Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Bucky woke up to find the spot in front of him in bed empty, he sighed. He had hoped that Tony would have come to bed at some point, but judging by the light streaming in from the window it was already morning. Steve was also gone from the bed, but Bucky knew that he was just out on his morning run. What would it take to get some morning cuddles with his fellas. But no, Tony was inventing and Steve was being his normal sadist self, exercising before the sun had risen.

As if on cue, Steve walked through the bedroom door and smiled when he noticed Bucky was awake, “Hey Buck, how’d you sleep?”

Bucky smiled back lazily, “Good… woulda been better if I didn’t wake up to a cold bed, but I’m used to your nonsense by now.”

Steve got a slightly predatory look on his face, “mmm, how could I ever make it up to you,” he said as he walked closer to the bed.

Bucky smirked right back, “I can think of a thing or two,” he drawled, pulling Steve in the last little bit and kissing him as filthily as he could. Unfortunately the effect was lessened when Steve pulled away, “Brush your teeth, your breath stinks.” He wrinkled his nose up in fake disgust.

Bucky pouted, but got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, “Have you seen Tony yet?”

Steve sighed, “No… I was thinking we would go down together and try and pry him away from his bench… it’s been almost three days Buck.” Steve sounded so defeated that Bucky had no choice but to turn around and give him a hug.

Swaying them back and forth, Bucky rubbed circles in Steve’s back soothingly, “I know punk… why don’t you take a shower so you don’t stink while I make breakfast.” When Steve opened his mouth as if to disagree, Bucky pushed on, “There’s no reason why we have to rush down there this minute… It has been three days, but that also means that an extra 20 minutes won’t kill nobody.” Bucky knocked his forehead against Steve’s, “Plus this way we can also get Tony something to eat.”

Steve sighed, “I guess you’re right… it’s just, I worry about him you know?”

“I’m always right,” Bucky smirked before getting serious again, “And I’m worried about him too, but we both know that this is part of what being in a relationship with Tony is about. Sometimes he just needs a bit of a nudge to remember to take care of himself.”

Steve rubbed the back of his neck, “I think he might be in a manic phase right now… even for him he’s eating and sleeping less than he normally would.”

Bucky nodded thoughtfully, “Yeah I noticed the other day he had that kind of wild look in his eye when I visited him… talking about a thousands miles a minute. I didn’t want to assume but I was thinking the same thing.”

Steve squeezed Bucky’s shoulder before starting to strip out of his clothes.

“Well ain’t that a sight,” Bucky whistled, dodging out of the way when Steve threw his sweaty shirt at him.

“Go make breakfast you horndog,” Steve laughed. Bucky left the room chuckling as he headed to the kitchen, thinking about the waffles he was gonna whip up. When he’d first moved into the tower there had been a couple incidents where he had almost set things on fire when he tried to cook something, but by now he was a damn fine cook if he did say so himself.

As he started to make the batter his mind drifted to Tony. He and Steve had been with the genius for almost two years at this point. After they had defeated Thanos, the three of them had grown closer and closer until one day they just sort of realized they were dating. At first Tony had tried to push them away, saying he wasn’t any good at relationships, but after a lot of talking and a lot of therapy he had come to them asking to be part of their relationship. Bucky smiled thinking about that day, how happy he had been to finally be able to hold the engineer in his arms.

This was far from the first manic episode Tony had had since they got together, and all things considered it seemed like a pretty mild one. Tony had been sober since before the three of them had gotten together, and while there were a couple close calls, he hadn’t had any relapses.

Even though being in a relationship with Steve and Tony was sometimes difficult, Bucky couldn’t help but smile with how happy he was to have the chance to love and be loved by the two of them. Steve had always been his rock, but Tony had given him a home, built him an amazing arm, had helped him work through his trauma. Even with all of the unspeakable things Bucky had done as the Winter Soldier, Tony never once seemed to blame him for it. But he also never pitied Bucky, and that was another gift. Tony knew what it was like to be tortured, to regret your past, and so while he provided a safe haven for Bucky, he had never pitied him.

Bucky startled when he felt a hand rest on the small of his back, too lost in his own thoughts to hear someone enter the kitchen. He turned his head to see Steve behind him. Then he looked down to find that he had been working on auto-pilot and had a plate of waffles ready to go.

“You okay Buck?” Steve asked, “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

Bucky relaxed back into the warmth Steve’s hand, “I’m more than good, just thinking about the past.” When Steve looked alarmed, Bucky reassured him, “Good things in the past, nothing bad I promise.”

Steve’s face was full of warmth and love as he draped himself over Bucky’s shoulders, kissing the back of his neck, “I’m glad… I’m so grateful that we’ve gotten the second chance to build more happy memories together.”

The two of them stood still for a minute before Bucky broke away, “Come on, we’ve got a punk to feed.” Bucky took the plate with food in one hand and Steve’s hand in the other and started walking towards the elevator.

When they got down to the lab they could hear the music even before the elevator doors opened, and they shot each other fond looks. As they approached the entrance of the lab, Steve said, “Jarvis turn off the music please.”

“Right away sir,” the AI responded, the music stopping suddenly. Tony looked up at the ceiling, “Why’d you stop it J, I love that song…”

“Because you need to get some food in you and then go to sleep,” Steve answered. Tony spun around to look at them before running to meet them. Or at least he tried to run over, but instead immediately tripped over his own feet, only saved by Steve’s fast reflexes.

“Careful there doll,” Bucky said, “I made this nice breakfast for you, would hate for it to go to waste because you had to take a trip to medical after bumping your head.”

Tony straightened up, raising his nose up in the air, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Sergeant Barnes, I’m as graceful as ever.” Bucky snorted, and Tony couldn’t help but laugh either.

The smaller man sat down on the couch, making grabby hands for the plate of food, “Now that you mention it I am hungry,” he said. Bucky and Steve sat down on either side of him and Bucky handed him the plate of waffles. Tony grabbed one and took a bite before launching into an explanation of what he was working on.

Steve put a finger over Tony’s lips gently, “As much as I love hearing you talk about your projects I’m gonna need you to eat before you get too distracted sweetheart.” Tony blushed, but stuffed the waffle in his mouth, curling into Bucky.

Bucky ran his metal hand through Tony’s hair as they ate, laughing quietly when Tony essentially started purring.

“After I finish eating, I’ll show you two what I’m working on,” Tony said excitedly, but Bucky cut him off, “I’d love to see it later doll, but the minute you eat at least three more of these we’re taking you upstairs to our room.”

Tony turned to leer at him, “Why you didn’t have to bribe me with food to get me out of my clothes Barnes, you should know by now how easy I am.”

Steve shook his head and gave Tony his patented Captain America stare, “To sleep, Tony, we’re taking you upstairs to sleep and nothing more.”

Tony pouted, “But I’m not even tired, I slept not that long ago…”

Before anyone else could say anything, Jarvis jumped in, “If you’ll excuse me sir, it has been almost 4 days since you were unconscious.”

“Traitor,” Tony grumbled before tilting his head in confusion, “It hasn’t actually been 4 days since I slept right? It’s only Tuesday.”

Bucky hummed, “It’s actually Friday Tony…”

“Oh.” Tony said, looking down at his hands, “I’m in a manic phase aren’t I?”

Both Bucky and Steve snuggled even closer to Tony, “I think so sweetheart,” Steve answered.

Tony’s voice was small when he finally responded, “But I’m still not tired… I can’t sleep.”

Bucky resumed playing with Tony’s hair, “Why don’t you take your sleep med, huh?”

Tony side-eyed him, “That med makes me feel really weird the next day… you know that.” He started picking at his nails. Steve stopped him by holding both of his hands, “But you need to sleep Tony… you know you need to even if you don’t feel like it.”

Bucky added on, “And even if you take the med and you can’t sleep we’ll still get a chance to cuddle for a while… doesn’t that sound nice?”

“I guess…” Tony finally conceded, and Steve and Bucky both smiled encouragingly at him.

“All right then Tony,” Bucky continued, “Then why don’t you finish up your breakfast.”

They spent the rest of the time that Tony was eating simply sitting there, not talking, but enjoying the warmth of each other’s bodies. When Tony was done, Steve picked him up bridal style as Tony squawked, making Bucky laugh. Tony took his pill once they got to their room and the three of them crawled into bed, Tony in the middle.

They laid there, Tony squirming around before Bucky finally wrapped an arm around him to keep him still, “You’re never gonna fall asleep if you keep moving around.” Tony tried his best to stay still, and the fact that Bucky was holding him grounded him and made it easier.

“Something on your mind?” Steve asked. Tony was silent for several minutes before he finally broke the silence, “I thought I was doing so good…” his voice cracked, “I take all my meds and I do the stupid mood journal and I go to therapy. I just want this to be over.” By the end of the sentence, Tony was crying.

Both Bucky and Steve let out wounded noises, stroking Tony’s body wherever they could reach to try and sooth him.

“You are doing a good job,” Bucky reassured, “We’re so proud of you.”

“Yeah baby,” Steve whispered, “you’re not doing anything wrong sweetheart.”

They continued whispering reassurances to Tony, holding him as closely as they could without suffocating him until his breathing calmed down a bit. Finally Tony pulled away, “Shit... sorry I’m such a mess.”

“No problem at all sweetheart,” Bucky said, “We’re all messes together huh?” That got a small smile out of Tony, and Bucky counted it as a massive win. Tony started to play with the strings on Bucky’s hoodie, needing to do something with his hands. Slowly he started to get more and more tired, until he just tucked his face into Bucky’s chest and fell asleep.

Bucky’s hand tangled in the engineers messy hair, “There we go doll,” Bucky whispered, “Get some good rest.” He looked over Tony’s shoulder to where Steve was curled up around Tony’s back and met the blonde’s eyes. “Love you till the end of the line punk,” he said softly.

Steve smiled warmly, “Love you till the end of the line.”

While it took a little maneuvering, he’d gotten his wish of laying in bed with his fellas, Bucky thought, as he held on tighter and fell back asleep himself.