Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Bucky…?” Steve played with the photo frame on the bedside table as Bucky cleaned his room. He had finished vacuuming, and was now dusting his books. He didn’t get to read them as much as he would want to, so they were starting to gather dust.

“Yeah?”

Steve bit his lip nervously. “Can I see you dance?”

Bucky turned to face him, looking a little surprised.

“Well…” He seemed to recover quickly. “I usually dance with a partner…”

Steve saw the slight glint of amusement in Bucky’s eyes and knew exactly what he was getting at. “I can’t dance...”

“Sure you can, anyone can dance. Especially with a partner who has experience. You just have to follow my lead.” Bucky put the duster down and held his hand out to Steve in offering.

Steve hesitated. He had never danced before, not even at school discos. No one wants to dance with someone they might step on. One girl had asked him to dance with her once, in elementary school, but she had just been teasing him. She had laughed when he accepted and quickly ran away to the more popular boys, who were also laughing at Steve.

“I wouldn’t want to step on your toes…”

“Steve. You weight, like, three pounds. I can handle it.”

Steve thought he should be offended, but he admired Bucky’s confidence. He took Bucky’s hand and let him drag him up off the bed. Steve assumed they were going to dance there, but Bucky pulled him out of the bedroom and downstairs.

“Where’re we going?” He asked as he followed.

“Basement. It’s better to dance down there.”

Steve had never been in the basement before, and he assumed it would be dark and cold, but he was pleasantly surprised. It was well-lit, and the walls were white. There was a floor-to-ceiling mirror along one side, with a ballet barre along the width of it.

The floor wasn’t as hard as he had expected, but it wasn’t carpeted. It felt like lino, but softer and made out of cushiony plastic.

“What kind of dancing do you want to do?”

“Something slow?” Steve suggested nervously as Bucky let go of his hand to go to the iPod stereo in the corner of the room. There were speakers dotted around the room, and Steve expected them to be cheap and quiet, or crackly. But when Bucky plugged his iPhone into it and pressed play, a classical music piece played out clearly from the speakers. The sound enveloped the whole room, and made it sound like there was an actual band in the room, playing for them.

Bucky came back over to Steve and smiled when he saw how nervous the shorter boy was. “Just relax, Stevie.”

The nickname didn’t sound as teasing as it usually did, and Steve couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’ll lead, okay?” Bucky asked and took one of Steve’s hands. Steve nodded and placed his other hand on Bucky’s shoulder while Bucky placed his hand on Steve’s hip.

Steve immediately looked down at their feet. Luckily, Steve was only wearing his sneakers so if he did step on Bucky’s foot, it wouldn’t hurt too much. Bucky, on the other hand, was wearing his boots. Steve was a little worried about that, but then he remembered that Bucky had been dancing almost his whole life, he would probably know how to avoid stepping on people by now.

“Steve.” Bucky squeezed his hand a little to get his attention, and Steve looked up at him. “Look at me, not the floor. Just move to the music. Whatever I do, do the opposite. So if I step closer to you, you step back. If I step back, you step closer.”

He made it sound so easy, and made it look easy. Bucky swayed slightly to the music and took steps closer to Steve, then steps back. Steve tried to follow him, but his movements were much tenser. He felt Bucky chuckle lightly more than he heard it. Steve tried harder to copy Bucky, but he got confused and couldn’t follow Bucky’s pattern. He moved forward at the same time as Bucky, when he should have moved back and ended up stepping on Bucky’s foot. Steve quickly apologised, but Bucky just laughed again, hardly phased.

“Steve, relax…”

“Easy for you to say…” Steve muttered and Bucky’s thumb rubbed circles on his hip to try to calm him.

“Concentrate on the music more than your movements.”

Steve tried to take his advice, and listened carefully to the music. Bucky’s seemingly freestyle movements made more sense now. He was just moving to the music.

That seems pretty straightforward…

Steve concentrated on the music and found that he could follow Bucky’s movements a lot easier. He beamed up at him, proud of himself, and Bucky smiled back. Bucky kept leading Steve through the same simple steps when Steve seemed to understand them. Then, he pushed lightly on Steve’s hip to encourage him to spin, holding their other hands above his head. Steve laughed as he did, and he saw Bucky smiling when he span back to face him.

He meant to place his hand on Bucky’s shoulder again, but he was dizzy from the spin, and his hand ended up on Bucky’s chest instead. Bucky’s hand wrapped around Steve’s waist and he let go of his other hand so that that one could join the other on Steve’s hips.

Steve rested his hand on Bucky’s chest, beside the other, just under his shoulders.

Bucky’s smile didn’t fade as he moved his hands to the small of Steve’s back, still moving slowly. Steve moved both his hands up to Bucky’s shoulders to step slightly closer to him. The change in proximity threw Steve off a little, but Bucky didn’t seem to mind the lack of finesse.

Steve felt clumsy, but at least he wasn’t stepping on Bucky’s feet anymore.

“How am I doing?” He asked quietly and Bucky seemed to deliberate that for a minute before answering him.

“Not terribly…”

“Wow, thanks.” Steve rolled his eyes but smiled.

“At least you haven’t broken anything yet.” Bucky shrugged slightly and moved one hand up Steve’s back slightly. “You’re not as terrible as you think you are.”

“I disagree…” Steve still couldn’t stop looking down to make sure his feet were moving as they should be. Every time he looked down, he stumbled slightly, but he couldn’t help it.

“Just trust your body to move as it should.”

“My body betrays me on a daily basis…” Steve muttered and Bucky didn’t comment on that. Steve wasn’t sure himself if he was referring to his many medical conditions, or the constant blushing whenever he was around Bucky. He was glad the brunet didn’t ask.

Steve knew that he should concentrate on what he was doing, and that what he was thinking about doing was unbelievable cliché, but he couldn’t help himself. He leant forward and rested his head on Bucky’s chest, between his own hands, and listened to Bucky’s heartbeat.

Steve could feel his own, and he knew it was faster than usual. They weren’t moving around much, so it wasn’t that. It was being this close to Bucky. Bucky’s heart wasn’t beating as fast, but it was slightly faster than usual. Again, he couldn’t have been from the movements. Bucky was incredibly fit and able-bodied, unlike Steve. This wouldn’t have affected him. Steve realised that his heart was fast for the same reason as Steve’s was. Bucky was excited about being this close to Steve.

He couldn’t stop the feeling of pride as he realised that, and Steve closed his eyes as he listened to Bucky’s heart.

Bucky rested his cheek against the top of Steve’s head and, amazingly, Steve’s rhythm didn’t falter.

For about a minute.

He was so caught up in listening to Bucky’s heart that he completely forgot the pattern they were doing. He ended up stepping on Bucky’s foot again and, when he looked up to apologise, he accidentally headbutted Bucky in the chin.

Bucky stumbled back half a step with a grunt and Steve started apologising more frantically as Bucky cupped his own jaw. Steve took a step closer to Bucky and cupped his face so he could see the damage. There was a red mark along the left side of his face, but it was only small.

“Relax, it won’t even leave a mark.” Bucky took both of Steve’s hands in his and kissed his knuckles. “It did hurt more than I would have expected, though. But I always figured you had a thick skull.”

Bucky winked to show he was kidding and Steve just rolled his eyes and shoved him lightly, “Jerk.”

Bucky laughed and kept hold of his hands as he kissed Steve. Steve let go of his hands to cup his jaw, then kissed along the red mark. He could almost feel Bucky roll his eyes, but he didn’t stop him.

“It’s okay, Steve.”

“I hurt you…” Steve felt incredibly bad about that, and tried to step away from Bucky to end their little dance session. He didn’t want to end up headbutting him again, harder, and making his lip bleed or something. Before he could step away, though, Bucky’s arms wrapped around his waist again, keeping him close.

“Barely…” He kissed Steve softly, but Steve wasn’t enthusiastic about the kiss.

“I’m sorry…”

Bucky just laughed. “Steve, stop. I’ve had much worse from dance partners.”

Steve still didn’t look happy about it, and Bucky moved a hand to crook his finger under Steve’s chin and make him look up at Bucky.

“What’s wrong?”

“I suck at dancing.” Steve muttered and tried to look away. Bucky loved dancing, and Steve really wanted to be able to dance with him, so they could share that. They could dance when they went on dates, or at parties, or if they ever got married. Steve tried to stop himself from thinking about that, but the image of him and Bucky in a dance hall, surrounded by their friends and family, immediately filled Steve’s head. He wished Bucky and Steve would be able to dance elegantly for the first time as a married couple one day… But Steve was too clumsy and awkward.

“You’re right. You do suck.” Steve wasn’t expecting that, and he was about to get offended, before Bucky continued. “You’re like a baby giraffe, learning to walk.”

Steve pouted up at him, trying to look annoyed, but Bucky just kept talking.

“But baby giraffes learn to walk eventually, and they’re graceful as fuck! You’ll learn to dance, and you’ll be just as graceful.”

Steve smiled slightly at that. It did make him feel a little better…

Bucky cupped his face as he spoke again. “You’ll get better, Stevie, don’t worry.”

He kissed Steve then, and Steve immediately kissed back, smiling against Bucky’s soft lips.

“Now.” Bucky pulled back and resumed the starting hand position. One holding Steve’s, one holding his hip. “Let’s try again. And don’t look at your feet, keep looking at me.”

Steve found that instruction a lot easier to follow now. He smiled up at Bucky, unable to look away from his face anymore.

Maybe, one day, they would dance elegantly as a married couple…