𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 again while Jo giggled from the feeling spreading in her stomach. Butterflies didn't even begin to describe it, there was an uproar of lions and fireworks. His lips weren't the least bit chapped. So soft and sweet against hers, moving with her. His large hand was on the back of her neck, making sure she couldn't get away from him as he tried to memorize the feel of her lips against his own.
"Shouldn't-" he kissed again. "-we get back."
He grumbled in annoyance but that only made her laugh.
"No," he mumbled, no other argument needed for her to keep her mouth mostly shut like he wanted.
The sunset always looked different here. It was better. In the city, just a little larger than Oakworth hills, the sun was always distant, layered in grey clouds and tall buildings. Seeing it in the afternoon sky at all was a rarity, even more so when it was setting.
The trees here gave a different image, creating a large canvas with the woods being brushes, drawing shapes on their faces in all the hues of the colour spectrum. The sun was sinking, and with it, went the moment. They couldn't stay up here forever.
Bucky and Jo sat back up. She was sitting between his legs on the small ledge. His head was buried in the crook of her neck, arms tightly wrapped around her waist and pulling her into him. His head was tilted to look at her, burning her features into his memory.
"What did you tell Peggy and Steve?" She sighed deeply, running a hand up through his hair and she looked down at him.
"Nothing," he replied, kissing her shoulder. "Don't remind me."
An annoyed groan left him, now realising that a world outside of this did exist.
"I'm guessing we don't tell my sister," she chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief. Maybe it was just the two of them in the world. This, and what was between them, and nothing else.
"I'd prefer if we didn't."
"For how long?" She kissed his temple, letting his body warm her as the sun finally disappeared behind the tall trees, leaving them in darkness.
"I don't know," he replied, and she sighed deeply.
"I think you say that too much," she huffed and dug her nails warningly into his neck, making him hiss for a second.
"You're the one making sure I can't think about anything other than you," he purred in her ear, making her giggle as she felt the rumbling of his chest.
"Big words," she sighed and peeled his arms off her. Jo wouldn't be surprised if he had told more girls than she could count on her hand the exact same thing.
For now, she wouldn't think about it too much. Going along for the ride was what she did best, make the most of it, because things that burned this bright had a tendency to snuff out before she even realised it. That's what happened the summer before he went to college. He left without a goodbye, and deep down she knew this probably wouldn't last much longer than that.
She grabbed her empty plate and sketchbook, removing herself from his body and making her way down the roof. Only just in time as Pietro came bouncing out onto the balcony.
"Damn!" He shouted and let out a bit of a whine. "I was really hoping to catch you two making out."
"You're an ass," Jo nonchalantly laughed, lying to Pietro wasn't hard. He wasn't the most observant, and she knew he meant it as a joke.
"A little bird called David told me you were at the store together," Pietro spoke knowingly while Bucky started climbing down, and she rolled her eyes. David knew she would kill him if he ever talked over himself, and he was too careful for that anyway.
"You know that thing you usually do at record stores? Listen to music. Think that might've been what we were doing, dumbass?" She chuckled and walked inside without looking back at Bucky. "Anyway, how was the thing with Melissa?"
She raised her eyebrows smugly and nudged his side.
"Well, I've got a couple condoms less in my bag," Pietro said and the two of them broke out into laughter, hers a little more grossed out.
"Dude! Be nice!"
Pietro shrugged at her words and followed her into her room, glancing over at the painting. Not that he understood any of it. Wanda might if she was here, but she was still a couple of days out.
"Did she always flirt with me?" He asked and flopped down on her bed, arms behind his head.
"Not until last summer, whenever we got drunk or high. Amy knew she had a bit of a crush on you," Jo replied and packed away her sketchbook. Every time she crouched her cuts would hiss at her, but she kept her grimace to herself.
Pietro was eyeing her a little suspiciously. Not that he had any idea about her and Bucky. She just changed whenever they were up here. He and Tony had talked about it a bit, it was why they kept coming back. Jo felt like her most authentic self up here, and none of them wanted to take that away from her.
"I'm lucky to have you as my wing-woman then," he chuckled and stared up at her ceiling. A thought sprung forward, a slight rarity for him. "Hey, how long has it been since your parents were up here?"
"The house?" Jo asked and sat down by her desk, swinging back and forth on the chair. He nodded. "A couple years. Dad thinks it's too broken down and not the image he wants to send to people."
She rolled her eyes.
"Great!" Pietro exclaimed and sat up on the bed. Her eyes trailed to Bucky as he walked back inside, sending a wink only she could see before closing the door behind him across the hall. "We're gonna paint your room then!"
"What?" She laughed out, not understanding until it clicked for her. Those damned white walls of hers were ones she always hated, but she had learned at 3 years old that you shouldn't paint on the them. "Oh my god! You're a genius!"
Pietro gave a bright laugh as she bounced across the room. Even when her parents did visit the Ivory House, they never went into her room. How had she failed to see the largest canvas around her? Jo was about to topple over as she looked around herself, the images already emerging, idea after idea, springing forward.
"Alright, help me out!" She yanked at her desk, not caring about the pain in her body, and she yanked it away from the wall.
"What, now?"
"When else!?" Jo exclaimed and jogged over to her bookshelves. Pietro was up in a flash, helping her push the other side.
"What on God's green earth are the two of you doing?" Tony grumbled as he stepped into the room. "I'm spent and was hoping for a nap."
"No time!" Jo laboriously laughed, and Pietro gave a chuckle. "And can it with the holy stuff."
"Well, what trouble are we getting ourselves into then?" Tony crossed the room and helped them out, making sure the furniture didn't scrape too heavily against the floors.
"We're painting my walls."
"Like the ice cream store?"
"No, no, that was just to cause trouble." The door on the opposite side of the hall opened again. "This is to create art!" Tony let out a laugh and she grinned at her own words.
"Did I hear something about an ice cream store?"
Bucky leaned against the doorway, eyeing them while they pulled all her furniture away from the walls. They weren't being careful. Trophies, paintings, books, all of it was falling from shelves and then kicked into a pile.
"We painted the outer wall," Pietro said with a laugh.
"Nothing," Jo said at the same time.
"Right," Bucky chuckled, eyeing her for a few seconds longer than he should. She was so fucking beautiful. "I'm guessing it's the same nothing like those cherries you didn't steal?"
He stepped into the room, striding towards her, and he gently nudged her hands off the dresser and took over.
"Stealing?" She exaggeratingly puffed. "Me? Doing something like that? I would never!"
The simple touch still made her heart skip a beat.
"Like you wouldn't scratch my dad's car," Tony said.
"The same way you wouldn't get chased halfway through town by the sheriff?" Pietro asked.
"Dude! Don't spill my secrets!" Jo laughed and threw some random book at Pietro who easily ducked and put on his most offended expression.
"Did you see that, Tone?" He asked with his mouth wide open. Tony nodded.
"Little Miss Sunshine is becoming a truly deranged criminal. Even attacking friends?" Tony spoke, and she threw another book towards him.
He ducked behind her bed to avoid it.
"I told you not to call me that!" She puffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
Something touched her side and the scowl faded for a second. Then she realised how soft the touch was, and it was out of view from Tony and Pietro. Bucky was standing beside her with an unwavering expressing as he slid the back of his fingers across the low of her back.
"Sorry, Jo, it's been immortalised already," Tony graciously said and opened the book she had thrown at him. It was the usual picture album she kept of the different years. He flipped to the page and showed off the photo. "You looked a lot younger a year ago."
"Don't get any ideas," she scoffed and rolled her eyes.
The day of the picture had been a lot of fun though.
"You have a photo album?" Bucky asked and stopped his movement on her back, allowing her to think again. Jo nodded. "And you never even showed me?"
"She was probably embarrassed," Pietro grinned, and Bucky walked past her towards her bed and Tony.
"Was not!" She insisted and went back to push the dresser out, but she realised he had already done it. "Well, make yourselves at home."
None of them paid much attention to her. Except for Bucky. He looked up with a smirk on his face and sent her another wink.
"Fine, then I'll go into town and buy some paint," she huffed and went to grab her jacket.
"The stores are closed by now," Tony simply said as he showed off another page to Bucky, laughing and explaining along with Pietro.
Jo defeatedly let go of her jacket but she continued out of the room. She hadn't made it far before a hand grabbed her arm and twirled her around. The same set of soft lips pressing against hers and kissing her.
She pulled away, slapping his chest. "They're in the room!" She hissed while he kept smirking.
"Exactly. They're not out here."
He ran his tongue slowly over his lips, teeth playfully coming forward and he let out a chuckle. She rolled her eyes and wiggled out of his grip, sending him a smile before she bounced down the steps and Bucky was left in the hallway.
In the backyard, Steve was splitting firewood. The fireplace had been looking a little bare last night. Peggy was doing another thorough cleaning of the glass table. A few lanterns had been lit, cascading over their faces.
"What's the plan for dinner?" She asked and laid fully down on the cold porch. The cold felt amazing against her cuts.
"No plan, we're ordering something," Peggy laboriously breathed, scrubbing furiously away at a stubborn spot. "Pietro mentioned the party's tomorrow?"
"Yup," Jo replied, popping the p.
"Big one?"
The axe hit the stub below and Jo got up on her elbows, narrowing her eyes.
"Why do you care?"
"Well, it could be fun. I do have a few friends in town, you know." Peggy had that undertone of annoyance and she yawned. "They said they were going as well."
"What? I don't want to hang around you and your buddies."
The annoyance shifted over to Jo, lacing with her voice.
"Well, that really is too bad, isn't it?" Peggy said and stood up straight, placing her hands at her sides. She was satisfied with the progress on the table.
"Fine. I'll stay in a different part of the house then," she replied with a huff.
"Have you seen Bucky by the way? I told him to send you down hours ago..."
She bit down the smile on her lips and let the annoyance stay.
"He was probably too busy moping in his room. He told me to come down like five minutes ago."
Maybe it was better to not tell her sister about the plan she had for her room.
"Alright," Peggy suspiciously replied. "How much have you troubled him today? He seemed bothered."
The axe hit into the tree stub again, echoing around them. A rush of wind came blowing through, freezing Jo to the bone because of her thin clothes.
"Nothing more than the usual. I was out most of the day," she nonchalantly replied, and her sister nodded.
Maybe lying wouldn't be an issue, that hadn't been difficult. For dinner, they ended up ordering pizza. The front lawn was littered with building materials and tools that would be used in Steve and Peggy's fixing journey they had decided to go on with the house.
Steve insisted on toasting some marshmallows on the small campfire he and Peggy had created. Jo wasn't opposed to it. A fire with some good music and a blanket might be what she needed after everything that had happened.
And so, as night fell on the Ivory House, dark shadows with a moon in the sky and all, they gathered around the fire. To the surprise of no one, Peggy and Steve were cuddling under the same blanket and Bucky, not wanting to third wheel, saw his opportunity to lean closer to Jo. And Pietro and Tony, of course, but they were much less important.
"Come on, don't tell me you don't even remember prom," Jo chuckled.
She was eerily aware of Bucky sitting by her side on the small log he had put down. There wasn't much room, and it was killing her how she had to hide her reaction to every touch or move he made.
"Dude, I ate way too many edibles and then you convinced me to go smoke during too!" Pietro defended and put his hand in the air. Tony had retreated to his silent persona, watching as her and Pietro argued.
"Yeah! 'Cause you were literally falling asleep!" She laughed and shook her head. Prom felt like decades ago at this point.
"I wasn't. Laura was just less fun than I had thought."
Jo rolled her eyes, glancing towards the treeline, almost sure something moved, but it was without a doubt her imagination.
"I swear, sometimes I feel guilty letting you two treat girls the way you do," she sighed and rubbed her lips, leg bouncing along to the latest lyrics stuck in her mind – AC/DC this time, 'Too much touch'.
"And then you remember how you treat guys?" Tony questioned with a slight pout and that annoying know-it-all expression. Pietro laughed at the comment.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, watching Bucky out of the corner of her eye. "I don't make empty promises, at least-"
"No, you just give them the hope without saying anything," Tony smugly replied, and she sent him a death-stare. She didn't need this kind of conversation right now, especially not with him by her side, but Tony had never shied away from the truth.
"What?" Peggy asked in disbelief, staring at Jo with wide eyes. This was hardly a conversation she wanted her sister to be a part of either.
"Tone's just joking."
Jo carelessly shrugged, not wanting to get into this right now. Bucky tensed, and she was almost sure he was carefully watching her.
"You only dated Brandon- Brad, for a few months, right?" Peggy questioned, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
Jo immediately felt sick to her stomach at the question. No, at his name. Her head started spinning, and she couldn't feel anything other than her body. His face sprang to mind, and with it, came the most powerless and desecrated sensation.
"I don't want to talk about it," she tensely spoke, her breath was stuck and turning into a lump in her throat.
"What? Did you date other people than him?" Peggy curious asked, sounding almost scared.
Jo's leg stopped bouncing.
"No," she simply replied.
"I always thought Carla was into me," Pietro said in an effort to derail the conversation, unsuccessfully.
"Brad was such a nice guy," Peggy said in an almost taunting voice, and Jo immediately felt as if she was going to puke, and her stomach churned.
"Yeah, I remember Carla. Didn't you try to hook them up for a bit?" Tony looked towards her, trying desperately to help without making it obvious but her sister was relentless.
"Jo?"
"I- I need some... water," she breathed out and hurriedly stood up from around the log, trying her best to walk carefully inside but she failed miserably. Her shoulders were tense, fists clenched, expression nothing at all, and she was paler than ever before.
The glass doors slid to the side and the house around her was quiet as the walls enveloped her. It didn't matter. He didn't matter. None of it was anything she had to worry about. Sometimes things just happened without a reason – or without it being her fault.
Jo found her hands to be trembling as she reached up to the cabinet and grabbed herself a glass, filling it to the brim with cold water from the sink. She chugged it. Filled another. Chugged it. That continued until three or four glasses were down, trying to drown her thoughts with it. She wished it was alcohol. She fumbled for her pocket, but the small bag was still upstairs. Fuck.
"So... Brad, huh?" Bucky and his usual raspy voice sounded behind her, having followed her into the dark kitchen.
"Don't."
It was a warning, and she chugged another glass of water. With her nausea, it would hopefully make her puke soon.
"I saw the aftermath. Can't say I'm not curious," he trailed along with the counters, dragging his fingers across the surface until he ended up right next to her where he tapped his fingers twice.
"James."
Another warning as she breathed in a strained way. The air was so God damn thick in the room. Jo leaned over the sink and cracked open the window but even the cold rush didn't help her.
"Mmhmm," he hummed and glanced towards the living room, no one coming in. Bucky grabbed onto her waist and pulled her side into him. "Tell me about it."
"Stop," she croaked out, no longer able to keep up the cold voice as his body warmed her.
"Why not?"
"You left," she simply stated.
Not what she wanted to say, but that didn't make it any less true. Her hand was on his chest, keeping her slight distance and staring out of the window.
"You never talked to me."
"We never did anything."
╼ 𓇣☀️𓇣 ╾
The speed of the Camaro picked up, weaving hazardously through streets. Jo's body was flung back and forth as she recklessly drove. No one was out at 3 am anyway. No one on the street to recognise the yellow Camaro. No one who mattered, at least.
"Jodie! What the hell are you doing!" Bucky snapped after yet again getting flung against the door while they made their way back towards his house.
"Driving," she coldly spoke, not showing even a hint of emotion.
The wheel was flung to the left, tires screeching against the asphalt, and for a second, they lost their grip, barely catching it before they rammed into the white picket fence on the suburban house. Bucky was getting sick of it, and he unbuckled his seat belt. She hadn't buckled hers. He put his right hand on her knee and the other on the wheel, yanking it onto the sidewalk and pressing down on the brake.
"What the hell?!" She snapped and flung his hands off her. She didn't try to drive again, not yet.
"Yeah! You tell me. I knew you were a worse driver than Peggy, but the shit was that!?"
His voice was tense, and he was still close to her. Jo looked into his eyes but then averted her gaze just as quickly, they were softer than she had hoped, more compassionate. God, she wanted him to yell at her until her ears fell off.
"I dunno what you mean," she said, playing dumb.
"Don't play dumb."
Damn.
"I'm not," she grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest, looking out of the window.
"Then what?" He asked and gently reached out, brushing a lock of blonde hair away from her face.
"Then nothing. I'm just driving you home again," she mumbled.
"Come on, honey... there's a reason you want me to keep comin' around."
Yeah, she needed the attention.
His words tugged at her soul though, feeling wanted was nice. A smile tugged on her lips. Why couldn't he just yell at her? That was all she wanted; someone to tell her how utterly dumb she was and how everything that happened to her made sense. Tell her everything bad in the world was her fault. Such a cliché, but it would make it a lot easier for her.
"You're nice to look at," she huffed and leaned away from his touch, causing him to laugh out loud.
"So, I'm the trophy wife in this scenario?" Bucky asked and leaned closer to her.
"Yeah, you're free to leave," she scoffed while he travelled further, closing the distance between them, and Jo felt herself crumbling in the seat.
"And what if I don't want to?" He asked, and she felt his breath hitting her neck. The urge to yank him closer and push him out of her car at the same time ran rampant in her veins. "You're hot when you act like a fool."
She allowed herself to melt at his words, and a hoarse chuckle escaped her. Maybe he didn't need to yell at her, telling her she was dumb in that way was okay too. It didn't matter if he meant them or how seductively he said them, she just needed to hear them. Peggy would kill her, but she was out of town.
What her sister didn't know couldn't hurt her.
╼ 𓇣☀️𓇣 ╾
╼ 𓇣 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𓇣 ╾