"Morning," Tony mumbles into his coffee mug as Bucky enters the kitchen wearing only his boxers and a t-shirt. He gestures to the counter, "There's coffee."
"Where's Cap?" Bucky asks, his voice still thick from sleep.
"Went for a run."
Bucky eyes Tony quizzically, "Shouldn't you still be sleeping?"
"Should be," he shrugs, "But I wanted to talk to you. Got a minute?"
Bucky nods, sliding out a chair across from Tony and sitting down, coffee mug clutched between his hands. He searches for an explanation in Tony's eyes for any hint of what he might need to talk about, but nope. Nothing. Tony is so damn unreadable and that irritates the hell out of James.
"You okay?" Tony asks, "Last night you seemed bothered by all this."
Bucky shrugs before mumbling, "Yeah, I just- I was being stupid. I didn't- I don't know where that came from."
"Does he know you feel that way?"
Bucky narrows his eyes, "What way?"
"I know I wasn't hammered last night," Tony huffs, leaning forward with his arms crossed, "I remember what the fuck you said and how the fuck you were acting. Don't act like I didn't see you pining after my husband. No, don't get up. Get your ass back here, Barnes."
Tony pushes off the table, following James down the hall to their bedroom and leaving his coffee long forgotten.
"What the hell do you want from me?" Bucky asks, exasperated.
"I should be asking you the same thing," Tony retorts sarcastically, "Look, just stick around 'til Cap comes back. You two can talk and you can resolve whatever the hell it is that's bothering you."
"And you?"
Tony gestures down the hall, "Shower. Wanna join me?"
Bucky tilts his head in the slightest little unsure movement.
Tony snickers, slowly stepping backwards toward the bedroom with a smirk on his face, "I'm just kidding. Unless you wanna join me then, by all means, do so."
Bucky shakes his head in silence, vaguely scratching at his stomach before stumbling back to the kitchen.
When the elevator dings Bucky's head snaps at the sound. The last thing to he needs to see right now is a shirtless, panting, sweaty Steve walking towards him with his track pants hanging dangerously low on his hips.
"Hey," Steve says with a breathless smile, "Didn't know you'd still be here. Tony still asleep?"
"Said he was gonna shower," Bucky mumbles, trying his best to keep his eyes focused on Steve's face rather than his dewy belly.
He watches in a trance-like state as Steve crosses the room to the hallway, the way Steve's muscles move under his skin, the drops of sweat sliding down the dimples in his back, just above the waistband of his pants, in the exact spot that was smeared with Bucky's semen just last night.
"Wait," James calls shakily, "Can we- you got a minute? I wanna talk about last night."
"Give me ten minutes," Steve calls over his shoulder.
When he walks into his and Tony's bathroom he fully intends on a quick shower. But damn it, Tony is in there, so Steve decides that Bucky can wait a little longer to talk.
Bucky doesn't have to ask questions about why it took Steve more than ten minutes; he knew Tony was in the shower. He should have figured out that he had more time to think about what he needs to tell Steve. He has it memorized in his head but when Steve walks back into the common room barefoot with a towel around his neck, Bucky loses focus and can only stare at the blank canvas of Steve's chest.
Steve plops down on the couch next to his best friend, sighing deeply and turning his head to the side.
"What's up?"
Bucky worries his bottom lip with his teeth, fingernails scratching at the microsuede on the sofa. With one look up into those gorgeous blue eyes he's at a loss for words.
"I miss you," he spits out finally. There, he said it.
"I miss you, too," Steve replies, still smiling and goddamn it, that isn't helping matters.
"I… I feel like you-"
"Tony told me what you said last night," Steve cuts in quietly, finally looking away, "Why didn't you just tell me you missed seeing me?"
James groans in frustration, "Steve, it isn't that easy."
"Yes it is," the blond replies slowly, "Look, whatever happened last night meant nothing. I mean, unless you wanted it to mean anything. In that case…"
"I thought it was just your birthday present," Bucky mumbles.
"No?" Steve guesses, standing up, "Look, I've got a meeting to get to get ready for. We'll talk more later. Jarvis, can you let Tony know Bucky's still here? Tell him that I'm picking dinner up on the way home and I expect him to be upstairs by six. Also set up a reminder call for him just before I get back. It should be right at six."
Jarvis' crisp, automated tone flows through the floor, "Captain Rogers, I don't believe I'm capable of performing such a request."
James looks up at the ceiling, still not used to the idea of a voice coming through the ceiling.
Steve huffs, "Tell him I said so or he'll be out of the bedroom for a week. Six o'clock, Jarvis."
"Yes sir."
By the time Steve gets back with Chinese, Bucky has finally showered and dressed. Steve recognizes that he's in one of Steve's t-shirts. As Steve sets the bags on the table he smirks.
"You're stealing my clothes now?"
Bucky shrugs, rubbing at the back of his neck, "Couldn't find mine."
Steve runs a hand through his hair idly as an awkward silence settles over them.
"Pumpkin!" Tony gasps sarcastically from somewhere behind his husband. He isn't entirely thrilled at the thought of being pulled away from his work, but a week out of the bedroom is too damn long to chance something like this.
Steve turns around with a smile as they embrace briefly, sharing a chaste kiss and then Tony takes a seat at the table. He senses some tension – or maybe not tension, just some polluted air – between James and Steve. He doesn't know why the hell these two are complicating things because Tony believes they should just roll with this and see where it goes. They can just fuck and hang out and watch movies. No big deal.
As Steve and Bucky sit down and take-out containers are passed around the table Steve looks up at his husband hesitantly, "We need to talk about last night."
Tony shrugs, taking a bite of his general chicken, "What's there to talk about?"
Bucky nor Steve can answer the question and they both sit there, unsure of how to reply. There's nothing to talk about; they had a threesome and apparently all parties involved enjoyed it. Tony rolls his eyes dramatically, making an accusing gesture with his fork between James and Steve.
"No, you two need to talk."
"Tony-"
"Actually, there's nothing to talk about. Steve, cupcake, you already know how I feel. If you want Jamie to stick around for a while, fine. It's fine, the whole thing is fine. Jesus Christ, we're all adults here."
Bucky smiles faintly at Tony's term of endearment, glancing over at him and then at Steve. Watching them bicker is actually kind of amusing.
"That's that, then," Steve mutters.
Bucky just smiles and Tony nods. That went well.
After dinner Steve ventures into the living room, to-go cartons disposed of in the trash and the kitchen clean once more, and flips on the TV.
"Tony!" he calls excitedly, remote in his hand, "Good Burger is on!"
"Oh god," Tony grumbles, rolling his eyes and collecting a fresh cup of coffee.
"What's…" Bucky trails off, coming into the room with a reaction similar to Tony's.
Still, Tony sits down at one end of the couch and Bucky is at the other end. Steve settles between them, head in Tony's lap and feet in Bucky's, content just to lay with them. Steve is unaware that he's the only one actually watching the movie; James and Tony are just here out of convenience.
For the rest of the night they lounge on the couch in varying positions but by the time Steve is asleep Tony and Bucky are next to each other with Steve's long, heavy legs stretched across both of their laps. With the television still on Bucky slowly turns to look at Tony. He'd been thinking about something Steve said last night but he didn't think it'd be okay to ask Tony about it with Steve in the room. He couldn't get it out of his mind and he'd be ashamed to admit that he got off to the thought of it in the shower. Now that Steve's asleep, Bucky figures it's a good time to ask about it.
Tony eventually looks over, breaking his eyes from the TV screen, "What?"
"It's just last night when we were- you said… or, Steve said- can he really take the whole thing?" Bucky manages to ask, gesturing to Tony's hand where it rests on Steve's thigh.
"Oh," Tony nods, lips pursed, "Oh, yeah."
"Can you- maybe next time- if there's a next time, could you show me?"
The smaller brunette shrugs, "Yeah, sure."
"If it's okay with Steve, I mean."
"Oh, it's okay," Tony chuckles, "It'd definitely be okay, he eats it up. Hey, I could even teach you how to do it if you want."
James' face lights up in a demure smile.