middaeg | [closed] Bonding boys and awkward things

Who: Tony Stark (

definingfuture), Bucky Barnes (

captenacious)
When: First part of August
Where: The Smugha Cave
What: Babysitting the cave (Quest #2 surveillance job), camping, fighting Shades, having awkward talks.
Warnings: Arachne transformation talk if spiders creep you out, but should be tame other than that.

It's almost a normal adventure for them. A group of Avengers on a job to defend the important production that will benefit the city? It could happen. They've even had camping trips before. It's just that this time the adventure has gotten a little bit more complicated. The Bond between Tony and Bucky is still new and, at least for Tony, kind of exciting, but it does put their relationships with each other at slight odds with Steve added to the group. There's tension that all of them can probably feel -- nothing bad, but definitely uncomfortable. Maybe they shouldn't have agreed to camp out in front of the cave together right off the bat.

But they are there now, and as the sun sets, at least there are distractions. During a patrol looking for potential danger, there's some rustling heard in the trees around the cave site. Tony pauses, breaking a momentary silence to peer into the shadows cast by branches.

"Well, this is creepier than I expected. Is it too late to un-sign up for the job?"

A thread of genuine unease filters through the Bond between Tony and Bucky, but even without it, the typical cover up can be heard in his voice. They've known each other for too long for Tony to really pull that off.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He's trying not to watch them so closely but part of him can't help it, tracking every little idiosyncrasy despite himself. Is it just that they've been stuck in this place longer than he has? Something else he's missing? Eventually he has to force himself to glance away from the casual contact, though the way he's hunkering down to sit cross-legged on the ground they've marked out as theirs is a decent distraction.

"At least one of us does," Steve says with more than a hint of dryness. Which is probably as close as he's getting to discussing unprompted the sudden lack of serum in his system and how exactly he feels about it. But they're all trying for humor to smooth things over, aren't they, so he casts a drier look at Tony as well.

"Tell you what. If he gets you lost, feel free to tell us both you told us so."

Tony knows that Bucky is right. They should just talk to Steve; tell him the truth. But he's still tense from the recent events that he apparently started by doing or saying too much and he isn't sure how much of that he wants to continue in this new world. The doubt ripples through the Bond, tucked away beneath his warm smile and light humor. He naturally just wants to hide his insecurity, which doesn't work so well when you're around one person spiritually bonded to you and another that you've lived with for years before. Tony sighs as he steps away from the other two, just enough to create a little more physical distance for himself.

"Okay, not everyone loves the wilderness survival experience as much as you two," he says, putting more energy than he needs to into the complaint. Exaggerating helps him cover up any real anxiety he might have, and using that method here comes just as easily. "You know, for being thrown in a brand new world full of magic, you seem pretty comfortable."

He gives Steve an accusatory look, before turning his gaze toward Bucky.

"Okay, fine, I guess I'm a wood-fetcher. Tell me how this is better than a real kitchen again?"

"C'mon, it's practically a five-star resort experience out here. Nice weather, nice scenery, nice company, and only some things that'll try to kill ya." He shares an amused look with Steve; they've camped out rougher than this before, back during the war. "And I ain't getting anybody lost."

He can feel Tony's doubt niggling at the edges of the bond, and it puts his own emotions on edge, a little. He doesn't like it. Tony is his friend, and he doesn't want him to feel anxiety and doubt, especially not when they're just around Steve.

"We'll be back in less than an hour. I won't let anything eat our buddy here," he tells Steve, motioning to Tony, and then in true Bucky fashion, he throws them into this without a plan by continuing, "That'd probably suck for me since we got one of those Bond things." He's not a big fan of the 'dancing around topics' thing.

There's enough familiar teasing that Steve finds himself smiling faintly as he lets it all wash over him. This is what he'd been missing during that terrible year, or at least a big part of it. Bruce and Ben had been great, but he'd never been as close to either of them, and they'd all been too busy to really ever relax anyway. He can feel himself untensing slightly now, even if sitting on the ground in the middle of nowhere isn't appreciably better.

At least until Bucky's last shot instantly drives everything else out of his head, anyway.

"Sorry, what?" It's out of his mouth automatically before his brain catches back up. They'd mentioned something about bonds, hadn't they. That they were important. Steve's eyes dart between the two men again. "That's. Congratulations?"

It's pretty clear by his expression that he has no idea what the correct reaction here is.

Shit. Tony can't help the instant gut reaction of guilt and shame that comes from the secret being exposed. It's not even a real secret, and there's no real reason he should be embarrassed, but his immediate reaction to having information about himself out in the open, particularly in front of Steve, is that ingrained bitter self-loathing. He hurries to tamp it down, shooting Bucky a look of both shock and apology, before facing Steve.

"Yeah... We, uh, we didn't want to end up tied to a stranger. That could get messy."

Yup. That's a great explanation. Tony lets out a long breath. On the positive side, having Bucky take initiative and just putting it on the table at least relieves some of the fear.

"I know it sounds weird, but if what the Coven has been saying is right, if we don't bond with each other it'll either drive you two crazy or make me explode. It's... working out so far. I'm glad we did it."

That last part comes out with a fond note. Talking really does make him feel better.

"I don't want this to make things weird for you. Or for you two."

Tony nods to Bucky. Is it stealing if he Bonds with Steve's best friend? Not that he expected them to Bond with each other, but they're already close and he's technically the new one of the trio. What if he learns things Steve doesn't know?

Steve doesn't seem to know how to react, which, fair, and then Tony's giving off twinges of embarrassment and shock, and Bucky has to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. They're all friends, there's no reason this should be some weird secret thing. He punches Tony's shoulder very lightly, and admonishes, "You quit that. I got enough guilt for both of us." Just wait til the next full moon if he feels like starting another bar fight!

"Fact of the matter is, whatever this place is doin' to me, I got riled up the last time the moon was full. Got real aggressive. This whole, bonding thing, it's supposed to help. It's weird but it ain't the worst thing in the world." At least he's still pretty much in control of himself. He can deal with the exchange of feelings.

Then he actually does roll his eyes. "Tony, you're the only one makin' it weird acting like it's some kind of secret. It was better to just get it out. You know Steve, you keep secrets from him and he's a dog with a bone til he figures 'em out."

Bucky at least feels better. Honesty is a good thing. He's giving it a go these days.

"Any weirder than things already are, you mean?" Steve can't help a faint smile at that. Not that all of them haven't probably dealt with stranger, but still. And this is much preferred to the two of them trying to keep secrets. If he had to deal with them looking awkward around him all the time, he'd probably lose his mind pretty quickly. Things are unsettled enough that he needs his friends.

And Tony's already looking like he wants to twitch out of his skin, so Steve tries to arrange his expression into something calmly curious.

"So what's this bond thing do, exactly? Other than keep you both calm. I don't think they mentioned much at the welcome wagon." Or it's possible Steve hadn't really been listening. He'd had a lot on his mind at the time. But he'd like to hear it from people he implicitly trusts.

[closed] Bonding boys and awkward things

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