I do not own any rights to Captain America or the Avengers or their characters. This work is not for profit.
So this was written for princess-of-the-worlds as their Stucky Secret Santa. Hope you enjoy it!
The whole 'weekend getaway' theme is kangofu-cb and downwarddnaspiral 's fault! Based off of this: post/167291932299/beautifulwhensarcastic-steve-and-peggys-moder
Modern AU, Rating: PG-13? Just fluffy feels...and hurt feels...
Steve had invited Peggy on a 'Getaway Weekend,' and she was super excited to go with him. She just hadn't realized it also meant that Bucky would be coming. She knew they were best friends, but she'd been trying to covertly let Steve know that she was interested in him. So it was frustrating that Bucky 'Always A New Girl On His Arm' Barnes was going to be around for this break, as well.
They had been in the car for hours, Peggy doing her best not to smack Bucky for his commentary on every woman at every gas station they stopped at for gas, munchies, or liquid. But she was a bit fed up. Turning to look from the map in her lap to Steve driving in the seat beside her, Bucky relegated to the back because "he wanted to stretch out."
"Steve, when you said "Getaway Weekend" I imagined something slightly different." The look on her face was only slightly annoyed; she was proud of that.
Steve turned to look at her with a raised brow before returning his gaze to the road. "Why?"
There was silence as she simply gave him "The Look" and he sighed before continuing, "It's a really nice cottage, I swear! Pepper helped me find it."
As if somehow knowing that Pepper Potts, and by extension Tony Stark, knew where they were vacationing was going to make her happy. Peggy rolled her eyes, but she honestly couldn't fault the cottage.
"Yes, well. There's still one detail..." She glanced pointedly back at Bucky just as he chimed in.
"Are we there yet?"
Steve did his best not to laugh, the look of pure contempt on Peggy's face as Bucky repeated himself for the fourth time in the last hour was just too cute. He was glad Bucky had agreed to Peggy coming with them. They both knew that she was better at reading a map than Bucky was, and that left the driving to the two of them so they didn't have to stop over anywhere longer than to grab food, gas, and use the restroom. Considering they were driving from New York, New York to Townsend, Tennessee, there had been a few stops. A sixteen-plus hour drive would make anyone want to get out of the car at some point.
Steve glanced at his partner through the rear-view mirror and grinned, "Have I stopped driving, Bucky?"
The man scowled back at him via the mirror, "No."
"Then, obviously, we aren't there yet." He could see from the corner of his vision that Peggy was fighting back a smile and hoped that she wouldn't be too upset by their reason for asking her along.
It wasn't a well known fact that Steve and Bucky had been a couple for several years, long before either of them had ever met Peggy. So, they both knew that Peggy had a thing for Steve, it was pretty obvious to them whenever someone started crushing on one or the other of them. This trip was going to be them trying their best to let her know he was taken where she could rail at them without making a scene. Though, if he were honest with himself, and he'd already told Bucky this, so obviously he was being honest with himself - he kind of hoped that Peggy would join them. That she wouldn't think it was super weird that both of them liked her even though they already had each other.
They were pretty certain that Peggy hated Bucky, but Steve was sure that it was only because she thought he was some creepy ladies' man player. Which was just hilarious to Steve because he knew Bucky only "went through women like water" because he knew it annoyed Pepper. Steve and Pepper had been best friends since college, and Pepper was one of the few people who knew he and Bucky were together. Steve never understood why Bucky taking girls out to have a good time bothered Pepper so much, but he certainly never dissuaded his boyfriend from annoying her. Though, with both Bucky and Tony annoying the poor woman, Steve wasn't sure how she survived each day.
He came out of his thoughts just in time to stop at a seemingly random stop sign in the middle of nowhere. Both of the car's other residents looked at him concerned as the bug bounced to an abrupt stop. Why Bucky and Peggy had both insisted on taking his Volkswagen Beetle instead of Bucky's Silverado or Peggy's Sedan, was a mystery to Steve. Either would have been better for the long road trip, but here they were, crammed into his surprisingly spacious bug.
"Sorry, spaced out for a bit." Steve apologized before looking both ways and continuing down the road.
He didn't notice when Peggy and Bucky shared a look. Bucky's voice from the back drifted quietly to him, "Do you want me to drive?"
Steve looked at him through the rear-view mirror again and shook his head, "No, I'm alright, we're almost there anyway. Right there's the 'entering Tennessee' sign."
Bucky heaved a sigh and settled back into his seat, shrugging as Peggy gave him another insistent look. There wasn't really much he could do about it, he wasn't about to pull Steve out of his seat and force him into the back. He was worried about him too, but he also knew that driving was a great way to help Steve relax. He knew that Peggy was upset that he was there for their little 'getaway', and that his 'unhelpfulness' in this situation would only make her more annoyed with him. He turned his gaze out the window just in time to see the "Welcome to Tennessee" sign flash past. It wouldn't be too much longer before they were at the cottage.
He had actually been trying to convince Steve to buy it, having a 'summer house,' so to speak, would honestly be a great idea, and it wasn't as if they couldn't afford it. Bucky owned a private security firm, Steve was an NFL coach, and, well, Peggy was "retired" from the British Military. Maybe he should be working on convincing Peggy the place was a keeper instead of Steve? He nearly laughed at himself; he would have to convince the woman not to hate him first. That wasn't going to go very smoothly once she found out the man she'd been drooling over for about a year now was taken by yours truly.
Just to be an ass, he nudged the back of Peggy's seat with his foot and whined at her, "Peggy~ could you move your seat up? I'm so squished back here~."
Yeah... making her like him at all was going to take some doing. Steve nearly face-palmed at Bucky's antics. He knew that Bucky knew they only had about another two hours to go, if he had wanted to complain about being cramped it should have been hours ago. The look on Peggy's face was not at all promising.
Her eyes had narrowed when her seat was nudged, jouncing her from calculating the amount of time left in the car for the short distance through Tennessee to their destination. She turned slowly to glower over at Bucky, who's handsome face seemed to be fighting off a smirk. She raised a brow at him and in no uncertain terms said, "No." Before turning back around to try her calculations again. She missed the smirk that bloomed on Bucky's face and the wink he sent Steve's way.
Internally sighing, Steve kept his eyes on the road and the smile off his face. When they finally arrived in Townsend they stopped at a store to get groceries, which decidedly gave Bucky less space in the back. Then, they stopped at a pizza joint to pick up dinner before finally heading out to their little getaway cottage.
Parking at the end of the long driveway, they got out to have a look around. Well, Peggy went to have a look around, Steve and Bucky had been there already to make sure the place was as good as Pepper had hoped it would be. The men took the groceries inside and put them away, and Steve went out back to turn the power and water on. The locals had been informed when they would be there and for how long, so everything was set up already. Bucky put everything away and placed his and Steve's duffel bags in the master bedroom with its huge four poster bed and placed Peggy's things in the guest bedroom across the short hallway.
The cottage was of average size, all one story with an attached garage that he doubted Steve was going to put the bug in. It had ivy growing up one side and roses lining the walkway from the drive to the door. The whole property was surrounded by a small, white picket fence - apparently something Steve found wholly adorable. The cottage itself was white wood paneling with brown trim around the doors and windows, the roof was made up of mostly solar panels. Inside was dark wood on the walls and floor, comfortable cushiony furniture: a spacious living room with a couch and two plush chairs set before a large flat screen TV set into the wall with a large bookshelf filled to bursting off to one side; a dining area complete with chandelier over the hardwood table and four chairs. The kitchen was large as well, plenty of room for three people to move about in without bumping, new chrome appliances glinted in the sunlight through the large window over the sink. A small hallway shot off of the living room leading to four doors; one led to a linen closet, another to a full bathroom, then of course the guest bedroom and the master bedroom which had its own bathroom. Bucky remembered being surprised that such a small two-bedroom place had two bathrooms. He watched out the window in the kitchen as Peggy moved around the backyard, looking at all the various flowers and the few climbable trees that were there. He could come up with so many plans for this place, if he could just convince Steve they needed to own it!
Steve calling for Peggy to come and eat dinner shook him from his thoughts and he pulled out the plastic plates and cups they'd bought in town and set them and the pizza and soda on the table. They sat down to eat and things seemed to settle, the stress fading from all of them little by little. When the pizza was gone - Peggy surprising them by eating most of it herself - they flipped through the channels on the TV until they could agree on something and watched in companionable silence.
Noticing that Peggy had fallen asleep against his shoulder, Steve nudged Bucky, "Hey, is her bed made up yet?"
Glancing around his boyfriend, Bucky smiled at the sight but shook his head, "I'll go do that now."
He quietly left the room and pulled out bedding from the hall closet before heading in to make up both beds. When he was finished, he came out and flipped the TV off and watched as Steve lifted Peggy into his arms and put her to bed. He couldn't have hid the soft smile on his face at the picture even if Peggy had woken up and glared daggers at him.
Steve turned to him with a smile and they both climbed into their own bed, drifting off after a long day of tedious driving.
The next morning had the men waking to Peggy standing in their open doorway simply staring. Bucky's instincts had woken him, telling him he was being watched. He caught himself reaching for a knife that wasn't there and blearily blinked his eyes as his senses came slowly to him. Steve was wrapped around him, cuddled into his back so Bucky could very clearly see the door by the foot of their bed. "Mornin' Peggy."
"Good morning." Their voices, one rough with sleep and the other automated had Steve waking up and peering over Bucky's shoulder.
Steve's arms tightened around Bucky and he did his best to hide behind him while still looking Peggy in the eyes. He saw the moment comprehension dawned in her beautiful eyes and refrained from wincing as she physically jerked away from the door. "Peggy?"
"I...um, just. Don't talk to me for a bit." She flew from the doorway and the door to the guest room could be heard closing gently and being locked.
Steve slumped against Bucky, ducking his head into the man's neck. "That could have gone better, right?"
Bucky gave a small chuckle and turned to face him, "It could have gone a lot better. Like us telling her when we first suspected she had a crush on you over a year ago."
Steve winced. He honestly couldn't remember why he'd been against that idea at the time. Bucky sighed and placed a small kiss on his brow before suggesting, "Why don't we get up and dressed. Maybe we can coax her out with the smells of a good ol' English breakfast?"
Steve simply nodded and gave him a light kiss before unwinding himself from his partner and doing as he'd said. Soon the whole cottage smelled of various delicious breakfast foods, it could never be said that Steve was a bad cook. And Bucky knew that he cooked with excessive flair when he was upset.
It was Bucky however who went to knock on Peggy's door. "Hey, breakfast is ready. If you want it. Though, you should probably eat something. I mean... food is always good, right?"
The door flew open, apparently she had unlocked it already, and Peggy's angry face glared up at him. "How can you do that?"
Bucky blinked, "How can I do what?"
"Cheat on him, in front of him!"
He couldn't help it, he laughed. It earned him a slug to the shoulder that nearly knocked him off his feet and only made him laugh more. Holding up his arms in surrender as she rallied to punch him again he grinned down at her, "Peggy, I've never cheated on him. I take women who've had a bad dating experience and show them a good time. Nothing more than taking them to a nice dinner, movie, or for a few drinks. Just to show them that not all men are trash. Steve goes with me sometimes." He chuckled some more at her horrified expression. "Honestly, I do it just because I know my 'cheating habits' annoy Pepper. Well, that and those poor women deserve to be treated like people and not objects."
Peggy huffed at him and crossed her arms. "How long have you two been a couple?"
Bucky winced and bit his lip before squaring up and looking her in the eye, "Since we were seventeen."
Her jaw fell and her eyes widened more than Bucky had ever thought possible. "Is this some kind of sick joke you play with people?"
Hurt more than he'd thought he would be by her words, he shook his head, "No. Generally we let anyone who shows an interest in either of us know that we're taken. But, Steve didn't want to tell you so soon. I'm not really sure what he was hoping for, but I suspect the main reason was because of his crush on you."
Peggy flinched, "His what?"
Bucky drug a hand across his face and heaved a sigh, "Come eat breakfast before it gets cold, and we'll explain?"
Still glaring at him she marched past into the living room and onto the dining room where Steve was just plating the rest of breakfast. Seeing the bounty of some of her favorite foods, some of her anger left her. Looking over at Steve, she could tell that he was upset, and clearly worried about her reaction.
Unable to stay angry with him, she sighed and offered him a small smile as she sat down. "This looks wonderful Steve, thank you."
Some of the tension seemed to drain out of him at her words and he gave her a brief smile before setting down himself, Bucky taking one of the seats between them. After everyone had started eating Peggy looked from one man to the other, "Alright, explain."
Steve blushed, the red streaking from his cheeks to the tips of his ears and down his neck to vanish below his shirt collar. Bucky smirked at him, fully intending on letting Mr. Big-shot NFL Coach take the reins on this one. Steve cleared his throat, taking a swallow of his milk before looking over at Peggy. "Well, um... which part needs explaining still?"
"The part where I wasn't told you two were a couple." She may not be able to stay angry with him, but she certainly wasn't going to let him off lightly.
"Right." He sighed and took a fortifying breath before beginning, "That one's all on me. I can't really remember my original reason, but it now boils down to the fact that I really like you a lot. Bucky does too, though we both realize you don't like him much. But I'm sure we could work on that? I mean, he's not a bad person or anything. But~."
As he was beginning to ramble and speak very quickly, Peggy put her hand up to stop him. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Well, you needed a break. Working at that newspaper is just killing you. You really should find another job if you want to work. And because... I wanted to let you know that me and Bucky are a couple, but um. Well, we'd like..." Steve stopped his visible skin redder than any tomato she had ever seen.
Peggy quirked a brow, "You'd like what?"
Bucky swooped in to save his floundering partner, "We would like you to date us."
Peggy's fork dropped to her plate with a loud clatter bringing her back to herself after that comment. Both men were staring at her with worried expressions. "I, are you serious?"
Steve nodded while Bucky offered a quiet, "Yes."
"But, why?" She was completely baffled.
"Because we both like you, 'bout as much as we like each other." Bucky answered her without looking up from his own plate, his own ears turning a light pink.
Her thoughts stuttered around in her head for some time as they all finished eating and while she and Bucky were doing the dishes she finally blurted, "How would that even work?"
The worry that had been filling Steve blew away and he smiled at her, taking her slightly wet hands into his own and putting the towel she'd been drying dishes with on the counter. "The same way any regular two-person relationship works."
She squinted at him and then back at Bucky who couldn't hide his hopeful expression fast enough for her to miss it and sighed at them. "I'm going to hold you both to that."