James Buchanan Barnes. It had taken a long time but he was figuring out who that was, who he had been, who he was now and who he was going to be. It had taken time and a lot of help, help which had come from many places shockingly to him.
He had not expected people to want to help him. No one except for Steve of course. Everyone else that had known him and could care was dead, well besides those at Hydra but well...help was not what they would have offered him. So, no he had not expected anyone to want to help him, but they had.
Sam Wilson despite his slight hostility had stepped up and helped him get in touch with the best PTSD counsellors, a couple had not wanted to take his case, but most had practically fought for the job.
Natasha helped him understand that the red on his hands would never be washed clean but he did not have to allow it to weigh on him, that he should not dwell on things that were out of his control. She also helped him battle out the anger that was inside of him sometimes.
Steve helped him remember who he had been, and was just a constant support at his side. If he was having a bad night Steve would sit quietly with him and sketch away in a way that was so familiar and yet so new at the same time for his muddled memories. He was helping Bucky pick through those muddles memory with unending patience, gently correcting memories or supplying information as they came back to him.
Rhodes had fought on his side against the Accord Council and had managed to get him his freedom, more than that, he had managed to get Bucky benefits of a veteran, recognition of being a prisoner of war and the benefits that came with that as well. Essentially he had given Bucky the breathing space he needed to heal and to get his life back.
And Tony...Tony more than anyone else had helped him out. He had given him and Steve somewhere to stay while Rhodes sorted out things with the Accord Council - something that he would not have done without Tony's push - and somewhere to stay after. He had adjusted things in Bucky's room to make him more comfortable, he had adjusted things around the tower to make him more comfortable.
He had made Bucky 5 versions of a prosthetic arm of varying design and function, including 2 flesh looking arms.
He had offered BARF to Bucky, a program that helped him safely sort through his memories and come to terms with what he had been through in a controlled manner. BARF had helped him 100 times over.
Tony had also forgiven him. They had had a serious talk where Tony had explained what had happened from his side and why he had reacted the way that he had, something that Bucky could completely understand, but he had also explained that after having time and understanding that he had been tricked that he didn't blame Bucky for what had happened and that he forgave him. He hadn't known how much he needed to hear that until Tony had spoken the words.
So seven months after the events which the public was calling the Civil War Bucky was doing much much better. He was sleeping nearly every night, he had started an online course into mechanics, he was learning who he was now, and he was learning what the world had become.
He had a good relationship with most of the Avengers, he knew there was the option of joining if he ever felt ready, but as of yet he was not and was not sure that he would ever be ready, he was also still living in the Tower rather than on the compound where most the Avengers lived, including Steve who had moved there nearly full time a few months ago.
It had not been an easy move, for Steve more than Bucky, but things between Tony and Steve were civil and stilted at best despite everything that had happened since the fight, and it was easier for Steve to take part in the Avengers if he was on the compound. After Bucky had pointed out that Steve was only a few hours away and they could still meet up regularly, and after Steve had tried one more time to puppy dog eye Bucky into coming to the compound, he had moved there full time. Leaving Bucky in the Tower.
Things had been going pretty well, except for the fact that Bucky had yet to fulfil one of the tasks that his psychologists had asked of him. He needed to find a place and a role in his new life. They had helped him figure out his old roles in life.
Child
Protector of Steve
Soldier
Sniper
Howling Commando
Patient
Experiment
Prisoner
Assassin
Victim.
But now, now that he was doing better, now that he was healing he had to figure out a new role, to provide structure, to provide a purpose in his life, but he was coming up empty. He did not want to be a soldier, he did not want to be an Avenger he knew that. But what he did want to do he had no idea whatsoever.
He was sitting in the common area reading up on history when it came to him, however.
What his role was, what purpose he could take in his new life.
He was not sure how long it could last for. He was not sure how long his purpose would last for. But he had one, and it felt good.
It had occurred to him in a flash. Tony had come stumbling into the common area mussed and looking exhausted. He had oil staining his pale skin here and there, and he was grimacing and wincing in pain which had caught Bucky's attention straight away.
"Tony? Are you ok?" Bucky asked concerned setting his book to the side. He had not seen the genius in a few days, and he was slightly alarmed at the sight of him.
"Fine, fine, just ran out of coffee down in the workshop," Tony muttered. "I just need a coffee and then be on my way to a meeting,"
"You seem in pain," Bucky frowned standing and making his way toward the kitchen.
"No, no, I am fine, just….a few minutes and I will be fine, I need to go to this meeting," Tony muttered.
"But you have been designing none stop for days because SI wanted to release quicker," Bucky gently pushed Tony's hand away from the coffee machine before he burnt himself and started making his coffee himself.
"Pepper insisted that I need to be there," Tony sighed sounding bone tired, and Bucky could not suppress another scowl. Since their breakup, Pepper had been pushing and pushing and pushing at Tony.
"Tony!" Bucky moved away from the coffee machine when Tony swayed suddenly and pressed his fingers to his temples with a groan of pain. "You are not ok!"
"I am…"
"Boss has been showing signs of pain for several hours now, and my scans reveal an increased heart rate which would indicate pain," FRIDAY joined in suddenly.
"FRIDAY!" Tony scolded before wincing as the higher volume in his own voice seemed to cause more pain.
"Don't scold her for looking out for you. What is going on?" Bucky gripped Tony's wrists and pulled them away from his head.
"It is nothing," Tony moaned.
"Tony!" Bucky very rarely used a sharp tone with anyone, scared that they would take it the wrong way, but he was becoming quite concerned now.
"It is just a migraine," To his shock, it seemed to work with Tony.
"How long have you had it?" He asked far gentler this time. Tony's eyes were nearly squinted shut with pain, they were swimming in tears and considering Bucky had seen this guy literally trying to shrug off a broken collarbone, it told him how much pain he was actually in.
"A day," Tony muttered.
"Right," Bucky nodded.
"I will get this meeting out the way and…"
"Nope," Bucky said firmly, moving to the cupboard to pull out some of the stronger painkillers Bruce had left here.
"Nope?" Tony blinked at him confused.
"Nope. You're going to take these painkillers, then you're going to eat the toast I have just put in the toaster. Once you're done I am going to escort you up to your room and make sure that you are in bed, once you are asleep I…."
"I can't go to sleep Buckeroo, I need to go to the meeting," Tony interrupted.
"Once you are asleep I will call Miss Potts and inform her as to why you will not be there. Then I will wake you in 4 hours to take more painkillers and you will go back to sleep," Bucky continued without showing recognition of Tony interrupting.
"I can't…"
"Yes you can and you will. I mean it, Tony, I am not letting you step foot outside of this Tower!" Bucky warned.
Tony blinked at him, and Bucky could see that genius mind whirling. They both knew that if Tony really wanted to he could be out of this Tower before Bucky could blink. They both knew that he could think up 100 ways of getting out the Tower that Bucky would never know about.
But then he was reaching out for the painkillers and for the orange that Bucky was holding out to him and taking them without fuss. He allowed Bucky to escort him over to the sofa and bundle him in a blanket - though he did look at him strangely for that - he allowed him to order FRIDAY to lower all the lighting in the common area, he allowed him to hand him the toast and didn't say anything when Bucky hovered around him concerned as he ate.
He didn't say anything as Bucky escorted him into the lift, but he did press his forehead against Bucky's metal arm as the lift started upwards, just sighing when Bucky's flesh hand came up and applied gentle pressure to his temple.
Before either of them knew it, Bucky had him changed into his pyjamas, had brushed a cool cloth over his face and hands to remove the oil while Tony sat blinking on the side of the bed, and then gently lifted his legs up and onto the bed before pulling the covers over them. He even tucked Tony in as the genius wiggled around on the pillow until he seemed to find a position that relieved his head a little.
Bucky sat with his back against the bedside cabinet and listened as Tony gave a soft sigh of relief as the painkillers no doubt kicked in.
"Bucky?" Tony sounded oddly vulnerable and open.
"Yes, Tony?"
"Thank you," He reached a hand out from underneath the covers and Bucky caught it straight away, linking their fingers together gently.
"You're more than welcome," Bucky smiled softly.
"What were you reading, when I came in? New story?" Tony mumbled, obviously not quite ready to sleep.
"An old one actually," Bucky smiled. "One I read a couple of times when I was away at war. Stevie bought me the book because he knew I would like it, quite enjoyed reading it, and whenever we had a particularly hard assignment I would pull it out and let it distract me for a while. I recently found out that there was a sequel written and a whole load of prequels, something that I am not going to forgive Steve for delaying in telling me," Bucky snorted.
"What was it?" Tony's eyes were closed now and his voice a little slurred, but there was a small smile on his lips.
"The Hobbit,"
"I wanted to read that, but Howard said it wasn't suitable for genius to read stories and he hit me with the book. Didn't try and read anything that wasn't fact after that," Tony muttered into the pillow.
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats—the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill—The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it—and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river." Bucky recited the words easily, they jumped into his memory and he found himself quietly reciting the words of the first chapter as Tony fell more and more asleep, that smile still on his lips despite the pain that was creasing his face.
Bucky's mind, however, was a million miles away.
He and Tony rarely discussed Howard and Maria Stark for obvious reasons. However, things had been said, he had read other things, and just generally how Tony was, raised alarms in Bucky's mind as to how Tony had been treated at home.
When Howard was mentioned there had always been something in Tony's face and voice that cemented those concerns. As he learnt more about the internet he had dug through old newspaper stories about young Tony and pieced together more of the puzzle.
The last part had just fallen into place with that comment of Tony's however.
And it cemented in place the thought that he had had earlier. He had found a role and purpose. Why it had not occurred to him before he did not know, but the role that he had always been best suited to, the role that he had enjoyed most in his life and had performed the longest, had been looking after someone.
James Buchanan Barnes needed someone to look after, and he wanted that person to be Tony Stark.
And Tony needed and wanted someone to look after him.
It was win-win.
Once he was sure Tony was truly asleep he was going to be giving Miss Potts a call and informing her of the changes to Tony's schedule, now and from here on out. He would also be pointing out that punishing Tony when she had chosen to leave was not fair, and would no longer be tolerated.
He would be calling Shield and the Avengers compound and would inform them that they were to relieve Tony of the expectation they had of him to churn out plans, ideas and designs on such a regular basis, and somewhere in that gap he would make sure that Tony actually managed to sleep and take care of himself.
He knew it was risky, and he knew that there was a chance once Tony was awake, not in pain and fully aware of what was happening that Bucky might find himself thrown out on his ear for being so presumptuous. But as long as it gets the message through to them and they eased up on Tony, it would be worth it.
He had watched for too long now as everyone around Tony expected and took, and demanded, and Tony who had a need to please a mile long - no doubt stemming from the fact Howard clearly thought he could do nothing right, and...what did modern people call it? Daddy issues - just went along with it.
He would try and make Tony's life easier as much as he could, and if Tony allowed him to stick around, he would start taking care of the genius who was so good at taking care of other people - including ex-brainwashed assassins who had been forced into killing his parents - and terrible at looking after himself.
"What's this?" Tony blinked looking up from his paper and staring into his cup of coffee to see Bucky standing over him holding a plate out to him.
If he had not known better he would have thought that the food should be swimming in poison going by the intimidating look on Bucky's face, but he had realised quickly that that was Bucky's version of a determined face.
"Food, eat!" Bucky placed the fry up down in front of Tony, which admittedly made his stomach rumble. The super soldier then stepped closer and crossed his arms, muscles bulging and flexing as he eyed Tony.
Peter, Hope, Wiccan and Hulkling all glanced up from where they were happily eating from the plates Bucky had already placed in front of them, their eyes flicking between the two of them as they filled their ever hungry teen stomachs.
"Erm…."
"Eat," Bucky said firmly.
"I'm not really hungr…." Tony's response and a hand reaching out to push the plate away froze as Bucky's glare went from intimidating to murderous.
"Eat!"
"I...did you make this?" Tony blinked again at the plate suddenly realising that it looked home cooked and not take away.
"Yes, FRIDAY said that you have not eaten anything but protein bars for two days. Eat," Bucky growled and threw in a little extra flexing as his glare stepped up from murderous to massacre….over Tony's eating habits.
"Are you….seriously trying to intimidate me into eating?" Tony burst out laughing. Despite the fact that Bucky had looked after him yesterday with his migraine, he had not been expecting anything else now he was up and feeling better.
"I am not moving until you have cleared that plate," Bucky nodded firmly.
"You realise intimidation doesn't work anymore right?" Tony chuckled.
"I used to be a dangerous assassin!" Bucky scowled.
"Used to be being the operative word there," Tony grinned.
"I was the Winter Soldier,"
"Good for you Snowflake,"
"I am still a Super soldier,"
"Who cooks for kids," Tony looked pointedly at the apron Bucky was wearing and then over at the gaggle of teenagers who saw fit to invade his tower on a near daily basis, who were still munching away happily while looking back and forth as though they were watching a tennis match.
"They're scared of me," Bucky grunted.
"Ah not so much anymore," Peter shrugged before gulping when the murder glare was turned onto him. "Mr Barnes, sir,"
"Well proved Petey," Hope snickered.
"Shad up, he might not make pancakes again," Peter blushed and hunched over his plate scooping a few more bites in.
"I could seriously damage you with my pinky finger!" Bucky growled.
"But you wouldn't," Tony rested his chin on his hands grinning at Bucky. The massacre look turned slightly constipated for a minute before Bucky sighed.
"I will let you take me clothes shopping," He raised his eyebrow in challenge. The kids all gasped from across their table and their heads shot around so fast Wiccan had to rub his neck as they looked to Tony who was sitting open-mouthed and shocked.
"You...you...yes!" Tony dived for the plate only to squawk when it was held out of his way by a metal hand. "Hey, you have just spent the last ten minutes trying to get me to eat!"
"I will let you take me clothes shopping, one item of clothing for each meal you eat or will eat, including underwear, I will take IOU's for multiple buys but if you cheat and refuse to eat the meals….." Bucky leant in to look into Tony's eyes, smirking as he watched the genius' pupils dilate when their noses touched. "I will go back to wearing the cargo pants and baggy hoodies,"
"No! Buckeroo, why why must you swear at me?!" Tony whined, clutching his heart like Bucky had wounded him.
"Deal?" Bucky held out his hand.
"Ugh deal!" Tony whined shaking on it.
"Wonderful!" Bucky said brightly dropping the plate back in front of him. He sat down next to him and pulled his own plate towards himself and started eating as Tony practically inhaled his plate after the first bite.
The kids all nattered away happily around them, sharing a few stories with them, and just happily eating away until they grabbed their bags and darted off for school.
"I suppose I had better head off back to the workshop," Tony sighed stretching.
"Ok, I will get FRIDAY to let you know when lunch is ready," Bucky nodded collecting the plates to load into the dishwasher. Tony was momentarily distracted by the fact that Bucky seemed to be a lot brighter and happier today, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. At least he was distracted until Bucky's words sank in.
"Wait, lunch? You were serious about this?" Tony frowned.
"Quite serious, you need to eat regularly Tony," Bucky said firmly.
"Well, then I shall schedule in a shopping trip!" Tony smirked clearly expecting Bucky to blink.
"Wonderful, just let me know when, FRIDAY has my schedule, small though it is," Bucky laughed.
"Right, I am going to go do that now," Tony nodded.
"See you at lunchtime," Bucky said cheerfully, starting to load the dishwasher.
Tony made his way down to the lab trying to wipe the smile off his face. He had not felt so warm and looked after for a long time, no one had been there for him during a migraine like that before, and no one had stepped in for him the way that Bucky had yesterday.
Walking into the lab he brought everything to life with waves of his hands as he absently remembered the way Bucky had tucked him into bed last night, had sat by him and recited a story to him.
"FRIDAY, when is my next available spot in my calendar?" Tony asked absently as the schematics of Nat's Spider bites came up.
"You have several this week, would you like me to choose your largest gap to give you the most time to stock Sergeant Barnes' wardrobe?" FRIDAY asked curiously.
"Yes please, I fully intend to make the most of this opportunity and...wait did you say several, this week?" Tony paused and frowned to himself as he realised what FRIDAY had said.
"Yes, Boss, several, this week,"
"No need to be cheeky young lady. I didn't have any gaps in appointments for 5 weeks, do you have a blip? Are you feeling well?" Tony frowned.
"You have had ten appointments that have been cancelled or rearranged," FRIDAY answered a little haughty.
"Cancel….my appointments never get cancelled or rearranged, when did this happen?" Tony asked.
"Last night Boss. Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes worked together to free you up more time," FRIDAY chirped.
"What? Why? I thought Pepper would be mad at me for missing the meeting yesterday, not lighten up," Tony asked completely baffled.
"I believe that it has quite a lot to do with the stern talking to that Sergeant Barnes gave them last night after he left your bedside. He told them both quite clearly that they were to lighten your workloads," FRIDAY explained.
"Why? How? What did he say to them?" Tony sat down on a stool feeling quite baffled as to what was going on.
"He essentially told them that he would be looking after you from now on, that you needed someone to care for your wellbeing and look after Tony, just Tony, and not Mr Stark, Tony Stark or Iron Man, and that he was more than willing to do that. And that if they did not lighten your workload they would have to go through him. Here he pointed out that he is quite difficult to get passed while being very careful to make no outright threats - he pointed out that your health and wellbeing should always be the first priority, and even if you were angry at him for interfering and decided to kick him out, he would sit in front of the Tower to guard it and you. He then pointed out how unwell you were, and that they had both been pushing you too far and too hard individually, never mind combined," FRIDAY recited faithfully.
"What happened next?" Tony felt as though his head was spinning.
"Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes both appeared to take on what he was saying and agreed rather quickly to work together to clear up space and time in your diary, they then thanked Sergeant Barnes for looking out for you. After Sergeant Barnes hung up on them he asked me to look up a lot of recipes and print them, before making a grocery list order which was delivered this morning before you awoke," FRIDAY said before adding. "He has promised that I may assist in the cooking by instructing him in each step of the recipe,"
"Well done FRIDAY," Tony said slowly, picking up that she was feeling pleased, but still trying to grasp what he had been told.
"Thank you, Boss,"
"FRI, play my loud music mix please,"
"Boss, are you ok? Did something I say to upset you?" FRIDAY asked confused.
"No, I am just, I need to figure out what this means," Tony assured her.
"It means that Sergeant Barnes cares for you, and he wants to look after you. If I may Boss, this seems to be a mutual thing as he appears to have been a lot happier today than I have seen him since he came to the Tower," FRIDAY supplied.
"Thank you FRI, playlist please?"
The music filled the workshop as he moved to go and work on something more basic to keep his hands busy as his mind went over and over the puzzle of Bucky Barnes. Everything that FRIDAY had said seemed right except for one thing. Why?
Why did he want to look after Tony?
Why was he so interested in caring for him that he intervened on his behalf?
Was Tony angry that he had interfered on his behalf without speaking to Tony? The genius didn't know.
But he needed to work it out before their next interaction.
"Wah!" Tony scrambled up onto the worktop he had been sprawled over a few seconds before, his back hitting the wall as he stared at the invader with fear in his wide brown eyes.
"Boss, I have detected high levels of anxiety, an increased pulse rate and high-stress levels. I have asked Sergeant Barnes to come down to assist you," FRIDAY announced over the speakers.
"What?!" Tony snapped a few seconds later as he realised what she had said. "No! Abort, abort!"
"Too late Boss, Sergeant Barnes is…" FRIDAY's words were cut off as Bucky leapt from the elevator, eyes dangerous as he looked around for the threat from behind the glass walls that guarded Tony's workshop.
"Tony? What's happened?" Bucky seemed to calm down a little when he realised there was no one in the workshop with Tony, looking more baffled now at the sight of Tony standing on the worktop.
"Nothing, nothing at all everything is fine," Bucky may have believed him if not for the hysterical tone in his voice and the fact that he screamed and scrambled further back against the wall when the invader moved.
"Tony?!" Bucky was scrambling at the door, pulling and pushing at it trying to get it to move, but it had been designed to keep everyone up to the Hulk out and was not moving.
"I...I am...I am f...f...f...f...nope, you need to come in and get it, come in and get it, come in and get it!" Tony squealed as the invader took another few steps toward him.
The doors to lab opened and Bucky was inside in a flash, looking around for the problem.
"There there there there there, it's there!" Tony squeaked pointing as he scrambled further away. Bucky rounded the corner and his eyes went wide as he spotted the intruder before looking at Tony. "I know ok! Just get rid of it please!"
With what Tony suspiciously thought was a snicker Bucky bent over and scooped up the spider that was terrorising Tony, without so much as a hesitation making Tony shudder, before exiting the workshop and heading down the corridor where Tony could hear him opening a window.
He walked back into the workshop and over to where Tony was still plastered against the wall, and Tony could definitely see his lips twitching. "You need a hand down?"
"Shut up!" Tony pouted. It went to show how much improvement Bucky had made in that he didn't withdraw into himself, but his shoulders started shaking instead. "Do NOT tell the kid!" Tony warned as he made his way to the edge of the table. Tony narrowed his eyes as Bucky reached up and helped him hop down. Bucky wasn't paying any attention, however, instead he was looking around the workshop with excitement.
"Oh….this place is amazing. I have really been interested in all stuff like this since I was a kid. Listening to the radios to the things that they were designing and reading about it in the papers we could pinch. We went to see Howard at his expo, the things he said that he could invent," Bucky shook his head still gazing around the workshop with awe, something that Tony was glad of as he didn't pick up on the flash of hurt and ice that went through Tony at the awe in Bucky's voice when he spoke about his dad.
"Yeah, he was a real amazing guy," Tony smiled weakly.
"But you have surpassed him, the things that you're coming up with! They're just...wow. Will you explain some of these things to me, please?" Bucky turned back to him, and there was nothing be honesty in his face, he wasn't blowing smoke, he genuinely meant it.
"Of course, come on, I have someone that I want you to meet," Tony grinned suddenly, Bucky looked confused until there was a hopeful beep from the corner and U wheeled himself around the corner.
"What is that?!" Bucky gasped awed as U offered his metallic arm for a handshake. He jumped when just as he finished shaking hands something pinched his bum.
"Dumm-e! No! Bad touch!" Tony scolded the bot who beeped sadly and whizzed around to hide behind Bucky. "Don't bring him into this! We do not touch people!"
"Beep!"
"I don't care if it is a nice bum, that is not an excuse!" Tony scolded.
"Beep!"
"No! No pinching bums or I will tell Pepper and take away your smoothie maker!" Tony warned. The bot beeped sadly and dipped his head. "Sorry, he has reached teenage years," he sighed.
But Bucky was just grinning widely at him in a way that he had never seen on the soldier's face before.
"This place is amazing!" He laughed leaning down to pat Dumm-E
"Thank you," Tony found himself smiling brightly back. At least until his memories of earlier came back to him. "Bucky?"
"Yes?" Bucky turned back to face him after gazing around the room clearly trying to choose what to focus on first, but he sobered up when he caught the expression on Tony's face.
"Why….why did you speak to Pepper and Rhodey about my workload?" Tony asked softly.
"Honestly?" Bucky licked his lips.
"Preferable,"
"I am fed up of watching you work yourself to sickness over and over, because others take advantage of your nature. Even those that care about you, partly because you won't admit when it is too much," Bucky gave him a sharp look. "I want to look after you,"
"Look after me? Why?" Tony asked confused.
"Because….because you need someone to look after you, someone that will care for you, and I need…"
"You need?" Tony sat on a stool and tilted his head to look at Bucky curiously.
"I need someone to look after. A purpose," Bucky had told Tony a few weeks ago about his therapist's instruction to find a purpose, and he could see that Tony understood straight away.
"A purpose to look after someone, anyone?" Tony frowned a little.
"No, not just anyone," Bucky watched as recognition washed over Tony's face.
"Me?" Tony actually pointed at himself.
"Yes you," Bucky laughed stepping a bit closer. "I want to look after you, protect you, I want to make sure that you're ok, that you eat properly, sleep properly, that you look after yourself, that you let me look after yourself. I am sorry, I am not making sense," Bucky huffed an annoyed sigh, scrubbing his flesh hand through his hair.
"Why do you want to take care of me?" Tony asked.
"Because I care about you," Bucky growled out.
"Ok," Tony nodded.
"Ok?" Bucky blinked.
"Ok, I...I have enjoyed being looked after," Tony squirmed a little. "No one has ever really looked after me like that before, it was nice,"
"So, I can stay, and care for you?" Bucky asked nervously taking another step forward and brushing Tony's hair from his face.
"Of course you can," Tony huffed. "I am still taking you shopping though!" He added quickly.
"And I still expect you to eat a meal for every item," Bucky smirked.
"Fine, it is a deal," Tony rolled his eyes as though he were perturbed. "Let me show you around?" He held out his hand to Bucky.
"Thank you," Bucky grinned and allowed Tony to tug him to one corner of the workshop.
