A/N: The "we're snowed in at the library on christmas eve" stucky au that no one asked for starring pre-serum!Steve and grumpy!Bucky.

There was something about the blonde kid that fascinated Bucky. He had been lying on the ground in the fantasy section, sprawled over a book all day. He would have thought he was asleep, if not for the page turns every thirty seconds and his outrageous reaction faces. He had been there for over six hours. Normally, there was nothing unusual about people reading in for hours. It was a library, after all. But it was Christmas Eve, and he was the only one here. There was a stack of brightly colored books beside him that Bucky was pretty sure was bigger than him.

Bucky glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes until closing, and he could finally go home, or at least he could leave. He had been invited to a bunch of Christmas parties, but with no one he could stand. He almost regretted calling out to the blonde guy to inform him of closing.

"Hey, we're closing soon. Are you gonna check those out or not?"

The dude's face was priceless. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Five more minutes. Lupin just turned into a werewolf and I have to find out what happens." He sounded like a little kid who wanted to stay up past his bedtime.

"Fine." Bucky sighed. He could remember when he read Harry Potter for the first time. He couldn't put them down either. "Have you been reading those all day?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes," the blonde guy said without looking up from his book.

Silence ate up the library once more, and Bucky had nothing to do but stare at the clock as it agonizingly ticked away the seconds until closing.

"Okay, we're closed. It's time to go." The blonde guy stood up slowly, and Bucky checked to make sure everything was locked. Suddenly, the lights flickered out and the heater stopped running with a loud clunk. The only lights left were the red and green Christmas lights strewn across the bookshelves.

"I get it. You're kicking me out," said the blonde guy.

"That wasn't me," Bucky said.

The blonde guy rushed to the glass door. "Uh, oh."

"What now?" Bucky whined.

"So apparently it's been snowing a lot."

"Uh, huh."

"And the door won't open," he finished.

"Fuck."

"Basically."

"This is all your fault, really," Bucky said half sarcastically. "I could have gone home early if you didn't insist on staying here. Why didn't you just check out the books and leave?"

"I don't really have much to go home to."

"Oh."

There wasn't much to say.

"There are worse places to get snowed in. At least we have each other, right? What's your name?"

"Steve."

"I-I'm Bucky." Bucky didn't know why he was getting nervous all of a sudden. He had technically known this guy for hours (if you count staring at from afar as knowing).

There was an awkward silence.

"So, um, I guess we're not leaving any time soon," Steve said.

"I guess you can finish your book now."

"Yeah."

Steve walked back to his spot on the floor, opened the book again, and started reading.

Bucky spent the next half hour "reading a book" and definitely not staring at Steve.

"Uh…since the heater went out with the electricity, it's gotten kinda cold." Smooth, Buck. Real smooth.

"I don't know how to jumpstart a heater, if that's what you're going to ask," Steve said, finally looking up from his book.

"There's a heater near the back that's attached to a generator. We could use that."

"That sounds great." Now Bucky could see that he was shivering.

Steve followed Bucky to the historical romance section (go figure) and they used their combined intellect to turn on the generator (there was an "on" switch). The heater turned out to be no bigger than a backpack, so they had to snuggle up to each other it. Bucky, having forgotten a book, decided to read over Steve's shoulder. Harry's name had just been called out of the Goblet of Fire. It was very intense. After five minutes, Steve got up and stretched.

"Why are you getting up, you have to find out if Harry gets past the dragon!" Bucky called after him.

"It's really hard reading with just the Christmas lights. And I'm farsighted. And dyslexic."

"Damn," Bucky said, "how were you reading all day?"

"I've gotten used to it."

"Wow."

"Well…we should make the best of our situation." Bucky wasn't sure what Steve was suggesting.

"I've never been locked in somewhere before," Bucky admitted.

"Have you ever played hide-and-seek in a library before?" God, he was so innocent.

"Generally I try to keep my job."

"You count and I'll hide." Then Steve darted away like an overexcited puppy. There was nothing Bucky could do but stare after him.

"1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...ready or not here I come!"

Bucky raced around the library looking for his little blonde golden retriever. It wasn't hard to find him hiding behind the bookshelves in the adult romance section. "Found you," he said breathlessly (he regretted running now).

"Okay, my t-"

"What?"

Steve looked up. A patch of decorative mistletoe had been placed directly above them. The lady who ran the library had insisted on the decorations because she thought they were "festive." Of course she would put mistletoe up. Bucky glanced at Steve's lips and wondered for more than a moment what it would be like to kiss them. He found himself leaning in slowly.

Before they knew what they were doing, they were kissing. Bucky didn't know whether Steve had kissed him or he kissed Steve. Either way, he never wanted to stop. Steve's lips were cold, but warmth was bubbling up through his chest (and also his pants). He put his arms around Steve's tiny waist. Steve didn't seem to what to do with his hands and put them on Bucky's shoulders before moving them to around his neck. The kiss was sloppy, but Bucky didn't care. He had kissed people-even boys-before but never when it mattered. Never when he cared.

Steve pulled away. "That was…"

"I know," Bucky said, before pulling him into another kiss. He loved Steve tenderness. He loved the way Steve held onto his neck like a lifeline. But it was obvious he was a virgin.

Steve hoped it wasn't too obvious he was a virgin. He had only ever had one girlfriend, Peggy, and that didn't really end well. His friend Tony would often sneak into his apartment for hurried make out sessions whenever he was in the "off" stage of his on-again-off-again relationship with Pepper, but it never went past that. And he had to admit sometimes his mind did wander when he was around Sam (that ass though). But he had never gotten physical with anybody before, which his friend, Nat, found hilarious.

Bucky was gentle with him. Everywhere he touched felt like fireworks on Steve's skin. They tumbled around on the floor, knocking books off stacks. Every feeling was new and exciting.

After, they lied on the floor holding hands and breathing heavily. There seemed to be no need for the heater anymore. They drifted off to sleep sometime during the night. In the morning, the snow had melted enough for them to be able to leave. They walked out of the library hand in hand, ignoring the strange looks they were getting for walking out of a building that was obviously closed. The snow was still pretty deep, and they only fell twice once. Bucky, being a gentleman, walked him to his apartment. Steve being slightly less gentlemanly, pulled him inside and started kissing him before they could get their coats off.

They were both grinning like crazy by the time they reached the bed.