"Would you still love me if I was a worm?" A pause.
"What kind of question is that?" Bucky skeptically looked at Clint, who had been resting his head on his flesh arm for the better half of the episode of Dog Cops he had been so excited to put on – even though Bucky was sure the blond had seen the entire series enough times to recite the entire script in his sleep.
"Dunno, heard if from Katie a few times when she's around America and Yelena." Clint’s gaze remained on the screen, subtitles on of the occasional moments the archer decides he can't handle noise and takes off his hearing aids. "I think it's a way to ask if you'll care about me no matter what I am or what I do, but yknow, in a silly way that takes away the seriousness of the actual question."
Bucky then pondered at the question. Both of them had big bags of unresolved issues and hadn't started with the right foot when they met, yet they still managed to put everything aside to be together. The soldier had chosen to be with the archer even after the Parker Robbins' fiasco, and Clint had still chosen to be with Bucky even though just a couple years ago he had been so deep into the Hydra conditioning it seemed easier to kill the Winter Soldier than to pull him out of it. Even despite their initial differences – pretty one-sided if you asked Bucky, since Clint had been too worried about Natasha's and the others' wellbeing before letting it sink that the soldier was another victim. And specifically a victim of brainwashing just like him–, Clint could look over all of his insecurities and issues and love him; and so did Bucky.
From the corner of his eye, Bucky saw Lucky walk towards the couch they had lounged over and rest his head on his owner's lap, his one eye looking up at the blond, who after a few seconds seemed to notice the dog's presence and then began to pet him. It's then when Bucky realises he hasn't given any actual asnwer to the silly-but-actually-serious question. In the past, when he was still being deconditioned from all the crap Hydra put him through, it had been normal for him to take longer to answer even simple questions, but that wasn't the case now. The longer he'd take to say anything the more anxious the blond would get under his usual calm facade. "Dunno, would you still love me if I were a worm?"
The archer feigned offense as he finally looked the soldier in the eyes "Using my question as an answer? That's cheating."
"Should've expected it." A smirk made its way on Bucky’s face as the tension in Clint’s body dissipated with their familiar banter.