Chapter Text
Tony all but marched down the corridor. His Aunt Peggy had called him the moment Sharon had told her that Sheild had found them. Yeah, that sentence wasn’t complicated at all. Peggy had all but begged him to take them in and protect them. Tony wasn’t about to tell her no, even if being forced into the same house as Captain America and his fluffy sidekick might just be his idea of torcher.
Tony turned a corner sharply, making sure to flash a peace sign over his shoulder at the baby shield agent staring at him as he passed when a giant, very fluffy, and rather panicked looking wolf ran straight into him. Tony’s first instinct was to grab onto the nearest solid object, which just happened to be the wolf that knocked him over in the first place. They landed tangled together, Tony’s face smushed into the animal’s fur and its cold nose snuffling in his ear.
Tony’s body stiffened. “Uh…”
The next moment a pair of bare feet tangled in Tony’s own and a heavy, half naked man fell on top of Tony and the wolf.
“Ohf, Stevie wha-?” Bucky broke off when he lifted his face from the wolf’s fur and came face to face with Tony.
Tony couldn’t help taking in the chiseled jaw and firm chest of the brunette in front of him. His eyes tracked up the very muscular arm that was literally right in front of his face and took in the broad shoulders. At first he didn’t quite notice it, but then he couldn’t see anything else.
There wasn’t a visible wound or any sign of injury on the stark white bandage, but Tony’s mind reeled at the missing left arm. He knew far too much about how Captain Barnes and his trusty wolf had gone MIA thanks to his Father’s obsession with the pair. Heck, the wolf’s existence was still highly classified, but Tony had known about it since he was seven. But nothing he had ever encountered had even suggested the loss of a limb. It must have happened in the plane. Tony nearly shuddered at the thought.
The pounding of feet snapped Tony out of his thoughts, his eyes snapping up to the ice blue gaze of the other man. Tony tried to portray an air of confidence that had been shaken from his grip upon his collision with an over 200 pound wolf and his owner. Tony cleared his throat and slapped on his best “I’m in charge, bitch” face and sat up as much as he could squished between a wolf and Captain America. He turned his gaze to the veritable hoard of Shield agents charging down the corridor a good minute behind the escaping centenarian and geriatric k9.
The agents all came to a halt several feet away from them, clearly not quite sure what to do with a billionaire in a bespoke three piece suit having apparently “caught” their runaway “guests” before they could.
“Baby guns, where’s your nanny? I don’t talk to agents who are newer than my latest Vogue cover.” Tony snarked, leaning heavily on his patented Tony Stark attitude to make up for the frankly ridiculous position he found himself in.
A man in a generic black suit pushed through the gaggle of agents to stand in the empty space between the three of them and the gun toting babies.
“Mr. Stark, My name is Agent Coulson and I am in charge of Captain Barnes and his wolf’s reintegration. I-“ Tony cut him off.
“Great! Super Nanny, I’m adopting these two idiots and if you have a problem with it then you can take it up with my lawyers. No need to pay child support.” Tony made some impatient pushing at the super soldier’s arm to try and get him to move. “Now that that’s settled, let's get a move on Miss United States and bring Fido with you.”
Once the man had actually gotten off him, Tony popped up, brushed the nonexistent dust off his clothes, and grabbed hold of a frankly fantastic bicep to pull the Captain down the hall with him before anyone could stop attempt to stop them. Tony could hear the click click click of the wolf’s nails on the floor and confidently walked back the way he’d come with his charges in toe.
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Tony clapped his hands together awkwardly. His new house guest was standing stiffly in the foyer, his remaining hand buried into the fur of his wolf. Well, Tony supposed it could be worse. The panic attack that Tony had watched the Captain try desperately to hide in the car once they had actually gotten out of the Shield compound had been a perfect example of how dramatically unequipped Tony was to handle this situation.
He knew how Rhodey comforted him when he had his… things, because Tony did not have panic attacks. Nope. But he was fairly sure that Barnes would not appreciate Tony spooning him and rubbing his chest. So instead Tony had started rambling. He wasn’t even sure what he had talked about, just that a wall of noise had spilled from his mouth as Barnes buried his face in his wolf’s fur.
So here they were, standing awkwardly in his house.
“Right, JARVIS.” Tony called. “Introduce yourself.”
“Very nice to make your acquaintance, Captain Barnes.” Barnes jolted and pressed himself into a corner, his wolf pressing against his legs and growling menacingly. “Sir, did you fail to explain my existence again?”
Tony opened his mouth, paused, and then replied. “Maybe.”
A tin-y sound that was obviously meant to mimic a sight came from JARVIS’s speakers.
“Captain Barnes, my apologies for starling you. I am an Artificial Intelligence created by Mr. Stark. You can think of me as a robot that runs the house and assists Sir and his companions in any way that they require.”
“Then where is your body?” Barnes asked, his voice shaky.
“Well, he doesn’t really have one.” Tony explained.
“So he,” Bucky paused. “lives in your walls?”
Tony hesitated, mouth twisting into a slight grimace. “Close enough for now. If you ever need anything, just call for JARVIS and he can get you whatever you need.”
Barnes nodded hesitantly.
“Great! So tour.” Tony turned and took in his very open beach house. “Uh… well this is the living room… and um kitchen…and I guess dining room.” Tony snapped his fingers anxiously. “You get the picture.”
Tony bounced down the stairs and charged straight ahead. He pointed hastily to the giant water feature that made up one of the living room walls.
“Behind there are the stairs to my workshop. Don’t be alarmed if you hear explosions or I don’t reappear for a while. That’s normal.” Tony turned to check Barnes was still following him.
The Captain and the wolf were tentatively moving into the space, Barnes’ hand back to being buried in the wolf’s fur again. Tony frowned. Clearly this wasn’t going to be an easy transition. Tony made a swift turn down the hall and back towards the bedrooms, deciding that everything else could wait a bit. Barnes could probably use his own space to try and… well, do whatever it was that men out of time did.
“Down here are the bedrooms.” Tony raised his arms to indicate the doors at either end of the hall. He stopped and turned half way to face Barnes. “Going down the line we’ve got guest bathroom, your room, and then my bedroom at the end. On the other side,” Tony turned to face the left side. “we have another spare bedroom, my office, and a state of the art gym. The floor below has boxing equipment too if you want to use it.”
Tony peaked over at Barnes again. The man was practically sagging against his fuzzy companion. Right. This would be plenty for now. Tony quickly made his way to the bedroom he had outfitted for Barnes and his pet.
He opened the door and turned to Barnes again. “Right, so this is your room. If you want to make any changes or need anything at all just let JARVIS know. If you want to know any information ask him as well. Um…” Tony pinched his hands behind his back in an attempt to not fidget anymore. “If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.”
Tony nodded to himself and moved past man and wolf, fully intend on making a beeline for his workshop when he was stopped by Barnes’ voice.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Stark” Barnes mumbled.
“Tony” He quickly corrected. “You can call me Tony.”
He turned to meet those strikingly blue eyes again. Barnes nodded.
“Thank you for,” The Captain gestured to the room. “this.”
Tony shook his head, “No need to thank me, Captain Barnes. Mi Casa es su casa and all that jazz.” Tony paused awkwardly again, shoving his hands in his suit pockets. “Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen and if we don’t have it just ask JARVIS. He’ll get it for you. In fact I would just talk to JARVIS about anything. That's what I do. It tends to work out better for me.” Tony bit his lip to stifle his rambling. “Right, um…bye.”
And with that Tony marched down the hall and all but charged down the stairs to his sanctuary. He seriously needed to think about some stuff and call his Aunt Peggy. Hopefully today would be a good day and she could be just his Aunt instead of Agent Carter.