Chapter Text
Everything happened so quickly. Bucky's mind had trouble following the events of the past few weeks. To him it felt like his world was slowly crumbling. Falling apart.
It started when Loki came back from visiting his mother in Asgard. He came back looking like he'd fall over any moment. His brow was sweaty, the dark circles under his eyes carrying the pain he desperately tried to hide. When Bucky saw the state his husband was in, he gasped. Putting their son down onto the floor, he ran over to him, embracing his shivering form in a tight hug but immediately pulled back when he felt Loki stiffen and grunt a little in anger. Sebastian stood there, looking at his parents' silent glares not entirely sure what to do.
"Doll... Loki?" Bucky said softly, as he tried to put a strand of Loki's greasy hair behind his ear only to be stopped by a tight grip around his wrist, Loki's hand was still shaking. The god gulped, not meeting the other man's eyes as his gaze was directed towards the floor.
"Don't." Loki said with a threatening voice, lowering their hands so that Bucky's was now almost hanging by his side again. He loosened his grip around the Sergeant's wrist, still not fully letting go.
"Talk to me. Please." Bucky plead but only received a sarcastic chuckle. He frowned at the behaviour of his husband. The chuckle wasn't anything new, he did it all the time. But the threatening tone he spoke in was unusual. He'd used it on strangers and other people in general a lot, but never against him or their son. That was new. And it worried him.
"Okay." Bucky said, nodding his head angrily and pulling his wrist free from the god's grip. "You come here after weeks of being gone, looking like you've been through hell and act like-"he paused not knowing what to say. "You can't even look me in the eyes."
At this, Loki looked up. His once greenish looking eyes were a light blue now, it seemed almost like they were sparkling, but definitely not in a good way.
Without turning around, he said: "Seb, honey. Go to your room, okay? Daddy and Papa have to talk about something." With the softest voice anyone had probably heard from the former Winter Soldier. He got a quiet 'okay' back that was soon followed by tiny footsteps and the sound of a door closing. Bucky's attention focused back on Loki.
"What happened, damnit?" the brown-haired man asked, forcefully this time, taking a step closer to his husband and getting dangerously close to the god's face. "Don't make me ask you again, Loki."
"That's none of your business, James." Was all Loki answered as he made his way to the bathroom, locking himself inside and turning on the shower.
Bucky sighed. That was everything but normal. Loki's eyes don't change colour, at least as far as he knew.
He could hear a door being opened, looking up in hope to see his husband leaning against the doorframe. But the shower was still running.
"Dad?" came a soft voice from the doorway. Bucky smiled, trying to hold onto the happy face he'd always put on when he and Loki fought. Which was not very often. Almost never.
"Hey, little one." He said as he picked the small boy up, letting him sit on his lap.
"What were you and Papa arguing about?" Sebastian asked, his voice almost a whisper.
"Nothing that you should worry about." He laughed, tickling his son's side which earned him a happy giggle from the 3-year-old. Bucky put his arms gently around the small frame of the boy and let himself fall backwards; his son giving him one of his adorable belly laughs as he fell along.
It's been two years since Sebastian had made both his and Loki's life complete. And every day he made the day a little bit better. Stark and Steve, along with most of the other Avengers didn't completely agree to them adopting a child, since they still had the things Thor had told them about his betrayal in Asgard. But that, they decided, shouldn't bother them at all. Out of all the others, Thor was accepting. He found it to be a good idea that both of them planned on becoming a family. Like the good brother he was, he even suggested he'd take care of Sebastian if things would get too busy for them- pretty much like a babysitter.
And now, two years later, there they were. Everything went well, until Loki came back from supposedly meeting his mother in Asgard. After everything that's been happening, he pretty much doubted ever word Loki said. Disappearing for weeks and coming back looking like a living dead.
Soon the water from the shower stopped. The door creaked open and the god walked, although it was more of a stumble, out of the bathroom, leaning against the wall for support to hold himself upright.
Sensing that as soon as the black-haired man took only a single step forward, he'd collapse, Bucky stood up, sitting their son back onto the couch and jogged over to his husband. He reached for his arm and held it tight. Loki shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh.
"I'm fine. Let me go." He said, the anger lingering in his voice.
The brown-haired man looked at him, standing there in nothing but a towel draped around his waist. His long, wet hair mostly hanging into his face. He didn't have bruises, at least none that were visible at the moment, but his skin was pale- well, paler than usual. Even after the hot shower his body still trembled under the touch of his husband.
"You look like hell. What even happened to you? And don't even try telling me the 'I visited my mother' crap because I know you're lying." Bucky said angrily. He supported the other man's weight and guided him to their bedroom, slowly placing him on the edge of their bed. Loki still didn't look at him.
"I was away...to get some business done." He said, putting his hair away from his face.
"Bullshit." Bucky spat and crossed his arms. He kept his voice down as to avoid Sebastian hearing him swear like this, but it was firm enough for Loki to understand that lying wasn't a possibility anymore.
"Look at you! What business could you have been after that you look like this?" There was an awkward silence lingering between them. But Bucky's voice softened as he watched his partner tense up yet once more at his harsh voice.
"Who hurt you?" he asked, clearly worried. His eyes watering as Loki gripped the bedsheets tightly, his head hung low and James was sure he could hear a soft sniffle. Loki shook his head.
"I'm sorry, James."
Bucky unfolded his arms and sat beside his husband, trying to give him as much comfort as he could.
"What are you sorry for, doll?" he let his hand run down the god's back a couple of times, letting it come to a rest on the taller man's lower back.
"I didn't mean to. They made me do this horrible thing." To Bucky, Loki was talking nonsense. He didn't know what he meant. He was about to ask when an overly excited bundle of joy ran into the room yelling.
"Daddy! Papa is on tv, look!" he took his father's hand and dragged him into the living room, right in front of the tv. Loki didn't move.
Bucky watched and saw his husband wearing his uniform above a crowd in Germany telling them to kneel. Soon enough Steve, Stark and Natasha appeared as well, trying to take him down. They put up a good fight before Loki suddenly disappeared in green smoke, possibly coming right here.
Bucky looked down at Sebastian, whose eyes were still glued to the tv in awe that his Papa made it into the News. He realised he still held the boy's hand and squeezed it slightly before taking a deep, exhausted breath.
"That can't be good."