No, maybe not best friends but Tony was holding out hope for -- something. A chill sort of friend, maybe. Bucky seemed like the kind of guy who'd be really great to share The Office looks with when everyone else around them got too stupid or excited.
"Thought so," Tony said, because while he didn't know Shuri, or even T'Challa, really, he admired them. They'd helped Steve and the rest of his team in a time when Tony simply hadn't been able to budge from his poorly made mistakes without making matters even worse. No one had been on good terms at the time, but that hadn't meant that Tony hadn't cared.
"I know," he agreed, scooting his chair in closer and getting to work -- it wasn't quite the same as doing what he did last time in reverse, but Tony had a much better idea of what he was doing this time around. "But he's okay, yeah. Happy to be --well. He'd say himself, I guess. The taller version." Both had been Steve, obviously, but that didn't mean Steve wasn't allowed to have a preference.