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To make it short and simple, Tony hates winter.
Winter is the worst season of all.
It was too cold, and his nose would get all red. He couldn’t feel his face. It was really just the worst kind of weather.
But one thing about this horrid season that he enjoyed was the person that made him always think of winter. Bucky.
On his way to school this morning, he was considering just staying home. Not like it would affect his grades anyways, considering he was the smartest person at the school. One day missed wouldn’t kill him.
But he had to show up. He couldn’t make Howard mad.
Currently, his mother was over in Germany working with company business. His parents were almost always busy with their company. Often, there wasn’t enough time made for him. His mother would slip time in to visit him. To check what he’s been working on and show him love.
His father never cared unless it was a prototype for the company, or if it was something for him. Howard had gotten mad at the fact that Tony wanted love. His reasoning was that Tony had got everything a normal kid could ever ask for. All kids of toys, clothes, anything he asked for, he could get.
But he wasn’t normal.
He wasn’t asking for toys. He wasn’t asking for clothes.
He was asking for tools.
His father had been checking in with him a lot more lately, suspicious of the fact that Tony had been hiding in his room. At one point, he even yelled at Tony. The fight getting a bit heated. In the end, Jarvis was there to take care of him and help.
He had been working on this recent project for almost 6 months. He had wanted it to be perfect, but he had also wanted to avoid suspicions from his father. If his father had found out about what he was working on, he’d try to turn it into something the company invented. He’d put the project under his own name, not crediting Tony.
Tony did not want that. He had wanted this to be strictly secretive. This wasn’t for him, or Howard, or Stark Industries.
This was for someone special.
For Bucky.
Bucky had been friends with him for a while now. Ever since he transferred to their school. He and Steve were best friends, grew up together but got separated when Steve had moved away from Brooklyn to come to school in Manhattan.
Bucky shortly moved, a few months later. Steve and Tony had butted heads at first, not the best of friends in the beginning. But the more he got to know about the guy, the more he and Steve became friends.
Tony and Bruce would stay after school would stay after school and tutor kids. This would save them from having to go home right away, where both of them dreaded to go. So, they connected with principal Fury to open a tutoring time in the library. It was good, people came to the sessions every Tuesday and Thursday. The sessions were free, no cost to the students because the price was getting them away from home. Tony wished he could’ve got something in return for listening to the stupid questions and stuff. Maybe he could start charging by making the students bring coffee or something.
So, when Bucky moved to town, he now spent his Tuesdays and Thursdays tutoring the Brooklyn duo. Bucky had been new, different, and seemed to be smart.
The more Tony got to know Bucky, the more he wanted to be around him. Bucky had long hair. A beautiful brown that flowed smoothly and rested by his shoulders. He had a warm smile that seemed to lighten the mood when he was around. The only thing that brought Bucky’s mood down, was his arm.
Bucky had been missing an arm. The missing appendage replaced with the sleeves of his clothes knotted on the arm. Up to the shoulder, the arm was missing. The usual knots in his clothing where the elbow would be. A few times, his mother had gone to work early, leaving the sleeve unknotted. In those times, Tony would help Bucky knot his sleeve for him, so he wouldn’t have the sleeve get in the way.
So, it was shortly after he met Bucky, that he had come to the personal decision to make Bucky an arm. He has already made so much with his technology, so he figured he could spare some time from a project he had been working on to help. He had taken the measurements for Bucky’s arm when Bucky had fallen asleep on him during a tutoring session.
Today was the day that he had finished that arm. It also happened to be a Tuesday, today he would help Bucky with calculus. Bucky hated it, but at least Tony’s gift would bring up his spirits.
Tony had placed the arm in a suitcase he brought from home, wrapping it in some cloth he found in his mother’s study room. He’d have to return that later. He had been walking towards the very far end of the courtyard. They had a spot where they would all hang out.
Their friend group was relatively small in sorts. It was very diverse too. They had Bruce, who was the smart one along with him. Steve, who had been playing baseball for the school team. Natasha, who had been part of dance and quite frankly scared Tony. Clint, who was mostly deaf with awesome bright purple hearing aids that Tony tinkered with a couple times, had been fun to hang around, they could always get into trouble when he wasn’t busy practicing archery. Thor and his brother were exchange students from somewhere in Europe, it was hard to remember considering they spoke English very well. Loki had claimed that they knew almost all the languages, Tony just rolled his eyes at that. Sam had been good friends with Bucky and Steve. He worked alongside the counselors at school to volunteer, along with his job at the grocery store he did part time. Wanda had been a transfer student from Sokovia who surprisingly took up knitting with a quiet kid that joined the group called themselves Vision. Scott was just the weird, funny kid that was an extreme baseball fan, and practically worshipped Steve’s baseball stats. Rhodey had been there since the beginning, along with Pepper. He also had the freshman that would join them sometimes to help tutor, Peter. He just called him Underoos.
This was his small family. He looked forward to seeing them everyday because these people cared for him. There was no hate about him being a ‘Rich snotty brat’, they saw past that to see the real him, and he couldn’t thank them enough for giving him the time to see that.
He was in his own mind when he heard footsteps behind him. He lifted his head to see who was following him. He almost groaned in annoyance when he was met with Justin and his stupid lackey that hardly spoke English, Vanko. He stopped walking and sighed.
“What do you want now?” he frowned, pulling the suitcase close. He gave off a defensive stance to the best of his ability. He had been learning from being in the public eye constantly.
“Oh, you know what I want, Stark.” Justin had the stupid smirk on his face as he stepped closer into Tony’s personal space. He reached for the suitcase, but Tony yanked it back, stepping away. “You owe me. You ruined my project at the fair with that stupid ass quiet kid with the curly hair.” He hissed lowly.
“I didn’t ruin shit; your project was just total ass.” He grounded out. “You leave Bruce out of this.” Tony could feel rage simmer at the mention of Bruce. He hated that people would pick on his friends for the things they couldn’t help with.
Last week he dealt with Hammer bullying him about being friends with Clint, all because Clint was deaf. Well, mostly deaf. But it still pissed Tony off. No one should have the right to say those things about his friends. But hearing that Hammer kept picking on his friends for their flaws, it kept driving him crazy.
“Ohhh, you have a soft spot for the retard? Are you gonna lose your cool Stark? Gonna rage like him?” He took another deep breath, clutching the suitcase while restraining himself from slamming his fist into Hammer’s face.
“Give case, now.” Vanko spat out at Tony as he approached him. Tony stumbled a few steps back from the tall muscular lackey.
“Please, jeez. Use your manners, we aren’t savages.” Hammer pushed his hair back in place. “Please, give me the case Stark.” He held his hand out.
“No, you fuck off. I made this; it belongs to me.” He felt the air remain tense. Any moment now, someone would be the first to react.
“Oh. OH. So, you made that? Tell me, whatcha got in the case?” Justin stood straighter and closed the very little space that Tony had between them two. Tony’s hands fumbled to grip the suitcase again. He felt the case get yanked from his grip, before being slammed back into the concrete by Vanko. He could still feel the burning scrape of the concrete along his face and hands, the light layer of snow not doing much of anything to help cushion his fall.
Behind him, he could hear the zip of the suitcase being opened as he pushed himself off the cold ground, ignoring the bits of gravel that stabbed into his hands through the thin gloves and the warm blood slightly leaking down his face. He quickly turned around to lunge at the nearest person, hardly balanced on his feet. He yelled a bit with overwhelming rage as he threw himself at Hammer.
Only, Hammer stepped aside, and now he just ate a mouthful of snow.
“You stupid for genius.” Vanko knelt down by Tony, looking at his disheveled form in the snow. The small remains of red dripping and staining the snow.
“Holy shit-” there was a short silence after that was said and then a laugh of disbelief. “You- wow, you are incredibly stupid, Stark.” Tony lifts his head a bit, pushing himself up with shaky arms, unable to control the rage and emotions. “What are you? Crazy?” he scoffed and set the suitcase down. But what he had in his hands almost made Tony lunge at him again.
He had Bucky’s arm.
“What’s it with you supporting all the disabled freaks at this school.” Tony’s hands were trembling from rage, but also from the cold and the pain. “It’s not like you’re helping them anyways.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Look at this. You’re seriously giving this to Barnes? That disabled freak that you fell in love with?” He frowned at Tony. “How much is he paying you for this? Poor kid like him probably can’t even afford a finger on this thing.”
“He’s not paying for it,” Tony huffed and got to his feet. “Put it back, asshole.”
“Or what? Gonna cry?” he held the sleek metal arm up above Tony. Tony groaned.
“You seriously gonna low blow like that? You know what- yeah, you would low blow like that you piece of shit.” Tony picked up the fabric he had the arm wrapped in from his mother’s study. Now he was definitely going to have to wash this. He was considering jumping at this point to get the are back, because it was important to him. Important to Bucky. But he was cut off.
“Hey! The fuck you think you doing?” He looked over to see Bucky, walking towards Hammer. He definitely looked better than him. Not bleeding, disheveled and covered in a bit of snow. Bucky was cleaner, not bleeding, and dressed perfectly, all complimented with the knot on his jacket sleeve.
“None of your business. Get out of here Barnes.” Bucky lifted his head a bit, standing taller.
“No.” Bucky frowned. “Give Tony back his work. Now.” He stepped closer.
“Or what? What are you going to do with one arm?” He lowered the arm a bit, staring at Bucky in confusion. Looking at his knotted sleeve. “Never been threatened by a cripple before.” He chuckled.
Tony took this as the chance to lunge forward. Hammer was distracted and Vanko had already started to walk away at the sight of Bucky, due to a lesson he learned a few months back in the locker room after touching Bucky’s shoulder. Tony had his fists balled as he threw all his weight into the punch. The fist landed square on Hammer’s jaw as he crumbled to the concrete, dropping the metal arm.
It was silent, aside from Tony’s harsh breathing. Tony was shaking with rage as he glared down at Hammer. Bucky finally stepped forward, as soft crunch under his shoe as he walked up to Tony. He stopped to pick up the arm in one hand. Tony closed his eyes and counted mentally, gather his bearings before turning to look at Bucky, who was smiling softly.
“Buck-” Bucky shook his head and cut him off.
“No, it’s okay. Don’t say anything.” He spoke gently, careful to not make Tony anymore overwhelmed than what he was already feeling.
“I-I’m sorry,” He mumbled, looking down at the suitcase in the snow, clutching the fabric in his shaking hands.
“Doll, there’s nothing for you to be sorry ‘bout. If anything, I’m proud of ya.” He smiled and held the arm out to Tony.
“Proud…?” he lifted his head, face contorted in an expression of confusion.
“Of course, ya stood up for yourself. Even if ya could’ve gotten hurt- which pains me, you stood your ground to protect your work.” Tony gently tool the arm.
“It’s for you…” He held it up a bit. Bucky smiled.
“I know that, but I’m not worried about an arm. I’m worried about you.” He lifted his one hand to cup Tony’s cheek. Tony hissed in a bit of pain at the sharp burn. He had almost forgotten about the scratches. “Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up, yeah?”
“Yeah, alright.” Tony agreed, not wanting to fight with Bucky about his health. For once, someone cared enough about him besides Rhodey, Pepper, or Jarvis. And the person who cared now, was almost more than what could’ve ever asked for. He couldn’t be happier.
“Good, I’ll even try this thing on for ya. I’m sure you worked really hard on it. It’s beautiful.” He bent down and grabbed the suitcase sliding it close. Tony knelt with him in the snow and placed the fabric in the suitcase, before wrapping the arm up.
His work had been called plenty of things. Cool, Bad ass, Awesome, Neat, Nice. But never in his life, had anyone called his work, Beautiful. He looked up at Bucky.
“Well, yeah. I did it for you.” He admitted, zipping the suitcase up. He avoided Bucky’s gaze.
“I did it for you too…” he heard Bucky mumble. “You know, jump in. It was originally Sam’s idea to help you. I insisted to help instead…” He placed a hand over Tony’s on the suitcase. “I didn’t expect it to work.”
“Thank you.” Tony smiled and looked at Bucky’s hand over his. No one ever stood up for someone like him. The first person to do so is only half capable of doing it and even doubted themselves.
“No, Thank you.” He moved his hand and reached up, tilting Tony’s head up by the chin. “I could’ve never done it, if it wasn’t for you.” Bucky had found courage, the courage to defend the person who meant something more to him.
“I’d do anything to help you, anytime.” He looked into Bucky’s eyes. The breathtaking beautiful blue that wonderfully fit with the chocolate brown hair. He mumbled the last part. “Forever and always, Snowflake.” Because you’re my everything right now. The only good thing for me. That part was left unsaid. Bucky’s eyes flashed with something along the lines of recognition and acceptance for Tony’s words.
“Forever and always, Doll.” Bucky pat his cheek. “Now come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Tony stood up. There was the acceptance. The agreement.
Maybe Hammer was right on that part. That he fell in love. But that was his, it’s what he loved about Bucky, and no one would make him feel bad about the good people in his life ever again. Because, they mattered to him, and that was all he needed to know.
That they mattered.