Fic: Collision, part 4

[macx-larabee.livejournal.com]

TITLE: Collision, part 4
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



"Tony, would you please stop not making any sense?!"





A bit shorter than the last one and definitely shorter than the next... sorry about that :)


“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?”





“Forget it. Tired. Need sleep.”

He tried to push past, but a strong hand held him back. “What did you say?” Rogers demanded.

Normally he would completely agree that Tony needed sleep, that he was too tired and exhausted, that he should listen to his body, which demanded rest. But not now. Not after that revelation.

“Nothing! I said forget it!”

“No!” The hand clamped down more and Tony winced.

Steve winced himself at the expression of pain, but this had to end here and now. Something had been going on since day one. He wanted to know.

“Why don’t you just go back home?” Tony only said, sounding exhausted, like he was giving up. “Fury’s probably looking for you. He might think I’m corrupting you.” The smile was barely there. “Hell, I probably already did.”

“You’re not. You never have.”

“Doesn’t stop the rumors.”

Steve shook his head again, unable to follow the erratic conversation. “Please talk to me,” he begged.

“I am talking to you, Rogers.”

“Not about what’s going on.”

“Let’s say it’s need to know basis and you don’t need to know.”

“I do. Because it concerns me. Us.”

“There is no us!” Tony erupted, eyes ablaze.

“Could there be?” Steve asked.

Tony stared at him, throat working convulsively.

“There could,” Steve went on, the light bulb finally going on in his head.

“W-what?”

“If you let it happen.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Us.”

“Steve…”

“Let it happen, Tony.”

The dark eyes were almost panicky. “It won’t work. Not with me. It can’t.”

“Why?”

Tony pushed past him again, and again Steve caught him. This time Stark retaliated, tried to make it into a defensive move, but Steve Rogers was Captain America, the best the world had to offer in hand-to-hand, unarmed combat. It was a very brief struggle that ended with Tony on the floor, Steve on top of him, hands pinned down at shoulder level.

“Why?” Steve repeated. He wasn’t even out of breath.

“Let go of me,” was the toneless order.

“No. I want an answer!”

“Let go!”

Steve leaned in closer. “Why, Tony?”

“Because Fury wouldn’t let it happen! Because it can’t happen! Because I’m not…” He stopped.

“I don’t care what Nick Fury thinks or does,” Steve said, voice intent.

Tony’s face hardened. “And because you’re straight,” he added a last argument.

“Says who?”

Silence. Tony had faint signs of disbelief and even fainter ones of hope in his eyes.

“I like men, too,” Steve said calmly. "I like you, Tony.”

It got him the opposite reaction he had hoped for. Tony’s lips drew into a sneer. “And gentleman that you are you never mentioned it?”

Steve sighed. “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure. Tony, I’m not the most… sexually active of men. I didn’t have the chance to…” He stumbled. “Well… to find out about all the little signals. I didn’t know if I was your type.”

Tony gaped. “Not my type? Hell! You’re Captain America! You’re everyone’s type!”

“You’re not everyone, Tony.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed. “And I’m not a pity fuck,” he hissed.

Rogers reeled back. “What?”

Okay, Tony was trying for erratic again. Throwing him off track. Successfully. Here he was opening up to Stark about his sexuality and Tony turned it around and accused him of wanting him because he pitied him?

“You can’t be interested in me! What you feel is pity, right?” the man underneath him spat. “Because I’m damaged!”

“Tony, would you please stop not making any sense?! I don’t pity you! I admire you!”

It got him another stunned look.

“You’re courageous. You’re a genius! You’re so much more intelligent than the rest of us! You’re handsome and successful… Tony, what I am is what a lab, a serum, made of me. That’s not true with you. Iron Man’s contribution is very much valued. What you do each time you put on the suit… it’s invaluable. It takes more courage than what I have.”

“Steve, stop it…”

“No. I want you to understand that what I see is what you are.”

“A shallow bastard?”

Steve shook his head in despair. “You’re not shallow. You want everyone to think so. You want an image. You protect yourself with it. But it’s not what you are, Tony Stark.”

He looked away. Steve waited, still sitting heavily on the much more slender man. Not thin. Never thin. Tony had the most outrageous eating habits Steve had ever seen, and he could live on coffee alone if he had to, but he wasn’t showing ribs or looked gaunt. Just… slender. There was power in that deceptive frame. Being Iron Man meant more than just piloting the armor. Tony had the strength and the endurance and the will-power to last through grueling fights, and he had the stubbornness to insist he was fine even if he was bleeding into the suit.

“What I am…” Stark finally said softly. “What I am is a bastard, Captain. You better deal with it.”

“I would if you’d let me.”

It got him a hollow laugh. “You don’t want me.”

“I do.”

“What for? You can’t save the world, so you want to rescue poor little me?”

Steve leaned in closer again, releasing the wrists slowly. “Tony, what I want is very selfish, very human, and even if I wasn’t Captain America, I’d still want it. The question would be then: would you want me in return?”

Confusion reigned the dark eyes.

“I was nobody, Tony. I wasn’t even some eccentric billionaire. I was rejected by the Army. I was a scrawny kid with high ideals, studying art. Why do you think I volunteered to be a test subject? I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be better. I wanted to fight for my country.”

“It worked,” Tony said softly, eyes fixed on Steve.

“Yeah, it worked. Only too well. But would you have wanted me without it?”

“We wouldn’t have met,” Stark simply said.

Steve chuckled. “Probably. But that isn’t the point. I’ve not always been the big, buff guy. And inside nothing has changed. I have the same ideals, wishes and dreams as I had before my physical change. You getting what I’m saying?”

“I think so. But what we want… it’s not important. I can buy myself what I want. I can get all the buff, blond, blue-eyed guys money can buy. You can have all the girls you want by just being yourself. The Avengers and SHIELD need you. They don’t need me holding you down, sullying your image…”

“Fuck them.”

Stark’s brows shot up at the expletive.

“There’s nothing to sully,” Steve said forcefully, eyes blazing. “You… what we could have… isn’t some kind of affliction. No one can tell me what to feel and who to like. I don’t want some girl. I don’t want anyone who throws himself at me. I want you. This is me, Tony. This is for me. Steve Rogers, not Captain America.”

“You are the same.”

“No. Just like Tony Stark and Iron Man are not the same.”

Tony smiled humorlessly. “Well, it would be so much better for all involved if they were. Iron Man people respect and support.”

“You have changed your ways, Tony. You have become someone else. Give the world time to see that. I already see it.”

Steve got up and held out a hand. Tony took it reluctantly and let him pull him up. He was wincing a little and Steve chided himself for ignoring the injuries.

“Don’t,” Tony said tiredly. “I’m okay.”

“Are you reading minds now, too?”

“You’re an open book, Rogers.”

“Then you should know I’m not lying to you.”

Tony smiled, but it had no strength. “Not giving up?”

“I’m not known for it.” Steve stepped closer again. “Take a chance.”

Tony closed his eyes. “It won’t work.”

“Unless we try it, we won’t know.”

Steve took a big chance and cupped the other man’s neck. He pulled him close and leaned down, brushing their lips together. Tony’s hands were clenching into his shirt and he was kissing back with the same intensity he did so many things.

When they separated, the dark eyes were positively lethal with desire. Steve licked his lips.

“How about it?” he asked, slightly rattled by the intensity of the brief kiss.

“Steve…”

“If you say no, you’re lying, Stark. You want this as much as I do.”

“Okay,” Tony said softly. “I won’t lie. I want this. I’ve wanted this ever since I laid eyes on you.”

“I was frozen in a block of ice.”

“Call me kinky.”

Steve chuckled. “I’ll call you a lot of things.” He hooked a finger into the waistband of Tony’s pants and pulled him closer once more. The next kiss was almost chaste. “Want to go out for dinner and a show?”

“A date?” Tony teased, features much softer now.

“Whatever you want to call it.”

“Delivery and a home movie?” Tony asked.

“Shy?”

“About getting seen with Captain America on a dinner date?” Stark laughed. “No. It’s your good name you’re destroying.”

Steve frowned. “Tony, stop it. You haven’t changed me in any way. I’ve always liked men and women equally. It’s just not something you write down in your resume. You’re not a black mark on anyone’s vest.”

“Ask the protesters. Ask the people who died because of my weapons.” Tony’s voice was flat, his face a mask.

Steve sighed. “Tony…”

“I’m not shy, Steve. I just… I want to stay home.”

Because he felt safer here, Steve realized. Because this was new and unexpected and Tony needed to deal with it his way. He had managed to fluster the man, upset his balance, and in a way it was strangely satisfying. Tony Stark was only human and his reaction to the revelations showed it.

“Okay.” Another kiss. “Fine with me.” And another.

Tony didn’t really fight it. He was rather enthusiastic and Steve found that his future lover’s reputation as a womanizer must have expanded on the male side of the sex, too. Tony showed no hesitation, and he was good. Damn, he was good.

Steve grinned. “Are we having dinner at all?”

“Hungry?”

Oh, and that was ambiguous. “I could eat,” he said calmly.

Tony chuckled and stepped back, giving them both a little more breathing space. “I think we can find something in the kitchen.”

Steve followed him, feeling strangely elated and slightly giddy. Adrenaline from the verbal fight was still rushing through his veins, but he also felt like he had won a big race. A race against Tony Stark and his damaged self-perception. Steve knew this would take some more work, especially since he didn’t want to hide what was hopefully developing between them from the others. They were a team and a team needed to trust each other. He didn’t think any of the other Avengers to be so narrow-minded as to start something over the relationship between the two men, but Steve was prepared to fight on that front, too.

Then there was Nick Fury. His old friend and comrade would probably have a conniption, question Steve’s judgment and then growl and snap and grumble until he had it out of his system.

Steve didn’t care.

He wanted this. A lot.

And he was prepared to fight.




tbc...