WinterIron one shots

Flowers to forgive

Word count: 1970

Summery: Tony and Bucky get on well- too well, which makes it harder for another super soldier to tell the genius he's sorry...

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After everything Tony Stark has done for him: the retro-framing, the Hydra de-triggering treatment; the therapy; the pardon; the foundation created under his name; the arm, it seemed only fair that Bucky return the favour in whatever way he could.

Granted, it would never be to the same magnitude, but Tony seemed to appreciate it nonetheless.

Whenever Tony absolutely had to interact with people he didn't like, Bucky would always make sure that he was at Tony's eight, cocking an unimpressed brow beside an equally unimpressed Colonel Rhodes.

At first, Bucky tried to be discreet about murder-staring Tony's opponents into submission without his notice, and for a while Tony was willing to play along, right until he got bored of it. Then he'd glance at Bucky from the corner of his eye and wink.

Into the third month, Tony would clap both he and Rhodes on the arm before leading them away, and if the warmth of Tony's hand on the small of Bucky's back didn't light the Super Soldier up from the inside, he'd be lying.

Then came the debriefings and the team meetings with the Rogues, a particularly difficult time for Tony regardless of the snarky comments he threw around like confetti.

As good as Tony was at playing a role, Bucky would always be able to catch the barest tremor in the other man's hands.

While Bucky couldn't exactly glare the rest of the Rogues into compliance –  Captain Danvers frowned at displays of aggression though thankfully she treated both sides of the table equally – Bucky did his best to ground Tony when he could. Whether it was a subtle brush of their fingers on the table, or outright holding his hand beneath it. Which was frankly, the best for both of them, when Rogers would go off on a tirade about family and together after all he'd done and hadn't apologized for, Bucky would be this close to leaping over the table and socking him, and if anything, Tony holding Bucky's hand was him doing his part to keep the peace.

The other stuff that came with that though, no compromise necessary.

"You're an absolute treasure," the self-proclaimed genius-billionaire-philanthropist declared before bounding into the living room and practically throwing himself on the couch beside him. Tony wiggling the rest of the small distance until his head rested on Bucky's stomach, jostling the textbook that was propped up against his thigh.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, sweetheart," he said, adjusting only slightly to the added weight, metal fingers carding through the other man's dark hair of their own accord. "But what I do this time?"

"What didn't you do?" Tony asked with a dramatic sigh, loosening his tie and undoing the top two buttons of his shirt as he did so. "Breakfast, coffee and that murder-stare of yours against my foulest enemy, I could cry literal tears of joy."

Bucky sighed. See?

The man literally had the world at his feet: The Accords were a success thanks to his hard work; he had allies across the world – enhanced and civilian alike – that respected his contributions and input; not to mention he successfully launched Resilience-Tech, a subsidiary of Stark Industries that worked at revolutionizing prosthetics; and after all of that Tony was just grateful someone was nice enough to feed him and glare at people he didn't like?

"Doll, that's literally an everyday thing." When Tony only waved it off, Bucky added, "And your foulest enemy, really? I thought you got along fine with Barton."