Redefinition (RP for starspangledcap)

[iron_tony]

*OOC -- Yes, finally.

Tony didn't make up his mind right away.

After he heard Sally's speech at the awards banquet, after he met the girl and her mother at the reception, he knew he would have to talk to Steve. But nothing had changed, really; the cirumstances that made their meeting in person a foolish risk were the same as ever. Tony

Comments

[starspangledcap]

Steve had been anxious all afternoon. He'd seen the footage of Sally and Tony's speeches at the awards banquet, but he had no idea what had happened at the reception that followed. He considered e-mailing Tony right away; Tony could, after all, return the e-mail without moving a muscle. But Steve didn't want to interrupt a potential conversation between Sally and Tony; if he caught Tony at the wrong time, he might just inadvertently make things worse. So he sat and waited, with a nervous pencil between his fingers and a sketchpad on his lap, for the right time to make contact

[iron_tony]

Tony let out a breath. He should have expected this.

"The first time you and I did anything together, socially, I took you to see Titanic. At one point, you looked over and saw the tears in my eyes, and then you tried to pretend you didn't notice. You asked if I wanted more popcorn." He let out a breath and, like he hadn't already said enough, he added. "The scene doesn't have anything to do with those stupid brats, either. It's the part where the ship's engineer is alone in his quarters, staring at his clock, trying to figure out what he did wrong. Now. Can I come the fuck in?"

[starspangledcap]

Steve blinked. He hadn't realized that Tony remembered so much about that date. (Not that it had been a "date" in the romantic sense - not in this version of reality, at least.) Steve hadn't even realized that he himself remembered that much about it. But it was certainly something no one else would have known.

"Ok," Steve said, nodding curtly, and he stepped back into the room. As he closed the door behind Tony, the gears in his head began turning. "Why are you here?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicious concern. "Did something happen? Is Sally is ok? Is there a superhuman crisis? I can be out of here right this second if you need me."

[iron_tony]

"Crisis?" Tony repeated, genuinely confused for a moment as to why Steve would think that. "In the event of a crisis, Steven, I have faster channels of communication than driving down the fucking turnpike in Pepper's old SUV." Of course, he belatedly realized, Steve had no way of knowing that he had done that. So he added, "Which is what I did."

Not waiting for an invitation, he took a seat on Steve's sofa.

"Also, we may as well get this out of the way up front. That beard looks ridiculous."

rethread

[iron_tony]

"All right --" Tony clenched his hands together over his knee, and wished this didn't feel quite so much like a mission briefing. But then, he was comfortable with those, and Steve was a good listener when he wanted to be

Re: rethread

[starspangledcap]

Steve nodded, slowly, from his side of the couch. He was beginning to see where Tony was going with this, but he didn't dare guess, for fear of being wrong.

"Yes," he said. "It's a blank slate that isn't."

[iron_tony]

"Right -- exactly --" Tony leaned forward, his body language showing more excitement than he intended but -- just maybe, Steve was getting it

[starspangledcap]

Steve's forehead wrinkled. "A story?" he repeated. "She wasn't exactly controlling our actions. She doesn't know us well enough to have formed everything that happened in that world with her mind."

[starspangledcap]

Steve stared. Tony couldn't possibly be considering what he appeared to be considering.

"But I'm dead, remember? No one is supposed to know. The danger it would bring..."

The prospect of talking to Sally again, of having her be a part of his life - of course it made Steve excited. But there was no way it could actually work.

[iron_tony]

"People know you're alive, Steve. Jean knows and Sam knows and plenty of other people know you're not dead. They just don't know where you are."

Actually, Tony was pretty sure that Sam Wilson did know but that was an argument for another time.

"It woudln't be that hard to rig up a neutral location -- it would be easier if you hadn't gone and introduced yourself as Roger Stevens, or whatever, but it's nothing we can't work around. Assuming, of course, that you think she's trustworthy --"

[starspangledcap]

"Of course she's trustworthy. She's Sally. And if you can make sure it's all safe..."

Steve sat back, incredulous, and his mouth split into a wide, slightly goofy grin. "I'm really going to get to see her." He reached up without thinking, placed a hand to the side of Tony's face. "Thank you."

[iron_tony]

"I'm not doing it for --" Tony began, and then, unexpectedly he felt Steve's hand on his face, and it was such a spontaneous, grateful gesture, something he had never realistically thought he was going to feel again. "Well," he murmured, "maybe I did it a little bit for you." And he wasn't sure how, but his mouth was against Steve's cheek now and he started to laugh, against the other man's skin. "God, you really do have to do something about this beard."