Chapter 3 – Only You

'I can't do this.'

'Clint Barton,' Tony snaps, 'if you chicken out you are never allowed access to my drinks cabinet again. Do I make myself clear?'

'That's just mean.'

'Desperate times, Clint, desperate times. Now please don't tell me you're going dressed like that? The restaurant will not let you in.'

'Of course not,' Bucky laughs to himself as Clint rolls his eyes. 'I've brought the change of clothes with me don't panic.'

'Really? Because all I can see is your gym bag,' Natasha says as she comes out of Tony and Steve's kitchen.

'No. I brought the suit bag with me, I took it to the gym and put it in my locker…'

'Which you never use and you forgot to check. Am I right?' she asks.

'Err…' Clint blushes bright red. 'Maybe?'

'Clint!' everyone is gathered at Tony and Steve's for board game night and they'd let Clint come along to get ready with them and then they could all wish him luck. Now Bucky is really regretting that decision.

'You are completely useless!' Hope chastises him. 'You can't turn up to a date in your gym stuff. Especially not one at a high end restaurant.'

'I'll just go back to the gym-'

'-you don't have time,' Tony cuts him off, grabbing hold of his wrist. 'Come on you idiot, you're about my size. I'm sure there's something in my wardrobe you can use. Now don't say I never do anything for you.'

Once the two of them have disappeared into the depths of the house Steve turns to give Bucky one of his concerned looks.

'Don't start, Stevie,' Bucky warns him.

'You look like you want to throw up.'

'I feel it,' he admits.

'Want a vodka shot?' Natasha offers.

'Nat we shouldn't be encouraging-'

'Please god yes!' Bucky cuts off Steve.

'You shouldn't be getting drunk-'

'It's just a bit of Dutch courage,' Jane reassures him, placing a hand on his arm. 'Let him be, Steve.'

Steve just sighs and nods. 'Fine.'

Bucky mouths a thank you to Jane, the woman is so calm and sensible that no one tends to argue with her. Outside of games that in. In games she's ruthless; it's scary really. The only person more ruthless is Loki. And Bucky is convinced Thor's brother is really a secret serial killer.

It doesn't take long for Tony and Clint to return and Bucky has to swallow back a lot of the compliments he wants to give. Tony's put Clint in a dark purple shirt with black dress pants and the blond looks amazing.

'Looking good Clint!' Hope calls from the dining room. 'Now go knock your mystery person dead!'

'I'm not sure I can-' Clint starts.

'Clint! Go!' everyone shouts at him. He just holds his hands up in surrender and waves goodbye to everyone, walking out the door and to the waiting cab outside.

As soon as the door is shut there's flurry of activity.

'Quick!' Natasha grabs Bucky's glass from his hand. 'You can't be too far behind him.'

'All your stuff is waiting on the bed in the spare room,' Tony tells him, passing him a glass with a couple of fingers of whiskey in it as he's pushed by him.

'Come on, Buck, you don't have much time,' Steve urges him, pushing him along the corridor.

Really he thinks he has equal parts the worst and the best friends possible.

Bucky watches the cab drive off and turns to look at the entrance to the restaurant. The windows are all tinted so you can't see in and there's a group of, what he'd guess to be, businessmen just going in now. Compared to them he feels a tad underdressed, although Steve's lent him one of the suit jackets that Tony had made for him to attend Stark Industry events in, so he doesn't feel quite as underdressed as he could have been.

And why is he focussing on his bloody jacket when Clint is inside waiting?

Bucky straightens himself up, reminding himself that if he can face insurgents in a war zone he can walk into a restaurant and tell the guy he's been dreaming about since high school he loves him, and walks up to the door, smiling and thanking the doorman who opens it at his approach.

'Booking under Stark,' he says as he approaches the desk. Tony had made the reservation as it meant they'd get special treatment. According to him anyway, Bucky thinks he's just showing off.

'Wonderful, sir, please follow me. Your guest has already arrived and been seated,' the woman says, smiling widely and leading him through the restaurant; he'd left instructions on the note he sent to Clint with what to say when he got here so he could keep his identity hidden for a bit longer.

Ok maybe Tony wasn't exaggerating, Bucky thinks as she shows him through to a private room.

'I'll be back to take your order in a few moments,' she says, 'in the meantime I'll leave you to talk and make your decision. If you need anything there's a button on the table you can press and someone will be in within a few minutes.'

'Thank you,' he smiles at her and tries to fight back the nerves as she reaches for the door handle. He's starting to wonder if those insurgents were still around and if he could go back to fighting them instead.

He walks through the door and lets it be closed behind him as he looks over at Clint, who is just looking up from the menu.

'Bucky?' Clint asks, eye wide in shock. 'What are you doing here?'

'Well I thought it would have been obvious?'

'Wait,' if possible, Clint's eyes go even wider, 'you sent all of those gifts?' Bucky just nods, his voice lodged in his throat. 'But…why?'

'What do you mean, why?'

'Why did you send all of that stuff? It wasn't because…it's because you were feeling sorry for me always getting rejected isn't it? Look Buck I appreciate the gesture but I would have preferred if you'd just left well enough alone, alright? This is just kind of cruel.' Clint sighs and stands up, taking his jacket from the coat hook and it's only as he's about to walk past Bucky that his brain kicks in and he grabs hold of Clint's arm.

'Wait, what? You think I did this out of pity?'

'Well what other reason could you have?' Clint demands.

'What other reason? I thought I'd made that obvious from the gifts!'

'Look just leave it alright? Let's go home-'

'Clint I love you,' Bucky blurts out and the other man freezes, but doesn't turn to face him. 'I have since high school,' Bucky's voice is quieter now, but no less firm. 'It's killed me watching you fawn over all these other people, watching you walk down the aisle with someone other than me, but I bit it all back because I thought you were happy. Then every time I'd just get my courage up to tell you there'd be someone else on the scene.'

'That steak meal the other month?'

'Yeah…yeah I was going to tell you then but you'd just met Carol.'

'But…since high school?'

'Yeah,' Bucky releases Clint's arm to rub the back of his head, effectively messing up the pristine bun Natasha had put his long hair into not even an hour ago.

There's silence for a few moments. 'I should have guessed it was you. All the gifts, they could only be from someone who'd known me as long as you three have. I just…I didn't dare hope it was you I guess,' Clint admits.

'Wait, what?' Bucky looks at him, eyes going wide.

Clint laughs softly and heads back to the coat hook and hangs his jacket back up. 'Uh…yeah. Shall we maybe sit down and have some wine for this conversation?' Bucky just does as he suggests, mind still racing to catch up. When he takes his seat opposite Clint he notices the other man is fiddling nervously with his napkin. 'I guess…I always had this part of me that wanted you Bucky, but I never thought you were interested. So I resigned myself to just being good friends and tried to ignore all of them.'

'Hadn't you noticed I never dated anyone?' Bucky asks him. 'All these years Clint, no one could match up to you. When you moved in I tried to resign myself to just being close to you as friend, but I couldn't help my heart breaking along with yours every time someone chose another person over you. I used to get so angry because I couldn't understand how no one could see how wonderful a person you were. Nearly knocked Steve out when he and Tony first got together.'

'You what?' Clint nearly spits out his wine.

'Yeah,' Bucky rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. 'It was only Tony telling me he assumed we were together and he didn't have a chance with Clint was the reason he'd even considered Steve in the first place that calmed me down.'

'So that's why Steve had a black eye. He never did tell me how he got it,' Clint laughs.

'It's always been you, Clint,' Bucky tells him. 'Only ever you.'

Clint smiles at him across the table, a smile full of pure happiness that Bucky hasn't seen on his face since high school. He can't resist it, he stands up and goes over to the other man, cupping his cheek with his hand and pressing a soft kiss to his wine tinted lips.

'I love you, Clint,' he repeats.

'It's only ever been you too, Bucky,' Clint tells him, 'I was just too scared to admit it.'

'Think we should order some food?' Bucky asks with a grin.

Clint laughs. 'And some more wine. I still can't believe you brought me here.'

Bucky winks at him as he takes his seat again. 'I'm going to look after you properly, doll. Although Tony insisted on paying half tonight so he can gloat about being responsible for bringing us together.'

'In that case we're ordering the most expensive drinks we can and he's paying the drinks tab,' Clint laughs.

'This is why I love you,' Bucky raises his wine glass to the other man.

'I love you too,' Clint winks at him, clinking his glass and taking a drink.

Yeah he may have the most annoying friends in the world, Bucky thinks, but he also has the best. Because without them there's no way he'd have had the guts to get the guy in the chair opposite him.

Not that he'll ever tell them that of course. For now he's just going to enjoy this night with Clint. This night and every night.

A/N: Well that's a wrap everyone! I've not done such a short multi-chaptered story that wasn't part of a longer series in ages. It's been a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much again to BritInvasion80 for letting me borrow the idea - I hope I've done you proud.

Please do let me know what you thought of the story and let me know if you have any requests.

The next story to come out will be the next instalment in the main series 'Another Chance' so check out the series so far if you haven't already.

Love always,

L x