WinterIron one shots

JARVIS

Word count: 1060

Summery: with a specialty visitor on the way, Tony has a sudden urge to keep everything clean and tidy. But the guest in question has the power to bring Bucky's life and happiness crumbling down around him.

————

The team could only watch as the genius ran around the tower, cleaning everything. From deep in the stands of the carpets right up to the lights scattered around compound.

Every mirror and glass panel in the building was polished util they shone ( and there were many glass windows,) and he was satisfied until there wasn't one speck of dust.

It drove everyone mad.

He constantly pushed their feet off of the table and arm rests, he ran around cleaning the dishes every night, laundry was finished in an outstanding time and shoes was forbidden inside.

It was the same this morning.

Tony was busy cleaning the cabinets in the corner of the room and their contents when the team was settling down to watch a movie since there was no missions. And just as the film was about to begin, the vacuum started.

Groans of annoyance filled the room from the pissed avengers- all who turned around to watch the man hover frantically. Bucky had never seen the man so obsessed over cleaning - his lab was constantly a mess!

" ny.... TONY!"

The vacuum died down as the genius turned around, wiping the sweet from his brow. " yeah?"

" please stop cleaning for 5 minutes," Clint whined. Falling against Natasha dramatically.

" I have to agree tony, why change so suddenly.... I mean - you never clean." Steve said equally as confused as the others.

Tony huffed in response, " because capsicle, I'm expecting someone,"

And just at that moment, the elevator pings and a flash of absolute terror crosses his face. He desperately pushed the vacuum out of sight and beckoned everyone to sit down - properly, and checks everything over one ear again before the man steps out with a smile on his face.

Anthony," the old man says, his English accent as clipped and proper as any Bucky's ever heard, even as old arms wrap gingerly around Tony's waist to return the hug, "I'm glad to see you." He pauses as he notices the Avengers gathered in the room, watching them, and makes an obvious effort to straighten his stooped shoulders. "You didn't say you had guests, Anthony. You mustn't neglect them for one old man."

"Nonsense," Tony returns, his voice as gentle and fond as Bucky's ever heard it. He releases the old man with one arm but keeps the other firmly around the man's back. "They're not guests; they live here. And I was hoping you'd get to meet them. These are my friends." Bucky's pleased to note that Tony didn't hesitate over the word "friends" at all, not like he used to.

"Well," says the old man with brisk certainty. "Any friend of Anthony's is an acquaintance I should be more than pleased to make." He gives Tony a contented smile.

Tony smiles back, and it's one of those rare, unguarded smiles of untempered affection, the kind that steals Bucky's breath away with wonder whenever it's directed at him, and Bucky realizes who it must be an instant before Tony speaks.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Mr. Edwin Jarvis."

Tony's talked about this man before, many times – ten times more than he's mentioned Howard or his mother, and with a hundred times more warmth and respect. Tony might have inherited Howard's genius and Maria's gift for languages and music, but it was Jarvis who gave Tony the generosity and kindness and heart that Bucky loves in him most. For all intents and purposes, Edwin Jarvis was – and still is – Tony's father.

And that means , he is meeting his boyfriends father!

( cue panic!)

Bent with age, frail, and palsied, this man could destroy Bucky with a single word; could wound him with no more than disdainful expression. Bucky tucks his hands behind his back to stand at parade rest, partly to hide the arm, and partly because his hands are suddenly shaking.

And of course it's Bucky that Tony leads Mr. Jarvis to first. Bucky could feel his heart beating out of his chest, only hoping to gain this mans approval. "Jarvis, this is Bucky, my... well, 'boyfriend' feels a bit childish at our age, but 'partner' is so dry, and some of the other–"

"You're rambling, Anthony," Mr. Jarvis says firmly, and like a miracle from the heavens, Tony actually shuts up. It is just as much of as surprise to the rest of the team, as their mouths fall open in astonishment.

Mr. Jarvis offers Bucky a hand, and Bucky unfolds his good hand from behind his back to take it, careful of the old man's obviously arthritic joints. "I've heard many good things about you, Mr. Barnes, both present and past. I hope you won't be too embarrassed to learn that I was quite the fan of your exploits, back in the day."

Bucky can feel a blush crawling down his neck, but he'd done a brief publicity tour with Steve back in '44 and somehow the old charm rises out of the fog of his memories. "Aw, most of what that was hooey," Bucky drawls, putting on his best sheepish grin. "The folks who wrote those things didn't have any idea how it really was."

Mr. Jarvis' expression flickers, too fast for Bucky to identify the expression, but he nods. "That's true," he says softly. "I think that might be what I liked about them best." He lifts a hand to squeeze Bucky's arm just above the elbow – Bucky thinks it would have been a shoulder clasp if the old man's body had allowed him to lift so high – and says, "You'll take good care of Master Anthony for me, now, won't you?"

Bucky finds himself caught in those eyes, clouded with age and surrounded by wrinkles and nothing at all like Tony's except for the warmth in their depths, and he says, "With all my strength."

"No," Mr. Jarvis corrects, not unkindly, "with all your heart."

When Bucky looks up, Tony is watching them both, eyes shining with pride and love. "Yes, sir," Bucky agrees, and he reaches out with his left hand to squeeze Tony's hand. "Every bit of it, and then some."