chapter nineteen; part one:
that goddamn red dress
& "what could go wrong?"

"IS THERE SOMETHING GOING on between you two?" Zander French asks late on the night of homecoming. He wasn't blind nor stupid, he could not only see but feel the tension between the two beings in front of him. He was perched atop one of the tables in Tony and Bruce's lab, waiting for his parents to come pick him up after having everything explained to him.

Zander was now officially in the proverbial loop, and knew that Kat was in fact Katherine and that Tony was not her actual father, and that she was also an inhanced human. He also learned that the people who attacked them tonight were her parents.

He also came to the realization tonight that there was something between her and Bucky, although he wasn't sure what yet, or that Kat even realized it. The pair were sitting next to each other, leaning closely. They had been since earlier in the night, and he wouldn't have minded (because he knew they were friends) but she hadn't sat next to him, or even hugged him since Clint and Bucky had brought the pair in. And she certainly didn't look at him like she did Bucky, like she felt completely safe in his presence. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that they were together, and that Bucky was a worried boyfriend who didn't want her to leave his sight for a while, it looked like the pair depended on each other for safety, and even though he didn't know it for sure, he had a feeling that that was true.

"What?" Katherine asks, her attention now on her boyfriend rather than her black painted fingernails and Bucky's hand on her lower back. She furrowed her eyebrows at him, confused. Why would he ask such a thing? Zander knew that he was her boyfriend. "Why would you ask that?"

Zander only shrugs, shaking his head. He gave her a soft smile as she moved to sit next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She really did look beautiful, he thought as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Forget I said it." He says lowly, leaning in to give the girl a sweet kiss.

The couple didn't see Bucky gag and look away, or at least Zander didn't anyway although if he had he probably would have cheered. "Can't the two of you get a room, or something?" The man asks, his metal fist clenching where it sat, shoved deep in his pocket. He couldn't stand watching them kiss, or hug or be anything couple related.

Katherine broke away from the exchange with a small grin, looking at the man with soft eyes. "Sorry, Buck." She says. She knew he was having a bit of a rough night, he had been in a bad mood when she left and he didn't seem too pleased to have to come to her rescue, nor did the others seem pleased with him when they all yelled at him after he and Clint got back.

To put it lightly, Bucky was having an all around shitty night, and it started four hours ago when he walked in on her getting ready for the dance in that god damn red dress.

The day had been going well so far, he had made breakfast and had lunch with Steve, he had even watched a movie with Sam, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Well, someone, anyway.

He hadn't seen Katherine all day, and although he thought it was concerning that she didn't show for their usual saturday morning training session, he didn't bother her. He figured she just needed her space or something, however he finally decided to go looking for her when she didn't show up to inhale half a box of pizza for dinner.

He looked in all of her usual places, carrying a plate with four large slices of her favorite cheese pizza on it, but found them all to be void of the blonde beauty that has him wrapped around her finger.

It wasn't until he passed Sam in the hallway that he even thought to look in her room. "Hey, have you seen Kat?" He asks as the pair pass each other, he stops only briefly.

Sam points with his thumb towards her room, towards where he had just come from. "Her room," He says, continuing forward, he had been called for a mission and it seemed urgent. "She looks beautiful, man!" he call over his shoulder, practically running now.

"Thanks!" He calls confusedly, eyebrows furrowed. Why would Sam be calling her beautiful like that?

Bucky stopped outside of Kat's door, balancing the plate of pizza in his flesh hand while raising his metal one to the door, rapping it against the thick wood three times.

"Come in!" He heard faintly, prompting him to turn the knob and push the door open. He closed the door softly behind him.

"I brought pizza!" He calls out, noticing Nat in the closet. "Hey, Nat."

"Hey Buck," She says, folding a pair of jeans. "the girls will be out soon, they're just putting on the finishing touches."

Bucky looks at her weird. "Finishing touches for what?" He asks, setting the plate on the end of her bed.

"Homecoming." Nat says, looking at him as if he were dumb. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Bucky shakes his head as the bathroom door opens. "How could I forget?" He asks, his eyes landing on Logan as she steps outs of the bathroom, he could just see Katherine's head behind her, and when she came fully into view, he felt his breath catch in his throat. "Wow.." He says, voice shakey. If he thought she was beautiful in the store, she was drop dead gorgeous now. Her blonde hair was tied in an elegant not at the nape of her neck, and she had on simple makeup, the only pops of color was the dark pigment adorning her full, plump, kissable lips. "You girls look beautiful...truly.." 

They really did look gorgeous..

Logan was dressed in the same style dress as Katherine, although the color was a deep purple rather than Kat's red.

"I know right?" Logan says, nudging Kat, causing her to break away from Bucky's gaze, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Zander isn't going to know what hit him."

Bucky clears his throat, his fist clenching as he says his next words. "Yeah." He grits out, turning to leave. "He's a lucky guy."

Natasha watches the weird interaction. "Well, we better go find your dad." Natasha says, beckoning the girls along. "Tony is probably driving him nuts."

Minuets later, Bucky and what few avengers were in the tower had gathered by the elevator, where zander had just stepped out.

Mr. Killian, Clint and Natasha all had their phones out, snapping photos of the trio. Bucky stood off to the side, arms folded over his chest as he watched the teens.

After a flood of pictures, the group had finally had enough and managed to slip out with Mr. Killian behind them, thus beginning the rest if Bucky's not so great night.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He sighs.

Tony rolls his eyes, turning towrads him. "It's a highschool dance, what could possibly go wrong?" He turns to Nat then, before heading to the bar. "Send me those pictures?"

Little did any of them know, however, how much those words would come to haunt them, because everything went wrong at that highschool dance.

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hi kacky's! this isn't the full chapter, obviously. part two is going to be soooo much longer! im sorry to leave yall like this, but ive been working on this for over four months, and I've been stuck for over four months so i figured I'd just get this out and give myself a somewhat clean slate go work with. hope y'all like!

p.s. i will be releasing two spin offs to this book titled The Adventures of Logan  Killian and Lost & Found