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cap_ironman2014-04-15 10:10 pm
dragonofmemory) wrote in cap_ironman2014-04-15 10:10 pm
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Discussion Question Wednesday! #1: Firsts
Hello all. I'm here to tell you about what will hopefully be a new feature to the com.
Discussion Question Wednesday!
That's right. We shall hopefully have discussion questions every other week. Feel free to add meta, fic, art, in-depth conversations over the topic, head canons or anything else that you can think is Relevant To Our Interests. Please keep it polite and respectful of other people's opinions even if they aren't your own, but other than that, take it where you want to go! Since this is our first question, let's talk about some firsts.
Anon responses should be turned on, so let me know if they don't work. Also, Whizzy, can you make that tag for us?
Discussion Question Wednesday!
That's right. We shall hopefully have discussion questions every other week. Feel free to add meta, fic, art, in-depth conversations over the topic, head canons or anything else that you can think is Relevant To Our Interests. Please keep it polite and respectful of other people's opinions even if they aren't your own, but other than that, take it where you want to go! Since this is our first question, let's talk about some firsts.
If you could write/re-write Steve and Tony's first meeting/date in any universe, what would you do differently?
Anon responses should be turned on, so let me know if they don't work. Also, Whizzy, can you make that tag for us?
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A lot of fics have MCU Steve and Tony crashing and burning hard at their first meeting, but I rather think that they both just gave a slightly cold reception. Tony, because of all of his daddy issues, and Steve, because he's heard some not-so-nice things about someone he would have looked forward to meeting from the rest of SHIELD. They don't argue or yell. They just shake hands, give fake smiles, and walk away to go about their business.
Tony walks away feeling disappointed, because here was a childhood hero who took away his father's attention, and he doesn't seem to live up to the hype at all. This was the person who his father spent so long looking for? That washed up man who doesn't even go out and get involved in anything is the one who he spent so many years feeling second best next to? Fuck that. He has a Tower to finish.
Steve walks away feeling disappointed, because here was a link to his past that was just as self-absorbed as everyone said he was. This was the person who was the modern hero of the future? That spoiled brat that only fights for himself and doesn't know what true heroism is? He was so disappointed in meeting Howard's son that he needed to kill some punching bags.
They both walked into that meeting with baggage and took away more. Which makes their realizing how wrong their misconceptions were even more beautiful.
As for a first date, I like to think Steve made the first move, taking a bewildered Tony on a romantic dinner-date that he researched online. He kissed Tony chastely in the elevator, thankfully getting a much better reaction than he got from Natasha. Then Tony tries to plan a huge romantic second date with a trip to Paris and a moonlight dinner with candles and violins, which Pepper vetoes immediately, then shoos him out of her office telling him to take Steve on a picnic in the park. "Picnics are romantic, Tony. Steve will like that." She only shakes her head when Tony still brings caviar and other expensive wine to a picnic, but lets him get away with that.
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Haha, I'm sure that thought -- and similar ones -- cross Tony's mind constantly.
They both walked into that meeting with baggage and took away more. Which makes their realizing how wrong their misconceptions were even more beautiful.
Yeah, as painful as it is to think of them disliking each other, that does fit with what we saw in the movie, and does make their eventual teamwork even more satisfying! I like the way you think. I also like the way your headcanon!Pepper thinks.
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Thank you! I happen to like a bit of animosity in my friendships, especially in the start. I think that's what drew me in to Steve and Tony in the first place. Especially when you see how flawlessly they do work together eventually, without any kind of practice. They didn't discuss they Tony shooting the shield move, it just happened.
Pepper knows there's a fine line between stopping Tony from making mistakes, and letting Steve know that this is just how Tony is and he's going to have to learn to deal with it. Sometimes, you just have to pretend to smile when you're greeted with a giant bunny. XD
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Steve is in the opposite boat. Tony's life is so public and in such filthy detail that Steve probably has the media to thank for some really negative preconceptions. During their first meeting it'd be hard for tony to be worse than his reputation, possible that he'd be better than his reputation, but likely that his behavior just confirmed his reputation.
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They were basically set up not to like each other, and without Iron Man's identity as a buffer, it makes it harder for them to see through to the truth. I've always kind of wondered what that first scene would be like.
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Actually, I was going to describe how I'd re-work MCU with Steve being thawed a little bit earlier (with a dash of identity porn) but I've already written it, so have some unposted WIP.
***
"Something wrong, sir?"
"Don't miss a beat, do you, JARVIS?" Doubtless including Tony's unsteady hands as he upended the decanter in the sink, following his glass.
"I try not to."
So much for a third scotch. The two in the car had gone down without incident, but this stuff was- had been Obie's favorite label. The first sip had summoned the phantom scent of spicy cologne and stale cigar smoke -- an association Tony's stomach had deemed intolerable.
One of these days he was going to teach You to make a decent martini.
He leaned against the counter for a moment longer. "Where are we on the damage assessment?"
"I'm afraid it will take more than a new coat of paint. Preliminary assessment of the Mark III platform indicates structural integrity at forty-three percent."
Tony was pathologically incapable of repairing something without finding room for improvement, and that went double for his own creations. He located his chair, plopped into it with enough force to make the pneumatic spring bounce, and dragged himself with his heels across the room to his workstation. "Open a new project file. Private server, you know the drill."
"Mark IV, I presume sir? Are you keeping the old naming convention, or has the Iron Man moniker stuck?"
"Haven't decided yet." It was catchy, if technically inaccurate, and the public seemed to have latched onto it. The press sure hadn't missed the pending trademark applications Tony (meaning Pepper) had filed shortly after the first headline broke. And just like that -- wham, bam, thank you JARVIS -- he was back to the press conference.
Tony knew a terminal case of divided attention when it beat him over the head. Worse, he'd cooled off enough that he could approach the whole mess with a rational mindset. Well, for a billionaire genius surname-rhymes-with-lark definition of rational.
"Damn it."
"A project file with that name already exists."
"How would you like to inhabit a vending machine that never gives correct change?"
"Very well sir, I'll assign a temporary-"
"Have those videos for me?"
"Queued and ready.
"Roll it." Before the slight buzz he had acquired wore off.
His screens filled with images of Rhodey, looking official in his class As, chest loaded with ribbons. (Teasing aside, there really were some impressive ones mixed in with the gold stars for participation.) Blah blah, Mr Stark, prepared statement... The audio was perfectly synched, but eight overlapping sources produced a strange echo effect.
"Skip this part."
Tony took the podium in fast forward. Everhart's hand shot up almost at once. Your version of events sucks, etc.
"Resume."
It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm, ah, a superhero. I'm... just not the hero type. Clearly. With this, uh, laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public...
Cue Rhodey leaning in: Stick to the cards. It was difficult to say which of them was more predictable, Tony gearing up to drop another press conference bombshell or Rhodey's obligatory attempt at defusing it.
The truth is-
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Tony behind the podium gave a little wave: Hi mom! He remembered wondering which of them had wised up first, whether Coulson's bullshit detector was as finely tuned as Pepper's impending media circus sixth-sense. He remembered the fleeting impulse to see if he could get Coulson to mime Tony his lines like a teacher at a school play.
Realization struck screen-Tony's eyes a split second later; the grin petrified and fell off his face. And huh, look at that. Rhodey, standing half in the frame behind Tony's shoulder, sensed trouble at once, his posture shifting from business to fight even before the cause was pinpointed. Definitely not in on it.
Motion blurred two of the feeds, the cameramen worth a shit -- camera operators came the correction in his head, in Pepper's voice -- chasing Tony's gaze across the room to its target.
Tony shifted in his seat. "JARVIS, freeze and zoom."
They weren't quick enough. By the time they picked out the newest arrival, he'd already edged behind Coulson to take what was, to all appearances, a habitual position at Pepper's side. But for all that they shared the same unfortunate fashion sense, where Coulson had that whole mild-mannered accountant shtick, new guy screamed muscle.
It wasn't merely that he was built like a brick shithouse. It was the artful little touches like the recent high and tight that was just beginning to grow out blond; and the clearly visible Secret Service style earpiece; and cant to his left elbow that suggested his concealed holster held something with a barrel on it like a howitzer. (Overcompensating much?)
"Resume."
The cameras still on Tony caught him fidgeting with his prompt cards. By some stroke of luck his face read more as blank than utterly fucking clueless, though he blinked several times in the barrage of flashes going off.
Mr Stark, excuse me. You said-
Mr Stark, the truth is...?
Mr Stark!
Rhodey leaned in again: You want me to-
A head shake: No, no, I got this.
Coulson helpfully gestured for Tony to flip over the card, somehow using just his eyebrows. The handwriting on the back wasn't visible from any camera angle, but Tony remembered exactly what it had said: Warned you, not my first rodeo.
Tony cleared his throat and read the next printed part aloud, letter for letter. Ladies and gentlemen, I present... Captain Stevens.
This was what Tony hadn't been able to see, what he needed to see.
Just as he'd feared, every eye in the place followed Stevens' unhurried approach up the aisle. There was a weird shuffle at the podium when Tony finally grasped he was supposed to move. Then Stevens stepped up and lifted the mic, the fucker.
Captain Stevens! came the chorus from the floor.
Ah, retired. It's Mr Stevens, Roger Stevens.
Mr Stevens!
Stevens requested silence with a raised hand -- well, more like threatened to stand there with the patience of a rock for however long it might take.
(Eight seconds, for the record.)
I'm sure you have all read the official release. I wanted to take the opportunity to say how... relieved I am that arc reactor malfunction was contained without injury, and to express my-
No cards. Stevens' speech flowed too well not to be memorized, but what really interested Tony was the pause, that tiny little hitch. "Freeze." He pointed, "Take this one back ten frames, that one twenty, thirty."
There -- right there.
"Should I scan for something in particular, sir?"
"Nope, think I found it." The exact moment that the saddest conspiratorial cover-up ever (well, outside of stray weather balloons) had acquired a life of its own.
***
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a) A full issue set on the submarine after rescuing Cap, kind of like a bottle episode on TV, or a one-setting play. Cap can worry about whether this is all a trick, and guess about how the world might have changed. Tony can try to make an impression on Cap before he's exposed to tabloids about Iron Man and Tony Stark. Everyone can have tense conversations and learn surprising things.
b) Namor finds Steve, tries to convince him that humans -- and the Avengers in particular -- are dangerous a-holes that should be avoided at all costs. Then Tony goes on an underwater mission and finds Steve and they develop a friendship and Steve is basically the little mermaid.
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Oh, Namor. I could see that. Steve being the Little Mermaid entertains me.
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I love Avengers 4, but the thing on the submarine could be done so much more realistically, it'd be very cool. (And also kind of awesome if, instead of hitting things when he felt threatened, Steve managed to barricade himself in the bridge and take over the sub.)
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I think the most interesting and silly take on the MCU meeting is when they actually met in a bar or something first and neither knew who the other was. The proceeded to have a nice little tryst which if I remember right became much more than just sex and they ended up talking a lot. Then they run into each other as Cap and Tony Stark. :P
I can't find the link right now. If I do, I'll post it here.
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