#not quite winteriron bc canon tony loves pepper the m o s t

[purgatoryandme]

How do you think, realistically, an interaction b/w Bucky n Tony would go in the MCU ? (okay, realistically I know mcu wouldn't even have an interaction bc they change plot lines faster than I eat chicken nuggets and don't have any grasp on giving characters closure but. Imagine if they did. how do u think it would go)

Ideally, they would’ve interacted prior to or during Infinity War. I think this is when the tension is most ripe and they’d actually have REASONS to seek each other out.Pre-IW: I think we’d get an interaction in an End-Credits scene. Bucky, recovering in Wakanda, writes a letter modelled after Steve’s. We see him writing it on a desk covered in wadded up paper. Eventually, Shuri steps into the room and goes, “Really? Paper? You think he WON’T just burn that on sight?” Bucky gives the barest approximation of a chuckle. He still looks worn out at this point and more than a little sad. Shuri sighs and sits down next to him. “How about this?” She says, throwing a model up into the air between them, “You put your message in the kind of sparkly tech he wouldn’t ever destroy, eh? I bet he’ll write you back just to demand the specs.” That scene is followed up by Tony getting sent a paper letter that projects the real letter above it. It startles a laugh, a genuine laugh, out of him and Rhodey. “What the Hell.” Tony says, putting his head in his hands, “Why the Hell is he apologizing to me.” During IW: Last communication with Earth. Tony tries to call Pepper, but he’s too far above Earth. Something does ping from within the armour, though: it’s the letter. He hasn’t decoded all of its nifty features and so he keeps it close to his chest (literally) at all times with the phone. And it looks like it has a signal-range longer than any of his tech. 

“If anyone on Earth can hear me…” Tony says, connecting his AI with…with whatever this communications tech is, “Then I’ve gotta tell you: I’m not going to be here much longer. I’m taking this battle to Thanos whether I like it or not.” He’s shocked to hear Bucky Barnes’ raspy voice answering him. He’s even more surprised to hear it saying, “Be careful up there, Iron Man. We’re going to need you soon enough.” 

There’s a long pause where Tony doesn’t answer. We see a flicker of that video. We see a flicker of Siberia. Then Tony grits his teeth, barely allowing a show of vulnerability to slide over his face, and he says, “Tell Pepper Potts I love her and I’m sorry. She’ll yell at you, but you owe me.” 

Current Canon: Since Bucky got dusted, time travel shenanigans I guess. I’d love to see Tony reeling from being back in the past, hunting the path of the tesseract through decades maybe, when he runs into Howard. They have a clipped exchange over who the hell Tony is and Tony is losing his cool (wearing those red sunglasses hell yeah), when suddenly Bucky Barnes claps him on the shoulder. “Great to see you could make it, sir!” He says, and drags Tony off to the side. The second they’re out of sight he’s like, “Howie gives a lotta people a lotta trouble. Don’t pay him no mind.” and he leaves. Tony is left standing there, tucking his sunglasses into his pocket, and wondering why Bucky of all people helped him out. He doesn’t want it to make an impression on him, but it does. Basically, I think canon will never give us an explicit ‘forgiveness’ or ‘resolution’ scene. Knowing Tony’s character and RDJ’s influence over it, though, I think we could reasonably expect some little moments where they have to interact that hit Tony hard. Tiny emotional scenes where Bucky Barnes does the opposite of what Tony expects of him and it MEANS something. The smallest instances of Tony reacting positively to Bucky’s attempts to reach out or basically just (internally) categorizing him as a good person despite himself. Honestly though I wouldn’t be mad if they got as emotional as Civil War and had the Rogue Avengers roll up to ask for help in IW with Bucky in tow, Tony slamming him into a wall snarling in his face about ‘how dare he’, and Bucky telling him that he’d let Tony kill him for his crimes but he’s dedicated too much to getting better to give up his life that easy now. Tony stepping back because that hits too close to home (too close to himself) and leaving without another word. Steve just left standing there with his new shield up, ready to separate them, and confused as hell about how Bucky got Tony to stand down when he’s never managed that a day in his life.