Work Text:
“Sir, Sergeant Barnes is requesting entrance to the lab.”
It took a moment for what JARVIS told him to sink in. In all the months since Barnes called Steve no one had been able to get him anywhere near medical or the labs.
When Steve had gotten the call the entire team was watching a movie. He’d gone into the kitchen to answer it, ducking popcorn. Once the movie ended they realized Steve never came back. No one thought much of it until Clint found his cell phone and wallet in the kitchen while he was making more popcorn.
Bye the time they had finished arguing over what to do, and Tony had finished hacking into the city’s traffic cams, JARVIS was letting them know that Steve had returned. And that Barnes was with him.
Steve met them in Tony’s lab explain to them what was going on. How the call had been from Bucky, willing to let Steve bring him in, but only if he came alone and left behind anything that could be used to track him.
Before coming to the lab Steve had brought Bucky straight up to his apartment where he stayed the next few weeks. Nothing Steve tried could get Bucky to come out. In the end it was Sam, talking time off from his job at the VA to help, who got Bucky to come out.
Slowly Bucky started to spend more time with the rest of the team. At first he was joining them for dinners, then movies, eventually even joining them for a few game nights though he did stick close to Steve for those, usually just watching them play.
Tony could see how happy Bucky’s progress was making Steve. There were things the he couldn’t help noticing that made him wonder just how well Bucky was really doing. Like the way Bucky could never seem to relax, was always vigilant of his surroundings as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. That he never spoke to them unless he had to, shying away when anyone got too close to him.
Tony also noticed that Bucky was avoiding him especially. Unfortunately asking Steve if he knew why made it worse. Steve didn’t know why, hadn’t realize Bucky was doing it. His attempts to get Bucky to tell him why got him upset enough that he refused to even look at Tony and started avoiding Steve until he stopped pressing for an answer.
Then late one night, in the middle of a three day long inventing binge, Tony had gone down to the kitchen in the common area looking for coffee. Bucky was there fighting with the microwave. It turned out no one had thought to teach him how to use it. While a fresh pot of coffee brewed Tony done just that.
They had stated taking as the leftover Chinese food Bucky had come down for was heating. Tony had poured them both a cup of coffee, Bucky had spit the food into two bowls In the end they spent most of the night talking, working things out.
“Sir?” JARVIS asked, bringing Tony back to the present.
“Let him in.”
By the time Bucky hesitantly comes over to where Tony was working on his latest suit he‘s waiting for him. The soldering iron is off, set to the side. All the blueprints are neatly stacked on a corner. Everything that he had up on his screens has been shut down.
“Decided to let me take a look at the arm Buckaroo?”
Tony hopes Bucky can’t tell how nervous he suddenly is. Or how drawn to him he feels. As much as he hates to admit it, even to himself, Tony is falling for Bucky. Has been since the first time they met.
Doesn’t matter, they both have soul marks. Somewhere out there is Tony’s soul mate. Bucky’s may or may not be alive. Either way everything Tony known, taught by his parents, at school, by society‘s expectations, says they’re not meant to be.
Realizing he’s started to rub what’s left of his mark Tony forces himself to stop. The arc reactor sits where most of it used to be. Now all that’s left is some swirls that may, or may not, react to his soul mate. Not that Tony would let anyone close enough to find out.
“I need your help with this,” Bucky is telling Tony.
“What’s wrong with it?”
The phone is practically brand new. Tony personally built it to be super soldier resistant for Bucky. Could he have broken it already?
“No, the phone is fine… I need help with a game.”
Taking the phone, Tony sees what the game is.
“It ain't funny,” Bucky grumbles making Tony realize he’s laughing.
“Avengers Academy?” he gasped.
“I saw Steve playing it the other day.”
Giving Bucky back his phone, Tony pulls out his own.
“Here,” he offers after bringing up the game. “Take a look at mine.”
Tony watches as Bucky waited for it to finish loading. Knew from the look on his face the moment Bucky saw what level he was at.
“How long have you been playing?”
“For a few weeks.”
“But… you’re only at level four…”
“I may not have played much though. No matter what I do I feel like I’m not getting anywhere.”
“Like they keep wanting you to have your recruits do the same tasks repeatedly?”
“Without getting anywhere?”
“I feel like that’s all I do,” Bucky agrees, giving Tony’s phone back to him before turning as if to go.
“Maybe we can help each other figure it out,” Tony blurts out.
Bucky freezes for a moment that nearly has Tony convinced he’s about to bold before he turns back smiling.
“I’d like that.”
Suddenly Bucky is coming to the lab nearly every day. Most of the time he shows up just after noon with lunch.
They do play Avengers Academy, not that they’re having much luck figuring it out. It’s not long though before they’re spending more time talking than playing. Tony talks to Bucky whatever he’s working on. Even when Bucky has trouble understanding what Tony’s explaining to him he’s asking questions, showing more genuine interest than Tony’s used to. Bucky admits to Tony that Sam convinced him to see a therapist and go to a meeting at the VA for soldiers with severe PTSD. Sometimes they talk about how Bucky is doing, other times Tony just listens.
None of the others, not even Steve, seem to notice though. Tony wonders if Bucky’s told anyone. Tony hasn’t. Well, maybe Pepper. Possibly Rhodey. And he might have mentioned it to Happy. But no one else.
“The blue squares!” Bucky calls as he comes running into the lab.
“Not following cupcake.”
Elbow deep into a suit, Tony doesn’t look away from what he’s working on until Bucky is shoving his phone in Tony’s face. Then looking he sees Avengers Academy and knows what Bucky is talking about.
“In your mission board,” Bucky was explaining. “Everything in a blue square is part of the story. You have to do them to keep the story moving. Moving the story forward is how you gain access to things like people and buildings. Everything in the purple squares is not part of the story. The stuff on the message board will get you stuff you need but will not help you move the story forward.”
“Why didn’t I see that?” Tony asks himself, not realizing he’s said it out loud until Bucky answers.
“Because even Steve is better at this game than you are… and he may have been the one who explained that to me.”
Tony stares at Bucky incredulously.
“Captain Oblivious is better at Avengers Academy than I am?”
“I think you’re stuck,” Bucky laughed.
“You aren’t doing any better than I am.”
Laughing even harder now, Bucky waves at the suit.
“I meant I think your arm is stuck in there.”
“You may be onto something,” Tony admits when he tries to pull out his arm and it won't come.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Hold that thought a minute. JARVIS, I need you to scan where my arm is in the suit to determine why I cannot get it out.”
Waiting for JARVIS to be done, Tony and Bucky go back to talking about Avengers Academy. Bucky was in the common area with Steve when he was explaining the games to him. Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were there, too, and Tony is surprised to learn that it turns out they all play it too.
“They were comparing where they’re at. I could hardly believe that Steve really is better at the game than all of them,” Bucky was saying.
“Sir, I believe I have found the problem. This is the best solution,” JARVIS cut in.
Tony looked at the screen JARVIS had opened for him.
“Looks like this is something I’m going to have to do by my lonesome Bucky Bear. Save me a seat for the movie?” Tony joked.
“I’ll even make a bowl of popcorn with extra butter.”
“You know m-,” Tony started to say but stopped short when he turned and realized Bucky was gone.
When Tony made it down there were only two seat left, the other half of the loveseat Bucky was on and an armchair. Steve tried to sit next to Bucky while Tony was getting a beer and Bucky stopped him. Saying something that Tony was too far away to hear Steve went over to the chair.
Steve acted like this was normal, smiling at Tony when he came over, sitting next to Bucky. He shoved a bowl of popcorn in Tony’s lap, grabbing a handful before turning back to where the previews were starting to play. The same could not be said for the others though. They were loudly whispering to each other.
“Either everyone stops talking before the movie starts or I will have JARVIS turn it off. Then we can spend the rest of the night doing team training. On the roof, in the rain,” Steve threatened to get them to stop.
Tony was tempted to start whispering to Bucky just to find out if Steve would go through with it. Then decided not to risk it, worried one of the others might get mad enough to toss him off the roof if Steve did.
Little by little after that Bucky started to spend more time with Tony outside the lab. Thankfully the others seemed to get over it fairly quickly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Captain Ravager,” Bucky answered, turning his phone so that Tony could just see Captain America dressed as a Ravager walking around the Avengers Academy campus.
Tony leaned closer to Bucky on the love-seat. Then Bucky zoomed in on Cap. Tony nearly fell in Bucky’s lap he was laughing so hard.
“The mohawk,” he gasped.
Suddenly they both heard something going on over by the kitchen. From where they were sitting most of the common area was out of view. Tony could just hear Steve’s excited voice.
“Can you hear what’s going on?”
“Ste-,” Bucky started to say before Steve was suddenly there, dropping down between Bucky and Tony. They tried to make what room they could for him, but it was a tight fit.
Steve grabbed the phone out of Bucky’s hand, tossing it aside, wrapped Bucky in a hug.
“What the hell punk?”
“I have a soul mate.”
“Everybody has one,” Bucky groaned, pushing Steve away in annoyance.
“Did you meet your soul mate?” Tony wanted to know.
“Not exactly.”
“Oh.”
“Sam’s my soul mate.”
“Wilson?”
“When we first me I wondered if we might be soul mates. At least until I was at the VA a few days late and he started telling me about Riley. The way Sam talked about him convinced me that he had been Sam’s soul mate.”
“How did you find out he’s your soulmate?” Bucky asked.
“Sam’s mother. She’s here visiting him, they haven’t seen each other since before he moved here a couple months ago. I treated them to lunch at my favorite diner. She brought up soul mates, practically told me that Sam thinks I might be his.”
“Very subtle.”
“I think she was worried that Sam would never say anything to me.”
“I’m… happy for you,” Tony forced himself to say when Bucky just sat staring in silence.
Steve didn’t need to know how jealous Tony was. Or how, for just a moment, he wondered if maybe Bucky could be his soul mate.
“Thanks,” Steve smiled at Tony before turning to Bucky and asking, “Do you realize what this means?”
“It’s not too late for you to find your soul mate,” Steve happily proclaimed without waiting for Bucky to answer.
Glaring at Steve, Bucky grabbed his phone and left. Acting unfazed Steve turned to Tony instead.
Bucky and Steve were acting strange whenever Tony was around after that. Tony thought it was because of him. Then he overheard Steve badgering Bucky about trying to find his soul mate. When they started acting normal again, or as normal as two ninety something year olds who are biologically in their thirties ever act, Tony assumes Steve must have stopped.
Steve told me they’re playing black and white horror movies for Halloween at that old theater you all went to once. Thought maybe you’d want to go?”
Certain he must have heard Buck wrong, Tony isn’t sure what to say. Bucky was keeping him company while he signed paperwork Pepper had brought to the lab for him to sign.
“With you and Steve?” Tony asks, turning to Bucky, paperwork forgotten.
Bucky frowns at him.
“I was thinking just us… on a date.”
“What about finding your soulmate?”
“Please tell me you’re not going to start with that, too,” Bucky started ranting. “Steve still refuses stop trying to convince me to try to find my soul mate. What if I don’t want to find my soul mate. What if I don’t care who my soulmate is?”
“Everyone cares who their soul mate is,” Tony argued when Bucky paused to catch his breath.
“Even you?”
“Even me.”
“What about what we have?”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Tony lied.
“I don’t want to try to find out if my soul mate is still out there waiting for me. I want to be with you. Unless you‘re my soul mate I don’t care who my soulmate is.”
“No, Steve’s right you should try to find your soulmate.”
“What if you’re my soul mate.”
“I’m not.”
“You know who your soulmate is?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t know that.”
Tony pulled his shirt off so that Bucky could see what was left of his soul mark.
“Some doctors feel that most likely when nearly all of my mark was removed while making room for the arc reactor the link, connection, whatever you want to call it, was broken. Others think it just won't react to my soul mate even if the link is there because too much is missing. And those are just the most popular theories. There is one thing all of them seem to agree on, my soul mate would be affected somehow by what happened.”
“I could have been in cryo when that happened to you.”
“According to the files Natasha got for Steve you weren’t.”
“I can’t remember much from that time.”
“We’re not soul mates.”
“Tony-”
“Drop it,” Tony cut him off.
“We need to talk about this,” Bucky insisted.
Tony yanked his shirt back on. Then he turned back to the paperwork, ignoring Bucky until he gave up and left.
Nothing is the same after that, even after Tony pulls Bucky aside one night to apologize, try to make it right. Bucky stops coming to the lab. Avoids him as much as he can.
Slowly things between them start to improve. Tony considers it an accomplishment when Bucky starts seeking him out again whenever any of the team gets together in the common area. Tony’s disappointed that Bucky still avoids the labs, he misses him more than he’s willing to admit. Not wanting to push his luck he decides not to risk saying anything.
“Bucky had therapy this morning. It was a rough session.”
After weeks of schedules preventing the whole team spending time together everyone is having a late lunch on the couches. Tony is sitting on the love-seat he and Bucky often share. At Steve’s announcement he starts to grab his stuff to move, worried that Bucky will need space.
Bucky catches Tony off guard when he drops down next to him shoving Tony’s things aside as he snuggles up to him. Tony can feel the others shocked stares.
Steve clears his throat breaking the tension. As the others go back to whatever they were doing Steve goes over to crouch in front of Bucky. Gently placing a hand on Bucky’s leg he gets his attention.
“Maybe we should go up to our apartment,” Steve whispers just loud enough for them to hear.
Feeling Bucky’s body go rigid Tony thinks he just realized what he’s doing.
“Bucky?”
Bucky looks hopelessly from Steve to Tony before pulling away from the later. Before either can react he’s gotten up, nearly running out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” Steve sighs.
“I’ll talk to him,” Tony finds himself saying, heading to do just that.
When he finds Bucky he’s in his kitchen fighting with the coffee maker.
“Let me help,” Tony offers.
“I don‘t want your help, I can do it myself.”
Coming to stand next to Bucky, Tony tries to reach around him to help anyways.
“Leave it alone Tony.”
“No, you’re doing it wrong.”
When Tony tries to reach around Bucky again he shoves Tony away, hand half on the arc reactor. There’s a jolt of pain, then a dull ache that starts around the reactor and spreads outward, though not very far. Tony stumbles, nearly falling over.
“Shit, I’m sorry Tony. Are you alright?”
“Just need a minute,” Tony says, rubbing where it aches.
“I think Bruce should take a look at you. Or better yet we‘ll go down to medical to have someone there do it.”
Tony throws caution to the wind, reaching out, laying his hand over where Bucky’s mark is. When Bucky jerks before grabbing Tony’s wrist he knows what it means. Bucky was right, they are soul mates.
“I thought you had to touch skin,” Bucky says when he catches his breath.
“Not if the connection is strong enough.”
“Breakfast is ready,” Steve suddenly says as he walks in making Tony and Bucky jump. “Sorry, thought you heard me.”
“Let’s go eat,” Bucky laughs.
In the elevator he takes Tony by the hand, not letting go until they‘re sitting down to eat.
“Awww, Stevie, are you worried we were about to start fonduing?” Bucky asks.
The others are exchanging confused looks. Tony starts laughing so hard his sides hurt.
“You know,” Steve groans.
“It was my favorite story growing up.