Eve slumps back in what has become her go-to side of the bed, breathing hard as she tries to steady both her breaths and her fast beating heart. Her cheek falls against the pillow so that she can gaze at the man lying back next to her.
He is, as always, gorgeous. He's basking in his post-orgasm state, sweat trickling down his temples and pasting long strands of dark hair to his skin. His hands, one bionic and one flesh, are resting against his deliciously defined chest, rising and falling with his own erratic breath. When his blue eyes notice her staring, his red lips quirk up into a smile. He rises just enough to peck her on the mouth and then on her forehead.
"I'll be right back," says Bucky.
Eve frowns—something that is a feat in and of itself considering she's currently being graced with his glorious ass. It's an ass that she finds herself envying from time to time and also the same ass that has motivated her to go to the gym and skip her post-gym McDonalds trips. Even so, her frown is present as she reaches up to brush her fingertips across the spot that he had just kissed.
Sex with Bucky Barnes is amazing; his incredibly eagerness never fails to make her feel a wanted, like a sexual being in command of her womanhood. He's exciting, always willing to try knew things with her, to keep things fun and heated. Bucky is generous and considerate, unwilling to leave the bed (or kitchen countertop or shower or wherever) until she's completely pleasured; he considers it an off-day if she only gets off once. He's never fussy, either; he attacks her with the same hunger and lustful eyes when she's in two-day old sweats and a messy hair bun that he does when she's feeling a little naughty and dressed down in something lacy and frilly. Sex with Bucky Barnes is easy; it's the other stuff that has her thrown for a loop.
They haven't seen each other outside of her apartment in months; it's all a conflict of schedules between her school and nosy roommate and his saving the world. She tries to have something of a social life on the days that she isn't completely bogged down by school or her personal work, and he…he does whatever it is assassin-turned-superheroes do on their down time when they're not fucking coeds.
As it stands, it's all just sex. Bucky has never made a point of saying it is or should be anything more, and she hasn't broached the subject either. She doesn't need or want to; eve can barely commit to a nail polish color (today one hand is navy and the other is fuchsia because she changed her mind halfway through) much less a relationship. Their sex thing has worked—it's worked really, really well—and she likes it. Except her roommate had to go and fuck that up for her. Kayla didn't know about Bucky, but she didn't need to apparently to broach the subject thanks to the many friends had in common that had a similar arrangement.
"Did you hear about Karen and Mariah? Those two girls that look like they're from the art department but then we ended up finding out they're both in the engineering track? Yeah, well they were fuck buddies for two years—now they're engaged!"
"Mandy and David, I swear to God, I told them that it wouldn't work out between them. You can't be fuck buddies with a good friend or someone you see regularly—someone always develops feelings! And now that Mandy is basically in love with him it's so awkward for the group—literally everyone knows he's been pining after Samantha since freshman year!"
"I'd say you wouldn't believe what happened to Sid and Danica, but guess who just got together? Seriously—if you decide to settle down—don't give me that look, it'll happen eventually—just create a Tinder profile. Apparently friends with benefits is the way to go these days,"
There had been other instances sited and Eve had listened on with increasing discomfort as her roommate rambled on about how it was impossible to be in a sex-only relationship without someone starting to have feelings for the other person. At first Eve had been hard pressed to believe her; Bucky wasn't exactly her first fuck buddy she had ever had, only the most…unusual one. Thanks to the chance encounter between them she'd been shot at and had failed two classes. Sex hadn't been part of the equation then; it had only been about staying alive and trying not to kill each other in the process. Friendship had come during that time, one they both thought would come to an end; he was joining up with the Avengers, she had school and the life of a regular college girl to stumble through.
Then he'd come to say goodbye to her and they'd ended up in a tangled mess of limbs and sweat and so much heat and it had felt so good it had been an unspoken agreement that it would be happening again.
"And there's always signs, too," Kayla had said, pouring herself another glass of wine. "There are always signs. Like when you go from being just friendly to best friends practically over night—best friends who sleep together—and then suddenly someone's trying to hold hands, they start kissing you tenderly, just the way hat they look at you, you know?
Eve had not known, no, and she wondered just how Kayla had, either. The girl had been with the same boy since she had been in the eighth grade in what Eve had always thought to be a very sweet, very vanilla (boring) relationship. Their friends often called them 'goals'; Eve found herself fending off shortness of breath and heart palpitations of ever being stuck in such a relationship.
Again, Eve reaches up to touch her forehead; she wouldn't' have thought twice about the action before, but now thanks to Kayla it's a serious red flag. Even the slightest hint of affectionate action on Bucky's part has her worried he's suddenly going to drop down on one knee and declare his undying love for her. And it's not that it's him—Bucky is amazing, Bucky is wonderful, Bucky is infuriating, Bucky is exciting—it's the very idea of a relationship that freaks her the fuck out. She groans out loud.
"Everything all right, doll?"
Bucky returns to the bed, crawling up her body and nosing his way up alone her stomach, between the valley of her breasts—he pauses to kiss the underside of each—and then up to her neck, his long and damp hair leaving ticklish trails.
"Just sore," she says, which isn't exactly a lie. Bucky smirks smugly at her, and she rolls her eyes.
"Because of my work out, you dolt," says Eve. Bucky hums, clearly unconvinced, and buries his face into her neck to lazily bite and lick at her skin. She shoves him off; he raises an eyebrow at her.
"Don't leave marks. I'm going out tonight and I want to wear my new top without letting the world know I've been fucking all day," says Eve. Bucky drops onto his side next to her, blue eyes drinking her in.
"Ashamed of me, doll?" he asks playfully. Still, there's a seriousness to his eyes that she doesn't like, one she pretends not to notice.
"Given that my friends don't know or need to know about my sex life, I think a neck-full of hickeys might possibly be a bit of a giveaway, even to my idiot friends," says Eve. Bucky chuckles.
"Might be. Still, I'd love to see their reactions," says Bucky, though she's not sure what he means by that. His hand has wandered over the sheet that is haphazardly thrown over her, his palm gliding slowly over her stomach. Her abdominals muscles clench at the contact, and his eyes jump up to hers.
"You've been tense," he observes. "Is this about your friends or is this about school?"
Eve snorts, attempting to play it off. "School? Given that the two classes that I failed and oh-so mysteriously vanished off of my transcript oh-so coincidentally at the same time that the department received a very generous donation….well, I'm basically the department's darling. Totally unrelated—Tony Stark is getting a very nice Christmas card from me this year,"
Bucky snorts, his fingers now tracing patterns into her stomach. She can't identify the shapes, but they seem purposeful enough to feel like something with meaning. Perhaps they are letters, perhaps letters from the Russian alphabet. Whatever the message is, she tries not to dwell on it too hard.
"Yeah, Stark did suggest something about repaying him with a calendar…I've got an idea he's thinking something a little more risqué than a pinup girl calendar,"
Eve glances over at him at that, eyes widening a bit in surprise. "I…does he knows what I look like?"
"Given the circumstances of how we met, there's a file on you. So yes," says Bucky. He reaches up and tugs on one of her dark ringlets, watching it spring back into place. His eyes look a little flat when they meet hers again. "Please don't tell me you're flattered,"
"I mean…" Eve shrugs and he groans.
"Seriously, Eve? Stark?"
"It's funny to me is all," Eve defends. It isn't weird how he's touching her; they're in bed and naked and she's usually touching some part of him too. They're just laying there, making casual conversation post sex. It isn't weird. "When we'd get super stressed out about school—typically around midterms or finals—my friends and I would joke that we'd seduce Tony Stark into being out sugar daddies and be set for life,"
Eve thinks about it a little more and can't help but laugh. "And now here I am—he's bribed my school and I didn't even have to sleep with him. Can't tell if I'm pleased or disappointed,"
Next to her she feels Bucky tense at her words, and she realizes that it is kind of shitty for her to be talking about possibly being disappointed at missing a chance of sleeping with another man—his teammate, no less—when she's naked in bed with him. Even though there isn't anything between them, it's a little fucked up. She knows that had the situation been reversed, if he'd made some comment in passing about Black Widow, she'd be a bit missed about the thing, too.
She feels like she has to say something. "I didn't mean to—"
"I know that you meant," says Bucky smoothly, any trace of irritation or disapproval clear of his tone. She doubts him though, because she herself isn't too sure what she meant by making the comment in the first place. He's being cool—too cool?—and she feels his hand start to trail down to her hip a little firmer, a little more urgent.
"You had plans with Captain America, right?" she asks. Bucky chuckles.
"Steve. I have plans with Steve," he corrects her.
"Right. Him." The idea of addressing Captain America by his first name is ridiculous despite all she's been through over the past seven months. Almost as ridiculous as the fact that she's sleeping with his ninety-nine year old best friend.
"I did. I do," says Bucky. His hand trails from her hip to grasp the curve of her ass and his strength easily allows him to handle her so that she's flush up against him. His knee parts her legs and finds home between them as his lips start to attack her neck again, this time with more vigor. "But I could cancel,"
Eve bites into her bottom lip, his ministrations starting to riel her up despite her growing reservations about this whole thing with Bucky. His hand is dipping dangerously low against her ass, and she tries to shift subtly against his hand to get him right there.
Bucky chuckles against her neck huskily. "Should I take that as a yes?"
"No…can't have you stand up C-Steve," she says. "That would be rude,"
"I don't know," says Bucky, pulling away from her neck to raise an eyebrow down at her. "If you're thinking about fucking Tony Stark when I'm here in bed with you, I must have not done something properly,"
Eve licks her lips, making sure to keep her tone light lest she stumble into a conversation that she wants no part in.
"What can I say; sometimes I'm into younger guys," says Eve. Bucky gawks at her for a moment, and then he's laughing a bright, genuine laugh. The action causes her stomach to flutter awkwardly; seeing him laugh—actually laugh is a rare sight.
"And here I was about to suggest that Stark was too old for you," says Bucky.
"Oh? And you're just a spry young man of nearly a hundred?" asks Eve. Bucky leans in to lick the shell of her ear.
"Do I fuck you like an old man of nearly a hundred?" he asks. Eve shivers at his tone and the huskiness of it and thinks that, if how he fucks her is indeed how old men fuck, then she's starting to understand the young women that flock around Hugh Heffner and his mansion.
Eve cranes her neck a bit to catch sight of her alarm clock on her nightstand. Bucky uses the opportunity to assault her exposed neck. His hands part her legs so that he's between them. The friction of his gently rolling hips against her are enough to make her resolve melt. At least a little.
"Just be quick about it—Kayla's getting back in just over forty minutes. I don't know if you were planning on showering before you headed out,"
Bucky looks annoyed for the first time, and she isn't sure if it's because of the time limit or because he's offered to cancel his plans and she hasn't. He props himself up on hi elbows to look down at her.
"You know, you could just introduce me to your roommate so I wouldn't have to sneak out of here all the time," he points out. Eve scoffs. That was one time.
"That was your fault for falling asleep and staying the night," she tells him. "Don't act like this is something you go home and discuss with your friends, either,"
Bucky's jaw tightens and she sees that he's struggling with a response. Their usual hookup has dissolved into something awkward; it's usually all fun and flirty and now they're both just annoyed. Bucky seems to agree.
She yelps in surprise as Bucky moves off her and flips her all in one motion—she's on her stomach and with a face full of pillow before she can quite process the action. Then Bucky is manhandling her to her knees and his mouth is latched onto her neck and she can't complain if he wants to work off his frustrations on her like this.
It's hot and hard—her favorite—with the added exception of being over rather quickly. Bucky gets them both off faster than is necessary even with the time constraint she's imposed, and she can't help but feel that she's being punished for something.
It's all over quickly and before Eve knows it she's blinking at him sleepily, spent and sexually satisfied but still somehow frustrated all the same as she watches Bucky yank his pants and shirt on. For a moment she thinks that he's going to leave without another word, but then he perches on the edge of her bed, just turned towards her. She props herself up on her elbows to watch him wearily.
"I'm leaving Wednesday night for… work," he says, eyes guarded as he watches her.
"Oh," says Eve. She waits for him to elaborate further—how long he'll be gone, where he's going ,etc—and when he does she wonders if it isn't because he's annoyed or if it's one of those missions; super secret and need to know, scary. She frowns. When he's away she tries to forget that he exists, that they have anything going on at all, because then she'll start to fret over whether or not he's hurt or worse.
"Okay," she finally says. "I guess I'll see you whenever you back, then. Be safe,"
The second the words are out of her mouth she can see they they're the wrong ones to have said—though she ahs no clue why. Bucky nods a few times, and then he's gone, an aura of brooding over him that she hasn't seen in a long time. The door to her apartment doesn't slam shut or anything, but the following silence is somehow worse.
Eve doesn't know what the hell to make of it all, and she starts to convince herself that she's not at all the problem here, but his work is. He's likely worked up over the upcoming mission is all. With that, Eve springs out of bed, trying to pretend that she's still excited to go out with her friends tonight.
Then she enters her bathroom to shower and catches sight of the huge purple mark on the side of her neck.
Yes, definitely punishment.