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The first time it happens, no one really pays that much attention to it.
After an exhausting mission fighting A.I.M, The Avengers all trudged back to the tower, slumping in the elevator.
Clint is the one who points it out as the elevator starts, the effort of keeping his eyes open almost seeming too much,
"Wait, where's..." he doesn't finish, glancing around tiredly before giving up and going back to sleep on Natasha's shoulder.
JARVIS is very helpful, "Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers are in a different elevator."
There is a collective 'huh, OK thanks JARVIS.' and no one brings it up when they get to the common floor.
*
It keeps happening, is the thing.
After every single mission, Steve and Barnes don't get in the elevator with everyone else.
It comes to a head when yet again the Avengers return from a mission and trudge into the tower.
They're bruised and some of them are bleeding sluggishly in places, but it doesn't stop them from staring at the open elevator in front of them and then looking back at the two Super-Soldiers.
Steve is visibly drooping, something that they had only been able to notice after the return of Barnes, which had made all of them feel a little bit ashamed.
Steve might have been a Super-Soldier, but after long hard fights he crashed. It wasn't just a normal exhaustion crash either, he could fight for seven days straight if he had too, and they would've let him.
Before.
Before Barnes came back, took one look at Steve, and said in the quietest, most demanding voice,
"Eat."
They had all watched in amazement as their fearless leader had looked up, blinked, and then complied; eating enough that they were amazed he hadn't passed out earlier.
After Barnes made Steve finish his orange juice and sent him to bed, he had stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, turned around, and very calmly explained how their metabolisms worked.
It had been terrifying.
Which brings them to the present, wherein they stare at the pair as Steve subtly leans on Barnes for support; Barnes who by all accounts should also be dead on his feet, but is just staring at them with an icy glare.
"Is it a sex thing?" Even bleeding from the face, Tony was. Tony.
Natasha rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful.
Sam snorted.
Steve still had enough energy to blush, but that was about it.
Barnes' eyes narrowed dangerously.
Tony just kept his eyebrow raised.
Ballsy.
Barnes just narrowed his eyes further and then led Steve into the elevator, waiting as the rest of them piled on.
It was hard not to watch the pair with interest.
Tony didn't even try to hide it.
"Buck." It was dead silent in the elevator, and that was the only reason they managed to pick up Steve's near indecipherable whisper.
It seemed like he was saying a lot with just that one word, because Barnes looked down at where Steve's eyes were closed on his shoulder and then clenched his jaw.
Carefully, he undid Steve's shield harness.
Tony twitched.
Though Barnes just politely motioned for Clint to move his leg, set down the shield, and then moved Steve.
Literally just manhandled him until he had his back against Barnes' chest and his face pressed into the ex-assassins neck, breathing deep.
Barnes laced his fingers over Steve's stomach, anchoring him down while apparently, he slept.
In answer to the question no one was willing to ask, Barnes tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes,
"It helps."
Tony got a confused little furrow between his eyes, but amazingly, said nothing.
Bruce's smile crinkled his eyes a little, in the corners.
*
That wasn't the only thing though.
"Otters." Darcy commented one day, while the Avengers were casually but not subtly watching the Barnes/Rogers show.
They all turned to her in confusion as Barnes continued to make breakfast with Steve holding onto the back of his shirt with one hand and drinking coffee with the other.
There had been a lot of this, lately.
On the way to the gym, Barnes grabbing hold of Steve's sleeve and just hanging on as he walked.
Both of them laid out on the couch, Steve with a hand wrapped around Barnes' ankle while they read.
Natasha raised an eyebrow at Darcy while Jane sighed from where she was snuggled into Thor's side.
"Sea otters hold hands while sleeping so they don’t drift away from each other."
There was a quiet yet horrified moment where everyone mentally replayed the ways in which Steve and Barnes had 'drifted' away from each other.
They never brought it up.
*
It had started before the war.
They had a lot of reasons, but.
They were just handsy, and didn't really care too much about denying it anymore.
At any given opportunity Steve would grab Bucky, and Bucky would grab Steve.
They were in public once, when Bucky grabbed Steve by the hoodie and just held on, when Clint calmly asked,
"Why don't you just hold hands?"
They had both just stared at him until he quietly edged away.
For Christmas Tony gave them matching sweatshirts with otters on them.
They walked into the common room the next day wearing them and both holding onto each other by some piece of fabric or another.
Tony sighed.