna be our chill chapter but after that, things will get a bit tense I think😈😈😈

Declassified [15] - Whim

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Misunderstandings can create issues.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist

You couldn’t even decide on the exact reason why you were so on edge at this point.

Maybe it was your secret relationship.

Maybe it was the fact that your father, who had half of the Congress in his pocket, had threatened your secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was the fact that you knew if the said relationship came out, you would be torn to pieces.

Or maybe you were drinking too much coffee.

You tried to balance the coffee cup tray on your arm while you checked your emails on your phone with your other hand, humming a song to yourself and making your way down the hallway to Bucky’s office. You quickly typed in your response, rolling your eyes and stepped into the office, then made a beeline to Kelsey’s desk past Tim and Lisa’s.

“Here you go,” you said, putting the tray on her desk so that you could take out her cup of coffee and yours. “Considering you didn’t come home last night, I’m guessing it was a long night.”

“And a fun one,” she said, her gaze drifting to the corner of the room. “Speaking of fun, promise me you won’t overreact.”

You took a sip of your coffee. “Hm?”

“And that you’ll give him a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hi ma’am!” A voice came from the corner of the room, making you look over your shoulder. The young guy at the corner couldn’t be older than twenty and he was holding a file to his chest, an excited smile lighting up his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, I promise you won’t regret it.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Um…hello, who are you?”

“I’m Brian,” he said, rushing to shake your hand but tripping over the strap of his satchel on the floor in the process. “Sorry! Cong—Congressman Barnes hired me to be your intern.”

“He’s adorable, I want to give him chocolate and wrap him in a blanket,” Kelsey commented while you gawked at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Birdie, don’t overreact,” Kelsey reminded you and you took a deep breath, irritation making your jaw clench.

“Excuse me for a moment, Brian,” you said through your teeth and made your way to Bucky’s office, knocked on the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind you. Bucky’s head shot up, a smile pulling at his lips as he stood up.

“Morning darling.”

You had to remind yourself not to melt as he approached you to pull you closer, but you forced yourself to pull back, making him tilt his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?”

“Nope.” You pointed at the door. “You hired an intern for me?”  

Realization dawned on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, before you say no—”

“I am saying no.”

“We talked about this.”

“You talked about this.”

“I gave you two options,” he reminded you. “Time off or this. You chose this.”

“Yeah and we said I’d give the okay!”

“And you didn’t give the okay to any of them,” he said patiently. “I gave you a stack of resumes, you looked me in the eye and pushed them off the desk into the trash can. I’m half convinced Alpine learned that trick from you.”

“So your solution was to—to—” You flailed your arms. “To intern trap me?”

“Intern trap you?”

“It’s like baby trapping me but worse.”

He rubbed his forehead like confusion was giving him a headache. “That’s not a thing—how is that worse?”

“I can follow my parents’ example and give the baby to a goddamn nanny!” You snapped, stomping on your foot. “Who am I gonna give the intern to?”

“No one,” he said. “He’s here to help you with the workload.”

You shook your head. “I don’t need help.”

“I’m not risking another panic attack, sweetheart.”

“I’m not gonna have a panic attack!” you hissed. “I can handle the workload.”

“I’m not saying you can’t—”

“You are saying I can’t!” you insisted. “Assign him to someone else.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, the familiar insecurities churning your stomach again as you scoffed a laugh, pacing in the room.

“Bucky,” you said, trying your hardest to stay calm. “I can’t have people think I’m incompetent—”

“No one is going to think that,” he told you. “There are so many people who have interns.”

“Yeah, incompetent people who can’t do their own jobs!”

“Just give him a chance,” Bucky said. “You might like him. You don’t even have to give him anything to do on his first day, just give him a tour or something.”

“A tour?” you repeated and went to the door to swing it open, then leaned back to the doorframe. “Brian, would you like a tour of the Capitol?”

He nodded his head like an excited puppy. “Yeah!”

“Great.” You pointed at the entrance. “There’s the door, you can just—”

You were cut off when Bucky said your name, the serious tone of his voice making you frown at him, and as if on cue Congressman Riley walked through the entrance.

“Good morning,” he said. “Barnes, you’ve got a moment?”

Bucky stole a look at you, then nodded at him.

“Uh, sure.”

“Hi there.” Congressman Riley greeted you as he stepped into Bucky’s office and you forced yourself to smile at him.

“Hello sir,” you said and turned to Bucky. “Before I forget, Mr. Barnes, I’m afraid I won’t be staying after hours today, but if you need any assistance with the packet, you can contact anyone else on the team.”

“Oh, not this evening I’m afraid, I have this mental health thing I need to attend to,” you said, your voice completely professional. “It was on the calendar, has it escaped your notice?”

He was smart enough to understand what you were referring to.

“I was under the impression we would work on that together.”

“Let the girl go, Barnes,” Congressman Riley joked. “She has a health thing. I can lend you someone from my team for the evening.”

Bucky raised his brows at you, and you smiled at him.

“Have a wonderful day,” you said and walked out of the office, with Brian rushing after you to catch up with you.

“Ma’am?”

“Come on,” you told him. “Time for your tour, I guess.”

*

For the record, you were aware that Brian wasn’t to blame.

The guy, as Kelsey had put it, was kind of adorable. He hung onto your every word, he was excited to be in the Capitol, he was apparently a genius and you could already tell that he was hardworking.

He wasn’t the problem. You were.

Your head was swirling with insecurities, the ones that you knew were nonsense but still couldn’t stop. The idea of not being good at your job, the idea of people seeing your shortcomings such as your inability to cope with stress in the form of a panic attack, the idea of being replaceable; they all made a terrific combination to sink your stomach and fill you with fury.

Did Bucky actually think you weren’t going to be able to focus and do your goddamn job now that you two were dating? Was this his way of letting you down gently and take away your responsibilities one by one, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to recognize what was happening?

Maybe this was the first step of changing your position in the Congress; finding someone that you could teach the ropes, and then putting him where you were.

Your eyes were darting over the same line for what felt like the hundredth time when you heard someone pull the chair across from yours and plop down, making your head shoot up.

“Is this take your kid to work day?” Lucas grinned, jerking his head in Brian’s direction. “Or a school trip?”

You sulked. “Very funny.”

“What is your name, Victorian orphan?”

“I’m Brian.” Brian quickly extended his hand to shake Lucas’s. “It’s an honor, sir. And I graduated college this year actually, but I got accepted when I was sixteen, that’s why I look younger than other interns.”

Lucas turned to you. “Are we breaking any child labor laws by employing him?”

“No sir, I’m nineteen—”

“Don’t take him seriously,” you told Brian. “Brian, this is Lucas. Lucas, Brian is my intern. He’s gonna be uh…around.”

“You’ve got an intern?” Lucas asked with a small laugh. “Whoa, maybe I should apply to work for Barnes. I’ve been begging Gray for an intern for like a year.”

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Brian said breathlessly. “Seriously, I—it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Adorable and a genius.” Lucas pointed at you with his thumb. “Your mentor scared the shit out of an Executive Assistant on her first week, and I’ve seen her bring an adult man to the verge of tears when he tried to pull rank on her. She’s gonna eat you alive, welcome to politics.”

“Again, don’t listen to him.”

Lucas lowered his voice as if he was giving Brian a secret. “There’s a reason we call her Hurricane on Heels.”

“Brian you’re not gonna be calling me that, and Lucas, stop hazing my intern.”

“This brings back memories though,” Lucas said with a smile. “Do you remember your first internship?”

You groaned. “Yep. I still have everyone’s coffee orders memorized.”

“I was summoned to bring condoms to my boss’s place in the middle of the night,” he muttered, making you let out a laugh.

“There was this one time, they sent me to the archive and I had to sort out all the documents in the last decade and put them in chronological order,” you said. “I didn’t go home that weekend, basically showered with my deodorant, and Max—my boyfriend back then— had to bring new clothes to the firm so that I could look presentable on Monday.”

“We’re not gonna do that to you, interns aren’t allowed in the archives,” Lucas motioned at Brian. “You’d better memorize everyone’s coffee orders though. Or condom preferences.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you told him. “You’re here to learn the job, not to be anyone’s butler. If anyone else other than me tries to give you any work, you come and tell me, alright?”

Lucas hummed. “Look at you breaking the trauma chain.”

“It’s no problem, I can—I can bring coffee or…condoms, ma’am,” Brian said, making you grimace.

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that, Brian,” you said while Lucas chuckled. “Neither will anyone else at the office. And stop calling me ma’am.”

Lucas drummed his fingers on the desk. “See, this is why people will vote for you when you run for office, Hurricane. No one will have anything bad to say about you.”

You raised your brows. “I’m not gonna run for office.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been told I don’t look good in pantsuits,” you deadpanned. “Did you see the revisions I sent you?”

“Mm hm. I sent you an email on Sunday, you didn’t get back.”

You licked your lips.

“Yeah my…my phone was acting weird, I had to get it fixed.”

“Here I was thinking you were enjoying your Sunday away from your phone,” he joked and you shot him a look.

“Have you met me?”

“Yep. Exactly why I sent you that email on a Sunday, you workaholic.”

“Takes one to know one, Lucas.”

He leaned back on his chair. “Speaking of work,” he said. “I need your help with something.”

“The clean energy bill?”

“Nope,” he said. “A buddy of mine is working on this Constituent Outreach Packet, I have no idea why Lawrence gave him that but I promised him I’d help him out but it never hurts to have someone else look it over.”

You took a look at your schedule, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Sure.”

“You’re an angel,” Lucas said, letting out a breath. “I’m serious, I’m buying you dinner sometime.”

You scoffed a laugh at the mental image of Bucky hearing that.

“Don’t intimidate my intern and we’ll call it even.” You brushed him off as you grabbed your files and stood up. “Come on Brian. You can sit and observe while we work.” 

                                                 *

Focusing your whole attention on the packets and bills and revisions had worked, at least until you left the Capitol. You had made sure to stay away from Bucky’s way and didn’t drop by the office for the entire day; opting to go straight home instead.

Yet, now that you were alone with your thoughts, you were way too restless. You had tried to distract yourself but nothing helped with the uncomfortable sinking in your stomach, or the spiraling in your mind.

And to make today even more fun, you had a stress headache.

Even though you knew you were being nonsense and that Bucky would never plan to push you out of the picture, that stupid voice in your head refused to shut the fuck up, so here you were, simmering in your bed with your eyes closed in an attempt to soothe the headache. You grimaced when someone knocked on the door and opened it, making you slide deeper into your sheets, pressing your palms on your eyes.

“Caleb, whatever it is, it can wait.”

“We’re gonna have to disagree on that one.” Bucky’s deep voice shot through the quiet room, making you lift your hands from your eyes and sit up straight. Your heartbeat got faster at the sight of his handsome face even though you were still irrationally angry about the intern issue, not even noticing he had his hands behind his back like he was hiding something as you got up from the bed.

“Caleb let you in?”

“Mm hm.”

“Thanks a lot, Brutus!” You called out and heard Caleb’s groan.

“We have been listening to the same Lana Del Rey song for four fucking hours!” he replied. “Enough is enough, I’m like two seconds away from crashing Kelsey’s date just to listen to something else.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Bucky, but before you could say anything he whipped out a bouquet of flowers behind his back and held them out for you.

Oh dear God, you were actually going to melt.

You couldn’t help but smile, but then your head shot up, panic filling your system.

“Bucky, if any journalist saw you at the door with flowers—”

“I didn’t use the front door.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Come again?”

“I climbed up the fire escape.”

“…You climbed up the fire escape as in the old, half broken death trap on the outer wall?” You pointed at the window and he nodded.

“Yeah. We need to do something about those stairs.”

You tried to resist the urge to fling yourself into his arms, pausing for a second before you took the flowers from him.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “They’re very beautiful.”

He offered you a tightlipped smile.

“Birdie…” he started but you walked past him to make your way through the living room to the kitchen, ignoring Caleb sitting by the kitchen island, snacking and working on something on his laptop. Bucky followed you suit, and out of the corner of your eye you could see him exchange glances with Caleb while you rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“Kels brought a vase, where did we put it?”

Caleb pointed at one of the cabinets and grinned. “How come I don’t get flowers, Bucky?”

“The same reason why you don’t have to be here right now,” Bucky said and he frowned.

“Listen, I pay rent so I’m planning on making my money’s worth,” Caleb said as you cut a small part of the stems. “Although, thank you for climbing the fire escape and making my job easier, it would’ve been a bit difficult to explain that pic to the public.”

“Making your job easier was the only thing in my mind,” Bucky deadpanned and Caleb pointed a finger at him.

“Listen here, Congressman Cullen—”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“She didn’t tell you who Edward Cullen is?”

“She only told me about uh— about Pedro Pascal.”

“I still cannot believe you didn’t know Pedro Pascal before us.”

“I’m not good with pop culture, that’s your job.”

You filled the vase with water, put the flowers into it, picked it up and made your way back to your room with Bucky following you, Caleb calling out after you that he would put his earphones on and turn the volume to max just in case you wanted to make up. Bucky shook his head slightly, closing the door behind him as you put the vase on your small desk.

“Can we talk?”

“Depends,” you said. “Will I be talking to my boss or my boyfriend?”

The look in his eyes was almost reprimanding. “Your boyfriend.”

“Terrific,” you pointed out, crossing your arms. “My boss is being an ass.”

“For doing what you and I already agreed to?” he asked. “You gave me no other choice, Birdie.”

“You had a choice,” you protested. “Not hiring an intern, for example.”

“Why are you so against this?”

You opened your mouth then closed it again, your lips pulling into a petulant pout as you glared up at him.

“No seriously,” Bucky insisted. “You didn’t react like this to any of the interns who were helping you out during the campaign. What changed?”

“They weren’t helping me out, they were helping the team.”

“I’ve heard them talk about you giving them work numerous times.”

“Well—it—” You threw your hands up in exasperation. “It was different.”

“How?”

“Would you have done this anyway if you and I weren’t dating?” you asked back, making him frown.

“I told you I would do this before I had any idea you reciprocated.”

Anxiety churned your stomach and you ran a hand over your face, leaning back to the small desk.

“Birdie I’m really trying to understand—”

“Are you replacing me?” you cut him off, unable to keep the question in any longer and Bucky let out a scoff of laugh as if you had made a joke in the middle of a very important argument, but a look of realization dawned on his face upon seeing your expression.

“Jesus,” he said after a pause. “You’re serious.”

“No shit I’m serious, Bucky!” you snapped. “What is the plan here? Is this—like, is this your way of letting me down easy? Like, you’re gonna divide my responsibilities and I’ll have to teach people my job so that it’ll be easier to replace me?”

He gawked at you, seemingly at a loss for words which made it easier for you to rant as you paced in the room.

“You don’t think I can handle the pressure because of that stupid panic attack, or things changed because we’re dating so I’ll have to find my successor for a smooth transition in the office, is that it? Diminish the work I do—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Bucky stopped you. “Sweetheart…”

“I don’t know what influenced that decision, being my boss or being my boyfriend but either way, I can take care of myself, and you can’t be my boyfriend at work, not to mention I was working on my career long before I became your girlfriend—”

“I know that,” he assured you. “That’s not what is happening.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not the 1940s anymore, you know?” he joked, his lips twitching into a teasing smile. “You’re a little old fashioned if you think career and relationship have to be counteractive, get with the modern times.”

“So this is about you thinking I can’t handle it because of the panic attack and trying to replace me, and then you—”

He cut you off by leaning down to kiss you, effectively shutting both you and your mind at the same time. His flesh hand cradled the back of your head while his vibranium arm sneaked around your waist, and you melted into his chest, a sigh leaving your lips when he pulled back. His hand slipped from the back of your head to lift your chin gently, your eyes fluttering open, that familiar daze taking over you again.

“Can I defend myself against that very creative theory?” he asked and you pouted with a frown, forcing yourself to focus.

“So you deny it.”

“Vehemently,” he added and a small chuckle vibrated his chest. “Wait, who do you think I’m replacing you with?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “Brian.”

“So in other words, I’m putting a baby deer into a spaceship cockpit and hoping for the best?”

“He’s a genius—”

“In case it has escaped your attention, so are you darling.”

“I didn’t get accepted into college when I was sixteen though,” you pointed out. “And it doesn’t—it doesn’t have to be Brian. Maybe you’re just dividing my responsibilities until the right candidate comes along.”

He smiled softly. “Or maybe I’d rather resign myself than to replace you?”

You rolled your eyes. “Bucky, I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he told you. “Come on, you know it as well as I do that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“That’s really not true.”

“And the minute you decide to change jobs or quit, I might as well because that won’t work out, and even if it did, I won’t even want to be there. What am I going to do in the Congress if I don’t have you, just hang out?”

“You need to give yourself more credit,” you insisted. “I didn’t win the election, you did.”

“Mm hm. Thanks to whose efforts?”

“The team!”

“The team did a pretty good job but you made the whole thing happen,” he said. “And besides, I don’t…”

You tilted your head when he paused, your anger forgotten. “What?”

“The more time I spend in the Congress, the more I feel like I’m not meant to be there,” he muttered. “Like I’m not meant to be a politician.”

You pulled back a little, your stomach dropping when you remembered your father’s words.

“Bucky…”

“That’s not the point—the point is,” Bucky said, “I didn’t hire Brian to replace you, or undermine you. You know me better than that.”

You couldn’t help but bury your face into his chest just so that you could blink back the tears before he could even see them rushing to your eyes. He nuzzled into your hair, his hand cradling the back of your head again.

“I’m trying to make things easier for you,” he muttered. “Just that, alright? I know you’re very much capable of doing things by yourself, but why did we win the election if you’re still gonna be taking on everything by yourself?”

“So that people will see,” you mumbled into his chest and he hummed.

“People already saw,” he told you. “You’ve proven yourself, sweetheart. You don’t have to go above and beyond, everyone is already impressed.”

You entwined your fingers with his vibranium ones and took a deep breath, his pleasant scent filling your nostrils and soothing the insecurities in your mind almost immediately.

“You should’ve told me,” he said. “Instead of avoiding me all day.”

“I was busy with my intern,” you replied, making him huff out a laugh.

“And the verdict?”

You pulled back a little to look up at him.

“He’s not half bad,” you muttered. “I didn’t even ask you, why did you hire him? I mean, I get that he’s a genius and everything, but why him from all the other resumes?”

“He graduated from the same college as you,” he said. “I figured you’d want to mentor someone whom you have something in common with.”

You could feel a smile warming your face.

“Not to mention, Kelsey said the guy is cute so he’s not gonna be annoying to you,” he added, making you giggle.

“He is cute. Kels does have a point, one look at him and I want to wrap him in a blanket and give him chocolate.”

“See? Not annoying, that’s a plus.”

You bit inside your cheek, then cleared your throat.

“Very well then,” you said. “I can put him on spellcheck duty for now. And maybe content check of references and footnotes in packet drafts.”

“There we go.”

You pursed your lips, rubbing at your eyes with a frown.

“Sorry,” you mumbled. “About this whole thing. I don’t know why but I have this thing, I keep thinking people will say I’m incompetent and my mind spirals and…”

“Anyone who says that about you won’t get to repeat that, it’s a little hard to say things if all their teeth are broken.”

A laugh climbed your throat. “You can’t be my boyfriend at work.”

“As you keep telling me.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve though he was sulking. “That’s the only reason why we wasted time talking about packets yesterday instead of going to a supply closet after the meeting.”

Your eyes widened. “There were other people in the office, Bucky!”

“My point about the supply closet.” He pulled you into a kiss, lifting you off the floor. You let out a squeal that turned into a giggle as you both fell on the bed and he propped himself up on his arm to see you better, the fond light in his eyes making your cheeks burn. His thumb stroked your cheekbone before he pressed his lips to your temple.

“Still quiet?”

You could swear your heart was melting but you managed to nod, then rested your palm on his chest, his strong heartbeat drumming under your hand.

“Still warm?”

You felt him smile.

“Yeah,” he said as you pulled his shirt off his head, his dog tags dangling between you before he leaned down to kiss you, but you grasped the chain of his dog tags, turning your head to look at the door before you gazed up at him.

“We’re not alone though,” you whispered, making him smirk at you.

“Think you can be quiet, beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but grin, then tugged at the chain of his dog tags to pull him into a kiss.

[dreamwritesimagines]

He really is darling! 🥰

Declassified [15] - Whim

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Misunderstandings can create issues.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist

You couldn’t even decide on the exact reason why you were so on edge at this point.

Maybe it was your secret relationship.

Maybe it was the fact that your father, who had half of the Congress in his pocket, had threatened your secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was the fact that you knew if the said relationship came out, you would be torn to pieces.

Or maybe you were drinking too much coffee.

You tried to balance the coffee cup tray on your arm while you checked your emails on your phone with your other hand, humming a song to yourself and making your way down the hallway to Bucky’s office. You quickly typed in your response, rolling your eyes and stepped into the office, then made a beeline to Kelsey’s desk past Tim and Lisa’s.

“Here you go,” you said, putting the tray on her desk so that you could take out her cup of coffee and yours. “Considering you didn’t come home last night, I’m guessing it was a long night.”

“And a fun one,” she said, her gaze drifting to the corner of the room. “Speaking of fun, promise me you won’t overreact.”

You took a sip of your coffee. “Hm?”

“And that you’ll give him a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hi ma’am!” A voice came from the corner of the room, making you look over your shoulder. The young guy at the corner couldn’t be older than twenty and he was holding a file to his chest, an excited smile lighting up his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, I promise you won’t regret it.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Um…hello, who are you?”

“I’m Brian,” he said, rushing to shake your hand but tripping over the strap of his satchel on the floor in the process. “Sorry! Cong—Congressman Barnes hired me to be your intern.”

“He’s adorable, I want to give him chocolate and wrap him in a blanket,” Kelsey commented while you gawked at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Birdie, don’t overreact,” Kelsey reminded you and you took a deep breath, irritation making your jaw clench.

“Excuse me for a moment, Brian,” you said through your teeth and made your way to Bucky’s office, knocked on the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind you. Bucky’s head shot up, a smile pulling at his lips as he stood up.

“Morning darling.”

You had to remind yourself not to melt as he approached you to pull you closer, but you forced yourself to pull back, making him tilt his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?”

“Nope.” You pointed at the door. “You hired an intern for me?”  

Realization dawned on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, before you say no—”

“I am saying no.”

“We talked about this.”

“You talked about this.”

“I gave you two options,” he reminded you. “Time off or this. You chose this.”

“Yeah and we said I’d give the okay!”

“And you didn’t give the okay to any of them,” he said patiently. “I gave you a stack of resumes, you looked me in the eye and pushed them off the desk into the trash can. I’m half convinced Alpine learned that trick from you.”

“So your solution was to—to—” You flailed your arms. “To intern trap me?”

“Intern trap you?”

“It’s like baby trapping me but worse.”

He rubbed his forehead like confusion was giving him a headache. “That’s not a thing—how is that worse?”

“I can follow my parents’ example and give the baby to a goddamn nanny!” You snapped, stomping on your foot. “Who am I gonna give the intern to?”

“No one,” he said. “He’s here to help you with the workload.”

You shook your head. “I don’t need help.”

“I’m not risking another panic attack, sweetheart.”

“I’m not gonna have a panic attack!” you hissed. “I can handle the workload.”

“I’m not saying you can’t—”

“You are saying I can’t!” you insisted. “Assign him to someone else.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, the familiar insecurities churning your stomach again as you scoffed a laugh, pacing in the room.

“Bucky,” you said, trying your hardest to stay calm. “I can’t have people think I’m incompetent—”

“No one is going to think that,” he told you. “There are so many people who have interns.”

“Yeah, incompetent people who can’t do their own jobs!”

“Just give him a chance,” Bucky said. “You might like him. You don’t even have to give him anything to do on his first day, just give him a tour or something.”

“A tour?” you repeated and went to the door to swing it open, then leaned back to the doorframe. “Brian, would you like a tour of the Capitol?”

He nodded his head like an excited puppy. “Yeah!”

“Great.” You pointed at the entrance. “There’s the door, you can just—”

You were cut off when Bucky said your name, the serious tone of his voice making you frown at him, and as if on cue Congressman Riley walked through the entrance.

“Good morning,” he said. “Barnes, you’ve got a moment?”

Bucky stole a look at you, then nodded at him.

“Uh, sure.”

“Hi there.” Congressman Riley greeted you as he stepped into Bucky’s office and you forced yourself to smile at him.

“Hello sir,” you said and turned to Bucky. “Before I forget, Mr. Barnes, I’m afraid I won’t be staying after hours today, but if you need any assistance with the packet, you can contact anyone else on the team.”

“Oh, not this evening I’m afraid, I have this mental health thing I need to attend to,” you said, your voice completely professional. “It was on the calendar, has it escaped your notice?”

He was smart enough to understand what you were referring to.

“I was under the impression we would work on that together.”

“Let the girl go, Barnes,” Congressman Riley joked. “She has a health thing. I can lend you someone from my team for the evening.”

Bucky raised his brows at you, and you smiled at him.

“Have a wonderful day,” you said and walked out of the office, with Brian rushing after you to catch up with you.

“Ma’am?”

“Come on,” you told him. “Time for your tour, I guess.”

*

For the record, you were aware that Brian wasn’t to blame.

The guy, as Kelsey had put it, was kind of adorable. He hung onto your every word, he was excited to be in the Capitol, he was apparently a genius and you could already tell that he was hardworking.

He wasn’t the problem. You were.

Your head was swirling with insecurities, the ones that you knew were nonsense but still couldn’t stop. The idea of not being good at your job, the idea of people seeing your shortcomings such as your inability to cope with stress in the form of a panic attack, the idea of being replaceable; they all made a terrific combination to sink your stomach and fill you with fury.

Did Bucky actually think you weren’t going to be able to focus and do your goddamn job now that you two were dating? Was this his way of letting you down gently and take away your responsibilities one by one, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to recognize what was happening?

Maybe this was the first step of changing your position in the Congress; finding someone that you could teach the ropes, and then putting him where you were.

Your eyes were darting over the same line for what felt like the hundredth time when you heard someone pull the chair across from yours and plop down, making your head shoot up.

“Is this take your kid to work day?” Lucas grinned, jerking his head in Brian’s direction. “Or a school trip?”

You sulked. “Very funny.”

“What is your name, Victorian orphan?”

“I’m Brian.” Brian quickly extended his hand to shake Lucas’s. “It’s an honor, sir. And I graduated college this year actually, but I got accepted when I was sixteen, that’s why I look younger than other interns.”

Lucas turned to you. “Are we breaking any child labor laws by employing him?”

“No sir, I’m nineteen—”

“Don’t take him seriously,” you told Brian. “Brian, this is Lucas. Lucas, Brian is my intern. He’s gonna be uh…around.”

“You’ve got an intern?” Lucas asked with a small laugh. “Whoa, maybe I should apply to work for Barnes. I’ve been begging Gray for an intern for like a year.”

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Brian said breathlessly. “Seriously, I—it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Adorable and a genius.” Lucas pointed at you with his thumb. “Your mentor scared the shit out of an Executive Assistant on her first week, and I’ve seen her bring an adult man to the verge of tears when he tried to pull rank on her. She’s gonna eat you alive, welcome to politics.”

“Again, don’t listen to him.”

Lucas lowered his voice as if he was giving Brian a secret. “There’s a reason we call her Hurricane on Heels.”

“Brian you’re not gonna be calling me that, and Lucas, stop hazing my intern.”

“This brings back memories though,” Lucas said with a smile. “Do you remember your first internship?”

You groaned. “Yep. I still have everyone’s coffee orders memorized.”

“I was summoned to bring condoms to my boss’s place in the middle of the night,” he muttered, making you let out a laugh.

“There was this one time, they sent me to the archive and I had to sort out all the documents in the last decade and put them in chronological order,” you said. “I didn’t go home that weekend, basically showered with my deodorant, and Max—my boyfriend back then— had to bring new clothes to the firm so that I could look presentable on Monday.”

“We’re not gonna do that to you, interns aren’t allowed in the archives,” Lucas motioned at Brian. “You’d better memorize everyone’s coffee orders though. Or condom preferences.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you told him. “You’re here to learn the job, not to be anyone’s butler. If anyone else other than me tries to give you any work, you come and tell me, alright?”

Lucas hummed. “Look at you breaking the trauma chain.”

“It’s no problem, I can—I can bring coffee or…condoms, ma’am,” Brian said, making you grimace.

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that, Brian,” you said while Lucas chuckled. “Neither will anyone else at the office. And stop calling me ma’am.”

Lucas drummed his fingers on the desk. “See, this is why people will vote for you when you run for office, Hurricane. No one will have anything bad to say about you.”

You raised your brows. “I’m not gonna run for office.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been told I don’t look good in pantsuits,” you deadpanned. “Did you see the revisions I sent you?”

“Mm hm. I sent you an email on Sunday, you didn’t get back.”

You licked your lips.

“Yeah my…my phone was acting weird, I had to get it fixed.”

“Here I was thinking you were enjoying your Sunday away from your phone,” he joked and you shot him a look.

“Have you met me?”

“Yep. Exactly why I sent you that email on a Sunday, you workaholic.”

“Takes one to know one, Lucas.”

He leaned back on his chair. “Speaking of work,” he said. “I need your help with something.”

“The clean energy bill?”

“Nope,” he said. “A buddy of mine is working on this Constituent Outreach Packet, I have no idea why Lawrence gave him that but I promised him I’d help him out but it never hurts to have someone else look it over.”

You took a look at your schedule, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Sure.”

“You’re an angel,” Lucas said, letting out a breath. “I’m serious, I’m buying you dinner sometime.”

You scoffed a laugh at the mental image of Bucky hearing that.

“Don’t intimidate my intern and we’ll call it even.” You brushed him off as you grabbed your files and stood up. “Come on Brian. You can sit and observe while we work.” 

                                                 *

Focusing your whole attention on the packets and bills and revisions had worked, at least until you left the Capitol. You had made sure to stay away from Bucky’s way and didn’t drop by the office for the entire day; opting to go straight home instead.

Yet, now that you were alone with your thoughts, you were way too restless. You had tried to distract yourself but nothing helped with the uncomfortable sinking in your stomach, or the spiraling in your mind.

And to make today even more fun, you had a stress headache.

Even though you knew you were being nonsense and that Bucky would never plan to push you out of the picture, that stupid voice in your head refused to shut the fuck up, so here you were, simmering in your bed with your eyes closed in an attempt to soothe the headache. You grimaced when someone knocked on the door and opened it, making you slide deeper into your sheets, pressing your palms on your eyes.

“Caleb, whatever it is, it can wait.”

“We’re gonna have to disagree on that one.” Bucky’s deep voice shot through the quiet room, making you lift your hands from your eyes and sit up straight. Your heartbeat got faster at the sight of his handsome face even though you were still irrationally angry about the intern issue, not even noticing he had his hands behind his back like he was hiding something as you got up from the bed.

“Caleb let you in?”

“Mm hm.”

“Thanks a lot, Brutus!” You called out and heard Caleb’s groan.

“We have been listening to the same Lana Del Rey song for four fucking hours!” he replied. “Enough is enough, I’m like two seconds away from crashing Kelsey’s date just to listen to something else.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Bucky, but before you could say anything he whipped out a bouquet of flowers behind his back and held them out for you.

Oh dear God, you were actually going to melt.

You couldn’t help but smile, but then your head shot up, panic filling your system.

“Bucky, if any journalist saw you at the door with flowers—”

“I didn’t use the front door.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Come again?”

“I climbed up the fire escape.”

“…You climbed up the fire escape as in the old, half broken death trap on the outer wall?” You pointed at the window and he nodded.

“Yeah. We need to do something about those stairs.”

You tried to resist the urge to fling yourself into his arms, pausing for a second before you took the flowers from him.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “They’re very beautiful.”

He offered you a tightlipped smile.

“Birdie…” he started but you walked past him to make your way through the living room to the kitchen, ignoring Caleb sitting by the kitchen island, snacking and working on something on his laptop. Bucky followed you suit, and out of the corner of your eye you could see him exchange glances with Caleb while you rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“Kels brought a vase, where did we put it?”

Caleb pointed at one of the cabinets and grinned. “How come I don’t get flowers, Bucky?”

“The same reason why you don’t have to be here right now,” Bucky said and he frowned.

“Listen, I pay rent so I’m planning on making my money’s worth,” Caleb said as you cut a small part of the stems. “Although, thank you for climbing the fire escape and making my job easier, it would’ve been a bit difficult to explain that pic to the public.”

“Making your job easier was the only thing in my mind,” Bucky deadpanned and Caleb pointed a finger at him.

“Listen here, Congressman Cullen—”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“She didn’t tell you who Edward Cullen is?”

“She only told me about uh— about Pedro Pascal.”

“I still cannot believe you didn’t know Pedro Pascal before us.”

“I’m not good with pop culture, that’s your job.”

You filled the vase with water, put the flowers into it, picked it up and made your way back to your room with Bucky following you, Caleb calling out after you that he would put his earphones on and turn the volume to max just in case you wanted to make up. Bucky shook his head slightly, closing the door behind him as you put the vase on your small desk.

“Can we talk?”

“Depends,” you said. “Will I be talking to my boss or my boyfriend?”

The look in his eyes was almost reprimanding. “Your boyfriend.”

“Terrific,” you pointed out, crossing your arms. “My boss is being an ass.”

“For doing what you and I already agreed to?” he asked. “You gave me no other choice, Birdie.”

“You had a choice,” you protested. “Not hiring an intern, for example.”

“Why are you so against this?”

You opened your mouth then closed it again, your lips pulling into a petulant pout as you glared up at him.

“No seriously,” Bucky insisted. “You didn’t react like this to any of the interns who were helping you out during the campaign. What changed?”

“They weren’t helping me out, they were helping the team.”

“I’ve heard them talk about you giving them work numerous times.”

“Well—it—” You threw your hands up in exasperation. “It was different.”

“How?”

“Would you have done this anyway if you and I weren’t dating?” you asked back, making him frown.

“I told you I would do this before I had any idea you reciprocated.”

Anxiety churned your stomach and you ran a hand over your face, leaning back to the small desk.

“Birdie I’m really trying to understand—”

“Are you replacing me?” you cut him off, unable to keep the question in any longer and Bucky let out a scoff of laugh as if you had made a joke in the middle of a very important argument, but a look of realization dawned on his face upon seeing your expression.

“Jesus,” he said after a pause. “You’re serious.”

“No shit I’m serious, Bucky!” you snapped. “What is the plan here? Is this—like, is this your way of letting me down easy? Like, you’re gonna divide my responsibilities and I’ll have to teach people my job so that it’ll be easier to replace me?”

He gawked at you, seemingly at a loss for words which made it easier for you to rant as you paced in the room.

“You don’t think I can handle the pressure because of that stupid panic attack, or things changed because we’re dating so I’ll have to find my successor for a smooth transition in the office, is that it? Diminish the work I do—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Bucky stopped you. “Sweetheart…”

“I don’t know what influenced that decision, being my boss or being my boyfriend but either way, I can take care of myself, and you can’t be my boyfriend at work, not to mention I was working on my career long before I became your girlfriend—”

“I know that,” he assured you. “That’s not what is happening.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not the 1940s anymore, you know?” he joked, his lips twitching into a teasing smile. “You’re a little old fashioned if you think career and relationship have to be counteractive, get with the modern times.”

“So this is about you thinking I can’t handle it because of the panic attack and trying to replace me, and then you—”

He cut you off by leaning down to kiss you, effectively shutting both you and your mind at the same time. His flesh hand cradled the back of your head while his vibranium arm sneaked around your waist, and you melted into his chest, a sigh leaving your lips when he pulled back. His hand slipped from the back of your head to lift your chin gently, your eyes fluttering open, that familiar daze taking over you again.

“Can I defend myself against that very creative theory?” he asked and you pouted with a frown, forcing yourself to focus.

“So you deny it.”

“Vehemently,” he added and a small chuckle vibrated his chest. “Wait, who do you think I’m replacing you with?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “Brian.”

“So in other words, I’m putting a baby deer into a spaceship cockpit and hoping for the best?”

“He’s a genius—”

“In case it has escaped your attention, so are you darling.”

“I didn’t get accepted into college when I was sixteen though,” you pointed out. “And it doesn’t—it doesn’t have to be Brian. Maybe you’re just dividing my responsibilities until the right candidate comes along.”

He smiled softly. “Or maybe I’d rather resign myself than to replace you?”

You rolled your eyes. “Bucky, I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he told you. “Come on, you know it as well as I do that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“That’s really not true.”

“And the minute you decide to change jobs or quit, I might as well because that won’t work out, and even if it did, I won’t even want to be there. What am I going to do in the Congress if I don’t have you, just hang out?”

“You need to give yourself more credit,” you insisted. “I didn’t win the election, you did.”

“Mm hm. Thanks to whose efforts?”

“The team!”

“The team did a pretty good job but you made the whole thing happen,” he said. “And besides, I don’t…”

You tilted your head when he paused, your anger forgotten. “What?”

“The more time I spend in the Congress, the more I feel like I’m not meant to be there,” he muttered. “Like I’m not meant to be a politician.”

You pulled back a little, your stomach dropping when you remembered your father’s words.

“Bucky…”

“That’s not the point—the point is,” Bucky said, “I didn’t hire Brian to replace you, or undermine you. You know me better than that.”

You couldn’t help but bury your face into his chest just so that you could blink back the tears before he could even see them rushing to your eyes. He nuzzled into your hair, his hand cradling the back of your head again.

“I’m trying to make things easier for you,” he muttered. “Just that, alright? I know you’re very much capable of doing things by yourself, but why did we win the election if you’re still gonna be taking on everything by yourself?”

“So that people will see,” you mumbled into his chest and he hummed.

“People already saw,” he told you. “You’ve proven yourself, sweetheart. You don’t have to go above and beyond, everyone is already impressed.”

You entwined your fingers with his vibranium ones and took a deep breath, his pleasant scent filling your nostrils and soothing the insecurities in your mind almost immediately.

“You should���ve told me,” he said. “Instead of avoiding me all day.”

“I was busy with my intern,” you replied, making him huff out a laugh.

“And the verdict?”

You pulled back a little to look up at him.

“He’s not half bad,” you muttered. “I didn’t even ask you, why did you hire him? I mean, I get that he’s a genius and everything, but why him from all the other resumes?”

“He graduated from the same college as you,” he said. “I figured you’d want to mentor someone whom you have something in common with.”

You could feel a smile warming your face.

“Not to mention, Kelsey said the guy is cute so he’s not gonna be annoying to you,” he added, making you giggle.

“He is cute. Kels does have a point, one look at him and I want to wrap him in a blanket and give him chocolate.”

“See? Not annoying, that’s a plus.”

You bit inside your cheek, then cleared your throat.

“Very well then,” you said. “I can put him on spellcheck duty for now. And maybe content check of references and footnotes in packet drafts.”

“There we go.”

You pursed your lips, rubbing at your eyes with a frown.

“Sorry,” you mumbled. “About this whole thing. I don’t know why but I have this thing, I keep thinking people will say I’m incompetent and my mind spirals and…”

“Anyone who says that about you won’t get to repeat that, it’s a little hard to say things if all their teeth are broken.”

A laugh climbed your throat. “You can’t be my boyfriend at work.”

“As you keep telling me.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve though he was sulking. “That’s the only reason why we wasted time talking about packets yesterday instead of going to a supply closet after the meeting.”

Your eyes widened. “There were other people in the office, Bucky!”

“My point about the supply closet.” He pulled you into a kiss, lifting you off the floor. You let out a squeal that turned into a giggle as you both fell on the bed and he propped himself up on his arm to see you better, the fond light in his eyes making your cheeks burn. His thumb stroked your cheekbone before he pressed his lips to your temple.

“Still quiet?”

You could swear your heart was melting but you managed to nod, then rested your palm on his chest, his strong heartbeat drumming under your hand.

“Still warm?”

You felt him smile.

“Yeah,” he said as you pulled his shirt off his head, his dog tags dangling between you before he leaned down to kiss you, but you grasped the chain of his dog tags, turning your head to look at the door before you gazed up at him.

“We’re not alone though,” you whispered, making him smirk at you.

“Think you can be quiet, beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but grin, then tugged at the chain of his dog tags to pull him into a kiss.

[dreamwritesimagines]

New chapter is coming on Sunday! 🩷

Declassified 16 - Sneak Peek

Series Masterlist

“We’re having pancakes? Awesome!”

“Okay, to repeat; I’m making pancakes for my girlfriend, not you two.”

“So what, we don’t get pancakes because we’re not dating you? That’s illegal or something.”

“It really isn’t—” He heaved a sigh in defeat when you pulled your brows together to shoot him a pleading look. “Fine. Sit down Kelsey.”

“Kels, do you want coffee?”

“Yes please!” she said and jumped to sit on the stool next to you. “Morning Birdie.”

“Morning Kels.”

“I can’t wait until you’re president and I can write about this in my memoir,” Kelsey told Bucky while he put the pancake on your plate to give it to you, then grabbed two other plates and poured more pancake mix on the pan.

“I’m not gonna run for president, and you’re not writing a memoir.”

“His hair was tousled because of last night’s activities,” Kelsey mused while Caleb chuckled and put Kelsey’s coffee mug in front of her, then sipped his own. “The tormented look in his eyes seemed calmer now, as if the morning came with—”

“Tormented look in my eyes?”

“Shush, Bucky—as if the morning came with promises of peace. As he walked around the kitchen, half naked…”

“I’m fully clothed,” Bucky defended himself gesturing at his shirt and jeans, and Caleb shook his head.

“Artistic license. Sex sells. Keep going Kels.”

You covered the giggle threatening to escape you by clearing your throat, and dug into your pancakes.

“The tattoo on his back—”

“I don’t have tattoos.”

“And whose fault is that?” she retorted. “The tattoo on his back caught my attention, and he turned around as if he was taken aback—”

“Please stop narrating me,” Bucky said, putting her plate in front of her and she grinned up at him.

“Only because you asked nicely.”

You pointed at Kelsey with your fork. “That would be a bestseller.”

“Stop encouraging her, Birdie.”

“I’m a supportive friend!”

[dreamwritesimagines]

I love everything you do! Your writing and your stories brighten my life! Thank you for being you and for the wonderful works you write. 💗💗💗

Omg loveee you are so incredibly sweet, thank you so much for this🩷 I really needed to hear this today🩷🩷

[dreamwritesimagines]

poor bucky, caleb and kelsey are gonna have sm fun w him

Asfhjl oh they really will😂 They went from "He's the legendary Winter Soldier" to "He's our boss" to "He's our best friend's bf and we have the right to mess with him" 😂

[dreamwritesimagines]

Aw honeyyyy thank youuuu🥰

Declassified [15] - Whim

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Misunderstandings can create issues.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist

You couldn’t even decide on the exact reason why you were so on edge at this point.

Maybe it was your secret relationship.

Maybe it was the fact that your father, who had half of the Congress in his pocket, had threatened your secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was the fact that you knew if the said relationship came out, you would be torn to pieces.

Or maybe you were drinking too much coffee.

You tried to balance the coffee cup tray on your arm while you checked your emails on your phone with your other hand, humming a song to yourself and making your way down the hallway to Bucky’s office. You quickly typed in your response, rolling your eyes and stepped into the office, then made a beeline to Kelsey’s desk past Tim and Lisa’s.

“Here you go,” you said, putting the tray on her desk so that you could take out her cup of coffee and yours. “Considering you didn’t come home last night, I’m guessing it was a long night.”

“And a fun one,” she said, her gaze drifting to the corner of the room. “Speaking of fun, promise me you won’t overreact.”

You took a sip of your coffee. “Hm?”

“And that you’ll give him a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hi ma’am!” A voice came from the corner of the room, making you look over your shoulder. The young guy at the corner couldn’t be older than twenty and he was holding a file to his chest, an excited smile lighting up his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, I promise you won’t regret it.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Um…hello, who are you?”

“I’m Brian,” he said, rushing to shake your hand but tripping over the strap of his satchel on the floor in the process. “Sorry! Cong—Congressman Barnes hired me to be your intern.”

“He’s adorable, I want to give him chocolate and wrap him in a blanket,” Kelsey commented while you gawked at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Birdie, don’t overreact,” Kelsey reminded you and you took a deep breath, irritation making your jaw clench.

“Excuse me for a moment, Brian,” you said through your teeth and made your way to Bucky’s office, knocked on the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind you. Bucky’s head shot up, a smile pulling at his lips as he stood up.

“Morning darling.”

You had to remind yourself not to melt as he approached you to pull you closer, but you forced yourself to pull back, making him tilt his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?”

“Nope.” You pointed at the door. “You hired an intern for me?”  

Realization dawned on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, before you say no—”

“I am saying no.”

“We talked about this.”

“You talked about this.”

“I gave you two options,” he reminded you. “Time off or this. You chose this.”

“Yeah and we said I’d give the okay!”

“And you didn’t give the okay to any of them,” he said patiently. “I gave you a stack of resumes, you looked me in the eye and pushed them off the desk into the trash can. I’m half convinced Alpine learned that trick from you.”

“So your solution was to—to—” You flailed your arms. “To intern trap me?”

“Intern trap you?”

“It’s like baby trapping me but worse.”

He rubbed his forehead like confusion was giving him a headache. “That’s not a thing—how is that worse?”

“I can follow my parents’ example and give the baby to a goddamn nanny!” You snapped, stomping on your foot. “Who am I gonna give the intern to?”

“No one,” he said. “He’s here to help you with the workload.”

You shook your head. “I don’t need help.”

“I’m not risking another panic attack, sweetheart.”

“I’m not gonna have a panic attack!” you hissed. “I can handle the workload.”

“I’m not saying you can’t—”

“You are saying I can’t!” you insisted. “Assign him to someone else.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, the familiar insecurities churning your stomach again as you scoffed a laugh, pacing in the room.

“Bucky,” you said, trying your hardest to stay calm. “I can’t have people think I’m incompetent—”

“No one is going to think that,” he told you. “There are so many people who have interns.”

“Yeah, incompetent people who can’t do their own jobs!”

“Just give him a chance,” Bucky said. “You might like him. You don’t even have to give him anything to do on his first day, just give him a tour or something.”

“A tour?” you repeated and went to the door to swing it open, then leaned back to the doorframe. “Brian, would you like a tour of the Capitol?”

He nodded his head like an excited puppy. “Yeah!”

“Great.” You pointed at the entrance. “There’s the door, you can just—”

You were cut off when Bucky said your name, the serious tone of his voice making you frown at him, and as if on cue Congressman Riley walked through the entrance.

“Good morning,” he said. “Barnes, you’ve got a moment?”

Bucky stole a look at you, then nodded at him.

“Uh, sure.”

“Hi there.” Congressman Riley greeted you as he stepped into Bucky’s office and you forced yourself to smile at him.

“Hello sir,” you said and turned to Bucky. “Before I forget, Mr. Barnes, I’m afraid I won’t be staying after hours today, but if you need any assistance with the packet, you can contact anyone else on the team.”

He was smart enough to understand what you were referring to and he blinked a couple of times. “I was under the impression we would work on that together.”

“Oh, not this evening I’m afraid, I have this mental health thing I need to attend to,” you said, your voice completely professional. “It was on the calendar, has it escaped your notice?”

“Let the girl go, Barnes,” Congressman Riley joked. “She has a health thing. I can lend you someone from my team for the evening.”

Bucky raised his brows at you, and you smiled at him.

“Have a wonderful day,” you said and walked out of the office, with Brian rushing after you to catch up with you.

“Ma’am?”

“Come on,” you told him. “Time for your tour, I guess.”

*

For the record, you were aware that Brian wasn’t to blame.

The guy, as Kelsey had put it, was kind of adorable. He hung onto your every word, he was excited to be in the Capitol, he was apparently a genius and you could already tell that he was hardworking.

He wasn’t the problem. You were.

Your head was swirling with insecurities, the ones that you knew were nonsense but still couldn’t stop. The idea of not being good at your job, the idea of people seeing your shortcomings such as your inability to cope with stress in the form of a panic attack, the idea of being replaceable; they all made a terrific combination to sink your stomach and fill you with fury.

Did Bucky actually think you weren’t going to be able to focus and do your goddamn job now that you two were dating? Was this his way of letting you down gently and take away your responsibilities one by one, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to recognize what was happening?

Maybe this was the first step of changing your position in the Congress; finding someone that you could teach the ropes, and then putting him where you were.

Your eyes were darting over the same line for what felt like the hundredth time when you heard someone pull the chair across from yours and plop down, making your head shoot up.

“Is this take your kid to work day?” Lucas grinned, jerking his head in Brian’s direction. “Or a school trip?”

You sulked. “Very funny.”

“What is your name, Victorian orphan?”

“I’m Brian.” Brian quickly extended his hand to shake Lucas’s. “It’s an honor, sir. And I graduated college this year actually, but I got accepted when I was sixteen, that’s why I look younger than other interns.”

Lucas turned to you. “Are we breaking any child labor laws by employing him?”

“No sir, I’m nineteen—”

“Don’t take him seriously,” you told Brian. “Brian, this is Lucas. Lucas, Brian is my intern. He’s gonna be uh…around.”

“You’ve got an intern?” Lucas asked with a small laugh. “Whoa, maybe I should apply to work for Barnes. I’ve been begging Gray for an intern for like a year.”

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Brian said breathlessly. “Seriously, I—it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Adorable and a genius.” Lucas pointed at you with his thumb. “Your mentor scared the shit out of an Executive Assistant on her first week, and I’ve seen her bring an adult man to the verge of tears when he tried to pull rank on her. She’s gonna eat you alive, welcome to politics.”

“Again, don’t listen to him.”

Lucas lowered his voice as if he was giving Brian a secret. “There’s a reason we call her Hurricane on Heels.”

“Brian you’re not gonna be calling me that, and Lucas, stop hazing my intern.”

“This brings back memories though,” Lucas said with a smile. “Do you remember your first internship?”

You groaned. “Yep. I still have everyone’s coffee orders memorized.”

“I was summoned to bring condoms to my boss’s place in the middle of the night,” he muttered, making you let out a laugh.

“There was this one time, they sent me to the archive and I had to sort out all the documents in the last decade and put them in chronological order,” you said. “I didn’t go home that weekend, basically showered with my deodorant, and Max—my boyfriend back then— had to bring new clothes to the firm so that I could look presentable on Monday.”

“We’re not gonna do that to you, interns aren’t allowed in the archives,” Lucas motioned at Brian. “You’d better memorize everyone’s coffee orders though. Or condom preferences.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you told him. “You’re here to learn the job, not to be anyone’s butler. If anyone else other than me tries to give you any work, you come and tell me, alright?”

Lucas hummed. “Look at you breaking the trauma chain.”

“It’s no problem, I can—I can bring coffee or…condoms, ma’am,” Brian said, making you grimace.

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that, Brian,” you said while Lucas chuckled. “Neither will anyone else at the office. And stop calling me ma’am.”

Lucas drummed his fingers on the desk. “See, this is why people will vote for you when you run for office, Hurricane. No one will have anything bad to say about you.”

You raised your brows. “I’m not gonna run for office.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been told I don’t look good in pantsuits,” you deadpanned. “Did you see the revisions I sent you?”

“Mm hm. I sent you an email on Sunday, you didn’t get back.”

You licked your lips.

“Yeah my…my phone was acting weird, I had to get it fixed.”

“Here I was thinking you were enjoying your Sunday away from your phone,” he joked and you shot him a look.

“Have you met me?”

“Yep. Exactly why I sent you that email on a Sunday, you workaholic.”

“Takes one to know one, Lucas.”

He leaned back on his chair. “Speaking of work,” he said. “I need your help with something.”

“The clean energy bill?”

“Nope,” he said. “A buddy of mine is working on this Constituent Outreach Packet, I have no idea why Lawrence gave him that but I promised him I’d help him out but it never hurts to have someone else look it over.”

You took a look at your schedule, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Sure.”

“You’re an angel,” Lucas said, letting out a breath. “I’m serious, I’m buying you dinner sometime.”

You scoffed a laugh at the mental image of Bucky hearing that.

“Don’t intimidate my intern and we’ll call it even.” You brushed him off as you grabbed your files and stood up. “Come on Brian. You can sit and observe while we work.” 

                                                 *

Focusing your whole attention on the packets and bills and revisions had worked, at least until you left the Capitol. You had made sure to stay away from Bucky’s way and didn’t drop by the office for the entire day; opting to go straight home instead.

Yet, now that you were alone with your thoughts, you were way too restless. You had tried to distract yourself but nothing helped with the uncomfortable sinking in your stomach, or the spiraling in your mind.

And to make today even more fun, you had a stress headache.

Even though you knew you were being nonsense and that Bucky would never plan to push you out of the picture, that stupid voice in your head refused to shut the fuck up, so here you were, simmering in your bed with your eyes closed in an attempt to soothe the headache. You grimaced when someone knocked on the door and opened it, making you slide deeper into your sheets, pressing your palms on your eyes.

“Caleb, whatever it is, it can wait.”

“We’re gonna have to disagree on that one.” Bucky’s deep voice shot through the quiet room, making you lift your hands from your eyes and sit up straight. Your heartbeat got faster at the sight of his handsome face even though you were still irrationally angry about the intern issue, not even noticing he had his hands behind his back like he was hiding something as you got up from the bed.

“Caleb let you in?”

“Mm hm.”

“Thanks a lot, Brutus!” You called out and heard Caleb’s groan.

“We have been listening to the same Lana Del Rey song for four fucking hours!” he replied. “Enough is enough, I’m like two seconds away from crashing Kelsey’s date just to listen to something else.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Bucky, but before you could say anything he whipped out a bouquet of flowers behind his back and held them out for you.

Oh dear God, you were actually going to melt.

You couldn’t help but smile, but then your head shot up, panic filling your system.

“Bucky, if any journalist saw you at the door with flowers—”

“I didn’t use the front door.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Come again?”

“I climbed up the fire escape.”

“…You climbed up the fire escape as in the old, half broken death trap on the outer wall?” You pointed at the window and he nodded.

“Yeah. We need to do something about those stairs.”

You tried to resist the urge to fling yourself into his arms, pausing for a second before you took the flowers from him.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “They’re very beautiful.”

He offered you a tightlipped smile.

“Birdie…” he started but you walked past him to make your way through the living room to the kitchen, ignoring Caleb sitting by the kitchen island, snacking and working on something on his laptop. Bucky followed you suit, and out of the corner of your eye you could see him exchange glances with Caleb while you rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“Kels brought a vase, where did we put it?”

Caleb pointed at one of the cabinets and grinned. “How come I don’t get flowers, Bucky?”

“The same reason why you don’t have to be here right now,” Bucky said and he frowned.

“Listen, I pay rent so I’m planning on making my money’s worth,” Caleb said as you cut a small part of the stems. “Although, thank you for climbing the fire escape and making my job easier, it would’ve been a bit difficult to explain that pic to the public.”

“Making your job easier was the only thing in my mind,” Bucky deadpanned and Caleb pointed a finger at him.

“Listen here, Congressman Cullen—”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“She didn’t tell you who Edward Cullen is?”

“She only told me about uh— about Pedro Pascal.”

“I still cannot believe you didn’t know Pedro Pascal before us.”

“I’m not good with pop culture, that’s your job.”

You filled the vase with water, put the flowers into it, picked it up and made your way back to your room with Bucky following you, Caleb calling out after you that he would put his earphones on and turn the volume to max just in case you wanted to make up. Bucky shook his head slightly, closing the door behind him as you put the vase on your small desk.

“Can we talk?”

“Depends,” you said. “Will I be talking to my boss or my boyfriend?”

The look in his eyes was almost reprimanding. “Your boyfriend.”

“Terrific,” you pointed out, crossing your arms. “My boss is being an ass.”

“For doing what you and I already agreed to?” he asked. “You gave me no other choice, Birdie.”

“You had a choice,” you protested. “Not hiring an intern, for example.”

“Why are you so against this?”

You opened your mouth then closed it again, your lips pulling into a petulant pout as you glared up at him.

“No seriously,” Bucky insisted. “You didn’t react like this to any of the interns who were helping you out during the campaign. What changed?”

“They weren’t helping me out, they were helping the team.”

“I’ve heard them talk about you giving them work numerous times.”

“Well—it—” You threw your hands up in exasperation. “It was different.”

“How?”

“Would you have done this anyway if you and I weren’t dating?” you asked back, making him frown.

“I told you I would do this before I had any idea you reciprocated.”

Anxiety churned your stomach and you ran a hand over your face, leaning back to the small desk.

“Birdie I’m really trying to understand—”

“Are you replacing me?” you cut him off, unable to keep the question in any longer and Bucky let out a scoff of laugh as if you had made a joke in the middle of a very important argument, but a look of realization dawned on his face upon seeing your expression.

“Jesus,” he said after a pause. “You’re serious.”

“No shit I’m serious, Bucky!” you snapped. “What is the plan here? Is this—like, is this your way of letting me down easy? Like, you’re gonna divide my responsibilities and I’ll have to teach people my job so that it’ll be easier to replace me?”

He gawked at you, seemingly at a loss for words which made it easier for you to rant as you paced in the room.

“You don’t think I can handle the pressure because of that stupid panic attack, or things changed because we’re dating so I’ll have to find my successor for a smooth transition in the office, is that it? Diminish the work I do—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Bucky stopped you. “Sweetheart…”

“I don’t know what influenced that decision, being my boss or being my boyfriend but either way, I can take care of myself, and you can’t be my boyfriend at work, not to mention I was working on my career long before I became your girlfriend—”

“I know that,” he assured you. “That’s not what is happening.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not the 1940s anymore, you know?” he joked, his lips twitching into a teasing smile. “You’re a little old fashioned if you think career and relationship have to be counteractive, get with the modern times.”

“So this is about you thinking I can’t handle it because of the panic attack and trying to replace me, and then you—”

He cut you off by leaning down to kiss you, effectively shutting both you and your mind at the same time. His flesh hand cradled the back of your head while his vibranium arm sneaked around your waist, and you melted into his chest, a sigh leaving your lips when he pulled back. His hand slipped from the back of your head to lift your chin gently, your eyes fluttering open, that familiar daze taking over you again.

“Can I defend myself against that very creative theory?” he asked and you pouted with a frown, forcing yourself to focus.

“So you deny it.”

“Vehemently,” he added and a small chuckle vibrated his chest. “Wait, who do you think I’m replacing you with?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “Brian.”

“So in other words, I’m putting a baby deer into a spaceship cockpit and hoping for the best?”

“He’s a genius—”

“In case it has escaped your attention, so are you darling.”

“I didn’t get accepted into college when I was sixteen though,” you pointed out. “And it doesn’t—it doesn’t have to be Brian. Maybe you’re just dividing my responsibilities until the right candidate comes along.”

He smiled softly. “Or maybe I’d rather resign myself than to replace you?”

You rolled your eyes. “Bucky, I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he told you. “Come on, you know it as well as I do that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“That’s really not true.”

“And the minute you decide to change jobs or quit, I might as well because that won’t work out, and even if it did, I won’t even want to be there. What am I going to do in the Congress if I don’t have you, just hang out?”

“You need to give yourself more credit,” you insisted. “I didn’t win the election, you did.”

“Mm hm. Thanks to whose efforts?”

“The team!”

“The team did a pretty good job but you made the whole thing happen,” he said. “And besides, I don’t…”

You tilted your head when he paused, your anger forgotten. “What?”

“The more time I spend in the Congress, the more I feel like I’m not meant to be there,” he muttered. “Like I’m not meant to be a politician.”

You pulled back a little, your stomach dropping when you remembered your father’s words.

“Bucky…”

“That’s not the point—the point is,” Bucky said, “I didn’t hire Brian to replace you, or undermine you. You know me better than that.”

You couldn’t help but bury your face into his chest just so that you could blink back the tears before he could even see them rushing to your eyes. He nuzzled into your hair, his hand cradling the back of your head again.

“I’m trying to make things easier for you,” he muttered. “Just that, alright? I know you’re very much capable of doing things by yourself, but why did we win the election if you’re still gonna be taking on everything by yourself?”

“So that people will see,” you mumbled into his chest and he hummed.

“People already saw,” he told you. “You’ve proven yourself, sweetheart. You don’t have to go above and beyond, everyone is already impressed.”

You entwined your fingers with his vibranium ones and took a deep breath, his pleasant scent filling your nostrils and soothing the insecurities in your mind almost immediately.

“You should’ve told me,” he said. “Instead of avoiding me all day.”

“I was busy with my intern,” you replied, making him huff out a laugh.

“And the verdict?”

You pulled back a little to look up at him.

“He’s not half bad,” you muttered. “I didn’t even ask you, why did you hire him? I mean, I get that he’s a genius and everything, but why him from all the other resumes?”

“He graduated from the same college as you,” he said. “I figured you’d want to mentor someone whom you have something in common with.”

You could feel a smile warming your face.

“Not to mention, Kelsey said the guy is cute so he’s not gonna be annoying to you,” he added, making you giggle.

“He is cute. Kels does have a point, one look at him and I want to wrap him in a blanket and give him chocolate.”

“See? Not annoying, that’s a plus.”

You bit inside your cheek, then cleared your throat.

“Very well then,” you said. “I can put him on spellcheck duty for now. And maybe content check of references and footnotes in packet drafts.”

“There we go.”

You pursed your lips, rubbing at your eyes with a frown.

“Sorry,” you mumbled. “About this whole thing. I don’t know why but I have this thing, I keep thinking people will say I’m incompetent and my mind spirals and…”

“Anyone who says that about you won’t get to repeat that, it’s a little hard to say things if all their teeth are broken.”

A laugh climbed your throat. “You can’t be my boyfriend at work.”

“As you keep telling me.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve though he was sulking. “That’s the only reason why we wasted time talking about packets yesterday instead of going to a supply closet after the meeting.”

Your eyes widened. “There were other people in the office, Bucky!”

“My point about the supply closet.” He pulled you into a kiss, lifting you off the floor. You let out a squeal that turned into a giggle as you both fell on the bed and he propped himself up on his arm to see you better, the fond light in his eyes making your cheeks burn. His thumb stroked your cheekbone before he pressed his lips to your temple.

“Still quiet?”

You could swear your heart was melting but you managed to nod, then rested your palm on his chest, his strong heartbeat drumming under your hand.

“Still warm?”

You felt him smile.

“Yeah,” he said as you pulled his shirt off his head, his dog tags dangling between you before he leaned down to kiss you, but you grasped the chain of his dog tags, turning your head to look at the door before gazing up at him.

“We’re not alone though,” you whispered, making him smirk at you.

“Think you can be quiet, beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but grin, then tugged at the chain of his dog tags to pull him into a kiss.

[dreamwritesimagines]

Next chapter sneak peek already?!?!?!

YESSSSS because I have too many ideas honey! 🩷 I hope you'll like them! 🥰🥰🥰

[dreamwritesimagines]

hiiii!!! is it rude to ask about sunshine? no pressure or anything, i just adore that story so much!! i swear i reread it all the time!!!

Hi love, thank you so much! 🥰 Of course you're not being rude, please don't worry about it! 🩷

I'm still trying to figure out the outline for the next chapters, sorry about the long wait! 🩷

[dreamwritesimagines]

Declassified 16 - Sneak Peek

Series Masterlist

“We’re having pancakes? Awesome!”

“Okay, to repeat; I’m making pancakes for my girlfriend, not you two.”

“So what, we don’t get pancakes because we’re not dating you? That’s illegal or something.”

“It really isn’t—” He heaved a sigh in defeat when you pulled your brows together to shoot him a pleading look. “Fine. Sit down Kelsey.”

“Kels, do you want coffee?”

“Yes please!” she said and jumped to sit on the stool next to you. “Morning Birdie.”

“Morning Kels.”

“I can’t wait until you’re president and I can write about this in my memoir,” Kelsey told Bucky while he put the pancake on your plate to give it to you, then grabbed two other plates and poured more pancake mix on the pan.

“I’m not gonna run for president, and you’re not writing a memoir.”

“His hair was tousled because of last night’s activities,” Kelsey mused while Caleb chuckled and put Kelsey’s coffee mug in front of her, then sipped his own. “The tormented look in his eyes seemed calmer now, as if the morning came with—”

“Tormented look in my eyes?”

“Shush, Bucky—as if the morning came with promises of peace. As he walked around the kitchen, half naked…”

“I’m fully clothed,” Bucky defended himself gesturing at his shirt and jeans, and Caleb shook his head.

“Artistic license. Sex sells. Keep going Kels.”

You covered the giggle threatening to escape you by clearing your throat, and dug into your pancakes.

“The tattoo on his back—”

“I don’t have tattoos.”

“And whose fault is that?” she retorted. “The tattoo on his back caught my attention, and he turned around as if he was taken aback—”

“Please stop narrating me,” Bucky said, putting her plate in front of her and she grinned up at him.

“Only because you asked nicely.”

You pointed at Kelsey with your fork. “That would be a bestseller.”

“Stop encouraging her, Birdie.”

“I’m a supportive friend!”

[dreamwritesimagines]

Bucky - *has a mature conversation about Birdies feelings*

Also Bucky - *freaks out when a guy gets a little to close to Birdie *

THIS! THIIIIIS! 🩷😁

I think with that emotionally mature conversation, he literally went like "What would Sam tell me to do?" and followed that 😂 However, when a guy gets too close to Birdie, all logic goes out the window and he basically hears Kill Bill sirens 😂

[dreamwritesimagines]

Look at Bucky being emotionally mature. I guess it just takes over a hundred years for men 🤣

ADFGHJKL and even after a hundred years, this is him actively putting in the effort to be emotionally mature😂

But hey, we will see him being less like that too😈 Things will get tenseeee😏

[dreamwritesimagines]

So how dead would Caleb kill Bucky if a photographer snapped a pic of him climbing the fire escape with flowers for Birdie? Especially if the press somehow figured out *who* he was going to see?!?!?! Meanwhile Kelsey is giggling into her coffee and Brian is watching them go back and forth like a tennis match while trying to talk Birdie down from the edge…

(I feel like that may be Bucky’s “fuck it, Imma go be a superhero” moment for realsies 😂)

I'M LIKE ACTUALLY GIGGLING😂 Kelsey enjoying it, Caleb freaking out, and Brian being his cute self while Birdie is like;

"Listen, I'm pretty sure we can come up with something."

"No, I think we should just come clean-"

"We're not coming clean, Bucky!"

"We have no other choice."

"Can you at least pretend to consider other options?"

"Caleb says there aren't any."

"I'm also about to test the theory of whether the serum does in fact make you invincible Bucky. Sleep with one eye open."

"Sure."

"This is actually hilarious."

"Well I'm glad you're having fun, Kels."

"I'm sure the public would understand if you're in love."

"No they would not, Brian."

"Guys- okay Caleb, how about this? I broke my arm-"

"Your arm is not broken."

"I can break my arm for this, that's fine."

"Birdie, you're not breaking your arm."

"Let's just tell people that, like, I broke my arm, and Bucky was being a nice person and he brought me flowers."

"And he forgot front doors existed?!"

[dreamwritesimagines]

Omg honey, you were inspired by my headcanons!? 😱🩷 I am so honored, thank you so much! 🩷🩷

Congratulations on 400 followers! 🩷

hi mare♥️ congrats on 400, you deserve everything good that comes to you🫶🏼

may i request professor logan with reader going: "every time you smile at someone else i feel sick. it’s pathetic, i know."

— Top Marks

Professor!Logan x student!fem!OC

Summary: She's desperate to pass Logan's class, by any and all means necessary.

Disclaimers: teacher x student troupe (but they're adults), mentions of eyefucking, mentions of tit, risky sex in the classroom, favors.

-> Zooks! hi! so yes hi hello I challenged myself. and this was so hard, not to create an entire universe and just.....write forever. ANYWAY. inspired by @dreamwritesimagines headcanons, because I think they're adorable snippets and I wanted to try some of them on for size! 400 followers celebration

The paper lands on his desk with enough force to rattle the cup of lukewarm coffee, abandoned during today's lecture on the ethics of hostage situations in warfare. He hadn't picked the topic, but it had naturally spiraled as soon as he'd entered the classroom, leather jacket draped over his shoulder and sunglasses parked in his hairline.

"You care to explain this?"

His eyes cut to where a bright yellow acrylic nail has targeted the fat lines of a sharp C- in scarlet Sharpie hanging out in the corner of the paper. Setting his jaw, his tongue clicks off the roof of his mouth, he nods once. Slowly. Leans against the corner of the desk, arms crossed.

"Don't have to explain anythin'," he taps the paper with a knuckle, "In the footnotes, honey." His brow crooks, and he reaches across the desk to chuck her chin with his finger, "M'be you'd have seen 'em if you hadn't been so worried about eyefuckin' me in the middle of class."

She doubles down, but does not move. "Well, maybe you shouldn't have been eyefucking Teresa in the front row on tits-out Tuesday," she snaps, a smirk curling her lip at his look of surprise, "don't think I didn't notice you appreciating the competition, Professor."

Releasing her chin with a huff, he stands up from the corner of the desk. Pushes his way into her personal space, grabs her arm with enough force to matter, but not bruise the delicate pale of creamy, perfect skin that's leaves little to the imagination in a pretty sundress and boots.

"You shouldn't be worryin' about me starin' at anybody but you," his chortle is low, dark as he rubs over his mouth with thick, calloused fingers, "maybe you'd get better grades," he hums, hands at either side of her face forcing her head back so he can get close, "could even make honor roll, pretty thing."

Her breath is shallow, a little shattered as her tongue wets her bottom lip. "Yeah?" Backing her up a few paces, she bites the corner of her bottom lips before slipping up onto his desk, "If I'm good, will you change my grade, Lo?"

He licks along her jawline, a slow and hot line that makes her break. Her head falls forward against her shoulder when his hand slotted between the thick plush of her perfect thighs, a raspy little growl snaking up the back of her throat.

And grabbing a handful of his hair, she angles him for a hard kiss, moaning between breathy sighs as he steps between her widening legs, "Every time you smile at someone else, I get a little sick, Lo," he noses the soft spot behind her ear, smiling into her pulse, "It’s pathetic, I know," hand at the back of her head, he guides her down to the desk, her hand skipping through his beard softly, "but I'm weak, and oh so desperate to pass your class, Professor."

He gruffs into her mouth, prompting his tongue into the soft heat of her with a chuckle straight from the basest of his instinct, "That all depends on you, darlin'," and he cradles her face between his hands, before hiking a knee up on the desk for a better angle, to get closer.

"Now hush up, and lemme tell ya how you can go about changin' that grade'a yours, sweetheart."

[dreamwritesimagines]

Honeeeey you're so sweet, thank you🩷

I think Birdie won't know what to feel when he resigns😈 Like, on one hand they are keeping their work life and love life separate, and they're being pretty professional 😂 But on the other hand, Birdie really doesn't want her dad to be right about anything 😂

She wouldn't direct any anger towards Bucky of course because she understands that it's his life, but her feelings will be kinda complicated 😂🩷

Declassified [15] - Whim

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves🩷 I hope you like this chapter as well! 🥰 Please let me know what you think! 🩷

Pairing: Congressman!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: Misunderstandings can create issues.

Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, MDNI.

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist

You couldn’t even decide on the exact reason why you were so on edge at this point.

Maybe it was your secret relationship.

Maybe it was the fact that your father, who had half of the Congress in his pocket, had threatened your secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was the fact that you knew if the said relationship came out, you would be torn to pieces.

Or maybe you were drinking too much coffee.

You tried to balance the coffee cup tray on your arm while you checked your emails on your phone with your other hand, humming a song to yourself and making your way down the hallway to Bucky’s office. You quickly typed in your response, rolling your eyes and stepped into the office, then made a beeline to Kelsey’s desk past Tim and Lisa’s.

“Here you go,” you said, putting the tray on her desk so that you could take out her cup of coffee and yours. “Considering you didn’t come home last night, I’m guessing it was a long night.”

“And a fun one,” she said, her gaze drifting to the corner of the room. “Speaking of fun, promise me you won’t overreact.”

You took a sip of your coffee. “Hm?”

“And that you’ll give him a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hi ma’am!” A voice came from the corner of the room, making you look over your shoulder. The young guy at the corner couldn’t be older than twenty and he was holding a file to his chest, an excited smile lighting up his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, I promise you won’t regret it.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Um…hello, who are you?”

“I’m Brian,” he said, rushing to shake your hand but tripping over the strap of his satchel on the floor in the process. “Sorry! Cong—Congressman Barnes hired me to be your intern.”

“He’s adorable, I want to give him chocolate and wrap him in a blanket,” Kelsey commented while you gawked at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Birdie, don’t overreact,” Kelsey reminded you and you took a deep breath, irritation making your jaw clench.

“Excuse me for a moment, Brian,” you said through your teeth and made your way to Bucky’s office, knocked on the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind you. Bucky’s head shot up, a smile pulling at his lips as he stood up.

“Morning darling.”

You had to remind yourself not to melt as he approached you to pull you closer, but you forced yourself to pull back, making him tilt his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?”

“Nope.” You pointed at the door. “You hired an intern for me?”  

Realization dawned on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, before you say no—”

“I am saying no.”

“We talked about this.”

“You talked about this.”

“I gave you two options,” he reminded you. “Time off or this. You chose this.”

“Yeah and we said I’d give the okay!”

“And you didn’t give the okay to any of them,” he said patiently. “I gave you a stack of resumes, you looked me in the eye and pushed them off the desk into the trash can. I’m half convinced Alpine learned that trick from you.”

“So your solution was to—to—” You flailed your arms. “To intern trap me?”

“Intern trap you?”

“It’s like baby trapping me but worse.”

He rubbed his forehead like confusion was giving him a headache. “That’s not a thing—how is that worse?”

“I can follow my parents’ example and give the baby to a goddamn nanny!” You snapped, stomping on your foot. “Who am I gonna give the intern to?”

“No one,” he said. “He’s here to help you with the workload.”

You shook your head. “I don’t need help.”

“I’m not risking another panic attack, sweetheart.”

“I’m not gonna have a panic attack!” you hissed. “I can handle the workload.”

“I’m not saying you can’t—”

“You are saying I can’t!” you insisted. “Assign him to someone else.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, the familiar insecurities churning your stomach again as you scoffed a laugh, pacing in the room.

“Bucky,” you said, trying your hardest to stay calm. “I can’t have people think I’m incompetent—”

“No one is going to think that,” he told you. “There are so many people who have interns.”

“Yeah, incompetent people who can’t do their own jobs!”

“Just give him a chance,” Bucky said. “You might like him. You don’t even have to give him anything to do on his first day, just give him a tour or something.”

“A tour?” you repeated and went to the door to swing it open, then leaned back to the doorframe. “Brian, would you like a tour of the Capitol?”

He nodded his head like an excited puppy. “Yeah!”

“Great.” You pointed at the entrance. “There’s the door, you can just—”

You were cut off when Bucky said your name, the serious tone of his voice making you frown at him, and as if on cue Congressman Riley walked through the entrance.

“Good morning,” he said. “Barnes, you’ve got a moment?”

Bucky stole a look at you, then nodded at him.

“Uh, sure.”

“Hi there.” Congressman Riley greeted you as he stepped into Bucky’s office and you forced yourself to smile at him.

“Hello sir,” you said and turned to Bucky. “Before I forget, Mr. Barnes, I’m afraid I won’t be staying after hours today, but if you need any assistance with the packet, you can contact anyone else on the team.”

“Oh, not this evening I’m afraid, I have this mental health thing I need to attend to,” you said, your voice completely professional. “It was on the calendar, has it escaped your notice?”

He was smart enough to understand what you were referring to.

“I was under the impression we would work on that together.”

“Let the girl go, Barnes,” Congressman Riley joked. “She has a health thing. I can lend you someone from my team for the evening.”

Bucky raised his brows at you, and you smiled at him.

“Have a wonderful day,” you said and walked out of the office, with Brian rushing after you to catch up with you.

“Ma’am?”

“Come on,” you told him. “Time for your tour, I guess.”

*

For the record, you were aware that Brian wasn’t to blame.

The guy, as Kelsey had put it, was kind of adorable. He hung onto your every word, he was excited to be in the Capitol, he was apparently a genius and you could already tell that he was hardworking.

He wasn’t the problem. You were.

Your head was swirling with insecurities, the ones that you knew were nonsense but still couldn’t stop. The idea of not being good at your job, the idea of people seeing your shortcomings such as your inability to cope with stress in the form of a panic attack, the idea of being replaceable; they all made a terrific combination to sink your stomach and fill you with fury.

Did Bucky actually think you weren’t going to be able to focus and do your goddamn job now that you two were dating? Was this his way of letting you down gently and take away your responsibilities one by one, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to recognize what was happening?

Maybe this was the first step of changing your position in the Congress; finding someone that you could teach the ropes, and then putting him where you were.

Your eyes were darting over the same line for what felt like the hundredth time when you heard someone pull the chair across from yours and plop down, making your head shoot up.

“Is this take your kid to work day?” Lucas grinned, jerking his head in Brian’s direction. “Or a school trip?”

You sulked. “Very funny.”

“What is your name, Victorian orphan?”

“I’m Brian.” Brian quickly extended his hand to shake Lucas’s. “It’s an honor, sir. And I graduated college this year actually, but I got accepted when I was sixteen, that’s why I look younger than other interns.”

Lucas turned to you. “Are we breaking any child labor laws by employing him?”

“No sir, I’m nineteen—”

“Don’t take him seriously,” you told Brian. “Brian, this is Lucas. Lucas, Brian is my intern. He’s gonna be uh…around.”

“You’ve got an intern?” Lucas asked with a small laugh. “Whoa, maybe I should apply to work for Barnes. I’ve been begging Gray for an intern for like a year.”

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Brian said breathlessly. “Seriously, I—it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Adorable and a genius.” Lucas pointed at you with his thumb. “Your mentor scared the shit out of an Executive Assistant on her first week, and I’ve seen her bring an adult man to the verge of tears when he tried to pull rank on her. She’s gonna eat you alive, welcome to politics.”

“Again, don’t listen to him.”

Lucas lowered his voice as if he was giving Brian a secret. “There’s a reason we call her Hurricane on Heels.”

“Brian you’re not gonna be calling me that, and Lucas, stop hazing my intern.”

“This brings back memories though,” Lucas said with a smile. “Do you remember your first internship?”

You groaned. “Yep. I still have everyone’s coffee orders memorized.”

“I was summoned to bring condoms to my boss’s place in the middle of the night,” he muttered, making you let out a laugh.

“There was this one time, they sent me to the archive and I had to sort out all the documents in the last decade and put them in chronological order,” you said. “I didn’t go home that weekend, basically showered with my deodorant, and Max—my boyfriend back then— had to bring new clothes to the firm so that I could look presentable on Monday.”

“We’re not gonna do that to you, interns aren’t allowed in the archives,” Lucas motioned at Brian. “You’d better memorize everyone’s coffee orders though. Or condom preferences.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you told him. “You’re here to learn the job, not to be anyone’s butler. If anyone else other than me tries to give you any work, you come and tell me, alright?”

Lucas hummed. “Look at you breaking the trauma chain.”

“It’s no problem, I can—I can bring coffee or…condoms, ma’am,” Brian said, making you grimace.

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that, Brian,” you said while Lucas chuckled. “Neither will anyone else at the office. And stop calling me ma’am.”

Lucas drummed his fingers on the desk. “See, this is why people will vote for you when you run for office, Hurricane. No one will have anything bad to say about you.”

You raised your brows. “I’m not gonna run for office.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been told I don’t look good in pantsuits,” you deadpanned. “Did you see the revisions I sent you?”

“Mm hm. I sent you an email on Sunday, you didn’t get back.”

You licked your lips.

“Yeah my…my phone was acting weird, I had to get it fixed.”

“Here I was thinking you were enjoying your Sunday away from your phone,” he joked and you shot him a look.

“Have you met me?”

“Yep. Exactly why I sent you that email on a Sunday, you workaholic.”

“Takes one to know one, Lucas.”

He leaned back on his chair. “Speaking of work,” he said. “I need your help with something.”

“The clean energy bill?”

“Nope,” he said. “A buddy of mine is working on this Constituent Outreach Packet, I have no idea why Lawrence gave him that but I promised him I’d help him out but it never hurts to have someone else look it over.”

You took a look at your schedule, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Sure.”

“You’re an angel,” Lucas said, letting out a breath. “I’m serious, I’m buying you dinner sometime.”

You scoffed a laugh at the mental image of Bucky hearing that.

“Don’t intimidate my intern and we’ll call it even.” You brushed him off as you grabbed your files and stood up. “Come on Brian. You can sit and observe while we work.” 

                                                 *

Focusing your whole attention on the packets and bills and revisions had worked, at least until you left the Capitol. You had made sure to stay away from Bucky’s way and didn’t drop by the office for the entire day; opting to go straight home instead.

Yet, now that you were alone with your thoughts, you were way too restless. You had tried to distract yourself but nothing helped with the uncomfortable sinking in your stomach, or the spiraling in your mind.

And to make today even more fun, you had a stress headache.

Even though you knew you were being nonsense and that Bucky would never plan to push you out of the picture, that stupid voice in your head refused to shut the fuck up, so here you were, simmering in your bed with your eyes closed in an attempt to soothe the headache. You grimaced when someone knocked on the door and opened it, making you slide deeper into your sheets, pressing your palms on your eyes.

“Caleb, whatever it is, it can wait.”

“We’re gonna have to disagree on that one.” Bucky’s deep voice shot through the quiet room, making you lift your hands from your eyes and sit up straight. Your heartbeat got faster at the sight of his handsome face even though you were still irrationally angry about the intern issue, not even noticing he had his hands behind his back like he was hiding something as you got up from the bed.

“Caleb let you in?”

“Mm hm.”

“Thanks a lot, Brutus!” You called out and heard Caleb’s groan.

“We have been listening to the same Lana Del Rey song for four fucking hours!” he replied. “Enough is enough, I’m like two seconds away from crashing Kelsey’s date just to listen to something else.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Bucky, but before you could say anything he whipped out a bouquet of flowers behind his back and held them out for you.

Oh dear God, you were actually going to melt.

You couldn’t help but smile, but then your head shot up, panic filling your system.

“Bucky, if any journalist saw you at the door with flowers—”

“I didn’t use the front door.”

You blinked a couple of times. “Come again?”

“I climbed up the fire escape.”

“…You climbed up the fire escape as in the old, half broken death trap on the outer wall?” You pointed at the window and he nodded.

“Yeah. We need to do something about those stairs.”

You tried to resist the urge to fling yourself into his arms, pausing for a second before you took the flowers from him.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “They’re very beautiful.”

He offered you a tightlipped smile.

“Birdie…” he started but you walked past him to make your way through the living room to the kitchen, ignoring Caleb sitting by the kitchen island, snacking and working on something on his laptop. Bucky followed you suit, and out of the corner of your eye you could see him exchange glances with Caleb while you rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“Kels brought a vase, where did we put it?”

Caleb pointed at one of the cabinets and grinned. “How come I don’t get flowers, Bucky?”

“The same reason why you don’t have to be here right now,” Bucky said and he frowned.

“Listen, I pay rent so I’m planning on making my money’s worth,” Caleb said as you cut a small part of the stems. “Although, thank you for climbing the fire escape and making my job easier, it would’ve been a bit difficult to explain that pic to the public.”

“Making your job easier was the only thing in my mind,” Bucky deadpanned and Caleb pointed a finger at him.

“Listen here, Congressman Cullen—”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“She didn’t tell you who Edward Cullen is?”

“She only told me about uh— about Pedro Pascal.”

“I still cannot believe you didn’t know Pedro Pascal before us.”

“I’m not good with pop culture, that’s your job.”

You filled the vase with water, put the flowers into it, picked it up and made your way back to your room with Bucky following you, Caleb calling out after you that he would put his earphones on and turn the volume to max just in case you wanted to make up. Bucky shook his head slightly, closing the door behind him as you put the vase on your small desk.

“Can we talk?”

“Depends,” you said. “Will I be talking to my boss or my boyfriend?”

The look in his eyes was almost reprimanding. “Your boyfriend.”

“Terrific,” you pointed out, crossing your arms. “My boss is being an ass.”

“For doing what you and I already agreed to?” he asked. “You gave me no other choice, Birdie.”

“You had a choice,” you protested. “Not hiring an intern, for example.”

“Why are you so against this?”

You opened your mouth then closed it again, your lips pulling into a petulant pout as you glared up at him.

“No seriously,” Bucky insisted. “You didn’t react like this to any of the interns who were helping you out during the campaign. What changed?”

“They weren’t helping me out, they were helping the team.”

“I’ve heard them talk about you giving them work numerous times.”

“Well—it—” You threw your hands up in exasperation. “It was different.”

“How?”

“Would you have done this anyway if you and I weren’t dating?” you asked back, making him frown.

“I told you I would do this before I had any idea you reciprocated.”

Anxiety churned your stomach and you ran a hand over your face, leaning back to the small desk.

“Birdie I’m really trying to understand—”

“Are you replacing me?” you cut him off, unable to keep the question in any longer and Bucky let out a scoff of laugh as if you had made a joke in the middle of a very important argument, but a look of realization dawned on his face upon seeing your expression.

“Jesus,” he said after a pause. “You’re serious.”

“No shit I’m serious, Bucky!” you snapped. “What is the plan here? Is this—like, is this your way of letting me down easy? Like, you’re gonna divide my responsibilities and I’ll have to teach people my job so that it’ll be easier to replace me?”

He gawked at you, seemingly at a loss for words which made it easier for you to rant as you paced in the room.

“You don’t think I can handle the pressure because of that stupid panic attack, or things changed because we’re dating so I’ll have to find my successor for a smooth transition in the office, is that it? Diminish the work I do—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Bucky stopped you. “Sweetheart…”

“I don’t know what influenced that decision, being my boss or being my boyfriend but either way, I can take care of myself, and you can’t be my boyfriend at work, not to mention I was working on my career long before I became your girlfriend—”

“I know that,” he assured you. “That’s not what is happening.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not the 1940s anymore, you know?” he joked, his lips twitching into a teasing smile. “You’re a little old fashioned if you think career and relationship have to be counteractive, get with the modern times.”

“So this is about you thinking I can’t handle it because of the panic attack and trying to replace me, and then you—”

He cut you off by leaning down to kiss you, effectively shutting both you and your mind at the same time. His flesh hand cradled the back of your head while his vibranium arm sneaked around your waist, and you melted into his chest, a sigh leaving your lips when he pulled back. His hand slipped from the back of your head to lift your chin gently, your eyes fluttering open, that familiar daze taking over you again.

“Can I defend myself against that very creative theory?” he asked and you pouted with a frown, forcing yourself to focus.

“So you deny it.”

“Vehemently,” he added and a small chuckle vibrated his chest. “Wait, who do you think I’m replacing you with?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “Brian.”

“So in other words, I’m putting a baby deer into a spaceship cockpit and hoping for the best?”

“He’s a genius—”

“In case it has escaped your attention, so are you darling.”

“I didn’t get accepted into college when I was sixteen though,” you pointed out. “And it doesn’t—it doesn’t have to be Brian. Maybe you’re just dividing my responsibilities until the right candidate comes along.”

He smiled softly. “Or maybe I’d rather resign myself than to replace you?”

You rolled your eyes. “Bucky, I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he told you. “Come on, you know it as well as I do that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“That’s really not true.”

“And the minute you decide to change jobs or quit, I might as well because that won’t work out, and even if it did, I won’t even want to be there. What am I going to do in the Congress if I don’t have you, just hang out?”

“You need to give yourself more credit,” you insisted. “I didn’t win the election, you did.”

“Mm hm. Thanks to whose efforts?”

“The team!”

“The team did a pretty good job but you made the whole thing happen,” he said. “And besides, I don’t…”

You tilted your head when he paused, your anger forgotten. “What?”

“The more time I spend in the Congress, the more I feel like I’m not meant to be there,” he muttered. “Like I’m not meant to be a politician.”

You pulled back a little, your stomach dropping when you remembered your father’s words.

“Bucky…”

“That’s not the point—the point is,” Bucky said, “I didn’t hire Brian to replace you, or undermine you. You know me better than that.”

You couldn’t help but bury your face into his chest just so that you could blink back the tears before he could even see them rushing to your eyes. He nuzzled into your hair, his hand cradling the back of your head again.

“I’m trying to make things easier for you,” he muttered. “Just that, alright? I know you’re very much capable of doing things by yourself, but why did we win the election if you’re still gonna be taking on everything by yourself?”

“So that people will see,” you mumbled into his chest and he hummed.

“People already saw,” he told you. “You’ve proven yourself, sweetheart. You don’t have to go above and beyond, everyone is already impressed.”

You entwined your fingers with his vibranium ones and took a deep breath, his pleasant scent filling your nostrils and soothing the insecurities in your mind almost immediately.

“You should’ve told me,” he said. “Instead of avoiding me all day.”

“I was busy with my intern,” you replied, making him huff out a laugh.

“And the verdict?”

You pulled back a little to look up at him.

“He’s not half bad,” you muttered. “I didn’t even ask you, why did you hire him? I mean, I get that he’s a genius and everything, but why him from all the other resumes?”

“He graduated from the same college as you,” he said. “I figured you’d want to mentor someone whom you have something in common with.”

You could feel a smile warming your face.

“Not to mention, Kelsey said the guy is cute so he’s not gonna be annoying to you,” he added, making you giggle.

“He is cute. Kels does have a point, one look at him and I want to wrap him in a blanket and give him chocolate.”

“See? Not annoying, that’s a plus.”

You bit inside your cheek, then cleared your throat.

“Very well then,” you said. “I can put him on spellcheck duty for now. And maybe content check of references and footnotes in packet drafts.”

“There we go.”

You pursed your lips, rubbing at your eyes with a frown.

“Sorry,” you mumbled. “About this whole thing. I don’t know why but I have this thing, I keep thinking people will say I’m incompetent and my mind spirals and…”

“Anyone who says that about you won’t get to repeat that, it’s a little hard to say things if all their teeth are broken.”

A laugh climbed your throat. “You can’t be my boyfriend at work.”

“As you keep telling me.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve though he was sulking. “That’s the only reason why we wasted time talking about packets yesterday instead of going to a supply closet after the meeting.”

Your eyes widened. “There were other people in the office, Bucky!”

“My point about the supply closet.” He pulled you into a kiss, lifting you off the floor. You let out a squeal that turned into a giggle as you both fell on the bed and he propped himself up on his arm to see you better, the fond light in his eyes making your cheeks burn. His thumb stroked your cheekbone before he pressed his lips to your temple.

“Still quiet?”

You could swear your heart was melting but you managed to nod, then rested your palm on his chest, his strong heartbeat drumming under your hand.

“Still warm?”

You felt him smile.

“Yeah,” he said as you pulled his shirt off his head, his dog tags dangling between you before he leaned down to kiss you, but you grasped the chain of his dog tags, turning your head to look at the door before you gazed up at him.

“We’re not alone though,” you whispered, making him smirk at you.

“Think you can be quiet, beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but grin, then tugged at the chain of his dog tags to pull him into a kiss.