Work Text:
“Thanks,” Bucky said, accepting the can of beer from Sam.
Sam grinned back and took a seat on the couch opposite. “No problem. Someone’s got to educate you on twenty-first century alcohol.”
Steve snorted into his beer as Sam took a seat next to Natasha.
Tony nodded wisely. “It’s a difficult job, but the alternative is too horrible to bear.” He shuddered. No one pointed out he was drinking apple juice.
“You do realise I can’t get drunk,” Bucky pointed out.
Tony waved his hand. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It’s a social thing,” Sam chided him.
“Hear hear,” Clint said, raising his drink.
Bucky rolled his eyes and looked at his drink.
“You have been with us for almost a year,” Tony pointed out. “We need to get you acclimatised. Actually,” he frowned. “JARVIS, how long has Bucky been with us?”
“363 days, sir.”
There was a silence.
“Almost a year,” Clint mused.
“Don’t get any-” Bucky began.
“Party!” Tony leapt to his feet. “One-year-of-hanging-out-with-the-coolest-superhero-team-on-earth.”
The Avengers groaned.
“Steve! You call Thor. Clint, get Phil. Not Fury, he’d kill the mood. I’ll call Pepper.” He clapped his hands. “This is going to be awesome.”
Bucky covered his face with his hands.
XXX
“Steve.” Bucky was hovering in the corridor behind him.
Steve grinned at him. “What’s up Buck?”
“About my party…” He hesitated.
Steve frowned. “We can cancel if you want,” he offered. “Tony will understand-”
“No.” Bucky interrupted firmly. He shook his head. “No,” he said softer. “I was wondering if I could…”
Steve waited. He had learnt, over the year, not to push. Bucky would get to what he wanted as long as he wasn’t forced.
“Invitesomeone,” Bucky finished in a blather.
“Of course,” Steve said slowly. “It’s your party after all.” He paused. “I’ll let Tony know to plan for an extra guest.”
Bucky nodded once and walked away.
“Guest?” Steve asked the empty corridor.
XXX
“So he didn’t say who he wanted to invite?” Clint asked.
Steve shook his head for the umpteenth time.
“Maybe he’s being funny?” Jane offered.
“Not his style,” Bruce pointed out. The two of them had arrived earlier that day. In fact, they’d only just come out of the lab that Tony had dragged the both of them into the moment they arrived. “Unless…” he looked at the group questioningly. “I haven’t been here for a while,” he said in explanation.
“Not his style,” Steve confirmed.
“Whoever it is, we should be supportive,” Sam told them.
Natasha nodded. “Especially if he feels awkward about bringing this person over.”
“He needs to know this is a safe place,” Sam confirmed. “No matter who this person is. Friend, girlfriend, boyfriend.” He shot Steve a look.
Steve rolled his eyes in response. “Exactly.”
Bruce pulled at his clothes nervously. “I don’t think we should worry about it. What’s the worst that could-”
“DON’T!” The group yelled in unison.
Bruce smiled.
XXX
“Knock, knock,” Wade sung as the elevator door opened.
Steve stared at him dumbly. “No.” He folded his arms. “Go away Wade, we haven’t got time for you today.”
“Because of the party right?” Wade chimed back, matching Steve’s pose. “It’s okay, I’ve got an invite.”
“I doubt that.”
“I do.” Wade argued back. “From the man of honour himself.”
Steve opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment Bucky entered the room.
His face, in its own way, lit up when he saw Deadpool. “Wade.”
Wade lifted up his arms in greeting. “Bucky bear baby,” he declared. “I brought you a gift!”
He stepped past Steve and embraced Bucky.
“Is that… is that actually happening?” Tony asked. The rest of the Avengers had walked into the room at the noise.
“I…I think so.” Clint said, voice full of doubt. “You didn’t drug the food, did you Tony?”
“I don’t think I did. Pepper?”
Pepper shook her head.
“That is Deadpool though right?” Tony asked. “Like the ‘Merc who never knows when to shut up’?”
“And apparently Bucky’s mysterious guest,” Natasha commented.
“Huh.” Bruce said. “Who’d have known?” He shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.
“Right, okay, but besides crazy green,” Tony jerked his head towards the door Bruce had walked through, “we’re finding this weird right?”
“Definitely,” Clint said.
Natasha hummed.
XXX
“Checkmate!” Wade declared.
“That isn’t checkmate,” Tony pointed out.
“We’re playing monopoly,” Bucky added dryly.
Though most would believe that the Avengers would have more exciting things planned for a party then a games night, but their game nights get aggressive.
Wade pouted. “Rude.”
“Pay attention then,” Bucky retorted, and rolled the die.
Natasha and Clint swapped looks.
What on earth was the appeal?
That question became the mantra of the party.
XXX
“Greetings fellow Avengers,” Thor bellowed as he entered the room. “My apologies for being late!” He grinned at Bucky. “Congratulations on ‘One Year of Being An Awesome Avenger’!” The name was said in a rehearsed tone.
“Thank you Thor,” Bucky replied politely.
Wade slid onto the couch next to Bucky. “Don’t go flirting with other boys, Bucky,” he chided. “I’m the only guy you should look at.” He cast his glance over Thor. “Though, Thor’s hot enough, I suppose. Sexiness is next to godliness.”
Thor stood with a confused smile on his face.
Bucky made an annoyed noise and pulled his arm free.
XXX
“Put on something with a beat,” Wade complained.
“This is better,” Bucky retorted. “It has rhythm.”
Steve, JARVIS and Pepper had worked together to dig up some Golden Oldies, songs Steve remembered from before the war.
“Nicki Minaj has rhythm too.”
Bucky threw a pen at him. “It’s my party.”
“Exactly! I’m a guest.”
The next thing Bucky threw was a knife.
XXX
“Okay,” Tony said as he surveyed the damage. “Summary?”
“Several broken walls, two damaged televisions, the fridge is irreparable, and Thor and the Hulk are currently engaged in an arm-wrestle.” JARVIS informed him.
“Perfect.”
Clint stumbled into the room, dragging Natasha along with him. Whether he was drunk or just pretending, Tony couldn’t tell.
“Everything okay?” Tony asked.
Natasha shrugged Clint off onto the couch. There was a glint in her eyes. “Bruce won,” she told him. “Now they’re splitting the spoils.”
“The spoils being?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Tony nodded. “Sounds about right. So,” he leant against the almost-intact counter. “Bucky and Wade. Thoughts?”
“’t weird,” Clint mumbled from the couch.
Okay, he had to be drunk. No way Clint was that good of an actor.
Natasha frowned to herself. “It is odd,” she shrugged. “But it’s Bucky’s choice.”
“You think we’ll see more of him?”
“Sam thinks so. Now he knows we’re ‘okay’ with Deadpool being here.”
Tony looked around. “And where is the wonderful Mr Sam Wilson?”
Natasha’s lips pressed together in a thin smile. “Passed out near the remains of the x-box.”
Tony groaned. “You guys suck.”
Natasha reached for an abandoned, yet half-empty, bottle and took a swig. “You invited a bunch of superheros into your home and got them drunk.”
“I wasn’t expecting Thor to bring the Asgardian mead,” Tony grumbled.
“Expect the unexpected,” Natasha replied boldly, throwing herself down on the couch next to Clint, and pulled his arms around her. In a few minutes they were both asleep.
Tony made another annoyed noise.
XXX
Steve stumbled down the corridor. He was a bit drunk.
He tripped and fell heavily against a wall.
A lot drunk.
He hadn’t really been drunk since his pre-serum days.
He was beginning to remember why he hated it.
He cursed to himself.
Where the hell was Bucky?
He dimly wondered if he and Wade had killed each other. He, and the rest of the Avengers, had been pondering over it all night. What had compelled Bucky to invite him over? They’d squabbled all night, over everything from music to food to preferred weapons.
It didn’t make any sense.
“They’re in the room third door on the left,” JARVIS informed him.
“Thanks JARVIS,” Steve slurred.
He reached the door.
“One year.” Bucky’s voice rang out from the room.
Steve leant against the wall, hidden from sight.
“Congrats,” Wade chirped.
Bucky groaned. “It feels weird.”
Steve peeked his head into the room. Bucky was sprawled on a couch, head in Wade’s lap, metal arm thrown over his forehead.
Wade made a reassuring noise. “Yeah, I know.” Wade sighed.
“Does it get easier?” Bucky sounded hopeful.
Wade paused. “I don’t fit in.”
Bucky groaned.
“But that just might be me,” Wade continued. “I’m a bit coo-ky.”
“Really, I hadn’t noticed.”
Wade snorted. “You charmer you.”
Bucky sat up. “You’re no more an ‘outcast’ than me.”
“You’re only an outcast cos you listen to waltz instead of pop.”
Bucky punched him in the arm.
Wade rubbed it with a look of mock hurt.
“Bastard,” Bucky muttered. “Waltz is great.”
Steve frowned to himself. Were they…bonding?
Oh.
He slipped away.
XXX
“So, are you going to invite him over again?” Steve asked, taking a swig from his water bottle.
Bucky looked up from the floor. He was resting against the wall, sweating after their workout.
“Who?” Bucky asked confused. It had been two days since the party.
“Deadp…Wade,” he corrected.
Bucky’s eyes glimmered. “You wouldn’t mind?”
Steve shrugged casually. “It was sort of refreshing to have someone over who could outtalk Tony.”
Bucky grinned. “That was a bonus,” he agreed nodding.
Wade turned up again that night.