A/N: Thank you so much for the reads and the reviews; you've all been amazing! I'm glad the fight and the WinterIron went over well; it's always a challenge to get the right balance. So here's the next chapter and Tony's Sugar Daddy tendencies are fully out in this chapter... plus their relationship is discovered by the Rogues ;)
P.S. to those wondering about my other fics - I am working on them! If you are also a writer you'll understand that if your brain doesn't want to work then it isn't going to give you anything decent to put out; I had to get this idea out of my mind. If you're just a reader, I apologise if it looks like I'm abandoning my other works. I will always come back to them but I refuse to give you half hearted chapters.
Disclaimer: I wish I was Marvel
Warnings: language, bit of Daddy kink (that surprised me as much as it may you lol), and hints of slash.
A Chance To Make Anew.
Chapter 4:
Bucky spent the next couple of hours devising training exercises with Rhodes and Danvers. He pulled up a few rather unpleasant memories from the Red Room but they were useful in this context; Romanoff was able to get Thor to the ground after all. He enjoyed working with both Danvers and Rhodes, they had different styles and ideas but it was easy to meld them together and they were more than willing to listen to his ideas and suggestions.
Danvers would speak to Romanoff about the training and Rhodes would finalise everything and call Bucky when he was needed. Bucky said goodbye to the two leaders and headed back to the kitchen for some food, he made enough to feed Tony who, no doubt, wouldn't have eaten since their pancakes that morning. The workshop was loud and busy when he arrived and Tony was in the centre of the chaos. Bucky placed the huge plate of sandwiches and the giant bag of chips down on one of the clear worktables and hopped up to sit and admire Tony work for a bit.
He loved watching the genius put his full brain power to work: he bounced between multiple different things, sometimes learning a brand new branch of science while implementing the ideas he had; it was incredible to witness. Tony sat up from where he was hunched over soldering something ridiculously delicate stretching out his body, he caught sight of Bucky and smiled brightly.
"Lower the music, J."
The usual deafening sound lowered to a reasonable level while Tony got up and slotted himself between Bucky's legs sliding his hands over his hips as he did so.
"Mm let me look at you."
"See something you like?" Bucky asked with a coy smirk.
"Red is a good colour on you." Tony told him eyes intense and Bucky bit his lip to stop his grin.
"Oh?"
"I knew you'd be dangerous, Bucky babe, but you're not playing fair."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Uhuh, of course you don't." Tony scoffed in disbelief. Bucky gave Tony his best innocent look all the while running his both his hands up his shoulders and pulling Tony a little closer so he could lean down and press a teasing kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"Y'don't think I put this on just t' mess with you, do ya doll?"
"We both know you did because you're a menace."
"I don't hear any complaints." Bucky pointed out with a slight smirk; Tony rolled his eyes but he leaned in to kiss him properly so Bucky took it for a win. They made out like teenagers for a bit until Dum-E knocked something over making them both jump slightly.
"Tesla help me, Dum-E, go careful!" Tony yelled over to the clumsy bot. "So help me if you've damaged anything I'm gonna donate you to the city college."
There was a sad beep from the other side of the lab and Tony sighed.
"Do not be alarmed, sir, nothing is broken."
"Don't be mean to him, he tries." Bucky chided and Tony shot him a look.
"He's an idiot."
"That you refuse to change; we both know you love him."
"I tolerate him."
Said bot trundled over with a rather large gift bag clutched in his claw which mad Tony yelp slightly and rush over to intercept the hapless robot; Bucky pouted slightly at the change in position and attentions. Tony came back over with the bag in hand after telling the bot off and sending him to charge muttering threats to himself as he did so. Bucky was quick to draw him back over and Tony flashed him a grin.
"Don't be a brat, it's your present after all."
Bucky perked up.
"You got me a present?"
"I don't know if I should let you have it now."
"Aw what? That's not fair."
"I've never been accused of being fair." Tony pointed out. Bucky leaned forward and pressed a light kiss just under his ear.
"Please, Красивый?" (handsome/beautiful) Voice low and sultry and Tony released a sharp breath through his teeth.
"Well since you asked so nicely." He relented roughly.
He pulled out a large, glossy, plum colored box with a stylised brand etched upon it in gold and Bucky raised an eyebrow not recognising it but intrigued nonetheless. He accepted the box with care, looking at Tony who was watching him with a touch of anticipation, and carefully opened it pushing the fancy tissue paper out of the way to show two bottles filled with gleaming golden liquid and a selection of pale purple and what looked to be actual gold bath bombs in various shapes that seemed to have crystals in them. Bucky's eyes widened in recognition.
"Is this-?"
"24k gold bath elixirs and bombs." Tony confirmed with a pleased smirk and Bucky beamed at him, gently setting the box aside so he could kiss him thoroughly.
"Thank you!" Bucky breathed when he finally came up for air.
"You like?"
"I'mma bath in actual gold" He exclaimed carefully picking up one of the bath bombs to examine it more closely, "they are amazing, Tony!"
"Good," Tony said happily. "Don't worry about saving them; you've got a subscription for every couple of months."
"Боже мой, Antoshka!" (My god)
"Can't have you missing out on your baths."
"You are the best!"
"I try,"
"You are!" Bucky assured, pushing Tony back slightly so he could get to his feet and wrap himself round the other man. "Now how c'n I thank ya for such a thoughtful gift?"
"You just did that." Tony pointed out and Bucky allowed a slow smirk to curl on to his face as he looked at the genius through his eyelashes.
"I'm sure you can think of more creative ways."
Tony's eyes darkened and his tongue darted out to wet his lips as his nodded hurriedly.
"Yeah, I can definitely do that."
It was a surprise to Bucky that he and Tony managed to keep their relationship on the downlow for almost a month and a half before the public and the Rogues caught wind of it. It was a month of complete bliss. Tony was intense, all consuming, and utterly dedicated to making Bucky a mess of a man. Bucky was already aware that he was a bit of an attention whore when it came to Tony, it made his stomach clench whenever Tony turned his entire focus on to him but now they were together Bucky found himself craving it like a drug.
He'd do things specifically just so he could have Tony's eyes on him, and he was rather spoiled because unless he was deep in a project or in actual meetings then Tony would often drop what he was doing to focus on Bucky. It was easy to dress a certain way, position his body in a specific way, show off during training or even just casually wield his knives because Tony seemed to be highly attracted to danger and to competence. Bucky had noted that when they had been called out because some idiot called Doom had released a bunch of laser firing robots. Bucky had been on sniper duty and he had made a beautiful shot taking out two robots simultaneously saving a family's life.
As soon as the battle was over and Rhodes had ordered them back to the compound, Tony had swooped down and carried Bucky off only to blow him within an inch of his life as soon as they had hit the armoury back at the compound. Tony had made him what Bucky believed to be the sexiest sniper rifle in existence as well as a set of stunningly crafted, perfectly balanced knives, which Bucky used to bring more of Tony's attention onto him because Tony had a thing for seeing Bucky using his tech.
He was careful with how often he distracted the genius however, because he understood that Tony Stark was a very important person; actually that was one of the things Bucky was painfully attracted to. He had been accompanying Tony more and more out of the compound and he got to witness first hand Tony wielding the power of his name; it was like an aphrodisiac. The first time he had seen Tony in a Board of Directors meeting at SI forcefully putting the old men who seemed to forget Tony owned the company in their places left Bucky so hard he was a little dizzy. As soon as Tony swept out of the room to his fancy office to finish his work Bucky had made sure the door was locked, the glass walls fogged and begged Tony fuck him right there on his stupidly large desk.
It probably wasn't the best first impression he gave to Tony's other best friend, one Pepper Potts, thankfully Rhodes had given Bucky a rousing commendation so she didn't judge him too badly at first. She had warned him to be careful because sometimes Tony got weird gift ideas and told him about the giant bunny that the genius had bought her that was taller than his Malibu mansion. It was only when Bucky looked intrigued and excited at the prospect did she look at him in full judgement before shaking her head and agreeing that Rhodes had it right when he said they were well suited.
So Bucky discovered that he had a bit of a power kink, and that extended to the way he threw about money. It had been one of the most constant complaints the Rogues had about the billionaire back in Wakanda and while they seemed to hate it despite benefiting the most because of that particular habit of Tony's, Bucky went in the opposite direction. It was because he did it wish such surety and confidence, and it wasn't even just in relation to the gifts that Tony bought him all the time, though they were amazing. Watching Tony casually mention he had bought a new supercar or that he had bought an apartment for when the boys started MIT.
Of course he had long ago realised that he enjoyed bringing out Tony's possessive side, too. It was a heady feeling being with someone who had that much power and knew it. Or maybe it was just Bucky. Tony wasn't oblivious, of course, and the man was more than willing to indulge in Bucky's whims. He knew full well Tony took Bucky with him when he had to give a speech at the UN for the sole purpose of driving the ex-assassin mad. Watching Tony command the attention of one of the biggest platforms in the world while simultaneously looking incredible and showing off his genius by answering any and all questions in the questionees native language was almost too much for Bucky. They barely made it to the car before he was begging for it.
They made a game of it much to the amused displeasure of the East Wing residence; they were not subtle. Which was why Bucky was so surprised that no one outside their little corner seemed to pick up on their relationship already. It all came to a head because of a hoodie and Bucky will stand by that. It had all started because Bucky was messing around with the bots in what he liked to call the destruction workshop; it was where all the stress testing and explosions happened. Bucky was gleefully attempting to damage the new material Tony had fashioned for Jessica and Luke's uniforms with Dum-E and Butterfingers while U was in the background throwing different chemicals on a different version.
Bucky hadn't realised they had gotten so close to some of the spilled liquids in his tug of war with Dum-E and slipped, the poor bot had tried to save him and had grabbed on to the pocket of the hoodie and tore it clean off much to Bucky's amusement but the bot's distress. Thankfully, there had been no injuries other than Bucky's favourite hoodie and Tony had rolled his eyes at all them all before calling them idiots. The ex-assassin hadn't thought much about it until he was finishing up the training plans with Romanoff the next day and Tony appeared dressed in one of what Bucky deemed his "casual suits".
"Hurry up, Bucky Bear, we've got places to be." He ordered and Bucky couldn't help but blink at him in confusion. He ran through his head to make sure he hadn't forgotten any appointments but he came up blank and he said as much.
"We're going shopping to replace your hoodie that Dum-E ripped. Maybe pick up a few other things while we're out." Tony told him and Bucky perked up.
"Can we take that new McLaren you just had brought in?"
"The P1 LM? You wanna go shopping in a 3 million dollar car?" Tony confirmed, smirking at the look on Bucky's face.
"Yes."
"Sure. Meet me in the garage."
Bucky sped through the last of the plans not really caring overmuch about Romanoff's calculating expression and rushed up to his rooms to throw on a more suitable set of clothes for the outside world before he was running back down to the garage where Tony was waiting for him leaning on the gorgeous fire red supercar. Bucky took a moment to appreciate the image he presented before he walked over and greeted him
"Where are we going?" Bucky questioned sliding into the car. He took a deep inhale of the new car smell and settled back against the plush seats with a pleased sigh.
"Fifth Avenue, where else." Tony replied as if it was obvious, speeding out the garage. It was a well known fact that Tony loved his speed and Bucky got a first hand experience as they shot down the roads at dangerous speeds, weaving in and out of traffic in a way that definitely showed he'd done so many times before.
Bucky tried to put on an obnoxious pop song that Peter had introduced him to but Tony turned it off so fast looking genuinely offended that he ending up laughing to hard to try again. They bounced around topics of conversation and Bucky smiled to himself, everything with Tony was just so easy and it made him feel more settled than anything else. Bucky hadn't had the chance to go to the modern day Fifth Avenue in memory so he didn't know what to expect but actually being there was more than even he could have predicted.
He shot Tony a wide eyed look and the engineer grinned, ushering him in to a large store where he was recognised on sight and immediately attended to. With a click of her fingers the sales clerk summoned two other assistance who were there to follow Tony round as he perused the clothes.
"If you see something you like, Snowflake, grab it." Tony commanded holding up a pair of deep red jeans towards Bucky's body before handing them to one of the assistants.
"You sure?" Bucky checked catching sight of the price of a t-shirt and feeling his heart skip a beat at the number.
"I'm spoiling you today, Bucky babe." Tony stated then a somewhat sly smirk came over his face. "Gotta keep you looking pretty for me, Il mio soldato."
Bucky felt his face heat slightly at that and his blush got darker at the knowing looks the assistants shared as they accepted another sweater Tony thrust at them.
"Then I want shoes as well. I ain't got nothin' th'ts gonna match half this stuff."
"Deal."
Tony was a whirlwind around the store, grabbing and discarding things without a care but the assistants seemed to be used to it because they kept up admirably accepting clothes from both of them and rushing them off when they became too much in a perfect system.
"Clear a private area for us; he's gonna give me a show." Tony instructed one of the women who nodded and rushed to do as he asked and Bucky bit his lip. They were ushered back to where there was an area cleared for them just as Tony wanted and the billionaire took a seat accepting the offered drink with a word of thanks while Bucky was shown into the dressing room which was filled with a mountain of clothes.
"I wanna see everything, mia cara." (my pretty) Tony called in. Bucky eyed the pile before starting with some of his favourite pieces and going out to show the engineer.
Tony kept up a stream of commentary leaving Bucky with a permanent flush as he showered him with compliments in a plethora of languages all the while okaying or rejecting each item. It was a heady feeling and the further he got into the pile the more he got in to showing off for Tony, whiskey brown eyes never wavered from him for a second devouring every inch of his body. One of the assistants slipped him a bundle of clothes with a smirk and a wink tilting her head towards Tony on the sly.
"Yoga pants; keep him interested." She whispered and Bucky raised an eyebrow but grinned and nodded figuring there was no harm in trying. He pulled them on and immediately fell in love because they were so soft, insanely comfy and clung to his legs in a way that would cause Tony actual pain. He stuck his head out spotting the assistant who had given him the pants and flashed her a grin.
"I'mma need more of these." He told her and she laughed. Tony perked up looking between the pair of them
"You need what? Show me!" He demanded and Bucky smirked, stepping out to do what he was told and watched pleased as Tony sucked in a sharp breath eyes going round before darkening as they went hooded. He leaned forward elbows on his knees as he pressed his hands to his mouth muffling the curses that he spat out, Bucky slowly turned around relishing in the audible groan Tony released when he caught sight of his ass.
"Goddamn, Frosty, you're not playing fair." Tony rasped, "you ass is an actual gift to this world."
"You like?"
"How many colors do they come in?" Tony directed to the assistant.
"They come in 10 different colours, Mr Stark."
"He needs all of them. Twice." He decided making Bucky laugh. As soon as the assistant went to complete his order Tony was up pressing Bucky back on to the changing room wall one hand going to his hair to yank Bucky in for a rough kiss while the other hand immediately went to his ass squeezing before sliding down his thigh and hitching it over his hip. Bucky moaned, gasping when Tony released his lips only to attack his neck like a starving man.
"You are going to work out in just these for my eyes only later." Tony stated almost growling, "It'll be a my very own private show."
"You like them?"
"You fucking know I do."
"I'll wear 'em just for you whenever we're alone."
"Then when your all sweaty I'll peel them off and take you apart in the shower. Make sure I've tasted every part of you." He promised, grinding down against Bucky's growing hardon.
Bucky whimpered.
"Please Daddy!"
Bucky felt his eyes widen as that slipped out but before he could stammer out an excuse Tony outright growled grip tightening to a point of almost pain and shoved him back hard, yanking his head back using his hair.
"Fuck don't play with me baby,"
"Want you, Daddy."
Tony wordlessly hissed.
"You gonna be good for Daddy hm? Spoil my baby rotten, make sure you have plenty of things to make you look so pretty, and then you'll give me my own private show?"
"I'll use the knives you made me. Give you a proper show, Daddy." Bucky agreed breathless. Tony pressed a deep kiss to his lips.
"Good boy."
Bucky shuddered and had to take few deep breaths to try and calm himself down, it didn't help that Tony was still staring at him like he wanted to devour him right there in the changing room. The sound of the assistant returning jolted them back to reality, Tony left allowing Bucky to change back into the clothes he came in and bring out the yoga pants to be added to the rest. Tony led Bucky out towards the counter with a hand on the small of his back ordering the clothes to be packed up and that they'd be collected later by one of his people.
The total price once everything had been rung up, as well as a five hundred dollar tip for both assistants, made Bucky a little dizzy but Tony didn't even blink. He ushed Bucky out of the store and down the Avenue, weaving in and out of stores with seemingly no rhyme or reason, a jacket in one, a pair of pants in another, a couple pairs of shoes as Bucky requested. By that point word had obviously got out that Tony Stark was out shopping because they had amassed a bit of a following all eagerly snapping pictures whenever they exited a store.
Tony brushed off Bucky's concern obviously more than a little used to the invasion of his privacy and as he wasn't paying anyone attention except for Bucky the ex-assassin tried to do the same and continue enjoying their day out. Tony had finally finished buying Bucky what he considered a decent sized wardrobe and they were heading back to the car when Bucky saw something in a window that made him stop and make an embarrassing squeaking sound that he later denied all knowledge of.
In the centre of the display were a pair of black boots: they had laces but they also had two gold zips going up each side of the laces and a gleaming golden buckle on the outside. Tony grabbed his chin looking at him with an serious expression.
"You want those boots, baby?"
"Please!"
Tony pushed him into the shop and immediately got him fitted for the boots; Bucky loved them. He chose to carry them out of the store instead of having them picked up later like they did with the other purchases, kissing Tony thoroughly as soon as they were outside smiling widely at the genius.
"These are my favourite things we bought today." He told them other man.
"You already know my favourite." Tony said with a salacious smirk and Bucky laughed.
"Imagine them both together."
Tony paused thinking about his before groaning slightly shaking his head.
"You are dangerous for me, Snowflake."
"That doesn't sound like a complaint." Bucky pointed out.
"Oh you'll get no complaints from me." Tony assured, pulling his keys out as they arrived back at the car, "only active encouragement."
"I can't wait, Daddy,"
Tony pushed him against the hood of the car claiming his lips roughly.
"You've been spoiled today, baby boy. Don't be a brat now."
"I'll be good, I promise." Bucky assured him all wide eyed innocence that Tony obviously didn't believe for a second. "One more kiss?"
"For you? Anything."
Bucky made a happy sound when he got what he wanted and Tony chuckled at him, scrapping blunted nails along his scalp as he ran his fingers through Bucky's long hair then pointed at the car.
"In."
He slid in and tilted his head back relaxing completely, surprisingly tired from the day out and he smiled slightly when the car shot forward. He was looking forward to having a long bath and planning out exactly what he was going to do during Tony's private show. Bucky was pulled out of his musings when they came to a stop way sooner than they should have going back to the compound, he looked around and saw they were parked outside a fancy restaurant Bucky didn't recognise.
"Tony?"
"Best steak you're every gonna get in New York." The genius replied as he was climbing out of the car. Bucky scrambled after him suddenly starving.
"Don't you need a reservation for places like this?" He wondered leaning into Tony when the other man wrapped an arm around his waist. The billionaire shot him a look.
"Remember who you're with right now, Tesoro."
The maitre'd clearly recognised Tony because she greeted him immediately, all polite and professional.
"Mr Stark! Welcome! I didn't see your name on the list."
"I'm afraid this is a last minute idea," Tony told her, charming smile on his face, "I was wondering if you could squeeze us in; I wanted my soldier to experience Becketts steak; you know it's the best there is."
"Of course, welcome Sergeant Barnes." She smiled at him before looking over her book. "I'll see what I can do right away, Mr Stark."
"You know the Chef?" Bucky asked somewhat incredulous.
"Once you've had the steak you'll wanna know the chef."
The maitre'd arrived back quicker than Bucky expected with a smile.
"Right this way gentlemen."
She led them though the restaurant to a more secluded area and got them settled: it was a beautifully decorated space all clean lines, crisp cream against dark woods with a gleaming wooden floor. Their server arrived shortly after with menus for them and Tony rattled of the name of a wine Bucky had no hope to recognise.
"An excellent choice, Mr Stark."
Bucky glanced at the menu offered to him but put it down looking over at Tony who was in his element pursuing the list of fancy foods.
"What do you want, Snowflake?" Tony asked looking up placing his menu down.
"Order for me?" Bucky offered and Tony's eyes shone.
"My pleasure."
When the server returned he poured their wine and took the mammoth order Tony issued without blinking and Bucky felt his stomach rumble, an advanced metabolism could suck sometimes and he hadn't thought to grab something to eat before they came out – by the size of the order neither did Tony.
"How did you cope with the change in eating habits given you regularly forget to eat?" Bucky wondered making Tony snort.
"Jarvis and Friday keep the 'shop fully stocked with those huge calorie bars protein bars as well as what I like to call grazing foods." Tony replied, "though at first there were hourly reminders for me to eat something as I wouldn't remember to have actual meals."
"That sounds about right." Bucky snickered.
"I did make the most of being about to eat loads when I did remember though. Harley dragged me and Peter around New York to do eating challenges and some of them were an actual challenge."
"I think I saw that; Shuri was raving about it in Wakanda."
"Yeah, it ended up all over social media thanks to Harley who filmed the whole thing."
Tony rolled his eyes as Bucky laughed.
"Were you surprised?"
"Not even for a second." Tony said with a grin, "apparently the kidlets are preparing for round two; a bunch of restaurants are starting a superhero menu for those with enhanced metabolisms."
"So that's what Harley meant when he said they would be taking me out to 'prove I'm a real super solider'." Bucky said with dawning realisation.
"That's what he told you?" Tony laughed.
"They had me so confused; they've seen me train and in the field."
"They're little shits."
They continued talking about the teens as their orders arrives and the servers filled their table with so many different dishes the scents made his mouth water. He didn't know what to try first but as Tony had brought him there to try the steak that's what Bucky went for first and by god it was worth it.
"Holy shit!" He exclaimed looking at the steak in surprise before looking up at Tony, who was watching him with an amused glint in his eye. "How?"
"I have no idea." He admitted, "I tried to get him to work for me but alas he wanted his restaurant instead."
"Damn shame." Bucky sighed taking another bite.
"Try the lobster." Tony told him offering his fork.
"Don't remember ever having lobster before." Bucky mused accepting the bite and humming in delight. "'S good,"
"Yeah? Figured you'd like it."
"What else we got?"
"Hm here, try this." Tony offered him something that looked kind of like an onion ring, Bucky didn't know what to make of the texture even though it tasted good and said as much.
"Calamari; squid. Takes some getting used to."
"Huh, not what I would have thought."
They continued going through the food and, much to his enjoyment, Tony ended up feeding Bucky most of his food himself getting him to try a few things that he'd never tasted before; it was a long list after all; it wasn't as if Hydra fed him actual food and there was a food shortage when he was growing up. They got through a significant portion of the food and Bucky was left feeling warm, happy and surprisingly sleepy wanting nothing more to curl up with Tony's hand in his hair and take a nap.
"Come on, Bucky-bear, let's get you home you look tired." Tony's voice was extremely fond as he offered Bucky his hand.
"'S been a great day." Bucky stated, leaning his head on Tony's shoulder, "you're good to me."
"You deserve it, Tesoro."
They got back to the car and sped back to the compound with little conversation between then yet it was still a nice atmosphere; Bucky spent most of the time either watching the hectic New York traffic or Tony's look of concentration as he maneuvered the car expertly as such speeds. Bucky only just remembered to grab his new boots as he climbed out of the car, grinning when Tony gripped his metal hand and tugged him closer as they left the garage.
"Let me guess; bath and a nap." Tony said warmly.
"And something sweet." Bucky agreed.
"Lucky I save you the rest of the cake Carol brought in yesterday then."
"You really are the best." Bucky announced, kissing his cheek.
"Uhuh, its in the 'shop fridge as we live with vultures and it wouldn't have lasted." Tony explained with a grin and Bucky huffed a laugh.
"That's true; I saw Hope stare Loki, of all people, in the eye while eating his Chinese food."
Tony laughed at that.
"I head about that from Rudolph; he was both offended and impressed by her nerve." He replied, "don't know if it was worth it though, the sly bastard spent the next week switching out her vanilla protein shake with banana."
"Ew bananas are gross now-a-days."
"So you've said many times." Tony snickered, directing them into an elevator.
"They're so weird!" Bucky exclaimed, "and everything tha' claims it tastes like banana don't even taste like the bananas from now let alone from b'fore."
"I prefer grape flavour anyway." Tony shrugged though he had a sly smirk on his face to which Bucky glowered at him in return.
"You know my feelin's on grape flavour."
"You're face when you tried Grapeheads was incredible; I saved it to my phone."
"I've never felt more betrayed." Bucky sniffed turning away. Tony chucked at that, sliding his hands around his waist, pressing up against his back and gently kissing his neck.
"Don't be like that, Snowflake." Tony consoled, "I've got load of pictures of you on my phone; you know I like to look at you."
Bucky turned around in his arms trying to look anything other than fond and he didn't think it worked all that well as Tony smiled widely at him.
"That is ridiculous." Bucky stated flatly; Tony continued to smile.
"But no less true." He pointed out making Bucky flush so leaned forward to kiss the smug look off of Tony's face. Before it could get too heated the elevator doors slid open and they had to separate, they made their way through the general areas of the compound toward the East wing and unfortunately were stopped by the last people either of them wanted to see in that moment.
"STARK!" Rogers yell bounced around the room from where the blond stood with his team obviously waiting for Tony to pass through.
"Rogers, just who I didn't want to see." Tony greeted with distaste.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" He demanded getting up in Tony's face. The genius looked deeply unimpressed as he looked at the slightly taller man, raising an eyebrow.
"Well I was walking through the compound hoping to avoid you but it looks like I got neither of those things." Tony replied sarcastically making Rogers wordlessly snarl.
"I'm talking about Bucky!" He exclaimed making said man blink in confusion. "What do you think you are doing with Bucky?"
"We went out." Tony deadpanned and behind Steve the Witch scoffed.
"Trying to buy him, no doubt." She muttered to Barton, who nodded.
"Succeeding by the looks of things."
"That's not true." Steve refuted instantly, "Bucky doesn't know what he's got himself in to. He doesn't know what Stark is like."
"Bucky is stood right here and doesn't know what the hell your problem is." Bucky cut in with a glare.
"I don't blame you, Bucky." Steve told him in a patronising tone that immediately put the ex-assassin's back up. "Stark can be charming when he wants something."
"That was almost a compliment from you, Rogers, I'm impressed. How much did that hurt to say I wonder?" Tony inquired mock thoughtfully making Rogers direct a scolding glare at him.
"Shut up, Stark. You've done enough!"
"What exactly have I done for this particular confrontation; I've apparently got quite the backlog with you."
"Explain this!" Rogers thrust his phone into Tony's face and Bucky managed to stop himself shoving the blond away from Tony by the skin of his teeth. The billionaire leaned back so he could see what was on the screen while Bucky leaned over his shoulder so he could get a look too and caught sight of a candid picture of the pair of them outside the store they got his boots in.
It was the moment where Tony was gripping his chin and in the photo it looked like Tony wanted to devour him whole there and then while Bucky himself had a flush high on his cheeks, his blue eyes were blown wide looking half way like he was about to drop to his knees and beg for it. That was damning on its own but the photo next to it was captured when they had exited the store, Bucky had a bag in one hand and the other was wrapped around Tony as they made out, and the final one was where Tony had kissed him on the hood of his car.
"Huh they caught our shopping trip." Bucky deadpanned and Tony snorted.
"You look real pretty on my car, il mio soldato, I'll have to make a note of that; I have a lot of cars."
Rogers looked like his was about to erupt as he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth.
"I'm being serious, Stark!" He snarled, "What the hell do you think you are doing and why were you kissing Bucky?"
"Because I wanted to kiss him and he didn't seem to have a problem with it." Tony answered easily.
"I know you're only doing this to get back at me." Rogers insisted, his face red in anger as he clenched his fists. "You're using him because you can't help but be petty and cruel; it's in your nature."
"This is a new low even for you, Stark." Barton chimed in, "what was your plan? Turn Barnes in to your little sex slave and rub it in Steve's face."
"Excuse me? The fuck?" Bucky demanded before Tony could speak.
"You don't know what he's like, Bucky." Steve said all blue eyed earnestness that in the moment Bucky hated with a burning passion. "This is an attack against me because I chose to do the right thing, and more importantly, you over him. He makes things sound so good but he had nothing to offer so he covers it up with flashy tech and money."
"Oh really?"
"He throws money at his problems; he'll buy you things so you'll be in his debt without even knowing it and then brag about it to feed his ego." Romanoff added with barely hidden disdain. "Didn't you notice how he had to mention the price of his car?"
"I'd be disappointed if I hadn't already seen how far from standard you've fallen. Вы неудачница, Natalia." (you are a failure) Bucky sneered at her and she recoiled slightly but he dismissed her turning back to Steve. "And for your information, Rogers, anything I do with Tony has absolutely fuck all to do with you."
"Bucky you don't understand-,"
"I understand plenty." Bucky cut him off not wanting to hear it. "I understand that you seemed to be under the mistaken belief that my only worth is somehow attached to you, and that everyone else sees the world like you do."
"Barnes, you can't actually think that Stark cares about you." Barton scoffed, "you're supposed to be observant and you can't see he's playing with you."
"Relationship advise from the man who lost both his wife and kids." Tony said in derision. Barton's expression went dark and he stepped forward.
"You wanna say that again?"
"Why? Have you suddenly lost your hearing on top of everything else?"
"It's all your fault, Stark! You're nothing more than a monster that tears down everyone else better than you." Maximoff spat, putting a comforting hand on Barton as she glared at Tony. "And now you're using Bucky to attack Steve because we're back on the Avengers."
"Yeah, that's a level of delusion that I'm not gonna touch." Tony decided, "I'm done with this conversation."
"Me too," Bucky agreed, shaking his head in disgust.
"Bucky wait!" Rogers cried as they started to walk away. "You have to know I'm just worried about you. Stark can't be trusted and you're just going to end up hurt."
"No you're worry about the Bucky Barnes you think I should be." Bucky denied harshly, "not who I am now."
"That's not true! Everything I've done has been for you."
"I never asked that of you, Rogers!" He yelled, sick to death of hearing that and trying to reconcile all the deaths Steve had caused because of it. "If you knew me half as well as you claim you would know I would have never wanted any of that to happen."
"You never have to ask anything of me, Bucky. I'll always be here for you."
Bucky barked out a sardonic laugh.
"No you won't. You want a Bucky Barnes straight out the 40's so he can follow you around and relieve the so called glory days. Anything that doesn't fit that image is never going to be good enough for you." He sneered, "you can't accept the fact that I've changed and you play ignorant to the fact that so have you."
"How can you say that?" Rogers demanded outraged, "you're my best friend."
"You just stood here and yelled at Tony for our relationship as if I wasn't here, you've literally disregarded everything I have to say on the matter and whenever I've tried to say anything against your world view you throw it back in my face."
"When have I ever thrown anything back in your face? I always listen to you. I've been trying to help since you came out of Cryo."
"Really? So when I confronted the Witch the first time you didn't tell me I was confused because 'my brain was messed up due to Hydra'?" Bucky inquired sarcastically and Rogers got a self-righteous look on his face.
"You tried to kill her for no reason, Bucky! Wanda has had a tough time, you didn't know what you were doing."
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Tony, who had stepped back to let Bucky talk, was suddenly next to him with a vicious glare on his face. "Tell me you did not take the Hydra volunteer's side against the actual Hydra victim."
"Like you're one to talk, Stark, you tried to kill him."
"No he didn't, Rogers. If Tony had wanted us dead that day in the bunker we would have been smears on the ground." Bucky refuted and Rogers scoffed.
"See! He's in your head, got you convinced he can't do anything wrong. Or have you forgotten he blew your arm off?"
"Have you forgotten that the suit has gone up against things much stronger and much deadlier than us at our best or did you suddenly forget the alien army, Thor and the Hulk?" Bucky reminded him, "but you're still missing the point, Rogers, and your never going to get the point either."
"What is the point?"
"Tony is my choice. I'm not even going to try and break through your conviction that he's the actual Devil because you're so far down that rabbit hole you're never going to come up. But he is my choice, he is who I have chosen to be with and given the fact that I haven't had many choices in the past 70 years the very least you can do is accept it."
"He's going to hurt you, Buck." Rogers told him forlorn, "I'm trying to protect you."
"I don't need you to protect me." Bucky sighed, "and so what if he does? So what if this goes to shit and I do get hurt? Am I supposed to hole up never experiencing anything new just on the chance it can hurt me? Like you did?"
"Bucky…"
"No, Steve, enough. I don't want to hear it." Bucky raised his hand turning to leave. "Until you're willing to listen to what I want I don't want to talk to you at all."
Tony shot him a look of concern and grabbed his hand as he got close squeezing it reassuringly.
"So that's it then? You're gonna chose him after everything?" Rogers demanded enraged and Bucky huffed, shaking his head.
"The fact that you're making it a choice tells me all I need to know."
"You'll pay for this, Stark." Rogers growled, "I hope your happy with yourself."
"You're pathetic, Rogers." Tony stated, before smirking at him with a look of such smug superiority that Bucky felt a touch of sympathy for Rogers before he squashed it. "And don't worry, I'm very happy with myself."
They were out of the room before any of the Rogues could respond. Neither of them spoke until they were safely behind the East wing doors but as soon as the doors shut Bucky found himself slumping sideways into Tony, who seemed to expect it because he compensated for Bucky's weight with easy.
"Come on, Snowflake, I got you."
Tony steered them to his own suite and settled Bucky on his bed with care, the ex-assassin flopped backwards with a groan and threw his arm over his eyes.
"You wanna know the worst thing?" Bucky wondered aloud, lifting his leg when Tony started to undo his shoes.
"What's that?"
"I said Rogers ignores the fact that he's changed but I can't tell if he actually has or that he's always been like this it just didn't matter when he was a 90lbs nobody."
"Really?
"Yeah, he was always putting his opinions on others and opening his mouth when it wasn't needed, but back then no one really did anything – unless it ended up in a fight in some ally – because he was the scrawniest kid about and everyone knew about his health problems." Bucky explained. Tony made a sound that was half scoff and have chuckle as he finished removing Bucky's shoes.
"Puts a different spin on the whole 'standing up to bullies' schtick he always pulls out."
"The so called bullies were usually just people that didn't have the same moral ground as him." Bucky huffed, whining slightly when Tony pulled him back into a sitting position.
"You know what, no. We're not talking about him, we're not even going to think about any of them." Tony decided, motioning for Bucky to put his arms up so his hoodie could be taken off. "It's just me and you and we've had a awesome day; do not let him ruin it."
Bucky sighed, wrapping his arms around Tony and pressing his face into the man's stomach so he could hide just for a little bit. Tony's fingers ran soothingly through his hair and Bucky took a moment to allow all the tension he had picked up during the confrontation.
"You do know that I'd never even think to use you against Rogers, right?" Tony asked hesitantly forcing Bucky to look up in shock.
"It didn't even cross my mind." Bucky was quick to assure, "I know you wouldn't do that, doll."
"Good," Tony sighed in relief his own shoulders slumping, "that's good."
"Sweetheart, if you cared any less about him you'd forget he was here." Bucky pointed out, "I hardly find that grounds for some massive revenge plot involving me."
"I think I should be honoured that they think I put that much effort into my revenge plots." Tony muttered, "it amazes me that they'll go on and on about my ego and yet in the same breath act as if I control the world."
"Now who's talking about them?" Bucky grumbled pressing his face back into Tony's stomach, "'M sick 'f 'em."
"Ugh, you're right." Tony gently pressed a kiss to the top of his head, "do you want me to feed you cake while you have a bath?"
"You are the greatest person in the world."#
There we have it! Hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I loved writing it :) Always love to hear from you all so please tell me what you think!
Jess*