a_musingly | [closed to disassembling] - I Thought You Were Dead

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[closed to disassembling] - I Thought You Were Dead

Bad luck always comes in threes.

Steve had never been the superstitious sort before (he was Catholic). First there had been an accident with Banner that had lead to a last minute switch-up in assigned team members for this mission. Then there had been an accident in an Stark Industries owned factory that left Stark worried, twitchy and furious. Not a good state of mind to be doing a mission with.

The third of course was the attack that had brought down the quinjet over the thickly grown jungles Steve was currently hiking alone through right now, having been forced (for once it was not his idea to jump out of a plane without a parachute) to hastily exit the plane while it was on fire. He'd been separated from the rest of the team in the explosion; he hoped they were alright...no, he KNOWS they are all fine. Now it was only a matter of getting back to civilization and getting in back in touch with the rest of the Avengers. Any civilization, he wasn't picky at this point.

He didn't know that by the time he made his way out of the bush into civilization, more than a week would have passed.

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He nodded, the sensation of hotness on his cheeks attracting his attention because he had never been jealous or embarrassed before. He knew that he had no right to keep Steve away from the others, except for when it was time to sleep and cuddle together. He had come to understand that was their time and reserved for him alone. "Yes, I suppose it is logical, and she would help." And no, he was not saying anything about her legs unless he was going to have to apologize in future for breaking them or something. Not that he planned to.

With the week that he had, he couldn't face a maintenance check on top of it all. He wanted to stay near Steve and not be around the others, though he would tolerate it because of his friend's sake. Right now, here pressed under the heavy set of Steve's weight, he was safe. He frowned a bit at the threat, but he knew better than to protest. "I won't be compromised on any missions. It's working just fine," he said, and didn't add it was just a bit slow to respond for some actions.

Steve stared, fascinated by the redness in Bucky's cheeks. Bucky showed so very little outward emotion compared to before and he couldn't help but drag a thumb slowly across the skin where he could see the flush. Bucky was...jealous or embarrassed? "There's no need to be jealous...yes, she I find her aesthetically pleasing but I don't want to sleep or cuddle with her and I highly doubt she wants to with me. Actually...." He paused and thought some more about the looks she's been sending him lately. "I think she finds me just a bit on the stupid side."

He won't be able to stay in the entire week, there were reports to file, data to look through and certain people to talk to if they want to make a private mission of Hydra hunting next week but otherwise Steve wasn't going to move very much outside the apartment other than for his daily runs and other necessities. "I'll take your word for it. Just remember what I said."

He lifted his head a little when he felt Steve's thumb against his cheek and it only caused the foreign reaction to become even more pronounced, spreading from his cheeks to his whole face. He shifted to turn his face away from the touch, hoping that it would reduce how hot his face suddenly felt. "I'm not jealous," he replied stubbornly, mostly because he had no idea what being jealous felt like, not really, not until now. Was that really what he was experiencing? "Why would she think you're stupid? You're very intelligent," he said, coming to Steve's defense immediately.

He would need to get out of the apartment as well or else he'd to stir crazy sitting in one place. He would be certain not to test the capabilities of his prosthetic in front of Steve or risk getting disapproving looks or worse, nagging. "I'll remember. I don't forget as easily anymore."

Steve watched, mesmerized at the spreading blush, only withdrawing his hand when Bucky turned his head away even though he would have liked to follow the blush with his hand. "You're blushing." He pointed out. "It's alright...it's a very human, a natural thing to feel. To be protective over something you feel strongly for. So I'm flattered, really." Not one of the better emotions because it could get very ugly but still human. So he was glad that Bucky could start showing his feelings like this again to him, even if it was over something like this.

"I'm flattered you think so but there's many different kinds of intelligence." He freely admitted he could be really stupid when it comes to people and the way they think and react. Natasha on the other hand would recognize, analyze and understand the hows and whys of a person's behaviour within minutes of meeting someone, was trained to do so in fact.

He struggled with the idea that he was blushing, that the heat that made his head feel hot happened to result in the same reaction that he had seen on Steve's face many times before. He poked his own cheek, feeling the heat of it and apparently acknowledging it only made it linger for longer. "Am I malfunctioning? I've never blushed before," he murmured with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. He wanted to be normal, he really did, but he couldn't explain his sudden reaction to even himself because he didn't consider the Widow a threat to what he had cultivated with Steve. "It's... good that I'm protective of you? That's alright to feel?"

He knew that, though most of the intelligence that he was used to had nothing to do with relationships and such. He was generally good at reading body language for hostility, weakness and confusion. "You're still smart," he said as he shifted under Steve, a sigh of contentment leaving him.

"No." Steve answered very firmly, hearing the uncertainty in Bucky's voice and moving to make very sure that his friend understood there was nothing wrong with him. The only thing unnatural was what Hydra had done to Bucky to make lose his body's natural reactions and feelings. "You've seen me blush, right? Was I malfunctioning? No. It's...natural. It's your body reacting to something you're feeling, that's all. Usually embarrassment." He shifted one hand up to card through the hair at the back of Bucky's head reassuringly. "That's perfectly fine. It's always fine to feel something."

"Thank you." He said lightly, getting ready to move off of Bucky when his friend started shifting underneath him, thinking he was finally getting too heavy to endure. But Bucky settled down again and so did he as well. "I think you're plenty smart as well."

It was normal; he was acting in a normal way. Steve was right, and it was only that it had been so long since he had reacted in such a way that he had questioned himself. He nodded, remembering very well how Steve had blushed, but he still poked his own cheek in hopes that the reaction would subside. "I just knew I don't have a right to take up all your time... and then that happened," he said with a shake of his head and then immediately leaned back towards the fingers in his hair.

He almost protested when Steve began to move, but his friend settled again over him and it was a sense of comfort to him as he lay his cheek against the blanket and closed his eyes. "Hmpt, compliments will get you no where with me." He was do anything for Steve anyway.

It was cute, the way Bucky was poking his own cheek. He idly considered if it would be worth it to get Bucky to blush more; there must be more ways than embarrassment. He moved on from simply carding his fingers through the hair to scratching lightly at the scalp instead. "See? Just a bit of embarrassment. It'll go away on its own eventually so no need to poke it."

He dropped his head as well to rest against Bucky's back again, his fingers not pausing in its movements. "No? What would then?" There wasn't much he wouldn't do for Bucky if it was something Bucky wanted.

Steve apparently knew the right ways to make him comfortable and settle down as if he could sleep again despite having only been awake for a few hours. "My face feels uncomfortably hot when it happens," he said softly in a way of complaint. "You're just enjoying this too much as well. I can tell."

He grunted softly, though he did grudgingly think of things that would certainly work. "Wrestling with me in bed more," he said. That had felt very good this morning despite how short it had been. "Probably other things as well."

"If you want the scientific explanation of why it happens, you'll have to ask Dr. Banner." Steve said idly, gently scritching Bucky's scalp with his fingertips. He didn't deny his enjoyment of Bucky's blush, huffing a laugh into Bucky's shoulder. "Why shouldn't I enjoy it? It's you after all."

This time, it was his turn to feel his cheeks turn hot when Bucky brought up wrestling in bed. He would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't his own body's inappropriate reactions. Maybe if he insisted Bucky put on clothes first next time will help? "Noted. Food?" Food wasn't really much of a bribe; he would have continued to feed Bucky good things anyway.

He didn't want to know why it happened because he would much prefer that it didn't happen to him again. He suspected that Steve was going to see if it could happen once more, and he was going to be watching out for that. "I don't normally have such a reaction, so it's not really me."

He perked at the sight of a blush on Steve's face, and he immediately lifted his head and rubbed their heated cheek together. What was it about their wrestling that made such a reaction? "You blush a lot since last night and more this morning when we were wrestling. Why?" He would, of course, be easily bribed with food. He never denied that. "I enjoy food."

"It's not really controllable. People have tried but never really succeeded." He certainly would like it if he could control HIS blushes. Like now, when Bucky has spotted his face flushing red and is asking why, a question he knows he can't answer without bringing up other awkward topics. He closed his eyes to delay answering as Bucky rubbed his cheek against his, Bucky's cheek rough with stubble but it felt nice enough. "Because my body likes to do inappropriate things occasionally." He finally replied. It was as close to the truth as he could get without answering directly.

"I know...and I enjoy watching you enjoy it." He has never hidden that part either. "What would you like for dinner then?"

His cheek was much rougher than Steve's, but he doesn't mind the contrast one bit. He hadn't shaved today after all, hadn't really shaved much for the last week, so his stubble was not really stubble so much as a beard by now. "I thought you said that blushing was normal and not inappropriate," he replied, peering up at Steve. "Which is it?"

He hummed, still rubbing cheeks with Steve because it felt interesting to do so. He liked it, though he probably shouldn't. He hadn't nuzzled someone before that he remembered after all. "We should order in to give you another night off. You're still recovering from a week in the forest."

Bucky didn't seem to care for being as cleanly shaved as he used to be (before the war), but nowadays generally kept it short enough to be able to easily keep it clean. Compared to him who has never been able to grow anything on his face even before the serum it was an interesting contrast. "Blushing is normal and no inappropriate. It's other things, also uncontrollable, that are inappropriate." Steve sighed and hoped Bucky will leave it at that.

At least they were rubbing faces and not other body parts that will cause far more visible reactions then a bit of beard burn that will go away in an hour or two. (He resolutely did NOT think of Bucky rubbing his face in other places.) "I'm fine...I don't mind cooking some more. I did buy the groceries already anyway for the next few days on our way back." It had been only a bit of exhaustion with minor injuries. A good night's sleep had helped with the first and the second were already close to healing completely.

He hadn't wanted to shave at Stark Tower, barely able to keep on his feet and eat and then Steve had rushed off to a shower and he had been left behind. He hadn't taken the opportunity to clean himself up a bit more when he would more often think about it. Now, it didn't bother him because nuzzling Steve with a beard was a very novel concept, and he tended to enjoy those until the novelty ran out for him. "What other things?" Had he missed something important?

He hummed in his contentment despite the odd angle of his neck before he pulled away and twisted around so he could nuzzled Steve's other cheek now. "No, you should take time and be with me and order in so we don't have to leave the fort until we've slept more." He expected they both needed another bout of sleeping comfortably together, though... he couldn't well take off his pants like this trapped under Steve's weight.

When they'd finally gotten back to Stark Tower (not home, his apartment in Brooklyn was still home) he'd been too tired and hungry then to care anything much about other than getting clean, getting food in them both and sleep. Anything more than that he'd then considered secondary. In any case, Bucky's beard or lack of one was Bucky's business to do with as he wished. Bucky certainly seemed to be enjoying it now. "It's nothing...important. Just inconvenient." He said evasively again.

Steve moved his own head so Bucky had more room to do as he wished. "Greedy." He said, but Steve's tone was affectionate. But he gave in to Bucky's request easily. It was no hardship to stay here to doze and cuddle with Bucky. "Alright. We'll nap in here and I'll order take-out when we get hungry later." At least if they sleep in here, there shouldn't be any half-naked wrestling unless they want the blanket for to fall down around their ears.

"What is inconvenient?" He didn't understand why Steve wouldn't tell him when they were generally always honest with each other. Of course, there were a few subjects they avoided talking about, but he had no idea what kind of reactions aside from blushing would require Steve to evade him so much. He wanted the information now.

He knew that Steve wouldn't resist, probably needed a nap and cuddling as much as he did after the week that they had had. "Good, you're probably still tired and acting too tough to admit it. That's what I heard Thor say to Clint," he murmured, still rubbing his beard on Steve's smooth cheek.

Steve sighed. It looks like he was not going to be able to avoid talking about this any longer. Being evasive for someone's sake (his own really in this case) is fine but he has never considered outright lying to be okay. He's promised himself to never to lie to Bucky; there's been too many people, Hydra being the main one, who's lied and manipulated his friend for their own use and convenience. He took a deep breath. "Arousal. That's what's inconvenient and inappropriate. And the second reason why a person's face can turn red."

While he didn't mind napping some more, he's pretty sure he doesn't require it as much as the others keep telling him. He already had a good night's sleep already last night, he doesn't really NEED more, that's what the serum was for. Didn't he sleep enough already in those seventy years in the ice? "That's like the pot saying the kettle is black." Steve grumbled, rolling his eyes. "They're the ones who always try to keep going when it's obvious they're going to collapse with the next step." He ran a finger down his other cheek; it felt a little tender and no doubt was a little pink from the beard.

Arousal? He, of course, knew about it being human and all and there were entire joking conversations about it usually started by Tony. He knew that arousal in men happened, sometimes at inappropriate times, but he was also very keenly aware of how good he had felt pressing himself against Steve in the bed, how Steve had fled as if he had set his friend on fire to the bathroom. Steve... was aroused because of him or because it had just happened as it sometimes did with men? "Is that what happened this morning when you were blushing?"

He had also heard that saying, and he was aware that everyone pushed themselves harder than necessary on missions. However, given that he was comfortable and secure, he was willing to sleep. That was what he did after all; he slept between missions or he used to and it wasn't hard to fall back into the idea about it as well. "They're... probably just saying it so you don't embarrass them for how long you can go."

He had gotten so used to Tony's jokes that he didn't blush (too much) at his jokes though he still put a stop to the more inappropriate ones. Steve sighed again before replying. "Yes." In for a penny, in for a pound. Running away earlier had probably been a bad idea but he couldn't think of what else to do. It was all he could do to keep from moaning when Bucky pressed himself warm and hard against him earlier in the moaning.

Everyone pushed themselves in a mission but some people seemed to push themselves harder than everyone else, sometimes unnecessarily. Steve was used to being more active between missions, preferring to run or work out instead of sleep if he wasn't catching up on history and culture. Nowadays of course there was also Bucky to take care of. "I know...it's just teasing. Nothing serious."

He nodded his head, which caused his beard to rub against Steve's cheek again. He supposed that embarrassing blushing arousal would be enough to send Steve away from him when they had been having... well, fun. "I made it worse by insisting you stay to wrestle..." he murmured, turning his face just enough so that he could rest his temple against Steve's cheek. "I apologize if I made you uncomfortable. I just... wanted to be close to you."

Sometimes he thought that Steve pushed too far on mission even for a super-soldier. He suspected that there were some things that, like him, could only be fled from when exhausted. "I'm not teasing when I say we are staying here today," he said with a distinct seriousness.

Steve leaned back against Bucky, eyes sliding half closed.. "You didn't. Did I say before you're not responsible for me? I enjoyed the wrestling too, well, until my body started behaving inappropriately. So you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who's sorry; I ruined your fun." He reached up to run his thumb alongside the jaw, all the way up to the ear. "If you like we can try it again later...though I'm going to have to insist on at least pants this time."

If sometimes he pushed himself harder it was because he can while his teammates couldn't, so he ought to step up and just do it. Other times it really was he was trying to escape from something in his head, though he usually used exercise as a way to banish those demons (even if only temporarily) from his head. He raised an eyebrow at Bucky's comment and tone. "Here inside the fort? I did say I was going to cook dinner for us tonight."

He nodded his head a little, not used to apologizing or receiving one in return still. It was difficult to try to cope with social niceties. "So it was me not wearing pants that made you aroused?" He frowned thoughtfully at the idea as he leaned into Steve's touch and then shifted to settle his cheek down against the blanket again. "There is always time for fun later when you aren't blushing and aroused, Steve."

If he had his way, he wasn't going to let Steve leave the fort save to get food and to have a bathroom break or two. Otherwise, they could wrestle and cuddle and nap here where it was safe and warm and comfortable. He didn't think that his friend knew that yet either, but he would be certain to set himself to that objective and not allow it to stop. "No, you stay with me."

Steve thought Bucky was getting better all the time. It was difficult he knew and often frustrating but he appreciated Bucky's attempts. "It's not just that." Steve murmured. Bucky had been warm and hard and having him pressed close, grinding up on him, it had seemed his body couldn't NOT react. "Yes, you're right." He said agreeably, feeling grateful that the most awkward parts of the conversation seem to have passed and overall it hadn't been as bad as he thought it'd be.

"Bossy." Steve said fondly in reply to the implied command in Bucky's voice. "What are you going to do if I get up anyway?" He was teasing; if he really wanted to leave, he knows Bucky will let him up immediately. Really, he had no objections to spending the rest of the day lazing about, there was nothing urgent he had to see to.

"What then?" He wanted to know how one as stoic as Steve could be reduced to rushing to the bathroom and leaving him alone on the bed confused and warm. He knew that he was not to sleep naked again at least, not unless he was safe and alone, which didn't normally go hand-in-hand anymore. "Is being aroused with someone you trust something to be ashamed of?"

He hummed in agreement, though if Steve really wanted to get up and go, he certainly would do little else than move himself and follow. "I'll make you feel bad for doing so," he said, not above manipulating the situation like that. "Besides, you don't really want to get up. You're obviously comfortable."

[closed to disassembling] - I Thought You Were Dead

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