❄ but the most special are the most lonely ❄

[letmetakeaselfie]

I. ( tony + steve + bruce )

[ tony's face-plate comes up, all but dragging steve over the threshold. he just has to focus on keeping the super soldier awake so they can get to bruce and get patched up. and then everything will be fine - it'll all be fine. nevermind that cap's best friend is now a psycho killer and is totally on the loose and natasha blew up s.h.i.e.l.d. via the interwebs and put a huge target on all of their heads.

at least he's not panicking.

he has no actual way of knowing how injured he personally is under the suit, either. he's in so much shock and so jacked up on adrenaline that anything is possible. he just hopes it isn't beyond the doctor's scope. JARVIS puts in the passcode wirelessly so tony can carry steve through the door, princess-style. ]

Medic? We need a medic... [ the joke dies on his lips, meeting bruce's gaze across the room. god is he a sight for sore eyes. ]

II. ( tony + steve + bruce + pepper )

[ once tony and steve are cleaned up and back in their street clothes, they may as well get ready for the q&a that's coming. there are a lot of things he's still not willing to discuss - peggy and her husband; his father; bucky... but neither of them are going to get a choice. he loves pepper and bruce with all (both) his heart(s) but this is some heavy shit, so instead he just blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind.

it's also the dumbest. ] Widow will be happy you finally got yourself a date, huh, Cap? [ he nudges the other man's shoulder and looks to everyone else, sorry. that's the best he's got. ]

III. ( tony + steve )

[ tony wanders out to the living room, finding steve out on the couch where he'd left him. he knows just by the unsteady rise and fall of his chest that he's not sleeping. how could either of them after that? without saying a word, he slots his slighter frame in next to him, carefully avoiding both of their injuries and pulling out his phone. ]

I wasn't kidding about that like page, you know. [ he shows cap the facebook fan page that allegedly phil set up. it has a much more flattering image than the twitter. also 14 million something likes. ] You have almost as many fans as me.

[ he's not even being cheeky (much), he has over 19 million. ]

IV. ( tony + pepper )

[ pepper's not up yet and tony hasn't slept yet, which really, if it weren't so commonplace by now might be more traumatic. as it is, he eyes her heels at the base of the bed; she had fallen asleep in her clothes. poor pepper, he'd probably exhausted her and worried her sick with all of this. again, par for their course, but still.

before he can talk himself out of it, he sits on a corner of the bed and goes about trying to get his feet into her shoes. she would totally kill him if she woke up right now, but as they'd established that day they went to the park, it was really hard being short. ] What does she have, elf feet...?

[ he asks the open air, wobbling to his feet and immediately falling to the ground. this wasn't his best laid plan by far. he's just going to lay here for a while. this carpet is soft and his entire body is a bruise. ]

Comments

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ he usually would just keep messing with cap, but this is kind of important. he shakes his head against the other man's leg. ] I'm not. She really loves having you around, man. And not just because you do dishes.

[valuedstrength]

[Steve plays it all, the trip to the park and breakfast specifically, back in his head. One of the fun things about the serum is that he never seemed to have trouble recalling things. If anything his recollections are a little too vivid for his own good. It fits even if for the life of him he can't guess what he ever did to make Pepper like him. He thinks he's always been a problem for her if anything.

Steve sighs gently, looking away from Tony, and stating noncommittally.] She's a good woman.

[It kind of goes without saying he's always liked her. He doesn't think it's actually possible not to.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

The best. [ it's instant, something he doesn't have to think about. tony sighs, too. ]

I think you were right, before. I'm going to build her a suit.

[valuedstrength]

[Steve nods. This isn't how he wanted to hear he was right. He wanted Tony to give into the fact that Pepper with a suit? Coolest thing ever. Now he can only see the practicality of it. She needs a way to fight back since they're surrounded by enemies who only hit below the belt. He has to imagine after all the hell they gave Tony that she wouldn't mind getting a few hits in too.]

I'm sure it will be something. [It's a nice thing to look forward to seeing if nothing else.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

Yeah. [ his smile is soft and almost wry, not that it lasts long anyway. pepper having their backs from here was enough to show him that in the field she'd be even better. probably better than him, even. he throws his arm over his forehead. ]

It's okay, you can say 'I told you so.'

[valuedstrength]

That would be rude, Tony. [He smiles. His tone kind of screams 'I told you so' anyways.] Look I can't appreciate where you're coming from. I was trained by my... [He struggles here since they never had a title.] person so I think she was the one left worrying most of the time. I do know that Pepper has a lot of potential. I can really see her with us.

[The way he could see Natasha and Clint despite them looking like the worst picks to save the world at the time the Battle of New York took place. Two traitors known for their skills as killers? They didn't scream hero material at the time and yet that's who he went in with and trusted to get the job done. Pepper is actually one of his better calls by far, he thinks.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

By your person. [ he repeats, almost sing-song. god that's cute. shut up steve. ]

She worries about me plenty. Who knows, maybe she'd worry less if she could yell at me real-time.

[valuedstrength]

She lets me call her my best girl when we're together, but I'm not sure how much she's humoring since we weren't actually allowed to say that back in the day.

[He looks kind of embarrassed. Shut up, Tony.] I find it soothing when I can scream at you. [He offers so helpfully.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ his head tips back to get a glimpse of cap's expression. nope, still adorable. ] I really doubt she's humoring you at all. She doesn't really seem the humoring type to me.

[ it's why he likes her tbh. ] ...Then it's settled.

[ tony manages to get the remote off the table without shifting out of steve's lap, he wants to see if they're on the news. but no -- it's the mandarin again. fuck this guy. ]

You see this clown?

[valuedstrength]

[Steve has to smile at that. Yes, they're at the end of the story. Steve and Peggy both know it, but he's still stupidly in love with her all the same. It doesn't matter that she married someone else and had children and grandchildren. (It certainly helps her husband died years ago even if Steve mourns his chance to see this mysterious person who is probably Gabe Jones.)]

Yeah. I am going to take a shot in the dark and assume he's next on our docket of problems. [Steve sighs softly.] I'll have to see if Natasha or Hill can dig something up. HYDRA always did like to make tacky friends they could kill later.

[Assuming he isn't already allied with them in some way already. These guys tended to hang out together. It's always fun to see which will betray the other first.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

You think? Maybe... [ either way, he's sure cap is right. ] Once I'm communicado again, I'll probably have about 50 missed calls from Jimmy.

[ and suddenly he's not in such a rush to get out of here. ]

[valuedstrength]

[Steve frowns as he tries to remember who that is. (Spoilers: he refers to Rhodey by his full name and rank in his head whenever he does come up.) The light bulb moment springs up soon enough and he nods.] I'm sure he's got a handle on this until we get in a little recovery time.

[Steve looks him over.] You especially. [You don't have a body working 110% on your recovery. As long as he keeps his calorie intake up, he'll be fine sooner rather than later. (He'll remember Rhodey will have the sense to just be worried given the state of the Tower in a minute.)]

[letmetakeaselfie]

Me especially. [ tony rolls his eyes. ] You're the one who got stabbed a dozen times. And shot. Did you get shot? I'm pretty sure you got grazed, at least.

[ looking up at him in disbelief even as trevor drones on in the background. all that and here steve is pillow fighting with him. he's never been more grateful for that super serum crap. ]

I'm fine. I could totally be ready to go in the morning -- this is for your benefit. [ this time he is joking for real because no, he actually needs to sleep under giant ice packs for a week to be relatively okay again. ]

[valuedstrength]

I'm not sure. [He isn't even kidding. Steve kind of blacked out for a couple of minutes. You know as one does when drugs don't really work on them and they're getting stitched up. You know he wasn't paying attention when the gun went off to begin with.... all twenty times.]

But, it's not a big deal. This is only a little worse than New York. [From his pov anyways. He sure didn't get stabbed there, but not from lack of trying.] I'm more concerned about you. You're an old man.

[He smiles. See what he did there?? He's so funny. :)]

[letmetakeaselfie]

Oh, so now I'm old man. Cause a second ago I was a rude youngster. [ the most offended face!!! tony looks back up and clasps his hands over his stomach. ]

Way better than New York on my end. No space.

[valuedstrength]

No, definitely no space. For the record, we're sending Thor on all space related missions from now on.

[If they say it now, it can be enforced later!! Plus he and Thor are warrior bros. He totally will go along with this.] You called yourself an old man first. Also for the record.

[letmetakeaselfie]

I'm good with that. He is the resident space man so it's only fair.


Also, for the record, you can't just conveniently flip-flop between treating me like a kid and some geriatric-- [ oh. oh he's starting to actually get angry, isn't he? goddamnit steve ]

[valuedstrength]

You're really getting worked up about this. Maybe you ought to lie down? [He shakes his head and pats Tony's shoulder. Okay, he's done being a jerk.]

I'll let you pick which one you want to be then. Is that fair?

[letmetakeaselfie]

You're a real asshole. [ but he doesn't say anything for a long moment, his hand coming up to cover steve's on his shoulder. ]

Getting old isn't all bad, you know. Pepper even digs the gray.

[valuedstrength]

[He softens a little.] I don't mean anything by it. I'm a little jealous if anything. I think it'd be nice to actually look your own age.

[It weirds him out to look and act like a twenty something when everyone treats him like an old man.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

You don't really want to look 90, do you? [ he keeps his hand on steve's as he cranes his neck to look at his face. it hurts to know that no matter how hard he tries he'll leave steve alone one day. just like peggy will. and pepper-- and all of them. he shouldn't have to go through all this. it isn't fair. but without the serum he'd be dead a million times over and that's not right either. he'll solve this -- he always does. ]

How's this, I'll be the old one from now on. Or maybe we can trade off.

[valuedstrength]

[He'd like to really live to ninety. Not just sleep through it. Steve starts to shrug with his bad shoulder by mistake, winces, and stops. He cocks his head to the side playfully with a glued on smile.]

Nah, it'd really kill the romance if Peggy never knew who I was. [A beat.] We'll trade off. I can't pretend to be young when I make a bunch of references no one else gets.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ he lets go to reach up and poke steve's arm lightly. ] See, you are hurt. Old man.

[ they can trade-off. okay. he can live with that. ]

[valuedstrength]

[He frowns. Stop pointing out that he's all stabbed up on one side.] Yeah, yeah. Way to rub it in, kiddo.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ kiddo. even though he agreed to it he still slumps, looking away again. he remembers how it had felt to see steve with those kids in the park. that could've been him. would have been. ]

Peggy told me-- about the night she decided not to talk to Dad again. [ dad, not howard. ]