Steve wishes he couldn't feel Billy's breath on his cheek. He hopes the look on face is telling only lies. And for like, a half second, Billy looks as though he wants to ask so many things.
What’s happened to us? What did I do wrong? Why don't you want me anymore?
Then he just looks like danger.
Foregoing the gum he's been obscenely chomping at, Billy now chews thoughtfully on his bottom lip. Intently. Making it all swollen and red when it pops back out wetly from between his teeth.
Cherry red.
Steve wants to punch it. Or kiss it.
.
(part 5 of my 🍒cherry bomb🍒 series) AND YOU CAN READ THE REST ON AO3 HERE
Imagine Natasha trying to set Steve up with both Bucky and Tony. It doesn't matter, however, because Bucky and Tony end up falling in love themselves. Steve, who was just humoring Nat, is pleased with this outcome.
Natashagreeted Steve with, “I’ve set it all up.”
Stevegroaned. “Natasha...”
Shebumped her shoulder against his. “I know, but you’ll really likethis one. He’s superhot,very smart, almost as sarcastic as you.”
“Look,I appreciate the effort, but-- Wait, did you say he?”
Natashasmiled like a cat in the cream. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
Steveeyed her warily, then slumped. “Fine. Send me the details.”
Stevehad been waiting for fifteen minutes. Even granting some leeway forManhattan traffic, he was beginning to feel irritable about it. Hepulled out his phone and was about to compose an irritable message toNatasha when a body slid into the booth across from him.
“SorryI’m late, there was-- Steve?”
Stevelooked up in shock. “Tony?”
[mobile readers, ‘ware the readmore!]
Tony’seyes were wide behind his literal rose-colored glasses. “You’remy seven o’clock?”
“Yourwhat?”
Tonypicked up the water glass that was waiting for him, its ice almostmelted. “Pepper told me I had a seven o’clock dinner meeting. Shedidn’t say it was you.What’s the occasion?”
Steveground his teeth together. “I’m here to meet a date.”
Tonybarely managed to keep himself from spraying water all over Steve,and wound up coughing as the water went back down his air pipeinstead. “This is a date?”he croaked.
Steveput his hand over his eyes. “Apparently so.”
“I’mgoing to kill her,” Tony swore.
“Pepper,or Natasha?” Steve asked out of morbid curiosity.
“Yes,”Tony said decisively. He took another, very cautious sip of water. “Imean, no offense; I’m sure you’d be a great date. I guess Pepdidn’t believe me when I told her I’m seeingsomeone.Guess I can’t blame her. I’ve never kept my private life privatebefore. But as long as we’re here anyway, let’s talk about thatperformance glitch in your helmet comms.”
“Thereisn’t a glitch in my helmet comms, Tony.”
“Surethere is,” Tony said. He pointed at Steve. “In that you keeptakingyour damn helmet off in the middle of a fight.”
Theresulting argument lasted for the entire expected duration of the“date” and wound up costing over a thousand dollars in damages.
“Okay,so that wasn’t the best idea,” Natasha admitted.
“Thatwas the worstidea,”Steve told her severely.
“Allright, all right. It was worth a shot.”
“Itwas definitely not.”
Natashashrugged. “You’d have been gorgeoustogether,though. Just... Mm.” She sighed, presumably in mourning for thenever-to-be-realized visuals.
“No,he’s not,” Natasha said. “He spends all his time working,tinkering in the workshop, or with the rest of us. He’s spentalmost twenty hours just this week working on Bucky’s arm.”
Stevejust looked at her.
“What?”
“Itis verycreepythatyou know all our schedules that well,” Steve pointed out.
“Youknew what I was when you all invited me to live here.” Natashashrugged, then leaned forward and put her hand on Steve’s knee. “Ihave someone else for you now.”
“No.”
“Comeon, this one is a lotbettermatched. Still smart and sassy, but not so... Tony.”
“Haven’tyou done enough damage already?” Steve wondered.
“Justone more, Steve, I promise.” That’s what she’d said a dozen“dates” ago, but she was using those big eyes on him that heknew, knew for a fact,mind you, were fake.
Unfortunately,despite knowing that, they still worked.
“I’lleven keep it simple for you,” Natasha had said. “I’ll set it upat the coffee shop down on the third floor.”
Steveliked that coffee shop. It was mostly used by people who worked inthe building, all of whom had been briefed about the possibility ofan Avenger encounter, and so Steve could sit for hours in the cozylittle seating area that overlooked the main lobby without beinginterrupted. He liked watching people come and go, and it was a nicespot for sketching.
Theother Avengers liked the shop, too, so Steve wasn’t entirelysurprised to find Bucky leaning on the rail, looking down into thelobby. “Hey, Buck,” he said. “How’s the arm today?” It hadonly been a couple of months since Bucky had finally admitted to thepain the arm caused and Tony had volunteered to try to make someadjustments to help. Steve had felt guilty for not noticing earlier,so he made it a point to ask every couple of days.
Buckywrapped his right hand around his metal shoulder. “Getting better,bit by bit,” he said. “Where’s your sketchbook?”
“Nodrawing today,” Steve said, leaning back against the rail to surveythe people in the shop. “Natasha set me up on another date.”
Buckyfroze for an instant, and then started cursing, low and vehement.
“What?What is it?”
Buckysighed, head dropping in defeat. “Think I’m your ‘date,’”he said. “Leastways, Nat sent me here, too.”
“Oh,for petesake,” Steve grumbled. “Is she going to try to set me upwith everyoneonthe team, now? Did she use the eyes on you, too?”
“Nah,she told me she was sendin’ me to meet theman of my dreams.I thought it meant she’d figured out... Uh, anyway. On the team?Who else’d she set you up with?”
“Tony,”Steve said, rolling his eyes. And if Bucky thought that woulddistract him... “Whatdidyou think she’d figured out?”
Bucky,to Steve’s surprise, started laughing, leaning heavily on the railfor support. “She tried to set you up with...” He howled withlaughter, and had to fight to get himself back under control. “Well,I guess it ain’t gonna be a secret for much longer anyway,” hewheezed. “Tony’s what I thought she’d figured out.”
“What?”
Buckywas still giggling every few breaths. “We’ve been steppin’ outfor a month or so, now. Well. Not so much out,‘cause we were keepin’ it on the down-low, but I reckon that’sabout to change.”
Steveleaned in the doorway of the library, where Natasha was devouringanother one of her terrible trashy romances. “Hey, Bucky and I,we’d like to take you to dinner,” he said. “Sort of a thankyou.”
Shelooked up with a wide, delighted smile. “Really?”
“Sure,”Steve said. “Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Buck sohappy before. Guess I just didn’t know what was missing.”
“Steve,that’s great,”she gushed.
“Sureis,” Steve agreed. “So, dinner, yeah? I’ll text you the detailsonce I’ve got everything hammered out.”
“Youbet,” Natasha said. She was practically glowingwithpride.
Waituntil she found out he was setting her up for a double date with Bucky and Tony.
just a little stucky thing i'm working on. not betaed all mistakes are mine. just little piece of something. rating - g/pg pairing - james "bucky" barns/steve rogers angst, pining .. what if he dies before Bucky comes out of the ice, what then? There's only one way to make sure that doesn't happen. Steve couldn’t sleep, well, not so much as couldn’t as it was that he simply didn’t want too. Sleeping meant nightmares, or really, just as bad, dreams about Bucky. The nightmares he could honestly handle, he knew they weren’t real. Sure, it would take him a couple of minutes waking up screaming, just being full of sheer terror, and then he would remind himself he was home and safe and start saying all the little details about himself, something some therapist told him to do. What he favorite food was, his exact address, the color of Bucky’s eyes. And, that’s when he would start to cry. When he had said that even when he had nothing, he had Bucky, he meant that, and when he woke up, the second he remembered the love of his life was dead, the feeling of being hollow hit him again. Except. Except. This time, this time Bucky wasn’t dead. Well, truthfully he never was dead, but that wasn’t the point. But, it was the point. Bucky had never died. Steve would never be able to forgive himself for not finding Bucky before Hydra did. Part of him, the logical, sane part of him, knew it wasn’t his fault, what happened to his best friend. But, Steve had a hero complex and had good old fashioned catholic guilt on top of that, well, blaming himself felt right, natural. T’Challa had told him he could stay as long as he liked, and the king meant it, Steve wanted to earn his keep, but was told kindly, but forcefully, he had done enough, and deserved a break. That left him to start thinking way too much, about everything. He missed Bucky. God, he missed him so much it hurt, and Steve could often be found just sitting in the lab, next to the cryo tube, with a blank stare on his face. No one ever thought to tell him to leave, or anything. Not like he would anyway. But, waiting was getting to be too hard. Sure, Steve met with Tony, he truly.did owe it to the man, and while Tony didn't want to kill him or Bucky anymore, he didn't exactly want to be friends either. Tony was surprised that Steve would help when asked, just like Clinton or Wanda or Sam would (as well as that Scott guy) he didn't want to be Captain America anymore. He explained to Tony that he no longer had faith in the government or really anyone except a few people, Tony being one of them. Steve was a man without a home sure, but would fight to save the world. Twice Tony has called asking for help, and Steve went each time, T’Challa coming along as well. It felt right fighting to save people, but he honestly just didn't want too anymore. He was sick of fighting, he wanted peace. He wanted Bucky. Before Bucky went back into cryo they had talked of course. Steve truly understood why his best friend, his everything needed to go back under, to be safe and to keep others safe as well, but Steve was selfish really when it came to Bucky. At the end of their talk, Bucky had pulled Steve close to him, gripping the blonde’s waist tightly and smiled softly, almost shyly with his Grey eyes twinkling, and kissed Steve quickly, and Steve remembered sighing into the kiss, putting one hand on Becky’s right shoulder and tangling one in the brunet's hair. Bucky had groaned and deepened the kiss, tongue gently moving against Steve’s own. But, before Steve had time to think Bucky pulled back, and kissed him chastely and huffed out a shaky breath. “Soon, Stevie. I promise.” Bucky nearly whispered. Steve could remember nodding but not letting going, not being able to let his beat guy go. Bucky seemed to understand Steve’s need to be close. Bucky took his hand and led them to his bedroom, and the fell asleep holding each other, like they used too. Morning had come too soon for either of them, and Steve had to ask one more time if Bucky was sure about this. Of course Bucky was sure and of course it was the right thing to do. Which brought on a new set of nightmares for Steve, what if he died before Bucky was able to be free? Too many questions were running through Steve’s head. He needed to rest. He needed a break. He needed time. Once Steve realized what he needed to do, the choice was easy, so simple he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about it before now. It was time for him to go back into the ice as well.
