The Corrupt and the Pure; Chapter 34: The Wait
[INFO]Title: The Corrupt and the Pure
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 34: The Wait
Avengers Tower,
Manhattan, New York City, NY
Part of their team was still working to clean up in the aftermath of the attack; Tony and Rhodes with their suits, as well as Thor. Steve had tried to be present, but he could admit to being distracted by Bucky hovering in the shadows, and eventually the team consensus was that he should get indoors with their guest.
Away from the smoking wreckage of the Quinjet, Steve felt no more at ease; he finally had Bucky at his side, but he felt at a loss as to how to handle it. At least Bucky didn’t seem hell bent on fighting him this time, instead sitting on the edge of the couch on the second level of the common area, eyes keeping watch on people who kept coming and going at first, then stopped coming at all as if realizing it was best to avoid the vast space for now.
Steve remained standing next to the couch, too restless to sit down just yet. He wished he knew what to say or do. Bucky was on his guard, which he wanted to lessen, but at the same time Steve didn’t want to accidentally make it worse and have him bolt.
He wondered what exactly Tony and Rhodes had said or done to convince Bucky to come with them. There had been no fight, excessive use of force, or threats as far as Steve knew, and it boggled his mind somewhat. He refused to admit he was a bit jealous of it being so easy for someone else to reel Bucky in; the results were what mattered.
Silence hung heavy between them. Steve tried out different openings in his head, but he could see all of them ending somewhere between a strained discomfort and a minor disaster.
It was Bucky, eventually, who spoke up first: “So, that was the Commander.” He didn’t look at Steve as he said it - looking away quite pointedly, in fact, and Steve worried about that until he realized Bucky was staring at Steve’s reflection on the metallic wall paneling.
“Yes,” Steve confirmed, snapping himself out of it and trying to make it look like he hadn’t noticed Bucky was watching him.
“He’s…” Bucky started, frowning. “He’s not like you, exactly.”
“He’s nothing like me,” Steve corrected, a bit more heatedly than he would have liked.
This time, Bucky shifted his head and looked directly at him. Steve was worried he was seeking to point out the Commander was Steve, no matter the superficial differences, and he knew he would have to let it go because they had been the same guy, once, a very long time ago.
“Tony has history with him,” Bucky said instead.
Steve’s brain jumped from defensive to outraged. “He does,” he replied with a nod. He could feel his facial muscles tightening at the reminder, shoulders tensing. His body still ached from the fall and the fight, yet he wished he had hit the Commander harder.
Bucky kept looking at him, clearly expecting a broader explanation, but when Steve didn’t offer one, he chose to go on: “He said I killed Tony.”
Steve let out a breath. “In his world, you did. That doesn’t mean anything here.”
“Is that why he was coming after me?”
Steve told himself not to be surprised; Bucky had always been quick on the uptake. Now more than ever, Bucky needed to be able to adapt, if he wanted to survive and keep away from those who were after him.
“That’s what we believe,” Steve verified. “He’s hell bent on making this world match his old one.”
Bucky looked thoughtful and turned his head to look out the window. They were high up above the street, but there were still wisps of smoke drifting up from the crashed Quinjet below. “Was Iron Man working for HYDRA in that other world?”
“No.”
“But I was?”
“Yes.” Steve didn’t like saying it, as if it doomed Bucky somehow. They weren’t responsible for how the other universe had turned out. Of course, that didn’t mean Steve wouldn’t feel personally responsible for containing the Commander and stopping his rampage.
“I guess it really is complicated,” Bucky murmured then and looked at his hands - one flesh, the other metal.
Steve’s stomach clenched. “He’s mad. That’s all we need to know.”
Bucky snorted. “It’s all black and white with you, isn’t it?”
Steve wasn’t sure how to respond to that - hadn’t expected Bucky to be this familiar with him.
“It’s all shades of gray with Tony,” Bucky went on. “He let the Commander walk away.”
“He made a choice to put his people first.” In any other case, Steve might have done the same, but this was the Commander they were talking about.
“You didn’t want to let him go,” Bucky guessed.
Steve shook his head. “Not after what he’s done.”
Bucky looked at him again, waiting for clarification.
“The Commander kidnapped Tony a few days ago,” Steve told him, feeling like Bucky deserved to have things put into perspective. He was in this mess with them, and it was unfair to keep facts from him - especially with the Commander potentially targeting him as well. “He hurt Tony,” he went on, and the familiar tide of shame washed over him. As if he were responsible…
“He didn’t seem too badly hurt,” Bucky said.
“No,” Steve agreed. “He’s covering it up, mostly. And…” He bit his lip, then flinched slightly as he drew blood.
“Tell me,” Bucky said. “I need to know why you hate him so much if you want me to fight him with you.”
There was so much in that single sentence Steve would have been thankful for, if not for the shame and anger he continuously felt when he thought of what the Commander had done to Tony…
“When the Commander first appeared here,” he started, nodding towards the area on the lower floor that was still a bit of a mess from the sudden entrance and the following fight, “he proclaimed that he and Tony had been involved in his world. Then his Tony was killed, and the Commander sought to replace him. Realizing things were different here didn’t exactly deter him, and he managed to grab Tony.”
Bucky surveyed the destroyed area with renewed interest. “You fought him,” he guessed.
“I did, as well as one of Tony’s suits.”
Bucky made a small sound at the back of his throat. “Must have pissed you off to lose like that.”
“I failed to protect Tony,” Steve agreed, feeling the already familiar weight reacquaint itself within his chest. “We looked for him for a few days, then caught their trail and rescued him.”
“Something happened while the Commander had Tony with him,” Bucky guessed.
“Tony had no interest in what the Commander wanted,” Steve said, trying not to let his mind go too deep into the memories but it was hard - perhaps even more so in the aftermath of Tony’s odd confession after they got him back. Steve still had no idea how to deal with that. “The Commander wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” he finished, the pressure in his chest turning into ice. “He raped Tony, I’m sure of that. And still Tony let him walk away today.”
Bucky was silent, digesting the information. Steve let him, mostly because he could use a minute or two to sort through his own emotions in order to reach some kind of plateau.
“Do you want to kill him for what he did?” Bucky asked at length.
“Yes,” Steve replied, the answer escaping him almost reflexively.
“Really, Cap?” Tony’s voice cut through the room suddenly, and both men turned to look at him; how he had managed to enter without either of them noticing was shocking. Tony was scowling at Steve, then stepped out of the elevator that had brought him up to them. There was usually a soft ding involved when the elevator reached a new floor, but Steve suspected it either wasn’t working or had been disabled in order for Tony to reach them unnoticed.
“He’ll answer for his crimes,” Steve stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I get that, and I agree - but talking about killing him so casually isn’t what you’re about,” Tony countered.
“Maybe you don’t know me that well,” Steve challenged him.
Tony stared him down, unrelenting, then glanced at Bucky. “Captain Loudmouth here shouldn’t have told you all that,” he said.
Bucky shrugged. “It clarifies things. I take it the rest of the team doesn’t know?”
“Some of them suspect, I’m sure,” Tony admitted. “It doesn’t change things much, though.”
Steve drew a sharp breath. “How can you say that?!”
Tony turned to look at him. “It may change things for me, but the rest of you aren’t part of it.”
There were so many ways Steve wanted to prove him wrong, but he wasn’t certain whether it was his place to comment. Tony had his own way of dealing with all this, and denial was probably a big part of it - as was belittling the things he had been forced to endure.
Bucky was watching the two of them intently, as if gaining more information each time one of them spoke up. Steve felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, but Tony didn’t even seem to notice. It was strange, seeing as Bucky was Steve’s best friend and a complete stranger to Tony; their places should have been reversed. Maybe it was the shame and guilt weighing him down, with the knowledge that Bucky was now aware of where Steve’s failure to capture the Commander in the first place had led them.
“He isn’t you,” Tony said finally, repeating the words he had told Steve more than once. “He isn’t your responsibility any more than he is mine, or someone else’s. It isn’t your fault what he chose to do to me - or that I let it happen.”
Steve felt sick again. “What choice did you have?” he asked. “He would have just hurt you worse.”
“Maybe that would have been better than just taking it,” Tony shrugged, as if indifferent, but Steve knew they were scraping far deeper than the surface; Tony was letting him see the core of the dilemma - the issue that any one of them would have faced if put in his place.
“I’m glad you didn’t fight him more,” Steve finally said, voice dropping low. He wasn’t sure he wanted to say those words out loud - to accidentally imply he condoned what had happened.
A tiny smile flitted across Tony’s lips. “I’m all about self-preservation.”
Steve snorted, knowing how much that wasn’t true. Sure, he knew Tony to be selfish to a fault, but he had also seen him ready to throw his life away to save strangers. Tony was just as ready to lay down on the wire as Steve was. “You lived to fight another day - to take him down and make him pay.”
Tony’s expression morphed into a frown once more. “You seem awfully interested in giving him what you think he deserves.”
“And you’re not,” Bucky commented from the side. “Just an observation,” he added with raised hands when Tony twisted around to look at him.
“I’m not saying he should get away with the things he’s done,” Tony started, voice tight. “He’s rotten and capable of hurting people without his moral compass so much as twitching.”
“But?” Steve pressed. He wanted to know where Tony’s leniency towards his abuser came from so that he could predict it next time and possibly avoid it entirely.
Tony looked at him again, probably knowing Steve was the one he needed to convince; Bucky was simply observing, just as he had said. “For all the darkness and twisted morals, he used to be a good guy - and I think he was finding the light at the end of the tunnel again, before all this happened.”
Steve couldn’t believe it, but it explained Tony’s recent reaction. “You pity him,” he uttered with a moderate amount of disbelief coloring his words.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Tony backpedaled.
“You think you can make him good again,” Steve pressed.
“No!” Tony snapped. “I’m just trying to point out he might have the capacity to change before he’s put down like a rabid dog.”
Steve took a tiny step back, trying to control his emotions. “He raped you,” he said, the ugly word passing his lips like venom. “If he’s capable of doing that to someone he claims to care about, I don’t care what his other redeeming qualities are.”
Tony blinked and looked away, actively avoiding his stare for the first time since he came into the room. “He’s lost,” he murmured, almost too low to hear. “He lost the one thing that made him want to fight HYDRA.”
“You’re not him,” Steve said, his emotions sobering slightly. He reached out, carefully touching Tony’s arm, prepared for the other man to flinch away from him. He was surprised when that didn’t happen. Instead, the touch prompted Tony to look at him again, eyes wide and expression tortured with indecision. “Just as I’m not the Commander, you’re not the Tony Stark he knew. You’re not responsible for saving him from himself - especially not after what he did.”
“But if I could?” Tony questioned. “Shouldn’t I try to help him?”
“I don’t think he wants your help,” Steve responded. “He just wants you.”
Tony swallowed, clearly agreeing with that statement on some level; he must have seen proof of it while he was with the Commander.
Bucky was still looking at them, searching for hidden messages no doubt, and Steve wondered what he saw. Self-conscious all of a sudden, Steve allowed his hand to fall from Tony’s arm, and that seemed to snap the other man out of the moment as well.
“Get cleaned up and check on the injured,” Tony ordered. “We need to step up our game and finish this.” Then he walked back to the elevator and got in, not meeting Steve’s gaze again.
Steve looked at Bucky once the elevator had stopped at the floor where Tony’s armory was located. “Do you need something?” he asked. “Food, clothes, some shut-eye?”
Bucky gave him a wry smile and stood up. “All of the above, I think - but I’ll start with food.”
Steve nodded, agreeing. “Kitchen’s this way,” he motioned and led the way down the stairs.
to be continued…
Story info
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 34: The Wait
Avengers Tower,
Manhattan, New York City, NY
Part of their team was still working to clean up in the aftermath of the attack; Tony and Rhodes with their suits, as well as Thor. Steve had tried to be present, but he could admit to being distracted by Bucky hovering in the shadows, and eventually the team consensus was that he should get indoors with their guest.
Away from the smoking wreckage of the Quinjet, Steve felt no more at ease; he finally had Bucky at his side, but he felt at a loss as to how to handle it. At least Bucky didn’t seem hell bent on fighting him this time, instead sitting on the edge of the couch on the second level of the common area, eyes keeping watch on people who kept coming and going at first, then stopped coming at all as if realizing it was best to avoid the vast space for now.
Steve remained standing next to the couch, too restless to sit down just yet. He wished he knew what to say or do. Bucky was on his guard, which he wanted to lessen, but at the same time Steve didn’t want to accidentally make it worse and have him bolt.
He wondered what exactly Tony and Rhodes had said or done to convince Bucky to come with them. There had been no fight, excessive use of force, or threats as far as Steve knew, and it boggled his mind somewhat. He refused to admit he was a bit jealous of it being so easy for someone else to reel Bucky in; the results were what mattered.
Silence hung heavy between them. Steve tried out different openings in his head, but he could see all of them ending somewhere between a strained discomfort and a minor disaster.
It was Bucky, eventually, who spoke up first: “So, that was the Commander.” He didn’t look at Steve as he said it - looking away quite pointedly, in fact, and Steve worried about that until he realized Bucky was staring at Steve’s reflection on the metallic wall paneling.
“Yes,” Steve confirmed, snapping himself out of it and trying to make it look like he hadn’t noticed Bucky was watching him.
“He’s…” Bucky started, frowning. “He’s not like you, exactly.”
“He’s nothing like me,” Steve corrected, a bit more heatedly than he would have liked.
This time, Bucky shifted his head and looked directly at him. Steve was worried he was seeking to point out the Commander was Steve, no matter the superficial differences, and he knew he would have to let it go because they had been the same guy, once, a very long time ago.
“Tony has history with him,” Bucky said instead.
Steve’s brain jumped from defensive to outraged. “He does,” he replied with a nod. He could feel his facial muscles tightening at the reminder, shoulders tensing. His body still ached from the fall and the fight, yet he wished he had hit the Commander harder.
Bucky kept looking at him, clearly expecting a broader explanation, but when Steve didn’t offer one, he chose to go on: “He said I killed Tony.”
Steve let out a breath. “In his world, you did. That doesn’t mean anything here.”
“Is that why he was coming after me?”
Steve told himself not to be surprised; Bucky had always been quick on the uptake. Now more than ever, Bucky needed to be able to adapt, if he wanted to survive and keep away from those who were after him.
“That’s what we believe,” Steve verified. “He’s hell bent on making this world match his old one.”
Bucky looked thoughtful and turned his head to look out the window. They were high up above the street, but there were still wisps of smoke drifting up from the crashed Quinjet below. “Was Iron Man working for HYDRA in that other world?”
“No.”
“But I was?”
“Yes.” Steve didn’t like saying it, as if it doomed Bucky somehow. They weren’t responsible for how the other universe had turned out. Of course, that didn’t mean Steve wouldn’t feel personally responsible for containing the Commander and stopping his rampage.
“I guess it really is complicated,” Bucky murmured then and looked at his hands - one flesh, the other metal.
Steve’s stomach clenched. “He’s mad. That’s all we need to know.”
Bucky snorted. “It’s all black and white with you, isn’t it?”
Steve wasn’t sure how to respond to that - hadn’t expected Bucky to be this familiar with him.
“It’s all shades of gray with Tony,” Bucky went on. “He let the Commander walk away.”
“He made a choice to put his people first.” In any other case, Steve might have done the same, but this was the Commander they were talking about.
“You didn’t want to let him go,” Bucky guessed.
Steve shook his head. “Not after what he’s done.”
Bucky looked at him again, waiting for clarification.
“The Commander kidnapped Tony a few days ago,” Steve told him, feeling like Bucky deserved to have things put into perspective. He was in this mess with them, and it was unfair to keep facts from him - especially with the Commander potentially targeting him as well. “He hurt Tony,” he went on, and the familiar tide of shame washed over him. As if he were responsible…
“He didn’t seem too badly hurt,” Bucky said.
“No,” Steve agreed. “He’s covering it up, mostly. And…” He bit his lip, then flinched slightly as he drew blood.
“Tell me,” Bucky said. “I need to know why you hate him so much if you want me to fight him with you.”
There was so much in that single sentence Steve would have been thankful for, if not for the shame and anger he continuously felt when he thought of what the Commander had done to Tony…
“When the Commander first appeared here,” he started, nodding towards the area on the lower floor that was still a bit of a mess from the sudden entrance and the following fight, “he proclaimed that he and Tony had been involved in his world. Then his Tony was killed, and the Commander sought to replace him. Realizing things were different here didn’t exactly deter him, and he managed to grab Tony.”
Bucky surveyed the destroyed area with renewed interest. “You fought him,” he guessed.
“I did, as well as one of Tony’s suits.”
Bucky made a small sound at the back of his throat. “Must have pissed you off to lose like that.”
“I failed to protect Tony,” Steve agreed, feeling the already familiar weight reacquaint itself within his chest. “We looked for him for a few days, then caught their trail and rescued him.”
“Something happened while the Commander had Tony with him,” Bucky guessed.
“Tony had no interest in what the Commander wanted,” Steve said, trying not to let his mind go too deep into the memories but it was hard - perhaps even more so in the aftermath of Tony’s odd confession after they got him back. Steve still had no idea how to deal with that. “The Commander wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” he finished, the pressure in his chest turning into ice. “He raped Tony, I’m sure of that. And still Tony let him walk away today.”
Bucky was silent, digesting the information. Steve let him, mostly because he could use a minute or two to sort through his own emotions in order to reach some kind of plateau.
“Do you want to kill him for what he did?” Bucky asked at length.
“Yes,” Steve replied, the answer escaping him almost reflexively.
“Really, Cap?” Tony’s voice cut through the room suddenly, and both men turned to look at him; how he had managed to enter without either of them noticing was shocking. Tony was scowling at Steve, then stepped out of the elevator that had brought him up to them. There was usually a soft ding involved when the elevator reached a new floor, but Steve suspected it either wasn’t working or had been disabled in order for Tony to reach them unnoticed.
“He’ll answer for his crimes,” Steve stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I get that, and I agree - but talking about killing him so casually isn’t what you’re about,” Tony countered.
“Maybe you don’t know me that well,” Steve challenged him.
Tony stared him down, unrelenting, then glanced at Bucky. “Captain Loudmouth here shouldn’t have told you all that,” he said.
Bucky shrugged. “It clarifies things. I take it the rest of the team doesn’t know?”
“Some of them suspect, I’m sure,” Tony admitted. “It doesn’t change things much, though.”
Steve drew a sharp breath. “How can you say that?!”
Tony turned to look at him. “It may change things for me, but the rest of you aren’t part of it.”
There were so many ways Steve wanted to prove him wrong, but he wasn’t certain whether it was his place to comment. Tony had his own way of dealing with all this, and denial was probably a big part of it - as was belittling the things he had been forced to endure.
Bucky was watching the two of them intently, as if gaining more information each time one of them spoke up. Steve felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, but Tony didn’t even seem to notice. It was strange, seeing as Bucky was Steve’s best friend and a complete stranger to Tony; their places should have been reversed. Maybe it was the shame and guilt weighing him down, with the knowledge that Bucky was now aware of where Steve’s failure to capture the Commander in the first place had led them.
“He isn’t you,” Tony said finally, repeating the words he had told Steve more than once. “He isn’t your responsibility any more than he is mine, or someone else’s. It isn’t your fault what he chose to do to me - or that I let it happen.”
Steve felt sick again. “What choice did you have?” he asked. “He would have just hurt you worse.”
“Maybe that would have been better than just taking it,” Tony shrugged, as if indifferent, but Steve knew they were scraping far deeper than the surface; Tony was letting him see the core of the dilemma - the issue that any one of them would have faced if put in his place.
“I’m glad you didn’t fight him more,” Steve finally said, voice dropping low. He wasn’t sure he wanted to say those words out loud - to accidentally imply he condoned what had happened.
A tiny smile flitted across Tony’s lips. “I’m all about self-preservation.”
Steve snorted, knowing how much that wasn’t true. Sure, he knew Tony to be selfish to a fault, but he had also seen him ready to throw his life away to save strangers. Tony was just as ready to lay down on the wire as Steve was. “You lived to fight another day - to take him down and make him pay.”
Tony’s expression morphed into a frown once more. “You seem awfully interested in giving him what you think he deserves.”
“And you’re not,” Bucky commented from the side. “Just an observation,” he added with raised hands when Tony twisted around to look at him.
“I’m not saying he should get away with the things he’s done,” Tony started, voice tight. “He’s rotten and capable of hurting people without his moral compass so much as twitching.”
“But?” Steve pressed. He wanted to know where Tony’s leniency towards his abuser came from so that he could predict it next time and possibly avoid it entirely.
Tony looked at him again, probably knowing Steve was the one he needed to convince; Bucky was simply observing, just as he had said. “For all the darkness and twisted morals, he used to be a good guy - and I think he was finding the light at the end of the tunnel again, before all this happened.”
Steve couldn’t believe it, but it explained Tony’s recent reaction. “You pity him,” he uttered with a moderate amount of disbelief coloring his words.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Tony backpedaled.
“You think you can make him good again,” Steve pressed.
“No!” Tony snapped. “I’m just trying to point out he might have the capacity to change before he’s put down like a rabid dog.”
Steve took a tiny step back, trying to control his emotions. “He raped you,” he said, the ugly word passing his lips like venom. “If he’s capable of doing that to someone he claims to care about, I don’t care what his other redeeming qualities are.”
Tony blinked and looked away, actively avoiding his stare for the first time since he came into the room. “He’s lost,” he murmured, almost too low to hear. “He lost the one thing that made him want to fight HYDRA.”
“You’re not him,” Steve said, his emotions sobering slightly. He reached out, carefully touching Tony’s arm, prepared for the other man to flinch away from him. He was surprised when that didn’t happen. Instead, the touch prompted Tony to look at him again, eyes wide and expression tortured with indecision. “Just as I’m not the Commander, you’re not the Tony Stark he knew. You’re not responsible for saving him from himself - especially not after what he did.”
“But if I could?” Tony questioned. “Shouldn’t I try to help him?”
“I don’t think he wants your help,” Steve responded. “He just wants you.”
Tony swallowed, clearly agreeing with that statement on some level; he must have seen proof of it while he was with the Commander.
Bucky was still looking at them, searching for hidden messages no doubt, and Steve wondered what he saw. Self-conscious all of a sudden, Steve allowed his hand to fall from Tony’s arm, and that seemed to snap the other man out of the moment as well.
“Get cleaned up and check on the injured,” Tony ordered. “We need to step up our game and finish this.” Then he walked back to the elevator and got in, not meeting Steve’s gaze again.
Steve looked at Bucky once the elevator had stopped at the floor where Tony’s armory was located. “Do you need something?” he asked. “Food, clothes, some shut-eye?”
Bucky gave him a wry smile and stood up. “All of the above, I think - but I’ll start with food.”
Steve nodded, agreeing. “Kitchen’s this way,” he motioned and led the way down the stairs.
to be continued…
Story info