James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
;
"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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"Did one of you tell her...?" Tony looked between Natasha and Pepper. They shook their heads.
"I built an engine in your lab," I recalled.
"You've built a lot of engines in my lab," he agreed.
"My first one ever. I was a kid."
He nodded slowly. "Is this the first thing you've...?"
I nodded.
"Huh." He shrugged. "Well, I feel special."
I knew I could place who he was, how I knew him, if he just reminded me a little. I could already tell we were close. I knew him really well.
Why hadn't he come to visit me like the others had? The question made me want to cry for reasons I didn't even understand.
"Can you tell me more?" I asked.
"Okay. Sure," Tony agreed. "You can't stand Taylor Swift, and you love classic—"
"Don't lie to her," Pepper said, rolling her eyes.
"Why not? This is my opportunity to indoctrinate her properly. Her brain is so squishy and moldable right now."
"I already know I like Taylor Swift," I said. "Wanda's filled me in."
"Dammit," Tony swore, and turned to Pepper gravely. "She's already too far gone. There's nothing I can do to re-educate her."
"Why don't you come to the lab with us?" Natasha suggested. "I'm giving her a tour. You can show her around there better than I can."
"I think Bruce is around," Tony said.
Oh, yay. Bruce was nice. He visited me in the hospital. He showed me cool projects I'd been working on. Talking to Bruce was nice because he didn't try to make me remember. He just talked about science. Colin was the same way.
"Go with them," Pepper told Tony.
He hesitated. "I have...stuff." He tapped at the blank screen of the tablet blindly, like that emphasized his point somehow.
"You don't have any stuff," Pepper argued.
"You don't know about my stuff," Tony argued back.
"I'm the only one who knows about your stuff. You don't know about your stuff." Pepper turned toward Natasha and me. "He doesn't have stuff."
"Okay, fine, you're right." He tapped at the tablet again without looking down. "But would you look at that! Stuff just came up. Just now. New stuff."
I felt bad. He clearly didn't want to be around me for longer than he had to. "It's okay," I spoke up. "You don't have to come."
Pepper and Natasha were both shooting him terrifying glares. He swiveled side to side in his chair. "Well, you heard her. I don't have to come."
"Yes you do, actually," Natasha said, raising a threatening eyebrow.
