It's been a long, slow year since that night with Steve alone in his apartment. Ty had insisted a few months ago on moving into a bigger penthouse and between the two of them they landed a pretty damn nice one if he did say so himself. Floor to ceiling windows everywhere. The top three floors of the building were all theirs, the bedroom was on the top floor, the kitchen, living room and such were on the main floor and the lower floor...that was his. His lab, his bots, his suits, his space, all his own. And the entire house only accessible by a singular elevator that only opened onto the main floor.

"Plenty of privacy" Tiberius had said when they'd moved in.

Tony knew what that meant, he remembered the way his throat closed a little when he grinned and winked back at Ty.

He and Steve still spoke on at least a weekly basis but it still bothered Tony that he didn't know as much about Steve's personal life as he was used to. Stepping into his home from the elevator, he was instantly greeted by JARVIS.

"Hey, J. Miss me?" He asked as he poured himself a scotch and water...no water.

"Counted the seconds sir. Master Stone requested I inform you that he will be out of town on business for the next three days. He is due to return on Tuesday morning."

"So its gonna be a girls weekend, cool."

His tone did a decent job hiding how excited he actually was to have the place to himself for a few days, to not have to walk on glass for Ty.

"May I also point out that the mail has gone unchecked for some time, sir."

"Really, I still get actual mail? What is this the middle ages?"

After returning from the lobby with a respectable pile various envelopes under his arm he plopped down on the couch and started thumbing through it. Nothing exciting or unusual as he expected, until an envelope much smaller than the others loosened from pile and fell to the floor. After declaring the rest to be junk and tossing it into the trash, Tony picked up the little envelope off the floor. The envelope was thick and cream colored, much fancier than anything they normally got. It wasn't addressed to either man in particular, just the penthouse itself.

"JARVIS, please tell me this isn't anthrax."

"My scans show that it's contents are only paper, sir."

Tony rolled his eyes before sliding a finger under the crease and pulling out the paper inside.

It was a crisp white little rectangle, that's all it should have been. Except it wasn't.

At the top center, engraved in silver ink was a sketch of two different personalized dog-tags on one chain. And he'd know that artist anywhere. It took everything in him to continue down to the writing itself. Deep black ink calligraphy scrolled neatly onto the parchment.

You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of

Steven Grant Rogers

James Buchanan Barnes

On June the 16th at 1:00pm

Most Holy Trinity -St. Mary's Church

Brooklyn, New York

Tony swallowed hard before squeezing his eyes closed and feeling the invitation slip out of his hands and back onto the floor. He backed onto the couch and sunk into it. Glancing over to the calendar on his phone he saw that today was June 9th and JARVIS wasn't joking when he said the mail hadn't been checked in a while. No wonder he hadn't seen much of Steve or Bucky lately, they've been busy planning their fucking wedding.

He didn't even know he fell asleep until the phone woke him up. Turning his head the first thing he noticed was the thick, heavy feeling around his eyes that told him he'd been crying. There were a million thoughts spilling back into his head and before they got the better of him he decided to answer the phone. It was SHEILD, they needed Iron Man and they needed him quick. So Tony sat up rubbing his eyes vigorously with his forearm to erase the evidence. Once on the roof (also belonging to him and Ty) he suited up and took off towards the Helicarrier.

Entering the conference room he expected to see the Avengers, or at least one or two of them. Instead he found himself sat across the wide glass table from no other than Agent Barnes himself. Of course that's who it was, it had to be, because he was Tony Stark and if Tony Stark's relationship with the universe could be described in one word it would be "irony".

"Mr. Stark, if you're done ogling Agent Barnes I'd like to get started."

Fury was such a dick sometimes.

"Okay, you have my permission to start Nick." Tony leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together expectantly.

"This mission is top priority, it requires genius, muscle and expertise but most of all it requires being able to bend the rules without getting caught. That's why I chose the two of you."

"I don't want to dress as a woman, but if I have to I will."

"Shut up, Stark" Fury continued seamlessly.

"The mark is a man named Nikolai Vanko."

"Vanko?" Tony perked up a bit at the name.

"Yeah, Ivan Vanko's little brother. I'm sure you remember him from the Expo incident a few years back...He's got information that could be hazardous in the wrong hands, which is exactly where its headed."

"What kind of information?" Barnes asked sounding rather bored.

"Schematics concerning Arc Reactor technology along with a few other blue prints of Stark's newer tech. We believe someone working for AIM supplied the info to him under the table during the ordeal with Aldrich Killian. Along with Stark's schematics Nikolai has also gotten his hands on components of the Super Soldier Serum, most likely derived from the Extremis failure, Dr. Banners research and mostly charred journals found in an abandoned Hydra base near the end of WWII. Our intel indicates that the journals have been in Vanko's family for quiet some time since Nikolai's great grandfather was a Russian soldier on the front in the war. Even though this sounds like it would be a wealth of information on the Serum, its yielded only small bits and pieces. Nothing he could use to recreate it himself."

"But he's not keeping it for himself is he?" Tony crossed his arms.

"No, that's where you two come in. In 48 hours time Vanko's will be in motion from Moscow to who knows where to transfer the information to Red Room officials, who in exchange have promised him a position in their science division."

"Red Room." Barnes' voice was stiff and his eyes hard and drilling into the table.

"The information on Stark's tech and the Serum is being stored on a device that looks like a flash drive- inconspicuous, easy to hide and easy to destroy. Make no mistake, however, its not a flash drive. It's a unique drive meant to be compatible with a specific interface so you'll be able to tell it apart from a decoy. We've contacted both of your significant others and told them you'd be out on recon in Croatia for a few days- they're too close to the situation to be trusted to let you go on this mission- The Captain especially"

Somewhere in the back his head Tony laughed bitterly, Ty wouldn't care one way or the other if he came back alive.

Barnes on the other hand seemed to soften his gaze just a fraction and Tony knew he'd never be able to understand the look on the other mans face, what memory was crossing his mind, what image of Steve he'd conjured up or what long kept promise had been made between the two of them a lifetime ago. And everything about that left Tony feeling dead.

"There's a Quinjet waiting on deck to drop you into Moscow while its still dark. Watch out for each other and stay hidden. Dismissed."

Fury turned and left leaving just the two of them.