#bingo fill

“Ok, so, you know my dearest dumbass Obi?”

“Obi-wan Kenobi? Ginger, General, hopelessly in love with my brother? A common topic of entertainment during our chats? I might know who he is.” Ok, maybe he lied about the teasing. It’s good for them.

“Well, apparently on his last ground mission, he actually managed to get his beloved Commander out on a date. Cleared their schedules, found a nice picnic spot, scrounged up some real food. The whole works. Everything needed to maybe finally drop a single hint as to his feelings.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here. I refuse to believe that they actually made any real progress towards resolving their farce of a not-relationship.”

“Yeah. That’s about the point that they were interrupted by a stray squad of clankers. Date ruined.”

“You say this, but getting to watch each other take down half a dozen clankers each would just make their date better. The competence-kink weirdos. Besides, I have it on good authority that the only casualties of the attack were the picnic –“ “A true tragedy.” “– and the fact that Kenobi got himself shot in the foot. At which point, rather than simply calling a med-evac, my blindingly-besotted brother proceeded to princess-carry his General back to camp. Then spend the next hour sitting with him in medical, tenderly holding his hand and reassuring him that he appreciated the effort put into their totally-not-a-date. I honestly don’t know how the 212th haven’t resorted to drastic measures yet.”

“You do realise that them actually acknowledging their feelings won’t necessarily improve the situation? Speaking of, how are the 327th coping?”

“I haven’t heard directly from them in a couple of weeks, but apparently Bly has been pestering Howzer on Ryloth about Twi-lek betrothal customs. So… Actually, how does that work on the Jedi side of things, and can you get that information to Bly before he has a breakdown at realising he’s been researching the wrong culture?”

“He’s not entirely on the wrong track, Aayla does follow plenty of the customs from her birth culture. But from the Jedi point of view, I’m not really up to date on how it works with a Force-Null involved. You know who would know, however? A certain twi-lek Knight who has been going on a research binge lately, looking into Jedi marriage traditions across centuries and sects, and who recently requested information on the process for transferring to the Corps or the Correllian Temple.”

“They really are perfect for each other; such disgustingly sappy romantics, utterly gone on each other, but still useless at actually communicating that.”

“I’ll see if I can manipulate Aayla into suggesting they turn it into a joint research project. At minimum, at least that way the feels can be contained to a single location. I love my padawan, and she is an incredibly competent woman, but she has no idea how to deal with being admired when she actually wants them back. I would say that her sense of proportionality is missing, but apparently your bother is on the same page even if they don’t realise it.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes, sipping their drinks and marveling at the antics of their love-lorn siblings.

“Fox?”

He looks over sharply, concerned by the uncharacteristic tentativeness in Quinlan’s tone.

“Just to be clear – throwing stones in glass houses and all that – but we’re not in a relationship, and not trying to be. Are we?”

Oh. That’s… Given the context, he can see why Quinlan might be concerned. Good on him for using his verbal communication skills.

“No.” He sees Quinlan relax. “As much as I enjoy your company, I currently have neither the time nor the energy for that drama. If and when that changes, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Good. Not that I’m opposed to being in a relationship with you! At least not outright. But it would need some serious discussions around goals and boundaries, and I like what we have. It’s just, your shields are better than most, and I try not to read my friends anyway, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing something and you weren’t hiding feelings deliberately. Because that would be so awkward at this point.”

“Can you imagine?” He snorts at the irony “We’d never live it down. But thank you for checking, you assumed correctly. Nothing has changed, so we can go back to mocking our friends and siblings mercilessly.”

It doesn't escape Bucky's notice. The excited tilt of his smile gentles as he walks over to Gale, and he throws his arm around Gale's shoulders to press a soft, smacking kiss to his cheek. "Ready to go home?"

"Hm. You bet."

Home, home, home. That's what Gale needs. Not this. But home wouldn't feel right without Bucky there. Not tonight, when Gale can feel the discomfort of his pre-heat crawling up his back, spreading like goosebumps down his arms. He doesn’t want to go back to his empty apartment. That's why he left in the first place, why he drove here in the middle of the night to wait awkwardly until Bucky closed the place. If only they had moved in together already. But they aren't there yet. Not even close. And it’s scary to need someone like Gale needs his alpha now. He’s not ready to give more of himself over yet, but on nights like this, he wishes he was.

"You’re thinking an awful lot for how fucking late it is." Bucky yawns into the back of his hand, pulling Gale gently towards the door.

Gale curls his arm around Bucky's waist and turns his head to tuck his face into the crook of Bucky's neck and scent him. The calm, warm smell of him settles in Gale's chest like a soothing weight. He doesn’t pull away even long enough to watch his step, too busy trying to soak it in. He trusts Bucky to guide him outside. When the cold air of the street brushes his skin, he pulls his coat tighter around himself and sighs.

"My heat's coming up." He says dejectedly over the creak of the door closing.

It’s not that he minds the heats themselves - in truth, he loves losing himself to the love and affection of it if he's safe - what bothers him is having to ask if he's going to have company this time or not. He hasn’t yet had an alpha he was so confident in that he knew he wouldn’t have to ask. "In a day or two."

"I know, baby." Bucky murmurs. He sounds amused. "Why do you think I took the night shift today? I got time off for your heat."

Gale's heart stutters in his chest. He didn’t even consider that Bucky might have asked his boss to shift things around just because of Gale's heat. It makes him feel even warmer inside, mellow like honey. "Figured you lost a bet."

"Me? Never." Bucky snorts, pulling away from Gale for a second to lock the front door and pull the metal shutter in place. When he turns back, he cups Gale’s cheeks. His hands are cold from the metal, but all that discomfort is forgiven when his warm lips press to Gale's in the chilly winter night. "My lucky charms actually work, you know."

Gale gives him a doubtful look. There's a teasing remark on the tip of his tongue, but another shiver runs through his body and cuts that thought off real quick. Perhaps his heat is closer than he thought. Getting home after work only to be greeted by silence sucked - parting from Bucky now sounds like the worst idea in the world. He curls his fingers around Bucky’s lapels.

"Can I sleep at your place?"

"Mine?" Bucky asks, surprised. "I thought you'd want to stay home for your heat."

Gale considers it, tries to be rational about it. He has all his supplies at his place. Hell, he was ready to go through it alone there, as usual. But all he can think about now is Bucky's cozy apartment where everything smells like him, where Gale built a nest just a few weeks ago because he was too happy to resist the instinct. That's the space he longs for now.

"I want to stay at yours."

Bucky's first reaction is a pleased smile, then he gives Gale a sheepish look. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "Are you sure?"

Gale frowns. The situation feels familiar. A soft rejection from an alpha who still wants to keep him around, but doesn’t want to keep him. He reaches up to tuck a strand of his long hair behind his ear, suddenly conscious of his size again, the lack of softness on his frame. Rejection just before his heat would be awful, but he can take it. He's strong enough not to let it break him.

"You don’t want me there."

Bucky's expression shifts into embarrassment. "I do, of course I do."

He leans in and rubs the tip of his nose to Gale's neck, where his mark will be one day if they decide to become mates. His arms loop around Gale's shoulders to hold him close even as Gale remains tense under his touch.

"Then what?" Gale asks, annoyed. He tries to look at Bucky’s face, but Bucky seems to be trying to hide it in his neck.

"I still have your nest in my bedroom." Bucky mumbles at last.

Confusion, fuzzy and sparkling, overtakes Gale's irritation. "What?"

Finally, Bucky straightens again. Even in the cool light of the street lamps, he looks just as flushed as Gale feels. He takes Gale's hands from his chest to draw them around his neck, then curls his arms around Gale's waist.

"I kept the nest you made." He leans in close enough that their exhales mix in a cloud of mist between their lips. "I missed having you there. Couldn’t bring myself to take it apart."

Relief and affection expand in Gale's chest, cotton-candy sweet on his smile. He tilts his chin up to give Bucky a kiss, laughing when Bucky makes a noise and pushes hard into it. As if he was the one with the heat building slowly under his skin, not Gale. His arms tighten around Gale's waist.

"But it barely smells like you anymore." Bucky heaves a plaintive sigh.

"You could've just asked me to come over and make a new one." Gale points out with a small smile, too happy to even pretend to be unaffected. Alphas don’t tend to keep an omega's nest if they're not mated to them. It’s too intimate. He can’t fathom what made Bucky keep his, but it's a good sign.

"I didn’t want to overwhelm you." Bucky kisses him again, chasing the bite of cold on Gale’s lips with the heat of his mouth. He’s sloppy in his exhaustion, but sweet and hungry as ever.

"I love you." He says through a gasp swallowed by Gale's lips.

Gale doesn’t even realize what Bucky has said at first. His mind feels fuzzy with joy and the simmering need of his pre-heat, so he just dives back in to kiss Bucky one more time, combing through his curls. It’s only when Bucky touches his face to soothe him that he realizes -

"Oh." He breaks the kiss so abruptly that Bucky sways after him, then catches himself.

They both pause. Gale's racing heartbeat pumps loudly in his ears.

Bucky waits for a moment, but when it becomes clear that Gale doesn’t know what to say, he presses his forehead to Gale's. "I'm sorry, doll. Didn’t mean to say it like that."

Gale curls his fingers around Bucky’s coat again. "But did you mean what you said?"

"Yes." Bucky's reply is simple and earnest, the brush of his thumb over Gale’s cheek gentle. "I love you."

The laugh that escapes from Gale pushes past all the boundaries of his composure to lay his joy in front of Bucky like a gift.

"I love you too." He says through his smile.

~♡~

It's Bucky's turn to laugh out of happy relief. The half-moons of his eyes crinkle at the corners and his beaming smile brightens Gale's entire heart. He abandons his attempts to kiss Gale again in favour of lifting him off his feet in a tight, giddy hug. Although he can’t quite spin Gale around, Gale still feels like he’s flying.

Who knew that coming to see his boyfriend at 2 am in a coffee shop would give him the happiest moment of his life so far?