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cap_ironman2010-04-22 02:44 am
(FIC) You Were Made For Me Ch.VIII
Author: GlasgowSmiles
Rating: PG-13
Warning/Spoilers: Character deaths (in alternate universe). Alternate universes.
Pairing: Steve/Tony and pre-Steve/Tony
Word Count: 1,855
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
Intro here: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter One: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Two: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Three: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Four: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Five: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Six: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_iro
And Chapter Seven: http://community.livejournal.com/cap_ironman/508012.html
Steve carried the wrapped painting into Tony’s office with no introduction. Tony had half a mind to ask Pepper why she was letting people barge in willy-nilly, but it was Steve, and anyway, it was Steve, and she would see right through him if he complained, she’d do that smiling thing again. So instead he just stood, bounced on the balls of his feet a little, clapped his hands together, and said “Let’s see it!”
He hadn’t expected what Steve uncovered.
Honestly, Tony hadn’t expected any particular thing. A cityscape, maybe, except that’s what his window was for. A landscape, except that would look terrible in his office. A grayscale painting of a waterfall, maybe, that was the kind of thing executives sometimes put up, only usually it was photographs, and he really hadn’t known what he was going to get, but he never thought it would be this.
“Steve, that’s... Wow, that’s...”
“Anthony liked it. Before he left. It wasn’t finished, but I asked his opinion and he said he thought you’d be glad to get it, so...”
“Yeah.” He swallowed. “Yeah, it’s... Me.”
“Well, it was for the office, so I thought a large, imposing painting of you would give the right impression. Boardroom psychology and all that.”
“Who would’ve guessed. You know something about boardroom psychology?”
“More than you know about art.” Steve grinned.
“Hey. I know what I like. This is... This is way more handsome than I actually am.”
Steve shrugged. “Well, it was—I mean—“
“I didn’t even sit for this.”
“You spent enough time watching me paint it.”
Tony shook his head. “Stuffing my face with donuts, not looking majestic. Did you use a magazine photo? Because judicious airbrushing would explain why I look so damn good... I am really a very sexy painting, aren’t I?”
“I did it mostly from memory, actually.” Steve admitted.
“Oh. Oh. You... remember me being handsome?”
Steve snorted. “I’m looking at you right now, I don’t think you’re any less handsome than I painted you.”
“Oh.” Tony said, soft to the point of near-inaudibility. He cleared his throat. “Steve, would you like to go dancing some time?”
“... Dancing? With you? In... public?”
“Well... maybe not public. Also, ‘go’ is kind of a strong term. Really, more what I’m asking is, would you like to silently mock me while I try to learn to swing dance in the relative safety of my own bedroom?”
“You want to learn how to swing dance?”
“Do you want to try and teach me? Be forewarned, I might fall a lot.”
“... I could catch you, if that happened.”
“Good.” Tony braved look of determination. “Because it could happen a lot.”
“Oh. Well, you... you’d probably spend a lot of time in my arms, if that’s the case.”
He nodded, eyes burning into Steve’s. “I probably would.”
“Um... if you tripped, we might—I mean, things might happen, accidentally. The kind of things that happen, when you’re dancing.”
“It would be a shame if they didn’t.” Tony whispered. “After all, what else is dancing for?”
Steve leaned in, his gaze focused briefly but intensely on Tony’s lips. And then, he straightened and carefully leaned the painting against the wall where it would hang. Tony watched, confused, as he paid a lot of attention to making sure it was safe there.
Finally, Steve coughed softly. “Tony. I would very much like to teach you to dance. If you’re not doing anything important on Saturday night, I... I think that would be a good night for dancing.”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Um, I thought... you know, back there, when we had a moment...”
Steve turned and took Tony’s hand in his, brushing a kiss across his knuckles. “Don’t tempt me, Mr. Stark. I have a feeling my self-control is going to be tested sorely enough this weekend.”
“Oh, not too sorely.” Tony let himself leer a very tiny bit. “Maybe a little. Just a little tested. I’m sure you’ll pass, you’ve got wonderful... self-control.”
“Mr. Stark,” The same light, teasing tone, a sparkle in his eyes that Tony was going to find himself addicted to. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had designs on my body.”
“But you know better?”
“I think I do.”
“Oh. Well, good. I think. Is it? You lost me right around the part where you think I’m handsome and I’ve been an idiot for kind of a long time.”
Steve grinned. “You might just get me to kiss you before Saturday night is out.”
By the end of Saturday night, Steve and Tony were both laughing, collapsed against each other on a small settee at the foot of Tony’s bed, and, in Tony’s case, both dizzy and slightly out-of-breath.
“Half the time you were falling on purpose.” Steve accused.
“Can you blame a guy? Hey... how’m I doing?”
“You’re hopeless.”
“I meant on the getting-you-to-kiss-me front.”
“Oh.” Steve blushed. “Well... I mean, I—I want to, sure. I thought about it in your office, but then I thought maybe it was a little soon, and...”
“If you count lunch and the gallery, we could call this a second date. If that would make it, you know, seem not too soon.”
“But... we weren’t dating then. I never asked you out or anything. And you didn’t know I—“
“No. But... it was kind of my clumsy first attempt to seduce you. Wait, not—Not seduce. I mean, yeah, seduce, because hello, look at you. But... Not just seduce. I... I wanted you to have a good time.”
“I had a good time.”
“And like me.”
Steve grinned. “I do like you.”
“And... maybe be impressed a little.”
“Tony.” He sighed. “I’m not impressed because you’re a billionaire.”
“Oh.” Tony looked down. “Most people are.”
“I’m impressed because you’re you. You didn’t have to become a hero. You didn’t have to try to change the world. But you did, and you do, and... I mean, it’s nice that you’re rich and all, and it comes in handy with running the Avengers, I know, but that’s not why you impress me.”
“Okay, but you are impressed by the car, right?”
“... Hmm... Not the car we were in that, day, no.”
“You’re teasing me.” His mock glare was utterly ruined by a smile.
“A little.” Steve smiled and nudged him. “It’s good for you. You wanted to impress me, huh?”
“Yeah.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Impress you with my stunning lack of art knowledge.”
“I did have a good time that day. With you.” Steve leaned in, until their noses practically touched. “I kept wishing it was a real date, actually. I pretended it was for a minute. I didn’t think you... I was afraid we lived in the one universe where you wouldn’t want to date me.”
“I don’t think that universe exists.” Tony shook his head.
“What about the evil universe?”
“Nope. Evil Tony Stark is in love with Captain America—who isn’t evil, honestly, I still can’t imagine that. That’s weirder than me as a woman. Evil Tony Stark loves Captain America. He’s conflicted because Captain America is so good.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So he kidnaps him and keeps him chained up in his basement. He keeps bringing down flowers, and chocolates. He completely doesn’t understand why Captain America doesn’t love him back.”
“Oh, but he does.” Steve grinned conspiratorially. “He’s also conflicted. Because Evil Tony Stark is so evil. So he lets Evil Iron Man kidnap him. He pretends to be surprised when he winds up in Evil Tony Stark’s basement. And he pretends that he wants to escape, and that he can’t return Evil Tony Stark’s feelings...”
“But,” Tony was on the verge of laughter now. “But it’s all part of his clever plan. See, he wants to reform Evil Tony Stark, and make him good.”
“Right. So they can be together.”
“Evil Tony Stark kind of likes being evil. But he also really wants to be with Captain America. So he agrees to become a spy. He takes the Evil Avengers down from the inside.”
“Captain America remodels the basement. It’s very tasteful now.”
“But there are still chains. So Evil Tony Stark—“
“Who’s good now.”
“Right, who’s good now, can pretend sometimes that he’s still evil. Just for fun.”
“Every once in a while, so long as it’s just for fun.” Steve agreed. “They’re very happy together.”
“Yes. They’d have to be, with a fantastic story like that about them.”
Steve cupped Tony’s face gently. “They probably kiss.”
“All the time. Evil Tony Stark—who’s now good—is always doing that. Stealing kisses, usually. It’s one of the few little evil things he lets himself do.”
“I don’t think they’re really stolen. I think that other Captain America probably wants him to have them. Who knows, he might even make the first move.”
“Evil Tony Stark always makes the first move.”
“What about you?” The pad of his thumb traced sweeping crescents back and forth across Tony’s cheek. “Do you always make the first move?”
Tony shivered and leaned in, eyes falling closed. “Well, I’m not evil... so...”
“Right.” Steve moved in close. “So...”
Their lips met. Just for a second at first, and then Steve moved back in for a longer kiss. A third and then a fourth...
“I should go now.” He murmured, without moving his mouth very far from Tony’s. “Before I wind up doing something I might regret...”
“You don’t do regrettable things, you’re the good one.”
“Mm, I’m tempted, though.” He kissed Tony one more time before standing. “I’ll see you around.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Maybe tomorrow night we’ll continue the whole lesson thing?”
“Hate to break it to you, but I already know how to ki—Oh. Right. Dancing.”
“Yeah. Dancing.” Steve snorted.
“We could still kiss, though. I mean, I know how to kiss, but I barely have any practice kissing you. I thought I was getting the hang of it, but I’d like to be sure. I always like to be sure about things, you know?”
“Tomorrow, Tony. If you manage to get through what I showed you tonight without stepping on my feet, then you can make sure you’ve got the kissing thing down. By the time we start in on the Lindy hop, we’ll probably already be necking.”
“Necking.” Tony repeated, a faintly dazed smile in place. “I can get behind that. I’m in favor of necking. Necking with you. I’m penciling that in for a tentative next-Thursday. Think I can learn the Lindy hop by then?”
“Maybe. If you stop pretending to trip over yourself just so I’ll catch you.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Steve Rogers.” Tony followed him to the door, grabbing his hand before he could go.
“Goodnight, Tony.”
“Goodnight.” He pressed a kiss to the palm. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll limit myself to the necessary falling.”
Steve grinned and left, and Tony sagged against the closed door, feeling a truly ridiculous grin blossoming. Wherever the other Anthony Edward Stark was—and Tony hoped he was still alive—he owed him a big thank you.
---TBConcluded---
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...okay, even without being evil, i'd chain him up in the basement.
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Kinda sad that it's almost over though...
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You do, however, have to be stronger than he is, wherein lies the rub. Or Tony, because let's be honest, who wouldn't let Tony Stark chain them up in a basement?
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Thanks! And fret ye not (um, for some reason, tonight I'm talking strangely...), there is a sequel. Because I was so busy with the unfolding lurve story that I didn't include the cross-dimensional alien menace at all, and it felt like cheating to start with a big warning and then not follow through at all.
Plus, the sequel allows for more Natasha...
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Well, okay, maybe not all. Like 'if Anthony Stark was a tree, what kind of tree would he be?'. I don't answer that. But the big question I answer.
(plus, maybe he shows up in the sequel...? *fails to do innocent!face, merely looks scheming but also ridiculous*)
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And I have a sequel, so there is that.
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“Evil Tony Stark—who’s now good—is always doing that. Stealing kisses, usually. It’s one of the few little evil things he lets himself do.”
“I don’t think they’re really stolen. I think that other Captain America probably wants him to have them. ”
Those lines are just adorable, seriously.
You don't have a beta listed, so I wondered if you'd thought of consulting our beta list? You have some lovely chunks in your stories, but I think maybe some bits would benefit from a second pair of eyes? Like, you have good, fun dialogue but sometimes you run short on blocking and description.
I look forward to seeing more of your fic. :)
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I'm really glad you liked the 'evil universe story' bit. I think out of everything, that was my favourite part to write. Collaborative storytelling/humorous hypotheticals are one of the ways people talk/flirt/establish bonds, but you almost never see it in fiction for some reason...
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