Retrograde▸bucky barnes

24. Friday

She grinned, heart beating out of her chest. She knew he could hear it too, just as she could hear the steady rhythm of his. Yes, it was steady, but beating fast with anticipation.

"Are you just going to tease me?" she grinned.

The question elicited exactly the response she had hoped for: his lips were abruptly kissing down her neck before coming back up to meet her own. Bucky pulled away after a moment and looked down at her with something unfamiliar in his eye, a glimmer of something far less innocent than any kiss they'd shared in Latvia.

"You are such a flirt, you know that?" Bucky asked, his lips millimeters from hers.

"Only for you," she smiled into the kiss, closing the distance between them. He tasted like the whiskey he'd been drinking, bitter but in the sweetest way imaginable. She felt herself folding into him, leaning into his touch.

Hesitantly she bit his bottom lip, just enough to test the waters of wherever this was going, but not enough to be demanding. To her surprise this seemed to grant permission, and he was impossibly closer, pressing the length of his body against hers, pinning her to the wall. Fingers tangled in his hair, her arms clinging to him, it felt almost lewd to be in a public place. Almost.

As much as she wanted Bucky to continue what he'd started - to not just glance the tips of his fingers across the bare skin of where her shirt met her jeans - she had the feeling he was paying very close attention to her every reaction. He would go no further than what she was comfortable with - here or somewhere else. This was clear in the way that he retracted himself immediately when she gasped at the sharp feeling of his teeth on her neck.

"Sorry," he whispered, his voice soft, "If that was too much-"

"No," she whispered back, momentarily placing a finger on his lips, "I just wasn't expecting it. Not from the gentleman from the Forties."

Bucky grinned mischievously, "Just because everyone in the 40s acted prudish doesn't mean they were. You should know."

Lena gasped in mock offense, "What are you insinuating?"

"Only that someone as breathtaking as you certainly isn't a stranger to kissing men of questionable character in dingy bars."

Lena raised her eyebrows, "I suppose not. But I'll have you know that I was once married and had a very respectable family."

"Hmm," he hummed, lips nearly back on hers, "And what would your husband say to all this then?"

"Well, he's dead so-"

"Lena," Bucky sighed dramatically, "I'm only kidding. And trying to flirt with you. But badly apparently."

"Well, I guess you can just skip that part then," she said, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

He chuckled and she couldn't help but giggle at the fact that she could feel the sound reverberate through him. It was joyful and full of love and everything she had forgotten she had wanted in her life. In the same instant, his lips were back on hers with renewed fervor. This time it really was beginning to feel like a bit too much for a public space. But just as Lena was about to make a suggestion that she very much would like to take this elsewhere a voice appeared beside them.

"You know, being late to this ratty bar, this was NOT what I was expecting to see," Sam scoffed.

Bucky all but launched himself away from Lena and turned beet red. Lena felt a blush rise in her cheeks but a sense of relief washed over her. Now she didn't have to tell Sam that she was falling in love with his best friend. The thought shocked her though - that her internal dialogue was continuously using the word "love."

Sam laughed and he uncrossed his arms out of his mock annoyed stance "how long has this been going on? Or have I just been that oblivious?"

Bucky laughed uncomfortably and glanced at Lena, "We met in a coffee shop months ago-"

Sam raised his eyebrows.

"But this is new," Lena said gesturing between them as if that clarified everything, "There were some ah- problems with the fact that we've tried to kill each other, ya know?"

Sam laughed, the sort of laugh that told Lena he was just glad to see his friend looking so absolutely enthralled with the woman before him. The whole evening was like that too; on more than one occasion Lena caught Sam looking at them with a satisfied half smile.

-

Long after they said goodbye to Sam, Bucky walked Lena up the aging but grand staircase of her apartment building, the city lights through the big windows causing their shadows to run long across the floor. Lena wasn't sure what she was expecting but she couldn't stop thinking about the earlier feeling of his lips on her neck and how he kept shooting her nervous glances as they stopped in front of her door.

Lena unlocked the door but did not open it as she turned to Bucky, "I'm glad you came to Berlin."

Bucky leaned on the doorframe, his hand stuck out above her shoulder so he was leaning over her, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Lena pretended to be indifferent to his proximity and stayed with her back pressed against her door, "I'm fairly certain this city isn't that interesting."

Bucky chuckled, ever so slightly bending closer, "No, but you are."

Lena blushed even though she had been fully expecting him so say something like that in response.

"You're blushing doll," Bucky whispered, his breath warm across her face as he retracted his hand from the doorframe so he could hold her face, the pad of his thumb running across her cheek.

"That happens sometimes."

"Seems to happen a lot when I'm around," he smiled, his lips almost touching Lena's.

Lena grinned, "I'm sure you could find more ways to make me blush."

Bucky's eyebrows shot up, "forward are we?"

"Well, I'm trying to be. Is it working?" Lena laughed trying to keep her voice from wavering; she could only feign confidence for so long.

Bucky's kiss answered her question, his lips insistent on hers. She melted into him, letting him press her against the door and wanting to be impossibly closer. Briefly, Bucky pulled back.

"I don't want to presume anything but are you inviting me in for the evening?" he asked, his breathing heavy.

"Oh stop being such a gentleman," Lena said as she fumbled for the door, drawing him in after her and reaching for the hemline of his shirt.