Peter & Bucky Are Pals

Chapter 26

Peter knew it was bad news the second he met Bruce, Steve, and Tony outside the elevator in the medbay; Steve’s trembling shoulders would’ve clued him in if he’d managed to miss Bruce’s tight, regretful expression. His knees felt wobbly, and he would’ve slid to the floor right there in the hallway if Tony hadn’t gotten an arm around him first.

“Easy,” Tony said, giving Peter a squeeze. His seriousness was unnerving. “Look, it’s not the worst news, alright? The vertebrae have healed completely. Just… the nerves have only improved slightly. Not enough to see him walk on his own.”

Peter sucked in a breath at the same time that Steve let out a tiny, stifled sound. Steve tried to step around Bruce towards Bucky’s room, but Bruce caught his arm; something flashed in Steve’s eyes before he visibly forced himself to relax and stand down.

“I want to see him.”

“He asked to be left alone,” Tony told Steve, sounding unusually cautious. “For now.”

Steve started to protest, but Bruce silenced him with a look.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and call Sam? You promised to keep him updated, didn’t you?”

Steve didn’t move for a moment too long, but he then deflated and turned back to the elevator. Peter caught a glimpse of his face and couldn’t help but notice how young he looked, lost-eyed, but somehow ancient at the same time. Bruce pursed his lips, watching him leave.

“JARVIS, can you keep an eye on him? Maybe ask Nat to stay with him?” he asked once the elevator had gone.

“Already done, Dr. Banner,” JARVIS replied. Bruce nodded, giving Peter a tight smile before heading towards Bucky’s room. Tony squeezed Peter lightly around the shoulders again.

“Want to head down to the workshop and math until you can’t feel your brain?”

Peter tried to reply, but all that came out was a cracked sound. He cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

“Great. I need to redo an algorithm to account for turbulence, so we need to use Navier-Stokes. Totally brain-numbing. You’ll love it.”

----

Peter was on his third hour of calculations and his vision was swimming with numbers by the time JARVIS requested his attention. He dragged his knuckles over his eyes before looking up.

“Yeah?”

“Sergeant Barnes would like to see you.”

Peter was out of the workshop so fast that he barely caught Tony’s goodbye. He stumbled into the elevator; if there was a railing to grip, he probably would’ve broken it by now. He rushed out into the medbay, down the hall, and skidded to a stop in the doorway. Steve was wrapped around Bucky’s side like an octopus, sobbing silently into Bucky’s shirt. Bucky looked tired and red-eyed, but his lips twitched when he saw Peter.

“I can…” Peter trailed off, biting his lip; he jerked his head towards the door in gesture to the hallway.

Bucky rolled his eyes and reached out with his free arm, and the invitation was all Peter needed. He scurried over and curled up on Bucky’s other side, melting into the warmth that Bucky and Steve radiated.