Bucky nervously taps the fake pistol against his thigh. The skintight leather breeches weren't his idea, but even he had to admit that they certainly drew attention.

"James." Bucky jumps at the sound of Natasha's voice. "Jesus Christ, Nat! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

She smiles innocently at him. "I just wanted to see what you thought of my costume." She delicately spins around, letting her wide skirt twirl around her.

"Not bad, Romannoff." The dress itself looks to be made of spiders, and the mask she wears appears to have six glittering eyes on either sides of the eyeholes.

"Thank you." She tugs gently at the bandana that covers the lower half of the brunet's face. "I see the costume I loaned you is working well."

Bucky blushes. "Yeah. Some lady tried to grope me, which was pretty awkward."

Natasha laughs. "Good. I've been trying to get you with somebody for months."

The brunet discreetly tugs at his pants. "This is not how I imagined meeting someone, Nat."

"Yeah, well. Whatever works." She searches the massive crowd on the dance floor. "Alright, Barnes. You're on your own. Try not to embarrass yourself, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. You won't mind if I use your bed, right?" She sticks her tongue out at him before giving him a one-armed hug. "Good luck, Barnes."

Once she's gone, Bucky isn't all that sure what he should be doing, so he heads over to the snack table.

"Hey, stranger."

Bucky almost shoots Sam before remembering his gun is plastic. "Can you not, Wilson? I nearly went into cardiac arrest."

Sam grins. "You know, a handsome guy like you shouldn't be hogging all the snacks."

"Yeah, well. Hard to see my handsome face when it's covered with fabric. You do know that the point of the masks is so people don't recognize you, right?"

Sam adjusts his massive falcon head. "Yeah, but I'm not all that interested in having a secret identity." He nudges the brunet. "Are you gonna go out there?"

"I don't know. Dances aren't really my thing."

"First of all, it's called a ball. Second of all, you decided to come, so you should at least participate for a few minutes."

Bucky groans. "Why, Sam? Everyone's having a great time without me."

Clint (it's obviously Clint, nobody wears as much purple as that man) runs up to both of them. "All the people without dates are supposed to be on the dance floor," he gasped, clearly out of breath.

"I don't see you out there," Bucky remarked.

"That's because I came with Tasha." Clint points over at a large table, where the redhead waves at the brunet. "Anyways, you two should probably go out there. Stark will probably try to kick your assets if you don't."

Bucky hands his drink to Sam, who immediately drops it in the trash can. "I have no desire to fight a drunk Tony Stark. I'll go."

He shuffles out to the edge of the dance floor. Most people have partners, except for a small pack of women that Bucky has no desire to go anywhere near.

"Excuse me." Bucky turns. Holy garlic bread. A blond with a torn and charred once-white suit and broken wings stands in front of him. The brunet tries not to gawk. "Uh, hi."

The man smiles shyly. "Would, uh, you be willing to dance with me? If you don't want to, that's okay too, though..."

Bucky smiles and takes the blond's hand, tugging him onto the dance floor. The man smiles nervously. "I should probably warn you now, I'm no good at dancing," he admits. "I never really thought to learn."

"That's okay. I had to teach my three sisters and two brothers how to dance, teaching you won't be a problem." Bucky holds the blond in place, adjusting his arms as needed. "So, what are you dressed as?" Bucky asks, just to make small talk.

The man smiles. "A fallen angel."

Bucky smiles. "Yeah, angel is right."

The man reddens. "Um."

Bucky laughs. "Sorry if that was awkward. I haven't done this kind of thing in a long time."

"No, it's okay. Besides, you're better at the whole flirting thing than I would be."

Bucky smiles. "Maybe I've had more practice." He laces he fingers through the man's, and places his metal hand on the man's shoulder. The man does a double take when he sees it. "Is that-"

"Yeah. It's prosthetic." Bucky begins to take his hand off the blond's shoulder, but the man takes the metal hand and softly kisses it. "It's okay. I just thought it was interesting, that's all."

Bucky redeems, grateful for the low lighting. "Oh. Thank you."

"No problem," the man hums, shifting his body along with the brunet's. "How did you lose it, if you don't mind my asking?"

Bucky gently tugs the blond in time with the music. "I was a sergeant in the army for three years, until I rolled over a land mine." He tugs his collar to the side, showing the seam that connected his shoulder to his metal arm. "My arm was completely blown off."

"I'm sorry."

Bucky smiles up at him. "It's alright, it wasn't your fault."

The blond looks unsure. "Do you mind if- I, uh," he tries to find the right words. "I'm sorry. I'm so awful at this."

Bucky laughs. "It's okay. I think it's cute."

The man blushes and ducks his head. "Thanks, I guess."

Bucky smiles and stands on his toes, gently kissing the blond. The man immediately kisses back, his hand brushing the brunet's back.

When they broke away, the blond scratches his neck. "That's, uh, what I wanted to ask. If you wanted to, I mean." Bucky laughs. "Yeah, I figured." He moves closer. "Do you want to do it again?"

The man grins and leans in, this time holding the brunet to him by the back of his neck. Halfway through, Bucky starts laughing. The man frowns and pulls away. "What's so funny?"

"We're making out," Bucky gasps, "And we don't even know each other's names." The man think about it for a minute, then chuckles, holding his hand out for Bucky to shake. "Steve Rogers."

Bucky takes it. "Bucky Barnes."

"Hang on, what?"

Bucky chuckles. "It's a nickname," he explains. "Don't worry my parents weren't cruel enough to name their son Bucky."

Steve smiles down at him. "That's good."

"No kidding. So, do you wanna... sit down, or something?"

"Absolutely." They quickly move to a table in the corner. Once they settle in, Steve leans back in his chair. "So why'd you decide to come?"

Bucky shrugs. "One of my friends kept nagging me. I decided to come last minute, and she provided the costume, which actually fits strangely well."

Steve laughs. "Yeah, pretty much the same."

They talk like that for hours, about family and friends, music and art, and everything in between. At some point, they both notice the room getting gradually emptier and decide to head to Steve's apartment.

"I'm sorry if it's messy," Steve apologizes, "I wasn't really expecting company."

Bucky waves away his apology. "Don't worry about it. Your apartment can't be nearly as bad as mine."

Steve shrugs and unlocks the door to let Bucky inside, and they both enter, awkwardly standing in the entry hall.

"So, uh," Steve says, "do you wanna watch a movie, or..."

"I dunno. Depends on what movies you have, I guess."

"The best movies I have are Star Wars. Or a Knight's Tale, which is awesome. Even though the Chaucer guy sounds ridiculously familiar."

Bucky's mouths twitches at the corner. "Knight's Tale it is."

Once Steve's set up the movie, he cuddles up next to Bucky and throws the giant blanket over both of them. By the time William's met Jocelyn, Bucky's snoring softly. Steve grins and carries the brunet to his bedroom and setting him down carefully. He can't wait until the morning.

Yes, I know, a late chapter. I meant to publish this on Halloween, but I was 'busy'. Oops.

(: