A/N: So my family has these totally spontaneous dance parties and this plot bunny was the result of one such occasion. I've realized that I never said Lia's full name; it's Liana Rose Lewis. That's why Bucky calls her Rosie in this story. There's also another reason, but you'll have to wait for the next chapter of Downpour on Sunday to find out. One more note: sestrichka means 'little sister' and bratishka means 'big brother' in Russian, which, in my universe, shares a surprising amount of similarities with Sokovian. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers (or any of the other things I've mentioned in this one-shot), but I do own Lia.
"I'm bored." Lia flopped onto the couch next to Bucky, maneuvering her body so that she was sitting upside-down with her feet in the air.
'What do you want me to do about it?" he asked, not looking up from the book he was reading.
"I don't know. I just enjoy bothering you. As your surrogate little sister, It's my job to make sure that you get no peace." She raised her head from its upside-down position to look at him. "What are you reading, anyway?"
He raised the book to show her the cover. The words To Kill a Mockingbird were printed on the front. "Steve lent it to me. He thought I would enjoy it. And I was until you interrupted me."
"What's it about?"
"It's about a girl named Scout and her father Atticus, who's a lawyer in an important court case about-"
"Stop! Don't say anything else, you're going to make me even more bored than I already am." She sighed dramatically.
"Is there no one else you can bother?" Bucky asked, starting to get annoyed with her.
"Bruce is meditating, Tony is downstairs getting yelled at by Pepper for blowing something up, Sam is helping his therapy group, Thor and Jane are off doing who knows what, Sharon and Steve are sparring, Clint is lost in the air vents somewhere..." She ticked the Compound's residents off one by one on her fingers. "Pietro is trying yet again to prank Maria, Wanda is with Vision somewhere, and I value my life too much to go and annoy Nat."
"Ask FRIDAY for something to do," he suggested, looking back down at his book.
"I'm not going to ask the resident artificial intelligence program for a solution to my boredom. I'm not THAT desperate." She was silent for a moment. "What did you use to do for fun back in the forties?" she asked.
Bucky had to think for a minute. "We made our own fun most of the time. We didn't have all the technology and stuff we have nowadays." He smiled. "There was this empty lot not too far from where Steve and I lived. We would go there all the time and play baseball with the other kids in the neighborhood. Well, I would play. Steve would cheer from the sidelines. He was never really able to do stuff like that until after the serum. When we got older, we started taking girls to go dancing."
"You would take girls dancing? Like on a date?" Lia asked, slightly intrigued.
"Yeah. Mostly it was just an excuse to get close to a pretty girl, but I always made sure to find girls that had friends so Steve could get a date, too."
A light bulb went off in Lia's head. She smiled slyly. "Sounds like fun. Bet you weren't any good, though."
Bucky looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. "What are you insinuating?"
"You said you only took girls dancing as an excuse to get close to them. If that's the only reason why then I doubt that you're really any good at it." She raised her eyebrows, challenging him to respond.
Bucky dog-eared the page he was on and set his book on the arm of the couch. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you calling me out on my dancing skills?" He asked.
Lia flipped herself around so she was sitting the right way and looked him straight in the eyes. "What if I am?" she asked defiantly, crossing her arms.
They stayed like that for a few seconds before Bucky gave her his answer.
"Help me push this couch back."
ooOOoo
Ten minutes later, all the furniture had been pushed back and out of the way. The rug had been rolled up and placed in the corner, leaving the common area with a much wider overall area than before.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Play some swing music," Bucky called out. He smiled as Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" started playing from the speakers. He looked at Lia expectantly, holding out his flesh hand. "Come on, Rosie. I can't dance without a partner."
She sighed dramatically again. "Oh alright, if I must." She took his hand, letting her surrogate big brother pull her toward him.
Lia very quickly learned that she had been wrong to doubt his dancing skills. He was an excellent swing dancer. She picked up the moves rather quickly, moving to the beat with him, laughing whenever she made a mistake.
Bucky was grinning. He couldn't remember the last time he had had this much fun since before the war. Lia wasn't a bad partner, either. Although, she did step on his toes more than he would care to admit.
Bucky and Lia were so wrapped up in their own little world that they didn't notice the audience they had gained until they heard somebody clear their throat. That made them stop for a moment, gazing at the small crowd that had gathered to ascertain the source of the noise in the common area. Tony, Pepper, Steve, Sharon, Pietro, Bruce, and Maria were all watching the pair's interactions with great interest.
"So… what's going on here, Elsa?" Tony asked nonchalantly.
Bucky glared at Tony. Lia quickly stepped in to diffuse the tension. "I annoyed him until he decided to hang out with me instead of reading his boring book."
"Can we join?" Steve asked, gesturing to himself and Sharon. "I can't remember the last time I danced with a pretty dame."
"You call me dame one more time Soldier and I'll-" Sharon's teasing remark was cut off.
"Yeah, sure! The more the merrier." Lia said.
"You wanna dance, Pepper?" Tony asked smoothly.
"I suppose I can spare a minute," she said, smiling as she took Tony's outstretched hand.
Maria glanced over at Bruce. "You in a dancing mood, Dr. Banner?" she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "You want to dance with me?"
"Wouldn't have asked you if I didn't." She smiled a rare smile when he nodded and walked toward her, grabbing her hand.
Pietro smirked at Lia. "I guess that means you are my partner then, sestrichka?" he asked teasingly.
Lia stared at him in mock horror. "Bucky, no, please save me from this awful fate…"
"Sorry kiddo, you opened this can of worms, you get to deal with its contents," he replied, pushing her toward the silver-haired speedster.
She sighed. "Oh well, I guess I could dance with you if I absolutely have to…" she took his hand.
He grinned, leading her to the floor. "You know you love me, sestrichka."
She grinned back. "Yeah, I guess I do, bratishka."
ooOOoo
A few songs later, Natasha had shown up, along with Clint, who had (eventually) found his way out of the vents. Wanda and Vision were there too, swaying softly. Jane and Thor had joined in when they arrived. And Sam was in the back of the room, filming the entire thing on his phone. He figured that with all of the bad stuff they went through on an almost-daily basis, they all needed a good memory to look back on.
Bucky sat on the couch in the back of the room and watched the couples dance to the music he and Steve had grown up with. He smiled as he watched Lia dancing with Pietro. The girl had made sure to take turns dancing with both of her surrogate brothers before Bucky claimed he was tired and let Pietro take over. He wasn't really tired. He just wanted to take in the moment.
After that, every other Saturday night was officially designated "Swing Night".
