Lessons In Love: Chapter Twenty-Five: Follow The Cops Back Home (Part 2)
Steve emerged from the hotel bathroom, and Tony looked over at the clothing that he decided to wear for sleep.
Steve wore some beige colored slacks, and a white t-shirt. The golden boy sat down on the left side of the bed, and he arranged some things beside it.
Tony was already ready for sleep. It had been an insanely long day, but he washed it all away down a hotel shower drain.
He playfully asked Steve if he wanted to join him in the shower earlier, but the blonde started gettin shy.
He was not ready for any of Tony's teasing. The brunette let it go, and he journeyed onto the right side of the bed. Steve looked at those red shorts, and he thought about some stuff. Tony noticed that he didn't feel tired for some strange reason. He thought about that until something else came to his mind.
"There's something I gotta ask."
Steve heard Tony's voice, and he looked up at his mischievous grin. Tony got really close, and Steve started thinking about how close Bucky's room was.
The hotel was small, and only one wall separated them from Bucky. Stephen and Victor's room was further down the track.
The blonde started feeling nervous, and he kept looking at Tony's lips.
"Yes?"
Tony moved closer. He stopped beside Steve's shoulder, and he reminded himself that he didn't want to overwhelm him. He wanted to overwhelm him for daysssss, but instead Tony thought over his words for a moment longer. Steve shifted around on the bed, and the brunette started up with his question.
Tony thought it over during the entire car ride of doom, and he slowly unfolded what he wanted to know.
"I get Charles Xavier bringing you here from the 1930s. They needed to have the super-soldier to eventually do all their bidding."
Ok. Tony set up the groundwork. He took in a deep breath, and Steve glanced in his direction. He wasn't going to be doing anyone's bidding. The blonde pondered that statement, as Tony eased into the second part.
"I get all that. But... uhmahh, why is Bucky here?"
Some jealously was showing up. Tony's body flushed with warmth after that, and Steve looked directly at him. Why was Bucky there? The silence kinda freaked Tony out immediately.
"I know he's your friend. I know WHY he is here. I just don't know uh... why tho?"
Shit. Tony shut his mouth and he closed his eyes. He held them closed for a hot minute, and Steve kept staring. Bucky was there because he wanted to be there. The blonde didn't know how to respond.
He remembered what Bucky said to him outside the diner, and Steve started looking at the side of the hotel bed. There was an unspoken tension going on. Tony just proved that to him.
"It's just.. doesn't he have a family? Back in the 30s? He left them all, to come here?"
Tony read in his father's notes that he did. He read that Bucky's parents were dead, but he had four siblings living with him before he went into the army.
This version of Bucky didn't make it to the army, but he still lived with his aunt and uncle.
Steve's quiet behavior remained in place, and Tony started thinking that he screwed everything up. The truth was, Steve heard the question a bit too clearly. Bucky always invited him to stay with his family after his mother passed away.
Steve had known Bucky since he was 13, and they saw one another almost every day. Tony's questions stirred something within Steve, and he wasn't sure what to say.
"Look sorry, forget I asked all that. It doesn't..."
Tony was going to lie to him, and say that it didn't matter. He tried, but Tony couldn't finish the thought. It mattered, and he felt very jealous and intimidated by their connection.
Tony never had a friendship like that before. He was very sheltered, and he didn't understand. In his mind, it seemed like Bucky and Steve were more than friends.
Tony felt stupid, and he started messing around with the left side of his lip. Steve felt very warm. The questions that Tony asked brought out a whole bunch of mixed feelings. The blonde kept staring, and he kept wondering about the answers as well.
Bucky did leave it all behind. He didn't hesitate, and he dropped everything. For what?
Steve glanced over at Tony, and he stood up. He wasn't sure what to do, and the brunette brought his hand up to one of his eyes.
"Sorry. That was really really really dumb. Can we start over? I'll ask you something else."
Tony wanted to know more about him. He wanted to talk to him, and Steve just stared down at the bed. He thought about telling Tony something about Bucky, but he wasn't sure if it would make matters worse.
"Those questions can only be answered by Bucky. I don't know the answers Tony."
Steve finally found some words to say. He knew a few things when he walked into that hotel room, and the blonde decided to focus on that.
The Bucky question threw him off, but Steve let all of that go. He looked at the person that was sitting on that bed. He had wild hair, and a smile that Steve really wanted to see.
He didn't want to make Tony unhappy, so he sat back down beside him.
"You can ask me something else."
Starting over was ok. Steve let Tony move in close, and the two of them started coiling up on the bed. Tony was glad for the chance to rebound the shot, and he immediately started asking him about the freaky shit that Stephen started doing.
Some magic voodoo was pulled out of Steve's chest. All of that was crazy for Tony, and he really wanted to talk to Steve about it.
~~~—-~~~
Bucky was in the next room. He was trying to sleep, but he could hear his noisy neighbors talking. Tony's voice wasn't exactly quiet. His voice was crystal clear, and Bucky sat up on the bed.
He questioned what he heard a few times, and then he eventually got up. Bucky headed over to his bag, and he grabbed something that he always kept hidden.
Bucky had gotten a pack of cigarettes from a mutant, and he was running low on his supply. He was craving that nicotine, so he planned to leave the hotel room.
He started looking for his jacket. He kept hearing Steve and Tony talking as he looked. Steve had a soft voice, but Bucky could tell that he liked talking to Tony. The friend found his jacket, then he heard their little conversation die down.
It started sounding like they were doing something else over there, and Bucky immediately needed to split. He left his hotel room, and the brunette took a walk.
He walked down the hallway and reached an opening that overlooked the parking lot. Bucky ignored what he heard, and lit up his cigarette. The man sighed out into the air, and noticed that someone else was outside the rooms.
Stephen Strange was staring off at nothing. It was a dark night in Nebraska, but he saw that cigarette light up.
Stephen looked over at Bucky, but he said nothing to Steve's best friend.
"I'll give you one of these, if you buy me a pack."
Bucky had no money, and he hated it. He laughed at his own comment, as he approached the moody and mysterious Stephen Strange. Stephen kept looking at that cigarette, and then he turned his focus back toward the dark.
"What happened to your sister?"
"She died. Drowned."
Stephen quickly plucked the cigarette from Bucky's fingers. He brought it to his lips, and he inhaled the toxic smoke. Bucky watched the exhale, and he noticed that Stephen didn't give him his cigarette back.
He decided to keep it, just to be difficult.
"Does Steve know that you smoke? It's very amusing to watch you and Tony try to be so squeaky clean, for him."
He could tell that Bucky and Tony admired Steve Rogers, but they couldn't quite emulate his natural honesty. It seemed like they both were afraid to disappoint him, or somehow fall from grace.
Stephen flicked the cigarette to the ground, and he crushed it with his foot. He treated Bucky's cigarette like his sunglasses, and he smiled at the wonderful friend.
"Do you just pretend to be an asshole, or is that your thing?"
Bucky was curious, and he lit up another smoke. He was running out, and pretty annoyed with what Stephen randomly said. The doctor-in-training held his amused smile, and he shrugged.
"I have my moments."
He didn't plan on buying Bucky any cigarettes. Cigarettes cause cancer, and he didn't want that shit around his little brother. Stephen said nothing more, and he left Bucky all by himself.
The would-be-soldier rolled his eyes, and he finished his cigarette. He headed back to the hotel room and he kicked off his shoes.
Bucky relaxed on the bed for a moment, and he thought about what Stephen said. He wasn't trying to be "squeaky clean" for Steve. In his mind, that statement didn't make any sense.
Bucky did hide the fact that he smoked cigarettes, because Steve Rogers used to have ASTHMA. Asshole. Bucky sighed, and he stared up at the boring ceiling.
Several things nagged around in his mind, and he heard something to his left. Steve's voice made Bucky turn his head, and he started taking in some slower breaths.
Chapter: END
Thanks for reading. Here we are at 25. I can't believe how much I write sometimes. Comments and feedback are always appreciated. Let me know what you think so far !