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Bucky is sprawled out in a chair too expensive for him. He has half a mind to spill his drink all over the back of it just to mess up the material. He glances around the room and feels itchy. Everything is too much- the lights, the music, the damn interior. Bucky thinks he hates New Year’s Eve. Why people insist on spending it inside an opulent glass building, he’ll never know. He’d rather be out in the woods. But he’d promised Natasha he’d make an appearance, as miserable as it makes him.
He checks his watch. His omega, who is usually so early to things that it borders on being rude, has not made an appearance yet. Bucky has no idea where she is. He sips his drink and broods as he watches Nat work the room filled with rich guys who say that they aren’t in the mob (but one looks too much like the Penguin from DC Comics to not be a mobster). Bucky has no idea where Nat meets these guys, and he never wants to ask.
Bucky pulls out his phone and is about to text her when she and Wanda walk into the ballroom, arm in arm and laughing. And it’s. His omega looks. Fuckin’ wow. He scurries over before anyone else can take her attention away.
“Hey, Buck!” she chirps.
He’s never seen her wear that color lipstick before. He’s never seen her wear something that falls down her shoulders before.
“Hey,” Bucky replies, his voice shaking.
She and Wanda exchange glances, and Bucky swears he sees Wanda mouth something like ’I told you so’. His omega turns back, looking shy as she digs the toe of her high heel into the carpet. Bucky swallows as he drags his gaze up the length of her leg.
“Hey,” he says again.
Wanda says, “You said that already.”
“Did I?”
“Uh-huh. In that case, I think I’ll go find Victor wherever he is.” Wanda grins, addressing Bucky’s omega. “You’re good?”
She grins back.
“I’ll manage.”
“Oh, I bet you will,” Wanda mutters as she scurries somewhere; Bucky isn’t paying much attention to anything else.
“Uh,” he says. “That dress is new.”
“It is,” she agrees. “Do you like it?”
“You can’t tell?” Bucky swallows again. “This is why you told me to wear this tie?”
“Yeah, so we’d match.”
“Right. Hey, how set are you on the tradition of kissin’ at midnight?”
“Hm.” She runs her hands over Bucky’s shirt, digging her nails into the fabric. “Not very. Why?”
“So, I can, just kinda, do this.”
When they kiss, she throws her entire body into it until Bucky takes her weight. He moans into her mouth and lifts her up into his arms. She’s shiny in her sequined dress and getting lipstick all over his face because she’s never quite figured out how to not make that happen, but Bucky doesn’t care either way. Marked by her. He moans again and holds her tighter.
She breaks away too soon (much too soon- they don’t need to breathe, for fuck’s sake) but kisses Bucky’s nose when he frowns. She wipes at the lipstick she’s left behind, and Bucky bites her finger. They stare at each other, not speaking, like how it was at the very beginning when he’d arrive at her house just to say hello, eventually worm his way inside, and watch her read.
“Fuck,” he mumbles, rubbing his face along the tops of her breasts.
She runs her hands through Bucky’s hair, and he arches his back, purring. She leans down to kiss him again, but first, she says:
“We clean up nicely, huh?”
“Mm,” says Bucky, kissing her chin.
She pecks his lips before pulling up and glancing around the room. Bucky complains, shaking her in his arms as he gazes at her. He gets impatient and starts mouthing at her throat.
“Who did Nat have to threaten to get us invited here?” she asks.
“Sunshine,” Bucky whines.
“Buck,” she replies before kissing him again.
It’s good; it’s so fucking good. Bucky’s mouth falls open when she tugs his head back, and she licks inside his mouth until she gets what she wants, and his vampire teeth are exposed. He isn’t thinking clearly as he draws back. She doesn’t ask where they’re going as he races around to find the exit. She takes his earlobe between her teeth, humming as she tugs, then trails kisses wherever she can reach. Bucky squeezes her tight, trying to muffle his noises as he finally stumbles out of the ballroom and into the bright hallway.
“It is a hotel,” she remarks, nipping the tip of his nose.
An unnecessary comment, really. Obviously, Bucky knows it’s a hotel- an expensive one at that. But then she starts shuffling around in Bucky’s arms, and he watches as she extracts a small wallet stuffed down her dress. She unzips it with her teeth and waves the room key in Bucky’s face.
“What do you say? We need to stay somewhere.”
And she’s so confident as she says it. Bucky’s so happy to be the one to watch her open up more and more. When they first met, she rarely wore her hair up (she’d hide behind it); she would never wear a dress that showed off her shoulders. Of course, she is still the same as she’s always been, but seeing her be so sure of herself in front of strangers makes him so happy.
“You’re incredible. Yeah,” Bucky says, nuzzling her. “Yes, please, where?”
“Twelfth floor.”
There is no way Bucky is putting her down for anything.
“Gonna carry you. Hang on.”
The hallways are bustling as they make their way to the elevators. Bucky squeezes past people as he races around. She buries her face in his neck as Bucky arrives at the elevator and presses the button repeatedly. They must be making some kind of scene because the humans at the elevators give them a wide berth and step aside to let them have the elevator to themselves. The doors open, she presses the button for their floor, then Bucky pushes her against the wall as the doors close. They kiss again, and their bond hums between them when Bucky takes her bottom lip between his teeth and tugs. And when the elevator doors open, Bucky is off like a shot, moving as fast as he dares to in a hotel filled with humans.
She unlocked the door with difficulty as Bucky is busy trying his hardest to distract her with his teeth in her neck, intent on leaving marks that she’ll have to cover up for weeks. He backs up until his shins hit the bed, but she stops him before she can fall.
“Can you pull the top quilt down? They’re so gross in hotels,” she says.
Bucky does, then he falls back and lands with an ‘oof.’ She sits perched atop him, still looking shiny and unruffled except for the smears of lipstick streaking her chin. Bucky reaches up and rubs at the color.
“You’re a genius,” he tells her.
She shrugs but looks happy all the same.
“I haven’t seen you in three days. I missed you.”
“It’s been awful without you here. You know I only came in case shit went sideways,” Bucky says.
“Has it?” she asks.
“Naw, I think Nat got 'em to agree to an alliance.”
“That’s good.” She reaches for Bucky’s collar and starts unbuttoning his shirt. “Hopefully, this will finally get the "Rumlow pack” off of our backs.“
"Yeah.”
Bucky wiggles out of his shirt and melts when she starts trailing kisses across his chest. When he lifts up to watch her, she pushes him back down onto the mattress. She slips off the bed; Bucky mourns the feeling of her on top. He makes grabby hands, whining.
“I’m taking your shoes off, you goof,” she says fondly.
“Well, hurry up,” Bucky huffs.
He reaches for his pants, undoes the button, and lifts his hips up to slide them down his legs. Flopping back onto the bed, Bucky blows hair out of his eyes and stares at the ceiling, waiting. She blows out a breath of frustration and nips Bucky’s shin.
“Ow!” he says even though she didn’t hurt him.
Tugging at his laces, she replies:
“Who tied these, a ship rigger?”
“Gods-damn, lemme do it,” Bucky grouses, sitting up.
“Nope, I got it,” she says, ripping the laces apart. “You need new laces now.”
She pulls his shoes off and hurries back onto the bed. Bucky rolls them until he is on top, then kisses one bare shoulder.
“I like this so much,” he mumbles. “You have nice shoulders.”
“You’re biased,” she teases, poking his cheek.
“Obviously.”
Bucky stands then wraps a hand around her ankle. She yelps when he tugs, pulling her so that her legs are hanging off the bed. She sits up and reaches around for the zipper on her dress, but Bucky stops her.
“Lemme do it,” he murmurs shyly.
She agrees, looking shy, too, and Bucky kisses the back of her neck before slowly unzipping her dress. He holds the breath that he doesn’t need to take as the dress falls away. She puts a hand on his cheek, drawing his gaze back up. She smiles, and so does Bucky, kissing her chest where her heartbeat was and where his charm now rests.
“Can I?” he asks, his fingers sneaking under the band of her bra.
When she nods, Bucky unbuckles it. He slips off the bed, watching as she shimmies out of her dress and sets it on the mattress next to her. It’s one of those moments where he wonders what he did in this life to deserve her. It might be the liquor, it might be the lights, but it might just be her. Bucky’s never felt more nervous and safer than he does when they are together like this.
“Come back here,” she says, looking exactly as he feels.
She grabs his tie and tugs to get him to kiss her again. Bucky fumbles for her waist and holds her tight, intent on never letting her go. They lose time like that. Kissing each other because they’re in love and not going any farther than that. Bucky cradles her head as he lays her down on the bed and wishes he could swallow her whole. She would be with him always, under his skin and making room. He could keep her safe the way an alpha should.
When they finally pull away from each other, it takes her a moment to open her eyes. Bucky runs a finger over her eyelashes and kisses her forehead. She wraps a hand around his neck and leans up until their foreheads are touching.
“Baby. I’m so in love with you,” she whispers.
“Yeah, me too. You’re my best friend.”
“And you’re mine.”
They can hear from all the way in the ballroom as the countdown to midnight begins. A great roar of “Happy New Year” erupts when everyone gets to zero, and Bucky knows what’s coming next. He kisses her forehead and covers her ears before the fireworks start. She covers his ears too, even though the sound doesn’t bother him nearly as much. They watch the fireworks burst color across the sky, silent in their cocoons of each other. She arches up and kisses him, letting him feel her words as they brush across his lips.
“Happy New Year, Buck.”