Bucky was having a wonderful daydream.
It was wonderful for a few reasons. Reason 1, Sam was there, and his family. They were on the boat and Cass and AJ were teaching Bucky how to fish, but Bucky was getting distracted by Sam. Reason 2, was that it was a nice day, the sun was shining, but not enough to burn, and there was a soothing breeze that was brushing by them. And reason 3, was that in his daydream, he wasn't in a God-damn Ikea on a nice sunny Saturday.
He was following Sam through the maze of display furniture and dioramas towards the bed section with a huff. No matter how much he had tried to explain to Sam that he didn't need a bed, the less the man was listening to him. He'd made a new rule, a rule Bucky didn't really care for. The 'No sex until there's a bed in the apartment' rule. Needless to say, Bucky wasn't a fan of the lack of sex, which was why he had allowed himself to be brought here against his will.
They arrived at the beds and Sam gestured for him to look around. Bucky rolled his eyes.
"That one," he said, waving in a general direction.
Sam rolled his eyes in response, "I mean it's nice and I do love dinosaurs, but I don't feel like arguing over who gets the top bunk on a nightly basis."
"Sam you're the one who said we need a bed, you just pick."
"No Buck, it's your apartment, I know you have the serum and you're fine on the floor, but babe, that's gonna mess up my back after too long."
"Well you're in luck, I give great backrubs," Bucky argued.
"No bed, no sex," Sam reminded him.
Bucky groaned and actually started to look at the beds on display. They all looked pretty standard and if he was honest too nice for his apartment which he only ever used for sleeping in. He hadn't really done much with the place since moving in, even though his lease said he could do what he wanted to it so long as he didn't tear down a wall or anything. It wasn't that he couldn't be bothered, more what was the point? Especially since he and Sam had started seeing each other, Bucky could count the times they'd been at his place for more than two days on his vibranium hand.
He walked through the beds in the section, carefully taking measurements by eye and picturing them in the bedroom he had. Some the wood was the wrong colour, it was too light, so he discounted those immediately. He may not want a bed, but if he was being forced to get one it may as well not be an eyesore. He browsed the wood gradients, remembering a few he liked before looking at the metal frames, deciding these might be stronger and better able to stand up to what he and Sam could get up to.
"What about this one?" Sam asked, stepping up beside him.
"Too short," Bucky told him.
"You haven't even tried it."
"I don't need to try it, it's too short."
Sam suppressed a groan. If he was honest, the no sex rule was taking its toll on him and Bucky had been trying to break his defences. It had taken a lot to resist his very persuasive boyfriend, but he knew it would be worth it in the end when he had a functioning spine. "Can we please just get through this painlessly?"
Bucky tilted his head questioningly, feigning innocence. "Baby I would never make this difficult."
Sam wasn't buying it. "Pick a bed. This one is nice, come lie down, see what you think." Bucky watched as Sam stretched out on the bed, letting his shoes hang off the edge. "This one's nice," he said, trying to tempt Bucky over.
Bucky decided to play along and laid on his back beside Sam. The bed was nice, it would fit nicely in his apartment and even had storage draws underneath. Bucky didn't know what he would store in them, he didn't have that much stuff to store, but they could one day come in handy. He moved about a little, letting his weight settle into the mattress. Marking this one in his mind as a contender he moved onto his side, letting his vibranium hand trail over Sam's chest.
"This one isn't so bad," Bucky said, getting Sam's attention from where he'd been staring at the ceiling. "I could see this in my place, maybe from above and with you underneath me," he winked.
Sam rolled his eyes and pushed himself up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
"Very funny Buck, can we take this seriously please?"
"I am taking this seriously," Bucky argued. "We're gonna do more than just sleep in this thing, right?"
"Obviously, but we don't have to broadcast it to strangers in an Ikea." Sam got up and moved towards another bed, Bucky smirked after him. He'd found his express ticket out of this place, with or without a bed. Bucky watched as Sam rested a knee on the bed, pressing into the mattress.
"How's that feel on your knees?" Bucky asked, still lounging across the first bed.
"What?" Sam removed his knee from the bed and turned to look at Bucky.
"How is it on your knees? We can't just look after your back, gotta take care of your knees too." Bucky explained. "I mean that is how you spend a good amount of our time in bed, on your knees in front of me, on your knees behind me… Better make sure we pick the right mattress and bed to look after them."
"I know what you're doing and it ain't gonna work," Sam challenged, folding his arms and standing his ground. "We're leaving with a bed today, so get looking."
Bucky playfully held up his hands in surrender, "you got me, let's go look at those over there, I like the metal frames better." Sam let Bucky head over first and followed him. They walked around and discussed a few before an employee approached them.
"Can I help you two gentlemen today?" He asked.
"Please," Bucky said. "In your opinion, how noisy are the metal frames? And how sturdy would you say they are? You see our neighbours complain, a lot, and we really wanna avoid that, but we also need something pretty sturdy, so we aren't breaking and replacing it too soon," Bucky said, ignoring Sam's warning as he practically growled his name under his breath.
"Well they're pretty sturdy, they can take a lot of punishment, we try to make sure our products can stand up to anything from a passionate night to a natural disaster," the employee said, not the least bit fazed. Sam thanked his lucky stars. "Though if you want quiet, I think you'll be better off with a more solid base along with some foam padding for against the wall the bed is against."
Bucky nodded, "you don't say," he turned to Sam, "we need some padding and a solid base," he said.
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Thank you, we'll take a look and come find you if we need anything," Bucky said, sending the employee on his way.
Bucky turned to grin at Sam who asked: "Were you always this much trouble to take shopping?"
"Oh yeah, always." Bucky responded, slipping his hand into Sam's and leading him over to the recommended beds.
Some time passed as they continued to look around the large selection. Bucky seemed to have an excuse for each and every bed they looked at.
Sam laid down on a bed a short while later at Bucky's insistence. Bucky stood looking down at him, his face thoughtful.
"Hmm, let me see here," suddenly he fell to his knees and was pushing Sam's legs apart.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked in hushed alarm.
Bucky tutted, ignoring him. "Just as I thought," he muttered before announcing "too high" and he got to his feet, patting Sam's thigh. Sam cursed under his breath and got up, weary of the eyes of the store security who had arrived a few minutes before.
He followed Bucky over to another bed. "Go on. What's wrong with this one?" He asked.
"Looks too low."
"You sleep on the floor; how could this be too low for you?"
Wordlessly, Bucky stood in front of him and bent over, making a show of how he had to bend his knees to get comfortable. "See, you could never fuck me like this, too low."
"Pft, I could too." Sam argued.
"Oh yeah?" Bucky raised an eyebrow and wiggled his ass in the air, "prove it."
Sam stepped up behind Bucky, putting his hands firmly on his hips to still him and lined up his groin with his ass. "See, perfect height," he said. Bucky wiggled in his grip against Sam, "cut that out," he warned, giving a light spank with his hand as he stepped away.
Bucky was smirking at him and Sam realised all too late why.
"Excuse me, Sirs, I'm going to need the two of you to leave the store."
The sudden appearance of the security guard made Sam's blood run cold. He shot Bucky a look, Bucky shrugged innocently.
"Absolutely, my apologies for my behaviour," he said, following the man with a triumphant smile.
Sam trailed behind, dreading the talking to he would no doubt get from Sarah if she heard about this. He was just glad they were doing this in Brooklyn and not browsing at Sam's local store. He'd never be able to live that down.
They were escorted out of the store, Bucky looking a little too pleased with himself as Sam tapped intently at his phone. Sam couldn't help but smirk a little himself, Bucky had clearly forgotten his rule.
"What're you looking so pleased about?" Bucky asked as they walked away from the Ikea. "We didn't get a stupid bed."
"Exactly," Sam smirked, slipping his phone into his pocket, "and no bed means no sex."
The colour drained from Bucky's face. He looked like he was about to tear back into the store to pick a bed, any damn bed.
"Calm down, before you go do something illegal, and break rule 1, you should know I ordered a bed that you said you liked. It'll be at your place by this weekend."
"Oh thank God," Bucky sighed. "So does this mean the sex ban is lifted?" He asked, hopefully, as they got to their rental car.
"Hmm, I don't know, I mean we don't technically have the bed yet," Sam teased, unlocking the doors. Bucky shot him a pleading look. "Then again, if I recall correctly, you can be incredibly persuasive. When we get back to your place you can give it your best shot," Sam told him with a wink.
A grin spread over Bucky's face as he began planning his persuasion. He paused his thinking and frowned as he thought about Sam's words.
"Our place." He said quietly as Sam moved at a snail pace through the traffic.
"Huh?"
"You called it my place. I only ever stay there when you're with me and even that's sparingly. If I think of it as my place it's lonely and cold and sleeping on the floor. When I think of you with me it's better." There was a beat of silence. "Sorry, I mean, if you wanted, we could call it our-"
"I know what you meant Buck," Sam smiled. Letting go of the wheel with one hand he reached over to take Bucky's, threading their fingers together. "I'd like it if we called it our place. I don't wanna move here permanently," he revised, and Bucky nodded, he knew that, "but I think somewhere to stay when we're here wouldn't go amiss."
"Sounds great, now get us home, while I plan my great persuasion."
Sam snorted with laughter, putting his hand back on the wheel.
"Looking forward to it."