Work Text:
“You leaving the last one to White Wolf?” Tony asks Steve over comms as he lands near the spot where Barnes is chasing down the last Hydra asshole. The battle is wrapping up, most of the team busy wrangling civilians.
“Yeah, I figure this one’s his,” Steve answers, and as Tony watches, Barnes wraps his left arm around the Hydra goon and tackles him to the ground before punching him out for good.
‘Damn, that’s hot’, Tony thinks, and only realizes he’s said it out loud when he hears Steve’s amused laughter over the comms.
“Shut up, Spangles,” Tony snaps, and takes off back to the tower. Bad enough he has a crush on Barnes, he sure as hell didn’t need Rogers finding out about it.
Thankfully, Steve doesn’t bring it up again and Tony hopes that that’s the end of it. Besides, Steve is the only one who heard him. Tony’s got plausible deniability.
Unfortunately, but maybe unsurprisingly, it’s not the end of it. The team is in the gym, a few days later, doing individual workouts, when Steve brings it up again.
So yes, maybe Tony did watch Barnes a bit too closely as he was pounding the supersoldier-proof punching bag Steve was holding for him. But it’s for science, alright? He needs to know that the equipment he designed will stand up to the test of not one but two supersoldiers. Especially one with a gorgeous vibranium arm. Wouldn’t want the equipment to fail and hurt someone, right? Right!
Barnes is stretching now, swinging his left arm back and forth in half circles as if to unkink the muscles; and the offer to look at it, should something hurt, is on the tip of Tony’s tongue. He swallows it down and just admires the view instead. Barnes really is unfairly attractive.
Steve walks over to Tony, a wide grin and a speculative look on his face.
“So,” he says loud enough that not only Barnes but also Nat, who is doing stretches at the barre nearby, and Clint who is handling barbells in the far corner of the room, can hear, “you think Bucky’s hot. I have to admit, if he wasn’t practically my brother, I’d agree.”
“What are you talking about, Rogers?” Tony asks with the appropriate amount of indignant irritation. “Did you hit your head? Something I should be worried about?”
“No,” Steve replies easily, gaze wandering over to where Barnes is now watching them with an unreadable look on his face. “Just asking about the comment you made on our last mission. When Bucky tackled that guy? You said it was hot.”
“I never said that. You’re delusional, Capsicle,” Tony replies, and reaches for his towel to sling it around his neck. He’d been doing a bit of cardio, but now his heart is racing even worse than during his workout.
“Jarvis, can you play-”
“J, override. Abort.” Tony fixes Rogers with a hard look. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you’re on thin ice, “ he hisses under his breath.
Barnes is now slowly walking towards them and out of the corner of his eyes Tony can see Nat and Clint leave the gym. It’s clear they don’t want to get involved in whatever is brewing between their team members.
There is a look of mild curiosity on Barnes’ face as he joins them. “Tony?” he asks, tone utterly neutral.
“It’s nothing. Don’t listen to him, Buckaroo. He’s just being an even bigger pain in my ass than usual. I guess I’ll just-”
“Steve, get lost.” Barnes’ eyes never leave Tony’s face but his tone is brooking no argument as he addresses Rogers.
“Bucky, I-” Rogers tries to argue anyway but is cut off by Barnes, who is giving him a quick, pointed look.
“You need to leave. Unless you want me to put on a show for Tony and tackle you, you better get your ass out of here.”
Rogers mutters something under his breath Tony can’t hear through the white noise in his ears. Barnes is standing just outside of reach looking like sin personified and Tony is in so much trouble.
All too quickly the door closes behind Rogers and Tony is alone with Barnes.
“I didn’t mean for you to find out like this. I’m sorry,” Tony finally says, awkwardly, when Barnes just looks at him, body utterly still. It’s something Tony has noticed before. The stillness. The perfect display of so much carefully constrained strength. It shouldn’t turn him on, but it does. The knowledge of how much damage Barnes could do, yet how impeccable his control is. It’s thrilling.
A slow smile spreads over Barnes’ face. “I’m not. Wouldn’t have approached you if you hadn’t slipped up.” He cocks his head slightly and Tony’s higher brain functions throw in the towel.
“Jarvis, privacy protocol,” Barnes orders. At least one of them seems to be somewhat coherent.
“So,” Barnes … James … says and steps a little closer, his right hand landing softly on Tony’s hip, “you thought it was hot, the way I took down that guy?”
“I, … uh,” Tony mumbles unintelligently, head spinning with James’ sudden closeness.
James chuckles and plants a playful little kiss to the tip of Tony’s nose. “Run,” he says.
Tony’s brain has short-circuited, so he just blinks at him. “What?”
James smiles and actually winks at him. “I won’t hurt you, I promise. Run!”
Oh!
Anticipation wraps around Tony’s spine in a tingle as what James is saying finally registers. Holy hell.
Tony’s kind of glad that the gym is large and has a padded mat in an open area at the far end of the room. He takes off in a sprint, not too fast since he doesn’t want to run out of room, but not exactly slow, either. He’s used to flying, not running, but that doesn’t matter. He never even considers calling the Suit. This needs to be full body contact. Skin on skin.
It’s over even faster than Tony had anticipated. James doesn’t hold back and runs at him full tilt, not even bothering to slow down as Tony tries to dodge him. His metal arm wraps around Tony’s midsection and Tony is lifted off his feet, momentum broken, momentarily suspended in the air as he is being pressed firmly but gently against James’ hard body.
In the next moment he’s on his back, on the mat, looking up at James, whose left arm is still wrapped around Tony’s hips, his right hand at the back of Tony’s neck, protecting his head. The display of perfectly controlled strength sends another shiver down Tony’s spine and he shudders in James’ arms.
This is crazy.
But so unbelievably hot.
Tony’s breath comes in short little puffs, his skin is tingling, cock tenting his sweatpants, and he is hyper-aware of every point of contact with James’ body. He hasn’t put his weight on Tony, careful not to crush him, but he’s there, solid and warm and Tony wants him so badly it hurts.
James shifts, letting go of Tony’s hips in favor of straddling him properly and Tony groans. The pressure against his cock is delicious but not nearly enough.
“This okay?” James asks softly, seeking his eyes, and Tony doesn’t have the brain capacity to answer. Instead he reaches out and pulls James’ head down into a heated kiss. It’s not gentle or refined, it’s not even really good, because the angle is all wrong. A second later James’ hand that has been cradling Tony’s neck moves, adjusting their positions and suddenly there’s a tongue plundering Tony’s mouth and it’s so good Tony’s mind whites out. He moans, then whines when James pulls back to look at him again, eyes now dark with arousal.
“You like being manhandled, Tony?” James asks, but he doesn’t wait for an answer. His hands gently close around Tony’s wrists, pinning them to the mat right next to Tony’s head and … this shouldn’t be as hot as it is. But something in Tony gives, surrenders to the feeling of being carefully, but thoroughly, pinned under 260 lbs of solid muscle supersoldier.
“Please,” Tony begs, not caring what he sounds like. He needs to feel James’ hands on his skin, needs to feel his weight, his solid, sturdy build, all the carefully, masterfully controlled strength pinning Tony into place. It’s thrilling, intoxicating unlike anything Tony has felt before.
The grip on Tony’s wrists tightens minutely as James leans down to whisper into Tony’s ear, “Please what? Tell me. Tell me what you need.”
“More. I need more,” Tony answers without hesitation.
The smile that spreads over James’ face is beautiful. “All you had to do was ask. Good boy.”
Tony all but melts. He closes his eyes and relaxes into Jame’s grip.
This is gonna be so much fun.