Secrets Don't Make Friends

Chapter 13: I am Ironman

Chapter 13: I am Ironman

Tony glanced down at his watch, a frown creasing his brow, as he loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. The pack had dispersed, Clint went off to play with his kids - he had promised the little agents a round of super hide and seek, Nat had to go make a phone call to Fury, and Bruce had some research that he had to get back to - which sounded super suspicious and also like a lot of fun. Maybe he could happen to just...swing by Bruce's place. See what his fellow scientist had cooking in his lab over there.

He wanted to get out of the house, and soon, because -

"Tony? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Tony froze, turned his head to stare at the rather sheepish looking form of one Bucky Barnes standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Bucky had his head tilted down, his usually piercing eyes hidden beneath the long strands of his lanky brown hair . The super soldier's hands were thrust into the pockets of his black cargo pants, and he looked for all the world as if he were a child about to confess to a terrible crime.

Tony turned to face him, folding his arms across his chest as he kicked back against the counter with a forced nonchalance he certainly didn't feel. He knew people were able to sense his emotions more clearly now that he wasn't on pheromone blockers... but he found himself going through the motions anyway. He had played a part so long... it was hard to just stop pretending.

"I'm all ears." He tried to sound friendly, but his tone came off as guarded.

Because he and Bucky? Well, they had some history...and Tony was man enough to admit that he owed the super soldier an apology for the shit he had put him through in high school. It hadn't been just Steve that Tony and his gang of hangers-on had bullied mercilessly. If James Barnes hadn't been so unfailingly loyal to his best friend, Tony would have never bothered with the kid. But he dogged Steve's heels, many times had stepped in between them.

On more than one occasion the two of them had traded blows.

Of course, that was pre-serum. Tony wouldn't be able to win in a fair fight against either of them now. Not that fighting against a genetically engineered super soldier was exactly fair.

And Tony hadn't been blind to the looks that Barnes had thrown at him when he first got here. That man had sincerely wanted to beat the stuffing out of him and hadn't bothered to hide it. Over time, those looks had given way to quiet contemplation, the aggression slowly bleeding out of his eyes.

Now? Most days Barnes wouldn't even look at him, or meet his gaze, and Tony had no idea why . He thought they were good - or as good as two former highschool enemies could be, that is.

But the way that Barnes was standing in the doorway now, hands fisted and jammed into his pockets, his eyes flickering to look at Tony in a way that made it obvious the alpha wanted anything but to be standing here having this conversation...well, maybe things weren't as good as Tony had suspected.

He sighed mentally, reaching a hand up to massage at his temples.

"I just... wanted to apologize. For my behavior. When you first got here." The words were delivered stilted and quick, as if he were spitting them out of his mouth to get rid of the taste of them.

Tony's head snapped backward in shock, eyebrow cocked as his lips parted in disbelief.

"Is this a joke? Where's the hidden camera Barnes?" Tony made a show of checking the room to make sure they were alone. "You have nothing to apologize for, and you know it."

Barnes blew out a frustrated breath and pulled his hands out of his pockets only to prop them on his hips.

"I wasn't exactly kind to you Tony," he turned his head away to gaze out the window. "I purposefully made your time here difficult. At the time...I thought I knew who you were. And I thought you deserved it for all that shit you pulled in high school. I remember thinking that Stevie was taking it too easy on you." His lips twisted bitterly. "I know now that...that I had no clue about you or what you went through."