December 19, 1991

Prompt: AU idea where Bucky and Tony meet in dreams occasionally and have done since Tony's parents died. Tony thinks it's just his subconscious trying to cope with the grief and Bucky doesn't remember any of it as the Winter Soldier, but then Steve brings him to the tower, and they recognize each other.

It is December 19, 1991 and Tony Stark is sleeping. This is significant for several reasons.

For a start, this is the first he’s slept since sometime early on December 16th. He’s gone without sleep for longer—both with and without the intervention of illegal stimulants—so it isn’t so much that as it is the fact that his parents haven’t been alive since December 16th.

The thing is, when he’d agreed to go out clubbing on the night of the 16th—back when he still had parents—it hadn’t ever occurred to him that someone would show up at 5:43 p.m. on December 17th (he’s still wasted from the night before, sweating the drugs out of his system, stinking of sex, and liquor) to tell him his parents had stopped being alive.