Elevated

Nora spent Friday night at her own apartment, by herself, and was upset about it.

She wanted to be at Bucky’s place. Or at least have him be at hers. But the entire team of superheroes had been called away for something on Thursday evening and weren’t back yet.

It used to be that she could sort of ignore the superhero thing entirely. It didn’t affect her and there was nothing she could do about it. Except, it did affect her now, because the superheroes were also her friends. Every time they went on a mission, she knew about it because Bucky texted her exactly that. She appreciated that he wanted her to know so that she wouldn’t expect to see him, but it also meant that from the time they left until the time they got back, she worried.

The feeling knotted up inside her stomach and made her feel sick. The longer they were all gone, the more it twisted. She remembered vividly the bandages on Bucky’s back. They were all superhuman, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t get hurt.

At least Peter hadn’t gone. Bruce had informed her he wasn’t actually a part of the team and that Tony had a series of extremely strict safeguards in place for him. He seemed to be mostly limited to saving cats from trees and stopping bank robbers, which was still horrifying but a little safer than some of the missions the rest of them went on.

She made boxed mac and cheese for dinner because she didn’t think she could handle anything more complicated. She put a movie on her TV and failed to pay attention to it at all. Luna squished against her side on the couch and Nora rubbed her ears. She let herself be worried. There wasn’t anything else for it, she reasoned. If she was going to keep being friends with superheroes, and more than friends with Bucky, she was going to have to get used to the feeling.

She went to bed early, and then didn’t sleep. She rolled over a dozen times, threw off and rearranged her covers, and chewed on her lip. She imagined complex equations on her ceiling, but they kept turning into groups of goons.

Her phone buzzed, lighting up half her ceiling. Nora rolled over and grabbed it, squinting at the screen until her eyes focused.

back

Relief flooded her. She still thought it was an insane thing to do, but she hit the screen and called Bucky anyways.

“Hey,” he answered almost immediately.

“Hi. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Tired.”

He sounded tired. She wondered if he’d slept at all the night before and thought it wasn’t very likely. When she spent the night with him she rarely woke to him getting up, but she quizzed him often in the morning and knew he always woke up at least twice. She made an upset noise, “Is everyone else okay too?”

There was a long pause and then he said, “Yes.” but he didn’t sound very sure.

“That wasn’t very convincing.” Nora chewed her lip.

Another pause. Nora wondered if he didn’t know what to say or was trying to spare her thinking about it. “Sam- fell.” It was a vague kind of verb that might have meant tripped on a curb or fell out of a plane. The guy had wings. She had to assume it was closer to the latter. “Broke some ribs.”

“Oh no,” She knew how badly broken bones sucked for people who didn’t go off to fight crime for their day jobs.

“He’s alright.” Bucky said firmly.

Nora didn’t like that broken ribs were considered alright. But she supposed she’d been alright with a broken wrist too. “Okay.” She conceded, “I believe you. Sorry for calling, I thought it was nuts when Steve called the other day. I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“S’okay.” His tone was mild, “I like hearing yours. Missed you.”

It was amazing how few words it took to knock the breath right out of her. It was only a handful of them and yet it was way more than he usually gave. She felt the warmth of it all over, “I missed you too. Are you busy tomorrow?”

“No.”

“Can I come over in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I will.” She didn’t expect him to say anything to that, and he didn’t. She knew she should say goodbye and let him go to bed, she was just having a hard time doing it. Seconds ticked by. Nora drew in a deep breath and let it go.

“Don’ wanna wait.” He said suddenly. Nora sat up in bed. She could call a cab and be at the tower in twenty minutes- “I’m coming over.”

“Oh! Alright. I’ll see you in a little while?”

“Yes. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Nora shot out of bed and put on her slippers. She ran to the intercom, moved to hit the button, and stopped. She had to tell her doorman Bucky was coming, or he wouldn’t be let in. She felt her face go hot. Telling someone she was having a man over at- she glanced at the clock- 1:30 in the morning, seemed like admitting to a booty call.

Oh well. She supposed it didn’t matter what her doorman thought was happening. She hit the button. Then she paced around her kitchen, Luna at her heels, for twenty minutes. She ran to the door when she heard the knock.

Bucky looked exactly the same as always. Jeans, leather jacket, gloves. His posture was straight and Nora knew he was stressed. “Hi,” she managed to say.

He stepped into the apartment and let the door fall shut behind him. With his left hand he patted Luna who pressed against his side, tail wagging. With his right he gripped her forearm and pulled her against his chest, letting go to wrap the arm around her back instead. They stood in the entryway for a long time, wrapped around each other.

“It’s late,” Bucky said after a while.

“Yeah.” Nora agreed, “I couldn’t sleep. I’m really glad you’re here.”

He hummed against her hair then loosened his grip and nudged her towards the bedroom, “Bed.”

Nora nodded her agreement and started towards her room, half turned to watch Bucky shrug out of his coat and toss it onto one of her kitchen stools. Then he pulled a handful of keys out of his pocket and tossed them onto the counter and Nora stopped dead, “What are those?” Bucky looked at her and frowned. They were not, she knew, house keys. The tower didn’t require such primitive things. She backtracked across the apartment to scoop them up and inspect them. They were motorcycle keys. Nora was dumbfounded, “Did you drive here?”

“Yes,” he answered, still frowning.

“Since when do you have a motorbike?”

“It’s Steve’s.” He seemed put out at her disbelief.

Nora stared at him. Her mind whirred very quickly. She probably should have expected he could drive. They had cars in the forties. He probably hadn’t owned one, but he would’ve driven one during the war. It also was the sort of skill a deadly assassin might need. It just struck her as being so strange.

“You don’t drive?” He asked, surveying her.

“No. I’ve never owned a car.” She glanced at the keys again, “Or a motorbike.” She frowned, “I can’t believe Steve owns a motorbike.”

Bucky snorted, “He loves it. Almost wouldn’t share.”

Nora tried really hard to picture the conversation. Bucky convincing Steve to lend him a motorcycle at 1:30 in the morning, in five words or less. She couldn’t. She put the keys back on the counter. “He just seems like a bit of a square?”

Bucky laughed, “Not Steve.”

“Well, what’s the craziest thing he’s done then?” Nora didn’t really expect him to answer. She expected a shrug.

“Punched Hitler.” His tone was laughing. Nora knew she was missing a joke, but she didn’t mind. She just liked when he laughed.

Bucky put a hand on her hip and steered her all the way into her bedroom. Nora kicked off her slippers and slid under the covers. She watched him peel off his shirt with interest. His chest and abs were covered in a series of ugly purple bruises. She made an upset noise, “Bucky.”

He shrugged, “Caught Sam.”

She supposed that was a good thing. He looked okay. Like he’d unwound just being there. But all those bruises had to hurt, “Did you break ribs too?”

He considered it. His tongue dipped out to flick across his lip, “Nah.”

It was another extremely unconvincing answer, but then he took off his pants.

Bucky had just wanted to be where Nora was.

The last two days had sucked. The mission was a clusterfuck, and not because anyone was fighting. It was just the sort of mission where everything seemed to go wrong for no good reason at all.

Clint and Natasha got separated from the rest of them early, and lost communication. They were an effective team, but the rest of them still worried. Wanda got hit with an explosion that didn’t really hurt her, but did leave her stunned and unable to hear properly for hours. A missile took off one of Sam’s wings, and Bucky had to jump off of one building and knock him through the windows of another so he didn’t hit the pavement even further below.

He hadn’t slept since before they left. He thought Nora would be asleep when he texted her, but hoped she would be awake. Maybe hope was good for something, because she called him right away. The sound of her voice had eased the tension in his spine and then filled him with a longing he couldn’t ignore.

Steve really hadn’t wanted to fork over the keys to his bike. He probably would’ve had a hard time with it during the day, and he really didn’t get why Bucky was asking in the middle of the night. His hesitance was fair. He’d seen Bucky crash vehicles more than once. Usually on purpose, if that made any difference at all.

He really just wanted to be in Nora’s presence. Wanted to wrap his arms around her and feel the beat of her heart. He thought he would even be able to manage to sleep with her fitted against his side. But then he took his clothes off and caught the look on her face. He liked the look on her face. Suddenly, he didn’t think he was tired at all.

He grinned. There was just something about her pretty fucking blush. “See somethin’ you like?” He asked.

Nora pouted and he wanted to kiss her. Almost moved to do it. But he needed to be careful with her. Needed to hear her say it was okay.

“You’re hurt.” She said.

“I’m fine.” He said firmly. He barely registered the bruises. Not with the slow fire burning its way through him at the site of her biting her lip.

Very slowly Nora shoved away the blankets and sat up. She inched towards him and sat back on her heels at the edge of the bed. She reached out and traced cold hands over the bruises on his stomach. Her fingers trailed down, curling under the edge of his waistband. He huffed a breath, still as marble and just as fucking hard.

“I dunno,” Nora mumbled, “I think I better take care of you.”

“Nora,” Her name came out like sandpaper.

He watched her eyes slide over his chest, down his abs to his covered cock, then back up to meet his, “Are you gonna let me?”

It was frustrating sometimes, to not be able to say what he wanted. He got tongue tied and just couldn’t spit it out. Suddenly it didn’t seem to be a problem.

“Fuck. Yes.”

She hummed and then her lips were on him, trailing a hot, meandering line over his bare skin. It was almost distracting enough as her fingers curled against the hollow of his hip and slid his underwear off. Almost. He swore at the ceiling and Nora hummed again, her tongue flicking out over his sternum.

“Nora,” he grit again, reaching to grip a handful of her too-big shirt.

“Oh,” Nora sat back and he felt robbed. He hadn’t wanted her lips off of him. “You’re right.” In one smooth motion she gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it off.

“Sweetheart, fuckin perfect.” He hitched up his knee on the edge of the bed, intent on kissing her, on getting his hands on her.

“Uh-uh,” Nora licked her lip, dulling the sting as he froze. She pointed at the pillows, “I’m taking care of you. Lie down.”

He wanted to touch her. But he also wanted her to order him around a little more. It had never been done so sweetly before. He’d do whatever she told him to. It was fucking difficult anyways, steering his body in the right direction instead of towards her. At least flat on his back he could grip a fistful of the blankets in his metal hand.

Nora wasn’t mean. She always did the right thing. She swung her leg over his hip and leaned to kiss him. It was soft, gentle and filthy together. He kissed her back, sliding his tongue past her lips to taste her and groaned. Then she wrapped a hand around the base of his cock and he bucked his hips up under her.

She moaned into his mouth and he gripped at her thigh, the sound wreaking havoc in his mind. He wanted to flip her over, or maybe pick her up, and bury himself in the perfect wet heat of her. Her lips left his mouth and he growled.

She worked a line down the side of his neck that made him slide his hand up her leg to grab a handful of her ass. Then she was sliding down his chest again, kissing the scars across his shoulder. It was a whole patch of strange mixed sensation, dulled scar tissue and sensitive neglected skin together. The feeling of her tongue made him shudder. He couldn’t have moved if he wanted to.

She kept going. Followed the bruises down his abs, licked at the scar on his hip. Had it been a knife or a bullet? He thought he should know and then he didn’t think anything because she wrapped her lips around his cock and that was perfect. He couldn’t speak again, could only let out a strangled groan that fought him all the way up his throat.

Nora hummed and sucked, her tongue sliding across sensitive skin and he had words again, “Fuck, doll. Fuckin’ perfect- filthy-“

Bucky used to run his fucking mouth when he’d had someone in his bed. He couldn’t help it. He liked when they blushed. Nora didn’t blush. She met his eyes and looked fucking pleased, her lips stretched around him.

He wanted to get a handful of her hair but hesitated. Then she wrapped a hand around his base and slid it in time with her mouth and slick with spit and he stopped hesitating. He tangled his fingers through her long hair, didn’t press but held her as she kept sucking, fucking perfect heat that had him so close to coming undone.

“Doll I’m-“ he didn’t finish. Nora fucking hummed again and he felt it all through his dick and down into his bones and he was wrecked. He tugged at the ends of her hair but she didn’t move. Kept sucking instead, swallowing down every drop of him and- “Filthy, perfect fucking mouth- Christ Nora.”

She only slid off him when he stopped twitching, sat back on her heels, wiped her chin and grinned.

The serum wasn’t magic. He wasn’t hard again, but he could get his mouth on her until he was. He snagged her hand and pulled her into him, rolling quick until he was on top of her.

Nora laughed at his growl.