Chapter Text
Bucky’s heart beat fast as he looked at the small boy that he recognized from a past that he would rather not remember. Flashes of other children came up briefly through his mind. Broken, bleeding children. His hands were smeared with blood as their tiny, unmoving bodies stared unseeingly back at him. Bucky clenched his teeth and strode away from the Weapon.
He rode the elevator down to the gym floor and quickly pushed his body through its paces. He tried pushing his rage into every punch and kick he landed on Stark’s dummies that he had set up throughout the room. When his third dummy crashed into a wall and splintered apart, he heard a voice ask, “Want a round with a real workout?”
Turning, Bucky felt conflicted. Steve was one of the last people he wanted to see right now. He felt a tingle of something in the back of his mind of memories just out of reach every time he looked at the man. Sometimes he even felt like he could almost touch them. Other times, like now, he wanted to punch him in the gut to wipe the mix of pity and expectations that were impossible for him to meet off Captain America’s face.
In the end, he grunted in affirmation and the two immediately lunged for each other. Sparring with Steve was an incredibly satisfying exercise. The man could meet him blow for blow and he did not have to worry about injuring him with his strength. Steve wasn’t as trained as he was, but seemed to make up for it in other ways.
After they both lay sweating on the mat, Steve turned to Bucky and asked, “Is Peter being here going to be a problem?”
Bucky thought about his answer carefully before honestly responding, “No. He needs help. I understand.”
Steve nodded at his best friend. “Nat took him to his new room. Right now we’re not getting through to him. Want to give it a shot?”
Bucky rose and stretched his aching muscles. “I’m taking a shower first.”
“Good. Don’t want to knock the kid out with that stink.” Steve grinned.
“Punk.” Bucky grumbled as he left to make himself somewhat presentable.
After Bucky showered and put on a dark t-shirt and jeans, he asked the man in the ceiling where Peter was and strode off quickly to follow the directions. He could hear Stark’s voice before he saw the scene in the bedroom.
Natasha was holding up what looked to be a change of clothes and Stark was frantically waving a sucker in the air at Peter who was stuck to the ceiling. “Come on, kid. What’s it gonna take? I’ll get it for you if you just come down.”
Natasha spotting him and jerked her head for him to come over. She quickly told him that they attempted to bathe him and get him dressed in pajamas before Peter leapt onto the ceiling.
“He’s getting footprints all over my ceiling!” Stark whined.
Bucky kept his eyes trained on Peter who was eyeing him warily. “Come down.” He ordered.
Natasha’s face went impassive and Stark’s eyes widened comically as Peter obeyed immediately and stood at attention before Bucky. “We’ve been trying for the past hour and the Terminator comes in and he just listens?”
Bucky glared at Stark. He didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, but with Stark it was best just to assume there was some thinly veiled insult in there somewhere. “Why did you not obey?” He asked Peter finally.
“The Avengers are bad.” Peter told him frankly.
Bucky sighed. They had already told Peter about the Avengers, making this much harder. “HYDRA lied. The Avengers are good.”
“They stop progress and want to hurt Weapon.” Peter recited.
Bucky shook his head. “No. This is Natasha and Tony. They are our friends. This is Tony’s house. They want you to be safe and warm.”
“Safe and warm?” Peter asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice and not quite managing it.
“You will see. Now it is time for a bath then dinner. Do you want Natasha or Tony to help?” Bucky looked at the boy and considered doing it himself, but wanted to help the small boy to start trusting the Avengers. Peter didn’t question his authoritative tone in the least and sized up Natasha and Tony. Bucky remembered from when he was first released that choices, even small ones, could be overwhelming and hoped that he was making a good decision in letting Peter decide even this.
“Tony.” Peter announced finally.
Bucky nodded and Tony grinned victoriously as if he did anything at all in this situation and grabbed the pajamas from Natasha. “Kid’s got taste! Come on, let’s get you in the bath. I’ve got these new bubble baths that you’ll love.”
“Bubble bath?” Peter frowned up at the giddy man in confusion but followed him into the adjoining bathroom obediently. Tony left the door open and Natasha and Bucky waited to see if there would be any problems that they would need to intervene with. Bucky let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding as they heard the water running, a small splash as a tiny body got in the tub, and then a steady stream of words from Stark as he filled the silence as Peter presumably took a bath.
Natasha and he exchanged a quick few words in Russian to discuss the situation, then Natasha left to go help Clint with dinner. Bucky went into Peter’s bathroom and actually let out a startled laugh at the sight. Water was pretty much everywhere. The bathtub was absolutely overflowing with bubbles and Peter sat in the center of it all looking skeptically at his surroundings.
Stark had suds up Peter’s hair and topped his head with a crown of bubbles and was looking down at his handiwork with smug satisfaction. “Hey, nice laugh man, you should do it more. Pete’s almost finished here then we can get dried up.”
“I am Weapon.” Peter corrected Tony. The boy tried to look intimidating but being literally covered in bubbles didn’t do him any favors.
Bucky decided to have mercy on Peter and plucked him out of the bath and set him in the shower to rinse off. As he rinsed, he lectured. “HYDRA called me Asset. I am Bucky. They lied to me. HYDRA called you Weapon. You are Peter. They lied to you.”
Peter looked at Bucky as if he had grown another head but did not contradict him. As Bucky turned off the water, Tony arrived with a large fluffy blue towel. He rubbed Peter dry and then wrapped him snugly in the towel. Peter sighed in satisfaction, “Warm.”
Bucky nodded in understanding. Tony Stark may be a pretentious ass that may not deserve Steve, but there were some definite perks to living with him. He had the fluffiest towels that somehow were warmed. They were one of his favorite things in the entire tower.
Tony grinned at the kid as he tugged off the towel and put a clean pair of pajamas covered in tiny versions of Captain America’s shield on them that Peter made a face at. Bucky briefly wondered how Stark had managed to get them already. Tony interrupted his thoughts, “We told you kid, we’re going to make sure you’re safe and warm here. Now, come on, I bet Legolas made some awesome burgers for dinner and I’m starved.”
“Burgers?” Peter asked Tony.
Tony picked up a brush and quickly ran it through Peter’s hair. “Oh, yeah. You’re gonna love ‘em. American classic.” Tony put the brush down and stood up to leave. Bucky started following him, but both men realized that Peter stood where they had left him.
“Come with us to eat dinner.” Bucky ordered. Peter rushed forward to obey. Bucky looked down at the small kid and noticed his fingers twitching a little and his glance shifted between the two men. Or more precisely, between the two men’s hands. Bucky sighed and held out a hand. Peter relaxed and grabbed it squeezing more tightly than was strictly comfortable.
“Who would have thought you were such a softie, Barnes?” Stark smirked at him.
Bucky simply let go of Peter’s hand and shoved Stark sideways, not too hard, but enough that it made the billionaire stumble into Peter’s bed. He smirked as Peter let out a laugh and Stark grumbled at him. Bucky was pretty smug at the fact that he just hit two birds with one stone.