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cap_ironman2008-11-23 11:01 pm
kijikun.livejournal.com) wrote in cap_ironman2008-11-23 11:01 pm
Entry tags:
All That Remains (14/21) (Steve\Tony| NC-17)
Title: All That Remains (14/21)
Previous Parts: 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
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kijikun
Rating: NC-17 (this part)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Reed/Sue
Betas:adafrog, pandanoai
Warnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Timeline: 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. This part happens directly after the last email in Messages.
Fan art: by johnanirae and
by ethnos44
A/N: As always, con-crit welcome. Fan art always welcome as well. Also: Is the previous part list getting to long and annoying for most people?
Even if Maria hadn't asked him to come over in her email, Franklin was worried enough to go anyway. It wasn't like his parents would notice that he wasn't 'there', anyway.
Franklin knew Maria's room well, even though he'd never really been in it before. Not physically in the room, or even the penthouse, at least. Maria always visited him, never the other way around, and sometimes Franklin wondered if his parents were more afraid of him being at Tony's than Tony was of Franklin finding out about Captain America still being alive.
The real one.
Not the fake one with the gun -- and maybe that was unfair but Franklin didn't care. He'd done so much, tried so hard so that his family could be happy, so that his heroes could be happy. He hadn't known better then, but now he did. So it just made him angry that someone else just put on the uniform like it didn't matter who'd been there before. It made him scared that that could happen to anyone, Peter, his Uncle, his parents.
Maria was in the middle of her bed, knees drawn up to her chin. She wasn't crying, but Franklin had a feeling that was because she wasn't letting herself cry. Franklin knew all about that.
"You okay?" Franklin asked. It was a stupid question but he couldn't think of anything else.
She nodded, and then shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't understand they were a part of me."
Franklin sat down next to her on the bed, or at least projected himself sitting. Anyone who said Maria didn't talk much didn't know her at all, he'd decided a few weeks before. She talked tons if you listened. She didn't make sense half the time, but then, neither did his father.
"They wore the same faces. Same eyes. Same hair." She listed, biting off each word. "I didn't have the term for it. 'Sisters'. I should have known. I -- maybe I did know but I can't remember their names. Just D-7, and that isn't even a name."
"What happened to you today to make you think about this?" Franklin asked after several long moments, watching Maria try to pull herself together. She was shaking and he wanted to comfort her, hug her, but his touch would go right through her.
He almost didn't think she would say anything when she sat silently, staring at the Space Shuttle poster on her wall.
"I met Thor today." She fell silent again but pulled her attention away from the wall to Franklin.
Franklin sometimes wanted to just fix things. For Maria, for everyone. He could give her a nice happy life where she wouldn't be absolutely torn apart instead of a loss she barely understood. But she wouldn't be Maria then, she'd be someone else, and he'd seen what changing things like that could do. He'd seen what Wanda had done.
He'd blocked himself from those powers for a reason. No one should have the power to change things like that. It wasn't right.
Maria’s eyes held his and she started to talk. She poured out everything that had happened, about Thor, about Tony, about them fighting, and about the hammer. She told him how everyone at Asgard seemed to have brothers and sisters, and about her confusing conversation with someone named Kelda. The words tumbled out of her in a way that was almost painful to watch, and all Franklin could do was curl his arm around her and wish he could really touch her. By the time she'd told him, in halting words, about how Tony had gone away for a night, and what happened between her and Steve, she was crying in earnest.
Her shoulders hitched with little pent-up sobs, and all Franklin could think of was that he never seen her cry before.
"I'm sorry," Maria whispered finally, looking ashamed as she wiped her face. "I should have more control than this. I even cried in front of Tony. He should have reprimanded me for displaying such emotion."
Franklin was just overwhelmingly glad she said crying, because he'd half thought she say leaking or something, and he wasn't sure he could have handled her not even understanding crying. "Stop talking like that," he told her. "You're allowed to have emotions. Tony isn't going to be mad because you cried. You thought Thor was going to kill him."
"I don't want to lose Tony," Maria whispered. She unfolded her legs and pressed her hands into her lap. She might have leaned into his embrace slightly, but there wasn't really anything to lean into. "Or Steve."
"I don't want to lose my mom or dad either. I would have cried too."
Maria shook her head. "You're brave, Franklin. And you have powers. You wouldn't have cried."
"I have cried. I -- lost them once. They didn't really die but -- I thought they had. I cried." These were things that maybe they both should have talked to a grown up about. Franklin hadn't really talked to anyone about being in Hell, though he knew he probably should have, but what was he supposed to say 'Mom, I know you and Uncle Ben helped me through some of it, but can I talk to Professor Xavier because I have dreams about demons eating me?'
He probably should tell his mom about how convinced Maria was that she was there to protect Tony… that she thought her whole worth was as a tool. He should tell her just like he told her about Maria wanting a video game system, but that Maria wouldn't ask Tony herself(,) so could she please say something to Tony. But this wasn't a video game system, it was something Maria had trusted Franklin with and he didn't think people forcing her to talk would help her.
He wasn't sure anything really would. She'd never be normal, but neither would he. And as much as he wanted normal sometimes (sometimes more for his mom who wanted him and Val to have normal lives so badly) it was nice to have a friend who wasn’t normal, and never would be. Even the Power Pack kids had been more normal than him; they had normal parents. There was Luna, but he rarely saw her and she was just too young.
"Tony cried at Steve’s memorial, and Tony's pretty brave."
Maria blinked. "Tony cried?"
Franklin nodded. "It was on TV." Most things were, and no one in those long horrible days had really paid attention to see if Franklin was watching things he wasn't supposed to.
"You say that about everything," Maria pointed out.
Maybe he did, but many things were on TV. "Not about the Savage Lands. And I asked. Dr. McCoy, he says they count and he's been to the Savage Land."
Maria rolled her eyes. "So have Tony and Steve. The Savage Land is not in the middle of the planet so it doesn't count."
"Verne's source could have gotten there through underground tunnels and thought it was in the center of the earth." Franklin countered, wondering if she'd bring up the fact that it was a work of fiction and therefore it didn't matter what Verne's source said.
***
Reed watched as his son seemed to come back into his body, shut off his laptop, and climb into bed before he moved away from Franklin's bedroom door. He rubbed his forehead wondering if he should have said something as he walked to his and Sue's bedroom. But what would he have said?
Sue was asleep, curled up on his side of the bed, and Reed resisted the urge to sigh. He often wondered if she did that just to punish him for getting distracted in the lab and coming to bed several hours late. Tonight he felt more annoyed at himself for forgetting he'd told her he come to bed early than annoyed at her for taking his half of the bed.
Sometimes he envied Tony for being able to work for hours in his lab and perhaps just sleep there if he wanted to without anyone getting upset with him, then he'd remember that Tony Stark didn't have anyone to get upset at him.
Reed slipped into bed beside his wife, trying to imagine his life without Sue and their children. He loved her, he loved their family, even if he was bad at showing it, and he knew his life would be empty and cold without them in it. It was why he was always secretly afraid Sue would go out one day and just not come back. Even Namor could offer her more than he could.
It wasn't that he didn't try to give Sue what she needed, but often he just didn't understand what it was she wanted from him or what he done this time to upset her.
"Stop thinking so loudly," Sue murmured, turning over and wrapping her arms around him.
"Sorry," Reed said automatically. "You're in my spot."
Sue kissed his shoulder. "It hasn't been your spot since I was pregnant with Val," she reminded him. "Is Franklin asleep?"
He blinked. That was right wasn't it? He'd forgotten they'd rearranged the bedroom around that time. "He is now."
"He had to get your sleeping habits, didn't he?" Sue asked on the backside of a yawn.
Reed skimmed his fingers along her back. Sometimes he wanted to just wrap himself around her until he covered her completely, just to make sure she knew how much he needed her. "I think the trade off is more than fair since he has your heart," he told her but she was already asleep.
***
The sun was barely up but Steve was wide-awake. Tony had been awake only a few minutes and that was mostly Steve's fault.
Steve traced patterns on Tony's stomach as they lay on their sides, wondering if he could convince Tony to play hooky and stay in bed for most of the day. There were several flaws with that plan since Tony could start doing business calls with his brain, and Maria would come looking for them eventually. Steve wasn't sure what was more horrifying a thought -- Maria walking in on them having sex, or Shield sending someone in because Director Stark was late for work.
"I can't believe you’re Director of Shield." Steve murmured.
"Neither can Maria Hill. Want the job?" Tony asked, leaning his head back against Steve's shoulder.
"I'd rather be under Fury's direct command again," Steve snorted.
He could almost feel Tony rolling his eyes. "I'd rather have Fury take the job back."
"So would a lot of people, I bet. It's kind of strange not having Fury at least trying to snap orders at me."
"I think we need to get you a mental evaluation." Tony laughed as Steve's fingers hit a ticklish spot on his side.
Steve blinked, that had come out of nowhere. "What? Why?"
Tony rolled over and pushed Steve flat on his back. "Because you just expressed nostalgia for Nick 'Motherfucking' Fury yelling at you. If that doesn't make you unhinged, I don't know what does." Tony was grinning as he straddled Steve's hips.
It was obvious that more than just Tony was 'up' at this early hour. Tony's hard cock lay curled against his stomach. Steve's twitched in response to the sight, and he gripped Tony's hips as he swelled with arousal. "Unhinged would be taking Fury's job."
Tony shifted forward, rubbing his cock against Steve's. "Unhinged would be Dugan. If we didn't have a new helicarrier he'd probably glare every time I tried to move anything in the Director's office because it would piss Fury off if he came back and things weren’t like he left them. Are we sure they weren't dating?"
Steve laughed. "That's the second most horrifying visual I think I've ever had." He leaned up and tugged Tony down for a long wet kiss.
Tony's tongue slid wetly against his as Steve fell back against the bed. "What's the first?" Tony asked. He slowly licked his palm before rubbing it over the head of Steve's cock.
Groaning, Steve bucked up into the touch. He slid his hand from Tony's hip to the small of his back, then down lower, and brushed his fingers against Tony's hole. Tony was still slightly slick and relaxed from the night before, and pushed back against Steve's touch.
"What's the first?" Tony asked again, panting now. His cock was leaving wet smears against his stomach.
Steve wanted to draw Tony like this, but somehow he’d never found the time. He wasn't even sure he could fully capture on paper how Tony looked; how he chewed on his bottom lip and how blown his pupils were.
Carefully, listening for any sounds of pain, Steve pressed a fingertip inside. Tony's body opened for him, letting his finger slide inside. "My parents having sex."
Tony made a sound that was torn between a laugh and a moan. Steve decided he really liked that sound. He ran his fingers over Tony's ribs while stroking Tony from the inside with his finger.
Steve was rewarded with a repeat of the sound, then Tony whimpering; "F-fuck."
He watched Tony press back against his finger, and then slid a second one. Tony's head fell back to expose his throat, and Steve was tempted to roll Tony onto his back so he could lick and bite his neck. Steve had to grip Tony's hips to keep him steady as he spread his fingers, stretching Tony for him.
God, he loved stretching Tony to take him. Loved watching as Tony‘s focus narrowed to him alone. Loved how damn eager for it Tony always seemed to be, like he couldn't get enough of Steve's fingers, or Steve's cock.
He just loved Tony.
"Steve, please," Tony begged, twisting his hips. One of his hands settled over Steve's hand on his hip, the other was gripping his own thigh. "I'm ready, just -- uhn -- fuck me."
"Maybe I want to watch you come just like this," Steve told him huskily. His own cock was throbbing and leaking, and god he wanted nothing more than to shift and press up into Tony's welcoming body.
Tony trembled against him. "Tease," he gasped.
Steve pressed in a third finger and twisted them up, searching for that place that would make Tony cry out. He found it and stroked. Tony convulsed, making a sharp keening noise as he came, splattering himself and Steve with spurts.
"Jesus," Steve swore, slipping his fingers free. He tugged Tony down over him and licked his way into Tony's mouth.
Tony pressed down against him and sucked on the tip of Steve’s tongue. Steve had been closer than he'd known because just that pushed him over the edge, and he came between them.
They lay together panting into each other's mouths, as Steve stroked up and down Tony's spine.
"Can't believe you mentioned your parents while having sex with me," Tony laughed contentedly after they'd both caught their breaths.
Steve flushed. "You were the one mentioning Nick Fury and Dugan. Something you want to tell me, Tony?"
Tony shook his head, laughing harder. "Oh yeah, we need to get your head checked. I know some great shrinks. We'll cure you of this disillusion in no time."
"You should probably take Maria to one," Steve said, then almost smacked himself for letting the words escape his lips.
Tony‘s laughter died, and he shifted his full weight off Steve. "What -- " Tony paused, and rubbed a hand over his face. "Why?"
Steve reached out and pulled Tony closer, keeping him from leaving the bed. He raised an eyebrow at Tony. "You really have to ask with everything that's happened the last few days?"
"I guess not," Tony admitted, shoulders slumping. "But why bring it up now?"
"I know my timing is horrible," Steve said, resting his forehead against Tony's shoulder.
"Your timing sucks," Tony grumbled.
Steve pressed a kiss to Tony's shoulder. "Carol mentioned you said you'd talk to Professor Xavier."
Tony stiffened. "I don't want anyone rooting around in her head. She's fine. I've been handling the issues as they've come up --"
"Tony, she had a panic attack because you were gone for a night! I had to coax her out of a closet. She put herself between you and an angry armed god." Steve gripped Tony's shoulders. "That isn’t fine, not by any stretch of the imagination."
"I know, I know," Tony said, closing his eyes.
"I'm not saying let someone go digging in her mind. But you need to at least talk to someone about this. Someone that understands child psychology. " Steve rested his forehead against Tony’s. “We’re both just operating blindly here and it has worked so far, but can we really risk her?"
Tony shook his head. "No, no. I just want her to be happy, to be safe." His eyes were still closed.
"And you've made her both, Tony. You’re a good father to her. It isn't your fault the way they conditioned her to behave." Steve hoped Tony would believe him. "You took her in when you didn't have to, and don't tell me you did. Xavier would have taken her, or Reed and Sue. There were other people that could have taken her."
Tony gave him a bitter smile. "You don't understand Steve. I didn't have any choice at all. Once I -- once I saw her, I had to. I couldn't let them keep her."
Steve didn't understand, but Tony sounded so sure that he couldn't help wonder if once again there was something Tony wasn't telling him.
***
Tony hated hospitals.
It wasn't a new hatred, but it was a well honed one.
Granted, this was a very nice hospital, and very nice hospital room, but then considering how much money he was paying for all this, it ought to be.
"I never meant to do anything but protect your nephew," Tony said softly to the woman in the bed.
May Parker probably couldn't hear him, given that she was in a coma (Tony never believed that bullshit about people in comas being able to hear what you said to them, but he knew Jarvis came here almost every day to sit and talk to her), but Tony figured he owed her an explanation all the same.
"I am sorry. I promised him I'd protect him and his family, and I failed. I know I can never ask forgiveness from you or Peter, but I'm going to try to set things as right as I can."
He'd spent most of the last few days on the phone with people in DC, and Jameson. Tony had called in several different favors to line up the pardon, and that had been the easy part. Giving Peter back his secret identity -- now that had been tricky, and it still might not work.
Dealing with Jameson's end of it had been the easiest part of all when everything was said and done. Tony had been rather sorry he couldn't see the different shades of red Jameson's face must have turned when Tony gave him the conditions of an exclusive candid photo shoot with Maria. The biggest condition being that Tony would allow only one photographer access to her.
Peter Parker.
Tony was fairly certain Jameson had dropped the phone at that. He'd half expected the answer to be no way in hell, but Maria -- as much as Tony hated using her like this -- was a hot commodity these days. Jan had gotten several offers from different magazines, and The Today Show was clamoring to have Maria and him on.
Hell, he'd gotten several calls from Stephen Colbert's people, and an email from Stephen himself. And Colbert hated him, though mostly on account of being on the opposite side from Captain America during the so called Civil War. He had a replica of the shield on his wall for crying aloud.
So, Tony's offer wasn't one Jameson could easily turn down. Jameson had brought up the fact that he couldn't hire Parker back, but Tony had assured him that if Peter took the job there would be no legal difficulties. Besides, he'd told Jameson, Peter Parker wasn't really Spider-man -- it had all been a PR ploy gone bad, they'd liked the irony of having the person that took the best photos of Spider-man turn out to be Spider-man but it worked out badly for everyone involved.
Jameson had grumbled something about knowing that Parker couldn't have been that menace Spider-Man, since the kid could trip over his own damn feet. Tony had refrained from commenting.
Now the only thing left was to get Peter to agree.
Which meant tracking down Peter Parker, and Tony was pretty sure Strange wouldn’t take it well if Tony just asked him where Peter was. If Peter knew Tony was looking for him, he'd have no chance of finding him.
Jarvis, in the end, had suggested the hospital, and Tony was surprised to learn that Jarvis saw Peter and Mary-Jane quite frequently. Or maybe not so surprised. Jarvis and May had been seeing each other before everything went wrong.
Tony wondered again, why Jarvis stuck with him through all these years. He'd be lost without the older man, and if he was honest, he loved Jarvis like a father, but he wasn't sure Jarvis had the same emotional attachment. It was the only thing that explained any of it though.
Why else would Jarvis be willing to raise yet another child for the Stark family?
Tony knew Peter and MJ were in the hospital before they reached May’s room. He got to his feet and braced himself. He wasn't expecting either of them to be happy to see Tony Stark standing there.
"You have no right to be here," Peter hissed, standing in the doorway. It was strange to see so much anger and pain radiating off the younger man. "I should have known you'd be so underhanded as to track me using my Aunt."
“Peter," MJ said softly behind him.
"You have a lot of nerve, Stark, showing up here." Peter was practically shaking, and Tony was fully prepared to take a punch.
It wasn't a punch put it was close to it. Peter had him backed up against the wall, a hand around his neck.
"Peter, he's paying the hospital bills. If he wanted to bring you in using Aunt May he would have done so by now," MJ broke in grabbing her husband's arm.
Tony could have kissed her, because it was getting rather difficult to breathe, and he really didn't want to have to hurt Peter.
"What?" Peter blinked, "Are you sure? I thought you were paying the bills."
She shook her head. "Peter, they're monitoring our bank accounts. How could I be paying the hospital bills? Even if Jarvis hadn't told me, it’s the only thing that would have made sense."
Peter dropped his hand from Tony's throat. "Oh." He looked at Tony. "Uhm, sorry. Don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts but --"
Tony rubbed his throat. He always forgot how fast and strong Peter was. "I have a deal for you."
"No way. Nuh-uh, I'm not selling anybody out and I'm not joining any task force. I don't want anything to do with you, Stark. Been there, done that, hated the t-shirt." Peter told him.
"I'm not asking you to do any of that. Look, Jameson is going to offer you your job back -- and if I were you, I'd hold out for a pay raise -- that is if you go over to his office. I'm not sure he has a working number for you at the moment." Tony leaned against the wall behind him. "I've arranged a pardon for you, plus an official statement that you are not Spider-man. It was a PR stunt gone bad, and you and your family will receive an apology."
Peter crossed his arms over his chest, looking a bit like a petulant child to Tony. "What's the catch? I'm going to have to re-register?"
"Well, Spider-man would be asked to register but since you are not Spider-man, there would be no need for you to," Tony pointed out.
"What do you want from Peter?" MJ asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Because I know you want something. You can't be doing all of this out of guilt."
Tony shrugged. "I might have told Jameson that the only photographer I'd let take pictures of Maria was Peter Parker."
Peter's jaw dropped. "What? Why? I mean -- why the hell would you trust me around your kid?"
Tony almost laughed. "Peter, believe it or not, I still trust you more than a lot of people. I fucked up your life trying to keep you safe and I'm sorry for it. This is me trying to make things right." He let himself smile wanly. "Plus, with everything Franklin Richards keeps telling her, Maria wants to meet you."
"Nice to know I have a growing fan-club," Peter grinned slightly.
Behind him MJ rolled her eyes.
"I'm not asking you to decide right now, but if you choose to take the offer -- just contact Jameson in the next few days. Jan will set up the details about the photo shoot." Tony told him. "I'll leave you two alone. I'm -- I am sorry, Peter, Mary-Jane. I never meant for any of this to happen."
"Yeah, well, it did," Peter mumbled.
Tony made his way past both of them and out into the hall. He was surprised when Mary-Jane caught up to him, and stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Thank you."
"For what?" Tony asked.
"For trying to make things right. It's been very easy for them to hate you since -- " She didn't say since Steve's death, but he heard it all the same, " -- since everything."
"You don't hate me?" Tony asked in surprise.
She shrugged. "Sometimes I do, but I think Peter and the others give you too much blame. You've been just as fucked by all of this as we have." With that she turned and walked back down the hall to May's room.
Tony closed his eyes and decided he was going home for lunch.
He was half-way back to the penthouse when Maria Hill called him about a crisis he was needed for, and then there was a call from his head of security at one of Si's California plants about finding traces of possible sabotage.
Tony called the armor and hoped he'd make it home for dinner.
Next
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, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13
Author:
kijikun Rating: NC-17 (this part)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Reed/Sue
Betas:
adafrog, pandanoaiWarnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Timeline: 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. This part happens directly after the last email in Messages.
Fan art: by johnanirae and
by ethnos44
A/N: As always, con-crit welcome. Fan art always welcome as well. Also: Is the previous part list getting to long and annoying for most people?
Even if Maria hadn't asked him to come over in her email, Franklin was worried enough to go anyway. It wasn't like his parents would notice that he wasn't 'there', anyway.
Franklin knew Maria's room well, even though he'd never really been in it before. Not physically in the room, or even the penthouse, at least. Maria always visited him, never the other way around, and sometimes Franklin wondered if his parents were more afraid of him being at Tony's than Tony was of Franklin finding out about Captain America still being alive.
The real one.
Not the fake one with the gun -- and maybe that was unfair but Franklin didn't care. He'd done so much, tried so hard so that his family could be happy, so that his heroes could be happy. He hadn't known better then, but now he did. So it just made him angry that someone else just put on the uniform like it didn't matter who'd been there before. It made him scared that that could happen to anyone, Peter, his Uncle, his parents.
Maria was in the middle of her bed, knees drawn up to her chin. She wasn't crying, but Franklin had a feeling that was because she wasn't letting herself cry. Franklin knew all about that.
"You okay?" Franklin asked. It was a stupid question but he couldn't think of anything else.
She nodded, and then shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't understand they were a part of me."
Franklin sat down next to her on the bed, or at least projected himself sitting. Anyone who said Maria didn't talk much didn't know her at all, he'd decided a few weeks before. She talked tons if you listened. She didn't make sense half the time, but then, neither did his father.
"They wore the same faces. Same eyes. Same hair." She listed, biting off each word. "I didn't have the term for it. 'Sisters'. I should have known. I -- maybe I did know but I can't remember their names. Just D-7, and that isn't even a name."
"What happened to you today to make you think about this?" Franklin asked after several long moments, watching Maria try to pull herself together. She was shaking and he wanted to comfort her, hug her, but his touch would go right through her.
He almost didn't think she would say anything when she sat silently, staring at the Space Shuttle poster on her wall.
"I met Thor today." She fell silent again but pulled her attention away from the wall to Franklin.
Franklin sometimes wanted to just fix things. For Maria, for everyone. He could give her a nice happy life where she wouldn't be absolutely torn apart instead of a loss she barely understood. But she wouldn't be Maria then, she'd be someone else, and he'd seen what changing things like that could do. He'd seen what Wanda had done.
He'd blocked himself from those powers for a reason. No one should have the power to change things like that. It wasn't right.
Maria’s eyes held his and she started to talk. She poured out everything that had happened, about Thor, about Tony, about them fighting, and about the hammer. She told him how everyone at Asgard seemed to have brothers and sisters, and about her confusing conversation with someone named Kelda. The words tumbled out of her in a way that was almost painful to watch, and all Franklin could do was curl his arm around her and wish he could really touch her. By the time she'd told him, in halting words, about how Tony had gone away for a night, and what happened between her and Steve, she was crying in earnest.
Her shoulders hitched with little pent-up sobs, and all Franklin could think of was that he never seen her cry before.
"I'm sorry," Maria whispered finally, looking ashamed as she wiped her face. "I should have more control than this. I even cried in front of Tony. He should have reprimanded me for displaying such emotion."
Franklin was just overwhelmingly glad she said crying, because he'd half thought she say leaking or something, and he wasn't sure he could have handled her not even understanding crying. "Stop talking like that," he told her. "You're allowed to have emotions. Tony isn't going to be mad because you cried. You thought Thor was going to kill him."
"I don't want to lose Tony," Maria whispered. She unfolded her legs and pressed her hands into her lap. She might have leaned into his embrace slightly, but there wasn't really anything to lean into. "Or Steve."
"I don't want to lose my mom or dad either. I would have cried too."
Maria shook her head. "You're brave, Franklin. And you have powers. You wouldn't have cried."
"I have cried. I -- lost them once. They didn't really die but -- I thought they had. I cried." These were things that maybe they both should have talked to a grown up about. Franklin hadn't really talked to anyone about being in Hell, though he knew he probably should have, but what was he supposed to say 'Mom, I know you and Uncle Ben helped me through some of it, but can I talk to Professor Xavier because I have dreams about demons eating me?'
He probably should tell his mom about how convinced Maria was that she was there to protect Tony… that she thought her whole worth was as a tool. He should tell her just like he told her about Maria wanting a video game system, but that Maria wouldn't ask Tony herself(,) so could she please say something to Tony. But this wasn't a video game system, it was something Maria had trusted Franklin with and he didn't think people forcing her to talk would help her.
He wasn't sure anything really would. She'd never be normal, but neither would he. And as much as he wanted normal sometimes (sometimes more for his mom who wanted him and Val to have normal lives so badly) it was nice to have a friend who wasn’t normal, and never would be. Even the Power Pack kids had been more normal than him; they had normal parents. There was Luna, but he rarely saw her and she was just too young.
"Tony cried at Steve’s memorial, and Tony's pretty brave."
Maria blinked. "Tony cried?"
Franklin nodded. "It was on TV." Most things were, and no one in those long horrible days had really paid attention to see if Franklin was watching things he wasn't supposed to.
"You say that about everything," Maria pointed out.
Maybe he did, but many things were on TV. "Not about the Savage Lands. And I asked. Dr. McCoy, he says they count and he's been to the Savage Land."
Maria rolled her eyes. "So have Tony and Steve. The Savage Land is not in the middle of the planet so it doesn't count."
"Verne's source could have gotten there through underground tunnels and thought it was in the center of the earth." Franklin countered, wondering if she'd bring up the fact that it was a work of fiction and therefore it didn't matter what Verne's source said.
Reed watched as his son seemed to come back into his body, shut off his laptop, and climb into bed before he moved away from Franklin's bedroom door. He rubbed his forehead wondering if he should have said something as he walked to his and Sue's bedroom. But what would he have said?
Sue was asleep, curled up on his side of the bed, and Reed resisted the urge to sigh. He often wondered if she did that just to punish him for getting distracted in the lab and coming to bed several hours late. Tonight he felt more annoyed at himself for forgetting he'd told her he come to bed early than annoyed at her for taking his half of the bed.
Sometimes he envied Tony for being able to work for hours in his lab and perhaps just sleep there if he wanted to without anyone getting upset with him, then he'd remember that Tony Stark didn't have anyone to get upset at him.
Reed slipped into bed beside his wife, trying to imagine his life without Sue and their children. He loved her, he loved their family, even if he was bad at showing it, and he knew his life would be empty and cold without them in it. It was why he was always secretly afraid Sue would go out one day and just not come back. Even Namor could offer her more than he could.
It wasn't that he didn't try to give Sue what she needed, but often he just didn't understand what it was she wanted from him or what he done this time to upset her.
"Stop thinking so loudly," Sue murmured, turning over and wrapping her arms around him.
"Sorry," Reed said automatically. "You're in my spot."
Sue kissed his shoulder. "It hasn't been your spot since I was pregnant with Val," she reminded him. "Is Franklin asleep?"
He blinked. That was right wasn't it? He'd forgotten they'd rearranged the bedroom around that time. "He is now."
"He had to get your sleeping habits, didn't he?" Sue asked on the backside of a yawn.
Reed skimmed his fingers along her back. Sometimes he wanted to just wrap himself around her until he covered her completely, just to make sure she knew how much he needed her. "I think the trade off is more than fair since he has your heart," he told her but she was already asleep.
The sun was barely up but Steve was wide-awake. Tony had been awake only a few minutes and that was mostly Steve's fault.
Steve traced patterns on Tony's stomach as they lay on their sides, wondering if he could convince Tony to play hooky and stay in bed for most of the day. There were several flaws with that plan since Tony could start doing business calls with his brain, and Maria would come looking for them eventually. Steve wasn't sure what was more horrifying a thought -- Maria walking in on them having sex, or Shield sending someone in because Director Stark was late for work.
"I can't believe you’re Director of Shield." Steve murmured.
"Neither can Maria Hill. Want the job?" Tony asked, leaning his head back against Steve's shoulder.
"I'd rather be under Fury's direct command again," Steve snorted.
He could almost feel Tony rolling his eyes. "I'd rather have Fury take the job back."
"So would a lot of people, I bet. It's kind of strange not having Fury at least trying to snap orders at me."
"I think we need to get you a mental evaluation." Tony laughed as Steve's fingers hit a ticklish spot on his side.
Steve blinked, that had come out of nowhere. "What? Why?"
Tony rolled over and pushed Steve flat on his back. "Because you just expressed nostalgia for Nick 'Motherfucking' Fury yelling at you. If that doesn't make you unhinged, I don't know what does." Tony was grinning as he straddled Steve's hips.
It was obvious that more than just Tony was 'up' at this early hour. Tony's hard cock lay curled against his stomach. Steve's twitched in response to the sight, and he gripped Tony's hips as he swelled with arousal. "Unhinged would be taking Fury's job."
Tony shifted forward, rubbing his cock against Steve's. "Unhinged would be Dugan. If we didn't have a new helicarrier he'd probably glare every time I tried to move anything in the Director's office because it would piss Fury off if he came back and things weren’t like he left them. Are we sure they weren't dating?"
Steve laughed. "That's the second most horrifying visual I think I've ever had." He leaned up and tugged Tony down for a long wet kiss.
Tony's tongue slid wetly against his as Steve fell back against the bed. "What's the first?" Tony asked. He slowly licked his palm before rubbing it over the head of Steve's cock.
Groaning, Steve bucked up into the touch. He slid his hand from Tony's hip to the small of his back, then down lower, and brushed his fingers against Tony's hole. Tony was still slightly slick and relaxed from the night before, and pushed back against Steve's touch.
"What's the first?" Tony asked again, panting now. His cock was leaving wet smears against his stomach.
Steve wanted to draw Tony like this, but somehow he’d never found the time. He wasn't even sure he could fully capture on paper how Tony looked; how he chewed on his bottom lip and how blown his pupils were.
Carefully, listening for any sounds of pain, Steve pressed a fingertip inside. Tony's body opened for him, letting his finger slide inside. "My parents having sex."
Tony made a sound that was torn between a laugh and a moan. Steve decided he really liked that sound. He ran his fingers over Tony's ribs while stroking Tony from the inside with his finger.
Steve was rewarded with a repeat of the sound, then Tony whimpering; "F-fuck."
He watched Tony press back against his finger, and then slid a second one. Tony's head fell back to expose his throat, and Steve was tempted to roll Tony onto his back so he could lick and bite his neck. Steve had to grip Tony's hips to keep him steady as he spread his fingers, stretching Tony for him.
God, he loved stretching Tony to take him. Loved watching as Tony‘s focus narrowed to him alone. Loved how damn eager for it Tony always seemed to be, like he couldn't get enough of Steve's fingers, or Steve's cock.
He just loved Tony.
"Steve, please," Tony begged, twisting his hips. One of his hands settled over Steve's hand on his hip, the other was gripping his own thigh. "I'm ready, just -- uhn -- fuck me."
"Maybe I want to watch you come just like this," Steve told him huskily. His own cock was throbbing and leaking, and god he wanted nothing more than to shift and press up into Tony's welcoming body.
Tony trembled against him. "Tease," he gasped.
Steve pressed in a third finger and twisted them up, searching for that place that would make Tony cry out. He found it and stroked. Tony convulsed, making a sharp keening noise as he came, splattering himself and Steve with spurts.
"Jesus," Steve swore, slipping his fingers free. He tugged Tony down over him and licked his way into Tony's mouth.
Tony pressed down against him and sucked on the tip of Steve’s tongue. Steve had been closer than he'd known because just that pushed him over the edge, and he came between them.
They lay together panting into each other's mouths, as Steve stroked up and down Tony's spine.
"Can't believe you mentioned your parents while having sex with me," Tony laughed contentedly after they'd both caught their breaths.
Steve flushed. "You were the one mentioning Nick Fury and Dugan. Something you want to tell me, Tony?"
Tony shook his head, laughing harder. "Oh yeah, we need to get your head checked. I know some great shrinks. We'll cure you of this disillusion in no time."
"You should probably take Maria to one," Steve said, then almost smacked himself for letting the words escape his lips.
Tony‘s laughter died, and he shifted his full weight off Steve. "What -- " Tony paused, and rubbed a hand over his face. "Why?"
Steve reached out and pulled Tony closer, keeping him from leaving the bed. He raised an eyebrow at Tony. "You really have to ask with everything that's happened the last few days?"
"I guess not," Tony admitted, shoulders slumping. "But why bring it up now?"
"I know my timing is horrible," Steve said, resting his forehead against Tony's shoulder.
"Your timing sucks," Tony grumbled.
Steve pressed a kiss to Tony's shoulder. "Carol mentioned you said you'd talk to Professor Xavier."
Tony stiffened. "I don't want anyone rooting around in her head. She's fine. I've been handling the issues as they've come up --"
"Tony, she had a panic attack because you were gone for a night! I had to coax her out of a closet. She put herself between you and an angry armed god." Steve gripped Tony's shoulders. "That isn’t fine, not by any stretch of the imagination."
"I know, I know," Tony said, closing his eyes.
"I'm not saying let someone go digging in her mind. But you need to at least talk to someone about this. Someone that understands child psychology. " Steve rested his forehead against Tony’s. “We’re both just operating blindly here and it has worked so far, but can we really risk her?"
Tony shook his head. "No, no. I just want her to be happy, to be safe." His eyes were still closed.
"And you've made her both, Tony. You’re a good father to her. It isn't your fault the way they conditioned her to behave." Steve hoped Tony would believe him. "You took her in when you didn't have to, and don't tell me you did. Xavier would have taken her, or Reed and Sue. There were other people that could have taken her."
Tony gave him a bitter smile. "You don't understand Steve. I didn't have any choice at all. Once I -- once I saw her, I had to. I couldn't let them keep her."
Steve didn't understand, but Tony sounded so sure that he couldn't help wonder if once again there was something Tony wasn't telling him.
Tony hated hospitals.
It wasn't a new hatred, but it was a well honed one.
Granted, this was a very nice hospital, and very nice hospital room, but then considering how much money he was paying for all this, it ought to be.
"I never meant to do anything but protect your nephew," Tony said softly to the woman in the bed.
May Parker probably couldn't hear him, given that she was in a coma (Tony never believed that bullshit about people in comas being able to hear what you said to them, but he knew Jarvis came here almost every day to sit and talk to her), but Tony figured he owed her an explanation all the same.
"I am sorry. I promised him I'd protect him and his family, and I failed. I know I can never ask forgiveness from you or Peter, but I'm going to try to set things as right as I can."
He'd spent most of the last few days on the phone with people in DC, and Jameson. Tony had called in several different favors to line up the pardon, and that had been the easy part. Giving Peter back his secret identity -- now that had been tricky, and it still might not work.
Dealing with Jameson's end of it had been the easiest part of all when everything was said and done. Tony had been rather sorry he couldn't see the different shades of red Jameson's face must have turned when Tony gave him the conditions of an exclusive candid photo shoot with Maria. The biggest condition being that Tony would allow only one photographer access to her.
Peter Parker.
Tony was fairly certain Jameson had dropped the phone at that. He'd half expected the answer to be no way in hell, but Maria -- as much as Tony hated using her like this -- was a hot commodity these days. Jan had gotten several offers from different magazines, and The Today Show was clamoring to have Maria and him on.
Hell, he'd gotten several calls from Stephen Colbert's people, and an email from Stephen himself. And Colbert hated him, though mostly on account of being on the opposite side from Captain America during the so called Civil War. He had a replica of the shield on his wall for crying aloud.
So, Tony's offer wasn't one Jameson could easily turn down. Jameson had brought up the fact that he couldn't hire Parker back, but Tony had assured him that if Peter took the job there would be no legal difficulties. Besides, he'd told Jameson, Peter Parker wasn't really Spider-man -- it had all been a PR ploy gone bad, they'd liked the irony of having the person that took the best photos of Spider-man turn out to be Spider-man but it worked out badly for everyone involved.
Jameson had grumbled something about knowing that Parker couldn't have been that menace Spider-Man, since the kid could trip over his own damn feet. Tony had refrained from commenting.
Now the only thing left was to get Peter to agree.
Which meant tracking down Peter Parker, and Tony was pretty sure Strange wouldn’t take it well if Tony just asked him where Peter was. If Peter knew Tony was looking for him, he'd have no chance of finding him.
Jarvis, in the end, had suggested the hospital, and Tony was surprised to learn that Jarvis saw Peter and Mary-Jane quite frequently. Or maybe not so surprised. Jarvis and May had been seeing each other before everything went wrong.
Tony wondered again, why Jarvis stuck with him through all these years. He'd be lost without the older man, and if he was honest, he loved Jarvis like a father, but he wasn't sure Jarvis had the same emotional attachment. It was the only thing that explained any of it though.
Why else would Jarvis be willing to raise yet another child for the Stark family?
Tony knew Peter and MJ were in the hospital before they reached May’s room. He got to his feet and braced himself. He wasn't expecting either of them to be happy to see Tony Stark standing there.
"You have no right to be here," Peter hissed, standing in the doorway. It was strange to see so much anger and pain radiating off the younger man. "I should have known you'd be so underhanded as to track me using my Aunt."
“Peter," MJ said softly behind him.
"You have a lot of nerve, Stark, showing up here." Peter was practically shaking, and Tony was fully prepared to take a punch.
It wasn't a punch put it was close to it. Peter had him backed up against the wall, a hand around his neck.
"Peter, he's paying the hospital bills. If he wanted to bring you in using Aunt May he would have done so by now," MJ broke in grabbing her husband's arm.
Tony could have kissed her, because it was getting rather difficult to breathe, and he really didn't want to have to hurt Peter.
"What?" Peter blinked, "Are you sure? I thought you were paying the bills."
She shook her head. "Peter, they're monitoring our bank accounts. How could I be paying the hospital bills? Even if Jarvis hadn't told me, it’s the only thing that would have made sense."
Peter dropped his hand from Tony's throat. "Oh." He looked at Tony. "Uhm, sorry. Don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts but --"
Tony rubbed his throat. He always forgot how fast and strong Peter was. "I have a deal for you."
"No way. Nuh-uh, I'm not selling anybody out and I'm not joining any task force. I don't want anything to do with you, Stark. Been there, done that, hated the t-shirt." Peter told him.
"I'm not asking you to do any of that. Look, Jameson is going to offer you your job back -- and if I were you, I'd hold out for a pay raise -- that is if you go over to his office. I'm not sure he has a working number for you at the moment." Tony leaned against the wall behind him. "I've arranged a pardon for you, plus an official statement that you are not Spider-man. It was a PR stunt gone bad, and you and your family will receive an apology."
Peter crossed his arms over his chest, looking a bit like a petulant child to Tony. "What's the catch? I'm going to have to re-register?"
"Well, Spider-man would be asked to register but since you are not Spider-man, there would be no need for you to," Tony pointed out.
"What do you want from Peter?" MJ asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Because I know you want something. You can't be doing all of this out of guilt."
Tony shrugged. "I might have told Jameson that the only photographer I'd let take pictures of Maria was Peter Parker."
Peter's jaw dropped. "What? Why? I mean -- why the hell would you trust me around your kid?"
Tony almost laughed. "Peter, believe it or not, I still trust you more than a lot of people. I fucked up your life trying to keep you safe and I'm sorry for it. This is me trying to make things right." He let himself smile wanly. "Plus, with everything Franklin Richards keeps telling her, Maria wants to meet you."
"Nice to know I have a growing fan-club," Peter grinned slightly.
Behind him MJ rolled her eyes.
"I'm not asking you to decide right now, but if you choose to take the offer -- just contact Jameson in the next few days. Jan will set up the details about the photo shoot." Tony told him. "I'll leave you two alone. I'm -- I am sorry, Peter, Mary-Jane. I never meant for any of this to happen."
"Yeah, well, it did," Peter mumbled.
Tony made his way past both of them and out into the hall. He was surprised when Mary-Jane caught up to him, and stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Thank you."
"For what?" Tony asked.
"For trying to make things right. It's been very easy for them to hate you since -- " She didn't say since Steve's death, but he heard it all the same, " -- since everything."
"You don't hate me?" Tony asked in surprise.
She shrugged. "Sometimes I do, but I think Peter and the others give you too much blame. You've been just as fucked by all of this as we have." With that she turned and walked back down the hall to May's room.
Tony closed his eyes and decided he was going home for lunch.
He was half-way back to the penthouse when Maria Hill called him about a crisis he was needed for, and then there was a call from his head of security at one of Si's California plants about finding traces of possible sabotage.
Tony called the armor and hoped he'd make it home for dinner.
re: ATR 14
Sometimes he wanted to just wrap himself around her until he covered her completely, just to make sure she knew how much he needed her....and him saying the line about her heart after she falls asleep.
I've always read Reed as emotionally slow.
...and Tony really need to learn to delegate before he breaks down. He can't be a father AND CEO AND Iron Man AND head of SHIELD, and it's insane to even try. I hope Nick Fury comes back soon! ...and maybe Tony needs to find someone to manage the corporate part of Stark Enterprises.
Re: ATR 14
But Tony will try, because he's Tony. Thankfully he might have someone back soon that can help him with the company.
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Nice. I look forward to another chapter of maria
Some typos, though:
Tony's then Tony was of Franklin finding out about Captain America still being alive. - then should be than.
how blow his pupils were - I think you meanblown?
Re: Nice. I look forward to another chapter of maria
and i blame the pron being AWESOME as to why i missed the second one ^__^;;
Re: Nice. I look forward to another chapter of maria
Also: omg icon love.
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Reed and Susan ç_ç
plus bonus point for the hotness of Steve and Tony ;)
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I'm not sure I got Reed quiet right but I'm glad you think I did!
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Anyway, looking forward to the epilogue and the sequel. :D
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