𝔸𝕤 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕤 𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦

Chapter 5

Tw: Implied violence, DID, Panic attack

"Isn't Bucky here yet?" Steve asked Sam as he sat down in his usual spot next to him. Scooting to the left to make more room for him, Sam shook his head. "I think he left combat training early."

Stephen sighed. "We're missing Tony, Thor, Nat and Loki as well."

Clint winced. "Everyone saw what Obadiah did to him."

Wanda nodded slightly, remembering the way Loki had fallen and collapsed to the ground, gasping and clutching at his throat.

Sighing, Steve pushed his food away. "I don't think I'm hungry anymore." Sam looked at him strangely.

"Are you sure? Normally after combat you're begging for my food as well." He stated, raising his eyebrows in concern.

Before Steve could quip back at him, a notification from his phone rang out, breaking the uncomfortable silence they had fallen into. As he looked around his gathered friends, Steve realised it wasn't only him who'd gotten the text.

A quiet gasp escaped Clint, who was staring at his phone, eyes sparkling.

"I knew it. I fucking KNEW IT!" Clint screeched, jumping up from his sitting position. Stephen gaped at him from the ground, mouth opening and closing like a stranded fish.

"Careful, Barton. Steve might've heard you." Sam smirked at him.

Fingers trembling with anticipation, Steve opened the image Natasha had sent in their group chat. It was a picture of Bucky and Tony clutching at each other so tightly that it seemed like one of them would break, Tony with his face buried in Bucky's shoulder, half sitting on his lap.

"I can't believe I didn't see that in person- hey!" Clint yelped as Wanda lunged for his phone, hand jumping to her mouth as she saw the photo.

While Clint was trying to get his phone back from Wanda, Sam looked over at Steve.

"Twenty dollars they get together by the end of this year."

"Fifty."

–

Tony walked into the 3rd and 4th period with his face still burning from the recent encounter, both disappointed and relieved when he found that Bucky wasn't in this class, but taking Art with Steve and Pietro. Throwing his stuff on the desk nearest the door, Tony dropped his head onto his laptop case, his arms crossing over his head.

As someone passed by him, Tony felt them ruffle his dark locks gently before moving away. Peeling his face off the smooth material of his laptop bag, Tony looked up drowsily to find Bruce grinning sheepishly from the row behind him. Tony pinched the bridge of his nose at Bruce's serious expression, sighing. He knew Bruce well enough to know that there was no getting out of the conversation. "Really? Now?" Tony hissed as Mr Triplette launched into his hour-long lecture about history.

"Yes now!" Bruce mouthed obstinately as Tony grimaced. "When did you and Bucky- I mean- when did you start being an item... y'know?"

Bruce pursed his lips at Tony's withering gaze. "What?"

"It wasn't like that, Bruce! He only apologised to me. That's it!" Looking unconvinced, Bruce opened his mouth to argue further, but was startled into silence by a sharp tap on Tony's desk.

Tony turned in his seat to find Mr Triplette staring him down, an unimpressed expression on his face. As he looked over Tony, at his guilty features and his hands twisting anxiously in his lap, he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Tony, meet me after class," he said stiffly. Tony's eyes widened as his eyes slid over Bruce and onto him, completely disregarding Bruce's involvement in their conversation. "Wha- " He glared at Bruce as he tried and failed to stifle a giggle.