Chapter Text
"And what do you think about the Nielson contract?"
Tony heard the sound of Pepper's question, but any response he might've come up with died a swift death as he stared at the email in his inbox. Per his request from about seven weeks ago, FRIDAY had highlighted the email in red so that Tony knew exactly what it was without even having to read the subject line. His heart started racing so fast that he felt nauseous, and he was glad that he was sitting or he might've done something really embarrassing like fall down.
"Tony?" Pepper said again when he failed to respond. "Tony, what's wrong? What are you looking at?" She sounded annoyed, which Tony couldn't fault her for. He was the one staring at his phone like it was a ghost during their meeting. He was being tremendously rude, yet Tony couldn't bring himself to apologize.
Mutely, he turned his phone towards Pepper so that she could see the email. It was somewhat gratifying to see the way her eyes widened and the color drained out of her face. She knew what the email was too, of course. They had all been waiting for it to arrive. Tony thought he'd been ready, but now that it was actually here... he was realizing that he wasn't as ready as he had hoped. A really big part of him just wanted to turn his phone off and crawl underneath Pepper's desk and just block out the whole world for as long as he could.
"Shit," Pepper breathed. "What - what does it say?"
"I don't know," Tony said softly. He was scared to look. He had the feeling he knew what it was going to say, and if he was right -
If he was right, it would change everything.
Pepper took a deep breath and visibly braced herself, their conversation about future Stark Industries contracts now officially over. She looked at Tony and said, "Open it. Whatever it says, Rhodey, Bucky and I will be here for you. We'll deal with it together."
"Right," Tony mumbled, hoping that Pepper didn't notice the way his hands had begun to shake. He opened the email up. It started off, as these stupid correspondences always did, with about half a page of rambling nonsense about the Accords and governmental regulations and the part the Avengers had played in global peace. Tony scrolled through it, quickly scanning the email for what mattered.
And then he saw it. His heart stopped.
"They were pardoned, weren't they?" Pepper said, already knowing that the answer was yes just from the look on Tony's face.
Tony closed his eyes, not wanting to read anymore, and handed his phone over to Pepper so that she could see the proof for herself. While she skimmed the email for herself, he turned to look out the window of her office. Usually the sight of the New York skyline filled him with peace, but not right now. Right now it just made him feel even more nauseous than before. It was a reminder that very soon, this city wouldn't just be Tony's anymore and there was literally nothing that he could do about it.
Rogers, Romanov, Barton, Wilson, Lang, and even Maximoff had all been officially pardoned, and they were coming back.
"They expect you to house them?" Pepper burst out suddenly. "Tony, please tell me you didn't agree to that."
Shit. Tony winced as he turned back to Pepper. "I didn't, but I didn't say no either. They took that as a yes."
"But... why? After everything they did to you?" Pepper said, looking honestly baffled.
"Because..." Tony trailed off, searching for a way to put his tumultuous feelings into words. "Because it's just not that easy to say no, Pep. You know that. They expect the Avengers to be able to work together. I don't want to be the one who spits on that. And at least if they're in the tower, I can lock shit down and know where they are at all times thanks to FRIDAY. I don't have to wait for the moment when they track me down or anything like that."
Pepper was quiet for a few seconds before she said, resigned, "It's because of Bucky, isn't it? You don't want to make him choose between you and Rogers, so you're trying to make sure he doesn't have to choose at all."
"Wh-what? No!" Tony stammered, shocked that she'd seen through him so easily. He supposed that in a way he should've expected that, because Pepper knew him almost as well as Rhodey did, but it still felt like a shot to the heart.
"Tony..." Pepper sighed. "Bucky would never turn his back on you. He adores you."
"But it's Rogers," Tony said, very quietly. He and Bucky never talked about Rogers. Not since that day in the kitchen when Tony had asked Bucky not to. Bucky had abided by that for the past thirteen months, and now Tony felt like he couldn't be the one to bring Rogers up. But he supposed that he would have to now. He thought about telling Bucky and seeing Bucky be happy about this news, and winced again.
"I think it's a mistake," Pepper said. "But... it's your mistake to make. Just make sure that none of them get into my 12.5% of the tower." She smiled a little, and Tony gave her a little smile in return.
"We'll see how it goes. A trial run. Maybe it won't be so bad," Tony said, although he very much doubted that. From the look on Pepper's face, she didn't believe that either.
"All I'll say is that when you're ready to kick their asses out on the street where they belong, just let me know. I'll be there with our best lawyers to enforce it," she said. "And please tell me at least that you didn't agree to give them money or anything like that?"
"No, no money. They'll be paid by the Accords committee," Tony replied. "I'm purely housing them, which is something at least." He accepted his phone back when Pepper passed it to him.
"And you're ready? They'll be here in less than a week," Pepper said.
Tony choked a bit. "Less than a week?"
"You didn't see that? It was at the bottom of the email. Next Tuesday." Pepper pursed her lips, looking worried. It was already Thursday afternoon. That meant Tony had only four days between now and the time when the Rogues would arrive. He felt his stomach shrivel up at the thought. He had hoped that they would give him at least a month, if not more, to prepare. But he supposed that the Accords committee was very eager to get Captain America here so they could make everything look good.
"Right. Well... I guess I have stuff to do then, don't I? Do you mind if we postpone the rest of our meeting?" Tony asked her with forced cheerfulness. He looked at all of the stuff on Pepper's desk. They were supposed to be here for at least another two to three hours, but Tony couldn't imagine being able to focus on contracts right now.
"God no, after hearing this, I think I need a drink myself," Pepper said. "I'm going to get Happy to pick me up. We can drop you off home on the way."
“That would be great,” Tony said gratefully, sinking back into his chair. He resumed staring mindlessly out the window until, a few minutes later, Pepper got up and touched his shoulder to let him know that Happy had arrived. Tony stood and followed her out of the room.
Pepper must have briefed Happy on what was happening, because Happy asked no questions when they got into the car. The drive back to the tower mercifully only took about fifteen minutes, and Tony got out quickly and made his way inside as soon as he could. His mind was already spinning with all the things that would need to be done before the Rogers arrived.
“Take me to the workshop, FRI,” Tony said as he entered the elevator.
“No can do, Boss. Bucky has spent all day cooking you dinner,” FRIDAY replied.
Tony sighed and put a hand over his face, shaking his head. “You do realize that you are actually mine and should be following my orders first, right? Like… that is a thing you realize.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” FRIDAY said as innocently as a scheming A.I. could.
“Yeah, right,” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes. It seemed like he was doomed to be surrounded by inventions that didn’t listen to him. He didn’t even know if he wanted to see Bucky yet. His anxiety over seeing Bucky be happy about Rogers returning was deepening.
The doors opened to the communal floor, bringing the delicious scent of spaghetti sauce. Bucky had discovered a love of cooking in addition to baking a couple months after he’d come to the tower. For Christmas, Tony had converted half of the terrace on the top of the building into an outdoor garden just for Bucky. And then, knowing that the terrace couldn’t be used in the winter, he’d had one of the tower’s floors converted into an indoor greenhouse so Bucky could grow whatever he wanted all year around.
Usually Tony loved Bucky’s cooking, but right now the thought of eating anything just made him feel sicker. Nevertheless, he walked out of the elevator and made his way to the kitchen. Despite his poor mood, he couldn’t help smiling at what he saw when he got to the door.
Bucky was standing at the stove, wearing a pair of earphones that were connected to his phone. He was softly singing along to a song and moving his hips to the beat while stirring the spaghetti sauce that Tony had smelled. Add in the silly pink apron he was wearing, and Bucky looked totally at home in the tower. It was a welcome sight after their rough beginning, when Bucky had been unsure about even coming out of his room.
He was debating on leaving Bucky to it when Bucky turned around. The way Bucky’s eyes lit up when he saw Tony made Tony’s stomach clench with longing. Part of him wanted to run over there and hug Bucky, but another part of him just wanted to run away. It didn’t seem fair that just when they’d finally achieved balance and peace, Rogers was coming back to stir shit up.
“Hey baby!” Bucky said loudly, turning the stove off. He danced over to Tony and, making the decision for him, pulled Tony into a huge hug.
And oh god, that hug was exactly what Tony needed. He folded into Bucky’s arms with a bitten-back whimper, wrapping his arms tightly around Bucky’s neck. He wanted so badly to wrap his legs around Bucky too and cling to him like a koala bear; Bucky always laughed and scooped him up higher when Tony did that, and Tony wanted that so, so much.
Bucky moved, reaching up to pull his earphones out, and said, much softer, “So you heard.”
A cold chill ran through Tony as he realized that Bucky already knew, and he felt stupid. Of course Bucky knew. Tony had made sure Bucky was cc’d on all emails pertaining to the Accords a long time. How could he have forgotten that? Bucky had wanted to know, and Tony hadn’t seen the harm in it then…
“Tony,” Bucky began, but suddenly Tony didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“Gotta go. Lots to do for their return,” Tony said, pulling away.
“Tony, wait –” Bucky made a grab for his hand, but Tony dodged him. He fled back to the safety of the elevator, and didn’t think it was his imagination that FRIDAY radiated disapproval all the way down to the workshop.
But it was hard. So hard. Tony struggled to push it to the corner of his mind as he began his plans. The Rogues would need to be contained in the lower floors of the tower. No way were they getting access to Tony’s or Bucky’s floor or the workshop. In fact, Tony realized, he didn’t even want them on the roof. FRIDAY would help, but in the event she was offline – he’d need something else as a back-up.
So it went for the next four days. Far faster than Tony expected, far faster than he was ready for. Sometimes he threw himself at Bucky, desperate for a hug, and at other times he wouldn’t even let Bucky touch him. He knew he was being unfair, and that Bucky was completely confused, but he couldn’t help it. At no time did he let Bucky open up a discussion about it.
And then… they were here.