2

[soldierly]

THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
ROUND TWO
closing at 5000 comments
Please read the [rules] before commenting!

PROMPT FORMATTING:
Alphabetize pairings. They will be archived that way!
Put [RPF] before RPF prompts.
Put [Crossover] before crossover prompts.
Please use this format: Steve/Tony, Tony needs help adjusting his arc reactor ;

Comments

Re: Mnemophobia (1/6)

[anonymous]

He wasn't even sure what it was that he had done to cause the explosion. He had been playing with fire, of course - literally, as usual. That was a part of his job, but he knew what he was doing. The oxy-acetylene torch was almost a part of him. He had been using it for as long as he could remember; certainly long ago enough to have made his mother screech at him that first time, in a flailing, parental outpouring of desperation. Long ago enough that, for all his attempts to explain exactly why it was necessary for him to be performing those particular modifications to the air-conditioning unit, he had wound up banished to his room. He had perfected his technique since then. He grown so used to wielding a torch that he barely needed to think about it; the machine itself seeming to meet him halfway. He could see the designs that twisted and turned inside his brain written in the air in the rain of golden sparks. The fire flashed new ideas at him, equations and theorems that he watched as he worked. Plans for another day, alongside the

Re: Mnemophobia (2/6)

[anonymous]

He was hauled upright, with a sudden, dizzying force that made his head spin, and turned his world upside down. No matter how he struggled, he was borne across the floor, up and down confusing themselves again, dizziness almost hiding the pain as his abused head lost its balance and its bearings. The voice was still talking to him, but there was another sound now, joining the rushing of the blood, and burying the voice still further. The roar of a waterfall - except surely that made no sense. There were no waterfalls here, were there? Or... where was here? He fought again, fought more than before, disorientation adding to his need to break free. If he could only stand up, take a breath, work out what was what, then surely everything would make sense again? But the hands were too strong, and he couldn't hear the voice, and the waterfall was closer, and the pain. God, the pain. It was burning him from the inside out. It was turning his brain to jelly. It was bad enough to push him towards the edge of unconsciousness. Perhaps that was a

Re: Mnemophobia (3/6)

[anonymous]

The water disappeared, as it always did in the end. They didn't want him dead; not yet. A part of his mind knew that, even though it was impossible to remember it when the water was pouring down. Eventually they always hauled him out of it, untied his wrists, shoved the car battery back into numb and frozen arms. They would throw a hood over his head again, haul him back to the cave where Yinsen was waiting, with the sense and good grace not to offer empty sympathies. Tony would sink to the floor, or sometimes onto his cot, if his legs could hold him up that long. There would be silence, as the roaring in his ears ebbed away, and his sense of self returned to him. Silence, until he was ready to make some stupid, facile comment to Yinsen, as a signal that he was ready to rejoin the world, however briefly. It always went the same way. Only this time was it different

Re: Mnemophobia (4/6)

[anonymous]

"Are you okay?" There was real concern in Steve's voice. Tony knew that it was genuine. It was Steve - or course it was genuine. Tony wasn't always very good at dealing with Steve. Double-edged words and hidden agendas were far more familiar territory. Right now he had even less idea how to face the man. He managed a smile; the same one that he had dragged up a thousand times before, especially in those first few shaky months, after he had come home. Months when he had been dealing with Afghanistan, and Obadiah, and no, don't think about that. Pepper always saw through that smile, and so did Jarvis. Nobody else. He was even pretty good at believing it himself

Re: Mnemophobia (5/6)

[anonymous]

"You just dredged up a few memories, that's all. Of Afghanistan." It was nothing. He could make it sound like nothing. "Did they have water-boarding in your time, Rogers? It's a..." A madness, an agony, an endless descent into hell. "A way of softening people up. Like an interrogation technique, I guess

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[anonymous]

"I'll remember that." Steve was holding his gaze, clearly looking for something behind Tony's eyes. Whatever it was, he wouldn't see it. If nothing else, Tony could be sure of that. He knew how to keep things hidden. He had learnt that years ago, alongside calculus and quantum mechanics. "I really am sorry, you know

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[anonymous]

lovely <3

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[ageofalejandro]

Wonderful!

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[anonymous]

Aaah! So awesome! Love it! <3

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[bittergreentea]

Excellently written. Everything about this fic was excellent.

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[blcwriter]

So lovely.

Re: Mnemophobia (6/6)

[labelleizzy]

wow. Bookmarking.