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Sam felt himself struggling with the zipper behind him. He should have chosen an easier dress, but this one just sang to Sam as he searched through his closet for something in this charity performance. The one Sam held up in front of Bucky and Bucky said he had to wear. It had been years since he had done this. Longer, including the Blip. And while he might be a little rusty, getting back into drag was like riding a bike, and everything felt nostalgic. Comfortable. Something he enjoyed doing until he was out on the run. Sam’s life had been a mess after the Blip. Finding his place after being technically dead for five years was a struggle.
It was nice to be able to do this again, though. To finally get back into some of his hobbies.
“Can you help me out with this?” asked Sam, giving up on getting the zipper to work on his own.
Sam saw Bucky walking over in the mirror, his eyes tender as stared down at the half-zipped zipper.
“I got this,” murmured Bucky, and he felt Bucky’s touch.
Satin. Bucky’s gloves were satin and long and well past his elbow. Sam felt the gloves graze the layers of tights on Sam. Sam felt him in between gaps of tight corset shaping Sam, the fabric of the gloves soft. He felt the gloves glide across his skin as Bucky finished the hook at the top of the dress.
Bucky smiled at Sam in the mirror. Sam got it. It was a beautiful piece. It inspired the loose theme of this drag show to be “Rockette Avengers”. It was a gorgeous outfit inspired by the original Star Spangled Singers dancing and singing along with Steve back in the day and modernized with some inspiration from looks worn by backup singers, cheerleaders, and majorettes that always entranced Sam.
In Sam's (and Bucky’s) opinion, it was better.
Bedazzled in sequins, more fun elbow-length gloves, a more twirlable skirt, cuter and more elaborate fascinator, knee-high boots – Sam’s exaggerated outfit had it all. Even some fantastic victory rolls. There was fun and play in it, camp and beauty. And updating the outfit so that it mirrored his own take on Captain America? It just worked.
The Star Banged Singer.
Sam giggled every time he thought of the name.
Sam had half-jokingly asked Bucky if he wanted to wear a cutesy wolf outfit when he did his own play on the White Wolf and Sam sort of regretted what he said. Bucky’s outfit ended up some fusion of a flapper girl, a cabaret dancer, and a wolf. All pearl beading in art deco geometry and fringe galore on a revealing lingerie slip with white faux fur trimming matched with a wolf ears headband on a white finger-waved bob shorter than Bucky’s own hair. Even the makeup was this mix of the chaotic roaring twenties of Bucky’s childhood and a wolf. Sam was feeling very confusing things about this White Bitch look.
“There,” Bucky said as Sam felt Bucky pat where the zipper and hook of the dress met, “All zipped up.”
Sam smiled as he turned his gaze up to Bucky.
“Thanks,” said Sam.
“I – um,” Bucky started, his fingers thrumming on the counter in front of Sam, “I found something. That could look good with your outfit.”
“What? Really?” asked Sam as Sam felt his small smile grow into a beaming grin, “Show me what it is.”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to wear it,” said Bucky as his hand dove into his fake breasts, “Really, it is. I saw it at a store and I bought it because it made me think about you and what you were wearing for this. But you don’t have to wear it or even accept it. I know this is a little last minute for me to pull this out right before we go on. I don’t want you to wear it if you don’t want to.”
It was a necklace. Nothing particularly expensive or anything, but it had this adorable line of stars that matched the stars on Sam’s outfit and it was a necklace Bucky wanted to give Sam. Bucky had thought of Sam when he saw this and bought it for him.
“Put it on me,” Sam blurted, unable to hold back how excited he had about it, “I love it. Put it on me, James.”
Bucky blinked. Paused as if his cyborg brain needed time to process what Sam just said.
“Oh. Killer diller. I can – could you just – ?” said Bucky as he waved at Sam’s wig.
Sam nodded.
“Of course,” Sam said as he held his hair up to allow for Bucky to put the stars necklace on him.
Sam thought about how he’d done this to a few girls when he was younger. A few boys too. He never had someone do that to him before, though. He wasn’t usually the one who was gifted things. Sam wasn’t sure if that was because he loved being the giftee or he was never in a relationship that had enough balance in his life.
Sam thought about himself agreeing to that date Bucky asked about, the date next Saturday. Sam didn’t know if it was a good idea. If he should be dating someone he was working with and had so much history with. But Bucky kept doing things like seeing a flower on the side of the road or a necklace at a store that reminded Bucky of Sam and bringing them to Sam. Like a bird collecting shiny things for a mate. And Sam couldn’t help but want to spend more time with a person who kept putting Sam first in his mind, who made Sam feel like this person could be the kind of person who would be there for Sam if Sam needed him even before Sam knew he would need help.
Someone Sam could rely on and wouldn’t be scared to lean on.
Sam wanted that.
He felt those satin gloves brushing up against his neck and shivered.
“Sorry,” mumbled Bucky as he struggled for a moment with the clasp, but got the necklace on Sam finally.
Sam touched the necklace, looked at how it just fit with his outfit.
“I kind of want to kiss you right now,” said Sam.
“You’re going to mess your lips up if you do that,” said Bucky halfheartedly, “We can kiss later when it won’t mess up your work before the show.”
That. Thinking about Sam. Even for the small things. That made Sam want to kiss Bucky even more. Sam placed his hand on the back of Bucky’s head, gently pulling him closer and angling him a bit.
“I’ll just redo them,” whispered Sam before he gave Bucky a soft kiss.
It wasn’t the right angle and it wasn’t all that Sam wanted, but it was perfect for the moment. Sam was so glad he said yes about that date.
“Thank you,” said Sam, letting go of Bucky reluctantly.
“No problem,” said Bucky, in a bit of a love drunk haze as he bumped into Clint while he wandered back to his own mirror, Sam’s vibrant red lipstick mixing with his own.
Sam couldn’t help but giggle at that before he fixed his lipstick.