House of TM: Downtime (RP for Steve and Sally)

[iron_tony]

Takes place in House-of-TM AU, after the interview.

After the Time reporter left, the sense of relief in the room was palpable. Tony didn't have any doubt that granting the interview was the right thing, although he wasn't not sure that Steve agreed. But privacy wasn't an all-or-nothing proposition, and in this media age, trying to keep their

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[starspangledcap]

Steve was not going to let Tony just walk away from this. It was his natural reaction to half the fights they had, and most of the time Steve was willing to let him go. They would both stew silently for a while, and then one of them would approach the other and press him up against the nearest hard surface and the fight would be forgotten in the movements of hands and hips and mouths. Or, alternately, some villain would start tearing up downtown, and they'd have to make a temporary peace to go fight him, and by the time they got back to the Mansion the argument would feel irrelevent. Either way, the fights would end without apologies, without resolution. And Steve didn't want that to happen this time.

"Tony," he said, coming into the kitchen and standing at the doorway, arms crossed. "We're letting her become a superhero. We're letting her make all kinds of adult decisions. Don't you think she has the right to decide where she wants to go to college, too? God, Tony, Harry was more irresponsible at her age, and you seem to think he turned out just fine." There was a definite undercurrent of bitterness in that sentence. "She's a smart girl, and, honestly, I don't think we necessarily do have a better idea of what's right for her. We can only shelter her for so long."

[iron_tony]

Tony crossed his arms slowly, turned around, and leaned back against the sink.

"I don't believe I've ever said that Harry is 'just fine.'" Harry Osborn, the hero known as Spider-man -- the first young superhuman that Tony had taken on himself to mentor. The boy had needed it, desperately, but -- although Steve had never come out and said it -- he was obviously no fan of the arrangement. "If Harry were fine, he wouldn't still need my -- our -- help." Tony cocked his head and frowned at the other man. "Is that what this argument is really about? You don't approve of my -- ah -- mentoring style?"

[starspangledcap]

"Mentoring?" Steve asked, mouth drawn into a thin line. "Tony, you 'mentor' him like a teenaged boy shows the cute girl at the YMCA how to hold a pool cue. And, no, that's not what this argument is about. This argument is about our daughter's future. But you seem keen on avoiding that important subject, so please, by all means, elaborate on your 'mentoring style.'"

Steve knew he was overreacting. He knew that Tony wasn't actually cheating on him with Harry, nor was he likely to do so. He trusted his husband. But that didn't help to curb the jealousy he felt when he watched the two of them blatantly flirting down in the lab as they worked on whatever new gadget Tony was developing.

[iron_tony]

There isn't anything with Harry, of course. If Tony were going to cheat he would do it somewhere, with someone, that Steve would never, ever find out about. Not that he is going to, of course. But Tony knows that Steve knows he would never be that dumb; Steve probably even has this knowledge confused with trust.

Also, 'pool cue'? That was a damn good line. Tony had to bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You know Harry," Tony said gravely. "The tech isn't really his thing. Gotta do something to keep his interest." The conversation was so absurd. He couldn't meet Steve's eyes or he would laugh.

[starspangledcap]

Steve wasn't always the most perceptive person when it came to interpersonal relations, but even he managed to notice the way Tony's lips were twitching. "You're making this into a joke," he accused, frowning darkly. He crossed the kitchen, to decrease the distance between them, and put his elbows onto the marble-topped island in the middle of the room, hands folded.

[iron_tony]

"I'm sorry," Tony responded, no longer making much effort to hide his smile. "I was unaware that your comparing me to a hormonally challenged pool hustler was meant to be serious."

[starspangledcap]

Hormonally challenged pool hustler. Despite himself, Steve had to smile. "Well, when you put it like that..."

He sighed. "Just... promise me you'll let Sally live the life she wants to live. You can encourage her to go into engineering, you can even make her put in an application to MIT, but if, in the end, she decides to do something totally different, promise me you'll support her. That's all I'm asking."

[iron_tony]

Make her put in. . .? Tony thought. It's a privilege just to be worth your time to apply there, and. . .

"I promise," he said. Crossing the room toward Steve, he said, "Me and you and Sally will have the college talk." Then, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder and leaning in, he said, "Later --"

[starspangledcap]

Steve's hands drifted automatically to Tony's waist, and his soft response of "ok" was swallowed up by Tony's mouth on his own. They always had been good at this part. But though the conversation had gained more of a resolution than most of their arguments, Steve still couldn't help seeing it as a slightly empty victory, a stopgap solution to a problem destined to rear its ugly head again.