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"Dance with me Saaamm.”
Sam began to think this hadn’t been the greatest idea.
After two straight weeks of little to no activity on their radar, the Avengers got a bit restless and decided to break out the booze, put Fury on silent, and just go nuts for one night. Sam was visiting one of his sisters that day, and by the time he got to the tower, it was all just about dying down. Most had retired to their respective rooms except for: Natasha, who was barely conscious behind the bar; Carol and Thor, who were still going at it with another arm-wrestling match; and Clint, who was- well, Sam didn’t really want to know what he’d been up to, but he was then inspecting an arrow while sitting on an armchair that had been flipped on its back, and there were about a dozen more arrows stuck all over the walls. The only one with weirdly high spirits was Bucky, excitedly talking back at some sci-fi movie playing on the tv. Bruce approached Sam (out of nowhere it seemed) and warned him: Bucky had gotten his hands on the special drink he’d concocted for Steve and his super-soldier defenses, but since Bucky had less of the serum in his system than Steve did, the drink was having a slightly stronger effect on him.
It had been an hour since then, and Bucky was now dancing- no, swaying along to Strangers in the Night. He wanted something more familiar than the modern mixes he’d been hearing over the speakers all night.
Sam had been more than happy to just watch him for a while now. "This ain't really my dancing style," He admitted, "But thanks."
"Oookay…” Bucky swayed over to Sam and put a hand on either side of him, on the back of the couch. He leaned down and put their foreheads together, brushing noses. “Then marry me."
Sam chuckled and reached up to brush Bucky’s jaw. "You're intoxicated Barnes."
"So are you, sweetheart." He winked and placed a small peck on his boyfriend’s lips, before resuming his dancing.
"Not nearly enough." Sam downed what was left of his third beer bottle and began reaching for another.
Bucky extended his metal hand towards him, his head tilted, a lazy grin on his lips. "Marry me." He repeated.
"I think I'd rather dance." And so he did. He took Bucky’s hand and let him lead them to the middle of the room. Bucky brought him close, cheek to cheek. He put his other hand on Sam’s lower back, while Sam’s was on his shoulder. They balanced themselves as best they could, which wasn’t all that great, as Strangers in the Night faded into Nice N Easy.
"See now, this isn't so baaad." Bucky slurred quietly in his ear, stroking Sam’s back with his thumb.
Sam leaned into him with a loud sigh and a smile that Bucky couldn’t see, but heard in his voice anyways. "Yeah, I guess not." He let himself be twirled rather sloppily, laughing as Bucky brought him back in and put their foreheads together again. He did that a lot.
"Have your eyes always been that shade of brown?” Bucky blurted out loudly, enough to make Sam lean back for a second at the sudden high volume. “Or are they darker now?"
Sam kept a smile on his face as he joined their cheeks again. "Man, that drink really did a number on you."
"I like ‘em dark," Bucky mumbled.
Sam let out another contented sigh. It was 3 am in an empty common room, and he was dancing along to Frank Sinatra with the love of his life. All or Nothing At All came on, and Bucky spoke only above a whisper.
"I think I wanna marry you, Sam."
Sam let his head drop on Bucky’s shoulder with a chuckle. “I love you too baby but you’re talking crazy.”
“I’m really not.” This took Sam aback. The slur was gone from his voice, his footwork steadier. Sam lifted his head to look at him, but Bucky wouldn’t meet his gaze as he spoke. “Natasha’s ordained, we can ask her. There’s that chapel down on 38th, and a jeweler in that same corner with Madison, although I doubt either of them are open this lat-”
“Bucky.”
“Marry me, Sam.” They finally locked eyes. “Tonight. And you can dump me in the morning if you want to.”
Sam smiled at the sincerity of the comment. “It’s gonna take a lot more than asking me to marry you for me to dump your ass, James.”
“So then what do you say?” Bucky looked tired but determined, if nothing else. His eyelids betrayed him and he could barely keep his head up straight.
“I say you look like you’re about to pass out.”
Bucky let Sam lead him to the nearest guest bedroom (knowing they wouldn’t make it to his own, two floors down), though with quite a bit of whining. He begrudgingly drank the glass of water Sam brought him, before pulling him onto the bed beside him. They cuddled in a placid silence for a few minutes, until Bucky stirred.
“Will you?” He mumbled into Sam’s chest.
Sam stroked his hair. “Will I what?”
“Marry me.” But before Sam could answer Bucky was already snoring. So Sam pushed back his hair, placed a light kiss on his forehead, and turned over to go to sleep himself.
The next morning (or afternoon more like it) Bucky woke up to an empty bed, but on the bedside table was another cup of water, some painkillers, and a small black velvet box with the words “Jewels of Madison” engraved on it. Beside it was a sticky note with just one word as an answer. They never spoke of it with anyone or made any big announcement. In fact, nothing really changed about the couple; but slowly and surely the rest of their teammates began to notice the matching silver bands on each of their left ring fingers.