Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For weeks Bucky watched as people talked around Clint in the tower in between missions. This had puzzled Bucky as his boyfriend is a talkative guy, he is always talking shit or telling stories when they are alone so it was weird that he seemed to always be out of the loop when they are in the tower between missions. The avengers appeared to talk around Clint in the living room and at dinner, with Clint only ever replying when he was asked a question directly face-to-face. And this struck him as odd since Clint was always one to join in on the fun during missions, it seemed odd that he would shy away from interactions with others when not on patrol. At first Bucky thought that maybe Clint just didn’t want to talk between missions, but when the two of them were alone in Clint’s Brooklyn apartment between missions, cuddling on the blonde’s couch, Barton would talk his ear off, even if all he wanted to do was watch shitty TV and take a nap. It stumped Bucky, so he began to subtly stalk Clint in between missions to see if he was retreating from talking to people generally or if the other avengers had simply done something to piss him off.

Bucky’s observations (he was definitely not stalking his boyfriend) of Clint made a breakthrough on a Tuesday afternoon after a mission, when Clint and Natasha met up for coffee to have their weekly discussion about the latest episode of the Great British Bake-off. Barton appeared to be enthusiastically talking about the show with Nat, with his hands gesturing in precise yet emphatic gestures. And Natasha appeared to be responding with her own enthusiastic gestures. It appeared that they were communicating with their hands and that is when Bucky also noticed that Hawkeye was not wearing his hearing aids. This was a curious discovery, so Bucky began to catalog all of the times Barton was not wearing his hearing aids. Bucky realised that Clint seemed to rarely wear them when they were alone together in his run down little apartment, but that he seemed to alternate between wearing them and not while at the tower. And that is when Bucky realised that the times that Barton appeared to be drifting in group conversations with the other avengers during down time was when Clint wasn’t wearing his hearing aids.

Bucky was completely puzzled by Barton’s choice to forgo his hearing aids so he decided to ask him about it while they were out on patrol one night. “Hey bird brains, how come you don’t wear your hearing aids when we are in the tower with the rest of the crew? Doesn’t that make it harder to understand people?”

Clint looked surprised by this question, his eyebrows scrunching up in surprise and then consideration. “Uh . . . well they kinda start to rub on the back of my ears if I wear them for too long so I usually take them off when I don’t absolutely need them,” Clint said, rubbing the back of his right ear. “And for the most part I’m still able to get by without them since I’ve become pretty good at lip reading, so I’m able to keep up with individual conversations, but sometimes I get a little lost in group convos.”

Bucky considered this and then remembered watching him and Nat seem to communicate without talking to each other, without saying words. Since he had seen Nat and Clint at the coffee shop he had noticed that the two of them would often seemingly communicate through gestures with each other in the tower. Bucky oftentimes felt left out when they did this and decided to just ask him what that was about. “So … then what is that thing that you and Nat seem to have going on then?”

Clint looked at him questioningly, “What do you mean by what do me and Nat have going on? I mean besides being the two best looking avengers?”

“Shut up Barton. Nat and I are clearly the two best looking on the team, that Russian flare you know. But that's not what I meant. The two of you seem to communicate in weird hand gestures all the time when you're not wearing your hearing aids. What is that about? Have y'all invented a new language between the two of ya?”

Hawkeye let out a snort at that and glanced over his shoulder at Bucky who was standing behind him. “No, it’s not some secret language between me and Natasha,” Clint said with some amusement. “It’s ASL, or American Sign Language. I started learning it when my hearing started going to shit and Nat learned it with me because she thought it would make our communication together on missions more stealthy. So when we go out together we usually just sign to each other since it’s easier than reading lips.”

Bucky didn’t really know how to respond to that so he just kinda grunted and went back to staking out the house that the arms dealer was supposed to be arriving at any minute now. He did however take the time to make a mental note to look into ASL when he got home. He wanted to be able to communicate with Clint even when he didn’t have his hearing aids in, and if he was being completely honest, felt left out that Natasha and Clint had their own not-so-secret secret language. He wanted to be a part of every aspect of his boyfriend's life and didn’t want to be left out of this part of his life either. With this knowledge, Bucky had a new mission: learn ASL.

— — —

Once Bucky got home he pulled out his laptop and began to research all that he could about sign language and ASL. He learned that sign language was an important part of the Deaf communities culture and that it was its own unique language with a unique grammar structure. As he kept reading he realised that this was something that he really wanted to learn this language, one of the few he did not have a working understanding of from his time in Hydra. He texted Nat and asked her how she learned the language and she sent him the ASL class schedule at the local community college as well as a few online resources. Bucky made Natasha promise that she would not tell Barton what he was planning and she agreed to keep his secret. Even offering to help him practice during their down time between missions. And with that Bucky signed up for the wednesday and thursday night classes at the local community college. The courses ran for 8 weeks in the summer and would cover basic language skills including letters, numbers, basic grammar, and simple sentences.

Before the first class, Bucky compulsively checked that he had his textbook, notebook, pencil case and computer in his backpack. He also changed his shirt twice and his shoes once before leaving. He didn’t know why he was so nervous for this class … well actually he did but he was trying hard not to think about it. Part of the reason he had never attempted to learn any new languages since he got back, not even a fictional language like Huttese, was because it always caused him to have painful flashes of memory from the countless times the KGB made him learn languages through trial by fire. With harsh beatings doled out for every mispronunciation, every grammatical mistake, every mistake without fail or reserve from the commanding officers. He had to learn the languages fast, they did not have time for mistakes. But this was important to him. He wanted to be able to communicate with Clint on his terms and didn’t want to force him to read lips anymore. It felt like an unfair burden for him to carry when all he had to do was learn one language to help him. So he steadied himself and got into his car to head to class.

Once inside the classroom he took his time studying the room, there were tables filling the room, each with two chairs all facing toward the front of the room. At the front of the room there was a whiteboard and a projector screen. There was a projector mounted to the ceiling and the lights were a harsh LED blue. There were a few students scattered throughout the room, but none had taken a seat at the back right table of the classroom, and that’s where Bucky decided to hunker down for the beginning of class.

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Hunkered down in the back rightmost seat in the classroom Bucky unzipped his backpack and began to unpack his stuff. He pulled out his laptop and notebook and his pencil pouch and then anxiously waited for the professor to arrive. It had been a long time since he had set foot in a traditional classroom. The last time he had was before the war, not that he hadn’t learned things since then, just that they had been through less traditional means. Bucky busied himself as more students poured into the classroom by writing the date and “Lesson One” at the top of his notebook paper.

The students in the class had vastly varying ages, from what looked like a girl no more than sixteen, to an older couple that appeared to be in their mid 60s. Bucky thought that this was an interesting mix of people, and truthfully not what he expected when he signed up for the class. ALthough now that he thinks about it he doesn’t really know what he was expecting this class to be composed of. Just then Bucky was pulled from his thoughts as the professor walked into the classroom. She was tall and lanky, but had a confidence about her that made you pay attention to her movements. She quickly pulled her laptop from her bag and plugged it into the projectors connection point. The slide that appeared on screen read: Welcome to ASL 101. And under that it said the professor's name: Mary Buschwick.

“Hello everyone!” the professor started off, a little too loudly. “I am your professor for this session of ASL 101. I am so excited to have you all in my class. I cannot wait to help you on your journey to learn the best language in the world, American Sign Language. Although I may be biased in saying that since it is my first language.” She talked enthusiastically and her words were accompanied by hand gestures that must have been translating what she said into ASL.

The professor, who apparently preferred to be called Mary, went on to explain a little about herself. That she was a CODA, or a child of deaf adults, meaning that she was raised by a deaf parent, or in her case 2 deaf parents. She explained that she loved teaching ASL to beginners as she loves people who fall in love with the language as they begin to understand it. Then she encouraged everyone to explain why they had decided to take this class as she called roll call. The older couple explained that they had joined the course because their newest grandchild had been born deaf and they wanted to be prepared to communicate with their granddaughter when the time came. The 16 year old girl said that she had decided to learn sign language since she wanted to go into teaching and thought it would be a good skill to have.

“James Barnes, are you here?” Mary called out.

“Yes Ma’am, I am here. But you can call me Bucky, no one calls me James," Bucky replied.

“Well then Bucky why did you decide to take ASL 101?”

Bucky blushed a little recalling why he had decided to take the class. He was shore that his ears and cheeks were tinged pink. “I decided to take this course so that my boyfriend would have more than one person that he can sign with when he isn’t wearing his hearing aids. I don’t want him to have to put so much effort into reading lips when we are just supposed to be relaxing together.” The girl in front of Bucky turned around and gave him a look like he was the most adorable man on the planet, which made him feel a little shy at the moment.

“That is a great reason to join this course!” Mary replied enthusiastically. “I promise you I will have you and your boyfriend signing basic conversations by the end of July!”

The class went off without a hitch, they started with basics like the alphabet and how to say hello and goodbye. Mary also showed them how to introduce themselves, explaining about sign names as she introduced herself with the one her parents had given her. She explained that for now everyone in class would finger spell their names, but that as they became more involved in the language and the deaf community that they would most likely acquire a sign name. She also specified that sign names had to be given by a member of the deaf community and could not just be randomly chosen. This made Bucky wonder if Nat or Clint had a sign name. Bucky would ask Natasha on facetime when he got home he thought to himself.

— — —

He felt quite accomplished with his lesson on his drive home to his apartment. When he got there he was greeted by Alpine at the door. He gave her a few scratches on the head and then made his way to the couch with his laptop in hand. The professor had sent them a website that had instructional videos on all of the signs they had gone over that day and he wanted some time to practice alone, attempting to memorize the alphabet and basic greetings before he hopped on facetime with nat at around 11 pm.

Bucky was on his 10th time going through all of the practice videos when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He picked it up and answered the call. Nat’s face appeared on the screen and she signed to him: Hi B-U-C-K-Y. Bucky was excited that he understood that and excitedly signed back to Nat: Hello N-A-T-A-S-H-A. And then Bucky switched to English because that’s really where his knowledge stopped for now. And asked Natasha the question that had been on his mind since he learned about sign names. “So Nat, do you have a sign name? We learned about them in class today and I can’t imagine that Clint finger spells your name or really anyone else’s when you two talk. Does he have sign names for everyone? Have you two assigned me a sign name”

Nat giggled barley before cooling her expression and answering Buck’s question. “Wow so you're not even gonna let me ask how the first class went? Just gonna start pelting me with questions immediately?” She gave him a pointed look at that. And he grumbled and apologized and said that the class was good before meeting her gaze on the phone again and asking again. “So does he?”

“Yeah he has assigned the other avengers sign names, which makes it easier than finger spelling everyone’s names everytime we need to talk about them. Like for example my sign name is the sign for spider,” which Natasha demonstrated for Bucky. “But instead of it being performed out in front of the body it is performed on the chest as if to convey a suit or the spider crawling on me.” Bucky nodded at this and copied Natasha’s movements. “Oh that’s cool. And it makes sense for you, I like that a lot.” Nat then went on to explain a few of the other sign names that Clint had assigned to the other avengers like Tony and Steve. Then Bucky got curious if his boyfriend had assigned him a sign name. So he asked Nat again after she finished explaining the Hulk’s sign name.

“So we’ve covered everyone else’s assigned sign name, has he assigned me one yet?” Natasha smiled at him through the phone and shook her head slightly. Bucky’s heart dropped at that moment, had his boyfriend not cared enough to assign him a sign name. Had they simply never talked about him in conversation. Bucky began to panic a little and that must have shown on his face because Nat clarified herself. “Oh no he has a sign name for you don’t worry. I am just not telling you. That is something you will have to ask him when you finally decide to show him your new found skills.” Bucky pouted at this, that was 8 weeks away, he didn’t want to wait that long to know what ridiculous name his boyfriend had assigned him. And he knew that he would not be capable of getting the information out of Nat once she had decided not to spill a secret. He stood no chance against her in that regard.

Him and Nat continued to talk for another half hour or so and she allowed him to practice a few of the basics of signs that he had learned that day. They eventually said their goodbyes and Bucky got ready for bed. He crawled in bed and Alpine curled around his metal arm. He felt rather pleased with his accomplishments of the day as he drifted off to sleep.