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Ivy’s World

BuckyxWaitress!OC

Summary: After being Blipped, Ivy struggles to get a grasp on the life she used to have and the people she used to know. Putting up a tough front, she goes back to work at the famous Ida’s Corner and back to Culinary school. The Earth seemed to only keep spinning in spite of her before she met a curiously handsome blue eyed man.

Taken place before, during, and after TFAWS. It will loosely follow the events of the show but I will be changing things to fit my timeline and narrative so its not completely canon. There will be trigger warnings before each chapter :)

TW: mentions of depression, nightmares, a rising panic attack. I don't go into too much detail for any of it.

Word Count: 3,784

*******************************************************************************************Another reminder that I haven’t written in a long time and I really want to get back into it so any constructive criticism you have is greatly appreciated

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Chapter 2 - Hell’s Kitchen

What is a dream? Scientifically, dreams are when the parts of our brain used for high order functions like speech and language are active while we sleep. Bore-ring. What is a dream not scientifically? A rendition of our subconscious thoughts throughout the day? A look into a different universe perhaps? We don't really know. Nightmares however, are a little more cut and dry, specifically when we're talking about nightmares stemming from trauma.

Trauma affects the brain greatly. One traumatic event can cause your brain to stay in a constant state of hypervigilance, heighten your emotional reactivity, even suppress your memories and impulse control. From one event. Can you imagine constant events every waking second for seventy years? I sure hope you can't. But it explains why James can't sleep, or should I say won't sleep.

Unfortunately, tonight was a night he could not fight it off. Maybe it was learning Ida's Corner still existed, pictures of his time and faces he could try to recognize were still there. He could keep up the Sunday morning tradition he had with his family. It might have been the prospect of new memories coming back to him the longer he sat there. Maybe it was the pretty waitress that talked to him like he was normal and not what he thought he was. A murderer, a freak.

James woke up on his floor, instantly shooting to stand before getting lightheaded and falling back to the side, using his right hand to catch his fall. His heart was pounding against his ribcage so aggressively he thought for a second that he might be having a heart attack and a little part of him buried in his brain was relieved.

After his blurred vision cleared and he could catch his breath he looked around his living room to show himself he wasn't in a Hydra facility. But he couldn't get the images out of his head. He stood quickly, letting the small blanket he had fall leaving him in sweatpants and no shirt. As he stalked to his kitchen to get a glass of water he caught a glimpse of himself in his bathroom mirror. He stared for a moment, not recognizing the person staring back. A few more seconds passed before he turned to the bedroom and threw a long sleeved shirt on.

The view of the city from his window was limited but the busy street and constantly lights was almost a comfort, something that grounded him for a few moments when he caught himself watching. With a calmer demeanor, he took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed he had never actually slept in.

As he sat there his mind spiraled a bit thinking of the next name on his list and devising a plan to make the amend, his nightmare, Steve, Sam, and then, possibly the most random one of all. One that made his his lips twitch upwards into a smile. Who is Gordon Ramsey?

School for Ivy that week was painfully exhausting, not because of the actual school work just really the people around her. Can you blame her? She really just missed her friends, it's like she was the only one out of all of them who got Blipped. They all continued on with their lives for five years and adapted; moved on. Here Ivy was still in college. It was even tough back then too. Already behind on life when she took her gap years, her class all graduated and she- well she was dealing with the loss of her brother. We'll swing back to that later. But it was just another time the world kept spinning without her.

Thankfully it was Thursday (she didn't have work or classes on Friday's so Thursday's were her Friday's) classes were finished and she was at work, late but at work.

"Hey sorry I'm late, I have no excuse but I am sorry." she said as she walked past MJ and Peter to hang her coat up. It didn't look terribly busy so at least MJ wasn't in the weeds.

"You're fired." MJ deadpanned.

"I'm shaking in my boots." Ivy joked, tying her apron on and grabbing some pens. "Did you guys get your MIT applications yet?"

"Early application process! MJ, Ned, and I are already good to go. God I hope we all get in. We can live together and go to parties together and-" Peter began to ramble before Ivy interrupted.

"It will all work out. I know it." She said sincerely and smiled at Peter. MJ rolled her eyes but couldn't stifle her grin. She wasn't good with emotions.

"How's your last year going?" she asked Ivy, making her sigh.

"Not fast enough. I want to graduate and move on."

"Heard." MJ replied then went off to tend to her tables.

"But you can't leave us!" Peter blurted, following Ivy as she prepared to greet a table.

"Is that not what you're doing to me? Next year?" she asked jokingly but she'd be lying if she said she wouldn't miss them.

"Well, yeah I guess but- we'll visit all the time!"

Ivy laughed a bit as she approached her first table, and prepared her lines.

The night went by pretty fast with a pretty even flow of customers, not bad for a Thursday night. At one point Peter dropped two entire pitchers of water on himself and it was a great talking point with customers. All in good fun of course.

Once all the customers were gone, tables cleaned, and floors swept. It was time to close. Ivy grabbed her coat and followed the two teens out the door to lock up.

"-All I'm saying is that if I saw a bunch of aliens coming out of a hole in the sky, I wouldn't be shooting arrows at it." Ivy joked as she pulled her keys from her coat pocket.

"I would just accept death." MJ replied.

"Okay dark."

"Hawkeye is so cool you can't tell me otherwise." Peter defended.

"Spiderman is my favorite." MJ replied with a wicked grin that Ivy couldn't see as she fumbled with the keys.

Peter concluded his internal panic attack before Ivy finished locking up. She turned to the two teens.

"I don't know much about the Avengers but I do know Thor is fine." she joked as she began walking up the street. Peter and MJ followed until they reached the street where they needed to break off.

"Not into blondes." MJ replied after a moment.

"Me either." Ivy joked and both the girls giggled. "Alright kiddo's get home safe." she continued as she walked away.

Her walk home was brisk and quiet, the crazies weren't out yet thankfully. She reached her building and crossed the threshold between outside and inside. As she climbed the stairs and opened the door to her hallway, dread filled her chest the closer she got and eventually she was right there. Her door seemed to be mocking her, daring her to enter the loneliness and what other choice did she have? She had nowhere else to go.

Her studio was dark. Most of the windows facing another brick building. Never being granted quiet as there was a dive bar across the street, one window by her bed gave her a good view of it. She slumped down on her one kitchen chair and looked around the room and sighed. Just a few months ago her life was so different. But what a few months ago at this point to her has been five years to the world, and she came back to no one.

Friday and Saturday came and went with little to no activity, normally Friday nights she would try to get out somewhere, most of the time to the bar across the street and Saturday's she would nurse the hangover but depression swallowed her whole and she spent her time in bed. She would never call it depression more of a 'recharge time'. If you know, you know.

Sunday morning rolled around, coffee was brewing and Matt was actually on time. Peter was uncharacteristically quiet but Ivy didn't really mind. The opening crew overall seemed tired, in work mode completely. Ivy was so in a trance cleaning a table she didn't even hear the front door bell, or Peter greeting who was at the door.

"Good morning." she barely heard from behind her. She turned around to be greeted by a familiar pair of blue eyes. James gave her a small shy smile that she returned.

"Good morning." she replied as she quickly went to pour him a coffee and confidently walked up to give it to him.

"Thank you." he said sweetly and sat at the normal corner table.

"So should I consider you a regular? Frequent flyer?" she joked, making him smile a bit.

"Regular." he confirmed, sipping his coffee. "I looked up that Gordon Ramsey guy." he continued, making Ivy's eyes go wide.

"Really?" she asked as though she didn't believe him. "What did you think?"

"He's kind of a dick." he answered seriously making her laugh.

"I think he's earned the right." she said in between giggles.

"Just because he can cook doesn't give him the right."

"I think I would be honored to be called an idiot sandwich by him." Ivy joked, making James laugh. "You should watch Hell's Kitchen it's pretty brutal."

"I'll add it to my list." he replied with a smile, making Ivy blush a bit. There was a moment of comfortable silence before she spoke again.

"What's your name?" she nearly blurted. His eyes flashed to the table and back up to her.

"James."

"James." she repeated absentmindedly. "I'm Ivy."

"You told me."

"Oh." she blushed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and another moment of silence passed.

"Do you uh, want to sit? If you're busy or don't want to-" James started but Ivy cut him off by pulling up a chair from another table. "I uh enjoy talking to you." he admitted sheepishly.

"I enjoy talking to you too." she smiled as she spoke. "So, James, you said you moved back to Brooklyn, where were you before?"

"Oh I um- I traveled a lot." his voice thick.

"Really? I've always wanted to travel. Where did you go?"

"Europe um for a bit.'

"It's cliché I know but I've always wanted to go to Paris. It just seems so magical and beautiful."

"Why don't you go?" he asked, realizing that his coffee cup was empty. When he looked up from the bottom of his cup he saw Ivy staring at him with a sarcastic look in her eyes. "What?"

"I'm a broke college student working as a waitress living in a shoe box." she pointed out then shook her head. "That was kind of depressing sorry."

James studied her face for a moment, seeing genuine embarrassment.

"You'll be bigger and better than Gordon Ramsey, flying to Paris all the time." he said with sincerity.

Ivy's chest bloomed as though she was just told she won an award. It's not often she actually got any sort of encouragement these days. She rolled her eyes to mask any vulnerability she might have been showing.

"Don't flatter me, my ego will get too big." she joked, looking over her shoulder to not have to look him in the eye.

"Would that be a bad thing?" he said smoothly, catching himself off-guard, he hasn't flirted in a long, long time. When he noticed her blush he couldn't help but smirk.

"Yes because I'll start expecting that twenty dollar bill you leave me every week." She retorted, making James laugh and scrunch his face a bit. "And in case you weren't aware, the coffee here is free."

"I know." he replied with confidence and an award winning grin on his face. Ivy didn't even try to conceal her reddening cheeks as she gave him a shy smile and looked at her lap. She looked up to respond and found her words caught in her throat when she saw he was still looking with a lazy lopsided smile on his face.

The sound of the front door bell made her jump out of her dream weaver trance and whip her head to the influx of people waiting to be seated. The morning rush. Ivy could feel disappointment bubbling in her chest. She stood and wiped her hands on her apron to smooth it out before looking at James and giving a small smile.

"Thank you for inviting me to sit."

"Thank you for sitting."

As she began rushing around, talking and catering to customers, cleaning a spill from one of the kids, she lost sight of James. He had slipped out undetected only a few minutes into the rush, not liking being around that many people in a small space. He made sure to leave two twenty dollar bills.

His walk home was short, cold, and lonely- but, he had a new show to find and watch.

Ivy finished her shift and was even able to leave a bit early, but just to go home and do absolutely nothing. On her walk home she found that her mind kept wandering to James. How he just seemed so- sweet? Soft spoken and a mystery. Like he was hard and easy to read at the same time. And he clearly listened to what she said, which was so rare in people these days, not just men anymore. She found him interesting. (And handsome of course.)

She worked on some last minute homework, just some meal pans and fake inventory logs, nothing crazy but it still drained her. She fell asleep to the sound of the cooking channel playing and her computer in her lap.

James struggled to find where he could watch Hell's Kitchen, he had no clue what a "Hulu subscription" was. He'd have to ask his therapist. So he too, fell asleep to the cooking channel, and his computer in his lap until his inevitable nightmare ensued later.

Monday came and went, some early classes for Ivy and closing at the restaurant, nothing eventful happening. Aside from Peter acting a bit strange; quiet.

I'll give you some insight here, Peter is a bit of a blabber mouth and he is genuinely terrified of slipping up and telling Ivy that James is or was The Winter Soldier and he knows because he's Spiderman (obviously). He could just play it off that he knows from the news, but Ivy knows he doesn't watch the news.

Monday's were court appointed therapy days for James, his least favorite day of the week. Dr. Rayner was a tough love kind of lady, ex Army, probably not the best therapist to try and break down his walls, but he wasn't interested in any of it, let alone try to get a new one.

"So James, have you worked on anything we've talked about this week?" she asked him almost absentmindedly.

"Yeah my plan is all ready and set to go to uh make another amend tomorrow." he responded not really focusing on her.

"Well I meant your social problems." she started, earning an annoyed stare from him. "But tell me about that."

"Mariah Dillard. Ex gang member and drug lord. In the 90's she expanded her business overseas. And uh- The Winter Soldier was 'loaned' to her team to be some muscle when needed. Because of me- uh The Winter Soldier- she was able to build her business. The drugs she's selling aren't like what you normally see on the street. Over the years she developed basically a temporary super soldier serum and its highly addictive and deadly. To the people taking it and the people around them." he explained. "I'm getting inside info to take her down. RICO Act will get the rest."

Rayner pondered for a minute before responding. "And you remember your three rules?" James rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Of course I remember the three rules." he said matter-of-factly. Rayner leaned forward in her chair eyeballing him, earning another sigh from the soldier.

"Don't do anything illegal. Don't hurt anyone. I am no longer The Winter Soldier I am James Bucky Barnes." he listed off almost exasperated.

"You're forgetting something." James looked at her confused until she pointed to her painfully fake smile. "You end-"

"With a smile yes." he finished for her while flashing his own painfully fake smile.

The rest of his session went by horribly slow with what he considers to be meaningless talk of the need to make friends and learn about his new world he's living in. Kind of hard to learn about a world you were never meant to be in or even want to be in. And he didn't even get to ask her what the hell a Hulu is.

The next day, Tuesday, was one of Ivy's least favorite days of the week. She had too many classes crammed, hated taking the busses and subway's, and just hated feeling alone in a whole campus overflowing with people that always seemed to be doing better than her. At the end of every Tuesday was the only time she would actually call her "recharge time" depression.

Her last class ended at 7pm, her only night class because it was only offered that way. And by the time she gets home after walking to the subway, the time on the subway, catching a bus, the bus ride, then walking home, its normally around 8:30pm or 9pm.

Tonight was no different, when she got off her final bus with her headphones blaring Tame Impalas Lonerism album, at complete max volume; she shuffled through a small crowd of people that we're just living in their own worlds, oblivious to Ivy just trying to get off the bus.

Finally making it through the crowd, her apartment was just a few blocks away. She grabbed her phone from her pocket to turn down her music, while carefully balancing some cooking books her teacher let her borrow. Now in the midst of being caught up in her own world, she struggled to keep her books in her arms and not dropped her phone; she faceplanted into what she truly thought might be a brick wall until two burly hands planted themselves on her upper arms, keeping her from falling.

Without looking up as she started to grab her books she feverishly apologized to whoever she just bumped into.

"I am so so sorry, I was trying not to drop my stuff, and I wasn't looking and these stupid headphones-" but she was cut off but a strangely familiar voice.

"Ivy? Are you okay? That was my fault completely." He blurted as he dropped to the ground to gather her books. She looked up and met his pretty blue eyes and could feel the rush of embarrassment flush her skin.

"James, oh my god I'm even more sorry now." she said sheepishly as they finished gathering her fallen items.

"Please don't be." he chuckled, handing her what he had managed to pick up. Her fingers brushed his as she grabbed the books and for the first time out in public he really wished he wasn't wearing his gloves. Even through the leather, he could feel her cool touch, gentle. He wondered if her hands were soft.

"I was just trying to get home as fast as I could." She laughed a bit. "That clearly didn't go over so well."

"Homework?" he inquired.

"That and being a woman walking in New York with the sun set."

"Ah yes, survival instincts." he tried to joke but if he was being honest with himself, she brought to light something he hadn't thought of, and the thought of something happening to her bothered him. Especially tonight of all nights, a night he made a major Amend. A reminder of what is out there, and some of it because of him. Well, The Winter Soldier.

"Yeah ha, we all need them." she joked with him, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Could I walk you home?" he blurted, then quickly tried calming his demeanor. "You wouldn't need to speed walk."

A coy smile spread across Ivy's face, making James a bit uneasy.

"How do I know you're not a murderer?" she asked playfully, but it just made him freeze in his spot.

"You don't" He answered monotone, anxiety that Ivy couldn't detect rising up his chest.

"Are you?"

"Um- no." he responded, not quite believing himself as the worst memories he could think of started popping up in his brain. He could feel his palms sweating in his gloves.

"Kinda sounds like something a murderer would say." she joked in a sing song tone, oblivious to James's rising anxiety.

"That's fair." was all he could manage to get out.

"How about I give you my number and we can talk on the phone until I get home." she offered, washing away a bit of his panic. He smiled and nodded as she handed him her iPhone. He looked at it with a puzzled look on his face. He had learned some new technology just to be able to make his amends, and sure he's seen devices like these before but he hadn't a clue on how to use it.

"Uh I'm not sure how to-" he trailed off a bit in embarrassment.

"Do you not have a touch screen?" she asked. He pulled out his flip phone and handed it to her. Her eyes widened in a playful shock and she giggled a bit. It made him chuckle a little and he didn't even fully understand why it was funny to her. Her laugh was just kind of contagious to him. He wanted to make her laugh again. "A flip phone?" she continued, still giggling a bit. "Are you a hundred?"

"Hundred six actually." he corrected her, earning him a real laugh that forced a genuine smile on his face that he couldn't control.

As he watched her press buttons on his apparent ancient artifact, he noticed her hair falling over her shoulders, with a small piece of a grown out bang hanging in her face as she concentrated. He had only ever seen her at Ida's Corner. Work uniform, hair up. And here she looked like her, he felt like he was getting a glimpse into her life and might want more. She was beautiful he realized. A breath he didn't realize he was holding in released as she handed his phone back to her, and he took the time to really look at her face. The way her nose curved, the way her eyes held a lot more than she would ever lead on. A small freckle on her upper lip, and the way her lips curved and her cupids bow. It all seemed so perfect. Until he realized he was still looking at her lips; he whipped his eyes up to meet hers that were already on his. Noting her cheeks were a bit flushed. His probably were too.

"Call me." was all she said, with a devilish grin on her face as she walked away, leaving James in awe.

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#buckyxoc #james bucky barnes #buckyxwaitressoc #tfatws #marvel #peter parker #sam wilson #the falcon and the winter soldier #Winter Soldier #Bucky Barnes #james buchanan barnes #original character

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