"You said when you got back from Afghanistan."

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. He whipped around, his coffee cup still in hand, his chest fluttering as his adrenaline levels spiked dramatically. He hadn't even heard Barnes come up behind him. How did Barnes move so quietly? Then Tony remembered. Right. Assassin. Expert at sneakiness. Why did everything about Barnes have to remind him of the fact that the man in front of him was a killer? It would be so much easier to live with Barnes if he could forget that small little detail.

"I, uh, what?"

Barnes blinked. "The other night. You said you started carrying gum when you got back from Afghanistan."

"Oh. Yeah. I did say that. I'm kind of surprised you remember that," Tony remarked as he shifted slightly, wondering where this conversation was going.

"You were a soldier?" Barnes asked, and Tony almost blasted the man right then and there he sounded so doubtful and superior. Instead Tony carefully arranged himself and leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"Not even close."

"So… you weren't deployed there?"

"No."

Barnes looked confused for a moment, but Tony wasn't offering up anything else. How was it that the Winter Soldier knew about the war in Afghanistan but somehow managed to miss the fact that Tony had been kidnapped and held in a smelly cave there? Well, if Buck-a-roo couldn't find those answers for himself, Tony wasn't about to offer them up. Shockingly, it wasn't exactly his favorite conversation topic.

They fell into a silence after that, simply watching each other.

"I know I'm absolutely captivating, but we're toeing that line between flattering and overkill," Tony remarked absently, his tone coolly neutral.

But Barnes smirked almost mischievously in response, and Tony was surprised at how… suiting it was. Up until that moment, he hadn't seen many expressions on Barnes's face. Mostly he just looked blank or lost. But this… well, he was almost handsome.

"I don't think you have an overkill," Barnes remarked playfully.

Now it was Tony's turn to smile. "Figured that out already?"

"It's kind of obvious. I've never meant someone theatrical enough to prance around in a suit made of iron."

"One, I am deeply insulted that you think my suit is made of iron. It's actually a gold titanium alloy -"

"I'll bet I could still crush it," Barnes interjected with the biggest cat ate the cannery smile Tony had ever seen.

"- And two, your boyfriend runs around in red, white, and blue spandex, throwing a giant metal frisbee at people. Now that is a level of theatrism that would make a thirteen year old in their goth phase swoon."

"... Touché."

They fell into another silence, and Tony decided to use that opportunity to complete his original task: coffee. He turned and busied himself with making a new pot, acutely aware of the fact that Barnes was watching his every movement. Tony wasn't entirely sure what to think. So far they had avoided each other quite successfully until the other night, but it certainly seemed like Barnes had deliberately sought him out today. And where was Steve? Tony hadn't thought that Barnes could function without Steve in his sightline for more than a few moments.

"So if your suit is gold -"

"Gold titanium alloy."

"- Then why are you called Iron Man?"

"Because Stark men are made of Iron," Tony replied flippantly as he poured himself a fresh cup of coffee, not even stopping to consider his words. He very rarely did.

"I heard Howard say that once."

And Tony froze, his grip tightening on his cup a considerable amount. He was glad his back was to Barnes. They were treading on a very precarious conversation now. Tony slowly forced himself to relax, to breath through his nose, and regain his ever so carefully constructed facade. He turned back to Barnes and leaned against the counter, the very picture of comfort as he blew on his coffee.

"I'd rather not talk about my father," Tony said after a long moment as casually as someone might say that they didn't want to talk about football.

"Right. Of course. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have said anything."

Barnes was slowly backing away, and Tony couldn't help but see the deep rooted anguish on the man's face, hear the self hatred and loathing in is voice. Just like that, Barnes was back to looking like that tortured ghost, and silently Tony cursed.

"No, it's not that," Tony said quickly, not wanting to completely undo everything. He liked Barnes' smile. Even if he was a murderer. "Well… not entirely at least. I've never liked talking about Howard. You just… surprised me."

"Why don't you like talking about Howard?"

Tony arched a brow. Tony waited for a moment, waiting for it to click in what little was left of Barnes' brain that this was exactly the thing he had just said he didn't want to talk about, but it never came. Barnes just kept looking at him. Barnes' eyes were hard, Tony noted. Not like Steve's. Steve's were bright blue and so entirely earnest and pure. Barnes' were blue as well but old. Old and sad, but he still somehow managed to look earnest as well. Like he wanted to truly know the answer.

Finally, because he couldn't stand the stretched silence, Tony replied, "That's a complicated question," and he hoped that that would be enough.

"If it's complicated… seems to me then that maybe that is the thing you need to talk about most."

"I'd rather let the dead stay dead."

And whether it was because Barnes was actually giving up on the topic or because of Tony's word choice, the man looked away and murmured a soft, "Of course."

There was another stretch of silence before Barnes hesitantly said, "I was wondering if you might be able to help me… my arm… it's been acting up. I think I might have damaged it. I've never done my own repairs, and Steve said that you're the best engineer he's ever met… If you don't want to, that's fine, I totally get it."

"No… I'll, uh, I'll take a look," Tony replied with more conviction then he felt.

Truthfully, the curious engineer side of him had been desperate to get his hands on that arm because it really was one cool piece of tech, but that side wasn't always able to reconcile with his more emotional side. You know, the side that reminded Tony that that arm had killed his mother. Logically, he knew Barnes had been brainwashed. Logically, he knew that meant Hydra was actually at fault… but well, Tony wasn't a perfect person. He wasn't even a good person half the time. More sort of occasionally okay. He was working towards it though, working on accepting that it wasn't Barnes' fault, if only for Steve's sake… but it was a definite work in progress. Barnes smiled again, and Tony was just faintly glad that he had been the one to cause it.

Tony took a long drink of his coffee before he pushed himself off of the counter and started to walk away. "Well?" he called back. "Are you coming or not?"

"Right now?"

"No time like the present."