Superfamily One Shots

In My Defense

**I am a sucker for any type of reveal, and I think Tony and Bucky are so sassy and snarky, they would be such good friends. I'm also super anti-team Cap, so maybe this is just my own pandering. Anyways, takes place during Civil War. Honestly, I thought about doing this as a whole book idea, but it's not very IronDad heavy. Anyways, enjoy!!**

Tony stared at the wet, shivering, mountain of a man standing in the rain. It was so dark outside, but Tony knew. He didn't need to see much of him to know who it was.

"Bucky?"

The man fell forward through the door of the tower. His hair was falling into his eyes, running rivulets of water down his face. Tony instinctively pulled off his jacket and offered it over to the super soldier. It looked like a toddlers jacket held up in Bucky's hand. Sometimes Tony forgot how big the serum had made both Bucky and Steve.

It was a bad idea to let this man in, but Tony was a sucker for sob stories, and Bucky was the sobbiest of all stories. "Come on in. You're soaked."

Tony led Bucky through the lobby and into the elevator, supporting some of Bucky's weight on his shoulder. "What happened, Buck?"

"James," Bucky rasped. "Please. Bucky is some childhood nickname."

Tony didn't hide his surprise. "Okay. James."

The two rode in relative silence up to the penthouse, neither one really knowing what to say. Tony was racking his brain for a decent excuse as to why Buc- James was here, and the billionaire could already see the looks of disappointment and shock on Rhodey and Pepper's face in his mind's eye. James was just trying to think of how to tell Tony that he was sorry. He shouldn't have come here. He shouldn't have sprung this on Tony, not when he was a killer. A horrible reminder of Tony's trauma and past and pain.

The elevator dinging brought both men out of their thoughts.

"Uh..." Tony tailed off, unsure of what to tackle first. "Shower down on the right." He pointed down the hall and James started that way. "I'll leave some clothes outside, okay? Then we can talk."

"What, ya can't talk when I'm dripping wet?" James teased, letting some of his old, Brooklyn accent come out. He had always been a bit of a flirt, so this was nothing new. Nothing special.

Tony smirked. "Oh, so there's snark under all that muscled terror. Good God, between the two of us, Rhodey won't know what hit him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few months. Tony and James had talked - a lot - and over time, they had found a common ground. And now that Steve and the others wanted back on the team, things were finally looking up.

Tony and James walked down to the conference room with their arms linked. Tony was trying to get James caught up on popular culture, and they were currently trying to do the best-friend's-walk from the Princess Diaries. James kept getting tripped up on Tony's legs and nearly face-planting, making Tony double over in laughter.

"Be serious," James said once he'd righted himself. Tony stilled next to him and put on his most serious face. "Now. Again."

The two tried again and made it halfway down the hall before they fell over each other again and called the whole thing off between peals of laughter. Fury was waiting for them, his arms crossed.

"Are you two buffoons done being clowns and ready for the meeting?"

Tony nodded his head with tight, jerking movements. James waited for Fury to turn around and walk forward before making a soft honk noise. Tony giggled beside him.

Whatever the rogue Avengers were expecting to see when Tony finally showed up, this wasn't it. Bucky and Tony were wrestling with one another quietly behind Fury's back, but they broke apart when Fury cleared his throat.

"Jeez, you're just like Sour Patch," Tony commented dryly as he took a seat.

"They're jealous we're best friends now," James said teasingly. "Just ignore their childish behavior."

"This is why they weren't invited to our pillow fort last night."

"What the hell is this?" Steve asked finally, gesturing wildly at Tony and James. The poor man looked like he was getting ready to throw a punch, but there was something else there, too. Something like hurt. "Buck, you disappeared."

James ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going by James now, Stevie."

"What happened?" Steve demanded.

"Well, I was alone." James looked up at Fury, who was watching with passive disregard. James took that as a sign to keep going, despite this delaying the meeting. "We were on the run, my arm was killing me, and I felt like it was time to come clean. Own up to the mistakes of my past. So I showed up here, and Tony let me in. We had a rocky start, but then we got to hanging out. We have a lot in common, and we spent a lot of time together while Tony was fixing up my arm. We kind of became friends."

"Kind of?" Tony teased.

"They've been like this for weeks, it's driving all of us insane," Fury added, looking up from the papers he was holding. "The sooner all of you sign the new Accords and move in, the sooner these two can bother someone other than me."

Steve was stuck in a loop, staring at Tony, then James, then Fury, then back at Tony - around and around he went. Tony was smirking a little. It was funny to see Steve all worked up and flustered, simultaneously checking Bucky over for any signs of coercion and shooting daggers at Tony.

"This is not what we expected," Clint snickered to Natasha, jerking a thumb in Steve's direction.

"But you were- and he was- and I just don't understand- how could-" Steve wasn't able to get a full sentence out, his mind working overtime to try and keep up. James just let out a laugh.

"Sign the papers, Stevie."

Steve took a pen from Fury but hesitated signing, just for a moment. Natasha cleared her throat and tapped the papers impatiently, startling Steve out of his shock. He put the pen to paper and signed his name, the others following after him.

"Now," Tony said, clapping his hands. "That wasn't so hard!"

James snorted. "It looked kinda hard. Stevie forgot how to sign his name for a while there."

Tony laughed at James's joke and the rogues shared an uneasy glance. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.