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A strange thing was happening in the Barnes-Rogers household as the days sped towards All Hallows' Eve. There was no obvious explanation, no clear rhyme or reason. It was a mystery begging to be solved.
And it began with Bucky...
Bucky was only mildly startled when the plastic packaging fluttered down at him when he opened the cupboard. With a frown that only deepened when he picked it up, he realized that it was an empty Twizzlers bag. A bag that he had stashed there ready for Halloween. A bag that he had specifically ordered Steve not to touch.
Stalking into Steve's art room, he flung the packet towards the man in question, scowling when it fluttered ineffectively to the floor, bringing nothing more than a raised eyebrow from the blonde who asked, "what's up Buck?"
"I told you not to eat the candy, Rogers!"
"I didn't!" Steve protested with a wave of his paintbrush, flicking a drop of paint onto the end of Bucky's nose.
Bucky went cross-eyed trying to focus on it for a second before returning to the more important task at hand, "Explain the empty bag then Steven!"
Steve shrugged and turned back to his canvas, "Wasn't me Buck, y'sure you didn't eat them and forget?"
With a growl and a mental chant of "you can't kill him, you love him" Bucky left the room with a huff, slamming the door behind him.
Of course, as with most things, if it hit one of them, the other was sure to be close behind.
Steve, being a good husband, had picked up a couple of bags of candy to replace the empty one Bucky had sent fluttering at him earlier that day and had decided that the best thing to do would be to put them in a different place. So he did.
He hid them in his sock drawer. Obviously.
But when Steve went to grab a pair of fluffy socks, ideal for snuggling and ignoring whichever film they were supposed to be watching, he opened his drawer to find that one of the bags was completely empty, and the other only had 2 Reese's eyeballs left inside.
Annoyed that Bucky would have the audacity to first accuse him of eating the candy and then invading his hiding place to steal more, Steve snatched the packets up before storming back to the living room and slapping them down onto the coffee table, dangerously close to Bucky's own fluffy toes.
"Really Buck? You yell at me for stealin' and then do it again?"
Bucky looked up from his phone, confusion battling with a hurt glare at the declaration, "what?"
Steve waved the packets in his face, "this Buck, you blamed me for eating that candy earlier, but when I bought more and hid it, you went and ate that too, it's not fair Bucky!"
Bucky's eyes went from a tight scowl to wide-eyed shock, "Steve, I didn't eat those. Any of them. I didn't even know you'd bought more, and I didn't eat the bag I showed you earlier either." His voice rough as he thought over the implications.
After a moment of scrutinising his expression, Steve slumped onto the sofa next to him, "this is like that stupid scarecrow all over again" he groaned as he buried his face into his hands.
Bucky joined him in his despair for a moment before sitting upright with a yell, "that's it, Stevie!"
"What's it?" came the mumbled reply as Steve continued to hold his head.
"The scarecrow was Tasha right? So think about it sweetheart, who would break in, without us knowing, and steal our candy?"
Steve needed no further explanation and turned the full weight of his glare towards the ceiling and growled, "Barton."
Bucky nodded before falling into silence for a moment, "we'll have to trap him, but he's such a slippery bastard."
"Pot meet kettle" Steve snorted.
"Rude" Bucky retorted with a jab of his elbow.
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The plan was simple, they would head to bed as normal with the cats but Jussie would stay in the kitchen.
Why?
Because while Clint may have been breaking into their home to steal their sweets, it was almost guaranteed he'd be making a stop by their fridge and coffee pot too. And Clint's biggest weakness after leftover pizza and caffeine? Dogs.
It wasn't until nearly 02:00 that they heard the first sign of disturbance, quiet enough that it wouldn't normally wake either of them, but this time they were both still up and actively listening for it.
As the super-soldier duo crept downstairs, Bucky as silent and as dark as the night itself, Steve stealthier than his size would suggest, they heard an excited whisper from the kitchen "aw puppy!" and knew that their trap had worked.
They slunk into the kitchen, where the archer was illuminated only by the light of the moon through the window as he patted Justice with one hand and fed himself handfuls of Skittles with the other. A look and a nod passed between them before Bucky snuck forward until he was directly behind Barton, the sharpshooter still somehow miraculously unaware, and then Steve switched on the lights.
As Clint jumped at the sudden brightness, Bucky snatched him by the back of his collar, slapping the sweets out from his hand with metal fingers. "Barton, why are you in my kitchen eating my candy?" Bucky growled, a thrill of satisfaction running through him when Clint actually whimpered at being caught by the former-Winter Soldier.
"Let him go Buck" came Steve's order, his tone bored and the eye-roll obvious if not visible.
"Spoilsport" Bucky grumbled but released him all the same.
Steve steered Clint towards a chair, before running a hand over his tired face, messing his hair up adorably and bringing an unavoidable smile to Bucky's face.
"Clint" Steve started, bringing out the full force of both his "Captain America is disappointed in you" face and voice. (Although as Bucky was constantly trying to point out, it was really just Steve Rogers' "thinks you should be trying harder" demeanour.) "What are you doing?"
Clint flickered his gaze between the pair with giving in with a whine, "Nat won't let me eat any of our candy! And Stark's is all weird flavoured! You're the only people with the good stuff!"
At any other time, it would've been funny to see Hawkeye pouting over sweets, but it was 2 in the morning so Bucky really didn't have the patience for this. "Barton, I'll make a deal with you, I will give you a bag of your choice if you promise not to steal any more."
Clint thought for a moment, but obviously decided it wasn't worth getting on their bad side and readily agreed.
"Great, now that's sorted, I'm going to bed. Jussie c'mon" Steve stated as he walked out, pausing to look over his shoulder at Clint and adding, "you can stay in the guest room tonight Clint, it's too cold to be out now."
After Steve had headed back upstairs, Clint looked at Bucky in disbelief, "so, does that mean I'm staying?"
"Yep" came Bucky's simple reply as he followed Steve, "turn off the lights before you come up, and make sure to re-lock the door."
With Clint now alone in the kitchen, he shook his head at the strange turn his attempted larceny had taken, muttering to himself, "super-soldier grandpas are weird."