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winteriron - 1000 kisses (part 2)

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@myhiddenfandom @mrunaliniraman @sweetlycolorfuluniverse @natwinchester46 @skye-wright @justjessica131 @nyancat47 @shadowkya @buckysunshine

the ending part. mostly happy ending, because I’m in that mood.

warning: sappiness and corniness. And angst. The angst still exist and is very important (to me anyway). And some swearing.

previously:

Day 78

Bucky imagined Tony’s lips before, ever since they started the whole kissing thing. He imagined himself kissing those lips. He imagined the warmth of them against his own lips, their taste.

He got his wish today. Tony’s lips were soft.

So soft…

He just wished he could feel them breathe against his lips, too. And preferably not as cold.

Four Hours Earlier...

“What about the Bahamas? Imagine it, the waves, the beach... The sun. Remember sun? I miss sun. I can’t believe I said that, but sun! More importantly, warmth!”

Bucky would exclaim his vehement agreement if he wasn’t so busy facing the ten - or twenty (reinforcement, how the hell did the reinforcement arrive?) androids in Hydra uniform that just seemed to keep going even after Bucky ripped out their heads, like headless zombies. Whatever part of the Bucky ripped away, they just stood back up and attack with whatever limb they got left on them.

It was cold, extremely cloudy, and they were in the only part of the world where it already started snowing, so added to the seemingly infinite number of zombie-robots, they also had to be careful on their footing so they won’t slip and bear with the fucking cold.

“Chatter, Hawkeye! Tony, can you find what controlled these robots?” Steve sounded frustrated by now, which Bucky could understand. He didn’t much care for the cold either.

“Always ordering me around, Cap. You should - Found it! I’m heading out there right now! Sam, cover me!”

Bucky saw in the corner of his eyes as the red-and-gold figure - probably the only bright color in the sky right now - went off to a different direction and the horde of flying robots that Tony had fought off before was about to follow, but then Sam directed their attention to himself, but a few stragglers managed to follow Iron Man’s trail anyway. Bucky chose to pick a moment when he was shooting off his own horde to shoot those that followed Tony off the sky. That decision created a chance for one robot nearest to his flesh arm to reach, but Bucky managed to counter it so he only got a scratch intead of a ripped and bloodied arm.

“Thanks for the cover, Terminator! But please, don’t do that again,” Tony cheerfully said through the comms.

“Whatever you say, doll,” Bucky said cheerfully (at least for his standard) back as he continued fighting off the horde of robots.

Natasha, who was fighting by his side, glanced at him weirdly, which was already a norm nowadays, especially whenever he was being sweet to Tony in their sight, either when he was kissing the man (452 more kisses to go, how time flies, Bucky thought dreadfully despite never able to control himself to cut down on on the kisses just so they can last longer) or when he simply called Tony with his own version of nicknames. Honestly, Bucky had no idea what their problem was, and he didn’t think he cared either, since they haven’t said anything to him.

“Chatter,” Steve reprimanded, though Bucky could hear that ‘something weird’ in his voice, too. While Bucky could ignore it when the rest of the team were the ones doing it, when it came from Steve, Bucky couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt. It wasn’t anything Bucky couldn’t brush off, though. Steve was probably just worried about him. A weird way to go about it, but Bucky was pretty sure none of them meant it the way they came across as to Bucky, especially Steve.

(Passive-agressive, waiting in silence with the kind of face that looked more fitting if they were watching a ticking bomb, on it’s way to go off and they were contemplating the best ways on how to stop it, wondering if it was too late to find cover instead)

As his metal arm ripped another part of one of the android’s body, Bucky thought such a shame it was for the team to be so guarded, when nothing was going on between him and Tony. He wanted to put a yet in that thought, but Bucky didn’t think it was much of a possibility. (But, the team seemed to think it was possible, despite the weird looks, so maybe? But no one said anything, not even Steve, he didn’t know what to make of that)

He punched the next robot much harder to compensate for the conflict of emotion he was feeling. He was about to deliver another punch before the androids suddenly trembled and their lights flickered, before they went dark completely. One by one they fell to the ground. The ones left standing were the rest of the team, the Avengers. Everyone grinned to each other, Black Widow already started bantering with Hawkeye, and even Bucky wasn’t exempted from letting his own grin show.

(Any minute now, that whoomph of excitement, the smug and adorable laughter -)

“Iron Man, the androids are down. Good job, Shellhead. Where are you?” he heard Steve said through the comm, relief and giddiness of a mission well done filled his tone.

(One second, two, there will be a banter, mutual teasing and post-fight jokes -)

Silence.

From his position, Bucky could see clearly how Steve’s earlier smile turned into a frown.

“Iron man? Do you copy? Falcon?”

Silence.

“Iron man! Falcon!”

When there was still no response, the group as one quickly ran towards they last seen Falcon and Iron Man. Once they reached the point where they last spotted Falcon, they soon spread out, with Steve and Bucky heading towards where Tony headed before. They ran side by side without much words, straight ahead until they saw a large body of water they were never informed of before, and a suit of red-and-gold armor lying on the shore, unmoving and the blue light of the arc reactor was off.

Quckly, they went to the armor’s side. But, none of them dared to open the suit just yet until either Friday or Tony himsellf tell them otherwise, in case Tony needed the support of the armor if he broke a bone or two. Bucky wanted to at least rip off the face plate to see Tony’s face, hoping -

“Tony, are you okay?”

There was a clang from inside the suit and a muffled grunt, but they couldn’t hear any reply from Tony. Concerned, they glanced at each other and tried to call him again.

“Tony, are you alright? Can we remove your suit?” Steve asked.

Another clang, more muffled grunts, but no words that either of them could understand. Afraid that perhaps Tony had his speech compromised somehow, but still unsure if the helmet wasn’t supporting a headwound, Bucky tried for something simple.

“You can still make noise, Tony. If you can hear us, make one noise for no and twice for yes. Are you alright?”

Two clangs. Both Bucky and Steve sighed in relief.

“Can you open your armor, Tony?” One clang. So, Friday was compromised too, but Steve didn’t know if there was any latch on the armor or an overide code, neither did Bucky. But, considering the man was fine and communicating, they’d like to believe opening the armor wih force should be okay. At least the face plate. Communication would become easier after.

“Okay, well take off your face plate first, okay. Brace yourself,” Steve reached for the plate and pulled it off. Bucky wished he was the one to do it, just so his face was the first thing Tony would see, but Steve was closer. It didn’t look like ripping hte face plate was easy, since he saw the strain on Steve’s arms as he tried to tip it off, so much that he even stumbled when it finally came off. Bucky heard a gasp of breath, but when they looked at the maskless face, they didn’t see Tony.

“Sam!? What the - why are you in Tony’s suit?” Steve asked, panic now coloring his voice. Because, then where the hell was Tony? Bucky wasn’t faring better either. Whatever slight relief he had now gone, replaced with raging panic and worry.

“Shit, you haven’t found him!? He was -” Sam haven’t moved, can’t probably, but his eyes flicked towards the water and that was all Bucky needed before he ran and plunged himself into the freezing water. “ - falling into the lake- shit, wait, help me get up!” was the last thing Bucky heard right before water muffled his hearing.

The water was cold. So cold. It took him a few moments before he finally managed to control his body reaction and concentrated on swimming deeper. His metal arm certainly made the journey to the lake’s floor easier. It wasn’t meant for a swim, but it was certainly designed to be adaptable. Just -

(It was so fucking cold - fuck)

When he almost reached the floor, something membrane-like formed from around the neck of his armor, creating a some kind of air bubble around his head, filled with oxygen. Probably an emergency measure, though Bucky didn’t remember when Tony had installed it, yet he was thankful all the same. It made it easier for Bucky to keep searching.

Bucky swept through the bottom of the lake, trying to find even a vaguely humanoid shadow that might be Tony. It crossed his mind that if Tony haven’t floated up, he could either be stuck or - something else might be in there.

Bucky didn’t know how long he was underwater, but everything felt so slow. His eyes were trying hard to look through the blurry landscape as he kept his metal arm to stay unsunk. But, finally, finally, Bucky saw something.

He saw a kind of machinary, and three robots lying dead near it. Bucky didn’t care much about them, since one of the robots held something much more important.

There was Tony, floating yet unmoving, one of his foot held tight by the dead and heavy robot. His eyes were closed, unconscious.

Bucky sped up, his flesh hand touched Tony once he was floating right beside him, but the man didn’t open his eyes. He could feel the weak pulse thrumming under the skin, but it was so slow. Without wasting any more time, he dove under Tony and smashed the stupid piece of robotic junk with his metal hand and quickly brought Tony back to surface, metal arm firmly hooked and locked around his waist as he used his flesh arm and his legs to swim up. The weight was excruciating on his left shoulder, but he didn’t pay it any mind. It wasn’t an unfamiliar pain. No, the one in his heart was more painful, as the body in his metal grip felt less alive and more dead.

(No, there was a pulse -)

But, even once his head was out of the water, Tony didn’t gasp, or breathe.

His heart felt like it was trying to get out of his ribcage as he tried to stay above the water surface, the protective bubble had long since disappeared once his head were no longer underwater. The weight in his arm as well as his own arm kept dragging him under, his legs and flesh arm felt like they were trying to rot themselves under the cold water as he tried to swim towards the shore. He went to the direction where he saw Steve was waiting, where Clint and Natasha had also apparently arrived and Sam, Iron Man chestplate still stuck to his torso.

Steve and Clint helped him to bring Tony up and laid him to the ground before they pulled him up too. Just as his knees touched the ground he quickly crawled towards Tony, Sam already on his knees beside him him, checking for breathing and pulse, as well as cleaning the mouth from whatever debris might have gotten in and water, but unable to do much that needed bending down for long because of the weight of chestplate. Bucky, however, already went to action. He tilted Tony’s head back and lifted the chin, before pinching the nose and covered Tony’s mouth with his and blew the air in his lungs into Tony. He concentrated on Tony’s chest, seeing it rise as he breathed. He leaned back, took a breath, then locked his lips with Tony’s again and breathed.

(Please, plase, breathe -)

His fingers searched for a pulse - numb, cold fingers, how could he feel at all? - then he felt the slightest heartbeat, the thrum of Tony’s pulse -

But Tony still wasn’t breathing.

As he continued blowing air into Tony’s lungs, he didn’t notice the quinjet arriving. He didn’t notice Bruce running towards them. He didn’t notice as Sam telling him to let Bruce handle it from there. He barely noticed Steve trying to pull him away from Tony.

Tony wasn’t breathing.

(Tony’s lips were cold, so cold, - )

[That wasn’t supposed to be how Bucky felt the softness of Tony’s lips. He could barely feel them, couldn’t even notice, not through the cold and how Tony wasn’t breathing.]

Then, then, something miraculous happened.

Under him, Tony suddenly jerked. Bucky quickly moved him into recovery position as Tony vomitted water. Bucky helped him to straighted up as he coughed and hacked, and for a second, Tony’s not-entirely-lucid eyes met his, before they closed again and Tony lost consciousness.

Bucky stared at the steady rising and falling of Tony’s chest as Sam and Clint moved the unconscious (but breathing, breathing) man into a stretcher and transported back to the quinjet. Then, Bucky noticed something was put around his shoulder. He stared at the soft, fluffy orange thing, brain still haven’t quite registered what it was and why it was there. After the haze of Tony’s alive, Tony’s breathing, Tony will be fine, faded quite a bit, then he computed the soft, warm blanket around him. Then, he noticed Steve behind him, hands hovering and face full of worry.

“Bucky, you’re okay? Your skin is freezing.”

Natasha was there too, watching. He also realized that, yeah, he was freezing. He felt himself shivering. He tried to stand, Steve was quick to hold on his right elbow when he stumbled and helped him stand. After he was steady on his feet, he gently released himself from Steve’s hold,

“I’m okay,” he said. But, the cold still lingered. Steve was hovering, and Natasha was too. She was just more subtle about it. Bucky tried to step forward, managed, and continued to march towards the quinjet. Behind him, Steve quietly fretted, whispering loudly to Natasha, who looked at Bucky with an expression that was trying to stay indifferent, but the worry still leaked through. Bucky didn’t care, not yet. Not right now.

(He was so cold.)

When Tony came to, the first thing he noticed was the warmth.

The second thing he noticed was the medical room of the compound, which also translated as fuck.

The third thing was there is a person in my bed. A glance to his side told him what he already suspected. Bucky’s in my bed.

Why is he in my bed?

Of course, the man didn’t have the grace to be asleep either. In fact, his eyes were open and staring right at Tony.

“Umm,” was the smartest thing Tony said all day. His mind was still trying to catch up since, apparently, Bucky was cuddling him. Flesh arm right across Tony’s chest while the metal arm was folded between them, one leg curled around Tony’s knees.

Tony didn’t know if he was feeling relieved or disappointed they weren’t naked. (Who was he kidding, he was disappointed. Whatever)

Tony stared at Bucky, and Bucky stared back.

“So....,” Tony started, “not that I’m not happy to see you, because I am, but why are you on my bed?”

For a moment, Bucky didn’t answer. He kept staring. Tony, however, wasn’t as strong and blinked before his eyes glanced anywhere that wasn’t Bucky’s face, feeling awkward.

“Uhh, any reason why you’re staring at me like I killed somone’s dog?”

“Sam told us what happened,” Bucky said suddenly, forcing Tony’s focus to go back to him. Tony started to remember what happened too.

“In my defense, it really was the best thing I could do in that situation. I didn’t actually mean for my leg to get stuck to stupid metal robot hand.”

Bucky didn’t immediately reply, so Tony kept talking.

“I mean, my suit was designed to withstand extreme falls. Just, after Rhodey, I just have to make sure it never happens again. Only, well, it only applied to my suit. And Rhodey’s. And when the thing exploded and took out all of out technical things, though in our case it was mostly the falcon wings, the wave kinda did something too so he couldn’t glide safely to ground. My suit also got compromised, I only had time to do one thing, and I knew I would be heading towards water while Sam was heading to ground. Of course he was gonna need it more than I did. Sure, he was gonna get trapped in there for a bit, coz lack of power, and the suit was pretty heavy. Without power, it was just a person-shaped metal coffin. Then again, hey, better trapped than dead, right? Only, I didn’t think one of the robot would be still active either. It was probably the mother robot or something, and it grabbed my ankles just before it flickered and became more of a dead weight. Its grip was pretty solid and before I knew it, the thing quickly dragged me to the lake’s floor. The lake was pretty cold, I hated that. Then, I couldn’t hold my breath that long so I lost consciousness under there, but hey, you guys got me out! All’s well that ends well, right?”

Tony grinned, but Bucky didn’t so much as twitched. Usually, Bucky would offer a smile back. Or a kiss to the cheek. Tony also remembered the kisses that rained on him the last time he got into hospital. Sure, there was no cuddling then, but the kisses really were nice. He wondered why there was none this time. He got too used with the kisses, so he was kinda bummed Bucky haven’t kissed him yet, now that he woke up. The cuddling was fine though, Bucky was really warm, though he looks kinda grim. Not his usual grim, but grim grim.

Wait a minute, was Sam not okay, after all?

“Sam’s okay, much better than you, in fact. After we pried all of your armor pieces of him, he was right as rain,” Bucky said, as if he read the words on Tony’s face. Bucky had been good in doing that lately, Tony didn’t know if he should be faltered or offended that Bucky had gotten so good at reading him. He decided on being flattered though and smiled.

“Oh, that’s great! Not great about the armor, because I don’t think you meant that as prying off carefully and with consideration of Tony who will have to repair it later, but the rest was great!” Tony grinned, but Bucky’s expression still haven’t changed. Also, his hold on Tony seemed to get tighter.

“Err... Bucky?”

“That’s great? That what you thinkin’? That it was great?”.

Tony blinked.

Bucky sounded upset.

“Uhh... yeah?” why is Bucky looking so murder-y? What did he do? “I mean, Sam was fine, I’m fine, and hey! Everybody got out okay. Another win for the Avengers, right?” Tony grinned again. The growl intensified so Tony stopped grinning. He frowned when Bucky carefully extracted himself from Tony and he couldn’t help but whine at that. It was colder now that he didn’t have Bucky’s warmth anymore. For someone dubbed as the Winter Soldier, he was really warm. Well, at least Bucky was still holding his hand. He’d really like Bucky to come back, though. He would like to sleep surrounded by that warmth again, though he didn’t think he’ll get it anytime soon...

“You know what I’m thinkin’ Tony?” Bucky started, glaring so murderously that Tony felt a little bit afraid, but not really. Bucky glares so much that Tony thinks he was already immune by now, though granted he rarely had one of those glared directed at him. “I think that it wasn’t great. It was horrible, terrible, and it was the worst thing that I ever had to do in my entire life.”

Tony stared with wide eyes, still a little confused because he couldn’t understand why Bucky was so angry. In the face of something he couldn’t quite understand, of course Tony had to point out the little inaccuracy.

“I don’t think it was actually the worst -”

“The Worst, Tony. THE. WORST. It doesn’t even compare to HYDRA because that I can handle. But that stunt you pulled? God, I had to fish you out of the freezing water, and you weren’t breathing. You were fucking as cold as a corpse, Tony! Your lips were blue, you wouldn’t breathe even as I tried my hardest trying to breathe some ait back into your lungs and I could barely feel your heartbeat! And, because Sam was the only one that knew you went underwater, we didn’t know until after we pried the helmet off, thinking he was you! We thought you and Sam got separated, we wasted time that you didn’t have! Do you even realize how close you were to dying?”

Tony watched as the anger slowly faded into the most heartbreaking expression he didn’t know bucky have. The hand clutching his own was shaking and even though Tony didn’t see any tears, Bucky seemed to be close to crying. And that’s...

Tony doesn’t like that.

“I’m....sorry,” Tony said slowly, hand gripping back as hard as he could. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Tony tried to twist his body a little, his other hand reaching out, silently asking for Bucky’s other hand. The hand clutching Tony’s was still shaking, and the other hand that reached back weren’t much better.

“You need to fix your helmet. It would be easier if we had known sooner what Sam was trying to tell us, but the helmet muffled his voice.” Bucky muttered, frowning.

“I had to reinforced and padded it a bit, so his head wouldn’t be crushed in the helmet when he reached ground and with the power in total shutdown. I’ll fix it.”

With both hands in Tony’s own, he tried to lightly pull the man towards the bed, which Bucky followed without even an ounce of resistance.

“...warm me up again?” Tony asked softly. Bucky still had his eyebrows furrowed, lips slightly pouting, but he carefully shuffled up to the bed and took his previous position, cuddling Tony and making him warm from head to toe.

“I really am sorry, I didn’t think it would be that bad for you,” Tony said again, now that they’re face to face on the bed. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

Bucky shuffled closer, their noses touching, their breaths mingling, and Tony couldn’t look away from the startling steel-blue eyes that only now Tony realized have been looking at him with love.

“Kiss me,” Bucky whispered. “One thousand kisses.”

Tony smiled a little. “Oh? What about the rest of my kisses?”

“You’ll still have them,” Bucky promised. “But now you have to add a thousand of your own.”

“Mhmm, and considering our lives, do I have to add another thousand when I scared you again?”

“Uh-huh, and I’ll add a thousand more when I scared you.”

Bucky’s hands still shook a little when they wrapped around Tony’s waist, but Bucky was smiling a little, so Tony took it as a win.

“I guess we’ll be in debt forever, then,” Tony muttered, eyes closing. Bucky held on tighter.

“Forever and ever, doll.”

Tony lets out a small laugh, already halfway into the dream world now that he has warmth and Bucky around him. He mumbled out ‘forever and ever’ that trailed off as he went to sleep. Before he was lost in the darkness, he felt the warm press of soft lips against his forehead, and he welcomed the darkness with a smile.

Bonus:

Sam stared through the small opening of the door, at the two idiots that seemed to have started kissing left and right though the compound and giving panic attacks to the other people that lived alongside of them. He slowly closed the door shut, careful not to make any noise, and turned towards the sorrowful faces of Steve, Natasha, and Clint. Bruce was sitting beside Sam’s space, casually reading something from his tablet, much more relaxed now that he knows Tony was going to be alright.

“Still think that they’re a bad idea?”

“Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier were both womanizer,” Natasha said harshly, glaring at the closed door. “Bucky was a natural playboy, and the Winter Soldier was methodical in his flirting and making women do what he wanted, so you see why I was very concerned about the idea of them ever getting together? Stark, for all his fault, doesn’t do anything by halves. When he loves, he loves, and it hasn’t been that long since we’re finally friends again, that he trusts us again, and like hell I was letting Bucky’s libido ruin that by trying to get into Tony’s pants.”

“Tony’s not a girl, though,” Clint pointed out. “I’m not saying I approve. I can buy them being friends, but lovers? I can’t see them last long. They might be happy and lovey-dovey now, but a few years into the future? In the end of the day, they have a past. When they break up, we all have to take sides again, and it’ll suck. We’re barely held together as it is, and Tony might forgive, but he doesn’t forget. The trust we finally built up to now will be shot to hell, and we might going to lose Tony entirely. And we all know how much that sucks.”

Steve looked pinched. “But, if they’re happy.... Then we should support it, shouldn’t we? Bucky, he’s been better, happy. And, I think, so was Tony. I’m still not sure if it was wise for them to be together, I know it’ll be.... catastrophic, for both of them and for us if something happens and they break up, but... I mean, in the end, it’s their choice, right?”

Sam nodded and turned to Bruce, who the noticed he was being looked at by four pair of eyes.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I’m happy if they’re happy. If Bucky broke Tony’s heart, Hulk will just break him back,” Bruce said, still focusing on his reading.

“Well, as for me, as long as they’re both consenting adults, I have no problem either. Though I have to say it really surprised me when I first saw them kissed. It was sweet, I didn’t think either of them had it in them to be sweet. Forehead kisses, cheek kisses, I think cotton candy could be less sweet.”

Natasha was still glaring, but the line on her mouth softened, while Clint simply shrugged. Steve nodded in agreement, though there was still hesitancy in his eyes. Sam weren’t surprised, they had worked hard in earning back Tony’s trust, and didn’t want it jeopardized for a fling. But, remembering what he saw back in the room, he didn’t think it was as ephemeral as they thought it was.

Oh well. In the end, they’re the observers. If they’re happy, then he’s happy. And Sam was pretty sure, both Bucky and Tony had smiled the brightest whenever they both have their kisses of the day.

[AO3] [ Buy Me a Coffee]

#winteriron #pairing: winteriron #character: tony stark #character: james 'bucky' barnes #character: clint barton #character: natasha romanov #character: sam wilson #character: bruce banner #1000kisses #fluff #with a dash of angst #like a sprinkle #just a little #for spice #part 2