winterhawkkisses:

Bucky started sneaking him these small sly sidelong glances, and it took Clint a little while to catch on. Nothing outright, nothing he could point to and prove he wasn’t crazy, just these smiles that settled in his stomach and set his brain to working it out.

He got a look like he was out of his tree when he leaned next to Bucky against the counter in the kitchen, various Avengers scattered around the room in various states of awareness and dress. So okay, this thing had rules, and the first one was like fight club, and no one else was allowed to know.

Clint upped the ante immediately, ‘cos papa had raised a gamblin’ man. He dropped Bucky a wink from behind Steve’s broad back, and the way Bucky immediately choked on his coffee had to mean Clint was winning, right? Straight out of the gate.

The next move was a hint of body heat as Bucky leaned a little closer in the darkness of a movie night. Clint retaliated with an unsubtle brush of fingers as he made sure to lunge for popcorn at the same time. With the solid hand Bucky rested on his thigh as he pushed himself to his feet, Clint was calling that one a draw.

The heat of Bucky’s hand in the small of his back on the way out of a meeting left Clint tied up in knots he couldn’t understand, let alone start to untangle, so Clint followed him down to the canteen. Slouched unapologetically, their knees pressed together safely out of sight, but Bucky’s smile visible for as long as Clint stayed.

Bucky ruffled Clint’s hair in the back of the quinjet; Clint stole gum from Bucky’s pocket and grinned into the back of his shoulder. Bucky warmed Clint’s hands while they waited in anticipation of a fight; Clint, daring, hooked their pinkies together while Fury yelled after it.

It wasn’t until Bucky cornered him in an empty corridor, pushing in close and eyes dropping to Clint’s mouth, that Clint realised that maybe this wasn’t gay chicken. That maybe they were heading for something real.

(And when Bucky kissed him, Clint gave his all to the kiss he gave back, because all of a sudden this had always been true.)