Though it looked like she was busy dancing, Sharon’s eyes immediately spotted the women as they moved into the seats around Bucky. She could read the tension in his face from where she was; James Buchanan Barnes, decorated sniper even before HYDRA got a hold of him, a man who jumped from planes, and a bunch of co-eds had him cornered. It would have been funny, if he didn’t look so uncomfortable. That was not the point of the evening.
Sharon practically stalked back to the table, flinty look in her eyes. She grabbed the back of Bucky’s chair and moved it backwards far enough to give her room to plant herself in his lap. She reached across the table for one of the girls’ drinks, swallowed it down in a moment, then snapped the glass back onto the table, upside down. She made eye contact with each of them.
“He’s way out of your league, girls. Why don’t you try some of the fuckboys at the bar?” She drawled in a calm manner, one arm slipping around Bucky’s neck. With a slew of glares and dirty looks, the other women departed, and she watched them like a hawk until they were lost in the crowd. She turned her head and gave the soldier a little kiss on his temple.
“Sorry about that,” she murmured into his hair. “I can’t blame them, though, a good-looking guy like you alone? I should have known better.”
It may not look like it, or sound like it, but this was Bucky trying. Believe it or not, Bucky took Dr. Raynor’s advice seriously. She wanted him to get out there and meet new people and socialize and Buck was trying. He was. It just didn’t come as easy to him as it did back in 1939.
So he was grateful when Sharon asserted her dominance. You could see the tension leave his shoulders the second she sat on his lap. It was definitely the lesser of two evils. Sharon sitting on his lap any other time would make him nervous. It didn’t this time. He was a soldier at ease.
Bucky had finished his drink and he lifted the empty glass as if it show the blonde on his lap. “Howard Stark perfected the super soldier serum with Dr. Erskine and neither one of them came up with anything to get us drunk.” That was Bucky speak for: I wish I was drunk. Alcohol wasn’t referred to as a social lubricant for no reason. “You didn’t have to come to my rescue.” He was grateful but he didn’t want to ruin her night. “You looked good out there, Agent Thirteen.”