Steve couldn't concentrate anymore. His mind was thousands of miles away every time he tried to do something. He couldn't go to school because he always thought about one specific person. He couldn't eat or sleep anymore and he thought he was going completely insane.
It had been two days since Sam had shown up at his house with an almost passed out Bucky, who had immediately told him an unbelievable story. The blond had questioned him twice before actually allowing himself to believe it. It wasn't the fact that he didn't trust Bucky, he just didn't want to believe him.
He felt guilty knowing that Tony had seen him. He felt incredibly scared and regretful when Bucky told him about what Tony had said, and he literally just wanted to go home and make everything right. He wanted to go back in time and fix things, to erase time and change everything that had happened that day. He was so sick of himself for being such a moron and letting Peggy kiss him. He should have known that Tony would have followed. He knew that guy far too well by now, and of course Tony had followed them. Of course he had seen them.
And that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that Tony had been abused and kidnapped. He had been beaten up in a dark alley without anyone's knowledge, alone and weak as he hadn't eaten so much the latest days. If Steve hadn't kissed Peggy, it wouldn't have happened.
If Steve hadn't kissed Peggy, Tony would be in his arms. He would be safe. Not somewhere out of reach or contact with dangerous and bad people, who out of nowhere grabbed a teenager from the streets.
The cops were looking for him, but with no sign of footprints or leads that could explain where the kidnappers had gone. They tried to follow the trails of the car, but the rain, which had started falling later that night, flushed away and covered all the tracks. Bucky had been interrogated, as he was the only witness of the crime scene.
"What exactly did you tell the cops?" Steve asked with a low voice. He, Sam, and Bucky were sitting at one of the restaurants near the beach. None of them were in the mood for school right now, it was Friday after all.
Bucky met his eyes while poking a little in his uneaten french fries. "What I told you, obviously." Bucky said with a bored voice.
"Did you leave anything out?" Steve asked.
"No I didn't." Bucky said with a raised eyebrow, Sam watched them carefully while taking a sip from his soda. "Why? Does it matter?" Bucky asked with a casual voice.
Steve shrugged. "I guess I'm just confused why the cops haven't found a lead yet." He mumbled, his eyes traveling down to his untouched food. He had lost his appetite more than once this week, so it wasn't a surprise that he didn't eat anything.
"I'm sure they're doing everything they can." Sam assured him, trying to give him a small smile, but failed terribly. The blond looked at him with sad eyes before returning to his staring contest with his food. "Or not." Sam said instead as the look he got from his friend made him close his mouth.
"Do you know anything about his dad? You know, has he reacted to his son's disappearing?" Bucky asked carefully, not daring to speak any louder in case Steve would get some weird ideas or even have a breakdown.
Steve looked up at him with a small scoff. "I doubt that. He didn't even contact Tony after blaming him for the death of Maria."
Bucky nodded slowly before returning to his food again, not knowing what else to say as the blond once again returned to his endless circle of thought. They all fell into a deep silence, all three of them letting their thoughts run wild while the huge tv playing in the background. Steve, who sat perfectly in front of it, threw a quick look at the screen, only to frown in irritation when he spotted a picture of his boyfriend.
The photo was covering almost every inch of the screen while a woman in a dark blue suit announced everyone about the kidnapping of Tony Stark for the second time that day. Bucky wrinkled his forehead slightly at Steve's expression change before he turned around, causing a similar expression to appear on his face.
"Hey can you shut that down please?" He asked a waitress with an angry voice, who only nodded quickly and changed the channel.
"Fucking idiots, it's not like we didn't know about that already." The brunette muttered while biting the straw from his mug between his teeth.
"Well it is pretty serious, so no wonder the news are everywhere." Steve muttered back, completely ignoring his friends as he turned his attention towards the window again.
"Speaking of serious." Sam suddenly gulped, causing Bucky to look up at him with bored eyes before following his sight, only to almost choke himself on his straw when he saw who was coming towards them. Steve saw it too and made a slight attempt to escape, but the thing he was trying to escape from was suddenly right in front of him. Arms crossed and with green eyes that could poison you from looking into them.
That thing was Natasha, and right behind her stood a slightly worried Bruce Banner.
"You better have a good explanation Rogers." The redhead said, terrifyingly calm as she eyed the blond up and down.
"Natasha, Steve doesn't-" Bucky tried carefully, only to get a sharp look from her.
"Doesn't what? Care to inform me or anyone else about Tony's disappearance?" Nat asked with the same calm voice, even though her gaze was sharp as a knife while she buried it deep into Bucky's soul.
Steve bit his lip regretfully before scooting to the side, giving Natasha room to sit down next to him on a chair. "Nat I didn't mean to, I just didn't know how to tell you and-"
"You figured that me finding out through rumors and the news would be better?" Natasha now snapped, making Bucky clear his throat nervously as Sam suddenly had become very interested in a specific area on the wall.
"I didn't mean to- I just- I'm sorry." Steve mumbled, ashamed of himself and his actions as his eyes refused to meet the red head's.
Bruce looked at his female friend for a few seconds before sighing and sitting down at the table. "So...what happened?" He asked hesitantly.
Sam looked at him with a nonchalant look. "Didn't you read the news?" He asked, the words coming out way more aggressively than he wanted them to.
Bruce gave him a look. "Yes, but I want to hear the whole story. More details."
Natasha nodded agreeing while Sam tried to form a smile on his lips. Steve on the other hand didn't seem so willing to open up about the incident, so eventually, Bucky let out a little sigh before turning his eyes to the two worried friends in front of him.
"I was on my way to Sam's place and decided to take a shortcut, and that's where I heard weird sounds from one of the alleys at the end of the street." He threw a quick look at Steve before swallowing, which made the blond look at him with a questioning look. "I found a group of dudes kicking a smaller guy on the ground, and when I got closer I immediately noticed Stark."
"Who were they?" Natasha asked with a voice that cracked at the end.
"We don't know." Steve mumbled because that was the information he had gotten before.
"Actually.." Bucky said lowly, making Steve raise an eyebrow. "I know them, we all know them." He said while clearing his throat. He tried to ignore how Steve's blue eyes turned slightly darker as he leaned over the table.
"Who was it?" He asked.
Bucky tried to smile at him, but it came out as a rather unpleasant grimace. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him."
"Him?" Bruce asked before turning to Sam. "Did you know about this?"
Sam didn't answer.
"Bucky.." Natasha said. "Who was it?"
The brunette looked deep into her eyes. His ice-cold orbs always warming up when he saw her, but now they stayed the same as he inhaled and exhaled through his nose.
"Fine...it was Liam. But don't worry I took care of him right there and then." He smirked as he said the last words.
"So that's why his nose is broken." Bruce chuckled, a little satisfied when he heard how one of the bullies that had made his life miserable had been beaten up by Bucky. Liam usually wasn't the one who threw out words at him or pushed him against lockers, but he was still in the bully group. He was usually the kinder one of them all, but he was still an ass.
Bucky was just about to say something as a response but was interrupted when he noticed how one specific person had suddenly turned very quiet. He let his attention travel to Steve, who seemed to be frozen in his chair.
"Steve?" Bucky asked and snapped his fingers in front of his face. "You okay buddy?"
That seemed to awaken the blond, because he suddenly flinched in his chair. His usually kind and peaceful eyes seemed to darken more than they had done a few seconds ago and his pupils, which usually was a little at the bigger size, seemed to shrink. "Do you know where he is?"
Bucky's eyes winded in surprise and so did Sam's. Bruce did also seem kind of shocked by the blond's question. "Okay Steve calm down, there's no need for violence-"
"-he's at the park." Nat interrupted.
Steve immediately stood up from his chair so quickly that none of them seemed to react in time, except for Natasha who followed right behind him.
"Shit." Bruce cursed as he suddenly was the only one left at the table and he clumsily stumbled after them.
**
"Beckman."
Liam, who stood in all his glory at the volleyball field, turned his head with a raised eyebrow to where the call of his name was heard. He flipped his dirty blond hair back from his forehead with a nonchalant hand movement before finally noticing who it was. A little smirk grew on his face when he saw the group come up to him.
"Rogers." He greeted. "Can I help you?" He asked, the same disgusting look on his face.
Steve thought he was going to set himself on fire from the anger he was feeling. But he didn't let it show on his way over to the field. Liam's friends had already stopped playing as they saw how the new kid approach them with Barnes, Wilson, Romanoff and Banner right behind him.
The dirty blond one chuckled little at them before he yelped out in surprise, because suddenly, the collar of his shirt was grabbed and almost choking him from the effort.
"Steve." Bruce exhaled as a warning, but he didn't make any attempt in stopping him.
"Rogers- I- what is wrong with you?" Liam asked with a choked voice. Steve growled in annoyance.
"I would like to ask you the same thing." He said calmly before out of nowhere throwing him to the ground. Liam's friends immediately ran up and helped their friend up before one of them stood up against the blond. To Steve realization, it was T'challa.
"Back off Rogers." The dark-skinned guy warned with his thick accents. That was probably the first time Steve ever heard him talk directly to him.
"Back off yourself." Bucky suddenly spoke up and came up next to his friend. The groups didn't notice how a crowd of teenagers seemed to surround them in curiosity, together with four other gestalts who finally showed up way too late. Rhodes, Clint, Wanda and Pietro made their way through the crowd.
"Okay what the hell is happening, move away, thank you." Steve could hear Rhodey say irritated before appearing in the middle of the circle.
"Did we seriously almost miss a fight?!" Clint exclaimed irritated before shutting up when he realized that the ones who were fighting were his idiot friends. "Okay what is happening?" He asked.
"Well great, more people joined the party." Liam commented sarcastically, finally standing up. T'challa looked at him with a bored expression before turning to Steve again.
"You need to leave, or I'll make you."
"You can try." Bucky answered for Steve, making the blond slightly irritated, but he kept his guards up.
"I think you don't understand the situation here T'challa." Steve said calmly, even though his voice seemed a little shaky at the end.
"Why don't you explain it to me then, captain." T'challa mocked.
"Okay man," Sam finally said, now showing up from behind his friends and crossed his arms. "Between us black dudes, I think you should listen to us for a sec."
"And who are you?" T'challa asked.
"We're on the same soccer team." Sam pointed out.
"I'm Clint." Clint interrupted, feeling how this friendly black-dudes-conversation wasn't going to help anything.
T'challa looked at him. "I don't care."
Natasha snorted from behind her friends, finally taking a step forward. She looked pretty small between all the guys, but she was way more confident and independent. "So you don't care about the fact that your friends are the guys who brutally abused Tony Stark?"
That seemed to catch T'calla's attention and he turned to Liam, who was now looking up at him with guilty eyes. A random dude from Liam's friend group rolled his eyes. "You have no proof, Romanoff." This made the redhead tilt her head, she was just about to open her mouth when a small voice from behind them said something.
"She doesn't need one." Bruce whined before carefully stepping forward. He had never stood up to these guys before and doing it now seemed like good timing. "Bucky is a witness, which means that he can go to the police station and tell them everything about you. You'll be investigated and probably locked up when Tony himself tells his side of his story."
"If he comes back." Liam snorted before standing up. "His dad must be really pissed at him. Sending his men after his own son is more than confusing."
When those words hung in the air, everything seemed to stop. Everyone behind Steve looked at him like he just had turned into a fricking cow and the blond looked at him shocked while trying to puzzle the pieces together.
"What did you say?" He asked, all the anger in his voice gone.
Liam looked between him and his own friends with a wrinkled forehead. "Uuh- his dad picked him up and people think he's kidnapped." He said hesitantly.
"How do you know that?" Natasha asked with a shaky voice.
Liam raised an eyebrow at her. "I saw the car. The "Stark Industries" sign was very noticeable on the back."
It was quiet again. It was like the whole world held its breath as Steve tried to think through this. This can't be true, why would Howard Stark kidnap his own son? It just didn't make any sense. Tony went to the cafeteria, saw Steve and Peggy, ran to an alley, got beaten up, and then kidnapped by his own father. Why?
Rhodes was the first one who broke the silence. "That makes zero sense."
"It's the truth." Liam responded with a sharp voice.
"It's bullcrap." Wanda exclaimed, scaring the shit out of everyone when she suddenly spoke.
Liam smirked. "Well so are you weirdo."
"Hey," Pietro growled, his accent heavy as his eyes narrowed. "Watch your mouth."
"I would say the same to you, but it's usually full off Barton's dick." Liam spit out through his teeth. Pietro looked at him, totally unaffected, but Clint on the other hand didn't take it very well.
Clint's vision turned red. Those few words against Pietro woke something inside of him and before he realized it, he was already throwing himself towards the taller guy.
His friends were watching with wide eyes while he aimed a forceful punch right into Liam's stomach and pushed him over to his side of the circle. Nobody had time to react before Bucky jumped at T'calla and soon chaos was created.
Steve, who wasn't in a mood to fight anyone, was left alone in the middle of it. He sighed in irritation, spotting Wanda, Bruce, Natasha and Rhodes in the same situation as he was.
Great.
He closed his eyes before clenching his fists. He had enough of this. He wanted to find his boyfriend. He wanted answers to his question. He didn't need any more problems, and the fighting and punching around him didn't help it. With a loud exhale he grabbed whatever he could recognize as Liam's jacket and pulled him out of the huge group of fighting teenagers.
Liam seemed rather confused when he suddenly wasn't in the middle of the fight anymore. But the pleasant feeling was cut short when he was trhown to the ground again.
"Look, answer a question and I'll leave you alone." Steve said, making Liam raise an eyebrow. "You think Tony's father is responsible for Tony's disappearance, correct?"
Liam scoffed nonchalantly, but when he met Steve's angry blue eyes, he decided to give in. "Yes, I saw the car. It said "Stark Industries"."
"And you're sure?"
"Yes I'm sure, now get off of me!" Liam yelled irritated and Steve finally stepped away, but this time turned around and kept walking. He knew exactly what to do next, even if it meant getting in trouble.
"If you tell the cops about this I will let everyone know your secret!" Liam suddenly yelled after him, his voice the only thing that cut through the fight and it seemed like those few words stopped everyone. Clint was still pissed and looked at the gay on the ground with a look that could kill.
"What secret?" Natasha spoke. Steve looked at her, giving her a sign that he'll take it from here. He turned around and walked up to the overly cocky teen. His face was emotionless and relaxed. But his mind was more than calm as he grabbed onto the other guy and pulled him up by his shirt.
"Look, stay away from me as much as possible." Steve said slowly, his voice deep and threatening before shoving Liam against the ground a lot harder than before, making the smaller guy whine in pain. But the whine quickly turned into a small laugh, making Steve look at him like he was sick in the head.
"If you hurt me again, I'll tell everyone about you and Stark." Liam growled, his eyes dark in anger as he once again stood up on his feet. He was a little shaky, but it didn't matter.
"There's nothing to tell." Steve said emotionless. Even though it was probably the biggest lie he had ever told in his life.
"Funny, that's exactly what Stark said in that alley." Liam snapped.
"So you admit it." Bruce snapped back, getting everyone's attention at him. "You beat him up. You abused him and would probably have killed him if it wasn't for Bucky." He said, his eyebrows raised in a challenging expression, making Natasha and his friend smile proudly at him.
Liam didn't say anything.
"There we have our answer." Rhodey mumbled, carefully grabbing Clint from the group and pulled him with him to Steve again, figuring that they better leave now when they had their chance.
"Steve, you coming?" Bucky asked, immediately understanding what Rhodes was trying to do as he grabbed Natasha gently, knowing that she was also someone who probably wouldn't leave.
Steve didn't move a fen. His eyes were locked on the guy in front of him. His blood was boiling in rage and his hands feeling incredibly sweaty as adrenaline ran through his veins. Pictures of Tony were covering his sight. Horrifying pictures of him lying dead on the ground with Liam's body above him in a dark alleyway. Alone, cold, and lifeless.
"Are you gonna punch me captain?" Liam asked mockingly. "Is that really who you are?"
Steve didn't answer. He was so angry and blinded by the pictures, that he almost didn't see the guy in front of him. He didn't hear anything, he only saw Tony.
"You're right." Natasha suddenly said with her calm voice. Bucky looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she pulled her arm free from his grip. She made her way over the grass, past a slightly confused Steve and stopped right in front of Beckman. "It's not."
The redhead clenched her fist, and with a speed which no one had expected, she aimed it right against Liam's broken nose. The force of the punch made Liam's head bend backward and he cried out in pain as he stumbled a few steps back.
Bucky stared at her with his icy blue eyes, not knowing what was happening to his body when he felt a weird and powerful feeling grow deep in his stomach. Steve only smiled before grabbing her quickly, a sign which she immediately understood as the friend group immediately started running away from the park. Knowing that if they stayed any longer, things would get pretty ugly.
"You okay man?" Sam teased as he ran next to his best friend, who's eyes were still locked on the redhead in front of him.
"Sam." Bucky said. "I think I'm in love."
Rhodes snorted. "Save it for later and run!"
"Speak for yourself! You're slow as fuck!" Pietro yelled over his shoulder before grabbing his sister and running ahead of them.
***
Word count: 3710 (Probably the longest chapter in this book) (edit 2 months later: *snort*....just you wait)
Hope you liked this chapter because it was hard as fuck to write. Don't know how it turned out but it's good enough XD
Don't forget to vote and comment. We're now very close to the end of this story. Maybe 5-10 ish chapters left with 3000 words...we'll see how it goes. I'm gonna try and publish a chapter once a week or maybe two. Can't promise two chapters but we'll hope for it.
See you next week <3