fossilised | It's AU time

"Drunk you is a massive idiot," Steve said quietly, not sure if he should hold onto what Bucky said or not. He figured that Not was the best phrase and so he exhaled slowly and lightly patted Bucky's chest with his hand. "I'm going to forget you said that and act surprised when Sober Bucky tells me he loves me, deal?" He did wrap an arm around his waist and hug Bucky thought. Tightly. His head rested on his shoulder.

Thor and Loren seemed to be at odds, now, but Steve hoped that a little Christmas magic would happen. Especially when Loren's boyfriend got here. Whenever they would be.

It turned out that the hum of a motorcycle pulling into the alley ten minutes later, just after Thor angrily mashed the peas and the corn along with the potatoes to get out his frustration, would signal the arrival of a certain someone not yet cleared by his doctor to ride his motorcycle. Or drive his car. But Tony wasn't going to be waiting around for a Lyft or an Uber. On Christmas. Nat arrived with one of Thor's cards stuck to her cheek to tell them they someone was intercomning her apartment.

"Do we know a... Hic! A Tony?"

Loren didn't care that Thor had fallen into a sulking anger, his older brother just did not see some things that were so clear to him, and it put them at odds. Not often, and not vehemently, but this was a larger point of contention than before. He could see that Thor was genuinely hurt that he had not been introduced to Anthony before now, and would be more so if he found out how long they had been together. But he could not and would not apologise.

When Natalia returned, Loren simply swept out of the apartment and took the stairs two at a time down to street level to open the door personally rather than have him buzzed in. At least Anthony would know him well enough to see that today's scowl was genuine rather than feigned.

"It was my brother who invited you," he said shortly, not greeting Anthony though he did step close to press a quick kiss to his lips. "You should not have driven, you are not yet capable."

"You have a brother...?" Tony glanced up at the building. He'd never been to Loren's place before. They always ended up at his. At first, Tony just assumed that he was married or seeing someone else but then the fling turned far less into a fling and far more into a romance.... And Tony stopped wondering and stopped asking. He didn't want to know. "Oh-- Oh, he did the inviting huh-- okay. Do you want me to go?"

Tony was never this understanding. But having driven over here on his bike without his sling and in a suit jacket since he had been in a rush to get over here, he was feeling a little bit bent out of shape that someone else had invited him to a holiday he ought to have been spending with the man he loved.

There was a defiance in his eyes, the sort that said that his heart would still break if Loren turned him away but he'd manage like he always did.

Loren didn't want to hurt Anthony, and this whole situation was a way to prevent any good outcome. Either he told Anthony to go, which would hurt him and likely cause severe arguments down the road, or he could invite him in and lose him to the charms of Thor. He sighed and muttered a curse in Norwegian, before coming to wind his arms around Anthony's waist out on the sidewalk.

"My brother is not like me, he is loud and hearty and all who meet him love him."

Anthony was perceptive, it was one of the reasons they got on so well, he would surely catch the slight bitterness in his voice that told of friends past who had decided they liked Thor more than Loren.

"You are mine, Anthony, and I wished to keep you that way. I have few things that belong only to me."

Tony was simultaneously touched and a little disheartened. Trust wasn't one of his big issues, he just happened to think that people in relationships for as long as they were in one should trust each other with little things like staying faithful. He lifted his uninjured hand to Loren's cheek and cracked half a smile. "For a minute there, I thought you were going to say that I embarrassed you. I might have my own business and can tune a clunker to purring but I'm just a mechanic. I'm not like you with your books and your stupidly hot accent. But if it's just that you think I'll like your brother better-- Okay. I got this."

He was still so battered and bruised (it had been only two evenings ago that he and Loren had seen each other since his accident), but Tony held himself with enough confidence to kill a horse. It was impressive and terrible at the same time.

"Unless he's exactly like you, I can guarantee you that I'm going to like you better. I don't usually go for men. So he's got to have an impressive rack for me to even notice him." It wasn't the first time that Tony said he was Loren-sexual. Tony took Loren's band and lightly kissed his knuckles. "Show me to the egg nog. It better be spiked. I didn't take my pain killers."

Loren so wanted to believe that what Anthony said was true, but he could not. He had lost so many things that were meant to be irrevocably his own throughout his life, sometimes to Thor and sometimes to other things, that he no longer had the capability for much trust in anyone. Still, he would see where the chips fell after this, for he could no longer deny Anthony entry.

"You are a fool, and I shall have them refuse you eggnog. If you cannot recall your own medication then you deserve to be in pain."

He nevertheless tugged Anthony inside and up the stairs, and into Natalia's apartment where the others were trying to pretend the atmosphere wasn't awkward. If Anthony had not already met Steven and Bucky (and what kind of name was Bucky?) in the coffee shop, then he might have been forgiven for thinking Bucky was Loren's brother, for they at least shared the same colouring.

"Anthony Stark, this is Natalia Romanova, this is her apartment. Steven Rogers, a neighbour, and his partner Bucky Barnes. And that, in the kitchen, is my brother, Thor."

Partner was a strong word. They'd only just started dating! Steve didn't correct him though, he just lifted a hand and half smiled. "Hey, nice to see you again and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. Don't I feel overdressed," he said, going around to shake hands, left arm limp and in pain at his side. "Don't worry I don't always look like this," he joked. "I pissdd off a car lift--"

"Ah! That is where I know you from!" Natalia said, offering Tony the eggnog that Loren had previously denied him. "You are on the billboards for the garage by the water. Stsrk!"

Tony grinned. "Guilty."

He was about to head over to shake Thor's hand when the man who had always been so puppy-like with his meatheadedness came to stand over him. Tony didn't shrink back but he did have to tilt up his head to gaze at him. "You are short."

Tony arched an eyebrow. "I'm average. You're just behemoth," Tony snarked back.

"Your beard is strange," Thor continued, frowning.

Tony rubbed across it. "Is it? Do you think so, Lore?"

Thor was trying not to be likeable. Tony saw right through that.

Loren saw what Thor was doing too, for his brother was not well practised at either meanness or subterfuge, and he both loved and hated him for it. He loved Thor that he cared enough, even without truly understanding, to try and make sure Loren did not lose the man he had never even introduced him to. He hated that he might only keep Anthony through pity.

"Do not do this, my brother," warned Loren in Norwegian, though it was without the sharpness he had used before. He just sounded tired now, like he saw the inevitable coming. "Be yourself."

Switching back to English, Loren pretended to look Anthony over speculatively, and shrugged.

"It is very strange, but it also suits you well. I would not care for you clean shaven."

"Uh..." Bucky had held back, unsure how hated he was right then for having caused all of this, but not wanting to be rude. "Hey, Merry Christmas, nice to meet you. I don't think I actually thanked you for the coffee before and apologised for-- that."

"No you're fine-- and do they do this all the time? With the Norwegian?" Tony glanced to the side at the brothers as Thor scowled genuinely at Loki and told him in Norwegian that he was not going to risk losing Loren for anything. Not even a mechanic.

Tony thought it was more cute than annoying and he sat down carefully on Natalia's small sofa. They'd all be eating here? They should have come to his place.

He stretched his uninjured arm behind the couch and sighed before he said, cheekily and in Norwegian: "You're the only man for me, Loren. I promise."

What? He'd been dating a Norwegian for over a year now. Of course he was going to Rosetta Stone the language!

Loren's head whipped around and he narrowed his eyes at Anthony, but he was slightly mollified for Anthony had not immediately fallen for the large, blond, and muscular looks of his brother. There was still danger when Thor stopped trying to be as rude and contrary as possible, but he would have to take that as it came.

"Your pronunciation is abysmal, Anthony," he chided, though there was a small smile on his lips and his shoulders had relaxed somewhat. "Thor, apologise to Anthony for your behaviour and start over. What issues there are will be discussed when we are not in public company."

Bucky rubbed at his nose and leaned in towards Steve. "Do you understand what the hell is going on here?"

"Not even a little bit," Steve admitted, a little buzzed and a little high. He stood up, still shorter than everyone, even Nat, and pointed towards the door. "So are we going to eat?"

Thor let out a thunderous laugh and clapped his hands before leading them all like ducklings to where the table had been set and the turkey carved in Steve's apartment. He noticed that Tony kept his hand at the small of Loren's back, not exactly leading him so much as making him aware of his presence. He might be hoping to be comforting or just pleased and affectionate. Steve was happy for the two. Even if Loren was still a jerk.

Natalia and Steve took the heads of the tables, with the others filling in. Thor made some speach about love and friendship and made a big show of kissing Nat (that wasn't staged, he really was just that sort of person) before demanding plates and meat choices from the bird.

Dinner was delicious. They learned a little bit about Tony and Steve made sure to steer the conversation away from Bucky when possible. No need to get any of that started again.

It wasn't going nearly as badly as Loren had feared. Anthony seemed to still only have eyes for him while being the gregarious and quick-witted man that he had fallen for, and the dinner itself was pleasant. Perhaps this would not be so terrible. Still, he would be sure to punish both Steven and Bucky later, for he was sure that they had both cooked this up together with how Steven had pushed and Bucky had told Thor.

But his revenge could wait until the proper moment.

Bucky was content to watch and listen through most of the meal, though he did end up in a spirited debate with Tony over which sort of engine was best in a motorcycle at one point (he favoured speed over power or noise), which ended in them actually exchanging phone numbers.

When the meal was done and they were all satiated, Natalia pulled Steve into the kitchen under the guise of helping her get the dishes sorted and pressed an affectionate kiss to his forehead.

"Tell me, Steve, are you happy? I do not like him if he is not good for you."

"Is it weird that I like him so much? I've only known him for a few months, Nat," Steve said in hushed and excited whispers. "We've only hung out two dozen times-- and we only started kissing two days ago. Is that enough to know you found the right person? I want him to do all sorts of things to me--"

He rubbed a hand over his face. Only Natalia could get him to tell her such things. She wasn't his best friend for nothing. Steve turned on the water and started to pile dishes into the sink.

"I've been having the craziest, sexiest dreams about him."

Nat looked as if all her Christmasses had come at once, and that nobody could get a better present for her than this. She worried over her little friend constantly, he was too lonely, too stubbornly shut up in his own certainty that nobody would want to hang out with a half deaf asthmatic with scoliosis. And none of the dates she'd set him up on seemed to work out, but now? Ah--

She swung her arms around him and peppered embarrassing kisses all over his cheeks and forehead, beaming.

"I will make excuses for you to go home this afternoon, I remember how fun the first weeks are of not wanting to get out of bed. I want to have to put music on because of how loud you are even across the hall, understand me?"

"I've--" Steve balked, more at the words than the numerous kisses all over his face. She was wearing lipstick and more than a few of those kisses had likely left a mark! Yikes. He gripped the edge of the sink with one hand and rubbed his cheek with the other. "I've never-- Not with anyone. And I don't know if Buck would even-- Not with the... He's embarrassed about..."

Nat knew the arm thing. And the PTSD thing.

"But he's so cute-- people that live upstairs from you aren't supposed to be so cute but uh...! The first time I saw him I thought he was an actor. Those eyes... The cleft in his chin--". Steve had never been turned on so much just being with someone. "He likes me because I'm wholesome. What if that stops because I..."

He was not going to come right out and tell Nat about how much he wanted to blow his new boyfriend. That would be rude.

"You think he would like you less because you want to have sex with him? You think he is fetishising you?"

That was the right word, wasn't it? She knew all about that, she had been on a few dates with people who only wanted her because she was Russian, and the second she showed any personality trait beyond what they expected from their stereotypes, she was no longer of interest to them. What if this Barnes only liked Steve because he was 'wholesome'? Her expression darkened and she crossed to the kitchen door to shout into the living room with no shame.

"Steve does not think you wish to have sex with him, is this true?"

Bucky froze from where he had been dealing out a round of poker with Tony, Thor, and Loren to stare at Natalia, not sure if he had heard her right.

"What...?"

"I ask you if you want to have sex with Steve even though he is a virgin and wholesome. You would not lose interest after he was no longer so wholesome?"

Bucky couldn't quite believe this was happening right now, looking mortified as he stood up to come to the kitchen in an effort to at least stop this being so public, though his expression when he looked down on Nat was thunderous and unimpressed.

"How about you keep the personal questions to yourself, ma'am? Whatever goes on, or doesn't go on, in the bedroom between Steve and I is our business and not yours to go shouting out like we're some kind of circus freak show for your entertainment. If you're trying to find out if I'm the kind of guy to cut and run after I've slept with someone, maybe ask that instead of humiliating your friend? If Steve wants to ask me anything, he can do that himself, now kindly learn a little respect."

Steve was mortified. He was mortified that Nat had just told the world that he was a twenty three year old art student virgin (those things didn't exist right?) and he was mortified that Bucky now knew that Steve was afraid of and also wanted to have sex with him. He he tried to puff up. Standing behind the ballerina who wore the same pant and shirt size as he did was difficult, though.

Nat wasn't having any of Bucky's macho shit either.

"Steve tells me everything. He is family. He is all I have and all he has apart from your and Thor. And do not go spouting your morality. I heard you outted Loren. That is worse than being sure I do not have to cut off your balls for hurting my family."

Nat was... Scary.

"You are only acceptable if you do right by him. He has never shown any interest in anyone else so if you break his heart, I will break yours. And if you do not satisfy him, I will hurt you worse."

Bucky wilted slightly when she reminded him of what he had done to Loren, that really hadn't been his finest moment and he needed to pull the guy aside and apologise for that when he had a moment to without making everything worse. So maybe he didn't have the right to use the moral high ground here, not when he had done that.

"Look, I can understand wanting to make sure I'm not gonna hurt him, Steve is special as hell, but maybe just come and ask me next time."

He glanced back at where Steve was trying to pretend he wasn't as mortified by this as he clearly was.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said, feeling like it was more respectful to address Steve personally rather than keep talking over him like he wasn't there. "And God knows if you ever wanted to take me to bed, I'd make sure you couldn't sit straight for a week, but we do this at your pace. I think I'm falling in love with you, so cut me a break here."

Steve needed to reclaim this too. Things had gotten a little too heavy a little too quickly and so the blond stepped out from behind Natalia and set his hands on his narrow hips. "Drunk Bucky already said he was in love with me. Slightly buzzed Bucky is just falling in love with me? I need you to have more egg nog."

Steve, half deaf and asthmatic and with scoliosis pulled Bucky down and kissed his forcefully, right there in his kitchen, with Nat and Thor and Loren watching. Tony might have been taking video on his phone. He didn't care.

"Figure out if you love me or not because I want the opportunity to know what it's like not to be able to sit straight for a week," he said. Loudly. It was all right out there.

Jesus Christ he was a lucky man. He felt heat pool in his crotch and he very nearly just picked Steve up, threw him over his shoulder, and carried him across the hall to a bed like a goddamn caveman. But he settled for kissing him back as fiercely as he could manage, sliding his hand into soft blond hair at the same time.

"I already figured it out, it's just that buzzed me doesn't want to scare you off. But I don't want to-- not until you're ready, you understand?"

There was clear lust in his eyes, though, so it was obvious that as soon as Steve said he was ready, Bucky would be taking full advantage of that. Several times over, for as long as he could before he was thrown out.

"Alright," Natalia announced, happy to see how things were going. "I give you permission to keep seeing my Steve for now. Thor, why do you not make promises not to let me sit straight for a week?"

"I have far too much respect for you as a woman and a dancer and a sexual partner to compromise you for an entire week," Thor called back, grinning like a puppy dog, and Tony set his chin in his palm and made faces at Loren. The line was pure cheese but genuine. Tony found that to be worthy of being judged as ridiculous and let Loren know with an eyeroll.

How would anyone pick Thor over the preening house cat that was his brother? Not Tony.

Left finally alone in the kitchen, Steve threaded his fingers through Bucky's hair, feeling that heat against his stomach as they kissed.

"I've been ready for a long time. It just took awhile to meet you," Steve said. It was another cheesy line but out of Steve's mouth, it was sincere.

Loren might be falling for Anthony more and more. He had never met anyone who didn't instantly love his brother, for who could fail to adore someone so open, so honest, so genuinely kind? Loren was none of those things. Though he was capable of kindness and honesty, he was far more guarded in his life and much more acerbic in wit. That Anthony appreciated these things gained him a quick but passionate kiss.

Bucky didn't notice or care, all his attention was on Steve. The man fit against his body as if he had been made for it, and his voice came out in a low growl.

"Don't say stuff like that, or I'll be hearing the Eagles call and taking you home right now to enjoy the rest of the day in a way less family friendly manner."

Steve swallowed, throat dry, and pulled himself out from Bucky's arms to head back into the living room. "I need everyone to leave. Merry Christmas, but out," Steve said, picking up the turkey from the table to hand to Thor, ignoring the way he blinked at him, confused. At least Nat understood and clapped her hands like her dance instructors did, telling who to grab what and to head out to her apartment. They could play Twenty Questions with Tony Stark.

But first, she made a bit of a show handing Steve a little, gold, square packet and a small bottle the size that over the counter nasal spray could usually be found in. "I will play music," she told him and Steve tried not to let his mouth fall agape.

"Uh... Have you been carrying that around--"

"It's fresh. Sometimes Thor and I do not always make it to my apartment or his. I try to be prepared. I will get others."

Steve watched everyone leave, wondering how many times they'd had to stop in the middle of the hall to do... Things. Why else would Natalia pack her little goodie bag for a trip next door?!

Bucky had no idea that Steve would actually go and throw everyone out to take him up on that offer, but that was fucking hot. If Steve found him at all repulsive, with his scars and defective parts, then this went a long way to proving to Bucky that those sort of thoughts were all in his own head. But it was also a bit worrying, because he didn't have any condoms or lube, and he doubted that Steve did, so they'd have to stick to--

Oh. Natalia.

He grinned at her and waited until everyone was outside and they were alone, before cheekily striding towards the door with a massive grin on his face.

"You said everyone out, right? Does that include me? You want to take a nap, or something?"

"Yeah. I probably will need to take one in an hour or two," Steve said, having no idea where all of this sudden courage came from. He wasn't as scared as he thought he'd be. In fact, he was feeling the exact opposite. Nerves weren't even a factor. He grabbed Bucky's shirt and tugged him back towards himself before leaning up to a kiss that was anything but platonic. Their teeth clicked together and Steve felt a growl of pleasure leave his throat. He might be short and small but he was not exactly passive. A kick to the door shut Bucky into his domain and he made a silly little beckoning gesture as he moved around him to his bedroom.

"New Rogers apartment rule. No pants in the bedroom." He unzipped his own as he went, stepped out of them, and left them somehow neatly on the floor as if they were self folding. He'd been around Bucky in his boxers before, tight to skinny thighs, but this was pointedly different.

Once inside the bedroom, he pulled off his sweater and waited with a hip jutted out for Bucky to join him. He was patient, but the feel of the gold foil in his hand left him breathing hard.

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