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Chapter Text

Prologue

In retrospect Peter knew that it wasn’t a good idea to go to war. In fact, everyone he knew begged him not to go saying that it would most definitely mean death. Peter had to find out the hard way that there are fates worse than death. He went because they needed the money; his Aunt May and he were barley scraping by as is and they were still affected by the depression years earlier.

His aunt didn’t deserve to live in a rundown shitty apartment and to go hungry because Peter knew that she would skip all her meals if it meant that he could eat. Even if they could only afford to have a singular meal a day. He lived his whole life in the economic collapse, but he would do anything to make sure that his Aunt lived a better life. Especially after all that they had been through with Uncle Ben.

Pearl Harbor happened and Peter was 12 and there had been nothing that he could do. Everyone was gearing up for a fight that Peter couldn’t be apart of because not only was he to young but he was often sickly.

In September of 1942 after Perter had just turned 14 they announced that they would take boys that were 16 years or older provided that they had parental consent. Peter had known that this was going to be his only opportunity to enlist even if he had to fib a little on the enlist form. You see it had been common knowledge that an enlisted man could make 50 whole dollars a month for joining up. That could do wonders for May, she could afford to actually have regular meals! And with him gone then that would be one less thing for her to worry about as well.

So Peter had gone down to the registers office and filled out his paperwork lying about his age and forging his Aunts signature. In truth it wasn’t all that hard, the hard part came next when he had to have a physical exam. Peter knew that he would be home free if he could just pretend to be a normal healthy 16-year-old in front of the physician.

He must have been pretty convincing or they were in desperate need of boys on the front lines. Peter likes to pretend that it was both, but if he hadn’t been such a good liar then maybe things wouldn’t have ended up the way they did and he would still be at home with his Aunt.

Peter remembers so clearly when he told his Aunt that he was going to war and she was less than thrilled.

“You will die Peter; do you understand that?! Then I will have no one left and I will be all alone!” she had screamed at him. Peter wasn’t going to lie and say that hadn’t of stung because it hit to close to home. He then said something to her that he regrets even now.

“That’s not true May you still have family out there, I have had to watch every single parent figure die and you are all I have left. I am not going to sit here and watch you wither away to noting because you are giving up everything for me. If can make things a fraction of a bit better for you then I will” he had said sourly.

“Peter I…” she said to him, “I’m not going to pretend to not understand how you feel because I do sweetheart. But going to war isn’t the only answer, I am sure that there is something that you can do that is here. Besides you are too young to go to war.”

“May it’s not just about the money. I can’t just sit here and do nothing when all those good men out there are dying. Not after Uncle Ben.”

May had started to sob and had pulled him in close to give him a hug and Peter even shed some tears of his own. He is glad now that he had held his Aunt close taking in all the comfort that he could while he still had it.

Peter had told his best friend Harry next and it didn’t go as well as he had hope it would. Harry never had understood Peters struggles; you see Harry was really well off. His dad owned the Osborn company which dealt in technologies. The company does really well second only to Stark Industries that manufactures most if not all the weapons and tech for the Allied forces.

Harry and Peter had become friends because they went to school together; whatever Peter lacked in physical strengthen he more than make up for it in knowledge. He was first in his class and only slightly behind him was Harry.

Basically when Peter told him that he was going to war, and had lied on the enlistment forms just so that he could get in, Harry was enraged. He told Peter that he would be killed immediately and that he wasn’t nearly old enough. He even went as far to tell Peter that if he decided to go through with it he would call the Military Police and tell them the truth about Peter.

He begged and begged Harry to be on his side, he told him that his Aunt really needed the money. There was no life left for him here if his Aunt died because he couldn’t help her.

“Beside Harry,” he had said, “There are men laying down their lives, I got no right to do any less than them.”

“Why can’t you work in a factory? There are so many important jobs Pete,” Harry told him exasperated.

“You want me to pick up scraps in my little red wagon, come on Harry. I have got to do this, not just for my Aunt but for the people out there who are dying to stop the tyranny in Europe!” Peter had shot back.

“Can’t I just give you and your Aunt a little loan? I don’t want to lose you Peter,” Harry had asked as a last attempt to get him to stay. Peter just shook his head and patted Harry on the shoulder.

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Before he knew it Peter started his basic training and it was he own personal hell every single day. He would think about everything that Aunt May and Harry had said and he wondered if they had been right all along.

He was the slowest most of this time when his squad would run because his asthma would act up. He was so scrawny that he could barely keep up when they did push-ups and sit-ups or anything really physical. Honestly Peter wondered why they hadn’t kicked him out.

Peter remembers one night after a 5 mile run with his squad followed by a barbed wire crawl, he and his training squad had had been given some down time. It was a blessing and a curse for Peter, because he got to bathe but he had to be careful of all the other men around.

Being his young self he was routinely the punching bag or the one to be picked on. Especially when it was his fault that they had to do extra work because he couldn’t keep up. This particular night Peter remembers that a couple guys from his squad must have gotten fed up with him making the do extra work because they had cornered him in the showers.

Peter knows now that he should have seen it coming, he knows now that men will do brutal things when pushed to their limits. They grabbed Peter’s arms and as much as Peter tried to struggle he couldn’t get free. The men had repeatedly punched him in the gut. Peter remembered not being able to breathe through the pain exploding in and around his gut.

There had been one swift punch to his face when it all stopped. Peter felt his body give out as he fell onto his knees.

“What the fuck do you punks think you’re doing huh!?” a loud voice had broken through to Peter. Someone had tossed a towel at him to shield his nakedness, he wrapped it around his body thankful that someone came in to stop the beating.

“Sargent Barnes sir…” the man never really got to finished his sentence because the office was barking orders at them. One line stuck out in Peters head even now.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size huh,” then he physically kicked the men out of the stalls.

“You know kid, I literally said the same thing to a friend of mine a couple months ago. What’s your name son?” Peter got to his feet and with one hand holding his towel and with the other he saluted the officer.

“Private Frist Class Peter Parker Sir,” Peter said.

“Nice to meet you Parker, I am Sargent Barnes. But most people round here call be Bucky. Come on let’s get you clean up kid,” Bucky had told him.

Even though he got the crap beat out of him, he was glad that it had lead him to his new friend. Bucky was about to save his skin multiple times. He would have gladly taken the beating if it meant that he got Bucky on his side.

That was how little Private Frist Class Peter Parker found himself in a new squad, the 107th, under direct command of Sargent James Buchanan Barnes shipping out to Italy at 15 years old in September 1943.

Chapter Text

“Hey Kid, whatcha reading? You’re not gonna join the other guys in the in the mess hall for the movie?” A large hand is placed on top of Peter’s head. He shakes his head and bounces the manual he had barrowed up and down on his leg.

“I’m, um, reading the user manual for the C- 47 Skytrain,” he picks up the reading material and shows it off to Bucky who is looking at him with a knowing grin.

“You understand that stuff?” he asks Peter who nods glancing back at the manual.

“Well ain’t you a regular ol’ mini Stark,” Bucky takes a seat next to him.

“I wish! Howard Stark is a genius, I could only wish to be that smart someday,” Peter tells him.

“Don’t sell yourself short kid okay, you’re probably smarter than all us in Wolf Company,” Bucky nocks his shoulders against Peter and grins.

There is an awkward moment of silence, Bucky stares ahead looking at the rows and rows of empty bunks. All the other men in the Wolf Company are on standby waiting the orders to make the jump into enemy territory. There had been a sudden shift in weather making it impossible for any sort of landing by sea or air.

Wolf Company of the 107th regiment is working closely with the airborne platoons in order to get a successful drop into the southern half of France in order to push into Nazi occupied Italy.

“Nervous?” Bucky asks in a low voice. It is the unspoken rule of being a solider, don’t ask don’t tell about the fear that you may feel, suck it up and keep going.

Peter shrugs and fiddles with the dog eared pages of the manual that still rest on his knees. He feels a hand rest softly on his shoulder, letting Peter know that he isn’t the only one who fears the impending jump.

“Bucky can you tell me about your home? I know we lived pretty close but I’d like to hear about what life was like in Brooklyn again.” Peter asks after a moment.

“Sure thing kid,” Bucky kicked his legs out so that he could lay out on Peters bunk while Peter himself scoots so that he was sitting cross legged on the end of the bed, “What do you want to know about?”

“Well… who was your family, your friends, what did you like to do on the weekends?” Peter asked.

“I had a Ma, she was amazing, she smelt like fresh air and flowers. Every Sunday after church got out she would take my best buddy Steve, my sister Becca, and me out for these little pastries on 2nd street. I can still taste the flaky sweetness of them.”

Peter always loved when Bucky would tell stories about his home life, it always made him feel less frightened or anxious about what was to come. Bucky first started to tell Peter stories about his life right after they had met. After Peter had gotten cornered in the showers and beaten so bad that he had bruises for weeks. Bucky had told Peter about his friend Steve who would always get into fights and Bucky would have to patch him up. That Peter reminded him a lot of his childhood friend.

“We never had much me and my family but Ma always made sure to splurge a little on those pastries. It always lifted our spirts and Steve would never eat all of his; I am positive it was because he wanted to take the other half home to his Ma. They were both sick a lot, she had passed right before the war broke out.”

“So did my uncle,” Peter tells him in a small voice picking at frayed string on his bunk blanket.

“I’m sorry to hear that kid, wanna talk bout it?” Bucky asked. Peter shook his head and looked away. They shared another awkward silence, reminiscing about the ones that they lost. Bucky was the one to finally break the quiet that they had shared.

“Let’s go see if that picture they’re planning is any good,” he told Peter swinging his feet off the bed and onto the floor jumping up. Peter reluctantly fallowed Bucky out of the barracks and into the cool evening.

They had been in England for a couple of weeks now and Peter was just about used to the unpredictable weather patterns that seemed to happen more often than not. Sometimes it was really hot and muggy then three hours later it could be pouring down rain. It’s why they were stuck on the ground right now; because there is a big storm front that moved its way inland. They didn’t want to be caught in it while jumping into enemy territory with no bearings whatsoever.

They reached the mess hall where some of the other commanding officers of Wolf Company had set up a movie for the men to watch to keep their minds off the impending jump they were going to make the fallowing evening.

“Hey well look what the cat dragged in! Short-stack and Sour-puss!”, someone called out earning him a slew of verbal insults and hushes from the audience.

“Don’t you know how to keep your mouth shut Private Neal, people are trying to watch a movie,” Bucky said jokingly to the man as he and Peter took seats next to the man.

“Yeah Neal, sides nobody want to smell your foul breath,” Peter teased him.

Neal was another guy in the 107th part of Wolf Company, he was a good guy that liked to joke around and generally brought a lot of laughs in a time when there weren’t any. He and Peter got along well just like the other men in the company.

“That’s not what your dame was saying last night Parker,” Neal waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh really? You were with her then, that’s good she needs some new girlfriends,” Peter shot back and both Neal and Bucky cracked up laughing.

“Will you punks shut your yappers! I’m tryin to watch the movie!” some guy yelled back at them.

“Now there’s a fella who could use a dame,” Neal muttered. Bucky and Peter busted out laughing again.

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“Alright Gent! Listen up! Right now we are two hours out from those planes taking off and landing us right in the middle of hell! Everyone needs to grab their supplies and pack it up, got it? Even if you don’t think you’ll need it, pack it up, we don’t know what the area we are dropping into is going to be like, but be prepared to fight like hell!” Captain Davis shouts out to all the men gathered onto the tarmac.

Peter has all of his stuff laid out onto the tarmac just like the rest of the men around him. He has no idea how he is going to be able to carry everything and apparently he isn’t the only one as he hears other men around him complaining that all the equipment weighs more than they do. Regardless Peter packs all of his stuff into his bag, his pockets, his boots, hell he even tapped thing to his legs.

Neal wanders over and helps Peter get all of his equipment and essentials strapped tightly to his person, he also helps him attach his parachute and his reserve parachute. It’s so much weight that Peter feels like he might topple over any minute. Peter then helps Neal get all of his equipment squared away including both chutes.

“He kid,” Peter hears Bucky call out to him, he’s all ready to go and is carrying some sort of jar that looks like it has a green black tar inside of it. Bucky walks up to him and takes some of the inky looking stuff and spreads it all over Peters face.

“There, that’ll help camouflage you when we drop from the sky tonight,” Bucky then spreads some onto his own face and Neal takes some as well.

“Thank you sir,” Peter whispers to him.

The three of them walk over to where 2nd platoon Wolf Company 107th are stationed to meet before boarding the plane. All the men sit in two straight lines clutching their bags in front of themselves.

No one says anything, Peter assumes its because they are all inside their own heads like he is at this moment. They sit and wait for the order to get onto the plane, they wait for that plane to drop them into a hell fire that many of them probably will not survive.

Peter is afraid of dying but what he is more afraid of is what will happen to his Aunt when he does. She will never forgive him for making this decision even if he still thinks it was the right one. Peter isn’t afraid of losing himself to this war, he’s afraid of losing everyone that he has ever loved.

“Okay Privates! Don’t forget to sign your G.I. life insurance, don’t let your families miss out on 10,000 dollars’ boys. Go see Sargent Jamerson if you haven’t filled it out yet!” A voice says braking through some of Peters mental chatter.

Peter made sure to sign that life insurance already; that way if he died at least he knew without a doubt that Aunt May would be fine, at least financially.

Lieutenant Winters had walked over to the platoon then, looking over some last minute forms before addressing us. A couple of guys walk down the rows of men handing out something.

“Orders state that each man must take one of these air sickness pills. One right now and one 30 minutes into the flight. Got it?” one of the officers who were passing out the pills said. There were a chorus of murmured yes and yeahs among the guys.

“Second Platoon listen up,” Lieutenant Winters said stuffing whatever paper work he had into one of his pockets, “Good Luck.”

“God Bless you. I’ll see you on the other side.” Winters finished by helping the first man up in line and looking him in the eyes.

He did this with all of the men almost like he was reassuring them that he would be right there with them. They were all in this together come hell or high water. When he got to Peter he gave him a small grin and a pat on Peters helmeted head. Oddly enough that small gesture made Peter feel a little bit better as he boards the C-47 Skytrain.

Peter made his way to his seat on the plane, crammed in between Neal and another guy in 2nd platoon that he wasn’t too familiar with. Bucky sat right across to him, no one said anything just climbing into the plane then taking their seats.

Some men passed around cigarettes, others tried to check their equipment to make sure that they had everything in place. But most men stared blankly at nothing each having a glazed expression on their faces as if what they were about to do was finally hitting them in full force. Peter started to panic then, terrified of what was going to come. He was sure that his face looked exactly like the other men around him, wide eye and terrified.

“Hey.”

Peter looks up to see Bucky staring at him and Peter knows he can see the look of pure terror on his face. Unable to look at him any longer Peter turns away.

“I got you back kid, okay.” Bucky tells him and Peter nods still terrified but feeling better, if only slightly.

“Yeah no worries short-stack we got you,” Neal says putting his arm around Peter which draws a smile from him. Looking back at Bucky he can see the seriousness in the words that Bucky spoke. Peter puts his hand out for Bucky to take, Peter shakes it and makes a promise.

“I got your back to Bucky,” he says.

Just then Peter feels the plane start to rumble underneath his feet as it takes off down the runway. It is strangely soothing as the plane rumbles to life then hurtles into the sky. He pulls on his straps to make sure that they are secure before leaning back into his seat with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. He knows that this might be the last time in a while in which he can rest easy for a couple of minutes. Peters knows that they most likely won’t come in contact with the enemy before they reach France.

It feels like only a few moments that have passed since he closed his eyes when he feels the plane shutter. Peters eyes snap open meeting Bucky’s across the plane; he’s scared, is the first thing that comes to mind when Peter sees him.

BOOM

The plane shutters again but this time they take a nose dive fallowed by an upturn of the plane as the pilots try to avoid the shooting of the enemy forces on the beach. The red light up at the top of the plane lights up signaling that it’s time to get ready to jump.

Lieutenant Winters jumps to attention he motions for us not to panic.

“Stand up,” he says using is hand to motion us up.

“Hooks on!” he shouts over the bombings from the outside of the plane.

“Equipment check!” every man checks that they have all of their stuff and that everything that needs to be hooked is.

“Sound off!”

“10 ready,” someone from the back of the plane yells.

“9 ready!”

“8 ready!”

It went on like until Peter felt Bucky thump his back and call out, “Four ready!” Then Peter yelled his number, thumping the guy in front of him. Finally, the Lieutenant shouted, “One Ready!”

Now it was just a waiting game until the pilots hit the go ahead and the button turns green. Then they would jump out of the plane into the abyss that was bombs and bullets. Peter could just barely see the darkness that was the outside of the plane.

It reminded him of the 4th of July with the explosions happening all around them. It was so loud it hurt his ears and he no longer thought of the rumbling plane as soothing; now it was making him sick with dread.

There was a high pitch whine then all of a sudden the right side of the plane, where Peter knew the part of the engines were housed, exploded. Fire licked the sides of the plane, Peter knew that if they didn’t jump now they were done for; because, the side of the plane wouldn’t be the only thing on fire soon.

“They gotta let us go!” someone yelled.

“Does that light look green to you!” Winters yelled.

The door light suddenly turned green and the lieutenant yells out, ‘Go, Go, Go’, then jumped out of the door into the night sky. One by one everyone fallowed the lieutenant out of the door. Peter gets to the door and for a split second thinks he’s not going to be able to do this. But then he’s out the door and his chute is pulled.

All around him is explosions of light and noise that make crescendos in his ears. He hoping and praying to God that he’s not going to get hit by anything on his way down. Peter looks wildly around for any sign of Bucky or even Neal but he doesn’t see anything.

Just as fast as he jumped out of the plane he is landing hard on the ground. Like he was taught in basic training he gathers up all of his stuff and chute then wraps it in a ball. He then pulls off his reserve parachute and his life preserver.

Peter is getting ready to make a run for it to find anyone he might recognize when he hears something in the distance.

“Pete! Peter!” someone is whisper shouting. Its Bucky, Peter can tell right away; Peter looks around to see if he can see his friend.

“Buc…,” Peter doesn’t finish because suddenly debris is dropping from the sky right where he’s standing. Peter manages to dodge most of it, but he isn’t so lucky when a pieces of whatever machinery drops and hits his helmet. Peters knees drop onto the muddy grass and his vision is blurry.

“Peter!” Bucky shouts.

Chapter Text

Peter felt dizzy and a little nauseated but otherwise he felt okay. Someone was screaming his name and that made his head throb in agony. He tries to struggle to his feet but it’s hard to get a bearing on the world around him with the dizziness.

“We have to go Parker!” someone shouts. Peter is yanked off the ground by the collar of his shirt and dragged forward, his feet just barley holding him up.

They are running, Peter being half dragged, when he is gently tossed against a tree with dense shrubbery surrounding them. Peter groans and rubs his hands over his face trying to lift whatever fog has settled in his brain.

“Pete, Peter buddy. How you holding up?” the guy in front of him says. He comes into Peter’s field of vision and with the moonlight casting a glow on them he can finally make the guy out.

“I’m fine Bucky. My head is just a little foggy is all,” he says readjusting his helmet slightly.

“Okay, how many fingers am I holding up,” Bucky holds his hand out to Peter wiggling three fingers.

“Three,” Peter says confidently.

“Great. You’ll be fine until we get to the rendezvous point. Think you be okay until then?” Bucky askes.

Peter nods but before he can say anything else they hear a round of heavy gun fire close to their position. They stop breathing and Peter covers his head then curls up to protect himself. When it stops he looks to Bucky to see if he has any sort of plan but Bucky is staring at something that is over his head.

He snaps his eyes back to Peter, “Kid we can’t stay here otherwise we will be sitting ducks. We need to move South East to meet up with strike team one, they had an assault team sent in earlier that way we would have a central base before we moved against the Italian territories.”

“What about the other guys in Wolf Company? Do you think they are okay?” Peter askes. Bucky shakes his head.

In a small voice he says, “I don’t know kid. We took a pretty heavy hit just trying to jump in. There is no telling how many men we lost.”

A minute passes as Peter reflects on all the men that potentially didn’t survive the jump, hoping and praying that Neal isn’t among those who died. Peter is glad that when he jumped Bucky wasn’t too far behind him. Now they just had to survive the trek to base camp and take it one day at a time from there.

“Do you have your compass? Mines busted from landing,” Bucky pulls a map and a flashlight out from his bag, “Give me your rain jacket also.”

Peter hands the things over to the man and waits while Bucky slings the jacket over his head. He uses the jacket to block out any light that may come out of the flashlight. This way he can check the map and the compass to see where they needed to head in order to meet up with the rest of their platoon.

Turning off the light and pulling the jacket off his head Bucky stuffs the map back into his bag, “I saw a road sign right before I saw you so we are about 7 kilometers out from the base camp. We better get started.”

Nodding Peter gets into a low crouch pulling his rifle close to his chest, “Right which way are we heading?”

“That way,” Bucky says pointing straight ahead of them.

They make their way in a low shuffle with Peter fallowing closely behind Bucky. As much as Peter hated to run while in basic training, with how hard it was for him to breath afterward, Peter was really glad for it now.

About half an hour into their 4-mile hike through the dense forest Bucky abruptly stops causing Peter to bump right into him. He makes a soft umph as he collides with Bucky’s shoulder, his friend has his arm up in the air with his hand closed signaling that they needed to halt.

Bucky drops to one knee and Peter fallows by dropping to both. He slides up to Bucky to that he is cross covering him should they need to fire. They wait for whatever it was that Bucky heard making them drop into the defensive rifle position.

Then Bucky moves his hand using the signal that he wants Peter to move off to the side. Peter gets up and shuffles as silently as he can into the bushes that encase the area they had been walking. Then he resumes his low position on the ground so that he has a better advantage if someone were to come their way.

Bucky pulls something out of his back pocket, Peter recognizes it as one of their signaling devices. When the users pressed the metal on the little plastic device it makes a sharp squeak. If you didn’t know any better, it would just sound like a cricket. But to the US army it allowed others to know that you were on the same side.

Peter waits to hear the sound of the crickets from the brush opposite Bucky, when he does he breaths a deep sigh of relief.

“Hello? Who’s out there?” someone off in the distance askes. Then Peter could hear footsteps that sounded like they were moving closer to their position. Bucky stands but he doesn’t give Peter the go ahead to move from his position so he stayed put.

The figure emerged from the shadows and Peter feels even more relived, “Sargent Barnes, boy is it good to see you,” Lieutenant Winters says.

“You too sir,” they shake hands and Bucky waved Peter out of his hiding place.

“Private Parker, I am glad that you are all in one piece but you’re looking worse for wear if I do say so,” the Lieutenant says.

“Piece of plane smack him right on the helmet sir. Lucky the punk wasn’t more severally injured,” Bucky says giving Peter the side eye.

Peter huffs indignantly, “What? Wasn’t like it was my fault that planes were falling from the sky!”

Winters gives him a small grin and says, “Right, well fall in. There are some guys back a ways waiting to see the what’s the hold. We’ve got to get going if we are going to make it to the rendezvous. It’s gonna to be a long walk back fellas.”

“Yes sir,” Peter says walking passed the Lieutenant and Bucky. They hang back most likely so Bucky could give him an information on the surrounding area. Just before he is out of hearing range Peter heard the Winters say to Bucky, “Glad your kid survived Barnes.”

“Yeah me to sir. Someone’s gotta look out for the little guy. He’s too young to die in this war Lieutenant.”

Peter just about stops walking to turn around and say something, but instead he keeps moving a tired grin on his face. Some things just don’t need acknowledgment, but Peter can take comfort that even though he is thousands of miles from home he has someone that is looking out for him.

“Hey short-stack. Glad to see you survived the jump!” A thin pale face with short red hair plastered to a forehead comes into Peters view.

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you to Neal,” Peter says smiling and reaching his hand out for Neal to shake but is pushed away by said man. Peter is enveloped into a hug; he hugs the man back happy to see his friend.

“Okay guys come on break it up. We got a long walk ahead of us, get into formation,” Winters says stepping through the brush that Peter had just come through. Bucky walks over to Neal and him shaking Neal’s hand and falling into the ranks. The rest of the men climb out of the shrubbery to join them.

“Good to see you to sour-puss,” Neal says. Bucky grins and nods letting him know he feels the same way.

They walked for hours, until the sun broke over the horizon. Peter feels dead on his feet hoping they were at least somewhat close to the rendezvous point. All the men marched forward and very rarely would anyone say anything; everyone was too caught up in their own heads to make much conversation.

Bucky marched next to him with his rifle warped securely around the middle of his body just like Peter had his. As the morning light was breaking in the sky they came across what looked to be a farm house. The house itself was blown to bit and only a structural skeleton remained. There were a couple of cows that roamed around the clearing and a couple more that laid dead near the house itself.

What caught Peters attention however was a man that was strung up in a tree, he had on a US military uniform. His body was tangled in the strings of his parachute, when he jumped he must have gotten stuck in the tree and then strangled. Taking a better look around Peter could see that there were more bodies of dead soldiers that littered the farm house. The enemy must have become aware of these men and slaughtered them were they stood.

Peters breathing started to pick up, he could have just as easily been one of these men. Not given a fighting chase to survive the war but mowed down then left forgotten.

“Don’t look. Keep your head down,” Bucky’s voice broke through to Peter. A hand was placed on the back of Peters neck keeping his eyes directly on the ground and away from the dead men.

“Sargent Barnes front and center!” Winters calls from the front of the pack. Giving Peters neck a quick squeeze Bucky trotted up to meet with the Lieutenant. Peter just hugged his rifle to his chest and stared at his boots.

“Here Pete,” Neal says handing Peter a brown packaged object. Peter takes it and opens it to find chocolate. Peter eyes meet Neal’s questioning why he was giving away his chocolate ration.

“Chocolate helps fight shock, or at least it does according to my Nan. I know it must be shocking to see someone who has died. I’m sure that most guys here are thinking the same thing and just don’t want to say anything.

I grew up on a farm sort of similar to this you know, and even though I’ve never seen a dead guy, we did have to do a lot of our own killing to have food especially in the winter. Was a real shock the first time I saw something die, that’s when my Nan gave me some chocolate she said it make me feel better.”

“I, um, thank you Neal. I really appreciate this but I don’t want to eat your chocolate,” he says pushing the bar back to Neal. Neal just brakes off a piece and sticks it in his mouth giving Peter a wink and a smile.

“Thank you,” Peter says more quietly this time as he broke off a piece for himself. Bucky comes jogging back to them then and Peter offers him the last bite of chocolate which he accepts with a short thanks.

There is a rumbling under Peters feet just then, he looks up just in time for him to see a bomber plane shoot through the sky passing them. He hears a man from behind him say, “Must be the Navy.”

“Looks like the ground forces are landing right about now,” someone else says.

Winter picks up his bag from the ground and shouts, “Alright men, we are only about half a klick off from the rendezvous position. Gather you stuff.”

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They make it they make it the central command base a half an hour later. All then men are exhausted including Peter. The adrenaline from the jump has worn off so everyone is ready to fall asleep.

When they make it inside the camp the men who had been traveling with them that hadn’t been a part of Wolf Company wandered off to try and find the remains of their own platoons. What was left of Wolf Company found Lieutenant Winters and they were being shown their quarters for the time being.

The command base was huge; it was part of an actual town that had been destroyed by bombs probably years earlier. Peter even in his exhaustion could still tell how beautiful the stone architecture had been before it had been blown to kingdom come.

Bucky, Neal, and Peter along with the rest of Wolf company were given a blown out church as quarters for the rest of the day. Peter had just dropped his bag and laid down on a pew when Winters voice calls out to them.

“Get some rest boys we are moving into Italy tomorrow,” and with that he left the small church and Wolf company to get some rest.

Chapter Text

It’s bitterly cold, the kind of cold that makes you sticky with sweat as your body works overtime to heat itself up. The subzero temperatures choke Peter as if the moisture in the air he breaths is instantly freezing in his throat.

BOOM

The ground shudders around him as he crouches in the trenches that his unit has taken residence in. They are facing off with some Italian forces that block their entry into the northern part of the country. Wolf Company has been hiding out in this small trench for nearly two days waiting for some heavy artillery back up to save them. They are currently outnumbered and outgunned, the only saving grace is the small amount of suppressing fire that they are able to give.

“Parker, 2 o’clock grenade!” Peter twists his body so he is oriented the right way, bites the clip off the grenade and tosses it towards the enemy’s encampment. The ground explodes as it makes contact and Peter can hear the defining sounds of screaming that he believes will never leave his head.

“Good work Private!” someone shouts.

Peter slinks back to the same position that he held moments ago waiting for the next command. His body resting itself against the trench wall with his head barley sticking out of the ground and his rifle laying up right in the muddy ground.

After making it the central command base four weeks ago, Wolf Company has been working its way South East to try and push their troops into Italy. So far they had been pretty successful, it was only now that they met a heavy resistance. They were nearly to the base camp that the other Allies had set up after they sailed through Morocco and Spain to reach Italy. Peters company had gone straight through Nazi occupied France in order to reach Italy so it was taking a lot longer to meet up with the other Allied forces.

“Peter, Pete!” Bucky shouts over his shoulder at Peter. Peter looks up at Bucky whose head is just outside the trench his gun firmly planted in the snow covered ground ready to fire.

“Yeah Buck?” Peter questions.

“Look alive kid, these bastards are being gutsy. They’ve been poking their head out of their holes more often today. I have a bad feeling about whatever is coming.” He says to Peter. Peter nods and grips his rifle more closely balancing it with his cheek and the slippery muddy snow on top of the trench wall.

A few minutes pass with radio silence from either side. Just as Peter thinks that the battle for today is over about thirteen men from the enemy side are standing up from their trenches. White flags hanging out of their belt loops, no one dares fire.

Peter watches with an air of trepidation as the men walk forward with their hand raised up; Peter feels Bucky tense up next to him. It looks as though they want to surrender, but no one breaths waiting to see for sure what the other men will do.

He sees it before everyone else, each of the thirteen men pull out grenades and toss them at Wolf Company. Peter thinks of nothing as the grenades sail towards them, he drops his gun and it clatters to the ground.

One grenade lands only a couple of inches from Bucky’s feet, Peter feels the world slow down around him. It feels like he is having a staring contest with the grenade itself. As quickly as he can Peter grabs the grenade and launches it back out of their trench just before the thing explodes. Then without hesitation he tackles Bucky they both reel sideways until they smack onto the ground. Peter topples on Bucky as the rest of the grenades grenades fly into their trenches.

“Oh god!” someone yells.

Grenades!” another person shouts.

There is a thunderous explosion as each one of the bombs go off around them. Peter holds his helmet trying to protect his neck and Bucky as much as he possibly can. As the dust settles around them and Peter can hear the anguished wails of his blown apart comrades.

Before Peters mind can take him back to that dark corner of his mind where he thinks of all the slain men that this war has taken a thunderous roar sounds overhead. For a moment Peter thinks that the Nazi’s have gotten their air force to send bombs into the trenches to finish them off. That is until Peter sees the insignia for Allied Forces on a plane that is careening overhead and towards the enemy across the field.

The planes drop multiple sets of bombs into the trenches on the opposite side of the field. The explosions that fallow are deafening. Once again Peter feels the ground underneath Bucky and him rumble with dissatisfaction as it is torn apart one more time. There is no way anyone could have survived that kind of attack.

There are a few joyous yelps that break out among the men in Wolf Company but all Peter can hear is the sounds of pain and gasps of dying men.

Peter is suddenly pushed sideways and onto the muddy ground; he looks over to see Bucky glaring at him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing Parker,” he spits at him. Confused Peter just stares back at Bucky.

“Don’t you dare throw yourself into harm’s way like that ever again, got it?” Bucky roars.

Suddenly Peter feels anger course through him. Who was Bucky to tell him that he couldn’t save his life, he knows for damn sure that Bucky would sacrifice himself for Peter sake if it came down to it.

“A thank you for saving your butt would be nice,” Peter snaps instantly regretting the words that came out of his mouth. Bucky jumps up from the muddy floor, face caked with dirt and grime; Peter figures he looks about the same.

Bucky points his finger at Peter like he is scolding a child that did something naughty, “You don’t get to die in this war you hear me! If someone as good as you doesn’t get to live, then there was no point in this goddamn war. I don’t care if a thousand other men die; hell I don’t think it would matter much if I died. You have to fucking survive! Do you understand me Steve!”

Peter feels like he has been slapped in the face as he glares at Bucky flush with anger, “I am not Steve.”

Bucky lowers his hand as if what he said is finally hitting him, he turns away from Peter then grips the side of the muddy trench until the wall slightly deteriorates from the force of his hand. Peter picks up his rifle and walks down the narrow passages of the trench. He’s got to see if there is anything he can do to help the wounded.

“Private Parker!” Peter can just make out the Lieutenant from his position. Peter hurry’s over to where Lieutenant Winters is standing in the make shift command unit for this particular trench.

“Yes Sir?” he asks.

Winters hands Peter a small notepad and a field pen, “I need you to go around find out who is wounded. Help patch up anyone who can keep moving, if they are too badly injured then write their names down and give it to me. We need to keep pushing forward if we want to make it into Italy and catch up with the other Allied forces.”

“Yes Sir!” Peter salutes the man.

He walks around the intricate passage ways trying to find as many men as he can that are still able to march on, helping where he can to patch people up.

“Hey kid! I need some help over here!” a medic shouts at him. Peter shuffles over to where one man is kneeling over another. The man laying down has a gash torn through his stomach and is bleeding pretty heavily.

“Put your hands here and don’t let up the pressure. I gotta get this guy some morphine but can’t while holding his wound,” the medic tells him.

Peter stuffs his notepad back into his pocket and crouches down to the bleeding man. He firmly places his hands on the man’s abdomen and barley gets a groan from the man. The blood feels so warm on Peters hands and it makes him feel a little sick. It feels like the man’s soul is slowly leaving his body and Peter is the only thing keeping it in.

If the medic noticed the tears that slipped down Peters cheeks after the man didn’t make it, he doesn’t say anything. And for that Peter was grateful.

The list of men who are either dead or too far wounded got larger and larger as Peter gets around the trench. His list was now soaked with blood as he tried to help as many men as he could. Peter can’t tell anymore if it’s the cold that makes his fingers shake or the guilt of surviving when so many didn’t. What makes him so special, he asks himself repeatedly.

He gets the list back to Lieutenant Winters and he tells Peter to pack his stuff because they are moving at first light. Peter just nods and slinks his way back to where he last saw Bucky, only Bucky is no longer there but instead Neal.

“Hey Pete, how you doing kid,” he says thumping Peters helmet.

Peter shrugs his shoulders and numbly says, “Well I’m still alive right.”

Neal gives him a half assed grin and says, “Yeah I guess that’s all we can really ask for these days huh?”

Peter packs up his bag swiftly and then takes the rest of the time to make himself cozy on the floor. If they have to wait to move out, then Peter is going to make the most of it by trying to get some sleep. Neal wanders off a few minutes later to see if he can’t find any more rations before leaving; Peter can’t wait to get to the Allied forces base camp because it means hopefully a shower and a hot meal.

It feels like only a second has passed when Peter opens his eyes again. It’s still night outside but he can tell that the sun is close to breaking over the horizon. He is jerked awake by a coughing fit. He struggles to breath and is gasping for air around his coughs, it burns like his lungs are trying to jump out of his body. He hasn’t had an asthma attack in such a long time that he barley remembers the pain that comes with it; he truly feels as if he is going to suffocate. The cold dry air around him makes trying to breath in so much worse.

As black spots in his vision start to appear he feels a steady hand on his back rubbing circles in a soothing manner. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Bucky sitting next to him with his back pressed against the trench wall.

“Breathe Petey breathe. Your gonna be just fine. I don’t have an inhaler for you so you’re just going to have to fallow my breathing. Deep long breaths okay,” he tells Peter still rubbing his back. Peter nods and fallows the steady rise and fall of Bucky’s chest with his eyes.

After some time, he feels a lot better like the air is finally getting to his brain again. Exhausted he slumped over so that he can rest his head on Bucky’s shoulder.

“Are you still mad?” Peter asks.

Bucky moves his arm so that he can wrap it around Peters shoulders then says, “Go back to sleep. You don’t have much time but it’ll be worth it, I’ll be right here kid.”

“Hey Bucky, you think you could tell me something about your home again?” Peter asks while yawning.

“Sure thing kid. Did I ever tell you about the time I went to the Stark expo? It was something let me tell you, I bet you would have loved it there was so much of that science stuff you like,” Bucky said. Peter didn’t hear much of Bucky’s story because he drifts right back to sleep.

Bucky’s POV

They made it to the Allied base earlier that morning and Bucky was incredibly grateful for the change of scenery. Turns out that you can only be stuck it a disgusting muddy trench with a bunch of other grown men for so long.

Bucky wants to blame that as the reason he snapped a Peter the day before. But in all honesty it’s because every time he sees the kid all he can think of is Steve, his Stevie. The thought that if Steve somehow made his way into the war and had to go at it all alone without Bucky at his side terrified him.

Bucky knows that Peter isn’t Steve but damn if they aren’t similar; it only cemented itself in Bucky’s mind yesterday when Peter had a full on asthma attack. Bucky remembers so many nights when Steve would stay over at his and he would wake up in the middle of the night hacking up a lung.

Bucky’s mission was to survive this war with that kid in tow. They would make it out; Peter would become a genius that would rival Stark one day and Bucky would get to go home to his Steve. That was a promise.

“Bucky, hello? Earth to James Barnes!” Peter says to him snapping him out of his reflecting.

“What do you want punk?” he asks smirking.

The Allied base here in Italy is really nice, almost as nice as the barracks that they stayed in back when they were in London. There were loads of tents and latrines, hell Bucky even got to shower off all the grime and dirt that was caked onto his face and body after days of being in the mud.

All of Wolf Company were in high spirts after arriving here, Bucky certainly felt better after he got to lay down in an actual cot after weeks. Peter was absolute ecstatic about the resent events of being here. He had a vibrancy to him that Bucky hadn’t seen snice back in basic training. The numb deadness in his eyes was lessoned and that made Bucky happy. Not much mad him happy anymore, but this kids joy did.

“There is going to be some sort of special guest coming here in a few days isn’t that something!” Peter exclaimed. Bucky was relaxing on his cot that had been assigned to him and Peter was bouncing in his seat on the bunk across from him.

“Yeah I guess so. Whose dumb enough to come to a war zone though,” Bucky asks skeptical at best. No sane person would come all the way to an active war zone just to entertain a bunch of half dead soldiers.

“Uh don’t know. Some guy named Captain America, whoever that is,” Peter says still excited. Bucky doesn’t have the heart to the boy how blatantly unauthentic that sounds. Just more propaganda to rally the troops into action, so Bucky just keeps his mouth shut.

“Sounds okay to me kid,” Bucky received the brightest smile from the kid that Bucky knows he made the right decision.

“So we can see him right?” Peters asks bouncing on the bed again.

“Okay eager beaver, if that’s what you want then sure it sounds good to me,” Bucky says grinning at the kid’s excitement.

They didn’t end up getting to see the Captain America guy after all. A few days of much needed down time, Wolf Company is given their next mission the day before this Captain guy was going to perform.

Lieutenant Winters meets with some high ranking British women that tells him and Bucky about the next mission. Wolf Company is moving to attack a facility that is 20 miles behind enemy territory. Agent Cater tells Bucky that they are trying to take down a high level Nazi facility that houses some of the most dangerous weapons manufacturers in the war. Hydra is a sub branch of Nazi’s that deals in making weapons of mass destruction.
“How do you expect us to march 20 miles into enemy encampments at take down a covert technology facility. All of Wolf Company would get blown apart if we even tried walking in there,” including him and the kid.

“You’re right Sargent Barnes. That is why you will not be walking in, you will be dropping in. I heard that you and Wolf Company have trained with the best paratroopers in the States, is that correct?” agent Carter asked him.

“Well yes Ma’am,” Bucky said looking at Winters who looked mildly annoyed at Bucky for talking out of turn.

“Well it’s settled then. Stark will be dropping you and your teams near the Hydra base at 2300 tonight,” Agent Carter said.

Winters saluted the women and Bucky fallows, “Yes Ma’am,” they shout in tandem. Now he has to tell the kid they are jumping into the next battle at 11 o’clock tonight. He had just started to see more life in the boy.

It was already late in the evening when Bucky and Winters finally made it out of the briefing. Bucky decides to go break it to the kid right away. He weaves his way through the base camp and find his way to the barracks that he and Peter are housed in.

He finds Peter fast asleep on his bunk that is right next to Bucky’s, only his mess of curly hair pops out from his blankets. Before waking up the boy he grabs his pack from underneath the bed and starts stuffing clothes into it. Once he has most of his equipment in his jump bag he goes to wake up the kid.

He places his hand on Peter shoulder he gently shakes the boy awake, “Hey come on Pete. Time to get up.”

“Ugh, five more minutes Uncle Ben,” Peter says stretching out. Bucky wants to smile but his mind is sad for the kid who really doesn’t have anyone left.

“Parker you need to get up now, we have a new mission,” Bucky says shaking him again. Peter sits right up and looks wildly at Bucky.

“A new mission? When do we have to leave?” Peter asks.

“In a half an hour,” Bucky tell him regrettably. Peter only nods then swings his feet off the bed and stands up. Much like Bucky did a few minutes ago he grabs his bag from under his bunk and fills it will all of his equipment.

“I would pack light for this one kid, we are heading for covert mission this time,” Bucky tells him. Peter doesn’t give much away as he hurriedly packs his stuff.

When they finished, Peter and he walk out of the barracks to find their way to the makeshift runway. The other men in the company were already waiting for takeoff; many of them laughing or chatting away. It’s a stark difference to how they were before the first jump into the war. Peter and him make their way into the lineup of men with Neal just in front of the them looking like he just rolled out of bed. His red hair sticks up in every direction, he tries to slick it down but it’s no use so he just plops his helmet on over top of it.

“Top of the morning to yeah fellas,” he says to Bucky and Peter. Peter lets out a little chuckle and Bucky grins at the two of them.

“It’s the middle of the night Neal,” Bucky says.

“Yeah well I already got my beauty sleep this evening,” Neal grins.

“That’s good, you need all the sleep you can get with that ugly mug,” Bucky says and Peter laughs as Neal frowns good naturedly.

“You boys ready for this fight then?” Neal asks after a second.

“Yeah, but we don’t got a choice do we,” Peter says.

Just then a man in an ostentatious fur coat steps out from behind the plane. He’s got short dark hair that is nicely slicked back and a very neatly trimmed mustache. He has a cocky persona that Bucky picks up on right away.

Then it hits him where he knows this guy, this is none other than Howard Stark one of the richest men in the world right now. Bucky looks over to the kid and sees him practically vibrating out of excitement, guess Bucky forgot to tell him who was flying the plane.

“Bucky! Bucky, that’s Howard Stark! Think he would want to talk to me about the fusion capacitor paper that he just published?” Peter asks him.

“Yeah probably kid, but maybe not when he is about to fly us into enemy territory,” Bucky tells as gently as he can.

Peter is quick to agree; Bucky thinks it’s because he is too awestruck to even think about disagreeing with him right now. It makes Bucky happy to see the kid look so care free right before they jump straight back into this war.

They’re in the air when things start to go to shit. The enemy must have spotted them sooner than they would have liked because just before they were about to reach their jump location the other side starting shooting massive amounts of artillery at the small jumper planes.
Bucky assumes that Stark has hit the green go head button because the next thing he knows they are all out of the plane and hurtling towards the ground where the enemy waits for them. He twists and tries to find Pete so they can rendezvous together with the rest of Wolf Company. He spots him not to far from where Neal who is just about to touch down.

When Bucky hits the ground he makes quick work with the extra equipment, tossing away his reserve chute and his life jacket. Then he creeps his way over to where he last saw Neal and Peter, clutching his gun prepared for anything. Bucky is getting mental flashback to when they first jumped and Peter had nearly been crushed by falling pieces of plane.

This time is different because there was only a handful of planes and none of them were shot out of the sky, yet. Bucky scans the area hoping to get a glance of bright red hair or a curly brown mop. He spots them fairly quickly and jogs over with his rifle in tow.

“Nice weather today boys wouldn’t you say,” he grins as Peter and Neal spot him.

“Yeah can’t complain, I mean it’s a little cold but what are you gonna do its November in the mountains,” Neal says. Peter chuckles at the two of them while yanking off his life jacket.

“Okay guys, we need to go North East. Fallowing that direction, we will have to run into the rest of the squads. But keep your eyes peeled for any signs of the enemy.” Bucky tells them pointing off in the distance.

“Sure thing Sarg,” Neal says standing. Peter and Bucky fallow him up, Bucky takes the lead and starts to make the hike North using the compass that he pulled out of his pocket. Luckily it didn’t break while landing this time.

Only a few minutes into the journey Bucky feels like something is off, he keeps jerking his head backwards to make sure that Peter and Neal are still behind him. They both look like they are fine but Bucky has this sinking feeling in his gut that something is wrong. He’s about to push the feeling away when he hears the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping behind them.

They had jumped into a really dense patch of forest so it’s not unlikely that there would be animals. However, being that there was a firefight not even half an hour ago Bucky assumes most animals would be hiding in fear still.

Bucky signals for their small group to halt, he sees both guys out of the corner of his eye tense up. Bucky hears another snapping of a twig, this time to the side of their position. Peter shuffles so that he is closer to Bucky waiting for his order.

BANG

Bucky watches in horror as a bullet connects with Neal’s head, the boys helmet is knocked off. He watches in stunned silence as the man who had become one of his closest friends during the war crumple to the floor. Dead.

Peter gasps, and Bucky shakes himself of his shock realizing that he isn’t the only one who is friends with Neal and that they are still very much in danger. Bucky grabs the back Peters collared shirt and yanks him to his chest wrapping his hand around the boy’s eyes trying to spare him some of the gruesome images that are now burned into his eyes.

“Jesus Christ. Shit,” Buck exclaims.

Five men walk out of the woods then all carrying high powered weapons pointing them at Bucky and Peter. Fear washes over Bucky then, how is supposed to get Peter out of here alive. He made a promise to himself and he wasn’t about to break it now.

“Drop the weapons and all of your equipment now,” a voice says in a German accent.

Bucky drops his gun and slinks out of his equipment bag that is on his back. Still holding closely to Peter he makes the boy drop all of his stuff on the floor as well.

“You are coming with us. We have a doctor who would be very interested in meeting you two,” the man said.

He keeps a firm grip on Peters collar still holding him close making damn sure that he wouldn’t get a chance to look back at their dead friend who lay crumpled on the muddy floor.

Fuck, is all Bucky could think as Peter and he marched forward surrounded on all sides by Hydra agents.

Chapter Text

Bucky’s POV

The day that Bucky met Peter all he could think is how sorry he felt for the kid. This guy probably just graduated from a secondary schooling and was heading for this gruesome war. Peter had been beaten bloody by some low life punks in his own platoon. Bucky could see at the time that the poor kid would have burst into tears in gratitude for his help that day.

He reminded Bucky so much of Steve, even then; he had no self-preservation and tried to fight back even when those guys had a good 100 pounds on the kid. Bucky knew even then that he had to protect this boy.

So after helping the kid get cleaned up and clothed, after getting beaten in the shower, he marched down to his commanding officer’s quarters. He demanded that the kid be switched in his platoon, he went as far as yelling and saying how the type of behavior that those men had portrayed was unacceptable.

The top ranking commanding officers were not too happy to be yell at like that, but they relented and allowed the young kid into Bucky’s platoon as long as he was the one to keep an eye on the boy.

He made a promise to himself that day that he would do whatever it takes to get this kid out of the war alive and back to whatever family he had left. He just hoped that he would make it back home as well so he could see Steve one more time.

“Bucky,” a small voice whispers against him. He looked down to see Peter who pulled him out of his musings.

“Yeah Pete?” he questions.

“Do you think they’re going to kill us here?” Peter asks.

“I won’t let them, remember your going to survive this war. I made a promise didn’t I?” Bucky tells the boy.

“What about you though?” Peter looks up at Bucky once again.

“Don’t worry about me kid okay,” he tells him pulling him closer.

The men who killed Neal had dragged them through the forest and directly to the base that they had sought after in the first place. Bucky didn’t relent and kept hold of Peter not wanting to lose him. Peter in return clung to Bucky like he was his last life line in this world and Bucky was damned if that didn’t break his heart a little.
Once inside they saw mostly machines that built weapons, but these weapons were nothing like Bucky had ever seen. They had some sort of blue glow to them that Bucky really couldn’t describe. Then the two of them were marched into a large underground area just outside the manufacturing part of the facility. They were tossed into these little round cages and above them there were barred holes that allowed the captive to see the top floor.

Then holes also allowed the guards to be able to see into the cages, to keep an eye on all of the captives. The underground area was dark and dank, it smelled of rotting corpses and Bucky wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be true.

Peter and Bucky couldn’t tell how long they had been in the cages but it couldn’t have been more than a day. Unlike the other cages this one was isolated from the rest, they could see the other ones farther away and there were a lot of people crammed into those multiple cages.

Peter coughs into Bucky’s chest it’s a wet cough like he used to get when he was younger and about to come down with the flu. Bucky held onto Peter tighter, the last thing they needed was for the kid to get sick while they were held captive in a disgusting basement. It was too cold and damp in this basement especially for winter time, there is no telling when either of them could get sick.

“How are you feeling kid?” Bucky asks the boy.

“I’m okay, it’s kind of cold down here. I’ll be fine though,” he says rubbing his eyes, it hits Bucky how young this boy is. He should be back in the states right now living life with his friends.

“Get some sleep buddy. I’ll be right here,” he tells Peter. Peter just nods and closes his eyes drifting off into an uneasy sleep. Bucky leans his head back and shuffles in the dirt to trying to make himself more comfortable. His eyes are just about to slip closed when he hears movement from the end of the hall pasted all of the cages.

Bucky’s head snaps to where the noise is coming from, the jostling wakes Peter up. Damn it, Bucky thinks to himself, that was the first time in a while Peter had actually rested.

“Buck wh..” Bucky hushes him. He lets go of the boy and gets to his knees so he can get a better view of what’s coming. It’s too dark in here to make out anything clearly, all he can see is two guards flanking another smaller man.

The air in the room feels tense and Bucky has a bad feeling about these men. Before they walked in there was light chatter among the other men in the cages around them. As soon as they walk in though the room had gone eerily silent, like every man in the room suddenly stopped breathing.

Bucky caught the eye of another man in one of the cages farther away from his and watched as the man made the sign of the cross against his chest directed at Peter and he. Whoever these people were couldn’t be good.

“Peter, whatever you do make sure you don’t get separated from me okay. Looks like something bad is headed our way. Stay close,” Bucky whispered harshly at Peter after breaking eye contact with the cross guy. Peter nodded, his eyes turning to stone setting his resolve, the face of a solider Bucky came to realize.

The sound of boots clomped their way over to Peter and Bucky’s cage, the last one on the right. Bucky gulped finally getting a good look at who was in front of him. The man had an average looking face if Bucky was being honest. He was a pudgy short man with round wired glasses and little to no hair. He had on a white coat with a suit underneath and a pair of really nice dress shoes. He looked like any other doctor that Bucky had ever seen.

However, what terrified Bucky were his eyes. They were bright blue but within them they held a malice the likes of which Bucky had never seen. He could tell instantly that this man would kill thousands of men just to see how they would bleed, and that chilled Bucky to his bones.

The man and his two goons stop right in front of Bucky and Peter cage and the man gives them a wide toothy grin. Bucky shivers a little bit; this man makes him feel like a play thing or an animal. The two goons open the doors to the cells, one grabs Bucky by the arm and the other one takes Peter by the scruff of his neck.

“Don’t even think of trying anything. Move and we shoot this one,” the guard that has Peter says while shaking him. All Bucky can do is nod and hope they won’t shoot Peter anyway.

The doctor man walks closer to the pair; he gently reaches for Bucky, tugging at the chain around his neck. “Sargent James Buchanan Barnes,” the man says with a German accent as he reads his dog tags.

He takes a step towards Peter and reads Peters dog tags as well. The man then walks back to the opening of the cage. When he turns back around he is smiling widely again looking at the pair.

“You both may be unaware of this now, but I think that fate has brought us together for a reason. You see I need help, I am trying to replicate a super solider serum, but alas my subjects keep dying on me. They were weak pathetic things,” the doctor says eyebrows pinched in disgust.

“But you two, now I believe you are to be strong. I am going to make you into the perfect weapons for Hydra. You’ll get to be the pride of our new world, doesn’t that sound marvelous. The solider and the child, how perfect,” he says clapping his hands together.

“Tell me one thing though, how old are you?” Bucky thinks the man is asking him so he replies.

“27,” he tells him.

“Not you, you insufferable idiot,” the doctor says. He points to Peter then and the guard shakes the boy a bit.

“I’m 18 Sir,” Peter says in a small voice. The man signals something to the guard and Bucky watches as the guard holding onto Peter hits him on the head with the butt of his hand gun. Not enough for the kid to lose consciousness but enough for it to hurt like hell.

“Do not lie to me!” the man bellows, “I can tell just from looking at you that you are much younger than you claim to be boy.”

“I turned 15 six months ago sir,” Peter says tears slipping down his face as he avoids eye contact with the man.

Bucky is speechless, he knew the kid was young but not that young. He was still a child, a kid who should still be in shorts let alone fighting in a war thousands of miles away from home. Bucky stares wide eyed at Peter, how did he even get into this situation in the first place? He must have lied on his enlistment forms like Steve tried to do.

He is suddenly so angry at the kid, what was he thinking, this was no place for children. All the things the boy has seen and done in this war, oh god and watching Neal take a bullet to the head. Bucky thinks he’s going to be sick. All this time he thought he was doing his best to protect the boy who was drafted for a war he didn’t ask to be apart, but the truth is that Peter shouldn’t be here in the first place.

“Take them to the isolation ward,” the Doctor tells the guards. Bucky can’t even look at Peter as the guards march them forwards.

The men they pass, as they walk down the corridor full of cells, look on with a mixture of sadness, pity, and relief. Bucky avoids most of their eyes as they watch him and Peter exit the room, Bucky catch’s the man from early making the sign on the cross one more time. Bucky hopes that any God might have mercy on them.

Bucky glances at Peter then and see the paleness of the boy’s skin and his eyes blown wide with fear. He hugs himself around the middle like he is trying to shield himself, Bucky wishes he could take the fear out of the boys eyes, but in truth Bucky is probably just as scared as Peter is in that moment.

He knows nothing good can come from a scientist whose goal is to make some type super soldiers for the most powerful weapons dealer in enemy territory. If they succeed in turning Peter and him into weapons of mass destruction, then there is no telling how this war will turn out. He can’t let that happen, he has a promise to keep.

Peter and him are walking along the corridors of the facility like how they came in a day earlier. However, they are led through a branch off the western wing were the building goes from being manufacturing into more of an office and lab part of this compound. The walls are made of brick that had seen better years. One thing that really struck him was how dark everything down here was. The overhead lights were off and the only light that could be seen was that of machinery and science equipment all around them. It was a stark difference to how the manufacturing part of the place had looked with the glowing blue lights of weapons and lots of overhead lighting.

They turn into a room left of the corridor and the guards stop. Glancing around he sees in the corner there is a cell that was only slightly smaller than the one that held them only minutes ago. The guards deposit them in the cell and leave Bucky and Peter alone in the room. Bucky notices a lot of blue prints and designs of things; the burning smell of antiseptic was all over the room making Bucky want to sneeze.

Nothing to do but wait Bucky turns to Peter, “15 huh.”

Peter looks away ashamed, Bucky can read his face like an open book, “I didn’t want anyone to find out.”

“No shit. You shouldn’t be here Pete,” Bucky tells him letting some anger slip through.

“I wanted to do my part, help the cause.” Peter says slumping against the bars of the cell.

“Not by joining the war as a soldier Parker!” Bucky explodes and Peter winces. Blood rushes to Peters face just like when he gets mad.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Peter seethes crossing his arms and looking away from Bucky.

“Oh yeah? Try me. Why the hell is some snot nosed punk sitting in a cell with me when he should be all the way back in Queens, doing his ‘part’ there,” Bucky says the last part in a mocking manner.

Peter slips down the sides of the bars so that he is sitting with his knees to his chest, “We needed the money,” his mutters quietly.

“You could have worked in a factory to make some cash,” Bucky says not understanding why he would risk dying at his age to make some extra money.

“You and I both know that if I went to work in a factory they would work me like a dog and not compensate me properly for it. I… I knew that if I joined the war efforts as a soldier then the government would pay me a fair amount and even if I died my aunt would still be okay financially.”

Bucky stays quiet as Peter tells him this, and it’s true. Even though child labor laws have gotten better in the last two decades there are still a lot of factory employers that pays shit for the amount of work a kid could do.

“My Aunt and Uncle took me in when my parents died; then my uncle died and my Aunt had no reason to keep me around other than the love she had for me. But I couldn’t keep watching her wither away to nothing because we didn’t have enough money to feed the both of us. She would starve herself if it meant that I would get just a little more food.” Peter says looking down at his hands.

“Peter..I,” Bucky starts but Peter interrupts him.

“No, it’s just… I was always so sick growing up, still am I guess. I used to think if I just keeled over when I would get sick then Aunt May could live a little longer. I even tried to refuse the food she gave up for me when I was sick, she just lost it. She yelled and screamed and even cried begging me to take the food,” Peter hastily rubs the tears from his face.

“So I joined the army. I honestly don’t know how I convinced her to let me go, especially after Ben died. But here I am, May will be fine and no matter what anyone says I know I made the right decision. There is so much help needed here, and besides who else is goanna watch your back,” Bucky looks down at the kid and just stares at him.

This kid, who is barely out of boyhood, has lost and lost but still gets up to fight for those he loves. The kid has seen more death and cruelty in his young life and it makes Bucky so angry that he should have to experience all the hate in this world. This boy is to pure for this world, he just wanted to make sure that his only living family had enough money to have food.

It’s like a knife in Bucky’s gut because as much as he promises himself that they will get out of this war alive, he knows there is a good chance that they will die trying. What crushes him the most is that one of the purest people he’s ever known is never going to get to experience what it is like to have a childhood. For God’s sake the kid’s only ever known the economic collapse and pure unadulterated poverty.

“You are too good for this world Pete,” is the only thing Bucky can say to the kid.

Neither of them say anything after that they just sit silently in the cell. Peter has wrapped himself up in a ball so tight on the floor with his head pressed on his knees. Every now and again he coughs so hard that the skinny frame of the boy shakes as the cough rips through him. Bucky wishes he could do something for the kid, but he knows there isn’t much to do other than hope and pray he doesn’t get worse. He stands with his back pressed against the bars with one foot resting on the floor and the other on the bars. He crosses his arms and hopes he gives off a calm body language.

They must have sat in silence for a couple hours both reflecting on the situation they found themselves in; at least that’s what Bucky is thinking about. The door adjacent to them swings open and the same pudgy man waddles his way in with that sick smile on his face.

“Sorry to keep you waiting dear boys. I just needed to make sure everything is all set up for our little experiments,” he says walking towards the cell. Bucky and Peter say nothing as the man stops in front of them.

The Doctor makes a shocked face and points to the air, “Oh goodness! How rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself yet! I am Dr. Zola and it is a true pleasure to meet you both,” he says to them grinning. This guy is off his rocker Bucky thinks staring at the man, when neither Bucky nor Peter say anything back the Dr.’s face pinches in a frown.

“Well how rude of you two, don’t worry we will strip that insolent behavior from you,” Dr. Zola says digging his hand into his white coat and pulls out a pair of keys. Bucky shifts his eyes quickly around for any sign of the guards. He is confused when he doesn’t see them anywhere, this man doesn’t think that he could take on both Bucky and Peter if he was to open the cell himself.

In the other hand the Doctor pulls out some sort of canister, he shakes it a little then looks at the nozzle. Bucky glances back at Peter who is also looking at the man in confusion, what was he going to do? He turns back to the Doctor and get his answer when the man sprays whatever was in the can directly in to Bucky’s face.

Bucky sputters and staggers back in the cell rubbing his face, what the hell was that he thinks. Using his dirty shirt, he tries to wipe whatever it is away from his eyes when he starts to get a little dizzy. His whole body feels heavy and he can feel himself start to sway like the ground underneath him is shifting in a constant earthquake. Groaning he can hear Peter calling his name as he stumbles forward and onto his knees. He falls face forward onto the cold floor, he fights hard to keep his eyes open because there is no telling what they will do to him or Peter if he passes out.

Finally, whatever was sprayed in his face makes him succumb to the darkness of unconsciousness.

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Bucky jerks awake sometime later; he has no idea how long he’s been out. His head is throbbing and it’s just as dark in the cell as it had been earlier in the day, or was it night? Bucky honestly couldn’t tell, what he could tell however was that there was a wailing that pierced through his skull making his head hurt even more.

He pulls himself up off the grimy floor and places a hand on top of his head hoping the pulsing would stop. His eyes snap behind him then, oh shit. Peter isn’t in the cell with him. He surges to his feet grabbing the bars when he feels like the room is spinning again and looks around the room wildly for the boy.

It’s too dark in there now, Bucky can’t see anything but the bars in front of him and a couple black blobs that Bucky assumes must be office and lab furniture. He hears someone chuckling in the dark farther into the room, Bucky squints to try and make out the figure.

“Looks like your friend is awake sweet boy, let’s have him take a look at you shall we,” Bucky hears the unmistakable voice of the Doctor say.

The lights in the room are flicked on and Bucky stumbles backwards again shielding his eyes from the bright lights. He groans, his head pounds even harder after being subjected to the light. When his eyes finally adjust to the brightness he can make out two figures on the opposite side of the room.

Peter lay strapped to a medical chair like device, the kid looks rough he can tell even from this distance. His hair is matted to his forehead, the boy is panting like he can’t get enough air into his lung and sweat is pouring down his face. Peter tries to make eye contact with Bucky but his head is also strapped down so he doesn’t get very far. Dr. Zola stares down at him like he has accomplished some sort of great feat. Anger rises in Bucky’s chest at seeing the boy, he bangs on the bars but it is useless.

“Tsk, tsk my boy, so eager,” the doctor taunts him, “Don’t worry you will get a turn I promise. However, you woke up at the perfect time. We are just about to complete the experiment.” The Doctor rubs his two meaty paws together with that sick grin on his face again.

Dr. Zola goes over to one of the tables and gets some sort of device, he then takes it back over to where Peter is starting to struggle against his restraints. The man places the device onto Peters curly hair gently. He walks over the machine on the opposite wall and fiddles with the controls.

When he finally flips the switch all he can hear is the deafening roar of screams that rips through Peters little body. Peter cries and begs for it to stop but whatever that thing is doing doesn’t stop because Peter continues to cry out in agony.

Bucky shouts for the sick man to stop, “Please, Please, he is just a child. Peter! Peter! Oh God Please your killing him.” Bucky shouts and shouts until his voice goes horse.

Finally, Peter falls silent and the Doctor flips the machine off; Peter must have passed out from whatever it was. Bucky was just glad that it was over for now.

“Your turn,” Dr. Zola says to him grinning in Bucky’s direction.

Chapter Text

Peters POV

“Hey kiddo, how you doing?” an exhausted voice croaks from underneath him. He feels the chest he’s leaning on breath in deeply only to let out a round of dry coughs that rattle his position.

He knows that Bucky doesn’t expect an answer from him; Peter knows that he can talk but there is some invisible force that makes the words stick in his throat. He nods his head and Bucky knows that he is going to be okay for the time being. They worked out this little system when Peter first screamed himself horse and couldn’t communicate.

They had been in Dr. Zola’s lab for days, at least Peter believes it’s been days. There are no windows in the lab so it is impossible to tell how many days they have been held here for. It has been a constant blur of being strapped down to a metal table then being tossed back into the little cage he shares with Bucky.

A grimy hand runs itself through Peters hair and he flinches a little bit at the contact. He doesn’t have to look up to see the pity on Bucky’s face, he’s seen it enough these past couple of days.

“Don’t give up Peter, we’re going to live. We will live,” Bucky tells him firmly, slightly ruffling his hair. Peter just hugs Bucky tighter as they sit on the ground in the dirty cage. The Doctor and the guards must have all left otherwise Bucky wouldn’t have been talking as much as he was. They barely speak now unless totally alone. The last time either of the spoke out of turn Dr. Zola had tied Bucky to the metal table and made him watch as the guards beat Peter and left him on the floor bleeding for the rest of the day.

Peter had started to feel different and he hadn’t told Bucky about it. It was like every sense he had was heighten. When those guards beat him bloody he knew he should’ve died right then, there is no way anyone should have survived that kind of beating. Let alone a scrawny sickling like him. What was even stranger was that the next day he was already healed, there was only a dull throbbing left.

When they first arrived in the lab they would inject things into Bucky and Peter for hours and hours with all different kinds of fluids. He remembers that first day Dr. Zola saying he was trying to make some sort of solider.

Peter just hopes that if he stays quite about the new ability he has then maybe he can somehow help Bucky and himself escape this awful place.

 Bucky POV

Bucky is worried about Peter, the boy hasn’t said anything since that bastard of a doctor started his sick and twisted torturing on them. They’ve been routinely injected with some foreign substances for days on end, no doubt trying to perfect whatever it was that would make the two into mindless solider.

About half a day ago Peter got so sick that Bucky thought he was going to die and leave him all alone in the cage with the mad scientist. Thankfully, Peter seemed to be on the mend; however, he had stopped talking all together only nodding at Bucky when asked a question.

He wished there was something that he could do for the kid, but Bucky knew that the only thing he could do for the boy now was hold him close when the guards would leave the room. Bucky just hoped that Peter was holding onto to his sanity better than Bucky was.

When the Dr. Zola would come in he would strapped either Bucky or Peter to the lab table, for Bucky he would inject some sort of blue liquid into his arm then he would place the device he used to make Peter scream onto his head. It felt like every brain cell he had would scramble and his head would feel fuzzy like he was losing his grip on reality.

That would go on for hours until Bucky would pass out from pain or exhausted, then he would be thrown back into the cell and it would be Peter’s turn. Being toured wasn’t nearly as bad as hearing Peter scream.

Right now was one of those very rare moments when Dr. Zola had left and the guards were gone. Bucky usually would try to speak to Peter, to make sure that he knew the kid was alright. He reminded him that they would survive, but it felt less and less likely that was going to happen as the days’ trickle away.

Just as Bucky decided to tell Peter a story about his childhood-seeing as that always cheered the boy up- Bucky heard the harsh grinding of the door to the lab open. Jerking his head in the direction of the door hoping that it was just the guards returning; he was met with disappointment when he heard the distinct clicking of the Doctors nice shoes on the concrete.

“Hello boys! It is a lovely day outside, such a pity that you are trapped in this room. The snow has melted a bit, seems like it was a short burst before the real winter starts any time now. In fact, it’s nicely green out there,” Dr. Zola always had this way of talking to them as if they were old buddies and not his prisoners. It always made Bucky sick with dread.

“Today is going to be a little different from the norm. You see little Peter is going into a separate room for testing today! Oh don’t worry Bucky you’ll get your little spider back, whether he is intact is completely up to him,” Bucky feels Peter tense up in his arms. He is confused about why Dr. Zola refers to him as spider but is even more concerned that Peter won’t be in the same vicinity as him.

He feels the boys breathing start to pick up as soon as the guards enter. He is too weak at this point to fight the men as they rip Peter from his arms. Bucky tries to struggle to his feet, to go after his boy, but one of the guards lightly shoves him and he is back on the ground.

Bucky can’t do anything but watch the two guards drag the boy from the room, he nearly breaks when Peter whimpers and reaches his hands out for Bucky. He suddenly feels a hand gently pat his head. He looks up to see Dr. Zola staring down at him with that sick grin he always has when he knows Bucky can’t win.

“Come now. It’s your turn on the table,” Dr. Zola says and another guard enters the room grabbing Bucky by the collar and dragging him to the exam table. The man straps down Bucky’s arms and feet then shoves a plastic teeth guard into his mouth so he won’t break his teeth when he starts to thrash.

“What a good boy hm, it’s almost like second nature to you know. Well don’t worry this time it will be particular painful.” Dr. Zola says while flicking the syringe he is holding, “You see my boss really needs results. So I need to make the formula perfect as soon as possible. Peter is really just my play thing, to see if cross-species genetic alteration can be achieved. With you though, my plan is to make you into the most powerful weapon that Hydra has ever seen!”

Dr. Zola sticks the needle into his arm and moves around the table so that he can set up the device that scrambles his mind like eggs on a pan. He gently lowers it over his face so that only his left eye and right cheek show and switches it on.

The pain is immediate, coursing through Bucky’s body, he trashes and pulls at his restraints silently begging for it to stop. He arches his back off the table, curls his toes in, and waits for this round to be over. But it doesn’t stop it just keeps searing his mind setting his whole body on fire.

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“Bucky? Hello? Come on jerk, get your head out of the clouds,” Bucky’s snaps his head in the direction of the sound and is met with…Steve.

“Steve what are you doing here?” Bucky asks him.

“Whadda mean what am I doing here? You’re the one who asked me to come to the movies with you,” Steve looks at him questioningly.

Bucky looks around and sees that he is no longer in the dark laboratory of the mad Doctor. Instead he is back home in Brooklyn, two blocks away from where Steve and he lived. Running his hands through his hair he turns around looking for anything that can explain why he’s here. All Bucky sees is the familiar sights of his home, something he’s been dying to see again.

“Buck what’s up with you huh,” Steve says putting his hand on his shoulder softly looking concerned, “Is this about shipping out tomorrow?”

Finally, it clicked for Bucky, he’s lived this moment before. He’s finally cracked and his mind is turning against him. Bucky looks down into Steve’s eyes, at least if he has finally gone crazy he gets to see Steve one last time, if only in his memories.

Bucky throws his arm over Steve’s shoulders and says, “Nah Pal, I just remembered something I thought I forgot. Let’s go see that movie.”

Steve stares back at him for a moment looking like he’s going call Bucky out on his bullshit before nodding his head and walking forward towards the theater. Bucky withdraws his arms reluctantly not wanting to attract suspicion.

As they walk the last block the theater Bucky can’t help but stare at Steve’s profile. He always been smaller than Bucky and so thin that it sometimes scares Bucky and he will go without food if that meant Steve would eat more. He had the nicest blonde hair that would flop in his face if he went to long without a cut. Steve’s clothes never quite fit him right and he always looked like he was swimming in them; most of the time he would both suspenders and a belt to keep his pants up.

Bucky missed him something awful while overseas, there’s a constant ache in his chest that is always there ever present with the absents of his Stevie. Bucky wishes that he could pull the smaller man to his chest and not let go, but he knows how dangerous that could be for the both of them.

“Bucky,” Steve says turning to look at him, “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh yeah? About what Stevie,” Bucky asks him.

“I think I … I wanna be your fella. Proper like,” Steve whispers so softly that Bucky almost doesn’t hear him. He remembers this to, how much joy he felt in that moment when Steve decided he wanted to be his. Hearing those words again does something to him, it makes him feel so light like he could do anything just cause Steve wanted to be his fella.

“I want to write to you while your away also, I just gotta know you’re doing alright. At least until I get there to save your butt you jerk,” Steve grins up at him.

“I would love for you to write to me Stevie, nothing would make me happier; but we gotta make sure it just sounds like two friends. I don’t want nothing to happen to you while I’m gone okay.” Bucky tells him cupping his neck wishing so desperately that he could kiss the handsome punk that was in front of him. One day maybe, he thinks to himself.

“Aint nothing gonna happen, you worry too much. ‘Sides I’ll find a way to make it out there with you in no time anyway,” he says grinning at Bucky. Bucky shakes his head grinning, even in his own head Steve is just as righteous as he is in real life.

Just as they were about to get their tickets for the movie Bucky sees something out of the corner of his eye. It was so quick that he just about misses it, ducking into a corner was a small kid no bigger than Steve.

Bucky would know that mess of curly brown hair anywhere, he stares hard at the alley juncture hoping to get another glimpse of the boy. This is it the last straw of his sanity he thinks gazing at the place he last saw the boy; even in his mind he’s making up things that never happened. He places a hand on his head feeling a sudden ache come on, why would Peter be here. Who is Peter, does Bucky even know someone named Peter?

His head is killing him; he tries to think of how he knows the name Peter but is coming up empty. All he knows is that he feels awash with a sense of protectiveness at that name. He then feels a hand on his shoulder gently coaxing him back to the memory he is living in.

“Bucky,” Steve says to him. Bucky doesn’t turn his head still staring at the place where he saw the mess of curly hair disappear. He knows if he looks at Steve he is going to have concern written all over his face.

“Oh, my God!” Steve says. Bucky feels wobbly on his feet and the pain in his head is getting worse with every second.

He blinks slowly a couple times hoping to clear the pain away and stares at the same spot where the person disappeared. Suddenly he is no longer on the street corner in Brooklyn with his fella but in the disgusting laboratory of Dr. Zola.

Bucky wait for his vision to clear hoping that this isn’t another memory. Something is pulling at his restraints and Bucky feels relieved that the pain for today is over. However, someone new pops into his line of sight just then and is staring down at Bucky with concern. He knows it’s not Dr. Zola or any of the guards.

“Is that…” he garbles out.

“It’s me,” the person says, “It’s Steve.”

Bucky’s sight comes back to him in sharp focus, standing right in front of him is Steve Grant Rogers. His fella, his best friend, his till the end of the line. Bucky is even more worried that the hallucinations are taking over because last time he checked, Steve wasn’t this big.

“Steve?” he croaks out as Steve helps him off the lab table.

“Come on,” Steve says pulling him up. This is real Bucky thinks, there is no way his mind could make something like this up.

“Steve,” he says again smiling stumbling when he puts his feet on the floor still weak from the torture.

Steve places a hand gently onto his unshaven face grinning at him like he just won the best prize. It’s so infectious Bucky can’t help but smile back at his friend.

“I thought you died,” Steve whispers to him still holding his cheek.

“I thought you were smaller,” Bucky jokes back. Steve chuckles then looks around the room for a moment fixating on something on the opposite wall behind Bucky. Bucky can barely stand so he just clutches onto Steve’s leather jacket as hard as he can, not wanting to topple over.

“Come on,” Steve says after a moment dragging Bucky off the platform in which the table stands and towards the door. Steve helps him through the lab and towards the door that housed freedom. As they go they pass the small cage that he had called home for the last few days. A memory of brown curly hair pops into his head.

How could he be so thoughtless, where was his mind! Frustrated with himself he yanks Steve and himself to a stop looking back into the lab for any signs of the boy.

“Where is he? Where’s my kid? We have to get Peter,” he croaks out again not used to so much talking.

“Bucky we need to leave now, your delirious.” Steve says tugging Bucky backwards towards the door. Bucky jerks out of his grasp and stumbles back into the laboratory.

“No you don’t understand; he’s just a boy, he’s basically a baby. He needs me Steve, we need to find him.” Bucky tells Steve in desperation.

“Bucky there is no one else here, we don’t have time,” Steve urges him.

“I’ll make time,” Bucky hisses and marches right back into the lab looking for his kid. Rounding the platform, that he was just on, he sees a small metal door. That must be where they took him earlier. He can still hear Peter’s whimpers as they dragged him from Bucky.

Bucky turns the nob to the door with so much force that the nob breaks in his hand and the door swings open. Bucky nearly gags at the sight in front of him. Peter is strung up by his wrists so that only the very tips of his toes touch the floor. His head is hanging down his chin tucked into his chest. He looks like he passed out from whatever they did to him.

Bucky steps into the room farther and sees that Peter’s body had dozens of cuts littering his torso. Bucky panics and races for the kid, how could forget about Peter for even a second.

“Oh God!” Bucky whips around and sees Steve staring at the kid with wide horrified eyes.

“Help me get him down,” Bucky says getting to Peter and trying to untie of the ropes holding him up. Steve comes into the room and helps by untying the other set of strings. They work quickly and quietly until the boy is free, Bucky catches the boy as he falls and they both sink to the ground.

Bucky runs his hand through Peter hair, sighing in relief that the kid is still alive even after they did God knows what to him. Peter lets out a groan and clutches tightly to Bucky’s shirt.

“Here put this on him,” Steve hands him Peter shirt that they must have taken off in order to slash his torso.

“It may not be especially cold right now, but it’s still winter,” Steve says as Bucky tugs the shirt over Peters listless body.

After getting the shirt on Bucky stands up with the kid bridal style and nearly buckles under his weight. He’s still too weak from days of starvation and can’t carry the kid out of here.

“Give him here, I’ll carry him,” reluctantly Bucky hands Peter over to Steve. Steve places him on his back holding Peters legs to keep him up. Peter reminds Bucky of one of those Kola Bears that him and Steve had seen once at the Zoo.

They sneak their way out of the lab and into the hallway that Bucky remembers waking through when they first got to the laboratory. Fallowing the hallway Steve glances around for any sign of escape, Bucky on the other hand can’t stop thinking about how different Steve looks.

“What happened to you,” He says stumbling behind Peter and Steve.

“I joined the army,” Steve says looking back at Bucky.

“Did it hurt?”

“Kinda,” Steve tells him pushing Peter up his back to get a better grip.

“Is it permeant,” Bucky questions rolling up his sleeves.

“So far.”

He is about to ask how it was even possible when the entire compound started to shake with so much force that both Bucky and Steve nearly lose their balance and toppled to the floor. Using one arm to hold Peter, Steve grabs the back of Bucky shirt and halls him forward making their way out of the long hallway.

“This whole place is going to blow, we need to find a way out right now,” Steve says to him. They came out in a room that is unfamiliar to Bucky, but he sees another door at the opposite side that must lead to some sort of exit

Bucky jerkily nods his head and the two of them jog lightly towards the door, just as the reach it there is another solid shudder of the build, this time much closer to where they are. Bucky knows, even in his current state, that if they didn’t get out of there soon it would mean certain death for all of them. Bucky still had a promise to keep; and by God if being tortured by and evil Hydra Doctor didn’t kill them, then a little falling building should be a walk the park.

Bucky and Steve go through the door hurrying even more now, on the other side of the door is a set of stairs leading down. Bucky takes a second to look around and see that they are above the main manufacturing part of the compound. The whole floor below them is engulfed in flames and Bucky isn’t sure how they will get down.

They take the stairs two at a time trying to get down, Steve seems to know where he is going and Bucky is more than willing to fallow him. He keeps a careful eye trained on Peter while they are maneuvering their way through the intricate grates and railings. He prays that the boy won’t wake until they’ve made it out.

Making their way up another flight of stairs Bucky feels the building lurch as another bomb is set off. He grabs the railing holding on waiting for it to pass, Steve raises his shield that Bucky hadn’t even realized he had.

“Captain America,” a voice calls out in a friendly tone. Bucky jerks his head to the two figures on the opposite side of the bridge they had been facing.

“How exciting!” Bucky doesn’t know the man who speaks but he sure does recognize Dr. Zola standing off to the side.

“I am a great fan of your films,” the man says handing a brief case off to the Doctor. Steve shuffles Peter off his back and hands the passed out boy to Bucky. Not being able to carry his entire weight Bucky just lets the kid lean heavily onto his side.

“So Dr. Erskine managed it after all,” the man says walking closer to them. Steve starts to move in the man’s direction, both of the men glare at one another. Bucky pulls Peter closer to his side and leans heavily onto the railing for support.

“Not exactly an improvement, but still, impressive,” the man says getting closer to Steve. Steve however, hauls back and sucker punches the guy right in the face. Bucky grins, somethings never change he thinks.

“You’ve got no idea,” Steve says back as the man holds his face. Bucky can’t see his face well as it is covered mostly by the man’s hand, but something looks off about it.

“Haven’t I?” the man says throwing his own fist at Steve. However, before the fist can reach Steve’s face he blocks it with the shield he’s been carrying around. It hits with a thunk and the fists dents the metal of the shield.

Steve goes for something in his right pocket lowering his shield just a tad, but before he can get to it the man punches Steve again. This time he lands a solid blow causing Steve to be launched backwards and the gun he was trying to pull out to fly off the railing and into the fiery explosions below.

Before the man can get too close to Steve he is kicked in the chest with both of Steve’s feet and is sent sprawling backwards onto his butt. Dr. Zola is quick to switch the lever that pulls both sides of the bridge apart. Steve and the man stand up on their respective sides of the bridge.

“No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!” the man says making it to the other side. Bucky is horrified when he starts to peel his face off revealing a sunken in skull that was a deep shade of red.

“You don’t have one of those, do you?” Bucky asks Steve quietly.

“You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple solider,” the man says while tossing his face mask into the fire below, “but in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind.”

“Unlike you I embrace it proudly,” the man starts to walk to the elevator on the other side of the bridge, “Without fear!”

“Then how come you’re running?” Steve questions.

He doesn’t get an answer, the man gets into the elevator and the door closes. Without saying anything Steve picks Peter back up so the boy is again hanging onto his back. Bucky looks around wildly for anything that can get them across to the other side to escape.

“There, look we can walk across that fallen beam,” Steve says pointing to a piece of twisted metal that connects the two sides.

“You go first, I’ll be right behind you with Peter,” Steve says to him. Bucky agrees and makes his way as quickly as he can across the makeshift bridge. He’s doing well until about halfway across when the damn thing starts to shake. Bucky makes the mistake of looking down and sees everything blowing up.

The entire beam starts to shift under his weight then, he’s nearly across so he jumps. He grabs the sides of the other railing as the twisted metal shifts again and falls into the fire below. Bucky struggles his way onto the railing. Getting back to his feet he looks over to see Steve and Peter, oh God how will they get across now?

“There’s gotta be something else around here. Something to get you across,” Bucky shouts.

“Go! Get out of here! We’ll find a way across!,” Steve shouts back.

No goddamit! They were this close to getting out of this hell hole alive. There is no way that he was going to leave his love or the kid he promised to keep alive. There had to be a way to get them all through this. His eyes meet Steve’s then he glances to the little face that is pressed into Steve’s neck. Peters curly hair stuck to his forehead and his brows where pinched in worry even in his sleep.

“NO! NOT WITHOUT YOU!” he shouts at Steve.

Peter POV

“Mhhhh,” Peter groans blinking his eyes rapidly. His whole body hurts, there was a dull ache everywhere. He thought that a lot over the last couple of days but this time it was worse. There was a pounding in his head and everything was amplified to a million. He felt like he had been skinned alive.

His thoughts drift back to the last thing that happened before he had passed out. He guesses that being skinned alive wasn’t too far from the truth. They had taken him away from Bucky into a side room where they shed his shirt and started to slash and cut up his torso in order to see how quickly he would heal.

“Hey kiddo, you back with us?” a voice says.

Things start to come into focus, he can tell that he is being carried and that they are…outside! His head jerks up in surprise as he takes in his surroundings. They were outside, what happened while he was out?

Bucky gripped his legs and Peter holds onto his neck as he glances around. His eyes widened when he sees there were hundreds of men behind them all marching along. The men all seem happy and in good spirits as they sang, marched, and chatted amongst each other. He, Bucky, and some other guy Peter had never seen before marched at the front of the pack. He gave the new man a small smile and a short wave before clutching Bucky’s shoulders again. The new man gives him a warm grin in return.

“We’re free Petey!” Bucky exclaims.

Chapter Text

“Show me what you got kid,” a gruff voice says from across the table Peter sits. There is a lingering sent of musk that hangs in the air. Peter can feel the tension of every man in the room glaring down at him, waiting for whatever move he’s about to make.

He picks up the remaining chips that are in front of him and tosses them into the middle of the table. Leaning back in his seat with a tiny grin on his face reading the other men’s expresions. Four of the five men around the table have already given up their purist of victory; now it was just down to Peter and the other man.

“You are a dirty liar kid, you ain’t got shit in your hand,” the man pushes all of his chips into the middle of the table as well, “I’m calling your bluff kiddo!”

The man then proudly slams his cards down onto the table and presents them for the rest of the group to see.

“Three pair! Try and top that kiddy,” the man then starts to reach for the pile of chips on the table. The other men around him start hollering and congratulating the guy on his success.

Peter says nothing and just winks at the man good naturedly.

“Huh?” Dum Dum Dugan questions.

Peter lowers his hand for the other man to see his hand; a Royal Flush all the same suit.

The other men including Dum Dum are stunned into silence; Peter grins and takes the chips to his own side of the table. He knew that Dum Dum would think that he was a poor little kid who was trying to bluff his way through the game; unfortunately for Dum Dum his uncle had taught him to play poker before he passed.

“Why you little,” Dum Dum lunges across the table trying to get to Peter. Peter just smiles along with the rest of the guys around him as Dum Dum’s face turns red with rage from losing to a kid.

“You cheated kid,” he tells Peter sitting back down in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest in a manner that reminded him of a really little kid who didn’t get what they wanted. The other men howled with laugher at Dum Dum’s antics.

“It’s okay Dum Dum. Maybe next time you can play a toddler, then maybe you’d win,” Jim Morita says patting Dum Dum of the shoulder grinning from ear to ear. That sets off another round of laughter from the guys.

Peter giggles slightly along with them, feeling lighter than he has in a really long time. He takes all of the chips and brings them to his side of the table. He sees something out of the corner of his eye; tensing only briefly until he notices it’s just Bucky standing in the doorway with a small smile on his face. Grinning at the man he holds up one finger to indicate he needs a second, Bucky nods back.

Peter makes a motion with his hands to let the other guy know that he’s keeping an eye on them while he’s away. He makes sure to make the most eye contact with Dum Dum because he knows Dugan can be a sneak if he wants to.

“Come on punk, we got a briefing in 5 minutes. You know how Stevie gets when we are late,” Bucky calls out from the doorway.

Peter trots over to Bucky’s side and Bucky throws an arm around him.

“We’ll see you guys later at the pub right?”, Bucky questions the men and receives a chorus of grunts and yeahs. Peter lets Bucky lead him down the hallway of the makeshift army command post.

Peter didn’t remember much about being rescued, the last thing that he remembers is the horrible pain they inflicted on him right before he passed out. Apparently they wanted to test his ability to heal in certain situations. They kept slashing over and over and over again; eventually he had become numb to the sensation of whatever they were using to scrape or stab his skin with.

He had come to being carried on Bucky’s back and everyone was cheering and celebrating. In that moment Peter nearly wept with joy at the thought of being away from that awful place. People were in awe of the great military accomplishment that Captain Steve Rogers managed to pull off. So when they returned to the base that Bucky and he had left not two week earlier, Bucky led the group in praises of Captain America.

Peter thought that Captain America was something else, he was so amazing and strong. Captain Rogers was nothing like what Bucky had described him to be like, he thought the Steve Bucky had talked about was small and scrawny like himself.

Peter had really taken to Captain America he was kind and nice, and even though Peter still couldn’t force the words out of his mouth Steve made an effort to talk to him. Steve, Bucky and Peter had really stuck together after they reached the base camp in Italy.

It had only been two weeks since they had been rescued but a lot has changed. They pushed most of the injured and captured men back towards allied controlled areas. Currently almost all of the men who had made it out of the Hydra facility where in the South of France prepping for shipment back out to the front lines.

Bucky, Peter, and Steve were waiting for waiting for special orders from Colonel Philips. Captain America had done such a good job taking out that Hydra command base that a lot of the higher ups thought that it would be a huge victory for the allied forces if they could use him to choke off the Nazi’s weapons research strongholds. Looks like they were about to finally get those orders.

Peter was getting a little jittery about being in the base camp for so long, but really he was fearful that he was going to get kicked out of the army. A dishonorable discharge and maybe an escort to the military police. Bucky knows all about him being too young to have gotten in the army without lying on his enlistment forms. Peter knows how adamant Bucky is about him surviving this war, but would he go as far as ratting him out to the MP so that they would force him back to New York? Peter didn’t know, all he could do was hope that Bucky wouldn’t say anything.

“Jeeze kid, you’re thinking so loud I can practically hear ya,” Buck says squeezing his shoulders, “What’s got your knickers in a twist.”

“Nothing really, just thinking about stuff,” Peter whispers back. His speech is getting better but as of right now Bucky is the only person he finds he can talk to without the words getting stuck in his throat.

“What kind of stuff,” Bucky presses him. Peter just shrugs his shoulder and doesn’t respond.

“Is this about going to see Steve? Because I am positive the man thinks your something special kid. Besides you guys have been getting alone pretty well haven’t you?” Bucky asks.

“Not bout Steve,” Peter mumbles back, “Just thinking about being rescued.”

“Oh,” Buck says his arm falling from Peters shoulders, “I know it’s gonna be hard Pete, but I’m gonna be right here okay. If you start getting overwhelmed by it all, come talk to me okay kid.”

“Hey you guys, come on everyone is waiting on you two! Plus, there is someone I want to introduce you to.” Peter jerks his eyes away from Bucky’s and grins a little when he sees that it’s Steve all dressed up as Captain America.

“Nice tights,” Bucky laughs and Steve glares at him.

“They are not tights Barnes! They are tactile combat pants,” Steve grumbles.

“Oh yeah totally military issue, you go out on the battle field with those the Nazi’s will definitely run away in fear,” Bucky laughs at Steve’s expense again. Peter try’s to be polite and hide his grin behind his hand.

“Not you to Peter,” Steve says in fake exaggeration, “No fair there’s two of you now!” Steve throws his hands up in the air and turns back around to head into the room he just came out of.

“Come on Petey or else I won’t hear the end of it for weeks,” Bucky jokes and they fallow Steve into the room he just went into.

Peter giggles softly at their antics and follows Bucky and Steve. He stops in the doorway however and gaped at what he sees.

Machines, machines, and more machines. It’s like Peter has died and gone to heaven, the room is filled with the latest technology that not even the president of the United States could get his hands on. There is tech for the latest and greatest weaponry for the allied troops as well as tech that is years above modern science.

Peter turns his head and catches Bucky staring at everything as well, just as in awe at all of the amazing science and technology in the room as Peter is. He chuckles when he sees Steve walking passed everything without acknowledging how amazing of all of it is. As much as Peter has grown to like Steve he knows the guy could care less about science and tech, but Peter knows he’s happy to see Bucky and Peter so passionate about something.

“Come on you two, I want to introduce you to someone before our meeting starts,” Steve says ushering Peter and Bucky over.

Shuffling after Bucky, Peter can hear someone puttering around behind a large workbench. He hears a grunt then watches a man try to stand up from the floor only to bump their head on the workbench and swear loudly.

“Goddamn screw driver,” the man says and stand straight up, this time without hitting anything.

Peter can finally see who the man is, suddenly he isn’t surprised to see all of the top of the line tech and highly advance science in the room. Howard Stark stand in front of him in an oil stained T-shirt with a screw driver in one hand and a lazy grin on his face. Star struck for the second time today Peter just stares at the man.

“Steve! How are you, my boy? I see your all in one piece after that stunt you pulled in Italy,” Howard says sticking his hand out for Steve to shake.

“Doing well Howard, good to see you again. Been meaning to get around to the workshop but I’ve been tied down in meetings since I got back. Brought some friends with me though. This is Peter and my best pal Bucky,” Steve says gesturing to Peter and Bucky.

Peter pulls on Bucky sleeve trying to get his attention, he desperately wants to tell Mr. Stark about the new arc reactor technology that, while only a theory right now, could change the way we consume energy. But Peter could barely speak around Bucky, there was no way he was going to be able to have a conversation with Mr. Stark about his paper. However, Peter had been talking about it for nearly the entire time they had been at this base when Peter had gotten a chance to read it.

Bucky glances down at him and Peter thinks he gets what he’s trying to articulate to him. Bucky smiles and pats him on the head then turns back to Mr. Stark.

“This is Peter; he wants you to know that he read your paper or something. The arc reactor?” Bucky glances down in confirmation which Peter answers by shaking he head up and down, “Yes well he really enjoyed it.”

“That’s neat, thanks kid,” Mr. Stark flashes him a huge but fake smile and turns on his heal. Peter glances at Bucky who shrugs his shoulders in reply.

“Okay let’s head to that meeting boys. See where the government has decided to send us this time eh,” Stark starts to head out the back door to the lab opposite from where they came into.

Two hours later they were done meeting with the big wig government officials. Just like Peter had suspected they were going to ship them out to take down all of the Hydra bases because Steve and the rest of the men had done such a good job on the first one. Steve even convinced the higher ups to let him pick the men in his team.

Peter is worried when they leave the meeting room, there is no grantee that they will let him continue to fight with Bucky. And with Bucky knowing how old he is, Peter is sure there is a one-way ticket back to the States for him as soon as the other men are ready to ship out again.

He can’t let that happen, he came here for a reason. He has a duty to his nation to fight for everyone back home. And now that he has these powers, that he doesn’t even fully understand, he can help so many more men if he is here helping.

No if Bucky sends him back to the states he will find a way back even if that means he has to be separated from his new friends.

“Hey Bud, why don’t you go change out of your uniform and into your civilian clothes. We are going out tonight remember.” Bucky tells him.

Peter nods at the pair as they all make their way out of the meeting room. Steve is going to ask the boys tonight if they would be willing to join him on the journey to take down Hydra.

He’s got to find out whether or not Bucky is going to tell Steve about him being young; it makes his insides sick with the thought that they might kick him out. Or even worse someone finding out about him being different now. Peter makes up his mind when he splits off from Bucky and Steve to head to his own bunk.

He ducks behind one of the latrine buildings and slinks along the side of the building. They were in that meeting so long that the sun was just about to set over the horizon. It gave Peter the perfect cover for what he was going to do.

Peter carefully places his hands on the sides of the building making sure that the sticky-ness of his hands would be enough to support his weight. Satisfied with the strength, Peter pulled his body up the side of the wall. Careful of his footing he pulls his body up onto the roof.

He crouches down examining where he needs to go; lucky for him military bases, in order to maximize the space, are so compacted. It makes it easy for him to leap across the barracks to get to the other side of the camp where Bucky and Steve were at. He finds that, when whatever happened when Hydra was torturing him, he is so much more flexible. It’s almost like he has been doing gymnasts for his whole life the way his body moves now.

Peter makes it over to the other side of camp were Steve and Bucky’s bunks are. They pretty much had the whole barrack to themselves at this point. Most of the men that were held in there have been reassigned to other companies and have shipped back out to the front lines.

Slinking around the roof he makes it to the edge where he uses his new found powers to stick himself to the wall of the barrack. Handing upside down he shuffles his body towards one of the windows of the building.

Slowly, so not to attract attention from the two men currently inside, Peter pushes the window open a crack. His new abilities have heightened all of his senses so he doesn’t have to strain to hear what they are saying. Peter pokes his head in the window so that only his eyes are able to be seen if either of the men happen to glance in his direction.

He sees both Steve and Bucky standing alone in the barrack that is completely void of other people. They are standing in front of one another and Steve doesn’t look happy with his arms crossed glaring at Bucky.

“Bucky, how could you! He cannot stay here; he has to be sent back to the States immediately. He’s a child Buck.” Steve says and Peters eyes widen. He knew it, they were going to try to send him back home.

“You don’t understand Steve. After what we have been through he has to stay. I can keep him safe. You know just as well as I do that if we send him back to New York they will want to examine him. I can’t let that happen,” Bucky says shaking his head.

“What do you mean Buck? He’s safer there then he is here,” Steve argues back.

“No he isn’t. He… He’s different now. I don’t know what they did to him when they took him from me in that cage but. Steve you didn’t hear the way he screamed when they experimented on him, it was awful. They changed him, I don’t know how to describe it but he’s not entirely human anymore,” Bucky says his arms out pleading with Steve for him to understand. Peter feels like the wind is knocked out of him, Bucky knows he isn’t the same.

“All the same to send him home, get him the help he needs. Maybe they can reverse whatever it is that happened,” Steve says equally exasperated.

“I promised Steve, I promised myself that he would make it out of this war safe. If I send him back to the States, I can’t grantee that they won’t cut him up and experiment on him like some sort of animal. But if he’s with me, with us, I stand a good chance of keeping that promise,” Bucky crosses his arms and looks away from Steve. To Peter it looked like Bucky was hugging himself, trying to calm himself down. Peter feels incredibly lucky to have met Bucky, the loyalty that Bucky has shown him these last few months is something he hasn’t felt since before his uncle died.

Steve steps forward and pulls Bucky into his arms hugging the other man. Peter looks on curiously at the two. Bucky unwraps his arms from his body so he can place them around Steve’s large frame.

“It’s different now that you’re so big, member when I was the one leaning down to hug you punk,” Bucky whispers into Steve chest. Peter doesn’t even have to strain to hear the low murmur.

Steve laughs good naturedly and pulls back from Bucky for a moment to stare at the other man. Then he leans forward and captures Bucky’s mouth in his own; Bucky’s body looks like it melts into Steve as if he is trying to get even closer than they already are.

Peter eyes widen and he jerks back from the window. Crawling back up the side of the build so that he is firmly on the roof again he has one thought burning through his head; he should not have come.

Chapter Text

Bucky steps back from Steve and grins at the man, Steve places a hand upon his cheek smiling widely back at him.

“Alright Bucky, I don’t think your decision is wise; but, between the two of us you should be able to keep your promise,” Steve tells him pulling out of their embrace.

“Thank you Stevie,” Bucky says.

“I still can’t believe you left for war and somehow acquired another skinny kid from New York to protect,” Steve tells him with mirth dancing in his baby blue eyes.

“Well my other skinny kid turned into a huge solider,” Bucky grins shaking his head. Steve pushes his shoulder chuckles his amusement.

“Let’s go find the kid, then we can meet up with the guys in the pub,” Steve say to him.

“You gonna wear that?” Bucky snickers and gestures at Steve’s Captain America uniform. Steve, bless him, blushes.

“No. I’m going to change into something dapper if you must know,” Steve tells him all readying trying to tug the tight leather off his body.

“It’s a shame I can’t show you off as my fella,” Bucky frowns.

“Hey none of that; one day okay, one day,” Steve places a hand on his cheek and Bucky leans into his touch.

Steve goes about changing his outfit and Bucky follows in suit trying to look as nice as possible while also sneaking glances at Steve. Bucky puts on his nicest uniform but it pales in comparison to the nice dress slacks that Steve has on. His are dirty and worn from months of war, but Steve is crisp and clean cut with his new Captain Uniform. Bucky couldn’t be prouder staring at the man in front of him.

Once they put the final touches on their outfits Bucky and Steve head over to the other side of the makeshift military base. The only reason that Bucky and Steve were separated from Peter in this new base is because everyone was under strict orders to be assigned to a bunk based on rank. Peter, being only a private, was placed on one side; Bucky and Steve, being Commanding Officers, were placed in another barrack.

Bucky felt bad leaving the kid on his own after all they had been through. However, Peter seems to be doing mostly okay, other than not speaking nearly as much as he had previously. Now that all of the other officers have shipped out, Bucky was going to try and get the kid moved into their barracks. Even if it’s only a for a little while before, they two, ship back out to take down Hydra.

They find Peter in his barrack, which also is nearly void of people as most soldiers have left as well. Peter is pulling his clothes on, or trying to at least. Bucky chuckles to himself as he watches the boy struggle to get his sweater over his head to cover his button down white shirt.

“Here you go kiddo,” Bucky laughs helping the poor kid pull the sweater over his head.

“Thank you,” Peter whispers to him.

“No worries kiddo,” Bucky says patting him on the head. Peter won’t meet his eyes when he looks down at the boy. Bucky shrugs, it’s not super unusual for Peter to be shy especially when he speaks in front of more than one person. Bucky is just glad that the boy is starting to feel more comfortable in being able to speak around Steve.

Bucky, Steve, and Peter make their way out of the barracks and into the cool evening air. The sun has finally set behind the horizon and the darkness of night is blocked by the bright lights on the military base. The air was crisp and cold as they approached the winter months even here in the south of France. The three of them made their way out towards the gates of the base.

“Think one of these guys will give us a ride out?” Steve asks as they saddle up to the gates.

That question is answered only a moment later when a young supply truck driver stops to let the three aboard his vehicle. The main part of the town isn’t that far from where the base is set up so many supply trucks come through at all times of the night to drop off supplies for the allied forces.

The ride is bumpy but no one seems to mind as this is the first leave they had gotten in a while and, Bucky assumes, they were just as happy as he was to leave the base if only for a short time. No one spoke at all just as caught up in their own heads as they bounced along in search for a stiff drink.

Bucky had never seen a town as picturesque as this one; back in New York it’s a lot of dirty streets and tall buildings crammed together. But it was home and it’s where his family lived and it’s where he met the love of his life. This little town in the south of France though was right out of a story book. The town was made up of small brick cottage like buildings that where nicely spaced apart. The streets where clean and where made of cobble stone; Bucky had been shocked the first time he has seen an honest to God horse and bugging going down the road a couple of days ago. It was the most beautiful little town he had ever seen.

The kind young driver dropped them off at the only pub in the small town. Even from the sidewalk you can hear the amount of noise coming off of the building. It was a Friday night and a lot of men where on leave or just looking to get away for a little while.

Placing a hand on Peters shoulder he asks, “You gonna be okay kid.”

Peter nods, Bucky doesn’t have to be a genius, like the kid, to know that whatever those Hydra bastards did to Peter, it really messed with his senses. Peter has been really hush hush about the whole thing but Bucky likes to think he knows the boy well enough now to know when something bothers him to the point of panic. After all they spent nearly a month together in a cold muddy trench with nothing but each other to keep company.

The three of them enter the bar and are met with a rowdy bunch of men’s shouting about their arrival. Bucky grins and does a two finger salute to the men in the corner who are making all the noise. The guys holler for them to come and join which Bucky, Steve, and Peter are more than happy to do.

“Next round on this guy!” Dum Dum shouts over the noise to the bar tender pointing at Steve. Steve signals to the tender that he will take the next round for the men and everyone cheers.

“My man!” Morita shouts. Everyone laughs at the display of the men who have obviously been drinking for a while before everyone had even shown up.

Bucky sits at one of the empty chairs around the table and a couple of the men slap his back good naturedly. He grins at the other men and takes a hardy drink of whatever the bar tender had set in front of him. It was a weak bitter beer that tasted far too much like bread, but times were tough and he wasn’t about to complain about free beer.

He has to pry the beer out of Peters hands when the bar tender sets on in front of the boy. Bucky fixes him with a look that he hopes conveys ‘You are not old enough to drink so don’t even think about it’. Peter gives Bucky a pouty face but never the less doesn’t fight him on the issue.

The bar is alive with sounds of happy people drinking, dancing, and laughing. There is a heavy fog that fills the room with every other man in the joint smoking a cigarette. Bucky can almost fool himself into thinking that he is back home in New York enjoying a Friday evening at the bar.

As much as he wants to relax he finds it very difficult; there are so many people in here that it makes his skin crawl. Every couple of seconds he glances around the room to look for exists then settles his gaze on either Peter or Steve to make sure they are both alright.

Bucky tries to drink his drink and listen to the chatter of the men around him. He catches Steve’s eyes for a moment while looking over at him and Steve give him his signature confused and worried face. Bucky shrugs his shoulders in reply to his face trying to relay that everything is fine even if he is uncomfortable.

Bucky stands hoping it will elevate some of the claustrophobia he feels, besides he knows what’s about to happen. Steve is going to ask the others to join them in the fight of their lives against the Nazi bastards who locked him and the kid in a cage then tortured them.

As he starts to make his way from the table he catch’s the concern on Peters face, he tries to give the boy a smile to reassure him; but he knows he probably isn’t being reassuring as he thinks because he can feel the sweat trickling down his temple and his skin becoming clammy.

He walks towards the adjacent room in the little tavern picking up a beer on his way. Sitting in one of the bar stools he nervously picks at the paper of the beer bottle. It’s quieter in the room and the lack of people soothes his frayed nerves. He can’t admit to Peter and Steve how off he has been feeling physically and emotionally since coming back from Hydra. He needs them to see how strong he still is so that they won’t worry about him in protecting them.

He doesn’t have to strain too hard to hear Steve asking the men if they will join him against taking down Hydra. Steve is met with confusion at first from the other men but quickly enough it morphs into a chorus of yeses from everyone.

Just as everyone is agreeing Bucky feels a small hand placed on his shoulder and he doesn’t have to turn around to know it’s his kid. Bucky has noticed that Peter becomes agitated when he can’t see Bucky or isn’t around him for too long. Not that he is complaining because he feels the same way. In his hurry to leave the crowd of men he forgot all about it.

“Pete,” he says softly in a way of greeting the boy as he slips into the stool next to him.

“Bucky, I need talk to you about something,” Peter says looking anywhere but directly at Bucky.

“What is it punk?” he asks the child in the same soft tone.

“I uh…I,” Peter is interrupted by Steve making his way over to the two of them with a small grin on his face. The music starts to pick back up and Bucky can hear the men take up singing from the adjoining room. Peter turns away from Bucky not finishing his thought.

“See, told you. They’re all idiots,” Bucky says spinning in his seat to greet his friend.

“How bout you? You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death,” Steve asks him staring intensely at Bucky’s profile.

“Hell no,” Bucky says back looking at Steve who has a confused look on his face, “that little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight. I’m following him.”

Bucky can tell by the way Steve’s eyes light up that he is profoundly touched at his words. But even though he means every word he said Bucky can’t help but deflate the man’s ego just a little bit. Because hey what are friends for.

“But you going to keep the suit right?” Bucky says and Peter lets out a little laugh that set Bucky off and soon the two are laughing it up at Steve’s expense.

“Ha Ha. I just might keep the suit, it’s growing on me,” Steve huffs out and that just sets them off in another fit of laughter. It feels really good to laugh this much and Bucky can’t even remember when he felt this normal; laughing and teasing with Steve and now with Peter.

As suddenly as the joy came it goes leaving them as a hush falls on all the men in the adjoining room of the pub. Bucky, Peter, and Steve all lean forward to see what has captured the attention of everyone in the bar.

One of the most beautiful women that Bucky has ever seen in his life saunters over to the three of them. She has a fierce air about her but a touch of femininity that makes all the men stop and stare craning their necks to just get a peek at her. Dressed in a long red dress that perfectly matches her lipstick just makes her stand out all that much more in this dingy little corner bar.

The woman walks right past Bucky without even acknowledging his presence and stops in front of Steve. Bucky watches his reaction and notices, with irritation, how red his skin is getting underneath his collar.

“Captain,” she breaths out.

“Agent Carter,” Steve says with a little grin on his face.

“Howard has some equipment he wants you to try,” she says shuffling closer to Steve and Bucky gives her a once over muttering out a soft “ma’am”.

“Sounds good,” Steve replies tugging on his uniform in a twitchy manner.

There is an awkward pause and Steve looks around trying to avoid eye contact with him and Agent Carter both. Bucky has known Steve a long time, long enough to know when he has a crush on a pretty dame and when said dame makes him nervous. Both of those things are manifesting themselves right now in front of him, he looks hard at the man in question trying to read his body language further.

“Looks like your top squad is preparing for battle,” she comments referencing the men who have yet again taken up howling out one song verse at a time.

Bucky bounces on his heel, “You don’t like music,” he asks grinning at the lady in a half mocking manner. He looks behind him and sees Peter trying not to laugh, what is up with him he wonders to himself.

“I do actually,” she says still facing Steve not acknowledging that it was Bucky who had spoken, “I might, when this is all over, go dancing.”

“I’ll dance with you Miss,” Peter says in a way only a child could, with unabashed innocents.

“Well what are you waiting for?” Bucky asks now staring at the woman before him who won’t even turn to face him or Peter when they speak.

“The right partner,” Bucky’s eyes widen finally getting what was happening, “0800 Captain.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Steve says and just like she came, she left, sauntering her way out of the bar.

“I’m invisible,” Bucky scoffs and Steve turns to look at him, “I…I’m turning in to you. This is a horrible dream.”

Steve grins and goes to sit back down next to Peter as the kid just looks back and forth between them. Steve pats Bucky’s shoulder before he sits and smiles, “Don’t take it too hard pal, maybe she’s got a friend.”

Bucky narrows his eyes at Steve; he should’ve seen it coming. It’s not like they hadn’t been in this situation before, but usually it was the other way around. It stings and Bucky knows that Steve loves him that they are together; but he also knows that Steve does think Agent Carter is a pretty dame and may have a small crush. He knows he is being a hypocrite because all the times it was him flirting with a pretty gal in order to keep appearances and it wasn’t fair to Steve, but never the less it made him feel something right awful deep in his bones.

Chapter Text

Bucky POV
Base after base seemed to fall at the hands of the Commandos, each new fallen Hydra compound was one step closer to stopping Dr. Zola and the Red Skull. After each new take down the team seemed to work better together as each team member’s unique skills sets shined through. Mortia with his seemingly endless supply of gadgets and even Dernier affinity for blowing things up.

The more bases they defeated the better a leader Steve seemed to become. Bucky noticed it right away, how he would listen to everyone’s idea’s and use their talents to formulate a plan of attack. Steve was a natural born leader just as Bucky had seen all those years ago on the streets of Brooklyn.

It blew Bucky away how much Steve seemed like a super hero; like something out of one of those comic books they used to read together as children. The way Steve moved and the seer amount of strength the man seemed to possess blew Bucky’s mind every day. It was almost like that shield of his defied the laws of physics, at least that’s what Peter says every time Steve throws the thing.

Peter was coming out of his shell a little more as well; but, Bucky could tell that there was something the boy was still hiding from him. He was sure that it had something to do with what had happened when he was taken by Dr. Zola. At least he was getting better at stringing words together around Steve and himself. A far cry from the chatter box young boy he had met back in basic training.

The Commandos pushed on, taking down every Hydra base that Steve had seen on their map, in a flurry of gunpowder and smoke. Bucky had taken to sniping their enemies whenever the opportunity called for it. It gave him a vantage point that allowed him to see the bigger picture of the battles. It also came in handy in making sure that both Steve and Peter weren’t getting themselves into too much trouble out on the field.

It was lucky that this day was one of those rare opportunities for him to be able to snipe from a distance. He watched through his viewfinder as the other men in the company swept through the remains of the Hydra facility.

“Parker!” Steve shouted out to the boy who was wandering to far from the man part of the compound which was unchecked for Hydra operative.

“Sorry Cap. Thought I heard something over there,” Peter muttered coming to fall in formation as the team moved further in and around the base.

Bucky was surprised that he was actually able to hear the two men talking from such a far distance. He reasoned that it was probably due to the adrenaline making his hearing sensitive.

A plane thundered overhead, both Peter and Steve looked up to watch it go by. Distracted they must not have heard the purr of the laser gun behind them. Bucky saw the Hydra operative stand from his ledge pointing the barrel of his gun directly down on top of Steve and Peter.

Bucky’s stomach swooped as he watched the man’s gun begin to glow bright blue readying to fire directly at Peter and Steve. It was too bad for the other man because Bucky was an excellent shot.

Bringing his gun to his cheek he took a deep breath and held it; visualizing exactly where he wanted the bullet to land. Putting his finger on the trigger he slowly let out his breath and squeezed.

The gun recoiled directly into Bucky’s shoulder but he held firm letting no movement mess with accuracy of his shot. He continued to stare as the bullet he fired hit the man across the field directly in the head. Only then does he close his eyes and beg for forgiveness for taking another life. He hopes that God understands his need to protect one curly haired boy and one selfless solider.

When he opens his eyes once more he sees Steve salute him with two fingers in thanks for watching their backs.

“Till the end of the line,” goes unspoken between the two.

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Peter POV

The camp they are staying at is smaller than usual, a couple tents here and a few toilets there. The necessities, or as Bucky likes to say a place to shit, shower, and shave much to the annoyance of Steve.

They were waiting on word as to whether Dr. Zola would be heading towards the next Hydra base they had been scoping out for a while. The higher ups think that this time they might finally get the scientist and choke off the Nazi’s weapons manufacturing.

Peter had decided that a lot of warfare isn’t the battling but rather the waiting around. It made him antsy and he itched for something to do. Steve had forced him to started running with the super solider in the early hours of the morning.

One early morning he made the mistake of taking off to fast and leaving Steve behind with all the energy that was bubbly through his veins. The issue was that Steve was able to run for twice as long and twice as fast as the average human. Seeing Peter run like that must have given Steve a reason to think something was off with the boy, that somehow he was enhanced.

Steve had gently cornered Peter after their run that day to talk about what had happened. Peter had decided that he needed to tell someone about his new abilities lest someone get hurt by him accidentally.

Peter begged for Steve not to tell Buck, he was waiting for the right time to tell him what happened in that room when he was captured by Hydra. Steve was reluctant to keep such a secret and Peter could tell just by the look on his face, but nevertheless he did.

Peter and Steve continued their morning runs, so early that no one would even be awake to see the two of them running at top speed. Peter could tell that Steve would try to push him harder and further every time and Peter was grateful for the release of tension that threated to strangle him all the time.

He was grateful for Steve’s presence and understanding about what was going on with him. Peter found himself gravitating towards Steve more and more as the weeks went on. Bucky and Steve were two grounding factors that made him feel like everything wasn’t going to implode on him at any given time. Steve understood his need to be a solider and help his country; even if at first he wanted to send Peter back to New York.

Words came easy when he was around Steve and Bucky but it was hard with others, especially strangers. It was getting easier to communicate with the other men in the squad and most of them understood he had been through a lot while captured by Hydra. A memory that he would soon like to forget.

He often dreamed about what happened in that room; the intense smell of his flesh burning and being ripped apart and the nearly endless injections of needles into is arms. The thing that usually woke him was the sound of his own screams ringing in his ears before he would jerk awake in a cold sweat.

Peter could usually get away with not divulging the nightmares plagued him because by the time he woke many of the other men were sound asleep, so far gone that nothing in the outside world even registered to them. Peter would sit and wait for his heart rate to return to normal before getting ready to run with Steve.

That usually worked for him except for this night, with the base being so small and so cramped that all the men were sleeping head to foot with nothing but their blankets. Peter was nestled in between Bucky and Steve cocooned by the two soldiers.

When Peter jerked awake this night he could still feel the prick of the needles followed by the cold feeling of whatever was in the syringe. He sat up quickly trying to catch his breath whimpering softly. Right away he could tell something was different from all the other times he had a nightmare. It was like every single thing around him was setting his body on fire. The way his blanket scratched his skin felt like a million bees stinging him all at once. There was a small fire in the corner of the room burning softly to keep them warm but also provide light; and yet, to Peter it felt like he was staring into the heart of the sun.

He tossed off his blanket and staggered to his feet, accidently nudging Steve a little harder than a normal human would have nudged a person. Steve sat up fast looking around for whatever threat he must have thought there was and relaxed quickly we he only saw Peter standing next to him.

“Peter, buddy, it’s too early to go running. Lay back down and get some rest,” Steve said rubbing the sleep out of eyes. Peter’s ears exploded with the sound coming out of his mouth, he knew that Steve was less than a foot away but it sounded like he was yelling directly into his ears.

Peter doubled over himself groaning and covering his ears to block out any noise. He squeezed his eyes shut as much as possible as well because the light from fire was still bothering him.

“Peter?” Steve whispered this time. Peter guesses he must have understood something was greatly amiss with Peter. He heard the other man stand but Peter gasped and jumped away when he felt Steve’s hand on his shoulder.

Peter opens one eye just enough to get a glance of Steve’s worried expression, regardless of the fact that every sense is dialed to the highest setting he feels a stab of guilt for causing so much worry for the other man.

“Okay Pete, I’m not going to touch you,” Steve tells him barley above a whisper, “Let’s try to make our way out of the tent okay bud.”

Peter nods and lets the other man guide him out of the tent as to not wake the other sleeping men. Steve keeps his word and keeps his hands at his sides as he follows Peter out into the night. Peter feels better when he feels the cool night air on his overly sensitive skin, but he still sits down a few feet from the tent with his knees pulled to his chest and his hands firmly over his ears.

Growing up in New York meant that even at night there was always some type of light that illuminated the skyline. Here, in rural Europe, that was not the case; in fact, it was so dark in the woods where the small base was located it was nearly pitch black when Steve and Peter made it outside. For this Peter was grateful; because, it meant that he could at least open his eyes and look at Steve who was worriedly staring down at him rocking back and forth with his hands around his ears.

“I have an idea Peter, I’ll be back in a second okay,” Steve tells him. Peter nods even though he is uncomfortable letting the other man out of his sight even for just a moment.

Thankfully he doesn’t have to wait long because Steve comes back out from the tent a couple of seconds later. He comes out carrying something that Peter couldn’t quite figure out in the darkness.

“Here let’s try this,” Steve says still whispering. Steve tries to gently pull his hands away from his head but Peter won’t let him because everything is still too loud.

“I promise this will make you feel better Pete,” Steve says attempting to pull the hands away one more time and this time Peter lets him. Steve places something soft and fluffy into his ears and everything around him gets a lot quitter. Peter lets out a shuddered sigh of relief and when Steve sits down next to him, Peter leans his weight onto the other man.

“Bucky uses cotton in his ears to make things a lot quitter when he is sharp shooting. Says that it can get real loud with the sounds of the rifle. Thought it might help you with whatever was happening,” Steve says still whispering.

They just sit there for a while, Peter felt like a weight had lifted off his chest and his heart rate returns to normal. He was glad for the other man’s company and his willingness to just sit in silence with another human for the time being.

“I had a nightmare,” Peter says softly into the cool night air. He feels rather than sees Steve nod his head.

“You want to talk about it?” Steve asks him but with the cotton in his ears it comes through muffled. Its Peters turn to shake his head at Steve not wanting to burden the other man with his own issue when he knows how much pressure Steve is under.

“I get not wanting to talk about it. I’m the same way after waking up from a nightmare, but I’m told it’s not good to bottle everything up. I’m terrible at taking my own advice so it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. But if there ever comes a time when you feel like you need to get anything off your chest I’ll be there. Okay son?” Steve asks and Peter nods his head.

“When whatever happened to me in that Hydra compound, it’s like ever since my sense have been dialed to the highest setting. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that I can’t breathe, I mean I can hear the blood rushing around in my body like its Niagara Falls,” Peter sighs and avoids Steve’s eyes by picking at his nail.

“I figured as much when you were doubled over with your eyes squeezed shut and your hands over your ears. It’s kind of like a sensory overload right?” Steve asks and again Peter nods his head but doesn’t respond with words.

They sit there for a little while longer watching as the night sky slowly turns into early morning. Peter lays his head on Steve shoulder feeling completely drained physically and emotionally. With the cool morning air washing over him and the heat from Steve’s body Peter feels himself slowly slipping into a light doze.

“Hey, what are you two doing out here this early? I woke up and didn’t know where you guys had gone cause it’s definitely too early for a run,” Peter hears Bucky ask in a hushed voice obviously not trying to wake Peter who is still trying to fight the sleep.

“Pete had a nightmare and needed some fresh air. Sorry for worrying you Buck,” Peter could feel the rumble of Steve’s words in his chest as he spoke to Bucky.

The last thing he hears as he slips fully into a peaceful slumber is Bucky’s voice saying, “Poor kid, he’s been through so much already.” Then a soft hand was placed into his hair and the steady comfort of the two men lulled him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Bucky’s POV

They had missed Dr. Zola, getting there just in the nick of time to see him take off down the road and out of their grasps one more time. Each one of the commandos fighting a Hydra lackey with no room to pull away a go after the man.

Bucky could tell each man was desperate to achieve something and not feel like all the fighting they were doing was for not. He certainly felt like that on most days, looking around at the dead and empty expressions on all the other men’s faces; he could tell that this war was slowly chipping away at them. And Bucky, well he couldn’t blame them, the difference was that his reasons for fighting looked at him every day. Both with that same dead stare that everyone had now. It only made his resolve stronger, his passion burn brighter, because that was the only way they were all going to make it out alive.

Steve must have notice the resolve slowly slipping from his men as well; because, the next thing they knew central command was pulling them back to France in order to regroup and reassess the mission objectives. Also, because Steve was Captain America, the news reels wanted to get a shot of the man in an active war zone. The part of France they were headed wasn’t much of a war zone since the allies stormed the beaches and recaptured much of France months earlier. Whatever it takes to sell more war bonds back home though, besides Bucky was looking forward to a small break from the front lines.

“Bucky,” Bucky turned his head to look in Peter direction as the boy sat shoulder to shoulder with him in the hooded truck that was transporting them.

“Do you think I should write a letter to my aunt while we are here?” Peter asked pulling on his fingers like he did when he was nervous.

“Of course. I bet she’d like to hear from you, when’s the last time you were able to send a letter out,” Bucky asked pulling off his helmet and wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Not since basic,” Peter whispered ashamed. Bucky had noticed that his speech was getting better day by day. It had started to improve when he had found Steve and Peter curled up outside one morning. Bucky knew there was a story there but would wait until either Peter or Steve were ready to tell him.

“Pete,” Bucky said in a tone that implied worry but also disappointment.

“I know, I know. It’s just… I… we jumped straight into the war. Then we were held hostage, then joined up with Captain America. There hasn’t been a whole lot of time in between to write a letter home you know.” Peter said in a rush.
“I think you should, as peace of mind for her but also for you,” Bucky said putting an arm around Peters, “Don’t be a punk, punk.”

Peter grinned up at him, a grin that he hasn’t seen in a very long time. Bucky grins back but he knows it doesn’t reach his eyes, that will have to do for now.

The truck they’re in comes to a stop just outside the town they were supposed to meet up with Steve in. He had taken a flight out earlier in the day, command comping at the bit to get him to take down all the Hydra facilities. While they had torn down many they still hadn’t found the source of the weapons manufacturing and wouldn’t until they brought down Dr. Zola.

Bucky swings his body out of the truck and pulls the strap of his gun so that it securely strapped to his back. Peter and the rest of the gang follows suit and the truck rumbles to life again taking off through the town without even a second thought.

The first thing that Bucky notices about the little town is that it is ravaged by the war. Building caved in and mounds of rumble laying in what he assumes were once beautiful coble stone streets. The second thing that he notices are the same haggard faces of men who have seen too much blood shed for one lifetime. Bucky watches as a group of men in a company march passed them and back towards the front lines. Their shoulders are hunched and their eyes downcast, you don’t have to look very hard to see their blood stained hands trembling as each man passes with their grip on their guns as if it’s the only thing tethering them to this world.

Bucky places a hand on Peter’s shoulder and pushes him forward. He does a quick sign of the cross on his chest and hopes God is with them.

It’s early morning when they arrive and Steve has been in meetings all night and even into the morning so Bucky expects him to crash when he makes it to him and Peter. To his surprise Steve is still standing when he makes it out, but nonetheless he looks like he is dead on his feet.

Steve quickly greets Bucky and Peter then stumbles his way to the makeshift barracks to sleep. Bucky can’t remember the last time he has slept on anything besides the floor with a blanket if they were lucky. Now that he is thinking about it he can’t even remember the last time he saw Steve actually sleep.

“Woah! Bucky look over there!” Peter says pointing out something in the distance. Bucky has to squint to see it but it looks like people are setting up something.

“That looks like a camera they use to shoot films!”

“Alright eager beaver let’s have a look since you’re so keen,” Bucky says thumping Peters helmet once with his knuckle. It’s nice to see that kid smile again. Peter takes off towards the camera crew and Bucky follows his lead at a much more relaxed pace.

Peter asks them question after question about how the camera works and how they filmed things. His endless fascination with everything continues to blow Bucky’s mind as he always instantly picks up the information like a sponge.

After a few minutes Bucky pulls the boy away from the camera people and towards the mess hall. They would have plenty of time later on to check out the film crew as they were there for the Captain anyway. Besides they hadn’t had a hot meal in weeks and Bucky was really looking forward to it.

Arriving in the mess hall reminded Bucky a lot of when they were in basic, lots of hot sweaty men shouting at each other and shoveling food into their mouths. It was easy and familiar, so they grabbed a plate and sat down to eat. Bucky notices that there are no other commandoes in the hall, probably napping like Steve. You never know where your next bed will come from.

Hours later when Bucky and Peter are both full from eating and are walking around the town for a bit just stretching their legs they run into Steve.

“Hey guys, been looking for you two everywhere,” Steve says with a little undertone of panic.

“Just been walking around Stevie. Nothing to worry about, ate some food and now just taking a stroll around the town,” Bucky claps a hand onto Steve’s shoulder hoping to convey his sincerity that everything is okay.

“Yeah okay. Uh, the film people are looking to get some pictures in right now. You guys coming?” he asked.

“Definitely, lead the way Captain Rodgers,” Bucky winks at him and Peter groans at them. It makes Steve smile so he won’t say anything but he does stick his tongue out at the kid.

Filming is a weird experience, Bucky decides. They never had enough money to go to the pictures often, but when they did it was a magical kind of experience. Being on the other side of the camera was nothing short of tedious and fake.

“Now smile and act like you two are the best of friends,” the camera man says to them. Peter laughs loudly and Steve and Bucky join in quickly.

“They are friends, “Peter says smiling up at the two guys still laughing. Steve’s eyes crinkle as he laughs and Bucky puts his hand on Peters helmet smiling at the whole thing.
Scene after scene they film of the great Captain America in action until finally they camera folks feel like they have enough footage of them. They only needed a small portion of Bucky and Peter so they stand off to the side for the most part. They were only really there for moral support; Bucky could tell that Steve was really out of his element on this one.

In one shot they had Steve stand next to a Jeep to show the planning of his next mission. Steve undoes the map and points along some random river as the director instructs him to do. Then Steve pulls out his compass and Bucky has to clench his jaw together. There, inside the compass, is a small photo containing Peggy Carter. It makes Bucky’s blood boil just a little hotter. Rationally he knows that underneath the picture of the beautiful women is a picture of the two on them. Right before Bucky had been shipped off they had gone to the Stark expo where they had done one of those photo machines. Bucky loved the pictures that they had taken; with him in his dress uniform and Steve still the scrawny man he knew and loved. Bucky knew the picture of Peggy was just a front, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be the one that Steve showed off to the world.

A happy and hearty laugh broke him out of his deep thoughts. He could see Dum Dum walking towards him with the others trailing close behind. Dum Dum had a bottle of what looked like whiskey in one hand and glasses in the other.

“Alright ladies and gents, I am afraid I am going to have to steal this fine captain away from you. You see us army men we defending this great nation don’t get much down time,” Dum Dum swung his arms around making it clear to everyone that he had already been drinking.

“Thus in these quite times we must rally and drink deep while we still can,” his voice boomed over the entire area. The men behind his whooped and cheered, all Bucky could do was smile at his friend’s antics.

“You heard the man,” Steve said taking off his cowl as he did. He waved Dum Dum and the rest forward ready to follow them into the bottle.

“Let’s go Bucky, Dum Dum is hilarious when he’s drunk,” Peter says trailing after Steve as him and all the others head to one of the abandoned churches off the stretch of road. Stuffing his hands in his pockets Bucky follows after the rag tag group.

The drinks are strong and plentiful around the little table that the boys had managed to put together by finding all the chairs in the place it seemed like. Everyone was loosening up, except for Steve who unfortunately couldn’t get drunk anymore due to the serum.

Bucky watched with a smile as Dum Dum made Peter laugh over and over again by repeatedly making a fool of himself. Bucky nearly choked on his own drink, laughing so hard as Dum Dum topples over his chair and lands ass up with a pitcher of drink spilled down the front of him. Peter howls with laughter as the rest of the team joins in; along with Dum Dum who’s chuckling from the group.

Things calm down from there, Morita and Jones help to pick the very inebriated Dum Dum up off the floor. Peter heads to the nearest pew to lay down as the day’s excitement starts to get to him. Bucky threatens the others with violence if they so much as raise their voices to an octave loud enough to wake the boy; he has enough trouble sleeping as it is. The boys talk and laugh amongst themselves for a while.

Bucky is enjoying the down time when he feels Steve’s hand rest upon his thigh under the table. A little higher than a friend would or should. Bucky casually looks over to the man who has a look in his eye that Bucky wants to explore. It’s just lucky everyone is off their heads with drink otherwise it would be so dangerous to look at another man the way that Steve was looking at him. It made Bucky’s heart beat just a little faster and he loved that thrill.

“Excuse us gentlemen. Bucky and I have a last minute mission report and we must be heading out,” Steve says after removing his hand and placing his cup on the table in front of him.

“If Peter wakes up let him know where we’ve gone,” Steve stands smoothing out the wrinkles of his uniform. Bucky almost wants to roll his eyes at the man, ever the proper solider. He refrains, knowing in just a moment the golden boy will be a little less perfect if Bucky has anything to say about it.

Steve makes his way to the door of the church and Bucky follows right behind the man. The church itself was probably grand when it was first constructed but now it was a hollow shell of what it once was. When they got near the door, and far enough away so the other couldn’t see them, Steve grabs his wrist and pulls him towards the alcove nearest to the door.

“I saw this on the way in here,” Steve says giddiness seeping off him.

Steve pushes the door inside the alcove and it reveals a set of stairs. They rush up them careful not to make too much noise in case anyone downstairs gets suspicious. The room they come into is large and spacious. It was clear that this was an attic of some sort meant to store valuable things. Those things of course stolen by the Nazis when they raided this area.

Steve walks further into the room and peers up at what’s left of the roof, Bucky could see a large hole in the roof giving them some natural light from the moon and stars that shine above them. Bucky glances back at Steve who was staring at the stars with a type of wonder that he hadn’t seen from the man since they were children.

The light from the moon and stars reflects off of Steve’s hair and smile, it makes Bucky weak in the knees. He missed moments like these with his best fella and he ached to be back when it was just them taking the world by storm. But if all Bucky had was the here and now with the light hitting Steve just right, well then he must be the luckiest fella out there to deserve a man like Steve.

Not being able to control himself any longer Bucky took two large strides forward and swept Steve into his arms. Steve gasped a little from the sudden contact but relaxes just as quickly. His eye are soft and reflective of the feelings they shared for one another.

“I love you Bucky Barnes,” Steve whispers.

“I love you too,” he places his lips gentle on the other man’s always asking permission for anything further. Steve replies by deepening the kiss and suddenly they are kissing as if neither of them could breathe until then.

Steve pulls away just a little bit with a sappy grin on his face, “We’re going to hell Bucky. Kissing in the church, what would your ma think,” he joked.

“Considering the state of the world right now I think the big guys got more on his plate then us kissin,” Bucky sassed right back and placed another feather like kiss upon Steve’s lips.

Chapter Text

Dear May,
It’s been a while since I’ve last been able to write you and I thought I’d drop you a line. I hope this letter finds you well and eases a bit of that worry I know your inclined to. Anyway, I wish I was home in Queens with you and Harry; but I have a real important job out here. ‘Sides I know the good ole United States will be there for me when this war is through.

The boys have been doing a swell job taking down the Nazi’s and I figure our mission is coming to an end here soon. I wish I could give you an address so I could hear from you but my location is classified.

Hope this letter gets to you before Christmas, but if it doesn’t I wish you the best.

Love,
Peter

Peters hands shake from the cold as he signs his name on the piece of paper. He knows that it isn’t much. Bucky was right, she did deserve to hear from him and Peter felt just awful for pushing off sending correspondence to May for so long.

Peter tucks his body back underneath the blanket inside his foxhole trying to stay as warm as possible. The cold seemed impenetrable and the afternoon sun was doing nothing to keep the cold at bay. Nothing seems so far away in his mind as those hot summer days in Queens New York. Where the air smelled like hot trash and people were cranky from the heat. Those days when Harry and he would run around and cause as much trouble as two teenage boys could. Those days felt so far away like it was another life entirely. Peter wonders if Harry still retained his child like wonder while he was has grown up too quickly due to the war.

Their company was hunkered down in a clearing that provided enough tree line support to not be seen. The German army was in the tree line across the field hunkered down just as they were. Neither dared to make the first move forward knowing it would mean death for both parties. That didn’t stop both sides from firing into the other.

The company was unable to make a full retreat from the area because the cloud coverage was so thick that there would be no way to get air support. As it were they were stuck in the cold for the foreseeable future. They would probably freeze to death before the support got there anyway.

Next to him Steve sits on his helmet with his feet half dangling into the hole that the three of them are occupying. Bucky sits next to Peter trying to dry his socks around his neck in order to avoid trench foot. Peter watches as Steve takes an empty ammunition box and crushes the thin layer of ice over the top. He uses the liquid water underneath to lightly shave his face with leftover soap he had gotten in the last town. Peter’s chapped lips pull into a smirk when he sees Bucky out of the corner of his eye rolling his playfully at the other man. Bucky’s letting his three-day beard turn into a four-day beard at this point.

“Hey Doc,” Peter choked out his throat tight from the cold dry air.

Their field medic stops as he walks by Peters fox hole. The medic was a young man not much older than Peter really. His nose was sharp and bright red from walking around in the chilly air; eyes sunken in and had close cropped brown hair.

“Hey Peter,” the doctor said crouching down to get a better look at him, “how you doing kid?”

Peter just shrugs his shoulders, he’s doing just as well as any other man out there, “I’m okay Doc.”

“Don’t forget to get up and move around okay. You sit in one place to long and you’ll get frostbite,” Doc says as he stands back up, “You got any scissors by chance or kept any morphine from Holland?”

“No sorry, try Jones he probably has some,” Peter says folding the letter up.

“I know you go into town occasionally to refill your supplies when you can. I was wonderin if you could take this letter with ya,” Peter asks holding out the letter with trembling hands to the man above him.

“Course kid,” the medic takes the paper from Peters hands and stuffs it into his med pack that’s slung across his chest.

“Proud of you Pete,” Bucky says from across from him. Peter nods and smiles at the man, they drift back into a calm silence since there isn’t much to do anyway.

Steve perks up suddenly and jumps to his feet. Only a moment later Peter hears the tell- tale sign of a jeep headed their way. Peter pulls himself to his feet as well, the coldness of the air making his body slow considerably. The jeep comes up from behind them and Peter can see the General of first battalion headed straight towards Steve.

On many of their missions they join other companies to make it easier for them to push deeper into enemy territory and stealthy branch off to take down a Hydra base here and there.

They had gotten new intel that Dr. Zola, the man they had been chasing all over Western Europe, was close by in a Hydra base only a few clicks from where they are. But they had lost ground because the standoff with the German army across the field making it impossible for them to move forward with their own mission.

Steve had been the man to lead the operation so it was no wonder that command was sending a General out here to deal with the all these men who couldn’t move forward and couldn’t move back either. They couldn’t get any supplies in and when they tried to air drop it, half of it ended up dropping to the Germans by mistake. Everyone hunkered down in the tree lines was short food, ammo, and warm clothes. Hell there wasn’t even an aide station for miles.

The General came marching over to Steve and Steve snaps into a salute for the man. Peter and Bucky do the same but in a much more relaxed and casual way. Steve is under so much pressure to perform well that even the slightest disregard could get him chewed out by central command.

“What’s the status out here Rodgers,” the General barks out at Steve with a voice so gruff that it sounds like two pieces of sand paper rubbing against one another.

“Sir. We have closed off the western section of the valley. But our men are spread so thin that we can’t cover all of the line. The enemy wanders into our camp by mistake half the time. We have no warm clothes or enough ammunition to cover the line,” Steve says in his best Captain America voice.

“We’ve received intel that the Germans are headed this way with resupplies soon. You and your men are goanna be up shits creek here real soon. The Kraut’s have ammo and tanks marching here as we speak,” the General says walking forward a bit as if to inspect the fox holes of the men around them.

“Sir there is no way we can cover the entire line without resupplies. There was a telegram that there is no backup past Bastogne.” Steve urged the man in front of him.

Just as quickly as the General had come he was headed back to the Jeep sparing only a passing glance, “Hold the line Captain.”

Peter stares at Steve and watches the man’s jaw clench in frustration. Steve runs a frustrated hand through his hair. There is nothing here that can help us if we get into trouble Peter realizes.

“I’m going to go see how the others are holding up,” Peter says turning away from the two. Both Steve and Bucky needed to talk strategy without Peter around to get in the way or ask to many questions. Looks like they were going to be here a lot longer that Peter initially thought.

Peter tumbles underneath the tarp that covers the fox hole that Morita, Jones, and Dum Dum were huddled under. Peter notices Dum Dum dozing in his little corner, Jones is sipping a cup of what looks like lukewarm tea. Both men who are awake greet him quietly. What really catches his attention is Morita doesn’t have any shoes on his feet only a pair of socks protecting him form the cold.

“Morita, where are your boots,” Peter asks gesturing to Morita sock clad feet.

“In Washington up General Taylors ass,” Morita mutters, “They got blown away when I took them off to dry my socks.”

It’s in the quietest moments that bad things happen Peter decides. It’s as if he can almost sense when something is about to happen. Right now is one of those times, Peter reaches for his gun just a little late. Peter feels the air thicken around him as if time is somehow slowed down; the hairs on his neck stand up to the point of being painful.

The bombs are dropped over head making the ground thunder with a force that jostles all the men inside the foxhole. Dum Dum jerks awake glancing wildly around; Peter assumption is that he’s looking for his gun.

There’s not much they can do until it’s over other than hold on tight and hope they get lucky. Jones and Morita lean themselves out of there holes and fire their rifles towards the other side of the valley.

Another intense round of bombs and bullets has someone shouting “MEDIC!” a few feet away from Peter and the others. Peter sees the Doctor race by them headed to the other foxhole ducking low and trying not to make a target of himself.

Peter pokes his head up from the fox hole to get a better look at what they’re dealing with. He can’t see much beyond the smoke and dirt in the air.

“Stay down kid, stay down!” Jones says as a hail of bullet ricochets off his helmet. Peter immediately ducks down into the hole followed by Jones.

“Aw shit, they peppered my helmet,” Jones says pulling off his helmet to look at the bullet holes.

“Better the helmet than your head,” Dum Dum calls over his shoulder from his crouched position near the top of the hole.

And just like that it goes just as quickly as it came. There is a faint silence at first but then Peter can pick up the sounds of men sobbing and calling out for help. Peter was one of the lucky ones this time.

When he’s sure that the fire has stopped Peter makes his way back to the pit that he shares with Steve and Bucky. He can see the relief in both of their eyes when he comes sauntering back tired and dirty; but, alive and well all the same. They don’t speak about it, there’s no point. They all know that one of them could be the next one to be bleeding out in one of the pits and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it.

The nights are the worst, Peter finds that he sleeps way less than he used to. You always need to be ready for anything especially in this valley. Wedged in-between Bucky and Steve to keep warm he listens to the silence that the night brings. The only sounds he can hear are the steady breathing of the two men next to him, their heartbeats just a little too fast to be asleep.

Every half hour or so there is a new round of gunfire; either on our side or the others. It leaves Peter with a jittery feeling that makes it hard to sleep.

The one good thing about joining up with other companies was that Peter got to meet many new people that he wouldn’t have otherwise. That was how he met Julian; a young man much like himself but in his 20s. Julian was born in Iowa, Peter never met anyone from there, and shipped out on the first draft. He had been fighting his was through Europe ever since.

Peter and Julian along with Steve and Bucky were sent to look for a battalion that was head their way. Julian and Peter separated from Bucky and Steve in order to cover more ground. The snow was lightly falling around them making it difficult to see very far ahead.

“I got a girl back home you know,” Julian says, “Real pretty like to. If I make if back home I’m fixin to marry that girl.”

Peter scoffs good naturedly, “A skinny guy like you. Betcha don’t even have a girl.”

“You got moxie talking to your elder like that kid. I sure do to have a girl,” Julian’s says his voice going up a few octaves. Peter laughs and Julian gives him a friendly shove grinning back at Peter.

“Where is that battalion?” Peter questions glancing around when the sound of gun fire reaches his ears.

They duck behind a large pile of wood that some men had chopped down days earlier when the gun fire starts up again. Julian and Peter wait for just a moment when the fire stops. Across the distance was another thick part of the tree line that made it able for them to retreat away from the bullets being fired. Peter nudges Julian, who is closer to that part of the tree line, signaling for where he wants the other man to head to.

Julian nods understanding the direction Peter has given him. Peter places a hand on his shoulder and waits for the perfect opportunity. Peter whispers a harsh go for Julian to move and Julian starts a crouch run to the other side of the trees.

As soon as he steps out behind the logs the bullets fire again; one catches directly in Julian’s throat. Peter watches as the other man drops to the floor bleeding and twitching looking at peter with wide frightened eyes. Peter stares back at the man, his friend, unsure what to do.

“Stay still, stay still,” Peter tells him reaching out his arm. Julian continues to jerk his body as if he is trying to crawl closer to Peter. Peter can’t help but compare Julian’s body to a fish as he flops.

Peter tries to go out into the opening to grab the man but he can’t reach him as the gun fire gets louder and closer to where he’s standing. He can’t help the other man if he himself get shot.

“BUCKY! STEVE!” Peter cries desperately for the other men to come save him.

The two men come flying out of the tree right behind where Peter and Julian had come from. Steve lays suppressing fire towards the enemy hoping to give them more room to get the man who was slowly bleeding out in front of Peters eyes.

“I can get to him” Peter says with desperation clawing at him. The German artillery is thick and there is no way to reach and drag the other man in. They’re being forced backwards with nowhere to go.

“We need to retreat,” Steve says still laying covering fire.

“No we can’t just leave him,” Peter shouts over the gun fire as Julian’s body starts to convulse from losing to much blood. Peter feels the back of his collar being tugged. He is being half dragged half carried away from the standoff, he can feel Bucky dragging him with Steve hot on their heels.

“Stay still, look at me, were coming back. Just hold on!” Peter shouts at the man. Bucky pulls him to his feet and they march fast back towards the tree line with Bucky still nearly carrying him.

The three of them make it back to where the main stretch of the fox holes are. Many men gathering around to see what’s happening. The Doc comes rushing forward pushing his way through the small crowd forming.

“Cap what happened out there,” he asks them. Steve explains that they got hung out to dry in the tree lines. The enemy battalion is so close that it’s a suicide mission to walk any farther east than absolutely needed.

“We need to go back, one of our own is out there. Julian, he’s dying we need to go back,” Peter says desperately acting every bit of the teenager he is. Don’t they understand that he needs their help?

Peter can see Bucky and Steve ready to go back for the man when the Colonel makes himself known. Colonel Marks is second only to the General and is just as tough when it comes to putting his foot down. He’s been running interference between the General and the base camp that all of these men were currently occupying. Peter thinks he must have just gotten back.

Colonel Marks comes charging forward, “What do you all think you’re doing. Separate before we’re all shot to hell! We need to fall back right now!” and he leaves making his way back towards where he came.

“Steve,” Peter whispers out to him, “Please, we need to go.”

“I’m so sorry Peter,” Steve turns his head away, “There’s nothing we can do for him now.”

“Bucky?” Peter turns to the man beside him.

“Peter. Julian, he’s gone buddy, we’ll get his body back soon I promise,” Bucky can’t meet his eyes either.

The silence is deafening for the rest of the day, no one dares to speak a word. Peter retreats inside himself no words to be had for his fallen friend. No tears but non the less sorrow in every bone in his body. What if it had been Bucky out there? Steve?

Just like every evening before Peter is wedged between Bucky and Steve in order to keep them all warm on the frigid nights. Bucky digs through his bag and produces a piece of chocolate for Peter to eat that he picked up in the last town. Peter lets it hang there between them opting to stare at the wall of pit instead.

“I promised if he got hit I bring his stuff back to his ma you know” Peter voice wobbles thick with emotions.

Steve wraps an arm Peter pulling him close underneath the thin blanket that warmed all of them.

“Now the Nazi’s will strip him!” Peter grits out.

“Hey, Hey, Hey it’s okay,” Bucky says trying to sooth him.

“No it’s not! It’s not oaky,” Peter shouts, “I should have got to him.” Peter turns into Steve’s chest and lets out a sob.

Minutes pass; Bucky, Peter, and Steve huddled together for warmth. The war has taken so much from all of them and Peter just wants to go home.

“I don’t want to lose you guys,” Peter says into the freezing air as if just uttering the words will make them true.

Chapter Text

Peter POV
Things had gone to shit really fast for Peter and the Commandos, for starters they had been assigned to take down a Hydra facility just inside the boarder of Germany itself. The Hydra compound was nestled in a small boarder town right outside of Kempten Germany. The village was small and unassuming. Most of the buildings were old and nothing like what Peter had grown up seeing in New York. The compound itself sat at the base of a green hill that seemed to go on for miles and was just tall enough for the village peoples view of the weapons factory to be obstructed.

The mission had started off pretty smoothly at first, considering the location. Peter and Morita
had been assigned recon positions. Peters agility and powers giving him a distinct advantage over the other men in the squad. Morita, being a classically trained dancer, was lighter on his feet than any person that Peter has ever met.

Bucky was their eyes in the sky always there to have Peter, Steve, and the rest of the squads back when need be. The other men were stationed around the compound in a strategic way as to easily move in and take down the base when given the orders.

Steve was waiting on word from Peter and Morita so that he could give the orders to the men on standby. Overall pretty standard for the team, but that’s where everything started to fall apart.

“Peter,” Morita whispered to him, “Climb up the side of the wall to that window. See if you can get any info on what kind of building this is and who’s around.”

Peter nods and starts to make his way up the side of the concreate building. Dressed in his typical black combat gear it gives him the perfect cover with the backdrop of night around him.

He reaches the window that Morita pointed out and he takes a quick peak inside. Nothing unusual stands out to him. More research labs like most of the other compounds they’ve taken down, Peter thinks to himself and he slowly lowers himself back down to the floor landing softly next to his partner mirroring his crouched position.

“Three lab techs, 5 guards in this hall, and there are sure to be others. As for other workers I counted ten. All could be armed,” Peter whispered to the man in front of him.

“Perfect. Give the signal,” Morita says in response.

Peter pulls out a small mirror from his pocket and angels in such a manner that it reflects off the moon. With his advanced sight he can see Steve acknowledge his signal with a tight short nod. Steve motions the rest of the team into attack positions with a raise of his hand. Peter can see each member of the team ready their bodies rigid with tension. He sees Bucky take a large breath and Peter knows that is the last full breath he will take until this whole raid is complete.

Just as Steve waves his hand to start the quite but deadly alarm rings out around them. Peter jerks his eyes back to Morita on his left and he is just as confused as Peter is at the sound of the blaring alarm.

There is a large explosion on the east side of the compound and Peter scans the area for anyone on their way to expose the commandos who are all still hidden in the shadows around the compound. Steve’s hand is raised in a fist still signaling the men to halt their advance.

It happens in a breath, to blink would be to miss it. A gun shot rings out and Steve is on the floor. Peter jumps to his feet in horror as the man crumples. His mind flashes back to his friend Neal dropping like a sack of potatoes before he and Bucky were captured by Hydra. Even though Morita doesn’t have as good as sight as Peter he must have saw what happened because he is yanking Peter back down to the floor next to him.

“He’s fine, he has a vest on remember!” Morita whisper shouts at him over the blood rushing to Peters face and the sounds of the sirens going off around them making him feel dizzy.

“He’s fine! But we still have a job to do,” Morita shouts in his ear. He’s right, it’s their job to go in a retrieve as much data as they can while everyone is distracted with the fighting on the outside of the compound.

Bucky must have taken up command while Steve is on the floor because Peter picks up the sounds of his teammate rushing into the battle full force. Morita and him slip through the unguarded door on the side of the compound.

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The fighting slows to a halt as the commandos take down the base piece by piece. The men round up as many Hydra agents as they can, but like many missions a lot them escape to the surrounding woods. The captured would usually ingest a cyanide capsule before the commandos could get any questions out of them.

Bucky hauled Steve up by the shoulders and the other commandos started to wrap things up around the compound. Steve grips his middle where the bullet made contact with the special vest Stark had made all of them wear. If they took a bullet it would knock the wind out of you but otherwise you’d be perfectly fine, baring the chance the bullet made contact with you head then you’d be shit out of luck.

“Where is Parker and Morita?” Bucky asks aloud scanning the area around not seeing the two.

“Might still be inside trying to find more info,” Steve suggested leaning more of his weight onto Bucky.

The other commandos make their way over to Steve and him but Peter and Morita still aren’t anywhere to be seen. They know that any mission requires quick entry and quick exist, otherwise they run the risk of being caught.

Bucky scans the area again trying to get any visuals on the boy. The team is situated at the tree line at the top of the hill that overlooks the compound.

Just as Bucky is about to march down there and find the kid himself he feels a rumbling under his feet. His eyes jerk in Steve’s direction; Steve has the wide eyed terrified look on his face that Bucky is sure he sports as well.

He hears it before he sees it, the thundering boom of bombs being set off. Then on the west side of the compound he sees the unmistakable rage of fire engulf the building. He lets go of Steve and takes off in the direction of the explosion. He can feel rather than see Steve right behind them as they rush to the building that Morita and Peter should have used to leave the compound.

The rumbling under his feet gets louder as they get closer to the building. Just before he reaches the door the building explodes in a fiery glory. Bucky is toss backwards and lands with a harsh thud. He digs his hands into the soil around him to ground himself as the heat from the fire washes over him.

Bucky feels two arms hauling him to his feet and he nearly gags as a dizzy spell floats over him. Steve is trying to say something to him but all he hears is a ringing in his ears. He scans desperately for anything in his surrounding that will help him locate Peter.

“Bucky…need… to,” Steve says. Bucky can’t hear him with the ringing still in his ear. He struggles in Steve’s grip trying to get him to understand that Peter still is inside somewhere.

“Can’t …. Go…. Dangerous,” Steve pleads with him.

The fire and smoke around them is thick as more and more bombs are set off around the compound, bringing everything down in a shower of fiery rage. It coats Bucky’s senses and he can’t feel anything other than the heat of the fire on his face and the ashy taste on his tongue.

Everything is abruptly snapped into focus and Bucky can see a shadowy figure in the distance struggling towards the top of the hill. Bucky finally breaks free of Steve’s hold and rush’s the figure that is vailed in a shadows of thick black and grey smoke.

As he gets closer he can just barely make out the slight curl of Peters hair, which has him racing towards the figure at full speed.

Once he is close enough he can see not only Peter but also Morita who is unconscious and being dragged by Peter.

“Peter,” Bucky rasps out choked by the thick smoke around them.

Peter looks over to him and wheezes out a small, “Bucky,” as if he can’t quite believe that Bucky is actually standing in front of him. His grip tightens on Morita holding desperately to the other man.

“Come on son, we need to get everyone out of the smoke,” Steve says to the boy.

“You’re okay,” Peter says as more of a statement rather than a question.

“Course kiddo, someone’s gotta to look out for you two knuckle heads,” Steve tells him as he makes quick strides over to where the boy and the solider are. With his unnatural strength he hefts the man over his shoulder and places a hand on Peters head.

“Let’s move out,” Steve says pushing everyone forward towards where the rest of the commandos wait for them.

The smoke is thick and heavy in the air and every breath is hard. But Bucky and the rest of the men continue the small trek up the side of the hill away from all the ashy air and the crumbling buildings.

They see the other commandos bunched together waiting for them and watching as the night is illuminate by the fire below them. Steve makes it up the hill first with Bucky and Peter a few paces behind him.

Steve gently lays down Morita checking that he is still breathing and determines he will be fine with some rest. Bucky watches as Peter collapses onto the muddy grass with his knees pulled up to his chest. Peter doesn’t say anything and Bucky doesn’t ask, the questions of what happened will come soon enough.

As for right now the men just watch as the night slowly fades away and brings a lightness around the fiery ashes of the compound below that is still ablaze. Peter pulls off his soot covered helmet and rubs his face with the inside of his shirt; which does nothing except rub the mud, sweat, and ash around his face even more.

They stand in a line, some men sitting some men standing but all reflecting in this silent moment. The only sound being the crackling of the fire below.

“Please give me strength, Lord.
And help me do my best.
That my every effort and every deed blest
I want to live just like all other men
I want to work and laugh and sing again
But if it needful to take my life from me
Make it count the best” *

Gabe whispers the prayer just loud enough for all the men to hear him. All Bucky can think in that moment, as he wraps an arm around Steve’s shoulder to pull him close and places a hand upon Peters curly head, is that tough times are ahead of them. It will be dangerous and hard but surrounded by these men, these brothers, they might just make it out alive.

Chapter Text

Peter stares blankly at the snow gathering around them on the top of the mountain side. Next to him Bucky breathes hot air into his gloved hands trying to stay as warm as possible. Both of them waiting for Steve and the rest of the boys to show up from the mandated reconnaissance mission.

This is their shot to finally get Dr. Zola; the higher ups have it on good authority that he and his lackeys are on a train heading north. Bucky and Peter have been chosen to set up camp while Steve and the other Commandoes are confirming that the train will take off on time and everything will run smoothly.

Now it was just a waiting game. Waiting for Steve, waiting for the commandoes, waiting for Zola.

Peter glances over to Bucky as the man stares forward off the edge of the cliff. Bucky notices him staring and gives him a tight smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Peter can feel the tension rolling off the man in waves. He doesn’t think this mission is going to end well and it is written all over his face.

“Bucky,” Peter says glancing down at his feet.

“Yeah,” Bucky replies voice tight.

“I need to tell you somethings before…” Peter starts but Bucky cuts in.

“We ain’t doing that kid. I don’t want to hear ‘you tell my aunt I love her’ nonsense. We’ve been through a lot more than this and we will do so much more,” Bucky grits out.

“Well if you’d let me finish my thought,” Peter grumbled at the man. Bucky looks at him almost sizing him up and finally nods for Peter to continue.

“I need you to know some things about me,” Peter says still not able to meet the man’s gaze, “I need you to know what happened in that room you and Steve found me in.”

Bucky’s gaze is almost burning into him waiting for Peter to get on with it. He can’t look up and see what Bucky must think of him after he tells him all of the terrible things that happened in that small lab.

“He call me his pet,” Peter suddenly angry, “His pet experiment.”

Peter holds his arms around his body tightly trying to protect himself from the memories as much as from the cold.

“He did things Bucky, terrible things. There were so many injections into my body I lost count. He changed me down to my very being.” Peter says hotly in a quiet tone.

“Peter,” Bucky says just as quietly.

“He made me a freak,” Peter feels the hot tears fall from his face and he brushes them away quickly.

“No Pete. He didn’t turn you into a freak. I know Pete, I’ve known for a while that you have some sort of abilities,” Bucky tells him.

Peter’s head jerks to stare a Bucky, his mind working hard to clarify what the man had said. Bucky places a hand on top of his head in a friendly gesture trying to comfort him.

“What?” Peter asks stunned.

“You forget Steve has crazy good hearing? Not hard to hear you sulking around. Not to mention when you get hurt you heal way faster than everyone else,” Bucky tells him trying to lessen the thick tension that still hangs in the air.

“Listen Kid. What happened in that room doesn’t change who you are at your core. You might have changed physically, but you’re still a skinny punk from Queens. You’re a good kid Peter, don’t even forget that. I’m just sorry I couldn’t stop what happened to you,” Bucky says pulling Peters head close to his side.

Peter feels most of the tension seep out of his body. He feels lighter now, somehow knowing that Bucky understands what happened to him takes a weight of his chest. Peter doesn’t blame Bucky for what happened. He blames himself.

But there’s not much time to be feeling guilty when they had a war to win. And Peter was a solider with a job to do.

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The ledge that faces the sheer rock side of the cliff is tiny. Much too small for all eight of the Commandoes to be situated upon. Four of the men are huddle around a small radio that is rattling off information in German. To Peter it sounds like gibberish. Off to the side, Gabriel is setting up the remaining parts of the zip line that all of them will be jumping from shortly. Peter, Bucky, and Steve all stare out and off the cliff face. Staring down to the jagged rocks at the bottom of the mountain.

“Remember when I made you ride the cyclone at Coney Island?” Bucky asked looking down over the ledge of the mountain.

“Yeah and I threw up,” Steve grunts.

“This isn’t pay back, is it?” Bucky jokes looking at the zip line.

“And why would I do that,” Steve snarks back.

“We were right. Dr. Zola is on the train” Falsworth cuts in, “Hydra dispatch gave the order to open up the throttle.”

Peter, Bucky, and Steve turn to face the man.

“Where ever he’s going Hydra must need him bad”, Falsworth says stuffing his binoculars back into his pack

Steve jerks his cowl over his head and signals everyone to suit up. Peter grabs his line from Dum Dum and quickly gets into line. He is struck with how similar this situation is to when Bucky and he made their initial jump into France. Peter can barely remember that boy who jumped out of the plane. So full of passion to save the world and jittery from nerves.

Now though as he stares off the cliff of this mountain he is filled with resolve. A numb sense filling his whole body.

“We better get going they’re moving like the devil,” Morita states moving to line up behind Peter.

Steve hooks up to the zip line and, turning back to the men, he shouts over the wind, “We’ve got about a ten second window, you miss that window we’re bugs on a windshield.”

“Mind the gap,” Dernier jokes hooking his line.

“Better get moving Bugs,” Dum Dum says.

Steve leaps off the platform followed closely by Bucky with Peter following up in the rear. The other Commandoes follow in quick succession.

Peter feels the cold mountain air slapping his face so hard he would be surprised if some of his skin wasn’t cut open by it. The train comes barreling into view as he and the commandoes slide down the zip line to hit their mark. Peter grips the handles that are holding him aloft hard. As they line up perfectly with the train Peter can feel his heart start to race.

They drop onto the train that is chugging along the tracks with a hearty thunk each bracing onto the train to steady themselves. The train continues on; Peter can feel the groan of the machine under his feet as it picks up speed. Steve, Peter, and Bucky shuffle towards the front of the train where they assume the Dr. Zola is.

The wind is whipping Peter so hard in the face that he can barely make out the two other men in front of him. He tries to make his footsteps sure and fast trying to keep up but the wet ice makes it hard to keep his balance.

The other commandoes drop into the lower compartments of the train to take out any other Hydra that may be lurking.

All three of them make it to the top of the train with Peter bringing up the rear. They drop down the side of the train using the ladder and quickly shimmy into the door.

The compartment is quite for a Hydra train; Peter thinks as the three of them work their way farther into the compartment. Bucky draws his pistol; Peter does the same. Steve pulls out a small hand gun and tucks his shield closer to his body. Steve walks through the first door with Bucky and Peter following his lead.

Before they can walk through, the door suddenly closes behind Steve leaving Bucky and Peter stranded in the compartment behind him. Steve whorls around in time to see the door close separating them.

Just as Steve is trying to reopen the door separating him there is high pitch buzz behind him. Steve quickly jumps out of the way of the shot fired in his direction.

Peter stares through the window as the metal man fires again at Steve. But there is no time to help him. Two men in Hydra uniforms burst through the door on the opposite side of the compartment that Bucky and Peter are currently trapped in. They open fire and Bucky and Peter dive for the sides of the train out of eye shot of the Hydra soldiers firing at them. Peter fires back in quick bursts, as does Bucky. The loud rattle of gun fire fills the compartment. Soon they both run out of ammunition and are trapped.

Peter hears a knock on the window and sees Steve standing there looking at Bucky indicating he had a plan. Bucky nods and Steve opens the automatic door tossing his gun in Bucky’s direction which Bucky easily catches.

Steve raises his shield and runs right into one the ammunition boxes on the shelves in front of Peter. Hitting it just right so that it slides forward right into the only remaining Hydra agents hiding spot, making him jump to his left and right into Bucky’s line of sight.

“I had him on the ropes,” Bucky grunted as the last man collapsed.

“I know you did,” Steve smiles at the man.

“Get a room,” Peter says lifting himself off the floor of the compartment.

Just then the metallic whorl of a charging weapon breaks through the happy chatter. Steve puts his shield up pushing Peter into Bucky making them stumble backwards.

“Get dow….” Steve shouts as the blue light strikes his shield and blows a giant hole in the side of the train. Steve is thrown to the floor his back hitting the side of the train with a sickening crunch. The blow is so powerful that Steve loses his shield and it clatters to the ground.

Peter is the first one on his feet. Grabbing Steve’s shield and holding it tight in his grip he moves forward towards the giant machined man. He raises his gun to shoot but only gets one shot off before the laser is once again fired, this time directly at him. He goes flying out the side of the gaping hole in the side of the train.

Steve rushes forward to grab the shield that went flying out of Peters hand. He throws it hard and it slams into the machined man who goes flying backward.

Bucky desperately rushes to the side of the train where Peter has gone flying out of. He sees Peter holding onto a thin metal bar with everything he’s got. But the wind and the slippery bar is making it hard for the Peter to hold on. Peter stares hopelessly at Bucky and tries to reach for the man.

“Peter!” Bucky screams in anguish over the rushing wind. Steve watches in horror as Bucky climbs out onto the chunk of train that is holding Peter and now Bucky.

“Grab my hand, “Bucky tells him reaching out his hand for Peter to grab. Peters eyes have blown wide in fear. He bets that Bucky can see it written all over his face as he tries to swing his hand over to the older mans.

The uneven weight distribution causes the bar that Peter is holding onto to snap clean off. Bucky snatches the boy’s wrist before he can fall but the weight from the both of them is too much for the piece of scrap metal to hold.

The whole side of the train comes clean off and both Peter and Bucky go with it. Steve reaches for them as they fall but misses. He hears their panicked shrieks as they plummet off the side of the mountain and to their deaths.

Steve collapses to his knees as his entire world is stripped from him in the blink of an eye.

Chapter Text

Washington D.C. 2012

The journey here had been an arduous one. There was a deep tiredness that Steve could feel in his bones. After Bucky, after Peter, the fight with Red Skull, being frozen in the artic for 70 years, waking up to find the world being invaded by aliens. After all of it, Steve was just tired.

He took a position with Shield after the Avenger’s victory at the Battle of New York. It wasn’t something that he was particularly passionate about but rather a means of survival. If he stopped fighting now he didn’t know what else he would do. He was, after all, a solider without a war.

Ultimately that’s what led him here to the museum he was currently standing in. The Smithsonian was doing a small exhibit on him and the other Commandoes. The whole thing made Steve feel even more out of time.

He pulled his blue baseball cap lower over his eyes. He couldn’t imagine getting caught at a museum that’s about himself. Tony and the other Avengers would have a field day with that one he’s sure of it.

Steve rides the escalators up to where the exhibit was being housed. On either side of the escalator there were giant flags with his face on them. He was standing in salute, decked out in his Captain America uniform. Looking all the bit as righteous as everyone says he does. All he can think about is how different that man is to the person he is now.

The Captain America in the 40s had his friends, his family, his lover. The Captain America today has the Avengers, Shield, and the Shield issued apartment. Steve looked away from the flags that seem to mock him.

He makes his way deeper into the room that was housing the Captain America exhibit. Steve shuffles along with everyone else in line to see the great Captain America’s history come to life.

Inside there is a large sign in big block letters that you can’t miss displaying the words, “Welcome Back Cap” followed by the American flag and a smaller blurb saying, “Captain America: The living legend and the symbol of courage.”

Steve shifts away from the signs, turning to his right and coming face to face with a large mural of himself that takes up nearly half the room. He fidgets with his hat again, thinking to himself that maybe this wasn’t the best of ideas.

“The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery, and sacrifice.” The overhead speaker blares out on a loop. Steve walks further in to the exhibit and watch’s as children salute him and try to measure their height against his before he became a super solider.

“Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a project unique to the annals of American Warfare one that would transform him into the world’s first super solider.”

Steve catches the glance of a young boy, no older that 6-7, staring intently at him. He’s wearing a Captain America shield on his t-shirt and Steve knows his cover is blown. He looks at the kid and very seriously puts his finger to his mouth in a shushing motion and gives the kid a wink. The boy smiles widely and nods his head feverishly in response. Steve gives him a returning smile and continues into the exhibit.

“Battle kissed, Captain American and his Howling Commandoes quickly earn their stripes.” Steve stops in front of a large display of all the Commandoes uniforms. With his uniform standing center stage and flanked by both Bucky’s and Peters.

“Their mission, taking down Hydra. The Nazi rouge science division.”

Steve turns from the uniforms and see out of the corner of his eye two large photographs. One of Peter smiling widely at the camera. The other of Bucky with his trademark smirk. Each photo has a small description of their lives and how they came to be in the Howling Commandoes.

“Best friends since childhood Bucky Barnes and Steven Rodgers where inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes and Parker were the only Howling Commandoes to give their lives.”

Steve places his hand on the glass between both Peter and Bucky. Overwhelmed by the sudden urge to sob. The glass changes from the simple picture and description to a short clip of Bucky, Steve, and Peter. Steve watches as Peter tries to run away from the two of them, only to be playfully pulled back by the collar of his jacket. Bucky puts him in a loose choke hold and teasingly ruffles the boy’s hair. Steve watches himself laughing at the two other men’s attics. Video Steve throws his head back laughing so hard as Peter breaks free but lands right on his butt scowling up at Bucky. Video Bucky clutches his side from laughing so hard until the video ends with all three soldiers in hysterics.

Steve takes his hand off the glass and walks right out of the museum.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York 2013

The bowl of cereal in front of him gets more and more saturated as Steve just stares at it. He just can’t bring himself to eat any of it. It’s just as sad and plain as the apartment he was currently living in. Another Shield safe house devoid of any personal touches of home that he associates New York with.

Steve sighs and picks up the bowl of soggy cereal and dumps it down the drain. He inwardly cringes a bit watching the food going down the sink because he knew what his mother would have said for wasting food like that.

With one last glance around the plain beige apartment Steve grabs his jacket from the rack by the door and quickly tugs in on. He takes the stairs down to the street two at a time, suddenly feeling suffocated from the confines of that building.

When he steps out onto the street he is met with the pungent stench of New York which is oddly comforting. It doesn’t smell anything like the past he remembers but rather something that is sorely consistent every time. Pulling out his trusted baseball cap, Steve pulls it on low over his eyes, and makes the short walk to his first destination of the day.

The building that he is looking for is a relatively short walk from his apartment and he is grateful for that. The old apartment building in which Steve spent most of his adult life with Bucky was run down and in disrepair. The whole building looked condemned, if someone even so much as breathed on it too hard the whole thing would collapse.

But for Steve it filled in a little part of his soul that seemed to be missing these days. His heart was like the an empty pit, the harder he tried to hold onto the shovel and fill in that pit the deeper and deeper it got.

Steve places a hand on the fence that surrounds the building. There was really no one around since this neighbor had started to decay.

“Hey Buck,” Steve whispers out loud, “Been try’n to find ways to be closer to you. Nothing seems to work anymore. Thought I’d try our old home but it doesn’t seem like you’re here either. I feel like I’m going crazy all the time, dammit Buck, I miss you so much. And I know what you’d say. Teasing me for using bad language when I was always on you and Pete for the same thing.”

Steve pauses as his voice starts to crack and he tries to hold back the tears that threaten to spill down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m sorry! You hear me Bucky I’m sorry! And Peter, god he was so young,” Steve grips the fence so hard that he feels it start to bend under the pressure. He immediately pulls his hand off the fence and stares at it.

“What good are these powers if it couldn’t even save the people I love the most” Steve bites out angrily. Consumed by the feeling of despair Steve kicks the fence in front of him hard, but not hard enough to cause damage. He does it again and again until he feels the anger drain away and he is left numb again. It wasn’t like he could kick the fence hard enough and suddenly all his friends from 70 years ago would be alive.

Steve grips the fence hard again trying to regain his steady breathing. He had one more stop today and he needed to be in control when he went. Steve straightens himself up and runs a hand through his hair in order to tame it down.

The next stop was further away than his Brooklyn neighborhood, he could have walked there but it was easier to just take a taxi. He quickly hails down a cab and jumps into the small car.

“Where to?” The cabbie asks not even glancing back at Steve.

“Calvary Cemetery, Queens,” Steve tells the man who nods and they set off.

The ride wasn’t as long as Steve would have predicted with the New York traffic as bad as it was. It took about half an hour to make it to the gates of the cemetery. The whole ride Steve stared out at the changed New York skyline.

“Here we are sir. That’ll be $23.55” the cabbie tells him. Steve quickly pull out the cash from his wallet and tells the man to keep the change.

He hops out of the cab and it speeds off to pick up the next person. Steve stares at the gates to the cemetery transfixed wondering if he should go it or not. Behind him he can hear a couple of people speaking.

Turning around he notices a little old lady selling flowers across the street. Steve grins and jogs over to the lady pulling out a couple of dollars.

“Did you lose someone sweetheart?” The lady asks as Steve comes to stand in front of her.

“Yes,” Steve says truthfully even though he’s sure she is asking about the person he may be visiting.

“I am sorry to hear that doll. Here you go hun, this one is on the house.” The lady says holding out a single white flower for him.

“Oh no, please let me pay for that,” Steve says trying to hand the lady some cash.

“No need dear. Sometimes doing a small act for someone else when they really need it is payment enough. Now go on over there and give that flower to whomever is wait’n,” she says gently handing the flower to Steve.

Steve takes the flower reluctantly and thanks the older lady for her kindness. It strikes him suddenly that she and he are probably more close in age than anyone else he knows.

It takes him a while to find the person that he is looking for but he finally does. Her grave is pretty well maintained but Steve still wipes away some of the moss that has started to set in over the grave.

May Parker
June, 15 1900-Febuary, 2 1990
Loving Wife, Aunt, Nurse

Steve sets the flower down over the grave silently thanking the woman again for the flower. He shuffles back awkwardly not really sure what to say.

“Hi, uh, Mrs. Parker. You don’t know me I guess. Or maybe you do, maybe Peter and Bucky have told you some things about me? Well they are both punks, so don’t listen to them. But tell them I’m sorry and that they are with me still even now in this strange new world.”

He shifts on his feet trying to think of what to say to this woman who lost her last family member because of him.

“I owe you an apology too. I was supposed to look out for him, Peter that is. Me and Bucky made it our mission to keep him safe. They just fell so fast that I didn’t see it coming, I swear I tried. I should have jumped with them. Maybe there was something I could have done!” Steve pauses catches himself rambling.

“I just wanted to come here and tell you that I am sorry I cost you your nephew life. If I could trade my own for his I would in a heartbeat. There was no one purer, smarter, and generally good than Peter Parker. I also want to say thank you for raising one of the best people I have ever met.” Steve places a hand on top of the grave stone.

“Sorry it took so long.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York 2014

Steve was sporting a new black eye. Granted in the next couple hours it will be healed so he can’t complain too much. The man in the bar had it coming, taunting him like that. He should be glad that Steve couldn’t get drunk and that he had control over his own strength.

Sure he was a little guilty about sucker punching the man, he was Captain America after all. What was it they say about him? Captain America stands for truth, justice, and the America way? Well the man should have taken his hands off that women as soon as she said stop.

Steve threw back another shot of whatever was in the bottle the bar tender had put in front of him. It all tasted the same and never really did anything from him. But it made him feel better anyway regardless of the fact that he couldn’t get drunk.

He grunted and placed the glass on the table of the small corner booth that he was currently occupying. He found this dingy little dive bar on one of his morning runs, Steve figured it would be a great place to hide from the world. A place where he didn’t have to be anyone other than Steve. Where the weight of the world wasn’t on his shoulders, where the deaths of everyone he loved threaten to choke him.

Steve tossed back another shot, can’t help a fella for trying.

“Steve,” a gentle voice said standing over him at the edge of the table.

“Leave me alone,” Steve grunted staring into the empty glass.

“Steve,” Tony says again just as gently. He places a hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“I am not in the mood to fight with you Tony,” Steve hisses at the man shaking Tony’s hand off his shoulder harshly.

“Well then get ahold of yourself for five minutes, we need to get out of here before the press shows up!” Tony angrily whispers back at him trying to take the large bottle of alcohol from off the table.

Steve stands quickly throws the glass he’s been clenching in his fists for the past couple of hours at the wall. The glass shatters and Steve is breathing hard as he stares at Tony who now has the bottle in his hands. He briefly sees fear in the other man’s eyes before Tony quickly slips his sunglasses on over his eyes and it’s gone.

The fight goes out of Steve in an instant, “I’m sorry,” Steve whispers voice breaking. Tony just nods and helps Steve out of the booth.

Tony puts his arm around Steve and leads him out of the small bar. Once on the curb Tony hands Steve his jacket that he had totally forgotten about. Tony holds open the door of a car that is parked in front of the building. Steve must really be off tonight because he didn’t even notice the car.

Steve climbs into the back and takes a seat and soon Tony is slipping into the seat next to him. Steve rests his head on the cold glass window as Tony tell his drive to head for the Avenger Tower.

“The Avenger Tower?” Steve asks turning to look at Tony.

“Yeah. I’m think you need a friend tonight and not a beige Shield prison. I mean apartment,” Tony tells him pulling out his phone tapping away on it.

Steve doesn’t say anything and leans his head back onto the window of the car and waits for it to take him to the Tower. The last time he had been in the Tower was when they had taken down Loki during the Battle of New York. God he hasn’t even seen Tony or any of the other Avengers since then. Except briefly in passing here and there.

Tony’s driver pulls up to the underground entrance and it only takes a minute until they are both standing in Tony’s penthouse apartment at the top of the Avengers Tower formerly known as Stark Tower.

Steve picks up the sounds of light feet heading in Tony’s and his direction. He tenses up ready for an enemy. But rather he sees a woman that he vaguely recognizes walk into the room wearing a robe and slippers squinting at the two of them.

“Tony,” Pepper says in a questioning tone.

“Hey Pep. Steve is gonna stay with us tonight. Go back to bed I’ll be in a little later,” Tony tells the women striding over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to the kitchen.

“We both know that’s a lie Mr. Stark” Pepper winks at Tony who grins back, “Goodnight Steve. Make sure he doesn’t cause to much trouble.”

Steve can hear Tony squawk in protest about not being responsible enough to not get in trouble but Pepper has already started to walk back from where she came from, most likely their bedroom.

“I should go. I don’t want to intrude,” Steve says not moving from where he had gotten off the elevator.

“Come here. We are going to get your properly drunk,” Tony tells him waving his hand signaling him over.

Steve shuffles over to where Tony gestured for him to sit, intrigued. The other man rifles around in his cabinets looking for something.

“Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn’t just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which mean, um, I can’t get drunk.” Steve tells Tony.

“Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person. It definitely could be a side effect of the serum,” Tony says still looking around. He must have found what he was looking for because he reached into one of the cabinets on the top shelf and pulled out a large black bottle.

“However, thanks to our Norse friend we happen to have alcohol for the gods. I’m sure even your metabolism is no match for Asgardian Mead,” Tony tells him shaking the bottle then placing it in front of Steve.

Tony pours out a glass for Steve but gets water for himself; when Steve frowns at Tony he says simply, “I’ve been trying to cut back.”

Steve tosses the drink back and it is nothing like anything he has ever tried before in his life. Unlike the drinks at the bar earlier this stuff makes the inside of his stomach warm considerably.

“I think it’s gonna work,” Steve grins at Tony.

“Good, I’m glad,” Tony tells him pouring Steve another glass.

“Tony, how’d you know where I was this evening?” Steve asks after gulping down another shot.

“Captain Americas punch’s man in the face defending woman’s honor,” Tony reads off his phone placing it in front of Steve for him to read.

Ashamed Steve lowers his head and sips on the next drink that is poured mulling over what Tony said.

“That does sound like me doesn’t it,” Steve says sarcastically into his cup.

There is a moments pause and Steve can feel Tony’s eyes burning into the top of his head. He can tell that Tony wants to ask some bigger and more difficult questions. But Steve isn’t sure he is ready to answer them yet.

They stay like that for a while, Steve drinking the Asgardian Mead and Tony sipping on his water. Steve guess that Tony is ready to talk, they both know he is not a patient man, by the way that he is shifting from one foot to another.

“You read the report didn’t you,” Steve asks the other man.

“Didn’t have to. My father was Howard and you were his pride and joy. I knew the story of Captain America, Bucky Banes, and Peter Parker the day I was born.” Tony said almost bitterly. Steve doesn’t know how to respond to that, just hearing those names makes him feel like he is hurtling towards something on the brink of collapse.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Tony says more gently this time his eyes softening as he stares at Steve.

“You know that’s not true,” Steve says reaching for the bottle again.

“You did everything you could. Did you believe in your friends? Did you respect them? Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Branes and Parker the dignity of what they did. The sure as shit thought you were worth dying for,” Tony says.

Steve feels the hot tears slip down his face before he can even process them and wipe away the evidence. He clutches his chest and the sobs start coming and he’s not sure he can make them stop now that they are here. He doubles over the counter top trying to suck in the air around him but it’s getting harder and harder.

He feels rather than sees Tony move around the counter to stand next to him. The other man places a hand on top of his shoulders as the sobs rack his body.

“I loved him! He’s gone! I will never get to see him again. I feel so out of place in this world, everything is so different and the one person that I used to turn to when things got hard is dead” Steve grits out in a painful breath.

“I loved him,” Steve says softer this time.

“I know,” Tony says wrapping an arm around his head and letting the other man cry.

When Steve finally gets ahold of himself he pulls away from Tony and wipes his eyes with the sleeves of his jacket.

“The way you’re currently going Steve; you’ll end up destroying yourself. Right now the best thing you can do is get some rest, you can sleep in the guest room. Or if you’re not comfortable with that you can sleep out here on the couch. It’s pretty comfortable, I’ve slept on it here and there.” Tony tells him patting his shoulder.

“Thanks Tony. For being a friend. I know we didn’t really see eye to eye in the beginning. I’m…I’m glad you reached out. I haven’t been a very good friend to anyone recently,” Steve says tugging at the cuff of his jacket.

“Don’t mention it pal. Get some sleep we can talk tomorrow,” Tony says.

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Bucharest 2016
Bucky POV

He was free for the first time in a very long time Bucky thinks. After the helicarriers had gone down in Washington D.C. and Bucky had fished that man out of the Potomac he had fled. He ran as far and as fast as he could. His mind was devoid of the heavy fog that had turned him into a murderer. He needed time and space away from the control of Hydra.

Bucky doesn’t really remember anything from before; hell he barley remembers himself most days. Some days the weight of what he has done makes it impossible to even get out of bed in his shitty run-down apartment for days at a time.

He remembers some things. Like the man who saved him from being pinned under the helicarrier. Steve he knows the man’s name; Bucky has the distinct feeling that this man is someone who was really important to him. Everyday more and more information about him comes through.

He knows that Steve was his childhood friend, that they were is some sort of war together, and that he loved him more than a friend.

Bucky remembers only one other thing; Peter was alive and still out there somewhere.

Chapter Text

Steve POV

New York 2016

Steve moved into the tower after he had a breakdown in Tony’s penthouse apartment two years ago. Tony had many rooms available for any of the Avengers who wanted to stay there. Everyone did for the most part except for Clint and Thor; Clint because he had his own family that they recently discovered and Thor because he spent most of his time off world.

When Steve moved into the apartment in the tower he was worried that it would be just another place to stay until something else came along, like the plain shoebox apartment Shield had set him up with after he came out of the ice. But Tony and the other Avengers had all been very welcoming; Tony even allowed him to design his apartment any way that Steve had wanted. It was refreshing being treated like a person again and not as a symbol for the country as many people saw him these days.

 He still struggled with guilt and shame over what happened with Peter and Bucky. More often than not he would wake in the middle of the night with the images of both of them shrieking as they fell down the side of the mountain, almost like it was seared into his brain. But he was coping, especially when he had work to do as an Avenger.

Shortly after moving into the tower he was called away on assignment for Shield. He discovered that shield had been infiltrated by Hydra for nearly 70 years. As he tried to take them down he discovered a fact that would flip his whole world on its axis.

Bucky was alive.

He nearly wept when he found out that not only was Bucky alive but he had no memory of Steve at all. He was a shell of a man, he looked right through Steve as if he was just a means to an end for his mission. It makes Steve’s blood run cold just thinking about all the terrible things that Bucky had endured over the decades. It always leaves him breathless.

But he was alive and Bucky had to be in there somewhere if he pulled Steve out of the Potomac river after the events of Shield’s takedown. He and his new friend Sam made it their mission to track Bucky down but they had no luck so far. It was like he was still a ghost, one that didn’t want to be found. 

As stable as things had been in the last couple of years they had been quickly shot to hell. With the news about Bucky still being alive. After Ultron and the sheer destruction of Sokovia. The Avengers had moved to the compound to upstate New York. Then Lagos happened and Steve was starting to loose himself all over again. He felt like he was on the brink of total collapse and this time he truly had no one to turn to.

Tony was trying to get them to sign away their autonomy and Steve couldn’t let the last bit of his control slip through his fingers. That’s when he got the call that his only remaining friend from his old world, Peggy Carter, had died.

Currently he stands looking up at the intricate designs of the stain glass window that decorated the large catholic church where Peggy’s funeral was held. He was truly alone now. Bucky was out there, but how much of him was actually left?

Steve stuffs his hands in his pockets and glances over to the large image of Peggy still set up near the front of the church. He hears the door behind him open and close then the sounds of steady feet walking towards him.

Tony stops just behind him, Steve sighs in defeat and half turns to look at the man.

Leaning on the pew he says, “When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.”

“She had you back, too,” Tony says looking at Steve with kindness.

“Who else signed,” Steve asks.

“Me, Rhodey, Vision,” Tony says placing his hands in his pockets.

“Clint?” Steve asks looking away from the man.

“Says he’s retired.”

“Wanda?” Steve says looking at him again. Tony shrugs, “TBD.”

“Natasha is off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords,” Tony says, “There’s still plenty of room on the jet.”

“Just because it’s the path of least resistance doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together.” Tony tells him moving closer.

“What are we giving up to do it?” Steve asks and Tony sighs through his nose, “I’m sorry, Tony. I can’t sign it.”

“I know,” Tony says moving backwards in defeat.

“Then what are you doing here?” Steve asks a little more sharply than he means to.

“I didn’t want you to be alone,” Tony says with a shrug, “Plus Peggy was my Aunt and she’d ring my neck if she found out I skipped her funeral.”

Steve bites his lip and Tony claps him on the shoulder, “You’re not alone Capsicle.”

Steve smiles at that.

Steve may not have wanted the accords to be signed but never thought someone would go as far as blowing up the United Nations. Only hours after Peggy’s funeral Steve gets word that Bucky might be involved somehow.

Tony calls him and begs him to let the police brings Bucky in but Steve won’t hear him. If Bucky was close, then Steve would be the one to bring him in. Less chance of him getting hurt or Bucky hurting anyone else.

They get a tip that Bucky is in Bucharest and it’s not hard to find out where he is staying from there. Steve and Sam race to find the man that they had been looking for the past two years. Steve prayed that he would get there before anyone else and that Bucky was still there.

When he makes it the apartment Steve and Sam agree that he should be the one to go into the building while Sam flies point and keeps a look out for any police or local law enforcement that may come knocking.

Inside the small apartment Steve gets a small feeling of nostalgia for the run down place he and Bucky once shared in Brooklyn. The place is small and dirty; there is a kitchen that looks recently used. There’s a bed on the floor with no sheets but only a single blanket and one pillow.

Steve makes his way farther into the apartment and spies a small book resting atop some papers in the kitchen. Picking up the book he flips through the pages. Most of them are ramblings that Steve can’t make out. Others are drawings that look grotesque and disturbing to say the least. One section of the book stands out to him, however, as he flips through the pages.

On one page of the book there is a picture of him in his Captain America uniform. Much like the image that he remembers from the museum a few years back. Underneath the photo are facts about Steve himself. Things like who his mother was and where he was from. All things that Bucky would know.

When he flips the page over he is shocked to see a photo of Peter. Steve stares at the image of the young boy. It’s an old photo of Peter that Bucky must have gotten from the internet. He’s got that youthful smile that Steve sees in his nightmares as the boy falls to his death. He moves the photo aside so he doesn’t have to stare at another reminder of a person he failed.

There is slight breeze and the hair on Steve’s neck stands up. He whorls around and comes face to face with a long haired shaggy looking Bucky. His heart starts to speed up as Bucky stares right back at him.

“Do you know me?” Steve asks in a deep voice that comes off as authoritarian.

Bucky nods still staring at him, “You’re Steve,” he mutters.

“I read about you in a museum,” Bucky says roughly as if he isn’t used to speaking.

“I know your nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be. But your lying” Steve tells him setting the book down on the table separating the two of them.

“I wasn’t in Vienna. I don’t do that anymore,” Bucky says slouching his shoulders.

“Well the people who think you did are coming here now. And they aren’t planning on taking you alive,” Steve says moving closer to Bucky.

“That’s smart,” Bucky grunts, “Good strategy.”

Bucky is shifting his weight from toe to toe as if getting ready for a fight. Steve has seen him do it countless times before.

“This doesn’t have to end in a fight Buck,” Steve says gripping his shield tighter.

Bucky sighs in resign, “It always ends in a fight.”

The door to Bucky’s right bursts open and the fight breaks out.

Things spiraled out of control so fast after Bucky was captured and brought in. Steve thought he was trying to save Bucky but he knows that he just made a bigger mess of things. The fight at the airport wasn’t meant to escalate like that.

He and Bucky were just supposed to get on a helicopter and head to Siberia to capture the man who framed Bucky for the bombing in Vienna. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt least of all his friends. He heard the desperation in Tony’s voice as he asked Steve to come home and that they would figure out this mess together.

He couldn’t do that just yet, he needed to make sure that Bucky’s name was clear first. He knows now that wasn’t the best decision. He’d seen the pain in all the other Avengers faces as he and Bucky ran for the Quinjet on the opposite side of the of the air field.

They had just taken off and were being followed by Tony and Rhodey in their suits with Sam close behind. Steve had watched from the cockpit video feed as Vision shot a beam of light that was headed straight for Sam. Sam easily dodged it but Rhodey wasn’t as lucky and hit his main power core. He was hurtling towards the ground.

They couldn’t save him. Steve saw Tony reach him too late.

He didn’t mean for any of it to happen this way. He should have been honest with Tony when he had the chance. Now, here in Siberia, as Tony watches Bucky kill his parents Steve wish he could have told him what he suspected when they first encountered the winter solider.

Tony moves first lashing out at Steve. Knocking Steve backwards and onto his side. The three of them continue to have it out. The building around them starts to collapse and give under the brute force of their fighting.

 Steve watch’s as Tony has Bucky in a headlock hovering above the ground, “Do you even remember them?” he grunts into Bucky’s ear.

“I remember all of them,” Bucky gurgles struggling in Tony’s grip.

Steve leaps on the two and all three of them go hurtling down to the basement level of the bunker. Steve lands with a painful thud and shakily pulls himself to his feet. Tony is standing on the ledge above him.

“This won’t change what happened Tony. I’m sorry, I didn’t know not really,” Steve says wiping blood away from his lip.

Tony charges his gauntlet, “I don’t care,” he hisses, “He killed my Mom!”

Bucky jumps down and the three of them tag team against Tony. Steve watches as it takes more and more of a toll on Tony. Until Bucky tries to rip the arc reactor right out of Tony’s chest. Steve see Tony struggle against Bucky but he’s too strong to stop. There’s a flash of light and nearly all of Bucky metal arm is disintegrated.

Steve throws punch after punch at Tony who just stays up against the wall panting behind the suit. Suddenly he comes alive and starts to fight Steve back until he is on his knees beside Bucky looking up at Tony.

“He’s my friend,” Steve tells Tony.

“So was I,” Tony grunts back hitting Steve in the face.

Steve struggles to his feet again, “I could do this all day.”

Steve is able to pick Tony up over his head with the help of Bucky distracting him for a brief second. He tosses Tony onto his back and quickly climbs on top of the other man. Firing punch after punch down onto the suit, like it is his mission to break through the metal.

With his shield right next to him he grabs it and plunges it down into Tony’s face plate shattering it. Tony looks up at him shocked and afraid as Steve raises the shield for one final blow.

Steve sees Tony’s horrified face as he brings the shield careening down and into his chest. The light inside flickered for a moment and then dies. He could hear Tony’s quick breaths followed by short coughs. Then Tony passes out.

Steve hastily shuffles backward on his hands staring at Tony. Oh god, what did he just do.

As Steve stares at Tony’s still body he knows the moment he plunged that shield into the other man’s chest there was no coming back.

Tony POV

It wasn’t until weeks later that Tony received the letter from Steve. Tony slide the dinosaur of a phone out of the sealed box and opened the letter it came with.

Tony,

I’m glad you’re okay and back at the compound. I don’t like the idea of you rattling around in the Tower by yourself. We all need family and you were mine for so long. I know this letter won’t make up for the hurt I caused you.            

The Avengers are yours. Maybe more so than mine. I’ve been on my own since I was 18, I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. Not until I met the Howling Commandoes did I feel like I belonged somewhere. I felt like that one other time after I came out of the ice. That was when you invited me into your home and made me feel like a true person again and not some washed-up solider.

  I know I hurt you Tony and I’m sorry. I guess I thought that by not telling you about your parents I was somehow sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself. Hopefully, one day you can understand.

 I know you are doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do. That’s all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise you, if you need me I’ll be there.

           -Steve

Chapter Text

Tony POV

            Obadiah’s face looms over him, Tony’s body is paralyzed unable to move. Obbie is talking to him but Tony can’t make out the words the man is saying. The older man grips Tony’s jaw squeezing it tight before letting him go, only to walk over and pull something out of his bag.       

Tony can’t turn his head to see what the other man is grabbing; blackness nearly encompasses his entire field of vision.       

When Obbie walks back into his sight he can just make out a small circular device with prongs on the end. He can’t do anything to stop it as Obbie rips open his shirt and plunges the devise into his chest.        

Tony gasps for air as the man above him yanks hard at the arc reactor in his chest. But it’s no longer Obbie staring down at him. No, this face belongs to the man who murdered his parents. The person Tony saw squeeze the life out of his Mother while she pleaded for him to stop.

Bucky’s icy metal hand was plunged into Tony’s chest. The unfamiliar cold dead eyes stare down at him as the man’s long hair hangs in his face. Tony wants to cry out but doesn’t want to give Bucky the satisfaction.       

Tony blinks his eyes for just a second and when he opens them he sees his best friends blue eyes staring back. He is no longer in his old Malibu home, sitting on the couch as his business partner betrays him. No, this scene is worse. Tony lays on his back staring up at Steve as the other man straddles his waist.       

Steve’s shield hangs in limbo between the two of them. Tony is still paralyzed and can’t move his body. The shield is held high above Steve’s head, Tony notices the man looks confused and distraught. It only lasts a second because as soon as Tony see the expression in his face change, to one of determination, the shield comes down hard on Tony’s arc reactor.

“Tony?” a soft voice calls out to him jerking him out of the dreamscape. He is sitting straight up in his bed at the Tower. Next to him Pepper places her cool hand on his feverish skin grounding him in the present.

“Tony?” She questions him again. Tony can only flop backwards onto his pillow and throw his arm up to cover his face.

“I’m fine Pep. Just a bad dream is all,” Tony grunts from under his arm.

“You sure? Sounded like a bad one,” Pepper says laying her head in the crook of his other arm. Her delicate hand rests just away from where the arc reactor used to sit.

He pulls her closer in an effort to show her he was fine. Tony knows that she won’t buy it though. They lay like that for a moment longer, until Pepper kisses the stubble at his chin and pulls away from him.

In the distance he can hear her walk into the bathroom and start to get ready for the day. Tony sighs and presses both palms to his face.

He lays there for some time, even after Pepper leaves for work. He could see the worry lines around her eyes as she called goodbye to him on her way out. He knows that he is concerning her and Rhodey both. But with what happened with Steve, Rhodey losing the use of his legs, and every bureaucrat breathing down his neck every chance they get. He can’t lose himself in everyone else’s worries.  

With a sigh, Tony heaves himself out of bed grunting at the strain on his sternum. It takes less time than the last couple of weeks to catch his breath after getting out of bed. He’s managing.

With the Avengers in shambles all Tony can do these days is preparing for what is to come. He knows there is a bigger battle on the horizon, he can feel it. He spends most of his days in solitude working on his latest Iron Man suit. He’s trying to perfect the bleeding edge technology knowing he is very close to a break through pushes him to keep moving forward.

“Ah shit!” Tony yanks his hand away from the soldering iron that just singed his finger. It’s a miracle he can still feel anything in his fingertips at this point.

“You should be more careful,” a voice says from behind him.

“I really hate it when you do that,” Tony grunts sucking on the tender fingers.

“Tony,” Fury says impatiently, “We need to talk.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead or something,” Tony asks the man turning to meet his eye, “How did you even get in here. Friday, how did he get in here.”

“Unclear Boss.”

Sighing Tony takes a rag from the counter he was standing next to. Wiping his hand with it to get the grease from them he motions for the other man to speak his peace.

“I have a job for you,” Fury says as cryptic as ever Tony notices.

“Look, I don’t know if you have noticed but there isn’t a whole lot of superhero-ing going on lately. In fact, why don’t you go ask Rodgers and his marry band of misfits to do whatever work it is you need help with.” Tony says dropping the rag a little more forcefully than strictly necessary when he mentioned Rodgers name.

“Yes. I heard about yours and Steve’s lovers quarrel” Fury raise a hand as Tony seethes about to lay into the other man.

“This isn’t about you two. This mission is incredibly important in preventing the same thing that happened with Barnes. That’s why I need you to be the one to undertake it.”

Tony places two hands on the bench pressing hard down on it and squeezing his eyes shut tightly.  He doesn’t know if he could survive another betrayal like the one Steven Rodgers inflicted on him. If there was a chance to stop another rift like that one, he should be jumping at the chance.

The question was; why would this mission be the one to cause another rift between the Avenger as bad as the last?

With a sigh Tony looks over to Fury who is staring at him expectantly.  

“What’s the mission,” Tony asks staring into the only visible eye of the man in front of him.

“There’s another solider that has the potential to be just like Bucky Barnes,” Fury says and Tony takes a step back away from the man.

“No. That’s not possible. All the other soldiers that were made after Barnes had been killed by Zemo before we had even reached the Bunker. I saw it with my own two eyes,” Tony tells him.

“This weapon wasn’t made after Barnes; it was made at the same time.”

Bucky POV

Bucky wakes slowly, his limbs are soft and fatigued in a way that he hasn’t felt in a long time. He sits up and the plain white sheet slips off his body piling up just below his stomach. Pushing the long hair out of his face he pulls one leg up to his chest and rests his face on his knee. Bucky turns his body to stare at the man lying beside him.

Even in sleep Steve looks like he’s caring the weight of the world on his shoulders. But in this moment all Bucky can see is the life he used to have with the man he loved. The soft curve of his lips reminds Bucky of all the time they missed out on.

He pulls the sheet away from his body now and fully stands up, tugging the sheet a little higher to recover Steve’s sleeping form. Bucky leaves the man there resting after an exhausting couple of weeks. He smiles to himself as Steve unconsciously starts to take up the majority of the bed as soon as he leaves. It’s nice to know that even after 70 odd years the man is still so similar to the one he’d grown up with.

T’Challa and his family had been kind enough to take them all in after everything that had happened. Bucky could tell that it had been eating Steve up inside, he would never voice it but he wonders if Steve made the right decision to save him. To turn his back on all his friends.

Sighing he walks out the door and places both hands on the balcony railing. Looking out to the city before him, he is once again taken with the beauty of this place. The view was stunning, with the sun just breaking the horizon it bathed everything in a soft golden light that warmed his face ever so lightly.

They were currently staying on the third floor of the palace in rooms that T’Challa and his family provided. T’Challa told them that they could stay for however long they needed and his sister might be able to take the triggers out of his mind so he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. He had met the girl the other day and she was so incredibly smart. She reminded him of Peter and his endless enthusiasm with technology. Peter would have loved this place; Bucky thinks to himself.

“Hey,” a pair of arms wrap around his waist and Bucky catches blond hair reflecting in the morning sun.

“Hi Punk,” Bucky says softly touching the other man’s arms that are firmly around his waist. He is slowly getting used to not having the metal hand anymore, the only thing in its place is a metal stump.

Steve gently kisses his shoulder and Bucky leans back into the man. For the first time in his life he’s not worried about what others might think about the two of them. He just soaks up the heat from the other man’s bare chest and arms. It grounds him to this place and time.

“Bucky,” Steve breaths him in as if making sure he was real, “I thought, after all these years.”

Steve stops and pulls Bucky closer to him and Bucky lets him. Steve was the only reason he had ever made it this far, the memory of him.

“When you fell from that train. When you and Peter slipped from my grasp,” Steve’s breathing hitches for a second.

“I know,” Bucky tells him softly.

“No I don’t think you do,” Steve says suddenly impassioned, “You were dead and my reason for living went with you.”

Bucky grips his hand tighter now aching at Steve’s words. He spins slowly so that now he is facing the man in question. Steve’s eyes are downcast, the stubble on his face after so many days not shaving making him look more rugged than usual. Bucky runs his fingers against it making Steve look at him.

Steve brushes the long hair from his eyes and holds his cheek, “Bucky. How did you survive? What happened to Peter?”

Flashes of thousands of people he had killed and tortured run through his mind, images of the monster that had been created using his body. But a golden memory stands out to him, golden like the sunlight they bask in now. A boy, young by army standards, his dark green military shirt bright against the backdrop of his pale skin. His dog tags clanking together and his unruly curly brown hair so free much like him. His golden smile, bright like the sun and directed at Bucky. A brother, a friend, someone he should have protected better.

Bucky meets Steve’s eyes, “He’s alive.”

Chapter Text

Peter POV

Peter could barely open his eyes, the fog in his mind making it hard to do anything but flutter his eyelashes. He groped his hand out slowly meeting only snow as it crunched underneath his hand. Peter tried to lift his arm up but it was too heavy, it was as if his whole body was made of stone.

“Help,” he crooked out the muscles in his throat burning in anguish.

Peter flailed his one arm around in the snow looking desperately for something, someone, anything to grab on to. Back and forth in a sick attempt at a one sided snow angel; he didn’t know where he was but he doubts there were any angels out there to save him this time.

He stops the motion his breathing coming quicker and quicker; he sucks in the breaths but it seems like the air is getting thinner around him. He grasps at the snow with his one good hand and holds it as it compacts into a solid form in his fist. Squeezing his eyes shut tight he just holds on for a minute taking in the bitter cold that seeps through his body and burns his lungs.

There’s a sticky wet liquid that Peter can feel staining his face and hands. He’s sure that he cut his head on a rock but doesn’t remember much else or how he got here in the snow. He is going to die in this snow he thinks to himself suddenly.

He releases the grasp on the snow and settles back into the snow embankment resigned. Peter can just open his eyes enough to watch as one snowflake drifts down from the sky and lands on his cheek. It melts as soon as it hits his warm face.

“These two. Grab them and bring them to the facility,” a voice says in a thick German accent.

Something roughly grabs the back of Peters collar and yanks him into a sitting position. He howls in pain as he is lifted, black dots dance in his vision and his head throbs. He can just make out two other people across from him. One is lifting another man in a very similar fashion to how he is being lifted and the other Peter recognizes.

Bucky.

Peter tries hard to focus his vision on the other man and he nearly vomits in the snow when he gets a good look. Bucky’s eyes are rolled back into his head so Peter only sees the whites. But the worst part is where Bucky’s left arm should be there is only a mangled dark bloody stump.

The scene in front of him reminds Peter of one night they had spent in France before they had met Steve; before they got captured, before Neil had died. 

Peter remembers the night had started like any other; Wolf Company was holed up in some small farming village. The locals were kind enough to let all the boys take over the village’s largest barn as a sort of makeshift shelter for the evening. It was normal, quiet, even peaceful at times. Most of the guys huddled around a small bonfire that was contained in the corner of the barn. Bucky, Neil, and Peter were trading off listening to the small radio and playing cards.

The night didn’t stay as peaceful as it had started though. Bucky had just won the last round of poker that the three were playing. He was stuffing his pockets with cigarettes and chocolates when the double barn doors burst open.

Two guy that Peter didn’t recognize well shuffled their way into the middle of the room. There was a lot of new people that Peter didn’t recognize, most of them being new and so green they might as well still have been in basic. Bucky would always mutter under his breath how all of them seemed to get younger and younger each time a new batch of recruits showed up.

Winters was on his feet seconds after the doors burst open and Bucky started to move things off the table the three of them were sitting around. It was only then did Peter see that the new people were carrying another man between them. His arms around the two men’s shoulders and his feet dragging behind him limply.

He was flung down onto the table, Bucky had gently pushed Peter away to make more room for the man. Peter stared down at the soldier in front of him.  He had two massive bullet holes the ripped through the side of his body. The man’s eyes had rolled back into his head and all Peter could see was the whites of his eyes. His face and hair were matted with blood; all the color had gone from his face.   

Bucky had the same expression on his face now; the man in the barn didn’t make it when Peter had asked about him days after the incident.

The person behind Peter tugs at his uniform collar dragging him through the snow. Peter grits his teeth in pain but it’s too much for him. The vision that he’d been slowly regaining disappeared and everything became blurry and unfocused.

Peter slid his eyes closed and blackness surrounded him once more. The feeling of a deep bone chilling cold settles in him as he fades.

Tony POV

“What the hell do you mean at the same time. You’re not making any sense as usual,” Tony says taking a seat at the bench he was working at.

“When Steve put the plane in the water and defeated Schmidt there was a group of people who thought that the world needed a protection force or rather Strategic Homeland Intervention. Those founding members were Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Philips.”

“I know this already,” Tony huffed, “My father founded Shield and it’s the reason he is dead now. What does any of this have to do with the mission you want me to go on.”

“If you’d let me finish I was getting to it. This story goes back to the very birth of Shield and you need to know every part if you want to be successful,” Fury grits out.

Tony motions for him to continue his story.

“Camp Lehigh was not only where Captain America was made but it was also the base of Shield after World War II. A couple of years ago right before Steve and Natasha took down Shield and the helicarriers. They went to back to this camp.”

“Natasha and Steve were following coordinates given to them before the fall of Shield. It led them to a secret room deep within a bunker on the base. Inside they had been shocked to find Dr. Zola. The Swiss scientist that was responsible for torturing prisoners of war and making weapons for Hydra.”

Tony knew all this of course. He had read the briefing after Steve nearly destroyed half of Washington D.C. and left it to Tony to pay for and clean up his mess. Not to mention the fact that he had grown up on tales of the heroics of the man.

“He had stored his entire brain on the computer system. Over 200,000 data banks to back up his memory in this bunker,” Fury continues.

“Zola was captured in 1945 by Steve after Bucky Barnes and Peter Parker had fallen to their deaths. The most important thing to remember is that he was recruited to Shield after the war.”

“Operation Paper Clip,” Tony guesses and Fury nods.

“Exactly. After the War many government agencies including Shield recruited German scientist that they felt had strategic value.”

“Only problem is that they paved the way for Hydra to grow within the government. Like a parasite,” Tony adds.

“Yes. This is where Steve came to know not only about the destructive properties of the helicarriers but also that his childhood friend was still alive,” Fury tells him.

“And that his friend killed my parents.”

Fury nods at his words, “Now the Hydra that was a part of Shield blew up the bunker right after they had gotten all this information. You know pretty much everything that happened next with Project Insight. How Steve took down the carriers and Natasha data dumped all Shields classified information for the last 70 years on the internet.”

“Yes of course. I spent weeks trying to pull clean Shield agents from their undercover work after the data dump. We lost some good people because of that,” Tony tells Fury with a pointed glance. Fury has the decency to look away at that.

“I am grateful to you for that. At the time I was still technically dead to everyone and there are only so many contacts you can reach when you are trying to maintain that ruse,” Fury tells him.

They stood there for a moment not knowing how to recover from the most uncomfortable aspect of their line of work. The innocents that inevitably get caught up in the cross hairs of this thing they call being a super hero.

“Hill and I have been combing through a lot of the data that was in the leak after it hit the internet. A lot of it was things that we never knew about, secret dealings that Hydra did around the world to cause chaos and disorder. A good portion of it was about the Winter Soldier and the missions that he had be assigned to.”

“Only recently have we uncovered some information in the leaked documents that could change everything. Another weapon. We believe it is similar to Barnes, but unlike the soldiers that you found in the bunker this weapon is alive but has been inactive for years.”

“With the Hydra leak we only caught brief mentions of this weapon in the entire data dump. Tony, we are talking 70 years’ worth of Hydra’s most classified documents; thousands of gigabytes of information and there has only been a mention of this thing a total of maybe 5 times.  We aren’t sure if it’s even a person or an actual physical weapon. What could they be hiding that was so dangerous that they needed to hide it even in their most classified forms. Even the Winter Soldier we had an idea existed,” Fury finishes.

“Are we sure that they weren’t just talking about the Tesseract? That’s what Schmidt and Zola were using to make weapons right? Maybe this weapon is just that, it would make since that they were looking for it after it had gone down with Steve in the ice,” Tony interjects.  

“That’s what we were thinking initially to; but, a new piece of evidence has surfaced recently that makes Hill and I more suspicious about the true nature of this supposed super weapon,” Fury tells him and produces a folded paper from the inside of his jacket pocket.

He unfolds the paper and lays it in front of Tony for him to take a look. Glancing over the sheet it looks like it is some sort of underground labyrinth with a connecting tunnel system. Tony looks at the map a little closer and notices that in the upper left-hand corner there is a part of the map that is smudged. It’s not super noticeable if you aren’t looking for something to be off. Almost like someone wanted to erase that tiny section of the map. The area with the smudge is off the path of the main structure which looks to be the central hub of the whole area. Tony sticks his finger on the spot and glances up at Fury for confirmation.

“Where is this place,” Tony asks.

“Camp Lehigh,” Fury tells him pointing at the larger more central part of the map, “This is where Rogers and Natasha found Zola.” He pulls his hand away and produces another paper from his pocket. This time smaller and more delicate.

“Didn’t Hydra blow up Camp Lehigh when Rogers was snooping around it? What makes you think that this weapon is still there after all this time? Let alone not blown up with the rest of the place,” Tony asks.

“Steve and Natasha never had the opportunity to look around the rest of the bunker before it was blown up. I think that whatever is there has been there for decades and no one has ever known about it.”

“Then maybe we should just leave it alone. Who knows what kind of sick twisted thing Hydra made. I don’t want to be responsible for unleashing who knows what on the world. Not after Ultron,” Tony looks away at that.

“Besides, if it was blown up then there isn’t really any way for me to get into this super-secret bunker,” Tony tells him pushing the map away slightly.

“Here,” Fury points to a section of the map, “We have been going over this map for a while. After looking at some aerial shots of the compound we believe there might be a quick access point that would lead you straight to the bunker right here.”

Tony sighs and looks at where Fury is pointing to. He can see that Fury has a point, there is a weak point in the map that would lead him directly to the smudge and whatever is there. If what he says about the aerial view is true.

“I think we need to try,” Fury sets the paper that he had pulled out of his pocket moments ago and places it in front of Tony, “We recovered this with the map in the classified files.”

He picks up what he can now make out as a photo. It is very low quality but he knows immediately what he’s looking at. It is a pair of vary faded dog tags that clearly shows the date of 1943. The rest of the dog tags are a mess, they are clearly old and Tony can’t make out anything on them other than the date. He sees the beginning of a name ‘P’ and where the place of birth should be but all he can make out is ‘New’.

Tony sets the photo down on top of the map with a sigh. He doesn’t think that much will come from this mission if what Fury was saying was true. But at this moment in his life he doesn’t have much else going on so why the hell not.

“Alright. I guess it couldn’t hurt to take a look then.”

Tony was up and in the air less than half an hour later. It wouldn’t take him that long to get from New York to New Jersey, less than 45 minutes if he kept his current speed.

He scanned his monitor again searching for anything that could give him a clue to what he’s looking for in the bunker.  A picture of Pepper pops up on the display as he is going over the map he had digitized earlier.“Friday. Patch her through please,” Tony tells his AI.

“What are you doing,” Peppers voice fills his suit and Tony can tell she is not amused.

“Hi Dear,” Tony says, “Just out for a drive.”

“Oh really? Because Friday told me you took the suit out and are headed to… New Jersey? Tony, what could you possibly be doing in New Jersey.” Tony knew it had been stupid to even try to lie to Pepper. Traitor, he thinks to his AI knowing she can’t hear him.

“Fine. I am doing a small mission for Fury. I swear it is low key, very noninvasive,” he tries to placate her.

“Tony,” she sighs dragging out his name with it.

“I will be back before dinner I swear,” Tony assures her once again.

“Tony, you barely survived your last mission,” she tells him softer this time. When he doesn’t reply she continues.  

“I know things have been weird lately. I know with Steve and everything else going on you’ve had a really rough go of it. I’m worried that you are just doing this in order to put you mind off other things. That you’ll get even more hurt in the process,” Pepper tells him. Even after all these years she can still read him like a book.

“Maybe you’re right,” he says quietly, “But I gave my word I would at least check out whatever’s there. Besides it’s in New Jersey, I’m basically still in New York. Nothing to worry about I promise.”

“Okay,” she relents, “Look out for yourself. I love you and I’ll see you for dinner this evening right?” she asks.

“Of course, wouldn’t miss it. Love you too Pep,” Tony says and they hang up.

He lands the suit right in front of the gates to the camp. It looks exactly how we pictured an old military base from the 40s would look. Deserted and falling apart. He makes his way inside the old camp and follows the path that leads right to the destroyed bunker that Steve and Natasha had been at.

His Dad would have been here at some point in the past. During the war and up until the 70s if Tony remembers correctly. Things started to pick up with Stark Industries so Howard had taken a step back from Shield to focus on his family. Tony laughs at that, focus on his family his ass. He should have stayed away and maybe his mother would still be alive today. He quickly shakes those thoughts out of his head.

Tony finds the remnants of the explosion easy enough. Steve might be a lying backstabber but Tony finds he is still pretty impressed that the man survived that explosion and even more impressed that Natasha did as well.

Tony pulls up the map again on his display and locates where the hidden entrance should be. He follows the map until he comes face to face with an old wooden shed. Frowning he opens the shed and seesnothing but a couple of rusted tools.

“Friday, run a scan around me. See if there is anything here that could be used as a door or entrance,” Tony says.

“You got it Boss,” she tells him, “There is a small trap door under the dirt in the shed.”

“Smart Bastards,” Tony grunts and leans down to dig a small portion of the dirt up in the shed.

He finds the door pretty quickly, yanking the handle up the small trap door comes with it. There is a ladder that leads down a dark vertical tunnel only the width of a single person from what Tony can see.

“Talk about claustrophobic,” he says mostly to himself.   

Lowering himself down he takes hold of a rusty rung of the ladder then slowly descends down the dark tunnel. It is quite a ways down, but Tony assumes that they need some sort of emergency exit.

He finally makes it to the bottom of the ladder which has deposited him into a large room. Having Friday do a brief scan of the area for weak structural integrity or if there had been any collapses in this area, he finds it surprisingly that not much had been damaged in this wing of the bunker.

The map directs him to an area where the smudge had been. This is where Fury thinks the weapon might be. Tony wonders if this is a waste of time and someone in Hydra had just been shitty at writing maps. But then again, to have an entire area crossed off the map, there was probably something there that they didn’t want people to find.

Tony follows the map all the way to the blacked out section and when he finally gets there all he sees is a blank wall.

Rolling his eyes because he knew that this was a waste of time, he spots a small crack running up the side of the wall. It’s easy to miss if you aren’t looking for a door, it just looks like a break in the concrete.

He gives the section an experimental push and the entire section of concrete gives way like a door. Frowning he pushes it open enough for him to slip through. That was too easy, but his guess would be that people didn’t even have access to the map so everyone would just think this part of the bunker was a dead end. He was pretty far away from the central part of the tunnel system so people probably didn’t even venture into this area.

Once inside he gets a momentary flashback to Siberia and Steve’s shield slamming into him. This bunker is extremely familiar to the one he had been in before. The only difference was that instead of multiple rows of cryo containers with dead super soldiers in them, there was only one.

The one container was the focal point of the room, everything was centered around it. Tony walked slowly over to it trying to get a sense of the room that he was in. The place was dark and damp with only a soft blue glow coming from the container opposite him. He walked over metal grates to get to the cryo pod. Tony could just make out thick wires that ran toward the pod. He was surprised that it was still working after the explosion and was still keeping whatever was in that pod alive.

He was finally standing in front of the pod now. Tony tried to peer inside to get a better look at what or who was in there. He deactivated his suit and stepped out of the thing to get closer hoping he might be able to see inside.

Taking the edge of his long sleeve shirt he wipes the fog on the pod away. The machine suddenly comes to life and just as quickly as Tony had touched the pod it was defrosting. He pulled his arm away and watched as the blue light from inside turned to a bright white color. Then the screen separating Tony and a weapon of mass destruction starts to lift.

Tony wants to turn and run back to his suit which is only a few feet from him. But he also wants to see what’s inside this pod.

The screen slides away and thick fog flows out of the pod. Tony takes a step closer squinting, trying to see around the dense fog.

Something groans and suddenly Tony’s arms are filled with a gangly teenaged boy no more than the age of 16 or 17. His head is face down in Tony’s arms with his own arms hanging limply to his sides and his feet dragging behind him. His unruly copper brown hair sticks out in all directions.

“What the…” Tony starts but is cut off by the boy. 

Peter POV

He’s incredibly cold, he must be still in the snow and those people probably left them there to die. He’s got to get to Bucky, he won’t make it out here for very long with that arm. Peter tries to move his body but he’s totally frozen, he starts to panic at not being able to move. He tries to thrash around, desperate to move and escape the cold that consumes his entire being.   

Then in an instant he is burning up like his skin is on fire. It’s boiling hot and Peter wants to cry out at the suddenness of the change. There is a hissing noise and the intense pressure that made it hard for him to move lifts. He feels his limbs go out from under him and he slumps forward. Someone catches him as he starts to fall. Peter feels all the strength in his body disappear and now all he feels is tired.  

The person holding him struggles under his weight for a moment. Peter strains his eyes to get a glimpse of whomever his holding him.

He catches a snippet of dark slicked back hair and a mustache framed face.

“Mr. Stark?”  

Chapter Text

Tony POV

Tony stares down at the boy in his arms baffled. The currently passed out child hangs limply with his back legs splayed at an awkward angle. He lowers the boy to the ground flipping him over so that he will rest on his back and gently guides his head down.

Crouching down he feels for a pulse sighing in relief when he feels the steady thumping of the kids heart under his fingers.

He was shocked, to say the least, when the kid spoke his name then collapsed. This couldn’t possibly be what Fury was looking for when he had sent Tony all the way out here. But that begs the question ‘what was this boy doing in a top secret Hydra base that had the highest security clearance even in their own ranks?’ And how did the kid know Tony?

He walks over to the suit and relaxes only marginally when the suit of armor encloses around him.

“Friday, run a scan on the kid,” he tells her.

“Also,” Tony walks towards the control panels that line the sides of the bunkers, “Scan all of these documents. There has got to be some information as to why this kid is down here in a cryo pod of all things.”

He shuffles the papers around scanning for anything of importance, anything that stands out to him. There has to be something here that will tell Tony who this person is.

“There seems to be no major injuries on the boy, sir,” Friday says in his ear, “There is evidence of past trauma such as broken bones and scaring. But nothing life threatening.”

“Well that’s good,” Tony mutters walking back over to the kid once again.

Tony looks down at him again, the little guy can’t be over the age of 17. There must be someone out there looking for him.

“Friday, run facial recognition on him. See what you can find out about where he came from. Look for any local kids that have gone missing within the last five years. If that doesn’t work then widen the search perimeter until you get a hit on something,” Tony tells her hoping this kid has a family that Tony can reunite him with.

He gathers the boy up in his arms again this time holding him in a more bridle fashion which was better for transportation. He’ll make Fury come back for the paper work once he tells him what he found.

It’s a little harder to get two people out of the bunker than it was just for Tony to get in. Considering that one of them is passed out. But he eventually manages to get them both up and out of the bunker and back into the open air of Camp Lehigh.

The flight back to the Tower was a short one with Tony praying that the kid wouldn’t wake up mid-flight. It was pretty lucky that they had made it all the way into the Tower and down to the medical wing and the kid didn’t even stir.

He was nervous about bringing the kid into the middle of New York if he was anything like Barnes. At the same time all Tony saw was a small sickly looking kid, what harm could he possibly do. He looked pretty close to deaths door step and wouldn’t be walking anytime soon let alone destroying New York.

The medical wing in the Tower was nice, not as good as the one at the compound, but still nice. It had been a while since anyone from the Avengers had needed a patch up here. To say the staff was shocked to see Iron Man come busting through the doors holding a passed out child was an understatement.

Tony watched as everyone started to scramble around him and the kid. They got him onto a gurney and wheeled him into another room checking his vitals. Tony stood back shedding the Iron Man suit giving it the signal to head back to the docking station.

It didn’t take the doctors long to run as many tests as humanly possible.

“We aren’t sure what’s wrong with him Sir,” the doctor told him as they stood in the room they had put the boy in.

“All of his vitals are good. Other than dehydration and maybe a little bit of malnourishment the child is fine,” the doctor says. Tony rubs his goatee thoughtfully staring down at the child who looks small and fragile wrapped up in the sterile white bedding.

“Thanks for checking him out Doc,” Tony says shaking the man’s hand. The doctor leaves shortly after and Tony takes a seat staring at the kid puzzled. Who is this kid and where did he come from?

Tony pulls out his phone and starts flicking through some emails to pass the time till the boy wakes up.

It was only about an hour later when he heard the telltale signs of Peppers high heels clicking on the tile from outside the room.

“Tony Stark, you missed dinner… again,” she threw open the door, “I swear if your hurt.”

Tony watches as she comes to the realization that he wasn’t the only one in the room. Then again when she realizes that the person in the hospital bed is actually a child.

“What did you do now,” she asks crossing the room quickly to stand by Tony and peers down at the kid.

“Nothing Pepper I swear. I found him like this,” Tony makes a gesture towards the kid.

“Tony, there is a passed out child in the medical bay,” she rubs her temples, “Please start talking.”

“Well I went on that small tiny mission for Fury right. This is what I found, he was attached to a cryo pod Pepper. What was I supposed to do? Leave him there?” he asks.

Pepper sighs and gives him a knowing look.

Then she places a hand on Tony’s arm and he knows that they’re okay. He gives her a tight smile and he offers her his seat.

“Who is he?” she asks waving away his offer and looking at the boy once again.

“No idea. Friday is running scans to see if we can find out where he came from. I might run a DNA sample if we can’t find anything. Maybe see if that’s in a database somewhere,” Tony shrugs.

“What are you going to do?” Pepper asks.

“Don’t know yet, gotta wait till he wakes up. Maybe he can shed some light on why he was in an old Hydra bunker,” Tony says.

“A Hydra bunker,” Pepper frowns, “He’s so young Tony.”

“I know,” Tony says looking at the kid once more. He looks he younger than Tony remembers from earlier. All dressed up in a white gown; his hair hanging limply in his face, cheeks sunken, and lips chapped. Tony knows what it’s like to go through hell, and he recognizes a kindred spirit when he sees one. There is no telling what state of mind the kids going to be in once he wakes up.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Pepper says hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek, “Let me know if you need anything okay.” She whispers and then she’s gone leaving him alone with the kid once again.

Tony goes back to flicking through his phone answering emails here and there. His mind never strays far from the boy, his eyes are drawn up to look at him every few minutes.

There is just something about the boy that Tony can’t put his finger on. It’s like he’s seen this kid somewhere but he can’t figure it out. Tony meets a lot of people every single day, maybe the kid had been at an event or something in the past.

“Sir,” Friday calls out softly.

“You got something for me dear?” He asks looking over to the boy.

“Yes and no,” Friday says and Tony swears she sounds puzzled at her own findings.

“What do you mean?” Tony asks.

“There are no missing children matching this child. There are no records of him at all. I ran him through every data base that we have access to. There is no one missing in the entire world that fits his description,” Friday tells him.

“Weird,” Tony frowns.

“Indeed, Sir.”

“You said you did have some information on the kid though. Did you find something else?” he asks standing now.

“Yes. Like I said I ran him through all the data bases that we have access to in order to find out if there is any information matching his description. This includes our own personal servers, more specifically your private server,” Friday tells him.

“I don’t understand Fri. What does my personal server have to do with this kid,” Tony asks perplexed turning towards the boy. What secrets does this kid hold? And how is he involved, Tony muses to himself.

“Back when you were dying from Palladium poisoning, Director Fury gave you a box of items that belonged to your father. You had JARVIS digitize all the information within the box. I found a photo on that archive that matches this child perfectly, “Friday says.

“Send it to my phone. Let me take a look,” Tony waits for the photo to be dropped to his phone.

The image comes quickly and Tony stares down at it looking directly at an image of the boy who was currently resting in the bed across from him. In the photo the same kid is standing between two other men; one of them has an arm slung over the boy’s shoulder with a grin on his face and the other man has his head thrown back in laughter with his right hand over his chest.

Tony takes in the photo, he looks at every aspect and detail of it. He knows this picture; in fact, he gave it to the Smithsonian on loan for a while. Part of his father’s collection on Captain America.

Tony steps back towards the chair and sits heavily in it. Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, and Peter Parker stare back at him with large smiles on their grimy war stained faces.

He knew he had seen the boy before; Tony had grown up with stories of the trio. Both his Auntie and his Father had told him stories of the heroes saving the day over and over again.

“Friday,” he whispers, “Pull everything there is on Private Peter Parker.”

“Of course Sir,” she says back.

“Can you also send someone to get my old man’s journals and bring them down to me,” he stares at the boy in the bed and alternates looking down at the photo. There is no way these two are the same, but Tony can’t help think of Barnes.

Everyone thought Barnes was dead before he showed up as the winter soldier trying to kill Rogers. Suddenly what Fury told him earlier makes a whole lot more sense.

Tony didn’t have to wait long for one of the buildings many interns to show up with a box of his old man’s stuff. He thanked the boy and sat back in his chair with the box at his feet. He had sent some of the stuff to the museum for others to look at but he had also kept a lot of it to himself. Including his Dad’s old war journals where he had detailed accounts of Captain America and the howling commando’s journeys through Nazi occupied territories.

He had flicked through all the journals when Fury had given him the box to him years ago. He knew all the stories already, his Father never let him forget them.

Flicking through them now he found the page that he was looking for and read about the kid.

            Nov 18 1943

                        Steve came back to base camp three days ago. Thank God. I was sure Roosevelt would have had my head if I didn’t bring that man back alive. Gave all of us a big scare, Peggy mostly. I often wonder if there is anything going on there; something to think about at a later date.

            Been working on some new designs for Rogers, he seems to have a thing for shields. I think I might be able to make a reinforced version with that new metal I found a couple years back. Note to self: figure out a way to make that work.

            Steve brought back a group of men with him, liberated everyone from inside the damn camp. Including his best friend Barnes and some kid Barnes has taken under his wing.

 He must be talking about Peter here. The next entry is from a couple days later.

            November 23 1943

                          Met Barnes and the kid, Peter, today. Barnes was nice, seemed a little shell shocked from what I can tell. But polite and intrigued when we showed off the new weapons test today. The boy was weird, didn’t talk much. In fact, Barnes did most of the talking for the kid. Seemed a bit too much of a fanboy.

 Tony rolled his eyes at his father’s description of the boy. He was probably reeling from the events of being taken hostage by Hydra. Tony flipped around looking for the next section where his father talks about the howling commandos.

           April 4^th1944

                        These men are taking down Hydra plants left and right. I’ve been hard at work creating weapons and gear for them. Maybe this whole war business will be done soon, especially once we take out the Nazi’s science division. Been hearing a couple of hushed rumors going around about a new super weapon they’re developing in Tennessee. I’m confident someone is going to approach me to help on it.

            Rogers, Barnes, and even Parker are a force to be reckon with. It’s incredible to watch them work and move as a team. I hate to admit it but Parker seems to hold his own with everyone else and has started to come out of his shell more and more as time goes on. Kids probably smarter than all of us. That’s saying something coming from me!

            Spring hasn’t quite arrived yet and things are still wet, cold, and miserable on the front lines. Nearly lost the kid a few weeks ago on patrol when some Germans shot into the tree lines killing one of our own. Parker didn’t talk for a week after that.

 Tony stares at the page rereading what his father had written. The unimaginable horror of watching one of your friends, your brother in arms, be killed must have been devastating. Tony knows some of that pain from years of being Iron Man, but to have experienced it all at such a young age. Tony just shakes his head and jumps forward in time.

           February 1945

                        Peter and Bucky have died. We haven’t been able to get their bodies. Not sure if Steve will ever recover.

            September 5^th1945

                        The war is over. Steve disappeared into the ice and we haven’t been able to locate him. Bucky and Peter died, but there is a small chance Steve might be alive. I owe it to him to continue to search.

            In the meantime, I think I’ll go home.

  Tony notices that the entries get smaller and smaller as they near the end of the war. He closes the book and sets it back into the box at his feet.

He glances up to the sleeping boy. He remembers when he was younger, before he was jaded by the attention his father gave to a dead soldier and not to him. Back when his Father would tuck him in at night and tell Tony stories of the brave men and women who stopped Hydra during the war.

Tony loved to hear stories about Peter Parker, gravitated towards them, hell he even was Peter Parker for Halloween one year. Boy genius who fought alongside Captain America and Bucky Barnes to take down the forces of evil, what more could child Tony want in a super hero. Tony desperately wanted to be like Parker, to be smart and brave. He thought that maybe if he was more like the heroes he worshiped his father would take notice.

But now looking down at a ghost from the past, Tony doesn’t envy the boy. It’s like a knife in his gut, the person he idolized more than Captain America himself was laying before him. But instead of the strong brave soldier he remembered as a kid all Tony could see was a tiny, broken, and scared boy. His child like features stick out in Tony’s mind and he can’t look away. Peter’s cheeks are hallow and gaunt, his eyes are sunk in and black circles stain the area.

Making his way over to the bed he places a hand on the boy’s hair.

“Oh kid,” he says sighing.

 Despite not knowing the boy, Tony feels a deep urge to protect him. Just as Peter had done for Tony as a child, even if he doesn’t know it.

Chapter Text

Tony POV

Tony’s eyes burn from lack of sleep, which admittedly is not a new experience for him. He’s been sitting by Peter’s bed all night hoping the kid would wake up and yet also hoping that he would stay sleeping for as long as possible.

Tony has also been going through all of his father’s journals from just after the war and when he and Peggy were founding shield. One passage from his Aunts journal stood out to him whilst he was going through it.

June 12th 1954
Its been nearly a decade since the war. A decade since we lost Steve to the ice and a decade since Sgt. Barnes and Pvt. Parker fell. Howard has spent countless hours searching for all three men but we have never been able to find any trace of them. It seems as if they will forever be lost to the annals of history. The world grieves for the larger than life hero’s that took down HYDRA. As for myself, Howard, and the rest of the Howling Commandoes; well, we mourn for our friends that were taken from this world to soon.
But I have a fear that something more sinister is in play right under our noses. There have been reports of some master assassin killing high target people. But no one has ever been able to get any tangible evidence about them. I fear our demons coming back to haunt us.
Tensions have been rising in the last few years with Russia and the United States. I haven’t told Howard any of this yet, but I fear that HYDRA may be involved somehow. Could this new assassin make things even worse for the two countries? I haven’t told Howard my thoughts on any of this yet, most of his time is taken up with political world leaders on the threat of the weapons he helped create.

It sounds like Peggy knew that there was something fishy going on at Shield or at least had a vague sense of it right into the Cold War era. Thoughts and ideas about the Winter Soldier have been around just as long so Tony isn’t surprised to see that there had been whispers of it. But there are no mentions of Peter Parker in any of the documents that Tony has come across. Almost as if he is Hydra’s best kept secret.

Tony sighs and stretches his legs out, they creak from lack of use.

The curtains in the room are drawn back and the early morning sun shines into the room reminding Tony that he still has decisions to make. Hard impossible decisions.

The old silver flip phone rests heavy in his hand as he stares at the kid in front of him. Tony’s eyes wonder over to the sleeping boy every few minutes to make sure he is still breathing.
“You gonna call him?” Fury says as he steps into the room and to Tony’s back.

Tony let out an exasperated sigh, he knew the old pirate would show up eventually. Fury makes his way further into the room and towards the kid.

“Shit. It’s worse than I thought,” Fury says when he gets a good look at the boy.

“Private Peter Parker originally of the 107th airborne division. Transferred to Captain America and the Howling Commandoes after being rescued along with 400 other men from a hydra facility,” Tony says as if he is reading a resume.

“An inseparable friend of Rogers and Barnes,” Fury finishes.

“Looks like Barnes wasn’t the only one to have survived the fall from the train. Which can only mean one thing,” Tony says standing which pops every joint in his back.

“He’s got to be enhanced,” Fury says crossing his arms.

“Exactly,” Tony mutters, “Or if he wasn’t they made him enhanced over the decades.”

“You consider that he might be a clone?” Fury asks.

“No, you would be able to tell in his genetic makeup. There are indicators that show if something had been cloned. I had a full blood and genetic test done on the kid once I knew who he was. They are a match and he does show signs of altered enhanced DNA. It’s similar to Barnes and Rogers with just something a little different than the other two that I haven’t been able to place.”

Even just saying the words out loud that they probably experimented on the boy makes Tony’s heart rate increase tenfold.

“You didn’t answer my original question Stark,” Fury says shifting to face Tony, “Are you going to call Rogers and tell him what you found?”

Tony stares down at the phone in his hand with dread washing over him. It’s only been a couple of months since Steve was hovering above him with his shield sticking out of Tony’s chest. He wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing the man’s face again. But doesn’t he owe it to Peter to reunite all three of the last Commandoes.

“I don’t know,” Tony tells Fury honestly.

Peter is probably going to be traumatized in one way or another once he wakes up. There is no telling what Hydra did to his psyche after decades of capture, just look at Barnes. Not to mention that he doesn’t need to bring a child into the complicated geo-political aspects with the Accords if he were to try and reunite Steve and Bucky with Peter. There is also the small fact that both men are currently war criminals on the run in another country. It’s all just shaping up to be another huge headache for Tony.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you should contact him just yet,” Fury tells him and Tony snaps his eyes to the man.

“That kid is going to have enough to deal with, without having to worry about the current political affairs that Barnes and Rogers are currently in. I think you should focus on getting the kid healthy and integrated into modern society before reaching out to Rogers.”

“Me? Why me? I don’t exactly have time to take care of a child who may or may not have murder on the brain from Hydra on top of everything else. And isn’t this exactly why the Avengers had a falling out anyway? No one would tell each other anything until something got blown up,” Tony asks waving his hand towards the child.

Tony turns back to the boy. The last thing Tony wants to do is make the kid even more miserable; but, if he can reunite him with Barnes and Steve the only family the kid has in this world well, wouldn’t that be a blessing?

“Tony you forget that I knew your father well, probably better than even you did. I know you looked up to Private Parker as a child. You seriously want to call up Rogers tell him you found Peter and have no idea what state he is in. Rogers will inevitably come here to get him even though we both know that isn’t a good idea. Let’s say for argument he manages to take the boy from the premises? What then, an unstable teenage boy who probably hasn’t seen the light of day since the 30s on the run with the other Avengers. Is that what you want, if so make the call.”

Tony just stares at the other man for a moment.

“Tony let’s face it. Shield doesn’t really exist at the moment; we don’t have the means to care for the child. But you do and I know you care for him.” Fury finishes and Tony knows he’s right. He is currently the only one with the means and the stability to care for Parker at the moment.

Sighing Tony rubs his face and whispers, “Your right.”

“Congratulations, it’s a boy,” Fury says placing a hand on Tony’s shoulder as Tony grimaces. Tony is only left with one question what was he going to tell Parker about Bucky and Steve when he inevitably asked.

Peter Pov

Peter remembers what it feels like to be cold right down to the bone. Especially those long nights when he and the other soldiers were huddled up in fox holes. So it surprises him when the hazy fog of sleep lifts and he isn’t cold.

In fact, Peter was feeling rather warm and dry; which are two things that rarely happen when they are on the front lines. Bucky would always remind him that the easiest way for a man to catch his death was with wet socks. He shudders at the memory of some of the men in their company who hadn’t changed their socks and were left with rot.

He manages to open his eyes even though there is a blinding pressure that tells him to keep his eyes closed until the hurt dissipates. Peter blinks up and is met with an overhead light that seems rather blinding to his extra senses. He throws a hand over his face to protect from the intensity of the light that shines on him.

Peter waits a few moments trying to adjust his eyes to the light. He manages to sit up and open his eyes fully the second time. He takes quick inventory of the room and decides that he must be in some sort of hospital room. But it is nothing like anything he has ever seen before.

A memory flashes in his mind; being stripped down to his pants and tied to a table. The slow sounds of dripping as they pump him full of various liquids. Peter grips his hair and breaths heavily out, his other hand shaking as he reaches for the blankets at his waist. The memory of his own screams fill his head as he remembers Hydra.

He has to get out of here.

Peter grips the edge of the blankets more forcefully trying to regulate his breathing. Two deep breaths and he focuses his attention on getting out of this place as soon as he can. He has got to find Bucky and get out of here.

He notices that his arm has a needle poking into him just like the last time he was captured. Peter yanks the thing out with more force than absolutely necessary. It starts to bleed but Peter can focus on that later when he has gotten out of the building and back to his crew.

He shuffles towards the door but stops just before opening it when he hears a man on the other side of it talking softly. Guards, Peter thinks listening to the person outside the door.

“He’s just a boy Pepper what was I supposed to do just leave him with Fury,” there’s a pause, “I think I am capable of looking after a teenager for the time being. Besides I have you to tell me that I’m fucking up.”

Another pause then, “Yes, of course. I love you too, see you later.”

The last part is soft and whispered with emotion that Peter has never heard from any Hydra goons. Before he can think to long about it the door swishes open and the man Peter assumes was talking walks into the room.

“Oh,” the man pauses and stares at Peter probably shocked that Peter was standing a foot away from the door.

“Hi Peter. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up Friday was supposed to let me know the moment you did.”

Peter scrambles backwards back towards the bed. The man was just a hair taller than Peter himself with a sharply cut goatee that looked entirely out of place but also suited the man at the same time. The man was older probably in his mid to late forties. He looked like he had on comfortable clothing that must have been for sleeping because they were rumpled and disheveled.

“Who are you? Where am I? Where is Bucky and Steve; the rest of the Commandoes?” he blurted out in a rush. Peter slipped his back leg out to ground himself in a good position if this became a fight. He was confident that he could take the other man if the need arose.

“Peter it’s okay. Why don’t you have a seat on that bed there and we can talk huh,” the man put both hands up in a gesture that said he was of no harm.

Peter shook his head and took another step back and away from the man who sighed, “That looks pretty nasty kid, have a seat we can talk and I’ll get you a band aid for that arm.”

He stared down at the blood that was now trickling down his arm. He was going to need a band aide to stop the bleeding at least. And he was sure his healing would make quick work of the small cut.

Peter glared at the man but sat back down on the bed with his feet firmly planted on the floor. He was still sure he could take the guy if it came to blows.

“Alright that’s great kid,” the man pulled a chair that had been across from the bed that Peter hadn’t even noticed and sat in it, “There are some first aid supplies in that drawer to your right. Do you want me to get them or do you want to reach in there yourself?”

“You,” Peter’s voice cracked after not speaking for so long it felt like his throat was sandpaper.

The other man reached forward and ruffled around the drawer for a second and then pulled out a red box with a white cross. He flipped it open and handed Peter some of the white gauze that was inside and a bandage.

Peter took the items and placed the gauze on his arm letting it soak up the blood before he placed the bandage on it. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Peter tended to his wounded arm.

“Peter,” the man said breaking the silence, “What is the last thing that you remember.”

“No. You answer my questions first then I will consider telling you anything. In fact, where are the rest of the Hydra goons? Are they waiting outside to take me back to experimentation,” Peter bit out.

“Kid. I can promise you that you are not with Hydra anymore. In fact, you are in New York, back state side,” Peter frowns at his words.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Peter tells him confused looking up from his arm.

“How about this. You answer a couple of my questions and I promise to tell you everything okay?”
Peter nods at the man and glances back down to his arm to apply the bandage.

“I guess the last thing that I remember is,” Peter thinks hard about how he got here but it makes fire and white hot pain that burns his mind. He hisses and touches the side of his head.

“Hey take it easy don’t hurt yourself Underoos,” the man says.

“I think the last thing I remember is that Steve had gotten intelligence on a train that Hydra had and were using to transport not only weapons but also Dr. Zola,” Peter tells him hesitant to give him more information just in case he is not a good guy.

The man’s eyes go wide and he sits all the way back in his chair letting out a long exhale. He runs a hand through his hair and stares at Peter in bewilderment.

“Jesus Kid,” he says.

“What? What is it? And who are you?” Peter demands. He’s frustrated with this man not telling him anything. Peter is a couple of minutes from trying to make a break for it.

“Kid I,” the man says again like he doesn’t know where to start.

“I answered your question, now you need to answer some of mine,” Peter started to stand but the other man made another placating gesture for Peter to sit again.

“There is no easy way to say this so, uh, I guess I will start with my name,” Peter sits back down and waits for the other man expectantly.

“My name is Tony,” Tony tells him, “Tony Stark.”

“Stark? Like Howard Stark,” Peter perks up at that, if Tony was a Stark then perhaps he knew Howard. Peter hopes that this man can get him back to where he belongs if he is familiar with Howard.

“The one and the same,” Tony says with a bit of a grimace that Peter finds odd.

“I know him. Well I kind of know him, don’t think he likes me much,” Peter tells Tony, “Can you put me in touch? They are probably wondering where I am.”

“Peter, I hate to tell you this but Howard is dead. He passed about 20 years ago or so now,” Tony tells him rubbing his own wrist ever so slightly.

“What do you mean died 20 years ago? He was alive last week when I saw him. Who are you really? Your keeping me from something,” Peter says with a frown. This was some kind of joke that Hydra must be playing with him.

“My name really is Tony Stark. I am just not the Stark you are looking for. No that would be dear ole Dad. I’m Howards son,” Tony says slowly gaging Peters reaction.

“That’s…that… that’s not possible,” Peter stutters, “Howard is only in his 20s.”

“Peter,” Tony says reaching out as if to comfort him but Peter jerks away and stands up. He walks around to the other side of the bed to get some space between him and the other man. His heart is thumping loudly in his ears and his breath is coming in short bursts.

“Tell me what’s really going on! I don’t understand, where am I?” Peter can feel the tears start to form on his face.

Tony sighs and stands up as well, he places his hands in his pockets and looks at Peter with sadness decorated in his eyes.

“Peter, you’ve been missing for more than 70 years. As far as the world knows you and Sergeant Barnes died when you fell off that train in 1945. That is until we found some classified Hydra data that pointed us in the direction of you. It’s 2016 kid.

Peter shakes his head and starts to pace the length of the bed, “That’s...that’s not possible. That would make me 86. Do I look 86 years old to you? I… this can’t be happening. Prove it.”

Peter spun to face Tony once more, “Prove to me you aren’t lying. Prove to me that it is actually 2016. Prove it.”

Tony walks over the window behind Peter that had been closed by a set of curtains. It one quick movement the man pulled the curtains back and Peter could see the city all laid out in front of him.

They were impossible high up, higher than Peter has probably ever been with the exception of being in a plane. The buildings around him looked just as high and they seemed to almost shine from the sunlight that bounced off them. It was the same New York, Peter could tell right away, but also so incredibly different it was hard to even take in.

“Friday, say Hi to our new house guest,” Tony said next to him.

“Hello, Private Parker. It is wonderful to meet you,” a friendly female voice said from Peter didn’t even know where.

“Friday is my artificial intelligence that I created,” Tony says causally staring at Peter.

“Artificial intelligence?” Peter whispered.

“A thinking machine,” Tony replied.

“A thinking machine,” Peter whispered again suddenly feeling dizzy. He gripped the edge of the window trying to keep himself on his feet. As he stared out into the unfamiliar city that once was his home all he could think of was that 70 years had gone by and now he was stranded in 2016 with no hope of finding his way home.

And what happened to Bucky and Steve?

Chapter Text

The edges of Peters vision gets blurry as he clutches onto the window ledge in front of him.  So many thoughts and emotions crash onto him like a waterfall. It’s almost like he’s drowning, like he can’t breathe and everything is overwhelming.

  Thump Thump

 Peter’s heart is beating erratically and so fast it feels like it will beat right out of his chest if he lets it. The air around him seems thinner and he tries to suck in a breath but nothing comes.

Tony said Bucky fell off the train so he must be dead. The idea washes over Peter like a bucket of ice water. Steve might be dead as well considering how much time had passed; Steve would be well into his 90s now.

May.

Oh God, how could he have forgotten about his Aunt. She would be dead and gone also; never knowing what had happened to him. He would have been just another nameless, faceless boy that went off to war and had never come home.

Harry was right all those years ago. Going to war had been a bad idea.

Peter gripped the edges of the window ledge harder trying to focus his mind but he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. He was slowly suffocating staring out into a city he no longer knew. This…this couldn’t be happening to him.

Peter used to love the idea of the future; what cool and new inventions would be waiting for them in the years to come. He used to love to read anything about technology he could get his hands on. Much to the amusement of the other men in the company and especially Bucky who would tease him about it but join in his fascination anytime they got the chance.

But to be stuck in a future he had no knowledge of with not a single person out there that cared for him. It was too much; it felt so unreal and removed from his real life. They might as well have told him that he was on an alien planet because that’s how Peter was feeling right about now.

“Kid,” Tony says softly, “Hey, I know this is probably all really overwhelming. I didn’t mean to lay it all out there so quickly. Bedside manner has never been my strong suit.”

Peter didn’t respond he just hunched his shoulders over and tried to suck in some air. He tried to close his eyes to help regain his composure but the tears still spilled over his cheeks.

“Kid,” Tony says again stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. Peter doesn’t have the energy to shrug him off.  

“Shit. You’re having a panic attack right now,” Peter doesn’t know what that is but he can’t really focus on that because he still feels like he is choking on the air around him.

“Okay, okay. Come sit back down on the bed here buddy,” Tony pushes Peter’s shoulders to move towards the bed. Peter wants to resist but Tony’s gentle coaxing helps him calm down enough to let go of the window ledge and move over to the hospital bed that Tony guides him to.

Peter sits down trying to wipe the tears from his face as Tony squats down in front of him.

“It’s okay Underoos. I have had many panic attacks before. They can be very scary believe me; even when you don’t wake up and 70 years have gone by. But what I need you to do for me is breath okay,” Tony tells him grabbing Peters hands in his own.

“Just follow me,” Tony says showing an exaggerated breath for Peters benefit, “Then let it go.”

Peter follows the other man’s movements and it feels like he can finally get a breath in.

“Perfect. Just like that keep doing that okay kiddie,” Tony says standing back up. Peter doesn’t miss how his knee joints pop and creak as the man stands. Tony grins down at Peter knowingly.

“What can I say, I am not as young as I used to be, “Tony says spreading his palms in a what-can-you-do gesture that has Peter giving him a little grin. 

Peter feels exhausted even though he just woke up.

“What do you say about getting out of here and out of that hospital gown huh kid. It’s not your fault those things look hideous on everyone,” Tony says. Peter looks down and notices that he is in fact wearing a hospital gown. He totally over looked the thing with everything else going on; plus, the fact that the thing was so soft and not scratchy like the ones he was used to.

“Sounds good,” Peter mumbled.

“Great. I bet we can order some pizza or something also. I bet you’re hungry,” Tony says helping Peter up and gesturing for the boy to start walking towards the door to the room.

“Pizza?,” Peter says.

“Yeah. Please tell me you’ve had pizza before right. Because if you haven’t that’s just sad, all the history books said that your family immigrated here from Italy so you must have had it at some point.”

Peter remembers that his Aunt and he never had much money to go out and by expensive things like pizza. But then again during his childhood not many people had that kind of money in general. But on special occasions his aunt would get the ingredients and make pizza for them. It sort of became a tradition on the anniversary of Uncle Bens death to make pizza and remember him. It was his favorite meal.

“I was born in ’29 Tony, not the Sone age,” Peter quips at the man who grins at him. They make it out into the hallway which is bright, white, and sterile. There are a few people milling around and some that are staring at black squares. They make their way over to what Peter assumes is a really high tech elevator. He’s right when the thing swishes open and Tony steps inside and Peter scrambles in after him.

Something Tony says catches up with him, “What do you mean in the history books they say my family is Italian.” Peter asks him.

“What?” Tony says staring at him, “Oh, well I guess your sort of famous historically speaking. You and all the commandoes have been in every curriculum about World War 2 since the war ended. Not to mention there was a comic book that was published about Captain America with everyone featured in it.”

Peter just stares at the man with his mouth hanging open some.

“I was in a comic book,” Peter squeaks out.

“Sure was. I can show you them sometime if you want,” Tony says smiling down at Peter. Peter nods his head quickly.

“Trust me kid. The future is not all that bad once you figure things out,” Tony says wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulders as the door to the elevator pops open and Tony guides them out. 

The room they step into is huge and rather ornate compared to anything that Peter has ever experienced. There was a large kitchen with appliances that looked more alien than anything Peter had ever seen before in his life. Across from the kitchen was a large entertainment area with just about the biggest couch in the world.

“Take a seat and make yourself at home. I’m going to grab you something to wear. We can go shopping another time to get you some real clothes that will fit you,” Tony tells him as he shuffles out of the room. The man reappears only a moment later with sweat pants and a T-shirt.

“Here you go. They may be a little big on you but you can always roll them up. Bathroom is down the hall to the right. If you get lost Friday can always help you. I’ll call in the pizza while you get changed,” Tony said handing him the clothes and pulling a black brick out of his pants pocket.

Peter watched the man type something out on the brick for a moment then headed down the hall to change into the clothes that Tony had provided him. He was dying to know everything that happened from when he and Bucky fell off the train to present day. He had missed a lot of history, including parts of his own personal history. For starters how did he end up in that HYDRA bunker of all places.

He must have been taking too long because he can hear Tony’s soft feet padding towards the bathroom followed by a knock on the door, “You okay in there Pete.”

“Fine. Just, erm, need to roll up the pants,” Which he did actually need to do as the other man’s clothes hung off him loosely.

“Okay. Meet me in the living room when you’re ready. Pizza should be here in about 15 minutes,” Tony says and Peter hears him walk away.

He is just about to step out of the bathroom when he gets a good look at himself in the mirror for the first time since probably the 1940s. The boy staring back at him feels like an entirely different person than the one that left the United States to fight in the war all those years ago. His face is leaner and sharper probably from lack of nutrition if anything. His hair hung slightly curly but mostly limp in his eyes. Peter stared at his eyes, they seemed the most different somehow. No longer did he see the spark of juvenile boyhood but rather that dimness many soldiers had from seeing unspeakable horrors.

He tried to remember what happened once he fell; it was there right in the back of his mind he could feel it. His head started to tingle and then throb the harder he tried to remember. He pressed his palms to his eyes to stop the throbbing sensation. Sighing, Peter straighten himself and made his way back to the living room where Tony was sitting on the couch.

“Hey Kid. Thought you might have drowned in there,” Tony said attempting to joke he thinks.

“Sorry, this all just feels like a little much right now. Do you know what happened to my family? My aunt? You said we were in the history books? Do you know what became of her? Did she get the GI life insurance money I signed up for?” Peter asks sitting next to the man.

“May Parker was a force to be reckoned with. From what I have read and what I remember from my Aunt Peggy and my Father she was quite the lady. She did get the insurance money since everyone assumed you and Barnes died that day on the train. She also started a non-profit organization that helped soldiers reintegrate into civilian life post war. In fact, it is still open to this day,” Peter smiled at the thought of May taking care of all those men. It was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders that she didn’t suffer so bad with his death.

He let out a sigh and leaned back into the plush sofa feeling the soft comfort of the fabric.

“How about we watch a movie?” Tony suggested once Peter had gotten comfortable on the sofa.

“You have a theater here?” Peter asked looking over at the man.

“Yes, but I was thinking we could just watch it on the TV,” Tony said gesturing to the flat metal boxed shape thing in front of them.

“That’s a TV? You have a theater and TV in your home,” Peter asked incredulously.

“Welcome to the future Pete,” Tony says to him, then into the remote, “Fri, please play the Wizard of Oz.”

“I love that movie!” Peter says perking up at the prospect of seeing something familiar.

“I thought you might,” Tony says with a grin.

Tony POV

The credits to the movie start to play and Tony peers down at the young boy who has his face smooshed into Tony’s chest. Somewhere between eating nearly the entire pizza and the monkey’s flying the boy’s eyes started to droop. Tony would have been exhausted to if he had to go through as much emotional trauma as this kid did.

Tony had his arm wrapped around the kid when he heard the faint sound of the elevator ping open; followed by the tapping of Peppers heals as she made her way over to them.

She smiled down softly at Tony when she saw him and Peter sitting on the couch together.

“Kid was tired. Fell asleep halfway through the movie,” Tony said gesturing to the sleeping child.

“I see that. I’m glad he woke up and seems rather healthy. Did you find out anything about him or his mental state? Are we looking at another Winter Soldier?” she whispered the last part.

“I’m not sure what’s going on in his head. From what I have gathered so far is that he has no memory of anything post the fall. I wonder if he is just repressing it or what. It’s too soon to tell. But of course he is devastated that he has woken up in the future with no one he cares about being alive. You remember how Steve was those first couple of months,” Tony whispers back to Pepper.

“I know dear,” she runs a hand through his hair and places a gentle kiss on his forehead, “What happens when he starts asking questions about the others that you can’t answer? We can’t keep him locked in the Tower forever.”

Pepper shifts her gaze over to the sleeping boy and she gently moves a piece of hair away from his face.

Tony sighs, “I know. I am just playing it by ear right now honestly. I wasn’t exactly expecting a super enhanced teen from the comic books to be living in my house yesterday. I’ll figure something out I always do,” he gives her a tight smile and pecks her on the cheek.

“Come to bed soon,” she says caressing his cheek and walks down the hall towards their room.     

Chapter Text

Peter POV

Peter feels like he is floating on a cloud, like his body could sink right through if he moved even an inch. Slowly, he brings himself out of the haziness that sleep had trapped him in. For a moment he is confused about where he is but the events of the previous day seem to slip back into his mind.

Sitting up Peter curls his arms over his knees in efforts to keep himself grounded. Had it really had been 70 plus years since he last remembered anything? Bucky and he fell off a train and then he woke up in 2016, according to Mr. Stark. But why does he feel as if there is more to the story than that.

“Sir, Mr. Stark wishes to inform you that breakfast is ready and you are welcome to join him.”

Peter jumps at the voice in the ceiling who talks to him for the second time. Everything is so different from how it used to be that he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to keep up with all the new information.

Sighing, Peter swings his legs over the bed and stands. It is only then that he realizes that he must have fallen asleep during the movie last night because he is in an unfamiliar room. The room itself if sparse, with only a bed and a nightstand. It must be one of Starks guest rooms.

Outside the room he finds that there is a hallway that leads him directly back to the main room. Since the kitchen is connected to the living room he finds Stark standing by the stove cooking something.

“Hey kiddo, how did you sleep? I’m making pancakes, which admittedly is one of the only things that I can cook. But feel free to find something else in the fridge also,” Tony says turning to greet him.

“Thank you.”

“No problem kid,” Tony says turning back to the pancakes, “I am sure that you have a ton of questions about everything. I will do my best to help you get acclimated and if you don’t understand anything you can always ask me or Pepper,” Tony plates six pancakes and passes them to Peter.

“Pepper?”

“Pepper is my fiancé and the light of my life,” Tony grins at him, “She’s the CEO of Stark Industries so she’s not often around. She lives here in the tower also so you two are bound to run into each other.”

He nods and starts working on the pancakes the man has placed in front of him. For it being the only thing the man can make it sure was tasty. He polished off the six that he had been given fairly quickly.

“So is there anything that you’d like to know? We talked a little about things yesterday but I am sure that you have so many more questions,” Tony takes a seat next to him at the breakfast bar and tucks into his own food.

“What happened to Bucky? What happened to Steve? Did we win the war? How have I been alive all this time?” A rush of questions tumbles from him. There are so many things he’d like to know.

“We did win the War. In fact, only a couple of months after you fell from the train we had victory in Europe and then three months later we won the pacific as well.”

He continues, “Steve died taking out the red skull after you and Bucky were gone. He save New York from getting blown up. He landed the plane in the artic, saved everyone. Bucky was also captured by Hydra we aren’t sure what happened to him after that.”

Peter takes in the information that Tony has just laid out, his two best friends are dead and he is alone in this world. If Bucky had made it out of Hydra’s hands somehow then he would be well into his 90s and Peter has no idea were to even look for the man. But Peter knows what being a prisoner of war captured by hydra was like. Bucky probably didn’t survive it a second time. Peter knows he wouldn’t have been able to.

“And all the other men in the unit,” Peter whispers looking down at his hands and avoiding Tony’s look that is sure to be filled with pity.

“All lived pretty happy and normal lives after the war. Many had families of their own and died in their old age.”

“So there is no one left. No one left but me.”

“Peter.”

He turns to face the man who has a soft expression on his face, “They are gone yes, but you are still here. From what I’ve read and knew of them, if they knew you had a second chance like this then they would want you to live the life you were supposed to. I knew all those men remember, my dad was Howard after all.”

Peter huffed at that, “Yeah well Howard didn’t like me very much. Only really tolerated me since I was close to Steve and Bucky.”

Tony is silent at that, he scratches his goatee thoughtfully looking at Peter, “Yeah kid, he didn’t like me much either. If it makes you feel any better, he always said good things about you and all the other men in the unit.”

“It doesn’t.”

They sit there in silence for a while caught up in memories of the past and of Howard Stark.

“What’s going to happen to me now?” Peter asks and can’t help but cringe internally at how childish that sounds.

“You’re going to stay here. Pepper and I are going to look after you. Since you are still what 15? We will have to get papers for you. We will try and catch you up with everything that has happened over the last 70 years to the best of our ability. Then, if you want, later we can enroll you in school. But that’s all stuff we can talk about at a later date. Right now all we want is for you to take some time and adjust to being in the future. Sound okay?”

Tony places his hand on Peter shoulder and gives him a little squeeze, Peter nods at the man but keeps his eyes downcast.

The silence between the two of them is interrupted by a dinging noise that sounded like an alarm clock. Tony pulls his hand away and reaches inside his front pocket to pull out the same dark metal square that he had on him yesterday.

He taps a button and the thing lights up, Tony seems to be reading something displayed on the thing then sets it down on the table.

“What is that thing,” Peter asks gesturing to the device.

“That’s my cell phone. It makes calls but it also does a lot of other things as well,” Tony hands the phone to Peter and shows him how to turn it on.

“This is really small for a phone. Where do you even dial and talk to the other person,” turning the thing over he notices that the entire thing is made up of plastic, metal, and glass.

Tony points to little holes on the bottom and top of the phone, “These are the speakers and they let you hear and talk to the person on the other line. The phone is a touch screen so you don’t need physical buttons to dial anyone.”

“If just phones have changed this much then there is no way I will be able to get caught up on everything,” Peter tells the man handing him back the phone.

“It’ll just take some time and I am sure you’ll pick it up. Besides from what I have read you are pretty smart yourself right kid.”

“Smart for the 1940’s but the 2000s is a totally different beast.”

“Wait till I show you the internet. You’ll be blown away with all the information there is on it,” Tony says grinning at him.

Just as Peter is about to ask what the internet is the elevator doors that Peter had forgotten about ding open. He tenses up waiting for whoever it is to make an entrance. Peter hears the clacking of heals hitting tile and he looks over to Tony who has a grin on his face.

A lady with strawberry blond hair tied back into a high ponytail walks into the kitchen with a kind smile on her face.

“Hi Pep, I thought you had meetings all this morning,” Tony says getting up and crossing the room to kiss the woman on the cheek.

“One got pushed back so I thought I’d come back and grab some papers that I forgot this morning. Hello, you must be Peter,” the lady, Pepper, glances at him.

Peter gets off the seat and walks over to her and Tony.

“It’s lovely to meet you Ma’am,” Peter says holding out his hand, “Thank you for letting me stay in your home.”

“Your manners are impeccable. But you can just call me Pepper, this is your home now to sweetheart,” she reaches out to shake his hand with a gentle smile on her face.

Peter is struck with a sudden longing to see May again. Peppers words are so much like how May used to speak that it has him on the verge of tears. He gives Pepper a tight smile and a nods afraid that if he speaks the tears will start to flow. May always taught him to be respectful of other who welcomed you into their homes.

“I was just telling Peter about the internet,” Tony speaks up defusing the obvious tension that the room was suddenly enveloped in.

“It will blow your mind,” she tells Peter with a kind smile, “I am just going to go grab those papers and head out. I don’t want to get in the way of whatever you boys have on today.”

Pepper steps away and heads for the hallway that Peter had come through when he first woke up. She had paused to kiss Tony on the cheek and he gave her a soft smile in return. Pepper seems like a nice lady, even though it hurts that she reminds him a lot of May.

“Okay. First things first. We’ve decided that you are going to stay here for the time being; like I mentioned early. Let me give you a little tour of the penthouse that will be your home while you’re staying here,” Tony tells him gesturing to the wide living room and kitchen area.

“I really appreciate your kindness Mr. Stark, but you don’t need to do all of that for me. If you point me in the right direction, I am sure I can get an apartment and a job somewhere.”

“Sorry underoos, no can do. Things don’t really work like that anymore. Kids just can’t fly under the radar let alone get a legitimate job that pays for rent. Don’t even get me started on inflation rates over the last couple of decades.”

Peter huffs at that, “I’m 86.”

“Only technically Pete.”

Tony takes a couple steps leading Peter towards the hallway that Pepper disappeared into.

“Come on kiddie, let me give you that tour.”

They head down the long hallway and Tony points out the bathroom, a closet, his and Peppers room, and finally come to a stop at the room he woke up in. Tony opened it and gestured for Peter to go inside.

“This is your room. I know it is a little plain right now but we can definitely change that. I figure once you start to explore more of this time there will be things that you like that you can add to the room to make it feel like more of your own.”

Peter finally gets a good look at the room that he had slept in last night. Just like how he remembered, it was bare with only a bed and a night stand. On the opposite side of the room there was another door that he wasn’t sure what it led to.

Reading his mind Tony gestures to the door, “That’s your bathroom. We can get you some of your own soaps and shampoos and things. I think there may be some in there already that we generally keep on hand for guest.”

“Thank you Tony,” Peter says looking down to his feet and away from the man. The room was bigger than the two-bedroom apartment that both his aunt and he shared back before the war.

“No worries Pete. We’ll do some shopping after this just to get you some of the necessities. As cozy as you look in those sweatpants and my old MIT jacket I’m sure it would be nice to have some of your own clothes that fit you properly.”

Tony concludes the tour by showing him around the kitchen and living room. He even shows Peter how to turn on and off the TV.

“If you need any help, Friday can always guide you. There are thousands of shows to keep you busy if you want to.”

Sitting next to Tony on the couch looking at the remotes he doesn’t notice that the other man has pulled out another metal square that looked a little similar to the phone he had showed Peter earlier.

“This is a computer. It is similar to a phone in that it performs a lot of tasks. I’m sure a smart kid like you had heard about the computational machines that they developed back in the 30s right?” Peter nods and Tony continues.

“It’s like that, it takes in a lot of information and processes it,” Tony says opening up the device.

“We are going to use it to buy clothes and other things that you might need.”

“It can do that?” Peter asks perplexed at how a machine could buy something.

“It most certainly can, and since I’m me it will probably all be here by the evening,” Tony grins at him, “Once we get you started on the basics then I’ll let you play around with it some. I want to show you a program that I designed to help you learn all the things that happened in the last 70 odd years to help you get adjusted. Also you can use the search function to use the internet and it will answer any history question you may have.”

“That little machine can do all of those things,” Peter stares in wonder at the metal box.

“Sure can. I bet you will pick up on everything pretty fast too once you get the hang of it.”

They end up getting a couple of T-shirts, pants, socks, and other miscellaneous items. Tony even laughed when Peter saw a particularly funny science joke on of the t-shirts and added it to the purchase. They had both agreed to wait to get anything for his bedroom so that he could add to it as he went.

Tony then shows Peter what Google is and how to use it to search for different topics. There were so many things that came up when Tony put in a simple search for dogs. It has pictures, articles, anything you could think of that related to the animals. It leaves Peter feeling a little bit overwhelm, more so than even this morning.

By the time that they were done and Peter had gotten an introduction to the internet it was midafternoon and Peter was getting really hungry.

Tony must have noticed him shifting around otherwise the other man was hungry as well; because, Tony got up and went into the kitchen to get some food for the two of them.

“Here you go bud. Keep searching while I make us something to eat for lunch. Just don’t look up anything to risqué if you know what I mean,” the man said with a wink and Peter could feel his cheeks getting hot at the suggestion.

“No I..I.. promise I,” Peter stammers out trying to reassure the other man that he wouldn’t do something so vulgar.

Peter can here the man laughing as he goes into the kitchen to make something for the two of them. Peter pulls the laptop, a distinction that Tony had made, closer towards himself and typed in World War 2 into the search bar. Millions of hits came up but Peter only scrolled through the first couple. It would take him ages to get through all the information at this rate.

Sighing Peter puts in the name of his unit and is surprised to find a list of all the things the men had gone on to do once the war was over. They were all dead now, for a couple of years, but they all had good lives and families that they left behind. He is happy that his friends got to live out the rest of their lives in peace. There was no mentions of Bucky or Steve, only the simple stuff about how they died and disappeared respectively.

He searches his own name but it is similar to what he read on Bucky. Just that the two of them had fell from the train in 1945 and were never seen from again. His head started to pound when he stumbled across an articling talking about Hydra and their part in Bucky and his deaths.

Finally, Peter puts Tony Starks name into the search bar and is once again met with a ton of results. Many of the articles center around him being a playboy (whatever that was) in a former life. But the majority of the articles where about him being something called Iron Man. Peter clicked on the first page that he saw mentioning it.

He scans the article quickly not wanting the other man to see what he was searching. It details how Tony Stark was kidnapped by his former business partner and almost died in Afghanistan where apparently the world had been seeing conflict for years now. Tony defeated the 10 rings, as they were called, and his business partner, thus Iron Man was born. Peter quickly looked over some other things that the man did but his mind was spinning on the super hero thing.

There were photographs that accompanied the articles about Iron Man. He was a giant metal man who could fly in the air and defeated bad guys. Peter had seen some pretty impressive and crazy things in his short life but this takes the cake.

“Foods ready if you want it Peter,” Tony called to him from the kitchen. Peter clicked out of the site like Tony had showed him and went to the kitchen.

Tony POV

The day passed quicker than Tony had anticipated when Peter had gotten up this morning. He was worried that the boy would have harder time accepting that he was in a new millennium. But sure enough he had taken to all the new tech that Tony had laid out in front of him.

There were a couple of times during the day in which Tony was worried that he might slip up and tell Peter about both Steve and Bucky. He was especially glad that while he went to make lunch for the two of them that he had remembered early in the morning to have Friday block all internet searches for anything Roger or Barnes related. He almost slipped up when Peter had just mentioned what had happened to him. Tony knows it isn’t fair to keep the kid in the dark, but both and Fury agreed until they can at least assess him mental state.

He was shocked when the kid had opened up about Howard being less than agreeable when he was in the war. From all the stories that he heard from the commandoes and his father everyone had loved Peter as much as they did Steve or Bucky. That might be true for all the men who spent more time with the boy but Tony wasn’t too surprised to hear that his father was a two-faced manipulator. It was endearing to hear that someone else didn’t hold Howard Stark on a pedestal like most people did.

Tomorrow, they decided to start the work on playing catch up with the current century. Tony was lucky enough to pull the same files that they used to help Steve get acclimated with this era; with the help of the shield database that is. Of course we wouldn’t tell Peter why he just had this information just laying around. But it should give him a good start to settling in with the future.

Sighing, Tony looks over to the other end of the couch where the kid had passed out with the laptop on his chest. The TV plays softly in the background so as to not wake the boy. Tony is reminded of how hard being alone in this century was for Steve without Barnes and Parker. He’ll have to go above and beyond to make sure Peter doesn’t crack under it. Not to mention the Hydra stuff that has to be repressed and just waiting to spill over.

Standing Tony gently takes the laptop away from the boy, he smiles a little when he sees an article pulled up called “The Top 100 Historical facts in the last 100 years.” He had the kid just search whatever he wanted today and ask Tony any questions that he may have had.

He sets the laptop onto the coffee table and tugs the blanket that is on the back of the couch onto the sleeping boy.

“Friday. I am going down to the lab to get some work done. Let me know if the kid wakes or needs anything,” he whispers.

He takes one last glance at the World War survivor sleeping on his couch. The boy’s hair is poking out in all different angles, looking a lot younger than he did when he was awake. He may not know what is in store for Peter but Tony knows he will try his best to keep the kid safe. Even if that means keeping him separated from Steve and Bucky for the time being.

Chapter Text

Peter POV 

Peter felt incredibly bored and it had come out of nowhere. As fascinating as he found all the future stuff that Tony was teaching him; there was only so much time a person could sit in front of a computer inside a house (if you could call it that) and stare at a tiny screen.

It had been a couple of days since Peter had woken up in Tony Starks tower. He had started to get to know the man a little bit better over the course of those days; Pepper to, though she worked a lot. From what he can tell they are pretty nice and decent people.

 He has slowly but surely been gaining more and more information about the present. Tony had a program that he had designed just for Peter that would walk him through some of the most important aspects of the last 70 or so years.

He saw a lot of progress with some events like Civil Rights and gay marriage being legalized. But he also saw more of the same death and destruction that plagued his time in the present. For the most part Peter had more fun learning about all the new technology that had been invented since his time. Much to the enjoyment of Stark who would grin at him any time he asked a question in that regard.

Peter spent a lot of time watching different TV shows and movies as well to try and learn some more of the eras popular culture. Tony has been pretty good about letting Peter pick and choose what he wants to see and watch with minimal input unless directly asked. It’s helpful because it allows him to sort the stuff he likes and doesn’t.

Also the food in the future is so much better than anything that he had ever eaten in the past. They used to boil everything during the great depression.

So while most things have been pretty good and steady since he woke up, Peter doesn’t know why he all of a sudden feels bored and restless. Tony had gone out today for a meeting and Pepper also had her normal work as CEO. So it is just Peter alone in the giant penthouse; well Friday was there but she didn’t count.

Sighing Peter sets the laptop aside, Tony had said he could keep it as he had a million laptops just laying around needing to be used. Peter had tried to refuse but the man insisted saying that most people had a computer and phone. Peter hadn’t gotten a phone but he imagined it was just like a computer only smaller.

Peter also clicked off the TV that was playing some random sitcom, as Tony called it, in the background while Peter worked on the new information program that the man had set up.

“Friday,” he called out to the AI

“Yes Private Parker?”

“Oh, you can just call me Peter,” Peter says tugging at his sleeves.

“Certainly Peter, what can I do for you?” she asks.

“Am I allowed to leave the penthouse. Like maybe look at the other floors?”

“Mr. Stark has set a protocol if you are to leave the Tower but he has not specified that you may not venture to other parts of the Tower,” she tells him.

Maybe if he got a little time to explore the Tower it would release him of this deep boredom that he feels. Not to mention that he has been feeling pretty cooped up the last few days. It’s not like he doesn’t understand why Mr. Stark hasn’t let him out; 86-year-old war veteran who was captured by a supremacist group with no means to know what happened over the last seven decades.  Peter would keep himself locked up to, especially if it meant making sure that he wasn’t a danger to others.

“Awesome! Where should I start Friday?”

“I believe starting on the first floor would be wise since there are more things for visitors to see and do.  Most of the Tower is devoted to office spaces and there is not much to occupy yourself with,” Peter can tell that even Friday knows he is bored just sitting around.

“Great! You’re a real swell gal Fri,” he says looking up to the ceiling (even though Mr. Stark has repeatedly told him that Friday was not in fact in the ceiling).

“Of course Peter,” she says with what Peter can only say is a hint of fondness in her tone, “Now if you make your way to the elevators I can lead you down to where the tours take place.”

Peter took that as his cue to head over to were Friday had the elevator doors open and waiting for him. He grabbed a pair of shoes that were sitting next to the front door and slipped them on. They were just a tab big for him but they would do in a pinch. Grinning he stepped in and was again surprised at how fast and silent the thing was as it carried him down to the first floor lobby.

“Friday, do I have to worry about paying for a ticket to the tour?” he asked before they stopped.

“No Peter. All tours are free during the weekdays,” she says.

Peter nods and steps out of the elevators as soon as Friday opens them. He isn’t sure how odd it would be to see a teenager in an office building let alone one that is talking with Mr. Starks personal A.I.

So Peter makes his way over to the sign that says tours in black bold letters. There aren’t too many people in the lobby at this time of day but just enough that Peter is able to blend in with the crowd around him.

Once he makes it to the tour sign he sees a group of teens milling around the same area with what looks to be a teacher. Peter figures it must be a field trip to the Tower. His school didn’t have the funds to do something like that but Peter remembers Harry talking about his school going on trips to the museums and theater performances.

Peter shy’s away from the crowd of students but stays close enough to make it look like he is with them. A young woman comes to the front of the students and teacher and introduces herself.

“Hi everyone I’m Kimberly and I will be your tour guide for this field trip. Now I know that you folks are from Midtown Tech and are very familiar with science and technology but I will have to remind you to please keep your hands to yourselves as we make our way through the exhibits. But other than that please enjoy the tour about Stark Industries.”

There is excited chatter amongst the group of students and Peter smiles to himself. It is the first time he has truly felt 15 in a very long time. The tour starts to move through big metal double doors and Peter quickly fallows the group in.

The lady takes them around the history of Stark Industries and its creator Howard Stark. His face nearly combusts into flames when he sees a picture of himself with Bucky, Steve, Howard, and the rest of the commandoes. But lucky no one recognizes him, probably since everyone believed him to be dead.

They continue on and Peter sees more information about how Tony took over the company at 21 and has revolutionized it into a beacon of clean energy that it is today. It makes Peter happy to see what Mr. Stark has accomplished, the man inspires Peter.

“And this ladies and gentlemen is probably what you are all here to see. The Iron Man suits,” Kimberly says making a show of presenting the Iron Man suits. Peter has only gotten to see pictures of the suits online. He hasn’t even told Mr. Stark that he knows he is Iron Man, but seeing the suits of mechanical artistry up close Peter is awe struck. He can’t seem to tear his eyes away even when Kimberly tells them that they are just old and original models; Peter has never seen anything like it before in his life.

“Alright everyone now for the main event. Right through these doors is the Avengers exhibit that I am sure you all what to take a look at right?” there is a chorus of shouts all proclaiming to want to see the Avengers; whatever that was.

The group of students, with Peter in the back out of sight, start to file into the room in a single line. Just as Peter is going to cross the threshold the doors snap shut and Peter jumps backwards.

“I’m sorry Peter, you are not allowed access to that room,” Friday tells him.

“What? Why not?” he questions.

“I am not at liberty to say.”

“Friday I can’t go in there but a bunch of school kids can? That doesn’t make sense,” Peter tried to argue with her.

“I am sorry Peter but I cannot allow you access to that floor,” Friday tells him again.

Sighing Peter surrenders and heads back out towards were he came from. What are the Avengers and why doesn’t Mr. Stark want him to know what is going on in that room?  It can’t be that top secret if he is letting a bunch of school children walk around in the exhibit.

Peter has Friday take him back to the Penthouse, maybe he can get some information out of the internet.

But when Peter searches for the Avengers in Google no results pop up. Usually there are millions of search results.

“Friday, is my computer broken? It didn’t pull up what I searched in Google,” Peter asks.

“No damage internal or external is detected on your computer,” Friday says.

“Is it the website itself then?”

“Google seems to be functioning correctly as of right now.”

“Friday, can you search Avengers for me?” he asks getting frustrated.

“I am sorry Peter but you do not have access to that information,” Friday says and he can detect a hint of distress in her voice.

“Friday why can’t I access anything that has to do with the Avengers? If they are important to this time I need to know what it is.”

“Mr. Stark has banned searches about this topic as well as a few select others that he believes you don’t need to be privy to at this time period.”    

Peter can’t even think of anything to respond to that with. Mr. Stark is deliberately keeping information from him. Peter knows he only knew the man a couple of days but he thought that he could trust the man who saved him and generously let him live in his home. But what sort of things is the man keeping from him. What does he not want Peter to know?

Peter will have to collect more information before he confronts the man about it. For right now all he has to do is continue to play the same act that he was before. He feels so stupid to have trusted someone as quickly as he did.

A dull ache forms at the base of his head and as the thoughts go round and round in his mind about the secrets being kept from him make the pain worse. It was always a constant pain but whenever he thought too hard on a particular subject his mind would get hazy and start to hurt badly.

Tony came home late in the afternoon that same day, tossing off his sports coat when he gets off the elevator. Peter only spares the man a quick glance before turning back to his show.

“Hey Pete. You get on okay today? Sorry about having to leave you alone so long. Last minute meeting an all that,” Tony asks.

“Yeah it was good. Learned about DNA sequencing today which was pretty interesting,” he responds.

“Ah yes good ole DNA. Not really a molecular man myself but I can appreciate a good biological breakthrough.”

Tony walks through the living room tugging on his tie as he goes. Peter watches him with a critical eye, knowing full well the man isn’t going to just blurt out what he wants to know. No Peter will have to play the long game on this one.

“Friday said you got to take a tour around the tower. How was it? I’ve been meaning to find out for a while but never got around to it,” Tony takes a seat on the arm chair that is on the opposite end of where Peter was currently sitting.

So the man is watching him even whilst he isn’t in the Tower. Peter would have to remember that for later.

“It was good. Really interesting. Learned a lot about what Howard did after the war. That you are something called Iron Man,” Peter tests him by putting out Iron Man knowing it is somehow connected to this whole Avengers thing, “Seems like school children really like the guy.”

“Ah yes, kinda a pet project of mine. Like a global community service thing,” Tony is grinning.

“Maybe you could show me some time,” Peter knows he is pushing too hard too fast. He can feel his face settling into a suspicious frown and quickly plasters a smile onto his face in an attempt to look open and inviting.

“Yeah sure kid. How about when you finish that educational program. I can show you the lab and the mechanical stuff I get up to in there. If I remember correctly, and I usually do, you were big into mechanics,” Tony tells him.

“That would be great,” Peter knows the man is hiding something but that actually does sound like something that he would enjoy.

They fall into silence then, watching whatever show Peter had put on, he doesn’t remember since he was distracted about the man sitting across from him coming home.

“Hey Peter,” Tony says after a couple of minutes of watching the show. Peter picks up the remote and pauses it. There is something in the man’s tone that suggests whatever Mr. Stark is going to say it’s important.  

“Yeah.”

“Look. I don’t know if this is the best time to bring this up since I know you are feeling a lot of things waking up in the future. But I was wondering if you’d like to visit your Aunt? She is buried in queens next to your Uncle. I thought I would suggest it, but it is up to you kiddo if you’d like to go. We can wait there is no rush.”

Peter stands quickly, “Can we go now?”

With everything going on he had forgotten about May, after Tony told him that she had passed it didn’t occur to him that he could go visit her.

“If that is what you want of course we can kid. Let’s wait till Pepper gets home. You change and I’ll make us something to eat before we go. Meet back here in say half an hour?” Tony says.

Peter nods and heads to his bedroom. It doesn’t take long to get changed out of the jeans and shirt he had been wearing all day. On the second day he had been with Tony and Pepper they had ordered him some more clothes over the internet letting him pick out whatever he wanted. The fashion in this century went right over his head so he let Pepper suggests things he would like and that were age appropriate.

They had also gotten him some dress clothes which was probably for this exact occasion. Slipping into the clothes and pulling on the nice sturdy dress shoes he glances at himself in the mirror. He looked okay with his unruly hair, that wasn’t going to change much, and the nice suit.

The final touch was a slim black tie. Bucky or Steve usually would help him when they had to wear one for their dress uniforms; and before them he never had an occasion to wear something that fancy.

Sighing Peter grabs the tie and heads into the kitchen where Tony is working on putting together some basic sandwiches.

“Looking sharp Peter,” Tony says pushing a plate of what looks like Turkey sandwiches towards him.

“Could you…” he holds out the tie to the other man.

“Yeah of course. I’m surprised the military didn’t teach you though,” Tony tells him reaching for the tie and looping it over his neck.

“Bucky usually helped me. I never did pick it up. But he said he didn’t mind since I was learning all the ways to fix the plane in case it ever went down.” Peter mumbles.

Tony doesn’t say anything in response to that just quickly and deftly ties the fabric around Peter’s neck. Once the man is done he moves back over to the island and continues to make another sandwich, presumably for himself.

“Hello,” Pepper calls out to them as she gets off the elevator.

“In the kitchen dear,” Tony calls back.

Pepper walks in and sees the two of them; Peter polishing off his food and Tony stuffing the ingredients into the fridge.

“Hi boys, how were your days?” she asks walking around the island to kiss Tony then coming over to Peter and giving him a shoulder hug and a hair ruffle. Peter really likes Pepper; she has the same energy that May did.

“Boring. I had meetings all day,” Tony whined.

“I got to take a tour of the Tower. It was pretty cool,” Peter tells her. He watches her as she turns to Tony giving him a questioning look that she thinks Peter can’t pick up on. She must also know something that Peter doesn’t. He is getting really tired of being kept in the dark.

Turning back to him she gives him a soft smile, “That’s nice honey. Are we going somewhere this evening? Is that why you two are all dressed up?”

“Yeah. Thought it might be a good time to go visit Peter’s Aunt and Uncle. He suggested he’d rather do it sooner rather than later,” Tony says, “Are you okay to come with us?”

“If that’s okay with Peter then of course I would love to come and meet your family.”

He gives a little nod of his head hoping that if Pepper is there then there will be a buffer between him and Tony. Peter has never been good at keeping secrets and he is afraid he might explode and word vomit a bunch of questions at the man.

“Great, I’ll give Happy a call and have him meet us in the garage,” Tony tells them and pulls out his phone.  

They all shuffle into the elevator once Tony gets off the phone. The elevator takes them lower than the first floor that Peter was on earlier in the day. It opens up to a garage that is filled with cars the likes of which Peter has never seen before. They look like something straight out of the science fiction books he used to read.

“Pretty neat huh,” Tony says next to him. Peter can only nod at the man in response, head swiveling to take a look at all the cars in the place.

The car that Pepper and Tony usher him into is much larger than any car he has ridden in before. It reminds him of the trucks that would ship soldiers around but sleeker and covered.

“Who’s the kid?” an unfamiliar male voice asks from behind the wheel of the car as Peter gets in. Pepper sit in the back with him and Tony rides in front with the man.

“Happy this is Private Peter Parker. Peter this is Happy my forehead of security and driver,” Tony gestures to said man.

“Tony we talked about this, it was really hard for me to talk to you about that topic,” Happy whispers loudly to Tony.

“Wait did you say Peter Parker? As in the Peter Parker,” Happy turns to stare at him. The man is on the heavier side but looking more like aged muscle than fat. His hair is closely cropped and he had the beginnings of a beard showing on his face. 

“Hi Mr. Happy. It is nice to meet you,” Peter says.

“Just Happy kid. And you too,” the man gives Tony the same look that Pepper gave only moments ago in the kitchen.

“Calvary Cemetery, Queens Happy,” Tony tells him and the man backs out of the garage into New York city.

It was the first time that Peter was getting to see the city up close for more than 70 years. Some things had changed. Probably a lot more than Peter even realized at a glance. But there was a feeling deep inside Peter that told him that this place was still home. People were noisier but then again New York had always been loud even when he was a kid. And even in the car he could tell that the place smelled worse than before. But there was a familiarity about it.

The traffic was awful; Tony says it’s because there are a whole bunch more people living in New York. But they eventually make it to the cemetery, one that is still pretty familiar to Peter. It was the last resting spot of all of his family. His Mother, Father, Aunt, and Uncle were all buried here.

He was going to visit May today. He would come back another day to see his other family. But he had gotten a chance to say good bye to them many years ago and he owes the time he has today to May. It’s the least he could do for not coming home to her like he promised he would.

Peter walks ahead of Pepper and Tony, Happy decided to stay in the car. Tony tells him that May was buried right next to Ben. He already had an idea of where he was supposed to go.

Once he reached the simple plots he stood over her and read the headstone. Pepper and Tony hung back.

May Parker

June, 15 1900-Febuary, 2 1990

Loving Wife, Aunt, Nurse

He was glad that they had come towards the end of the day. The breeze was soft as the spring air fluttered around him. Spring was May’s favorite season, Peter secretly thinks she would say that because of her name.

He kneels down in front of the grave and lays a hand on the head stone.

“I’m sorry May. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you one last time. I made it home but I made it home to late. You were right, I shouldn’t have gone. I will forever regret that the last time you saw me we argued about going off to fight. I… I just don’t know what I am supposed to do anymore May. You’re gone, Ben’s gone, I don’t even have Bucky or Steve watching my back. You would have liked them May, they were good people,” the tears start to fall down his face as he brushes dust and dirt away from her headstone.

“I hope you and Ben are happy together. I will see you again one day I promise,” Peter pushes the tears from his face, “Until then I will continue on and make you proud of me.”

He goes to stand but something shinny and metallic catches his eye. Peter leans over and brushes some more dirt away from the base of the stone. There is a set of dog tags that rest softly on top of the stone. It is place right were the lip of the stone meets the ground.

Peter picks the tags up and brushes them off to get a good look at them. He is so shocked to see his name on one and Bucky’s name on the other that he nearly drops the set.

He didn’t have these on him when he fell off the train. Peter remembers very clearly that they had order them to keep any personal effects off them when they were going up against Hydra. Part of their team’s safety measures, that included dog tags which they all left behind. There is no way that these should have ended up here. They should be with his stuff from the military which would have got sent to his family when he died. But May wouldn’t have been able to put these here after she passed.

Something was not adding up here, he glanced back at Tony and Pepper who looked to be in some sort of conversation. They were not paying attention to him or the tags so Peter quickly pocket the pair and stood. He brushed the dirt off his pants and made his way back to Tony and Pepper. They looked over to him when they saw him making his way back.

“You doing okay sweetheart?” Pepper asks reaching out to rub his shoulder concern clear in her face.       

“Not really,” Peter answered honestly, “ Do you think I could just take a walk really quick? I won’t go far I just need to clear my head a little.”

Pepper and Tony glance at one another, “I think that should be okay. Don’t go too far and we will be at the car when you are ready to head back.”

Peter nods and takes off towards the entrance of the cemetery thoughts racing through his mind over and over. Frist the whole thing with the Avengers and now with the dog tags. Something seems wrong but not in the way that means danger. Peter had noticed that after the time with Zola in the lab with Bucky he could sense when danger was coming to him. He didn’t get a danger vibe from Tony or Pepper so he knew he was safe in their house. But some of the facts weren’t adding up.

Why were they obviously keeping something from him? And why don’t they want him to know about whatever it is?

He passes a little old lady who is selling flowers and gives him a kind maternal smile. He waves and continues on. 

He makes it a couple blocks when he starts to think he should head back. Up ahead he sees what he thinks is a newspaper stand. It looks way different than he is used to but close enough he can tell that’s what it is.

Tony has been keeping things from him by blocking access to buildings and media but he has no control of the print media from this newspaper stand. He jogs a few paces to the stand to see the headlines.

Peter stops dead in his tracks.

Plastered all over the newspaper stand, in big bold letters, “Captain America: War Criminal”

Peter grabs the magazine that has a picture of Steve in a definitely new outfit but still dressed as Captain America.

“This isn’t possible,” Peter breathes.

“Hey kid either buy something or scram. This ain’t a library,” the man at the counter says.

Stunned Peter, with the magazine still in his hands, backs away from the stand.

“Kid you better not steal that! I’ll call the cops,” the man says face becoming red and blotchy.

Peter isn’t registering anything the man says. He turns and runs with the magazine not realizing that he just stole the thing. Subconsciously he tells himself that he will make it up to the man; but, with no money and a burning desire to know what’s happening he takes the magazine.