Genius Never Sleeps (Willingly)
Bucky groaned, immediately regretting opening his eyes. Having just woken up, the bright light of the room stung, and it took a few moments of blinking and orientating himself to adjust to it. Slowly sitting up, he stretched out his back, recalling last night's memories.
The concert had gone on throughout the night. While scheduled to end around 11 pm, the crowd had demanded multiple encores, which eventually led to The Avengers playing for a few more hours. By the time the show actually ended, it had been around 2 am. The crowds were slow to disperse, and afterwards the band members had to pack up, getting their things in order. The four friends, however, stayed patient (well, everyone except for Clint did anyways).
Eventually, Rhodey came towards the edge of the stage, kneeling down with his always present smirk coating his face.
"Enjoy the show?" He had asked them, already knowing the answer. While Tony was quick to believe any praises, and Pepper was unaffected by them for the most part, Rhodey loved the attention. He wasn't self obsessed, but he was the only one in the band to be able to accept compliments and know he deserves them.
Clint was the first to speak, his head tilting up to meet Rhodey's gaze. "Yeah man, that was freakin' awesome." He grinned, speaking as if he were talking to any of his usual friends. Clint was casual towards everything, super stars were no exception. Dogs...okay dogs might be an exception...but not super stars.
While the group quietly listened to Clint and Rhodey talk, occasionally adding in their own thoughts, Tony strolled up besides Rhodey, a grin on his face.
Bucky noticed him first, his eyes glancing over the smaller man's entire form. Small droplets of sweat were beaded up on the edges of Tony's forehead, the only real evidence of the exhaustion the night had taken out of him. Bucky barely kept from licking his lips as the image of being able to trace his tongue over every edge of the man's body came through his head. He quickly shoved the thought out of his mind when Tony's lips moved. Missing the words, Bucky's brow furrowed in confusion. Tony, clearly seeing the odd look being sent his way, repeated his sentence.
"You guys wanna come backstage? I was thinking about this new idea for a tour," he began animatedly, clearly starting to form into a long explanation. Only Rhodey seemed to realize what the tone of Tony's voice implied, because he let out a soft sigh, like a parent would when a child began to explain the logic behind "I didn't steal the cookie, my imaginary friend did". The sigh didn't seem to faze Tony in the least bit as he continued on.
"So, I was thinking, what if we get these huge hamster balls, right? Okay and then, we go in them, and jump into the crowd! We could be in the crowd's arms, but also get to move around instead of being stuck in a small area of people grabbing all over us! And then we can reach every fan, and wouldn't they just love that?" Tony smiled as he explained, as if the plan was genius in itself. He had been thinking of good ways to reach the back of the crowd during a show. Just because the fans in the back couldn't afford close up seats, doesn't mean they deserve any less of an experience, and Tony wanted them to all know that.
While Tony continued on, Bucky couldn't help but glance over at Steve. Steve's face looked relaxed, as if just the sound of Tony's voice calmed his always thinking mind. His body was less tense than it usually was, in a way Bucky hadn't seen since they were little. The sight alone makes Bucky fall in love with Tony even a little more. All he'd had was Steve, for so long, and the fact that Tony can make someone as amazing as Steve feel the least bit better, meant everything. Steve hadn't been able to smile so loosely, to focus so completely on a single thing for so long, and if Tony could finally help him with it, then Bucky knew this man was a god-sent.
Suddenly, Bucky's attention was pulled back to Tony as a hand gripped onto the vocalist's wrist. Obadiah Stane stood firm above the rest, his eyes seeming like ice, freezing the group's chatter nearly instantly. Rhodey's fists clenched nervously, a movement so small it only seemed noticed by Bucky, and possibly Natasha (she missed few things in her life). Tony himself had gone silent, staring up at Stane, looking as if he were waiting for a command, a demand, something.
"Tony, we need to go. Everything's packed up." Stane had said, his tone giving no room for argument. Unfortunately, Tony Stark, if anything, was a man who pushed.
"I'm talking to some fans." He explained, a frown tracing the edges of his lips downwards. Beside him, Bucky could feel Steve tense. Steve had always hated bullies, and was one to start fights quickly, but even he knew this wasn't their place to speak. If they started something, any one of them in their friend group, Stane would most likely find a way to sue them for everything they had. While Bucky knew that was the main reason everyone in the group stayed silent, he tried to convince himself that they all just thought that this might be usual, even okay. Maybe Stane and Tony were harsh to each other often, some managers could be ruthless. That's just how the industry was.
"I don't care." Obadiah huffed, tugging Tony up roughly and leading him away from the group without another word, not giving Tony enough time to even stutter out a small "bye".
Before anyone could react, Rhodey was standing, a frown firm on his features. "Uh, we gotta go. It was great meeting you guys. Hope to see you guys some other time." He said, his voice trying for politeness and genuine friendliness, but coming out terse and rushed. He then walked quickly backstage, following in the tracks of where Obadiah and Tony had gone.
Bucky turned towards the others, unsure of what to say. Steve looked enraged, and seconds away from crawling up on the stage and charging after the band members. Clint looked confused, which was a usual look for him, so Bucky couldn't say much. Natasha...she looked unmoved, still as always. Bucky wasn't expecting much else, Natasha was very slow on showing emotions, only the edges of them showing in important situations.
"Let's go." He insisted to the group. The band had already left, filing into their tour bus. There was no point in sitting around, wondering what had happened. They had no knowledge on what they had witnessed, and couldn't really assume anything. Letting the rest of his friends know this, they agreed, slowly relaxing as they headed off. Once they got into their car, they moved the conversation to the performance, Clint insisting that the "hot guitarist" had most definitely been staring at him the entire time. Natasha smirked as he rambled on about the guitarist. Bucky smiled alongside her. While he had mostly been gawking at Tony for most of it (okay nearly all of the concert), he had noticed Natasha's gaze fixated on Pepper, and Pepper seemed just as interested. Unfortunately, Clint had stood right beside Natasha the whole night, and had assumed Pepper had been sending flirty smiles towards him. While Natasha wasn't exactly the nicest person, she stayed silent, letting Clint continue his rant about the night.
Once they got to the cafe, everyone went their separate ways home. Steve, living right beside Bucky's apartment, tossed Clint the keys to the cafe before following after Bucky. He spoke over his shoulder to the sandy blonde.
"Make sure everything's locked up, okay? Remember, bright and early at 5 tomorrow!" Steve had said, before turning his attention back to Bucky. On their short, short walk towards their rooms, they talked quietly (definitely not squealing, giggling, fawning, or fanboying) about Tony, and how well he had preformed that night.
Bucky fell asleep that night to the memory of Tony's soft, yet strong voice, lulling him to sleep.
Once he recounted all the memories from last night, Bucky stood up, combing his hair out of his face with his hand, his real hand. The other had been amputated after he had been caught in the rubles of a broken building. Slowly, he got dressed, tossing on some plain jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt. Somewhat fixing up his hair before heading out, Bucky began his day. He walked towards the cafe, a frown quickly etching onto his face when he easily opened the doors to the building without needing keys. Clint hadn't locked up last night.
Taking a quick breathe in and preparing for everything to have been stolen, he stepped into the building, letting out a small sigh of relief to what he saw. Nothing seemed out of place. Clint was lucky. Walking towards the back, Bucky glanced at one of the small clocks placed above the counter. It was 4:30, which meant Steve wouldn't be here until 4:45(ish), and Clint wouldn't be here until 6. Sighing, Bucky grabbed onto the thin, wooden broom they had bought a few days ago, and began to sweep the floors. Might as well prepare a little early, he thought to himself. He moved around the cafe, whistling a soft tune to the first song Tony and the band had played last night. Eventually, he moved on towards the booths. He swept on, his whistles turning to hums. Then, he froze, as he heard a soft groan. He tensed, gripping tighter onto the broomstick as he heard the sound. Who was here? Had someone broken in and been preparing for an ambush?
He raised the broomstick a bit higher, ready to slam it down onto the first thing that moved, as he glanced over to a booth a small ways down the cafe. He let out a loud shout (no, Steve is lying, it hadn't been a scream) when he saw what, or more along the lines of who was there. Curled up and asleep on one of the sides of the cafe booth, was Tony Stark. Bucky's brain didn't seem to register this quick enough, as the broom came slamming down, cracking with a loud thud across Tony's head. That was the exact moment that Steve walked in.