sightless ➡️ winteriron (Discontinued)

13

Friendship, admiration, trust; they're such fickle things. At least for Bucky they are.

He was best friends with Steve. He admired Steve. He trusted Steve.

That seemed to all have changed in such a little amount of time. Hell, maybe it was steady change and he hadn't even noticed it. He wasn't the Bucky Steve remembered. The captain wasn't the Steve he had remembered either.

The ex-assassin was brought out of his thinking when he heard a surprised shout. He snapped out of his daze, looking up to see Tony cradling his left hand with a pout on his face.

Bucky had decidedly bolted to Tony's lab after his—fight with Steve. The billionaire had a hard time telling who walked into the lab due to his vision but had assumed it was Bucky by his silence and the fact that everyone went into his lab to ask for a favor, demand, or to talk. Everyone except Bucky. Sure, talking was something they did though they were comfortable with silence when wanted. He had given him a look of concern when the ex-assassin had entered but didn't voice it. He merely continued doing his work in silence, allowing James to sit on the couch a few yards away and reflect in silence.

"Ow." The mechanic grumbled, glaring at his hand. Welding something without proper hand protection. Huh, this seemed familiar. Maybe he should ask FRIDAY if she saw his welding gloves somewhere. God knows when the last time was that he used them.

The soldier stood up, it was near mechanical as he silently walked towards the billionaire and pulled a chair to sit directly in front of Tony.

Tony's brown eyes looked into Bucky's blue ones, stand-offish and confused. He had to confess, it was a hell of a lot easier for him to see the other man's eyes when they were closer.

The mechanic had taken to not wearing his sunglasses around Bucky and while in the comfort of his lab or room. He didn't think much of it though he was sure the ex-assassin appreciated and viewed it as a sign of trust.

Bucky guessed that whatever this was, the instinctual and mechanical mannerisms he caught himself doing, it was him. Most people agreed that he had a mindset, something he slipped into when killing or when he had a calculated, deadly look or demeanor. They might have been true at one point but now, James couldn't tell. The lines were blurred and he found it hard to differentiate where the Winter Soldier started and where it ended. The soldier was him as much as he was the soldier.

They were one in the same.

"The first aid kit is on the workbench to your right, Sergeant Barnes." FRIDAY's Irish lilt sounded after the some moments of quiet. Tony staring dumbly at Bucky while the man assessed the wound at the back of his hand without touching it.

The ex-assassin only lightly grunted in reply, quickly yet quietly grabbing the kit and making it back to Tony in record time.

James held out his hand in an offer. Tony was still gauging the soldier's emotions or lack there of that he didn't even notice the other was waiting for him to do something.

"Huh?"

The master assassin let out a quiet laugh. Okay, Tony could work with that. And God, was that laugh fucking amazing. Mental note, try to get that out of Bucky every once in a while.

"Can I look at it?" Bucky inquired. The engineer looked down at the offered hand before mumbling a quiet "Oh," and placed his hand in Bucky's own.

Wow, okay this was nice. The burn was long forgotten for Stark. All he was thinking about was how warm and welcoming Bucky's hand was. This is nice. Really nice. Some people's hands can be a little too warm or cold. They could also be really sweaty and that's like really gross bu—

"You're hand feels nice too, Tony." The ex-assassin interrupted with a chuckle while he put after burn cream on the back of Tony's hand, his eyes not looking up.

Shit. He said those last few thoughts out loud, didn't he? God, what the hell happened to the smooth talking playboy he once was?

The 'playboy' convinced himself to focus on not embarrassing himself any further, biting down on his lip with a crease in his brow.

"Am I hurting you?" James had a concerned look adorning his face when he looked up at Tony while grabbing a roll of bandages.

"Wh— Um, no? Yeah, no. I'm good?" The billionaire stumbled while internally face palming. He forced his teeth to stop worrying at his lip, his face going into what he hoped to be a neutral expression.

Bucky took the answer with only a minuscule shrug while he began to gently wrap up Tony's hand.

The engineer's gaze rested on the ex-assassin's fairly long hair which obstructed the view of his face. He wondered what it would look life if he had it cut. Maybe the 40's look Tony would see in textbooks. Improvement? He wasn't sure. The long hair was doing things to him and he didn't know quite what.

"Stark!" A certain god burst into the lab, a huge grin adorning his face.

"Jesus Christ!" Tony cursed loudly, his uninjured right hand flying up to his chest.

James seemed unfazed, not looking up as he finished dressing the wound. He set the roll of bandages on the workbench beside him before turning. They had met a few times though it was always in a party setting which the soldier wasn't too fond of.

"Learn to knock, big guy." Tony was still breathing a little heavy, trying to get his beating heart back under control. The billionaire turned to the workbench, grabbing at his very expensive sunglasses and placing them on his face.

"My apologies, friend." Thor was loud though the ex-assassin could guess that he meant well.

"Ah, Soldier of Winter. It is good to make your acquaintance again." The god of thunder offered a hand once he made it closer. Bucky tilted his head slightly at the name though took the hand with a ghost of a smile. Tony had mused before that Asgardians never ceased to transform ordinary names into noble titles.

"My brother and I have arrived at the request of young Peter and his friends. It has been some time since we've seen you." He grinned. "Would you wish to join us in making structures out of Legos?"

"Sure thing, Point Break." He flashed his well known smirk before turning to James.

"What about you, Terminator? Up for the job? You may not understand the gen Z jokes but just nod along and you'll be fine." The mechanic stood, James following soon after.

~

Another Buckeroo point of view this time round, huh? Well, I'd say it switched around quite a bit. Sorry for anyone confusion on my part for that.

Well, I've recently published a Steve Rogers book and I would love if ya'll would check it out. It's about the 'Boogeyman.' He makes nightmares and he's a bit of an opposite from our boy, Steeb. I've actually put a lot of thought and research into it and the first chapter is already in the works. If you're interested, I'll actually finish it up lmao. Anyways, thanks for putting up with my shameless book plug.

We're like over 550 votes on this and I'm honestly in awe. I never expected to reach a milestone of 500. It's amazing knowing that people actually like the work that I'm putting out. I just want to say thanks to each and every one of you, I really mean it. Thank you guys. ♡