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Bucky had been missing for two weeks. He'd been on a mission that had led to a Hydra base—S.H.I.E.L.D. had said that it was abandoned, no one would be there, but he was ambushed—and he hadn't been heard from since. Tony was, of course, the first one to find out when S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to hide it, and he never kept any secrets from Steve. Well, almost never.
Setting up his own search had been simple, but tracking down the super-soldier proved to be a lot harder. The whole team was helping out, but even with all of the help Tony was struggling with tracking down his and Steve's missing boyfriend.
The entire time that Tony was searching, all he could feel was guilt.
Steve and Bucky were so close—they'd always been so close. He'd been willing to have Steve let go of him when Bucky had turned up again, because he knew how in love Steve was with Barnes. But he and Steve had been dating for nearly two years at that point in time, and Tony was one hundred percent in love with the super-soldier. Apparently Steve was in love with him, too, because the blond didn't know what to do.
Tony had talked with Bucky and suggested that they let Steve have both of them, and they work on their own relationship—whether it was just a good friendship or it led to dating, it hadn't been all too important in the beginning. So they suggested the idea to Steve, promised that everything would be okay, and then the three of them went off to Malibu for a while to try to build their relationship. (And anyway, S.H.I.E.L.D. had missions on the west coast for them, so it all worked out.)
Tony hadn't really planned on falling in love with Bucky, but he did, and while Bucky had said I love you too, Tony just wasn't sure about it. And now Bucky was missing.
"We'll get him back," Steve murmured, gripping the shoulder of the Iron Man suit. He leaned over to give Tony a quick kiss while his faceplate was still up. "He's going to be fine."
It had taken two weeks for Tony, with some help some the team, to track the missing super-soldier down. Of course he was at one of the other supposedly abandoned Hydra facilities. They'd be getting him back soon, and everything would be okay.
"W-what if...?" Tony mumbled, biting his lip. What if Bucky realized after these two weeks away that he'd rather only have Steve, or he wanted himself and Tony to just be friends? What if Hydra brainwashed him again and made it so that he didn't even remember anyone—what if he forgot about their relationship? What if he had to get Bucky to fall in love with him all over again? He wasn't even sure if Bucky was in love with him! How was he supposed to get him to fall in love with him again if he wasn’t even in love with him now? Tony was so in love with his super-soldiers that he was terrified of the thought of losing one of them.
"Tony, he's going to be fine. He's strong," Steve said. He sounded like he really believed what he was saying, so Tony would believe him too. Bucky would be absolutely fine. They'd get him back to the tower, they'd patch him up if he needed medical attention, and then they'd drag him off to their bed and make sure that he didn't leave it for the next week.
"We're landing in two minutes," Clint called from the pilot’s chair of the plane. Natasha, Bruce and Sam were all towards the front of the plane, too, letting Steve and Tony have what little privacy they were able to have.
Tony knew that he couldn't continue panicking. Bucky needed them right now. All they had to do was break into the place, take out Hydra, and find out where they were keeping Bucky. Once they got him back... everything would be fine again.
Firing up his gauntlets, Tony walked over to one of the exits, ready to get the door open. Sure, they hadn't landed yet, but when had Iron Man ever waited for them to actually land a plane before he headed off into danger?
"Tony," Steve said softly, and he was a bit surprised that he didn't follow it up with wait for the team or something like that, like he normally did. "Can you still fly if I came with you?"
Tony smirked behind the mask. "Hold on tight, Cap."
"Tony," Natasha said when she noticed his hand above the 'open door' button. "Steve, wait—"
With Steve hugging tightly to his back, Tony hit the button and shot out into the icy cold winter air. Only, he was insulated with the suit, and Steve wasn't.
"Maybe you should wait in the—"
"I'm fine, just get us into that base," Steve shouted over the wind. Tony kept his focus on the base, dodging to the left when someone at the Hydra base started firing at them. The good thing was that, with all of the Hydra agents firing at them, no one noticed when the plane went into stealth-mode and landed near the front of the base.
Blasting out a couple of the lasers, Tony managed to get a hole in the roof right when the team busted in through the front. Steve dropped down into the building while Tony landed beside him, repulsors up and ready to take out Hydra. Steve charged off into the battle, shield raised as he started taking down Hydra agents.
"Remember to leave one of them conscious," Sam called, swooping down to take out a couple more Hydra agents.
"We don't need them conscious," Tony growled as he gripped one of the agents by his neck. "If you want to live, you'll tell me where Barnes is right now."
"H-he's in the facility, a couple levels down," the guy gasped before Tony knocked him out. He wasn't dead, after all...
"Steve, I know where they're keeping him," Tony called, rocketing over to his boyfriend. He blasted the Hydra agents that were around the super-soldier before grabbing him and pulling him close. "Hold on, we're going after him."
The moment that Steve grabbed ahold of him, Tony headed off in the direction of the stairs, blasting down each door before Steve had a chance to open any of them. Every time the rooms were empty, Tony started panicking a little bit more. It wasn't until they'd blasted open every door on the lower two floors when they found him.
"Bucky!" Steve shouted, racing over to the man who was strapped down to one of the tables. Bucky looked like hell, bruised and cut up in a way that suggested that he'd been recently tortured, or else the serum would've already been healing him. His arm was missing, and there was a pile of scrap metal nearby that was probably what used to be his arm. Well shit, no wonder it was harder for him to fight back.
"Steve," Bucky gasped, clinging to the super-soldier after he'd ripped off the chains. "You're alive! God, you're alive. I knew you were... b-but they kept telling me you weren't—you took a plane down, you were found dead, t-they just..."
He buried his face against the red, white and blue suit, gripping Steve with his right arm tightly.
"It's okay, Bucky, you're safe now," Steve murmured. Those two were just so perfect together. Tony loved it—he'd always admired how those two stuck by one another through everything. He'd grown up with stories about Steve and Bucky from his Aunt Peggy. They'd been his childhood heroes. Seeing them together was just so... nice. He'd always loved the two of them together.
It just felt wrong to want to interrupt their moment.
"T-they... they keep putting fake memories in my head, Steve," Bucky cried. "I-I thought I'd seen you die, so many times, a-and... thank God you're here. B-but it wasn't... it couldn't have been... please tell me that—"
Bucky pulled sharply away from Steve, stumbling backward as he looked around. It only took a few seconds for him to see Tony there. When Steve had shouted Bucky, Tony had taken his suit off. He'd wanted to run over to Bucky so badly, but he just didn't want to get between them.
Tears filled Bucky's eyes, and before Tony knew that he was moving, he was already halfway across the room, holding tightly to the injured brunet as Bucky hugged him.
"I knew you were real, there's no way Hydra could've made you up," Bucky whispered, pulling back away from him long enough to press his lips to Tony's. While he was still in a bit of shock—Bucky really did love him, didn't he?—that didn't mean that he wasn't going to kiss him and hold him and love him. "T-they kept creating these fake memories to break me, when I was the Winter Soldier, a-and they'd make it seem like everything was good and then they'd take it all away and I can't lose you two, I just can't."
"You don't have to," Tony promised, keeping the injured soldier held close. Steve wandered over, wrapping his arms around the both of them, and Tony couldn't help but grin. "We'll be here, Buck, don't worry. We're taking you home."
"I-I know that I don't think I say it enough, b-but I really do love you two, so much," Bucky murmured, not letting go of Tony.
"We love you too," Steve murmured, hugging them tightly.
"Why did you hold back?" Bucky mumbled, looking over at Tony. "I-I thought you might've... I was worried that you..."
"I didn't want to interrupt," Tony said, though it sounded kinda stupid when he said it now. "You two... you're just so perfect together."
"Not without you," Bucky said, hugging him tightly. "I know we started this for Steve, but... I really do love you, Tony. You and Steve are my everything. You wouldn't be interrupting anything—there is no me and Steve. There's only the three of us, together."
Tony could only nod and keep his arms around Bucky, hoping he wouldn’t comment on the tears.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Steve said, giving them both a quick kiss before keeping them held up upright. "Someone's not allowed out of the tower for the next week."
"I'm fine with that," Bucky said. His smile was blinding as he looked between the two of them. Tony had never felt so loved until he had the two of them in his life. While his relationship with Steve before had been incredible, now he couldn't even imagine it without Bucky.
It was painful to pull out of Bucky's grip so that he could grab his suit.
"I'll make sure it's safe," Tony said, glancing back to make sure that Steve and Bucky were behind him. No one was going to be hurting Bucky again, he’d make sure of it. Tony turned his comm. back on. "How's Hydra looking?"
"All taken down," Clint reported.
"How's Bucky doing?" Sam asked cautiously.
"He'll be fine," Tony reported, keeping his repulsors powered up just in case any Hydra agents had snuck past the team. He didn't think so, but he wasn't about to take any chances. It wasn't until they'd gotten him back to the ship when Bruce got a chance to look at Bucky. Once he was sure that Bucky would be fine—"You're going to get a thorough examination once we get back, but you seem fine for the ride home"—the brunet found himself sandwiched between Tony and Steve.
"I'll build you a new arm," Tony promised, kissing the injured shoulder. Bucky just smiled and leaned over to kiss him, though he was unable to put an arm around Tony because he was still missing one. With his right arm he was gripping Steve's hand like if he let go, he'd find out everything really was just a dream. While Tony wanted to be able to hold Bucky's hand, he could see how tight Bucky's grip on Steve's hand was and knew that if it was his hand, it would already be broken.
"I just... I just need to stay here with you two," Bucky murmured. He was still shivering, and Tony was pretty sure that it was because he was still terrified. "This is real, that's all I need to know."
"We would've been there sooner," Tony said, feeling guilty. "I just couldn't find you—"
"You did. You found me," Bucky said, snuggling closer to Tony. "You found me, I'm here now, and I can't wait to be home."
"You'll be home soon," Steve whispered, pressing a kiss to Bucky's cheek.
Steve was right. They got home quickly, Bruce refused to let them leave until he'd had a chance to make sure that Bucky would be fine, and the rest of the team managed to get Steve and Tony over to the kitchen to get some food before they were allowed to smuggle Bucky off to their bedroom.
"You're going to stay here and get some rest," Tony said, glad to be pressed up against his lover's chest. Steve was behind Bucky, an arm wrapped around both of them.
"You too," Bucky whispered. "You two look like hell. Have you gotten any sleep in the past two weeks?"
"Getting Tony to stay in bed and out of the lab is nearly impossible," Steve mumbled, nuzzling against Bucky's neck.
"When Steve's stressed he kills all of the punching bags in the gym... unless he's already killed them. Then he just practices alone," Tony pointed out. "That's not 'in bed' either."
"Aww, you two really did miss me," Bucky chuckled, keeping his forehead pressed to Tony's. They'd taken him to the bathroom and made sure that all of the blood was cleaned off of him. "I can't believe you thought I wouldn't want you there, Tony. I-I thought maybe they had really just... made you up. It wouldn't be the first time they'd made life seem perfect before they tore it away."
"I'm real... we're real," Tony said. Bucky's eyelids fell closed, and Tony moved forward to kiss his forehead. "I promise, we're real. This is real."
"We'll make sure you'll remember," Steve added. "Hydra won't be taking this away from you."
"I hope not," Bucky whispered, a smile gracing his lips when Steve snuggled closer.
"I love you," Tony whispered, hugging his boyfriends tightly. "We both do. We'll make sure you never forget it."
“I love you too,” Bucky whispered, and this time Tony knew that he was serious.