Changing minds have started
Hearing his voice Tony turns around and leans back on the railing to watch the man standing a good six feet away from him, eyes roaming over Tony's body. Tony knows he looks like shit, not to mention small and weak, swamped by the clothes that once fit him well and were a little big. He glances down at his hand and wiggles it a little, watching the sleeve slip over his hand and past it. Tony sighs, tugs it back over his hand with a roll of his eyes, and turns back to Barnes; the urge to manically giggle bubbles up, but he holds it in and puts out the cigarette instead. By the way, Barnes's lip twitched in disgust; Tony could assume the insane amusement of the situation hadn't left his eyes as well as he thought. The tightness in his chest rumbles and rolls with the need to wheeze and cough and collapse to the ground.
"What can I do for you?" Tony asks him, trying to keep the harshness and roughness from his voice, trying to appear healthier than he clearly is
"What makes you think I want anything from you?" Barnes spits at him, full of venom and resentment
"You clearly would not be here otherwise. Besides, everyone wants something from me," Tony huffs, rolling his eyes.
"I don't want anything from you, but I've been told I have no choice," Barnes hisses; he really hates this idea.
"I'm sure you do," Tony says, then stops. He was going to add something else but decided not to say it for his own safety.
Barnes grinds his teeth, clearly understanding, and is ready to storm out and just say fuck it and figure another way out, and Tony is happy to let him go. Also, Tony is getting tired, recovery sucks, and he'd very much like to lie down right now and pretend this never happened. But, of course, another part of him hopes that Fury will pop up out of nowhere and swoop him away under the guise of another or some shit. But then again, he did bring Barnes to him in the first place. Sighing, Tony raises a hand and rubs his forehead a little bit. But, of course, he knows the best way to do this is to stop being an ass and get it over with.
"So, what's wrong with it?" Tony sighs, crossing his arms a little, leaning more heavily into the railing to support himself
"Sit first," Barnes tells him, taking notice of the change in Tony's body.
Tony looks him over more coldly now, not like how he's so quickly noted and profiled but sees Barnes is in a better condition to be stubborn. Tony notes how his hands have started to tremble and shake, his joints are aching, and he feels like listing over. His chest is growing tight and burning with each breath, and he is getting sick. It's not good, but it's not the worst, either. He doesn't want to sit, but the crutches are beginning to hurt his underarms. He's still covered in stitches and broken bones. His heart is fragile and under great strain; he's definitely going to catch a cold, which will worsen everything, maybe even kill him for once.
The longer he zones out assessing his situation, the more Barnes wants to fidget and shift his weight. This kid is very unstable, and Fury had mentioned his condition, not to mention Barnes can still see the wires and gauze and everything else poking in and out of his clothes. Hell, the kid has even started to sweat a little; as much as he hates the kid, his own goodness is beginning to grow concerned for the other. Barnes hates that he's feeling anything for this kid, but unfortunately, he's a better person than he was a few years ago.
"Would you sit down already?" Bucky snaps at him, and Tony blinks slowly
"Fine," Tony sighs, makes his way to a bench, and all but collapses.
"Can we get this over with?" Tony says, getting a little annoyed
"Have somewhere you'd rather be?" Bucky hisses a little
"Yes, dying; however, that proves to be impossible," Tony snips back at him.
"Are you gonna do it, or what asshole?" Barnes asks him, edging on rude
"Tell me what's wrong, and I'll see if it's worth it," Tony hums, checking out his nails, but really, it was just to see how bad the shaking had gotten.
Shit, he's got ten minutes before he's in serious trouble.
"I need to get inside," Tony mutters softly, not thinking Barnes could hear from there.
"What's wrong?" Barnes asks, making him jump, and his heart skips a beat
"Nothing, forget it. I'll do whatever if you leave like now," Tony tells him, wincing at the pain in his chest as he feels the strength and feeling leave his limbs.
"Can you even get up?" Barnes asks him, unimpressed and highly skeptical right now
"What are you going to carry me? Oh, how nice of you," Tony snarks venomously
"I might not like you one bit, but I ain't gonna leave you helpless," Barnes says, rolling his eyes.
"I'm not helpless," Tony snaps at him but knows he can't move alone now.
"Can you get up?" Barnes asks, pointing, knowing Stark almost positively can't get up on his own
"I'm fine, piss off," Tony snaps at him.
"Look," Barnes says, and Tony grinds his teeth.
"I said I'd do it, so fuck off," Tony nearly yells, cutting him off and making it harder to breathe, and now he's getting lightheaded.
"I'm not forcing you to do shit, and I'm too good of a person, unlike someone, to leave you like this, so you might as well let me help or call someone for you," Barnes sighs a little at him.
"Argh," Tony groans, wanting to throw something, knowing Barnes is right, and he really does not feel good.
"Fine, fine, do whatever, just don't tell me," Tony grinds out, giving up and accepting the help
Barnes thinks that a mighty strange way to accept help from someone and has to take a second to let the words sink in before making up his mind as well. He doesn't feel comfortable leaving Tony to go find a nurse or to go get help with his condition the way it is. This means carrying was really his only way of getting this kid help fast, so that's what he does, and he doesn't say a word as instructed. Taking mild malicious pleasure in the way Stark squawks and flairs as he's picked up and carried inside, where Bucky quickly finds a nurse and sends the pissed-off sick kid back to his room. At this point, he calls the visit to an end, leaving Stark to his team, and makes his way out of the hospital to go home. When he gets out the door, a car is waiting for him. Just by that, he knows it, not Steve, who would have followed him here. It makes Barnes both happy it's not Steve, which means Steve had listened to him, but not he isn't sure who'd been waiting for him.
The car window rolls down before he can walk away, and it's Phil's small knowing smile that greets him; Bucky sighs and gets into the passenger side seat. Phil doesn't say anything. He just takes Bucky home to his mother and younger sister, who are both home for once during the middle of the day on a Wednesday. As they pull up and park at the curb, Bucky can see his mother sitting on the front steps watching his sister in the front yard. His sister is practicing her ballet while grinning, Bucky watches them for a few long minutes, and Phil watches him. Phil waits a minute or so before he turns off the car and sits back, hands in his lap, waiting.
"Why'd Fury do it?" Bucky finally asks him
"Do what?" Phil asks not which part of this twisted lesson Fury has proposed to the boy
"Make me go see him again," Bucky says
"I don't know; I doubt he'd known Tony would have left his room or been able to for so long, but I'm sure he had something in mind. He might be cruel at times or mysterious, but he does everything for a reason," Phil says after a moment of thinking.
"And his reason for caring about the asshole so much?" Bucky grumbles, and Phil smiles a little, looking down at his hands
"Fury knew his mother; they were very close for a long time. Maybe it's an obligation he feels now," Phil says, staring off.
"And you?" Bucky asks. He's seen that look before
"I suppose we all were at a time," Phil says before smiling, returning to his closeted self.
"Thanks for the ride," Bucky says. He has some thinking to do
"Anytime, James," Phil says, and it feels a little ominous.
With that, Bucky exited the car, and both mother and sister looked up, smiling and waving to him and Phil. Phil smiles and waves back before driving off; Bucky watches the tail lights for a minute before returning to his family. He spends time with them, half his mind somewhere else until it's after dinner, and he excuses himself to his room for the night. In his room, Bucky pulls out his laptop and immediately begins a deep dive into the Starks, Fury and Phil. He tried digging up anything he could find some but not all he was looking for.
One thing he did find though an old picture which confirms his deeper thoughts that not all is what it seems and something else is going on here. An old photo dug up from the depths of the internet on some obscure sight. Maria Stark with Phil and Fury, not to mention what he assumes is an infant Tony delicately held in her arms. They look like more than just casual friends. He looks at his arm, then back at the photo a few times before sighing and dropping back on the bed to stare at the ceiling, unsure of what awaits.
Back in the hospital, the staff quickly works on Tony, who's trying to resist them. It wasn't just a cold very quickly coming on. It was something more. He's rapidly getting dragged into a worse condition, and his life is dragged back to the edge. They quickly sedate him, and Tony slips back into an overly familiar dark black space while his body burns and rakes with pain and fever.