Nurture

Tony’s silent. Far too silent, and Bucky doesn’t like it. Although he doesn’t blame him, but he had expected a more explosive reaction from him, not complete silence. Unless the shouting is going to happen very soon…. Which he hopes it’s not, even if he very much expects it. He simply just hopes it doesn’t happen, as it’ll no doubt wake Francis, and he doesn’t want his son to witness any of this.

He watches as Tony leans forward, burying his face in his hands before running his fingers through his hair, messing it up slightly.

And then he bursts out laughing. Which is not what Bucky had expected at all. He had expected shouting, and possibly things getting thrown around the room, but instead, Tony’s just… laughing.

“Fucking hell. That’s what you two were hiding?” Tony sighs, before breaking out into a laugh, shaking his head. “Oh god, fuck, I already know.”

Bucky stares at him, wide eyed. “What?”

He already knows? That is… far from what Bucky was expecting, and from the way Steve’s hold on him tightens slightly, it must’ve not been what he was expecting either.

“You already know?” Steve asks. “How? And why didn’t you say anything?”

Actually, Bucky can think of a few reasons as to why Tony never said anything…. But now he wishes he had told them. Probably wouldn’t have made things any easier though. And really, why would Tony tell the man that he hates, and who caused the death (technically, albeit not by choice) of the two people who raised him and treated him like their own, that he’s his son?

“Well, I’ve always known Howard and Maria weren’t my real parents.” Tony says, once he’s managed to stop laughing. “However, they never told me who was. And I never tried to find out, because to me they were, no matter how much of a dick Howard was.” He explains. “I haven’t known for very long. But after all the children you said Hydra made you have, I started to guess, but didn’t give it much thought. But then after what you had told me outside Bruce’s lab, I had started to put the pieces together and… kind of came to the conclusion myself. Had hoped it wasn’t true, but… everything seemed to line up perfectly.”

In a way, Bucky is glad that Tony had already figured it out himself. Makes this a hell of a lot easier. But it still no doubt doesn’t really soften the blow, considering Tony didn’t exactly know for certain. And it definitely isn’t going to stop Tony from hating him any less. Though it sure seems to have prevented a shouting match from occurring like he was worried about. And it thankfully doesn’t seem like one is going to happen.

“When did you two figure it out?” Tony asks.

“A couple days ago.” Bucky says. “With Wanda’s help.”

Tony nods. “You don’t have any idea who my father is, do you?”

The answer to that, Bucky has no idea. Well, actually he has a hunch it might be his former handler at the time, whoever the fuck that might’ve been, but he doesn’t know for certain. Nor does he want to find out at all. Would rather not dig up any more of those memories. The memory of finding out Tony is his son is more than enough. He doesn’t need to know anything else. Though he is rather curious what happened to the other children of his that had survived.

“No idea, and I really don’t want to go looking.” He says. “I hope you understand why I’d rather not figure that out.”

Tony nods. “Yeah, I understand.” He says. “I may hate you, but don’t want you to go digging up those memories. What about any of the other children?"

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. He's not got any memories about them, only that they do exist. But while he's curious about what happened to them, he's not sure he's prepared to find out. Not yet anyway. Maybe one day he'll go and find out, but right now, he just can't.

Though he is curious to know if that guy he met at the park actually is one of them, considering his faint resemblance to Tony. But Wanda had said that he's definitely not, though she hadn't gotten the chance to say how she knows that he's not.

"I'm not ready to find out what happened to them." He says. "Though I did meet someone at the park that has a small resemblance to you, which got me thinking that maybe he’s one of them. But Wanda had said that there's absolutely no relation. Though I don't know if she just said that because the man was British."

Surely that's not the reason Wanda knows for certain that Richard isn't one of the children that Hydra had forced him to have. It's entirely possible that at one point Hydra had him in England at one point some fifty years ago.

Tony frowns, narrowing his eyes a little at that. "Really?" He says. "That man's name didn't happen to be Richard Hammond, did it?"

Now Bucky is surprised to hear that Tony knows of the man…. Who yes, is Richard Hammond. He had gotten the man's last name not long before he had to go off and find where his partners had gone off to after they had finished filming whatever it was they had to (Richard having said that May has most likely sniffed out the nearest pub and he’ll find the two of them already a few beers deep there). Though he never got the name of the show that he works on, just that it’s car related. At least from what Bucky had gathered from what Richard had said.

"Uh, yeah." He says. "You know him?"

He hadn't expected Tony to have heard of the guy. But then again, maybe it was obvious that he'd know of him, considering their slight similarities in appearance.

"Yeah. Meet him a couple times." Tony says. "Nice bloke. Definitely not related. Which is a rumor we've cleared up before. Really, he’s only started to look like me for a few years now. Think it’s mostly just due to the facial hair he’s been prancing around with. And he's only five months older than me, so unless you super soldiers have a very fast gestation period - which I'm assuming you don't - there's no way that he can possibly be one of yours."

Okay. The ages don’t line up, so it’s impossible. He would’ve been pregnant with Tony when Richard was born. So it’s only pure coincidence that Richard looks a little bit like Tony. And he had very much expected that he probably only looks a bit like him because of the hairstyle and the facial hair, and that’s it. Except for the both of them being short.

Bucky will admit that he’s glad that the man isn’t one of the children Hydra made him have. It was probably a dumb thought to have anyway, but since Tony is one of them and Richard looked a little similar to him, he couldn’t help but think that perhaps he was.

Besides, Bucky isn’t even sure if he had ended up in England at any point in ‘69 while under Hydra’s control. Not that he’d remember it anyway….

“It would make sense if he was one of yours though, honestly.” Tony says. “Dude has had many bad accidents. Two very bad ones in particular that he managed to escape death in. Would make sense if he survived those because he’s got some bastardized version of the super soldier serum in him from you. But the guy is just extremely lucky.” 

"Isn’t Richard Hammond that omega off Top Gear?" Steve asks. "Buck, that's who you met at the park?"

Turning to Steve, Bucky is surprised to hear that Steve also knows who Richard is. And that he knows what show the guy seems to work on. Bucky doesn’t really remember Steve being all that interested in cars…. Then again, back in the years they grew up in, cars weren’t really as impressive as some of the ones in this day and age (well, for the time they sure were), nor did everyone have them. Mostly seen as a status symbol for the rich back then. And anyway, Steve's been awake in this time much longer than he has, and has had plenty of time to discover a lot of what this day and age has to offer, so perhaps Steve has managed to grow an interest in cars in that time.

Though now that he knows what the show is that Richard works on, he’s rather curious to go look into it. He’s curious to see exactly what the guy does for a living.

"I guess you didn’t hear while you were off in Wakanda. He's not on Top Gear anymore, nor are the other two." Tony says. "Hasn't been for quite some time, actually."

“What? What happened?” Steve asks.

“Clarkson punched a producer.” Tony says. “The three of them have a new show together now.”

Bucky decides that he’s going to have to look all of this up when he gets the chance to, because now he’s curious. And what the hell could have possibly happened to cause him to punch a producer?

“Damn.” Steve sighs, slumping back on the couch a little.

“It’s still technically the same show, just with a different name and bigger budget now.” Tony says. “Same amount of chaos too. But no Stig.”

Steve nods. “Will have to check it out then, I guess.”

Bucky agrees with Steve on that. He’ll have to check out their old show, and their new one.

“Now…” Tony starts, turning to Bucky. “I hope you’re not expecting me to start calling you dad now, Barnes.” He says. “Because I’m not doing that. And, this doesn’t make me hate you any less, just so you know.”

Bucky shakes his head. He hadn’t expected or wanted Tony to start calling him dad or mom. Even though Tony is his son, biologically, he never got to parent him, so he doesn’t get to be referred to as such. He’s just the one that birthed him, nothing more. And Bucky is completely fine with that. It’s not something that he wants, and it’s certainly not what Tony wants either.

Plus it just feels… weird.

And he had expected that this wouldn’t make Tony hate him any less than he already does. He can’t magically make Tony like him.

Just at least he’s being a bit more civil to him…. Progress?

“I prefer mom over dad.” Bucky corrects him. “However, I really don’t want you to refer to me as either.”

“You know male omegas aren’t required to be referred to as mothers anymore, right?” Tony asked. “That stopped being a thing back in the ‘90s. They can refer to themselves as fathers now.”

“I know.” Bucky says. “I just prefer mom.”

He’s very much aware of that change, but he still rather prefers to be referred to as a mother. He can’t explain why, it just feels right to him. Or maybe it’s a remnant of the time he grew up in. He doesn’t know. All he knows is that it’s what he prefers to be called.

Tony nods, seemingly satisfied with that answer, if still a little confused as to why, but he doesn’t press for more. He then turns to Steve. “Don’t expect me to start calling you dad now, Rogers.”

“Yeah… definitely wasn’t planning on it.” Steve says. “This is already strange enough as it is. Rather not make it any weirder.”

“Got that right.” Tony huffs out a laugh. “Anyway…” He says, standing up. “I’m gonna… go now.” He says. “I need a drink. Something quite strong, I think. Especially after having confirmation about all of… this.”

Steve stands also, but Bucky stays seated because honestly, his feet are quite sore. And Steve is perfectly capable of letting Tony out himself. Not to mention Bucky isn’t sure Tony would really want him to let him out anyway, not after all this.

Of which Bucky is still a little surprised that it didn’t end in a shouting match. It ended up going… surprisingly well? Which he is absolutely glad about, but he had expected shouting and some level of violence.

“Alright.” Steve says, following Tony to the door. “I’d advise you not to drink too much, but… I don’t think that’s going to work, is it?”

Tony laughs. “Nope, absolutely not!” He says. “Need as much alcohol as I can get my hands on.”

With that, Tony is promptly exiting the apartment, and presumably heading off to his floor to get drunk.

And Bucky doesn’t blame Tony for wanting to go off and get drunk. If he could, then he’d go do that himself. However, considering him currently being pregnant, that’s not possible. Not that he’d even be able to get drunk in the first place….

“Well that was rather anti-climatic…” Steve says, shutting the door behind Tony, before making his way back to Bucky’s side on the couch. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Bucky sighs, cuddling up closer to Steve, who wraps his arms around him. “Just glad that this is all finally out.”

He is very glad that he’s finally told Tony. He feels much better now, and even more knowing that it ended up going surprisingly well. Mostly because Tony already had started to suspect things, and already knew that Howard and Maria Stark weren’t his biological parents.

However, even though this all went surprisingly well, Bucky can’t help but find himself considering the possibility that the worst is still to come. That Tony was just holding off on reacting badly and blowing up at him for Francis’s sake because he doesn’t want to scare the toddler. If that’s the case, then Bucky appreciates Tony thinking of his son’s well being and not wanting to scare him, but he’s also not looking forward to if and when Tony ends up blowing up at him because of this.

Or maybe he’s just being paranoid, and Tony isn’t going to do anything because of this. He probably just being paranoid….

Steve hums, kissing the top of Bucky’s head. “I’m surprised it went so well.” He says. “And i wasn’t expecting Tony to already know, or have started to guess.”

Yes, Bucky feels exactly the same. And even though he’s a little paranoid that it was all just an act, and that Tony’s still going to react badly the next time he sees him, he’s going to take this as a win.