Chapter 8
The clock hit ten and he detangled himself from Steve and made his way to the bathroom. Steve mumbled "get back here"
He just pulled his shirt back on and mumbled "as much as I'd love to, got to work on my business project remember"
Steve groaned but didn't say anything more and he walked into the bathroom switching on the light. He sighed at his reflection. There was a bruise forming around his eye and another by his lip where his lip had been split. On his neck was also a bunch of hickeys and on top of that his hair was a mess. He found his brush that was under Steve's sink and decided to fix the one thing about his appearance that he actually could. When he walked out of the bathroom he wasn't feeling any better about himself.
Steve was sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone and he just grabbed his own phone from where it was charging on the floor. Steve didn't say anything to him and he just made his way into Steve's room and stole one of his thin grey hoodies. He slipped it on and then just put his leather jacket back on overtop. Steve walked into the room and wrapped his arm around him from behind. Steve kissed his neck and whispered "you should wear my clothes more often"
He rolled his eye's and stated "Steve over half the clothes I wear are yours"
Steve laughed in his ear and then spun him around and kissed him. He kissed back and when they broke apart he smiled "I better get going"
Steve nodded "you going to be back tonight"
He replied "probably just going to stay the night at T'Challa's"
Steve nodded "well be safe Buck and if you need me I'm just a call away"
He smiled and gave Steve a final kiss and then left before he stayed and just kissed his boyfriend all night. Sure the afternoon hadn't started off too great but after that he actually had a great time and Steve was back to being his sweet self. Back to the Steve whose arms he felt safe and protected in. He just flicked the hood up and was glad for the darkness as it would help hide the bruises. Everyone would see them tomorrow but he'd have a better excuse by then. He used the walk to Stephen's to come up with an explanation and to try an organise his thoughts and work out why exactly he had been punched.
Loki and Stephen were waiting outside for him and he checked his phone to make sure he wasn't late but it was still nine minutes till eleven so he had nothing to worry about. Well less to worry about. Stephen and Loki were laying on the trampoline Stephen had in his front yard but neither were jumping. They were talking in hushed whispers and if he had to guess they were probably talking about Tony. He just smiled "hey guys"
He was just glad it was dark and there were no lights shining on his face giving away the bruises. They both spun to face him. They were both wearing dark clothes and Stephen stated "you ready to sneak into people's yards and hide gnomes"
With a grin he replied "I wore my dark attire just for this"
From behind him Tony announced "the only thing you've changed about your outfit Barnes is put a hoodie on and it's not even black"
He put a finger to his lips and mumbled "shush Tony don't expose me like that"
Tony just laughed "sorry"
He didn't sound very sorry. Stephen stated "you two give me your phone numbers so if we need to we can call each other"
He just swiped into his phone and held out his phone for Stephen to copy the number down making sure he stayed out of the glow from the phone. After Tony had punched his number into Stephen's phone he got added into a group chat and everyone just sent their names in it so they knew who was who. He then slipped his phone into his pocket and Tony sent them all the addresses so they knew where to go. He wasn't surprised to see Ayo and Drax only lived two streets away from each other whilst Scott and Peter lived no where near each other. Loki passed him a box that had Drax written on the side and then he picked up a box that had Ayo written on it. He guessed that the two had done it that afternoon. He felt slightly bad that he hadn't helped but he figured he could easily make it up to him later. Loki stated "well we'll see you two when you get back here after your fun adventure across town"
Tony picked up a box that read Peter whilst Stephen grabbed the final box. As they walked off their separate ways Tony stated "we will"
He smirked "I'm sure you will"
Loki just grinned "they will, maybe they'll come back a couple"
He chuckled at that. They headed to Drax's first because he had more gnomes and so if they hit him first they wouldn't be carrying so many gnomes. They snuck into Drax's yard and hid the boxes against the fence and just got to work. Before they did however he took a photo of Loki holding a gnome. He and Loki were just messing around filming each other as they placed the gnomes around the yard. At one point a light turned on and they both freaked out but it went off just as quickly and they just went back to being idiots whilst placing gnomes down. Loki handed him the final gnome and he just snuck up the the porch and placed it near the door so whoever opened it would see it.
Loki picked up the box full of gnomes and he just picked up the empty one as they snuck out of the yard and avoided the streetlights as they completed the short walk to Ayo's. Loki whispered "this is even more fun then I originally thought"
He was in agreement. There was nothing like sneaking around someone's yard to place gnomes in it with the knowledge that you were getting paid to be annoying. He chuckled "nothing like hiding a gnome in a patch of tomatoes"
Loki nodded in agreement and they went back to being silent. When they got to Ayo's they were greeted with a fence that was taller than them. He however was able to jump and get his left hand to it and pull himself up. That was one thing his left was good at. He couldn't exert the muscles since there were no muscles and it made him a lot stronger than he should be able to be. Loki mumbled "Holy shit"
He just made sure he wasn't going to fall off and leaned down so Loki could pass him the box. Once he had the box in his hands he rested it on the fence and held his hand out to help Loki up. Not his left obviously. He never let anyone touch that. It was easier to help Loki up then he thought it would be and he just put that down to Loki clearly being strong enough to pull himself up. He jumped down and Loki passed the box down to him. Loki whispered "how did you do that"
He just replied "skill I guess"
Loki just shook his head and handed him a gnome and before grabbing one from himself. Again they spent most of their time filming themselves. And this time it was Loki who got the ultimate position when he put a gnome in a planting box hanging in front of a window and made it face inside. When they were done he just threw the cardboard box over the fence before jumping back up onto it and helping Loki up. They jumped down and each grabbed a box. When they were out of the street Loki grinned "I didn't know it was humanely possible to climb up a fence like that with no help"
He just chuckled "come on my time working out has to pay off right"
He couldn't remember the last time he had bothered to properly work out. He tended just to keep in shape by going for runs with Steve. Loki chuckled "I want your work out routine"
He laughed. And just put the empty box on his head with a laugh. Loki said something he didn't quite catch and so he took the box off to question and was about a step away from a pole. Loki just laughed at him and he stepped around it. When they made it back to Stephen's they both placed the empty boxes by the door and went over to the trampoline. They took turns to do flips as they waited for the other two to get there.
When Tony and Stephen showed up Tony was swinging a box around on his finger as he explained something or other. Both were grinning from ear to ear. Loki smirked "you two have fun"
Stephen nodded "yeah other than Tony being loud and nearly getting us caught by Peter's aunt everything went smoothly"
Loki laughed "how do you nearly get caught just be quiet it's not that difficult'
He nudged Loki and whispered "it is if your trying to impress the other person"
Loki laughed and the other two just stared at them confused. He just chuckled and Stephen stated "well let's go get those last two boxes"
He walked over with Loki to the front door as Tony and Stephen just continued talking. He picked up the box that read T'Challa as Loki grabbed the other one which was quickly claimed by Stephen when they reached him. They were both headed the same way for a little bit and so they all set off. Tony questioned "so how'd you two go"
Loki chuckled "well let's just say were lucky we didn't send you to Ayo's"
Tony raised an eyebrow and questioned "why"
Loki smirked "there's no way you would have been tall enough to jump the fence, here I got a video"
Loki showed Tony the video and he admitted "yeah there was now way I was going to be able to do that"
Stephen who watched it laughed "yeah me neither"
They eventually reached the intersection where they needed to split off. Tony smiled "see you two tomorrow, tonight was great fun"
Stephen nodded "yeah it really was"
Him and Loki just gave each other a grin as they walked their separate ways. Before long Tony and Stephen would be together. Once they couldn't see the other two anymore Tony stated "yeah I'm not mad at you"
He chuckled "does that mean you enjoyed your date"
Tony replied "not a date"
He added "but you wish it was"
Tony just nodded as he chuckled. When they got to T'Challas house he just placed the box down by a tree and they began placing the gnomes around the yard. He put one on T'Challas car and grinned as he watched Tony put one at the base of the basketball hoop. Since it was T'Challas they didn't just stick to the front and in the end had just scattered them all over the property in the most random spots. Along the way Tony had found a baseball and was throwing it between his hands. It was most likely one of his. T'Challa played basketball and Shuri wasn't one for sports and if she played it was mainly soccer. He however loved baseball and was on the baseball team until the accident. Since then he never really played anymore, not even for fun and had given all of his baseball stuff to T'Challa. Tony threw it to him and asked "why don't you play anymore, you used to be pretty good if I remember correctly"
He easily caught the ball and just thumbed it over in his hand. If he was honest with himself he missed playing. Not as much as he missed other things he had back then but his baseball games had been the highlight of each week. He'd also stopped watching it because it made him miss it even more. He shrugged "just grew out of it I guess"
Tony smiled "well if you haven't grown out of it too much we should play"
He couldn't believe he was even considering it. But nothing was really stopping him except for himself. And it would be fun. They did have one problem however. It was nearly pitch black. So he asked "how there's no light"
Tony smiled "trust me I've got that covered, my place will be bright enough, I've got bat's and gloves too"
He just shrugged what could go wrong. In retrospect a lot. Tony picked up the empty box and they began the short walk to his house. He asked "you like baseball"
Tony nodded "it's the only sport that doesn't suck ass, Jarvis taught me how to play when I was little, he didn't like me spending everyday inside working on robots"
When he was little his parent used to have to drag him inside to get him in their. He loved running around all day and even when Becca wanted to play dolls with him he managed to convince her to bring them outside. It was always their compromise. But he would have done anything to make her happy so he was positive if she hadn't brought them out he would have gone in just to see her smile. He'd given anything to see that smile again. But he also managed to drag Becca down to the creek with him and that was where he met Steve when he was five and even though Steve hated baseball he would play it with him anyway. He smiled "I think my parents would have liked it if I spent more time indoors"
Tony chuckled "I'm not sure mine minded either way, I think my mum was just glad she didn't have to clean grass stains from my clothes"
His mum used to go on and on about his grass stains and ask him how he even managed to get them so bad. Eventually she didn't try so hard to get them out knowing the second he put them on they'd be back again. He just nodded at Tony as they reached his gate. Tony scanned his card and the gate opened. He walked in and just stared at the house impressed. Sure he'd driven past Tony's house before but up close it looked even more extravagant. Tony just chuckled "come on let's go around to the shed, I think everything's in there"
He nodded and just gestured for Tony to lead the way. He followed Tony around to what appeared to be the 'shed' but if you asked him it was big enough to be a house itself. Tony pulled out some keys and opened the door and flicked a light on. Tony then spun around to face him and he remembered about his face. Yeah he should have definitely stayed at T'Challa's. Tony stated "holy shit what happened"
He decided to go for an easy lie and stated "got in a fight"
He totally sounded confident with that. Tony questioned "who the hell with and why"
It would be nice if Tony could just drop it. He sighed "you know how it goes some asshole say something offensive and you put them in their place"
Tony seemed to accept that and stated "I swear I don't know where you find all these fights, your constantly getting in them, does no one learn not to fight you"
Sure he got into a lot of fight but majority of the time it wasn't a fight that put the bruises there. Normally it was a beating, by the same person every time. Someone who he did his best not to think about. But he made sure to get into a number of fights as a cover. He shrugged "they kind of just come to me"
Tony laughed "I can count the number of fight's I've been in on one hand"
He smiled at that. He'd been fighting for years. Especially because before Steve could finish his own fights he liked to start plenty and it was up to him to jump in so his best friend wasn't beaten to death. Tony just began searching the room for the baseball gear. Which he found easy enough. Tony held out a bat and a glove and questioned "you pitching or batting"
He grabbed the glove and smiled "I'll pitch"
He loved pitching more than anything because yeah batting was fun but nothing could compare to pitching. He took a look at Tony's gear and was unsurprised to see it was the expensive stuff and also in near perfect condition. The opposite of how his stuff had been. Tony threw him a few balls and he put the spares in his pocket. As they walked out Tony turned the lights off and locked the shed. they headed into Tony's backyard which was huge. Tony turned on the lights which made the yard more than bright enough to play in. It was a lot better than when he set up flashlights in a diamond on the ground as a kid. Tony grinned "come on show me what you got Barnes"
He nodded "just so you know I haven't played in years"
Tony smirked "already making excuses I see Barnes"
He ran off to a distance that he could comfortably pitch from and laughed "it's on Stark"
He took his leather jacket off and dropped it to the ground he then discretely slipped the glove from his fake arm and slipped his fake hand into the baseball glove being careful so Tony didn't see. He then took off his right glove and slipped both gloves into his pocket. Then he just threw the ball up a few times to get used to the weight of it. He then pitched the ball towards Tony who missed it as it went flying past him. Tony laughed "I thought you said you hadn't played for years"
He smiled "exactly, I never said I was bad"
Tony chuckled and pointed the bat towards him and stated "well played"
The second he threw Tony managed to nick part of the bat but it didn't cause it to change direction and it still flew past Tony. The third Tony managed to hit properly and this time it went flying past him. They both then went to fetch the balls. They just repeated this over and over again. Tony offered to let him bat but he said he'd rather pitch and Tony confessed he wasn't great at pitching anyways. So they just continued with him pitching and Tony batting.
They had been going for quite a while when the man he recognised as Jarvis, the man who had driven him to T'Challas that morning, although technically it was yesterday now, walked out and asked "Tony why exactly are you playing baseball at three in the morning"
There was something slightly familiar about Jarvis in more than an I've met you once before kind of way. Tony joked "because I'm not the type of insomniac who stares at the roof all night when they can't sleep, I do things"
Jarvis shook his head and stated "normally your friends have the good sense not to join you at this type of hour and spend it sleeping"
Tony smirked "not Barnes, I quote, 'sleeping is for the weak, I just stay on a constant sugar high', he gets me on a whole different level"
He had said that and would most certainly stand by it. Jarvis stated "why is there two of you, one was more than enough"
Tony laughed "makes life more exciting"
Jarvis just shook his head and stated "well if you two want to come inside, I'll put on a pot of coffee so I don't have to listen to you smash that damn ball"
He smirked "he misses most of the time anyways"
Tony groaned "I'd say your a bad pitcher but I promised Jarvis I wouldn't lie to him"
Jarvis chuckled "good, now come on I'm not an insomniac and want to actually get back to sleep"
He swapped the baseball glove back for his own glove and just picked up his jacket leaving both the jacket and his right glove off. As Tony went to turn the lights off he caught up to Jarvis and stated "sorry for keeping you up sir"
Jarvis smiled at him and whispered "don't tell Tony but I only just got back from my brothers"
He laughed and part of him was thankful they hadn't kept someone awake. Jarvis then grinned "so tell me all you know about Stephen Strange"
He laughed "and Tony's huge crush on him, it's great, we sent them out with each other and hopefully they realise they are both crushing on each other soon enough. It's a bit nauseating to watch"
Jarvis asked "Stephen likes him back"
He nodded "big time, although we are letting Tony find out on his own, we don't want to break either of their trust"
Although he had to admit maybe him and Loki talking about their crushes on each other was already breaking their trust. Jarvis smiled but before he could respond Tony jogged over and stated "what are you two talking about"
Jarvis smirked "your crush on Stephen"
Tony mumbled "I hate you both"
He just smiled and true to his word Jarvis put on a pot of coffee before leaving to most likely go to sleep. He questioned "should I know him from somewhere"
Tony grabbed a mug from one of the cupboards and explained "He's Vision's uncle so I guess so"
That made a lot of sense, especially since Vision's last name was Jarvis. He probably would have worked it out for himself if he had the good sense to realise Jarvis likely wasn't the man's first name. Tony questioned "want some coffee"
He shook his head, he couldn't think of anything worse. He replied "no thanks, you got any lollies"
Tony shrugged "no clue your welcome to raid the pantry"
And so that's what he did opening the door to the biggest pantry he had ever seen. It was so large you could actually walk around inside it. He found what he was looking for in the form of gummy bears and strawberry & creams. He grabbed both unopened bags and sat down beside Tony who had a mug of coffee in his hand. Both him and Tony were soaked in sweat but he didn't mind all that much and it seemed Tony didn't either. He opened the bag of gummy bears and just began eating them. He held them out and offered them to Tony. Tony took a couple and smiled "thanks"
It was slightly funny that Tony was thanking him for sharing food that was his to begin with. But he didn't bring attention to it and mumbled "no worries"
Tony stated "thanks for that, it was fun"
He agreed. He'd had a great time. He smiled "it was, I haven't played in ages"
They sat in silence for a while just on their phone him eating whilst Tony downed numerous cups of coffee. He didn't know how he did it coffee was the worst thing ever if you asked him. But he didn't bother to bring it up. Glancing at the clock that read 3:40 he realised that he should probably go try and get some sleep. So he got up and stated "I should probably be going"
Tony nodded "yeah I should probably at least attempt to sleep, you going to be able to get into T'Challas"
He had made sure to tell T'Challa that he was going to be sleeping there and that he would probably be there late so T'Challa had left a key out for him and he had picked it up when he was there earlier. He nodded "yeah I got a key"
Tony led him through the house and to the front door. Tony smiled "well see you later today then"
He nodded with a smile and just headed towards the gate which just began opening for him. And then he just did the short walk back to T'Challas. He had gotten back when he realised he had left his baseball behind. He wasn't bothering to go back and just figured Tony might as well keep it anyway. as quietly as he could he opened the door making sure to lock it behind him. He took his shoes off by the door so he could make less noise as he walked to the guest room. He picked up his towel and then just made his way to the bathroom and quickly showered. When he returned to the room he just changed into his sweatpants and then climbed into bed. As he placed his phone down on the bed side table he thought about his night and how the worst part of it had been spent with his boyfriend and decided that it might be a little fucked up. He decided he was allowed to be mad at Steve, he had punched him after all. And if the roles were reversed he would expect Steve to be furious.