Tony was having a decent day. It really was decent. He’d spent all day in the workshop, designing new arrows for Clint. Nothing bad had happened… so far. He genuinely thought maybe today would turn out okay.
Then Steve fucking Rogers walked into the room. He had that whole entitled air around him, and Tony immediately knew the Captain wanted something. For fuck’s sake.
“Tony, I’m gonna need you to seriously consider forgiving Bucky. He did absolutely nothing, and he needs to feel welcomed at the Compound.”
So that’s what this was about. In all honesty, Tony really had been civil with Barnes. He just didn’t talk to the guy. Was that really so bad? God, Rogers was pissing him off. Why the fuck did he have to forgive Barnes? He had every right not to.
“Forgive him? Why the hell would I forgive him? Stop talking - that was a rhetorical question. Forgiveness - it’s complete bullshit. If we’re meant to forgive anyway, why not screw people over as much as you want? You’ll be forgiven either way. I’ll be nice to him, hell - I’ll even help him, but forgive? What kind of person would I be if I just let him off? I’d be betraying everything I’ve ever stood for. I’d be betraying myself. I make a mistake? You all lord it over me every time I mess up. But he kills my parents and that’s that. There’s nothing else to it. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
“It’s different, Tony, he - ”
“I know it’s different, but you can’t force me to forgive anyone while you still haven’t forgiven me. Forgiveness? That’s a weak concept for people not willing to confront the truth. I’ll help your friend, but I won’t forgive him as long as I live. Maybe it’s selfish, maybe I’m a selfish person, but that’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”
“Tony, he wasn’t in control of himself. He didn’t know what he was doing. You can’t honestly think that - “
“I know. I know he wasn’t in control. I don’t blame him, really, I don’t. But I don’t owe you shit. I don’t owe you an apology for anything, and I don’t owe you forgiveness.”
“So this is about me then, isn’t it? You can’t take out your petty hatred for me on Bucky, it’s unfair.”
“Petty? You left me to die, I wouldn’t call that petty.”
Steve looked exasperated. He rubbed a hand over his face in frustration as he took a deep breath. What sort of right did he have to act all annoyed over Tony’s well justified anger?
“I’m not taking anything out on Barnes. I said I’d help him, why do you care whether or not I’m best friends with the guy?” Tony continued, growing angrier by the second.
“Because I don’t want you to hurt him! I know you, Tony, you’ll say something to him and it’ll set back all our progress.”
“You don’t know shit about me, Rogers. I’m not as horrible of a person as you make me out to be.”
“I’m not making you out to be anything, I just know how you’re going to react.”
“Again, you don’t know shit - ”
Tony was interrupted as Bucky walked into the room sheepishly. Steve immediately stopped yelling and ran over to his friend, trying to fuss over him. Bucky brushed him off, seeming slightly annoyed. Tony raised an eyebrow at that.
“Hi… Stark. Uh… I was kinda wondering… about my arm…”
“Keep going Bucky, you got this!”
Bucky shot Steve an annoyed glare. Tony almost snorted at that.
“You want me to fix your arm up for ya?” Tony guessed, bringing Barnes out of his misery.
“Yeah… that.”
“Alright, why the hell not? Let’s do it.”
Rogers had the audacity to look all surprised over it. Of course Tony would help, he wasn’t a monster. It wasn’t a big deal, not really.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, come here.”
Tony pulled out some equipment stored under one of his desks. He motioned for Bucky to come over, and the latter hesitantly did so. Barnes sat down, and Tony fumbled around with his equipment. He may have imagined it, but Barnes looked almost… amused. When he finally got the right tool, he began gently taking off Bucky’s arm.
“So, what was killing my dad like?”
“Tony!”
“What? My dad’s the one I didn’t like.”
He’d half expected Barnes to get all sad, or maybe even freak out or something. Instead the guy shrugged and answered him, ignoring Rogers’ protests.
“Kinda dull.”
“Figures. Everything the old man did was dull, of course his death was too.”
Rogers stared at the two in shock. Tony stifled a laugh.
“Yeah, wasn’t very memorable.”
Tony just had to laugh at that one. The glare he got in return was totally worth it.
“Hey, settle a debate for me, willya? Did you kill JFK?”
“Tony, you can’t just - ”
“Shut up, Steve.”
Goddamn. You tell him, Bucky. Steve clamped his mouth shut.
“I dunno, honestly. I’m pretty sure it was me though.” Bucky continued, ignoring Steve sputtering in the background.
“Kickass.”
“Bucky, are you sure you’re alright with this?”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Steve, I’m fine. I’m not a child, you don’t need to be here to chaperone me.”
“I just wanna make sure you’re alright.”
“And I’m fine, so you got nothing to worry about.”
“But - ”
Tony tuned them out as he finished taking off Bucky’s metal arm. He placed it on the table and rubbed his hands off on his pants and turned to the two arguing 100 year olds.
“Well, I’ll have that back to ya pretty soon. I’ll make sure to add some super cool improvements. It’ll be awesome, trust me on that.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Barnes drawled as he stood up, now down an arm.
“Yeah, you’d better.”
So maybe Tony wouldn’t forgive Barnes. But the guy was cool, what could he do about it. How’d a guy like this get stuck with fucking Steve. It seemed unnatural.
Tony could work with this. He hoped.