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Steve hooked his finger against Bucky’s as they walked into Tony’s lab. It felt strange to do. They hadn’t been around their group of friends without being under some kind of duress, so displays of casual affection like this took some getting used to. Bucky was damn well going to learn, and he refused to believe he wouldn’t have time to do so. Life had to be more fair than that at some point, didn’t it?
They stopped short when they saw the actual state of the lab. Bucky would have gone into high alert over the bowling ball sized holes everywhere if Tony hadn’t been so calm amongst the chaos of pockmarked decor.
Well… calm for Tony anyway.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he flitted by. “Testing out a new gauntlet design… Power source is being flighty.”
He shot a hard look Bucky’s way. “Someone mistook my last one for an empty Coke can.”
“Well, it looks like one,” Bucky shrugged, and Steve’s shoulders slumped beside him. Steve just sighed softly.
“Bucky-”
“I said I was sorry,” Bucky huffed, but Tony actually brightened.
“That’s right, he did. It was pretty incredible. I’d ask how you got him to do that but-”
“Don’t,” Steve warned, his digits tightening against Bucky’s. “Are you going to be able to do calibration on me with your lab like this?”
“Yep,” Tony grinned, seeming far too pleased that Bucky was there. “Just clearing up some stuff. Gimme a minute.”
“Okay,” Steve answered, and relaxed against the wall as Tony did his thing. Bucky rested his hip against Steve’s, and did the same until he spotted a little black cube with six bright blue buttons on it. Bucky reached for it, only to have Steve pull him back. He looked up, and Steve shook his head in warning. Bucky just hopped forward and snatched it up.
“Put it down, Manchurian Candidate,” Tony ordered.
“Call me by my actual name and I might,” Bucky grinned, turning the cube around in his palm. There was nothing to distinguish one button from the next, so Bucky was itching to push each one to see what they did.
“Okay, are you Rose or Jack today? You two switch off so much, I feel like I need a running CNN commentary.”
“My name’s Bucky,” he reminded Junior, his voice light and sweet. Tony would know it for the warning it was.
“I’m not kidding, Ja-”
Bucky picked one and clicked it. A pulse of clear, magnetic energy burst from the cube. Bucky’s ears were still ringing when Steve reached him. He was now across the room with his prosthetic stuck firmly to one of the metal-faced overhead cabinets Tony kept his smaller projects in. Bucky’s feet were dangling three feet above the floor.
Tony stood behind Steve with his arms crossed, looking a little… cross.
“Bucky? You okay?” Steve asked worriedly. He was fairly used to this kind of childish behavior from Tony and Bucky, but that had been one helluva pulse. There might be a small piece of Bucky's tongue missing. Maybe he should invest in a mouth guard for his forays into Junior's trinkets.
"Buck?"
Bucky just grinned at Steve. He was not giving back this cube for anything.
But he also couldn’t move his arm.
“Okay… How do I demagnetize myself?” he asked once his ears came back online.
“I don’t know because you just fried the offset when you irresponsibly aimed,” Tony grunted. Bucky would think he was more pissed if this wasn’t a regular event in Stark’s lab. Telling Bucky not to touch a science project was the worst thing you could do, yet Tony did it all the time. It was practically a game now.
“When you gonna get it through your head that it’s better just to tell me what shit is?” Bucky whined indignantly. Tony shrugged.
“When I get tired of watching you fuck yourself up,” he grinned.
“Tony, get him off of there,” Steve frowned. He eyed Bucky’s shoulder critically, clearly worried about the pain it might be causing him. He pulled up one of Tony’s step ladders, kicking the lock into place so he could step up to rub at Bucky’s scars.
“It’s fine, Steve. I’m not-” His words cut off as all the color drained from Steve’s face. “Stevie…?”
Steve’s eyes flickered up to Bucky’s, but then right back to the area near Bucky’s ribs. Bucky looked down, but didn’t see anything. He gave Steve a questioning look, but Steve was glancing back to see if Tony was watching them. He was, so Steve turned back around and just pursed his lips.
Okay, Steve saw something that he didn’t want Tony to see, but Bucky was at a loss for what it might be. Best thing he could do was get Tony out of their line of sight for at least a few seconds.
“C’mon, Tony. You know how to get me off. Do your thing.”
Tony’s face skewed in comical disgust. “No, that’s Cap’s job to get you off. I’m just the genius workhorse around here.”
“Funny,” Bucky muttered. “You know how to demagnetize this. Hop to, Junior.”
“You gotta work on your wooing skills, Rose,” Tony snorted, and walked back to where the calibration would take place.
Bucky just rolled his eyes, but then zeroed in on Steve. Before he could ask Steve what the hell was wrong, Steve went into a weird jolt of movement and knocked himself clean off the ladder. Fortunately, that was a spastic move that Bucky recognized.
Unfortunately, Tony came back into view just in time to see it.
“What the hell was that?!” Tony exclaimed, staring slack-jawed at the tangle of limbs on the floor that would normally be a far more composed Steve Rogers.
Steve would have to fend for his pride himself. Bucky was too busy looking for the cause of Steve’s sudden terror.
Steve hopped to his feet, and quickly edged away from the cabinets as Bucky tried to twist himself to get a better view. He wouldn’t get any help from Steve, that was for sure.
“He zigged, I zagged,” Steve muttered. It was all Bucky could do not to snort at the explanation.
“I think this virus is doing more to you two than we realize,” Tony commented, his stare dubious. He shook his head when Steve didn’t reply, then turned his back to dig through a floor cabinet.
Culprit finally spotted, Bucky reached out and brushed his palm over the cabinet as casually as he could. Steve looked like he wanted to throw up, but Bucky couldn’t help but be amused. Two years they’d been living in the same apartment, and this had never been a problem before. Bucky thought Steve had gotten over it finally.
He smiled and pushed his closed fist at Steve, his palm facing upward in silent offer. Steve immediately stumbled backward and took out the rolling cart behind him. Bucky dropped his arm before Tony spun around, his face devoid of any emotion.
“Little dizzy, Cap?” His question was actually sincere. Steve didn’t just stumble into things. He was so spacially aware it was freaky sometimes, even moreso for Bucky since he remembered what Steve was like before the serum.
“Nope,” Steve answered, but didn’t bother to elaborate. He straightened his sweatshirt while Bucky died of internal laughter.
Tony looked utterly fascinated by the current dynamic. Bucky let his body go slack again, and looked expectantly at Tony.
“Demagnetizer?”
“Oh hell no,” Tony smiled. “What’s in your hand?”
“Huh?”
“Your fist is closed,” Tony smirked.
“I’m uncomfortable, Junior,” Bucky answered.
“Jarvis?”
“Sir, there appears to be a nocturnal orb weaving spider trapped inside Bucky’s palm.”
“Whut?”
“They are indigenous to New York,” Jarvis clarified, but that wasn’t what Tony was wide-eyed about.
“A… sp-iiii-derrrr?!” Tony started wheezing so hard that he barely got the word out. “Are you… Are you fucking telling me… that Cap’s afraid of spiiiderrrrs?”
Steve’s lips flattened into a horrible scowl, his eyes still glued to Bucky’s now-offensive fist. Poor bastard. He was never going to live this down, not even from Sam.
“How does a supersoldier stay arachnophobic?!” Tony cackled. “This is like the best thing ever!”
“Tony,” Bucky sighed, “just get me down from here, will ya?”
“So, what happens if one of us throw a daddy long legs on him?”
“I suggest you don’t,” Steve warned him. His teeth were gritted, and the flat monotone of the modulator just made it kinda funny. Bucky wouldn’t dare laugh at Steve though. Not over this.
“Those aren’t spiders,” Bucky frowned. “Let it go, Stark.”
“We know that, but does it matter to Cap here?” Tony wiped at his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “All this time we thought he was doing parkour… Turns out he’s just spazzing out to avoid all those big, nasty spiders everywhere..!”
“Okay, okay,” Bucky groaned, seeing Steve’s face going crimson. “Look, ya get me demagnetized so I can go toss this thing…”
“Why not just squash it?”
Bucky glanced at Steve, trying to come up with a better answer than the truth. Stark’s brain was going way too fast though.
“OhhhhomyGOD, he’s even a bleeding heart for spiders!” Tony’s eyes would not stop watering as he slapped his hand over his mouth to giggle and wheeze some more.
Bucky licked his lips as he raced for something worthwhile to offer Tony in compromise. “Hey, Junior… Get me down, an’ I’ll let you install that EMP in my arm.”
Tony didn’t even blink. “Done,” he chirped, clicked something inside his own hand, and suddenly Bucky’s ass was smarting from hitting the floor. He glared up at Tony, but a deal was a deal. The spider was still safely inside his hand, squirming to get free.
If this didn’t prove to Steve how much Bucky loved him, nothing would.