As much as Tony would like to leave everything to Bruce, there are still a few things he has to finish up before Peter gets here tomorrow – or, at the very least, before he leaves, but he'll feel much better about this if he gets it done now.

So, naturally, Tony is holed up in his lab in the middle of the night, finishing what he really should have finished a couple days ago but didn't because he's a lazy fuck.

He got to talk to Pepper for a while as he worked. If there's one nice thing about her spending so much time in Malibu, it's that the middle of the night for him is only the beginning of the night for her. They kind of make it work. (And she's been working on figuring out how to do her work from home, and it seems like she'll soon be able to make a home of New York when she's able to work remotely, unless that falls through because Tony can never have nice things.)

Unfortunately, Pepper had to go to bed if she's going to catch a plane to the compound tomorrow, so he's all alone once more.

On the bright side, he's almost done with his work! (Although that's also kind of unfortunate, because he's really in no rush to go to bed. The longer he stays up, the later he sleeps in, and the less time he has to wait for Pepper to show up tomorrow.)

Which is why he's pleasantly surprised to hear somebody approaching the lab at this hour. Somebody's coming to distract him so he doesn't have to go to bed soon! Maybe he can have nice things!

He spins around in his chair, turning toward the door so he can greet whomever those approaching footsteps belong to. Usually, a late-night run-in would make him think Loki, but Loki hasn't spent a whole lot of time in the lab since they moved to the compound. Maybe it's Bruce? Or Steve, even, coming to check on him and make sure he's not getting drunk again?

To say he's surprised to see Bucky Barnes step into sight would be an understatement. Although they did establish the night before that he's a fellow insomniac, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised. He can't say he understands why the guy would want to spend any part of his night with Tony, but hey, he won't complain about the chance to make a new friend.

Bucky looks... nervous, Tony notices. Does he look nervous? He's definitely a hard guy to read. But he gives off nervous vibes right now. That's unexpected – and somewhat concerning, actually.

"What's up?" Tony greets him.

"Do you have a minute?" Bucky asks – and he really does seem nervous. Is it weird that this is making Tony nervous, too?

"I have all the minutes in the world," Tony replies cooly. "Everything okay?" He hopes everything is okay. He's trying to be a good host, but honestly, he really doesn't want to have to fix any problems the guy may have with the place. He's already in charge of way too much shit for his liking as a newly retired old man. He doesn't need more shit tacked onto it.

Bucky grimaces at the question, which is an answer in and of itself. He hesitantly steps into the room, but noticeably not very far. He looks so uncomfortable that it's making Tony uncomfortable, too.

"There's something I need to tell you," Bucky begins slowly, "and if you decide afterward that you don't want me here, I'll leave, but I'll need a few minutes first to get my cat and talk to Steve."

As if on cue, Alpine trots into the room. She rubs up against Bucky's leg as she passes him, and then she's off to explore the lab – objectively not a good place to let a cat roam free, but Snowflake's done it god-only-knows-how-many-times and she's still alive, so hopefully Alpine will also be smart enough not to get herself electrocuted.

Tony looks up at Bucky with a frown. "I'm not going to kick you out," he says. That feels like an important notion to correct right now. "Why? What's going on?" Something he doesn't want to hear, he's sure.

Bucky hesitates, as though he's sorting out his answer, and then he begins, "In Siberia, that doctor, he lured us there for a reason. And if Loki hadn't stopped him, I think I know what he was going to tell you. In case it comes up again, I think it would be better if you heard it from me."

Tony cocks his head to the side. What the hell could that pseudo-doctor possibly have wanted to tell them that would make him want to kick Bucky out of the compound?

... Actually, now that he's asked the question to himself, the answer's pretty obvious: it has to be something he did as the Winter Soldier. Duh.

So Tony says to him, "If this is about something HYDRA made you do, that's your business, not mine. I'm not going to hold anything against you that you didn't choose to do. You don't even have to tell me."

Bucky grimaces at that. "I still think this is something you should hear from me."

Tony shakes his head to himself and spreads his arms, an open invitation to tell him whatever it is that he doesn't want nor need to know. If it will make Bucky feel better, he might as well listen.

Bucky takes a breath, and then he begins. "HYDRA had a lot of enemies," he says, "and no problem with taking them out–"

"You really don't need to sugarcoat it," Tony tells him. Drawing this out isn't helping either of them. "So HYDRA made you kill someone. Who was it?"

Bucky takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly before, finally, he says, "Your parents."

Tony just stares at him.

What.

The fuck.

That doesn't even make sense. They died in a car accident. There wasn't anybody else there. There wasn't even another car involved. There were no signs the car was tampered with. How the hell could HYDRA have been behind that?

But...

They must have been, if Bucky's telling him this.

He must have been.

He wouldn't be saying this if it wasn't true. He wouldn't be saying it if he didn't know with absolute certainty that he was behind it.

There are so many questions in his head right now, so many things he wants to say, but the only word he can get out is, "How?"

"Quickly," is Bucky's only answer.

Tony swallows hard. That's... nice, at least. That they didn't suffer for long. A part of him had always wondered, though he'd tried not to think too much about it.

"Did you..." He stops himself before he can finish the question. He can't ask it like that. He can't ask what he did. He doesn't want to think about what he did. He does want to – need to – know what happened to his parents, but if he lets himself think about the fact that it was Bucky who did it...

He tries again. "Did they both go at the same time?" Was it the collision that did it? Quick, easy, simple? One moment they're both there, and the next, they're gone?

But Bucky shakes his head.

He should have known. He should have known that was too good to be true. He can feel the tears prickling behind his eyes, threatening to spill at any moment. He doesn't let them. He can't let them. Not before he knows.

"Tell me my mom went first," he says, almost pleads. "Tell me she didn't have to watch. Tell me she didn't have to sit there, knowing what was coming."

Bucky's still for a moment, quiet, but just as Tony begins to fear the worst, he nods once. "She had no idea."

It's as though a weight is lifted off his shoulders when he hears those words. His mom didn't suffer. She never knew what was happening. Even if it wasn't an accident, even if it wasn't yet her time, he can at least take comfort in that.

He's just...

He's not sure he can look at Bucky the same way again now that he knows.

And that's stupid, he knows. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't even him; not really. It was HYDRA that did it; Bucky was nothing but their weapon of choice. He can't hold that against him.

But that's a lot easier said than done.

Tony clears his throat and pushes himself to his feet. "Thank you," he says, "for telling me." He doesn't mean it. It was good of him to do it, objectively, he's sure, but he didn't want to know. He really did not want to know. "You can sleep comfortably knowing that I'm not going to kick you out, and, uh..." He shrugs, a forced kind of casualness to the movement. "I'm gonna have a drink. I'll see you in the morning." He plasters on a smile, shuts down all his work with the swoop of his hand, and walks right out the door.

He is going to get so drunk tonight.