#ohyah

Only a minute had passed since the last time he checked his damn digital clock. The softly bright white numbers seemed to mock Peter with the fact that he couldn’t sleep now. 

All he thought about was the damn dinner, why did they choose not to speak about business in front of him? Was it that top secret? What could possibly be that important, or worse, dangerous? 

Peter sighed with indignation and shoved his sheets off his pliant body. The sweet warmth that was encased seemed to dissipate the longer he laid there, staring at the ceiling like the over thinkative kid he was. 

While Peter was thinking too hard and laying in his own self loathing, there was a creak from downstairs. The sound reverberated through the empty mansion. Peter sat up like he wasn’t just laying there like a ragdoll. 

He waited for a beat but didn’t hear anything else. He stood up and started to softly pad his way towards his open bedroom door. 

“Jarvis, what was that?” Peter’s heartbeat started to accelerate at the possibilities that it could be something dangerous, maybe a robber? How did they get past Jarvis’ lockdown system?

“It seems to have come from your father’s workshop. Would you like me to notify him to come home?”

Peter nodded, for a second forgetting Jarvis was just a disembodied voice, one of his fathers creations that served almost like a house alarm system. 

“Yes please, tell him to hurry home.” Peter licked his chapped lips, regretting not having a mini fridge in his room now so he could safely get a water bottle from his own terrain. 

He thought they seemed like a college frat boy thing, he always hated how it seemed douchey to have one in your own room. 

Peter took a step outside his own bubble of safety and stopped. He listened and heard nothing, so he took another, then another.

 He was soon at the bottom of the staircase, the flare of it open’s to the dark abyss of the first floor. 

“Jarvis, lights to 10%.” The lights on the first floor bloomed to life, the dim, yet needed, light let a wave of relief wash over the teenagers stiff shoulders. There was another noise from the hall that headed towards his fathers elevator that went down to his workshop. 

This time it was louder and sounded like something heavier dropped. Peter flinched back at the sound, it was abrupt and loud in the quiet home. 

Peter grabbed the antique candle holder that sat on the table near the front door before he decided to head towards the sound. He held it like it was a bat and took a deep breath before asking Jarvis to take him to his dad's workshop. Of course the robot had advised against it, but the teen was persuasive.

The lift opened, the whir of the doors was loud in the dark of the lab, Peter felt exposed with the lights in the elevator being a beacon to himself and blinding him from the dark void around him. 

“Jarvis, lights to 100%.” 

And once Jarvis had obeyed and the lights woke the room to expose every corner, Peter had gasped and dropped the candle holder. 

Its loud clunk to the elevator's floor hadn’t fazed the teen, he was too shocked at the sight of a hunched shirtless man leaning against a workbench. 

White knuckles of his right hand clenching tight to the table, as if it was the only thing keeping the man up from falling on the cold ground. Peter took in the sight of his trembling shoulders, the muscles in his back twitched and his legs seemed to be bowed inwards, like he was a doe walking for the first time. 

Peter ignored the thought of comparing this large man that was built like a UFC fighter, to an innocent creature of mother nature. 

“What are you doing in my dad’s lab!” Peter snapped himself out of his stupor and clenched his fists at his sides, trying to seem more sure of himself and intimidating. 

The man stopped his trembling and his muscles seemed to tense more. His hunched back straightening out slowly, he was getting his bearings, and he was getting them fast. 

The man seemed to be tall, taller than Peter’s own father even. The stranger was facing away from Peter, so the wall of muscle and some cargo pants were the only thing Peter saw of the man. 

The man turned his head sideways, side-eyeing the boy from this distance, his curtain of brown hair hid the cold calculating glint in them. 

The man seemed threatened, like a caged animal he slowly turned around, exposing his full body and features. Peter took a step back at what he saw. 

His back hit the closed doors of the lift, the cold bite of the metal seemed to shock Peter even more into knowing this wasn’t a nightmare. The man seemed to notice Peter’s frightened look and the way his eyes seemed to stray to one side of the man. 

The stranger followed the kid's gaze and looked to his left arm. The vibranium metal that met flesh like it was his limb. The man looked back at the kid, flexing his metal hand into a fist then relaxing it again, the whirring of panels shifting was even more jarring to Peter. 

The kid swallowed and calmed himself down with rational, much needed thoughts. Like the fact that this guy was standing in his dad’s lab, shirtless, and with a metal arm that made the guy look cybernetic, robotic even. 

So this must mean the man was the project his father and his friends avoided to speak about. It made sense when Peter finally noticed the empty glass tube that sat in the corner of the lab. 

Puffs of exhaust coming from a broken pipe that connected to the pod, the door to the pod was dented from the inside and swung open to almost have been thrown off its hinges. 

The man noticed Peter visibly relaxed rapidly by the second he was looking behind the stranger. 

“Oh, you must be working with my father on his project, or you must be the project. Either way I’m sorry about coming down here, I thought there was an intruder.” 

The man was still and his brows furrowed at the smile beaming from the kids face. The scared look was nowhere to be seen and instead of cowering against the doors of his escape, he stepped closer towards the man. 

“Did you just wake up? Do you have a change of clothes or do you want some food?” The man was quiet the whole time Peter was stepping closer, ‘till he was face to face with the man and tilting his head like the innocent kid he was. 

“Why were you in there anyway?” Peter looked once more behind the man and to the pod that seemed claustrophobic, it looked like there wasn’t enough room for a man to lay down, in fact it looked like it was meant from someone to just stand in. 

The longer he looked at the thing, he noticed the straps at the sides of the cushioned mat in the back panel of the pod. Restraints. 

Peter shuddered and looked back at the man, the more he looked the more he noticed the look of untrust in his eyes.

The guarded look made Peter’s jaw clench, the scruff on his cut jawline affecting Peter in a way he didn’t want to be affected in right now. 

His stoney gaze sent a chill down Peter’s spine and he stopped trying to ask questions, the man was clearly not talkative. 

“I’m Peter Stark.”

The soft tone coming out of nowhere, the rush of questions seized and his whirling mind was put to a stop once the man seemed to look over Peter. 

“Bucky.” 

Peter widened his eyes at the man's rough voice. It sounded harsh in the still air around them, waking the cogs in the kids head and causing a warm blush to tint the kids cheekbones. 

“Do you want water, Bucky?” Bucky nodded hesitantly and watched Peter walk away and to the mini fridge his dad kept down here (and yes Peter did trash on his dad for having one in their house, but he had no say since it was his father’s workshop, therefore, his domain). 

Peter quickly grabbed the chilled bottle and after a second thought got his own and made his way back to Bucky. He tried to help the man sit down on one of the mobile stools, but was ignored and made to sit across from Bucky. 

Peter watched Bucky drink heavily from the bottle, the crunch of the plastic loud along with the gulping coming from the man that seemed to be very dehydrated.

“What were you doing in there?” Bucky stopped drinking his bottle, placed it down and looked at Peter like he was back to being an enemy. 

The teen rolled his eyes and huffed, capping his water bottle and tapping his fingers against the cold surface of the metal table. 

“I’m just curious Bucky, I don't have an ulterior motive or whatever.” Bucky stayed quiet for a bit, taking in Peter and his words before going back to finishing his water. 

Right when Peter thought he really was just going to be ignored and waiting in silence till his dad got home, Bucky spoke up. 

“I don’t remember.” 

Peter snapped his head up, looking at Bucky like he was trying to sedate a bunny.

“I’m sure my dad was just helping you.” 

But those words didn’t sound right to him, they unsettled him and seemed to do the same to Bucky. His shoulders hunching once more and his head bowing for his hair to create a curtain once again to hide his face. 

Peter, without thinking, reached out to brush the strands away, gasping once his wrist was caught tightly by Bucky. 

His quick reflexes inhuman almost, it should’ve unsettled the kid, but it didn’t deter him at all from staying still and letting Bucky know he wasn’t gonna hurt him. 

His hold loosened minutely, until his hold was loose on Peter’s delicate wrist, once more reaching forward and brushing a strand from hiding the man’s fired eyes. 

It felt like they were in their own little world, like everything else around them was paused and Peter forgot that he made Jarvis notify his dad to come home. 

The swoosh of the elevator’s doors broke both of them out of their trance-like state. Peter lowered his hand from the air when Bucky had fully let go. Both their attentions to one panicked Tony Stark. 

Some sort of gauntlet that was bright red encased his dad’s opened palm. A bright circle of blue whirring to life once aimed at the target in front of him. 

“Pete, get away from him!”

Peter was put off by his dad’s yelling, the way his muscles were tense and his stance was ready for battle, and some kind of weird alien tech on his dad’s hand. 

“Daddy stop! Bucky won’t hurt me, put that thing down!” 

Peter made sure to lean more to his left to try and cover Bucky’s frame with himself, even if the man was too broad. “Pete, seriously kid move, that guy isn’t really in the right state of mind to be making those types of decisions right now.” 

Peter furrowed his brows, his dad was speaking again now as if Peter knew what he was talking about. “Dad seriously I didn’t know he was already down here in your lab, I thought he was an intruder.” 

While Peter was trying to stop his dad from firing off, whatever that weapon was, he didn’t notice Bucky moving out from behind Peter and subtly covering Pete with his own body. 

Peter stopped talking at the shock of Bucky protecting Peter from his own dad, albeit Bucky probably didn’t know what was actually happening and he maybe just thought that his only source of kindness was being threatened by a strange man in a suit and a gauntlet on his hand. 

Tony slowly put his arm down, the gauntlet looked like it was encasing itself back under the cuff of his dad's sleeve. Peter looked over Bucky’s wide frame and gave his dad a confused look, he’ll make sure to inquire about that weird thing later once everyone isn't trying to kill each other. 

Tony raised both hands in the air slowly, a token of trust, a surrender. 

“Alright big guy, imma need you to take ten steps away from my kid, then we can have an adult chat, with no more surprises, deal?” Tony was trying to talk calmly, his negotiating skills coming in clutch with the way Bucky slowly relaxed, but he still stood firmly in front of Peter. 

Peter ignored the weird fuzzy feeling in his stomach at the protectiveness from the stranger, ignored it because they just met and Peter was the first nice person he was probably introduced to in a long time. 

“It’s alright Bucky, that’s my dad he won't hurt me.” Peter put a placating hand on the man's back, the cool touch from Peter’s soft palm brought a flush to the warm skin. 

Bucky turned his head a bit to get a look of Peter while still having Tony in his line of sight. Peter smiled up at him and nodded confidently. When Bucky finally stepped away from hiding Peter from his dad’s sights, Tony rushed in and hugged his son tightly. 

“God I thought you were dying when Jarvis sent that message.” Peter let out a snort that he would later pretend he never made, his father was so over dramatic sometimes. 

“Sorry dad, I thought there was a robber or something, didn’t want anyone stealing your precious tools.” Tony shook his head and ruffled the kids hair fondly, relieved and satiated with the knowledge his son was safe, he looked back at the thing that was causing this panic in the first place. 

Or man, definitely man, he looked like he was created to be the embodiment of what a man should look like, strong, tall, broad, handsome. 

“Wait, who’s Bucky?” Tony pulled back from Peter with a confused look, Peter just smiled and turned his head towards the man that looked out of place in the sterile lab. 

“Him!” 

Tony frowned and let go of Peter to fully take in this new information. 

“You named him?” Peter punched his dad in the shoulder and whined. 

“No daddy, he told me!” Tony just nodded and put a placating hand on his shoulder. “Huh, well I’ll be damned.” It was spoken softly and almost astonishedly. 

“His name is actually James Buchanan Barnes, he was that project I was advised not to tell you about.” Tony winced at the word ‘project’, seeming a little insensitive to the fact that James was a human being and not a ‘thing’ to be experimented on. 

“So, who is he?” Peter turned around to look at Bucky curiously, tilting his head and squinting his eyes contemplatively at Bucky’s mimicking features of Peter’s. 

Tony brushed away the uneasiness creeping in from Peter being the one thing Bucky didn’t let his eyes stray away from too long. The billionaire stepped to the side and brought up a hologram from a strip of some cords that connected to a little box that looked like a wifi router. 

An image of a file with Bucky’s face on the side and a column of text in black bolded letters, a sigil in the corner signifying that it’s owned by the government. 

“Our new house guest here was a soldier-turned-assassin from 1941 to current time. Looks like we got ourselves a real life Doc.” 

Peter ignored his dad’s lame joke and instead focused on the fact that Bucky was from the 40s. What would that make him, a hundred years old? Peter looked from the holo screen to the prone figure of the ‘super soldier’, the article seeming to sum up Bucky to be a man killing machine, trained from brainwashing and rigorous punishment. 

A feeling of dread seeped into the boys bones with the thought of Bucky, what seemed to be a lost, cute, dopey guy, turning into a man-made machine, he was a test subject for years ever since he was captured by a guy who worshipped a thing called HYDRA. 

“Who would ever do that?” Peter’s voice cracked with the way his soft voice broke with a hitch of his breath. 

“He must be traumatized.” Tony hummed, still focused on the article and swiping through the pages of what seemed to be a folder.

“I would’ve thought so too, but he might not remember those things, probably blocked it all out, or his brain got fried enough to break off any strand of memory to get past that whole mess of feelings.” 

Peter scowled at his dad for insinuating Bucky to be brain dead by now, a complete insult to the evidence standing there proudly. 

“If you really must know my dear son, who is stubborn like his own father, me and Bruce got wind of this ‘Hydra’ having an empty bunker in the depths of Serbia. We got the authority to go in and get their research of what was called the ‘soldier serum’, some old patriotic move made by my own daddy-dearest. Long story short kid, I'm supposed to keep him near me at all times ‘cuz the guy was still knocked out in there and reserved, we all thought he was just a machine, but turns out he’s more real than we thought.” 

Tony looked over at the large mass that seemed to swallow up space in just one spot. “He’s nice, can he stay here? Like in a guest room preferably because this is totally on my red flag radar of keeping a human in a pod capsule locked in our basement.” 

Tony huffed and turned the hologram off with a flick of his wrist. “You make my very expensive extension to the house seem like a little ‘man-cave project’.” Tony’s muttering was white noise in the back of Peter’s head. He was now looking over to Bucky. 

The man was still staring at Peter, just standing and staring at the kid ever since Tony guided him across the room. Peter’s cheeks flushed a blossom pink, heat rushing over the teen’s face as if Jarvis turned the room’s heater on. 

“He can stay in the room next to mine.” Peter’s voice jarred Tony out of his rambling on the matter of his precious workshop. 

“Uh, I don't think so, he can have one on the first floor. The room farthest from you.” Peter turned and gave his cute scowl to his dad, as if it was a threat but it only caused a fond smile to spread across Tony’s face. 

“Uh hey big guy, stop staring, it's making me uncomfortable.” Bucky looked up at Tony then away, not looking back at Peter, the kid frowned. 

“Alright let's move this party upstairs, I need a drink.”

------

The next morning Peter sat at the marbled island, a strawberry smoothie on his right, and a super soldier from the past on his left. Bucky was hunched over, eating like it was his first meal in, well, forever. 

Peter watched with rapt attention, he was the one who made it after all, the paid chef that his dad loves didn't get to put down a pan before Bucky growled out a ‘no’. 

Peter then took it upon himself and made french toast with bacon, scrambled eggs loaded with cheese, and a glass of OJ. “Stop staring at him Pete, it’s probably why he stares at you, he thinks you're challenging him.” 

Tony walked into the room with an air to him that said ‘too early to deal with super soldiers and/or my own kin’. 

“Don’t talk about him while he’s in the same room!” Peter’s abrupt voice got Bucky to stop eating for a second and look over him, then went back to eating. Peter smiled at the man’s stuffed cheeks and looked over to his dad who was scrolling through his Stark phone. 

“Hey manchurian candidate, imma need you to stay in the lab ‘till Pete gets back home from school. Or at least stay in the house because I can’t have government officials knowing I took a souvenir from Russia.” 

Bucky just looked at Tony like he was stupid, Tony of course didn’t like the blank stare coming from him so he turned around and focused on pouring his coffee into his travel mug. 

“Why can’t Bucky come to school with me?” 

At Peter’s question, the winter soldier seemed to lighten up a bit, his posture straightening and his body turning more towards the teen. 

“No no no no, a thousand times no Pete. This guy is a trained assassin who was and probably still is government property, not some new roommate you can hang out with.” Tony gave a fake smile at Peter’s over exaggerated frown. 

“But daddy, look at him!” 

Tony watched how Peter gestured to the stiff man of a killing machine who wasn’t in the slightest as adorable as Peter was trying to make him seem. 

The guy's hair framed his chiseled face which only made him look more threatening. He was also staring down Tony like he dared him to say no again. Tony gulped and grabbed for his phone again to look busy.