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[It is hard to convince Bucky to give him the space to do this. He gets it, of course. Steve is sick. Bucky thought they were past all that. He has a right to be worried, doesn't he? After nearly being killed by him once and being evaded for six months, the whole thing seems too easy. All he had to do to win him back was fall ill? Really?

Steve doesn't know what to make of it. All he does know he needs to make the most of the opportunity. One thing he knows is that Bucky is better at this than him. Steve won't see him coming if he changes his mind. He's got a lot of ground to cover with his roommate. Steve doesn't have time to make it sound effortlessly pretty. He comes into their shared room with only a quick knock as warning. Regardless of what Tony is up to, he holds up his hand to stop him and quickly shuts the door behind him.]

We need to talk quickly. I fucked up. We need to talk about how before anything else happens.

[ he hears the door creak and indeed opens his mouth to launch into a rant. he has u's panel open, "tinkering" as the bot hangs there listlessly and dum-e whirs around like an anxious sibling. his jaw snaps shut at the abrupt order steve deals him, but as he moves to stand up a big sneeze overtakes him. he manages to smother it against his sleeve but when he looks up at the other man it's with red-ringed eyes and misery. ]

Are you sure I'm the right audience for this? [ can you blame him for being skeptical? steve has never said something like that to him before. bald, self-effacing. if he weren't so sick he'd be scared. ]

This might have to do with your dad so yes. I think you're the right audience for this. [Steve snaps immediately. His expression quickly softens. He's got a lot of shaky ground to cover here. He shouldn't be taking out his frustration and fear on Tony. He approaches gently and offers one of the many tissues stuffed in his pocket as a peace offering.]

I never told you what happened after the helicarriers were knocked out of the sky. Do you know what I was doing? [He knows Tony can get into stuff. It wouldn't shock him to know Tony was well aware that Cap was in the hospital with life threatening injuries that were very clearly given by assassin(s).]

Howard?

[ he frowns at the tone, but numbly accepts the tissue anyway, pressing it to his nose and looking down a second. ]

I, uh- might've checked up.

Okay. [He nods. How can Steve be mad? He's the jerk in this. He's keeping secrets that could change the team forever because he doesn't have evidence supposedly. If Steve is honest with himself and right now he is due to his fear and sickness, he's scared of what Tony will do. It's easier to say nothing until it's not.

Steve knows he can't live with what could go wrong if he's quiet about this.] All those injuries came from one guy. They called him the Winter Soldier. During that mess, before I ever really fought the guy, an old enemy of mine implied he was responsible for your father's death. I thought it was a distraction, and it was, but I also think it's the truth. I just can't prove it.

[He's getting to where this is relevant to now. Steve is waiting to see if Tony is still with him.]

[ the truth is tony only knows so much, but that wasn't for lack of trying. shield really likes to hide things from him and truth be told after the whole incident with him almost dying he doesn't press the issue often, even when it's about steve. he knew he was in the hospital, he wasn't 100% clear on how he got there. the rest of steve's speech takes all the wind out of his sails, and he has to grip the side of the desk before he goes down, his heart beating so fast that his appendages feel numb. ]

My parents died in an accident.

[ his speech is slurred, his vision hazy. he should really sits down before he falls down but he's having trouble guiding himself to the chair. ]

[Steve walks quickly over to him once he has the chair in hand to guide him to sit. He wants to back down more than anything. If he leaves it there, they can keep their relatively good relationship in tack. Again he sees the flash of Howard's head bashed against the wheel. He can't toy with Tony's life to spare himself pain.]

I know that's the official story. When Na- [He cuts himself off. He doesn't need to drag Natasha into this.] -when he was questioned about why no one noticed HYDRA sooner, the implication was that maybe Howard did or did something else to get in their way. Like I said, I have no proof. What I do know for sure is the person who almost killed me is here now so you need to know this is a possibility in case I'm not the only person they sent him after. Do you understand, Tony?

[ he slips into the chair, his hand coming up to grip steve's hand tightly, almost too tightly for a second, before letting go altogether. there's someone here steve thinks killed his parents?? who might hurt him, too? ]

You... How long have you known about this?

[ he swallows, it isn't like he doesn't have his own secret. but he was going to tell steve the night they both disappeared, somehow weeks apart. he hunches over, suddenly feeling nauseous as a chill wracks through him, causing a ripple-effect of tiny, visible micro-shivers. ]

No. I don't understand anything. Not anymore.

Since the helicarriers went down. [He admits without wasting a breath. Steve clearly hates himself for it, but he knows in his heart one thing: he was never going to tell him. This forced his hand. He has to live with the fact that makes him kind of an awful person. So much for being a good man, huh? God he's such a disappointment.]

I know I'm the bad guy in this. I accept it if you hate me for not saying something sooner. I can't live with something happening to you. Right now in this environment, it could. I can't- I just. Can't.

[Let that happen to him; he can't repeat that image of Howard's face broken and bloody with Tony. Steve scrubs his hand over his face and forces himself to keep going.] Are you ready for the rest? This is the important part. It'll make more sense once you know.

[ it sounds wrong, to have cap lay himself bare that way. he wants to say he could never hate him, but the words stick in his throat. he's only human, and this? this is a bigass secret. he's right to feel hurt, right? steve is validating him as he goes and even that feels... off. all tony can really do is allow him to continue, and so he nods even as he shuts his eyes tight against the rising bile in his throat, squeezing the tissue in his other hand where it rests on his thigh. ]

Ready as I'll ever be.

[Steve watches him carefully even knowing no matter how Tony feels, he has to finish this. It doesn't make that feel any better.] The Winter Soldier is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Turns out he was experimented on while Zola had him all those years ago. He survived the fall. As best as I've been able to figure out? He's spent the past seventy years being tortured and brainwashed into murdering people for HYDRA on and off. They figured out you can put super soldiers on ice first.

[He states it as a fact or else he'd have to scream at the horror of it all.] He didn't remember who I was before which is why he didn't hold back during our fights. When we met earlier he did. He acted like nothing had changed. He knew I'd been trying to track him down before we started looking for the scepter. I guess he's been on his own mission to wipe out what's left of HYDRA too. I don't know what to make of it, but the fact is his brain has been assaulted for decades. For all I know this is him having a lucid moment and he'll slip back into thinking he needs to kill me. I just don't know.

[ why does that name sound familiar. he's running it forwards and backwards when steve mentions the fall, then it clicks. he watches the other man with wide eyes for the rest of his speech, uncharacteristically listless. ]

You're talking about Bucky. Your besty from way back when.

[ it's soft, he knows he's right, but... wow. that's a lot to process. ]

How sure are you about... all of this?

The only thing I am sure of is that he here's and he's acting like brother. The part about being frozen on and off, the torture, is real. I've seen some pictures; read some file notes that survived over the years. I know he didn't remember me. I saw it in his eyes when we fought back home.

[He pauses here to have a coughing fit. This is more than he talked in a while. It shows. Once it slows down, he tacks on:] The rest is just... fear and speculation. I don't care what happens to me, but I can't risk you. I know I haven't been a good teammate to you, but I do care. Truly. I just wasn't strong enough to do what was right back when we could have cleared this up together. I am sorry for that. I am sorry for being so selfish for whatever that's worth to you.

[ I can't risk you. he swallows, his skin feeling hot again as his vision wavers and he looks down at his feet. looking up at steve feels like a goddamn chore now, but getting up is impossible, and when his eyes cast downward he doesn't see the floor but the dark pit of his dream, steve laying lifeless at his feet. a little jump goes through him, ice in the pit of his stomach as he forces his neck to crane up until it hurts, eyes shining bright and wet. ]

I... [ how is he supposed to react to any of this? where's pepper? where's bruce and rhodey to tell him what the fuck to do? ] Can you sit down? You're like, a mountain in a man suit. Come on, this is actually hurting my neck.

[He wants to put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Steve is so convinced Tony will hate him that he holds back. He practically stares a whole through the man until their eyes meet. He retreats with a nod to get a chair.] Okay... sure.

[Steve pulls up a chair and just waits for judgment. There must be something, right?]

[ for some reason, it helps. once they're on eye level again, he visibly deflates. he almost says 'thanks' but ends up just biting his lip and combing through his thoughts until he can come up with something better. steve is apologizing, he should say something. he's trying to protect him, the whole thing feels... foreign. ]

I, uh. I haven't been the best teammate either. Do you know what they said when SHIELD was first putting together the Avengers? They said I was a Grade A Narcissist, that I'd never learn to work with other people. Maybe they weren't so far off.

[ he can't make eye contact, but he smiles a little, though it's impossibly soft and bordering on wan. ]

This probably isn't news to - anyone. I was like, the last to know, okay, but I have... an anxiety disorder? I'm not making excuses, it just might- I'm getting off-track already, huh? Making this about me. Your friend is here, your brother. It's good that he remembers you now, isn't it?

[ rambling as always, but he eventually sounds soberer, pinching his wrists between his knees as he pitches forward and looks steve in the eye at last. ]

Edited 2018-09-22 20:02 (UTC)

Don't say that. I'm the jerk keeping secrets here. [Maybe he would have agreed once upon a time. Things have changed on the hunt for the scepter. Tony's tried so hard and given so much to them. He'd have to be made of ice to think SHIELD was right now.] I do appreciate what you've done for me since we teamed back up. I know I don't say it enough, but I do. I'm proud to wear our symbol. I feel like it's the only good thing I've done since I got back.

[He puts away the anxiety disorder reveal for now. He honestly didn't know. Steve bows his head and just lets go of what he's thinking.] It's great that he remembers me. I want him back even if I know things will never be the same. Even if I can never be who I was again, it still feels like a part of me came back to life.

[Steve looks back up, meeting his eyes. His eyes are bright too with unshed tears as he slowly lets go of the fear and pain; his voice is thick with emotion.] The man you met on that helicarrier is a ghost. This whole time I've been haunting everywhere I go. I don't belong anywhere. I don't have anything so when I see him here alive and whole it just... It can't be real. I think to myself that can't be it. I can't get a break, can I? That's why I'm scared. I do have something to lose; the team. That's the only thing I ever managed to get since I came back. That has to be the price, right? I can't just have him back. That's not how this works.

[Steve lets out a broken laugh. It sounds crazy, but look at how he got Peggy and Bucky came to begin with. Is it really wrong to feel like this is the prelude to something horrible? That Tony will be killed because that's just how his life goes?]

[ he grimaces at that, feeling like he's been keeping things too, but... okay, it's not the murderer of his parents. he still can't really reconcile that with reality, or that the man who did this could be sleeping peacefully down the hall from them. ]

You said he tried to kill you. How do you know you're not his target?

[ tony heard all the rest, but he's allowed to care, too. he's not buying this ghost bullshit, sorry steve. ]

[Steve grimaces. He's been so worked up over his guilt and fear that he forgot himself. The truth is he's actually the one who would be first to go. It shows on his face instantly. Even if Tony didn't know him the hesitation is too obvious a tell for anyone to miss.] ... I don't know actually. I was his last mission when HYDRA was calling the shots so it's a possibility.

Wait. He tried to kill you on purpose and you're worried about him hurting me?

[ fuck this. he pops out of his chair and moves to start pacing. ]

Steve... Even if back home we weren't good at this? We have to be here. We have to be partners. We have to trust each other. Are you following?

I'm following. I'm sorry. [Steve watches him pace the room. Spoilers: he is worrying about that anxiety disorder right about now. If they're going to be partners, Steve has to bring him up to speed though. He hesitates again before getting to the truth.]

... He actually tried more than once. He's the one who shot up my apartment back when he was trying to only kill Fury on purpose. Natasha might have been a target too. I think he mostly wanted me dead considering the history there. When I said I was worried about you, I might have meant likely after he killed me. You'd be the second target if it came to that.

[Don't you just love actual blond Steve Rogers right about now, Tony?]

[ he can't believe what he's hearing right now. that image keeps flashing every time he blinks his eyes, steve telling him it's all his fault. steve dying... because of him. and here he is, like a nightmare-come-true, telling him bucky has to get through him to get tony? and that he likely will? ]

If you're dead, I'm fucked, so let's back this up a little, Keystone Cowboy. You said he didn't remember you? Did he remember anything? Are you sure he remembers now? Have you... tested him at all?

[ he appreciates steve coming to see him after, but he doesn't like the idea of steve going back to face bucky alone again. not when he sounds this scared. for tony though. he really has zero regard for himself and that's not helping matters either. ]

[Steve nods. He can't argue that and the rest he agrees with.] That's right. I think the only reason I'm alive is that when it came time to- [This is where the light goes off in his brain that part shouldn't be shared. He doesn't want to scar Tony for life by hearing he basically decided to die once.] Actually you don't need to hear that part. I haven't tested him. He just got worried because I'm sick. He acted like he did back then.

I don't need to hear that part? Dude.

[ he wishes he were sitting again, but instead he's just staring at steve from halfway across the small room. dum-e tips his head to scrutinize the captain like he's mimicking his dad. ]

Has it not occurred to you that if he is still a sleeper agent that he'd say what he wants you to hear?

Right, sorry. We went over this. [Steve starts before the question stops him cold.] No, it hasn't. He was pretty direct the first few times. I figured if that were an option, they'd have done it from the start.

[He looks from one judgy face to the other and slumps. Steve knows how this sounds out loud despite never voicing it. He did promise to be better even without saying the actual words.] Once the helicarriers were down, I stopped fighting him. I let him hurt me to see if it'd trigger anything. When I brought up something from the day I buried Ma, he stopped. I think he stopped me from drowning too. There's no other explanation for me getting out of the water. That's the part you didn't need to hear.

action. set after reuniting with bucky.

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