fifty-nine.
The gun is still raised, and Peter, having been at the end of far too many loaded guns, was stood with his hands up like he could be the next one shot. He got one look at the man in front of him, a glimpse of his metal arm and lowered his hands.
"...James?"
Bucky lowered his gun just as Nat and Steve appeared behind him. With a furrowed brow he spoke. "You remember who I am?"
Peter nodded slowly, not breaking eye contact with the man in front of him. "You're the man from inside my head..."
And Bucky, standing there staring at the little boy in front of him, broken and bruised and covered in blood and beaten beyond any possible repair... He wanted to cry. He knew what it was like to be on the other end of Hydra's neverending torture. He knew what it was like to be treated like someone else for so long that you forget who you used to be. He knew what it was like to wish so desperately that someone knew him enough to bring him back.
Steve stepped around Bucky and took another step towards Peter who stepped back so quickly he collided with the wall behind him. Bucky grabbed onto Steve's arm and pulled him back so he was once again standing behind him with Nat.
"It's okay Peter, he's not going to hurt you. You're going to be okay now." He said softly as he took another tentative step towards Peter. This time the boy didn't move, instead very slowly raised his hands to reach out to the only form of safety he thought he knew.
Bucky passed his gun to Nat and reached out to the boy, letting his small fingers grab onto his metal arm and latch onto his vest. The boy felt much too small in his arms, and he was afraid to hold him too tightly lest he injure the boy farther.
The clanking of a familiar suit filled their ears and Peter looked around in terror before Tony appeared at the bottom of the stairs. His helmet opened and Peter screamed and hid his face in Bucky's chest. Tony tried to talk, but it just sent Peter farther into a panic before Nat dragged him back up the stairs, just far enough to be out of Peter's line of sight.
"Hey, Peter, you're okay, he's not gonna hurt you."
Peter was almost in hysterics, saying something along the lines of, "They said he did this to me!"
Steve and Bucky shared a look before glancing back to Nat on the stairs. "Peter, who said?"
The boy looked up, terror and tears evident in his eyes. "They... He said that this is what he wanted..."
Steve shook his head again before speaking in what may be the softest tone he'd had in months. "Peter, who said that?"
The poor boy looked up to Bucky as a way of double checking that the man in the flag was a good guy, and only after getting a nod in return did he say, "The man with the glowing eyes."
Even on the Quinjet, Peter didn't want Tony to come anywhere near him, and he seemed to overwhelmed by all of these people. He didn't want anyone other than Bucky coming close to him, which was a problem because he wasn't the guy that could bandage him up in the slightest. Not in the way that he needed. No Peter needed a real doctor, and Strange had already been alerted to what was going on and said that he could meet them once they returned.
Peter was being very defensive, not just of himself, but of the scarred and unresponsive Deadpool that he refused to leave without. When they tried to lead him out, he fought and protested that he wouldn't leave without the man that was helping him escape, even if he didn't remember who he was.
In the end, Steve begrudgingly agreed to carry the man out and into the jet. They knew that Wade would heal on his own eventually, it was just a matter of time before he came back. Peter just sat there, curled up in a corner with Wade's body laying on the ground in front of him.
From the front of the jet, Bucky called out his name, asking him if he wanted to see all of the wildflowers below them, saying that they could land if he wanted to get out and see them. Peter breaks their heart when he says that he hasn't been outside since he went in. Bucky quietly asks Sam and Rhodey to land so he could take Peter outside.
As gently as possible, they land and open the hatch. Peter feels blinded by the sunlight and can't help but cover his eyes. Bucky helps him off of the floor and holds his hand as they exit the jet and step down into an empty field of flowers and butterflies.
Peter looks like he's never seen anything so beautiful, and as far as he can remember, he hasn't. "Do we have fields like this where we live?"
Bucky shakes his head, "Not exactly where we live, but if you want, we can pick some flowers and plant their seeds in our yard when we get back, so we can have these flowers there, how about that?"
Peter nods and gives him a very soft smile. Bucky felt his chest tighten at the fact that this boy, even after everything he's been through has it in him to smile like that. He has it in him to be so awed by some wildflowers growing in the middle of nowhere. He has it in him to be so excited about growing them at home... It's remarkable that this boy's heart is so big that he has all of this trust for him even after all he's been through.
So, he quietly picks the flowers that Peter thinks are the prettiest, and that means that he picks at least four of each flower for the boy, because he, "Thought it would be unfair to the other flowers if he didn't take at least one of all of them home."
There's no noise other than the birds and the wind and the sound of Bucky's boots in the grass. And it's peaceful. It's probably the nicest moment Peter's had in months, no, he knows it is just by the way Peter looks at everything. The way that he smiles when the flowers brush against his legs or when the breeze pushes his hair back or the birds chirp over his head.
When they finally arrive back at the Avengers base, Peter easily follows behind, keeping an eye on Wade's still lifeless body in Tony's arms. He's still wary of Tony and watching like a hawk to make sure he doesn't mistreat Wade in any way and is relieved when Tony very gently sets him down on one of the tables in the Med Bay.
Steve is in the process of leading Peter to his own table when the boy freaks out again, the metal reminding him of the table he'd been strapped to back at Hydra. Bucky comes to the boy's side and promises that he's safe here and promises that he won't leave the room if he'll just lay on the table and let their doctor bandage him up.
Peter made him promise that he wouldn't leave him alone, and he did. He kept ahold of the boy's hand, not even letting go when Strange entered the room in scrubs. Something told him that someone alerted him of the boy's state and either asked him or let him decide to take the time to look as normal as possible.
"Hello, Peter. My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, and I'm here to care for your wounds, okay?" Strange was being incredibly gentle, which was something Bucky wasn't sure he knew how to do before now. But Strange was no idiot, he knew that this boy was very fragile at the moment.
Peter chewed his lip before responding, "All of them?"
Strange chuckled very softly, "Yes, Peter, preferably I'll be tending to all of your wounds. Your body isn't healing you very quickly, and that's what I'm here to help with."
Peter nodded before slowly sitting up, the pain obvious on his face. Strange asked what he was doing and he said that he couldn't lay down if he was meant to get them all taken care of, which meant he'd been putting more pressure on them than they could handle and Stephen helped him to stand up.
And when the boy let his bloodied hospital gown fall, there was a collective gasp at his wounds. He was covered head to toe and sporting two brand-new bullet wounds.
And he never said a single word.