fossilised | military mistletoe

military mistletoe

As much as Tony loved to travel, he preferred to do it in a private charter jet or, at least, in first class. The Army didn’t seem to understand the importance of his comfort, however, nor did they stop to think that a civilian might not want to be shoved into a jumpseat with fifteen of their finest unwashed masses. He appreciated the escort, considering where they were going for the demonstration of a new smart shell he’d developed in hopes of gaining a better foothold on defense contracts with the Defense Department, but he wasn’t sure that these men had showered much in the last few days.

Despite his general brilliance, Tony was more showman than he was R&D expert. That wasn’t because he lacked engineering genius, but because he couldn’t do everything. Hiring the best and the brightest to work for him only actually worked for him if he could be the face of the company and sell their products.

Sure. He dabbled. But dabbling didn’t keep a few hundred people employed and a technology business afloat. Just ask Zuckerberg. Or those idiots that sold Instagram to Zuckerberg. Or Google.

The plane rumbled beneath him as the pilots started take off sequences and Tony tugged on his restraints with a mix of mild dread. It didn’t get any better when one of the buckles popped loose either.

The man could create stuff out of 50s science fiction but he couldn’t get the belts to work? He cursed under his breath and fumbled with the straps.

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“Cali—. Who took— Where did they—?” Oh. Oh. There was a lot of silence on the other end of the line. There was a lot of silence from Bucky too, which made Tony want to crack a joke. He didn’t. He was too busy finally allowed to be on a phone himself and was texting his assistant.

Mostly about bullshit that would come back to him later, he was sure. He did love to be a provocateur.

When Steve finally exhaled, it was after he managed to get to his feet. The coffee was long trampled through. “Okay. Don’t think that gets you a pass on the whole killing thing, as soon as you’re better.” He didn’t know what to do with that information honestly. “I’m going to see if there are cheap flights out. I’ll bring the girls.”

"Thanks. Listen, Steve-- I really missed all of you, you have no idea how much, and I'm so sorry that this happened."

Steve might joke about wanting to kill him, but Bucky would accept that. Even if it wasn't his fault that he'd been captured, he still felt like a total heel, and if they all wanted to beat him up for it then he'd let them.

"But if you guys can't afford to come out here, then it's okay. Don't go hungry or nothing, I'll be out in a little while and I can make my own way back."

He glanced up at where Tony was texting, exhausted rings around his eyes just from this short conversation. Hopefully at least he would have someone coming out here, it's not like he had to worry about the cost of a plane ticket and a motel room.

“Address?” Tony had seen Bucky look towards him, had heard the man mention to his friend about going hungry, and honestly, bringing Bucky’s family here was the least he could do. It would get the guy out of his hair, get him back to some normal level of caring where he never looked like he cared at all. It was for the best. Four months of hell did not family make. And judging by the sheer amount of emotion he’d just witnessed, he didn’t need that sort of thing in his life.

All of this, of course, was a tremendous lie. He just needed to have it in place before his heart tried to do something it wasn’t made for.

Tony only understood caring with money. The rest seemed alien and foreign. And he didn’t want to want it.

At Bucky’s silence, Tony rolled his eyes. “I need an address to send the car to pick the kids up and bring them to Long Island so we can fly them out here. Now come on, address. My assistant needs something to do.”

"Huh?"

It took Bucky a moment to realise that Tony was talking to him, and then he felt a wave of both affection and embarrassment. He was a pretty proud person, all of his family were, it's why he found a way to work for what they had instead of beg or take handouts. Even though he knew Tony had money to spare and then some, it still felt wrong to just... take it.

"You don't have to do that, really. It's a lot of money-- hang on a second, Steve, Tony wants to pay for your flights, I just need to sort this out with him."

“I’m not paying for anything.” Except the car. And the fuel. “I have a house in Long Island.” With an airstrip nearby. “I’m sending the jet. It’s already in the air. This isn’t charity, Barnes. You saved my life. What’s one little plane ride?”

And the whole arguing to get his life back thing. Stuff like that. You know. Tony wasn’t trying to buy any affection here, he was just doing what he always did.

Whatever he wanted.

“They have to make a stop for pizza before they get on the plane. Happy knows what I like. Oh— Is that friend of yours bitching that he can’t be seen on my plane? Tell him to sent protest Instagram stories or whatever, and to suck it up, because he’s coming to see you.” Yeah. He could hear Steve ranting already about being paid for.

Hearing Steve rant was like coming home. He loved his best friend so much, he missed him like a piece of himself, and he was glad that grief or stress or whatever had happened during his absence hadn't ruined his ability to be a chihuahua to anyone that he thought deserved it.

He understood, and he also didn't want Tony to think that he had to buy Bucky's friendship, because he'd heard enough stories while they were locked up to know that was a real possibility.

"Okay-- okay, Steve, please. I really need you out here, and you can kill me for it when you get here. Is it still 747 Oak?"

“Oh I’m already killing you, so now it’s just going to be so much more painfully. Becca is gonna help—. Shit. Shit, yeah. Yeah. I’ll go get the girls from school.” Steve didn’t want to hang up and walked almost two blocks before he decide he couldn’t juggle bags and phone anymore. “Buck— If you go missing before I get there and I have to ride free of charge because of a Stark back again I’m going to find you myself. Selfish prick. Love you, pal.”

He hung up the phone angrily too, and somehow that managed to translate. Which left Bucky alone with an amused looking Tony Stark.

“I’m going to get a private room if the rest of your family is that loud.” And he really should anyway. He just didn’t like the idea of being alone. Without Bucky. “Text him that the car will be there in about five hours.”

Bucky gave a watery sort of laugh at Tony's interpretation of how loud his family would be, but he shook his head pretty firmly all the same.

"Oh no, pal, you don't get to escape that easily. You're gonna draw fire away from me, Steve's gonna hate you, he's protested outside your building more times than I can count. Prepare to have an angry chihuahua tell you about how you should be going more green and how you treat your employees."

He did text Steve all the same, though, and received an angry 'fuck you' in return, so he assumed the message was received okay.

"I'll do the same for you. If you have any angry assistants coming in, they can yell at me instead."

Angry assistants. Compared to angry because they love you family members.

Tony ignored the sentiment. It wouldn’t do him a lick of good. Instead, he snorted just a little and let his head fall back on pillows way too shaped to his neck. He’d slept for days and was still tired. The pain medication really took it out of him.

The pain itself really took it out of him.

“Your friend is right. I should be more green. I’ll have to agree to disagree about my employees. I’d dare him to find a better benefits package in any corporation.” That was one thing Tony didn’t hate about himself. His philanthropy. “You don’t have to worry about angry assistants. I’m keeping them busy.”

"I'll let you take that up with Steve."

Bucky shot a tired but genuine smile over to Tony, why was it that all he had done today was lie around and talk on the phone for five minutes but he was already exhausted again? That didn't seem fair.

"But hey, Tony, you know we're still gonna hang out when we get out of this place, right? That's why you've gotta get on with Steve. We all live in New York, there's no reason I can't get you that keg of beer I promised you."

“I live in California,” Tony replied, amused. “Born in New York but it’s never felt like home.” Tony wasn’t quite feeling all woah is me just yet, mainly because he was half asleep. “Can fly you out to happy hour every once in awhile. Left coast is the best coast.”

If Bucky had any retort to that it was met with silence. The man would sleep, as he had been doing for months, partially under Bucky’s watchful eye.

And all without any visitors, despite evidently living fairly nearby. Tony didn’t want to be seen as weak. It would be different if Bucky wasn’t there. Maybe. Then again, he’d always gone through his hardest trials alone. This didn’t have to be any different.

Whenever Tony next woke up, it would be to the sight of four extra people in the room, all of who were crowded around Bucky's bedside. Not that the man himself was aware, because he was still fast asleep. The youngest of the two girls, who looked about ten, was outright crying. The one older than that, mid-teens, was desperately biting her lip, and the oldest who looked almost like a female version of Bucky was glaring angrily down. The three of them were joined by a very short, very skinny, blond haired man who came over to Tony's bedside when he saw the other man was awake.

He held out his hand, because his Ma raised him right, but he also glared because this was Tony Stark and he had a lot of FEELINGS regarding his company and business practises.

"Steve Rogers. Thank you for flying us out here and putting us up, we all appreciate it. However, you should still know that I think your business practises are abhorrent and I wish it had been anyone but you who rescued my best friend."

Tony just barely registered what Steve was saying and blinked tired, blood shot, pain filled eyes up at the young man. He looked twelve, maybe thirteen. He was probably in his twenties though. Sickly. Tony got a lot from cold reads of people. He got a lot from first impressions. And he had to say that Steve Rogers measured up to everything Bucky had ever mentioned about him.

“As much as I’d love to discuss international business practices with an undergrad, I’m going to have to refrain,” Tony said, painfully trying to sit up and call for a nurse.

He didn’t need to be in the room for the reunion. He ought to have moved to a separate wing for it.

“But for the record, I didn’t do much. He saved my life.”

A bit of fierce pride lit up Steve's eyes at that. He suspected as much, but Tony would learn pretty quickly that the people who orbited Bucky tended to think he hung the moon and were only smugly justified when anything happened that backed that up.

"Then it seems to me you owe him, and since he owes me about fifty million for making me think he was dead, you can owe me instead. And I'm calling that in for a chat about your company when you're out of hospital."

Even he's not jackass enough to keep harassing a man clearly in pain.

A nurse poked her head in on seeing one of her patients awake and gave him a smile. "Everything okay, Mr. Stark? Looks nice and lively in here."

Wow. Annoying. Tony didn’t see what Bucky saw in that little ankle biter. He almost retorted that they’d speak as soon as Steve earned a degree in anything at all. Instead, he was saved by the nurse who he flagged over immediately.

He didn’t want to be in this room. He was already feeling some sort of way about losing Bucky but to lose him to these angry criers? Nah. He didn’t want to experience it. He was fortunate that beds could be moved, and so he had himself wheeled out fairly unceremoniously into the adjoining room.

Steve frowned at that. He assumed the other man was escaping him. Not that it would stop him later.

But all of that commotion was sure to bring Bucky awake. The moment he opened his eyes, he’d get an arm full of little sisters. As it should be. Steve just watched from the corner.

Bucky was barely awake when all of a sudden he was engulfed in three familiar people who made his chest feel tight. He couldn't see past them, and so he didn't know that Tony had been wheeled out, or that Steve was stood slightly off to one side watching. He just endured the mingled sounds of his sisters telling him they loved him, telling him it would be okay, telling him everything and nothing.

It felt like hours later when they slightly backed off and he got to see the other person he had missed, offering Steve a smile that had slightly more hard edges to it than it had before he'd gone overseas.

"Jesus, you can't be Steve Rogers, you look like you've grown a whole damn inch."

“And all of it is in fist form,” Steve said, because he wasn’t going to lay off of Bucky even if he promised to take out all retribution on Stark. There was no way that Bucky was getting out of this without a hit. It was how men showed their emotions and proved their affections.

Becca cleated a spot for Steve, though he stood on the side where Bucky lost his arm so he wasn’t tempted to cling to his hand, like he was the one who had been through hell.

“You’ve looked better. What’s this hipster scruff on your face? And your hair? I’m getting you a knit cap for your birthday.”

Bucky huffed a small laugh and twisted so he could clap his hand to Steve's shoulder, wincing slightly at the movement and then flopping back onto the pillows. It felt good to be teased, good to be home, but it also felt like a dangerous dream that he shouldn't get too attached to.

"Let's see you get caught and come out with perfect hair and a clean shaven face. Because let me tell you, pal, it's not as easy as it sounds."

He felt a burning in his throat when he finished the sentence, and before he knew it he was crying out of goddamn nowhere, which was embarrassing. But it was like it had just hit him that he was finally safe again.

Shit. “Oh come on. Don’t cry. I won’t call you a hipster again. I promise.” Steve could feel the upset in the back of his throat too but he did his best to stifle it. He had so many questions and he knew he could never possibly get the answers. What it had been like for Bucky... asking him about it might just make him relive it. And wasn’t it bad enough that he’d lost an arm..?

Becca saw the tears, which set the two younger girls into sobs and so she hustled them outside to get something from the gift shop for their brother. Steve wasn’t too prepared to be alone with Bucky, though. He sat on the edge of a seat pulled up close to the wires and slowly crept his hand to the other man’s chest.

“Everyone has been okay. When we thought you were dead... uh. Those life insurance policies? Good move. I mean. We probably got to pay it all back but the girls have been doing real well, pal.”

He regretted that he had been back in their lives less than 24 hours and he was already upsetting his two younger sisters. There might come times in the future, when they were confronted by all the changes that had been wrought on him thanks to the captivity, when they might not all wonder if it would have been better if he'd stayed dead.

Stopping crying now that he'd started wasn't easy, in fact it was proving pretty much impossible, and he gave himself over to it when the girls were out of the room. Steve had seen him at his best and worst, this was just... worse than worst.

"--I'm so fucking sorry, Steve."

He'd been so scared, and it hurt so much, and everything was fucked up.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Steve could barely keep it together himself and he clenched his teeth to stop himself from going overboard. Tears always begot tears. He remembered having to do this for his mother when he was a child, just so she wouldn’t be upset to see him hurting for her. He curled his fingers in Bucky’s hospital gown and just felt him breathing. “You did something most people wouldn’t. You put your life on the line for someone else and you both survived. Never, ever be sorry for that. We only lost you for a few months, pal. And now here you are. So don’t be sorry.”

Steve had been playing dad for a long time now. He’d been big brother to those girls since Bucky enlisted and then graduated to the guy that helps with math homework and spelling when he was released from the medical ward after the last time he had gotten scooped up by insurgents.

“Just take the honorable discharge they told us you’d be getting. And don’t leave us again.”

It's not like he had the choice that he'd had last time, he couldn't refuse the discharge when he was down a fucking arm, not that he wanted to this time. He wanted out, he'd had enough of blood and pain and death. He wanted to put this behind him and go to school for something, support his family, have dumb movie nights with Steve, and take Tony out for a beer when he was in town.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna. They're gonna give me a pension and a medal and all sorts of shit that I don't deserve. I didn't do nothing in there, Steve, it was all Tony. He figured out how to make some weird thing that contacted the army and told them where we were, all I did was bleed a lot and stand around."

He wasn't a hero, not even close.

"...where is he? Did he get discharged?"

And left without even waking him up and saying goodbye?!

Bucky lost an arm protecting that man. Bucky was the reason that man even survived to get them out. In Steve’s book, that makes Bucky the hero and Stark— Well Stark just took advantage like Stark always did.

He didn’t have a lot of things to say about that so he shut his trap, right up until Bucky actually asked for him. Steve glanced over his shoulder. “He’s strapped to a bed with a thousand machines on him. I don’t think he was discharged. I think he ran away from me, to be honest. Didn’t want to have to listen to me tell him off for being a polluting, weapons mongering asshole.”

Steve pulled his hand back. He had lingered touching the other man long enough for it to maybe get a little weird.

“A nurse wheeled him out just a little bit ago.”

Bucky loved Steve deeply, he had loved him since the moment they met as scrappy five year olds fighting over who should get the last good crayon pack, and he loved him now as he got arrested five times a year on average for protesting. But right now, he wished Steve could have backed off just once in this instance.

"C'mon, pal, he's had open heart surgery and he saved my life, you couldn't have left the lectures until after you'd got to know each other a bit? We're friends now, you know?"

He'd had friends Steve hadn't got on with in the past. For all that Steve had a heart of gold, a lot of people found him a bit much to handle, but never a friend that Steve had actively hated.

Bucky had a lot of friends growing up. He made friends everywhere he went. But that didn’t mean that Steve had those friends too. Steve almost always liked them but it wasn’t exactly mutually a good portion of the time. Usually it was because they found Steve threatening. He and Bucky had never hooked up but they both dated men (Steve more than Bucky), and they were almost always attached at the hip. And okay, yes, sometimes Bucky ignored other people for him but he didn’t get what the big deal was.

Steve wrinkled his nose at Bucky’s admonishment and leaned back in the chair.

“I didn’t tell him off or anything. I just said I wanted to talk with him when he’s feeling better.” And okay. He hadn’t said it as nicely— “If hes your friend, I’ll get an ear, right? Maybe he’ll change some of his employment practices and bring jobs back home. Maybe he’ll stop dumping and increase benefits. It’s worth a shot, Buck.”

And so Steve genuinely believed that.

“But hey. Let’s focus on you, for once.”

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