Loving the Alien; Reverse Bang
Fandom: Avengers Movie!Verse
Pairing/characters: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Word Count: 11,510
Summary: A journey that starts with horrible first impressions and ends with a first date promise.
Notes: Written for the cap_ironman Reverse Bang Challenge based off the amazing art by gottalovev. Please, please, please, check out her art HERE and let her know how awesome it is ;) Also, beta'd by the wonderful bballgirl3022.
Split into two parts because of LJ character limits.
~~~~~~~
To Tony it felt like he'd always been on the defensive with Steve.
From the first moment they met and Steve had looked at him, faced with the words 'Tony Stark' and 'Howard's son', and he had seen the disappointment in those eyes. It was that moment that Tony knew all his excitement to meet Captain America was misplaced because Steve Rogers wanted Howard Stark, not his spoiled playboy of a son.
So Tony reacted to that realization in the only way he knew how, offensive and defensive all at once in one of the most terrible first meetings Tony had ever had. He walked out of that S.H.I.E.L.D room with his head high and shame settled like a rock in his gut. It didn’t matter though, Captain America was nothing.
The second meeting went just as badly because Fury was trying to blackmail him into joining that team of superheroes, Avengers they were calling themselves, and Tony wasn't having that. Maybe if Fury had tried to ask him and not force him, Tony might have been more convinced that the team could work but that was Fury's mistake and the rest of it was all just Tony's. The Captain even tried to get him to agree but Tony couldn't shake the way those blue eyes judged him and he could only imagine how wanting the man found him. In reaction, Tony did what Tony did best and mocked, degrading him and the team and S.H.I.E.L.D and 'I don't play well with others'.
The man who took out the Red Skull was no form of pushover though, not even 70 years outside of his own time, and the snapped back demand about Tony's worth without being Iron Man stung something so far buried beneath everything Tony pretended to be that he didn't even hesitate in his own response.
Steve was the one to walk away that time but that was okay because Captain America was nothing. He was Iron Man, he was Tony Stark and what could he possibly need from Steve Rogers?
----
Tony's agreement to join the team at least shut Fury up but then, a few weeks and wannabe-villains later, he made the mistake of getting into a fight with the man about S.H.I.E.L.D's flimsy headquarters and inadvertently invited the entire Avengers team into his own home.
Which, okay, unexpected but not the end of the world.
Banner certainly couldn't keep living in the S.H.I.E.L.D's crappy four square foot single rooms so Tony was happy to help in that regards.
Clint appreciated the offer and that was fine too because he actually got on rather well with the other man, as two sarcastic attitudes mesh well apparently.
Thor was a fun guy, loud and personable and generally very likable so that was perfectly fine too. Natasha coming along was something Tony would need more time to adjust to because he did not and would not trust her. As a general rule he didn't like being stabbed repeatedly with needles filled with either tranquilizers or, at the time, unknown substances and one didn't come out of experiences like that without becoming neurotically jumpy around the person involved.
The only real issue he had about the accidental invitation was that Steve even more than the others had no place outside of S.H.I.E.L.D to go and was even more grateful for the offer if the terribly sincere thanks he gave Tony was any indication. Tony, at the time had been so stunned by his own 'offer' and the others quick acceptances that when Steve thanked him all he could do was stutter a bit and wave off his gratitude as if allergic to it.
Tony went home from that meeting feeling more at a loss then he had since first coming back from captivity. Then, in that way his mind had of working like a dog with a bone once tossed an idea, Tony spent the next week remodeling the mansion with an obsessive intent he usually reserved for re-creating elements and super powered suits. But that feeling of satisfaction, rarer these days then he would ever admit, after everything was said and done and the mansion ready for superheroes, was something Tony always savored. Of course, everyone's visible awe during the tour was pretty spectacular to feel as well.
The full court archery course with every form of target imaginable and even some unique to Tony's imagination nearly made Clint hug him and the archer didn't even stick around for the rest of the tour after seeing that room. Tony let him skip, not having the heart to deny the man something created for him.
For Bruce, Tony relegated a large portion of his underground lab that was mostly unused, except for the clutter he'd been storing there, and blocked it off into a full lab set up like the one Bruce had before becoming the Hulk. If anyone knew what it was like to be without the work it was Tony and the grateful look from Bruce only reinforced his determination to help the man if he needed anything else.
There wasn't much he could have done for Natasha so instead Tony made sure her room was completely cut off from any and all kinds of observation to be at least one place where she could be absolutely alone, privacy ensured. Judging by the small smile that didn't look even vaguely homicidal, he'd done that much right at least.
Thor was relatively simple to provide for as well by simply putting his room as the one highest up and installed with a huge sunroof that was removable with nothing more then the push of a button in case the God wanted open space or just a way to fly out of the house. Honestly, Tony suspected the thunderer was more impressed with the retracting glass then anything else but that was just fine too.
Steve was, of course, the absolute hardest to prepare for because Tony had no idea how much the man would accept from him. So, Tony left his room mostly basic with just an addition of a desk packed with art supplies next to the bed and wardrobe. Besides, he suspected Steve would be more impressed with the gym and that was fine too because the man was built like a Greek statue. Therefore it was the gym Tony showed to Steve after simply telling him where his room was and he introduced the Captain to the things he'd created to help with sparring or whatever exercising he liked to do. The most notable addition was specially reinforced punching bags. Tony had heard from various S.H.I.E.L.D agents about the way Steve could tear apart normal bags and acted accordingly. If the curious first few punches against the bags and Steve's thoughtful look was anything to judge by, Tony had scored on that aspect. Still, he didn't want to hover around Steve more than he had to for the sake of introduction to the house so Tony left him in the gym with nothing more then a reminder that Jarvis was there in case he needed anything and then fled.
All in all, the transition worked out startlingly well and Tony was cautiously optimistic that as long as they stayed out of each other's way, this whole team thing could work out quite well. The truth was though, that he wasn't used to living with others and hadn't since he was a child. It was new and unnerving to find evidence of other people every time he turned around.
Silver Pop-Tart wrappers scattered everywhere from Thor, occasional suspicious sounds from Bruce's lab and calming mood music CDs in the players, magazines left on couches and side tables from Clint, knives and hair ties stashed in odd places from Natasha and number two pencils littered the kitchen and living room tables from Steve. Soon it became obvious how they filled his own home better then Tony did himself because the only things he had to even mark the Mansion as his own was all down stairs and hidden away from everyone in his workshop.
And of course, one of the drawbacks to living with other people when one was not used to such a thing meant that person tended to not expect the potential for nosy teammates to interfere with the way they lived. And by teammates, Tony mostly meant Steve, who had started to take an interest in him that quite honestly baffled Tony.
The first hint of Steve's growing curiosity, and it had to be curiosity because what else could it be, occurred when Tony had emerged from his lab after three straight days to hand off to Clint the new arrows he'd been working on. Well, actually, Tony had showered first because after three days even he could get pretty rank. Then he'd set out to scour the mansion and find Clint.
The archer had been in the kitchen with the others, minus Bruce who was likely in his lab just like Tony, and Tony had almost hesitated. He'd been hoping to catch Clint alone but this was a good thing he was doing so he had no reason to hide, right? So, Tony interrupted their lunch, it looked like lunch but he hadn't exactly checked the time so he could be wrong, to hand them off.
The pleased surprise on the archer's face made every hour of work even more worth it and Tony actually felt some measure of pride. That was good enough for him but when Tony tried to retreat, Steve was there and he didn't want to look at him, Clint halted him.
“Hey, I only asked for these three days ago and they weren't exactly an emergency, you didn't have to rush.”
Rush, ha! Tony snorted and smirked, “I didn't rush, rushing is expecting me to have something like an arc reactor built in a cave with a box of scraps and a limited time frame and I can still do that with no problem so trust me when I say that was not a rush job.”
The only one of them with any idea about what he'd just said was Natasha but her face as a smooth as ever and Tony was abruptly glad for that. He hadn't actually meant to say that much, especially not about something as delicate as the machine in his chest keeping him alive but he was oddly nervous and that was probably because of Steve's presence.
“Yeah, okay, whatever you say Stark.”
“Have you been working on those this whole time?”
And speaking of America's Shining Star. Tony turned to rest a hip against the counter and look toward Steve at the table.
“Of course not, those arrows are nowhere near complicated enough to take me three days but I do have other things to work on and I like switching between projects.” He was looking at Steve's face enough to see the frown growing there but not to make eye contact and Tony waited, sure there was more coming.
“But have you left your workshop these last few days for anything beyond a mission?”
Okay, not an expected question. Tony forced himself not to react beyond a shrug or show his irritation, “well sure. When I need a break I take one.” Which usually translated to Tony not eating or sleeping until he's really reached his limit but Steve can't know that. Besides, Tony took a nap yesterday for about two hours, he was good to go for a bit yet.
Steve didn’t seem to have anything more to say but Tony noticed his brows draw together thoughtfully and decided now would be a good time to head back downstairs. With a pompous bow and smirk, Tony grabbed a quick mug of coffee and left Clint to his new arrows and Steve Rogers to his judging.
---
Tony stayed down in his shop straight through supper, not that he even noticed and probably never would have if not for the sudden knocking on the glass doors of his workshop. He looked up through the tinted lenses of welding goggles and blinked dumbly at the large shape of Steve hovering outside the doors. He spared a moment to wonder if he was starting to hallucinate before shutting off the machine in his hands and pushing the goggles up on his head.
“Open the doors, Jarvis.” He said after a minute of debate. Tony couldn’t possibly imagine why Steve was down here but couldn’t turn him away either, not right now. Not when it could be important.
The doors opened with a hiss and Steve stepped slowly through, looking around the shop with obvious interest and not a little wide eyed wonder. That, more than anything allowed Tony to relax a bit and he grabbed a spare cloth to wipe his hands off with.
“How can I help you, Captain?”
Steve ignored his question but still approached, he didn’t touch anything but moved in subtle ways that suggested he’d like to. “This is...like nothing I’ve seen yet.”
It was hard not to preen, really hard.
“To be fair, most people haven’t.” Tony said in response and Steve looked at him in question. “Most of the stuff in here, besides my tools, are experimental. Half-finished designs and flights of fancy I’ve not really had the time to complete.”
Steve nodded and carefully picked up something that looked like a hand-held gaming system, like one of the old Gameboys except with extra parts sticking out of it. “And what is this?”
Surprised that he was asking and kind of embarrassed, Tony strode forward to quickly take the gadget from him. “Uh, that’s a flight of fancy. Just something I was playing around with one night, nothing special.” He said with a disarming grin.
Steve didn’t need to know that one night Tony had set down to see if he could manufacture a pocket dimension because it was a better alternative to drinking until he passed out. It hadn’t exactly worked and after the third backfire that resulted in singed hair, Tony had given it up. So yeah, he didn’t need to know about that.
When Tony set the device aside and didn’t explain, Steve seemed to take that easily enough and just looked around some more.
He was making Tony uncomfortable. The workshop with his space, people who weren’t Pepper or Rhodey just didn’t come down here. Steve was throwing him off again.
“So, was there something you needed, Cap?”
“Not really.” The Captain said, casually as you pleased. “Clint was going on about those arrows you made him.”
That caused a nice wash of pleasure and Tony shifted on his feet, fighting a bigger smile than the carefully maintained one he had now. “Really?”
“Yeah, he’s acting like it’s a Christmas present come early.” Steve said wearing an amused grin of his own.
Tony waved a hand and snorted, “oh that’s nothing. I have much better plans for Christmas.” He did too because he’d been having these ideas lately about a bow equipped with things like electronic targeting and hidden pockets strategically placed to avoid throwing off the balance of the bow itself. Honestly, Tony just had a lot of ideas in general and it felt good to finally have people to invent for. People other than the general society and who he could see the affect his creations had on them.
“Bit early for Christmas.”
A quick look showed that Steve didn’t look less amused but now it was harder to tell if that was a positive thing. If that maybe Steve wasn’t laughing at him. Tony shrugged, “I plan ahead.”
Tenser now, and maybe a bit irritated, Tony turned back toward the table and his stool, plopping down on the padded seat. If Steve doesn’t need anything then Tony can’t figure out why he’d be here. Therefore maybe the man will take the hint and leave. Besides, he still had some more work to do before he could consider shutting everything down to sleep for a while.
“So, you did get some sleep last night, right?”
What?
Tony turned to stare at Steve, bewildered and frowning because, what? Where in the hell did that come from?
“I...are you seriously asking me about my sleeping habits?”
Steve just looked steadily at him, one brow raised in expectant determination and Tony was honestly kind of blindsided.
“Yes, okay. I did get some sleep last night.” He snapped finally, petulant and doing his utmost best to look indignant. Which wasn’t hard. And of course, Steve had no way of knowing Tony meant sleep as in those two hours yesterday where as the Captain probably meant genuine sleep.
“Good.” Steve said, as if it really was as simple as that. “I’ve noticed you don’t seem to rest as often as you probably should.”
Okay, no. Just no. If Tony wanted another babysitter he’d pay for one.
“Look,” he began, picking up a tiny welding torch. “As much as I appreciate your apparent concern for my health, I assure you I’ve been taking care of myself for a good portion of my life and I really don’t need a babysitter. Jarvis is a bad enough nagger, I don’t need you too.”
“Speaking of nagging, sir.” Jarvis spoke up before Steve could articulate what that expression on his face meant and Tony snapped his fingers, pointing up at the ceiling without looking.
“You, shut it. Unless you’re about to tell me how that simulation that I asked you to run went?”
“Still running, sir.”
Tony nodded, satisfied that he’d warned his AI and looked at Steve. “Seriously, was that it because I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
“Tony.” Steve paused and just looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “Alright, sorry to bother you. But just so you know there are some leftovers from dinner in the fridge if you get hungry.”
Tony just blinked after him as the man left, looking around as curiously as when he’d come in but not back at him.
Leftovers in the fridge? Who did that? Wasn’t that one of those family show cliche things? Scowling, Tony shook it off as a forties quirk and looked over at the pocket dimension generator. Maybe he could give that another go, it’s been a few years and Tony had certainly learned things since then. Perhaps he could do something amazing again.
“Sir.” Jarvis said again as Tony stood to collect the makeshift project.
“What is it you wanted to say, Jarvis.”
“I was going to remind you that it was passed time for you to eat but since Captain Rogers has already informed you, I merely have to say that the simulation is complete.”
Tony repressed a sigh and rolled his eyes, “hint acknowledged, Jarvis, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
Honestly, sentient AI programs are all well and good but why did he have to give his an attitude?
---
After that, Steve seemed to take it upon himself to act like another one of Tony’s keepers. As if he didn’t get enough of that from Rhodey and Pepper. It wasn’t a bad thing, per se, just insanely weird.
The guy didn’t even like him and was still so determined to ‘help’ him. Honestly, how could anyone be that good?
Well, he was Captain America. Tony supposed he must figure it to be part of his job as team leader or something. After all, why else would Steve Rogers waste time on Tony Stark if not for the influence of Iron Man?
---
To everyone’s surprise, Iron Man and Captain America worked almost flawlessly together when on the battlefield. They didn’t argue over orders and if either one had an issue they actually talked about it over the comms rather than get into fistfights. The whole team worked well together actually.
That wasn’t to say there weren’t kinks to work out because Thor liked to just bash things with his hammer without stopping to wonder if those things could possibly blow up the entire block. The Hulk sometimes caused more damage then the enemies they faced when he used things like cars and train cargo to smash the opposition with. Clint and Natasha had the slightly bad habit of being all over the place at once which meant the others struggled to keep track of them to ensure the two agents didn’t get hit with their attacks. Steve sometimes forgot how to phrase things over the comms in a way that was understandable today and not forties military lingo, but time would help him on that one. Tony, not used to working with a team of any kind, found himself spending more time watching after the others then was probably advisable. Not to mention the way he kept throwing himself into dangerous situations after another.
It was never a conscious thing when he did it. Tony didn’t go out to every fight looking for a chance to endanger himself. It was just that sometimes things happened that if not for his interference, would have hurt one of the others or done more damage to the city then was allowed and if he could stop it he saw no reason not too.
Like now, actually.
It was all Victor von Doom’s fault, really. Him and his stupid affinity for building robots to do his fighting for him rather than facing off against the Avengers or the Fantastic Four himself. Doom may have been a coward but he was a smart coward and he’d been watching the way the new team fought. Well, the robots had been watching which, according to Tony’s HUD readouts, made them learning ‘bots.
Their usual fighting styles weren’t going to work on these things for long. A quick conversation over the comms informed everyone that this battle would have to be quick and Thor, the eager puppy, claimed he would handle it.
It took Tony ten seconds too long to figure out what the Asgardian was up to. The skies darkened with alarming quickness, thunder rumbling ominously and Tony’s sensors screamed in warning. Atmospheric pressure was rising too fast, electricity sparking across the sleek surface of his armor in the air and he halted, hovering.
Thunder cracked and lightning, so much white lightning, ripped through the black clouds to strike Thor’s hammer, building power like nothing else Tony’s ever seen. Too late, always too late, Tony realized what Thor meant to do but his scream to stop wasn’t heard, not with all that noise and Thor let loose.
He released the full power of lightning at the gaggle of robots that already knew Thor was a God of thunder and had been built to withstand such an attack. Not just to withstand but to rebound at that. That much power would take out the team, Clint and Natasha could very well be killed and Steve, not even that shield was likely to stop an attack like that. Thor would be fine of course, Tony would probably get away with just some fired circuits but the others...
God, the others would die.
His choice was a no brainer.
The lightning hit the robots, Tony threw his all into the thrusters of the suit to rocket himself out in front of the team, slamming to a stop in midair, arms braced out. The robots glowed a furious blue, blinding in intensity, absorbing all that power. Then, with a deafening crackle like that of static, they sent all that energy back and Tony threw out a repulsor wave, not an attack but an attraction. A charge altered to draw the full force of the rouge lightning directly to him despite the frantic red warning signs on his HUD and Jarvis’ pointed silence.
The lightning hit him and absorbing all that energy hurt like nothing Tony had ever felt before. Not even getting blown up with a missile of his own design had hurt like this. This was even worse then the agony of being paralyzed and the arc reactor taken from his chest. The pain was so immense he almost couldn’t push passed it enough to remember to re-direct the lightning up to the sky.
But he did it.
Somehow, through the bone crushing agony and the screaming in his ears that he couldn’t tell was from himself or his teammates yelling into the comm, Tony managed to pull it all together enough to send that blast sky high. And the moment the last of the energy left him, everything shut down, the armor an absolute dead weight.
He was freefalling through the still static charged air like a pound weight through water. The pain hadn’t left with the lightning and he knew, vaguely, that when he impacted with the ground it would hurt even worse, if that was possible.
If he hit the ground or was rescued, Tony didn’t know because he didn’t stay conscious long enough to land. The world slipped away in a blackness darker then the inside of the suit and the last thing Tony was aware enough to notice was the blue light of his reactor flickering.
---
Tony woke to the even beep of a heart monitor, acutely aware of where he was even through the haze of pain that seemed to radiate from every part of his body. He lay perfectly still, eyes closed and concentrated on breathing until he felt somewhat less disorientated. Memory came to him in flashes of data and observation. Robots, check. Thor being an over-eager thunder God, check. Right.
He was alive, that was good. If he survived then everyone else most likely did too but he should open his eyes and call for someone to check. He needed to know if it worked, if he saved them or if he needed to get drunk the moment he checked out of here.
Tony needed to do it, needed to know but his head was thick and everything hurt and he slipped away again before he could gather the strength.
---
The next time he woke up, Tony was actually able to open his eyes. His head wasn’t quite so packed full of what felt like rocks and the full body agony was more like an ache. Discretely, Tony wiggled his fingers and toes, relieved when everything moved right even if painfully. He took a fortifying breath and cracked his eyes, suppressing a whine at the sting of bright light. Slowly he adjusted and managed to look around, unsurprised to see Pepper parked beside his bed in a sterile white chair, head tipped forward awkwardly as she slept.
Pepper. There really wasn’t a better person in this world. He just didn’t know how she managed to put up with his shit for so long.
“Pep.” He said, voice a croak that cracked on him. She didn’t stir and he worked his mouth to get a bit of saliva to work with before trying again. “Pepper.” That was stronger, better, and she shot awake with a gasp of his name.
“Tony!” She was red eyed but dry and God, he would never get over how beautiful she was. It really was too bad that the one person who understood him couldn’t be with him for that very reason. Pepper hit the call button beside his bed and leaned closer. “How do you feel?”
“Like I went a few rounds against the Hulk without the armor.” He replied and she shook her head.
“You might as well have. If it wasn’t for the fact that stunt probably saved the other’s lives, I would be smacking you so hard right now.”
Tony blinked, not surprised by the threat but relieved that the team was obviously okay. He’d done it.
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you to stop scaring me like this. I don’t want to be stuck running even more of your company then I already am.” She said, fingers clutched around the Starkphone in her hand and obviously still stressed.
“But you do such a good job!” Tony joked, reaching out to take the phone from her tight grip. “I’m okay, Pep, I promise. This isn’t like...before, you know that.”
She sniffed, just once, and nodded. “I know.”
“Help me sit up.”
“Tony, wait, I think you should wait for the doctor before you...”
“Pep.”
She closed her mouth and reached out, gently helping him get his back into the pillows and he let out a breath. Keeping the phone in one hand, Tony pulled the neck of his gown open enough to look at the reactor, reassuring himself that it was still working.
Because his last memory while falling was the flickering light.
Pepper was talking before he could ask, tone brisk in a way that belied her tension. “The lightning shorted out the reactor briefly but it recovered on its own.”
Right. Of course it did. Arc reactor tech didn’t run like normal electrical things, it would have been much more resistant than the suit itself.
“Most of your injuries came from being electrocuted, not any problems with the reactor.” The thank God went unsaid but Tony understood.
“What happened to the armor?”
“Thor took it to your lab. And he’s been standing outside your door since.” Pepper tried to grin but it looked weak. “He feels guilty.”
Tony sighed and started dialing a number with her phone one handed, “He looks like a kicked puppy doesn’t he?”
That got a slightly stronger smile, “Yeah. What are you doing?” She asked when he put the phone up to his ear and Tony just shook his head.
“Happy, my man! No, I’m fine. Yeah, I know. I know, Hap. Yeah. No, everything’s good I just need you to bring the car around.”
Pepper opened her mouth to argue but Tony kept going. “No, Hap, not for me. It think it’s time Pepper got some sleep in a real bed, wouldn’t you say?”
He must have got an affirmative because Tony hung up the phone then handed it back to her, waving a hand to forestall her protests. “Relax. I’m fine, Pep. You need to go and get some rest so you can take care of my company. The media is going to have a field day with this, not to mention the Board.”
She wrinkled her nose and sighed, “yeah. I know. I’ll take care of it.”
“I know you will.”
“Halt! What reason do you have for entering my fallen comrade’s place of healing and rest?” Thor’s booming voice demanded.
Tony grinned and shook his head as Pepper got up to let the doctor in and talk Thor down. Honestly, the God was just precious. Tony’s favorite, hands down.
---
Pepper left just after the doctor finished checking Tony over and telling him he was to stay at least another night in the hospital. He didn’t have any intention of following that request but no one needed to know that.
Unfortunately he couldn’t get Thor to leave. The God was determined to watch over Tony until he was better to atone for causing the injuries in the first place. It was flattering and touching but Tony genuinely couldn’t talk him into leaving, not even after stating several times and different ways that he didn’t blame the Asgardian.
Instead, he got Thor to tell the rest of the story about what happened after he crashed. Once you took away the outlandish embellishments that permeated Asgardian speech, the story was quite simple.
When Tony went down it had been left to Clint and Natasha to tend to him and rush him off to the hospital while Steve and Thor laid waste to the robots. Apparently between the two of them it was short work.
“I’ve not before seen the good Captain fight in such a fierce manner. He was quite incensed and worried in no small degree over your continued health.”
That was surprising but as a general rule Thor didn’t lie and had no reason to besides so it must have been true, at least in Thor’s eyes. It was more likely that Cap was pissed at Tony for getting himself zapped out of the fight. Well, whatever, the ‘good Captain’ can think whatever the hell he wanted. What Tony did was save their lives so the man didn’t even want to try to get in his face over it.
Still, Tony was sick of being here already and so long as Thor was here he couldn’t sneak out or sign AMA while flirting with the nurses.
Actually...
“Hey Thor.”
“Yes!”
“I need a favor, do this and I promise it totally makes up for frying me.”
---
Genius was a beautiful thing, Tony mused later in the comfort of his lab. In one fell swoop he managed to get Thor off his back, to stop feeling guilty and got himself out of that stifling hospital. Two birds, one stone and all that jazz.
While he healed he could distract himself with fixing the armor, which was a priority because there was no telling when another attack would happen and he had to be prepared. Even if he wasn't up to snuff when it happened the armor had enough self-support controls to aid him in a fight.
And honestly, his armor had seen better days. It was scorched, paint blackened, circuits more then fried and frankly scary looking. If Tony had only needed to shield himself, the armor would have come out of that fight mostly intact but in order to save the rest of the team he'd been forced to act as a lightning rod and reroute the attack through himself and his armor rather than simply reflect the energy that would have hit him.
It was worth it though, he could rebuild the armor; he couldn't raise the dead.
Under Jarvis' instruction, Thor had left the suit scattered across various worktops and Tony took a moment now to rearrange the pieces into similar categories. The metal was warped and brittle in places which meant those bits had to be replaced entirely but most of it he could probably reuse. His main concern was the wiring. All of it would have to be replaced and it was time consuming work, not to mention delicate.
With Dummy at his side to hold the wires, Tony pulled up a cushioned roller chair and grabbed one of the gauntlets to start with. "Hit it, Jarvis."
---
Tony was heavily under the working haze when his music cut out and if not for the fact he was still trying to sing along he probably wouldn't have noticed the loss enough to register Steve's approach.
The blond didn't look happy and Tony did a quick mental review of what he could have done to make him mad. All he could think of was the disaster the fight turned out to be and braced himself for a lecture on teamwork or some such thing.
"Tony."
How Steve was so good at sounding disapproving in one word had to be a superpower of some kind, Tony mused.
"Steve."
"I was told you were going to be at the hospital for at least another day." He said tone unaccusing and pointedly mild.
Tony shrugged dismissively, “me and hospitals have a bad relationship. I chose to escape while I could, for the betterment of us both, of course.”
“Are you sure that was a good idea? The doctors...”
“Could do nothing more. I’m banged up but mostly fine. I’ll heal but until then I have better things to do then sit in a bed staring at the walls.” Tony couldn’t function without having something to do; staying in a bed like that would have driven him insane within a day. Well, more insane. He’s heard the doubts on his sanity and can’t really say he doesn’t sometimes wonder the same thing.
Steve was frowning now, looking at him in that strange judging way he had before giving a short nod. He still didn’t look happy though and there seemed something fundamentally wrong about that. Captain America shouldn’t be sad, wasn’t there a rule about it? And why was Steve still looking at him like that?
“What?” Tony snapped defensively, fidgeting with a wire.
Something in Steve’s face softened, “nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
And really, what do you say to that? ‘Well thanks but you should be because I totally saved your ass’? That was a bit asshole-like, even for him.
“Ah, thanks.” He muttered after an uncertain moment.
“How bad is your armor?”
Tony tensed and shrugged one shoulder, “it’ll be fine. Once I fix the circuitry and repair the cosmetic damage it’ll be good to go again.” He said stiffly, frustrated for no sensible reason. The armor was important, right, at least Steve could see that much.
Steve blinked at him a few times as if confused and Tony stared right back, “what?”
“You frustrate and confuse me.” Steve said abruptly, immediately coloring as if he hadn’t meant to say that. And now Tony blinked several times at him. He was almost too surprised to get offended. Almost.
Instead, Tony scowled and pointed a screwdriver at the Captain. “I can say the same for you.”
“I didn’t...I meant that.” Steve cut himself off and sighed before straightening his shoulders as if braced for battle. “I meant to ask if you’d like to go out sometime.”
“But you don’t even like me!” Was all Tony could think to say, mind reeling because what? Did he just get asked out by Captain America?
“I don’t even know you, Tony. All I know is what others have told me and it’s not like we’ve spent much time together for me to get to know you.”
Tony winced because that should have been reason enough for Steve to not like him. It wasn’t as though anyone had very glowing things to say about him.
“And every time we do talk you’re kinda...”
“An ass?” He supplied helpfully and Steve flushed again. “So what? You wanna go have a mutual bonding session together?” His disdain was clear in the tone and his face but Steve didn’t back down.
“I’m not saying that. I just think we should go out somewhere, together, and spend some time. I want to get to know you not the guy everyone talks about.”
Tony almost tells him there is no difference between the two but Steve looked stupidly hopeful, as if getting to do this actually matters somehow, and Tony can’t do it. He evidently has a Steve Rogers weakness and damn it all...
“Alright, fine. Whatever, but you can’t kick me off the team when you realize I am actually the ass everyone says.” He warned, wanting some form of consolation that even though this was a terrible idea at least he wouldn’t be scrapped for it.
Steve frowned at him, a touch exasperated, but nodded. “When are you free?”
Tony looked around at the mess of a suit and shrugged. Honestly, the suit repairs would probably take him a few days and Steve looked eager to get started. Which was freaking strange, having someone so invested in just talking to him, getting to know him. Who even did that anymore?
“Uh, give me like two hours to clean up and we can head out.”
Smiling now, and wow was that punch to the gut, Steve nodded. He looked much more relaxed and even relieved. Tony had mixed feelings about being the one to cause that. “Clint has taught me to play pool. He mentioned that some of the bars around the city have tables, maybe we could go to one?”
Pool, huh? That sounded safe enough. Pool was all about calculating force with trajectory and Tony could do that stuff in his sleep so no problem there. And bars were comfortable enough, neutral territory for them both. Not having the suit shouldn’t be too much of an issue either, Steve was sure to bring his shield should anything go wrong.
Besides, Tony could use some greasy bar food and a chance to maybe relax some. He wouldn’t be able to drink but that didn’t matter because Steve couldn’t get drunk so that wouldn’t be fair anyway.
“Yeah, sure. That’s fine. I think I know a place.”
Steve nodded again and they stared at each other for a long moment before Tony cracked a grin, unable to help himself. “I need to clean up, Steve. I’ll meet you upstairs, okay?”
“Right! Of course, sorry.” Sheepishly, Steve took one last look around and started back toward the door. Tony stared after him, totally bemused. Once Steve was gone, he shook his head and tapped the screwdriver against the table.
“Jarvis? What just happened?”
“I believe you’ve almost made a friend, sir.”
“Hah, that’s funny.”
“I do try.”
“Yeah, whatever. Save and shut off everything that could catch on fire while I’m gone.”
“Of course, sir.”
Huh. A ‘get-to-know-you’ thing. How interesting. Maybe with a little bit of luck, Tony won’t screw this up. But he wasn’t about to hold his breath.
---
Next
Pairing/characters: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Word Count: 11,510
Summary: A journey that starts with horrible first impressions and ends with a first date promise.
Notes: Written for the cap_ironman Reverse Bang Challenge based off the amazing art by gottalovev. Please, please, please, check out her art HERE and let her know how awesome it is ;) Also, beta'd by the wonderful bballgirl3022.
Split into two parts because of LJ character limits.
~~~~~~~
To Tony it felt like he'd always been on the defensive with Steve.
From the first moment they met and Steve had looked at him, faced with the words 'Tony Stark' and 'Howard's son', and he had seen the disappointment in those eyes. It was that moment that Tony knew all his excitement to meet Captain America was misplaced because Steve Rogers wanted Howard Stark, not his spoiled playboy of a son.
So Tony reacted to that realization in the only way he knew how, offensive and defensive all at once in one of the most terrible first meetings Tony had ever had. He walked out of that S.H.I.E.L.D room with his head high and shame settled like a rock in his gut. It didn’t matter though, Captain America was nothing.
The second meeting went just as badly because Fury was trying to blackmail him into joining that team of superheroes, Avengers they were calling themselves, and Tony wasn't having that. Maybe if Fury had tried to ask him and not force him, Tony might have been more convinced that the team could work but that was Fury's mistake and the rest of it was all just Tony's. The Captain even tried to get him to agree but Tony couldn't shake the way those blue eyes judged him and he could only imagine how wanting the man found him. In reaction, Tony did what Tony did best and mocked, degrading him and the team and S.H.I.E.L.D and 'I don't play well with others'.
The man who took out the Red Skull was no form of pushover though, not even 70 years outside of his own time, and the snapped back demand about Tony's worth without being Iron Man stung something so far buried beneath everything Tony pretended to be that he didn't even hesitate in his own response.
Steve was the one to walk away that time but that was okay because Captain America was nothing. He was Iron Man, he was Tony Stark and what could he possibly need from Steve Rogers?
----
Tony's agreement to join the team at least shut Fury up but then, a few weeks and wannabe-villains later, he made the mistake of getting into a fight with the man about S.H.I.E.L.D's flimsy headquarters and inadvertently invited the entire Avengers team into his own home.
Which, okay, unexpected but not the end of the world.
Banner certainly couldn't keep living in the S.H.I.E.L.D's crappy four square foot single rooms so Tony was happy to help in that regards.
Clint appreciated the offer and that was fine too because he actually got on rather well with the other man, as two sarcastic attitudes mesh well apparently.
Thor was a fun guy, loud and personable and generally very likable so that was perfectly fine too. Natasha coming along was something Tony would need more time to adjust to because he did not and would not trust her. As a general rule he didn't like being stabbed repeatedly with needles filled with either tranquilizers or, at the time, unknown substances and one didn't come out of experiences like that without becoming neurotically jumpy around the person involved.
The only real issue he had about the accidental invitation was that Steve even more than the others had no place outside of S.H.I.E.L.D to go and was even more grateful for the offer if the terribly sincere thanks he gave Tony was any indication. Tony, at the time had been so stunned by his own 'offer' and the others quick acceptances that when Steve thanked him all he could do was stutter a bit and wave off his gratitude as if allergic to it.
Tony went home from that meeting feeling more at a loss then he had since first coming back from captivity. Then, in that way his mind had of working like a dog with a bone once tossed an idea, Tony spent the next week remodeling the mansion with an obsessive intent he usually reserved for re-creating elements and super powered suits. But that feeling of satisfaction, rarer these days then he would ever admit, after everything was said and done and the mansion ready for superheroes, was something Tony always savored. Of course, everyone's visible awe during the tour was pretty spectacular to feel as well.
The full court archery course with every form of target imaginable and even some unique to Tony's imagination nearly made Clint hug him and the archer didn't even stick around for the rest of the tour after seeing that room. Tony let him skip, not having the heart to deny the man something created for him.
For Bruce, Tony relegated a large portion of his underground lab that was mostly unused, except for the clutter he'd been storing there, and blocked it off into a full lab set up like the one Bruce had before becoming the Hulk. If anyone knew what it was like to be without the work it was Tony and the grateful look from Bruce only reinforced his determination to help the man if he needed anything else.
There wasn't much he could have done for Natasha so instead Tony made sure her room was completely cut off from any and all kinds of observation to be at least one place where she could be absolutely alone, privacy ensured. Judging by the small smile that didn't look even vaguely homicidal, he'd done that much right at least.
Thor was relatively simple to provide for as well by simply putting his room as the one highest up and installed with a huge sunroof that was removable with nothing more then the push of a button in case the God wanted open space or just a way to fly out of the house. Honestly, Tony suspected the thunderer was more impressed with the retracting glass then anything else but that was just fine too.
Steve was, of course, the absolute hardest to prepare for because Tony had no idea how much the man would accept from him. So, Tony left his room mostly basic with just an addition of a desk packed with art supplies next to the bed and wardrobe. Besides, he suspected Steve would be more impressed with the gym and that was fine too because the man was built like a Greek statue. Therefore it was the gym Tony showed to Steve after simply telling him where his room was and he introduced the Captain to the things he'd created to help with sparring or whatever exercising he liked to do. The most notable addition was specially reinforced punching bags. Tony had heard from various S.H.I.E.L.D agents about the way Steve could tear apart normal bags and acted accordingly. If the curious first few punches against the bags and Steve's thoughtful look was anything to judge by, Tony had scored on that aspect. Still, he didn't want to hover around Steve more than he had to for the sake of introduction to the house so Tony left him in the gym with nothing more then a reminder that Jarvis was there in case he needed anything and then fled.
All in all, the transition worked out startlingly well and Tony was cautiously optimistic that as long as they stayed out of each other's way, this whole team thing could work out quite well. The truth was though, that he wasn't used to living with others and hadn't since he was a child. It was new and unnerving to find evidence of other people every time he turned around.
Silver Pop-Tart wrappers scattered everywhere from Thor, occasional suspicious sounds from Bruce's lab and calming mood music CDs in the players, magazines left on couches and side tables from Clint, knives and hair ties stashed in odd places from Natasha and number two pencils littered the kitchen and living room tables from Steve. Soon it became obvious how they filled his own home better then Tony did himself because the only things he had to even mark the Mansion as his own was all down stairs and hidden away from everyone in his workshop.
And of course, one of the drawbacks to living with other people when one was not used to such a thing meant that person tended to not expect the potential for nosy teammates to interfere with the way they lived. And by teammates, Tony mostly meant Steve, who had started to take an interest in him that quite honestly baffled Tony.
The first hint of Steve's growing curiosity, and it had to be curiosity because what else could it be, occurred when Tony had emerged from his lab after three straight days to hand off to Clint the new arrows he'd been working on. Well, actually, Tony had showered first because after three days even he could get pretty rank. Then he'd set out to scour the mansion and find Clint.
The archer had been in the kitchen with the others, minus Bruce who was likely in his lab just like Tony, and Tony had almost hesitated. He'd been hoping to catch Clint alone but this was a good thing he was doing so he had no reason to hide, right? So, Tony interrupted their lunch, it looked like lunch but he hadn't exactly checked the time so he could be wrong, to hand them off.
The pleased surprise on the archer's face made every hour of work even more worth it and Tony actually felt some measure of pride. That was good enough for him but when Tony tried to retreat, Steve was there and he didn't want to look at him, Clint halted him.
“Hey, I only asked for these three days ago and they weren't exactly an emergency, you didn't have to rush.”
Rush, ha! Tony snorted and smirked, “I didn't rush, rushing is expecting me to have something like an arc reactor built in a cave with a box of scraps and a limited time frame and I can still do that with no problem so trust me when I say that was not a rush job.”
The only one of them with any idea about what he'd just said was Natasha but her face as a smooth as ever and Tony was abruptly glad for that. He hadn't actually meant to say that much, especially not about something as delicate as the machine in his chest keeping him alive but he was oddly nervous and that was probably because of Steve's presence.
“Yeah, okay, whatever you say Stark.”
“Have you been working on those this whole time?”
And speaking of America's Shining Star. Tony turned to rest a hip against the counter and look toward Steve at the table.
“Of course not, those arrows are nowhere near complicated enough to take me three days but I do have other things to work on and I like switching between projects.” He was looking at Steve's face enough to see the frown growing there but not to make eye contact and Tony waited, sure there was more coming.
“But have you left your workshop these last few days for anything beyond a mission?”
Okay, not an expected question. Tony forced himself not to react beyond a shrug or show his irritation, “well sure. When I need a break I take one.” Which usually translated to Tony not eating or sleeping until he's really reached his limit but Steve can't know that. Besides, Tony took a nap yesterday for about two hours, he was good to go for a bit yet.
Steve didn’t seem to have anything more to say but Tony noticed his brows draw together thoughtfully and decided now would be a good time to head back downstairs. With a pompous bow and smirk, Tony grabbed a quick mug of coffee and left Clint to his new arrows and Steve Rogers to his judging.
---
Tony stayed down in his shop straight through supper, not that he even noticed and probably never would have if not for the sudden knocking on the glass doors of his workshop. He looked up through the tinted lenses of welding goggles and blinked dumbly at the large shape of Steve hovering outside the doors. He spared a moment to wonder if he was starting to hallucinate before shutting off the machine in his hands and pushing the goggles up on his head.
“Open the doors, Jarvis.” He said after a minute of debate. Tony couldn’t possibly imagine why Steve was down here but couldn’t turn him away either, not right now. Not when it could be important.
The doors opened with a hiss and Steve stepped slowly through, looking around the shop with obvious interest and not a little wide eyed wonder. That, more than anything allowed Tony to relax a bit and he grabbed a spare cloth to wipe his hands off with.
“How can I help you, Captain?”
Steve ignored his question but still approached, he didn’t touch anything but moved in subtle ways that suggested he’d like to. “This is...like nothing I’ve seen yet.”
It was hard not to preen, really hard.
“To be fair, most people haven’t.” Tony said in response and Steve looked at him in question. “Most of the stuff in here, besides my tools, are experimental. Half-finished designs and flights of fancy I’ve not really had the time to complete.”
Steve nodded and carefully picked up something that looked like a hand-held gaming system, like one of the old Gameboys except with extra parts sticking out of it. “And what is this?”
Surprised that he was asking and kind of embarrassed, Tony strode forward to quickly take the gadget from him. “Uh, that’s a flight of fancy. Just something I was playing around with one night, nothing special.” He said with a disarming grin.
Steve didn’t need to know that one night Tony had set down to see if he could manufacture a pocket dimension because it was a better alternative to drinking until he passed out. It hadn’t exactly worked and after the third backfire that resulted in singed hair, Tony had given it up. So yeah, he didn’t need to know about that.
When Tony set the device aside and didn’t explain, Steve seemed to take that easily enough and just looked around some more.
He was making Tony uncomfortable. The workshop with his space, people who weren’t Pepper or Rhodey just didn’t come down here. Steve was throwing him off again.
“So, was there something you needed, Cap?”
“Not really.” The Captain said, casually as you pleased. “Clint was going on about those arrows you made him.”
That caused a nice wash of pleasure and Tony shifted on his feet, fighting a bigger smile than the carefully maintained one he had now. “Really?”
“Yeah, he’s acting like it’s a Christmas present come early.” Steve said wearing an amused grin of his own.
Tony waved a hand and snorted, “oh that’s nothing. I have much better plans for Christmas.” He did too because he’d been having these ideas lately about a bow equipped with things like electronic targeting and hidden pockets strategically placed to avoid throwing off the balance of the bow itself. Honestly, Tony just had a lot of ideas in general and it felt good to finally have people to invent for. People other than the general society and who he could see the affect his creations had on them.
“Bit early for Christmas.”
A quick look showed that Steve didn’t look less amused but now it was harder to tell if that was a positive thing. If that maybe Steve wasn’t laughing at him. Tony shrugged, “I plan ahead.”
Tenser now, and maybe a bit irritated, Tony turned back toward the table and his stool, plopping down on the padded seat. If Steve doesn’t need anything then Tony can’t figure out why he’d be here. Therefore maybe the man will take the hint and leave. Besides, he still had some more work to do before he could consider shutting everything down to sleep for a while.
“So, you did get some sleep last night, right?”
What?
Tony turned to stare at Steve, bewildered and frowning because, what? Where in the hell did that come from?
“I...are you seriously asking me about my sleeping habits?”
Steve just looked steadily at him, one brow raised in expectant determination and Tony was honestly kind of blindsided.
“Yes, okay. I did get some sleep last night.” He snapped finally, petulant and doing his utmost best to look indignant. Which wasn’t hard. And of course, Steve had no way of knowing Tony meant sleep as in those two hours yesterday where as the Captain probably meant genuine sleep.
“Good.” Steve said, as if it really was as simple as that. “I’ve noticed you don’t seem to rest as often as you probably should.”
Okay, no. Just no. If Tony wanted another babysitter he’d pay for one.
“Look,” he began, picking up a tiny welding torch. “As much as I appreciate your apparent concern for my health, I assure you I’ve been taking care of myself for a good portion of my life and I really don’t need a babysitter. Jarvis is a bad enough nagger, I don’t need you too.”
“Speaking of nagging, sir.” Jarvis spoke up before Steve could articulate what that expression on his face meant and Tony snapped his fingers, pointing up at the ceiling without looking.
“You, shut it. Unless you’re about to tell me how that simulation that I asked you to run went?”
“Still running, sir.”
Tony nodded, satisfied that he’d warned his AI and looked at Steve. “Seriously, was that it because I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
“Tony.” Steve paused and just looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “Alright, sorry to bother you. But just so you know there are some leftovers from dinner in the fridge if you get hungry.”
Tony just blinked after him as the man left, looking around as curiously as when he’d come in but not back at him.
Leftovers in the fridge? Who did that? Wasn’t that one of those family show cliche things? Scowling, Tony shook it off as a forties quirk and looked over at the pocket dimension generator. Maybe he could give that another go, it’s been a few years and Tony had certainly learned things since then. Perhaps he could do something amazing again.
“Sir.” Jarvis said again as Tony stood to collect the makeshift project.
“What is it you wanted to say, Jarvis.”
“I was going to remind you that it was passed time for you to eat but since Captain Rogers has already informed you, I merely have to say that the simulation is complete.”
Tony repressed a sigh and rolled his eyes, “hint acknowledged, Jarvis, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
Honestly, sentient AI programs are all well and good but why did he have to give his an attitude?
---
After that, Steve seemed to take it upon himself to act like another one of Tony’s keepers. As if he didn’t get enough of that from Rhodey and Pepper. It wasn’t a bad thing, per se, just insanely weird.
The guy didn’t even like him and was still so determined to ‘help’ him. Honestly, how could anyone be that good?
Well, he was Captain America. Tony supposed he must figure it to be part of his job as team leader or something. After all, why else would Steve Rogers waste time on Tony Stark if not for the influence of Iron Man?
---
To everyone’s surprise, Iron Man and Captain America worked almost flawlessly together when on the battlefield. They didn’t argue over orders and if either one had an issue they actually talked about it over the comms rather than get into fistfights. The whole team worked well together actually.
That wasn’t to say there weren’t kinks to work out because Thor liked to just bash things with his hammer without stopping to wonder if those things could possibly blow up the entire block. The Hulk sometimes caused more damage then the enemies they faced when he used things like cars and train cargo to smash the opposition with. Clint and Natasha had the slightly bad habit of being all over the place at once which meant the others struggled to keep track of them to ensure the two agents didn’t get hit with their attacks. Steve sometimes forgot how to phrase things over the comms in a way that was understandable today and not forties military lingo, but time would help him on that one. Tony, not used to working with a team of any kind, found himself spending more time watching after the others then was probably advisable. Not to mention the way he kept throwing himself into dangerous situations after another.
It was never a conscious thing when he did it. Tony didn’t go out to every fight looking for a chance to endanger himself. It was just that sometimes things happened that if not for his interference, would have hurt one of the others or done more damage to the city then was allowed and if he could stop it he saw no reason not too.
Like now, actually.
It was all Victor von Doom’s fault, really. Him and his stupid affinity for building robots to do his fighting for him rather than facing off against the Avengers or the Fantastic Four himself. Doom may have been a coward but he was a smart coward and he’d been watching the way the new team fought. Well, the robots had been watching which, according to Tony’s HUD readouts, made them learning ‘bots.
Their usual fighting styles weren’t going to work on these things for long. A quick conversation over the comms informed everyone that this battle would have to be quick and Thor, the eager puppy, claimed he would handle it.
It took Tony ten seconds too long to figure out what the Asgardian was up to. The skies darkened with alarming quickness, thunder rumbling ominously and Tony’s sensors screamed in warning. Atmospheric pressure was rising too fast, electricity sparking across the sleek surface of his armor in the air and he halted, hovering.
Thunder cracked and lightning, so much white lightning, ripped through the black clouds to strike Thor’s hammer, building power like nothing else Tony’s ever seen. Too late, always too late, Tony realized what Thor meant to do but his scream to stop wasn’t heard, not with all that noise and Thor let loose.
He released the full power of lightning at the gaggle of robots that already knew Thor was a God of thunder and had been built to withstand such an attack. Not just to withstand but to rebound at that. That much power would take out the team, Clint and Natasha could very well be killed and Steve, not even that shield was likely to stop an attack like that. Thor would be fine of course, Tony would probably get away with just some fired circuits but the others...
God, the others would die.
His choice was a no brainer.
The lightning hit the robots, Tony threw his all into the thrusters of the suit to rocket himself out in front of the team, slamming to a stop in midair, arms braced out. The robots glowed a furious blue, blinding in intensity, absorbing all that power. Then, with a deafening crackle like that of static, they sent all that energy back and Tony threw out a repulsor wave, not an attack but an attraction. A charge altered to draw the full force of the rouge lightning directly to him despite the frantic red warning signs on his HUD and Jarvis’ pointed silence.
The lightning hit him and absorbing all that energy hurt like nothing Tony had ever felt before. Not even getting blown up with a missile of his own design had hurt like this. This was even worse then the agony of being paralyzed and the arc reactor taken from his chest. The pain was so immense he almost couldn’t push passed it enough to remember to re-direct the lightning up to the sky.
But he did it.
Somehow, through the bone crushing agony and the screaming in his ears that he couldn’t tell was from himself or his teammates yelling into the comm, Tony managed to pull it all together enough to send that blast sky high. And the moment the last of the energy left him, everything shut down, the armor an absolute dead weight.
He was freefalling through the still static charged air like a pound weight through water. The pain hadn’t left with the lightning and he knew, vaguely, that when he impacted with the ground it would hurt even worse, if that was possible.
If he hit the ground or was rescued, Tony didn’t know because he didn’t stay conscious long enough to land. The world slipped away in a blackness darker then the inside of the suit and the last thing Tony was aware enough to notice was the blue light of his reactor flickering.
---
Tony woke to the even beep of a heart monitor, acutely aware of where he was even through the haze of pain that seemed to radiate from every part of his body. He lay perfectly still, eyes closed and concentrated on breathing until he felt somewhat less disorientated. Memory came to him in flashes of data and observation. Robots, check. Thor being an over-eager thunder God, check. Right.
He was alive, that was good. If he survived then everyone else most likely did too but he should open his eyes and call for someone to check. He needed to know if it worked, if he saved them or if he needed to get drunk the moment he checked out of here.
Tony needed to do it, needed to know but his head was thick and everything hurt and he slipped away again before he could gather the strength.
---
The next time he woke up, Tony was actually able to open his eyes. His head wasn’t quite so packed full of what felt like rocks and the full body agony was more like an ache. Discretely, Tony wiggled his fingers and toes, relieved when everything moved right even if painfully. He took a fortifying breath and cracked his eyes, suppressing a whine at the sting of bright light. Slowly he adjusted and managed to look around, unsurprised to see Pepper parked beside his bed in a sterile white chair, head tipped forward awkwardly as she slept.
Pepper. There really wasn’t a better person in this world. He just didn’t know how she managed to put up with his shit for so long.
“Pep.” He said, voice a croak that cracked on him. She didn’t stir and he worked his mouth to get a bit of saliva to work with before trying again. “Pepper.” That was stronger, better, and she shot awake with a gasp of his name.
“Tony!” She was red eyed but dry and God, he would never get over how beautiful she was. It really was too bad that the one person who understood him couldn’t be with him for that very reason. Pepper hit the call button beside his bed and leaned closer. “How do you feel?”
“Like I went a few rounds against the Hulk without the armor.” He replied and she shook her head.
“You might as well have. If it wasn’t for the fact that stunt probably saved the other’s lives, I would be smacking you so hard right now.”
Tony blinked, not surprised by the threat but relieved that the team was obviously okay. He’d done it.
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you to stop scaring me like this. I don’t want to be stuck running even more of your company then I already am.” She said, fingers clutched around the Starkphone in her hand and obviously still stressed.
“But you do such a good job!” Tony joked, reaching out to take the phone from her tight grip. “I’m okay, Pep, I promise. This isn’t like...before, you know that.”
She sniffed, just once, and nodded. “I know.”
“Help me sit up.”
“Tony, wait, I think you should wait for the doctor before you...”
“Pep.”
She closed her mouth and reached out, gently helping him get his back into the pillows and he let out a breath. Keeping the phone in one hand, Tony pulled the neck of his gown open enough to look at the reactor, reassuring himself that it was still working.
Because his last memory while falling was the flickering light.
Pepper was talking before he could ask, tone brisk in a way that belied her tension. “The lightning shorted out the reactor briefly but it recovered on its own.”
Right. Of course it did. Arc reactor tech didn’t run like normal electrical things, it would have been much more resistant than the suit itself.
“Most of your injuries came from being electrocuted, not any problems with the reactor.” The thank God went unsaid but Tony understood.
“What happened to the armor?”
“Thor took it to your lab. And he’s been standing outside your door since.” Pepper tried to grin but it looked weak. “He feels guilty.”
Tony sighed and started dialing a number with her phone one handed, “He looks like a kicked puppy doesn’t he?”
That got a slightly stronger smile, “Yeah. What are you doing?” She asked when he put the phone up to his ear and Tony just shook his head.
“Happy, my man! No, I’m fine. Yeah, I know. I know, Hap. Yeah. No, everything’s good I just need you to bring the car around.”
Pepper opened her mouth to argue but Tony kept going. “No, Hap, not for me. It think it’s time Pepper got some sleep in a real bed, wouldn’t you say?”
He must have got an affirmative because Tony hung up the phone then handed it back to her, waving a hand to forestall her protests. “Relax. I’m fine, Pep. You need to go and get some rest so you can take care of my company. The media is going to have a field day with this, not to mention the Board.”
She wrinkled her nose and sighed, “yeah. I know. I’ll take care of it.”
“I know you will.”
“Halt! What reason do you have for entering my fallen comrade’s place of healing and rest?” Thor’s booming voice demanded.
Tony grinned and shook his head as Pepper got up to let the doctor in and talk Thor down. Honestly, the God was just precious. Tony’s favorite, hands down.
---
Pepper left just after the doctor finished checking Tony over and telling him he was to stay at least another night in the hospital. He didn’t have any intention of following that request but no one needed to know that.
Unfortunately he couldn’t get Thor to leave. The God was determined to watch over Tony until he was better to atone for causing the injuries in the first place. It was flattering and touching but Tony genuinely couldn’t talk him into leaving, not even after stating several times and different ways that he didn’t blame the Asgardian.
Instead, he got Thor to tell the rest of the story about what happened after he crashed. Once you took away the outlandish embellishments that permeated Asgardian speech, the story was quite simple.
When Tony went down it had been left to Clint and Natasha to tend to him and rush him off to the hospital while Steve and Thor laid waste to the robots. Apparently between the two of them it was short work.
“I’ve not before seen the good Captain fight in such a fierce manner. He was quite incensed and worried in no small degree over your continued health.”
That was surprising but as a general rule Thor didn’t lie and had no reason to besides so it must have been true, at least in Thor’s eyes. It was more likely that Cap was pissed at Tony for getting himself zapped out of the fight. Well, whatever, the ‘good Captain’ can think whatever the hell he wanted. What Tony did was save their lives so the man didn’t even want to try to get in his face over it.
Still, Tony was sick of being here already and so long as Thor was here he couldn’t sneak out or sign AMA while flirting with the nurses.
Actually...
“Hey Thor.”
“Yes!”
“I need a favor, do this and I promise it totally makes up for frying me.”
---
Genius was a beautiful thing, Tony mused later in the comfort of his lab. In one fell swoop he managed to get Thor off his back, to stop feeling guilty and got himself out of that stifling hospital. Two birds, one stone and all that jazz.
While he healed he could distract himself with fixing the armor, which was a priority because there was no telling when another attack would happen and he had to be prepared. Even if he wasn't up to snuff when it happened the armor had enough self-support controls to aid him in a fight.
And honestly, his armor had seen better days. It was scorched, paint blackened, circuits more then fried and frankly scary looking. If Tony had only needed to shield himself, the armor would have come out of that fight mostly intact but in order to save the rest of the team he'd been forced to act as a lightning rod and reroute the attack through himself and his armor rather than simply reflect the energy that would have hit him.
It was worth it though, he could rebuild the armor; he couldn't raise the dead.
Under Jarvis' instruction, Thor had left the suit scattered across various worktops and Tony took a moment now to rearrange the pieces into similar categories. The metal was warped and brittle in places which meant those bits had to be replaced entirely but most of it he could probably reuse. His main concern was the wiring. All of it would have to be replaced and it was time consuming work, not to mention delicate.
With Dummy at his side to hold the wires, Tony pulled up a cushioned roller chair and grabbed one of the gauntlets to start with. "Hit it, Jarvis."
---
Tony was heavily under the working haze when his music cut out and if not for the fact he was still trying to sing along he probably wouldn't have noticed the loss enough to register Steve's approach.
The blond didn't look happy and Tony did a quick mental review of what he could have done to make him mad. All he could think of was the disaster the fight turned out to be and braced himself for a lecture on teamwork or some such thing.
"Tony."
How Steve was so good at sounding disapproving in one word had to be a superpower of some kind, Tony mused.
"Steve."
"I was told you were going to be at the hospital for at least another day." He said tone unaccusing and pointedly mild.
Tony shrugged dismissively, “me and hospitals have a bad relationship. I chose to escape while I could, for the betterment of us both, of course.”
“Are you sure that was a good idea? The doctors...”
“Could do nothing more. I’m banged up but mostly fine. I’ll heal but until then I have better things to do then sit in a bed staring at the walls.” Tony couldn’t function without having something to do; staying in a bed like that would have driven him insane within a day. Well, more insane. He’s heard the doubts on his sanity and can’t really say he doesn’t sometimes wonder the same thing.
Steve was frowning now, looking at him in that strange judging way he had before giving a short nod. He still didn’t look happy though and there seemed something fundamentally wrong about that. Captain America shouldn’t be sad, wasn’t there a rule about it? And why was Steve still looking at him like that?
“What?” Tony snapped defensively, fidgeting with a wire.
Something in Steve’s face softened, “nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
And really, what do you say to that? ‘Well thanks but you should be because I totally saved your ass’? That was a bit asshole-like, even for him.
“Ah, thanks.” He muttered after an uncertain moment.
“How bad is your armor?”
Tony tensed and shrugged one shoulder, “it’ll be fine. Once I fix the circuitry and repair the cosmetic damage it’ll be good to go again.” He said stiffly, frustrated for no sensible reason. The armor was important, right, at least Steve could see that much.
Steve blinked at him a few times as if confused and Tony stared right back, “what?”
“You frustrate and confuse me.” Steve said abruptly, immediately coloring as if he hadn’t meant to say that. And now Tony blinked several times at him. He was almost too surprised to get offended. Almost.
Instead, Tony scowled and pointed a screwdriver at the Captain. “I can say the same for you.”
“I didn’t...I meant that.” Steve cut himself off and sighed before straightening his shoulders as if braced for battle. “I meant to ask if you’d like to go out sometime.”
“But you don’t even like me!” Was all Tony could think to say, mind reeling because what? Did he just get asked out by Captain America?
“I don’t even know you, Tony. All I know is what others have told me and it’s not like we’ve spent much time together for me to get to know you.”
Tony winced because that should have been reason enough for Steve to not like him. It wasn’t as though anyone had very glowing things to say about him.
“And every time we do talk you’re kinda...”
“An ass?” He supplied helpfully and Steve flushed again. “So what? You wanna go have a mutual bonding session together?” His disdain was clear in the tone and his face but Steve didn’t back down.
“I’m not saying that. I just think we should go out somewhere, together, and spend some time. I want to get to know you not the guy everyone talks about.”
Tony almost tells him there is no difference between the two but Steve looked stupidly hopeful, as if getting to do this actually matters somehow, and Tony can’t do it. He evidently has a Steve Rogers weakness and damn it all...
“Alright, fine. Whatever, but you can’t kick me off the team when you realize I am actually the ass everyone says.” He warned, wanting some form of consolation that even though this was a terrible idea at least he wouldn’t be scrapped for it.
Steve frowned at him, a touch exasperated, but nodded. “When are you free?”
Tony looked around at the mess of a suit and shrugged. Honestly, the suit repairs would probably take him a few days and Steve looked eager to get started. Which was freaking strange, having someone so invested in just talking to him, getting to know him. Who even did that anymore?
“Uh, give me like two hours to clean up and we can head out.”
Smiling now, and wow was that punch to the gut, Steve nodded. He looked much more relaxed and even relieved. Tony had mixed feelings about being the one to cause that. “Clint has taught me to play pool. He mentioned that some of the bars around the city have tables, maybe we could go to one?”
Pool, huh? That sounded safe enough. Pool was all about calculating force with trajectory and Tony could do that stuff in his sleep so no problem there. And bars were comfortable enough, neutral territory for them both. Not having the suit shouldn’t be too much of an issue either, Steve was sure to bring his shield should anything go wrong.
Besides, Tony could use some greasy bar food and a chance to maybe relax some. He wouldn’t be able to drink but that didn’t matter because Steve couldn’t get drunk so that wouldn’t be fair anyway.
“Yeah, sure. That’s fine. I think I know a place.”
Steve nodded again and they stared at each other for a long moment before Tony cracked a grin, unable to help himself. “I need to clean up, Steve. I’ll meet you upstairs, okay?”
“Right! Of course, sorry.” Sheepishly, Steve took one last look around and started back toward the door. Tony stared after him, totally bemused. Once Steve was gone, he shook his head and tapped the screwdriver against the table.
“Jarvis? What just happened?”
“I believe you’ve almost made a friend, sir.”
“Hah, that’s funny.”
“I do try.”
“Yeah, whatever. Save and shut off everything that could catch on fire while I’m gone.”
“Of course, sir.”
Huh. A ‘get-to-know-you’ thing. How interesting. Maybe with a little bit of luck, Tony won’t screw this up. But he wasn’t about to hold his breath.
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