Peter Parker: if you don't want pickles, then just tell them you don't want them
Bucky: But I don't want to
Peter: I'll do it for you :)
Bucky: You would do this for me?
*leaning in* Do you have enemies that need to be taken care of?
I have a headcanon where before dying Tony told Peter about Bucky. How he remembered every person he killed, how part of him was filled with guilt.
Now, alone and forgotten, Peter went to find Bucky. He asks him if he remembers Mary and Richard Parker, the couple killed in an "accidental" plane crash. He does. Peter asks for a favor. Bucky is able to get his identity set up, and he sticks around. He keeps checking on Peter, maybe being a mix between standoffish and overprotective.
Maybe eventually they have an argument, with Peter telling him "just because you killed my dad, it doesn't mean you get to be him."
Bucky: So you're sure we can't just kill this Flash guy?
Peter: No Mr. Barnes! We can't kill him! He's just been more of a jerk ever since his TikTok went viral
Bucky: And you're saying...this video thing will defeat him? I guess we could give it a shot
*An hour later, Steve walks into the room unsure what he's even looking at as Bucky holds up a phone*
Bucky: NO! IT'S CLAP ON THE THIRD COUNT, THEN TURN! COME ON PETER! DO YOU WANT THIS OR NOT?
Steve: Ya know, I think I'm gonna set this one out
read the first part otherwise you will be very confused. also buckle up this is very long.
///
-post homecoming, it's gotta be known that ofc in typical hydra fashion, they never really stopped lurking. they've been keeping very close tabs on the avengers, especially since they very recently reconciled. anyway, in typical peter fashion, he ends up in the middle of something far bigger than himself. he ends up meddling in hydra dealings, which isn't really much of a big deal at first — that is until he starts getting in deeper and deeper. this eventually leads to hydra investigating him after learning of his ties to the avengers, more accurately, tony stark.
-they find out his mom was a shield agent. they also find out she was a target of the winter soldier many years ago — one that got away. slipped under their radar. it's then they realize there's something far deeper about the whole situation. they're able to find traces of peter's dna and run it. which of course flags up their system, showing that their very own winter soldier happens to be a genetic match to the meddling spiderman. it's very easy after that to find him and take him.
-it's a pretty regular patrol when peter gets taken. it's a trap, but it's framed as something perfectly ordinary to peter. which is why he's caught entirely off guard. he's whisked off to a hydra base where he's interrogated, drugged and generally tormented. during all this, hydra (which i feel would be made up of random original characters made up to be agents and scientists) reveal to peter the truth of his parentage. except, they frame the incident that killed his parents on the winter soldier. peter is in HARD denial ofc, but also he's terrified, he knows hydra don't mess around. tony's told him that much.
-hydra wants their soldier back. they'll do anything to have bucky back in their clutches. discovering he has a son was exactly what they needed. not just to get bucky, but to also unsettle the avengers as a whole. because even if bucky is unaware he has a kid, they know tony is attached to him. they also want to use peter to lure them all in and in order to hurt them even more, they plan to turn him into a soldier under their control just as bucky had once been.
-so while peter is subjected to that. tony is panicking. peter's been missing for two weeks now, aunt may is hysterical and tony's exhausted all efforts to locate him. he even has the other avengers helping. but there's not a single trance of him. on one particular day, however, they're sent a message by hydra themselves. essentially telling them that they have peter and that if the winter soldier doesn't come to them then peter will meet a fate far worse than death. or word for word, revealing the truth of peter's parentage “come home to us, soldier, alone. or we promise that your son will meet a fate far worse than death”
-they also send a file which includes a video of peter's torture. which of course riles everyone up.
-bucky, for one is stunned, horrified, and enraged all at once. for hydra to use a kid like that to lure him back is one thing. to claim that he's his son? well, no one knows exactly what to believe on that front. that is until fury himself shows up, given it's hydra affairs of course he does. he backs up hydra's statement in telling them about one of their own agents, mary parker — who had been working on a case regarding hydra's ghost story all those years ago. that fury realized after her death that peter definitely wasn't richard's. he had very little evidence of who the winter soldier was back then though. he KNEW of an assassin, a ghost story, but he didn't even think to connect the dots when bucky's identity was revealed to them.
-so. its confirmed. peter is bucky's biological son. and tony is VERY conflicted. he still cares for him of course but it's very hard to acknowledge the fact that he's now apparently related to the man he still can't help but dislike, even if the actions hadn't been his own. it'll take more than a few years for tony to ease up around bucky. still, the conflicted feeling he has goes pretty quickly the more he's tormented by peter's torture. they're trying to figure out what to do. steve more than anyone wants peter to be safe but he doesn't want to risk bucky either.
-fury wants them to wait until they can eventually and inevitably trace hydra. but tony argues that it would take too long. the other's try and convince him not to do anything rash but he's not really listening. meanwhile, its been a few days since hydra's message and bucky isn't doing so hot. namely, he's been having very vivid nightmares of his own time in hydra's clutches, as well as visions of peter's torture. one particular nightmare he has is of one of the winter soldier's many gruesome killing sprees, a nasty mission. but at the end, the soldier removes his mask to reveal peter, staring him down. its after that particular dream that bucky decides he doesnt want to waste any time. even if he barely knows the kid, he now has a responsibility to him and wants to make hydra pay for ever touching him.
-also, since regaining his memories, bucky's always had very vague memories of a woman that he isn't sure what to make of. but they've been getting clearer. he confides in steve about this. telling him that he's been remembering more, that he was out of the ice for the longest period of time and that things had started coming back in pieces. but it hadn't been enough. he also curses himself for even allowing it to happen in the first place, in his mind, if he had the self control to not kill a shield agent of all people - then he should've had the thought process to NOT allow himself to have any sort of relations with her. either way, bucky wants to ensure peter's safety. he's even willing to bring himself in. he's very close to it, until fury rings them up and says they already have a location.
-they don't waste a second. they storm the base and take out everyone they can. it's hard work, but eventually they do find peter, locked in a cell looking practically half dead. they take him back to the tower and get doctors to fix him up. all while bucky is entirely on edge, thinking that it was all too easy. hydra's threat still lingers in his mind, he can't help but feel like this isn't the end. even when peter wakes up and he appears to be mentally fine, he's physically in bad shape. tony for one, is relieved, too happy to have peter back to even think that there's something possibly wrong with how easy the mission went.
-everyone else seems fine with how everything went except bucky. so he tries to ease up. to go along as everyone else does while peter heals up. for the most part, he's himself. except, he barely acknowledges bucky. which bucky figures is in part to him being unable to accept what hydra had told him, because he knows peter is now aware of it. so that's why bucky keeps his distance so he can adjust. eventually, three weeks pass by with things being normal. as normal as they can be. until tony starts noticing that peter seems... off. he was kidnapped, tortured, and held hostage for three weeks so he's bound to be out of sorts. but tony can't help but feel that it's something deeper than that. peter won't tell him what. he's colder, he's snappier, he's more resigned. everything peter isn't.
-bucky and tony end up talking. tony's been avoiding him, more so than usual. but after one evening where his worries for peter are sent through the roof, he runs into him and the two start talking about the past six weeks. bucky expresses his fears that the rescue had been too easy and he's unsure of hydra's motives as to why, but he knows they can't be good. tony tells him he feels the same way, especially after peter's declining behaviour. tony asks bucky to talk to him. so he does. one evening, he finally gathers the courage and attempts to talk to peter in the training room. peter, who in their few short meetings, had only ever been kind and excited -- is nothing like that this time. bucky can't help but get flashes back to his reoccurring nightmare in which peter's in the place of the winter soldier. peter regards him with nothing but pure, unfiltered hatred in his eyes. bucky tries to talk to him, but peter yells at him about what hydra told him about his parents before leaving him alone.
-bucky tells tony all this of course. to which tony is rather bitter. but bucky promises him that he doesn't remember ever going after peter's parents as the soldier. tony, despite their strained relationship, believes him. he thinks maybe peter is just angry. but of course, it's never that simple.
now between this a lot happens. but to avoid this getting. even longer i'll simplify it as quickly as i can.
- peter's behaviour gets worse. more erratic
- bucky confides in steve about his growing fears. steve does his best to help him
- tony tries to move on from his own fears but he's still afraid he's missing something
- former shield agents and rogue hydra agents are turning up dead. more and more frequently around new york
- the avengers try and look into this but are met with no leads
aunt may calls tony and tells him peter is gone most nights. even being spiderman, she knows this isnt like him
- the avengers later attempt to track who they think may be this killers next target. theyre unsuccessful
- bucky remembers more of that month he spent with mary. he wants to get closer with peter. but he's convinced he hates him
-peter lashes out at tony
-clint is attacked one night while alone. his location is tracked by nat, who had been close by. she finds him being beaten by a masked assailant
-its peter.
-hydra kept their promise that peter would meet a fate far worse than death if their deal was refused. they knew that the avengers would rescue him, that bucky wouldn't come along. this time, they're a lot more practiced. they had a lot of trial and error with the winter soldier. with peter, they were able to take control of his mind with ease while keeping suspicions off him for as long as possible. brainwashed to follow their orders when they needed him.
-bucky's distraught because his nightmare had been staring him in the face all along and he hadn't been able to react sooner. he does to see peter in the room they have him locked up in and peter tries to attack him. steve leads bucky out and comforts him. tony is also horrified to think he wasn't able to figure it out sooner and now peter is lost in hydra's control. they're trying to figure out what to do. they return to the base but find nothing that explains what hydra did to him. nat goes after people theyre able to track though, however theyre not given that many answers
-they do however find out that peter's being controlled by a remote link. there's something implanted in his brain that's being triggered elsewhere. but they can't remove it. tony realizes pretty quickly that whoever put it in there likely made it so that if tampered with while still active, it will kill him.
-so. this isnt good for many reasons. but basically what happens is that while trying to get through to peter, they're searching for whoever may be in control of this remote link. it takes a few days but they eventually manage it. bucky, who has been sitting and guarding peter most of the time joins in on the mission. even though steve protests. bucky's set on making sure hydra arent a threat to him or peter ever again. they confront the lead scientist and bucky ends up separated. they talk, the scientist attempts to use the trigger words on him (let it be noted here bucky still goes to wakanda for a brief time where that programming is stripped away, he moves into the tower once the avengers reunite and things are settled) but when it doesn't work, bucky incapacitates him.
-they apprehend him. then find the remote link and deactivate it. back at the tower, peter suffers a mild seizure and falls into a short coma. he's unconscious for two days before he wakes up. he doesn't remember anything from his time under hydra's control. but he's in pain, so he spends a lot of time in the tower as he recovers. during this time tony refuses to leave his side, bucky also remains close by.
-one particular night, peter ends up waking from a nightmare. or more specifically, a memory from when he was sent on one of hydra's missions. he sits in the kitchen, alone, until bucky enters. bucky didn't have a nightmare, he just can't sleep. but when he finds peter he's unsure of what to say. the two haven't had a real conversation since he woke up. their last proper talk had been when peter wasn't in his right mind, so it doesn't really count. anyway, bucky's hesitant, but he can see that look in peter's eyes. he knows he's struggling. so he stays.
-peter blurts out how he knows that he's his father. hydra told him before the experiments. he also tells him that he doesn't really believe that bucky was involved in his parents' plane accident. bucky tells him he only vaguely remembers mary, but despite that he notes she must've been a remarkable woman to have been able to uncover a small part of him in that short time they knew each other. peter asks bucky if he can get to know him better. that he also needs someone to help him with the resurfacing memories and the guilt. bucky assures him he'll always be there for him.
-that's pretty much it. i had plans for a lot of short connected scenes after. such as peter healing, bonding with bucky. at one point aunt may (who would've DEMANDED to be in the loop of everything peter went through) meets bucky and welcomes him into the family. tony and bucky agree to share custody whenever peter visits the tower <3
and that's a wrap !! i hope you enjoyed my very. very long yap session. it only took me two years to post the second part lmao. maybe this blog will be less dead now
