Ouch.
Gianna's eyes squeezed tight before they even opened. The thin sliver of light pouring into the hotel room through the gap in the blackout curtains had fallen right across her face. Wincing, she rolled away and tugged the covers over her eyes.
The soft rustling of denim against velvet let her know that someone was in the room, perched in the luxe armchair by the window. Ever the morning person, that Bucky Barnes.
Shit. Bucky.
Gianna froze, tangled in the comforter, as the events of last night came flooding back to her through a champagne haze. Popping champagne on the balcony, drinking games, karaoke on the table, an all-too-seductive bend and snap move on Bucky, and then…shit.
She buried her face deeper in the covers as if the soft material could take the burn out of her cheeks. The memories kept playing as though on a loop. Sitting on Bucky's lap, feeling his arms around her, holding his cheek, kissing him. Finally kissing him. Somewhere in her attempt to repress reality, Gianna let out an audible groan.
"Good morning, sunshine."
Slowly, Gianna lifted her head to peek in the direction of Bucky's low morning voice. He was right where she expected, leaning back in the chair, an open cup of black coffee in his hand. He seemed to feel the opposite of how she did. She felt slow, sluggish, groggy - he looked more lively than she'd ever seen him. She felt shameful and sheepish - he looked merely amused.
Squinting at him through one eye, Gianna groaned again.
"Coffee's on the way. I ordered it when I heard you start to wake up. Should be here any minute. Same with your other saving grace, Tony's sending one of his nurses to give you an IV pack that'll have you feeling brand new."
"My hero." Her voice sounded gravelly at best as she reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes. As the back of her hands burrowed against her eyelids, Gianna felt the surprising absence of mascara and glitter. Pausing, she looked at her hands to find them devoid of smudged, day-old makeup.
She glanced at Bucky who hadn't taken his eyes off of her since she woke up. Truthfully, he hadn't taken his eyes off of her all night, but she didn't know that.
"You know Kate would kick both our asses if she knew you slept in your makeup."
Gianna's heart skipped a beat.
The thought of her gruff, super soldier, ex-assassin, Avenger bodyguard gently removing her makeup before she slept filled her with warmth. She cracked a smile as she envisioned Bucky gently tugging a makeup wipe out of the package with his metal hand.
"Thank goodness, I thought you were broken," Bucky teased. "This is the longest I've seen you go without smiling since I've known you."
Gianna rolled her eyes. "I've only been up for ten minutes."
"Exactly."
They locked eyes across the room. Gianna's smile faded as she searched his blue eyes for any sign of his reaction to the night before, silently pleading with him to be over the moon with her. A knock on the door interrupted the moment.
Bucky jumped up and strode over to the door as Gianna hung her head. Stupid. Why am I so stupid. She shook her head, trying not to think of the inevitable awkwardness if he didn't feel the same way about their (her) drunken kiss. How would they do the rest of the tour with that kind of discomfort? What if he left the assignment and sent someone else to replace him?
"Drink up." She was jolted back to reality by the coffee being offered out to her, which she gladly accepted. The sweet, warm latte was exactly what she needed. Reclining back in bed, Gianna decided she'd give herself the morning to wallow and avoid consequences, and then talk to Bucky later.
A second knock on the door alerted them to the nurse's arrival. Bucky let her in and she trailed him into the bedroom.
"Good morning, Ms. Cruz." She was a middle aged woman with a stern face, but kind eyes. Her hair was slicked back into a bun and she donned the futuristic Stark Industries scrubs that everyone in his biotech lab wore.
Gianna smiled. "Good morning, thanks for doing this."
"Not a problem. When we hear that Mr. Stark is having company, we prep at least a dozen of these." She gestured to the bag holding golden fluid.
The nurse continued to set up the IV equipment next to her bed as Gianna sipped her coffee. There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Bucky spoke.
"Your call time isn't until soundcheck at 3, you've got time to go back to sleep if you'd like."
Glancing over the clock, Gianna saw the glowing numbers tell her it was just after 9:00am. She nodded and settled into the bed, extending her right arm out for the nurse whenever she was ready.
"Bucky?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He smiled but didn't speak. Silently, he walked over to the bed. He tugged the comforter higher over her body and took the coffee back from her hand.
"You can drink this later. Get some sleep."
As Gianna sat in the makeup chair, she silently thanked Tony Stark for the millionth time that day. She'd woken up several hours later with a small bandage on her arm and no other evidence that she'd felt like a bomb went off in her head that same morning. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she swore that even her skin glowed more now than it ever had.
Bucky sat on the couch in the dressing room, scrolling on his phone as he waited for the lengthy glam process to finish. His thumb flicked through various social media posts about Gianna and her 'mysterious new man'. Wanda had texted him a link that morning while Gianna slept and now, in their brief downtime, Bucky found himself lost in the rabbit hole.
He couldn't believe how much attention they were getting, especially from Gianna's teenage girl fans.
"Candy Crush?" Gianna teased.
"What?"
"Nothing." She smiled, still finding it simultaneously adorable and hilarious how out of touch Bucky was with pop culture. "Whatcha reading?"
Bucky looked up at her, cheeks flushing. "Just some posts about us," He flipped the phone around so she could see. "Wanda sent one to me, turns out there's quite a narrative online about you and your mystery man."
"No way," Gianna plucked the phone from Bucky's hand. "What are they saying now -"
She paused, eyes catching a photo of her and Bucky grabbing coffee a few weeks ago. She scrolled and saw another of them arriving at Tony's place the night before. Scroll. Photo of them smiling at each other backstage. Scroll. Photo of Bucky walking her to their black SUV with his hand on her back. Scroll. A photo shot through the window of a different coffee shop of Gianna laughing at something he'd said.
"What does 'ship' mean?" Bucky interrupted her scrolling.
Gianna laughed, feeling a sense of amusement. "It means they want us to be in a relationship,"
Bucky looked at her, feeling a sense of surprise. "Really?".
"Yeah, they think we're cute together," she said, flicking through a few more posts before handing the phone back to him. "Like if you 'ship' two people, you're rooting for them to get together."
He took the phone back, his brow furrowed.
"For example, I ship Steve and Nat."
Bucky looked up at her and grinned, seeming to understand. "I guess I do too."
He looked back down at his phone and couldn't decide if he was flattered or embarrassed. He wasn't used to being in the public eye, especially not in such a personal way. Over the years, he'd seen dozens of articles about his past, his trials, his pardon. Never any speculation about his love life, not that there had ever been much to speculate about. He was surprised that so many people were interested in their potential relationship.
Gianna seemed to notice his quiet thought process. "If it makes you uncomfortable in any way, we can be more secretive," Her eyes were kind. "I'm used to it, so I don't really notice any more. We can stop going in public if you -"
Bucky shook his head, cutting her off. "No, I love being seen with you."
His direct answer seemed to catch them both off guard. Gianna's stomach filled with butterflies. Even Kate froze, the curling wand clutched in one hand and a lock of Gianna's hair in the other. She glanced back and forth between the two, wondering how the hell they were the only two people who didn't seem to realize that the sparks between them could power a small country.
"There are worse things to have people talk about. Trust me." Bucky spoke again, diffusing the palpable tension in the room.
"Watch out Tom and Zendaya." Gianna joked, hearing Kate chuckle behind her.
"Who?"
Gianna rolled her eyes.
Later that day, as afternoon turned to evening, Gianna sat in her green room. Bucky had gone to grab her water, so she was alone with her thoughts. She picked up her phone and opened her camera roll. Somehow, over the tour, it had been filled with sweet memories.
As she waited for Bucky to return or for the stage manager to come tell her to get in position, she flicked through the photos, her heart skipping a beat with each happy memory coming back to her.
When Bucky returned and told her they were ready for her backstage, she tossed her phone into her duffel bag and followed him out the door.
Something told her that the love songs in her setlist would sound especially convincing tonight.