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cap_ironman2012-01-02 05:30 am
cap_ironman_fe) wrote in cap_ironman2012-01-02 05:30 am
Entry tags:
Happy Holidays, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
espadas part three!
Title: Team Building Activities
Author:valtyr
Beta:dorcas_gustine
Rating: R
Parings: Steve/Tony, Pepper/Tony, Clint and Natasha are open to interpretation.
Universe: Movieverse
Wordcount: 40k
A/N: This got out of hand. You can carve that on my tombstone.
Summary: Fury's a beautiful princess. Clint's plotting a Communist revolution. Rhodey's not sexy. Wall-E's not a documentary. Clint's not gay but he does give a great blowjob. This fic is not an AU.
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five
"Where are you going?" Tony paused at the voice, stuck his head into the darkened library. He could just make out Natasha and Clint coiled together on the couch like a pair of snakes; Clint's head lolled off the cushions, an e-reader held just in front of his nose. Natasha was making a very elaborate cat's cradle with some kind of fine silvery cord.
"Off to pick Steve up from SHIELD." Tony strolled in, and checked his tie in the mirror over the fireplace.
"You have such a crush," Natasha sing-songed, and Clint snickered. Tony flapped a hand.
"Sh, Mata Hari, you'll make Rhodey jealous. He likes to think he's my only boyfriend."
"He should be jealous," Clint said. "When did you ever show up on time for Rhodey?"
"Have you even met Rhodey?" Tony frowned at him in the mirror, or at least at the pale blur that was probably his head. "Jesus, Clint, where the hell do you get this stuff from?"
"I'm an intelligence specialist, duh."
"Gossip," Natasha translated. "He gossips and gossips like a little girl, and then he writes it all down in his pink sparkly folder and hands it in to Maria, who gets it all put on a database."
Well, that was... a disturbing kind of system. Tony couldn't quite recall seeing Clint with a pink sparkly folder, but they should really invest in a better note-taking system for him.
"Rhodey was here when he dropped off Steve from their little road trip, anyway." Clint sounded amused; Fury had bitched them all out for losing Steve, and only calmed down when Tony had texted Rhodey and gotten him to make Steve call SHIELD. Still, Steve had come home looking happy, which was the important thing. "And gossip is quite clear that there are one and a half people you show up on time for," Clint finished.
"Who's the half person?" Tony said absently, still considering the wistful smile Steve had worn when he'd wandered in. He'd talked a little bit about Bucky, who'd apparently been the greatest person ever to draw breath, and Tony had listened, and it had been... nice.
"Apparently you're sometimes on time for Pepper. But she has direct access to your schedule and AI, so that hardly counts. Cap, on the other hand, you are always on time for, and it's very weird and everyone has noticed and comments upon it."
Tony turned and glared. Natasha and Clint stared back, like a pair of cats. Lying cats who were taunting him to get a rise, and he should be the bigger man and depart with his dignity.
Yeah, right.
"It's no big deal." Tony threw himself into one of the big leather wing chairs that flanked the fireplace. "Here, watch me be late." He folded his arms. Clint snickered.
"You have plans for tonight?" Natasha said mildly.
"We're going to see Return to the Forbidden Planet." He tapped his foot. "Steve saw a poster, really wanted to see it."
A pause. Clint stared at him. Natasha hummed, slightly off-key. She had one foot in her cat's cradle now, the whole thing resembling a 3-D model of a wormhole.
"I have the tickets," Tony said after a pause. "So he'll miss the opening when I'm late."
"Well, he'll know for the future." Natasha flicked a loop of thread over Clint's head; he didn't seem to notice, which would not be Tony's response to having Natasha drop a garrote on him.
"Know what?"
"That you're unreliable."
"Okay, that. That is hurtful. I'm not unreliable. I am very reliable." Tony stood up. "I am so hurt that I am going to prove my very much reliability by going to this event on time, with the tickets, just to prove to you I am a reliable person."
Clint snickered. Natasha smirked. Tony turned on his heel, and marched out the door.
Return to the Forbidden Planet was amazing and hilarious, and the songs were wonderful. Tony complained when he hummed them in the car; then he promised Steve could buy them on the Internet, and play them as much as he liked. Then he turned on something called EBM, which sounded like computer music to Steve.
"That's as good a description as any," Tony said, and Steve laughed.
"I liked the robot," he said. "You should get roller skates."
"You should shut your piehole, Captain Rogers," Tony elbowed him in the side. "How dare you besmirch the Iron Man with your retro kitsch. You want me to flail my arms and shout danger Will Robinson! too?"
"I think I'd enjoy watching that," Steve said thoughtfully, and Tony tried to elbow him again. "What's that from?"
"Lost in Space. We'll have a marathon sometimes. And all the other dreadful sci-fi. We'll get some kind of list together and work through the decades."
It was after midnight when they got home; Steve let them in with his key, and when he'd locked up behind them he turned to Tony, who was watching him, smiling.
"Have fun?"
"Yeah," Steve patted his shoulder, because a handshake seemed silly, and he didn't think they were on hugging terms. "Thanks, I had a great time."
"We should do it again! Tuesday, I have tickets to the ballet. Say yes."
"Yes, of course."
Tony retreated, grinning, and Steve wandered after the sounds of synthesised violence. Sure enough, Clint was crouched on the library rug, gaze fixed on the big TV, hands moving on some kind of plastic handset. Natasha was sprawled on the couch, apparently asleep, mouth curved in a soft smile; Steve would have expected the noise to disturb her, but maybe she was accustomed to it.
"What's that?" Steve advanced, peering at the screen, then at the handset in Clint's hands. Yeah, that was a game, and Clint was controlling the little figure.
"Assassin's Creed," Clint said absently, and spared Steve a second's glance. "Boyfriend take you somewhere nice?"
"I was with Tony," Steve settled down beside him, and picked up the other handset.
"What I said, right?"
"Does boyfriend... mean something different?" Clint paused the game, and gave Steve a serious look.
"Gay for you," he explained. "He thinks about your dick all the time. Also handholding, and probably adopting fashionable foreign babies."
"What?"
"Stark has already picked out his wedding colours and named your first dog, is what I'm saying."
"Tony's a queer?" He felt his face heat. "I mean, a homosexual. Does he think I - " he blinked rapidly, trying to fit the new information into the situation. It did fit quite neatly. "Not that I mind - I mean - but I don't want to lead him on - "
"Don't worry about it. He's a complete manwhore, if you knock him back he'll soon find a substitute dick." Steve took a second to translate from Clint, and then he blushed deeper.
"I'm sure it's nothing like that," he said firmly. "Tony's been really nice and supportive of the whole team - "
"Only as a side effect of wooing you." Clint grinned.
"There is no wooing going on." Steve held up the plastic handset. "Forget that. Show me how to play this."
Steve managed to avoid Tony for almost twenty-four hours, but they lived in the same house, and it was way too difficult to be standoffish, or draw back. Tony was just nice, and it wouldn't be right to push him away just because Steve felt weird. It wasn't like Tony was behaving badly. Sure, now he knew, he could kind of see it - the way Tony's eyes skimmed covetously over him, the way his hand would hover at Steve's elbow, the small of his back - but he never said or did anything, nothing that made it awkward, nothing that made Steve uncomfortable.
He planned, vaguely, for anything that might happen. If Tony took his hand, he'd gently disentangle and move away, he'd shut down flirting, he'd step back from a kiss. But Tony never kissed him, and his flirting was more of an aura, and Tony's darting touches never seemed more than friendly.
Just his eyes, the way they drank Steve up. And Steve could hardly do anything about that.
Pepper stood in the centre of the lobby, where she was clearly visible from all entrances, and fixed her glare on the main door. Tony was already fifteen minutes late, missing their pre-theatre drink, and if he didn't show up soon, they'd miss the start of the show. Because despite knowing better, she'd caved to his assurances and let him book the tickets.
"Miss Potts?" She turned round, putting on a polite social smile which broadened to sincerity at the sight of Steve Rogers hovering at a polite distance. Wearing a very flattering suit. The worry on his face dissolved when she smiled at him. "I hope I'm not bothering you - "
"Of course not, Captain," she said. "Here to see the ballet? Tony didn't tell me you'd be coming." A little crease appeared between his eyebrows.
"He didn't tell me you'd be coming, either." He jumped a little, and then pawed his phone out of his jacket and glanced at the screen. The crease deepened. "Uh, Tony says I should pick up the tickets at the box office? He'll be late." He looked at her expectantly, and she shrugged.
"Let's go, then."
There were only two tickets waiting. Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Well, he's late he loses out. Honestly, even for Tony, making a date with two people at once..." she tapped her lower lip. "Well, it's not unknown, I suppose, but - "
"It's not a date," Steve looked a little alarmed. "I mean, it's just - "
"Let's go," Pepper took his arm, and smiled up at him. Clearly, Tony had yet to explain the situation to him. She could only hope explanations would come before a pounce. Steve seemed like a sweet guy, but there might well be some archaic attitudes hidden in there, and Tony could find himself... awkwardly situated. She gave Steve a worried look, feeling the muscles shifting under her hand, and then he gave her another shy smile and it was hard to stay concerned.
Still, making a date with both of them at once was tacky. Sure, she and Tony were over, but it didn't bode well if he were already this careless with Steve; she was quite sure that Steve deserved a little care taken of him.
Tony didn't show at all, and Pepper would have been annoyed, but Steve was good company. Watching his expressions of shock at the price of tiny cartons of ice cream was worth the trip alone. He was completely ignorant of ballet, but gave every sign of enjoying it immensely.
"Well, that was nice," she said afterwards, and Steve nodded. "Tony probably missed it on purpose, though, he doesn't really like ballet. Probably never intended to come."
"Really?" Steve looked disappointed, and she felt a little pang of guilt. Usually people didn't get this far into a friendship with Tony without finding out he could be... flaky was nicest way of putting it. "Oh well. Do you, uh - " he looked around, vaguely. "Should I find you a cab, or walk you to your car, or - " his phone beeped again, and Pepper sighed.
"Has Tony miraculously become free?"
"Tony says we should go to Le Bernadin and he'll meet us there." He frowned at the screen. "And apparently I should ask you about art."
Tony had made reservations, it seemed, and they were settled into a little corner table - for two, Pepper noted with vague suspicion - behind a latticed screen. Steve looked about him with evident interest.
"This is nice," was his verdict, and Pepper raised an eyebrow. That was quite blasé for one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.
"Has Tony been taking you out a lot?"
"Yes," Steve smiled at the waiter, who set amuse-bouches in front of them. "We have lunch sometimes. He says the SHIELD cafeteria food is toxic in large quantities."
Pepper's phone beeped. Are you getting on? Be nice to Steve. Tell him about modern art.
Where are you? she sent back, and almost instantly the message came back held up at SHIELD no biggie be there soon. After a second, another message flashed up you pick the wine Steve just guesses lol. She dutifully snagged the wine menu on its way to Steve, and he gave her a grateful look.
"He's terrible," she sighed. "Still, maybe it is something important."
"I'm sure it is," Steve said, and she laughed softly. "You don't think so?"
"He's... not always reliable. You need to manage him a little."
"Oh. You, um," Steve turned a fetching pink, and fiddled with his silverware. "You used to, um, date Tony?"
"Yes I did. It was a fascinating experience." Steve squirmed in his chair like a puppy, so obviously full of questions, and so politely refusing to voice them, that she had to laugh.
"He was just Tony you know? Only even more so." Steve looked blank; he'd never seen Tony truly cut loose, it seemed. "Okay, okay. Once he bought me a pony."
"A pony?" Steve's brow furrowed. "Why a pony?"
"Because I told him that when I was a little girl, I desperately, desperately wanted a pony. So on my birthday, I get up, and he's made me breakfast, and there's about a million yellow roses, which are my favourites, and he's practically bouncing in his chair the whole time I'm eating. When I'm done, he takes me to the front door, and I was expecting a car, I guess, Tony loves cars. And I step out the door, and Happy's there, and... he's got a pony. A white pony in a fancy red leather saddle, with little gold bells on it. It jingles when it walks. It's got ribbons in its mane and tail. And Happy's just giving me this look - " she started to laugh, because Steve was giving her a very similar look, wide confused eyes. "This absolutely despairing look, like Tony's gone insane, and Tony makes me get on the pony, and he leads it about, and oh my God, I'm so happy no reporters were staking the place out that morning."
"Well, uh," Steve shook his head. "Did you have fun?"
"I suppose I did, yes. But - you can't live the kind of life where you might get a pony any day. Well, I can't. I like things to be orderly. That's why I was a great PA, and it's why I'm a good CEO. I can cope with surprises and disasters, but my job is to either make them not happen, or fix them when they do happen. With Tony, you're always braced for the next surprise, and that's fine when it's your job, but." She shrugged.
"That's too bad," he said. "I can see how fond you two are of each other. But I guess a pony is kind of..."
"Well, he also got me half a million dollars' worth of jewellery and a private jet," she said ruefully, and he choked on his wine.
"A - "
"I kept the jewellery, but we finally settled that he'd make the jet a company jet, to replace the one which... he'd modified." She pursed her lips and looked disapproving, and Steve clearly failed to understand that modified entailed stripper poles, bars, and a hot tub.
Dinner was perfect; Steve ate enough for three people, and made adorable faces of ecstasy at every new flavour or texture. They talked about the pre-Raphaelites, who they both enjoyed as a guilty pleasure, and Pepper tried to sketch out a history of art movements since the Forties.
When the bill came, Steve reached for it, but Pepper firmly put her hand on it. Steve gave her a wounded look.
"Tony asked us, Tony's paying." She signed it firmly. "I'll charge it to him."
"I could pay my share," he offered, and she shook her head, handing it back to the waiter. Steve gave the waiter a pathetic look, clearly feeling judged for letting a lady pick up the bill, and Pepper bit down firmly on a giggle.
"Tony doesn't let you pay half, does he?"
"Well, no," Steve fidgeted with his empty coffee cup. "Is that weird? I mean, I don't want to - if he - " So Steve did have an idea, and he wasn't sure he liked it. But he still went, after all. Pepper considered it.
Before she could come to a decision, Steve's phone beeped, and he sighed and checked it. Then he went bright red.
"What's he done?" Pepper said resignedly, and checked her own phone. Nothing.
"Nothing," Steve muttered, and crammed the phone away. He seemed suddenly unable to meet her eyes. Pepper's Tonysense was jangling. Surely he wouldn't proposition Steve by text? "So, uh."
"Give me that," she ordered, holding out her hand, and Steve's eyes darted around, trapped. She snapped her fingers, and finally he pulled the phone out and dropped it in her hand. She scrolled to the Messages section, tapped, and then let out a muffled shriek.
"It wasn't anything to do with me," Steve said hastily. "I didn't - I don't - I mean, not that you're not - but - "
The phone chimed again.
Try kissing her neck right at the hairline, she likes that. Then do the cute blushy thing. I can clear out Clint if you want to ask her in for coffee.
"I swear I had nothing to do with this!" Steve said when she raised her eyes to stare at him. "I don't know why -"
"Neither do I." She laid the phone down on the table. Steve stared at if as if it might bite. "I'll give you a ride home, Steve. Please tell Tony I am not happy with him."
It was inexplicably hurtful, to think of him - well, palming her off. Apparently, she'd read this one all wrong.
"Can you - " Steve was beet-red. "Uh, can you drop me at the base? I don't think I feel up to dealing with Tony tonight."
"Not a problem."
When Steve hadn't returned after his date with Pepper, Tony congratulated himself on a job well done, and then got steaming drunk for no real reason. Or maybe because he'd finally burned his boats with Pepper, and she and Steve would be spending their spare time with each other now.
After about half a bottle of bourbon, he ordered JARVIS to put Cap TV back on, and curled up in the blanket he'd shared with Pepper.
It wasn't like they were going anywhere, after all. They were his friends, and they wouldn't forget all about him now they had each other. They owed their happiness to him, really.
Somewhere in the middle of planning all the amazing things he'd do for their beautiful, smart, charming kids, he passed out.
The morning email from Pepper was confusing, to say the least. She seemed to feel he'd done something wrong. In his fuzzy, tired state, all he could assume was that Steve was terrible in bed.
He probably shouldn't have sent that question, though. The resulting capslock was quite clear on the fact Pepper had no relevant data.
Weirdly, that cheered him up enough to get him showered and fed, and after several pints of water and too many Advil, he concluded Steve must have messed it up somehow. As a good friend, therefore, he should step in and sort out what had to be a trivial misunderstanding. A call to SHIELD established that Steve was in residence, so he could just stop by for a friendly chat, maybe take him out for breakfast.
Steve refused to let him in. When he banged on the door, Steve called back I'm putting my headphones in! I'm going to play Bejewelled! Go away! And then, silence. Tony had considered hacking his tablet to continue the debate, but he had an inkling that would not please Steve at all.
He smacked the call button for the elevator, and gawked when the doors slid silently back to reveal Fury.
"How long have you just been lurking there? Seriously? Do all of you have nothing better to do than ambush me in elevators?" He got in, because if he didn't get in, Fury would come out after him. The doors slid shut.
"Now, what did you do this time?" Fury said, in a surprisingly non-judgemental tone, and Tony threw up his hands. At this point, he'd take non-judgemental anywhere he could get it.
"Nothing. At least, I tried to do something nice, considerate, and helpful, and now - "
"Oh dear," Fury gave him a pitying smile. "How did you help, exactly?"
"I was just trying to bring people together. Pepper's great, right? You know Pepper."
"I do know the lovely Ms Potts." His eye glittered with some unnameable emotion, and Tony eyed him with suspicion. "What has she got to do with this?"
"And Steve's great, right?"
"He's Captain America. Even I will have to admit to giving a girlish squeal when I learned I was going to meet him."
"Exactly!" Tony tried, and failed, not to picture Fury giving a girlish squeal."
"So?"
"So, surely, two great people. Put them together, and greatness!" Tony cast a look at him. "They deserve each other, and for once that's a compliment."
"You tried to set up Ms Potts and Cap?" Fury looked genuinely shocked, which cheered Tony up a little.
"Just throw them together, you know. Get them talking. They both like art, and... rules. And me." He paused. "Sometimes Steve likes rules."
"Your logic is bulletproof." Fury shook his head. "Can I ask, does this have anything to do with Colonel Rhodes' lurking presence?"
"Yeah, I set him up a playdate with Steve, it went great, they went to a cemetery and made friendship bracelets." Fury might not be able to call up the military and demand they send someone over to be friends with Steve, but this kind of thing was exactly why they had Tony. To consult. To provide expert advice. And loan out the very best military friend available. "See, that worked. Steve and Pepper would have worked, except he squealed on me. And now they're both mad at me."
"Playdate." Fury sighed.
"Yeah. Steve needs proper friends. Rhodey is a great friend."
"And Pepper is a great girlfriend?"
"Exactly, see. Now you're getting it. And I'm sure Steve would be a great boyfriend."
"Do you think?" If Fury's eyebrow got any higher, it would vanish over the crown of his head.
"He's like Mary Poppins. Practically perfect. I mean, what's not to like?" He glanced up at the floor counter. They'd gone a grand total of two floors. "Oh my god, is there no escape from this conversation?"
"Well, yes, but if you knew what it was, it would spoil it."
"You are all unreasonable people," Tony told him, and he grinned. "Why don't you tell Steve Pepper would be great for him? Make yourself useful for once."
"Oh, I think you children should resolve your own quarrels. A valuable team-building experience."
"How can I do that if they won't even talk to me?"
"It's a puzzle," Fury agreed, and the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Not Tony's floor, but who cared? He'd take the stairs. Freedom presumably meant Fury had gotten whatever he wanted from the conversation, which might just have been annoying Tony. "I'm sure you'll think of something, Stark. You are a genius, after all."
"Sure," Tony said. "That's right."
Tony wasn't sure what he'd expected from Peggy Carter. In the event, she turned out to be like dozens of elderly women he'd seen at military functions and funerals and weddings, soft rounded face and stiff white hair and shrewd eyes. There was no trace of beauty left in her crumpled face, but she sat straight and gave no sign of being impressed with Tony Stark.
"Hi," he said, and she nodded. It was a nice enough room, as nursing homes went; a reasonable size, airy, probably her own furniture."Uh, I think we've met, but I don't remember."
"I was at the funeral," she said, "But that was twenty years ago. Before that, not since you went off to MIT."
"Right." He roamed about the room, peering at the pictures on the wall. "Is this you? You're a stunner."
"So your father thought," she said dryly. "I didn't succumb to his flattery, either."
"Well, I guess you had Steve, right?"
"No. I never had Steve."
"Right." He rubbed his hands together. "You seem mad at me."
"Steve's not very happy with you."
"That's what I came to talk to you about." He gave up on being asked to sit, and came and perched on the footstool in front of her chair. "I don't know why."
"He doesn't like being made fun of." She fixed him with a stern glare, and he sat up, indignant.
"Making - what - I wasn't making fun! I tried to set him up with my ex-girlfriend, who is a fantastic woman, she's amazing, I thought he liked, you know," he gestured vaguely at the walls, "Smart, competent, hot, just his type, right?" Her eyebrow launched towards her hairline, and Tony had to work to get the whine out of his voice. He may not have entirely succeeded. "He didn't mind when I set him up with my best friend. And he likes Pepper. And she likes him. If he just put a little charm on - "
"All right, stop." She tapped a finger on the little netbook that sat on her side table. "He told me you'd tried to get him to make a move on a woman who wasn't interested."
"She's only not interested because he bungled it." Pepper definitely liked him, and Steve was really, really good-looking; he'd seen her look at him all dazed by the hotness. "She thinks he's adorable. He just needs to - "
"I want Steve to be happy," she said. "He's not very comfortable with women."
"He does fine," Tony protested. Sure, there was blushing and shuffling, but he did fine. Even Agent Hill smiled for him, and she didn't smile for adorable kittens. Tony had personally tested this.
"Obviously not." Peggy narrowed her eyes. "You made him feel like an idiot, in front of a woman."
"I didn't mean to," Tony ducked his head. "I just thought - " he swallowed. "I thought he would like to have someone, and Pepper is the best someone I know. And she does like him. I mean, who wouldn't?"
"Why did you come to me, Mr Stark?"
"Well, you know Steve best." He flicked a glance up at her through his lashes. "And, well. He's not talking to me. I was hoping, maybe, next time you email him - "
"You want me to intercede for you?" Peggy looked incredulous. Tony sat up as straight as he could, and tried to look respectable.
"If you could just tell him that I wasn't playing a joke on him." He gave it his best responsible-adult tone. "I mean, you don't have to tell him I'm great and he should forgive me - although I wouldn't object if you did - but he'd want to know the truth, right?"
"Hm." Seems like his responsible-adult wasn't all it could be. He tried for pitiful instead.
"Please? I was just trying to help, and all I did was send them on a nice date and suggest Steve kiss her. It wasn't like I locked them in a closet or booked them a hotel room." He'd toyed with the idea of sending them on a romantic weekend away, but Fury would probably get separation anxiety, and nothing killed the mood like ninjas parachuting in on your candlelit dinner.
"I'm only doing this because he likes you," she said finally, and Tony punched the air, suppressing his whoop of joy out of respect to the elderly. "And I'm only going to tell him you meant well. You can apologise for being an idiot yourself."
"I wasn't an idiot," Tony objected. "They'd be perfect together. I mean - " Tact warred with curiosity, and lost, as ever. "I mean, sorry if this is rude, but he said you wouldn't marry him, and I figure that means you want him to... go on with his life, and things. So I thought, you know - "
"Steve was a very important part of my life. He changed who I was. It broke my heart when he died. He said - when he came to see me, he was so happy. He told me he was - glad he wasn't too late."
Her eyes glittered, and Tony held his breath.
"I told him he was too late. But what I thought was, he was too early. It would have been easier for us both if it had been ten years from now." Her lips tightened. "He thought it was a fairytale; locked in ice, and coming back for his lover. But I'm not a princess now."
"He thinks you are," Tony felt obliged to say, and she nodded. Her mouth softened, into a tender smile, and Tony could see, suddenly, a shadow of the girl in the pictures.
"Of course he does. That's Steve. But - I loved him, and I lost him, and I can't - I'm going to die. And it won't be long. And I can't bear to see him hurting, and know I did it - and then he'll lose me. Like I lost him. And I can't bear to do that to him." She shook her head. "I'm not strong enough."
"Oh," was all he could say, and then he rallied. "But that's going to happen anyway, right, and he'll be upset - "
"It won't be the same," Peggy raised her hand when he tried to speak again. "If you keep trying to talk me into it, I won't email Steve," she threatened, and he mimed zipping his lips. She smiled slightly. "Although I suppose I'm convinced you meant it for the best, now. I'd - " her lashes, still dark, cast down over her cheeks. "I'd rather he remember me as I was." She knocked her knuckles against the little netbook again. "This works. It's like letters, and that's - it doesn't hurt. It's like looking at old photographs."
Tony tugged the netbook towards him, and frowned at it.
"This is ancient," he said disapprovingly.
"It still works."
"But for how long? I'll send you a better one. Tablet, or laptop?"
"I can't hold a tablet."
"Laptop, then." He drummed his fingers on the case. "You want some headphones? Then you can Skype with Steve. You don't have to use video chat or anything."
"Possibly."
"Uh," he tapped on the case again. "So. Were Howard and Steve really friends?"
"Yes. I wouldn't say they were close, exactly - Howard always kept himself a little apart - but they liked and respected each other."
"Did you like him?" Her mouth quirked.
"He was a character. Yes, I liked him. Given my position, though, I had to be careful about who I was friends with."
"Of course, yeah, must have been hard." He jerked to his feet. "Well, thanks. You will email Steve?"
"I'll do it tonight," she promised, smiling a little. "Give him a day or two to come round."
Steve felt a little silly coming back to the house, but no one pounced out of a closet to mock him. He wandered down the hall, and turned as his name was called.
"Cap, come play Playstation," Clint ordered from the library, and Steve obediently went to him.
"Okay," Steve sat down beside him. "I'm not very good at - what is this?"
"Katamari Damacy. Doesn't matter, don't care, the important thing is if you're playing no-one'll make me stop, because of your fragile mental health," Clint said happily. "Also, I'm pretty sure you could rip out someone's lungs to play with and Tony wouldn't call an ambulance until you got bored with them and wandered off."
"He tried to set me up with Pepper," Steve said, and Clint gave him a look over his sunglasses. Why he was wearing sunglasses inside, at 6PM, while playing a video game, was beyond Steve. "That isn't very - what you said."
"Pepper's his ex," Clint pointed out. "That's against the code, man."
"It wasn't my idea," Steve protested. "We were in the restaurant and he starting texting me advice to - never mind."
"That's weird. Maybe he's after a threesome." Clint grinned when Steve sputtered. "You going to go for it? Pepper's pretty hot."
"No!"
"Sticking with Stark, huh? High risk strategy, but he's the big payoff."
"I - " Steve caught his breath, and then he chuckled. "Quit that. You had me going."
"You're so easy, though."
The front door slammed, and Steve tensed at the sound of Tony's expensive shoes on the tiled hall floor. Tony wandered into view, and then broke into a huge smile at the sight of him.
"Steve - God Clint, are you trying to melt his brain? Steve, want to come to a party, it's boring but you'll save my life because if I misbehave Pepper will kill me."
"Well, uh," Steve smiled back, the last traces of wariness dissolving. Under that bright smile, it was impossible to believe Tony had been setting him up for a fall. "When - "
"Uh, the car's here now... I'm not ready, though, and I have to do some stuff."
"Forget the other stuff, go get ready," Steve ordered, tossing the controller aside. Tony threw up his hands and sidled off. Then his head reappeared.
"Black tie," he said, and vanished.
"Wow, I wish I had a boyfriend who took me to swanky parties," Clint told the screen, and Steve kicked him gently.
"Well, get your glad rags on and you can go instead."
"No thanks, I don't need Stark hating me all evening for not being you. He's the most aggressive sulker I've ever met. Including Natasha, and she swears in Latin and throws - "
"All right." Steve retreated.
Tony was tying his bow-tie when Steve tapped on the door and then stuck his head in.
"Come in, I'm almost done. Well, looking good." Steve looked spectacular in his tuxedo, fully reinforcing Tony's insistence on taking him to his own tailor. Steve had somehow gotten it into his head he didn't need a tuxedo, which was obviously ridiculous. Steve went pink at the compliment; he looked away, and picked up the programme lying on the bed in a scatter of paperwork.
"The Ho Yinsen Award for excellence in teaching," he read, and raised an eyebrow. Tony shrugged, and began to put his hair in order.
"I thought about endowing a scholarship, but I decided this was best. A good teacher can make all the difference, you know. There's a mentorship program, too."
"He was your teacher?"
"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I suppose that's the best way of putting it. He - when I was being a fool, he gave me the slap I needed, told me I could do better. He - was killed. It was kind of my fault, I. Never mind," he added hastily, because Steve was looking at him with earnest eyes.
"Were you close?"
"No. Yes. I only knew him for a couple of weeks, but yes." He fiddled with his cufflinks.
Steve stepped up, and put an arm around his shoulders. Tony wanted to say don't be ridiculous, but hey, they should be encouraging Steve to be friendly, right? He leaned into it, and took a deep breath, Steve's smell of old-fashioned shaving soap.
"Look, uh," Tony worried at his cuffs. "I'm sorry about - "
"Don't mention it," Steve said hastily.
"I did mean well."
"I know you did. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have thought - you've been so nice, I should have known you were being nice." Steve blushed, fetchingly. Seriously, how did Pepper not want to tap that.
"No, I - okay, let's stop apologising, let's just go, we're moving on." He stepped away from Steve, which was far too much effort - the man was an entirely comforting presence.
Happy had come to fetch them after dropping off Pepper; Tony was still in the doghouse with her, it seemed. Maybe Steve would be his emissary there? He tried delicately broaching the subject, but Steve's eyes went big and pitifully terrified. Maybe not. He turned to the subject of the awards dinner, speculating on the food, the drink, the dresses the women would wear,
"Did you hear about Dr Erskine?" Steve said abruptly, cutting off Tony's patter.
"Erskine - " Tony was thrown for a second, and then he remembered; the pioneer of the Super Soldier program. "Yeah, we still haven't quite unpicked what the heck he was doing with his machinery. You knew him?"
"He picked me. He got me on to the program, and he insisted on me - nobody wanted to pick me - anyway, he told me to always be a good man, and then he died. And I felt I should have saved him, but - "
"No, hey, I heard about that, he was assassinated by a fifth columnist, right? There was nothing you could have done." Tony was still sort of stuck on nobody wanted to pick me. It was hard to believe anyone had turned Steve down for anything.
"It took me a while to believe that," Steve continued, and Tony leaned forward, giving Steve his full attention. "I kept thinking, I should have done better, been faster. Somehow. But I did do my best, and I know the best way to honour his memory is live how he would have wanted me to. I, uh, I thought of that, when you were talking about Yinsen." He looked down at the program he still held. Tony blinked down at it; Yinsen's name was prominent, and beneath it the names of colleagues who were going to talk about his work, his achievements. Erskine had died while there was a war on, of course, engaged in top-secret work; it had been declassified in dribs and drabs, some still under lock.
"You're so right," Tony said, and Steve gave him a tentative smile. "I'll start work on it tomorrow. No, I'll announce it tonight - it's perfect, really, I'm glad you told me now."
"Uh," Steve tilted his head. "I think I missed a few steps."
"An Erskine scholarship. We can target underprivileged kids - oh, maybe immigrants would be better, after all, Erskine was a Jewish refugee, lots of families fleeing all kinds of regimes end up here - "
"A - Tony, that wasn't - "
"You'd prefer to target Brooklyn kids, maybe?" Tony gnawed on his thumbnail. "That could - "
"No - I mean, really, any kids who don't have the opportunities - but I didn't - "
"What would Erskine have liked?"
"I guess," Steve stopped, and frowned. "I think refugees," he said finally. "I mean, I'm from Brooklyn and all, but that wasn't why he picked me. He picked me because I was small, and used to fighting people bigger than me, so - "
"So a science scholarship targeted at gifted kids from refugee families," Tony said happily. Steve looked caught somewhere between happiness and confusion, like the face Pepper had made at the pony. Sure, she claimed not to want it, but she'd spent the morning sitting on it while Tony led her around the yard, and her expression when she'd fed it sugarlumps had been precious. Well worth the effort. He'd donated it to a petting zoo afterwards.
"Tony," Steve grabbed his wrists. Huge hands, Tony noted, and blinked at him. "Thank you. That would be wonderful, and I'd be so happy to have him remembered that way. But what I was trying to say is maybe you shouldn't blame yourself for Yinsen's death."
"Oh," Tony turned his hands and gripped Steve's wrists, squeezed them. "Well, thanks. I really appreciate that."
"Did you even think about what I just said?" Steve said in a resigned tone, but he was smiling.
"Of course I did," Tony squeezed tighter. "I mean it. Thank you." He loosened his grip, but Steve just slipped his hold down to Tony's hands, and held them tight, and there, that was the sugarlumps expression. You bought me a pony. That look, on the right face - that was worth anything. Everything.
"Thank you, Tony," and Tony swallowed back the painful lump in his throat to smile.
Pepper had managed an entire three days of not speaking to Tony, but he'd filled her office with yellow roses and tonight was the Ho Yinsen dinner she'd promised to attend. And she had to admit, she wanted to wear the jewellery he'd given her, and she couldn't wear it and still ignore him. So she didn't call to have the seating rearranged, and gave him a tiny smile when he sat down opposite her.
"Hi Pep, hi Rhodey, Pepper you look beautiful." His eyes dropped to her neck, to the fine tracery of diamonds and sapphires that matched her drop earrings, and his satisfied smile indicated he'd identified forgiveness. "I, uh," and then he frowned. "I brought Steve."
"Oh?" Pepper gave him a forbidding look, and he gave her puppy eyes.
"Be nice?"
"I'll be nice to him," she said pointedly, and he cheered up again, apparently willing to accept that.
"Loser," Rhodey said to him - Pepper had filled him in while they'd been waiting - and Tony made a face, and then grinned, tipping his chair back.
"You know Rhodey, you and Steve get on so well, and now Don't Ask Don't Tell is out - "
"Oh my God, Tony - "
"I'm just saying, we've all known for a while, and we didn't like to say - "
"Shut the hell up - "
"And I think you and Steve could be beautiful together, it would be truly - "
"He's coming," Pepper said sharply, and they were quiet as mice by the time Steve reached the table. He was managing to carry four Martinis in his large hands, although given what Tony had told her of his physical abilities, he probably could have carried all four balanced on his head.
He shot her a cautious look from under his sandy lashes when he set hers down in front of her - three olives, she noted, and had to smile. She directed it up at him, and he gave her a shy smile before ducking his head.
Tony was on his best behaviour all evening, which did not preclude maintaining a flow of insulting and hilarious comments under his breath, right up until it was his turn to speak. He became a model of decorum, then, and stuck rigidly to his script right to the end. Then made an announcement which had not been cleared with Pepper.
"Who the hell is Dr Erskine?" she hissed to Rhodey, who shook his head. Her eyes settled on Steve, who was beaming at Tony as if he'd hung the moon. Tony was beaming back, ignoring the polite applause and staring over the crowd at him as if -
As if he'd done it just for Steve.
"Steve," she said in resigned tones, and Steve turned the blazing smile on her, which would probably have made her knees weak if she hadn't been a professional, no-nonsense kind of girl. "Do you know who Dr Erskine was?"
"Yes, he was the man who did this," he gestured to himself. "He was shot by a Nazi just after the procedure - I'm all that's left of his life's work." The smile died away."I'd like for him to be remembered," he said quietly. "He was the kindest man I ever knew. People remember me - but without him, I'd never have had a chance."
Pepper limited herself to a glare when Tony got back to the table; she wasn't sure he even noticed, soaking up Steve's happiness.
They left early, because Pepper generally kept early nights now she didn't have to dance attendance on Tony, and Tony, instead of staying to drink and schmooze, just trailed Steve to the coat check and snaffled Pepper's wrap to drape tenderly round her shoulders. He kissed her earlobe, murmured they suit you and stepped smoothly back before she could decide whether to elbow him in the gut.
Steve had half-expected Pepper to be angry with him, despite Tony's assurances; but she was nice as pie to him, and by the time they left, he had no qualms about driving home with her and Tony.
Rhodey was staying only a few minutes away, so they dropped him off first, and then Pepper began to lecture on Modigliani, raising her voice whenever Tony tried to speak.
About five minutes into Pepper's lecture, Tony dozed off, and slumped against Steve's shoulder. He started to snore, and then slid down until his head was in Steve's lap, and Pepper stopped talking and giggled. Steve ruffled his hair, a little guilty, because if Tony did feel - that way - about him, Steve shouldn't be so casual with him. But he was asleep, and Steve liked the way his hair felt, smooth and silky and curling slightly under his hands.
He remembered Pepper was right there, and pulled his hand back.
"He's really fond of you," Pepper said gently.
"He's a good friend," Steve looked out the window, and Pepper snorted.
"He loves you."
"Um," his ears were going red again, he knew it. "I wish you two would stop trying to set me up with each other."
Pepper laughed.
"Do you know how many times I've caught him watching tapes of you?"
"Don't," Steve blurted, and he would have moved away, but Tony was still curled against him, and it wasn't fair, when Tony had never done anything but be his friend. "I don't think you should tell me this."
"Probably not," she crossed her long legs, blue-green satin slipping like a waterfall. "But - he's not an easy person to love, and he's not an easy person to be loved by."
"You said."
"Did I say it was worth it?" She was looking down at Tony, now, with an intense and evident fondness that made his chest hurt. "Just... bear it in mind. He won't - if you can't love him back, he'll still be a good friend to you. Just be kind to him."
"Of course I will." He dropped his hand to Tony's hair again. "I can't - but I don't want to hurt him."
"Of course you don't." The car pulled to a stop, and Pepper scooted forward on her seat. She leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Just be careful. I don't want either of you to get hurt."
She slipped out of the car, and Happy closed the door behind her.
Steve pondered that all the way back to the house, and when they pulled up, he sat there for several minutes, not wanting to disturb Tony.
Then he remembered Happy Hogan probably wanted to go home, and tapped the end of Tony's nose with a gentle finger.
Tony blinked awake, and squinted up at Steve.
"Sorry, what? I went to sleep."
"You need more sleep," Steve said. "Go to bed."
"Nah, got some work to do." Tony yawned, showing no signs of moving, and Steve hesitated before hooking his arms under Tony and scooping him up. "Oh what, what is this, is this a kidnapping? Very manly, Captain. Maybe I should scream." He just rubbed at his eyes as Steve carted him into the house, up the stairs and set him down on his bed.
"Sleep," Steve took a firm step back, to avoid confusion. Tony with scrunched up eyes and soft mouth was attractive, even a guy, a straight guy, could see that. "What if we get a callout? You need to be functional."
"We never get a callout," Tony said, but his eyes fell shut again and Steve turned off the light.
Of course, Tony had jinxed them.
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five
Author:
valtyrBeta:
dorcas_gustineRating: R
Parings: Steve/Tony, Pepper/Tony, Clint and Natasha are open to interpretation.
Universe: Movieverse
Wordcount: 40k
A/N: This got out of hand. You can carve that on my tombstone.
Summary: Fury's a beautiful princess. Clint's plotting a Communist revolution. Rhodey's not sexy. Wall-E's not a documentary. Clint's not gay but he does give a great blowjob. This fic is not an AU.
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five
"Where are you going?" Tony paused at the voice, stuck his head into the darkened library. He could just make out Natasha and Clint coiled together on the couch like a pair of snakes; Clint's head lolled off the cushions, an e-reader held just in front of his nose. Natasha was making a very elaborate cat's cradle with some kind of fine silvery cord.
"Off to pick Steve up from SHIELD." Tony strolled in, and checked his tie in the mirror over the fireplace.
"You have such a crush," Natasha sing-songed, and Clint snickered. Tony flapped a hand.
"Sh, Mata Hari, you'll make Rhodey jealous. He likes to think he's my only boyfriend."
"He should be jealous," Clint said. "When did you ever show up on time for Rhodey?"
"Have you even met Rhodey?" Tony frowned at him in the mirror, or at least at the pale blur that was probably his head. "Jesus, Clint, where the hell do you get this stuff from?"
"I'm an intelligence specialist, duh."
"Gossip," Natasha translated. "He gossips and gossips like a little girl, and then he writes it all down in his pink sparkly folder and hands it in to Maria, who gets it all put on a database."
Well, that was... a disturbing kind of system. Tony couldn't quite recall seeing Clint with a pink sparkly folder, but they should really invest in a better note-taking system for him.
"Rhodey was here when he dropped off Steve from their little road trip, anyway." Clint sounded amused; Fury had bitched them all out for losing Steve, and only calmed down when Tony had texted Rhodey and gotten him to make Steve call SHIELD. Still, Steve had come home looking happy, which was the important thing. "And gossip is quite clear that there are one and a half people you show up on time for," Clint finished.
"Who's the half person?" Tony said absently, still considering the wistful smile Steve had worn when he'd wandered in. He'd talked a little bit about Bucky, who'd apparently been the greatest person ever to draw breath, and Tony had listened, and it had been... nice.
"Apparently you're sometimes on time for Pepper. But she has direct access to your schedule and AI, so that hardly counts. Cap, on the other hand, you are always on time for, and it's very weird and everyone has noticed and comments upon it."
Tony turned and glared. Natasha and Clint stared back, like a pair of cats. Lying cats who were taunting him to get a rise, and he should be the bigger man and depart with his dignity.
Yeah, right.
"It's no big deal." Tony threw himself into one of the big leather wing chairs that flanked the fireplace. "Here, watch me be late." He folded his arms. Clint snickered.
"You have plans for tonight?" Natasha said mildly.
"We're going to see Return to the Forbidden Planet." He tapped his foot. "Steve saw a poster, really wanted to see it."
A pause. Clint stared at him. Natasha hummed, slightly off-key. She had one foot in her cat's cradle now, the whole thing resembling a 3-D model of a wormhole.
"I have the tickets," Tony said after a pause. "So he'll miss the opening when I'm late."
"Well, he'll know for the future." Natasha flicked a loop of thread over Clint's head; he didn't seem to notice, which would not be Tony's response to having Natasha drop a garrote on him.
"Know what?"
"That you're unreliable."
"Okay, that. That is hurtful. I'm not unreliable. I am very reliable." Tony stood up. "I am so hurt that I am going to prove my very much reliability by going to this event on time, with the tickets, just to prove to you I am a reliable person."
Clint snickered. Natasha smirked. Tony turned on his heel, and marched out the door.
Return to the Forbidden Planet was amazing and hilarious, and the songs were wonderful. Tony complained when he hummed them in the car; then he promised Steve could buy them on the Internet, and play them as much as he liked. Then he turned on something called EBM, which sounded like computer music to Steve.
"That's as good a description as any," Tony said, and Steve laughed.
"I liked the robot," he said. "You should get roller skates."
"You should shut your piehole, Captain Rogers," Tony elbowed him in the side. "How dare you besmirch the Iron Man with your retro kitsch. You want me to flail my arms and shout danger Will Robinson! too?"
"I think I'd enjoy watching that," Steve said thoughtfully, and Tony tried to elbow him again. "What's that from?"
"Lost in Space. We'll have a marathon sometimes. And all the other dreadful sci-fi. We'll get some kind of list together and work through the decades."
It was after midnight when they got home; Steve let them in with his key, and when he'd locked up behind them he turned to Tony, who was watching him, smiling.
"Have fun?"
"Yeah," Steve patted his shoulder, because a handshake seemed silly, and he didn't think they were on hugging terms. "Thanks, I had a great time."
"We should do it again! Tuesday, I have tickets to the ballet. Say yes."
"Yes, of course."
Tony retreated, grinning, and Steve wandered after the sounds of synthesised violence. Sure enough, Clint was crouched on the library rug, gaze fixed on the big TV, hands moving on some kind of plastic handset. Natasha was sprawled on the couch, apparently asleep, mouth curved in a soft smile; Steve would have expected the noise to disturb her, but maybe she was accustomed to it.
"What's that?" Steve advanced, peering at the screen, then at the handset in Clint's hands. Yeah, that was a game, and Clint was controlling the little figure.
"Assassin's Creed," Clint said absently, and spared Steve a second's glance. "Boyfriend take you somewhere nice?"
"I was with Tony," Steve settled down beside him, and picked up the other handset.
"What I said, right?"
"Does boyfriend... mean something different?" Clint paused the game, and gave Steve a serious look.
"Gay for you," he explained. "He thinks about your dick all the time. Also handholding, and probably adopting fashionable foreign babies."
"What?"
"Stark has already picked out his wedding colours and named your first dog, is what I'm saying."
"Tony's a queer?" He felt his face heat. "I mean, a homosexual. Does he think I - " he blinked rapidly, trying to fit the new information into the situation. It did fit quite neatly. "Not that I mind - I mean - but I don't want to lead him on - "
"Don't worry about it. He's a complete manwhore, if you knock him back he'll soon find a substitute dick." Steve took a second to translate from Clint, and then he blushed deeper.
"I'm sure it's nothing like that," he said firmly. "Tony's been really nice and supportive of the whole team - "
"Only as a side effect of wooing you." Clint grinned.
"There is no wooing going on." Steve held up the plastic handset. "Forget that. Show me how to play this."
Steve managed to avoid Tony for almost twenty-four hours, but they lived in the same house, and it was way too difficult to be standoffish, or draw back. Tony was just nice, and it wouldn't be right to push him away just because Steve felt weird. It wasn't like Tony was behaving badly. Sure, now he knew, he could kind of see it - the way Tony's eyes skimmed covetously over him, the way his hand would hover at Steve's elbow, the small of his back - but he never said or did anything, nothing that made it awkward, nothing that made Steve uncomfortable.
He planned, vaguely, for anything that might happen. If Tony took his hand, he'd gently disentangle and move away, he'd shut down flirting, he'd step back from a kiss. But Tony never kissed him, and his flirting was more of an aura, and Tony's darting touches never seemed more than friendly.
Just his eyes, the way they drank Steve up. And Steve could hardly do anything about that.
Pepper stood in the centre of the lobby, where she was clearly visible from all entrances, and fixed her glare on the main door. Tony was already fifteen minutes late, missing their pre-theatre drink, and if he didn't show up soon, they'd miss the start of the show. Because despite knowing better, she'd caved to his assurances and let him book the tickets.
"Miss Potts?" She turned round, putting on a polite social smile which broadened to sincerity at the sight of Steve Rogers hovering at a polite distance. Wearing a very flattering suit. The worry on his face dissolved when she smiled at him. "I hope I'm not bothering you - "
"Of course not, Captain," she said. "Here to see the ballet? Tony didn't tell me you'd be coming." A little crease appeared between his eyebrows.
"He didn't tell me you'd be coming, either." He jumped a little, and then pawed his phone out of his jacket and glanced at the screen. The crease deepened. "Uh, Tony says I should pick up the tickets at the box office? He'll be late." He looked at her expectantly, and she shrugged.
"Let's go, then."
There were only two tickets waiting. Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Well, he's late he loses out. Honestly, even for Tony, making a date with two people at once..." she tapped her lower lip. "Well, it's not unknown, I suppose, but - "
"It's not a date," Steve looked a little alarmed. "I mean, it's just - "
"Let's go," Pepper took his arm, and smiled up at him. Clearly, Tony had yet to explain the situation to him. She could only hope explanations would come before a pounce. Steve seemed like a sweet guy, but there might well be some archaic attitudes hidden in there, and Tony could find himself... awkwardly situated. She gave Steve a worried look, feeling the muscles shifting under her hand, and then he gave her another shy smile and it was hard to stay concerned.
Still, making a date with both of them at once was tacky. Sure, she and Tony were over, but it didn't bode well if he were already this careless with Steve; she was quite sure that Steve deserved a little care taken of him.
Tony didn't show at all, and Pepper would have been annoyed, but Steve was good company. Watching his expressions of shock at the price of tiny cartons of ice cream was worth the trip alone. He was completely ignorant of ballet, but gave every sign of enjoying it immensely.
"Well, that was nice," she said afterwards, and Steve nodded. "Tony probably missed it on purpose, though, he doesn't really like ballet. Probably never intended to come."
"Really?" Steve looked disappointed, and she felt a little pang of guilt. Usually people didn't get this far into a friendship with Tony without finding out he could be... flaky was nicest way of putting it. "Oh well. Do you, uh - " he looked around, vaguely. "Should I find you a cab, or walk you to your car, or - " his phone beeped again, and Pepper sighed.
"Has Tony miraculously become free?"
"Tony says we should go to Le Bernadin and he'll meet us there." He frowned at the screen. "And apparently I should ask you about art."
Tony had made reservations, it seemed, and they were settled into a little corner table - for two, Pepper noted with vague suspicion - behind a latticed screen. Steve looked about him with evident interest.
"This is nice," was his verdict, and Pepper raised an eyebrow. That was quite blasé for one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.
"Has Tony been taking you out a lot?"
"Yes," Steve smiled at the waiter, who set amuse-bouches in front of them. "We have lunch sometimes. He says the SHIELD cafeteria food is toxic in large quantities."
Pepper's phone beeped. Are you getting on? Be nice to Steve. Tell him about modern art.
Where are you? she sent back, and almost instantly the message came back held up at SHIELD no biggie be there soon. After a second, another message flashed up you pick the wine Steve just guesses lol. She dutifully snagged the wine menu on its way to Steve, and he gave her a grateful look.
"He's terrible," she sighed. "Still, maybe it is something important."
"I'm sure it is," Steve said, and she laughed softly. "You don't think so?"
"He's... not always reliable. You need to manage him a little."
"Oh. You, um," Steve turned a fetching pink, and fiddled with his silverware. "You used to, um, date Tony?"
"Yes I did. It was a fascinating experience." Steve squirmed in his chair like a puppy, so obviously full of questions, and so politely refusing to voice them, that she had to laugh.
"He was just Tony you know? Only even more so." Steve looked blank; he'd never seen Tony truly cut loose, it seemed. "Okay, okay. Once he bought me a pony."
"A pony?" Steve's brow furrowed. "Why a pony?"
"Because I told him that when I was a little girl, I desperately, desperately wanted a pony. So on my birthday, I get up, and he's made me breakfast, and there's about a million yellow roses, which are my favourites, and he's practically bouncing in his chair the whole time I'm eating. When I'm done, he takes me to the front door, and I was expecting a car, I guess, Tony loves cars. And I step out the door, and Happy's there, and... he's got a pony. A white pony in a fancy red leather saddle, with little gold bells on it. It jingles when it walks. It's got ribbons in its mane and tail. And Happy's just giving me this look - " she started to laugh, because Steve was giving her a very similar look, wide confused eyes. "This absolutely despairing look, like Tony's gone insane, and Tony makes me get on the pony, and he leads it about, and oh my God, I'm so happy no reporters were staking the place out that morning."
"Well, uh," Steve shook his head. "Did you have fun?"
"I suppose I did, yes. But - you can't live the kind of life where you might get a pony any day. Well, I can't. I like things to be orderly. That's why I was a great PA, and it's why I'm a good CEO. I can cope with surprises and disasters, but my job is to either make them not happen, or fix them when they do happen. With Tony, you're always braced for the next surprise, and that's fine when it's your job, but." She shrugged.
"That's too bad," he said. "I can see how fond you two are of each other. But I guess a pony is kind of..."
"Well, he also got me half a million dollars' worth of jewellery and a private jet," she said ruefully, and he choked on his wine.
"A - "
"I kept the jewellery, but we finally settled that he'd make the jet a company jet, to replace the one which... he'd modified." She pursed her lips and looked disapproving, and Steve clearly failed to understand that modified entailed stripper poles, bars, and a hot tub.
Dinner was perfect; Steve ate enough for three people, and made adorable faces of ecstasy at every new flavour or texture. They talked about the pre-Raphaelites, who they both enjoyed as a guilty pleasure, and Pepper tried to sketch out a history of art movements since the Forties.
When the bill came, Steve reached for it, but Pepper firmly put her hand on it. Steve gave her a wounded look.
"Tony asked us, Tony's paying." She signed it firmly. "I'll charge it to him."
"I could pay my share," he offered, and she shook her head, handing it back to the waiter. Steve gave the waiter a pathetic look, clearly feeling judged for letting a lady pick up the bill, and Pepper bit down firmly on a giggle.
"Tony doesn't let you pay half, does he?"
"Well, no," Steve fidgeted with his empty coffee cup. "Is that weird? I mean, I don't want to - if he - " So Steve did have an idea, and he wasn't sure he liked it. But he still went, after all. Pepper considered it.
Before she could come to a decision, Steve's phone beeped, and he sighed and checked it. Then he went bright red.
"What's he done?" Pepper said resignedly, and checked her own phone. Nothing.
"Nothing," Steve muttered, and crammed the phone away. He seemed suddenly unable to meet her eyes. Pepper's Tonysense was jangling. Surely he wouldn't proposition Steve by text? "So, uh."
"Give me that," she ordered, holding out her hand, and Steve's eyes darted around, trapped. She snapped her fingers, and finally he pulled the phone out and dropped it in her hand. She scrolled to the Messages section, tapped, and then let out a muffled shriek.
"It wasn't anything to do with me," Steve said hastily. "I didn't - I don't - I mean, not that you're not - but - "
The phone chimed again.
Try kissing her neck right at the hairline, she likes that. Then do the cute blushy thing. I can clear out Clint if you want to ask her in for coffee.
"I swear I had nothing to do with this!" Steve said when she raised her eyes to stare at him. "I don't know why -"
"Neither do I." She laid the phone down on the table. Steve stared at if as if it might bite. "I'll give you a ride home, Steve. Please tell Tony I am not happy with him."
It was inexplicably hurtful, to think of him - well, palming her off. Apparently, she'd read this one all wrong.
"Can you - " Steve was beet-red. "Uh, can you drop me at the base? I don't think I feel up to dealing with Tony tonight."
"Not a problem."
When Steve hadn't returned after his date with Pepper, Tony congratulated himself on a job well done, and then got steaming drunk for no real reason. Or maybe because he'd finally burned his boats with Pepper, and she and Steve would be spending their spare time with each other now.
After about half a bottle of bourbon, he ordered JARVIS to put Cap TV back on, and curled up in the blanket he'd shared with Pepper.
It wasn't like they were going anywhere, after all. They were his friends, and they wouldn't forget all about him now they had each other. They owed their happiness to him, really.
Somewhere in the middle of planning all the amazing things he'd do for their beautiful, smart, charming kids, he passed out.
The morning email from Pepper was confusing, to say the least. She seemed to feel he'd done something wrong. In his fuzzy, tired state, all he could assume was that Steve was terrible in bed.
He probably shouldn't have sent that question, though. The resulting capslock was quite clear on the fact Pepper had no relevant data.
Weirdly, that cheered him up enough to get him showered and fed, and after several pints of water and too many Advil, he concluded Steve must have messed it up somehow. As a good friend, therefore, he should step in and sort out what had to be a trivial misunderstanding. A call to SHIELD established that Steve was in residence, so he could just stop by for a friendly chat, maybe take him out for breakfast.
Steve refused to let him in. When he banged on the door, Steve called back I'm putting my headphones in! I'm going to play Bejewelled! Go away! And then, silence. Tony had considered hacking his tablet to continue the debate, but he had an inkling that would not please Steve at all.
He smacked the call button for the elevator, and gawked when the doors slid silently back to reveal Fury.
"How long have you just been lurking there? Seriously? Do all of you have nothing better to do than ambush me in elevators?" He got in, because if he didn't get in, Fury would come out after him. The doors slid shut.
"Now, what did you do this time?" Fury said, in a surprisingly non-judgemental tone, and Tony threw up his hands. At this point, he'd take non-judgemental anywhere he could get it.
"Nothing. At least, I tried to do something nice, considerate, and helpful, and now - "
"Oh dear," Fury gave him a pitying smile. "How did you help, exactly?"
"I was just trying to bring people together. Pepper's great, right? You know Pepper."
"I do know the lovely Ms Potts." His eye glittered with some unnameable emotion, and Tony eyed him with suspicion. "What has she got to do with this?"
"And Steve's great, right?"
"He's Captain America. Even I will have to admit to giving a girlish squeal when I learned I was going to meet him."
"Exactly!" Tony tried, and failed, not to picture Fury giving a girlish squeal."
"So?"
"So, surely, two great people. Put them together, and greatness!" Tony cast a look at him. "They deserve each other, and for once that's a compliment."
"You tried to set up Ms Potts and Cap?" Fury looked genuinely shocked, which cheered Tony up a little.
"Just throw them together, you know. Get them talking. They both like art, and... rules. And me." He paused. "Sometimes Steve likes rules."
"Your logic is bulletproof." Fury shook his head. "Can I ask, does this have anything to do with Colonel Rhodes' lurking presence?"
"Yeah, I set him up a playdate with Steve, it went great, they went to a cemetery and made friendship bracelets." Fury might not be able to call up the military and demand they send someone over to be friends with Steve, but this kind of thing was exactly why they had Tony. To consult. To provide expert advice. And loan out the very best military friend available. "See, that worked. Steve and Pepper would have worked, except he squealed on me. And now they're both mad at me."
"Playdate." Fury sighed.
"Yeah. Steve needs proper friends. Rhodey is a great friend."
"And Pepper is a great girlfriend?"
"Exactly, see. Now you're getting it. And I'm sure Steve would be a great boyfriend."
"Do you think?" If Fury's eyebrow got any higher, it would vanish over the crown of his head.
"He's like Mary Poppins. Practically perfect. I mean, what's not to like?" He glanced up at the floor counter. They'd gone a grand total of two floors. "Oh my god, is there no escape from this conversation?"
"Well, yes, but if you knew what it was, it would spoil it."
"You are all unreasonable people," Tony told him, and he grinned. "Why don't you tell Steve Pepper would be great for him? Make yourself useful for once."
"Oh, I think you children should resolve your own quarrels. A valuable team-building experience."
"How can I do that if they won't even talk to me?"
"It's a puzzle," Fury agreed, and the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Not Tony's floor, but who cared? He'd take the stairs. Freedom presumably meant Fury had gotten whatever he wanted from the conversation, which might just have been annoying Tony. "I'm sure you'll think of something, Stark. You are a genius, after all."
"Sure," Tony said. "That's right."
Tony wasn't sure what he'd expected from Peggy Carter. In the event, she turned out to be like dozens of elderly women he'd seen at military functions and funerals and weddings, soft rounded face and stiff white hair and shrewd eyes. There was no trace of beauty left in her crumpled face, but she sat straight and gave no sign of being impressed with Tony Stark.
"Hi," he said, and she nodded. It was a nice enough room, as nursing homes went; a reasonable size, airy, probably her own furniture."Uh, I think we've met, but I don't remember."
"I was at the funeral," she said, "But that was twenty years ago. Before that, not since you went off to MIT."
"Right." He roamed about the room, peering at the pictures on the wall. "Is this you? You're a stunner."
"So your father thought," she said dryly. "I didn't succumb to his flattery, either."
"Well, I guess you had Steve, right?"
"No. I never had Steve."
"Right." He rubbed his hands together. "You seem mad at me."
"Steve's not very happy with you."
"That's what I came to talk to you about." He gave up on being asked to sit, and came and perched on the footstool in front of her chair. "I don't know why."
"He doesn't like being made fun of." She fixed him with a stern glare, and he sat up, indignant.
"Making - what - I wasn't making fun! I tried to set him up with my ex-girlfriend, who is a fantastic woman, she's amazing, I thought he liked, you know," he gestured vaguely at the walls, "Smart, competent, hot, just his type, right?" Her eyebrow launched towards her hairline, and Tony had to work to get the whine out of his voice. He may not have entirely succeeded. "He didn't mind when I set him up with my best friend. And he likes Pepper. And she likes him. If he just put a little charm on - "
"All right, stop." She tapped a finger on the little netbook that sat on her side table. "He told me you'd tried to get him to make a move on a woman who wasn't interested."
"She's only not interested because he bungled it." Pepper definitely liked him, and Steve was really, really good-looking; he'd seen her look at him all dazed by the hotness. "She thinks he's adorable. He just needs to - "
"I want Steve to be happy," she said. "He's not very comfortable with women."
"He does fine," Tony protested. Sure, there was blushing and shuffling, but he did fine. Even Agent Hill smiled for him, and she didn't smile for adorable kittens. Tony had personally tested this.
"Obviously not." Peggy narrowed her eyes. "You made him feel like an idiot, in front of a woman."
"I didn't mean to," Tony ducked his head. "I just thought - " he swallowed. "I thought he would like to have someone, and Pepper is the best someone I know. And she does like him. I mean, who wouldn't?"
"Why did you come to me, Mr Stark?"
"Well, you know Steve best." He flicked a glance up at her through his lashes. "And, well. He's not talking to me. I was hoping, maybe, next time you email him - "
"You want me to intercede for you?" Peggy looked incredulous. Tony sat up as straight as he could, and tried to look respectable.
"If you could just tell him that I wasn't playing a joke on him." He gave it his best responsible-adult tone. "I mean, you don't have to tell him I'm great and he should forgive me - although I wouldn't object if you did - but he'd want to know the truth, right?"
"Hm." Seems like his responsible-adult wasn't all it could be. He tried for pitiful instead.
"Please? I was just trying to help, and all I did was send them on a nice date and suggest Steve kiss her. It wasn't like I locked them in a closet or booked them a hotel room." He'd toyed with the idea of sending them on a romantic weekend away, but Fury would probably get separation anxiety, and nothing killed the mood like ninjas parachuting in on your candlelit dinner.
"I'm only doing this because he likes you," she said finally, and Tony punched the air, suppressing his whoop of joy out of respect to the elderly. "And I'm only going to tell him you meant well. You can apologise for being an idiot yourself."
"I wasn't an idiot," Tony objected. "They'd be perfect together. I mean - " Tact warred with curiosity, and lost, as ever. "I mean, sorry if this is rude, but he said you wouldn't marry him, and I figure that means you want him to... go on with his life, and things. So I thought, you know - "
"Steve was a very important part of my life. He changed who I was. It broke my heart when he died. He said - when he came to see me, he was so happy. He told me he was - glad he wasn't too late."
Her eyes glittered, and Tony held his breath.
"I told him he was too late. But what I thought was, he was too early. It would have been easier for us both if it had been ten years from now." Her lips tightened. "He thought it was a fairytale; locked in ice, and coming back for his lover. But I'm not a princess now."
"He thinks you are," Tony felt obliged to say, and she nodded. Her mouth softened, into a tender smile, and Tony could see, suddenly, a shadow of the girl in the pictures.
"Of course he does. That's Steve. But - I loved him, and I lost him, and I can't - I'm going to die. And it won't be long. And I can't bear to see him hurting, and know I did it - and then he'll lose me. Like I lost him. And I can't bear to do that to him." She shook her head. "I'm not strong enough."
"Oh," was all he could say, and then he rallied. "But that's going to happen anyway, right, and he'll be upset - "
"It won't be the same," Peggy raised her hand when he tried to speak again. "If you keep trying to talk me into it, I won't email Steve," she threatened, and he mimed zipping his lips. She smiled slightly. "Although I suppose I'm convinced you meant it for the best, now. I'd - " her lashes, still dark, cast down over her cheeks. "I'd rather he remember me as I was." She knocked her knuckles against the little netbook again. "This works. It's like letters, and that's - it doesn't hurt. It's like looking at old photographs."
Tony tugged the netbook towards him, and frowned at it.
"This is ancient," he said disapprovingly.
"It still works."
"But for how long? I'll send you a better one. Tablet, or laptop?"
"I can't hold a tablet."
"Laptop, then." He drummed his fingers on the case. "You want some headphones? Then you can Skype with Steve. You don't have to use video chat or anything."
"Possibly."
"Uh," he tapped on the case again. "So. Were Howard and Steve really friends?"
"Yes. I wouldn't say they were close, exactly - Howard always kept himself a little apart - but they liked and respected each other."
"Did you like him?" Her mouth quirked.
"He was a character. Yes, I liked him. Given my position, though, I had to be careful about who I was friends with."
"Of course, yeah, must have been hard." He jerked to his feet. "Well, thanks. You will email Steve?"
"I'll do it tonight," she promised, smiling a little. "Give him a day or two to come round."
Steve felt a little silly coming back to the house, but no one pounced out of a closet to mock him. He wandered down the hall, and turned as his name was called.
"Cap, come play Playstation," Clint ordered from the library, and Steve obediently went to him.
"Okay," Steve sat down beside him. "I'm not very good at - what is this?"
"Katamari Damacy. Doesn't matter, don't care, the important thing is if you're playing no-one'll make me stop, because of your fragile mental health," Clint said happily. "Also, I'm pretty sure you could rip out someone's lungs to play with and Tony wouldn't call an ambulance until you got bored with them and wandered off."
"He tried to set me up with Pepper," Steve said, and Clint gave him a look over his sunglasses. Why he was wearing sunglasses inside, at 6PM, while playing a video game, was beyond Steve. "That isn't very - what you said."
"Pepper's his ex," Clint pointed out. "That's against the code, man."
"It wasn't my idea," Steve protested. "We were in the restaurant and he starting texting me advice to - never mind."
"That's weird. Maybe he's after a threesome." Clint grinned when Steve sputtered. "You going to go for it? Pepper's pretty hot."
"No!"
"Sticking with Stark, huh? High risk strategy, but he's the big payoff."
"I - " Steve caught his breath, and then he chuckled. "Quit that. You had me going."
"You're so easy, though."
The front door slammed, and Steve tensed at the sound of Tony's expensive shoes on the tiled hall floor. Tony wandered into view, and then broke into a huge smile at the sight of him.
"Steve - God Clint, are you trying to melt his brain? Steve, want to come to a party, it's boring but you'll save my life because if I misbehave Pepper will kill me."
"Well, uh," Steve smiled back, the last traces of wariness dissolving. Under that bright smile, it was impossible to believe Tony had been setting him up for a fall. "When - "
"Uh, the car's here now... I'm not ready, though, and I have to do some stuff."
"Forget the other stuff, go get ready," Steve ordered, tossing the controller aside. Tony threw up his hands and sidled off. Then his head reappeared.
"Black tie," he said, and vanished.
"Wow, I wish I had a boyfriend who took me to swanky parties," Clint told the screen, and Steve kicked him gently.
"Well, get your glad rags on and you can go instead."
"No thanks, I don't need Stark hating me all evening for not being you. He's the most aggressive sulker I've ever met. Including Natasha, and she swears in Latin and throws - "
"All right." Steve retreated.
Tony was tying his bow-tie when Steve tapped on the door and then stuck his head in.
"Come in, I'm almost done. Well, looking good." Steve looked spectacular in his tuxedo, fully reinforcing Tony's insistence on taking him to his own tailor. Steve had somehow gotten it into his head he didn't need a tuxedo, which was obviously ridiculous. Steve went pink at the compliment; he looked away, and picked up the programme lying on the bed in a scatter of paperwork.
"The Ho Yinsen Award for excellence in teaching," he read, and raised an eyebrow. Tony shrugged, and began to put his hair in order.
"I thought about endowing a scholarship, but I decided this was best. A good teacher can make all the difference, you know. There's a mentorship program, too."
"He was your teacher?"
"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I suppose that's the best way of putting it. He - when I was being a fool, he gave me the slap I needed, told me I could do better. He - was killed. It was kind of my fault, I. Never mind," he added hastily, because Steve was looking at him with earnest eyes.
"Were you close?"
"No. Yes. I only knew him for a couple of weeks, but yes." He fiddled with his cufflinks.
Steve stepped up, and put an arm around his shoulders. Tony wanted to say don't be ridiculous, but hey, they should be encouraging Steve to be friendly, right? He leaned into it, and took a deep breath, Steve's smell of old-fashioned shaving soap.
"Look, uh," Tony worried at his cuffs. "I'm sorry about - "
"Don't mention it," Steve said hastily.
"I did mean well."
"I know you did. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have thought - you've been so nice, I should have known you were being nice." Steve blushed, fetchingly. Seriously, how did Pepper not want to tap that.
"No, I - okay, let's stop apologising, let's just go, we're moving on." He stepped away from Steve, which was far too much effort - the man was an entirely comforting presence.
Happy had come to fetch them after dropping off Pepper; Tony was still in the doghouse with her, it seemed. Maybe Steve would be his emissary there? He tried delicately broaching the subject, but Steve's eyes went big and pitifully terrified. Maybe not. He turned to the subject of the awards dinner, speculating on the food, the drink, the dresses the women would wear,
"Did you hear about Dr Erskine?" Steve said abruptly, cutting off Tony's patter.
"Erskine - " Tony was thrown for a second, and then he remembered; the pioneer of the Super Soldier program. "Yeah, we still haven't quite unpicked what the heck he was doing with his machinery. You knew him?"
"He picked me. He got me on to the program, and he insisted on me - nobody wanted to pick me - anyway, he told me to always be a good man, and then he died. And I felt I should have saved him, but - "
"No, hey, I heard about that, he was assassinated by a fifth columnist, right? There was nothing you could have done." Tony was still sort of stuck on nobody wanted to pick me. It was hard to believe anyone had turned Steve down for anything.
"It took me a while to believe that," Steve continued, and Tony leaned forward, giving Steve his full attention. "I kept thinking, I should have done better, been faster. Somehow. But I did do my best, and I know the best way to honour his memory is live how he would have wanted me to. I, uh, I thought of that, when you were talking about Yinsen." He looked down at the program he still held. Tony blinked down at it; Yinsen's name was prominent, and beneath it the names of colleagues who were going to talk about his work, his achievements. Erskine had died while there was a war on, of course, engaged in top-secret work; it had been declassified in dribs and drabs, some still under lock.
"You're so right," Tony said, and Steve gave him a tentative smile. "I'll start work on it tomorrow. No, I'll announce it tonight - it's perfect, really, I'm glad you told me now."
"Uh," Steve tilted his head. "I think I missed a few steps."
"An Erskine scholarship. We can target underprivileged kids - oh, maybe immigrants would be better, after all, Erskine was a Jewish refugee, lots of families fleeing all kinds of regimes end up here - "
"A - Tony, that wasn't - "
"You'd prefer to target Brooklyn kids, maybe?" Tony gnawed on his thumbnail. "That could - "
"No - I mean, really, any kids who don't have the opportunities - but I didn't - "
"What would Erskine have liked?"
"I guess," Steve stopped, and frowned. "I think refugees," he said finally. "I mean, I'm from Brooklyn and all, but that wasn't why he picked me. He picked me because I was small, and used to fighting people bigger than me, so - "
"So a science scholarship targeted at gifted kids from refugee families," Tony said happily. Steve looked caught somewhere between happiness and confusion, like the face Pepper had made at the pony. Sure, she claimed not to want it, but she'd spent the morning sitting on it while Tony led her around the yard, and her expression when she'd fed it sugarlumps had been precious. Well worth the effort. He'd donated it to a petting zoo afterwards.
"Tony," Steve grabbed his wrists. Huge hands, Tony noted, and blinked at him. "Thank you. That would be wonderful, and I'd be so happy to have him remembered that way. But what I was trying to say is maybe you shouldn't blame yourself for Yinsen's death."
"Oh," Tony turned his hands and gripped Steve's wrists, squeezed them. "Well, thanks. I really appreciate that."
"Did you even think about what I just said?" Steve said in a resigned tone, but he was smiling.
"Of course I did," Tony squeezed tighter. "I mean it. Thank you." He loosened his grip, but Steve just slipped his hold down to Tony's hands, and held them tight, and there, that was the sugarlumps expression. You bought me a pony. That look, on the right face - that was worth anything. Everything.
"Thank you, Tony," and Tony swallowed back the painful lump in his throat to smile.
Pepper had managed an entire three days of not speaking to Tony, but he'd filled her office with yellow roses and tonight was the Ho Yinsen dinner she'd promised to attend. And she had to admit, she wanted to wear the jewellery he'd given her, and she couldn't wear it and still ignore him. So she didn't call to have the seating rearranged, and gave him a tiny smile when he sat down opposite her.
"Hi Pep, hi Rhodey, Pepper you look beautiful." His eyes dropped to her neck, to the fine tracery of diamonds and sapphires that matched her drop earrings, and his satisfied smile indicated he'd identified forgiveness. "I, uh," and then he frowned. "I brought Steve."
"Oh?" Pepper gave him a forbidding look, and he gave her puppy eyes.
"Be nice?"
"I'll be nice to him," she said pointedly, and he cheered up again, apparently willing to accept that.
"Loser," Rhodey said to him - Pepper had filled him in while they'd been waiting - and Tony made a face, and then grinned, tipping his chair back.
"You know Rhodey, you and Steve get on so well, and now Don't Ask Don't Tell is out - "
"Oh my God, Tony - "
"I'm just saying, we've all known for a while, and we didn't like to say - "
"Shut the hell up - "
"And I think you and Steve could be beautiful together, it would be truly - "
"He's coming," Pepper said sharply, and they were quiet as mice by the time Steve reached the table. He was managing to carry four Martinis in his large hands, although given what Tony had told her of his physical abilities, he probably could have carried all four balanced on his head.
He shot her a cautious look from under his sandy lashes when he set hers down in front of her - three olives, she noted, and had to smile. She directed it up at him, and he gave her a shy smile before ducking his head.
Tony was on his best behaviour all evening, which did not preclude maintaining a flow of insulting and hilarious comments under his breath, right up until it was his turn to speak. He became a model of decorum, then, and stuck rigidly to his script right to the end. Then made an announcement which had not been cleared with Pepper.
"Who the hell is Dr Erskine?" she hissed to Rhodey, who shook his head. Her eyes settled on Steve, who was beaming at Tony as if he'd hung the moon. Tony was beaming back, ignoring the polite applause and staring over the crowd at him as if -
As if he'd done it just for Steve.
"Steve," she said in resigned tones, and Steve turned the blazing smile on her, which would probably have made her knees weak if she hadn't been a professional, no-nonsense kind of girl. "Do you know who Dr Erskine was?"
"Yes, he was the man who did this," he gestured to himself. "He was shot by a Nazi just after the procedure - I'm all that's left of his life's work." The smile died away."I'd like for him to be remembered," he said quietly. "He was the kindest man I ever knew. People remember me - but without him, I'd never have had a chance."
Pepper limited herself to a glare when Tony got back to the table; she wasn't sure he even noticed, soaking up Steve's happiness.
They left early, because Pepper generally kept early nights now she didn't have to dance attendance on Tony, and Tony, instead of staying to drink and schmooze, just trailed Steve to the coat check and snaffled Pepper's wrap to drape tenderly round her shoulders. He kissed her earlobe, murmured they suit you and stepped smoothly back before she could decide whether to elbow him in the gut.
Steve had half-expected Pepper to be angry with him, despite Tony's assurances; but she was nice as pie to him, and by the time they left, he had no qualms about driving home with her and Tony.
Rhodey was staying only a few minutes away, so they dropped him off first, and then Pepper began to lecture on Modigliani, raising her voice whenever Tony tried to speak.
About five minutes into Pepper's lecture, Tony dozed off, and slumped against Steve's shoulder. He started to snore, and then slid down until his head was in Steve's lap, and Pepper stopped talking and giggled. Steve ruffled his hair, a little guilty, because if Tony did feel - that way - about him, Steve shouldn't be so casual with him. But he was asleep, and Steve liked the way his hair felt, smooth and silky and curling slightly under his hands.
He remembered Pepper was right there, and pulled his hand back.
"He's really fond of you," Pepper said gently.
"He's a good friend," Steve looked out the window, and Pepper snorted.
"He loves you."
"Um," his ears were going red again, he knew it. "I wish you two would stop trying to set me up with each other."
Pepper laughed.
"Do you know how many times I've caught him watching tapes of you?"
"Don't," Steve blurted, and he would have moved away, but Tony was still curled against him, and it wasn't fair, when Tony had never done anything but be his friend. "I don't think you should tell me this."
"Probably not," she crossed her long legs, blue-green satin slipping like a waterfall. "But - he's not an easy person to love, and he's not an easy person to be loved by."
"You said."
"Did I say it was worth it?" She was looking down at Tony, now, with an intense and evident fondness that made his chest hurt. "Just... bear it in mind. He won't - if you can't love him back, he'll still be a good friend to you. Just be kind to him."
"Of course I will." He dropped his hand to Tony's hair again. "I can't - but I don't want to hurt him."
"Of course you don't." The car pulled to a stop, and Pepper scooted forward on her seat. She leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Just be careful. I don't want either of you to get hurt."
She slipped out of the car, and Happy closed the door behind her.
Steve pondered that all the way back to the house, and when they pulled up, he sat there for several minutes, not wanting to disturb Tony.
Then he remembered Happy Hogan probably wanted to go home, and tapped the end of Tony's nose with a gentle finger.
Tony blinked awake, and squinted up at Steve.
"Sorry, what? I went to sleep."
"You need more sleep," Steve said. "Go to bed."
"Nah, got some work to do." Tony yawned, showing no signs of moving, and Steve hesitated before hooking his arms under Tony and scooping him up. "Oh what, what is this, is this a kidnapping? Very manly, Captain. Maybe I should scream." He just rubbed at his eyes as Steve carted him into the house, up the stairs and set him down on his bed.
"Sleep," Steve took a firm step back, to avoid confusion. Tony with scrunched up eyes and soft mouth was attractive, even a guy, a straight guy, could see that. "What if we get a callout? You need to be functional."
"We never get a callout," Tony said, but his eyes fell shut again and Steve turned off the light.
Of course, Tony had jinxed them.
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five
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Damnit, I need him to end up happy and that means Cap getting with the program, and I know you've already written the rest but I haven't read it yet, so I am simply going to sit and fret. Anyway, this continues to be brilliant.