Steve and Bucky were on a mission, tracking down a Hydra agent who was probably one of the most agile people Bucky had laid eyes on (and his boyfriend was Captain America, so he was very familiar with agile). They had found his hideout at last in an empty warehouse and were getting in position to ambush.

"Okay, so there's no point trying to shoot him or anything like that, since we've already tried that and he's dodged everything we've thrown at him, literally," said Steve. "So our best bet is to capture him."

He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"Why the hell do you have handcuffs?" Bucky asked.

"Never know when they'll come in handy."

"You kinky son of a bitch…"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Buck, we're on the job," Steve groaned, but Bucky noticed him blushing faintly.

"So what, we're just gonna sneak up on him and cuff him?" he asked.

"Well, I doubt it'll be as quick as that, but pretty much."

"Okay, sound tactic, let's nab this sucker."

Steve rolled his eyes and Bucky smirked. Steve opened the door to the warehouse as quietly as he could, just far enough for them to slip inside. Bucky kept a hand on the handle of his gun, just in case, as they tiptoed to where they knew the target was. Suddenly, Steve stopped.

"Shit."

"What?" Bucky asked.

"He was here. I swear to God, he was here," said Steve.

"Guess the manhunt's back on."

"No need, boys," said a voice from behind them.

They both whipped around. Bucky saw the glaring face of their target, then the next moment something hard collided with his head and there was nothing.

Bucky groaned as he slowly came to, the side of his head throbbing.

"God damn it… Steve? You there?"

"Right here, Buck."

Bucky opened his eyes and turned toward Steve.

"You okay?" Steve asked.

"I think so. Did he get away?"

"Yeah, he knocked us out with a pipe and bolted. But not before he did this."

Steve lifted up his right hand and Bucky was slightly alarmed when he found his metal left arm being dragged along with it. They were handcuffed together.

"Don't you have a key?" Bucky asked.

"He stole it. Or I dropped it. So no, I don't."

"Damn. Have you got a spare at home?"

"Nope."

"Okay, looks like we're gonna have to either pick it or get someone else to bust us out…" Bucky glanced around and a stray nail caught his eye. "Aha!"

He scrambled to his feet and made to go get the nail, forgetting momentarily that he and Steve were attached and accidentally dragging Steve behind him.

"Slow down, Bucky, we need to coordinate!"

"Sorry."

He waited for Steve to stand up, then went and picked up the nail. It was pretty rusty, but he figured it was better than nothing and began working at the lock to no avail.

"Here, let me try," Steve offered, taking the nail from Bucky. He had barely been working on the lock for three seconds when his eyes got wide with horror.

"What? What did you do?" Bucky said.

Steve held up half a broken nail in response.

"The rest is still in the lock."

"Shit… Okay, now what?"

"Stark's probably got something. He's got something for everything," Steve suggested.

"He's like, three hours away," Bucky protested.

"Do you wanna be handcuffed together forever?"

"Well…"

"Who's the kinky son of a bitch now?"

"We're going to Stark's…."

Their walk back into the nearest town involved a lot of shoulder bumping and accidentally tugging each other until finally they just decided to hold hands. They had to check several bus stops until they could find a line that went to New York City, but the next bus wasn't for an hour, so they decided to go to the Starbucks across the street. Both of them were still decked out in their gear, meaning all eyes were upon Captain America and his intimidating leather-clad companion as they ordered their coffee. They both tried to pick up their drinks with their handcuffed hands and had a bit of a struggle getting the sleeves onto their cups. Once they had their drinks, they went back out to the bus stop and sat on the cold metal bench.

"This isn't so bad," said Steve.

"What, the coffee or the being handcuffed together?"

"I was technically referring to the handcuffed part, but the coffee's not bad either."

"You are kinky…"

"What? No!" said Steve. "If I was, you'd know."

"I should hope so."

"I just mean, at least we're both handcuffed to someone we like."

"True," said Bucky. "Oh god, imagine being handcuffed to Stark…"

"If we were handcuffed to Stark, we'd be free by now."

"Yeah… you're right…"

At last, the bus came. They managed to scrape up enough left over change between them for the fare and found a seat in the back of the bus. There were only a few other people on board, but every single one of them was staring at Steve and Bucky.

"This is so uncomfortable," Bucky muttered. "Why did we let them just drop us and go? We could've had an easy ride without all this attention… AND they'd probably have something to get these damn cuffs off…."

"Well, having a getaway car would kinda be a giveaway that we were in the area," Steve pointed out.

"Damn this mission…."

The bus came to a stop in New York. The passengers had filtered on and off at the various stops along the way, each new person staring at Steve and Bucky, who were very relieved to finally get off.

"Ah shit," said Steve as soon as they set foot on the pavement.

"What?" Bucky said fearfully.

"The Tower is a good twenty blocks from here."

"Looks like we're getting a cab…"

"We used all our change on coffee and bus fare," Steve pointed out.

"Dammit, Starbucks…"

"Looks like we're walking through twenty crowded New York blocks while chained together."

"Fantastic…."

Finally they reached Avengers Tower. JARVIS let them in and told them where they'd find Tony. They stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the workshop. Tony looked up from his work as they entered.

"Cap! Barnes! JARVIS told me you guys needed help," he said jovially. "What's up?"

"Have you got something to unlock handcuffs? Preferably something that works on handcuffs with half a rusty nail in the lock?" Steve asked.

"That's… oddly specific," said Tony. "Why, may I ask?"

Steve and Bucky held up their cuffed hands and Tony burst out laughing.

"Yeah, I've got something that'll work," he said when he managed to control his laughter. "You guys have got to tell me what happened while I work on it though."

"Deal," said Bucky.