Work Text:
The sound carried far in the cool night air - it was a loud, caterwauling sound, like a cat yowling or a baby crying.
Bucky slammed his hand over Steve’s mouth and hissed: ‘Jesus, Steve! Shut the hell up!’
Steve just whined into the beta’s palm, his lips parting and panting wetly against his skin. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he backed them into the nearby alleyway, sinking into the shadows and clinging to the dirty brick wall. Steve’s tongue was coming out to trace small, wet patterns onto his hand, a low, keening sound still coming out muffled from his throat.
Bucky couldn’t decide whether he was pissed off or turned on. ‘Hush,’ he said again, pulling Steve up tight against him as he caught sight of an approaching shadow passing the corner of the alleyway. He heard the sound of footfalls on the pavement, but they passed by without noticing the beta and omega hiding in the darkness.
‘We gotta get you home,’ Bucky hissed, and Steve nodded in agreement even as his hips began to writhe ineffectually against Bucky’s body. Slowly, Bucky lifted his hand off of Steve’s mouth, shifting it instead to his friend’s shoulder as he crept forward to peek around the corner of the alleyway. ‘It’s only a few blocks.’
‘Buuuuuck,’ Steve started, his voice quickly devolving into a draw out whine again, and Bucky quickly came up behind him again to muffle his voice once more.
‘None of that,’ he urged.
‘Gotta, gotta,’ Steve babbled against his hand, and twisted his neck as he rubbed his body back up against Bucky’s, opening his mouth to try and suck Bucky’s thumb between his lips.
Reflexively, Bucky tugged his hand away from Steve’s mouth again; but the omega only started up on the goddamn mating call again, so Bucky just slipped his digit back into Steve’s mouth, feeling the wet slide of his friend’s tongue over the shape of his knuckle.
'Fine, suck,' he said. 'If it keeps you quiet. Jeez, no one better see us, okay? Or I'll kill you before anyone else can, pal, got it?'
Steve nodded even as he tongued and swallowed around Bucky’s thumb. The beta rolled his eyes.
It wasn’t far, and it was late - the streets were basically empty. If they were lucky, they could make it. Bucky pushed at Steve’s shoulder with his free hand, and moved his body behind him to guide him forward. The way Steve’s legs moved as he took an unsteady step forward, it was clear that slick wetness was already dripping down from between his thighs. Goddammit. Stupid, godforsaken, biological bullshit.
Bucky hated it. (Also, the scent was overwhelmingly hot.)
'Alright, Stevie, here's the go,' he muttered as he shuffled them towards the corner of the street. 'Ignore the wood against your ass, okay? This is the only way we're getting you home without you siren callin' half of Brooklyn. I'm gonna check the cost is clear, then we're gonna make a bee-line quick smart to the front door. And for Christ's sake, you couldn't have waited five more minutes?!’
Steve shook his head, teeth scraping lightly against Bucky’s thumb between his lips. Goddammit that felt good. It wasn’t fair to ask that Steve held back his heat, Bucky knew that logically. It was impossible, and it had been coming on all night. In fact, this was probably all Bucky’s fault - he’d been the one who’d begged to stay for one more song at the dance hall.
Well, whatever. Didn’t matter now. What mattered now was not getting raped and killed by any rutting alpha assholes. Bucky poked his head around the corner, checking the street.
It wasn’t empty - there was an omega bum sleeping on the steps of the news-stand who Bucky recognised by sight if not name. He wasn’t going to be an issue. Further down there were the silhouettes of two dames walking arm in arm. They were a ways away. If they were going to move, they were best to move now.
Steve’s lips were still closed around the base of Bucky’s thumb, and the omega was sucking and moaning and keening even as his hips writhed up against nothing.
'Go, go, go.' Bucky pushed them both forward, his body tight against Steve's as he hurried him along. There was one more corner before the block with their house - the only variable now, and then they'd be home safe and sound and Steve could ride out his heat in relative peace.
Bucky hurried them across that last road, mindless of anyone who might catch sight of them. There was nothing for it anyway. Somewhere in the distance he thought he heard someone calling out to them, but he ignored it. Steve was nearly slumped in his arms, and before anyone could catch up to them he was manhandling the omega up the steps to their flop and fumbling with his keys.
Steve whined as Bucky pulled his thumb from his mouth to fiddle with the door lock - it always caught, needed both hands to open properly. Ideally not one of those hands slick with saliva, but Bucky made do.
Finally, they were in, and Bucky was locking the door behind them, letting go of Steve’s trembling body.
The omega just slumped to the floor, pulling at his clothes.
'Sorry, Buck,' Steve panted as he finally managed to pull his shirtsleeves over his head, mindless of the way his suspenders snapped and clattered against the floorboards. He was lying down on his back, feet planted on the floor and knees bent, hips canting up.
His body never looked strong enough to sustain heat. There was a dip in the centre of his narrow chest, and his stomach was always bony and concave, a little twisted from the misalignment of his spine. Bucky threw the keys onto the sofa and dropped down next to his friend.
'What the hell you apologisin' for?' he asked as he reached out to the laces on Steve's shoes. Helping Steve out of his clothes was all he could do for now.
'You know what.' Steve was tugging in frustration at the fly of his trousers, unable to get a steady grip on the belt clasp and letting out annoyed huffs between his keening noises. 'That mating call bull, I didn't mean to, promise.'
'Oh, now you don’t mean to nearly get us killed,’ Bucky teased, and that earned him a little gasped laugh, and finally Steve was able to get his belt undone. He tore open his fly as Bucky pulled off his shoes, and pushed his pants and underwear down over his knees.
The smell of heat became even stronger as Steve’s slick was exposed, his inner thighs already shiny from the heady lubrication and his small, flushed cock curved up against his abdomen. They’d long ago lost any shame or modesty between the two of them when it came to this stuff.
Steve’s fingers dipped between his legs. ‘The, the stuff, Buck?’
Bucky was already getting to his feet. ‘Yeah, I’ll get ‘em,’ he promised as he moved to the bathroom. Where the hell did they put that box after last time? Not under the sink, surely? In the cabinet? Bucky checked, it wasn’t there. Under the bed. No, not under the bed. He hurried back into the bathroom, checking under the sink. Maybe, okay, there they were.
Dr. Graeme’s Rectal Dilators for the Un-bonded Omega Male. (Guaranteed to relieve symptoms of heat, and treat anaemia and heart palpitations!)
The first, yes. The other two? Not so much, turned out.
Bucky skidded back into the living room, where Steve was still sprawled on the floor, fingering himself openly. His cheeks were flushed, lips parted, eyelids fluttered closed. His moans were like the caterwauling over the radio - cracked and broken but appealing nonetheless. The beta dropped to his knees beside his friend, fiddling with the clasp of the box.
Steve’s eyes didn’t open. ‘Found them?’
'Under the sink.'
'That's what I said.'
'When?'
'Just now.'
Bucky opened the heavy wooden lid. ‘Didn’t hear you.’
'You never listen to me when I'm in heat.' Steve sounded genuinely annoyed. That was good. Familiar.
Bucky rolled his eyes. ‘Well, no. You babble. Bull about wanting my knot.’
'Mmmmm,' Steve moaned as his fingers pressed deeper inside himself. 'Do, Buck. Do want your knot. Want it so bad. Want you to fill me up with your seed, breed me, make me yours. Bond us together, knot us together. Jeez Buck, want it so much.'
Bucky pulled out one of the rectal dilators; the largest. It seemed like the time for it. ‘See, this is what I’m talkin’ about. Crazy talk. Babblin’.’
The dilators were similar to other ones that sometimes got sold as cockamamie medicinal devices, little metal butt plugs that treated hernias or what have you. Only, these ones flared at the bottom in simulation of an alpha’s knot. And also, they weren’t quack science, they were actually purposeful.
Bucky passed it to Steve. ‘Here, take that. That’s a knot for you.’
The omega swatted the plug away. ‘Don’t want it, want yours,’ he keened, reaching out to grab ineffectively at Bucky’s leg.
'For the last time, ain't an alpha, ain't got no knot. This is every few months, Stevie. Put the medicinal dildo up your ass for Christ's sake.'
Steve’s eyes flashed open then, an entirely different kind of heat in his eyes. The one more akin to him picking a fight with some knucklehead behind a diner. ‘Fine,’ he snapped. ‘But you know I can’t put it in myself.’
It was true. Whatever it was that was wrong with the alignment of Steve’s spine left him unable to push the dildo in properly without straining his back, even if he could get his fingers in just fine. It was alright up until the knot, but everything from there was Bucky’s job.
Although it looked like today he was assigned the whole business.
'Alright, roll over.' Bucky nudged at Steve's thigh with his elbow, waiting for the omega to shift onto his stomach before running a hand soothingly down his crooked spine. 'Sorry, pal. Shouldn't be short when you're like this.'
'Ah, 's fine,' Steve panted out. 'I get dumb. You have no idea, Buck. It's like, it's like everything in your brain just goes…' He trailed off, making some incoherent whining sound. Bucky smiled and nodded, catching Steve's eye where his head was resting on his bent arm, ass tilted up in the air.
He rubbed the cool metal of the dilator over Steve’s slick hole, earning a softer, smoother moan. ‘We’ll get this in you, then I’ll turn on the radio, alright?’ he asked. ‘Listen to the dramas, take your mind off things.’
Steve just panted something affirmative-ish and pushed his ass up against the plug. ‘Maybe get, get off first,’ he managed to say.
Bucky shrugged. ‘Do what you want, I’ll make some cocoa.’
'Cocoa,' Steve repeated blissfully, and Bucky pushed the narrow end of the dilator inside him.
It was smooth and easy - Steve opened for him easily, but he still went slowly, careful not to hurt his friend. The dilator was designed for this, it’s size graduated and conical, before dipping in a little and then tapering out again into the shape of the knot. That was fine. They knew from experience that Steve could take it no problem.
'You look after me so good,' Steve murmured as he pushed back against the intrusion, bringing more of it inside even as Bucky kept his hand still. 'Cocoa. This. Why you not an alpha, Buck?'
Bucky pressed the dilator slightly further in; the slick, flushed ring of Steve’s hole swallowing it beautifully. ‘Just ain’t,’ he said. ‘But we’re not like that anyway, pal.’
'I'd bond with you,' Steve panted.
'I would too, if things weren't like they are.'
'No, anyway.'
'Can't happen, Stevie.'
Steve’s legs were trembling, his narrow thighs shaking like the boughs of ashen tree trunks in a gentle breeze. ‘Can too. I’ve seen betas and omegas together.’
'Not fellas, though.' Bucky stroked his hand over the little dip between Steve's ass and his back, holding him down and still even as he filled him up with the dilator. It was nearly in, sucking down that last narrowing section before the knot.
'Fellas too,' Steve gasped. 'Down by the Horn & Hardart.'
Bucky frowned. ‘Well, yeah,’ he conceded. ‘But that’s. Let’s not get into… You ready for the knot?’
'Oh boy, am I!' The blithe humor of the words was undermined by Steve's breathy, panting tones.
It seemed almost impossibly large, stretching him wide and filling him up obscenely. But it went in, settling the plug snug inside his ass with a flat, flared metal base.
Steve let out a relieved sigh, his face slackening in pleasure as he adjusted to the dilator inside him. ‘Oh, god,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Bucky.’ He sounded somewhat more like himself.
Bucky shrugged, and moved to tug off his tie, finally relaxing a little. ‘Any time, pal.’
The idea generally went that heat become manageable for an omega once they were knotted by an alpha, ideally their bond-mate. There was still an insistent arousal, of course, that clung to the air cloyingly. But once knotted, everything seemed to drop in urgency. Steve wouldn’t unintentionally call to be mated, and the deliriousness would subside somewhat, for as long as he had the dilator inside him.
It was the only way that they’d found to cope with the whole situation. Alphas in general tended to take one look at Steve and baulk - he wasn’t good breeding stock, no matter how appealing the scent of an omega in heat. The problem wasn’t so much that no-one would fuck and knot him; hell, it was all they could do to avoid that if Steve went out while in heat. The problem was that no one would bond with him. And Steve had said, again and again, that Buck, it was bonding or nothing.
Bucky thought that he was missing out on some quick, cheap fun, but then, there was more to think about when you were an omega. As a beta, Bucky was free to be a bit more… foot-loose.
Betas have more fun. All that jazz.
So yeah. He could get behind Steve’s position.
'That feelin' better?' Bucky asked as he stood up, throwing the tie over the back of the couch and wandering over to the kitchen to put some water on to boil. He glanced over his shoulder at the little arched doorway.
Steve was still on the ground, face down in his arms, his ass perked up in the air over bent knees like a cat presenting. But he was smiling at Bucky with more than a touch of embarrassment flaming on his cheeks. ‘So much better,’ he affirmed, and he rocked his hips back a little, moaning as the dilator shifted inside him. ‘I need to get to the bedroom though, while you’re out here.’
Bucky took the kettle off the stove to fill it up at the sink. ‘Why?’ he called back, raising his voice over the sound of the water running, splashing into the metal of the pot.
'Gotta, gotta get off, Buck. Just the once, for now.'
'Do it where you are, I don't mind.'
Steve moaned, and Bucky glanced over his shoulder. His friend was still planted face down on the floor, sweat glistening down the uneven curve of his spine, one hand sneaking under his body to stroke at his cock. ‘Don’t it make you uncomfortable?’ he panted out, and Bucky just snorted, setting the kettle on the stove and lighting the gas burner.
He blew out the match and dropped it on the bench. ‘S’not anything I don’t have to hear every night anyway.’
'Not every night,’ Steve muttered, flushing pink on his cheeks. Bucky turned about, leaning back with his hands on the corner of the counter. He grinned, but looked down at the toes of his shoes rather than the way Steve was squirming, bringing himself off on their living room floor.
His shoes were getting scuffed. He wondered if they had any polish anywhere. Kept his eyes trained down, because, no matter how he joked about it, he liked watching Steve like this. Liked it too much.
The thing was, they were totally compatible to bond. Always had been, always had known it. For the most part, bonding was an alpha/omega thing, but hey. Nature made exceptions for everything. From the moment they had met, there had been that little tug of consciousness between them, that slight awareness a half-second too soon of what the other was going to say or do.
It was mild, distant, detached. But it was noticeable. And it was terrifying, at least for Bucky. Steve hadn’t ever really seemed to mind all that much. But then, Steve never really cared about what other people thought about him – at least not when he was assured he was in the right.
Panting against the floor boards, Steve was already coming apart, and averting his eyes, Bucky tried to ignore the soft, muffled sounds of his friend’s pleasure. It was clear he was trying to hold them in for Bucky’s sake, and after a quick glance over to confirm, he could see Steve had his hand (the one not stroking fast and desperate at his dick), knuckles deep in his mouth to quieten himself. His teeth looked to be digging into his fingers hard enough to hurt.
Bucky turned around as the kettle began to whistle, and pulled out two mugs and some chocolate syrup to mix the drinks. As he stirred, spoon clinking against the sides of the mug, he heard Steve let out a long, desperate keening sound. He turned around, hot drink in each hand just as Steve’s whole body began to tighten up and he spilled into his hand, flushed and sweating.
Bucky put the drinks on the side table over by the sofa, and wandered back over to crouch down next to Steve, who was coming down. His eyes were glassy and his cheeks were pink, and he was smiling in a slightly self depreciating way that made Bucky smirk.
‘Bucky…’ Steve murmured against the floorboards, and looked up at him, tongue coming out to wet his lips.
'You wanna get up and join me on the sofa, pal?'
Steve ignored him. ‘You feel that?’ he asked, and Bucky rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
'I heard that, not the same thing.’
'You'd feel it if we bonded,' Steve mumbled, and lifted himself up, body trembling on shaky arms. 'Felt good.’
Bucky smiled. ‘I’ll bet it did,’ he said. He reached out, helping Steve up, and the omega slumped against him almost immediately, legs shaking. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut. He tried not to make a big deal, but having Steve naked and slick and trembling against him – wiping his jizz covered hands on his shirt, thanks, Steve – was often just a little bit too good not to be affected. He helped him over to the sofa, looking resolutely forward and trying to ignore that fact that now, now that they were touching, he was feeling just a nudge of Steve’s own afterglow hedging in at the edge of his consciousness.
He wasn’t quite sure what it would take for them to bond, even on accident. A wild night of passion? A particularly good hand-job? A trip in the wrong direction? Sometimes it felt like it was all Bucky could do to stop it happening, and that wasn’t right.
'Hey, you're feeling it now,' Steve observed happily, as Bucky settled them on the couch and shoved the mug into Steve's hands. Typically of heat, Steve shifted around and settled in with his legs over Bucky's lap, and his head curled in on his shoulder, trying to get as much physical contact between them as he could.
Bucky lifted the cocoa up to his lips, blowing on it. ‘Your slick is wreckin’ my nice pants,’ he accused, and Steve – asshole that he was – only grinned and shuffled in closer, getting them both stickier and filthier. Bucky sighed.
'Don't turn the radio on,' Steve said, nuzzling his cheek against Bucky's shoulder. 'It's late, I wanna sleep soon.'
Nodding, Bucky wrapped one arm around Steve’s back, feeling the warm flush of sweat damp skin, the trembling insistence of heat seeming to emanate out from his bones.
'Yeah, me too,' he said quietly. Steve shifted a little on the sofa, moaning quietly as the dilator shifted inside him.
'Can I bunk with you tonight?'
'Sure you can,' Bucky said, feeling indulgent. 'Don't you try nothing, though.'
He could feel Steve’s lips quick up innocently against his shoulder. ‘Like what?’
Rolling his eyes, Bucky laughed through his nose. ‘Anything that would result in something that starts with “B” and rhymes with schmonding.’
'I wish you'd just agree to schmond with me,' Steve said. 'You know it would make things ten times simpler.'
'It wouldn't,' Bucky said. 'People would know.'
'People already think the worst,' pointed out Steve, and yeah. Yeah, that was true.
The way it went, was people tended to assume that Bucky was an alpha. Just at first glance. You see someone as blatantly omega as Steve, and yeah, you think the big strong fella walking with him will be his alpha.
There was a little old lady, Mrs. Sanders, in particular, who worked at the corner shop down the street, who they had just given up explaining the situation to.
'It's not right,' she would say, every time they came up to the counter to buy a packet of cigarettes for Bucky and some milk. She would glare at Bucky accusingly. 'You ain't doing right by your young fella. If you two don't bond, the Lord'll be onto you.'
The first couple of times, they’d corrected her. I ain’t an alpha, ma’am. No, we just live together. No, it ain’t like that at all. What do we do when he goes into heat? We make do, ma’am. We make do like everybody.
Too many questions, too much explaining. Her memory wasn’t all there anyway, so there was no point. These days, Bucky would just fumble around in his pocket and say, ‘I know, ma’am. You’re right.’
'It's what I keep tellin' him,' Steve would add, his expression innocent enough to fool everyone but Bucky.
'No, I ain't doing right by nobody,' Bucky would agree, and she would nod, curt and firm.
Christ, but it was enough to make him think that maybe it would be easier if they just bonded. But deep down, Bucky knew it wouldn’t help none. Would only make it worse. Would just open them up to a whole new lot of questions, and possible imprisonment on top.
He sipped at his cocoa slowly. ‘You ready for bed?’ he asked after a while.
Steve had gone mostly quiet, just rocking softly against the feel of the dilator inside him. He seemed dozy and pliant, and it was probably best to get him off to sleep now, before the insistent need to get off started to bother him again. ‘Mmm,’ he murmured into Bucky’s neck.
'Come on then,' Bucky said, taking the half empty mug of cocoa out of his hands and putting them both down. He nudged Steve with his elbow. 'Allez oop.'
Steve yawned. ‘Glad to hear you remember your French,’ he said, and whined as Bucky pushed him up more pointedly. ‘I’m goin’, I’m goin’,’ he muttered. ‘Allez, Allez. I got it.’
Bucky watched for a moment as Steve staggered, naked, towards the bedroom. He could see the metal base of the dilator wedged between the round cheeks of his ass, the way the backs of Steve’s thighs glistened with slick. Shit, he thought. It was too much. He wasn’t going to sleep next to that tonight – he was going to lie awake with a persistent hard-on and conflicted emotions.
After a moment, he followed Steve into the bedroom, groaning.
*
It took a long time, but to his own surprise, Bucky eventually managed to sleep, his face buried in Steve’s hair and hand pulling the omega’s body close to him. It was the only way Steve allowed him to sleep on nights like this – even the smallest amount of space between them was unacceptable to him, and he would shift and bother and nudge Bucky until he relented and tugged Steve in close.
However, he didn’t sleep for long. The sun still hadn’t even begun to rise outside when he found himself blearily blinking towards consciousness, feeling groggy and tired. Unsurprisingly, Steve was writhing gently against him, rocking back against his erection – of course he had wood, this had probably been going on for ages, and he vaguely remembered he had been having a nice dream, too.
What was surprising though, was that Steve was still asleep. He was keening quietly under his breath, and his body was practically humming with heat, and Bucky could feel a wet patch that had formed at the front of his own skivvies from Steve’s slick, even with the dilator in place. But he was definitely out like a light.
Bucky nuzzled his nose against the fine strands of Steve’s hair, hoping to get back to sleep himself – but as the minutes passed, and Steve continued to push back against him, and just the faintest press of Steve’s own foggy, heat-addled consciousness began to push at Bucky’s own, and his own arousal became more, and more, and more unrelenting, it just became clear that it was not… nope, not going to happen.
Spreading his palm out across Steve’s abdomen, Bucky groaned, and rocked against him from behind. He knew Steve wouldn’t mind. He never did. Heat always ended up like this, the two of them rutting together in the darkness some early morning or late, isolated hour of the night. They didn’t have to talk about it. Not much. It was fine.
The thing he felt worst about was waking Steve up.
'No, shh, it's okay,' he muttered into the omega's ear as he felt him stirring. 'You don't have to, just go back to sleep, huh?'
But Steve just arched back with more intent, grinding back against Bucky’s dick, dragging a groan from his throat. He could feel the hard base of the dilator dragging against the head of his cock, and it was enough to almost be painful. Bucky hissed, hand coming down to grip Steve’s hip tightly.
'Buck?' Steve asked, voice scratchy from sleep, even as he began to pick up a real rhythm, hips rolling back and a low sigh coming out from between his parted, red lips.
'Do you feel it?'
'Yeah,' Bucky hummed, hips canting forward. He would come like this, probably, soon. In his fucking briefs, sliding wet with Steve's slick. Their laundry basket would reek on Tuesday.
'It feel good?' he asked, and Bucky nodded.
'Don't know how you do it, pal,' he gritted out, panting with the steady roll of Steve's hips. 'Feels just… hot, all over, and mad. Just like I can't think straight.'
Bucky knew he was only getting the tiniest hint of what Steve was feeling. Being compatible to bond, being pressed so close, being mostly naked and slowly getting off together like this… it was like a preview sometimes. A taste of what they could have if they bonded, that constant, physical, empathetic link. Bucky couldn’t help but wonder how this would feel if they had the whole deal.
Steve keened, low and long, tilting his head back against Bucky’s shoulder, his hair brushing over the beta’s cheek. ‘You should fuck me,’ he suggested, still sounding a bit sleepy.
Bucky sighed. ‘See, here we go, babbling again.’
But Steve shook his head. ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I know what I’m talking about. I’m askin’ for the same thing I spend half my life wishing you’d do.’
'You don't spend half your life in heat,' Bucky pointed out longsufferingly. 'Like, an… eighth at most.'
'And yet,' Steve said, and grinded back against Bucky's cock particularly pointedly. Letting out a shaky breath, Bucky thrust forward automatically, fingers digging in tighter than he meant to against Steve's hip bone.
‘Fuck,’ he gasped. ‘I can’t, I can’t, Steve. I just can’t. You need an alpha, I ain’t enough. I ain’t got a knot, I can’t bond with you. I’m not what you need.’
'Bullshit,' Steve growled. 'You get me through heat every time, Buck. You look after me all the time anyway, even when I don’t much need it, thank you.’
'We make do,' Bucky murmured, breathing out and dragging his lips over the bones of Steve's shoulder, squeezing his eyes tight shut. 'We just make do. Like this.'
Steve groaned, lifted his hand up to card it through Bucky’s hair, keeping him close. ‘We do a helluva lot better than that,’ he gasped. The rocking of his hips must be shifting the dilator inside him. It probably felt amazing, Bucky thought. Better than he could give, most likely. That was it. He wasn’t an alpha, he didn’t have a knot. He wasn’t enough for Steve.
There was no universe where he was good enough for Steve.
But Steve himself seemed to disagree. ‘Take the plug out and fuck me, Buck. For the love of god, please.’
Bucky shook his head again, rocking against Steve. ‘We can’t—’ he started. ‘What if we bond?’
'What if? Who cares,' Steve replied, but sighed at Bucky's noise of objection, and tightened his grip in Bucky's short hair. 'We don't have to. We just won't. Screwing won't mean we'll bond. We'll just… not.'
'You always said though,' Bucky insisted, but he slid his hand around to the front of Steve's body to start stroking his cock, because shit, he was only human. 'You said, bonding or nothing.'
Steve let out a noise between a snort and a groan, thrusting forward into Bucky’s hand. His dick was already leaking small beads of precum, easing Bucky’s strokes so that they were slippery and fluid. ”S different with you,’ he grunted. ‘You and me, Buck. We’ll get there eventually, won’t we? So it don’t have’ta be today.’
Bucky kissed a line up Steve’s neck, faltering in his argument. ‘Will we?’
'Course, Bucky. When… when we can, when we want to. You'd bond me if it was, if it was okay, wouldn't you?'
'Yeah,' Bucky said without hesitation. He sucked Steve's earlobe between his lips, smirking as Steve writhed away, ticklish, only pushing up more frantically into his hand. 'In a heart-beat, buddy.'
'Okay, so, we'll move out to a desert island, where it's just us, and it won't matter. We'll catch all our food and gather rainwater to drink and fuck in the sand.'
'I ain't fucking in the sand.'
'Or we'll go live with one of those tribes in remote parts of the jungle, that you read about in anthropology books. Where they say there are omegarchies, where the alphas are the sex slaves of the omegas, and no one would care if we were together.'
Bucky laughed. ‘We wouldn’t speak the language, Stevie.’
'I hear they speak French,' Steve insisted stoutly, and that was it. Bucky groaned, half exasperated, and let go of Steve's cock to reach behind him and slide out the dilator.
'You sure about this?' he asked, and Steve didn't answer in words: just nodded frantically and twisted his neck around to pull Bucky into a messy, sloppy kiss.
They didn’t kiss often, not even during heat. Bucky sighed into it. He always loved kissing Steve.
'Should I wear a rubber?' he asked, and Steve grunted in annoyance, and reached over to the dresser with heat-shaky hands, pulling out the strip of condoms he knew was in there. He tore one off, chucking it back into Bucky's face.
And then he let out a long, high whine as the dilator slid free from his body. Bucky dropped it onto the blankets somewhere.
'Oh god,' Steve stammered. 'Ohgodohgodohgod, I need you in me now.’
'Hold up, 'm getting there,' Bucky muttered, opening the condom wrapper with teeth and sticky fingers. As he fumbled to get it on, Steve started stroking his own cock, slick leaking out profusely from his ass, soaking the bed-spread already. Bucky swore. 'Ridiculous,' he said, as he finally rolled the condom on.
'In, in, in, in,' Steve chanted, like he was hurrying someone inside a door they shouldn't be going through.
'Shit,' Bucky muttered as he lined his dick up with Steve's slick hole. He tugged Steve flush against him, going back to kissing him messily as he pushed slowly inside. 'Okay, okay, but no bonding, remember?'
'No bonding,' Steve agreed breathlessly, against his mouth. 'Just this.'
'That's right,' Bucky said, as Steve took him. God, but he could just slip inside so easily, the slick easing the way, and the dilator having kept Steve open for hours already. It was smooth, effortless – a bit too much like coming home. 'You feel real goddamn good, Stevie.'
Steve just hummed happily, pushing back against the slow thrusts that Bucky was starting to settle into a rhythm with. He needed to take it slow, or this would be over more or less immediately. Bringing his hand up, he tilted Steve’s head around to bring the kiss in a bit deeper, and slid his tongue inside the omega’s mouth. Steve kissed back the way he always did, like it was a competition for who could be more passionate and desperate, so Bucky just kept the kiss steady, deep and restrained, forcing him to slow the hell down.
Steve whined in frustration, but it was worth it for the way he pushed back against Bucky’s cock, and the way he went tense and shivery, his whole body tightening up for a moment before going slack and relaxed, letting Bucky guide them.
Bucky smiled into his mouth, and slipped his hand back down to Steve’s cock, stroking lightly. This was better. Slow, gentle, easy. Take it as long as they liked, until dawn if they needed to. It was the only way that Bucky could make this worth it for Steve. He may not be an alpha, he may not have a knot – but at least he was a hell of a good lay. It wouldn’t be the same, not for Steve. But then, aside from the dilator, Steve didn’t really know what he was missing.
Selfishly, Bucky hoped to keep him all to himself, forever. At least that way he could pretend to be good enough for his friend.
'You're so good to me, Buck,' Steve groaned into his mouth.
In response, Bucky just started to slowly pick up the pace, nudging Steve with his knee to hitch up his leg a bit so that he could get in at a deeper, faster angle; and Steve cried out, letting Bucky swallow the sound down immediately.
It was good. It was amazing. It was so good that Bucky was struggling to believe it was really happening.
And a problem was starting to make itself apparent.
The thing was, Bucky could feel Steve starting to get close to orgasm. As in, he could literally feel it, as if it was his own sensation. He could feel the waves of heat crashing through his body, he could feel Steve’s more delirious moments, he could feel it as he grazed Steve’s prostate on his perfectly angled thrusts, and he could feel the pleasure as if it were shooting up his own spine.
'Do you feel that?' he gasped into Steve's mouth. The omega nodded frantically. 'I gotta, I gotta stop, Stevie, baby, or—'
'Don't you fucking dare,’ Steve growled, and Bucky couldn’t help but laugh, a touch hysterically. His thrusts faltered, but he kept going as Steve started to fall apart, his thighs shaking, his chest flushed, his slick leaking all the more profusely between them.
'We can’t bond,’ Bucky insisted, trying to fight against the crashing feeling of Steve’s sensations pouring through him like the swell of the ocean tides.
'Then don’t,’ Steve said, but pressed back so that Bucky was pressed as deep as possible inside him. ‘But don’t stop now, please, Christ, don’t stop now.’
Bucky panted, helpless to say no to Steve. ‘Okay,’ he gasped, his own release hurtling towards him. He fought it off, focusing on kissing deep into Steve’s mouth and stroking his cock faster. ‘Come on, come on, sweetheart, baby, that’s it. Come on.’
Struck by idea, Bucky wriggled his free hand between them, and pulled back on his thrust just far enough that, on his next push inwards, he slipped his fingers, in a half fist around the base of his own cock, inside Steve. It was a stretch, even for Steve’s slick, open hole – but he still opened easily for the extra width, and – eyes flying open – Steve nearly choked on a loud, breathless cry.
'Oh, Bucky, yes!’ he gasped, pushing back against the improvised simulation of a knot – and Bucky felt it as he spilled all over his hand. He felt it in every cell of his body. He felt every tremor and tightening and pulse of Steve’s orgasm, as if it were coming from inside himself, and it was all, God, it was all he could do not to follow suit immediately.
He felt the elated emotions as they crashed through Steve, and they crashed through him as well. It seemed to last for ages – Steve kept coming after he stopped spilling spunk over Bucky’s fist, just trembling and shaking until he finally came down, boneless; and Bucky couldn’t hold off another moment, his own orgasm ripping through him, mingling with the aftershocks of Steve’s own.
Steve shook with pleasure throughout Bucky’s release, overstimulated, until they finally both came down, breathing hard and sticky with sweat and various fluids.
After a long, silent moment, Steve quietly asked; ‘Did it, did we…?’
Bucky shook his head, nuzzling his nose over Steve’s cheek. ‘Nope,’ he said. ‘Close thing though, you asshole.’
Steve laughed, surprised and delighted, as Bucky pulled out of him with a wince, and slid off the messy condom, tying it off.
'Oh, it's fine, Buck,’ Bucky said sarcastically. ‘We’ll just not bond, how hard can it be?’
'Well, we didn't,' Steve pointed out. 'So, it's fine.' Sitting up, he felt around for the dilator, quickly passing it back to Bucky to slide inside him again.
Pulling him into a deep kiss, Bucky obliged, and pulled Steve close to him. He felt the warmth of Steve’s heat shivering into the both of them, and let his hands slide all over his friend’s body. Sighing against his mouth, Steve relaxed, rolling over so that they could lazily kiss and touch one another everywhere, Steve teasing him for the way Bucky’s skivvies were caught up under his balls and laughing and making out by turns until the warming sun began to peek up behind the curtains and they both started slipping off back to sleep.
Yeah, sure, Bucky thought, his drifting off with Steve’s blond hairs catching under his nose ticklishly; It was fine.