That night, Y/n slept comfortably in Bucky's arms, his body was her own blanket of warmth. They agreed for whatever they had to continue with no labels. It was already enough that they were able to say the three special words everyone longs to hear from another person directed to them.
Throughout the night, Bucky slipped down from the headboard, his subconscious leading him to lay down with his body on his side. Normally, he'd sleep on his back, but now he had something to make room for, something that he never knew he needed, or could find. Her.
He laid awake, facing Y/n as she slept peacefully with his arm tucked underneath her neck. Her light snores blowing onto his face, lips parted. Like all the other times, he found himself staring. Before, he stared at the girl he longed to have. Now he stared at the girl who admitted to wanting him, loving him, just hours ago.
He lifted his metal hand to her slightly parted lips, lightly brushing his thumb against her bottom lip. Wow. He was privileged to say that hed kissed those lips. Three times. There were three times where he had the honour of feeling her lips against his. Moving. Connecting. Loving.
"Mine..." he muttered as his lips broke out into a soft smile. He had no idea what brought him to utter that possessive word, but it felt right. He slightly furrowed his eyebrows when she smiled softly. "You're awake..." he observed in a quiet voice.
She hummed in response, her eyes still closed, lips set in a soft smile as she moved her hand up to the one cupping her face, his thumb settled against her bottom lip. She put her hand over his, feeling the cool metal against her fingertips.
"I always liked this arm..." she whispered, stroking her thumb over his hand. He stayed silent, and she felt a small shrug in response. "What's the time?"
He looked over to the clock on the wall, "Four o'clock," he muttered back, his eyes landing on his thumb that he slowly dragged along her lip. He was already addicted to her kiss. To her lips. Her eyes. Just...her.
Her smile widened to his answer, and she let out a quiet laugh, "Four in the morning..." she whispered as if she were reminiscing about something.
"What?" he smiled.
"Well, Bucky..." she started, "About a week or so ago...I met a guy..." her voice was soft, filled with mischief as she spoke. She still refused to open her eyes, partly because she was still tired, but mostly because she couldn't face Bucky while his thumb was gently resting on her lip.
"A guy, huh?" He raised an eyebrow. He couldnt stop smiling.
"Hmm, a man. Very tall. Very muscular. Not to mention, very handsome...and...very old," she made sure to add, earning a small, tired chuckle from Bucky. His laugh was low, raspy, slow.
"Should I be worried about him?" he asked, giving in to the little, early morning game she was beginning to play. She never failed to amuse him with her cute, bad timed words, and her screwed up humour.
"Oh yeah. Definitely. He definitely has a fighting chance," she muttered back, giggling at herself. A giggle that made Bucky's heart flutter. Bucky Barnes' heart fluttered.
He smirked before he spoke again, "Well...since you're being so honest. I should probably tell you that...I met a girl..." he spun the game around, remembering each of her words, and playing them against her in his own way.
"A girl, huh?" she smiled back, understanding how he wanted to direct the conversation. Her hand was still on his, and she let out small, steady breaths every time his cold thumb moved against her lip.
"A woman. Very short. Very small. Not to mention, very...beautiful," the word still ignited a spark within her. The word that coursed from her head to her toes whenever Bucky was the one complimenting her. "She's very honest. Always comments at the worst times. And when we first met, she followed me around like a lost puppy. I just can't seem to get rid of her..." he joked at the end, and she reacted with a laugh, slightly louder.
"She sounds like a real pain in the ass. You must really like her if you still keep her in the back of your mind like that."
"Oh yeah. She's a real pain in my ass, and you have no idea how she makes me feel..." he let his last words hang in the small space between them, and all Y/n could do was smile. She makes him feel things.
"Tell me more. I wanna know what I'm up against here," they continued to play the game. Nothing but the truth of how they made each other feel.
"Well...we first met when she rudely interrupted my therapy session. Then, she liked me so much that she followed me home, and there I found her...outside my door at four in the morning," he spun his story, entertaining the both of them. She let out a laugh through her nose, and Buckys thumb moved down to rub against her jaw. "I remember wondering why a pretty thing like her wanted to be around someone like me..."
Y/n squeezed his metal hand when he said that, a small hint of sadness showing through her smile, "So, I bought myself some time to figure that out. I dragged her along with me, only for her to fall off of a plane. In that moment, every protective instinct I had, surfaced. It was a nice fall though. It ended with her on top of me," he smirked, even though she couldn't see it, she knew he did. She stayed silent, listening to their story play out with a smile. It was made even better when his voice was narrating every event.
"We went through a lot together. Then, she became my number one priority," Y/n felt her heart burst. He really needed to stop saying things like that, or else one day she'd die of loss of oxygen. "Overtime, I fell for her. I remember the day when we sat on a pier, and she was crying-"
"I'm sure she wasn't crying. She probably just had dust in her eyes, and a tear or two fell," she cut him off, and he stopped to smile at her. She still refused to open her eyes.
"Right...well, all I remember was how hard it was to see her doubt how much she meant to me," he said, and Y/n's smile slightly dropped from the memory, "I also remember how much I wanted to kiss her that day," Y/n blushed at his words, "But then my friend, Sam, just had to ruin the moment."
There it was. Out of everything he said, that's what made her shoot her eyes open. She was almost startled by the way his piercing, blue eyes were already boring into hers, but she continued, "Friend?" she questioned with a wide, shit-eating grin.
He hummed in response, with a slight shrug of his shoulder as if it wasn't a big deal. To Y/n, it was everything. Bucky Barnes admitted to being friends with Sam Wilson.
She laughed, "Well then, go on."
He obeyed, "That night, we slept on the couch together. She was wrapped up in my arms, and that was probably the best night of sleep I'd ever gotten. Especially when uhh...I woke up with her on top of me..." he muttered, with a sort of shy laugh, his eyes drifting away from hers.
"You seem to really like that, huh?" Y/n smirked. It was no use hiding what they thought of each other whenever they were in close proximity.
"Well...how could I not? Like I said, she's beautiful," he lifted his eyes back to meet her brown ones. They stared for a few moments. He couldn't stop saying it. It was like an overwhelming feeling where he needed to make her understand how beautiful she was to him, both inside and out.
Y/n smiled, waiting for him to go on. She liked hearing their story.
"Y'know what else I really like?"
She gave him an expectant look, awaiting his answer.
"I really like when she falls asleep on me. When she hugs me. When she holds my hand. It's...insane," he whispered the last part for dramatic effect, and her smile grew. It was quite possibly her favourite conversation, mostly dominated by his voice, all for her to listen to.
"What else?"
He let out a small, breathy laugh, "I also really liked when...she kissed me. Very unexpected. Very in the moment," his eyes dropped down to her lips, remembering, savouring the first time his lips met hers.
"She...kissed you...?" she teased him, her voice lowering to one that could be mistaken for a tone of slight seduction. Her eyes fell to his lips, feeling rather bold, she lifted her hand from on top of his, moving it cup his stubbled jaw. She licked her lips, moving her thumb to drag across his bottom lip. "Tell me, how did she do it?" she kept her eyes on his lips while he stared at her in amusement.
"I'll do you one better. I'll show you," both were confident now. Confident in their feelings for each other. Confident in their attraction towards each other. "It was a very quick decision. I wanted to take her with me and protect her. She wanted to help our friend. So, to get me to listen to her, she reached up to put her hand on the back of my neck..." he paused, only to gently grab the hand on his jaw with his metal hand, helping her slide it to the back of his neck.
Every touch ignited tiny fires, and sparks across their skin. Soon, they were going to be burned. Together. If that was the way to do it...Let it burn me to ash, she thought.
"Then...she pulled me down to her," he pressed his hand more firmly against hers, giving her the indication to follow his words. She pulled his face closer to hers until their lips were just close enough to brush against each other's. "I wrapped my hand around hers, and pulled her to me by her waist..." he smiled.
Both refused to close their eyes.
Both smiled.
Both needed to lean in.
"Well...if you fell for her...then you shouldn't kiss me..." she whispered, her breath gently blowing across his lips.
"I think this is where the game ends, Y/n..." he whispered back, and she smirked.
"But I was having so much fun," she said with a mocking pout before she let out a sudden breath when she felt his metal hand move down to land on her hip.
"So...you don't want me to kiss you?" He was set on winning. He was set on making her break before him. The tension in the air was so damn thick, either of them would snap any second. He slightly pulled her hips to his, and her eyes fell to his lips. So close.
"You're a pain in my ass..." She was breathless. Completely at a loss of oxygen.
"Poor thing. You fell in love with a nuisance," he smirked back, impatiently waiting for her soft lips to meet his. He couldn't handle it anymore. She still wasn't budging. "Pain in my ass," he mumbled before literally crashing his lips onto hers.
Her body fell flat on the bed on impact, and he moved so that half of his body was on top of hers. Both were already breathless from the tension, so they tried their best to breathe through their noses as their mouths engulfed each other's.
It was fast, hot, and messy. Their tongues met in the middle, invading each other's personal space as much as they could. It was a great combination of lips and hands. His hand slid up her body from her hip up to her face, cupping her jaw. His flesh arm was still tucked underneath her neck, gripping her shoulder.
Y/n's hands rushed up to his air, tugging on his short strands. Her fingers trying to get as much of his hair on every part of her hand. She pulled him closer to her, still tugging on his hair with need. He groaned into her mouth, quickly losing breath.
A moment after she moaned into his mouth, Bucky reluctantly pulled away, lowering his head so that their foreheads were pressed together, both letting out breathless pants.
Y/n didn't want to ask, but she had to, "Wait?" she questioned, savouring the way his large, solid body hovered over hers, his warmth consuming every part of her. She could still taste him, and wondered if he felt the same.
He reluctantly nodded, "Wait," it took a while to recover. His hand moved down to her side, stroking his thumb against her clothing that failed to keep her from the heat he gave her.
"I really want to," Y/n muttered, trying to regulate her breathing, sliding her hands to his shoulders, rubbing them. All their movements were still slightly frantic from the moment of lust.
"I know," he whispered back, "But you need to sleep," he muttered, almost cursing himself for being his overly considerate self. He slowly moved off of her, returning to his original position, laying on his side.
Y/n sighed before being pulled into him. He wrapped his arms around her, kissed the top of her forehead, and let out a small sigh against her skin. "Sleep..." he murmured in a low voice before they both tried their best to slow their breathing.
Falling asleep with the thought of their bodies intertwined.