betheflame:

so i promised a stony baseball au…

“Is this normal?” 

Bucky cut his eyes to the right. They were standing along the railing of the dugout, watching the game unfurl in front of them. The Avengers were up to bat, runners on second and third with one out. Rogers’ eyes were trained on the batter in the box. 

To be fair, every eye in the stadium was. 

Bucky didn’t get a chance to respond, because at that second, Stark’s bat cracked and the ball soared into left field. “Get out, get out, get out, get… FUCK YES.”

He smiled as two runners crossed the plate before Tony trotted home. The Brooklyn Hydra increased their lead over the Reading Athletics and they were giving the sell-out crowd a good show. Minor league baseball was part theater, part sport, and part training ground for the individual players to show off in the hopes they might get called up to The Show. 

It also gave big leaguers recovering from injury somewhere to ease back into the game; which is why Bucky was currently sharing the dugout with World Series champion, two-time Cy Young winner, and generational talent Steve Rogers. The man they called Captain America was coming off of hip surgery and Bucky knew their whole team was just a litttttle bit starstruck. 

Except their starting catcher, who appeared to give less than zero fucks about playing with the headliner. Bucky could not figure out exactly why Tony and Steve hated each other, but it started the second day of Steve’s rehab stint. The two had gone out to dinner after practice and came back to the clubhouse the next day nearly hissing at each other in hatred. 

So it didn’t matter that Tony had just hit a 3-run home run in a fashion fit for highlight reels. Steve acted like he was watching a traffic collision. 

Tony danced back into the dugout and gleefully put on the traditional Home Run Crown the team kept for celebrations. He high fived everyone and then stopped dead in front of Steve. They glowered at each other until Steve finally grumbled ‘nice hit’ and Tony moved on to celebrate with the guys behind them. 

“Is what normal?” Bucky addressed Steve. 

Steve had gone back to leaning on the railing. He blew a big gum bubble tilted his head over to where Tony was taking off his batting gloves. “The drama.”

Bucky cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, you play on a team with a man whose nickname is ‘King of the World’ and you’re concerned about Tony having fun playing baseball on minimum wage?”

Steve snorted. “Carlito is a jackass. Been begging the front office to trade him for two seasons. Stark just doesn’t seem to take the game seriously.”

Bucky barked out a laugh as the inning ended. He grabbed his glove and began to trot out to his position at first base. “Rogers, you’re currently playing on a team that uses an inflatable pool toy crown as a home run celebration. You’re here for another two weeks, feel free to enjoy it.”

….

let’s see where this goes, shall we?

It went somewhere:

A commotion erupted in the dugout and Bucky leaned forward from their perch on the bench to see what it was all about. He leaned back and reported to Tony. “Gonzales put his helmet in the wrong cubicle again.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Rogers took umbrage?” 

“Ain’t that the lady in Harry Potter?”

“Well, the word means to take offense and she’s an offensive character, so maybe,” Tony shrugged. “Rogers?”

Bucky nodded. 

Tony sighed. 

“Ten more days at least, bud,” Bucky said calmly. “Whatever he did, maybe get over it?” 

“He didn’t do one thing,” Tony muttered. “It’s his whole person.”

Bucky made a noise Tony couldn’t interpret. “Maybe find someone to fuck out all your feelings then, because you’re being a bummer.” 

Tony snorted. “Didn’t work last night.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Bucky said as he heaved himself off the bench. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.“

___

i’ve planned maybe two plot points for this thing and the rest of them keep falling out of my fingers. gonna be fucking wild.

“Is this normal?” 

Bucky cut his eyes to the right. They were standing along the railing of the dugout, watching the game unfurl in front of them. The Avengers were up to bat, runners on second and third with one out. Rogers’ eyes were trained on the batter in the box. 

To be fair, every eye in the stadium was. 

Bucky didn’t get a chance to respond, because at that second, Stark’s bat cracked and the ball soared into left field. “Get out, get out, get out, get… FUCK YES.”

He smiled as two runners crossed the plate before Tony trotted home. The Brooklyn Hydra increased their lead over the Reading Athletics and they were giving the sell-out crowd a good show. Minor league baseball was part theater, part sport, and part training ground for the individual players to show off in the hopes they might get called up to The Show. 

It also gave big leaguers recovering from injury somewhere to ease back into the game; which is why Bucky was currently sharing the dugout with World Series champion, two-time Cy Young winner, and generational talent Steve Rogers. The man they called Captain America was coming off of hip surgery and Bucky knew their whole team was just a litttttle bit starstruck. 

Except their starting catcher, who appeared to give less than zero fucks about playing with the headliner. Bucky could not figure out exactly why Tony and Steve hated each other, but it started the second day of Steve’s rehab stint. The two had gone out to dinner after practice and came back to the clubhouse the next day nearly hissing at each other in hatred. 

So it didn’t matter that Tony had just hit a 3-run home run in a fashion fit for highlight reels. Steve acted like he was watching a traffic collision. 

Tony danced back into the dugout and gleefully put on the traditional Home Run Crown the team kept for celebrations. He high fived everyone and then stopped dead in front of Steve. They glowered at each other until Steve finally grumbled ‘nice hit’ and Tony moved on to celebrate with the guys behind them. 

“Is what normal?” Bucky addressed Steve. 

Steve had gone back to leaning on the railing. He blew a big gum bubble tilted his head over to where Tony was taking off his batting gloves. “The drama.”

Bucky cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, you play on a team with a man whose nickname is ‘King of the World’ and you’re concerned about Tony having fun playing baseball on minimum wage?”

Steve snorted. “Carlito is a jackass. Been begging the front office to trade him for two seasons. Stark just doesn’t seem to take the game seriously.”

Bucky barked out a laugh as the inning ended. He grabbed his glove and began to trot out to his position at first base. “Rogers, you’re currently playing on a team that uses an inflatable pool toy crown as a home run celebration. You’re here for another two weeks, feel free to enjoy it.”

….

let’s see where this goes, shall we?

“You cannot be serious, Tony! A friendship bracelet.”

Tony Stark grinned up at his business partner from his place bent over the lawnmower engine he was tinkering with. “Aw, Pep, come on. It worked for Travis.”

Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose. “If you honestly want to pattern your love life off of a fanfic come to life, to a straight man, be my guest, but have you considered that you cannot just waltz into a mall and wait in line for a hockey player’s autograph?”

Or, Steve is a closeted hockey player, Tony is a publicly gay fanboy, and the NHL has no idea what’s about to hit it.

Also featuring: Bucky the bestest best friend, shameless use of the Philadelphia Flyers, Protective Pepper Potts, and the author processing what it would look like for a professional American athlete to come out of the closet.

COMPLETED FIC: Take the Moment and Taste It (47.5k, M)