Tribulation

Six

{ (A/N: IM SORRY. This took so long to get out, and it's not even that good. I just need some Bucky in my life :/ }

Peter jumped up so fast Tony though the kid hurt himself. He started unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it off before he looked down at himself, seeing his chest and realizing his suit wasn't there. He looked up, sheepish, but Tony could see the glint of fear in the kid's eyes. He understood the fear of being so exposed to a time of likely danger. He put a hand on Peter's shoulder as he hastily buttoned his shirt, looking into his eyes. Peter had on a brave face, but after knowing the kid for so long, seeing him all different kind of scared, Tony knew what it looked like. 

And Tony.. Tony looked torn, torn between staying with his kid, wanting to be with him, and doing his duty as Ironman, the good of many over the good of one- and he made his decision, though begrudgingly. 

"Peter," he spoke softly, as softly as he could when he was terrified- the mixture of the loud noise of the alarms, the vulnerability without his suit, his still-sensitive mindset.. it was a mixture of the things . "I need you to stay here."

And Peter, he was so ready to just say no, to defy Tony as he's often done in the past, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. So he nodded in compliance and planted his feet on the ground, head facing downward. His eyes were drawn to his dirty converse, scruffed up and kinda falling apart, next to Tony's pristine vans- he almost laughed, if it weren't for the knot of anxiety in his stomach, and the wailing of a siren in his ears. 

"Okay... Okay," he looked up at Tony, and in the time he wasn't looking at him, the suit had formed around him, only his face visible to him now. He gave Peter a smile, ad the elevator bell rang, and Tony was gone. Peter stood there, his mind racing, but body refusing to move, stuck in the same spot. 

He stayed there for a few moments before his body finally kicked into motion, and he ran to his room, stripping as he went. Shit, shit, shit where is my suit? He looked around the sparse room, panic seeping it's way into his hands until they shook with tremors. He didn't like this, being without his suit, not knowing where it was. he didn't like this at all. So he stood, the middle of the near-empty room, in just his boxers and one sock, and started crying. He didn't muffle them, didn't try to calm himself. Just openly sobbed and sobbed, until his throat was raw- and kept going.

__

Bucky didn't know what to think.

The rest of the crew was off fighting some big-bad evil force, and he was left behind because he was "Still in recovery" and could "compromise the mission" .

Bullshit.

But rather than argue, and make them distrust him even more, he decided to just stay behind, get some reading done in the rare quiet. And it was nice, he got halfway through Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone when he got distracted by a loud whining noise a floor above him. He stays in Steve's floor, so right above him is Tony, but that is definitely not Tony crying, because he's gone, and his room has sound so... what the hell? He set the book down gently, listening more intently now. There was a lapse of silence, followed by some sniffling, then complete silence. 

Bucky decided he did, in fact, need to check this out. So he stood up, pulled on a hoodie, and began the trek up the stairs. When he came to the door, he knew better than to just enter without Tony knowing, but Tony wasn't there... the cracked open the door, looking around. "Hello? Who's there?" As he got there, he realized that he should have, in fact, brought a gun. Oh well, though, too late now, so he ventured further in.  There was no noise, or any indication that someone was here other than the uneasy feeling Bucky had the further he went in. 

And there it was, a spare room with the door open. He slinked his way over there, keeping an eye out for anything out of place, and there was a thing out of place. A whole kid. He lay in the middle of the floor, legs tucked up to his chest and all of his clothing laying around him, spare for his boxers, which were (luckily) still on his body. As Bucky got closer he realized this wasn't just a kid, but Tony's little protege intern thing. Peter? He didn't know, only knew that he followed Tony like a lost puppy around the lab. Why was he here when Tony wasn't? Maybe they had a project they were working on when the mission came up? Bucky didn't know, only knew that this kid looked tired, cold and a hell of a lot like Steve when he was younger. He felt a protective instinct in him, the same he felt for his best friend when they were younger. He hadn't felt this way in a long time- 80 years or so, and for it to come up so fast almost scared him.

He knelt down and shook the kid gently. Peter stirred and stared up at him with startled eyes, and obvious tear marks on his cheeks. Then he actually woke up, and stood up so fast he probably got whiplash, covering himself with his shirt and blushing a heavy red. "Uh-n Seargent Mr. Barnes. Sir. Why are you here?" 

"I Live here. Why are you  here?" 

"I-uh." he looked down. "I'm staying with Tony?" The kid looked exhausted, and Bucky decided to leave him be, and interrogate him later.

"...okay, well. How about you go to sleep? On an actual bed, that is." 

He gestured to the bed in the corner of the room, a nice queen mattress that he would like to fall onto himself. Peter looked over at it and nodded, and looked at Bucky again. "Mr. Barnes, can you.. go? So I can sleep?" Bucky smiled gently at the kid, crossing his arms.

 "Sure, kid. Just... call if you need something?" 

Peter looked unsure, and Buck knew he wouldn't call, even when Peter nodded. "Sure." 

Bucky left in silence, wondering what was with the dead look behind this once- cheerful kid's eyes.