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It’s the incessant beeping of the heart monitoring machines that finally drive Bucky out of the ward and down to the relaxation garden that the hospital has.
It’s not like he hasn’t been in a hospital before, Steve got sick all the time when they were younger and he was always fine by the time that they left the ward. But now Steve's bigger and stronger and he has still ended up in a hospital of all places.
Bucky has always been weary of Steve's bike since he bought it. It's not that he doesn’t like motor bikes.
He does, he would have one himself if he knew how to ride one (Steve offered but Bucky had too much on at work at the time to take him up on his offer).
He always thought that a bike that old would only lead to trouble.
And now Steve's unconscious in a hospital bed. Hit by a van that didn’t see the bike because it sits so close to the ground.
Steve's very lucky to be alive.
And when he wakes up, I’m gonna kill him myself Bucky decides when he comes to a stop under the largest tree in the garden. It offers the most protection from the midsummer sun and Bucky is sweltering in his jeans and t-shirt.
The calming breeze and sound of the birds in the tree above him are as soothing as the staff at the hospital predicted and soon Bucky has stopped shaking and is calm enough to consider going back into the hospital to see his friend.
That’s when a man falls out of the tree above him.
To say that Bucky was surprised by the events would be a severe understatement.
“Shit!” the man says, rolling over onto his back and staring up at Bucky with clear blue eyes.
“I’m so sorry!” he says, clambering to his feet and brushing himself off “my friend, she's in the hospital, so I came out here for some fresh air and I saw the tree and I was like ‘I’m gonna climb that tree!’ so I did and there was a really comfy branch and I think I fell asleep?” he asks whilst scratching his head and looking severely confused.
Bucky's not gonna lie. The man in front of him looks like a human disaster. His blonde hair is sticking up in every direction, his purple t-shirt has multiple coffee stains and the dark bags under his eyes betray the fact that the last time he slept was probably about three days ago. But he has a certain charm about him that draws Bucky in.
“Dude, don’t worry about it” Bucky says, holding up his hands. “No harm done. Are you sure that you’re ok? I mean, if your hurt you're in a very convenient place.”
The man's lips tug into a small smile and the way it brightens his face makes Bucky's chest feel tight.
“I’m fine, nothing broken” he tells Bucky sincerely “I just need a coffee and I’ll be good to go again”
“Alright then, coffee's on me” Bucky says, turning and walking away before the man can voice his protests. “I’m Bucky by the way” he calls over his shoulder.
Clint isn’t entirely sure why he's sat across from a virtual stranger in the cafeteria of a hospital.
The man – Bucky – Clint corrects himself, is a pretty decent guy from what he’s said so far. He’s worried sick about his friend. Clint picked up on that more or less straight away, it was obvious from the way he talked about the man he called Steve.
Clint thinks that Steve is a fucking idiot for making Bucky worry so much.
“So Clint, what did you say that you do?” Bucky asks.
“I’m an archery instructer by day” Clint says without a hint of shame, it may not be a very intelligent job but its his job and he's proud of what he does.
“And by night?” Bucky presses, not batting an eye a Clints chosen proffesion.
“I teach sign language down at the college” Clint says.
Now that is something that he's proud of. He wishes that he had a course like the one he runs when he needed the help. It would have made his life a whole lot easier, not that it was easy in the first place.
“Really? That’s so cool” Bucky says, leaning forward in interest his eyes gleaming with curiosity. It makes Clint surprisingly happy to see someone so impressed by what he does, aside from Natasha nobody really cares about what he does.
“Yeah, every Monday and Wednesday half seven to half nine. I’m partially deaf and nobody taught me how to cope with it, I thought I could do something to help people who must be feeling as lost as I did”
“That’s really something” Bucky says and there's something soft in his eyes and wide relaxed smile that makes Clint automatically smile back.
"So, do you often buy the men that land on you coffee?" Clint asks, tapping his spoon on the table in front of him. The varnished table top is marked with years worth of coffee and, if Clint's being honest, should really be replaced before the table starts a strain of its own bacteria.
Clint wonders what they would call the disease.
Bucky looks at him over the rim of his mug, "No, I don't normally ask strange men to have coffee with me"
"Well good," Clint says "I'd be worried for your safety if you did"
He twirls the spoon between his fingers. "This is New York you know, you can never be too careful".
"I'll bear that in mind" Bucky answers with a grin and a wink that makes Clint's insides flip.
oh crap he thinks stop being so attractive
It's an hour later when Steve wakes up to two incredibly angry faces
"Bucky, Tony" he says, greeting them with a smile.
They both start yelling at him at once.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"You could have been killed!"
"What would I tell your mum?"
"Don't do it again!"
Steve's eyes widen in shock. The two most important people in his life stand before him yelling because he was hit by a van.
"I feel the need to point out that this wasn't really my fault" he says.
The silence that follows is deafening, they both stare at him in shock, their eyes wide and their mouthes hanging open, it's a that point the nurse walks in, effectively stopping the argument before it could begin.
It's hours later when the three of them have finally settled down around Steves bed. Tony claps one of his hands around Steves and holds on tightly, his eyes are red rimmed from crying earlier.
"Guys I'm serious I'm fine" he says gripping Tony's hand tightly and smiling at him, "it's just a concussion, I've had worse"
Bucky nods in agreement, he shifts his weight in the chair and listens to it groan as he moves.
"So, where did you go off to earlier Buck?" Tony asks.
"The relaxation garden, it's surprisingly relaxing when people aren't falling out of trees"
"What?" Tony and Steve say as one, their faces twisted in confusion.
Bucky chuckles quietly.
"Some guy was in the tree and he must have fallen asleep because next thing he knows he's sprawled across the floor" he says fondly.
"He's fine though, we had coffee" he adds, waving off their concerned stares.
When Bucky isn't looking up Steve looks at Tony with a quirked eyebrow and a small smile.
"So..." Tony starts "did you get his number?"
Bucky looks up quickly, "should I have?"
"Well you seem to like him a lot" Steve says reasonably "and you haven't been on a proper date since Brock".
Bucky visibly bristles.
"Well it's not like I can do anything about it now, he's probably visiting his friend" Bucky says sadly.
"And he's called?" Steve prompts.
"Clint" Bucky answers automatically.
The room settles into silence and Bucky shifts in his chair so that he can rest his head against his fist.
should have asked for his number he thinks silently, angry with himself for not doing the most obvious thing.
"Right well, I'm going to get a coffee" Tony says, clapping his hands together and smoothing down his business suit. He must have been in his office when he got the news about Steve.
"I'll leave you two ladies alone"
He flashes them a peace sign as pulls the door shut behind him.
"God, hospital coffee sucks" Tony says ten minutes and a enormous queue later.
"I know right" someone says from behind him, "I've been living off it for days".
Tony turns in suprise, not expecting his offhand comment to have a reply.
The man I front of him is a mess, but his wide easy grin shows a friendly side to the man that isn't shown through his intimidating posture and arms that could rival Steve's.
"Days? I pity your body" Tony says easily.
"Tony Stark" he sticks out his hand.
"Clint Barton" the man replies shaking Tony's hand in a friendly manner.
Tony's usually lightning fast thoughts grind to a halt.
'So this is the man from the tree' Tony thinks. He quickly eyes Clints body 'drop-dead gorgeous of course Bucky's interested'
"So Clint, who are you here to see?" Tony asks, he was never good at small talk but for Bucky he would try.
"My friend Natasha, she's in for heart surgery" Clint replies before reaching out to hit the button to call the elevator.
The stand in a more or less comfortable silence, both of them sipping shitty coffee from polystyrene cups. The silence continues as they ride the elevator until it stops at Clints floor.
"It was nice meeting you Tony" Clint calls over his shoulder and Tony quickly checks which floor they're on so he can tell Bucky later. His fingers tap a restless pattern against the side of his cup as the elevator continues the slow crawl up the side of the building.
"Nat, I just met Tony Stark whilst buying coffee" Clint says walking into the room and throwing himself into the white plastic chair at the side of her bed.
"Sure you did Clint" Natasha replies from her bed where she is propped up with numerous white pillows.
"I'm being serious, we bonded over how shit the coffee is"
"That only sounds slightly more plausible" she says as she places the bookmark back into the trashy romance novel she is reading.
"I take it you didn't see him then?" she asks as Clint pulls his chair closer to the bed.
"Who?" Clint asks feigning ignorance.
The unimpressed look she gives him makes him drop the act immediately.
"No, I didn't see him" Clint says sadly, he really wanted to see Bucky again, there was something about the man that intrigued Clint.
Natasha smiles slightly, on anybody else it would seem mocking but Clint knows Natasha. And Natasha shows emotion in funny ways. Such as the flick to the forehead she gives him.
It roughly translates into 'dummy, why didn't you ask for his number'.
Clint sighs heavily and slouchs even more in his chair. He really should know better.
"Maybe I should just wander the halls shouting his name and hoping for the best" Clint says finally after a few minutes silence.
"That's a good idea, you should go do that" Natasha replies with a serious look on her face.
Clint doesn't think that she's joking. So he pushes himself out of his chair, plants a kiss on Natashas forehead and strolls out of the door.
The corridor of the hospital are painted the standard pale yellow, it gives the building a false cheery atmosphere that makes Clint want to tear his hair out.
If anything he's incredibly miserable, his best friend is in for surgery, his other best friend has gone off to LA without him and now the nicest guy he's met in years has disappeared off the face of the earth.
He trails his fingers down the wall as he slowly makes his way back towards the elevators.
His lack of attention often causes bad things to happen, like that time he crashed his bike into a tree when he was eight. But this time it leads to a good thing. Sort of.
Bucky grins down at him from where Clint is sprawled on the floor after their collision.
"Why is it everytime we meet you've just fallen over?" Bucky asks as he extends a hand to Clint to help pull him up.
"I am an incredibly clumsy man" Clint replies with an easy grin. Its easy to relax in Buckys presence, even with all that's happening in Clints life at the minute.
"So," Bucky says "I was sitting in Steves hospital room when it hit me that I hadn't asked for your number"
"Oh yeah?" Clint says and crosses his arms across his chest. Buckys eyes track the movement of Clints muscles under his shirt.
"Yeah" Bucky says swallowing heavily. "So, what do you think of me taking you to dinner?"
"I think I would like that" Clint replies, "so how did you find me?" he asks, taking a step closer to Bucky.
"Tony told me which floor you got out of the elevator on" Bucky replies, also taking a step closer and glancing at the shorter mans lips.
"Because of course you're friends with Tony Stark. Why wouldn't you be?"
"He's actually dating Steve" Bucky replies, lowering his hands to rest on Clints waist before finally leaning forward and kissing him.
It isn't a perfect kiss, it's short and entirely too chaste for Bucky's liking but he figures that they have plenty of time to work on that.
"So," Clint says leaning up and kissing Bucky again. "You said something about dinner? I haven't eaten anything but cafeteria food for days"
"Well then I know the perfect place" Bucky says, entwining their fingers and tugging Clint toward the elevators. He figures that he'll tell Steve what happened after he's taken this gorgeous man for a well deserved meal.