“Stevie, if you don’t quit bouncing your leg, you’re gonna burn a hole through the floor.” Normally, Bucky wouldn’t say anything to Steve about the nervous habit. He knows Steve doesn’t even realize he’s doing it most of the time, and it’s not like he can control his anxiety when it’s wired into his brain.
However, right now- Bucky is just as pent up as Steve is, and the rapid motion out of the corner of his eye while he tries to focus on the TV is driving him- and his own anxiety- crazy. He gets it. They’re both antsy as hell right now. But that doesn’t mean he’s not bothered.
Steve stills his leg and looks at Bucky apologetically. “Sorry, Buck,” he says guiltily, blue eyes wide. Bucky sighs and stretches his arm around the back of the couch to loop around Steve’s shoulder, squeezing him close and planting a soft kiss to his temple.
“It’s okay, I know how nervous you are. I’m feeling it too,” Bucky admits. “But there’s nothing we can do besides wait. Staring at the TV isn’t going to make the news come any faster.”
Steve blows out an anxious breath and curls in to cuddle against Bucky, who holds him gladly. “It isn’t fair we have to wait at all,” he says sadly. “This shouldn’t even be a decision they have to make.” His voice wobbles even with how stubborn the statement is, and Bucky’s heart twinges at it.
He sighs into Steve’s wheat gold hair and rubs his thumb in small circles against his back. “I know, Stevie. I know it isn’t,” he whispers, not sure of what else there is to say they both don’t know or haven’t heard already. Steve makes an upset noise against his neck and Bucky stares blankly at the TV in front of them that’s tuned to CNN news. It’s on a commercial break, and Bucky wants to scream.
Eventually, Steve pulls his head away from Bucky’s neck to dig his phone out of the couch cushions where it had slipped. He unlocks it, and Bucky is positive he’s on Twitter right now refreshing the hashtag he’s been tracking frantically.
Truth be told, Bucky feels a bit frantic himself.
Frantic enough to pester Steve for any progress. “Anything?”
Steve groans in frustration and chucks his phone to the opposite end of the couch, collapsing back onto Bucky’s chest. “No,” he says, muffled into Bucky’s shirt. “I feel like I’m gonna explode.”
Bucky is at the point in their relationship where he’s pretty well versed on the different ways to calm Steve down when he’s all pent up and jittery like this, so he knows exactly what he’s doing when he leans in close and whispers in Steve’s ear, “I can make that happen in a good way”. It’s a trick he’s traded pretty often, considering how being fired up is pretty much Steve’s baseline.
Steve’s reaction is instant. He colors beautifully and twists his neck to look at Bucky, scandalized and flustered. “Bucky!” he hisses. Bucky just laughs and hauls him up to sit in his lap, hands steadying Steve’s narrow hips.
“What, babydoll? You don’t wanna?” Bucky’s voice is teasing and he throws on a smirk for good measure. Steve glares at him, but there’s no heat behind it. Bucky can tell that he’s already getting to him, so he pushes a little bit more and brings up a hand to thumb at Steve’s nipple through his shirt. “Better way to pass the time than just sitting here staring at a bunch of screens.”
Steve rolls his eyes and sighs dramatically, like Bucky is asking so much of him by suggesting that they get a little bit frisky. Bucky loves him for it, and loves him even more for the way he leans down and kisses Bucky with intent. He pulls back after a moment and narrows his eyes. “If you make me miss the results, I’ll never forgive you,” he informs him. Bucky is the one that rolls his eyes this time, pinching Steve’s nipple in retaliation and making him let out a tiny noise.
“All circumstances considered, Stevie, I think if this goes the way we want it to, you’ll be pretty happy to keep me around,” he says smugly. He doesn’t expect Steve’s eyes to go dewy, but the instant they do, Bucky softens and pulls Steve in for a gentler kiss, leaning their foreheads together afterwards. “Hey, baby, I didn’t mean to-“
Steve interrupts him with a watery smile. “No, Buck, it just- All this keeps hitting me,” he says quietly, lifting his hands and tangling them in Bucky’s hair. He cradles Bucky’s head like it’s something precious and whispers his next words against Bucky’s lips. “The idea of having the option to- you know,” he sounds embarrassed, and Bucky frowns at him. “I’ve never had more hope for something before, but at the same time, the idea of not getting to have it after coming so close…” His voice is thick with emotion, and Bucky feels his throat grow heavy with it too.
“We’re in this together either way it goes, Stevie. You’re the love of my life, you know that, don’t you?” he asks hoarsely. Steve closes his eyes with a wistful smile and captures Bucky with a tender kiss. It’s filled with so much emotion that Bucky’s chest feels like it’s being torn apart.
Steve breaks away after a long moment. “You remind me every day, Buck. You’re it for me, too, ‘til the end of the line, yeah?”
Bucky nods and pulls him in tighter. “I’m with you ‘til the end, Stevie. No matter what happens today,” he promises.
They share another passionate kiss, and Bucky runs his hands down Steve’s back, wanting to grab at his ass but not sure if he’s ruined the mood with their emotional interlude. He gets his answer when Steve grinds down against his bulge and pulls back with a wicked grin.
“Come on, big boy, I thought you promised me something better,” he teases.
Bucky squints at him, then snorts at the descriptor. Steve’s a pretty big boy himself. “I’ll take that as a challenge, then.” The kiss they share this time is heated, and Bucky acts on his earlier temptation to grab at Steve’s ass, sliding his hands down the back of Steve’s joggers and groping at the soft skin. “No underwear?” he mutters into Steve’s mouth. “Hoping to get lucky?”
Steve gasps when Bucky rubs a teasing finger over his hole and huffs out a breathless laugh, trying to come off as cocky but failing at it pretty miserably when it’s followed by a desperate whine. “Don’t have to do much hoping with you, Barnes,” he says breathily. “You’re always ready to try and corrupt my virtue.”
Bucky raises an eyebrow at the mention of Steve’s virtue and responds by biting Steve’s bottom lip at the same time he thrusts his erection up against Steve’s ass to make the man moan. “You lost your virtue a long time ago, Stevie. Don’t think a little dry humping will do too much to sully it.”
Steve grinds down on Bucky’s cock and smirks at the way Bucky grunts. “Just dry humping? Don’t you wanna fuck me? You wouldn’t wanna leave me hanging, would you?” he says innocently, but Bucky doesn’t rise to the bait.
“Unless you wanna break this up to go get the lube, babydoll, I can’t fuck you dry. You know I don’t wanna hurt you, so you’re gonna have to settle for something a little more old school.”
Steve frowns and huffs out a petulant noise, but doesn’t move to get off him nonetheless. “Fine,” he says. “But you’re letting me sit on your face this weekend to make it up to me.”
Bucky laughs at that. “Don’t think I’ll mind that too much, baby, you know I love eating that pretty ass of yours,” he says casually, just to see the way that Steve blushes and lets out an embarrassed whimper. “You want me to finger it right now, baby? You get my fingers nice and wet and I think we can manage that without lube. Or do you want me to jerk off that pretty cock instead?”
Steve doesn’t take long to choose. “Fingers,” he says. He sounds bossy, even with his voice wrecked, and Bucky smiles at him in amusement, still working his hips up against his boyfriend’s ass.
“Pretty bossy for being bottom,” he teases, pulling his a from Steve’s pants and bringing it up to his mouth, fingers outstretched. Steve is in the middle of snapping out “I am not a bottom” (it’s true, really he’s only bottom leaning) when Bucky shuts him up with them, smirking as Steve’s eyes flutter shut and he starts sucking, covering them in saliva. “You’re awful pretty with something stuffed in your mouth,” Bucky notes. When he deems his fingers wet enough, he pulls them from Steve’s mouth and returns his hand to his pants. “Now let’s see how pretty you are with something stuffed in your ass.”
Steve lets out a little sigh as soon as the first finger tentatively slides in, eyes shutting and mouth falling open in a perfect, pink o shape. Bucky loves his boyfriend’s mouth, and nothing is stopping him, so he leans in and presses an opened mouth kiss to it, leading with his tongue and relishing in the way that Steve mewls into it. It’s slow and wet, perfect, and Bucky can’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. He slowly works a second finger into Steve’s hole and continues languidly kissing him, swallowing Steve’s whimpers and moans, moving his cock against Steve’s ass while the other man works down to try and fuck himself on Bucky’s fingers. He knows when he hits his prostate by the wrecked groan Steve makes into his mouth, and he can’t help but smile into the kiss, pulling back with a wet noise and giving Steve a half-lidded look.
“Feelin’ good?” Bucky asks huskily. Steve gives him an expression that’s somehow both needy and sassy. He flicks his eyes down to the erection tenting his pants, wet patch spreading from where the tip is pressed against the fabric.
No shit I am, is what Bucky takes from the action. He laughs fondly and thrusts his fingers harder and faster against the same spot, really making Steve moan this time. He continues the pace, and Steve’s noises go higher and higher until Bucky is pretty sure he’s getting close.
“God, I love you,” he mutters, using his free hand to tug Steve’s head forward into another filthy kiss, Steve panting and moaning into his mouth while Bucky just goes faster. He’s getting a wrist cramp, but from the faces Steve is making, it’s worth it.
Steve breaks the kiss to gasp out, “I’m gonna come, Buck” and Bucky gives an extra firm push against his prostate as soon as he gets the words out. The response he gets is instantaneous, a low “oh, god” bursting from Steve’s lips and a blissed-out expression taking over his features as his hole spasms around Bucky’s fingers like they’re trying to milk the cock he wishes were there instead. After his orgasm is seemingly ridden out, Steve slumps against Bucky, head resting against his neck with a satisfied sigh.
“That was good,” Steve says sluggishly after a few moments of rest. He lifts his head and looks at Bucky with a sated expression. “Can I jerk you off?” he asks plainly. He always gets this way after he comes, more forward and open than usual. Bucky’s pretty fond of the habit. He grins at the offer and guides Steve’s hands down to grip at the bulge tenting his track pants.
“I’d have to be an idiot to say no.”
Steve smiles and rolls his eyes at Bucky fondly before slipping his hand into Bucky’s pants and making quick work of circling Bucky’s dick with a tight grip and starting to stroke him off. There’s no build up, just quick, firm strokes that have Bucky panting and groaning in seconds. It isn’t fancy, but it’s good. Normally he’d be embarrassed by how fast he finds himself at the edge, but he’s been rubbing against his boyfriend’s perfect ass for ages before this, and Steve always knows just how he likes it. He shoots off with a guttural groan into his pants and Steve’s hand, and falls back against the couch cushions with satisfaction.
Steve pulls his hand from Bucky’s pants and grimaces at the come covering it. Bucky reaches over and plucks a Kleenex from the coffee table, handing it to him so he can wipe it off. Once he does, they both settle on the couch together, cuddled up with Steve practically laying on top of Bucky, trapped up against the back of the couch. They both have come in their pants, which is objectively gross, but Bucky is content enough not to care in the moment, and Steve seems to be feeling the same, smiling happily at him and kissing his cheek.
“That was a good distraction, Buck. Thank you,” he says quietly.
Bucky just hums and noses at his jawline. “Don’t gotta thank me for it, baby. Was a good distraction for me, too, y’know.” They’re both silent for a moment, just holding each other while the TV plays mindless news in the background. The results they’re waiting on still aren’t back yet, and Bucky can feel the tension already seeping back into the room. He hates the furrow that it puts between Steve’s brows.
Steve speaks up about it after a few more moments, voice tired. “I just want it to be done with, Buck. I can’t stand the waiting for much longer.”
Bucky sighs and squeezes him tight. “Me either, Stevie. But it’s all we can do. Can’t rush city hall,” he says, smiling sardonically. “Or the federal government, evidently.”
They’re cuddling and not talking again when it happens. It’s 11:00 and the news cuts to the crowd outside the supreme court, people chattering excitedly and a headline running along the bottom of the screen reading LIVE AT THIS HOUR: SUPREME COURT DECISION ANNOUNCED. Steve sits bolt upright and Bucky is quick to follow.
There’s a terrible, awful moment of silence as the reporter steps in front of the camera. Steve is shaking and Bucky reaches over to grab his hand, not daring to say a word.
The reporter speaks.
“Tom, as I’m speaking to you from the Supreme Court, we have read from the bench- there is a right to marriage equality. I repeat: speaking to you from the steps of the Supreme Court, there is a right to marriage equality read just from the bench now-“
Whatever else the report says is drowned out by a sob that breaks free from Steve and a hushed “oh my god” from Bucky. They look at each other in pure shock for a second, but then-
Steve tackles Bucky in a hug, one so overjoyed that it tumbles them both to the floor, laughing and crying, meeting each other in the most emotional kiss either of them have ever shared. Bucky feels like he’s dreaming. This can’t be real. He’s in the living room with the man he loves, crying on the floor because they’ve just been given the right to marry each other. He’s allowed to marry him. He can marry him, he can marry him, he can marry him- He opens his mouth to say the words, knows that this might not be the best planned time, but it feels right. It always feels right with Steve, but this is something that he feels in his bones.
Before he can speak, Steve beats him to it, letting out an overjoyed noise and looking at Bucky with bright eyes, the biggest smile Bucky has ever seen him wear on his face. “Marry me, Bucky,” he whispers. “Marry me.”
Bucky doesn’t even have to blink before he’s beaming back, happier than he’s ever been. He can’t even be mad that Steve interrupted his proposal because they’ve had it planned out for a while anyways- and now, they’re finally allowed to have one in the first place. They’ve been dreaming of it for so long, and now-
“Yes, Steve. Always yes.”
They kiss, and it feels like a victory. It is one.