By Design - Stony AU

Chapter 5

Two days had gone by since the phone call, and Steve hadn't heard a word from Tony. True, it felt like Tony was nervous when they talked, but Steve didn't think he came off as anything other than nice. Sure, he didn't exactly like everything he said, except he was nervous! He walked behind the garage as usual and saw Clint on the phone, probably talking to Natasha. But before Steve could go up the stairs, Clint stopped him.

"Hey man, you got a delivery. I told them to put it upstairs. They wouldn't leave it in the garage." He frowned and glanced around. "There were three guys. In suits. I'm really not sure why. It didn't seem that heavy."

Steve didn't exactly know what to say... so he just nodded his thanks and went upstairs to the apartment. He went inside and sure enough, there was a thin wooden crate leaning against the breakfast bar, and Bucky was on the couch eating a sandwich.

"Um... is there a crowbar or something we can use?" Steve asked as he eyed the crate. Upon further inspection, the return address was Stark Industries.

"Yeah, they left a complementary one. Who does that?"

"Apparently Tony Stark."

"Here," Bucky put his sandwich down and wiped his hand on his jeans. "I feel like I should do the honors. I've been here guarding it for two hours."

Bucky was grateful when Steve handed him the crowbar without objection. It usually meant Steve was in a reasonably good mood when he didn't feel the need to insist he could perform feats of strength that really weren't his forte.

As soon as Bucky got the top open, Steve rummaged through the paper for whatever was inside, and he felt... a frame, the type you would get for a painting. Okay, so he sent a painting, not a big deal. It was probably one of those modern artists he saw at Potts Gallery. Steve gently took the painting out and almost dropped it in his shock.

"What is it? If it's a painting of him it's staying behind the sofa."

"It's a Toulouse-Lautrec painting." Steve whispered.

Right there in his hands was one of the paintings Steve had seen in his art appreciation book. It was Toulouse-Lautrec's painting of two androgynous figures kissing on a bed, signed and in its post-impressionistic glory. Steve had to set it down because his hands were so shaky and he didn't want to drop it. He didn't even know what this painting cost, let alone what Tony went through to get it.

Bucky gaped at the painting resting on the floor against his breakfast island/home office. He wasn't as big into art as Steve was, but like any Brooklyn public school kid, he'd gone on his fair share of field trips to all the conveniently local art galleries. He knew that an original by any artist with a name he recognized was probably worth more than the entire block. He shook his head, numb with shock.

"That has to be a reproduction or something. That - this can't be what it looks like. That would be insane. Tony Stark is known to have a sense of humor, right?"

"This is the real thing, Buck. I don't know how, but it just is."

Steve sat down on the floor and stared at it in silence for the longest time. This was an incredible painting, probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and here it was in his crappy studio apartment. They hadn't even met yet, why would Tony spend this kind of money on him?

And then a horrible thought occurred: what if Tony was trying to buy his affection? He'd heard some things where Tony did that in the past, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"What do you think it means?" Steve asked.

Bucky had been standing frozen, mouth open, hand held out to the side and open, ready to voice an intelligible thought the moment one occurred to him. But all higher brain functions seemed to have gotten stuck like a lingering sneeze. He dropped his hand helplessly.