Work Text:
So Long As I'm With You
“You,” the Red Witch hissed.
“Wanda,” Tony choked out, horrified, and then ducked out from under Bucky’s arm and bolted out of the doorway.
Bucky stood there like a dumbass, blinking at her, then said, “Um?”
“Get out!” the Red Witch barked, and Bucky didn’t need to be told twice.
Tony hadn’t stopped running once he’d made it back outside. As Bucky watched, he could see Tony starting to ascend the mountain by foot, even though he knew exactly which rocks to move to find the tunnel they’d used as a shortcut to get there. How frightened was he, Bucky wondered, that Tony would try to climb an entire fucking mountain if it meant not pausing to allow someone to catch up?
“Tony!” Bucky called out, but Tony kept climbing, either not having heard him in his terror or willfully ignoring him in an effort to keep getting away. He’d never be able to catch up to him without shifting into his full yeti form, and he was loathed to do that when he was so close to an obviously agitated witch. But if he got into the tunnel, he could definitely outpace him.
He caught up to Tony after the third tunnel fork, reaching out to snatch him up off the ground because he doubted Tony would stop moving if he shouted for him again. “Tony!”
“No!” Tony cried, hands coming up to his chest, before he realized it was Bucky and not someone else. Then his face crumpled, and he croaked out a broken ‘Bucky’ before collapsing in his arms.
Bucky held him tightly, confused, as he felt Tony begin to tremble. “Love, what’s wrong?” he asked softly, rubbing his face into the human’s neck.
“Can we just go home?” Tony whimpered.
Bucky turned his head to press a kiss to his ear, murmuring a soft, “Yeah, sweetheart, of course we can. Let’s go. I’ll carry you.”
Tony seemed to appreciate the idea, because he curled his arms around Bucky’s neck tighter and lifted his legs to wrap around his waist. Bucky pressed another kiss to his cheek before turning to head back into the tunnels.
.-.-.-.
Tony put the necklace he’d given him back in the box.
Bucky stared, heart dropping down to his toes. Tony had looked so happy when Bucky had presented him with it, had admired himself in the mirror for hours as he’d chattered on about whelps and parenting styles and all the toys that he’d make for them. Now he looked so sad, so—so sorry. Bucky didn’t understand why.
“Love?” he asked, finally stepping up to him. “What’s wrong? Please talk to me.”
“I—” Tony began, eyes growing hot with tears. He ducked his head and sniffled softly. “You’re never going to be able to have whelps. Not with me.”
Bucky frowned, reaching out to cup his cheeks. “Why not?”
“I didn’t—I didn’t know that Wanda was the Red Witch,” Tony explained as his head was tilted up. “My father, he—he hurt her family terribly. But he died before Wanda and her brother could confront him. She’s not cruel enough to kill me in his place, but she’d never help me. I bet she likes it,” he added tearfully. “Knowing I want kids and that she’s the only person capable of giving them to me. Knowing she won’t ever do it.”
“We can find another witch,” Bucky offered, because even though it would be difficult finding another witch as powerful and skilled as the Red Witch, it would be worth it.
“No we can’t,” Tony said sadly. “Not if we want to stay here with the rest of the clan. It would be an insult to Wanda to allow such a powerful spell from another witch in her territory, and most witches wouldn’t do it, knowing we’d be coming back here.”
“Then we’ll find a different clan,” Bucky answered firmly.
Tony jerked his head up to stare at him, shocked. Then his face did something weird, like he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “Oh, beloved,” he whispered, hands coming up to cup his cheeks and stroke his thumbs over Bucky’s cheekbones. “That’s so sweet. I’ll remember you offered that whenever I start to feel guilty.”
“I mean it,” Bucky insisted.
Tony used the grip on his face to gently ease him down for a kiss. “I know,” he murmured into Bucky’s mouth. “And that’s why I love you. But I love it here, and I don’t want to leave. We—we could always just be really good uncles,” he added, voice cracking a little. “They don’t have to be our kids for us to love them just the same.”
Bucky frowned down at him. “Yeah,” he agreed after a moment, because Tony didn’t look like he could handle an argument right now. “Yeah, we could.”
.-.-.-.
Bucky waited until Tony was asleep before he went to Steve.
“What do you mean she’s not giving you whelps,” Steve asked angrily. “I let her live in my territory, I give her our protection, and she’s withholding whelps because Tony’s dad was an asshole?”
“I mean, apparently he’s the reason her parents died,” Bucky began.
“What does that have to do with the fact that she lives where she does by my good graces alone and she’s insulting me?” Steve asked, voice low.
“I’m just saying, I don’t exactly trust her to cast a spell on Tony anyway, so if we could just get permission from her to use another witch’s spell,” Bucky started again.
Steve held his hand up, silencing him. “Go back to your mate,” he ordered quietly.
Bucky frowned. “You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you? A lone yeti against a witch is still a—”
“Go back,” Steve repeated between gritted teeth. “To your mate.”
Bucky noticed that Steve’s hands were slowly contorting into claws and booked it, because he might worry about Steve’s safety against the Red Witch, but it was now secondary to his safety against Steve. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he blurted out before he cleared the cave entrance.
.-.-.-.
“Did you hear that Steve banished the Red Witch from our territory until she could sincerely apologize for insulting him?” Sharon asked.
Bucky and Tony dropped the baskets of wool they’d been holding, staring at her.
Sharon stared back, baffled, then slowly added, “Um. He said she’d insulted his benevolence, his power, and his clan, so she was no longer welcome in our mountain range unless she could make amends.”
“What about everyone who needed her help for whelping?” Tony asked breathlessly, wringing his hands together.
“I—I guess Steve already had another witch lined up?” Sharon answered, eyes darting between he and Bucky nervously. “Said something about how a witch who holds grudges is dangerous anyway.”
“…What fucking witch did he have lined up?!” Bucky sputtered, because yetis and witches typically did not interact at all.
“I mean, he’s bringing her around to meet the clan so they all know who she is, so I guess you could ask when they get to your d—” Sharon began.
“TONY!” someone shouted, making them all jump, and then a woman with long red hair was wrapping her arms around Tony and pulling him up into a big hug.
Tony squawked in offense immediately. “Put me down, put me down, this is undignified—”
“Nothing about you has ever been dignified,” the woman deadpanned, even as she obeyed and set him back on the ground.
“Bucky, defend me,” Tony ordered.
Bucky held his claws up more on instinct than anything else. “But you aren’t dignified,” he said, confused.
“I’m leaving the clan,” Tony complained.
“I just brought you a new witch who will help you whelp. You’re not leaving the clan,” Steve told him sternly.
Tony’s mouth remained open for a moment before he closed it again, looking between the woman and Steve uncertainly. “You—” he finally tried. “You brought Pepper. So I could have a family?”
“I mean, to be fair, she didn’t really give me much of a choice after I banished the Red Witch,” Steve began.
“I’ve been looking for you ever since you fled our village, Tony,” the woman, Pepper, said, reaching out to take Tony’s hands. “Jim and Happy have, too. I heard that a scientist had recently bonded into a yeti clan, and I just knew, from the bottom of my heart… it had to be you.” She smiled, eyes damp. “I would love to help you have your whelps, Tony. You look so much happier here than you were back home.”
“It was never really home,” Tony admitted. “Not to me.”
“I think we all knew that,” Pepper answered softly. “I’m glad to see you happy, Tony.” Then she turned, eyes narrowed. “And you must be Tony’s mate.”
“I don’t like this,” Bucky said immediately.
“You’re stuck with me. I am your new resident witch,” Pepper informed him.
“I suddenly have regrets,” Steve added.
“That’s your problem,” Pepper said, turning toward him.
Bucky looked down at Tony, who was smiling down at his feet shyly. Pepper had said he looked happier here than wherever he’d come from. She said he’d help him with whelps. She clearly cared about Tony, and Tony valued her opinion, even if she was terrifying. So Bucky figured they could trust her.
Bucky reached out to take his hands, smiling. “Will you put the necklace back on, love?” he asked, hope clear in his voice.
Tony looked up at him, lifting a hand to wipe his eyes even as he laughingly answered, “Yeah, as soon as we get back to the den.” Then he laughed again when Bucky pulled him up into a tight hug, burying his nose in his hair and snuffling like he always did.