Work Text:
You saw Tony coming down the hall out of the corner of your eye. “Kiss me.” You murmured.
Bucky didn’t think twice before he wrapped an arm around your waist, dipped you low and proceeded to kiss the ever-living daylights out of you.
You were so lost in his arms that you almost missed the gagging noises coming from Tony’s end of the hallway and the grumbled; “Need to install freaking HOSES up here.” Before Tony turned and backtracked, looking for another way to get to where he was going. Preferably one that didn’t put him in the path of the two most notorious PDAer’s in the compound.
Bucky grinned against your lips and spun you back to your feet in a move that left you breathless for different reasons.
“Nice catch, doll.” He said, leaning over to press a quick kiss to your forehead. “I didn’t even hear him.”
Bucky winked at you and then turned and continued walking the way you two had been going.
You stood frozen in the hall for a second, taking a graceful and tactical moment to compose yourself before you followed Bucky into the kitchen.
Steve was sitting on one of the barstools and smirked at you when you walked in. “Making out with Bucky again, huh?” He teased.
You ran a hand through your hair in an attempt to fix it. “How’d you know?” You ran a finger over your lips before you remembered you weren’t wearing lipstick so it couldn’t have been smudged.
Steve shook his head. “Tony was pissed when he stormed in here a minute ago. What other reason do I need?” He shot you a teasing wink before he pushed to his feet and walked out of the room.
You sat frozen on your barstool, running his words over in your head for a minute. It was true. Since you and Bucky had first started dating, the two of you had gone out of your way to annoy Tony with PDA and ‘silent conversations’. It had gotten to the point where the two of you didn’t think about it anymore. If either of you heard or saw Tony coming, you would drop what you were doing and jump the other. Last week, Bucky had shattered an entire coffee pot when he had to make the split-second decision to catch you as you jumped into his arms, or keep a hold of the coffee pot.
The two of you had gotten more than a few dirty glances from all the coffee addicts in the compound until the replacement coffee maker had arrived.
You didn’t know how long you’d sat there before a voice interrupted you. “Penny for your thoughts?” Bucky asked, sliding into a chair beside you.
You glanced up at him and smiled. “Huh? Oh. Nothing. Just thinking about something Steve said . . .”
“You need me to beat some sense into the punk?” Bucky grunted before taking a sip of his coffee.
You shook your head and stared at the countertop. “No. No . . . it’s fine.”
Bucky glanced at you and took in your tense posture and nodded slowly. “Sure, doll. Whatever you say.”
A few days later, you and Bucky were walking towards the gym, laughing about something stupid when out of the blue, Bucky grabbed you by the hips and lifted you against him before he slammed you into the wall. Instinctively, you wrapped your legs around his waist and tried to keep up with the frenzied pace he set with his mouth as he all but devoured you in the hallway.
“Seriously?!” A voice demanded from somewhere behind the two of you. “Get a room! I know I’ve given you at least two!”
Bucky smirked and pulled away, leaning his forehead against yours as you both struggled to catch your breath. The two of you listened as Tony stomped away, cursing you both out.
As soon as Tony’s voice faded from earshot, Bucky set you back on your feet and stepped away. He gestured with his head towards the gym. “Ready to get your ass kicked?” He asked breezily.
Your brow furrowed and you nodded slowly, but something flashed through your eyes, too quick for Bucky to recognize. Still, his hackles rose, and his fists clenched slightly by his sides. His killer instincts, the ones that had been honed through seventy plus years of staying alive in the harshest of conditions told him he was suddenly walking on very thin ice.
He eyed you nervously and whispered your name.
Your eyes shot up to his and you smiled softly. Bucky couldn’t pinpoint why, but for some reason it felt like you’d just slid a mask over your features. He wasn’t used to being on the outside with you and he didn’t know what to do so he pointed at the gym lamely. “Wanna spar?” He asked.
You shook your head. “No . . . no I think I’m actually going to go to the gun range. I want to practice with my new gun before the next mission.”
Bucky gulped as he watched you back away. Everyone on the team knew that the gun range was your angry place. You went to the gun range the way Bucky went to the gym; to work off steam.
He’d screwed up.
He just couldn’t figure out how.
You were avoiding him now. It had been almost a week since the incident outside the gym and Bucky had barely seen you once. He started sleeping with one eye open, hoping to catch you in the act of sneaking in and out to get clothes and toiletries. He knew you’d been in the room because your stuff had started disappearing, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how you were getting in and out without him noticing.
A sinking feeling was starting to develop, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He didn’t want to bring Steve or Sam in on the problem yet. Steve, he knew, would be no help whatsoever. Steve had never been one to understand women. It was even worse now that they were in the twenty-first century. And Sam? Well, Bucky trusted Sam about as much as he trusted Fury. That was to say, not a whole damn lot.
What Bucky needed do to was find YOU.
But that . . . that was proving almost as difficult as catching you in your room.
It was like you just disappeared.
Every now and again, Bucky would enter a room and catch a whiff of the smell that was distinctly you. A few times, he caught members of the team eyeing him warily or doing their best to avoid eye contact entirely
He didn’t like it. He used to be the WINTER SOLDIER, dammit. He should be able to track anyone. Too bad you didn’t seem to know about that little rule.
Lucky for him, a mission came up and you were finally forced out of hiding.
Bucky jogged into Steve’s quarters without knocking. Steve glanced up from where he was slipping into his suit. “You need to take her with you.”
“Who?” Steve asked.
Bucky gave him a pointed look.
Steve sighed. “Look, Buck . . .”
“No, Steve. You need to take her. She’s been avoiding me, and I need to know why. Just . . . assign her to the mission and I’ll catch her just before you take off. She doesn’t want to talk to me, fine. I’ll back off. But you have to give me this chance.”
Steve glanced at Bucky’s desperate expression and sighed. “Fine. I guess I can always use a sniper. Just . . . be careful, okay?”
Bucky nodded quickly and turned to race towards the hanger. “I just need two minutes!” He called over his shoulder.
You were in the crawl spaces between walls when your phone went off and you let out a sigh of relief when you saw that you had a mission. Not that the claustrophobic spaces between walls full of insulation and piping wasn’t fun to crawl through, but you were looking forward to a chance to avoid Bucky OUTSIDE of compound’s walls.
Maybe it would give you some time to think.
You were already in your tac suit, so you made your way to the hanger, anxious to get out of the compound.
You’d barely taken two steps into the hanger bay when a firm hand gripped you by the shoulder and pulled you to the side. You cursed. You should have known it was a trap.
You glanced up at Bucky’s stoic expression. “I can’t talk right now, Buck. I have to go.” You gestured towards the quinjet.
“It will just take a second. Steve knows.” Bucky argued.
You sighed, not seeing any other way out of this. “Okay. What’s up?”
Bucky ran a hand through his hair. “What’s up?” He asked incredulously. “You’ve been avoiding me for almost a week!”
You shook your head, automatically but Bucky held up a hand. “Don’t lie to me, doll. If somethings wrong, I want to fix it. You just need to tell me what to fix.”
You spotted Steve standing on the quinjet. He gestured for you to wrap it up and you bit your lip as you glanced at Bucky. “I just . . . I’ve been thinking about some things. That’s all.”
“And you couldn’t think about them around me?” The hurt in Bucky’s voice cut you to your core but you shook your head and tried to remain firm.
“No . . . not . . . not this. Not yet. I just need a little more time.”
Bucky’s heart seemed to go numb as he listened to what you’re saying. “Right.” He took a half a step back. “Right.” He said again.
“Maybe we talk when I get back?” You offered, your own heart hurting at the look of defeat on his face.
He nodded once.
You gestured over your shoulder. “I gotta go.” You said lamely.
He nodded again and you turned to leave.
“Wait!” He called suddenly. You turned around and saw Tony coming up behind Bucky as Bucky leaned in to press a kiss to your lips.
For the first time since you two started dating, you pulled away before his lips could land. You were looking everywhere but at his face as you muttered; “Hey Tony, gotta go.”
You turned and practically raced for the jet, leaving a devastated Bucky behind.
Tony glanced at Bucky as the jet shot off into the night sky. “Huh. That’s the first time I’ve seen you without you being lip-locked with your better half in almost two months. I call this progress!”
Bucky’s heart pounded heavily in his chest as he turned slowly towards Tony. “That’s not . . .”
Tony shook his head. “Don’t try to deny it, Barnes. You two are worse than high school kids on prom night. Although don’t think I haven’t noticed how it only happens when you two are around me.”
A dagger to the heart would have hurt less than the sudden realization burning across Bucky’s mind right then.
“I have to go.” He murmured before he turned tail and bolted out of the hanger. “JARVIS? Where’s Nat?” He demanded.
“Currently, Ms. Widow is in the common room.”
“Thanks.”
Nat smacked Bucky as hard as she could upside the head and swore at him in Russian. Somehow, it didn’t make him feel better.
“You’re a dumbass, you know that?” She demanded.
Before Bucky could agree, she continued.
“You Pavloved yourself. Do you have any idea what she must be thinking right now? Do you? She’s thinking that your entire relationship has been about getting back at Tony.”
“But it hasn’t been. I love her.” Bucky argued.
Nat smacked him upside the head again.
Bucky rubbed the back of his head and sighed. “What do I do?” He asked pleadingly.
Nat sighed massaged her temples as she thought. “I don’t know that you can.” She finally admitted. “She . . . there’s a reason she keeps her heart close to the vest, Barnes.”
Bucky ran a hand over his features. “I’m going to fix this.” He promised her. “I’m going to fix it.”
You sat in the jet on the way back from the mission. It had been a relatively tame one which had been good, of course. It was always better to have a tame mission than one where the shit hit the fan. But you hadn’t even gotten to fire your gun once. And you’d really needed to fire it after today.
Instead you got stuck in sniper position with nothing but your tumbling thoughts to keep you company.
You sighed as you glanced down at your hands and you wondered where you’d crossed wires with him. You thought you’d been in a serious relationship with him. But he never showed you affection outside your room unless Tony was there. That didn’t take into account any of the times that one or both of you had almost died, but racking your brain, you couldn’t come up with moments even then that couldn’t have been mistaken for affection between too good friends. Between friends with benefits anyway.
You curled your hands into fists and pulled your phone out of your pocket. You checked the time. You’d be landing in 20 minutes. And it was only one in the morning. Maybe Bucky would still be awake and you could tell him that this thing, whatever it was that was between you, was over.
You needed more than what he was offering and you valued yourself to much not to fight for it.
You slid you phone back into your pocket and closed your eyes for a minute, escaping to your happy place in your head while you counted down the minutes till you were home.
Bucky rocked back and forth on his heels as he waited for the jet to come to a landing. Things were bad. He knew that. But he’d been in worst spots before. He’d just never had so much to lose.
The jet landed in front of him and he stilled as the door slowly opened and you stumbled out of it. You looked exhausted, but as your eyes met his, you seemed to steel yourself. You marched towards him and his numb heart started beating painfully in his chest.
“Can we talk?” You asked quickly.
Bucky didn’t like the tone of your voice but he did want to talk to you so he nodded quickly. “Come on, let’s go somewhere private.” He said as he glanced over your shoulder at Steve and Sam.
Bucky led the way up the stairs and to the roof and gestured you outside.
“Listen, Buck . . .” You stared. But Bucky pressed his fingers to your lips. “Wait. I have to show you something first.” He said.
You glanced at him with confusion in your eyes and then glanced around the empty patio on top of the roof. Granted, it was a NICE patio. You still didn’t see why Bucky had felt a need to drag you up here.
The doors behind you swung open with a bang that made you jump and spin around, hand already on the gun at your hip.
Tony barely paid any attention as he sauntered out. “What’s the emergency Manchurian Candidate? I’m in the middle of something important.”
Bucky stalked towards him. “This.” He said, picking up the billionaire abruptly before he FLUNG Tony off the roof.
You stood gapping like a fish as you heard Tony’s screams falling away. “You . . . you . . .”
You never finished your sentence. In the next second, Bucky had spun around and wrapped one arm around your waist, pulling you tightly to his chest. The other arm he reached up, cupping your face as he tilted your head back to deepen the kiss.
It was wild and messy and absolutely breathtaking.
When he finally pulled away, he leaned his forehead against yours, still keeping you pressed tightly to his chest. “Tony wasn’t here. That one was just for you. I love you, doll. Tony’s never had anything to do with it.”
You bit your lip and smiled up at him. Your heart was melting with the tender affection in Bucky’s eyes and you couldn’t help but believe him. You opened your mouth to echo the words back to him but the sound of thrusters firing behind you interrupted before you could.
“That’s it!” Tony yelled, flying up in an Iron Man suit. “Too far, Barnes!”
He held out a gauntlet and aimed it at the two of you. Bucky grabbed your hand and raced towards the doors, pulling you behind him. “JARVIS! Where’s Pepper!” You demanded, breathlessly as you tried to keep up with Bucky’s mad pace.
“She’s already on her way.” JARVIS responded.
Bucky threw you into the stairwell and slammed the door shut behind the two of you before he grabbed your hand and took off racing down the hallway again.
“I know you just said Tony’s never had anything to do with our relationship, Barnes, but I think our relationship might have something to do with Tony!” You called, laughing.
Bucky reached back and yanked you close before he flung you over his shoulders just as the doors burst open and Tony shot down the hall towards you. “I think you’re right doll! Worth it though!”
You couldn’t help but think that maybe that was true.