In which Steve feels lonely because Toni is gone
Word Count: 823
Ratings and Warnings: T. Nothing worth mentioning, other than fem!Tony
Summary: I can't focus on my Omegaverse for some reason today, so I ended up writing this little thing. Yeah
(Putting this here because Tumblr is being a derp and not linking to text under the cut)
Steve sat alone on the too-big bed holding the fifth Harry Potter book. Toni had tried to get him to buy a digital version for his Stark Pad, but there was nothing like the smell of a real book or the weight of the paper in his hands. Besides, if he had something with her name plastered across the top it would have been harder to distract himself from the fact that she was gone - Off to Tokyo or Beijing or Berlin or wherever she was this week. He knew that the work she was doing was important, trying to partner with companies in other countries to get them to help with her clean energy plan, but Steve was still only a man, in spite of what the newspapers wanted to believe. He wanted to feel his lover’s warm, soft body against his. He wanted to kiss her and hold her and have her there beside him.
Sometimes he wondered if it wouldn’t have been easier if he never fell in love. It was even worse than when he’d been in love with Peggy. Toni was always risking her life, always off somewhere Steve couldn’t follow, and when she was around she usually buried herself in her work. As sexy as she looked in just a tank top and sweats with her gorgeous black hair in a messy ponytail, and despite the fact that the effect was compounded when she was engrossed in building and creating, sometimes he just wanted her. He wanted to take her out, to snuggle and watch movies, to do all the things he dreamed of doing for longer than he could remember.
He looked out the window, taking in the New York skyline, so very different than it had looked in his time. Before the lights were like stars, the closest thing he’d ever seen to them until he was deployed. Now they were brighter, even higher, and even more prominent. Everything was so sleek now, so bright, so shiny. When he looked at the city, it was less like the night sky and more like the inside of one of Toni’s circuits.
He closed the book and set it on the bedside table. It was no use. No matter what he did, his mind kept going back to her and only her. It only made sense. She was practically the embodiment of this new century, with her flashy suit and questionable morals and independent live-for-the-moment attitude and the million masks that she could pull out on a moment’s notice. She had an intimate sort of knowledge of this new world that the others didn’t and could not only explain it to Steve, but show it. She taught Steve more in a week than what he had learned in the months of debriefings. The future would never quite be home, but maybe she could be.
His chest clenched painfully. No, he told himself a million times, he couldn’t think about that. He knew she didn’t want that sort of thing. Even if she did, as long as they were still Captain America and Iron Man it would never work. He bent over and rubbed his temples. He was only a man, only a soldier, and he had the same plans for after the war as they all did.
He stood and beat the familiar path down to Toni’s workshop. He bots looked up excitedly as he entered.
“Sorry,” he said as he walked to the couch and sat down, “Mommy’s not home yet. It’s just me.”
Dummy, You, and Butterfingers came over to look at him more closely. He lifted a hand and stroked them all in turn, admiring the smooth, cool feeling of their bodies. All of them were so beautiful, so elegantly designed. Sometimes he had trouble believing the things Toni could make with those dexterous, tiny hands of hers. It was like magic. He’d seen her build dozens of times and every time every piece was absolutely perfect, in spite of what she said to the contrary.
You and Butterfingers pulled away after their touches but stayed close. Steve wasn’t sure if they were waiting for instructions or enjoying his presence, but he preferred to pretend it was the second. Dummy, on the other hand, lay his arm on Steve’s lap so that Steve could continue to pet him. Once Toni was back he would come down with his sketchbook and draw what he thought they would look like as humans. Toni would huff and insist that it was stupid, that they were AIs and not people, but she would still hang it up somewhere she could look at it on a regular basis.
Steve stood to go grab the pillow and blanket from the cabinet nearby. He’d stay here for the night. Toni’s plane would be in the next day and she’d make him forget what they were missing, just like she always did.