Evaline101 suggestion: Spidey!
I AM NOT LATE. IT IS STILL TECHNICALLY WEDNESDAY IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD. Just... not... mine...
Props for this chapter go to Evaline101 for a certain man who is gonna show up here, and in future chapters, and also why he's gonna be showing back up.
Disclaimer: a.p.u. I don't own these guys, if I did certain specific characters mentioned below would not be hurt. Ever. (I'm lookin at you jerk.)
Steve made some calls, and arranged for Sam to come up in a couple of days to talk to him. He talked to the team about Bucky joining, on the same level as Wanda or Sam, and a few hours after he went in he came back out with a consensus that they would see what Sam said, but cautiously let him try it out if they agreed Bucky was ready.
Bucky could understand their hesitancy. He was a risk at the best of times, and none of them had much experience with him.
He didn't tell Wanda he was trying this. If they didn't let him join them yet then she would just be disappointed, and if they did then it would be a pleasant surprise for her to find out.
Hiding this was made easier by the fact that she and the Vision were being taken off on a mission with Clint and Natasha for a few days.
He and the small animal came up to the roof to see her off. She put her bag aboard the plane and hugged him close, and he hugged her back.
"Stay safe Wanda." He said softly.
"I will, I promise. You take care of yourself." She hugged him a little tighter, and he nodded.
"I will. Steve is taking some time off, so we'll probably be training most of the time you're gone."
"Have fun." She let go with a smile, and he smiled back a little.
"You too."
The small animal barked and Wanda cuddled it for a moment before waving goodbye and getting on the jet.
He stayed on the roof watching it go until the small animal became restless and started jumping at his leg.
"Hungry?" He looked down, and it barked. "So am I. Let's head in."
They went inside and met up with Steve before going to the cafeteria. He wouldn't have gone in without Steve, there were just too many people, but he needed to adapt eventually, and if anything went wrong Steve could reign him in.
Once they'd eaten they spent the rest of the morning training, and passed the afternoon with documentaries.
They did that for a couple days, occasionally training the small animal for a few hours in the morning too, to keep it in good shape. The small animal didn't seem to mind training, but it didn't have the endurance to work as long as Bucky and Steve yet.
On the third day Bucky woke up and got dressed to go train with Steve. The small animal woke up tiredly when he nudged it, and he gave it a little food to keep its energy up.
It was awake by the time Steve knocked on the door, and they left for the gym together.
They both blinked in surprise when they arrived to see Stark there, sitting in a camping chair with a glass of scotch, watching the ceiling with a pleased smile.
Bucky and Steve looked up just in time for a red and blue clad figure to drop upside down from the ceiling and suspend in front of them. Bucky jumped back, fairly startled, but the figure didn't look like it was about to attack him so he didn't lash out.
He was a little proud of that.
"How's it hanging?" A male voice came out of the suit, which from his step back he could see was emblazoned with a spider.
Neither he nor Steve quite knew how to react so they stayed silent and watched the spider person in confusion.
He jumped down from the web hanging from the ceiling that he had been holding on to and stood in front of them. "Oh my gosh you're Captain America. I'm a huge fan. And you have a metal arm? That's awesome dude!" The spider person lifted off his mask to reveal that he was a child, 16 at most, as he looked between Steve and Bucky excitedly.
Bucky didn't know what he was supposed to do and looked to Steve.
Steve looked to Stark. "Stark, why is there a kid in a spider costume here?"
"I'm-"
"He's Spider Man. Kid's been running around New York rounding up every criminal he can find."
"Why's he here?" Steve asked.
"Mister Stark-"
"I invited him. I wanted to see what all he can do, and any good scientist knows you need a clean testing facility. No variables." Stark waved to the gym around them.
"Guys I'm right here..." The spider child mumbled. Bucky kept his attention on Steve and Stark.
"What exactly can he do?" Steve asked Stark.
"I-"
"He got bit by a radioactive spider, gave him sweet powers. He can stick to walls." Stark explained.
"And the webs?" Steve looked up at the bits of spider web that were sticking to the ceiling.
"They're-"
"He invented web shooters. The kid is a bit of a genius, he just made them in his bedroom with some spare parts. Apparently superpowers weren't enough for him." Stark was clearly enthusiastic about this child.
"I'm standing right here."
"That is impressive, but is it really a good idea to be bringing kids to the compound who don't have any kind of security clearance?"
"I'm-"
"Relax Cap, he's not gonna tell anyone." Stark rolled his eyes.
"Can you be sure of that?"
"I can-"
"He's already keeping a secret identity. It wasn't easy finding out this kid was Spider Man. I think he'll do just fine hiding this place."
"Guys I-"
"Does anyone else on the team know about him being here?"
"Bruce, maybe. I don't know if he was awake, but he was definitely in the room when I said I was gonna pick this kid up."
"Are you thinking about adding him to the team?"
"Yeah he-"
"Hope so. If he tests out okay I'll roll him in with the others." Stark nodded. "Plus if he's here training I can go hit on his aunt, she's... whoo."
"I am right here!"
"Stark." Steve rolled his eyes a little.
"He's pretty powerful, and he's young. Good ally to have on our side, don't you think?"
"I'd wanna see him in action before I'd let him on the team."
"That's what YouTube is for Cap, but if that's too new fangled for you just watch him some time."
"I'll have to do that. Kid got any other powers?"
"Screw this..." The spider child had been silent for a moment before he mumbled and swung away on a web. Bucky didn't pay attention until he heard the small animal barking from the rafters and he abruptly looked up.
The spider child was perched on a railing, and shot some web near the small animal, who from what he could tell looked pleased as it pounced on the small white shape. He looked back at Steve and Stark for a moment, and they were still talking about the child.
He climbed up the stairs and came over to where the spider child and the small animal were playing.
The small animal was very enthusiastic about the shots of web coming from the spider child's hands, and when he looked at them properly he could see small canisters that shot out controlled amounts of the substance.
He knelt down and rubbed the small animal's head. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
The small animal barked in reply and jumped on another pile of the webbing.
"Is he yours?" The spider child asked him, and he nodded. "He's cute. Got a name?"
"Its name is Steve, but you should call it something else. No one uses that. I call it small dog, Steve calls it little guy."
The spider child nodded. "Can I call him buddy?"
The small animal barked and jumped up at him, and the spider child got off of the railing to join Bucky on the floor of the rafters.
"It seems happy with that." Bucky nodded.
"Nice to meet you buddy." The spider child rubbed the small animal's head. "I'm Peter, Peter Parker." He offered Bucky his other hand to shake, the hand that required him to use his metal arm, and he hesitated. The spider child didn't seem intimidated by it though, so he slowly extended his hand.
"Bucky Barnes." They shook hands.
"I love that arm- Wait. You're Bucky Barnes? Wow, you look way different than your picture at the museum, I mean it's probably the long hair and the scruff, still looks good just way different. We went there on a field trip once, to the museum I mean. Wait aren't you dead?" The spider child, Peter, talked very fast.
"I was dead. Then they turned me into a weapon, then I got away. So now I'm alive again." He didn't want to scar the child with the details.
"Oh wow. That's awesome. I mean not the weapon part, and not the dying part, that probably hurt, but the cool part with you being alive again. That's so cool."
The spider child had a lot of energy, and some of it was rubbing off on Bucky a little. "It was very cool. They put me into cryosleep a lot."
"Did you just-?" The spider child grinned. "I like you, you're awesome, not like Mister Stark awesome where he's a super genius and rich and everything, you're just a cool person, and I get the feeling you probably don't talk to people a lot. At all. Maybe. I might just be projecting."
"No, I don't get out to talk to people much." Bucky assured him. "Just the small dog, Steve, Wanda. Rarely some others."
"Who's Wanda?" Peter asked curiously, and he thought of the best way to explain.
"My adopted sister."
"Oh that's cool. How old is she? Is she pretty? That's probably awkward if she's like your sister. Um... So, sports.. Ball... Things... Like the weather lately?" Bucky could tell the spider child had no experience talking to or about girls, and decided to move on to spare him some torment.
"The small dog seems to like you." He commented as he watched the small animal bounce between the two of them.
"Yeah I dog-sit sometimes. If the neighbours are taking a vacation or something. Dogs kinda like me, I dunno why. Might just be the whole Spidey sense thing, dogs kinda have that too. Or maybe I just smell good. Do you think I smell good buddy?" The spider child rubbed the small animal's head.
Bucky observed them for a moment, and started thinking.
It might work. The spider child had experience with dogs, and that was a flaw in his plan which could now be resolved, provided they had some more experience together, enough to trust him.
"I don't trust you yet." Bucky realized after he had spoken that this was probably a bad way to start a conversation, so he kept going. "But I think I might, at some point. And I need you for something, if I can trust you."
"You can totally trust me! I think, I mean I'm not sure what you want but I'll try. You're an Avenger, that's like the coolest job in the world."
Bucky couldn't help but smile briefly. "I'm not an Avenger yet. That's why I need you. I've asked to join the team and go on missions, but I can't bring the small dog with me. I was going to bring it and leave it on the jet, but that still poses a threat to its safety. If I can trust you, I want you to watch it for me while I'm gone, if Wanda and Steve aren't here, and most of my missions will likely be with them."
"Wow. You're trusting me with your dog?" The spider child was surprised and flattered, though Bucky could tell he didn't quite understand the gravity of the request for him.
"No. Not yet. I don't trust you. But you seem alright, and I might trust you soon. I've been very trusting lately. I didn't kill you when you dropped in front of me."
The spider child immediately looked a little intimidated. "Uh, thanks... Should I be worried? I mean, aunt May thinks I'm just chilling with Tony Stark for a bit, and being dead kinda puts a dent in my whole find-a-real-date-to-prom plan, and it'd bum my aunt out, so... Yeah..."
"What's going on up here?" Steve had arrived to investigate where Bucky had gone.
Bucky explained what had happened, with some interjections from the spider child. Steve questioned him a little, and Bucky discovered that anywhere possible the spider child interjected spider puns when talking about his powers. To his slight surprise, this amused him, though he could tell it would get annoying quickly with any kind of sustained contact.
Steve agreed that it was a good idea to cautiously interact with the spider child to see if he could be trusted, and then on missions leave the small animal in his care.
Stark eventually took the extremely excitable spider child for a trip to the lab where he worked, and Bucky and Steve trained for the rest of the day, stopping only when they were sore and tired and felt fairly fulfilled. And hungry, that was also an important factor in the decision to stop fighting.
The afternoon was spent watching war documentaries from the years after they had both died, and Bucky very cautiously let Steve braid his hair after multiple requests.
Once it was done he had to admit he didn't mind it. Surprisingly it felt kind of nice, and it was very practical for keeping his hair out of his face, though it wasn't as intimidating, so he probably wouldn't have it in as much for close combat.
Steve fell asleep on Bucky's shoulder that night, so Bucky reached behind him and grabbed a pillow before picking up the small animal and setting it in his lap and going to sleep right there with them both.
Hey! Hope you liked this chapter, I had fun with Spidey and as you can probably tell he might show up later for some dog-sitting fun times, so if you want more of him lemme know
If you liked it, lemme know, if you hated it, lemme know, if you have any questions, please lemme know, if you have suggestions, lemme know, and if you just wanna say something random, that's cool
I've introduced a lot of characters by now though, so I wanna know, who do you guys want to see more of, of the more side-type characters? Bruce, Vision, Sam, Spidey, Tony, Nat and/or Clint, or new characters (or just ones I'm forgetting)