Bucky gasps as Tony pours the bucket of shockingly cold ice water onto his head. Tony grins and tosses the bucket, then admires his work. Bucky, seething, turns to face him, his hands clenched into fists.

"Stark, you're dead," he speaks through a growl. Tony smiles nervously and shrugs.

"It's the ice bucket challenge. You were nominated, along with Steve."

Bucky's expression changes and he curses in a language Tony doesn't recognise. Bucky shakes his hair out of his face and looks at him.

"You didn't get Steve already, did you?"

"Why?" Tony frowns at his sudden change in attitude, a little concerned. Bucky narrows his eyes at him.

"Steve doesn't -- he can't handle that," Bucky mutters, running his hands through his hair. "Y'know he was frozen for seventy-something years? He gets, I don't know, panicky around stuff like that."

"That doesn't make any sense." Tony frowns as he considers this.

"Did you get him already or not?"

"Uh... yes?" Tony says slowly, as if questioning himself. Bucky brushes past him, shooting him a look, and goes to look for Steve. Tony follows along behind.

Bucky checks his and Steve's room, and can't find him anywhere. Muttering under his breath, Bucky leads them down to the gym.

Steve was beating up a punching bag, and looked fine to Tony. The pair walk over to him.

"Stevie? You good?"

Steve turns to look at them, rolling his shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why, exactly?"

Bucky watches him carefully, watching for any tell-tale signs of an attack. "Good ol' Tony here figured to dump a bucket of ice on your head. Just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Steve frowns a little. "Stark?"

Bucky looks confused and rounds on Tony. "I - I sent Clint to do it. Guess he, uh, hasn't yet," Tony explains meekly. Bucky gives him another deadly look.

"So, what, sometime today Barton's gonna drench me?" Steve makes a face. "That'll be great."

"We can find him before that happens," Bucky cuts in.

"I'm sorry, just -- Why is this such a big deal?" Tony watches Steve. "I mean, it happened years ago, right?"

Steve looks down and crosses his arms. "It's stupid, I know," he replies and Bucky sighs. "It's - it's hard to get over," he adds eventually.

"But there's cold water like, everywhere. What do you do for ice skating?"

Steve shrugs. "I don't."

Tony stares at him incredulously. "How come we never knew about this? In the six years we've all been together?"

"More like eight," Steve interjects. "I never told anyone because I never wanted anyone to know." He glances at Bucky, who kicks at the ground. He wasn't supposed to tell, but figured, at the time, it was okay.

"Yeah... sorry," Bucky mutters.

Tony was still thinking this through, apparently. "So if I have a glass of water with ice in it and accidentally spill it on you..."

Steve looks up at the ceiling and sighs. "I don't know, Stark."

Tony hums a little. "Well. I guess you learn something new every day. And, uh," he hesitates, suddenly looking ashamed. "Sorry for sending Clint after you."

Steve shrugs again. "Guess there isn't much we can do about it now."

"Maybe we could go find him, ask him to... not?" Bucky attempts and Steve rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, that would work. It's Clint we're talking about here," Steve reminds and Bucky sighs.

"So what're you supposed to do?"

Steve makes his way to the door and shakes his head. "Deal with it, I guess."

He swings the door open to see Clint with a large bucket of ice and Thor with a hose. Steve has no time to prepare before he's blasted with a jet of cold water, and the ice is poured over his head.

Clint steps back and high fives Thor, who then goes to turn the water off.

Steve stands there, frozen, the cold seeping through him. Bucky steps over to see Steve working hard to keep himself calm, staring straight ahead.

"Great job," Tony says sarcastically to Clint, who frowns.

"Hey, you asked me to do this. What gives?"

"I'll explain later," he sighs before following Steve and Bucky up the stairs.

"Steve, you okay?" Bucky asks. Steve swallows and attempts to nod his head.

"I'm f-fine," he stammers and clears his throat. Bucky watches him with concern as he leads him to somewhere warm.

That warm place ends up being the floor of their room. Steve stares blankly ahead and Tony shuffles uncomfortably. Seeing Steve act so despondent was unnerving.

"Grab me a towel behind the door, Stark?" Bucky asks, busy pulling out blankets and things. Tony does so, brows knit as he studies the blond. Bucky kneels next to him and talks to him quietly, and occasionally Steve gives a shaky reply. Tony averts his gaze, aware he's a part of something personal. Bucky mutters a curse and gets up.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he speaks, looking at Tony, who begins to sputter excuses. Bucky glares at him and walks out.

Tony rocks on his heels a little, then takes a seat next to him. Steve attempts to get himself together - he hated people seeing him look weak. He was used to Bucky, but not anybody else.

Tony clears his throat to get rid of the awkward silence. "Hey, um, you gonna be... good?"

Steve closes his eyes and says nothing, merely shrugs. He shivers and wraps the blankets around him tighter.

"So this really is an actual... thing?"

Steve swallows. "Unfortunately," he mutters.

Tony goes silent for a bit. "I had the same thing. Anxiety attacks. A couple years ago," he admits, watching his hands. Steve looks at him.

"'M sorry," he speaks and Tony smiles a little.

"Don't worry about it, Cap," he sighs as he stretches his leg out. "I kicked it eventually. I think." He looks over at him. "I think you'll be able to as well."

Steve smiles shakily and nods.

Bucky steps back inside with a cup of tea and some food. He sits next to Steve and wordlessly hands it to him, but the blond doesn't touch it. Not that Bucky had really expected him to.

"So you two have full systems worked out?"

Bucky looks over at him. "We, uh, we've dealt with stuff enough times to know what the best course of action is," he says wearily.

"'Stuff'?"

Bucky clenches his jaw. "Yeah. We have systems set in place to watch out for each other. That's what we do."

Tony doesn't press and he simply nods. They sit there in silence until Steve begins to nod off. Tony shifts and gets to his feet, relieved that it looks like everything was under control.

"How often does that happen?"

Bucky shrugs his shoulder. Steve had fallen asleep against his other.

"Depends. I'm just glad it wasn't worse," Bucky mutters.

"There's been worse than that?"

Bucky takes a breath. "Yeah. I, uh, don't really -- "

"Okay. I don't wanna know," Tony interrupts and heads for the door. He pauses and looks back at him.

"Will it help if I talk to Fury soon? There's a mission coming up, but it's in Alaska, so..."

Bucky smiles tiredly. "Thanks, Stark."

Tony nods and leaves quietly, considering what he'd witnessed.

////

Just the thought of Tony witnessing that struck me, how he'd possibly react. This was in my drafts for months.