The Fire Between Us || Bucky x Reader

28.

Tony POV:

I was staring at my phone after James called me. Well, I'm scared for my life now, I know I shouldn't have lied about him killing Y/Ns parents, but I didn't know what else to say to her to make her join. I fucked up bad. I got up wrapped a robe around myself and tied a knot in front of me, Steve was still sleeping, he wouldn't wake up for another two hours.

I slowly walked to the closet and picked out some clothes. I took just some simple grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt. Without any bother, I went straight to my lab and started to check out if there was anything I may have missed in the terrorist base. After a few hours of work, I sent them a new file that contained the new information I had collected. I checked their car for any disabled parts that would be a major problem, but nothing, the car was perfectly fine, everything was available to use and safe to drive.

There were two kids that were being held hostage. I had absolutely nothing to keep my mind off of the Bipolar staring machine. He probably already told Natasha about it, and I have no idea how everyone would react to what I had done.

I got myself a glass of whiskey and drank it with one sip. I looked at some notes that I had, and a lot of them were unfinished projects. Like a little robot that would give people first aid in the streets. Just until real medics would get there. I took it and started working on it. Soon enough, Steve came into the lab he was carrying some pancakes and a cup of coffee. I was just looking at some sketches for the robot. I want it to look simple and not scary to the kids. Like a stuffed animal, there can not be any fur on it, it will just collect dirt and could infect the wounds. It's a tough job to find a perfect design.

"Good morning." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a tray with food appeared in my vision.

"Morning," I looked at the man behind me, and he had a cup of coffee in hand. I smiled and took my own cup from the tray. He sat down on the seat next to me and looked slightly worried.

"What's up?" He was serious but still with hearts for eyes.

"I'm just working on a robot an-"

"Tony, I see that something is wrong. You've been here since 4 a.m., you didn't eat before coming, and you're working on the unfinished projects pile. I'm thankful you're not making 500 iron suits again. So what's wrong?"

"So you know how I told everyone that Barnes killed Y/Ns parents? He found out and told Y/N about it, and now I'm freaking out on how everyone is going to react."

"Yeah, I told you not to lie about it"

"Why didn't you stop me then?"

"Because you're Tony Stark, name one person that has ever convinced you to stop doing anything?" The room went silent, I made a line with my mouth trying to think of anything. But nothing came up. My mind was empty.

After breakfast, I stayed in the lab for a few more hours working on Assistance In Danger or A.I.D. until I got a call from Natasha, it's 8 p.m., and they were already done with the mission. They're coming back safely with two children, one of them is a 6-year-old boy named Ben and the other one is a 15-year-old non-binary person named Alex. They were taken only a few months prior to the rescue. Both of them are orphans. Ben's parents were killed by the terrorist who took him. Alex had been living in the orphanage since they were 7. Their parents were horrible alcoholics so they got taken away and put into an orphanage, going from one family to another, because no one needs a mentally unstable teenager.

After the call, I finally walked out of the lab, seeing almost everyone in the dining room having dinner. Steve got up and took another plate from the cabinet, making me sit next to him and Yelena, who was visiting us. She wanted to surprise her sister by coming here. Steve gave me a plate with spaghetti, with some vegetables on the side. I just smiled at him and began to eat as everyone already had half eaten their food. I was just looking at the food, taking a few bites, but I couldn't even eat half of it. As everyone around me was laughing and talking to each other, I quickly got up and threw my food out in the trash, took some paper towels, and threw them on top, trying to cover up the crime scene.

I took a last look at the bin and looked up at the cabinet above it. There sat a picture of me and Pete. He is visiting us for a week because May had to go away for a bit, and he doesn't have anywhere else to go for the time. He usually stays in the room that I assigned him. He is talking to his friends most of the time, building Legos and nerding out about some trashy movies. I turned around to see how he was getting along with everyone, but his eyes were on me, I could see the sadness, but he quickly looked away, trying to act like he didn't see what I just did. I gulped and sat back in my chair. Steve smiled at me warmly and placed his hand on mine, brushing his thumb against mine. He made me feel like I was worth something. He made me happy and loved. He and Peter, the people who always seem to be happy knowing I exist somewhere near them.