Archive of Our Own

Work Text

JAMES’ MIND had barely caught up before his body was gently lifted out of cryostasis and onto a stretcher. King T’challa was standing there with a polite smile on his face, as regal as ever. As soon as he had exited the tube, James knew something was off. The king stood there with a false mask of pleasantries. The chestnut brown eyes were unreadable but the way the King’s husband was standing behind him told another story.

The king’s husband was an intimidating man, broad and muscular, and a chief among his own tribe. In the year or so that James had been in cryo there had been a brief stint of a Wakandan civil war and, at one point, there was a new king. James had garnered the favor of Shuri during an interlude in his treatment where he had been out of cryo for a month or so. Shuri idly chatted with him as she helped the doctors deactivate the triggers buried in his head. She told of the cousin who came to Wakanda with a vibranium thief’s body in a bag and a plan to usurp the throne.

-

The vibranium chair was cold against James fingertips, the metallic feeling grounding him to this moment. Shuri was muttering to herself as she spun the holographic images of his brain to and fro. He caught snippets of her complaining under her breath about the ‘insufferable American’ currently being housed under T’challa’s orders. He hesitantly lifted his hand in a gesture reminiscent of a schoolkid and waited for Shuri to notice.

“Yes, Sergeant Colonizer?” Shuri asked, the nickname had sprouted from her forced politeness and the sass that had bled through. Steve had been miffed when he first heard the nickname but James had assured him that he was okay with it. Even though his mind was shot to hell, James could appreciate a good joke or nickname. He vaguely remembered having a pretty good sense of humor in the forties.

“Is Steve giving you trouble again? I overheard you say something about an annoying American.”

Her eyes softened through her irritation, “No, Mr. Rogers hasn’t caused any trouble recently.” She paused for a second, seemingly in thought, before continuing, “I’m annoyed at a family predicament right now, I don’t know if I should be saying this to an ex-assassin, but I think I might just tell you anyway. Basically, T’challa and I recently found out we have a cousin. His name is Erik and when he came here, he was furious at all of us for an injustice that our father, King T’chaka,” Her voice cracked at the past king’s name, reminding James of the reason T’challa had come after him in the first place. “committed. In fact, Erik had claimed that he had been thinking about killing us and getting revenge for most of his life.”

“He challenged T’challa for the throne and won, leaving the country without someone they could fully trust and us without a home. My mother, Nakia, and I fled to Chief M’baku’s land, the Jabari Mountains, we arrived and it turned out that M’baku’s fisherman had found T’challa’s body. They were keeping him in a comatose state on snow that was blessed by the gorilla god Himself. Nakia had also snagged what makes the Black Panther powerful and gave it to T’challa, who then woke up. Afterwards, T’challa went back to the palace and, with the help of the Doras and M’baku’s tribe, took back the throne and defeated Erik. Erik had wanted to… die after losing the fight between him and T’challa but we healed him and put him through therapy.”

James processed all of this information. This cousin of theirs, ‘Erik’, was definitely a skilled fighter if he was able to take down T’challa in one-on-one combat. James decided then and there to try and avoid this ‘Erik’. He kept his distance but offered Shuri a sympathetic smile. “Well, I hope you guys start to get along soon. Family is important.”

Shuri snorted, looking at something over James’ shoulder, “Well, yeah. Plus, The Good Captain seems to think so too considering how he’s hovering near the doorway.” James looked over and, sure enough, Steve was standing on the other side of the glass door leading to Shuri’s workshop. James rolled his eyes at the worried(/nosy) expression decorating Steve’s face. Ever since they got to Wakanda and James went back into cryo, Steve have never stopped hovering and fretting like a mother hen.

It really fucking pissed him off.

-
“-ardon.” James looked up at the king, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”

The chief behind him huffed at the blatant display of American-ism but, nevertheless, T’challa repeated himself. “I said that the Accords Council has negotiated a pardon for you, James. They intend to use Dr. Stark’s retro-framing technology in order to negate the effects that the triggers have on you.”

His mind was racing. Why would those governments pardon him? He killed so many people-

too many

- and they were still letting him get off scot-free? And helping him at that! Stark was using his own tech to help lock away the commands. He didn’t deserve this, he didn’t deserve any of it. He killed the man’s

parents

and he still wanted to help?

“When do I leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

That was… soon. “I suppose I’d have to tell Steve, huh?”

“I suppose you should inform him, yes.”

Chief M’baku snorted from his spot behind the king, “To make sure he doesn’t go running around like a chicken who thinks it’s a lion.”

James chuckled at that, the chief wasn’t wrong. Steve had pissed off so many countries, so many governments, looking for James and recovering him. He betrayed his own teammate, comrade, boyfriend to ‘save’ James. When in actuality, James didn’t want to be found. He just wanted to live peacefully in his apartment with his plums. But Steve had ruined all of that for a man who had been dead for a very long time.

“Thank you, majesties. I don’t know if I can ever repay you.”

T’challa waved his hand in dismissal while M’baku just sniffed, crossing his arms. “Nonsense, consider it an apology for wrongfully pursuing you for a crime you did not commit.” T’challa shared a look with M’baku, grimacing, “Besides, you were the only one I had offered refuge to.”

James cringed at the reminder, Steve and the team had taken T’challa’s offer to James and extended it to themselves. They were a handful for the kings, often causing conflict with the staff and trash-talking Stark at every given moment. That was what the king’s little sister had hated the most. Shuri considered it a personal insult when they demeaned Stark as he was the closest in intellect to her along with collaborating together on various technological projects. That’s completely ignoring the fact that she was dating his adoptive daughter!

In fact, according to Shuri, almost all of Dr. Stark’s children were like him personality-wise. Riri, his most recent adoptee, was all sarcastic jokes and quippy remarks. With a genius-level intellect, Riri was a great person to collaborate on tech with and bounce ideas off of. Not to mention, improving her Ironheart suit together. If you asked Shuri, tech upgrades and burritos were the perfect date.

Harley inherited the genius’ charming and witty personality, almost worming his way into your heart. Along with Harley, was his little sister, Mackenzie. She insisted everyone call her Mack instead, she would become furious if you slipped and called her Kenzie. They were more the mechanical types, fixing everything from old cars and motorcycles to dusty computers from dumpster diving with Peter. They were his first kids, brought to him only a year or so before Siberia.

Peter wasn’t his son… technically. It was obvious to anyone that Dr. Stark considered him a son and, in turn, Peter saw him as a father figure. He went to the Compound

at least

once a weekend. May was lenient ever since she found out about what he did to keep Peter safe. Excluding the repossession on the suit, Shuri remembered Riri telling her Dr. Stark had been chewed out for about two hours.

It was close to the same type of deal with the an

other

Spiderman, Miles. Although, it had been another Spiderman from the collision that held the spot as mentor and… uncle figure? Miles came to the Compound along with Peter after the multiverse collision that brought

all the other

Spider-people. He visited as much as he could but dimensional travel was very iffy.

James looked down at his hands and sighed. This was his best bet of being fully in control of himself and getting those words out of his head. He looked up to the kings, nodded his head, and walked off in the direction of where Steve and the team were staying.

-

When James walked into the room, all heads snapped up to him. Natalia was regarding him with some type of analyzing stare, probably trying to figure out what he had been talking about with the king. Steve was already standing up, eyes softened and welcoming. It made James uncomfortable. Barton, after getting over the initial shock, turned his attention back to the TV which was showing a broadcast about the new recruits for the Avengers. Wilson and Lang were exchanging whispers and looked as if they wanted to announce something as well. And the witch was idly playing with her magic, staring at James the entire time. James didn’t like that even a little bit.

Steve went to hug him and James swerved himself downwards and to the right, effectively dodging the embrace. He ignored the hurt that flashed across Steve’s face and cleared his throat. Steve recovered quickly and settled with a pat on the back that still set off the alarms in James’ head.

“Welcome back, Buck. I’m so happy you’re okay. Did the kings treat you alright? I swear, that King M’baku is so rude sometimes. You know, I oughta have a word with-”

“Stevie. Calm down. I’m completely fine, the kings were great. You don’t need to hover so much.”

His eyes softened and he led James over to one of the plush couches. Awkwardly, James sat down beside the blonde. He noticed the pinched expression on James’ face. “Bucky, what’s wrong?”

James let out a deep sigh, “I’m leaving.”

“Wha-”

“I’ve been pardoned and I’m going to get the triggers taken out of my head. I-”

“Why don’t you just stay here? Isn’t the princess working on getting them out? You just need to give them some more time.”

“No, Steve. I’m going back to the U.S. It’s my best bet.”

Steve crossed his arms, adopting a disappointed stance. “Who’s providing this?”

“Stark.”

“Bucky, you have to be joking! He tried to kill you and now you’re going to him with the most dangerous part of you!”

That seemed to have caught the attention of Barton and the witch as they both looked at James with fury in their eyes. The witch glowered with red tendrils of magic snaking up her arms and weaving around the hair resting on her biceps.

“Stark is bad news. He’ll claim to care about you or whatever, then he’ll turn around and stab you in the back.” The archer let out a hoarse chuckle, “Thing is, he’ll play the victim every. single. time. Don’t trust him.”

James shrugged his shoulders at them, “It won’t matter since I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”

Before Steve or any of the others could get a word in, Lang and Wilson cleared their throat. “Before you start another tirade about Stark,” Lang began. “Sam and I made a deal yesterday with T’challa and the Accords Council. We’re going back tomorrow.”

Barton threw his hands in the air and let out a scoff. He mumbled something about them all being pussies in the face of “The Great Stark”. James rolled his eyes at the comments and opted to stand instead. Then, Steve looked up at him with those big blue eyes and James wondered if this was the right choice. If Stark was really that bad.

-

It turned out that those accusations were just another pile of horseshit.

Natalia had come to him later that night, warning that Stark worked only in his best interests. That he only cared about himself and wouldn’t hesitate to cut him loose if it benefitted him. Almost as soon as she said it, a newscast came up of a journalist praising Stark and his children revolutionizing the prosthetic industry. He just shrugged at the deep sigh she let loose and continued on to his room.

-

The next morning was somewhat uneventful.

James still boarded the plane(?) he was taking with Wilson, Lang, and Shuri to America despite Steve’s protests. Barton was in a particularly bad mood and got a little too caught up in his anger, causing him to be escorted out by two Doras. Natalia had opted to stay with the witch, who wasn’t allowed to be anywhere near Shuri or M’baku.

Shuri had good reason to be kept away from the witch, at least in James’ opinion. Something about her had him on edge at all times. She was somehow familiar and, at the same time, wasn’t. All in all, it wasn’t in anyone’s best interest to leave the two of them alone together. The plane(?), spaceship?

Whatever

, rose up into the sky and as he looked down at Steve’s forlorn expression, James wondered, was he making the right decision?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

TOUCHDOWN WASN'T ANYTHING SPECIAL, Stark was waiting for him at the runway accompanied by his eldest and Ms. Potts. Shuri exited the plane first running into the arms of Riri, the two walked off in the direction of the car Shuri had called for herself. That left him, Lang, and Wilson alone with Stark and Ms. Potts. James noticed Stark was squeezing a stress ball slightly behind his back.Stark’s hair was longer, closer to the same length that it had been when he was the ‘billionaire playboy’ and not a father of three. He had a pair of red-tinted aviators on, coupled with a graphic tee, blazer, and jeans. He scuffed his blue Vans on the ground, seemingly preparing himself for this encounter. James found himself quirking his lips up at the science pun on the genius’ shirt. It read: ‘A hug without “u” is just toxic.’ with a picture of the periodic square for mercury.Ms. Potts stepped forward, “Mr. Lang, Mr. Wilson, your families are waiting to pick you up. If you would follow me to the airport,” She started to walk away, leading them on with the click-clack of her heels. With the help of his enhanced hearing, James heard her remark that ‘they weren’t particularly happy with them’.Stark gave him an obviously forced smile that didn’t reach his almond eyes. He did an exaggerated hand movement to the sleek black car that pulled up next to them. Stark took the initiative to sit in the front next to the driver, a built man with a scowl etched into his features, while James sat in the back. Before the divider window slid up, the driver glared at him. The car pulled off in the direction of the exit.-The famed Compound was larger than life to James.There were so many people just everywhere. From what James had seen on news reports and papers, Stark had opened up the Compound to tech internships and the entire Avengers Initiative. Which now consisted of four teams. It was explained on a newscast once, since the Avengers Initiative was a public group.Attack went after various threats and operations- they had taken down branches of HYDRA in the time Steve and his team had been hiding in Wakanda. Defense protected against threats and organizations attacking the populace. Rescue came in after there had been natural disasters or battles that left civilians trapped. All of the teams were also held to the rules that had been specified in the Accords and now that General Ross was in prison, the document were more trustworthy and kept the Avengers out of a singular government’s hands.Stark led him into the entrance, smiling and exchanging pleasantries with the various interns and supers there. On the way to the wing where the Avengers stayed, the East Wing, James even saw classes being held. Teachers stood at the front of the rooms, teaching everything from aerodynamics to the law of conservation of momentum. They rounded a corner and came to a reinforced door, Stark stepped up and cleared his throat.“Friday? Sweetie, we’re here. Can you open the door?” A huff sounded from somewhere around the room and James whirled around. There wasn’t anyone near them or in the surrounding rooms. Besides, he would’ve noticed them unless Wakanda dulled his senses.“Boss, is allowing this Sergeant truly necessary?” The voice was back and this time it made James look up to the ceiling.Stark let out a dry chuckle at the super soldier’s reaction. “Friday isn’t in the ceiling. She’s AI- artificial intelligence- and has a bit of an attitude at the moment. Baby girl, what’s wrong?”“I just feel that it is a bit... detrimental to your safety to allow him in the Avengers living area.”“Well, I arranged for this to happen so it’s on me. Let us in, Friday.” At her hesitance, Stark sighed and patted the wall in some sort of comfort. The door opened a second later revealing a nicely decorated common room and kitchen. Stark led him in waving his arms, introducing the various facilities.They walked past the living room area and through a glass hallway that overlooked the large field that surrounded the Compound. They passed the different rooms of the various team members, the doors were marked with homely signs decorated with the person’s favorite things. James noticed that there were a lot of different names than just Steve and his team. In fact, he saw nothing that even indicated they were going to return.Finally, their journey came to an end as Stark led him up to a large room with a technological set-up inside. There was a plush looking lounge chair and a computer to the left of it for monitoring vitals. James looked to Stark with an inquiring look on his face.“Alright, Barnes. What we’re going to do is use my tech, B.A.R.F, to go looking for those triggers and, hopefully, wrangle them out. Does that sound good?” Stark was rocking back and forth on his feet, rubbing his hands together. His eyes were flicking back and forth between James and the exit. He obviously wasn’t comfortable with James, he couldn’t fault him either. James had killed his parents and the man had been forced to watch it. All while the man who did it stood only a foot away, then afterwards finding out that his friend had been lying to him about.All things considered, James was surprised he wasn’t dead.They stood there in awkward silence until Stark clapped his hands, dispelling the tension. “Okay, so Friday will show you to your room and,” He glanced down at his high-tech watch before glancing back up to James, “-it’s three fifty now? So at eight, we’ll meet back here for our session. Cool? Cool.”With that, Stark all but ran out the room which left James by himself with an AI that didn’t trust him. James looked up to the ceiling and shrugged, gesturing for the voice to lead the way. Lights on either side of the door lit up, and after opening it, lit up throughout the hallways to what James suspected was his room.-After following the path of lights, James found himself in a nice room. There was a soft-looking king-sized bed with a desk, bookshelf, and chair. He surveyed the room for a moment, his instincts took the lead as James methodically searched for any type of cameras or bugs. His search turned up inconclusive with the exception of the camera/microphone combo that was mounted in the top corner of the room. It turned out to be Friday’s connection to that room for security purposes. It made him slightly uncomfortable that someone, even if it was artificial, was watching him at all times.He found a full closet and dresser full of clothes that were all his size. James marvelled at this, Stark really was something else to be providing a place to stay, food, and clothes to the man who killed his family. To clear his mind, James decided to take a shower. It took him thirty minutes to figure out how to work it. He barely remembered getting out and passing out on his bed until James woke up at seven.James pulled himself off his way too comfortable bed and pulled on some clothes. He decided on some comfortable joggers and a long-sleeve shirt that had holes for his thumbs to go through. He found some soft socks in his drawer and after some heavy contemplation (read: two seconds of thought) James pulled those on too.He exited the room and quietly walked down the hallway to the kitchen for a snack before his session. Rounding the corner, James saw Colonel Rhodes, Ms. Potts, Major Danvers, his children and a couple other teenagers, including Shuri. Their heads all snapped up to him, almost alarmed. Probably by how none of them heard him approaching. One kid, Peter- Shuri had explained once, hopped off the kitchen island and gestured for the others to tag along. The group made their way towards the television room James had noticed when he first arrived.Major Danvers put the steaming mug she held onto the counter, not before Ms. Potts slid a coaster underneath. She made her way over to James, back straight and a stoic mask in place. James saluted her with the proper American salute she expected. She lifted her hand in a soft gesture.“At ease, sergeant.” She looked over to Stark and the colonel, satisfied that their attention was more focused on each other. “Listen, I don’t trust you and you already caused Tony a world of pain. But because you were a POW and killed Tony’s parents against your will, I won’t end you where you stand. Do anything remotely shady and I promise you it’ll be your biggest mistake.” The major levelled him with a stare that could cower anyone. Then, she brushed past him to where the kids had just left.The colonel and Stark finished their drinks and said their goodbyes to Ms. Potts before leading James to the room from before. Coming up to the room, James could now tell it was reinforced with some sort of metal. The door slid open and the setup from before was still in the center. Colonel Rhodes pulled Stark to the side and seemed to whisper something important from the way he tensed up and mouth flattened into a thin line. Stark nodded once before patting the colonel on the shoulder and ushering him out the room. Stark gestured to the chair for James to sit down, handing him high tech glasses after James settled. Stark pulled up a chair next to him a fiddled with the glasses for a moment.The man smelled of grease and a subtle cologne made up of pine and oak. His dark hair fell slightly into his eyes, completely devoid of any type of product. Scars of varying sizes trailed up his arms, a long jagged one stretched across his forearm, a bit of scar tissue rested next to a knuckle, a thin pink laid underneath his right eye. It seemed somewhat recent. There were all sorts of small cuts and burns that spanned the man’s calloused palm. James felt that each told a story that he would never fully learn. Although...One thing James had noticed was that Stark didn’t has as many wrinkles, as prominent crows feet, or deepened laugh lines. Something had definitely changed from Siberia. He seemed to be younger? James made a mental note to pay attention to those things later. Stark had finally finished his task when they locked eyes. He jerked backwards and practically scurried to the monitor. James didn’t miss the slight blush that dusted his olive skin or the way his eyes had widened.“Okay, Barnes. You’re going to visualize the clearest memory you have, from any point in time. Once you do that, these,” Metal poles that James hadn’t noticed previously (howdidhemissthat?) were stood around the setup. Blue light lit up in rectangles ascending the structure, they were only a bit shorter than Stark himself. “will project the memory outwards. You will be immersed in it, will that be problematic?”Just as James was about to answer, Stark cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Sorry, that sounded insensitive. I know you have crazy and traumatic memories in there and the ones that we need definitely will be the hardest hitters. So, do you want me to avert my eyes or…”“Well, you need to see it to work your magic. As long as it’s only you, I don’t mind.” Much. James replied. Somehow, he believed that Stark knew what he was doing and James could trust him not to fuck up. That didn’t erase the fact that Stark was incredibly dangerous, he was a ‘kill-on-sight’ threat to HYDRA. James wasn’t letting his guard down anytime soon.Stark looked at him, curiosity weaving through his eyes. “Okay then, tell me when you need a break or we need to stop or anything.” He pressed a couple buttons, examining the holograph that popped up of James’ brain scan. “I’m starting the process now, just think of any memory.”James thought of his times back in the forties, before he left for the war. Around them, a cramped home and the sounds of a lively family replaced the bland room. There were three young girls piled on top of a laughing, teenaged James in a tight bedroom. The bedroom held two beds and a rickety chair.The memory had come to him when trying to remember his past, back in Bucharest. He had three younger sisters. Susan and Mary, twins who were both two years younger than him. Along with Elizabeth, three years younger and a mouth than ran a mile a minute.Their mother, a tired woman named Meredith, walked in smiling softly, soup pot in hand. She gently chastised them for messing around, no real heat behind her words. Once the announcement that dinner had been served in the kitchen, the girls quickly abandoned teenaged James on the floor and began to eat their food. It had been so long since James had been happy like this. Surrounded by family and truly safe in his own skin. Wetness started to slide down his cheeks, tears had began to fall and he didn't even realize it. James’ gaze quickly snapped over to Stark who was standing at the monitor. The man was looking at him with a borderline sympathetic look in his eyes. Stark flicked his eyes back to the screen before him dodging the questioning expression from Jamese.Stark cleared his throat, he looked uncomfortable like he was intruding on something, “Was that… okay?” At James’ confused look, he sighed. “Let me reiterate, were you in any discomfort or pain or anything?”He shook his head, “Everything is functional.”“But were you comfortable? ”That might’ve been the first time in a long time that James had been properly asked how he felt. At least, in depth. Shuri and her brother did ask how he was doing in certain situations, right before, etc. etc.. But this brought a fuzzy, somewhat warm, feeling to his chest. One that was entirely unwelcome, because youkilledhisparentsyousickfuck . A fog settled over his mind. How could he be thinking like that right now? How fucked up in the head was he? To get enamored and interested in the man who he made miserable for decades . Becoming an orphan out of the blue wasn’t an easy thing to handle and no matter what Steve thought, Stark wouldn’t just get over it. Kids don’t just get over the death of their parents, especially not those who watched it happen in front of them. He should’ve been dead as soon as he looked at Stark. That’s it. In order to pay for at least those two names on a list of many, he needed to pay some sort of retribution. A death for hundreds. There was no need for James. The Winter Soldier. Bucky. He was just a broken man with a broken mind.“-ey, hey hey.” Stark was kneeling in front of him, somehow James had relocated to the floor without even noticing. He gazed upon the tiny scars visible on Stark’s face from his many battles. His eyes were laced with concern, his dark circles were emphasized by it. He raised a hand moving upwards with a breath and downwards with an exhale. “Breathe with me, if you can. Do you want to leave the room?”James shook his head softly, almost all of his energy was gone from this stupid show of weakness .“Alright, that’s cool. Y’know once, the Captain was telling me about how you went to a Stark Expo back in the forties. Do you like technology?” James could tell what Stark was doing, distracting him from the guilt and anxiety seeping in and focusing on the conversation at hand. James wasn’t opposed to it though, the distraction was nice. Even though, inadvertently, Stark had been the cause of that weakness in the first place.“Yeah. I wanted to see how we could improve our world.” Stark smiled somewhat softly. It prompted James to speak even more, he could feel the guilt and panic slowly ebb its way back. “Um, Howard showcased flying cars once, they were the future and, somehow, I wanted to be apart of that.” Mentioning Stark’s dad was like stepping in a field of landmines, with James killing him and the rocky relationship that the two had.Stark let out a deep sigh, “The Expos will do that to you. I watched one of Dad’s when I was ten, it talked about space exploration. Sparked some pretty big dreams for me.” It almost seemed like he didn’t have those anymore.“Wh- Why don’t you have those dreams anymore.” At Stark’s furrowed brows, James looked away as his face flushed. “Sorry, I ju- it seemed like you were talking about them in the past tense.”“We’re not going there.”Annnnnddd, James overstepped. Why couldn’t he just have a normal conversation? Stark stood and started to move towards the monitor, busying himself with work, before he turned back to James. “Are you okay, now?”James nodded, throat tight with embarrassment and guilt. “Yeah, I’m fine.”Stark looked at him, seeing right through his lie but not commenting on it. “We’re done for the day, you can get food or whatever. FRIDAY can lead you around the place if you can’t find things.” He turned back to the monitor, blue light shining on his olive skin.James nodded at nothing and went to find his room again, the tiny lights illuminated the way.-That was a disaster.At least that’s how James felt as he burrowed into his covers. The covers were incredibly soft, softer than anything he had ever felt. The mattress was extremely plush and comfortable. Neither like the biting cold of the HYDRA cryo chamber or the scratchy blankets and cold floor during the depression. Even when he was first deployed, he missed his sisters growing up. When he came back and went to that Expo, Mary had gotten married and Susan moved in with Elizabeth in a tiny apartment to take the burden off Mom’s shoulders.It was an unspoken amongst the kids, try as hard as you could to help out Mom without depriving yourself. James sometimes strayed from the rule though, he often gave his sisters and Mom more food than himself. He turned and looked at the clock on his nightstand, it read: 11:30pm. Where had the time gone?James pushed the covers back and touched his feet to the warm, fuzzy carpet. He had shed his shirt when he first retreated into his room and donned a pair of grey sweats instead of the jeans from before. Before leaving, James pulled on a big, maroon sweatshirt from out of the closet. Somehow, the closet was stocked with clothes all in his size- completely untouched. It was insane, how could anyone claim that Stark didn’t at least provide them with basic necessities? Clothes, food, a place to live, all provided- free of charge .He opened the door, peeking both ways and seeing if anyone was awake. All of the rooms around him looked either occupied or the tenant was sleep. James quieted his steps as he navigated the halls, even though his memory was jackshit, the HYDRA conditioning made him unable to forget routes and pathways. It was painful to say that it was useful over the years.James finally found the main kitchen that overlooked the common room. He was about to grab himself a cup of water when he noticed four sleeping bodies on the couch. Stark was in the middle, flanked on both sides by Harley and Mackenzie, while Riri had her head resting on Stark’s knees from her place at the foot of the couch. They were an adorable sight and if James was 1) friends with Stark or 2) had a death wish he would take a picture. But even he was either of those things, James didn’t own a phone. Nor, did he have any desire to.He padded his way to and fro, gathering a glass and moving in front of the tap for the water when he was stopped by a noise. Someone had entered the room and had taken a picture of the sleeping family. He slowly turned around, ready to fight and defend himself, when he was greeted by a softly smiling girl with mussed hair.The girl sniffed, looking at him unimpressed before turning back to her phone. That was not the reaction he was used to. James supposed he was staring because she looked back up and shrugged aggressively at him. He looked away but his attention was caught again when she joined him in the kitchen.She opened the fridge and grabbed a jar of peanut butter, swiftly pivoting on her foot, and retrieved a spoon from the drawer in front of her. She was slowly eating a spoonful when she finally spoke, “Who are you? I’ve never seen you around, like, ever.”James scratched at the facial hair around his cheeks, he had to shave soon. “I’m- “ He cut himself off, should he just be giving his name out to anyone. The girl was obviously familiar with the layout and FRIDAY hadn’t sounded any type of alarm for an intruder. And she took a picture of the still sleeping family, implying that she was close to them. “I’m James.”“Michelle Jones, friends call me MJ. So James. Are you one of the ‘heroes’ or a normal person?”“I’m not one of the heroes, not by a long shot.”“But you’re not normal, either.” The girl, Michelle, said as she fidgeted where she stood. The spoon twirled in the jar, a thoughtful look decorating her face.James looked down, “No, I wouldn't say I'm normal. I'm one of the least normal people you'll ever meet.”“If everyone was normal, we wouldn't have a lot of things. Would we?” She licked another spoonful of peanut butter. "And no one is ever really normal, anyway." Michelle spun on her heel and walked out the way she came.James was left alone, pondering over her words when he heard shuffling from the couch. He quickly placed his glass in the sink and tiptoed back to his room. He laid awake that night thinking.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

FRIDAY WAS CONCERNED, her creator was more spacey than usual. He often zoned out while working on whatever projects was currently on his workbench. Boss had a secret project, too. One that no one knew about but FRIDAY and her siblings.He was building Sergeant Barnes an arm.She didn't get it at all, maybe it was faulty coding or a bug in her systems. But after many diagnostic checks, her code was completely fine. So why was she so goddamn confused? The sergeant had gotten so close to ending her boss's life and she had been so powerless . And he came to live with them! Bursting the beautiful bubble that Boss had built after the captain destroyed it beforehand.Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was enigma to her. The longest held POW, brainwashed for seventy years, and a known sniper and soldier before showed no hostility towards her creator. It was less than the former Avengers had when they were all on the same team. (she watched her predecessors tapes. she knew .) In fact, Sergeant Barnes had been withdrawn, meek even. If someone asked her, it was most likely a product of guilt and trauma.Being the “All-Seeing Eye” that Miss Khan and Mr. Keener often joked that she was, FRIDAY noticed lots of things. She knew that when they stayed the night, Mr. Parker and Mr. Morales would prank Colonel Rhodes. That Mr. Keener and Miss Keener snuck ice cream at three o'clock in the morning. FRIDAY saw everything, that included the stilted, stiff retro-framing sessions.Boss didn’t know how to carry himself around the sergeant. He regarded him as a threat but, simultaneously, a victim. She could also tell that her creator didn’t enjoy the fact that a former friend confidante and friend betrayed him for the sergeant. Sergeant Barnes was even more awkward around her creator. The man didn’t know whether to be scared or appreciative or downright guilt-ridden, so FRIDAY supposed the man took it upon himself to be all three. Sergeant Barnes constantly fiddled with his spare shirt sleeve when it wasn’t tied, which was often.This brought her to the B.A.R.F session in progress right now. It was Sergeant Barnes’ fifth one, they did the sessions twice a week and they were all this awkward, borderline embarrassing production going on in front of her. Boss leaned over the sergeant again to adjust the glasses, prompting the sergeant’s face to flush heavily.Boss backed away quickly after finishing his task and gazed at the monitor in front of him. “Okay, today we’ll have to look for the memories containing the triggers in order to kind of… erase them.” At the wary look on Sergeant Barnes’ face, Boss’s eyes widened with realization. “No, no. I don’t mean a complete memory wipe, I mean the technology isolates what causes the panic attack, anxiety, or- in your case- mind control, and essentially take the effect of the word and helps the person become immune to it. I won’t lie to you, it does alter your brain a little bit in order to desensitize you to the word. If it means anything, I’ve tried this exact technology while it was still in the early stages- it’s completely safe.”Sergeant Barnes nodded his head to the explanation,offering a small smile to the last bit. FRIDAY knew that the sergeant was incredibly wary, rightfully so, and it warmed her circuits to know that he trusted her creator enough. Boss encouraged the sergeant to relax and visualize the situation in which the words were first being programmed. A grimy, dimly lighted room surrounded the two men. There were a number of scientists and military officials standing around the sergeant, examining him. HYDRA. FRIDAY felt disgust flow through her code, these people were vile. Evil just for the sake of it, or worse, because of some wrongful prejudice and bigotry they held in their cold hearts.The reaction to remembering and seeing the programming was instantaneous.The sergeant started whimpering in his seat as Boss typed furiously at the keyboard. His hand clenching into a fist and unclenching violently. Her heart spiked and breathing went through the roof, FRIDAY felt the need to figuratively step in. Her creator nor the sergeant had ordered for the holograph to be shut down, meaning that she would be going against protocol. A few more minutes .Sergeant Barnes started to struggle against his restraints as the mouthguard had gone into the past Barnes mouth. The electrotherapy was a hair’s width away, FRIDAY anxiously watched Boss race against forcing the sergeant watch his own torture. She turned her attention to the process of the word isolation, the screen showing that it was at ninety-eight percent. It wasn’t going to isolate in time.The metal conductors lowered in almost slow motion over past Barnes’ face, the sergeant was hyperventilating now, sweat beads rolling its way down his face. Somehow, FRIDAY herself didn't even know, the processing bar completely filled and Boss deactivated the entire program. The simulation bled away around the two men, FRIDAY could feel herself figuratively lean in for the next coming moments.Boss approached the sergeant carefully, telegraphing his movements so that the soldier wouldn’t startle much. He spoke in a clear voice, although his eyes were heavy with guilt and shame. “Barnes. Are you okay, Barnes?” The man was staring blankly at where the simulation had once been before speaking in deep, gravelly Russian.“жду приказов." (awaiting orders) FRIDAY could see her creator swallow hard at the words. This wasn’t Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes anymore, this was The Fist of HYDRA- The Winter Soldier.-Tony knew he had issues with self-sacrificial tendencies. It wasn’t anything new and it was definitely amplified by his debilitating lack of self-esteem and ever increasing self-hatred. His therapist often told him to write about this stuff in a journal to look back on, but who has time to write about your problems when you have to get pardons for some of the causes. But it wasn’t about him right now. It was about Barnes.He didn’t know how to feel around him, the man was brainwashed into killing Tony’s mom. That hadn’t been his fault, but Siberia was a whole other thing. Because, yeah, Tony is definitely a self-centered prick with a testy temper on the best of days but you don’t just show someone a video of their parents getting murdered . So he was sorry about attacking Barnes, because he really should’ve been beating the shit out of the captain who lied to his face.But no, Tony was a total dumbfuck and fought two super-soldiers by himself. That glorious stunt landed him in the hospital for a month with caved in rib cage, broken nose, fractured wrist, and a shit ton of internal bleeding. Along with a dash of hypothermia and frostbite because sitting in a metal coffin in cold as shit Russia was going to do that to you. So Tony was a bit bitter about having to treat the best friend that Cap had abandoned everything for.Especially after having to use modified Extremis and an arc reactor to keep from keeling over where he stood, helping out Underoos and his spider pals with interdimensional travel (which took a lot of sleepless nights to perfect with two other spider-people and Bruce), and recruiting three teams’ worth of supers (not including the spiders). Not to mention, being a fucking parent throughout this entire thing. Pepper and Rhodey both wanted him to turn the soldier away, his kids even more so.Harley and Mack wanted to fly to Wakanda themselves, armed with potato guns and axe bombs. It was a good thing they had an older sibling who kept them out of trouble. It put quite a strain on Shuri and Riri’s relationship too, Tony still didn’t think they had moved past it either but rather ignored the big ass elephant in the room. Because while Tony still had mixed feelings about the Avengers, torn between betrayal and wanting them back, his kids didn’t appreciate them at all. It was best not to bring up Cap around Harley, unless you want to hear an over the top ‘UGH’ and a ten minute long rant about how much he sucked.He did think that there were some beginnings of a truce between him and Barnes. Over the week or so the soldier had been at the Compound, he had only been involved in a slightly threatening conversation from Rhodey and Carol and close watching from FRIDAY. The bots swooned a bit over Barnes, the rugged features were a hit with U and Dum-E. His other AI babies, who had what FRIDAY nicknamed a “breakroom” in the servers, still were wary of him.Karen, who popped in to say hello to Fri often, took to watching Barnes everytime Peter was in a 500 feet vicinity of him. Veronica, who was still young and was being shown the ropes by Karen and FRIDAY for Riri’s suit, would watch the interactions between Tony and Barnes. And from the giggles from the girls about that, there was an inside joke among them. Harley and Mack begged Tony recently to help them program a Scottish AI. They ended up naming her ARIA, Another Really Intelligent AI. She took to the siblings immediately and helped FRIDAY around the house. Tony pretended to not notice Harley and Mack creating Harley’s own suit.But all of this good stuff didn’t mean jackshit when the person you’re supposed to be helping is dissociating in your BARF chair.-Tony assessed his situation.There was a deadly assassin in the chair in front of him. He was A) alone and B) unarmed except for a watch gauntlet. FRIDAY could call reinforcements in a heartbeat but that invited another type of chaos Tony’s heart wasn’t really ready for. Rhodey was on a mission with Carol and the rest of the Alpha team because they needed the heavy artillery. Pepper was in China meeting with potential investors. And no matter how capable Peter, Riri, and Harley were, Tony wasn’t bringing his kids into this.He had to approach this situation with the most caution he could muster. He thought back to the foreign language lessons Howard had put him through when he was younger. Howard had taught him Spanish, albeit reluctantly, at his family’s request before he cut them off completely and Maria weaved Italian into their everyday life at the behest of Howard. At one point, he did end up learning Russian, Howard gave into paranoia and forced him into it.“для чего? (for what?) Tony responded, it was basic but could yield much more useful than some other complicated question. The Winter Soldier turned to him, scanning his face for malicious intent, Tony supposed.“цель миссии”.(the mission objective) Barnes replied, he stood suddenly stalking towards Tony like Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. He held his hand up, hesitantly, before ghosting it slightly over Tony’s cheek. Tony’s heart was thumping in his chest, what in the fresh fuck was happening right now?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

THE WINTER SOLDIER was different from James, that much was true. Years and years of torture had forced James to adopt a different state mind when brainwashed, lest he go insane. Look at how well that turned out. But there were times where he just… revert back to that personality for security reasons, he guessed.There were times when he was on the run, the instincts wouldn’t stop bugging him- no - nagging him that he had a tail. James would double back and find that it was true, a HYDRA  spy that had gotten sloppy. So, he had grown accustomed to the teeny tiny Russian in his head that guaranteed that he was finally going insane. The voice quieted down when he was in cryo, there were times it was almost screaming at him whenever that witch was near him. Other than that, the voice was mostly quiet.The voice never interfered with his day to day activities. At least, that’s what James thought. He supposed whenever he had to revert back into the ‘Winter Soldier’ everyone knew and hated, the voice would get louder. Take over. James considered it a mutually beneficial relationship. He dealt with the basic stuff that the voice usually quieted down about and the other side of him dealt with the stressful things. This arrangement worked well enough while HYDRA had him.But now, now was different. He wasn’t under HYDRA’s thumb but the voice thought he was because of that god-awful retro-framing session. James didn’t have control and that other side of him threatened to out the weird, twisted attraction James had towards Stark. It was like watching from the outside and he didn’t like it.-He adopted the name Winter to distinguish between himself and James. It was pretty cliche, he wasn’t stupid but what else was he going to call himself? Stark was amazing, being this close- only about an inch away- showed all of his beauty. The fluttering eyelashes, the tanned skin, brown eyes, Winter loved it all. But he was also angry. Stark made him and James watch themselves being tortured.Winter leaned back from Stark, he seemed uncomfortable. He was swallowing nervously, left arm gaining that tremor that it had back in Siberia. Winter wondered whether or not the man was going to call reinforcements. This had to be a security concern, a dangerous assassin in the same room as the same man he threatened to kill only a year ago. He remembered pulling that trigger in Vienna, he also remembered being surprised that the bullet had been stopped. That was an amazing feat, reflexes fast enough to stop a bullet and put up a fight against a super soldier with only a metal gauntlet.“Anthony Edward Stark. Threat Level: 10, kill on sight. HYDRA knew how much of a threat you were, tell me. Why didn’t the Captain consider you one?” Winter examined Stark’s face, it went through a multitude of emotions. Betrayal, surprise, confusion.“He knew I wouldn’t kill him.”“But you are ruthless, are you not? Destroying the Ten Rings like they were nothing, defending yourself and Colonel Rhodes from Hammer and Vanko, taking down the Mandarin with no armor, why was the Captain any different?”“I thought we had been friends,” There was bitterness in his voice. Winter felt a twinge of sympathy, Rogers had abandoned everything for James and it rewarded him with nothing. It was also apparent that he was disappointed with the turnout, a man split between two personas. In the end, Steve Rogers’ escapade had benefited no one- not even himself.“Anthony, you are one interesting person- alluring almost.” The other man’s eyes widened, he almost moved backwards but seemed to have caught himself from displaying a weakness in the assassin’s eyes. “But that does not mean we are not angry with you. Displaying that filth - Anthony, say you will do better and carry it out because I would hate for someone as beautiful as you to end up missing.”Anthony’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean by missing?”Winter levelled his stare with the other man, he knew what he meant. It was a matter of if Winter could even carry that out. He needed to hurry this conversation along, James was threatening to come back.  “You know what I mean.”“Boss let me call Major Danvers-” The AI spoke up for the first time since this conversation had started. That was another HYDRA had wanted, the AI, she was incredibly advanced and they were sure they could use her for something more than Anthony’s personal assistant.“FRIDAY let me handle this-”“But Boss!”“FRIDAY. Stop.” The AI stopped talking immediately, Winter regarded the interaction as one like a father scolding his daughter. Anthony turned to him, “I’ll do better. That shitshow wasn’t my intention anyway, I’m not a monster.”“I never said you were.” Winter clapped his hand on his leg and laid back down in the chair, “I’m going to lose conscious for a moment, please stand by.” Anthony’s eyebrow quirked and then Winter was back in the passenger seat.Then, James opened his eyes.-Tony wasn’t sure what had just happened. The Winter Soldier had just appeared and seemed to be much more charismatic than he had been letting on. It also seemed that Barnes had two separate personalities and at least one of them thought he was beautiful. That was some food for thought.Barnes came to on the chair, looking around almost as if he didn’t know where he was. He locked eyes with Tony and glared hard . “What the hell was that?!”“I honestly thought the data was going to come through faster, I didn’t intend to put you through that again.”“But you did.” Tony couldn’t argue with that. He really dropped the ball on this one. If the ball was another man’s seven decade long trauma.“I did.”“He came out didn’t he? The other side of me.”Realization crept up, Barnes wasn’t completely ‘conscious’ when the other one was out, similar to Bruce and the Big Guy. That was probably he dodged losing his sanity in the confines of HYDRA. His mind developed another consciousness to bypass the torture and electrotherapy trauma. “Yes, he called me beautiful. I rather liked it.”A blush lit up Barnes’ face, so there was something there. Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “Well…”“You don’t have to explain. I thinks it’s best if you don’t explain, given our… history.” Inwardly, Tony cringed. That was somewhat harsh and made the situation a lot awkward than it needed to be. But, honestly, it needed to be said. Barnes still killed his parents, he still left with Steve after destroying his suit, Tony was still left in Siberia for dead. Tony wasn’t even sure he was going to become friends with Barnes much less involved.Barnes cleared his throat, trying to dispel the awkward tension. He got up from off the chair and fixed his clothes. “What happens now?”“The words were extracted, but, uh, we won’t be continuing with anymore sessions until you feel up to it. I fucked up, a lot.” Tony explained, contrary to what people thought, Tony really did care about others and their wellbeing. Even if he did have a weird way of showing it.“Okay.”“FRIDAY can you make sure Barnes gets to his room safely and without interruptions? Monica is hanging out with Harley and Mack and they’ll definitely try to talk to him. I don’t want them bothering him.” Tony asked. FRIDAY was being more protective than usual, it was already twice Tony had to be stern with her in the span of a couple weeks. It didn’t make any sense, they were going to talk about this later.Barnes shuffled his hands together, “I don’t mind if some kids want to talk, there was a girl the other day who seemed pretty nice.”Tony’s eyebrow shot up. A girl? “What was her name?” He didn’t remember anyone out of the ordinary being over the last couple days.“Michelle, friends call her MJ?”“Oh, yeah. What’d she ask you? Something philosophical, edgy, made you lie awake at night thinking about all your life decisions?” MJ had a knack for making people think too much, especially with her questions that brought on existential thoughts. Tony had been on the receiving end of those discussions one too many times. MJ was over a lot when the kids didn’t have school, Carol and Tony had a long running bet over if she would confess to Peter first.“If I was ‘normal’ and then said that no one is really normal while doing this squinty thing with her eyes.”“Yep, she’ll do that. Anyway, get some rest. We won’t be doing anymore for a while.” With that, Barnes left the room, leaving Tony sighing and plopping down on the chair. Tony looked at the clock on his watch: five-thirty, the team should be back now. He flitted through social media for a bit, guilt not allowing him to fully able to enjoy the tweets made by the Avengers.It gnawed at his insides. After his initial reaction, Barnes had tried to dispel that weird, stuffy awkwardness that clouded the room.-At the landing pad, Alpha team’s Quinjet touched down. Jessica, Carol, Danny, Thor, Hope, and Yon-Rogg exited along with Maria Rambeau. Maria, Carol, and Yon-Rogg were bantering good-naturedly, it seemed that Yon-Rogg had finally shed his unhealthy opinions. Rhodey and Danny were going over future battle plans while Jessica and Thor were animatedly recounting their battle. Hope was busily tapping away on her phone, Tony guessed that some business had come up. Rhodey noticed Tony first, seeing the way he seemed to almost shrink in on himself. He broke away from the group, saying his goodbyes before exiting the suit with help of TADASHI.Rhodey led Tony back into the Compound, face adorning a concerned look. “Hey, Tony what’s wrong?”“Why, Honey-Bear. I’m just peachy, do I give off a scent or something? Like those werewolf things Mack reads online?” Tony tried to front, he didn’t even understand how Rhodey already knew his insides were slowly being twisted up by guilt. Rhodey gave him a look.“Tones, cut the shit. What happened while we were gone?” His eyes widened with realization, “You had a retro-framing session with Barnes today, right? Did he do something?” Rhodey’s face morphed into cold fury at the implications of Barnes doing anything to make Tony’s life harder than it already was.Tony waved his hands quickly, “It’s more like what did I do?” He took a deep breath, “Rhodey, you know how in order for BARF to ‘rewrite’ the past you have to isolate whatever causes the pain? I had to do that with the trigger words and it brought up his broken memories of the programming.” He took in a shuddering breath, Rhodey’s eyes softened. “I showed Barnes his torture . That’d be like someone filming the Rings while I was in Afghanistan and then I did buttfuck to help him afterwards. I treated it like my other mistakes, that’s fucked Rhodey.”“You’re right, that is fucked. No one should have to watch their torture again, that is just something that shouldn’t happen. Here’s my advice, Tones. Apologize to him like you really mean it, no fronts, nothing, just you. Get him a therapist. Tony, you are not trained to be a psychologist, someone needs to pick that up. This won’t just fix itself and he’s not one of the bots, you can’t ignore this.” Rhodey advises, his hand comes to rest on Tony’s shoulder, providing a comfort that is unique to him.Tony took in a shuddering breath, nodding. “Thanks, Rhodey. I don’t know why this freaked me out so much. I just… I feel like after everything that’s happened between Barnes and I, he deserves some type of relief.” Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder and turned to the entrance to the Compound. Tony was left thinking about all the things he fucked up. There were many things he needed to fix.-The following day was shrouded in awkwardness and avoidance. James stayed in his room and avoided all contact with the Avengers while Tony stayed mostly in his rarely used office, making phone calls since the crack of dawn. That was where Tony was pacing now, on the phone with a highly rated specialist in PTSD and BID. If he was going to treat Barnes, he had to do it right. And as much as it pained Tony to admit, he wasn’t amazing at everything and he had enough of his own issues that he couldn’t handle anyone else’s. At least that’s what his own therapist said.He really needs to see her again.He sat there at the glass desk adorned with framed pictures of Tony and his family. One of Tony, Pep, Happy, and Rhodey when Tony had just come back from Afghanistan. They were in front of the plane they used to bring him back. This picture was one of his favorites despite the painful background. Even after everything, Afghanistan still haunts him. It claws its way into his dreams and permeates his life with all of its after-effects. He didn't ask to have a car battery strapped to his chest but those fuckers decided he did. Tony's hands started to shake and chest tightened to an uncomfortable level.FRIDAY's sweet, concerned voice came in over the speakers. Bless her. "Boss? Her heart rate is elevated and your breathing has become erratic. You need to breathe, you're having a panic attack. It's March 5th, 2019. You are in the Compound and have been for the past hour and a half. Would you like me to call Ms. Potts or Colonel Rhodes?""No, I'm fine, just schedule an appointment with Dr. Igwe please. And I think we need to talk about some things." Tony supposed he should just nip this thing in the bud now.There was a beat of silence, "The appointment has been scheduled, what would you like to talk about?""Fri, I know you've been more protective and a lot more worried and wary since Siberia. I need you to know that I can take care of myself and defend myself. If I need help, I'll ask.""Yes, Boss." It seemed like Friday did the AI equivalent of swallowing back tears. That did wonders for Tony's mood. "Would that be all?""Yeah… Fri?""Yes?""Tell ARIA that she can take over until you feel better."FRIDAY didn't respond. Having kids was excellent.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

JAMES DIDN'T NOTICE THE PAPER until it was crushed under his foot in his bedroom doorway. It was plain notebook paper, torn on the edges and creased in a few places. A small, cramped, and slightly slanted note was written on the top, it read: ‘Hey, Sergeant Barnes! We’re Tony’s kids and we would really liked to meet you! Signed, Harley, Mack, and Riri.’ As James’ eyes travelled down the paper, he noticed a small, nondescript arrow with a small note to turn over the page. There was another note there, one that was scrawled in a short and rough script. It read: ‘my siblings wanna meet you but try anything funny, ill beat the shit outta you.’ -Riri.He chuckled to himself, a kid was threatening an assassin, kids these days. James contemplated his choices at hand, meet the kids and possibly get on Stark’s good side or not meet them and then they’re also cold to him. Or , he could meet them and accidentally do something that hurts them and then die because Stark would kill him. This was, quite honestly, a lose-win-lose situation. So why the hell not try and make some friends? James pulled on a tank top that was a bit too tight and some sweatpants that he took from Steve’s old room. His feet were bare but the floor was heated (something he definitely didn’t know about hello??? ) and James made his way to the kitchen. As the blinds opened and the sunlight streamed in, he greeted the AI. “Morning, FRIDAY. How are you today?”A different voice, Scottish instead of FRIDAY’s trademark Irish accent, came in through the speakers. It was a bit higher pitch and held a younger vibe to it. “Morning, Sarge. I’m operational, but FRIDAY is taking a bit of a, uh, sick day.” She sounded young almost like a preteen whereas FRIDAY was like a young adult.“So, what should I call you?”“ARIA, Sarge.”“Okay, ARIA. Do you call everyone Sarge?”“Only ones that are sergeants, Sarge. But if you’re asking what I call Mr. Stark, I call him Chief. We all have different names we call Chief. Fri calls him Boss, JARVIS called him Sir, TADASHI calls him Omo, VERONICA calls him Mister, and JOCASTA isn’t online until Ms. Potts comes back, so I don’t know.” James mused over this for a bit. These AIs really were Stark’s kids, each one so well developed and their own person that they came up with nicknames for Stark and others. “Was I of assistance, Sarge?”“Yeah, ARIA, you were great. Now, Stark’s kids said that they wanted to meet me. Where would I find them?” James asked, there was probably going to be adult supervision. Right?A path of warm, yellow lights lit up to the right of the kitchen, “Right this way, Sarge. Just follow the yellow brick road.”James followed the path lit up before him. They lead towards the front of the Compound, near the entrance to the Avengers Relations area. From what James understood, that’s where official business was conducted and summer internships were held. There was also an additional building that served as a training building and gym. As he walked through, James was barely noticed. Interns were running to and fro with clipboards on and ID badges dangling from their neck. The sun streamed in from the windows that stretched to the top of the building. He could see the Compound field, the long stretch of the green grass slightly swaying in the wind. A group of trainees being led by a teenager, all dressed in matching grey sweats stopped at the front. If the breathlessness of the trainees was anything to go by, she was working them to a pulp and wasn’t breaking a sweat. The teen was of darker skin, kind of like an acorn, and her slightly curly hair was pulled into a long, high ponytail. There was muscle hiding under her sweats and he noticed a thin scar that cut through her eyebrow, she was definitely one of the heroes working with the Avengers.An older man, about thirty, walked over to her and passed out water bottles to all the trainees. He was extremely well-built, muscles rippling under dark brown skin. The girl said something to him and the pair laughed while the trainees groaned at each other. They seemed… inviting almost.“Sarge…?” ARIA’s voice came in softly from somewhere around him. “You haven’t gotten to the kids yet.”“Hey, ARIA? Who are those people over there?” He was curious, hopefully he wouldn’t get killed because of it.“Oh! That’s Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Luke Cage. They’re very nice if you wanted to talk with them. I believe they could introduce you to some very helpful people, if you would like.” ARIA explained, her voice trailed off in the end. James thought for a second, having friends would be nice but who knew how long he was going to stay there?“I’ll just talk for now.”He made his way over to the duo as they drank out of their bottles. The girl, Kamala Khan, saw him first and levelled him with a suspicious look. Cage, who was a lot more threatening up close, held the same look as Khan. Suspicious. James waved his hand awkwardly, grimacing inwardly at his lack of social interactions, “Hi, I’m James. I saw you from inside and I was, I dunno, curious?-”“I know you!” Khan exclaimed, “You’re the one that they wanted to talk to!” At James’ confused expression, she elaborated. “Harley, Riri, Peter, Mack, and them.” ( There were more? ) The earlier look of intimidation was barely there as the girl started to ramble about the kids.“ Anyway , I wanted to swing by and meet you, but I got stuck with supervising.” She was excited, not at all the serious and stone-faced trainer she was when he saw her through the window. Khan was more bubbly and much more like a teenager than his prior assessment, maybe his skills were becoming rusty. This wasn’t the first time James had lacked in his readings, they were just happening a lot more often. His attention was drawn back to Khan nudging Cage with her arm. “I’m Kamala Khan, also Ms. Marvel, it’s not a secret and just call me Kamala. And this is Luke Cage, no other known aliases.”Luke looked him up and and down, doing what seemed to be a silent evaluation of James, before sticking out his hand. “Call me Luke.” He looked back inside in the direction James was initially heading. “I’ll come with you to see the kids, I think Jess is watching them.” They bid their goodbyes to Kamala, Luke making her promise not to torture the trainees too much, before making their way to the room. ARIA manning the Compound was not as much of a surprise to Luke, although he was still confused as to why FRIDAY wasn’t at least speaking with ARIA.They neared a lounge-type area and immediately, James knew he was in the right area. Several different voices, all young, sounded through to James. He rounded the corner with Luke and caught sight of the kids that had wanted to meet him. James only recognized Riri and Michelle out of all of the kids gathered there. Maybe they weren’t kids, but more teenagers? He was too old to keep it straight.There was a kid with dirty blonde hair that was long in front and short in the back, bangs covering parts of his eyes. He wore pale blue jeans and a slightly faded AC/DC shirt, his feet were bare and a slight smile was present on his face. He was looking at another teen, one who looked about the same age as him, over the playing cards in his hand.This girl was dark-skinned, only slightly lighter than Shuri, with long and dark curly hair that was pulled up into a half up/half down. She was wearing a white shirt tucked into grey shorts and pink striped socks that reached the middle of her calf. She was laughing at something Riri had said, all of them were gathered around a card game.Another girl was lying on the couch above the game, scrolling through her phone and turning over to show the others something. She only had an oversized t-shirt and athletic shorts on, with brunette hair pulled into a messy bun. The shirt had a bunch of cartoon ducks and stylized words that read: DUCKTALES over the top. Maybe it was some type of TV show?There was a pair of boys working on some sort of electrical project. A lean brunette who seemed to be ranting about a series of movies and a heavier Asian who was nodding every now and then. Both were wearing matching shirts that advertised a science fair. And, now that he noticed it, Michelle was wearing the same shirt. Did they happen to go to the same school?“Hey Luke, who’s the guy?” A voice pulled James out of his observations, it came from a grown woman who was walking in with bags of food. That was, if the mouth-watering smell emanating from the bag was anything to go by.The woman was muscular, albeit somewhat lean. Impossibly dark hair poured over her shoulders like a charcoal waterfall. Her eyes were suspicious and her body language screamed intimidation even with the McDonald's in her arms. If James didn't know any better, he'd wager that this woman was a super."This is James, the person the kids wanted to meet." Luke introduced and all the teenagers snapped their head over to him. They all shot up from their places on the floor and rushed to James' side. If he had to honest, it reminded James of his sisters whenever he got home from the factory. They would crowd all around him, asking how his day was and if he brought anything back.The dark-skinned girl spoke first, pulling James out of his musings. "I'm Monica, Monica Rambeau!" She practically had stars in her eyes as she introduced herself to the sergeant. “My moms are Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau, my dad is Yon-Rogg but just call him Yon.” James was a bit taken aback, he didn’t know three people could be accepted as in a relationship together. Maybe the future was more accepting than he could have thought.The blonde boy pointed to himself, "I'm Harley Keener. Those are my sisters, Mack and Riri." He gestured to the brunette girl laying on the couch and Riri on the ground near her. Mack held up a peace sign to briefly acknowledge his presence before going back to scrolling on her phone.Riri looked up from where she had stayed sitting. She looked uninterested as she adjusted her nose ring. "Call me Brianna." Brianna continued to swipe through her phone as Harley shook his head, rolling his eyes in exasperation.Michelle waved from where she was sitting. She nonchalantly gestured at the boys who were excitedly talking amongst themselves, starry eyed at the spot just under his shoulder where James’ arm had been. He could hear their entire ramble, perks of the knock-off serum, but the speed at which they were talking made it difficult to keep track. He could pick out their exclamations over his coolness and some faint ones regarding the safety aspects of them meeting. Michelle’s voice broke through his observations, “That’s Peter and Ned. Ignore their fanboying, they’re always like that- you get used to it after awhile.”The woman from before shooed the kids away to what they were doing and gestured for James to follow into a separate room. Her eyes were dark and piercing, he couldn’t see anything past her initial expression. Suspicion. He observed her closer than before, her clothes weren’t restricting in case she needed to fight. And she wore fingerless gloves and combat boots. So she was a fighter, then. Or… she just dressed like one, you could never be too sure in the present day.Her voice was deadpan when she addressed him, deeper than most and tired. “James, right? I know about your background, HYDRA dicks messing with your head.” James mentally prepared himself for a fight, he knew coming to Stark was asking to get eaten alive. Why was he so stupid? “I understand. Look- I hate talking about my experience but sometimes that shit is useful. There’s a group therapy kinda thing, I know feelings are… disgusting, but it’s specifically about that. You should probably be there.”Talking about his experiences with HYDRA, with strangers at that, rubbed him the wrong way. HYDRA’s memories already pushed Him out and let things be said that didn’t need to be. James assessed the situation; he should compile as much information as he could about the attendees and subject matter, then decide if he should go. James tilted his head somewhat, “What’s your name? And how could you understand?”The woman stiffened at the latter question, so it obviously a touchy subject. “I’m Jessica, Jessica Jones. And I understand because I was controlled by a man named Kilgrave for eight months. I had did everything he told me to, killed, tortured, everything . So that’s how, Soldier, that’s how I can understand your experience. I know it wasn’t seventy fucking years but it’s still fucked.” She brushed past him to get back to the main area. Just before she left, Jessica called over her shoulder, “Stark can’t fix everything, Soldier. I’d invest in a therapist, if I were you.”-The teenagers were all sorts of fun.Brianna hadn't warmed up to him at all, but Peter and Ned seemed to have endless questions about his past. Specifically, his arm. Stark's kids were like a group of mini-hims, all of them holding brilliant mechanical minds and ideas for any improvements. He had to let them down easy, explaining that if James ever gained another arm it could prove harmful to the safety of everyone. Even with the new recruits and security measures. James left the kids to go exploring the Compound some more, he caught sight of Luke again and gave a friendly nod.He passed classrooms packed full of students solving complex equations on the board, James was certain they all were smarter than him. James slowed as he neared a crisp room with all sorts of fuzzy and colorful furniture. A whiteboard was fixed onto the door reading: 'Group Session for Former Mind Control'. That must be the support group that Jessica had talked about, maybe this was a good idea. He'll go in, listen to other people's stories and only share if he was comfortable. That sounded like a solid idea. Upon closer inspection, the group was starting in only a couple of minutes and there were already members inside.James recognized Jessica chatting with a man who seemed to have pink-tinted skin and yellow eyes. Major Danvers was standing close to his side, a small smile teasing her lips. Luke was at a concessions table fixing himself a cup of coffee, passing a creamer to an older man with tired blue eyes and unruly white hair. A familiar man sat in a chair idly tossing a holographic ball in his hands, he had longer black hair and blue eyes. A professional looking woman walked in and James took that as his cue to join the group. Everyone sat down in the circle of chairs, with the professional woman at head and facing everyone."Hello, it seems we have a newcomer so I'll introduce myself. I am Dr. Sneha Pandit, I run the therapy division of our mental health institute here at the Compound. If anyone has concerns regarding their mental health or another's come see me." Dr. Pandit clapped her hands together and crossed her legs, hiking her dark blue pencil skirt slightly and wrinkling her blouse. She adjusted her grip on her clipboard and addressed the entire room, "Is anything, anyone would to share? Yon, you haven't said anything about your own experience."The pink-tinted man spoke with an accent as if he was from Britain. "My... experience wasn't as cut and dry as everyone else's. There was an ethereal artificial intelligence that had access into everyone's minds and spread its ideals through propaganda. Their control spanned my entire race, it was societal in a way where you would be immediately silenced if it came to light that you disagreed.  I believed that you should always suppress emotions, no one was more important than a mission... it drove me to harm the people I love. It was only until I was cast out because of my failed objective that I realized what life was like without the conditioning and propaganda." His eyes glimmered, the gold in them shimmering with held in tears. Major Danvers squeezed his hand in support from where they intertwined.Dr. Pandit nodded thoughtfully, "Your experience is still mind control, even if it was on a more societal and political level. You learned and grew from your past mistakes. Tell me Yon, does Carol, Maria, or Monica resent you for what you did?""No.""Exactly, it's time for you to accept yourself and stop resenting yourself. Because, Yon, you're right, it's not cut and dry. Which means you can't expect yourself to be a saint or a sinner, everyone makes mistakes."Maybe this is what James needed. An outlet for his doubts and self-loathing, somewhere to lay all of his cards on the table and just calm down. Unwind from all of this fucked up tension and leftover bullshit from HYDRA and their godless experiments. He listened to the others in the room, Jessica talked about a nightmare from last night. It turned out that Luke had been controlled by the same man as Jessica. Kilgrave was menace until Jessica ended him a year before joining the Avengers Initiative, supposedly there were a number of criminals- corporate or otherwise- that had been brought down by Jessica, Luke, and two others James had yet to meet.-The group talk ended and as everyone was walking out, Major Danvers pulled him to the side with a kind smile. At James' tentative salute, she chuckled. "At ease, you don't have to do that every time we talk. Anyway, it was really good of you to come to this. Jess told me she had plugged it while you two were talking and it really does help. I was kidnapped and then brainwashed similarly to Yon and had no memory of my life before. I regained my memory over time but I still have scars and that kind of thing is never easy to get over. But it doesn't make you a lesser person. I've used the retroframing- it works- just get some additional help." James nodded at the advice, nothing he didn't hear earlier but the added recommendation added some credibility to it. She had just about walked off but not without calling out to stop being a stranger. He might need to brush up on his phrases.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

TONY COULDN’T BREATHE. He was lucid, he knew he was dreaming and yet, there was no way to escape and wake up. Tony saw a bustling city in outer space slowly start to deteriorate over the years. There wasn’t enough food for everyone and poverty skyrocketed, nothing changed. And then, Tony sees him. A larger than life alien quietly crying in the city center, then he turned to meet Tony’s eyes. They were filled with sorrow, but at the same time, resigned. That’s when Tony recognized the eyes and a phrase and location reverberated throughout his head.
Cursed with knowledge. Go to Titan.
Grey eyes boring into him. Fine. Tony would stare right back.If he was stuck in this dream, he might as well answer some questions while he was at it. Tony stared at the purple giant as he stood and made his way over to Thanos. “Who are you, firstly?”The alien chuckled, a deep rumbling that vibrated through Tony’s body. “My name is Thanos.” And… that felt familiar, Tony knew that name but couldn’t place it. “Your name is Anthony Edward Stark, terrans always need so many names and yet still end up with the same ones.”Tony studied Thanos closely, he knew the eyes and the name and yet, how did Tony know? He hadn’t gone on any exploration trips with Carol or Thor or anyone else. He still had nightmares about choking on nothing and floating endlessly in the tin can that was the Iron Man suit. Where did he know Thanos from? 
New York.
He was behind the attack. He was the one who brainwashed Loki. He was the one who decimated the Asgardians’ ship. He was the one who endlessly plagued Tony with sleepless nights where all he could remember were grey eyes and a smile. A monster was tied to him. “Cursed with Knowledge.” Yeah, okay. And Tony was a well-adjusted human being who went to sleep at eight every night.Thanos nodded his head, acknowledging the realization Tony had just gone through. “You know who I am as well. Anthony, we have been cursed with knowledge. With information , information not one man should possess- lest he go mad. Come to Titan, the planet you see here, and your worries and guilt will vanish. You will have done the right thing.” At Tony’s skeptical look, he chuckled. “Think about it.”And Tony woke up.-When Tony bolted forward in his bed, sweat dripping from his temples, he knew he needed to make a call. The words: “Think about it” echoing every five minutes in his head made it hard to concentrate but he needed to prepare now . If that meant waking every Avenger at five thirty in the morning, so be it. Something needed to get done, he hadn’t had a vision this vivid since the days before and after Ultron. Destruction was on its way and Tony didn’t know where to start.“FRIDAY?” His bedroom hummed to life, the blinds on his windows slowly ascending as it let in the early morning light. The sun was barely starting to rise, they were going to hate him today. "I need you to tell all of the Avengers to meet in West Wing Conference Room A. I'm holding an emergency meeting."Tony went to get dressed at FRIDAY sent out the alerts. She seemed to be in a better mood today, albeit a bit grumpy, it still amazed him that he was able to create something so advanced. Tony pulled on some dark joggers and an old, worn MIT sweatshirt he stole from Rhodey when he was fourteen at least. The Arc Reactor glowed at him through the shirt like it was taunting him. Just add that to the laundry list of things he needed to do in order to stop from keeling over where he stood.He set on his way to the West Wing, grabbing a mug of coffee from the pot that was kept on. It was called "The Kool-Aid" because Pepper and Rhodey claimed it brainwashed whoever drank it into staying up and destroying themselves. If Tony had to guess, the name probably came from Jonestown. The pot also carried the strongest brew Tony could legally buy. Ironically enough, the brew was named Death Wish.And then Tony stopped in his tracks, there were grunts coming from the gym on the way to the conference room. Upon further investigation, he saw Barnes sparring against the most difficult training AI. TAD (Training And Defense) was a small project that Peter begged to work on with Harley. A hologram that could interact physically with inanimate and animate objects, plus a difficulty system you could customize depending on your strengths and weaknesses. He was so proud of them.Barnes was currently engaged in a grueling hand-to-hand combat session. With the distinct lack of an arm, Barnes was less effective than Tony had originally taken notice of. There was something different about him, Tony noticed. Maybe it was the way his tank top stretched over his chest or his shoulders rose with every deep breath. His hair was halfway pulled up, Tony wondered who helped him with it. But he didn't leave his room to ogle Barnes with misplaced lust. No, there was a threat out there of the highest kind and they needed to stop it. Tony shook out of his musings and continued on to the room. He didn't notice Barnes' eyes follow his retreating figure or the way his eyes darkened.-The conference room was full when Tony arrived, it seemed that most of the attendees were already awake. Someone had brought in bagels and coffee for fellow Avengers and the smell just about made Tony's mouth water. But that was not the point. Kamala was resting her head on Peter's shoulder, not sleep but not quite awake either. Carol and Yon were dressed in running gear which meant that they were on their way out. Luke was nursing a cup of coffee along with Rhodey and Pepper. The room was a great example of an exhaustion scale."I called you here because a threat from space has made itself known to me." Everyone snapped to attention quickly, Kamala's head bolted up and she sat at attention. "His name is Thanos." A flicker of recognition went across a number of faces. So this guy wasn't completely unknown then, that was great."As many of you know, my flight through the wormhole of New York left me with a connection to something. Turns it's a some one . He wants something from Earth and I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with the Tesseract. What we now know as the Infinity Stones. Does anyone have anything to add?"Yon stood and walked to the front. Tony took his own seat, eager to learn more. He didn't know much about Yon but Carol made it known that while Yon made mistakes, he was a changed man. Much like Loki and himself, if Tony really thought about it. "Thanos hails from a dead planet named Titan. My people did business with him after your Battle of New York. He wanted us to retrieve the Infinity Stone of Power, fortunately, it slipped from the Kree's grasp before he could acquire it. Unfortunately, we have no lead on the organization that currently has it.""And what organization is that?" Rhodey asked from where he sat. He was dressed similarly to Tony, sweats and an old MIT sweatshirt. Instead of his braces, Rhodey was currently in his wheelchair- most likely because of the hour the meeting was called at."They are called the Guardians of the Galaxy. Recently, they killed the living planet, Ego." Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Peter whisper to Kamala 'living what now ?!'. "Individually, they're dangerous. Together is something else."Yon accessed the database from his suit on the condensed wristwatch Tony developed for him and Carol. A holographic mugshot of eight people hovered in front of Yon's audience. There was a green woman, a blue woman next to her, a bug looking woman, a heavily tattooed and grey skinned man, a tree, a raccoon ( ????? ), and a human man.Jessica pointed at the last man, "He looks like he's from Earth, what's his deal?"Yon enlarged his hologram, pulling up the man's criminal record which was quite extensive. "This is Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, roughly thirty-eight Terran years. He was abducted as a child and was adopted into the savage outlaw group known as the Ravagers. That's where he gained the majority of his criminal record.” Yon explained the entire group to them. Including the lethal and battle-hardened daughters of Thanos, Nebula and Gamora. They puzzled Tony the most- even more so than the tree and raccoon- why would they turn against Thanos? Granted someone could pay Tony a dollar to roundhouse kick his own father in the face, but that was his and his therapist's business.Stephen took the floor after Yon finished presenting what the Kree knew about the Guardians and the Power Stone. He explained that Thanos was most likely after the Mind Stone, Time Stone, and Space Stone. All of which were in the Compound at this very moment. So much for hiding them, especially when one was a gaudy necklace and the other glowed in the middle of someone's forehead.Thor followed up after Stephen sharing with the class about the Reality Stone aka the Aether. It was hidden in New Asgard under Heimdall and Valkyrie's watch. Coupled with warding spells from both Stephen and Asgradian mages, it wasn't going to be breached easily.That left what Stephen and Thor stressed was the most important stone, the Soul Stone. It's location was unknown but the legend was there. Whomever wanted to claim the stone needed to sacrifice something important to them. It could be someone's own dick if they loved it enough. Under careful planning, it was arranged that Thor would have Heimdall transport the Reality Stone vault under the Compound. Then, they would store the Space Stone there. Vision denied a luxurious room underground with sentient rocks and Stephen was adamant about keeping the Time Stone. Tony sent Peter to call for reinforcements from the other spider-people from his dimensional mix-up last summer. While he and Bruce worked with Loki and Stephen with galactic travel. Or, at least, galactic messaging. Baby steps are  important in this industry. -There was good news and bad news and you can guess which one made his chest hurt in all the wrong places. He's been working tirelessly since the emergency meeting last week. He hasn't been sleeping either because a grape with a ballsack for a face wants to collab on his End The World Tour and Tony would rather not. Of course, this is when his therapist is especially interested in his mind's inner workings despite the fact that purple John Cena wants to take sentient rocks and do whatever it is you do with sentient rocks. And from what Tony understands, it's take over the universe. But he goes to the sessions because his kids want him to. If his kids say jump, Tony will always ask how high. Tony's sporting a special type of migraine that comes from preparing for the end of the world when Rhodey walks into his office. He can tell Rhodey isn't faring much better on the sleep front with the bags that sag under his eyes. A file is plopped on his desk as Rhodey flops into one of the plush chairs in Tony's rarely-used office. "The UN wants us to call back the Rogues. This Thanos guy has them spooked, they want all hands on deck."That's exactly what Tony was terrified to hear that this perfect bubble of his could be popped with a beckon of the UN's hand. There's no other choice, they're right, the Avengers need all they can get against this Thanos. If New York was Thanos sending a fraction of his army, then they had a big storm coming."Call the King. Tell them they've got their pardons." Tony was resigned. He knew this would come at some point, America can't resist their Captain.Rhodey sighed, "I was afraid you'd say that. T'challa is gonna be psyched . His sister has been texted the kids nonstop about annoying white people. And, Tones I know you're white, but it's rough for the royal family."Tony let out a laugh, eyes crinkling at the sides. "If his cooking is anything to go off of, imagine Steve's reactions to food!"Rhodey slapped the desk in mirth, eyes squeezed shut as he cackled. "'Is this salt?!  I distinctly remember asking for boiled carrots with chicken broth as seasoning.' Oh… I did him kind of dirty there."Tony was too busy laughing to care. It had been awhile since he laughed like this, Rhodey always knew what to do to make him feel better. He caught sight of Rhodey texted the King that he could finally be rid of the Rogues. Rhodey showed him T'challa's slew of thank yours and cat emojis. The King really learned to embrace the cat nicknames and jokes about the Black Panther name. Another message popped up, "Expect them at the end of the month." Tony looked at the date, it was the first of June. That wasn't too bad, he could adapt by then"Shit!" Tony had completely forgotten that the Original Six had no idea he was a father. Every time he went out and didn't come back for a few days, everyone wrote it off as partying. He was seeing his kids where they lived with Pepper and he always dropped by the dorms to see Riri. Whipping his phone around in order to see the distressing text, Rhodey's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. A sigh wracked through us body, neither of them wanted the Rogues back but they knew they were needed. It took Rhodey a second until he figured out what Tony was cursing about. His eyes widened, “They don’t know about the kids…” Hiding his children' existence was completely unintentional, it all came down to time and place. He had adopted Riri a year after Killian and she was already on her way to college at the tender age of fourteen. Tony was still so proud of his girl. By the time Harley and Mack came along, it was just before Ultron and Tony could already see the implosion of the Avengers in the rearview mirror. He didn’t want to expose them to that, not when their mother’s death was still fresh. So, they stayed in an off-site house that Tony owned. Unsurprisingly, the team didn’t notice Tony didn’t live with them like everybody else. Or they did notice and wrote it off as an uppity billionaire not wanting to be around the common folk. “Well, they’re just going to have to deal.” Rhodey almost looked surprised at the finality of Tony’s statement. It was rocky- the transition from being surrounded by a supposed family to lying in a hospital bed broken and alone. However, that was the thing everyone tried to get Tony to understand. He wasn’t alone, he had kids and Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and he could rebuild the Initiative. Tony could exist without the Avengers and the Avengers could exist without him.-The following days were full of meetings with the UN, not that Tony didn’t enjoy talking to old coots all day. But at least he had Rhodey with him at the meetings, something about seeing your best friend mimic dentures falling out of a prime minister’s face lightened Tony’s feelings about his impending doom. Most of the countries at the meetings were less than thrilled with the US government pardoning the Rogues. It wasn’t until Tony pulled the information on the Mad Titan- as Yon called him- that they realized it was truly the lesser of two evils.T’challa was there with his husband and sister, Shuri looked bored out of her mind being the third wheel and being forced to listen to old men drone on about diplomacy. He felt that a lot lately, between Carol, Maria, and Yon and the ‘Revengers’. Third-wheeling wasn’t fun at all. When they finally arrived at the Compound, Tony had never felt better. He lost count of the days he spent away from his kids and Tony was content with never letting them leave his sight.Tony beelined to his room after giving his kids smooches on the heads, something that most of them protested but gave into anyway. The three-piece suit was feeling stuffy and he was looking forward to changing into a comfortable tank and joggers combo. Tony sprayed a bit of water in his hair in order to diffuse all the product he slicked his hair back with. He had started to grow his hair back out, Pep and Rhodey said it reminded them of when he was still dying of palladium poisoning. Well, they didn’t say those words but that was the only thing at the time he really remembered doing.“Hey, Fri?” He should check on Barnes, see what’s going on with him. Maybe properly apologize like he should have a month ago.“Yes, Boss?"“What’s Barnes doing right now?  Can you see if he’s free?”“Will do.” A moment passed as FRIDAY checked up on the super soldier, “He’s currently at BRT.” And that made sense, Jess did say she suggested he get Barnes a therapist. She most likely beat him to the punch in recommending BRT (Brainwashed Redemption Therapy).“When they finish, tell him to meet me in my workshop around nine o’clock. There’s something I wanna give him.”“Got it.”Now that that was all said and done, Tony wanted to spend some time with kids. But first, he needed to grab a few things. He poked into Kam’s room to grab her megaphone she tortured new recruits with, had FRIDAY start preheating the ovens in the kitchen, and start playing the old music playlist he compiled with Fury and Carol. Bobby Caldwell came in over the speakers and Tony relished in the smooth jazz before setting off to collect his kids. They were all in the common room playing Mario Kart and, lucky enough, Peter was with them. Tony held the megaphone to his mouth and took a deep breath:“FRIDAY, TURN OFF THE GAME. UP AND AT EM KIDDOS, WE’VE GOT DESSERTS TO BAKE.” Those who weren’t scared enough to slide and onto the floor (mack and ri), jumped a foot into the air. Peter recovered first and, when he realized what was happening, punched the air. “Hell yeah! It’s a bake day!” The kids went rushing into the kitchen, all grabbing their custom-made aprons (thanks carol). A recipe was projected in the middle of the kitchen, above the island, for lemon squares, mini chocolate cakes, red velvet cupcakes, and an array of cookies.Bake Days were a de-stressing activity the entire family participating in, even his AI babies. They helped out by deejaying or putting in their two cents on which recipes to make. Often times, FRIDAY and Karen would start bickering over which music to play, it only showed itself via electronics. One day, Karen said that alternative music was better than eighties and seventies era music and the temperature wouldn’t go up in Peter’s room for a week. He ended up sleeping in Harley’s room that week. Part of the de-stressing in Bake Days was the act of telling everyone what was on your mind. Ri had called a bake day the day before MIT acceptance letters were set to get sent out, Harley and Mack called one on the anniversary of their mother’s death, and- once he found out- Peter called one after he told MJ he liked her. It was honestly hilarious, he called her and blurted it out and then hung up. Peter didn’t talk to her until after the weekend, when they were forced to see each other. He was so embarrassed and even more so when Tony quipped that Peter definitely didn’t inherit his flirtation skills.That’s why Tony shouldn’t have been surprised when Harley looks at him square and asks what’s bothering him. He and Harley are able to sense when the other is feeling some way pretty easily. Harley always claims it’s because they’re ‘connected’ with a little shit-eating grin until Tony messes up his hair and Satan himself possesses the kid. “The Rogues are coming back at the end of the month. They’ve been pardoned by the government.” Tony could already his breath quickening and his lungs getting tighter by the second. He sunk down to the ground and, after a few seconds, his kids surrounded him on all sides.Mack rubbed soothing circles into his arms as Peter grabbed a cupcake with his web shooter. He handed it to Tony with a small smile on his face. It wasn’t often that Tony let his kids see this side of him but they had to know he was human and that feeling this way normal. Ri rested her head on his shoulder, murmuring a story laced with slang he didn’t understand about a horny Greek god. It was an inside joke. Pleasantly, they all fell asleep to the smell of freshly baked desserts and the sound of jazz.-Tony woke up on the floor in a pile of teenagers tranquil before he realized they had A) left the ovens on and B) left all the batter and frosting out to dry. He carefully slipped himself out and saw nothing… no mess, no bowls, no flour. Just nothing. Everything was clean and off to the side plates of baked goods were stacked and wrapped in saran wrap. It was adorned with a single sticky note: ‘You all seemed peaceful and I didn’t want to wake you. Everything was baked and cleaned.’ He flipped the note over, no signature. Huh.Gently, Tony woke everyone up. Bake Day wasn’t over yet, they had to pass all the goodies out before everyone when home for the day. Once fully awake, Ri went to go hijack a maintenance cart. Mack and Harley loved to ride on it while Peter pushed it as fast as he could. They made their rounds through the halls, stopping at classes, conference rooms, and the cafeteria. By the end of it, the plates were empty and Mack was back to sleep on the cart. Harley and Ri opted to walk next to Tony on the way back to the living quarters. They dropped Mack in her room first, Tony carrying her and tucking her into the Zelda printed sheets Ri got her for Christmas. She snuggled into her pillow almost immediately and for a second, Tony’s heart melted. Next was Harley, his eyes were already half-lidded on the walk to Mack’s room. He barely made it into his bed before he collapsed, snoring the night away. Ri parked the cart just outside her own room and bid them both goodnight. Tony walked Peter to his room and let the boy snuggle into his covers before flicking his starlights on. The warm glow draped the room in comfort as Tony turned to go to the workshop, he checked his watch. It was nine-thirty and he had completely forgotten about Barnes.Tony broke into somewhat of a jog until he passed the kitchen. Barnes was standing there, completely transfixed with the mug in his hand. The moonlight shone through the window, blanketing Barnes in an ethereal light. He looked… beautiful. It was a little jarring. Barnes had been nothing but respectful and Tony had been a complete asshole and totally accommodating. Barnes couldn’t have been aware of the murder of Tony’s parents, it was wrong to hold that against him. And, frankly, if a man in a suit of armor came after him with repulsor beams and rocket launchers Tony would defend himself too.He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the soldier. Barnes' head snapped and, for a moment, his eyes looked lost like he didn't know where he was. Then they softened, he glanced at the homemade mug in his hands. It was a product of a destressing pottery class Bruce took, it didn’t work well at all. “How did you sleep?” Barnes broke the silence, looking at him through those long lashes. Tony shoved those observations to the deepest caverns of his heart.“Oh. You, uh, saw that?”“Yeah.”“Sorry about missing our, I guess, appointment. I got caught up with my kids.”Barnes smiled at the mention of Tony’s kids. “They’re great, really nice- it was surprising considering our history.”Tony nodded his head at that. Harley and Peter briefly mentioned wanting to meet Barnes, he told them to not bother the soldier while he was going through recovery. Obviously, they went behind his back. Tony didn’t really care. A long pause passed, filling the gap of their conversation like quicksand.“I have something to give you.” Tony blurted, what was he thinking? Barnes probably never wanted to accept anything from him, who knows what Steve and the others told him in Wakanda. “It’s in my workshop so you’d have to go down there but consider it an apology for being a dick.”“Sure, I would like that.”The pair made their way to the workshop while making idle conversation along the way. It turned out that Barnes was the one who finished baking all of the pastries. He began to remember times in the forties when he worked as an apprentice in a bakery. It made him smile and suddenly Tony wanted to see more of that. The topic drifted to pre-serum Steve, he was tiny and asmathic but somehow still ready to fight all of Brooklyn. It was particularly interesting to see the grimace on Barnes’ face as he mentioned Steve’s perpetual beef with the world.FRIDAY opened the door for them and pulled up the schematics to the arm he developed for Barnes in his spare time. He could feel the shock radiating from Barnes. His blue eyes widening, breath catching and, fingers clenching. Finally, he stammered through a sentence. Tony tilted his head a little to indicate that he didn’t hear him.“Y-you didn’t have to. After everything…”“I actually wanted to, it’s finished and everything. I would just have to attach it… that is, if you wanted me to.” Barnes smiled softly at him and nodded his head.The attachment went smoothly, his shoulder had been picked clean of all of the metal from that atrocious HYDRA arm. Shuri’s doctors did a really good job too, no irritation or swelling. Color Tony impressed. The calibration was easy enough too, no unnecessary strain on the shoulder and the metal was lightweight in order to avoid overcompensation.Afterwards, they sat in silence looking at various projects on Tony’s dashboard. He broke the silence first, Tony couldn’t let Barnes do all the heavy lifting. “Consider this a do-over. Let’s try to be friends instead of whatever this is. Okay?”Barnes chuckled softly and hummed, “That sounds good. But from now on, call me James or Jamie. Whichever you prefer.”“Same thing for me, call me Tony.” Who called him Jamie? Steve always called him Bucky or Buck. “Who called you Jamie?”“My mother. I barely remember her now, but I remember her calling me Jamie.” He looked Tony in the eyes, sincerity splayed on his face. “I want you and the kids to call me that if you want.”Maybe this was the beginning of a new era. Fuck the Rogues. Tony was capable of change, he was capable of forgiveness, he could move on.  “Yeah, no problem.” He checked the clock, it was getting late and they should probably turn in. “We should get to bed, James .”
“You’re right, Tony . Sleep well.” And with that, the two went to their respectives rooms. They both felt more content than they had in years. It was the start of a new age, of a new friendship. That was definitely enough for the two of them, years of history that could be forgotten for now.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS went spectacularly well. It seemed like James had known Tony his entire life. There was always easy banter and little quips traded between them. It even seemed like Brianna was warming up to him because of that.James and Tony had developed into the beginnings of friendship, only just scratching the surface of what it could be. Overall, the two were having a great time getting to know each other. Tony helped with James' introduction to the 21st century. Something that had been kicking his ass ever since he escaped HYDRA. James allowed Tony to fiddle with his prosthetic in order to improve the line Stark Industries was preparing to put on the market. The twenty-first century was both amazing and confusing.James was introduced to all types of media, from new music to movies that stole his attention and ran with it. Tony took it upon himself to show James everything, speaking a mile a minute about things he barely understood. Although, it was somewhat easier to understand Tony than his kids. He did want to learn more, if James was going to fit into this new generation he needed to be tech-savvy. At least, that’s how he thought that word was supposed to be used.Peter and Ned declared it was their obligation to show him everything that had to do with space and the “sci-fi” genre. They watched the original trilogy of Star Wars and the prequels, they weren’t going to watch the sequel trilogy until the last movie was out. The Star Trek movies were close after but Tony claimed the tv series was much better than the movies. If Bucky had to choose his favorite out of all the sci-fi movies they watched, it would have to be Pacific Rim. Something about the trust and bond that went into being drift compatible really appealed to James. Shuri was ecstatic at James’ interest in the New Age. She overloaded him with the origins of all sorts of pop culture references. She claimed that it was the most important thing in his ‘curriculum’ so far. Peter and Tony spoke in a language made up of pop culture references and science. If he needed to keep up, that’s where the majority of his focus should be. And if James had to learn roughly seventy years worth of media to get even remotely closer to Tony? James didn’t mind at all.-Currently, James opted for a bookish approach to the twenty-first century. Harley had hopped, albeit a bit reluctantly, on the bandwagon too and dropped off a number of his favorite books and series. James had been engrossed in a book about a group of boys stuck in a maze with no memory. He had to give it a solid nine out of ten so far, it really was interesting. He supposed it had to do with the main characters not knowing who they are and how their lives were mostly lies.A voice laden with an Irish accent made itself known to him. It seemed like FRIDAY had both accepted and started to warm up to him somewhat. “Good Afternoon, Sergeant Barnes. Lunch rush is starting in the cafeteria and Boss has been wanting to show you new foods.” Lunch? It was already afternoon? Was James so zeroed in on his book that the time had just run away? And, yep, it was two o’ clock in the afternoon and James had barely done anything. “Tell him that I’ll be a little bit, I need to get cleaned up.” FRIDAY chirped a relatively cheerful response and left him be. That left him to decide what he was going to wear. James wanted to test the waters of this new friendship thoroughly, it already seemed fragile. That meant that he didn’t want to seem like he was a slob that didn’t clean himself up and make himself presentable for others. There was an entire closet full of clothes tailored to fit him- how Tony managed to do that, James would never know.A hot shower sounded amazing right now and, while he wasn’t training as hard as he used to, James had been packing on training sessions. He was initially doing it to get used to fighting without an arm but now it was to familiarize himself with the new arm Tony made for him. It wasn’t too heavy but powerful, a perfect fit for his fighting style. It was also conveniently “lifeproof” as Tony called it.James stepped into the large shower, admiring the way the hot water drizzled over his skin. His hands wandered as he worked the tension out of his skin. He hadn’t had this great of a shower in a long time, probably never if James was being honest. His eyes fluttered closed at the continuous pressure and warmth.Tony was so nice for providing all of this, so thoughtful. 
Would he be that thoughtful in bed?
James snapped his eyes open, mind reeling from that traitorous thought that was no doubt pushed in there by Winter. But… was Tony that thoughtful, would he be focused on his partner? Finding every one of their sweet spots, sucking and gripping until they couldn’t get enough. Keeping his eyes on them, burning through with molten amber, and centered on bringing his partner as much desire as he could.Would he be good for them? Allowing whomever it was to take and take and take, let him feel the white-hot pleasure that Tony made them feel. Would he allow them to hold him in their arms as they pounded into him, pliant or would he be too proud and take control of the task at hand. Would he climb on top and push them down showing how to pleasure him.His metal hand wrapped around his mostly hard cock, this wasn’t right but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. James seemed to lose the ability to deny anything from him.If there were any truth to the rumors of Tony being more narcissistic than he actually was, maybe Tony would be more focused on his own gratification. Riding hard enough to reach that sweet spot, angling it just right, while his partner watched- mesmerized. Would those soft-looking lips form that silent ‘O’ when he hit it just right or would he make sounds? Scream and shout and moan without shame.James was leaning against the tiled wall now, head blurry with arousal and one hand pumping as hard as he could. He thought of Tony under him, calling his name and making those sweet sounds that James would pay money to listen to. Those beautiful eyes boring into him and silently affirming, ‘Yes, you are mine.’ He envisioned those were Tony’s hands, rough from his time in the workshop, bringing him close to the edge. The edge where his toes are curling and his hands are tingling and-Bliss.His chest was heaving, sweat had collected across his pecs regardless of being in the shower. A sinking feeling settled into James’ stomach. He did that , despite the fact that Tony hated him, despite the fact that they just now became something that resembled friends, despite the fact that they had barely known each other- really known each other- until now. He violated him without Tony even knowing, if he found out… There will be no ‘ifs’ . He won’t find out because we won’t tell him. Right. Of course Winter would take the route that didn’t involve being honest and truthful to Tony. 
I let you have the limelight most of the time, this is a nice compromise. No?
-It was awkward. Seeing Tony that is.Everyone was sitting at a long, cafeteria table- it was more modern and polished than the ones that were in schools but it kept true to the moniker. The chatter was louder than James could ever believe, it seemed like every Initiative employee was sitting with a large group at the various tables. All enjoying the high quality cafeteria food and each other’s company, it was nice to see the togetherness of the Initiative community.The table Tony was sitting at was enjoying a mash of various foods, it seemed that Tony hadn’t only invited James to eat. Harley and Peter were there, along with Kamala, Jessica, Luke and a couple others James didn’t know. It seemed like the Initiative had grown far more than Steve could have ever imagined, it wasn’t just the six originals anymore. James had taken the cowardly route and sat with Jessica and Luke, he ignored the flash of hurt that crossed Tony’s face. This was for the better.He was able to get to know Jessica and Luke some more while also being introduced to their comrades, Danny Ren and Matthew Murdock. Danny was like Tony, he was an influential and wealthy businessman. He wasn’t too wary of sharing his identity with the world, but it made him susceptible to hitmen on both sides of his life. Hitmen who would be tracking his every move because of the reveal. Danny was born to a wealthy Taiwanese businessman and a Vietnamese socialite in San Jose, California. They lived in Santana Row and enrolled Danny into the premiere schools in the area. James had read his file, he knew everything about the man.Then, Danny had become orphaned and went missing for eighteen years, marooned on an untraceable island. He was trained in the mystic martial arts and obtained a power called the Iron Fist. In the process, he branded his chest with a dragon tattoo after defeating the mystical dragon guarding the power.“Wait, wait, wait,” Kamala was laughing from across the table where Peter sat beside her. “You’re telling us that the whole ‘badass dragon brand’ was an accident ?”Danny looked a bit sheepish as he looked to the side, “I was trying to make it sound cool, dude,” Parts of his accent bled through as he pushed food around on his plate. “I was an orphaned kid who kicked a dragon’s teeth in, yeah I’m gonna make it sound as cool as possible. I was, like, sixteen.” With a clap on Danny’s back, Luke was snickering at the childish embellishments in Danny’s story, “I keep forgetting you’re a young one.” The laughter surrounding drowned out Danny’s scandalized, ‘I’m twenty-eight!’There was silence from the top of the table and then suddenly, the table went quiet. All eyes were up at the beginning of the row where Tony was sitting, a flushed intern was clutching a tablet in hand and panting. She was twenty-something and looked bookish, but she was obviously overexerted. She had obviously been running to try and tell Tony something, the question at hand was what? James hadn’t been paying attention when she first ran up, he was too busy listening to Danny. (stay alert, дурак) “Um, Mr. Stark, sir. It seems that Wakanda expedited the process of obtaining the means of transportation and the pardons required to allow the Rogue Avengers back into the country. Supposedly, the United States pushed for it and the UN put it to a vote and it won for some reason and-” The intern was rambling now, slight irritation bleeding through and letting her opinion be known.Tony held up his hands, signalling the intern to calm down and take some breaths. “Calm down, kid. Tell me what’s wrong, the Rogues are doing what?”The intern gulped, nervously pushing up her glasses in preparation for her next statement. “They’re arriving at the Compound today,” She glanced at her watch, “In about two hours, actually.”Somehow the expression that Tony made cut deeper into James than his old arm.-Seeing the Rogues was different.It wasn’t a sharp pain in Tony’s chest, it was more of a dull one. It reverberated through his body and coursed through his veins, pulsing until Tony’s eyes started to get cloudy. When did he start tearing up? The tears were gone though, when Steve looked at him with a soft expression and Tony blinked back, unfazed. An absentminded rub to the scar under his new arc reactor garnered a flinch from Steve and he turned back to Natasha. ‘ No action was without consequences ’, Tony mused. Upon arriving in front of them, Tony took in the Rogues’ new looks. It seemed that their numbers had diminished- Lang and Clint were on house arrest and Sam was required to complete Correctional Custody. Steve was tired- he could tell, Steve never really could keep anything from him ( yes, he could ) -  his eyes were sunken in and he had lost weight. No matter how hard Steve tried to put on the ‘Cap’ persona, he couldn’t hide that. There was a depression beard too, Tony figured it was fitting. He did lose everything in the figurative divorce, as the media called it, even his dear old Bucky. It still tingled in the back of Tony’s mind at times- why did James come to the US, even with the treatment? The princess had already been working on removing the triggers, so why Tony ? Weren’t there warnings from the others? Spiteful remarks criticizing everything he did or hateful observations during the televised press conferences?Natasha looked as put together as ever, her iron mask not cracking even a little bit. She never was good at revealing her true motives or feelings, at least, not to Tony. There was a devotion to Steve that Tony never even had a taste of, regardless of their former status as a team. Her hair was longer than he’d ever seen- it flowed in fiery waves down to the middle of her back. The black bodysuit he’d been so used to seeing on her was replaced with a black hoodie and joggers. Now that he thought about it, Steve was wearing a casual long sleeved shirt and joggers too. She had dark circles too, something was affecting their sleep and Tony was curious to find out what.The witch was next, but she was a curious case. It seemed that Wanda had been a bit mouthy, at the very least. An ornate, glowing muzzle was clasped on her mouth with runic cuffs adorning her wrists. Her hair was unkempt, falling from her high bun in maroon rivulets, and the raging fury in her eyes flared as she caught sight of Tony. Muffled shouts and grunts came from her and Steve gave a full body grimace at the noises. Dora Milajes exited the ship after her, sharing a look of disdain at the woman they were escorting.He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and looked Steve in the eyes ( Stark men are made of iron ) . Those green-blue eyes were beautiful in a haunting way, they followed Tony through his dreams and everyday life. Those eyes were dangerous and he can see why he fell in so deep in the first place when it came to Steve.“Steve, Natasha, … Wanda,” A muffled grunt was sent his way with an eye roll from both of the Doras. “You’ve got your pardons, congratulations. Fortunately for you, there are free rooms in the Compound and a recent vote to increase team sizes. So, if you’ll follow me, we have a tour to commence.” Tony slipped a pair of burgundy tinted shades on, a comfortable pair that Harley and Mack had gotten for him, and led the trio through the double doors into the Compound.Steve and Natasha’s eyes widened at the hectic sight before them, it was like this usually nowadays. The staff back then had been small, they hadn’t been offering classes or training programs before. So much was different. As Tony let them take in the sights around them, a shimmering portal opened next to him and out stepped Stephen. Tony shared a grimace with Stephen after glancing at Wanda, “I’m assuming your taking Wanda, Steph?”“Unfortunately.” He ground out, Tony could tell he was unhappy about this. His hands were shaking more than usual, there would probably be a visit to the physical therapist by the end of today.“By all means.”The portal closed with a whoosh and Steve let a deep sigh out. “Thank you.” And that’s not what Tony was expecting at all. What happened to the endless excuses? What happened to the sympathetic looks and the puppy dog eyes and the apologist tendencies? Why was Wanda borderline rabid? Tony’s head was spinning, he had so many questions.And like a coward, he asked none of them.Instead, he replied. “I’m not the one you should be thanking.”He took them through the sharp, white hallways where large glass panels displayed numerous different experiments and classes being conducted. The students didn’t spare Tony a glance, they had seen him too much to care anymore. Tony explained that the Initiative was an international organization now, it had a panel of councilors and representatives from each team. As they neared the gyms and obstacle courses, Tony started to explain more about the details and inner workings of the Initiative. There were three base teams- Attack, Defense, and Rescue- and were codenamed Alpha, Beta, Omega. There were others who were on call to help in desperate situations, the full rosters would be sent to them through FRIDAY. The Avengers stayed in the West Wing and all common rooms, kitchens, and private workout rooms were there but for more stocked areas, the East Wing would come in handy.“Who all are in the various teams? Are these all people we can trust?” Natasha questioned, those grey-blue eyes cold and calculating. Evaluating each and every corner, planning escape routes and discerning how she could better blend in with her surroundings. It was funny she was asking about trust.It was funny she was asking about trust when he trusted her . When Tony believed she was on his side, believed that she was signing the pardons, believed that she had finally seen past the facade he put on for the media and most others and saw the real him. He thought that she had seen him .
T
ony Stark: Not Recommended
Tony took in a breath, trying to cover up his eye roll with a turn of his head. “The people on these teams were handpicked and recruited myself or other veteran members, they have gone through psych evals and fitness tests.” He let out a dry chuckle, Tony could feel the wall he built around all of this shit falling apart brick by brick. It seemed as if Natasha wanted to say more but kept quiet. He didn’t know if this was some ploy to try and get into his good graces again, but that was something he could respect about her. Nat was a survivalist, through and through, she rarely spared a thought to other people’s feelings and kept it going. There had to be something there, though, something that haunted her and followed her into the corners of the night. There was little known about her past and Nat kept it that way, it was unsettling. And maybe a little intriguing.They continued to walk until Tony rounded the corner into the main common room. The biggest kitchen was directly adjacent to it, providing a nice area for a team dinner or movie night. He didn’t realize that his kids were going to be piled on the couch watching Wedding Crashers without him. Was the Vince Vaughn marathon tonight?He raised his voice a bit when he spoke, giving the kids some time to realize that there were unfortunate guests among them. “And this is the main common room, as you can see, it’s in use.” Their faces were almost comical, Riri caught sight of Steve and looked as if she had eaten a lemon. Harley and Mack shared a look of surprise before it morphing into one of disdain as they realized who was standing before them. Peter had been balancing on the back of the couch (even after Tony told him not to) and promptly fell onto the hardwood. What made it better was Kam turning from the microwave, midway through a bite of popcorn, and nervously greeting them. “Hey, T. Hey people I don’t know, we definitely weren’t watching Wedding Crashers without you. That would never happen.”Tony let out a disbelieving snort, “Uh huh yeah sure, see if I fix your wall next time you freak out killing a spider.” He ignored his over dramatic gasp as Peter clambered off the floor. “And I’m pretty sure I told you not to sit on the back of the couch.”“But Mr. Stark-”“Tony.”“-Tony! I was testing to see if I could stick to fabric or if it was only buildings and stuff.” Peter responded, god, Tony loved these kids but that excuse was pulled out of his ass. He was pretty sure he taught Peter better than that.“Let me guess, Harley paid to see how long you could stay in that weird position. How much for how long?”“Fifty for half an hour.” Hm. Not bad at all.Steve cleared his throat from where he stood next to Tony, there was an uncomfortable look on his face. It was like he knew he wasn’t welcome here, like he knew that he didn’t belong. Natasha was just confused, she never cared about belonging anywhere unless it came with making disguises or disappearing forever. Kamala looked between Steve, Natasha and Tony. Tony could tell she was conflicted, torn between staying because she didn’t trust the Rogues or leaving because she knew this was a volatile situation. “Do you need us to… leave?”Tony looked at Steve, “Yeah, that would be best.” He definitely had bigger problems at hand.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

JAMES DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO FEEL with the arrival of Steve, Natasha, and the witch.

The witch had been taken by the doctor to his sanctum, James had heard him muttering about magic training and annoying obligations. That left James to one of his more impossible objectives: Stay away from Steve. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Steve- there was a warm feeling where the memories should be- but that he wasn’t the same Bucky that motivated Steve to come after him in the first place. Steve destroyed his relationship with Tony for no reason, the end result benefitted no one. Tony was heartbroken and left for dead, everyone who owned a TV knew James’ face, and Steve was a fugitive in the eyes of the law.

He hadn’t run into them yet and he didn’t intend to, the nonstop hovering of Steve had pissed him off in the past and James would bet his entire secret stash of money that it would start again. The retroframing sessions were done for now but Tony had scheduled a check up for each month for the rest of the year. If Steve got wind of that then there would definitely be some lingering from him.

James chose to spend his time in the gym in order to work off the excess energy accumulated from staying in the Compound. He wasn’t very comfortable with going for runs yet, the media was around too much and James hadn’t found an exit that successfully avoided straggling paparazzi. TAD was still a delight, they had made it into a game to find a training level that won in a spar against James. It seemed that Peter had developed an affinity for AI upgrading, TAD had gone through ten updates since James first used the program. He had become so advanced and human-like, artificial intelligence was a beauty.

Level forty-five was where James had stalled out. It served as a good distraction to all the complicated feelings swirling around at the return of Steve. He knew Steve and Tony had a past, if it went so far as a relationship, he wouldn’t be surprised. James saw the way Steve’s eyes changed when someone brought Tony up. He eyes would soften and become forlorn-

longing

, almost- before they would harden up and he would spew whatever bullshit he used to justify going after his

Bucky

. Going after him and refusing to turn around and accept the consequences, going after him and ruining the hard-fought anonymous identity James had built for himself.

He liked Bucharest. He was enjoying his life, re-learning himself after HYDRA had ripped it from him. And learning who he was now. From Jamie to Bucky to James, what was he if not a ruthless killer? Who was the broken shell, left behind after the train? Was he the Bucky that Steve knew and loved, or was he Jamie, the brother who was fiercely protective of his family?

Or was he The Asset?

And it was at that thought that everything went white-hot, clouding his vision and coursing through his veins. Vaguely, in the back of his mind, he registered the feeling of his metal arm crushing the head of the training bot. Straight through, like it was butter. Someone was calling his name, he could hear it but it was so far away. He was underwater.

-

Tony didn’t call himself an overly worried person.

That was a lie. He knew he was paranoid and haunted by insecurities and uncertainty. That was why he double-checked all the security systems himself at night. That was why Tony took it upon himself to go through each hallway when his nightmares got to be too much and he had to see with his own eyes that nothing was wrong.

It was already midnight and Tony hadn’t seen James since lunch. The arrival of The Good Captain and his trusty Widow had weighed down on Tony, but James must have been ecstatic. At least, as ecstatic a brainwashed ex-assassin can be in this day and age. His musings were interrupted by a crunching noise coming from the training room. It was like all Tony’s fears were coming true. He broke into a run. Someone was in the Compound, they were going to get the kids,

oh god he had to stop them

. Those final feet to the door was a sprint, heart pounding and red alerts blaring in his mind.

The soft sounds of muted crying quelled it.

There James was, crouched over the decapitated training bot. His metal arm was punched clean through the head and it was resting on his arm. The sparks were dancing across the glossy black metal, it lit up his eyes as it bounced off.

The vacancy was startling.

He was looking at nothing and everything at once. The blue of his eyes was already pale, but it was like it had lifted even more in color. More of a dusk greyblue. His hair fell over his face like a waterfall from where it started to come out of his ponytail. Tony called his name once, twice, no response except for a slight quirk of the head.

Lowering into a sitting position opposite James, Tony guided the training bot parts off and out of his hands. Hesitantly, almost feather-light, Tony set down the parts. He was careful not to make any sudden noises, Tony didn’t know how dangerous James got in these situations and if this was anything like the retroframing session, he had another problem on his hands. Slowly, Tony brought his hands up to James’ face. They were cracked and dry and scarred and rough and he wasn’t supposed to do this. Not with what he said last time. Not when he knew that there was a red alert shutdown in his head back when the Soldier came out and called him beautiful.

It was like time stopped, the clock stopping its repetitive motion as Tony lifted James’ face to look him in the eyes. The world stopped spinning as the vacancy started to fill and soft, translucent tears bean to stream down James’ face. Slowly, they shifted into a position in which he was in James’ lap, arms wrapped around his neck while the other clung to him with his arms pulled tight around Tony’s back. And as he sat there stroking James’ hair to the tune of an old Italian love song, it seemed like everything else was fading away.

An eternity passed before James lifted his head from the crook of Tony’s neck and looked at Tony in the eyes. They searched his eyes, blue gazing at amber, digging and excavating to find some sort of underlying motive for holding him. And quietly, voice hoarse from disuse, James spoke. “Why are you here?”

And- that wasn’t what Tony expected to be said. Did he overstep?

God, he was never any good at this.

He shifted in an effort to get up, to brush it off like nothing ever happened and curl in his bed listening to Peppino Gagliardi until he was better.

James’ arms tightened around him. “No, I- not like that.” He cursed in Russian, hiding his face in the hair that had fallen out his bun. Tony stilled, “Why are you helping me?”

“Because I want to-”

“I

killed

your parents, I

killed your mom

-”

“And I’ve since forgiven you.” That still left a funny taste in his mouth, they were talking about things that took Tony months to even mention to his therapist. But he believed it, not because Steve shoved it down his throat but because he met and interacted with James. He saw the real him and he already knew the emotionless brainwashed assassin that showed in Vienna. He knew the difference.

And it was the broken, cracked expression on James’ face that Tony he hadn’t even forgiven himself. “Why?”

“I trust you.”

James choked, an indiscernible wave of emotions crossed his face, “You shouldn’t.” There was a pause. “I’m a murderer.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Don’t put yourself in danger like this, it’s not safe.”

Tony raised James’ head to face him, “That’s my choice to make.” And suddenly, eyes were fluttering closed and lips were pressing against each other and Tony was seeing the cosmos. It was like a blanket had been placed over him. James’ lips were chapped but they were soft, pillowy almost. Tony’s hands travelled upwards to wound themselves in James’ hair, tangling and pulling. The sounds he was making were worth it.

He could feel those solid arms shift to support him, one around his waist and one under his ass. He can feel the metal had squeezing, kneading, it makes him squirm. And he can feel the effect he’s having on James, he can feel the sizeable pressure growing under him. As a metal finger ghosts his hole through his sweatpants, Tony gasps. James take that opening to deepen the kiss, they’re making obscene noises at this point. Anyone could catch them, but neither of them stop. James’ touch is like fire, Tony’s body is burning at this point. Smoldering against a white-hot presence, it’s driving him insane.

Something, maybe the insistent pressure against his thigh, spurs him to shove his down James’ pants. He can feel the thighs under him tensing up, Tony can feel the strength of them. It’s nothing that he could have ever imagined. He does pull away from James to check that this is okay. It’s filthy, they separate with a wet pop- a string of spit breaks between them. James’ hair is mussed and his blue,

blue

, eyes had pupils that blown wide open. A pretty flush was settled on his cheeks and ears, he was absolutely gorgeous. And the nod James gives him, the silent ‘go ahead’ that hangs in the air is enough for Tony.

James sets to work pulling Tony’s own pants down just enough for his cock to spring up. The sight of it works James up, Tony can tell with the way his eyes widen and his tongue flicks out to chase a phantom on his lips. Then, James reaches between them and rubs their cocks together. It creates a friction so amazing that Tony’s mind bluescreens and a moan escapes his lips, he isn’t ready for the hand that leaves their cocks and shoves their fingers into his mouth.

He can taste the metal and the salty tang of the precum. He shouldn't enjoy as much as he does. But it's impossible not to, with the way James is staring at him with dark eyes spit slicked lips. Transfixed, as he moves his tongue under the two fingers and curls it around. Tony knows the metal arm allows him to feel it.

Tony's own hand comes from James' hair and resumes the task from before. Their rutting is almost animalistic,

primal

. There's nothing here but pure desire and lust- and maybe something more. Something underlying, something that is the driving force behind this. But Tony can't think about that because all of a sudden- James pushes his fingers down into his throat and the hand underneath him squeezes and it's all too much. And there he is, coming in spurts on the training room floor at ass o'clock in the morning drooling around the fingers still in his mouth.

James takes one look at him through his hair and comes shortly after.

He was content. That is until James pulled away, hands trembling, with a face like someone forced him to shoot a puppy. “I-I’m sorry, I can’t-” His voice broke and, gently, he moved Tony off his lap. “I am

so

sorry.” Cerulean blue eyes darted everywhere besides Tony’s eyes as James scrambled to get up off the training room floor, tuck himself in, and out the doors before Tony could get a word in otherwise.

As Tony sat there- his release cooling in his lap, left behind to watch James’ retreating form, he realized that he had truly fucked things up.
-

Sweet laughter, amber eyes. Fleeting but beautiful, boring into his.

Touches. Moans. Back arching.

Feather light kisses down his arm.

James blinked awake, inhaling the clean air breezing in from his window. He wished he could stop waking up to chasing the phantom taste of Tony’s lips.

It had been a month, James hadn’t seen Tony since that night in the training room. He tried to stay in his room more often than not, only making time to see his therapist and support group. James had been feeling the urge to work out but everytime he thought about running into Tony, his stomach curled in on itself. Steve had been keeping his distance, surprisingly, something in James’ gut told him that there was something wrong. The remnants of Bucky Barnes, he supposed.

He still thought about that night, all the time in fact. If James closed his eyes and focused, he could feel the weight of the man in his lap, the feeling of Tony’s tongue on his fingers, and the

look

in his eyes. Staring directly into James’, seeing just how insane he was driving him. James pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, suppressing a groan. Only then did he notice the persistent growling erupting from his stomach.

James swung his feet over the side of his bed and hopped off, pausing slightly to stretch out his back. It had been awhile since he had a proper workout since leaving the room for anything other than therapy was a nightmare. He was avoiding so many people, it was a wonder he hadn’t run into one of them as this point.

He knew Natalia was biding her time, he knew she could find him at any point and confront him about his absence. Steve was patient, he believed James would crawl back to him like Bucky before him. And Tony? He didn’t know what Tony was thinking… he thought James was a coward, most likely. Would someone who isn’t a coward run away after fucking against someone’s dick? Especially someone that they’ve been conflicted over their newfound and intense feelings for? Padding his way over to his shower, James groaned as he looked down. Of course, he was hard thinking about Tony.

James hated everything.

After taking care of his

problem

and pulling on some clothes that made him look presentable, he stepped out of his room for the first time in days. There was a delicious smell emanating from the direction of the kitchen, it smelled of bacon and cinnamon rolls. Both of which, he hadn’t had in years. Rounding the corner, he saw Steve’s bulky, albeit skinnier than normal, figure leaning down and retrieving cinnamon rolls from out the oven. He must have heard him because once the tray was down, Steve turned around with a radiant smile.

“Hey, Buck.” Steve greeted with a quirk of his head, James could only swallow in response, “Got a minute to eat?”

A beat of silence passed, Steve looked at him expectantly. James hadn’t responded yet. “Uh, yeah sure. What did you make?”

“Some cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon. I made a lot so you’ll the calories meant for super soldiers no problem. It looks like both of us have lost muscle over the last couple of months.” This was weird, they were making small talk like nothing had ever happened. Steve set their plates and lowered them onto the table, James’ mouth watered.

They enjoyed their meal in relative peace, making small comments every now and then about the wonders of the twenty-first century. It was like they were friends again, even the small voice in James’ head was quiet- content in this newfound peace with Steve. But… he always wondered, had Steve and Tony been together before the ‘Civil War’? Had James been the reason they were on such bad terms?

Was he just a rebound for Tony?

“Buck, what’s wrong?” Steve glanced up from his steaming mug of coffee. It was a cutesy, ceramic Captain America mug with big blue eyes and a wide, gleaming smile. Very fake. It didn’t capture Steve’s flaws at all, it didn’t have the specks of green that were in his eyes or the chipped tooth Steve had gotten when he was six and fell off his bike.

“Were you and….” Steve looked at him expectantly, worry lines creasing his forehead as his eyebrows bunched together. He was clean-shaven, James noticed as his mouth pulled into a frown.

"What?”

“Were you and Tony together?”

There was a pause as the question hung in the air, James could almost see the air Steve sucked in through his teeth, out through his nose. Lungs expanding, then contracting in the absence of oxygen.

“Yes.”

And James didn’t have time to react because an alarm was ringing through the compound warning of an unidentified flying object landing on their property

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

hey guys so i haven't abandoned this fic HOWEVER it's definitely taking a different course than originally.1) winteriron may or may not be endgame. i haven't decided.2) a lot of my feelings on certain characters have changed.3) im trying to keep up with canon so basically bear with me. if you would like, you can reach me at my new tumblr @kripkesera