What They Say About Assumptions

Prompt: Imagine a post battle scene where the Avengers are exhausted, surrounded by reporters, and Tony trips over something and Bucky steadies him. Next day: 'Iron Man and the Winter Soldier's romance?!' all over the media, 'cause someone got a lucky shot of them with their faces close & it looks like they were about to kiss. (Optional additional complication: At this point, the public is still unsure whether Bucky should be made to pay for what he did under Hydra control.)

Thanks to having a bad ass Iron Man suit, he’d actually experienced the sensation of plummeting back to Earth once or twice. This felt sort of like that, only while sitting on the edge of his bed, brain whirring and clicking like a failing hard drive as he attempted to pin down how the hell Pepper had figured it out.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, but didn’t give her a chance to answer. “And what do you mean Bucky Barnes. What’s wrong with Bucky?”