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Tony tried very hard not to shiver.
This never would have happened in his Tower. The Arc reactor made sure it always had power, and he had it perfectly temperature-controlled to be the best possible environment for everyone living and working there.
Back when they’d started living together, he’d taken great care to provide the optimal comfort for the other Avengers. His personal rooms, as well as the supersoldiers’ rooms, tended to run a little hotter than the common spaces, though not too much. Natasha and Thor preferred theirs a little cooler. Bruce overall liked a cooler temperature, but JARVIS knew to crank up the heat a little in the mornings and when he was meditating. Finally, Sam and Clint were content with just the regular temperatures.
But outside of the Tower, he was often still at the mercy of less reliable means of temperature control. Means which had failed at their current venue.
Instead, they were currently in a meeting that felt like it was freezing. Every inhale ached, feeling like knives cutting through his lungs. Worst, the reactor in his chest felt like it was leeching warmth from him, and the scar tissue around it felt like a fresh wound.
Suppressing a shiver, he looked around. None of the others appeared to mind as much, sitting calmly and listening as Fury explained… something.
Years of knowing them, however, meant that Tony could see beyond outer appearances. Most of them were rather minorly inconvenienced by the lack of heating in the freezing winter, but Steve had his jaw clenched in a way that told Tony he wasn’t comfortable. His body heat meant it wasn’t necessarily a physical thing, but of course, the source of his discomfort was easy to discern. Trauma had ways of coming back even when it might not make much sense rationally.
Beside him, Bucky’s face appeared carved from stone, and Tony could tell he was suffering. Much like Steve, his body heat should be enough to keep him comfortable. And much like Steve, he had his own traumas to contend with.
Then, Tony’s eyes were drawn to the metal arm, uncovered as it usually was for missions.
It had only been lately that he’d been allowed to work on it at all, considering the memories had simply been too much for Bucky to handle earlier. Tony had tried his hardest to make it comfortable, especially after a malfunction during a battle had forced the situation, and he really hoped it made it easier for Bucky to come to him for the arm.
But he hadn’t been able to work on it as much as he’d wanted to, let alone do all of the improvements he’d been thinking about.
Like a heating function.
Now that he’d thought about it, there was no way he could unthink it. Which meant he kept glancing over at Bucky, sitting still as a statue, arm unmoving by his side.
It wasn’t in his chest, which might be an advantage, but Tony could only imagine how much it hurt due to the bigger difference between the temperature of the arm and his higher body temperature.
Slowly, subtly, he moved closer. He had to make sure Fury wouldn’t notice he wasn’t paying attention, or he’d be yelled at again. And then he’d end up yelling back about SHIELD’s terrible heating, and Fury would probably blame him again due to the fact that he hadn’t showered SHIELD in free Arc reactors, which… Yeah, not happening. But that wasn’t a fight he currently wanted to have, so he just hoped Fury would keep up his no doubt riveting monologue (and he had noticed Clint nodding off despite the cold) and leave Tony to his own business.
The closer he got, the more he could feel Bucky’s body temperature, which, yes, please. There was no such heat coming from the arm, as he’d been expecting, and of course Bucky wouldn’t be showing any signs of weakness. Not in front of SHIELD.
Tony didn’t like showing weakness either, of course. But SHIELD, and Fury specifically, knew that he cared very little about what they thought. And there had been a few remarks lately about his and Bucky’s semi-flirting on the comms. And the two of them had been getting more comfortable with each other.
With that in mind, he fully plastered himself to Bucky’s left side. If it conveniently placed the Arc reactor against Bucky’s amazing warmth, even through his tac gear, then that was probably just coincidence. As was the fact that he rested his head against the shoulder of the metal arm, hoping to warm it up enough that it wouldn’t hurt where it connected to the skin.
For one heart-stopping moment, Bucky tensed up at the contact, and Tony worried he’d gone too far, gotten too close. But then, with a sigh so soft Tony barely heard it, Bucky curled into him, arm draping across his back. It would have been uncomfortable, except his body heat was working to warm Tony up in the front. The relief of it was more than enough to make the metal arm worth it, especially since the contact slowly started warming it up as well.
Sighing happily, Tony nuzzled into Bucky’s shoulder. This was perfect.
And when he glanced up at Bucky, the soft smile on his face was more than enough of an answer for him.