Stiles is enjoying his second cup of coffee, it wakes him up after a long night in a way the first cup just couldn't, but he used to needing more than one cup of coffee in the morning to wake him up, when he becomes aware of someone watching him from outside his window.

He can't see them, but his got the prickly feeling on the back of his neck that you get when someone stares at you for too long or too hard, He could just be paranoid as his whole life had turned upside following the robot invasion an month ago when the whole world found out he was banging Captain America, and his including himself in that. A fact that Bucky still finds outrageously funny and ironic; Stiles just feels slightly dumb and embarrassed.

He's about to go back to drinking his coffee, putting his unease down to his state of total exhaustion and paranoia; honestly, he might need to have three cups today when he hears a crunch coming from his balcony window which he had opened to get some fresh morning air and in doing so had pushed over an old flower pot on the windowsill.

For a second he stands still unsure of what to do, he would make a break for it, but his balcony window is right opposite the front door and anyone coming from that direction would undoubtedly see him. There's also the fact that it could be Derek, moving the pack to the city that never sleeps didn't stop the alpha from using his window as a door instead of an actual front door like a normal person. Then again if it was Derek, he would have called out by now, fed up from one too many instances when he has snuck up on Stiles and has gotten something (usually a heavy textbook and on one memorable yet mildly awkward for the both of them occasion, a condom. A Used condom) thrown in his face for his troubles.

Stiles misses those days, things between them nowadays are too strained and filled with tension to be worth anything and he wonders if they can ever get back to their old state of friendship.

As much as Stiles wants to go over to the balcony, he knows it's not a good idea, in fact it would be a very bad one; he has no clue who the person is or if the armed or not. It would be a sure-fire way to get himself killed or at the very least get a punch to the face.

Faced with either making a run for it and his intruder seeing him and then pursuing him or face whoever it is head on, Stiles mourns as he puts down his unfinished coffee and prepares to run like hell. But in the last few seconds he has before the choice is taken from him Stiles stops, he's never run from a fight before in his life, always faced them head on no matter what and he doesn't want to start now. So, he picks back up coffee, takes a small sip and waits.

He doesn't have to wait long and as soon as he sees a hint of the person coming around the corner, he is lobbing his still mostly full mug at their head, the majority of the liquid spills out of the mug before it reaches its target but that's okay.

Stiles likes his coffee to burn its way through his body so even a drop of the boiling hot drink would probably be severely painful for what he can now see is a man, but Stiles doesn't wait to see if it even hits its target. The moment the mug had left his hand he turned on his heel and ran for his front door.

By he time he can hear a grunt of pain coming from the now open door Stiles is already halfway down the fire escape that's located at the end of the hallway, the cold wet metal would be almost unbearable because he is running full pelt in this bare feet but he figures that in case the guy wasn't alone his friends are more likely to be waiting for him out front. (And the adrenaline flowing through his body)

Of course, there is still a chance that there could be someone waiting for him at the bottom of the fire escape but the chances of that is slightly less the certain 100% of going out the front entrance so Stiles takes the risk and as he looks over the railing it seems to have paid off. Still he doesn't drop his guard and takes the last few steps at a jump, he slides a little on landing but manages to keep his balance but he's a little distracted for a second as he runs through a particularly deep puddle (Stiles curses the fact that it rained last night) so he doesn't see the car that pulls up at the mouth of the alley.

It is with a grimace on his face that he looks up and sees the car door opening, Stiles is about to turn and reach for the knife up his sleeve that he managed to nab before he made his escape upstairs when he realises that it is Stark that he's glaring down. He slows his run into a mild jog and within seconds he's gliding into the backseat of the car that Tony gestures him to, a bunch of questions on the tip of his tongue when Tony holds up one finger to him and another to his ear. Its then that Stiles notices the comms unit and he nods his head in understanding.

It's a few seconds later when the genius playboy turns to face him again with a smirk present on his face, his hazel eyes holding a glint of amusement.

"Nice pyjamas bambi"

It's then that Stiles remembers that he went to bed in an Iron man hoodie and a pair of basketball shorts that just happen to be the same red as the iron man suits. Really, it's a simple coincidence not the fact years later Lydia's threat of castration if wears clashing colours ever again still scares him into the compliance, and he's a total nerd for the guy. Nope, that's not the reason at all, he's just being fashion conscious and playing tribute to one of his idols something which Stark does not need to know.

Stiles hates his life.

He can't help but let out an embarrassed squeak which only serves to amuse Stark even further and Stiles wants to sink down in the seats or at the very least have the superpower of being invisible which would definitely come in handy with situations such as these.

His embarrassment continues to only go grow more when the car door opens again, and he takes in the horrifying sight of Bucky Barnes glaring down at him.

He smells distinctly of coffee.

And Stiles can see dark splotches on his even darker jacket.

He also has a cut across his forehead which is bleeding sluggishly.

And yep, Stiles had totally thrown a cup of boiling hot coffee at the winter solider.

He's dead.

He wonders if he will ever get through a single interaction with one of the avengers without making a fool of himself; somehow, he seriously doubts it. His luck doesn't work like that no matter how much he wishes that it did, would have saved him from a hella lot of grief back home in good old Beacon Hills, California.

Stiles isn't too sure if he should apologise though, how was he supposed to know that it was Bucky? Would have saved them both a lot of hassle if he told Stiles that he was stopping by or just knocked on the front door. Hell, he would have taken the guy just knocking on the balcony window but no he had to run with his bare feet down the wet, cold and filthy fire escape which lead to him now having gross feet.

Stiles hates gross feet.

They freak him out, not understanding how someone can let their feet get so dirty and he could never trust someone with dirty feet. He really needs to go back upstairs and wash them and put on some nice fluffy socks as he thinks this, he notices that Bucky is for some reason holding his duffle bag in one hand and his trainers in another. He immediately goes on alert as whatever reason the two avengers had for sneaking into his apartment, he knows it can't be good, especially when it looks like Bucky had somehow found the time to pack him a bugout bag.

Stiles slides his hand into the waistband of his shorts, his fingers curling around his phone. He had put it on silent the evening before as he didn't want any distractions whilst he was studying, now he silently curses to himself, wondering how many missed calls from Steve are going to pop up once he unlocks the device. But before he can pull the phone out, he remembers that Steve was called for a mission and wouldn't even have his phone on him.

Stiles doesn't know what the mission is, he of course doesn't have the security clearance for that, except for that one time but that's a whole other story that doesn't bare to think about but now that he racks his brain Stiles is sure, that Steve was supposed to be back already.

Shit.

He frowns up at Bucky, reaching for his trainers to pull them on, his dirty feet the last of his worries right now.

"Is Steve okay?" He frets as he laces up his trainers, his fingers kind of getting numb from the cold drifting into the car as Bucky is standing in front of the still open door, he rubs them to get some feeling and warmth back into them, the action doesn't escape Bucky's gaze and he moves to slide onto the seat next to Stiles and closes the door as he replies. "He's fine, but we need to get you out of here"

Stiles nods in understanding even if he's more confused than anything, if Steve is fine, what the hell was going on?

After the whole world found out about him and Steve he had to sit down with the team and the director of SHIELD (who pretended to have never met him before) to go over a shit ton of protocols and procedures he's meant to follow in the outcome of any multitudes of doomsdays events that had been outlined to him in painstaking detail. The main point was, if something were to happen someone would come and pick him and he was to do as they say when the say it without question. Something which had never been a strong point for him, ever since the Hales had come back to town he had been at the forefront of everything major that happen around him. He had control.

Now he doesn't. He's not sure if he likes it. Every day for the last month Steve has asked him if he was okay with the realities of dating a superhero and every single time, Stiles had said yes without hesitation arguing that he loved Steve, he could handle what came along with loving him.

He might have lied. At least at the time he didn't believe he was lying; he had honestly thought that he could handle anything that came with having Steve and as a by-product the Avengers and their enemies' in his life. So technically he wasn't lying, he just hadn't fully realised the situation he now was in.

Stiles thought that with everything that had happen in Beacon Hills, being the token human running with a pack of wolves, being trained by one of the more deadly and powerful hunter families, dating an avenger would be a walk in the park. It's more like a run through the woods filled with every supernatural creature that goes bump in the night. Whilst he's blindfolded.

Steve is worth it though, so maybe Stiles shouldn't be questioning the whole relationship right now. Nevertheless, he takes comfort in Bucky's words as he knows that the man wouldn't lie to him, not about this. They understand each on a level that they never expected to find outside of Scott and Steve, Bucky knows in the end it's just better if Stiles is kept in the know. As it is Stiles feels that they might understand each other better than their best friends do.

He really needed to stop allowing himself to get side-tracked they had more urgent and important things to concentrate on as evidenced by Bucky suddenly freezing up and taking out his gun which had been hidden underneath his jacket.

"Get down!" The words are shouted in a deep irritated snap as Bucky forcibly hauls Stiles down onto the floor of the car just a round of bullets smash into the window and embed themselves into the opposite side door. The ear-splitting sound a gun going off makes Stiles flinch feeling something raining down on him from just above his head, he rolls his shoulder as he notices that it just glass from the smashed window. When another gunshot goes off the panic starts to relentlessly claw its way up his throat, they needed to move as they were sitting ducks where they were which Stiles didn't understand because they were in a car, so why weren't they driving away?

Stiles sees one of Bucky's return bullets hit a guy in the leg (who looks worryingly familiar), causing him to stumble and the bullet to go off course missing Bucky and instead hitting and bouncing off a nearby trashcan which would have been great if it didn't ricochet off and hit Stiles instead.

Which you know is not good. And extremely painful.

Another gunshot snaps off as they finally peel away from the alley (what took so long?) this one quieter, the sound different more distant and Stiles wonders if it's because they're further away or because he's quickly losing the fight to not black out. Which again is not a good idea. But still Stiles can hear as Tony lets out an explosion of curses when he clocks on to the fact that Stiles has been hit, which brings Bucky's attention back to them. The look on his face lets Stiles know that whatever the super solider sees is not good. As in what he sees could potentially be life threatening.

Great. That's extremely reassuring.

"Shit!"

And Stiles' is definitely dying.

For a guy who has been around guns his whole life, shot at people, been shot at, he has never actually been shot. He really really doesn't like it- 0/10 would not recommend. The whole of his left side is steadily growing more and more numb and he can't even tell where he's been hit since he can't feel anything, and you know he's wearing all red.

His ears begin to ring, and Stiles knows it's only a matter of time before he finally loses the fight, whether or not he gets back up or not afterwards is a whole other battle that he's not sure he's going to come out swinging- triumphant.

#

"Move." The order is shouted at him as soon as he and Tony put Stiles down on a bed in the medbay of the tower, but Bucky can't. If he lets go, he's afraid that the punk is gonna bleed out on them and he can't have that for Steve's sake and if he is being honest his own. Stiles had wormed his way into all of the team's heart in a surprising short amount of time and he was the first person outside of Stark that he actually connected with since Hydra. It's not that he doesn't connect with the rest of the avengers but just not on the same deep level as Stiles who has quickly become his best friend- sorry Steve.

Speaking of.

To say that Steve looked an absolute mess would be paying the man a compliment, Tony had called the team on their way to the tower from car not even half an hour ago yet his friend looked like he had aged a decade in that time but to be fair Stiles looked like he was already dead yet somehow at the same time like he was get progressively worse. Bucky wasn't too sure he could stand to actually see that, but he also was not ready to leave.

"Buck, what happen?" the words were spoken brokenly, it was easy to see in this moment just how much Steve loves his boyfriend and the pain present throughout his voice breaks Bucky just a little bit and he's not sure how to answer the guy, to tell him that it was Bucky's fault. He had seen as the bullet made its way to Stiles but thought that the man had managed to dodge as he hadn't shown any reaction at being hit.

Probably because of the shock, Tony said he went into when he didn't respond to either one of them calling out to him numerous times.

"There was a rouge bullet, it bounced off a bin and hit him. I'm sorry Stevie it's my fault"

Steve shakes his head in denial "No it's not Buck, it was pure chance that the bullet hit him."

And Bucky would take the out, but he can't. "I shot the guy, causing him to misfire and the bullet to go off course and hit Stiles."

It's silent for a moment, as Tony makes his way over to him and pulls Bucky into his side, an armoured hand clutching at his waist protectively. He might be a little bit in love with the guy.

"No, you were just protecting yourself. If it's anyone's fault, then it's mine, they were after him to get to me. This one is on me"

Tony lets out a disbelieving snort from beside him, the hand on his waist tightening for a second before letting go and Bucky looks up to see him shaking his head exasperation, and yeah, they deserve that one he and Steve could go on the blame train all day long if someone lets them.

"Actually, Rogers I don't think it is. When he was hit and before he lost consciousness Stiles said something that worried me, so I did a little digging and it is not good." Bucky frowns at this he hadn't heard anything, and he knows due to the experiments Hydra did on him his hearing is more advanced than his partners. By this time the rest of the team had found their way into the medbay and were waiting for Tony to continue so he lets it go.

"You're in the way, get out." Cho demands, he has always liked her.

The team must have be anxious to hear the rest because they didn't put up a protest at the doctor's orders not even Steve, they just made their way to the conference room on the next floor, so Bucky follows them. Once they are all settled Tony takes a second to get JARVIS to pull up what he had found, they wait somewhat impatiently.

"He said that the guy who shot him looked familiar and working on the assumption that it wasn't due to his connection with Rogers as it has not been that long since the relationship was outed for Stiles to get familiar with someone for our walk of life I had JARVIS run facial recognition and got a hit."

Bucky is not sure what to do with that information, he knows that he hasn't known Stiles all that long but finding out he apparently has enemies who want to kill him makes him feel as he doesn't know the guy at all and looking around the room he can see that the feeling is shared.

Steve especially looks shocked.

"One Joseph Samael Argent, born in France Versailles in 89 there doesn't seem to be anything that directly links him to Stiles, but his niece does or did, An Allison Marie Argent. They were childhood friends until an unspecified accident landed her in coma six years ago" At this point Tony pulls up a picture which looks as it had been taken at a high school party, Bucky can clearly make out Stiles the only guy in the picture of five who looks the same except for a little less facial hair (he had short hair in the picture too) and a whole lot more skinny.

In the picture he has his arms around two girls, with a third to the left of him another on his right. One of them is clearly the girl Allison but Bucky wonders who the other girls are to Stiles as one seems as if she wants to kiss him.

"Which one is the Argent girl?" Sam asks the question they were all wondering.

"The first one on his left, the others are Lydia Martin an ex, Erica Reyes, and Malia Tate another ex"

…

"I thought he was gay?" Asks Bruce, as everyone looks to Steve who the poor punk looks shocked again, Bucky is guessing they hadn't had the awkward chat of ex's yet.

"He's bi, he also dated the girl Malia's cousin Derek, he still talks to them all on quiet a frequent basis."

Steve speaks up at this point, looking downtrodden and done with the debrief already. "None of this is relevant to Stiles getting shot" He snaps out.

Bit aggressive but true Bucky thinks, nodding along in agreement.

"Well his friendship with the Argent girl isn't that concerning within itself but her aunt was outed as a Hydra agent with the info drop when SHIELD fell, nothing suggests that good old Joe was an agent as well, but I think it's toeing the line of chance and coincidence. The ambush outside Stiles' apartment could be an old friend taking advantage of the opportunity the new spotlight on Stiles gave them especially when taking in the Argent girl's condition."

"Do we know what happen with her? Maybe it could spread some light on what happen." Natasha, who had up to now been a silent observer and Bucky suddenly remembers that she and Stiles had grown close as well, often found on the common room speaking in rapid Russian.

Another thing Steve had found that he had not known about his partner, Bucky feels for him, this must be hard for the man but like with everything in his life his friend is resolute, focused on the issue at hand.

"No, not really all I could find out was the Stiles was the only one who saw what happen, the whole thing stinks of a cover up. I think that maybe both Argent and his sister believe Stiles is responsible for whatever happen, and this was revenge, the fact that we found out about the hit through our Hydra contact was a kill two birds with one stone situation"

"Makes sense, get back at Stiles and get at the Rogers at the same time, them dating must of seemed like an added bonus." Rhodes puts forward, it's a solid idea but one thing isn't making any sense to Bucky. Why the cover up in the first place?

"Why do you think that the accident was a cover up?" He asks slightly confused, as the conversation he and Stiles had on the rooftop when the first met springs to mind. He really really hopes that it has nothing to with this, he might have to derail the conversation if it does, he won't betray the little shit's trust not on this.

"Well I would argue that the Argents believed Stiles responsible in the way of him just not protecting Allison from whatever caused the girl to have accident in the first place but his Father was the first person on the scene, camera feeds were cut so I can't even recover the footage because there is none.."

"Is that all?" He asks, sceptical. Maybe he won't have to cover for Stiles after all.

"No, there was some footage from the police interviews I was able to get, Stiles' is missing, but there were others from their friends which suggests to me that Stiles wasn't the only one there, like what is written in the report I haven't had the chance to watch them yet."

Tony bites his lips as he gestures to JARVIS to start the recordings, and Bucky is unsure if he should stop him but he's leading to no if the others didn't go missing like Stiles' they probably didn't say anything too damaging.

(Interviewer): Could you please state your full name and age for the tape.

(Interviewee): Derek Peter Hale, 29

Mr Hale can you recall to the best of your ability your account of what happen on the evening of September 1st when Miss Argent was hospitalised.

I was on my way to the store when I got a call from my uncle to come to the high school…

And why would your uncle call you to the high school?

At the time I was not sure, but I made the detour as he sounded stressed and like it was urgent, I arrived about ten minutes later.

And what did you see Mr Hale when you arrived at the location?

My uncle, Chris Argent and Stiles Stilinski crouching around someone, the person who I later saw was Allison Argent was bleeding.

What was your response when you took in the scene?

I asked Argent, Chris sorry if Allison was okay and what had happen as he was her father and thought he would know, he just shook his head and I took that to mean he didn't know, my uncle and Stiles also shook their heads.

Thank you, Derek I am wondering if you know how Mr Argent and his companions found themselves at the high street if they were unaware of what had occurred?

I am unsure, from what I know Stiles had called Chris and my uncle happen to be with him at the time so they both went to Stiles together.

I see, and do you know what was said in that phone conversation?

I…

The video abruptly went blank, like the feed had purposefully been cut off, and yeah this was definitely a cover up and Bucky is about 99% sure what it's a cover up for.

"Someone cut the feed" Thank you for pointing out the obvious Clint, Tony nevertheless nodded his head in agreement stating that they all were like that before playing the next.

Miss Martin, could you tell me why were you at the school on the evening of September 1st?

No, I can't.

And why is that?

I don't know, I was at a friend's when I was hit over the head and the next thing, I knew I was at the School. I can't tell you because I don't know.

And which friend was this? If you could also say who was present at the time in question.

Scott McCall's, all of our friends were there.

If you could list them, please Miss Martin for the record.

Um, Scott obviously, Kira, Isaac, Erica, Boyd, Malia, Jackson, Derek, Cora, Aiden, Ethan, Stiles and Allison.

Thank you, Miss Martin and to clarify, the Stiles and Boyd you are referring to are a Genim Noah Stilinski and one Vernon Andrew Boyd.

Yes, that's right.

And do you know if Mr Stilinski and Miss Argent had a fight, or disagreement prior to her accident which landed her in coma.

No, Stiles would never hurt Ally!

Do you know if Ally had any arguments with anyone else for example Mr Hale?

N…

The feed cuts out again.

"Wait are they talking about the Scott, Stiles was so concerned about a month ago during the invasion?"

The next interviews plays.

"Mr Argent, how did you come across the scene at the high school, if you were apparently on the other side of town?

Stiles had called me.

I see, and are you in the habit of picking up phone calls from your daughter's friends?

No, but Stiles along with Lydia Martin are her closet friends and are always over the house so I have gotten to know them well if either one of them called me I would answer.

And what about Scott McCall, would you answer if he called?

I do not see how that is relevant to the situation at hand.

You do not see how previous to the accident you had, and I quote "pulled a gun out at me in the parking lot just because I was dating his daughter"

No, I don't see how that is relevant.

And similar incident didn't occur with Mr Stilinski when in the hospital as just as suspicious accident as this one where Miss Martin was hospitalised?

Lydia was mauled by a wild animal; I don't see how it's suspicious.

It happen on the same field as your daughter's attack Mr Argent and both times Mr Stilinski was the first at the scene. Do you not find that at the least suspicious?

In…

The screen completely turns off.

"Okay, that definitely was a cover up if I ever saw one" Sam is the first one to say, something in his voice that Bucky can't quite pinpoint and he knows he most definitely needs to run interference on Stiles behalf.

"Yeah but I don't think it's because of Stiles" Bucky argues instantly, needing to head off the idea that Stiles is responsible before it gains traction the others jump on it.

"This is Stiles we're talking about and I mean Tony said that he stilled talked and even dated that Martin girl and him and Scott are still friends if he had attacked the girls, I hardly doubt they would still talk to him let alone be his best friends"

Luckily Bucky can see as the others take this in and seem to believe the idea of Stiles being some apparent female hater less though he himself now has some doubts as he was unaware of the attack on the Martin girl but he honestly believes what he said to the team so he knows whatever the truth is Stiles is still one of the good guys, he just hopes that the others don't continue dig further into this as he's not sure any of them will like what they find out.

"Sir, Dr Cho would like me to inform you that Mr Stilinski is stable and now awake."

…