fossilised | For Steve

"Yeah, well, suck it up."

Bucky's expression softened just a little bit and his eyes fixed on the burger in his hand, because it was easier than looking at Tony when he spoke his mind on more sentimental matters. But sometimes these things needed to be said, and even more to Tony than to most people because, even if the world thought he was an egotist, Bucky saw the self worth issues.

"I meant it, you're not getting rid of me. I know you like to cast yourself as the villain, or some douchebag who doesn't care, but you helped me when you didn't have to do shit. If I can move in with Grant and maybe start to step out with him and Steve, then that's down to you building me into enough of a person to do it. You probably saved my life. So thank you."

He wondered how many people had ever bothered to give Tony a genuine thanks and genuine affection for what he had done. Maybe Bucky's was rough around the edges, but he didn't say what he didn't mean.

"So yeah, day care for ex-assassins, problem with that?"

There was no way to hide the smile on his face and he let out a breath, dropping his chin to his chest. "Yeah. Well. Listen. Don't tell anyone that you maybe helped me a little too and don't go telling Romanoff about this and maybe I'll let you use the penthouse sometimes..." He did not want to add more charges to his wayward home for ex-assassins. Then again, Natasha might not be so ex about her assainating. Tony never asked. He valued having balls. "And one day you're going to open up to me about all of the kinky things you do. Especially because I'll be your best friend. Thst you're not dating. So that makes us like blood."

Tony called Rhodey and Barnes his best friends interchangeably but Bucky was the only person who actually took his bullshit, reprocessed it in a way that was stern but not patronizing, and saw him for what he was. Not just a spoiled kid, but someone genuinely hurting.

He was not going to tell Bucky that, though. Not ever.

"Uh did you bring back the motorcycle? I was souping that up for Cap. I don't want you scuffing it."

It was good to see Tony smile and know that he had managed to make a good man feel better about himself, it's something he would hold onto on the days where everything got too much and he stopped feeling like a person again. Because a weapon didn't make people smile like that.

"You're kidding right? That's my bike, I thought you were giving it to me, you can't take it back."

He loved that thing, even if he'd only had it a day or two, and he didn't want to give it back.

"I'm gonna need it if I'm coming to whup your sorry butt at video games every couple of days."

"Wow. Cold. If I had a bionic thumb, my twitch gaming would be able to compete against you better. But you're a super cool science experiment and I'm just a poor genius living in a massive penthouse with robot servants so what do I know? Fine. Keep your damned bike. You explain to Rogers why his isn't in the garage. You one arm bandited it," he complained, grabbing the second controller as he finished the burger and his sentence and happily accepted the second player spot.

He figured he had a few hours before the Rogers boys coerced Bucky out of the Tower again. He needed to fix one of Sam's wings anyway so he would make an appearance to bother Banner that evening.

What he learned from Bucky most of all was that he didn't have to be alone. People wanted him there even if they didn't specifically call him up or drop by.

Sometimes he had to be proactive.

And for now he was.

Right after Bucky whumped his ass twice though.

Steve did his best to try through Manhattan traffic as quick as he could just after five, not attempting to beat Grant home so much as to get to Brooklyn by six. He would arrive fifteen minutes early, hair wind blown from the bike he parked next to the one he had given to Tony to fix up. He smirked at it suspiciously, before knocking on the door.

"Uh sir," he called through the door. "You got something of mine!"

Bucky had been back for an hour already and had spent most of it pacing like a caged tiger and changing his outfit every few minutes as though he were actually waiting to go on a date, and as though Steve or Grant gave a shit what he wore. He had ended up in some dark jeans and a t-shirt with the Avengers' logo on the front, a gift from Tony who had thought it was hilarious.

He got up from the couch to open the door for Steve, feeling awkward and looking fairly dour because of it, stepping back to let him inside now.

"That's mine now, Tony gave it to me."

A second or two of silence, and then his body seemed to react independently of his mind, reaching out to take hold of Steve around the waist. He stepped in close and just put his head on Steve's shoulder, holding him like a man drowning who had just found the driftwood he needed to keep his head above water. And God, it was embarrassing, but all of a sudden he was crying too.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Steve went from grinning like crazy to see Bucky, dower or however else he presented himself to standing with his body blocking the door from onlookers as he held Bucky carefully in his arms. Yeah, his friend was upset, but it felt so good to hold him that Steve couldn't help himself but keep from minding. He took a step forward, almost waltzing Bucky back before he shut the door behind him.

"You can keep the bike," he murmured into hair longer than he remembered from last time, head bowed low over him so he could cocoon his friend completely. "Wow Buck. Every time I think that I can't be happier to see you than I was the last time and every time I'm reminded just how much I've really been missing you."

They could stand here all night if Bucky wanted that. Maybe Grant could hug them too when he came in, but he knew Bucky tried to be stronger for the younger man. He needed to protect the Steve that had first been his anchor back to himself.

The stupid thing was, he wasn't even upset. He hadn't yet reached the stage of being able to cry for what had been done to him and all the trauma that had left behind, and he hoped he never reached that stage because those were some floodgates that needed to stay closed. These were tears of relief, and perhaps slightly exhaustion.

"I didn't think I'd make it back to you."

After what happened where HYDRA got hold of him again, after forcing himself to watch and endure without reaction, after giving Tony the keys to turn his mind away from being his own again-- and he was finally back here, finally holding onto Steve.

"Don't go," he said, selfish but not caring right now. "You can be an Avenger from here, just don't go. I need you both, Steve."

This might have been the first selfish thing that Bucky had ever asked for (of course, one might argue that wanting Grant and Steve together and equally was also selfish) but even if it wasn't, the Avengers didn't need him the way that Bucky did. "Of course, I'll stay," he promised without even thinking about it, as if Bucky hadn't had to ask him, or he was planning on staying anyway. And, truthfully, with Tony back in the game, with Banner willing to participate and with their Lullaby in place to reign him in, with Thor a more constant presence in the group, he wasn't always needed. He could help plan missions, go on the really important ones once Buck was settled, but truthfully, he owed everything he was to this man. He would do anything he asked.

Grant spied the two bikes just out front of the apartment and turned his eyes up the block to the light flooding out of his front door. He had a large portfolio and a backpack, his apron from work still on, but he let the two men inside have what was likely a moment if they hadn't shut the door.

He'd had his yesterday when Bucky showed up right outside of class. Reunions like these were important not to interrupt.

At three minutes after six he started up the street again, breathing a little hard from the single flight of stairs, just a few moments after Steve had closed the door.

"Welcome back," Grant said, dumping his keys in a bowl beside the door and laying his supplies and bags down in the corner. Steve left Bucky's side to hug him and Grant hugged the larger blond back. "I have steaks marinating in the fridge. Is everyone ready to get a little dirty?"

Thank god Tony was not around right now.

If Bucky had a therapist - something he likely needed, but which no shrink in the world would actually be qualified to deal with - they probably would have been extremely pleased that he asked for something selfish. The Soldier was the antithesis of selfish, forced to obey others and exist at their whims, wanting and receiving nothing. To ask for something of his own was to show how far he had come.

He was still slightly red-eyed when Grant appeared in the door, and he waited while the two blond men embraced one another, before he stepped in close. Now or never, before he lost his nerve.

"Do you think it could be a date dinner? It's just, there's these two guys I want to go steady with, and they're both here right now."

Okay, maybe that wasn't the most romantic way to ask. But there, he asked.

Grant had just been about to turn and grab his backpack when his eyes were forced up to Steve again. The taller of the two had blues more vivid than his own but they were still the same in many ways with the same straight, long lashes hooding them and the same pop of surprise at the words. "Hm. Anyone we know?" Grant asked, he and Steve turning their heads at exactly the same time.

"Who else did you let in while we were out?" Steve asked, easily following in on the teasing. "Lucky fellas. Do you have any romantic gestures planned?"

Why make it easy for Bucky when it certainly didn't have to be? Or when they could enjoy a little fun even at the expense of someone they loved trying to ask them to go steady. Had Bucky ever asked anyone that? He'd been a charmer but seemed to like to cycle through girls. They came and went, never with a bad thing to say, but always a little disappointed that they couldn't charm the best looking and most eligible boy in school.

"Do you need us to clear out?"

Bucky's eyes widened as if, for a moment, he didn't get that they were joking, before his face cracked into a wide smile and he folded his arms to mock glare at both of them like they were two idiot kids who had played a dumb prank.

"You're both jerks, you know that? The world has no idea what a little punk you are, that's never in any of the history books."

He couldn't stop the smile from coming, though, because the way they reacted pretty much told him that they were both okay with it. Really okay with it. Which was all sorts of amazing, and he was with Tony that he was even kind of jealous of himself for having this kind of good luck.

"I'm talking about the pair of you, and you know it. Go steady with me?"

They could have carried it on a little more, teasing that they might end up doing better if they held out or mentioning Bucky's track record with dating so far but instead, as one, they moved in to embrace their friend, enfolding him in two pairs of very different arms before Grant nodded and they both said that it would suit them just fine. At the same time. And that prompted a laugh from each.

"Might have daydreamed about this moment," Steve said not so secretively, and Grant nodded. He knew exactly what Steve was talking about. Neither would go into detail, though. It was a bit embarrassing, even now.

Cooking half a dozen steaks, mashing potatoes and sipping on wine watered down with flavored and fizzy water turned out to be a perfect first date. The kitchen was overly large and though Grant took the lead after pulling up the video on his phone thst bed downloaded between classes today, they all had their parts to play. Nothing burned down and the best part? The meal was delicious.

"So what do we do about bedrooms," Steve asked as they cleaned up. "I know you've only the one spare--"

"But I have a den. And a study. What's a study even for? We just need to get another bed," Grant said. "You can have your pick. The other room can be for the cat."

Steve arched an eyebrow. "Cats don't need their own bedrooms, you know?"

"Ours will," Grant insisted, handing over plates for Bucky to put away. The conversation was almost too easy, as if Bucky hadn't been away at all.

Bucky relaxed further and further as the night went on, demolishing a massive plate of steak and potatoes without feeling at all bad for the amount of food he was putting away, and even managed to get a lasting smile on his face for most of the back end of the evening.

"I'll take the den."

It was easily the smallest room in the apartment, but that suited him just fine. It gave him security, it allowed him to sweep it for bugs or traps more quickly, and there was only a tiny little window to the outside which nobody would be able to fit through. Tactical advantages.

"And we don't need another bed, it'd just be a waste of money."

Some more bedding, perhaps, but not a bed.

"And Steve's right, the cat doesn't need its own bedroom. You nuts?"

"Yes I'm nuts," Grant said. "He can share a room with my easel and art supplies then. What do you both have against pets?" Grant just wanted the company. He wanted something to focus a little attention on when Steve and Bucky were busy. And he'd gotten it in his head that he really needed a cat. He just had to be able to afford the food and litter first. His very small limit credit card had been more or less maxed out on dinner tonight. His boyfriend and his boyfriend's boyfriend could really pack it away!

Dessert would simply be ice cream, Grant still guiding the conversation to a sleeping situation. He still rather liked the thought of sharing a space with Bucky and Steve but he understood their need for privacy. Bucky's especially.

They settled on the sofa, which just about took their combined weight, enough chocolate ice cream between the three to choke a horse. Grant made the first move, throwing his legs over Bucky, and Steve encouraged Bucky to lean back against him.

"What'd you do in class today," Steve asked and Grant snorted.

"Uh. You won't believe this. But we looked at my old sketch books. First unit is on the evolution of soldiers' art during the Second World War."

It didn't take a whole lot of coaxing for Bucky to lean back into Steve, letting his head rest on his shoulder, while he threw his arm over Grant's legs as if to hold him possessively. He listened to the two men talk art, talk college, talk-- and somehow he wasn't listening any more, somehow he actually drifted off to sleep right there on the couch.

That was the first time he had ever gone to sleep with someone properly beside him. Even when he had been sharing hotels in the past with Grant, he had stayed up to be a guard. But now he was fast asleep.

It took Steve a few moments to notice, but when he did, a huge smile spread across his face and he lowered his voice to point it out to Grant.

"...I guess we're stuck like this for the night, huh?" Because he knew that he would not wake Buck for the world, and he guessed Grant probably wouldn't either. He'd try and carry Bucky to one of the beds if he hadn't been so sure that even one false breath would probably wake him up.

"I don't mind. He needs his rest," Grant said, pulling the blanket thst had been over the arm rest at his back towards Steve so that they could spread it out between them with the quietest and slowest of gestures. Waking Bucky now would be a terrible thing. Especially if he was having pleasant dreams. Or even no dreams.

Grant only had to worry about afternoon classes tomorrow and that meant he could sleep in, comfortable on the sofa with the warmth of the older men captured in the embrace of the blanket to keep him warm.

He had missed falling asleep to the sound of someone else breathing.

He drifted off before Steve, who let himself succumb shortly after, fingers still in Bucky's hair and cheek resting on his head. It might be silly to say and he doubted any of the others would ever understand how such a simple thing could make him happy, but Steve would say he was delirious.

For once, the universe decided that world ending events could wait for a while, and let them all sleep tangled into one another on the couch. Even though Bucky woke first, and when the other two woke he would be out of their arms and making coffee, it had been an amazing night. A good start to a good week.

The rest of the Avengers are completely understanding when Steve mentions that he is going to be moving out of the compound, and that he's going to share leadership duties of missions with Sam. None of them give him a hard time, Cap has earned his rest and he doesn't abandon them, he does still show up every day or two and pull his weight. Bucky goes to Stark Tower most days and hangs out with Tony, and Grant goes to his art classes.

Then at night, the three talk, or watch movies, or have one hilarious evening where they try to set up some flat pack furniture.

It's nine days later that Steve would wake up to a text message from Sam that just cryptically said: "Batten down the hatches, it's gonna get bumpy." And Grant would get one from Tony that said: "Offer of personal protection on the table ;)"

Despite the extra shine of health that the serum gave to Steve's hair, the two emerged from their bedrooms with the same bed head. Grant had taken to wearing blue most often since Steve had the market on filling out white t-shirts and Bucky leaned towards red. It was his own not so private American flag joke. He was wearing a soft blue t-shirt that morning, paired with burgundy sleeping pants that said STARK in yellow letters down the side of one leg. He'd actually been after the navy and THOR pants but they were out of them in his size. Maybe it was silly to be so Avengers brand forward but it still tickled Grant that he could even wear clothes with words on them. The exact style didn't rightly matter.

He put his phone on the kitchen table, screen side up, and Steve frowned down at Grant for a moment. "Sam sent me something weird. Hasn't responded back yet. Did he text you?"

"Me?" Grant and Sam hadn't gotten close. There was no automatic friendship there just because of Steve. They had nothing in common anyway. Grant had never served and had never been to war. "No. Mr. Stark-- I don't know. 'Offer of personal protection--'. Not sure what that means," Grant admitted, though he was decidedly less worried about it than Steve. He put on the keurig to fill up a karate and then pulled open the freezer to take out one of the boxes of waffles in there. They went through a whole box a day when everyone was home and up to eat.

"Did you respond...?"

Grant shook his head. "I think it wasn't meant for me. He never texts me unless I'm at school or work and he's asking me if I know when Buck will be over. He has a knack for that," Grant smiled, though the smile fell when he saw the look on Steve's face. "Everything okay, pal?"

"See if Bucky's up," Steve responded. "Can I use your phone?"

"Uh yeah. Sure," Grant replied and hitched up his pants before lightly knocking on Bucky's door with a four-beat pattern they had worked out to let their boyfriend know it was safe and just them.

Whoever that Steve chose to text, they would tell him to check the newspapers or the news headlines on the tv, but would warn him in their own particular way that he might not like what he saw. That same something that Bucky was looking at in his room, he had been up for hours, always did sleep less than the other two, and he was perched by the windowsill of the tiny window in the den, looking down at the street below.

"Come in."

He glanced over when Grant opened the door, and gestured to the view.

"We have guests."

Down at the front of the building there were already at least forty or fifty people milling about, some with news cameras, some holding placards as if they were protesting. Bucky could read them, Grant might be able to make out one of two of the bigger ones "NO MURDERER WALKS FREE" and "SAY NO TO TERRORISTS". It was the same sort of thing that Steve would find if he checked the news on the TV or the headlines on the phone.

Someone had leaked the Winter Soldier's position in New York, and the whole thing had blown up because technically he was still a wanted criminal in most countries of the world, and most people didn't know that he had been a pawn of HYDRA rather than a willing participant. Steve's name was mentioned as 'harbouring a known fugitive', and Grant Rogers (who was assumed to be a long-distant relative), was named as a 'possible collaborator'.

There were also sensational soundbyte clips of Tony Stark telling reporters that his "highly expensive" team of lawyers were going to be defending Barnes in any legal proceedings.

Edited 2017-03-02 12:00 (UTC)

"Holy cow," Grant said, leaning just passed Bucky with his mouth agape. He had no idea just how it was that these people had dug up where he lived, but he also had no idea the hacking power of people on the deep web (or even what the deep web was) or groups of concerned citizens on 4chan or Reddit. It had been easy for people with the right technology to figure out where Steve Rogers had once lived, that the deed had passed to Tony Stark from his father after the man bought the tenament block, or that it had been given back to a relative of Steve's on his mother's side. Tony had done more than given Grant a high school diploma to get into college with. He'd given him a whole identity with a sparse but believable paper trail. The internet denizens had easily found it all out. And, for those no where near Brooklyn and out protesting, were currently discussing how one person could be completely social media free.

Thanks to simple physics of light and glass, the two upstsirs in the very small window in the dark were not visible from the street. Grant's hand found Bucky's shoulder and squeezed tightly before he turned to cross his arms over his chest and rub his lower lip with an index finger. He and Steve had the same posture when thinking, evidently.

"Hey pal?" Grant called and Steve turned off the living room television, dropping the remote onto the sofa, before joining them in the bedroom. "Uh so..."

Steve looked angry. Just how many times would his loyalty to this country that he saved on a weekly basis be called Ito question. "We aren't going to make any statements. I'm going to give Tony a call next. If this is going to be a legal matter... We need to let the justice system handle it, I think. We have evidence that it wasn't Bucky. We--". He pressed his lips together. "Buck. It's your call on this one."

Grant looked terrified. From what he'd learned of law, of the government, they could be looking at more HYDRA. Or corruption. Look at the people outside! They believed what they wanted. How could Bucky get a fair trial?

Bucky had come a long way in the past few weeks, but right now his expression had gone right back to the shuttered blankness that protected him from anyone seeing how much something hurt or frightened him. It wasn't a healthy coping mechanism to push it all down and out of sight, but it was what he had. He couldn't let these things out or they'd destroy him completely.

"They're going to want to arrest me."

It's not a question, more a low statement. If Steve wants to do this by the book, with the legal system, then there was no way that they would let Bucky roam free until any trial. He was technically a terrorist, they could detain him and question him with full legality for quite some time, and the very idea of being trapped and not in control of his own life again was utterly terrifying.

"And there isn't a case, they'll find me guilty. There's enough evidence, Steve, files and CCTV with my face on them, they'll think anything we say are lies."

Not to mention that he shared Grant's suspicion that HYDRA still infiltrated the government, and that putting himself in their hands was just asking to be returned to the Soldier.

Doing what was right legally was not always what was right morally. Steve was not a good boy in the general sense of the word. He cheated and he lied when he had to, or when it made sense to do so to help the most people. How would giving Bucky over help anyone but their enemies, however? Choosing Bucky was not about the greater good here, because Bucky technically was the greater good. He wasn't hurting anyone. He wasn't dangerous-- other people might not expect that or accept it as truth but Steve served the little guy.

"No one is handing you over to get arrested," he said, voice flat, before he turned to Grant and Bucky after switching off the television. "Sam can be here in half an hour. But we have to get to an extraction point."

Grant didn't really like the sound of that. "You know I'll slow you down," he said immediately. He'd been with Steve during two full weeks of trying to find Bucky. It had been slow and almost disasterous. "You two go. I can hold the people downstairs off and I can work with Mister Stark to try to clear Buck's name. We have evidence. We just have to make people see it for what it is."

"No."

Bucky's voice was firm on that, cutting right through Steve's plans of extraction and Grant trying to be a self-sacrificing idiot again. Even though he wanted to run, and he might still do that, he wasn't going to let these two throw away their lives for him. Not now, not ever.

"Neither of you can run, you know how that would make you look? Guilty. Culpable. I'm not being responsible for that. If I go, then I'll go alone, I know how to hide."

Both of them knew that was true, he had hidden from everyone for a long time, he could do it again.

"I'm not going yet. If they come for me, I'll go. Otherwise, I'm going to fight this."

"You're not leaving us," both of the Rogers said, almost angrily, with Grant making the more passionate plea. "Never again. You've broken that promise too many times. If you leave, it's with Steve. I'm not being a martyr here, all right? I'm trying to buy you time. No one knows me. I'm not in any trouble. Once you're safe I can come to you a whole lot easier than if we all get caught running."

Steve put his hand on Grant's shoulder. He understood where that was coming from but he also didn't believe Grant needed to stay behind. "We can get you through anything, if there's two of us looking out for you, you won't slow us down."

Grant snorted. "What are you going to do? Toss me over buildings? Carry me on your backs? You can't fight with me there. Don't be completely stupid."

"We aren't leaving you. No one is leaving anyone," Steve insisted. "Buck. You asked us to go steady, didn't you? Just because things are tough doesn't mean you get to leave us."

Bucky glared daggers at both the Rogers idiots. Why were they always so stubborn and unable to accept that he could handle things on his own a hell of a lot better? He wasn't about to leave them for good, didn't they get that? Just until the heat was off, just until it was safe.

"Then I guess none of us are leaving."

He wasn't going to pull Grant from his college courses, not when he could see how much they meant to him and how much he enjoyed them, nor was he about to turn America against Steve.

With a scowl, he hopped down from the bed and slipped out in the front room, grabbing Grant's cup of coffee on the way past.

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay? Like defend me in public, you've gotta be smart about this."

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