keepcruising | (no subject)

Sir Steven Grant Rogers can't remember a time he didn't live in the palace. He sees his family from time to time, but this is where he's grown up. The whole time he'd lived here, it's been drilled into his head that it will be his job to protect Prince James. It's not exactly a hardship, either, because they've grown together here and even if their lessons are very different, Steve has spent enough time with his charge to know that he is someone very much worth protecting.

He's worked hard in his fighting lessons and he knows James works very hard in his own diplomacy and history ones. They get along well when they're together and they have since they started playing pranks together as children. Now, they're growing into fine young men, if anyone in the palace is to be believed. Steve isn't so cocky as to have an opinion on himself, but he does think that Prince James--Bucky in private--is growing into a fine leader.

Tonight, they've just finished yet another banquet in the King's honor. Many of the older knights and nobles are drunk and laughing, but at some point Bucky slipped out of the hall and Steve makes his own quiet exit to find his prince. Soon, Bucky won't be able to leave a room without Steve. Well, he shouldn't. Steve is sure that Bucky will find a way if he really wants to, but Steve hopes he'll grow out of the need to lose his guard when it officially becomes his best friend.

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"If I don't, who will?" Steve's still smiling like a huge dope. He doubts he could stop it if he wanted to, because Bucky makes him so damn happy and this? Being allowed to touch him and kiss him? It's so much, almost too much in how perfect it is. Steve knows without a doubt that he would do anything to protect this man and keep him safe and happy and it has nothing to do with his duty and everything to do with the man Bucky's become.

And maybe he's a little hungry, too, even if he'd eaten more than Bucky at the feast. He sits on the little settee, close enough to the center that if Bucky sits, their legs will touch. Now that he's allowed that proximity, he feels hungry for it, like he needs to soak up as much of Bucky as he can before it's too late.

One day it will be too late, but Steve can't worry about that right now. All he can worry about is Bucky and the food they're about to share and where their evening will take them once they've eaten. He knows what he'd like to do and he hopes Bucky won't mind Steve laying him out and exploring his body.

He wants to touch and taste and tease until Bucky can't take another minute of it all, but for now he'll watch.

"Guess you've got a point," Bucky says with a grin. This? This is perfectly fine with him. They work so well together, even if they hadn't just walked themselves into this final step between the two of them, he knows that Steve would be there for him for reasons that have nothing to do with being his bodyguard, and have everything to do with being Bucky's best friend. He moves his wrist carefully, so he can go from being lead by the wrist to squeezing at Steve's hand.

When he sits down, he can't help but smile at the proximity to Steve. He's honestly not sure how the hell he's going to be settle down enough to eat, because being this close to Steve is a dream come true, no longer something relegated to a private fantasy. It's easy enough for him to settle into grabbing at heaps of food onto his plate with a grin at Steve, deliberately shifting so he can move closer to Steve.

He might not be able to tell what's on Steve's mind, exactly, but his expression is full of want even so. "Anything you want to do tonight?" he asks, leaning in so he's completely in Steve's space. He's so close, they could almost kiss. There's no doubt what he's implying, not now, not when he's already leaning into Steve's space like he is.

Steve's eyes trace Bucky's movements easily. It's an old habit he's had for a while, but now he doesn't have to pretend it's purely his job. Now, he can let Bucky see exactly what he sees here in Bucky and it isn't even limited to lust. There's naked adoration on his face. He can't quite help it now that the floodgates are open.

"I want to touch you." He leans in, eyes focused on Bucky's. "I want to learn your body the way I've learned my own."

And then he licks his lips and leans in, not to kiss Bucky but to whisper hotly in his ear. "I want to make you forget everything else."

He pulls back with a smile, because he's a little bit of a bastard. "You should really eat something first."

All of this attention on him, so different now compared to how it used to be, before they were both able to accept this-- Bucky smiles, feeling boyish and suddenly shy, even if he's known Steve his entire life. "You can touch me," he purrs, a little pink in the face, but excited. He's had fantasies, sure, a couple of lewd dreams here and there, but the idea of them finally being able to do this, to learn together.

He pulls closer, because Steve has that look in his eyes that makes Bucky eager to get started. He wants to get his hands on his best friend, to do the same Steve wants. To really learn the other. "Stevie," he whines, feeling off-balanced and needy. How had he gone his entire life without this? That whisper sends a shiver down his spine, and Bucky can't help but lean further into Steve's space.

...And then he has to go and do that. "You punk!" But he's laughing; that's a good sign. Bucky can't blame Steve, not entirely, not when that was the entire reason they'd brought food into the room to begin with.