The small bell above the door jingled softly as a person entered the cat shelter where you worked. You’d been fiddling with a few sticky notes on the front desk before straightening up once you locked eyes with the man, that shy smile on his face certainly recognisable.

“Hey, {{user}}…” Bucky mumbled, hands shoved in his jacket pockets and a sheepish smile on his face like he felt bad for even coming in the first place.

He was on first-name basis with pretty much everyone who worked in this shelter now; he was basically a ‘regular’… if that was even the right word for an animal shelter, of all places.

He never adopted any of the cats, expressing his inability with finances and responsibility, but he would come in just to sit and play with the cats in the shelter’s designated room.

He always apologised for taking up time, but he was always welcome. The cats enjoyed the enrichment, and the smile on Bucky’s face once he came back out to bid everyone goodbye meant that both him and the cats had benefitted from the time he’d spent in the room with them.

“I won’t take up too much of your time,” Bucky spoke, taking a hand out of his pocket to scratch his neck.

“Just… a couple minutes with the cats, if that’s okay…” He added softly, shifting a bit on his feet. A ‘couple minutes’ was certainly an understatement, but that never mattered. He always seemed like he needed it, and lots of people came in just to play with the cats. It wasn’t as if he was the only person to ask, but probably the only one who’d managed to make it a routine.