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cap_ironman2010-04-08 11:49 pm
(FIC) You Were Made For Me (ch.I)
Author: GlasgowSmiles
Rating: PG-13
Warning/Spoilers: Character deaths (in alternate universe). Alternate universes.
Pairing: Steve/Tony and pre-Steve/Tony
Word Count: 1,517
A/N: I enjoy alternate universes, and seeing them meet. Also, I tend to keep my chapters short, and I try to post them regularly as I can, so if you're a fan of bite-sized bits of fic, read on, and if you prefer getting the whole story at once, then wait until it's finished and I'll have links to previous chapters.
Summary: A warning arrives of a potential threat from an alternate universe, and Tony Stark reaches new levels in self-loathing.
Intro here: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_ironman/502031.html#cutid1
EDIT: Fixed!
“Tony!” Pepper gasped, rushing to him as he tried his best to brush past her to get to his office. “What happened? Who gave you a black eye?!”
“Tony Stark.” He grumbled.
“Did you... did you actually walk into a door? Because I didn’t think that happened in, you know, real life. I thought it was an excuse battered housewives gave the cops. You are not that clumsy, have you been dri--”
“No. I got in a fight with myself.”
“Uh...”
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “He’s me, from an alternate universe. He’s stuck here, and everyone he knew was either killed or doesn’t realistically have long to live, and he showed up here to try and save our universe, and I’m an insensitive prick, okay? Although honestly? He should have been prepared for that.”
“That’s what the Avengers called you down for.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll talk to him.” She sighed, fixing him a cup of coffee. “In any universe, I think I know how to handle Tony Stark.”
“You don’t—“
“I’ll let the office know you’re out. Your appointments can all be moved. I’ll bring you an ice pack for that eye before I go, now drink your coffee and try and relax.”
Pepper being Pepper, he didn’t try a second protest. It wouldn’t change anything. He just enjoyed his coffee and the ice pack she dropped off and tried to forget the whole thing.
---/-/---
The other Tony had been shown to an empty room, where Pepper found him curled on one side, facing the wall.
“Mr. Stark?”
He rolled over, rubbing his eyes and regarding her with surprise that faded to something rueful and wry and familiar, if slightly different.
“Miss Potts. They’ve filled you in?”
“As well as they could, I guess. You throw one heck of a punch.”
He sat up and patted the spot next to him. “I’ll apologize when he does.”
“Oh dear.” She rolled her eyes. “This could take forever. I thought having one of you was difficult... But he is sorry, you know. He realizes that he can be...”
“A bit of a bastard? It’s all right, I know.” He smiled. “If it was the other way around, I’m sure I’d have a black eye.”
She noticed the wedding ring. “Married?”
“I was. He died. The invasion... I was too late, and...”
“He?” She felt like she ought to have been surprised, but the only surprise was how much sense it seemed to make to hear him say it. The parade of meaningless beautiful women had always been overcompensating for something, she just never pried too hard into what.
“Yes. Steve. I was working with Richards. And Hank. Outside, everyone was fighting as hard as they could, and then... I don’t know. I just had a feeling, or I heard something, it’s... fuzzy. I suited up and took off, he was fighting off three, four, five of them at once, and one more came out of nowhere... and I wasn’t fast enough...”
“Oh, Tony,” She pulled him into a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“He died in my arms. My husband died in my arms. I did everything I could, but there just wasn’t... there wasn’t anything to do. He’d already survived more than most people ever could have. The rest is a blur... I remember someone pulled me back to the lab. Jan had already died, and Sue was killed after we finished it. So we left the rest to do what they could. Reed and Hank and I, it’s not like we had anything left to lose not being able to get back. We didn’t have anything to lose if the trip was fatal, if the universes we wound up in were unlivable. So we went.”
“I’m so, so sorry...” She repeated, stroking his hair, pretending not to notice when he wept on her shoulder.
“It’s so strange,” He said, when he recovered. “To see this Steve Rogers. He has no idea. He might not even be gay, to listen to the other me. He seems like a nice guy, he’d have to be, but I can’t leave this room, because I might see him, and he might smile at me the way—the way my Steve used to, and it just kills me... but I can imagine the fit your Tony Stark would pitch if I let anything slip. It’s not my place to interfere in the personal life of my alternate self... it’s hard to imagine him being happy without what I had. I know I sure as hell wasn’t happy before Steve. So I can’t explain, and I can’t look at him without wanting to break down. I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“You’ll figure something out. And if you don’t... well, then, I’ll figure something out.” She promised.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes I do.” She smiled gently and ruffled his hair before leaving.
“Reed wants to WHAT?” Tony thundered.
Clint winced. “Hey, don’t kill the messenger. It’s not like he’s part of our team, anyway. It’s not like you can tell him what to do.”
“I’ll damn well tell him what to do!” Tony pushed past Clint, grabbing his cell phone and hitting four on speed dial. “Didn’t he hear a word the other me said? RICHARDS! Don’t ‘how’ve you been’ me, and don’t you dare take one more step building that thing! I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to hear any of it. You open up the walls between parallel universes, you let in the things that killed your wife, you... Yeah, I memorized the schematics, Richards. Yeah, I see ‘em when I close my eyes. Yeah, I wonder what it would be like to be the guy who builds it, but I’m not. Because I’m halfway sane, Richards! You don’t know what could go wrong! Another version of me didn’t risk his life so you could destroy the f—fabric of space as we know it.” He curbed his language as Steve passed in the hall, then hissed “So you could destroy the fucking universe!”
“Cute.” Clint grinned.
“Shut your face. Not you, Ri—Actually, yes, you too. But also Clint.”
“You don’t want to swear in front of Captain America.”
“I swear in front of Captain America all the damn time.” He snapped, closing his phone.
“You don’t want to drop the f-bomb in front of Captain America.”
“No. Nobody does. He’s... well, you know. He’s him. It makes me feel all guilty. For no good reason. And then he gives you that look, like ‘just because Doctor Doom is trying to blow up the city, that’s no excuse for your potty mouth, mister’, and... yeah.”
“He does do that, doesn’t he?”
“Excuse me, I have to go. Thanks for telling me.”
“Uh-huh.” Clint nodded, watching him sweep off. “Anytime. I’m always there if one of you super geniuses decides to act like an idiot.”
“Stark.”
The other Tony rolled over. “That’s kind of weird. Referring to yourself by your last name.”
“Well, I don’t know what else to call you.” Tony strode in and sat down. “Look, Richards—Well, no, first of all, I... I’m aware that I can be... well, me, and...”
“I’m aware of it, myself.”
“I didn’t mean to... to trivialize you. Sorry.”
“I’m sorry about the black eye, then. What about Richards?”
“He says he hasn’t been able to get the rest of the schematics out of his head. He said... he’s been working on his version of the device for so long. There are things you showed him he never would have thought of. But now, well... Look, Richards is an idiot.”
The other Tony leapt to his feet. “He’s building it? We destroyed it—we had Parker destroy the hub!—for a reason! I told him those things killed his wife, dammit!”
“I reminded him of the fact. He’s obsessed. Wouldn’t be the first time he ruined everyone’s life because of something like that.” He sighed.
“Let me talk to him. I could explain it. I could make him understand! What it’s like...”
“You can try. Go upstairs, use my shower, throw on whatever you want, then go ask Happy to take you over to talk to him in person.”
“Just let Hap think I’m you?”
“Yeah, why not? Unless you want to take the time to explain. Pepper was half ready to call the Betty Ford Clinic when I told her I punched myself in the face.”
“Yeah... yeah, okay. I’ll go try and knock some sense into Richards. Hey, Tony...”
“Yes?”
“You really... you really don’t love him?”
“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Never thought about it.” It was a lie, of course, but then, lying to himself was something Tony Stark had worked into an art.
“He likes to go dancing. Swing.”
The other Tony headed upstairs to clean up, and Tony just stared after him.
“Oh, that’s all very well for you!” He called, not sure if he was even in earshot. “I can’t exactly do that here!”
---TBC---
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And god dammit, Richards! Stop potentially screwing things up!no subject
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‘just because Doctor Doom is trying to blow up the city, that’s no excuse for your potty mouth, mister’,
LMFAO. Awesome.
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I think all the Avengers probably have a Captain America impression that they drag out, like at parties, or when he's being particularly clean-cut. And they all get away with it because he's a nice guy... but I like to think he could probably bust out a devastating impression of any of them, and *no one* would see it coming...