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Peter holds the hand of Dr. Banner’s rolling skeleton and sighs. “Why can’t your bones be named normal things? I think these should be called fingers instead of phalanges.”
Tony answers from the doorway of the doctor’s office. “Because Ancient Greece was the birthplace of science, so the language of medicine is Latin. Even a gearhead like me knows that.”
Peter whips around quickly to face Tony. “Uh, hi Mr. Stark. You don’t think it’s weird that I’m talking to the lab skeleton, do you?”
Tony sits on the exam table and winks. “Only if it talks back, kiddo.”
Peter looks back at the skeleton. “I bet we could upgrade this guy so that when you touch a bone, the name of that bone displays in the air as holographic letters.”
Tony hops off the table. “I’m liking what I’m hearing. We can get started on that after your shift today. You’ll need to bring the skeleton with you to the workshop. I’ll light up the blow torch and we’ll schedule Billy Bones for surgery.”
Peter cheers, but Bruce walks into the office with less enthusiasm. “No. You are not turning my office skeleton into a robot. And if you keep freeloading in my office, Stark, I’m going to have to start charging you rent.”
Tony sits on the exam table again. “You’re no fun Banner. And if anyone’s a freeloader it’s you. The last time I checked the lease on Avengers Tower, aka Stark Tower, it had my name on it. I think you’re the only Avenger, that doesn’t have another apartment or house outside of here.”
Bruce waters his plastic plant. “Still not letting you play Frankenstein with my skeleton.”
Peter takes a deep breath. Today is going to be the day that he tells Bruce that the plant is plastic. This is the day that he’s going to tell Bruce that he’s been watering a fake plant for months.
Bruce is smiling like a proud parent after he finishes hydrating the nonliving thing.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be the day that he tells Bruce that the plant is plastic.
Tony stares wordlessly at the skeleton.
Bruce points at Tony. “Stop it. I can hear you thinking from here. You leave my office equipment alone.” The doctor switches his attention to Peter. “This is your fault. I’m warning you. If I come into the office tomorrow and that skeleton is different in any way, I’m failing your ass.”
Peter whines. “But Bruuuce.”
Bruce throws up his hands. “Unbelievable. As if one Tony Stark isn’t enough. Now I’ve got to deal with two?”
Peter gives his best puppy dog face and Bruce huffs. “Fine, but no talking. I don’t want to walk in and hear a skeleton say hello to me every morning. That would be scary as shi - .”
He’s interrupted by a bark.
Peter squeals. “Oh my God, Buddy! You came to visit.”
Bucky’s little pug puppy hops from his owner’s arms and races over to Peter. Peter kneels down and lets the cutie cover him in pug kisses.
Bucky greets the room. “Morning, guys.”
Tony scoots to the edge of the exam table, and addresses Bucky. “Do you need me to go?”
Bruce answers instead. “Yes. You need to go. You never needed to be here in the first place.”
Bucky laughs. “It’s all good. I’m just here to pick up my medicine. You don’t have to leave, Stark.”
Peter has moved from getting his face practically licked off, to cuddling Buddy in his arms like a baby. “I want a puppy so bad you guys. I told Aunt May about Buddy, and she was like, ‘That’s nice. Now you have a puppy to visit.’ She is not budging on the puppy thing.”
Bucky puts his metal hand behind his neck. “I’m headed to Jersey tomorrow to check out a dog park that Clint recommended. Steve has an Avengers thing to do with Fury, so I was planning on going by myself, but if you and Stark want to come, I’d be glad to have the company. You can come too Bruce. I’ve got room in the Jeep for four.”
Bruce hands Bucky the bag with his prescription meds. “Thanks for the invite, but I can’t tomorrow. I’m sure you guys will have a good time without me.”
Tony groans. “I can’t make it either. I have teleconferences all day tomorrow, and believe me, if I could get out of at that nightmare I would. I’d rather have a root canal than suffer through the endless loop of screens freezing, Wi-Fi glitches, and people not knowing they’re on mute for half of their speeches. My anxiety is rising just thinking about it.”
Bucky smiles at Peter. “Well, kid. It looks like it’s just you, me, and Buddy.”
Peter is so excited that he barely sleeps that night.
~~~~~
When morning comes, Peter’s almost choking on his breakfast because he’s talking so fast. “…and it’s so cool Aunt May because I went and googled the park and Buddy is going to love it, and Bucky said that he’s teaching him commands like sit, roll over, and stay, and I’m going to be there to help, and Bucky and I have to record it on Bucky’s phone so that Cap doesn’t miss the milestones, and and…”
Peter’s ramblings are cut off when he starts coughing.
Aunt May laughs. “Pete. Calm down. You aren’t going anywhere if you choke on breakfast.”
Peter nods. He continues to cough, and he reaches for his glass of orange juice to wash down the rogue piece of scrambled egg that’s stuck in his throat.
After breakfast, Bucky arrives to pick Peter up. Peter makes sure to take a Dramamine, so that there isn’t a repeat performance of his last road trip, and the two heroes and their dog head to New Jersey.
The drive isn’t long, and Peter keeps Bucky from getting lost by acting as his navigator. Between Peter and the GPS, they arrive at the park without any issues.
Bucky hooks up the leash to Buddy’s collar as Peter steps out of the Jeep.
Peter stretches out his arms. “The dog park is down there to the left, but there’s a huge hiking trail in the other direction. We should do that first.”
Bucky hands Peter the leash. “Lead the way.”
The two decide to hike up the treacherous trail. The trail’s difficulty means that Bucky, Peter, and Buddy are the only ones in the area. The part of the park that they’re in is practically deserted. All the way on the opposite side of the park is the camping grounds and that’s where most of the visitors are.
For the rest of the morning, Bucky and Peter run and play with Buddy. They also spend some time trying to teach him tricks.
They’re successful with ‘sit’, and ‘roll over’, but Buddy is not catching on to ‘stay’. The energetic pug will pause for a second or two, but then he goes back to running in a circle, wagging his stumpy tail, or trying to dig a hole in the dirt.
The sun is starting to go down. Bucky gives Buddy’s neon yellow ball a hard toss. The happy puppy races after it and disappears into the forest’s leafy green brush. Bucky squints in the distance. The leaves are camouflaging Buddy from normal sight, but his enhanced eyes can still make out the ball of beige fur that’s moving through the leaves. “I think I threw that one too hard. We better go after him.”
Peter and Bucky make their way through the dense foliage, but Peter’s Spidey senses kick in. Peter yells for Bucky to stop, because he knows something bad is about to happen, but it’s too late. Bucky cries out in pain.
Peter runs to meet a crouched over Bucky, who is continuing to shout. “Son of a …” His anger turns into guttural grunts in Russian, and Peter can guess the gist of what he’s saying.
Bucky’s clutching his leg and Peter’s surprised that Bucky’s in so much pain from a broken leg, but as Peter’s eyes travel down, he sees Bucky’s foot caught in a steel bear trap.
Peter, on instinct, reaches for the trap to try to pry it open, but Bucky moves his foot away. Bucky wheezes. “You can’t open this with your hands. They design it that way.”
Peter looks at the sharp teeth that are clamped deep into Bucky’s ankle and he’s glad that Bucky had stopped him from grabbing onto the trap.
Peter sits on the grass. “What do we do?”
Bucky puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles. The sound of little paws racing toward them reminds Peter why they were traveling through the leafy terrain in the first place.
Buddy stops short, with the ball in his mouth. The panicked puppy drops the ball in front of Bucky and starts to bark. Buddy is a comfort dog-in-training, so he’s supposed to be cute and cuddly, but he’s also a service dog in case Bucky freaks out after a panic attack, so Buddy is quick to alert others when Bucky’s in danger.
Buddy continues to bark and growl at Peter, alerting him of Bucky’s danger. Peter nods. “I know. Good job, Buddy. Bucky’s hurt. I’m trying to help him.”
Bucky growls almost a loudly as Buddy. “Ugh. This hurts so much.” He hangs his head back and continues to groan.
Peter is shaken to see the super soldier in so much pain. He knows that he’s not going to be able to move Bucky if just sitting still is causing Bucky this much agony.
Peter pets Buddy on the back to try to calm the barking dog, while trying to calm Bucky as well. “Bucky, you’re gonna be ok. I’m going to get help.”
Bucky moves his head to look at Peter. “You are help. You’re a doctor, right?”
Peter looks at the grizzly wound and swallows back the sickness that’s threatening to come up through his throat. There was a lot of blood. “Um, yeah I guess. I’m going to ask you a few questions and then we’ll decide what to do, ok?”
Bucky wipes a pool of sweat from his forehead. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
“On a scale from 1 to 10, what’s the pain level? A one is no pain and a ten is insanely bad.”
Bucky winces as he grits his teeth and stutters in pain. “Um, like a s-seven.”
Peter nods. “Ok, so a ten. Got it.”
Bucky smirks as Peter continues. “I know that your ankle hurts, but are you having any other symptoms? Are your fingers and toes feeling numb? Are you having shortness of breath, double vison, or anything like that?”
Bucky shivers. He wipes his eyes with the back of his fist and sniffs. “My eyes are watering and I feel kind of cold.”
Peter puts two fingers on Bucky’s wrist to check his pulse. “So you’re crying and you want your blankie?”
This gets a mix of a laugh and a grimace from Bucky. “Didn’t Banner teach you about bedside manners?”
Peter continues to use humor to keep Bucky’s mind off the pain of the wire trap that’s currently crushing his leg, because humor is the best medicine. “If Dr. Banner were here, he’d tell you to shake it off.”
“I think that’s Steve’s line, not Banner’s. And at least he’s not the guy trying to take a pulse from a metal arm.”
Peter looks down and sure enough, his fingers are pressing against Bucky’s metal wrist.
Peter blushes and moves to Bucky’s other wrist. “I guess I’m not pulling off the calm doctor act, am I?”
Bucky stifles a moan, so he can continue talking. “As long as you aren’t going to cut my leg off, I’m good. I’m already down an arm, kid.”
Peter winces. “Dude, no! The plan is to get the trap off your leg, not your leg off your body.”
“It’s good to know that you have a plan.”
Peter looks behind him at the trail that they just came from. “My plan involves getting the trap off and then using the medical supplies I have in my backpack to clean out the wound and stabilize it, so I can walk you back to the car. There’s a crowbar in the jeep. I saw it in the backseat on the ride over. I can use it to pry the trap open. The only problem is that you’re shaking, which means you’re starting to go into shock, and I don’t want to leave you alone.”
Bucky’s starting to breath heavier. “I’m not alone. I’m counting on Buddy to keep me company.”
Bucky looks at Buddy and gives the command. “Stay.”
Buddy stops barking and sits staring, at full attention.
Peter doesn’t know how long Buddy will perform his new trick, so he races down the trail to retrieve the crowbar as quickly as possible.
When Peter returns with the tool, Buddy is still right where he left him, staring at Bucky.
Peter pats Buddy’s head and the puppy licks his hand. “Good boy.”
Bucky is drenched in sweat at this point and his chest is rising and falling at a labored pace. Bucky puts his metal arm over his eyes and grunts. “Do it quick.”
Peter puts a leather restraining belt from his medical backpack in Bucky’s mouth to bite down on.
Bucky shivers and mumbles around the leather. “This is familiar.”
Peter tries not to think about what horrible things HYDRA did to torture him, as Peter is about to cause the same kind of pain.
Peter inserts the crowbar between one of the springs. He’s grateful for his engineering knowledge, because he knows right where to put the pressure to spring the trap open.
He leans on the crowbar to create the correct leverage and the metal trap snaps open. Bucky’s scream is mostly muffled by the leather strap between his teeth. Peter ignores the bone chilling sound, and moves the trap quickly so that it doesn’t snap back shut around Bucky’s ankle again.
Bucky’s breathing goes from slow to rapid.
Peter starts to clean out the wound. “Take deep breaths. You don’t want to start hyperventilating.”
Buddy licks Bucky’s hand. As the puppy continues to do it, Bucky’s breathing slows down to normal.
Peter coos. “You’re the most adorable puppy ever, Bud.”
Buddy continues doing his job as Peter finishes up his. Peter isn’t sure if the force of the trap closing broke Bucky’s ankle, so he attaches a wooden splint to the side of Bucky’s shin just to keep everything stable.
Peter lifts Bucky off the ground and guides him back to the Jeep.
Bucky slumps down in the passenger seat. “Are you old enough to drive?”
Peter secures Buddy in the back seat. “Nope, but I’ve played enough video games to know how.”
Bucky shifts in his seat.
Peter laughs. “I’m just kidding. All Avengers need to know how to operate as many vehicles and aircrafts as possible. I’m not flying the Quinjet anytime soon…” Peter shivers at the memory of his last panic attack induced flight. “… but I know how to drive, in case of emergencies. Cap even gave me an official SHIELD issued license. He wanted to make it as official as possible because you know how strict he is about following the rules.”
Peter pulls onto the road and Bucky lets his eyelids lower.
Bucky mumbles. “I can’t believe we taught Buddy to stay. He’ll probably never do it again and because we didn’t record it, Steve will never believe us when we tell him.”
Peter grips the steering wheel as he gets the heck out of Jersey. “Yeah, well Buddy knew how to stay when we needed him to and that’s what counts.”
Bucky smiles as he drifts off to sleep.
“Yeah. He’s a good boy.”