Who Am I? » [Stucky]

49. Moonlight Serenade

Bucky and Steve would sometimes be awake until the early sun began to rise in the dark sky, just wasting away the never-lasting hours with each other, frittering away the long nights, spending them in each other's arms with only eyes for one another and only love in their beating hearts for one another.

Steve liked to put on music in the very early hours of the morning, Bucky had discovered this quite quickly. Steve enjoyed the peaceful settling ambience that the familiar music provided; even if it was the scratchy low definition sound of a record playing on the record player. It reminded him of a better time before all of the strife and chaos, and it reminded him of Bucky.

Steve had an astounding comprehensive library of records stashed away in a box that he would reel off onto the record player through the night, one after the other. Tony had bugged him mercilessly about getting iTunes and putting all of his music onto a computer or iPod or his phone, Tony had even offered to do it himself; but Steve had declined. He'd said that he far preferred the records because of the unique sound, yes, it was low quality, but it was right. It was all part of the overall effect. Plus, Steve didn't have the time or patience for trying to figure out the new-fangled technology that Stark was so very fond of.

He was a fan of jazz and blues, and Bucky found something comforting in the cathartic sensation it created for him when he heard the familiar songs of his day. There was something about jazz and blues that made the pair of them rest easy.

The music became a small ritual that the pair of them endorsed. Sometimes Steve would play it whilst he drew absentmindedly in his sketchbook, just scribbling away at his page without a care whilst the sound washed over him like the soothing touch of water upon skin, just like when the shallow waves came rolling in on the beach, bubbling and sloshing on the shore and covering his feet. He'd enjoy the vibe when it put him in a relaxing mood, when he was reading. Sometimes the pair would just lie silently, hugging each other's warm body upon the settee, cuddling close and huddling in a bundle on the sofa.

There was an electric crackling sound as Steve flicked on the record player, and the static fuzzing as the plate spun without a record on it or the needle dropped. There was a tiny clunky thud in the audio system as the record was dropped onto the spike in the middle like a game of hoopla and a scratch as the needle was placed down into a groove of the vinyl.

The sound of woodwind pipe instruments hummed out of the unclear speakers then tinny brass of the muted trumpets chorusing came in short stabs of sound. Bucky's head lifted abruptly from where it was tilted down on his chest and he sharply folded the crisp page and slammed the book shut, shoving the covers together with a loud clap. He tossed the dusty old tome of classic tales down and rushed into the next room, hot footing it, following the sound like children did the pied piper and running into the room.

Steve was swinging his hips along to the swung melody as it blared aloud through the speaker, his back still to Bucky, watching the spinning record rotate on the player.

"This..." Bucky murmured. "I know this..."

Steve slowly turned like the record and faced his intrigued partner with a peacefully satisfied face, swaying his head along to the melody, his features loose and in a neutral mask of tranquillity.

"It's Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade," Steve informed him, his eyes falling shut as the song entered his ears and filled his senses, letting the sound take him a million miles away.

Bucky nodded, the name ringing bells of familiarity in his head, as well as the unique composition, that sequence of notes reawakened some pleasant memories in his head, stirring some more of his consciousness to life and a small smile tugged at his lips. The song used to sometimes come on late night radio when the boys were shivering cold in their house when they couldn't afford to pay the gas, shuddering beneath the covers as they huddled together.