Part 1 – A Night to Remember

Bucky glared around the room as he sipped his beer; trying to make it as obvious as possible that he was completely unhappy, and therefore unapproachable. Especially to the few girls who were eyeing him off; apparently the lack of a left arm didn't disgust them too much.

Steve was in the corner of the room cosied up to Natasha Romanov, he'd been working up the courage to ask her out for weeks, and tonight he was finally going to do it. Well, that's what he said anyway; Bucky doubted Steve would ever get the nerve to ask out any girl. But Steve insisted, tonight was the night, and he was totally going to ask her to the movies.

That was all well and good, but what Bucky didn't understand was, why did he have to be here? Steve could have asked Sam, or Thor, or literally anyone who enjoyed going to parties (an enjoyment Bucky, unfortunately, did not share.)

Worst of all this party was being hosted by Gil Hodge and his friends, in other words – complete and utter assholes. They were notorious pranksters, but not in the friendly way like Clint Barton, no, these guys liked to play cruel jokes on helpless people. They were the kind of people who thought it was funny to dump people in garbage, and leave them death threats over Facebook. They were also the kind who thought it was funny to steal him prosthetic arm whenever he took it off to shower after gym class.

Before the loss of his arm, Bucky had been on the football team with them, he hated them then too. Several times, when Steve had suggested that he re-join the football team, he'd refused, simply because he couldn't handle them and their comments, even if his metal arm did function well enough for him to play.

Tonight, Gil Hodge had his arm wrapped around a young boy. Bucky recognised him, the new kid, son of Howard Stark, from Stark Industries, the company that made his prosthetic arm. Tony Stark was some kind of genius, had skipped ahead four whole grades, making him the only fourteen-year-old among a bunch of eighteen-year-old's. It didn't sit well with Bucky that he was here at all, let alone curled up to Gil Hodge. And he was drinking to boot, chugging down whatever vial concoction Hodge was passing to him. None of it was right. Bucky made sure to watch them closely.

Tony was tall, for his age, and lanky, not yet having filled out in all the places his new peers had. Bucky guessed he would be fast, probably a good tennis player if he tried. He had short brown hair, the ends of which were daring to be almost a curl; and big brown eyes, that Bucky couldn't help but associate with Bambi. He was cute, borderline attractive, but Bucky wasn't willing to admit attraction to a fourteen-year-old boy, people already thought he was weird.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed someone approaching him, a nervous looking guy with fluffy brown hair and large thick-rimmed glasses. "Hey, I'm Bruce," he said, handing Bucky another beer, "you look like you want to be here about as much as I do."

Bucky accepted the beer, setting aside the one that had grown warm in his hand. "I'm Bucky Barnes."

Bruce nodded, "Yeah, Steve's friend. I, uh, know Natasha." Bucky watched as his eyes flickered over to where she was standing with Steve, he almost looked jealous, but more… sad, than anything else. He glanced back to Bucky, then over to where Tony and Hodge were standing. "That kid over there, I saw you looking, I'm worried about him and I suppose you are too."

Bucky was relieved to know he wasn't the only one. "Yeah, Hodge is an asshole, and I know Stark is only fourteen."

"Smartest fourteen-year-old I've ever met. He's in all my science classes, dominating every one of us. But he's still naïve, and he has any survival instinct whatsoever. I think Hodge might have something planned…" Bruce muttered, voice bouncing between frustration and anger. Bucky wasn't sure whether to try and calm him down, or get just as angry.

"I was thinking that too, but I don't know what to do about it," Bucky sighed.

Before Bruce could respond, Steve and Natasha barged into their little standing space.

"Bruce!" Natasha exclaimed, "Where did you run off to? I didn't drag you to this party so you could make other friends."

The anger from Bruce's face dissipated as soon as he looked at her, he even chuckled in response. "Maybe I was having fun, have you ever thought of that?" he said with a snicker, suggesting a secret joke between them.

Natasha smiled, her eyes glinting. Bucky looked between the two of them and realised that Steve's pursual of Natasha was completely hopeless. Steve must have realised this too, because his face had twisted into a pout that he was hiding behind his beer. For whatever reason, girls just didn't go for Steve – not even after his growth spurt, which had left him as a tall, muscular god, with a gleaming smile.

"We think Hodge is planning to play one of his awful tricks on that new kid from our gym class," Bucky told Steve, partially trying to distract him, but also still very concerned.

"Yeah," Bruce reiterated to Natasha, scowling again, "Last time I checked, he wasn't interested in hanging out with some geeky kid. So, what's he doing cuddling up to a boy like that?"

Natasha glanced over, "We should go say something," she decided instantly, "and get the poor guy outta there."

Before they could do anything, however, Gil stood up laughing violently at something Tony had said. He clapped his hands in order to get the room's attention, "Heeeeeey!" he drawled, turning around and laughing to his friends as if he'd made some hilarious joke. "Listen folks, we've got some kid here," he lifted Tony into a standing position beside him, "and he has something to say."

Tony was so nervous he was visibly shaking, he looked confused, and quickly shook his head at Hodge.

"C'mon now, Stark." Hodge laughed, "This kid was just telling me how he's never ever been kissed." There was a chuckle throughout the room, Tony was blushing furiously, silently shaking his head at Hodge to stop. "But he doesn't want his first kiss to be a girl," Hodge grinned, "he wants his first kiss to be me!"

The room erupted into a cruel laughter, Tony's face dropped in mortification, and he tried to pull away, but Hodge was holding him by the arm.

"Like he thinks I'm some faggot," Hodge growled, gripping Tony more tightly.

Next he knew, Bruce had crossed the room and was between them, pushing Hodge away and throwing his beer onto the floor. Natasha was at his heels, swearing at Hodge in some language Bucky didn't recognise. Steve and Bucky followed, watching as Hodge backed away from Natasha carefully, she had an arm raised ready to hit him. Hodge's friends kept their distance too, some worried about hitting a girl, others worried about being hit by a girl.

Tony was frozen in place, tears welling in his eyes. Bucky reached out and pulled him close, forgetting if only for a moment, that his metal arm would feel strange and gross to someone else. Tony blinked up at him, big brown eyes studying the arm carefully. He didn't look freaked out, but Bucky chalked that up to being shocked about what Hodge had said.

"Will someone get this crazy bitch off me?" Hodge demanded, while Natasha had him in a death grip. Bruce hit him in the throat sending him backwards, he looked like he wanted to do more, but Natasha had let Hodge go and was looking at Bruce intently, warning him to stop.

Bucky put his real arm around Tony's shoulder, "Want me to take you home?"

The boy nodded vigorously, almost hiding in Bucky's jacket, away from the stares that they were attracting. Hodge was swearing at them to leave anyway, and Bucky was well and truly done with this party.

"I'm gonna take him home, think you can catch a ride home with Nat?" Bucky asked Steve.

Steve nodded, trailing along behind Natasha and Bruce. Bucky guided Tony, who was still trembling beneath him, to his car. It was a lucky thing he hadn't had too much to drink, or he wouldn't be able to take him home.

Bucky pulled out of the driveway and onto the pitch-black road. He wasn't supposed to be driving. He needed a special kind of licence to drive with one arm, and you couldn't get one of those until you'd been wearing a prosthetic for some time, Bucky had only had his six months. But he couldn't help it, those rules were stupid, and he liked driving. He was good at it, always been careful, never distracted, he knew exactly how to move in a car, it came as naturally as walking for him.

He waited until they were a few miles down the road, and far away from the party, before he talked to Tony. "So, er, where do you live?"

Tony looked over to him miserably, "I'm meant to be at a sleepover. You can't take me home; my dad can't find out about this. He would be so embarrassed…"

"Oh-"

"Please, take me to a hotel, whichever is closest. I have money," Tony told him.

Bucky what appalled, "What? No, no way!" he insisted, "I can't leave you at a hotel, that's crazy. Anything could happen to you, you're drunk, and upset."

"I'll be fine. I can get a taxi in the morning to take me home. Dad will be at work, and it'll be a Saturday, I can-"

"No, you're coming home with me," Bucky insisted, "and I'll take you home tomorrow. Okay?"

Tony crossed his arms stubbornly, "Why are you even helping me? I mean, you know, everyone knows, that I-I'm…"

"Gay?"

"Are you trying to make fun of me?" Tony growled, in distress.

"What? No, Tony, I'm gay," Bucky told him, "okay? So I didn't want you to have to face all that."

Tony stared at him for a minute, before muttering, "… Thanks."