"It was good to see you, Sam," Steve says, opening the front door. He's always happy to have Sam over, and always a little sad to see him go.
"Always," Sam replies, shrugging into his jacket. Bucky gives him a long, tight hug, before releasing him to Steve.
"My place, next Thursday, alright?" Sam says, before taking the hug that Steve offers.
"O'course, pal," Bucky replies, and then they're closing the door and Sam is gone. Steve leans his back against the door and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Okay?" Bucky asks.
"Yeah," Steve says, startled out of his reverie. "I just-" Steve shrugs, not completing his thought. "Nothing."
Bucky gives Steve a puzzled look, studying him. "Not nothing. What is it?"
Shaking his head, Steve pushes off from the door. "I just – wish he was happy, you know. I wish he had someone."
"Uh huh," Bucky says, still studying Steve. Bucky's trying to place the look and Steve squirms under the attention. It's not that he wants to hide anything from Bucky, it's not. It's just – it's complicated, his feelings for Sam. Steve wants Sam to be happy, and no one seems to be stepping up to the plate to make that happen. Steve can't deny that he still has feelings for Sam, but he wouldn't trade having Bucky back for anything – or anyone's – happiness.
He notices Bucky watching and shrugs, but when he sees the light gleam in Bucky's eyes, he knows it doesn't matter. He never could keep a secret from Buck.
"You – oh my god. You have a crush on Sam, don't you?"
"What? No. Buck, come on. No. That's not – I'm not – I don't. Have a crush. On Sam."
"Oh, you do! Rogers, you're bright red. You still have a crush on Sam!" Bucky laughs, crowing around Steve, watching the bright glow of Steve's embarrassment as it lights up his face. "Hey, pal, I don't blame you. I mean, his abs alone are enough to make a grown man cry."
"His abs? Have you seen his ass?" Steve's still bright pink and flushing, but it makes him glad, knowing that they can talk about this without Steve freaking out. When Steve first told Bucky about his brief relationship with Sam, it felt like he was confessing infidelity, even though Bucky had been "dead" at the time. It's a warm feeling, knowing that they can joke about it now.
"What happened with him and that woman? Claire, I think her name was?"
Steve shrugs. "Said she was in love with her boss."
'S a shame," Bucky says, and gathers plates from the dining room table to take to the kitchen. "Sam's a really good guy. It would be nice to see him happy."
"Would it have lasted, do you think?"
Steve's washing dishes and looks up at Bucky with a question on his face. "Buck, what are you…" And then he closes his eyes and groans because of course, of course. Bucky Barnes doesn't know the meaning of the words "let it go."
"I don't know. I liked him a lot. To be honest, I felt pretty bad about the way things ended, but," Steve says, resignation coloring his voice, "it is what it is. He's told me there are no hard feelings enough that I think he might actually mean it." Steve puts down the dish towel he's been using with prejudice against a casserole dish. "He's a good man. Yeah, I think it might have worked out. No way to know, though." Steve shrugs. "Why's this on your mind, Buck?"
Bucky gives him a long, speculative look. It's the look that Steve knows from a hundred stolen cigarettes, from late rent payments, free drinks in bars, and at least two dozen double dates. Bucky Barnes is scheming. To what end is anyone's guess.
"Not sure yet," Bucky replies.
"Hey," Steve says, walking to Bucky and putting his arms around him. "Go easy with Sam. He's a good man."
Bucky brings a hand to Steve's cheek and look into his eyes. It's all sincerity which pulls a line of tension from Steve's shoulders. "You think I don't know that? You're not the only one who'd like to see him happy, Stevie. There's a lot to like about Sam."
"Okay," Steve says, and presses a soft kiss to Bucky's mouth.
Three weeks later they're in bed, with Bucky taking Steve apart the way that only Bucky can. Steve's panting and sweat-soaked, half out of his mind with the need to come. Again.
"Yeah, doll," Bucky says, pressing metal fingers deep inside of Steve. He's holding Steve, chest to back, kissing along his neck and whispering filthy things in his ear.
Steve whines and presses back, one hand reaching around to Bucky's thigh, pulling him closer.
"Please, Buck, come on."
"Look at you, Stevie," Bucky says, pulling his fingers out of Steve. He runs them through the drying mess on Steve's stomach as Steve grinds his ass into Bucky's lap, desperate to be penetrated.
"Such a mess, baby," Bucky coos. "So needy."
"Bucky." The word is a whine and Bucky chuckles low into Steve's ear before palming his cock.
"I see you like this, honey, and I can't help but think about how you were with him. I bet you looked so good, sweetheart. I bet you took his cock so good."
"Buck! Oh, Jesus." It doesn't even jar Steve out of the moment. He knows exactly what Bucky's talking about and it makes him shiver and gasp, thinking about it too. Steve's panting and Bucky's rutting against him, rubbing the tip of his cock against Steve's hole, but not giving it to him, not yet. And the things in Steve's head become downright filthy, a mix of Sam and Bucky, both of them touching Steve, fucking Steve. He inches closer to orgasm just thinking about it.
"Was he good to you, doll?" Bucky grunts, pressing into Steve and Steve's cock throbs at the intrusion. "I bet he was so good to you. God, I'm ready to go just thinking about the two of you together." He presses further into Steve, hand on his hip, rolling his hips slow and steady, and Steve's ready to lose it, imagining Sam and Bucky together, both of them all over him, the abject hedonism of it.
"Oh, oh god," Steve pants. He's cycling up and so Bucky slows them down, his hand tightening at the base of Steve's cock, holding himself still inside of Steve.
"Easy, baby, shhh." Kissing and licking up the side of Steve's neck, he lets a hand drift to Steve's nipples, plucking and twisting, then rubbing hard, the way Steve likes it. "Bet you still think about it sometimes, don't you, Stevie? Think about his hands all over you while you're getting yourself off, hmmm?"
Steve's desperate, grinding, trying to get Bucky to move. He's covered in a sheen of sweat and it's slick between them, everything's hot and slick and hard and sticky. It's perfect, and he – yeah, he knows what Bucky wants and Steve wants him to have it. Steve wants it too.
"Want me show you, Buck?" he groans. "Let me – I want to show you."
"Oh, oh, Christ, Stevie." Bucky thrusts in hard at that, before pulling back to turn Steve over so that he can in his eyes. It's too much, just the thought of it, so Steve takes Bucky's hand and wraps it around his cock, leaving Bucky to stroke him in time with the way he's pounding into Steve. It feels like seconds before Steve is spilling over Bucky's fist, hot body tightening around Bucky's cock, pulling him over too.
When they've caught their breath, Bucky presses his mouth to Steve's, for slow, languid kisses that exist just for the sake of themselves. They're both sweaty and gross and need a shower, but neither can bother when they've got the other in their arms.
Steve watches Bucky with lazy eyes, takes him in: the lay of his lashes against his cheeks, the pink of his skin, the stubble that he hasn't bothered to clear in a few days. Bucky opens sleepy eyes and they stare at each other. Steve already knows what Bucky's thinking.
"Did I get it wrong?" Bucky asks, and Steve ducks his head and lowers his eyes.
"No. But Buck," he says, and then he's got his hand on Bucky's cheek and he hopes, he hopes that Bucky can see Steve's sincerity. "I am so, so happy. I don't need anything else. You're all I need. You know that, right?"
Bucky smiles that little self-satisfied smile and hums a kiss across Steve's lips. "I know that, doll."
"Okay. You sure about this, then?" Steve asks.
"If he'll have us, yeah," Bucky replies with a shrug.
Steve blinks, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You're awful good to me, Buck."
"Shut up, punk," Bucky says, leaning in to press a kiss against Steve's cheek. "It ain't all about you."
Steve smiles and Bucky catches his eyes, suddenly earnest. "I know you still have feelings for Sam. If you don't - if you're not sure about this? Stevie, we're not the ones who will get hurt. You know that, right?"
Steve's heart swells at that. Because Bucky's always worked overtime to take care of what's his - he'd done it with Steve and Becca, he'd done it with the Howlies, and he's done it with the Avengers, too. In that moment Steve realizes that this isn't about the sex, and it isn't about making space for what Steve wants. It's bigger than all of that, because it's about Sam now, too, and what Sam wants. It's about they can give to Sam, and whether or not he'll take it.
Steve falls a little bit more in love with Bucky then, even as he feels his heart making space for Sam.
"I know that I love you, and I trust you. I know that if Sam wants this, that we'll find a way to make it work. Besides," Steve says, stretching against the warm sheets. "It's not like we've never done this before. We figured it out then, didn't we?"
"Little different this time," Bucky says, standing and pulling Steve with him. "This time I want him, just as much as you do."
He gives Steve a wink before pulling him off to the shower, where they get each other clean, and then dirty all over again.
Steve doesn't know what Sam might think, but if there's a chance that he'd have them, that he'd consider being a part of their lives, then it's a chance Steve is willing to take.
.
Nat's voice is angry over coms. "Okay, who's ass am I kicking when this is over? I love these pants and now? Now there is a hole in these pants. The intel on this was shit."
"Not it," Scott calls, getting a chuckle from Sam.
"Parker, five o'clock," Clint says, and Steve can see on the video link that another one of the swamp creatures is lugging itself up from the sewer.
Tony blasts it with a repulsor and Bucky takes it out with a couple of bullets while it's still in the air.
"Was that the last one? Please tell me that was the last one." Tony says, already circling back to the manhole cover to take on any newcomers.
"Tony, Sam, take the east and west tunnels. Wanda and Clint, north and south. I think we're finally in the clear, but let's be sure." Steve releases his com and looks over at Maria. He knows she's taking Nat's comment hard, and he knows she did the best she could to vet the intel. It wasn't her fault that there were roughly twice the number of hostiles as originally thought.
"She doesn't mean anything by it," he says.
"I've got this, Rogers," Maria answers, and Steve knows that she's angry with herself - angrier than Nat would ever be.
"Just don't -"
"Nat! Behind you!"
Steve swings back around to his display and it looks like all hell has broken loose. A half dozen more hostiles have srpung up from who knows where, and there are two headed right for Nat. She pulls the semi that she keeps at her thigh and fires, huffing as the head explodes off of one, but the other is coming fast.
"Clint? You got this?" she asks, taking aim at one while another comes up behind her.
"I got you, Nat," Clint answers, and takes a leap in the air while firing, arrows splitting off to take out the two behind Nat while she fires her gun again and the head of the last one explodes.
Clint lands rough, though, stumbling and then - and then he's gone, dropping like a stone off the side of the building while Nat screams and Steve and Maria are left to watch.
"Sam! Parker! Tony! Does anyone have him?" Steve's watching his blips, and sees the moment that Sam flies onto the scene, already diving, but he's not going to get there in time and he knows it by the soft swear that comes through coms.
And then he sees it - the star that signifies Bucky is running, hurling himself off the building and diving, diving, trying to get to Clint before Clint hits the ground.
"Bucky!" It's a scream and Steve can't - oh god - he can't watch this and he can't stop, but then Bucky has Clint and he's twisted himself in the air, his body coming up against the building and he reaches out, his metal arm shattering glass and he jerks - he's caught there, hanging off the twenty second floor, Clint tucked up against his side.
"Hey guys," Bucky says. "You know, any time, no rush, we're just hanging out over here." And Nat coughs a nervous laugh and Sam swears and angles up under them, before he's got them and pushes them through the window, safe inside of the building.
"I - thanks. Thank you, Sam." Steve's voice is shaky and he takes off his com, runs a hand over his face and closes his eyes.
"I' can take it from here, Steve," Maria says, her voice gentle. He nods. He's gonna let her.
.
When the team arrives back at the compound, Steve is there, pacing. He's halfway up the ramp when the quinjet opens, and he has his hands on Bucky a moment later.
"I'm okay, Stevie, I'm okay."
Steve's running his hands all over the suit, pressing gentle fingers against Bucky's shoulder, taking in his soft hiss of discomfort.
"You're not okay. That was - Jesus, Buck - that was so stupid!"
"I didn't mind," Clint chimes in, and Steve takes in the way that Nat is hovering beside him, like she can't quite let him out of her reach, even though she's not touching him.
"It was stupid, Buck. Sam got there-"
"Sam wasn't going to get there in time," Bucky says, his voice soft as he nuzzles up against Steve. "I just bought us some time."
"Buck," Steve sighs, then takes Bucky's face in his hands, pressing sweet, soft kisses against his lips.
Sam makes to walk past, and Steve hooks an arm out, pulling the man in. "Thank you, Sam. God, I just - thank you."
Sam takes the hug, but then pats Steve on the back. "It's all good, man. It worked out okay."
He pushes off from Steve, letting him and Bucky have their moment.
Later, while the rest of the team decompresses over bowls of pasta, slices of pizza, thick slices of chicken parm, and osso bucco, Steve finds himself watching Sam. He's subdued, and maybe not entirely there.
Catching his eye, Bucky gives him a quizzical look. Steve shrugs and looks at Sam again, letting his worry show. He's not okay, Steve says with his eyes.
Bucky gives him a short nod.
When everyone starts to disperse, he makes a point of waking with Sam. Their suites at the compound are both on the same floor, and Steve finds he's hesitant to let Sam go, but isn't sure what to do about it.
Bucky solves the problem before Steve can even figure out what he wants.
Steve and Bucky's suite is first on the hallway, and as they reach them, Bucky swings his arm out and hooks it around Sam.
"I don't want you alone tonight, Sam. Come and stay with us."
Sam stares at Bucky dumbly for a moment. "Nah, man, I don't want to-"
"Shut up, Sam. You're staying with us."
And it's that easy. Steve watches as first Bucky, then Sam, enter the suite and he follows, knowing that somehow, Bucky's figured out a way to make everything alright.