courtings | [psl] wait this isn't smut anymore

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[psl] wait this isn't smut anymore

Being flown from New York out to Los Angeles in order to work on an assignment had been one thing. Steve hadn't minded that. As part of S.H.I.E.L.D, it was his duty to respond to any call that was sent out for him, and when Fury had made it clear that this was no small problem, Steve had believed it.

It had chafed a little when he was told he'd been staying in Stark's opulent seaside villa. Steve had lived a pretty humble life before the serum had come into play, and even after that he'd mainly been on the road doing those shows or he'd been on dirty battlefields, roughing it with the others. So the kind of luxury he'd seen when he'd been picked up from the airport in an over-the-top car and then driven out to Stark's mansion had been overwhelming.

But he'd put all that aside, because he'd come to an understanding with Stark during the fight for New York (and the world, if he was going to be honest with himself about it, which still made his head spin), and while they weren't best buddies or even close to it, he knew they could work together.

And all things considered, the assignment went successfully. Steve had raised an eyebrow at the name "Doctor Doom," but he realized it wasn't any worse than "Red Skull." Apparently from some isolated country in Europe, the man was supposedly a genius (which had only intrigued Tony further), but more importantly, had been caught up in a trade deal that had set off all of S.H.I.E.L.D's sensors.

The idea had been for the two of them to infiltrate Doom's hideout and get a scope on things to report back to Fury. In other words, recon. But Tony apparently didn't know the meaning of the word, and had instead announced himself to Doom -- by name -- before they'd booked it out of there.

Tony had also managed to swipe some of Doom's important plans in the process, but Steve didn't really care what vital information he might have picked up, not when he'd made such a reckless move.

As Steve stalked back into the main area of Tony's villa, he yanked his mask off and rounded on the billionaire in question, face pinched with anger. "Do you pull that kind of thing just because you get a kick out of it? What were you thinking?"

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"Oh, what, no snarky quip about me obviously not thinking? Wait, sorry, I forgot, you're a little slow on the uptake sometimes. You're welcome, I just did your snide remark for you." Tony ducked out of the way of Roger's warpath, inputting a few commands into his console. The suit needed a few minor repairs and calibrations. He would have just asked JARVIS to do it, of course, but he didn't want the AI to start taking the Captain's side. What a nightmare that always was. Best to keep them from talking to each other.

He really had no idea what the Capsicle was all angry about anyway. They had completed the mission, mostly, and Tony had managed to snag some important information from the mighty Viktor. Obviously Doom wasn't as smart as people liked to think if he left his secrets out in the open like that, ripe for the picking as JARVIS had made short work of his security protocols. Supervillain his ass.

"We did what we needed to do, Cap. No need to get your skin-tight spandex in a bunch."

The thing was, Steve knew that Stark wasn't an idiot. That had been made clear time and time again. While he still believed that there was more to smarts than just being good with gadgets (and having a lot of money), Tony was sharp in more ways than that. Which made it even more maddening when he went and did something reckless just because he could. Couldn't he have swiped that information without basically painting targets on their heads at the same time?

"Yeah, and now Doctor Doom knows exactly who we are, and he knows that we stole his files." No, Tony had been the one to steal them, but seeing how Steve had been with him, he was just as culpable.

Steve realized that in a way, this was the result of them being very different people who worked in different ways. He wasn't one to follow orders blindly, but he definitely did so when it made sense. Whereas Tony seemed to break rules just because he could, because it would get him attention. Didn't he have enough of that already, when the news brought his name up at least once a week? Steve just didn't understand it.

"I can already tell what you're thinking and I'm not even looking at you," Tony spoke half-consciously. Paying more attention to electronics and metal bits calmed Tony enough that he didn't immediately get into Steve's space. The two butted heads more often than not and, while Stark may have enjoyed it time to time, he never got anything out of it after a mission. When Rogers was just yelling at him or arguing with him about something he had obviously done for his own amusement, it drove Stark to see red.

Robots were so much easier to understand than people.

"We needed to be the patsies, Rogers. If we had just swiped the files, Doom would have turned his attention on the first idiots he saw. Someone who wouldn't be able to take him. He needed to know who he was dealing with."

Maybe Stark had a point.

Actually, Steve knew that he did. It was true that the type of man that Doctor Doom personified would easily vent his anger out on someone else. The thing was, he'd probably done that even if he had known who was responsible. Granted, they couldn't really help that, but it still stung to think about.

And honestly, Steve did feel better now that Stark had explained himself, but only to an extent, because it was still a matter of too little too late.

Not to mention Stark wasn't even looking at him, which grated on his last nerve after a while. "Hey, look--" He reached out and grabbed for Stark's shoulder to spin him around, his hand clenched down hard into the muscle there. "If you're gonna do that, you need to at least tell me first. How am I supposed to work with you when you take off and do your own thing every single time?"

Because that was the thing. Steve was trying, he really was, but Tony wasn't making this easy.

The fact that the touch startled him, just the slightest, was probably what pissed him off the most. As much as Tony encroached on other people's personal space with little to no regard as to how comfortable they felt, the same did not extend to other people. Tony hated with a passion when people felt it was appropriate to put their hands on him when they weren't wanted. Were they on better terms, the 'genius playboy" might not have minded; might even have welcomed more than just a hand on his shoulder.

While Tony may have been in the papers and on blog sites with different women in many states of undress, he wasn't blind. He considered himself equal opportunist, as far as the sexes went, but had somehow managed to keep his trysts with men in the dark. Steve Rogers probably took the cake and the plate it sat on when it came to handsome men Tony would like to have a go at. Unfortunately, the terms they were on afforded Stark no room for flirtatious banter or misplaced hands.

Tony whirled around, grabbing at Rogers' hand as if it burned him. "It's not my fault you can't keep up, Captain."

This had almost become commonplace for them, they way they pushed at each other to see how much they'd each push back. Steve tried not to be petty, but there was something about Stark that just set him off. Maybe it was because he was Howard's son. Steve didn't really know, but before he knew it he'd cornered Tony against the closest wall.

"You can go ahead and insult me all you want." Those sorts of statements, shallow digs at his intelligence, Steve was able to let slide off of him like water on a duck's back. It didn't amount to much in the end, and Tony had to know deep down that Steve was no moron.

"I don't think I'm being unreasonable here. You go on about how you don't like playing with others, but we all managed well enough for New York. What, was that a one-time deal? Have you used up all of your cooperative behavior for the year?" That was just as foolish as not being able to "keep up," in Steve's opinion. If a team couldn't trust each other implicitly, then why were they even bothering?

Tony--stubborn, argumentative, narcissitic Anthony Edward Stark--did not back off when Steve cornered him. Any sane person might, considering they were being faced down by Captain Freaking America, who probably could put you into a full nelson with just his pinkie. Stark was almost certifiably insane, though, which was just a trait that ran in the family, he guessed. Despite being outclassed in height, weight, and strength by Steve, Tony pushed back, planting himself firmly where he stood, chest-to-chest with Rogers, right in his face.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way, it's your job to lead. Except you're not really inspiring me to follow you."

Edited 2012-11-23 04:57 (UTC)

Steve might have felt a twinge of hurt there, because Tony had listened to him during the invasion. They all had, and it had worked out in the end. But he realized that Loki's attempt to take over had been a special case, and that people didn't just get along because of something like that.

He wouldn't have even cared that much if S.H.I.E.L.D didn't seem set on teaming them up. But the thing was that Steve had never put himself out there to be a leader. It was the sort of thing that just happened. He'd joined the army to contribute, not to become some household name.

So if Stark wanted to question that, he could. "I never said you had to follow me. Fury did." He took a small step backward, because socking Stark in the face wasn't going to change anything. "This time, I figured we were supposed to be going in as partners. But when you undo all of that by doing things your way, it doesn't exactly work." He crossed his arms over his chest, an intimidating gesture even if he didn't mean it that way.

When the Captain's larger figure moved even just a bit out of his own personal bubble, Tony physically felt the pressure ease off him. Stark thrived under pressure, lived for it, but only when it pertained to his work (or, recently, missions). Being pressured by people or feeling as if he was, well, he hated that feeling. It made him defensive, quick to snap, quick to say things he probably never meant to say. Pepper could attest to it. Maybe he'd feel bad about what he had said to Steve later, maybe he wouldn't, but he wasn't going to apologize.

The argument was getting ridiculous and tiresome. Rogers just needed to get over himself. What Tony had done had worked, so what if Victor knew who it was that had busted down his door? It wasn't as if the Avengers couldn't handle the egomaniac. Despite the Captain's claim of not forcing anyone to follow him, Stark heavily suspected that Steve's feelings were hurt because Tony wouldn't fall in line.

"Let it go, Rogers. We're alive, we got the mission done. I'm done," Tony replied and pushed past Steve with, probably, more force than he should have. "I don't know what Howard saw in you. You're just another jarhead officer who hates it when people don't follow your preconceived notions to a 'T'."

Edited 2012-11-26 00:22 (UTC)

When Stark shoved by him, Steve made sure to hold back. Despite his imposing form, he wasn't the sort of person to resort to violence just for the sake of it. As hard as it was for him to reason with Tony, he knew that trying to solve it with their fists wouldn't do any good, either. (And besides, without the armor, it just wouldn't be a fair fight. Steve had no interest in unfair fights.)

The mention of Howard Stark took him by surprise, though, because it was the first time that he'd heard Tony mention him. Steve didn't know what kind of relationship Howard had fostered with his son, but it seemed that Tony had heard his fair share of stories about Captain America from his old man. No wonder he was unimpressed.

"You don't know a thing about me," Steve said under his breath as he watched Stark walk away. That was the thing about everyone in this time period. They had some preconception of who he was supposed to be, but they didn't understand that in the end, he was a person, not an icon. He could never hope to match up. Steve squared his shoulders, boring holes into Tony's back with his gaze. "So don't even try."

"Likewise, Captain." It was just like when they were back on the Carrier, all that bickering because the two of them couldn't look past the image. Tony had character flaws, sure, some innate, some built from issues with his father. The point was, when they had first met, that was all Steve had seen was an image of Tony Stark. All Tony had ever known was an image of Captain America, stories that passed as father-son bonding moments because Howard couldn't think of anything to talk about. He had already grown up with a stigma of Captain America, wanting to be a good man like him, but hating the fact that the icon was more important to Howard than Tony on most days.

At least he had somewhat of an excuse when it came to be being bristly in Steve Rogers company. He wasn't exactly sure what Steve's excuse was other than he refused to see any further into the issue. Tony knew that this whole thing was about the fact that Steve thought the robotics engineer had gone off and did what he wanted because Tony Stark was an adrenaline junkie. Someone who wanted themselves in the spotlight. Thankfully, now that he was away from the Captain's smothering presence, Stark could think rationally. His temper was just shy of being completely cooled off.

"I can't update you on everything going through my head, Steve. You'd never get me to shut up." Never mind that JARVIS had input in between his own thoughts. "I don't take risks unless I think they're worth it. For us to work together, sometimes you're just going to have a take a leap of faith."

Maybe Stark had a point. No, Steve was willing to admit that he did have a point. Because the fact was, he'd done plenty of prejudging himself, but it was hard not to with the things that the news spouted off about the billionaire. Tony was the exact opposite of so many things that Steve stood for. At least, in theory he was.

But as Tony said that phrase, "a leap of faith," Steve remembered what Iron Man had done that day back in New York. How he'd flown up through the portal with that warhead to save them all. Steve also remembered how he'd told Natasha to close the portal after they'd all waited too long, and how her split second of hesitation was what allowed Stark to survive against all odds.

Steve realized then that he should have had more faith, and he'd also realized just how much he'd misjudged Howard's son.

That didn't mean it was easy for them to get along, but without the presence of Loki's scepter, it was much easier for both of them to calm down, at the least. Steve let out a breath and nodded. "All right," he conceded. "I'll try." That was about all he could promise at this point.

Which left the question of what to do next. "I guess we'd better report in to Fury. I know you don't like that kind of thing, so I can take care of it." Steve didn't mind, whereas he knew that Tony making any kind of contact with authority could lead to a disaster.

"You do that," Tony replied, his console humming to life as JARVIS brought specs of this and that. He liked Fury, really, it was just that the one-eyed bastard couldn't be in the same room as Stark without wanting something else made or calculated or finished. Tony cursed his technical genius and the fact that Fury barely ever gave him interesting projects. When he tried to make them more worth his time, the SHIELD head-honcho always had something to say.

Better to just avoid him as much as possible. God forbid Tony work.

"And Captain..." This time, Tony has the courtesy to actually look at Steve while he's talking. His features are calm, his aura resigned. Tony knew he wasn't the easiest person to work with, Pepper could attest to that, and he wasn't always willing to try. He purposefully pushed people away, mostly because he knew he would never know them beyond a meeting or a rendezvous in the night. People were much easier to deal with when they knew they weren't important enough to be recalled by Tony Stark.

But, like he had taken a chance on Pepper, put her through the ringer just to see if she'd come out the other end, maybe Steve would be worth the effort in the end. He'd either get tired of Tony's bullshit and walk away, or he'd get tired of Tony's bullshit, but find it endearing.

"I'll try, too. Er, I guess. You know."

For a moment, Steve was distracted by the displays that popped up at Stark's command. He'd seen a fair amount of Tony's gadgets by now, but that didn't mean he knew much about how it all worked. Which was just another thing Stark could hold over him if it came down to that.

Not that anything like that was going on now. In fact, Stark ended up being downright civil, if in an awkward sort of way that made it clear he wasn't used to cooperation, period. (Steve really needed to talk with Miss Potts sometime and figure out how she even handled Tony Stark on a daily basis.)

It was really no surprise that Tony was actually amendable to something when it meant someone else was volunteering to do work on his behalf. Steve let out a small sigh and then nodded, moving into the adjacent room so that he could call in to Fury.

These communication earpiece devices were still practically beyond his understanding, but he'd learned how to use one and before long Fury's voice came on the other end of the line. Steve delivered his report of the encounter with Doctor Doom as plainly as he could, something that he'd gotten pretty good at by now.

Fury didn't seem that shocked by what Stark had done, which was both good and bad. It meant that it wasn't as big of a deal as Steve had thought, but it was also a sign of how SHIELD was already in the habit of just letting Tony get away with things.

Once the call was finished, Steve stepped back into the room with Tony, looking somewhat haggard. "Fury says he wants me to stick around here for a while longer. He thinks that Doctor Doom's going to be making another move soon, and he wants both of us on hand to deal with him if he does."

If nothing else, this would definitely give them a chance to try and understand each other better. Steve couldn't say he was thrilled at the prospect.

If Tony had things to drop, he might have. He thought that was the end of it, no more feeling like he was pulling teeth. Fury should have called his pet Labrador back to base, why stay here? Tony stopped dead in the tapping of his fingers, smack dab in the middle of a line of code.

"How long will you be staying with us, Captain?" Trust JARVIS to speak for Tony when the genius couldn't find civil-enough sounding words to say.

The voice startled Steve. Not that he hadn't heard it before, but he was still getting used to this whole idea of talking robots. Or whatever JARVIS was. He was sure there was a much more complicated name for the AI system, but that didn't matter right now.

Steve hadn't missed Stark's body language, and it wasn't like he felt any different about the situation. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure. Fury said he'd let me know when he decided to call me back. But... it's fine. I can get a hotel room or something."

Maybe that would be seen as a waste of SHIELD's money, but Steve didn't think so. Not when it would be far more comfortable for him and Stark this way.

When Tony had agreed to working on the whole teamwork and civility thing with Rogers, he didn't mean right that second. Fury springing this sudden decision on the both of them was hardly fair. Obviously, the head of SHIELD had been spying on their little exchange and knew exactly what he was doing. That was the only logical answer.

Tony would have to get the place checked for bugs again.

"Master Stark's home is equipped with three other bedrooms and bathrooms. You are welcome to any of them for the duration of your stay. It would be much easier to obtain unit cohesion and mission readiness if you stayed close by."

"JARVIS don't pressure the man just because you're tired of talking to me." It would make the most sense for Steve to just stick around, if only they'd be able to spring into the mission at a moment's notice and be done with it.

"Ms. Potts has requested I remind you to eat and sleep at normal intervals throughout the day. Having another person around would perhaps be more helpful, considering that you can mute me, sir."

Despite the fact that Steve had just given his own response to JARVIS, listening to Tony argue with the AI system was still pretty odd. For a moment, Steve felt like he was being talked about as if he wasn't even there. Did he stay, or didn't he? It was true that they would be better able to respond to any threats if they were in the same place, and Steve knew it was the right strategic move.

This place was pretty big. He could stay as far away from Stark as he wanted to, and he doubted that the billionaire would even care.

Though the point JARVIS made next caused Steve to almost sputter in response. "Whoa, wait a second. You're saying you want me to be his babysitter?" That most definitely wasn't part of the job description. Besides, if he told Stark to do something, chances were that he'd just do the exact opposite. If Miss Potts could pull it off, then all the power to her, but Steve probably didn't have the same patience that she did.

"No."

"No!" Although they both said their disagreement in unison, JARVIS' statement was less offended sounding that Tony. Mostly because the inflection of his tone was never anything but helpful and dry, but that was neither here nor there. "Don't make me press the mute button, JARVIS."

"I do not technically have any push buttons to press, sir."

"And yet, you still developed a sense of sarcasm. Wonder how that happened." JARVIS remained quiet after that, not afraid of Tony's fragile threat, but because it knew when it had overstepped its boundaries. JARVIS was not privy to owning a filter between its thoughts and words, which Tony often pointed out.

Stark focused his attention on Steve, with a sigh and a mumble under his breath about self-aware, uppity, know-it-all AIs. Despite JARVIS' remarks about his daily habits, the AI was right about the whole Rogers-staying-close-thing. Steve could have the run of the house without having to run too much into Tony, so it really wasn't so awful when the genius engineer thought about it. Besides, if he was really feeling antisocial, there was always a cot stored somewhere in his lab.

"Forget what JARVIS said about me. He was right about you staying here. So, you know, you can. If you want."

Despite all evidence to the contrary, it seemed that Stark had some amount of control over his robots and AIs and all of his other inventions, seeing how JARVIS eventually backed down. Both of them seemed set on the fact that Steve wouldn't be a babysitter, which was a relief. Giving out orders on the battlefield was one thing, and he knew he could be a mother hen type with some of his men, but Tony didn't fit into that category in the first place.

Even now, if Steve thought too hard on the Howling Commandos, on Bucky, it made him feel vaguely nauseous. So he let out a sigh and glanced over just as Stark made his half-hearted offer to let him stay here.

"I'll pick a room that's out of the way," Steve said after a pause as he shrugged his shoulders. "If we're lucky, Doom will make his move soon and we can get this over with." It wasn't that he even hated to be around Stark, but it was clear that he wasn't entirely welcome here, and Steve just got the feeling that they would be better off only working together when it was needed. Like when the whole world was in danger of being destroyed by aliens, for instance.

Why couldn't Fury have assigned him to work with Barton or Romanoff? Both of them seemed much easier to handler when compared to Stark.

What was Pepper telling JARVIS these days, anyway? He didn't need a babysitter. He ate and slept fine all on his own. Most days. It's not like Pepper should even be surprised, all things considering. Their relationship had begun to wane a little, now that they were out of their honeymoon stage. Well, of course, there was the whole Tony being part of a secret boy band who went out to save the world and might die at any moment. That would always weigh on their relationship and with Pepper jetting off to do business all over the world, well, it was hard to work it out.

Tony gave the thing between them another couple of months before Pepper got smart and backed out. He wouldn't hold it against her at all. Not much.

Anyway.

"Yeah, great. But don't jinx it. Next thing you know, we'll still be together here for another week."

Steve didn't much believe in superstitions like that, but he understood Stark's point. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, felt the muscles rolling underneath his uniform and was struck by some of that odd dissonance that still shocked him from time to time. Because the fact was that for the grand majority of his life, he'd been much smaller than this; every now and then, the change still took him by surprise.

At least he'd gotten to a point where he didn't almost trip over his own feet.

"We'll see. Either way, I'm sure I'll find a way to keep myself entertained." If push came to shove, he could always strike out into the city and find out some more about Los Angeles. He knew that it was on par with New York City in terms of both size and attractions, so getting to explore might be interesting.

Steve glanced back to Stark and tilted his head. "I'm guessing you have all kinds of ways to keep an eye on Doom, right?"

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[psl] wait this isn't smut anymore

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