Tony IX: Paralympics
That summer was an Olympic year—more importantly, a Paralympic year. Bucky got all the Avengers tickets to the Games, and Tony offered to pay for everyone's lodging in Paris. Tony had never been to France, and neither had most of them. Nick didn't feel comfortable with international travel, but wished Bucky good luck and promised he'd be listening in to the livestream of all the games. The only other person who wouldn't be joining them was Thor, for the combined reasons of him spending the summer at his family cabin and protecting Steve from Thor's necessary companion, Valkyrie. Of course, he told Steve it was only the first reason so he wouldn't take the guilt trip of a lifetime. But he told Bucky and the rest of them both reasons to avoid sounding rude, and they all completely understood. Conspiring to protect Steve was something they'd grown rather good at.
Tony hadn't seen Steve or Bucky in person in over a year. He'd been so busy with his senior year of college, all of his projects, and preparing to take over Stark Industries that he hadn't had the chance to visit them. This would be the first time the group got together since Steve's near demise three years ago. Even Natasha and Wanda were making the journey, although for them it was actually less of a trek since they already lived on the right side of the Atlantic. Tony was glad a celebratory occasion prompted their assembly this time and not a devastating one.
Briefly, it had been up in the air whether or not Steve could even come, with his heavily compromised immune system, but two weeks before their scheduled departure date he announced that his doctors cleared him to fly as long as he took all the necessary precautions. From that point on, they texted a countdown every single day until the date arrived. Tony, Parker, and Bruce were flying together in the Starks' private jet, but Steve, his parents, and Bucky's parents were flying commercial. Something about Bucky's dad having miles he needed to use. They planned to all meet up at the hotel.
"Are you psyched?" Parker asked once they settled in. This being his second time on Tony's plane, he managed to refrain from bouncing off the walls in excitement.
"Yes. I've never been to Paris before. What about you, Bruce?"
"I'm looking forward to watching Bucky."
"I've never seen amputee soccer before, beyond the videos Bucky's sent me," Parker said.
"Me neither." Tony generally wasn't a big sports guy, but he was genuinely enthused by the prospect of watching his friend participate at this elite level. The three of them spent most of the flight catching up with each other's lives. Bruce was eager to hear all about Parker's first year of college and, though Tony had been there for most of it, even he heard some stories Parker had never told him before.
"I'm surprised my parents let me come to this without them," Parker said.
"You're an adult," Tony countered.
"Yeah, but they didn't like the idea of me being across an ocean from them."
"That's reasonable," Bruce said. "My mom was like that until my junior or senior year of college."
Between Bruce's knowledge of French, which he'd apparently studied just for fun, and airport employees' knowledge of English, they found their way without much trouble. Tony made sure to double check that he had all of his adapters for charging his batteries and plugging in his wall unit in French outlets. Forgetting or losing that equipment could quite literally be a fatal mistake for him. The group hadn't let Tony splurge on the hotel, so he'd found something less extravagant than what he usually stayed in when he traveled with his parents.
The Paralympics took place after the Olympics, so the crowds weren't as bad as they would've been a week earlier. Finding a place to stay, even multiple rooms all on the same floor, had been relatively easy. They checked in and headed up to the third floor. A quick text in the group chat, and they learned Natasha and Wanda had already arrived and were hanging out in the lobby. Tony replied that he needed to take a few minutes to unpack and set up and then he'd be right down. Parker, who claimed the room next door, finished up much quicker than Tony and hung out in his room while he finished changing out his batteries.
"You ready to go?" Parker asked.
"Yep."
"Stairs or elevator?"
"Stairs."
They headed down the hallway, Parker talking the entire time about how ugly hotel carpeting always was. "It's to disguise dirtiness," Tony told him. "Harder to tell on a crazy pattern than on plain carpet." The door to the staircase was at the end of the hallway, and the instant Tony reached out to push it open, someone on the other side pulled it away from him. Tony stumbled forward a step and almost ran headfirst into a brawny man in sunglasses and a baseball cap with a large suitcase slung over his shoulder.
"Sorry, sir." he blurted out.
"Sir? Tony, I thought we knew each other better than that," the man replied. Tony was completely taken aback by the stranger's casual tone and use of his first name. He knew he was relatively well-known as the son of Howard Stark, but he found it hard to believe that a random person in a French hotel would recognize him and be bold enough to address him like that. Then Tony took a step back and looked at the face behind the sunglasses more closely.
"Oh my God, you're Steve."
An exaggerated shocked expression appeared on his face and he glanced down as if to double check. "I am? Here I was thinking I was Thor."
"Oh my God," Parker echoed.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked, now sounding genuinely concerned. He stopped holding the door open and stepped through to join them in the hallway, letting it close behind him. Tony and Parker both took another big step back to get a better look at him. No wonder Tony didn't recognize the man when he ran into him. He knew Steve as the oxygen-toting, scrawny-enough-to-look-starving guy who could barely get through a conversation without a coughing fit. This person was practically unrecognizable. His face was the same, though now slightly more filled out, but everything else was…so different.
"Oh my God," Tony repeated. "You…you're…wow."
"What?"
"Steve, what happened?" Parker asked. He sounded just as shocked as Tony felt.
Steve shrugged. "I got new lungs."
"That's it?" Tony failed to comprehend how a new pair of lungs could spearhead such a drastic physical change. He'd put on at least thirty pounds since Tony saw him a year ago, most of that muscle.
"I've been putting them to good use."
"I'll say," Parker huffed.
"You seriously didn't recognize me?" He put the suitcase down and removed his sunglasses. Only now that Tony saw his eyes did he finally believe one hundred percent that this was really Steve.
"No," Tony said honestly. "You look like a new man. In a good way."
"Well, thanks. Are you guys headed downstairs to meet the others?"
"Yeah," Parker answered.
"Cool. I'll be down as soon as I can. Might take a while because I have to sanitize everything." He set off down the hallway. Tony and Parker watched him go, still bewildered that he was dragging a suitcase instead of an oxygen tank.
"He looks taller. How the hell is that even possible?" Tony questioned.
"I guess it's possible. Some guys are still growing at this age. Maybe his posture is just better," Parker said with a shrug. "Or it's all in your head."
"True." He opened the door to the staircase once again and this time they actually made it through and started their descent. "I think I'm still in shock."
"Me too."
"I'm kind of afraid to go downstairs to see Nat and Wanda now."
"Relax. They're still your friends no matter what they look like," Parker assured him.
"Yeah, you're right. I just never expected that I'd be the feeble one."
"You're not feeble, Tony."
"Fine. Whatever."
They spotted a huddle of their friends across the lobby once they exited the staircase. Nat and Wanda had their backs to them, but Bruce saw them coming and waved them over. From behind, Tony couldn't quite tell who was who. Natasha's hair had grown so much that it was the same length as Wanda's, and they both had it dyed some shade of red. "Long time no see," Tony greeted. It was true—the last time he'd been face-to-face with either of the girls had been nearly four years ago. Group chatting and video calls could only do so much. They turned around almost in perfect sync.
"Tony!" Nat exclaimed. She threw her arms around him and Tony was caught off guard by the strength they possessed. Steve hadn't been the only one working out. Wanda and Parker embraced, and then they switched.
"It's so nice to see you guys," Parker said.
"You too." They exchanged small talk for a few minutes, discussing their flights, their excitement for the games, and the current state of their lives. Wanda was very curious about Tony's plans for Stark Industries. By the time they'd exhausted topics, Steve arrived. Tony held back a snort as Natasha and Wanda both glanced Steve's way, then made eye contact with each other as if asking, "Do you see what I see?"
"Steve, is that you?" Natasha asked.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? It was a lung transplant, not a face transplant."
"But those do exist," Parker piped up. Natasha shot him a bewildered look.
"You look a bit different," Wanda told him.
"A good different I hope."
"Yes," Natasha said. Another round of hugs ensued, spearheaded by Steve. Tony's heart glowed seeing so many of them together again. While he didn't long for the days of illness and suffering, he did occasionally miss the camaraderie they'd found at Gravesen together.
"Do you guys know the schedule for the matches?" Parker asked.
"They play all the teams in their group round robin style, and then advance to brackets with the top two teams from the other three groups. First match is against El Salvador tomorrow," Steve answered immediately.
"Somebody's been studying," Natasha remarked.
Steve shrugged. "I asked Bucky to give me the lowdown."
"Where are your parents?" Tony asked. "Didn't they come here with you?"
"They're exploring."
"I see."
"Did you guys know Wakanda is competing this year? It's their first time," Bruce said.
"Good for them," Tony said. "Do they have an amputee soccer team?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "But they're in a different group. We only play them if they come in first or second place in their group. And if we win in ours, of course."
Tony should have expected the best friend of the team's goalie would know all about the layout of the matches, but it still surprised him to hear Steve talking about soccer of all things with such confidence. The six of them spent the entire evening together, but their different stages of jet lag meant they turned in early. Coming from east of here, Nat and Wanda had been awake nearly twenty hours.
They met up again the next morning for breakfast. Steve still swallowed a handful of pills before he ate anything, but Tony kept half-expecting to hear him cough and was both surprised and amazed that he didn't. Everything about the circumstances amazed him, especially when they walked into the arena for the first match and he saw Bucky and his teammates down there. This was the real deal. His friend had really made it to the top tier of his sport despite everything cancer had thrown at him. It was unbelievable.
"This is insane," Parker muttered aloud.
"No kidding," Tony said.
He couldn't take his eyes off the ball throughout the entire match. It was mesmerizing, watching these guys work. At Bucky's first save, they all erupted into cheers, Steve's louder and more intense than any of theirs. He even started howling. When the excitement died down, he returned to his seat with a sigh. "Sorry. Old high school tradition."
"Oh I get it. Howling Commandos," Parker said.
"Exactly."
Tony couldn't get past the incredible display of lung capacity. Steve kept up the enthusiasm throughout the entire game, seemingly never tiring. Tony grew short of breath just watching him. The amazed smile didn't drop from Tony's face the entire time. Bucky was killing it out there, not letting in a single goal. And El Salvador meant business. There were multiple occasions when Tony couldn't comprehend how Bucky had moved so fast to block another shot. Team USA scored a goal at the beginning of the second half, sending all the Avengers screaming to their feet. Tony had never been so invested in any sporting event, but then again, he'd never had one of his best friends playing in the freaking Olympics.
They beat El Salvador. Then Brazil. Then Angola. And then they advanced to the knockout stage, where they played the runner-ups from another group: Wakanda. The king and princess themselves were in attendance, shown briefly on the big screen in their secure viewing box. Tony couldn't believe he'd once met them in person. Not even his father, who made a living meeting with foreign dignitaries and government officials, had shaken hands with the king of Wakanda. But that was probably because they had no interest in his weapons.
It was the closest match yet, the first one where Bucky failed to save a goal, but the USA still won. And then in the semifinals they beat Argentina, a formidable foe, to advance to the gold medal match against Mexico. Tony had never seen Steve, or any of his friends for that matter, so excited.
~0~
In anticipation of the gold medal match, tangible excitement hung in the air. Tony and the other Avengers had seats way better than he thought they would get for such a crucial match. The smaller crowd could probably be attributed to France's loss in the first round; not as many natives showed up to watch.
Tony sat sandwiched between Parker and Steve, with Bruce outside of Parker and Nat and Wanda outside of Steve, the same formation they'd sat in for all the previous matches. Steve's parents sat a few rows in front of them alongside Bucky's parents. Bucky was easy to spot down on the field, being one of the only players without crutches and wearing a different colored jersey. They all shouted and cheered the second they saw him, quieting only when the game began.
Over the past two weeks, Tony's appreciation for the sport had grown tenfold. The athleticism of the players amazed him to no end, and the way they could manipulate the ball with only one foot was astonishing. He also didn't understand how they could still be playing their best after so many games in a row. It looked exhausting. Bucky didn't look exhausted, however. Tony recognized his "game face," though it was more of a whole-body posture than a facial expression. It was almost scary, his laser focus on that singular goal of protecting his net.
His first few saves were nothing extraordinary. The Mexicans targeted his bad side, of course, but he knew exactly where to stand and how to move to compensate. Then, with two minutes left on the clock, he made the save of a lifetime. Tony had never seen this move before. Bucky hit the ground and launched himself sideways, blocking the ball in midair with his foot. The crowd's reaction was electric, screaming and stamping from all sides of the arena. He could see Bucky glowing with pride as he scrambled to his feet and reset to prepare for any more shots. With twenty seconds left on the clock, Isaiah Bradley scored another goal, making the final score two to nothing, USA. The whistle blew signaling the end of the game. Bucky ran to Isaiah and full on lifted him off his foot, both shouting with glee as the rest of the team piled on to hug them, ditching crutches left and right. Tony didn't think his heart would ever stop bounding with joy.
Steve literally cried during the medal ceremony, Tony and Parker not far behind. He still vividly remembered Bucky the day of his amputation, weak and in pain and stressed over the state of his best friend, and that image in the back of his mind only served to highlight the scene before him now. Steve and Parker jumping up and down screaming their heads off in celebration, both practically glowing with health. Natasha, Wanda, and Bruce all here with them, here and happy. And down on the field, the gold medal around Bucky's neck that didn't shine nearly as bright as his smile.
God, I love this chapter. Honestly, I could have ended it here. But I wanted to go a bit farther into the future to address some very important events, as you'll see in the epilogue :)