Leipzig AU: the choices we make

[nerves_of_ice]

It's a month after Thessaloniki when he slips the unmarked, unstamped postcard in the mail at Sharon Carter's apartment.

(It had taken him the entire month to decide to reach out. He'd spent most of the time burying himself in his self-imposed work and not allowing himself to think about anything other than the mission. Eventually, he'd realized that it wasn't working, and that there was only one way to find out what he now needs to know, even if he can't admit even to himself exactly why he does.)

Of course there's always the chance she'll think it's just an advertisement and ignore it. If she does, he'll try again with something a little more obvious before deciding she's not interested in reconnecting. Still, he thinks she's clever enough to catch it, and to decode the message, which isn't that subtle when it comes down to it: time, place, location.

It takes far less than a minute to pick the lock on the mailbox security panel - two seconds, maybe three, and he's able to pull it open, drop the card on top of her mail, and secure it once more.

Bucky makes his way from her apartment back down the Berlin street quickly and quietly, cap pulled down to hide his face, and disappears into the crowd.

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[nerves_of_ice]

"That's good," he murmurs, lips moving against her skin, "because we're just getting started. Just know you can stop me with a word, okay? No matter what."

He kisses slowly along the line of her throat, tracing the fast-moving river of her pulse with lips and tongue.

[from_the_outside]

“You too,” she murmurs, shivering wildly in his arms, in his lap. “If you need.”

As much as stopping is the last thing she wants to do. “But I definitely don’t want you to stop.”

Not now. Probably not at all, considering how badly she wants to touch him and hold him and be touched and held in return.

[nerves_of_ice]

He hums against the side of her throat and hooks a finger in the flowing neckline of the deep green blouse that she's wearing, the one that makes his fingers itch to run his hands over her. Gently, he pulls it away from her shoulder and starts to kiss the soft skin revealed when he does.

[from_the_outside]

She gasps softly as his lips press against the curve where her neck meets her shoulder and shudders in his arms, her fingers tightening in his hair. His fingers on her silky blouse makes her smile, remembering her thoughts from earlier in the night.

“If I’d known we were going to go dancing tonight,” she tells him, “I would have worn a dress.”

[nerves_of_ice]

"I wasn't sure we would." He retraces his path to the spot that made her tremble and kisses her there again, deliberately, drawing on her skin with his mouth.

[from_the_outside]

She shivers again, delight cascading through her as he lavishes attention on that sensitive spot. Sharon wraps her arms around his neck and pulls herself closer against him, trembling over and over.

“Next time,” she promises.

[nerves_of_ice]

He drops a string of kisses around her throat like a necklace and finds the matching spot on her other shoulder, teasing it with his tongue and the merest edge of his teeth.

As he does, he strokes his palm down over her sleeve and back up again, slow and deliberate.

"It's a pretty shirt," he tells her. "You didn't need a dress to look lovely."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon huffs a breath of laughter and tips her head the other direction, loose and lazy, enjoying every second of his sweet attention.

“You’re going to turn my head,” she murmurs, smiling.

It’s nice. That he thinks she’s pretty. That he likes the way she looks. That she wasn’t silly for putting a little more thought into what she looked like tonight.

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's the truth," he protests. Bucky raises his head to kiss her mouth once more as he puts his hand on her shoulder and runs it delicately down her side, to her hip, and back again, teasing silken fabric over her curves.

[from_the_outside]

She kisses him back deep and drowning, her hands coming to frame his face.

“You feel so nice,” she says, softly, and lets go of his head to run both hands down over his chest and up again.

[nerves_of_ice]

He makes a low sound and shudders under her touch, his back arching slightly.

"Please," he breathes. "Sharon, please."

[from_the_outside]

“Yes,” she murmurs, and kisses him again before trailing kisses over his cheek, pressing them beneath the angle of his jaw.

“Anything. Anything.”

[nerves_of_ice]

He tilts his head back to make it easy for her to do whatever she wants, enthralled by her touch, her kisses, her soft words.

Bucky brings his left hand around and sets it on her hip, then traces along her back with his right.

[from_the_outside]

She presses gentle kisses along his throat, pausing for a long moment over the spot where his pulse flutters against thin skin. His stubble prickles pleasantly against her lips and she hums contentment as his hands track over her back, as his arm goes around her.

“Bucky,” she breathes, and presses kisses back toward his ear, drunk on the taste and feel of him.

[nerves_of_ice]

“Yes.” His breath stutters as sensation rushes through him, overwhelming in the sweetest way.

He slides his hand the rest of the way up and traces patterns over her nape, teasing and coaxing.

[from_the_outside]

"I'm so glad you're here."

Even in her dreams, she'd never let herself get this far, unable to believe it could ever actually happen. So now she luxuriates in it, rocking gently in his lap, running the edge of her teeth lightly over the shell of his ear, seeking out every spot she can find that will make his breath shake and his body tremble.

[nerves_of_ice]

“I couldn’t stay away. I—“

She rocks against him as her teeth score his ear and he jerks under her with a moan, hips rolling up, pressing against her in turn.

Bucky breaks off trying to speak and plunges his hand into her hair, cradling her head and drawing her in for a deep, passionate kiss.

[from_the_outside]

A thrill runs through her, setting every nerve alight, as the sound he makes drops a sizzling coal straight into her gut. She makes a low sound against his mouth as he rocks up against her, a wave of sheer want crashing over her, drowning out every coherent thought.

"Bucky," she gasps. "Bucky, please – "

He'd said tell me what you want and she knows he meant it. "I want – "

[nerves_of_ice]

“Tell me,” he murmurs, his breath warm against her lips. He kisses her again like she’s air, then repeats it. “Tell me. Anything. Everything. What do you want, baby?”

[from_the_outside]

"You." She kisses him again, trembling with the force of holding back. "I want you to touch me. Everywhere."

She kisses him over and over, soft words tumbling from her mouth, pressed like a prayer to his. "Your hands on my skin. Your mouth. Your kisses. You."

Sharon pulls back just enough to reach back and guide one of his hands to the hem of her pretty green shirt, her eyes blown dark with desire.

[nerves_of_ice]

He slips his hand under her shirt and rests it flat against her stomach for a moment while he kisses her again.

“I will. I will,” he promises. “Bedroom?”

[from_the_outside]

She nods and kisses him again, full of sweet longing, then pulls away and comes to her feet, holding out a hand to him.

"Come on," she murmurs, and smiles at him, the sweetest smile she has, the one that dimples her cheeks and warms her eyes like he's the best thing she's ever seen, the person she's been waiting all her life to smile at.

"Come to bed."

[nerves_of_ice]

She shines in the low light of the room, her smile glorious and her hair floating loose over her shoulders, and it knocks the breath out of him.

Bucky takes her hand and stands, then without warning bends and scoops her up into his arms, carrying her like she's weightless, and kisses her again. "Tell me if I'm going the wrong way," he teases, and crosses the living room toward what's most likely to lead them where they want to be.

[from_the_outside]

She laughs in surprised delight as he sweeps her up into his arms. She twines her own around his neck and curls into him, her slippers falling off her feet, and feels like she’s in a movie.

“Good instincts,” she grins, and presses kisses below his ear, along the line of muscle at the back of his neck. “Right in one.”

[nerves_of_ice]

He holds her closer, a shiver running through him at the feel of her mouth on his neck. Bucky strides through her apartment, carrying her like the precious treasure she is, and stops just inside her bedroom.

He kisses her again, and again, as he slowly lowers her to the ground, letting her slide along his body until she's standing.