Fic: Collision, part 3

[macx-larabee.livejournal.com]

TITLE: Collision, part 3
Iron Man (movie)
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13 (bordering on mild, mild R)
PAIRING: Steve/Tony, obviously :)
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money
Author’s Voice of Warning (aka Author’s Note):
English is not my first language; it’s German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...
FEEDBACK: Loved



“Just because I don’t have superhero instant mutant healing powers doesn’t make me useless! Just because everyone else is genetically enhanced doesn’t make me the weak link!”




Tony came home the day after the enforced overnight hospital stay. He was moving carefully, holding his bruised ribs, and Steve glowered at him all the way from the hospital to the mansion. The other Avengers had carefully inquired how he was, but Tony had brushed it off with a smile and the reassurance that he was fine.

He wasn’t fine. Steve knew it. Everyone knew it. The bandaged hands were a dead giveaway. Overloading the repulsors had been a Very Bad Idea. Like so many other things. The bandaged ribs were out of sight under one of Tony’s dress shirts, and his concussed head was just the icing on the cake.

Steve was angry. At himself. At Tony. At Fury. Very much at Tony. At the others. And Tony again. It all came back to the other man. Tony Stark, who couldn’t take it easy, who wouldn’t let anyone else help, who was…

… working.

When Steve caught Tony logging into the Stark Industries mainframe to work, things boiled over.

“You’re supposed to take it easy!”

“I am taking it easy.”

“By working?”

Tony spread his arms. “You see any work?”

Steve grimaced. “I know you’re using Extremis.”

Stark tilted his head. “You do?”

“I can see it in your face. Your expression changes.”

Tony frowned. No one had ever mentioned that, not even Pepper or Rhodey, who knew him a lot longer than Steve. But Steve watched people. He picked up on little things. He had been an aspiring artist before the Super-Soldier experiment and he still had the eye. That he hadn’t figured out that Tony Stark and Iron Man were one and the same still bugged him, but maybe it had been too much of a jump. His brain had refused to make the connection.

“I see. But that isn’t work. It’s not physically straining.”

“Mentally it is! Tony, you got nearly trampled by some gigantic metal toy!”

“I survived.” It sounded dismissive, like it wasn’t important. “And I don’t need a baby-sitter, Steve. Go to the others.”

“And leave you here? No way. You either come with me or I’m staying!”

“Fine. Stay. Bore yourself to death.”

Tony turned and walked over to a small, well-hidden fridge. He tried to hide the twinge of pain as he bent down to retrieve a Coke, but Steve saw it. It made him angry.

But he stayed. Maybe it was the only way to force Tony into surrendering to his body’s needs.


It wasn’t, of course. That another call came in and the Avengers headed out didn’t help. Neither did the argument with Tony about whether or not he was ready for a new mission. Steve wasn’t able to win the argument and he was glad when it proved to be a relatively mundane and easily solved problem.

Still, the anger stayed.

* * *

Pepper Potts stood in the workshop, lips a thin line of disapproval, looking at her employer. Tony was working on the gauntlets. Whatever he had done with them in the last battle – a battle that had put him in the hospital and had Steve Rogers pissy, which put the rest of the Avengers in a state of confusion – he was currently trying to repair it.

And he had taken off the bandages.

“I think they were there for a reason,” Pepper said curtly and nodded at the pile of soiled bandages.

Tony’s hands looked fine. A bit bruised maybe, but better than she would expect after being wrapped up so completely.

“They get in the way,” Stark answered, sounding distracted. “They only kept me from moving my fingers because of the concussion pain. That’s gone. Extremis repaired me.” He flashed her a quick smile.

“You’re not supposed to work.”

“I’m not. I’m relaxing.”

“You’re working, Tony. Handling small tools and dangerous repulsors isn’t collecting stamps!”

He looked up, face passive. “Why are you here, Potts? Board having their weekly midlife crisis? Emergency meeting over a contract? Design flaw brought down the helicarrier?” He turned back to his work.

Pepper decided then and there that Tony was definitely not okay. Physical injuries aside, something else was going on. Of course, she hadn’t been able to overhear the very loud, very angry argument between Captain America and Tony Stark. The Avengers were out fighting whatever and Tony was stuck here. Like a little kid grounded by his dad. It was a miracle he had followed Cap’s orders.

“You know Captain America made the right decision. You’re injured…”

He looked up again, anger flaring in the dark eyes. “I’m not useless! I can carry my weight in a battle, whatever my condition!”

Pepper refused to step back. She locked her knees, squared her shoulders and gave Tony her best personal assistant glare.

“Your condition right now is downtime. You got hurt! You need to heal!”

“I’m good as new. Extremis helps.”

“It’s no reason to run off and get hurt again.”

He slammed the tool onto the table. Pepper jumped a little.

“Just because I don’t have superhero instant mutant healing powers doesn’t make me useless! Just because everyone else is genetically enhanced doesn’t make me the weak link!”

Pepper’s eyes narrowed. “Just because you’re having an emotional identity crisis over who you are on the Superhero Ladder of Greatness and Monumental Stupidity doesn’t make me your verbal punching ball, Mr. Stark,” she shot back, eyes flashing. “You chose this life as Iron Man. You are part of the team – the team you helped found. Get a grip on yourself and deal with it!”

She turned abruptly on her heels and stalked away. Her own words echoed in her mind and she winced a little at how frank she had been. But she had known Tony long enough and she had seen him through alcohol abuse, air-head groupie babes, and near-death at the hands of a man he had trusted all his life. Whatever was going on now, and she knew it wasn’t just the fact that he had to sit out a fight or had feelings of inadequacy, she would see him through that as well.

Somehow.

* * *

Tony had retreated after the last call and Steve hadn’t seen him for the rest of the evening when they had returned. In the morning he was already gone.

That game continued for about there days, then Steve’s last shred of patience snapped.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Where is Tony?”

“Mr. Stark is currently unavailable.”

He had heard that line quite often. Aside from an Avengers emergency, Tony wouldn’t respond to any calls.

“Where. Is. He?”

Okay, so threatening an AI was stupid. Jarvis could just shut him out and there was nothing Steve could do about it.

“Captain, I can’t reveal that particular information to you.”

Steve snorted and headed for the basement. The workshop was the only place Tony felt safe. He suspected that was where he would be.

And he was.

Steve didn’t need a special override code for the door. He had the regular one – and it worked.

“Tony,” he said calmly as he entered.

Stark was fiddling with the armor. Of course he was.

“What do you want?” Tony asked, not even looking up.

“Talk.”

No reply.

“Tony.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, aside from a new mission or Nick Fury handing me my ass in a sling.”

Steve frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Tony looked up, eyes unreadable. “Why are you here, Steve?”

“To talk.”

“We’ve got nothing to talk about.”

“We do. Like your willingness to take the heat for others. Like your sacrificial nature…”

Stark laughed darkly. “I’m not sacrificial, Captain. I never was. I do what needs to be done.”

“Killing yourself is part of that?”

“I’m not dead.”

“Yet. Tony, there was no need to drain the reactor! The others were coming!”

“You were out for the count, Rogers!” Tony snapped. “It was my only choice! It would have killed you!”

“So you were ready to let it kill you?”

Steve couldn’t forget what Tony had said, that it would be better for Steve to survive than himself.

“They want you, not me,” Tony said calmly, voice schooled. “Your survival counts. You’re needed.”

And no, he didn’t sound pathetic. Or lost and alone. Or like he wanted a hug. No, definitely not because Tony Stark had pride and he had gone through worse. Much worse.

“That’s not true! You’re as much part of this team as I am. Together we’re strong.”

The old recruitment speech, Tony thought derisively. He laughed. He’d buy it; really, he would. This was Captain America. He could just sweep you off your feet.

“Sure,” he only answered, voice neutral. “Get real, Steve. Tony Stark is a playboy billionaire with an eccentric hobby. I’m not a hero.”

“You are.”

“Then you’re probably the only one who thinks so.”

“Fury wouldn’t…”

“Fury wants the tech and the money and the connections I bring, Steve! Nothing else! If he had someone else with the Extremis in his head and an inkling of how to handle the suit, I’d be obsolete!”

Steve shook his head, anger rising. “You’re not just a tool, Tony!”

Stark snorted and turned away.

“We respect you! You’re needed on the team!”

“Until someone with enough firepower joins.”

Steve grabbed the retreating man, flung him around and against the wall. Stark stared at him wide-eyed, shocked, and a little breathless.

“You got the Avengers started! You made this real! You gave us a place to meet, the weapons and the gear! You are the link, Tony! Like Extremis is the link between you and the computer world! We need this!”

“No,” Tony said quietly. “You don’t. Fury needed me to start the funds. He already had a list of possible candidates for recruitment. SHIELD needed me because I’m the easiest way to Stark Industries weaponry, and it’s the best on the market.”

There was no pride in his voice. It was a flat delivery of facts.

“The Avengers were Fury’s idea, Steve. From the beginning. I was only the one who finally got his idea rolling. He gave me a spot on the team as bait. I was stupid enough to take it.”

Steve was close to slamming Stark against the wall once more, just to shake his stubborn brain lose.

“You don’t need me any more,” Tony repeated. “Or Iron Man. We did our part. The Avengers…”

“You’re such a stubborn jerk!” Steve exploded, interrupting the self-destructive speech.

It got him a tired laugh. “Heard that often enough.”

“You’re a superhero like all of them out there!” Steve gestured with one hand. “You save people! Don’t tell me it’s nothing!”

“I’m a man piloting an armor. Anyone could do it.”

“But you are doing it.”

“Steve…”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Stark! You got me back! You gave me a life, an existence!”

“Fury did that. I paid the bills.”

“You were there.”

“I was an observer.”

Steve shook his head. “You were there,” he repeated, “in a way none of the doctors were. I woke up and had no idea where I was, actually who I was. I couldn’t move, I felt cold, I was alone… and you were there, Tony.”

“Iron Man…”

“You, Tony. You were strange and alien to me, but you spoke with me. You touched me. I needed a focus and it was you.”

The other man looked stunned, like it was a revelation. Maybe it was. Steve had never talked with anyone about this, not even his old friend Nick Fury. He had been ripped out of his time, had lost his friends – Bucky – and no one and nothing could bring all of it back. He was out of his own time and he was an icon in this one. He had apparently taken it all in a stride, but he hadn’t.

“You were there. You treated me like a normal person,” Steve went on. “I needed that.”

And the nights spent talking. Him and Tony. He hadn’t known why he trusted that man back then; now he supposed he had had an idea who Stark might be. It had been so natural back then; still was.

“You know more about me than anyone. You listened.”

Tony had that deer-caught-in-headlights look.

“You’re the only one who doesn’t put me on a pedestal! They all look up to me like I’m some kind of god! I’m not!”

Tony stared, dumbstruck. Then, “You… Goddamn, Rogers, you are an icon! I think so too!”

“But you don’t fall all over yourself!” Steve stated.

“No, I just daydream about you,” Tony muttered, then his eyes widened in shock at his own words.

Steve blinked and took a step back. “What?”



tbc...