Well hello there. What's this? Oh it's chapter four. Just thought it might be a nice little surprise for a lazy Sunday. For those that really like the Tony Bucky pairing, might I suggest you go read One Hydra Head at a Time, then the sequel, One Hollow Heartbeat at a Time. The sequel updates every Sunday and Wednesday, and it's one of the best Avengers fics I've ever read. Also, there is Damaged Defenders, but that has no non-canon pairings, but is a fantastic read.

Well, that's me done with suggestions. On to the chapter. As always, all Avengers places, persons and things belong to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no copyright infringement is intended, and I make no money from this story.

Chapter Four- The Truth of the Matter

A double blow came for Tony in the same day. Natasha cornered him in the main sitting room and demanded to know why Tony had resorted to punching Steve in the face, and what argument could have caused such a violent reaction from him. Tony made no pretence of why he'd put the bruises there, and Clint had arrived to try and calm the situation down. The result from that conversation was not what the archer had been prepared for.

"God damn it, Nat! He knew why they were killed! The fucker couldn't even ring me to give me the information," Tony yelled.

Natasha sighed. "What exactly would you have done with the information, Tony? The serum was taken over twenty years ago, the trail would have been long dead and there would have been nothing for you to chase after."

Tony stared at her like she had three heads. "Nat…are you being serious? This is me! There isn't any such thing as a cold trail, there isn't anything that I can't find. To you the trail might have been dead, but to me, there could have been something I could have found."

"So to take out your frustration you try to beat him up? Not only is he a super soldier, Tony, he is also your friend!" She snapped at him.

"He knew things he should have told me!"

"I knew as well, Tony! Does that mean you're going to punch me in the face?"

Tony opened his mouth spit out an answer when her words registered in his brain. "You knew?"

Natasha seemed to realise her slip up, eyes sliding shut and she groaned. "Yes, I knew. It was me that told Steve, and he made the call not to tell you, so you wouldn't be hurt by finding out your parents had been killed. It was while Steve and I were taking down HYDRA and the helicarriers that were set to kill millions of people."

Tony ignored the jab about the millions of people, still stuck on the fact that Natasha knew, told the Cap and neither of them told him. Betrayal blossomed in his heart, eating away at him and his vision blurred. "Nat…why didn't you tell me?"

"Cap asked me not to, I took my orders for what it was- an order to protect our friend."

"Since when was he your fucking boss? Last I checked the only person Natasha Romanov answered to was herself!" He bellowed, blinking away the tears, chest constricting and fighting back sobs.

Clint stepped forward and Tony waited for the archer to go stand beside his friend, but he took Tony's elbow and squeezed gently. "Breathe, Tony. Deep breaths now."

A panic attack was beginning and the last thing he wanted was Tony out cold on the floor, where others could pity him. Tony Stark hated pity, and Clint knew it. Natasha stepped forward to help, but Clint shot her a look. "You should have told him, Nat. You, of all people, should have told him."

The red head sighed and lowered her gaze before rolling her shoulders. "Maybe I should, but like Cap said, I was protecting my friend."

Tony laughed hysterically, tears dropping to the floor. "Protecting me…you all seem hell bent on protecting me, but no one stops and asks me what I want. What I can handle. Some friends you turned out to be. Get your things and get the fuck out of my Tower."

Natasha stopped a moment and stared. "What?"

Tony looked up at her. "Get out of my house! Get your shit and get out! I don't want you here! I never needed any of you! Now get out!"

He shrugged Clint off, and the archer let go, not taking it personally. Tony stared Natasha down, as if asking her to defy his request, because right now, he was sure that he would give her a damn good run for her money. Acrobatic skills or not, he was pissed. And a pissed Tony was a fucking dangerous one.

FRIDAY sealed off the elevator so Tony couldn't get access to his suits, and Clint took a harder grasp of Tony's elbow to stop him flying off the handle at her. "Tony, just think about this for a moment. With the Avengers supposedly no longer including you, this is the last place that anyone is going to think to look for them. If you throw them out now, they're as good as dead."

The look in Tony's eyes frightened the archer, the mad, I-don't-give-a-fuck look. "Why should I care about them when they clearly haven't cared about me?"

Clint's thumb rubbed against Tony's inside elbow. "Tony, I know you. You don't want their deaths on your hands. Just take a moment, try to calm down and think straight for me."

He fought against it, the soothing way Clint spoke to him, the physical touch that always worked, and knew to a degree, that Clint was playing him in order to calm him down. And in that moment, Tony wasn't sure if he was grateful or resentful.

But the archer was right, there was no way that Tony would be able to live with himself if something happened to any of them, no matter how furious he was. The panic slowly ebbed until Tony could breathe and think clearly. "Go away," he whispered.

Natasha looked at him sadly. "Tony…please try to understand, having to bring this to you, it would have crushed you."

Tony laughed coldly and shook his head. "Maybe, but I would have had my friends around me to support me. Instead, they chose to lie to me, withhold things from me."

"Because we love you, Tony."

"No, because you were too afraid to tell me. You were protecting yourselves from having to deliver something like that, you spared yourselves with no thought for me. So, unless you actually want throwing off the roof, I suggest you go away, leave me alone," Tony said calmly.

She nodded sharply and walked from the room, her boots making soft footfalls on the floor. Tony waited until he couldn't hear her anymore before allowing his legs to fold, Clint dropping beside him and enveloping him in a hug.

"It's okay, Tones. Just breathe."

Tony nodded and let his head fall on Clint's shoulder. "What the hell is it with people keeping things from me?"

"I don't know, man, but we'll sort it all out. We'll get to the bottom of what happened that night, I promise you, we'll find out the truth," Clint swore softly. "But…Tony, you need to try and get past this. I know you're hurt, believe me, I understand. I do. Please, Tony, you're angry and that's understandable, but it's tearing you apart. How can you focus on finding out who put your parents on the hit list if you're too busy being angry with people who knew?"

He wanted so badly to let it go, he desperately wanted his friends back, for things to be how they were. But how could he not be angry? Steve, and now Nat, had made a conscious decision to keep information about his parents' deaths from him, to keep him in the dark. That wasn't something he was ever going to be able to forgive easily.

He sighed and climbed to his feet, tugging Clint up as well. "Baby steps, Bird Brain, I'm keeping my promise to you, aren't I?"

Clint laughed and nodded, yanking Tony in for another hug. "Yeah, you are. Go tinker with your suits, Fly Boy. I'll make you Laura's soufflé."

Tony grinned and slapped Clint a high-five before running off for his workshop like a kid hunting for presents. He took the elevator down and ordered FRIDAY to keep out Steve and Natasha for the time being. An hour later, Clint dropped off two hot soufflés, and Tony demolished them in seconds, practically inhaling the delicious meal.

Later that day, Barnes came down to the workshop and stood by the elevator until Tony spotted him. "What is it this time? The receptors again?"

Barnes approached, arms folded over his chest. "No. I came here to tell you not to take your anger out on Steve."

Tony snorted loudly and dropped his wrench. "Don't bother trying to defend your boyfriend, Barnes. Despite my intense dislike of you, our fight wasn't anything to do with you, so keep your beak out."

"No, Steve isn't my boyfriend, but he is my friend. And I don't want him getting beat on by his friend because of a mistake he made."

"It wasn't a mistake, Barnes. He made a choice to not tell me how my parents really died. That's on him. Now get the hell out of my workshop."

The soldier shifted and lowered his arms, his gaze thoughtful. "I know you're angry at me, not Steve. If it hadn't been me that had done it, would you have been nearly as angry if it had been another HYDRA soldier?"

Tony opened his mouth to snap at him, but the soldier was right. Tony was angry because it had been Barnes, he was angry because it had been Steve's friend. What if it had been another soldier, and Tony found out, would he have been as furious at Steve for not telling him the truth?

"Barnes, you're not my therapist. The fact I am barely tolerating having you here is testament to my self-control, but if you keep pushing me, I'll throw you from the damn Tower roof. So, get the hell out of my workshop."

Tony was forced to look up slightly when Barnes stood right in front of him. "You wouldn't last five seconds against me, Stark. We both know that. Your reactor might have blown my arm off, but without the suit, you're defenceless. So don't make threats that you can't follow through on," Barnes sneered down at him.

The mechanic smirked darkly. "Believe me, soldier, I wouldn't need the suit. You might be the brawn, but I'm the brain and when it comes to weapons, I'm the top dog. Get the fuck out of my workshop."

Barnes' lips twitched, making Tony frown before the super soldier shrugged, smirked and walked to the elevator like they hadn't just verbally sparred. He could honestly say he was confused, but Barnes wasn't going to come into his territory and tell him what to do. If he thought Tony was giving Steve a hard time now, then he really wasn't going to be prepared for Tony actually losing his temper with someone.

And this concludes chapter four. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but if I spend any more time tweaking it, I'll never be ready to post it. So I do hope you didn't think too badly of it. Until next time :)