Bucky blinked lazily at the screen, how long had this film been playing? It had to be almost over, it had been what… two hours? His eyes glanced down at the watch on Kagome's wrist, shifting his leg to get a better look before his head fell back in despair. Only forty-five minutes… that couldn't be right…
"I can turn it off," Kagome tore her eyes from the screen as she blinked at him in amusement. "You don't seem into it."
"No this is…" Bucky leveled his head, attempting to hide the look of boredom as he looked at the frozen picture, "maybe the book is better but this is… how can you watch it?"
"I told you to read the book first," Kagome pressed play on the remote and pulled her legs under her with a grin. "You're upset that I've been neglecting you… I'm sorry."
Bucky opened his mouth to protest, head tilting away as she kissed his neck softly. "You really have, you know film's aren't for actually watching." It still surprised him how easily teasing her had come back to him, but everything with her had always been easy. Bucky gripped the back of her head, keeping her from pulling away as he tugged her across his lap.
Kagome tossed her leg over his hip, gently shifting against him as her fingers danced across his chest. "Bucky…"
"Not here, I won't do it here."
"Because of Jarvis?" Kagome pulled back, watching his eyes flick around the room in confirmation. "The Ritz is only a few blocks away." She allowed a shy smile at the offer, Bucky's eyes lighting up at the hotel's name. "Sorry… no, let's go back to watching the movie… a different one… hotel's don't mean slow."
Bucky's thumb caressed the back of her head as he regarded her carefully, "slow… I intend for it to be very slow, darling; go pack a bag, I'll get changed." He loved the way she flushed at his promise, gently placing her to the floor as he stood.
"Where are the brass keys?" Bucky flipped the hotel card in his fingers with a grimace, why was this so much better than the old keys? "They switched over years ago…" Kagome knotted her fingers together as her eyes darted around the elevator, "I'm not pressuring you into this because you can tell me if I am."
"Oh sweetheart that's cute, believe me, I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be." Bucky looked down the hall as they exited, glancing down at the key and the door with a furrowed brow. Kagome plucked the piece of plastic from his hand, inserting it into the reader and swinging the door open, "there's nothing cute about it."
Bucky glanced around the room, he hated the changes, "come here…" he held his arms open, curling around her smaller form, "I don't care if I only sleep beside you tonight like I do every night, if that's all that happens."
"But you don't sleep," Kagome snorted as she pulled back. Bucky held her chin between his finger and thumb, "just for that, tonight you won't either." Kagome shivered slightly, fisting her hand in the hair at the nape of his neck as she tugged him closer.
"I missed you…" she whispered softly. Bucky pulled back, lifting both hands to kiss her knuckles, "I missed you more; knowing I was missing something important… that I should be somewhere else, but not being able to figure out where or with who was so hard."
"But I'm here with you now and if all I do is hold you tonight then I'm going to be thankful for that."
Kagome bit the inside of her cheek, pulling her hands from his and tugging his baseball cap from his head to toss it at the chair in the corner, "careful… I'm going to start thinking you still love me."
"You think Hydra could take that from me? I'm pretty sure I fell for you the second I saw you under the awning with Steve."
Kagome glanced up through her lashes at Bucky, crossing her arms over her stomach as she began lifting her shirt. Bucky stepped closer, his hands replacing hers as he regarded her carefully, "are you sure?" Kagome nodded and bit her lip, "are you?" Bucky placed a chaste kiss to her lips and pulled back as he lifted her shirt over her head, "I have always been sure of you."
Ebony hair fell against her back, hands automatically wrapping around Bucky's neck as he dropped her shirt to the floor. "Do you need to get that?" He arched a brow as her phone rang from her back pocket, watching her decline the call with a frown.
"It's Tony, the tracker probably went off went I stepped foot on hotel property. He can be mad all the way back," Kagome placed the phone on the nightstand, swallowing hard as she lifted Bucky's shirt over his head. Her stomach flipped in anticipation, his fingers tracing the lace of her bra cup, "I like these…"
"You always looked good in lace," Bucky maneuvered her to the bed as his mouth descended on hers, laying her back gently to the bed, "you're still the same beautiful woman I left."
Kagome bit her lip as her fingers fumbled with the button of his jeans, blushing furiously at the murmurs. "This was so much easier when we were younger…" she hissed.
Bucky chuckled, easily sliding her button free as he stood at the edge of the bed. "I'm only 99 sweetheart, I'm still plenty young." He glanced over to her phone as it rang again, "sure you don't need to answer?" he didn't need to give Tony another reason to hate him.
Kagome kicked her shoes off, declining the call a second time and replacing the device to the table, "he'll be fine." Her thumbs looped into the waistband of her jeans, lifting her hips to slide them from her body. Bucky stepped out of his pants, dropping to his knees as he pressed a kiss to her knee, smirking at the gasp of surprise she gave off with every kiss he placed higher on her leg.
He teasingly traced the edge of her panties, moving to give her other thigh the same attention he had the first. "Don't be impatient, I told you I'm taking my time with you…" he smirked at her huff of disappointment. He kissed his way up her body, enjoying the gasps she gave off before claiming her lips, his hand trailing lightly up her side as she arched into him. Kagome traced the seam of his skin to metal, breaking the kiss to watch her fingers; Bucky waited nervously, should he have left his shirt on? Was the sight of it too much for her?
Kagome pressed up slightly, pressing a kiss to the spot where the metal touched connected to his collar bone. "I'm sorry this happened to you..." she pressed a second kiss along the scar, pulling back as she ran her fingers through Bucky's hair. "This wasn't your fault darling," Bucky kissed the tip of her nose. Kagome groaned as Bucky found her mouth, making sure to keep his full weight off of her as he trailed his metal hand lower between them, dipping slightly into the waistband of her panties. Tensing in anticipation, Kagome released an irritated groan as her phone rang, Bucky's hand withdrawing from its goal as he glanced over at the singing device, "at least tell him you're busy."
Kagome attempted to steady her breathing under the kisses Bucky moved down her body after passing the phone to her; her hand tightening in his hair as he moved lower. "What?" she snapped into the receiver.
"About damn time you picked up, where the hell have you been?"
"Busy… I'm busy, can I call yo—"
"Clint was shot."
Kagome's eyes snapped open, her body tensing and drawing Bucky's attention. "He… he wha—what happened? Is he… what do you mean…?"
"Yeah, some roadrunner distracte—"
"Is he okay?" Kagome shoved herself into a sitting position, "is h—" Bucky settled beside her on the bed, smoothing the wayward hair that fell into her eyes as he leaned in closer. Kagome pulled the phone down, pressing speaker as she stared down at the small rectangle.
"He's lost a lot of blood, Rogers is playing doctor but he's going straight to the med bay. We're on our way back to the compound, should be there in about… five hours."
Kagome could hear Clint's pained voice telling at Tony to hang up, the man sighing heavily before returning to the call, "he sends his love. She deserves to know what's going on over here, I'll hang up when I'm good and ready! See you soon kid, don't do anything I wouldn't."
"I should have been there…" Kagome glanced down, pinching the bridge of her nose, "if Clint doesn't make it that's on me because I could ha—"
"That's not on you, look at me, he's going to be okay." Bucky lowered his head to catch her attention, "he's got our blood running through him and we're pretty damn hard to kill, don't put this on your shoulders."
Kagome swallowed hard with a nod, "Tony really knows when to step in on a good time… all those years of being a bad influence gave him killer instincts on if someone's about to do something fun…" Bucky tucked her hair behind her ear, "only if it's you."
"He's more determined than I gave him credit for," Kagome tossed her phone to the side, setting her hand on Bucky's thigh, "should we go? I mean… I'm not—I don't think it'll be a good idea to… my head's not in it anymore, unless you want to?"
Bucky shook his head, "I'm not going to keep going if you can't enjoy it, we'll revisit this after we check on Clint."
"Can you drive any faster?" Kagome's leg bounced as she checked the speedometer over Bucky's arm, "even just... five over?"
"We're almost there, the little rectangle says we're ten minutes away." Bucky tapped Kagome's phone perched on the dashboard, "relax."
"I can't relax… It's Jayme all over again…" Kagome pressed her forehead to the window, watching the trees blur past with a defeated sigh. Bucky clenched his jaw and pressed harder onto the pedal, he hadn't even considered she would be reliving that for the last five hours. Chocolate eyes widened as he directed the car closer to the compound, leaning forward in awe at the building, "shit… this place…"
Kagome unbuckled her seatbelt as Bucky rolled to a stop, Tony's explanation of this place hadn't been anywhere close to what she had imagined. "Bound to get some privacy in here…" her eyes locked on the woman walking towards the car, smiling as she hefted herself from the vehicle and waved in greeting. "Are they back?"
"Good to see you too, Higurashi… and you've brought the Winter… Soldier…?" Maria's eyes took in Bucky wearily, shooting her eyes to Kagome, "I'd ask what's going on but—"
"His name is Bucky not the Win—where is Barton?" Kagome looked at the door behind Maria, she could run all over this place and never find the med bay.
"In the med—"
"Where?" Kagome stressed nervously.
Maria held the tablet up and pointed, "here's us… over here is—"
Bucky narrowed his eyes as he mentally traced the halls, "this way."
Kagome shot after him, following through the expanse of the building as Bucky took the final turn, "there he is."
They could see the sharpshooter sitting up on a cot, looking no worse for wear as he listened to the Asian woman in front of him, surprise and relief flashing over his face as the doors opened to reveal the pair. "Hey, you didn't have to rush or anything I'm fin—what the hell are you hitting me for?" Clint held the back of his head where Kagome slapped him, "it's all good, Doctor Cho here fixed me up as good as new."
"Doctor Cho? I'm so sorry not to be rude but—"
"I'll give you a moment," she smiled warmly at the priestess and turned her back to the occupants as she moved through the med bay.
Kagome turned her eyes to Clint, eyeing him carefully. "It is not all good Clinton, do you realize how worried I've been about you?"
Clint shot his eyes to Bucky, silently pleading for help as the brunette eyed him just as carefully as Kagome had before turning back to the priestess, "sorry… I got distracted and—"
"You never get distracted, that's how you get killed!" Kagome snapped, raking her hand through her hair anxiously. "You were shot and you could have—"
"I'll be more aware next time… sorry Grammy." Clint glanced up through his pouting at her chastisement, "don't worry, you won't be my replacement for a long time."
Kagome's eyes softened, tugging him closer as she rubbed his back, "don't ever scare me like that again."
"Yes ma'am."
"Good…" Kagome grumbled as she pulled back and crossed her arms. Clint pulled his shirt up to show the spot where he had been hit running his fingers over the healed skin with a grin as he signaled through the glass at the doctor that had healed him, "Doctor Cho used a um… reg—"
"It's called the cradle, it uses nano-molecular functionality to bond a person's cells with a simulacrum. Would you like to see it?" Cho smiled warmly as she gestured to the machine, guiding Kagome to it as she eyed it from afar. "Yeah," Kagome directed one more relived glance at Barton, following the doctor for a close up of the cradle.
"I didn't mean to worry you guys, I told Stark not to call," Clint slid to his feet as he watched Kagome chat with Doctor Cho over the cradle. "I know how deeply she takes it when someone close to her gets hurt."
"Yeah she was… well, she didn't cry but I think after she calms down and can process it'll probably be a different story." Bucky acknowledged softly.
Clint crossed his arms, "you guys weren't busy or anything were you? You didn't have to rush here for me."
Bucky gave a resigned grin, dropping his head with a dragged out chuckle, "it uh… you're more important then what we were doing." Clint recognized that look on Bucky's face easily, having made it more than once in his personal life, "sure. There's no Jarvis in every room here; place was too big for that so he's only in a few rooms."
"How do you know?"
Clint smirked, "I have my ways… you two staying for a while?" Bucky gave a slight nod, "she's your replacement?"
"She's not officially an Avenger or anything but she's pretty quick to answer if we need an extra hand. She was one hell of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent too." Clint shrugged, "it was a running joke after the whole thing with Loki that if I fell she'd take my place."
Bucky felt his stomach sink as he watched Kagome with Doctor Cho, turning to his grandson as he crossed his arms, "do you know where Tony is?"
