"Well, here's the thing," he shrugs, his attention back to his coffee. "Generally I'm not big on letting others work with me. But if I was okay with you working with me before, then that kind of tells me I can at least trust you." He shrugs again, as if this is clearly the most logical thing in the world, with an expression of 'that's just how things work, don't question it.'

"Besides," he continues with a small sigh under his breath. "Just because I can have Steve fill me in, it doesn't mean I can't ask you too, right?"

Because Tony doesn't believe in pity parties, and this definitely isn't one of them. He hates the idea of them in general, so that's not what this is about. As much as Tony could say and believe that he worked better alone, he knows that he needs allies, and if Lydia had even hugged him in greeting... Well. He could trust her. Right?

Now he just needs to talk to Steve. Which... Heh. First instinct says no, that Steve won't want to see him, that he himself won't have a good reaction to seeing him because the last thing he remembers pertaining to Steve is Siberia, and the aftertaste that remains in his mouth at the thought has nothing to do with the sludge that is pretending to be coffee in his mug. His fingers idly drum against the side of the cup, a small sign of the way his thoughts are running a thousand miles a minute, but he tries to quiet them for now.

"How are you doing? With the whole...learning who to defend yourself thing?"