#wizard!au

Maybe it was just the way Tony’s brain worked or maybe Bucky wasn’t just shy but also secretive but even though they’ve known each other for months now and talked almost daily, he couldn’t remember Bucky mentioning one thing that he liked, no hobbies, no TV shows, books, sports, all these muggle things that Tony knew off (and he knew a lot, partially due to the fact that he lived as the only wizard alone in a muggle town and you tended to stick out like a sore thumb if you didn’t know what the Super Bowl or an iPhone was and partially due to, well, being Tony and being naturally curious about absolutely everything).

So here Tony was, trying to figure out what hobbies Bucky had by sneaking into his house in his animagus form because who gets mad at a kitty walking around your house, right? It’s what cats do after all.

He spotted a small basement window that was maybe a foot tall and not much wider, certainly not big enough to fit an adult human through, but cat Tony would certainly fit and as luck would have it, the window was slightly ajar. Eager to get out of the cold and into the house Tony wasted no time to stick his head through the gap and wriggling the rest of his body after it, thanking evolution for the lack of collarbones. Gravity seemed to work differently for cats as well because he landed lightly on his feet on some dusty surface but that’s where his luck ended.

A subconscious flick of a tail and something tumbled to the ground producing a deafening crash and not a moment later the room was suddenly flooded with light and Bucky was standing in front of him.

Pointing a wand at him. —— Bucky had just finished his talk with Steve at the fireplace, one of the reasons he had never wanted a fireplace when moving to Rosendale in the first place. The thought of Steve or any of his other wizard friends trying to take the bus or -god forbid- an Uber to his place had convinced him, however. Anything to keep his friends away from the general Muggle population, or else he’d had to move again, and he didn’t want that, not after he had finally managed to settle. So Bucky put up with the calls and the occasional visit having a fireplace brought with it and it did have a few advantages. If he really needed to go to a wizarding shop he could do so easily and the few magical customers that wanted a tattoo from him had it easier as well.

Now he was getting ready for bed, massaging his left shoulder before throwing back the covers. Talking to Steve was exhausting, not as much physically - though sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace was getting to him too - it was the mental exertion that drained Bucky’s energy. Steve rarely showed interest in Bucky’s day to day life, his work or the friends he’s made in town, or his recent fame on Instagram. (”Instagram? Is that one of these weird metric measurements those Europeans use?” Steve had asked him when he had mentioned it, but what could you expect of a guy who thought muggles were only able to produce smartphones because they had imprisoned a wizard or witch somewhere.) It’s always the past for Steve, stories from before when they had both been Aurors, before Hydra.

Bucky shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts out of his head lest they turn into nightmares again.

When he heard the crash all of that was instantly forgotten as he apparated into the cellar to face the intruder. —— Tony blinked against the harsh lights and almost missed how Bucky put the wand away. It happened so fast that Tony wasn't even sure Bucky had been holding a wand at all. One moment he was moving his right hand like he was about to put his wand in his left sleeve, like lots of wizards and witches do, and the next moment it's gone. Except, Bucky isn't wearing a robe or anything with sleeves for that matter. Bucky was wearing a tank top that was showing of previously unknown tattoos on Bucky's shoulders and revealing the whole expanse of Bucky's muscular arms to Tony.

"It's just a fucking cat, Barnes, get it together." Bucky cursed and pushed his hair back with one hand, visibly shaken. He stood still for a moment, just breathing and staring at the floor, his eyes betraying the internal struggle his mind was fighting. Tony didn't even dare to flick his tail. After a while, he looked up and eyed Tony and then the open window above him.

"You squeezed through that, huh?" Bucky shook his head in amazement. "Were you looking for someplace warm? You don't look like you are made for the cold, you're someone's pet, huh? You're a graceful thing, though, quite adorable." Bucky took a step closer and before Tony knew it his cat instincts made him jump off the table and away from Bucky. The rational side of his brain protested once it had realized the mistake. Being petted by Bucky would have been amazing.

"Woah, didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to open up the window a bit more so you could get back out again if you want to." Bucky didn't come any closer, instead, he rested his chin in one hand and his elbow in his other and put on an adorable thinking face. The one he often wore when Tony went on a rambling streak too fast to follow. That face did things to Tony, plus that pose put Bucky's biceps on display like Tony would a particularly fancy cake in his bakery window.

Tony started to drool.

Literally.

It was a cat thing, nobody could blame him for that, but he did wonder why Bucky didn't wear sleeveless tops more often. It was a delicious sight. "You should probably stay indoor anyway in this weather. Don't want you freezing to death somewhere. This your first time outside?" Bucky looked at Tony like he was about to answer him then shrugged. "Probably better you found your way inside then..." He trailed off and looked around the room at the various shelves and cupboards. " I gotta have a box for you around here somewhere. You can hang out with me tonight and then I'll make some calls in the morning, see if anybody's missing you." Bucky walked over to an old antique wardrobe and stretched to get one of the boxes off the top, giving Tony a good view of his back. He noticed a fine silver line running across Bucky’s left shoulder that he hadn’t seen when he had been ogling Bucky’s biceps. Some kind of scar he reckoned, it looked unusual though as it appeared to be shimmering as Bucky moved about.

The most striking feature of Bucky’s back, however, wasn’t his muscles, despite being quite impressive, it was a tattoo that stretched over Bucky’s back and right shoulder. It was partially obscured by his tanktop but nevertheless, it was clear what it portrayed.

A white wolf howling at the moon.

Tony was mesmerized. It was so detailed it looked almost real.

If he weren’t in his cat form Tony would feel bad for staring but right now he was just enjoying the sight, memorizing every little detail as Bucky moved about and peered into boxes.

Bucky had never mentioned liking wolfs so it came as a surprise to see him having such a big tattoo of one on his back. It stood in stark contrast to his other tats which were mostly small and kept almost exclusively in black ink, like the scrawly handwriting on the inside of his right wrist that read “Till the end of the line” or the black widow spider dangling on a string on the inside of his elbow. Not to mention the tattoo sleeve that covered his left arm in gears and metal plates, while those also looked realistic and well done it was nothing compared to the wolf on Bucky’s back.

Tony decided to get a better look and sneak a little closer. To not make it too obvious that he was watching Bucky and that he wasn’t quite a normal cat, he padded around the room in a circle. He stuck his head into a few things to add to the illusion (and damn those cat instincts) and suddenly he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

He glanced back to Bucky but the man had a box in his hand and was staring into it, mumbling something to himself before he closed the box back up and put it back on the wardrobe and took down another one. Bucky really was taking this box things serious but Tony did love a good box when he was a cat so he appreciated the effort.

But if Bucky wasn’t looking at him, why were was the fur on his back standing on edge? Tony was starting to get creeped out and that’s when he noticed it.

It was the wolf.

The wolf was looking at him. The wolf - the wolf tattoo was looking at him. He could have sworn the wolf had been howling at the moon. Tony seriously started to doubt his sanity right about now and wondered if he had drunk any hallucinogenic potions lately that still had an effect on him, but he had sworn off that stuff after he had accidentally turned Rhodey into a platypus while at the Academy and it had taken the headmaster and three high-ranking wizards from the Agency of Magical Mishaps two weeks to figure out how to turn him back. That couldn’t be it.

Except then the wolf tilted his head and regarded him curiously and yeah, the tattoo is actually moving. Of course, it is. It's not the first moving tattoo Tony has ever seen, he was a wizard for fuck's sake, and then it finally clicked in Tony's head.

Bucky had a magical tattoo. Bucky was a wizard.

BUCKY WAS A WIZARD! His mind was screaming at him. It hadn't been his imagination then earlier, Bucky really had had a wand. This was like winning the lottery as the muggles would say and he wasn't even consciously initiating the shift or thinking about any consequences. All he was thinking about was how he didn't have to keep his biggest secret from his best friend and secret crush and then —

"STUPEFY!"