#rofro05

I feel like Marissa would be into multiple sports. Ignoring the fact that - according quick google search - the New York State Public High School Athletic Association doesn’t have ice hockey for girls - Marissa would probably do a sport each “season” so it’d be like, Soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse or something. I feel like she’d be very into contact sports, and extremely cheerful about it. (Imagine, happy Marissa being knocked into and knocking into people and never not smiling unless some BS is happening in which case she gets pretty mean but yeah).

Bryce probably does soccer or something, too.

Seb… I have no idea. Probably he does either soccer - because Marissa and Bryce do it - or swim because Alex did it… or he does something completely unexpected, like dance or gymnastics, because hellooooo he’s learned to fight from Auntie Nat and Uncle Steve, like, he knows where those skills come from. lol

I think at first Tony would be anxious about it - because probably he hears from someone - another parent or a school staff or something - that kids should play a sport to be well rounded and he’s like “????!!!!????” Because he never did, but obviously he’s not a good example of a “well rounded” child, so oh god what if he’s RUINING HIS PUPS???

Bucky obviously talks him down (with minimal smiling/chuckling) and is like “I mean, if they want to they can?”

Tony probably goes and gets opinions from different pack mates, and Pepper or Rhodey or someone that had a NORMAL childhood was all “Well, my parents made me play one sport and one instrument every year?”

(That’s what my parents did; we had to play one sport, and learn one instrument. Mine were swim and violin respectively. I only did violin for three years, because it was through school and then I moved on to a school that didn’t teach it, but I did swim until I was… fifteen, I believe.)

So Tony is like “That sounds like a logical and good idea. I’m stealing it.”

Thus the pups all HAVE to play at least one sport.

Alex picks swim (and regrets it only because speedos oh my fucking god he hates his life) and Hope does cheer because I mean, cute outfits and pretty girls?!

Bryce is like “I don’t know” and picks one randomly, or whichever one all his friends seem to be doing.

MARISSA WANTS TO PLAY ALL THE SPORTS AND GETS VERY FRUSTRATED WHEN SHE HAS TO PICK ONE PER SEASON.

Seb, like I said, probably picks one based on what his siblings did, or because of Nat and Steve.

They’d had technical difficulties during the meeting, a video conference with one of their suppliers, and it had cut out in the middle of some new negotiations. It’d taken fifteen or so minutes to reconnect, and the supplier had been so annoyed with it that Tony hadn’t been able to quite get to where they’d wanted with the new contract.

He’d hopped down to R&D, only to find things in utter chaos. Almost everyone had abandoned their own work to help with the product that was supposed to be sent to testing tomorrow, except for some reason there’d been a mistake and it wasn’t ready. At all.

Tony was talking ‘basically back at square one’ here.

He’d of course shoved up his sleeves and dove right in to help, and things had been so chaotic and frantic that he’d lost track of time, until Pepper had stormed into the room and dragged him out.

He was seventeen minutes late for the meeting with the Board of Directors.

He was also a greasy, sweaty mess, but as he pointed out to Pepper in a half-hearted attempt at humor, they’d seen him in worse state.

She hadn’t looked amused.

So he’d had to endure a lecture from them, and Pepper’s quiet frustration and disappointment and resignation to it.

It hadn’t helped that he’d needed to tell them about the problems down in R&D, and he’d ended up spending an extra fifty minutes arguing that things wouldn’t be too off schedule, that there’d hardly be any loss to projected profits, because of it.

He’d been catching up on paperwork in his office to finish off the day, the news quietly on in the background, when he’d realized they were doing a piece on whether or not superheroes were ‘safe’, whether or not there shouldn’t be a vetting process. After all, who really trusted someone like Tony Stark, infamous playboy and narcissist, to be an upstanding role model and responsible with people’s safety?

(”Further, they’ve allowed a known HYDRA assassin onto their team!”)

(Tony had thrown his stapler at the television in his temper, and broken it, and then had to tell his secretary, Benny, to call clean-up and also order a new one to be installed.)

His head was pounding, everything ached, and he wanted nothing more than to go bury himself under the blankets in his bed and go to sleep, so the day would be over.

He did just that, trudging past the living room, where the pups were watching some movie, forcing a smile and waving when they yelled out greetings. He slipped past the kitchen where Bucky was busy making dinner - and it smelled delicious, but Tony didn’t feel hungry.

He stripped out of his clothes (and the uncomfortable shirt finally) and pulled on one of Bucky’s t-shirts. It was too large in the chest, and a bit long, and smelled like Bucky.

Tony pulled the collar up over his nose, curled up on his side under the blankets, and closed his eyes.

God, but his head hurt.

He’d have to get up early tomorrow to check in with R&D and maybe, hopefully, they’d be far enough along to have it ready by the end of the week, which would only put them three days off schedule. He’d need to reassure the Board, again, and he’d have to get Benny something nice for not being judgmental about the TV. And something nice for Pepper to make up for his being late. Plus he had two meetings, and he needed to finish that pile of paperwork, and he was pretty sure he had some designs due soon that seriously needed his attention.

The door opened.

“Daddy?” Seb crept into the room, quiet. “Are you okay Daddy?”

Tony took a deep breath. “Just tired, Seb,” he said.

“You smell… sad,” Seb said, and Tony could feel as he crawled up onto the bed and over to where Tony was curled up. He carefully crawled over Tony’s legs, and up against his chest, laying down next to him. “Did you has a bad day?”

Tony lifted one heavy arm and dropped it over Seb, dragging him closer. Seb immediately nuzzled into his chest.

“Yeah,” Tony said, throat tight.

Seb’s breath was warm against his chest.

Marissa wandered in a few minutes later. She didn’t say anything, just crawled onto the bed too and pulled off her dress, shifting. She nosed Tony’s forehead, then curled up on the pillow, almost around his head.

Tony stretched the hand around Seb up to brush over her fur.

Fifteen minutes later, Bucky poked his head into the room. He paused a moment, then slipped inside, mostly closing the door behind him.

He sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to put a hand on Tony’s back.

“You okay, baby?”

“Daddy had a bad day,” Seb said.

Bucky made a sympathetic sound, scooting back to sit against the headboard. One of his hands began firmly rubbing Tony’s back, which felt nice. Tony sighed, letting go of Seb to twist around. He threw an arm over one of Bucky’s legs, buried his face into the side of Bucky’s stomach.

Bucky’s fingers stroked over his hair as Marissa and Seb with wiggled closer.

Tony was drifting when the other pups wandered in, concerned.

Bryce immediately stripped and shifted as well, jumping up and curling over Tony’s feet. Hope came and snuggled against Bucky’s other side, while Alex curled up behind Seb and pressed his forehead into Tony’s shoulders.

It was warm and smelled of his family. Everyone’s breathing was slow and calm and familiar, and Tony knew they all needed to get up and have dinner, finish homework probably, get ready for bed.

He didn’t move. He didn’t want to get up.

Bucky leaned over and kissed his temple. “Love you, Tony.”

Tony mumbled unintelligibly back, falling into sleep.

“FRIDAY, set an alarm for one hour.” Bucky shifted, making himself a bit more comfortable. “We’ll get up and have dinner then,” he added for the pups.

“Tony!” Steve shouted, echoed closely  by Bucky. Tony groaned, picking himself out of the wall, checking the suit’s systems before pushing back into the sky.

“In one piece,” he said. “But I have no idea what hit me.”

“One moment - ah, there,” said Strange. The magic-user and monster army they’d been fighting vanished.

Tony landed next to Bucky, who was scowling. “We done here?”

“Yes, I believe-”

“Cause I’m gonna go pick up the kids.” He kissed Tony quickly.

“Go, I’ll debrief you about debrief,” Tony said, amused. Bucky grinned, grabbed onto Tony so Tony could bring them to the ground, and started heading for the ‘jet, to change and probably steal Steve’s bike to get back to the Tower, grab the car, and get the pups.

Probably, he’d be able to make it only a few minutes after the bell rang.

Tony walked over to the group gathering around Steve, which included Strange. Tony still thought that cape was fucking ridiculous, but Strange had some pretty awesome facial hair, so… it balanced out, really.

“Are you feeling any effects from the magical blast, Mr. Stark?”

Tony shook his head. “Nothing. Felt a bit dizzy before it dissipated, but…”

Strange hummed, brows furrowed. “I find it hard to believe it didn’t do something. If you notice anything unusual in the next few days, be sure to inform me.”

“Of course,” Steve said. “We’ll all keep an eye on things.”

From there it was the usual - talk about what had happened, about mistakes and good moves made during the battle, about how to improve next time they had to battle an angry magic-user and his monster army.

They were almost back to the Tower when Tony got a text from Bucky. He’d taken the pups for ice cream; someone had let it slip to them about the battle, and Tony getting hit, so a couple of them had been upset. (Tony could bet which ones. Three years and he knew his pups, knew who would probably never be quite okay with one of them getting hit in the field, who hadn’t adjusted to it yet.)

Tony followed Steve and Sam off the hangar, watching Natasha and Clint immediately head for the common floor (and probably the kitchen), Vision and Wanda wander off discussing something about the magical tactics of the latest villain, and Bruce sleepily go the the elevator to his floor. 

He clapped a hand to Steve’s back. “I’ll order the take-out for tonight,” he offered.

Steve smiled gratefully. “Pizza?” he asked. Tony laughed, nodding, leaving Steve to go shower and Sam to probably crash on Steve’s couch.

He was sore, pretty sure his shoulder had bruised from that hit to the wall even with the suit, and thought he might have a bit of a cut on his cheek, too. Nothing that would even need a bandage, but he needed to clean that up, to wash up the feeling of sweat and grime that he always felt despite the suit.

“Boss,” FRIDAY said in a very quiet tone. “There’s a situation.”

“Can it wait?” Tony asked tiredly. “I really want to shower before Bucky and the pups-”

He froze, staring.

“That would be the situation,” FRIDAY said.

Howard rose from the couch and scowled at Tony. “What the hell is going on?”

~*~*~

Bucky frowns at the still unanswered texts. He’d texted Tony originally to ask if he wanted ice cream brought home to him - and then again to let him know traffic was a bitch and Bucky was awful at planning things, because five ice-cream hyped kids in a car stuck in traffic was horrible - and then again asking if he was alright.

It’d been almost two hours and not one reply. It made something uneasy curl up in Bucky’s chest, for no definable reason. Tony could have been busy, or passed out as soon as he got home, or something easily explainable, but….

Alex glanced at him again, frowning. His birthday had been just a few weeks ago, and they’d made a pleasantly big deal out of him reaching double-digits. Bucky liked to think that Alejandro was doing so much better from the scared, always worried pup they’d brought home. But he also thought that maybe Alex might never lose that edge of anxiety.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Bucky shook his head, smiled slightly. “Nothin’, just thinking too much. I think Tony might be sleeping, so help me keep the others quiet when we get upstairs.”

Alex nodded, turning to pick up Seb, who was sticky with strawberry ice cream and still wearing the paper hat he’d made in class today.

The elevator opened, and as soon as he stepped out Bucky knew something was wrong. Because someone was yelling, and Tony’s heartbeat was dangerously fast.

Frowning, Bucky gestured for the kids to stay put and stalked to the living room.

“-bullshit, Anthony. You’re telling me I’m in the future, fine, the technology alone supports that, as well as the damn gray in your hair, but the rest? That you’re some kind of fucking superhero? That you handed over SI to your secretary? It’s-”

“Pepper is-”

“Don’t try and sugarcoat it, Anthony!” Howard yelled, gesturing with the tablet in his hand. “I’ve looked it up on this thing while you made us food. You’ve ruined the company, the stocks are still not back where-”

“They’re still better than when you ran things,” Tony said, quick, body half turned like he expected an attack. Howard went silent, eyes narrowed, and set the tablet down pointedly. Tony flinched.

“If I’d known your weak nature would have led to this, I would never have left you in charge.”

Bucky hissed, automatic. Both sets of eyes snapped over to him, Tony’s wet and hurt, Howard’s angry and then confused.

“Barnes?”

“You son of a-”

“Buck, don’t-”

“Seb-”

“Who’s he?” Seb asked, appearing around Bucky’s legs. Bucky shut his teeth tightly, not taking his eyes off of Howard. Tony paled, coming over and picking up Seb. “No one, he’s-”

“Anthony, I’m damn well not ‘no one’,” Howard said coldly.

Seb gasped. “You said’a bad word, mister.”

“I’ll say what I damn well please, kid.”

The other pups were appearing, uneasy, suspicious, confused. It was Bryce that spoke, saying, “Dad, who is he?”

Howard’s eyes narrowed and snapped onto Tony, then slid over the pups with a sharp, analyzing look. “How many women did you knock up, Anthony? Didn’t you learn to control yourself, or are you no better than a dog?”

Bucky lunged, was surprised when Tony was suddenly in front of him, pushing him back. “Buck, come on, not now. Bucky. Bucky, we need to take care of the pups.”

They were all silent now, staring with expressions that ranged from scared, to uneasy, to the vicious anger on Alejandro’s.

“You’re Tony’s dad,” he said quietly. When Howard snorted, but admitted he was, Alex bared his teeth and growled. “You were a bad dad.”

“Alex,” Tony said quickly, sharp with fear.

“Christ, Anthony, these brats are as mannerless as you were. I can’t imagine why anyone thought they’d be better off with you than their mothers or nannies or something.”

Tony was trembling, pale, absolutely distressed and Bucky wanted to tear Howard apart one body part at a time, starting with his fingers maybe. Or his teeth - see how well he could spew abuse at Tony with no teeth in his fuckin’ mouth.

“FRIDAY, get someone up here to entertain Howard while I get the kids… settled. Then call Dr. Strange again for me; hopefully he answers this time.”

Bucky only let himself be dragged away with the pups because of the pleading, desperate look Tony gave him. He last view of Howard was him rolling his eyes, turning to pick up a drink off the table filled with ice and an amber liquid that Bucky knew damn well was scotch.

~*~*~

Steve took some deep breaths on the elevator ride up to Tony’s floor.

FRIDAY had given him a quick brief on the situation - Howard was somehow in Tony’s living room and Tony had been dealing with him alone for almost two hours. Bucky and the kids had arrived during an ‘argument’ between Tony and Howard, and the following ‘discussion’ had distressed Tony, the pups, and incensed Bucky. FRIDAY had helpfully shown him some footage of it, too.

Steve had learned a lot over the years. He knew that Tony’s mother had been kind and gentle and never stood up to Howard about anything. He knew that Tony had been sent to boarding school when he was seven and rarely seen his family much after that. He knew that Tony didn’t like talking about Howard, and only grew upset whenever someone mentioned Howard positively.

He knew that Bucky knew more; Bucky had told Steve once that if he could ever go back, he’d punch Howard until he was black and blue.

Steve stepped onto Tony’s floor and walked into the living room.

Howard shot to his feet, eyes wide, a glass hanging limp in his fingers. “…Steve?” he croaked.

“Hi, Howard,” Steve said, polite, uncomfortable.

Howard blinked several times. “I… you’re alive. They found you. Anthony claimed but…”

Steve nodded.

“You’ve hardly aged.” Howard barked out a laugh. “Good god, the serum? I mean, we thought it might be possible - those fae bastards don’t age after all, so - but it was a long shot side-effect, so we didn’t…”

Steve felt a surge of anger, and pushed that back down. “It does seem that my cells age at a slower pace than Normals,” he said.

“Obviously Tony didn’t get any of that from those ‘wolf genes,” Howard said, derisive. “You’d think the future would have something so he would look better.”

Oooh, good thing Bucky hadn’t heard that one.

Steve shifted on his feet, considering Howard. “I’m going to go check in with Bucky and Tony. I’ll be right back.”

“So that really was Barnes? Never knew he was a fanger.”

Steve’s jaw clenched painfully. Ignoring Howard, who seemed to have already dismissed Steve, Steve went down the hall to the pups’ rooms.

“-I want him out!” Alex was saying, loudly, upset. “He’s mean!”

“We can’t just kick him out,” Tony replied, voice strained. “Alex he’s my father and-”

“So? He’s not your pack leader. Not anymore.”

Steve walked in to see Tony wince, then take a deep, unsteady breath. “Alex-”

“I hate him!”

Tony looked over and up at Steve, and he looked exhausted and desperate and… defeated.

“Did he need something?”

“No,” Steve said quietly. “I told him I needed to check with you guys.”

Tony sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, still crouched perfectly balanced on his heels. “I’m sorry, Steve. I just need to-”

“Bucky, tell Tony not to go near him!”

“Alex,” Tony said, voice sharp and loud and edged with a growl. Alex startled back, eyes wide. “You need to stop arguing with me about this and-” Tony paused, then slumped, almost until his forehead pressed into his knees. “Alex, please, I just need you to help me out here and watch Seb and Marissa.”

He sounded near tears. Steve took a step, but Bucky was suddenly there - from Steve wasn’t sure where, but he was there, gently pulling Tony to his feet and turning him. For a moment, Tony struggled, trying to pull away. Steve hadn’t seen Tony actively try to reject comfort from any of them in… years.

“I’m fine,” Tony mumbled, even as he finally went limp in Bucky’s arms.

“Don’t,” Bucky sighed, rubbing a hand up and down Tony’s back. He looked over to Steve, eyes dark and furious and pained, because Tony was so clearly hurting.

Steve knew Howard had been verbally abusive - he’d gathered that over the years. And he knew that a lot of Tony’s conflict with his ‘wolf nature came from his childhood.

Watching how Tony hesitated before clutching tightly at the sides of Bucky’s shirt and trembled slightly made all of that so much clearer though.

Without a word, Steve turned and left the family - his family, damn it, his pack because they probably wouldn’t have come together quite like this if not because of Tony. They’d taken care of him often enough.

Now he was going to damn well take care of them.

~*~*~

Dr. Strange believed, when Steve spoke with him, that the spell was meant to be the most damaging antagonist of an individuals life back. It wasn’t a strong spell, and while normally Strange would have to banish said antagonist back to the past, in this case it would likely happen on its own.

“The space-time continuum tends to protect itself. He is unlikely to recall anything of his time here, except perhaps in vague dreams.”

Which was both good and bad. It meant the future - their present - wasn’t in danger. But it also meant that whatever happened here, wouldn’t change what had happened to Tony in the past.

Still. This was going to make Steve feel better.

He brought Howard to his floor, let the man wander around and exclaim over this or that, mostly ignoring him. He noticed that whenever he mentioned Tony, Howard had something negative or dismissive to say in reply. Steve was both glad no one else was here to hear this, and wished everyone could, so that Howard would get what he deserved from many sides.

Oh, Rhodes would be absolutely infuriated that he missed out. Steve smirked a bit.

Steve walked into the living room and handed Howard a coffee.

“Don’t suppose you have anything stronger, eh?”

Choosing his words carefully, Steve said, “Tony mentioned you were a bit fond of the drink.”

Howard scowled instantly. “Does he still whine about that? It’s not like I forced it down his throat, and he was proud about being able to drink that bottle, too.”

Steve had little idea what Howard was talking about, but he could guess. He wondered how old Tony had been, how desperate for approval - was it before boarding school, when Howard would have been his pack leader? Fucking hell.

“No,” Steve said calmly. “He just mentioned that you tended to talk more about me, the Commandos, the war.”

“Not like any of it ever stuck.” Howard shook his head. Then he glanced at Steve, considering. “You work with him?”

“Yeah.”

“Said he was some kind of superhero.”

Steve thought of Tony always brushing that off, until Bucky had spent months and months insisting, arguing all the reasons Tony was a hero.

“He really is, Howard,” Steve said quietly. “One of the best damn heros I’ve ever met.”

Howard just snorted, disbelieving. “You don’t have to flatter him for my sake, Steve.” There was a moment’s pause, and then Howard said, “Is he still something of a sissy? Never could seem to break him of the habit of trying to make people happy, though at least he stopped crying about every little scrape and criticism.”

Steve set his coffee on the table and pushed his hands into his pockets. “Tony Stark is a good man. He’s brave and intelligent and incredibly compassionate.”

“Oh, come on, Steve, we both know that-”

“Did you ever hit him?”

“What?” Howard half-turned towards Steve, frowning, something almost cautious in his eyes.

“Did you ever hit your son, Howard?” Steve demanded, letting that… something, that ‘force of personality and goodness’ as Bucky had used to tease him way back when push forward, outward.

“Yeah,” Howard said, looking surprised, and then he got angry, defensive. “What man hasn’t had to discipline their child, Steve? Tony was a problem child, always making mistakes and causing trouble.”

“Discipline,” Steve repeated, eyes narrowing. “What did you do to him, Howard?”

And again, looking a bit surprised (and now desperate, and a touch afraid), Howard answered, “Backhanded him a few times. Thew a bottle in his direction once when he interrupted an important meeting. Broke his toys, threw them out, shoved him in a- what the hell, Steve?”

Steve walked forward, feeling dangerously calm all of a sudden, and dangerously in control, and not like himself at all. He stared at Howard - pale and afraid and unable to help answering Steve because Steve had demanded the answers from him - and punched him, pulling back his strength at the last second.

Howard’s nose broke, but not his face.

Shaking it out, Steve said calmly, “FRIDAY, get medical up here to help Mr. Stark. Lock down the private areas of this floor.” To Howard, he said, “You’ll be staying here until you’re sent back to your time. And stay away from Tony and the pups.” He cast a look over his shoulder as he walked away, adding, “You’ve done enough damage to Tony, I’m not letting you inflict more on him, or any of it on those kids.”

~*~*~

Steve went to hang out on Tony’s couch while he waited for Sam to reply if he could crash on his couch or not. He didn’t hear anyone for a long while, and no one came out to greet him.

It was almost twenty minutes later that Alex wandered into the room, almost silent, eyes red from crying.

Steve opened his arms.

After a moment’s hesitation, Alex came over and curled up against Steve’s side, nuzzling his shoulder a bit and sniffling.

“Why was Tony letting him hurt him?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said with a sigh. “I’m not sure Tony knows.” Steve wasn’t the best person to be asking about this - Sam would be, or Bucky, or maybe Rhodes, who’d been around back when Howard had been part of Tony’s life, had known Tony the longest.

“Tony doesn’t want us to talk to him.”

“Good, I don’t either.” Steve leaned his head back against the couch. “It’s going to be fine. Alex. Howard Stark is staying on my floor, and he’s not going to be seeing or talking to any of you - including Tony.”

“Good,” Alex sighed. He sat up a few minutes later. “I’m hungry, Steve.”

Steve hummed. “FRIDAY, can you place a pizza order for me?”

“Certainly, Captain,” she said. She sounded warm and approving, and Steve smiled slightly. “I’ve taken the liberty to invite the rest of the pack up for dinner as well.”

Good idea - Tony would probably not admit it, not with Howard fresh in his mind, but he probably needed and wanted to be with the pack.

In fact…

“Alex, why don’t you grab some blankets and pillows for your guys’ rooms? I’ll get everyone else to bring something as well, and we can make a nice comfortable place to sit together.”

Alex grinned at him. “Yeah, okay.”

Steve watched him go, pulled out his phone to text that to everyone the plan as well, and then flexed his hand. He was starting to feel like himself again, no more pressure of danger pressing against the inside of his skin.

He didn’t regret punching Howard.

But he was probably going to have to make it up to Bucky.

~*~*~

Bucky ran his hands constantly over Tony’s body, choking back his own anger and frustration. Right now, Tony needed him.

“Tony, baby,” he murmured, brushing a kiss over his hair. “You know Howard’s full of shit.”

“Maybe,” Tony croaked. “But - but I….”

“You’re not weak. You’re not an animal like he said. You’re not a failure.” Bucky’d said it several times already, and he didn’t doubt he’d be saying it several more times, or many more days.

“I swore never to - never, and yet I-” Tony made a soft, pained noise.

Bucky frowned, dragged his hands up to cup Tony’s cheeks. “Hey, explain.”

Tony swallowed. “I yelled at Alejandro. I was harsh and-”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have yelled,” Buck said slowly. “But you weren’t Howard,” Bucky said firmly. “You didn’t insult him. You didn’t demean him, or demand something impossible of him, or hurt him. You yelled. You were frustrated and upset, and that doesn’t excuse it, but it doesn’t make you Howard.”

“He was just scared. Upset.”

“Yeah.” Bucky kissed Tony lightly. “So apologize for yelling.”

“That simple?” Tony asked, and while he was still upset, there was a hint of amusement there.

“It’s worked before,” Bucky said, grinning. After a moment, he added, “Besides. Did Howard ever apologize?”

“No.” After a moment, Tony gave a half-hearted smile. “Okay, point made there.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Bucky’s collarbone. “I hate that even now he makes me feel….”

Bucky curled a hand around Tony’s neck and leaned over the top of him. “I know baby. We’ll be okay. You’ve got a pack now, okay, and we’re not going to let him hurt you.”

Tony made a soft noise - something painfully like disagreement, but Bucky refused to let him consider what Howard did to him anything less.

“He hurts you,” he said. “I don’t get why he’s so determined to hurt you over and over again, but I’m not gonna let him do it - none of us will.”

“We can’t ignore him,” Tony said quietly, resigned.

“No, but we can have Coulson deal with him.”

“That’s not very fair,” Tony pointed out, but he was smiling a bit.

“He owes us plenty. Least he can do.”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. “Okay.”

“Sirs,” FRIDAY interrupted quietly. “Captain Rogers has ordered pizza, and the others have gathered in the living room. Will you be joining them?”

Bucky and Tony looked at each other, and after a moment Tony nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be out in a few.”

~*~*~

Steve smiled calmly when Tony walked into the room and froze at the sight of the blankets and pillows spread over the living room floor, and the entire pack gathered around - including Vision and Wanda, and Rhodes had invited Pepper as well.

Bucky nudged him forward, and Bryce and Marissa jumped up to drag Tony into the middle of it all. Tony looked a bit dazed, but there was a growing smile and warmth on his face. He pulled Alex over after a few minutes, spoke to him quietly and then hugged him tightly, Alex clutching back and burying his face against Tony’s shoulder.

Bucky sat down next to Steve, arm over his shoulders.

“Thanks Stevie,” he said quietly.

“You guys’re my friends,” he said.

“Where’s Howard?” Bucky asked with a soft sigh. “We thought maybe we could foist him off on Coulson till we figured this out.”

Steve snorted. “He’s only going to be around for a few days, Strange figures.”

“Good,” Bucky said.

“I’m leaving him on my floor until he’s gone. I’ll crash at Sam’s.” He hesitated, before admitting, “I punched him in the face. Broke his nose.”

Bucky stared for a moment, surprised, and then grinned, sharp, vicious, showing his fangs. “Good. Bastard deserves worse.”

“He does,” Steve agreed. He watched Tony, letting Seb sit in his lap, joking with Natasha and Pepper.

For a moment, Steve hesitated. “I was going to ask if you could work on some more individual settings for the simulations,” he said slowly. “But it’s not something you need to bother with right now.”

“I’ll try to get to it,” Tony offered. “I need to finish these suit upgrades, and then there’s paperwork.” He gestured at it, making a face, which made Steve chuckle.

“Like I said, it’s not like there’s a rush.”

Tony watched him leave, sniffled again, and turned back to his work. His head was aching, his throat felt awful, and he couldn’t scent anything, but he’d worked through worse.

~*~*~

“Anyone seen Tony?” Sam asked, glancing around.

“I saw him in the workshop this afternoon,” Steve said. “He had a lot to do, and I guess was having some bad allergies? He looked kind of miserable.”

Natasha hummed. “Anyone want to try to drag him upstairs for dinner?”

They all glanced at each other, reluctant. If Tony wasn’t feeling better, and they tried to drag him out of his workshop… well, grumpy Tony was rather dangerous to deal with.

“He’ll come up to get food when he’s hungry,” Sam said.

“I’ll make a plate for him and put it in the microwave,” Natasha offered.

Tony hadn’t shown up by the time they finished dinner, but Steve asked FRIDAY to let Tony know about the food when he came upstairs.

~*~*~

“Boss, maybe you should take a break.”

“‘M fine,” Tony said, voice rough. Talking hurt.

“Your fever has risen by 1.2 degrees in the past three hours, I think-”

“Mute,” Tony said. There. Now he didn’t have to talk. He could just focus on his work, and get it done so he could go crawl onto the couch. (The bed felt too empty without Bucky, and Tony felt miserable enough already.)

~*~*~

Bucky got back, gave a tired nod goodbye to Rhodey in the elevator, and went to their bedroom. It was empty. Sighing heavily, Bucky let himself take a hot shower first, changing into comfortable pajamas before heading down to the workshop.

There was no music playing when he entered, which was unusual but not too worrying. Tony was over by one of his worktables, muttering nonsensically. Also not unusual.

The closer Bucky got, though, the more concerned he was. Tony’s cheeks were flushed, eyes glassy, but the rest of him was pale. He kept sniffling every minute or so, and a few times Bucky heard him muffle a rough sounding cough.

“Tony?” he called.

Tony frowned, blinking a few times, then shook his head and went back to working. On what, Bucky had no idea; it looked like some kind of mechanical… crab? Except Bucky was pretty sure that was a laser.

“FRIDAY?” he asked.

“Boss has been working for almost seventeen hours now without stopping. He has only eaten a few saltine crackers, but stopped because he said they made him feel nauseous. His fever has increased by 1.7 degrees in five hours.”

“What’s his temperature?”

“102.1.”

Bucky sucked in a sympathetic breath, walking over and carefully pulling Tony’s hands away from his work. Tony paused, blinking at them, like his eyes couldn’t focus or he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

“Hey, baby,” Bucky said gently. “Why don’t we go to bed now?”

“Bucky?”

“Yeah,” he said, wrapping an arm around Tony’s shoulders and pulling him against his chest. Tony felt much hotter than usual.

“I don’t feel good,” Tony said, his tone almost… pouty. Bucky smiled slightly, kissed the side of his head.

“I can tell. Why don’t we go take a nap.”

Tony yawned, then made a soft pained noise. One hand came up to massage at his throat. They stumbled to the elevator, and then upstairs to their bedroom. Bucky carefully stripped Tony out of his clothes, then coaxed him into taking a cool shower. Tony made relieved noises, pressing his forehead against the cool marble walls, eyes drifting closed. Trusting Bucky.

Bucky picked him up, dried him off, and carried him to bed. By the time he’d pulled the covers around them, Tony was mostly asleep, simply twisting around and burrowing against Bucky with another small sniffle.

Running his hand through Tony’s hair, Bucky slowly went from worry about Tony, into irritation with the rest of the team for not realizing Tony was sick, or checking up on him.

~*~*~

“Sick?” Steve repeated. “He told me it was allergies!”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “And you didn’t come check on him or anything?”

“Why would I - Buck, allergies are something a lot of people have, and they’re just fine.”

Bucky groaned a bit, frustrated. “And when no one had seen him eat all day?”

“…Uh.”

“We didn’t want to deal with him growling and snapping at us for taking him out of the workshop.”

Bucky pinned Natalia with a scornful look. “So you didn’t even think to try bringing food to him instead?”

“Yeah, okay, that was stupid of us,” Sam agreed. “Sorry, Bucky. But you know, Tony is an adult. He can take care of him-”

“Yeah, I know he can, but the problem is, he is too busy trying to take care of everyone else to bother lookin’ after himself first. Even when he should.” Bucky shoved back from the kitchen table, giving the other three dirty looks. “You all should know Tony better by now.”

“He’s right,” Rhodey said, walking into the kitchen and heading straight for the coffee machine. “Tony’ll work through being sick until he passes out; and that’s not an exaggeration, I’ve seen it happen more than once.” He sipped at it, arm crossed over his chest, scowl on his face. “Pretty sure that has something to do with some bullshit Howard pounded into his head.”

Steve sighed, shoulders slumping. “We’re sorry. Really. We’ll… next time, we’ll keep a better eye on him.”