Peter, Tony noted, liked to bounce when he was excited. Another thing Tony noted was that the kid was often excited, so the bouncing happened a lot. He had expected the kid to start bouncing when he asked Peter if he wanted to join him and Bucky on a trip to the farmer's market, but he didn't expect him to bounce this much. If he bounced too much more, the kid was going to turn into a rocket soon and leave a hole in the roof of his car.

"Alright, you go show Underoos around," Tony told Bucky, pulling into a parking spot just down the street. As he pulled out his phone, he said, "I have to do some work, but I'll stay here."

Bucky and Peter nodded then took off without further prompting.

They took their time walking around the market. Bucky showed Peter where his favourites stalls had been in 1940 and in return, Peter told Bucky what he thought the farmer's market should add. After doing a full lap around the market and nearly two hours, Peter figured Tony would be about ready to leave.

"Divide and conquer," Bucky said when Peter told him they should hurry up.

Peter nodded and walked around the market, searching for everything on Pepper's list while Bucky searched for the things on his own list. Although Pepper's list was long, they both agreed that Peter moved faster and that they would meet at the front in fifteen minutes.

When he was nearly finished, he heard someone shout from just down the sidewalk. "Yo, Penis!"

Peter turned around, looking for the voice only to see Flash smirking as he walked towards him. With a sigh, Peter folded up Pepper's list and shoved it in his pocket along with his change. He grabbed the bag of fresh tomatoes off the table and tried to walk away from Flash.

It didn't work.

"What, Flash?" Peter asked as he was yanked back around roughly.

He still had to get blueberries (Tony's request) and a birthday gift for May. With only three more things on Pepper's list, he wanted only to finish the trip in peace. Flash didn't seem to want the same.

"Tony Stark's here, did you know?" Flash asked, letting go of Peter.

Of course, the media would be all over Tony Stark appearing at a local farmer's market even if he was just leaning against his car on his phone.

"Is that all?" Peter asked, adjusting his grip on the tomatoes.

"You should introduce me to him since you know him so well," Flash said smugly.

Peter stared at him blankly.

"You could prove your internship is real."

"No thanks, Flash."

He turned to walk away, glimpsing Bucky at the blueberry stand just ahead, but Flash grabbed his arm again. Trying not to drop the tomatoes, Peter pulled away from him.

"You're such a loser, Penis," Flash scoffed, ripping the fresh tomatoes from Peter's hand.

Peter lunged forward, trying to get the tomatoes back but Flash tossed them on the ground. Seeing Flash smash the tomatoes on the ground, Peter wanted to cry. He didn't know why. Tony wouldn't notice if he had to go buy more tomatoes and he probably wouldn't care, but Flash was clearly about to ruin a perfectly good weekend.

Stomping on the tomatoes one last time, Flash stuck his lower lip out and taunted, "Too bad poor Penis can't afford more tomatoes."

Suddenly, Flash froze at the feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder. When Flash glanced at the hand, he almost screamed at the familiar metal.

"You're bothering Peter," Bucky said, frowning at him.

It wasn't a question and Bucky left no room for Flash to argue.

"I'm sorry, sir," Flash squeaked, shifting under Bucky's hand.

Bucky nodded slowly then looked up at Peter. "Go get more tomatoes then head to the car. I'll be there in a second."

Peter frowned and attempted to argue, but Bucky gave him a look and he sighed.

"Don't kill him, alright?" Peter said, looking at him doubtfully. Bucky frowned but promised not to. "And no hitting, punching, kicking, hurting, or maiming in any way, understood?"

"Yes," Bucky said, irritated but glad when Peter nodded and turned to get more tomatoes.

By the time Peter had picked out six fresh tomatoes and paid for them, Bucky was done talking to Flash and standing beside Peter. Flash was nowhere to be seen.

"What did you do?" Peter asked, taking the bag of tomatoes and walking towards the blueberries.

"I just talked to him," Bucky said with a shrug. "He won't bother you again. If he does, let me know."

"I won't," Peter grumbled.

Bucky gave him a look but Peter ignored it as he picked up Tony's blueberries.

The next day at school, Peter didn't see Flash. He was beginning to worry Bucky had made him switch schools or threatened him in some way, but Ned said he saw Flash in Algebra. Aside from during classes, Peter never saw Flash. At lunch, he was nowhere in sight and Peter never so much as passed him in the hallway.

When Peter asked Bucky about it the following afternoon, Bucky just shrugged.

"Sometimes you need to give people tough love," he replied. When Peter didn't look too reassured, Bucky said, "Don't worry. I didn't threaten to kill him."

Peter visibly relaxed.

"There are worse things than death," Bucky muttered when Peter turned to leave.

Although it would be lying, Peter could claim he hadn't heard it even with his super hearing. Nevertheless, if he'd learned anything from Tony, it was that some things were better left unknown and Peter was willing to bet all $12 in his wallet that this was one of those things. So rather than turn on his heel and ask Bucky exactly what had gone down, he made his way into the pantry and finished off the rest of the girl scout cookies in peace.