Chapter 2
After Tony sent off Steve and Natasha to freshen up from their tiresome mission he offered to show Bucky his new place in the tower. Giving him a quick tour while he was at it to get him familiar with the surroundings.
Tony then showed Bucky to his room which was located the nearest to Steve’s. He thought it would help since it doesn’t look like anyone else would be able to handle him well. Steve was the only one he recognized and the rest of them were complete stranger to the guy.
“Here’s your room. I hope you like it. I just left it with the basic necessities since you seem like a simple type of guy. You can later decorate it to suit your taste.” Tony says with a grin, feeling quite happy with his choice.
Bucky remained silent.
“Okay~…”
.
.
.
This is so awkward. At least say something! I’m being a welcoming host for you, you know. Show some gratitude. Even a small smile is fine. Just do anything other than glare at me. He thought, annoyed.
He then heard a sigh and saw that the guy looked pretty down.
“. . . um, are you alright?” Tony says reaching out to give a comforting pat on the shoulder but as soon as the taller brunet noticed the gesture he slapped it away harshly. Tony swiftly retracted his hand with an ‘Ow!’, blowing at his stinging hand. Bucky took this chance to go inside the room and closed it behind him. Not even a word of apology for his action.
Tony was furious at first but then he let out a sad sigh, looking down at his feet. “I guess he doesn’t like me, huh?” He says clutching on his hand as he quietly walked away.
=
Tony adjusted the hem of his shirt as he waited outside the conference room of SHIELD. The cold and quietness of the place sent a shiver up his spine. Why did secret meeting places always have to be so dim and cold? Why did they have to build it in some underground classified area where proper air conditioning wasn’t even provided?
He occasionally had to glance on his Stark Phone to avoid the piercing glare of the guards present around the room. He let out a silent frustrated groan.
How much longer do they have to wait?
It may not be clear but if one looks closely at the billionaire it can be seen that he looked a bit nervous and quite anxious for the impending meeting with SHIELD and the US officials on the topic of the Winter Soldier.
He and the rest of the team knew how Barnes was brainwashed into doing those crimes and atrocities and they believe Steve when he told them how his friend was trying to fight back Hydra’s control over him and started gaining back his memories. Even if they didn’t trust the guy either just handing him to the government seems like a cruel thing to do. Who knows what they would do to the guy.
So they wanted to help him in their own way instead. The best hand was in their own. And they got way better equipments to help him anyway.
On his part Tony had opened his doors for Bucky. Letting him stay in the tower with the rest of them and find ways to help him recover. And now here he was, trying to fight on his behalf against SHIELD and practically the country for Bucky who seemed like he didn't even like him from yesterday’s action.
He looked over to Steve who had come with him for the case. Tony noted that he looked just as anxious if not more. He looked dead tired too. He had just found his supposedly long dead best friend just a day ago and now he could be taken away again. He also knew how tired Steve was. He hadn’t gotten a wink of a goodnight sleep because as soon as SHIELD had heard of the Winter Soldier’s capture they had wanted to bring him in and answer for his crimes.
“Steve, you okay?” Tony asks as he sat beside him, bringing his arm around for a comforting pat on the soldier’s back. The blond nodded, sitting up and looking straight at the brown of Tony’s eyes. His eyes were red and had bags under them. He looked so fucking worn out that Tony just wants to bring him into his arms. Take him home, feed him some delicious food and sent him straight to bed. The guy deserves it.
“I’m just really worried about Bucky.” He started. “I know he’d done a lot of bad things in the past but that wasn’t him. He was being controlled by Hydra all that time and now that I finally found him and have in my grasp I can’t lose him again, Tony. I just can’t. He’s all I have left of the past.”
He had looked so pained in the last part. Barely choking out the words. It made Tony’s resolve even stronger. He may not like Bucky but Steve, he did. Quite a lot to be exact.
He would do it for Steve.
“Everything’s gonna be fine, Cap. Leave it to me. I’ll get it done. And after this meeting you won’t ever have to worry about Bucky being taken away. He’ll be right where he should be, with you.” Tony felt hurt saying that part but he quickly shook his head. “I promise. So, stop being all gloomy and shit, it doesn’t suit you.”
Steve laughed. His smile looks wry but genuine all the same. “I’m positive that you’re the only who can cheer me up even at my worst.” Steve says as his hands came up to cup the brunet’s face and leaning closer to him.
Tony’s brain short circuited. What the hell was he up to? Was Steve trying to kiss him or what?! He’s getting so close!
Tony shut his eyes tight. Unable to face the super soldier.
For a second, Steve’s eyes landed on Tony’s soft looking slightly chapped lips. He then let out a chuckle on seeing Tony’s trembling self and shook his head with a fond smile.
Tony was surprised when he felt Steve embrace him into a warm, heartfelt hug instead. But that didn't make it any less a heart pounding experience for him.
Tony didn’t know what do to do except sit there frozen like a statue. He could feel Steve’s breath on his neck making his whole body tingle. And for some reason his heart was pounding at a rate it never did before. If it was pounding any faster he felt that it’d jump out from his chest. He was positive that even Steve was able to hear it in their current position.
His whole body was burning up. Was he getting sick or what?
“I’m so lucky to have you by my side.” Steve whispers in that low husky voice of his.
It finally hits him.
Coming at him like a huge meteor hitting the dam of his locked up feelings. The over flowing affection and want he felt for his best friend all burst out in an instant and at that moment Tony knew he was in love with Steve Rogers.
He just couldn’t deny that anymore.
He always knew his strong feelings for Steve wasn't just as a best friend. Rhodey was his best friend too but he didn't feel like this for the guy. When he wonders about life without Steve he found it to be unbearable. He just couldn't imagine his life without Steve in it. It just won't be complete.
He returned the embrace with all the love and comfort he could channel through the hug. Steve’s arms tightened around him and they stayed like that, just holding onto each other.
“Ahem.” A voice interrupted from behind.
Tony’s eyes widened in surprise. He looked up and saw Fury, who was giving him a deadpanned expression. And standing a few foot behind him were the US officials.
He had totally forgotten about the meeting and where they were, getting swept up in his new found feelings. He hastily shoved the super soldier off him with a 'oof', stood up and adjusted himself.
“I hope we weren’t disturbing you two.” Fury says raising an eyebrow.
“Of course you weren’t, Nick. I was just giving our mopey Captain a shoulder to lean on. He’s like this cause you guys are hell bend on capturing his friend.”
“Uh huh. I don’t care what really happened and I don’t want to know either. Let’s just get the meeting started.” With that he walked towards the conference door, punched in a number and entered the room followed by the officials and Tony and Steve in the last.
“So, what’s this ridiculous idea of you Avengers holding the Winter Soldier instead of giving him over to us? You know the bastard had been a pain in the ass for centuries. He needs to be taken in.” Fury says looking dead serious. All the other people in the room nodded their head in agreement except for Tony and Steve.
“I, no ‘we’ get it, Nick. That Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier has caused a lot of casualties and crimes over the past 20 years but I think we get a say on whether we want to hand him over or not. You people have tried for years to capture and bring him in, right? But who are the ones who actually made that happen? Us. The Avengers made it happen. We can handle it even if he escapes or go astray. You don't need to worry.”
“Things aren't as simple as that, Stark. Did you not tell us that he was brainwashed by Hydra? You don’t know what he would be capable of until it can be confirmed that he had fully escaped their mind control.”
“That will be taken care of. I have people who can help with that.”
The room remained silent.
"If there's no more problem to point out I guess we can call it done?" He eyes the director. " Are we done,Fury?"
Fury let out a long deep sigh. “You play a dangerous game, Stark. You might regret this."
“It’s part of the job. I can handle it.” The billionaire simply replies. Seeing his determination the agent finally gave in.
“Alright, fine. If you Avengers think you’ll be able to handle Barnes we’ll leave him to you for the time being. But on two conditions. One, if he ever goes out of line we’ll take him in. No questions asked. Two, he is not to take even one step out of the tower without at least one of you with him. Is that understood?”
And with that the case was done and a deal was made. Even though it didn’t go exactly as he wanted it to the odds was still in their favor so he was happy about that at least.
Tony breathe a sigh of relief, slumping back on the chair as soon as all the rest of the personnel went out. With this Bucky was safe under their wing.
“Tony, you did it! Thank you so much.” Steve says hugging him from behind, laughing and smiling happily.
“Yay for us.” Stop hugging me dammit.
=
The ride back to the tower was kind of awkward. Awkward for Tony that is. Now that he had realized how he truly felt about Steve being alone with him made him unnecessarily flustered and fidgety.
“Hey, Tony?” Steve says looking at the brunet who was sitting at the end of the seat, as far apart as he could manage in the car.
“Yeah?” He didn’t even dare turn around. Afraid that Cap could see how red his face was right then.
“Why are you sitting so far away?”
“What? I’m not. . . I just felt like looking out at the view. The wind feels great. It’s so refreshing. You should probably scoot over on your side, way over there and feel it too. You’ll love it.” Tony replies, laughing oddly. Pointedly looking out the window with one hand on his chin.
Steve stares at the back of Tony’s head, tilting his head in a confused manner. He knew Tony was acting strange but he didn’t want to push him about it so he let it be. Asking no further questions for the rest of the ride home. Wordlessly staring out the window like the brunet previously suggested.
Happy, Tony’s friend and driver, watched the exchange through the rear view mirror of the car. He could feel the awkward atmosphere seeping from behind.
Whenever his boss was with the Captain the backseat would be filled with constant chatter and laughs. It was rare for them to be with each other and be so quite unless they were having their occasional fights but they didn't seem like they were having one so what's going on?
Looking closely he could notice that the brunet's ears were bright red but he decided not to comment on it at the moment.
After another fifteen minutes ride they finally reached the tower’s parking lot. Steve came out first followed by Tony on the other side and made their way to the elevator.
Happy quickly ran after his boss.
“Boss, your face is all red. Are you sick? Do I need to call an ambulance?” Happy says, all ready with his phone. Tony could see the nearby hospital’s ambulance number on the screen, just waiting to be dialed if needed.
That made him went even redder. “I knew it. I’m red like a tomato, aren’t I?” He asks worriedly and Happy dumbly nodded.
Tony groaned. “I can’t face Steve like this.”
“Should I call the ambulance now?” Happy suggested, getting worried with his boss’ antics.
“That’s not needed. Just get me something cold. Do you have any ice on you? I need ice.”
Happy thought for a while and ran back to the car. Just then Steve looked back, noticing that a certain brunet wasn’t behind him. “Tony? What are you doing standing there for?” He furrowed his brows at him.
Tony flinched. “Nothing. Happy is getting some ice for me. You go on ahead if you want.”
“Ice?” He paused. “That’s fine. I’ll wait for you.” Saying that he went over and stood by the elevator door.
Happy came back with ice cubes which he took from the champagne bucket wrapped up in a cloth and handed it to Tony who hurriedly took it and ran into the elevator.
Inside the elevator~
Steve watches Tony buried his face onto the pile of ice, standing still beside him. The brunet was like that for a whole two minutes now. Was he alright?
“Tony?”
“Almost done. Just wait ten more seconds.” He mumbled through the ice. Steve complied with shrug.
“Alright. Done. How do I look?”
“Wet.” Steve replies bluntly.
“Not literally, Cap. I’m not red anymore, right?”
“Uh, yeah. You aren’t. . .” He says confused, not quite getting it.
“Great! So I got this idea while I had my face in the ice. Listen to this-"
=
The rest of the team was anxiously waiting for the news about Barnes. They were all present in the common room of the tower, sitting on the couch and waiting for their friends to come back. As soon as the two of them came out the elevator they bombarded them with questions about it.
“So, what did they decide?” Bruce asks.
“They said that they couldn’t trust us to handle him and wants us to hand him over as soon as possible. I’m sorry.” He tells them looking all dejected.
They had almost believed him, giving him concern and worried looks, if it weren’t for the suppressed laughter from Steve that ruined it all.
“Steve!” Tony scolded with a frown. “Couldn’t you have at least held that in for a few more seconds?” He says exasperated at the super soldier who was laughing out loud by that point.
“I’m sorry but it was so hard.” Steve says wiping away a tear. His face was all red with laughing so hard. “I did try my best.”
Tony pouted. “Well, try harder next time. That was poor performance, Cap. I'm offended to call you my accomplice in crime."
"I promise I'll do a better job of it next time." Steve says with grin. Tony sent him a fond smile.
This was good. He was able to talk normally with Steve. The awkward atmosphere was gone now.
He may realise he loves Steve but his feelings didn't need to get in the way, making it all weird between them.
As soon as they realized that it was just an act the rest of the team laughed as well. Clint came up to Tony, strangling him playfully.
“Where’s Bucky?” Steve asks, looking around for his metal armed friend. Natasha tells him that he was in his room. That he didn’t want to come out until Steve came back.
Hearing that he ran off to find Bucky and tell him the good news.
Tony watches Steve ran, excitement clearly shown on his face and wonders if he should just shove away his new found feelings.
=
“Bucky! Open the door. It’s me, Steve.” He says standing outside. He heard a scuffle of footsteps and with the press of a button the door opened revealing a tired looking Bucky Barnes dressed in black jeans and a grey t-shirt.
“Did you come to take me away?” Bucky asks in a timid voice.
“No, I’m not, Bucky. The UN and SHIELD have granted us permission for you to stay with us and recover.
“Really?”
“Yes. And it’s all thanks to Tony. He was able to convince them. So, it was really all him that made it possible. Tony is really amazing, isn’t he?”
“You really like that teammate of yours, don’t you? You’ve been talking about him every time. Even back then when you were taking me back here. You kept telling me how ‘Tony did that’, ‘Tony did this’.”
“Oh, sorry. Did I bother you? I didn’t mean to." Steve says rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner, smiling.
Bucky’s face contorted into something malicious of sort but it quickly faded before the blond could notice it. “Not at all. I’m just glad you found friends other than me.”
=
Tony called Steve and Bucky to his lab and told them about how they would start the recovery process with his latest invention which would help the second super soldier to regain memories from his past and also to slowly remove Hydra’s mind control over him. A device which he made with Helen Cho's help.
Steve agreed that it was a good idea to give it a try so everyday they would strap the metal armed soldier onto the machine and he and Bruce would check his progress.
Little by little Bucky starts to brighten up. Turning back into his old self day by day. And after the end of the first week he was even able to vividly recall his past memories with Steve now. And he was getting along with the rest of them team too. Well, excluding him of course. Bucky was simply expressionless when he was with him. Well, he'd just have to work on that later.
Everything was going great. And even if Tony couldn't spend as much time with the blond soldier as all his attention was on his recovering friend, he was fine with it.
It actually helped him in a way.
But then it all went horribly wrong one fateful night.
Tony was on one of his all-nighter inventing spree his stomach started to growl. He asked Jarvis what time it was and was told that it was already 2:30 in the morning. He bent over and opened his secret snack container but found it empty. He then decided to just get something to eat from the fridge. Maybe there was some leftover of Steve’s or Bruce’s cooking. Well, that is if Hawkeye didn’t get his hands on it first.
Tony rubbed his sleepy eyes and dragged himself up to the communal kitchen. It was quiet and the only source of light was from the small bulbs which were dimly lit all around the tower. It seemed like everyone was in bed except for him who was wondering in the night like some nocturnal animal seeking for food.
He looks inside the fridge and winced a bit with the bright lights coming from it. He looked around and found lots of food but they were all in need of a being cooked before one could eat them and Tony didn’t feel like doing it. Besides, cooking wasn’t one of his fortes. If it was gonna be like this he wonders if he should just sleep it off.
Luck came to him in the form of a set aside plate of spaghetti located at the bottom corner of the fridge, neatly wrapped up with his name written on it. It was Steve’s handwriting. It was written like this,
‘For Tony 🙂,' in big, bold letters and at the side was ‘No stealing, Clint. You’ve had enough’ in a smaller one.
Tony smiled fondly at it. It was small gestures like this that made him fall even more for the blond super soldier. Steve would make such a great boyfriend.
He took out the plate and proceeded to the microwave to heat it up. Then with the steaming plate of spaghetti in hand he pulled out one of the dining chairs. He proceeded to shove food into his mouth, letting out a satisfied moan.
“You seem happy.” A voice said from behind, startling him. Dropping his fork onto the floor with a clang. His whole body tensed up and he could even feel his hair standing up on end. He looks back to see a dark figure standing a few feet away from him.
An intruder? Why didn’t Jarvis warned him about this?!
“You don’t have to be so scared. It’s just me.” Bucky says coming into the light.
So it wasn’t an intruder, huh?
“Sorry.” He says. “I’m really tired so I feel kinda jumpy.”
“Is that Steve’s leftover spaghetti?”
“It is. I was too busy to eat during dinner time so he left some for me.” He tells him. “He’s really good at cooking isn’t he? Was he always this good?” Tony smiled looking at Bucky. Maybe talking about Steve would help them become friendlier with each other.
But it totally backfired when he saw Bucky looking at him with repugnance. “You Starks seriously disgust me. Waving your money and body at others to gain their trust."
“What are you talking about?” Tony asks, shocked at the cruel words uttered.
“Your father was the same. Hitting on Steve every chance he got. Back then I was just a soldier. I couldn't do anything to someone as rich and powerful as him so it felt great when I finally got to kill him in 1991. But I have to say, killing your mother was quite boring. She was so easy to kill. I just gave a squeeze on her neck and she died."
“You bastard! How could you even say something like that?!" Tony could barely held back his tears.
He watches Bucky pulled out a knife from the drawer. Waving it around and playing with it. Walking closer to the him with every step he took, a cynical smile on his face.
Tony was frozen in his seat. He didn’t know Bucky had such a side to him. They had done everything, every test. That he was probably almost 95% sure that the mind control Hydra had on him was removed. He had even remembered about his past and being all friendly with the others. He was slowly but surely becoming the ‘Bucky’ Steve knew since childhood. The fun loving, girlfriend seeking guy who always stood by his best friend, Steve Rogers in a fight.
What had they done wrong for him to act like this?
He didn’t want to believe that Bucky was always like this.
“What are you trying to do?" He stutters on his words, a bad feeling crept up from the pit of his stomach.
Bucky answered by dropping the knife he was holding straight onto the top of Tony’s left hand, leaving a wide slit on the side of his palm. Tony winced at the pain, his blood oozing out.
“Oops. My hand slipped.” Bucky says in a mocking manner. Laughing at Tony’s helpless self.
Tony tries to call for his armor but got his face slammed roughly onto the table. “I know that movement. You were trying to call your armor, weren’t you? You shouldn’t do that. Not if you want you pretty little face all messed up.” Bucky says snickering creepily.
Tony licked his lips, it tasted of blood. It probably got cut when his face was slammed on the table so roughly like that.
“I see the way you look at my Steve. It’s so fucking clear that you’re in love with him.” Bucky sneered at him making Tony eyes widened in horror. “You are, aren’t you?”
Tony chokes back a cry.
“Oh, you poor creature. Desiring something which you can’t ever hope to attain.” Saying that Bucky picked up the fallen knife, forced open Tony’s palm and slowly dragged the sharp knife across it.
Tony cries as blood starts to flow out and drips onto the floor.
“You’ll keep this quiet if you don’t want me telling Steve about your pathetic feelings for him. He’s too good for you. Besides you won’t want me to be taken away from him again, am I right? He would be so devastated. You don’t want him to be sad, right?”
The brunet nodded timidly, tears were freely streaming down his face now.
“And order that A.I of yours not to do anything unnecessary if you know what I mean.”
With that Tony was left all alone with a huge cut on his palm. What he thought was going to be a peaceful late night dinner had turned out to be his worst nightmare.
With great difficulty he reached up for the first aid kit at the top of the kitchen shelf and patched himself up as best he could with his good hand. Then with a rag proceeded to wipe his own blood from the floor along with the tears he couldn’t help but shed.