On the brightside, now Steve had even more time to figure a way to explain things to Rhodes. And what was the man so worried about? He'd handled Tony alone each time they had to go to battle. A few days shouldn't be too big an issue.
Bucky twitched and turned about the bed, hearing the sounds of laughing and gun shots, the quick lights and the flashes of blood. It was all hitting him at once. He gasped and jumped up from his bed, looking about.
He wasn't in his confinement area. A few shakey breaths of air and he remembered, that man, Steve, had brought him home. He wasn't with hydra at the moment.
Steve sighed contently as he sketched. Nap time was the best part of any day as far as he was concerned. The quiet, the peace, the ability to focus on things he liked to do.
"Steve?" a quiet voice called from the hallway.
The solider turned to his old friend, "Yeah Bucky, what's up?" he could see by his mildly sweaty form that he might not have had a great nap.
"Is there some food I can have?" he hadn't eaten for days and was sure hoping there was something to curb his growing hunger.
Steve hoped up, setting the sketchbook aside and walking over, "Yeah, it's about lunch time so let me get you something," he would have to wake up ironbaby soon, but at least for the time being he could get Bucky more comfortable with being in a household setting.
"Well, I guess I'll have to go to the store soon," Steve stared into the cabinets, "but we have some canned ravioli."
"Is it good?" the solider sat at the kitchen chair and looked to the pantry.
"It's pretty good for a hunger stopper, I probably wouldn't consider it a benificial meal though," he grabbed a couple cans and a large pot to cook up. This way when Tony arose there would already be some prepared.
Bucky watched Steve work about the kitchen, preparing the dishes. Between watching him work he took mental note of everything and how it was arranged in the penthouse.
"How was your nap?" Steve broke the Winter solider's train of thought.
"The bed was very comfortable," He just looked off without commenting on any dreams.
He nodded. There was no need to push Bucky, he needed to gain trust before he expected to get straight, honest answers. It hurt to have to regain trust from a man he formerly knew so well, but it had t happen.
"You said," Bucky started, "That my name was Bucky. Bucky Barnes."
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." Steve agreed, "But you always preferred to be called 'Bucky'."
"How did you know me?"
"I've known you since we were kids. All the way up to when we joined the military. I had always been a scrawny kid and you would always defend me."
The man was a little skeptical about what he'd said. Looking him over it was hard to believe the man standing before him had ever been scrawny.
The blond took a look back and saw the man's skeptical face and smiled, "It's true. This was due to a test project."
"A test?" he looked to his face, "So you're an experiment like me? A lab rat."
"No. Not like you. I choose this for myself," he shook his head, "You didn't get a choice."
Bucky to the granite counter top. He glared at it before slamming his hands down on it, creating a crater in it with his metal arm, "Why are you doing this!?"
The sudden outburst startled Steve slightly but he walked to the man and looked him in the eye, "I want to."
"I've killed people, Steve! Look at me!" he raised his hands from the crumbling counter and looked at them grimmly, "Everything I am is a weapon."
"Everything they made you was a weapon. They controlled you. Like a child controls a toy robot," Steve shook his head, "You are not under their control now. Everything you do is your decision now."
Bucky looked to him in bewilderment. His decision? He couldn't remember the last time he made his own decision.
Steve gave him a sympathetic back rub before looking at the counter with the cringe.
"What did you do?" Tony looked to the island, "How do you plan on fixing that?"
A shrug was the only thing Steve could figure to do, "Go buy another one I guess." Tony just looked at the shattered stone, "Oh, mama called."
"Mama?" the shorter man perked up instantly, "What did he say?"
"He?" Bucky looked to Tony.
"He said he has to do some last minute work and won't be back for several days," the man waved a hand and put the food in the bowls for both boys.
"What?" the genius' face fell with disappointment.
"He'll be back soon," Steve assured him, taking a chair and placing him in it on the opposite side of the crater, "Don't worry."
The man grumbled, prodding his ravioli with the fork. Bucky just looked to him as he was given his own bowl.
"Bucky, this is Tony. Howard Stark's son and ironman," he looked at Tony when he recieved the glare to referring to him as 'Howard's son', "Tony, this is Bucky."
The inventor just looked to him and muttered a hello before eating his food.