Their times together where mostly limited to maintenance. Barnes refused to let Tony replace his arm with a better one, keeping the mess that needed near weekly maintenance, if not after every mission. While it was limited-Tony was good at his job after all-they still had some time to just... exist near one another.
And Tony was not known to be a quiet person.
He talked a lot while working on the arm. The hassle of removing the arm was too great to go through so often, so Barnes sat still and listened while he talked. Sometimes he talked back. Tony found himself thinking more fondly of those days more often than any other.
It was after one such mission that Barnes huffed softly, turning himself just slightly to look at Tony, who was wrist deep in the wiring of his bicep. “Stark...”
Tony looked up at him, tilting his head a bit, before focusing back on the wiring. “Whats up snowflake?”
Barnes was quiet for a moment more. “Can I... get something off my chest?” He asked, voice quiet.
“Is it your shirt, cause that’s gonna be a bit difficult with me as I am right now, but go ahead.” Tony grinned up at him, letting it fall when no snark came back at him. Barnes was usually pretty good at that.
Tony looked back down to his work, silent, content to let Barnes sort through his words and thoughts for a moment. He knew the other had trouble with forming proper sentences sometimes, and Tony didn’t want to hurry him.
“You know... me and Steve... we grew up together. I got him out of fights he didn’t need to be in, patched him when he got too hurt and got him through god knows how many asthma attacks... I would’ve followed him anywhere.” Tony looked up at him, seeing him get caught in his worlds again, eyes unfocused and wistful.
“You two did have that ‘til the end of the line thing’ if I’m remembering right.” Bucky blinked, looking over at him a moment and nodded, ducking his head and letting his hair form a curtain between them. Tony frowned, going back to his arm, careful not to hurt him as he pulled his hand free.
“I don’t think I’d follow him anywhere anymore.” The admission was quiet, riddled with guilt and pain. Tony shifted, staring at him a moment, before nodding.
“Bucky would’ve. But you’re not exactly Bucky anymore.”
“And he’s not Stevie.”
Tony nodded carefully, before closing up the arm, tapping it gently. “Well... people change.”
Barnes tested the movement carefully, rolling his shoulder, bending the arm slightly, nodding a bit. “He didn’t want me to.”
“He’s an idiot if he thinks that seventy years of being tortured and used as a weapon isn’t gonna change someone.” Tony huffed softly. “Don’t feel guilty because you changed and someone else doesn’t like that. Took awhile for me to learn that lesson honestly, but it’s a lesson worth learning at least.”
Barnes looked up at him, as he put away his tools, cleaning his hands off and humming to AC/DC song to himself. Barnes nodded slowly, before slipping off the table, completely unaffected by sitting on the hard surface for so long.
“If you don’t wanna follow him, don’t.” Tony smiled over at him. “Just... learn to be who you are in this century instead of what Star Spangled Asshole wants you to be.” Tony turned at that, walking over to a different table.
Barnes went to leave in silence, their normal routine, before pausing at the door, looking back at Tony, who had sat down to mess with some holographic blueprints. Barnes watched him quietly, before smiling.
“I’d follow you.”