WHO: Peggy and Bucky (PH) WHEN: the early hours of Saturday, the 10th WHERE: Beast's Castle WHAT: Just a little exploration while high. NBD. WARNINGS: not really no
All things considered, he was surprised he wasn't more surprised that Peggy had easily given into his cajoling earlier that day. Maybe she was feeling as restless as he was. Maybe she thought that since it was his birthday, it'd be easier to babysit him this way. Or maybe she just wanted to try it, because what did he really know about how the woman had a good time?
But there was no way he was going to make the mistake of drinking Elven wine with her again, not without some measure of control, and this new vice was a relatively unexplored territory for him.
When he had shown up with hobbit weed at the door of her suite around midnight, there was a mischievous look in his eye. He looked exactly like the kind of boy mothers warned their daughters about. And for whatever reason she had, she took him up on the offer he had presented.
The two hadn't stayed on the ship. It's where they had started, yes, but one thing led to another and the pair somehow found themselves at the Beast's castle, noticeably absent a Beauty or Beast. Had they broken in? Bucky wasn't saying. "Peg!" He whisper-shouted from across the ballroom. He was standing close to a wall sconce, which was very obviously snoring. "Peg it's alive." He said it in awe, as if he hadn't spent the last hour they had been there, saying the same thing over and over whenever they came across sentient furniture.
Carving out a new life when your old one had been upended, shaken and practically destroyed was never an easy thing to do, but it was one of those parts of living that Peggy had become rather good at. Having done so many times already it had grown easier to see when those she knew were having their struggle with the curve balls that life enjoyed throwing at everyone. She knew that Bucky was doing the best he could, that he was trying to move forward while also holding onto all that he lost, so who was she to deny him some company and a partner in crime?
There was no doubt in her mind that she needed all of that as much as he did. Showing up again with most of those she had become friends with the last time gone, Steve not remembering the friendship they had carved out, Howard’s absence and the sudden arrival of Angie had thrown Peggy for a loop. But it was the lack of Sharon’s presence that hurt the most. She missed the niece she had been getting to know, that last connection to her brother lost all over again. Getting high and maybe in a little bit of trouble was needed.
Technically the castle was open for visitors, though they may have fudged the hours of operation just a little. “And it will be grumpy if you wake it,” Peggy warned as she glanced over her shoulder at him before looking back at the intricate paintings, trying to decipher if it was alive or not as well.
Bucky didn't follow orders as well as it was expected of him, not after years of being a weapon that shot on command, but when it came to Peggy, he did just the tiniest bit better about it. So he didn't poke at the wall sconce like he had been previously tempted, but he did still get way too close, trying to pick out the candle holder’s facial features.
A good five minutes passed while he held that position, before abruptly standing and walking over to where Peggy was studying the painting. Standing besides her, her pose mimicked down to the way her head was tilted, he asked, “Does it owe you money or something? You're staring at it awfully hard.”
She didn’t break her concentration, focus still on the painting for a moment longer. “I don’t believe this one is alive.” Peggy shifted slightly, glancing over at him before reaching over to touch the painting to make sure that her hypothesis was correct.
“My heavens!” came the shrill voice a second later, and Peggy looked back toward the painting that was most certainly alive and looking rather irritated at being woken. She stood frozen for a moment, finger still touching the canvas and eyes widening as she looked at Bucky. Right before she bolted from the room, certain that he’d follow eventually.
Frozen as well, it took Bucky a moment longer to catch up with what was happening. He blinked at the painting that was now shouting about being rudely awoken by tourists, before he took off in the direction Peggy had left in earlier. “You don’t leave a man behind!” He called after her, waking up the wall sconce he had been staring at earlier and a few other pieces of living furniture in the process.
It didn’t take him more than a few seconds to catch up with her, but when he reached out to grab her elbow, he was laughing. “Peggy, you’re running like you stole something! Slow down, we’re going to wake the whole castle.”
His laughter was contagious and Peggy nearly doubled over in laughter, bracing her hands against her knees to try and keep herself from falling over. There was no rational reason for running like she had but it had seemed like the best choice at the time. A few “do you mind”, “some of us are trying to sleep here” echoed in the air around them, causing her to slide down to floor as she tried to control the laughter that kept spilling out of her.
“I believe it might already be too late for that.” She pressed her hand against her mouth, trying to stifle any sounds as one of the chairs came lumbering by them, muttering about all of the noise. Peggy motioned toward the piece of furniture before erupting into another steady stream of giggles. Everything about this place was completely and utterly ridiculous. It was almost enough to erase the absurdness of her own life.
It made him grin in such a carefree way, to hear her fail to contain her mirth at their situation. It was definitely ridiculous, this whole thing, but it was downright fun, something he didn’t allow himself much of lately. Guilt about Tony, guilt about Howard and Maria, seeing the crimes of his past so vividly in the form of Tony had changed something about him, something he didn’t quite know how to fix.
But those troubles seemed so far away right now, as he sat down still chuckling, next to Peggy. Nudging her, he asked, “You going to be okay over there, Agent Carter? Because it’s going to be very awkward explaining it to anyone if you die from laughter.”
That only brought about a snort, followed by another string of uncontrollable laughter. “A better death than the one waiting for me back home,” she replied, the statement sobering her a little more than she wanted. She hadn’t meant to say that much aloud, but it seemed her filters were not as tightly locked down as she usually liked for them to be.
She patted his arm, shaking her head as she took in a deep breath to settle her nerves, though she didn’t bother to try and stand just yet. “And laughter is something that I have sorely needed recently. Something I am sure you can relate to.”
“Then I’m glad I showed up on your doorstep tonight,” he said, smile still on his face, but the laughter finally dying off. “I don’t know why you were the natural response to the question “Who should I do fairytale drugs with?” but here we are.”
And it was nice. It reminded him a little bit about the friendship he had with Peggy back in Blackpoint, but this version of Peggy...he just felt a lot more comfortable around. It probably had a lot more to do with the fact he had grown as a person since his time with her than anything to do with any Peggy Carters he had known.
Leaning his head back against the wall they were sitting again, he sighed. “I know normal is boring, but this was...a little closer to normal than I have been in awhile. Not the singing furniture, I mean, but just getting into stupid shit, you know?”
“I know exactly what you mean.” She had missed the camaraderie that she had developed with the Howling Commandos during the war. Their time together had created a bond that she had never quite been able to replicate. Losing Steve had been difficult, but it was the loss of the family unit that they built that had lingered the longest, still cutting deeply to that day. To be so fully accepted and then have all of that torn away after the war had made it difficult to adjust. And even in Tumbleweed she hadn’t quite found anything like it again.
But running around a castle from a children’s story was the closest to that feeling she’d had in a long time. “Though I believe our version of normal would be many people’s crazy.”
“Who says we aren’t crazy though? Because I think our normal meters broke a long time ago.” Even before all of the HYDRA and Winter Soldier stuff, the Commandos had been dealing with some pretty intense things. When you fought a guy called Red Skull with Europe as a backdrop who actually embodied the name and your skinny, asthmatic best friend suddenly became a real life Flash Gordon overnight due to a science experiment, you learned to shift your perception on reality a little.
Bucky grinned, poking Peggy’s side. “Come on, rulebreaker, we can’t say we came to Beast’s castle and not dance around the ballroom. I bet the painting’s back to sleep already.” He didn’t wait for a response, just rolled up into a standing position and held out a metal hand to help her up. “Don’t say no to the birthday boy.”
She took hold of the offered hand, letting him help her up. “Alright, but I cannot be held accountable for running off again if the teapot starts to sing for us.” Talking fixtures was one thing, the addition of song would push the entire thing to a ridiculous point that Peggy wasn’t sure she could adhere to. Even if it was to be expected in the castle.
“And don’t step on my toes, Barnes,” she warned with a pat to his metal arm. “Or I will have no issue with drop kicking you to the floor.”
“I absolutely believe that,” Bucky said, trying to look solemn about the threat, but a smirk threatening to destroy the seriousness he was trying to project. Absolutely no one would believe he was going to be completely gentlemanly. “But don’t worry, at least I’m not Steve. The jerk’s stepped on my toes more times than I can count. If I didn’t have that serum in me, I’d be toeless.” And no matter how much he had tried to teach Steve how to dance, his lack of coordination always got the better of him. Two left feet, his Steve.
Returning to the ballroom with Peggy, he offered his flesh and bone hand. “May I have this dance?” He murmured, sure to pitch his voice low so that the furniture and paintings wouldn’t wake up again to shout them away.
“For all that man can do, dancing is definitely not his strong suit.” She had gotten her dance finally out of him back when she had first arrived in Tumbleweed and while it had been nice to live out that particular request, it was not one she would try for again. Her feet wouldn’t let her.
She accepted his hand, stepping forward so that they would be better able to dance together. “I’m sorry he isn’t here with you. Especially today.” She knew there was the Steve that was there, but that was hardly the same thing. There was no recreating memories and events that had lasted for so many years elsewhere, no matter how one might with to. “But at least you were able to get high with me. I’m sure he’d approve.” And be amused. Definitely amused.
He lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “It is what it is. I think I’m going to be okay, you know? It doesn’t hurt like it used to. He wouldn’t want it to, anyway, and I’m trying to remember that.” Wrapping one of his arms around her waist and pulling her closer than he probably would have if he had been sober, Bucky smiled wide as they started to sway to music that only they could hear. “He would shit a brick if he saw us now. He wouldn’t know if he wanted a sandwich or if he should lecture us and ask us to leave enough space for Jesus between us.”
Laughter bubbled out of her all over again, balance faltering as it burst forth and she leaned against Bucky to steady herself. Peggy couldn’t remember the last time she had felt as much mirth as she was tonight but wouldn’t look too closely at that, or she would fall down a hole of sorrow that she wasn’t ready to traverse any time soon. She could almost picture Steve at the edge of the ballroom, motioning for the two of them to about the appropriate amount of space between dance partners. “Knowing him he would have a ruler ready to help us measure the distance needed,” she finally managed to get out.
Bucky held her up, while she worked to gather herself. “I'd argue that he's become a lot more relaxed in the past few years, but that's a lie. He'd pull out a yard stick and clear his throat any time he couldn't see our hands.” It didn't feel sad, ribbing Steve like this, like he thought it would. It almost felt therapeutic. Sam probably would call it a significant breakthrough, to mention Steve and not feel sad.
“That does sound remarkably like him.” She could hear the love for Steve in his words, and it was comforting to know that at least in some reality the two of them had managed to carve out some happiness. Even if it had only been for a brief period of time. Peggy gave his metallic arm, and then after remembering that he probably wouldn’t feel that, his non-metallic arm a squeeze. “Happy birthday, Sergeant Barnes.”
He would always love his Steve Rogers, that was never going to go away, but he was certain he would be able to live without him too. And some days he might forget that, but over all? Yeah, he was going to be okay. Smiling at Peggy, he suddenly spun her away, back again, and then dipped her. Pulling her upright again, knowing she was probably going to step on his toes or something for not warning her, he replied with a fond, “Thanks, Peggy.”
She swatted his chest because of the sudden dip, though thankfully she kept her balance well enough. It was his birthday so she supposed he’d earned the right to dip her at least once. “A little warning next time,” she reminded, but there was entirely too much mirth in her voice for it to be any real kind of warning.
The twinkle in his eye promised her that there would be no warning next time either, but really, she probably already knew that given she knew how he was. “Sure thing, sweetheart.” And the rest of the night was spent dancing away and exploring the castle, until sleep pulled them back to their respective rooms.