steve and bucky each meet tony separately but they both feel that immediate attraction the second their eyes meet tony’s. they just know, at once, that they’d do anything to get to keep tony.
unknowingly, they start competing for tony’s affections. by being the polar opposite of themselves.
steve knows he’s awkward and shy when he meets someone he likes, so he thinks, “what would bucky do?” and pulls out the most ridiculous pickup line he could think of as he approaches tony in the grocery store. he has no hope of it working, but somehow bucky always manages to charm his way into someone’s heart no matter how cringeworthy the lines he uses are. so steve decides as long as he seems confident enough, maybe it would work.
tony makes fun of steve for being cheesy immediately, but he’s smiling and he still ends up giving steve his number, so maybe, steve thinks, channeling his inner bucky might make this thing with tony last.
bucky, on the other hand, knows that what he wants with tony isn’t just a one night thing. when he runs into natasha while she’s out with tony and she introduces them to each other, he thinks, “what would steve do?” and ends up spending the next two hours quietly enjoying their company and chiming in here and there, all the while sneaking glances at tony while he overthinks how to ask the guy out. he ends up stammering an awkward goodbye as they part ways, only to be brought up short when tony outright asks him whether he’s interested in seeing him again or not. bucky, relieved and disbelieving, breathes out an emphatic yes.
tony pulls out a pen and scribbles his number onto bucky’s palm and as he savours the warmth of his hand in tony’s, bucky thinks that maybe, against all odds, channeling his inner steve and not trying so hard to be super suave is how he can win tony’s heart.
after a few dates with each of them, tony starts to realize that neither of them is acting truly like themselves. sometimes they’d slip up and seem like completely different people. and tony, he notices and starts keeping track. the frustrating thing is, he likes them. he likes them so much. but he can’t fully give himself over to either of them if they can’t be real with him.
then one day just by chance, he sees steve and bucky together, hanging out and just being themselves, and the pieces start to click. he slides into the diner booth that the best friends are occupying, ready to confront them for being idiots.
but ultimately tony’s just incredibly happy knowing that this whole time the parts of them that steve and bucky had shown him, that he’d been falling for, were real. the only difference is now he can match the personality back to the face where it belongs. and maybe, just maybe, he can keep both of them.
