(no subject)

[semi_stable]

When Loki suggests that they grab dinner, Bucky doesn't think much of it, really. It wouldn't be the first meal they've gotten together, not even the first at this particular restaurant. Honestly, once he thought about getting another one of those steaks, he stopped asking questions.

After spending the afternoon lounging around with Bopp and reading a book, he takes her for an evening walk and then showers. Since he has time, he trims the scruff on his face and cleans up the edges, and then pulls out the one black suit that he has in his closet. He bought it early on, first to blend in while he was spying on people, and then to do the same at the few parties he's been to.

It's too hot for a button down so he just puts on a dark blue v-neck tee underneath and finishes it off with his one black belt, and his one pair of dress shoes. As he pulls his watch off of the dresser, his eyes linger on the black leather gloves sitting in the top drawer. Normally, he'd wear then to cover his hand if he was dressing up and he pauses for a moment, looking down at his prosthetic and flexing his black and gold fingers. He swallows hard and then shuts the drawer, turning to look at himself in the mirror and smoothing his hair back with his hand.

"Ah, ah. Don't touch me. You'll get fur everywhere," he says as he hops out of Bopp's reach, turning to rub her behind the ears. "I'll be back."

It isn't too far to the steakhouse and the heat of the day is starting to burn away, so Bucky walks. He even whistles to himself a little on the way until someone looks at him and he realizes what he's doing. It makes him chuckle and he shakes his head, pulling his phone out of his pocket to compose a text.

I'm outside.

Comments

[semi_stable]

When the waitress comes back, Bucky sits up and clears his throat, ducking his head to hide a smile at his own behavior. He thanks the waitress and finishes off another whiskey before looking down at the tray on the table with a vaguely confused expression.

“I know what most of this is,” Bucky says with a slightly furrowed brow. He’s never had oysters that he can remember, but he knows what they are. Lobster is also something of a rarity, with shrimp being a little more familiar. It’s the pile of pink stuff that stumps him. “What is this? Is it fish? Like sushi?”

He could try to pretend like this is all routine to him, like he eats this way all the time, to try and impress Loki, but there would be no point. Loki was raised as royalty and Bucky was raised in relative poverty. There’s no reason to try and pretend otherwise.

“I’ve never had an oyster,” he admits, looking skeptically up at Loki. “They look disgusting.”

[thewrongpath]

Loki shrugged, plucking a shell from where they were artfully arranged around little dishes of cocktail sauce and various other condiments, and slurped the meaty little oyster down. It was startlingly fresh, just a bit briny and sweet.

"I suppose it's the texture takes some getting used to," he admitted, dropping the empty shell into the dish they'd provided.

Scooping a bit of the tuna onto a little square crisp of bread, Loki passed it over, saying, "Try it. It's raw tuna. If you've had sushi, it's the same."

[semi_stable]

Bucky watches skeptically as Loki tips his head back to suck the oyster from its shell, brows lifting slightly as his reaction. He figures that he can’t knock it until he tries it, but before he can reach for an oyster, Loki is pressing a piece of bread topped with fish into his hand. He pops it into his mouth and watches Loki as he chews, nodding happily and swallowing.

“Okay, this is good. I like this,” Bucky tells him. He’s become rather fond of sushi after all his lunches with Yori. The memories are a little bittersweet now, but he can’t help but to think of the old man now. Bucky hopes that he’s doing well.

After wiping his fingers on his napkin, he reaches for one of the oysters and lifts it to his face slowly, glancing at Loki and shrugging helplessly before slurping it from the shell. The texture is pretty atrocious and Bucky makes a slight face, holding it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing it down with one gulp.

“I like these less,” he admits with a laugh, remembering a conversation that he had with Sylvie what seems so long ago now. “Are these really aphrodisiacs? Or is it just because they taste a little like— well.”

He flushes a little and spears a shrimp on his fork. “I think you taste better, actually.”

[thewrongpath]

Laughing heartily, Loki said, "I'm flattered," as he claimed another oyster, resigned to eating them all himself. "I don't think so. It's just a silly myth. Probably started by whomever sets the price for these things."

Loki watched the other man eat, his expression unmistakably fond.

"At the very least, don't let the lobster go to waste."

[semi_stable]

“There might be something to the chocolate one,” Bucky admits, because dark chocolate always feels particularly decadent. Maybe it’s because he has it so rarely, or because he can imagine chocolates being shared between lovers, and tasted on skin. It’s better than oysters, at any rate.

“Oh, I won’t. I’m letting myself be spoiled tonight,” he says with a chuckle, though he first reaches for the last glass in the whiskey flight which, funnily enough, claims to have notes of dark chocolate and coffee. He takes a sip and then looks at the glass, licking his lips before holding it out to Loki. “This is amazing. Try this.”

He waits for Loki to take it the glass, fingers brushing before he lets go, and then carefully extracts a piece of lobster with his fork. After dipping it in the butter, he holds his metal hand under his mouth in case of drips and then takes the bite, nodding to himself as he chews. “That and the fish stuff is my favorite.”

[thewrongpath]

Taking the glass with a murmur of thanks, Loki brought it to his nose first, giving it a careful whiff before taking a sip. It rolled over his tongue, burning pleasantly down his throat, and he hummed his appreciation. "It's quite good," he agreed, eyes smiling as he set the glass back onto its little board.

"The fish stuff," Loki laughed, grinning with amusement as he reached for his own shellfish fork and skewered a plump piece of lobster. "Alright, lobster and sushi, but no oysters. I'll keep that in mind."

[semi_stable]

Bucky takes his phone out only long enough to sneak a picture of the name of the whiskey, even though he knows it’ll most likely be too expensive for him to actually buy on his own. He isn’t hard up for cash here, not with all the odd jobs he does so quickly, but he still finds it difficult to splurge on unnecessary things after how he grew up.

Still, maybe for a special occasion.

“Apologies, your highness,” Bucky says when Loki laughs at him, but he’s smiling because he knows that Loki isn’t making fun of him. And he’d gotten his own amusement out of watching Loki daintily eat a hot dog.

“Adding it to my file?” He jokes as he places a heaping spoonful of the tuna onto another piece of bread. “I also like dark chocolate, on occasion.”

[thewrongpath]

"I seem to recall you saying that you wanted to know about me. The feeling is mutual," Loki reminded him, stealing a bit of the tartare for himself before it disappeared.

The platter was almost cleared by the time the waitress returned with their main course. Bucky's steak was enormous, as promised, and his own smelled delicious. She efficiently removed their extra plates, setting the dishes of asparagus and potatoes between them.

"Can I get you another drink, sir?" She asked of Bucky, as she removed the empty flight board from the table.

[semi_stable]

"You mean you didn't read my wikipedia page?" Bucky asks dryly, giving Loki a sarcastic smile that sums up how he feels about that particular part of the future. Back home, everyone had known what he'd done. After everything was settled with the Blip, news about his pardons was televised. People dissected his history under a microscope out there for the whole world to see. It's better here. No one knows him unless he wants them to. "The internet was a mistake, by the way."

When the waitress sets down their dinner plates, Bucky can't help the way that his eyes widen a little at the slab of meat in front of him. He'd be surprised if they didn't look like little hearts. He picks up his fork, ready to dig in, but has to pause when she asks him a question.

"Oh, no. I can just have some wine," he says politely, gesturing toward the bottle with his fork and smiling. "This looks very good. Thank you."

[thewrongpath]

"I'd rather learn first hand," Loki said, polishing off his glass of wine and pouring them both another. "I can't imagine my Wikipedia page is very flattering. Or accurate."

Taking knife and fork in hand, Loki cut into his steak, which was shockingly tender. He hummed approvingly around the first bite, hiding a smile at the way Bucky's eyes widened as he cut into his own.

"How is it?"

[semi_stable]

"I'm an open book," Bucky says, chuckling half way through like he can't even say it with a straight face. "If I remember it right, you had a few fan pages. People did worship you," he says with a smirk, cutting into his steak and pausing to look up at Loki again. "Mostly teenage girls who thought they could fix you."

He chuckles to himself and doesn't mention the very similar ones dedicated to him. Sam would send him screen shots and Bucky just wanted to tell those girls to forgive their fathers.

Finally, he's able to take a bite and he closes his eyes as he chews, lifting a hand and pressing his index finger and thumb together. "Amazing."

[thewrongpath]

"So, my greatest ambition was realized. What a relief," Loki drawled, hiding his own smile as he took another bite of his steak.

"Is that what you're trying to do, then?" Loki asked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Fix me?"

[semi_stable]

“God, no. Who has that kind of time?” Bucky jokes, winking as he takes another bite of his steak. Loki has made mistakes, very big ones, and he has his flaws, but so does Bucky.

“Besides, we’re trying to be better, right?” He sets his fork down and reaches for his glass of wine, taking a sip as he looks at Loki with a warm expression. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of all your progress.”

[thewrongpath]

"Don't you dare wink at me," Loki laughed, wanting desperately to reach across the table and brush aside the strand of hair that had fallen across the other man's forehead.

"Right, of course. We're giving each other the room to fix ourselves. How very evolved of us."

Cutting off a bit of his steak, he speared it with his fork, along with a bit of mushroom and onion, making sure to swipe it through the drizzle of fig sauce artfully smeared across the bottom of the plate. "Try this," he said, holding the fork out to Bucky, "Since you so rudely judged it."

[semi_stable]

“Why not?” Bucky replies with a laugh, smiling softly at the way Loki looks at him. “So very mature.”

He swallows a bite of potatoes just in time for Loki to offer his fork, holding out a perfectly crafted little bite, and he knows that he could reach and take the fork in his hand. Instead he leans forward and closes his mouth around the metal tines, keeping his eyes on Loki’s as he pulls back back and chews thoughtfully, licking a bit of sauce from his lower lip.

“That’s very good,” he admits once he’s swallowed, nodding a bit and finally tearing his gaze away to look down at Loki’s plate. “But they should still just call it sauce.”

[thewrongpath]

"They should. Though, I suppose they need it to sound luxurious to justify the exorbitant price," Loki observed, shifting the fork in his grip in order to briefly brush his thumb over the corner of Bucky's mouth.

As their meals disappeared from their plates, the bottle of wine nearly drained, Loki asked, "Shall we order dessert?"

[semi_stable]

“Mm, I suppose so.” Loki touches his mouth and Bucky quickly purses his lips against the side of his thumb before he pulls it away, smiling to himself as his attention returns to his meal.

He puts away the whole steak and most of the potatoes and vegetables, and by the time they’re done, Bucky is actually very nearly full. Not so close to full, however, that he doesn’t perk up at the mention of dessert.

“I think so. Maybe we can share something,” he offers as he pours out the rest of the wine into their glasses. “I can’t wait to see how luxurious this will be.”

[thewrongpath]

Playfully rolling his eyes, Loki turned to search for the waitress just as she headed their way, seeing that their plates were empty. She politely handed them the dessert menu as she cleared their plates.

He perused it briefly, saying to Bucky, "Dark chocolate, didn't you say?" There were only a few tasteful choices, a cheesecake, a sorbet, and a berries and custard dessert, but second from the top was a flourless chocolate espresso cake.

"I'll have a brandy, as well," he said to the waitress, handing her his menu with a charming smile.

[semi_stable]

Bucky nods, feeling deeply pleased at having his tastes considered. Loki is very good at this whole dating thing, funny and attentive and flirty, and Bucky can’t help but to be charmed by him.

“Me too,” he says after Loki orders a brandy, because why not? He feels almost out of place in this fancy restaurant, but not in a bad way. It makes him feel a little like when he we would sneak into fancy places as a teenager, seeing how long he could blend in with the wealthy before he was found out.

“So,” Bucky begins, pausing to tip his head back to finish off his wine, lips stained red as he gives Loki a flirty smile. “Are there plans for after dinner?”

[thewrongpath]

"Well, you didn't let me pick you up but, at the very least, I thought you'd let me walk you home," Loki said, leaning back in his chair in a way that was somehow both elegant and careless.

"Unless you've had enough of me for the day."

[semi_stable]

The comment makes Bucky furrow and brow and tilt his head a little as he thinks back over their earlier conversation, and then he laughs at himself when he realizes just how dense he’d been.

“In my defense, I don’t get asked out on dates a lot,” Bucky tells him, which is technically true. It happens more often in Darrow, where everyone seems a little bit more bold, but it’s usually women. Or maybe he just doesn’t notice when it’s men.

“But yes, I think that can be arranged.” He smiles and bites his bottom lip suggestively, gaze dipping briefly to Loki’s mouth. “You have to come up to say hello to Bopp, of course. Maybe we can have a night cap.”

They both know what will happen, but it’s fun to play like maybe they don’t. Perhaps he’d just like to see if he could be wooed further.

[thewrongpath]

"I find that hard to believe," Loki said, watching as Bucky's eyes lingered on his mouth, which curled into a placid smile.

"Oh, of course. We wouldn't want her to feel left out."

The waitress approached with their drinks, setting two snifters between them, along with their cake and two forks. "This looks lovely, thank you," he said to her, though his eyes never left Bucky's, even as she turned to go.

[semi_stable]

"Enjoy the rest of your evening, gentlemen," the woman says in a very politely sly tone, and it's only then that Bucky realizes that they had just been sitting there staring at each other like dopes. He chuckles a little, sounding almost flustered as he turns his head to look up at her.

"We will. Thank you," Bucky tells her, watching her turn to go and then giving the side of Loki's shoe a tap with the toe of his own. He rests his metal forearm in front of him on the edge of the table and picks up a clean fork with the other, glancing up at Loki and then down at the cake, lips going a little slack in surprise at just how beautiful it looks arranged on the plate.

"They put so much time into this and we're just gonna eat it," he says in a low, loose drawl, smiling wryly and shaking his head. "That feels like luxury."

[thewrongpath]

She'd discretely left the bill, tucked away in a leather folder, on the edge of the table. With a glow of magic, Loki produced a card and tucked it inside the folder. The account which the card drew from had nearly unlimited funds, but he had not used it as excessively as he could.

"I suppose that's what luxury is here. Finding new, more elaborate ways to spend one's money," Loki observed, reaching out and covering Bucky's metal hand, where it rested on the table, with his own. Loki, having lived among kings and queens his whole life, was familiar with luxury, but Asgard did not function through the same capitalistic system that Darrow clearly did. The idea of earning money to live still somewhat baffled him.

[semi_stable]

As Bucky watches Loki tuck the card away, he realizes that yes, he feels like sort of an imposter in this place, with these people, but Loki is too, in a way. Maybe not in the exact same way, but it's enough to make Bucky feel more at ease.

"That's definitely accurate," he says with a chuckle, smiling as Loki's hand rests on his and sending out another thanks to Shuri, wherever she is, for allowing him to be able to sense the warmth of it.

With his other hand, he cuts off a small piece of the cake and puts it in his mouth, and then rolls his eyes as if he's annoyed at how good it tastes. It's actually sort of ridiculous, and he lets out another amused huff and licks his lips. "This cake might make me not hate capitalism for five minutes."