Keep Myself Free
by
ghostlywhitedirewolf

Just a really short drabble for a prompt I received. For those of you who wondered where the hell the puppy came from, please refer back to an earlier one-shot (I'll Follow You Home)

Check out my tumblr: ghostlywhitedirewolf and leave me some prompts!

"Steve?" Bucky called from the bathroom as the blond man sat at the table, shoulders hunched over a sketchbook as he shaded in a detailed pencil drawing of their puppy, Leggy.

"Yeah, Buck?" he replied, dropping his pencil and moving towards the bathroom, knocking on the door and waiting for a sound of confirmation before entering.

"My hair," Bucky said, clearly frustrated as he pushed at his bangs, scowling when they immediately flopped back over his eyes.

Steve frowned, "do you want to get it cut?"

Bucky shook his head. "No, I feel like my hair is me now, if that makes sense? I feel like cutting it short would seem like I was trying to be old me, rather than new me. I know that I'm the same person, but I'm not pre-Winter Soldier Bucky. I'm not ready for that yet."

Bucky turned towards Steve, his shirtless form still slightly wet from showering, sections of scars and marred skin emphasising his point, permanent reminders that he wasn't the Bucky that Steve had grown up with, he'd changed, but so had Steve. Neither of them were the kids they'd been before the war.

"I get that," Steve nodded, thumbs touching Bucky's hipbones as he grasped the other man's sides gently, pulling him closer to press a kiss against the brunet's shoulder.

"But it keeps falling into my face. When I'm reading it's in my eyes, when I'm cooking it's in my face, when I'm working out it sticks to me. It's annoying." Bucky pushed his nose into Steve's neck, hands slipping under the Captain's shirt to allow him to run his fingers along the blonde's back gently, taking comfort from the closeness and the contact.

"You could just tie it back you know. Put it up into a ponytail or something?" Steve suggested gently, pulling away from Bucky and stepping around him, running his fingers through the hair on the back of Bucky's neck. "Do you mind?"

Bucky shook his head and pressing back into Steve's hands, knowing that the other man needed his express permission to touch him despite them having been intimate for a few months now. It was something he would continue to be grateful for. Steve never made him feel like he should always be okay with something they'd done previously, he understood that there were times when people touching him still sent Bucky reeling back into panic.

"No, go ahead."

Steve raked his hands through Bucky's hair, pulling the wet strands back into a lose ponytail, sections that weren't quite long enough still falling loose to frame Bucky's face as Steve held his hair in place and steered him back towards the mirror.

"Better?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't make me look like a dame though, right?" Bucky frowned, eyes examining his own face and then in turn, Steve's.

"Of course you don't. Men wear their hair in all styles now; it's not a woman thing anymore to have long hair. Remember that guy in Central Park last week with the plait?" Steve smiled, releasing Bucky's hair as the other man nodded. "We don't have any bands right now, but if you put on clothes we can go get some?"

Bucky smiled petulantly, turning towards Steve and running his hands up the front of his shirt. "Maybe I don't want to put on clothes."

Steve laughed, crowding Bucky back against the sink.

"You just showered."

"Maybe I don't mind getting dirty again."

Bucky trailed kisses along Steve's jaw, his teeth scraping along skin as he moved, leaving a tingling line across Steve's face that went straight to the blond man's groin.

"You're the worst." Steve groaned, hands clutching at the waistband of Bucky's jeans.

"You love it." Bucky paused his onslaught to smirk at Steve, pulling the Cap's shirt up and over his head, marvelling at the broad expanse of chest and muscles that were revealed as he did so.

"Maybe I do." Steve returned the smile before crushing his mouth against Bucky's.

Maybe the hair bands could wait.

El fin.

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