"So what exactly are you doing?" Bucky asked in fascination as two teenage boys attached a variety of different instruments to his body.
The shorter of the two boys, a kid with glasses who had a habit of not making eye contact, looked at him in surprise. "We're, uh, running tests. Blood test, reflex test, cognitive test… We want to compare it to the stats S.H.I.E.L.D. had on you from before you were, uh...yeah."
"We're trying to pinpoint if HYDRA's mind control physically altered your brain or if it's a psychological problem," the other boy added. Bucky frowned at his tone. He sounded kind of bitter.
"Tony," Steve said sharply. He'd been sitting in a chair in the corner, trying to stay out of the way, but clearly he hadn't liked the boy's tone any more than Bucky had.
The boy whirled around and glared at Steve with a surprising amount of hostility. For being significantly shorter and definitely not as strong, Tony looked like he really wanted to beat up Steve. For his part, Steve just met his gaze. The other boy, Bruce, set down what he was holding and backed away.
"I'm doing you a favor, Cap," Tony sneered. "That's all I've been doing for you for goddamn two years now! And where's my thanks?! No, instead, you bring your assassin boyfriend into my house!"
Steve stood up. "I told you, Fury sent him here. Now if you're not going to be helpful, you should go. Bruce doesn't need your help with this anyways."
"Please leave me out of this," Bruce whispered.
Tony turned on him. "Not you, too! God, Bruce, show a spine for once!"
"Tony!" Steve yelled, then sighed, clearly regretting giving Tony the satisfaction of raising his voice. "Please just go. You're only making things worse."
The boy bristled even further, but the angry retort died on his lips as the door to the lab opened, revealing a very confused looking little boy. The four teenagers stared at him in shock. Bucky, especially, didn't understand why a six year old kid was in a top secret government facility, much less in a mad science lab.
"Kid, what are you doing down here?" Tony said, and Bucky gaped at him. His tone had abruptly changed from bitter to blithe, though there was an undercurrent of frustration. It was like he was a whole different person.
The kid wrung his hands. "I finished my lesson early and—"
"Nevermind," he interrupted, walking over to the kid. "Let's go. I thought Pepper was watching you."
"Who's that?" the kid asked, staring straight at Bucky, completely ignoring the very insistent hand Tony had on his shoulder, trying to shove him out the door.
"Kid, we're going now," Tony ordered and the kid reluctantly turned around. They left the room, the door clicking closed.
"Who was that?" Bucky asked, looking at Steve.
His best friend's jaw was clenched. "That was Peter."
"Okay, I more meant why is there a six year old here."
"He's seven, and its kind of a long story." Steve dropped back into his chair and rubbed his temples. Bucky held his tongue. He could tell he wouldn't be getting anything else out of him right now. Bruce returned and finished taking off the small tabs he'd stuck to his head.
"The brain scan is done. That's all I need right now."
Bucky stood up, grateful to stretch. He'd been sitting in the lab for hours now, and it had not been very comfortable. Bruce and Tony had mostly talked to each other as they worked. Steve had only arrived a half hour ago, but he hadn't been particularly talkative. It had made for perhaps the most awkward atmosphere Bucky had been in in his entire life.
"Thanks," Bucky said, nodding at Bruce.
"No problem. We might not have any results for a while." The doctor hesitated, then added, "I know Tony seems like a total asshole, but he's like that with everyone he doesn't know. I'm not trying to excuse his actions, but maybe keep an open mind about him."
Steve snorted doubtfully. Bruce grinned. "Ah, I know you like him, Cap."
"Not too much right now." Steve stood. "Let's go, Buck. I'm sure you're starving."
Indeed, he was. He'd had to skip breakfast for some reason to do with the tests Bruce and Tony had been running. Steve knew him so well.
"Hey, speaking of food, are Peggy and Coulson coming tonight? It's been awhile since they came to dinner," Bruce said, closing a drawer.
Bucky frowned as his best friend turned away. "No, uh, Peggy isn't coming. I don't know about Coulson."
"Are you two fighting?"
"No. We just broke up." Steve sucked in a sharp breath. "So, I don't think she'll be coming around for a while."
Bucky could tell Bruce was sincerely regretting asking that question. Steve didn't notice, nor did he notice the way Bucky had froze in place. He simply cleared his throat and left the room, leaving the two of them behind.
Bucky hadn't even known Peggy and Steve were dating.
"Hey, punk," Bucky said, leaning in the doorway of Steve's room. He regretted not knocking when he realized he'd intruded on Steve changing. The super-soldier turned towards him, shirtless, giving Bucky an excellent view of his new six-pack.
"Buck. What's up?"
He frowned at the unusual note in Steve's voice. He was trying to sound chipper, but it fell a little flat. That, and there was a fist sized hole in the wall near him and dust on his hand. He really should have knocked.
"Uh, I just wanted to see if you were doing alright. About Peggy." He licked his lips and tried to grin.
Steve looked down at the floor as he said, "You don't have to dance around it."
"What?" he asked, not following.
"I know you're mad. We had a thing, or something, and I didn't even tell you I was dating Peggy. I'm sorry, I should have said something, you have every right to be upset—"
"Steve," Bucky interrupted, and his friend met his eyes nervously as he enunciated, "what the hell are you talking about?"
Steve opened and closed his mouth, his brow creasing. The tried again, this time with words. "I thought you would be mad."
"That you were in a relationship with Peggy, or that you didn't tell me, or both?"
"Both."
Bucky grinned at the mildly terrified look on Steve's face. There was the punk kid who always threw himself into fights and only got scared when Bucky was waiting for him to explain himself. This was the Steve he had been expecting, not the muscled S.H.I.E.L.D. officer who'd been sitting in the lab today. Which was why Bucky walked over and wrapped his fingers through Steve's. He jumped at the contact, but didn't pull away, which Bucky took as a good sign.
"You thought I might be dead or an enemy agent. Both are perfectly acceptable reasons to assume our relationship had ended and you were free to move on. Peggy is a beautiful, awesome woman, and also capable of dealing with your bullshit, so of course I'm not mad you two dated. Now I'll admit I don't know why you didn't tell me you were dating her, but I'm sure you have your reasons, which I'm willing to hear whenever you're ready."
Steve let out a little breathless laugh and met Bucky's eyes. "I should've known you'd say that. I was always the dramatic one." Bucky's lips quirked up. "And I didn't tell you because I'm a coward. It never seemed like the right time, which sounds lame, but you kind of had bigger problems than the fact I was dating Peggy. Once you came here I knew Tony, Bruce, or Peter would blab, but I didn't say anything. I should have. I was scared you'd be mad at me."
"Well, I'm not. And I'm not expecting anything from you either, if you were worried about that."
For a second, Steve didn't say anything, just stared at Bucky. Right as Bucky began to fear he'd said the wrong thing, Steve's lips crashed on his in a desperate, hungry kiss. Bucky only gave himself a moment to appreciate Steve had clearly had some experience since they'd last kissed before he broke away, breathing heavily.
"Wait," he groaned, meeting Steve's eyes, which had darkened. "Are you sure we should be doing this? You're not just upset about Peggy?"
Steve grinned. "Buck, she broke up with me because she could tell I was still in love with you and was being too much of a gentleman to dump her."
"Say that again," he breathed out.
Steve knew exactly what he meant. "I love you."
Bucky started the kiss this time. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, and Bucky had to rediscover Steve's body. It started out frantic, a clash of mouths and swollen lips, but then Steve flipped them around and shoved Bucky onto the bed. He lowered himself slowly and when he pressed his lips to Bucky's the kiss was slower, gentle, and maddeningly sweet. Bucky moaned as Steve started leaving a trail of taunting, biting kisses down his neck.
He'd had enough. Steve was doing excellently, but Bucky wanted to take things a little faster. As Steve seemed content at the pace he was going, Bucky decided to take matters into his own hands: i.e, he started pulling Steve's shirt off, and the super-soldier seemed very amenable to this. Just as Bucky discarded the unwanted garment, a ring sounded through the room.
Steve frowned and rolled over so that he was sitting on the bed. Bucky sat up and scooted next to him, peeking over his broad shoulder. He didn't think he'd ever get used to Steve being the same height as him.
"What is it?" Bucky asked.
Steve stared at the phone in his phone. "Coulson is texting me."
"It can't be serious if he'd texting."
"He only texts when he doesn't want Peter to overhear classified information," he replied, his mouth a grim line. Bucky knew that look. Steve knew what he needed to do, but he didn't want to do it. Bucky decided to spare him the guilt.
He kissed Steve's neck and said, "Go."
The super-soldier frowned at him. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You have responsibilities. I understand." Steve looked relieved at his words, so Bucky added, "But this isn't over."
"No, its not," he agreed, pressing one remorseful, lingering kiss to his best friend's lips before getting up and leaving the room.
Well, that made one thing in Bucky's life that didn't suck.
"What are the results, doc?" Bucky asked as he popped onto the patient bed in what he'd learned was called the Medbay. It was a full on hospital set-up in the basement of the Facility between the lab and the garage. Steve had mentioned that there was an actual medical team attached to the Facility, but Bucky had never seen anyone besides Bruce or Tony working down there. From what he could tell, all the Avengers were pretty averse to having anyone so much as set foot in their mansion, even most S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel.
Bucky would have been skeptical about having a doctor younger than himself, except that Bruce was clearly a genius. A brief look through the fourteen year old's file had been enough to discover that. All kinds of scientific awards, grants and scholarships. He'd even started at Culver University, one of the best colleges in the country, as a thirteen year old. That was impressive. And now at fourteen he was nearly the entire science and technology department at S.H.I.E.L.D.
"There's no physical change to your brain that any of our programs have been able to identify," Bruce said, his glasses reflecting the writing on the holographic screen he was immersed in. That had been another pleasant surprise. The technology at the Facility was far beyond anything Bucky could have imagined, and in abundance. His inner science geek loved it, even if he wasn't very interested in actually understanding the science behind the tech.
"Is that good?"
Bruce sighed. "Yes and no. If there had been a physical change, it would have taken brain surgery to correct, and that's always risky. But now we don't know what HYDRA did to you, so…"
"We're back at square one," Bucky said, then grimaced.
"More like square two. We've narrowed the list slightly, and I'll certainly keep looking into it, but Bucky, I don't know if we'll be able to help you anymore. Not without knowing at least what method HYDRA used to control you. Is there anything you can remember that you might have left out in your report?"
He shuddered, remembering the ten hours straight he had spent reliving as many details as he could about what he'd done under HYDRA's control to a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Bruce must have had access to that report, which he supposed made sense. Bruce was his doctor, after all, even if he looked like a high school freshman.
"I'm sorry," Bucky said softly, looking down. His long hair filled his peripheral vision. "Some things are so clear. My missions, getting orders, the torture. But I was often too far gone in my own mind when they flipped the switch and made me their soldier. They would say something, and my head would start hurting, and then suddenly I would do whatever they say."
Bruce stepped forward, an intent look on his face. "What did they say to you?"
Bucky shook his head. "I'm trying to remember, but I can't. I see their mouths moving, but no sound."
The doctor sighed. "I expected that answer, but it would have made things a hell of a lot easier if you could remember what they said. Based on what you're describing, it sounds like HYDRA used certain trigger words to revert you to the artificial state of mind that caused you to be obedient to them. That's the best theory I have, and if I'm right, then I hate to say that there isn't much more I can do for you. Not with my current knowledge or the current technology."
He hadn't really been expecting to hear anything else, but Bucky still flinched. Bruce's words hit him like a blow below the belt. Whatever last shred of hope he'd had faded away. Bruce looked sympathetic, but Bucky hardly noticed.
"What now then?" Bucky asked hoarsely.
"I'll have to report my findings to Fury. I will let you know that I don't think you're dangerous. Not here, at least, isolated. Among HYDRA only a few would know the trigger words to activate you, and it sounds like they need to be in the same room as you for it to work. You're currently inactive, and in no immediate threat of being activated, so being at the Facility is honestly the best place for you to be."
"That doesn't sound so bad. Kind of boring, but better than being with HYDRA," Bucky said, his shoulders relaxing.
Bruce laughed. "It does get pretty boring, sticking around here, day after day. But at least there's company. You never realize how awful it is to be alone until you are."
Bucky had never been alone. Even in HYDRA's clutches he'd never been alone. There's always been Zola with his wicked instruments, the guards with their bloody knuckles, and his handler with a gun in hand. But he could imagine isolation would drive one just as insane.
"When was the last time you left the Facility?" Bucky asked curiously. He'd seen Tony and Steve leave on missions fairly regularly, but not Bruce.
"Oh. I haven't left the Facility since the first time I came here nearly a year ago."
"What?! That's crazy!"
Bruce pushed his glasses up. "Not really. It's safer for everyone if I stay here. Fury's offered to let me go on missions and do on-site work, but I declined."
"Do you want to leave?" Bucky asked curiously. It might have been rude, and Bruce was clearly uncomfortable, but he was answering, so Bucky figured he didn't mind too much.
"Yes. But my fear of the world is much stronger than my desire to be in it."
