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“All it takes is three dates to make anyone fall head over heels in love with me,” Tony scoffed from his position at the far end of the kitchen island glaring back at Clint and Natasha after the conversation had worked its way around from the last mission’s bitter ending to Tony’s less than stellar dating life as of late after he and Pepper had peacefully parted ways with one another.
“Three dates huh?” Natasha pushed her spoonful of strawberry Chex in past her lips behind a snort of laughter after her teasing had prompted Tony to be on the defense where his lackluster love life was concerned, “Sounds like your mojo is slipping.”
“Oh please,” Tony rolled his eyes and poked at his soggy, colorful bowl of Fruit Loops that Morgan had insisted he take to eating before she was gleefully prancing out of the tower with Happy trotting behind her ready to take her off to her morning riding lesson that Pepper had signed her up for earlier in the month. Still in her absence Tony found that he was increasingly finding his way to the hotseat with his teammates now scrutinizing his lack of companionship as of late, “Even if it was slipping, which it most certainly isn’t, I have more mojo going on in my pinky finger than any of you could ever muster up on any given night.”
“Prove it,” Clint taunted leaning in over Natasha’s shoulder to swipe her spoonful of cereal out of her fingers and drag it up to his waiting lips, “I don’t think you have it in you anymore Tony.”
“Says the married man who hasn’t gone on a date in how many years is it now?” Tony scoffed in response bristling at the ways that his teammates had taken their amusement out of his single status, “Doesn’t exactly make you an expert on what makes for a great date night, now does it?”
“Ah, now that’s where you’re mistaken Tony because being married keeps me constantly working up new ideas for date nights. Keeps the romance alive and proves I’ve still got it going on,” Clint added before dipping the stolen spoon into Natasha’s bowl again.
“Or so you think,” Natasha remarked pinching at the dip between his thumb and index finger before reclaiming her spoon, “but seriously Tony maybe Clint is right on this. Three dates seem like a pretty bold assertion on this one.”
“I’m only saying three because I like to pace myself. Dates one and two are for laying out the groundwork to set the tone before I have them eating out of the palm of my hand entirely,” Tony boasted remembering his youth when he was literally tossing his romantic endeavors aside in the search for something worth his while along the way.
“Yeah, no ego there,” Natasha rolled her eyes before swallowing down a heaping spoonful of cereal once again.
“I don’t know Tony,” Clint was quick to push his fingers into Natasha’s bowl and pull out a fingerful of soggy cereal only to have her glare at him in warning. Still, he raised the stolen cereal to his lips and snorted with laughter, “It’s been a long time since any of us have seen you on a date. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you with anyone except Bucky as of late.”
“That’s true,” Natasha pointed out arching a scrutinizing brow before directing her focus to Tony once again, “You have been spending a lot of time with Bucky lately.”
“Tell me, has the three dates system worked there for you?” Clint practically grunted with amusement causing Tony to shift ever so slightly in his seat after his teammates brought up the one person that Tony had deemed the exception to any dating rules that he might’ve set for himself in the past.
“That doesn’t count,” Tony wrinkled his nose and poked at one of the softening red colored loops before him in his bowl, “We’re not dating. We’re…”
“Figuring it out?” Natasha piped in behind a knowing smirk with Clint leaning in closer to where she was to push himself further into the conversation, “Come on Tony, we all know that you’ve been thinking about it. Given the way you two are practically attached at the hip as of late, we all figured you’d gone beyond that whole asking for a first date and…”
“It’s not like that,” Tony argued twisting around on the stool beneath him, “We’ve just been spending time together for team morale and…”
“So, it’s not a dating thing, then? Just a sex thing,” Clint asserted brazenly pulling another piece of semi-dry cereal out of Natasha’s bowl, “Kind of figured as much with the two of you.”
“It’s not a sex thing. It’s not even a thing,” Tony protested perhaps a little too loudly to be taken seriously before he swallowed down a breath, “Come to think of it why are we talking about him anyway? We were talking about my three dates theory and…”
“Pretending that you weren’t making heart eyes at Bucky every time he’s in the room with you,” Natasha rolled her eyes before swatting at Clint’s roaming fingers before he could immerse them in her cereal milk again, “Knock it off Clint. Seriously though we’ve all picked up on that chemistry you’ve got going and…”
“Maybe you’re seeing things that you want to be there when the truth to the matter is that we’re…” Tony found himself at a loss when he considered his relationship with Bucky knowing that it wasn’t something he’d quite been ready to put a label on, yet seated in front of the team he knew now wasn’t the time to let them psychoanalyze the things that he’d been agonizing over for weeks on end already, “My point is that when it gets down to it, if I wanted someone to notice me all it takes is three dates to have them exactly where I want them.”
“Hmm…three dates are a tall order. Maybe you’d want to pace yourself before…” Clint began considering their earlier conversation before the kitchen got a bit more crowded on the team’s early morning together.
“Before what?” Sam questioned entering the kitchen and walking immediately over to the cabinets to open the one near the sink to pull out a box of Cookie Crisp waiting within, “What are we talking about?”
“Tony’s mojo and how he and Bucky most certainly aren’t a ‘thing’ despite what we’ve all been witnessing around here,” Natasha quipped behind a small laugh only for Sam to turn around with the box in hand and stare at the group before him.
“It’s not even eight in the morning and that’s what we’ve decided to talk about today?” Sam questioned behind a touch of a scowl, “Not our next mission or our upcoming training session or how we’re going to get through the next week of playing politics, but how Bucky and Tony are playing kissy eyes with one another…”
“We’re not playing kissy eyes with one another. Kissy eyes isn’t even a thing,” Tony vehemently argued against Sam’s teasing despite the heat burning in his cheeks at the way that his teammates had been ready to grill him about the one thing that he certainly wasn’t about to open himself up to talking about after he and Bucky had been taking to spending time with one another, “Morgan and Alpine are best friends and…”
“Just because your kid loves his kid doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you to maybe love him a little bit as well,” Sam poked a little bit further sharing a look with Natasha before fighting to suppress a touch of laughter upon his lips, “Trust me after a while he grows on you.”
“Yeah, like a disease,” Clint quipped before Natasha jabbed him in the ribs again.
“Knock it off. I think it’s sweet that Tony is into Bucky,” Natasha shot him a look before smiling over in Tony’s direction.
“Again, we were talking about dating, not about my spending time with Bucky,” Tony reiterated stabbing at his soggy cereal again before lowering his eyes from their scrutiny, “Just because I’m a dating master and some of you haven’t managed to find your way to that status doesn’t mean that…”
“You’re so in denial about what’s happening here,” Natasha cut in before shaking her head at Tony all over again, “You’re so in over your head on this one.”
“And so are you if you keep talking about this when I already told you that…” Tony began again only to raise his chin up and see the disbelief behind their eyes when a sound rose from behind him.
“Uh oh, Tony sounds frustrated this morning. What are we talking about?” Bruce questioned staggering into the kitchen still wearing his Yoda print pajamas and letting out a long yawn.
“Tony’s entirely-too-obvious crush on Bucky even if he’s trying to pretend that we all haven’t witnessed it,” Natasha explained nudging Clint in the ribs when he was attempting to steal her cereal all over again.
“Oh, that again,” Bruce let out a small laugh upon his arrival, “No wonder Tony sounds upset.”
“I’m not upset,” Tony argued twisting around to look over his shoulder at Bruce.
“Sure, you aren’t,” Sam quipped under his breath.
“I’m not,” Tony shot Sam a look before observing the way the rest of the group was enthusiastically working together to team up on him over breakfast, “These three just have nothing better to do with their time than harass me about things they know nothing about.”
“Also, not only is Tony in denial about his feelings for Bucky, but also Tony’s trying to deflect from that with his three dates plan for finding eternal love,” Clint was quick to fill Bruce in on the conversation taking place before finally taking a seat next to Natasha to give Bruce the opportunity to slide onto the stool beside where Clint was seated at the kitchen island.
“I didn’t say anything about eternal love,” Tony was quick to correct his teammate, “I said after three dates someone would readily fall in love with me because I’m just that good at what I do.”
“But not the other way around?” Sam piped in crossing the kitchen to stand over beside where Tony was hunched over his own cereal bowl.
“Of course not,” Tony poked his spoon into the colorful rainbow milk swirling in the mush before him, “I’m a genius. I’m smarter than that.”
“Smarter than falling in love?” Sam inquired further, pushing his way onto the seat beside Natasha before giving Tony another long look, “Come on man. No one is smarter than that. It hits us all eventually whether we want it to or not even in the most unexpected of situations.”
“Not if I’m not looking to make it happen,” Tony argued when another sound filled the room leading Tony to look up and discover a tired-looking Bucky entering the room wearing a sleeveless white t-shirt and black sweat pants with a pair of dalmatian slipper socks on his feet indicating he’d just awakened as well to become a part of the chaos taking place all around Tony.
“Make what happen?” Bucky inquired behind a yawn, craning his neck to discover a majority of his team sitting around the kitchen island looking up to no good before him. He stopped moving long enough to deliver them a suspicious perusal, “What did I miss?”
“Tony’s going to make someone fall in love with him after three dates since he’s absolutely not crushing on anyone in specific right now,” Natasha was quick to fill the former Winter Soldier in, not bothering to sugar coat the hot topic of the hour as Bucky’s blue eyes widened with something Tony couldn’t quite recognize before Bucky was returning to that stone-cold neutrality that always drove Tony crazy in trying to dissect what it was that Bucky was thinking around him.
“Oh, hmm…sounds far too complicated for me,” Bucky shrugged his shoulders and pushed past where Sam was seated, making his own way over to the cabinet before opening it up to discover what he’d been seeking out was missing, “Sam, did you take the last of the Cookie Crisp I was saving?”
“Nope,” Sam lied pushing a hefty spoonful of the sweet cereal into his mouth behind an amused grin, “not at all.”
“Right,” Bucky frowned twisting around to join the others at the island only to discover the empty box in front of his friend. Still, he reached for it, shaking it in the hopes that there was something left, but when he found nothing, he repositioned it on the tabletop once again, “real nice pal.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that you weren’t quick enough to get yourself some before it was gone,” Sam shrugged before dipping his spoon into the bowl before him again, “I tried to tell you last night if you snooze you lose around here…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tony added pushing away from the kitchen island only to remember Morgan’s secret stash of cereal she’d kept tucked away from the team, “I’ve got you covered.”
“Thanks Tony,” Bucky spoke his name a touch quieter than before as suddenly everyone around them fell to silence serving as a reminder to Tony of the ways they’d been teasing him before Bucky’s arrival.
When Tony looked up, he noticed there was a touch of color in Bucky’s cheeks—something that Tony always found himself examining far too much anytime Bucky was in the room with him. Not that Tony was spending most of his time analyzing Bucky’s responses to him nor was he hyper-fixated on the way that there were tiny flecks of gold to offset the sky-blue warmth their cool shades provided giving Tony a glimpse of the unexpected in one of the tower’s latest occupants after the world had taken them all down a far different road together. Sure, for a long time Tony wrote it off as the potential discomfort of their past lingering, yet somehow there was a certain sense of comfort in having Bucky around, especially after Steve had been long gone living out a dream that he’d been convinced he couldn’t be without after the wars had finally come to an end for all of them.
“I really appreciate this Tony,” Bucky’s words were quick to pull Tony from his thoughts, realizing that without thinking about it, Tony had led Bucky away from the others, moving into the pantry to find the hollowed out portion near the back where Morgan stashed her secret goodies, set on keeping them from anyone else given the team’s ravenous appetites, “You really don’t have to do this considering that…”
“Trust me Maguna would be upset with me if I didn’t let you get your Cookie Crisp fix to start your day,” Tony keyed in the code to the panel opening it up to reveal a series of boxes alphabetized before him on the shelves.
After a few seconds Tony spotted the box in question before extracting it from the shelf, hoping to offer up the cereal to his teammate. However, in turning around to face Bucky again, Tony realized that Bucky was standing closer than before doing that thing that he’d always done in not recognizing the boundaries with other people by being a touch too close for comfort. Only unlike the few times it had happened in the beginning, Tony had grown used to Bucky’s lack of social cues instead appreciating the curiosity behind the former Winter Soldier’s blue eyes before him.
“Tell her thank you for me,” Bucky’s voice was softer as the color rose in his cheeks. With his metal fingers he reached out to take the box that Tony was holding, gripping it gently as the skim of those fingers eased over Tony’s hand on the side of the box bringing them to a moment where Tony was focusing on the surprising warmth the mechanical fingers offered every time they touched.
“I will,” Tony swallowed down a breath, suddenly recognizing that he’d been leaning back against the shelf, angling his head up and observing the way that Bucky was dipping in closer, tilting his head down to get closer to where Tony was—as if he couldn’t recognize how awkward this might be with anyone else, yet somehow Tony welcomed the spatial invasion between them.
“So, are you really going to do it?” Bucky was quick to question behind a parting of his lips.
“Do what?” Tony blinked up at him, unable to ignore that this morning Bucky looked even more beautiful than usual. Not that Tony had ever considered Bucky beautiful…at least not openly, yet somehow as Tony’s gaze lingered over the ways that the loose tendrils of wavy dark hair framed Bucky’s face, he found that his heart skipped a beat and his mind was suddenly taking him down a road that he’d always promised himself he couldn’t go straight to with obsessing over Bucky’s mouth and leaving him contemplating the taste.
“Find someone to fall in love with you after three dates,” Bucky brought them back full circle to the conversation that was taking place before his arrival, leaving Tony between a rock and hard place weighing out how to approach the situation with the one person he was still trying to figure out around the tower.
“I wasn’t saying that I was looking to find someone to fall in love with me after three dates,” Tony was quick to clarify behind a hastening breath. His eyes darted to Bucky’s mouth again wondering why in the hell it was so damn magnetic in leading Tony down the wrong road before Tony remembered what he’d been saying to the others, “Just that I have the ability to do so if I was looking to…”
“So, um, then you’re not looking to find someone to fall in love with you?” Bucky swallowed down a breath, bringing one arm out onto the shelf behind where Tony was standing, gripping those fleshy fingers of his tightly over the edge until he was angling nearer to where Tony was.
“Not actively no, but the team got to talking and…” Tony stammered with his words, struggling to remember what it was he’d been saying to the team now that Bucky was hovering over him looking like every deliciously wicked fantasy brought to life before his very eyes.
Not that Tony was thinking about Bucky that way, but fuck he really was beautiful, Tony realized behind a racing heart and a swallow of nervousness hoping that his flushed cheeks didn’t give his thoughts away. Sure, he’d wanted to play it cool especially after he’d initially invited Bucky to join the others after Steve was gone as a means of making things right for everyone after so many dead-end roads between them. What Tony hadn’t anticipated in extending that olive branch to his teammate was that Bucky was so much more than Steve’s brooding best friend. He was sarcastic and full of dark humor, much like Tony was. He appreciated tech and all of Tony’s projects to the point that he’d constantly found his way down to Tony’s lab merely eager to observe and aid in whatever attempts at assisting Tony whenever he got the chance.
Then there were the times that Bucky had spent with Morgan, bonding with Tony’s daughter in ways that Tony might not have allowed anyone before he’d landed in the world of being a single parent trying to navigate what it meant to be the best dad he could be while learning to navigate a life without Pepper at his side. That part wasn’t easy for Tony, yet he’d done his best to balance it all, finding that Bucky’s presence had eased the transition when Morgan’s disappointment about her parents breaking up was brought to the backburner when Bucky and his adorably cute fur baby Alpine had moved into the tower offering up a set of new friends for Morgan along the way. That had also thrown Tony for a loop when he’d also discovered that Bucky was incredible with kids—especially Morgan after Tony soon learned Bucky had sisters growing up, who gave him plenty of practice for helping Tony navigate the ways of being the best dad he could be to his super smart, super inquisitive daughter who’d taken to inviting Bucky to Tony’s place for late night movie parties and popcorn after the rest of the team had taken to their own apartments ready to find their own ways to unwind distanced from the job they put behind them.
“You figured you’d impress them with your reputation,” Bucky noted breaking through Tony’s thoughts with a hint of teasing behind his voice. He was leaning ever so slightly into Tony’s space, parting his lips and revealing a slip of that perfect pink tongue that Tony had imagined sucking on once or twice on those said movie nights when Morgan was tucked into bed with Alpine for a sleepover.
“My reputation speaks for itself,” Tony thoughtlessly responded stretching up higher against the shelf and making an involuntary push into Bucky’s personal space.
“I suppose it does,” Bucky’s eyes left Tony’s instead dropping down to focus on Tony’s lips, no doubt scrutinizing Tony’s history after he’d come to learn far more about the former playboy genius that he’d taken to spending his time with. However, still revealing a touch of amusement in his approach, Bucky dropped his arm down from the shelf above Tony, instead resting it on the shelf that was level with Tony’s hip in the pantry, “Still three dates to fall in love. Feels like a bit of a stretch, doesn’t it?”
“Trust me dates one and two are just the warmup,” Tony blurted out nervously, unable to refrain from sliding away from the shelf and gripping the cereal box between them tighter than before. In doing so, he circled the tip of his finger against Bucky’s metal hand knowing that the gesture was undoubtedly out of place, yet somehow Bucky hadn’t thought to retreat with the box in hand as Tony continued to spout out word vomit, “By three they've had enough time to let it settle in that this is happening whether they want it to or not. By then they see I’m irresistible and they don't have a choice but to admit that they are crazy about me.”
“Is that so?” Bucky inquired, dipping in closer yet to where Tony was. His lips parted further, and his eyelashes fluttered before Tony was suddenly aware of the way that they were practically touching one another damn near thigh to thigh with the box serving as one of the only barriers between them.
“Absolutely,” Tony nodded watching as Bucky licked his bottom lip, leaving so much room for fantasy as far as Tony was concerned.
Fighting against his own need to reach out for Bucky, Tony stretched up higher, tilting his head back just enough to catch the tip of Bucky’s nose with his own—wondering where this new boldness with his teammate was concerned. However, after spending far too many nights getting to learn more about the man that Steve was ready to throw everything away for once upon a time, Tony had let his curiosity get the best of him leading him up to this moment where he was smacking his own lips together and touching his fingers across the top of Bucky’s metal hand suddenly wondering why it was so hot inside the pantry with Bucky away from the others.
“Well, well, then if that's the case what do you say you put your money where your mouth is and prove it with a friendly little wager?” Bucky finally suggested as he reciprocated Tony’s gesture, ghosting his lips just beyond where Tony’s were and leaving a trail of warmth in his wake.
“Mmm…what do you mean?” Tony lazily questioned, allowing his long, dark eyelashes to fall to a close against the heat of Bucky’s breath cascading over him.
“I’d love to see you in action. Watch you prove your power so to speak,” Bucky practically taunted brazenly bringing his fingers against Tony’s hip, pinching gently before encouraging Tony to meet his eyes once again, “The way I see it if three dates are all you need, then maybe it’s time you reveal your secret to the rest of us.”
“You mean…?” Tony snapped out of his daze long enough to realize what Bucky was asking him, “Wait, are you asking me to help you learn my technique so that you can…?”
“Find someone special to fall in love with me,” Bucky finished with a flash of color in his cheeks and a nervousness behind the sound that spilled past his lips, “Sounds pathetic when I put it that way, doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t know that you were looking to fall in love with anyone,” Tony cleared his throat and fought the disappointment rolling over his chest. Without a second thought he released the box they’d both been holding, causing Bucky to take a step back and secure his grip on the cereal within his reach.
“I mean I hadn’t really thought about it, but everyone’s kind of been talking about me getting back into dating again. Sam’s been saying I need to put myself out there again and…” Bucky explained shifting his blue eyes away from Tony before pulling the box closer to his chest, “I mean it has been a while since I put myself out there and…”
“Sure, sure. I mean yeah, I guess it has, but falling in love is a pretty tall order,” Tony was quick to answer as he secretly hoped that Bucky would reconsider his idea to seek out romantic companionship elsewhere, “especially if you’ve been out of the game for a while and…”
“I’m someone like me,” Bucky’s face dropped just a touch with disappointment as he looked over to Tony again, “I mean yeah, I get it. I’m not exactly great with conversation and…”
“No, you’re incredible with conversation when the right topic comes up,” Tony was quick to point out in seeing Bucky deflate before him after deeming himself unlovable as Tony had done far too many times in the past when he’d been caught up in his own self-loathing.
“But the whole ex-murder machine who is well over a hundred years old probably doesn’t make me a hot commodity and…” Bucky shrugged his shoulders before moving to turn away from Tony, “Forget it. It was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have brought it up to begin with.”
“No wait,” Tony stepped forward gripping at Bucky’s elbow before working to guide Bucky back into is personal space, “I think you’re wrong. I think it’s a good idea to be with someone who makes you feel better about yourself. Someone who makes your day brighter when you’re feeling down who isn’t afraid to say how incredible you are when you need to hear it.”
“You do?” Bucky looked over his shoulder at Tony again, “Really?”
“Yeah, I mean I know what works. How to push the system along so to speak, so maybe together we can join forces to help you find someone that makes you,” Tony swallowed down a breath as he fought to contain the way that Bucky’s pouting lips turned him on like none other, “happy. Someone who can appreciate the finer things you bring to a relationship and…”
“I don’t know about that, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to again who gets it,” Bucky acknowledge twisting around to face Tony fully behind a sheepish expression, “beyond our conversations of course.”
“Of course,” Tony nodded doing his best to shield his disappointment in Bucky’s request, “I mean if you want…maybe we could catch a late meal together in the city and go over a few pointers here and there that might help you find what you’re looking for and…”
“Dinner?” Bucky repeated behind a neutral expression before swallowing down a breath, “As in us having a dinner just the two of us tonight?”
“Yeah tonight. Just the two of us,” Tony was quick to respond behind a nervous shift of his weight on his feet as his heart was racing faster than before, “Maguna’s spending the weekend with Pepper, so it’d be a great way to distract me from being alone upstairs so what do you say?”
“Tonight’s good,” Bucky considered Tony’s words before accepting his proposal, “Dinner with you sounds fantastic. You’re on.”
“Great. Good. We can head out at say eight,” Tony considered his suggestion already finding the wheels turning in his mind over what he’d agree to do with his friend to lend a helping hand per Bucky’s request, “Wear something nice.”
“Where are we going?” Bucky asked after taking a step back, still holding the cereal and looking like a forbidden snack in his own right standing in front of Tony in the pantry.
“I don’t know yet, but it never hurts to look good,” Tony gave him an involuntary perusal before allowing his thoughts to slip past his lips, “Not that you have any trouble with that, but…”
“I’ll be sure to put on a suit. I know how you like them,” Bucky winked back at Tony, stepping back further and raising the cereal box in his hand before making his way closer to exiting the pantry, “Eight it is.”
“See you then,” Tony waved feeling like an idiot as he was suddenly alone in the pantry wondering how in the hell he was going to make it through a night of offering dating tips to Bucky when everything inside of him wanted to be the one dating Bucky.
“This is crazy,” Tony mouthed to himself staring down his own reflection in the shiny metallic wall across from where he was standing, “since when am I thirsting for Bucky?”
“Since you started spending time with him idiot,” that voice in his head was quick to remind him after he recalled the times Bucky had spent the night up in Tony’s place, camping out on the couch after movie night had taken them into the early morning together with Morgan seated between them and snuggling with Alpine.
“Shit,” Tony pushed one hand up through his hair as his earlier words to the team came back to haunt him.
“All it takes is three dates to make anyone fall head over heels in love with me,” his own words kicked back hard leaving him to realize that even if Bucky hadn’t asked to date him specifically, tonight could be Tony’s first shot at laying the groundwork for a night to remember with the one man Tony wasn’t entirely convinced he could win over.
“Three dates with anyone but Bucky,” he could almost hear Steve taunting him, no doubt outraged wherever he was over the idea of Tony attempting to entice Steve’s best friend into falling in love with him, yet somehow the more that Tony stewed over the idea, the more he’d vowed to find a way to make it happen. He just hoped he wasn’t traveling down the road towards making a mistake.
“No time for that now,” Tony reminded himself when the buzzing in his pocket indicated that his daughter had reached her destination and was calling to check on him completely unaware of the possible blunder that he’d allowed to happen in pretending that he was at all invested in helping Bucky find ‘the one’ especially if the one wasn’t him.
“This is um…nice,” Bucky looked around the fancy French restaurant, taking in the tables around where he and Tony sat at the far end of the luxury establishment next to the glass double doors leading out towards the now empty balcony area offering an intimate glimpse of the city that if Tony was honest hadn’t come close to the one that he had back home at the tower where he and Bucky had spent a great many hours sharing a few virgin cocktails underneath the moonlight days earlier after Tony had tucked Morgan into bed with Alpine, “Not as cozy as your couch, but…nice.”
“Oh, let’s be honest,” Tony set his menu down on the tabletop to get a closer look at Bucky across from him at the place Tony had booked last second after taking his time to throw his reputation around to get the VIP treatment for the night with Bucky. Still, as impressive as it was, there was something in Bucky’s eyes that indicated all the bells and whistles were lost on the man that Tony would much rather be alone and comfy with at his place, “it’s pretentious and absolutely the first step towards crashing and burning on a date.”
“I thought the goal was to help me find someone to fall in love with,” Bucky mirrored Tony’s movement, positioning his own discarded menu on Tony’s near the edge of the table, “though admittedly I’m fairly certain that even on my pension I couldn’t afford this place even at lunchtime.”
“Yeah, it’s a little pricy,” Tony wanted to kick himself knowing full well that he hadn’t really ever been a fan of the place either, but he’d choked at the last second remembering that he’d often left booking his dates to Pepper, whom he was fairly certain was the last person he’d wanted to invite into helping him entice Bucky especially now that Tony was fumbling around doing so. However, still undeterred in his quest to do something nice, Tony had panicked and called the place Pepper had always appreciated on their anniversary, leading Tony to disaster now that Bucky sat across from him completely bored out of his mind and ready to find his way to the exit, “but the food is incredible.”
“Yeah?” Bucky reached for his water, nervously raising it to his lips and chasing down the disappointment that Tony was convinced Bucky was inevitably feeling when Tony’s promise to help had been a setup to date night disappointment, especially when Bucky wasn’t anticipating that he was going on a date with Tony.
“No, actually it’s boring and uninspired, but there’s this little hot dog vender down the block that has the best in the city and…” Tony swallowed down a nervous breath fearing that this had been a total bust as he reached up to loosen the tie he was wearing, “if you’re interested in getting the hell out of here, then…”
“Count me in,” Bucky’s face lit up with possibility. His blue eyes sparkled underneath the moonlight, leaving him looking even more beautiful against the backdrop of the city night, fresh and clean in a suit that Tony was convinced Bucky was anything, but comfortable in, yet somehow he’d put it on hoping to have Tony help him with pointers at finding the right one, which Tony absolutely had no intentions of doing from the get go, “That sounds fantastic.”
“Then let’s get out of here,” Tony pulled his napkin off of his lap and stood up preparing to offer his hand to Bucky when a booming sound from the far end of the restaurant indicated that the snooty establishment was about to encounter a different kind of clientele as the far wall exploded in on a few of the tables at the opposite end of the room they were in.
There were a few shouts and screams accompanied by the tear of concrete when smoke filled the dining area, bringing with the invasion a set of foot soldiers dressed in all black and looking to bring an end to the peace the others around them had been experiencing for their meals.
“Change of plans,” Tony frowned as a group of six men with high-tech weapons invaded the restaurant shouting out orders and demanding that the wealthy patrons turn over their valuables to a man with a burlap bag and a clown mask prancing around the hazy dining room area while the others scattered out to the various tables set on robbing the restaurant’s occupants.
“We’ll have to take a rain check on a romantic dinner it would seem,” Bucky was quick to respond, pushing up from the table and reaching behind his suit jacket to pull out his weapon, carefully tucked away for their night out on the town. After a moment, he glanced over at Tony before offering up a touch of a smile, “as it’s time for action.”
“So it is,” Tony sighed in agreement. He assessed the situation before reaching to push a button on his ring that sent a signal to alert the team of the robbery happening. Shaking his head as Bucky leapt from his side of the table over to where one of the men in black were harassing an elderly couple just beyond where they were seated, Tony watched with a sense of pride as Bucky swiftly took down the enemy, putting him in a chokehold and dragging him away from the main dining area away from the rest of his team before bringing the would be robber to a state of unconsciousness.
“Seems as though the party is just getting started,” Bucky quipped in his return as Tony finally called his armor into action bringing with the invasion a new spin on the night he’d planned to wow Bucky in his own special way.
“That was…interesting,” Bucky stretched his legs out in front of the park bench with a laugh upon his lips before angling his head back to rest against the wooden surface beneath him, “Not quite what I expected when you wanted us to do dinner tonight.”
“Not exactly what I was aiming for when I promised to offer you a night you’d never forget,” Tony acknowledged angling his head to the side and discovering that Bucky’s tie was now unknotted and hanging over the front of his now bloodied nowhere near white dress shirt that he’d unbuttoned a third of the way down after the fighting had ended.
It wasn’t where Tony had thought the ‘date’ would take them, yet somehow by the time the team had arrived, he and Bucky had damn near neutralized the situation getting the hostages to safety before taking down the band of local wannbe gangsters looking to make their claim on their place in the city. Much like when they’d dealt with most of the bad guys that were hoping to leave their mark, they’d taken them down with ease—proving that even without the rest of the team behind them that Bucky and Tony made an incredible team. One that was damn near indestructible as Tony had taken the time to upgrade Bucky’s arm in the past and give him a few more tricks to utilize so to speak.
“It’ll make for an interesting bedtime story down the road for Morgan,” Bucky shook his head and laughed further before raising the remaining half of his ketchup and mustard covered hotdog to his lips and taking a heaping bite of the messy concoction.
“I don’t know if I’d tell her everything, but I’m sure once we cut out the gory details she’d be interested to hear how good we work together,” Tony wholly agreed twisting in closer to Bucky before taking a bite of his own hotdog after the two had departed from the team to take a walk through the park to unwind after the action.
“She already knows how good we work together. Probably better than we do most of the time,” Bucky reminded him with a laugh finishing off his hot dog before turning his head towards Tony once again, “Though I suppose this was not the kind of night you were anticipating, was it?”
“It wasn’t exactly my finest hour as I never really was able to give you any pointers on wowing your future dates like I promised,” Tony added remembering his earlier promise even if everything inside of him was against the idea of giving Bucky that vital information to find someone special in his life that wasn’t Tony.
“You said three dates for falling in love, right?” Bucky twisted around on the park bench, bumping his knee into Tony’s before lowering his hand down to discover mustard and ketchup on his fingers. He contemplated reaching for a napkin, but when he’d discovered he hadn’t grabbed one back at the vender, he looked down at his bloodied shirt and shrugged. A moment later he wiped his fingers over his center and offered up a sheepish grin that caused Tony’s pulse to race all over again at how unapologetically messy Bucky was beneath the moonlight looking like a dream come true even after the night of violence they’d faced together, “That was your magic number, right?”
“I mean that’s what I told the team,” Tony nodded in confirmation as he spotted a glob of mustard near the corner of Bucky’s mouth. Without a second thought, Tony scooted in closer, reasoning he’d spare the destroyed dress shirt any further damage by reaching out to swipe his thumb against Bucky’s warm skin.
As he did so a breeze pushed past them, sending Tony in closer to where Bucky was and leading Tony to pull his hand back only long enough to take the mustard between his own lips with Bucky silently watching the action.
“You had a little bit right there…” Tony began pointing at where he’d just pulled the mustard off Bucky’s face, “You still have a little bit…”
“Right here?” Bucky questioned bringing his fingers up to search for the remains of their quick meal before Tony was up on his knees on the bench, moving in closer to where Bucky was to finish the task that he’d started in wiping Bucky’s face clean.
“Right here,” Tony mouthed knowing it was probably the worst decision possible, but he’d already crossed one line with the first swipe, so now was the time for a bolder play. Without warning, he cupped the opposite side of Bucky’s face with his hand while angling in closer to trace his tongue over the remaining mustard, swallowing down the taste before Bucky was turning in towards him, meeting Tony’s tongue’s searching sweeps with a soft flick of his own behind parting lips to invite Tony inside for a different kind of taste.
Without a word, Tony pushed up higher on his knees, carefully climbing over Bucky until he felt the strength of Bucky’s fingers pushing into his hip to hold him closer. All through the maneuver Tony’s brain was catching up to the realization that Bucky was kissing him back. His tongue was every bit as attentive as Tony’s had been, devouring Tony’s mouth behind a soft moan and a roll of metal fingers up underneath the back of Tony’s now-tattered suit jacket spreading their amazing warmth in ways that had Tony sliding in closer to Bucky’s chest. Without a word, Tony stretched his fingers up higher, pushing them through Bucky’s long, soft, silky dark hair entrenched in the beauty of the man Tony had been coveting for so long stretched out on the park bench beneath Tony and kissing him back as if they hadn’t at all been out on the town ready to have Tony lead Bucky to anyone else.
“Tony,” Bucky moaned his name as they breathlessly parted, still holding onto one another beneath the moonlight and damn near shaking under the stars huddled together in the park.
“James,” Tony’s flustered spill of breath found its way past Bucky’s lips once again, lingering only long enough to have Bucky angling forward to nip at Tony’s bottom lip, cementing his presence in Tony’s life before his arms surrounded Tony tighter than before.
“I was hoping that this is what would happen,” Bucky confessed squeezing his arms around Tony’s waist to bring them chest to chest on the bench, “I know it’s not part of your master plan, but with it being date three already for us, I was hoping that you’d reveal your magic mojo for me and…”
“Date three?” Tony questioned drawing back only long enough to search Bucky’s eyes for confirmation of what he was saying.
“I mean technically I didn’t need three dates to know that I liked you, but after I heard you talking this morning about how after three dates you were set on finding love with someone…” Bucky’s cheeks grew a deeper shade of crimson, “well I was hoping that I was reading this right and…”
“With my talking about three dates to finding love,” Tony contemplated Bucky’s words before pulling back long enough to search his blue eyes through the darkness, “You think that we have been dating? Before tonight?”
“Yeah. Sure. At least I was hoping so. I mean the way I see it the first date was when we took Morgan to the zoo,” Bucky was quick to answer before his courage left him in an even more awkward position than the one Tony suspected Bucky was fearing that he’d put himself into with his assumption, “when we watched the sea lions putting on a show. You know right after we got her snacks and took her to see it front and center. When we were standing there, you took my hand and…”
“Asked you if it got any better than that when she was smiling and having the time of her life out with us,” Tony finished remembering the moment when instinct had taken over and he’d wound up gripping Bucky’s fingers in response to Morgan’s delighted laughter serving as a means of bringing an end to her agonizing over her parents getting divorced.
It was on that day that Tony came to consider how much he’d enjoyed Bucky’s company, distanced from the tower and the expectations of the world around them. At the time reaching for Bucky’s hand hadn’t really given Tony much pause nor did he move to take back the gesture as the rest of the afternoon the two had viewed the rest of the exhibits with Morgan, holding hands with each other and sharing a ridiculously sugary spun pink cotton candy treat together until she’d pushed her way into the center gripping both their hands and swinging along in blissful ease up until the point she’d fallen into exhaustion in her bed hours later.
“It was nice and then there was that second night at the gala when you said you needed someone to join you,” Bucky pointed out bringing to light yet another time when he and Tony had been distanced from the others out in the city and putting on a good face for all the corporate bigwigs that Tony had been set to schmooze with.
At the time of the gala, Tony hadn’t wanted to go and pretend that life wasn’t anything but messy and disappointing. He hadn’t even considered it until Bucky had been poking around his lab and found the fancy invitation. It was at that moment that Bucky tried a new approach to being social for the sake of getting out there by urging Tony to let himself take a night to enjoy himself for a change instead of being locked in his lab looking for a means of entertainment.
“Only if you go with me,” Tony could remember himself saying to Bucky at the time, certain that Bucky would rather die than get dressed up and spend the night with a bunch of pretentious A-listers all pretending to be humanitarians in their philanthropic projects laid out ahead of them simply to boost their overblown egos by breaking into their pocketbooks.
“I’d love to,” Bucky had taken Tony by surprise with the smile and the wink that had followed, “It’s a date.”
“Great,” Tony could remember himself saying at the time, working into finding the energy to get dressed and pretend that he could micromanage himself through a place where Pepper had been the shining star navigating her way through the events that Tony would just as soon as skip over, yet somehow that night Bucky had stepped up to the plate taking the challenge and coming out victorious in bringing Tony back to his once lost confidence.
“See it’s not so bad,” Bucky had teased Tony at the time, dragging Tony out onto the dance floor where all eyes were on Tony and the former Winter Soldier, who were eliciting whispers and keeping the prying eyes of the city’s elite on them in their far too intimate dance with one another.
“Tell me that tomorrow when your face is on every gossip magazine in the city,” Tony had teased at the time, but it felt good holding onto Bucky and moving closer than they’d allowed themselves to be on Tony’s couch when they were keeping things light and easy with Morgan and Alpine.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means I get to have you in my arms like this,” Bucky had joked at the time, squeezing Tony a touch tighter than before and humming along to the music until they’d made their way off the dance floor and out onto the balcony commiserating about the night and edging closer to one another until an attack in Queens called them away from the party and into a place where Tony had filed the beautiful memory away until this night when Bucky was bringing it back to the front burner of their conversation.
“Granted, we tend to wind up in dangerous situations most of the time, but this is nice,” Bucky was stroking Tony’s cheek and searching Tony’s eyes for confirmation that Tony was still in the moment with him now that Tony’s brain was working to catch up with the obvious that he’d overlooked when Bucky had suggested that Tony help him find ‘the one’.
“But you said you were looking to fall in love with someone,” Tony fumbled with his words, still working to catch up as Bucky was holding him closer yet.
“I was looking to fall in love with you,” Bucky stated plainly, searching Tony’s eyes again before swallowing down a sharp breath, “Something that I was hoping you were feeling too, but in the event that you weren’t feeling it…”
“You came up with a backup plan hinting that you were wanting me to help you find someone else,” Tony realized when color rose over Bucky’s cheeks again, causing him to push out a nervous laugh from deep within his chest.
“Sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it?” Bucky tried to play it cool, but there was no ease behind the sound, “Me doing all that and hoping that maybe you were thinking this was a date for us too when…”
“I wanted it to be,” Tony was quick to cut him off behind a smile, “Been hoping to find a way to twist this around to a date without realizing you thought those other two times were also dates.”
“Weren’t they?” Bucky questioned behind a touch of confusion as if he was only now seeing things through Tony’s eyes during those times they’d spent together, “Wait, are you saying that you didn’t see them as…?”
“Practice for tonight?” Tony was quick to cut him off with a kiss, “Maybe not at the time, but now it’s painfully clear that we were working towards building a rapport between us that helped make tonight even better.”
“I could’ve done without the thugs breaking into the restaurant, but everything else has been nice,” Bucky confessed nibbling on Tony’s bottom lip again before reaching up to touch Tony’s cheek to spill his warmth across Tony’s eager flesh, “Getting out here tonight and sharing this park bench under the stars has been a nice change of pace for us.”
“It’s a beautiful view,” Tony acknowledged behind another slow building kiss before bringing his arms around Bucky’s shoulders, “Probably even better back at my place out on the balcony where we can get out of these bloody clothes and…”
“Maybe into a shower together,” Bucky hinted at something a bit more welcoming as he touched the side of Tony’s face to search his eyes again underneath the moonlight, “If that’s alright.”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Tony quickly agreed behind a smile, squeezing his arms tighter around Bucky’s shoulder to drag him in for yet another lingering kiss, “Maybe work on setting the tone for romance since there’s still time on this date for me to work my magic on you and…”
“I’m afraid it would prove to be no use Tony,” Bucky hummed against his kiss, rounding his fingers over Tony’s hip to offer up a light squeeze, “because as it stands, I don’t need to work on falling in love with you because I’m already there. Been there a while Tony…long before our trip to the zoo.”
“And here I thought you were only doing it for Maguna,” Tony confessed cupping Bucky’s face in his hands before smiling back at him, “Thinking because our girls were best friends it meant that we had to work at getting along and…”
“I’ve been fascinated with you from the very beginning wondering if maybe you could ever find it in you to be fascinated with me too,” Bucky added further confessing his truth as he held Tony, “I knew it was a longshot, but…”
“I’ve wanted this longer than you can begin to imagine,” Tony cut him off with a tender kiss revealing the truth in his heart now that they’d disposed of the games between them, “Maguna’s already telling everyone that you’re my boyfriend.”
“She’s a smart kid,” Bucky laughed against Tony’s lips before hugging him tighter than before.
“Didn’t want to tell her she was jumping the gun on something when she was talking about us,” Tony confessed with warmth spreading across his face as his eyes found Bucky’s again through the darkness, “Though if you’re looking to fill the position…”
“I’d love to be your boyfriend Tony,” Bucky promised parting his lips and seeking out another taste of Tony all over again, “but only if you allow me the opportunity to try out the role as your lover as well along the way.”
“Now that I’m very excited to explore between us,” Tony mused pushing up higher on his knees and pulling away from the kiss with a smile. He held still for a few seconds longer, memorizing the lines of Bucky’s face before pressing a playful kiss over the tip of Bucky’s nose. Unable to contain himself any longer Tony began teasing his lips over Bucky’s forehead and cheeks until claiming his mouth again set on exploring every second of possibility between them until the morning light filled Tony’s bedroom with the warmth that he was certain of their lovemaking would be sure on providing them hours from now.
“Me too. The truth is I can’t wait to get you naked and laid out before me so that I can explore every inch of you, making love in ways that I’ve only dreamt of until now,” Bucky confessed pushing his fingers deeper into Tony’s wavy dark hair.
“Mmm…I’d like that,” Tony wholly agreed with a shift of his body over Bucky’s thighs savoring the warmth between them all over again.
“I was hoping you’d say that kitten,” Bucky smiled preparing to kiss Tony again when color in the sky up above sent the two apart once more revealing with the bright array spilled across the night an explosion from up above that would no doubt need looking into.
“Shit,” Tony cursed meeting Bucky’s eyes again before shouts across the park and debris falling from the sky came crashing in on their big moment together.
“Can we take a rain check on that lovemaking for now?” Bucky questioned behind a small swallow of breath, listening as the sound of sirens in the distance indicated that things were taking yet another drastic turn on their date night.
“You can count on it, but just so we’re clear, if anything else happens after this, we’re sending the X-Men to deal with it,” Tony teased stealing a quick kiss from Bucky before he spotted the others approaching the scene, quick to intervene on what was happening across the park.
“It’s a deal,” Bucky agreed pushing up off the bench and taking Tony with him before looking to the night and preparing to build upon yet another epic battle for their date night sure to leave a mark after their already action-packed night had worked to bring them closer into each other’s arms even if the promise of passion to follow would have to wait.