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1
Clint Barton was a man with a big heart, this was undeniable, it was one of the things that made Bucky fall for him, but sometimes Bucky forgot just how big his heart truly was. Bucky loved his students, he did, really, and every year when he watched them leave, a piece of his heart broke a little more. But he didn’t love his students the same way Clint did. Clint had a secret talent at identifying the kids who had a rough family life, after all the years of being that kid how could he not?
“Sometimes,” he once told Bucky. “It’s like looking in a mirror, I see a kid just like me looking for someone to save them, begging with their whole heart for someone to hear their silent plea for help and other times – other times I see kids who wish they were in the situation I was in, because to them that would be heaven, that would be safety.”
There were always a few in every year group, management always called them Mantis' kids, after the councillor who took care of them, but everyone knew they were Clint’s kids. He looked after them, all the way from first year to sixth year, kept them on the right track, kept then in school and when he couldn’t do that, he kept them in jobs.
Seeing Clint with those kids always warmed Bucky’s heart, it made him hopeful for a future they might one day have, but he assumed it would stop at that, at the kids, the students, and not move on to staff. It was true that the workers at the academy were closer than most, Clint himself had practically been adopted by one of the older members of staff when he had started, but Bucky never thought that Clint himself would take after that. At least until Wanda Maximoff showed up.
Wanda was an art teacher, a young one, fresh out of college, she was shy towards the other staff members but always confident in front of a class, she doted on the younger students and treated the older ones with respect. That is if she was treated with respect in return. You could tell when walking past the art rooms if the class had acted up as the occupants would always be seen working away quietly under her stern glare. When Clint was first introduced to Wanda Bucky could practically see the dad energy take root in his soul.
Clint became a mentor of sorts to the young woman despite the fact that their subjects differed completely. It came to the point where Bucky was cooking for three instead of two at least one, if not more, nights a week. Wanda was like the sister Clint never had, which Bucky didn’t understand as he would have very readily offered up one of his six sisters if Clint had asked, but Bucky didn’t think it would have worked the same. There was something about Wanda that drew Clint to her and something about Clint that drew Wanda to him.
It was five months into their friendship when they found out what that something was. Clint could tell something was wrong with Wanda, it was putting him on edge which in turn put Bucky on edge. At the, now weekly, dinner, Clint waited and waited for Wanda to confide in him, Bucky and Clint had begun to suspect that her and Vision had been having problems, but it was something much different.
“Have I ever told you about my brother?” She had asked at the dinner table, staring directly at the garlic bread and not at either man.
“You’ve mentioned him a few times.” Bucky told her. “Why?”
“He’s,” she paused. “resurfaced.”
Bucky looked at Clint quizzically when she said this.
“What do you mean resurfaced.” Clint had asked.
“He’s - we’re – estranged.”
And there it was. The great big something. Shared experiences, even when they are unknown, tend to bring people together.
“I know a fair share about estranged brothers.” Clint told her. “You wanna talk about it?”
“We haven’t talked much since we were eighteen, him and dad don’t see eye-to-eye. But he reached out to me and we went for coffee. He said he wants to get his life back on track. He says he wants to go to college and become a teacher like me.”
“Lots of people can say they want to get their life back on track, Wanda, but they don’t always necessarily mean it.”
“I know but it felt genuine, call it twin’s intuition. He asked me if I would co-sign a loan with him, he said I’d never have to pay a penny of it, just that the bank didn’t entirely trust him and it would help if there was a backup person.”
“And what did you do?”
“Well I told him I’d think about. So, I went to the bank and I asked them about the logistics of co signing a loan and they said that even if I wanted to I couldn’t.”
“Good.” Clint said.
“But I wanted to help him.”
“Wanda you need to put yourself first, what if you did sign that loan, huh? What if he didn’t pay it back? You would be stuck paying it back. You don’t need that kind of debt.”
“Clint.” Bucky warned.
“What? Am I wrong?”
“No. But just try put yourself in her shoes hon.”
He turned to Wanda “I was in your shoes, and I made the wrong decision, don’t do what I did.”
“Right,” Bucky clapped his hands and tried change the subject. “who’s on the washing up?”
Unfortunately, Bucky did not manage to change the topic, well not entirely at least, Wanda continued to tell them about her brother, not of him being 'estranged’ but of their childhood. Of their once thought unbreakable bond that had managed to break. The tales she recounted reminded Bucky of his own childhood on the farm with his sisters. She told them of how Pietro would race the other kids on the street constantly, of how he fought the bullies, failing miserably but still fighting, and Bucky started to think that maybe if he met the kid, he would like him.
Clint clearly thought otherwise.
“What?” Clint asked him after Wanda had left. “I know you have something to say so say it.”
Bucky sighed and sat down on the couch beside his husband.
“’It’s just,” he began. “how many chances did you give to Barney?”
“Too many.” Clint grumbled. “And you know that.”
“I know.” Bucky replied calmly. “But doesn’t this kid deserve at least one?”
Clint sighed, Bucky was right and he knew it.
“You need to give him a chance, or at least tell Wanda to.”
“I know.” Clint mumbled into his hands. “I know.”
He took Bucky’s hand and pulled until he was beneath the other man, sliding his hands up and down his shoulders and neck, even through the thick cloth of his shirt he could feel the line where his shoulder stopped and the prosthetic started.
“I’m sorry I brought up Barney.” Bucky apologised, kissing his husband’s forehead. Clint’s brother was a sensitive subject, the one wound that had yet to heal.
“It’s ok.” Clint told him. “You’re right.”
Bucky smiled a little and settled into the gap between Clint and the back of the couch, snatching the remote off the arm of the couch as he did. Clint groaned, he hated when it was Bucky’s turn to choose what to watch.
“No-one wants to watch Horrible Histories.” He complained.
“I do.”
“Whatever.” Clint took out his aids and placed them on the coffee table, he didn’t want to watch TV anyway, all he wanted was to cuddle up to his husband and ignore the rest of the world.
The following Monday he went to lunch with Steve, Sam was on hall duty, Maria was far too busy and Clint was eating in the break room in hopes of getting a chance to talk to Wanda. When he had told Steve this, he had immediately become concerned. If Clint was Wanda’s adoptive dad, Steve was Wanda’s adopted brother.
“Is something wrong?” Steve asked. “She was acting off all last week.”
“Just family stuff.” Bucky said and with that the conversation topic was dropped, but not in Bucky's mind. He spent whole day thinking about what Clint was going to say and how Wanda would react and it didn’t help that he didn’t see his husband once all day. He would have to wait for the end of the day.
“So, how’d it go?” Bucky asked when Clint arrived at the car after work. Clint had happened to have the keys on that particular day so Bucky was left leaning against the passenger door waiting for Clint awkwardly. Clint unlocked the car and the two slid in.
“Alright.” Clint said. “I apologised for not having an open mind about her brother and I offered to co-sign the loan with him.”
“You did WHAT?”
“Uh yeah, is that not what you wanted me to do?”
“No why the hell would I want you to make a terrible financial decision?”
“I don’t know! I thought that was what the whole ‘give him a chance' spiel was about.”
“No of course not! What the hell Clint, we can’t sign a loan with a complete stranger.”
“We won’t.”
“If you’re going to try suggest that we get to know this kid don’t even bother -"
“It’s ok, we won’t have to do because Vision already did.” Clint told him. “On Saturday they went to the bank and signed the loan, Wanda says thanks though.”
“Oh.” Bucky said slightly embarrassed at his overreaction. “Ok then.”
And just like that, Pietro Maximoff left their life just as soon as he had entered it, at least for a while.
2
When Clint told Bucky about a new PE teacher starting in the school in September he was excited. It was always to welcome a new member of the team and they had been in desperate need of a new PE teacher for a while. However, when he realised it was Wanda’s brother who was starting, well he wasn’t disappointed, but Clint definitely was. He felt that it was a personal targeted offence against him for Wanda not to tell him. As if Wanda would have gotten the chance, there was no time to talk to Clint or Bucky about anything over the summer because they were too busy talking about their wedding.
The two tied the knot just after school ended leaving them with three months of summer holidays to honeymoon in. They didn’t even see Wanda once until the first day of school.
Clint wasn’t the type to make a scene – said no one ever.
“Wanda.” He said, his voice laced with fake pleasantness. “How are you? Who is this? Someone you told me nothing about.”
“I’m Pietro.” The man said, extending his hand which Clint did not take.
“So I’ve heard.” Clint glared at Natasha on the other side of the room who had broken the news to him.
Bucky cleared his throat. “I’m Bucky.” He said, shaking hands with the new teacher.
“Wanda has told me so much about the two of you.” Pietro said, he seemed to be as reluctant to make conversation as Clint.
“All good things, I hope.” Bucky smiled, and while Pietro couldn’t deny that they weren’t all good feelings he still had an uneasy feeling about Clint. A feeling that was reciprocated by Clint. This wasn’t great since he and Clint would be working closely together.
Every day Clint would come home with a new story of how Pietro had annoyed him, how Pietro had done this or had said that, and quite frankly Bucky was getting sick of it.
“Look,” he had said to Clint. “Just try to be friends with him, ok? For Wanda?”
“Fine.” He agreed, and he actually kept his word. He tried to make friends with Pietro but Pietro didn’t seem too eager. Of course Bucky didn’t believe him (although he would never tell him that) so he went to the one person he knew he could trust on the matter and who had been getting caught up in the crossfire of Clint and Pietro's tension more than once – Natasha.
“So is there a reason you asked me for coffee today, Barnes?”
“Can I not just want to spend time with my dear friend?” Natasha fixed him with a look that told him he was fooling nobody. “Ok, well I just need to know what the hell is up with Clint and Pietro. You’re an insider I thought you could help enlighten me to whatever that whole situation is.”
“Honestly, I have no clue. At first it was mutual, Clint didn’t really like Pietro, Pietro didn’t really like Clint but now – well Clint’s actually trying to make an effort what I assume was your influence but Pietro is still being all cold. Honestly, I think the problem is they’re just too similar.”
“Maybe.” Bucky thought, but be wasn’t fully convinced, he was going to have to get the news from the horse’s mouth, which meant talking to Pietro.
When Bucky walked into the PE hall he didn’t expect to see Pietro Maximoff slowly walking around picking up illuminous orange cones off the floor sombrely.
“You seen Clint?” Bucky asked, walking over to him and starting to help pick up the cones.
“He just left. Why, do you need something from the cupboard?” He pointed to the room where all the sports equipment was stored, it was Clint’s job to organise it, keep it tidy and keep anyone he didn’t want getting in out. Bucky knew this because all Clint did was complain about it.
“Um, no, just looking for him.”
“Huh.” Pietro said as if it would be a surprise for Bucky to be looking for Clint. Of course, Bucky immediately thought that Pietro thought for some reason that Bucky wouldn’t want to look for Clint. That Bucky wouldn’t want Clint. That somehow Pietro thought Clint was so insufferable that he believed his own husband wouldn’t want his company.
“Look,” Bucky began trying to maintain his composure. “Do you have something against my husband or are you just being a little bitch.”
Pietro looked at Bucky confused.
“Your husband?” He asked incredulously.
“Yes. My husband, Clint. Clint Barton.”
“Clint’s your husband?”
“Is it really such a shock?” He asked, and assuming that the confusion Pietro was feeling was because of certain prejudices added “It’s not like its illegal anymore.”
His voice was curt and emotionless but the sheer lack of emotion was emotion in itself and Pietro felt like a truck had hit him when he realised.
“What? No – that’s not what I meant. I’m not – well I mean I’m actually – you know – so…” he trailed off.
“Are you finished?” Bucky asked a look of almost disgust on his face.
Pietro was frozen not knowing what to say and Bucky began to walk away. “No wait! I thought Clint was having an affair with Wanda.”
“You what?”
“I saw the ring, I saw the way he acted around her and I assumed he was having an extramarital affair.”
Bucky began to laugh, tears were streaming down his face and he almost couldn’t breathe.
“No that’s – that’s not true.” Bucky finally got out.
“Yeah well I realise that now.” Pietro said. “But what is it with them.”
“They’re close.” Bucky said. “its like a brother-sister thing.”
“Wanda has a brother.”
“You know if you would just be nice to him you’d see how open his heart is. You never know, maybe you could end up just like Wanda.”
“I doubt it.” He said. “But I will be nicer to him. I feel bad about the affair thing now.”
And Bucky laughed again and soon they were both laughing and Bucky thought that it might be nice for Pietro to be a part of their family.
3
Pietro never intended to make a habit of drinking alone, but there he was again, seated at the world’s worst bar, Josie's. It was a popular hangout for some of the staff at the school but that was only during term time, with them being on Halloween break the workers of the academy were at home with their families, something Pietro didn’t have anymore.
He drained the last contents of his glass and waved the bar tender over, taking his card out to cover the tab. As the bar tender scanned his card (thank god for contactless payments, now his drunk brain didn’t have to try remember his pin) he took a glance around the bar. A few stools down a woman, probably in her twenties, was talking to a man laughing and all together enjoying herself. So much so that she didn’t notice the man slip something into her drink, but Pietro had.
As the bar man handed Pietro back his card he stood up and began to walk over to the pair, if he had been in his right mind, he would have played it cool, pretended to now the woman or something, or maybe even told the bartender or the bouncer, but he wasn’t in his right mind. The closer he got to the man the angrier he got, angry at the man yes for being a class one scumbag but also angry about other things. And he took it all out on that mans jaw.
Pietro, in his inebriated state had failed to think about the fact that the man was quite a bit bigger than him and by the looks of his nose, had been in quite a few fights so of course he bounced right back from Pietro's hit, returning it with one of his own, knocking Pietro to the ground. But Pietro was quick, always had been, and in a minute, he was back up on his feet and throwing punches. The two ended up in a full-out brawl, at least until the bouncer peeled them off each other and threw them out, the woman scrambling out after them.
“What the fuck!” She exclaimed, running to the man’s side, the drug hadn’t taken effect yet, she didn’t know.
“He drugged you!” Pietro exclaims spitting the blood that had dripped from his nose out of his mouth. The woman hesitated, about to lay her hands on the other man. She looked at Pietro as if asking him why she should trust him.
“I swear I saw him do it, I swear.” She kept on looking at him, her gaze unchanging. “Please, you have to trust me.” And maybe it was something in his voice, or something in his face, or maybe it wasn’t Pietro at all, maybe she was just remembering something (or somethings) the man had done that seemed off, but she dropped her hands from his arm and shuffled over to Pietro helping him off the ground as best she could.
Pietro, fast as ever, hailed a taxi before the man had managed to scramble off the ground and they were gone.
“What’s your name?” Pietro asked.
“Jemma.” She told him.
“Ok Jemma.” He said. “We can’t be sure what exactly he put in your drink if he did roofie you we have 30 minutes before it comes into effect. If it was Ketamine or GHB, the effects could start any minute."
She nodded, taking the information in. “Where are we going?” She asked.
“My sister’s, she'll know what to do.”
“Is she a nurse?” Jemma asked.
“No she’s just smarter than me. And sober.”
Unfortunately, it turned out that Wanda was not sober, it was her and Vision’s fifth anniversary and Vision had planned an extravagant meal accompanied by a bottle of wine, which Wanda had eagerly drank when she came to the unfortunate conclusion that Vision was yet again not proposing.
So when she was faced with the problem of a drunk brother and a stranger (who was slowly losing consciousness), her decision-making skills were pretty much the same as Pietro’s, call a responsible adult. So they were off again back in a taxi, this time four of them, all heading to the house of Pietro’s no.1 biggest fan, Clint Barton. To say that all hell broke loose would be an understatement. The first problem they encountered was that Clint wasn’t answering his phone, they were going to be showing up unexpectedly but also unannounced, which of course caused a flurry of problems in itself. The minute the taxi pulled up, the dog was set off, barking as wildly and loudly as she could. This, of course, woke Bucky, it took him a minute to realise what was actually happening and when he did he freaked out. You see, Wanda had a spare key, so when no-one answered the door she had to let herself in, the poor drugged girl needed to sit down.
Bucky, naturally, was absolutely terrified. He shook Clint awake and begin to haphazardly sign which was difficult when distressed and even more difficult when his arm was on the other side of the room . Clint somehow caught on to what he was saying though because fear had taken root in his eyes. He picked up his aids off the counter and put them on, he was suddenly assaulted with the noise of it, there were multiple people in his house and they somehow had managed to subdue Lucky. The fact was that Lucky knew Vision and Wanda so stopped barking immediately.
“What the fuck?” Clint whispered. “What do we do?”
Bucky pointed towards the door, he wanted to go downstairs, he wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing, he was in the army for God's sake. He stood up, grabbed his arm and began to look around the room for something that could be used as a weapon. He and Clint had mutually agreed no guns in the house, as a child Bucky was used to guns in his house, his family were farmers, they used the guns to kill rodents and the like trying to kill their hens or steal their veg at least that was what his dad had told him it was for until he used it to kill himself. He hated to admit it, but know he was slightly regretting that decision. That was, of course, until he heard the voice of one of their suspected burglars.
“Is that..” he asked Clint not needing to finish the sentence, that voice was very familiar.
Clint, a little too hot-headed, stormed out of the room and down the stairs.
“WANDA FUCKING MAXIMOFF!” he shouted. “What the actual fuck?”
Bucky could feel the vibrations of his voice from his perch on the stairs. Wanda tried to explain the situation to him but she was practically terrified, Clint was shaking with anger, Bucky could see why. Not only had Wanda broken into their house drunk, but she had brought her boyfriend, her brother and a STRANGER. Bucky had no words, none, none at all.
“We didn’t know where else to go.” Wanda told them.
“This girl – this girl she’s-"
“Jemma. Jemma- she’s been drugged and I went to Wanda for help and she didn’t know what to do but she knew you would and we got here and Jemma was in such bad shape and you weren’t answering your phone and Wanda had a key and -" Pietro stopped Clint was turning around and marching back up the stairs.
They all watched him, their mouths agape.
“What is he doing?” Vision asked, he looked the most sober of the three non drugged people.
“Calling the police, I hope.” He said. “That’s the first thing you should have done.”
He walked over to where the girl was siting on the couch. “Do you know what they gave her?”
The three shook their heads.
“You’re going to be okay.” He told the girl, she was barely older then some of his students, just a kid.
The Police showed up quicker than he thought they would, by this stage Clint had calmed down a bit, he still had a grumpy scowl on his face mostly directed towards Pietro but his fatherly instincts kicked in when he saw the state the girl – Jemma – was in. Clint had once told Bucky that he would make a terrible dad, he had asked how someone like him, with the father he had had, and the upbringing he had gone through could ever parent a child. He said that teaching was one thing and parenting was another, but Bucky could see it then, could see it like he always did, how wonderful of a father Clint could be if he would just let himself. It’s not that Bucky was desperate for kids, he was happy just to have the relationship he did with his students, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t jump at the chance to raise a human being with Clint.
When the police arrived they went straight to Pietro for the full story who was surprisingly informative, he hadn’t known what kind of drug she had been given but he listed one or two that he thought were highly likely because of the symptoms she was presenting and how long it took for the drugs to take effect. The police officers just nodded along and jotted down some notes, they informed them that an ambulance was on its way for the young girl. When the ambulance reached the house Clint volunteered to go with her, Pietro protested of course but Clint told him to ‘shove it, you’re drunk.’ and Pietro desisted because he was right.
“We’ve got limited space in the car.” The police officer had told Bucky as the ambulance left the driveway. “So we’ll have to do two runs with getting you people home.”
“I can drop someone, officer.” Bucky said. “I don’t think I’ll be going back to sleep any time soon anyway.”
“You sure?” he asked, and Bucky nodded. “Right then I’ll take these two and you grab him.” The officer gestured towards Pietro and Bucky nodded in agreement, he was too done with everything to try and say anything more.
He grabbed his keys and flopped into his car Pietro following shortly behind him.
“So,” Bucky said as they pulled out of the driveway. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how do you know so much about this kind of drugs? You were talking to the police as if you were some kind of expert.”
“You mean date rape drugs.” Pietro wasn’t one to dance around a topic. “I know because I’ve been there. After I was drugged, well I did my research, I never wanted it to happen again.”
Bucky didn’t know what to say. There was nothing that could be said. No feeble apology could fix the affects something like that caused a person. But he couldn’t help but respect how Pietro had processed it, by gaining knowledge and therefore the power to stop it happening to himself and to other people.
4
“So Buck and I are having a get together for New Years and well, do you want to come?”
Pietro stared at the other man curiously, yes they had been getting on well recently but he still thought that Clint didn’t like him.
“Did Bucky put you up to this?”
“Um no, it was a mutual decision. A lot of the staff will be there, and some of Bucky's sisters. It’s fun, I swear. We do it every year. Come if you want? You can think about it?”
“Uh yeah, yeah I will.”
Pietro wasn’t a new years kind of guy, he hadn’t celebrated since his first year of college for reasons that he was too embarrassed to confide in anyone, besides, New Years was for families and young people. He wasn’t young anymore and he definitely wasn’t in the business of looking for a family, but Clint was lending him an olive branch and he wasn’t one to turn down something that was clearly a plea for friendship, so he accepted the invite.
When Pietro showed up at the Barton-Barnes house on the 31st of December he was surprised, he hadn’t expected them to go all out. It truly was a family event and Pietro had started to regret coming.
He had always heard people talk about found family, had even thought be had found his own once, but Wanda, Wanda had, and Pietro couldn’t help being a little jealous of her for it.
The guests at the party were interesting to say the least, after Bucky had welcomed him in and taken his cheap bottle of wine Pietro immediately began to scour the room for a sign of his sister. Unortunately for him she was deep in conversation with a woman he didn’t recognise so he found the next best thing, Nat.
It seemed that Nat had also been indoctrinated into this makeshift family, she quickly gave Pietro the low down on who’s-who. First the people he knew, Coulson had come with his wife, May, and daughter, Daisy. From what Pietro could gather he seemed to be the one who originally built this family, having practically adopted a number of the staff at the academy.
Sam was there, of course, with his boyfriend Riley, and Steve with Maria, and Steve’s mother who was hilarious, like absolutely drop dead hilarious. She not only treated Steve like he was still a child but Bucky too, she chided them and forced them out of the kitchen lest they spoil the meal.
Like Clint said, some of Bucky’s sisters were there; three of them, Hannah, Rebecca and Anne. Pietro would have thought that that was them all until Nat told him there were three more. He couldn’t imagine growing up with six sisters, to him one was too much. There were little kids running around too, Bucky's nieces and nephews. Pietro wasn’t really a kid person (strange coming from a teacher) but he found those kids adorable. One of them, the only boy, looked exactly like Bucky, only five.
Pietro heard a crash come from the kitchen and watched as Bucky got pushed out and had the door locked behind him.
“Sarah! Come on!” Bucky called.
“No! You’re a nuisance James Barnes and should never be left alone in a kitchen.”
The occupants of the sitting room laughed at the sight in front of them.
“Ma' seriously?” Steve asked defending his friend but there was only silence as a reply.
“Every year.” Bucky sighed taking a beer from Clint and turning to his guests. “Well, has everyone been introduced?”
Rebecca shook her head, “Nat's been keeping the new guy to himself.” She told her brother. “Didn’t even have the decency to tell us his name.”
“I’m Pietro.” Pietro said almost bashfully, giving a little wave of his hand.
“He’s the new PE teacher.” Bucky told his sisters.
“And Wanda's twin.”
“Oh really?” Anne asked. “You’ll have to tell us stories about her as a kid.”
“Um, sure.” He said smiling, small talk wasn’t his speciality.
“Pietro.” Phil interrupted walking over to the small group. “You haven’t met my daughter yet, come, come.” And so he was hoarded off to mingle with the many members of the group.
Bucky watched him with a sort of fondness is his heart. He remembered when he had gone to his first social event like this with his colleagues. It was at Phil’s, of course, and all the now considered ‘OG’ teachers had been invited. Steve, Bucky, Clint, Nat, Bruce, Tony and Thor. Of course, Bruce, Tony and Thor hadn’t been able to make it to this event. Thor and Bruce were celebrating with Thor's family and Tony was celebrating with his.
He remembered how welcome he had felt, he had never imagined at the time that those people would grow to become his family. That Clint would become his boyfriend, let alone husband.
Bucky watched as his eldest sister introduced Pietro to her children, Marcus, Becky Jr. and AJ, he stooped down low and shook hands with all three and gladly complied when AJ requested to be picked up. In Bucky’s mind the best judge of character was a child or a dog, and since Lucky was yet to protest his presence he decided that he was more sure than ever that he was right about Pietro and that he was more than ready to welcome him into their family with open arms, just as Phil and the rest had once done for him.
5
The fourth year PE and History trip was greatly anticipated by the students, a select group of forty were brought on an overnight hike to a historical site in the mountains. Every year one PE and one History teacher accompanied them and every year it was Clint and Bucky. This year, though, there was a slight scheduling issue.
“What do you mean you’re in the final?” Bucky asked his husband. “You literally lost all your games.”
“We didn’t lose all our games.” He protested. “The team that was supposed to be in the final had to drop out and because we played them in the semi's that means we’re next.”
Clint spoke with such excitement in his voice, he had been coaching the football team for what seemed like forever and they had never got to the final before, and now they had.
Bucky smiled “So if that’s the good news what’s the bad news?”
“It’s on the same day as the hike.”
“Oh.” Bucky was disappointed, yes, but he could tell how happy Clint was about the game. “That’s fine. Nat can just come instead.”
“Nat wants to be there for the kids too.” He said. “But Pietro gladly volunteered.”
“Oh.” There it was again, that faithful vowel used to fill the silence. “I’ll get to know him better I guess. I have wanted to do that for a while.”
“Exactly. It’s a perfect compromise. And the students love him, honestly they’re practically obsessed.”
“I know. I think it’s the hair.”
“Remember when you started and you were all everyone could talk about. They were obsessed with you and your hair too back then.”
“Not just the students.” Bucky smiled, remembering Clint’s obsession with him when they had first met, he ran a hand through his hair, shorter now but still relatively long.
Bucky was excited, Pietro was an interesting person. He felt like Alice from Alice in wonderland murmuring more curiously and more curiously to himself after every small revelation he made about the man. This trip would be a good time to bond, to solidify him into their little family. So that maybe when Wanda came for dinner he would come too.
Wanda never talked about her family life but Bucky would be lying if he said he didn’t want to know more about it. Wanda seemed to at least still have a relationship with her parents, albeit a strained one, from the few mentions she had made of them, but Bucky distinctly remembered Wanda telling him and Clint that Pietro and their dad had fallen out. What had happened? Was it similar to what had happened to Bucky? Were the two one and the same? Bucky wanted to know, he wanted to help Pietro, but he also didn’t want to pry, it was a delicate road to navigate.
There were forty students in total attending the hike, twenty for each teacher. The bus journey was tedious. Bucky and Pietro were sat at the front beside each other and behind them forty 16-year-olds were screaming. It was impossible for them to have any semblance of a conversation.
When they finally arrived at their destination the students were eager to start the day’s activities, they dropped their bags off in the hostel rooms and began their hike.
“So how long is this going to be?” Pietro asked as they herded the students to the starting area.
“Did Nat tell you nothing?”
“Basically.”
“The hike should take us about four hours. Maybe longer with this group.” Bucky looked around at the horde of teens in front of them and then up at the sky, no clouds in sight. They wouldn’t be having the same fiasco as last year then.
Bucky and Pietro began to lead the group along the trail.
Bucky stopped them about every ten minutes to tell them about some historical fact and then they would move along again. The students were enjoying themselves well enough. The scenery was beautiful and there was a constant stream of pictures being taken for Instagram. Bucky rolled his eyes at this but Pietro actually joined in. He didn’t take any photos with the students of course, that would be inappropriate, but he was taking photos.
“Sir,” a student called. “Do you want me to take one of you and Mr. Barnes.”
Pietro looked at Bucky with a smirk.
“Go on then.” He said handing the student his phone.
Bucky wasn’t a very photogenic person, or so he claimed (Clint would disagree), so he definitely did not want to be in a photo with an evidently photogenic Pietro, but he couldn’t say no when the student was standing there with the camera. He walked over to where Pietro was who slung an arm around his shoulder and threw up a peace sign.
“Smile, Mr. Barnes.”
“I am smiling.” He protested, but nonetheless he strained his mouth further. There were only two pictures he liked of himself, a candid shot of him and Steve swimming in a lake as kids and the photo of him and Clint kissing at the alter just after they said I do. (Clint likes every photo of Bucky but had a special place I’m his heart of the one of a young Bucky freshly shaved and standing proudly in his army uniform, he was no exception to the phrase that everyone likes a man in a uniform)
“Not bad.” Pietro said taking the phone from the student and showing it to Bucky.
Bucky shrugged. “It’s actually alright.” He said and started walking again.
Pietro pocketed his phone and followed the other man.
“So how long is left on this hike?”
“Not long.” Bucky told him. “We’ll be finishing the loop back around to the hostel soon and then the kids become the employees' problem.”
“And then they go kayaking, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And us?”
“We can go if you want, or lounge around the hostel.”
“Lounging sounds better.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
So off they went to the hostel and watched from the window as their students capsized and fell out of their boats.
“Have you ever been kayaking?” Pietro asked
“Once.” Bucky said. “Before my accident.” He added.
“What happened?” Pietro had been curious for a while but he needed to know.
“I was in the army.” Bucky told him, there was no reason not to tell him, his arm was just a part of his life now it didn’t hurt as much as it once had to recant the story. “We were fighting in Afghanistan. Two gunshot wounds, one in my shoulder and one straight through my elbow. It was left irreparable. That was one of the reasons I left.”
Pietro nodded.
“Can I ask you something now?”
“I guess it’s only fair?”
“Why did you fall out with your parents?"
Pietro sighed. “When I was seventeen,” he began. “I had this friend. We were on the track team together, he was the textbook definition of a jock, but the thing is we – we weren’t just friends. And well my dad, my dad found out and -"
“And he kicked you out.”
“Yeah. He didn’t tell my mom or Wanda, they still don’t know why but they never questioned him, never questioned his authority. Not that it would have made a difference if they had.”
“I’m sorry.” Bucky said. “I know what it’s like.”
Because he did, he did know what it was like because when Bucky’s father found him kissing a boy in their backyard, he was sent away to the army. Bucky knew how Pietro felt, how abandoned, how alone and Bucky never wanted to Pietro to feel alone again. In that moment his respect and his caring for the other man only grew.
And that’s when Bucky realised that he and Pietro were just like Clint and Wanda there had been something pulling them to each other, drawing them to each other like a moth to a flame. Shared experiences. Shared trauma.
+1
Ok so Bucky could now officially say that he and Pietro were close. Maybe more than that even, they weren’t just close or just friends, they were family. Just like Wanda and Nat and Steve and Sam and Bruce and all of the staff at the academy. Bucky loved this little family of his unconditionally, or at least he thought he did.
When Anne told him she was bringing her new boyfriend to dinner on Friday Bucky was sceptical, he hadn’t heard much about this mew boyfriend and well Anne had a history of dating assholes.
Bucky decided to let Clint help him cook that evening which was, of course, a mistake. Clint was a disaster in the kitchen to say the least and was more of a hindrance then a help. Bucky was barely able to salvage the meal after all of Clint’s slip ups. Finally the meal was ready to be served and the dessert was in the oven. And then came the knock on the door.
There was an element of suspense in the air as the two went to open the door, they were excited to meet this new boyfriend, to size him up and judge him profusely and then recount the story to Bucky’s other sisters eager to find out any information on the youngest member of their family.
Who they saw when they opened the door, well, that changed everything.
“Pietro?” Clint exclaimed in confusion. “You’re dating Anne?”
Pietro looked absolutely terrified but Bucky just turned to Anne. “Care to explain?” he asked.
“Yes well – can we come in first?”
Bucky didn’t say anything, just stepped back and let the two pass through the door. Anne lead Pietro out of the hallway and sat down on a couch in the sitting room.
“So, Pietro is my boyfriend.” Anne said.
“I see that.” Bucky said exasperatedly. “How long?”
“A few months.”
“Well since New Years really.”
“Since New Years! That was ages ago, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I don’t know it just didn’t seem like the right time.”
“Ok let me think what’s happened since New Years, well Pietro and I went on the hike together, Pietro was invited around for dinner multiple times, Clint and Pietro went to see a football match together, Pietro ate lunch with us twice times a week in school. And all that time you were dating my sister.” Bucky took a deep breath. “Have you told anyone else?"
“All the girls know,” Anne admitted, referring to her sisters. “and Wanda and Vision.”
“And Steve and Maria.” Pietro added. “We bumped into them at a restaurant.”
“Great so everyone but us.”
“Well not everyone.”
“Everyone important but us.” Clint added.
As if on cue the oven dinged from the kitchen. “I have to get that.” Bucky mumbled and walked away, Clint following close behind.
“You know, Anne is an adult.”
“I know.”
“She can date who she wants.”
“I know.” Bucky sighed. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Bucky looked out the door and into the sitting room at the two. He liked Pietro, he really did but he had disliked every one of Anne’s boyfriends up to date and he had a feeling that this one wouldn’t be any different. Unfortunately, Bucky’s view of Pietro in his mind had been altered forever.