Bucky has a request, and Ellie doesn't know what to make of it.

"Wait, what?" Ellie laughed to herself. "No way." She shook her head, closing the message so she didn't have to look at it anymore.

After all this time, after all the rude comments, after everything, her ex was texting her again.

She didn't have time for his stupid ass. She was too busy trying to pay the fucking rent.

She couldn't help thinking that he probably only wanted a hookup or something because he was lonely, anyway. Even if they hadn't had sex when they were going out.

Ellie tossed her phone onto her bed, turning and walking out of her room. She adjusted her clothes as she walked to Bucky's room, knocking on his open door as she looked in and saw him messing around with the cameras.

"Um… what's up?" She asked.

Bucky looked up at her, then back at the camera and set it down. "We need to talk…" he said, turning to her.

Worry and apprehension immediately filled Ellie's stomach. "What happened?"

Bucky gave a reassuring smile. "It's nothing, just about what's going on with the show."

"Oh," she let out on a sigh of relief.

"I wanna eat you out."

"Oh?!" Ellie choked out in a direct 180 from her last reaction, her eyes wide and stomach in her throat.

"Yep."

"Wh-what the hell, Bucky?" She demanded desperately. "Why?! No, wait, don't answer that, I know why; to hurry and get the rent paid so you don't have to do this anymore. Fuck, Bucky, are we that far behind?!"

Bucky grabbed her hands and pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her to calm her. "No, Ellie, take a breath. That's not why. I mean, we're not close to rent, yet, but that's not why. Hopefully we'll get this one burst of income, and then we won't be as far behind, but Ellie… it has more to do with the act itself-"

"Huh?!" She demanded, pushing back from his chest.

"The- the act in the show," he quickly told her to cover himself. He had to find a way to put it to her that she would agree to…

Maybe it was a good thing she was reacting this way, that meant that she didn't have any romantic feelings for him- and after he ate her out, his desire would be satisfied and gone.

Then they could go back to normal.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" She asked.

"Nothing- nothing, Ellie, take a breath and we'll talk about it," he soothed. She warily stepped closer, sitting with him on the bed. "Ok," he started again. "Let me start by saying that I have gotten some messages requesting it."

"You have?" She asked, disbelief and wonder warring on her face.

"Yeah. I mean, a lot of them are graphic, and I wouldn't want to show you stuff like that, but the people sending them, they really liked finally seeing you bare. They want to see you getting eaten out- or, uh, rather, they want to eat you out, but with the mask on, it actually kinda, makes it so that anyone watching can- well… they can imagine that it's them."

Ellie's eyes widened. Who the fuck would actually want to eat her out?

Seriously, growing up hanging out with Bucky and Steve all the time, she'd spent a fair amount of time with other guys, too, and even though Steve had tried to protect her from the worst of it, and make sure she was never uncomfortable, and Bucky had decked a couple of guys who'd gotten the wrong idea, she remembered a time that no guy would ever willingly go down on a girl- she thought she remembered one saying that 'a girl would have to be able to blow his mind while sucking him off if she wanted him to think about it', not to mention all the anti fat chicks stuff they said.

What Bucky was saying sounded wrong to her on so many levels, like an incorrect answer on a test that she kept reading, being told it was right, but knowing that it wasn't.

"There's another reason, doll," Bucky told her, forging ahead with his arguments. "I've been trying to make each show at least a little different, but it's kinda hard when you're limited, and… if we only ever do the same things, over and over, people are going to lose interest. Then we'll never make enough to make rent."

Bucky ran his hand along Ellie's spine, trying to soothe her fears. Her face was buried in her hands, her elbows on her knees as she slouched forward. She looked really worried about this.

He supposed he could always try next time- maybe he'd set up a good foundation with this talk, and after she got used to the idea, she'd be more ok with it. After all, they were only about halfway to having the rent, so there were going to be more chances.

"Ellie, I don't want to make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. Look, I'm willing to go as far as you're comfortable with on this. This type of thing is a big hitter, lots of tips and stuff to be made. People have been requesting it, so I know that they're willing to come tip a lot. I'm fine with stopping; if we get started and you're really weirded out, just let me know and I'll stop, but Ellie, honestly. I don't want to do anything that you're not ok with."

"I-I wouldn't want to make you do something you don't want to," she told him a little sourly after a moment of silence.

"It's not- dear lord, Ellie, please tell me you've been eaten out before," Bucky told her, half pleading. "Fuck- first no one's ever touched your breasts right, we know that all your exes are assholes, but not going down on your best lady?"

"Yeah!" Ellie yelped. "Two or three of the guys I've dated have, but I had to kinda- look. There's not a reason to get into it! It's personal, and the reason I'm saying no has nothing to do with it. I'm saying no because we're friends, and I don't want it to get weird."

Bucky put a hand on her shoulder, starting with a serious, "Ellie, it's too late. You are already totally and completely weird," he told her with a grin. "And if you had to ask the guys to go down on you, they didn't deserve to be there, and if they didn't put their whole heart and effort into it, they weren't real men." He shook his head.

"Bucky," Ellie chided laughingly, "you're such an ego maniac! Next thing, you'll be telling me that you can blow my mind with that, too!"

Bucky's grin deepened and he wiggled a brow. "I can." She gave a laugh. "Aw, c'mon, doll, didn't I tell ya about the other stuff?"

She blushed.

"And didn't it blow your mind?"

She blushed harder.

"What about this?" Bucky asked, waving his hand through the air as though it were a grand idea. "If I ever do get the chance to eat you out, you'll give it a shot."

"And then you'll stop when I scream 'what the fuck is wrong with you?!'?" She shot back.

Bucky scoffed. "As though I'd ever do anything like that when you didn't want it. How about, if it happens, it happens?" He bartered.

"How about you don't go trying to start it up?" She regulated.

Bucky grinned at her. "Ok, so it's settled."

"Huh?" She asked, taken aback.

"I swear, I won't try starting anything, but if it starts, it starts, and you'll give it a shot, but I'll stop if you tell me to," he told her, a teasing gleam in his eye.

"Bucky!" She protested.

"Swear, doll! I'll only do it if we're in the moment and it gets to that point, and if you want me to stop, just give me a pinch on the shoulder!" He reassured.

Ellie shook her head in exasperation. There was no winning with this man sometimes! "Promise on your bike you'll stop?" She asked.

"With just a pinch to the shoulder," he confirmed with a nod.

"Arg- fine!" She conceded, flopping back.

It's not like it was likely to get to that anyway. He probably wouldn't want to do it at any point, anyway. It wasn't like he'd get any pleasure out of it.

She was trying- had been trying hard- not to let things get out of control between them, but maybe she was losing her willpower? It certainly didn't help that she really wanted him to do this, anyway…

She shouldn't, because they were friends, and she really didn't want things to get weird and strained between them; so far, he was the one man that remained constant in her life, though it wasn't Steve's fault that he was constantly being shipped out for work. But the way he made her feel when his mouth was on her, when his hands were on her, she had that guilty secret that she wanted to see all of what his mouth could do.

"Well alright, then, doll," he said, far too chipper as he leaned over her to look down at her face. "Let's get the camera set up at it's new angle!"