Part 4 – Therapy & Kisses
Two weeks go by quickly, Tony slots into their little social circle with ease, and finds his place with Bucky, Bruce and Jane. Bruce and Jane share all his science classes, and finding friends who actually knew what he was talking about, was beyond amazing. Rhodey had never been interested, nor had Pepper, and Happy, god bless him, was a fucking idiot. But Bruce and Jane could delve in complex scientific discussions, Bruce wanted to study nuclear-physics, and Jane astrophysics – Tony is immensely interested in both, and took the opportunity to discuss them at length with his new friends, although he knew that Howard would make him go into engineering and business when he got to college.
Tony found that Bucky was quite intelligent also, but in more of a general sense, he was full of potential both mentally and physically, with no idea what he wanted to do with his life. At least Tony had a plan, even if it was just Howard's plan, but Bucky was just aimless.
Tony had gotten to know Bucky's family well, too. His mother, Wini, was delightful, and very enthusiastic about having Tony around. Tony really admired her, she managed to cope through her husband's death and raise Rebecca, while working a full-time job and keep her family from the edge of poverty. She reminded Tony of his mother Maria, both of them strong-willed and loving. Whenever Tony spent time with Wini, the fact that his mother was thousands of miles away in New York was a little easier to handle. And Rebecca was the only child Tony could stand, at a mere six years old she was able to manipulate everyone around her into doing her bidding (except Wini, of course) and she had a firmer grasp on sarcasm, the likes of which Tony hadn't seen on anyone, let alone a little girl.
Howard didn't say anything about Tony spending all his time at Bucky's, he was never around to say anything – he spent all his time in New York for business, and always took Jarvis with him. And as much as Tony liked his father being gone, he hated being alone. Bucky hated him staying on his own too.
They were at the dinner table, eating Wini's special stew, listening to Rebecca talk about all the different kinds of Pokémon, when Tony noticed that Bucky was in pain. He winced as he moved the salt across the table with his prosthetic arm. Tony wanted his ask if he was okay, but his family hadn't noticed, and Bucky wasn't one to mention it.
After dinner, Tony followed Bucky upstairs, they were in the habit of playing video games for hours, while Wini assumed they were doing homework.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked, as soon as the door was safely shut behind them.
"Nothing," Bucky said flippantly, "I'm fine."
Tony crossed his arms and shook his head, "You're in pain," he insisted, "I saw you. Let me look at your arm."
"No, Tony, it's nothing really. Just a twitch, it hardly even hurts, I swear," he said quickly, trying to drop the issue, by sitting down, and finding his way to the controller. Yet, he betrayed himself a second time, as he flinched at the sharp pain shooting up his arm.
Tony was at his side in seconds, "You're so full of it," he accused. "Take off your shirt, and give me a look."
"You just want to get me undressed," Bucky grinned slyly.
Tony's cheeks reddened. "You can't flirt your way out of this one," he said sternly.
Bucky sighed, giving in, he slowly rolled up his shirt, give Tony a fine view of his muscled torso. Tony tried not to stare too obviously, fighting back the urge to run his hands across Bucky's abdomen.
With his shirt off, Tony noticed that there was a great amount of scarring where Bucky's metal arm was attached. He gritted his teeth, hoping the scarring was from the accident, rather than some incompetent doctor butchering the surgery. Bucky's shoulder muscles were strained tightly, and Tony could tell Bucky hadn't been doing any kind of physical therapy.
Bucky shifted uncomfortably as Tony moved behind him, but the younger boy quickly eased his worries, with a small, light touch on his aching neck. "You haven't been exercising it," Tony accused softly, keeping his tone light and friendly. He pressed his hand a little more firmly, and began to massage Bucky's neck and shoulder.
"Oh," Bucky gasped, not expecting the sharp pain to turn to pleasure so quickly.
For a moment, Tony wasn't sure if he hurt him, but he didn't stop to ask. If Bucky wanted him to stope he would say so. "If you don't participate in every step of the recovery, you'll only be doing more damage to your body," Tony lectured idly, "you need to constantly relax your shoulder muscles, or they'll become useless."
Bucky ignored his words, but payed close attention to the short burst of pleasure and relief that came with Tony's slender hands working his body.
However, Tony wasn't making all the pain go away. The pain came from his arm… not his actual arm, per se, but the nerve endings that had been integrated into the upper mechanical part of his arm, the part he wasn't able to remove. Tony seemed to realise this, because, while one hand was rubbing Bucky's neck firmly, the other was using a screwdriver to unhook his arm.
"Is that okay?" Tony asked.
"It's fine, doll."
"Oh, it's 'doll' now, is it?" Tony chuckled, removing Bucky's arm completely. He could tell that Bucky felt uncomfortable with the removal of his arm, but, again, he didn't say anything. Carefully, Tony placed the arm on the bed, and focused on the stump left behind. Bucky's shoulder was permanently infused with metal, designed so Bucky could unlatch his prosthetic from it without irritating his actual flesh.
Bucky gave him a worried look, "I'm sorry if it grosses you out- it's… I should see someone else."
"It doesn't gross me out, Buck," Tony insisted, "you don't need to worry about that with me, not ever. C'mon now, I want to try an exercise with you, are you up for that?"
For a moment, Bucky was reluctant, but Tony seemed to know what he was doing well enough. "Yeah, okay. What did you have in mind?"
"Okay, um, I need you to like clench your left fist for me, can you do that?"
Bucky couldn't help but look at him like he was an idiot. "You're kidding, right?"
"I know it sounds stupid, but even though your arm isn't there anymore, a lot of your nerves still are; so, your brain still thinks your arm in there. Just close your eyes, and clench your left fist and right as hard as you can. It's probably going to hurt."
"Okay…" Bucky closed his eyes.
Tony saw him flinch with pain, and knew that the nerves must have flared up. His flesh hand was also clenched into a fist. "That's it," he encouraged gently. "Now hold that while I count backwards from ten, okay?
Bucky nodded, gritting his teeth.
"Ten… nine, eight, seven – that's it Bucky, keep going – five, four… three, two, one. Now release…"
Bucky's eyes flew open and he stared at Tony in shock. The release rippled through him, the sharp pain that had been pulsating in his arm dissipated, and was left feeling relaxed. He made a pleased sound in the back of his throat, "T-Tony! Holy shit, that… I didn't know that could even happen!"
Tony was surprised, "Really? I thought this was pretty basic, didn't your physical therapist ever do this with you?"
Bucky shook his head, "We couldn't afford one. The arm came with the help of a charity, but with the medical bills…"
Tony dropped the subject, he knew Bucky could get uncomfortable about money sometimes. "Well, that's a really good one to try. Sometimes your nerves will clench up on their own, but you can make them relax just like every other part of your body."
"How do you know about this, doll?" Bucky asked curiously.
"You remember me mentioning Rhodey?" Tony asked.
Bucky nodded, "You mean your Best Friend Forever™? You only mention him every day."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Well, he was injured about a year ago, testing out some new tech for Howard. He had nerve damage in both his legs, and lower back. I helped him through his recovery."
Bucky smiled at Tony, feeling a spark of intimacy between them. "You really miss him, don't you?"
"I really miss all of them. It's okay though… I have you."
Tony was staring at Bucky's lips, and the older boy had to desperately fight back the urge to lean in and kiss him. He knew that Tony's lips would be soft and gentle against his own, but he couldn't. Tony was so young, it wasn't Bucky's place to pursue him.
Fortunately, Bucky wasn't forced to make that decision, as Tony closed the gap between them, pressing his lips firmly against Bucky's.
He pulled back quickly, blushing heavily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… um, I-I should go."
He moved to get up, but Bucky stopped him. "No, Tony, come here," Bucky said gently, pulling him back.
Bucky kissed him gently, waiting patiently for Tony to respond. In took a moment for Tony's brain to start working again, but when it did, he had his arms thrown around Bucky's neck and was kissing him back passionately.