Fic: many names in history, none of them are ours (Avengers/MCU, 5/8)
Title: many names in history, none of them are ours (5/8)
Author: aubkae
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, post-Avengers 2012
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 5600, overall ~42k
Characters: All of the Avengers, Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, James Rhodes, JARVIS
Pairing(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, references to canon pairings
Disclaimer: Marvel's. Not mine, I make no profit.
Warnings: Overall - PTSD issues, canon-typical violence, explicit sex, societal homophobia. This chapter - *points to the rating* Besides that, nothing for this one.
Notes: This would not be what it is without Nyssa, Sammy, and Courtni cheering me on, believing in this story, holding my hand, and catching my screw-ups. Any remaining mistakes are my own. Also thank you Lilas for talking legal with me.
Steve's not sure if he'll ever understand Tony Stark, but it's good, living here. If he still wakes up sometimes convinced this was all a dream, well, it's better than it was before, and that's something, isn't it?
The Avengers live in a world that both glorifies and fears them, but they know each other now behind the scenes.
AO3 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
The frogs aren't exactly difficult to deal with, especially because they seem more interested in getting into the water than in causing destruction. Most of the damage to the park is because the frogs panicked. Steve feels terrible about killing them (plus it makes a huge mess, as they discovered when Thor hit one with Mjölnir) so Steve, Tony, Thor, and Clint try to contain them in the reservoir while Natasha and Bruce go with some SHIELD agents to try and figure out who or what caused the frog situation.
Clint can't stop laughing, and it keeps setting the rest of them off. Giant frogs are slippery.
By the time the frogs abruptly return to normal size and presumably swim off, Steve and the others are all drenched and filthy. Steve hauls himself out of the water and goes to wipe his face, then thinks better of it when he looks at his hand and arm. He's pretty sure that's duck crap on his glove.
"You all alright?" he says into the comm. "Did you find… whoever?"
"Yeah - stay there, we're coming over," Bruce answers.
"Sure," Steve says, and looks around at his teammates to make sure they heard that.
Thor has some kind of vegetation stuck in his hair and mud all up his left side. He shakes his head at the state of Mjölnir and sticks it in the water to rinse it off. "Truly a battle to be remembered."
"Truly," Clint says. "Tales will be told of our valor in defeating the great hopping beasts."
Thor laughs and smacks Clint on the shoulder, spraying mud and water. "Do not mock. I didn't say that it was a grand battle, merely a memorable one."
"How is this my life?" Tony lands and flips up the faceplate. "Who gets growth rays or magic or whatever the fuck and decides, oh I'll just make giant frogs? Because that makes so much sense."
"You complaining?" Steve says. "No casualties, except that one frog, and I'm sure the newspapers will have some pretty funny pictures. Laughing at us is probably an improvement." He pulls off his gloves and the armored layer of his suit, dropping the pile of wet and dirty leather and body armor on the ground beside the shield.
"Uh," Tony says, staring at him.
Clint starts laughing again, muttering something and shaking his head.
Steve's still running on adrenaline, and now he's remembering Tony's body against his own. He raises his eyebrows at Tony. "Mud and frog slime does it for you?"
Tony blinks and then he grins. "You soaking wet and stripping does it for me. And there's something to be said about getting a national icon all… dirty."
"Uh," Steve manages.
"Seriously?" Clint says, looking between them. "When did you two man up? More importantly, did I just find out before Natasha?"
"Man up?" Thor asks, and then obviously gets it."My friends!" he exclaims, grinning. "Congratulations!"
Steve looks from Clint to Thor and then over at Tony again in a bit of panic. He and Tony haven't even really talked yet. Attraction is one thing, but…
Tony just shakes his head and walks towards Steve, ignoring the others. "Let me take you out to dinner," he says, voice serious and pitched as if it was just the two of them.
"Okay," Steve says, relieved. "I'd like that."
He wants to touch Tony. There are reporters hiding in the bushes. They look at each other for a long moment, a smile just barely playing in the corners of Tony's mouth.
"Change of plans - come to the Precinct house and look for us in the parking lot," Natasha says on the comm. "Fury's landing a quinjet on the Great Lawn."
"Right," Clint says, and they head over.
Three SHIELD agents plus Natasha and Bruce are sitting on a pickup truck surrounding a teenage boy. He's scowling like his options are scowl or cry.
"Was it growth rays or supernatural whatevers?" Tony asks.
"Growth rays," Bruce says.
"They are not growth rays," the kid protests. "My system is far more complex than growth rays."
Tony and Bruce share a look and then start laughing. The boy looks offended until Tony points at him and says: "Hey kid, if you want to work with crazy tech, you should apply to Stark Industries once you're over eighteen, presuming you play nice while SHIELD talks to you and you stay on the straight and narrow 'til then."
"Really?" the kid gasps.
"Yup," Tony says. "I like to fuck with R&D. Just tell them I told you to."
They all look up at the sound of the quinjet.
"That's our cue." Tony's faceplate comes down and he takes off, looping through the air. Steve shakes his head at Tony's showing off, and tries to keep from laughing as the kid hops out of the truck and trips over his own feet from staring up after Tony. The rest of them follow on foot, and the SHIELD agents hustle the kid over and onto the quinjet.
"Am I allowed to leave my truck there?" Steve hears him ask. "I'll get in trouble if it gets towed."
"Frog boy, you're lucky you're not getting arrested," Fury says as he steps out of the jet. "Sit down and shut up before I decide to find something to charge you with."
Tony lands between Steve and Bruce. "Another day saved," he says, then pauses and turns to say to Bruce. "By the way, Plans A through E were left gasping in the dust by the runaway success of Plan F."
Bruce's gaze flickers over to Steve. "Didn't I say that A through C were overly complicated and D was likely to backfire? I'm surprised it was F and not E though."
"You had six plans?" Steve says. And you talked about them with Bruce, he doesn't say. Really, it's kind of reassuring to know that Tony's been thinking about this.
"Please," Tony says. "Do you think I'm an amateur?" He pauses and makes a face. "That was all shades of not what I meant." He looks relieved when Steve laughs.
"Jesus Christ," Clint mutters from behind them. "Ow! Nat, come on."
Fury and Maria Hill walk over to the Avengers and Steve stands up a little straighter.
"Good work, team," Fury says, and turns to Steve, ignoring Tony's affronted look. "You've been a difficult man to arrange a meeting with, Captain. I have a free hour, and I happen to know that you do too." He holds out a hand to indicate the quinjet. "We're taking frog boy to headquarters anyway."
"Can I shower and change first?" Steve says with a sigh.
"You can do that at SHIELD," Fury says, and an anonymous junior agent hands him a towel.
Steve gets home just over an hour later, after bluntly explaining that yes, he is no longer under SHIELD's command, no, he doesn't want to be a SHIELD agent, and yes, the Avengers are indeed officially establishing themselves as a separate entity. He's pretty sure Fury approves and is just testing him. Hill clearly disapproves, but he doubts she would approve of anything other than the Avengers under strict SHIELD control.
The common areas are completely deserted when he walks in. Steve figures everyone's sleeping - he can feel the fuzz of exhaustion in his own head, though thanks to the serum it'll be a while before sleep becomes a necessity for him.
"Mr. Stark advises that you take a nap," Jarvis says. "Dinner reservations are for 22:00."
"Really?" Steve says, a little surprised and pleased that Tony apparently meant dinner tonight. "So… you know then? About me and Tony, I mean."
"I daresay I know everything about Mr. Stark." Jarvis sounds faintly offended and Steve smiles.
"Of course. Do you, um, what do you think about it?"
"I have not been programmed to approve or disapprove of sir's personal life," Jarvis says, but he sounds like he would be smiling, if he could smile.
"Liar," Steve says.
Now Jarvis definitely sounds amused. "Indeed. Based on my data-gathering, compatibility modeling, and calculations, I can conclude that I approve." His voice loses the warmth. "However, I must mention that Mr. Stark's well-being is my primary directive, and any event, object, or entity which interferes with that directive shall be considered a threat and dealt with."
Steve has one of those the-future-is-weird moments, because he's just been given the 'if you hurt him I'll hurt you' speech by a computer. He's suddenly hyper-aware of just how many systems surround him every day that are run by Jarvis. The doors, for one.
"I would never hurt Tony," he says.
"Excellent," Jarvis says, polite again. "I will wake you at 21:00."
---
Tony is actually ready and waiting for him. Steve's so nervous he can't think of anything to say, but Tony just starts a conversation about Fury and SHIELD and what's going on with getting the Avengers established, as if nothing's different.
And it's… easy. It's still just the two of them talking, like they do all the time. It's nothing at all like being set up for a double-date with a woman he's never met.
On the way to the restaurant, Steve watches Tony and thinks of Peggy and their date that never was. It still hurts, but it's a healing ache, not an open wound.
They go for Thai food because Steve loves it and Tony knows a tiny hole in the wall place willing to stay open late for them. "We weren't here," Tony says to the waiter, who just smiles and nods and pours tea for them.
"I tip well," Tony says when he catches Steve's amused look. "I've been coming here for years, whenever I'm in New York. Best Thai in the city. I figure you'd like this better than glitz and glamour."
Steve ducks his head and smiles. "You've got that right. The past little while has involved far too much of that for me. Not what I want on my time off too."
"I'm sure the media would be shocked to hear it, but I'm sick of dressing up and having my picture taken," Tony says. "I'm even getting sick of talking about myself."
"The horror," Steve says.
The food is delicious, the conversation normal. Steve waits for the topic of them to come up, but every time they get near it, anticipation building in Steve's chest… they veer off again. He keeps catching Tony looking at him too intently, just for a second at a time.
It takes him probably longer than it should to realize that this is Tony being careful. That Tony is uncertain. Tony, uncertain. Of Steve.
"So, Jarvis threatened me," Steve says, and Tony chokes on his food.
"He what?"
"Your well-being is his primary directive and threats will be dealt with," Steve says. "It was a little terrifying. But I'm glad he's looking out for you, and he says he approves, and I don't plan on hurting you, so I figure it'll be okay. Clint is for sure never going to get me to watch that movie with the zombies and the little girl AI though; I may never sleep again."
Tony actually just stares at him for a full second, and then they both laugh.
"Jarvis is a meddling bastard," Tony says. "But if he was in charge of containing a zombie outbreak, that shit would be contained. Also, the Resident Evil game is - never mind. I hope you appreciate that I'm resisting expounding on several different points of debate here, as well as starting a lecture on the history of and problems with the way artificial intelligence in general is portrayed in mainstream media."
"Oh no," Steve says, laughing. "Forget I said anything."
"Smart move. I'm the best in the country if not the world at this, and I've been told bragging endlessly about myself is not appropriate date behavior." Tony rolls his eyes. "I can't imagine why."
"I think what you do is fascinating," Steve says, swallowing back his somewhat embarrassing reaction to the word date. "Not that I want you to deliver a lecture right now or anything."
They look at each other. Tony tilts his head, and then he leans forward, tapping his fingers on the table like he does at meetings or press conferences when he has something to say.
"So, now that we're talking about the elephant in the room," Tony says, and Steve steels himself, "and I hope you're not going to react badly, but I have to ask: have you always been into guys? Because you surprised me with that one."
"I wouldn't react badly, it's a fair question," Steve says, grabbing his tea and taking a quick sip. "I guess so, I mean, I noticed when a fellow was attractive, but I mostly convinced myself it was just noticing a fact. It's not like it was unheard of, but people didn't talk about it much in my day, and I definitely find women attractive too, so I tried not to think about it."
He takes a deep breath and another sip, not sure if he should try and explain about Bucky, if he even can. He'll have to talk about him with Tony at some point. But not right now. "That plan didn't last long once I woke up in the future. Uh, what about you?"
Tony leans back in his chair. "I hope you won't be shocked to hear that I have tried everything under the sun."
Steve smiles at him. "I did Google you, ages ago."
"And Jarvis didn't tell me, the traitor. I think the media's still convinced I left my bisexual phase back in the early nineties, along with some highly questionable fashion choices and some truly alarming haircuts." He grins.
"But… you didn't?" Steve has to ask.
"I think when something lasts decades, it can no longer be called a phase," Tony says, looking amused. "But to answer the real question: yes, I am into you, guy-parts and all."
Steve swallows and shifts in his seat. He's never going to get used to how blunt Tony can be. "Well. That's good. Me too. Um. Guy-parts and all."
"Okay, now that's hotter than I'd even imagined," Tony says, leaning forward again. "You're thinking about it right now, aren't you? You're blushing because you're thinking of me naked."
"Tony, we're in public!" Steve whispers, trying to will himself not to blush even more.
Tony smiles wider. "That was not a no."
Steve bites his lip, looks around and listens for the waiter coming back, hears nothing. He reaches across the table and runs his fingertips up Tony's hand to stroke the delicate skin at his wrist. "I have a very vivid imagination."
He manages to keep eye contact, watches Tony's reaction.
"And here I thought I was going to traumatize you," Tony says, voice low. "I was going to try really hard not to scare you off. I was going tobehave, Steve." He turns his hand, interlaces their fingers.
"I've never really been one for behaving," Steve says, and Tony swallows. "But I - I mean, I'm not just - it's not just about that. For me. Is that… okay?"
"Cap, if I was looking for casual sex there are so very many people who would be easier than you," Tony says, his smile softer now. "And I mean that in the most flattering way possible. Can I kiss you?"
Steve quickly scans the rest of the restaurant. Still empty, but he doesn't know where their waiter is.
"They won't say anything," Tony says. Steve watches Tony press his lips together, his tongue darting out between them, and Steve's leaning in before he thinks any more about it.
The kiss is deep and heated and still so careful - Tony's as good at this as Steve had imagined, but it's the sincerity that gets to him, the total focus, one hundred percent of Tony Stark's attention right here and now.
Tony's hand cups the side of his face, fingers stroking the short hair at the back of his head, thumb along his jawline. Steve tightens his fingers on Tony's and tries to breathe as Tony moves to kiss along his jaw to his ear and down the side of his neck.
"Are we done here?" Tony says, breath along Steve's throat, and Steve shivers. "I think we're done here."
"Yeah," he says, catching Tony's mouth again before Tony pulls away with a muttered curse and digs his wallet out of his jacket.
---
The elevator takes them straight up to the penthouse. Tony makes an attempt to keep his hands to himself, but Steve apparently has other ideas and kisses Tony against the wall the whole way up, barely breaking long enough to stumble out of the elevator and through the living room to Tony's bedroom.
His plans had involved more wooing - you know, multiple dates and working his way up from hand-holding, because Steve's a guy from the forties. But Steve's a guy from the forties who plays fight club with Natasha for fun, who laughs when Tony flies him above the skyscrapers at the maximum speed Steve's body can handle and then drops him onto monsters.
So, ditch the plans then, restart from scratch. Tony's nothing if not adaptable. Fuck, Plans A through D would have been disastrous. He's going to have to think of a way to thank Bruce. Later.
Tony grabs himself two handfuls of peak-of-human-perfection ass and rocks his hips into Steve's, grins as Steve sucks in air fast and sharp.
"Tony, I-" Steve gasps and presses back, abandons the sentence to kiss him again, fingers tight in his hair tilting his head back. Carefully restrained super-strength: just as hot as Tony had imagined.
Tony moves his hands to Steve's hips and then goes for Steve's belt - but tensing up is not a good reaction, even though Steve doesn't pull away or stop kissing him. He tells his dick to behave and pulls back. "You okay there?"
Steve looks to the side and then up and finally meets Tony's eyes. "Yeah," he says. Just before Tony interjects that it doesn't look like yeah, Steve bites his lip and continues. "You - you know that I'm not… um, very-"
As if Tony wouldn't have figured that one out. He's probably been with more people at one time than Steve's been with in his life. "Yeah, I sort of figured, don't worry about it-"
"-and by not very I mean, um, I've never-"
Tony stops mid-word, and he must look surprised because Steve starts babbling. "I know that's not usual anymore, but before the serum I wasn't - nobody would have looked at me that way, and then after it was wartime and I was busy and there were a few dames who, uh, offered but… I thought that Peggy and I, after the war, except that, you know-"
"It's fine," Tony says, and swallows. "It's… fine. Just tell me how you're doing. We can - did you want to take it down a notch?"
"No, no I don't, it's not that," Steve says, which is a relief, not that Tony couldn't have managed to revert to the taking-it-slow idea if Steve wanted him to. "I just… wanted to warn you, I don't really know what I'm doing. I've done research but-"
"You're trying to kill me," Tony groans. "Research?"
"Yes, on the internet," Steve starts to say, but that's really all the talking that Tony can stand right now. The idea of Steve researching because he wants to be good at this - he kisses Steve again.
Steve kisses back, his fingers tight on Tony's hips before he pulls back enough to tug his own shirt off, and that's definitely a green light, proceed until further notice. Tony's got his hands on Steve's chest before the shirt hits the floor.
He's touched Steve before all this, of course. Incidental touches, friendly touches, touches disguised as one of those. Not this permission to explore, goosebumps following the movement of Tony's hands over Steve's arms and chest and stomach, muscles twitching and Steve breathing hard.
"Tell me what you want," Tony says, looking up at Steve's flushed face. "Anything you want. I'll do - I'll make this so good for you, Steve, I promise I will."
"Tony, oh, I just-" Steve pulls Tony's shirt off, rather ungracefully. And there, there's that pang of self-consciousness, right on cue, every time someone sees his bare chest for the first time. Even though Steve knows about the arc reactor, it's still got to be strange to see it embedded there, surrounded by scars.
Steve looks down, neither staring nor ignoring it, and he runs his hands down Tony's ribs, across his stomach, to the buttons of his jeans. He trails his fingers over the line of Tony's cock and Tony's hips twitch, taken by surprise.
"Tony," Steve says, almost reverently.
"Fuck," Tony says.
Bare skin on skin now when he kisses Steve, and this time when he runs his hand down Steve's stomach to tap his fingers on his belt in question, Steve presses his face against his shoulder and says, "Yes."
Tony backs Steve up against the bed and drops to his knees. Between the two of them they get Steve's pants down around his ankles; there are boots in the way, but Tony is so not dealing with boots right now because Steve's cock is right there in front of his face.
"Oh!" Steve's hands twitch at his sides, his breath catching. "You're not - are you-?"
"Oh yeah, I definitely am." Tony runs his hands up Steve's inner thighs, looking up to see Steve staring at him with his lip between his teeth. "Sit down for me?"
Steve does, his thighs shaking under Tony's hands, bracing himself with his hands on the bed behind him. Tony leans in to press kisses along the join of Steve's hip and then lick up the length of him.
There's a sharp gasp, and then Steve starts breathing in that too-controlled way that Tony recognizes from his years in boarding school as 'is used to masturbating while trying not to be overheard.' Which is quite the image, actually, but he'll think about that later.
"Don't be afraid to make noise for me, gorgeous," Tony says, pulling back just enough so that Steve will feel his breath against oversensitive skin, then runs his tongue around the head while looking up at Steve. "Lets me know I'm doing good."
Steve makes this half-laugh, half-whimper noise. "I - uh, as if that's even a question. Modesty, from you?"
Tony laughs against Steve's thigh. "Fine, then, how's this: Captain, you haven't seen anything yet. Hang on to something."
"I - ohhhh damn it to hell," Steve says as Tony swallows him down, which is simultaneously amusing, adorable, and fucking hot.
Someday, he's going to make Steve swear properly in bed. They'll just have to do this again and again until he succeeds at it. And then do it some more.
Tony could give a blowjob on autopilot, while redesigning the armor and planning a presentation for the Board, while so drunk he won't remember it in the morning (let's not talk about that), but this is Steve, Steve running a shaking hand along the side of his face and trying to be polite and not fuck Tony's mouth or pull his hair and Tony just wants everything, wants it all, and what the fuck is he supposed to do about that?
He takes a breath and rubs his thumbs over Steve's hipbones, explores with his tongue as Steve starts making little muffled desperate sounds. Tony can't decide if he wants to see how fast he can bring Steve off, or draw this out until he begs.
Maybe too overwhelming. He starts moving faster - plenty of time for begging another time. Presumably. Hopefully. Shit.
"Tony-" Steve gasps, and Tony looks up to watch Steve's face as he comes in Tony's mouth.
Steve's barely finished before he pulls Tony up and kisses him. "I want to touch you," he says. "May I?"
Tony groans, straddles Steve's thighs, bites down a little on Steve's shoulder. "You can do anything you want to me, just - oh fuck-" he says as Steve runs his fingers over his cock through his pants, pulls at the buttons of his fly. He'd been ignoring his own arousal, but the sudden lack of jeans pressing into it makes him gasp.
Steve mutters, "Of course you don't wear underwear," takes one deep breath, and wraps his hand around Tony's cock. Tony's witty retort vanishes from his head.
He has a brief thought about getting up for long enough to get his pants off, but there's Steve's hand tight around him, smooth and confident strokes after just a few seconds of adjustment, Steve's face still sweaty and sex-flushed with his brow furrowed in concentration like giving Tony a handjob is a tactical problem he's bent on solving.
Half-clothed is actually pretty appropriate for a first time, Tony thinks slightly deliriously, and he starts moving his hips, fucking into Steve's fist, Steve matching his rhythm and pushing it faster, sparks dancing along Tony's nerves as he bends to kiss Steve again, breaks the kiss to breathe Steve's name.
"I've thought about this," Steve says in a rush, and Tony moans.
"Yeah? And what… were you doing when you thought about it?"
Steve makes this little whimpering noise; he looks up to meet Tony's eyes, his hair disheveled and his eyes mostly black, and that's it, Tony comes swearing and gasping while Steve watches him open-mouthed.
When his brain gets back online, Steve's grinning at him, lopsided and happy and pleased with himself. Messy is a good look on him, Tony thinks, and then Steve raises his hand and licks his fingers.
"Oh fuck," Tony says. "You've been hiding a kinky center under an all-American good boy veneer. We are going to have so much fun."
He's not sure how Steve manages to look shy while doing that, but he does, laughing and leaning his face against Tony's chest, half on the arc reactor and half on his skin, pressing a kiss against the edge of the scarring and settling in with a contented sigh.
Tony takes a deep slow breath, because Steve's listening to his heart, both the flesh and shrapnel one and the one he built himself.
"Satisfactory first time?" he says, trying for light to cover up the weight of emotion rising in his throat.
"Modesty doesn't become you," Steve mumbles against his chest.
---
They nap for a few hours. Steve wakes up to the lights on low and Tony sitting in bed beside him designing something on a hologram. It has a lot of menus, but that's all he can tell before Tony waves his hand and it zips over to the window and disappears.
"Morning," Tony says, smiling easily.
"Is it even morning?" Steve rolls onto his side to face Tony, yawning.
"Ish. Four-something." Tony shrugs. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
"I was in the army," Steve says. "I can sleep through anything unless it sounds like gunfire or someone sneaking up on me."
"No guns or sneaking, got it," Tony says. "No comment on me working while in bed with you?"
"Honestly, I'd be more surprised if you didn't design stuff in bed," Steve says, sitting up and stretching, arching his back and then leaning forward with a groan as his neck pops.
"I'm never going to get used to this," Tony says under his breath. He runs his hand down Steve's spine before Steve can ask what he means, follows it with his mouth.
They end up with their legs entwined and Tony's hand around both of them, Steve gasping into Tony's shoulder while Tony murmurs endearments and compliments and half-promises, too softly for non-super-soldier ears to pick up.
At dawn, Steve goes for a run while Tony heads to the workshop. There's still so much they have to talk about, and their lives are still insane at best, but Steve runs through the streets of New York and for a couple of hours is utterly, blissfully happy.
He returns to the Tower and finds Tony, Natasha, and a woman drinking coffee at the table, surrounded by papers. It takes him a second to recognize Carolina in a business pantsuit with her hair up. Natasha's in black workout gear and Tony's wearing a hoodie and grease-stained jeans, so the combination is a bit strange.
"Steve! Check it out," Tony says, waving a piece of paper at him.
"Good morning, Steve," Carolina says. "Nice to see you again."
Steve takes the paper. "Hi, Carolina. Good morning." He looks at Tony. "What is it?"
Natasha glances up and nods to him in acknowledgement before leaning back in to read the piece of paper Carolina's holding.
Tony rolls his eyes. "You have to read it. It's the brand-spanking-new Avengers Charter. Look at how legit we are. In legalese and everything. Did you know Natasha actually has a legal background? I thought she just made that up."
"It stands up to a background check," Natasha says, then turns to Carolina. "This protects Clint and myself, as Avengers and SHIELD agents?"
"Yes," Carolina says. "I had a very interesting meeting with Director Fury."
Natasha's lips twitch. "I bet you did."
Steve sits down, reads the page he has in his hand. It does look very official. He recognizes a bunch of it from their previous discussions, cut together and expanded and polished.
They've been talking about this for so long that it shouldn't be different to see it in paper, but it is. This is UN and SHIELD approved: no more guesswork and trying to stay within guidelines without even knowing what the guidelines are, no more lacking a real leg to stand on when they have to defend against accusations of being vigilantes or menaces or out of control.
Well, less of all that. He's not so naïve as to think that being officially approved will solve everything. But it's something, and he'll take whatever he can get to protect his team.
"Are we all here? We all have to sign it," Tony says. "Let's wake everyone up. I've never been this enthused about paperwork in my life."
Steve smiles at him fondly, then sifts through the pile until he finds page two.
"Clint's at SHIELD," Natasha says. "He'll be back at noon."
"Right, okay," Tony says, handing Steve page three. "Jarvis, tell everyone, Avengers assemble at noon."
"Will do, sir," Jarvis says.
"I have to head out," Carolina says, handing her stack of papers to Natasha. "If anyone has any questions, comments, or additions, send me an email? We'll hold a press conference on Friday, and I'm sure there'll be more meetings before that, but I'll let you know the specifics of that when I know them. And do please try to make my life easier and stay out of the tabloids for a while. Unless it's for something as amazing as this."
She pulls a newspaper out of her briefcase and shows them the front page: a picture of Thor riding a giant frog as if it's a bucking bronco, cape fluttering behind him.
They all laugh. "Now that is going on the wall," Tony says.
---
"Good, that's great," Pepper says through the window interface when Tony finishes telling her about the Charter situation. She nods and makes a note on something out of Tony's view. "I'll just talk to Carolina if I need any more information. And don't forget about the Board of Directors meeting on Thursday."
"I didn't forget," Tony says, although he did, sort of. It's in his schedule for Jarvis to pester him about, which is like not forgetting. "Um."
"Do we have anything else to cover?" Pepper asks, her gaze off to the side, probably on her calendar. "That prototype is still on schedule for the presentation on Monday?"
"Yep. Might even have it a bit more polished than planned, barring weekend super-villains. Um. So. Pepper," Tony says, and then doesn't know how to continue.
"Oh no." Pepper looks at his part of her screen and visibly braces herself. "You're making the face again. That is not a good face. Tony, tell me this doesn't involve potential death or financial ruin, again."
"No, no, come on, Pepper, that was one time-"
"-one time! One time. Is this like insisting you're still 39?"
"I'm over that," Tony says. "Pepper, can you - let's not do the thing again where we don't talk." Pepper's face softens and Tony keeps going. "I'm not dying, and I haven't - it's good news. Hopefully. I mean, it's good for me. I hope that… Well. I wanted to tell you face-to-face but I can't leave New York until Friday, so face-to-face-ish will have to do. I owe you that."
"Thank you, I think," Pepper says, smiling a bit before she gets her serious face back on. "Alright, Tony. I'm listening."
This is when Steve walks into the room topless, sees Pepper on the screen, and freezes like a deer in headlights.
"Oh my God," Pepper says, covering a laugh with her hand. "Really? Already? I should know better than to bet against Natasha."
---
Chapter 6