The Beginning (Steve x Reader x Bucky)

(5) World Exhibition of Tomorrow

A monorail speeds above the epic fair. The three friends walk down the busy midway. "I don't see what the problem is. You're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know there're three and a half million women here?" Bucky tells the blonde man walking next to him.

"I'd settle for just one." Steve tells Bucky while looking at YN who isn't paying them any attention. 

Bucky waves to someone out in the crowd of people, "Good thing I've got that taken care of." YN whips her head to look at Bucky when he says that. Not only is Bucky going to have a date, but so is Steve.

"What about me?" YN asks annoyed while looking at the two girls who are approaching the three friends. "Sorry, sweetheart. I didn't think you'd be coming with us since you've been kinda busy with "work", lately." Bucky says.

He has a point. Lately YN has been blowing off her best friends because she's been very busy at work. She's been helping the scientists at her job create the worlds first Super Soldier Serum, and another serum. The second serum is a secret, only YN and Howard know about it. She's also been spending her lunch breaks with the infamous Howard Stark, instead of spending it with her friends, like usual.

When YN tells the boys she has to work they think she's going to hangout with her secret boyfriend. She wishes she can tell them that she works for the SSR, but she can't.

"What'd you tell her about me?" Steve asks the man next to him. Bucky starts grinning, still waving. "Only the good stuff" he answers.

Many exhibits line the walls of the fair. One of the glass boxes holds a red- suited android. "Dr. Phineas Horton presents... THE SYNTHETIC MAN!" someone says. Bucky and the girls we now know as Connie and Bonnie, hurry past the exhibit. Steve and YN walk after them, ignored.

"Oh my God, there he is!" the girl named Connie exclaims. Both girls squeal, pulling Bucky toward the Stark Stage. A large crowd makes there way to the stage as well.

"Stark Industries presents..." a man begins. Steve buys peanuts with YN by his side, while Bucky and the two other girls make their way through the crowd to get a good view of the stage. 

A man appears on the stage, Howard Stark, standing next to a 1942 Cadillac.

YN hopes Howard doesn't see her and say something, because she'll then have to explain how she knows him to her friends, and that is something she doesn't want to do. The two girls standing with Bucky begin giggling when they see Howard.

Just to YN's delight, Howard sees her and waves. YN covers her face in embarrassment. "Hi YN!" the man on stage says. "Everyone say "Hi YN!"' Howard tells the crowd. The crowd does as he says and YN hears a chorus of "Hi YN!" 

Bucky, Steve and the two girls look at YN, confused. She just ignores their looks and mouths to Howard "I'm going to kill you." Howard chuckles at her statement.

"Ladies, you know how hard it can be putting on makeup in a car that's bouncing like a kangaroo on a trampoline." Howard begins. 

Steve offers his "date" Bonnie peanuts. She just stares at the peanuts with a scorn. YN sees this and takes a few peanuts from Steve, and nods as to say "thank you".

"What if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile wouldn't touch the ground at all?" Stark continues. He hits a button making the Cadillac on stage start hovering above the ground, the tires remaining on the stage. Everyone in the crowd gasps. The two boys close to YN gape, impressed. YN just rolls her eyes because she's seen this so much.

"Ho- ly cow." Bucky says dumbfounded.

Howard speaks again, "With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology (patent pending), you'll be able to do just tha-" a pop and explosion come from the "flying" car. The car slams back onto the stage making YN jump. "I did say a few years, didn't I?" Howard recovers.

Everyone in the crowd begins to applaud the man. Bonnie starts swooning over the brunette on stage. Steve begins looking around sheepishly. He spots something in the distance and makes his way to it. YN notices Steve leave, but doesn't say anything. 

Bucky puts his arm around Connie, and this makes YN go after Steve. She can't stand seeing Bucky with another girl.

"Hey, Steve. What do you say we treat these ladies-" Bucky now noticing both his best friends are gone. Bucky's heart stops, thinking that Steve and YN have a little fonduing going on. In Steve and YN's old spot stands a little girl munching on Steve's peanuts.

YN follows Steve to the recruitment center. 'Of course. I should've known he would come here' YN thinks to herself. She distances herself from Steve so she can watch what he does.

Steve stares at a mirrored booth in front of him at the recruiting pavilion, "YOUR DUTY: TRY IT ON FOR SIZE!" A big man stands in front of the mirror. Steve notices how big the man is and how heroic he looks in the uniform.

 Now it's Steve's turn to stand in front of the mirror. In the mirror, he's now wearing a G.I uniform. His disappointed eyes barely seeing over the collar. YN looks at Steve with sad eyes. It hurts her seeing him like this.

Suddenly, a hand clamps down on Steve's shoulder. It's Bucky. YN didn't even notice Bucky walk up to Steve. "You're kinda missing the point of a "double date"... plus YN. Come on, we're gonna get chocolate soda and look for YN." 

Steve lightly shakes his head, "You go ahead. I'll look for YN in a minute."

Close by Dr. Erskine, a tired old man in his 50's, listens to the two boys argue. Just like YN's doing.

Bucky looks at the recruitment signs. "You're really gonna do this now?" he asks. "It's a fair. I'm gonna try my luck." the blonde responds.

"As who? "Steve from Ohio"? They'll catch you. Or worse they'll actually take you." Bucky claps back. YN shakes her head at the two men.

Steve looks up to his best friends with a smile that has disappointment written all over it. "You don't think I can do it." the scrawny man says. "This isn't some back alley, Steve. It's a war. Why are you so keen to fight? There're lots of other important jobs-" the tall man before him argues.

"You want me to sit in a factory? Collect scrap metal in my little red wagon while the men are laying down their lives? I can do as well as them and I got no right to do any less. That's the thing you don't get, Bucky. It's not about me." a now angry Steve rants.

"Right. 'Cause you've got nothing to prove. What about YN? Who's gonna watch after her if we both leave?" the soldier questions. A long pause passes between the men.

"Hey Sarge, we gettin' sodas?" Connie comes out of nowhere. "Yeah. We are." Bucky replies annoyed with his best friend. He starts walking to Connie, but stops when he sees YN.

Bucky sighs turning back to Steve and holds his hand out. Steve can see the concern in Bucky's eyes, and shakes his friends hand. "Promise me you won't do anything too stupid before I get back. And watch after our girl." the soldier says. 

"I can't. You're taking all the stupid with you." the determined blonde replies.

"You're a punk." Bucky tells Steve affectionately. "You're a jerk." the blonde says just as affectionately. 

"Don't win the war till I get there." Steve adds as Bucky walks off. He turns back to Steve giving him a small wave, and with that Bucky walks off to where YN is hidden.

"How much of that did you hear, doll?" he asks her. "All of it." YN tells her best friend. A pause occurs between them.

"Please don't go Bucky. I can't lose you." the girl says sadly. Bucky looks at the broken girl before him, tears welling in her eyes. His heart breaks seeing her like this.

"I'm sorry." is all the soldier can say. "I'll come back before you know it." he says trying to cheer her up. YN sighs and looks up at him. She starts sobbing. It's finally hit her, one of the guys she's fallen in love with is now leaving her and there's no guarantee he'll come back. Bucky embraces the crying girl in a big hug.

"Please don't leave me" the girl sobs into his shoulder. "I love you..." Bucky pulls back from the hug taken aback by her statement. He doesn't know if she meant loves him as more than a friend or loves him as her best friend.

"I love you too..." he tells her not knowing which one she means. 

The crying girl shakes her head. "You don't get it." she tells him. "I love you." the girl tries to tell him changing the tone of her voice. That's when he understands which 'I love you' she means.

"I do understand, kinda... I thought you had a thing with Steve. I thought you loved him. That's why I'd go on all these dates because I thought you loved him, and so I could get rid of the feelings I've developed for you." the soldier explains to his best friend.

"No, there isn't anything going on with me and Steve, but I do love him. I love both of you and I've been trying for a while to suppress my feelings for the both of you so I wouldn't screw up our friendship. And no there's nothing going on with me and Howard. I know that was going to be your next question. Also, I actually do have a job and it's not me going off to meet with some guy. I wish I could tell you what my job is, but I can't." the girl rants, finally taking a breath. 

Bucky nods his head. "Wow.." is all the man manages to say. YN gives him a tight lipped smile getting ready to walk off. Bucky grabs her by the wrist wanting to say more, but nothing comes out of his mouth.

"Good luck, Bucket. You better come back to me and Stevie. And thank you for saving us in the alley." the girl tells him and walks off to where she last saw Steve. Bucky sighs and goes back to Connie and Bonnie to take them to get their sodas.