Chapter Text
Looking back on it all, Steve probably should’ve insisted they go with a more inclusive name than ‘Stark Cakes’. But, eight years later, the name was still there. Located in New York City, New York, thanks to Tony (the aforementioned Stark) and his hefty inheritance, they were a well-known name in the wedding and cake business. They’d been a featured vendor in the Brides of New York magazine for seven of those eight years, which Tony always bragged about to customers or rival businesses. He said rival, it wasn’t like the cake industry was that intense.
Well, it was, but probably not enough to warrant the use of ‘rival’.
Steve had always baked as a hobby. When he was twenty, Tony’s friend needed a wedding cake when they’re baker dropped them at the last minute. Steve had two days, of course making Tony help him for getting him into that mess, and the happy couple was thrilled with it. That was when Tony first brought up the idea of doing it professionally, and Steve had shrugged him off. He was still in college at NYU, he had enough on his plate.
Except when Tony came to him the next week asking for another cake for another friend, he didn’t say no. And that happened again, and again, and a few more times, and a while later Steve was juggling cakes and homework, and it sucked. When his (best) friend Bucky found out how much he was struggling, he offered to help with the cakes.
So Steve, Tony, and Bucky managed to make a few cakes here and there for a few of the Tony’s friends. When Stark’s family friends, his much richer, family friends started asking for cakes, though, Steve started panicking. Bucky said he knew someone who’d be available to bake the cakes, though, which would help them immensely. The next week, Natasha Romanov was sharing Tony’s impressive kitchen with them.
Bucky and Steve graduated college like that, with Nat’s boyfriend Clint coming in every now and again. The summer after they’d graduated was freakishly busy, what with May-July being wedding season. They had at least eight weddings every week, which was a lot, and they found themselves struggling to keep up.
Tony, because he had more than enough money to invest in the small business, offered Clint a steady job with them, and he also asked his large Norwegian friend to try the job out. Thor, the large Norwegian, was generally like a puppy, except much, much taller. Steve wasn’t exactly used to feeling small around anyone. He was good at baking and giving cakes a base coat of icing, which would save Steve and Bucky a lot of time, so Steve was all for it.
Every time they grew, it was meant to save them all time. Steve, however, thought they just got busier and busier. That thought was confirmed, because Tony showed him a superfluous graph. He handled the financial aspects, all the invoices, all the deposits, everything not strictly dealing with food.
They continued running Stark Cakes out of Tony’s kitchen for another year and a half, but after a particularly bad wedding season, Tony called a ‘family meeting’ and brought up the idea of renting a kitchen space.
Everyone was on board with that, because it’d probably mean they’d all start getting actual sleep and not just crashing on Tony’s couch or, on one memorable occasion, Tony’s bed with Tony in it. (It’d been a rough week for Bucky. No one blamed him. Stark even made him coffee and waffles in the morning before Steve came to retrieve him.)
The kitchen space proved to be quite nice, with the bakery, lobby for consultations, and a nice office space.
The bakery away from home was an encouragement to not pull all-nighters while working on cake. Yet within a week, Steve had already walked into the bakery in the morning to find Bucky asleep on the couch in the lobby/consultation room.
It wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence after that. Steve knew that if he didn’t ride home with him, then he probably wouldn’t come back to their apartment that night. He didn’t mind, though, Bucky was amazing with the sugar work. The man had an incredibly steady hand.
(About half the time, though, Bucky would leave late at night and go to a bar. It wasn’t that Steve was jealous that he was sleeping around, but he was a little jealous.)
Bucky also got this look on his face when he was working on something particularly tedious or challenging that looked like he’d kill anything that came too close to him. Clint, Tony, and Thor all treated him very carefully in that state. Steve thought it was adorable, the way he scrunched his nose up in concentration or bit his lip. Anyway.
The five of them carried on like that for a while, but two years passed, and they were looking for a larger space and another employee. The last wedding season had them at a steady twelve weddings per weekend, which was fine with Steve. Saturdays, because 95% of weddings were on Saturday, were hectic and stressful, but he and Bucky always went on deliveries together. Again, driving the cakes to their venues was hellish and panicky, but the drives back were nice. The venues were beautiful, too. So were the cakes.
They eventually moved to a larger space with four ovens, two stoves, and a large, open space for the decorators’ work tables. The office and bathroom were upstairs, while the bakery and lobby were on the ground floor, and, again, Bucky wasted no time in spending the night at the bakery. Three months into that place, and Bruce arrived. He wasn’t there a lot in the beginning, he knew Tony from way back when and offered to help with, as Tony described it, anything mindless. Steve didn’t exactly know why someone with a Dr. in front of their name was hanging around a cake bakery, but it was whatever. He did some office things, some smaller fondant work, usually with headphones on playing classical music.
Nothing had really changed since then. Bucky had made Tony get a new couch, and everyone slowly but steadily got a pay raise. Steve had an art degree, which was always a nice fall back in case the whole cake thing didn’t work out, but it seemed pretty stable. Tony had some physics or engineering degree that he was really putting to good use, what with managing a bakery. Bucky was, somehow, a classics major with a minor in Russian. He and Nat, who actually grew up in Russia, spoke quietly to each other while they were working. Over the decade of Bucky taking Russian, Steve had picked up on a grand total of three words: fuck, apple, and cake. And apple was only because Steve had made him study his vocabulary one night, and, for some reason, apple just stuck with him.
Steve should probably also mention that he had a slight, minuscule crush on Bucky. Which was fine, he’d gone more than two decades with that hanging around, it was fine.
Bucky had shown zero signs of reciprocation, which, again, was fine with Steve. It was more than enough to be his friend.
Somehow, Nat had picked up on it after less than a day of being around Steve, cornering him about it once they were alone. She assured him it wasn’t obvious, but still.
——
Steve had to go into the bakery bright and early Saturday morning, at the unnecessary hour of seven AM. The first thing he noticed upon unlocking the door and walking into the lobby was that Bucky was curled up on the couch. He sighed before walking past him, because Steve just had one cake left to do completely, Bucky would be fine so long as he was up by nine. Which he most definitely would be, because Thor had an awesome habit of making a pot of coffee whenever he got in.
The cake he worked on in silence for a good hour and a half was a five tier wedding cake that shouldn’t be delivered until four in the afternoon, so he was good. It was simple enough, white wedding and lemon tiers iced in white buttercream. There was a trend going around called a ‘naked’ cake, which basically meant leave some of the cake visible through the icing. It’d have flowers on it, fresh flowers that someone would have to put on at the venue, and he busted the cake out pretty quickly.
“How long’ve you been here?” Bucky asked as he walked into the room, rubbing his eyes with his palm.
“Good morning to you, too. Almost two hours.” Steve said as he finished icing the fifth tier of the cake. He still had to assemble the cake, but that was easy enough. Bucky made a humming sound in acknowledgment.
“Coffee?” He asked.
“Sorry.”
“You suck.” He mumbled as he trudged up the stairs to start a pot of coffee. He was back down ten minutes later with two cups in his hands, and he set one down on Steve’s table. He’d usually drink coffee if it was there or if someone offered it to him, but he didn’t exactly need it to survive like a certain someone. Steve drank coffee for the taste, and Bucky was nice and knew that, making sure to make it how he liked if he had time. He never had any free time, but he still insisted, which was a nice thought.
The whole family, as Tony and Clint called it, was there within the next half hour. They were all gathered around the four decorators’ tables, Bucky and Steve still working on their cakes while Tony went over the delivery list. Clint was changing into his black and white shirt that said ‘Stark Cakes’ on the pocket and then had their logo, website, and phone number on the back. Everyone wore the company shirts on deliveries, and Tony ordered a few special ones for different people. Bucky got a grey and red one, Natasha got a black and neon blue one, Clint got one that was purple and white, Bruce got one with green letters on it, Thor had one with silver letters, and everyone had at least five that were black with gold letters. Because everything Tony touched turned red or gold. All the sharpies in the bakery were either red or gold, unless you brought your own. Steve had a blue one.
“That big bitch in the freezer is going to WestWind, and that’s in the general area of the Robinson cake, y’know, the three tier sparkly thing, and then the cakes for Chamberlin, Grace’s Garden, and the Beach House. All of those except for WestWind and Chamberlin are three tiers, so Bruce, you can probably handle those on your own if someone goes with you, and the only available person is Bucky.” Tony said quickly, staring down at the paperwork as he spoke. The room was oddly silent after he mentioned Bucky.
“I always go with Steve, though.” Bucky said, which was true. Tony sighed, but he started marking things on the delivery list. He’d gone on a delivery with Clint once when Steve was sick, and the two had come back not speaking to each other for three days. It was an unspoken rule that certain teams of people went together. Bucky and Steve. Clint and Nat, sometimes Clint and Tony. Thor could usually handle things alone, he sometimes had Tony or Bruce ride along with him. Or Tony and Bruce would go together.
“I figured you would say that. So the dynamic duo will take WestWind,” Tony said, and Steve was glad, because WestWind was his favorite venue, more on that later, “Chamberlin, the Beach House, and… Would the drive to Belleview and Old Trinity be too long after that?” And great, they got most of the four+ tiers. Steve knew the WestWind order had a six tier with a two tier vegan/gluten free cake, and then a three tier groom’s cake. They had good delivery vans, though, so it was fine.
“Yeah, that’ll be fine. When are we leaving?” Steve asked.
“Maybe at ten, but I’ll have to make a few calls.” He said, and then started telling the others their orders. Bruce got the local cakes which, luckily, we’re all three tiers or less that weekend. Thor got a three, four, and five tier, plus some sheet cakes. Clint and Nat got three cakes that were an hour away at least, and Tony had one to take to the capital.
It took Steve and Bucky a good twenty minutes to get everything loaded, all the cakes, cake stands, tool box, equipment return boxes, etc. Once they reviewed all of the paperwork for about the fourth time, Steve was slowly and carefully driving them out of the parking lot.
——
WestWind was the first stop, which was nice, because that meant they got rid of three cakes. Which meant Steve would have an easier time not getting anxious while driving. Their cakes were stable, they hadn’t had one fall down yet, but still. Nerve-wracking.
Steve and Bucky had been doing everything together for so long, cake deliveries were routine for them. Steve grabbed the dolly to push the cakes on while Bucky took the toolbox, paperwork, and return boxes inside the venue to see where the cake would go. Normally, Steve would also be getting the cakes onto the dolly, but the six tier had such a large base that nothing else would fit on the cart with it. And Steve couldn’t lift the large cake by himself, so he was stuck waiting for Bucky.
“What the hell, Stevie, you’ve carried six tiers before.” Bucky admonished as he walked back out to see Steve standing there, sans cake.
“That was when the bottom tier was styrofoam, and you know it.” He said as they got on either side of the board the cake was on. Steve had gotten about an inch of it off of the edge of the truck, so that made it easier. Slightly.
“Good?” Bucky asked before they lifted it. Steve mumbled back a yeah, and they slowly moved the cake to the dolly. “Six tier bitch.” He cursed under his breath once it was safely out of their hands. Steve hit him with his shoulder and started pushing the cake into the venue, followed by Bucky carrying the cake stands.
The event coordinator Sharon was there, greeting them both with wide smiles.
“The fresh flowers for the cake are on the table, and I’m realizing you’ll probably need a chair to stand on, so I’ll be right back.” She said rapidly before she was turning around and hurrying off in the other direction.
The table for the cake was where it always was, and the large vase of fresh flowers was on the end. Bucky got the cake stand centered on it, then put the others on there before standing back a few feet to make sure everything looked right.
“Okay, onto the table with the board, then we’ll move the cake from the board onto the stand.” Steve reminded as they bent down to lift the cake again.
“Yes, Rogers, I’ve done this a few times.” He said with an eye roll. Before they lifted it, Bucky made a questioning sound, and Steve nodded, and they got it to the table pretty easily.
Sharon, thankfully, came back around, that time with a chair.
“Hey, if you could hold the cake stand so it doesn’t move while we get the cake on there, that’d be great.” Bucky said, and Sharon nodded. The first time they’d asked her to do it, her eyes were wide as saucers. After a few years, though, she hardly bat an eye. People were always scared of cakes, which, yeah, Steve saw why. They were fragile and all, but you couldn’t let the cake boss you around. Whenever they got an order for some outrageously expensive cake, and Steve inevitably groaned when he heard, Bucky said ‘make that cake your bitch’, and that phrase had sorta stuck around for a few years.
Once the cake was successfully on and centered on the stand, Sharon left them alone. They brought the dolly back out to the van, putting that up before each grabbing the smaller cakes. Steve was really happy with the two tier vegan cake. It had mint colored ruffles on it.
“You wanna do the top or bottom tiers?” Steve asked as he grabbed the paperwork to see what the flower pattern was supposed to look like. Sort of bunches of them on one side on one tier, then on the other side on the next tier, and so on.
“I’ll be bottom.” Bucky said with a shit eating grin, and Steve whacked his head with the paperwork. He started pulling out some flowers from the vase, cutting their stems off a bit to leave two inches or so and setting them on a plate. “Hey, gimme that big vernacular.” Bucky said as Steve was cutting the stem. He sighed but handed it over, because Bucky had always been better with flowers than he had. Well, sort of. It seemed that Bucky instantly knew what to do, where to put each floral piece. It took Steve a minute. That was probably why Bucky chose the large, bottom tiers, because they had more flowers.
Even with that advantage, Bucky was still done before he was. He glanced over at him and saw him holding the camera up, smiling softly. Steve quickly went back to focusing on the cake.
“You’re this six foot muscle man, and I will never not laugh at you putting all of these delicate flowers on these cakes. Let alone while standing on a chair.” He said when he saw Steve’s confused glance.
“You know me, all about destroying gender based stereotypes.” He mumbled while finishing up the flowers on the top tier.
“I mean, I’d probably laugh if I saw Nat putting flowers on a big-ass cake, too. She, like, regularly kicks my ass when we spar.” Bucky said.
“Hey, go ahead and start putting the flowers on the other cakes.” He said, because he remembered they still had to do those.
They were out of there about ten minutes later, after Steve deemed the pictures they took acceptable. Then they had to find the cake topper to put in, and that took a few minutes, so they were slightly behind schedule, but it was fine.
“Let’s save Chamberlin for last, it has that gravel road you love.” Bucky said as he started sorting through the paperwork. Steve loved the venue, really, Chamberlin was this gorgeous mammoth of a building that had a patio overlooking a beautiful lake, but both of the ways to get to it were dirt or gravel. On one particularly bad day, Steve had lost all of his patience, on the edge of a panic attack, swearing and debating with himself whether or not he should just get out and carry the cake inside. Bucky had calmed him down, said they’d done this before, and he even went in the back of the van, crouched down to gently hold the top tiers of the cake from shaking. Every other tier on it had ben fondant, so it was fine, and Bucky drove home from that trip.
——
Because Chamberlin was an hour and a half away from the bakery, they didn’t get home until around 6:30. Bruce and Tony were there, cleaning up and mopping, and Bucky showed them pictures of the cakes.
“Barnes, as happy as I am that you’ve stopped taking selfies on the camera, we really don’t need professional pictures of Steve glaring at you. However funny the picture is.” Tony said as he saw the picture Bucky had taken of him. Steve leaned over their shoulders to see a picture of him holding flowers in one hand, elbows up as to not touch the cake, and giving Bucky an annoyed look.
“Oh, come on. Behind the scenes, Facebook loves these pictures.” Bucky said.
“That’s what you said about your selfies.” Bruce reminded him. They had three professional cameras that they used to take pictures of the cakes. Well, by professional he meant it wasn’t a phone camera. An actual, expensive camera that usually hung around Bucky’s neck while inside of a venue. Bucky had taken selfies of himself with the guests, or with a disgruntled Steve in the background, usually with the cake while holding a thumbs up and smiling widely. Bruce always uploaded the pictures from all the cameras to the desktop computer in the office, and then he uploaded all of those to Facebook. It was tedious to go through every picture, so about one to five selfies would find their way online.
They still kept all of the ‘behind the scenes’ pictures, in a file labeled ‘dumb fucks’ on the computer, but Bruce had gotten a lot better at going through all of the pictures and only uploading the good ones. AKA ones that didn’t have anyone’s face in it.
Bucky was always excited when one slipped by him though, which happened every month or so.
“Steve, the cake for tomorrow isn’t finished yet, and if you get it done tonight, then I’ll deliver it for you.” Tony said as he started looking through the fridges, and Steve groaned.
“Sure, it’s not like I’ve been driving for six hours, but it’s whatever.” He mumbled semi-bitterly as he got the four tier cake out of the fridge. Bucky handed him an apron and offered to help him.
Natasha and Clint got back around eight, and Thor was back barely ten minutes after them with bags of food in his arms.
“Yay, the whole family’s together. I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve called you all here.” Tony said in a poor attempt at being funny, grabbing a box of Chinese takeout from one of the bags.
“We’re not, but continue.” Clint said as he dug through the box to find his and Natasha’s.
“Rude.” Tony said, adopting a mock hurt look on his face. He went on, “Next week we have twenty-two weddings, but they’re not all on Saturday. Fifteen on Saturday, which is manageable. The thing is, though, we have other orders. Birthdays and shit. Sorry, Steve.” Steve simply sighed, because what was new. “Four are on Friday. Depending on how busy everyone is, we might have to bring someone in, which is fine, I’ve got it covered if it comes to that. I’ll start working on a schedule tomorrow, but, what I should’ve started out with, is that we need another decorator.”
Everyone was pretty silent at that.
“Like another Steve?” Clint asked.
“Or Bucky,” Steve added.
“Yep. Thor, Bruce, I don’t know how comfortable either of you would be about decorating, but if you wanted to start learning, I wouldn’t have any objections.” Tony said.
“I’m not comfortable with that, if you’re giving me the option.” Bruce said nervously.
“That’s fine, and Thor, really, no pressure, I can just as easily bring in someone new. It’s not like there’s a shortage or work around here.” He said, and Thor shrugged.
“I would be willing to try.” Thor said before he ate an egg roll whole.
“Great. Barnes, Rogers, play rock, paper, scissors or something to see who gets to come in tomorrow to teach him.” Tony said, and then he and Bruce disappeared upstairs, taking all of the cameras with them.
They came to a stopping point on the cake, and then they played rock, paper, scissors. Bucky won, and he didn’t look apologetic in the least. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to teach Thor, he was great and easy to hang around, but Sundays were typically their off day. Maybe three or four deliveries at most, but Steve and Bucky rarely ever had to go on those. They usually got the bulk of the orders on Saturday, so someone else could take care of Sunday.
“Come in around two tomorrow?” Steve asked Thor. He nodded and handed him his container of takeout. Well, he handed him Bucky’s, too, and Steve handed it to him.
“I shall see you then. Do not stay here too late.” Thor said, giving him a pat on the back before he left the bakery. When he’d arrived from Norway six years ago, he knew approximately ten english words. He didn’t use contractions all too often, but no one minded so long as he made sense.
Clint left soon after that, saying he had to pick up his sister Kate from practice, so Nat hung out down in the bakery, sitting criss-cross on a chair at Steve’s table.
She and Bucky started talking to each other in Russian, which he normally wouldn’t have any problem with, except for the fact that he was standing between them.
“I’d appreciate it if you two wouldn’t talk through me.” He interrupted after about twenty minutes of that.
“Hey, it’s not our fault you took French.” Natasha said defensively.
“Also, I could be talking to myself in Latin, and I feel like that would be more bothersome.” Bucky said as he refilled his icing bag. Steve sighed as he bent down to start icing the bottom tier.
“Fine, whatever.”
“Aw, I think Steve’s feeling left out.” Natasha said, and Steve shot her a glare.
“I bet he’ll feel less left out if we take him out for drinks.” Bucky said, smiling at her.
“I’m still right here, guys.”
“So? Drinks?” She said, nudging his foot with hers.
“I have to get up early tomorrow.” He sighed. Drinks sounded nice.
“Your date with Thor isn’t until two, though.” Nat said, confused.
“His standing lunch date with Sam is at noon.” Bucky informed her, and Nat made an ‘oh’ face and nodded a few times.
“You two don’t have any sort of ‘standing lunch date’, do you?” Nat said, and Steve was confused. She was nice, though, she knew what she was doing. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t say anything to Bucky.
“Well, we live together, we work five feet away from each other, and we spend all day on Saturdays together. I can’t think of any reason why we’d need to make more time to see each other.” Bucky said, and Steve chuckled. “Wait, we have a movie night on Wednesday.” He added.
“Hey, pass me a three tip.” Steve said passively as he took the larger icing tip off of the bag. Tips were measured in size, one being the smallest, twelve being the largest, and then there were other ones used for cupcakes that were labeled one-hundred something.
Bucky gave him one, and he said, “You like my tip?”
“Stop that.” Steve said, but he was smiling. Natasha giggled. “We haven’t had a proper movie night in a while, though.” He added. That made Bucky pause to think.
“That’s weird. Wednesday night, we’re watching that James Bond movie you still haven’t seen.” Bucky decided.
“It’s a busy week, though. You know we’d just start talking about cake.” Steve said.
“You guys don’t have any sort of Bechdel test for cake?” Nat said.
“What?” Steve asked.
“Clint and I always have a cake-free night. No mentions of this godforsaken place, because if we don’t, then we tend to forget people exist outside of the bakery.” She explained.
“Nope, this stupid place has completely taken over our lives. I haven’t even gotten laid in months, and I’m blaming it on cake.” Bucky said, and why did Steve find that interesting.
“I have friends outside of the bakery.” Steve said quietly. He could hear Bucky’s eye roll.
“You have one friend outside of the bakery.”
“Well, fellas, my ride’s outside, so I’ll see you both on Monday.” She said, zipping up her jacket and leaving after they both said goodbye.
——
Steve was surprised when Bucky actually came home with him that night. Usually he’d want to get a head start on Monday. He didn’t say anything, of course, he was just glad that he’d sleep in an actual bed.
——
“So how was Saturday?” Sam asked while they were waiting on their food.
“Busy. Tony tried to pair Bucky up with Bruce, and I thought he was gonna bite his head off.” Steve said with a small chuckle. Sam smiled and leaned back in his chair.
“You still haven’t told him?” He asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“No. I don’t even know if he’s… It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters a little.” Sam shrugged.
“Anyway,” Steve said, deciding to change the subject, “This week is even worse, and I have to go by after this to teach Thor how to decorate.”
“Hey, if you guys ever need anyone to just, like, lift shit, then I’m always free after four o’clock.” Sam said.
“I might actually take you up on that this week. Tony’s actually worried about it all.” He said, and Sam let out a whistle.
“Damn.”
“Yeah. How’s your week been?” Steve asked. Sam was a history teacher at a high school near the bakery. He immediately went into a long story about how that week they’d gotten to World War I, which Sam had been excited about all semester.
——
So, as it turned out, Thor was slightly horrible at decorating cakes. Giving them a base coat, he was great at that. Almost as good as Bucky or Steve, but they’d been doing it for a longer time.
Actually finishing them, though? Putting the fondant on and making it not look like a five year old made it? The guy sort of sucked at that. He knew it, too, it wasn’t like Steve was crushing his hopes and dreams when he said it wouldn’t work. Thor seemed relieved at that, to be totally honest. He started cleaning up while Steve stepped into the lobby to call Tony.
“Rogers, how’s the next great cake decorator?” Tony asked excitedly when he picked up.
“Less than ideal. You should probably call in the other decorator you had lined up.” He said, and Tony groaned loudly.
“Alright. She’ll be there tomorrow, is that cool?”
“Sure. I’ll go ahead and make one or two of the pick-ups for tomorrow.” He said, kicking himself mentally.
“You’re the best. Hey, I’m heading home from the delivery, do you need anything from the Bakery Supply?” He asked. The Bakery Supply was this giant store that had everything any sort of bakery could ever need. Steve could spend all day in there.
“Might as well pick up a new turn table.” He sighed.
“Damn it, those things are expensive.” Tony cursed.
——
It was around nine in the evening when Steve finally managed to tear himself away from stupid cakes and get home. He immediately crashed on the couch, not even bothering to take his jacket off, and he could hear Bucky laughing at him from the kitchen.
“I was gonna sit there, but-“ He said, pausing when he walked into the room and saw Steve, “Wow, you look like shit.”
Steve let out a deep breath. “Thanks, Buck.”
“I take it Thor wasn’t very promising?” He said as he sat down on the floor with his back against the front of the couch, turning sideways a bit to look at Steve.
“Sadly, no, he wasn’t. Tony’s friend is coming in tomorrow, and she’s gonna need someone to help her, so I almost finished three cakes that are pickups for tomorrow and Tuesday, and I think I’ve gotten about ten hours of sleep in the last three days.” He rambled.
“I can teach her, too, y’know.”
“I know, but you have your orders, and I thought I’d try to get as much done as I could, but-“
“Yes, Stevie, I know you have that self-sacrificing complex going on. Chill. I’m just saying, you don’t have to do it alone.” He said, sounding oddly serious.
“Thanks.” He said, trying to sound sincere. It wasn’t that he didn’t mean it, he was thankful, but it was difficult getting the tone to come through.
“I was gonna try to catch up on Game of Thrones, you cool with that?” He asked, turning back to face the TV and grabbing the remote.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen anything of season five yet.” He said. Bucky nodded, and then the season premiere started playing.
Steve would like to say he stayed awake for all four episodes Bucky watched that night, but he didn’t. He fell asleep about half an hour into the first one.
“Hey,” Steve heard, and then he felt his shoulder being shaken lightly, “Stevie, come on, I bet your bed is a hell of a lot comfier than the couch.” The voice, Bucky, said. He opened his eyes after a second, and he saw Bucky stand back up.
Fuck, the man was pretty. Sweatpants and a t-shirt should not have been that nice to look at, and yet there he was.
Steve blinked rapidly a few times, willing that thought to leave him alone.
“Just go to bed, I’ll get you up tomorrow.” Buck said, pushing him off in the general direction of his room.
——
Despite Bucky’s promise to wake him up, Steve was up and about before Bucky even rolled out of bed.
“You need to fucking sleep, you monster,” Bucky said upon seeing him.
“We’re leaving in ten minutes, come on.” He said, and Bucky blinked at him before turning around and walking back to his room to change.
On their walk to the bakery, Bucky said, “So’s there any reason why you look slightly murderous today?”
“There’s a lot going on at the bakery, and I need to get more cakes out of the way, because teaching Tony’s friend will probably take a while.” He said, and Bucky made an appreciative sound.
“Have they worked in a kitchen before?”
“I don’t know. But Tony obviously trusts her enough to ask her, so it’ll probably work out.” He shrugged.
“Okay. I’ll take care of the regular orders starting on Wednesday, so you can just focus on the wedding cakes.”
“I know, and thank you, but still. It’s a lot, and we still have groom’s cakes.”
“Then we can give the simpler cakes to the newbie. It’ll be fine, Stevie.” Bucky said as he unlocked the door to the bakery. They walked inside, and Steve welcomed the warmth.
Steve quickly started to continue the cake he’d been working yesterday, and Bucky started on another one that was picking up that afternoon.
“So how are my two favorite decorators doing today?” Tony asked loudly when he came in, unwrapping his scarf from around his neck.
“It’s been a rough week.” Steve said quietly as he was mixing neon green fondant.
“It’s Monday, and it’s not even ten AM.” Tony pointed out.
“Time isn’t real.” Bucky sighed. Tony was silent for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest.
“So it’s gonna be that kind of day? Where you two are assholes and snap at everything that moves?”
“You say that like we don’t have that kind of day once a week.” Steve said, looking up from the fondant to look at Tony.
“Sometimes twice,” Bucky added.
“Yeah, fine, let’s just talk about semantics and be hateful. We have three pickups today, make sure you two get those done. Peggy will be here at noon, please try not to bite her head off.” Tony said as he started walking up the stairs to the office.
All of the pickups for that day were finished, so they started on Tuesday’s. Clint and Nat walked in as Steve was shaving a cake. See, cakes adopted this sort of dome thing on top while they were being baked, which made them unable to be stacked. So they had to ‘shave’ the tops and sides to get it to be even and flat.
“We have coffee, and what flavor is this?” Clint announced, walking up to the trashcan at the end of Steve’s table, digging through the cake scraps he’d just put in there. Everyone said the cake tasted better after it was in the trash. Tony said the calories didn’t count once it was in the trash. Cline said trash cake was the best cake. Crowd favorites were spice, pumpkin, Italian cream, lemon, and carrot. Bucky’s favorite was lemon, so he made sure to always slide those scraps down to him.
“Pumpkin.” He said as he accepted the Starbucks cup Natasha was handing him. Clint let out an excited squeal before immediately digging out the scraps, setting them down on a napkin. Thor walked in as he was stuffing his face.
“Ah, what flavor is this?” Thor asked, grabbing a piece out of Clint’s hand and eating it before Steve could respond.
“Hey, that was mine.” Clint complained.
“Yes, and it was delicious, my friend.” Thor said, grinning and taking his coffee upstairs.
“There’ll be more pumpkin. Should I save them?” Steve quietly asked Clint.
“I’m torn between Trash Cake and my love of eating pumpkin before Thor can.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll yell at you when he dumps it.” Bucky said, and Clint beamed.
“No matter what happens today, Bucky, you’ll always be my favorite decorator.” Clint said. Bucky smiled widely, and Steve glared at him. “Anyway, have fun with your new sidekick today.”
Bruce came in around eleven to make some fillings, various mousses and fruit things. Sadly, they needed three bags of raspberry filling, which made Steve feel bad, because it was the worst to make. You had to put the raspberries in a food processor, then you had to put that through a sieve, and that part took forever. Bruce didn’t seem to mind, though, putting his headphones in and doing the raspberry filling first.
The front door opened at 12:04, and Steve let out a breath before walking into the lobby to greet Peggy. She looked nice enough, brown hair, and she seemed to be around their age.
“Hi, my name’s Steve.” He said, wiping his hand on his apron before shaking hers.
“Hi, Peggy Carter.” She said, smiling softly. Steve heard some sort of English accent.
“It’s nice to meet you, Peggy. Did Tony explain what you’d need to do?” He asked as he sat down at the desk in the lobby, motioning for her to do the same.
“He said decorating, and then he said, ‘do what Steve and Bucky do’.”
“Right, we’re the only decorators here right now. Have you done anything with cakes before?” He asked.
“Yes, I made cakes at a bakery in London.” She said, and that explained the accent.
“And by ‘made’, you mean?”
“Iced and decorated. I can make a wedding cake from start to finish, I should say.” She said, and Steve nodded, because that was a good thing.
“Great, do you have any pictures of your work?” And she fished her phone out of her purse, tapping on the screen a few times before handing it over to him. Her cakes were good, but he knew they could be better. She’d learn, everything would be fine.
“These look great. Are you ready to start now?” He asked, and she smiled before nodding. So he led her into the bakery, and Natasha, Tony, Clint, and Thor, were all crowded around Bucky’s table. “Guys, this is Peggy.” He said, grabbing their attention. They all looked up, and Nat and Thor smiled warmly.
“I’m thrilled you’re here. This is Thor, Clint, Natasha, and Bucky.” Tony said, pointing to everyone individually.
“Okay, so do you wanna start out with a one or two tier pickup for tomorrow?” Steve asked as he started thumbing through his copies of all of the orders.
“Could I start with a one tier?” She asked, and Steve nodded.
“Of course, go wash your hands, and I’ll get the cake out.” He said.
Peggy turned out to be better than the pictures, which Steve was thrilled about seeing. So, naturally, he and Bucky got her started on the two tier. She only had a few questions, and the two of them happily helped her. They pointed out where everything was, all the tools and whatnot. She left around six in the evening, and it seemed that everyone in the bakery had waited until the moment the door shut to crowd Steve and Bucky’s tables. Mild claustrophobia, what with Tony breathing down his neck, but what was new.
“So? How was she?” Natasha asked quickly. He and Bucky made eye contact, and then Bucky spoke.
“She was fine, I think.”
“She should work out. Her work is great, and she’ll probably be busting out cakes in no time.” Steve said, relieved that Bucky felt the same way about her.
——
Everyone continued to do well, Peggy came in and helped immensely with his and Bucky’s work, and that went on for the rest of the week. They hit a few speed bumps when they got to Thursday, though.
“Okay, Dream Team, I really don’t wanna be the one to tell you this, but, Bucky, we need to leave for the Arts Center with that five tier wedding cake.” Tony said quietly, standing between Steve and Bucky at the corner of where their tables met. They both froze, Bucky slowly looking up at Steve with a very obvious concern.
“We, as in-“ Steve started after a second of trying to process it.
“Me and Barnes, because you’re working on what Romanov and Clint are taking out in less than an hour, I’m not throwing Peggy into deliveries just yet, Thor is baking, and Bruce is off.” Tony explained.
Bucky simply blinked at him. Tony sighed dramatically.
“I’ll do whatever you tell me to do regarding the cake, okay? I know neither of you exactly play well with others, but it’s one delivery.” Tony said, rambling slightly before Bucky nodded and took his apron off.
They left after another ten minutes, Bucky looking incredibly wary the whole time.
“What was that about?” Peggy asked quietly from where she was working across from Steve on a pick-up for Saturday. He shrugged, and Natasha made a ‘tsk’ sound while she was mixing a batch of buttercream icing.
“They’ve been connected at the hip since the dawn of time, and it’s a sort of unofficial rule they go on deliveries together.” She explained, and Peggy nodded.
“I remember when Thor and Steve went on one together. They argued over flower placement for ten minutes, and someone may or may not have jammed their finger into the cake on accident.” Clint added.
“I fixed it, if that counts for anything.” Steve said, mostly to Peggy.
“And Bucky didn’t speak to me for days after we went on a delivery. That one delivery was the most stressed I’ve ever been in my life, because Bucky was stressing the fuck out. Moving a seven tier with someone who’s about ready to strangle anything that moves in the wrong direction is horrifying.” Clint said.
“Bucky called him on their way home from that one.” Nat said, nodding at Steve. “I did genuinely fear for Clint’s life when Steve told me about it.”
“You and Bucky go on deliveries together, got it. Any other quirks I should know about?” Peggy asked conversationally.
“Trash cake is the best cake.” Clint said, staring wistfully at the trashcan by Steve’s table.
“If either Batman or Robin are painting a cake, don’t breathe in their general direction.” Natasha said.
“We’re not that bad.” Steve defended half-heartedly.
“Have you seen your face when you’re painting any detail work?” She asked, and Peggy laughed.
“Seriously, I never want to see that face directed towards me. It’s the shit of nightmares.” Clint said.
“As a general rule, don’t bother someone if they’re in the zone.” Natasha said, looking at Peggy.
“Right, makes sense.” She nodded.
——
What should’ve been a two and a half hour long delivery turned into five and a half hours, which meant that Steve stayed far longer than he should have at the bakery. Natasha and Clint also stayed once they got back from their delivery, and Peggy offered to get food for everyone.
“That’s awfully nice of you, but we can’t let you get us food on your first week. You stay, I’ll go.” Clint said, probably looking for some way to avoid the aftermath of whatever reason Bucky and Tony were gone. For three and a half hours longer than normal.
Tony had called him, said there was some slight trouble with the cake, Bucky was fixing it, and he’d tell him the whole story when they got back. They sent Steve a picture of the cake before they left, he said it looked fine, and they were on their way as Clint was walking out the door.
Their white van with the Stark Cake’s logo on the sides pulled up around 8:30, and Tony walked in alone carrying the toolbox.
“Barnes didn’t talk to me the entire ride home, which I understand completely, but I feel like he needs to vent for a minute, and you’re Best Friend Number One.” Tony said as soon as he walked in, and Steve was out the door before it shut. The van was parked facing the bakery, and Bucky had his head leaned back against the seat. Steve took a deep breath before walking toward it, climbing into the passenger seat. Bucky glanced at him before sighing, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Sorry, I’ll be in in a minute.” He said, and it was odd, how tired he sounded.
“It’s okay. What happened?” Steve asked, turning in the seat to completely face him.
“We- I- was driving, and we hit this pothole right as we were turning in to the venue. The top tier came completely off, fucking up the left side of the cake with it. We had buttercream, though, so I could fix it, and we couldn’t call you, because it’s more than an hour away.”
“You could’ve called me. I would’ve gone down there if you’d asked.” He said.
“I know, and that’s why I didn’t.” Bucky said, and then he was silent for another minute or so. “Tony was fine. He kept getting in my way while I was trying to fix it and replicate the icing work you’d done on the tiers, and I think I yelled at him.”
“It was a stressful situation, I doubt he’ll hold it against you.” Steve said, because he knew Tony would go back to normal the next day. Bucky sighed before rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
“I know. I just—. I’m gonna start refusing to go on deliveries with anyone but you.” He said, joking.
“We’ve gone on all but three deliveries together, and those were emergencies. I’m sure if you spent that much time with someone else, then you’d be fine.”
“Yeah, well, I already know you, so you’re stuck with me for a while.” Bucky said, letting his head fall back against the seat and turning to look at him. Steve chuckled, and he thought what Bucky said sounded like the best thing in the world.
“What do you wanna do?” Steve asked, and Bucky sort of shrugged.
“Go home, really, but the bakery’s probably a mess.” He said defeatedly.
“Peggy and I cleaned while everyone was out on deliveries.” He said, and then, “I’ll go get our stuff and meet you at the car?”
“Thanks.”
——
Things went back to normal pretty quickly after that. Bucky was still quiet around Tony, but everyone managed to get through the weekend. Peggy said she liked it there, and she said she’d come back Monday morning.
“What do you think about Peggy?” He asked Bucky while they were lounging on the couch on a blessed Sunday, their day off. Bucky made a contemplative sound, which sort of worried him.
“I think she’s nice, but I’m not sure how well she’ll mesh with the group.” He said in a measured tone, and Steve knew he was picking his words carefully.
“Nat seems to like her. Tony already likes her. Thor likes everyone. The group seems pretty happy about her.”
“And you?”
“Her work is great, and, again, I really think the rest of us are liking her.” He said, and Bucky nodded slowly. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s just been a long week.” And Steve let out a laugh.
“That’s applicable to every week, Buck.”
——
Bucky continued to act weird for the rest of the week, and then he got sick on Friday. Sick, as in flushed, prone to vomit, and being a general mess of a human being. He didn’t even reach for his coffee when Steve set the mug down on his night stand, he just made a muffled sound.
The rest of the bakery was disappointed upon hearing of Bucky’s illness, and Clint and Tony made everyone gather around the office’s laptop and FaceTime him. Bucky had apparently moved to the couch, bringing every blanket in the apartment with him, and he didn’t look good.
“Wow, you look like shit.” Clint said immediately when Bucky’s face popped up.
“Thanks, asshole.” He mumbled.
“There’s some juice in the fridge, you should drink-“ Steve started, and Bucky held up a glass of orange juice. “Okay, smartass. Do you need anything? I can bring you food during my lunch, if-“
“No, Mom, I’m fine. Apples and grilled cheese and shit.” He said with an eye roll.
Tony told him he better be better by tomorrow, Saturday, because he really didn’t want to have to further destroy the individual members of Team Codependent. Steve elbowed him for that. Nat said she’d make sure Steve didn’t stay too late, and Peggy wished him a speedy recovery. Clint said spice cake scraps wouldn’t be the same without him.
“I’ll be eating Trash Cake, but I’ll be thinking of you.” Clint said.
“Fuck, guys, I’m sick, I’m not on my deathbed.”
“We’ll remember you forever, fallen comrade.” Natasha said with a smirk.
When Steve got home that night, he saw Bucky curled up on the couch, probably asleep, and resting dangerously close to the edge.
“Buck,” He said, and then he gently shook his arm when that didn’t elicit a response.
Bucky made a low humming sound after a second, burrowing deeper into the blankets.
“Come on, go to bed.”
“I’m sick, Steeb, just let me die here.” He said, and apparently he’d adopted congestion while Steve was at work, with a nasally voice and everything. Steve let out a small chuckle before pulling on his arm and shoulder to get him to sit up.
“I know you’ll yell at me tomorrow if I let you stay here.” Bucky let out some complaint that was muffled by the blankets he pulled with him, which Steve grabbed as he pushed him back toward his room.
When Bucky dropped onto his bed, Steve hastily trying to put the blankets back over him, he said something, and Steve knew he’d misheard it.
“What?” He asked quickly.
“Stay?” Bucky said, already readjusting the blankets again. Steve felt like he was going to choke.
“Just go to sleep. I’ll check on you tomorrow.” He said, and Bucky let out an honest to god whine, and Steve’s resolve was disappearing by the second.
What the hell.
——
He probably got around four hours of sleep that night. Half of his time spent lying awake in bed was thinking about what the hell just happened. The other half was spent with the thought that he could’ve been with Bucky, except he was sick and out of it, so that would’ve been wrong, which led him back to the same question of what the hell just happened.
Tony told him to come in before nine, so he woke Bucky up around eight, because he really couldn’t take just sitting alone with this thoughts any longer.
“How’re you feeling?” He asked loudly enough to wake him up.
“Like shit.” He said, and his nose was stuffy. Steve felt bad for the guy.
“No deliveries for you?”
“Is it Saturday?” He asked groggily.
“Yeah. Do you want any medicine or something?”
“I’ll get some later. I took NyQuil yesterday.”
“Do you want any coffee?” He asked.
“I don’t plan on leaving this bed until I have to pee, so, thanks, but I’ll wait.” Bucky said, and he laughed at that.
“Alright. Call if you need anything.”
“Steeb, you’ll be out on deliveries with… Peggy, probably, you’re not gonna have time to bring me soup.” He said, waving a dismissive hand in the air.
“I’ll text you the delivery schedule. If I’m at the bakery, then I’ll do your bidding.” Steve said, and Bucky sighed.
“You’re my favorite.”
“Yeah, I know. Drink fluids, I need you better by next week.”
“Miss me, Rogers?”
“Yes, surprisingly, I miss spending time with my best friend when he isn’t ill and complaining about everything.” Steve said. “I’ve gotta go. Call me, okay?”
“Got it.” Bucky said, holding up a thumbs up.
——
“You do look rather uninviting while you’re painting, Mr. Rogers.” Peggy said passively while she was working on some cupcake orders. Steve had a six tier he had to deliver that day, and the bottom tier was painted with this coppery, rose gold metallic color. The second was iced with messy white buttercream, the third had some detail work in the same rose gold metallic color. The fourth was also painted entirely in rose gold, the fifth had a dot pattern, and the dots were the coppery color. The top tier was white buttercream with a, you guessed it, a rose gold painted fondant band around the bottom. Steve was currently working on painting the detail work on the third tier. Once he was finished with all the painting, he’d assemble it into six actual tiers.
“I try.” Steve said sarcastically.
“It’s because Bucky isn’t here. If they’re trading jokes while working, then he doesn’t look anywhere near as murderous as this.” Nat said while she was putting various equipment into the toolboxes.
“I’ve gathered that, yes.” Peggy said, shooting a smile towards Natasha.
“Hey, is everyone here?” Tony shouted as he walked down the stairs into the bakery. Upon seeing everyone he nodded and looked down at his clipboard. “Okay, so Steve and Peggy are going to WestWind, the Arts Center, Coffee Creek, Old Trinity, and The Rutherford Center.” Tony said, pausing after that and glancing up at both Steve and Peggy, making sure they were okay with that arrangement. Steve nodded. He then continued on, telling the others where they’d be going and when. He took a picture of the delivery schedule and sent it to Bucky, and he sent back a thumbs up emoji.
It took Steve and Peggy approximately forty-five minutes to load everything into the van. He explained things to her the whole time, why they were loading in reverse order of delivery, why they put the cake stands there, why the van’s AC had to be turned all the way up, and that she should probably take a jacket. Tony made sure everyone got at least one Stark Cakes jacket and/or hoodie. Steve and Bucky had several, even a few beanies between them.
On the drive to the closest venue, he explained how carefully they had to drive. How far away they had to stay behind the car in front of them, how slowly you needed to break, how they had to stay in one of the side lines in case they needed to drive into the median if someone in front of them came to a dead stop. That’d happened on more than one occasion. Usually with Steve muttering curses under his breath the whole time and Bucky turned around to watch the cake(s) in the back.
“Okay, do you know how much you can comfortably carry on your own?” He asked her as they pulled up the first venue, The Rutherford Center.
“Three tiers, maybe four.” She said after a moment of thought.
“Awesome.” He said, getting out of the van and walking around to the back to get the dolly out. “We’re going to move this four tier onto the cart, and then we’ll stack the sheet cakes next to it.” Once they did that, Steve pushed the cart inside, and Peggy grabbed the stand, return box, extra box, and the paperwork.
The cake was fairly easy, no flowers to put on it, and they were out of there in ten minutes.
Surprisingly, the whole day went smoothly. Peggy got a little panicky when they were moving the six tier at WestWind, but it was fine.
Tony had comically wide eyes when they walked into the bakery, laughing.
“Oh my god,” Clint said.
“You’ve broken the curse.” Tony said dramatically.
——
Steve didn’t get back to the apartment until well-past dark, and he walked in to find Bucky sitting on the couch, albeit mostly covered with blankets.
“I’m guessing the deliveries went well today.” Bucky said, the congestion still present in his voice. Steve nodded and took off his shoes and jacket before dropping onto the couch, pushing Bucky’s legs off so he could sit down. He muttered some curse at him before bringing his knees up to his chest.
“They did, yeah. Peggy and I don’t want to kill each other, so that’s always a bonus.”
Bucky made a sound of assent and nodded, but he sneezed mid-nod.
“You okay?” He asked.
“Yeah, I’ll probably be fine by Monday. Although Peggy seems to be a good replacement.” He said, and Steve rolled his eyes.
“No one’s replacing you, you big baby.”
——
Come Monday morning, Bucky decided he was able to go to work. He took a bag of cough drops, Alka Seltzer, and DayQuil, though, and he didn’t exactly look the best. It’d be fine, worse come to worse, he’d pass out on the couch, and Steve would take him home on his lunch break.
Because Bucky was coming with him, and he was still more sick than not, they were the last two to show up. Everyone cheered when they saw him, and Clint even clapped. Bucky made a sarcastic bow before setting his bag of drugs on his table and trudging up to the office to get some coffee.
And all was fine until about two in the afternoon, when Bucky laid his head on the table and never sat back up. Someone made sure he was breathing every hour or so, but they generally tried to let him be.
——
Steve didn’t let him come in on Tuesday, and it was a testament to how shitty he was feeling that Bucky barely put up any resistance.
——
Wednesday went well, Bucky finally got over whatever disease he had, and Thursday there were two weddings. Once Steve finished the cake, Tony said he and Peggy should go, since Bucky was in the middle of a cake for Friday. It should be noted that he said that tentatively, while looking back and forth between Steve and Bucky. Really, Steve didn’t get it. He wasn’t the one who had problems with people beside Bucky, and they’d already proven that he and Peggy were a fairly competent team.
The delivery went well, and they even stopped at Starbucks on the way home. Bucky, on the other hand, wasn’t speaking a whole lot, and Clint kept glancing at him. He guessed something must’ve been said between them while he was gone, and he tried to ask about it on the walk home.
“It was nothing, I’m just tired.” He said, and Steve nodded, but it didn’t quite sit right with him.
——
Friday was a little more hectic with five weddings. The bitch of it all was that they were five+ tiers, all with groom’s cakes and/or gluten free cake and/or extra sheet cakes. So no one could really go by themselves.
Which was why, at ten AM, Steve was calling Sam to see if he could help after school.
“I know you know I’m in the middle of a class.” Sam said when he answered the phone.
“I do, but it’s sort of an emergency. Are you doing anything after school?”
“I feel like you’ll start panicking if I say I’m busy. So, no, what’s up?” He said, and he was correct in that assumption.
“We need help lifting cakes. I don’t know who you’ll be going with yet, but it’d go a lot smoother if we had some extra hands.”
“Sure. I’ll be there around four-thirty.” Sam said.
Steve relayed all of that to Tony, who stared at the clipboard with the schedule on it, and he looked vaguely pissed off.
“You two’ll have to leave the second he gets here, and even that’ll be cutting it close.” Tony said.
“Wait, what?” Bucky asked, eyes narrowing as he glared at Tony.
“I’m not sending Sam and Peggy on a delivery together, if that’s what you’re wanting. You, Steve, Thor, Nat, and myself can set up cakes by ourselves once the cake is on the stand. Bruce is going with me, Thor needs to finish the bake list, Clint’s going with Nat, Steve and Sam are taking those two big fuckers in the fridge, and you’re going with Peggy. I promise you and your boyfriend will be on deliveries together tomorrow, but, please, just work with me on this.” Tony said, snapping at him.
After that, the bakery was unnervingly quiet.
——
Their delivery went well, and they were out of the venue within fifteen minutes. Sam even offered to drive them back, which Steve readily accepted. When they got back to the bakery, Tony, Natasha, and Clint were just cleaning up.
Bucky and Peggy walked in about half an hour later, and while neither of them looked all too comfortable, Bucky didn’t look too homicidal.
——
Steve and Bucky had to go on a deliver at nine in the morning. They had to leave the bakery at nine in the morning. It was ridiculous. Then they had to go back, pick up four more cakes, and deliver those.
Needless to say, it was a long day.
——
It was Sunday, which meant he had lunch with Sam, which Steve was cursing himself over while hastily pulling pants on to avoid being too late.
“So I may have been talking to Natasha, and you may want to ask her about it.” Sam said, not at all cryptically.
“What?”
“Natasha let something slip out, and Peggy and I were there, and I swear, she would’ve made us do a blood oath to secrecy if we were alone in the bakery.”
“What’d she say?” He asked.
“Okay, so y’know how the bakery is loud? With all of the fridges and freezers and ovens and shit that’s always running in there? Well, the three of us were talking, and then Natasha mumbled something about Bucky, and then she started freaking out. The thing is, though, I didn’t hear what she said. And neither did Peggy, if she was being honest.”
So Natasha said something about Bucky that was probably a secret between the two of them.
“But, and don’t tell Peggy I said this, you should try asking her about it all first.” Sam added.
——
On Tuesday, when he remembered what Sam had said, he asked Peggy if she’d wanna go with him to get lunch. She accepted, and then they were walking down the block. He decided to bring it up as they were eating.
“Oh, Sam told me to ask you about something Natasha said the other day.” He said, trying to make it sound like it was just an after thought. Peggy froze, though, looking at him with wide eyes.
“I understand your concern, but I don’t feel comfortable sharing it with anyone.” She said, and that was not what he was expecting at all. Steve nodded, because, really, what else could he have done.
“Okay, I respect that” He said, even though it was sort of eating at him.
That day, after everyone was back from lunch, Bucky and Nat were speaking quietly to each other in Russian for a solid hour. That wasn’t really new, they always talked to each other, but their tones were usually lighter, like they were joking about Tony or someone.
Steve wasn’t used to the hushed tones or the way Bucky’s eyebrows creased together when he wasn’t working on a cake.
Lunch with Peggy was nice, on the other hand, so they got dinner the next night after work, and Steve made it a habit to bring her tea in the morning, because everyone else in the bakery ran on coffee fumes. One night she made it a point that her boyfriend was expecting her to be home soon, so she ought to leave. Steve nodded and smiled, because as nice as Peggy was, he felt only platonic feelings toward her.
——
That Saturday something deeply unsettling happened. Steve and Bucky were moving a cake onto its cake stand at the venue, there was no one else in the room, it should’ve been fine. Six tiers, nothing they hadn’t done hundreds of times before. As they were moving it, someone hadn’t communicated, someone’s foot slipped, and the stand ended up hitting the back of the cake, destroying the metallic gold painted buttercream.
They had extra icing and paint, so they were fine once they got it on the stand. That sort of thing never happened to them, though, they were the well-oiled machine who knew what they were doing.
And it didn’t help that they screwed up again on the last delivery of the day. They were already cutting it close to the start of the reception, and they couldn’t find the flowers for the cake. Then there weren’t any scissors in their tool box, so they had to hunt those down from some poor staff member. Poor because they had to deal with a stressed out Bucky and Steve.
The room was hot, which meant the buttercream and the cake were softer than ideal, which meant the flowers had a hard time sticking where they put them. Bucky’s hands were shaking by the time he was trying to get the second flower to stay where he put it, and then when it fell off and put a dent in the lower tier, he sort of lost it.
“Just go, I’ll finish it.” Steve snapped and instantly regretted it. Bucky looked at him for an agonizingly long moment before turning around and leaving the room.
They barely left before the limo with the Happy Couple arrived, which freaked Steve out.
When they got to the bakery, finally, they hadn’t said anything to each other for more than an hour. It was bad when Tony even sensed the tension and didn’t make any jokes about it.
Bucky didn’t walk home with him that night. He didn’t come home until late Sunday night, but at least he looked less pissed off at that point. Instead he look frustrated, confused, and Steve decided he liked that less than pissed off.
——
On Wednesday, Steve asked him about how he should do a wedding cake for Thursday, because the customer had left a lot of it up to their choice. It had to be six tiers, it had to have a general color scheme of blue and yellow, and there would be flowers for it at the venue. So, naturally, Steve asked Bucky how he should do it.
“Ask Peggy.” Bucky said without taking his eyes off of the two tier birthday cake he was working on.
“You’re good with details, though.”
“I’m sure Peggy would be an apt replacement.” He said, mumbling slightly.
“No one’s replacing you, I just want your opinion on-“
“Shut up, Steve, just let me work.” He shouted, and every head in the bakery turned toward them.
——
The next night, he and Peggy grabbed a bite to eat after they left the bakery.
“How’re you and Bucky?” She asked, and Steve sighed.
“Since the explosion yesterday he hasn’t spoken to me, so things could be better.” He said, forcing a small laugh.
“I’m sure you two’ll work it out.” She said, which was only mildly reassuring.
——
Friday night they sort of blew up again. They were in their apartment, avoiding each other and acting like the other wasn’t in the room, and Steve couldn’t take it anymore.
“Can we talk?” Steve asked nervously, walking into the kitchen area. Bucky froze for a moment.
“Go ahead.” He said, immediately going back to washing the dishes and definitely not looking at Steve.
“Buck, I- We need to talk.” He said, and Bucky finally turned around to look at him with an expressionless face. He then tipped his head forward a bit, cuing Steve to start talking. And that sort of hit him the wrong way. “Okay, look, I’m just trying to fix whatever’s fucked up, because I can’t handle you pretending like I don’t exist, or yelling at me every time we talk, or avoiding me-“
“Really, what about you?” Bucky asked, narrowing his eyes, and Steve was utterly confused.
“What? I haven’t been avoid-“
“Peggy! You always get lunch with her, fuck, half the time you get dinner together, too, but you’re not supposed to stop being my best friend just because you have a girlfriend!” Bucky shouted, and communication really wasn’t their strong suit.
“I’m not dating Peggy.” He said quietly in an attempt to get Bucky to calm down. Bucky, however, somehow managed to look more hurt than before. He quickly added, “I’ve been trying to get to know her, sort of welcome her to the bakery.”
“Of course you were, Mr. Perfect.” He said with an eye roll.
“You weren’t exactly making any effort to befriend her.”
“Because I thought you were trying to date her! I was staying out of your way, asshole!”
“You have literally never been in my way, Bucky.” He said, and Bucky just looked at him, still with a glare. “I promise I will personally tell you if I start dating someone.”
Bucky surprised him, then, by dropping to an uncharacteristically tired and soft tone, “Fine, just stop being a dick.”
——
He and Bucky delivered four cakes the next day, and it went swimmingly.