Lessons in Rule Breaking and Other Reader-Inserts*Steve Rogers*Reader*

Ground Rules (for Love and War) - Pt.2/2

"I mean, not complete dark, my phone's somewhere on the table and has some battery– wait, are you telling me you can actually see in this... darkest dark?" you demanded incredulously.

"Yeah, a bit," Bucky confirmed absently as he reached for his phone again to light it up. "Mine has like 5 percent."

"I don't have my phone with me," Steve confessed.

"Seriously, Steve?"

"I'm still in the tower! No one outside the tower calls me!" Steve shot back at Bucky defensively.

Legendary duo arguing! Alert! Cannot be happening!

"Alright, boys. Calm down," you asked of them gently. "We'll figure something out. Help me find my phone..." Bucky obediently did, even though you were sure he was frowning. You lit it up contentedly. "Sweet. I have about ten percent." You turned on the flashlight attached to the camera and squinted to see better as you headed to one of the cupboards. "There are some flashlights right-" Your face twisted in confusion when you found the cupboard empty. Well. "-or not. Let's scan this place..."

As it turned out, the workshop was a place of wonders. Rest assured, you knew about a lot of strange things hidden through the cabinets, but some treasures still surprised you.

Mostly, it was Steve and Bucky, who were bewildered at their findings.

"What is Operation doing here?" Steve questioned, pulling out the game box for you to see – well, the outline of it anyway – as if he wanted you to confirm that it was indeed there and he wasn't hallucinating.

"Don't even ask," you rolled your eyes.

Have you mentioned Tony needed constant supervision and that he was a man-child? Yeah? Never mind, you could say that over and over again and it wouldn't get less truthful.

"We could play," Bucky offered casually, clearly getting bored by the recon mission.

"I'm not playing Operation with you. I can barely see."

"Fine, fine..." Bucky grumbled and Steve put the box back, moving to other mysterious cabinets.

"Oh. Candles. And matches. That might be helpful. And a bag of chips."

"Nicely done, Captain," you praised him, turning to him to flash him a grin he could probably barely see. It dawned to you too late how flirtatious it might have sounded, how strangely his rank rolled of your tongue, so you quickly spoke up again. "Hand it over."

"Keep looking. One bag of chips isn't enough..." Bucky stated, but Steve handed you the to-be light sources so you could place them to your liking.

His fingers brushed your hands tenderly as he passed you the items and you weren't certain whether it was an accident or not. Judging by the faint outline of his shy smile, you thought it might not. It made your cheeks burn and your heart swell.

"Twister?" Bucky proposed this time, breaking the moment you shared with Steve and you rolled your eyes.

"Eh, Tony sometimes... plays with Dum-E," you explained, hoping he would get the picture. "Usually when he's drunk. I'm not-" -playing with you.

"Got it. Monopoly then?"

You whined. It wasn't exactly your favourite game and you knew you would lose in the matter of minutes, but if you were being honest... you were about to run out of things to do here and your phone was about to die, so you might as well play the game Tony Stark loved.

"Well. Let me just light up the candles, okay? It's gonna be a short game. You two have superbrains. But I might survive few rounds if I really try..." you murmured and proceeded with illuminating the space.