(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

[thewrongpath]

"I know I am, darling, but that's very sweet of you to say," Loki teased him, laughing against Bucky's mouth as they kissed lazily. Nipping at Bucky's lips, Loki grinned, arching against him one last time, before slowly easing his spent cock out of him. He punctuated the shift of his body with an almost apologetic kiss, letting out a low hum of contentment as he stretched out along Bucky's side.

Propping his head up on the heel of his hand, Loki looked down at him. It struck him, suddenly, how much more often Bucky seemed to smile, how genuine his laughter sounded, and how content he seemed.

Many would've thought Loki incapable of being a source of goodness in another person's life, let alone someone like Bucky Barnes. It wasn't all his doing— however much he might've wanted to take all the credit, but he had a hand in it.

This smile, this moment, was entirely his.

[semi_stable]

Loki settles next to him and Bucky stays on his back, stretching his legs out and pointing his toes, rolling his shoulders as he takes stock of his body, almost as if he's expecting to feel different. When he's done with his self-assessment, he turns his head to find Loki staring at him with a look so soft and affectionate that Bucky feels another small aftershock of pleasure.

"You must be feeling pretty good about yourself," Bucky teases warmly, grabbing Loki's free hand and resting it against his chest, sliding his palm through the mess of come and sweat on his skin.

[thewrongpath]

"A bit," Loki agreed, laughing softly as he smeared his hand through the mess on Bucky's chest and stomach, tracing the lines of his impossibly muscular abdomen.

"You seem to have enjoyed yourself," he murmured, thumbing gently at the peak of one nipple.

[semi_stable]

“It was alright,” Bucky says with a soft smile, enjoying how it feels to lay back and be touched with kindness, and perhaps even a sort of reverence.

“Darling,” he says after a moment, smirking and biting his lip at the brief touch to his stiff nipple. “I can’t call you babe but you can call me darling?”

He grins and turns onto his side to face Loki, reaching out to put a hand on his hip. “That seems a little unfair.”

[thewrongpath]

Laughing, Loki said, "You can call me whatever you like, James. If you want to call me little pet names because you're so overcome with lust for me, who am I to argue?"

He kissed the bridge of Bucky's nose, his hand settling against Bucky's hip and giving it a squeeze.

[semi_stable]

Bucky lets out a bright laugh at that, but he knows that he can’t deny it. He can’t even pretend not to like it. Maybe if they weren’t in bed, he’d like it less, but maybe not.

Loki kisses his nose and Bucky is so overcome with affection that he pushes Loki onto his back, climbing on top of him and settling with a content huff, cheek resting against Loki’s shoulder, long legs tangled together.

“Same goes for you,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to Loki’s collarbone.

[thewrongpath]

"I'll keep that in mind," Loki murmured, smiling warmly as he settled his arm around Bucky's shoulder, the other hand resting low against the small of his back.

"Is this how you're planning to sleep?" Loki asked, charmed by the affectionate, downright cuddly mood which seemed to have overtaken Bucky. He held on a bit tighter, in case Bucky mistook it for a request for him to move.

[semi_stable]

"Are you admitting that I've worn you out?" Bucky asks with a laugh, smiling as Loki squeezes him in his arms. They are, undeniably, snuggling. They're sweaty and content and basking in the afterglow, and Bucky feels happy. He knows that it won't last, at least not to the heights that its reached at the current moment, but when he feels low again, he can look back at this moment. He can remember how he feels right now.

And maybe he can even come find Loki, because he doesn't have to suffer through those moods alone. He has people who care about him.

"But yeah, maybe." He nuzzles up under Loki's jaw and bites softly at his neck. "What are you gonna do about it?"

[thewrongpath]

"I'm doing no such thing," he said, even though he was pleasantly exhausted. He'd lost count of how many times they'd come inside of each other that day, and even gods had limits.

Though, give him half an hour, and he probably would've been game to go again.

"Lie here and suffer, I suppose," he murmured, burying a hand in Bucky's hair.

[semi_stable]

“Poor baby,” Bucky mumbled, shifting into a slightly more comfortable position— his thigh between Loki’s knees, head on Loki’s chest, arm slung over his waist. It’s unfamiliar but delightful in its newness, just like so many things with Loki are.

He’s about to doze when the door creaks open and he hears Bopp clicking her way across the floor. Bucky opens his eyes so see her little face peeking out over the top of the bed, tail wagging hopefully.

“You’ll have to ask our guest,” Bucky says sleepily, though the humor is still clear in his tone. “Seems rude to invite another girl into bed after a date.”

[thewrongpath]

Laughing breathlessly, Loki extracted an arm from around Bucky's shoulders and gave the mattress a welcoming pat. "Come on, then," he murmured, adjusting a pillow behind his head and with a bit of magic, throwing the sheets over top of them and turning off the lamp.

With their legs tangled and Bucky a warm, solid weight against him, Loki found himself lulled by the rhythm of his breathing, and by the profoundly simple intimacy of sharing a bed with this man and his dog.

[semi_stable]

Bucky didn't think that Loki would deny her, especially after how they bonded earlier, but he still smiles against Loki's chest when he tells Bopp to come up. She curls up daintily in the corner of the mattress they leave unoccupied. The lights go out and he's wrapped in a blanket, like something out of a storybook, and Bucky lets out an amused hum.

Last time they slept together, Bucky hadn't intended to do. He'd just nodded off, while this time it feels much more deliberate. He asked Loki to stay, so he made this decision long before he was even tired.

The thing is, though, that he hadn't expected it to be quite so easy. It feels like no time at all that he drops off into sleep, sandwiched between two different beings that Bucky trusts to keep him safe.

[thewrongpath]

It was late by the time they settled, but Loki was still surprised when they both slept through the night, neither of them waking until the morning sun shone brightly through the cracks in Bucky's drawn curtains. They'd shifted in the night, but had not parted, their arms still thrown heavily across one another's chests, their legs impossibly tangled, and Bucky drooling into the hollow of his collar bone. There was a slight cramp in his neck, the blood flow restricted in the arm pinned beneath the weight of Bucky's body, and yet, Loki was more comfortable than he had any right to be.

Feeling the other man stir, Loki let out a low, contented rumble of a groan, his lips grazing Bucky's brow as he murmured, "Morning."

[semi_stable]

Usually, Bucky snaps awake pretty quickly. It doesn't take long to be alert after jerking out of a light sleep, but apparently that is not what he's waking up from now. It feels like his mind is coming back to him slowly and he lifts his head from Loki's chest, blinking blearily at him before turning to look at the sun spilling through the window as if confused.

"So it is," he says in a low rasp of a voice, feeling slightly dazed as he realizes what's happening. He slept through the night, for multiple hours at one time, and he's surprised by it. Maybe he shouldn't be considering the day he had before, and how much he and Loki wore each other out. That isn't all of it, though, and he knows it. He knows why he sleeps better next to Loki.

He lifts his head to find that Bopp is gone but she hasn't told him that she needs to go out, so he allows himself to settle back down with his head on the pillow, smiling softly at Loki. "Good morning."

[thewrongpath]

"Sleep well?" Loki murmured, his amused voice still rough with sleep. "In a bed, no less."

Stretching luxuriantly, arms over his head and toes pointed as he yawned expansively, Loki rolled up onto his elbows, examining the room in the warm morning light.

"The Queen seems to have abandoned her subjects."

[semi_stable]

“I suppose so,” Bucky answers, still feeling a little off-kilter. Not because anything is wrong, but more because things are so astoundingly not wrong that he’s a little confused as to how this is his life. The other shoe will drop at some point, won’t it?

Maybe instead of dreading that moment, he should just try to enjoy what’s right in front of him.

“For now,” Bucky says as he rolls onto his back and stretches, mechanics in his arm whirring quietly as he rolls his shoulder to reset it. “She’s probably giving us some time before she comes and demands to be walked.”

[thewrongpath]

"How benevolent," Loki murmured, settling back down on the pillows, his hair fanning messily across it. In the night, just before dropping off, he'd done a quick spell to clean up the worst of their mess, but found himself hesitating to clean up entirely. He wasn't ready to give up the mingling of their sweat, their scents, all the little bits of proof of the day they'd shared.

Turning to watch as Bucky swiveled his prosthetic, the mechanics humming softly, Loki smiled faintly, his knuckles brushing gently along Bucky's chest. "I, for one, slept beautifully."

[semi_stable]

“Sometimes I feel bad that she doesn’t have a yard,” Bucky admits, glancing over at the open door. Not for the first time, he wonders if he could make moving to the countryside work, or at least an actual house that’s all his own. “I don’t love living in an apartment.”

There are too many people, too much noise, and Bopp doesn’t have anywhere to go unless Bucky walks her up the the park. He’s happy to do it, but he knows that she deserves better.

He’s distracted by the gentle touch to his chest and he turns to look at Loki, smiling warmly at the look on his face, like he’s happy. Bucky leans in to kiss him but pulls back at the last second.

“I was worried about morning breath,” he admits with a soft laugh. “Seems kind of silly, considering where our mouths have been.”

[thewrongpath]

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to blow this place up, if you need an excuse to move elsewhere," Loki smirked, his eyes following Bucky's to the open door.

When Bucky smiled at him, Loki smiled back, leaning in for a kiss and frowning when it was aborted at the last moment.

"Charming," Loki chuckled, curling a hand behind Bucky's neck and closing the distance between them. "That's not something I've ever suffered from," he said against Bucky's mouth, playfully haughty as he crawled closer to deepen the kiss.

[semi_stable]

“No, this place is fine,” he says without much conviction, because he hasn’t given much thought to where he lives. This is just another in a long list of places that he’s been stuck without much consideration, and it’s fine. It’s warm and dry and has running water and electricity, and it’s not like he needs anything else, really.

“Is that right?” Bucky asks skeptically, bumping his nose against Loki’s and then closing his eyes as he’s kissed. It’s peaceful and a profoundly good thing to be kissed in the morning. Bucky knows that this won’t happen all the time, perhaps not even often, but he’s grateful for it now, curling his arm around Loki’s waist as he parts his lips to deep the kiss, humming as Loki’s tongue slides into his mouth.

“Fine,” he admits with a low chuckle, his forehead pressed against Loki’s. “You still taste good.”

[thewrongpath]

Filing away Bucky's unconvincing dismissal of the topic of moving, Loki kissed him deeper, licking past his lips, and while his breath was undeniably stale, it wasn't so unpleasant that he even considered stopping.

"Hm, thank you for noticing," he teased, his eyes falling shut as they stayed there, curled close to one another under rumpled sheets, with their foreheads pressed together. It was disgustingly domestic, and he seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.

[semi_stable]

Bucky isn't sure how long they lay there, and he might even doze a little, forehead tipped against Loki's. He rarely even sleeps in this bed, let alone lounge in it, but it's easier when Loki is in it with him.

"I'll make us breakfast," he mumbles eventually, but instead of getting up, he presses himself closer to Loki, hooking his arm under Loki's shoulder as he nuzzles into Loki's neck, inhaling the scent of him. He smells different in the morning, a little earthier, and Bucky presses a lazy, open-mouthed kiss under Loki's ear.

"Or maybe I'll just go get us breakfast when I have to take Bopp out," he says, chuckling lowly and sliding his thigh between Loki's legs.

[thewrongpath]

"And deny me the pleasure of watching you slave over the stove for me?" Loki teased, hauling Bucky closer, until he was practically sprawled across Loki's chest.

"I suppose I'll allow it," he murmured, a bit breathless as he arched against the pressure of Bucky's thigh.

[semi_stable]

"Okay, okay, I'll make you a late breakfast," Bucky compromises, chuckling lowly as Loki moves him so easily. That's still something of a surprise and if it were anyone but Loki and perhaps Sylvie (which, there's an image), it would make Bucky supremely uncomfortable, he's sure.

"I make really good bacon," he says almost conversationally, lifting his head to look down at Loki as he aligns their hips together, half-hard cocks slotting together as Bucky rocks his hips almost lazily. "How do you take your eggs?"

[thewrongpath]

"Hm, I'm not certain I have a preference," he murmured, his thighs falling open as they rutted lazily against one another. "Over-easy, if you're frying."

It was an absolutely absurd conversation to be having with their dicks in such close proximity, but there was also an easy domesticity to the moment that he happened to quite enjoy.