A/N: Thank you all for the lovely response; it's actually terrifying entering a new fandom so you've all been so nice! Second chapter here, I should be able to post once again tomorrow or the next day, I just want to run through final edits.
Disclaimer: I am not Marvel
Warning: Mentions of slash, mentions of violence, language
A Chance to Make Anew
Chapter 2:
He loved the compound Bucky thought with relish as he sunk lower down in his outrageously deep bath, that had wonderful jets in it and an excessive amount of bubbles. He'd been there just over three month and everything was going very well, he was half waiting for the other shoe to drop and half deciding fuck it and going for it. He's been Hydra's murder puppet for seventy years, there wasn't anything he could think of worse than that and Bucky was all for making the most of the miracle that had been handed to him.
As he expected, after his nap on the day of his arrival, he had to deal with the outrage, disappointment and condescension of the Rogue Avengers when he went back in to the more public side of the compound. They were raging about everything from the conditions of their stay down to the size of their rooms; it quickly became clear to Bucky that they had not gotten the same treatment he'd received when it came to living spaces and Bucky was going to do nothing to inform them of the differences; he wasn't an idiot. Steve went on a long winded rant about Bucky's safety and how Tony was definitely out to get him, backed up by Natalia who was quick to assure him that Tony was only being friendly to get back at Steve. Because obviously Bucky had no worth of his own unless it was linked to Steve fucking Rogers.
Every conversation after that was very similar to what he experienced in Wakanda, only here the compound was big enough for Bucky to avoid them without outright hiding. Something he took full advantage of, especially as the Witch was particularly irate with her conditions in the compound. The combined powers of Loki, the mage God of Mischief, and Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, had layered the compound in protective runes so heavy both of them were alerted if she so much as thought of using her powers outside the designated training areas.
She was furious but could do nothing but whine about it; the one time she tried she had found herself wrapped up in glowing ropes conjured almost joyfully by a viciously pleased looking Loki. The God seemed to take a perverse amount of pleasure in pissing off the Rogues by using the very letter of the rules permitted and he was very good at it. He also seemed personally offended by the Witch's presence, which often resulted in Maximoff finding herself on her ass in training.
Bucky rather liked the Loki, especially training with the God, because it was a chance for him to go all out with his knives. Loki was a very dangerous opponent who was more than willing to fight dirty at all times if it got him a win, and Bucky had found himself refining already impressive hand to hand skills in ways he didn't even know were possible.
It hadn't taken him long to settle in and become familiar with the residence of the compound. Not everyone lived there permanently, Strange didn't, the side unit known as the defenders came to train and would stay on occasion but they had other addresses, as did the collection of teenagers that were often running around the compound. There were four of them that Bucky had met so far, Peter, Harley, Kamala and Kate, but he had been informed that some of the X-men teens came to train with the other Young Avengers.
Surprisingly, outside of Loki and Tony, Bucky found himself getting on the best with Colonel Rhodes, Rhodey , and Captain Danvers, Carol. Helping them plan training simulations for all of the New Avengers, and plan out contingencies for on field civilian protections was highly enjoyable. It was good to put his skills to a positive use, and he also worked with both Friday and Jarvis on security for the compound itself, which he found both fun and exhilarating. Going up against something that didn't have anything close to human error was a thrilling experience and he had managed to close up a few obscure security weaknesses much to Tony's ire. The engineer was both frustrated at the gaps in the security and impressed at Bucky's ability of using them to his advantage.
The ex-assassin found himself spending a lot of time with the Iron Man pilot and it was a true test to Bucky's self-control. He had already had it driven home that Tony was highly attractive in person, and Bucky had thought seeing him in a suit was bad for his health. It didn't even come close to the sheer agony of witnessing Tony in nothing but a tank top and low set jeans while he was working in the lab. The first time he had witnessed such glory, he had been bringing the engineer food as he was rather terrible at remembering to eat or drink anything that wasn't coffee.
Bucky had been slurping away at what he considered the greatest drink of all times: a mess of sugary, creamy, caffeinated iced "coffee" that he could feel rot his teeth and his insides but did not stop him drinking at least six of them a day because they were that good (he discovered he had a rather nasty sweet tooth that the teenagers were only too happy to help him explore – it was Peter who introduced him to the glory that was coffee syrups). He'd walked into the workshop, his second favourite place in the compound let it be known, and had ended up inhaling and choking on his drink because he was unprepared for Tony in a tank top and jeans that hugged his ass.
It didn't help that Tony had rushed over to help him learn how to breathe again and Bucky got an up-close and personal view of all that glorious tanned skin. Thankfully, Tony was so concerned about getting Bucky to breathe again he didn't ask what had made him choke in the first place which Bucky was very grateful for as he didn't think he could have answered without something that was both extremely embarrassing for him and slightly creepy; it was probably frowned upon to tell someone that you wanted to lick them all over.
Going to the workshop to watch Tony work was always an incredible experience, the man breathed life into everything he touched and Bucky was lowkey addicted to the man's brain. He had always been into science fiction, and Tony was the embodiment of it. Watching him create things to change the world, or watching him in his new Iron Man suit where he was a mix of technology and deadly grace made him breathless. Plus, his bots were adorable and Bucky would fight anyone who said otherwise.
Bucky loved hanging out with Tony. Tony who was ridiculously smart, had a wicked sense of humour, could be painfully sincere at times and was honestly and hopelessly generous: Tony who also could be vicious, petty and sometimes even outright cruel, as Bucky got to witness whenever Tony was around the Rogues. It said a lot about Bucky as a person when he found himself wildly turned on watching Tony cutting down members of Team Cap with vicious accuracy. Still the look on Barton's face when Tony "innocently" asked what was his daughters current favourite film was a thing of beauty; his ex-wife had been granted full custody and didn't want to see the man again.
Bucky wanted Tony so badly that it was an actual problem, or it had been until he started noticing that the attraction didn't only go one way. At first Bucky was getting used to the compound and its people so he didn't pay much attention, too busy looking his fill of Tony to notice the engineer was doing his own looking. He wanted to see if there was anything he could do to attract Tony's attention to him, there was nothing more addictive than being the sole focus of Tony Stark's attention and Bucky had turned into a bit of an attention whore where Tony was concerned.
So he had watched to see if Tony would give him any hints and that's when it slowly dawned on him that Tony was doing his fair share of looking. And once Bucky saw exactly what things Tony paid extra attention to, well, he was more than willing to exploit that knowledge. He put more effort into his training when he knew Tony was there watching, showed off a little more with his knife skills and made use of the arm more because Stark seemed to have a technology kink, along with a danger and competency one to add to it and Bucky was the personification off all three of them without even meaning to be.
Tony would get a hungry look watching Bucky in full Winter Solider leathers going all out fighting Loki and after hearing the engineer relentlessly tease Loki about flirting with Strange he knew it wasn't because of the God. One time after a training session that Tony was sadly unable to witness, Bucky had wandered down to the workshop with his weapons, still in his gear, and got comfy on the sofa Tony kept down there and proceeded to "focus" on cleaning his equipment. He thanked his enhanced hearing when he heard Tony swallow and curse up a storm under his breath once he caught sight of the guest in his 'shop.
He could feel the brunette's eyes on him so Bucky looked up through his eyelashes and couldn't help but smirk at the raw hunger he saw in those dark eyes. Tony had caught his smirk and instead of being even remotely embarrassed, he slowly smiled like a predator catching sight of his prey eyes going hooded as he purred "now you just sit there looking pretty for me, won't you Solda't?". Quite frankly Bucky would do absolutely anything for the man if he asked him like that, and so he did, stretching out obscenely along the sofa and occasionally flexing the plates in his metal arm. Tony would look at him every now and then with a look that said he wanted to devour him, something Bucky found himself all for.
Tony said Bucky was dangerous for his health, which Bucky scoffed at because Tony regularly gave him palpitations so they were both suffering. Though, Bucky did get a beautiful set of knives after that particular afternoon, knives he showed off with for Tony during his next fight with Loki. It became a weird game of cat and mouse with neither of them willing to give in just yet but Bucky was close to breaking which is why he was currently indulging in a bath.
He loved baths, they were one of the best things available to him in the future, and baths with the things Tony provided were on another level. Bucky was currently sipping his obnoxious coffee drink out of a crystal champagne glass while eating strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce while contemplating if 70 years as a wind up a murder doll was worth it as it brought him to this very moment.
"Sergeant Barnes?" Jarvis' cool British voice interrupted Bucky's relaxation.
"Wassup J?"
"Sir wishes to enter your rooms."
"Tell him I'm in the bath but he can come in if he wants." Bucky told the AI uncaring; there wasn't a single thing that could bother him given his current state.
"Buckaroo? Jarvis said you are mid-bath?" Tony's voice sounded from his room, getting louder as he came closer to the bathroom.
"Are you drinking your sugary nonsense from a champagne glass, while dipping strawberries in chocolate?" Tony's incredulous voice made Bucky open his eyes to see the engineer looking at him in disbelief from where he was leaning against the wall near the door. Bucky looked him dead in the eye and took another sip of his drink and a rather violent bite of a strawberry without hesitation.
"This is the greatest moment of my existence and nothing you can say will change my mind."
Tony threw back his head and laughed at that and Bucky took the time to appreciate the rumpled look Tony was sporting, it told Bucky that he'd been out probably at SI all day and it had the effect of softening the usually sharp engineer.
"Far be it for me to take away from your moment, Tasty Freeze." Tony put his hands up in mock surrender.
"Good," Bucky allowed with a haughty nod which got the other man to snicker.
"You seem to have gotten the bath thing down, the only thing you are missing is the 24k gold." Tony mused and Bucky looked at him as if he was mad.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh yeah, you can get 24k bath elixirs and bombs." Tony confirmed with a nod and Bucky paused, his mind going wild at the concept.
"You mean to tell me I can bath in actual gold?"
"Yup, it's good for your skin apparently." Tony told him and Bucky sat back.
"I need it." Bucky decided, wide eyed. "It's my new goal."
Tony snorted.
"Anyway, I wanted to know if you were coming to hand-to-hand training later?"
"What's the difference from normal training?" Bucky wondered.
"It's completely weapons free; Carol and Rhodey implemented it, mainly for the kidlets, but we all take part because at one point or another we've all been caught out in an unplanned shit situation."
Bucky nodded in agreement; it could happen to anyone after all and it would better that everyone learned to fight in relative safety here at the compound than be caught unawares. But then he looked at Tony again, the other man looked a bit shifty and Bucky narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you asking me specifically?"
"Ah, well, I wanted you to teach Peter and Harley somethings?" He tried and Bucky raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
"I know you're a better liar than that."
"Fine; it's an open training session and they have to be there so Carol and Rhodey can assess their hand-to-hand for themselves." Tony relented with a huff and Bucky groaned, sinking down into his bath to hide.
"Do I have to go?" Bucky complained, looking above the bubbles to where Tony was pouting at him all big eyes and kissable lips; he was the actual Devil.
"Come on, Big Bad, you can wow us all with your badassery."
"Everyone knows 'm a badass." Bucky grumped and Tony snorted.
"Well your not wrong." He agreed, before a smirk came to his face. "I'll make it worth your while."
"How?" Bucky asked slowly but only received a wink in return.
"You'll see if you come, won't you?"
"You're mean to me." He complained but it was without heat, and he felt himself soften when Tony beamed at him.
"I'll see you later, Winter Wonder, I have to finish Harley's software upgrades so they can go on uploading during training."
"Yeah yeah," Bucky waved him off deliberately sitting up in the just before Tony turned to leave to have the pleasure of watching the other man freeze. Tony's expression immediately shifted to something much more hungry and he actually licked his lips before they parted as he unashamedly watched as water ran down Bucky's well-toned chest.
"Holy fuck this isn't good for my health." Tony whispered to himself much to Bucky's amusement. Whiskey brown eyes slowly dragged up from his chest to his face and Bucky allowed a slow smirk to curl onto his face before stretching out his body, making sure the plates on the arm clicked as he did so, and turned so he was on his side allowing his hip and outer thigh to peak up through the water and bubbles for just a second. Bucky rested his chin on his flesh arm and allowed his metal one to drape over the edge of the bath as he flicked his eyes down to the visible bulge in Tony's fitted slacks and then back up to the engineer's face. Tony's eyes had gone very dark and he was gripping the edge of the doorframe with a white knuckled grip.
"Anything else I can help you with, Механик?" (Mechanic) He allowed the Russian to color his words prominently as he spoke in a low drawl. Tony swallowed once, twice before he attempted to speak and even then it came out as more as a rasp than his usual smooth tone.
"I'm gonna make you pay for this, Uccisore." (Killer)
"Oh I can think of many ways I could make it up to you." Bucky agreed coyly making Tony groan under his breath.
"There isn't enough time to cover even half of the things I want to do to you." Tony stated darkly, both a threat and a promise and Bucky shivered.
"Sir, I'm afraid you are needed in the lower lab; Master Harley has managed to set it on fire."
Both Tony and Bucky flinched at Jarvis' voice interrupting them and it took a second for his words to compute with either of them before Tony's eyes widened and his expression fell in to disbelief and a touch of relief.
"Well that saves me a cold shower I guess." He grumbled, before narrowing his eyes and pointed at Bucky. "Don't think this is over."
"I'm counting on it." Bucky returned cheekily and Tony scoffed, walking away complaining about stupidly hot assassins raising his blood pressure and him being unable to do anything about it. Bucky relaxed back in his bath with a chuckle of his own; he wondered exactly what Tony would do to get back at him. For now, Tony hadn't been the only one who had been effected by their exchange and Bucky felt it was only right he make the most of his bath.
Walking into the padded training room in basic work-out gear Bucky was pleased to see Rhodey was already in attendance with Danvers going over something on a tablet so he headed directly towards them while watching Peter, who was in a plain black version of his Spider suit, Harley and Kate shove each other around on the mats.
"Barnes, good, I wasn't sure if you'd be here." Rhodey greeted as soon as he spotted him. "Come look at this and tell me what you think from an enhanced hand-to-hand expert point of view."
Bucky looked over there plans for teaching enhanced people on how to fight, disarm and contain unenhanced opponents without causing excess damage to the bad guy or their surroundings, it was something Bucky was well versed in as he had often had to get in and out of places without leaving a trace while making deaths look like accidents. Carol who was mainly used to fighting aliens who were equally as strong as her or stronger again still, and Rhodey, who wasn't enhanced out of the suit didn't fully have the right frame of reference. Still their plans were pretty spot on, there were a few changes that Bucky made running them through his reasonings as he did so. Despite his focus, he was still aware when Steve and his team arrived and Bucky mentally counted down the seconds before Rogers noticed him.
"Bucky!"
And there it was.
"Save me." He mouthed to the Colonel, who offered a sympathetic look and a nod.
"Rogers and co, good, you are all on time." Rhodey cut in before Steve could continue talking; the man was a saint.
"What's this about, Rhodes?" Barton questioned, a scowl on his face like normal these days and Rhodey gave him a look that shut him right up.
"Colonel Rhodes, Barton. I am sure should have remembered that by now."
"Why are we here, Colonel?" Natalia spoke up before they could get into an argument and Rhodes turned away from where he was staring down Barton. Bucky found it quite impressive how much utter hatred Rhodey managed to get across while doing absolutely nothing; Tony had only laughed and said his Platypus had honed that skill from their college days.
"We're running through unarmed combat with focus on unenhanced civilians." Rhodey answered her, walking away from Bucky therefore leading the Rogues away from him as well. "we're just waiting for the last of the group to arrive."
"I have plenty of hand-to-hand experience." Rogers pointed out all wounded pride and outrage and the look Rhodey shot him was nothing short of poisonous.
"Yes, the caved in chests of the German task force you took out show your experience just fine." The Colonel responded, his voice like ice.
Bucky couldn't help but wince at that; he didn't know how many people he was responsible for hurting in Burcharest, he barely remembered the day itself but he knew that Rogers hadn't given much thought to not killing the taskforce men. Thankfully, Steve was smart enough this time to shut up and wait quietly as the rest of the group they were expecting trickled in.
Lang bounded in after Van Dyne, who he had been following around like a puppy since his return, but Bucky had to admit he was much easier to get on with now than he was when he was still under the spell of Captain America. Thor and Loki arrived with a reluctant Bruce Banner following in their wake and they were quickly followed by Jessica and Luke who were talking to each other about Daredevil's latest antics.
Bucky was starting to wonder where Tony was when the man of his thoughts stepped into the room and Bucky found his breath punched out of him; he must have made an actual sound because Carol turned to look at him in concern until she followed his gaze saw what he was gaping and snorted. Bucky couldn't have cared less however, because Tony strode into the room in a one-piece that clung to every line of his body leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination: it was deep red with hints of black and gold, reminisce of his Iron Man colours, and it highlighted exactly why Tony Stark was still considered one of the most attractive people on earth.
Bucky ran his mental hand roughly over his face and through his hair, pulling on it slightly, as he tried to re-engage his brain to focus on anything other than holy fuck, hot, yes please.
"I'm jealous of a piece of fabric." Bucky realised, still unable to take his eyes off of Tony, who hadn't looked his way but could obviously feel his eyes by the smirk on his face.
"Wow, Barnes. You need to get your shit together." Danvers told him grinning and Bucky realised with some embarrassment that he had said that last part out loud.
"Surely that-that thing isn't allowed for training?" Bucky hissed at her, finally pulling his eyes away from Tony's ass to look at her almost desperately.
"Tony wears that anytime he doesn't train in the suit." Carol told him with a touch of pity. Bucky audibly whimpered at the thought, curling over the hide his face in his hands.
"I've suffered enough during my time with Hydra." Bucky cried making Carol snort out a loud laugh, shaking her head at him.
"You're horny nor hurting, Barnes."
"Oh I'm both right now." He muttered under his breath.
"Come on, tough guy, let's get this over with."
Bucky took a few strengthening breaths before uncurling himself and getting to his feet. He looked up to see Tony staring directly at him with a gleeful smirk on his face before he pointedly turned around and did some obscenely suggestive, at least to Bucky, stretches. If there really was a God let him please send him strength Bucky thought unironically as he bit his flesh fist to stop himself making another potentially embarrassing sound.
"Right, now that everyone is here let's start." Rhodey called them to order; he was actually a confirmed saint Bucky thought with soul deep relief.
"Today is more of an evaluation of sorts to see how everyone manages with unarmed combat in general and once we get an idea of where everyone is Captain Danvers and I will split you into groups with an organised training routine to either build up your knowledge or to get you up to scratch on what is necessary. For the enhanced in the room, this will include how to deal with a non-enhanced combatant in both battle and a civilian heavy environment." The Colonel explained to them.
"Why do I need to be here?" The Witch demanded, "my powers are always with me."
"The reason, Maximoff, is because there will be a time that you either cannot or are unable to use your powers." Danvers told her sharply. "I am sure both Barton and Romanoff can tell you that they have both been caught in a situation where they've had to improvise with what they've had available to them on hand."
"Captain Danvers is right." Romanoff agreed, and even Barton had to nod from where he was standing next to her.
"But my powers-,"
"I can always turn them off for you to make a point?" Loki offered sweetly, raising a hand as if to do just that.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Rogers ordered standing protectively in front of her like that was enough to stop the God of Mischief if he really wanted to get to her.
"While unnecessary, Loki," Rhodey shot him a half hearted look, "he makes a point; it's been proven that her powers can be stopped so she needs to learn not to rely on them."
Steve got a belligerent look on his face that Bucky was all to familiar with but before he could go off in what Bucky was sure would be a rousing defence of Maximoff, surprisingly Barton was the one that stopped him.
"They're right Steve; we don't want Wanda to be unable to defend herself if someone decides to abuse their powers." His scathing glare sent to Loki was obvious who he meant, but the God merely smiled placidly back at him as if he didn't have a care in the world; Steve harrumphed in displeasure but relented.
"We'll be doing one on one fights to see how everyone holds up first of all; Romanoff up first with Hope." Carol decided and the two women move into the centre of the room and begin when Rhodes gives the signal.
Bucky hadn't seen Hope fight before outside of her suit that she usually wore during training so he found himself surprised at how good she was, but Romanoff was better in this case. She wasn't as good as she used to be, Bucky couldn't help but note, she had lost her edge from her Red Room days too caught up in her own legend, but she was able to get the upper hand and pin Hope.
"Good; Wilson and Lang next." Rhodes ordered.
It continued like that with different pairs, some fought more than once due to the numbers and different skill sets and Bucky found himself pretty invested in watching Luke and Jessica go at each other. They were both rough around the edges but with enough training they could be very dangerous individuals. The Witch, unsurprisingly, had barely any unarmed combat training and neither did Banner, both were somewhat understandable but unacceptable when considering how dangerous their powers could be.
The fight between Thor and Loki was incredible; it was very obvious that they had centuries of training behind them and that they knew each other's fighting styles very well. Steve was a good fighter, especially as he was pitted against Thor, but even from the fight they had it was clear to see how Steve was not equipped to fight someone without the strength or durability that an enhanced had. Bucky enjoyed his own fight against Loki, he had yet to beat the trickster, but he was getting closer each time something that Loki himself noted with a pleased smirk.
Rhodes and Danvers moved Maximoff and Banner out of the next exchanges as they had the most to learn and then started pitting the enhanced against the unenhanced. Peter fought Harley and Bucky found himself fighting Rhodes both as demonstrations on how an enhanced would fight an unenhanced without causing excess injuries. Those fights were much slower going as the enhanced people not used to tempering their strength were coached through it by Peter, Bucky, Luke and Jessica, who while not the best of fighters had had to learn to temper their strengths through necessity.
Thor found out the hard way that he needed to take note because he obviously put too much strength into one of his jabs against Romanoff and the next thing he knew he was slamming into the ground as, for the first time since Bucky had seen her with his wits about him, she used a swiftness and skill that he knew she had and threw the God down with her thighs. All the girls in the Red Room were taught that move because it was a move that would guarantee any person of any size would be brought down as it threatened to break the neck and the body automatically tried to prevent that from happening.
Of course, instead of being even slightly irritated, Thor was overjoyed at such a move and jumped back to his feet demanding "Again!" at the top of his voice. Rhodes eventually called the fighting to an end and Bucky found himself shocked at how stress free the experience was given that usually training with the Rogues in any capacity had been a chores each time.
"This was actually way better than I was expecting." Carol admitted to them all. "There are things that can be improved on, but overall I think it'll be simple enough to get everyone up to a standard that'll keep civilians and you all safe."
"Barton and Romanoff you'll help Maximoff expand on her self-defence; Maximoff they will work with you so you'll know that should it come to it you'll be able to get yourself out of a situation if anything does happen to your powers." Rhodes said to them and they all nodded in agreement, and even Maximoff didn't look like she hated the idea; maybe seeing everyone else being able to at least defend themselves had sparked something in her.
"Wilson and Romanoff, again, can work with Rogers to temper his strength and control where he hits an unenhanced person; you both know the best places to hit and to avoid so you don't kill someone who doesn't have the strength to take it." Rhodes continued, "I figured, Romanoff, you'd be able to go back and forth between the two to bring them up to par while Barton and Wilson acts as the main focus. Carol and I will, of course, chip in to help as and when needed."
She straightened looking pleased at the responsibility and nodded, Bucky could see her mind whirling on how and what she was going to teach them.
"Hope you'll continue training with Lang you both seem to be doing a good job there; no problems." Carol told the two shrinkers. "Loki you'll need to work with Thor to temper his strength a bit more but I've seen a marked improvement from you Thor."
Loki rolled his eyes in exaggerated exasperation while Thor merely looked overjoyed to be spending more time with his brother.
"Bruce, I know you are not keen on learning to fight, but I figured you could work with Thor and Loki as if anything does happen with Hulk both of them are more than capable of handling that situation." Rhodey said to the doctor, who grimaced but nodded in acceptance.
"Spider-Man you have excellent control when it comes to dealing with unenhanced." Carol praised the teen and even with a mask on it was obvious he beamed at her. "However, your actual fighting skills need to be brought up as you mainly improvise right now and while that may work there will be a time where it wont be enough."
Spider-Man nodded seriously.
"You'll continue to work with Harley and Kate and Miss Marvel, when she's here, to practice fighting."
The three teens voiced their agreement all grinning at her positive words.
"Finally, Luke and Jess, I know you've been training with the other Defenders so continue that, and you'll work with me and Carol just to sharpen up for formal fighting skills as a back-up." Rhodey finished with a smile at them all. "Good session today everyone."
Bucky found himself pleased at the work they had accomplished and was mentally plotting ways he could bribe Tony into letting him peel him out of that one-piece when Wilson interrupted his day dream.
"Uh Colonel?" Rhodes looked at him in question, "I don't mean to cause an issue but Stark didn't fight?"
Sam phrased it as a question genuinely curious and Rhodey glanced at Tony before looking back at the ex-pararescue.
"I only asked Tony to come as a spare pair of hands in case the fights didn't add up."
Wilson nodded accepting that answer and went to head to the showers when Barton spoke up angry.
"How is that fair? Stark gets a pass while we have to do all the work. What happens when he's out of the suit?"
"Tony already has fighting experience; he was here as a help today." Rhodes reiterated, looking peeved at Barton's words. Bucky glanced at Tony who had a wry smirk on his face but his eyes were calculating.
"Tony can't fight without the suit." Rogers stated as if it was a known fact and nearly everyone who wasn't part of Team Cap scoffed at that.
"Given that I started practicing with Tony when the brat was fifteen and he'd already had previous experience even then I know that's not true." Rhodes dismissed.
"Well then he should show us like we all had to." Barton insisted and Rhodes like he wanted to punch him.
"Look Barton-,"
"Honey Bear its fine." Tony cut in, moving forward towards the mats. "It's easy enough to prove."
"You sure, Tones?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal." Tony brushed off, clever eyes flicking around the group before they settled on Bucky and he grinned. "What do you say, Snowflake? Wanna dance?"
Bucky was nodding before Tony had even finished speaking, he'd do just about anything to get his hands on the genius right at that moment. Unfortunately, clearly someone wanted him to suffer a bit longer because Rogers was there in all his patriotic outrage.
"Absolutely not, Tony! You're not fighting Bucky just so you can use it against him when he beats you."
"Tesla give me strength Rogers, you have a conspiracy for everything." Tony huffed exasperated, "It's only because I didn't want to fight twice as Barnes has all the skills necessary to cover everything."
"Fight me instead!" Rogers declared, "leave Bucky alone!"
"Yeah, no." Tony quickly declined, "that's not a good idea."
"What's wrong, Stark? Don't want everyone to see Steve beat you so quickly?" Barton sneered, and Rogers tried to look appropriately contrite but he clearly agreed with the archer.
"Oh please, I just don't think it's smart given everything that we go near each other in any fight like situation." Tony countered, a look of haughty derision on his face.
"I wouldn't hurt you, Tony." Steve told him earnestly and Tony gave him his best bitch face, "you can show your fighting skills on me and get this over quickly."
Tony huffed and reluctantly gave him but Bucky didn't want Tony anywhere near Steve after the last time they clashed so he moved forward to speak but Loki caught his arm and shook his head, a look of devious anticipation on his face that told Bucky he was missing something crucial. He raised an eyebrow at the Trickster but only got a smirk for his troubles.
"Tones are you sure about this?" Rhodes murmured to his best friend and Tony gave him a look.
"You heard him, Platypus, I tried to back out but he insisted on volunteering." Tony told him, "besides, it'll be over quickly."
Tony moved over to the centre mats and shook his body out, looking at Rogers with a raised eyebrow when he failed to move.
"Well, come on then? Let's get this over with."
Rogers hurried over to the mat facing Tony and the pair of them looked at each other tensions in the air; Bucky didn't know what was going to happen but he knew it was going to be explosive. He could only hope that Tony didn't get hurt.
Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think :)
Jess*