dysmorphics | it's you and me up against the world, it's you and me

"God, you're so sexy," Steph blurted out, unable to stop herself. It wasn't just that gorgeous smirk; the thought of Bucky tearing her clothes off her while her hands were tied was already turning her on. She was going to have to do some more shopping. He said they had more than enough to splurge once in a while, didn't he?

Until then, she was just going to have to draw it.

The talk of 'vintage' and 'antique' made her laugh. "I guess that's what we both are. Might as well live up to it." Not that she expected him to go back to wearing suits. She liked his new look anyway, since it showed off his body far better than all those layers and formality. "You wanna go out for lunch or dinner sometime?"

Bucky couldn't help laughing again. "Steph, that's what I'm usually thinking when I look at you." No, she wasn't built like a pinup girl, or like the serum made the one he went to war with, but Bucky had always thought she was beautiful and sexy, even when she didn't seem to agree.

"We can go whenever you want," he grinned. "I heard about a giant used bookstore that I thought we should check out anyway." From what he understood, the bookstore was massive, and even had a selection of other things, like old vinyl records.

And so they went on Monday.

Steph figured Monday would at least be quieter, not that New York City was ever truly quiet. (Except after the Snap, but she hadn't been around for that.) It was as much for her as it was for Bucky; she was still adjusting to the modern world's hustle and bustle, and he disliked crowds.

That and she wanted to wait for the delivery of her new lingerie set. It was blue, mostly see-through, and barely there that she felt naked underneath her dress — also blue, and one of his favorites. Completing the look was a 'vintage inspired' hairstyle from a YouTube tutorial. It was a date, after all.

New Yorkers normally minded their own businesses, but she still noticed some glances their way as they walked hand-in-hand toward the bookstore. Maybe it was her outdated fashion style. Or maybe because she looked positively tiny next to him, they probably thought she was underage or something. Thankfully she had the foresight to grab one of Cap's fake IDs (in a stash Steph found containing bags of cash and several firearms) in case people thought to card her.

They made a beeline for the science fiction and fantasy section. Sure enough, there were several special editions of Tolkien's works, which delighted her. "Which ones do you want? And you're not allowed to say no, or let me choose for you."

While Steph looked beautiful beside him, Bucky was in a Henley, a coat, and some gloves. But, to be fair, while he had been focused on getting things for his tiny girlfriend since she arrived, he didn't actually have all that much when it came to things like clothes. Or just... things he picked out. Still, he'd cleaned himself up a good bit, trying to be a bit less scruffy looking for her, and selected his least worn-out pieces of clothing for their date.

And the only reason he paid any attention whatsoever to the looks they got was to make sure people weren't recognizing him. Because, to him, of course people would notice a beautiful woman walking down the street.

"I don't need anything fancy," Bucky told her as they looked over the books, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he noticed a set of five hardbacks, with the spine of The Hobbit looking a hell of a lot like the copy he had decades ago. He tucked the collection in his arm, then led her to the sections for a couple of other science fiction authors he'd heard were good, grabbing a short story collection from each of them before giving Steph a smile.

"Anyone you wanna look for? Or any genre?" he asked, draping his arm over her shoulders as he held her close to his side. "They've also got records here. Somewhere." The store was massive, and he'd never been there before, but he was sure they would find them. Eventually.

Steph watched Bucky pick out his books with a soft smile. Even after everything he'd been through there was still a part of him that was the boy she remembered. More than that, he seemed happy enough with their date so far, despite the looks that came their way.

"Not for me, but—" She took his free hand in his and tugged him toward the non-fiction section. The bookstore did not disappoint; there were shelves on New York's celebrated heroes, past and present. She perused the selection and pulled out practically anything that had Cap's picture or name on it (including related terms like Lady Liberty, the Howling Commandos, and the Avengers) until she had a stack in her arms.

"He'll like these," she said as she found a table to go through the stack, rereading the summaries on the back and sorting them into two piles. She still hadn't found him the poster he wanted, but she thought her best friend might appreciate all these information about his wife, even if some might just be mere speculation. He couldn't just look things up on the Google, after all.

It took Bucky a minute to figure out why Steph would want books about the older version, but once he did he grinned a bit. The books would probably annoy his best friend a bit, but he thought it was amusing.

And he knew that he would have liked those books when he was younger, if he was in the other man's situation.

Once his girlfriend picked some out Bucky grabbed the rest and put them away, then grabbed one of the store's branded totes they sold so they could carry their growing collection easier. Might as well get one of those, too. Then, he led Steph over to the section with all the art books. Some on art history, some coffee table books, some on how to draw manga (whatever that was), it was all there. "I know you're going to want something from here."

Steph boggled at the selection. There were so many! How could she even choose? Under Bucky's expectant gaze, she started picking up those with covers and titles that looked interesting and flipped through them. Then she checked the price and debated on whether she really wanted them or not, after which she put most of them back on the shelves. She'd had no such hesitations with her picks for her best friend.

She ended up with only three books: a coloring book, The Colour Bible: The Definitive Guide to Colour in Art and Design, and Watercolor Painting for Dummies. "We can always come back," she told him when he asked if she was sure that was all, hugging the books to her chest.

Before he could pick up more books for her, she said, "Oh, I almost forgot—" and bolted toward the historical fiction section. She did almost forget, but it was a good excuse to make herself scarce. What she wanted was easy to find though: the bookstore, too, had a shelf of Lady Liberty novels.

She rummaged through her handbag and pulled out her little notebook, on which she had a list of titles in one of the pages. When Bucky caught up with her, she gave him a sheepish smile. "He's gonna like these too," she said, in her other hand a WW2-era romance novel with a cover that almost looked like... well, them.

Bucky couldn't help grinning at the way Steph took off like an excited little imp, but took the opportunity to grab a couple (or four) of the books he'd noticed her debating over the most and added them to the bag. It was sweet how she was more focused on getting things for him and his counterpart than she was on things for herself, but Bucky wanted to get gifts for her.

Once that was done, he grabbed another one of those tote bags because it was clear they already needed it, and followed after her. When he saw what she held up to show him he laughed. "What the hell is that?" he asked, reaching out to take the novel from her. It definitely bore a resemblance.

Shaking his head, he dropped the novel into the empty bag before holding it open for her. "Just put what we're getting him in here. It'll make it easier when we go to sort things out." Then he paused. "If you promise to find some more stuff you want, I'll even go back and grab a Tolkien set for him, too." The Lord of the Rings books hadn't been out yet in his time, after all.

"Romance novels inspired by your lives," Steph answered, grabbing a couple more of them and putting them in one of the tote bags. Inspired by was putting it lightly. Based on her research, these were written and published after their supposed deaths, and they rewrote history to give them happily ever afters. She was curious enough to want to try reading one before she forked it over to her best friend.

Accepting his offer, she led him to the romance section. She didn't have anything particular in mind; it was just the genre she used to read back in her time. She ended up choosing The Time Traveler's Wife, something titled A Knight in Shining Armor which also had some time travel, and Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses from the popular books table, titles she'd come across during her Internet searches.

"And maybe some comics?" Which landed them in the manga section, as she found herself more fascinated by the black-and-white Japanese style illustrations than the Western ones. She picked the first volumes of works by different artists, more interested in the style than the story.

She caught Bucky looking over her shoulder with interest. "You can understand this?" she asked, remembering how he knew many languages except French now.

Bucky followed along behind, happy to see her picking out whatever she wanted and shoving them into the bags as he took them from her hands. But when she started flipping through one of the thick comics he was surprised. "Yeah, it's in Japanese. You read it from right to left, and you start on what we think of as the back page." Which meant the pictures went from right to left as well.

He looked back at the shelf and chuckled a little. "Looks like most of these are in English, but there's a few Japanese ones mixed in." Why there were comics in Japanese there, he had no idea. But, it was what it was. "It's pretty, though."

Smiling, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned down to press a kiss to her head. "Get as many as you want, sweetheart. Then we'll go look at the records."

"I love the style," Steph gushed. She didn't care if she didn't really understand the words. Almost shyly, she slipped it into the bag, then added three more.

Records were easier. She was never much for music, but the few modern songs she'd heard, she didn't get the vibe. Which meant she mostly put Cap's records on repeat whenever she was in the mood. Her counterpart was missing some other singers from their time though, which were what Steph chose. Mostly the jazz ones, to dance to — Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington.

Their tote bags were close to bursting by the time they finished. "I think we should save the antiques shop for next time." Between the books and lunch, they were spending quite a bit, and she still wasn't all that comfortable with that. You could take the girl out of the Great Depression, but you couldn't take the Great Depression out of the girl.

In the end, after doing as he promised and grabbing one more set of the Tolkien books, Bucky ended up having to grab a third tote bag. But it was fine. They'd be able to just put all the things Steph had picked out for his counterpart into one bag and send it with him.

He ignored the double take the cashier did when checking out the Lady Liberty books, then once they finished and paid, he carried the three bags out easily in his left hand as though they weighed nothing as they left the store. "So, what do you want to eat for lunch?" he asked with a grin. The sun was bright that day, so he pulled his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and slid them on as he watched her. "Any kind of food you want. If you name something, I'm sure we can find somewhere that's got it."

The cashier's gaze followed them until she had to ring up the next customer. Steph hoped it was only because of their height difference, and not because she recognized Bucky. She wasn't actually sure what the public thought of the Soldier, or if they were even aware there was going to be a trial. Regardless, she just didn't want anything to ruin their date. It was going really well so far.

Until the next dilemma: lunch. She hadn't gone out in ages, let alone anywhere fancy. And while she would rather let him decide, she was aware he still struggled with decisions at times. Not wanting to trigger that, she took a moment to think and eventually chose, "Pasta?"

Bucky steered them to the side so they wouldn't be in the way as he pulled off his right glove with his teeth and pulled out his phone to began to look up the closest good Italian places, then paused. The comics she picked out made him think of something. "You want to try a different kind of noodles instead of just Italian food?" When he got the go-ahead, Bucky switched his search to Japanese restaurants. Yaki udon dishes were delicious. Even he knew that much.

He also knew sushi was delicious, and it had been a while since he'd had any.

In no time he'd found where a place with good reviews was, so he put his phone away, replaced his glove, and took Steph's hand again. "There's a place just a couple blocks from here, so we can walk it," he told her as he led the way.

Steph loved holding Bucky's hand, even with a glove and all. It was just nice, to stay connected. She liked being close to him, nevermind that they'd spent nearly all of their time together since she arrived. Which really wasn't new, if they thought about it. They'd been practically glued at the hip since they were children.

Having never had Japanese food before, she let him order enough to share. She liked the ramen; the broth was incredibly rich, and it warmed her after that walk in the chilly autumn air. The dumplings were tasty too.

"Best date I've ever had," she said, grinning. Technically only her second date, and that last one was a disaster, so it was really a low bar. "Thank you."

"We can go out any time you want, sweetheart," he told her with a warm smile. "Anywhere you want." No, he wasn't a fan of crowds anymore, but he would put up with them if it would make her happy. Bucky liked seeing Steph happy more than he disliked crowds, and that was saying something.

Bucky mostly let Steph have the ramen to herself, but with his appetite the way it was, he also ordered a large plate of chicken yaki udon, the vegetable and shrimp tempura appetizer, and an assortment of sushi and sashimi, letting his girlfriend have whatever she wanted out of the whole ordeal.

"But when you think about it, it's the same sort of thing we've always done." Just more expensive. And with more hand-holding and kissing. Bucky had always liked taking Steph places he thought she'd like, though.

It was true. They did hang out a lot back then, just without any kissing. A wistful expression crossed Steph's face as she, fleetingly, wondered how different things would have been. She certainly wouldn't have needed to throw a jealous fit and rip the seams of Bucky's shirt.

That was all in the past now though. Between living with the love of her life and not feeling like she was at the brink of death thanks to modern medicine, she could hope for and look forward to good things. More dates. More hand holding and more kissing. More orgasms.

"Maybe once in a while. I'm happy to stay in and just have food delivered anyway." For one thing, it was much cheaper. But she was also just mindful of his aversion to crowds.

"You like the Japanese food?" he asked before popping a piece of sushi into his mouth. Grinning as he chewed, he picked up a piece of his stir-fried chicken with his chopsticks and held it across the booth for her. Really, Bucky had only eaten Japanese food a couple of times before, but he remembered liking it a lot.

He watched her as she ate, the smile staying in place. It was good to see her eating to her fill instead of trying to hold back to reserve her funds or save things for later. They had more than enough to live off of for a good long while now, and there was no rationing going on like there was when Steph came from.

"So what do you wanna do after this?" he asked after she took the bite from his chopsticks. "Wanna find somewhere else to visit, or do you wanna just head home?" It really was great to share a home with her. First off, it was nice to actually feel like he has a home for the first time in decades, but it was made even better by having her with him there.

"Yeah, it's really good. I should learn how to make these." Steph had always liked cooking for Bucky, even if she wasn't particularly great at it. There were video tutorials on the Google now though, which were relatively easy to follow for the most part. Plus, the modern world had an abundance of spices and seasoning. With time and dedication, she was sure she could manage.

Using chopsticks might be a little more of a challenge.

Her eyes lit up when their dessert of fluffy pancakes arrived. She sliced off half for herself, then left him the rest, as she was already close to bursting. "Maybe we can walk for a bit before heading home? I'm really full," she admitted shyly, still getting used to a life where there was no rationing and they could afford the occasional indulgence. "We can take some pictures."

Knowing Steph would probably have an issue with the chopsticks, he'd made sure she got a regular fork with her meal alongside the chopsticks. That way she could try them, then switch if she felt like she needed to. Which she had. Quickly.

"I bet you'll figure it out in no time," he said, the grin still on his face as she halved the pancakes. "But a walk sounds good." It might be a bit chilly out, but he didn't mind if she didn't.

Besides, he could warm her up once they got home.

Once they'd finished their food--Bucky finishing everything off so they didn't have any leftovers to carry home--he paid the bill along with a nice tip, then took her by the hand again as they left the building. "I figure we can just peek in some store windows or something for a little while. That alright?" Plus, if she saw something she was interested in, they could always go inside and check it out.

Either way, they were probably going to have to catch a cab later to get back to Brooklyn since the store he'd wanted to take her to was in Manhattan.

"Yeah. We can get you a new shirt. You bought clothes for me the last time." There was nothing wrong with Bucky's clothes, but Steph noticed he had so few pieces and thought he could use a couple more, even if he just wanted more of the same.

She let him lead the way, content to follow him through the crowd. The modern world continued to be a marvel, between the technological advancements, the architectural wonders, and how there were just so many people, different kinds too. She could sit somewhere along a street all day and sketch, committing faces and fashion styles to paper. Maybe she should, one of these days. If he got too busy with preparing for the trial or something.

Bucky was content to wander down the street with Steph, looking in store windows as they passed, until they came across an Abercrombie & Fitch. Surprised to see it was still around, but glad to see a brand they recognized (even though the marketing seemed to be a lot different these days), that was where they decided to check for a shirt or something.

"You wanna pick stuff out for me?" he asked as he looked around. It seemed to be a lot less outdoors-focused than it used to be, but people as a whole seemed to be a lot less outdoors-focused than they used to be. "Just nothing too... flashy." Thankfully, Bucky was confident she wouldn't do that to him. Hopefully.

He gestured towards the side of the store with womens clothes. "They might have something you'd like, too."

"Yeah, of course." While a part of Steph missed how Bucky used to dress back in their time, she rather liked the unassuming look he had about him now, too. Just... too much black. Now that she could see color, it was kind of a missed opportunity, especially when he had such pretty blue eyes.

So she picked some blues in a range of shades, even teasingly holding out one next to her face and saying, "It matches my eyes?" to convince him. Then she picked out a black cap to go with his jacket and gloves. He might look cute with a scarf, but he would probably consider that flashy.

There was also a maroon shirt she liked, as well as a dark green one, but she wasn't sure if the connotations hit too close to home — the color of blood, and his Army greens. Blue was generally safe, at least.

Bucky was a bit surprised by the number of items Steph was grabbing for him, but he didn't argue. Instead, he just let her drape the items over his good arm while she picked things up, chuckling a bit here and there. (And the statement about her eyes did convince him, actually.) He even noticed her looking at the red and green shirts and told her those were fine, too. The colors weren't overly bright or anything, and they weren't covered with patterns like some of the other things in the store.

"You need to see if there's anything you like, too," he told her with a grin as he hung the red shirt on his arm, then tilted his head towards the women's section. Sure, she had a wardrobe that fit her now, including some new things as well as the clothes his counterpart had brought her from the past, but that didn't mean she couldn't have more if she wanted. They could afford it. "Or whatever else you like in here. Not just clothes."

"Help me pick?" Steph didn't really have a problem finding stuff she wanted. It was just her frugal nature growing up that prevented her from buying them all. Not that that applied to anything that was for Bucky. She spared no expense when it came to him.

Which was why, after choosing some dresses together, she tugged him over with her to the sleepwear section. "What do you think?" she asked, holding up an embroidered set against her body. She had more than enough pajamas and nightdresses by now, but she knew he liked it when she wore something nice in bed — even if he ended up taking it all off anyway.

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