#awriter314

“You do, though! I mean, are you Aro, Buck?”

He sighed. “No.”

“Are you Ace?”

“No.”

“Would you rather ask the guy out behind her? He looks good too.”

Bucky craned his neck to look at the man she was referring to. “I mean, he’s good looking too, but I’m just not looking for anything like that right now.”

“What about companionship?”

“I have Sam,” he said, grinning. “And you.”

Darcy shot him a look. “And you know I love you. So does Sam, even if he’s a snarky bastard about it.”

“Right. And I love you guys. So, you’ve answered your own question.”

“I didn’t ask a question,” she countered.

“Fine, you’ve answered your own musings,” he corrected. “I’m perfectly fine with the way things are. Besides, that sword cuts both ways. Why don’t you ask one of them out?”

“Because,” Darcy huffed. “I’ve dated Hannah and it didn’t work out. And Kevin is one-hundred percent into dudes.”

“Don’t you want companionship?” he asked.

“That makes me sound I’m a bajillion years old.”

“Doesn’t it? Think about that next time you ask me something like that.”

She sighed and sucked on the straw of her frappuccino. “Fine, so we’re friends, right?”

“Yep.”

“Best friends, right?”

“... Yeah...” he replied, unsure about where this was going.

“Okay, so I can talk about anything with you, right?” she asked.

“Sure, hit me.”

“And the inverse is true, right? You can talk to me about anything.”

“If I had anything to talk about, you’d be the first one I’d turn to, Darce.”

“Okay, well. Do you want to have sex?”

He choked on his coffee, sputtering until he could grab a napkin and cough into it.  

“Whoa… are you okay?” Darcy asked, reaching over to pat him gently on the back.

He wiped his mouth and the coffee spots off the table before turning to her. “Sorry, I’m fine. Just… coughed. What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Don’t you want to have sex?’ Don’t you miss it? I mean… you haven’t, right? Unless you’re getting it on the sly, in which case, shut me up, because I’m way off base.”

His shoulders immediately loosened. Of course, that feeling came with a pang of disappointment.

“I think about it sometimes. But who would I have sex with?” he asked, sniffing and trying to look anywhere but at her. Attempting not to look anything like a man who’d almost had a damn heart attack at the thought of his best friend asking to have sex with him.

“Dude, I dunno. Anyone? Because like… “ She trailed off shaking her head. “Sorry. I don’t know where I was going with that.”

He frowned and watched as she turned her attention to a napkin she’d laid in front of herself, tearing off tiny bits and leaving them in a pile in front of her.

This was stupid. The unspoken words were all right there. Laid out in front of them. “No, like… are you asking if I miss it?”

“Yeah, I guess?”

“Not gonna lie, I don’t really remember it,” he said with a laugh. “I mean… I think about things… and it makes me think that I possibly could remember… but I don’t feel comfortable going there with anyone new right now. I’d have to build something up with someone and then… you know...”

“So like, become friends first?” she supplied.

He locked eyes with her and nearly choked again. He could sense she was fishing for something that she was too scared to ask outright.

Thing was, he didn’t know if he was brave enough either, but it was Darcy.

For her, he could do anything, right?

Even put himself out there at the risk of having wholly misread this situation.

“Yeah, become friends first. Maybe go out on a bunch of coffee dates, but not ever calling them that. Even though I always pay for the coffee and pull out her chair for her and shit like that?” He felt like he was holding his breath.

“And put up with her trying to set you up with every person that walks through the door,” she added.

He felt warm all of a sudden. “Yeah, especially when all I really want to do is actually date her, but I’m too scared to say it.”

“That seems like an oddly specific scenario you have worked out there, Buck,” she smirked a little and bolstered by her reaction, he reached for her hand.

She flipped it over so he could lace their fingers.

“If you wanted to ask me that question again, I might have a different answer for you,” he mumbled under his breath.

She squeezed his hand. “I’ll wait till we’re not in public if that works for you.”

“Yeah, sounds good. I haven’t done this in a while, so I might not be ready for public viewing yet.”

She giggled and scooted her chair closer. Bucky stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, swallowing thickly.

“Not sure if I wasn’t being clear, so here goes again… that was code for, maybe we should get out of here. Because as much as I love doing this, I’m about to kiss you, and I’d rather do that where no one else can see…”

Darcy stood up so quickly, her chair fell over, and she dropped his hand, flustered as she went to pick everything up.  He helped, cleared off the chair and threw out their coffees. By the time he came back, Darcy had righted the chair and apologized to the man sitting behind them.

And with that, she turned and stalked out of the coffee shop.

Abruptly turning back and grabbing his hand so he could attempt to keep up with her as she crossed the lobby of Stark Tower and made a beeline for the elevator.

Once the doors had closed and she’d told Friday where she wanted to go, she ventured a glance up at him.

“Is here okay?” she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking very kissable.

He ducked down, sliding his hand along her jaw and tilting her chin up to meet his lips.

Not exactly sure what made him do it that way, Bucky liked the reaction he got, and slipped his prosthetic arm around her waist and hauled her closer.

She made an adorable squeaky sound that made him want to deepen the kiss, so he did.

It wasn’t anything like he’d imagined it would be.  It was better.

“So glad we could have that talk,” she murmured against his lips.

“Was that what that was?” he asked. “Do you always try to get the men you’re attracted to dating other people? Is that your move?”

“You have yet to see my moves, James Barnes,” she replied with an air of mystery that made him give up any pretense and kiss her again. “Which reminds me… do you want to have sex?” She grinned as he gawked down at her.

“Dangerous game to play in an elevator, Darce…” he murmured in response.

“Is it?” she asked coyly.

“This time, yes,” he replied, ducking down to capture her lips again. “But I’m pretty flexible. Give me a little practice and we can try it.”

She purred into his mouth, releasing his lips to whisper. “Practice makes perfect, right?”

He nuzzled her nose with his. “Right.”

Bucky blushed.  She preened a little. She got the Winter Soldier to straight-up blush as he twirled her around the dance floor. "You ain't no bicycle, Darce."

"Thanks," she said, beaming up at him.  "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Is it?" he asked, frowning a little.  "I'm gonna have to do better, then."

"That a promise?"

"Absolutely," he replied.  "I'll start now. You look beautiful in that dress."

"Thank you. You clean up pretty nice yourself…" She lifted her hand from his shoulder to tuck a stray piece of his hair behind his ear. He'd pulled the rest of it into a low ponytail, a far-cry from the messy Tarzan approach he usually took.

"Well, I didn't want you to be embarrassed to dance with me."

"I don't think there's any scenario where you could have come to this thing and asked me to dance and I wouldn't have said yes."

"I was wearing those sweatpants…"

"Which ones?" she asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"The ones that you got me when I first moved in here and you can't remember what color they were?"

She wrinkled her nose.  "You still have those?"

He chuckled.  "Yep."

"Well, like… do you need new ones? I can get you new ones."

"Not the point, Darce…" he said, pulling her closer before dipping her slowly back.

When she straightened again, she was really, really close to his face and she couldn't remember what they were talking about.

"What's the point?" she asked absently, allowing herself to get lost in his blue eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked bluntly, his lips so close she could have moved just a fraction of an inch closer and made his question moot.

She nodded and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, hand still poised on her lower back.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it…" he murmured, his lips brushing against hers.

"Don't apologize," Darcy said, kissing him again.  "But we probably should keep dancing… this ain't the kissing floor after all. That's upstairs at my place."