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"So, you ready to admit I was right about the insulation problem?" Tony asked as his music cut off and the door to his workshop slid open. He looked up and frowned. "You're not Darcy."
Steve raised an eyebrow at him and looked down at his body. "No, I definitely don't appear to be Darcy."
"Alright, so what can I do for you Cap?" He took in Steve's serious expression and immediately started shaking his head. "No. No no no! You are not asking for my permission to date Darcy. I just found her I am not giving you permission to date her. Get that thought right out of your mind."
"What? No, that's not what I'm here for." Steve blushed and looked down before meeting his gaze again. "Besides, I wouldn't ask for your permission to date Darcy. Do you know what Darcy would do to me if I did that? She's a modern woman after all. No, I'd ask Darcy."
Tony frowned at that but couldn't dispute his words. Darcy would not take kindly to anything she saw as the men trying to dictate her life. He barely trusted their new relationship enough to make slight teasing comments about Steve's apparent interest in her, let alone try forbidding a relationship. That would not end well for him. "So if not for that what are you doing here looking so serious?"
"I need to talk to you about something Darcy brought up. She was concerned that Stane might have had something to do with your parents deaths."
Tony sighed. "Yeah, JARVIS did bring that up. It's a bit hard to prove anything at this point though. All of the reports show no sign of foul play and this is nearly 25 years ago so any evidence will be gone at this point. I don't want to believe that Stane was that bad from the start but there's no way to say definitely at this point." He caught Steve fidgeting and he pinned him with a sharp look. "You know something. Cap, Steve, what the hell aren't you telling me?"
Steve sighed and ran his hand over his hair before shifting, perhaps unconsciously, to his parade rest stance. "During the whole HYDRA and Project Insight mess Nat and I had a thumb drive with files on it that led us to Camp LeHigh. There was a hidden bunker there where we discovered a form of Arnim Zola had been loaded into a computer. I don't know if it was really him or just something programmed to think it was him."
"What, like he uploaded his mind into a computer? I don't think we're quite at that stage yet. But what does this have to do with my parents' deaths?"
"He said that HYDRA had been taking out those who posed a potential threat to them. He implied that Howard was one such target."
Tony's eyes narrowed. "Implied how?"
"He showed Nat and I newspaper articles of deaths, some accidents, some mysterious circumstances. The article about your parents was one of them."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? It's been months." Tony turned away, his mind racing, sorting the new information against what he already knew from reading the accident reports.
"Because I had no proof. I only had Zola's word and he was trying to distract me from an incoming missile. I didn't want to reopen old wounds without evidence that he was telling the truth."
"Bullshit." Tony turned and pinned him with a glare. "You were protecting your BFF." At Steve's startled look he gave a bitter laugh. "Yeah, I know about the Winter Soldier, AKA your best friend Barnes. Got some footage of your fight on the streets in DC when his mask was torn away, had JARVIS run facial recognition. Didn't believe it was really him, figured it was a trick to throw you off your game. But it was him wasn't it?"
Steve nodded.
"I read the files. HYDRA had been using him to do their dirty work for decades. I was wondering when you were going to ask me for help locating him. I waited but you never came to me. Now I know why." Steve jerked slightly in surprise and Tony scoffed at him. "Oh please, if HYDRA was behind my parents deaths then they would have sent the Winter Soldier. Ergo your friend killed my parents. You're not cruel enough to ask me to track down my parents murderer." He wiped a hand over his face. "So why tell me now? If there's still no proof?"
Steve sighed. "I didn't want to keep any secrets any more. You've had enough kept from you." His face was earnest. "It didn't feel right to not tell you. I'm sorry that it causes you pain."
"Alright, you've said your piece. Now get out."
"Tony-"
Tony shook his head. "Just, not now Cap. I need time to think."
"I am sorry," he said once more, before he turned and walked out, shoulders slumped.
"Well fuck," Tony said after he had gone and ran his hands through his hair. He turned, taking in the workshop around him. His eyes landed on one of the monitors, running a facial recognition program similar to the one used to locate Loki a few years prior. He hadn't lied when he told Steve he'd been waiting for him to ask for help, he just hadn't told him he already had a program running in anticipation of the request. He stared at the screen a little longer contemplating what he should do as anger, hurt, sadness warred within him.
Barnes was responsible for his parents' deaths. Barnes took his family from him, left him alone.
The door to the workshop slid open. "Okay, so maybe you were right about the insulation," Darcy's voice said as she entered the room. "Hey, are you okay?" she said as she took in the look on his face.
Tony gazed into her concerned face and shook off the dark thoughts that had been starting to form. "No, but I will be," he told her honestly as he slung an arm around her shoulders and gave her a side-hug.
She went into the embrace willingly, still studying him carefully. "Does this have anything to do with Steve looking like a kicked puppy?"
"I'll tell you later, I promise. Just have to work through it in my head a little first."
"Well don't take too long, we all know your head can be a scary place when you're left on your own for too long."
He gave her a small grin. "I won't, I promise." He glanced at the monitor once more before minimizing the program. He'd leave it running in the background but he wouldn't let it be his focus. He had other more important things to focus on. His daughter, Pepper, his friends. His family. "So tell me again how I was right," he started, leading her over to the workbench. Yeah, he wasn't okay but he would be.