I was sitting on the grass under the maple tree, leaning my back against the trunk. In one hand I was holding a plate with a half eaten piece of cake and in the other I held a fork that just landed in my mouth.
In the near distance I could hear music playing, people laughing, chatting and in general having a good time.
"Here you are ..."
My lips immediately turned into a wide smile as I recognised the voice of a man that stopped by my side.
"We needed some alone time." I said and looked up at him.
"We?" Bucky asked slightly confused and sat down by my side, a bottle of beer in his hand. I could feel my heart skip a bit or two as his shoulder slid down against mine.
"Me and the cake." I said before taking the last bite and put the plate away.
We stayed quiet for a few moments, just staring at the distance. Well I was the one staring at the distance. When I once again turned my head to look at him, his eyes were already stuck on me.
"We're married Buck." I chuckled slightly and shook my head, having a bit of a hard time believing that all of this was real. Just saying it out loud made my heart warm up.
"Hell yeah." Bucky imitated me.
I rolled my eyes as he laughed at my glaring stare and as a punishment I took his half full bottle of beer.
I emptied the bottle in one take, making Bucky raise his eyebrows, staring at me slightly impressed. I let the bottle fall down by my side, next to the empty plate.
"I don't even like beer." I mumbled while scrunching my nose and tried to hold in a burp.
"I can bring you some tea, darling." he kept teasing me and tried to keep a straight face as I punched his shoulder and huffed as if I was really offended but to be honest, I was barely able to hold in my laugh.
"I'll take that as a no." Bucky nodded understandingly before leaning his head back on the trunk, a wide smile still spread over his face. "People were looking for you by the way ..."
"People or you?" I asked and rested my head on his shoulder.
"People ... and me." he responded and turned his head my way, leaning his forehead on the top of my head. "Mostly me." he added softly.
My hand slowly searched for his and as soon as his fingers wrapped around mine, I let out a sigh. Not the annoyed one but the one that says 'I'm the luckiest and happiest person alive.'.
"Did you and your cake had enough of alone time?" Bucky asked after a few quiet moments, with a serious voice as if he was asking a genuinely serious question.
"Mhm ... why? Jealous a bit?" I joked before reaching with my finger to the plate by my side, getting off some cake crumbs and cream, licking my finger slowly.
"You're such a teaser. Behave Mia, we've got guests!" he hissed while laughing, taking the finger out of my mouth.
"Wait no! I'm not done yet!" I pouted like a little kid since some of the cream was still left on my finger.
Bucky rolled his eyes and licked the rest of the cream off my finger, making my heart skip a bit as a slight smirk appeared on my lips.
"Is my girl satisfied now?" he said underneath his breath.
"You don't even know." I blurted out.
"Happy to hear that."
"Can I get my finger back though?" I asked and leaned my head back on his shoulder while trying not to laugh at the fact that he was still holding it as if he actually planned to keep it.
"I actually wanted to asked you if ..." he paused for a moment which made me look up at him.
"I'm not giving you my finger. You can like borrow it ... I mean ... for special occasions but only if it keeps connected to me." I babbled some nonsense.
"Would you like to dance ... with me?" he asked out of nowhere since he already learnt that most of my babbling is better left unspoken about.
"Hell yeah!" I responded, smiling widely.
We haven't had our first dance yet and after the perfect song selection for when I walked down the aisle, my expectations were pretty high.
I wanted our song to be special, not something ordinary like 'The time of my life' or 'Thinking out loud', which by the way are great songs ... but also played for almost every first dance. Our relationship, all the years we spent together (and apart) were wild and I wanted a song that had some special meaning to both of us.
Sadly, I seriously doubted that he chose the Small potatoes theme song but yeah ... girl can't have everything I guess ...
Anyway.
"Great." I could hear relief in his voice. Did he seriously think that I was not going to dance with him?! "... so can I borrow the rest of your fingers, including your hands?" he asked jokingly and stood up, slowly reaching for both of my hands to help me stand up as if I was the old one.
However, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he once again proved, that even if he doesn't respond to my babbling and speaking of nonsense, he listens and pays attention to every word I say.
"Arm. Leg. I'm yours." I said and stood up.
"Henry... wait no ... Harry Potter?" Bucky said carefully, closing one of his eyes, hoping he got it right.
"I taught you so well." I said proudly and pretended to wipe away a tear from my eye.
"After three Harry Potter marathons in the past couple of weeks it would be embarrassing if I didn’t get it right." Bucky sighed as we hand-in-hand walked back to the crowd of people.
"Emily there you are!" Pepper shook her head at the sight of me, her eyes still red from all the crying. I think I broke this woman just by my existence.
"Here I am!" I said with a fake enthusiasm until I noticed a familiar face in the crowd.
"Holy flipping flopping shoe the god of thunder is at my wedding. Thor. Like the real one ... I need a piece of paper and a pen!" I started freaking out.
"Why-..."
"For an autograph of course!" I kinda squealed as Thor and his pal Racoon walked our way. "I invited him but I didn't think he would actually come!" I clapped my hands excitedly.
Pepper started taking deep breaths and excused herself to get a drink.
"Should I be concerned or jealous or ..." Bucky looked at me and then at Thor with complete confusion on his face.
"Hello Mr. Thor and ... Racoon. Thank you so much for taking your time!" my voice got a little higher than usually.
"Of course Little Stark, of course!" Thor said happily and unexpectedly pulled me into a hug, almost breaking a few of my bones.
"It's actually Barnes now." I corrected him since it just sounded so good to say it out loud. However, I was barely able to speak since he was hugging me so tightly.
After that I took a selfie with him and the Racoon, got an autograph and also spent a few minutes to stop the rodent from trying to steal my husband's metal arm, since somehow he found out that there is a way of getting it off. Sick.
Then suddenly the crowd got much quieter and the intro of a very familiar song started playing.
My yaw dropped and automatically I turned around to face the love of my life, who once again couldn't have chosen a better song.
"May I have this dance?" Bucky asked with sparkles in his eyes which made them look even more magical. He also put his left hand out like a true gentleman he is, patiently waiting for me to take it.
I couldn't manage to let out any words so I just pressed my lips together, hoping that I won't start crying once again, and nodded while taking his hand. He led me to the middle of the dance floor, all our guests surrounding us a few meters away.
After a short applause and cheering from the crowd, I wrapped my arms around Bucky's neck as he drew me close to his chest. His hands slipped down my back and stopped on my waistline.
'We'll do it all
Everything
On our own ...'
As soon as the lyrics started I forgot that there were people around. It was just us, lost in the moment. As his feet began to move, all I had to do was follow his lead. Being so close, I could feel the heat of his body warming me up as well. As I was leaning on his chest, I could hear his heartbeat increase. We were moving slowly yet passionate in small circles.
'We don't need
Anything
Or anyone ...'
"Ready?" Bucky softly whispered into my ear, his warm breath hitting my skin so suddenly it made my legs weak. Thank god he was holding me up.
"For what?" I asked, raising my gaze to look up at him. As soon as our eyes locked, it felt like the time has stopped. As if he was never going to let me go. One of his hands found mine, a moment later he already spread his fingers and entwined them with mine.
'If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?'
When the chords started, he let go of my waist even with his other hand and somehow I just knew what was coming up next. I grew so closely to him that his lips traced my forehead, however, then I spun out under his arm.
Bucky led me to do a few turns before pulling me back to him, so close that our hips met once again, but now I was facing the crowd and not him.
'I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough...'
One of his hands stayed entwined with mine as the other slid up my hip and rested on my belly. I put my free hand on his as we slowly moved and swayed to the rhythm of the song. I turned my head to the side as he every once in a while pressed a gentle kiss on my neck, sending shivers down my body.
I was breathless but since our dance was mostly slow just like the song, I assumed it was Bucky's fault. Know the saying 'he took my breath away'? Well he literally did.
"You know what happens next right?" his lips once again found my ear. His whispering voice, filling my ear always drove me crazy and he knew it.
"Wha-..." I started but too late.
'If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's burstin' into life'
As the chorus started once again, Bucky gathered me into his arms and lifted me up as if I was weightless. In the air he turned me around, so I was back to looking at him but this time I was the one looking down.
As we spun and spun around I laughed/screamed. His hands were wrapped around my waist and I could feel each of his fingers pressed into my skin tightly enough that I wasn't worried about falling down at all.
It was like I was flying and the happiness I felt in my chest was taking over me. I wished that the song would never end.
After that the dance grew livelier and livelier, we just let ourselves go and enjoy the last minute or two of our dance. Every moment, every movement seemed to be planned and nothing felt forced.
The truth is, we only danced before once and didn't prepare ourselves for this at all. But with Bucky, everything seemed so easy. I don't know if we actually were great dancers in the eyes of our audience but neither did I care about it. We were having so much fun and that's all I really needed and all I ever wanted.
'All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all ...'
Slowly and carefully he dipped me deeply like a real professional, held me that way until the bridge of the song ended and for a few moments once again we simply got lost in eachothers eyes.
'If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?'
As the chorus played for one last time Bucky pulled me back up, our bodies once again meeting into a strong yet soft touch, right into a deep and passionate yet extremely loving kiss. He tugged me even closer to him, slipping one of his hands tightly around my waist.
When the music died, our ears got filled with wild applause and cheering, breaking down the invisible wall we created while we were dancing.
Slowly Bucky pulled away from the kiss, his eyes firstly locked on my lips before moving up to my eyes. That's when he appeared like he got hit by the lightning, as if in the moment our eyes met for the millionth time today, he fell in love even harder than before. I could feel his rising chest matching mine and the tension between us was driving me crazy.
"We should do this more often." his warm breath once again hit my ear before he let go and we both half-bowed, wrapping up our first dance, letting other people to take over the dance floor.
"Aunt Emily! Aunt Emily!" Morgan happily skipped towards our way, making me smile even more.
"Niece Morgan! Niece Morgan!" I let go of Bucky's hand and spread my arms, ready for Morgan's hug.
"It was beautiful! Even better than the video from YouTube!" she babbled, making me laugh shortly as I picked her up, once again not caring that Pepper didn't approve it.
Because you know what? Every day that passed this little girl was getting bigger and before I will know it, she will be too heavy for me to lift her up. So until I still can, I will carry her around, lift her up whenever she wants to. I'm not going to throw this time away cause we all know that in the end, I would regret it.
"Say cheese!" Pepper appeared out of nowhere, clearly now she transformed into a photographer. Who needs a professional photographer when you've got Pepper, right?
"Cheeseee!!" Morgan and I made silly faces since we couldn't just take a normal pic like proper human beings. Cause you know, we are ... sPecIAl.
"James. James! Bucky! Get in the frame!" Pepper gestured him to step by my side since he was standing a few steps away, with a slight smirk on his lips, not taking his eyes off me for even one moment which made me blush pretty hard.
While running his hand through his hair Bucky walked over to us. Did I ever mention how even the way he walks is so freaking hot that it feels like a crime to watch him do it for free?
Bucky put one of his arms around my waist and pressed a quick kiss on the top of my head.
"What about me?" Morgan looked up at Bucky with those cute puppy eyes, pouting her lip as if she was hurt. What a player ...
"You? What about you?" Bucky pretended as if he didn't know what she was talking about, ignoring that the little girl was desperate for his attention. I tried not to laugh as Morgan got even slightly shocked.
After a few moments of her just staring at him, Bucky playfully rolled his eyes and took her away from me, started tickling her which made Morgan laugh uncontrollably, expecially when he 'threw' her over his shoulder and took her to the middle of the dance floor.
I let them have their time and sat down by one of the tables. Not even a moment later, someone rushed past me and sat down on the opposite chair.
"Vas happenin' Parker?" I said before taking a sip of a drink that was left on the table by god knows who. Immediately I spit it back into the glass since it was disgusting. "What the fuck is-..." I stared at the drink with disgusted face expression.
"I need your help Em!" Peter interrupted me.
I looked up from the drink with raised eyebrows since by the sound of his voice, he seemed either nervous or stressed or he just drank too much of those juice boxes and his energy levels were over the roof.
"I don't know if I'm qualified enough for that." I said before reaching for a random piece of bread that was also left on the table.
"Don't... I ... I really really need your advice." he continued as I sniffed the bread to see if there was any weird smell coming out of it. It seemed fine so I took a small bite. I let out a deep relieved breath when even the taste of it was completely normal.
"Emily!" Peter almost yelled with a slightly desperate voice, making me jump a little.
"What?!" I yelled back, with my mouth full of bread, trying to swallow it down all at once which almost resulted in me chocking to death.
"Are you even listening to me?!" Peter asked in frustration, not caring at all that at that moment I was practically seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Sorry, I was busy fighting for my life!" I snapped back while still coughing like crazy. Automatically I took the nearest drink and emptied the glass in one take.
Let's just say I spent another few minutes throwing up in the furthest corner of the backyard.
"Alright I'm back. What do you want Peter?" I asked and stubbornly avoided his face, crossing my arms on my chest like a little spoiled rich girl who didn't get the Barbie she wanted.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked with now much more calm and compassionate voice. And even slightly scared one to be honest. Was I that terrifying?
"Marvelous." I said sarcastically, my eyes searching through the crowd of people dancing and having fun.
Right in the middle of the dance floor I spotted Morgan and Bucky spinning around until they both got too dizzy and collapsed on the ground, laughing as if their lives depended on it.
My heart couldn't handle the cuteness and how freaking adorable they were, so with a smile on my face and a few tears in my eyes I finally brought my attention to Peter. "Sorry ... but I'm not sure that asking me for an advice is a great idea."
"Just listen okay? Please I can't talk about it with Ned cause he's... Ned. And May ... she won't get it. She's too old. Don't tell her I said that!" Peter babbled quickly clearly noticing that a few tears ran down my cheeks but decided that it's better not to ask about it. And I was really thankful he didn't.
"I'm not giving you sex education if that's what you want." I narrowed my eyebrows, confused by where this was going.
"No no no ... ugh ..." Peter shook his head and slightly embarrassed rubbed his red face.
"Great. Cause you have school for that." I let out a relived breath cause I was really not looking forward to spending the rest of my wedding day, explaining to a teenager how babies are made.
"There is this girl. And uhm..." Peter continued a little more quietly.
"There are lots of girls so be more specific." I said, leaning my forearms on the table, waiting for him to continue.
"A girl at my school. I really really like her. But I don't know how to ... she's different, you know? And -..."
"Peter? Are you seriously asking me for love advice?" I raised my eyebrows, a little bit surprised. "Seriously... why me? If you want your relationship to work, trust me, I'm not the one to ask for advice."
"We are practically at your wedding Em! You clearly know how to tell someone you ... like them or something!" Peter, still frustrated, ran his fingers through his hair.
"I don't think I ever told Bucky I like him." I thought for a moment. Did I? Did I ever say 'I like you Bucky'? Since I couldn't remember the answer I stood up on my chair and shouted, "I like you Bucky!", and send a kiss towards his way, which he caught and slammed on his cheek.
"It's actually really easy." I shrugged before sitting back down on my chair and took one last bite of my dear bread that almost costed me my life.
"It's not! It's different now but ... what about the first time you told him that you loved him? How did you do that?"
"First of all I don't recommend just coming up to a girl without actually talking to her first and saying 'I love you' ..." I kept thinking while reaching for my phone.
"...or do just that, you only live once after all." I shrugged once again but then I actually remembered the moment I told Bucky I loved him for the first time.
"He bought me a chocolate bar." I said out of nowhere, "...and then I said I loved him. I don't think I actually meant to say this at that moment but it just slipped out. I guess that deep inside I knew that he was the one. And when he said it back ..." I chuckled slightly and shook my head, getting second-hand embarrassment from my own memory.
"What?" Peter asked, now genuinely invested in my story.
"I said something like 'but I didn't give you chocolate' ... OH MY GOD PETER I GOT IT!" my eyes widened as I excitedly slammed my hands on the table.
"What?" Peter asked once again, but this time slightly terrified and confused.
"Buy her something that will mean something to her! Of course after talking to her at least a few times before that cause I don't want you to get a girl who will love your wallet instead of you." I continued.
"I talked to her before! She called me a loser." Peter said dreamily and proudly.
"Well that's a great start." I mumbled sarcastically while trying not to laugh. "Wait, you're going to Europe in less than a week, right? Is she going too? Aren't you going to Paris? Where else are you going?" I bombarded him with questions before running inside the house and came back with a pencil and a piece of paper.
I raised my eyebrows, expecting the answers while I was trying to catch my breath.
"Yes, I'm leaving in three days. Yes, she's going too. Yes, we are going to Paris. We are also going to Venice ..." he answered my questions as if his voice was being tapped. I slid the piece of paper and a pencil to his side of the table. "Okay here is the plan ..."
We spent about fifteen minutes making a plan how he's going to win this girl's heart. Her name was Michelle and by the way Peter talked about her, I gave him a blessing for this relationship, cause I think we can all agree that not every girl was worth of winning his heart.
The party was coming to an end. There was only one more thing to be done, thanking the guests for coming. But since I really wanted to let them all know how grateful I was that they showed up, I wrote a real proper speech. In my head. An hour ago. But I did it!
I made my way up the couple of stairs and stepped in the middle of a small improvised wooden stage where DJ was taking care of the music. While I waited for the last song to end, I also took a few pictures from that perspective.
When the music faded away, I put my phone back into my pocket. An hour ago it felt like reading my speech would seem too official and not very personal, so I decided to just speak freely. Only now I realised that this was just an excuse so I wouldn't have to write it down. Bad idea. Now I had no idea what I wanted to say.
I struggled to turn on the microphone but when I succeeded, I felt like the smartest person alive.
"Hello!" I said into the microphone. Immediately my eyes widened as my voice spread over the backyard way more loudly than I expected. With a little help of the DJ I managed to lower down the volume, before once again giving my attention back to the crowd.
All those smiling faces staring at me didn't really help me to calm down. "Oh for fox sake Samuel don't give me that look! I promise I'm not going to sing." I said to Sam, and when people laughed shortly, I got a little more relaxed. Still couldn't remember my speech though.
"Uhm ... some people say that your wedding day is the best day of your life. Thanks to the maid of honour, Pepper Potts ..." I gestured towards her, encouraging people to give her a short applause, "... who woke me up at 6 IN THE MORNING!... it was not only the best but most likely longest day in my life." I ended with a soft smile, letting Pepper know how truly grateful I was to have her here today.
As the DJ played the 'Thank you, next' part of the Ariana Grande song I gave him thumbs-up and continued.
"I would like to thank you all for coming. Seriously, some of you came from space which is crazy and really cool! I've never been to space ... but that's not important right now ..." I spoke excitedly but then took a deep breath to stop myself from saying any more senseless sentences.
"This day wouldn't be the same without each and everyone of you. Oh shit someone take the cake away from Sprinkles!" I freaked out as I saw my dog getting ready to dig into the chocolate cake. I let out a relieved breath when Shuri took care of the fluffy monster.
"Let's be honest, I never was and never will be a speech master. If you want a great speech, talk to Stephen Rogerson, he's good at those ... uhm ... yeah ... can we all just pretend that I said something really touching and sweet before I wish you all good night and get off this stage since this is getting embarrassing? Thank you and good night."
I wanted to end it all with a cool mic drop and blow a kiss to the crowd, but somehow messed up and kissed the microphone while waiting for it to drop from my empty hand.
People may found that hilarious, expecially Sam, but I did not, rushing off the stage as if my life dependent on it.
"Shoot me please. Or stab me, that would be better, more iconic." I mumbled to Bucky as we waved our goodbyes to the last few guests who drove off. Gotta be honest, I was on the edge of tears after this terrible attempt of giving a speech.
No offence to the guests but thank god we were finally alone!
"I'd rather not." Bucky chuckled before comfortingly and tightly putting his arm around my shoulders as we made our way inside the house.
"Don't worry doll. You were amazing, funny ... my always perfect Mia." he said but I knew he was just being nice. I did appreciate his sweet lies though.