Chapter 5
When he woke up sweating from the nightmare he had just had he noticed he was still laying against the bookcase and Loki was still laying against the bed head but there was no longer any gnomes on the ground. Tony was sleeping soundly on Stephen's bed and Stephen was nowhere to be seen. He had to admit it was quite cute that Stephen gave up his bed for Tony. There was light streaming in through the window and the rain appeared to have stopped. He checked his phone to see it was six-thirty and since they had school the others would probably have to make soon anyways. He knew there was no way he could go back to sleep. Plus three hours of sleep was actually pretty good for him. Getting up he found his way to the bathroom. When he got there he washed the sweat from his face and hair and then worked on washing the paint and clay from his hand.
By some miracle T'Challa's hoodie remained in the same condition and was undamaged. The same could not be said for his glove which was coated in clay and paint. And so he realised he was going to need to go home to get his spare pair and see if he could wash everything out of the glove. When he left the bathroom he was surprised to see Tony waiting outside. Tony must have noticed his surprise because he stated "I'm pretty much an insomniac, I run on coffee"
He nodded "sleeping is for the weak, I just stay on a constant sugar high"
Tony hummed in approval as he made his way into the bathroom. He spotted Stephen sleeping soundly on the couch and figured that must be where he decided to go after giving up his bed. He knew that if he wanted to actually get to school on time he was going to have to leave soon especially if he was going by his house. So he went back into Stephen's room and grabbed his Artbook and got ready to leave. He was about to head downstairs to leave when Tony came out of the bathroom he questioned "you leaving"
Tony actually looked pretty alive for someone who had less than three hours of sleep. He was sure he didn't look anywhere near that alive. He nodded "got to head home and grab some things"
Tony questioned "mind if I tag along, I want to get some coffee"
He didn't care as long as Tony didn't come to his house it was fine so he just shrugged "yeah alright"
Tony just grinned and then headed off to go and find his thing, which he had left in multiple place around the house. Eventually Tony seemed to have everything and smiled "let's hit the road then"
They began making there way downstairs and he slipped his right glove onto his hand as he and Tony both quietly made their way to the front door. They ran into Stephen's dad on the way and Tony smiled "thanks for your hospitality sir when Stephen and Loki wake up and can you please tell them we had to head off"
It still surprised him to see Tony Stark of all people actually had manners especially with how he acted towards everyone at school. Stephen's dad asked "are you two getting a lift"
Tony nodded "yes sir"
Stephen's dad nodded "be safe"
He smiled "thanks sir, we will"
With that, they both headed outside. Tony had lied they didn't have a lift and were instead walking but he didn't mind at all and it appeared as Tony didn't either. It wasn't raining anymore but you could clearly see the damage the rain had done. He could already see a number of trees that had fallen down. There was also a lot of things that the wind must have blown around because the did not appear where they should be. He was just glad that the rain had stopped. He wondered how Steve's house had faired and hoped that it didn't get damaged.
He was perfectly content to walk in silence but Tony seemingly wasn't because he stated "I wonder if the school was damaged last night, imagine how nice that would be. Getting to have the day off"
He figured if they were going to talk he was going to get intel so he shrugged "you wouldn't get to be with Stephen though, you do like him right"
Tony's jaw dropped and he he groaned "how do you know about that, I don't care how long me Pepper and Rhodey have been friends but if you found out from them I'm murdering them both"
Clearly Tony didn't know quite how obvious he was being. He had to bite back a smile at him thinking it was those two. He was pretty sure he had never interacted with either one. He replied "well you aren't exactly great at hiding it"
Tony grumbled "I thought I was doing a great job"
He shook his head. In no way was Tony doing a good job of hiding it and he guessed the only one who didn't see it was Stephen. He smiled "ask him out"
Tony questioned "are you crazy, no, no way, he doesn't like me back so it's fine"
Sometimes people were just so oblivious that it physically pained him inside. This was definitely one of those times. Tony really just had to watch Stephen a little bit closer to see that he liked him back although by his guesses Tony already watched the other boy plenty. He replied "well you don't know until you ask"
Tony nodded "yeah and I can't get rejected until I ask"
He rolled his eyes but agreed he could see his point. Although he was pretty positive that there was no way Stephen was going to say no. He just shrugged "suit yourself"
Tony mumbled "now you've made me confused"
He just grinned and Tony groaned. Tony spent the rest of the way talking about who they were going to gnome first. There was plenty of options and so they just decided to go in the order they had been messaged in. Which meant Ayo's house was first on their list. This was definitely going to be fun and if they didn't make the most money out of all the group he just guessed it was rigged.
Eventually when they were closer to his house he noticed Tony eying a coffee shop. Tony then smiled "well I'm going to get my coffee, your place near here"
He nodded "yeah practically around the corner"
Tony smiled "well I might as well wait here for you, not like I've got anywhere better to go and we are both going to school after all"
He shrugged "you don't have to"
Tony grinned "trust me I'll be here a while anyway, as I said I run on coffee"
He nodded "alright then, I'll be back"
So he just continued walking as Tony slipped into the coffee shop. He was glad Tony didn't bother walking with him to his house because he didn't want anyone there let alone Tony who's house was the complete opposite of his in everyway. The closer he got to his house the more the houses he walked past were damaged which didn't give him much hope for his own. When he finally made it to his house he spotted a tree that had come down and was laying in the front yard. It would likely stay there now because he sure as hell wasn't going to move it and he knew no one else planned too.
He snuck into his room through the window and wasn't surprised to see the floor was wet. There was definitely a leak in his roof that no one fixed. He grabbed his backpack which thankfully remained dry and shoved the clothes he had in his room into it which was some socks a pair of shorts and a long sleeve shirt. He then grabbed his spare pair of gloves and swapped them out for the ones he was currently wearing just shoving the dirty pair into a side pocket of his bag. Looking around he wondered if there was anything else he needed but decided not. After the other night he had made up his mind to try to never come back. So he pulled the metal box that he kept his valuables in which he had hidden behind a board on the wall that slipped out easily. He shoved the box into the bag and grabbed his two caps as he left the room shoving them into his backpack as he went. He was just glad that he kept majority of his stuff at Steve's.
When he got back to the coffee shop he noticed there was a number of people inside and Tony was having an in depth conversation with a boy. He recognised the boy and was positive he was a freshman at their school and was pretty sure he was friends with Shuri. His name was Peter or something close to that. He walked in and over to Tony who smiled "well Peter see you at school"
The boy grinned "yeah, see you there"
Peter sent him a smile but he looked to be a tad scared of him. He just nodded in the boys direction as Tony picked up a coffee he was positive wasn't his first and stated "you get what you need"
He nodded and Tony smiled "well I called my butler and he'll be here in a few minutes, you don't mind coming over before school"
He replied "no it's cool, you live near T'Challa don't you"
Tony nodded "yeah he lives on the street next to mine, we can drop you off there if you would like"
He grinned "sounds good"
It wasn't long before an Audi pulled up and Tony grinned "come on"
As they got into the car Tony stated "hey Jarvis, this is Barnes it it cool if we drop him at the Udaku's on the way"
The man smiled "you really making me go out of my way Tones"
It was clear he was joking. He just stuck his hand out and smiled "hey sir, I'm Bucky Barnes, thanks for the lift"
The man shook his hand and smiled "Edwin Jarvis, just call me Jarvis though, everyone does"
He smiled "you can call me either Barnes or Bucky, I'm fine with either"
Tony grinned "does that mean I can call you Bucky"
He honestly wouldn't have minded if Tony did but he also liked to mess with him so he replied "no"
Tony sulked "no fair"
Jarvis just laughed and stated "dramatic as always"
He decided he liked this guy. Tony struck up a conversation with Jarvis as he drove them. They were talking about what damage had been done to the house which by the sounds of it wasn't much. When they pulled up to T'Challa's he got out of the car and smiled "thanks for the ride sir, see you at school Tony"
Tony saluted "will do Barnes, we got to become rich after all"
He just snickered as he got out of the car and Jarvis stated "anytime Bucky"
He was positive the man only said Bucky to tease Tony. He walked up to the Udaku's door. Before he could even knock Shuri opened it and stated "you can come in but only if you promise not to steal my new packet of snakes"
He shrugged "not sure I can ,make you that promise"
Shuri grinned "well that's too bad"
As Shuri went to shut the door he watched T'Challa walk up behind her and catch the door and open it back up as he groaned "let him in Shuri, plus I already ate your snakes"
Shuri looked horrified and mumbled "T'Challa no"
He just grinned "T'Challa yes"
T'Challa just shook his head and mumbled "children"
Both him and Shiuri just grinned at each other and T'Challa stated "you two get ready, we leave in twenty"
Shuri practically ran off. Clearly that wasn't enough time. T'Challa however just slowly walked back down the hallway. He closed the front door behind him and headed to the guest room and grabbed the towel and his clothes before making his way to the bathroom to shower.
When he walked out he wasn't wearing his jacket and instead just had on a shirt not feeling self conscious in front of either sibling he figured he might as well. As he walked back to his room he heard as T'Challa called "Shuri I swear to god"
He snickered to himself. Shuri had definitely played a prank on T'Challa which he was less than happy about. He just decided to quickly get out of the firing range and slipped into the guest room. He dumped the contents of his back pack onto the floor. He knew he was going to come back and since he hated taking things with him to school he just made a pile of clothes to leave behind. He then had no idea what to do with his box of valuables. Although he did open it and smiled at the thirty dollars he had left inside it. He could pay T'Challa back the money he owed him. He then just closed the lid before he got caught up looking at all the photos inside. He figured it would be safe here so he just put it under his caps. He then just shoved his books and pens back into his backpack.
As he left the room he grabbed his leather jacket, his clean pair of gloves and his backpack. When he got to the kitchen he got a packet of Oreos thrown at his head by Shuri who was standing by the fridge. He caught them and smirked "mine now"
Shuri groaned "well that's not fair"
He shrugged "you threw them at me"
T'Challa walked into the room and she pegged an orange at him. He caught it and asked "what the hell Shuri"
She laughed "just testing your reflexes"
He stated "she threw a packet of Oreo's at me"
T'Challa groaned "why couldn't I get Oreo's throw at me"
He just laughed as Shuri stated "because I had already thrown them and he won't give them back"
T'Challa shrugged "your loss"
Shuri just grumbled "you could at least help me get them back"
T'Challa shrugged "I don't care enough"
He grinned because he was going to get to keep the Oreos. They sat in the kitchen eating until T'Challa decided they better go and they headed out to the car. He had his jacket and gloves on before the front door was even opened. Shuri scammed the front seat and so he just chose to glare at her as she grinned. He knew this was payback for keeping the Oreos. When they got to school T'Challa disappeared almost immediately but Shuri just walked with him and they weren't even inside before Sam and Sarah walked over. If Sam was here it meant that his family hadn't been hit hard by the storm and everything was in good condition so he felt glad for them. He would have hated it for something bad to happen to the Wilson's. They were genuinely nice people and were always helping out others within the community. He was also glad Sam was back at school and he wouldn't have to deal with their stupid group all by himself. Sam grinned "hey man, how was yesterday without me"
He rolled his eyes. Yesterday had been weird and he just hoped today was more normal. But he doubted it would be especially since Stephen, Loki and Tony had decided they were willing to hang out with him. He mumbled "I should have skipped"
Sam laughed "it can't have been that bad"
He replied "well let's see I'm with Tony, Stephen and Loki for a business project because I wasn't allowed to go with Steve and we spent all afternoon and night working on it"
It really hadn't been that bad but he wasn't going to tell Sam that. Sam stated "you know I would have gone in a group with you, let me guess Steve's not too happy with you hanging out with his mortal enemy"
He was sure he hadn't heard Sam correctly. Sam and Steve were best friends why would he ditch Steve to group up with him on a project. He decided not to bother going deeper on it and instead ignore it. He shrugged "Steve will get over himself, it's not like I had a choice, how's the boat"
Sam grinned "surprisingly undamaged, although that might have more to do with all the preparation we did"
He nodded glad to hear that the boat was fine. As the two walked down the hallway they spotted Steve talking to Quentin. He smirked "oh yeah forgot to tell you Quentin's in your group, along with Sharon"
Sam groaned "not him, why, I can't work with him, he's so infuriating"
He snickered "hey at least it's not Walker"
Sam mumbled "I want a new group, this isn't fair, of course the one day I'm not here is the day we get have to pick groups"
He smiled "you'll get over it"
Sam grumbled "says you, your not the one with Quentin Beck in your group"
He did feel bad for Sam. Beck was a total ass and he imagined being in a group with him would be one of the worst things that could happen. It made him glad that he was with who he was. At least no one in his group was a total dick. He smiled "aren't I lucky"
Sam nodded "yes you are, want to switch groups"
He shook his head. Even if he wanted to he wouldn't be allowed to. He knew Sam was joking but he could also see the annoyance radiating off him. He stated "no thank you"
Sam groaned "of course you don't, what am I supposed to do"
He shrugged "how am I supposed to know"
Sam put his arm around his shoulder and grinned "you ready to go lose braincells"
He laughed as he walked towards Steve and Quentin who at some point had been joined by Walker and Lemar. Steve grinned "hey guys, I see you both survived the storm"
He gave a nod to his boyfriend as he smiled at him. Sam nodded "it was amazing really, like I don't think we've ever come out so well after a night of rain like that"
Quentin stated "Wilson I need twenty five dollars"
Sam raised his eyebrow and asked "what the hell for"
Quentin glared "for our group project, there's no way I'm going to pay for your part out of my pocket, Sharon and Steve only got away with it because they're good looking"
Sam rolled his eyes and he just figured glaring at Quentin sounded like a good plan. He understood that other people were allowed to find Steve hot but he was also allowed to be jealous. Sam nodded "yeah alright, I'll get it to you by tomorrow"
Sharon walked over and stated "hello boys"
Every time she spoke he just wanted to punch her. He wouldn't obviously but he imagined it would be nice to see her get in a fight one day. Maybe Natasha or Yelena could get a few good hits in against her. Or maybe Nebula. He'd seen her fight boys before and absolutely destroy them so it would be nice to watch her destroy Sharon. There was just something about her that irked him. She had gotten on his bad side long before she starting sleeping with his boyfriend and that certainly didn't help his opinion of her. He couldn't remember a time where he had actually liked her. Everyone else seemed to love her though but he just couldn't understand how. Sharon was the one person in their group who he hated and Sam didn't share a mutual hatred for. Steve looked at her with a glint in his eyes that was all too familiar for him and smiled "hey"
He didn't like the way Steve said it. The way he drawled on the word. And that coupled with the look in his eye which to him just screamed pure lust. Yeah no he couldn't do this. He knew Steve had ended it, after all yesterday he had promised him he would and he trusted Steve. Steve kept his word. But this was all a bit much. Seeing his Steve with the girl he had cheated on him with was harder when it wasn't the first time it had happened. He really should be used to this now. He stepped closer to his boyfriend and slipped his hand into his because Steve was his and not Sharon's. Sharon grinned "how's the schools hottest gay couple going"
There was just something about the way she said that which felt condescending. Maybe he was just an idiot and thinking way too deeply into it. Steve laughed "I'm pretty sure we're the hottest couple in the school, and the only gay couple"
Well they weren't the only gay couple not anymore. But they were the only gay couple that were actually out about their relationship. But they were definitely the hottest couple in school. Although that was probably biased. Sharon grinned "to be fair any couple with you in it Steve would be the hottest"
Yeah he was definitely not enjoying this conversation or Sharon's presence. Sam smirked "not long till you have some competition I think"
He could see where Sam was glancing just past Walker and Lemar to where Clint and Pietro were standing. Sam was as perceptive as always. He was going to have to warn him to be quiet. It seems everyone else in the group thought he was talking about Walker and Lemar however. Quentin asked "since when was this group filled with fags"
And that just went on his list of reasons why he didn't like the other boy. Walker and Lemar just looked furious and Walker glared "I'm no fag like fucking Barnes"
His blood boiled. No one got away with saying shit like that to him. Seconds later he had Walker held against the locker with his arm firmly on the boys neck as he glared "call me that again, I dare you"
Steve just grabbed his free hand and stated "Buck stop, you know he didn't mean it that way"
He let Walker go and watched him drop to the floor as he mumbled "yeah sure he didn't, they never do"
Steve never seemed to see that his friends were insulting both of them when they used the word fag. Every time they said it Steve would just believe that they were just joking. He never felt the same and had punched them more than a few times for saying it. And them still choosing to say it made him believe that Steve was wrong about this one. Lemar looked down at Walker who was on the ground holding his neck and questioned "what is wrong with you"
He shrugged and replied "a lot"
With that he decided to walk off down the hall away from Steve's friends and their stupid conversations that made him want to beat them all up. He didn't bother to look back but he heard as Sam shouted "maybe you lot shouldn't be homophobic, it's not a good look, times have changed boys, time to change with them"
Sam didn't need to get involved and yet he had anyways. It was things like this that made Sam lean from tolerated to being his friend. Although sometimes he really wished Sam would stay quiet. There was no point in him getting involved in a fight he didn't belong in. When he rounded the corner Sam stated "Bucky wait up"
He spun around surprised that Sam had followed him. Part of him wished it had been Steve but of course Steve had chosen to stay with his friends over him. It seemed as though that's just how it went these days. Sam caught up to him and asked "you really were just going to leave me with the dipshits"
He gave Sam a small smile and shrugged "it is your group"
Sam replied "it's yours too doesn't mean I like it anymore than you, we really need to strike out on our own, being with those guys makes me lose braincells and patience"
Sam did have a point. They both equally hated the group and only sat there because that's where Steve was. Maybe him and Sam should leave the group. Surely that would be enough to bring Steve with them. Surely he would chose his bestfriend and boyfriend over his other friends. He didn't want to have to make Steve choose though. It just wouldn't be right. He replied "I want to punch them all"
Sam seemed to nod in agreement and stated "how can Steve stand them, they literally just insulted you both and he stand up for them"
He shrugged. He didn't have an answer and sure as hell would like one. Sam stated "I'm not sitting with them today and your coming with me"
He raised an eyebrow and Sam explained "well I don't want to be by myself"
He laughed as he nodded "alright then"
Sam just dragged him to his locker which was about as far away from his as you could possibly get. Sam had the displeasure of having a locker beside Walker and another boy who was a senior and a definite asshole. The only saving grace was the junior on the other side of that by the name of Jimmy Woo who was an actual decent person. He was quite lucky with his locker being next to good people and was glad he wasn't as unlucky as Sam. Sam's locker unlike his wasn't a mess and closer resembled someone who had their shit together. Just like Steve's was. They had both tried to get him to tidy it up but he never really saw the point. As Sam was retrieving his books a junior walked past and stated "you should have punched him"
They both spun around to face the junior which turned out to be Zemo. He didn't know him all to well but he had been the talk of the town when he first moved here. Apparently he was royalty somewhere. He never cared enough to bother to learn where. But he guessed it was why Zemo always wore the jacket or coat everywhere. He didn't know exactly what to call it but he had to admit it looked pretty cool. Sam looked at Zemo questioningly and asked "are you talking about Walker"
Zemo nodded "yes, you both should have punched him"
He couldn't remember ever seeing Zemo get into a fight but he could remember a few rumor's going around about him fighting with T'Challa. He had never bothered to ask T'Challa if it was true but maybe he should. Sam mumbled "as much as I hate agreeing with him, I think I probably should have"
Zemo just hummed in response as he opened his locker which wasn't to far down from Sam's. He just shrugged and stated "we'll always have another chance, not like he's going anywhere"
Sam smiled at him and replied "I'd rather just stay away from him"
Sam finally closed his locker having grabbed what he needed. Zemo closed his own and walked back over to them as he stated "you both have terrible choices in friends, although I must admit there's not many people at this school worth befriending"
They started walking down the hall towards his locker and Sam shrugged "their not our friends, they're just there because they're friends with Steve"
Zemo replied "and who said Rogers was a good choice of a friend"
He glared at Zemo, no one insulted his boyfriend and got away with it so before Zemo could say anything more he mumbled "watch it, he's my boyfriend"
Zemo put his hands up and stated "alrigh then"
He was glad Zemo dropped it because he didn't want to have to listen to yet another person complain about Steve. After all he had to listen to Tony and Loki the day before and that was more than enough he could take before he punched someone for being rude about his boyfriend. Sam shrugged "who would you say is a good choice of friend then"
Sam seemed to just be insanely curious as to who Zemo believed was a good choice and he had to agree he was curious too. Zemo shrugged "as I said there's not many"
Zemo was just making him and Sam more curious but Sam let it go and so he just did as well. If Zemo was going to tell them he would have already. Sam stated "well I reckon some are worth it, just not many from our group"
Zemo added "very few from your group, very few"
Zemo definitely wasn't wrong and him and Sam both knew it. They just continued on in a comfortable silence and when they reached his locker him and Sam both stopped and Zemo stated "goodbye, Sam, James"
That felt weird. No one ever called him James and it felt strange to here it. And it wasn't like he could get mad about it either because it was his name and he only allowed his friends to call him Bucky. Which meant most people called him Barnes, but never James. Not even the teachers called him James. Before either could respond Zemo had walked off. Sam just laughed "ew, James"
He had to agree with Sam on that one and chuckled "didn't like that one bit"
As he opened his locker Sam snickered "I see your lockers still a mess"
He put his books from his bag inside and replied "it's an organised mess"
Sam just shook his head and stated "that's not a thing"
Clint walked over with Pietro and opened the locker beside him and Sam laughed "not you too Barton, how do your lockers end up like that"
Clint just chuckled "if you think that about mine you should see Pietro's"
Sam looked to be in disbelief and questioned "surely it can't look worse"
Clint proudly grinned "it can and it does"
Sam just changed the topic and asked "so when are you two getting together"
Instantly he felt caught out. He was going to look really bad. Even though he hadn't told Sam a damn thing it probably seemed like he did. Clint looked at him accusingly and he signed 'I didn't tell him a damn thing I swear'
Clint obviously had noticed him sign because he dropped the look and stated "what are you talking about Wilson"
Sam shrugged "well your both the ugliest people in this school so it would make sense for you to date"
Sam was clearly joking about the ugly part and had a taunting smile on his face. Pietro looked as though he was going to laugh and Clint just shook his head. Pietro eventually just laughed and mumbled "well that's harsh"
Clint grinned "I don't know what your talking about I'm gorgeous"
Sam just smirked "sure you are"
Clint turned to him and discretely signed 'might as well tell him were dating just make sure he keeps quiet, can't have him going around announcing that were the perfect couple'
He nodded towards Clint and Pietro asked "are you two having a fucking conversation"
Sam turned to look at him and Clint. Clint replied "of course not, how would we do that without talking"
Pietro just flicked Clint's ear and Sam raised an eyebrow at him. He stated "what would we have to talk about anyways"
Sam and Pietro just shook their heads and Pietro dragged a smirking Clint away. Sam asked "so what are you a fucking telepath"
He laughed at Sam's stupidity and joked "oh yeah I am currently listening to all your thoughts"
Sam narrowed his eyes and questioned "seriously though, were you having a conversation"
He closed his locker and smiled "of course not"
Sam grumbled "and yet I don't believe you"
He just laughed as they made their way to class. Sam just looked as though he wanted to laugh and be annoyed at the same time.