Sentinel

Bucky should probably flog himself for nine hundred years for kissing Tony. What the fuck had he been thinking? That the conversation was nice and he knows you better than most flits through his mind but he tells that part of himself to fuck off. This was bad, this was really bad… First off he’s supposed to be a teacher of some kind and even though he was terrible at it there were still lines you don’t cross.

Well, technically Tony kissed you that little voice thinks at him and he shakes his head. What the hell did that matter when he kissed him back? And then kissed him again. Jesus, if Steve was here he’d flog Bucky for nine hundred years for this and he’d deserve it.

He shakes his head again because he needs to think this through clearly so he could deal with this. He kissed a student but why would he do something so stupid? You’ve always had a reckless streak his mind reminds him, which was true. Half the reason why he’s killed as many Strigoi as he has is because he was willing to do things with less planning than others. Generally if the choice was between fight or flight most guardians chose flight because that was safer. Bucky tended to weigh things differently, thinking further ahead than some guardians might. Steve had never been fast, and thanks to a having most of the diseases Moroi could actually catch it meant he couldn’t run far even if he could run fast.

So it led to Bucky fighting more than a lot of guardians would because that, in the long run, would be the safer option. He’d either have to fight right away or he’d have to fight when Steve inevitably couldn’t run anymore. Other guardians have called him reckless for it, but when it came down to a fight Bucky had more experience and tended to be more effective than they were so really, was his style really that bad? And he wasn’t an idiot about it either, if it was actually possible to get Steve to a safer location he did but most of the times if they were on foot that wasn’t happening.

But he knew he was more reckless than most, that he’s always been that way. Is that why he kissed Tony though? No is his immediate response but he thinks harder about it. Was this some kind of response to not being in the field, and therefore in danger, anymore? He thinks of Tony, how he’s found him in all sorts of situations that were… well reckless, stupid, and probably all kinds of damaging to his mental health and he decides his initial response was right. He… well he related to Tony and on some level he understood that brash and reckless behavior despite the affects on himself. He’s been reckless too, and while he was never particularly reckless with Steve’s safety if he was on some other kind of Strigoi killing mission, though they almost never happened, he didn’t hold back the same way he did when he was in guardian mode. When he was in school Peggy told him that’d either kill him or save him and so far it was the latter.

There was also that pesky being reminded of Steve whenever he saw Tony too, which was far more complicated and tangled than his previous theory on kissing Tony. Steve used to accuse him of being a white knight, telling him that he always wanted to save the day and he wasn’t wrong. Peggy used to comment on that too, until he learned how to properly handle those feelings. Did he want to save Tony? Yes was the immediate response and he figured he didn’t need to question it that much. Anyone who was paying attention to Tony could see that he needed something or someone to help him out, even Rhodey noticed while Tony did his best to block him out. But was it his place to try and save Tony? No was the immediate response to that and that wasn’t wrong either.

Tony had friends, his mom, the school; he didn’t need Bucky so why was Bucky messing with his life when he had no right to? And that… that was the real question here. What the hell could Bucky possibly be getting out of Tony’s presence when the age difference alone made their relationship more than a little weird let alone the sort-of-teacher thing? Tony, he was pretty sure, was seventeen and he was twenty three. Six years might not be a lot in ten years but right now he and Tony were at completely different points in their lives, there was nothing about Tony that should draw Bucky in.

And he was drawn in.

After thinking about this for some time he comes to the conclusion that Tony didn’t at all act his age, which was basically the first line in the He’s A Fucking Creep handbook. That was always the excuse, wasn’t it? That the child didn’t act their age? Except Tony really did have a lot of experience on adults in areas they couldn’t possibly understand, not that that excused Bucky’s actions. Still there was something about Tony that appealed to him, some kind of understanding that didn’t exist with anyone else at the moment.

In the end it didn’t matter though because this wasn’t right and he wasn’t about to take advantage of Tony like that, not when he already had more problems than he needed. It just wasn’t right.

*

Tony has been told by many that he was as observant as a particularly stupid pigeon but that wasn’t true. He just didn’t pay attention to the useless details, which was basically everything everyone else noticed. Birthdays in particular were his downfall- everyone expected him to memorize the dates but he didn’t have any interest in celebrating a completely mundane event every year. People didn’t like that answer though but thankfully for him he didn’t care.

That didn’t mean he didn’t notice things though. He always knew when Rhodey was upset even when he tried to hide it, and he knew all of Pepper’s favorite songs because hearing them always put her in a better mood. Those things, he felt, were more important than birthdays. So he noticed when Bucky started avoiding him, or at least not going out of his way to talk to Tony. It was kind of weird when he realized exactly how much they talked, and it was even weirder when Rhodey noticed Bucky’s cooling off towards him.

“What’d you do to piss him off?” Rhodey asks, chewing on some vegetable or some shit thoughtfully. Tony would never understand Rhodey’s freak health diet even if he knew it helped him keep in shape.

“Nothing,” Tony says. He hoped anyways. Usually people didn’t avoid him when… well he wasn’t going to think too hard about that because Rhodey was watching and by some miracle he hadn’t known who Tony kissed this morning.

“Who cares about Bucky not talking to Tony, that’s hardly gossip. Who’d you kiss?” Pepper asks, leaning in excitedly.

“Since when do you care?” he counters. Pepper usually lamented about his uh… love life.

“Since I realized life was boring without a slutty friend, up your game Stark. Fuck your way through the guys, have everyone spread rumors about them for a change,” Pepper tells him, waving her fork around.

“You’ve got some ideas on where to start, I presume?” he asks more to distract Rhodey from looking too closely at his mind, which was working, but Pepper surprises him with an actual answer.

“Uh yeah, start with Ezekiel Stane. That guy is an asshole,” she says, glaring in the offending target’s general direction.

Rhodey looks over casually, barely making it look like he looked unlike Tony, who flat out gawked. “Jesus Stark, I need to give you lessons in not making yourself look a fool. Is he giving you problems, Pepper?” Rhodey asks in that familiar protective tone of his.

Tony immediately gets excited, “yes, please beat up Ezekiel Stane!” he says, glee all over his tone.

This earns him a frown from Rhodey, “is he bothering you?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. Ever protective, he was and Tony could appreciate it when it was convenient for him.

“Nah, I just want to see you beat up some Moroi instead of the regular Dhampirs,” Tony tells him, shrugging unapologetically when Rhodey rolls his eyes and turns back to Pepper.

“He’s not giving me problems exactly, but he isn’t nice to me either. We have a history project together and I’m tired of his annoying comments about hanging out with Strigoi,” Pepper says primly. “I told him if he didn’t shut his mouth the Strigoi he’d be hanging out with would be me.”

“Nice!” Tony tells her enthusiastically, sticking his hand out for a high five. She complies as Rhodey considers his options and gets up. Tony practically vibrates with excitement as Rhodey walks over to Stane casually, leaning against his lunch table as he says something.

Stane must not have taken Rhodey very seriously because he’s all smirks and likely snide comments. Tony figures Rhodey would give him a snarky comment or a witty one-liner the way he usually did but instead he hauls the guy out of his seat by his collar and Stane’s face goes bone white. “Kick his ass!” Tony calls from across the lunch room, grinning like a loon.

“Jesus Tony, way to alert the guardians,” Pepper mumbles at him.

“Oh please, they already noticed I just want Rhodey to get a punch in first,” Tony tells her, waving her off. The guardians were already most of the way over when Rhodey drops Stane on his ass and puts his hands up, signaling that he was done there and amazingly he gets to walk away from the encounter. Stane didn’t look pleased about this but beyond making sure he was okay the guardians seemed content to let Rhodey rough him up a little. They must really hate the guy then because Dhampirs never got away with shit like that. They were supposed to protect Moroi, not dangle them by their collars.

“They don’t hate Stane, they like me,” Rhodey tells him, responding to his thoughts no doubt. Creepy but also useful.

“How do you know?” Tony asks.

“Being Peggy Carter’s favorite does come with a few perks and getting away with more is one of those perks. At least so long as I don’t actually cross any lines and Stane was fine so I am too,” Rhodey says.

“What did he say to you?” Pepper asks, obviously as surprised as Tony was that Rhodey hauled the dude out of his seat to dangle him a little. He never really had a temper before all of Tony’s mess caught him in the middle of it so this was a surprise even if Rhodey was still as reckless as he used to be.

Rhodey keeps his face impassive, “nothing beyond the usual mess that Howard brought upon us all but I figured I’d make a more uh physical stand to ward people off.” So he intended to scare the Moroi into shutting the hell up about Tony so Tony didn’t have to do any of the work himself. Rhodey had noticed that Tony’s moods got worse when he used his magic or whatever it was he could do. It was sweet that he was trying to make sure Tony didn’t have to use it but he was going to get expelled if he had to respond like that every time someone said something shitty about Tony. “I’ll be fine Tony. Another perk of being Peggy’s favorite- she doesn’t favor anyone without a bright future. With guardian numbers dwindling they’re hardly going to kick me out.” Yeah, so he thought. Tony wasn’t willing to chance it so much.

“You know what, back to a more interesting and less dark topic. Tony! Tell us who you’re kissing in the morning so we have all the gossip before anyone else,” Pepper says, leaning forward again.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Tony tells her, nose in the air.

Rhodey and Pepper outright laugh at that, which was just rude. “Since when? Usually you tell before you kiss, and then you gloat,” Pepper points out.

“I’ve changed my hoeing ways,” Tony says, still offended at their reaction.

“Have not,” Pepper says, “just tell us who you’re messing around with, I am starved for gossip because all these idiots talk about is you going Strigoi. It’s boring.”

“Since when do you like gossip?” Rhodey asks her, thankfully taking Tony’s side here.

Pepper shrugs, “you realize things about yourself when your best friend is no longer the center of the school’s attention and a total slut. I realized I like gossip so long as it doesn’t involve me and it doesn’t involve ludicrous rumors of Tony becoming a member of the undead. Don’t you miss all the shenanigans Tony used to get into?” Pepper asks Rhodey.

“No because I don’t have to go saving his ass every ten minutes,” Rhodey says.

“You disappoint me. Tony, please go back to your slutty ways if for no other reason than saving me from boredom. And also get that English homework done, your teacher has taken to harassing me now,” Pepper says, looking more like her regular annoyed at Tony’s antics self. Who knew she’d taken a secret liking to his party boy days?

“One, I hate English so no and two, I always thought you hated when I got drunk and did stupid shit.” She used to scold him almost more than Rhodey used to.

“I told you to be a slut, not a borderline alcoholic and we both know that in light of recent events you and alcohol should not go together. But use condoms, I am not taking care of your offspring,” she tells him, giving him a look. “And hand in your English homework before I start to harass you for it,” Pepper says, knowing how to hit Tony where it hurt. Damn, now he had no choice.

“I’d actually prefer if you didn’t hoe it up,” Rhodey tells him, “because I am not vetting every person you sleep with. I couldn’t keep up.”

“You guys are terrible! I did not sleep with that many people!” he says in his own defense. Pepper and Rhodey squint at him a little, clearly wondering if he remembered the same things they did. Rude.

*

He manages to corner Bucky after Day Three of near radio silence and he doesn’t look impressed about it. “Yeah that’s right, I read like five of Rhodey’s text books to figure out how to do this,” Tony says, hands on his hips because he was annoyed damnit. Hopefully not too annoyed that Rhodey would accidentally slip into his head though he’d worry about that later if it happened.

“You only managed to catch me off guard because you’re a Moroi and I hardly expected you to have any skill. Still don’t considering reading and doing are two different things,” Bucky tells him in a cool tone. Ouch.

“Well I managed to corner you, didn’t I? Guess reading has its merits after all,” he says in an equally cool tone. Damnit, this wasn’t what he wanted out of this…

Bucky sighs and presses his fingers to his temples, “what do you want, Tony?”

Good question, one Tony wasn’t entirely sure he knew how to answer. “I… what the hell is with the silence the last few days?” he asks eventually, unsure of where to go from here. Damn, he really should make plans before he does things.

Bucky gives him an almost pitying look and Tony glares because he loathes pity more than most anything else. He didn’t need anyone’s damn pity. “Look, the last time we uh talked… well it shouldn’t have happened alright. It’s all kinds of creepy on my part,” Bucky says, wrinkling his nose in distaste at himself.

This… was he fucking kidding? “Uh, I don’t know if you know this but my birthday isn’t that far away. What the hell would be the difference between me now and me then?” he asks. Seven months wasn’t exactly a lot of time for an abundance of character growth or whatever. Logically there would be next to no difference between his maturity then when compared to now. Age was one of those subjective and arbitrary things in his opinion. One that he only formed like right now but still.

“Believe me Tony, a few months can change everything. You know that as well as I do- unless you predicted you’d be here last year,” Bucky says and really, that was hitting below the belt. No, he hadn’t expected himself to be here last year but that was hardly fair. Tony couldn’t help his father’s decisions and the fallout from it.

“So what, you expect my other dad to go Strigoi and try and just about off my best friend? Because I don’t have another one thank god. The first one was shitty enough. Point is I really don’t see why you think you’re creepy or whatever given that I don’t and isn’t it my opinion that matters?” he asks. Given that he was the younger party and all.

“Of course you say that now, Tony, but you won’t later,” Bucky tells him.

Tony grits his teeth, annoyed that Bucky would try and tell him how he would feel at any point in his life. “Well you don’t know me very well because now I won’t regret it just because you told me I would,” he snaps, irritated with this.

“Real mature,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes and oh, that hurt. Even if he kind of had a point.

“Fine,” Tony snaps, “then what the hell do you suggest I do?”

Bucky sighs again, “find someone your own age,” he says.

*

Rhodey could feel Tony’s annoyance probably before he even registered it but all he caught was the tail end of an argument in which Tony was stewing over his supposed immaturity. Tony’s thoughts were somewhat confusing to follow given that all he had was a very disgruntled Moroi and a lot of frustration. He tries to read further into it but Tony seemed intent on blocking it out because, as usual, he didn’t want to deal with it. He could dig further if he wanted to, he was half in Tony’s head already but… Tony hated it when he did that and he did want to give him some privacy. Plus he didn’t like seeing things from Tony’s point of view any more than Tony liked him being in his head.

The last thing he, and Tony, expects though is to run into someone. Literally. “Someone should watch where he’s going,” the person says as his books hit the ground. His voice, at least to Tony, is silky and smooth. Rhodey thinks he sounds slimy and shit, he’s bending over to pick up the guy’s books and apologizing. No, Tony is bending over picking up the guy’s books and apologizing. He was just along for the ride until he either managed to oust himself or Tony calmed some.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to run you over,” Tony is says, flustered and annoyed by some unknown person. Tony isn’t thinking in clear images so all Rhodey gets is a general feeling that he’d rather not be a part of given the healthy amount of lust there. Ew. He loved his best friend but feeling his sexual desire was just disturbing.

“Obviously,” the other person drawls, “but you could make it up to me by showing me around today.” This is when Tony looks up to hand the guy his books and right away Rhodey wants Tony the hell out of there, particularly when he’s struck dumb by how attractive the guy is. God damnit.

Rhodey, if he was forced to admit it, would acknowledge that the guy was attractive. He was tall and slim like most Moroi and he had long black hair and striking green eyes that almost certainly indicated that he was Royal. He also had a smarmy grin and a general feel of sleaze but Tony didn’t feel any of that, he was just looking at the guy’s face and in his frustration with whomever pissed him off he was happy to look. More than look really, more like check out. And the guy was happy to be checked out.

Tony smiles wide, the one smile he used when he was flirting Rhodey knew- gross- as he the guy took his books back. “I’d be happy to show you around, what classes do you have?” he asks, putting out an air of confidence that bordered on arrogance and god damnit Rhodey did not want to be in Tony’s head while he flirted with some sleaze ball. Rhodey was ousting himself from Tony’s mind immediately.

Mystery Guy hands over his schedule and Tony reads it over, including the guy’s name. “Loki? That’s an unusual name. And if I were you I’d switch out of art history stat,” he says, wrinkling his nose at the class.

“I’m actually rather fond of art history,” Loki tells him, smiling when Tony looks confused. Tony’s embarrassment probably didn’t show on his face but Rhodey still felt it all the same. Of course he had to insult a subject the guy liked. Rhodey was happy about this, however, because it meant he’d leave Tony the hell alone. “And yes, my name is unusual though I’m at a disadvantage. You know my name but I don’t have yours,” he says, smiling at Tony in a way that made Tony flush but reminded Rhodey of a cat sizing up a mouse. And Tony was being a very cooperative mouse. He would have tried to purposefully force himself out of Tony’s head at this point but Loki was sketchy and Rhodey wanted to keep an eye on this.

“Tony,” he says, leaving his last name out in purpose due to the whole his-father-went-Strigoi thing that tended to scare everyone off.

“Stark, right?” Loki asks and laughs when Tony’s surprise reaches his features. “Even if the features weren’t immediately recognizable the charm certainly is.”

The comment gives Tony the warm and fuzzies but Rhodey thinks this guy is playing a game. No one reacted that way to Tony thanks to Howard so what was this guy up to? Tony ducks his head a little and smiles, “most people these days would think my charm was a way to give them a false sense of security before I killed them to go Strigoi thanks to my asshole father,” he says and kicks himself immediately for saying that. Shit. Why was he like this? No, Rhodey wasn’t like anything, that was Tony’s thought not his.

“Well,” Loki says in that slimy tone of his, “you’re hardly your father, right?” He smiles and leans closer to Tony and he knows exactly what he’s doing. The weird thing is that Tony should too but he’s seemed to have learned how to block the auras out now without help from some kind of drug. Either that or he was just purposefully avoiding drawing the colors up. Damnit. He was playing Tony and for some reason Tony was falling for it!

Actually no, Rhodey knew the mix of Tony’s feelings well so he knew exactly what was going on but he didn’t have to like it. He was spurned by his mystery lover and now someone attractive thought he wasn’t like his father. This guy could not have picked a better time to find Tony if he tried. Not that it would matter because Rhodey was going to make sure this snake was far, far away from Tony long before whatever plan he had was realized. He had no clue what this Loki wanted from Tony but he was going to be vastly disappointed when he didn’t get it.

Rhodey pulls himself out of Tony’s head with relative ease and he realizes that he hung around too long, at least by Tony’s standards. He’s learned how to pull himself out of Tony’s head when his emotions were running high though it was difficult. Pulling out of Tony’s head when he was emotionally stable though, that was easy. He couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about overstaying his welcome though because if he hadn’t he wouldn’t know what was going on with that Loki guy and something told him he was going to look pretty convincingly harmless to Rhodey and Pepper to avoid suspicion.

Which made Rhodey wonder what this guy even wanted from Tony at all. Last year the answer would have been easy but now with Tony fallen from grace thanks to Howard? Rhodey was at a loss and he didn’t like it.