Ficbit/Drabble: "a little black spot," Tony/Veronica, Iron Man/VM x-over
I don't know WHY my head returned to this 'verse this morning, but it did! Fudging the canon timelines even more, this is a little scene taking place after something somewhere has to break and a butterfly trapped in a spider's web.
They take the jet to New York. The pole stays hidden, the stewardesses stay dressed. Tony watches Veronica sleep - fitfully, as if totally against her will - and nurses a Lagavulin with two rocks. Taking her to SHIELD is the right decision. He knows that. He has the resources to help her, but not the restraint. Iron Man is a blunt instrument. She needs surgical precision. She needs honesty.
Steve, he thinks, instantly. Steve, Rhodey… people with an actual code; that’s who Veronica should trust. Tony can barely trust himself… can barely dress himself. But Steve Rogers, Captain fucking America, radiates goodness. He wouldn’t have picked up Veronica in the first place, or spent the night with a broken politician with pixie dust on his fingertips. Words like “threesome” have probably been redacted from his vocabulary like it’s a government transcript. And there’s nothing to steal from him. No artificial tech keeping him running. He’s all heart. In every sense of the word.
By the time Tony finishes brooding, his scotch with two rocks is an inch of watery regret… and Veronica is awake.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere appropriate.” Tony’s smile, at least, is sincere. “The Avengers Initiative.”
They take the jet to New York. The pole stays hidden, the stewardesses stay dressed. Tony watches Veronica sleep - fitfully, as if totally against her will - and nurses a Lagavulin with two rocks. Taking her to SHIELD is the right decision. He knows that. He has the resources to help her, but not the restraint. Iron Man is a blunt instrument. She needs surgical precision. She needs honesty.
Steve, he thinks, instantly. Steve, Rhodey… people with an actual code; that’s who Veronica should trust. Tony can barely trust himself… can barely dress himself. But Steve Rogers, Captain fucking America, radiates goodness. He wouldn’t have picked up Veronica in the first place, or spent the night with a broken politician with pixie dust on his fingertips. Words like “threesome” have probably been redacted from his vocabulary like it’s a government transcript. And there’s nothing to steal from him. No artificial tech keeping him running. He’s all heart. In every sense of the word.
By the time Tony finishes brooding, his scotch with two rocks is an inch of watery regret… and Veronica is awake.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere appropriate.” Tony’s smile, at least, is sincere. “The Avengers Initiative.”