Narrator's POV

"He's been gone for a while." Pepper said.

"He'll be back." Tony said as he sat in his living room, reading a magazine.

"Are you sure?" Pepper asked, arranging the flowers in the vase nicely.

"Yup." Tony popped.

"Hey, did you see the flowers Dr. Strange had?" Pepper asked Tony.

"Flowers?" Tony asked.

"Yes. He had this beautiful bouquet." She said. "Must've been expensive."

"The roses Steve got me are quite nice. They brighten up the house." Tony said.

"Roses are basic." Pepper said.

"You're just jealous because you haven't gotten flowers in a long time." Tony said, flipping through the pages of the magazine.

"He's not gonna come back until tomorrow morning." Pepper said.

"You don't know that." Tony said, finding an interesting article to read.

///0///0

"It's been two hours." Pepper said, coming down the stairs to the garage, where Tony was working.

"Mhm." Tony nodded.

"Two hours is longer than a minute." Pepper said.

"Yes. I am aware." Tony said. "Hey, could you hand me that screwdriver?" He asked her.

She handed it to him.

"He'll be back." Tony said.

Pepper looked down at Tony, sighing under her breath.

///0///0

"Pepper."

Pepper paused in her tracks as she walked past the dining room. She saw Tony sitting by himself at the dining table, poking at his plate of food.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Would you...um..." He cleared his throat. "...join me for dinner?" He asked.

He was feeling a little lonely, now realizing Steve was probably not coming back for the rest of the night. Man, after getting all excited to see him again after a whole week of being alone.

"Oh." Pepper looked up at the clock.

10:27 pm

"Sure." She said, going over to the table and taking a seat across from him.

They sat in silence.

Pepper looked around. "I mean..." She started. "I hate to tell you so, but..." She looked up at Tony. "I told you so." She said. "Actually I lied. I liked saying that more than I thought I would."

Tony laughed. "I was wrong. Okay, I get it." He said. "Do I have any plans for tomorrow?" He asked.

"Let me check." She said, taking out a tablet. "Mmm, you don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow."

"Great. Maybe I can spend all day with Steve tomorrow." Tony said.

"Yes, maybe." Pepper said.

///0///0

"Mm..." Tony groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Hah..." He sighed as he woke up to an empty side of the bed. He was really hoping Steve would've have come back at night.

Sir, breakfast is ready in the kitchen

"Thanks Jarvis." Tony said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He stretched before getting up and walking over to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

///0///0

"Anything, interesting in the paper?" Pepper asked as she walked by with a clipboard in her hands.

"No. Not really." Tony said, reading the paper with a cup of coffee in his hand.

Half of his breakfast was gone.

He never really ate much, well not when he wasn't under stress anyway.

"Maybe I could do the puzzle on the back." Tony said.

"Oh, I already did it." Pepper said. "Took me five minutes to get that done." She said.

"What? I wanted to do it." Tony said.

"I thought you hated sudoku." Pepper said.

"I was hoping it'd take my mind off of-"

The door swung open.

"Tony." Steve came in.

"Steve." Tony said. "Good-"

"I'm so sorry I wasn't back last night, but you'll never believe this." Steve said.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Do you remember Bucky?" Steve asked.

"Yeah..." Tony wasn't liking this.

He knew Bucky and Steve had had a thing back in the day.

"And you know how he basically disappeared? How everyone thought he was dead?" Steve asked.

"Yes."

"Last night, I got a call from Clint."

"Clint's alive?" Tony asked. "He's been missing for years. We all thought he was dead."

"Well, he's not." Steve said. "In fact neither of them are dead."

Tony raised a brow.

"Bucky's alive. He's alive." Steve said. "And he's here."

"Huh?" Tony suddenly grew alarmed.

"Buck, get over here." Steve said.

Bucky slowly stepped into Tony's house. "Hello, Anthony." He said.

"James." Tony said, looking at Bucky. He looked over at Steve. "Where's Clint?"

"He's with his family." Steve said.

"Family?" Tony asked.

"Yes." Bucky answered. "He got a little busy along the way and has kept them a secret."

"You guys were missing forever." Tony said. "Why'd you decide to turn up now?" He asked.

"Yeah. You never told me Buck." Steve said.

Steve, out of everyone. deserved an explanation.

///0///0

"No way." Steve said. "Did you hear that Tony?" Steve asked Tony, who was sitting at the kitchen counter, sourly drinking his coffee.

Bucky and Steve were sitting in the living room.

Bucky was explaining himself.

"Yeah...I heard." Tony said. He wasn't getting a great feeling from bringing Bucky back.

Not only had Bucky bullied him throughout school, but he was also Steve's ex who left without explanation and left Steve heart broken.

And judging by the state of Steve's eyes when he stared at Bucky, Tony's and Steve's relationship was in serious jeopardy.

Pepper looked at Tony. "Tony, did you still want to keep today open for a day out with Steve? I have a meeting you could squeeze in today." She said, trying to distract Tony from the current situation.

"Yeah. That would be fine." He said. "Give me time to get dressed." He said, drinking the last of his coffee.

"I'll have it set for four." She said.

"That fine." Tony said. He got up from his seat and looked over at Steve, who was still amused by Bucky. He cleared his throat. "Steve." He said.

"Yes?" Steve turned to Tony.

"I've got a meeting to go to." Tony said. "I'll be leaving at four, alright?"

"Oh, okay." Steve said. "I think I'll go show Buck around New York."

That send a splash of jealousy over Tony.

Tony brushed it off. "Okay." Tony said. "I'll be seeing you around."

"Okay." Steve said.

"Pepper." Tony said before he got into the elevator.

"Oh." She said, looking at Steve and Bucky before joining Tony in the elevator.

The doors closed.

It was quiet between the two.

"So you think-"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Tony said.

"Hm." Pepper decided to stay quiet the rest of the way.