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cap_ironman2008-11-02 10:18 pm
kijikun.livejournal.com) wrote in cap_ironman2008-11-02 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
All That Remains (11/21) (NC-17|Steve/Tony)
Title: All That Remains (11/21)
Previous Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7,Part 8 Part 9, Part 10
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kijikun
Betas:pensive1, pandanoai
Rating: NC-17 (this part)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Warnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Author's Notes: Marvel Time is always kind of flexible, so we're setting this somewhere in the first half of 2008. Secret Invasion does not exist in our universe. Nope, never happened. As always, con-crit welcome.
The photo shoot had gone better than Tony had hoped. Between Jan's coaching and Maria's life being spent under observation Maria had seemed completely comfortable under the glare of the camera. Maria had smiled at all the right times and if she sometimes seemed shy or unsure and clung a bit closely to Tony, well who would blame a young child for acting as such around so many strange adults.
He could only hope the next part of this went nearly as well. Maria was a short distance away drawing, though he'd rather her be back at the Tower. Jan had pointed out and Carol had agreed, that letting them interview Maria, with him in the room of course, would go a long way.
"She's beautiful, Tony."
Tony turned away from watching Maria, and looked at Christine Everheart. She was as beautiful as always, and Tony would venture that the last several years had been very good to her. "That isn't why I adopted her."
Christine smiled. "I know, but it doesn't make it less true." She laughed and shook her head. "Why did you insist on me for this interview?"
"This going in the interview?" Tony asked back.
She shook her head. "I'm curious. I've never been kind to you in my articles."
Tony lips twisted into a mockery of a smile. "I know. Why do you think I asked for you? You don't pull your punches when it comes to me and everyone knows it."
Christine set her tape recorder on the table between them. "Shall we get started then?"
***
The Time magazine photo spread and article brought people out of the woodwork that Tony had thought would never speak to him again, and a few Tony rather wished still weren’t.
He'd even received messages from several of the X-Men, the least surprising being Hank McCoy who'd offered any sort of medical advice Tony might need raising a potential meta. Tony privately wondered if Reed or Hank Pym hadn't mentioned something weeks ago to the good doctor.
Maria Hill had fumed at him for leaving him out of the loop. Dugan simply seemed amused which Tony suspected had more to do with the fact that for the first day people had kept randomly dropping into Tony's office on the Helicarrier to offer him parenting advice.
He was slightly surprised he hadn't heard from Bucky (and he really had to stop calling him that even in his head) or Sharon. Perhaps the new Captain America had taken him on his word that Maria changed nothing about their agreement, but Tony doubted it. James didn't trust him or like him.
And if anyone noticed the new picture, sitting next to one of Tony's parents on his desk, of Maria with her tongue sticking out as she was drawing, they didn't say a word.
***
"But ants aren't blue," Maria protested as Tony came into the living room.
The sight that greeted him made Tony smile despite how his day had gone… despite the bruises hidden under his suit, despite the fact that his day even at five in the afternoon was just getting started. The scene in the living room just made him want to find someone -- anyone else to handle the crisis.
Steve and Maria were sitting on the floor with pages of a coloring book spread across the coffee table. Tony thought that maybe Hank had sent it since all the pages were of insects. Amongst the pages, there were colored pencils and crayons, and Tony was sure that each had some special and odd name that both Steve and Maria knew by heart and could tell anyone the difference between.
"They could be blue," Steve countered. "Or it could have been painted blue."
"Who would paint an ant blue?" Maria asked wrinkling her nose. She was working on a multi-colored butterfly.
"Hank Pym, possibly," Steve laughed.
Tony chuckled. "I'm telling him you said that."
Steve turned his head and grinned at Tony. "You wouldn't."
"I'm sure he'd love to give you a detailed description of why you shouldn't paint an ant blue or why you even would." Tony walked over to Maria, dropping a kiss on her head as he leaned over to look at her butterfly. "Is that a monarch butterfly?"
Maria nodded. "Steve says we'll be able to see lots of them in September."
"We should take her to one of the parks to see them," Steve told Tony. "We could make a picnic of it like we did last year." He reached out brushing his fingers against Tony's hand.
Tony twined their fingers together remembering that day. It seemed like years ago. "We should do that." Tony agreed, hoping if just for Maria's sake that when September came that there would still be a 'we'.
"You're home early." Steve smiled and squeezed his fingers. Maria was watching them but more curiously then with any kind of tension. Tony hated that he was probably about to ruin that.
"Not for long. Steve, I have to go out of town tonight." He didn't want to mention the reason directly in front of Maria and hoped Steve would understand. "Jarvis will be here until just after dinner but --"
Steve's eyes were concerned but he didn't question, for which Tony was grateful. "We'll be fine, won't we Maria?"
Maria didn't answer. She was looking at Tony intently. If Tony hadn't known her and her expressions so well, he wouldn't have seen the anxiety there. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, Maria." Tony assured her, hoping that he wasn't lying. But the only thing that would prevent him from keeping that unspoken promise was dying and he had no plans of doing that -- not anymore. He let go of Steve's hand and kneeled closer to Maria. He brushed some of her hair back affectionately. "You'll have dinner with Steve, same as always, and go to bed same as always. Steve will be here if you need anything."
"I should go with you," Maria blurted out, then paled. "I mean won't you need me with you, Tony?"
Tony repressed a sigh and shook his head. "No, Maria. I need you to stay here with Steve. Can you do that for me?"
Maria nodded, her face carefully blank. "Yes, Tony."
"That's my genius. I'll be back tomorrow morning." He repeated to her. "We'll work on the ship model all tomorrow afternoon, just me and you." He hugged her briefly.
After a long moment, her arms tentatively went around him. Tony kissed her head again. He suddenly couldn't understand how Reed and Sue did it. How they could hug their children goodbye and pray to god that they weren't lying when they said they'd be home soon.
***
Overall, Steve had thought things had been going rather well that night. Maria had been subdued after Tony had left, but he'd managed to get her re-interested in coloring. Even if that had taken calling Hank, who'd been more than happy to explain that yes there were 'blue ants' but they were actually called Diamma bicolor and were in fact patristic wasps that lived in Australia.
Maria had kept Hank on the video-phone for almost an hour before Jan had cut in to 'steal her husband back'. Steve thought it wise to not comment that Hank wasn't actually her husband anymore, but he was glad to see that they were working things out.
He'd thought maybe they'd get through the whole night without anything happening, then maybe Tony wouldn't have to look so worried leaving Maria alone with him. Like Steve would hurt her or couldn't handle her.
Then dinner came, and Maria had stared at Tony's empty chair, picking at her food.
"Maria, eat," Steve had coaxed.
She didn't respond still staring at the chair, something like horror slowly dawning in her eyes.
"Maria," Steve reached across and touched her hand. "He'll be back in the morning."
Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say.
Maria shook her head almost violently, pushing back from the table hard enough to tip over the chair. "No he won't! I - I -- what did I do wrong? What did I fail? I'm supposed to be with him! Did I fail? I'll do better, I promise! Please, I don't want a new CO. I want Tony. I want Tony!" From the sound of her voice, if she'd been any other child she would have been sobbing. Instead, the lack of tears made her sound more hysterical, almost out of control. "Tell me why he doesn't want me anymore!"
Her hands had curled into fists and Steve could almost feel the momentum gathering around her. He was on his feet almost by instinct. "That is enough, solider!" It was the voice he'd used with Bucky more times then he wanted to remember. Steve was aware of Jarvis watching with a frown, and he knew the other man disapproved of this tactic just as sure as he knew Tony would.
Maria jerked to attention, hands uncurling, and for a moment, Steve thought that was the end of it. He could deal with her in a calm manner. He could try to make her understand that Tony was coming back and she hadn't failed anything. Mostly Steve hoped he could keep his temper, because right now he wanted to hurt the people that could make a child think like this.
Then she'd jerked as if she was pulling herself out of something, and ran from the room.
"Shit," Steve hissed under his breath.
"That would be an understatement, Master Steven," Jarvis sighed from the doorway.
"Has she done this before?" Steve asked starting for the door. She'd probably wind up in her room, it would be a safety zone for her.
"Just once. It was quite an impressive tantrum. Anthony keeps claiming he means to talk to Professor Xavier about it but…" Jarvis gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
"But he'll probably never get around to it," Steve sighed. "Anything I should know?"
Jarvis managed a wan smile. "Be prepared to duck."
***
Against Jarvis' predictions, there was no need to duck when he reached Maria's room.
The lights were off and the room was quiet. He was fairly certain she was in there though. They would have heard the elevator and he doubted she would have ran to the gym.
The bed was empty and a quick check under the bed turned up nothing either. Frowning he wondered if maybe he should check Tony's room or study, when he noticed the closet door slightly open. And suddenly he was very sure of where she was.
During the war, Steve had helped evacuate an orphanage. Most of the children had been terrified and malnourished, though the Nun's caring for them had obviously tried their best. They'd flinched at every loud sound and they'd been terrified of Steve. They’d been terrified of all the soldiers. Before they'd left a Nun had come to Steve, telling him that one of the children was missing. Steve had found him eventually, huddled in small cubby hole under a set of stairs. The space was barely big enough for him. He hadn't spoken English, so Steve had coaxed him out in broken Polish.
Later the same, now very grateful, Nun had told Steve that little boy had been found hiding in a similar place after the German's had slaughtered his family.
"Maria, it's me." Steve said softly. "You aren't in trouble." And very slowly he pulled open the door.
Maria huddled in the corner of the closet, her knees up to her chest. Her face was hidden. She flinched when the closet opened but didn't look up. Her shoulders just shuddered with what Steve assumed were stifled sobs.
"Maria," Steve said softly, sitting down just outside the closet.
She pulled herself tighter into a ball.
"Maria, no one is angry at you," Steve kept his voice calm and soothing. "You aren't in trouble."
She shook her head, peering out at him with red eyes. "Tony left me here."
"That doesn't mean you're in trouble, or that he was angry with you," Steve assured her. "Why do you think you did something wrong?"
She raised her head a bit more and that was at least a start. "He didn't take me with him."
"And that means you failed somehow?" Steve asked gently.
Maria nodded, blinking back tears. "He doesn't need me."
Steve racked his brain for a way to explain this, to make her understand. "Maria..."
"I don't want to be replaced with one of the others," she whispered. Her shoulders shook and a sound like a sob escaped her lips. Maria hid her face again against her legs.
"No one is going to be replaced. You are not replaceable to Tony. He doesn't want any little blonde girl for a daughter; he wants you and only you." Steve told her. He reached out, ready to draw back if she reacted badly, and brushed her hair. "He loves you dearly. And when Tony Stark loves something or someone he doesn't just stop." Steve almost started to laugh as he realized what he'd said.
And what it meant.
Tony Stark didn't just stop loving people. If Tony, by his own words, had loved Steve before the mess with registration, then he'd still loved Steve even when they were at each other's throats during the worst of the fighting. Which meant Tony had loved him when he thought Steve was dead.
Tony Stark still loved Steve Rogers.
If it hadn't been for Maria he would have laughed at his own stupidity.
Maria hadn't spoken but Steve hadn't expected her too. He stroked her hair listening to her muffled sobs, knowing it spoke to how upset she was that she was crying aloud. Finally, the noises softened and Steve felt confident enough to speak to her again. "Do you want to come watch a movie with me?"
Maria lifted her head to look at him. "Are you angry with me?" She didn't move from her spot against the wall.
Steve shook his head. "No."
"Are - are you going to tell Tony that I…"
He brushed a stray tear from her face. "I'll make you a deal, you come out of there and watch a movie with me, and I won't tell Tony about this."
"Promise?"
"Promise." He held his hand out to her, holding his breath.
After a few moments, Maria crawled out, taking his hand.
***
When Tony entered the penthouse in the early am hours, his body aching and tired as Extremis was slowly but surely putting him back together, he found Steve and Maria asleep on the couch.
He didn't need Jarvis to tell him later, or the video feed from Maria's room to show him, to know that something had happened.
***
"I'm taking Maria with me tomorrow to Oklahoma," Tony said quietly, watching Steve undress. He told himself it wasn't that he didn't trust Steve, that he understood why Steve wouldn’t tell him and why Maria wouldn't want him to know, but it still hurt and he was still angry. "Hank will run the tests on you while we're gone."
He was angry at Steve… at himself. He wanted to scream at Steve that he had no right. No right at all to hide things about Maria from him. But Tony didn't even have the right to say that...
Nevertheless, Steve couldn't be allowed to become so important to Maria. Or to Tony… not again. Not if this was all just going to fall apart, and Tony was painfully aware that Steve hadn't made a decision yet -- not about his future and not about whether that future had Tony and Maria in it.
He wanted to push Steve against the wall - - hit him, fuck him, kiss him. Tony closed his eyes for a moment. Wanted Steve to hit him, fuck him, kiss him until he stopped breathing, until everything just stopped.
He didn't want to love Steve as much as he did. Not if Steve didn't love him back. And Steve didn't love him back. Never had and probably never would. He'd loved Tony as a brother, as a friend, he'd slept with him, but he wouldn't love Tony like he had Sharon Carter or any of the other women Steve had loved. They could give him a home and a family that he wouldn't have to hide.
"Oklahoma? What's in Oklahoma?" Steve asked, pausing in the midst of unbuttoning his jeans. He didn't take the bait of Tony scheduling the testing without asking Steve first.
Tony crowded into Steve's personal space, running his fingertips down Steve's stomach.
"Something I need to do." Bypassing the open fly, he cupped Steve through the soft denim, feeling Steve harden and rise.
Steve gasped softly. "Are you trying to distract me?" Steve asked, pulling Tony against him so that they were pressed bare chest to bare chest. Steve's thumb stroked along Tony's spine, turning Tony on more than such a simple touch should.
"Is it working?" Tony asked. He bit Steve's bottom lip then soothed it with his tongue.
The rough sound Steve made in the back of his throat was answer enough. Tony brushed his tongue along Steve's lips again but wouldn't let him have a kiss. He pushed Steve's jeans down his hips and was pleased to find nothing but skin under his fingers.
Steve hooked his own thumbs under the hem of Tony's boxer-briefs, then growled in frustration as Tony started to touch him everywhere. Everywhere but where Tony knew Steve wanted it. It was calculated, but Tony wanted Steve out of his mind. Wanted Steve gasping and out of control. He wanted them both to forget anything outside of this bedroom.
Tony's short nails raked across his stomach. Calloused fingers just barely brushed against Steve's nipples before sliding up across is collarbone.
Tony's mouth hovered inches from Steve, but he denied him a kiss. "Tony, please," Steve whispered, surging forward to try to capture Tony's mouth. Tony avoided him and Steve bit his shoulder instead, maybe a little too hard, maybe with a little too much of the anger and confusion that haunted them both and was bleeding through.
Tony wasn't completely successful at biting back a sound of pain. There was a livid bruise from the fight with the Doom bots that was still not fully healed by Extremis.
Steve pushed him back roughly, hands tight on Tony's shoulders. "Tony."
He was the one that pushed forward now to press his mouth to Steve's. Steve's strength held him in place.
"Tony." Steve repeated and this time Tony looked at him. It was then that Steve pulled him forward and kissed him, gently and tenderly. His hands were touching Tony everywhere, just as his own hands had teased Steve. But Steve's hands didn't tease, they soothed as much as they aroused. They weren't rough or demanding, and it felt like Steve was drawing on Tony's stomach with his finger tips.
Tony heard a sound caught between a sob and a moan, and realized it had come from his own throat. Steve kissed him again, walking them towards the bed. "Shhh," Steve murmured, pushing Tony onto the mattress.
Steve's hand curled around Tony's cock, giving him something to stroke again. Tony bit his bottom lip to contain the sounds he was making as he thrust shamelessly into Steve's unmoving hand. With his thumb, Steve tugged Tony's bottom lip from his teeth and rubbed across it.
"Fuck me," Tony begged, lifting his hips.
Steve shook his hand and kissed Tony's stomach, dipping his tongue into Tony's bellybutton.
Tony tried to bite the inside of his wrist as another sob welled up, but Steve caught his hand and pressed it against the bed.
"Please! Fuck me, Steve, please." Tony whimpered, still moving against Steve's hand.
"Not tonight," Steve told him, lying down next to Tony. His cock pressed against Tony's hip, hard and leaking.
This time Tony did sob. Steve began to move his hand, slowly and steadily, forcing Tony match his pace. "Why?"
Steve slipped his arm around the back of Tony's head and pulled him for a longer deeper kiss. Sucking on Tony's tongue like it was his cock. Steve's thumb rubbed over the leaking tip of Tony's member and Tony bucked upwards. He came in long spurts over Steve's hand.
And to Tony's surprise, Steve pressed against his hips once, twice, then cried out Tony's name as orgasm hit him.
They lay like that together, sweaty and sticky. Steve's fingers tracing designs across Tony's skin with sticky fingers.
"How long will you be gone?" Steve asked almost sadly.
Tony closed his eyes, wanting to turn his head to kiss Steve but he didn't. "Shouldn't be more than a day." If everything went well, if it didn't… Tony would deal with it when he got there.
"I'll miss you." Steve pushed himself up. "I'll miss both of you."
Tony watched as Steve walked to the bathroom and listened to the sound of running water. He covered his eyes with his arm.
He must have fallen asleep because he was suddenly tucked against Steve's chest, the room dark and quiet. "Steve?"
"Mhmm?" Steve sounded half-asleep and nuzzled the back of his neck.
"I love you."
Steve kissed his shoulder and draped an arm over Tony's hip. "I know."
Next Part
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15,Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21
Previous Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7,Part 8 Part 9, Part 10
Author:
kijikun Betas:
pensive1, pandanoaiRating: NC-17 (this part)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Warnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Author's Notes: Marvel Time is always kind of flexible, so we're setting this somewhere in the first half of 2008. Secret Invasion does not exist in our universe. Nope, never happened. As always, con-crit welcome.
The photo shoot had gone better than Tony had hoped. Between Jan's coaching and Maria's life being spent under observation Maria had seemed completely comfortable under the glare of the camera. Maria had smiled at all the right times and if she sometimes seemed shy or unsure and clung a bit closely to Tony, well who would blame a young child for acting as such around so many strange adults.
He could only hope the next part of this went nearly as well. Maria was a short distance away drawing, though he'd rather her be back at the Tower. Jan had pointed out and Carol had agreed, that letting them interview Maria, with him in the room of course, would go a long way.
"She's beautiful, Tony."
Tony turned away from watching Maria, and looked at Christine Everheart. She was as beautiful as always, and Tony would venture that the last several years had been very good to her. "That isn't why I adopted her."
Christine smiled. "I know, but it doesn't make it less true." She laughed and shook her head. "Why did you insist on me for this interview?"
"This going in the interview?" Tony asked back.
She shook her head. "I'm curious. I've never been kind to you in my articles."
Tony lips twisted into a mockery of a smile. "I know. Why do you think I asked for you? You don't pull your punches when it comes to me and everyone knows it."
Christine set her tape recorder on the table between them. "Shall we get started then?"
The Time magazine photo spread and article brought people out of the woodwork that Tony had thought would never speak to him again, and a few Tony rather wished still weren’t.
He'd even received messages from several of the X-Men, the least surprising being Hank McCoy who'd offered any sort of medical advice Tony might need raising a potential meta. Tony privately wondered if Reed or Hank Pym hadn't mentioned something weeks ago to the good doctor.
Maria Hill had fumed at him for leaving him out of the loop. Dugan simply seemed amused which Tony suspected had more to do with the fact that for the first day people had kept randomly dropping into Tony's office on the Helicarrier to offer him parenting advice.
He was slightly surprised he hadn't heard from Bucky (and he really had to stop calling him that even in his head) or Sharon. Perhaps the new Captain America had taken him on his word that Maria changed nothing about their agreement, but Tony doubted it. James didn't trust him or like him.
And if anyone noticed the new picture, sitting next to one of Tony's parents on his desk, of Maria with her tongue sticking out as she was drawing, they didn't say a word.
"But ants aren't blue," Maria protested as Tony came into the living room.
The sight that greeted him made Tony smile despite how his day had gone… despite the bruises hidden under his suit, despite the fact that his day even at five in the afternoon was just getting started. The scene in the living room just made him want to find someone -- anyone else to handle the crisis.
Steve and Maria were sitting on the floor with pages of a coloring book spread across the coffee table. Tony thought that maybe Hank had sent it since all the pages were of insects. Amongst the pages, there were colored pencils and crayons, and Tony was sure that each had some special and odd name that both Steve and Maria knew by heart and could tell anyone the difference between.
"They could be blue," Steve countered. "Or it could have been painted blue."
"Who would paint an ant blue?" Maria asked wrinkling her nose. She was working on a multi-colored butterfly.
"Hank Pym, possibly," Steve laughed.
Tony chuckled. "I'm telling him you said that."
Steve turned his head and grinned at Tony. "You wouldn't."
"I'm sure he'd love to give you a detailed description of why you shouldn't paint an ant blue or why you even would." Tony walked over to Maria, dropping a kiss on her head as he leaned over to look at her butterfly. "Is that a monarch butterfly?"
Maria nodded. "Steve says we'll be able to see lots of them in September."
"We should take her to one of the parks to see them," Steve told Tony. "We could make a picnic of it like we did last year." He reached out brushing his fingers against Tony's hand.
Tony twined their fingers together remembering that day. It seemed like years ago. "We should do that." Tony agreed, hoping if just for Maria's sake that when September came that there would still be a 'we'.
"You're home early." Steve smiled and squeezed his fingers. Maria was watching them but more curiously then with any kind of tension. Tony hated that he was probably about to ruin that.
"Not for long. Steve, I have to go out of town tonight." He didn't want to mention the reason directly in front of Maria and hoped Steve would understand. "Jarvis will be here until just after dinner but --"
Steve's eyes were concerned but he didn't question, for which Tony was grateful. "We'll be fine, won't we Maria?"
Maria didn't answer. She was looking at Tony intently. If Tony hadn't known her and her expressions so well, he wouldn't have seen the anxiety there. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, Maria." Tony assured her, hoping that he wasn't lying. But the only thing that would prevent him from keeping that unspoken promise was dying and he had no plans of doing that -- not anymore. He let go of Steve's hand and kneeled closer to Maria. He brushed some of her hair back affectionately. "You'll have dinner with Steve, same as always, and go to bed same as always. Steve will be here if you need anything."
"I should go with you," Maria blurted out, then paled. "I mean won't you need me with you, Tony?"
Tony repressed a sigh and shook his head. "No, Maria. I need you to stay here with Steve. Can you do that for me?"
Maria nodded, her face carefully blank. "Yes, Tony."
"That's my genius. I'll be back tomorrow morning." He repeated to her. "We'll work on the ship model all tomorrow afternoon, just me and you." He hugged her briefly.
After a long moment, her arms tentatively went around him. Tony kissed her head again. He suddenly couldn't understand how Reed and Sue did it. How they could hug their children goodbye and pray to god that they weren't lying when they said they'd be home soon.
Overall, Steve had thought things had been going rather well that night. Maria had been subdued after Tony had left, but he'd managed to get her re-interested in coloring. Even if that had taken calling Hank, who'd been more than happy to explain that yes there were 'blue ants' but they were actually called Diamma bicolor and were in fact patristic wasps that lived in Australia.
Maria had kept Hank on the video-phone for almost an hour before Jan had cut in to 'steal her husband back'. Steve thought it wise to not comment that Hank wasn't actually her husband anymore, but he was glad to see that they were working things out.
He'd thought maybe they'd get through the whole night without anything happening, then maybe Tony wouldn't have to look so worried leaving Maria alone with him. Like Steve would hurt her or couldn't handle her.
Then dinner came, and Maria had stared at Tony's empty chair, picking at her food.
"Maria, eat," Steve had coaxed.
She didn't respond still staring at the chair, something like horror slowly dawning in her eyes.
"Maria," Steve reached across and touched her hand. "He'll be back in the morning."
Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say.
Maria shook her head almost violently, pushing back from the table hard enough to tip over the chair. "No he won't! I - I -- what did I do wrong? What did I fail? I'm supposed to be with him! Did I fail? I'll do better, I promise! Please, I don't want a new CO. I want Tony. I want Tony!" From the sound of her voice, if she'd been any other child she would have been sobbing. Instead, the lack of tears made her sound more hysterical, almost out of control. "Tell me why he doesn't want me anymore!"
Her hands had curled into fists and Steve could almost feel the momentum gathering around her. He was on his feet almost by instinct. "That is enough, solider!" It was the voice he'd used with Bucky more times then he wanted to remember. Steve was aware of Jarvis watching with a frown, and he knew the other man disapproved of this tactic just as sure as he knew Tony would.
Maria jerked to attention, hands uncurling, and for a moment, Steve thought that was the end of it. He could deal with her in a calm manner. He could try to make her understand that Tony was coming back and she hadn't failed anything. Mostly Steve hoped he could keep his temper, because right now he wanted to hurt the people that could make a child think like this.
Then she'd jerked as if she was pulling herself out of something, and ran from the room.
"Shit," Steve hissed under his breath.
"That would be an understatement, Master Steven," Jarvis sighed from the doorway.
"Has she done this before?" Steve asked starting for the door. She'd probably wind up in her room, it would be a safety zone for her.
"Just once. It was quite an impressive tantrum. Anthony keeps claiming he means to talk to Professor Xavier about it but…" Jarvis gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
"But he'll probably never get around to it," Steve sighed. "Anything I should know?"
Jarvis managed a wan smile. "Be prepared to duck."
Against Jarvis' predictions, there was no need to duck when he reached Maria's room.
The lights were off and the room was quiet. He was fairly certain she was in there though. They would have heard the elevator and he doubted she would have ran to the gym.
The bed was empty and a quick check under the bed turned up nothing either. Frowning he wondered if maybe he should check Tony's room or study, when he noticed the closet door slightly open. And suddenly he was very sure of where she was.
During the war, Steve had helped evacuate an orphanage. Most of the children had been terrified and malnourished, though the Nun's caring for them had obviously tried their best. They'd flinched at every loud sound and they'd been terrified of Steve. They’d been terrified of all the soldiers. Before they'd left a Nun had come to Steve, telling him that one of the children was missing. Steve had found him eventually, huddled in small cubby hole under a set of stairs. The space was barely big enough for him. He hadn't spoken English, so Steve had coaxed him out in broken Polish.
Later the same, now very grateful, Nun had told Steve that little boy had been found hiding in a similar place after the German's had slaughtered his family.
"Maria, it's me." Steve said softly. "You aren't in trouble." And very slowly he pulled open the door.
Maria huddled in the corner of the closet, her knees up to her chest. Her face was hidden. She flinched when the closet opened but didn't look up. Her shoulders just shuddered with what Steve assumed were stifled sobs.
"Maria," Steve said softly, sitting down just outside the closet.
She pulled herself tighter into a ball.
"Maria, no one is angry at you," Steve kept his voice calm and soothing. "You aren't in trouble."
She shook her head, peering out at him with red eyes. "Tony left me here."
"That doesn't mean you're in trouble, or that he was angry with you," Steve assured her. "Why do you think you did something wrong?"
She raised her head a bit more and that was at least a start. "He didn't take me with him."
"And that means you failed somehow?" Steve asked gently.
Maria nodded, blinking back tears. "He doesn't need me."
Steve racked his brain for a way to explain this, to make her understand. "Maria..."
"I don't want to be replaced with one of the others," she whispered. Her shoulders shook and a sound like a sob escaped her lips. Maria hid her face again against her legs.
"No one is going to be replaced. You are not replaceable to Tony. He doesn't want any little blonde girl for a daughter; he wants you and only you." Steve told her. He reached out, ready to draw back if she reacted badly, and brushed her hair. "He loves you dearly. And when Tony Stark loves something or someone he doesn't just stop." Steve almost started to laugh as he realized what he'd said.
And what it meant.
Tony Stark didn't just stop loving people. If Tony, by his own words, had loved Steve before the mess with registration, then he'd still loved Steve even when they were at each other's throats during the worst of the fighting. Which meant Tony had loved him when he thought Steve was dead.
Tony Stark still loved Steve Rogers.
If it hadn't been for Maria he would have laughed at his own stupidity.
Maria hadn't spoken but Steve hadn't expected her too. He stroked her hair listening to her muffled sobs, knowing it spoke to how upset she was that she was crying aloud. Finally, the noises softened and Steve felt confident enough to speak to her again. "Do you want to come watch a movie with me?"
Maria lifted her head to look at him. "Are you angry with me?" She didn't move from her spot against the wall.
Steve shook his head. "No."
"Are - are you going to tell Tony that I…"
He brushed a stray tear from her face. "I'll make you a deal, you come out of there and watch a movie with me, and I won't tell Tony about this."
"Promise?"
"Promise." He held his hand out to her, holding his breath.
After a few moments, Maria crawled out, taking his hand.
When Tony entered the penthouse in the early am hours, his body aching and tired as Extremis was slowly but surely putting him back together, he found Steve and Maria asleep on the couch.
He didn't need Jarvis to tell him later, or the video feed from Maria's room to show him, to know that something had happened.
"I'm taking Maria with me tomorrow to Oklahoma," Tony said quietly, watching Steve undress. He told himself it wasn't that he didn't trust Steve, that he understood why Steve wouldn’t tell him and why Maria wouldn't want him to know, but it still hurt and he was still angry. "Hank will run the tests on you while we're gone."
He was angry at Steve… at himself. He wanted to scream at Steve that he had no right. No right at all to hide things about Maria from him. But Tony didn't even have the right to say that...
Nevertheless, Steve couldn't be allowed to become so important to Maria. Or to Tony… not again. Not if this was all just going to fall apart, and Tony was painfully aware that Steve hadn't made a decision yet -- not about his future and not about whether that future had Tony and Maria in it.
He wanted to push Steve against the wall - - hit him, fuck him, kiss him. Tony closed his eyes for a moment. Wanted Steve to hit him, fuck him, kiss him until he stopped breathing, until everything just stopped.
He didn't want to love Steve as much as he did. Not if Steve didn't love him back. And Steve didn't love him back. Never had and probably never would. He'd loved Tony as a brother, as a friend, he'd slept with him, but he wouldn't love Tony like he had Sharon Carter or any of the other women Steve had loved. They could give him a home and a family that he wouldn't have to hide.
"Oklahoma? What's in Oklahoma?" Steve asked, pausing in the midst of unbuttoning his jeans. He didn't take the bait of Tony scheduling the testing without asking Steve first.
Tony crowded into Steve's personal space, running his fingertips down Steve's stomach.
"Something I need to do." Bypassing the open fly, he cupped Steve through the soft denim, feeling Steve harden and rise.
Steve gasped softly. "Are you trying to distract me?" Steve asked, pulling Tony against him so that they were pressed bare chest to bare chest. Steve's thumb stroked along Tony's spine, turning Tony on more than such a simple touch should.
"Is it working?" Tony asked. He bit Steve's bottom lip then soothed it with his tongue.
The rough sound Steve made in the back of his throat was answer enough. Tony brushed his tongue along Steve's lips again but wouldn't let him have a kiss. He pushed Steve's jeans down his hips and was pleased to find nothing but skin under his fingers.
Steve hooked his own thumbs under the hem of Tony's boxer-briefs, then growled in frustration as Tony started to touch him everywhere. Everywhere but where Tony knew Steve wanted it. It was calculated, but Tony wanted Steve out of his mind. Wanted Steve gasping and out of control. He wanted them both to forget anything outside of this bedroom.
Tony's short nails raked across his stomach. Calloused fingers just barely brushed against Steve's nipples before sliding up across is collarbone.
Tony's mouth hovered inches from Steve, but he denied him a kiss. "Tony, please," Steve whispered, surging forward to try to capture Tony's mouth. Tony avoided him and Steve bit his shoulder instead, maybe a little too hard, maybe with a little too much of the anger and confusion that haunted them both and was bleeding through.
Tony wasn't completely successful at biting back a sound of pain. There was a livid bruise from the fight with the Doom bots that was still not fully healed by Extremis.
Steve pushed him back roughly, hands tight on Tony's shoulders. "Tony."
He was the one that pushed forward now to press his mouth to Steve's. Steve's strength held him in place.
"Tony." Steve repeated and this time Tony looked at him. It was then that Steve pulled him forward and kissed him, gently and tenderly. His hands were touching Tony everywhere, just as his own hands had teased Steve. But Steve's hands didn't tease, they soothed as much as they aroused. They weren't rough or demanding, and it felt like Steve was drawing on Tony's stomach with his finger tips.
Tony heard a sound caught between a sob and a moan, and realized it had come from his own throat. Steve kissed him again, walking them towards the bed. "Shhh," Steve murmured, pushing Tony onto the mattress.
Steve's hand curled around Tony's cock, giving him something to stroke again. Tony bit his bottom lip to contain the sounds he was making as he thrust shamelessly into Steve's unmoving hand. With his thumb, Steve tugged Tony's bottom lip from his teeth and rubbed across it.
"Fuck me," Tony begged, lifting his hips.
Steve shook his hand and kissed Tony's stomach, dipping his tongue into Tony's bellybutton.
Tony tried to bite the inside of his wrist as another sob welled up, but Steve caught his hand and pressed it against the bed.
"Please! Fuck me, Steve, please." Tony whimpered, still moving against Steve's hand.
"Not tonight," Steve told him, lying down next to Tony. His cock pressed against Tony's hip, hard and leaking.
This time Tony did sob. Steve began to move his hand, slowly and steadily, forcing Tony match his pace. "Why?"
Steve slipped his arm around the back of Tony's head and pulled him for a longer deeper kiss. Sucking on Tony's tongue like it was his cock. Steve's thumb rubbed over the leaking tip of Tony's member and Tony bucked upwards. He came in long spurts over Steve's hand.
And to Tony's surprise, Steve pressed against his hips once, twice, then cried out Tony's name as orgasm hit him.
They lay like that together, sweaty and sticky. Steve's fingers tracing designs across Tony's skin with sticky fingers.
"How long will you be gone?" Steve asked almost sadly.
Tony closed his eyes, wanting to turn his head to kiss Steve but he didn't. "Shouldn't be more than a day." If everything went well, if it didn't… Tony would deal with it when he got there.
"I'll miss you." Steve pushed himself up. "I'll miss both of you."
Tony watched as Steve walked to the bathroom and listened to the sound of running water. He covered his eyes with his arm.
He must have fallen asleep because he was suddenly tucked against Steve's chest, the room dark and quiet. "Steve?"
"Mhmm?" Steve sounded half-asleep and nuzzled the back of his neck.
"I love you."
Steve kissed his shoulder and draped an arm over Tony's hip. "I know."
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I wonder what's in Oklahoma? I can't wait to find out!
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Oh dear.
Maria's making good progress. :)
Thanks for writing. Seriously.
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I'm glad Steve didn't come off as if he knew exactly what to do. Steve's had even less chances than Tony to be around children and well using how he treated Bucky as a model for treating Maria isn't the wisest of ideas.
Thanks for commenting. ^_^
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Oh. Ooooooh. (glee!) What an interesting place to go... I wonder how Tony and Thor... well, are getting as of right now...
Wait-wait, blonde hair blue eyes!!!
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Is it what I think it is??? If so, HOLY CRAP!!!
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