Dandelion Wine
The telltale heat of Bucky's body vanished from behind her. For the first time in an hour Rose managed a full breath.
A shuffling came from behind her, followed by a prickling at her neck. Rose turned her head and there was Bucky. And he was holding wine. Rose burst into startled laughter.
Bucky's frown deepened. He looked between the wine in his hand and a hysterical Rose. She couldn't help but laugh harder.
Rose stumbled toward him, clutching the stich in her side, and fell into Bucky's chest. She laid her forehead on his sternum, still giggling. A finger brushed beneath her chin and she looked up to meet Bucky's eye. A deep crease sat between his brows. Another bout of laughter bubbled up Rose's throat.
Her hands slid up Bucky's chest and cradled his face. She pushed up on her toes just long enough to kiss away that wrinkle between his eyebrows. His shoulders relaxed. Rose brushed her nose over his, indulging in the moment.
"Thank you, Bucky."
Rose pulled the wine bottle from his hand and stepped away. She made to grab the grocery bags from the ground where Bucky had left them, but he beat her to it. Bucky picked up both bags and cocked his head towards the little kitchen. Rose led the way, clutching the wine and biting back a grin.
Bucky set the bags on the counter. Rosemary brushed a hand across his back as she passed him in the narrow kitchen and opened one of the cabinets. It was a brief touch but it was enough to quiet his mind. He’d noticed it a while ago, how the bubble of tension between his ribs promptly burst whenever she walked into the room, or glanced over at him, or—better yet—touched him.
Rosemary grabbed a mug from the cabinet and peeled the plastic wrapping off the neck of the wine bottle.
"Crap." She looked up at him with a frown. "I don't have a corkscrew."
She sighed and was about to put the bottle away until Bucky held out a hand. Rosemary narrowed her eyes at him in skepticism, but he made a 'give it here' motion and she handed over the wine.
Bucky inspected the cork, which was too deep to pry out, and Rosemary quirked a brow as if to say 'I told you so.' He wanted to kiss that smug little look off her face. But instead he thumped the heel of his hand against the bottom of the bottle and the cork burst out, smacking into the ceiling and sending a shower of wine pouring out.
Rosemary's delighted shriek was like music. She quickly stuck a mug under the waterfall of wine, not seeming fussed about what had already spilled onto the floor. Her laughter, bright and loud, painted the kitchen in a golden glow that even the florescent lights couldn't outshine.
The wine stopped overflowing. Rosemary's laughter dimmed. She took a sip, humming when the alcohol touched her lips. She’d made that same sound once when he'd kissed her. Her tongue darted out to collect a lingering drop of wine from her bottom lip. Bucky ached to hear that sound again.
Her eyes grew suddenly serious. Tension pressed between his ribs. He liked it better when she was happy.
"In the store..." Rosemary sighed, setting aside her mug. “I know you didn't actually hurt that guy, and I'm so glad you asked me before you did anything, but Bucky, you can't grab people like that."
His brow furrowed. "He touched you."
"Yeah...” she swallowed thickly. “And that was wrong of him, I didn't want him to touch me. But if you choke every person who touches me, the population of DC would probably suffer," she chuckled but it wasn't all that funny.
Rose sobered when Bucky just stared back at her. "Do you understand, Bucky?"
"No."
Rosemary crossed her arms and stared him down. Bucky stared right back. He could do this all day.
Finally, she huffed and her shoulders drooped. "Fine, be difficult. Just...please don't hurt anyone, okay?"
It would depend on the situation, but she didn't need to know that yet. "Okay."
"Thank you—"
"Rosemary—" they spoke at once.
Rose laughed and took another swig of wine. "You know, you can just call me Rose, everyone does."
He considered her for a while, eyes roaming over her face, memorizing it. “I like Rosemary,” he said.
Her stomach somersaulted. “Why?”
"Roses are beautiful...but fragile. Rosemary is—" he paused, his eyes drifted around the room as he searched for the right word. "Resilient."
She chuckled to mask the tears pressing at the backs of her eyes. "So you're saying I'm resilient instead of beautiful?"
"You're both,” he said without missing a beat.
Her heart stuttered. Bucky watched her with eyes so deep, so clear, that she lost herself in them. Without stopping to think, Rose leapt forward and kissed him.
Tears rolled down her face, dripping onto her lips, where Bucky kissed them away. Every sweep of his lips was another band-aid plastered over the cracks in her heart.
Bucky's hands slid up to cradle her face. His touch was searing and freezing all at once but he held her so gently. He tilted his head and kissed her deeper. And Rose found herself falling further into him.
He broke away. His eyes darted over her face.
"Are you okay?" he breathed against her lips. His thumb rubbed back and forth over her cheek.
Rose nodded quickly and grabbed his wrists, keeping him from pulling away.
"I'm happy," she whispered.
A stray tear rolled down her face. Bucky kissed it away too. Rose's eyes fluttered shut. For the first time in years, her heart was on the verge of bursting from happiness.
"Is asking permission only a rule for me?"
His question broke through Rose's happy bubble. Her eyes fluttered open. The corner of Bucky's mouth was raised. He was...smiling. It was a small, barely-there kind of smile, but to Rose it was the sun after a storm.
For a moment she was so deliriously happy that she didn't even register what he'd said. Then it clicked.
"Oh god!" Rose sprang away from him. "Bucky, I'm so sorry! Permission isn't just for you, I'm sorry, I was caught up in the moment and I completely forgot to ask. I'm so—"
His lips twitched again into that almost-smile. He liked when she rambled. He would've let it go on longer but he really wanted to kiss her again, so he did.
Bucky cut her words off with another kiss and Rosemary melted against him. He was awestruck by the ease of it. When was the last time someone had been this close to him, this unafraid of him? Bucky's chest ached. This woman was unravelling him and she had no idea.
He pressed in closer, taking whatever space she offered, until there was no air between them. His metal thumb brushed back and forth over her cheek, eliciting a sigh from her. A thrill raced up his spine when her tongue brushed his.
She was kissing him, letting him touch her skin, and hold her in his arms. And she hadn't flinched once. Rosemary wasn't afraid. There was no silencing the satisfied rumble in his throat. Bucky's left hand slid down her cheek and across the pulse in her neck. He swallowed the sweet moan she let out. His brave Rosemary.
She pulled abruptly away from their kiss, a hand pressed to the middle of his chest. A little furrow sat between her brows.
"You were teasing me," she accused.
A warm feeling swooped through his chest. He fought to keep a serious expression. "Yes."
Rosemary narrowed her eyes at him. "You're mean, Sarge," she teased right back.
Bucky leaned close, his nose brushing against hers. The daring glint in Rosemary's eye melted into something softer. She’d looked at him like that before, he realized.
"Never to you."
He kissed her again, because there was nothing else he could do in that moment that would feel as right. And when her lips touched his, Bucky knew that this moment was going to be tucked into that colorful little corner of his mind where all his favorite memories were kept.
An hour later Rose and Bucky found themselves holed up in her tiny studio office. They spent quite a bit of time there since the studio didn't have much comfortable seating and going back to her apartment wasn't an option.
They sat side by side on the little couch, which was more like a love-seat than an honest to god couch. Rose had been sleeping curled up on it for the past few nights. Of course she'd offered it to Bucky on that first night but he'd just given her a hard stare and settled himself on the ground by the door.
But now they were both on the couch and Rose hadn't anticipated it would be this awkward.
She'd pulled up a movie on her laptop while Bucky took a seat and by the time she joined him it was like a wall had gone up between them. It didn't make sense. Just minutes ago he'd been holding her like she might be ripped away and now he was sitting there, stiff as a board, with his hands clenched in his lap.
Rose wanted those hands in her hair. Wanted his lips on her skin.
"Bucky—"
"Rosemary—" they spoke at the same time.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of Rose's mouth. "You go first," she said.
Bucky's metal hand—the one closest to her—clenched into a fist and released. His eyes darted between her and the computer screen. Rose waited for him to put together whatever it was he wanted to ask.
His jaw clenched. When Bucky finally looked at her there was a steely resolve in his eyes. “I want to kiss you," he recited the words slowly and carefully.
Rose's heart stuttered. "You wanna kiss me," she repeated lamely.
He gave a stiff nod. "Can I?"
She sighed in relief. "Please."
Tension rippled through his body. Emotions flitted across his face too quickly to identify them all. Rose watched him with the same breathless awe of someone standing on a beach, witnessing the ocean recede from the shore until it crested over the horizon.
But the hand that touched her knee didn't break like the tsunami she expected. No, it came like the first cool drops of summer rain: slow and surprising and long overdue.
Bucky leaned close, his hand squeezing her knee. He smelled of coffee and she smelled like lilacs and they were both drunk on the heady aroma. And suddenly—though she could hardly call it sudden after waiting what felt like ages for the tension to burst—Bucky kissed her.
Then he kissed her again. And again. He couldn't stop kissing her it seemed.
Bucky held her like he'd been waiting a lifetime to do it. He bit at her lips like a starved man and quickly soothed the aches with his tongue. And all Rose could do was take gasping breaths between the insistent sweeps of Bucky's lips and cling to him like a buoy in a storm.
She nipped at his lip, teasing him. He couldn't have that.
Bucky's pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, and was rewarded with her arms winding around his shoulders. A shudder rolled through her body as she clung to him.
Every touch of her lips on his, every gasping breath she stole from his lungs was driving him insane. His head was filled by a thick cloud of lilac scented fog but his mind had never been so focused. There was no mission in this moment, there was only Rosemary. There was only the warm skin of her thigh under his hand, the curve of her waist against his arm, and the quiet moan she was withholding.
Bucky wanted it. He wanted that moan. Wanted it with a fervor he'd never felt before. His lips parted against Rosemary's and he kissed her harder. She shivered and pressed even closer to him. Bucky tightened his hold. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being anywhere but in his arms. He wouldn’t allow it.
Rosemary gasped for a breath and Bucky dove back in before she could finish it. His teeth closed around her pinkened bottom lip and tugged. The resulting moan was low and sudden, closer to a whine than anything else. It was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.
Bucky pressed in closer, kissed her harder, and claimed that sound for his own. Rosemary, ever obliging, leaned back.
They collapsed against the couch, Bucky landing on top of her. In the moment it took him to shift his weight onto his forearms, Rosemary had hooked a leg over his hip and pulled him right back down onto her. The split second of fearing that he’d hurt her, followed by the reassurance of her satisfied groan, was something he wouldn’t soon forget.
Bucky's hands slid up her ribcage, stopping just shy of her chest, which heaved with every breath. Rosemary pulled out of their kiss. He leaned to follow her retreat, unable to think clearly when her lips weren't against his, but she stopped him with three astounding words.
"Take it off."
Every cell in his body went rigid. His fingers, flesh and metal alike, twitched against the delicate cotton of her dress.
"Please, Bucky."
A couple neurons finally sparked in his brain and Bucky's hands slid down her sides. When they made their way back up, the hem of her dress came with them.
Rosemary squirmed underneath him. The higher his hands went the redder her cheeks grew.
"Wait!"
He froze. His knuckles were brushing the underside of her breasts but he didn't move a muscle.
Rosemary licked her lips, eyes darting over his face. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Bucky. I'd never ask you to do that.” Her fingers trembled against his back. “You know that, right?”
Bucky leaned closer, until the tips of their noses brushed. He made sure that she met his eye before he spoke.
“I know.”
A relieved breath rushed past her lips, only to be swallowed up by Bucky's kiss. Rose tangled her fingers in his hair. They parted briefly when he finally pulled the dress off of her. He chucked it over his shoulder and dove back into their kiss. And god he knew how to kiss.
His stubble scratched against her skin but the sensation was drowned out by the insistent sweep and press of his mouth on hers. Rose’s mind flashed back to another person, another kiss.
Tears pricked the back of her eyes and Rose nearly pulled away. But then a cool metal hand took hold of her breast and her would-be tears turned into a different kind of cry.
Bucky swallowed the noise with a satisfied groan. Metal fingers kneaded her skin and Rose's eyes rolled back. She was just getting used to the sensation when his other hand joined the first.
"Bucky!" His name came out as something between a moan and a scream.
All too soon, his hands disappeared and Rose's eyes snapped open, a protest forming on her tongue. The words were lost when she caught sight of Bucky kneeling between her legs, yanking off his shirt. He tossed it to the floor alongside her dress.
Impatient, Rose reached for him and Bucky met her halfway. Her fingertips brushed against the mess of scars on his shoulder and Bucky shuddered above her.
Rose wanted to ask about it, but she didn't want to lose this moment. So her hand slid down his bare chest, brushing over a patchwork of smaller scars, until her fingers paused at his belt.