El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
Notes: he can be nice! Tagged: adorable little cuddlebear
Tony was perfectly content on the couch relaxing, but even with his eyes closed he could feel Cap staring at him; studying him. Clearly Tony's dedication to attempting to be friendly was confusing the poor geriatric soldier. It was almost enough to make Tony laugh, but that would just make Steve more suspicious so he refrained.
The man could be suspicious all he wanted, but Tony was actually, for once in his life, attempting to be completely genuine with someone in order to form a connection. It was a trust issue with him, really, but if he couldn't trust Captain America, then who could he trust? Tony had decided to push those doubts aside for the moment. After all, they were going to spending a lot of time together and all the battling was starting to be exhausting. Sure, he would keep pushing Steve's buttons, but he could at least also attempt to create something akin to friendship between them.
He opened one eye when Rogers started protesting, shooting the man a smirk. "That's because its hilariously easy and incredibly fun," he replied happily, pretty sure they'd had this conversation before at some point. They'd probably have it a few more times for good measure. "I'm sure that your kicking and snoring can't be any worse than mine. Pepper says it can be pretty bad. She used to go sleep in a different room if she woke up in the middle of the night because she couldn't go back to sleep if I was snoring," he grinned before shutting his eyes again. That and he occasionally still had those...nightmares.
Snorting a bit at the idea of a pillow wall, he tried to imagine it. No doubt it would quickly become demolished. Opening his eyes to look over at Steve as the man questioned him again, Tony sighed. "Okay, so I know I haven't given you or anyone the best impression, but I hope it wasn't that awful," he replied, "I can be nice, Rogers. I'm tired. I'm bored. I want to do something fun and you're here too so why not do it together? Not everything is specifically to get on your nerves," he replied, though he wasn't exasperated. Simply...resigned to the fact that he kinda was that difficult.
"So. Room service and reality TV? I'm sure they can bring pillows for your great wall project too," he smirked a bit.
"It's fun??" Steve stared down the brunette, glaring a little. "It's fun to get me miffed and wishing someone would come along and give you a swift kick in the rear???" He gave a half-sigh, half-groan, with a little strangled exhale coming out from between his teeth. "For a guy in his forties, you sure can act like a teenager." After that one, there was a full sigh, as though he was just resigned to that fact and knew better than to argue or lecture about it in any capacity. Man was as stubborn as he was, and spiteful, too. Which sometimes meant trying to address a problem just made it half and again as worse.
"I dunno," the blonde hesitated at the idea that Tony's kicking or snoring compared. He'd heard that sometimes vets got into... fits where they relived some combat experience, and actually struck out in their sleep. What if he ended up clocking him in the face? ... Granted, he'd actually thought about doing it a few times, but thinking about it and actually wanting to were two entirely different concepts. "I kinda think it's a bad idea that'll just go down in flames." But maybe the pillow and blanket dividers would prevent anything too bad from happening?
If even one thing went bad, though, he was going back to the bathtub for the rest of the time he was at the Expo.
For a moment he just stared at the billionaire and considered how to proceed. Part of him told him that being nice and respectful was the tried and true method. But being honest was just as important, and if Tony was trying to be nice and put them on friendlier grounds, he needed to come clean. Right? "The only people I've seen you be nice to--actually nice to--is Bruce and Pepper." Captain Rogers said, not sharply or exasperatedly, so much as matter-of-factly. Everything else seemed to be the kind of overly friendly public personality thing he had going where he just wanted to make an impression and let everybody have a good time as some extension of his image. Or... however that worked.
Hearing Tony's rationale just made Steve shrug. He still wasn't sure he trusted it, and the whole thing felt kind of weird. A small part of him was a little relieved and hopeful that maybe they could start smoothing out their differences. But a larger part reminded him that the last time that happened they ended up arguing about Howard of all people. "Yeah, okay, just give me a minute. Although, can we skip the reality TV? Not a fan." It was so trashy and felt so dramatic, and staged. He wasn't sure why anyone would want to be on television to make an ass of themselves... or if they were all just actors, or footage was really that highly edited.
Going to the wardrobe in part of the suite, he grabbed a simple, loose-fitting t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, which he took into the bathroom. Peeling out of the extra-tight shirt was like rolling off a layer of skin, but it wasn't as hard as he'd thought it would be. The t-shirt felt a lot better and the sweat pants were definitely a better fit. Now he actually felt like a person instead of an overstuffed sausage,
Coming back in, he sat down on the over-sized sofa in the suit, kicking his bare feet up onto the Ottoman. "Actually, I thought of a reality show I like. Well... maybe it isn't reality, but... y'know, those science shows about the Universe?"
"Yup!" he replied with a smug smirk, the word popping out of his mouth almost as a chirp. Frankly, the people that were easy to rile up were always the most fun to rile up. Especially for Tony, who loved to mess with people as at least that way he was controlling the fact that they hated him by forcing it and not just letting it happen. It made him feel better about it. As for acting like a teenager; well, one couldn't be everything to everyone he supposed. Tony didn't need to grow up, necessarily; he simply didn't see a point in acting mature.
Tony snorted a bit as Rogers hesitated on sleeping in the bed that night yet again. "I'll be fine, cupcake," he assured the other man, "If you're a restless sleeper and try to kick me, I'll just kick back." He could only assume that it was a worry, and frankly he envisioned Cap as one of those guys that slept completely still. Like a corpse. Except breathing, of course.
Taking a moment to ponder Steve's statement, he decided that it was likely true. He tended to bicker with Barton simply because they liked to bicker and he was distant with Romanoff at best. Bruce and Pepper were people that he cared about, and he did try to go out of his way to make Bruce comfortable given everything the man had been through. Pepper...well, he couldn't be mean to Pepper. They'd known each other too long and were far too close.
"Well, now I'm being nice to you," he answered with a shrug, reaching for the remote for the TV and beginning to flip through the channels.
Shrugging at Steve's request, he flipped past what Pepper called the 'drivel channels' and started looking for something else to watch. He wasn't married to the idea of bad reality TV. Although Survivor was on, and that was always a hoot...it would really only make Steve argue with the TV in frustration, though, so he skipped past it.
Tony slid out of the suit jacket and started pulling off his tie, kicking his shoes halfway across the room and folding his legs up onto the couch with him as Steve came back into the room dressed more comfortably. "Oh, yeah. The Discovery Channel kinda stuff," he nodded as Steve mentioned it, "They're more like documentaries than reality shows. Reality TV is so named because it pretends to be reality, not because it is." Grinning a little, he continued flipping through the channels, pausing briefly at one of the ghost hunting shows and snorting at the terrible science before scrolling on and landing on Animal Planet, which was currently about...well, Tony would label it as 'monkey porn.' He winced and kept looking.
"Ooooooh, Indiana Jones," he said triumphantly as he came across the opening scene of The Last Crusade, pausing in his channel surfing to reach for the phone and the room service menu. "What do you want to eat?"
"Ugh," Steve groaned. "Maybe I'll have to make good on that wish and do it myself." He sighed at the thought, shoulders sagging a bit in exasperation. Outside of the ring, though, it would be tough justifying socking Tony. No matter how bad he had it coming some of the time. The billionaire might not have treated women the most respectfully, but he didn't do it in any kind of capacity for Steve to wallop him, and his first response was rarely if ever violence. Which he sometimes almost regretted with Tony. Sometimes.
"Mmm," he responded to Tony's assertion that he'd be fine, speaking again after the brunette's next comment. "That's what the wall is for." And the punching. And... hopefully whatever else. But hopefully there would need to be a wall for protection. Hopefully things would just go decent and he could forget that Tony Stark was on the other side of the wall and he could get some quality sleep.
Now he was being nice to him? Why now? Was it because of how much time they'd be forced to spend together? Either way, it rubbed him the wrong way. Especially since the change was quick. Abrasive to civil with the occasional abrasive moment seemed to have a more natural flow to it. Civil with a hint of abrasive to 'nice' out of the blue? It gave him a bad feeling. "I feel like a pig that's being fattened up before the slaughter." The blonde shot the older man a skeptical look. But... okay. "But... I guess I'll get used to it." Assuming the other man kept it up, anyway. Last time they tried to build bridges and extend olive branches everything caught on fire.
When Steve came back Tony looked a little more comfortable himself, but not by much. Still, the shoes were good. How Tony managed to live in his for so long was beyond him. They were always the first thing to come off whenever he got to wherever he was hanging his hat for the evening.
"Speaking of space, does... anyone still ever go to the moon?" He knew the moon was old news now, and apparently it was a giant rock and everyone lost interest in going. But it still captivated him more than anything. If he'd been born a little later and had the brain for it, he would've loved to be an astronaut and set foot down on the crust of earth's natural satellite. When Tony explained the difference between reality TV and what it was that he preferred viewing, the blonde nodded a bit. "I guess I'm used to documentaries involving more interviews."
He watched as Tony channel flipped with erratic speed, lingering on some channels contemplatively and then quickly flipping through others until he landed on one he liked. As soon as he said the title, Steve recognized it. "They're on my Watch list. Only 1 and 3, though, I heard the even numbered ones are bad. And that the first one's really the best. Which one is this?" He didn't know since none of the titles were numeric, and they all at names similar to some pulp comics serial adventure, which apparently they were very much in the vein of.
"I dunno. Uhhh... steak? Potatoes? Salad?" He shrugged, not particularly caring. Although one idea came to mind. "With a coke and one of those little tiny umbrellas if they have 'em?"
Notes: awwww tony will make it happen bb Tagged: honeybunches of abs
Tony only grinned a bit as Steve groaned. After all, it only meant that he was doing his job properly and annoying him. Hopefully Steve wouldn't punch him for it; though Tony was pretty sure he'd still get the shit kicked out of him if Steve kept up with his promise for training Tony in the ring. Tony would prefer sticking with Happy, to be honest, but he didn't see himself escaping Steve on the matter - the man would probably appreciate having the upper hand for once.
"The wall. Of course," he replied, giving Steve an amused look. He was pretty sure that a pillow wall would never work, mostly because he would dismantle it as soon as Steve went to sleep. Mostly for the amusement of the situation, but also because there was no way he was sleeping in a bed with a pillow wall. It was far too childish. He needed room to stretch out and roll around. He could do that with Steve in the bed, but not with both Steve and a pillow wall. Honestly, was he twelve?
He was a little weirded out by the way that Steve seemed skeptical of him now. Was it really so weird that Tony was being nice to him? He supposed that he really should work on his people skills a little better if that was the case. "I'm not gonna..." He gave a frustrated huff. "Look. Cap. Steve. We're going to be spending a lot of time together. And. Spending time with you, I guess I realized that you're not so bad. So all this animosity between us? It's pointless. I'm just. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of hiding behind this whole anger and rudeness thing I've got going for myself around you when you're around in more and more of my private moments, okay? So just. Let me be nice." He wasn't even sure if that made any sense, but he hoped that it did, 'cause he wasn't saying it again.
Glancing at Steve as he asked about the moon, Tony's lips quirked into a small smile. "People don't really go up there anymore, no. I think they figure we've learned all we can from it," he replied with a shrug, "Occasionally they send people up, though. Why? You harbor a secret fantasy to visit the moon?" He chuckled a little at the idea, imagining Steve bouncing around up there and grinning like a small child or an overeager puppy. It would really be kind of cute. He'd have to film it.
He shrugged a shoulder at Steve's preconception of documentaries, not really caring enough to debate it at the moment. Right now he just wanted to find something to watch; and Indiana Jones was the cure to that. "They have their strong points, but Raiders and Crusade are certainly the best ones," he nodded in agreement, "This one is three. It's actually my favorite." He turned his head to grin a little at Steve. "I actually think you'll really like them. They're very in the vein of some of the stuff in the Cap Room that I'm pretty sure was your wartime reading material. This just started, so we can watch it now and I can show you Raiders later, how about that?" Yeah, he wouldn't mind watching Indiana Jones movies with Captain America. Sounded kinda fun, oddly.
Nodding a little, Tony dialed room service. "Hey. I'd like three of the best steaks you have, a couple large salads, potatoes every way you make them, and whatever desserts are your best. Make the portions extra large. Also bring me some of your best wines to go with all that. Multiple bottles. And some coke. The soft drink, not the illegal kind. And my honeybunch requests there be a cocktail umbrella in it. Also, I need a fuckton of pillows. Pretty much enough pillows to make a giant bed out of them, please. Yes, that's it. Thanks." He hung up the phone and grinned over at Steve.
"So. Food's on the way. Pillows are on the way. Life is good. Time for Indy!" He threw his hands in the air in triumph before frowning a bit. "I hope DUM-E's okay sleeping at the Expo tonight...poor baby..."
"Whaddya mean 'of course'?" He shot the brunette a look with narrowed eyes and a sharp frown. It wasn't the 'oh yeah, I forgot what I was talking about three seconds ago' of course that Clint sometimes got 'cause the archer didn't seem to have much of an attention span half the time. No, that wasn't the look or tone of voice he was taking. He looked mischievous, and considering the man liked to get a rise out of him, the blonde wasn't exactly looking forward to tonight. "Maybe I should just use those extra pillows in the bathtub." The soldier grumbled. Honestly, he trusted the faucet of the tub a lot more than Tony.
If he woke up with shaving cream all over his face and hand, he was going to be very unhappy.
It wasn't exactly surprising that the genius in the room seemed offended and short tempered with him. That was kind of par for the course of their interactions. But the tone of it was different. Exasperated rather than explosive. And almost needy, like he needed Steve to understand he was turning a new leaf or something. The soldier shifted again. This was all getting uncomfortable. Too personal, too fast. Why was he the one with the big heart-to-heart moment? Wouldn't Thor or maybe Nat make more sense? He did seem to hate either of them less, at least initially.
But if Tony needed this in some way... fine. "Yeah, okay. I can understand needing to cut loose." He left it at that, even though there was a lot more than could be said. The choice of wording was interesting. Hiding behind. And considering how many Tonys he'd seen across different personal interactions he'd had with people, it was hard to figure out which Tony--if any of them--was the real article. Maybe Tony didn't know anymore, either. But it definitely seemed that the Tony he saw most of, the same one that usually came out with the press, didn't want to stick around.
Just like people didn't want to stick around the moon anymore, apparently. The Captain heaved a small little sigh at that. That was depressing. At least until the billionaire mentioned that sometimes people did go up there still. A small smile twitched on his lips. "Yeah?" His eyes lit up a little bit, though his expression immediately faltered when he was accused of being a moon-lover like it was some kind of dirty thing. "Well... kinda. I mean, who doesn't want to go to the Moon? And astronauts? Those guys are incredible." Yeah, okay. He loved the Moon. And space. And astronauts. And maybe he wanted to meet John Glenn.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small notebook and pen he kept with them and flipped to the pages he had movies listed under. Next to "Indiana Jones 1 & 3" he wrote the respective names of each, and then moved to slash out number 3. "Yeah, I heard they're like some of the pulp serials." The blonde grinned nostalgically at the thought. "Wait, I don't remember seeing any of those comics at the Smithsonian..." he'd been to the museum a few months back. Maybe some of the exhibits changed? But yeah, okay. He guessed that he could watch Raiders with Tony.
He was settled in when room service was called. The amount of food ordered would've been ridiculous if he didn't... well... eat so much. Half of it was the hulking monstrosity of the body he'd been living in for the last few years, and some of it was the serum coursing through him that pumped up his metabolism. Everything sounded good, though Tony's joke about cocaine wasn't appreciated, and was met with a glare. Everything until Tony swore, which earned a light elbow in the side and a harder glare from Steve.
"Hey, language. They probably have people swearing at them all day." He frowned. The speed at which Tony changed subjects almost gave him whiplash, though. "You could always go check on him?" Them? It?
Notes: he's gonna frown at jesse xx looking so much like lady sif. XD Tagged: honeybunches of abs
He shrugged a little at the Captain's sharp look. "I just mean that it seems kinda silly, doesn't it? We're both adults. Pillow walls are for teenagers that are scared of turning out gay and children who don't have the energy to build the whole fort," he replied simply, not so much rude or accusing as simply explanatory. He was actually pretty good at that kind of thing. He rolled his eyes when Steve seemed to return to the idea of the bathtub. "Oh, for the love of all that is holy, Rogers. You're sleeping on the bed tonight. Like a real human being. Not some crazy alien or test tube baby." He paused and hummed a little at that thought. "Actually, add Kyle XY to your list. Great show. You'll love it. And I think you'll really relate to it."
Rolling his eyes a little at Steve's reluctance to believe in Tony's willingness to drop his whole asshole act, he simply decided to let it go for the moment. He was tired from keeping up his facade for so long without a break, and he was taking that break now even without Steve's blessing. He knew that most people didn't understand the whys of Tony's public persona and the whys of it being so different than his actual personality, but hopefully in time Steve would catch on and stop being so skeptical of Tony and everything that he did.
Of course, the effect of this meant that Steve was about to get a peek at the Tony that only his closest friends knew about. The thought unsettled him, but he was really too set on relaxing at this point to let himself worry about it too much. Only a few people had ever actually seen Tony in a relaxed state; his natural personality, as it were. Those people were Rhodey and Pepper and Happy and Jarvis. He wasn't too keen on expanding that group much.
He continued giving Steve an amused look as he expounded on his wish to go to the moon. "Well. Maybe it can be arranged. Who knows. I hear that we need to plant a new flag up there. Maybe Captain America's the man for the job," he replied, still thoroughly entertained by simply imagining the hilarity that would take place by sending Steve up there. He seemed excited about the prospect. Maybe Tony should take him to NASA. Or at least point him in that direction. Arrange for him to meet Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong or something. The idea of Steve fanboying over astronauts was great.
Shifting awkwardly as Steve thought back to the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit, he shrugged a shoulder with an air of nonchalance that he quickly dropped. The truth would be good. Steve might appreciate knowing. "Well. The Smithsonian might have borrowed essentially their entire exhibit from the Stark estate, but there's still a ton of stuff in the Cap Room. The, uh, room that my dad kept literally everything relating to you in. Artwork, old sketchbooks, old belongings, all the Cap regalia, your books, memorabilia, and I think he even managed to track down some of your belongings from childhood. He was convinced that he'd be able to find you again, you know? And as time went on I think he convinced himself that you might have been able to survive being frozen in the Arctic. And that you'd want all that crap when he woke you up. I can take you to see it later. I only let the Smithsonian borrow things that were relatively impersonal." Well, now that that particular cat was out of the bag maybe he'd feel less weird about it.
...nope, still felt weird to have grown up surrounded by Cap's things.
Tony couldn't help the small grin as Steve elbowed him and reprimanded him over his language. Some things would never change, he didn't think. Although at least the other man's manner seemed more friendly now that it had been in the past over such things. "She'll be fine. She laughed," he reassured the other man.
His worries about DUM-E were easy enough to fix, he figured, as Steve reminded him he could check on the little guy. He pulled out his phone and started up JARVIS. "Hey, JARV, tell me how DUM-E's doing?" he requested.
"He is fine, Sir. He's plugged in for the night and recharging," JARVIS replied after a moment of ascertaining the 'bot's position.
"Great. Thanks," he smiled, shutting JARVIS' connection to his phone down again. He settled back into the couch and set his attention back to the screen so that he could watch Indy learn his fear of snakes and waiting for room service.
Captain Rogers shook his head a couple of times in small little shakes. And there he was. The entitled Tony (was there any other model, really?) that decided no one else's preferences mattered unless he understood or agreed with them. And Steve would be damned if he told Tony about the nightmares just so there could be a line of division between the two of them so Tony wouldn't get injured. But Tony even decided to argue with him about whether or not he was sleeping in the bed, and the answer to that was no. "You know what? It's not happening. I'm taking the bathtub or the couch. End of discussion."
And it really was the end of that discussion. If Tony tried to bring it up again he'd be half tempted to share the damn bed and hope the guy did get pummeled in his sleep.
Thankfully there was a stretch of silence, a change of subject, and some distance between the whole bed debacle and everything else. He wasn't completely over his irritation, but he was good at setting that aside where Tony was concern. Irritated seemed kind of like a prerequisite for conversations with the billionaire. And why would that really change now that Tony was trying to turn a new leaf or... whatever it was that he was trying to do by allegedly acting like less of a horse's ass. And yeah, he could see it. The effort was nice, but there was definitely enough of old Tony lingering around the edges to leave Steve with a bitter taste in his mouth.
The whole thing was shaky and uncertain, but... it was still an effort. So he was going to give an effort back, and talk of the moon helped, considering it was a point of ongoing interest for him. Maybe because he'd missed the years where the landings and moon missions actually happened.
He shifted for a moment. Plant a new flag on the moon? Man, that would be... amazing. Incredible. Superb. Stupendous. Fantastic. A bunch of other words that properly expressed how... just... wow that would be. But... "I doubt it. I don't think I'm up to snuff for astronaut training. And there are a whole lot of people that deserve it more. Seems like moon missions are rare. And I've got no doubt there's at least a dozen or so astronauts lined up for the next one. I wouldn't wanna take their dream from them, even if I somehow managed to pass the training." No way could he pass it. He'd heard how rigorous it was both mentally and physically. Physically rising to the challenge would be no problem, but he didn't have the mind for it.
"Oh." Wow. He knew that Howard spent a while looking for him. Time, and money, and resources all spent to track him down, but he'd never actually thought they guy started collecting any of his stuff. And... wow. The entire Smithsonian Exhibit was on loan from the Stark Estate? If Tony was right and it was a small fraction, then--wait. Childhood belongings? For a moment he wondered, and then, no. Maybe there was some stuff from his time with Bucky, though. He was sure his friend would appreciate it. "Yeah, that'd be... good." He wasn't really sure how else to put it, although that sounded kinda awkward and ungrateful. It was just hard wrapping his mind around it.
"I mean... thank you. I'd like to see it."
He sighed with a little relief when he said the woman laughed. "Well, that's good. But next time don't do it. You don't know how someone will take that. Or what kind of day they were having prior to you swearing at them." Still, everything seemed smoothed out. Maybe now they could get into a friendly pattern for more than a few minutes and enjoy the movie.
Tony couldn't help put pout and glare a little at Rogers' firm determination to not share the bed with him. One of these days he would break the other man of his stupid virginal embarrassment of such things. They were supposed to be dating. People around the world thought that they were boning like bunnies; they could sleep in the same bed for a few nights without the world ending. He didn't bother to argue any more a the moment, however, as Rogers was using his angry voice and Tony was pretty sure it wasn't worth it. Maybe a little later.
Luckily Cap was a criminally good guy and seemed perfectly willing to move on as if no argument had ever happened for the moment. Tony hoped that it boded well for their future as friends, but it was really hard to tell for sure with the other man, seeing as Tony had been constantly pushing his buttons since they'd been introduced.
Seeing the look on the man's face at the thought of actually going to the moon, Tony was a bit surprised when the man demurred the hypothetical situation to hypothetical astronauts. "Oh, please. You're Captain America. They'd be thrilled to put you on the moon," he replied, shaking his head, "I know its still a bit difficult for you to wrap your head around, but you're probably the reason most of those men became astronauts, Steve. You've been encouraging American progress for decades now. At least, the idea of you has. As a country, the US has been trying to live up to your legend since it started. Sure, its been inflated over the years and such, but still. You're not just a hero. You're the hero."
Well. Tony turned away quickly, fighting back a look of embarrassment. That had been... embarrassingly close to fanboying over the poor guy.
At least he seemed a little happy about the prospect of seeing some of his stuff; for a given value of happy. "Yeah, no problem," he shrugged, "I mean, technically its all yours anyway. Well, except for the trading cards and the like, probably. That's pure Howard. You might get a kick out of it, though. He has every piece of merch of yours released up until he died." Tony hadn't really bothered to keep that up; although he'd acquired a few pieces over the years that seemed special.
He only shook his head as Steve protested about him cursing at the staff. Honestly, the man was a Puritan. He settled into silence for a few minutes, however, simply focusing his attention on Indy instead. Soon enough there was a knock at the door and Tony stood to answer it, motioning quite a few room service people into the suite. "Just bring everything into the living room," he directed and soon enough they had a coffee table set with more food than Tony would have thought they could eat if he hadn't seen Steve eat before, and the floor between the coffee table and the TV was full of pillows.
With a smile at the six staff members, he handed each of them a hundred as they took their leave and flopped down on the couch again, pulling one of the steaks towards himself. "They overdid the umbrellas," he noted with a grin, motioning to where there were five cocktail umbrellas stuck in Steve's drink, in addition to a bag of them sitting on the table.
Wow. Uhm. Steve shifted a bit where he was, not quite able to decide where he wanted the majority of his weight resting. "Wow, that.... uh..." he really hadn't been expecting that. From anyone, really. From Tony it just seemed twice as bizarre, and he was left to work the words over in his head a couple of times, hand going up to rub at the back of his neck. It was really, really hard to look at the genius in the room, then, or even near him, so he just kept his eyes on the floor for a solid few seconds as he processed. Letting his arm fall back to his side, he looked over at Tony for a second, who seemed to find the situation just as awkward, blanched and then scratched at his cheek with his other hand.
"Uhm. I'm not sure I deserve all that, but... thanks." Not wanting to sound too ungrateful or reluctant, he continued. "It's... nice to hear that. Especially from someone that knows me a little better." Better than most people, who built him up into some kind of something that he wasn't. As though he'd never failed or hesitated or had any doubts of any kind.
"Yeah, but he bought it, and the two of you had it a lot longer than I ever did. Seventy years versus... however many. Most of the Cap stuff at the Smithsonian seemed to be after the serum. So... couple years?" He shrugged his shoulder lazily, deciding not to get too bogged down in the little details. "So, I mean, it's just as much yours, if not more so. But... yeah, I can go through it sometime, if you want." Now he felt like he was babbling a little, and maybe he was. But it was kind of awkward to discover a man that didn't really seem to like you owned more of your possessions than an entire museum dedicated to you. Admitting to it and offering to take him there just seemed... weird. Like something you'd do when you first met someone if you were decent. Just pass them the keys and go. Or wait to do until you knew the person well enough to go in with them and see them exposed.
Neither was really going to happen. It was going to be... awkward to go down memory lane if Tony was right there next to him every step of the way. Which sounded kind of ungrateful, now that he thought about it. Tony was trying to be nice and extend an olive branch. The least he could do was take it.
He was distracted from the movie by room service, who brought in enough pillows to practically pave the floor in them. Eyebrows shooting up, he looked over at the brunette questioningly. He really wasn't kidding about the quantity of pillows he requested--this was just ridiculous! And the tipping was... well, plenty generous. Which earned a smile of appreciation from Steve, who just nodded approvingly at Tony when he caught the man's eyes. Getting comfortable as soon as the attention was off them, he grabbed his glass of coke and looked amused at all of the umbrellas. Pulling one out, he slid the umbrella open and closed twice, then set it aside so the straw was free.
"Yeah." He agreed with a grin. "I love these things." Grabbing the straw, he carefully sipped first and then brought a plate over onto his lap, setting the coke aside for a moment to begin cutting into the steak. Medium-rare, just the way he liked.
Tony was pretty sure that he was fighting back his blush heroically and Rogers wouldn't notice it. Why had he said that? Was this how Rogers felt literally all the time? He needed to keep his mouth shut or Steve would find out about how much Tony had idolized him as a kid; how much he'd wanted to meet the man that his Father had described to him. Howard had always described his friend with what Tony had later decided were rose-tinted glasses, but spending time with Rogers had proven that Howard hadn't actually exaggerated all that much, which was a bit surprising.
He shrugged a shoulder as Steve finally got a response out, hoping that he managed to keep other fannish outbursts to a minimum while they were spending time together. "Eh, I'm just saying," he replied as nonchalantly as possible, which he was pretty sure that he pulled off.
The idea of Steve not wanting any of his old belongings was actually a little depressing. Tony knew there were some things in there that were quite personal, including old love letters of all things. Plus, the sketchbooks that Tony had spent so much time pouring over as a kid were filled with drawings and sketches that were almost bursting with feelings over their subjects. Looking through them had always felt oddly intimate - not like he was going to ever admit that to Steve himself.
"We'll head over to the old Manor at some point and you can look through the stuff. I'm sure there's at least a few things that you'd like having around; decorating your apartment with them or something," he said instead.
Glad to see that at least Steve approved of his tipping practices, if nothing else, Tony was happy to dig into the food. He pulled a baked potato onto his plate as well and piled it with butter, cheese, and bacon before digging in to both it and the steak, which was perfectly cooked. He watched, bemused, as Steve played with one of the cocktail umbrellas, opening one of the bottles of wine and pouring himself a generous glass. "Want some of this?" he asked, motioning with the bottle.
Things got quiet. Boy did they get quiet, and for a solid few seconds he was pretty sure that the humiliation and embarrassment was so thick in the air that it could be cut with a butter knife. So he looked back over at Tony, contemplating how best to express his gratitude when he caught it. The reddish tint to his cheeks. And even though it wasn’t polite, especially since he felt so damn awkward about the situation, he grinned. He grinned big and smug despite himself. Tony, embarrassed about something?! When did that ever happen?! It was like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
But, no. He couldn’t rib the other guy about it. Even if he was happy that, for once, he wasn’t the most ashamed person in the room. So he just expressed his gratitude as plainly as possible, at least until Tony followed it up with some kind of casual statement. And… “Yeah, uh huh. Just saying while beet red.” Yeah, no, no way was he letting it slide when Tony was so desperate to try and save himself, and was normally so quick to make Steve uncomfortable. “Never really pegged you as being part of my cheering section, but hey.”
There was another pause as Tony seemed to mull something over, but that helped create space between the conversations and make him a teeny bit less pleased. Tiny bit. Still pretty pleased, though.
“Where is the old manor?” Steve asked, wondering how long of a trip he was going to be in for. The other part remained, though, leaving the blonde to wonder for a solid minute about what there was there that might be worth his time. He knew Tony had given him some of his sketchbooks already, in their first attempt at mending broken fences. Most of the Cap merch he could live with out. But… maybe there were a few things form the war. Photographs. Things to commemorate his time with the Howling Commandos, most of who had passed away after these seventy long years. And Tony had already mentioned things from his childhood. While he doubted that anything of his mother’s was still kicking around, even the slightest possibility… or maybe some of his stuff from when he was with Bucky.
“Yeah, maybe.” He sounded happy and somewhat optimistic, but mostly suppressed the true extent of both. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, whatever the case. “Thanks for… uhh, telling me about it.” Rogers shifted, glancing at Tony appreciatively, with still a hint of smugness on his face and in his voice.
When Tony offered him the wine, the Captain shook his head. “Can’t even get buzzed, let alone drunk. And beer’s my drink of choice.” Didn’t like wine. Some spirits were okay, though, but in general, outside of beer he didn’t care for the taste. Just as well considering his metabolic rate made drinking pointless. And considering the current costs of alcoholic beverages, he wasn’t missing much besides a hole in his wallet.
Notes: omg he's so embarrassed Tagged: sugarpie honeybunch
Well, apparently he hadn't hidden his embarrassment as well as he'd thought, if Rogers had caught on. That really only served to make Tony more awkward for a second as he tried to figure out where to go next. Playing it super cool was clearly his best option. "Who said anything about your cheering section? Dad's stories just always sounded really great," he replied, in a way that was likely not at all convincing to the other man considering that Tony could hear the doubt in his own voice. God dammit why did Rogers have to notice these things. If his Father wasn't already dead, Tony would be having quite patricidal thoughts towards the man for his current predicament.
Perhaps if Tony just attempted to forget about the whole thing it would be better. Yes, that was just the thing. He forced his mind from thoughts of his own embarrassment - a rare enough occurrence that instances of it tended to be thoroughly distracting - in order to focus on further conversation. Creative use of a deep breathing exercise and the natural lull in conversation had him coming out the other side mostly his regular self again, attempting to pretend the fanboying and subsequent embarrassment had never actually happened.
"It's just in old Manhattan, so not that far from the Tower, really. I've thought about re-purposing it multiple times over the years, since I'm not a big fan of it, but I don't know what I'd do with it. I mean, the Avengers already have the Tower so its not like I can house superheroes there or anything. Unless the team gets ridiculously big," he shrugged, finishing off the thought with a slight hum. It had been delivered almost as if he'd forgotten he was talking to another person; mostly he'd just been thinking out loud, the way that he did when in the lab.
He shrugged again at Rogers' thanks, not really quite sure what to do with it, since he was really only returning things that had been in storage of sorts with the Stark family since Steve's apparent demise in the '40s.
Staring at Steve with an odd look that was half amusement and half shock, he shook his head briefly. "Sounds like a bummer," he replied, "Being drunk is awesome." Of course, he always said that and then regretted every second of his drunken shenanigans later. "Maybe Thor can help. He's always saying Asgardian liquor has far more kick than ours," he pondered out loud, though that was something to be filed away for further thought another day.
Eventually Tony finished eating in silence and settled back with his wine to watch the movie. Between the long day and the bottle and a half of very nice red wine, he was soon lulling into a half asleep state that veered quickly into actual sleep, head leaned back on the couch and body loosening as tense muscles relaxed for the first time in a while. A few minutes of being asleep and his body naturally tilted over, his head colliding softly with Steve's shoulder before he mumbled slightly in his sleep and sifted to get more comfortable against his new, human pillow.
"Uh huh." Steve didn't sounded convinced, but decided to cut the guy some slack rather than rake him over the coals. Even though he really, really wanted to. Just because of all the hell Tony had put him through, it seemed more than fair, and the spiteful part of him that still wasn't the billionaire's biggest fan was practically cheering at the idea. "I can remember a few great stories with Howard." Considering how poorly their last conversation about Tony's dad had gone, he decided to leave it there rather than open anything up. If the philandering genius was interested, he'd make it obvious and follow up with a question or two. If not, which is what Steve suspected, that'd be the end of it.
Of course it was hard not to notice how weirdly still Tony got. Really weirdly still . And his chest was rising and falling in almost careful breaths. "Are you meditating?" He asked, unable to contain his grin or the little chuckle that escaped his lips. "Did I seriously make you meditate?" Oh, man. That was too good. "I need to text Clint and Nat." Reaching for his phone, he pulled up the archer's number first since he was the second on the list after Banner.
He wasn't actually going to do it... at least not right then, but it was fun to threaten. And really, okay, maybe he was raking him over the coals again, but it was hard not to when the man started looking like he was meditating!
"Oh." Well, at least it was nearby. Although what Tony rambled about next made his expression become glum. He tried to blunt it and keep it more neutral, but there was a definite reluctance on his face. "Well, I mean... it's your choice." It certainly was, since it was his property. But given his views on Howard, he couldn't help but feel that repurposing it was likely going to involve major renovations and ultimately serve as a way to further remove Howard from his life. And that... sigh. He didn't know how to feel about it. Maybe Tony would always hate Howard. But maybe not, and if he someday forgave his father, he might find that he had very few things left to remember him by.
Shrugging his shoulders, Steve replied. "I don't really miss it that much. Only bothered me a couple of times." He kind of missed being able to buzzed, though. Just that slightly warm, giddy feeling that came with being tipsy. Of course he wasn't sure that Tony knew that feeling anymore, considering how much he watched the man drink. A bottle and a half of wine, to himself. He kept his attention mostly on the movie, but seeing him put that much away over a brief duration made the blonde worried.
He knew Tony liked to drink, but... wow.
When the billionaire fell asleep on him, he remained in place for a few minutes, letting Tony drift into an even deeper sleep before slowly removing himself from the couch, certain to lift and shift and move in such a way that the brunette was laid against the couch rather than having an abrupt collision with the thing. Grabbing a blanket draped over the back of it, he unfolded it and put it over the man before he made his way to the bed, settling in to drift off to sleep.
Tony didn't actually sleep for long before he blinked awake, confused for a moment by his position on the couch. He frowned around himself before remembering that he'd fallen asleep while watching a movie with Steve. That explained where the blanket had come from, at least. He knew that he should really go back to sleep, but he wasn't going to exile himself to the couch for the whole night as that was simply ridiculous.
With this in mind, he stood up from the couch and stretched, tip-toeing to the bedroom and pushing open the door. He saw Steve's shape in the bed and figured it wouldn't hurt anything to just crawl in next to him, but then he noticed that Steve was whimpering quietly in his sleep. It was barely audible, but Tony frowned as he inched closer, noticing all the signs that he'd seen in himself in footage of him trapped in his own nightmares.
He frowned, unsure of how to proceed in that moment. When Tony was caught in the throes of his PTSD, he liked company, but he knew that it wasn't the case with everyone. He wasn't sure if Steve would attack him if Tony attempted to wake him up either. "Steve?" he called out, hoping the man was a light sleeper. He stepped a little further into the room, inching up to the bed, although not close enough for the soldier to lash out at him. "Steve, buddy, can you hear me?" he called out again, hoping to get the other man awake.
What else could he do? He needed to snap Steve out of the dream itself before he could go about caring for the aftermath, and it would be easier to know what to do then once Steve was awake to give him direction. "Steve. C'mon, buddy," he mumbled, stepping a little closer.