So Close, But Not Quite There
By noon Darcy was across the hall at Bucky's. He'd made sure the kitchen was nice and clean and ready for them to cook dinner. He hadn't heard anything from Steve, which he hoped was a good sign and not a bad one for whatever was going on in Europe. Having Darcy over and planning to cook was a good distraction, though cooking didn't really happen until the late afternoon. Up until then, they hung out and watched movies. It was almost crazy sometimes how easy it was for Bucky to forget everything else when Darcy was near.
“Okay, you got those potatoes mashed in no time.” Darcy laughed because it probably would have taken her four times as long, maybe more. It was basically the time it took her to pull the turkey breasts out, turn off the oven, and set the pan on the counter and Bucky had the potatoes all nicely mashed.
“They were soft and half ready to fall apart already.” Bucky shrugged, though he supposed the super-strength may have helped. He hadn’t been trying to mash them fast. He’d have to pay attention to those things if he wanted to seem normal. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to question it, simply seemed amused.
“Well, then maybe a little more butter and salt and we’re ready to eat.” She had set out the cranberry sauce she made, and the pie was ready as well, though they’d decided they could wait to cut into it until after the dinner portion.
Bucky dropped in a touch more butter and salt and made sure it got distributed through the potatoes. “I hope it’s not weird to say, I’m kind of glad that you didn’t find anything else to do today.”
“It’s not weird. I’m glad you didn’t either. This is a nice, quiet Thanksgiving, and I’m not feeling like I’m missing anything else. I’m just happy being here.” They’d only been a couple steps from each other to begin with, but they had inched closer. Darcy smiled soft and easy at him and brushed a hand down his arm.
“Good, because I can’t think of a nicer way to spend this or any other day.” Bucky’s hand reached out and rested at the small of her back as she’d finished speaking, and as he spoke he felt her leaning into him. She was so close, her face was so close to his. He still hesitated, afraid of making too many moves at a time. Afraid of still scaring her off. It wasn’t like she really knew who he was. Not that he was lying, well, about anything other than his job, but he was obscuring things, like his arm and all things associated with it. But he wanted so much to keep her close, to not lose her. Especially when she smiled at him like she was, her cheeks all pink, lips full and a bit red, even though she wasn’t wearing any makeup today. And her eyes, soft and deep blue, with a little shine at the moment.
Darcy curled her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. Her voice came out as little more than a breath on his ear. “Can I say you’re what I’m thankful for today?”
Bucky couldn’t manage to find words for that, but his arms wrapped all the way around her and held on tight as he let his face get a little lost in her neck.
It took them a minute or two to straighten up again and actually get to eating. They kept teetering on the edge of going a little farther, but something kept stopping it. They cuddled, hugged, got very close, but hadn't kissed.
Darcy felt like her life was a bit of a confused mess, so she figured she shouldn't rush. She'd actually thought she'd been cautious before she casually asked Steve out, but that kind of went sideways on her anyway. So she didn't really trust her own judgment, especially after Halloween, and maybe having weird dreams of Asgard now. None of that added up to normal, and she had no idea how to even begin trying to explain any of it, given she didn't understand it herself.