The air felt so thick around him. Every time he tried to breathe it felt like the air got stuck in his throat and he had to spit it out again. It felt like he was going to puke any second. The heavy rock inside of his chest that had been hurting him for days was back once again. Trying to kill and cut him from the inside. The space between his lungs was bleeding. He couldn't breathe.
The rather enjoyable conversation in front of him had changed. He went from barely paying any attention, to sitting with tearful eyes and his mouth in a thin line. The sight of Steve's lips, those beautiful lips, connected to another person was heart-shattering. Of every betrayal Tony had gone through, this was the worst. He was going to die.
Without thinking further about what was happening, he stood up and ran out through the door. He didn't care about the looks he got or the loud noise it made. He just had to leave the cafeteria
He stumbled out on the sidewalk, his teary eyes blurring his sight and making him bump into a few strangers, who gave him a worried and confused look.
Tony didn't hear them as they tried to ask him something, instead, he turned on his heel and let his legs pick up the pace.
Soon he was running. Faster and faster. Almost like sprinting away would make him forget about the couple in the cafeteria, who was now many blocks behind him. His eyes were furious and drowned in tears. He didn't let the tears escape and the hood over his black raven haired kept him hidden. The world went in slow motion. Everything seemed so empty and the bright colors of the afternoon sun had faded into a blurry hole of nothing. The last pieces of his heart that Steve had picked up for him, were cracking and falling down to their doom. It hurt so bad. He had to get home.
But where the fuck was home? He didn't have one. His father didn't love him and Steve didn't want him. Nobody did. The only person who ever cared for him was gone. He was completely alone.
Tony didn't realize how hard he was breathing, nor how far away from the lightening buildings he had gone. With gentle and quick steps he slowed down and found himself turning into the closest alley he could find. The one he actually recognized from before. He must have run there out of habit, because when he rested his head against the brick walls, he recognized the red and yellow graffiti on the rocks and containers.
Slowly and carefully he closed his eyes and tried to calm down his breathing. His heart was beating like crazy, and his pulse was pounding against his throat. The wild traffic was still very much hearable and the sun had begun to go down above the horizon. Why didn't he just run to the beach?
"Look what we got here."
Tony flinched at the sound of a voice and quickly wiped away his tears. He hid his feeling as good as possible before raising a questioning eyebrow. Slowly trying to focus his eyes on the center of the alley. The dark shadows didn't really help him and it was kind of a shock when a person, a little bit taller than him, stepped into the light. Tony sighed, already turning around when he saw who it was. The blond hair and the hoodie could be recognized anywhere.
"Hey I'm talking to you." The voice of Liam said a little louder.
"I heard, I'm just not listening." Tony answered, trying to keep his voice steady while walking out of the alley. He didn't get so far though, because about three guys had been standing behind him and were now blocking the way. The genius cursed under his breath, trying to search for their names in his head. He'd seen them a lot of times in school, but couldn't remember who they were.
Liam smiled at his answer. "Oh c'mon I just wanna chat." He said nonchalantly.
Tony hesitated before turning around, his hands in his pockets.
"You have five seconds." Tony said. "One.."
Liam snorted. "I have as long as I want."
"Two..."
"Good look with walking away."
"Three.."
Liam smirked, shaking his head and looking at his friends before turning to Tony again. "How's Rogers?"
Tony swallowed, not finding any strength in his voice to answer. "Four.."
"You know, people thought you were dead." Liam said, making Tony stop his attempt at counting because he knew there was no use. "Rumors said that your dad beat you up or something. "
Tony raised his eyebrow with a numb expression.
"It's true." Liam said. "You hadn't shown a sign of life and everyone thought something had happened."
"And when did the whole school care about my well being?" Tony asked dryly.
"They don't. But the girls miss their playboy I guess." Liam teased, which took Tony by surprise. Liam had never shown him this side before.
"Do you know how many chicks would give up everything to be Tony Stark's girlfriend?" Liam asked curiously.
Tony rolled his eyes, not understanding why this subject suddenly was so important. "I don't care." He answered. "Can I go? Or are you gonna bore me to death?" Tony chuckled, not wanting to stay there any longer and waved his hand lazily in the air. But as he had thought, the guys behind him didn't move.
"Are you scared Stark?" Liam asked. Smiling humorlessly at the smaller guy.
The corner of Tony's mouth twitched before he turned around again.
"Absolutely." He answered sarcastically. Liam laughed quietly while looking at his friends. Tony smirked. "Terrified." he said, walking closer to the taller guy. "Petrified, stupefied by you."
"You should." Liam said.
"Why?" Tony asked uninterestedly.
Liam smirked. "Because I know everything about you and Rogers."
Tony didn't answer. He bit his teeth together, the tears stinging in his eyes at the thought of Steve. The raven-haired clenched his fists as a wave of confusion, anger, fear and sorrow welled over him all at once.
"Wouldn't want the whole school to know that Steve Rogers isn't what everyone think he is.." Liam said smugly. "You know how people like him are welcomed. Those years of being an underdog must have felt horrible."
Tony tried not to think back at the memories. He would never ever wanna go back to how it used to be. It was many years ago, but it still felt like yesterday, and he barely survived it.
He would never want Steve to go through that. Steve was too precious. Even though he wasn't his anymore.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Tony snorted. "Steve Rogers is as straight as one can be." He said.
Liam smiled. "It didn't look like that when I saw him with his tongue down your throat a few days ago in bright daylight."
Tony bit his lip. "I don't remember that."
Yes he did, because it was his fault that people saw them. This was his fault.
Liam only nodded slowly, not believing him at all as he slowly walked up to him, eyeing him up and down before stopping behind him. Tony didn't move a fen.
"I can literally smell your lies." Liam spat, almost like the words were too disgusting to say. "I should let them beat you up." Liam mumbled, turning to his smiling friends.
Tony flinched in fear, even though he didn't let it show. "Why? Because Rogers is straight?"
Liam snorted. "No, cause you're Tony Stark. And a fag."
Tony couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically. "And you're not? You've been fucking me for months. Maybe you should give yourself a kick or two."
Liam threw a quick look at his friends, his smirk still on his lips before Tony without any warning got a kick in the hollow of his knee. With a surprised look on his face he fell to the ground on all fours, not knowing what else to do but sit up on his knees again. Not looking at Liam as his eyes were fastened at two of Liam's friends in front of him.
"You don't get it, do you?" Liam laughed, walking back to Tony's front and looked down at his chocolate brown eyes. "I used you. You were nothing but a toy for me Stark."
"Then we have something in common." Tony answered dryly.
Liam ignored him before crouching down in front of him. "Every time I closed my eyes Stark, I imagined my dick in a girl. I was never really into you. Well bodily speaking I was," Tony heard how Liam's friends laughed behind him. "But never like that. You disgust me. You and your faggy boyfriend disgust me."
"He's not my boyfriend." Tony mumbled, even though his eyes were focused on Liam's shoes instead of his face.
"Whatever." Liam said with a roll of his eyes before changing a smug look with his friends.
Tony knew it was coming. He had even prepared for it while having an intense staring contest with Liam's sneakers. The punch against his cheek made his head turn in an unpleasant way and Tony grimaced in pain, before turning to Liam again. Who seemed rather shocked at Tony's lack of reaction.
"Tough guy huh?" Liam asked teasingly, smiling at his friends before hitting the one below him again, harder.
Tony inhaled as the second hit made his neck hurt, but he refused to move. He had taken much worse. The small tiny hit's Liam was aiming against his face was nothing, until they finally turned harder, making him fall to the ground.
He felt the cold ground against his hands and how a trail of blood ran down his cheek. He touched it lightly, feeling how warm it was against his skin. His eyes narrowed as he saw in the shadow of the wall how Liam was lifting his leg.
He reacted just in time and rolled to the side, making Liam kick into thin air.
"Gracefull." Tony commented, not letting this asshole break through his walls just yet.
That made Liam slightly frustrated and with a nod to his friends, a few guys appeared at his side. Tony cursed, feeling like this was a good time to run, only to be pushed down by two other guy's behind him. How the hell did they even get there?!
The rest was just a blurry hole of nothing. Pain and suffering were brought upon him as he tried to hide himself as good as possible. But it came from all directions, making him feel limp and sore in his whole body. He had stopped fighting it, he just let the tears fall as kick after kick was aimed against his already bruised body. Memories of him and Steve flashed before his eyes and he tried to blink them away. Only to see that irritatingly handsome face once again. It was probably gonna hunt him for weeks. Well, if he was alive after this.
Without really realizing it at first, he noticed how the kicks had died down. His muscles and veins were pounding in pain as it still felt like he was being brutally abused, but it had stopped. He heard Liam talking to someone. His voice irritated as he tried to get the other person to understand.
"It's nothing Barnes, just leave and let us do our thing!"
Barnes.
He knew that name. But who the hell was it now again? His mind prevented him from thinking clearly. He knew that name. And he knew that voice.
"It doesn't look like nothing." The person answered irritated.
Liam snorted and rolled his eyes, before a smirk grew on his face. "Wanna join?" He asked, making Tony take a deep breath. He pressed his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath as a trail of blood from his mouth made him flinch and shake. The pain was everywhere. Worse than ever before.
Barnes voice could be heard again
"Pass."
Tony wrinkled his forehead in confusion as he heard the sound of cracking bone and how Liam yelled out in pain and shock. The people around him seemed to look at each other just as shocked before one of them ran forward, only to groan in pain as another sound was heard and he flew against the wall.
Two others made an attempt to take the person down, only to get some sense punched into their minds.
Tony groaned in confusion and opened his eyes, believing that his eyes were playing him.
"You gonna regret this Buck." Liam groaned and held his bleeding nose under his hand, his friends watching Bucky carefully before taking off.
"I don't think so." Bucky answered. "Next time, pick on someone in your own size." He spat before kicking Liam's hand that covered the hurt area of his face. Liam stood up with a whimper before running after his friends, not even thinking about throwing Bucky a look or say anything else.
"Fuck Stark." Bucky cursed with a slightly worried voice before kneeling next to him. "Can you hear me? Stark?" Tony felt how Bucky's hands grabbed his shoulders and rested him against the wall, cupping his face in his hands and inspected his half-open eyelids.
"Yes I can hear you shithead." Tony snapped, trying to get Bucky's hands off him, even though he didn't quite know how to do that anymore. He felt so tired. He didn't want to be there anymore. He didn't want to see or hear anything anymore.
Bucky took a relieved breath. "Thank god.." he whispered. His long hair resting against the side of his face as he tried to figure out how much damage there was on Tony's poor body.
"Get your fucking hands off me." Tony mumbled, almost like he was high.
"Shut it Stark, you're fucking hurt. What happened? Why-why did they do this to you?" Bucky stuttered.
"You tell me. They're your buddies." Tony snorted. Not knowing how he was able to laugh at a situation like this.
"Not anymore." Bucky mumbled, studying Tony's face carefully before lightly pressing his shoulders. Tony groaned in pain. "Fuck Stark, what were you even doing here?" He asked with an annoyed voice.
Tony laughed. "I don't know, why don't you ask your bestie and let him explain?"
Bucky looked up at him. "What?"
"Steve is a cheater. He doesn't care for me. He loves that whore Peggy and will probably go back to Brooklyn with her."
Tony said casually, his eyes inspecting the sky above him.
Bucky wrinkled his forehead. "That doesn't sound like Steve."
"Calling me a liar?"
"No, I just don't think Steve would ever do that to someone." Bucky replied gently.
Tony laughed. "You've known him for what? A month? I don't think you should decide what kind of person he is just yet."
Bucky gave him an angry look. "You don't know him any better."
"Oh please I've known exactly who he is from the first day we met." Tony snorted.
Bucky sighed. "Stark shut up. You're hurt, physically and mentally. Just let me help you without getting into a fight please." He begged, his ice-blue eyes meeting Tony's, trying to calm him down.
"Help me?! You want to help me?! That's the greatest joke I've ever heard!" Tony yelled out making Bucky bite his teeth together. "You don't care about me James. In fact no one does! My mom is gone! My dad hates me! Steve doesn't love me! Hell I don't even like myself anymore! So why the hell would you ever want to help me?!" He didn't even notice how the tears ran down his cheeks and how he had almost thrown himself off the wall.
"Stark it's okay just-" Bucky was interrupted by a scream that made the buildings shake. Tony didn't even realize that it was he who had screamed. It was him who cried out loud and threw his head back against the wall so hard he saw stars.
Bucky's eyes widened, all of his hate against Stark fading as the scream almost shattered his ears. He quickly grabbed Tony's shoulders and pressed his body against his, preventing him from hurting himself again.
"Tony." He whispered, making Tony breathe out shakily. "It's okay, I don't judge you.." Those were the words Tony needed and he let the tears fall. He didn't even know he had this much pain left. He didn't know that a person could feel this way. He felt so powerless, so unloved. He didn't know what to do but let Bucky, one of his enemies, hold him carefully patting his back.
After crying for what felt forever, he pulled away, looking away shamefully before resting against the wall again. He refused to meet Bucky's eyes as he started to feel the pain from his abused body. It felt like thousands of nails were cutting into his skin and bone. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"Are you okay?" Bucky asked carefully.
"Absolutely. Wonderful. Never felt better." Tony answered sarcastically.
Bucky smiled. "Sorry." He placed himself with his back against the wall next to Tony, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and putting one in his mouth.
"No." Tony suddenly said. Making Bucky look at him confused with the cigarette between his lips. "I'm sorry."
Bucky raised a brow.
"I've been a dick. Middle school was years ago, people can change." Tony said quietly. "You have changed. I'm the one who became an ass and you...not so much an ass."
"Thanks? I guess." Bucky snorted before lightening his cigarette. He let the unhealthy smoke into his lungs before offering it to the younger guy, who took it without hesitation and inhaled the smoke deeply.
"So...Steve cheated on you?" Bucky asked carefully. Tony only nodded, watching the smoke escaping his mouth. Bucky bit his inner cheek. "I'll talk to him."
"You think that would change anything?" Tony asked with a humorless laugh. Bucky shrugged before taking back his cigarette.
"I can try." He said. Tony only looked at him with untrustful eyes, eyeing him up and down before shaking his head.
They sat quietly and watched as the cars drove by on the road outside the alley. No one knowing what had happened in the dark space between the high buildings. The darkness had started to fall over them as the sun had almost gone down and they could hear a dog barking in the distance. The air started to get colder, but neither of the boys cared. The warn smoke from the cigarette warmed them up, as they passed it between one another.
The brunette leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Thinking through what just had happened as the cars outside passed them by. First a red, then a white and then a black.
The black one seemed to catch Tony' attention, noticing that it stopped right outside.The sound of car doors opening made him put away the cigarette and press it against the ground.
Two men and a woman dressed in black appeared in the alley. All of them looking mysterious and weird while walking towards them. Their footsteps echoing between the buildings.
Tony sat up more straightly, groaning as his body sent waves of pain through his veins. Bucky stood up, every nerve in his body sending warning signals and his gut told him that something was wrong.
"Stark. Stay." He warned, almost like he was talking to a dog, making Tony roll his eyes. Bucky took a few steps forward, meeting the strange people in the middle of the alley. "What do you want?" He asked a little rudely. Having a feeling that these guys weren't very nice.
The guy at the front, who was the taller of the three smirked. His black hair brushed back nicely as his beard made his jaw look sharper than usual.
"Nothing from you." He answered casually.
Bucky's eyes widened when the second guy pulled out a gun, firing it right at him. Electricity shot up through his body and his eyes rolled back into his head. Making Tony sit up alarmed as he watched Bucky fall to the ground.
The three gestalts were now closing in and he shifted where he sat, his eyes traveling from Bucky's lifeless looking body, to the ridiculously handsome and dangerous man in front of him.
"Don't worry kid." The man said before stopping in front of him. "We won't hurt you."
With those words, Tony caught a glimpse of something hard in the man's hand before it was connected with his head in a hard movement. He felt how his body fell to the ground and how the world started to spin. The voices turned into messy unhearable sounds before his eyes slowly closed. Everything around turning black.