"You need to stop moving if you want me to sketch you."
"Can't do moving portraits yet Stevie?" Bucky teased but settled down.
Steve looked at him over the paper and gave him the dryest glance ever.
Bucky snorted and moved back into position. "I hope you've finished drawing my leg because it's got a cramp."
"Left or right?"
"I think," Bucky paused to move his legs. "The left."
"I'm done the left, just keep the right-"
"Right?" Bucky grinned.
Steve frowned for a second than understood the pun. "I'm going to throw something at you."
"Make sure it's your love, Stevie."
There was silence for a second and Steve was shaking his head while smiling. "I don't even know what to say to that."
Bucky laughed and stayed still for a while longer. "Have you heard from Tony recently?"
Steve smiled slightly at his mention. "I saw him running across campus yesterday with two full cups of coffee and James chasing him, but other than that I haven't spoken to him."
"I guess midterms have made us all busy."
"You can say that again. How's your paper going?"
"I'm actually nearly done. Nat's been helping me finish it."
"Natasha? I thought she was in psych?" Steve asked as he scowled at his drawing. "I need your left leg back in position."
"She is," Bucky nodded, moving slowly to keep the rest of his body even. "but she's had to write plenty of papers and she makes me work. Without her, I would've only started the essay yesterday."
Steve worked in silence for a few minutes, trying to get the general outline correct. "We should text Tony and set up a date," Bucky said.
"With midterms so close?"
"Yeah, I mean, if he can't we can wait until after midterms? I just want to see him before these next few crazy weeks start."
Steve leaned back from his drawing and looked it over. "That sounds smart, I missed him too."
Bucky smiled wide and moved to get his phone.
"Don't move yet, I'm almost done."
"He said, and I quote, 'fuck yeah, let's blow this joint,' followed by 'no' with about ten o's." Bucky read from the bathroom.
Steve didn't reply as he fixed up his paints.
"Apparently he didn't mean to send that and that a date would be a great idea."
Bucky walked from the bathroom and into the living room where Steve was glaring at his paints. "What's got you all stiff?" He asked, putting his hands on Steve's shoulders.
"It's just the painting. There's something about it missing."
"I know you don't want me to say it looks fine and beautiful, so I won't. What do you think is missing?"
Steve shook his head. "I'm not sure yet. I'll take a break for now though, I want this to be as good as it can be."
Bucky kissed his temple and hugged him. "That sounds great. Also, do you think Tony could come here tonight?"
"Here?" Steve looked around the apartment and smiled. "I think I'd like that. We'll just have to clean up a bit."
They separated and texted Tony, then started the cleanup. Between the two of them, it only took about an hour for everything to be put away.
"I think that's good. I'll start on the dishes, you do laundry?"
Tony came around at six, complete with a bottle of wine and chocolates. "I didn't know what to bring, so I asked Peggy?"
"It's perfect. It'll go well with dinner."
Tony smiled and they sat down on the couch. "What's for dinner?"
"Some homemade pizza. Bucky's been taking lessons from a friend on how to cook some stuff and he wanted to impress-"
"Steve, stop talking," Bucky yelled from the kitchen. "I have a reputation!"
"It makes you even cuter!" Tony replied.
They laughed a bit as they heard swearing from the kitchen.
"How's the midterm prep going?" Steve asked.
Tony shrugged, leaning back into the couch. "Not too bad. I've finished studying for mostly all of them, I'm just helping Rhodey and Bruce, while they help me with other subjects. Although English isn't going to be very fun. I hate essays."
He looked angry about it for a second before turning to Steve. "How about you two? I know Bucky's taking history and you're taking art history?"
"More or less yeah. There's a whole bunch of art classes that are close to the same thing."
"What's your midterm look like?"
"Oh, I have to draw, or paint, an object of emotion and add a small essay saying why I drew it and what it means to me."
"Any emotion?"
"Yeah. Though I think I'm going to go with love."
"That sounds amazing." Tony smiled and leaned forward. "You're drawing Bucky right?"
Steve nodded. "I am. Is it that obvious?"
Tony smiled brightly. "It shows."
They were silent for a few seconds before Steve leaned forward and started whispering. "When I ask him if I could draw him he-"
"Alright, enough of that then. Tony, what kind of things do you want on the pizza?" Bucky interrupted, walking to the living room. "It's all set up in the kitchen, so if you'd just follow me."
"Wow, you have a whole pizza station here," Tony said, eyes wide and drooling slightly. "I'll have everything? There's nothing here I really hate."
Bucky nodded and shooed them out of the kitchen, but not before Tony grabbed a handful of olives.
Tony ate them as he looked around their apartment, looking at pictures and paintings. There was one of a tiny boy that looked like Steve but much smaller and another that had the boy and Bucky in it. "Hey, Steve, who's this?"
Steve came from the kitchen with flour in his hair and a smile on his lips. "Who's who?"
Tony pointed to the photograph and startled as Steve started laughing. "Is it your brother? Or-"
"It's me, Tony. That was me in my first year of high school. I had a growth spurt between year 10 and 11."
Steve could see Tony working through some sort of problem in his head, his eyes going between the picture and him. "But how did you…?"
"I'm not exactly sure."
There was silence than Tony quietly spoke. "I think Bruce would love to meet you even more now."
"Bruce?"
"Bruce Banner. He's one of the smartest people I know when it comes to biology and people."
Steve smiled and nodded. "Bucky and I would love to meet your friends."
"Dinner is served. The first portion of it anyway." Bucky called from the kitchen. "Steve, could you get the glasses?"
Steve smiled at Tony once more before moving for the kitchen. When Tony was about to sit down, Steve appeared out of nowhere and pulled his chair out for him.
He turned a little red and mumbled his thanks. He watched as Steve did the same for Bucky and then turned his attention to the pizza.
"This looks amazing, thanks Bucky."
Bucky blushed a bit and smiled at Tony, kicking Steve under the table when he starting reaching for his phone.
At Steve's wince of pain, Tony frowned, worried. "What happened?"
"Bucky kicked me," Steve whispered, head on the table.
"In my defence, I didn't kick him that hard, and he was about to take a picture. He likes to take pictures to sketch later."
Steve lifted his head up and nodded along. "That's true. Do you mind if I take pictures to sketch you?"
"I think that's fine?" Tony started, pausing for a moment to consider it. "Are they good sketches?"
"The best." Bucky cut in. He turned in his chair to look for some that were lying around. "I'll be right back."
He left to the bedroom to find some that he knew Steve was alright showing.
When he got back he was careful not to get them stained with the pizza. There were some of just him, and more of the rest of their group of friends.
Tony was looking through the sketches, being careful not to rip or smudge them.
"I didn't know you guys knew Natasha and Clint."
"Yeah, when I went to Peggy's classes in the gym she was in the same class."
"That actually makes sense. And Clint?"
"Fucker just throws things at us," Bucky grumbled. "Just because I said I had a better aim once."
They looked at the sketches for a second longer before Steve stood and left for the bathroom, his chair getting pushed back loudly.
Tony gave Bucky a questioning look and Bucky shrugged. He stood up and walked to the bathroom door and knocked. "Stevie you alright in there?"
"I'm okay, just had something really spicy on the pizza, a pepper I think?"
"On the pizza?" He murmured to himself as he walked back to the table.
"What happened?"
"He said there a pepper on the pizza, but I never buy spicy ingredients."
While they were trying to figure out what happened, Steve came from the bathroom and joined them at the table again.
"Do you want milk?"
Steve shook his head and looked at Tony. "Sorry about this."
"It's no problem, I always enjoy just being with you guys."
Bucky kept looking at Steve's pizza and pulled a piece of red from his pizza. "Is this the pepper?"
Steve nodded and frowned down at his pizza. "Where was that?"
"It must've been in the sauce," Tony said.
Bucky kept frowning and put the pepper in his mouth.
After a few seconds, he started shaking and rested his head on the table.
Steve leaned towards him. "Bucky? Did you get a spicy piece as well?"
Bucky lifted his head from the table and had tears falling slowly from his eyes. "It's- it's not spicy."
"What's so funny?" Steve asked Tony.
Tony shrugged and reached for a piece of Steve's pizza. After taking a bit and tasting the pepper he also started laughing. "Steve, this- this is a bell pepper."
It took a second for it to sink in, but once it did, Steve turned a dark shade of red.
Once they finished the ordeal with the pepper, Bucky pulled some dessert from the fridge.
"Wasn't sure what you liked, but I figured a cake with coffee couldn't go wrong."
When Tony tasted the cake he moaned and looked Bucky right in the eye. "I will marry you for this cake."
Bucky turned a bit red, and Steve coughed. "I found the recipe?"
Tony's eyes crinkled while he laughed and stood to go to the bathroom.
He got back and they sat awkwardly for a moment before deciding to watch a movie.
Bucky went to change first, leaving Steve and Tony to choose the movie.
He got back and watched as they choose a movie from their small collection.
"I'm going to change into something more comfortable than," Steve announced, glancing at Tony. "Do you want to borrow some clothes? You might be more comfortable."
Tony looked down at his tight jeans and nodded. "I think that would be a good idea."
Bucky made himself comfortable and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Hey Buck, can Tony borrow some sweatpants?"
"Yeah, course."
A second later, the door to the bedroom opened and Tony came out in Bucky's sweatpants and a shared long sleeved shirt. He looked so soft that Bucky choked when he saw him and pulled him close when he sat down.
Steve smirked when he saw them and Bucky flipped him off, waiting until they all sat down on the couch to start the movie.
It was about halfway through the movie when a weight landed on Bucky's shoulder. He turned his head a bit and saw Tony asleep.
He just wrapped an arm around his shoulder and smiled.
By the time the credits rolled, Steve was the only one still awake.
Sometime during the movie, Tony and Bucky had slipped down the couch and were cuddling on it, with Tony lying on top of Bucky.
Steve smiled and reached for the blanket off a nearby chair, laying it over them, then standing and heading to the kitchen to finish up the dishes.
When he finished up and went back to the couch, Bucky and Tony had made themselves even more comfortable, nearly falling off the couch with only their combined weight keeping them up.
He sat down in the chair across from them and looked out the window.
The night sky was blocked out by rain clouds, leaving a grey strip of light to come in from the windows and settle across the couch where Tony and Bucky were sleeping.
It made him think about the three of them and a smile came to his lips.
He stayed like that for a few more minutes than his mind drifted to his midterm project. An object of emotion was a very broad subject, but choosing an object of love had been easy.
The picture of Bucky would be enough to pass with flying colours, but the grade wasn't what had Steve so caught up in making it perfect. When he had to decide what to draw at the start, Bucky came to mind right away and that was all he needed and wanted.
But when he thought about what to draw now, it wasn't only Bucky but Tony as well.
Watching Tony smile and enjoy being with them made Steve happy, and he knew Bucky was as well.
He glanced at the two of them cuddling on the couch and stood to grab his sketchbook.
Bucky woke to a weight on his chest and his leg numb. The weight mumbled and shifted when he moved his leg, so he opened his eyes and looked down.
Seeing who it was, Bucky hugged him closer and dropped his leg to the ground quietly.
He looked around and saw the sun coming from the window, meaning they slept through the night. He also noticed a blanket that wasn't there before he fell asleep, which meant Steve was the last one to sleep.
A grin came to his lips when he saw Steve slouched on the chair across from them with sketchbook in his hands.
Tony made another small sound and grabbed the edges of the blanket before burrowing into his chest.
Warmth started in his chest and he let it spread through his body while he kissed the top of Tony's head and laid back to sleep.