Bruised

Chapter Ten-Home

Chapter Ten

Home

*Bucky's POV*

"Peter!" She exclaims. The boy hanging out of the window glances over with a beaming smile.

"Hey, Perce!" He shouts.

"Hey, Pete! Pay attention!" Peter's head swivels back to the ground below him.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark!" He shouts back and crawls into the apartment, pulling on a web as he goes. Natasha sighs and walks over to us.

"What exactly is going on?" Steve asks before I can. We all stare at the window as a couch is lifted via Peter's pulley.

"Two geniuses working things out. Couldn't get the couch in through the narrow halls, so they're using the wider windows." Natasha explains as Peter shoots a web at the couch to bring it in.

"Uh, help?" He asks and Steve walks over sans cookie bag, grabbing the couch and carefully pulling it the rest of the way in. He sets it right where our horrible, lumpy one used to be and I release Percy to go embrace a now webless Peter.

"We going to set it up just like the old days?" I tease Steve and he shrugs.

"Why not? The set up was perfect for fort making." He reminds me with a smirk and crossed arms. A loud snort leaves me.

"Is fort making something you see us doing a lot nowadays?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. That familiar smirk grows as he turns to face Peter and Percy. She's showing him her blanket by wrapping it around his shoulders while he's crouched.

"Hey, Persephone?" She looks to Steve with happiness shining from her little face. "You like making forts?" Her eyes get big as she nods. Steve shoots me some victorious side-eye and I roll mine.

"Uh, I'm in for that too," Peter adds and we all chuckle. "I'm really happy you're moving here. I'm really close so...if you need someone to look after Percy or anything I can be here." He offers kindly and I shake my head slightly. Having a nearby Peter will definitely be...interesting.

"What do you say, Percy?" I ask her with a withheld grown. She pats Peter softly.

"Yes, please. I like Peter very much." Well, that closes that.

"Are these cookies?" Natasha asks, having snooped through the bag when Steve set it on the counter. Of course, she'd find the sweets. I nod and wave her towards them.

"Made by the landlady, Catherine. Who insists on having us for dinner, by the way. All of us." Natasha's eyebrows raise at this, but she accepts a cookie. She hums afterward.

"I'm in. This is good." Natasha consumes the cookie happily. She's always loved sweets. Seeing her and Catherine in the same room should be interesting at the very least. Suddenly Tony comes huffing in with a suitcase in hand. Oh, Jesus. Amber eyes look at all of us as he plops the obviously heavy thing down.

"Thanks for the help. Phew." He leans back on it and slips a little silver something out of his pocket. "Got something for you, Perce, come here." Percy walks over curiously, as do the rest of us. Stark lowers the case to the floor and unzips it. He tosses the top open to reveal a bunch of squares of varying size wrapped in paper.

"Tony, what is this?" Steve asks and Stark waves him off.

"Patience."

"I was patient for seventy years."

"Oh, so now we can joke about that?"

"Boys, boys, stop. What is this stuff?" Natasha halts them and Tony huffs. He picks up a square and hands it to Percy.

"They're all for you, little genius. Open up." He encourages and Percy tenderly unfolds the paper like there might be a butterfly inside. A gasp parts her lips as a picture frame is revealed.

"What is it, baby doll?" I ask and sit on the floor beside her. She moves to my lap and I wrap my arms around her, getting a glimpse of the picture. A young woman with curls like Persephone stands with a tiny baby in her arms and an overwhelmingly bright smile on her face.

"That's my mom." She says incredulously.

"And you, kiddo." Tony tells her with a soft smile. "Wrapped up in all those blankets." I meet his amber eyes gratefully and he shrugs. "I've got lots of pictures in here just for you, little genius. Go ahead and keep going." He pokes her foot and she carefully sets the picture down in front of her so she can see it before accepting another wrapped one from Stark. There are at least thirty pictures in the suitcase with varying pictures in them. Some of Percy's mom, some the team, even some of Steve and I from the forties. It's strange to see Stark semi giving me a gift. Despite Percy's joy at seeing a younger Steve and me, I'd venture to say it's less than mine. "And finally," Tony pulls out the picture frame that Percy picked out. "picture time." We all look up at Tony, confused. He raises a hand with the silver something that turns out to be a camera. Several groans emanate from the group, but Percy is ecstatic.

"Yay!" She jumps up and carefully maneuvers through the maze of picture frames to throw her arms around Tony's neck. "Could we take it now?" She asks excitedly. Tony raises an eyebrow as he looks at the rest of us.

"Course we can, Percy," I affirm and love how she lights up. "Where do you want us?" She presses her lips together like Natasha sometimes does and shrugs.

"Where's your favorite place here?" Percy asks and I instantly look at Steve who is already shaking his head.

"Not a good idea."

A few minutes later we're on the roof.

"Really, Barnes." Natasha deadpans with an unsurprised curve to her lips. My shoulders lift and fall as I take Percy to the best spot.

"Wow." She whispers as we look out at the street below and the twisting and turning of the alleys beyond.

"Pretty good, huh? Steve and I used to hang out up here when we were kids." I turn back to Steve who is smirking. Memories of cigarettes held between inexperienced fingers and the sound of laughter as I coughed up a lung on my first drag come to mind. I cling onto the memory happily as Percy looks out at the view, absolutely amazed. We'll make new memories here too.

"But that does not mean that you can come up here, Percy. Only if you have one of us with you, yeah?" Steve tells her firmly and she nods. I do my best to keep my smirk under control when his eyes go to mine. We were hanging off the ledges of this building at her age.

"I don't want to go anywhere without you anyways." She shrugs it off as if it'll always be that way. I'm alright with that for now.

"Are we taking this picture or what?" Tony asks. We all shuffle over into some sort of shape and Tony tosses the little camera in the air. It hovers in place, awaiting direction. "Find the best picture format, Friday."

"Yes, sir." The A.I. answers.

"Mr. Stark, could I have one of these?" Peter asks hopefully.

"You can have this one if we all manage to stay still." Percy giggles in my arms and Steve pats my shoulder that she's not leaning on. He's on her side, Natasha opposite him. Peter is to his left and Tony holds up the end. "On three then, one," we all count and Percy giggles yet again. That's a sound I could get used to. "Two," For once my smile comes easy with this special little girl in my arms and...and a modge-podge family around me. "Three." Click.

The End.

A/N

Aw. <3 A happy ending for those deserving of one. Now, don't worry, don't worry! An epilogue is coming soon. I do hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it. Thank you very much! 

As always my lovely friends, keep reading!