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After 24 hours plus an unexpected extra 12 hours on a stake out, waiting and waiting only for the threat to be minimal, it makes sense for the group of misfits to be exhausted. The Avengers all decide that the living room is as far as they can make it and scatter themselves on couches and armchairs, and the floor for Clint.
Steve and Bucky both find themselves practically shoulder-to-shoulder on one of the smaller couches, not caring about the proximity. Bucky’s head rests against the back of the couch, his long dark hair tied up in a bun, his legs are stretched out in front of him, and his hands are resting in his lap. Cap is sitting with his right elbow resting on the armrest and his legs crossed at the ankles.
All is calm, which should’ve been the first sign.
Steve’s eyes wander. They drift around the room, assessing the damage, Thor is sitting on a leather armchair while being far too awake and trying to chat to Clint, Tony is focused on doing a quick debrief on his laptop as he just wants it over with and go to bed, Nat and Bruce are talking quietly on one of the bigger couches, Clint is sprawled out on the floor just letting Thor speak to him, he’s too tired to respond. Then Steve’s eyes soften with fondness as they drift to Bucky. He lets his gaze wander over Bucky’s hair, messy from tossing it up into a bun in frustration of having his hair in his face, his chest rising and falling slowly, then to his metal arm ,no longer adorned with a star just sleek black and gold vibranium, down to the fingers. Then he halts and straightens, his breathing hitches unintentionally.
He shakes Bucky lightly and when his eyes flutter open, Steve doesn’t have much time to swim in the deep brown eyes that meet his before he breaks the silence; “Where’s your ring?” The blond’s voice is urgent and louder than he intends it to be. Bucky, still barely awake, unzips one of the many pockets on his trousers and pulls out a ring, Vibranium cool in his flesh palm. He shows it to Steve briefly before slipping it seamlessly back onto his metal ring finger. Steve sighs. Just as the blond settles back into the plush couch, he sees the others looking over to them. He gulps and he feels goosebumps rise on his skin.
“Uhm..” Steve croaks out. Bruce raises an eyebrow. Tony looks between the two men before he speaks up. “Barnes, I didn’t take you for a jewellery guy.” his tone is accusatory, as if he already knows exactly what is going on. Bucky fights the smirk that crawls over his face as he looks to Steve, who looks equally nervous as he is flustered. Steve just nods and sighs, although a smile is creeping onto his face. The metal arm is raised slightly, the ring catching the light as he does so. He smiles, proud and flustered and fond all at once.
“Been engaged for a week.” he says simply as if it wasn’t a big deal at all. First, shock renders over the other’s faces. Then a curious one. Then, finally, an understanding one. Of course, Thor is the first to react openly. “A binding ring! Such a strong bond! Barnes, who is the suiter?” everyone, including Steve and Bucky, look at Thor with a confused look. “Love is not a thing to hide! It is to be celebrated! Invite the loved one over and we can commemorate properly.” ..the others still look to him with a more shocked expression. Steve sighs softly, fondly. “I am.” He says it with a grin as if he’s been waiting to tell the that he proposed.
Then Thor gasps loud and claps once, proud of his team members. “Marvelous! A true bond forged through war and loyalty!” pure joy finds it way onto the god’s face. Before Thor can go on, Clint sits up abruptly. “Nat you owe me twenty dollars!” He’s ecstatic as he laughs and stands up, moving over to lean on the back of the couch where Nat is sitting with a pleased expression. She sighs before pulling out a twenty dollar note from her wallet, saying how she doesn’t know how she could be so blind. Clint pockets it and lays back onto the floor, smug.
“We weren’t really hiding it,” Steve starts carefully, still feeling a little bit nervous. “we just didn’t broadcast it. We’ve been dating consistently for about 5 years..because of the ice and..brainwashing.” Steve can’t help the affection in his voice. “So,” Bruce begins calmly, as if scared to break the atmosphere, “how did you propose?” Bucky’s flesh hand subtly moves to rest against Steve’s thigh, feeling so fond that he cant keep it all in and needs some sort of outlet.
The blond smiles with tenderness. “Well, I proposed a week ago. We were both up before anyone else,” Bucky interrupts, rolling his eyes “As usual.” Steve huffs out a quiet laugh, “Habits are hard to break. We were in the kitchen. Just brewing coffee ad making breakfast. Then the moment felt right. I’d had the ring for months already, I asked Shuri to make it. I pulled out the ring; I’d carried it with me everyone just in case of a moment like that one.” Steve pauses briefly to smile to himself. “I didn’t get on one knee or anything. I just held it in my hands, I was terrified to drop it, and asked him to marry me.” Bucky huffs and Steve turns to him “What?” the dark-haired man shakes his head. “You didn't just ‘ask me to marry you’. Your had a whole speech. ‘To the end of the line’ and everything.” The blond blushes, ears turning a little pink with embarrassment, and laughs shakily. “Yeah, guess I did.” Steve shifts a little and tenderly takes Bucky’s hand in his. “And I said yes, because wow If any of you had heard the speech, you’d have said yes, too.”
Bucky leans in a little and presses a firm kiss to Steve’s cheek, a kiss that expresses all the adoration and affection that words couldn’t at that moment. Steve flusters, the blush moving from his ears to his cheeks, they’ve never really been affectionate in front of the other aside from glances across rooms and nudging each other under the table during boring debriefs. Steve shoves Bucky’s shoulder playfully. Bucky chuckles lightly before they settle against each other, feeling more free to not hide their affection for each other as much.
From across the room, Tony sighs “You two are sickly sweet. I’m getting cavities. Are we all just going to need to deal with this from now on?” Bucky just simply says “Yes.” before the room slips into quiet again. A kind of quiet which Steve and Bucky used to wish for during the war over a cheap birthday candle dripping wax onto the small cake that Bucky would ‘borrow’ from the bakery.
But of course Clint can’t seem to let silence settle too long. So, he breaks it. “Wait- how the hell were you two able to hide and entire relationship? I didn’t even know that you two were gay!” He says as if it was what everyone was thinking.
Nat looks over to Clint with an expression that said, ‘are you serious?’. “Clint. You didn’t think that Captain America was gay?” Clint looks around the room; the others are looking at him similarly. “You guys knew!? Cap why didn’t you tell me?” Steve replies, “I didn’t tell anyone.” He says simply despite the slight embarrassment. Thor perks up, “I had assumed that love on Midgard is as of Asgard, equal and open for all. No labels to love are needed in Asgard. Once, after a furious battle won victoriously, I and Hercules-!” Tony interrupts him. “Nope! Nope. Maybe save that for another time, Point Break.
Legolas, I though being part of an archer was having a sharp eye. How could you not see how Rogers looks at men.” Steve flushes and averts his eyes. “He doesn’t even seem to look at women with anything other than admiration.” the blond thinks for a few seconds before shrugging “Yeah..I- I guess that’s true.” Bucky scoffs. “Hell, I knew Stevie was gay before he even knew he was gay.” Bruce, from the couch opposite them, questions Steve. “Steve, how did you even realise you were gay? Must’ve been difficult during the war.” The blond can’t help the embarrassed laugh.
“The only difficult part about being gay during the war was how many men there were around constantly.” Steve jokes before putting a hand over his mouth and laughing to himself ”I- I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” Bucky elbows him fondly. “But, yes. It was pretty..strange to figure out you were queer in the 40’s.” Steve remembers seeing queer people get beat up, berated, killed. Yet, he also remembers the quiet spaces. Bars with blacked out windows full of lively noise and even livelier people.
The blond suddenly has a serious expression, although it’s still obvious that he’s hiding laughter. “I need you all to promise that what I say now never leaves this room. Understood?” The others nod, Thor and Clint slam a hand over their heart. “Sure thing, Cap.” Tony says smirking suspiciously, but that’s a problem for another day.
"To answer your question, I really had the realisation one day after a pretty tough training session. It was hotter than usual that day, so when Bucky and I got back to our bunk, he took his shirt off-” the blond pauses, hiding a laugh behind his hand, “and then it clicked.” Now Bucky is laughing too, hidden behind his hand. Sceptical looks are passed between them. The others understand that there are some things they can’t talk about. Intimate things. What really happened after Bucky took his shirt off is that Steve immediately pitched a tent, Bucky noticed, then things escalated and Steve knew true bliss. Thor is confused why Steve stopped the story.
“Then?” He says simply. Tony speaks up, ready to stir up some trouble. “How, I thought you were going to tell us something shocking. Some dramatic and un-Captain America-like.” Steve blush travels to his neck. “Then- uhm..” Steve starts, Bucky continues “Things got heated.” is all he says. The dark-haired man can’t stop the grin that appears on his face. “Well,” Tony starts, “I suppose that is pretty un-Captain America-like.” Some of the others smirk. Some roll their eyes. But of course, Clint is never the man to properly read a room.
“How the hell do you guys fuck without us hearing.” The only thing the others can think is ‘WHAT THE FUCK CLINT?’ Steve scolds him, blushing furiously,
“Clint! We do NOT have to talk about that!”
“It’s a genuine question! Super-soldier stamina and all that!”
Then, a polite cough is heard from the door into the living room. Standing timidly in the doorway is none of the Peter. Little Peter Parker. The kid. He looks embarrassed to be alive. “Oh, god, kiddo.” Tony can’t stop laughing as he stands up and goes to Peter, wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulder to lead him away. A dramatic sigh can be heard from the hallway the two leave down, “So, I guess it’s time for me to tell you about the bird and the bees...or birds and birds..bees and bees-” Tony’s tone is clearly teasing. A stunned “Mr. Stark, no!” can be heard from Peter before they get too far to eavesdrop on. The living room is quiet again, the atmosphere a little tense. Then Bucky can’t stop laughing, Steve is trying to get him to stop, “Buck, it isn’t funny. That poor kid is probably traumatised!” but there is a trace of a smile still on Steve’s lips. Thor looks around the room, apparently deeming it too peaceful.
“Guess I'll ask another time.”
“NO!”