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“Friday, Mission report,” Tony groans and rubs his eyes slowly.
“No change since you last asked me ten minutes ago, sir,” Friday sighs and pulls up several security camera screens. “Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes have not left the facility yet.”
“Dammit,” Tony sighs. He pushes himself up to get another coffee, he lost track how many he had already today. 20? 30? Somewhere close to this, he supposes.
“Give me an update as soon as you have one,” he orders eventually.
“May I suggest getting some sleep in the meantime, sir?”
“No, you may not,” Tony huffs, already turning back to the project he occupied himself for the last days with. The sleep he got over the last three days amounts to two hours at most and those weren’t contiguous, but rather ten to twenty minute naps whenever his body gave up.
It’s five hours later and almost midnight already when Tony finally gets the alert on his screen he’s been waiting for. He lets out a shaky sigh of relief.
“Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes are on their way back to the compound, sir.”
“Medical check-ups,” Tony orders but Friday doesn’t do anything yet.
“Sir, they won’t be very accurate, you should wait until -”
“Medical check-ups, now, Friday!” Tony says in a sharper tone and Friday finally obeys. If she could roll her eyes, she would do it.
“Minor injuries and bruises, no broken bones, no major damage. They are alive and talking. One hour until arrival.”
Tony paces his lab for the whole duration of the hour and as soon as he gets the notification that they arrived he rushes to his rooms, completely ignoring the fact that he’s swaying on his feet and that his vision is starting to get blurry around the edges from his lack of sleep. He barely manages to turn on the lights when the door opens.
“You’re back!” Tony sighs with utter relief and only seconds later basically throws himself into the other’s arms, exhausted sick from his worry and too glad it’s over now.
“Slow down, doll,” the other man chuckles and wraps an arm around Tony as he’s being kissed almost desperately. “I told you I’d come back.”
Tony knows, he remembers and he had tried for a whole hour to not worry, before doing it anyway. “You said two days…” Tony almost whines, his hand shaking as it holds onto the cold metal in front of him. “It’s been almost four.”
There’s a sigh and then Tony is picked up as easily as if he weighs nothing, which is probably true in comparison. “Let’s get you to bed, doll,” the other chuckles and presses a kiss onto Tony’s head. “Sorry for worrying you, we ran into more trouble than we expected.”
“Sorry, Bucky…” Tony mumbles, clinging to the other’s chest and leaning against his shoulder.
Tony gets extremely clingy when he’s this tired, but he doesn’t notice it himself. At first, this had been a problem, but over time, as routine settled in, Bucky figured out ways to deal with it. All Tony needs is a gentle but firm hand and the reassurance that nothing is wrong, that he’s not mad at him for not sleeping and that he’s safe. Tonight, though, Tony’s exhaustion is a bit worse than what he’s used to.
Bucks gently puts Tony down on the bed and pulls back to get out of his clothes, but Tony won’t let go of him.
“Need you,” he mumbles, his voice weak and dry, unlike his eyes that have clearly teared up at some point. “Don’t… go…”
“Tony, I won’t go,” Bucky says and carefully takes Tony’s hand off his arm. “I’ll get out of this and come to bed, you just wait. I won’t ruin the sheets with blood.”
Tony lets out a whimpering noise, but doesn’t try to stop him at least, which is good. Bucky thinks he might just pass out before he even makes it to the bed, but two minutes later when he crawls in, Tony is still awake and immediately scoots closer to him.
“Missed you so much,” he purrs, starting to kiss Bucky again and again. “Don’t leave again, stay… no more missions…”
“Come with me next time,” Bucky suggests, running his metal fingers through Tony’s hair, a touch that is chased immediately. “You won’t worry and we work well together.”
“I will,” Tony agreed without hesitating, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s waist. “Don’t want you to get hurt. Need you…”
“If I get hurt, you fix me,” Bucky chuckles and kisses Tony’s cheek softly. “That’s how we do it, right? Always coming back to you, no one could stop me.”
Tony snuggles against him, sighing contently as he nods and Bucky believes he’s finally ready to sleep. It’s clear how exhausted Tony is, not only because of how clingy he is, but also because how hot he feels against him and how quiet and weak his voice sounds.
For the next few minutes, Bucky carefully draws circles into Tony’s lower back, knowing it’s something that always soothes him, but his hopes falter rather quickly when Tony starts kissing his jaw and neck.
“Doll, you need rest,” Bucky sighs. Normally, he loves how needy Tony is and how much he enjoys this, but he feels bad about his state and doesn’t want him to get hurt.
“Want you, please,” Tony mumbles between kisses, his hands holding Bucky tight so he can’t leave.
With a groan, Bucky grabs Tony’s hips and spins them so he’s on top of him, pushing himself up with his arms. Tony’s eyes immediately light up, but Bucky can see the dark circles beneath them and just how close to collapsing Tony is. This is a bad idea.
“Tony, you know I love it when you are feisty and beg, but you need to sleep,” he says firmly and gives him a strict look.
“Come on, please!” Tony whines and grabs Bucky’s arms. “Just… just buck me, Fucky, please, I- I mean fuck, Fucky… Argh! – Shit, forget it…”
Bucky can’t help but grin, Tony’s desperation in articulating himself just too cute and amusing. He leans down and kisses him softly before pulling him back into his arms and rolling to the side.
“Don’t worry, doll,” he chuckles. “I’ll buck you first thing tomorrow, but you need to sleep and your Fucky needs to sleep too, so be good and close your eyes for me.”
Tony doesn’t look happy when he drops his head onto Bucky’s chest and huffs. “You’re laughing about me,” he pouts and in response, Bucky actually does laugh.
“Oh, I would never laugh about you, doll,” he tells him, pressing his lips against the crown of his head. “You’re cute, that’s all, but I really need to sleep. I spent the last four days alone with Steve and bullets all around us, I’m tired and just want to hold you.”
“You better buck me good tomorrow then,” Tony mumbles and Bucky grins against his hair.
“Best buck you ever had, promised,” he says before finally turning off the lights and closing his eyes. “Now sleep, or I have to use my super secret assassin knock out technique on you to make you.”
“Don’t even try,” Tony mumbles and yawns. “I know the vulcan nerve pinch, so you…” He yawns again and his voice becomes almost a whisper. “You better watch out…”
Bucky chuckles, but doesn’t say anything as Tony is already drifting away by the sound of his voice. Maybe he will really go on his next mission with Tony. Because despite how cute he can be when he’s exhausted, he hates seeing him like this and knowing he didn’t sleep because he was gone and he had worried so much. One day, this worry would go away, but until then, Bucky will make sure it doesn’t get this bad again.
Of course, Bucky keeps up to his promise in the morning - or rather, around noon after they finally wake up - when Tony is much less tired and a lot better at getting the words out. Still, he can’t stop himself from teasing Tony every once in a while after that, asking if he’s up for a quick buck, as much as Tony can’t stop himself from calling him ‘Fucky’ occasionally to mess with him. Overall, there could have been a much worse ending to this far too long mission and both of them are very glad they didn’t experience it.