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How to save the man who saves himself?
Raiding the frigate had been easier said than done. While the Ten Rings were a known terrorist group, they were also known to be ruthless and not against playing dirty. Finding one of their ships without the whole fleet around and looking like it was having some serious mechanical issue had been a weird kind of surprise, but one they wouldn't let pass by without doing something about it. Couldn't, really.
Steve had been cautious, asking HELEN to scan the stalled ship for any kind of trouble, and that's when the Avengers had really decided to prepare for boarding. The frigate was old, but had new technology everywhere coupled with old components. And that was, maybe, a part of why it was now stopped in the middle of nowhere, apparently unable to restart the engines.
The AI had detected a crew of twenty-three members, most of them armed even if it couldn't tell them exactly what kind of weaponry they had aside from those in the frigate’s cargo. Old blasters it was, then, without any kind of chip to be detected by AIs. Could be a deliberate choice.
The structure was made to be functional and would allow the crew to react quickly at any given situation, access the weaponry and defend the ship. All in all, it wasn't really an interesting ship aside from the possibility to just wipe some cockroaches off the map, and the satisfaction that none of those monsters would go and attack one of the weaker planets nearby. Right until HELEN detected a presence in the cells.
From that moment on, there wasn't much they could have done to keep Steven Grant Rogers from boarding the frigate to free the poor soul held by the Ten Rings. Not that any of them would have tried anyway.
In a few minutes, the Avengers' crew was ready and started boarding. As predicted, they didn't encounter much resistance. The old blasters weren't a tactical choice to avoid being detected by AIs; they were their only means and up against the heavily-armed Avengers, they didn't last long.
Natasha and Bucky had taken the Bridge to clear out as their starting point. It wasn't a fair battle. With the engineering breakdown, there weren’t many people on the bridge and even less around it. Mostly, everyone was in their cabin or trying to help with the repairs. Taken by surprise, it took them a few seconds to understand what was happening and reach for their blasters. Precious seconds that Bucky and Natasha were quick to use to their advantage.
A knife in one hand and a blaster in the other, Bucky made eye contact with his partner and pointed to the port exit door before pointing to himself and showing the one for starboard. She nodded and was gone in the blink of an eye.
Sheathing his knife and putting his small gun aside, he took hold of his rifle, raising it in position and moving forward. The bracelet on his wrist displayed the layout of the base and any hostiles around; HELEN was keeping it updated in real time.
The AI was a damn good tool, useful to a degree Bucky wouldn't have thought possible. At first, it was essentially to keep the ship working without having to recruit more people. People that they couldn’t trust until they’d proven reliable and, if they didn’t, then it was wasted time and perfect opportunities for their attempts to be used against them. They didn’t like taking those risks. With HELEN, they didn't have to take care of the engine or stay on board, eyes riveted to the display of space. HELEN would tell them if anything was of interest.
Near the corner of the screen, the number went from twenty – they had killed three crew members on the deck – to sixteen, and Bucky wondered which one of his crew was responsible. He shot down two more crewmen on his way towards the middle of the ship and was about to burst through a door to take down another one when he heard a loud noise followed by sharp cries.
Clint's voice came first: “Fucker! Thor, get him!”
“I believe I am stuck,” came the reply and, where Bucky would have expected disbelief or even anger, all he heard was wonder and a bit of surprise.
“The prisoner’s on the loose. I repeat, prisoner’s on the loose. He ran toward your part, Nat, maybe Bucky’s,” Clint informed them, voice tight.
Steve kept silent, but Bucky could picture his face pretty well.They didn’t know who was being held captive by the Ten Rings. It could be anything, anyone, any kind of alien, any kind of personality. There was no way to know if this prisoner was with or against them.
An explosion rang throughout the ship, and the number of Ten Rings displayed on the screen at his wrist dropped from fifteen to ten. And then to eight. None of his crewmates had taken any kind of explosive with them; the Avengers weren’t responsible for it.
Footsteps hurried towards Bucky, and labored breathing warned him a precious second before the man came to a skidding halt from the corridor on his left. In the blink of an eye, they were both looking at each other through their blasters, fingers poised on the triggers.
For a handful of seconds, Bucky took in the sight of the man, the worn out shirt showing patches of wan skin. Dried blood mixed with dirt and oil stained both cloth and body, but the most remarkable thing were the man’s eyes. They shone brightly, a cold hard stare that couldn’t entirely cover sharp intelligence or determination.
“We’re not-” Bucky started. The door of the cabin he had been about to enter -before Clint’s cry had distracted him- flew open, revealing a woman heavily armed and distinctly ready to kill. Two beams hit her square in the chest before she could pull the trigger.
“With the Ten Rings, I can see that.” The voice was hoarse as if the man hadn’t used it in a long time, or maybe used it too much and not for good reasons. But the small, slightly smug smile Bucky could hear underneath wasn’t disappointing.
Smirking, Bucky jerked his chin toward the way the man had come. “My captain’s that way.”
The man tensed, barely, but Bucky was trained to see those kind of hints and slightly loosened his grip on his gun. Whoever this was, he was definitely not a Ten Rings’ fan - which was an easy conclusion considering his previous status as prisoner - but it wasn’t enough to be trusted. It certainly didn’t mean he was an ally, that was for sure.
“Are you going to use that piece of shit to shoot me?” Bucky wondered, eyeing the old blaster in the man’s hand.
The stranger bared his teeth in what could have been a smile if it wasn’t for the barely repressed aggressiveness hidden behind it. “I don’t know, you’re going to give me a reason to?”
A sharp smile tugged at the corner of Bucky’s lips. “Not if you don’t,” he drawled out, still smiling. Which seemed to annoy the man.
“So what?” The man questioned, tone waspish.
“So we could work together, find the rest of my crew then go back to our ship. We came in to rescue you,” Bucky explained, his smile turning into a grin. “Even if you made it look like Clint was the one needing to be saved from you.”
It had the merit to actually make the man laugh, a small thing, really, but a nice one. For a split second, Bucky wondered how a full on laugh would sound like and found himself wanting to hear it.
With a curt nod, the man took his finger from the trigger; his hand was steady. Impressive all things considered. Confident in his own capacities and knowing the space between the man’s digit and the trigger would give him enough time to duck, Bucky lowered his gun first. His left hand stayed near the knife sheathed on his thigh.
“Lead the way, handsome,” invited the man, imitating Bucky with a jerky nod toward the corridor.
While the nickname brought the urge to smile, wink and charm the pants off this stranger, the rest of the sentence didn’t quite sit well with Bucky. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of having an armed unknown behind him where the man could shoot him in the back faster than Bucky could dodge.
“Keep your blaster in my sight,” Bucky growled.
“Yes, captain, my captain!” barked the stranger with a sloppy salute, smirk hovering about his mouth.
Maybe it should have helped Bucky relax some and feel a little less like he was exposing his back to some snake, but the wicked intelligence in those eyes kept him from trusting that pleasant facade. He couldn’t let himself forget how that man managed to incapacitate both Thor and Clint while still in his cell. It wasn’t something to take lightly.
Keeping another growl silent, a low rumble in his chest, Bucky led the way, shoulders tense and moving slightly sideways to keep an eye on the man. A glance at the device on his wrist told him there were two adversaries left. It wasn’t much, but one could be enough if Bucky so much as lowered his guard. And even if the man seemed to be nice enough, Bucky couldn’t and wouldn’t think of him as non-threatening. He had seen first hand how well and fast the man could shoot.
Movement on the periphery of his vision made him whirl around, his rifle aimed and ready to shoot. It was Natasha. Of course, it was her. His finger stopped a breath away from the trigger, he could almost feel it under the pad of his index.
Beside him, the man had reacted a second too late and she was on him, a hand on the blaster, keeping it close to the stranger’s chest. Her eyes were looking sharply at his features and a flicker of recognition made Bucky wonder if he’d missed something.
“Easy with this,” she whispered, her eyes searching for something and finding it when she backed down a step, a small smile curving her lips. “I see you finally accepted our help instead of blowing things up in our face.” She quirked an eyebrow, looking more amused than anything.
The man shrugged, eyeing her suspiciously. “Should be more cautious when stepping inside a cell. Never know what’s on the other side.”
“I believe Clint learned his lesson.” Her smile went softer, and she leaned slightly forward. “If you ever hurt him again, there won’t be another cell for you.”
She planted a kiss on his cheek before walking past him, leaving the man frozen where he stood, his arms tightly wound around his blaster like he was holding his teddy-bear for comfort.
“Terrifying,” he breathed out before shuddering visibly and turning toward Bucky. “I don’t want to be on a ship with this woman. I don’t want to die. It defeats the whole point in saving me, right?”
“Right,” laughed Bucky, “but she has a soft spot for Clint and I think she might be upset.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
The man was shaking slightly and, now that Bucky was looking closely at him, it probably wasn’t just because of Natasha. It hadn’t occurred to Bucky. Legs trembling, slight tremble in his shoulders and a shaky walk. The hands and the eyes were the only steady things on the man, grip determined and sure on the gun like he’d been born holding one. He appeared to look at things like he was taking them apart before putting them back together in his mind, taking in everything and anything. Sharp and intelligent. But the man was also exhausted, and there was only so much a human could take before crumbling. Bucky didn’t need it to happen here.
“She won’t kill you,” he said softly.“ If it was what she wanted, you’d be already dead, trust me. Shall we?”
Swallowing thickly, the man nodded tentatively before resuming his walk. And on top of that sharp mind, those wonderful eyes, and the kind of wit that was a challenge in itself, the man had the kind of ass Bucky could spend the rest of his life worshipping.
Steve wasn’t about to let him hear the end of it.
The Avengers’ ship it is, I guess
When the team had finally gathered in the middle of the Ten Rings’ ship, the number of their foes down to zero, the man had refused to come with them and asked to see the shuttles the frigate must have. No matter how small or unfitted to long travel - the nearest planet was a few weeks away - he refused to consider coming with them without trying every other solution.
While acting all smiley and vigorous, the man who introduced himself as “Tony” was rather wary of the Avengers and seemed unable to relax. The tenseness was obvious to any of them, and Steve’s concerned glances every now and then were starting to get on Tony’s nerves.
It took half an hour before they finally abdicated to Tony’s demands - even if it was quite obvious that Steve wasn’t about to let him go without a fight. The trip to the back of the ship was quite fast and, once their goal was reached, the discovery wasn’t to Tony’s liking. The frigate appeared to be devoid of any kind of shuttle, not even the smaller ones. Empty.
The despair was almost palpable, and Bucky had had to fight down the urge to wrap Tony in his arms and whisper small nothings to comfort him. There was nothing to fight, nobody to kill and, aside from producing a shuttle out of thin air, he couldn’t do much to appease Tony.
Except maybe… In two discrete steps, he was closer to Tony, able to brush the back of his own hand against Tony’s bruised skin. It startled Tony enough to pull him out of the rant he had fallen into at the discovery of the empty room. Lifting his head to peer at Bucky, Tony smiled hesitantly at him, his lips quivering slightly at the edges.
Looking him in the eyes, Bucky saw the exact moment the idea struck Tony. Suddenly, the deep brown eyes were sparkling, wide, and full of calculation, the uncertainty washed away by the same sharpness he had found before when they first met. He could almost picture the thoughts running behind them. It was fascinating, really.
Repairing the ship with all the bodies still on board was apparently Tony’s next idea. It was saying something, maybe, that he prefered staying within the ship where he was held captive for an unknown time than going with them. The distrust Tony was showing was probably the only sign, outside from the physical hints, of what had happened to him.
Tony’s shaky, but confident strut came to an abrupt end when he reached the door of the engine room.
Even to his not-entirely-neophyte eyes, Bucky realized pretty quickly what was wrong. Aside from the utter chaos reigning over the place, the scattered pieces and the state of the engine were speaking for themselves.
“I just short-circuited it,” whispered Tony in complete disbelief. “What have they done to it?” The team stayed behind while Tony stepped further into the room, trying very hard not to put his feet - naked now that Bucky was paying attention to it - in the blood on the floor. There weren’t any corpses. They were mostly in the next corridor; the one they took care to avoid.
Tony splayed his hand on the cold surface of the engine, his gaze sweeping over the smooth surface, stopping now and then on the damages done to the mechanism. His face betrayed his despair, and he swallowed back a flicker of fear. “Well… I guess I’ll have to come with you if the offer’s still on the table?”
It was hard, really, not to feel amused when Steve literally brightened, his whole face almost shining with happiness and relief. The smile Tony directed at Steve, though, made Bucky’s insides twist with the beginning of jealousy.
A few days later
“How did you manage to befriend Bruce th-what are you doing?”
Tony whirled at the sound of Bucky’s voice, caught red handed and knowing it if his expression was anything to go by. “Hm… going through the games the AI has in stock for me?”
“Yeah, because I’m totally gonna buy that,” Bucky said dryly.
Tony scrunched his nose up in that lovely way Bucky couldn’t help but think of as adorable. Which was weird. Or just related to that stupid crush Bucky had developed for him. Dammit.
Bringing in the tray with Tony’s food on it, he set it on the nightstand before sitting on the bed where Tony was sitting, cross legged, looking like he wasn’t sure if he should be readying himself to fight or look sheepish.
With a small jerk of his chin toward the place where the holographic screen had hovered a few moments ago, Bucky inquired: “What were you doing? You shouldn’t be able to have access to HELEN’s panels.”
“You’re not mad?” Tony questioned warily.
Bucky should probably be taken away from keeping watch on Tony, because the way the slight surprise made those eyes twinkle was enough of a reason, for him, not to be mad. Even if he had one at first, and a logical one instead of just some butterflies going crazy in his fucking stomach. He was well past the excuse of being a teenager, for fuck’s sake.
“No,” Bucky replied, suppressing a smile when the relief made Tony’s smile just that much softer, relaxed. “Not yet,” he added.
Letting his head fall backward with a longsuffering smile, Tony let out a loud sigh before making a small motion with his hands, bringing back the screens.
“You’re pirates,” he explained. “You’ve cut your link with the data bank where HELEN comes from to avoid being detected or monitored in any kind of way. Smart and useful, but with some consequences. HELEN is fully functional, but it keeps her from getting the last updates or any kind of useful information, really.”
Bucky wasn’t an idiot but this was something he had some trouble understanding. They had cut the connection to Stark Industries when they decided to go under the radar and not answer to any kind of hierarchy. It was a necessity if they wanted to keep their ship and avoid being detected, even more if Stark decided to work with authorities and track them down one way or another. Tony was smart, and they all had known the possibility of Stark managing to crack into their ship’s mainframe, no matter what kind of measures they had taken to keep that from happening. The thing was, they counted on the fact that they weren’t that interesting to push someone to go to that kind of extreme. Even if Clint was kind of offended by the thought, they were one small band of pirates among so many others; they were not important. Not enough to motivate the use of those resources.
That being said, it wasn’t explaining how Tony managed to get HELEN to allow him access to her panels, or how the man had known. A glance to the screen answered one of his questions. He jumped to his feet, ready to bolt. “You’ve established the connection!”
He had to tell Steve, maybe they couldn’t trust the AI anymore. HELEN was useful, but who knew whose side it’d choose if its creator was onto them. Even less if it started allowing strangers access to such a sensitive area of her functioning.
The fingers that curled around Bucky’s hand, the metal one, stopped him short before he made a start for the door.
“Wait.”
The hold around his metal fingers tightened slightly, that much he could feel even if he couldn’t tell if it was strong enough to be painful or if it was barely there. Repressing the urge to run and lock the ship in flight mode, he lowered his eyes and met Tony’s gaze. Maybe a mistake in itself. He shouldn’t be the one taking care of Tony, he was too far gone already.
“You didn’t ask me how I did it. Or why HELEN allowed me to do this.”
And dammit, but that same determination was back, strong and steady, the jaw and eyes looking straight at Bucky.
“It’s a computer, you could have hacked into it some way or another.”
Tony snorted, of all things, and shook his head, a small smirk crooking his lips. “She’s not a computer. She’s an AI, and you’re insulting us. Ask the question, Bucky. Please.”
If it got Tony to keep saying his name, then he would never stop asking questions. In theory, it would take any team some time to come close enough for them to be in real trouble. What was one question followed by an answer?
“Alright, why did HELEN let you do what you did?”
“Because I created her.”
… Maybe one question and one answer were too much, actually. Like… He was almost afraid to ask, to pronounce the words, didn’t know why. It was an important question, something that could change a lot but it was like tearing it out of his throat.
“Tony…” Bucky’s voice was strained, the words sticking. “What’s your last name?”
“Stark.”
The colorful string of curses that left Bucky’s mouth made Tony laugh, even if it was a weak, uncertain one. Torn between hauling Tony through the ship or interrogating him, Bucky paced through the length of the small cabin, growing more and more frustrated.
“What were you doing?” Bucky growled through clenched teeth.
He was sweet on Tony, but he needed to take a step back, needed to know what was happening, why, to what extent. Then, he’d make a decision. Steve was their captain, but Bucky was second-in-command and could take matters into his own hand.
“Downloading the latest updates and scanning the ship to know in what shape she is. Bruce is incredibly smart and, knowing you have that kind of guy with you is proof in itself, but he’s no engineer. And, from what I’ve seen, this ship is in dire need of a check-up.”
Bucky stuttered to a stop, wanting to cross his arms or maybe stick his hands in his pockets; he needed to do something. The shot of adrenaline that had coursed through him was still pumping wildly in his blood, and it was hard to know what was really happening. And like Tony had said, they didn’t have any kind of mechanic/computer-guy, not really. He and Natasha could hold their own when it came to hacking and generally making a mess of any system, but delicate system work?
“HELEN, call Natasha.”
The AI remained silent and Bucky glanced at Tony, gaze beginning to narrow. Tony dared to smile . “Are you going to ask her to kill me?”
“I can do that myself,” Bucky snapped, glowering all the while, arms crossed.
“Right,” conceded Tony slowly. He took a deep breath before instructing HELEN to proceed. With a deep sigh, he curled up on the bed, scooting further until his back hit the wall. He looked small and frail, but Bucky wasn’t about to get drawn in by it.
Tony had managed to short-circuit the Ten Ring’s ship, build a small light bomb that had exploded in Clint’s face, leaving small scratches here and there, and devised a device that acted like a magnet, holding Thor stuck in place against the nearest wall. All while being in his cell, maybe allowed to get out a few times if he was to be trusted, enough to gather what he needed to prepare his small weapons. It was also Tony who had ran through the ship, armed and ready to shoot if necessary, eyes cold steel, finger steady on the trigger. He wasn’t to be underestimated, that was for sure.
A subtle movement at the edge of his vision made his head snap toward Tony, and a small smile curl his lips. “Are you thinking of using the knife you stole from me?”
Tony’s gaze jerked back to Bucky, his eyes wide, before he cooled his expression into a neutral one. Impressive for a civilian. “Of course you knew.”
“Honey, I count my knives and keep track of every weapon I have at all times. Though, you impressed me on this one.”
Leaving the knife he probably hid between his bed and the wall, Tony wiggled his fingers toward Bucky, a crooked smile on his lips. “I have agile fingers.”
Bucky snorted, relaxing slightly but not enough. He couldn’t let himself be fooled, because he liked the guy. He needed to wait for Natasha, but she was taking her sweet time to come...or HELEN was the one messing with it.
“I can see that, yeah. You really thought you could take us over?”
He wasn’t threatening nor mocking, not really, mostly curious and maybe a little bit disbelieving. Tony must have realized it, because the smile that crawled up his lips was sweet in the same way Natasha’s could be.
Tony folded his hands in his lap, back straight and looking Bucky dead in the eyes when he spoke: “I could take over the ship.”
“You could, sure,” agreed Bucky because he was no fool, and maybe Tony would fail but there was a strong chance for him to succeed. “But you could also trust us.”
Tony looked at him, really looked at him, head slightly cocked to the side. “But would you trust me?”
And that was the question, wasn’t it? He didn’t even have to ask why Tony hadn’t told them who he was in the first place. He was someone powerful, and the Avengers were well known pirates, maybe not the bad kind people hated and spat at, but pirates nonetheless. They had attacked their fair share of people, powerful even, but those who had something to feel guilty about.
Anyway, the question remained. Would the crew trust Tony Stark?
“I could,” Bucky finally settled for. “Steve likes you, so does Tasha, for all I know. Thor looks like a puppy each time he tries to tell us how you trapped him. I’ve never seen Bruce smiling that much in such a short amount of time, which is something let me tell you. As for Clint…” Bucky shrugged. “As long as he can have coffee, pizza and his team safe, he doesn’t care.”
“He has shitty taste in coffee,” Tony mused with a frown.
Bucky pressed his lips together to keep from smiling, or worse, laughing. The first time he had brought coffee to Tony, Clint had been the one brewing it and the genius had spat it back in the mug before screaming in outrage.
“Clint has shitty taste, period. Except, maybe, when it comes to his friends,” Bucky added with an after-thought. Then another one hit him and he winced. “Most of the time.”
Tony’s smile was the kind belonging in pictures and stories, the kind Bucky could keep close to his heart. The first one had happened sometime after they’d made it back to the ship, something false and untrusting, speaking of lies and protection. It had taken some jokes and teasing before Tony felt safe enough to give him the real one. A small thing, barely there, but Tony didn’t smile with just his lips, it was a thing that took all of his body, shining in his eyes. Lighting up a room. And taking Bucky’s breath away.
“So, what you’re saying is that I-”
The door hissed open, and Natasha stepped inside, gaze taking in the whole room, swiping over Tony before settling on Bucky.
“Need a hand?” She arched an eyebrow at him, and Bucky had to fight down a growl.
She knew , of course she did, and of course she had to tease him in front of Tony. Not that it was the first time, but maybe it was the first where he realized what was happening. He bared his teeth in a smile but she wasn’t to be fooled and winked at him.
Jerking his head toward the panel still in front of the bed, he grumbled through his clenched teeth: “You were there before the Avengers cut their link with the military, what does it look like for you?”
In the blink of an eye, Natasha’s playfulness had disappeared. In a few strides, she was sitting on the bed, near Tony, turning her back to him without a second thought, trusting Bucky with her life. Her eyes went from one screen to another, moving some pieces from one place to another before a small smile played on her lips. She turned and nudged Tony’s knee.
“Never piss off a Stark, right?”
The flicker of surprise in Tony’s eyes was there and gone, in the blink of an eye. “You knew!”
Bucky’s exasperated grunt was drowned out by Tony’s realization and Natasha’s huffed laugh.
A new beginning
As it turned out, HELEN had identified her creator when she had done the scan of the Ten Rings’ frigate. Cut from the data bank and the AI running Tony’s house and every personal property, she hadn’t known her “father” was missing. Once she had found Tony, though, it was only a matter of time before he was saved. That the crew living inside her had decided to do the saving themselves was a good thing, but not a surprising one, she had confided to Tony.
The “it” that was the AI running the Avengers’ ship became “her” or “she” when the genius had pitched a fit after hearing Clint referring to her as “it”.
To be fair, since Tony’s arrival among them, a lot had happened. A lot had changed for the better. Bucky’s crush had burst into flames and it was only a matter of time before he started yelling his love out through the halls of the ship. Tony was oblivious or acted like he was, and the back and forth between them was as entertaining and funny as it was annoying and despairing.
When they found the courage to ask how Tony had found himself captured by the Ten Rings, the story told to them was revealed to be more disturbing than expected.
Since his arrival and between avoiding sleep and working on the ship to improve it, Tony was in contact with his close friend and assistant, Pepper Potts. Pepper -a smart, determined, wonderful person- had moved heaven and earth to find her friend, but instead had found something else. Obadiah Stane, a father-like figure of Tony’s, was the one who had ordered the abduction. To be more exact, he had ordered Tony’s death. What he hadn’t counted on was the weird kind of “honor” of the Ten Rings, who refused to take down a “prince” for the amount given and here waiting for more money before executing their orders.
Having money and being close to Stark Industries’ CEO may have made it easier for Stane to have access to AIs, but the thing was, once he messed with their creator and they found out, because they always would, there was no place to hide. Let’s be honest, when someone was living in the belly of something that can crush them without thinking twice about it… it was insanity to cross that thing.
Two days after Pepper found out about Obadiah’s double deal, his ship was found with his dead body inside it. No one aboard had any explanation. One day, he was in perfect condition and the next he was dead; it was as if the thermal regulator had gone crazy and heated the cabin to the highest degree. Nothing like that had happened before, but there was nothing in the ship’s log and nobody had experienced anything wrong during that time. A weird thing, really.
Without leaving the Avengers’ ship, Tony changed the direction of his company and named Pepper CEO. To say it wasn’t easy to deal with Tony’s celebrity while being on a pirate ship was an understatement, the kind that lead them to laugh, late at night. With Tony, a new kind of family formed. He was the missing piece they hadn’t known they needed, but they were glad to have found it.
It wasn’t a surprise, more of a relief really, when Tony asked to be part of the team once and for all. A part of the ship was rearranged next to Bruce’s lab to be another kind of laboratory. A workshop, really, even if Tony kept muttering about his state of the art workshop back at home. It was a work in progress, one Tony was more than happy to do if his enthusiasm was anything to go by. And Bucky, happy to help in any kind of way.
“So… what do you think of your new cabin?”
Lying next to Bucky, Tony cocked his head to look up at him. The space outside the window was going as far as the eye could go. It was beautiful, really, but the warm weight next to Bucky was what made it wonderful.
Tony was sprawled across the bed, his head nestled on Bucky’s arm, his eyes wandering from one place to another, unable to settle on something.
It was a common thing for them, Bucky had discovered that Tony wouldn’t sleep on his own, not if he could avoid it. Pepper had confirmed to him that it was a new development, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
He couldn’t count the number of times he’d woken up with Tony thrashing beside him, his fingers digging into his chest where scars were scattered across the skin. Tony wasn’t alone when he was captured, and the ship where he was found wasn’t the one he had been on at the beginning. They had shot Yinsen once he was done saving Tony’s life, using medical tools only he was able to use. Yinsen wasn’t needed once his work was done.
The extent of the wounds was beyond Bucky’s understanding, but Tony’s chest was a mess. His ribs had been broken and jammed back together, lung capacity reduced, and emotional scars much deeper. Tony would joke about it with this self-conscious smile that always had Bucky full with words he couldn’t say, wouldn’t know how to pronounce. Ready to burst with unconditional love, but not knowing how it would be taken.
Bucky lowered his gaze when he felt Tony shifting until he was on his front, staring down at him. He was close, not enough, but just what was needed for the soldier to start thinking about raising on his elbow, tilting Tony’s chin just that much and kissing him.
As if knowing what kind of thoughts were going through Bucky’s mind, Tony smiled at him, the one that had Bucky’s insides tightening and his stomach feeling like some butterflies were living there.
“I like yours better,” Tony murmured, shifting closer, his eyes never leaving Bucky’s. They were intense, shining in the dark, what little light the room held catching in them. They were their own universe, with stars and suns sparkling like there was no tomorrow.
“Yeah?”
Tony’s eyes were searching his, trying to find something.
“Mhm,” he hummed. “Sometimes mine is nice,” he said while leaning closer, crawling up until he was lying on top of Bucky, “when you’re in there too. But I like yours better because you’re everywhere.”
The few butterflies shifted into a thick clouds, spreading to his chest, making his heartbeat go crazy. Tony was a breath away, one hand near Bucky’s head, the other on his jaw, the thumb scratching against Bucky’s beard.
“I love you,” Bucky blurted. When he realized what he said, he could feel his own eyes widening, his heart beating wildly in his chest, trying to escape. “I mean… I-”
Tony cut him, “You do?”
“I-I, well, yeah, of course. I mean. For days. Weeks? Since the beginning?”
Tony’s thumb stopped its journey near Bucky’s lips, and Bucky was very much conscious of its presence, feeling it like a hot brand against his skin. It was burning him.
“When exactly?”
Really, he shouldn’t be surprised by the disbelief in Tony’s voice, nor by the doubt that had settled in those wonderful eyes, but he was. Sadly so.
“When you looked at me through that rifle’s lenses. You were shaking all over, dirty and wounded, hurting, but your finger was steady and you were looking at me with those eyes,” he said while raising his hand, brushing his thumb under Tony’s left eye. “They’re wonderful, they got me instantly. You were looking at me like you could kill me.”
“I could have.”
Tony was steadily looking at him, that same bright determination in his eyes, but it was a softer one. One that appeased the butterflies in his stomach and warmed his heart.
“I know.”
FIN