There Goes a Fighter

Guess Who is the Flower Girl?

"Buck, I need you to stay calm... I thought, especially since you had been in such a good place mentally, especially since Tony let you use his BARF tech, that I should tell you something about one of your missions before you remember and possibly freak out without me being there."

A chill ran down Bucky's spine. "What are you talking about Stevie?"

"Uh... I learned two years ago... during the whole fiasco where we fought on the helicarriers..."

"You mean the helicarriers that Mr. Stark found out were controlled and thus he commandeered his tech back and safely parked the carriers and disabled Project Insight while simultaneously saving each and every SHIELD agent from the data dump?" Bucky knew he was poking and prodding, but if he knew where this was going, if he knew his Stevie, he knew that he would have to poke at his best friend to finally confess. As much as he loved the man, Steve was stubborn in his ways and refused to see the other side once he was set on something.

Steve, if possible, turned even paler. "Umm... yeah. That. The data dump allowed me to see some hidden SHIELD files. I think, luckily, it was that god that Percy explained helped who took care of that section of the dump. There was a video Buck... of the Winter Soldier..." Steve cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. "Tony's parents weren't killed in a car accident Bucky. HYDRA ordered a hit and-"

Bucky cut Steve off. "Oh my god... I killed the Starks." Memories assaulted him, the cold and the crying pleas, the crushing force of his arm and the suitcase of the super soldier serum, the mission objective and the mission accomplished. Ready to comply. "Steve... you knew. You knew for two years that I killed Tony's parents and you didn't tell the man?" Bucky was almost yelling, chills running up and down his body like cold fire.

"But you didn't kill them! The Soldier did! You aren't the Soldier Buck and if he knew he would kill you! Tony's suits are like wearable tanks- I just got you back and I wasn't going to lose you. And... Tony's my friend... I wanted to spare him the pain..."

Bucky gritted his teeth. "It wasn't your decision to make. Tony is a rational man and I know that he would have helped you with time. Stark deserves to know and I'm going to tell him." Steve tried to grab him but Bucky shut the bedroom door behind him, quickly barking at JARVIS to lock the punk in his room until he calmed down. Another soft murmur from Bucky told JARVIS of what conspired in that room and that he was giving JARVIS permission to take him down however he pleased. He explained that he was going to tell Tony the truth about his parents and then JARVIS could do whatever he wanted. To the former Winter Soldier's surprise, JARVIS did none of those things, only showing the way to his creator.

"J said you wanted to talk to me Tastee Freeze?" Tony said, spinning around in his chair in the workshop.

"Yeah... um... Steve just told me something really important and I thought it wise to tell you. Just promise me that you will let me at least finish until you do anything?" Tony looked confused but nodded in agreement.

"It turns out that Stevie kept a secret from you since the SHIELD data dump. There was a video of your parent's car crash." Tony sucked in a breath harshly. "Your father was transporting some vials of a newly made super soldier serum when they crashed. Both were still alive and I- the Winter Soldier but me all the same- killed them. I'm so sorry. HYDRA made the hit and made me take the serum from the trunk. No witnesses. I'm sorry- Steve told me and I just remembered- the memories are all hazy but sometimes my brain untangles them... so yeah... I'll just... go."

Taking Tony's silence as a dismissal, Bucky booked to his room, making his way into his bathroom and sitting in his tub. He disconnected his arm and laid it on the tile of the floor and just sat in the tub, bathroom door locked tight.

Bucky tried to calm his breathing as images assaulted his vision and decades old scents filled his nose. He kept hearing the Starks screams. They were friends during the war; he vaguely knew Howard, knowing the man in a detached way. Steve was more friendly with Howard, due to the man helping Steve to become the Captain and Howard wanting to keep an eye out for any possible negative side effects. With Maria, whenever she was very rarely around, they just tended to sit amicably in one another's company. To just have their screams in his ears, to smell their pain and fear, to see their faces even if his eyes were open was the worst; but he guessed he deserved it.

At one point, he finally noticed Percy trying to comfort him, pressing into his subconscious and trying to press her own memories into the back of his eyelids.But Bucky didn't deserve the kindness and care, the love that his soulmate was trying to sew into soul. He shut her out, choking on the pain that radiated from the demigod as he did so.

Hours seemed to pass (two hours and fourteen minutes to be precise) before he heard the doorknob rattling. Everything seemed to still, Bucky not even daring to breathe. Suddenly the door opened and lights flickered on. Tony Stark, tired and haggard, stood in the doorway.

"Now Bucky Bear, what did your therapist say about running away from your problems?" Tony looked at the arm on the floor. "Did you seriously disarm yourself? I swear to a god that I don't believe in, you super soldiers must have gotten huge fucking doses of melodramatics. Oh my Einstein." Bucky simply blinked up at the mechanic, shrinking in on himself. "I found the video. And listen clearly Barnes." Bucky nodded his head, eyes locked onto Tony's to show sincerity, "I don't blame you in the slightest. You are innocent. On the other hand, me and my bots are plotting to get back at Rogers, but that's for another time. You are not at fault. What were you thinking hiding away like this? What would this achieve?"

Bucky looked down at his scrunched up legs and mumbled a response. "It's your tower. I don't deserve to be living off of you."

"You listen clearly. Pepper and I will have your ass if you are backing out of living here. We decided that you are going to be the goddamn flower girl with one of Pep's nieces, and if you don't you won't just have an angry Iron Man, but a hell raising Pepper to answer to."

"Wha- I killed your parents and you want me as your flower girl? You want me, a killing machine, to be in the presence of a tiny little girl?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes you are being our goddamn flower girl and that is the end of it. Gracie, Pepper's niece, is six and she wants to meet you and have you sign her prosthetic leg. Now get out of the fucking bathtub and help me plan some petty revenge. Come on Buzz Lightyear, reattach your arm because I have to use for it. To the lab!"

Tony rushed out of Bucky's room in a whirlwind all of his own. Bucky gaped but hurried to follow.

-------------------------------------------

Steve, once let out of his room the next afternoon, was covered in glitter and the only shirt in his closet that was wearable was a Harry Potter shirt that said 'I must not tell lies.' To be frank, Steve was just glad that Tony hadn't let Bucky sharpie on 'I sometimes don't tell my teammates things' all across his forehead and cheeks.

-------------------------------------------

It took a while, with hanging out with Tony in his lab, gently playing with the three bots, but eventually Bucky put down the block that he had between him and Percy. He literally stumbled back with the force of the love that washed over him from Percy's side of the bond. She had been throwing herself at the block, pouring her love and support into it, and when Bucky opened himself back up, all of that love buffeted him. He smiled softly, and quickly patted a concerned DUM-E on his claw gently. Bucky soothed Percy and acknowledged her worry and love, quickly explaining the situation with impressions and flashes of memories.