Chapter 37:Morning
I woke up with a yawn and stretched luxuriously, pulling the covers tighter over my shoulders and smiling slightly when my fingers brushed the chain of my new necklace. I hummed happily as an arm draped over my waist curled tighter and opened my eyes. Bucky was still asleep, that peaceful look on his face. I smiled and began placing gentle kisses on the side of his throat. His laughter vibrated through me as he woke with a grin. I loved that, that I made him wake up with a smile on his face.
"Morning," Bucky husked.
"Mornin'," I replied, before going back to my work on his throat and jaw. Buck sighed and held me tighter.
"What's got you so loving this early in the morning?" he teased.
I raised an eyebrow and asked archly, "Wan' me tah stop?"
Bucky shook his head, still refusing to open his eyes. "I'll shut up now."
"Wise choice," I said, and smiled and kept right on dropping feather-light kisses on his neck and jaw line, moving up to his cheek. That was all I could reach though and I wasn't content with that. With a huff I dragged myself onto my hands and knees, laying back down on top of him so that I could get at his whole face. Bucky grinned as I landed kiss after kiss randomly. One above his brow, one just in front of his ear, another on his chin, another on his eyelid. I purposefully avoided his lips and he definitely noticed because he started trying to catch mine. Considering he still hadn't opened his eyes yet, his aim was terrible.
"I could get used to waking up like this," Bucky said, happily coiling his arms around my waist and pulling me tighter against him. I shifted a little so that I could reach to plant a kiss at his hair line.
"I could get used to doing it," I agreed as I moved to kiss his left ear. I surprised him with a little nip at the lobe and giggled into his chest when he finally opened his eyes in surprise.
"Merry Christmas," I laughed.
"And a happy New Year," Bucky finished before kissing me firmly on the lips. I squealed as he flipped us so that he was on top and I was on the mattress. The covers pooled appealingly around his waist as he pushed himself up to stare down at me. I wrapped on arm around his waist and cupped his cheek with the other.
"Have I mentioned yet this mornin' that I love yah?" I asked, smiling at him softly. Mornings with Bucky were my favorite time of day, all softness and warmth and love. After a particularly rough day in the lab with Howard nothing made me feel better that climbing into bed with him, knowing that he'd been there if my nightmares struck again and that soon I'd get to wake up in his arms.
"No. Have I mentioned yet that I love you?" Bucky replied, letting some of his weight fall onto me as he began to gently nibble at my throat.
"No," I said, my voice going breathy as he worked magic on my skin. "We need tah work on 'at."
"Love you," Bucky murmured into my throat as he brought his tongue into play.
"Love you too- ah!" I gasped and arched as he bit the spot where my neck met my throat that drove me crazy. Bucky had found this spot ages ago but he rarely used it against me. He soothed the bite with his tongue as I unconsciously draped a leg over his hip.
"Not fair!" I protested weakly as he swept his lips up to kiss and nibble on my ear. I countered by lightly coiling my fingers in his hair and tugging gently. Sure enough, I drew a low moan from Bucky. He attacked my neck with renewed fervor, working from my collar bone up my jaw and to my mouth. Lips, tongues, and teeth clashed and I was surprised when a few minutes later I realized that my hands had somehow wormed their way under his shirt and my fingers were digging into his sculpted back. I groaned as he swept his tongue along the roof of my mouth and countered by sucking his bottom lip lightly, digging my nails in just a little. Bucky sucked in a hiss of air and arched against me. Something hard pressed into my thigh. I gasped.
I was uncertain as I asked, "Is that…"
"It's not my hand…" Bucky huffed, lifting off me a little bit.
"Oh. Oh." That was all I could say. I was torn between blushing prudishness and pride that I'd managed to bring him to that point. Torn between whether to draw a line or dive right into something new. Both ideas were equally appealing.
"I won't make you do anything," Bucky was quick to say when he felt me stop kissing him back. He looked down at me in concern, like he was worried I'd go further than I wanted to.
"Oh, I know," I assured him, kissing the tip of his nose fondly. "I'm just trying to decide. We really shouldn't," I mused, biting my lip. "But I do… I do kind of want to," I admitted, going bright red. "If… If I wanted to go further, would you mind?" I asked.
All that I'd ever heard had assured me that guys only had one thing on their minds and while I had strong evidence pressing against my leg that in this particular instance that was true I also wanted to know how Bucky felt on the subject. I knew he was a ladies man and while I knew I wasn't the first girl he'd kissed or touched like this I had no idea how far he'd gone with any of those other women. He could be just as inexperienced as me in that area.
"Belle, if you wanted me to, I'd have you in a heartbeat," Bucky groaned, pressing a little closer once more. "But only if you want to. I want you to think about this when we're not… like this." He rolled off of me, showing what he meant. "It's easy to get caught up in the moment," Bucky reasoned. "I don't want you saying yes if you don't mean it."
I looked at him. My body was still humming but it was fading into a pleasant tingle. I rolled onto my side and kissed his shoulder, draping an arm across his chest. I huffed and asked, "Will you tell me what I did to deserve you so that I can do it again?"
Bucky laughed at that and opened his mouth to answer when a knock sounded on the door. Both of our eyes widened.
"Hide," Bucky urged me. While neither of us were ashamed about how we spent our nights there were plenty of people who'd have something to say on the subject if they found out. As Bucky stood up and headed of the door I rolled across the mattress and dropped into a crouch on the other side of the bed.
"Yeah?" Bucky asked, and then in surprise asked, "Yori?"
I heard Yori sigh as I peered out from the foot of the bed curiously. Yori stood in the door with a pile of clothes in her arms, a small pouch and a pair of shoes on top.
"Josie's father is looking for her," Yori explained. "I've got Howard running interference but since she's clearly not here, if you could possibly find her, I expect she'll want new clothes." She thrust the bundle into Bucky's hands and turned on her heel.
"Morning Josie," she called as she left. I laughed as I stood up from behind the bed.
"Morning Yori," I muttered, shaking my head fondly. Bucky looked concerned as he hustled over to me with the bundle.
"If your dad's looking for you then we need to hurry."
"Relax, Yori said that Howard was running interference," I reminded him, patting his cheek. "We've got a minute."
Thankfully, Bucky's room had a small bathroom attached. I thankfully made use of it to dress before trading places and letting Bucky in the bathroom. I sat on his bed and dug through the pouch, pulling out my makeup, hairbrush, and a small box of bobby pins. Yori knew me well, I mused as I flipped my hair forwards and began to drag the brush through it.
"That looks like it takes forever," Bucky announced as he came out of the bathroom dressed in slacks and combat boots, a grey button-down with a few buttons open and suspenders completing the look.
"Not as long as you might think," I disagreed as I expertly coiled my hair up into a bun, pulling out pin after pin and sliding it in. "Hold my mirror for me?" I requested of Bucky, offering him the compact. He took it and sat down on the bed next to me, holding up my mirror as I patted on a light dusting of powder and blush.
He stuck his tongue out at me, then scrunched his eyes closed and smiled ridiculously wide. His tongue poked out of the side of his mouth as he opened his eyes and screwed up his nose.
"Stop it," I chided, trying my hardest not to laugh and end up with lipstick smeared across my face. I held up the tube warningly. "Or I'll use this on you, mister."
Bucky shielded himself with the compact. "Understood."
I finished my makeup and kissed Bucky goodbye, smiling in amusement when I left a smear of red on his mouth from the fresh lipstick. He'd figure it out later, I was confident. I took my leave and hustled back through the halls into my room, dropping my cosmetics back into my trunk and tucking away my nightgown and robe in the hamper. I glanced up at the mirror hanging on my wall and smiled, touching the necklace around my throat fondly, determined that I would never take it off but for missions.
I grabbed my notebook and sat down with my ankles crossed at the table, busying myself with work and waiting for my father to make his way free of Howard and come find me.
It wasn't hard to follow the sound of Howard Stark, babbling on about some evening in Lucerne he'd had three years ago. Bucky rounded the corner and immediately felt sorry for Thomas Ealum as he found the man maintaining an expression of polite interest.
Howard was visibly relieved when Bucky rounded the corner.
"And anyway when it's all said and done if you've seen one set of contortionist twins, you've seen them all. Well, have a good day!" Howard said, snapping off a salute before leaving Thomas Ealum in his dust.
"That man's a few ants short of a picnic," Thomas muttered before turning around. He blinked when he saw Bucky standing there and smiling. "You didn't hear that," he said sternly.
"Hear what, sir?" Bucky asked innocently.
"Good man," Thomas nodded in approval. "You might be able to answer my question, Bucky. My wife and I are getting ready to leave with Nevade and I want to say my goodbyes to Jojo before we leave. Have you seen her?"
"Not this morning," Bucky said, trying his best not to fidget and give anything away. Yori may not be threatening his manhood but he was almost as afraid of Josie's father as he was of her. He was pretty sure he'd pulled it off, because Josie's father didn't look suspicious, just frustrated.
"Where is that girl?" he huffed.
"I don't want to hold you up, sir," Bucky said respectfully. "But I have something I want to talk to you about."
Thomas stared at him. Bucky shifted uncomfortably as they man sucked in his cheeks, then blew them out.
"Well," he finally said, "if it's what I think you want to talk about we better not do this in a hallway."
"My room's not far from here," Bucky said, gesturing for Thomas to follow him through the halls. They stepped into Bucky's room and Bucky took a deep breath before turning to face Thomas.
"Sir," he began confidently, "I'd like your permission to marry your daughter."
Thomas reached up and scratched at his temple. "Yes, I expected you did," he said quietly."Tell me, how long have you been waiting to ask that?"
Bucky laughed a little. "Sir, I've wanted to marry Josie since the minute I met her."
Thomas chuckled at that. "Yes, I felt the same way about her mother." He sighed. "You know, from the time Josie was born she's always been curious. She's a scientist to the core. I was surprised when I heard she'd abandoned her test tubes to go out to the front, but then I realized that for the first time, she was being allowed to do whatever she wanted. And more than that, she was making good choices. Am I happy she puts herself in danger? No. But do I trust her to be safe and come home? I do.
"She's proven she can be trusted to make her own decisions. So you don't need to ask me anything. It's her choice you've got to wait for. If she says yes, then you have my blessing. If she says no, then I will beat you off with a stick."
Bucky beamed widely. It was all in place. He had her father's blessing and he was pretty confident he had Nevade's approval as well as Yori's, which mattered almost as much. Josie's father had been the only one he wasn't sure about, but now he had the official go-ahead to ask Josie the question he'd been wanting to ask her for over a year now.
"Thank you sir," Bucky said, relieved, a smile stretching across his face.
"Now hold on," Thomas said firmly. Bucky froze. "I've got one condition."
"What's that?" Bucky asked, wary again.
Thomas snorted. "Stop acting like I just asked for your firstborn. I'd just like to request a long engagement. If this war ends and I find out that my Jojo walked down the aisle without me I'll be miffed."
Bucky laughed at that. "Sir, I'm pretty sure Josie would beat me with a stick if I suggested having a ceremony without you there."
Thomas groaned. "And for the love of god, quit calling me sir! I'm not your commanding officer, I'm going to be your father-in-law!"
"She's still gotta say yes," Bucky pointed out.
Thomas looked at him pointedly. "She'll say yes," he deadpanned. "I've never seen my girl take an interest in any man until you and she's not the type to fall for the first soldier who winks at her. She'll say yes."
Thomas clapped a hand on Bucky's shoulder. He nodded to the bottle of whiskey still sitting on the table and the glasses form the night before. A red lip print was extremely visible on one. Bucky winced slightly.
"Uh…"
"I'm not going to judge you," Thomas said slowly, but the way he was painfully squeezing Bucky's shoulder disagreed. "But I will say this… If you do her wrong, there won't be a place on earth you can hide from me." Thomas smiled saccharinely and slapped Bucky heartily on the back. "Welcome to the family!" he said jovially before turning and strolling from the room.
Bucky groaned and clapped a hand to his face. "That family's gonna kill me," he muttered, before heading out.
