Rise ye sunken ships 4/5
A few opened doors further down Steve found a few more scientists huddled in a corner; one of them was applying pressure to a leg wound from a rather pudgy middle aged man. There were three of them, two still in lab coats, one still even wearing plastic goggles. They were pressed as far into the back of the room as they could be, it looked like a break room of some sort, filled with low couches and first aid pack with its contents spilled across the floor in a trail leading to them. The woman let out a little shriek of fear when the door opened, but goggled with her mouth hanging open as Steve stood there in the doorway.
“Who are you?” The heavy-set man snapped. He was pale and sweating, clinging to the reedy man. “This is a private facility. Leave now or face prosecution.”
“I can’t, you’re in danger.” Steve arched an eyebrow at him fully aware they could only see his mouth. “Will you tell me what happened here?”
“That would be breaching so much contract law, we’re bound-“
“Shut up Ryan, just shut the fuck up.” The petite woman hissed, her thick make-up was running down her face in faint grey tracks and her pink lipstick was smeared at the edges. “Something like this was supposed to be impossible, who was the last to look at the security systems? The consultant from main branch; don’t you see we were fucking set up. All those live tests they have been having us do? Can you actually be that dumb?” He cowed before her, she turned her watery eyes on Steve, “Can you get us out of here? I’ll do anything, as long as you can get us out of here.”
“Are you’re always such a whore?” Ryan hissed back and she pulled herself further into the corner she was in, the third, a reedy thin man frowned looking shocked but said nothing. Now you should never talk that way to a lady, she was scared and Steve wished he had the time to stay with them.
“You’ll be okay,” Steve said, mostly to her, “this room is secure and we’re working on initiating the quarantine procedure to contain the creatures, if you just hang tight, you’ll be okay.”
“Please don’t leave us here.” She begged and Steve gave her a small encouraging smile.
“I can’t, but stay here and you’ll be okay.” She didn’t look convinced but the reedy man touched her hand with his clean one and she looked at him and nodded slightly.
“Okay, but help is on the way?”
“I promise.” Steve nodded curtly and the portly man mumbled something foul under his breath that Steve chose to ignore. “Barricade the door behind me, and move something in front of the air vent, a backup team is en route.”
He left them there, careful to close the door completely behind them. Once they were able to neutralize the threat S.H.I.E.L.D. cleaner teams would come in next. They would deal with the people and collect evidence. They crawled around when the Avengers were done like ants, each decked out in the issued black jump suit with a holstered side arm. They were the pinnacle of efficiency and Steve didn’t envy their job at all, they made fighting the big ones look like the easy part. Steve never had to think about convictions and evidence when he was fighting, it was always an almost-desperate mix of ‘don’t let anyone get hurt’ and try to stop Mr. Big-Bad of the week from tearing apart his city.
He came upon an intersection, halls stretching out both right and left as far as he could see. He chose right and set off at a good clip, if he could locate more survivors and secure them then he would be happy. Hawkeye would be able to handle the quarantine alone and Thor would be more than happy to hammer his way through the escaped creatures.
He was in a large sort of room; it looked like mass storage from large canisters, cement floor and unfinished walls. He was about to close the door and continue when something shifted, a slither on the very edge of his hearing. Steve paused, listening, eyes peering into the shadows cast by the canisters. There, something in the corner moved. He stepped into the room fully, to his left there was a few drops of blood, scattered with little tails which indicated that the person had been running when they dropped.
He followed them and low down in the deepest part of the gloom one small shadow peeled away from the mass, scuttling off in the other direction near silent, just the faintest scrape of claws on the ground. He moved slowly towards the lumpy shape. It wore a dark blue cover-all stained darker with blood and ripped open around the abdomen, the faint light caught but only just enough to illuminate the soupy entrails that were ripped out and spilled across the floor. The face took the worst damage, almost completely obliterated, creatures going after the soft meat of the eyes and tongue.
Steve swallowed, that had once been a man. Something shifted behind him, and he spun, shield coming up reflexively.
Tiny knee-high lizards with frills spit a black sort of viscous mucous, it burned as it hit the cement floor around his feet, and they were aiming for his face. At least that explained what happened to the janitor. Tiny skeletons broke under his boots as he lashed out while he tried to avoid getting it all over himself but there were too many. It was slow going, they were fast but not well armoured, he could crush them with his boots if he could catch them but couldn’t afford to throw his shield because he needed to play defensively and avoid their spitting. It seemed more and more were melting out of the shadows trying to surround him.
After what seemed like forever of kicking and stomping he’d managed to kill most of them, but not without being hit by their spit. The last one darted out of the way, in a fit of frustration he smashed it with his shield and it left a smear across the floor. Crude, but it worked.
“Hawkeye, Thor, report.” He was breathing hard. His shoulders were sizzling, whatever their mucous contained was trying without luck to eat through his suit. More acid spit, a precursor to the flying ones perhaps?
“I’m on the third basement level now looking for the computer mainframe, there are a lot of creatures on the loose down here. I just tangled with a massive snake in an air vent. I mean it. It was all motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking plane up in here.” Clint said, sounding both irritated and deeply pleased.
“I do not understand the reference.” Thor rumbled, Steve didn’t get it either. There was the sound of something large hitting something else large and probably meaty. Thor didn’t sound winded; a screech echoed through Thor’s channel and he growled back at it like the rumble of distant thunder.
“Not cool dudes, such wit and no one to appreciate it.” Hawkeye sighed.
“It wasn’t that funny.” Black Widow said her voice blank and sudden over the channel, “Black Widow checking in, I’m in the facility.”
“Black Widow, report.” He didn’t want to think about how the words came out without him thinking about it panic welling up sharply once more from that place where he buried things he couldn’t think about. He’d initially been surprised at the very depth of that well.
“Tony’s mostly fine, he’s not happy about the suit, but he’ll be okay. Bruce has been taken to the ER he’s got some cracked bones but he should be okay with time. The Hulk doesn’t stay down for long.”
“Thank you.” The panic went, leaving behind in its place a profound sense of relief.
“I have found a pocket of those creatures we fought before, but these are different they are larger and much more playful.” Thor responded sounding more amused than grim. Something shrieked with anger and it echoed through the facility setting off a series of replies that came across all of the communication channels.
“It looks like they are scattered across the facility.” Steve had heard them from further on down the hall he was already in, and he continued in that direction.
“Hawkeye, I’ve found the security centre, if you reset the power I can make sure the facility seals itself. The hack in the quarantine protocols were childish at best.” Black Widow replied.
“I’ve found it, just,” Something clanged loud and metallic. “There I’m inside.”
“Don’t initiate until Thor is clear.” Steve commanded, and something snapped its beak at him from the left, he jumped back against a door to avoid the sharp edge but the door gave way spilling him into an empty room. He hit the ground hard, jarring against his tailbone but there wasn’t time to worry about it. He grit his teeth and scooted backward as it followed him, large and feathery like a bird with strong powerful looking legs. Another one attacked from the side and he ducked behind the shield allowing it to take the force of the attack and using it as cover to get his feet under him.
“I will be fine.” Thor replied.
“Initiate.” Steve said as the creature lunged at him again, beak glancing off the shield once more. The second one going the offensive from his flank and their beaks grabbed and pulled at his uniform, it didn’t tear but his skin was bruising under the force.
“Roger.” Hawkeye and Black Widow answered him in tandem. The emergency lights that flooded everything in and orangey glow sputtered and everything went dark for a moment. The metal doors swung closed with a clang as the lights turned back on.
Steve rolled sideways, swinging his shield at the same time one of them lunged he pushed back with all the strength in his shoulders knocking it back, it toppled with a thump and he punched the other one across it’s small head sending it flying sideways. He hit it in the long neck with the edge of his shield. There was a loud crack, he threw the chair in the room at the other while it was still trying to get its feet under it for another attack, and it got tangled in the legs and fell a flopping pile of feathers. He broke its neck with his boot. If he were Iron Man or Hawkeye this would be time for the witty one-liner, only he was drawing a blank. It was probably best not to even try.
“S.H.I.E.L.D cleaning crew ETA twenty minutes.” Black Widow said quietly. We’ll clear the quarantined sections one by one to extract the civilians.”
“That will be more than enough time.” Thor bellowed and there was a piercing screech from his line, and Steve smiled to himself he did have to wonder how many a ‘pocket’ was to Thor but he wasn’t worried about him. He was more than capable of taking care of many even on his own. You sort of had to be envious of an immortal thunder god.
Steve sat on top of the desk in the room, sketching with some paper and a pen he found for twenty minutes with the bodies of two dead bird creatures. He listened to Clint and Natasha playing some kind of code word game for awhile before he tuned them out to concentrate on his sketching.
He sketched the shape of the arc reactor, or what he thought it looked like from what he could see through Tony’s clothes, Tony didn’t share the change room with them, he was more than capable of putting on the suit over his clothes if required. He’d since found out that it kept Tony’s heart intact since it had been damaged somehow. Bruce would of course heal fast enough, he healed faster almost than Steve himself, and would probably be more than happy to take injury leave to focus on his research instead of moping around like Steve did when he couldn’t go on missions.
Coulson came on the communications channel first, in twenty minutes exactly, from the clean-up attempt and Steve very carefully didn’t ask about Tony. He was beginning to see where the others were might be getting ideas from. They were going to use body heat to locate the survivors and put down the remaining creatures. Steve was glad he could keep his promise.
~~
Tony was sulking about the suit. Or about something else entirely, it was difficult with him to tell these kinds of things. Steve wanted to give up on him because Tony was infuriating at best and openly hostile at worst, most of the time made no sense at all. He was mostly sure that Tony did it on purpose, worked in obscure references in left and right just to confuse Steve. He’d been sulking around head quarters all morning, always one step ahead in avoiding Steve. It was infuriating, he’d look high and low and find that each time he had just missed Tony. Tony had to be using the internal security against him, that would make sense, Steve was a little miffed that Tony would rather hack into the security feed than talk to him.
“Can we talk about this?” Steve finally cornered him near the canteen. He’d caught him on a mixture of luck and tactical planning, after all Tony couldn’t resist the little Starbucks tucked into the corner any more than he could live without breathing.
“No. We can’t.” Tony said. He was still all bruised from essentially falling off the Empire State building, the skin around his temples a mix of pale purples and darker hues like watercolour. The rest of the damage was hidden behind his blazer and jeans; impossible to see the extent of his injuries.
“Would you stop acting like a child?” If Tony wasn’t ducking out of the area as soon as Steve approached he was simply refusing to acknowledge him.
“I am not acting like a child; I’m far too old for that. Also you can stop whatever you’re doing or whatever-- I don’t like it and I don’t need it.” Tony glared at him, spun on his heels and began down the hall in the other direction; coffee quest forgotten or at least put on hold. It should have been comforting to know that there was something Tony wouldn’t do for coffee.
“Wait, Tony.” Steve grabbed for his elbow and Tony froze.
“Don’t touch me.” He shrugged him off. “I don’t care what you had with my mother, because first, ew, second, really ew, and third, she never meant to have me and I don’t need a step-daddy now, my family issues are way more than enough already, I don’t need your input.”
“It’s not like-“ Steve was cut off by a sort of wheezing sound. Clint stepped out from a corner, Natasha like a particularly pretty shadow just behind his shoulder, her elbow firmly planted in his ribs but that didn’t stop him.
“That’s what you did?” Clint blinked at him, “That’s just, I didn’t even think of that. That’s really fucked up I hope you know.”
Natasha hissed something low at him before dragging him away by the bicep, and Tony flinched obviously when the only thing they could hear sounded like milk? Milf? Steve could only assume it wasn’t very polite.
“I need to be, somewhere else. Badly.” Tony nodded at him and took off, sauntering down the hall with a wiggle of his fingers over his shoulder. His hand tensed with the urge to punch the wall instead he hissed his frustration like a kettle. Why couldn’t Tony just understand what this meant to him? It wasn’t a joke.
He knew he should have seen this coming, what had everyone told him, over and over? Tony wasn’t the man he wanted him to be. Tony wasn’t Peggy, Tony never was Peggy. His eyes were large and dark and looked like hers, but he had only ever been Tony Stark. And Tony Stark was not to be trusted.
~~
Tony showed up unexpectedly for the next film night. Steve was sitting on the couch, Natasha was rubbing something soothing on his shoulder which she had been the one to twist awkwardly as she brought him down in training earlier that day. Steve had the weight advantage, but she was fast and vicious and wouldn’t pull her punches for him.
“We’re watching Finding Nemo.” Tony declared, (‘You’re fucking kidding me,’ from Clint’s corner on the new couch, not yet stained with Bruce spilling his coffee after he put it down and promptly forgot it was there) “and if you disagree with that, you’re going to need to fight Pepper.” Clint shut up when Natasha levelled a look at him. Pepper and Natasha seemed to have formed some sort of oestrogen clique centred around a love of designer shoes and the ability to wrangle Tony like Rodeo stars, and if anyone had anything to say about it, well they held their tongue lest Natasha cut it out.
“I’ve had a hell of a week, thanks.” She smiled gratefully, and she did look tired skin looking pallid under the light makeup she wore. She sat down on the other side of Natasha, kicking off her heels so she was sandwiched comfortably in between the other woman and the arm of his couch. Tony pouted at her visibly before he went and curled up against Thor’s ever-present sprawl instead.
“What is this tale of Nemo? Where has he gone?” Thor looked down at him, eyebrows drawn together.
“Well that’s the point, hence, Finding Nemo, he’s lost. It’s an adventure flick. It’s also Pepper’s favourite. You’ll like it. And it’s rated PG so Cap won’t be scandalized by any more titties.”
Steve tied to sink into the couch, it was only the one time and he hadn’t seen it coming. He needed time to mentally prepare for that kind of thing. Everyone had an Achilles-heel; he just hoped their enemies never found out lest all hell break loose. Topless fights in Time’s Square would be a nightmare. “I thought we were not mentioning that anymore.” He said lightly.
“Just play the film.” Clint yawned huge and obviously faked; Bruce was sliding his fingers along his tablet, the glow reflecting off his glasses like shades dancing in front of his eyes.
“I’ve never seen it.” He said, looking up at them before returning to his work. With his two cents added to the discussion he made it pretty obvious he had no more to say about it. There was a pretty even chance he would keep working through the film. Still he made an effort to be here and that made all the difference in Steve’s mind. The cracked ribs didn’t seem to hinder his movements much, he’d been ginger for awhile at first, but he seemed fit enough now.
Tony pulled out his phone, held it up to the tv and tapped at it for a little while. “Are you hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D’s mainframe to play a film on our tv?” Natasha asked him with an arched eyebrow, this close up the edges of her mouth were lifting, she looked amused despite her best efforts. As if she was impressed.
“I wouldn’t call it hacking, I wrote the security protocol, it’s like a lock-smith picking a lock- with the master key.” The screen flicked and came to life. “Et voila.”
The film was a little silly, but Pepper made sort of purring happy noises, and Natasha was combing her fingers through Pepper’s hair now, probably getting the greasy sharp-smelling stuff that she had finished massaging into his shoulder all in Pepper’s bright ginger hair. Still neither of them seemed to mind it, and Clint shot him finger guns with a wink that got a severe and rude gesture from Natasha in return.
Tony and Bruce were in their own little bubble of artificial light, the screen of Bruce’s pad mingling with something small and blue that Tony was manipulating between his fingers making it spin by twisting his wrists. Thor seemed mostly bemused by the film completely unbothered by the two beside him.
This felt like some sort of progress, towards what he wasn’t sure. Progress none the less. Steve tried not to be happy. He did. It didn’t work.
When the credits rolled and everyone was drifting away, Clint grabbing Bruce by the elbow as he almost walking into the door frame without looking up, correcting his course and letting him go without a word passed between them. Tony offered his arm to Pepper, Steve went to follow him, if you had an opening press it until something spills. A valid tactical approach. He’d been unable to corner Tony again once he’d wised up to Steve staking out the coffee.
He followed them all the way down the hall, coming close enough to make out Pepper’s throaty tones.
“There, see, I went with you, stop being so childish. Nothing happened.” Pepper’s voice was soft and fond, and Steve froze just around the corner. There was little difference between eavesdropping and reconnaissance. Some habits die hard. Make no mistake this was a skirmish and he wasn’t going to go in unarmed.
“Why do people keep calling me that, it’s not fair, I’m not childish, I’m a genius, geniuses -geniusii?- are acceptably eclectic. You don’t see anyone complaining about Banner’s tendency to write all over himself like a walking etch-a-sketch.”
“Because you’re like a child. An oversexed, over-stimulated child, and I don’t have time to run interference for you whenever you have a disagreement with your friends.”
“Team, they are a team, not my team, a team-- but not the A-team.”
“Tony,” Pepper hissed, “behave okay? It’s not my job to run your life for you anymore. You’re going to have to figure it out on your own some day.” The doors opened and their conversation was too muffled to continue to listen as they entered the elevator.
~~
“I am going to ask Tony Stark to be on the team full time.” Steve opened the conversation. Nick Fury sighed and put down his sandwich, something large and full of lettuce. Steve hoped that by ambushing him during lunch, (S.H.I.E.L.D agents were trained out of ever letting their guard down, but worth a shot) he could make his point. Also, he was finding the canteen made for an optimal ambush point.
“Do you ever let things drop?” He looked up at Steve and Steve sort of shrugged.
“It’s a bit of a habit.” Steve sort of smiled, he had a long history of bad ideas and refusing to listen to what people told him about them- no matter how many times. He hadn’t felt quite like himself since he woke up, but in that moment he felt like he was on fire. He was lying to officials again; he was going behind enemy lines because Bucky might be there. It was such a small thing, but it felt like he was doing something right. “I feel that tactically it is a sound decision.” He’d come to realize that what was between him and Tony didn’t matter, what mattered was what Tony brought to the team and the way they all saw him.
“Against the better judgement of all of S.H.I.E.L.D?”
“They are my team and my responsibility, sir.” Because they were, as oddly miss-matched and completely haphazard as they seemed. In the films those were the teams that worked best. Besides, it worked once, Steve couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work again. The world may have slipped out from under him like someone pulling a rug but people people didn’t change.
“Are you saying you’re prepared to take responsibility for Tony Stark?” Fury wiped his mouth a napkin. “Greater men than you have failed and run away screaming from Stark’s irresponsibly.”
“I am going to ask him on the team.” Steve repeated, confident now. He’d wanted this from the beginning for all the wrong reasons. Now he still wanted it, but for all the right reasons.
Fury sighed and rubbed his head. “Fine, do whatever the fuck you want about Stark. He’s yours now.”
Steve could feel his face heat a little. Would everyone stop making jokes like that? It was a little uncomfortable, Steve realized that things were different now but still some of Clint’s jokes were just scandalous. He wasn’t interesting in Tony that way.
“You’re not going to regret this.” Steve smiled at him.
“Oh. I know I will.” Fury sighed.
~~
Tony was working; well he was sitting on the floor cross-legged next to his discarded tie, playing with that blue sort of thing between his fingers. It didn’t look the most comfortable, but Tony didn’t give any indication of finding this odd at all, or like he needed to find a chair.
“Tony?”
“Hm?” Tony looked up at him, sort of sideways and upside down.
“What’s going on up there?” Tony greeted him, and Steve still wasn’t entirely sure what to say when people asked him that, he’s at least figured out that they were not talking about something being actually up, but a semi-rhetorical greeting. In this case he might mean it literally as opposed the the quick ‘what’s up’ or ‘what’s shaking’ he’d normally use. Informal enough that Steve didn’t know many other people who even said it aside from Tony.
Instead of answering him Steve sat down next to him, sliding down the wall until he was sitting with his legs out in front of him so that Tony’s knee was just brushing the edge of his thigh. Purposeful incursion into Tony’s personal space.
“What’s that?” He nodded at the little blue things.
“This is a new toy I cooked up the idea for years ago using bits of other tech I have floating around the house. It’s too expensive for mass producing, but it keeps the investors satisfied. It’s like your laptop or Bruce’s ipad, it’s connected to my home network via a souped up Bluetooth and it uses the sensors attached to the tips of my fingers to monitor movement and project the hologram when my hands come together.” Tony splayed his fingers, moving them apart and the structure vanished completely. “The coding is sort of glitch-y, but I was lazy and took most of it from my workshop interface programming. Sue me.” He shrugged lazily. “Did you understand any of that?”
“That you are really smart?” Steve smiled tentatively.
Tony grinned at him. “You catch on quick boy-o.”
“It’s really neat.” Steve couldn’t help it, it was really something. Tony was like something out of a sci-fi novel in a world that was already almost completely unimaginable still pushing the limits of what Steve’s common sense told him was possible. “What are you doing here anyways?”
“Hiding from Natasha and her hit squad.” His mouth quirked a little and his eyes shone.
“You’re lying.”
Tony looked surprised. “You really do catch on fast. You used to believe everything I said.”
“You and Clint gave me a lot of practice.” Steve sighed heavily. Tony grinned impishly at him, completely and totally unrepentant.
“Oh baby, but who gave it to you better?” Tony’s eyebrows wiggled in a totally ridiculous fashion that Steve couldn’t help but find amusing.
“So was there a reason for you to interrupt my break? I was trying to make twitter three-dimensional. It’s not going so well.”
“There was something I want to talk to you about.”
Tony stiffened, turning away for a moment before he let out a quiet sigh and sort of melted back against the wall. “Yeah? Well shoot.” Tony sounded as if someone was actually about to shoot him for all the dread he could pack into his voice. It was a little mean but as long as Tony was looking away Steve could smile a little. At least he hadn’t bolted for the door this time.
“I wanted to formally ask you onto the Avengers Initiative, as Tony Stark and as Iron Man.” He’d planned it a little differently in his imagination. Ideally they wouldn’t have been sitting on the ground in a break room, fluorescent lights humming over head quietly. He’d take what he could get. Some of the best moments in his life were spent in frozen forests bickering with his best friend after all.
Tony stared at him, eyebrows drawing together and mind racing behind his startlingly clear eyes.
“I told you I don’t play well with others, I don’t follow orders well.” Understatement of the year. “Volatile and self-absorbed also made the list if I remember correctly. Also I blew up a race track once, on international television. Wasn’t really my fault.”
“Teamwork isn’t about following my orders to the letter Tony,” Steve wasn’t the best at that himself, “it’s about catching Natasha when she jumps off of things to get the perfect angle, and it’s about playing with Hulk while we wait for him to calm down, it’s about bringing Pepper to film night and staying with us when you hate it.”
“Hives.” Tony stood up suddenly, shaking out his hands like he had been given a sudden jolt.
“Touchy-feely conversations give me hives. I feel like I need to step on a kitten to right the balance in my life now. Thanks. How do you feel about that? The responsibility of knowing you made me murder a kitten.”
Tony paced a quick circuit. “Whole creepy team building exercises aside, far, far aside, Fury would never ever agree to this.”
“He has his reservations about your... behaviour,” Steve smiled up at Tony, “it would help if you didn’t try to get him mad every time you spoke.”
“Life’s little pleasures Steve.” Tony tapped a quick beat against his chest, presumably touching the arc reactor there.
“But he agrees with me that you’re indispensible as part of the team.” It would probably be better if Tony never found out exactly what Fury said. “So you’re in if you want it.”
“I’ll need time to think about it, I think this is going to push my insurance in some sort of way, which is for my team of highly trained pet accountants to figure out.” Tony pushed his hands through his hair making it stick up. He rocked on his heels, pinning Steve in place with a look. “Why? Note, your motivation won’t change my mind, I’m just curious. It’s my parents isn’t it?”
“I...” Shame settled heavy in his stomach. The hypocrisy of it was staggering “when we first met it was. You looked so much like her, your eyes are the same.” ‘Genetics’ Tony mumbled. He’d drawn those eyes so many times before that his fingers knew the movements from muscle memory alone. He’d stopped drawing Peggy after he woke up, but seeing Tony had defeated the purpose and he’d drawn a portrait of her just for himself. “I always figured she got on with her life, but I just never thought it would be Howard.” Tony was getting that desperate awkward look again, which was okay because despite all the questions he could ask, Steve found he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I think that’s enough, still curious?”
“Not at all. I’ve got things to do, important things. So I’ll see you around.”
Steve should be glad that Tony stuck through as much of that as he did. Tony paused by the door without turning around, voice pulling Steve out of his thoughts. “She told me all about you, they both did, that was the only time I ever really saw them together was when Peggy would tell me stories and Howard, Dad, would come in and add details.”
Tony left.
Steve should probably get off the floor at some point, instead he let his head rest against the wall and thought about what Tony said. He felt happy and sad about it all at once. He didn’t like to imagine that Peggy was ever unhappy, but she hadn’t forgot him. Had she thought about him as much as he’s thought about her? He hadn’t been lying, it wasn’t entirely about Peggy or Howard or even fondue.
It was about living in the future and not going insane.
~~
He wasn’t sure about this. He’d been thinking about it all day. To Clint it had been an off-hand comment, he took to needling Steve about Tony whenever Tony wasn’t there to defend his own honour. Still. The internet would know. Steve hadn’t run into something that he internet couldn’t help him with in some way yet. Life marched on, Tony hadn’t given him an answer yet and Steve didn’t want to pressure him for one. He could only try and be there as much as he could. He’d inspired an entire nation during a war, but Tony was a little more complicated than that.
He opened a new google search, arrow hovering over the ask-box. He had closed it last time. Most of Tony’s life was public domain. How was this worse than anything he looked up before? Huffing Steve typed in his question before he could stop himself again.
‘Does Tony Stark date men?’
There were photos. Of course there were photos. Steve probably should have been glad there wasn’t video. Tony was young in this one, lips full and red like they had been rouged, he was whip-thin and being more or less held up by his companion who was sporting a matching just-kissed expression. Tony was giving the camera both middle fingers and he looked wild and manic in a way that was startlingly familiar despite the ridiculous haircut. Dear god, Tony would have been a demon when he was younger, chewing people up and spitting them out just as easily.
Well it was an answer at the very least. The next photo wasn’t so innocent, there were hands everywhere and their faces were hidden against each other’s shoulders, but it was still obviously Tony’s wild black hair.
“Knock knock.” Steve closed the browser clumsily and quickly feeling his ears burn.
Bruce gave him a pointed look but said nothing and Steve could feel his face slowly heating up to match. It was like he’d been caught doing something completely depraved. He’d just been curious. They stressed that these kinds of things were okay in the future.
“We’re bringing Thor to the Chinese buffet-you’re not going to want to miss this.” He smiled and Steve laughed. “And we might need you when it goes all goes wrong. You know it will, I know it will Clint and Tony know it will-- they are all giddy like a couple of school boys.”
“Okay, just let me get changed.” Steve nodded, didn’t point out that Bruce needed to eat amazing amounts of food too to keep his accelerated metabolism going strong.
They took three of Tony’s cars, Steve sat in the massive boxy one (it reminded him of eras gone by and the cars he used to know that moved so slowly and drove around the Hollywood superstars) it had a driver, and Pepper sitting in the back with him. It also went a lot more safely than the car driven by Tony, Thor sitting in the passenger seat grinning widely as the wind played through his hair Bruce was in the back looking like he was trying hard not to enjoy himself.
Natasha drove the other car, something small and sleek and red, Clint was in the passenger seat, egging her on as her and Tony slipped in between taxis and raced through the heart of New York City.
“Happy.” Pepper tapped the back of his seat, leaning forwards.
“Ma’am.” He looked at them in the rear-view. Pepper turned to Steve and offered him a smile that seemed nothing like the usually blank sort of smile she gave him. “Really?”
“Oh yes. Hold tight Mr. Rogers. Happy, see if you can’t beat them there, Tony always forgets to factor the city traffic.”
“Ms. Potts!” Steve hissed as the car accelerated, taking a hard right away from the path the other two were taking.
“Call me Pepper while we’re doing something ridiculous.” She said simply, like these kinds of things were normal.
Steve double checked his seat belt was secured. They were weaving in and out of traffic, and navigating what seemed like an endless maze of streets with one-way signs. “Sometimes it’s actually fun to play Tony’s games with him, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“That’s the boss lady for you.” Happy grinned at them in the rear view.
Steve wasn’t sure what to think about their relationship. Pepper didn’t seem like Tony’s girl, but Steve wasn’t an expert on these things. “Do you think we can win? They were pretty far ahead.” The car turned another corner, pulling ahead of a family car smoothly.
“Tony will take the direct route there without thinking about the traffic, Natasha wants everyone to think she’s perfect, but she’s not going to let him out of her sight, it’s a competition, so she will take the same route as him. Happy, on the other hand, is better than any GPS when it comes down to it. So we win.”
“I can see why Tony says he can’t live without you.” Steve said and both Happy and Pepper snorted.
“Tony says he can’t live without twinkies either.” Pepper tutted at him, “he never says anything he means. Not unless he’s under extreme duress.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Is it about Tony?” She was still politely smiling at him, but dames were scary that way. Peggy could threaten him while smiling all the time.
“I... upset him. I need to ask him about something, but he’s a little sensitive about it.”
“Usually for good reason.” She was looking at him hard now, like if she just squinted she could read all his secrets. If you listened to Tony’s ramblings, Pepper’s superpower was in her eyes and Steve was beginning to see why he’d say something like that.
Alarm bells went off in his head, klaxons letting him know he was treading on thin ice. He always knew when he was upsetting a woman but that didn’t help him at all when it came to making them happy again. Pepper seemed to like him, but even if she wasn’t Tony’s girl, she was his friend all the same. “He won’t tell me.” Steve admitted.
“The gala, you were talking with Tony at the gala.” She snapped her fingers. “He was weird after that.”
“I told him the truth about something, I don’t know what I did wrong but he’s been upset about it since I just don’t understand.” They both swayed as the car took a corner probably a little faster than it should have.
“Oh Steve,” Pepper tapped his arm with one neatly trimmed nail, “no one understands Tony, Tony doesn’t always understand Tony. What did you tell him?”
“You know I was in the war with his father?” She nodded, “well, I was in the war with his mother too, his real mother, we, I loved her.”
“And now?” Pepper was looking at him, it wasn’t unkind, but it wasn’t sympathetic either. It was calm and assessing and almost like the way the dinosaurs had been looking at him. Neither hungry nor predatory, simply assessing-- looking for weaknesses.
“I will always love her, she was an amazing woman.” It was the truth, yet it didn’t sting as much as usual. Like all the time he’d spent thinking-not thinking about it had helped. “I want to ask Tony about her.” So badly, “but I can see it hurts him.”
Pepper was quiet for a while, just looking at him. Happy tactfully didn’t say anything, the only sound was the faint hum from the engine and the quiet shift of Steve trying not to squirm in his seat. “Tony can be hard to get along with, zip it,” Pepper snapped at him when he opened his mouth to defend Tony, “I know this better than anyone else. Don’t let him think you do it because of his parents, he’s a little touchy on the subject. And don’t tell him I told you. He’s got a heart under that arc reactor and he’s not as invulnerable as he’d like you to believe. ”
“Aren’t we all?” Steve didn’t break eye contact, she was looking for something. Whatever it was Pepper seemed content with his answer crossing and uncrossing her long legs in one silky slide like a nervous twitch-- that Steve resolutely didn’t watch.
“Keeps us human.” She agreed. “Are we almost there?”
“A little further.” Happy replied. The silence was only a little awkward. Steve shifted around a little more, dwelling on what she said. He’d figured that much out on his own, but it was nice to hear it from someone who knew Tony better.
They won and Tony’s face when he pulled up to find Pepper and Steve leaning against the front of the car in the parking lot was priceless. Natasha entered the parking lot from the other entrance at about the same time, the roar of the tiny car’s engine loud in the silence. She looked at them, most of her expression hidden by the wind screen with the exception of the irritated press of her lips, but Clint was laughing head tipped back and sun picking out the golden highlights in his hair.
“How?” Tony crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Happy. “That’s not a rocket car.”
“Skill Mr. Stark.” Happy gave a little bow.
“A most just victory Son of Happy.” Tony coughed while Happy tried to find a way to explain to all six foot something solid muscle of Thor that his name didn’t work that way. Steve was certain that Thor was doing it on purpose now to mess with them. “Let us feast to your honour.”
Easily distracted Tony threw an arm around Thor’s shoulders. “Right, buddy you are going to fucking love this.”
“Mr. Rogers, I think you forgot something.” Steve spun on his heels following the driver back to the car as the rest of the group moved towards the large double doors and gaudy golden dragon entrance. Steve was pretty sure he had everything, but he had lost three mobiles already so it wasn’t impossible.
“Thanks, what is it?”
“Listen, not many people try with Tony, I don’t care why you did it, only that you did. He likes you. Don’t fuck it up.” Happy poked him in the chest, winced and shook out his hand. “I can’t believe I just said that to Captain America.”
Steve couldn’t help the nervous smile, “I’m glad he has people like you and Ms. Potts with him. Let’s go eat.” He was only a little jealous that Tony had people like that.
He did feel a little bad about the face the lady who ran the place made when she saw how much him and Thor were putting away (not to mention Banner who was slowly and steadily eating more than a man his size should ever be able to). The plates were slowly piling up making tiny towers of gaudy floral printed glassware. She said something low and angry sounding in another language to the girl next to her and Tony replied to both of them in the same language, the edges of his lips quirking in the usual devil-may-care smile. She glared at him fiercely despite the top of her head barely reaching Thor’s elbow all the same. She left them alone after that.
Steve tried to feel guiltier about how much he was eating and the scene they were making but the food was delicious even if he wasn’t sure what he was eating. It was just the right balance between greasy and savoury and he couldn’t help himself as he shovelled more rice into his mouth and chased it with the little breaded chicken balls. Bruce declined using the chop sticks because ‘they irritated him’. Tony met his eyes across the table, perfectly able to use the sticks to eat with, and smiled. Steve didn’t even want to try eating with sticks when there were perfectly good forks and spoons.
“What is this?” Steve said, swallowing thickly and going for another fork-full.
“Mostly MSG and grease.” Tony shrugged at the same time Bruce said, “lemon chicken.” and Clint said, “the crushed spirit of real Chinese food.”
Steve wasn’t quite closer to understanding Tony but he might have been closer to understanding what he wanted from him after spending the day just being with the team and laughing about tales long past. Tony left a tip amidst the piles of discarded plates that would more than cover even what Thor managed to eat.
~~
He stared at his wardrobe and frowned thoughtfully. Dinner with Tony could mean anything from street-meat from a grubby looking man in a beat up chip-truck to designer boutique restaurants that charge more than Steve is willing to think about (he understands inflation, what he doesn’t understand highway robbery). Effortlessly and chameleon-like Tony could wear the same thing to both and still look like he belonged wherever he wanted too.
Steve went for a t-shirt and cardigan that had appeared on his door-step with a brief and comically impersonal note from Natasha as if she was embarrassed to have picked something up for him while shopping. It was nice and soft, like being wrapped in his favourite blanket from his childhood. He loved it, and even tried to thank Natasha for it which she accepted with grumpy ill-grace lips pressed into a tight line and arms crossed defensively over her chest.
Hopefully it would hold up under whatever sort of night Tony had planned.
Later, Steve would realize that with Tony it was simply impossible to plan for what he was going to do. He sat there awkwardly, the girls sat to either side of him were obviously twins, or looked enough alike that they could get away with the deception. Tony knew them (well he kept calling them by the wrong names, but they didn’t seem to mind so they at least knew him.)
The restaurant was glitzy, glamorous in such an obvious way that it became gaudy and bordering on tasteless. Steve preferred the smaller sort of cosy hole-in-the-wall restaurants that didn’t mind plying him with mountains of greasy food (it was the kind of place he liked before he was able to eat the greasy mountains of food). This kind of place was alright, the sort of place you’d picture people like Tony spending their free time, but the food portions were small and had strange names. The atmosphere left him more stressed than relaxed like he was about to commit some fatal social faux-pas at any moment and be struck down by the overly efficient and but not very friendly waiter.
“Are you enjoying yourself Steve? Ladies, have I ever told you what a fantastic man Steve is? Saves kittens from burning buildings and looks like a roman statue shirtless.” Tony winked at him and Steve could feel himself flushing, the girls laughed. “Lots of kittens.” Tony added.
“Shut up Mr. Stark.” Steve hissed at him, embarrassed. Tony grinned at him and tipped his head at the two girls.
“He’s so shy, it’s cute.” Tony mocked him.
“It’s endearing.” Becky cooed. “Very.” Jessica agreed with him. Steve really wished they wouldn’t. It was still embarrassing, and their shirts were really very revealing, it was difficult to keep his eyes from accidentally straying to dangerous places.
Dinner had been awkward and there were just hanging around drinking, well getting the girls drunk. Tony had an iron liver and Steve couldn’t get drunk on anything less than pure petrol. Tony had to realize that it wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t seem to care. Steve played with the cuff of his cardigan and reminded himself about the Chinese buffet and how much nicer that had been.
“Another bottle.” Tony flagged the waiter. He didn’t specify another bottle of what, but the man nodded and ducked away anyways.
“Really?” Steve frowned.
“Not having a good time? Amanda and umm... Chastity? They are going to be disappointed in you Steve.” Tony sort of sulked at him, bottom lip sticking out comically.
“I didn’t mean it that way.” Steve smiled at Jessica first and then Becky, trying to apologize to the girls. He hadn’t been good at this when it was him and Bucky either. “It’s just been a very long day and I’m tired.”
“Oh.” Tony’s pout vanished into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I see, you are right it has been a busy kitten saving kind of day.”
“Yeah.” Steve tried to smile back at Tony.
“I can take you back, even heroes need their beauty sleep.” Tony sort of shrugged liquidly in response looking somewhere over his shoulder for something, fingers beginning to tap on the table in a familiar fast-paced rhythm.
“Oh, time to go already, it’s so early.” Jessica touched his arm, impossibly long nails resting against the softness of his sweater; for some reason only the very tips were painted white while the rest of it was just pale pink it looked alright if a little only half finished. “That’s not like you Tony.”
“I need to get Steve here home in one piece.” He stood, lifting his jacket as the new bottle appeared at their table. “I trust you can handle that, ladies?” He nodded at the waiter, who if he was surprised didn’t show it.
“What, now?” Steve hadn’t meant they should leave that instant, just he didn’t want to have to sit through another whole bottle’s worth of aimless tittering conversation.
“Why not?” Tony signed the bill the waiter discreetly handed to him without even looking at it. “The night is young, and we need to get gramps into bed.”
“Tony.” Steve sighed, following him out of the restaurant to wait for the valet to go and get their car. “Hey, I had a good time tonight.” He bumped his shoulder against Tony’s to get him to stop looking quite so put out, and it wasn’t a lie. He enjoyed spending time with Tony he enjoyed it a lot. It just would have been better if it was just the two of them. He always felt like he was one miss-step away from disaster with girls, and living in the future hadn’t changed that. Except for when Natasha told him coldly ‘there wasn’t time for that old-fashioned chivalry.’
“Really?” Tony was playing with something on his phone. “You didn’t seem like it.”
“I never did well with dames.” Steve admit with a small smile.
“You did fine with my mother.” Tony continued to mess with his phone, refusing to look up at Steve. And this was how they were going to have this conversation? Standing outside of a restaurant waiting on a valet, surrounded by the oily puddles reflecting the lights all around them.
Steve took a deep breath, letting it go softly before he spoke, “Peggy was a special woman, and she didn’t mind when I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Oh god.” Tony closed his phone and stared at him aghast, “my mother took Captain America’s virginity. There is so much wrong with that statement I can’t even, I don’t know if I want to be proud or horrified right now-- I hope you know.”
Part 5