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Tony had been down in the lab for three days. And if Steve hadn't been at the Avengers facility training the new team, he'd have put a stop to it. But he was, and when FRIDAY informed him upon entering the penthouse what was going on, he went straight to Tony's workshop. He wasn't surprised to see that the door was closed and locked.
Steve sighed, and said, "FRIDAY, open the doors."
"'Fraid I can't do that," she replied. "The boss says he doesn't want to be disturbed."
Steve could see Tony was working with his holographic blueprint interface, but why he had no idea. Steve knocked on the door, saying, "Tony, let me in."
"He can't hear you, the doors are soundproof," FRIDAY informed him.
"Open the God damned doors, that's an order," Steve responded. He knew that FRIDAY wasn't JARVIS, and she probably had some very different security protocols after what happened with Ultron. But if Steve had to, he'd break those doors down. It was silent in the hall for a moment, but then the door opened.
FRIDAY sounded as tense as an AI could possibly sound. "I hope you know what you're doin', Cap'n."
Steve walked into the lab, slowly approaching Tony. They hadn't been getting along, there was no denying that. They had severely differing viewpoints about things, and their relationship had been on rocky ground for a long time. Both their professional and personal one.
It wasn't that they were dating, but they had an arrangement. One that Steve hadn't been living up to lately. It wasn't just the New Avengers taking up his time, but his search for Bucky. He'd been pretty much ignoring Tony for the past four months. So when he got to Tony, he kept out of arm's reach, unsure of how he'd react. "When's the last time you got some sleep?" Steve asked.
"When's the last time you checked your phone?" Tony shot back. He had a wrench in his hand, but he wasn't doing anything with it. Instead, he was looking at the holographic display. "FRIDAY, run it again for Captain Rogers."
"Yes boss," she responded. The display shifted, and Steve was surprised by what he saw. It was a recreation of the helicarrier, when he'd been fighting Bucky. Tony had seen the whole thing, and it made Steve's stomach drop.
"The security footage was streaming to a private server. Whole fight is on tape," Tony said. "It was hard to find, even after Romanoff's internet info dump. He looks pretty good, and who'd have thought that there'd be two super model super soldiers?" He got up and stepped away from Steve, then turned to him.
Steve could see the hurt in his eyes, the betrayal. And there was rage, hot enough to melt steel. But Tony was still holding it together, at least for now. "You couldn't have told me your ex was back in the picture?"
"He's not," Steve replied. "In any way."
"But you're looking for him, you and Wilson," Tony replied, his tone accusing. "Wasn't there someone who gave an entirely improvised patriotic speech about how we shouldn't be keeping secrets? Or am I the only one who's not allowed to have them?"
Steve frowned. "Tony that isn't fair. Your secrets have a tendency to turn into world threatening situations."
"That was one time!" Tony shot back.
"Twice!" Steve yelled. "You did it twice, Tony! You kept Ultron from us, and then you kept the Vision from us! If Thor hadn't intervened who knows what would have happened! This isn't the same thing at all!"
"I should know, damn it!" Tony threw the wrench across the room, and Steve heard it clatter loudly as it impacted somewhere. "What did you think I was going to do when I found out?! I could have helped you find him, at the very least!"
"And then what?" Steve asked. "Turn him over? You know people are hunting for him! They want to make him pay for something he didn't do!"
Tony was glaring at Steve now, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "I've got an army of lawyers on call 24/7, access to more mercenaries than an average person could shake a stick at, I have more financial resources than the US government, and in case you didn't notice? People like me." He snorted bitterly. "Or at least some do. If I really wanted to track him down and make him pay, he'd be in prison right now."
That made Steve stop in his tracks. He looked at Tony, really looked at him for the first time since he walked into the lab. One of the secrets that had ended up on the internet and in the papers was that Howard and Maria Stark's deaths hadn't been an accident.
Tony's relationship with Howard had been complex to say the least, but he respected his father and loved his mother. Finding out they'd been the victims of politically motivated murder had changed something in Tony, and Steve couldn't believe it was taking him this long to realize that.
It was only Steve and Natasha who'd known that Bucky was likely the one who'd pulled the trigger.
"When did she tell you?" Steve asked.
"After I found out about this," Tony replied, gesturing to the footage. "FRIDAY, stop replay, kill the interface." And the holograms vanished. "Sooo... Couple months ago? And you know, I was trying to get a hold of my buddy and team mate, see if maybe we could clear the air on this. But weirdly enough, he hasn't been answering my calls."
That did sting, but Steve said, "Tony, it's important to train this new team--"
Tony held up a hand, saying, "And since I'm not officially on the team anymore I can sit on the back burner, right?" He went to go pick the wrench up.
Steve sighed, shaking his head. "That's not what I meant and you know it. I haven't even had time to look for Bucky. Sam's even said..." But he trailed off, and it was a hard thought to swallow. They'd had a talk that morning, and Sam had told him that it had been nearly two years, and Bucky obviously didn't want to be found. That they hadn't been keeping up with the search, and they should just leave it.
He'd retrieved the wrench by now, and Tony was refusing to look Steve in the eye. "I get it, okay? I do. If I could go back and save Yinsen, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Even if it turned out Yinsen was a war criminal or something." He was gripping the tool tight, and it had to be painful. "But I'd have told you about it. Believe it or not, I don't play everything close to the chest."
Steve saw that Tony was shaking, and he wasn't sure if it was from anger or sorrow, but he kept his distance for the moment. Tony needed to get this out, Steve could see that. And he wasn't about to stop him, even if he didn't want to hear this. Which was why he jumped when Tony slammed the wrench down on the table, hard enough that Steve was pretty sure something broke.
It looked as though Tony was going to leave the lab, but he didn't. Instead, he said quietly, "I may be garbage to the rest of you, but I think even after my amazing fuck ups, I deserve a little common courtesy."
"Jesus Christ Tony," Steve said, and grabbed his arm, making Tony look at him. "Stop it, all right? I didn't tell you because I didn't want you involved. I knew this would be hard on you. You've been putting yourself through hell ever since Ultron and Sokovia, and what happened to Quicksilver."
That made Tony flinch, but Steve kept talking. "You've been punishing yourself for every damn mistake you've made ever since you were born, even ones your father made. So when I wanted to keep you out of this? It's because I care about you, and I don't want to see you hurt."
"You didn't trust me Steve." Tony's voice was a bit high, and Steve was sure that he was trying to keep from crying.
"When it comes to this, I don't really trust anyone," Steve admitted. "Not even Sam." He sighed. "I admit it, I'm a hypocrite. I should have told you about Bucky. But I can't lose him, Tony."
"And, what, you think I'm gonna kill him? Let's pretend for a second that I were still the type to want revenge. Because believe it or not? After the Ten Rings and all the shit that went down with Killian, revenge isn't big on my to do list anymore," Tony pointed out. "I wouldn't be trying to get revenge for my parents, you already saw to that when you took down Hydra. Which leaves another option, that I'm your jealous soon to be ex lover trying to keep you from reuniting with your old flame. You're not that good a lay, Rogers."
Steve couldn't help it, that made him laugh, and a moment later, Tony joined him. They both laughed so hard that by the time they managed to calm down, they were leaning on each other for support. Steve was gasping for breath, and then he said, "That's not what you said last time."
"I didn't say anything last time because you gagged me." Tony replied.
"I told you to shut up," Steve countered. He sighed, and pulled Tony into his arms. "I don't want you involved in this because I can't lose you, either. I know you'd go to hell and back to help get Bucky, and I can't see you destroy yourself to save my best friend."
Tony's head lay against Steve's chest, and he said, "I still want to help."
Steve kissed his hair. "You really wanna help? Start taking better care of yourself. And be prepared, because I'm gonna ask you to do something, and you're not gonna like it."
That made Tony frown at Steve. "What?"
"You're gonna have to play a certain role, probably soon," Steve told him. "And I need you to play this part perfectly. A lot of our friends are probably gonna hate you."
"They hate me anyway," Tony muttered, but Steve shook his head.
"They don't hate you, at least not now. But I'm serious, if Bucky's ever going to be free to have a life, I'll need you to do this for me, and you can't tell anyone, not even Pepper." Steve was staring deep into Tony's eyes, looking for any sign of hesitation. "Can I trust you?"
Tony took a deep breath, then he nodded. "Yeah, you can."
"Okay." Steve steered Tony out of the lab, saying, "Let's get you some food, then we can talk. What are you in the mood for?"
"Pizza, with pineapple on it," Tony told him, and Steve made a face.
"You drive a hard bargain, Stark."
"But I'm worth it." That made them both smile.
It made Steve happy to see this side of Tony's humor coming back. God knows they were going to need it in the coming months. And Steve hoped that Tony really was ready for this, because things were about to get bad. But for now, they could have pizza, and maybe work on becoming something that was more than colleagues, and more than a casual fling.
Maybe they could become friends.