Elevated

Nora’s birthday and Tony’s banquet, fell on Saturday, so Friday Nora spent the night at Bucky’s.

She packed her STARK sweatsuit, her fancy dress, and her makeup bag. She did not have to pack for Luna, who had her own food bowl and bag of kibble at Bucky’s. Nora was a little jealous. She wanted to keep things at Bucky’s.

She also didn’t want to overstep. She wasn’t quite sure where the line was and if he’d be okay with her leaving a pair of jeans and a hairbrush. She might have asked, but the idea scared the shit out of her. She understood the conversation they’d had at the thrift store now. She might rather have faced a couple goons than face the prospect of being told no. She definitely would rather have faced a thesis defense panel, which was her equivalent of a roomful of goons.

It was a strange evening. Bucky was tense when she got there and nodded when she asked if he was okay. He relaxed when she curled up against him on the couch and started a movie, and then tensed right back up when Darcy called to ask if Nora wanted to get ready at her place. She had half a mind to say no, but she thought if she tried to get ready at Bucky’s with him being so strange, she wouldn’t make it to the event at all. She said yes.

Then she spent an hour running her nails through Bucky’s hair and over the bare skin of his back trying to get him to relax again. It sort of worked.

Nora really didn’t understand what exactly about the situation was making him so upset, and he wasn’t inclined to tell her. She resigned herself to the fact that she couldn’t do anything about it.

Except that she could. She made it to midnight before it came tumbling out of her, “Do you want me to stay?” Bucky looked at her and frowned. Nora tried again, “Tomorrow. I don’t have to go, I can stay.”

Bucky frowned even deeper. He didn’t say anything for a long time, then said, “No.”

Nora frowned too, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He rearranged himself so he was facing her and reached to bury his fingers in her hair, “You want to go.”

“I changed my mind.” She asserted. She had. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay right where she was and feel him relax against her. She didn’t want to leave ever again.

Bucky’s lips twitched. It might have been a frown, or a smile. She couldn’t tell, “Can’t.” He told her. Then he stood and scooped her off the couch.

He did unwind, properly, when all their clothes were off.

In the morning he walked Luna, then tapped at a crossword while she dozed with her head on his stomach. When she woke up, late and feeling lazy, she found the blank spaces in his puzzle entirely absurd. Apparently, he had never heard of Hans Zimmer. Nora thought that might be her bad, they’d watched Pirates together after all.

He didn’t say happy birthday, it was one of those things she didn’t expect from him, but he did make her crepes while she stole every other strawberry he tried to cut. Her punishment, if one could call it that, was him kneeling between her legs at the island and making her come undone.

The crepes were delicious, the sex was excellent, and then she lay on top of him on the couch while they watched another movie. By the time Darcy texted asking if she was coming over soon, Nora really had changed her mind.

But she was doomed to attend the party, so she got in the shower anyway. Bucky followed her, and she was less sour about it.

He kissed her for a long time before he let her out the front door, sweet and lingering. Nora promised herself she would stay at the party for an hour, and then she was leaving. Hell or high water.

The second Darcy opened the door Nora griped, “I don’t wanna go anymore.” Darcy rolled her eyes and handed Nora a margarita. It helped. They got ready slowly, sipping drinks and listening to Darcy’s old iPod.

Nora wanted to be distracted from her own twisting disappointment and asked, “Hey, what’s happening with Clint?” Darcy choked on her drink. Nora whacked her on the back to dislodge the beverage.

“Nothing.” Darcy muttered.

She looked red, but Nora couldn’t really tell if it was a blush or just because she’d choked, “Really? Are you sure?”

Darcy eyed her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Nora shrugged, “Nothing. He just spent hours digging through boxes for that thing,” she jerked a thumb at the device, “I was sure he’d ask you out.”

“What- hours?” Darcy looked surprised.

“Yes. Hours. I was there. What did he say when he gave it to you?”

“Just that he’d found it.” She stared at the iPod, a strange look on her face.

“That’s disingenuous.” Nora supplied, “He had half your old lab delivered to his apartment.”

Darcy wore the strange look the whole time they finished getting dressed, and halfway down the elevator to the tower's big banquet hall. Nora wasn’t sure if it was a good sort of look or a bad one. It was possible that Darcy appreciated the gesture, and equally possible that she thought it was a bizarre thing for Clint to have done. She must’ve understood that he had a crush on her to go to all the effort, but Nora didn’t confirm as much out loud.

The tower’s event space was on the 75th floor. It was high enough to retain the stunning view the upper levels afforded, but the open accordion doors of the balcony were all roped off. There were huge round tables ringing the room, covered with deep green tablecloths and tasteful centerpieces that Nora was sure cost a fortune. There was a mahogany bar at one end, and a dance floor at the other. Nora thought she recognized the band, and then didn’t know why she should. She did recognize half a dozen scientists and tech executives at a glance, none of whom gave her a second look. Nora understood Bruce’s hesitance about the entire thing. It was extremely strange to see people one only would usually at a conference talking about their work.

She caught sight of the back of Bruce’s head at the bar and took off in his direction while Darcy went the other way to greet Jane where she sat with Thor. He appeared to be regaling a half dozen people with some tale, either of battle or drinking. His waving gestures could have indicated either.

“Hi Bruce,” Nora greeted. He glanced over his shoulder, and shrank a little smaller, “You okay?”

“No.” He answered immediately, “Tony got green tablecloths.”

“He thinks he’s funny.” Nora waved to the bartender, a tall man with a creeping neck tattoo, “Wine?”

“Preference?” The man asked.

“Whatever’s going to cost Tony the most.” Nora replied seriously. The man grinned and snagged a bottle, pouring her a glass before disappearing to serve a man with an honest-to-goodness monocle. Nora had a sip and found it was extremely good, “You don’t have to make a speech do you?”

“No but Samantha Waters is here and she keeps trying to- shit.” He stared, wide-eyed at the approaching woman.

“Did you say her name three times?” Nora mumbled.

Samantha Waters, with her tall blond curls and extremely fake smile, strode right up to the two of them and announced, “Dr. Banner! So nice to see you again.” She glanced at Nora and with the air of a hound scenting blood asked, “Who’s your friend?”

Nora remembered Samantha Waters. It was her carefully enunciated words that had overlaid grainy footage of the Hulk leaping through a university campus, condemning his actions and calling him a monster. Nora smiled her best and fakest smile, “Miss Waters. Your hair shrunk.”

For a second the woman looked confused. Bruce coughed and answered the dangling question, “This is Nora Silver, my research assistant.”

“Assistant?” she repeated, something sour in her tone, “Tell me, how do you feel working in close proximity to the Hulk?”

Nora thought it was pretty stupid to ask inflammatory questions in front of someone one thought liable to turn into a rage-monster, but she didn’t say so. Instead, she chirped, “It’s fantastic. The Hulk really knows his way around an Emerson-Pulse vector equation.” She reached to grip Bruce’s arm and said airily, “If you’ll excuse us, the head of Seoul National Universities physics department is here and he had some fantastic questions about how Bruce’s findings might impact faster than light travel.” It was a nonsense sentence, Nora had no idea if anyone in the room was from Asia at all, but she pulled on Bruce and they disappeared together into the crowd.

“Thanks.” He muttered.

Nora nodded, “Let's find Natasha. I bet she’s great at avoiding reporters.”

It turned out that Natasha was great at avoiding everybody. They didn’t find her, but they did find Steve. He and Sam were sitting together at one of the banquet tables. Nora steered Bruce into the chair beside Steve and sat on his other side. It was sure to be almost as good. Steve had a strong ability to project horrific disappointment on people that asked inappropriate questions. Nora was sure he wouldn’t let Samantha Waters bully Bruce.

“Happy birthday Nora,” Sam shot her a grin she could swear she’d seen before and didn’t know how to interpret. Steve echoed the statement, surveying Bruce as he did.

“Thanks.” She answered, squinting at him while she sipped her wine.

“Good so far?”

She wasn’t about to tell Sam about the situation that had developed in Bucky’s kitchen, “Yeah.”

He nodded, “Plans later?”

Nora frowned. He was obviously fishing for something, and she couldn’t for the life of her tell what, “Yeah. Cake. I’m out of here the second dinner’s over.”

Steve frowned at her, “You don’t want to stick around a little longer?”

They were both being weird. Steve definitely knew why she didn’t want to stay so why was he frowning at her? She opened her mouth, intent on grilling them both, but the lights dimmed, music started up, and Tony Stark made a grand entrance. What followed was a speech in which he recognized Bruce’s contribution to science as a whole. Nora paid very little attention, and wished she wasn’t there.

Then the lights rose a little and waiters emerged from somewhere to serve dinner. Tony and Pepper appeared at their table. Bruce admonished Tony for not mentioning Nora. Tony asserted that Nora did no work, and spent all her time doodling hearts on her tablet. Nora noted airily that Tony had made no contributions to the scientific community since his own life actively depended on it. There was a hissing argument and then food hit the table and they called a truce in favour of eating. It didn’t stop Nora from requesting an extremely expensive bottle of wine, in as many words, from the waiter. Nor did it stop Tony from noisily critiquing her taste, as though she should know the difference between a 2007 Bordeaux and a 2011 Merlot. Pepper rolled her eyes at both of them.

Nora did have to concede that the food was extremely good. She liked listening to her friends chat, and enjoyed scanning the extremely fancy dresses as people finished their meal and began milling about the space. Even still, she was ready to go by the time the band started playing.

“Nora!” Clint hissed, appearing at her elbow.

Nora frowned as he poked her aside and slid onto half of her chair, “Hey, personal space much?”

“What did you do?” His tone was accusatory. He picked up her wine glass and drained the contents.

The rest of the table surveyed them with interest, “You’re gonna have to be more specific.” Nora told him, eyebrows raised.

“You told Darcy?” He grit.

“Oh.” Nora nodded, “Yeah. I told her you spent hours sifting through boxes for her iPod. I wouldn’t have had to if you weren’t such a wuss.”

Clint raised both clenched fists and shook them in front of him, “I wasn’t ready!”

“Uh-huh.” Nora’d had just about enough of Clint. Clearly, he needed a bigger push, “Hey, you still owe me a favour for helping you with that.”

He looked outraged, “Are you serious right now?”

“Yep. I’m cashing it in.” The outrage spilled over in the form of a strangled growl. Nora turned to survey the room over her shoulder. It only took her a second. The red gown was extremely eye-catching. Nora pointed, “You’re gonna go ask Darcy to dance. Right now.”

Clint paled, his eyes following Nora’s hand, “You don’t- no. Don’t you want to save it? For something important? I’m a superhero you know, I can-”

“Nope.” Nora cut him off, “I want you to go dance with Darcy. And I’m gonna sit right here until I see it.”

“I’m not doing it.” He returned sharply, reaching across both Nora and the table to snatch Steve’s beer and take a large swig.

“Kay. I guess I can’t make you.” Nora stood, righting the hem of her own gown, “I’ll just go tell Darcy you’ve got a massive crush on her instead.”

“Nora!” He fumbled the beer bottle and caught it, only sloshing a little on the tablecloth, “You can’t just-”

“Get going then.” Nora had once stared down Tony Stark in her lab. She’d faced the Hulk without flinching. She wasn’t a superhero, but she’d be damned if she backed down from Clint Barton. He fidgeted. He twisted the beer bottle in his hands. Then he stood up. For a second they squared up against each other, Nora drawn up to her full height plus heels, and still six inches shorter than him. Then Clint turned and started across the room.

Sam let out a low whistle. They watched him the whole way until he slouched up next to Darcy. They traded words for a few minutes, then Clint offered Darcy his hand and she took it. Together they went to the dance floor.

Nora gave a satisfied nod, “Alright. My work here is done.” She turned back to the table at large, “I’m out of here.”

“The fuck?” Tony asked, “You got a bedtime Silver?”

“Uh-huh.” She hadn’t drunk quite enough wine to tell him that she had a bed with a super soldier in it, but she thought it to herself all the same.

“You can’t go yet,” Steve fidgeted.

Nora frowned, “Pretty sure I can. Nobody here even knows who- oh shit.” She dropped into the chair she’d just vacated and swiveled in a poor attempt to hide her face.

“Nora?” Bruce asked, shooting a concerned look in the direction she’d been facing.

“Dr. Metzger is over there,” She hissed to him, “Did he see me?”

“Why the fuck do you care if he saw you?” Tony wondered aloud, glancing towards the bar.

Nora wasn’t supposed to answer that question. She did anyways, “He’s the researcher I worked for in Norway. Please tell me he didn’t see me.”

It was Bruce’s turn to look outraged. He opened his mouth but Tony cut him off, “He definitely saw you.” Then, over Nora’s quiet swearing, “He’s coming over.”

“Crap, get me out of here!”

Sam and Steve both stood. Sam strode off in Metzger’s direction, hopefully intent on causing a distraction of some kind. Steve rounded Bruce’s chair and snagged Nora’s elbow, pulling her gently from her seat and towards the bank of windows on the east side of the room.

“What are we-”

“Balcony.” Steve answered. He steered her around one of the ropes that blocked off the doors and nudged her, turning his body to block her exit, “Wait five minutes for Sam to distract him and then we’ll get you to the elevator.”

Nora nodded and slipped out the open door. It was cool on the balcony, the space huge and open. There were tables and big comfortable seats, lit lowly by what filtered through the glass from the room beyond. Nora took five steps, intent on sitting down and waiting, then stopped. “Hold on,” she muttered, “Why-”

“Nora.”

It would have been natural to be startled by a voice in the dark, but Nora could never be afraid of Bucky. She smiled instead, “Hi Bucky. What are you doing here?”

He had been leaning on the side of the building in the space where a set of curtains blocked the view from the room but kicked off and crossed to meet her instead. He was, she noted with interest, wearing a suit. He didn’t answer immediately but took her reaching hand in his. “Came to dance.”

Nora had expected him to answer the question, but not with that. She could hear the music from the band inside, slow and crooning, “Alright, but I’m not very good.”

“S’alright. I’ve got you.” He tugged her hand in his up to his chest, and looped the other around the small of her back, pulling her close, “You’re beautiful.”

Nora beamed, letting him lead her slowly through the steps, “Thank you. I like you in a suit.” She kept her voice low, scared that speaking property would break the spell winding its way across the moonlit tiles, “Why didn’t I see you come in?” She was positive she couldn’t have missed him. Not with the way her body responded to his like a magnet.

“Climbed down.” He answered easily.

It took her a second to realize that he meant he had climbed down the outside of the building. Twenty-two stories of smooth glass while wearing a suit, “Bucky! Are you serious?” He shrugged, a little grin playing at the edge of his mouth. “Why? I was about to come back upstairs.”

“Wanted to come with you.” His hand dipped a little on her back.

It felt enormous. That he should want to come to a party with her at all, never mind the plan he’d made to climb down the side of the tower to meet her. The feeling swelled up in her chest and spiraled out through all her limbs, huge and overwhelming. She’d been trying so hard to hold it in but there was no way to keep it all. There was just too much. “Bucky?” He hummed, so she kept going, “You wanna run away together?” It was a joke. The kind a person made when they weren’t really joking at all.

“Yes.” He answered, and he didn’t sound like he was joking at all, “Nora?”

The music was still going but he stopped and Nora stopped with him. “Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Oh good,” Nora pulled away, just a little to look at him properly, “I love you too.”

Bucky took longer than he meant to walking Luna. It happened sometimes now, that he started walking away from the tower, and just kept going. He could make it over a dozen blocks in any direction on his own and he savoured the feeling of it. Just being out in the city, enjoying the air and feeling not at all like he was going to drown.

He didn’t usually lose track when he knew Nora would be waiting for him, but he’d gotten distracted and a quick walk before she got off work turned into something else entirely. Anxiety stroked a claw over his sternum on the way up the tower in the elevator. He was nearly never anxious about telling Nora anything, but he thought she really might mind this time and he didn’t want her to.

Her shoes were in the doorway of the apartment when he opened it, but he couldn’t see her at a glance. He unclipped Luna’s leash but she wasn’t inclined to go look for Nora apparently. Just stood at his feet and wagged her tail up at him.

Technically, Nora didn’t live in the tower. But she hadn’t been back to her own apartment in thirteen days. Bucky had been planning to make it an even fourteen before he asked her not to leave, but they were about to have a different conversation and he supposed he needed to see how that went first.

“Bucky, guess what?” She must’ve heard the door because Nora came jogging out from the hallway, still wearing one of the sweaters she favoured for work and often changed out of the second she was in the apartment. He liked the brown one she was in, but he liked the green one better. It was especially soft. She stopped at the edge of the kitchen counter and tilted her head, “Why do you look like that?”

He didn’t know how he looked, but Nora was good at recognizing whatever it was in his body that showed his anxiety.

She glanced at Luna, who had sat down and whose tail was thumping away on the tile floor, “Luna! What’re you so excited for?” The dog glanced at her, wagged her tail a little harder, and didn’t move. The look on Nora’s face shifted, curiosity blending with a mild sort of concern. She rounded the counter to meet him, “What’s going on?”

There wasn’t any point in dragging it out and he wasn’t sure exactly how to explain himself, so he unzipped his jacket instead. Luna’s tail thumped a little harder on the tile. Nora made a noise he could only describe as delighted. He stopped worrying.

The little white kitten popped her head out from between the tracks of his zipper.

“Bucky! Your thing’s way cooler than mine!” She smiled and crossed the rest of the distance between them to rub the kitten’s ears, “Where did you get a cat?”

He shrugged, “Found her.”

“Like out in an alley?” She scooped the kitten out of his coat and inspected her briefly before tucking the ball of fluff into her chest, “Can we keep her? Do you think Tony will mind?” She thought about that, “Never mind, I don’t care.”

“Yes.” He answered, reaching to stroke a hand across the cat’s fur, because he had found her in an alley, he’d been intending to keep her, Tony probably wouldn’t be happy, and he didn’t care either.

Nora was thrilled, “What should her name be?”

“Alpine.”

She laughed, “You already picked? I like it.”

He grinned and leaned over the cat and dog both to kiss her. Nora hummed against his mouth and when he pulled away she said, “We better go buy cat food.” She wrinkled her nose, “I guess I should stop by the apartment too. It’s been like two weeks.”

“Thirteen days.” He corrected, frowning. He’d gotten what he was after with the cat but it had blown apart his two week plan.

She grinned at his frown and crouched to let Luna sniff Alpine, “You’ve been counting?”

“Yes.” He answered, “Don’t go.” She looked up at him and her expression was strange, but he wasn’t worried about it, “Move in here.”

Nora stood very slowly and smiled.

Bucky had learned to recognize that there were things he could do, and things he couldn’t. He could walk down the road for a coffee and decide what to order. He could grocery shop and cook and decide what to watch on TV while he did it. He could have a shower and see his scars in the mirror and feel alright. He could hold Nora’s hand in his left, and not worry he would hurt her. He couldn’t hang pictures on the walls of his apartment, but he could stick them with magnets to his fridge. He still couldn’t manage a lot of words. But he could tell Nora he loved her.