“Barnes is stupid? Agree,” Sam snarked. He’d shoved his chair in so far that Bucky was squished in the corner now.

He turned and narrowed his eyes. “Can you scoot over?”

Without looking at him, Sam said, “No.” He took out his stupid protien drink. “What’re you dumb for, though?”

“I can guess,” Clint sang. He looked like shit, having been checked brutally several times during last night’s game, with a bandage over his nose, split lip, and blackened eye. He tilted his head questioningly at Bucky, and Bucky was feelin’ a little self destructive, so he shrugged and gave a nod back.

Plus, Sam had just taken a big sip of his drink, and Bucky wanted to see him sputter.

“He’s lamenting his big gay unrequited crush on Steve,” Clint told Sam.

In a fortunate twist of fate, Sam actually did a spit-take, getting little brown chocolate drops all over the table and Clint’s face. -

Aka the college ice hockey au no one asked for.

James Buchanan Barnes may have been the Best of Best Friends Forever with Steven Grant Rogers 70 years ago, but that position had been given to Samuel Thomas Wilson 5 odd years ago, and it was a position Sam wasn’t going to give up without a fight. If Bucky was going to suddenly appear and totally whisk Steve away on a white horse and get a happy ever after in their BBFF fairytale. Heck no, not on Sam’s watch.

Sam and Bucky compete for Steve’s platonic affections. Or… at least, that was what was supposed to happen.

Inspired from a tumblr post: A fic in Sam’s POV where Sam and Bucky are trying to prove themselves to be Steve’s REAL TRUE BFF in increasingly ridiculous ways until Sam sees Steve and Bucky making out and is like ohshit the deadliest assassin in the world thinks I’m trying to steal his man.

During their hunt for Bucky, Steve and Sam take to cuddling for comfort. Bucky sees and naturally, he's got some feelings about it.

He shakes his head, tries to turn away. But his eyes rove back, insatiable. Steve is spinning Sam, goofily. Sam stumbles, and Steve instinctively grabs Sam to his chest to keep him up.

For a wild, petty moment, Bucky wishes he'd just fall.

[Post-Endgame, except an Endgame where nobody died. Bucky gets drunk and jealous at the after-party, but makes up with Sam and gets together with Steve the next day]

SPOILERS FOR CA2 IN SUMMARY

The Winter Soldier has joined the team and is slowly recovering, but he goes into a jealous rage whenever he sees that Steve is close friends with Tony, Sam, or Natasha. Past Steve/Bucky.

Bucky has a tenuous grasp on his shit, but he's doing the best he can despite that. He has goals, a schedule, a plan of attack, just like his therapist recommended.

Enter Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers is delighting in the fact that he does not, in fact, have anything close to together. He's spent too long getting fucked over by the universe to delude himself with a notion like that. But he's been rolling with the punches since his mom brought him home from the hospital a month early, straining to breathe.

Bucky Barnes is not prepared for Steve Rogers.

But fate has a tricky way of playing with its pieces.