Hello Sergeant (Bucky Barnes)

Making memories

Sarah's POV

I laughed as I turned to Bucky, putting my hand on his shoulder as he enveloped my other one in his metal one, moving easily with the music. "She won't really break his toes, will she?"

He quirked a brow at me. "Hard saying, but Natalia doesn't make empty threats, doll."

"No she doesn't. What do you think, Bucky?"

"You did good, even if I did have to wear a monkey suit." He paused for a moment before meeting my eyes. "I remember him looking like that now."

I felt relieved that this was working better than I thought it would. His muscles were relaxed under my hand and he was even smiling. "Do you remember yourself looking like this?"

He nodded as his grin widened. "Yeah, I do now. I didn't have to wear this a lot, though. I usually wore my regular uniform, like the one we saw in the museum."

"This is more of a dress up occasion tonight, Bucky. Thank you for playing along with this. You're a surprisingly good dancer, by the way."

"You ain't seen nothing yet, doll. Do you know how to swing dance?"

"Yup. I learned all the dances from your time so I could teach Steve. He said you tried teaching him back before they gave them the serum."

Bucky laughed. "I did! Punk never could figure any of them out. He's doing pretty good tonight, though." We glanced over to see how Steve was faring, smiling when we saw how well he was doing with Natasha. I looked back at Bucky when he squeezed my hand lightly. "Thank you for making me come; I didn't think I was going to enjoy this."

"Socializing or dancing?" I was sure that he was enjoying the dancing, as easy as he made it look.

He smiled wryly. "Socializing. I'm not much of a people person anymore, but I know I used to be. Wearing this makes it easier, though. I almost feel like my old self tonight."

"It's been great seeing you come out of your shell with the team. We're all glad you're here."

"It was worth it to see the look on Steve's face when he saw me," he said, eyes twinkling as his grin grew.

I grinned back as we came to a stop when the music ended. "It certainly was priceless. Did you like the dog tags?"

He pulled me in for a hug, burying his face in my hair and kissing my cheek. "Love 'em, doll. I didn't know I was missing 'em until today, but I know I used to have them – ever since training."

Tony came up to us then, annoyance in his voice. "You can unhand my girl now, Barnes; this dance is mine."

Bucky held me tighter, and I heard the smile in his voice. "Nope, find your own girl, Stark."

I patted his chest. "Bucky, Nat's on her way over here for her dance with you, so you might as well let go of me." His arms loosened and I stepped back just as Nat came over.

"<You look good tonight, James,>" she murmured in Russian to him as I stepped over to Tony.

"How did it look?" I asked him, searching his face.

He smiled proudly. "I thought you were going to make Cap cry, kitten. He's dancing with Pepper now." We looked over to see Steve leading Pepper through the steps, looking more at ease than before. "She said she wasn't going to miss her chance since he was already on the dance floor."

I looked around to see that the floor had filled up during the last set. "Good call. Looks like everyone is enjoying themselves. Is Clint a gangster?"