Hangry
Word count: ~2,000
Pairing: Steve x reader and Bucky (platonic), no pronouns used
Warnings: Just a lot of fluff. Mild cursing.
It's been a year and a half since my last posted works! I'm VERY out of practice 😅 I'm trying to work on some smaller prompts on my list while I get myself back into writing and continue working on the Loki blip in the universe prompt. It's not my best, but I hope you enjoy in any case!
This was based on a Prompt for Steve x reader as well as a prompt where reader and Bucky bug Steve while he's making a public appearance.
“Tell us, Captain, sir - how did the Avengers manage to track down the villain’s hideout this time?”
“Well, good sir - we have state-of-the-art technology that allows us to track electronic signals from thousands of miles away…”
“Ugh, he is such a ham!” you muttered to Bucky under your breath as you observed Steve from a distance. “We’re never going to make it to the store if he keeps stopping every time a reporter tries to chat him up!”
“Steve can’t resist bragging about us,” Bucky chided, nudging you with his elbow.
“Yeah, well… some of us are hungry!”
You huffed and folded your arms across your chest in annoyance, trying to catch the reporter’s eye with your scowling face, but she was far too enamored by the star-spangled captain to pay you any mind. How had a simple grocery run for ice cream turned into a twenty-minute interview with the press??
“I swear, I’m gonna go drag him away from that reporter by the ear if he doesn’t stop talking in the next 60 seconds,” you grumbled.
“Why do that when we can mess with him instead?”
You turned to look at Bucky, who had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“Go on…”
He smirked, shooting you a wink. “Watch and learn.”
You watched silently as Bucky meandered casually toward where Steve stood speaking with the reporter and her photographer. Steve was none the wiser to his friend approaching from behind.
“… but the serum isn’t the only thing that makes us heroes. It takes a whole load of grit and determina-HAY-tion-!”
Steve flinched as his best friend subtly reached up and pinched his side mid-sentence, effectively silencing him. The captain recovered quickly, though, chuckling nonchalantly as he flashed Bucky a look. He continued on with his sentence after that, refusing to acknowledge what just happened.
“Wait - Steve is ticklish??” you whispered incredulously as Bucky returned to your side.
“Very. Why does that surprise you?”
“I don’t know, I guess I just assumed the serum eliminated weaknesses like that.”
Bucky chuckled. “Nah - if anything it made it worse.”
“Oh-ho, I’ve got to try this for myself!”
You quietly paced up behind the blabbing soldier, pretending you were casually walking past to avoid drawing attention from passerby. As you stepped by him, you reached out and swiftly dug your fingertips into his ribs for less than a second. Steve choked on his words and whipped his head around instinctively. You ducked out of his field of vision and prodded his other side.
“Excuse me,” Steve requested politely, turning around as nonchalantly as possible to find you standing behind him with a guilty grin on your face. “Can I help you?”
“I just came to remind you that we have somewhere we have to be,” you stated sweetly.
“Yes, but it isn’t urgent,” he muttered.
“Oh, I think you’ll find it to be very urgent, actually,” you whispered, shooting him a cheeky wink. With a long, drawn-out sigh, Steve turned to the reporter.
“My apologies, ma’am. Duty calls.”
You saw Bucky clap a hand over his mouth and nose to cover the snort that burst from his nares. Trying hard not to openly roll your eyes in front of the reporter, you nodded in the direction of the grocery store and began marching purposefully toward your destination, with Steve following in your wake.
“You two are infuriating,” Steve grumbled once you were out of earshot from the reporter.
“Excuse me - I just want to go get my ice cream and head back home to eat it,” you countered. “You’re the one who decided to schmooze with the first person who asked you about your superpowers.”
“I’m just trying to maintain good public relations. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
“Ugh, no. I hate talking about myself.”
The three of you bickered amicably the entire way to the store. It hadn’t ended by the time you’d made it back to the tower kitchen and dropped your grocery bags on the counter.
“I’m just saying - it wouldn’t kill you to wear a hat or something to hide your face from reporters when we’re just trying to go to the store,” you griped, shrugging your sweatshirt off your shoulders and hanging it on the back of one of the kitchen stools.
“It wouldn’t kill you to try to be friendly to strangers every once in a while,” Steve retorted.
“Excuse me - I am a very friendly person! I’m just selective about it.”
“Friendly as an angry porcupine, sure.”
You gasped indignantly. “Are you saying I’m sharp with people??”
“You’re just a little… prickly.”
“Ooh, now that’s an insult,” Bucky hummed sarcastically.
“You’re just as bad, you know. Forget porcupines - you’re like a venomous sea urchin or something,” Steve shot back at his friend. You snorted.
“Steve… you’ve really got to work on your teasing skills,” you chuckled. “A ‘sea urchin?’ Really?”
“I could just take your ice cream”
You narrowed your eyes. “Don’t you dare.”
Steve held your gaze for a moment, eyes darting briefly to the bag on the counter between you with the ice cream inside. You lunged for the bag handle, but Steve predicted your move, snatching it out of your reach before you could get a hand on it.
“Damnit, Steve!! Give it back!” you whined, rounding the counter to swipe for the grocery bag. He turned his back to you, maintaining a barrier between you and the prize. “Bucky! Help me out here!”
“Nah, this is pretty funny to watch,” Bucky chuckled, snickering as you swatted at Steve’s arm.
“Yeah but your ice cream is in there too!”
Bucky sighed. “You make a fair point. Steve, buddy, give it back.”
Steve snorted. “You’ve been just as much a pain in my rear today! Why would I give it back to you either?”
You gasped dramatically, catching Bucky’s eye. “Are you gonna let him talk to you like that?”
“‘Course not!”
Without warning, Bucky lunged at his super soldier friend, tackling him to the floor. The bag of ice cream slipped from Steve’s grasp in his surprise, which you quickly snatched up before he could regain the wherewithal to take it back. With a triumphant shout, you tore the cover off your pint of ice cream and dug a spoon out of the drawer, swiping a scoop off the top layer and shoving it in your mouth with a contented sigh.
“Mm… finawwy,” you mumbled with your mouth full. Swallowing, you pointed your spoon accusatorially at Steve where he was currently trying to shove Bucky off himself. “You know, you’ve been a pain in my rear all day. You deserved this - it’s nice to see someone teaching you a lesson.”
“You two are pains in my rear every day!” Steve huffed as he grasped at Bucky’s shoulders and pushed.
“You did not just say that!” you gasped dramatically.
“Yeah, how dare you!” Bucky added, pinching at Steve’s side for emphasis.
“Bahah- Bucky, don’t start this,” Steve warned as he grasped his friend’s wrists to still his hands.
“Ooh! Wait!” You set your ice cream and spoon down on the counter beside you. “I want a go! Bucky, hold him there for a minute.”
“Whahat??” Steve laughed in surprise, a nervous edge to his voice.
“Sure!” Bucky offered, ignoring his friend’s protests as he maneuvered his wrists from Steve’s grasp and swiftly pinned his arms to the floor a few inches from his sides. “Quick, before he gets free!”
"On it!" You crouched down beside the super soldiers as Steve tugged against Bucky's grip. Without waiting to listen to Steve's protests any further, you began to scribble your fingertips into his exposed sides and ribs rapidly. You heard a thump behind you as Steve kicked his heel against the floor in protest, now pulling more frantically to escape his best friend's hold.
"HA-HEHEY! Cut it ohout!!"
"Nah. I deserve a little reward for tolerating you all day," you snickered, prodding at his belly. "Hey, Buck - where should I get him next?"
"Ohh, definitely under his arms," he suggested with a smirk. You pinched your way up his ribcage before slotting your hands into the narrow space between his biceps and his upper ribs. Bucky adjusted his grip to pry his friend's arms away from his sides as he attempted to clamp them down to limit the space under his arms.
"BUCKY!! Let me go-HO-HO this I-HI-INSTANT!" Steve demanded.
"No can do, buddy. I'm enjoying watching you get taken down a peg."
"DAHAMNIT BAHARNES!!"
"Oof, language Steve!" you teased, digging your fingers into the soft spot under his arms. "Where else is he ticklish?"
"The spot on his stomach right under his ribs - that'll really get him good." Steve nearly managed to slip his wrist from Bucky's grasp, but he quickly shifted his grip once again. "Better do it quick - I can't hold him much longer."
"Say no more." You pulled your hands free from under Steve's arms and danced your fingertips across the muscle-clad skin of his abdomen just under his ribcage as Bucky suggested. He threw his head back with a heavy stream of laughter at your touch, arching his back against the floor in desperation. It was only another moment before he finally succeeded in escaping Bucky's grasp.
Steve sat up swiftly, a playful but menacing gleam in his eye as his gaze immediately landed on you.
"Oh-ho, shit!" You scrambled to get to your feet to make your escape, groaning defeatedly when you felt a strong set of arms wrap around your waist and yank you backward.
“You really think I’d let you get away with that?” Steve asked rhetorically as he tightened his arms around your midsection to hold you in place.
“W-wait, Steve, we can- ahaha nohoho!” Your protests were cut short as Steve’s fingers kneaded into your sides. “Bucky! Hehehelp!!”
“Nuh-uh. You’re on your own, my friend.” The infuriatingly unhelpful super soldier waltzed over to the counter to retrieve his ice cream, planting himself atop the countertop and digging in while observing the two of you wrestling on the floor below.
“USELEHESS!!” you cried, attempting futilely to pry Steve’s hands off your sides.
“Nice try. You should know better than to mess with me by now,” Steve teased. He loosened his grip slightly to scratch at your belly. A rumbling laugh erupted in his chest when you screeched in protest and doubled over, suddenly much more frantic. “Oh, what’s this?”
“DAHAMNIT STE-HEE-HEVE!” Your grip on his hands was far too weak to even budge them now - not that you’d had any hope of succeeding before your muscles had weakened from his tickling. You leaned more heavily into him as you succumbed to laughter. He responded by lowering you down to lay on the floor beside him, freeing both hands to dart randomly around your sides and stomach. Weakly, you tapped your palm on the floor beside you in surrender. Steve threw in a few more exceedingly ticklish light scratches along your belly before relenting in his revenge.
“That’ll teach you,” he teased with a grin, offering you a hand to help you off the ground. You grasped your abdominal muscles that were now aching from laughter.
“I-hi… I’ll probably still mess with you,” you admitted breathlessly. Steve made a noise of protest in his throat and reached over to pinch your side, but you swatted his hand away. “Noho more! You’ll kill me!”
“So dramatic.” He rolled his eyes. “Here - here’s your ice cream. Hope it melted while you were tormenting me.”
“Harsh!” You snatched it from his hand and stuck out your tongue, then turned to look at Bucky. "And you - you were zero help, thank you."
"Hey! I held him down for you! I was very helpful, in my personal opinion."
The three of you went right back to your friendly bickering session, as though nothing had happened. Any outside might wonder how you could all be friends, but you wouldn't have it any other way.
149 notes
·
View notes