[fic: avengers] strangers in a strange land.
First of all, this post contains SPOILERS for The Avengers. Please (PLEASE) do not click if you haven't watched it and do not want to be spoiled.
That being said.
Title: Strangers in a Strange Land
Prompt: Steve/Tony, The truth is...he admires him.
Notes: This is part of the Avengers fic requests from here, but well, apparently I am unable to keep it to the size of one comment.
Warnings: One for an f-bomb because a certain someone can be a potty mouth, but other than that not really. Comments/feedback are appreciated. <3
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"That's the guy my father never stopped talking about?"
It's said as indifferently as possible, maybe with a hint of annoyance, and Tony just continues working as if Steve had never walked in the lab. As if he had never interrupted them.
As if Steve Rogers hadn't just made something inside Tony tug uncomfortably, because he's Captain America. And, while Howard Stark never shut up about him, Tony had been the one that had grown up admiring the All-American hero. He had been the one with the action figures, and idolizing the man that had seemed larger than life.
And now...
Right. He needs to get back to work.
***
Steve can see hints of Howard in Tony, but he half wonders if his friend had ever been so arrogant. So selfish. So...Tony. Had seventy years in ice made him forget how he had really been?
Despite their heated words, though, it's Tony the one that almost gets shredded while working on the helicarrier's engine so that they won't plummet to the ocean. It's Tony who saves his life when Loki's men begin shooting at him, and even if he had never seemed like the type to display his emotions, it's Tony the one that seems to react more than anyone over Agent Coulson's death.
As they're flying off to New York, Steve realizes that Tony may have hints of Howard, but there was something about Tony that he had never seen in his friend so many years ago. Something that makes him just...Tony.
***
If the world wasn't ending, if monsters weren't flying down from a hole in the sky (seriously, Tony thinks for the millionth time, Loki is fucking insane), Tony would probably take a moment to admire the man with a shield that is still larger than life in more ways than he had ever imagined as a child. It's not a boy's idealism over his hero, this is something else.
Because, as Steve commands them each to their perspective spots, Tony can see that Steve Rogers really embodied the image of the All-American Hero. As he had told Loki, the Super Soldier lives up to the legend.
Except, the world is ending, and monsters are flying down from a hole in the sky, and it all feels like some sort of twisted nightmare that he can only hope they'll wake up from soon.
***
He's falling. He's falling faster than any of them can think of ways to catch him, but before Thor is up in the air suddenly Hulk is soaring and grabbing Tony in mid-air. The rescue isn't pretty, and half a building is destroyed in the process, but Steve finds himself not caring so much about the destruction but instead his eyes fall on the fallen soldier that Hulk tosses aside like a rag doll once they're back on solid ground.
I am not a soldier, Steve suddenly remembers Tony saying, and he just wants to hear him say it again. Because this can't be the way it ends, this can't be how Iron Man dies. This can't be how Tony Stark dies. In the back of his mind he remembers Peggy saying how he should respect his choice, because Tony had made it, but it's so hard to. Steve had barely gotten the hang of it when he had gone underwater; how is he supposed to do it all over again?
Thor removes the faceplate, and Steve finds himself trying to check for any signs of life, but there's nothing. Just stillness, and silence, and--
Hulk roars, and at once Tony startles awake. The breath that Steve hadn't realized he had been holding is finally let out as he feels his lips tug into a smile, and suddenly the relief is all he feels.
Tony had said that Fury doesn't always tell them everything, and Steve believes it now more than ever. Because, despite the file that SHIELD had given him - despite all the information that they had filled him in on, Tony had laid his life on the line to make sure their world could continue spinning. Sure, SHIELD had outlined some of Tony's characteristics, but they weren't all of them.
"Mr. Stark," Steve greets him with a nod of respect and an outstretched hand once Tony is standing.
For a second Tony seems speechless, his burning chest and ribs forgotten even if it feels as if the suit is the only thing holding him upright, but when he speaks he gives a nod of his own as he shakes his hand once removing the gauntlet. "Captain. But please, just Tony is fine."
"Steve," he corrects him with a smile. "I don't think we were ever properly introduced."
That being said.
Title: Strangers in a Strange Land
Prompt: Steve/Tony, The truth is...he admires him.
Notes: This is part of the Avengers fic requests from here, but well, apparently I am unable to keep it to the size of one comment.
Warnings: One for an f-bomb because a certain someone can be a potty mouth, but other than that not really. Comments/feedback are appreciated. <3
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"That's the guy my father never stopped talking about?"
It's said as indifferently as possible, maybe with a hint of annoyance, and Tony just continues working as if Steve had never walked in the lab. As if he had never interrupted them.
As if Steve Rogers hadn't just made something inside Tony tug uncomfortably, because he's Captain America. And, while Howard Stark never shut up about him, Tony had been the one that had grown up admiring the All-American hero. He had been the one with the action figures, and idolizing the man that had seemed larger than life.
And now...
Right. He needs to get back to work.
***
Steve can see hints of Howard in Tony, but he half wonders if his friend had ever been so arrogant. So selfish. So...Tony. Had seventy years in ice made him forget how he had really been?
Despite their heated words, though, it's Tony the one that almost gets shredded while working on the helicarrier's engine so that they won't plummet to the ocean. It's Tony who saves his life when Loki's men begin shooting at him, and even if he had never seemed like the type to display his emotions, it's Tony the one that seems to react more than anyone over Agent Coulson's death.
As they're flying off to New York, Steve realizes that Tony may have hints of Howard, but there was something about Tony that he had never seen in his friend so many years ago. Something that makes him just...Tony.
***
If the world wasn't ending, if monsters weren't flying down from a hole in the sky (seriously, Tony thinks for the millionth time, Loki is fucking insane), Tony would probably take a moment to admire the man with a shield that is still larger than life in more ways than he had ever imagined as a child. It's not a boy's idealism over his hero, this is something else.
Because, as Steve commands them each to their perspective spots, Tony can see that Steve Rogers really embodied the image of the All-American Hero. As he had told Loki, the Super Soldier lives up to the legend.
Except, the world is ending, and monsters are flying down from a hole in the sky, and it all feels like some sort of twisted nightmare that he can only hope they'll wake up from soon.
***
He's falling. He's falling faster than any of them can think of ways to catch him, but before Thor is up in the air suddenly Hulk is soaring and grabbing Tony in mid-air. The rescue isn't pretty, and half a building is destroyed in the process, but Steve finds himself not caring so much about the destruction but instead his eyes fall on the fallen soldier that Hulk tosses aside like a rag doll once they're back on solid ground.
I am not a soldier, Steve suddenly remembers Tony saying, and he just wants to hear him say it again. Because this can't be the way it ends, this can't be how Iron Man dies. This can't be how Tony Stark dies. In the back of his mind he remembers Peggy saying how he should respect his choice, because Tony had made it, but it's so hard to. Steve had barely gotten the hang of it when he had gone underwater; how is he supposed to do it all over again?
Thor removes the faceplate, and Steve finds himself trying to check for any signs of life, but there's nothing. Just stillness, and silence, and--
Hulk roars, and at once Tony startles awake. The breath that Steve hadn't realized he had been holding is finally let out as he feels his lips tug into a smile, and suddenly the relief is all he feels.
Tony had said that Fury doesn't always tell them everything, and Steve believes it now more than ever. Because, despite the file that SHIELD had given him - despite all the information that they had filled him in on, Tony had laid his life on the line to make sure their world could continue spinning. Sure, SHIELD had outlined some of Tony's characteristics, but they weren't all of them.
"Mr. Stark," Steve greets him with a nod of respect and an outstretched hand once Tony is standing.
For a second Tony seems speechless, his burning chest and ribs forgotten even if it feels as if the suit is the only thing holding him upright, but when he speaks he gives a nod of his own as he shakes his hand once removing the gauntlet. "Captain. But please, just Tony is fine."
"Steve," he corrects him with a smile. "I don't think we were ever properly introduced."