A/N: This was loosely based of another Avengerkink prompt. It's been so long that I've forgotten the actual prompt, but I hope this at least vaguely resembles what the prompter was hoping for.
Bucky wasn't sure what woke him up initially. Maybe it was the missing blankets or maybe it was the quiet. Tony had been suffering from a cold the past few days and although he had insisted that Starks didn't snore, Bucky had been lulled to sleep by his boyfriend snuffling into his shoulder. But now everything was silent.
God, he was going to kill Tony if he snuck down to the lab.
He groped around blindly until his hand found the missing blankets. He followed them until they led to his genius, securely wrapped up like a cocoon. Bucky sighed with relief and rolled Tony into his arms.
But instead of snuggling into his side like usual, Tony went rigid. "Friday," he said quietly. "Intruder protocol."
"No intruders detected, boss."
"But there's someone in my bed," Tony hissed.
"Yes, boss. My sensors indicate it is Sergeant Barnes."
Tony threw off the blankets. "What? There's no way my husband came to bed tonight."
"Husband?" Bucky said. He sat bolt upright
The two of them stared at each other for a moment.
"Oh," Bucky said faintly.
The man sitting next to him was definitely Tony, but not the Tony he had gone to bed with. This Tony was quite a bit older, with more laugh lines around his eyes and hair gone to gray. But he was still the man Bucky loved and he was still incredibly gorgeous.
"Awesome," Bucky said with a grin. "You're a silver fox when you get older. Now that's something to look forward to."
Tony groaned and rubbed at his temples. "This isn't happening," he said. "No way. Who the hell are you supposed to be, the ghost of Christmas past?"
"Nah," Bucky said. "I'm your husband, apparently."
He smiled just thinking about it. God, he couldn't wait to get back to his time and finally dig the ring out of the bottom of the sock drawer, where it had been the past two months. It was going to be so much less stressful to propose knowing Tony would ultimately say yes.
"No, you're not," Tony said. "You are way too young to be my husband. So you're either a time-traveler or dimension-hopper." He stroked his goatee absently. "Maybe both."
"Only one way to find out," Bucky said. "What year is it?"
"I shouldn't tell you," Tony muttered. "If you're really from the past, it'll fuck up the whole space-time continuum."
"Fine," Bucky said cheerfully. "Don't help me figure out how to get back home. I'll just stay with you the rest of my life. Hope your Bucky is good with sharing."
Something flickered behind Tony's eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched downwards.
"What?" Bucky asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Bucky's eyes narrowed.
Tony picked at the sleeve of his pajama shirt. "Right, so, you want to know what year it is. It's 2045."
"Damn," Bucky said. "You look good for 75." He cast an appreciative look up and down Tony's body.
Tony was just as in shape at 75 as he had been at 45, which meant Tony was probably still on active duty as Iron Man and probably still building stuff down in the lab. Not that Bucky had ever expected him to retire until he was days from death, but it was still comforting to know that Tony was going strong decades later. The only thing he was concerned about was the dark circles under his genius' eyes. He shouldn't judge because he had no idea what the team was dealing with in the future, but it looked like Tony had been pushing himself way too hard.
Tony rolled his eyes. "You don't need to kiss my ass. I know I look old as shit."
"I don't say things I don't mean," Bucky said firmly. "You know that. So if I think you look hot as hell, I mean it. Doesn't your Bucky still think you look hot?"
Tony's face crumpled. "I don't know. We haven't spoken in three months."
"Oh, honey," Bucky said. He pulled Tony into his arms and let him cry into his shoulder. "Want to tell me about it?"
"There was a mission," Tony said quietly. "We were trying to draw out Victor Barlotoff, the leader of a major terrorist organization that popped up last year. And to gain his trust, one of our new SHIELD agents pretended that he had murdered Steve. Only, I didn't tell you Steve's death was staged."
Bucky winced.
"Yeah," Tony said with a heavy sigh. "And Steve didn't know that I didn't tell you. So when he came back to the Tower after a week in hiding and you started sobbing, he really read me the riot act. Pretty much everybody is mad at me right now."
"I understand why I would be upset," Bucky said carefully. "Stevie and I have gone through so much together and the thought of losing him…" He shuddered. "But I'm sure I'll come back to my senses soon. I mean, it was for a mission. There probably wasn't any time to give me a head's up on the situation."
"Oh, there was plenty of time," Tony said miserably. "We spent six months planning our strategy. I was just so caught up in how I was going to make Steve's death look realistic, how I was going to keep him alive through that whole public funeral, how we were going to get him out of the grave-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bucky said. "You buried him alive?"
"I spent a lot of time working on that coffin," Tony said defensively. "We had several dry runs to make sure it worked. There was no risk to Steve by the time he was put in the ground."
"I know," Bucky said comfortingly. "I know you always test and retest everything before you let anyone else use it. I know there was no way Steve would have died in that coffin. But damn, darling, that's horrifying." He grimaced. "Tell me I wasn't at that funeral. Tell me I didn't watch them put Steve in the ground."
Tony wouldn't meet his eyes. "You watched him 'die' too. It was all on live TV."
Bucky groaned.
"I shouldn't have told you anything," Tony said in a small voice. "Because now you're upset with me, too. And maybe now we're not even going to get married because you know what a horrible person I'm going to become."
"Hell no," Bucky said fiercely. "We're not doing this shit. We've all done things we're not proud of. Just look at me. I fucking killed your parents! If anyone's not the marrying type, it's me."
"But that's not-"
"Yes, it is," Bucky said firmly. "If you want to play the fuck-up game, I'll match you shitty backstory with shitty backstory. Trust me, I'm stubborn and I can play that game all day. But if you stop being so hard on yourself, we can talk about this like adults."
Tony sighed. "But we've never had a fight like this before. Twenty-three years together and you've never walked out for more than a night or two. I've fucked up big time."
Bucky squeezed Tony's shoulder. "Okay, so this is a major thing. And it is. I'm not gonna lie. I'm sure future Bucky is pretty pissed off that you didn't warn him beforehand and you didn't break the news during any part of the whole charade. And I'm sure he's also reeling from the emotional whammy of seeing his best friend dead and buried and then seeing him walk back through the door unscathed. But this is far from the worst thing I've been through. I'm going to work my way through my emotions and come back to you."
"I don't think you will," Tony said with a sad smile. "I think you and Steve are busy saving the world together and you're better off without me. It's better this way. I'm getting older and the two of you could be going strong for another century with the serum." He reached over to the nightstand and picked up the framed photo. "Twenty-three years is a good run. A lot longer than most people get. I should be grateful for what I had."
"Tony, no," Bucky said. "Don't do this to yourself."
"I know you'll forget all about this night over the next twenty years, and it's not fair to make you promise anything, but I'm begging you not to send me divorce papers. I hate the idea of you not wanting to live with me anymore, but having you not wanting to be married anymore might just kill me."
Bucky took Tony's hands in his. "I'm not going to forget. I'm going to go back to my time, marry the fuck out of you and stay married to you for the rest of my life. And I promise I'm going to handle this mess better than your Bucky. Because now you've warned me ahead of time."
"You can't promise that. It's twenty years in the future."
"You really think I'm going to forget this? Fuck no. I'm going to remember how devastated you look for the rest of my life and I'm going to work my ass off making sure you never look like this again." He cupped his hands around Tony's face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I love you, you infuriatingly insecure man. Don't you ever forget that."
Tony burst into tears again and Bucky just held him, rocking him in his arms until Tony finally slumped against him in slumber. He had a feeling Tony hadn't been sleeping well and he was reluctant to move and wake him up. Well, he had certainly slept in worse positions. Figuring out how to get home could wait until morning.
Bucky woke up to loud snoring. His face split into a wide grin. Tony. His Tony. God, he had missed him. He rolled over and pulled Tony into his arms.
Tony stirred and leaned back into his touch. "Oh, now you want to cuddle," he muttered. "Where were you an hour ago when I was cold and miserable?"
Bucky grinned and pressed a kiss to the back of Tony's neck. "I went out to pick you up a nice surprise, baby."
Tony arched backwards. "Yeah? You gonna show me?"
"I don't know. Don't think this is the right time."
Tony sat up and fixed Bucky with an indignant look. "You can't say something like that. I'm not going to rest until you tell me what it is."
Bucky laughed. "Alright, baby. If you insist. Have a look in my sock drawer."
Tony reached over to the nightstand and pulled open the second drawer. "This had better be good," he muttered as he pawed through Bucky's socks. "If this turns out to be-" He stilled and lifted out the small jewelry box. "Bucky?" Tony asked uncertainly. "Is this..is this what I think it is?"
Bucky smirked. "Open it and find out."
Tony lifted the lid and made a small noise in the back of his throat. "Oh, honey. This is incredible. I love it."
"I'm glad," Bucky said. He kissed Tony's cheek. "I'll propose to you properly when you're feeling better, but I just couldn't wait to give you the ring."
"God, you have the strangest timing. I'm all gross and germy and somehow that makes you think, 'Yeah, this is marriage material."
"You've always been marriage material," Bucky said. "I love you, Tony. And I promise I always will. For better, for worse. In sickness and in health."
Tony beamed as he slipped the ring on his finger. "I love you, too." He put his arms around Bucky's neck. "What say we sleep in a little this morning and celebrate?"
"Sounds good to me."
Bucky allowed himself to be pulled down onto the bed and he groaned as Tony worked a hand up under his night shirt.
He was never going to forget the hurt and pain in future Tony's eyes, but he was never going to forget the joy on his Tony's face either. It was up to him now to keep that joy alive.