It was halfway through one of Tony's parties when you decided to call it a night. Looking around the room you quickly spotted Nat and made your way over to her. Leaning against the bar beside her you finished your drink, placing your glass down on the countertop.

Natasha was shaking her head, "They're like putty in their hands. It never fails."

You followed her line of vision and laughed. Steve and Bucky were, as usual, surrounded by a group of women, hanging on their every word. You nudged her with your shoulder, "You could be doing the same thing. Finding some stress relief after y'alls last mission. I heard it was rough."

She scoffed, "No thanks. I'd much rather sleep this one off."

"I feel you on that one, I'm fixing to head to bed myself." You dropped your head back and let out a sigh. "I don't know why Tony keeps 'requesting' that I come to these things. I'm not an Avenger and he knows I hate parties."

"You can always tell him no, he needs to be reminded that he can't control everyone in his life."

"That's just it. He's never the one to ask. He always sends one of those two," You gesture at Steve and Bucky, "to do it for him. He knows damn well that I can't say no to them."

"Speaking of stress relief, how did your last date go? Are you planning on meeting back up with him? It was Paul right?" Nat turned and ordered two more drinks, handing one of them to you when they were ready.

"Apparently I'm not. Everything was going well, then he just stopped answering," you shrugged.

"That's like what, the third one to do that in the past couple of months?"

"Yeah. I don't know, maybe it's me. I'm not as exciting as they think when they hear I work with y'all."

Nat glanced over your shoulder, "Um, yeah. That's one theory."

"What do you mean?" You turned, trying to see where she was looking, failing when she quickly looked back at you. "What were you looking at?"

She shook her head, "Thought I saw something. You're not boring. I'll bet everything I own that that's not the issue. Maybe they're just intimidated by who you are friends with."

"Intimidated by people they have never met? If that's the case then they don't need to be in my life. Looks like I'll have to rely on ol' faithful until I find someone with a spine."

"Or you could try and see someone who is already here. Someone who already works with us," she gestured around the room. "There are plenty of single guys here."

"Somehow I don't think a one night stand with someone I work with is a good idea."

"Why just stop at one night?"

"I don't really have much time for anything else. I don't think y'all realize how much y'all monopolize other people's time. If I'm not working to make sure the missions go somewhat well, then I'm usually with either you or Steve and Bucky." You threw your hands up quickly when she gave you a sharp look, "Don't take that the wrong way. You did ask. On that note I'm gonna head up to bed."

You put your empty glass down and turned to leave when she grabs your arm. You looked at her questioningly.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. Why?"

"Help me test a theory real quick? Please."

You sighed in resignation, "One of these days I'm going to be able to tell the three of you no. Even when you ask nicely."

She grinned at you, "Just follow me lead."

This had been a colossally bad idea. Then again, you had known better than to think otherwise when it came to Nat and her theories. The last one had landed you both in the back of a cop car, while Steve and Bucky had to talk the cops into letting the two of you go. That's why you were currently on the dance floor with an overly handsy drunk co-worker. When for the second time, you had to physically move your hands off of the curve of your butt, you looked over at her in frustration. Only to find that she wasn't even looking at you. She was staring across the room with a calculated look on her face. Looking over you saw that Sam had joined Bucky and Steve. It looked as though he was now carrying the bulk of the conversation. Looking to his left you were surprised to find both Bucky and Steve glaring in your direction. Startled, you looked around you to see what they were glaring at. At that moment your dance partner decided it was a good idea to drop his hand to your butt again. You let out a low growl of frustration and reached back to move it when you heard a pained yelp and suddenly his hands were gone.

You looked up into the furious eyes of Steve Rogers and let out a small gasp. You had never seen him this angry before. Hearing a pained whimper you broke eye contact and looked down to see that Steve had the man's hand bent backwards at an odd angle. Behind him Bucky stood with a murderous look on his normally stoic face.

You gently placed your hand on Steve's arm, "Hey, you're hurting him." When nothing happened you tried again. "Steve, you need to let him go."

He slowly let go, never looking away from you. Then he pushed the man towards Bucky, who collared him around the neck, and walked him to the door. By then the room had gone completely silent, all eyes on the three of you. You glanced over at Nat to find her grinning at you and shrugging her shoulders. It wasn't until Bucky walked back over to you and Steve that anyone said anything.

"And that, ladies and gents, is why you don't grope people in front of two soldiers from the 1940's." Tony's voice rang out in the silence, causing several people in the room to chuckle.

Slowly the conversation in the room returned to a normal level. For everyone but the three of you still standing on the edge of the dance floor. You looked up at the two super soldiers standing beside you. They were staring at each other, silently communicating. Both of them still looked furious and you could feel the tension radiating off of their bodies. Looking back at Nat you discreetly tilted your head towards the door, she nodded and made her way out of the room. You then looked over at Tony, who was watching y'all with a small smirk. He raised an eyebrow and gestured behind you. You turned to see that Steve and Bucky were both staring at you. Steve's face had softened just a touch and you could tell he was trying to get his anger under control. Bucky, not so much. You bit your lip and ducked your head.

"I'm uh, I'm gonna head to bed now. That's enough excitement for me for one night. I'll see you two tomorrow." You turned to leave when Steve grabbed your wrist.

"We're sorry about that, doll. We overreacted. Old habits die hard."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you didn't break his hand. I don't think Tony will be inviting him back anytime soon."

"I'll make sure of that," Bucky grated out, making his way over to a still smirking Tony.

"Bucky-" You tried to reach for him and Steve stopped you.

"Just let him be. He'll calm down in a bit." He said quietly, rubbing his thumb across the inside of your wrist. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," you mumbled, staring at your hands. Wondering why the hell your body was reacting the way it was.

Your breathing becoming shaky and your heart speeding up. His hand tightened on your wrist and you looked sharply at this face. His mouth had once again set in a hard line. You twisted your wrist and he slowly let go.

"I uh, I better turn in for the night."

"Of course. We still on for this weekend?"

You blinked up at him, your mind not making the connection. "This weekend?"

"Game night. You sure you're okay, doll?" He asked, a worried look crossing his face.

"Oh! Yeah, we're still on. If you two aren't out on another mission that is. My door is always open. Listen, do you mind telling Bucky goodnight for me? I think he's still irritated with me."

"Not at you. You didn't do anything wrong. I'll tell him though. Sweet dreams."

You nodded and headed out the door, forgoing telling anyone else bye. Outside in the hallway you found Nat waiting for you, leaning against the wall. You gave her a serious what the hell look and she just shrugged again.

"Mind telling me what that was all about?" You ask as you turn and head for the elevator.

She fell into step beside you, "I was testing my theory. I think it went rather splendidly."

"Splendidly? Steve nearly broke that man's wrist and Bucky is still pissed off. Pretty sure he's demanding Tony to fire him right now."

"Nearly broke and broke are two completely different things. Besides I didn't think that you would mind him being fired. I know for a fact that he's an ass inside and outside of the office."

"That's not the point, Nat." You sighed waiting for the doors to close. "So what did your 'theory' tell you this time?"

"That the boys are way more overprotective over you than anyone else in the complex."

"I'm probably the only one in the complex that they spend any significant amount of time with that isn't an Avenger. Doesn't take a theory to see that. They're always trying to protect their friends."

Nat crossed her arms and stared hard at you, "Uh huh. Is that all you took from that situation?"

Your immediate response was to ask what else you were supposed to get. Then you stopped and looked down at your hand. Remembering the way your body had responded to Steve rubbing your wrist. Shaking your head slightly you wondered what that had been about. It wasn't the first time the two of you had touched. Hell, game night usually ended up with the three of you curled up on your couch or kicked back in your bed watching movies. On the few occasions that they had insisted on game night straight back from a mission they had even fallen asleep on your bed while you grudgingly took the couch. You hadn't bought a california king size bed to end up on a pull out. But none of those times had you ever felt anything like that. The elevator ding when it reached your floor snapped you out of your thoughts. Natasha was watching you with a raised eyebrow.

"I think you're right about the stress relief. Do you still have the number from that guy in accounting at Stark tower?"

"Jackson?"

"Yeah. Can you send it to me?"

She gave you a hard look, "Sure. My phone is still downstairs though. I'll text it to you."

"Thanks Nat. See you this weekend. You coming to game night?"

"Nah, wouldn't want to intrude." With that the elevators doors closed, leaving you standing in the hallway staring at them.

Back in your room you were just getting out of the shower when you heard a knock at your door. Quickly wrapping a robe around yourself you went to the door and looked out the peephole.

"Come on, I know you are in there, doll. Open the door, please."

You dropped your head against the door and cursed whatever god that was listening for bad timing and your inability to tell Steve Rogers no. Making sure you were completely covered you opened the door a crack.

"Hey Steve. What's up?"

"Hey yourself. Can we come in?"

"We?" You looked behind him, "I don't see anyone else."

He reached over and pulled Bucky next to him. Bucky looked like he had relaxed some since you had come upstairs a few hours ago, but not by a lot.

"Hey Bucky. You okay?" You ask softly.

He nodded at you, "Darling. You gonna let us in or do we have to stand out here all night?"

"Yeah, I guess. Gonna have to wait in the living room though. I have to get dressed and grab my brush."

You open the door and gestured them in. They both stopped when they saw you in your robe and smirked at the same time. You looked between them with a frown, then turned around and went to your room. Quickly pulling on a cami and shorts, you grabbed your brush and went back out to the living room. They were sitting on opposite sides of the couch, all but taking up all the space on it. When Bucky saw you he stood up and held his hand out.

"What?"

"The brush. Hand it here."

You stared at him then looked at Steve. "Okay what is going on here? You two are acting weird."

Steve shrugged, "It's his way of apologizing for earlier."

"He's right here and can speak for himself," Bucky grumbled. "Come on, not like it'll be the first time I've brushed your hair. Please."

You narrowed your eyes at him as you handed him the brush, "Be easy, I'm tender headed."

"I'd never hurt you, darling. Now come on, have a seat on the couch. I'm sorry for losing my temper earlier. I shouldn't have reacted that harshly."

"You didn't do anything to me. There's nothing to be sorry for." You sat down and let your head rest on the back of the couch.

"I should have stepped in sooner. Then that creep wouldn't have had his hands on your ass."

You shrugged, "It happens. If I blame anyone it's Nat. She's the one that asked me to dance with him."

"Natasha did?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah," you nodded, "she wanted to test her 'theory'"

"What theory?"

"That you two are way more protective of me than anyone else in the compound." You rolled your eyes. "Like I needed help getting rid of one creep on my own."

"Then I take it you aren't too mad at us or overly upset about what happened?"

"I mean, I was. Not enough to warrant y'all checking on me. I've dealt with plenty worse than that on my own. Why?"

Bucky let out a frustrated sigh, the brush he slowly pulling through your hair stopped. "Because Nat told us you were upset, and mad at us. That we needed to come check on you."

"Oh," you sighed, reaching for the brush. "If that's why y'all are here I can assure you I am perfectly fine."

Bucky held the brush up out of your reach. "Ah ah, behave yourself."

"Just give me the brush, Bucky. I don't need anyone coddling me." You turned around and went up on your knees to reach the brush. He merely held it higher.

"We're already here. Might as well take advantage of it, now turn around and sit down."

"I don't want to take advantage of it, and at this point I'm tired of Nat playing." You scrambled up onto your feet on the couch and leaned over the back, reaching higher.

"Gonna have to reach higher than that, darling," He smirked at you. "Or are you going to behave and sit your ass down so I can finish brushing your hair?"

You growled softly and lunged at him. Right before you landed on him an arm shot out and wrapped around your middle, pulling you back down on the couch. You gasped as you felt Steve's arm against your lower rib cage. Your cami having rode up while trying to get your brush.

"That is enough you two," Steve said in a hard voice, freezing you in place. "Bucky we came up here to provide comfort, not to rile her up."

He settled you down closer to him, his arm still wrapped around you. "And you, you behave. You aren't the only one Nat has been toying with. We aren't the ones you are mad at so that's enough."

You were still frozen as the sensations from earlier came back full force. Followed by what you could only describe as butterflies in your stomach. You took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "S-Steve you can let go now."

"Not until you promise to behave, doll. Can't have my best gal and guy fighting," He replied, resting his chin on your head. "So what do you say? Gonna be a good girl for me?"

The low level warmth that was spreading through your body amped up at his last question and you jerkily nodded. "I'll behave."

As soon as his arm loosened you scrambled off the couch and across the room to the only other chair in the room. Your mind going a hundred miles an hour. What in the hell was wrong with you? There was no reason for you to respond to just a normal touch or voice like that. These two are your best friends. You were in contact with them almost daily, and had been for years. You had never felt anything like this from them. Until today, and all of a sudden it was like a switch had been flipped. You glanced over at them to find them once again looking at each other, silently communicating. Bucky's eyebrows almost disappearing into his hair and Steve's mouth set in a hard line, his jaw clenched. After a minute you watched as Steve forced his jaw to relax and his easy smile came back. That's when they both looked over at you.

Bucky was the first once to say anything. "You okay over there, darling? You look a little spooked."

You bit the inside of your cheek, "I'm fine. It's just been a long day."

At that Steve let out a terse chuckle, and rubbed the back of his neck. "More like week."

"Yeah, Nat said that your mission went to shit. What happened?"

"You haven't read the mission reports?"

You shook your head, "You two usually like telling me about them. So I haven't been bothering to read them."

A soft expression crossed his face so quickly that if you hadn't been paying attention you never would have seen it. "Tell you what, doll. You let Bucky finish brushing your hair, so it doesn't become a tangled mess. As he does that, I'll tell you about it." You started to nod- "But you'll have to come back over here and sit. Can't have you sitting all tensed up across the room."

You pursed your lips at him, "I'm fairly comfy over here, thank you very much. Besides, Bucky won't have to lean over as much in this chair."

Bucky hummed and sat back down on the couch. "It wasn't a request, darling. Get your ass over here."

"Bucky. What did I say?" Steve asked, still smiling. He looked at you, " He meant to say please. His manners have been slipping as of late."

You watched them warily, trying to figure out what they were playing at. "See, this is what I was talking about. You two are acting weird all of a sudden."

"Told you, been a long week, doll. I think we all just need to relax the same way we always do. That means you over here with us, not all the way across the room."

"And if I refuse?"

His smile fell away, "That's entirely up to you. If you do, then we'll leave you alone, not bothering you again."

Your eyes popped wide as you looked from him to Bucky, who was suddenly glaring at him. "Y-you wouldn't!"

Steve shrugged, "Try me, doll. You say we are acting weird? You've been on edge since we pulled that idiot off of you at the party. You're acting skittish, like you are suddenly scared of us. Big difference from the woman that let us pass out on her bed last week. So what are you scared of?"

"I'm not scared of anything when it comes to you two," you lied through your teeth, hoping they didn't pick up on the tremble in your voice.

"Then I guess you won't have a problem sitting over here with us as usual. So what's it going to be?"

You huffed out a breath when you realized that he had you backed into a corner. He knew, they both did, that you relied on them just as much as they did you. "That's not fair, Steve Rogers, and you know it."

"Neither is trying to put space between us when Bucky and I haven't done anything wrong."

Bucky shifted and you looked at him, surprised that your brush hadn't snapped in two when you saw how tightly he was holding it, his knuckles white. He was biting the inside of his cheek and you weren't sure who he was more frustrated with. Normally it was you and him that were butting heads, while Steve played the resigned mediator. He was still glaring at Steve, which made you feel marginally better, but you realized that he wasn't going to get between the two of you arguing. You looked back at Steve who was still staring at you with a calculating look on his face. You couldn't fathom losing the two of them. You relied on their presence in your life just as much as they did yours. However, you had a feeling that if you got up and sat between them that you would be crossing an invisible line in your relationship with them. A line that you hadn't known about until now. Though judging from the way they were acting, you were positive that they had known about the line long before you did. That they had been actively avoiding it, until tonight. That much was obvious, just as it was obvious that they had decided to cross it. But what-

The realization suddenly hit you. They had never seen you with any other men outside of the team. Most of your time, when the team was home, was monopolized by them or Nat. They were jealous. That's what had changed in them. It also explained why you were suddenly reacting to their touch the way you were. Well Steve, Bucky had been actively avoiding touching you since he came into the room. But you were sure it would be the same way with him. They did nothing by halves, and if they both didn't feel the same way then they wouldn't be in your room. Nat pushed their intentions and they responded accordingly. They're intentions had changed and somewhere in the back of your mind you had realized that at the party.

Steve snapped you out of your musings, "Well what's gonna be, doll. Are you coming over here or are you kicking us out?"

Your mind was already made up. Had been, you realized, since you had let them into your room earlier. There was no reason to delay it any longer, and yet you could feel your body beginning to shake as your anxiety came to a head. "Steve, I-"

"Hey, it's okay, doll. We're not going to force you to do anything you don't want to. I'm not fond of how this is coming about, we both wanted to take this slower. To give you your space until you realized it on your own. But after what happened at the party, I think that we've waited long enough. It took all of the control in me not to break that man's arm when I seen him grab you like that."

You slowly stood up and made your way over to the couch on shaky legs. They were both looking up at you now, and you took in an even breath. Knowing that if you sat down there would be no going back, for them, or for you. You didn't sit down so much as your legs gave out. Your butt had barely touched the couch when Bucky pulled you into his lap and buried his face in your tangled hair, breathing deeply. You heard him mutter, thank God, as Steve let out a hard breath. He scooted over on the couch until he was in the middle and pulled your legs into his lap, while the feeling of Bucky's breath on your neck sent shivers and goosebumps through your body.

"There's our good girl," Steve said softly as he started to massage your foot, his other hand rubbing up and down your still shaking leg.

You let out a low groan as you felt Bucky using his hands to gently detangle your hair while sporadically pausing to massage your scalp. A few minutes later you tipped your head back as you slowly started to relax and felt the tension seep out of their bodies as well. By the time Bucky was done detangling your hair, you were dozing in and out against his chest. The exhaustion of the past day catching up to you. It was then that you felt something soft brush against your lips as a cool set of metal fingers cupped your cheek. You forced your heavy eyes open to see Bucky leaning over you, his lips centimeters from yours, a questioning look on his face. In response you nuzzled your face into his hand, then let out a quiet sigh as his lips brushed yours again, before settling in for a deeper kiss. He pulled back and you felt yourself being shifted until you were straddling Steve's thighs, blinking blearily up at him.

"My turn," he said softly, but you could hear a rough edge to his voice. He ran the pad of his thumb across your lower lip, smiling as your lips parted. "I need to hear you say it, doll. Need to hear you say that you're sure you want this. Want us."

You nodded at him as your sleep addled brain told you that even now he was offering you one last way out.

"No. I need to hear you say it. We both do." He ran his hand into your hair, cradling your head. His thumb still stroking your bottom lip.

"I want this, I want both of you." You mumbled, ducking your head, a blush covering your face.

"God, doll. You have no idea how long we've waited for you to say that. I know you're exhausted. Just one more kiss, then we'll go to bed. Yeah?" He tipped your head back and pressed his lips to yours. Not quite as gently as Bucky had, like his patience had run out. His tongue brushed against your lips and he groaned low when you opened up and let him in, your tongue tangling with his. He pulled back a few minutes later and rested his forehead on yours. "Gonna have to stop there, before I won't be able to stop at all."

He slid his hands under your thighs and stood up. Waiting on Bucky to join y'all before heading to your room. Bucky pulled down your comforter as Steve placed you in the middle of the bed, then pulled the covers over you. You reached out to them as they walked to the door.

"Stay."

Bucky quickly walked back over to you, "Shh darling. We'll be back in just a few minutes. Gotta go get some clothes. Don't think you're quite ready for us to be naked in bed with you just yet."

He brushed your hair away from your face, and you hummed at him. "Hurry up then, the bed is cold."

They left the door to your bedroom cracked, the light from the living room spilling through. You could hear them talking and you watched as a shadow paced back and forth.

"That was incredibly fucking stupid, Steve. Thought we had agreed to go slow, not to scare her? What if she had told us to get out? Hell, her entire body was shaking when I pulled her into my lap," Bucky sounded beyond pissed off.

"I'm aware. I thought she was going to. But you and I both know that plan went to shit when we seen that jackasses hands on her like that."

"That wasn't her fault, that was Natasha's."

"I understand that, but if everyone knew she was spoken for then it wouldn't have happened at all. I'm not proud of how I handled it either, but it worked. She's ours and that's all that matters. Now if you're done, I'm going to go get some clothes."

Their voices trailed off as you heard the main door close. You didn't realize that you had dozed off until you woke up as someone shifted you around. You let out a sigh as your head came to rest on Steve's shoulder, his arm pulling you deeper into his side.

"Mmm, you're warm," you said laying your hand on his chest. "Where's Bucky?"

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Because otherwise I'd be laying on metal."

He snorted, "Yeah, didn't think about that. He'll be in in a minute. Stark was waiting outside your door for us when we came back. I ducked in and left Bucky to deal with him."

"Why?" You asked around a yawn.

"Being overprotective, I'm sure. Buck's probably getting a lecture about not hurting you right now."

It was your turn to snort, "That man is ridiculous."

"He means well, most of the time." He started playing with your hair.

"Quit," you shook your head. "You'll make me fall asleep like that.

"That's the point, doll."

"Mm-hmm. Will Bucky be similarly undressed when he gets in bed?"

"Undressed?"

You run your hand across his bare chest, feeling him tense a little. "Yeah. You're not wearing a shirt."

"I'm wearing more than I normally do."

"Ah. Be still my beating heart." You place your palm over his heart, "Oh wait, that's yours."

A light slap on your butt made you yelp and your eyes went wide as you looked up into his smiling face.

"Behave."

"Or what, you'll spank me?" You teased.

You felt a grumble in his chest, "You'll like it."

You were glad the bedroom was pitch black as your face turned crimson, "H-how do you figure that?"

"I've been watching you closely for three years. Only a blind man would miss the signs."

You tried to push up away from him only to be yanked back down. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Bucky opened the door in the middle of your question, "What is what supposed to mean?"

"That he saw the signs that I would enjoy it if he spanked me."

"Ah," Bucky ran a hand down his face. "Steve, what did we just talk about?"

"I didn't start it. She asked if I was going to spank her," he shrugged.

"Did you darling?" Bucky asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well yeah, but I meant it as-"

"Flirting, you were flirting."

"I always flirt with you two! That's nothing new."

He scooted across the bed until he was flush against your back. Wrapping his arms around your middle. "You are absolutely right."

"So what? I'm not allowed to flirt anymore?"

"Oh, you can flirt. It's just that right now you're in bed between two people who have waited almost three years to get you here. Are you sure that one of the first things you want to do is flirt about getting your pretty ass spanked? We may be super soldiers, darling, but even we run out of patience."

"And I know that right now my patience is running very thin," Steve grumbled. "So I suggest you go to sleep, doll."

You blew out the breath that you had been holding and did your best to clear your mind. They weren't wrong, you had always wondered what it would be like. Now that someone was all but volunteering to do it? You couldn't help but squeeze your thighs together at the image of Steve spanking you while Bucky watched. How in the hell were you supposed to go to sleep now?