Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today

A muscle ticked in Bucky’s jaw. "Take it off," he rasped. 

"Are you sure?" she gasped, lightheaded. 

Bucky pressed a brief but bruising kiss to her lips. Rose pushed him back with a hand on his chest. 

“Because you don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'd never ask that of you," she rambled. 

Bucky's steady eyes never strayed from her face. "Take it off."

"Really?" her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest. 

Bucky's jaw twitched again and for the life of her Rose couldn't decipher what it meant. He leaned close, and brushed the tip of his nose over hers. Her heart cracked open a bit wider. 

"Take it off, Rosemary,” he whispered against her lips. 

She stared into the clear blue of his eyes, which were bright and alert. Rose swallowed thickly and fumbled with his belt buckle as he hovered above her, watching. She wondered fleetingly how his arms weren’t tired from holding himself over her this long. He made no move to kiss her, stop her, or even help her when she popped the button of his jeans. He just watched.

The sound of his zipper coming down was absurdly loud next to their panting breaths. Rose's forefinger brushed the skin just inside the waistband of his underwear. Bucky's arms quivered.

Nerves suddenly seized Rose’s throat. She’d never actually been with a man, not like this. 

“Bucky, I—” her voice wavered. 

“What do you need, Doll?” he asked without missing a beat. Bucky brushed a stray curl from her forehead and cradled her face in his hand. His thumb brushed back and forth over her cheek. 

Rose's eyes darted across Bucky's face. It took her a moment to realize that he was giving her an out. If she said the word, Bucky would back away and they could go back to watching the movie that was still playing on her laptop. 

A warm, fluttery feeling swept through her chest. Rose smiled up at him. 

“Kiss me.” 

It was an order he was happy to follow.

Bucky's tongue slid into her mouth and his hips settled between her legs. She felt him then, all of him. Rose’s breath stuttered leaving her lips. Her fingers slid past his waistband. 

The sound that came from Bucky's throat when her hand wrapped around him was a dangerous, marvelous thing. A surge of confidence flooded her body and Rose bit down on his lip. Bucky groaned against her mouth and kissed her even more fiercely.

He kissed his way down her neck, along her collarbone, and across her chest. He was trying to focus on the taste of her skin rather than the need to explode. The heat of her hands on his back, the breathless moans she no longer held back, and the rapid thumping of her heart were a heady combination. Bucky trembled with the effort of trying to not absolutely devour her.

He nipped at the spot beneath her ear and Rosemary arched into him. His cock twitched in her hand. She squeezed him and tugged. 

"Christ!" his forehead dropped to her shoulder.

Rosemary giggled against his neck. Her teeth bit his earlobe only for her to soothe the sting with her tongue. 

His fingers twitched on her waist. "Do that again," he growled.

Rosemary nipped at his ear again and Bucky huffed. 

"The other thing," he clarified.

She hummed against his skin, kissing across his shoulder. Her hand was frustratingly still.

"So bossy," she teased.

Bucky was wound so tight that he couldn't help the quivering of his body. "Doll, please—"

"Well since you asked nicely," Rosemary mumbled. 

She squeezed his cock again. Bucky hissed against her skin. Rosemary moved her hand, stroking him as well as she could in the narrow space between their bodies. A bead of sweat dripped down Bucky's back. He needed...more.

"Rosemary—"

"Hm?" She kissed her way along his jaw. It twitched under her lips. 

She seemed content to stay there forever, just dragging her lips against his skin, unaware that he was on fire. Bucky ripped himself away with a growl. He knelt at one end of the couch, the air uncomfortably cold on his skin. And Rosemary lay below him, legs splayed wide, chest heaving, lips red. He couldn't stand it.

His girl let out a little shriek when he yanked her into his lap. She clung to his shoulders as he settled them into the new position. Her laugh turned into a gasp when his cock nudged against her clit. 

She grew suddenly serious. "We're really doing this." It wasn't a question. 

"If you want to." He squeezed her hips. 

Rosemary nodded frantically. "I do."

She collapsed into him, breasts pressed to his chest, and swept him into another kiss. His hands slid over her bare legs, across her waist, and continued up her sides. They settled just below her breasts, hot and freezing all at once, but so far from where she needed his hands to be. He thumbed her nipple just as she took him in hand again. They both groaned.

Rose lifted up off Bucky's lap just barely—seeing as he wasn't eager to put any space between them— but enough to notch his cock into place. 

Bucky gripped her hips suddenly, keeping Rose from sliding down. "Are you sure?" 

Rose's heart thumped in her chest. She pressed her forehead to his. "Yes" 

He sighed, eyes falling closed. "Thank god." 

Bucky’s hands slid up from her hips and settled once again just beneath her breasts as Rose began to ease down onto him. 

She’d never actually been with a man in this way and the toys she had, which lay unused for years in a box under her bed, were nothing compared to the real thing. Rose had to pause well before she was seated back down on Bucky's lap. His arms wound around her waist.

Bucky squeezed her close and growled into her neck. Rose—still propped up on quivering legs—clung to his shoulders for dear life as Bucky assailed her neck with kisses. He pressed one to the hollow of her throat and Rose's legs gave way. They both cried out when she slid further onto him.

Bucky kissed the spot just behind her ear and his dick twitched inside of her. Rose remembered suddenly just how good it was to feel wanted by someone warm and real and hers. The feeling struck her like a lightning bolt.

And maybe Bucky wasn't hers, she wouldn't presume to make that decision for him. But damn it, she was his, and she wanted him to know it. 

It was right there on the tip of her tongue. She groaned when Bucky lifted her hips and slid her back down. Rose quivered and bit her lip so she wouldn't blurt out the stupid words. Stupid words ruin good things and she didn't want to ruin this. 

Bucky gave another slow pump and groaned, throwing his head back when Rose twisted her hips. Metal fingers gripped her thigh. The arm around her waist pulled her closer and Rose slid somehow further down. A strangled moan escaped her. Bucky hissed in a breath and nipped at her earlobe. 

"Are you doing that on purpose?" he panted. 

"Doing what?" 

"That—hm—squeezing thing." 

"What squeezing thing?" Her legs began to quiver. 

"Fuck. Doll you've gotta stop or this is gonna end much sooner than we want it to." 

Laughter bubbled up Rose's chest. She suppressed it, just barely, by pressing her lips to his shoulder. His hands dug further into her flesh. Bucky's face was scrunched in concentration, head thrown back to expose the long column of his neck. He was breathing hard, lips parted to gulp in more air.

He looked so beautiful like this, so unburdened. Rose would’ve paid anything to see Bucky just like this, soft and wanting, immortalized on canvas. 

Unable to help herself, she nipped at his exposed Adam's apple. Bucky groaned. Before she could blink, Rose was being flipped through the air and landing on her back atop the clothes they'd thrown aside earlier, with Bucky still firmly buried between her legs. 

He pressed a kiss to her forehead in a surprisingly gentle manner. "You have no idea what you do to me," he mumbled into her skin. 

"And what's that, Sarge?" Rose panted beneath him. 

A growl rumbled deep in his chest. Bucky seized Rose's hands one at a time, pried them from his shoulders, and forced them above her head. Metal fingers entwined with hers and Bucky ground his hips into hers.

Roze gasped, her eyes rolling back. 

"That's what you do to me." 

Rose caught her breath and forced her eyes open to look up into his. "Then should I do it again?" she teased. 

The ferocity of Bucky's answering kiss could only be interpreted as a thoroughly enthusiastic yes.

Rose felt a bit helpless beneath him. She wasn't in control and that wasn't a feeling she was comfortable with. But every time she tensed or her fingers twitched Bucky was there with a kiss and a slow thrust that had her seeing stars. And after a while Rose wasn't so sure if she was feeling helpless or...free. Bucky didn’t really give her time to ponder it. She bucked and cried as Bucky ravished her until she was quivering, breathless, and desperately pleading for more. 

"Oh god—ah!" Rose threw her head back on a cry. At some point she'd pulled her hands free from Bucky's grip and dug them into his hair, dragged them across his back, and pulled him impossibly closer. 

Lips trailed up her neck, leaving seared, bitten skin in their wake. Bucky thrust into her tirelessly, relentlessly. His pace never faltered, except in the moments when her nails began to bite into his back, when that happened—when Rose was close—he'd slow his pace.

After the third time it happened Rose was sure that Bucky was toying with her, building up their pleasure just to deny her for a while longer. No more. Rose raked her nails down his back. His groan was muffled in the crook of her neck, but he slowed his pace even further, torturing them both.

Rose bucked underneath him and whispered the two words that she knew he'd pay attention to. 

"Please, Bucky.”

A puff of breath hit her neck and a warm hand slid beneath the small of her back. Roze gasped when Bucky pulled her upright. He hit a new angle inside her and Rose’s vision blurred for a moment. Her legs were all but useless as she sat straddling Bucky’s lap while he knelt beneath her.

"Buck—" his lips slammed against hers and Bucky thrust up. "Ah! Again. Do that again," she pleaded. 

“So bossy,” he teased Rosemary with her own words but quickly obliged. He could never deny her when she begged so sweetly against his lips. 

Bucky's arms wound tight around her waist. For a second Rose was going to joke that she wasn't going anywhere, but then Bucky started up a pace that was slow and deep and absolutely mind numbing, and the words flew out of Rose's head.

All she could do was cling to him and cry out when her orgasm finally hit. Her body shook and she clawed at his skin, desperately trying to get closer to him. And then his hand was at her neck and his teeth were on her skin and Bucky was cumming too. 

The last few thrusts were even slower, downright languid. Bucky's face was buried in her neck, one arm wound tight around her, the other hand still collared around her neck. Rose fell against his chest, absolutely spent and blissfully happy. 

With her cheek pressed to his shoulder, Rose watched Bucky's back rise and fall with his ragged breathing. She blushed when she spotted the mess of scratches she'd left on his skin. But he didn't seem to mind it at the moment. And Rose was certainly content to remain as she was, safe and warm in his arms, for a while longer. 

The movie playing on her laptop had reached its final scene and the credits began to roll. She barely heard the whirr of metal over the music. Metal fingers squeezed her neck and—much to her surprise—Rose felt her inner muscles flutter around Bucky's cock, which was still deep inside her.

A little pressure from his hand on her neck and suddenly Rose was ready for round two. She'd just learned something new about herself. 

His hand tightened again and Rose's eyes rolled back as she clenched around him. 

"Bucky," she whined, tilting her hips and grinding down on him. 

"Fuck!" he hissed. The hand around her neck abruptly disappeared.

Bucky leaned back so suddenly that Rose began to fall after him, but his firm grip on her waist kept her upright and kept some distance between them. Her arms felt like spaghetti as she quickly braced herself against his shoulders.

"Bucky, what's—" 

Her words were cut off by a warm hand turning her chin from side to side. Bucky scanned over her face and continued lower, taking in every inch of her with those unreadable blue eyes. He examined each of her arms, trailed down her legs, right down to her toes, and then finally met her eye. Unshed tears hovered there, making the blue of his irises swim.

"Hey," Rose whispered, reaching out for him. "Hey, what's wrong? Did I do something?" She cradled his face in her hands. 

Bucky shook his head slowly, his stubble scratching her palms. His hand came up to rest on her cheek. Rose leaned into it with a relieved sigh. 

"No," he whispered, "You're perfect." 

Rose wound her arms around his shoulders and melted into his hold. Bucky's hand cradled the back of her head and he pulled her impossibly closer into his embrace. 

"Should we start the movie over?" she mumbled into his shoulder. 

He huffed into her hair. “Just…just let me hold you right now,” Bucky croaked. 

Rose pressed her lips to his shoulder. “Okay.” 

Eventually Rose convinced Bucky to shift positions, because while she was content to sit in his lap forever, his knees must’ve been killing him—not that he’d ever admit that. He’d been disgruntled when she’d pulled off him. But she’d led him to the couch and laid across his chest, pulling a blanket over them both.

Bucky only pouted for a moment longer before he wrapped her tightly in his arms and buried his face in her hair. She was so soft in his hold, so fragile. He held her tight, using the feel of her in his arms to ground himself.

There’d been a moment, when he’d been holding her and she was crying from pleasure…his blood ran cold thinking of it…a moment when he wasn’t himself. 

It was just a few seconds, just a quick lapse of control at the height of the moment, but when his mind came back to him, Bucky’s hand had been around her neck. 

He swallowed hard, pressing his face into her hair. He couldn’t let that happen again. He couldn’t hurt Rosemary, he just…couldn’t. 

Rosemary huffed a little sigh against his neck. She had her eyes closed as her thumb rubbed absentmindedly at the seam between flesh and metal. Bucky’s chest ached. How the hell did he get so lucky? What had he ever done to deserve her resting so trustingly in his arms? 

Not a damn thing. That’s what he’d done. Yet here she was anyway, casting her warmth over him like sunlight through the living room curtains. 

Bucky raked his fingers through her hair, earning a little hum from her. He wanted to hear it again, wanted to know every sweet sound she could make. 

“I’m gonna take you dancing,” he declared. 

“Dancing?” Rosemary laughed. 

“Big band, cheap drinks, you in a dress.”

“I’m always in a dress.”

“Not right now,” Bucky teased.

Rose playfully smacked his chest. 

“Say yes,” he rasped.

“You’re asking me on a date?” Rose set her chin on Bucky's chest and blinked up at him. 

“Yes.” 

Rose smiled. “I don’t think there’s any place in this city for the kind of dancing you mean, Bucky.”

“I’ll find a place. Just say yes.” 

“But I won’t know the steps.”

“I’ll teach you.” 

“You know how to dance?”

“I know how to do a lot of things, Doll.” His fingertips ghosted over the back of her thigh. 

Rose fought and failed to keep the blush off her face. “What if I trip?”

“I’ll catch you.”

“What if I trip and take you down with me?”

“Then we’ll go down with a flourish.”

“What if—”

“Rose." Bucky cut off her many protests. 

Her eyes widened. “You called me Rose.”

“Say yes," he whispered.  

Her eyes flickered across his face. He was so handsome. Rose imagined that he must’ve been a heartbreaker back in the 40s. But here he was now, looking at her like she’d hung the stars in the sky.

Something warm was buzzing inside her chest and Rose was out of excuses. 

“Yes.”

The corner of his mouth twitched into that almost-smile. “You really make a man work for it.”

She nodded seriously. “Weeds out the non-contenders.”

“So I’m a contender?” 

Rose placed a kiss on his chest. “The only one.”

Bucky held her tighter. “Thank god.” 

They lay quietly for a while, cheek against his chest, his fingers tracing up and down her spine. 

“Hey Bucky?” she mumbled. 

He hummed beneath her. The sound vibrated through his chest and into her. Goosebumps swept across her skin. 

Rose bit the inside of her cheek, hesitating. “You don’t have to ask permission anymore. Not with me.” 

“Permission?”

“To touch me or…” Rose felt a blush burn her face. “Or kiss me.” 

Bucky laid suspiciously still and silent underneath her. When Rose finally gathered the courage to peek up at him, Bucky was smiling.

It wasn’t the tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth that she was used to, but a real, actual, beautiful smile. 

Bucky was smiling. At her. 

Tears pricked the backs of Rose’s eyes. She swallowed them down as he pulled her into a searing kiss. It was perfect. He was perfect. The moment was perfect. 

And then the phone rang.