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Notes: This took far too long for me too finish and I'm not 100% happy with it, but this is as good as I'm going to get it to be without it taking several more months until I'm perfectly happy with it. Sorry about the long wait.
Title: Something of Tomorrow
Parts: 5 / ??
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe / Avengers
Pairing: Steve/Tony ; Clint/Coulson/Natasha
Rating: pg13
Words: 5237 words
Prompt: In a world where your soulmate's name appears on your wrist as soon as they are born, Steve's wrist has been blank his whole life. [ original post here ]
Something of Tomorrow, Part 5
but thanks for today, and tomorrow, for everything ahead
just like always, i'll still be here
if anything happens, come ask, and i'll sing
as many times as it takes
be it a new “hello,” or maybe, a “long time no see”
– 39, English lyrics by vgperson
“Good morning, captain. It's currently 10:15 and you have forty-five minutes until the specialist arrives with Miss Potts and Lieutenant-Colonel Rhodes,” JARVIS said, startling Steve who'd been drifting in a state of not-quite consciousness for a while.
Usually Steve was up at the crack of dawn, but he'd slept far too peacefully that night. That and the fact that Tony was awkwardly curled up half on the couch and half on the floor beside him. Steve smiled and reached out and ruffled Tony's hair. His hand came away with a fair bit of grease, which made him smile and shake his head, but he didn't mind.
Tony grunted, blinking his eyes and yawning. He stretched, arms reaching up towards the ceiling, “Thanks, JARVIS.”
“Of course, sir. If there's anything else either of you require, please let me know.”
Something of an awkward silence fell after that. Steve sat up on the couch, making room for Tony who sat dow beside him; their thighs brushed as they sat, waiting for the other to speak.
“I didn't mean to upset you,” Steve said. “And I'm sorry that I did. It's just–”
“No, you don't have to apologize; I get it. You're the self-sacrificing type, I've known that for a long time. It's not you I'm pissed off at.”
“It took me a long time to find you,” Steve said softly. “Maybe that's worked out for the best in the end, but it doesn't change the fact that I just showed up one day out of nowhere. If this is what it takes to prove to you and anyone else that I belong to you as much as you belong to me, then I'll do it.”
Steve grinned just a little, “Besides, I've been through worse.”
“That's completely beside the point!” Tony snapped, but there wasn't any real heat to it. “I don't need any more confirmation about this that I don't already have and you know what? I don't really care what anyone else thinks because they're going to think what they think and I don't give a damn about that.”
“I want to do this right. You deserve it and so much more; I've got a lot that I need to make up for.”
Tony sighed and slumped back into the couch and glared at Steve, “You're a stubborn jackass and I hope you know that.”
“Yeah, I know.” Steve paused and bit his lip, “Will you be there?”
Blinking, Tony looked over at Steve with wide, confused hazel eyes, “Of course I'm going to be there! I'm not going to just up and ditch you.”
That made Steve smile and the tight ball of worry in the pit of his stomach dissipated. “Thank you.”
“You're welcome.” Tony looked down at his hands which were still streaked with grease and said after a few minutes, “I should probably take a shower before Pepper gets here and starts giving me hell about being presentable and clean and how I need to stop showing up in public when I'm grimy and look like I had a fight with a bottle of motor oil.”
Feeling his cheeks warm up, Steve dropped his gaze. He thought that Tony looked good dishevelled and with just a little bit of grease on his skin. The black grease streaked across his forehead and cheek drew attention to the warm tan of his skin and the arc of his cheekbones. Steve thought he was beautiful, and he was a little embarrassed to admit that he might have been just a little bit turned on.
It was probably for the best if he didn't say anything about that. Even if it was the truth, Steve wasn't sure where it would lead and he wanted to take this slow. Plus, he wasn't sure if he wanted to end up on Pepper Potts's bad side for encouraging Tony's behaviour.
“You wanna join me?” Tony was grinning almost lasciviously and leaning into Steve's personal space, balancing with a hand on Steve's thigh.
“What?” Steve asked, jerked out of his thoughts about how attractive Tony looked after spending hours in the workshop.
Tony rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning. “I was asking if you wanted to join me in the shower, captain.”
Steve turned bright red and he was acutely aware that his ears were burning. “Tony, I – um – I don't think that's appropriate.”
“We'd be saving water and we'd be getting to know each other better,” Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively, grin turning into a lewd smirk. “And that's always a good thing.”
“I, um, could we – could we maybe wait a little longer for that?” Steve didn't want to say anything wrong, but that was just moving a little too quickly and he honestly had no idea about how to proceed. It wasn't that he hadn't showered with men before, the army didn't really allow for much privacy, but this was Tony; he wanted it to be perfect.
“Are you shy? You don't have to be shy – I mean, sure maybe there's not naked videos of you on the internet but there's nothing to be ashamed of.”
Steve blinked, Naked videos? “I'm just not... not ready for that yet. Besides, I already showered.”
Luckily, Tony didn't seem too disappointed about that. He pouted but pecked Steve on the cheek before he got off the couch, “Point taken. I'll just go take a shower. By myself. Without you.”
Shaking his head, Steve rolled his eyes, “Go and shower, Tony. I'll make breakfast.”
Tony stuck his tongue out at Steve, but he retreated to the master bedroom and its giant bathroom, leaving Steve to make breakfast. With an almost wistful smile, Steve got up off the couch and made his way into the kitchen; he could almost get used to this.
As he settled into the comfortable routine of cooking, Steve let himself think. The fact that they'd settled into something of a rhythm was reassuring; Steve hadn't had something like that since Before. There were some rough patches, but those he was fine with. If they argued and teased, that was fine. They could work out their problems, they had time.
“... I'm not dying anymore.”
His hand tightened so suddenly that he wound up leaving the imprint of his fingers in the handle of the knife he was holding. Steve stared at it for several moments stupidly before letting out a heavy sigh and throwing the now ruined knife into the garbage.
There was still a lot that they needed to talk about.
But the words kept echoing around inside of his head and he couldn't quite shake that feeling of dread blossoming deep in his chest. He didn't – couldn't – lose Tony now, not when he'd just found him. Steve had spent twenty-six years believing that there was no one for him and now he'd found that there was and Tony had waited for him.
There was time now. Steve just had to figure out a way to bring the topic up and stick to it without Tony blowing it off like it was nothing. He'd noticed that Tony tended to do that a lot.
Breakfast only took a little while longer to finish. By the time that Steve was plating it out, Tony was out of the shower and sitting in one of the bar stools at the counter.
The two of them ate in a comfortable silence while Steve tried to find the words to best say what he was thinking.
He was saved from that when Tony poked him in the arm with his fork, “Something on your mind?”
“Before, when we first met,” Steve started, cleared his throat and then continued. “You said that you were dying but you... aren't anymore. What was that about?”
Tony was quiet for a painfully long time. Then, he shifted in his seat, bit his lip and almost nervously met Steve's eyes, “Guess I kind of owe you an explanation for that, huh?”
“I want to know that I'm not going to lose you; I just found you. You... you don't know what that would do to me.”
“Well it's kind of a long story.”
Steve smiled, “I don't have anywhere else to be.”
The smile Tony gave him in response was a little wan before it fell into something more thoughtful. He started talking, a little slowly at first but it quickly sped up. He tapped the glowing circle at the centre of his chest; it made a muted metallic sound.
“This little thing is what keeps me alive. It's an arc reactor and I made the first one months ago and it ran on an element called palladium and it was kind of poisoning me so the thing that was keeping me alive was slowly killing me. But then I kind of got a little head-start from dear old dad and I managed to make a different element and it runs the arc reactor and it cured the palladium poisoning; there's still a couple of effects but they should be gone in a few weeks. I'm fine you don't have to worry about it everyone's happy.”
Steve stared for several long moments at the glowing circle; he'd thought it was the shirt, maybe, or a trick of the light. That it was just some aspect of the times that he didn't understand. He'd never thought that it was that important.
He swallowed, “Why... do you need it?”
There was a shuddered look to Tony's eyes and his voice took on a distant quality when he replied, “There's... shrapnel in my blood more or less and the arc reactor powers an electro-magnet which keeps the shrapnel away from my heart and killing me.”
Steve felt his heart jerk to a stop. He hadn't – this was almost too much. That little circle of softly glowing blue light was all that was keeping Tony alive. He wanted to reach out, to touch it, to know that it was solid and real and keeping Tony alive, but there was something else that Tony wasn't saying so he hesitated.
Shaking, he held out his hand and asked softly, “May I?”
“I–” Tony hesitated and there was a dark and fearful look in his eyes and that made Steve's resolve crumble.
“If it makes you uncomfortable, then you don't have to let me.” Steve dropped his hand, a stab of guilt deep in his chest. “I'm sorry, I just–”
“No, it's... it's fine. I just...” Tony reached out and took Steve's hand in both of his and carefully pressed it over the arc reactor.
Under his hand, Steve could feel the hard edges of the arc reactor, but he could also feel the way that Tony was trembling.
“Are you alright?” Steve asked.
The shivers slowly stopped and Tony took several deep breaths, hands tightening around Steve's as he held it tightly over the arc reactor, “Yeah, yeah I'm fine just – it's nothing I just don't want you to be afraid of it or anything but it's sort of a long story but someone took it once and left me–”
“Damn, Tony, I–” Steve swallowed, feeling the anger and bile racing up his throat. There was a dark possessiveness rearing its ugly head inside of him that wanted nothing more than to tear apart each and every person who had hurt Tony Stark. “I'm sorry, Tony. I'm so sorry.”
Tony shrugged, hands tightening, “It's fine; I'm not over it but it's you and that's okay because I don't have to worry about you doing that because you're Captain America.”
“That's... that's a lot of trust, I don't know what to say,” Steve murmured quietly. “I'd rather you trust me because I'm Steve Rogers – because I'm your soul-mate. But... I'll keep this safe; I'll keep you safe. I promise.”
Tony smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. “I'll hold you to that.”
“Does this hurt?”
“Not really,” Tony replied. “There's a bit of pressure on my heart and my lungs, but my body's adjusted surprisingly well to it and it beats the alternative by a lot. I'm just not used to people touching it or liking it – do you like it? I'll totally understand if you don't.”
Steve smiled, leaned forward and kissed Tony lightly but firmly. “I think that it's a brilliant piece of technology that only you could make. It keeps you alive and that's what's most important about it to me.”
Sliding a hand behind Steve's neck, Tony pulled him down and kissed him hard. When they broke apart, Tony met Steve's eyes and said, “You are really too perfect. It's ridiculous.”
“Thanks.” Steve wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not, but he'd been getting that quite a lot since he'd woken up. First Clint and then Tony. For now, he'd just let it slide.
JARVIS broke the comfortable yet slightly odd silence that they had fallen into, “Sir, Miss Potts is here with the specialist. Shall I tell them that you're decent?”
“I am completely and totally decent!” Tony replied. “And yeah, send them up. Rhodey with them? I'm still mad at him.”
“He is currently en route and will arrive in a few minutes. Miss Potts and the specialist will be here in less than a minute.”
“Thank you, JARVIS.” Steve got up and gathered up their dirty plates, scraping them into the trash and placing them in the sink to wash later.
There was a tangle of nerves deep in his stomach. He took a deep breath and tried to soothe them; the tests had to have gotten better, less painful, in the seventy years that he'd been asleep. But then, it wasn't so much the pain that Steve was worried about, he hadn't been lying when he said he'd been through worse; nothing could compare to the pain of your own body growing and changing in a matter of minutes.
While Steve was lost in his thoughts, Tony had slipped up behind him and wrapped his arms around Steve's waist.
“Worried? Scared? It's not supposed to hurt but I can punch the specialist if it does. Would that make you feel better?”
Steve looked over his shoulder, just a little bit horrified, “That would not actually make me feel better; having you here with me is enough.”
“You know what, if it wasn't for the fact that I find it endearing, your ability to be extremely sweet and at the same time completely sincere might be sickening. You should do that around Pepper; it'll make her jealous and probably win her over if you keep at it for long enough.”
“I'm... sorry?” Steve blinked, confusion written all over his face.
“No, no, don't be sorry – just keeping being...” Tony pulled away and gestured at Steve.
“You just gestured to all of me.”
“Just keep being you, is what I'm trying to say,” Tony explained. “Because seriously, if you keep that up you'll win everyone over. There's just something ridiculously endearing about the whole boy-scout, wholesome all-American thing you've got going on it's really attractive.”
Steve just blinked, “Thanks. I think.”
They were interrupted from any other conversation when the elevator doors binged open and Pepper Potts's voice broke the silence, “You can set your equipment up in the living room; we'll be right with you.”
Pepper strode into the kitchen with a stern look to her face and the squared set of her shoulders was all business. This was clearly not a woman whose bad side Steve wanted to be on. She cast Steve one careful, appreciating eye before turning her full attention to Tony.
“I thought I'd have to wake you up,” Pepper said. “And you're presentable too; this is all good.”
“Yeah, um, who did you bring?” Tony was already moving to look over into the living room. “Are they one of ours? You didn't bring someone in from somewhere else did you? I dunno if Fury wants to let his genie out of the bottle just yet.”
Pepper rolled her eyes, “Yes, they're one of ours. And you mean Director Fury? Of SHIELD?”
“SHIELD was who found me in the Arctic,” Steve said.
Tony glanced at him, “Yeah, apparently SHIELD picked him up in the Arctic and he was chilling with them while he was defrosted from that little stint he had in the ice. Fury's been keeping him locked up cause he's a prince out to rescue his princess or something, right?”
“Tony,” Pepper gave him a stern look. Then she turned to Steve, “We're ready whenever you are.”
“Let's do this.” Steve managed a smile.
An array of strange equipment had been spread out on the coffee table in front of the couch. Standing next to it was a dark-haired woman dressed in a pair of sharp-looking trousers and carefully pressed shirt. She gave Steve a surprisingly warm smile when she saw him, “Hello, sir. My name is Erika. I'll be running your tests today. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask.”
Pepper sat down in one of the arm chairs beside the couch and Tony had pulled a tablet out of... somewhere and was busily tapping away at it. Tony only looked up for a few seconds to look at Erika, “Last name's Kurosawa?”
“Yes, sir,” Erika replied. She gestured at the couch. “If you could sit down, we can begin immediately.”
“Uh, yeah, okay.” Steve sat up and rubbed Tony's name on his wrist nervously. The last time he'd been in this situation, he'd been in a sterile medical facility facing down an unpleasant looking doctor and the results had been rather painful. But, then again, the last time he hadn't been the one undergoing those tests.
Tony was flicking through something on the tablet, which when Steve looked over appeared to be Erika's entire background. It was dismissed quickly when Tony noticed Steve was looking; he set the tablet aside and smiled at Steve, taking his right hand in both of his and squeezing.
“May I see your wrist, please?” Erika asked, pulling on a pair of purple medical gloves.
Steve offered her up his wrist and she peeled open a paper packet, the burning scent of alcohol met his nose and Steve inhaled sharply. That wasn't a smell he ever wanted to smell again if he could help it.
“Thank you.”
Erika sat down on a small stool that she'd pulled from somewhere and quickly wiped Steve's wrist. She tilted her head to the side a little as she discarded the swab into a small waste bucket sitting on the table. “It looks legitimate.”
“You can tell?” Pepper leaned forward.
Erika nodded, leaning a little closer to Steve and edging around the name with her pinky, “With fakes, you can usually tell – there's a slight raised edge to them from the surrounding skin. Depending on the age of the fake, there are other signs. With the real thing, it's simply a part of the skin. Plus, if this was just a press on, it would have smeared with the alcohol.”
Steve bit his lip, “But?”
“It's not one-hundred percent. We'll know for certain with a tissue sample.”
Reaching behind her, Steve fully expected that Erika would pull out a small scalpel. He was bracing himself for the pain when she turned around with a short but thick needle in hand.
She popped the protective casing off of it and looked at Steve, “This will just be a small prick but it might hurt.”
Steve nodded and she pricked the skin of his mark with the needle. It burned but she was pulling the needle back within a few seconds, leaving behind a tiny little hole from which blood bubbled up. Before Erika could wipe it away, Tony had taken the piece of cotton from her and wiped it away with a quick pass of his fingers before he pressed it down on the cut.
Steve smiled at him in gratitude, “Thanks. That... wasn't what I expected.”
“What were the tests like in your day? Must have been torture.” Tony pulled the cotton swab away; it was stained with a bit of blood but the cut had stopped bleeding. He tossed the rejected swab into the waste bucket on the coffee table.
Bucky... “They weren't pleasant.”
There must have been something in the way that Steve spoke that tipped Tony off that there was more that he wasn't saying, but with Erika there Tony didn't ask. Steve knew he wasn't going to get out of this that easily.
Erika turned her back to them and deposited the tissue sample into a small device that she'd brought with her. She hit a couple of buttons and the machine whirred for several seconds before emitting a series of beeps. Something flashed up on the screen, Erika frowned at it before she turned and looked at all of them.
“It's real. He is Mister Stark's soul-mate.”
“I was right, you were wrong,” Tony said. “I told you I was right and you doubted me; I hope you've learned your lesson. When's Rhodey going to be here?”
“He's in the lobby at this moment, sir, and will be present shortly,” JARVIS answered smoothly. “Shall I inform him of the happy news?”
“Sure, why not.”
Erika was peeling her gloves off and tossing them into the waste bucket and had begun packing up her equipment, “If that's all you need me for, I'll be taking my leave now, Miss Potts.”
Pepper sighed and massaged her temple with one hand, “Yes, thank you for coming on such short notice, Erika. I really appreciate it.”
“It's not a problem,” Erika smiled and packed her things up back into their little suitcase. “I'll see myself out.”
She strode to the elevators and hit the call button. Rhodey and her exchanged quick pleasantries when he arrived, she took the elevator he'd taken up back down. The doors slid shut behind her and Rhodey came over, a stern look on his face that Steve was starting to suspect was his default expression.
“I told you he was the real deal,” Tony said immediately, before Rhodey could say a thing. “And you doubted me! Have you learned your lesson yet? You should never doubt me.”
Rhodey just raised his eyebrows, “I'm sorry for not believing you, captain. I did a little more research and your story more or less checks out with the records I could access.”
“Wait, you're telling me that he really is from the '40s?” Pepper asked. “And he really was frozen for seventy years?”
“Super-soldier!” Tony interjected helpfully. Steve was almost hoping that the floor would open up and swallow him at this point.
“A Captain Steven Rogers was reported as having enlisted in '42 and was reported missing in action in '44,” Rhodey replied. “Almost everything else is still classified.”
“He's Captain America, Rhodey, you forgot to mention that.”
Pepper stared at Steve for several long moments and then looked at Tony, “Are you kidding? Please tell me you're joking.”
Steve's ears were bright red at that point, but he managed to say, “It's true. It was sort of... a propaganda thing at first – selling war bonds and the like. It was the only thing I could do; it was that or be stuck in a lab. After I got out on the front lines, the name kind of stuck.”
“I have pictures to prove it if you still don't believe him,” Tony added. “My dad kept a bunch of stuff related to Captain America; there's a bunch of pictures of him too.”
“Most of those pictures aren't of me,” Steve said quietly.
Tony was looking at him and Steve knew he should have thought about that more before he said it. There was no way that he was going to get out of this now, but he owed Tony an explanation and an apology. Tony deserved to know.
“Wait, so that guy in all the pictures with you – he was the focus?”
Pepper and Rhodey were quiet, just staring at the two of them – more specifically, staring at Steve – with expectant looks on their faces. He'd been right, this was a minefield of a topic. Whatever had happened after Bucky had died, after Steve had gone down with his plane, with Howard had clearly left its mark on Tony. Steve couldn't imagine what would happen; knowing your soul-mate only to have them ripped from you so soon. That had to have left scars. Scars that others would have to deal with.
“Yes,” Steve continued quietly. “That was... that was Bucky. He was my best friend and Howard's soul-mate.”
There was a long, awkward silence. Steve felt everyone's eyes on him.
After several long moments, Tony broke the silence, “Bullshit, my father was a Blank.”
Steve shook his head, “No, he and Bucky – James Barnes – were soul-mates. Bucky... Bucky died in the Alps on a mission to capture Hydra's Doctor Zola. I couldn't reach him in time and he fell. I'm sorry.”
There was more silence. Steve felt awkward and said, “Are you–”
“No I'm not fine – my dad lied to me not that that's anything new. But – fuck don't you dare blame yourself for any of this because he certainly didn't and I don't either.”
Surprisingly, Rhodey had something to add, “It was war. You did what you had to do and so did he. Sometimes... sometimes there are sacrifices that have to be made and someone has to make them. You just have to respect their decision to make them.”
There was a hard set to Rhodey's shoulders and his lips were set in a tight, thin line. The distant, pained look in his eyes cemented that this was something he was all too familiar with.
Pepper looked a little horrified an Tony still looked angry. Tony poked him hard in the centre of the chest, “You want my forgiveness? You can have it because I don't care – you can't change the past. If you want something to make up for whatever bullshit it is you think you did wrong, I don't want to hear about it – I want to know that you're doing this and you're here for me as selfish as that might be. I want you to be happy; that's what's most important to me.”
“I want you to be happy,” Steve said quietly, but his voice was hard. “I just... I just don't like knowing that–”
“You did not hurt me and if you know what's good for you, you'll shut up about it.”
“Tony's got a remarkable streak of luck for getting himself into trouble,” Pepper said dryly. There was a bit of pain in her voice too. “But he also has a talent for finding a way to get himself out of trouble too.”
“He's probably better off with you here anyway,” Rhodey added. “You try to keep him from doing all the stupid stuff he does.”
Tony frowned, “I do not–”
“You do.” Pepper and Rhodey said it in perfect synchronization with the exact same fondly exasperated tone of voice.
“Hey! That's not fair; you can't gang up on me like that.” Tony pouted and crossed his arms, sinking into the couch as he glared at them. “And besides, you've got your answers now – he's my soul-mate, you've got your proof. You can go now. I want to show him my appreciation in private.”
“Tony!”
Pepper rolled her eyes as she pushed herself to her feet, “I have a company to run and a lot of damage control to do – which, might I add, a lot of is your fault. I'm going to need a statement to release to the press.”
“Say whatever you want,” Tony said, waving his hand. “You're better at making it sound nicer than it is than I am; I'd probably screw it up. Again.”
“I knew you'd say that, I just wanted your permission.” Pepper glanced at her phone, tapping a few buttons. “Now, if you'll both excuse me I have business that needs seeing to. Tony, don't do anything stupid or else. Steve? Look after Tony and if you hurt him I won't hesitate to bring the pain.”
She smiled at the both of them before she walked over to the elevators and hit the call button. The elevator arrived a few seconds later and she stepped inside, pausing to hold the door.
“Are you coming, Rhodey?” she asked. “Or are you staying?”
“I'm coming; I've got to be back on base to finish my report,” Rhodey replied. He sighed and looked at the both of them. “Don't do anything stupid – either of you. I'm done cleaning up your messes, Tony. As for you, captain, remember what I said yesterday. I'll see you both later.”
With that, Rhodey went to join Pepper in the elevator. The doors closed and they were gone, leaving Tony and Steve alone.
“Well, that went well,” Tony said.
– – –
The rest of the day went remarkably quiet. Despite the bombshell that he'd dropped earlier, Steve wasn't keen to talk about the subject anymore and Tony seemed perfectly happy and content to ignore the subject all together. Steve could understand that; Howard and he hadn't been particularly close, but Steve knew what losing Tony could do to him now.
They'd settled in on the couch to watch TV. Tony had a remarkable talent at picking out what channels would be good and he was fine with explaining anything that Steve didn't understand. It was all very educational and Tony was practically a well of information – whether or not it was relevant was unimportant.
They were interrupted in the late afternoon by a phone call from one Director Fury of SHIELD.
“Hello, you've reached Tony Stark, I can't come to the phone right now but–”
“Cut the bullshit, Stark. I've got a question for you and it's important.”
“You know, I thought I was the one who was usually asking you questions; you've got all the answers after all.”
Fury sounded annoyed, “Stark, I want a straight answer: Is Captain Rogers there?”
“Why do you think that he'd be here?” Tony replied, smirking. He was leaning over Steve, one hand pressing down on his thigh. “I'm not privy to all your secret meetings and stuff; you know, I'm not a secret agent like Agent Romanoff or taser happy like Coulson.”
“Stark...”
“I'm here, sir,” Steve replied, cutting off Tony before he could say something that might get him into trouble with Fury.
“Always the last place I think to look...” Fury sighed. “Do you want to be there, captain? Or is Stark keeping you against your will?”
“I went looking for him on my own,” Steve replied. “I told Clint where I was going, I didn't think that I needed to report in or anything.”
“So long as we know where you are, it's fine. And so long as Stark doesn't do anything too damn stupid again, it's alright. Stark? Don't do anything stupid or I'll have your ass locked up so fast it'll make your head spin.”
“You certainly know the way to a man's heart,” Tony quipped. “Do you practice in front of the mirror just for me?”
“You would be so lucky. You've got a meeting with me tomorrow at 5, Stark. Don't be late.” Fury hung up with a sharp click, leaving behind a dial tone. Tony grinned as he hit the end call button.
“Well, at least he knows where you are now. I don't have to worry about him showing up and catching me in the nude – or you. I'd rather he didn't see you naked.”
Steve blushed, cheeks going bright pink, “I'd rather that he not see you naked either.”
“Oh good, glad to see we're in agreement then. But you don't mind if you see me naked, right? It's a legitimate question, don't give me that look!”
PART FOUR | PART SIX
Title: Something of Tomorrow
Parts: 5 / ??
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe / Avengers
Pairing: Steve/Tony ; Clint/Coulson/Natasha
Rating: pg13
Words: 5237 words
Prompt: In a world where your soulmate's name appears on your wrist as soon as they are born, Steve's wrist has been blank his whole life. [ original post here ]
but thanks for today, and tomorrow, for everything ahead
just like always, i'll still be here
if anything happens, come ask, and i'll sing
as many times as it takes
be it a new “hello,” or maybe, a “long time no see”
– 39, English lyrics by vgperson
“Good morning, captain. It's currently 10:15 and you have forty-five minutes until the specialist arrives with Miss Potts and Lieutenant-Colonel Rhodes,” JARVIS said, startling Steve who'd been drifting in a state of not-quite consciousness for a while.
Usually Steve was up at the crack of dawn, but he'd slept far too peacefully that night. That and the fact that Tony was awkwardly curled up half on the couch and half on the floor beside him. Steve smiled and reached out and ruffled Tony's hair. His hand came away with a fair bit of grease, which made him smile and shake his head, but he didn't mind.
Tony grunted, blinking his eyes and yawning. He stretched, arms reaching up towards the ceiling, “Thanks, JARVIS.”
“Of course, sir. If there's anything else either of you require, please let me know.”
Something of an awkward silence fell after that. Steve sat up on the couch, making room for Tony who sat dow beside him; their thighs brushed as they sat, waiting for the other to speak.
“I didn't mean to upset you,” Steve said. “And I'm sorry that I did. It's just–”
“No, you don't have to apologize; I get it. You're the self-sacrificing type, I've known that for a long time. It's not you I'm pissed off at.”
“It took me a long time to find you,” Steve said softly. “Maybe that's worked out for the best in the end, but it doesn't change the fact that I just showed up one day out of nowhere. If this is what it takes to prove to you and anyone else that I belong to you as much as you belong to me, then I'll do it.”
Steve grinned just a little, “Besides, I've been through worse.”
“That's completely beside the point!” Tony snapped, but there wasn't any real heat to it. “I don't need any more confirmation about this that I don't already have and you know what? I don't really care what anyone else thinks because they're going to think what they think and I don't give a damn about that.”
“I want to do this right. You deserve it and so much more; I've got a lot that I need to make up for.”
Tony sighed and slumped back into the couch and glared at Steve, “You're a stubborn jackass and I hope you know that.”
“Yeah, I know.” Steve paused and bit his lip, “Will you be there?”
Blinking, Tony looked over at Steve with wide, confused hazel eyes, “Of course I'm going to be there! I'm not going to just up and ditch you.”
That made Steve smile and the tight ball of worry in the pit of his stomach dissipated. “Thank you.”
“You're welcome.” Tony looked down at his hands which were still streaked with grease and said after a few minutes, “I should probably take a shower before Pepper gets here and starts giving me hell about being presentable and clean and how I need to stop showing up in public when I'm grimy and look like I had a fight with a bottle of motor oil.”
Feeling his cheeks warm up, Steve dropped his gaze. He thought that Tony looked good dishevelled and with just a little bit of grease on his skin. The black grease streaked across his forehead and cheek drew attention to the warm tan of his skin and the arc of his cheekbones. Steve thought he was beautiful, and he was a little embarrassed to admit that he might have been just a little bit turned on.
It was probably for the best if he didn't say anything about that. Even if it was the truth, Steve wasn't sure where it would lead and he wanted to take this slow. Plus, he wasn't sure if he wanted to end up on Pepper Potts's bad side for encouraging Tony's behaviour.
“You wanna join me?” Tony was grinning almost lasciviously and leaning into Steve's personal space, balancing with a hand on Steve's thigh.
“What?” Steve asked, jerked out of his thoughts about how attractive Tony looked after spending hours in the workshop.
Tony rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning. “I was asking if you wanted to join me in the shower, captain.”
Steve turned bright red and he was acutely aware that his ears were burning. “Tony, I – um – I don't think that's appropriate.”
“We'd be saving water and we'd be getting to know each other better,” Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively, grin turning into a lewd smirk. “And that's always a good thing.”
“I, um, could we – could we maybe wait a little longer for that?” Steve didn't want to say anything wrong, but that was just moving a little too quickly and he honestly had no idea about how to proceed. It wasn't that he hadn't showered with men before, the army didn't really allow for much privacy, but this was Tony; he wanted it to be perfect.
“Are you shy? You don't have to be shy – I mean, sure maybe there's not naked videos of you on the internet but there's nothing to be ashamed of.”
Steve blinked, Naked videos? “I'm just not... not ready for that yet. Besides, I already showered.”
Luckily, Tony didn't seem too disappointed about that. He pouted but pecked Steve on the cheek before he got off the couch, “Point taken. I'll just go take a shower. By myself. Without you.”
Shaking his head, Steve rolled his eyes, “Go and shower, Tony. I'll make breakfast.”
Tony stuck his tongue out at Steve, but he retreated to the master bedroom and its giant bathroom, leaving Steve to make breakfast. With an almost wistful smile, Steve got up off the couch and made his way into the kitchen; he could almost get used to this.
As he settled into the comfortable routine of cooking, Steve let himself think. The fact that they'd settled into something of a rhythm was reassuring; Steve hadn't had something like that since Before. There were some rough patches, but those he was fine with. If they argued and teased, that was fine. They could work out their problems, they had time.
“... I'm not dying anymore.”
His hand tightened so suddenly that he wound up leaving the imprint of his fingers in the handle of the knife he was holding. Steve stared at it for several moments stupidly before letting out a heavy sigh and throwing the now ruined knife into the garbage.
There was still a lot that they needed to talk about.
But the words kept echoing around inside of his head and he couldn't quite shake that feeling of dread blossoming deep in his chest. He didn't – couldn't – lose Tony now, not when he'd just found him. Steve had spent twenty-six years believing that there was no one for him and now he'd found that there was and Tony had waited for him.
There was time now. Steve just had to figure out a way to bring the topic up and stick to it without Tony blowing it off like it was nothing. He'd noticed that Tony tended to do that a lot.
Breakfast only took a little while longer to finish. By the time that Steve was plating it out, Tony was out of the shower and sitting in one of the bar stools at the counter.
The two of them ate in a comfortable silence while Steve tried to find the words to best say what he was thinking.
He was saved from that when Tony poked him in the arm with his fork, “Something on your mind?”
“Before, when we first met,” Steve started, cleared his throat and then continued. “You said that you were dying but you... aren't anymore. What was that about?”
Tony was quiet for a painfully long time. Then, he shifted in his seat, bit his lip and almost nervously met Steve's eyes, “Guess I kind of owe you an explanation for that, huh?”
“I want to know that I'm not going to lose you; I just found you. You... you don't know what that would do to me.”
“Well it's kind of a long story.”
Steve smiled, “I don't have anywhere else to be.”
The smile Tony gave him in response was a little wan before it fell into something more thoughtful. He started talking, a little slowly at first but it quickly sped up. He tapped the glowing circle at the centre of his chest; it made a muted metallic sound.
“This little thing is what keeps me alive. It's an arc reactor and I made the first one months ago and it ran on an element called palladium and it was kind of poisoning me so the thing that was keeping me alive was slowly killing me. But then I kind of got a little head-start from dear old dad and I managed to make a different element and it runs the arc reactor and it cured the palladium poisoning; there's still a couple of effects but they should be gone in a few weeks. I'm fine you don't have to worry about it everyone's happy.”
Steve stared for several long moments at the glowing circle; he'd thought it was the shirt, maybe, or a trick of the light. That it was just some aspect of the times that he didn't understand. He'd never thought that it was that important.
He swallowed, “Why... do you need it?”
There was a shuddered look to Tony's eyes and his voice took on a distant quality when he replied, “There's... shrapnel in my blood more or less and the arc reactor powers an electro-magnet which keeps the shrapnel away from my heart and killing me.”
Steve felt his heart jerk to a stop. He hadn't – this was almost too much. That little circle of softly glowing blue light was all that was keeping Tony alive. He wanted to reach out, to touch it, to know that it was solid and real and keeping Tony alive, but there was something else that Tony wasn't saying so he hesitated.
Shaking, he held out his hand and asked softly, “May I?”
“I–” Tony hesitated and there was a dark and fearful look in his eyes and that made Steve's resolve crumble.
“If it makes you uncomfortable, then you don't have to let me.” Steve dropped his hand, a stab of guilt deep in his chest. “I'm sorry, I just–”
“No, it's... it's fine. I just...” Tony reached out and took Steve's hand in both of his and carefully pressed it over the arc reactor.
Under his hand, Steve could feel the hard edges of the arc reactor, but he could also feel the way that Tony was trembling.
“Are you alright?” Steve asked.
The shivers slowly stopped and Tony took several deep breaths, hands tightening around Steve's as he held it tightly over the arc reactor, “Yeah, yeah I'm fine just – it's nothing I just don't want you to be afraid of it or anything but it's sort of a long story but someone took it once and left me–”
“Damn, Tony, I–” Steve swallowed, feeling the anger and bile racing up his throat. There was a dark possessiveness rearing its ugly head inside of him that wanted nothing more than to tear apart each and every person who had hurt Tony Stark. “I'm sorry, Tony. I'm so sorry.”
Tony shrugged, hands tightening, “It's fine; I'm not over it but it's you and that's okay because I don't have to worry about you doing that because you're Captain America.”
“That's... that's a lot of trust, I don't know what to say,” Steve murmured quietly. “I'd rather you trust me because I'm Steve Rogers – because I'm your soul-mate. But... I'll keep this safe; I'll keep you safe. I promise.”
Tony smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. “I'll hold you to that.”
“Does this hurt?”
“Not really,” Tony replied. “There's a bit of pressure on my heart and my lungs, but my body's adjusted surprisingly well to it and it beats the alternative by a lot. I'm just not used to people touching it or liking it – do you like it? I'll totally understand if you don't.”
Steve smiled, leaned forward and kissed Tony lightly but firmly. “I think that it's a brilliant piece of technology that only you could make. It keeps you alive and that's what's most important about it to me.”
Sliding a hand behind Steve's neck, Tony pulled him down and kissed him hard. When they broke apart, Tony met Steve's eyes and said, “You are really too perfect. It's ridiculous.”
“Thanks.” Steve wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not, but he'd been getting that quite a lot since he'd woken up. First Clint and then Tony. For now, he'd just let it slide.
JARVIS broke the comfortable yet slightly odd silence that they had fallen into, “Sir, Miss Potts is here with the specialist. Shall I tell them that you're decent?”
“I am completely and totally decent!” Tony replied. “And yeah, send them up. Rhodey with them? I'm still mad at him.”
“He is currently en route and will arrive in a few minutes. Miss Potts and the specialist will be here in less than a minute.”
“Thank you, JARVIS.” Steve got up and gathered up their dirty plates, scraping them into the trash and placing them in the sink to wash later.
There was a tangle of nerves deep in his stomach. He took a deep breath and tried to soothe them; the tests had to have gotten better, less painful, in the seventy years that he'd been asleep. But then, it wasn't so much the pain that Steve was worried about, he hadn't been lying when he said he'd been through worse; nothing could compare to the pain of your own body growing and changing in a matter of minutes.
While Steve was lost in his thoughts, Tony had slipped up behind him and wrapped his arms around Steve's waist.
“Worried? Scared? It's not supposed to hurt but I can punch the specialist if it does. Would that make you feel better?”
Steve looked over his shoulder, just a little bit horrified, “That would not actually make me feel better; having you here with me is enough.”
“You know what, if it wasn't for the fact that I find it endearing, your ability to be extremely sweet and at the same time completely sincere might be sickening. You should do that around Pepper; it'll make her jealous and probably win her over if you keep at it for long enough.”
“I'm... sorry?” Steve blinked, confusion written all over his face.
“No, no, don't be sorry – just keeping being...” Tony pulled away and gestured at Steve.
“You just gestured to all of me.”
“Just keep being you, is what I'm trying to say,” Tony explained. “Because seriously, if you keep that up you'll win everyone over. There's just something ridiculously endearing about the whole boy-scout, wholesome all-American thing you've got going on it's really attractive.”
Steve just blinked, “Thanks. I think.”
They were interrupted from any other conversation when the elevator doors binged open and Pepper Potts's voice broke the silence, “You can set your equipment up in the living room; we'll be right with you.”
Pepper strode into the kitchen with a stern look to her face and the squared set of her shoulders was all business. This was clearly not a woman whose bad side Steve wanted to be on. She cast Steve one careful, appreciating eye before turning her full attention to Tony.
“I thought I'd have to wake you up,” Pepper said. “And you're presentable too; this is all good.”
“Yeah, um, who did you bring?” Tony was already moving to look over into the living room. “Are they one of ours? You didn't bring someone in from somewhere else did you? I dunno if Fury wants to let his genie out of the bottle just yet.”
Pepper rolled her eyes, “Yes, they're one of ours. And you mean Director Fury? Of SHIELD?”
“SHIELD was who found me in the Arctic,” Steve said.
Tony glanced at him, “Yeah, apparently SHIELD picked him up in the Arctic and he was chilling with them while he was defrosted from that little stint he had in the ice. Fury's been keeping him locked up cause he's a prince out to rescue his princess or something, right?”
“Tony,” Pepper gave him a stern look. Then she turned to Steve, “We're ready whenever you are.”
“Let's do this.” Steve managed a smile.
An array of strange equipment had been spread out on the coffee table in front of the couch. Standing next to it was a dark-haired woman dressed in a pair of sharp-looking trousers and carefully pressed shirt. She gave Steve a surprisingly warm smile when she saw him, “Hello, sir. My name is Erika. I'll be running your tests today. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask.”
Pepper sat down in one of the arm chairs beside the couch and Tony had pulled a tablet out of... somewhere and was busily tapping away at it. Tony only looked up for a few seconds to look at Erika, “Last name's Kurosawa?”
“Yes, sir,” Erika replied. She gestured at the couch. “If you could sit down, we can begin immediately.”
“Uh, yeah, okay.” Steve sat up and rubbed Tony's name on his wrist nervously. The last time he'd been in this situation, he'd been in a sterile medical facility facing down an unpleasant looking doctor and the results had been rather painful. But, then again, the last time he hadn't been the one undergoing those tests.
Tony was flicking through something on the tablet, which when Steve looked over appeared to be Erika's entire background. It was dismissed quickly when Tony noticed Steve was looking; he set the tablet aside and smiled at Steve, taking his right hand in both of his and squeezing.
“May I see your wrist, please?” Erika asked, pulling on a pair of purple medical gloves.
Steve offered her up his wrist and she peeled open a paper packet, the burning scent of alcohol met his nose and Steve inhaled sharply. That wasn't a smell he ever wanted to smell again if he could help it.
“Thank you.”
Erika sat down on a small stool that she'd pulled from somewhere and quickly wiped Steve's wrist. She tilted her head to the side a little as she discarded the swab into a small waste bucket sitting on the table. “It looks legitimate.”
“You can tell?” Pepper leaned forward.
Erika nodded, leaning a little closer to Steve and edging around the name with her pinky, “With fakes, you can usually tell – there's a slight raised edge to them from the surrounding skin. Depending on the age of the fake, there are other signs. With the real thing, it's simply a part of the skin. Plus, if this was just a press on, it would have smeared with the alcohol.”
Steve bit his lip, “But?”
“It's not one-hundred percent. We'll know for certain with a tissue sample.”
Reaching behind her, Steve fully expected that Erika would pull out a small scalpel. He was bracing himself for the pain when she turned around with a short but thick needle in hand.
She popped the protective casing off of it and looked at Steve, “This will just be a small prick but it might hurt.”
Steve nodded and she pricked the skin of his mark with the needle. It burned but she was pulling the needle back within a few seconds, leaving behind a tiny little hole from which blood bubbled up. Before Erika could wipe it away, Tony had taken the piece of cotton from her and wiped it away with a quick pass of his fingers before he pressed it down on the cut.
Steve smiled at him in gratitude, “Thanks. That... wasn't what I expected.”
“What were the tests like in your day? Must have been torture.” Tony pulled the cotton swab away; it was stained with a bit of blood but the cut had stopped bleeding. He tossed the rejected swab into the waste bucket on the coffee table.
Bucky... “They weren't pleasant.”
There must have been something in the way that Steve spoke that tipped Tony off that there was more that he wasn't saying, but with Erika there Tony didn't ask. Steve knew he wasn't going to get out of this that easily.
Erika turned her back to them and deposited the tissue sample into a small device that she'd brought with her. She hit a couple of buttons and the machine whirred for several seconds before emitting a series of beeps. Something flashed up on the screen, Erika frowned at it before she turned and looked at all of them.
“It's real. He is Mister Stark's soul-mate.”
“I was right, you were wrong,” Tony said. “I told you I was right and you doubted me; I hope you've learned your lesson. When's Rhodey going to be here?”
“He's in the lobby at this moment, sir, and will be present shortly,” JARVIS answered smoothly. “Shall I inform him of the happy news?”
“Sure, why not.”
Erika was peeling her gloves off and tossing them into the waste bucket and had begun packing up her equipment, “If that's all you need me for, I'll be taking my leave now, Miss Potts.”
Pepper sighed and massaged her temple with one hand, “Yes, thank you for coming on such short notice, Erika. I really appreciate it.”
“It's not a problem,” Erika smiled and packed her things up back into their little suitcase. “I'll see myself out.”
She strode to the elevators and hit the call button. Rhodey and her exchanged quick pleasantries when he arrived, she took the elevator he'd taken up back down. The doors slid shut behind her and Rhodey came over, a stern look on his face that Steve was starting to suspect was his default expression.
“I told you he was the real deal,” Tony said immediately, before Rhodey could say a thing. “And you doubted me! Have you learned your lesson yet? You should never doubt me.”
Rhodey just raised his eyebrows, “I'm sorry for not believing you, captain. I did a little more research and your story more or less checks out with the records I could access.”
“Wait, you're telling me that he really is from the '40s?” Pepper asked. “And he really was frozen for seventy years?”
“Super-soldier!” Tony interjected helpfully. Steve was almost hoping that the floor would open up and swallow him at this point.
“A Captain Steven Rogers was reported as having enlisted in '42 and was reported missing in action in '44,” Rhodey replied. “Almost everything else is still classified.”
“He's Captain America, Rhodey, you forgot to mention that.”
Pepper stared at Steve for several long moments and then looked at Tony, “Are you kidding? Please tell me you're joking.”
Steve's ears were bright red at that point, but he managed to say, “It's true. It was sort of... a propaganda thing at first – selling war bonds and the like. It was the only thing I could do; it was that or be stuck in a lab. After I got out on the front lines, the name kind of stuck.”
“I have pictures to prove it if you still don't believe him,” Tony added. “My dad kept a bunch of stuff related to Captain America; there's a bunch of pictures of him too.”
“Most of those pictures aren't of me,” Steve said quietly.
Tony was looking at him and Steve knew he should have thought about that more before he said it. There was no way that he was going to get out of this now, but he owed Tony an explanation and an apology. Tony deserved to know.
“Wait, so that guy in all the pictures with you – he was the focus?”
Pepper and Rhodey were quiet, just staring at the two of them – more specifically, staring at Steve – with expectant looks on their faces. He'd been right, this was a minefield of a topic. Whatever had happened after Bucky had died, after Steve had gone down with his plane, with Howard had clearly left its mark on Tony. Steve couldn't imagine what would happen; knowing your soul-mate only to have them ripped from you so soon. That had to have left scars. Scars that others would have to deal with.
“Yes,” Steve continued quietly. “That was... that was Bucky. He was my best friend and Howard's soul-mate.”
There was a long, awkward silence. Steve felt everyone's eyes on him.
After several long moments, Tony broke the silence, “Bullshit, my father was a Blank.”
Steve shook his head, “No, he and Bucky – James Barnes – were soul-mates. Bucky... Bucky died in the Alps on a mission to capture Hydra's Doctor Zola. I couldn't reach him in time and he fell. I'm sorry.”
There was more silence. Steve felt awkward and said, “Are you–”
“No I'm not fine – my dad lied to me not that that's anything new. But – fuck don't you dare blame yourself for any of this because he certainly didn't and I don't either.”
Surprisingly, Rhodey had something to add, “It was war. You did what you had to do and so did he. Sometimes... sometimes there are sacrifices that have to be made and someone has to make them. You just have to respect their decision to make them.”
There was a hard set to Rhodey's shoulders and his lips were set in a tight, thin line. The distant, pained look in his eyes cemented that this was something he was all too familiar with.
Pepper looked a little horrified an Tony still looked angry. Tony poked him hard in the centre of the chest, “You want my forgiveness? You can have it because I don't care – you can't change the past. If you want something to make up for whatever bullshit it is you think you did wrong, I don't want to hear about it – I want to know that you're doing this and you're here for me as selfish as that might be. I want you to be happy; that's what's most important to me.”
“I want you to be happy,” Steve said quietly, but his voice was hard. “I just... I just don't like knowing that–”
“You did not hurt me and if you know what's good for you, you'll shut up about it.”
“Tony's got a remarkable streak of luck for getting himself into trouble,” Pepper said dryly. There was a bit of pain in her voice too. “But he also has a talent for finding a way to get himself out of trouble too.”
“He's probably better off with you here anyway,” Rhodey added. “You try to keep him from doing all the stupid stuff he does.”
Tony frowned, “I do not–”
“You do.” Pepper and Rhodey said it in perfect synchronization with the exact same fondly exasperated tone of voice.
“Hey! That's not fair; you can't gang up on me like that.” Tony pouted and crossed his arms, sinking into the couch as he glared at them. “And besides, you've got your answers now – he's my soul-mate, you've got your proof. You can go now. I want to show him my appreciation in private.”
“Tony!”
Pepper rolled her eyes as she pushed herself to her feet, “I have a company to run and a lot of damage control to do – which, might I add, a lot of is your fault. I'm going to need a statement to release to the press.”
“Say whatever you want,” Tony said, waving his hand. “You're better at making it sound nicer than it is than I am; I'd probably screw it up. Again.”
“I knew you'd say that, I just wanted your permission.” Pepper glanced at her phone, tapping a few buttons. “Now, if you'll both excuse me I have business that needs seeing to. Tony, don't do anything stupid or else. Steve? Look after Tony and if you hurt him I won't hesitate to bring the pain.”
She smiled at the both of them before she walked over to the elevators and hit the call button. The elevator arrived a few seconds later and she stepped inside, pausing to hold the door.
“Are you coming, Rhodey?” she asked. “Or are you staying?”
“I'm coming; I've got to be back on base to finish my report,” Rhodey replied. He sighed and looked at the both of them. “Don't do anything stupid – either of you. I'm done cleaning up your messes, Tony. As for you, captain, remember what I said yesterday. I'll see you both later.”
With that, Rhodey went to join Pepper in the elevator. The doors closed and they were gone, leaving Tony and Steve alone.
“Well, that went well,” Tony said.
The rest of the day went remarkably quiet. Despite the bombshell that he'd dropped earlier, Steve wasn't keen to talk about the subject anymore and Tony seemed perfectly happy and content to ignore the subject all together. Steve could understand that; Howard and he hadn't been particularly close, but Steve knew what losing Tony could do to him now.
They'd settled in on the couch to watch TV. Tony had a remarkable talent at picking out what channels would be good and he was fine with explaining anything that Steve didn't understand. It was all very educational and Tony was practically a well of information – whether or not it was relevant was unimportant.
They were interrupted in the late afternoon by a phone call from one Director Fury of SHIELD.
“Hello, you've reached Tony Stark, I can't come to the phone right now but–”
“Cut the bullshit, Stark. I've got a question for you and it's important.”
“You know, I thought I was the one who was usually asking you questions; you've got all the answers after all.”
Fury sounded annoyed, “Stark, I want a straight answer: Is Captain Rogers there?”
“Why do you think that he'd be here?” Tony replied, smirking. He was leaning over Steve, one hand pressing down on his thigh. “I'm not privy to all your secret meetings and stuff; you know, I'm not a secret agent like Agent Romanoff or taser happy like Coulson.”
“Stark...”
“I'm here, sir,” Steve replied, cutting off Tony before he could say something that might get him into trouble with Fury.
“Always the last place I think to look...” Fury sighed. “Do you want to be there, captain? Or is Stark keeping you against your will?”
“I went looking for him on my own,” Steve replied. “I told Clint where I was going, I didn't think that I needed to report in or anything.”
“So long as we know where you are, it's fine. And so long as Stark doesn't do anything too damn stupid again, it's alright. Stark? Don't do anything stupid or I'll have your ass locked up so fast it'll make your head spin.”
“You certainly know the way to a man's heart,” Tony quipped. “Do you practice in front of the mirror just for me?”
“You would be so lucky. You've got a meeting with me tomorrow at 5, Stark. Don't be late.” Fury hung up with a sharp click, leaving behind a dial tone. Tony grinned as he hit the end call button.
“Well, at least he knows where you are now. I don't have to worry about him showing up and catching me in the nude – or you. I'd rather he didn't see you naked.”
Steve blushed, cheeks going bright pink, “I'd rather that he not see you naked either.”
“Oh good, glad to see we're in agreement then. But you don't mind if you see me naked, right? It's a legitimate question, don't give me that look!”