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Supervillains, as always, had terrible timing. Tony had been looking forward to a lazy morning in bed with Bucky, and he knew Bucky had been looking forward to it as well. At least this wasn't at two in the morning, but it was still beyond frustrating for both of them because Bucky'd had a hand between Tony's thighs, and he'd had plans for how he wanted that to end. As in, he wanted it to end with an orgasm, and instead they jumped at the Avengers' alarm and didn't have time to finish. So yeah, frustrated.
And the supervillain of the day-- drumroll please-- was Doom. Tony wanted to scream. The guy always went for sheer numbers instead of quality, and he was always monologuing about how the world would 'bow at Doom's feet' or some shit, despite the fact that he said that every time and it had yet to happen. He never changed his strategy either, which made him simple to beat, but it was annoying to do the same song and dance with him every couple weeks when the Fantastic Four were out of the dimension.
Bucky and Tony were taking out the Doombots with extreme prejudice today, and surprisingly, Cap didn't get onto them for it-- he usually had something to say about excess violence. When the fight ended, he just gave Bucky a look of pity before they moved to preliminary clean up.
Tony frowned at that and opened a private line for him and Bucky. "We're alone," he said, to let him know. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," he said gruffly.
He sure as hell didn't sound fine, but he wasn't going to say that when they were out in the middle of New York gathering Doombot corpses. "Okay. Putting us back the main comm line." He went back to picking them up and flying them over to the pile the Avengers were making for Shield to pick up, but his mind stayed on Bucky. He'd keep an eye on it, and if it got better, great. If it got worse, well. Then he'd actually talk to him about it. He was extra watchful during the clean up, but Bucky's frustration faded the longer they were there.
By the time they were back in the tower and getting ready for the day, Bucky was back to normal, so Tony shrugged it off and kissed him, pulling him back into bed for a while.
The next time they were interrupted was a few days later, and Bucky had made reservations at Tony's favorite Italian place. Strangely fancy for Bucky's tastes, but Tony was happy to get the best garlic bread on the continent so he didn't say anything. The wine had been poured, and Bucky was about to say something, when his phone went off.
He scowled, reaching into his pocket to shut the damn thing off when he saw that it was Steve.
"Go ahead," Tony said, sipping his wine and leaning back to wait.
Bucky looked like he wanted to argue that a little, but his ringtone kept going so he answered with a terse, "I thought I told you I was busy tonight." He glanced at Tony when he stressed 'busy', which made Tony curious, but he figured if he let the night unfold he'd get the answer to that. Except whatever Steve said made Bucky close his eyes in defeat. "Yeah, Stevie, don't worry about it. It's fine," he insisted after a brief pause. "It's just dinner, nothin’ we haven't done fifty times. Yeah. Okay I'll see you soon." He hung up and looked at Tony, sadness etched into his face. "I'm sorry, it's just- Steve's--"
Tony waved him off, taking another sip of his wine. "It's fine, Bucky, I know you wouldn't cancel if he didn't need you."
"Sorry," Bucky said again, standing and coming around the table to give him a kiss. "I'll make it up to you."
"There's nothing to make up. I've canceled on you plenty of times."
"Yeah, and you always insisted on makin' it up to me. Fair's fair, Stark." He smiled softly at him as he said it and gave him another kiss before he left.
Tony sipped idly on his wine, waiting for the waiter to come back so he could explain that he was just going to leave without dinner. It was always the worst part of canceled dates, and not even because it was awkward to have to say that. No, the waiters always thought that he (or Bucky, when the situation was reversed) had been dumped-- or stood up as the case might be-- and there was no easy way of telling them that no, really he wasn't nursing a broken heart or wounded ego he just needed to pay so he could leave. Many people who didn't recognize him as Tony Stark tried to be nice and say that his drink was on the house, and he usually tipped them however much money he had in his wallet for trying.
Thankfully though, this waiter recognized both him and Bucky, and understood that there were other factors, even if he thought those other factors were Avengers business. Tony was just going to take the chance to not be pitied gratefully and joked that maybe the next time he saw them they'd be there a bit longer.
Honestly the most embarrassing part was when the valet handed him the keys and Tony realized that he couldn't drive home. He’d only had the one glass of wine, but it was still dangerous and if he got in an accident, he would have no excuse. It hadn't occurred to him that Bucky would leave the car for him, let alone that he'd been counting on Bucky to drive them both home since he was drinking. The street wasn't busy, so he pulled out and directly into the next parking lot and called Nat and Clint to come pick him up. Luckily, neither of them were busy, so Tony was safely on his way home not ten minutes later.
He didn't see Bucky that night, but he stirred awake for a bare moment when Bucky crawled into bed. "It's jus' me doll, go back to sleep." Tony made a noise and snuggled into him, falling back into sleep as easily as if he'd never left.
The following morning was comprised of a delightful wake up call that-- thankfully-- didn't get interrupted. Bucky was kissing his neck softly, working light circles into Tony's cock that weren't enough to satisfy but worked him up.
"Mm." Tony pressed his hips back into Bucky's, feeling the hard length of him against his ass.
Bucky smiled against his neck and pressed his fingers down more firmly. "Mornin'."
"Mm," Tony said again, ever so articulate. One of his hands reached up to grab at Bucky's arm, and the shift of the muscles in his arm served to make Tony wetter.
Bucky chuckled, so he probably knew it, the little shit. He pressed a final kiss behind Tony's ear and slid down, pushing a hand against his hip to get him flat on his back and going between his legs.
It was a very good morning.
Bucky tilted his head to rest it against Tony's stomach after he was done, wiping his slick off his chin. "How was your night?"
"Better than yours, I'll bet." Tony carded his fingers through Bucky's hair, ignoring tangles when he came across them. "Steve okay?"
"Yeah just... y'know. Dark place, sometimes. Needs some help."
Tony nodded. "You know you don't have to apologize for that, right?"
"I know," Bucky confirmed. "Doesn't mean I don't hate to cancel on you though. I know, I know," he added with a grin, "you've done it too. That doesn't mean I like doin' it any more 'an I have to."
"And this was a 'have to' time."
"I know." He kissed Tony's stomach before sitting up, stretching his arms above his head.
Tony's gaze drifted over all the skin in front of him, feeling heat pool in his abdomen again. "If you act like that, we're never going to get out in public today."
"Oh? What a shame."
A couple orgasms and a shower later, they were dressed for the day and about to eat the food Bucky'd had Jarvis order for breakfast. Bucky was holding Tony's hand, stroking the skin over his knuckles tenderly. "Tony... you know how much I love you, right?"
"You never let me forget it," Tony said with a smile.
"Well it's cause I do. I don't want you to forget it. And uh, in that--" The Avengers' alarm blared, cutting him off. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
Tony grabbed him and tugged him in for a quick, messy kiss. "I love you too. Take a break to kick ass and then we'll finish this?"
"Yeah," Bucky said, trying to keep his spirits up. "I guess."
They had gone out to eat again, this time at their favorite burger place for dinner. Bucky was obviously working himself up to something, and he went to the bathroom after they ordered, probably to get his nerves under control. And what should fucking happen while he was in there, than for two guys wearing ski masks and holding guns to walk in? It was a bad couple weeks for them and their date life.
Tony flexed his wrist to call the suit to him just in case, but Bucky would probably be out before then. One of the guys was giving the usual 'cooperate and we won't shoot anyone speech', and the other was looking around to make sure that none of them were making calls or pulling out a piece of their own. He froze when he spotted Tony, and Tony gave him a cheeky wave.
"Shit, dude we gotta get out of here."
"What?" He turned and saw Tony as well. "Fuck." They didn't have a chance to do much else besides panic before Bucky was there, knocking the guns out of their hands and pinning their arms behind their backs in about three seconds. Tony picked up his phone, typed a quick message to Jarvis to cancel the suit, and had him place a call to the police department. He could have done that himself, but talking to nine-one-one operators was tedious and he didn't care for it.
"Guess this date was ruined," he said under his breath, knowing that Bucky would be able to hear him.
Bucky looked at him and gave an apologetic smile. Tony waved him off; it wasn't his fault this was happening all over the place. It took an hour or so to get it all cleaned up, and it was only that fast because no one had gotten hurt and the robbers hadn't even managed to reach the 'gathering up wallets' phase before they were stopped.
"Peter's pretty fond of the hotdog stand down the street," Tony offered, but Bucky shook his head.
"Don't want the guy to get held up," he joked, but his teasing smile slid away a moment later. He ran a hand through his hair, looking troubled. Tony waited until they got back to the Tower to ask if he was okay. Bucky gave him a fake smile. "Course."
Tony blinked but didn't have a chance to ask him what the fuck that was about before Bucky jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
"I'm gonna go talk to Steve about somethin'." He ducked down to give Tony a quick kiss on the cheek and left.
Tony brought his fingers up to his cheek where his skin was still tingling from the contact. Since when did Bucky give him a goodbye kiss on the cheek? Now that he thought about it, Bucky was acting a little strange. A few interrupted dates were annoying by all accounts, but it wasn't anything that hadn't happened to them before. And okay, usually they weren’t interrupted so many times in a row, but still. "Jarvis?"
"Yes sir?"
"Have you noticed anything strange about Bucky recently?"
"You are superheroes, sir. 'Normal' is highly variable. If you are asking if something has happened to his memory, his mind, or his body, the answer is no. No spells or replacements as far as I have been able to see."
Tony stared suspiciously at the nearest camera. "You're hiding something."
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, sir."
"Do I need to remind you who made you? I wrote each line of your code buddy, we're in this world together. Through thick and thin, you might say." And Jarvis had definitely been there for the thick. Or the thin, if you were talking about his self control. Whichever was considered worse, Jarvis had been there.
"You never let me forget it, sir. Shall I recite all the lines that ensures others' privacy remains intact, for you? At my current rate of speech it should only take forty three hours."
"Alright, alright, you've made your point." He paused, rubbing his fingers together anxiously. "You'd tell me if something was wrong with him though, right?"
"If it were something you needed to know, yes sir, of course."
Tony heaved a dramatic sigh. "Liars and traitors, in my own home. What is the world coming to?"
"Something of your own making, I'd imagine. Or did you not claim to have shaped the decade?" he said, already pulling up files to display on the wall.
"I don't like the way this conversation is going, so I'm going to go down the 'shop. And no putting ideas in DUM-E's head," Tony said, pointing a finger at the camera, "he's a good kid." Petulantly, Jarvis took the files down and wiped the wall clean.
While Tony headed downstairs, Bucky was moping in the gym, much to Nat and Clint's entertainment-- although Natasha pretended she wasn't enjoying it as much as she was. Steve, at least, was sympathetic to his problem. "Maybe you should lower your standards," Steve said.
"What?"
"Make it more normal," Nat explained, and Steve nodded.
"You keep trying to make it really special and work up to it-"
"I'm askin' him to marry me, not for- christ I don't know, an upgrade on my arm. I'm treatin' it like it's special because it is special. I want him to remember it and smile, not think about how much of an ass I was for poppin' the question while he's eatin' breakfast."
"Do it during movie night," Clint suggested, because he was a little shit who liked to see drama unfold without him having to put in any effort.
Bucky glared at him. "Go t' hell. Nat, if you're not gonna help either, you c'n join him."
"I was helping!" Clint protested, but Natasha elbowed him in the ribs.
"I know you want this to be special," Steve said, "but you've been trying it that way and it's not working."
"There are only so many interruptions that can happen," Bucky said stubbornly. "If I keep tryin', eventually I'll get it out."
"You willing to bet on that?" Clint asked. Bucky threw a weight at his head. He successfully dodged it, the asshole, but it landed on a bundle of his plain arrows, snapping them in half and sending the splinters flying away. "Aw, arrows no."
"Well it serves you right," Steve said matter of factly. "You don't pick on someone who's emotional."
"I'm emotional now?"
Nat snorted. "You've always been emotional."
"What she means is, you're wound up. Want to spar?"
"I didn't come here to spar, I came here for advice."
"And my advice is that if you spar, your mind will be clearer and you can think of a solution."
"You just want to spar," Bucky accused him flatly.
"You're not the only one being interrupted these days."
Bucky sighed. "Fine, whatever."
"Great enthusiasm," Clint said.
"Woo! Sparring!"
"That's too much."
Bucky flipped him off and joined Steve on the mats. Who knows? Maybe he was right, and this would help clear his mind. He wasn't counting on it, but stranger things had happened.
Jarvis interrupted them after half an hour, asking for Bucky's attention. "Yeah J, what's up?" He wiped at his forehead and took a long pull from his water bottle.
"Sir would like to invite you out for ice cream tonight."
Clint gave a shit eating grin, but it was Nat who spoke up. "Tell him it sounds great Jarvis, we'd love to go."
"You were not invited," he said primly. "The invitation is given only to Sergeant Barnes."
Clint stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. "Aw ice cream."
Nat pat him on the shoulder. "We'll got get ice cream with Steve."
"You're not going to the same one," Bucky said pointing a finger at her threateningly. "Steve, if she tries, stop her. When was he thinking, Jarvis?"
"At your earliest convenience."
"So, now."
"If I may, Sergeant Barnes? Perhaps a shower is in order."
Bucky looked down at himself, then wrinkled his nose and nodded. "I think you're right. Tell 'im I'll be ready in fifteen minutes." He pat Steve on the shoulder as he made his way to the showers.
"You gonna buckle down and ask him?" Steve called after him. Bucky shrugged. He probably would try, but he didn't want to plan it too much for fear of them being interrupted yet again.
The door closed and Clint immediately turned to Steve. "We're going right?"
"I don't think Jarvis would let us," he said honestly. He sure as hell wanted to be there to see Bucky propose-- he was nosy like that-- but A. Jarvis probably wouldn't let them leave close enough to follow or straight out tell them which ice cream shop they were going to and B. Bucky was going to find out they were there one way or another, and then he was going to kill them, Steve especially.
"Aww J, you wouldn't do that to us, would you buddy?"
"Hmph."
"Come on! I thought we were friends," Clint whined.
"Hmph," Jarvis repeated.
"Nat, the AI is being mean to me."
"We'll only go to make sure everything is going okay. We won't interrupt, they won't see us until they're done, and we'll just ensure that everything goes smoothly. Right?" she said, raising an eyebrow at Clint, who nodded vigorously.
Steve looked at a camera hopefully. "Well..." Jarvis said consideringly.
Bucky made it upstairs freshly showered and pulled on some new clothes. All he had to say was: he's glad he's not the one doing the laundry. He went through five outfits some days if he worked out twice and had to suit up, and the laundry bots were fucking adorable besides. Point is, he was now dressed and ready to go. Well, he was lacing up his boots, but he was close. "Do you know where Tony is?"
"Right in front of you babe."
Bucky jerked his head up, then laughed. Sure enough, Tony was standing in the doorway, ready and waiting with a smirk on his face. "Were you craving ice cream then doll? Is that what this is?"
Tony shrugged and made a noncommittal noise. "Thought you could use some help since none of your dates were panning out."
Bucky's fingers froze for a bare moment before he started on his other shoe. "Oh yeah?"
"Mm." Tony nodded. "I mean, an everyday robbery? You've got the worst luck honey."
"It managed to get me t' the love of my life seventy years in the future so..."
"Ah. You used it all up on that, and now there's nothing left for some dates. You really should have thought this through."
Bucky snorted. "I'll do that in the future then sweetheart, how's that?"
"Might be a little late, but I'll take it if it saves me some trouble in my golden years. And that's not for another twenty or thirty years, so you've got time."
"I'll keep that in mind," Bucky said with a grin, standing up and putting an arm around Tony's shoulders.
They made it to Joey's-- Tony's ice cream shop of choice, to the point that Bucky suspected he chose the location for the Tower based on how close it was to Joey's-- without incident, which wasn't technically a triumph, but Bucky was going to take it as one. He kept glancing around suspiciously until Tony tugged on his sleeve with a raised eyebrow. "If you're going to be paranoid the whole time, we can leave."
"No, no it's," he gave a final glance around the room before looking back to Tony and smiling, "fine. I'm just worried, y'know the past couple weeks an' all."
"I do know. Ice cream exists to de-stress, though." He lifted the largest size of cup in front of Bucky's face, giving it an enticing shake while he grinned.
Bucky took it with a laugh. "I'm not sure that's true."
"Well here's to proving me wrong," Tony said, picking up a smaller cup for himself and clinking it against Bucky's in a toast even though they were styrofoam. He found the most ridiculous fruity flavor combo and loaded up, but Bucky kept to a vanilla/chocolate swirl and coated it in various syrups-- though why he would want chocolate, regular caramel, and salted caramel all in the same cup, Tony had no idea. "You're lucky you have the serum, or I'd be digging you an early grave."
"Lucky for both of us," Bucky corrected. "I'd be dead a dozen times over by now without it, and that's not includin' Winter Soldier stuff. That's just me gettin' old."
"Yes Bucky, please tell me more about how you are getting old," Tony said, amused, swiping his card and thanking the cashier.
"Well I'm not, but if I didn't have the serum I would be." They picked a table-- one of the good ones with chairs so high even Bucky didn't stand a chance of his toes touching the ground while he sat. "So you really just wanted ice cream?"
Tony shrugged, taking a spoonful of his fruity concoction that was still somehow considered ice cream instead of sherbet. "Kind of."
"'Kind of'?" Bucky repeated flatly.
"Well, it seems like you're working up to something, thought I'd give you a hand."
Bucky sat back in his chair, pulling his cup closer to the edge. "Do you know what it is I'm trying to do?"
"Nope. And Jarvis is suspiciously close mouthed about this, so I just want you to know." Tony pointed his at Bucky. "If this is something bad and you're dying, I'm rewriting his privacy protocols, because you never should have gotten this far without me knowing."
"I'm not dying Tony, what th' hell?"
"You're not usually this secretive," Tony said defensively. "I've never had cause to worry before."
"Well stop worryin'," Bucky said, kicking his leg out to knock against Tony's shins-- lightly though, because he didn't want to bruise him. "It's nothin' like that." Tony looked at him expectantly. "What?"
"Are you going to tell me?"
Bucky made a face. "Not at Joey's."
"For fuck's sake Bucky, you keep getting interrupted. I want to know what's going on so I can finally sleep again."
"You have not stayed up worryin’ about this."
"I might have."
"We share a bed, Tony. I've seen you fall asleep."
"Well it wasn't very restful," he said with an injured sniff. "Come on honey, what's it going to matter if you clue me in here instead of ruining a super romantic date with the info?"
Bucky frowned. "Why would it ruin the date?"
"Well you keep," he gestured vaguely, accidentally dropping a spoon's worth of ice cream on the floor, "working up to it. If you have to work up to it, that means it's bad."
"That's not true."
"Okay, then give me one example of a good thing that needs to be worked up to."
"Pregnancies." Bucky scraped together a bite that was just syrup.
Tony gave an over dramatic gasp and put his hand to his chest. "I knew it. Oh sweetheart," he said, pretending to wipe a tear from his cheek, "we've waited so long."
Bucky chuckled. "You're ridiculous."
"And you're evading," Tony said, face shifting to something more serious. "Bucky... If this is something serious, you know I'm not going to judge right? Or break up with you? That's not something I have planned for my life."
"I sure as hell hope not," he mumbled.
"Bucky."
"Right, right." Bucky sighed, running a hand through his hair. "This isn't exactly how I wanted to do this, y'know." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little ring box, then slid it across the table and picked his ice cream back up and shoving some in his mouth.
Tony stared at the box. Blinked. "Uh. I don't think this counts as a proper proposal."
"If I get down on one knee right now, I'll be at the level to kiss your shoe, not take your hand. 'Sides, I tried romantic, remember? It wasn't workin', and you dragged me here and kept insistin' I tell. This is all your fault, doll. If you weren't so goddamn perfect, we never would have gotten into this mess."
"Blamed during my own proposal," Tony said lightly, eyes fixed on the ring box. "What is the world coming to." With shaking hands, he reached for the box, bringing it in front of him and opening it. It was a gorgeous ring, a string of rubies set in gold and no diamond to be found because Bucky knew he didn't like them. It was thin, the clear companion to another ring that would sit on his finger, and Tony loved that even more-- that Bucky had gotten him an engagement ring that wouldn't just turn into a wedding ring when they said their vows.
Bucky watched him, nervous to see his reaction. "It's uh-" he cleared his throat "-inscribed. And I know it fits. Jarvis told me, figured you wouldn't mind."
"I don't," Tony assured him, picking it up and tilting the ring so it glinted in the light. As you are, I love you. Tony swallowed thickly. "You're a sap." He handed it to Bucky with his right hand and held out his left, wiggling his fingers. "Going to make this official or what?"
"You never said yes."
"You never asked. But the answer is yes. Obviously."
"Obviously," Bucky repeated, a smile creeping over his face. He took the ring and slid it onto Tony's ring finger. "So uh, am I becomin’ Mister Stark, or are you becomin’ Mister Barnes?"
“Why don’t we ask our friends for that one.”
“Why would we ask them?”
“Mostly because they’re outside right now,” Tony said, pointing out the window.
Bucky turned and caught them ducking down. “I’m gonna kill ‘em.”
“That’s a mood killer.” Tony ate some more of his ice cream monstrosity. “Can’t you kill them tomorrow?”
“Fine.” He took out his phone and shot off a quick text to Steve. Ruin this for me and I’ll kill you, I don’t care that you’re my best friend
Not much to ruin
But okay
You didn’t even get down on one knee Buck what’s that about?
Bucky was about to reply when Tony snatched his phone away, turning it on silent and sliding it into his pocket. “I didn’t do anything. Didn’t we just get engaged? We should get on celebrating.”
“We’re in the middle of a store.”
“Well we wouldn’t be if you just took me home,” Tony said pointedly.
Bucky chuckled. “Good point. Grab that and let’s go.”