Chapter 1
“Not dead yet?”
Steve looked up and grinned at his friend, the smile stretching the bruises and cuts on his face. “Tony. Nice of you to visit.”
“I brought you flowers,” Tony said with his own slight smile, holding up a bouquet of daisies in a purple glass vase. “And chocolates.” He produced a box of belgium chocolates in his other hand.
Steve felt small in the hospital bed. It wasn't often that he found himself looking up to Tony, figuratively and literally, so it was strange. Not to mention the fact that he rarely got injured badly enough to warrant a hospital stay. He reached up for the chocolates.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Steve said with an eyebrow raised, his lips in a small smirk.
“Why not? It's a common custom here. Flowers and chocolates for the frail and elderly, and at the moment, you fit both categories,” Tony joked, his tone light. Steve had missed the banter while on his mission.
Steve had missed everything while he was gone. Sure, he was a phone call away and with Nat, but he missed life after the battle of New York; listening to Tony ramble about work, Nat and Clint’s bickering, Bruce’s uncommon but interesting opinions. He even missed the rare visits from Thor when he came to drop by after being off world. They had all moved into the tower a couple of weeks after New York, but now with SHIELD down, nothing will be the same; it was nice to see that throughout all this, Tony was the same as always.
Tony put the vase on the bedside table and gestured to the box of chocolates. “Try one. I could eat an entire container if I wanted to, they’re delicious.”
Steve gingerly opened the box, his stiff muscles protesting. Tony didn’t say anything about it even if he noticed, which Steve was grateful for; he wasn’t used to feeling all beat up. It had been a while since he actually had to stay on bedrest due to injuries, usually they healed quickly on their own. He had nearly drowned though and maybe suffered from second impact syndrome so perhaps it was for the best that he let himself heal. He pushed down the thoughts of the mission and focused on ripping the tape off the cardboard, which took a surprising amount of mental capacity.
He finally got the lid off and picked up a square-shaped one with ribbons of dark chocolate on a white coating with his puffy fingers. “Take one, Tony.”
“Nah, they’re for you,” he said dismissively, sitting in the hard plastic chair beside Steve’s bed so that they were eye-level. “Next time I get hurt, I want the same treatment. I gotta rack up the brownie points.”
“If you get hurt,” Steve said, almost genuinely upset. He ate the chocolate, and there was an awkward silence when he chewed. He swallowed hard. “You’re not going to get hurt.”
“Well, I obviously won’t try to,” Tony said, rolling his eyes. “Fine then. If I do, then I want chocolates and flowers.”
“I’ll do my best. And thank you, they’re good.” Steve pushed the box away, resting it beside his knee.
An awkward silence filled the room again, and Steve regretted not knowing Tony well enough to keep a conversation. Maybe this was the time to change and get to know the man, but something else popped into his head.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Steve began.
Tony looked up, almost hopeful. “Oh?”
“The ghost,” Steve said, his heart hurting all of a sudden, aching with a memory. “The winter soldier, he was my friend, Bucky. He-”
“James Buchanan Barnes is the winter soldier,” Tony stated, surprised.
“You know Bucky?” Steve asked, mirroring Tony’s shocked expression.
“Of course. I know all about your Howling Commandos,” Tony scoffed. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a whole museum section dedicated to you and your team. Not to mention the stories my dad told me.”
“You’re a fanboy, then.”
Tony paused to look at Steve, an easy grin on his face. “Who taught you that term?”
“Urban Dictionary.”
Tony laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m a fanboy. Let’s go with that.”
“Anyway,” Steve said, worried that he messed up the meaning of the word. “If you could maybe, I don’t know. He disappeared after he pulled me out. Could you find him? Cameras?”
Tony sobered up immediately. “Yeah. I’ll get JARVIS to keep tabs on sightings, don’t you worry. We’ll get your Bucky back,” he promised.
“Thanks, Tony. It means a lot to me,” Steve said, smiling. “If anyone is going to find him, I know it’ll be you.”
Tony’s phone began to ring and he stood up, checking the caller ID. “That’s my cue, Cap. I’ll see you at the debrief? Get well soon and all that jazz.”
“See you.” Steve gave a little wave from his bed.
Tony left with a nod, already holding the phone to his ear. He was a busy man, Steve knew, and he felt kind of bad for asking him to keep an eye out for Bucky, but the mission still had his mind reeling. And the possibility that his friend was still in there somehow? It was all Steve could think about, especially now that he had to stay in bed all day. Whatever HYDRA did, it could be reversed. He knew. Bucky was strong, he was in there somewhere, Steve saw him in the hesitations. Not to mention that saved him from drowning.
And Tony was smart. Tony could solve this. It would be okay.
--
Steve got released a day later, still unable to participate in missions, but he was feeling much better; that serum worked wonders. There were things to get done even though Steve was just let out, so that was why he found himself giving a debrief fresh from the hospital instead of eating the chocolates Tony gave him and getting loads of attention after his near-death experience, like he would’ve liked. Duty calls.
“Project Insight. A secret SHIELD operation,” Natasha said at the head of the table beside Steve. The rest of the team were all gathered around the table, seated in their plush office chairs. “Designed to protect the Earth. However, as most things go, it got bad pretty quickly.”
Tony barely glanced up as Steve handed him a document outlining the project. He looked bored and mildly interested, as if this was all a waste of their time. But then again, Tony always looked like that. It made Steve want to grind his teeth together in frustration. He had his moments, like the time in the hospital, but sometimes Steve really just wanted to knock some sense into the man. It didn’t help that Steve was still experiencing a nagging headache for the third day in a row.
“You know those helicarriers?” Natasha asked, surveying the room.
“Designed by yours truly,” Tony said with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes. “The plan was to send them up to patrol Earth, and, using an algorithm, they would evaluate humans and eliminate threats. There was a list of names. By eliminating the potential threat, there would be no need to worry about the future, right?”
“A list of names? Targets on everyone that could possibly pose a threat? That’s ridiculous,” Tony scoffed. “Anyone could pose a threat. May as well terminate the whole human race.”
“As a matter of fact, your name was on it,” Nat said, pointing at Tony.
He startled, his face twisting up in hurt. “Well then.”
“And we’d all agree. You are quite dangerous, aren’t you?” she continued, smiling at Tony’s crestfallen expression. “But just because you have the potential to create the apocalypse, that doesn’t mean I want you dead.”
“Uh, thanks,” Tony muttered, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.
“Zola’s algorithm served HYDRA. That was where it went wrong,” Nat continued.
“Not to mention the whole ‘holding a gun to people’s heads’ part,” Steve cut in. “It’s not protection; it’s fear.”
Natasha nodded. “Fury had suspicions. He sent me to analyze the algorithm, but we were unable to access it. There were then attempts on his life, as well as Rogers’ life, but obviously, they were unsuccessful.”
“What?” Clint asked, standing up, hitting the surface of the conference table with splayed hands. “Fury’s alive?”
“Keep it on the down-low,” Nat said with a warning eyebrow. “I’ll arrange visiting hours if you so badly wish to see him.”
“Why are you just telling me this now?” Clint asked incredulously.
“Relax, eye of the hawk,” Thor said gently, as if he was used to people coming back to life. “I was only informed of his passing as well.”
“Did no one else know?” Clint asked.
Tony and Bruce both shook their heads.
Tony was… quiet, Steve noticed. He hadn’t jumped on the opportunity of Clint’s outburst. He didn’t rant about keeping information from him at the mention of Fury’s status. He was staying to himself, his hands folded in his lap and staring at the projector screen. It was very uncharacteristic of him. He didn’t even look bored anymore; his eyes were just glazed over and blank, his face twisted in something that resembled guilt.
The meeting went on and on, and Tony still didn’t say anything. Steve caught Nat looking at him curiously, but didn’t say anything. He tried not to think about Tony’s sudden quietness and turned his focus back on the debrief. After all, he had to fill in the rest of the team. There was just so much to say. HYDRA, Sam, Jasper Sitwell, Operation Paperclip, there were so many things to get them all caught up on.
“You okay, Stark?” Steve asked once Natasha asked for a ten-minute break.
Tony looked up. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? Not my mission.”
Steve frowned. “You’re getting quite defensive.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Sorry. Just don’t like sitting in one place for hours. I’m anxious to get out.”
Steve sighed, but was relieved. “We’ll be done soon.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tony waved a dismissive hand.
A slightly shaking hand, Steve noticed. Then Natasha came back and demanded their attention.
Once the debrief was over, Tony disappeared. Steve had turned around for just a second, and when he turned back, the chair was empty and Clint was staring at the door in amazement.
“Who killed Tony and replaced him with the Road Runner?” Clint joked. “Beep beep.”
“Probably working on something. He was quiet, he was probably designing things in his mind,” Bruce said, gathering up the papers that he was taking notes on. “Lord knows he won’t pay attention unless it’s of interest to him.”
Steve nodded, but wasn’t entirely convinced. Thor left, muttering something about checking in on Jane and co; Steve vaguely remembered being told that Erik Selvig worked for SHIELD at some point a year or so ago. He was just about to leave as well when Natasha pulled him off to the side.
“What did you say to Tony? He’s shaken up,” she asked quietly.
“What did I say to him?” Steve said defensively. “He shut up quite quickly after you told him he was dangerous.”
“I followed it up with how I don’t want him dead, Rogers,” Natasha retorted.
“That’s the bare minimum.”
“You’d be surprised how much it puts your consciousness at ease,” she said with a raised eyebrow. ”I don’t want you dead, Rogers.”
Steve just looked at her. “My consciousness is not at ease.”
“That’s because you’re worried about Stark.” She smiled slightly at him. “Give him some room and he’ll bounce back. He's probably freaked out about Fury.”
She gave one last nod before leaving the room, Clint following. Bruce cleared his throat, standing up. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s just a lot.”
Bruce smiled sympathetically and nodded. “Get the lights when you leave.”
“Of course.” Steve smiled, staring pensively out the large, floor to ceiling windows.
Tony didn’t appear for a week.