It was 7:12 on a cold November morning; it was the Avengers' first mission in a while and they were taking on the enemy in pairs. Sam, Wanda and Vision stayed home to watch Bucky because Tony didn't exactly trust him to be an Avenger yet. As luck would have it, Steve and Tony got stuck paired with each other. Again.

There were snow flurries falling from the sky, and Steve would have stopped to watch but they were kind of being attacked at the moment...

Steve threw his shield at his remaining opponent while Tony finished off his last adversary, he then heard his earpiece turn on and felt it vibrate.

"Tony, Barton and I have eyes on him. Head back- we'll meet you there" Natasha said through her earpiece.

"Roger that. Where are Banner and Point Break?" Tony replied.

"Bruce and Thor have infiltrated the enemy base. Clint and I are keeping watch"

"Rogers and I are headed for cover now. It's a blizzard out here" he said, unsure if they'd be able to make it back to the air base.

"Just stay hidden. There's no need to get right back to the Helicarrier now. We'll tell you when we're starting to head back. We've got it under control over here" Clint assured.

"Got it. We'll look for shelter now. Over-" he ended the call and retracted his dented face mask on his helmet. A strong gale pushed cold snow into his unprotected eyes.

"Rogers!?" He yelled over the force of the snow ridden wind to his coworker who was practically right next to him, "Lets get to that shelter in the distance! We won't last much longer if we stay out in this storm!" He clutched Steve's shoulder with his hand and pointed him in the direction of the shack-type structure.

They headed over to what looked like an old, abandoned wooden shed in mid-nowhere, far out in the distance. The snow piled up to nearly three feet as Steve lugged through it. It seemed so far away. Seeing how Steve couldn't fly like Tony, it seemed like ages before he finally got there.

Tony had broken the door in. It was cold inside and smelled like wood and hay, but it was better than being outside and the icey snow nipping at his face. Steve pulled the rickety wooden door from the ground and shoved it back into the frame to keep the warm within the four walls that surrounded them. They might be stuck here a while.

He turned around to see Tony sitting on the ground on some hay. He rested his right arm on his knee and extended his other leg outward. He smiled at Steve through the bruises and cuts on his face. Some snow and light tapered in through an opening in the wood above Tony's head. The sun was setting and it was about to get much colder and windier.

Steve removed his helmet from his head, sweat in his hair made it stick up in different directions. A line of blood on his lower lip had dried in his beard. He ran his fingers through his dirty blonde locks to smooth the strays down. His face was sweaty and speckled with mud and his uniform had a thin slice through it on his abdomen. His opponent had cut him and the blood stained his blue suit, but the gash in his skin had already healed thanks to the Super Soldier Serum.

The last rays of red and golden sunlight rested on Steve's face and lit up his eyes as it shined through the cracks in the wooden wall opposite him. Tony gazed up at him, lost in the abyss of blue and speckled green. But Steve wasn't paying any attention. He was too busy looking around the place he thought they might be stuck in for the next day or so.

Steve caught Tony's eyes lingering, but didn't pay any mind to it. Tony, however, didn't look away. The sides of his lips curled up to form a smile even though he looked beaten up and hurt.

"Alright there, Tony?" Steve asked, genuinely concerned with his friend's health.

"Just fine and dandy" Tony said, sarcastically.

Steve smiled and chuckled then sat down next to his friend who was still in the most of his Iron Man Suit, besides the helmet. Steve let out a sigh as he sat to the left of Tony, mirroring his position.

Tony watched him as he sat, his eyes lingering and wandering down Steve's perfect body. His ears were pleased to hear Steve sigh as he took a seat relatively close to him, their thighs touching through the thick pants of Steve's suit and Tony's metallic armor. Tony wanted to strip the suit off, just to feel the warmth radiating from his friend.

Tony would never say it, but he had feelings for Steve. More than friend feelings too. He had felt this way for a while now, and is only mean to Steve because he cares about him so much. He knew that Steve probably didn't feel the same way, that he probably still had Peggy Carter on his mind, that he was almost definitely straight - but he could still hope. Maybe now, with it being just the two of them all alone in the middle of a storm, would be the perfect chance for Tony to get a feel for where Steve stood... even though he knew his chances of being happy with the outcome were highly unlikely.

Okay, he thought, let's find out.

"Hey, Steve?" Tony asked, politely for once.

Steve, He thought... he never calls me Steve... always Rogers. What's he up to this time...

"Mmm?" Steve said, lips turned inward. He moved his head to look at Tony, but he was already looking at him. Tony's eyes were bright, wide open, with little splotches of dark yellow interspersed between the brown and faded green flecks.

He looked different.

Steve licked his lips

Tony's eyes flickered down to Steve's lips for a split-second. His own lips parted as he let out a quick breath of air, followed by a little noise. He looked at Steve's lips again and flickered back and forth between his eyes and lips.

Steve's gaze never varied. He looked Tony right in his eyes, almost confused and concerned, but caring at the same time.

"Uhh Tony wha-" Steve started, but was quickly interrupted. Tony's lips crashed into Steve's. He could taste the irony blood on Steve's bottom lip, his long beard gently touching Tony's face.

Tony's tongue laced the inside of Steve's upper lip and as he pulled it back, Steve quickly pulled away. His hand moved right to his mouth, eyes wide. A deep red color rushed into Steve's skin, he could feel it heat up his cheeks. He blinked a few times but didn't look away from Tony's eyes.

Tony's hand rested on Steve's knee as he looked at Steve with needy eyes.

"Tony- I... what- what are you doing? I don't understa-" and Steve was interrupted yet again.

Tony's cold lips craved the heat from Steve's warm, soft lips. His tongue moving about Steve's mouth, exploring around his tongue and cheeks.

Then, Steve reluctantly kissed back.

Their tongues pushed together rigidly. It was messy and almost to the point of too rough. Tony hastily pulled away and looked Steve in the eyes with pure lust.

He moved his arm to his chest and touched the arc reactor in order to remove his suit. The metal climbed across his arms and into his chest. His veins in his arms and neck popped out on his red skin, his mouth gaped open as he looked up at Steve.

Tony's calloused hand reached up to touch Steve's face. It brushed against his beard and lined his jaw, fingers under his ear. He smiled with good intent, though he couldn't hide his eyes full of desire.

His other hand came up to the other side of Steve's face as he moved in to kiss him again. Tony kissed him in short, rough spurts and gasped between each peck.

"God... Steve..." Tony whispered under his breath.

Steve opened his glassy eyes mid-kiss. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening. Everything was blurry, but he kept kissing. He let Tony's tongue enter his mouth. It was messy but perfect - Tony has wanted this for such a long time. He just didn't know Steve had felt the same...

"Mmmm..." he urgently pushed Tony off of him. "Tony- what's going on? This is just- I don't know" he looked at Tony, confused.

"Oh Rogers" Tony said with a playful smile as he chuckled. "Just shut up and kiss me" he said as he inched up to Steve's face and kissed the corner of his lip, but this time Steve pulled away and didn't kiss him again.

The sun had gone down and it had gotten dark but the snow continued to fall. The smell of cold, fresh snow flowed gently thought the cracks in the wood. Steve's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the snow quietly pack down onto itself and the prickly noise of the night air blow icey flakes into the wooden exterior walls. Even though the wind had died down to a soft whistle, the blizzard of thick snowflakes raged on.

Steve grew uneasy. He knew it was wrong, that he shouldn't be doing this to himself. That he shouldn't be doing this to Bucky.

But Steve felt a terror arise within him as Tony kissed him, he was completely against what was happening... Yet at the same time it was useless to try and stop it. With Tony having initiated the kiss, there's no way he would let Steve stop.

Steve's sensitive ears then picked up on a different noise, on a light crunching, a packing of the snow.

Footsteps.

If it was one of the other Avengers they surely would have called first on the earpieces like they said they would, but there wasn't any sign yet of the mission being complete. So who, or what, was it?

Then they stopped. At the door. Tony hadn't noticed so Steve thought it was probably just a figment of his imagination. That is, until he saw a shadow. A man stood behind the door and his black boots were visible under the wood.

Then out of nothing, the door was kicked in and slammed against the opposite wall only to break into three pieces, scattering wood all over the floor. Tony looked up and pulled away in an instant. He touched his arc reactor and triggered his suit onto his body as he stood. Steve turned around, still sitting on the cold floor, to see who it was.

"...Bucky?" He said, in disbelief.

Bucky's eyes shot over at Steve under furrowed eyebrows. His hair blew in front of his face. He wasn't in uniform, but he had black paint smeared on his eyes.

"B-Buck what are..." Steve trailed off.

"Barnes. What you doing here? We're on a mission you're not supposed to be a part of it" Tony finished Steve's sentence.

Bucky's eyes darted at Tony. A red haze filled the room and blocked Bucky's rational thinking - he was furious. Not at Steve, no. He could never be mad at his Stevie. But Tony? How could he take advantage of innocent little Steve like that?

Steve heard gears turning and he looked up at Bucky. It was his metal arm. "Buck! Wait-"

But he was too late. Bucky had already lunged at Tony. His metal arm quickly grasped the top of Tony's metal face mask and forcefully ripped it off and crushed it in his hand. He punched Tony, leaving a scratch on his cheek and blood dripping down to his chin.

"Bucky! Stop!" Steve tried to stop him, but he was on a rampage. Bucky turned around and pushed Steve back with his real arm. He then punched Tony again and again and again, knocking him down. Bucky hovered over Tony and punched the bright blue arc reactor in his chest. The light flickered.

Tony's vision was blurry, tears blocked his view of what was in front of him and he could feel new bruises and scars already forging on his skin.

Then it all went black.

• • •

"Tony, we've got your coordinates. We're headed over now. Are you guys doing ok?" Natasha asked over her earpiece. She sounded distant.

"Yea... I'm- *cough* -fine. Steve's... uh... Steve's gone though" he explained as he sat up.

"What - what do you mean? He left!?" She quickly replied.

*cough* everything hurt and it was still really cold. "Yea. He's with Barnes"

"This isn't Barnes' mission... why was he there?" She asked, concerned.

"Just hurry...ah- I'm hurt" he grunted.

"Ok we're coming now. We're close, just hold on Tony. Hold on" and the voice seemed to fade away into nothingness again.

• • •

"Are you... mad, Buck? Do you want me to explain?" Steve asked. They were home. Bucky had flown his own Helicarrier to the mission location to find Steve after he didn't call that night. Bucky knew something had to be wrong, and he was right after all.

They were alone in Bucky's room and knew the rest of the crew wouldn't be back until the next day at the very earliest.

"No need. Unless you want to" He didn't once look up at Steve.

How terribly he felt for doing this to him. "Buck, I'm sorry. Really. I just didn't kno-"

"Steve. It's fine. I'm fine. And as long as you're fine, everything will work out. боже, я люблю тебя (God, I love you)" he grabbed Steve's hand and kissed his forehead.

Steve smiled for the first time in a few days. He didn't look hurt anymore. He looked like Steve. Just how Bucky remembered him.

"That's better Stevie. I love your smile, don't ever stop"

"Sure thing. I just- I feel really bad. I shouldn't have done that. I don't understand how you could be so calm about this. That was way out of line, I never thought I would fall for that..."

"That's just what happened Steve. He tricked you. It's not your fault. Your innocent Stevie and I know that" he ducked his head down to Steve's level in order to look him in the eyes. "Oh... and, uh...Steve?"

Steve looked up at the blue-speckled grey crystals that rested in Bucky's eyes. His smile widened. "Yea?"

"I could never be mad at you, Steve. 'Cause I'm with you 'till the end of the line, pal" Bucky smiled at his little reference.

Steve pushed Bucky's long brown locks behind his ear and pulled him in for a kiss. Their kisses were so much better than what Steve remembers from Tony. He and Bucky flowed together like water, their tongues danced together always in sync and with the rhythm of the other. Tony was, really, nothing even close in comparison to Bucky.

It took only one small mistake for Steve to realize this... and that's why Bucky was fine with it. Because he knew they'd always be together, no matter what.

From the smallest to the biggest mistakes, he would always be his buddy, his pal, his Bucky.

—————
• James_BuchananBarnes •