Work Text:
Steve always jumps at the opportunity to help anyone for any cause. Whether Pepper asks him to volunteer an afternoon of his time to run some PR for Stark Industries at the Children’s Hospital hanging out with kids, posing for photos and listening to all their hopes and dreams of one day becoming a superhero just like him, or it's to march in the Pride Parade, loud and proud because he wants to put himself out there as a symbol to all those who are struggling and looking for someone to look up to, Steve just wants to help.
It's all he’s ever wanted.
When Sam asks if he wouldn't mind making an appearance at a veterans charity event, obviously Steve is all over that. All proceeds raised will go to efforts for housing and job placement for all the men and women who’d served their country.
“It's not a gala event, Steve,” Sam warns, “it's a little more--- interactive than mingling with celebrities and collecting money.”
“Just tell me what you need me to do, and I'll do it.”
That's how Steve finds himself in full uniform sitting on a chair, hovering over a pool of water encased in glass, while Sam collects donations for a chance to dunk Captain America.
Steve’s nerves are on edge with anticipation, every dart shot at the little bullseye nearly gives him a heart attack, and with each miss he sighs with relief and thanks the participate for their donation.
They’ve been at it for thirty minutes when Steve starts to relax a little, swinging his legs, smiling and waving at all the passers-by. The bullseye is apparently pretty hard to hit. That's until he sees Clint chatting with Sam, there is money in Clint’s hand and Sam is laughing.
“Barton! Professionals aren't allowed!” Steve yells, in an effort to prolong the now inevitable.
“Says who?!” Clint yells back.
“Me!” Steve retorts, “I'll demote you, don't think I won't!” he yells back with absolutely no heat behind his words.
Clint holds up his hands in surrender.
“Sure thing, Boss, whatever you say.”
Steve watches as Clint turns around and yells to the crowd that's gathered, “I'll donate a thousand bucks right now, in the name of the first person who can knock Cap off his a--- off his chair on the first shot!”
Steve laughs to himself and decides to egg on the challenge, “I'll match it!” he yells, “Two grand, one shot! Who's up for it?”
His eyes scan back and forth across the crowd a couple times before he sees a hand go up a few rows back. He can't see the person's face, and he knows Clint hasn't seen it yet. “Clint, we have a taker!” he yells, pointing in the direction of the outstretched hand.
Steve watches Clint makes his way towards the person who is coming through to the front of the crowd.
It's a young man who breaks through the wall of people to meet Clint. He’s maybe in his early to mid-twenties, with short, slicked back brown hair, wearing a simple white long-sleeved t-shirt with cargo pants, and boots. A sweater is wrapped and tied around his waist.
There’s a quiet exchange of words that Steve can't hear, before Clint turns to look at Steve, smiling a terrifyingly mischievous smile.
That's no good.
Steve watches as Sam explains the rules, the guy looks over to the line drawn on the ground indicating where he’s allowed to shoot from. Nodding his understanding, he holds out his hand for the gun.
“You’re going down, Cap!” Clint yells.
Steve can’t take his eyes off the guy as he makes his way to the mark on the ground. There’s something about the way he walks that screams confidence. Something in the fluid motion of his eyes as he looks at the gun in his hand, up to the bullseye, then over to Steve that sends Steve’s heart fluttering into overdrive.
Steve watches as he shuffles his feet apart slightly before taking aim. He’s moving the gun back and forth trying to find the best angle. Sticking out his tongue slightly in concentration, Steve could swear the guy’s making a show of it. He looks over to Steve again, making eye contact, then fucking smiles. Steve doesn’t have time to smile back or catch his breath before he hears the POP from the gun.
The next thing he knows he’s surfacing through the water to whooping and cheers from the crowd.
Steve looks over to the guy who’s staring right back at him with a smirk as he blows at the top of the gun, then twirls it on his finger before holding it out for Sam to retrieve.
Best thousand bucks Steve has ever spent.
After drying off, Steve had spent the following hour taking photos with fans and friends. Once word got out he was here being dumped into a tank of water, ( thanks a lot Clint), a few other Avengers had showed up and both Steve and Sam had taken advantage of that opportunity to put them to work.
"You can’t just be here and not help out," he says, and Tony holds up a briefcase like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, turning himself into Ironman in three seconds flat. Cap is popular, but with Ironman there too, people go crazy. They pose with fans, doing whatever’s requested of them, “Can you do the pose from issue number so-and-so, you know the one where you guys do the---” they would ask, and demonstrate. Tony and he do their best to reenact the pose. It isn’t part of Steve’s event timeline to take photos, no money is raised, but it’s something he feels they should do to show their appreciation for everyone being here.
And it’s a lot of fun.
When they finally take a break, Sam tells Steve his next charity event is a kissing booth, Steve laughs, so does Clint, Tony, and Natasha.
“Oh, Rogers, finally I’ll get to make out with you.” Nat says, through a mouthful of sandwich.
“Yeah, it’ll cost ya,” he retorts, “I won’t kiss you for less than fifty bucks.”
The kissing booth is a bonafide success.
As he walks up to the booth, there is a line probably a mile long waiting for him. That is no exaggeration.
Sam had informed him it’s five bucks a ticket, but that some people had probably bought more than one, so to be prepared for some potential awkward prolonged moment of “so I have three tickets…” but that's something Steve isn’t affected by at all. He’ll stay there until the very last person has had their very last kiss.
It's all for a good cause.
There’s people of all ages and sexes in line; it's fucking great. Some want to simply kiss him on the cheek and thank him, others are bolder and ask for kisses on the mouth, and he honors each request. He doesn’t even mind the ones that try to slip him a little tongue.
Steve just finishes with a family of four, two ladies and their two little girls, cute as all hell. They had wanted a photo of the girls kissing him on either cheek, so he made a point to stick his face out and over the edge of the booth, closing his eyes and blowing out his cheeks as the two girls kissed him on either of side of his face. One of their moms had asked if it was okay to tag him on his Instagram when she posted it. “ Absolutely!” he had told her.
Next in line is The Guy. The dunk tank guy.
The guy that had made Steve's heart thump in his chest for no reason other than anticipation of being dumped in a vat of freezing cold water. He’s never been one to be overly dramatic, but seriously, whose bright idea was it to dump Captain America into a pool of freezing cold water? He could have had a post traumatic flashback, or something. That had been a traumatizing time in his life, It really had.
In the end, he realizes he’s just looking for an excuse for the way his internal organs reacted to this guy now standing in front of him.
“Hi,” the guy says, “Sorry about earlier, I wouldn't have---” he makes a finger gun on one of his hands and pretends to shoot, “except two G’s can probably do a lot of good.”
“Hey,” Steve reaches out his hands in a offering of truce, and the guy puts his hands palm down into Steve’s and Steve squeezes a little, “you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about; I knew what I was signing up for.” That earns Steve a smile.
They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment. Steve wonders what he's searching for, then they guy pulls one of his hands free from Steve’s. “I was hoping,” he says, dipping a hand into his pants’ pocket, and holding up two tickets to show Steve, “that I could make it up to you?”
“Oh? and here I was thinking this was a genuine apology with no ulterior motive,” Steve says sarcastically through a smile. That earns him a lighthearted punch to the chest.
“What's your name? I like to make it a point to at least learn the names of all the people I'm about to kiss.”
“Sergeant Barnes--- Bucky.”
“Nice to meet you, Sergeant. Captain Steve Rogers, or as many like to call me, Cap,” he salutes Bucky.
“Punk, I know who you are.”
“Let's get to the kissing, shall we?” Steve says as he makes a show of puckering his lips. “Choice of flavor?” He has a mini arsenal of lips glosses and balms. “Cherry? Mint?... Lemonade sparkle?” He picks that one up and pops the cap to smell it, then holds it up to Bucky to smell. Bucky shakes his head, smirking back at Steve. Steve looks down at the gloss, it shimmers with glitter, and he realizes he's procrastinating because his nerves are thrumming in anticipation.
“Nah, just you.” Bucky replies, “I want the natural experience.” He places both his hands on the tabletop and leans in towards Steve, eyes closed. Steve meets him halfway and there’s a ZAP as their lips meet.
They both jump back, and Bucky laughs.
“Static.” Bucky says, rubbing his fingers over his lips absentmindedly.
Steve tongues at his bottom lip, “We made sparks.” And he knows it's silly, but they just made sparks.
“ Round two?”
“Yeah, round two.”
This time Bucky grabs at the back of Steve’s neck and pulls him forward, Steve goes willingly and secretly loves being slightly manhandled. There’s a split second when he’s disappointment because there wasn't that zing of electricity this time, but the disappointment’s short lived because Bucky's mouth is moving on his.
Bucky’s lips are soft, Steve can feel that he put some sort of flavorless lip balm on before he got up to the booth. Then Steve’s tongue, of its own accord, sneaks out and swipes itself across Bucky’s bottom lip. He doubts anyone heard the soft whimper that escaped Bucky’s lips as he opened his mouth invitingly, before Steve swallowed it up by pushing his tongue into Bucky’s mouth seeking out more contact.
Bucky lightly brushes his tongue against Steve’s, and Steve’s heart is hammering in his chest now, thumping frantically against his rib cage. He’s giddy with lust, how’s this possible? He’s been kissing people every which way for the past however long, and yet, this guy, Bucky, sends his emotions into overdrive.
Steve pulls away from the kiss just as he hears Natasha yell “Get a room!” He’s about to tell her to fuck off, when he remembers they’re still very much in public, and he’s still very much here working.
Bucky slides his two tickets over the tabletop towards Steve, not breaking eye contact, and all Steve can do is stare and mouth “ WOW” at him.
Bucky ducks his head and blushes. “Yeah, I’d say so,” he replies, “are we even?”
Steve nods slowly.
Bucky salutes him again, “See you ‘round, Cap.” Then he's walking away backwards still watching Steve. He sticks his hands in his pockets and spins around, not looking back.
Steve looks over at Natasha. “Your ticket price has gone up to a hundred bucks.”
She flips him the middle finger.
“What's up next?” Steve asks Sam after that the kissing booth session is (finally) over.
“Auction.” Sam replies.
“Oh? What are we selling?”
“You.”
Huh.
“ What?”
“You,” Sam repeats. “Well, you and Nat. Tony too, and Clint, even though Clint is adamant he isn't worth a dime compared to the three of you.”
“You’re auctioning off Avengers ?”
“Yup. The winners donate to have an all expense paid date night-slash-hangout night with the Avenger they win, courtesy of Stark Industries,” Sam explains. “Whatever the winner wants,” he continues. “Obviously escorted and all that; Stark’s security will be present for each evening, but it'll be up to the winner what they want to do, within limits.”
Steve has to admit, this is pretty cool. “Sam, this is awesome.”
“Yeah, and people think Tony is the genius of the bunch.”
Steve changes into another uniform. This time it’s an Army uniform, his Army uniform. People love a man in uniform, Steve , Sam says as he thrusts a garment bag at him. He briefly wonders how Sam got his hands on this. As if Sam’s reading his mind, “Pepper,” he says.
All dressed up and nowhere to really go yet, Steve heads outside to get some air.
He spots Bucky as he steps outside, It’s a brisk evening, the coolness is refreshing. Bucky is leaning up against the wall of the building staring down at his phone, He’s wearing the sweater he had wrapped around his waist earlier, a smoke dangling from his index and middle finger. He doesn’t notice Steve, so Steve clears his throat as he approaches. Bucky looks up and smiles, slipping his phone into his pocket.
“Hey there, Cap.”
“Hey there, Sarge.”
“I’m not actually a sargeant anymore, discharged over a year ago, so Bucky’s fine.”
Steve nods, “Steve’s fine too.”
“Yeah, I guess we should be on a first name basis now, “ Bucky says as he takes a last drag of his cigarette, dropping it to the ground and snuffing it out with his boot, “seeing as you’ve had your tongue in my mouth.”
Steve feels his entire face heat up. “Sorry about th---”
“Don’t you dare,” Bucky cuts him off, mocking offense. “Don’t you even dare take that away from me. I paid good pension money for that kiss, I need to keep that memory alive. I need to be able to tell my grandchildren I had Captain America’s tongue in my mouth.” He laughs, and leans his head against the brick wall behind him, starting up at the night sky.
That laugh might be the most beautiful sound Steve has heard in his entire life.
“Whoa, hey now,” Steve says, “ no regrets from my end, pal.”
“Okay, good.”
“Good,” Steve echos, as he leans up against the wall beside Bucky, staring at him sidelong.
“Yeah, good,” Bucky says as he swivels, still leaning against the wall, facing Steve now. “You clean up nicely.”
Steve knows he’s being checked out, he follows Bucky’s eyes as they scan him from head to toe. “Its for a thing,” Steve says, a little breathless, “charity, and all that.”
“Mhumm, “ Bucky pushes himself off the wall and stands right in front of Steve, “can I just---” He gestures towards Steve’s tie, not touching without permission. Steve nods.
Bucky’s hands come up and under the collar of Steve’s shirt as he pulls Steve’s tie down a inch. Steve watches him intently. Bucky’s tongue slips out the corner of his mouth, and Steve can’t help but say, “You do that when you’re concentrating.”
Bucky adjusts Steve’s tie, then pushes it back up to his neck, “Do what?”
“Stick the tip of your tongue out of your mouth. I noticed that when you were aiming to take me down in the dunk tank. It's cute.”
Bucky pauses, still staring down at the knot in Steve’s tie, and for a moment Steve thinks he’s offended him somehow. But then Bucky is crowding into Steve’s space, legs encasing Steves, and he's saying “You think...I’m cute?” into Steve's ear.
“I do,” Steve replies over Bucky's shoulder, “Cute, smart, beautiful.” And he wraps his arms around Bucky's waist pulling him flush against him.
“You don’t even know me,” Bucky says, pulling his head back to stare into Steve’s eyes, but he doesn't try to pull away any further than that.
“But I want to.”
Bucky leans in and kisses him on the lips.
Steve watches from backstage as his team members are auctioned off.
Clint is up first, making a show of it, dancing onto the small catwalk to music Steve has never heard before. It’s catchy though, and Steve finds himself bobbing his head as he watches Clint shake his hips back and forth. Shake it like a Polaroid picture, you know what to do. The crowd is up on its feet and dancing along while Sam catches bids.
“Dirty bird’s got some moves,” Tony says, clasping Clint on the shoulder once he’s back behind the curtain.
“You haven't seen anything yet,” Natasha says, just as Sam introduces her.
Natasha steps onto the stage, her music barely starting when Steve hears someone yell an obscene amount of money the second Sam opens up the bidding.
He laughs.
“Holy shit,” Tony says, quietly.
“Atta girl,” Clint says.
“Going once…” Sam says from his podium, “twice…and sold!”
Nat smiles smugly over her shoulder at the three of them watching from the sidelines, bows to the crowd, then makes her way backstage.
“Told you,” she says.
“You didn't even do anything,” Tony complains.
“Didn't I?”
“I hate you.”
“Twenty bucks says you don’t surpass my winning bid.”
“You are so on.”
Tony is next up, dancing onto the stage to a funky tune. Sam holds off on opening bids to allow, Steve presumes, time for Tony to sweat it out a little. They all know Tony loves to talk the talk, but letting him strut his stuff is kind of hilarious to watch because Tony, like Steve, is not much of a dancer. He’s a little bit awkward, but in a confident sort of way. He doesn’t let it show, although Steve can tell he’s losing patience. Sam notices too, and opens up the bidding.
Tony ends up going for not quite as much as Natasha, but close. The twenty dollar bill is already out of his pocket as he comes backstage. Nat plucks it out of his outstretched hand. “Thank you very much.”
Steve is up last, He listens to his introduction from Sam as Natasha gives him a once-over making sure he's presentable. “Your boy is out there, the one from the kissing booth,” she tells him as she rubs her hands over his shoulders, smoothing his uniform jacket out. He ducks his head, trying to suppress a smile, because of course he is.
“... not to brag or anything, but this guy, Steve “ Captain America,” Rogers is my best friend. He's been with me through a lot of hard times, so, whoever wins him...” There’s a pause, and Steve is pretty sure Sam is eyeballing the entire crowd, giving them his best intimidating look, “I’m going to have my eye on you.”
Steve hears a few people from the crowd chuckle.
“Without further ado, Captain Steve Rogers!” Sam shouts as Steve's music starts.
Unlike Tony, Steve has absolutely no desire to attempt dancing, he'll only end up making an ass out of himself. He shoves his hands deep into his pants pockets and takes to the stage, holding his head up high as he walks the length of the catwalk, trying to make eye contact with everyone and trying not to linger too long on Bucky, who is sitting front row, to the left of the protruding portion of the stage. Although when their eyes do meet, Steve can't help but smile.
Sam opens the bidding as Steve continues to do what he's been doing, which, compared to Clint, Nat, and Tony, isn't much. But people call in their bids, one by one out-bidding each other. Bucky calls out a few too.
In the end, Steve’s winning bidder is an older man who is there with his twelve-year-old granddaughter Sarah. Sarah tells Steve she is his biggest fan. The man, Jim, tells Steve how his father fought in the War and used to tell him stories about Captain America when he was just a boy, and how he carried on that tradition with his children and grandchildren.
For her day with Captain America, Sarah wants to learn to fight like he does. They set up a date for sparring lessons, lunch, and a tour of all the top secret places in Avenger Tower. Steve makes a mental note to ask Tony to construct a smaller replica of his shield for her.
Steve emerges from the room he’d left his street clothes in earlier and spots Bucky leaning up against the wall, waiting for him.
“Sorry, I didn't win you,” Bucky says as a greeting, “I'd have loved to, but----”
Steve cuts him off by pushing himself up against Bucky and kissing him hard and without any reservation. He wraps his arms around Bucky, and Bucky melts into the embrace.
Steve pulls back after a moment, still clutching Bucky for dear life. He stares into Bucky’s eyes, trying to convey what that kiss means without words. Neither of them moves. Bucky’s eyes are searching for something, Steve can tell, so he say, “You already won me, you have to know that already.”
He leans in, brushing his nose against Bucky’s. “And besides, I’d feel awful if you paid for our first date.”