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Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Word Count: 2,443
Type: OS
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Texting, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:
After the Accords, everything was a mess. Then Tony received a lot of files. Then he and Barnes were texting. Then things started to get better.Notes: Written for the square "Rivals to Lovers" of my Trope Bingo card. It's not beta'ed so sorry for any mistakes. I couldn't (lack of time) really dwell on the different steps in Tony and Bucky's relationship.
AO3 Link: Where Your Heart Lies
( Read Where Your Heart Lies Here! )
Finally, it stopped. Tony didn’t know whether it was because Bucky got out of cryogen and stopped it or because he had received every murder the Winter Soldier has ever committed.
When put together, a lot things made sense afterwards. The rise and the fall of empires, economically, culturally and politically.
Months later, and painstakingly, Tony, Vision and Rhodey regained a little of the public’s trust on the American soil. The rest of the world was still suspicious of them.
Ross, on the other, still didn’t trust the new Avengers, especially not Tony. For good reasons but the General didn’t need to know that.
The thing was, even months later, Ross was still asking where the rest of the Avengers were.
“What other Avengers? All the Avengers are in this building,” Tony always answered him with a smile.
“You know who I’m talking about,” Ross usually snarled.
“Well, you can ask Vision or Rhodey if they know. Personally, I don’t.”
Tony would showed him the exit with a carefully blank expression.
“Don’t play with me Stark, you’ll lose. If I learn that you’ve known where Captain Rogers and the others were all along, I’ll arrest you before you realize what’s happening to you.”
“I see. You know the way out, General Ross.”
Ross generally left after that. Tony would sit and stared at his screens, which showed what was happening in the world villain-wise.
The new Avengers were still a small team, and they were looking for new team members. Tony planned on recruiting Spider-Man officially when he finished high school.
By the way the public feared them, Tony didn’t expect vigilantes to pop all over New York after the Chitauri attack. But some did, and Tony tried to keep track of them. There was that Daredevil guy, who impressed him with his swift manner to disarm criminals. He also heard of a woman with super strength and a man who was bulletproof.
If the Accords didn’t stop them from saving people, Tony wouldn’t either. In the end, they encouraged him to do better too.
With the help of Pepper and the president of the United States, Tony was successful in getting Steve and the other pardoned. It hadn’t been an easy feat, mainly because Ross had been against him every step of the way. In the end, it was done. Steve, Wanda, Clint, Sam and Natasha could come back to the United States, and they wouldn’t be arrested.
Barnes’s case was more complicated. He had been brainwashed and mind controlled for 70 years, killing people HYDRA didn’t like. To be allowed back to the US, he had to agree to psychological evaluation.
He would still be judged for his crimes. SI’s legal team would help Barnes in getting a fair trial and Tony might have given an IOU to a benevolent judge who wouldn’t send Barnes to prison.
Clint was the first to come home. He missed his wife and kids. Tony and Clint had to meet officially. It was a cordial and polite affair. Clint signed the Accords and shook Tony’s hand with a fake smile that almost looked real. Neither men wanted to stay longer in each other presence than necessary. Guilt and resentment made an interesting mix if not volatile. They both preferred to postpone an awkward and possible hurtful conversation for another time.
Scott and Sam came back just a few days later. They exchanged a few words with Tony, signed and left as soon as they could.
Wanda didn’t want to leave wherever she was now and didn’t want to sign the Accords. Tony let her be. He knew what she could do when he tried to restrain her. However, he felt bad for Vision who was looking forward to the young woman coming back.
Natasha popped up one day, as if nothing happened. They didn’t actually talk. There were many things left unsaid but it seemed she wasn’t angry at him. At least, that was what Tony wanted to believe.
Steve and Barnes took the longest to come home. Steve wanted to be sure Barnes wasn’t going to be arrested as soon as he arrived on American soil. Tony had to promise several funding to various governmental department to allow them come through the airport without a trigger-happy army waiting to shoot Barnes if he moved his pinky finger. Not that he would begrudged them. Barnes was terrifying and efficient when he was in Winter Soldier mode.
When they did come home, Tony made Rhodey welcome them. He couldn’t see them yet.
At one point, Tony had to see them. Rhodey and Pepper conspired against him and made him go to the compound. He had to check Barnes’s arm anyway. It wouldn’t be a waste of time.
The second time Tony came by the compound, it went marginally better. Steve was still looking at him with his perpetual frown but he was nice enough to him. He was, because Tony made Barnes’s new arm and was taking care of the maintenance and possible repairs. The good news was: Barnes didn’t have any homicidal urges towards him.
They came to an agreement: they needed to be cordial with each other. Ultimately, Tony spent more time with Barnes than Steve. They understood where the other man was coming from. And the engineer found someone with more low self-esteem and guilt than him.
Later, Tony realized that talking with Bucky helped him come to terms with his parents’ death. He realized it wasn’t their death that bothered him, but how they died.
A car accident was horrible and violent when you witness it, it was still an accident at the end of the day. It could’ve been avoided; they could’ve survived crashing into the tree.
An assassination was definitive, planned; they weren’t meant to live.
Tony had to accept it. He had to forgive Bucky because it wasn’t his fault. Blaming HYDRA was easy but not fulfilling. It’s easy to hate an entity. When the entity has a face, it’s real and unbearable.
Talking to Bucky helped him quiet that simmering hatred. Thinking about them, about their death, hurt less.
In this story, they were both victims.
“Hey,” Bucky whispered softly into Tony’s ears.
“Hey, you.”
Tony turned toward Bucky and buried his head in the crook of his neck.
“Too early,” the engineer mumbled, tightening his grip on Bucky’s shirt.
“I know but I have to run.”
“You don’t have too. Steve is mean.”
Bucky chuckled at Tony’s pout.
“He’s not. Come on.”
Tony sighed and turned to lie on his back. He eyed Bucky as he got up.
“If you want to get sweaty, I have something other than running in mind. Which is also more fun for you and me.”
Tony leered, ogling the soldier from head to toes.
“Do you want Steve to sulk?” Bucky asked with a knowing smile.
Tony groaned, and said no.
Bucky went to the bathroom and came back dressed. He went to Tony and kissed him.
“Later.”
“I hate you.” Tony said in Bucky’s pillow.
