Chapter Text
Don’t ask me, what you know is true
Don’t have to tell you, I love your precious heart.
They stayed for what seemed to be hours, like that. Just together, in the safety of Tony’s lab. Just the two of them, in a way against the rest of the world - Even if something as stupid as the world was absent in Jame’s mind, while he was with Tony.
They kissed. It seemed at first they couldn’t stop doing it. They didn’t try anything more, in a silent accord between the two of them. They just kissed, and despite the time passing, it stayed sweet and tender. It made him feel like a stupid teenagers, because he knew feeling fluttery butterflies in his stomach for just a few kisses was something usually reserved for teenagers, not grown adult, not a 106 years old. He didn’t even remember feeling like that though, even as a teenager, so maybe it doesn’t matter the age.
They talked too, after a while of just basking in each other’s presence. Not very much, but some things had to be said, he guessed. Tony shut him up quickly, after the third “thank you”, with another kiss. James frowned when Tony mentioned Steve, so he dropped the subject quickly.
They talked a bit, about them, about the “us” of everything. Tony stuttered around asking James to “move in” with him. They both agreed, almost without words, that for now they wanted to keep this for them. To be together, to enjoy each other, without anyone all up in their business. Especially not the Rogues, or the Accord Council right away. Especially not Steve, not right now. Of course, they knew some of their friends knew already. Natasha, Rhodey, maybe Pepper. But they also knew they wouldn’t say a thing, so it was good.
If James was to be perfectly honest, he would have had to admit the whole exchange was too sappy, like a syrup so thick it’s hard to swallow. But to him, to them, it was just nice. It was good to finally be with Tony. To tell him how he felt. To bask in his presence, after months of pining from another continent.
He would never forget Tony’s face when the first “I love you” passed his lips. Like it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him. Like he couldn’t believe his ears, too, despite the months spent talking to each other, and the numerous kisses exchanged in such a short amount of time. But it was okay, James was willing to say it again, and again, and again, until Tony believed. He quite liked the way the words were so easy to say.
And he wouldn’t forget either the feeling exploding in his chest when Tony smiled and said he loved him too, in such a soft voice, like an admission. Like he was surrendering his feelings to him. And if James knew anything about Tony, it was close to a surrender. A confession. A show of trust. And nothing could ever tore him from that feeling, he would fight for Tony, he swore it.
But of course, they couldn’t stay like that. It would have been nice, so nice to just forget everything and stay holed up in the workshop, as if only the two of them existed. But after a long while, FRIDAY gently reminded Tony that “Colonel Rhodes” was waiting for him in the conference room. It was all nice and good, after all it was Tony’s best friend. But when FRIDAY added - almost gently - that “Rogers” was waiting for him, it was less nice. They both had their faces fell, and the silence was not a comfortable one.
- “I don’t have to go see him, you know.” He said, after a while, because that was true. He didn’t owe anything to Steve, and even if the situation was a weird one, it didn’t need to be addressed right away. Maybe he could even ask for Natasha to help with this and avoid Steve for days.
- “No it’s okay.” Tony replied, his smile a tentative one this time, but he hadn’t let go of James’s hand, so James took the small comfort. “I’ll go talk to Rhodey, he’ll surely like, reprimand me for letting him do all the talking while I go play Romeo so..”
- “Ah, well if he’s mad, he can take it up to me.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and the confidence in his words as well as their playfulness were enough to get a full smile on Tony’s face. The small unease in Jame’s receded.
- “He probably will, too.” Tony chuckled, looked at James and after a small peck on his lips, got up. “C’mon, Sugarplum.” He called, holding out his hand and without thinking too much, James took it.
They both walked out of the workshop, and into an elevator and James couldn’t really quash the small anxiety about his confrontation with Steve. He kind of wished he could just avoid the man, but knowing him, he knew that would never work. The stubbornness, that he may have found endearing in an - his - other life was now slowly grating more and more on his nerves. And especially if that had to do with Tony.
But James didn’t want Tony to worry, so when they parted ways, he simply smiled and went towards the communal area where Steve was waiting for him, FRIDAY guiding the way.
Even if he would have preferred waiting for Tony in the worksop and not breaking his bubble right away.
The blond man was waiting for him, sitting on a couch, and immediately got up when he saw James.
- “Hey, Buck.” He said, with a small smile, and James did his best to hide a grimace at the nickname. When will Steve drop it ? “Natasha said you went to get your arm checked ?” He raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to maybe contradict him.
- “Yeah.” He simply answered, because he wasn’t about to say more, since he didn’t know exactly what Natasha had said. And in any case, Steve wasn’t his keeper.
- “Did it need checking ? Thought Shuri would have done that before we left…”
James couldn’t help it, but a long sigh escaped him. First, he was kind of annoyed at Steve for calling a princess by her first name, since at no point in time she had told him to do so. Second, he was kind of tired of having to justify himself and what he did to Steve.
- “Thought it was better to have a check-up with its creator himself.” He grumbled, crossing his arms and watching Steve’s expression. It didn’t disappoint. His eyebrows shot up and almost disappeared into his hairline, and he looked gobsmacked. James rolled his eyes.
- “T-.. Tony’s the one who made your arm ?” He blinked, like he needed time to realize it.
- “Yeah.” He answered, shrugging. It almost seemed kind of obvious to James, he thought, looking at the arm. It was Tony’s style, it looked kind of like the armor, but more sleek. Of course, Shuri had helped too, the kid was still a genius. But still.
- “Why didn’t you tell me ? I need to go thank him…”
- “What ?” He frowned. “Why would you thank him ? It’s my arm. It got nothing to do with you, Rogers.” The annoyance surged in him all of the sudden, and he got an itchy feeling in his spine. The dude really acted like a parent, and it was starting to be really too much to bear.
- “Well it’s only-”
- “No.” He cut him off, before he could try and justify his weird instinct. “I already thanked him. ‘Coz it’s my arm. Once again, it’s got nothing to do with you.” He glared at the man, until he finally nodded. “If you want to talk to Tony, you should probably apologize first.”
Because despite everything, Tony shrugging off the hurt and pain that they both caused him, he knew that secretly he hoped the blonde would. And knowing Tony, maybe not fully but still, he would probably only need a sincere apology before getting back to the way things were before.
James didn’t think it was really a good thing. Things before, they didn’t seem that great, from his perspective, and apparently Natasha’s too. The Avengers had caused a lot of harm to Tony, before everything. Hurting him, in small ways of course. But no one, except now for Natasha, had ever apologized. And it was still a fragile sort of thing between her and Tony now. But he had still forgiven her, because Tony was like that. A good man.
- “Apologize for what ?” Steve simply replied. The worst thing was, the question seemed a hundred percent genuine.
Steve Rogers seemed less and less like a good man to him. And if he couldn’t even see past his own nose, James wasn’t about to help him. He shook his head, disappointed, and left the room.
James hadn’t managed to avoid the colonel Rhodes and his shovel talk for long. Not even a full day had passed, in fact, when the man stepped at his side, looking all severe and maybe, just a little bit, scary. Not that James would admit it outloud. He was supposed to be a scary assassin after all.
Tony, Natasha and Carol were all enjoying breakfast in the west wing of the compound. Even if it wasn’t official, the space had been divided into two sections. West for the Avengers (The new ones anyway) and east for the Rogues. Everyone seemed pleased by that though it seemed like it was going to stay like that for a while. James had technically a room, toward the east wing but it was the closest to the “center”. The no-man’s land. James wondered if it was going to be used.
Tony was sipping his coffee, while James was eating a full breakfast, courtesy of the Widow who seemed to be feeling generous. Carol seemed to be still half asleep, looking at her cup of coffee in deep reflection. Good for her, he guessed.
He was watching as Natasha was trying to get Tony to accept a plate of eggs and actually eat, the two of them bickering, when the Colonel appeared beside James.
- “Uh…” Was all he could say.
- “Hey, Rhodey-bear, you said you weren’t going to-” Tony tried, looking at his friend with big (beautiful) eyes.
Rhodes simply raised a brow and that seemed to stop Tony from saying anything. He looked at James and mouthed a sorry, and frowned at the plate of eggs that Natasha had sneakily placed in front of him.
- “Can I talk to you, Sergeant Barnes ?” Rhodes said, and James swallowed. Was the man about to tell him to stay away from Tony, to back the fuck up and get moving ? He hoped not.
- “Sure…” Damn, he hadn’t felt this nervous in a long, very long time. He felt maybe more sweaty than before seeing Tony for the first time in Wakanda.
But he sagely got up and followed the Colonel outside the room, trying to remember that he was a super soldier, that he had been Hydra’s best assassins for over 70 years and that Tony’s best friend couldn’t hurt him. When they stopped, Rhodey looked at him from head to toe, like he was trying to find a flaw or perhaps where best to punch. Great.
- “So. You’re after Tony.” He said, matter of factly, crossing his arms against his chest. James simply nodded. “ You know, despite what the media said, despite what the Rogues might think, he has a family. Not a big one, but still. And that family isn’t weak. We could crush you, if we wanted.” He took a pause. “We will crush you, if need be.”
Yes, definitely a 10/10 shovel talk. He nodded once more, trying to remember how to use his mouth to say words. He wouldn’t tell Tony how Rhodey had managed to make him a mess in a few phrases. That would be awkward and Tony would use it against him for weeks.
- “I know that. About his family, and about what you can do to me, if I hurt him.” He only noticed how straight he was standing. Oh well, in it for a penny, in it for a pound. “But believe me, Colonel, I won’t. If anything, I wish to protect him too.”
What he didn’t tell James Rhodes, was how afraid of hurting Tony he was. How he didn’t think he could be able to manage it if it ever came to that. How he already thought that Tony probably deserved better, infinitely better than him. That if anything were to happen to Tony, he would probably go mad.
Instead, he managed to say in a softer voice :
- “I love him, you know. I’m not just saying words without meaning behind them. And I know… I know he doesn’t need me, to be a knight in shining armor - he does that himself very well - but still. I’ll be there, by his side, as long as he needs me.”
Rhodes looked at him without blinking, for a minute. Like he was trying to detect a lie - god, how could people lie about that, he thought -, or see how much he meant it.
But he seemed to be satisfied, because after that long moment, his face broke into a large grin, and he dropped the “severe” act.
- “Good. Welcome to the team, then, Sergeant Barnes !” He clapped James on the shoulder, and that managed to thaw his own attitude too. He couldn’t help but smile in return.
- “Thank you, Colonel.”
- “You can call me Rhodey ! Or god forbid, Jim.” He laughed, and James couldn’t help but join in.
Surprisingly, he was managing to avoid Steve pretty well. He had moved in with Tony (officially he had a room right next to his, because “you need your space, James”) so he was at the other side of the compound where most of the time, Friday would not allow Steve to set foot in. The guy still tried, whenever he could, to talk with him, spend time with him, and on the days where it was too much, James would simply hide himself in Tony’s lab. After a while, he stopped trying to corner him.
James didn’t doubt that surely Natasha helped, acting all scary russian on Steve, and even more so Sam, because he had a long talk with the man. He wanted to say thank you, but he didn’t really know how, without outright saying “Thanks for getting Steve off my back”, so he abstained. But he hoped the message was still sent and received.
They watched baseball sometimes, together, with the Rogues, and there’s enough people that it wasn’t not that bad. Sometimes they would train all together, and if Steve was too talkative for his taste, he just had to become more aggressive in his blows to make him shut up. Worked pretty great so far.
It wasn’t only the fact that he didn’t want to spend any more time with Steve. It was more the fact that the more time went on, the less Steve seemed to realize that he wanted to spend time with Bucky Barnes, not James.
Or perhaps he did, and he thought that if he insisted hard enough, Bucky would magically appear.
So of course, James prefered to spend time with people that actually knew him, were interested in him, and not some ghost of the past who would never come back. He liked the easy camaraderie between the New Avengers, and he loved being a part of it. Carol, despite her stern exterior, was really fun to hang out with. Hope was nice even if sometimes James felt almost a whiplash when he thought about Scott and her together. They were apparently mending bridges, so good for them.
He also integrated Tony’s family, little by little.
Peter Parker was a handful, really, but the kid was so nice and kind. He took to James quickly, despite James needing a bit more time to reciprocate. He had managed to make him blush (him and Tony, truth be told), when he called him “Step-Dad”. Tony had blurted coffee all over the counter, it was pretty funny, once he himself calmed down. He was also fiercely protective of Tony, and was subsequently banned from being alone with Steve. “Because I would deck him, James.” Having fought with the kid, he knew he could and would.
Rhodey was nice, after that first shovel talk. Even if the man kept his reservations on him, he was still becoming a fast friend, and they would both annoy Tony into acting like a human being.
Pepper Potts was outright scary. In a good sense (mostly). He respected her. And even if like Rhodey, she seemed hesitant at first, the fact that James seemed to stick around was enough for her. She hadn’t even once threatened him of death by louboutins, so maybe it was alright. And her fiancé, Happy Hogans was just such a nice man that James had no other choice than to like him.
Yes, James was quite happy with his new friends. Team, maybe one day, soon, hopefully. It was hard, after a day of laughing and being called James and receiving cuddles from his boyfriend to go back to spend time with the Rogues, where things were still cold.
And when Steve asked what he had been doing all day, wanting to play mother-hen, being on his back and nipping at his heels, he simply asked if he had apologized to Tony yet.
The silence was always deafening.
Things with Tony were good. Not perfect, of course not. He doubted they would ever be, that they could be perfect. But what he had was the best thing in his life and he cherished every second of it. Every kiss, every hug, every night spent with the man of his life (he could now say this confidently), every morning waking up next to him. Every moment he got to spend with the man.
Sometimes, it wouldn’t be as nice. Sometimes, James would wake up with nightmares, his mind half in the past, and had a hard time being touched for some time. Tony would always be mindful of him, waiting for James to come back, always with sweet words and cuddles and reassurance. But James would still feel empty, aching, and ashamed after, and wondered why Tony was sticking with him.
But Tony, too, sometimes had a hard time. Him too, would wake with nightmares, waking all of the sudden in a jump. He wouldn’t push James away, not at first, but would be silent and kind of unresponsive. (James was scared that he had dreamed of Siberia, and that was why he wouldn’t look him in the eyes.)
Sometimes, he would try to push James away, after. Trying to cut the man off, like he cut everyone off when he would get in his head. And if the first time James had thought space would be good, he quickly discovered that it didn’t help at all. So he would push, and push, and sometimes Tony would act like nothing happened and he hadn’t kept to himself for 2 days straight, and sometimes he would just start crying when seeing James and end up sobbing against him, repeating that he was sorry again and again and that he didn’t mean it.
But most of the time, it was still good. They were close, but not in a weird, codependency sort of way. They were honest with each other, as much as they could. They were in love, and that was nice. That was all that mattered really. Tony. And the little family Bucky was integrating slowly but surely.
Things took a turn when, for the first time since James had come to the compound, something went wrong in a mission. Almost deadly wrong. For Tony.
James felt dumb, sitting in that chair besides Tony’s bed in the medical wing. He should have been more prepared. In this line of work, risks were everywhere. Tony was “just” human. (Even if he had admitted, one night, in the cover of darkness that maybe, just maybe, Extremis was still helping him a bit. Nothing like regrowing a limb, but it helped not dying.) Tony was in the direct line of fire more times than not, especially since he was kind of the king of self-sacrifice. He was one of the faces, one of the leaders of the new Avengers, so of course the villains were likely to try and strike him down.
Of course, James should have been prepared that one day, sooner or later, Tony would get hurt. And that he would have to sit in that dumb chair, holding an immobile hand in his, waiting in a silence only perturbed by the beeps of the machines.
But he wasn’t. And so the whole experience wreaked havoc on him. He had felt like crying, from the moment where Friday had warned him, but he hadn’t. The tears hadn’t come. So he waited. Dry eyes and scared.
People came in and out. Only the closest to Tony. Jim, who stayed for a few hours before patting James’s shoulder and leaving him, instructing him to rest a bit. Peter, who had red eyes and was so silent it would have been worrisome if they didn’t know why. Carol and Pepper came quickly, the latter kissing Tony’s cheek before leaving and the former apologizing - To Tony or him, James didn’t know. Natasha came too, staying at James’s side, a silent comfort.
James hated this dumb chair, and this dumb room. James hated the machines, beeping. James hated the pale face of Tony, unblinking, unmoving. James hated seeing the bandages poking out from under the hospital gown. James hated himself for not having gone with Tony to this fight. Maybe he could have protected him. Hated himself for being useless, afraid of getting back into the line of fire. Hated himself for having enjoyed the peace, while Tony was braver than he was.
(Of course, in those moments, James forgot that even if he had wanted, his “return” to active duty was not only his decision. The Council would have had to accept, and would have put him through extensive testing before green lighting it. So far, the Rogues still hadn’t gone back to combat.)
It felt like forever, like eternity stretched out, before Tony finally opened his eyes and groaned. And finally, James could take a deep breath and not hurt at his very core.
- “Hey, sweetheart.” He said, in a deep voice, roarsed from disuse. And Tony smiled, squeezing lightly his hand.
If James needed any more reassurance that this man was the one, that would have been it for him. The moment when he realized how deep in love he was, how each other's future days would be spent loving each other. This man was his soulmate. And he was never ever letting go.
- “Hey.” Tony answered, almost a groan, squeezing James's hand lightly.
The tears finally came, along with a smile.
Steve had tried, at first, to talk to Tony. To corner him, to get him alone, after meetings or simply in the compound. But Tony was never alone - not when there was a chance of Steve stalking him - and with the help of Friday it was easy to avoid him.
After a while, of being stared down, by James, or Natasha, and in one memorable occasion Peter (who almost managed to tackle him, but James intervened), of Friday politely asking him to go to hell, and even Carol who asked him to back off as Team Captain, he finally got it. Tony wouldn’t talk to him.
James had wished, for a time, that he had wanted to apologize to Tony. Except, from what he heard, he wanted to “clear the air”.
- “We need to talk about what happened… I don’t understand, Sam. He seems to think he isn’t to blame at all, when in reality..”
James hadn’t even had time to curse him that Sam had jumped in.
- “I think he is fully aware of the shared blame, Steve. And I don’t believe you should think that it’s only the Accords that put you in this situation.”
James had wanted to push him, once again. Instead, he just left the corridor and went back to Tony. He needed to hug his boyfriend.
Things were good. Maybe too good to be true.
The sparks of the whole affair where, almost as usual, the press. Well, technically, not only the press.
They had been on a high-stake battle against some aliens, tensions had been high and everyone was exhausted.
That’s when the weird EMP, courtesy of the aliens, took both Tony and Rhodey out of the sky. Of course, there were now parachutes in the armors, and James saw Rhodey’s one open right away, but he only saw Tony plumet behind a building.
He didn’t even think, past that. The destroyed aliens left and right, and ran with all he still had left in him, toward Tony. He didn’t even pretend to hear the team talking in his com, in fact he ripped his out. And when he got to him, he could have cried, seeing the armor not moving, on the ground, and he came to a stop. That’s when said armor began moving, and opening. In an instant, he was on Tony.
- “Tony, Tony honey, are you alright ? Are you okay ??”
- “Y-Yeah.. ‘Chute was a bit slow.. Got scared a bit.” He responded, frowning, seeming a bit in shock.
James helped him up, and embraced him, not caring for the tactical gear being impractical, the sweat, the little bit of blood, he simply needed Tony against him.
- “You scared me too, Hon’... I.. Don’t do that to me.” He felt himself breathing better, now that he knew Tony was okay. Wait, he thought...Tony always said he was okay. “Are you really okay, though ?” He said, taking a step back and starting to analyse Tony’s body.
- “Yeah, I am.” He chuckled, letting James pat him, probably knowing he needed to check that for himself. Only after being sure Tony was good, (as good as he was going to be, after a fight and a fall), he stopped and took once again Tony against him.
- “Good.” He inhaled deeply, appreciating Tony’s scent despite the sweat. “I love you.” He grumbled. Tony chuckled once again, still a bit shaken.
- “Me too.” He took James’s face between his fingers, and was about to kiss him, when it happened.
Both of them jumped at the flash taking them by surprise. They separated, old habits dying hard, but it was too late.
The photo of the Winter Soldier and Iron Man almost kissing was everywhere by 8 PM. Everything kind of snowballed from there.
Tony had just hung up after a long call with Pepper, when Friday informed them that most of the team was waiting upstairs for them. They exchanged a look, a kiss, and like they were going into battle, put on their game faces and went up.
James wasn’t really worried. He wouldn’t call it worried, anyway, but maybe it was. They had chosen to keep their relationship mostly secret for good reasons, the public was vicious and neither of them wanted to have to handle it. He didn’t even know now, if he wanted Tony to say “it’s alright, we’ll deny it”, or if he prefered him to say “it’s alright, we’ll face the music together.”.
He kind of hoped that Natasha, Carol, Hope and Rhodey could help them make the choice between the options that Pepper had laid out for them. In any case, he knew they would show an united front, whatever the solution would be.
He was kind of surprised though, when in addition to Carol, Natasha, Hope and Rhodey, Peter, Vision and, even more surprising, Sam and Scott were waiting for them. That must have shown on his face, because Sam got up.
- “Hey, man. I.. Uh, I didn’t know about you and Tony but mh.. I wanted to say congrats. And uh, we’ll say whatever you want us to say to the press.” He assured, with a small smile. Scott nodded beside him.
James could only smile, and shake his hand.
- “Thanks.”
They all took their seats, and had just begun discussing solutions (Coming out or not, press conference or not, that kind of thing) when Friday just had times to say “Rogers is coming this way” when the blond entered the room like a man on a mission, followed closely by Wanda.
- “What the hell have you done to Bucky, Stark ?”
The silence that met him was deafening. They all blinked, first looking at Rogers, then between them, as if to confirm they had all heard the same thing. Sadly, they had. Even Wanda blinked, apparently not knowing what Steve was angry about.
- “I don’t know what you mean, Rogers.” Tony answered, calmly - or as calmly as he could in any case. James could see the unease in his body, and already he wanted to punch Steve. Of course, Tony would freeze in the face of Rogers and the Witch.
- “Don’t act innocent !” He took a step, and everyone seemed to tense up and some got closer to Tony. James first, taking his hand, Natasha too, a hand on her widow bites that she had kept on her, Jim, a scowl on his face. Carol just kept glaring daggers at Steve.
- “Steve, man..” Sam tried, getting up. “Tony hasn’t done anything…”
- “Of course he did ! Bucky has never been a faggot before !”
Even Sam opened his mouth and stopped dead in his tracks. If the silence was a cold one before, now it was freezing. Even Wanda seemed hesitant in how to act.
Of course. Of course, Perfect St Rogers, who hadn’t tried to find anything about the new century they were living in, still had his stupid morals from the forties. Even if those morals were already kind of stupid in those days.
And of course, the man would think “Stark” made him gay. Probably by controlling him too. Goddamn stupid.
James took one look at Tony, who seemed at a loss for words, most like anyone ; Tony, who seemed afraid of Rogers and the Witch and after a sigh, he got up.
- “First off, Rogers,” He started, fists in balls, trying to keep his voice even, “Don’t ever, ever scream at Tony like that ever again, or I’ll knock some teeth out. Second, still haven’t got all my memories back, but even then, I liked men. So Tony hasn’t done anything to me. And thirdly, it’s none. Of. Your. Damn. Business.” He paused between each word, taking a step closer. “ ‘Cause you’re not my nanny. You’re not my keeper. And I do what I want with my life. So now, get out. Before I make you.” Once again, the russian accent slipped back into his speech.
- “You don’t know what you’re saying, Buck !” He seemed almost desperate, and that only angered James more. That, and the fucking dead nickname. He almost missed Wanda’s small “Steve”, a tentative attempt to stop this madness. “I swear, you weren’t like that, you’ve never been a fag-”
The punch was almost out of his own volition. He didn’t even think, didn’t even thought to act, it’s like his arm went up and his fist (of course the metal one) right up Rogers’s nose. The bone cracking was nonetheless satisfying.
- “I said get out.” He said, voice even colder. He only now noticed Carol, at his side.
- “You should do what he says.” She said, with a smirk, nodding toward the door.
Steve looked at them both, a hand on his nose who was bleeding now, before looking at Tony and James felt his gut sink at the amount of hate he saw in his blue eyes.
- “That’s just plain wrong. Fags like him shouldn’t play hero, and he shouldn’t be able to get you to turn like that. You weren’t like that before, and he changed you, and I’ll k-” He suddenly flew out the window.
James blinked, then looked at Carol, still glowing just a bit, who just shrugged.
- “I wasn’t about to let him talk to our leader like that.” She said. But she looked at James, and he knew that he had seen the same hatred in those eyes. They would never let Rogers ever approach Tony, ever again.
Tony, still from what seemed like shock, was still sitting, looking at the blasted window. In fact, everyone was looking at the window, with different faces and reactions. Natasha seemed satisfied, as well as Rhodey. Hope nodded at Carol, and Peter was muttering something about “wanting to do that himself”. Sam and Scott seemed mostly shocked from the load of shit coming out of their “leader”’s mouth. Vision was still himself, not emoting much. Wanda seemed glued to her spot, watching the unmoving form of Rogers and the broken glass around him.
- “I’m not.. I’m not your leader.” Tony finally said, looking at James, before looking at everyone around them.
- “You are. Maybe not on the field, but you are.” Carol said, in a voice that didn’t let any argument fly. “Anyway. What about a vote to exclude him from the Avengers Initiative for good ?”
James saw Wanda opening her mouth, and raising an eyebrow toward her, saw her closing it quickly. Maybe, without the bad interventions of Rogers and Barton, she would come to her senses. That, and with therapy.. Maybe.
- “I’m in.” Natasha said. “All in favors of him getting the fuck out of here ?” Some chuckled, surely because of the phrasing she used, but all hands, even Wanda, were up in a matter of seconds.
- “Well, it’s voted.” Carol said. I’ll get him out of the lawn, boss.” She smiled at Tony, and went to Rogers, Vision in tow with super-strength handcuffs. Tony, for his part, was floundering for a response.
A few minutes later, Rogers was in a Quinjet towards Shield, a problem for Fury and Hill to deal with, while they were all discussing what to do with the press. Tony wasn’t saying much, and James already knew that he probably thought that it was his fault, and was already managing to guilt himself, but he also knew he would make those feelings go away. But at least, a good thing had come out of Rogers' idiocy.
- “I think we should come out.” James said, in a soft voice, looking only at Tony with soft eyes.
They would stand together, no matter what, and nothing could ever tear them apart. Not Rogers, not the press, not the whole world. Because James loved Tony, and Tony loved James.
- “Okay.” Tony said, with a small smile.
Things were healing, one day at a time. They were healing, one day at a time. Together.