#@lilyrambles

A/N note 

Tony and the rest kind of know that this is a TV show, but other than that, everything else practically remains the same in this AU.CACW still happened, and the Avengers broke up. The relationship between Tony and Bucky is nonexistent, which is why everyone was so surprised he won the next date.

Full disclaimer, I have never watched The Bachelor and any reference to the show is hand-wavy at best

I also remember the anon who asked for the simple stony date, and it's coming up soon! Not in this story though.

You can read part 1 here

We have to start somewhere part 2/?

Pre-date jitters

Tony

               Tony had always known that the eyes were the most vulnerable aspect of his face, and ever since he had realized that the world was filled with men who would love to bury him alive and chew out his essence like the vultures they were, he had always made it a point to cover his eyes most of the time whenever he was in public or even just around people he didn’t know or trust . He would always cover his eyes with sunglasses or even the redness that came with drinking too much and sleeping too little. Iron man’s suit also had that insecure paranoia designed into his helmet, his eyes carefully hidden behind Iron man’s permanent scowl (or that’s what it looked like, apparently, according to the artist who had previously resided in the compound along with the others)

               Trust issues, Pepper had called it. Paranoia, Rhodes had muttered. Precaution, his heart had whispered stoically. But even then, he had known that he put this knowledge to use. He knew that this particular vulnerability went both ways. He knew that the eyes held truth.

               Bucky’s eyes seemed to be even more deceptively expressive than his own. He had always known that, of course, even before this whole shit-show that was his current life (he was literally in a reality TV show to find himself a boyfriend. Sometimes he really wonders why he even keeps Pepper and Happy around, seeing that these were the kind of ‘great ideas’ they seemed to come up with).

               Tony knew that he owed the other super soldier an apology for what happened in Siberia. Though he knew that it was not completely his fault, unlike most other things that had happened in his life, he also knew that he had been just one more of the many thousands who blamed the face in front of the crime, instead of doing the logical, smart thing of finding out the real reason behind such brutality. He was supposed to be smart Damn it!! Tony knew the kind of damage that a person’s mind would suffer when they were blamed for something they had no accountability over.

               He had called Nat up and asked her what she knew about The Winter solider, and she had been weirdly forthcoming with the horrifying information. He had watched every one of the God-forsaken videos that he could find after Siberia, and had promptly run to the nearest bathroom and expelled the entirety of his dinner and measly breakfast. But his stupid eidetic memory made sure that the images were stuck in his brain.

One more apology to make, more guilt to be carried, Tony just brushed it off his soul and walked on. His anger towards Steve hadn’t gotten any less, however. If he had just told him the truth, if he had just trusted Tony to do the right thing, he would have helped, he would have gotten Bucky back to the tower and that would have been one less thing to worry about…

But he was getting ahead of himself. He stretched and yawned, his joints popping in a stark (ha!) reminder that he was not getting any younger. He opened up his Stark pad and started to look at the various date options the show provided, making up his mind to make his first date with Bucky the best night he had ever had.

He had a clipped conversation with FRIDAY about what were some of the things Bucky seemed to enjoy, and FRIDAY WASvery much like her big brother in many aspects, but maybe she was even more overprotective of Tony than JARVIS had ever been. Her voice was firm and overly polite, indicating that she was not pleased with his selection of a date. But she answered him nonetheless, ‘Sargent Barnes has not publically revealed his likes and dislikes but based on frequency of performing the same tasks and indulging in the same proclivities, an assumption can be made that he enjoys sparring with Mr.Rogers,ballet practice with Ms.Romanoff, Italian cuisine and watching French movies,Sir.’