Avengers High School - Winter Soldier

30 - Steve's Dog

A/N: I decided to split up this chapter from the next to get this one out sooner, so here it is!

Following the after-game formalities, Steve drove himself, Sam, Thor and Bucky back to his house where they were meeting Tony, Bruce and Nat. It was the whole gang, minus Clint who had a date.

The footballers arrived just as the others did and they all followed Steve up to the front door. Tony had his arms piled high with pizzas he and Bruce had picked up. As Thor took some of them from Tony's hands and started telling a story to the two shorter teens, Sam, Nat and Bucky stood behind Steve as he opened the door. He fumbled with his car keys before turning to the others with a slightly horrified expression.

"I don't have house keys-"

He was interrupted, however, as Bucky kicked a brick off to the side to reveal a pair of keys. Steve had had to use the spare keys a few times Bucky had been with him, so, naturally, he remembered.

Steve closed his mouth into an embarrassed smile, taking the keys from smirking Bucky and proceeding to twist them into the door.

There was a weird sound coming from inside, at the door. It sounded like something was scratching at the wood. Bucky felt his body tense. He was about to ask what it was when he heard a dog bark. A friendly one, but a bark all the same...

"[This is what happens when you disobey orders, Soldier. You were directed to eliminate witnesses and you failed]," a HYDRA guard snarled at the young teen. His metal arm was chained and locked uncomfortably to the wall behind him, his other arm and feet also in heavy chains. The guard spoke into the comms device at his shoulder. "[Bring in the K-9 unit]."

The Soldier's heart began to race. As the effect of the trigger words began to wear off following the mission and his slight humanity returned, he couldn't help but be afraid. The Canine Unit at HYDRA were a pack of savagely trained dogs which, for all the Soldier knew, could have been part wolf. HYDRA cared more about the dogs than him, treated them more human than him.

Not long later, he heard a vicious snarling and growling at the door, followed by angry barks. He tried to pull at his chains but it was no use, he was pretty much cemented to the ground, waiting to be a training rag-doll.

Three guards appeared holding three wolf-like dogs with snapping jowls and sharp teeth.

"[Disobeying orders will be punished, Soldier]," one of the guards drawled. He unlocked the cell door and the dogs' chains, then looked down at the barking dogs. "[Attack]."

"Hey Scarlet!"

Steve's excited voice pulled Bucky back to the present. It was a quick memory but enough to make him freeze for a moment. As Steve and Sam bundled inside, Bucky turned cautiously to look at Natasha. She noticed him looking at her with a panicked expression and was confused for a moment, until she guessed why he was reacting like that. She had never seen the HYDRA dogs herself but sometimes heard them barking. And if the pale U-shaped scars on Bucky meant anything... well, she could only assume.

Natasha nodded towards the door and Bucky carefully followed her inside. He had nothing against dogs, he loved them, it was just the HYDRA ones that slightly ruined it for him. The feeling left however when Bucky saw a big ball of golden fluff jumping around Steve. Steve's dog, Scarlet, was a golden retriever who ran around with her tail flying around and pretty much wearing a smile.

"Buck, you haven't met Scarlet yet. We've had her for a few years but has been at dog training the times you've been over," Steve said. He clutched the dog's face gently and looked into her eyes. He added in a baby voice: "But you've graduated now. Yes you have! Before me!"

Bucky held his hand out and smiled when the dog happily trotted over and looked up into his eyes. He found a ball nearby and, before he realised, got himself into an infinite game of fetch down the hallway. It was still going, with Scarlet jumping up to lick Bucky's face, when all the others had sat around the lounge room eating pizza. Steve's parents were out that night so it was just them. Natasha managed to take a sneaky photo before Bucky - and Scarlet - were beckoned to join them.

The group sat around for hours just eating, chatting, watching stuff on the TV when Bruce realised it was already 10:30.

"I gotta get home guys," he said sheepishly.

Thor had already left - something to do with his brother - but Sam, Bucky and Nat were staying over at Steve's.

Tony groaned. "I don't want to go home. Howard's been on my back all week about school and mum's going to be mad because I'm already past curfew."

"You're like, top of all your classes, what's he on about?" Sam said incredulously.

"Uh, no," Tony held up a finger to make a point, "Bruce and I share top marks in the sciences." He started searching for his phone through the couch. "My mother and Howard have just become so pedantic and fricking paranoid all the time. It's been just over a year since the stupid car crash and-" he paused to take an annoyed humph of a breath. "-they're so protective 'cause the investigation found it to be foul play and an attempted assassination," he shook his head angrily. "Life was so much better before that stupid night, I'm being completely honest when I say it ruined my life and I hope they find the fu-fricking guy who did it- WHERE'S MY PHONE?!"

The others sat silently listening to Tony's rant, which wasn't an unusual occurrence. Bucky listened intently, in thought, whilst Scarlet lied on the floor next to him. Natasha calmly lifted up a couch cushion to reveal Tony's phone, handing it to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Far out," he said exasperatedly, "thanks, Nat," he winked, then turned to Bruce who was waving goodbye to the others. "Quick, I've got a breakfast date with Pepper before school. Let's go Brucey."

"I said don't call me that, Tony," Bruce breathed as he stepped out the door.

"Why? I like it-" Tony started saying until the door shut, leaving the room in silence.

Finally, Steve broke the amused silence. "He's like a tornado,"

Natasha chuckled. "We're not the ones who gave him coffee at 10pm."