Bucky watched as Stark wandered down to the common floor. He was wearing the new Armani suit, the one he’d had made for a photo shoot last weekend with GQ magazine. And you can bet that Bucky has signed up as a new subscriber to GQ in anticipation.
The dark suit hugged his every curve and Bucky was about two seconds away from either drooling over it or just running up and grabbing a handful of that bubble butt for himself.
If only Tony didn’t seem to tense up and flinch in Bucky’s presence. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it, he’s exceptionally skilled at keeping himself under control, not letting anyone on to how he was really feeling. It’s only his luck that watching and analysing a person’s every move was beaten into him as the Fist of Hydra.
It has been so obvious to Bucky, and it hasn’t taken long for him to collate data and realise that it was his own presence that seemed to make the genius so tense in his own home.
Bucky had been gutted once he’d connected the dots. He may have recovered the majority of his memories but he knew he was in no way that same suave man he had once been, the guy who could give a dame one look and she’d be putty in his hands. Still, he had hoped that enough of that man still existed within him. According to Steve he was very obvious about his crush and given that in this day and age he wasn’t risking a beating or arrest if he asked a fella out he’d been hoping against hope but...
Well. There’s no point in putting Tony through the discomfort of turning him down gently when he was already uneasy in Bucky’s presence.
The assassin in question was almost too deep in his pondering to notice when the man he was thinking of approached.
Bucky took a sharp intake of breath seeing Tony approach him at the breakfast bar, coming to settle across from him.
He was frozen solid. And he knew from experience how that felt.
Barnes had gone unnaturally still, and Tony could feel his own heartbeat thundering in his chest.
This was a bad idea.
This was such a bad idea.
The whole kitchen, it seemed, had come to a stop when he pulled the gun.
The clatter of pots and pans. The sizzle of bacon on the stove, even the coffee machine stopped its low humming and spitting as it tried to cope with the vast amounts that were demanded of it every morning.
Tony gingerly placed the gun on the table in front of him. Next, he placed his phone down, face up but slightly to the right of the gun. He then lifted his hands to the deep red tie he had around his neck. Pulling it loose, he maintained eye contact as he delicately places the cloth over his eyes and ties it around the back of his head.
Once the blindfold had been secured the man's hands came to rest lightly on the table. Bucky was transfixed. Though he couldn’t see Tony’s eyes through the tie he felt like he could not tare his eyes away, like maybe Tony was still staring deep into his soul even through the material.
Tony’s right hand slowly moved over, tapping once at his phone and then there was a flurry of movement.
If Bucky hadn’t known better. He would have sworn that Tony must have had some form of enhancement given the speed of his movements.
Tony’s hands were confident and precise as they dismantled the gun, laying each component out on the surface of the table same as Bucky would when he went through his almost ritualistic weapons maintenance.
Just as soon as it had come apart it was back together again.
It happened so quickly Bucky didn’t realise he’d even held his breath until it was over. Blowing out his breath Bucky wasn’t sure what had just happened but the tightening in his trousers just reinforced how he was feeling.
“So, the thing is Barnes,” Tony began reaching back to pull the makeshift blindfold off, “I’ve seen you staring at me.”
Bucky could feel his insides shrinking and shrivelling up, oh god this is when Tony asks him to leave the tower for being a creep, isn’t it?
“And I’ve come to two conclusions, you either want me dead or you just plain want me.” Tony quirked an eyebrow. “Which do you pick?”
Bucky’s mouth was dryer than it had ever been in his 90 plus years of life. His voice, when he finally managed to drag a response out of the depths of his consciousness, was rough like he’d just smoked a whole pack of those things that had passed for cigarettes back in the trenches.
“This what passes for flirtin’ these days?”
Tony smirked and god, Bucky wanted to taste it.
“Not usually, but I’d hoped you either had a competency kink or on the off chance you were planning my murder, you’d know I wouldn’t go down easy.”
Bucky abruptly stood from his stool, not caring at how loud it was as it crashed to the floor and moving swiftly around the end of the bar to grab into the lapels of Tony’s suit. He dragged the other man close as he crashed their lips together.
He could feel Tony pushing back against him and his heart swooped briefly, wondering if he’d seriously misjudged this situation. Tony was following as he pushed, however, not allowing them to part as he walked them backwards. Catching on quickly, Bucky backed himself towards the elevator doors, more grateful than ever of the AI that had the perfect timing.
It was only once the doors had closed behind them that they broke apart. Tony suddenly felt a lot less solid in his grasp, the genius was shaking, his hands gripping tighter to Bucky’s shirt and he rested his forehead on Bucky’s chest taking deep, gasping breaths.
“You alright, doll?” Bucky asked wrapping his hand around the smaller man, hugging him closer.
“Yeah, I just... I mean I was pretty sure I had read that all wrong and everyone was gonna laugh at me.” He said, lifting his head to look up at Bucky, and for the first time, Bucky could see the remnants of the fear and doubt in his Bambi eyes.
Bucky reached up, brushing his metal thumb over the soft curve of Tony’s cheek, causing the other to shiver at the soft touch of cold metal.
“You really thought I hated you?” Bucky asked softly.
“Well, I’m not exactly the most likeable guy,” Tony replied his eyes flitting down trying to avoid the intensity of Bucky’s gaze but not willing to move away from where every inch of him was pressed against the other man.
“Tony, doll, that is the stupidest thing I ever heard, and now that I know I got a chance with you, you ain’t getting rid of me for nothing.”