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“Hey – Manchurian candidate – put down the gun, you’re killing me here.”
“Tony,” Bucky lowered the gun in exasperation. “What are you doing here? What happened to following the accords?”
“Eh-”
Bucky glanced at Steve who was looking at Tony intently.
“Truce?” Tony said. “I’m here to help. Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself.”
“Well,” Bucky said smiling, “Good to have you.”
Steve had seemed to take Tony’s stance on the accords as bitterly personal. Bucky had been concerned, but everyone told him to let the two of them handle it between themselves. He had been pissed at the advice, like it wasn’t his best friend and his godson on the verge of blows. But then, he had been forced to face his own problems, being accused of sabotaging the accords by blowing the embassy, becoming a fugitive and hunted by the police, strike teams and the Black Panther and worse of all, having an old nightmare resurrected in the form of Zemo and the triggers, which he had kept secret for decades. Only three apart from him had known and two of them were dead and the third was pretending to be dead; or so he had thought.
“Okay,” Steve said finally. “Let’s move.”
“Listen,” Bucky said to Tony in a low voice, as they resumed their sweep of the bunker. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the triggers-”
“It’s fine,” Tony said, without looking at him.
“Really?” Bucky asked doubtfully. Tony had been furiously hurt that Bucky had chosen to keep it from him. It had made the friction and conflict around the accords even worse.
“Yes. Yeah no- you know what, you should have told me.”
Before Bucky could reply, Steve spoke up. “It was your choice Bucky, and your secret to tell.”
Tony glared at Steve’s back. “Hello! Having a private conversation here!”
Bucky laughed and tried to defuse the by now familiar tension by cracking a joke. “Don’t mind him, he’s missing his red thong lady.”
Tony looked at him with wide eyes. “R-red-”
“Some dame I like to tease him about,” Bucky chuckled. “Never met her, only saw her…underthing while she was hiding in the bathroom a couple months back. A one-night stand, I think. I’ll tell you the whole thing later.”
Tony snorted. “Yeah? You miss your red thong lady Rogers?”
Steve looked at him and then looked away. “Yes,” he replied. Bucky raised his eyebrows.
Astonished, Tony stopped dead in his tracks. “Huh,” he said. “Well, I’m sure…she misses you dreadfully too.”
Steve ducked his head bashfully.
Bucky was proud of Tony’s emotional maturity; in that he was refraining from teasing Steve.
Content that his two boys were getting along, Bucky moved forward, casing the bunker cautiously.
The next few minutes went by in a blur. The other Hydra super-soldiers had been a part of his suppressed memories, remembered only after Zemo had used the trigger words on him. Bucky had a nagging suspicion that it wasn’t unintentional on Zemo’s part.
Seeing them dead was a relief…and something else. He had been one of them after all. He could not help but see himself in a cryo chamber with a bullet in his head. He shuddered.
Zemo then began his spiel, pontificating and being a general ass. Was he really talking about Steve’s eyes? Someone had a crush. Unlike the last time they faced off, Zemo wasn’t paying Bucky much attention which let him do a visual reconnaissance of the area. Someone would have to sneak in at the back or brute strength-
“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within?” Zemo declared dramatically. “That's dead…forever.”
Zemo had started playing a video.
“What is this?” Bucky asked no one in particular. He frowned as he recognised the picture on the screen. “I know that elevator.” He shot a quick look at Steve. “That’s the elevator from our old apartment building, Steve.” He and Steve had rented a two-bedroom in D.C. before moving into the Avengers compound.
A crackling noise emerged from Tony’s suit. He shot a look of concern towards him but his attention was quickly drawn back towards the screen where the video was still playing. The doors in the elevator open and Steve and Tony enter the space.
Bucky felt a sense of dread rise up in him. What is he going to see? Steve and Tony have never gotten along, not since their first meeting when Tony shot his mouth off and Steve rose up to the challenge and inadvertently compared Bucky and Tony not knowing the relationship between them.
Tony had sulked for days.
He had hoped the rapport between them would eventually improve but – it never did. A few months ago, it had seemed that the two of them were getting closer. They were fighting less, and the insults were practically fond. Like when he and Steve teased the other about taking ‘all the stupid with them’.
He had even encouraged the two of them to go out on double dates- Tony with Pepper and Steve with Sharon, just like he and Steve used to in the 40’s. But when he’d suggested that, Tony had made a strange face and Steve had gone a funny color. He’d dropped the idea, figuring that Tony and Pepper were having problems or were off in their on-off relationship and Steve was rethinking whether to get involved with the niece of his old flame. Bucky really couldn’t blame him, no matter how much he liked Sharon.
Still, he’d been a little disappointed. Steve hadn’t shown more than a passing interest in anyone but Sharon since they’d defrosted him. Steve wasn’t willing to talk, so Bucky cornered Sharon in the laundry room and played the concerned uncle, inquiring subtly about her and Steve. She’d caught on pretty quick what he was doing and gave him nothing as she deflected and retreated. Maybe it was too weird, her and Steve.
He gave up and turned to Nat, his old partner-in-crime, ready to set Steve up again. But strangely, she declined and said that ‘Steve was a big boy and could handle his own relationships’.
But just when Bucky hoped that his best friend and the man he’d helped raise as a boy were finally becoming friends, they drifted apart again. And this time it was worse. They stopped spending time together, where the three of them used to hang out together, it was just him and Steve or him and Tony. When Steve and Tony were in a room together, the energy between them would be intense- like they wanted to beat the hell out of each other; just like before, only worse now.
Even their sparring sessions had gone out of hand. One day, Bucky had glimpsed a set of bruises on Tony. Furious he had gone to Steve – no one else could have done it. When he’d confronted him, Steve had started stammering and Bucky had given him a good talking to, reminding him that Tony didn’t have the serum like them and Steve had to be more careful with him.
One of the few times he could get them in a room together that didn’t involve Avengers business was their bi-weekly Sunday brunches. Bucky would stumble out of his room to Steve and Tony waiting in the kitchen area, drinking coffee and either staring at each other or looking away. In the middle they had begun to talk. That stopped later and it back to the staring and looking away.
Tony had gotten busy, citing Pepper riding herd on him and not wanting to make things difficult for her after the breakup, even though it was old news by then. Bucky had been concerned for a while that Tony had been angry that Bucky had moved in with Steve but they had talked and Tony had assured him that there were no hard feelings and he understood Bucky’s need to be there for his friend.
Not that Steve seemed to need him much. For about quite a while now, he had been taking on extra, secretive missions, and Bucky wouldn’t be able to contact him for hours or days. Other times, he would say he’d be with Sam, but when Bucky called Wilson, he’d rarely pass the phone to Steve. He’d give Bucky shit, mutter something about the bro code and pretend he was going through a tunnel. Wilson was an ass, no matter what Steve said.
All this passed through his head as he watched the video, expecting the worst. Something had been building up for a while and now it was going to explode.
In the video, Steve leaned forward and pressed a button. His shoulders were tight, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets, as if he were prepared for a fight. Tony suddenly turned and shoved Steve against the elevator wall. Steve didn’t fight him and Tony…pressed up against him? Bucky squinted; the video quality wasn’t great. Steve surged and flipped their positions, now it was Tony pressed against the wall. They grappled against each other, tearing their clothes off in the process…
No.
No. No. No.
What the hell?
What the hell was looking at?
Bucky’s vision went red.
Bucky turned to Steve. “Did you – is this true? Is it you?”
Steve swallowed. “Bucky --”
“Is it?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Don’t bullshit me Rogers! Is it you and Tony…fucking in the elevator of our old building?”
Steve held his gaze steadily. “Yes.”
Bucky counted five beats of his heart before he gave in and punched Steve. With his metal arm.
He turned towards Tony. His baby—with Steve’s hands all over him – ugh. “What the fuck? I thought you hated him!”
Tony looked at him sheepishly. “We…uh…”
“How long has this been going on?” Bucky demanded.
“A while,” Tony admitted.
Bucky looked at him as he let the memories wash over him, Tony at five, running over and breathlessly demanding to be lifted up; at six, showing him his first robot; at ten years, hiding his tears at being sent to boarding school, declaring to be too old for teddy bears and later stuffing his Bucky Bear in his suitcase anyway; at fifteen, bright eyed and still painfully young, enthusiastically wandering MIT, being trailed by Bucky, unaware of the death threats; in his twenties in a cave, being tortured and Bucky far away.
From behind, Bucky heard Steve climb to his feet. “I’m going to kill him,” Bucky declared and turned around and launched himself at Steve.
They rolled over the rough stone floor together, Bucky getting in punches whenever he could and Steve futilely trying to defend himself. Tony hovered nearby, fretting.
“Bucky,” Tony wailed. “He’s your friend!”
“He was.”
Steve finally threw him off. “Bucky, come on!” he panted. “I’m your friend!”
“You should have thought of that before sleeping with my kid, you sick bastard!”
“We should have told you, I know Buck --”
The video was still playing. Steve had Tony bent over and was rhythmically thrusting – how long -
Bucky took out his gun and fired the whole clip at Steve, who brought up the shield. The bullets bounced off uselessly. He glowered as Steve peeked over the shield, blue eyes wide and cautious. The damn video was still playing –
He looked down as he reloaded the clip automatically and ducked just in time as the shield passed over him. Outraged, he glared at Steve.
His former friend held up his hands in a defensive gesture. “Instinct, sorry!”
Bucky cursed him out. “Did you know when Tony was nine, he dressed up as you for Halloween, you pervert?”
“You’re acting like this is my first sex tape,” Tony said in a long-suffering tone.
He raised the gun again and Steve backed up, Bucky didn’t know why he was being such a wuss. The bullets wouldn’t hurt him. Much. He’d heal.
Before he could fire, Tony shot off a repulser blast, knocking the gun out of his hands. “Bucky, please, I love him,” Tony said in a teasing voice with only a hint of nervousness.
“Let’s just talk calmly,” Steve started. Bucky hated that tone. Tony had hated that tone too. And wasn’t it just hypocritical? Steve had never chosen talking calmly over anything, the bastard.
“We wanted to tell you Bucky but -” Steve huffed. “We were afraid you wouldn’t react well. And well, can you blame us?” Steve spread his hands.
“What is this we pale face,” Tony muttered in the background. Steve looked irritated at the interruption.
“You do not get to use my reaction against me!” Bucky screamed at he resorted to throwing rocks at Steve. “He is a child.”
“Hey!” Tony objected.
“Be quiet,” Bucky snapped at him.
“Bucky, you’re my friend and Tony’s godfather, but this our life,” Steve said firmly.
Bucky risked a glance at the monitor and the control room. The Black Panther was creeping up on Zemo and the recording was still playing, Tony was on his knees now, Steve in front of him and was making full use of the serum’s refractory capacity.
The red haze in front of his eyes was throbbing, much like the strobe lights in the clubs Tony had liked to visit years ago.
He turned around and stormed off. He’d been here before and knew what to look for and where to look. He broke open the lock to the vault with his metal hand and rummaged around. He grabbed his favourite, and stomped back.
Steve backed away when he saw Bucky and his new accessory. “Is that a bazooka?” he asked in horror.
“Steve, run!” Tony yelled.
Bucky fired as Steve fled, cursing as he missed by a few feet.
“Would you just calm down!” Tony yelled.
“I can’t believe you’re taking his side!”
“I can’t believe you’re trying to kill him! I can sleep with whoever I want!” Tony said.
“Not while I’m alive you’re not.” Bucky says angrily. “No way I’m letting you have sex with a nonagenarian – what’s the matter with you??”
“What two people do in the privacy of their bedrooms and the occasional elevator and uh- hallway closet is no one’s business but --”
Understanding dawned on Bucky like a red sun over a nuclear devastated land. “Those bruises...they weren’t from sparring, were they? It was sex?!”
“Look, it’s wasn’t his fault, I just like it rough sometimes-”
“Tony, you’re. not. helping.”
“Don’t speak to him like that!”
“Buck, I’m not your precious princess okay?” Tony bit out through gritted teeth.
Bucky calmly shot the bazooka at Steve again.
“You’re going to bring the whole thing down on us!” Steve said.
Bucky didn’t answer. He charged after him, dodging the blasts from Tony’s repulsers.
“Head for the top, Steve!” Tony called out.
Steve started climbing the rough rock walls of the bunker, heading for the opening at the top of the cavern. Bucky loaded and took careful aim, but before he could fire, Tony blocked and seized him. Cursing, he struggled to get out of Tony’s hold, but Bucky’s unwillingness to hit him hampered him.
“Sierra Tango Four Charlie Alpha Nine Winter,” Bucky spat out.
The suit locked, immobilised. “Friday, keep him safe and in one place for a couple minutes, okay?”
“Acknowledged,” Friday said.
“I can’t believe you used the override code on me!” Tony howled over her. “It’s only for when I go evil!”
Bucky turned away, feeling only a little guilty. He narrowed his eyes at Steve, who was halfway up the mountain and fired a few feet above him. Steve dodged the avalanche of rocks and scrambled at the wall as he slid down, trying to slow his descent and finally fell the last few feet on his back like a damn turtle.
He headed grimly over to Steve’s prone body, when Steve leaped into action and threw a huge chuck of rock at him which Bucky dodged only to see the shield come flying at his face. He was forced to drop the bazooka to catch the disc.
“How could you do this?” Bucky demanded, as he threw the shield at Steve legs. “Have you no shame?” Steve jumped into the air like a fucking ballerina and caught the shield as bounced back.
“I can’t exactly go out with people my age,” Steve complained, bracing the shield and letting it take the hits as Bucky pounded away at him. “If I try having sex with people in my age bracket, I’ll break their hips.”
“Oh, so he’s convenient, is that it?” Bucky demanded. “Tony, did you hear that?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Bucky feinted left and grabbed a chunk of Steve’s hair.
“Ow, let go of my hair! Dammit!”
“Language!” Bucky shouted as he wrestled Steve to the floor.
A few feet away, the Black Panther and Iron Man watched as the Winter Soldier tried to throttle Captain America.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Iron Man muttered.
“I know,” Black Panther murmured over the sound of two super-soldiers grappling and yelling at each other. “I saw the video.”
“I really need to get a copy of that.”
“How long is this going to go on?” Black Panther asked, nodding at the scene in front of them.
“All day,” Iron Man said, fatalistic.
They exchanged a look, understanding passing between them as they stepped forward to end it.
CODA
Steve was standing in front of Bucky’s cryo unit in Wakanda in pensive thought when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.
He smiled as Tony nuzzled the back of his neck. “He’ll be okay,” Tony whispered. “Shuri has some good ideas to get the triggers out of his head. She’s also going to replace his arm with one made of vibranium. He kind of dented the other one on you.” Steve nodded his head once as they looked at Bucky sleeping peacefully in cryo.
He twisted to his side and pulled Tony closer to kiss him deeply. “Ross isn’t giving you too much trouble, is he?”
“I can handle him,” Tony whispered. He took hold of Steve’s hand on his back and slid it downward. “You just handle me.” Steve obligingly squeezed Tony’s full ass.
They resumed kissing with Steve’s hands on Tony’s ass when Steve had a strange feeling and opened his eyes. He screamed and jumped to hide behind Tony while Tony clutched his chest in shock at the sight.
It was Bucky, eyes bulging, as he glared at Steve from within the cryo unit.