Chapter Text
“I am Iron Man…”
And with the words life as Tony knew it was over.
Except…
It wasn’t.
Not by a long shot.
The big explosive ending Tony feared would be inevitable had come upon him—pulling him from the fight and out of the world he’d known. With a snap it was over thrusting him into darkness where he’d been met by the fear that he’d work his way to finding Howard again where they’d be reunited after a lifetime of misdeeds followed by a handful of heroic acts hardly felt like enough to balance the scales even if it came at the price of saving the world.
Knowing that things seldom worked in a checks and balance system, Tony anticipated he’d find his way into the deepest depths of hell listening to Howard berate him for all eternity in the afterlife if there was in fact such a thing. He’d resigned himself to that torturous fate forced to endure the man who’d made him miserable.
Only he hadn’t.
None of it was as he’d anticipated once Tony slipped into darkness. For a few tumultuous seconds Tony could hear the others around him giving him permission to leave this world and be at ease. They were offering hope for peace as Tony felt his body slipping away, lost to the world he’d once known.
His thoughts were running rampant, and Pepper was right. Tony was tired. So very tired past the point of exhaustion as he’d finally pushed himself past the final limitation to risk it all for a world that needed hope. It would’ve been more than enough finally to listen to Pepper and throw in the towel if Tony hadn’t already been dead. In knowing he could finally stop fighting, he was almost ready to let go. There was no point fighting the inevitable now that he’d completed his mission. He’d followed his path to the end. Saving the world. Vanquishing the bad guy. The world was safe. Sound. Tony was free.
Just a few seconds more…
Tony could hear the tears, could feel the pain of the world that was lost to him, but he knew that was no longer his burden to bear. It was time to go. Time to answer the final unknown about what was next. If there was a next.
Trying not to lose himself to fear Tony closed his eyes—if he still had them, he reasoned and accepted his fate knowing that this was the big finale.
This is it, he told himself as he was ready to say goodbye and allow the darkness to envelope him. He’d braved his mission and succeeded in saving the world. Everyone Tony loved was safe. Protected and free from the evil titan who’d set to end it all.
“You can rest now…”
And Tony was finally free.
There was silence—pure nothingness that Tony was convinced would be the gateway to something far different than anything he’d ever known, but then there was a glimmer of warmth.
A spark if you will, followed by an all-consuming hot, white light.
Against the emptiness around him Tony felt as if he was floating along. He was coasting in the space between life and the unknown hanging in the balance of it all until a tiny flitter of laughter and rustling footsteps filled his eardrums knocking Tony out of the beyond from the bright, blinding light around him of the unknown to the far too soft to be anything, but heavenly plush comfort of his California king bed and the smell of the ocean sweeping in from the windows of his beach house.
“Daddy,” Morgan’s voice pulled Tony from the lavish warmth of his lackadaisical return to awareness.
No longer was Tony floating away carried by the wind, but rather he was met by the sounds and smells of home, guiding him further from the end to a place where familiarity poured out over his body in warm, welcome waves guiding him to roll onto his side and let out an exhausted yawn against his daughter’s shouting.
Carried away by comfort in his awakening Tony’s toes stretched out closer to the edge of the bed, captured in the warmth of the luxury blanket all around him. Against his initial impulse to retreat, Tony’s eyelashes opened. Behind his blurred vision Tony could see the rich gold and amber hues of the rising sun in the distance altering him to the most beautiful morning he’d ever witnessed after facing the notion of never anticipating experiencing anything like it again.
There was a subtle warmth beside Tony to the right pressed up against his spine in invitation. It felt like heaven aligned by a touch that caused Tony to curl back and smile against his daughter’s trotting steps moving along the long hallway to burst through the half open bedroom door. She leapt across the room as he pretended to still be sleeping, hopping up onto the edge of the bed beside Tony before taking a seat on his chest in a move that made him roll backwards to fold her in his arms in a tight embrace.
“Wake up daddy! It’s your birthday.”
“My birthday?” Tony laughed as his eyes reopened to see her smiling down at him, so eager to start her morning before throwing herself into his chest again and allowing him to feel again against his daughter’s extra tight hug.
Tony could smell traces of Morgan’s fruity shampoo in her hair as she held him close with her tiny arms wrapped around his shoulders. Her legs were tucked up over his abdomen with toes digging into his ribs as if he was made of clay and not flesh and bone beneath her.
Tony raised his head up to discover she was wearing her Iron Man pajama set he’d gotten custom made for her for the holidays a few years back with a graphic design of his armor stretched out across her arms and down her legs. On top of her head, she was wearing a modified version of the mask he’d made for Pepper with the visor open to reveal her face behind the design. It was a touch smaller than the one he’d designed for Pepper and a lot lighter to accommodate Morgan as it would undoubtedly be the envy of her classmates on cosplay days. Behind it atop her head, Morgan was looking down at him, giggling as she pulled away from the embrace. She reached up to pull the mask down over her face as she hopped over his stomach and swatted at his arm.
“We’re going to make pancakes. You promised we could have pancakes and popsicles to celebrate your birthday!” Morgan exclaimed nudging him in the shoulder and causing him to involuntarily tense up a bit as pain pulled through his body.
“Pancakes and popsicles Maguna? Really?” Tony repeated, preparing to say something more when he reached out to touch the side of his daughter’s face shield, carefully pulling it away from her chin and up over her plump cheeks to reveal more of her eager brown eyes. Holding it in his fingers, Tony carefully positioned it on the nightstand before mussing at her hair and touching her cheek behind a smile, “We’ll have to see how your mother feels about that.”
“What mommy doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Morgan snickered behind a mischievous smile and a wink. Her dark eyes sparked with the same trouble that Tony had often pulled himself into when he had a plan in mind, but now seeing the reflection in his little girl Tony soaked in every second of experiencing it with her as her laughter was contagious.
“We’ll just have to see what mommy has to say about…” Tony paused looking to his side where the weight against his back registered once again. Only instead of finding Pepper tucked beside him, Tony felt the bulk of strong shoulders pressing into his body against the warmth of the blankets. Looking over his shoulder, only then did Tony discover a thick, muscular spine, bare and stretched out beside him on the bed, curled into the plush, squishy pillows as Morgan smacked Tony’s shoulder again to recapture his attention.
“Ow,” Tony replied in a teasing tone, but there was some truth behind the sound as his shoulder was incredibly sore despite his earlier awakening.
“Go easy on your old man Maguna,” a low rumble of raspy masculine words poured out from the opposite side of the bed before Tony’s surprising bedmate turned around and faced them. He had a lazy, sexy smirk accompanied by long dark lashes and tired blue eyes opening to discover Tony’s daughter perched upon her father’s stomach and encouraging Tony to wake up on his birthday morning, “He’s older now. Going to need a few more minutes to get out of bed before we get working on the sugar high that he promised you this morning.”
“Come on daddy,” Morgan tugged on Tony’s arm again in a quick ditch attempt at plucking Tony up from the blankets and into the kitchen for the celebratory breakfast, “You know you want pancakes and popsicles.”
“Of course, I do,” Tony answered turning his attention fully to his daughter again despite recognizing that the man at his side was none other than Bucky Barnes, which opened the door to a whole new world of questioning beyond Tony’s grasp in the awkward situation he’d found himself wrapped up in.
Tony could feel Bucky at his side shuffling around beneath the blankets adjusting in such a way as to pull that perfect body that had been curled into Tony before Morgan’s arrival to a more prone position where Bucky could engage Morgan as well. Seeing Bucky sliding upward and pushing his metal fingers through his messy dark hair, Tony could see how at home Bucky appeared to be, opening the door to far too many questions for Tony to process as Tony observed Morgan leap across the bed to throw her arms across Bucky’s shoulder to embrace him tightly as if she had anticipated Bucky in a place where Tony had not.
Suddenly everything Tony knew about the universe came to a screeching halt as his daughter was hugging the one man that Tony was convinced that he’d never be comfortable with in his life let alone his bed. However, between Morgan and Bucky there was a shared laughter followed by Morgan’s whispers in Bucky’s ear about whatever mischief Morgan was up to and a nod on Bucky’s part before Morgan threw out all the stops in speaking up with extra emphasis behind her excited words.
“Come on James. You can help me get things ready while daddy wakes up,” Morgan squeezed Bucky’s shoulders tighter than before in another embrace, “You promised we could do that special thing too that daddy likes before he got out of bed and…”
“I know what I promised,” Bucky replied kissed her cheek before returning the hug with warmth and ease that Tony was entirely convinced that he’d never witnessed before out of the man who’d popped up in the most unexpected of places, “but I need to put a shirt on before we head on out there to make breakfast. Think you can go check on Alpine for me while I get ready?”
“You betcha,” Morgan hopped across the bed in a roll dive before leaping over the side. She landed on her feet reaching for her helmet on Tony’s nightstand to reposition it on her head. Her tiny finger flipped down the front of the mask drawing it down over her eyes before turning around to give Tony another quick kiss, “See you soon daddy.”
“Not soon enough,” Tony watched her retreat before returning his focus to the unexpected guest in his bedroom.
Swallowing down an uneasy breath, Tony tried to decipher the how and the whys of what he’d awakened in given the tentative nature of what it meant to have Bucky Barnes comfortably curled up beside him, but nothing came to mind. After a few moments of reflection Tony mustered up the courage to turn around and spot Bucky stepping out of bed wearing a pair of blue and white pinstripe pajamas like a pair Tony had kept tucked away for comfort days. They hung loosely over Bucky’s narrow hips as Tony found himself staring at the expanse of the sculpted spine before him flexing and shifting with the stretch of arms over Bucky’s shoulders. In doing so Bucky hooked his fingers together high above his head, pushing up on the tips of his toes and causing his back to crack delivering Tony a voyeuristic glance of Bucky’s hard, muscular bottom pushing out over the falling elastic of the pajamas he was wearing. It was just a tease, but enough to get Tony’s blood pumping to all the wrong parts in his body before Bucky reached down to pull the pants back up again.
“Wow…” Tony managed to get out without thinking, “that ass…”
“What about it?” Bucky questioned before he turned around to face Tony with a flirty smile on his face.
“Puts Steve’s to shame in ways I never considered until you decided to flash me,” Tony responded as his pulse was racing. He raised his hands up over his head, pushing them back behind his head on his pillows before regarding Bucky again from head to toe, “Care to give me another sneak peek before you tell me exactly what you’re doing in here?”
“Feeding into your naughty libido clearly,” Bucky reached for the elastic at his waist catching the knotted ties between a pinch of his fingers and seemingly considering Tony’s request before his eyes shot over to the door. With a sly grin, Bucky etched his finger over the center of his abdomen, flipping the ties around in his other hand before shaking his head at Tony, “but not this early with our daughter ready for breakfast on your special day.”
“Our daughter?” Tony questioned with lips pinching together in Bucky’s response.
Tony pushed up higher on the pillows scrutinizing the level of comfort Bucky appeared to have parading around Tony’s bedroom shirtless and smiling like he knew exactly what he was doing to Tony in looking so damned delicious in such a messy, rumpled state. Bucky was, by all standards, a living, breathing vision of sex on legs as far as Tony was concerned. Knowing that Tony knew he was in big trouble because as unpleasant as the thought of finding Bucky half naked in his bed should be, Tony was now convinced it was meant to be one of the best birthday gifts imaginable in this strange, new familiar but different place.
“She wasn’t trying to agitate your injury before,” Bucky explained bringing his natural fingers over the center of his chest to rub at the even more defined lines that Tony hadn’t thought to take the time to appreciate before they’d faced the end of the world together. Even then Tony hadn’t paid attention to the fact that Steve’s best friend, while dangerous, was also super-hot—exceedingly hot in ways that Tony was warming up to with a shift of his hips and a clear of his throat meant to distract himself from gawking. Fighting every thought rushing through his mind about whistling at Bucky to strip down to nothing and climb over him, Tony looked away from Bucky. He bit down on his bottom lip as his mind was flooded with dirty words that would do the trick to accomplish that goal in mind between them. However, working against the urgency Tony felt in seeing Bucky’s morning state of disheveled stepping out of his bed, Tony stayed quiet hoping to find a cue on how to be pragmatic in his approach to the new fantasy that was pouring through his thoughts with Bucky still talking to him, “She’s still getting used to the idea of you recuperating after we came so close to losing you like that. We both are.”
“Recuperating?” Tony repeated bringing his hand up over his arm to discover a fading pink set of deep, jagged scars pushing out beneath his T-shirt, indicating that perhaps he’d sustained far more damage than he’d imagined when he’d found himself at death’s door in facing Thanos. Of course, Tony had been convinced that he’d lose his arm in the snap as it had been met by immeasurable pain followed by tingling and numbness.
Then again, I’m pretty sure I was dead, Tony thought to himself before he found the strength to face Bucky again.
Big mistake.
Tony swallowed down hard in discovering that Bucky was bent over the side of the bed searching for something buried beneath the blankets before pushing up off the mattress with a smile on his face. In his hands Bucky held a tiny package with a red bow on top of it that he pulled in closer to his chest like a hidden secret that Tony was meant to be intrigued by, but if Tony was honest with himself, it wasn’t the present that Tony wanted to unwrap as Bucky was already halfway there in being shirtless and sexy on the other side of the bed.
“I’ll be right back,” Bucky promised with a sideways smirk.
It was then that Tony realized he never wanted anything more than to see that smile on Bucky’s face. Tony wanted to lose himself in it—find a way to recreate that smile repeatedly, but before Tony could accomplish that, Bucky turned away from him. Bucky pushed up off the bed bringing that elastic waistband down just a touch to reveal his beautifully bronzed flesh sans tan lines that had Tony more than intrigued on learning more about how that came to be. This time Bucky hadn’t thought to pull his pants up as Bucky carried the small package into Tony’s bathroom without warning. A few seconds later Bucky returned, still shirtless and sexy with those low riding pajama pants indicating that there wasn’t anything underneath them in Bucky’s return. Unable to refrain from gawking, Tony’s eyes slipped decidedly lower following the visible line against Bucky’s thigh delivering a thickness that Tony was most certainly going to fantasize about.
“Tony?” Bucky questioned catching on to Tony’s observations before he stopped moving. He pushed his fingers over his hip in a slow curl, appearing far smugger than he’d been in his awakening, “See something you like here?”
“Absolutely,” Tony instinctively rolled over onto his abdomen, kicking his legs up behind him and crossing them at the ankles. He swung his legs forward and pushed his elbows into the mattress before cupping his face in his hands and smiling sweetly at Bucky, “Perhaps you should show me a bit more. Get me going for the day. With it being my birthday and all.”
“And ruin the surprise for tonight?” Bucky winked back at him before his taunting fingers were working over the strings of the pajama pants again.
“Just a sneak peek. I’ve been a very good boy this year,” Tony’s grin expanded, and he batted his eyelashes at Bucky, hoping it would be enough to do the trick as Bucky seemed to be fumbling with the notion of putting on a show for Tony.
“That’s debatable,” Bucky shook his head and laughed, opting instead to release the ties on his pajama pants and move around to the bottom of the bed.
“Okay. Fine. I’ve been naughty. Very naughty,” Tony shifted around on the center of the bed, pushing up on his knees and goading Bucky on further, “Spank me then. It’s time for my birthday spankings, right?”
“Oh, you’re going to get it alright,” Bucky shook his head again, but couldn’t refuse the opportunity to step in closer and swat at Tony’s right butt cheek, delivering just enough of a jolt to cause Tony to tumble down to the bed with laughter and an outstretch of arms in Bucky’s direction to invite him to return on the bed.
“Do your worst,” Tony encouraged Bucky to get closer, sliding his legs apart for Bucky to slink in over him in a slow, predatory crawl.
Bucky more than obliged, nestling his knee between Tony’s thighs. His hands pushed up over the thin material of Tony’s t-shirt, taking in the lines of Tony’s body beneath the fabric before his lips were suddenly over Tony’s in a naughty hover.
“What am I going to do with you?” Bucky laughed dipping down to nip at Tony’s bottom lip and encourage Tony to kiss him back, to enter their unspoken arrangement with one another without any preconceived notions of anything but pleasure between them.
Lost in the moment, Tony reached out to stretch his arms around Bucky’s shoulders. Tony pulled them flush against each other leading Tony to moan and twist, flattened against the mattress beneath the weight of Bucky over him. Unable to resist reaching out in a more hands-on approach, Tony guided his fingers around Bucky’s bare torso, tracing their tips over every ridge and contour before working over Bucky’s spine in a slow, sensual tease. Bucky’s lips were hot against Tony’s neck, delivering a whole new meaning of the word heaven in Bucky’s naughty, reckless kisses.
“You know better than anyone we can’t just look to start something we can’t finish doll,” Bucky nipped at Tony’s earlobe before taking it into his mouth and suckling down upon it for a few torturously, tantalizing seconds, “You know how much I hate getting out of bed with my cock hard and hurting for you. It’s agony waiting to put it to good use. It’s worse walking away when I can’t imagine anything better than having you at my mercy. I hate days like these knowing that more than anything I’d love to slip inside you and make you scream like you did that first time we threw caution to the wind and ravished each other. Delivering on every dirty punishment you can think of when we’re together.”
“What’s stopping you?” Tony challenged withdrawing from the kiss knowing that he was adding fuel to the fire, but it felt nice with Bucky above him.
“Careful Tony. I’m not above throwing you over my knee on your birthday,” Bucky cautioned behind a spark of mischievous blue eyes.
“Going to pull my pants down and give me a lesson I’ll never forget?” Tony licked his lips in anticipation as Bucky’s knee between Tony’s thighs pushed higher, rubbing up against Tony just enough to prompt another slow, rumble of breath to escape from Tony’s lips. Immediately Tony’s head tipped back into the blankets, his lips parting as an unabashed moan rolled from his tongue at the surprising burst of pleasure pouring out from within, “Fuck, that feels good.”
“Of course, it does because it’s just like you need it doll. A little rough and reckless, but so very delicious as daddy treats you right on your special day,” Bucky’s kisses were pushing against Tony’s neck again. Bucky’s lips and tongue were working in tandem to do something incredible that felt almost unheard of, which was something that Tony was entirely convinced hadn’t been possible given the lengths Tony had gone to master the art of sex. Yet, somehow with Bucky toying with him, turning Tony to putty with his lips and teeth working that delicious tongue in a slow, circular pattern over Tony’s furiously pounding pulse point, Tony knew he was beyond a lost cause in being ready to offer himself entirely to Bucky’s talented slide of his body over Tony.
“Keep it up with talking like that and I’m going to….,” Tony’s labored breath revealed in a desperate plea for more stimulation.
“To what?” Bucky murmured with an almost evil laugh rumbling over his lips.
“Come undone in ways you’re entirely unprepared to handle,” Tony confessed behind another moan as Bucky applied a bit more tortuous pressure over Tony’s rapidly swelling cock.
“We both know I can more than handle it,” Bucky’s words were arrogant and reckless and so very much what Tony needed to hear.
Lost in temptation Tony was aware of his thighs coming together to squeeze at Bucky’s leg between them, to encourage the press of Bucky’s knee over him, making Tony shake with want and urgency without considering the cost of revealing such a shameless need to his former enemy. Never had he wanted anything this bad and although it should’ve been enough to shock Tony back to reason, it merely served as fuel for the fire with Tony’s upward thrusting hips working to bring more friction between them over the center of Tony’s bed.
Bucky’s drugging kisses and his knee sliding up over Tony’s distended flesh to apply just enough pressure caused Tony to jerk upward and rub up against Bucky harder.
“That’s it, doll,” Bucky spoke up encouragingly and Tony knew he was a goner.
Lost in sensation Tony’s eyes were pinched shut tightly, his body complying to Bucky’s unspoken command as those metal fingers that Tony had often wondered about were replacing Bucky’s knee in delivering a curl of mechanical fingers over the length of Tony’s cock. They worked in a long, slow drag across Tony’s pajama pants, searching his body from base to tip, delivering just enough of a tease to make Tony squirm and twist in ways he was certain he’d be ashamed of wanting under different circumstances.
“Fuck…I’m really going to…” Tony licked his lips.
Tony reopened his eyes to discover Bucky observing him from above, his long hair framing his face before Tony pushed his hand out to swipe away the soft dark locks and see more clearly the face of the man who’d been at his side in awakening. There was a determination behind Bucky’s eyes, his lips parted in concentration, but there was something about the way his fingers worked over Tony’s flesh that had Tony on edge, fighting to remember what it was he’d been thinking about before his awakening.
“If that’s what you need doll I’m not going to try stopping you,” Bucky was a portrait of calm with steely blue eyes reaching down into Tony despite those magical fingers delivering a naughty promise of something more between them.
“What I need is to…” Tony began to convey his wants, ready to unload on a hidden desire that Tony was entirely convinced would send him straight back into therapy when suddenly it happened.
Pop.
In an instant pain shot up over Tony’s shoulder coiling deep within and causing Tony to jerk back and cry out, unable to ignore the sharp shooting discomfort that carried over him. Tony made a pinched sound and sucked in a sharp breath realizing his arm wasn’t working on correlation with his dick as all the desire he’d felt was replaced by agonizing jabs of hot, sharp nerve pain coiling over his arm and into the space between his shoulders.
“Doll?” Bucky questioned as Tony rolled back into the blankets, gripping his throbbing shoulder, and twisting onto the opposite side. He squeezed his fingers tightly over the spot where he couldn’t feel any of the pain that had overtaken him when a simple roll of his arm sparked the agony flaring through the side of his body. In his retreat, Bucky pushed back kneeling on the edge of the bed with concern behind his once lust-driven eyes, “Did you take your pain meds this morning?”
“I just woke up. Why would I do that?” Tony grimaced and snapped against the pain, fighting to be clearheaded when he was met by something hurting in ways he hadn’t experienced before.
“I’ll go get them,” Bucky replied immediately springing up from the bed and returning to the bathroom, where Tony strongly suspected the medication in question was tucked away.
Now alone in the center of his bed, Tony closed his eyes and fought to control his breathing. If he could get his focus, then maybe he could forget the pain in favor of remembering the earlier pleasure. It seemed simple enough, but his body was nowhere near cooperating with him as he heard Bucky’s footsteps over the flooring.
“That should set you up on the right foot,” Bucky motioned to the bathroom behind him to where he’d been shuffling through Tony’s medicine cabinet for whatever pain meds Bucky was convinced Tony needed. In his return Bucky had two pills in his palm and a glass of water Bucky clearly picked up along the way to help aid Tony in getting his pills down. Returning to the edge of the bed Bucky stretched his fingers out and offered them to Tony before taking a small step back, “Need help getting up to take these?”
“No,” Tony grumbled clenching the pills in his fingers and pulling them closer to his chest as another jolt of pain rushed over his side, “I don’t.”
“Fair enough,” Bucky replied nervously bringing his hands through his hair as the mood had changed between them. Swallowing down hard, Bucky looked to his feet before reaching for his messy hair again, “They should help.”
“What are they?” Tony questioned observing the tiny round pills in his palm, contemplating what they would do for him to ease the tiny jackhammers under his flesh tearing at every synapse from within.
“You know what they are Tony,” Bucky’s voice was etched with disappointment, “I know that you don’t think you want them, but there’s a point where you have to stop being brave and just work on healing.”
“You don’t think I’m trying?” Tony snapped again, knowing that the words came out sharper than he’d intended. Although Tony hadn’t been clear on what the medication was, the wounded expression on Bucky’s face made it painfully obvious that Bucky held no malevolent motivation behind offering them to Tony in his agony.
“I know you are doll, but this has been hard on all of us,” Bucky sighed reaching down to readjust the waistband on his pajama pants to pull them up over those beautifully narrow hips Tony had savored pressed up against him, “This isn’t going to fix itself without a little push along the way.”
“I always push myself,” Tony retorted regarding the pills again before raising his chin up to discover Bucky holding the water glass out to him.
“No one is going to think less of you for asking for a little help,” Bucky nodded to the pills again and Tony moved to reluctantly swallow them down after taking a sip of his drink.
“With what?” Tony questioned behind a yawn. He took another sip of his water to ease the pills down further as Bucky circled around the room to look out the window at the beautiful morning that Tony had taken to appreciating before Morgan’s arrival.
“This has been hard on all of us Tony. Morgan doesn’t understand as much as we’re trying to explain things to her. And I…well, we just both want you to heal,” Bucky continued behind a sigh, revealing the tension that carried over his body with his back turned to Tony, “I know it’s been a long road to recovery where you feel like you’re stuck in a crawl, but being here away from the chaos—this is what’s best for us. I hope you realize that.”
“Yeah, sure,” Tony swallowed down hard before turning his attention to the top of the dresser where his Stark phone was waiting on him. He considered reaching for it, but instead Tony collected one of Bucky’s discarded pillows pushing it over his lap to conceal his waning erection as Tony focused on Bucky again.
“It’s all going to work out for us being out here in time. You’ll see,” Bucky continued to encourage Tony with his somber words as it was clear that Bucky as lost in contemplations of something beyond the scope of their earlier fooling around.
Now as Tony sat up straighter, he knew he was gawking at the half-dressed beauty that had sauntered out of his bed looking far too beautiful to be real. Readjusting underneath the pillow, Tony fought to contain the desire that Bucky had involuntarily encouraged in his slide out of the blankets to reveal more of the man Tony hadn’t anticipated finding in his bed. In that moment Tony tried to think about terrible things—to push his thoughts away from that beautiful body still right in front of him and practically begging to be touched all over again.
Equations. Thanos. Howard’s disapproval. Eighth grade home room. Gym class. All the old mood killing tricks hadn’t worked as Bucky was still speaking beyond the warmth of the sunlight, going on about the benefits of a full time move to Malibu. It was barely registering as Tony was focused on that far too perfect ass to really give Bucky the proper respect he’d needed in his conversation.
Then again, would I have stuck around to listen to a one-night stand in the past? Tony rationalized remembering all the times that Pepper had tossed his good-for-the-moment lover out with cab fare and a parting wave while Tony had retreated to his lab lost in the work that had allowed for his rise to the top. However, something about this felt different as Bucky’s words were meant to reach Tony in ways that he hadn’t been prepared for.
“I hope you’re still not angry about last night. I know things got a bit intense with us, but…I guess I was hoping with this morning we could put it behind us,” Bucky finally breathed an uneasy sigh in turning away from the warmth of the sun beyond the glass. He pushed his fingers through his dark hair before facing Tony head on at the tail end of their conversation.
Realizing it was his turn to respond to the words he hadn’t been listening to, Tony swallowed down hard and brought the blanket up over his chest before biting back on the thoughts and the lewd suggestions that were rolling through his mind especially now that he remembered his daughter was down the hall preparing for their breakfast together.
“Last night…um…did we…?” Tony hugged the blanket tighter against his chest knowing that he’d been dressed upon awakening and more than looking for a good time a few minutes earlier, yet Tony looked down to double check what he was wearing only to discover an old rock band t-shirt stretched out across his chest even though Tony was entirely convinced he wouldn’t have been able to play it safe with a half-dressed Bucky beside him for most of the night.
“Not last night. No,” Bucky circled around the bed before pushing his knee into the mattress at Tony’s side. He stretched forward claiming Tony’s questioning lips in a quick tease of a kiss meant to deliver an impact beyond his words. In doing so Bucky’s long, dark hair fell forward tickling at Tony’s cheeks before Bucky pulled back and smiled down at Tony as if being this close to Tony was the best possible outcome for the morning, “but only because parent-teacher conferences ran far too long leaving us with no choice, but to cave into the Pizza Palace Princess Party request that Morgan’s been throwing out at us for the last six months. Even with it being your birthday today, we both knew we couldn’t tell her no after we were late picking her up from karate.”
“We couldn’t?” Tony repeated, struggling to keep his voice even as Bucky’s thumb skimmed across Tony’s bottom lip in a soft, teasing press.
“Neither one of us stood a chance at saying no once she threw out those puppy dog eyes. It didn’t help that she threw out the receipts on how many times we’d already pushed it off with allowing her to host the event with her friends,” Bucky laughed delivering Tony another quick kiss before sliding back onto the edge of the bed to sit beside Tony with a sexy smirk touching over his lips, “Hence why a day with a dozen elementary school children and the party that followed left us far too exhausted for…”
“For?” Tony arched a scrutinizing brow before Bucky’s laughter spawned a surprising warmth in Tony’s abdomen.
“The birthday blowjob I promised you once it hit midnight on your special day,” Bucky stretched his fingers out to take Tony’s hand in his. He offered up a light squeeze before raising it to his lips in a smile, “but rest assured I haven’t forgotten. It’s only the start to your birthday, so you never know what will come up beyond the morning. Even if we crashed and burned a few minutes ago, the rest of the day is yours for the taking.”
“All I’m prepared for at this point is pancakes and popsicles,” Tony reiterated Morgan’s bold request knowing it was far different than the mornings he’d spent with Pepper and Morgan before he’d found his way to facing the end of the universe.
“Trust me doll I’ve got it covered with Morgan. She’s been planning it for weeks,” Bucky touched Tony’s cheek before pushing up off the bed and walking around the room in search of a shirt. He located one draped over the back of the chair near the French double doors leading to the balcony. Quickly throwing it over his head and effectively killing the naughty fantasies running rampant in Tony’s brain, Bucky eased it down over his abdomen and took away the incredible view Tony was learning to appreciate of Bucky’s body before Bucky turned around to face him again, “You don’t have a thing to worry about.”
“You say that now, but when Pepper hears that we’re starting the day with popsicles and pancakes,” Tony countered knowing full well of Pepper’s aversion for Morgan’s more eccentric tastes.
“Be thankful it’s not pop tarts as that was Morgan’s first suggestion thanks to Thor popping around last week,” Bucky divulged with a tiny shudder and a laugh behind his words.
“Pop tarts?” Tony wrinkled his nose at the suggestion.
“Not going to happen but trust me doll. I won’t lead you astray with breakfast. Plus, Pepper and I have already touched base on this one,” Bucky circled around the bed to step into the dark colored loafer slippers that were waiting for him, “I’ve come into this fully prepared with organic pancakes and real frozen fruit juice bars with no GMOs. All Pepper approved so while Morgan thinks she’s doing something mischievous she’s being healthy which keeps Pepper happy.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all covered, don’t you?” Tony lowered the blanket in observing Bucky reach up to twist his hair into a knot on top of his head in a loose ponytail.
“Almost,” Bucky returned to his side behind a sexy smirk. He stared at Tony for a couple of seconds before leaning down to kiss Tony again, this time offering a bit more behind the tease with a slip of his tongue into Tony’s warmth. It was something of a surprise at how natural it felt between them, but with the welcome taste of Tony’s new heaven his lips parted, and he met Bucky halfway in the eager exploration.
Unable to resist temptation, Tony pushed his fingers up to drag Bucky closer but felt a pinch in his shoulder causing him to tense up and retreat from the warm, welcome kiss.
“Your shoulder’s still hurting you like it was before, isn’t it doll?” Bucky questioned reaching out to massage at the spot were tension knotted over Tony’s body. In a slow circular motion, Tony felt the pain magnify as a small pop from deep within the muscle caused warmth to spill out over his flesh. He couldn’t quite decipher if he felt relief or the lingering tingle of pain upon him as Bucky moved in to kiss him again.
“Getting that in some heat will help. The doctor said it would be a while, but even if you think you’re superhuman you’ve been pushing yourself too hard,” Bucky reminded him with a concerned look behind his eyes as Tony’s health concerns appeared to put Bucky on edge.
“Not nearly hard enough apparently,” Tony glanced at his shoulder wondering why it hurt so damned much, but instead of focusing on it, he looked to Bucky again, “I’ll be fine.”
“If you do what you’re supposed to, then sure you’ll absolutely be fine,” Bucky frowned slightly, allowing his concern to steal his joy from his face before he touched over Tony’s shoulder again, “We really need to get you back into physical therapy out here.”
“I’m good,” Tony lied shrugging off Bucky’s concerns before reaching for his hand, “Really…”
“No, you’re not,” Bucky responded to Tony’s untruth, already knowing that Tony was less than honest in his approach, “but we’re not going to keep arguing about this. Not today. Not on your birthday.”
“Fine, so kiss me instead,” Tony suggested as a part of him had wanted nothing more than to consider this new change, even if it felt entirely outside of the life that he’d chosen for himself.
“Right now?” Bucky asked behind a suggestive arch of his brow.
“Absolutely right now sweet cheeks,” Tony encouraged Bucky to dip in closer, to claim his lips in another rushed display of their surprising chemistry and ease in delivering a breathless high in the kiss shared between them. However, just as soon as Tony was losing himself fully to the anticipation of how far they could take it together, Bucky pulled back with a laugh.
“Keep that in mind for tonight when we’re alone,” Bucky touched over the center of Tony’s chest where the arc reactor had once been. Bucky’s fingers lingered there for a few seconds before he pulled back and reluctantly retreated to the door to the hallway where Morgan was now calling out for Bucky to join her in the kitchen, “I’m on my way Maguna. Duty calls.”
“So it does,” Tony sighed falling back against the pillows as Bucky’s fingers curled over the doorframe in hesitation.
“We will get back to this tonight,” Bucky promised again. He paused only long enough to look over his shoulder and regard Tony with sentiment behind his eyes, “Take your time cleaning up this morning. I left something a bit extra special for you in the bathroom for your first gift today.”
“Thanks,” Tony smiled in return watching as his surprising bedmate walked out of Tony’s master bedroom to presumably make pancakes with Tony’s daughter. In Bucky’s retreat, there were far more questions than answers rolling around in Tony’s mind as Tony’s trip to hell and back had seemingly led him to a new world where everything around him felt familiar, yet nothing about life as he knew it made sense.