Can Music Be A Metaphor?
You weren’t sure it was possible for you to afford a new apartment, but you were willing to try if it would help. You could certainly pick up a part time job.
The thought made you smile. Bucky would die when he found out you were going to have an even more chaotic schedule.
“What is this?” Bucky asked. You looked at him, eyebrows raised in question. He gestured at the empty air. “The music. It’s weird.”
“Oh my god.” You laughed, grabbing your phone off the coffee table. “It’s EDM. You know, electronic, rave type music?”
He frowned. “I’ve never heard anything like it before. You haven’t listened to anything that sounds like this, right?”
“You are such an old man.” He had a point, this was probably the only EDM song you had on any of your playlists. But how were you supposed to pass up the opportunity to tease him? “You’re really aging yourself here.”
The song ended, and you picked out another one to play.
“This is even worse,” Bucky said immediately. You giggled, turning up the country song.
“Didn’t they have country when you were my age a hundred years ago?”
“It’s close to what I would hear sometimes, but why–” he winced at the next lyric, “is he talking about cheating on his wife?”
“Just wait until you hear women's country music.” You grinned and switched the music back to your playlist. It really was a random playlist, you quickly realized as a movie soundtrack song came on.
You needed to re-watch this movie, you decided. The music was simply too good, and you remembered watching it with one of your high school dance teams. One of the girls knew all the color theory reasons and all the details about it, you recalled. You began humming along with the music softly, moving your shoulders slightly as you choreographed in your head to the music.
“What’s this?” Bucky asked, noticing your dancing. You looked at him with wide eyes.
“I need to re-watch this movie. We’re watching it right now,” you declared, joining him on the couch and turning on the television. You fumbled with the remote until the Netflix intro played.
(._.)
Bucky had no idea what you were about to show him. The idea of streaming movies still, to be completely honest, confused him.
By the end of the movie, a few hours later, he decided he liked watching movies with you. You had clearly seen the movie before, judging from the way you pointed out little parts of the movie that Bucky had completely missed, yet you still acted like it was your first time. You were teary eyed by the end of it, tapping your hands absently on your thighs in tune with the piano music.
You cleared your throat and turned off the TV. Then you turned to him. “So?”
“That was better than I was expecting,” Bucky admitted.
“It’s official,” you said, pulling out your phone, “I’m making us a watch-list. You need to get caught up.”
You spent the better part of 30 minutes grilling him on what movies he’d seen already and which ones he’d heard of/had no idea existed. Tony, he explained, had been trying to get him and Steve mostly caught up with the times, but had mostly shown them action movies. At that, you demanded to know if he had ever seen an animated film.
Then you ranted about the beauty of animation for another ten minutes. Bucky didn’t mind in the slightest. He enjoyed just being talked at, especially watching how passionate you were about the subject. It made it easier for him, not having to talk.
“Sorry,” you said finally, looking at the time on your phone. “I’m sure you need to be getting home. I didn’t mean to take up your whole evening.”
“I have nothing else to be doing,” Bucky said, noticing the fading light outside. “I’m supposed to be hovering. It’s quite literally my job to stay by you.”
You chewed your lip, looking thoughtful. Finally, you swiped to open your phone. “I can start looking for a place to live tonight. It might take me a while to find one I can afford, if that’s okay.”
Bucky furrowed his brow. “Of course it’s okay. We can figure something out. I don’t want you worrying about money, on top of everything you’re dealing with.”
You gave a small chuckle. “Worrying about money is the one constant I’ve had over the last few years. I think I’ll survive.”
“Still, I’d like to help you in any way I can. I’m supposed to be keeping you safe.”
“You are. You don’t need to do more than you are already. I already feel spoiled,” you joked. You stood and stretched, extending a hand to help him up. Bucky merely raised an eyebrow at you before standing on his own. You rolled your eyes good naturedly.
“Get home safe,” you called after him as you shut the door. Bucky waited until he heard you lock it, then continued on his way. His phone rang, and he answered.
“I’m headed back right now. Also, Tony, I have a favor to ask when I get back.”