Chapter Text
The farmhouse wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t absurdly small either. One room, a bed shoved in the corner, tv and breakfast nook in another. Since moving away from the city, it was welcoming enough to feel like home. You’d never been particularly fond of the loud city or its cramped polluted nature. You’d lived in New York City, the Bronx to be exact, for most of your life right up until you turned 30. It had been a few months after your birthday that your grandfather had died, your last living relative that you knew of. Your parents had died when you were little and you had gone to live with your grandfather until you were stable enough to move out as an adult. The attorney who had read you his will had informed you that he had left you a property upstate. It was a few acres of land on the edge of a quaint town. It didn’t take much convincing for you to quit your job and move out there.
Now, barely a month in the farmhouse, you were overwhelmed by the loneliness of it all. The center of town was a 10-minute walk away. It never seemed like a far enough distance to take your truck into town, so it sat idly behind the farmhouse, collecting dust or more accurately, pollen.
The few people you considered to be friends back in the city had kept in touch for the first week, some of them urging you to rethink your decision and go back. You’d remained firm on your decision, and they backed off. You hadn’t heard much from them other than the odd Instagram post.
You were wandering through the fields, still trying to figure out which crops to plant and how to best maintain the large property, when you saw him.
He was a small dark figure at the tree line on the edge of the property. He was just staring, watching you. Your eyes squinted, trying to figure out if one of the kids from the valley was trying to scare you. The man looked vaguely like he could be Sebastian, one of your neighbor’s kids, but the emo punk would never be outside when it was this bright or early.
You took a few steps towards him, stopping when he started to slink further into the woods. You raised a hand to wave, your other coming to guard your eyes from the harshness of the sun. “Hey!” You shouted out, your voice echoing in the clearing. “Are you from the valley? Are you lost?”
You started walking closer, but he didn’t seem to move this time around. Surprising you, he even took a step out into the clearing. You stopped when you were a good ten feet away from the tree line, not close enough to fully get a look at him, but enough to see that he had a small bag slung over his shoulder and a rough exterior. His face was pale and he had some stubble, a scruffiness to him that would’ve been exemplified if you got close enough to see the dark circles under his eyes from countless nights on the run.
You gave him a light smile, “Hi, are you lost?” You asked again.
He was so still that if you hadn’t seen him move moments ago, you’d think he was a statue. Finally, his gruff voice crackled into the clearing. “Kind of.” His voice was quiet, not echoing like yours had been earlier, but just loud enough for you to hear him.
You nodded, pointing past your farmhouse on the other end of the clearing where a small trail poked through the trees. “The town is that way. Are you looking for someone’s house in particular?” You patted your pockets, pulling out a crumpled map that Lewis–the mayor and close ‘friend’ of your grandfather–had given you when you’d first moved in. You unraveled it and held it out to him, “I don’t know everyone that well yet, but if you give me a name I can help direct you to them.”
He glanced at the map for a moment, not taking a step closer or reaching to take the map from your hand. “I’m not looking for anyone. I just need a place to stay.”
Your mouth ticked down in a frown, “Hm, well we don’t exactly have a hotel or anything here. I don’t have anyone’s number unfortunately but I could put up a post on the bulletin in town or ask around to see if anyone has a spare room?”
His face was almost weary as you spoke. “It would be better if as few people as possible knew I was here.” He said after a few moments of quiet contemplation. It seemed almost painful for him to ask his question, “Do you have a spare room or a shed or something? I promise I won’t be here for long.”
You absentmindedly folded the map back up in your hands before shoving it into the pocket of your jeans. You thought about it for a moment. It would be nice to have company and even more if he would be willing to help you out on the farm. But, the thought prodded your mind, he was a stranger after all. You didn’t know him. For all you knew, he was a crazy axe murderer who would kill you in your sleep! You stared at him, his blue eyes glinting as the limbs of the tree he was standing under shifted and sunlight lit them up. No one this handsome was a murder, right?
“Well, I don’t have a spare room, but Robin has been pestering me about helping fix up the place so I don’t see why I couldn’t put an addition or two on.” You paused, a grin spreading across your face. “Are you any good with animals? I wanna get some chickens.”
He raised a brow. “Chickens?”
You shrugged. “Yeah. If you help out on the farm, you can stay as long as you want. I could use the help. I'm way in over my head here.” He seemed to consider before nodding. “Great! I’ll show you around.”
The tour wasn’t much. You hadn’t done much with the land other than planting some seed packets you’d picked up in the general store. There was a small pond, a dilapidated greenhouse, and the farmhouse. You still had a lot of clearing to do despite almost being here for a month, so the area you had cleared was pretty small. The two of you climbed the steps to enter the farmhouse. You held the door open for him as you both entered the room.
“So, uh yeah, this is it. It’s not much. My grandpa stopped taking care of it when I was young so it needs some serious TLC.” You chuckled lightly, shutting the door gently behind the man. You stood beside him, scanning over the small room. “So, what brings you out here?”
A look of fear flickered across his face. “I needed a change of scenery.” He settled on the easier excuse.
You hummed. “Same. After I cleared out my granddad’s apartment, I couldn’t bear to be in the city.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” He murmured softly.
You shrugged. “It’s okay. He, uh, left this place to me. I guess he knew city-life wasn’t for me.” Your eyes settled on the framed photo sitting on your bedside table. It was of you and him. You were young in the photo, only 2 years after your parents died if you remembered correctly. You were smiling ear to ear. You’d just won your first soccer tournament. Granted, it was a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds, so it wasn’t exactly the most professional or athletic thing in the world, but you were so damn excited and your grandfather was so proud of you.
You cleared your throat, wiping at your face before your misty eyes could turn into full blown waterworks. “So, I don’t think I got your name earlier.”
He took a deep breath. “Uh, call me Bucky.”
You grinned, telling him your name in return. You looked around the room, you only had one bed and there was no way Robin could get an addition done within a day. “I’m gonna go get a bed from Robin’s. You’re welcome to stay or come with.”
Bucky could swear the smile on your face was magnetic. “I’ll join you.”
You somehow beamed even brighter. “Great! We should take my truck. I don’t think either of us can carry both the bed frame and mattress.”
Bucky bit back the thought in his head that he was more than capable of carrying both alone. That thought was quickly dissolved when he saw the route they were taking. Completely dirt roads winding up a mountain. Whoever this ‘Robin’ was, she lived even more secluded than you did. Bucky had briefly scouted around the center of town before circling around through ‘Cindersap forest’ and lurking through the edges of a path that led to your farm. The other houses were just too close together. He didn’t want the whole town to know he was hiding out here, but he supposed they were also very seclusive considering Bucky could barely find the place on a map despite a few records that claimed this place had existed for a couple hundred years.
The truck rolled to a stop in front of a large log cabin. A boy was in the garage working on a motorcycle that Bucky was very intrigued by. He rolled out from under the bike and slowly sat up. A large stripe of grime was streaked across his cheek that you sniggered at once he was sitting up.
“Hey, Seb. Is your mom home?” You asked, getting out of your truck. You shot a look at Bucky, “You can stay here if you want to, I’ll try to make sure we’re not here long.” You seemed to sense his unease, tugging his ball cap down lower on his face. He gave you a curt nod.
You turned back to Sebastian who was wiping his hands on his jeans as he walked towards you. “Yeah, she should be inside at her desk.” He walked towards the front door and held it open for you as you walked inside to Robin’s desk that sat just in from the entryway.
“Hey, farmer! How’s it going?” Robin looked up cheerfully from whatever book she had been reading. She slipped a bookmark in between the pages and neatly closed the book, placing it down on the table.
“So I found someone to help me actually get started on the farm, but I kinda need a place to house him.” You figured the reasoning wasn’t the worst, better than saying some creepily quiet but handsome man just showed up in the forest just watching you.
Robin perked up, a smile spreading across her face. “Oh?”
“He’s hot!” Sebastian shouted from the kitchen and Robin gave you a knowing look.
“Oh?” She said suggestively, wiggling her brows at you.
You rolled your eyes. “I was hoping we could talk about those additions you mentioned when I moved in, and I was also looking to start raising chickens.”
“Straight to business.” She giggled, grabbing a notebook to write down your requests. “What would you like hon?”
“I was hoping to do two rooms, a bedroom for myself and then a guest room. Oh and a chicken coop, enough room for 2 chickens, I’m not sure how much room they need.” Your hands were shoved in your pockets, hoping this interaction would be over with as soon as possible. “Oh, I also need a bed.”
“Mattress and frame?” Robin hummed, not looking up as she scribbled down what you had ordered.
You nodded. “Yes please.”
“Okay, that’s gonna be like 30k, sweetheart, altogether. Do you wanna make a deposit and then pay off the rest later?” She gave you a sympathetic look, worsened by your next words.
“It’s okay, my grandfather left me a bunch of money, I can pay it all now.” Your face was calm despite the context of your statement.
You handed her your card. “He was a good man. My dad really liked him. Used to help him out. He helped your grandfather build that greenhouse.”
You sighed. “Yeah, that’s gonna be one of my next projects. That place is completely destroyed.”
“My dad was definitely more of a painter than a builder. I can fix it up for you after I get all this done.” Robin smiled gently.
“Thanks, Robin.” You returned her smile. “So, do you have a bed I can get now or?”
Robin nodded, calling to her son, “Sebby! Come help me load the farmer’s truck!”
“You don’t need to yell, mom.” Sebastian muttered, following his mom outside.
Luckily it didn’t take too long to load up the truck, especially when Bucky got out of the truck and practically loaded everything himself to Sebastian’s amazement. Robin seemed equally impressed, shooting you a look that not-so-subtly suggested, marry this man. You were glad you kept the creepy parts out of the story otherwise Robin would likely have tried to murder this man with her own axe.
When you arrived back at the farm, you insisted Bucky let you carry one end of the box holding the bed frame. It was made completely of hardwood, with instructions on how to assemble and a small baggy of screws. It had seemed simple enough when the two of you had opened the box, clearing the space to put Bucky’s temporary bed space on the opposite wall as yours. It was clear this bed was a lot newer than your bed, but you liked how lived-in yours felt. The mattress wasn’t super lumpy but also not hard as a brick.
You stared at the instructions for at least 10 minutes, trying to figure out which step came first and which set of screws went where. Turns out, Robin’s instructions were overly detailed yet completely disorganized. You had half a mind to call her and ask her to come build the frame herself. Bucky even gave the sheet a glance before mumbling something about frames being easier to build in his time, whatever that meant.
By nightfall, you were both sweaty and had only assembled half of the frame. Somehow, Yoba be damned, you were missing four screws.
“How the hell did we misplace four whole screws?” You sighed, flopping backwards on the floor. Bucky was sitting beside you, giving you a short shrug. “I mean, there’s no way Robin just forgot to add them, right?” Another shrug. “Ugh, I’m gonna call her and tell her she needs to be here with extra screws in the morning.” You wormed your cell out of your pocket and clicked on Robin’s contact.
“Hey, hon. How’s the new bed?” Robin sang sweetly through the speaker, you could hear the faint noise of something sizzling on the stove. Your stomach grumbled at the thought of food.
“Somehow we’re missing screws.” You mumbled, feeling defeated.
Robin hummed. “Well, I can be over around 6 or 7 am tomorrow with some extra supplies. I was going to start framing the addition anyways.”
You sighed with relief. “Thank you, Robin.”
“I’ll see you in the morning, hon.” She bid you goodnight before you ended the call.
You tilted your head to stare at Bucky. “I’m sorry. You can take my bed tonight, I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Bucky shook his head. “No need, I can take the floor.”
You furrowed your brows at him. “Absolutely not, you're my guest.” You were sitting up again now, frowning at him. “You sleep on the bed. I would feel shitty if you didn’t.”
It was growing harder to read Bucky’s face the sleepier you got. “I’m used to sleeping on the floor.”
You blinked at him. “My answer isn’t changing, but I am hungry so I’m making dinner.” You steadied yourself as you stood up, Bucky following suit. You led the way, a whole five steps to the kitchen. You checked the fridge, suddenly thankful to have spent a small fortune on groceries and at the saloon, begging the owner for his recipe after nearly orgasming upon tasting his pizza recipe. He had simply chuckled at the expression on your face and told you that you needed to try his famous omelet one day. You glanced at Bucky who was hovering over your shoulder. “How does pizza sound?” You asked, receiving a nod in return. You were getting fed up over his unnerving silence. You brushed it off for the time being, gathering the ingredients you needed; fresh dough from Gus, tomatoes and cheese from Pierre, and some herbs that the sweet older lady, Evelyn had given you.
The pizza didn’t take too long to put together, especially since your fire was already going, quelling the cool air of the spring and keeping the farmhouse at a warm and cozy temperature.
The pizza, thanks to Gus, was one of the best things you’d ever tasted, and you’ve had pizza from the city. Your recreation wasn’t nearly as good, but it was still comparable. Bucky seemed to agree, he ate nearly half the pizza if not more.
After dinner, you set the mattress up where the half finished bed frame lay, moving it out of the way for the night. Thankfully you had a spare set of sheets and a cozy flannel blanket to top the mattress off. As a last touch, you swiped one of the pillows off of your bed.
It was quaint, but it was home, just with one very interesting guest.