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Tony stepped out of the elevator and into the gym which occupied one entire floor of the Avengers Tower. He and Natasha had been talking the night before, or rather gossiping, it was their weekly pampering night after all, and between two shots – vodka for Nat, cranberry juice for Tony, ‘cause it was healthy and delicious and he had been sober for six months now, and his brain would trick itself with the placebo effect anyway –, he had confessed that he found several of her combat moves really impressive and that he would really like to learn how to do that.
Five minutes later, his favourite Russian spy had convinced him to spar with her come tomorrow, and so here he was, walking to the gallows, regretting every decision he had ever made. He was gonna do everything to hold his own, and he knew how to fight, mind you, but ultimately he knew that he was going to spend a lot of time on his back for the next hour or two, if only because of how unmotivated he was.
Natasha was already stretching on the mat when he arrived, but she wasn't alone in the gym – apparently, it was Super Soldier Training Time. Bucky and Steve were running side by side on treadmills, chatting idly and looking far too composed for the speed at which they were going.
Tony tried not to stare too hard at Bucky, at the way his tank top was slightly clinging to his skin and his hair was perfectly tied in a frankly ridiculous bun – because buns were not supposed to be hot, and that was final.
The super soldier had been in the Tower for a year, and if the first months had been rough, he seemed to be doing okay these days. He smiled, laughed, even trolled Sam with Steve, and overall seemed to be on his way to finding who he was now.
And Tony was helplessly crushing on the guy.
Ever since Tony had first repaired Bucky's metal arm, the two of them had started a tentative friendship, and Tony had discovered first-hand how devastatingly charming and amazing Bucky could be. He dared say that now, after tiptoeing around each other for a bit and finally finding their balance, they were even friends – but Tony couldn't help but want so much more.
So he was pining. But he was too afraid to say anything, and he tried not to be too clingy and invasive, lest he chase Bucky away.
He suddenly felt shy about having an audience for his inescapable demise at the gym, and settled for a wave in the direction of the pair on his way to the mat.
"Oh hey Tones!" greeted Steve enthusiastically, at the same time as Bucky drawled out a "Looking good, doll" with a hint of a smirk.
Tony felt his face heating up. His sport clothes were pretty form-fitting, the pants clinging to his legs and ass, and he suddenly felt very exposed.
He let out a laugh which sounded awkward even to his own ears before scurrying away to join Natasha. She, of course, had not missed a single detail from the scene, and her eyes held a teasing glint.
"Not a word," Tony mumbled, pouting.
Nat mimed zipping her lips, and Tony rolled his eyes. He got down on the mat to stretch a bit before getting his ass handed to him, and after a while, they got up and into their fighting stances.
Just before they began to spar, however, Tony couldn't help but risk a glance towards the treadmills, and immediately regretted it.
The super soldiers had stopped running; Steve had wandered off somewhere, probably to destroy yet another punching bag, but Bucky was right there, a few meters away from Tony and Natasha, doing push-ups and – staring straight at Tony.
And that, right there? That was downright unfair. Bucky wasn't even breaking a sweat. In fact, his push-ups looked so effortless he might as well be reading a book. In a bath. With relaxing music and scented candles.
Aaaand now Tony was thinking about him naked. Great. Way to ruin his concentration.
The thing was – the thing was that Tony was acutely aware that his crush towards the super soldier was already way out of proportion. The times when Bucky would wander down to Tony's workshop just to hang out were the highlights of the genius's days, and Tony even tried to make it to most of the team's movie nights nowadays, because at some of them, he might be lucky enough to snag the place next to Bucky on the couch.
And the worst thing was – Tony would be happy living the rest of his life like this, just collecting all those precious moments he got to share with Bucky, hoarding his rare and all-the-more precious smiles and laughs. Bucky was so kind, and so intelligent, and so pure, and – yeah, Tony got it BAD.
But right then, right there, Tony was painfully and vividly made aware of how gorgeous the man was. And how strong – Bucky could probably hold him against the wall like it was nothing and fuck him into oblivion and nope, nope, not going there, bad Tony.
Natasha punching him right in his left side brought him back to reality.
"Really, Tones?" the redhead deadpanned, raising one of her eyebrows.
Tony offered her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, sorry, concentrating."
Nat attacked again, and this time Tony blocked it fairly easily. He could do this. They made it through a rather honourable series of passes and punches before things went south again. A metallic glint caught Tony's eye and he turned back his attention towards Bucky for a fraction of second, only to stop dead in his tracks.
Bucky was doing one-handed push-ups. With the metal arm. Tony thought he could hear the soft whirring of the plates all the way from there, recalibrating relentlessly as Bucky moved up and down. Bucky could probably do that for hours, too – it wasn't like the arm would get tired or anything.
Heat curled at the base of Tony’s spine, and next thing he knew, he was on his back, tackled flat on the mat by a very unimpressed Natasha.
"Okay," she huffed, her tone annoyed, but the look in her eyes was fond, so Tony knew she wasn't really mad. "We're done for today. You're useless at sparing right now, Antoshka."
Tony sort of shrugged from where he was still sprawled on the mat, his limbs akimbo. She was right, and he felt like lying here for a little bit.
Nat laughed, playfully nudged his shin with her foot, and got off the mat. He heard her walk away, but not towards the exit – what the hell was she doing??
"Hey Barnes," he heard her say, and oh no, no no no, that was not good at all. "Get up. You should do your push-ups elsewhere. Like... Right here."
And then Tony was looking up at a flustered Bucky, who had been all but pulled onto the mat, and who, after a bit of a stumble, was now standing right above the resident genius. Tony thought he heard Nat mumble that she had to do everything herself before walking away, but he couldn't be sure past the deafening rush of blood in his ears.
He felt like his face was on fire. He had the urge to laugh it off and say that Nat was crazy and that Bucky should ignore it all but… But Bucky looked – hopeful? Maybe it was time to take a leap and do something crazy himself.
"Sooo..." Tony began, biting his lip nervously. "Wanna practice here?" he gestured down at his body, or at least as much as he could while still lying down and feeling completely light-headed.
He was rewarded by the most boyish and charming smirk he had ever seen gracing Bucky's features, and Tony went breathless for a second.
"It would be my pleasure, doll," the super soldier drawled, and he got down on a plank between Tony's legs, his hands on either side of the genius’s head, and Tony's brain short-circuited.
The genius felt like his heart was seconds away from beating right out from his chest. Bucky gave him a questioning look, and Tony nodded, hoping it would be answer enough.
And then Bucky lowered himself down and Tony was being kissed within an inch of his life. For a first kiss, it was damn right perfect – passionate and charged with yearning, the slightest bit wet and a hundred percent intoxicating. When Bucky pulled back, his eyes held the same affection Tony had felt warming up his core for months, and hope flared bright in the genius's chest.
He smiled cheekily at Bucky, and asked: "Aren’t you supposed to do a hundred?"
The laugh that it startled out of Bucky was amazing, but the ninety-nine kisses that followed were even better.