You were sensible to the very bitter end, my friend (Two)
Title: You were sensible to the very bitter end, my friend
Author: MetaAllu
Universe: Civil War AU.
Rating: PG-13, NC-17 overall.
Summary: AU. After his death, Steve wakes up in a world where there is no such things as superheroes, Registration never happened, friends he’d lost are still alive and last but not least, he’s married to Tony Stark.
Author's Note: I'd like to say I'm on a roll, but mostly I'm sleep-deprived and determined. Also, for the sake of interest, I looped The Thong Song while writing this. Stop judging me. It's peppy and keeps the hands going, okay?
[ Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five ]
*
After a few days, Tony convinces the doctors to let Steve come home. Steve has discovered through listening and whining for a laptop that this is most certainly not his version of reality. The rings had been a pretty big hint: It turns out that him and Tony are... married. He's still having trouble wrapping his brain around that one, honestly. He's so used to such things being scandalous, but here it seems to be just as normal as anything else. If Steve is honest with himself, this place is probably what he'd call an ideal dimension. It's not his, but... he's dead in his universe and despite everything, he just can't bring it up in himself to want to go back. He's... happy here.
Being married to Tony is weird, and for while he has to pretend like the kissing doesn't weird him out, but soon enough it's something he looks forward to. Kissing Tony is vastly different from kissing a dame, but it's not unpleasant. The feeling of Tony's facial hair isn't really something Steve can quite wrap his brain around yet, but it's Tony, and somehow that makes it okay.
"Steve?" Thor waves his hand in front Steve's face and then grins when Steve replies with an oh-so-intelligible 'wha?' and looks up at the taller blonde. Thor is a model here and Loki is a childhood friend. Steve isn't totally sure on the details, but from what he can tell, Loki had grown up in an abusive household and had spent most of his time at Thor's house. It had given him complexes and mental problems; he was possessive and paranoid; he had a need to be perfect and sometimes bored on psychopathic, but Thor brought him a level of calm that made Steve ache. He didn't think his universe's' Thor would ever be able to do that for his universe's Loki.
Loki fixes him with an amused look. There's something about his eyes that always sends a chill down Steve's spine, but he doesn't think he's the only one. The only person who doesn't seem to see it is Thor, who sweeps over to Loki and wraps an arm around Loki's shoulder, guiding him out the door. They have matching rope necklaces -Thor's red, Loki's green - with bright star pendants, made of some kind of material that makes them glossy and shifting rainbow colours in the light. There's nothing says that they're married, but they may as well be.
Steve is momentarily jealous until he remembers that he has the exact same thing waiting for him at home. Home, a word that sounds strange even in his own mind, if only because he knows that home doesn't mean his apartment, it means Tony's house, with all it's grandeur, and with touches of his own presence dotted through it. He knows that there's framed pieces of his art, pads of paper, pencils, paints; he knows that there is a bright yellow stain on one of the cushions of an expensive antique sofa that's been there for longer than Tony can remember. Aforementioned cushion has been flipped and the sofa has been kept only because Tony doesn't think they'd get much for it after all the things they've subjected that sofa to. How he knows that, Steve isn't sure. He just does, just like he knows that Tony has extremis in his brain, but he doesn't need to be afraid of it.
Tony had said he'd be home late, and he'd sent Thor and Loki to bring Steve home from the hospital, which is a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected if Steve is perfectly honest with himself. Thor and Loki are loud. They bicker back and forth, they shove each other and take snipes at each other; at one point Thor grabs Loki and tosses him over his shoulder. Loki curses at him in some language Steve can only vaguely place as of Nordic descent, and it sends the warmth of familiarity through him. Their arguing and laughter echoes through the halls as they leave him along in Tony's house. It leaves him feeling oddly cold and the feeling of alone settles over him like a weight. That part of his mind that isn't his isn't there to comfort him and he's left alone to explore the large, echoing house. It's just a house without him. You don't need me to tell you that; I know what you need, I know who you are. You need him just as badly as I did, as I do.
The house hasn't changed majorly in any way, but Steve likes to think that he's left his mark: There's crappy food in the kitchen and an 4B pencil has rolled its way under the sofa. He has ghosting memories of laughter and stumbling down hallways; memories of drunken escapades and nights were they stayed in. He can remember Tony's callused hands on his skin in ways he'd never before imagined. He can practically see the man under him. It's good, it's wonderful; it's all I could ever have asked for.
He shakes away the ghosts and goes to the kitchen. He finds some instant soup and some bread rolls, feeling too exhausted to do anything extravagant. The house still feels hollowed out even with the TV on and a bowl of hot soup in his lap. Steve scowls and channel surfs until he finds a re-run of one of Tony's press conferences from earlier. He's wearing sunglasses as usual and smiling at the camera like he's going to seduce it and make it his bitch. Steve grins to himself at the thought and then settles comfortably on the sofa to eat. Once his food's gone and his dishes are cleaned, he digs the 4B pencil out from under the couch, snags an eraser and a sketchpad from the coffee table and settles in to draw, the sound of Tony's voice comfortingly in the background.
Author: MetaAllu
Universe: Civil War AU.
Rating: PG-13, NC-17 overall.
Summary: AU. After his death, Steve wakes up in a world where there is no such things as superheroes, Registration never happened, friends he’d lost are still alive and last but not least, he’s married to Tony Stark.
Author's Note: I'd like to say I'm on a roll, but mostly I'm sleep-deprived and determined. Also, for the sake of interest, I looped The Thong Song while writing this. Stop judging me. It's peppy and keeps the hands going, okay?
[ Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five ]
*
After a few days, Tony convinces the doctors to let Steve come home. Steve has discovered through listening and whining for a laptop that this is most certainly not his version of reality. The rings had been a pretty big hint: It turns out that him and Tony are... married. He's still having trouble wrapping his brain around that one, honestly. He's so used to such things being scandalous, but here it seems to be just as normal as anything else. If Steve is honest with himself, this place is probably what he'd call an ideal dimension. It's not his, but... he's dead in his universe and despite everything, he just can't bring it up in himself to want to go back. He's... happy here.
Being married to Tony is weird, and for while he has to pretend like the kissing doesn't weird him out, but soon enough it's something he looks forward to. Kissing Tony is vastly different from kissing a dame, but it's not unpleasant. The feeling of Tony's facial hair isn't really something Steve can quite wrap his brain around yet, but it's Tony, and somehow that makes it okay.
"Steve?" Thor waves his hand in front Steve's face and then grins when Steve replies with an oh-so-intelligible 'wha?' and looks up at the taller blonde. Thor is a model here and Loki is a childhood friend. Steve isn't totally sure on the details, but from what he can tell, Loki had grown up in an abusive household and had spent most of his time at Thor's house. It had given him complexes and mental problems; he was possessive and paranoid; he had a need to be perfect and sometimes bored on psychopathic, but Thor brought him a level of calm that made Steve ache. He didn't think his universe's' Thor would ever be able to do that for his universe's Loki.
Loki fixes him with an amused look. There's something about his eyes that always sends a chill down Steve's spine, but he doesn't think he's the only one. The only person who doesn't seem to see it is Thor, who sweeps over to Loki and wraps an arm around Loki's shoulder, guiding him out the door. They have matching rope necklaces -Thor's red, Loki's green - with bright star pendants, made of some kind of material that makes them glossy and shifting rainbow colours in the light. There's nothing says that they're married, but they may as well be.
Steve is momentarily jealous until he remembers that he has the exact same thing waiting for him at home. Home, a word that sounds strange even in his own mind, if only because he knows that home doesn't mean his apartment, it means Tony's house, with all it's grandeur, and with touches of his own presence dotted through it. He knows that there's framed pieces of his art, pads of paper, pencils, paints; he knows that there is a bright yellow stain on one of the cushions of an expensive antique sofa that's been there for longer than Tony can remember. Aforementioned cushion has been flipped and the sofa has been kept only because Tony doesn't think they'd get much for it after all the things they've subjected that sofa to. How he knows that, Steve isn't sure. He just does, just like he knows that Tony has extremis in his brain, but he doesn't need to be afraid of it.
Tony had said he'd be home late, and he'd sent Thor and Loki to bring Steve home from the hospital, which is a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected if Steve is perfectly honest with himself. Thor and Loki are loud. They bicker back and forth, they shove each other and take snipes at each other; at one point Thor grabs Loki and tosses him over his shoulder. Loki curses at him in some language Steve can only vaguely place as of Nordic descent, and it sends the warmth of familiarity through him. Their arguing and laughter echoes through the halls as they leave him along in Tony's house. It leaves him feeling oddly cold and the feeling of alone settles over him like a weight. That part of his mind that isn't his isn't there to comfort him and he's left alone to explore the large, echoing house. It's just a house without him. You don't need me to tell you that; I know what you need, I know who you are. You need him just as badly as I did, as I do.
The house hasn't changed majorly in any way, but Steve likes to think that he's left his mark: There's crappy food in the kitchen and an 4B pencil has rolled its way under the sofa. He has ghosting memories of laughter and stumbling down hallways; memories of drunken escapades and nights were they stayed in. He can remember Tony's callused hands on his skin in ways he'd never before imagined. He can practically see the man under him. It's good, it's wonderful; it's all I could ever have asked for.
He shakes away the ghosts and goes to the kitchen. He finds some instant soup and some bread rolls, feeling too exhausted to do anything extravagant. The house still feels hollowed out even with the TV on and a bowl of hot soup in his lap. Steve scowls and channel surfs until he finds a re-run of one of Tony's press conferences from earlier. He's wearing sunglasses as usual and smiling at the camera like he's going to seduce it and make it his bitch. Steve grins to himself at the thought and then settles comfortably on the sofa to eat. Once his food's gone and his dishes are cleaned, he digs the 4B pencil out from under the couch, snags an eraser and a sketchpad from the coffee table and settles in to draw, the sound of Tony's voice comfortingly in the background.