Bucky is one of those people that he just feels the need to share shit like that. So when he heard it in my brain space, he filed that one away to throw at Steve. And Tony. Both of whom totally deserved it.
(Yeah, I noticed that and was like "but... that thing should be hard as a rock.")
I spent most of the fic worrying that Pepper wasn't speaking up enough, because when you see Tony and Pepper interacting, she gives as easily as she gets. But Tony likes to dominate conversation and he was directing most of his conversation at Steve and Bucky. Micchi assured me that they were both well IC before I posted, at least.
Also, yes, Steve is an asshole. He has no room to talk about Bucky reserving rudeness for friends instead of strangers, because Steve can be just as bad. They probably wouldn't be friends otherwise.
Yes. Your baked hamburgers are THE BEST.
I get so nervous writing about Bucky's psychological issues. It wasn't bad in FMA to write Ed as having panic attacks and deep depression, because the show portrayed him suffering from these things. And most of the decent readers/writers in the fandom appreciated realistic handling of these things. In the MCU, however, Bucky's not really shown to have any of these issues, in large part because he just wasn't on screen that much. So I get very nervous about people bitching that he's not acting 'normal' enough or whatever. :\ If I didn't have creative integrity, I'd be half tempted to avoid the issue all together to avoid alienating potential readers/reviewers on ff.net. I have gotten used to getting praise for my stuff from complete strangers and it's addicting.
Social acceptance is an area I tend to soapbox in, and historical accuracy is a quirk of mine. :P