Chapter Text
While Steve and Tony were otherwise occupied, Bucky went into the kitchen to prepare some dinner. He and Steve hadn't eaten, and he knew Tony well enough to know that Tony wouldn't have eaten either. He whistled softly under his breath as he prepared what had been one of Tony's favorite meals when Tony was a baby: peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Not exactly the pinnacle of cuisine, but it was simple and easy.
Then he sat down at the table and grabbed a sandwich, biting into it. By the time Steve and Tony came out, Bucky was three sandwiches in and idly contemplating a fourth. He lost all interest in food when he caught a glimpse of Tony for the first time. The boy looked incredibly cute, dressed in a bright red onesie and perched on Steve's hip, clutching his stuffed toys to his chest. Behind Tony's head, Steve caught Bucky's eye.
"Shy and nervous," Steve mouthed.
Bucky gave a subtle nod. They had both anticipated this. "Sorry I couldn't wait. I was too hungry," he announced, letting out a loud burp.
"Bucky, seriously?" Steve said, giving him an exasperated look. "You weren't raised in a barn."
"Naw, just the streets of New York," Bucky said, winking at Tony. He was pleased when Tony's face crinkled into a shy smile and patted the seat beside him. Steve set Tony down, and Tony slowly walked over. The soft crinkle as Tony moved told Bucky that Steve had been successful with getting a diaper on him.
He picked up a plate and put a sandwich on it, using his knife to briskly cut it into bite-sized pieces. Then he set the plate in front of Tony. Tony looked at the plate and then looked back at Bucky. He made no move to touch the sandwich.
"Oh, right. Crusts," Bucky said, as though that was the reason for Tony's hesitation. He started to reach for the plate again, but Tony shook his head furiously and wrapped an arm around it.
"No! S'fine," he said, curling his body protectively around the plate like he was daring Bucky to pry it away. He set his toys on the table beside his plate so that he could hold the plate with both hands.
"Okay, if you're sure," Bucky replied. He backed off as Steve came to sit across from them. Both of them tried to pretend they weren't looking at Tony, but Bucky couldn't resist watching out of the corner of his eye as Tony picked up every bite and slowly nibbled at it.
Seemed some things didn't change, then. As an adult, Tony consumed his meals relatively quickly. As a baby, Tony ate very slowly. It could take him upwards of 30-40 minutes to consume a single bottle, and that was when he was wide awake. When he was sleepy, it could take even longer because Bucky or Steve would have to keep shaking him awake and encouraging him to keep eating.
"Thanks for the sandwiches, Buck," Steve said, taking several for himself.
"No problem. I didn't really feel up for take-out tonight," Bucky replied. He took a fourth sandwich, just for something to do, and started eating it.
Tony ate most of what Bucky had given him but seemed to lose interest towards the end. He pushed his plate away with the last couple of pieces still on there - crusts, Bucky was amused to note. Bucky stood up and wet a cloth in the sink, then moved back over to Tony and quickly wiped Tony's hands and face. He kept his movements brisk and calm, like there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Thought we'd watch a movie tonight," Steve said, just as Tony opened his mouth with what was no doubt a protest.
"Sounds good to me. There's never anything good on at night. Got any ideas for what we can watch, Tony?" Bucky asked.
Tony paused, looking caught off-guard. "Umm... no?"
"Think about it," Bucky said with a small smile. “Maybe Tangled?”
“Okay,” Tony said, maybe a bit too quickly, but Bucky wasn’t surprised. When Tony was a physical baby, Disney movies had been one of the few things that completely enraptured his attention. He could literally sit for hours watching them if Steve or Bucky didn’t interrupt.
“I’ll clean up since you cooked. You guys go ahead,” Steve said.
“I didn’t exactly cook much,” Bucky said dryly, but dropped the cloth in the sink and gently helped Tony up. They walked into the living room together. Tony took a seat on the couch, but Bucky moved over to the small linen closet and opened it up. He loved cuddling underneath a blanket while watching a movie. Steve, on the other hand, usually got too hot and didn’t like blankets.
He pulled down his favorite blanket – navy blue, incredibly fluffy, and super soft – and shuffled back to the couch. Tony gave him an odd look as Bucky sat and draped the blanket over their laps, but quickly became distracted by running his fingers over the blanket. Bucky pulled his feet up underneath the blanket and kicked his shoes off, sighing happily.
“This is really soft,” Tony whispered.
“I know. I wouldn’t let you sleep on it when you were a baby for fear of you throwing up on it,” Bucky said. “I’m so happy that I finally get to share it with you.”
Tony flushed but gave another one of those shy smiles that made Bucky’s heart skip a beat. “I’m happy too… I think. This is all so… I dunno, different.”
“You mean weird?” Bucky said, guessing the word Tony really wanted to use. “Hon, you’re sitting on the couch with a super solider who looks like he’s in his twenties but is actually over a hundred. There’s another, famous super soldier in the kitchen. And you are a certifiable genius, billionaire, superhero. At this point, I think everything about our lives has to be weird. It’s just the way it is.”
"Well... I guess when you put it like that," Tony said. He pulled the blanket up higher and inched closer to Bucky, who eagerly opened his arms and pulled Tony more snugly against his chest. Tony ended up resting his head in the crook of Bucky's shoulders, staring at the television with half-lidded eyes. He was laying more on Bucky than he was on the couch, but his weight was barely noticeable. They really needed to make him eat more, Bucky reflected.
JARVIS had turned the TV on, and Tangled's opening scene was playing. Steve joined them about ten minutes in. Bucky's eyes widened slightly when he saw what Steve was holding: Tony's stuffed animals and a bottle full of warmed milk. It was true that, when Tony was a baby, he always had a bottle of milk right after supper and then a bottle of water before bedtime. He wondered if maybe Steve was trying to move too fast, but no sooner had that thought crossed Bucky's mind than Tony glanced up and spotted the bottle. He tensed against Bucky.
"Here," Steve said like nothing was wrong, dropping the two toys into Tony's lap.
"What is that?" Tony demanded.
"It's a bottle," Steve said. Bucky snorted as Tony's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not stupid. I meant, what are you doing with it?" Tony said.
"It's for you," said Steve, dropping down onto Tony's other side. He held out the bottle. "Would you like Bucky or I to hold it, or do you want to?"
Tony opened his mouth and then closed it a couple of times without speaking, and Bucky was positive that was it. They'd pushed too far, and Tony was going to throw the stuffed toys at the opposite wall, strip out of the onesie and the diaper, and storm naked out the door while cursing the two of them at the top of his lungs. He even braced himself, because Tony had a mean right hook when he was pissed off. Even Steve got a nervous look on his face and looked down at the bottle like he thought Tony might grab it and smash it on the ground.
"Bucky."
"What?" Steve and Bucky said together.
"I want Bucky to do it," Tony said, very quietly.
Steve couldn't have looked more shocked if Clint had burst out of the closet and slapped him upside the head with a wet fish. Bucky knew the feeling. He stared at Tony for a moment, but Tony wouldn't meet his eyes. Instead, Tony gathered Boo Bear and the stuffed kitten close and hugged them to his chest. It was such a childish thing to do that it jolted Bucky out of his shocked stupor, and he reached out to grab the bottle before Tony could change his mind. He could feel the warmth of the milk through the glass as he tentatively brought the nipple closer to Tony's mouth.
Tony parted his lips again, letting Bucky slide the bottle in. He closed his mouth and gave a tentative suck, swallowing the first mouthful of milk. It must have been what he wanted, because he settled back in against Bucky and continued drinking. Bucky did his best to keep the stupidly dopey smile off of his face, but he wasn't sure he succeeded. It had been so long since he'd been able to give a baby a bottle. He was shocked to find out how much he'd missed it.
And maybe... maybe Tony had missed it too. Bucky pondered that as he wrapped his free arm around Tony's shoulders, subtly adjusting them both into a slightly more comfortable position. Obviously, Tony missed it all to some degree or he wouldn't be here. But maybe Tony had missed specific things, like being able to drink from a bottle or trusting someone to rock him to sleep or being able to play with some toys in the bathtub. Maybe someday, Tony would feel comfortable enough to tell them about those things. For now, he and Steve would have to work by trial and error.
Bucky suddenly had the feeling, though, that there wasn't much Tony would say no to.
It took maybe ten to fifteen minutes for Tony to finish the bottle. He drank the whole thing, and even tried to keep sucking a bit after the milk was all gone. Bucky regretfully pulled the bottle away and gently but firmly tapped Tony’s upper chest. They’d spent too many nights walking around with a gassy baby to not burp Tony after he was doing with a bottle.
Tony burped, then blushed and looked mortified. He buried his face in his hands with a squeak. Steve and Bucky exchanged besotted expressions, because holy shit that was adorable, and really Tony had nothing to be embarrassed about considering that Bucky was the one who had provoked that reaction.
“Here, baby boy,” Steve said, producing an adult-sized pacifier from nowhere. When Tony peeked up, Steve deftly popped it into his mouth.
“There, all good!” Bucky said cheerfully, setting the bottle down on the coffee table.
A faint scowl, or maybe the beginnings of a pout, flashed across Tony’s face, and Bucky half-expected him to spit the pacifier out only because it was something that baby Tony used to do all the time – he liked sucking on Steve’s fingers or Bucky’s hair. But perhaps a better conscience prevailed, and Tony gave the pacifier a half-hearted suck before settling back down against Bucky.
Dodged that bullet, Bucky thought with a grin, raising his eyebrows at Steve. Steve grinned back and shifted closer to Tony, pulling Tony’s feet into his lap. He wrapped his other arm around Tony’s shoulders, so that Tony was comfortably enclosed between them. The couch felt a little smaller with three full-sized men as opposed to two men and a baby, but that wasn’t a bad thing.
No, Bucky was pretty sure that all three of them could easily get used to this.