bucky barnes hadn’t danced since 1944. spring, the fourth of april, just when leaves grew back in an abundance of pink and white. drunk on whatever they could scrounge up, he'd been celebrating. bucky was convinced, at the time, that his days were already numbered. he wasn’t half wrong. keyword: half.
since then, he'd endured torture, brainwashing, and everything in between. the kind of things that tend to erase smaller skills along with everything else. dancing, apparently, hadn't survived the cut.
that’s why, when you pulled bucky in to dance on the deck of the old wilson boat, the lights he'd spent an entire season patching up catching in your eyes, he immediately shook his head.
you nearly laughed in his face. you’d been holding back from full-belly laughs around him lately, the kind that left you shaking and wheezing, ever since the last one launched a glob of garlic aioli straight onto his cheek with a wet smack, leaving him frozen mid-sentence. bucky had used his metal hand to wipe it off, and it had been greasy the rest of the night.
“i know you can, there’s not a chance…!” you sang. then, to his confusion: “it’s from high school musical.”
“okay, whatever, ignore that. the point is, you’re at a party! loosen up a little.” you tried tugging his hand again and the warmth of his hand tightened around yours.
“i haven’t danced in, what, a hundred years,” bucky mumbled. “i’d be no good. go ask sam, i’m sure he’d be up for it.”
“i know sam would be up for it. the point is, i want to dance with you.”
the earnestness of your tone, your gaze, the soft curve of your lips pulling into that small smile you often wore with sincerity, all of which made bucky stop and consider. he couldn’t dance. he was good at it, sure, but that had become a thing of the past for him. something his body was able to do when he was lighter, younger, hopeful. but as you looked up at him, eyes sparkling, he gave in.
you instantly snapped into a state of franticness, your hands looping around him, tugging him in with breathless excitement.
“perfect!” you pulled him closer, chests almost meeting with a kiss. “i mean, you were probably asked to dance a million times back then with that handsome face of yours. just try to channel that energy, y’know?”
“i have no energy,” bucky breathed haggardly, somewhat taken aback by your suddenness. “and before you ask, i’m not… twerking.”
“jesus! i never said you were.” you laughed. “have you been reading up on twerking, big b? trying to fit in with the times?”
bucky did not dignify that question with a reply. mostly because his answer was embarrassing.
the speakers eased into something slower: “distant lover,” marvin gaye, you'd grown up on it. to bucky, it might as well have been static from another planet.
"alright, let's see…" you snaked your hands to bucky’s waist, holding him with all the confidence of a teenage boy at his junior prom. "you like that?"
bucky’s cheeks burned dusty pink. "isn’t that my job?"
"no, no, you put these up here…" you released his waist to pull his arms around your neck. "awesome. okay, you ready?"
“i’m getting the feeling it’s too late to say no.”
“kinda is. okay, let’s get moving.”
you both finally began to move in unsynchronized steps, bucky awkwardly twisting when you turned, a spectacle of mangled limbs in the far corner of the deck. you probably stepped on his foot more times than necessary, but bucky only grunted and redirected you each time.
“really just let yourself feel the night,” you unhelpfully narrated. “like, connect with the sort of rapport we’ve been building up. are you feeling that kinetic energy?”
“i’m feeling a cramp,” bucky grumbled. “what if sam sees?”
“he can join in, be our third.” you playfully wiggled your eyebrows, much to bucky’s dismay.
“you’re ridiculous,” bucky scoffed, though his tone of admiration greatly betrayed any attempt at nonchalance. “you know that?”
“i’m somewhat aware.” you hummed, thumbs tracing imaginary patterns on his waist.
“or, fully, i guess. i don’t know. i’m kind of distracted right now.” your eyes were caught somewhere between the steel blue of his stare and the soft pink of his lips, an effortless plushness you'd been trying to replicate with exfoliants for years.
bucky looked back, stuck in the same trance of dizzy observation. you were gorgeous, a bright ball of rays from the sun that had fell to earth, and he was completely gone.
the silence that followed afterwards was heavy, thick with the unsaid. the pace had become more lived in, and bucky’s hands slid back down to secure your waist. his grip was firm but not tight, and you swayed with him back and forth, the grogginess of louisiana being overtaken by the salty breeze.
your faces were closer now, close enough to touch. your nose bumped slightly against his and, rather than pulling back, bucky stayed there, continuing to sway with the patience of a man who was trying to stretch the night thin. he didn’t want this to end.
“bucky—” you finally breathed, voice lilting in a way that didn't sound like you at all, with none of your usual lightness in it.
bucky’s eyes had just started to soften, his arms tightening slightly where they rested at your back, when a small voice cut through the music.
you both froze. bucky’s eyes darted towards the voices, aj and cass barreling up the deck with their mom’s flashlight. bucky didn’t let go of your waist, but his head turned slow and reluctant to the boys.
"mama said it's time for s'mores," aj announced, entirely unbothered by what he'd just walked in on. "and she said if you don't come now she's eating your share."
cass squinted up at the two of you, his small face scrunched in suspicion. "were you guys dancing?"
the question felt like a verdict. bucky’s face was completely red now, and if the deck lights had been anything other than soft and yellow it would’ve been painfully obvious.
"no! i was trying to rob him. bucky’s too much of a gentleman to lay a hand on a woman, so he had to dismantle my evil plan some other way." you leaned in toward the boys, voice dropping low and dramatic. "i moved in almost like… this!"
you lunged, tickling them both, the younger one shrieking like he'd been mortally wounded, the older one squirming, caught somewhere between laughing and dying of embarrassment.
“uncle bucky, help!” cass cried. “she’s attacking us!”
bucky watched with soft eyes, his heart suddenly feeling heavier, in the good way, like feeling the weight of something real and trying to hold onto it before it slipped away. he moved in slowly, gentleness in every motion, pulling you in against his side as he reached out to ruffle the boys' hair.
"alright, that's enough evil for the day." bucky didn't release you until you'd made your way out of his arms, fingers flexing at his back, a reflex he hadn't quite let go of yet. "s’mores?"
"can we race you, uncle bucky?" cass pleaded.
bucky nodded toward the stairs. "sure. don’t trip. i’ll be right behind you."
cass and aj immediately took off, nearly knocking each other over in their hurry to be first.
bucky watched them go for a second before glancing back at you, something soft still lingering at the corner of his mouth. "you coming?"
you nodded, blinking away the surge of emotions that had been swirling since you started dancing. “are you kidding? free food? of course i’m coming.”
bucky lingered a second longer than he needed to, eyes still on you instead of the kids racing off into the dark. "we’ll finish this later," he said. not a question, not quite a promise either.
you didn't ask what this was. you just nodded and followed him.
