The Corrupt and the Pure; Chapter 26: The Clarification
[INFO]Title: The Corrupt and the Pure
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 26: The Clarification
The gym was silent when Steve entered. He could hear the soft hum of the air conditioning, and as the door snapped shut behind him, he felt isolated in the large area. ‘Confined’ wasn’t the word he might have used, yet bit by bit he began to feel the suffocating tension taking over him, as if the air were being sucked out and his body was starting to feel the effects.
He dropped his shield to the floor with a loud clatter, then strode towards the other end of the room, eyes nailed to one of the punching bags innocently hanging from the ceiling. He approached the unwary target, fists poised to strike long before he was within touching distance, and the first impact of his knuckles against the bag seemed to rattle up his tense arm.
Steve took a breath, trying to force the tension out of his body, but when it wouldn’t budge he simply opted to punch it out of his system.
He was still wearing his uniform when he started, which made him unnecessarily hot underneath it. Piece by piece he stripped sections of it, never stopping for too long, the swinging punching bag taunting him to hit again, harder - like he meant it.
After the serum, Steve had gotten used to punching the living daylights out of any target, but this one held together amazingly well. Tony must have designed it just for this purpose, even though Steve knew he was far from the mindset he usually achieved while training.
Right now, he was just angry and frustrated about how things had turned out with the Commander. So far there had been no report that he had been found - dead or alive - and Steve sensed this was far from over.
He would need a clear head the next time they came face to face.
His attention shifted back to the bag in an attempt to channel his energy. Bottling it up wasn’t going to be helpful and would do him a disservice -
“Did the bag make a ‘yo mama’ joke?”
Steve froze mid-punch and looked to his right. Over his own breaths, which were coming sharp and loud, and the punching sounds, he hadn’t heard Tony come in. There he was, though, wearing worn, baggy clothes that screamed comfort, watching Steve almost warily.
“Just working out some tension,” Steve replied, taking a decisive step back from the swinging bag.
Tony raised an eyebrow. It was obvious he had showered recently, and Steve wondered why he wasn’t in bed; he couldn’t have found much rest during his recent ordeal. “You’re bleeding all over the place,” Tony finally commented, and Steve instinctively looked down at his hands.
His knuckles had torn in several places, blood smearing his hands. He didn’t feel more than a slight sting of pain as he looked at the damage his body hadn’t gotten a chance to heal while he kept pounding at the bag.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked, voice softer than Steve was used to.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” Steve countered, stepping further away from the punching bag to find something to clean up his hands before Tony could complain about bloodstains on the floor.
“Maybe,” Tony admitted. “You’re the one who’s letting his angst get the best of him, though.”
Steve gave him a look from the corner of his eye. He was feeling cautious, although he wasn’t sure why - well, other than the obvious reasons. “Why are you here?” he asked, finding a towel inside a supply closet. His blood left dark marks on the gunmetal gray fabric and Steve wondered if it would ever come off in a wash. He noticed an embroidered ‘A’ in one corner of the towel - an insignia clearly representing the Avengers.
Tony took his time answering the question: “I didn’t feel like crashing, oddly enough,” he said. “J.A.R.V.I.S. said you were here, feeling agitated.”
Steve huffed at the choice of word. It wasn’t how he would have described his current mood. “I would have expected you to go in the other direction.”
“Why?” Tony asked, stepping towards him as if to prove a point.
“Because of what happened to you over the last two days,” Steve bit out, not wanting to say it. Tony most likely wanted to forget, and Steve didn’t want his temper to boil over because there was nothing he could do to fix it before they located the Commander again.
“You’re still thinking I can’t tell the two of you apart?” Tony stated, slowly proceeding towards him again. “That being around you is going to be a constant reminder of him?”
Steve swallowed and stared at an array of workout equipment on the wall, keeping his eyes from flicking over to Tony.
“I can tell the difference,” Tony claimed sharply, his voice rising. “Look at me, Rogers.”
It wasn’t the order, or that Steve wanted to prove him wrong; he looked at him because he knew Tony would find a way to make that happen, one way or another, and both of them were too tired to drag this out.
Tony stared him down, jaw tense. It was as if he didn’t dare to back away even when he started to feel the inclination to do so, because it would make him reveal just how uncomfortable Steve’s presence made him. Steve let him off the hook eventually, allowing his gaze to break away. He didn’t want to upset Tony by looking completely away, though, so he checked out the rest of his body instead, looking for hidden clues of his mistreatment.
Adding fuel to the fire…
“He said he didn’t want to hurt me,” Tony spoke up suddenly, voice back to that soft, private level. Steve wasn’t used to hearing him talk like that - they hadn’t spent enough time together for that to happen. He was more used to bravado and attention seeking, but Tony wasn’t raising himself above everyone else right now.
“He did, though,” Steve said in return, feeling like Tony wanted to have a conversation instead of an exchange of jabs they were more prone to deliver.
A tight little smile passed Tony’s lips. “I made him,” he admitted. “I tried to reason with him, to find a way out that didn’t include broken bones on my part. Didn’t work, so I pressed in the other direction. He stopped playing nice, eventually. Decided that I didn’t have to like it - that I would learn to accept it over time.”
Steve was starting to feel sick all over again.
Tony looked into his eyes, and Steve wondered whose face he was seeing. “I wouldn’t have fought back nearly as much had it been you,” he said, gaze unwavering.
Steve blinked and wondered whether he had sustained some kind of hearing injury during the battle. Then the floor began to fall away beneath him as his brain pieced that information together, connecting it to those unwanted images of the Commander forcing himself on Tony. “Why would you say that?!” he finally burst out, taking a step back like Tony had physically hurt him.
Tony blinked, then shrugged, looking like it wasn’t anything inappropriate. “Felt like you needed to hear that.”
Steve contemplated trying to throw up, just to get the impending sensation out of his system. “I would never -”
“Oh, I know,” Tony started with a smile, then froze. “You wouldn’t?” he asked, and it was almost like hurt flashing in his eyes, which was totally inappropriate considering the topic.
“No!” Steve proclaimed, voice a bit higher than he was comfortable with. “I could never hurt you like that.”
Tony nodded then looked at his bare feet, which shifted uncertainly on the floor. “Great,” he murmured. “Just… needed to make that distinction, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” Steve reassured him, although he was starting to feel like they were approaching the subject at very different angles. “I’m sorry I didn’t defeat him,” he added, feeling like this was a good time to get it off his chest. “I should have stopped him the first time.”
“No reason to be sorry; J already apologized, and that’s plenty enough.”
Steve frowned. “No offense, but he’s just a program.”
“He’s more than that,” Tony retorted, seeming to perk up a little. “Next time, it will play out differently.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Steve swore. “I promise.”
Tony gave him a smile that was a little patronizing. “Thanks,” he said, and it truly sounded like he was telling Steve what he wanted to hear.
“I mean it,” Steve insisted.
“I know,” Tony said, with a bit more honesty. “I just don’t want you to think this is all on you, or that you need to do this alone. Just because he’s your wicked double from some alternate reality doesn’t mean you’re the only one who gets to fight him. He’s not your responsibility.”
Steve looked away, feeling a bit mulish. “How come it feels like it is?” he muttered.
“Maybe because you know you could have ended up just like him?” Tony guessed. It startled Steve, who honestly hadn’t thought about it like that, but it didn’t seem to be a stretch for Tony. “I talked to him,” the other man said. “He told me things about his life. Not much, mind you, but enough for me to form an opinion.”
“Which is?” Steve asked even though he wasn’t sure he would like the answer.
“That deep down, you two are the same,” Tony said, which actually contradicted what he had claimed before - that Steve and the Commander were not the same. “He got dealt a bad hand, and that put him in a place neither of us can picture in our worst nightmares. But there’s a part of him that…” Tony halted and frowned, as if doubting himself suddenly. “I think he’s trying to reconnect with the man he used to be. I’m thinking me - the other me - was helping with that process, driving him on.”
“He has a funny way of showing his gratitude,” Steve stated dryly.
Tony’s answering smile spoke of years of experience. “Sometimes, you hurt the ones you love, whether you mean for it to happen or not.” He then stuck his hands in his pockets and turned around. “Try to get some sleep, Cap,” he called without looking back at him. “The fight isn’t over yet.”
Steve watched him go, dried blood making his skin itchy and stiff. He felt a call to get back into punching the bag, to drive this conversation out of his head, but he decided to leave it.
Gathering his gear, he headed out to the room that had been assigned to him before he ever entered the Tower, and even though sleep was the furthest thing from his mind, he knew he needed to rest and regain some semblance of control before he faced Tony again.
Or the Commander.
to be continued…
Story info
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 26: The Clarification
The gym was silent when Steve entered. He could hear the soft hum of the air conditioning, and as the door snapped shut behind him, he felt isolated in the large area. ‘Confined’ wasn’t the word he might have used, yet bit by bit he began to feel the suffocating tension taking over him, as if the air were being sucked out and his body was starting to feel the effects.
He dropped his shield to the floor with a loud clatter, then strode towards the other end of the room, eyes nailed to one of the punching bags innocently hanging from the ceiling. He approached the unwary target, fists poised to strike long before he was within touching distance, and the first impact of his knuckles against the bag seemed to rattle up his tense arm.
Steve took a breath, trying to force the tension out of his body, but when it wouldn’t budge he simply opted to punch it out of his system.
He was still wearing his uniform when he started, which made him unnecessarily hot underneath it. Piece by piece he stripped sections of it, never stopping for too long, the swinging punching bag taunting him to hit again, harder - like he meant it.
After the serum, Steve had gotten used to punching the living daylights out of any target, but this one held together amazingly well. Tony must have designed it just for this purpose, even though Steve knew he was far from the mindset he usually achieved while training.
Right now, he was just angry and frustrated about how things had turned out with the Commander. So far there had been no report that he had been found - dead or alive - and Steve sensed this was far from over.
He would need a clear head the next time they came face to face.
His attention shifted back to the bag in an attempt to channel his energy. Bottling it up wasn’t going to be helpful and would do him a disservice -
“Did the bag make a ‘yo mama’ joke?”
Steve froze mid-punch and looked to his right. Over his own breaths, which were coming sharp and loud, and the punching sounds, he hadn’t heard Tony come in. There he was, though, wearing worn, baggy clothes that screamed comfort, watching Steve almost warily.
“Just working out some tension,” Steve replied, taking a decisive step back from the swinging bag.
Tony raised an eyebrow. It was obvious he had showered recently, and Steve wondered why he wasn’t in bed; he couldn’t have found much rest during his recent ordeal. “You’re bleeding all over the place,” Tony finally commented, and Steve instinctively looked down at his hands.
His knuckles had torn in several places, blood smearing his hands. He didn’t feel more than a slight sting of pain as he looked at the damage his body hadn’t gotten a chance to heal while he kept pounding at the bag.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked, voice softer than Steve was used to.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” Steve countered, stepping further away from the punching bag to find something to clean up his hands before Tony could complain about bloodstains on the floor.
“Maybe,” Tony admitted. “You’re the one who’s letting his angst get the best of him, though.”
Steve gave him a look from the corner of his eye. He was feeling cautious, although he wasn’t sure why - well, other than the obvious reasons. “Why are you here?” he asked, finding a towel inside a supply closet. His blood left dark marks on the gunmetal gray fabric and Steve wondered if it would ever come off in a wash. He noticed an embroidered ‘A’ in one corner of the towel - an insignia clearly representing the Avengers.
Tony took his time answering the question: “I didn’t feel like crashing, oddly enough,” he said. “J.A.R.V.I.S. said you were here, feeling agitated.”
Steve huffed at the choice of word. It wasn’t how he would have described his current mood. “I would have expected you to go in the other direction.”
“Why?” Tony asked, stepping towards him as if to prove a point.
“Because of what happened to you over the last two days,” Steve bit out, not wanting to say it. Tony most likely wanted to forget, and Steve didn’t want his temper to boil over because there was nothing he could do to fix it before they located the Commander again.
“You’re still thinking I can’t tell the two of you apart?” Tony stated, slowly proceeding towards him again. “That being around you is going to be a constant reminder of him?”
Steve swallowed and stared at an array of workout equipment on the wall, keeping his eyes from flicking over to Tony.
“I can tell the difference,” Tony claimed sharply, his voice rising. “Look at me, Rogers.”
It wasn’t the order, or that Steve wanted to prove him wrong; he looked at him because he knew Tony would find a way to make that happen, one way or another, and both of them were too tired to drag this out.
Tony stared him down, jaw tense. It was as if he didn’t dare to back away even when he started to feel the inclination to do so, because it would make him reveal just how uncomfortable Steve’s presence made him. Steve let him off the hook eventually, allowing his gaze to break away. He didn’t want to upset Tony by looking completely away, though, so he checked out the rest of his body instead, looking for hidden clues of his mistreatment.
Adding fuel to the fire…
“He said he didn’t want to hurt me,” Tony spoke up suddenly, voice back to that soft, private level. Steve wasn’t used to hearing him talk like that - they hadn’t spent enough time together for that to happen. He was more used to bravado and attention seeking, but Tony wasn’t raising himself above everyone else right now.
“He did, though,” Steve said in return, feeling like Tony wanted to have a conversation instead of an exchange of jabs they were more prone to deliver.
A tight little smile passed Tony’s lips. “I made him,” he admitted. “I tried to reason with him, to find a way out that didn’t include broken bones on my part. Didn’t work, so I pressed in the other direction. He stopped playing nice, eventually. Decided that I didn’t have to like it - that I would learn to accept it over time.”
Steve was starting to feel sick all over again.
Tony looked into his eyes, and Steve wondered whose face he was seeing. “I wouldn’t have fought back nearly as much had it been you,” he said, gaze unwavering.
Steve blinked and wondered whether he had sustained some kind of hearing injury during the battle. Then the floor began to fall away beneath him as his brain pieced that information together, connecting it to those unwanted images of the Commander forcing himself on Tony. “Why would you say that?!” he finally burst out, taking a step back like Tony had physically hurt him.
Tony blinked, then shrugged, looking like it wasn’t anything inappropriate. “Felt like you needed to hear that.”
Steve contemplated trying to throw up, just to get the impending sensation out of his system. “I would never -”
“Oh, I know,” Tony started with a smile, then froze. “You wouldn’t?” he asked, and it was almost like hurt flashing in his eyes, which was totally inappropriate considering the topic.
“No!” Steve proclaimed, voice a bit higher than he was comfortable with. “I could never hurt you like that.”
Tony nodded then looked at his bare feet, which shifted uncertainly on the floor. “Great,” he murmured. “Just… needed to make that distinction, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” Steve reassured him, although he was starting to feel like they were approaching the subject at very different angles. “I’m sorry I didn’t defeat him,” he added, feeling like this was a good time to get it off his chest. “I should have stopped him the first time.”
“No reason to be sorry; J already apologized, and that’s plenty enough.”
Steve frowned. “No offense, but he’s just a program.”
“He’s more than that,” Tony retorted, seeming to perk up a little. “Next time, it will play out differently.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Steve swore. “I promise.”
Tony gave him a smile that was a little patronizing. “Thanks,” he said, and it truly sounded like he was telling Steve what he wanted to hear.
“I mean it,” Steve insisted.
“I know,” Tony said, with a bit more honesty. “I just don’t want you to think this is all on you, or that you need to do this alone. Just because he’s your wicked double from some alternate reality doesn’t mean you’re the only one who gets to fight him. He’s not your responsibility.”
Steve looked away, feeling a bit mulish. “How come it feels like it is?” he muttered.
“Maybe because you know you could have ended up just like him?” Tony guessed. It startled Steve, who honestly hadn’t thought about it like that, but it didn’t seem to be a stretch for Tony. “I talked to him,” the other man said. “He told me things about his life. Not much, mind you, but enough for me to form an opinion.”
“Which is?” Steve asked even though he wasn’t sure he would like the answer.
“That deep down, you two are the same,” Tony said, which actually contradicted what he had claimed before - that Steve and the Commander were not the same. “He got dealt a bad hand, and that put him in a place neither of us can picture in our worst nightmares. But there’s a part of him that…” Tony halted and frowned, as if doubting himself suddenly. “I think he’s trying to reconnect with the man he used to be. I’m thinking me - the other me - was helping with that process, driving him on.”
“He has a funny way of showing his gratitude,” Steve stated dryly.
Tony’s answering smile spoke of years of experience. “Sometimes, you hurt the ones you love, whether you mean for it to happen or not.” He then stuck his hands in his pockets and turned around. “Try to get some sleep, Cap,” he called without looking back at him. “The fight isn’t over yet.”
Steve watched him go, dried blood making his skin itchy and stiff. He felt a call to get back into punching the bag, to drive this conversation out of his head, but he decided to leave it.
Gathering his gear, he headed out to the room that had been assigned to him before he ever entered the Tower, and even though sleep was the furthest thing from his mind, he knew he needed to rest and regain some semblance of control before he faced Tony again.
Or the Commander.
to be continued…
Story info