Chapter 1
They had expected Steve to have a complex. They would have been worried if he hadn't had the reaction that he did. But nobody expected Tony's reaction. Not Fury, who seemed to always know what reaction people were going to have, not Natasha, who spent almost all of the days in Stark Tower observing people, and certainly not Steve, who thought that no other Avengers would care that James "Bucky" Barnes had been found.
The Avenger had been living with each other for about two weeks. Admittedly, many of the ideas that the public had about Tony Stark were proven wrong as they moved into Stark Tower. Bruce was pleasantly surprised to realize that Tony Stark actually was a very good at sharing and was more than willing to let him take part in his experiments. Natasha was shocked to realize that Tony was actually a very nice person. He would drop what he was doing to help Steve or Thor with something they didn't understand no matter what it was. Clint was shocked that only was he not dating Pepper, but he hadn't brought a girl home once during their stay.
"Bucky?" Tony stuttered. The Avengers (minus Steve, who was currently staring at the Director with a dazed look) stared at him and then at the glass he had just dropped.
"I mean, there is another person who was frozen and came out of it alive?" He said a little desperately. He hoped that the others couldn't hear the hope in his voice.
"That's correct," Fury said. Tony swallowed with difficulty and left the room. The Avengers stared confusedly at his retreating back.
Tony wasn't sure he could do this anymore. Having to convince everybody that he was more than twenty years older than he really was, he could do that. Having to act like he hadn't known Steve before now, he could do that despite the fact that it was killing him inside. But if Bucky didn't remember Tony, he wasn't sure what he would do.
But right now he needed to get himself together. It was bad enough that he had raised their suspicions by leaving like that. Lord knows Steve would be concerned. Tony was doing his best to avoid Steve without actually avoiding Steve. The hard part about the whole thing was that Steve was still Tony's Steve. There was nothing different about him besides the fact that he didn't remember Tony. He was still the most kind, beautiful, and polite person on Earth.
"Are you alright Tony?" Pepper asked. Tony looked at her. Despite the rumors, they were just really good friends. Pepper was the only one alive who knew Tony's secret.
"I'm fine," Tony said, giving her his well practiced fake smile. He seemed to be using it more and more often these days. He yearned for the time when Steve could make him smile just by saying his name. It was different now, when Steve said his name. It wasn't filled with that godly amount of affection that Tony knew he didn't deserve but couldn't help but cherish. Steve had been his salve for all the aches that the world offered. And without Steve the world was wearing him down.
Bucky would help.
As long as he remembered him.