Chapter Text
“Is everyone ready?” Winifred Barnes asked as she straightened Bucky’s tie for the tenth time.
“Yes mom.” Bucky remarked with a sigh, he loved his mother, but they really needed to get to the graduation ceremony on time.
“Look at you Mr. Graduate.” Becca remarked as she entered the room. “And Mom, Dad’s got the car ready.”
Bucky was eager to finish his graduation ceremony and move on to his grad school program.
The best part was, of course, he was still going to the same college as Steve.
“I’m so proud of you sweetheart, and are we going to be meeting this mysterious Steve any time soon.”
“Mom, we’re meeting Steve and his parents at the ceremony, and then headed to SHIELD Games afterwards for the graduation party.” Bucky had already told his parents this over and over, but he had the feeling his mother just like hearing more about this mysterious Steve.
George Barnes was waiting for his wife and two kids to load into the car, drive to the college’s football stadium, and Bucky had to lead his parents into the building when he spotted a familiar sight.
“Bucky! Over here!”
It looked like the Avengers all managed to attend.
Tony brought Pepper, Howie, and Howie’s godfather James Rhodes, who had the twenty-three and a half month old Howie dangling on his pant leg like it was an amazing fireman’s pole.
Clint, Kate Bishop, and Natasha were attending, with Lucky wearing his service dog vest and standing quietly next to Clint.
Donald Blake, the boisterous guy who played Thor, came with his girlfriend Jane, to cheer on Bucky, and her undergrad student Darcy.
The whole Wilson/Fury Clan came, along with the Rogers, so Sam was laughing with Steve over something before Steve caught sight of Bucky.
He grinned.
Sam noticed too and tilted his head in Bucky’s direction before Steve reached back and tapped his mom on her shoulder, and she stopped her conversation with Darlene to excuse herself from conversation and Steve, his mom, and his mama came over to introduce themselves to Bucky’s family.
“Hey Steve, let me introduce you to my parents and sister,” Bucky started as soon as Steve got close, “Mom, Dad, Becca, this is my boyfriend Steve Rogers, and his parents Jo and Sarah Rogers, Steve, I want you to meet my parents Winifred and George Barnes, and this is my sister Becca Barnes.”
“Nice to meet you,” George said aloud as he shook Steve’s hand.
“We’ve heard so much about you.” Winifred added shaking Sarah and Jo’s hands.
“And we’ve heard about you too.” Jo added with a smile, and Sarah laughed and offered Winifred a hug, which the other woman returned eagerly.
“Thanks for attending Bucky’s graduation.” Becca added.
Then they heard the announcement for the graduates to head in for seating.
“I’ll see you guys later.” Bucky said, looking at Steve one final time before heading to the back so he could be funneled into the football field in the Stadium, and prepared to sit in the rickety metal folding chair for the whole speech made by the deans, public speakers, and let his eyes wander into the crowd.
He could barely see his family, or Steve’s family, or any of the other Avengers in the crowd, but gazing over the faculty Bucky could see his new history professor, and grad school mentor Professor Wong.
Wong was interested to see what more Bucky could learn from this hero who took down a shanghaiing ring, from the powerful and painful details of the man growing up in a post-civil war America, to why he was in Oregon in the first place. The journal was a treasure trove of the day to day life of this mysterious Nicholas J. Fury the second. And Bucky had already given a few thank you cards to his GM and the Wilsons for their contribution to his thesis.
Eventually the graduating grad and PHD students were asked to climb up to the podium and receive their diplomas with a handshake and a smile, and by way of sheer volume, the undergraduate students were asked to move their tassels from one side of the graduation caps to the other, and with that, Bucky was now a grad student and not an undergrad.
Bucky left the stadium with diploma in hand, to be greeted eagerly by his friends and family. Steve ran forward and Bucky pulled Steve in for a kiss.
“You look good in a cap and gown.” Steve announced with a grin.
“Yeah?” Bucky asked, subtly flexing a little before his parents could notice his flirting with Steve.
“Graduation party is at SHIELD, I think Fury’s just looking for new customers,” Steve teased, as they pushed their way through the crowd.
“Also did T’Challa tell you the news?” Steve asked as they approached the cars.
“Yeah, his sister’s coming here for her engineering masters.” Bucky nodded, he had spent the previous night helping T’Challa track down and pack all N’Yami’s toys and supplies before the five to six-month-old kitten would misplace them. “He’s getting a new apartment so they can save on rent.”
“What about you?” Steve asked.
“Well, I was thinking, look I know we’ve only been dating for a few months, but we’ve known each other for years, so would, would,” Bucky began, his heart beginning to race.
“Bucky, are you asking me to move in with you?” Steve asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Well, I was just saying, you mentioned you’re getting sick of commuting from your mama’s house, so I thought, since I’m going to be here for grad school, and you’re still getting through your art school, I just thought.”
“Yes!”
Bucky felt Steve wrap his arms around his neck and shoulders, and he grinned so hard his cheeks hurt.
“I just figured it was past time we took some initiative.” Bucky added.
Steve just laughed.
Fin

euseevius on Chapter 5 Thu 24 Aug 2017 07:40AM UTC
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QueenoftheRandomWord42 on Chapter 5 Tue 27 Feb 2018 07:04AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 27 Feb 2018 07:05AM UTC
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