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Steve was dead tired, but God, was he glad to be home. He had just driven home from work after going through therapy appointments from the moment he walked in, a group meeting around evening time, and staying late talking on the phone to a vet who just couldn’t seem to calm down. Steve could never be mad at anyone who needed his help, especially not a fellow vet, but he was certainly exhausted by the time he was finally in the car to make the long drive home with all the traffic coming from Manhattan. Steve huffed, killing the engine and shutting the garage door with the clicker sitting above the windshield, hastily grabbing his bag from the passenger seat and slamming the car door shut behind him, making his way into the house from the garage door to the inside.
Normally Bucky would be greeting him from his spot on the couch, no doubt with a beer in hand and reruns of some daytime soap opera on. But Bucky was out in Indiana visiting his parents and sister for his mother’s birthday. So Steve was greeted with silence. Which wouldn’t be abnormal, except for the fact that he knew Peter was home. Since Peter had gotten more comfortable with Bucky and Steve, he tended to spend more time out of his room than in, and Steve was kind of shocked to see no one in the living room. Well , he digressed, it wasn’t abnormal for a teenager to want to be alone sometimes. A lot of the time. He supposed Peter did spend a lot of time with Steve and Bucky, and he did deserve some time to himself. So he didn’t stress too much about it.
Sighing, Steve dropped his bag onto a chair in the living room and leaned on it to slip his shoes off, letting them fall to the floor wherever they landed. God, Pete is gonna whine about this , he thought to himself. He always stressed that Peter used the shoe rack he had gotten next to the front door, but he was just so exhausted he couldn’t be bothered. Fuck it . He headed up the stairs, right through his and Bucky’s bedroom into their ensuite bathroom.
He started the shower, turning it to the hottest setting and letting it fog up the room while he stripped out of his work clothes. He took his time in the shower, letting the hot water run down his tense, aching back. He lathered his hair in Bucky’s shampoo, loving the scent of strawberries and kiwis (even though he knew Bucky hated it when he used his hair products). He even let Bucky’s fancy conditioner sit in his hair for a bit, loving having Bucky’s scent on him even when he wasn’t there. He was in the shower so long, his pale Irish skin had turned lobster red, full body blushing from the heat.
Steve shut off the shower, drying himself off at a subdued pace and stepping into the bedroom to lather himself with lotion. He didn’t care how ‘womanly’ some would consider it. Taking care of yourself was for everyone. Plus he tended to get dry skin. He pulled on a clean pair of boxers (if they just so happened to be Bucky’s who needed to know?) and a pair of blue pajama pants and a baggy white t-shirt and plopped down on his bed to check his phone. He noticed with a jolt that it was already past 9 pm and he hadn’t eaten dinner yet. He didn’t even know if Peter had eaten. After texting Bucky back and setting a reminder to answer the email he had gotten, he got up and padded his way to Peter’s room. He knocked on the door twice.
“Pete? You in there?” He waited a few moments for the door to open, but nothing came. Not a sound. He knocked again, this time firmly.
“Peter? Are you hungry? We can get takeout.” Again, no response. Steve turned the handle of the door, checking to see if the door was locked. When it gave way, he entered the room with no hesitation.
“Pete, I asked if you were–”
Nothing in the world could have prepared Steve for what he saw when he came into the room. Peter was lying on his back shirtless, one hand holding his phone sideways, the other under the covers moving in a very, uh, familiar pattern. As soon as Steve opened the door, Peter’s head flew up in alarm, eyes wide with shock. He dropped his phone and pulled his other hand from under the covers, as if trying to hide what he was doing.
“Uh, I- I was, uh,” he stuttered, just a bit too loud. Steve averted his gaze to the floor, his face going just as red as Peter’s.
“Uh, I’m just going to uh. I’m gonna go order a couple pizzas. I’ll text you when it’s here.” And just like that he was out of the room, closing the door swiftly. He stood in the hallway for a moment, frozen with embarrassment, before he pulled his shit together and went back to his room to order the pizzas. And immediately call Bucky. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, baby, I was wondering if you were gonna grace my presence today.” He was trying to be smooth but Steve wasn’t having it.
“Buck, no sweet talking tonight. I fucked up! Really bad! Like bad bad.”
“Stevie, baby, slow down. Is Peter okay?” Steve inhaled sharply and nodded his head (not that Bucky could see).
“Yes.”
“And are you okay?”
“I think so.”
Bucky chuckled softly. “Then tell me what’s the matter.”
Steve was silent for a moment, working up the courage to tell Bucky about the shitshow that just played out.
“Well, I got home super late. Like around 8:30. And I took a really long shower and I didn’t realize the time, and it was already past 9 and I hadn’t eaten. And I didn’t know if Peter had either. So I knocked on his door and he didn't answer. So I just went in and he was– He was uh. You know.”
“Uh, no honey, I don’t know,” Bucky said, not unkindly. “What was he doing?”
“He was, well,” Steve took a breath and just let it all out. “ Hewasmasturbating .”
Bucky went silent for a second. Then burst out into laughter like the asshole he was. It was a full minute before he calmed down enough for Steve to get a word in.
“Bucky. C’mon, seriously. It’s not funny!” Oh, but it was. At least to Bucky. He laughed for a while more before he calmed again.
“Now, Steve,” he had to pause to laugh again. “It’s not the end of the world. He is a teenager after all. I’m surprised you haven’t caught him sooner.”
“ Bucky .”
“No, seriously, Steve. He’s a teen. His body is wracked with hormones right now. Ones that make you horny. You’ll both be fine.”
Steve sighed again.
“Yeah, I guess so. Well I finally ordered food for us. Pizza. It should be here any minute now.”
With his initial embarrassment gone, Steve spoke to Bucky for a while longer about his day and nothing in particular until he heard the doorbell ring.
“Alright, Stevie, go eat your pizza. I’ll call you on your lunch break tomorrow, alright?”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m just worried about facing Peter.”
Bucky’s voice softened. “It’ll be fine, baby. You’re going to have an open, sex positive conversation and reassure him that it’s totally fine and natural that he does that, because frankly we all do,” mirth soon dripped into his voice with what he said next. “And maybe tell him to lock the door next time.” Steve huffed out a laugh, sincerely missing his husband and his teasing.
“I will. I love you, Bucky. So much.”
“I love you too, sweetheart. Tell Pete to call me tomorrow, okay?”
“Alright. Bye.”
Steve hung up the phone, walking downstairs to find Peter closing the door with two boxes of pizza in hand. With a shirt on this time.
“I, uh, tipped the pizza guy for you.” His voice was timid, and he wasn’t quite looking Steve in the eye.
“Thanks, bud. Why don’t you take that to the kitchen so we can eat.” Peter nodded his assent, following Steve into the kitchen, setting down the boxes as Steve pulled down a couple of plates and glasses. He set the plates down next to Peter and turned to fill the two glasses with water from the tap. They chose their slices of pizza, eating in silence for a moment, Steve trying to decide what exactly he was going to say. He sipped his water to ground himself, and set it down, clasping his hands together and looking at Peter.
“Pete, I think we need to talk.” Peter’s eyes slowly made their way up to meet Steve’s, clearly filled with apprehension.
“Don’t worry. I’m not upset at you. I just think we need to have a little conversation, man to man. Okay?”
The kid looked a little confused, but nodded his head nonetheless.
“Okay,” Steve let out a breath. “First things first, you did nothing wrong. You’re a teenager, you’ve got plenty of hormones swirling around, and you know, the urge arises sometimes.” Steve felt a blush creeping up his neck, but fought against the embarrassment and continued.
“We all do it. Everyone. And there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.” He paused for a moment, seeing the look on Peter’s face that said he would rather die than talk about this with Steve.
“And look. I know you’re embarrassed. That’s okay. Trust me, I’m embarrassed too. But don’t worry about it. I don’t think of you any less than I did before. And... You can always come to me and Bucky about this kinda stuff. All of it. You know, condoms, wondering if you’re going to have sex with someone, hell, even STD testing.”
“Okay! Okay! I get it,” Peter exclaimed, face red as a beet. Steve laughed softly.
“Sorry, buddy. I guess we’re a ways away from that, huh?” Peter just rolled his eyes in response.
“Just, uh, one more thing? You might wanna lock the door next time. I promise if the door is locked Bucky and I won’t pry.”
“Okay, Steve. Sorry. I’m just, God, I’m so embarrassed right now,” the kid let out an awkward chuckle. Steve just smiled warmly at him.
“Don’t even worry about it, bud. I promise you, Bucky and I have gone through the same thing. Bucky had it worse than me. I was an only child and my ma worked long hours, so I was home alone a lot. Bucky had his mom and his dad and his little sister, too. And God help him, his ma had a habit of being nosy. And we were both raised super Catholic. His ma walked in on him one time and burst into tears.”
Peter didn’t seem to find this as funny as Steve did and looked at him in horror. “Seriously?!”
“My hand to God, buddy, she was legit crying. Made him go to confession that day too.”
“Wow. That sounds terrible, Steve,” Peter, ever the empath, actually looked sad. Steve just smiled at him, a dopey grin splitting his face. He had the best kid. Even in extreme embarrassment he always worried about people he cared about. And that was all people.
“He’s alright now, kiddo. We didn’t exactly grow up in a sex positive environment, but we learned and healed from it. I promise he’s alright now. He may not wanna hear about it though.”
Peter just laughed, finally looking free of embarrassment for the first time that night. They went back to eating, this time in companionable silence, both of them eating 4 slices. Peter picked up both of their plates and did the dishes, ever the considerate kid, and turned to Steve.
“Hey, Steve?”
“Yeah, kiddo?” Steve was happily surprised when Peter wrapped his arms around his torso, resting his head on Steve’s chest. Steve instantly wrapped his arms around his kid.
“Thank you. For everything.”
“Of course, honey.” They stayed like that for a moment, both of them content to be close to each other even just for a little while. Peter excused himself to bed, saying good night to Steve and promising to call Bucky after he got out of school the next day.
And despite the initial embarrassment of the night, Steve was able to relax on the couch, lying sideways, and watch his current guilty pleasure: some random cop show that took itself way too seriously. Having a teenager didn’t come without its awkward moments, but Steve wouldn’t trade it for the world.