A Gift of Fic for taricalmcacil!

[muccamukk]

Title: The Voice (2/2)
Recipient: taricalmcacil
Author: del_rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)




Steve had waited for the Voice to appear ever since the battle began. It still felt strange to think of it as Tony while it was J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice he had been using all this time, so referring to it with its old name was easier for the time being.

The familiar tone didn’t reach his ears, or anyone else’s. Maybe –Steve didn’t like this idea at all – he had abandoned them now that they had found out his identity. Or maybe Tony was just busy. Maybe there was nothing he could do to help them as they fought the strange machines which seemed too organic to be mere machines.

Bruce’s first guess had been either a horrible lab experiment gone rogue or something from outer space – or a mix of the two. The things they had faced since first assembling suggested that anything was possible.

Steve sent his shield flying, almost cutting off the head of one of the creatures, but it merged back into place, hugging onto the tendrils that hadn’t been severed. Hawkeye had tried blowing them up but they kept pulling themselves back together no matter how far the Hulk tossed the parts, and it seemed they just got flatter and flatter beneath Thor’s pounding, never really breaking.

“Cap, on your six!” Black Widow called, giving Steve just enough time to turn and see one of the things behind him. Tentacle-like appendices twined around him, cutting off air immediately, making it hard to fight back when his body couldn’t get enough oxygen.

He heard a roar of engines behind him, hoping it was back-up from S.H.I.E.L.D. and fearing it was one of the news choppers coming too close. Instead he felt something hot tingle against his back and the mechanic organism jerked, letting him go. Steve rolled to the ground, attempting to get back on his feet, and raised his head to see what had happened.

On the other side of the silvery creature he saw a figure of red and gold, one knee on the ground, head slightly bowed. The figure soon straightened up, mechanical body emitting small sounds as it moved, yet what made Steve’s shoulders relax and the corners of his mouth turn up was the glowing circle in the thing’s chest.

“Shield up,” Tony ordered, voice distorted. He raised his hands and Steve did as he was told, then felt a pressure like an invisible field, ending in a sort of a shriek from the thing he had been battling and when he lowered his shield again, he saw the silver creature twitching on the ground as if a dying cockroach. “That should slow it down,” Tony mused, walking over, a bit stiff but clearly this wasn’t his first time in the suit of armor. Steve wondered why he hadn’t just told them when they visited his lab.

“We’re not even sure what these things are,” Steve mentioned, deciding to ask questions later.

“Bio-mechanic organisms. A concentrated EMP blast should shut down most of them, as demonstrated, and after that their self-repair capabilities should be minimized.” He looked up, the glowing blue eyes of his helmet scanning the area.

“They’re all yours,” Steve encouraged him and he wondered if Tony smiled. The armor took off from the ground, soaring into the air, and by the time the rest of the creatures were twitching on the ground – or not twitching after the Hulk stepped on a few in annoyance – they all gathered up in a sort of a circle in the middle of a demolished street.

“Nice suit,” Clint commented.

“Thanks,” Tony replied.

“Why not bring it out in the open earlier?” Natasha asked, gently twisting a wrist that may have gotten sprained in the action.

“It… didn’t feel like the right thing to do. What would I have done with it?”

“I can think of a few things you could do with it now,” Steve cut off any further comments.

The Hulk grunted approvingly.

“You better go before S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives for clean up,” Clint went on. “Unless you’re planning on coming over and explaining all this to Fury.”

“I think I’ll take a rain check on that,” Tony sounded like he cringed then sort of saluted them and blasted up into the air before anyone could get another word in.

“What are we going to call him?” Thor mused.

“Maybe he’ll let us know next time,” Steve said with a faint smile on his lips.

- - -

The press dubbed him ‘Iron Man’. Steve thought it was catchy, in a sense, and not knowing how to ask for Tony’s own opinion, he decided on the most obvious way to do it; going to see him in person.

He rode his bike to Malibu when he had time off. Well, his time off would last as long as it took a new threat to rise, but until then S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers business could wait. It was getting dark when he arrived at Stark’s estate and rode up the winding path to the house. He slid off the seat, stretched a bit then took his bag and walked to the door, wondering suddenly what he was going to say. He had decided to think of that on the road, but now he was here and he hadn’t landed on any solid idea.

Steve hesitated at the door, not having rung the bell yet. Maybe he should come back when he knew that he wanted to say to Tony, or at least explain his presence here.

The door opened before he could decide either way.

“Please come in, Captain Rogers,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said softly.

“Uh, thanks,” Steve replied and stepped in.

“Mister Stark is downstairs in his workshop. You’re free to join him. I have also prepared a guest room for you. If you want to shower first, or eat, I can show you the way.”

“I think I’ll talk to Tony first,” Steve managed. Okay, so it was late and he had a bag with him, which might have led him to ask if he could spend the night, but having a room already prepared for him seemed a bit too much. He didn’t want to make Tony feel like he had to do this.

He walked downstairs, the door to the workshop unlocking for him. Music was blasting hard and gritty while Tony leaned over a workbench, sparks flying.

The music died down when Steve entered and Tony looked up. “I told you to let him in, not kill my tunes.”

“It seemed polite not to ruin his hearing on purpose,” J.A.R.V.I.S. defended his actions.

Steve smiled at the two of them while Tony slid off the welding mask to uncover his face and peer up at him. “Hey, Cap. What’s the occasion?”

“I wanted to see how you were doing and, uh… congratulate you on your official superhero status?” Steve offered.

Tony grinned and turned off the welding machine. “The name’s not really accurate but I can live with it. How’s Fury taking it?”

“As well as can be expected. It’s ticking him off that we refuse to tell him if we know who Iron Man is – for some reason he seems to think we do know – and he’s also getting highly suspicious of my involvement in the attempt to catch the hacker. He seems to think I might not be as in tune with the idea of finding and catching the culprit as I said I was.”

Tony chuckled then groaned faintly and stepped back from the bench, sitting down in a chair instead, looking a bit pained. “I’m sure he’s in shock that the national icon might actually be lying to his face.” He reached for a metal box on the table, shook two pills out of it and then tossed them in his mouth, chased down by a gulp of water. He looked at Steve after he was done, as if gauging his reaction.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Steve guessed.

Tony shrugged, although the motion was almost small enough to miss. Maybe that would have hurt, too. “A souvenir.”

“Is it because of the suit, or was the suit designed for it?” Steve knew maybe he shouldn’t ask, but Tony might be in a charitable mood, who knew.

“I guess the latter,” Tony smiled distantly before his expression froze slightly. “A couple years back I got kidnapped in Afghanistan. A bomb exploded in front of me and embedded shrapnel in my chest. In an attempt to save me, a… doctor carved a hole in my chest and put an electromagnet in it because he couldn’t get all the shrapnel out. This is an improved version of his crude device,” Tony said, lightly tapping the circle of light, “and the suit was supposed to get us both out of there. I got rescued about a month later, though, and never completed the suit.”

Steve could imagine the horror of that experience, yet it seemed to have taught Tony a few valuable lessons – some of which had been put to good use recently. “Well, I’m glad he saved your life.”

Tony looked at him with a peculiar expression on his face. “Me, too, I guess,” he said then, slowly, still watching Steve. “What are you doing here, really?”

Steve looked down at his feet, noting a few stains on the floor but nothing as bad as he might have expected. Tony kept his work space clean, clearly. “I’m not sure.”

“So you just rode almost three thousand miles on a whim?”

Steve raised his eyes, dropped his bag because he felt stupid carrying it around like that, then walked closer. “I guess I wanted to thank you. I know I have, before, over the comm…” Speaking to a mere voice in his ear had never felt as real as standing here, in front of Tony, able to touch him if he just reached out. The voice may have been someone else’s but now that he’d had the chance to talk to Tony, he knew where his appreciation belonged.

“You’re welcome,” Tony replied with a quirky smile on his lips. “Are you going to drive back home now, satisfied?”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. offered me a bed and supper, I believe,” Steve noted.

“He’s such a flirt.”

“You’re the one who created him; you should know.”

Tony regarded him for the longest of times, as if trying to figure something out or testing a theory. Finally he narrowed his eyes, as if shifting his brain into a higher gear still. “Shouldn’t this be strange, somehow?”

“What?” Steve had to ask.

“Us. You and me. We’ve met twice – or three times, if you count me being in the suit. I always imagined it would be odd, meeting you after all the stories my dad told me about you.”

“And weighing in the suppressed resentment,” J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up – clearly not with permission because the look Tony gave the room in general was scalding.

“Yeah, well, all that,” Tony finally admitted once he was done with his internal monologue at his AI’s boldness.

“We’ve talked to each other for months,” Steve started. “I guess that counts for something. It’s almost like I know you.”

“You thought it was J.A.R.V.I.S. who was talking to you,” Tony reminded him, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“Yeah, but it never made sense until we figured out that you just used him – to communicate with us,” he hastily added before Tony could get offended. Could he get offended by using something he had created? J.A.R.V.I.S. felt so much like an actual person that Steve had a hard time determining the difference.

Tony studied him again. “You’re not like how I thought you would be.”

“Is that a good thing?” Steve asked, surprised at how curious he actually was about Tony’s reply.

“Perhaps.” Tony grinned suddenly. “Although it does put sort of a damper on some of my dirtiest childhood fantasies.”

Steve knew he should have blushed and coughed, to signal he didn’t want to hear about that. He did neither – which seemed to be something Tony hadn’t anticipated as a reaction. The brown eyes narrowed again as the brunette regarded him. They stayed like that, Tony’s gaze piercing and Steve just looking back at him, committing to memory each line of his face and body in a way the artistic side of his brain would be pleased with.

Finally he decided enough was enough and stepped forward, closer to Tony, not slowly but not too fast to feel like he was crowding. “As I said earlier, I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for the Avengers.”

“And I said you’re welcome,” Tony cocked his head, narrowed eyes not relenting. “You’re pushing it; as much I love being praised and thanked for things I’ve done, I, too, have a limit.”

“It means a lot to me that you would do that, to go to so much trouble to help people you don’t even know,” Steve went on.

“It was for a good cause, right? And I…” Tony looked to the side. He had probably made promises to a dying man – Steve knew that look. Knew how it could hound you.

“I’m also thankful that you finally put on the suit,” Steve added, now very close to Tony, their knees almost touching.

“I’ve put it on before,” Tony tried to dodge the topic.

“Not for something like this.”

“So now I’m a goddamn hero. Great! I finally know what to do with the rest of my adult life,” Tony grinned although in his eyes… it was hard to tell but maybe Tony didn’t believe it. Maybe he didn’t think he could do it, or that he was unworthy for some reason.

“I’ll talk to Fury again. I want you to be part of the Avengers – if you want. The others agree.”

“You voted?” Tony looked up at him.

“We didn’t need to.”

It looked like Tony had never really been chosen for anything. He gave Steve one of those looks he had been feeling all his childhood, when he wouldn’t be picked for a team unless he had to be. Sure, Tony’d had success in his life, walking over everyone else, one step ahead, but that didn’t mean he had been picked by the right people – the people that actually mattered in the crucial moments of his life. A diploma here and an honor there wasn’t something one needed to feel they were blending in, that they were part of something.

“Thanks,” Tony finally said, shifting his chair back and then standing up, looking up at Steve’s face after he had dragged his eyes up his body. The grin appeared again. “As my not sure what you mean by this, is that dirty childhood fantasy totally out of the question?”

Steve had a feeling he might regret his answer, but at the same time he knew a large part of him would never look back at this moment with remorse: “I think something can be arranged.”

- - -

Steve’s stomach rumbled. He recalled it had been a while since he last ate. Some road-side diner outside L.A. where he was just another touristy American out of place, not just out of time.

A chuckle reached his ears and Tony shifted beside him. His skin was warm – Steve usually ran hot but their recent activities had helped Tony to catch up.

“There are snacks available in the kitchen, Captain Rogers,” J.A.R.V.I.S. informed helpfully.

Steve felt for a brief moment that he should feel awkward knowing that the AI had been watching and listening to them the whole time, but Tony didn’t seem to care so it probably didn’t matter. “Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S. And you can call me Steve.”

“Of course, Captain Rogers.”

“He won’t stop calling you that,” Tony murmured against his side where his head currently lay.

“You programmed him.”

“Oh, trust me, he’s evolved beyond everything I ever programmed him to do, and that’s the way it was supposed to be.” He turned to his side, looking at Steve. His hair was a bit rumpled and he looked so much more relaxed. “My friend Rhodey tried to make J call him something other than ‘Mr. Rhodes’. J.A.R.V.I.S. understands the concept, of course, because he didn’t call him ‘Mr. Rhodey’ for the rest of the time – just for a couple months to make his point.”

Steve decided not to chance it. He sat up, stretching his back, feeling rather relaxed himself. Tony was still looking at him and Steve took the chance to lean down and kiss him. It was long and slow now that the passion had dissipated.

“That wasn’t so bad for a ninety-something-year-old virgin,” Tony commented when Steve moved to the edge of the wide bed and got up.

“Who said anything about a virgin?” Steve shot back.

“Oh, so America’s finest was having relations while in the war?”

“I’m a gentleman; I don’t kiss and tell.”

“If you don’t tell me, I can still call you a virgin,” Tony teased, rolling over, reaching out to touch Steve’s naked skin with his fingertips.

“Not anymore you can’t,” Steve replied, shooting out and catching that hand, pulling Tony closer. “You should eat, too.”

“Then bring me back something.”

“It’s your house. You should be making me supper.”

Tony let out a dismissive sound, regarding him, then finally sighed and rolled off the bed, padding to the kitchen without bothering to put on any clothes. Steve wasn’t quite so adventurous and tugged on his underwear before following him. The lights were already on and Tony had a fresh drink at his elbow. He was pulling things out of cupboards and the fridge, clearly intent on sandwiches. Steve stepped up behind him, flush against Tony’s back and nuzzled his neck, hands tracing his sides, hips and thighs with a minimum of touch.

“So,” Tony asked, taking a sip of his drink then going back to food preparations, “was this a ‘thank you and welcome to the team’ kind of thing or is it going to get really awkward later?” he mused.

“I’m an old-fashioned man,” Steve said although it wasn’t necessarily true. After all, he had jumped into the sack with Tony without even having a proper conversation with him first. Not that he regretted it, not for a moment. One clearly didn’t become a notorious playboy in this day and age simply by boasting of their prowess in bed. “I don’t think I would handle meaningless fraternization very well.”

“We’re not even officially working together yet,” Tony noted.

“So it’s not fraternization. Unless you accept that you’re part of the Avengers whether or not Fury said yes, which means it is very much fraternization and we might have to make it a bit more meaningful to withstand the horrible scrutiny other people are going to subject us with.”

“You’ve really given this some thought, haven’t you?” Tony asked, turning around. He had a dab of butter on his finger so Steve pulled it to his lips and licked it off. There was an underlying taste of sex beneath it and he decided that Tony was the kind of person to not remember personal hygiene when he emerged from his workshop. He also guessed no one ever asked him to cook for them, either, and that’s why Tony’s kitchen was fairly uncluttered.

“While you lay passed out on the bed,” Steve teased him.

“I was enjoying myself,” Tony defended his brief, blissed-out coma. “You rocked my world, Cap, what can I say?”

Steve smiled and kissed him again. He knew this could get weird afterwards, when he actually realized what he had done with a person he didn’t even know. But like he’d said, Tony and he had been talking for months and if this man had tried to help Steve of his own free will, without being told or asked, he didn’t see it as a bad thing.

He was merely saying ‘thank you’ in a rather creative way, and ensuring that his team stayed safe in the future as well – with an added bonus of a new teammate and friend.





The End





Author’s note: The plot and size of this fic took on a life of its own at some point. I hope everyone enjoyed this.

Also, before anyone asks (if said ‘anyone’ is interested) there is a chance of a sequel, seeing as the whole Obadiah-is-a-bad-guy business didn’t get to be included just yet (because Tony never actually built Mark I suit in the cave and killing him after he was rescued would have been too obvious), or the palladium poisoning (using the suit speeded up the his condition according to IM2, which Tony wasn’t doing here). So there is a possibility in the future, of one sequel or more…


- Part One - Part Two -