Chapter Text
Tony Stark wasn’t watching where he was going. He could have blamed that on any number of things: it was bright out, the sun was reflecting off the beach and sea, there were a lot of half-dressed people running around, there were gulls in the sky, there were dolphins in the water. There was the smell of popcorn and cotton candy and french fries and sea salt and dead fish in the air. There were sounds of playing children, screaming moms, giggling girls. People had portable speakers on their beach blankets. There were volleyball games in progress.
In short, there were plenty of excuses that Tony could have plucked from the environment as the reason that he walked right into someone else’s beach umbrella and knocked it over.
The truth was, however, that he was so utterly distracted by the beauty of the person laying under the umbrella that he didn’t even notice the umbrella.
The guy laying in the beach chair wasn’t wearing a shirt and he had a metal arm. Which might have been distraction for just about anyone, whatever gender, beauty, state of undress, or physical attributes they possessed. The man had long, flowing hair that was shining of its own accord because the guy was completely in the shade. Rippling muscles. Narrow, mouthwatering hips. Thighs like Tony could not believe were possibly real.
Tony had been walking along the beach trying to avoid the fact that he was on a freaking beach and didn’t want to be there when he noticed the guy, and like a corvid that had spotted something shiny (literally, in this case) he just veered on over to get a closer look.
Given that he didn’t know the guy, and that the man appeared to be sleeping, Tony didn’t really want to bother him, exactly, so he planned to just sort of casually walk by and get an eyeful and then, perhaps, stake out a good spot on the beach where he could just watch and not look like he was staring.
That was exactly nothing like what happened.
Tony walked straight into the umbrella’s pole and knocked the whole thing over.
The guy with the metal arm reacted faster than anyone who appeared asleep should have done. He rolled over, capturing Tony with his skin-and-bones arm, tucked Tony underneath him and raised the metal arm like a shield, keeping the structure from crashing down on both of them.
Tony was one hundred and fifteen percent certain his life was over. The guy was laying on him, bracketed between Tony’s splayed legs, his hand planted next to Tony’s head. Tony tried to catch his breath, then actually looked up into the guy’s face.
He was a knockout. Gorgeous cheekbones, a lightly dimpled chin, lush kissable mouth, and eyes that could only be described in such ridiculously overblown language like “the sea after a storm.”
“Oh, my god,” Tony said, not even aware that his mouth was moving. “You’re like…”
“A freak,” the guy said. “I know.”
“Not even a--” Tony protested. He knew what freaks were. Freaks were guys with electromagnets in their chest. Freaks were what you called guys like Tony, who was so afraid of the water that he couldn’t go near the ocean, hadn’t taken a shower in months because he couldn’t stand the way water splashed on his face. “--no, you’re not, I mean, I… you’re gorgeous. I’m sorry. I said that out loud and everything, I didn’t mean to, I don’t… like, it’s just a clinical observation, anyone would make it, and I’m still talking, here, and making things worse and--”
The man leaned down, his body hot and heavy over Tony’s, and kissed him.
It wasn’t a deep kiss, or wet, or involving any tongue like Tony was told by some of his friends that kisses would be, seeing as Tony had never been kissed before. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. The sizzle of nerves from the brief point of contact wasn’t it, however. He licked at his lip, tentatively. “Um…”
“Sorry,” the guy said. “Seemed the fastest way t’ let you know I ain’t offended, an’ I don’t mind.”
“Oh.” Tony wasn’t sure what to think about that. Did the guy go around just kissing anybody?
“And you’re not exactly unattractive,” the guy finished. “But, we ain’t been introduced, an’ I’m sorta layin’ on you in front of God and everybody.” He rolled off and Tony was suddenly missing his weight. “I’m Bucky Barnes. Nice to meet you.”
“Tony,” Tony said. “Tony Stark. Likewise. I’m, look, I’m sorry about your umbrella, I just… well, I admit, I did notice the arm first, and I’m just --” Tony didn’t even realize that his hands had gone out to touch it, fingers tracing the seams and joins, noticing how the plates moved together “--well, fascinated by engineering, and this, this is a beautiful piece of…” Tony trailed off unexpectedly as Bucky was sitting perfectly still, unmoving, barely breathing, eyes stretched wide as he stared at Tony. “--ohgod. I’m so so sorry, I totally should not have done that, I should not have touched you without permission, ohgod.”
Bucky’s right hand came down on Tony’s, pressing his fingers against the metal. “Don’t,” he said. “You don’t need to be sorry… please don’t. No one ever touches it, ‘cept the techs. I… I liked it. That’s all.”
“Yeah?”
Bucky nodded. “You can… touch me, that’s fine. I don’t mind. Feels good. Your hands are cool, I wasn’t expecting that.”
Well, of course Tony’s hands were cold, his circulatory system sucked. “Bet you have to keep it out of the sun,” Tony said.
“Yeah. It’s not so bad, except when I burn my skin, sometimes, an’ the reflection bothers people. Makes ‘em notice it more. But I’m always cold, so I like to come to the beach; the air is nice and hot, the sand is hot. Can’t swim, though. Saltwater's corrosive. As it is, I’ll be havin’ lots of work t’ do. Have to go through the whole thing with compressed air, get the sand out.” He shuddered.
Tony almost flinched. Compressed air was damn cold; real flesh and blood could be harmed by it. “Um. I’m… I’m a robotics engineer. Maybe, I could… um. Help you with that?”
Bucky gave Tony a wide smile, brilliant and warm, and helplessly happy. “Would you? I… hey, would you like to… I dunno, grab a burger and malt with me?”
Was that a date? Did Tony just get asked on a date? He bit the inside of his cheek, then, “Um… uh. Was that a ‘burger and malt’ as a date sort of thing, because if it is, that’s fine, I um, yeah, I don’t, or you know, more like a ‘I’m hungry and did you--”
And Tony shut up because Bucky was kissing him again, which was nice, and weirdly unexpected, and there was a part of him that thought maybe he was supposed to be offended that someone he barely knew was kissing him. But most of him just wanted to melt into a little puddle of overexcited goo topped with an extra helping of nerves.
“So… do.. Do you do that often?”
“Do what?” Bucky was a little dazed-looking, as if doing something that was as on the surface mundane as pressing his mouth to Tony’s had made him dizzy and as excited and nervous as Tony was.
“Kiss people to shut them up?”
“You’d be the first.”
***
Bucky Barnes was having the best summer of his life.
Admittedly, it hadn’t been a long life, and the last two summers had been well and truly miserable, but he felt safe in asserting that this was the best one. And that it was going to be hard to top.
Two summers ago, Bucky had been in a bad accident involving some stupidity, too much booze, a car and a train. Lost his arm and spent most of the summer recovering. Last summer, he was finally healed enough to try the replacement limb surgery. And while it had been successful, it had also been painful, scary, and exhausting.
Downside, having a metal arm meant that he drew a lot of unwelcome and unwanted attention. He couldn’t swim. He had to learn to control his every motion, since he could hurt someone by accident without even noticing. In order to use and control the arm -- as well as being able to heal around it -- he’d been injected with an experimental drug that boosted his healing, as well as strength, speed, and endurance. Which had made him attractive to powered villains who thought a good tragic backstory was all a body needed to sign up for being an evil sidekick.
Side benefit, having the metal arm and the serum, Bucky had qualified to be able to go to the prep school, Avengers Academy. Which meant he’d be back with his friends, who’d all qualified through serum (Steve Rogers), coming back from the dead and prosthetics (Phil Coulson) or being experimented on (Carol Danvers.) It meant taking classes where the courses of study involved how to get along in the world without becoming an evil sidekick. Vigilantism and You. How Best to not Destroy the World around You.
But this summer, this summer was going to be in the top ten for the rest of his life, Bucky just knew it.
Because this summer, he had Tony.
Tony, who was stuck at a beach resort for the entire season and who hated the beach. Tony, who thought the metal arm was cool, and knew enough about mechanics that he could actually work on it without breaking it. Tony, who took after his brilliant inventor father in so many ways. Tony, who had two robots and an AI assistant. Tony, who was gorgeous and lithe and tasted like coffee and sugar cookies. Tony, with his scruff of facial hair that was really trying to be a goatee and failing utterly. With his brown eyes and thick lashes. With his full, pert mouth that curved into a pout often enough that Bucky felt it was his duty to kiss, because Tony smiling was a flipping gift.
Once they’d met, Bucky and Tony spent as much time together as they could. They ate at various beach restaurants, they built sandcastles together, they played endless games of badminton and checkers. Tony taught Bucky how to play poker, and Bucky taught Tony how to do a model boat in a bottle.
They went rollerskating. Dancing. Walking in the moonlight. Necking, a little, up in Bucky’s room, although when Bucky had tried to slide a hand under Tony’s shirt, he’d been firmly rebuked. Tony never took his shirt off, even if Bucky walked around without his most of the time (the sun felt really, really good on his skin.)
They’d spent a few afternoons in Tony’s jacuzzi, after Tony had elicited a solemn promise from Bucky not to splash him. “I don’t want to mess up my hair,” Tony had said, even if Bucky didn’t believe that for a hot second, Tony was so serious that Bucky behaved himself. Besides, he didn’t want to lose his jacuzzi privileges. The hot tub was nice. Even if Tony wore a thick, black tank top instead of stripping down to his shorts, Bucky got to see a lot more of him, and wet besides. Tony had the world’s best ass, and Bucky couldn’t help but stare at it whenever he thought Tony wasn’t looking.
It was the best summer of Bucky’s life.
But summers always ended.
That last night, Tony had spread a blanket on the grass and they’d laid down together. Talking, a little. Kissing a lot. Touching a little. Bucky had to swallow down a lump in his throat several times.
“I gotta go back to SSR,” Tony said. He was drumming his fingers against his breastbone, a habit whenever he was nervous. “My dad, he’s like a big deal there, and… you know. I have private tutors. My mom worries, after… well, she worries.”
“I’m gonna miss you,” Bucky said. He kissed Tony again, letting his tongue trace over the line of his mouth and groaning in relief as Tony opened up under him. “Miss you so much.”
“I’ll write,” Tony promised. “And you can call me, although that’ll be hard, with the time zones. Practically on opposite sides of the world.” Tony hadn’t told him exactly where the SSR was, but nobody knew that, really. Bucky thought it might have been in London, or he’d heard rumors that it was in Australia.
“And after school’s over,” Bucky said, his hand roaming around. He wanted, god the things he wanted to do, and Tony was shy. Tony wasn’t ready, and Bucky didn’t want to push, but God, Bucky wanted to, he wanted to touch and tease and lick all over Tony’s body, and he couldn’t help but wish that Tony would give him something. He knew Tony wanted him, he could feel that press of evidence, even now. “After school’s over. I’ll find you. I will. This isn’t the end, kitten. It’s just the beginning.”
Bucky rolled them over until Bucky was laying on top of Tony, staring down at him. He captured Tony’s mouth again, kissing. His hand was on Tony’s hip, and then it slid upward. He pressed down, rocking his hips against Tony’s.
Suddenly Tony was gasping and shoving at him. “Get off, get off me,” he burst out. Tony scrambled upright as soon as Bucky took his weight off, one hand pressed against his chest, the other one pulling his knees up.
“Oh, God, kitten,” Bucky said, biting at his lip. “I’m sorry. Sorry, I didn’t mean t’...” Bucky was lanced with guilt; he had been pushing, trying to nudge Tony into more than he’d said he was ready for, and now--
“No, no, it’s… Bucky, it’s okay, you just…” Tony fluttered his hand around his chest. “I… I, it was me,” he stammered, staring at the blanket. “I couldn’t breathe. Can… I think. I think I’d be okay, if… if I was on top?”
Ohgod. Bucky was on fire for that suggestion. “Yeah, yeah, kitten, you can totally lay on me, much as you want.”
“And,” Tony said, crawling up and snuggling against Bucky’s chest. “And… just leave my shirt alone, okay?”
Bucky brushed Tony’s hair back. “Whatever you want, kitten,” he said. “I… why?”
Tony flushed a little. “Well, have you seen yourself? I don’t…”
Oh, God. Bucky barely suppressed his urge to roll his eyes. “You know I don’t care if you don’t have any muscle, right? I like you. I love you.”
“I don’t… I don’t have any chest hair, either. Look, I know it’s silly,” Tony said, blushing harder and tucking his face against Bucky’s neck. “I just… I don’t want you looking at me with my shirt off, okay? Can we just… not? Anything else you want…”
Bucky took Tony’s hand and dropped a kiss in his palm. “You’re not silly,” Bucky said. He sucked one of Tony’s fingers into his mouth, then released it. “What… what’s on the options menu, for anything else?” Because Bucky knew some things they could do that didn’t involve their chests at all, and he would be perfectly happy to do them.
Tony slithered down Bucky’s body; there was a hard press of -- Tony’s elbow, maybe? -- on Bucky’s belly that drew a gasp from him. Tony touched the hem of button of Bucky’s jeans. “I… um… if you wanted. I could…”
Bucky leaned up on his elbows. “Only if you… if you want to, Tony,” Bucky started, and then he lost his grip on his vocabulary as Tony’s quick fingers were on Bucky’s zipper.
Best. Summer. Ever.