I Was Trying To Pay Attention
Tony sighed as he closed the door. Luckily he did have an escape to get out of the commons. He had a feeling that if Winter hadn't left with him he would have an even larger problem that a couple of hurt feelings. Tony sat down in one of the chairs and activated the holograms. Around him people appeared. Tony had left because Pepper reminded him of a meeting that she said he had to go to, and she was a formidable women when she was angry.
The meeting started and Tony did try to lay attention. But in the end, Tony had already gotten hired and had started to fiddle with the items he could find in his immediate vicinity. At least it wasn't as bad as that one time he made Steve'd shield and tried to get people to throw stuff at him to see if it would work. This tim ehe was at least looking somewhat like he was paying attention.
Clearly, it wasn't enough. At the end of the meeting Pepper stayed behind as everyone left. Tony sighed, clearly his distracted self had not gone unnoticed.
"Tony, I know that you won't actually pay attention to these but you couldn't even get through all the reports," Pepper said.
Tony winced slightly. "In my defense I just found out that we're actually going to be keeping an ex HYDRA assassin here," he said. Wait. That probably isn't the best thing to have said. Tony will just blame it in sleep deprivation.
"A what," Pepper demanded.
"It wasn't my fault. But it turns out Cap's bestie us back from the dead and was an assassin for quite a bit and now he's in the compound," Tony told her. "But invited," he added as an afterthought.
Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "You're telling me that Bucky Barnes is still alive and now in the compound?" She asked.
"Yes?"
"That isn't something that you should answer with another question."
Tony waved his arms around in the air as he tried to explain what had happened. "Well, he is but he wants to be called Winter and says that he isn't really Bucky Barnes and then decided that I was his Handler and I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing with that!"
Pepper stared at him. "So, Winter, wants you to be his handler," she said.
"Yes!"
"Why do I have a feeling I'm the only other person who knows this?"
"Umm..."
Pepper sighed. "Have you at least told Rhodey?" She asked.
Rhodey was going to kill him. "I'll tell him when we're done talking?" He said.
"Tony you're a mess. But be probably is better to be talking about this than me," Pepper said. "Have you even told Steve anything about this yet?" she asked.
Tony shook his head. "Well I was thinking about it. But then we had a whole introduce yourself thing and Winter basically said he wasn't Barnes and then I may have offered him a room in my private wing," he said.
"So you didn't tell him."
"No."
Pepper kind of looked like she wanted to stab Tony. He felt white lucky that she wasn't actually in the rooms dn still had to fo other boring company stuff before she could come here and stab Tony. "I have another meeting I need to get to and if you haven't called Rhkdey by the end of it I will call him myself," she warned.
"Yep, I will definantly call Rhodey and tell him about my messed up life after this," Tony said.
Pepper looked like she wanted to say more but instead ended the call and her hologram dissapeared leaving Tony alone in the room.
Tony spun around in his chair. He really wasn't looking forward to calling Thofye because he might actually come over and beat Tony to death with how many stupid decisions he had made over the years. "Fri?" Tony called.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Call Rhodey for me, please," Tony said.
"Tony what did you do this time," Rhldeys voice said.
"Platypus! I feel so hurt that you believe that I have done something and that's the reason I'm calling you," Tony said, "can't I just call a friend?"
"While I would love for you to be calling me just to call me but I seriously doubt that."
"Wow, maybe I'll just start calling you randomly so that you never know when I have bad news."
Rhodey snorted. "Until you start acting like a semi normal person I doubt that is going to happen."
"See, this is why I don't call you," Tony said.
"Yeah, but what did you do?"
"Don't freak out," Tony started. "But that one assassin named the Winter Soldier is actually Bucky Barnes but not and he's currently at the compound."
"You're talking about the same guy that trashed DC?" Rhodey asked.
"Yeah and he decided that I was his handler, so I guess he'll do anything I tell him to," Tony said.
There was a moment of silence as Rhodey thought over what Tony had said. Tony figdeted in his chair as he waited for him to speak. "Where's he now?" Rhodey asked.
"Uh, Friday?"
"Winter is currently with Mr. Wilson and Vision in the commons," Friday said. That's good, Vision and Sam were the least likely to attack Winter. And Tony really didn't want anyone to fight unless they really had to.
"What are they doing?" he asked.
"Mr. Wilson is trying to convince Winter to try Black Mamba Hot Sauce."
Tony chuckled at that. "See, everything's fine," he told Rhodey.
Rhodey snorted. "Sure it is, I'm going to head over later to make sure everything really is fine," he said.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you then," he said before ending the call. Tony spun around his chair some more and thought. He still needed to set up a room for Winter. Or he could just choose a random one and get Friday to sort things out. Tony doesn't even know what Winter would want in his room and he doesn't want to hurt his feelings.
Tony stood up out of his chair and stretched. Friday said that Winter was in the commons and apparently about to try hot sauce, that has got to be exciting and Tony wanted to be there to see yet another super soldier's reacitons to the wonderful creations of the modern world.
He left the meeting room and walked back out the hallway over to the commons. As he got cloesr he could here Sam trying to get Winter to eat it.
"Come on! It's good!" Sam said. Tony walked into the room and was met with Sam holding the bottle. Winter was glaring at him with his arms crossed and Vision was making tea.
"I can smell it from here," Winter said. His eyes flicked over to where Tony was standing before focusing back on Sam.
"Exactly!" Sam said. "You can clearly smell the greatness!"
Winter scrunched his face up. "It is burning my nose, I am not trying that," he said.
Tony laughed. "Smart choice, that's the hottest hot sauce we have," he said.
Sam pouted. "Come on! It was going to be exciting," he said. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Yes, if you think death by angry super soldier is exciting," he said. Sam shrugged and put the hot sauce back. By now VIsion had finished making tea, one of the few things he could actually make and have it taste good, and was pouring it into cups. Vision passed out the cups to everyone before leaning against the counter.
Tony took a sip and frowned before dumping spoonfuls of sugar into it. "Are you trying to get a heart attack?" Sam said as he watched.
"It has no caffiene, I've got to make up to it somehow," Tony said as he stirred it. Winter cautiously tried his tea, making a small happy sound before drinking it.
Tony sat down in one of the stools and drank his tea. They all sat in a comfortable silence as they drank the tea. Winter was curled around his tea, more protectively and Tony realized that he might be half expecting someone to take it away.
Tony herad the doors open and turned to see Natasha walking in. She smiled at him and made her way over to the counter. Winter had tensed up and was clearly shielding his cup from her.
"Hey guys," she said. Tony waved at her. "You left earlier," she commented.
Tony shrugged. "Had an SI meeting I had to get to," he answered.
Natasha smiled and looked over at Winter. "He's staying?" she asked. Tony nodded. "You might want to check for trackers, HYDRA won't be too happy with him leaving," she said.
Tony knew that she was right, but he really didn't want to do anything to him unless he asked for it. Natasha leaned over and grabbed his cup, tasting it. She frowned and passed it back. "You added way too much sugar into that," she said.
"I like it," Tony said. Natasha rolled her eyes and looked around.
"Just think about it, I'm sure Steve will be over to demand you to do it later," she said before walking away.
Winter set his cup down and looked over at Tony, he had a slightly terrified expression on his face. "I will need to have maitenance?" he asked quietly.
Tony frowned. "No, not unless you want me to check your arm," he said. "Nat was just worried, and I'm betting Cap will be worried too, we don't exaclty know what HYDRA has done to you," Tony explained.
Winter nodded, but didn't look very happy. He sullenly drank the rest of his tea.
Sam coughed quietly. "Okay, so does anyone want to think of any dinner plans before Steve brings out his I'm Dissapointed In You face?" he asked.