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Steve and Bucky always meet up during their free third period so they can hang out (read: make out) behind the bleachers on the soccer field. They used to go to the football ones, but too many people had the same idea as them and they preferred the empty, if seriously worse-for-wear, soccer bleachers.
But today, Bucky doesn’t greet Steve with his usual bruising kiss, instead sweeping him into a gentle hug and holding him there for a minute. Now, Steve’s never one to complain about hugs, but he would infinitely prefer to already be sucking on Bucky’s tongue by now (he’s got his inhaler ready and everything, just in case he needs it) so he stands on his tiptoes and tries to bring their mouths together, but Bucky just holds him away gently.
“Buck, what in the hell are you doing?”
Bucky looks vaguely guilty, and a sick feeling is starting to worm it’s way into Steve’s belly. Does Bucky wanna break up with him? That’s certainly what this feels like. Steve knew this would end badly for him; art nerds with asthma that have to wear medical alert bracelets don’t belong with someone like Bucky, hot and cool with tattoos and piercings.
“I’m sorry Steve, I just-” Bucky cuts himself off and runs a hand through his hair, long and floppy in the middle and cropped short on both sides. It always reminds Steve of Sokka from Avatar, but whenever he mentions it to Bucky he just gets a gentle punch on the shoulder and Bucky muttering under his breath about how “I can’t believe my boyfriend is such a nerd.”
Steve nods like it’s ok (it’s not ok) and tries to keep his breathing even. If he has an asthma attack while someone’s breaking up with him he’ll be the joke of the entire junior class.
“I just, I fuckin’ forgot, ok, I forgot about your peanut allergy and Nat had some peanut butter crackers she didn’t want at lunch so she gave them to me and I ate them and I know how allergic you are, I just forgot and ate the damn crackers, so now we just can’t kiss today 'cause I don’t wanna hurt you and I’m so sorry.”
There’s a moment of utter silence, no leaves rustling or freshmen screaming, nothing but the sharp beat of Steve’s heart, before Steve releases a huge gust of breath that he wasn’t consciously holding. It almost sets off an asthma attack, which is absolutely typical, but he manages to take a quick puff of his inhaler before it gets worse than a slight wheezing in his throat.
Bucky looks stricken, torn between wanting to help Steve and conscious of the fact that Steve’s food allergies were not to be trifled with. Bucky ends up rubbing Steve’s thigh over his worn out corduroys, big hand gentle and so, so nice.
It doesn’t take long for Steve to have his breathing under control again - he’s used to these almost-asthma attacks by now, knows exactly what to do to head them off before they become really dangerous. But Bucky’s still looking at him like he might collapse at any moment (which only happened once and wasn’t even his fault anyway) so Steve socks him in the arm and then lets his hand trail down until he’s got Bucky’s fingers twined with his own. Bucky looks slightly less like he wants to call Steve an ambulance.
“You’re a dumbass,” Steve tells Bucky solemnly, and Bucky lets out a choked little laugh before nodding his head in agreement and tonguing at his lip ring absently, a nervous habit Steve hopes Bucky never gets rid of. “You know I don’t expect you to remember all my allergies all the time. Hell, I don’t even remember them sometimes. And as for the kissing thing, well, maybe you can’t kiss me, but I can sure as hell kiss you.”
Despite what other people seem to say about them (Steve doesn’t really pay any attention to the rumor mill, mostly because he’s usually got his nose in a book or a paintbrush in his hand, but Bucky loves starting new gossip and hearing what people think of them), Steve is not some shy little virgin completely overwhelmed by Bucky’s badboy attitude. Maybe Steve likes flowers and record players and sci-fi novels and old maps, but he also likes bending Bucky over his desk at home and fucking him until he sobs. So fuck those people, because Steve is perfectly capable of pulling himself onto Bucky’s lap and attacking his neck with a vigor that he usually saves for weekends when they’ve got the house to themselves.
Bucky lets out a startled grunt that quickly tapers off into a drawn out moan while Steve licks and sucks and, Bucky’s personal favorite, bites at his neck, leaving behind so many marks that they’d be impossible to cover up, even if Bucky actually tried for once.
They lose track of time, as they’re wont to do like this, and only the sharp ring of the five-minute bell gets their attention. Bucky curses and almost dislodges Steve in his haste to get up, since they only have five minutes to go from where they are now to their fourth period class, the only class they have together. It’s art, which is Steve’s favorite subject because the teacher loves him and lets him do whatever he wants (namely, paint all the damn time), and Bucky’s favorite subject because they share an easel and he gets to watch Steve paint up close.
They stumble in a minute late, but thankfully Mr. Fury is feeling generous and waves them to their easel without giving either one a tardy slip.
The other kids in their class are staring at Bucky’s neck, which looks like a hungry bear mauled him and left him for dead, but Bucky doesn’t really know the meaning of the word shame so he just smiles and starts painting a very lopsided flower, rubbing absently at the truly ridiculous number of lovebites that Steve left on his throat. Steve, for his part, does have some semblance of propriety and can’t help the flush that comes over his cheeks as, one by one, the heads in class start turning towards him, because who else could have given Bucky those hickeys? Steve tries looking confident and flashes the class a smug grin, something that Bucky’s been teaching him all these months of dating. He gets a couple raised eyebrows, a very few looks of disgust and, most gratifyingly, a wink from Natasha Romanoff (captain of the hockey team), a knowing grin from Sam Wilson (football star and all-around nice guy), and two thumbs up from Clint Barton (archery captain and notorious prankster).
Steve just grins back at them all and silently thanks Natasha for giving Bucky her peanut butter crackers.