Post AoU for starkingenuity

[starspangledspandex]

He's old. Old enough to have settled down. Old enough he's letting other people save the world and only stepping in from time to time. There's no 'Honey I'm home' when he steps through door. There's silence and quiet. He makes dinner for one. His bed is cold. He sits and reads the paper while he watches the world move on outside. There's laughter in the hallway. Footsteps. No one knocks on his door. He eats leaning against the counter in the kitchen. Alone. All alone. 'I got no plans tomorrow night' echos in his mind.

Suddenly, no one is on the streets. There are no numbers in his phone. Everything empty and gone and there's just Steve. Steve standing in nothingness. 'Man out of time' 'Nothing but a soldier' 'You can't live without a war' 'Go home, Steve'

He jolted awake, hand raising to rub at his face and it shouldn't have been a nightmare at all but it is anyway. How alone he felt in this century. His friends helped, they did, but they couldn't always be here. He lived and breathed his life as an Avenger. What else did he have? Nothing. He shook it off, like he always did and got dressed, laced up his boots. Most of his team was out of the picture right now. Off doing whatever they did on leave.

Steve paced his room at the New Avenger facility, paced the hallways and spoke to the Agents that were here. He took a walk outside and thought of Tony. The billionaire visited every once in awhile but it'd been awhile. He didn't even know what the man was up to now but Steve... Steve needed to connect with someone to shake off the dredges of his loneliness, someone that wasn't just working here, someone he had a connection to.

So he called Tony.

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[starspangledspandex]

Honestly, he wasn't thinking of the equipment. Steve was actually enjoying his leave for the first time since he was pulled out of the ice. This was fun, so much fun, and he wasn't thinking about that equipment he brought over either.

Steve was focused primarily on how Tony was going to end up fucking him next.

Friday distracted they both and he groaned too, flexing around Tony because he could. "Don't even think you're not finishing this," Steve told the older man. He wanted to end his leave on a high note here.

[starkingenuity]

"Get the quinjet fueled," Tony called to his assistant before he released Steve's legs and leaned over him instead to continue his slow and steady thrusting. Hands smoothed out over thick pectoral muscles as he leaned into the heat of it, sweat dripping from his nose. They really had been getting a whole lot of cardio. A whole lot.

Tony licked at the sweat on Steve's neck, chuckling. "You don't leave a soldier behind right?" he grunted, hand wrapping around the Captain's cock with a tight, quick squeeze.

[starspangledspandex]

His legs immediately wrapped around the man's waist. Slow and steady was new for them, but Steve liked it. The slow build up of pleasure, the rising need--oh yeah, drawing it out was fun. How could it not be? Tony knew what he was doing and after this, Steve was pretty sure he would do pretty well at it too.

Steve appreciated the work out. He needed to make up for the lack of gym time.

"Right," he agreed with a groan, hips jerking upward into the man's hand, though they were torn about doing that and meeting Tony's thrusts.

[starkingenuity]

At least Steve was extremely flexible. Tony liked to kiss him, he had since the Captain had pinned him to the wall and turned teasing into whatever they had become now. It was about to end and Tony didn't want it to. He moved slowly now as if he could extend the time they were together. He was about to go back to being alone in this bed, alone in this Tower penthouse.

"Don't come yet," Tony groaned into Steve's mouth. He was trying holding onto water as it ran between the cracks in his fingers. He was already too close to the edge to hold back anyway.

A shame. What a shame it was to lose this.

[starspangledspandex]

Very flexible, like he'd said, and so long as it felt good he didn't care how he has to bend. Tony had a plethora of positions in his head and they took advantage of it. Nothing that quite hit the rest of the buttons the man's orders did earlier. Steve would have to actually tell him what he wanted for that probably and he wasn't ready for that.

He didn't want to go back to being in his tiny little bed alone either.

"Do my best," he panted, groaning back and oh that order made him tingle too. It was not helping. Not helping at all. Steve was fighting it and hard but Tony was relentless and even he couldn't do the impossible. "Don't know how long I can hold off."

[starkingenuity]

It wouldn't matter for long. Tony was already starting to seize up and his entire body clenched just before he came, angry at himself. He really ought to be too tired for all of this sex. He had lost count how much he and Steve had had in the last two and a half days but he was down a box of condoms already.

Tony moved his mouth from Steve's and breathed quietly against the shell of his ear. The moment Steve started to come, Tony eased off on the pressure and found himself nuzzling the blond's neck.

[starspangledspandex]

He felt the older man come, even with the condom, he could feel the way he tensed and arched. Steve didn't know how much sex they had either. He wasn't keeping track. He knew it felt good and he was young enough it barely phased him.

It didn't take much more for Steve to spill over either. His hands dug into Tony's back as cried out, arching against the older man and gasping for breath as he collapsed back to the bed. His head tilted into the nuzzling and he partially returned it, his eyes half-lidded as he basked in the afterglow of his orgasm.

"That was good," he breathed. "Really good."

[starkingenuity]

"Shh," he eased, not rolling off as he had before until he was too soft to stay inside of Steve. He just stayed for as long as he could, fingers fisting into blond hair as he closed his eyes and composed himself.

It wasn't until he was in the bathroom, washing his hands, with Friday telling him that the plane had been ready for over twenty minutes now that Tony really had to collect himself.

Gay chicken ended with two and a half days of mind blowing sex. It was over. He just had to come to grips with that.

He was dressed when he returned to the blond in jeans he had been wearing earlier that day for breakfast and in his most nonchalant voice commented something about Fury probably missing his prized Avenger.

Acting like he didn't care didn't mean he didn't. He was going to miss sleeping well. That was all.

[starspangledspandex]

He still didn't move until Tony actually got up and even then it was just to pull a blanket over himself. This was an interesting two days and he would be lying if he said he wouldn't miss it. Having someone next to him as he slept... it was great.

Steve kept trying to convince himself he didn't want a stable life but then moments like this happened and he wasn't sure anymore. He dragged a hand over his face as he sat up.

"Fury can wait until I've had a shower," Steve said with an amused smile and collected his clothing before he went to do just that. Coming back smelling of sex was not a great move. He only took ten minutes, tops, before he was back.

"We'll sort out what to do with the equipment once you're finished," he told him, almost reluctantly as he turned to go for the Quinjet.

[starkingenuity]

Funny how things could end like that, could cool so quickly. Tony ignored his emotions, they were just holding him back anyway, and nodded. "I'll have my people call your people when I finish," he confirmed and then followed after Steve. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans as he paused at the stairs. Up for the landing pad, down for his labs.

Tony wasn't the sort for goodbye kisses. So he just waved and headed down to get started on the engine parts Wanda had destroyed in the simulation machines.

[starspangledspandex]

"You're always welcome to bring them yourself," Steve told him, brushing off his own feelings as nothing more than lust. People did this all the time. He didn't but he was still figuring things out.

He raises his own hand in a wave as he mounted the jet. He wasn't looking forward to the ride back. Going back alone was never fun. As soon as he landed, Sam was waiting. At least his team was back, It made things easier.

[starkingenuity]

"We have a lead."

Sam fell into step immediate with Steve, grinning.

"A real lead. Red hot. There were sightings. Still are sightings. Where've you been, man? Been waiting for you since last night. You didn't bring your cell." Whoops. That's what happened when you were rushing to get to a booty call Steve.

[starspangledspandex]

"Do we still have eyes on him?" Steve asked, immediately heading instead to where they kept their uniforms. If actually taking leave for once cost him finding Bucky, he was never taking a vacation again.

"Dropped some equipment off for Tony," he told him. "Then we had a few beers and caught up. You'd think after four years I would remember my phone."

[starkingenuity]

"Romanoff does. She's been tailing him since last night." Sam jogged next to Steve for a moment before he stopped. "I'm going to refuel your plane. Maybe you should have stayed with Stark, though. He was in Manhattan last time she checked in."

Not just in Manhattan. He was in the Tower. Natasha lost visual with the Soldier twenty minutes before Steve had landed and by the time the blond got back to the plane with Sam, suited up, she had called in to confirm that she lost him somewhere around the Tower.

And that was because he had a score to settle with Stark. His programming had kicked back in a few weeks back. Base wasn't answering his calls but he had found Stark. He thought he killed the man and his wife but it appeared he had just changed his name.

[starspangledspandex]

"Well shit," Steve dragged his hand through his hair and no, no need to say it. Haha everyone around here was hilarious. He said something one time and it stuck around forever. He ordered an agent to collect his phone while he was changing. They were back in no time.

"Have Romanoff get to the Tower," he ordered as he finished up by pulling on his boots and he started up the ramp back into the jet. "I don't know what his play is but we have to assume he doesn't remember anything."

He frowned, setting the autopilot, "And call Tony." Steve wanted to trust Bucky but he couldn't trust that he even knew who he was right now.

[starkingenuity]

Tony wasn't answering. Sam sat in the copilot seat with Steve and tried again. Friday's automated message picked up instead and even contacting her didn't get them anywhere. She said that Mr. Stark had gone out and she wasn't sure when he'd be back but she'd let them all know.

Romanoff moved on the Tower and it turned out that Friday was right. Tony was gone. Just gone.

The Soldier never kept prisoners. The Soldier made his killings look like accidents. The Soldier didn't bring people back to the safe zone. He had taped up Tony's mouth half an hour ago to get him to stop talking so that he could think! He was so confused. So confused.

[starspangledspandex]

"I'd be willing to bet he hasn't just 'gone out'," Steve muttered, blue eyes worried as the Quinjet headed for the city and now he wished he wasn't in such a hurry to get back from leave. What if Bucky did something terrible to him?

They were still too far away. An hour was so long. Where would he take him? How far would he go?

"He won't go far," he reasoned, white knuckled on the jet's controls. "He couldn't, not with a prisoner. He'll still be in Manhattan. The only problem is where? Where does he go? Where is he staying? Something abandoned. Somewhere the landlord doesn't care about the tenants..."

[starkingenuity]

Friday was able to help out a great deal. She had Tony's biometrics and sure, he wasn't the easiest to find at the moment but once she was given permission to launch the iron legion (when Captain America put on his failsafe codes), they were able to triangulate where Tony was being held.

"I see him," Natasha whispered, crouching by a vent near the ceiling of the basement Bucky was stalking around a tied up Tony and yelling in Russian at him. "Your friend's accent is pretty good. Stark's pretty bad off."

[starspangledspandex]

Failsafe codes were almost completely necessary after the entire Ultron catastrophe. Someone needed the authority to keep Tony from doing stupid things and if something happened to Tony, they needed to be able to shut the Iron Legion down. Thankfully, the other man agreed.

Thankfully, it could all be done from the Quinjet so by the time they were landing, they had already located him. He double checked the comm lines with Sam and headed toward the building, shield in hand.

"If he's paranoid, he's bound to have traps set up," he muttered. "I'm going to see if I can get down there without setting any of them off."

[starkingenuity]

Tony had learned that trying to talk, even through the tape, was a stupid idea right around the third time he was back handed by a metal fist. It certainly shut him up and he let himself hang far forward , blood dribbling on his lap and mostly dazed when Bucky got up again out of the corner of his eye and headed towards the stairs.

"I'll stay here," he muttered, though it was impossible to make out the words through the gag, and tried to keep himself from falling unconscious.

The Soldier was breathing hard in anticipation as he saw Steve, unmasked, looking half horrified with himself. "I can't do it," he whispered. "I have to, he's my target, but I can't."

[starspangledspandex]

Natasha relayed Tony's condition quietly, which meant that Steve needed to hurry, because the man obviously needed medical attention. It sounded like Bucky really didn't know what he was doing anymore. It seemed as though he was just on Auto-pilot, going through the motions, because that was what he knew but Steve couldn't confirm without talking to him.

He was unmasked as well, hopeful it would help Bucky recognize him and thanks to Natasha passing on his movement Steve wasn't too surprised to meet him upstairs.

He eyed the man for a moment, his dearest friend, obviously broken in ways Steve couldn't begin to comprehend. Except... He was in there somewhere or Tony would already be dead.

"You don't have anymore targets, Bucky," Steve told him quietly. "You're free from Hydra. They've been disbanded."

[starkingenuity]

The Soldier was silent. He tended to be when faced with information that didn't make sense or questions asked of him. He stared at Steve with wild eyes that never blinked. He'd been on the run for months now. He and Steve had met face to face several times, but only when Bucky so desperately needed him.

"He won't stop talking," Bucky said, referring to Tony. "He said the same thing. HYDRA is gone. It can't be gone!" An agitated Soldier was never a good thing. "I have a mission to complete."

[starspangledspandex]

"You get used to it," Steve replied, lightly joking. It was definitely true that Tony talked a lot. Most of the time he listened even if it sounded like nonsense which happened more when the man was working.

He was trying to stay relaxed. He didn't want to startle Bucky when he was already spooked. They had played this game of cat and mouse for awhile. He really wanted it to be over.

"What mission?" He asked, because it would give him some information on just where Bucky was at mentally. "We took Hydra out. I saw to it myself. You don't have to complete the mission."

[starkingenuity]

"Stark's alive," Bucky whispered, trying not to hold his head, trying to keep his jaw set. "Stark's alive and he should have been eliminated. I thought I completed my mission--"

It was worst case scenario right here. Bucky had been wiped between missions, but whatever containment they had used to repress memories obviously was leaking.

And worse... He just confirmed that the Winter Soldier had been used to orphan Tony.

[starspangledspandex]

His expression fell, briefly confused, then he remembered what Zola said, 'accidents will happen. Bucky had been responsible for Howsrd's death? Steve's heart dropped.

Not his fault. No. Bucky couldn't be held responsible for something he's done after being tortured and brainwashed. It would kill James Barnes to know he caused the death of a friend. The man that pulled the trigger wouldn't have even recognized his name, as Steve saw on the bridge.

He shoved his feelings aside. He could deal with the grief of it later. Deal with whether he should tell Tony later. Right now, he needed to help his friend.

"You did complete your mission," he told, voice strained. "Howard Stark is dead and has been for decades," he added, eyes sad. "The man downstairs is his son, Tony. "