"Hi, I'm a friend of Steve's."

Steve knows this is going to be awkward, but it's too late now. They've only just arrived at the Avengers Tower and he hasn't had a chance to make any introductions yet. All of the Avengers have seen Bucky in varying states of consciousness and memory - but to him, these are all new faces.

Before Steve can stop him, Bucky has gone over to Natasha, reclining comfortably across the ultra-fancy modern couch of the common room. She is texting busily, long legs draped across the seats. She looks up at Bucky like she can't begin to figure out what the hell he thinks he's doing.

"We've met." She goes back to her phone without another word.

Bucky blinks, but he's persistent.

"Sorry, I'm not so great at remembering things these days-"

"I know." Her fingers are flying over the phone keyboard.

"If you'd like to remind me over a cup of coffee, we could-" He pauses as she fixes him with the coldest, most terrifying stare Steve has ever seen in his life. Even he backs up a few paces.

"Not interested. Move along, Tin Man." The little silver arrow around her neck catches the light when she returns to her phone.

Bucky retreats, thoroughly confused.

"What the heck was that about?"

"That's Natasha. You… sort of shot her…" Steve says,

"Oh…" Bucky supposes he probably should've put red hair and angry eyes together with Steve's description of the Project Insight incident.

"And she's pretty attached to Fury, who you… sorta also shot. ...Sorry."

Bucky swears under his breath for a few moments, then sighs, mentally collecting himself.

"It's not your fault." He forces himself to take a couple of deep breaths and let it go. It's one of the techniques Sam is teaching him to control the residual anger. "Just- is there anybody else here I may or may not have tried to kill; before I make an ass of myself again?"

"I don't think so. I mean... not unless you're the one that killed Howard Sta-" He pauses, noticing Bucky's eyes have gone wide.

"Tony… Your friend's name is Tony StarkAnthony Stark…"

"Oh my god, Bucky, I was just kidding...Did you actually-?"

"It's not like I wanted to!"

"' 'Wanted to' what?" Tony says, appearing from the kitchen, behind them.


"Look, I know Frosty the Snowman killed my parents. You don't have to dance around it." Tony says, popping open a can of soda while Bucky is talking to Dr. Banner in the next room. Steve chokes on the soda he's just started on, trying not to spit it down his front. He didn't really expect Tony to buy their hasty excuses of "nothing!" but he's taken aback at how calmly Stark just puts this forward.

"You… wait what?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D intel all over the internet, remember Cap'? I knew long before you found the snow queen over there."

"Tony… I'm so sorry, I don't know what to-"

"It's fine, Rogers." Tony sighs, scrubbing one hand over his face. He looks tired. "I mean, it's not fine, but… I can't really blame the kid."

"That's… not what I'd have expected you to say, to be honest."

"You wanna know the dirty, ugly truth? I was all set to suit up and kick his ass the first time you brought him over here. I might not've liked my dad, but he was still my dad, y'know?

I wanted to beat the guy that killed him down so bad, but then instead of super soldier bad-ass, you bring in this scruffy 20 something kid, crying his head off, scared of the whole world, looking like hell." Tony shrugs. "He cried for two days - two fucking days- because he spazzed out and pushed you into a door. How do you stay mad at somebody that's already that busted up inside? Whatever they did to his head is way worse than anything I was gonna do to his face. I just felt… bad for him, y'know?"

"Yeah." Steve says, looking towards the door between him and his best friend. "Yeah, I do."