Chapter Text
It was the way they fought.
Tony watched as Bucky and Steve came together for another round of sparring in the middle of the training room, looking for all the world like they actually intended to rip each other’s throats out. Blows fell full-force but almost never landed, each of the pair ducking and weaving effortlessly away from their opponent’s attacks before they could find their mark. It was a dance, and a familiar one at that.
Sam came up to where he was leaning against the wall, still breathing hard from his and Tony’s last bout. They watched together as Bucky managed to catch Steve’s incoming punch with his metal arm, only to have it immediately wrenched out of his grip by an acrobatic flip that would have made a regular human sick. Sam nodded towards them.
“They don’t pull their punches, do they?” He took a swig from his bottle of water. Steve used his impromptu roll to push himself backwards off the floor, launching himself into Bucky with a force that made their little audience wince. Tony could almost swear he felt the room shake as they hit the ground. Sam continued, “If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were actually fighting.”
“I’m just glad they’re fighting each other and not us,” Tony quipped. Both men were careful to scale their force down when they sparred with their unenhanced teammates, focused on honing strategy and style rather than winning, but Tony still nursed a few bruises from his last bout with the Captain. (Nobody else needed to know just how much he savored those bruises when he could get them.) Even Peter and Thor had walked away from one or two tussles walking a little funny. At least he knew he wasn’t being coddled.
This, though, this was something else. Bucky used Steve’s tackle against him and rolled them until he was on top, metal arm holding Steve down by the neck. His other fist came down with bone-breaking viciousness only to be blocked by the hands Steve had just been using to grasp at his own throat. Steve used the opportunity to flip them over, and the tussle carried on.
“I don’t get it,” Sam said, watching the two super soldiers grapple, “Out of the ring they’re best friends. Steve treats Bucky like he could shatter any moment, and Bucky is the biggest dork I have EVER met. But face them off like this and...” He gestured back at the wrestling men as Steve dug his knee directly into Bucky’s ribs with enough force to break them. If it had been anyone else, they’d be facing weeks in a hospital bed. Bucky just grinned, wild and red-tinged from a bloodied nose, lunging suddenly upwards against Steve’s weight and managing to knock the other man off balance. Tony’s mouth went dry.
Most of the other training pairs in the room had stopped to watch the show. Natasha and Clint seemed vaguely impressed where they stood on the opposite side of the room, while Peter and Bruce looked on with something like worry. No one moved to stop the pair. It had been alarming when they’d first gone at it during group training sessions, confused at being pulled apart during a fight, but everyone was mostly used to it by now. Mostly.
Tony couldn’t help the creeping flush that made its way up his cheeks as he watched Steve and Bucky roll, grunting and violent, across the floor. The two men were gorgeous all the time, but like this? Sweat soaking through their ridiculously tight t-shirts and muscles bulging as they battled for dominance? He cursed his choice to wear sweatpants to group training, shifting uncomfortably where he leaned against the wall.
In the end, Bucky managed to slam Steve into the ground on his stomach, twisting both arms up his back at what must have been an intensely painful angle. “Call it!” he’d growled, grinding Steve’s face into the mat with his free hand. Steve struggled for a few valiant seconds, jerking hard and testing the hold his friend had on him, before admitting defeat.
“Fine, I’m done!” He sighed, letting himself go limp against the rubber matting.
The shift was instantaneous, and almost as disconcerting as the violence had been. Bucky was off his back in an instant. He helped Steve clamber to his feet, both of them beaming and laughing as if they hadn’t been beating each other to a pulp a moment before. The tension of the fight melted away, the soldiers’ stances effortlessly relaxed as they casually wiped the blood from their injuries and compared notes about their moves. The rest of the room breathed again.
Sam shook his head. “Whatever, man. If beating each other up keeps ‘em happy that’s their own business. You up for another round?” Tony nodded.
“Yeah, bird brain. Hit me.” Sam stashed his bottle again and they squared off, circling slowly with arms loose to their sides. They traded a few quick blows, testing for weak spots but not committing. Tony lunged first, nearly landing a punch on Sam’s stomach but skidding to a halt as the man caught on and dodged out of the way at the last second. He spun around to defend himself.
Instead of an attacking Sam, though, his eyes fell on Bucky and Steve. They had taken on the role of bystanders, leaning casually against the far wall and watching the rest of their teammates’ bouts. Watching Tony. The unexpected eye contact with both men caught him off guard and he hesitated just a moment too long, unable to tear his eyes away. Sam tackled him to the ground easily as he stood dumbstruck and unmoving. They rolled, Tony cursing his lapse in attention, until Sam used his disorientation against him and pinned him to the ground on his back. He let his head drop back against the mat, groaning.
“You’re supposed to take pity on me. I’m an old man, remember?
Sam just smirked. “You only use that as an excuse when you’re losing. You know you’re gonna get another one of Cap’s patented lectures on getting distracted while you’re fighting, right?” He drew himself up off of Tony, helping the prone man get stiffly to his feet as well.
“Yeah, I know,” Tony said sorrowfully, pointedly rubbing his bruised shoulder as Sam grinned unapologetically. “I can already hear the patriotic theme music.”
Sam laughed, clapping Tony on the back and wandering off to go find his water bottle. Tony risked a glance over to where Steve and Bucky stood. Rather than the disappointment or entertainment he was expecting, he found twin looks of pure mischief on the super soldiers’ faces. His heart skipped a beat. They were looking directly at him, slight smiles curling their lips. Bucky turned to whisper something in Steve’s ear that made his smile widen and his eyes burn with something that made Tony’s heart beat faster and his stomach drop.
He’d been caught.