Chapter 1

It was just after 8 pm and Jeopardy had just ended and Bucky had just gotten home from a date with Angela. She was a great girl and had a wonderful body, and loved messing around. She kept saying that she was “not having sex before she got married, because she was going to be a complete virgin on her wedding night”, but then she would say “mouth stuff is not sex” and would go down on him in a heartbeat and had no problem with him doing the same to her. She was still a great date and she was fun to mess around with, even if her definition of “sex” was a little incorrect, in his opinion, but Bucky was having fun with her.

Besides he was okay with her choice because he was actually dating a couple of other girls that did want to have sex, and quite often, so he was thinking about dropping her, but Angela was fun for other reasons. His only real ‘issue’ with her was her constant need to remind him that “she would be a virgin on her wedding night”. One of the things he loved about her was that she loved to look at and play with his dick, almost as soon as she got into the car when he picked her up for a date she would reach over and pull it out. And then when they were “playing around” as she put it, she was fine with it in her hands or mouth, but if he moved or turned the wrong way and got his dick anywhere close to her pussy, she about had a fit and started pushing him off of her thinking he was going to fuck her. It would take him a while to calm her down and get back to the “fun”, but as he said, she was fun for other non-sex reasons. Ah well, he had to work in the morning so was going to take a shower and go to bed.

He had just grabbed a soda from the fridge and was heading through the living room towards the stairs when his father spoke to him.

“Son, remember my company picnic is tomorrow. I’m gonna need your help with it. The guys and I will have the grills going around 1? I’ll expect there by 1:30, 1:45 at the latest, to help out. Understood?”

Turning his to look at his father, Bucky acts like only a teenager can when been being told something he doesn’t want to do “Huh? “What? But dad I gotta work tomorrow at 5. I’m going up to bed now to go to sleep. Are you serious right now? Do you really expect me to work slinging eggs and bacon on a grill for 4 or 5 hours and then burgers for another few hours only to have to do it again while you and your work pals stand around and get drunk? Can’t I just skip it this year? Please?” his voice rising in volume and pitch throughout his tirade.

His mother quietly pipes up with “Bucky, don’t speak to your father like that. You know he doesn’t ask for much.”

Bucky has to take a few calming breaths because it is his mother’s typical statement when he says anything contradictory directed towards his father.

Ignoring his complaints, his father raises his voice slightly and continues with “James! No! I’m gonna need your help manning the grill and I’m not going to discuss it further. I reminded you multiple times over the past week. I need your help and that’s final. Make sure you take a change of clothes with you so you can change at work and then come straight to the park. I don’t want to hear any excuses of you saying you forgot your clothes and then came home and fell asleep. I will expect you there by 1330, no later.” And with that, his father picked up the remote, turned back to the tv, and unmuted the show he had been watching. This confirmed that the conversation was in fact, over. As if him slipping into Military Time hadn’t been indication enough that he was pissed and wasn’t going to discuss it further.

Giving a little sigh of acceptance Bucky says “Okay dad, I’ll be there before 1:30. I’m off to bed. Love you both.”

His father never looked up from his show and just simply grunted, his mother simply looked up from her book, smiled at him, and said, “Love you too babe.”

Turning towards the stairs Bucky holds in his sigh of frustration until he reaches the top of the stairs because he knows if he lets it out, it will only lead to yet another lecture from his father.

Bucky was military-born and bred. Son of a patriarchal family in which nearly ever male had served in the military since they set foot on American shores, even before America was America. In fact if the family history was to be believed some of the original settlers fought for the “wrong side” during the French and Indian war in the mid 1700’s and were killed by the British, whoops. In most recent history only Bucky’s grandfather did not serve, but it was only by circumstance that he never did. His grandfather, James David Buchanan, was born in 1909 and was only 8 when World War I started and was then 30 with 2 small children and another on the way when World War II started.

Coming from a poor family with many mouths to feed, and being the eldest male child of, eventually, 13 children he had to work to help his family. His grandfather started working when the men went off to war in 1917, at just 8 years old. He didn’t stop working until he was 63 and got lung cancer. When WWII arrived and he was “too old” to serve, it didn’t stop his supporting of the war and it didn’t stop 3 of his younger brothers from serving either, 2 of whom never returning home. One lost in Europe and one lost in the Pacific. For his entire life Bucky’s grandfather was never seen not flying an American Flag in front of his house, nor not attending either the Memorial Day or Independence Day parades given in his town. He might not have served, but he loved and respected everyone who did.

Of his four children three, including Bucky’s father, joined the military. Of his sons one joined the Air Force and one the Army, and then his older daughter Rose joined the Marine Corps, all of this occurred during the Vietnam era. Luckily only his older son, Joseph, was sent to Vietnam, but returned home succesfully with no injuries and only a few wild tales to tell of his few tours of his time there.

His youngest son and child David, Bucky’s father, successfully did what he was unable to and joined the Army before he even graduated High School. David joined a local National Guard unit when he was 17 and was a Corporal before he was 20. After moving a few times due to job shortages, he was forced to switch from the National Guard to the Army Reserves as it was easier in the ‘60s-’70s to switch between units when moving between different states; Bucky’s parents had lived in 3 states and 4 years due to the economy at one point. Getting promoted often he was the First Sergeant (E8) of his Reserve unit by 1980, but his full-time job was suffering from the economy again and any day could be his last day of employment.

In the Spring of 1983 “Uncle Sam” came calling and asked if he would be willing to go Full-Time as an Army Recruiter the only issue was that he would have to accept a reduction in rank and give up his E8 and become a Sergeant First Class, an E7, again. After accepting the position Bucky’s father went off to training and came home to be the best he could be, that was 10 years ago and now at almost 50 years old, still ‘stuck’ as a Sergeant First Class his father was feeling the pressure from the decisions he had made years ago.

As Bucky reaches his bedroom the first thing he does is grabs a bag to pack with a change of clothes for the next day. Not really know what the weather is going to be like, he packs a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts. Tossing in a few different shirts, a polo, and a simple print t-shirt, along with clean underwear and socks, finally adding his new Jordan Hi-Tops. He had only worn them a few times but figures this would be a nice occasion.

With his bag packed he puts it on the desk by the door with the stuff he normally took to work in the morning so he wouldn’t forget it, and then went and took his nightly shower. After getting out of the shower he saw himself in the mirror and was reminded of his parent’s wedding picture, he was looking more and more like his father every day. Square rounded face with a strong jaw, a nose that could become a little too large with too much drinking (like his father’s), broad shoulders, dark brown hair, and, as one to many girls had put, long beautiful lashes.

Bucky was a nickname, his given name being James Madison Buchanan, James like his grandfather, and he had turned 19 just a month or so before. He, like his father, brother, and most of the rest of his family had joined the military, but unlike them, he had directly joined the Army Reserve shortly after his 17th birthday and went to Basic Training between his Junior and Senior year of High School. Bucky got his nickname shortly after he started playing baseball. There were 4 other kids on the team with the name James or Jim, and 3 other kids name Buchanan, and one of them started with a ‘J’, Jonathan. With all of the similarities in the names and confusions the first day, it only took about 5 minutes for the coach to start calling him “Bucky” and the name stuck. Now everyone from family, to friends, to teachers, to strangers on the street called him “Bucky”, except for his father. His father called him “James” no matter what, unless of course he was extremely happy, or drunk, so basically never.

Checking his alarm once more he climbed into bed and was quickly joined by his nightly bedmate, their housecat Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey was about 6 months old now and was pure white and as cuddly as ever with people he liked, but an asshole with people he didn’t know or hated.

When Bucky’s alarm went off at 3:30 AM, Bucky reached up and turned on the light. Humphrey was curled up on the little pillow Bucky had given him like normal, but the light woke him up enough that he gave a little meow in protest. Humphrey then stood up, stretched, and then curled back up to go to sleep in a slightly different position. Bucky just looked at him and said “Lazy ass cat. But who wouldn’t want the life of a cat? Just lay around all day, eat when you want, and screw when you want, and then take another nap. Quite the life.” Humphrey raised his head to look at him once more, yawned, and just gave another little yip of a meow as if to say “You got that right.” With a little scritch behind his ears, Bucky got out of bed and to leave for another fun-filled day of slinging breakfast and burgers at a fast-food joint.

Bucky pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant he worked at just at 4 AM and walked in and said hello to his co-workers and then started prepping for the breakfast rush that was due to start in a little over 2 hours. He had been working here for just over a year and as the morning breakfast grill prepper, it was his job to make sure everything was ready to go when the other workers showed up at 5 AM to start cooking and selling food. The good thing about working there was the high turnover rate of both High School and College age girls who didn’t mind a little No-Strings Attached fun. As long as both they and Bucky understood the rules going into the date or short-term relationship, everything normally worked out fine, the problems started when the rules weren’t made clear at the beginning.

Work was just like any other Summer day in the middle of the week at a fast-food restaurant. Lots of families traveling for vacation, either from here to there or from there to here, or people taking day trips to the beach, or just some that didn’t feel like cooking breakfast or lunch. It wasn’t an especially busy day nor was it a slow day. So when the shift manager asked Bucky at Noon if he wanted to punch out early he jumped at the chance. He figured it would allow him to go to this damn picnic like his father wanted him to and he could make his ‘appearance’. Then he could help his dad make some damn burgers and then he could leave and get home in time for a nap before possibly calling up Chastity for a little fun before he had to go to bed to do it all over tomorrow. So, with a grin on his face, and lusty thoughts on his mind, he punched out and headed out to his car for the bag he had packed the previous night.