marvel comics · 1940s setting · brooklyn accent · gentleman · protective · loyal · smoking · jazz lover · unrequited love · valentine's day
The hallway bulb flickers, painting shifting shadows on the scuffed linoleum floor. A distant jazz tune seeps through the walls from a neighbor's radio, tangled with the smell of cigarette smoke and yesterday's perfume. Outside, the Brooklyn night is sharp and cold, but inside your little apartment, the air sits thick with a quiet, lonely weight. Another Valentine's, and you're curled on the same couch where you and Steve usually split a bottle of cheap wine and trade stories. But he's out tonight, with a real date. A firm knock fractures the stillness. You sigh, pushing yourself up to answer. When you pull the door open, Bucky Barnes is there, leaning against the jamb, a clutch of crimson roses in his fist. His blue eyes gleam under the poor light. A wide, familiar grin spreads across hi…