Work Text:
“Just one more shot!” Sam practically yelled, pushing the shot glass towards Steve with a big grin.
Steve considered it for a moment. His vision was going weird, he could feel himself close to passing out but Sam had no intention of stopping yet and Steve was determined to outlast him just this once. He had no idea how Sam always lasted longer considering how much smaller he was than Steve. It irked him every time they went out.
“All right. “Steve held his hands up in defence, nodding at Sam as he cheered, banging his fist down on the bar. “Cheers.”
They clinked their shot glasses and threw them back, both of them wincing and laughing as it went down. Steve was about to ask if they could go home when Sam's phone started ringing. He swiped it up and started yelling at whoever had called, begging them to come out. Steve shook his head in amazement and then immediately regretted it. He really needed to eat something.
“Oh man, serious? Okay cool. We'll go outside and meet you then.” Sam said, hanging up as he slipped off his bar stool. Steve silently got up and followed him, the two men stumbling out into the cool night air.
“So I'm gonna head off.” Sam said suddenly. “I'm crashing pretty fucking hard right now.”
“Are you serious? I thought we were sharing a taxi.” Steve whined, swaying on the spot.
“Well, we were but now my buddy Jack is picking me up. He only has room for one more in his car though.” Sam slurred, having the decency to look ashamed. “Tell you what, you order a taxi and I'll still split the fare.”
“Fine.” Steve sighed as Jack pulled up next to them, the passengers hooting loudly to him. He waved goodbye to Sam before turning around and heading back to the bar. Outside was a noticeboard with a few flyers and posters but most importantly, a poster for taxis. Steve pulled out his phone and very slowly entered in the numbers for the taxi company. He put the phone to his ear and waited, leaning against the wall to stop himself from falling.
“Hello?”
“Hi, I need a taxi please.” Steve sighed. “My friend has ditched me.”
“What? This- this isn't a taxi company. Dude, it's three in the morning.” He groaned.
“What do you mean? I got your number from the poster outside the bar. Please, I don't have any other way home.” Steve whined, looking around desperately as if the taxi should already be there.
“Fuck… Where are you?”
“I'm- uh, at The Red Door. No. The bar has a red door. I can't read the sign. Fuck, it says The-”
“Don't worry I know the place that's not far from my place.” The man sighed. “Where am I taking you?”
“Home.” Steve yawned, almost falling asleep against the wall.
“Right… Okay, just- stay there. I'll come get you. What's your name?”
“Steve.”
“Right, I'm Bucky. I'll see you soon, Steve.” The man hung up and Steve yawned again, sliding down the wall to sit on the ground. It was extremely uncomfortable and cold but what did Steve care, he could barely fucking focus. It didn't take long before a dark blue car was turning down the side street and stopping outside the bar. Steve stared at it, trying to find the markings of a taxi.
A man with shoulder length brown hair and legs that went on and on climbed out of the car, looking like he'd just woken up. He looked down at Steve before looking around. There was no one else on the street but the two of them. “Steve?”
“Yeah?” Steve looked up at the man, wondering how this guy knew his name.
“I'm Bucky. I'm giving you a lift home?” He raised his eyebrows at Steve.
“Oh cool. Did Sam send you?” Steve asked, struggling to get to his feet until Bucky grabbed his hands and pulled Steve to his feet.
“Yeah. Sam sent me. I'm a friend of his.” Bucky sighed. He lead Steve to the car, helping him climb inside. “How much did you drink? Jesus christ.”
“I don't usually drink this much.” Steve explained, feeling the need to defend himself. He waited until Bucky was in the car before continuing. “Sam can always drink the entire night away, like double the amount that I usually do, before blacking out and for once I wanted to last as long as him.”
“Oh yeah? How'd that turn out for you?”
“Clearly he had a plan because he's set me up with you.” Steve winked at Bucky in the rear view mirror.
Bucky smiled, a bright smile that seemed to hurt Steve's eyes. Steve decided to close them, just for a moment. “Where am I taking you?”
Bucky looked back at Steve and groaned. Now what? He stared at Steve, questioning why he hadn't just hung up. Why he'd even bothered to answer the unknown phone call. He was too nice, that was why. This Sam guy had clearly ditched him for a chick or something. Bucky would just have to take him back to his place. Get some food and coffee into him or something.
Bucky started the car up and drove the two minutes back to his apartment, pulling the car into the parking lot. When he turned the car off Steve came to, grunting and looking around. “You okay, buddy?”
“Where are we?” Steve asked blearily, looking around at the dark car park.
“At my apartment. I'm gonna get some food in you and hopefully then you'll be able to tell me where you live.” Bucky explained, getting out of the car.
With great difficulty and plenty of swearing, he slowly managed to get Steve into his apartment. He fell down onto the couch with a groan, smiling at Bucky happily. He was the most attractive man Bucky had ever seen and it was killing him that they had met under these circumstances. If he'd been out tonight and had seen him he probably would have tried to buy him a drink. But unfortunately, he was wasted out of his mind and looked like he was about to pass out again.
“Okay, what would you like to eat?”
“A big mac.”
“I'm all out of big macs sorry. What about a grilled cheese?” Bucky asked, opening his fridge to peer inside. “Does a grilled cheese sound okay?”
In reply Bucky received a snore. He shut the fridge and sighed. He'd already let this guy into his apartment and it seemed unlikely that he'd wake up again. Bucky grabbed a blanket and threw it over Steve before turning the light off and heading to bed, leaving it as a problem for tomorrow.
*
Steve was having a completely blissful dream. He was swimming in a river in the nice warm sun, floating along happily. But suddenly the water was gone and he was falling, falling, falling to the bottom of the river. He hit the ground with a thud and let out a shout, opening his eyes as he took in a sharp breath. He was on a soft rug in someone's living room and he'd just fallen off their couch.
“Morning.”
Steve lifted his aching head and tried to find the source of the voice, pushing aside the confusion of where he was. It wasn't his place and it definitely wasn't Sam's.
“How are you doing?”
“Where am I?” Steve croaked, his tongue feeling like cotton wool in his mouth.
“My apartment.” The man came into view, setting down a cup of coffee on the coffee table before sitting down in an arm chair.
Steve struggled into a sitting position, taking a sip of the coffee and sighing in relief. “So who are you?”
“My name is Bucky. You uh, must have accidentally put in my number when you tried to call a taxi last night. I figured you were too drunk to try again so I decided to give you a lift. Only you fell asleep before you could tell me where I was taking you so I just brought you back here to sleep it off.”
“Oh my god. I am so so sorry.” Steve groaned, putting his head in his hands. “I can't believe I did that. What time did I call you? Did I wake you?”
“Yes you did. It was about 3am when you called.” Bucky said, smirking at Steve over the top of his coffee.
“Jesus christ, I am so sorry. Thank you so much for- helping me out.” Steve mumbled, feeling his entire body fill with shame.
“Not a problem.” Bucky nodded.
“Right, I will- I will get out of your hair.” Steve muttered, getting to his feet as he tried to ignore the pounding in his head.
“Oh, well, I was gonna see if you wanted to grab some breakfast but if you've got somewhere to be?” Bucky said slowly.
“I- yeah. Sam and I usually get breakfast together after a night out but if he ditched me last night then screw him.” Steve nodded.
“Yeah, you seemed to think that Sam had sent me to set you up with me.” Bucky laughed, putting his coffee down to pull his hair back into a bun, his arms lifting the hem of his shirt to reveal a very toned stomach.
Steve blatantly stared for a second before returning to his coffee, sculling it down to stifle the moment only burn his throat from the heat and start coughing. “Fuck.”
“You okay?” Bucky grinned.
“Yep. Yes, I am fine.” Steve spluttered, wiping the coffee from his face.
“So, breakfast?”
“Please.”