For the commentary thing, the passage from Chapter 4 of Brideprice where Bucky says he remembers Tony? ((“I remember you,” he said after a moment. “From before. I didn’t, at first, but... You’re different.”))
Oh, man, Brideprice is a fun one!
Buckyleaned against the worktable, waiting. “I remember you,” he saidafter a moment. “From before. I didn’t, at first, but... You’redifferent.”
Tonysnorted at that. When Bucky had been lost, Tony had still been asmooth-faced kid. Not that Bucky was all that mucholder -- he and Steve had been patrolling warriors for only a coupleof years when it happened.
“Tenyears will change a boy into a man,” Tony agreed between bites.“Surprised you noticed me enough back then to be able to remember.”
“Iremember you being smart,but none too cautious,” Bucky said, smiling. “I remember... Iremember you were in trouble all the time, it seemed like, forarguing with the teacher.”
“Lessfor the arguing itself,” Tony said, “and more for daring tobe right.”
Bucky’sgrin grew wider. “You were smart,” he repeated, and then helooked around the workshop that was Tony’s chief domain. “Stillsmart. It’s good. Fighters and marksmen, we’re not hard to comeby. But brains like yours--”
“Arewhat caused the Sundering,” Tony interrupted, rubbing at his chest.He gulped down the rest of the stew and pushed the bowl toward Bucky.“Thanks for bringing the food.”
“You’rewelcome. Gotta keep my husband in fighting form, after all.” Buckysaid it with a small, almost tentative smile, sharing the jokebetween them.
Itwould be so easy to be charmed by the act, to forget that what wasbetween them was a fiction. Tony pulled the winch back across thetable. “Better get back to it,” he said.
“Yeah,okay,” Bucky said. He paused at the door. “Ah...”
“Whatis it?” Tony asked, already distracted.
“Stevethought it would be... Uh.” Tony looked up, and Bucky ducked hishead, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly. “Blood report’sback and all clear, so Helen’s cut me loose from medical, and...”Bucky glanced at Tony, lip caught between his teeth. “Steve said Ishould move into your quarters.”
Damnit, Steve. Well.Bucky had to sleep somewhere, and it would be too easy to spotseparate quarters once the other tribes arrived. Tony sighed. “Right,okay. I can sleep on the floor. Just don’t step on me if you get upbefore me.” Sleeping rooms were tiny, not much bigger than they hadto be to hold a bed and a shelf.
“Ican’t put you out of your own bed, Tony!” Bucky looked horrified.
“Wecan take turns,” Tony said. “Sleep in shifts. Something. We’llfigure it out.”
Buckylooked like he was going to say something else, but then he deflated.“Yeah,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”
This may be the tropiest story I’ve ever written, for which I adore it.
At this point in the story, it’s only just been decided that Tony and Bucky’s sham marriage is going to have to stand in place, because i wanted to write arranged/fake marriage fic reasons. Tony has agreed to this farce, but he’s still sort of disappointed that it was a trap and not a real marriage, and he’s still not admitting how attracted he is to Bucky, so he’s avoiding the hell out of him, because pining is one of my favorite tropes.
So in this bit, Bucky turns up to bring him dinner, because that’s another favorite trope, and what he’s trying to say at the beginning, here, is something like I know this marriage is fake but I wouldn’t mind trying to make it work, because I remember how awesome you were when we were kids.
Tony utterly fails to get this message (or, possibly, gets it but thinks Bucky is ~nobly sacrificing himself~ or something), so Bucky is left with using Steve as an excuse to wedge his way into Tony’s quarters. (Is Bucky hoping to seduce Tony into trying to make this marriage thing work? MIGHT BE.) :D
