Chapter 5
It was pretty well documented in the media that Tony didn’t do relationships, he never has. Never really had much interest in them really and he had no idea why people were so obsessed with romance. Even Rhodey, probably the most level-headed person Tony knew, had a thing with romance. It was prominent enough that when Hammer managed to build yet another defective product that actually managed to hurt someone this time Rhodey was convinced that Hope would leave him. Over a back injury. Something like that never occurred to him and to be fair when he mentioned it to Bucky he looked real confused too so clearly Tony was right.
But Bucky though, there was something about him that was actually interesting in a way that intrigued Tony to move beyond the platonic. People in his life were predictable, boring, and at some point someone wanted something from him always. It was just how it worked. But Bucky wasn’t boring like everyone else and Tony could see the anxiety Bucky had when it came to Tony’s wealth. That was weird to him considering poor people needed money, but here was someone who was used to being poor freaking out over an abundance of wealth. It was nice though because for the first time in pretty much his whole life he knew that someone had no interest in his wealth and he knew that for a fact. If Bucky had any interest in his money he would have known about that when he basically told him to go hog wild as a job and honestly Bucky was pitiful at it.
“Anything in the world Bucky, what do you want?” Tony asks, curious to see what Bucky would come up with.
“A job would be nice,” he mumbles, glaring at his computer screen.
“You’re dating a billionaire, the fuck do you need a job for?” Tony asks, genuinely confused. Of all the things Bucky wanted in the world he wanted a job he didn’t even need? Why?
“I don’t want to be called a gold digger by the media when they inevitably find out about us and also its boring not doing anything all day. No wonder housewives fought for the right to work, being in the house all day is dead boring and I don’t think throwing kids at me would make it exciting,” he says.
“Yeah, no kids. Never been fond of them,” Tony says quickly. That, and he ha always been afraid that he’d turn out too close to Howard for comfort. Technically that already happened once and he wasn’t looking to repeat that with a kid in case he fucked that kid up for life like Howard did for him.
“Me neither,” Bucky says, setting his computer aside, “come here.”
Tony walks over and sits on the couch, letting out an indignant squawk when Bucky pulls him into his lap. “Give a guy a warning,” Tony says, laughing.
“I told you to come here, not sit on the edge of the couch playing the prude. I’ve seen the news clips, you are not a prude,” Bucky says to him, grinning.
“Oh, we’re taking advice on how to deal with me from the media now?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Why not, I’ve learned a lot from watching the media deal with you. Like don’t pester you about romance or family, and don’t bring up Howard Stark while we’re at it, only ever talk about Justin Hammer if you’re making fun of him, and all sorts of other interesting facts. Seriously, there is a wealth if information there,” Bucky says very seriously. Tony shorts and shakes his head because Bucky was something else.
*
Tony, Bucky learns, has a thing for trying to throw money at his problems. At first he spent too much time listening to Steve and he started to wonder if money was all Tony had to offer but he could feel that that was wrong. Tony focused too much on money yeah, but Bucky knew things Steve didn’t. Like the abuse he suffered as a child, how his genius made it difficult to focus on mundane things because he found them boring and repetitive in a way that made him feel like jumping out of his skin, and how he never really learned to take care of himself let alone others. So Bucky started paying more attention and he noticed a pattern.
When Tony noticed Bucky was feeling off he got a gift, usually something small after the first time he got Bucky a fifty thousand dollar watch that gave him a panic attack. He also brought Bucky a drink home every time he was gone for awhile, and it was always something that Bucky liked. Given that he and Tony had vastly different drink tastes it was no accident that he happened to get something Bucky liked every time. And he paid attention to Bucky’s reactions too because Tony tended to buy the drinks he liked the best after he managed to weed a few out.
Being with Tony was odd because he wasn’t good at emotions, a few minutes with the guy would tell anyone that he was incapable of not being a snarky ass. But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything for the people around him, it just meant he showed it in some really odd ways. Sometimes JARVIS would remind him of appointments or other things he had to do, meaning that Tony thought about him enough to put his routine through his personal AI. JARVIS also made sure to have all of Bucky’s favorite foods in the house too- another show of affection that was outside the norm. Tony also liked to make random gadgets for him too, things that were designed to make his life easier. Bucky knew what technology meant to Tony, saw how much he connected to it, and to receive a custom made anything from him was essentially him handing a piece of himself over too.
So Steve was wrong and Bucky was smitten with his new relationship regardless of how Steve felt about it. Sam at least took to Tony somewhat kindly, even if he was a bit frosty at first. But Sam’s a genius and apparently he had a secret love of technology so he and Tony became fast friends and Sam got a better job working for SI. And it came with sweet benefits that meant Steve’s hospital bills wouldn’t be nearly as stressful anymore. And even if Tony wasn’t the absolute best in every way he was definitely hot enough to make up for it. He had been worried about being older, and he wasn’t even that much older than Bucky, but he was pretty sure Tony forgot how attractive he was. Every one agreed, even Pietro and usually he had no idea what physically attractive even meant. But mostly Tony was next level weird and that was right up Bucky’s always extremely odd reality.
“Here,” Tony says, interrupting his thoughts with a pumpkin spice latte.
“Thanks. You’re the best, you know,” Bucky says with meaning.
Tony snorts and shakes his head, “you are so weird, you always act so grateful and it’s a drink. It’s not like its that special.”
“Yeah, except it is. I know you said a while back when you bought me that apartment that you don’t really know how to take care of people but you’re wrong. You just do it differently than everyone else. Most people do that touchy-feely I love you shit but you bring me drinks and make me phones. If I was an ungrateful ass I would assume that meant you didn’t really care because everyone knows that money doesn’t buy love. Except for the fact that you know that expressing emotions like everyone expects you to is hard, so you do other things instead. So this isn’t a drink, this is your way of telling me that you care. Of course I act grateful for that,” he says honestly. What kind of jackass wouldn’t?
Tony stands there for a moment, stunned. ‘Did you know I dated Pepper for awhile? Four years, actually. We broke up because she told me that I couldn’t buy her love.”
“But that wasn’t what you were doing though, that’s just how you show affection because it’s easier for you that way. I get that.” Sometimes it was easier for him too because accepting affection is hard and Tony’s way made it easer to stomach as long as he didn’t see the price. That was probably why he liked the drinks the best- unless Tony found some ridiculously expensive coffee shop they didn’t cost much.
“See, this is why I like you so much. You get me when no one else does and you actually pay attention to things. I mean Pepper is way better with Happy than me, and I like you way more than her, but still. The relationship thing just isn’t for me without you,” he says, sitting on the couch next to Bucky and curling into his side. It looked kind of odd with Tony still in his suit but Bucky wasn’t about to complain.
“I love you too, Tony,” he says.
Tony’s cheeks get just a bit red and he smiles more to himself than Bucky before he shifts a bit, “so, anything interesting happen to you today?” he asks like he did pretty much every day.
“Yeah, I rescued the president from some vicious pigeons,” he says.
“Seriously?” Tony asks after a moment of silence.
“Yeah. Apparently Carter wanted some alone time so she slipped Secret Service and went to go hang out in Central Park for a couple hours before she had to go back to president things I guess but then the pigeons were after her sandwich and honestly all I say was a hooded figure fighting the birds for their lunch so I figured I’d help and I was more effective in protecting the president than the Secret Service today. Also I have a picture evidence,” he says because no one ever believed these things. He sets his drink aside and fishes his phone out of his pocket to show Tony a picture of Peggy Carter, hood still mostly on, with her sandwich in hand smiling.
“How are you even real?” Tony asks, shaking his head. Bucky shrugs, by all means he was confused too.