Chapter 2
6 months later
"Besides that note six months ago, Coulson, it seems like that this Phantom of the Opera has disappeared!" Fury clicked his flute of champagne with Coulson's.
"I could not agree more, Monsieur." They both chuckled and parted ways as Tony entered the ballroom with Bruce.
"-and that's why I am no longer allowed in Belgium." Tony gives a light-hearted chuckle along with the crowd around him. Tony looks around the room while sipping his drink. He spots a tall blonde figure dressed in black and red across the hall by the stairs speaking with a red head and another blonde man. Steven.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen." Tony breaks away from the group towards Steve. Steve notices.
"Oh god..." Steve fidgets with his ring.
Natasha looks at Tony from the corner of her eye. "He really is not giving up?"
Clint chuckles into his glass. Steve groans as he hears Tony call his name. He turns. "Monsieur la Vicomte! What a pleasure it is to see you again."
Tony grabs Steve's right hand and kisses his knuckles. "Pleasure is all mine, Steven."
Steve pulls his hand away quickly and looks around, spotting Natasha stepping into a trap door that Bucky had placed in this room. No one seems to notice her. Good. He looks back towards Tony and politely listens.
"What?!" Bucky says as he knocks down candlesticks.
"James, calm down. He's fine besides the fact that the Vicomte is trying to propose marriage to him." Natasha folds her arms across her chest.
Bucky growls and grabs his cloak.
"Where do you think your going?" Natasha grabs something of his desk and follows him to the trap door entrances. Bucky turns.
"I'm going to get my fiancé and show that Vicomte who owns Steve." He basically growls in her face. Natasha raises a brow, not phased by Bucky's stunt.
"You're going to need these." She hands him his gloves. Bucky takes them and nods at her.
"Thanks."
Ten minutes with Vicomte Stark was hell. Ten minutes with him obnoxiously flirting with you is worse. Steve stands there, politely listening as Stark rambles on about how Steve would look better in red and gold- Stark's family colors- than in the black and red ensemble of his fiancé's family colors, as Steve had mentioned multiple times.
"-m just saying, Steven, my colors complete your features." Stark quirks an eyebrow and Steve butts in, finally.
"Well, that may be your opinion, but my fiancé and I are happy with these colors."
Stark finally gets it. He splutters and spills his drink on Steve. "What?!"
Steve sighs and tries to walk away, spotting Natasha coming towards him with a napkins.
"Wait!" Stark forcefully turns Steve around, causing Steve to slip on the floor. Bucky's going to be furious. "Who are you married to? Why don't I know her?"
Natasha reaches them and pulls Steve away to pat him down with the napkin.
"Steven, dear, your fiancé is looking for you. He's worried you might be chasing damsel-"
"He?!" Stark interrupts. Steve sighs and ignores him.
"I was going to go and see him but Monsieur Vicomte had stopped me to chat-"
"Stark!"
The entire room falls silent as Bucky stands on the top step of the stairwell, clad in a black suit with red highlights, black velvet cape ominously flowing behind him as he slowly walks down the steps. He looks around as he comes down to meet Steve, who is blushing furiously. Bucky smirks as he drops the opera Don Juan at Fury's feet.
"Have you missed me, good Monsieurs? I have written you an opera. Fondest greetings to you all..." He finally makes it to Steve when Stark unfreezes. Fury and Coulson pick up the opera dropped and whisper amongst themselves.
"Hold on a second," Tony steps up to Bucky, forcing him and Steve to break eye contact. "Who are you?!"
Bucky tilts his head slightly as the crowd whispers. "You all know me as the Phantom of the Opera."
The crowd erupts in gasps and Bucky takes that distraction to open his trap door beneath him and Steve. He throws down smoke bombs to hide it and people scream. As they drop down, Steve can hear Tony shout, "Steve!"
Bucky braces their fall and they run.
Tony waves his arms in front of them as they disappear. The smoke clears and they're gone.
"Dammit!" He exclaims. He Turns to where Fury and Coulson are reading the Opera. He smirks as a plan forms. "Fury, Coulson- go through with the play. The Phantom will watch and there we can get him and save Rogers."
Fury and Coulson look at each other and after a moment, they nod. Tony looks around and he sees Natasha and Clint speaking together, unfazed by the events. He stalks after them.
"Madame Romonoff! Monsier Barton!" He calls out as he reaches them.
Natasha turns her head. "Yes, Monsier la Vicomte?"
"What do you know about this Phantom?"
Natasha and Clint share a look. "You better follow us so we can talk," Clint says. He glares at Tony at this part as Natasha starts to walk off. "Privately."
Tony takes a deep breath and follows.
Steve and Bucky are back in Bucky's layer. The former is pacing in his red suit while the later slouches in his black get up.
"I don't understand why you're so mad, love." Bucky stands and places his hands on Steve's shoulder. "I just want you to shine for everyone like you shine for me."
"But forcing people to follow with it is not how I want to be known, Buck." Steve sighs as he leans his head on Bucky's shoulder. Bucky hugs Steve closer to his body.
"I'm sorry, angel. I just wanted everything to be perfect for you."
"It already is," Steve kisses Bucky's jaw. "Because you're here with me."
Bucky smiles as he leads them to the bedroom. He will fix this mess. He will make sure his angel receives everything he deserves.
"It was long ago, back in Russia where I came from." Natasha stares at the candle illuminating her room. Clint sits next to her while Tony stands in the corner. "I was training to be a ballerina when a circus came to town. The gypsies there- we were told to stay away from them but my friends and I followed them back to where they kept their most famous attraction one night. The Winter's Child is what they called him. He had apparently one arm but could carry a whole horse without breaking a sweat. The gypsies showed us where they kept him. He was just a small child, around my age at the time with his left arm missing. He had long dirty hair and his eyes were piercing into my soul. He stared at me and I felt like I couldn't move. He was being whiped by one of the gypsies because he met his master's eye while he was talking to him. I wondered why he wasn't flinching with pain until I saw him kick the gypsy's knee clean off. The boy stood over his cruel master as he ripped the man's head off. I froze while everyone else ran. The boy kept staring at me. I had to help him. So I opened his cage and pulled him along. I ran to France where I hid him in the bowels of the opera house. I then took a job here to perform and since then here I have been. And he has made himself known as the Phantom of the Opera." Natasha met Tony's eye. "Believe me, Monsieur. He is a good man. He has had a hard life but he is good. He would never hurt anyone unless he had to. Ever since Steven came along, the Phantom has become more of a person. Please just let him be, he deserves at least that."
Tony opens the door to leave. "He should have thought about his actions then." He leaves them sitting there.
"Come on, people! Last rehearsal before the show opens tomorrow! Once again from the top of the song!"
Steve sighs and walks back to his place at the table while Thor and Loki go behind the curtain.
"With passion this time, Thor!" The director said.
"Passarino, go away for the trap is set and waits for it's prey!" Thor sings.
Loki walks off stage and Steve grabs the apple and rubs it against his leg as sexually as possible.
"Perfect!" The Alexander says.
Steve wraps a blue cloak around him. He sighs and picks up a gold frame. Slowly, he traces his mother's face in the frame. Bucky walks up behind him and places his hands on Steve's shoulders.
"I'll have a coach set up. Take your time, love." Bucky leans down and kisses his cheek before leaving.
Steve takes a deep breath before standing. He opens the door and sees Tony walking up the stairs.
"Shit..." Steve looks arounds for a different route.
"Steven!" Tony shouts. He runs up the stairs to meet Steve. "I was just looking for you. I was wondering if you want to freshen up before dinner. I am going to take you to-"
"Tony, really, I appreciate the offer but I am engaged. I'm actually busy tonight." Steve says as he squeezes by him to the stairs.
"Busy?! Steven, I am offering you wealth beyond imagination. Is it really a cho-"
"Goodbye, Tony!" Steve runs down the stairs.
Tony stands there for a while before rushing down the stairs. "Steve, wait!"
"Wishing you were somehow here again..." Steve whispered to Sarah Rogers' grave. "Wishing you were somehow near..."
Bucky wraps an arm around Steve as he let out a sob into Bucky's neck. "Why can't the past just die?" He cries. Bucky hushes Steve as they stand. Steve looks back at the elaborate tomb for the famous Irish violinist. "Help me say goodbye!" He says to Bucky.
"Steve, we will be free of this Opera house." Bucky says as they ride back to the Opera Populaire. "We will fake our deaths. Somehow. We can move to America and start anew."
Steve smiles and looks up at Bucky, hopeful. "You can preform with me? I can ask Thor to step out. He has been such a good friend but I know that last scene is uncomfortable for him, with his wife Jane expecting a baby and all. You can step in there and after that, drop the chandelier as we fall into a trap door. No one will get hurt if we drop it the right way."
Bucky smiles. "Yes! That's perfect! Except the Vicomte will be having extra security. We will have to be very careful. It can happen though my darling. It will happen."
"Are the doors secure?" Tony asks the head policeman.
"Secure!" The right door clicks shut.
"Secure!" The left door shuts with a bang.
"Secure!" The back door shuts and Tony smiles.
"This Phantom will see his last show...ever." Tony smiles. "Steve will be mine!"
"Thor!" Steve shouts. Thor turns around along with Wanda, Pietro's sister and fellow ballerina. "I have a favor to ask..."
Tony watches the show with a gun in his lap. It was a great show he has to admit. He sighs as he sees Thor go behind the curtain. No Phantom still.
"Passarino," Bucky sings as he watches Thor and Wanda leave the theatre with Natasha and Clint not far behind. "Go away for the trap is set and waits for its prey."
He opens the curtain to see Steve sexually cleaning an apple. God he can't wait for America.
"You have come here, in pursuit of your deepest urge, in pursuit of the wish that til now has been silent..." Steve turns his head and bites the apple. "Silent..."
Tony tilts his head. The voice does not belong to Thor. Although, it is entrancing...
"I have brought you," Bucky walks over to Steve. "That our passions may fuse and merge.
In your mind you've already succumbed to me
Dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me." Bucky kneels in front of Steve. "Now you are here with me, no second thoughts,
You've decided, decided..."
Bucky takes the apple from Steve and takes his hand. "Past the point of no return,
No backward glances," Steve looks behind him and Bucky turns his face toward himself. "The games we've played till now are at an end."
Bucky walks towards center stage. "Past all thought of if or when,
No use resisting,
Abandon thought and let the dream descend."
Bucky turns Steve into his chest and takes both of Steve's hands in his, ignoring Alexander's anger over changing the choreography.
"What raging fire shall flood the soul?
What rich desire unlocks its door?" Bucky drags both of their hands up and down their bodies. "What sweet seduction lies before us?"
Bucky walks backwards with Steve's head resting against his shoulder. "Past the point of no return.
The final threshold?
What warm, unspoken secrets will we learn
Beyond the point of no return?" Bucky releases Steve so he can move to the other side of the stage. He runs to the other side and sits on the chair like the beginning of the scene.
"You have brought me to that moment where words run dry,
To that moment where speech disappears into silence..." Steve looks towards Bucky as he unbuttons the top of his shirt so it hangs open.
"Silence..." he unbuttons another one.
"I have come here," he stands now. Bucky's eyes hungry as he takes in Steve's submissive stance.
"Hardly knowing the reason why.
In my mind I've already imagined our bodies entwining, defenseless and silent." Steve falls to the floor, legs spread wide as he kneels.
"And now I am here with you, no second thoughts
I've decided," Steve leans forward to rest in a sexual crawling position. "Decided..."
He starts to crawl towards Bucky. Bucky bits his lip as he lowers to kneel. "Past the point of no return,
No going back now!
Our passion play has now at last begun!" Bucky slowly crawls towards Steve.
"Past all thought of right or wrong
One final question
How long should we two wait before we're one?
When will the blood begin to race
The sleeping bud bursts into bloom?
When will the flames at last consume us?!" Steve reaches Bucky and Bucky pulls him up to stand as they duet.
"Past the point of no return, the final threshold. The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn!"
Bucky grabs Steve's hips and pulls him tightly against himself.
"We've passed the point of no return..." Bucky and Steve kiss hotly, the later wrapping his arms around Bucky's neck. The audience applauds loudly and as they break away, Bucky has a surprise.
"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime..."
Tony finally realizes who had took Thor's place. The Phantom. He loads his gun.
"Lead me, save me from my solitude. Say you'll want me with you here, beside you." Bucky holds Steve at arms length, spotting Tony pulling his gun. He reaches stealthily for his own gun. "Anywhere you go let me go too. Steven, that's all I ask of..."
A gunshot sounds and misses Bucky by an inch. Bucky pulls his gun as he grabs Steve. He shoots the red rope of the chandelier so it drops on the stage. The trap door opens as they hear the audience scream.
Tony watches in horror as the chandelier explodes on top of Steve and the Phantom. "STEVEN!" He yells as the stage catches fire. He runs out to save himself as the building catches fire. He finds Bruce outside on the floor, coughing loudly.
"Bruce!" Tony runs to him. "Thank god you are ok."
Bruce smiles through his cough. Tony rubs his back as he watches the Opera House burn. He spots a silver flash under the building. Tony frowns and opens the small gate that leads under it. Tony looks at Bruce, who nods, and then jumps in.
"Bucky, it's actually working!" Steve laughs as watches Bucky row the boat across the lake.
Bucky laughs. "Yes, my dear. It's not to long a way now. The boat leaves in an hour. We must quickly grab our things and go to the docks."
Bucky helps Steve out of the boat and asks, "What do you think New York will be like?"
Steve shrugs. "I don't know. Beautiful." He smiles and before they could kiss, a shot rang out and Bucky falls with a cry.
"Bucky!" He shouts. He looks to see Tony standing ten feet away. Steve has tears streaming down his face as he tries to stop the bleeding from Bucky's shoulder. "Why, Tony?"
"He murdered people, Steven. He is a monster. A one armed monster. Get away from him." Tony cocks the gun again. He pulls the trigger just as Steve stands.
"No!" Bucky yells as Steve jumps in the way of the bullet, blood gushing out of his chest as he falls. Tony stands with the gun raised, shock freezing him in place.
"Steve! Oh god..." Bucky cradles Steve's head in his lap, both of their blood mixing on the floor. "Oh my god, Steve."
Steve smiles as his body convulses. "I...I couldn't let...you die."
"Steve," Bucky cries. "Steve, my love..."
Steve places a hand on Bucky's face. Tony stares at them. The horror of what he did will forever haunt him as he sees now that they both deeply and truly loved each other.
"Buck..." Steve smiles softly. "Sing me my song. Please..."
Bucky cries as he sings. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime..." Steve goes limp and Bucky cries harder. "Anywhere you go...let me go too..." Bucky looks up at Tony. Tony understands and cocks his gun. Bucky looks down at Steve's face as he sing his last line.
"Steven, that's all I ask of-"
1920
Tony stands far off, Thor's daughter and Natasha lay flowers down at the forgotten graves of the Opera lovers. Natasha turns back and sees Tony. He nods to her and she nods back. When they leave, Tony slowly walks over to the tomb. It says Roger-Barnes across the top, the gates closed and the lamp above it lit. Tony strokes a hand down the side of the brick. He thinks back to all of the music he found in the lair of the Phantom after. He had write a story based off of this love story. He gave the lovers in the book a happy ending, while the jealous man received nothing. He called it the Phantom of the Opera, after him. He also published Barnes's music he found under J.B. and sent it to New York. They play it there a lot. Tony sighs.
As he walks away, he could hear- forever in his memory- their duet. The tragic story of these lovers was all his fault and he will forever be haunted by them. He never escapes them. He never wants to. He hums their love song as he approaches his car.