Chapter Text
the first few times james barnes sets his eyes on the one and only tony stark, he has to hold in the urge to go up and squeeze him. really, you can't blame the man. tony's hair is tousled and greasy, he's wearing oversized sweats that are clearly too big for him, and he's rubbing his eyes and yawning as a five-year-old would. he even stumbles as he walks, squeaking slightly when he hits the corner of the breakfast counter, and so what if buckys jaw has dropped? like he said before, you can hardly blame him.
tony- or, "ironman", he supposes, hasn't even noticed they've walked into the common kitchen area, and proceeds to go on his very tippy toes to reach a particular mug at the back. of course, the 5"1 (, in bucky's mind,) man isn't able to reach it and that's when steve clears his throat, stepping forward and reaching it for tony.
his big, wide eyes look surprised but he smiles blearily as steve hands him the mug, and so what if bucky is jealous that isn't directed towards him? who wouldn't be?
he's aware that in the time he's been standing there, the other avengers have been filing into the room, and he's now getting plenty of weird looks as he zones off, staring at a particular spot above tony's head. not that he cares, until the man in question clears his throat, looking much more awake now that he's had his coffee.
"barnes?" tony questions, cocking his head like a cute, little puppy. bucky refrains from "awwe-ing", and instead looks away with a glare.
"sorry, just, um- thinking."
"about anyone in particular?" tony teases. man, does bucky wish he'd never had his coffee. then, he could have gotten away with this. not that he needs to get away with anything, because everything is perfectly normal and fine.
he grabs a mug of coffee right out of tony's hands, smirking and laughing inside at his confused and slowly approaching annoyed face. it's hard to be scared of tony stark when his angry face looks like a 5-year-olds tantrum face. he leaves the room, saluting at steve as he does, who simply rolls his eyes.
and maybe when he turns the corner and knows no one else is there he grins as he remembers tony's cute hair and clothes and puppy dog eyes and annoyed face and really, just tony as a whole. the cute bastard.
-
"steve, why is tony ranked so high on hydra's threat list?"
steve cocks his head slightly, narrowing his eyes as he throws another punch as bucky, who quickly dodges.
"what do you mean?"
"well, look-" he huffs as steve attempts to swipe his feet out from under him, "- at him. he's so cute and-"
"and what, james? someone got a crush?" bucky knows steve is only teasing him, so why did it hit so close to home? he flips steve over in retaliation, slamming him down on the floor but only has a second to be smug before he's flipped over himself.
"shut up, steve. anyway, seriously? i- i see how ironman would be, the dude can shoot nukes out of his fingers or some shit. but tony?"
"i don't know bucky, but i'm sure there's a reason. just give it time and maybe you'll see."
bucky pushes steve off him, bouncing back to his feet and then continuing sparring.
"what?"
"i'm not saying i hope that happens! god, buck, i just meant that you shouldn't push it, ok?"
"yeah, whatever. i wasn't going to anyway."
and with that the silence continues, the only noise the sound of heavy breathing and punches being thrown.
-
it's been pressing bucky for a while- how, why and what the fuck? hydra don't play around, so he just wants to know what tony does. harmless, really. so he heads down to the man's workshop at around 1am but he knows the man won't be sleeping.
he finds tony working on some project, sparks flying everywhere but even just from the door bucky can sense that tony isn't quite up to par. tony's hands are shaking, and he looks ridiculously pale.
usually very alert in his own workshop, tony doesn't notice bucky until he taps him on the shoulder. he jumps, blowtorch switching off and dropping to the ground.
"what the fuck, barnes?" he has huge bags under his eyes and his cheeks look hollow. bucky recognises this look from when pepper has dragged him up, the team working together to literally force tony to sleep and eat. except its 1am, and they're the only two awake.
"i was just-" he pauses "checking on you. when was the last time you ate, tony"?
tony, realising this is only a regular routine checkup, rolls his eyes and bends down to pick up his blowtorch but bucky doesn't fail to notice how he sways or how he struggles to get back up.
he grabs it out of tony's hands and places it on the table.
"i don't think so. you have food down here, stark?" he glares slightly at the last bit because tony should know by now that it isn't funny and he needs to learn.
he can see the minute tony accepts his defeat, he must really be tired, and smirks (he saves the "aww-ing" for later).
tony points to a cupboard, and heads over to the couch.
bucky quickly grabs some pre-made sandwiches that he thinks he remembers steve bringing down yesterday, and also grabs a few bottles of water. he doesn't fail to roll his eyes through the whole process, making sure that tony sees. idiot.
he cannot believe that this coffee, sleep and food deprived man is ranked so highly in the eyes of hydra. what possibly could he do? fucking throw coffee granules at them? some sick part of bucky wanted desperately to see, but he knew that he truly never wished too. tony was safer inside the suit.
so thats how they fall asleep, lying on tonys couch, sandwich remains surrounding them. execpt bucky isn't really asleep- super soldier instincts too strong and he searches the room in the dark. something doesn't seem right.
-
he says like that for a few more hours, on high alert yet also sure it's nothing. however, he hears a creak and that's all it takes for him to grab tony around the waist, jump behind the couch and shield himself from the oncoming blast.
thankfully, tony has his couch secured to the floor. debris flys past them and in the fleeting moment that bucky looks at tony to see if he's okay, something sharp hits his neck. his vision becomes hazy, as tony panicks, standing up, too confused to summon the suit, and the last thing bucky sees is tony fall to the ground beside him.