Requested anonymously a long time ago. Sorry for the wait, and sorry everyone that I haven't updated for a while. Contains nwh spoilers.
Pepper picked up on the sixth ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, it's Bucky. Barnes." He really didn't want to do this, but it had been weeks and he was getting desperate.
"Oh, Bucky, hi. How are things?"
It had been almost a year since Tony's sacrifice. Things were still bad. Bucky knew Pepper had it worse than all of them, which is why he'd been so reluctant to contact her.
"Can't complain. How's the little one?"
"Morgan's doing okay. She likes her new teacher, which is a relief after the disaster of last year. Anyway, I'm sure you're calling for a reason?"
"Yes. It's probably a lot to ask, but... well, my metal arm's been malfunctioning lately and nobody can figure out the tech so I was wondering if maybe Tony left the original blueprints lying around," Bucky said apologetically. His arm had broken a month ago and had been stiff and painful to use for a week before it stopped working altogether and he'd had to take it off.
"Oh," Pepper said. "Um, I'm not sure. I haven't really been through his things yet, you know. I just haven't really had time. But you're welcome to come and have a look if you think it'll be helpful. Morgan's at a friend's house on Saturday, if you're free to come over then?"
"Saturday is perfect, Pepper. I really appreciate this, thank you. And sorry for bothering you."
"Oh, it's really no problem," Pepper said politely. "See you on Saturday."
"Yeah," Bucky responded, and ended the call. Then he called another number, which went straight to voicemail. "Cancel the plans for Saturday, something else came up. We'll reschedule."
Come Saturday, Bucky was knocking at the door of Pepper's beautiful lake house. She opened it with a slightly harried smile, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. "Hello, come on in. I have to go to a last minute meeting, so I'll have to leave you alone. Help yourself to any drinks or snacks, call me if you run into any problems. Sorry for bailing."
"It's fine. Thanks again for letting me come and look."
Pepper nodded, and then she was gone. Bucky was left alone in the house of his dead teammate.
Once he'd located Tony's office, Bucky started searching for any papers that looked relevant to his bionic limb. It was difficult with only one arm, so progress was slow. As he searched, he took in the office around him, this little untouched slice of Tony. He was all around, in the frantic scribbled notes on the backs of official documents, the half-assembled bits of tech strewn across the desk, the lamp that, once turned on, beeped and wheeled itself around to shine light wherever Bucky was searching.
He spotted the corner of a blueprint and lifted a stack of paper from a drawer, shuffling through it. Something dropped out of the pile and landed on the floor with a crunch. Grimacing, Bucky set down the paper on Tony's chair and crouched to retrieve the fallen object. It was a photo frame, the glass cracked from the fall. Inside the sleek black frame, looking more content than Bucky had ever seen him, was Tony Stark, standing next to an excited teenage boy.
Standing up and waiting for the lamp to angle itself so he could see better, Bucky frowned at the picture. They were holding a framed certificate, but Bucky had to turn the photo upside-down to read the writing. It was a Stark internship award, with Peter Parker printed in the name slot. That solved the mystery of who the kid was, then. One of Stark's many lackeys.
But no, that wasn't quite it, was it? Stark wouldn't pose for a photo with just any kid, let alone such a goofy one, with an upside-down certificate, bunny ears and silly grin. Plus he'd actually gone to the effort of printing, framing and keeping it in his home. Why would he do that for some random intern?
A phantom pain shot through Bucky's non-arm and he quickly set down the photo, returning to his priority: fixing his arm. The blueprint he'd found - the one the frame had fallen out of - turned out to be a design for Spider-Man's suit. Bucky allowed himself to get briefly distracted again as he examined the details, remembering the kid hero who'd taken him and Sam down so easily at the airport. He and Tony must have stayed close, then. He wondered where the vigilante was now - he didn't tend to keep up with that side of the news. Maybe he'd look the guy up later.
Forcing himself to focus on his task, Bucky rifled through a few more filing cabinets before finding a notebook full of scribbles and a detailed blueprint of his latest arm model. Tucking them into the bag he'd brought with relief at the idea of having his other arm back soon, Bucky did his best to tidy up the room and leave it in the same state he'd found it in. He hesitated to put the photo back in the drawer, though, so he left it standing on the desk under the lamp before he left.
Later, he messaged Pepper.
Thanks again for letting me drop round, I found what I needed.
I dropped a photo frame when I was searching and the glass cracked - really sorry. It's the one with Tony and the intern.
Pepper messaged back later that night.
Again, no problem. Glad I was able to help. What photo do you mean? Tony never had any interns, or at least not important enough to have a picture with him.
Bucky replied immediately.
I left it on the desk - looks like they were close.
Two minutes later, Pepper was typing again.
I see what you mean. I've never seen that photo or that intern before though. Tony never even mentioned him, which is odd.
Unsure how to reply to that, Bucky switched off his phone. However, he found himself unable to sleep, thinking about Pepper's words. Unable to stop thinking about the photo of Tony and the mysterious intern. Tony Stark, the famous billionaire. The man whose parents Bucky had killed, who had almost been killed himself by Bucky's friend in a misguided attempt at protection. The hero who had nonetheless gone on to make Bucky an arm, let him into his home and worked alongside him to save a world that was full of criticism. The legend who had sacrificed his life to save everybody else.
And for what? He already had everything he wanted - a wife, a daughter, a home. Yet he'd thrown it all away to help them. Who had he lost? Who had he sacrificed himself for?
Again, the intern's grinning face flashed through Bucky's head. He sighed and sat up in bed, phone back in his hand. He activated the speech-to-text function and searched the name 'Peter Parker'.
Nothing.
Well, there were results but nothing substantial. No sign of the intern from Stark's photo. Bucky tried adding more key phrases, like 'Stark Industries' and 'intern' to no avail.
Intrigued but not all that invested, Bucky closed the webpage and made himself attempt to sleep.
A month later, new arm manufactured and copies of the blueprint made, Bucky dropped by the lake house to return the borrowed document. Pepper was more relaxed this time and invited him to stay for a drink. He sipped his camomile tea and leaned on the counter in the kitchen, watching Pepper helping Morgan with a piece of homework. He felt out of place in such a domestic scene. The lack of Stark's presence loomed larger than the living man ever had.
Boxes of gadgets Bucky recognised from Stark's office were arranged on the floor in a corner. Pepper saw him looking. "I've had a bit more time on my hands, so I started to go through his things last week," she explained. He nodded. The photo of the intern had been gone from his mind until he saw it there, lying innocently at the top of the closest crate. Curiosity swelled anew.
"Did you ever find out who he was? The boy in the photo?"
"No. I did look up his name, but there's no trace of him on the system. Odd, but there's so much I'll never know about Tony. I don't have time to go chasing every ghost," she smiled sadly, and a steely determination filled Bucky. He owed Tony his life. He owed Pepper some closure, at least.
Before he left Bucky subtly took a photo of the picture frame. That night he ran facial recognition, and found his curiosity only growing when there was once again nothing.
The next day, Bucky took a break from his hunt to check the news for Spider-Man, the other mysterious young person he associated with Stark. He was skimming an article full of unsavoury views towards the vigilante when his eye snagged on the credits beneath a photo of Spider-Man arcing high above a sunset cityscape of New York. It was a beautiful picture, but that wasn't what had caught his attention. The photographer was named Peter Parker.
There were many, many people named Peter Parker - he'd known that since his very first unspecified search of the name. There was no additional information to make him think this particular Parker was the one, but something inside him pushed for more. The familiar sense of a hunter closing in on a catch.
The receptionist at the Daily Bugle didn't know how to react when confronted by Bucky Barnes. Another employee was called, he was sent to meet with 'Jonah Jameson'. Bucky disliked the man at first sight.
"Mr Barnes, what a surprise to have you here!" The man stroked his hideous moustache. "Now, if this is about the article published last spring, I can assure you that the intern responsible was fired immediately-"
"I want to speak to one of your employees, actually. I was admiring his photos of Spider-Man. His name is Peter Parker?"
"P-Parker?" Jameson blinked, then pressed his finger to a speaker system and barked out a "Parker, my office, now!"
A minute later the door opened and a young man hurried in, looking flustered. "Sir? What did I-" when he saw Bucky, his jaw dropped.
Bucky let out a breath. It was unmistakable - this was the Peter from the photo. And he clearly recognised Bucky - was scared of him if the quickening of his heart was to be believed.
"Sergeant Barnes," Peter said, eyes wide. "I... Why am I here?" His neck swivelled you Jameson, expression verging on desperation. Cornered prey, indeed.
"Beats me, kid. Mr Barnes here asked to see you."
"Have I done something wrong?" Peter asked, eyes darting.
"Not that I know of. Is this familiar to you?" Bucky held out his phone, displaying the picture of Peter with Tony. Jameson leaned forward in interest as Peter's breath stuttered, and Bucky stepped smoothly into his line of sight. "I found it recently. Nobody knows where it came from. I wondered if you could enlighten me."
It took a private room, several detailed lies Bucky saw through at once, and over an hour before the true story came out.
Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and nobody remembered.
Peter Parker had been dusted.
Peter Parker had been close to Tony.
Peter Parker had quite possibly been the reason the world was saved.
Peter Parker was eighteen, old enough to sign the Accords.
Peter Parker did not say no to joining the Avengers, what was left of them. Not when Bucky recalled how cheerful and talented he'd been a lifetime ago, in an airport. When he explained how the team could do with some of that light right now.
Peter Parker, eventually, said yes.
After everything, it was the least Bucky could do.