Post-it Notes

We Need To Talk

The entire journey back to New York was full of silent and heavy tension. No one spoke a single word the entire way. Steve was drawring every second he could get, Tony was reading some science book, Bucky slept his terrible hangover away and Sam was drumming along to whatever music he was listening to. This time, however, Nat had arranged for a left over S.H.I.E.L.D air carrier to pick them up and bring them straight back to the Tower. When they landed they were greeted by the rest of the Avengers. None of them expected the four to come back from Santorini overly excited to see them, but they also didn't expect Bucky to storm straight inside, all except Nat. She knew exactly what was going to go down. Little did any of them know, everyone knew what was going down. She had already warned Clint and Banner, but she hadn't told anyone else because she knew that neither Tony nor Bucky would want it getting out. Clint locked eyes with Nat for a second before heading after Bucky and Banner stepped up to greet Tony. They walked to his lab together.

"How was the flight, Captain?" Nat asked, her eyes tired and her words careful. Steve shrugged and smiled sadly.

"It was okay, no one spoke. No one hit anyone and no one had a panic attack so i'm gonna class it as a win." He nodded, his eyes almost drooping shut. Nat patted him on the shoulder, getting his full attention. She smiled at him as he smiled sleepily at her.

"Go get some sleep, soldier." She tilted her head when he went to interrupt. "And that's an order."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He muttered as she gently shoved him towards the door. Sam was next up to greet Nat. He did so with a hug and a gentle smile.

"I need to tell you to go take a nap?" She teased. He smirked and shook his head.

"No, ma'am, no one needs to tell me to sleep." He picked his bag up off of the floor, gave her a small, uncharacteristically kind kiss on the cheek and went off to take a nap. Nat was worried about them, all four of them. They went on holiday to make themselves feel better and they came back feeling worse and it was all her idea. She felt as if she should do something to cheer them all up, but she knew that they needed to figure things out before she could do anything. She felt terrible for putting them through this, but there was nothing she could do about it now so she might as well start making it up to them. She smiled to the rest of the team and headed inside, she made two hot cocos and made her way to start her 'rounds' as she had decided to call them. She wanted to make her way between Bucky and Tony eaquily, so that she could try and figure out a way to help them both. She arrived at Tony's lab first, placing the mug in front of him and earning a soft 'Thank You' from the man, who never once took his eyes off of his work. She looked to Bruce who shook his head desperately. She smiled reasuringly at him, before stepping out of his lab and bumping into the one other person she wanted to see that day, spilling the hot drink all over herself. She glanced up to see a wide eyed soldier staring back at her.

"Ugh, i am so sorry, Nat. Here," He smiled, dropping his hoodie from his shoulders and handing it to her. "Put this on. You can't walk around in a wet t-shirt." She tilted her head and smiled greatfully at him. "Oh, by the way i-"

"Yeah, he's in there." She smirked as she started to take her wet shirt off and slipped on Bucky's hoodie. "Just, try not to break anything." She yelled back as he pushed the glass door to the side.

"Tony, we need to talk." He breathed desperately. Bruce got up to leave, but Tony yelled.

"No! No we don't. We don't need to talk right now." He stuttered. Bucky didn't know why Tony was being so evasive, it wasn't as if he actually did anything to intentionally hurt him. Bucky was the one who over reacted, he shouldn't have put the weight of his past on Tony's shoulders, but he did and now he had to make it right.

"Look, i will say it with or without him in the room, i don't care, but i need to say this and if i don't say it now, both this hangover and the caffeine will wear off and i'll never end up saying so it's just a matter of your privacy." Bucky rushed, bouncing on the balls of his feet slighlty. Tony nodded to Bruce, letting him know it was okay to leave. He put his tools down and stared at Bucky waiting for him to talk. "Right so, i am very, very, VERY sorry for putting that back on you at the hotel, i didn't mean to scare you away or anything i just felt that you needed to know the reaon why i'm not as....open and-and-and-" He was cut off by Tony placing a gentle kiss to his lips. He almost flinched away, but forced himself to stay put.

"Shut the fuck up, Barnes." He sighed. "If anyone should be apologising, it's me. i didn't mean to run out on you like that i jus-i freaked out, and when i freak out i tend to run. It wasn't anything you said or did, it was me being a paraniod ass. Steve told me what happened when i left." Bucky looked away, almost as if he were ashamed. "Eight bottles, huh?" Tony was holding the man at arms length so that he could see the look on his face, he didn't quite understand it. "That's quite impressive, man. You have to teach me how to do that." He teased. Bucky laughed aloud.

"It's called self hatred and wanting to die." He scoffed.

"I should be great at it then." Tony smiled at him sadly. They both spent the rest of that day in the lab, silently. Enjoying each others company, neither quite ready to fully let themselves enjoy the moment in fear that it may all suddenly disappear, yet neither ready to completely forgive themselves. Although Bucky wasn't too keen on being open about his sexual orientation or being in a relationship, he felt like he could get used to it if Tony was by his side.