Spite drabble request number 3! Another one for @saganarojanaolt, who requested pillow forts. And since we couldn’t decide between MCU and AvAc, I will be doing both haha. But first! This double ficlet! It got longer than intended and may or may not be set in a longer fic I’m planning, but that’s not at all important for this one!
Plz enjoy! And if you’re curious to know why I’m doing this or how to get a drabble of your own, come on over to my tumblr or hit me up on discord (riotsongs#3153)!
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“Uh, am I interrupting something?” Bucky asks, freezing just outside the elevator on the top floor of Stark Tower. The entire large, open floor penthouse has been completely taken up by walls upon walls of blankets, draped over furniture and hanging from the ceiling.
Tony’s head pops out between a fluffy purple blanket and a blanket with what looks like ‘HULK SMASH’ written huge across it, a wide smile on his face. “Hey,” he says in greeting, eyes practically shining with happiness, “perfect timing, the fort just passed inspection and is officially open to guests!”
Bucky can only blink at him, and then around at the mess of blankets that have overtaken the penthouse. “The fort,” he repeats slowly, raising an eyebrow as his gaze returns to Tony.
"What, you’ve never seen a blanket fort?”
“This is more like a blanket castle.”
“Do you want to enter the blanket structure or not?” Tony demands, and Bucky refuses to let himself think of the pout on Tony’s face as adorable.
Bucky nods, because like hell is he going to say no, and a bright smile overtakes Tony’s face before it vanishes down into the depths of the blankets again. Still, even as a tiny smile tugs at the corner of his lips, Bucky can’t help pointing out “I’m just saying, this is weirder than that time I came over to you and Parker taking photos of DUM-E with a bikini draped over him.”
Tony’s head pops out of a different break between blankets to give Bucky a disgruntled look. “Again,that was for the good of the robotics club. Now quit judging me and get in here already.”
Bucky is about to ask how he’s even supposed to do that when he spots what’s clearly meant to be a doorway, two thick blankets hanging beneath an arch constructed of cushions from the arms of the couch. He hesitates for a second, because this is probably not going to lead to working on the Robo Dojo, which is the reason he’s here, and Bucky just gave himself a stern talking to about not getting attached.
And hanging out with the person he may be trying not to get attached to in particular, in a blanket castle, seems counterproductive to that goal.
But Tony is still smiling hopefully at him, and dammit Bucky does want to see the inside of the fort, so with a final sigh he steps forward to push his way through the blanket doorway.
(And maybe he does want to get attached, but he can’t, so he’s not thinking about that.)
“Are there hallways in here?!” Bucky demands as he looks around at the walls of blankets that now surround him. He only has to stoop a little, and this definitely doesn’t count as a fort.
“Just follow the sound of my voice!” Tony calls around more laughter, so Bucky blindly sets off down the hallway he thinks will take him towards the living room.
“Oh wow,” Bucky says when he finally locates Tony in what he’s now going to be thinking of as a blanket labyrinth, “this is… impressive.”
While the actual ‘hallways’ of the fort were a little suffocating, now that he’s reached the living room the narrow passages have given way to a large open area that takes up most of the space. The blankets that make up the ‘ceiling’ appear to be pinned to the actualceiling, and there’s enough room for a pile of pillows and blankets, and of course Tony’s massiveTV. And Tony himself, sprawled out in the pile of blankets with a wide grin.
“You made it!”
“Barely,”Bucky says with a snort, “I’m surprised I didn’t have to fight a minotaur on my way here.”
“Mythologyjoke,” Tony says with a delighted laugh, “you absolute nerd.”
“Where is your couchin all of this?” Bucky has to ask as he looks around again, because he sees the couch cushions mixed into the pile on the floor, but not any of the furniture.
“It’s currently holding up that wall,” Tony says happily, pointing at one of the many blankets surrounding them, “pretty great, right? DUM-E and I did it all ourselves, and did it take all night? … Maybe. But totally worth it!”
Yeah, now that Bucky is looking for it he can see the dark circles beneath Tony’s eyes, the slightly manic edge to his smile. “So I’m guessing we’re notworking on the Robo Dojo today,” Bucky says and he can’t even bring himself to pretendto sound annoyed about it. It’s not like he was actuallygoing to be all that helpful, it was always just an excuse to spend more time with Tony anyways, even if he didn’t want to admitit.
But Tony perks up, flailing his way a little more upright in the pile of pillows. “We totally can!” He says excitedly, “this is a multi-purpose pillow fort. Hey J, can you pull up the Robo Dojo schematics for us?”
Instantly the familiar designs of the Robo Dojo fill the TV screen, and Tony grins up at him before patting a lump of blankets beside him in clear invitation, and Bucky only hesitates for a second.
He quickly realizes there’s no way to gracefullysit down into a pile of bedding and stuffing, though, and has to just flop down and try to remain slightlyupright, much to Tony’s amusement.
It takes some rearranging of the pillows around him, but Bucky manages to get himself steady and surprisinglycomfortable, and Tony dives into explaining all the finer mechanics of the Dojo, what exactly went wrong with the last upgrades and the new improvements he’s planning. Bucky isn’t exactly sure when playing sounding board to Tony’s ideas turns into them watching some sitcom Tony insists he needsto see, but it was probably sometime around ordering pizza.
Or maybe when Bucky rearranged his pile of pillows again to make a nice little throne for himself, but either way Bucky has eaten most of a pizza and he can’t remember the last time he was this comfortable, this relaxed. He also can’t remember the last time he saw Tonythis relaxed, half asleep and still shouting at the TV, sprawled out close enough that their legs bump together every time he laughs.
Bucky has no plan to admit it out loud, but he mightbe starting to see the appeal of the blanket fort.
WinterIron, T, Drabble - no-powers AU, morning after, one night stand plus?!
A second spite drabble request! This time for my bestest bro @gayspacesprinkles, who asked for something to match his latest cute-ass masterpiece of art.
If you’re curious to know why I’m doing this or how to get a drabble of your own, come on over to check out my pinned post!
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This wasn’t Tony’s plan.
He just wanted to grab a couple drinks, maybefind someone to follow home and never see again.
And now he’s drinking coffee on a worn-down couch in Brooklyn, waiting for his one night stand to wake up and hoping like hellthat it’s okay he’s still here.
His gaze jerks up when the bedroom door opens, breath catching, and then Bucky leans heavily against the doorframe. Even just woken up, looking around with eyes that are barelyopen, he’s as gorgeous as he was last night, and the smile that lights up his face as soon as he spots Tony still does dangerous things to Tony’s pulse.
“Hey,” Bucky says, running his hand through his hair and it does not at all help with the strands sticking out in every direction. Tony’s heart trips all over itself in his chest.
“Hey,” he says back, trying and completely failing to fight down his own wide smile.
“Just couldn’t wait to get your coffee, huh,” Bucky says as eyes drop to the mug in Tony’s hands, and his smile takes on a knowing curl, because he does know, “you coulda brought it back to bed, long as you didn’t spill it on me.”
“Didn’t wanna wake you,” Tony says with a small shrug, because Bucky doesn’t often sleep well, and that’s something Tonyknows.
Because they spend most of the night at the bar talking,only headed back to Bucky’s place when they got kicked out. Tony had started his night planningto head home after everyone had gotten their orgasms, maybewait until his partner was sleeping. But insteadhe’d been the one to fall asleep first, their legs tangled together and Bucky’s breath warm and slow against the back of his neck.
Who cares about Tony’s plan,he doesn’t wantto never see Bucky again, and when Bucky shuffles over to press a smacking kiss to his forehead Tony gets the feeling he’s not alone.
“Is that my sweater?” Tony asks, one eyebrow raised.
Bucky looks down at himself, like he somehow hadn’t noticedthat it’s at least a size too small, and then shrugs. “Seems fair, you’re wearin’ mine,” he says with a small smirk and presses another kiss to the corner of Tony’s smile before standing up straight and asking “you want breakfast? I have…. Cereal.”
“Sounds perfect,” Tony says, and fuckdoes he mean it.
(and yes Bucky IS eating his cereal out of a giant travel cup. All the better to sit on the couch next to the cute guy he brought home}
WinterIron, T, Drabble - Curse you Bucky! ‘Verse, animal transformation, Bucky as a tiny ball of fluff and rage
A cute little transformation drabble for @saganarojanaolt Thank you lovely!
The first in an upcoming collection of drabble requests fueled by spite! If you’re curious to know why I’m doing this or how to get a drabble of your own, check out this post!
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“According to a reverse image search, you’re a Pallas’s cat,” Natasha says, lowering her phone, and Bucky still doesn’t believe she needed to take thatmany photos of him to figure it out.
He also can’t believe that this has happened to him again, and he’s not sure if it makes things better or worse that this time he’s been transformed fully into a cat. He’s definitely not happy about how tiny he is, he’d barely been able to reach his claws up into Sam’s thich when he’d dared to call Bucky fluffy.
Worst of all, he’s pretty sure Tony is going to be pissed that he got himself cursed again.
Tony is going to accuse him of doing it on purpose again, even though he’s really not, and especially not this time. There’s no way in hell would Bucky ever wantto be turned into a tiny cat, but then again he didn’t want to be turned into a Yeti or an octopus either and Tony still gives him suspicious looks whenever those incidents come up.
The only upside is that Tony isn’t here,he’s been busy with SI meetings all week and this wasthe quick easy mission it was supposed to be. Not counting the part where Bucky got turned into a cat.
Natasha’s phone chimes, and she glances at the screen before announcing, “Tony is on his way.”
Bucky yowls angrily at her.
“OfcourseI sent him pictures,” Natasha says, smiling brightly, “he deserves to see this. And mock you.”
Bucky starts to yowl at her again, only to cut off in a soft squeak when he hears footsteps approaching the hanger. He’d know those footsteps anywhere, no matter whatshape he’s in, and so much for his plan to remain in the hanger until someone gives in and takes him to see Strange before Tony finds out. Sure, Sam had bailed after Bucky clawed him, but he’d thought he was close to wearing Natasha down.
Now all he can do is spin to face the doorway as Tony steps into the hanger, crouching low and looking up with the big innocent eyes that Tony always swears could get him out of anything. At least it does when he has his humanface, and hopefully it works as a tiny cat too.
Tony’s gaze sweeps around the hanger before landing on Bucky and then he freezes in place, eyes going wide, and Bucky braces himself for the worry and anger. Instead Tony just stares at him for several long seconds, face completely blank, and then what looks like tearsfill his eyes.
“Oh my god,”Tony says before Bucky can start to panic, “please pleasecan I rub your little ears?! You’re so- how are you that- I can’t even-”
“Don’t call him fluffy, that’s how Sam got clawed,” Natasha advises, and Bucky hisses at both of them.
“I don’t care if you claw me,” Tony says decisively, marching across the hanger towards him, “I am going to wear you like a scarf.”
“Always knew you two were freaks,” Natasha says with a smirk and a wink, and she is officiallytoo amused with Bucky’s predicament. She’s getting scratched too.
Bucky hisses again, but when Tony leans down to scoop him up he just huffs out a tiny sigh and lets it happen.
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(and an image behind the cut because I found it while looking up Pallas’s cats and about died. It’s very important to the story.
WinterIron, T, Drabble - Curse you Bucky! ‘Verse, animal transformation, Bucky as a tiny ball of fluff and rage
A cute little transformation drabble for @saganarojanaolt Thank you lovely!
The first in an upcoming collection of drabble requests fueled by spite! If you’re curious to know why I’m doing this or how to get a drabble of your own, check out this post!
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“According to a reverse image search, you’re a Pallas’s cat,” Natasha says, lowering her phone, and Bucky still doesn’t believe she needed to take thatmany photos of him to figure it out.
He also can’t believe that this has happened to him again, and he’s not sure if it makes things better or worse that this time he’s been transformed fully into a cat. He’s definitely not happy about how tiny he is, he’d barely been able to reach his claws up into Sam’s thich when he’d dared to call Bucky fluffy.
Worst of all, he’s pretty sure Tony is going to be pissed that he got himself cursed again.
Tony is going to accuse him of doing it on purpose again, even though he’s really not, and especially not this time. There’s no way in hell would Bucky ever wantto be turned into a tiny cat, but then again he didn’t want to be turned into a Yeti or an octopus either and Tony still gives him suspicious looks whenever those incidents come up.
The only upside is that Tony isn’t here,he’s been busy with SI meetings all week and this wasthe quick easy mission it was supposed to be. Not counting the part where Bucky got turned into a cat.
Natasha’s phone chimes, and she glances at the screen before announcing, “Tony is on his way.”
Bucky yowls angrily at her.
“OfcourseI sent him pictures,” Natasha says, smiling brightly, “he deserves to see this. And mock you.”
Bucky starts to yowl at her again, only to cut off in a soft squeak when he hears footsteps approaching the hanger. He’d know those footsteps anywhere, no matter whatshape he’s in, and so much for his plan to remain in the hanger until someone gives in and takes him to see Strange before Tony finds out. Sure, Sam had bailed after Bucky clawed him, but he’d thought he was close to wearing Natasha down.
Now all he can do is spin to face the doorway as Tony steps into the hanger, crouching low and looking up with the big innocent eyes that Tony always swears could get him out of anything. At least it does when he has his humanface, and hopefully it works as a tiny cat too.
Tony’s gaze sweeps around the hanger before landing on Bucky and then he freezes in place, eyes going wide, and Bucky braces himself for the worry and anger. Instead Tony just stares at him for several long seconds, face completely blank, and then what looks like tearsfill his eyes.
“Oh my god,”Tony says before Bucky can start to panic, “please pleasecan I rub your little ears?! You’re so- how are you that- I can’t even-”
“Don’t call him fluffy, that’s how Sam got clawed,” Natasha advises, and Bucky hisses at both of them.
“I don’t care if you claw me,” Tony says decisively, marching across the hanger towards him, “I am going to wear you like a scarf.”
“Always knew you two were freaks,” Natasha says with a smirk and a wink, and she is officiallytoo amused with Bucky’s predicament. She’s getting scratched too.
Bucky hisses again, but when Tony leans down to scoop him up he just huffs out a tiny sigh and lets it happen.
-
(and an image behind the cut because I found it while looking up Pallas’s cats and about died. It’s very important to the story.
WinterIron, M, 2k - College AU, mutual pining, fluff, humor, getting together, casual drug use
Written based on this UNBEARABLY adorable art by my stupendous bro @gayspacesprinkles
“You know,” Bucky says when his eyes land on Tony, and more specifically on what Tony is wearing, “when I invited you to spend the rest of winter break here it was notwith the intention of having you dig through and raid my highschool wardrobe.”
“Well that was poor judgment on your part,” Tony says, raising his shoulders so the lower half of his face practically disappears into the collar of the oversized letterman jacket and hopefully hides his wide grin, “because obviouslyI was always going to do this. And you toldme to grab a jacket.”
“I meant one of yours,”Bucky says with a huff of laughter, but he doesn’t tell Tony to take the jacket offand Tony grins a little wider where it’s still safely hidden beneath the collar.
“So where are we going, to the backyard?” Tony asks as he starts to turn towards the bedroom door. He figures Bucky’s family must all be in bed by now, if Bucky is breaking out a fat joint and telling him to grab a coat with a smirk, but he stops when Bucky shakes his head.
“Nah, this way,” Bucky says with a wiggle of his eyebrows, then tucks the joint into his mouth so he can haul open the window beside his tiny childhood desk.
“Thiscannotbe a good idea,” Tony says as he watches Bucky clamber out of the window.
He’s pretty sure it goes less gracefully than Bucky intended, especially when his wide shoulders almost get caught in the window frame, but then he disappears onto the sloped roof. Tony sticks his head out the window, the rest of him remaining firmly inside, to better give Bucky a skeptical look.
“We are going to fall off this house,” he says flatly, “and that is notmy idea of a good stoned time.”
Bucky laughs and plops himself down, bending his knees to brace his feet against the shingles, and then says “I have never… Okay I have only oncefallen off this roof.”
“Very encouraging,” Tony says with a flat stare, but it’s really hard to fight down his own smile when Bucky is grinning at him like that, lit up by the full moon and the dim glow of the streetlight down the block.
“Where’s your sense of adventure,” Bucky asks, and then when Tony just continues to stare at him he shifts his feet apart and pats the roof between his spread thighs in clear invitation. “C’mon, I won’t let you fall,” he says with a small, teasing smirk.
Tony’s never had the bestself control, but it would take a lot more than the threat of falling off a two story house to have him turning down thatoffer, and he doesn’t even mind that Bucky laughs softly as he quickly scrambles out the window. Tony does take the time to carefullycrawl over though, ignoring Bucky continuing to snicker at him.
“Alright, now give me that joint,” Tony says as soon as he’s settled, resisting the urge to lean back into Bucky’s chest, “I want to be too high to feel it when I fall to my death.”
Bucky laughs again and then his left arm is winding around Tony’s middle and hauling him back that little bit more, until he’s pressed against Tony’s back from shoulders to hips. “I’m not gonna let you fall,” Bucky insists as his other hand holds the neatly rolled joint in front of Tony’s face.
“Maybe I’ll just take you with me when I fall, you ever think of that?” Tony asks as he snatches the joint from between Bucky’s metal fingers. He has to lean back into Bucky a little harder to be able to wiggle the lighter out of his pocket, and he almost drops it when Bucky leans in to rest his chin on Tony’s shoulder.
“I’d like to see you try, shrimpy,” Bucky says teasingly as he tightens his arm around Tony’s waist and closes his wide thighs in around either side of Tony’s hips, even curling his feet in around Tony’s to thoroughly box him in.
“Uncalled for, now I’m not going to share,” Tony pouts and then has to fight down a shiver when Bucky laughs again, the sound low and soft and his breath warm against the side of Tony’s throat.
Tony forces himself to focus on lighting the joint and tucking his lighter away before he can lose it, noton the solid weight of Bucky wrapped around him, warm enough to easily fight off the frosty chill lingering in the air. He’d known that coming here wouldn’t help with his giant crush, but Tony really hadn’t thought this through when he’d accepted Bucky’s invitation.
Bucky starts spider-crawling his fingers up Tony’s arm towards his hand, clearly intending to steal the joint, and Tony drags in the biggest hit he can before Bucky snatches it away, only coughing a little as he fails to fight down a laugh.
“Hey, I said I was stealing that,” Tony complains, turning his head to look at Bucky and oh that was a mistake, they’re so close and it would be entirely too easy to get lost in the way Bucky’s eyes reflect the burning glow of the joint.
“I’llthrow you off this roof,” Bucky threatens, his eyes shining with amusement and his voice slightly muffled by the joint held between his lips.
It just pulls Tony’s attention to his mouth, to the swell of his lower lip and how badly Tony wants to press his own lips to the corner of Bucky’s mouth where it curls up in a smirk. Tony has to drag his eyes away before he does something stupid, like actually follow through on that thought. While he’s about 87% sure Bucky wouldn’t be opposed, that’s not enough, not when it comes to Bucky.
Luckily the bright array of stars above them is a pretty good distraction, exactly as impressive as Bucky had promised from small-town Indiana. Bucky passes the joint back to him and starts pointing out all the constellations he’d made up as a kid, which of course Tony wants to know, and then threatens to throw him off the roof again when Tony tries to bring up how many of those stars are probably long dead.
By the time the joint is half gone Tony has forgotten all about trying to keep any distance between them, leaning heavily into Bucky’s shoulder and using one of Bucky’s legs as an armrest, drumming his fingers against Bucky’s knee as he talks.
“Thanks for inviting me,” Tony says, twisting slightly to look at Bucky again because he just can’t stop,“getting through Christmas was about all the family time I could take.”
He doesn’t at all want to get into the reasons why,like the latest fight he’d gotten into with his dad or the fact that his mom hadn’t seemed to be able to find any time for himin her busy holiday schedule, and he also doesn’t mention how depressing it always is to go back to campus early while the place is still deserted. He’d been resigned to it though, with Rhodey doing a small holiday with an aging relative this year, but as always Bucky had taken him by surprise.
"Of course,” Bucky says, tightening his arm around Tony a little like he hadn’t needed Tony to sayall of that to hear it anyways. Then he grins as he passes the joint over again and adds, “It was that or listen to my family complain that Steve couldn’t come this year, because he chose Samoverus.”
"Your sister still did that,” Tony reminds him gleefully, snickering all over again at the memory of Rebecca’s faux-tearful rant over dinner.
"Yeah, but not as much.”
“I think your family likes him more than you,” Tony says, patting his knee consolingly.
“Iknowthey do,” Bucky says with a laugh, “just wait, by the end of the week they’ll like you more, too.”
“Obviously, I’m very likable,” Tony says, and then punctuates that by blowing a cloud of smoke into Bucky’s face. His heart lurches in his chest a little when Bucky just smiles wider and fuckTony is in so deep, he doesn’t know how he’s going to make it through a full week without his feelings spilling all over the place, without it being obvious to everyone.
"My mom’s been dyin’ to meet you,” Bucky says, and when Tony feels his eyebrows go up Bucky’s grin goes a little lopsided, his eyes flicking away for just a second before he adds, “apparently I never shut up about you.”
Now Tony knows his mouth his hanging open stupidly, but he doesn’t know how to process the fact that Bucky talksabout him, that Bucky talks about him to his mom,enough that she actually wanted to meet him and Tony’s heart is climbing up his throat because what if. He snaps out of it when Bucky knocks their foreheads together, at least enough to huff out a soft laugh, and he snaps his attention back to Bucky again with what feels a lot like hopeclogging up his lungs.
“Is that really so surprising?” Bucky asks and his voice has gone soft and a little hesitant, a slight tremor at the edge of his smile that Tony realizes is nerves.
“No,” Tony says, the word escaping him in a rush because it’s not,actually, it’s not surprising at all. Of coursethis is what they’ve been building to, slowly but surely, orbiting around each other closer and closer until they ended up here.
When Bucky’s hand comes up to cup his jaw, fingers slightly chilled from the night air, Tony leans into it breathlessly and he swears he can already feel Bucky’s lips against his. Then they’re actually kissing and Tony wasn’t prepared at all, had no idea how it would light up his every nerve and warm him from the inside out.
He forgets all about the cold slowly sinking into his fingers and the tip of his nose, about the joint he’s still holding and the night sky stretching out infinitely above them. All he knows is Bucky’s lips, soft and warm as they move against his own, Bucky’s fingers sliding back into his hair and Bucky’s other limbs wrapped all around him.
By the time they slowly break away Tony’s lips are tingling and the joint has burned down enough that he can feel it getting dangerously close to his fingers. Tony knows he should really pass it back at some point soon, but he’s having a little trouble pulling away from the blue of Bucky’s eyes, the warmth of his breath still fanning over Tony’s wet lips.
“I’m crazy about you,” Tony blurts all at once, like he can’t possiblyhold it in anymore, and when Bucky gives him a ‘no shit’ look Tony laughs softly and gently headbutts him back.
“I’m crazy about you, too, just in case you didn’t get the memo,” Bucky says with a lopsided grin, tracing his metal thumb around the shell of Tony’s ear.
“Yeah, I’m starting to get it,” Tony says with a small, baffled grin, and then leans in to kiss him again.
They don’t break away until the joint burns down to Tony’s fingers and he drops it with a startled yelp, knocking their heads together a little less gently and then almost sliding off the roof when he quickly leans down to grab it before he can think better of it. Luckily Bucky hauls him back with the arm still wrapped around his middle, hugging him tightly and smothering his laughter into Tony’s shoulder.
“Iknewthis I how I would die,” Tony says mournfully, clinging to Bucky’s arms wrapped around him and pouting when Bucky just laughs harder. “I mean it, I have perished, heart attack and I’m gone.”
“So dramatic,” Bucky says as he presses a kiss to the back of Tony’s neck, and his voice is so full of warmth and fondness that Tony doesn’t know howhe never heard it before, “guess I’ll have to go watch Star Trek DVDs by myself then.”
“You have the original series?” Tony demands, forgetting all about his near-death experience in favor of turning to face Bucky, who just grins wider, and then laughs when Tony instantly abandons his fears in favor of crawling back towards the window.
Word: Confession Dialogue: “Shit… I’m in love with him”
“So, when are you planning on finally admitting to the fact that you’re completely head-over-heels for him?” Steve asks flatly, and it takes a couple seconds for Bucky to actually register the words.
When he finally does, Bucky quickly tears his eyes away from watching Tony talk with his hands as he tells some story to Rhodey and Natasha by the bar. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Bucky tries to say, firmly ignoring the heat rising in his cheeks, but Steve just raises an eyebrow at him. “I don’t!”
“Okay,” Steve says, shrugging one shoulder, but Bucky just knowshe isn’t letting it go that easily. Even before he opens his mouth again and asks “Remember those romance novels you used to steal from your sister? And made me swear never to mention to anyone ever?”
“Most pointedly no,I do not,”Bucky says, breaking out his absolute best death glare, but Steve continues on undaunted.
“Because if you did,I would point out that your pining could put them all to shame,” Steve says, glaring at him right back, “and if I have to see one more longing look from you I am going to go find a copy of one of those books. And throw it at you.”
“I’m not- I haven’t-” Bucky sputters, resisting the urge to glance around for an escape route, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Uh-huh,” Steve says, crossing his arms, “so you’ve been staring wistfully at Tony all night and all monthand for a year now for some otherreason.”
“Yes,” Bucky says, and then quickly backtracks to add “no,I mean- I’m not… I’m just…”
“Watching him smile?” Steve asks, with that stupid smug grin he gets when he thinks he’s right about something.
“No!”Bucky says, maybe a little more vehemently than he intended, and then lowers his voice to hiss “I’m… staring at his ass!”
“Wow,” Steve says dryly, “greatdefense.”
Bucky’s pretty sure his face is on fireat this point, his heart racing in his chest almost painfully,and he’s just glad the rest of the team is scattered around the large common room of the tower. No one is close enough to hear Steve spewing this absolute nonsense.
Because Bucky’s not ‘head over heels’ for Tony, that’s ridiculous.
So what if he thinks Tony is the smartest person he’s ever met, that’s just true.And so what if he thinks Tony is drop-dead gorgeous, that’s also just the truth, like the fact that he’s perfectly snarky and unexpectedly thoughtful, with a heart bigger than anything Bucky has ever seen. So what if his smile makes Bucky’s heart trip all over itself in his chest, and if Bucky misses him when he’s gone for even the shortest of business trips, if Bucky has taken to buying stupid little trinkets for Tony and it makes him stupidly happy to see them scattered around Tony’s lab in little places of honor. Just because it makes his entire day, no matter what else he has going on, when Tony invites him to watch Star Trek or try some new restaurant, that doesn’t mean—
Fuck.
“Oh,” Bucky says stupidly, his heartbeat echoing in his ears as he quickly reevaluates everything he knows. Across the room Tony laughs loudly at something Thor says as he walks by, and the way Bucky’s heart twists and leaps in his chest feels both so familiar andentirely new. “Oh,fuck.”
“Thereyou go,” Steve says, but Bucky barely registers the words or the heavy sigh that accompanies them, too busy trying to mentally reframe every interaction they’ve ever had and figure out how he didn’t notice.
Except if he’s reallyhonest with himself… he’s always known, hasn’t he?
He saw it coming a mile away, in fact, didn’t he? The first time Tony found him lurking in a dark hallway in the middle of the night, as Bucky spent a lot of time doing when he first arrived at the tower, and Tony hadn’t asked any questions, he’d just raised his giant coffee mug in a salute and tossed Bucky a wink before resuming his own sleepless pacing. Bucky probably knew then, and the knowledge only grew with every interaction, as passing jokes became actual time together, what would happen, but apparently Bucky has been shoving that knowledge down ever since then, because it seems insane,seems like something he shouldn’t be capableof. But here he is, and it’s hitting him all at once.
“Shit…” Bucky breathes out, admitting it to himself as much as to Steve, “I’m in love with him.”
“Hallelujah,” Steve says sarcastically, then rolls his eyes and adds “you should think about telling himone of these days, too.”
“Yeah,” Bucky agrees numbly, his eyes finding Tony across the room again, “yeah, I…”
He’s distantly aware that Steve probably doesn’t mean right now, right this very second, but Bucky also knows himself.
Fuck,how long has he been denying the truth? And Bucky knowsgiven the chance and too much time he’ll talk himself right out of saying anything, hell he’ll talk himself out of acknowledging that there’s even anything tosay, and that—
Bucky can’t let that happen, if nothing else Tony deserves to know that he’s loved, that he’s amazing,and that’s about as far as Bucky gets in the thought process before he’s opening his mouth.
“Hey Tony!” Bucky shouts, loud enough to carry across the large room and draw everyone’sattention, but all that really matters is that Tonylooks up at him, eyes bright and a small smile on his face. “I’m in love with you!”
Tony spits out the large sip of his drink he’d just taken, spraying Rhodey right in the face and then coughing harshly while Rhodey lets out a loud squawk.
Rhodey slaps Tony on the back, shooting a glare at Bucky while he wipes at his face with his free hand, and that’s about the time Bucky actually realizes what the fuckhe just did. He can feelall the blood draining from his face, and apparently he’s swaying on his feet because Steve puts a hand on his shoulder like he needs to be steadied.
Natasha is giving him a look like she’s failing not to pity him, and he’s pretty sure that’s Clint and Sam he can hear cackle-laughing off to the side somewhere, but the only thing that matters is that when Tony finally catches his breath and looks up at him again, the smile on his face is blinding.
Title: N/A Collaborator Name: Trashcanakin Card Number: 3031 Square Filled: R4 - Gardening Ship/Main Pairing: Winteriron [Can be seen as Gen] Rating: Gen Major Tags: N/A Summary: [Fanart] Bucky and Tony planting some stuff. Word Count: N/A @tonystarkbingo
Pairing(s):James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark, James “Rhodey” Rhodes & Tony Stark, Carol Danvers/James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Tony Stark & Original Male Character(s), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, James “Bucky” Barnes & Sam Wilson
Characters:Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Carol Danvers, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Peter Parker, Harley Keener
Tags: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Knights - Freeform, BAMF Bucky Barnes, BAMF Tony Stark, Genius Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug. Tony. Stark Needs a Hug, Witches, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Battle, Battlefield, Swordfighting
Summary: “Do you think it’s bad that we don’t know who each other is?”
“I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “I mean, we were enemies up until a few months ago.”
“But how much of that is because of who our fathers are? Would it have been different if I was born in Nearon too? Or you if were born in Larnwick?”
