Bucky Barnes didn’t consider himself easily thrown off. He'd faced armies, aliens, and Avengers. He’d lived through decades of chaos, war, and whatever the hell the 2010s were supposed to be. But right now, leaning against the kitchen counter, arms folded and one brow arched, he was genuinely baffled.

You were standing in front of the hallway mirror, holding a slim black glasses case like it contained a secret weapon. Which, knowing you, it very well might.

“Okay,” You said, glancing back at him with a spark of excitement in your eyes. “Ready?”

Bucky shrugged with a smirk. “Born ready. What is it? Laser contacts? X-ray monocle?”

You rolled your eyes, popping open the case. “i decided i don't need to be a scientist, i just could like one.” You say with a smile. "So i bought these..."

He squinted. “Glasses? That’s the big reveal?" He asks, looking a bit confused by the reveal. "I really don't think—"

You pulled them out slowly—thin, elegant black frames with the perfect balance between academic and fashionable—and held them up for inspection. “They’re supposed to make me look like a scientist." You said, a little nervous, a little smug.

Bucky didn’t say anything. He just watched, mildly amused, as you lifted the frames to your face and slid them on.

And then he forgot how to breathe.

The change was subtle but absolute. One second, you were the same brilliant, chaotic, stubborn person he’d grown to love arguing with at 2AM over obscure movie trivia. The next, you looked like someone who belonged in a sleek lab somewhere, recalibrating cutting-edge tech with one hand and sipping espresso with the other. Someone with a PhD in making Bucky lose his goddamn mind.

You turned around, pushing the glasses up your nose, completely unaware of the effect you’d just triggered like a switch.

“So?” You asked, standing in front of him now, tilting your head with that innocent curiosity you knew full well was lethal. “How do they look?”

Bucky blinked once. Then again. His brain refused to cooperate.

“Yeab—” He cleared his throat, trying to sound casual. Failed miserably. “They suit you and you look smart."

You gave him a flat look. “That’s the idea, genius.”

“No, I mean—smart smart..” He said, gesturing vaguely at your face. “Like... you could build a quantum reactor in the basement and still have time to correct everyone’s grammar.”

You grinned, starting to catch on. “So, scientist vibes achieved?”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Bucky muttered, stepping closer, voice dropping an octave. “You don’t look like a scientist. You look like the reason scientists lose their train of thought.”

,You blinked at him, a laugh caught halfway in your throat.*

“And hot.” He added. “Like distractingly hot. Unfairly hot. How-am-I-supposed-to-function hot.”

You reached up, taking the glasses off slowly, then putting them back on again, like testing the effect. “So… they work?”

“They work too well.” Bucky said, now just inches from you. “I’m not even sure I’m allowed to look at you in those.”

You raised a brow, pretending to think. “Should I return them?”

He let out a low, almost growling chuckle. “If you return those, I’m marching back to the store myself and buying five more pairs just to keep one in every room.”