Shake it out
The room was dark and smokey with the sour scent of spilled beer and sweat permeating the air. The music was too loud, or perhaps just loud enough, with the bass beating through his bones making them vibrate the slightest bit. Against all his instinct , Bucky Barnes was in a club.
"I told you it would be fun Barnes, isn't this fun?" shouted Natasha in his ear. Her red hair was wild with strands stuck to her cheek and neck with sweat. She was a phenomenal dancer and Bucky had been watching her and Clint the most since they'd arrived. The dancing of this era was... different. To say the least. None of the artistry but all of the sex; bodies grinding and flinging themselves every which way, it only looked fun when they did it.
" You're having fun, I wouldn't say I'm having fun. It's hot in here and it smells. Plus no one wants to dance with the guy with the freaky metal arm" Bucky replied with a slight pout and sulk.
"Don't be a pussy Barnes, you just gotta get on the dance floor and let it loose! You look like a tight ass standing there, that's why you're not having fun!" Clint shouted, he was more than a little buzzed and currently shimmying his ass with enough vigor to make the two girls passing through shoot him dirty looks.
"Whatever Barton, I'm going to get a drink". Bucky wasn't here to enjoy himself, he had only been lured by the fact that they needed a designated driver which was bullshit since they had come in a limo. God, he let too much slide when it came to Natasha.
He stalked to the bar with a frown on his face and annoyance radiating from every fiber of his being. Fortunately, everything was better with a tumbler of scotch. Unfortunately, Bucky had underestimated the bar when the bartender informed him that they didn't have any 50 year old scotch and to not be a pompous pussy. He'd been getting a lot of hate that evening and getting lip from the bartender was the last straw. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him close with the intention of slamming his face into the bar when he heard a far too high voice from his left side.
"Yo Jimmy, get me a vodka on the rocks with half a lemon. One for this guy too, if he's not too much of a pussy to drink it" she half laughed and half snorted. She was short, 5 foot 2 max, probably a little under to be honest which put him safely a foot taller than her. This pint-sized bitch was not in any place to call him a pussy.
"What did you call me" Bucky snarled, dropping the bartender in favor of facing the girl, woman, whatever head on. "Say it again to my face bitch and see what happens, it won't be pretty."
"Oh please! You don't know how to dance, don't know how to drink, and don't care to know. Why the fuck are you here if you don't want to have fun?"
"I'm the designated driver. I'm supposed to be sober." The girl shot him a look of pity and Bucky suddenly felt too tired. The fury drained out of him as the truth punctured a hole in his self-righteous indignation. He leaned against the bar and gave her a tired smile which she returned with a grin way to large.
"So what do you suggest, short stuff? How do I have fun in a place like this?" Bucky replied wryly.
"Drink your drink and dance with me" she replied with a shimmy and a large wink. What the hell, he had nothing to lose. He knocked back his drink and turned towards her.
"So you gonna teach me how to dance or just insult me?"
"Oh baby, I'll teach you how to dance alright" she laughed and led him into the middle of the dance floor.
"You feel that? That's the sound of letting lose. Listen to the song, it's all about letting go. Shake it out. Come on!" She then proceeded to start the most bizarre dance he had ever seen. Forget the grinding and flailing, this was like...dramatic vogueing with a side of belly-dancing.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He shouted, alarmed but intrigued in spit of himself.
"Don't be a ass, don't be a pussy, just dance!" she shouted back. "Close your eyes and let whatever you've got in there come out, you don't see me caring what the other shits think!" She promptly turned her back on him and transitioned into a spinning shuffle with robot arms.
Bucky was stunned, more than a little embarrassed, and wished he hadn't taken her damn drink. He should have known only a crazy person would want to dance with him. But then again, what the hell, he didn't have anything to lose but pride and the red room had sure as shit stripped all that away.
He closed his eyes, felt the beat thrum through him. "Shake it out shake it out... shake the devil off your back... it's always darkest before the dawn"... as the lyrics pounded into his brain, he felt it.
It started with a little head bopping, nothing big. The smell and the irritation slowly faded to be replaced by a jumpiness in the pit of his stomach which led to some hip shaking and arm waving. And suddenly he felt it welling up in his stomach, into his chest and he opened his eyes and started jumping and stomping around. His dancing, much like the girl's, was completely indescribable. Some heavy stomping with hip undulation and side to side head throwing complete with arm waving. Totally un-picturable. Except his face. Wild joy and unbridled movement. Ecstasy and fun, happiness and lightheartedness, things he hadn't known or felt in 70 years.
"There you go big boy, you feel it, yeah? Just ride the waves, feel the beat, and dance it alllll out" he heard her whisper to him. He opened his eyes and suddenly saw her dancing right in front of him. A slow rolling of her body with both eyes open and suddenly he was drowning in her eyes, her body, her scent, her whisper. And then as she smiled at him, he smiled back with teeth, laughed with abandon for the first time in years, grabbed her hands and let go.
"What the fuck is Barnes doing?" asked Natasha, aghast at the strangest incarnation of the jitterbug she had ever seen. It was even weirder because it was Bucky and he was dancing with a small, curvy asian girl with long black and pink hair.
"I don' know, but looks fun!" slurred Clint as he promptly grabbed her wrist and stumbled with her towards the center of the room.
The weird, jumpy feeling spread through the room infecting them all until everyone was riding the craziest dance wave ever. The club was never the same after that night. Then again, what club is ever the same after Bucky Barnes lets loose in it?