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“Uh…” Tony says, looking between Steve and Bucky as they glare at each other across the game board. “Maybe Monopoly was a mistake.”
“Shh!” Natasha admonishes as she reaches out to grab a handful of the popcorn Clint just held out to her.
It’s Bucky’s turn, and if he rolls a 12 he’ll pass Go and escape Steve’s stranglehold on the Boardwalk corner of the board and live another round. If he rolls anything else, Steve wins. Everyone else has been eliminated already, so they’re just watching as Steve and Bucky stare each other down.
Bucky’s been on the verge of elimination for four turns now, and somehow he keeps rolling the exact number he needs to stay in the game.
Bucky shakes the dice in his metal hand, clicking and clacking as he shakes and shakes and stares at Steve. Steve, who is gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles are white and there are tiny cracks splintering out away from his hands, stares back, his jaw clenched hard enough that Tony’s pretty sure he’ll need a to see a dentist.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
“Oh, just roll already!” Steve shouts. Bucky smirks and holds the dice out to Sam, opening his hand as he says, “gimme a blow, Sam. For luck.”
“UHH…” Sam panics, looking over at Steve, who looks practically murderous. “Phrasing, man, come on.” But he purses his lips and blows on the dice anyway.
Bucky stares at Steve as he shakes the dice again before finally, finally, rolling them.
“Oh, come on!” Steve shouts as the rest of the Avengers cheer when the dice stop moving to show a 12. “You’re cheating! I know you are!”
Bucky just smirks and passes Go, collecting his $200.
~~~
“Uh…” Tony says at game night the next week, “maybe Twister wasn’t such a good idea.”
“Shh!” Natasha admonishes, reaching out to grab some potato chips from the bowl Clint just shoved toward her.
“It might have been the best idea we’ve had yet,” Pepper says, tilting her head as she looks at the mat on the floor.
Wanda reaches out and bumps Pepper’s fist in solidarity without taking her eyes off the spectacle in front of them.
Steve and Bucky are the only two left on the mat, their limbs entwined into some, frankly, impossible-looking positions. Neither of them is willing to give an inch, and supersoldier stamina means they’ve been twined together on the mat for close to an hour now.
“Right hand green,” Thor chirps happily when the spinner finally stops. Steve and Bucky start shuffling their positions so they can get their right hands on a green dot, and somehow they manage to end up with Bucky arched like a cat, one limb on each dot, and Steve on his back on top of Bucky, somehow also touching the appropriate dots as his arms and legs hang down.
“Steve,” Bucky grits out, “you asshole, you can’t just let your weight rest on top of me!”
“Why not?” Steve replies smugly. “I’m still on all the right dots.”
“Joke’s on you if you think I can’t hold an extra 200 pounds for as long as I need to, pal.”
“Oh, I know you can, baby,” Steve purrs.
“You little shit, ” Bucky huffs.
“Is there a time limit on this game?” Bruce asks. “Should we set one?”
“No!” the rest of the group choruses, settling in for the rest of the show.
Steve and Bucky are declared joint winners two hours later when the mat gives up the ghost and rips in half from the strain.
~~~
“Uh…” Tony says the next week at game night, “maybe Risk was a bad idea.”
“You think?” Clint replies, watching Steve and Bucky continue to stare each other down over mainland Asia.
“They’ve been at it for 45 minutes now. I’m not sure either of them has even blinked,” Bruce says.
“We need a game where they can be on the same team,” Natasha suggests.
Tony snaps his fingers. “Trivial Pursuit next week. Steve and Bucky can be on the same team.”
“Yeah, give the rest of us a chance,” Sam chimes in.
“Hey, super boyfriends!” Tony shouts at Steve and Bucky. “Trivial Pursuit next week! You’re on the same team!”
“What is Trivial Pursuit?” Bucky asks, not breaking his intense eye contact with Steve.
“It’s a trivia game; pop culture, music, movies, history. You’ll learn something, at least!”
Steve clenches his jaw and lifts his eyebrow subtly. Bucky nods, and they both go back to staring at the Risk board and each other.
~~~
“We need a plan,” Steve says when he and Bucky get back to their floor later that evening. “A Trivial Pursuit plan.”
“Yeah. First let’s ask Jarvis about the game, and then we can work out our strategy.”
Steve nods. “Good idea. Jarvis, what can you tell us about Trivial Pursuit?”
~~~
“How was Trivial Pursuit a bad choice?” Tony gripes a week later at game night, when Steve and Bucky answer their final question correctly and win the game. “Neither of them were even around for all of this stuff!!”
“Steve has an eidetic memory, Tony,” Bucky says.
“And Bucky’s is close to that,” Steve says.
“And we studied,” Bucky smirks.
“You studied. For a board game.” Clint deadpans.
“Ah. A good strategy,” Thor says, lifting his drink in appreciation.
“Maybe we should just have movie nights instead,” Sam suggests. “These two assholes are way too competitive.”
“Sounds good to me,” Wanda says, as the rest of the group voice their agreement as they walk away from the game table and into the kitchen to get some food, and to drink away their losses.
Steve smiles and looks at Bucky, who turns to Steve and smiles back softly. Steve leans over and kisses him on the cheek, the jaw, the mouth. Soft little kisses that make Bucky giggle. Trivial Pursuit is awesome.
~~~
“Think they suspect?” Bucky asks Steve that night in bed.
“Nah. They just think we’re stupidly competitive.”
Bucky hums. “We probably could have just said we would rather have a movie night than a game night, though.”
“Yeah, but this was way more fun. Did you see the looks on their faces when we won today?”
“You’re right, fucking with them for weeks has been a lot of fun.”
“Damn straight.”