**Potential warning: talk of mind control**

Steve's phone lit up on the nightstand. Bucky swiveled his head around to see the source of the sudden illumination so fast it tweaked his shoulder.

"Just my phone. I have a new text message from someone." Steve picked up the phone. "JARVIS? Since when do you send people texts?"

A new message popped up. I did not wish to alarm Sgt. Barnes before you had a chance to warn him about me.

"Who's JARVIS?" Bucky was craning his neck to see Steve's phone. Sgt. Barnes; that was him. The reminder that he was a person with a full name and a title felt nice if still a little strange. "And why do I need to be warned about him?"

"He's the artificial intelligence who runs the tower, a sort of bodiless robot butler. The disembodied voice can be a little unnerving at first, so apparently he was refraining from speaking around you until I warned you." He raised an eyebrow at his friend cheekily. "You must've looked jumpy."

"...thanks?"

"Anyway, JARVIS, what is it?"

"Mr Stark wishes me to, I quote, 'harass Capsicle until he comes out here and socializes with the man who was nice enough to give him lodging'."

"Yeah, because he totally gave me a choice in the matter."

"His words, not mine."

Bucky was looking up at Steve quizzically. "Howard is still around? I thought he had died." He hesitated, frowning. "I don't know why I thought that."

"He did. His son Tony is my teammate and the owner of this tower."

"Oh. And he wants you to go socialize? Also, Capsicle?"

"Yes, he does. He likes to give people annoying nicknames. Don't go getting any ideas."

"If the man hosting us wants you to go socialize, you probably should. Don't wanna be ungrateful." Bucky squirmed gingerly out of Steve's lap. "Go on. I need a nap anyway. And if we've got an omnipresent robot butler, you don't need to worry about me. He can keep an eye on me for you. Right?"

"Certainly." JARVIS assured them.

"If you're sure." Steve extracted himself the rest of the way. Bucky was right. Tony was nice enough to give him a home, the least he could do was show his face in the common area once in a while. "Stay put. JARVIS, don't hesitate to summon me if he needs me, whether or not he admits to needing me." Bucky made a face. Steve ignored it. "Sleep well, Bucky."

"Well if it isn't the star spangled hermit. Busy moping about your brainwashed buddy?" Tony quipped.

Steve refused to rise to the jab. "Actually no. I found him."

Tony blinked, taken aback. "And I suppose you brought him home, didn't you? Where is he then?"

"Upstairs taking a nap with JARVIS keeping an eye on him. He's hurt and sick and traumatized, so don't pressure him to be too social just yet." Steve warned.

"Remembers who he is though, isn't going to kill us?" Tony said it jokingly, but Steve knew him well enough now to hear the genuine concern behind it.

"Not unless you startle him and he lashes out." Steve sat down heavily. "He is regaining his memories, good and bad. And he was forced to do a lot of very bad things while brainwashed."

"God, talk about PTSD." Tony said softly. "Even I can't make a joke about that, and I don't even know half the stuff he must've done under their control. I'd better stock up on nightmare cocoa." The two sat in heavy silence for a minute, then Tony spoke again, more tentatively than Steve had ever heard from him. "I suppose he knows a lot of Hydra secrets, or will once he remembers them, then?"

"Possibly." Steve sighed. "I know what you're wondering Tony. Yes, Hydra was responsible for your parents' car accident. Nat and I found that out while we were on the run."

Tony fiddled with a pen nervously. "Do you think he was involved? I mean, he was an assassin and stuff and… yeah."

Steve cringed inwardly. "Possibly. He had a feeling that your father had died, but didn't know how he knew that, so he may well have been at least present. Please don't be angry at him. You know that even if he was involved he was brainwashed and not in control."

Tony nodded stiffly. "Yeah. I-I know." He massaged his temples with shaky hands. "He was trapped inside a weapon. It wasn't really him. It's, it's like when Vanko took control of the War Machine suit with Rhodey inside, except...more rape-y." He braced himself. "I just...when he remembers, I want to know what happened. I need closure. Because none of it makes sense. It looked like a total accident, no evidence of foul play, but no reason for the accident, and you just confirmed that little voice I had in the back of my head saying it was foul play, but that still leaves missing pieces. I need to know."

Steve nodded. "I respect that. But please be gentle when you bring it up, for both your sakes. Your father was a friend to us, and just...try to imagine what that will be like for him, discovering that one of the people he killed under Hydra's control might have been one of his own friends."

"Like Clint after Loki. Except worse. Because eventually he'll remember doing it instead of just having been told by someone else."

"Sounds about right."

"He's going to be gunning for revenge even more than the rest of us, isn't he?"

"God, I hope so. It'll be either that or too traumatized to function, and I'm really hoping for the revenge option."

I like my version of Tony finding out better than what's probably going to end up being MCU canon. They've seen mind control before. They've seen people being forced to attack their friends before. It's not a foreign concept to them. And Tony finding out sort of gradually allows him time to come to terms with the idea as a possibility before potentially finding out the answer. Also the fact that this fic picks up after TWS and therefore AOU hasn't happened means Tony's not guilt-tripped into siding with the government by his role in that incident. So yeah I like this better. :) Which isn't to say this isn't a lot for him to swallow.