"Bucky," Steve said softly, setting his hand on his friend's shoulder, who looked up at him. "You're going to be okay." He moved his hand to take his friend's.
"I know I will. Are you gonna be okay?" He used his other hand to rake through Bucky's hair.
"As long as you stay by my side." Bucky stood to face Steve. He pressed a soft kiss to his friend's lips, hand going to his hair.
"I'll always be here when you need me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stark waited quietly as he sat in the tower. Fury was bringing the rogues back today. He was nervous to see Steve and Bucky, as Steve called him.
The elevator dinged and Tony stood up to face Fury and the others. Fury's eyes held slight concern as he looked to Tony. Peter chose that moment to come down the stairs, though he was unnoticed.
"Stark," Fury greeted. Tony nodded in response. "How is court going?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"You're not supposed to mention it," Peter defended, walking to stand by his dad. Tony set his hand on Peter's shoulder.
"Peter, it's fine. It's already been four months." Peter looked up at him, concern in his gaze.
"But he hurt you. That's not okay." Tony sighed again, looking down at his son.
"I'm okay, Peter."
"What's he talking about?" Natasha asked. Rhodey glanced at Tony.
"I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to be talking about this," he said, trying to change the topic for his friend's sake.
"No," Tony said. "We're supposed to be a team again. No secrets, right? I was in a bad relationship. I ended up in the hospital from injuries he gave me. We're in court right now. It'll be over tomorrow, so that's the short answer." The elevator dinged and Pepper walked in, taking in the scene. She looked to Tony.
"You told them?" He nodded.
"Yeah. Can we move past this? It's not why they're here. And it's not why I'm here. Fury, I believe you were going to say something."
"Well, I was leaving, so I'll let you get settled." He turned and left. Everyone looked over at Tony as soon as Fury was gone.
"You know, I think I need to go get ready for court tomorrow." He turned and left. The others exchanged glances. This wasn't at all what they were expecting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony just finished speaking against Lloyd when he saw the others sitting in the crowd. Great. He sat back down and Lloyd admitted to everything he did and continued by saying every single detail. I found myself sinking into my chair, face burning with shame as he described everything. And I was too scared to fight back.
The court closed and Lloyd was taken out in handcuffs to jail. I stood up and walked out of the room. Once I got outside, I took a deep breath of air, trying to clear my head and forget everything.
"Tony," Pepper said, softly, setting a hand on my back. I glanced back at her with blurry eyes. She pulled me into a hug and I buried my face in her neck as she ran a hand through my hair. I pulled away a second later.
"I'll meet you back at the tower." She looked concerned, but nodded. I walked down the steps of the courthouse, hands in my pockets. A few reporters looked over, but, thankfully, left me alone.
I walked to the cemetery and found my parents' graves. I didn't ever think my dad liked me, but I know my mother did. And I loved her. I missed her a lot. Everyday, I thought of her. I didn't really blame Barnes for killing them. It wasn't really his fault.
I sighed and felt an arm wrap around my waist. I looked over to see Peter. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. We were gonna be okay.
