Author's Note:
It's been a while, eh? I've been fairly busy trying to wrap up other stories before getting back to this one but it's been too long now lmao so chapter! (note for you other authors, don't write 4 at the same time. It doesn't end well)
Beach day was more fun than the Avengers had had in a very long time. Natasha and Pepper remained on the beach, sunglasses on and sunbathing in their bikinis. Clint, when not checking out the ladies, was having the time of his life in the water with Bucky and Bruce, Bruce was a little more inclined to sit quietly in the sand but he ended up joining the others. Steve had insisted on sand castles, that they make a competition out of it and see who's was better.
"So we doing this with actual sculpting, adding some cement and other things to the sand so it stays, or are we doing the old school water in a bucket deal?" Tony asked, more than ready to get the cement.
Steve rolled his eyes, "What do you think my answer's going to be?"
Tony shrugged, "Maybe you really like to sculpt things and making it last longer is your thing?" Judging by the look Steve gave him he knew he was wrong. Old school all the way, apparently.
"Come on, it's the classic way to do it. Neither of ours are going to look good but we might as well give it a shot." Those baby blues were pleading and it was too much for the billionaire.
"Alright," he went over and drew little designs on his boyfriend's broad and bare chest, pinching the sensitive nub on his left side. "But one condition," he leaned up, body pressed against Steve's, their naked chests warm and burning all the more from being so close, "I get to take you tonight."
Steve's breath hitched slightly, big eyes angled his way, "What?"
"We're in a relationship, it's equal. I think we should try something new." Tony smiled wickedly, "What do you say?"
"I say we'll see when we get there." Steve chuckled, not sure he was willing to relinquish the control, to experience something new over what he knew he enjoyed. But Tony was right, a relationship meant they were equals and that meant he shouldn't hog all of the dominance, Tony might take it as him thinking he's better than Tony or something. "But... I'll try." He whispered back.
Tony caught the hesitance in Steve's voice and turned to kiss him tenderly, "It's okay, you know I love it when someone tops me, when you take me, Steve. I just want to feel you come undone, to feel it the way I do."
Steve's cheeks were hot and red as he nuzzled them against Tony's, eyes closed and trusting. "Okay, I'll let you take me."
Tony grinned as his hands trailed along the perfect body of his lover, almost not able to wait until he had the mass of muscle in bed again. "Apparently sex is a big part of our relationship."
"Shouldn't it be?" Steve smirked, "Now come on," he pulled away, almost not able to but he didn't want to get a hard-on while running around in his swim trunks, that would be too much. "It's bucket time."
The follow few hours consisted of Tony ruining Steve's castle by running through it or throwing things at it, Steve returning the favour by blatantly marching on it or shoving Tony onto it, and the others running up to destroy them as well. Steve sighed and looked at his boyfriend with a soft laugh, "How about we make one together?"
"That sounds much better." Tony agreed, kicking over what was left of his mush castle in frustration. After that they worked together until the castle didn't look all that bad, standing fairly tall though they doubted it was sturdy. That was proven when Clint and Bucky ran through it again. Steve threw the bucket at them.
"Next person that breaks our sand castle gets a serious reprimand and kick in the behind!" He shouted, trying not to laugh as his friends cracked up severely. "Jerks!"
Tony chuckled and kissed Steve's cheek, "Guess we'll start a new one?"
"Maybe," Steve smiled back at him though the urge to build a castle was far diminished in his mind. "Did you want to... I dunno, go inside for a bit?"
"You haven't seen Bucky in ages, you sure?" Tony reminded and nearly regretted it, noting the slightly pained look on Steve's face as he realized. "Come on, he's your best friend, right? I'd like to get to know him a bit better."
Steve smiled even brighter at that, "You mean it?"
"Definitely." Tony turned and ran toward the other soldier," Barnes!"
"Yeah?" Bucky looked up a bit surprised, even more surprised when Tony clambered up onto his shoulders.
"We're gonna play chicken and you're my partner." Tony announced, "To the water, chicken!"
Bucky made a face and looked over at Steve who doubled over on his way to his friend's side, laughing hysterically. Clint grinned and looked over at Natasha, "Nat! Wanna play?"
She lowered her sunglasses and glanced at Pepper, "Do I dare get in on this?"
Pepper just shook her head, "I'm not. You just know that Steve's going to be playing and I don't think I feel like going up against that."
"Hm..." Natasha stood and tossed her sunglasses down, heading to the water's edge, "Might as well see, his partner might fall off easier than I would."
"True enough." Pepper leaned back, "Good luck."
Steve looked over at Bruce, "Wanna play?"
"Seriously-eee!" Bruce's protest was completely ignored as Steve lifted him easily onto his shoulders. The scientist's legs wrapped around the best they could, his hands finding something to hold on to immediately. Steve's hair. "Not okay! This is not okay!"
"You're fine, Dr. Banner." Steve assured him, "Calm down, you couldn't be on anyone better, I promise."
Bruce slowly relaxed his grip and nodded, "Right. Okay... I'm fine." He looked up at Tony and Natasha who were both smiling, Natasha much lower because Clint wasn't nearly as tall, though Bucky hadn't seemed to grow much in height either. "O...kay..." he mumbled, fingers tightening again. "I-I don't play these games! I want off."
"But you insisted on joining us here so you might as well play," Steve walked further into the water where it'd be safer to play Chicken, joining Bucky and Clint with a smile on his face.
"Ready, doc?" Natasha smirked at Bruce who hadn't let go of Steve's head.
"Nope." He laughed nervously, looking over at Tony who seemed too 'in his element'. "Why didn't you pick Steve?"
"I'm getting to know his best friend." Tony stated, "That and I can see Steve from here, quite pretty."
Steve's cheeks flushed but his expression remained calm, "Big mistake," he warned playfully.
"Alright, 3, 2, 1, GO!" Clint shouted and rushed Steve first; figuring taking Bruce down would be the simplest thing. And it would have been, if the man hadn't had a firm grip on his captain and his captain a firm grip on him. Bruce ended up nearly upside down off Steve's back in the first few seconds and while the others thought he was out already, Natasha turning on Tony immediately, Steve had, with a flex of his back and simple pull of his arms, knocked Bruce back up onto his shoulders.
Tony clung pretty hard but the two spies were a hell of a team. Of course their teamwork meant nothing if Clint was knocked down, which, after stopping his attention on Steve, he was. Steve whirled on Bucky, their hands clasping and they ended up pushing against one another fiercely. Steve could feel every flex in his friend's muscles, both starting to look a little surprised when they realized Bucky was holding his own.
Bruce and Tony locked arms, each grasping the other man's forearm and trying to twist him off his perch. Bruce strained a little, his gaze firmly locked with Tony's who was enjoying the entire thing. "Our mounts are close to even." Tony pointed out.
Bruce grunted as he risked a glance down to see, he grinned and looked up at Tony with smug eyes, "Not really, mine's better."
"Hard to argue that, though I'd say he's better at mounting." Tony's mind was calculating how hard it would be to take Bruce down, really. The man wasn't actually the Hulk's strength; he was just a man most of the time. Tony wasn't the strongest either but he definitely had to lift the Iron Man suit to walk and move in general, he was stronger than Bruce in the long run. This little game was a game of time.
And only time would tell, Steve managed to knock Bucky down just as Tony threw Bruce off, Clint and Natasha both started clapping once it'd happened. "A tie! That's awesome, makes us the only losers." He looked at Natasha who shoved him a little.
"You, I was still firmly on your shoulders." She retorted.
"How does that make me a loser?" Clint grinned, earning him a playful slap.
The rest of their day teetered off from there, everyone a little tired of the sunshine and exhaustion, all taking turns in the shower, Tony and Steve politely going at the same time in order not to make the line up wait too long. They'd taken about the same amount as it would have been had they done it separately but no one really said anything. Steve and Bucky were talking, about a lot of things, telling stories, reminiscing but never fully ignoring the other people around them. They weren't going to go into their own little secluded conversation; they were both aware of everyone present. Tony decided to play the part of the good boyfriend.
"Hey guys, I have an idea, how about we go for a pizza run?" He grinned at them, earning strange looks.
"We could just order in." Pepper corrected him, "It's pretty easy."
"No, no, what's the fun in that?"
"We don't have a vehicle big enough for all of us, unless you own a van." Bruce chuckled at the thought of Tony Stark in a van.
"Yeah we do," Tony smirked.
"The quinjet?" Clint raised an eyebrow, "You want to go get pizza in the quinjet?"
Tony nodded, "Yeah, you'd have to fly it, you down?"
Eyes shifted toward Clint who looked very serious for a moment, "Hell yeah. Let's do it."
They were all getting up when Tony waved a hand at Steve and Bucky, "How about you two stay here? Catch up a bit."
Steve was about to protest, that he wanted to be with Tony, but realized what his boyfriend was up to. Instead of complaining he went to Tony's side and kissed his cheek, "Thank you."
"No problem, gorgeous." Tony kissed back and hurried out the door, "We'll be back with pizza!"
"And chicken wings!" Bucky demanded. "I want chicken wings!"
The others now understood what Tony was trying to do though they still agreed to go, figuring it was the best idea at that time. Steve needed to talk to his friend and they were sort of in the way of that. Sort of. Nothing would ever stop their captain from doing what he needed to, as far as they know, especially their presence. But Tony was trying so they obliged this time. The least they could do after being cock-blockers for a day straight.
"So..." Steve sat down at Bucky's side once he'd heard the jet's engines fading, a cup of coffee in his hands and a stern expression on his face. "How did you get that strong?"
Bucky shrugged and looked down anxiously, "In Russia they did experiments on me," he noted the steel look in those blue eyes, a smile creeping onto his lips at the sight. Steve, if anyone in this world, cared about him. That's all he really needed. "You must have gone insane," he remarked, "To be thinking that everyone is dead, that no one who you know is there anymore... I'd go nuts."
"Well you have me." Steve rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.
"But you didn't, you didn't have anyone. I'm... I'm sorry for that." Bucky looked up at him sadly, "To be living and know that no one alive loves you, I'm so sorry, Steve."
There was a remorseful look on Steve's face and a glistening wetness in his gaze, "It was tough but I made new friends, new people to love me and care about me, and new people for me to love and care for. I won't lie, it's hard at first. You feel run down, like you don't belong, but you do, you can belong anywhere if you try hard enough." He put his cup down and leaned over to hug his friend firmly, their cheeks resting against one another's and taking comfort in it. "I love you, Bucky. You're my best friend; I should be the one who's sorry."
"Shut up," Bucky hit his back playfully, "I already told you, if that hadn't happened I'd never be here with you now. I'd rather it had happened this way, you aren't alone anymore."
They held onto one another for a moment longer before giving each other a firm pat on the back and sitting back in their chairs. "So," Steve smirked, "I think you'd fit in with our little family."
"Family? You and Tony-"
"Not just us, I mean the Avengers. We're a team; I'm sort of their leader, Tony's Iron Man, a very high tech suit of armour. Clint and Natasha are trained assassins, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Bruce was another person who attempted the super soldier serum but it went wrong so now he turns into something we call 'the Hulk' or in his case, 'the other guy'. And then there's Thor, a demi-god from another world."
"A demi-god?" Bucky smirked, "I'll believe it when I see it."
"You will," Steve smiled, "Because you're joining us."
Bucky could only continue to smile back, the way Steve just brightened up at the idea of working together again, it was just too damn cute for a captain. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"
"I do," Steve leaned back and sighed with a soft laugh.
"So you and Tony, how's that going?"
"It's great, more than I had ever expected. I just sort of stuck my neck out there," Steve was remembering the anxiety he felt in that restaurant, "And at first I was terrified, Tony and I were teammates first and we didn't always get along, we butt heads on points of authority most of the time. But he showed up for my blind date and we sat it out, deciding we were just Steve and Tony. After that everything fell into place. He's perfect."
"Sure he's not just in it for the beautiful blonde thing?" Bucky prodded with a chuckle.
"He's very physical but it wouldn't matter, our personalities were meant for each other." Steve fully believed what he was saying, despite how cheesy it sounded.
"Let's say you ended up being like you were when we were younger, before the serum, what then?"
"Same answer. Tony wouldn't leave me based on my looks." Steve stated firmly.
"Alright then, you have some serious faith in the guy." Bucky decided to take a step back, no need to push those buttons.
"Would you leave me if I weren't Captain America?" Steve asked after a moment.
"You know I wouldn't, moron. I was your friend before the experiment; I'll always be your friend."
Steve smiled and hugged him again, "Thanks, Bucky. I really missed you."
"Missed you too, big guy." Bucky exhaled softly, happier than ever to have Steve with him during this new era thing.