DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
HTML https://stonyrp.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: RP
*****************************************************
#Post#: 24--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned as Steve kissed his cheek, his mood suddenly turned
sour. He wasn't sure why -- there was just something deep in his
gut, and Tony thought that it might, possibly, be guilt. Steve
shouldn't have been apologizing for this -- for anything. He
wasn't to blame. And yet, here he was, still trying to protect
Tony, after everything, after all Tony had done to him and it
just wasn't fair. Steve was some kind of inexplicably perfect
human, and Tony was... he was just... the cause of all the pain.
"Stop it," Tony demanded venomously, shrugging Steve away,
turning his back. Tony didn't deserve this -- this worry and
this caring and all these damn promises. In fact, if had just
kept his mouth shut at that store, if the Stalker hadn't heard
them, then they probably wouldn't have been in whole mess in the
first place, Steve wouldn't keep apologizing for what the
Revengers had done... Tony huffed, throwing on a shirt and then
pausing, facing the closet, afraid to face Steve for fear that
he'd just find another apology in the other man's eyes.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante's eyebrow rose in question as Natalia suggested they go
save the people in his dream -- why was she suddenly acting so
responsible for other's deaths? It wasn't as if, after saving
one couple, Dante would go saving all the others. Hell, he
already knew that karma would get back at him, what, for
alternating the entire course of time -- yes, he'd probably pay
the price in some kind of slow, painful death afterwards.
Regardless, Natalia's enthusiasm for what Dante assumed she
considered justice was... perhaps not troubling, but confusing.
Unexpected. Possibly dangerous.
And then, of course, she went talking about even crazier things,
about the Avengers and taking Fury's place and, lord help him,
asking Stark about it. Dante understood Natalia's view, but
he... certainly didn't agree with it.
"Natalia, chuckled Dante softly, "I think you've mistaken me for
a nobler man." He paused for a moment, hesitant to go on for
fear of disappointing her, but, eventually, forced himself to,
because she deserved an explanation. "I think you would make a
wonderful hero," he said, "The Avengers deserve you. But I... am
not about to get mixed up in things like this. I think that I've
meddled enough for one lifetime, don't you think?"
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve furrowed his brow in confusion when Tony demanded him to
stop before shrugging him away. He stared at Tony with the same
confused look. What had he done? "I'm sorry Tony, did I do
something wrong?" he asked, his voice deep. What had caused Tony
to suddenly get all irritable?
Steve thought Tony was acting like this because of last night or
because it was early, but then he could tell it was because of
something else. Tony wouldn't still be grumpy about last night
and he wouldn't push away Steve's affection just because it was
early. Steve thought about the things he had said, but couldn't
link them with Tony being upset.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia chuckled slightly. She had expected an answer somewhat
like that. "Look, I'm flattered that you think I'd make a good
hero and that the Avengers would except me and all, but don't
you think you're being hard on yourself?" she asked, looking
directly into Dante's eyes. "If anyone is perfect for the
Avengers it's you. They could use someone like you, and you
would be a big help to them." Natalia had the feeling her words
weren't doing much good, but they were worth a try. "At least
think about it," she suggested.
Natalia looked out a nearby window to see how beautiful the day
looked. "Nice flying weather," she began, changing the
conversation. "I might go out for a bit." Natalia turned away
from Dante and made her way downstairs. She turned her head to
see a little robot of some sorts cleaning the mess in the living
room. Natalia walked to the front door before opening it and
letting the cool breeze blow through her hair and wing feathers.
Carefully, she closed the door and spread her wings, taking off
to have a look around town. Little did anyone know she was going
crime hunting.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony suddenly whirled, eyes ablaze, and he threw his hands into
the air, exasperated. "No!" he yelled furiously, "Don't you get
it, Steve? You're doing nothing wrong, nothing!" Tony didn't
know why he was choosing now to get so worked up over this -- he
was just -- he didn't -- he couldn't bare having Steve repeating
sorry, over and over and over again, when he had nothing to be
sorry for.
"Just... stop apologizing," Tony said, suddenly quieter --
reserved. He was trying to restrain himself. "Stop... trying to
make things... better." He finally looked at Steve, stepping
closer, throwing his arms around the other man's waist. "You've
already done so much... what are you trying to prove to me? No,
no, don't answer that-- there shouldn't be an answer. There's
nothing to prove. You're... perfect. And stupid. And I love you.
Just... don't apologize. I don't deser-- I don't want that."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned as Natalia left, processing her words in his head
-- he had thought about it. He'd thought about it too much. And
he was almost completely, almost entirely, unsure about ever
decision he had come to. I mean, of course he wanted to do it.
That was natural, right? That was... that was... Dante didn't
know what that was, but he made a good leader. He just didn't
have the status for respect.
But then there was the matter of Stark. Would Iron Man really
let him take over the Avengers? After all, Fury's last wish had
been for Stark to watch over the Avengers, right? He would let
Fury barge in and spoil his little family. And then he'd have to
actually ask the arrogant son of a b*tch about it.
Dante was going back to sleep.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve laughed a little, glad that what Tony was getting upset
about wasn't too serious. "Is that what you're getting all
worked up about?" Steve asked with a smile smile. Did Tony
really feel that way every time he apologized?
Steve placed a hand on Tony's cheek, still smiling, but his eyes
filled with love. "Okay, I'll stop apologizing. However, I want
you to know you've done nothing wrong either." Steve ran his
other hand through Tony's hair. "Tony, don't you want things to
be better?" he asked, pulling Tony a little closer. Why wouldn't
Tony want things to get better? If anything was better than
heaven, he'd be happy to share it with Tony. "And you deserve
the world, you perfect idiot," Steve joked, placing his forehead
on Tony's and staring deeply into his eyes. "I love you," he
murmured, tracing Tony's jawline. Although he wouldn't apologize
on the outside, he would on the inside.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed softly, thumb grazing across Steve's cheek, eyes
closed, taking in Steve's scent. This, here, was what Tony lived
for, moments where his heart literally ached in his chest, full
to the bursting, and, okay, maybe that was heartburn or
something but he imagined it was some kind of undying love.
"It's not that I don't want things to be better," he said
softly, "It's just that it can't get any more perfect than it is
right now."
He let his head fall onto Steve's shoulder, pressed their bodies
together, and hugged Steve tight, not wanting to let go. He was,
Tony would admit, very, very warm, and he still had not fully
woken up yet. Or perhaps Steve was just the one who made him
sleepy. "Let's just stay like this for a while, yeah?" he
murmured into Steve's shirt, hands gripping at the soft fabric
just to make sure that Steve couldn't get away.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve's smiled widened as Tony pulled him tight and held him
close. The feeling of being so close to Tony never failed to
fill him with the most wonderful warmth. He wrapped his arm
around Tony's wait, pulling Tony as close as the two could get
without being in pain. "Okay," whispered Steve, kissing Tony on
his head before burrowing his face in his boyfriend's hair.
After awhile of staying like that, Steve lifted his head up and
pushed Tony away a little bit. "How about we go downstairs
before we fall asleep?" Steve suggested, bringing Tony's face up
for a small kiss. It had been at least an hour after they had
gotten up and Steve hadn't even gotten dressed or anything.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony chose to ignore Steve's suggestion while he was being
kissed, instead letting his lips linger for just a bit too long
to be innocent, but, eventually, pulled away. He was feeling a
bit peckish, as he was sure the magical mind-reading man with
him already knew.
"I would be fine with that, you know. Falling asleep," he said,
smirking. "It's still early, probably, it's um...
"11:13, sir."
"Thank you, JARVIS... see? Still... early... and you're also
really warm, and, um, I'll just... yeah, let's go downstairs."
He shook his head, forcing himself away from Steve -- which, of
course, made that beautiful warmth go away, but he tried not to
focus on that for now. "I'm going to go get Bird Girl and
Giggles out of here before they spoil anything else," Tony said,
not bitter but, of course, not exactly happy, either. With that
and a smack to Steve's ass, Tony was gone from the room,
striding purposefully from the room.
Night Owl is already gone (she seemed like the kind of person
who didn't stay long anyways) when Tony gets to her room, but of
course, when Tony arrives at Dante's -- he asleep. Of course, it
takes Tony a little while to realize this.
"Holy sh--," Tony says as he catches sight of Dante. He's lying
flat on his back, arms crossed over his chest like some kind of
mummified corpse, and his eyes are staring blankly at the
ceiling. As Tony speaks, Dante blinks, and rises, very Vampire
Horror Film style.
"Hello," he says calmly.
"Um... hi," Tony says awkwardly, giving the man a once-over
before motioning with his thumb out of the door. "Um, well, now
that I know you sleep like that, I'm going to have to kick you
out of my house. That's creepy. Good bye."
Dante sighs as he gets up, all slow and melodramatic, and takes
an absolutely, ridiculous scary staff from the wall. "Fine," he
rumbles, voice weary and placid, "Goodbye, Tony Stark." And with
that, he is gone. Literally, gone. Disappeared.
"F---ing creepy," Tony mutters, shaking his head.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve could feel his face burning from his blush after Tony
smacked his behind. He knew his eyes were wide with shock.
Steve cleared his throat before slowly walking downstairs. Once
he made it to the living room, he saw Dummy cleaning the last
bit of glass from the living room. "Thanks, Dummy," said Steve
kindly before taking a seat on the couch. He took this
opportunity to look around the living room. He hadn't really
noticed all the little details of the room like Tony's various
objects including foreign vases and such. Also, he noticed a
small bookshelf at the back of the room.
Steve looked around, making sure Tony wasn't down there before
he slowly made his way over to the bookshelf. He had always been
the bookwormish type. Back before he became Captain America, he
would read all the time. His favorite books were always war
books based on true stories. However, he tried his best to avoid
those these days if fear of bringing memories from the past
back.
Steve ran his fingers over the bindings of the books, pulling a
few out and looking through them. Eventually, he ran across a
book without a title. Curious, he pulled it out and flipped
through it, realizing it wasn't just a book, it was a sketch
book. Steve smiled, taking the book with him to the couch after
picking up a pencil he found on the table. If there was one
thing Steve liked more than reading, it was drawing.
He opened the sketch book and began to draw the first thing that
came to his mind; Tony. He drew him doing one of his rare smiles
that seemed to be only reserved for him. Each stroke of the
pencil was slow and graceful, making the drawing as realistic as
one could get. Steve's look became one of pure concentration as
he drew his perfect boyfriend, and began to shade it.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia landed in an ally, making it to where no one could see
her as she made her wings invisible and her hair back to it's
normal blonde color. Now she could finally feel a bit normal as
she walked around L.A. She could finally be Natalia Stone
instead of Night Owl. Of course, while she was on her way to
L.A., she had saved a few people from a burning building and
saved some woman's stupid cat from a tree (dumb cats getting
stuck in trees).
She walked around until she found a bench and sat down. Natalia
wondered how long it had been since she had felt so normal.
Probably the day before she met Dante. After Natalia had met him
and realized he really didn't mind her being a weird bird thing,
she had stayed with her wings out and her hair black. Dante
hadn't even seen her in her normal form.
Natalia crossed her legs, wondering if Dante had even thought
about joining the Avengers.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Once he was assured that Dante was gone and not hanging around
behind his shoulder or anything, Tony made his way downstairs,
peeking around the corner as he came down. Steve was on the
couch, looking down at something in his lap.
"Whatcha doing?" Tony called from the stairs, grinning as he
made his way slowly over to the couch. From a distance, he could
see a pencil in Steve's hand, tracing over an empty page. Tony
stopped, surprised. "You draw?" he asked, and grinned again as
he started walking again. "Can I see?"
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve was almost done until he heard Tony. Quickly, he shut the
sketch book as he felt his blush returning. "I... um... I'd
rather you didn't..." Steve cleared his throat as he tightened
his grip on the closed book, making sure Tony couldn't get it.
It's not that he wasn't proud of his drawing, he just felt a
little embarrassed every time someone caught him drawing. "I
just do, um, little sketches and such... They're nothing
special... I just found it in your bookshelf and... uh... Are
you hungry? I can cook some breakfast," Steve suggested, trying
to change the subject.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony laughed, leaning over the back of the couch and making a
snatch for the sketchbook. He caught it, but when he tugged it
seemed like Steve had a death-grip on the thing. "You're
adorable when you're embarrassed," Tony said, grinning. "Now
lemme see, come on -- your nothing special is usually
extraordinary."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve's blush deepened as Tony spoke. "Well... um... I'm not so
sure about that... Really it's nothing..." said Steve, making
his grip even tighter (if that was possible).
Steve cleared his throat again, looking away from Tony. "I could
make eggs, toast, and bacon if you'd like... It shouldn't take
that long... Or maybe something bigger since it's closer to
lunch..." Steve adjusted himself on the sofa to where he was
almost in a ball, making it harder for Tony to take the book.
"Maybe we can even have some wine, but only one glass for
you..." Steve shook his head. "I forgot we were out of alcoholic
beverages... Maybe we could go get some..." said Steve, trying
to change the subject again.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony couldn't help it -- he giggled. He actually giggled,
shaking his head, his hand sliding down and grabbing hold of
Steve's wrist. He pulled himself over the couch, ending up
sprawled on top of Steve's curled up body, laughing the entire
time. "Come on!" he urged, trying to force Steve's body to
spread out with his free hand, his knees, poking and prodding
him as he forced the hand the Steve was holding the notebook up
and over his head.
Tony turned his head, grinning maniacally, and realized, with
his face an inch from Steve's, that they had gotten into a very
compromising position. One leg was kind of hooked over Steve's
waist, and the other was between both of Steve's, while one hand
was on Steve's shoulder and the other pinned Steve's arm to the
couch above his head by his wrist. It was very awkward and very,
very close. "It's my notebook, right?" Tony teased, "Don't touch
my stuff."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve's grip loosened on the sketch book as Tony started
laughing. It was so rare that Tony actually laugh, it caught
Steve a little off guard. However, his grip tightened again when
Tony pinned his arm over his head.
Steve felt Tony's heat rising through his body as he looked at
the position that they were in. He suddenly felt wanting as he
looked at Tony's face and how close it was to his.
"What would you do for it?" Steve breathed, his eyes full of
lust. He wasn't exactly in a teasing mood as mush as he was in a
somewhat "romantic" mood. Steve's free hand was placed on Tony'
waist, pulling him a bit closer. "What would you do to me for
it?" he asked, feeling a little more teasing for his lips were
barely touching Tony's as he whispered the words. Steve allowed
the hand that was on Tony's waist to slide down to where it was
on his ass. Steve was really going to use this opportunity to
his advantage. I mean, he had to if Tony wanted to see the
drawing.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony's breath caught in his throat -- alright, he hadn't been
expecting that, Steve's hands, roaming, lips brushing together,
beautiful eyes blown wide with lust. His hand tightened on
Steve's wrist. He hummed softly, leaning forward a bit so that
their mouths could meet all the way, let his lips linger before
they roamed, across Steve's jaw and down his neck. "Anything you
want," he murmured against Steve's skin -- but, oh, he wouldn't
forget his purpose.
In one swift movement, Tony's hand reached up, snatching the
notebook from Steve's loosened grip, and he slid off of Steve
(no matter how much it pained him -- he only accomplished this
by reminding himself that Steve deserved it for last night), and
landed on the floor as he flipped it smoothly open. He smirked a
bit as he saw the drawing, tracing his fingers along the lines
-- it was good. It was really good. "I like it," he said
casually, as if he hadn't been seconds away from literally
making Steve beg for it. "You're very good."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve whimpered as Tony drew away. It was then he noticed that
Tony had managed to take the sketch book from his hands. "And I
thought I was the tease," Steve murmured.
He turned his attention to Tony looking at his drawing, although
he didn't really care to much about Tony seeing it now. He just
wanted to finish what they started last night.
"Thanks," Steve said to Tony, getting on the floor on all fours
and tossing the book aside as he began to kiss Tony's lips. "You
know.... now that our guests are gone.... we can have as much
fun as we want to..." said Steve between kisses, placing a hand
on Tony' cheek.
After awhile he parted his lips like he had done last night and
pinning Tony to the floor with the hand that had been on his
cheek as he did so. He didn't know what was coming over him
exactly, but he was feeling awfully wanting.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grinned into the kiss, knotting his hands into Steve's
hair. "Hell yes," he whispered, pressing up against Steve's
body, hands sliding down to scrunch up Steve's shirt. Tony slid
his hands up under the fabric, scratching faint, quickly fading
marks in the other man's back, suddenly overcome with need, with
desire.
"Sure you wanna stay on the floor, though?" Tony murmured as he
broke off for air, his words whispered against Steve's ear.
"Might be more... comfortable... erm, elsewhere..." He shifted
under Steve, leaning down to nip at his neck, loving this
feeling of being completely submerged in another person. The
kind of stuff that Tony had done previously had been wild and
weird and maybe a little scary at times, but he'd never been
fully in touch, fully awake like he was now, every receptor in
his brain sparking and creating a heat between he and Steve's
body that he'd never felt before, never thought about, but now
it consumed him and Tony wanted like he had never wanted before.
It was, frankly a little nerve-wracking, raw and new and
unfamiliar, but Steve was here and this was now and god forbid
if they stopped now because he got a little scared.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve moaned as Tony began to scratch at his back, hardly
registering what Tony was saying. "Comfortable... right..."
repeated Steve before quickly inhaling as Tony nipped at his
neck. "God, Tony..." he said shakily before picking Tony up at
placing him on the couch.
Steve quickly climbed on top of, removing his on shirt as he did
so. "I love you," Steve whispered, wanting this to still be a
little romantic instead of just wanting. To be honest, Steve was
a little scared. He had never acted this way before really, nor
had he ever really taken control of a situation like this. He
pushed these thoughts at the back of his mind, knowing that Tony
wouldn't be very happy if he stopped now, and neither would he.
Steve removed Tony's shirt and tossed it aside with his before
leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses on Tony's neck. Slowly,
Steve went down and kissed Tony's reactor like he had done last
night then proceeded to kissing Tony on the lips again.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked at a clock that was on a window to see that it
was after lunch. She sighed as she got up from the park bench,
figuring she might as well go back and get Dante. Natalia
desperately didn't want to change her form, but was kind of
forced to because of the distance.
She made her way back to the ally, taking her time before she
revealed her wings and allowed her hair to change back to black.
The journey back to Stark's was quick for she was planning to
change back to her "normal" self once she got there. he knew no
one would recognize her, but she didn't care anymore. She just
wanted to enjoy being herself for awhile longer. Once she was
apart of the Avengers, she would probably never have another
chance to be herself.
She walked to Tony's door, making her wings vanish again and her
hair returned to it's bleach blonde color. Natalia had left the
door unlocked when she had left so if she was correct, it would
still be that way.
When she opened the door, she walked into the living room and
let out a gasp of surprise at what she saw.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony let out a little huff as he landed on the couch, which
quickly turned into a quiet moan as Steve clambered on top of
him. "Yeah... you too, Steve, love you too..." Tony panted, his
head falling back against the couch as Steve planted kisses down
his neck, on his reactor, and Tony grabbed the hair at the back
of Steve's head and dragged him in, meeting the other man's kiss
passionately.
And then there was a gasp -- it didn't belong to Tony or Steve.
And it sounded... surprised.
Tony broke the kiss, hand sliding down to Steve's thigh and
gripping tightly, a silent command to stay as he swiveled his
head to look behind him. Some blonde chick was there, staring at
them in shock. Something about her face seemed familiar, but for
the life of him, Tony couldn't put his finger on it.
"Who the hell are you?!" Tony demanded angrily, impatient. He
swore, if this stopped because some damn stranger decided to
wonder into their house, Tony would lose it. "I don't know what
you're here for, but if you want a statement, here it is! Iron
Man and Captain America, waving the rainbow flag, and you can
get over it! Now go away!
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve froze when he heard the gasp. That was not Tony. Steve
slowly looked up with Tony, not moving other than that to see a
girl with blonde hair.
As Tony spoke, Steve couldn't help but think that the girl
looked extremely familiar. Even if she was someone he knew, he
really wanted her to leave because Steve didn't want to have to
end what Tony and him were doing before they were interrupted.
Although, Steve would probably feel awkward if the girl left and
they started up again anyway.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia cleared her throat and turned her head away from the
shirtless Tony and Steve on the couch. She had not expected
walking in on that,
"It's me... Night Owl," she replied, daring not to turn her
head. "I just came looking for Clockwork," she continued,
feeling really awkward. "I was also wondering if I could join
the Avengers." It was out before she could stop herself. Why
would they let her in the Avengers after barging in on... a
moment? She wanted to smack herself across the face, but chose
not to in fear of embarrassing herself more.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony scowled, glaring at Night Owl with obvious distaste.
Okay,he could see the resemblance now, he guessed. Not the
point, though. "Are you kidding me?" he growled, "Happy Face
left, like an hour ago! And do you really, really think this is
the best time to be asking about The Avengers?" Okay, so her
interest in joining was a little surprising, but that still
wasn't the point. The point was that he had a very sexy, very
warm man sitting on his lap and that he did not want that to
stop. "Just wondering -- if I say f--- no don't touch a hair on
their super-powered heads will that make you leave faster? Or
are only hearing things you like?"
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia nodded quickly. "Right, okay, I'm leaving. I'm really,
really sorry." Natalia quickly ran back out the front door,
slamming it behind her. Thankfully, she was pretty good at
erasing things from her mind.
Sighing heavily, she spread her wings, becoming Night Owl again,
and flew up into the air. She had to find Dante now, wherever
the hell he was. She flew through the air as fast as she could,
feeling the cool air run through her hair and feathers. It was a
very nice distraction.
She closed her eyes as she glided in the air, until she hit
something very hard. Her eyes flew open as she felt herself
falling from the contact. She was about the flap her wings, but
she felt a pair of big, strong arms wrapping around her waist.
#Post#: 25--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:33 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve watched as Natalia ran away, not saying a word. "Um...
Well.... That was interesting..." Steve felt just a tad bit
awkward now, and he wasn't sure if Tony did or not, but just in
case if he did Steve started to move away.
"Maybe we should do this some other time..." he mumbled, getting
ready to get up and grab his shirt.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed heavily as Night Owl, finally, left, his grip
loosening on Steve's thigh, sliding up to rest on his hip. He
leaned his head back against the couch again, closing his eyes
and trying to calm himself so he could get not-so-calm again,
hopefully this time without interruptions.
Of course, then Steve started trying to move away, and that got
Tony in a tizzy all over again.
"Uh, no," he said, eyes flying open, his other hand hooking onto
one of the belt loops in Steve's pants. He looked up at Steve
(he really was a lot shorter when the other man was sitting on
him), and, yeah, it had been a little awkward, but it was very
obvious that Tony was no less wanting. "We are staying right
here."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled as Tony stopped him from getting up. He could now
tell that Tony didn't want this any less than he did before,
which was fine with him. Sure, he still felt a little awkward,
but it would pass. Besides, he was getting very tired of
interruptions.
Steve leaned back over Tony, wrapping an arm underneath him to
pull him closer. "Fine by me," Steve whispered in Tony's ear
before kissing him very passionately, totally forgetting about
what just happened.
THEN ASDFGHJKL AGAIN!
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
The person who had stopped her from falling landed carefully,
and left go of Natalia right when her feet had touched the
ground. They were right there on the beach... alone.
Natalia quickly turned around to see another surprising sight.
There stood a man who was quite tall (about 6'7" or so) with
wings a lot like hers, black spikey hair, and beautiful, yet
familiar golden brown eyes. "Um.... Hi...." she said, scratching
the back of her head. She never really had a thing for guys...
or girls for that matter. Actually, she had never really cared
for romance all together. She had loved a guy at one point, but
that was long ago.
The mysterious man smiled fondly. "Hi. Sorry about the crash up
there, I'm afraid I wasn't really paying attention. I hope
you're alright," he said, kindly. Natalia blinked a couple of
times, thinking that he knew this guy from somewhere. Then
again, where would she have ever met a guy who was like her?
"Yeah, I'm fine... I wasn't really paying much attention
either... Thanks for the save, though," said Natalia, wanting to
get away from this man as soon as possible. She really wished
Dante was here.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony had long since stop trying to comprehend what, exactly, he
was feeling.
"That was fun," he said conversationally, as he sat, clothed
again, in Steve's lap, leaning his head back against his
boyfriend's shoulder. He tilted his face up to look at Steve,
grinning softly. "Putting it mildly." It was that time where
everything was very, very peaceful, and seemed... just, right.
Tony wasn't sure how to put it. As said. "I am a little hungry,"
he admitted, at the same time his stomach growled. He smiled
sheepishly. "Very hungry, actually."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
It was amazing how long Dante could think. He was pretty sure
that his record was somewhere all the 500-year mark. Relatively.
Six months had been enough for now.
Time was confusing -- Dante had long since figured it out.
But the time had come for him to find Natalia again, so with a
glance at his pocket watch and a tap of his staff, he became,
very suddenly, behind Natalia. People radiated a kind of
signature about them -- it was easier to find the longer you
spent with them. Nonetheless, Dante surveyed the scene around
him, frowning slightly. Who was this man?
"Hello," he said from behind Natalia, face stoic.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve relaxed, fully clothed again as he waited for Tony to get
dressed. He had been thinking about these past few weeks and
hadn't really noticed how much he had changed until now. He use
to be the guy who had the hardest time talking to girls or being
romantic, he had only been kissed once and was still a virgin...
Now he was madly in love with a man who he seemed to have always
had the easiest time talking to, suddenly became very romantic,
kissed the man more times than he could count, was totally not a
virgin, and even teased his boyfriend. What had happened? One
moment Nick Fury was telling him to check up on his old "rival",
now here he was, waiting for the same man to come downstairs
after just having another moment of pure love.
As if on cue, Tony came back and sat on his lap. Steve smiled,
running a hand through his boyfriend's hair. "It was fun," he
said, kissing Tony on the cheek. He chuckled a little when he
heard Tony's stomach growl. "What would you like to eat? I'd be
happy to cook," he offered, taking his free hand and holding one
of Tony's.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia smiled when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Dante!" she exclaimed, placing a hand on his shoulder. She was
very glad to see him. Something just didn't seem right about the
man before them, and he didn't want to be alone with him.
"Uh, this man just sort of saved me," she said, trying to make
things less weird. Natalia just had this very strange feeling
that she knew this guy... and she never liked that feeling. The
only men she really knew besides Dante, Steve, and Tony were all
not very nice men. However, this guy seemed very nice, which
worried her even more. And the fact that he had wings like hers
didn't make anything better.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James couldn't stop smiling at the girl in front of him. He knew
exactly who she was. He thought he would never see her again.
Then again, he also never thought that he would be happy to see
her again.
He was the reason she was like this. The reason she had
"powers". It was because of him. The person he was when he last
saw her though, was defiantly not the person he was today.
"I'm The Crow. I'm kinda like a superhero," he said extending a
hand to the man who had randomly appeared. "I had just
accidently ran into Natalia here, and decided to help her out a
bit," he explained with his smile still planted on his face.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony gave a little chuckle, nodding his head once. "Sure," Tony
said, "That would be great." He looked up at Steve again, and
then, curiously, frowned, squeezing Steve's hand softly.
"Promise me something, though," he added, thoughtful, but also a
bit wary, "Don't ever, ever almost die for me again. My suit
could've taken the heat."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
"Saved you," Dante repeated, regarding the man with a vague air
of suspicion. When he was offered a handshake, he merely glared
at the extended hand distrustfully.
"Accidentally," he added, now quoting the Crow. His eyes
flickered up to the man's face, where they narrowed warningly.
"I am sure," he said, voice low, and, quite frankly a bit scary,
With both of your... coincidental appendages... that any
instance of simply running into Ms. Stone... would be... an
accident." His sarcastic drawl ended with a meaningful raise of
his eyebrows. He finally took the man's hand, shaking it slowly,
squeezing a bit too hard to be formal. Eh, I lied, oh more bit
of sarcasm as he pulled away -- "Because simple coincidences
occur... very frequently, around us."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve brought Tony's hand up to his mouth, kissing it. "I
couldn't take any chances. After all, you're something worth
dying for," said Steve, leaning in to give Tony a gentle kiss on
the lips.
He didn't want to get up from his spot on the couch, but Tony
was hungry and so was he. Carefully, he lifted Tony off his lap
and set him on the couch. Steve stood up, and turned to his
boyfriend, giving him another kiss. "I love you," he said,
brushing a bit of hair out of Tony's face before walking to the
kitchen. "How does steak sound?" Steve asked, looking in the
fridge.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James lowered his hand once he saw the man wasn't going to shake
it. He frowned as he listened to the strange man, knowing that
he didn't trust him.
"I assure you, meeting the famous Night Owl was defiantly a
coincidence. A pleasant one, of course," said James, bowing
slightly to Natalia. He figured it was time for him to go, but
not before saying, "Perhaps we could meet again sometime. I
would really enjoy seeing you again," he said to her. "Your
friend would also be invited," he added as an afterthought. "I'm
throwing a little party tonight. Maybe you two could attend?"
James asked, looking hopefully at Natalia.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia felt very uncomfortable now. It was no surprise that he
knew she was Night Owl, fore lots of people recognized her from
when she use to be a hero. However, how he knew her real name
remained a mystery.
"We'd have to talk about it..." Natalia replied, glancing at
Dante. "You see, we aren't really from around here, so we plan
on leaving soon," she continued, avoiding eye contact with the
strange man.
The Crow nodded before saying, "Very well," and flying off.
"I think I know him..." Natalia whispered to Dante, removing her
hand from his shoulder.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony stood up and followed Steve into the kitchen, leaning
against the doorframe with his arms crossed, watching. Steve
suggested steak and, Tony, of course, frowned. It was silly, he
knew, but his stomach still churned at the memory of charred
food landing in front of him -- the memories were still fresh
and raw and painful and Tony didn't want to get any closer to
them.
"Um, let's make something else, he said, walking over to poke
his head in the fridge himself. "Oh, look, there's chicken. I
like chicken. Let's have chicken." There was something manic
about Tony's voice, bordering on panic, on paranoia. He quickly
stood up, fidgeting, and looked pointedly away.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned, watching The Crow until he flew up and out of
sight -- only then did he look back at Natalia. "Yes," he said,
"I think you knew him, too -- he reeked of the past." He was
clearly very, very unhappy. "And you know, Natalia, what I say
about that." He said it again anyways, even though it was
probably engraved in Natalia's brain from all the times Dante
had said it. "The past should not be trifled with."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve turned to look at Tony, worried. "You know, this is the
second time you've said no to steak.... What's wrong, Tony?" he
asked, placing a hand on his boyfriends shoulder. Tony was
acting a bit strange, and it was making Steve a little worried.
JARVIS and him both had suggested steak, and both times he had
refused and acted different.
Steve thought for a moment, remembering the first time he had
acted like that was the day after he had gotten home from the
helicarrier after being tortured by the Revengers. He still
wasn't exactly sure what went on in there, but whatever happened
Steve knew it had scarred Tony for the rest of his life. After
all, who wouldn't be permanently scarred from something like
that?
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia thought about Dante's words for a moment. She was very
curious to find out exactly who this The Crow was. Something
about him made Natalia's skin crawl, and she didn't like it. She
had to figure this man out.
"I'm going," said Natalia, her voice definite. She knew Dante
wasn't going to be too happy with her decision, but she felt
like this mystery man was a very important piece in her life. If
anything went wrong, she could handle it.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony stiffened at Steve's contact, worrying his lip as he
crossed his arms over his chest, then scratched the back of his
head, then stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep them from
moving around so much. "Um, uh, nothing, nothing's exactly
wrong," he said suddenly, refusing to meet Steve's eyes. "It's
just that, um... would you believe me if I said I didn't eat red
meat? No, never mind, probably not... um, it's just that... You
know, it's just, um, fire, it's really, very hot, and it, um,
it's not exactly... it doesn't do much when it comes to... uh...
I'm... just..." Tony's hands turned into fists inside his
pockets, and he looked down at his feet, breathing deeply. He
was really helping or clarifying to situation -- he was too busy
staring at the burn scar on his forearm (which was mostly
healed, but Tony had a feeling he'd always be able to see his
scars), remembering.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante huffed impatiently, looked at Natalia like she was the
spoiled sixteen-year-old and he was the father, but, eventually,
he gave a tiny, tiny little smile. "Yes... I thought you might,"
he said softly. "You're always a little... impulsive when it
comes to these things." He refrained from using the word
foolish, because god knows that would only make Natalia angry.
"I guess I'll have to go with you, then," he said, resigned. "I
don't trust that man as far as I can spit."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve watched as Tony moved his hands all around before shoving
them in his pockets and avoiding eye contact. He looked down at
where Tony was looking, at his forearm. Gently, he pulled Tony's
hand (fist, really) and looked at the forearm to see his healing
burn.
Steve looked up at Tony's face, a sad smile forming on his lips.
"Chicken, then," he said, not questioning the matter anymore. He
let go of Tony's arm as he pulled the chicken out of the fridge
and began to cook. He really wished Tony would tell him every
thing that happened to him those three days with the Revengers,
but Steve knew it was hard for Tony to talk about it at all.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia did one of her half-smiles at Dante, happy to hear his
response. "Thanks," she said, gratefully.
Natalia looked around the beach, frowning. "So where are we
going to stay till then? I'd rather not go back to Stark's right
now... You don't want to know what I found when I went there
looking for you," she shook her head, trying to shake the image
out.
"We could help those two people you were talking about
earlier... you know, the ones you had a vision about..." Natalia
shrugged before turning away. "That's probably a dumb idea
though, huh?" she asked, knowing that messing with time was not
always wise.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony gave a soft sigh as Steve stepped away from him, watching
as his boyfriend started to prepare the food. He'd have to tell
Steve one day, he knew, about what the Revengers had done, but
he couldn't seem to force the words out of his mouth. Finally,
he moved behind Steve, one hand on on his shoulder, the other on
his waist, and leaned forward past his shoulder to plant a soft
kiss on his cheek. "I love you," he murmurs, and there's an
unspoken thank you in there somehow. "I'll be in the basement
when you're done."
With another small kiss to Steve's neck, Tony pulled back and
went downstairs, needing to clear his head. And what better way
to do that than stay cooped up, with his head bowed over his
suit, for a while?
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned, giving a very curt shake of his head. "No," he
said, but he didn't sound quite so sure as he always did --
sure, he wasn't going to change his mind, but he felt a little
guilty. "We are lucky our recent adventure has not had any major
repercussions thus-far. I wouldn't want to tear apart time
itself." He said this as if it was a perfectly normal, every day
occurrence. "On the subject of housing, however, we could find a
home and... persuade the ones who live there to let us... borrow
it."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as Tony murmured his love for him before going down
to the basement. He continued to cook the food, only stopping
once to ask Dummy if he could throw the frozen steak away. He
set the table and went ahead and fixed Tony's plate of chicken
breast and vegetables before fixing his own.
Steve made his way down to the basement, and leaned against the
door frame as he saw Tony working on his suit. Tony seemed to be
almost a different man when he worked on his suit, face
reflecting perfect concentration, hands moving gracefully as he
did his work. It was almost a shame to have to stop him, but he
knew he was hungry.
"Lunch is ready," called Steve, walking up behind Tony and
wrapping his arms around his waist to plant a soft kiss on his
cheek. "And I love you too," he said in response to earlier. "By
the way, I don't think I ever got to tell you what an amazing
singer you are," he added somewhat randomly, remembering his
last few moments of his coma. "Truly amazing."
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled to himself as he felt Steve's arms wrap around him,
turning around and hoisting himself up to sit on the table,
where he hooked his arms around Steve's waist and leaned in for
a short kiss. "I guess all that practice in the shower paid
off," he joked, pulling his boyfriend closer, kissing him once
more before he released him and hopped down from the table.
"I'll be up in a minute," he said, because he really wanted to
finish this patch that... okay, he'd just started it and it
would take him a while, but it wasn't actually as if he needed
lunch.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve laughed a little. "You say a minute when you mean an
hour," he said, smiling. He remembered what he had to do last
time Tony was working on his suit to get him to eat, tease him.
Steve smirked, "You need to eat something. If you come up now,
we can have some more... fun tonight." Steve pulled Tony close
before kissing his neck passionately. He worked his way up,
leaving a trail of kisses from his neck to his jawline and
stopped right before he reached his lips. He smiled, remembering
something Tony had done to him this morning. Steve smacked Tony
on the ass before slowly going back up the steps.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony's eyes widened in surprise, his head jerking up from its
focus on the table as he watched Steve exit the room, cheeks
flushed. For some reason, that man still managed to fluster him
completely. "Someday," he said, mostly to himself, "I'm going to
build up some kind of immunity to him."
"If you believe it, sir."
"Shut up, JARVIS."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled when he saw Tony come up the stairs. "Give in, did
we? Hopefully tonight there won't be any interruptions," he said
with a quick wink before taking a seat at the kitchen table.
Steve began to eat his food in silence as he thought about
somethings. Suddenly, he put his fork down and looked at Tony.
"Honey, have you thought about letting Night Owl join The
Avengers?" he asked, remembering the girl's question from
earlier. "Also, do the Avengers even know I'm alive?" he asked
as an afterthought. He hadn't seen the team ever since the
building had exploded and he almost died.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia walked up to the front door of The Crow's house with
Dante. They had to ask a few people around the city where he
lived to get there. She brushed off her long black dress covered
with sequins before slowly reaching out to ring the doorbell.
She had decided to go to the party as Night Owl instead of
Natalia Stone.
"I'm not so sure about this," she said quickly, pulling her hand
away before ringing the bell. "What if it's some sort of trap?"
she wondered out loud. Natalia turned to Dante, a little bit
worried about her and her friend's safety here.
#Post#: 26--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned at Steve as he walked into the kitchen, but chose
not to say anything, afraid that his voice might sound just as
flustered as he was feeling. He ate, glancing up at Steve every
now and then, stopping completely when he started talking.
"Um..." he starts, already whipping out his phone, "No, and...
no, good point. JARVIS, call headquarters." The phone rang once,
twice, echoing through the kitchen, and finally Natasha's voice
sounded over the speaker.
"Tony, hi!" she said, obviously trying to be cheerful for his
sake, but there was something missing in her voice, something
terribly sad and heavy. "How are you holding up?"
Tony glanced at Steve, swallowing, and gave an awkward little
laugh. "Natasha... um, funny story... Steve's alive, and he--
"Wait, he's what?"
"Um... he's... well, from what I know some guy went back in time
to save him, put him in a coma, the other person brought him out
of the coma and... um... well, now we're... having chicken."
Though Natasha couldn't see him, Tony took another bite of his
lunch, chewing as he listened.
"Wait, so... he came back to life and you just decided to have
chicken and call us whenever it's convenient? You're not the
only one affected by his death, asshole!"
"Yeah," said Tony, frowning, "But he's not dead, so,
technically, you shouldn't be affected at all, and I'm sure he
doesn't really want you freaking over the fact that he's alive,
I think dying is a bigger--"
"No, seriously, if you don't shut up, I'm going to... we're
coming over. Guys, Steve is alive." There's a sudden uproar in
the background.
"Um, I don't really think Steve want's to deal with -- well, uh,
Steve? What do you think?" Tony asks his boyfriend, handing him
the phone. He wasn't about to have Thor yelling in his ear, that
was sure. He could already here the brute coming closer,
yelling, "LET ME SPEAK TO HIM! I REQUIRE THE PHONE!"
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned as they reached the front door, glaring at it
distrustfully. He hadn't bothered to change clothes -- his usual
DIE-NOW-looking staff had been replaced with a walking stick,
though. He looked at Natalia as she voice her concerns, and
shrugged, raising an eyebrow.
"That was my concern," he said evenly, "I would've tried harder
to convince you if I knew you were feeling so skittish."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as Tony talked to Natalia, hearing her perfectly on
the other end. Tony handed him the phone just in time to hear
Thor. Steve couldn't help but chuckle. It was nice hearing their
voices again, considering he thought he never would.
"Hi, Natasha," said Steve fondly. "You guys can come over
whenever you want, I guess." He looked at Tony, giving him
another wink. He really wanted to see everyone even though he
knew it was going to be like a mad house if they did come over.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia shook her head. "Not skittish, concerned," she said,
quickly ringing the doorbell. "Thanks for coming, by the way,"
she added, giving Dante a brief, true smile.
She turned her attention back to the door, wondering if it would
be The Crow who was going to answer it, or himself. As if he was
reading her mind, the door opened to reveal The Crow.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James was talking to a friend of his before he heard the
doorbell. "Please excuse me, I believe this is the very
important guests I was talking about," he said before turning on
his heel to answer the door. Of course, when he said "important
guests", he meant Natalia and her friend.
He had decided that he was going to be throwing this party as
The Crow, and only inviting people that new his secret identity,
which would only be a few people. One of those few people was
his partner in crime, Dylan McCray, or Sparrow as he was called
when he was his sidekick.
James opened the door to reveal a beautiful Natalia and her
friend, only changing his walking stick. "So good to see you
both," he said with a big smile. "Please, come in!" he stepped
aside to make room for the two people.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony groaned, putting his head in his hands as Steve invited the
Avengers over. He drew a hand over his face, and then glowered
at Steve. "The point," he murmured, quiet enough so that the
others couldn't hear, "Is that you're supposed to say something
like "oh, nope, sorry guys, I'm having sex with my boyfriend
tonight, come again later when I'm not being unbearable"." He
scowled, shaking his head and going back to his food as Thor's
voice suddenly boomed out of the phone.
"STEVE. I AM. SO GLAD. YOU. ARE. ALIVE. I AM. UNDER. THE
IMPRESSION. THAT I MUST SPEAK VERY LOUDLY. AND CLEARLY. TO BE.
ABLE. TO BE HEARD. FROM THIS DISTANCE."
There comes a quiet whisper of explanation -- Tony thinks he
recognizes Bruce's voice.
"...Oh. I see. My impression was wrong. NONETHELESS, THE
AVENGERS AND I ARE CLIMBING INTO A QUINJET AS WE SPEAK. WE WILL
HAVE A GRAND CELEBRATION."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante glared around the room, looking very unhappy at the amount
of people, and he brushed Natalia's arm in a silent message: be
careful. be prepared. He sinks off into the crowd, scoping out
the faces, looking for shady silhouettes or any kind of danger
that could present itself to either him or Natalia.
"Hey there."
Dante turns at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, raising an
eyebrow at the woman who is looking up at him -- surveying him,
it looks like. She gives him a very appreciative, very sultry
glance. She's very attractive, and very... revealed. "I'm
sorry," says Dante, his brow furrowed, "Are you talking to me?"
"No," she says, "Just talking to the other tall, dark, and
handsome in the room."
"Oh," says Dante, and turns back around. "Goodbye, then."
There is a giggle from behind him, and then a playful punch on
the shoulder. Dante is kind of scared to turn around, so he just
angles his body a bit toward the woman. "You're funny!" she
exclaimed, throwing him a brilliant smile, and crossing her arms
over her chest. "I'm Chastity, by the way."
Dante raises an eyebrow as he looks her over again -- she's
practically nothing but skin. "Chastity," he repeats, and
frowns. "It's... not a very fitting name."
"Oh, well wouldn't you like to know?
"...No, thank you."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled as Thor spoke. "Well then I'll see you in a bit,
Thor. Goodbye!" he said, hanging up. He slid the phone over to
Tony, and took one of his hands in his own.
"Tony, they thought I was dead, I couldn't just say no. Besides,
we'll have plenty of time for that later. They won't be here
long," Steve assured him, giving his hand a light squeeze. He
really wanted tonight to be more romantic than about an hour
ago. Although Steve enjoyed the... "sexy" version of it, he
liked it much better when it was full of love like his first
time had been. After all, isn't that what love making was for?
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia watched as Dante walked away. She had expected him to
stay with her, but she guessed she could handle The Crow on her
own.
She looked around the giant house, quite impressed. "This is a
very nice place. You must have another job besides being a
superhero," she said, giving The Crow one of her best fake
smiles. She could already tell she wasn't going to enjoy this
much.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James grinned as he saw Natalia's friend walk away. He had
thought it was going to be much harder to get rid of him, fore
James wanted to tell Natalia who he really was... in private.
"Why thank you! Indeed I use to be somewhat of a scientist. The
pay was very good. Of course, the only job I have now is saving
lives with that guy," said James, pointing to the tall boy with
brown hair and green eyes, Dylan. "His name is Dylan, but he is
called Sparrow when we are working. He is twenty years old now,
but still acts somethings like a child." James chuckled a bit.
James turned back to Natalia before gently taking her hand. "May
I talk to you in private?" Without waiting for a response, he
took Natalia to his giant sun porch.
"I've been wanting to see you for years, Natalia.... I've been
waiting for years to see you. James made his wings as his hair
turned back to it's dark brown color. "It's me... James Lenard,"
he breathed, his heart racing.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia's eyes widened with horror as she saw The Crow transform
and say his name. James. James Lenard. The man who had ruined
her life.
It was all easily coming back to her as she stared at the man.
How he had kidnapped her when she was eighteen, how he had
locked her up in a glass containment room, how many scientist
performed horrible and painful tests on her while he lied saying
he was going to help her escape, how he had injected the serum
into her that made her Night Owl, and how he had made her fall
in love with him. The last time she had seen him, he was lying
half dead as she escaped from the lab. Natalia thought she was
never going to ee him again.
"Y-you!" she hissed, her hands balling up into fists. Natalia
quickly punched him in the face, sending James to his feet. "How
dare you come and talk to me! How dare you try to act like you
are my friend! How dare you come back to ruin my life!" she
yelled, kicking the man while he was down.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony rolled his eyes, scoffing as he slid his phone back inside
his pocket. "You're such a prude," he scolded softly, but leaned
across the table and gave Steve a sweet, slow kiss before he got
up and put his finished plate in the sink.
"You do realize, though," Tony started, walking back over to the
table, "That I have, literally, no alcohol left in the house,
right? And the Avengers... I think when Thor was talking about a
celebration, he wasn't kidding." Tony raised his eyebrows for a
reaction, crossing his arms over his chest. Sure, he was up for
a party but a super-powered party was probably completely
different.
Suddenly, his phone began to ring.
Tony whipped it out again, looking at the call ID and then going
curiously pale. "It's Pepper," he said flatly, looking at Steve
with a worried gaze. "Should I answer it?"
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Chastity was very insistent -- without even asking, Dante had
already learned her name, her age, her job, and a story about
the tattoo on her chest that was labelled BAD BITCH. He was
feeling very uncomfortable, but couldn't seem to find a tactful
escape.
"You know," she purred, "I still don't know your name."
"Nor do I think you should," Dante said distractedly, looking
for Natalia.
"Oh, I see, you're the mysterious guy," she said, "Well, that's
fine... we should get out of here, y'know."
Dante turned to glare at her."I'm married," he said flatly,
twisting around the tarnished silver ring on his finger.
"Yeah?" said Chastity, eyebrow raised, "But you came here
alone."
"That's because she's dead."
"Well, then either get over it or tell me the story -- I do love
stories, you know."
Dante frowned, looking away again. "I don't think you would like
mine," he said gravely, and then added, "I do hope, someday,
that you find a man as promiscuous as yourself to engage with.
Perhaps he will appreciate your advances. I believe you should
associate yourself with the term whore -- self-awareness is very
important these days." With that, Dante slipped through the
crowd, intending to get as far away from Chastity as possible,
but she didn't look as if she was going anywhere-- she was
standing stock-still, with her mouth agape.
Dante found his way through the crowd until he reached a
secluded corner, where he decided he would rest -- associating
with others was very tiring. But, curiously enough, he heard
yelling coming from nearby -- it sounded very familiar. Suddenly
alert, Dante walked as quickly as he could to what looked like a
large porch -- and froze at what he saw. Of course, he never
promoted fighting unnecessarily, but Dante really, really didn't
like James, so instead of stopping Natalia, he praised her
silently, in his head, and leaned against the door-frame,
watching with a satisfied smirk on his face.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve was about to say that good parties don't always have to
have alcohol, but Tony's phone started ringing. When Tony said
it was Pepper and asked if he should answer it, Steve just
smiled. Pepper didn't bother him anymore. He was madly in love
with Tony, and Tony was madly in love with him.
Steve stood up and placed his empty plate in the sink. "It's up
to you, sweetie." He began washing the dishes with a smile still
on his face. After the stories Tony told him of Pepper while he
was in a coma, he kind of wanted to meet her. You know, be
friends with her.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James sucked in a breath as Natalia kicked him while he was on
the floor. He couldn't say that he didn't expect this after all
he had done to her, but he had changed. He had loved her, and
still did.
"Natalia, wait!" he begged, looking up at her. "People can
change!" he said, scrambling to his feet. He wasn't going to
fight her, nor did he want to. James feared this might end the
same way it did the night Natalia escaped from the lab... Him
lying on the floor, half-dead.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia gritted her teeth a she listened to James. Did he think
she was stupid? Was he trying to play with her mind?
"People like you never change," she spat out, glaring at the man
before her. What really made her upset is that she still felt
for this man after all he has done to her. Of course, she could
let him know that.
Quickly, she grabbed James by the shoulders and pinned him
against the wall before holding a fist up to the side of his
face as if it were a gun. "Why did you bring me here?" she
hissed, not breaking eye contact.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James felt the breath get knocked out of him as he was pinned
against the wall, but he quickly got it back.
"That night you left... You killed everyone but me.... I know
you still have feelings for me," he whispered before placing
both his hands on each side of Natalia's face and pulling her in
for a kiss. He had waited for this moment for years, and boy did
it feel good.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned at Steve, conflicted. On one hand, Pepper was
probably calling for either a very good or very, very bad reason
-- Tony was a bit afraid to find out which, so it would probably
be altogether easier to ignore her. On the other hand, though,
Pepper was persistent -- she, literally, wouldn't stop trying,
and would probably just come over to his house if he didn't
answer. Reluctantly, he accepted the call.
"Pepper!" he said, sounding a lot more cheerful than he felt,
"Hi, how are you doing, is uh, how's Happy, I haven't seen him
in a while, why don't you--"
"Shut, up, Tony," Pepper growled, and it was obvious that she
was not in the mood for games. "Do you have any idea how bad
you've screwed up?"
"Well, if I did, I probably wouldn't have picked up because you
sound very angry, and, you know, on an emotional scale it's
probably not a very good thing to be talking to me right now if
you're--"
"Tony, do you realize that the entire world knows your name? And
when some lone photographer sees you pushed out of a building by
Captain America, one thing you don't do is disappear. You
realize that I've been the one stopping all the press from
coming to your house, right? You realize that, even though you
didn't bother to make any contact, I managed to figure out you
were alive? You know how I did that? Natasha called me, Tony,
Natasha. I've know you for years and instead of calling you just
go and-- freaking--"
"You don't even know what happened!" Tony protested.
Pepper scoffed. "Happened? I know what happened, Tony -- Steve
Rogers got blown up in a building and you, being the obsessed
bastard that you are, decide to go on another drinking binge and
oh, while i was shoving away the rumours that you were murdered
by the poster child of America, I just got called two seconds
ago by Natasha, again, to find out that Steve's not really dead
and that you're having chicken! You'd better explain, Stark, or
I am going to--"
"I'm trying! I trying to explain!" Tony suddenly explodes,
standing up -- his chair falls backwards and clatters to the
floor. Suddenly looking tired, he slumps over, draws a hand over
his face, and starts talking. He starts right from the very
beginning, right from when Steve walked into his house for the
first time, how he got Tony back on his feet, all the way to the
end, coming home with Steve at night with Dante and Natalia. He
looks very tired by the time he finishes.
There is silence on the end of the line. Tony groans. "Great,"
he mutters grumpily, "She's gone, that's ten minutes of talking
that I can't even--"
"I'm here," Pepper say quietly from the other end of the line.
"Oh, good," Tony grumbles sarcastically, eyes flickering to
Steve in a kind of get me out of this look. "Did my explanation
satisfy you?"
Pepper is quiet again, only talking after Tony heaves a big,
dramatic sigh. "I... we need to talk," she murmurs.
"Sorry, schedule's full, the only free time I have is my
super-party tonight, so--"
"I'll be there," Pepper says, and the line is suddenly cut. Tony
pulls the phone from his ear and looks at it balefully.
"Why do I always snag the weird ones?"
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante felt a very warm kind of satisfaction as Natalia, not
noticing him, slammed James against the wall -- the man was
obviously in pain. Good. Dante didn't want him to feel any kind
of happy. Of course, that dream was quickly vanquished, the warm
feeling replaced with a dark, cold chill running through his
veins -- James had just kissed Natalia. Dante's Natalia.
In one smooth movement, Dante made two ridiculously long
strides, swinging his arm in a grand arc and bringing his
walking stick swooping down, dead-center, onto James' kneecap --
it gave a very satisfying crack. "I think," Dante growled
menacingly, fixing James with a threatening glare. "That you've
had enough."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled at Tony's question. "What's that suppose to
mean?" he asked, walking over to Tony and leaning down to give
him a small kiss.
"So Pepper's coming?" he asked, his voice filled with little
emotion. He began to ran his hand through Tony's hair as he
spoke. "This should be interesting," he said, thoughtfully.
Pepper and The Avengers having a party to celebrate him not
dying? Steve smiled a little, thinking about how that was going
to be. He had to admit though, meeting Pepper for real was going
to be awkward.
Steve frowned momentarily, deep in thought. "Do you still love
her? Just a little?" Steve wasn't asking cause he was jealous
but because he was curious.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia's eye widened in pure shock as James kissed her. Her
brain seemed to be trying to process a feeling, but giving up
after awhile. She wasn't sure how she felt... but she knew she
felt something... something that wasn't bad at all.
Natalia didn't dare touch him, she didn't even close her eyes.
She was afraid to think that she truly did have feelings for
this man. However, she was glad that she didn't close her eyes
because that way she could see Dante coming in with his death
glare.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James was still kissing Natalia when suddenly he heard a crack.
His eyes flew open when he felt a tremendous pain in his leg as
he fell to the ground.
"Sh--" he cursed under his breath as he grabbed his aching knee.
He looked up to see the man who had came with Natalia. "You...
you don't understand..." he mumbled as he stared at the man.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia gasped as she saw Dante hit James in the knee with his
walking stick, hearing the loud crack echo through the room.
Quickly, Natalia turned around, smacking Dante on the side of
his face, hard. "What were you thinking?" she said loudly,
glaring at Dante. Normally, she would have been thankful, but
this was none of Dante's business now. This was between her and
James.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned at Steve's question, looking down at his feet. "No,
I..." he started, but paused. He didn't love Pepper anymore, no
-- he had, sure, but that feeling was gone now. But he still
felt a kind of loyalty to her, a want to make her happy --
Pepper was a good person. But she wasn't any Steve. "Not like
you," he said, taking Steve's hand in his and kissing it,
looking up at him softly. "Not like this." Pepper was right,
though -- she and Tony did need to talk, just to set it in stone
that they shouldn't see each other any more. For them, and, more
importantly, for Steve.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante's head turned at Natalia's blow, and he looked away,
frowning. He had been protecting Natalia -- James didn't deserve
her. "He's untrustworthy," he said quietly, "You should not stay
around him." Dante would've thought that Natalia would have
appreciated it -- this man had broke her heart, had turned her
into something she hated -- oh, yes, Dante knew. He'd had some
vague suspicion before, but now, his theories were confirmed --
he knew Natalia wouldn't let anyone else get so close.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled at Tony, looking at him lovingly. He gently
squeezed his boyfriend's hand as he he slowly pulled him up from
his seat. "Come here," he whispered, pulling Tony in for a soft,
sweet kiss.
He broke away only to catch his breath before placing his
forehead on Tony's. "I love you... so much." Steve cupped Tony's
cheek with one hand, kissing him again. "How about we go
upstairs and enjoy our time alone before our guests come?" he
breathed in Tony's ear, taking his hand and slowly guiding him
up the stairs.
He opened the door to their room as he began to lovingly kiss
Tony's neck. He sat his boyfriend on the bed, still kissing his
neck as he sat next to him. "I mean it, Tony..." he said,
pulling away. "I do love you..." He placed a hand on Tony's
waist as he started to kiss Tony passionately on the lips. Every
thing just seemed so right when he was with Tony, and he hoped
it would stay that way for as long as the were both alive.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked down at the poor man, lying on the floor and
holding his knee close. He looked so pitiful and so helpless....
"I trust him," Natalia whispered, still looking at James. "And
I'll stay around him for as long as I like." She sat down next
to him and slowly rolled up his pants leg so she could examine
his not doubt broken leg.
Gently, she squeezed his knee, and James twitched a bit. "Yep...
broken..." she told him before standing back up to look at
Dante.
"I'm twenty-five Dante. I can take care of myself," she said
flatly, looking into his eyes. She was tired of being treated
like a girl. She just wanted to be treated like she actually
knew what she was doing.... like she was a woman.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony, of course, didn't (or, rather, couldn't) protest to Steve
as he was pulled up the steps, feeling slightly shocked. "Wow.
Um. Right. Okay," he said blankly as they reached the bedroom,
and, yes, he was still surprised, but it gave way to lust as
Steve sat him down on the bed, kissing his neck.
"I love you too," Tony mumbled on Steve's lips, and slid his arm
down to Steve's bicep, using it to push him back on the bed and
straddle him. He put both his hands on the sides of Steve's face
and pulled back, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his
lips. "You're so beautiful," he murmurs, eyes searching Steve's
face, and pulls him in for another slow kiss.
ASDFGHJKL AGAIN JEEZ THESE GUYS ARE CRAZY.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante scowls as Natalia bends down to check on James -- the man
didn't deserve it. He was going to take advantage of Natalia, he
just knew it. Then he would leave her, and Dante would have to
fix the broken girl again, and try to refrain from saying I told
you so. Dante had been with Natalia for this long -- didn't she
trust him?
Natalia's next words stung Dante deep, worse than the slap. He
looked away, frowning worse than before. "Yes," he spat, bitter.
"Perhaps you can." He turned up his head briefly, to give her a
hard stare. "Perhaps you should."
And with only a flutter, he is gone.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve sighed softly as he looked at Tony, reaching down to take
his hand. "You're amazing," he whispered, giving him a small
kiss. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony's bare back, smiling as
he looked into his eyes. "I'm just so lucky to be with you....
Sometimes I wonder if this is all just a dream. It seems too
perfect to be real," he mumbled, basically talking to himself.
Steve still had fears that one night he will open his eyes and
Peggy and Howard will be standing over him, telling him he had
been passed out for awhile or something.
Steve moved the arm that was on Tony's back so he could trace
Tony's jawline with his thumb. "Promise me this is real..."
Steve whispered, kissing Tony again.
#Post#: 27--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:37 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia watched as the man she considered to be a father left,
his last words to her being cold and bitter. However, words
didn't hurt her anymore... nothing hurt her really. For seven
years she has been nothing but an empty shell, waiting for
something. For her purpose.
"Screw purpose," she whispered under her breath to where only
she could hear it.
Natalia didn't turn back to James. Instead, she just sat on the
floor in front of him and stared blankly at the door Dante had
just left through.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James looked at Natalia, sitting sadly on the floor.
"Go," he said, looking away from her. "He needs you. I'll be
fine." James sat himself up and leaned against the wall, still
looking away from Natalia.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia turned her head to look at James, just in time to see
him look away. She had to admit now, she still had feelings for
him.
"No," she muttered, turning around to face him. "I'm staying
here... with you." She really did want to go chase after Dante,
but James needed her too... and she needed to talk to him.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled warmly, scooting closer to Steve, so that their
noses touched. Better to see his eyes with. "Well," he started,
grinning, "It certainly felt like a dream." He rolled over,
hovering above Steve, and planted another kiss on him, slow and
sweet, then pulled back to look at him again. "But," he murmured
gently, "I don't really think either of us could imagine
something like this hm?" He smiled again, soft, familiar,
happy-like.
There came a sudden, loud knock on the door. "FRIENDS!"
"I guess those are our guests," Tony frowned as he laid back
down on his side, tracing circles into Steve's hip. "We could
just leave them out there. They'd probably leave eventually.
Besides, getting dressed is such a--"
"WHERE ARE YOU, FRIENDS?" There was a very loud knock, and then,
terribly, a booming thud as the door downstairs hit the floor.
"I WILL COME AND FIND YOU!"
Tony sat bolt-right, scrambling for pants. "Sh--" he curses
under his breath, "Clothes, clothes, quick... no, sh--, there's
no time, get back under the covers!" Thor came booming up the
steps, and knocked the door down almost as soon as Tony was able
to cover himself back up.
"Thor!" Tony yelled sternly, "The point of knocking is that you
wait for someone to open the door!"
"I DO APOLOGIZE!" Thor boomed, seemingly unaffected by their
nakedness -- in fact, he was grinning ear to ear. "BUT I WAS
EXCITED FOR THE FESTIVITIES TO BEGIN! I HAVE BROUGHT THE FINEST
ASGARDIAN MEAD!"
"Alright," Tony grumbled, "Can you please wait downstairs for
us?"
"I WILL!" Thor says merrily, and bounds away with a crate of
mead under his ridiculously muscular arm. When his bulky frame
no longer obstructs the view of the doorway, a very
shocked-looking Natasha and Bruce can be seen, as well as a
smug-looking Clint with his arms crossed over his chest.
"You should be arrested for attempted murder, Stark," Clint says
smoothly, "You're burning my eyes out here."
"Get out," Tony growled impatiently, and Clint, shrugging, turns
to leave. Bruce scampers away immediately, while Natasha gives
Tony and Steve a last, very bewildered look, before she, too,
scuttles down the steps.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as Tony rolled on top. Suddenly, Thor's booming
voice was heard. Tony didn't seem very much affected by this,
fore he started tracing circles on his him, causing a joyful hum
to come from Steve.
Steve jumped as a louder knock was heard along with Thor's voice
yet again. He quickly grabbed the covers along with Tony, and
covered themselves up just in time for Thor to come bursting in.
Steve could feel himself blushing as he slowly turned back to
look at Tony. "I guess we should get dressed then..." he said,
hopping up and throwing on some clothes. "They all thought
they'd never see me again, and when they do, I'm naked in bed
with you." He chuckled to himself before giving Tony a kiss on
the forehead. "Come on, lets go. And don't drink too much
booze," Steve warned, pointing a finger at him before going
downstairs.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James smiled slightly, looking back at Natalia. "You've
changed," he said, thoughtfully. "I mean, you use to be... I
dunno..." said James with a shrug.
They sat there for a moment in silence before James slowly took
one of Natalia's hands. "I really did change that night you
left.... The serum, I made another batch just like it except it
was to make me half-crow. I did it as punishment for what I did
to you. I made it my responsibility to save lives and help
people instead of destroying lives and killing people..." James
let go of Natalia's hand, afraid he was going too far.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia smiled one of her rare true smiles at James. "I know...
I believe you..." she said before frowning again. "You didn't
have to curse yourself for me."
Natalia sighed before she leaned in to give James a chaste kiss.
She knew that this was all a mistake, but why not make a few
mistakes? She was free now, right? She was free now that she
didn't have to form her life around what Dante wanted to do. Now
she could join the Avengers with no guilt, be with James with no
question of whether it's right or wrong, and not have to worry
about taking care of someone.... That was good, right?
Natalia pulled James in for another kiss by the shirt, kissing
him with lots of passion. She wasn't going to pull away. She
wanted to do something that would add some happiness into this
moment and make her feel like a woman.
❈James Lenard❈
"People can change."
James froze as Natalia kissed him. What was she doing? Why
should he care.... This is what he wanted, right? He closed his
eyes and placed a hand on the side of Natalia's face, kissing
her back.
James was enjoying the kiss until he started feeling something
urgent behind the kiss. Something urgent coming from Natalia.
Grudgingly, James pushed Natalia away from him. "Stop," he
demanded, looking at her. "Natalia... We just saw each other
after seven years. That night you left, you left me
half-dead.... You can't possibly feel this way about me." James
once again looked away from the beautiful woman in front of him.
He wasn't going to go that far with Natalia until he knew she
was certain and that she really did love him. Even then, he
might not go that far.
James adjusted his leg to where the pain wasn't as bad. He
chuckled slightly before looking back at Natalia. "Besides... I
don't think now is the best time for something like that," he
said, motioning to his broken leg. "Your friend has a mean
swing."
James looked out the door as he heard a crash coming from the
living room. "Could you do me a favor and go get my friend
Dylan?" He sat looking sadly at Natalia, not wanting to say
goodbye. "Perhaps we'll meet again soon," he whispered with a
small smile.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia was surprised when James pushed her away. Isn't this
what he wanted? However, as she listened to him she realized he
was right. She didn't love him like that. To be honest, she
didn't have a clue how she felt. All she knew is that James
stopped her from making the worst decision of her life, and she
owed him for that.
"You're right..." she said, looking at his broken leg. "Thank
you."
Natalia stood up and started to walk out. "I hope we do meet
again," she whispered, turning her head to give James the
smallest of smiles. And with that, she left the sun porch to
look for Dylan.
She walked back into the living room where she saw him talking
to a girl who couldn't seem to stop laughing at him. Slowly, she
approached him and tapped his shoulder. "Um... Dylan, right?
James is on the sun porch.... He's kind of in bad shape. Some
lunatic came through and broke his leg," she said, covering up
for Dante.
"Some lunatic broke his leg?" Dylan asked in shock. He shook his
head and smiled. "Honestly, that man can't last ten minutes
without me, but he'll never admit that." He gave Natalia a small
wink before walking past her to go to James. He stopped in his
tracks and spun around on his heel to face Natalia again. "Night
Owl, right? It's an honor to meet you. Huge fan of how you can
make giant owl wings come out of your back and talk to birds.
Keep up the good work!" Dylan turned back around and turned the
corner and out of sight. Natalia rolled her eyes. Tonight had to
be the worst night of her life.
Natalia opened the front door and walked outside. It was quite
chilly, and she regretted wearing short sleeves. None the less,
she continued walking outside. She wasn't really sure what she
was looking for because Dante was no doubt traveling through
time or something. She sighed as she sat underneath a tree,
staring up at James's house. Maybe she should just go back to
Stark's...
After awhile, Natalia stood back up and spread her wings. Going
back to Stark's did seem like the best option at the moment
rather than freezing to death. When she arrived at Tony's she
opened the door to find Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk
there. She blinked a few times, wondering if she was really
seeing this.
"Um... Hi... I'm Natalia Stone..." She wondered if they would
even know who she was just by saying her name. "Um, I'm the one
who brought Steve back to life..." she said, hoping that they
would know what she was talking about.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned at Steve as he got dressed, shaking his head. "Like
I said," Tony murmured, "You're a prude." Okay, so he knew it'd
take a lot to get Steve drunk, and that wasn't to say that he
wanted Steve to get drunk (though it might be kinda fun), but he
wished the guy would relax about drinking a little. Besides,
Tony thought proudly, he definitely had a better tolerance now
that he had half-Cap blood.
He follows Steve downstairs, but pauses before rounding the
corner, taking their final opportunity to grab Steve by the
wrist, press him again the railing and kiss him on the mouth,
just, well, because. Tony pulls away after a few moments,
smirking slightly, and backs away. "Sorry," he says brightly,
"Couldn't help myself." And he disappears down the steps.
* * *
The sight that greets Tony is a little less than pleasant -- all
heads are turned toward the entrance, where Night Owl is
standing. Clint looks disinterested, Thor looks happy for
another guest, Bruce just seems vaguely interested in the girl,
and Natasha is looking at her suspiciously.
"You saved Steve?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I think we
would've heard of you, hm?"
"Well," Tony said, making his presence known, "You didn't really
give me a lot of time to explain the circumstances -- she, uh,
got him out of his coma. But, please, feel free to dislike her.
I do." Tony sent Natalia a brilliant smile, cocking his head to
the side as he made his way to level ground. "Decided to come in
unannounced again, have you? Well, well have Asgardian mead,
whatever that is, so feel free to leave and let us have our fun
whenever you see fit. We'll wait."
"NO!" Thor shouted wildly, shaking the crate he was holding.
"THE MORE, THE MERRIER! I VOTE THAT SHE JOIN IN ON THE
CELEBRATION OF STEVE'S UN-DEAD-NESS!"
"I dunno, Tony," said Natasha, suddenly seeming a lot more
friendly. "If she saved Steve, don't you think she deserved
something from you."
"No," Tony frowned, "See, she lost the privilege of my debt when
she started deciding it was okay to waltz in like she owned the
place."
"Oh, someone's bitter," Clint chided. "I don't see the problem,
Stark -- whatever the chick walked into, it obviously didn't
stop you from finishing the job. Besides, she's hot-- OW!"
Natasha had slapped him in the back of the head.
"I think we can trust that she won't be quite so... invasive,"
Bruce said quietly, a small smirk on his face. "Thor's actually
right, I think -- it's a party, right?"
"Yeah, Tony," said a voice from the doorway. "It's not like you
to hold a grudge." Pepper smiled. Tony paled. And then scowled.
"I... ug, fine," he growled, hunching his shoulders. This was
just great.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante watched.
He happened to watch things a lot -- he found it was something
he was very good at. And, most of the time, he stayed unseen.
This time, yes, he was traveling through time, but he wasn't
watching it. He was watching his memories, flashy by like blurry
pictures. They faded the farther in time Dante went. He could
only distinguish the faces because he knew he would never forget
them.
The land was dry and covered in cracked clay, sparse vegetation
springing up through the cracks in the ground. In Dante's
memories, there were six people. Three woman, three men.
Separated on different sides of the two little group. The first
group consisted of a tall, pale man with slicked hair and a thin
face, malice in his eyes; a man with light brown hair, grey
eyes, a very set, determined expression, and short, stocky
frame. The last person in their group was a woman, thin a lithe
and soft-looking, but with an unmistakable, brilliant, slightly
narcissistic look in her dark eyes. This group, as a whole,
worked exceptionally bad together, but they were all extremely
intelligent and extremely powerful. The tall man, at the head of
a group, held a kind of scepter in his hand -- the bottom with
sharp and hollow, and if you knew how to do it, it fired blasts
of energy as well. The head was serrated and curved, black staff
turning to threatening, gleaming silver blade. This weapon would
later become another mans.
The second group looked much less powerful. Perhaps the most
impressive member was a dark-skinned man, tall, muscular, eyes
cold. He had a scar across one grey eye that looked relatively
fresh, three long claw marks. The man was Dante. The others in
the group were a beautiful, dark woman, with deep eyes and
luxurious hair -- and the next was a child. She was frail,
gentle, kind-looking, and very pretty, but even though she
looked wise, it looked almost as if she could barely hold her
own weight. A mother, a father, and a daughter. A family.
"You're coming with us," said the man with the scepter, "This
year is the year you are born -- if you are alive during that
time, then the world will end as we know it."
"I don't care," growled Dante in the vision -- real Dante
flinched. He had been so foolish back then. "I won't let you
take me away from them." In response, the girl clutched at
Dante's arm, whimpering. His wife stood resolutely by her
husband's side, hand clutched in his.
"Dante!" said the bright woman, "Don't you realize? This is not
a bad thing! This is amazing! You deserve this, Dante. You get
to see the future."
Dante glares. "This is my future," he snarls, looming
protectively over the two people at his side.
The man with the scepter frowns. "I'm sorry you feel that way,"
he says, and then, in one smooth movement, swings the scepter
around, the sharp endpoint pointing toward Dante's wife, and
with a resounding bang, something dark and somehow glowing
lodges itself in her stomach. She chokes, falls to her knees.
Blood dribbles out of the corner of her mouth.
"NO!" Dante shouts, whirling around and gripping his wife by her
shoulders, pulling her closer. The light is already leaving her
eyes. "Eve!" he cries, wraps his arms around her body. Her thin
arms wrap feebly around him, grip as his shirt, trying to hang
on. "Evelyn, don't do this, don't do this to me, I need you,
please, please..."
"Daddy?" the girl says quietly, and it's not only Dante with
tears in his eyes. Dante buries his face in his wife's shoulder,
squeezing his eyes shut tight.
"It's time to go," says a malicious voice behind him.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve cleared his throat after Tony had rounded the corner,
leaving him breathless. The things that man could do to him were
amazing.
When Steve rounded the corner to the living room, everyone
seemed to be talking about Natalia. He smiled as he listened to
everyone's opinion of the girl. "Well, I think she can stay as
long as she likes. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for
her," he said, giving Tony the look that said "be nice".
Steve turned his attention to the bottles of what Thor said to
be Asgardian mead. "Thor, what exactly is this stuff?" Steve
asked curiously, pointing at the squareish bottles of glowing
liquid.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia raised an eyebrow as everyone began to talk about her.
She could tell from these small comments who she liked and
didn't like. Thor, the Hulk, and Hawkeye seemed like they would
be easier to befriend, but Tony and Black Widow were going to be
a bit tougher. She guessed she was already friends with Steve
considering who she saved his life and he welcomed her into his
house twice.
"Thanks guys..." she said, mainly to the people she had decided
where going to be easy friends. She looked around, trying to
figure out who she should talk to. She wasn't going to talk to
Tony or Black Widow, Steve was talking to Thor, Hawkeye and
Black Window seemed to have something for each other... That
just left the Hulk.
Natalia smiled to herself. She always had wanted to talk to
Bruce Banner. They were both experiments who had become things
they didn't like. She had always felt like if anyone could
understand her, it would be the Hulk.
Natalia made her wings vanish and her hair go to blonde as she
slowly approached the man she had always sort of admired. "Hi,"
she said with a small smile. "Sorry, I'm just not really a
people-person, so if you don't want me talking to you, I can
understand."
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony shuffled stiffly to the side as Pepper pushed herself off
the door-frame -- everyone in the room just kind of seemed to
disappear. Tony wasn't sure whether or not that was a bad or
good thing. "Are you here to yell at me?" he asked, as soon as
Pepper came over, before she even opened her mouth. "I really
wouldn't like that, Pepper, you know how stressed I--"
"Shut up, Tony," Pepper scoffed, but their was a little curve in
her lips. She motioned to the door that led to a porch outside.
"Like I said -- let's talk."
Tony couldn't really argue -- he's never really been good at
that when it came to Pepper. So, silent, he scuttled out of the
living, following Pepper quietly. Only when they were outside
did he dare speak. "I'm with Steve," he said, as soon as the
door closed behind them. "Just so you know. I mean, you're
great, but he's--"
"Happy and I are going out to dinner tomorrow," Pepper laughed.
Tony stared back at her, surprised.
"Happy?" he repeated, "You're going out with Happy now?"
"Hey," Pepper said defensively. "Don't knock him till you try
him."
Tony winced. "Don't... don't give me that mental image."
Pepper smiled again, that nice little smile that meant she was
happy, and it kind of hurt Tony because he thought she only gave
that smile because of him, but then he told himself, quickly to
get over it. She didn't miss his expression, though, and sighed,
hand brushing his arm. "We've both changed, Tony," she said
softly, and there was no malice in her voice. "I think the
sooner that we accept that we're done the sooner all the
awkwardness will go away. You love Steve and... okay, I don't
love Happy yet, but he's good to me. He's good for me, after all
the times we've screwed each other over."
"Hey," Tony protested meekly, but he didn't have the heart to be
offended. He knew Pepper was right. He looked down, then up,
then down again, at a loss for words, and heard Pepper laugh
again.
"You really have changed." She let go of Tony's arm, leaned her
arms against the railing and stared out in the ocean. "More
importantly, though... we need to call a press conference soon."
Tony sighed, leaning next to her. "You're always straight-down
to business, huh?"
"This isn't business, Tony," said Pepper, "Listen, I figured the
rumors of you dying would motivate you enough. You go MIA for
three days and talk starts. And then I have to do all the work
to convince everyone that you're okay, but I don't think my
words gonna be enough."
"Right," Tony said, "I know." And then... "Steve's letting me
tell the world. About me and him, I mean."
Pepper turns to smile at him softly. "Good," she said, and when
Tony doesn't reply, opting to just continue staring out on the
horizon, she sighs. "You really love him, don't you?" Still, he
says nothing, instead opting for a simple nod. Pepper stands up
straight. "I'm going inside, see what your friends are up to,"
she says, and plants a friendly kiss on his cheek. "This is it,
Tony. We're both sure about this. We're moving on together." And
then she's gone inside the living room, which has become
terribly noisy.
"HEY!" Clint shouts from the doorway, waving a glass of golden
liquid in the air. "You comin' inside, dick-for-brains?"
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Thor laughs, taking the bottle from Steve and taking a swig of
it. "THIS," he says proudly, "IS THE MOST POTENT, THE FINEST
DRINK OF ASGARD -- IT SENDS ALL MORTALS TO THEIR KNEES!" He
offers it to Steve, eyes twinkling, all smiles and innocence
except for the fact that he's drinking something that would
knock out a bear in one bottle. "I urge you to try it," Thor
says, shaking the bottle in Steve's face.
* * *
Bruce leaned quietly against the corner as Thor boomed out
praises for his mead and Tony and Pepper exited quietly out onto
the porch. He himself wouldn't drink -- sure, he had control
of... the other guy, now, but emotions were a lot less stable
when you were drunk. He could very easily change and ruin the
house just being happy. He wondered if there were any Asgardian
illness similar to his -- he doubted it, but he'd have to ask
Thor later. Talking to the man always gave him a headache.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Natalia, who had
changed considerably since Bruce last glanced at her five
seconds ago -- her hair was blonde now, and her wings were gone.
She could control her transformations, it seemed -- hm. Bruce
wasn't exactly familiar with Night Owl, but he certainly wasn't
rude, so he smiled gently and shrugged. "I'm usually the one who
has to say things like that," he admits quietly, "Please, feel
free to talk as much as you want." He offers out a hand to her.
"Bruce Banner... though I guess you already knew that."
* * *
Natasha was not happy with Clint, as she let him know by the
pout of her lips and the stiffness of her shoulders. Clint kept
trying to please her, telling her how pretty and smart she was,
but, of course, Natasha wasn't falling for it. "The point of
dating," she said sharply, "Is that we stay exclusive. Calling
Tony's ex-girlfriend hot is not acceptable."
"Naaat," Clint smiled, wrapping an arm around Natasha's waist --
she shrugged him away, arms crossed. "You know I was kidding,
right? You're much prettier."
Natasha eyes flickered to Clint and then away. "There shouldn't
even be a comparison."
"Damn straight," Clint agreed, and when Natasha still appeared
grumpy, he heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright, okay... what about
this? Will this make you feel better?" He pulls out from behind
his back a big bottle of strong-smelling, gold-ish liquid.
Natasha, hard as she tried not to, smirks.
"You can't go five minutes without getting into mischeif."
"And you love me for it?" Natasha gives him a look. Clint tilts
his head keenly, a little smile trying to coax Natasha. "C'mon
-- we'll share."
Natasha ends up, grudgingly, taking the bottle, and her first
swig sends her reeling. "Holy sh--, I think I'm getting drunk
already," she says, head spinning. Thor really wasn't kidding
when he said this stuff was potent.
"Oh, lemme try," says Clint, having a taste. He nearly chokes,
obviously surprised at how strong it is. It's very...
inhibiting. But very good. And, within five seconds, he and
Natasha are both giggling to themselves.
"Hey, where's... where's Tony?" Clint asks, Freakin' Iron Man
and his love triangle... hang on, he's gotta... try... okay, the
door's over there, right? Okay. Right. Going. Gonna find him."
He nearly runs into Pepper as he opens the door, and winks as
she wonders inside, apparently going to try the already
legendary mead. "HEY!" he shouts at Tony, slumping against the
door-frame. Why's Tony just standing there like a... like a
statue. That's man is... he's something. He's just... he's...
yeah. "You comin' inside, dick-for-brains?"
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Strong arms grab Vision Dante's arm, but he fights against them,
yells and kicks as they tear him away from his wife, who
crumples limply in the dirt. Dante hears his daughter, Alice,
scream, and the girl falls to her knees, shaking her mother back
and forth. Blood is pooling under Evelyn's face, Dante is
screaming for his daughter, and she looks at his suddenly,
reaches, runs, and their fingers are an inch from touching when,
suddenly, a flash of light sends Dante's stomach up to his
throat and his body launched into the time vortex.
They are gone.
Dante opens his eyes, jaw set, and chokes back the rest of the
memories -- it's not that he likes watching them. They just com
up, sometimes, and it's the only time Dante can see his family's
face -- how can he deny himself that? It's sad how watching his
wife die is one of the only memories he has of her. It's been so
long...
Dante suddenly appears on the other side of Malibu, in an
alleyway. It is raining here. Slowly, Dante leans against the
wall, slides down against it until he is sitting on the
pavement. He can't tell if the water on his face is completely
due to the rain or not.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled at the bottle of mead, considering whether or not
he should drink or not. "Well... It's just one bottle. One
bottle of alcohol will probably hardly even get me tipsy," he
said with a small chuckle, taking a bottle and downing the thing
as quickly as he could. He hadn't drank any alcohol really since
the day he took the vodka bottle from Tony the day he came to
check up on him.
About a minute after he had drank the mead, he could feel
himself slipping away from true reality. Suddenly, he became
highly interested in where Tony was. He felt a little teasy, and
a bit of teasing never hurt Tony.
Steve turned around to find Tony standing at the door to the
porch. He grinned as he turned to grab another bottle of the
mead for Tony. Carefully, he made his way over to his boyfriend.
"Hey, babe," he said, taking Tony's hands and placing the bottle
of mead in them. "You should really try this, it's great stuff."
Steve led Tony over to the sofa and sat them both down. "Just
one bottle, though," he reminded him, grinning ear to ear.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia smiled a little, shaking Bruce's hand gently. "Natalia
Stone... but I know you knew that," she said with a small
chuckle. Natalia was never any good at meeting new people and
making new friends, but this guy seemed shy as well.
"I thinks it's very cool, what you guys do. The Avengers, that
is." Natalia frowned momentarily. "I use to do stuff like
that... until I met someone..." she said, looking down at her
feet. "Saving Steve and Tony's lives really want to make me go
back to saving people... but... I dunno..." Natalia turned her
attention to the giggling Black Window and Hawkeye, afraid she
was sounding really stupid.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony, needless to say, wondered inside, surprised at what he
found. Clint and Natasha had already gotten into the mead, Thor
was shouting and was, for some reason, already shirtless,
running around with his hammer, looking very gleeful. Bruce and
Natalia were refraining from alcohol, for some reason, but even
Pepper was sniffing at a bottle curiously. Meh. They'd give in
eventually.
"Hey, babe," said Steve from Tony's left side, and Tony looked
up at him, grinning. He was surprised at what he found there,
too, though. Not only was Steve actually offering him a drink,
but there was a faint flush to his boyfriend's cheeks, something
uninhibited in his eyes as he led Tony over to the couch.
"Are you... is this... is this stuff actually working for you?"
Tony asked, laughing. He looked at it, shrugged, thinking oh,
what could go wrong, and took a big swallow, which, of course,
sent him into a coughing fit. "Oh my god," he said, giving Steve
a surprised look. "Did you actually drink a whole bottle of
this? It's... like... ugh, it's like liquid fire." Ironically,
though, there was something very satisfying about the burn, so
Tony took another sip, doused suddenly in cool oblivion,
creeping in on the edges of his mind.
"Wow..." he said, "Yeah, that's strong."
- - -
#Post#: 28--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:38 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Bruce raised an eyebrow as he took his hand back, folding his
arms across his chest and peering at Natalia from over his
glasses. "You don't know?" he repeated curiously. "Sounds like
somebody's trying to influence you," he said, eyes asking for
the story -- but, of course, he would never ask out loud.
"Bruce! BRUUUCE!" said a very drunk, very loud Clint from the
left, and Bruce patiently turned his head as Clint barreled
toward him, grabbed his shoulders, shook him. Bruce hardly
reacted, only put his hand on Clint's arm to steady him.
"Bruce," Clint said again, "You gotta... try... it's awesome...
heh heh... sears-lee, dewd..." Bruce grinned gently, pushing
Clint back with a soft hand.
"No, Clint, I don't think I will, thank you."
"BRUUUUUCCE!!"
"I..." Bruce frowned, glancing at Natalia, and finally sighed,
patting Clint's shoulder. "Go get us two... small glasses,
Clint, very small..." Bruce would be careful. He always was.
"Right... right... kay..." Clint mumbled, stumbling off to go
find glasses.
Bruce smiled as Clint left, shrugging. "They're like giant
five-year-olds," he laughed.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smirked as he climbed on top of Tony, straddling him. "I
did drink a whole bottle, and it is strong stuff," he said,
placing his hands on either side of Tony's head, trapping him.
"So how are you going to get yourself out of this one, Mr.
Stark?" he whispered in Tony's ear before nipping Tony's neck in
a teasing manner.
Steve was still quite aware of what he was doing, and boy was he
having fun. This was the first time he got a bit tipsy ever
since he became Captain America. He just felt so relaxed and a
tiny bit dizzy as nipped and kissed Tony's neck, teasingly.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked around and spotted Tony taking one swallow and
already looking tipsy. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at
Bruce. "Are you sure about this? That stuff looks way too strong
for my liking." The truth was, Natalia had never drank alcohol
before and she was afraid of how she would act.
She laughed a little, deciding to tell Bruce. "To be honest,
I've never even touched alcohol before..." she said, smiling.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony swallowed, throat dry as Steve clambered on top of him --
wow, okay, Steve was... very loose. "Um, Steve... we are in
public... if that bothers you..." Tony said, a blush rising up
on his cheeks. As much fun as it was to make Steve
uncomfortable, it wasn't very much fun when it was being done to
you. But, no matter how embarrassed Tony would get, Steve was
way to close to ignore.
"Not sure if I want to get out," Tony said quietly as Steve
nipped at his skin, but he was stiff stiff, still hesitant as he
put a hand on Steve's wait. Geez, he needed to relax, stop being
so bashful. He turned his head to the side, took a big swallow
of his drink, and laid his head back on the couch as it ran down
his throat, spreading a very calming warmth through his body.
Okay, he was, kind of, not really, a little bit, drunk now, or
so it felt. Damn, that stuff was strong. Even Thor's mindless
yelling was starting to fade.
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Bruce smirked at Natalia, then watched as Clint walked over to
Bruce, pushed both glasses into his hand and insisted with wide
eyes to "Dude, TRY IT." As soon as he was gone, Bruce set the
glasses on an end table near to them.
"I don't intend to drink it," Bruce said, smiling gently. "I'm a
little scared of it myself..." His eyes flickered to Thor, who
was screaming about his hammer, swinging it haphazardly around,
to Pepper and Natasha, who were having a contest to see who knew
the best swear words to be screamed at the top of your lungs, to
Tony and Steve, tangled on the couch, and to Clint, who was
really just jumping along every flat surface. "Its affect is
very... um, powerful, it seems."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as placed an open-mouth kiss on Tony's neck.
"Doesn't bother me one bit," he whispered, taking Tony's bottle
once he had taken another swallow, and drinking the rest of the
mead for Tony and tossing the bottle aside. Man, that stuff
worked fast.
"I don't want you to get out either," he breathed in Tony's ear
seductively, the feeling of wanting to tease suddenly being
replaced with lust and wanting.
Steve slipped his hands under Tony's shirt as he started to
make-out with his boyfriend, running his hands up and down his
back. He just wanted to feel Tony. Any part of him since his
body was becoming numb. He didn't care if anyone was watching,
he was just focusing on Tony and blocking every one else out.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked around at every one else with Bruce. It appeared
as they had all lost their minds.... and losing her mind
actually didn't seem like such a bad idea right now. Her
confused feelings about James, hardly being able to talk the
Bruce Banner, and just feeling awful about Dante.
Slowly, Natalia grabbed the bottle of mead and poured herself a
glass. "It can't hurt too bad right? It's not like I really want
to remember tonight..." she said, taking a a big gulp of the
stuff.
It felt like lava was running down her throat, burning and
tearing away at her. She liked it, and took another gulp.
It's really not that bad," she said to Bruce. She tilted her
head, motioning at the empty glass. "Go on, try a little," she
said with a half-smile. She was beginning to feel a bit
unbalanced.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony clutched at the fabric of Steve's shirt, pulling him in for
a sloppy kiss, breathing heavily. "Okay," Tony said, taking a
breather in the crook of Steve's neck. "Let's, just... I need...
bedroom, now..." Alright, so, he wouldn't remember anything in
the morning, but Tony was fairly sure that he was kissing Steve
and wouldn't start screaming when he woke up in the morning with
him.
He was only a little concerned for Steve's safety -- I mean,
sure, to be like this Steve would have to be pretty drunk, but
as long as he wasn't, you know, passing out, Steve was fine by
Tony's standards. I mean, he was still able to move and kiss and
touch, and that was... well, that was really distracting and
didn't allow Tony to think much further.
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Bruce looked a little unsure, giving the bottle a baleful
glance. He was still not very reassured -- he could only imagine
what a drunk Hulk was like, an wasn't really intent on finding
out. "I don't think..." Bruce said quietly, "I don't think that
would be smart for me or the... other guy," he said, ruefully.
But he poured himself a glass anyways, you know, just in case,
right? He didn't drink it, not yet, just simply gave Natalia
that vaguely interested look he'd given her when she first came
it. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me what made your night
so terrible?" he suggested, but it wasn't even a request -- it
was definitely optional, a please don't be offended when I ask
you this it's only if you want to kind of thing.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve began to make faint little scratches on Tony's back,
making a little noise at the back of his throat a he kissed Tony
with plenty of passion.
"Bedroom... right...." he breathed, climbing off of Tony.
Quickly, he scooped his boyfriend up in his arms and began to
kiss him again. He began carrying Tony toward the steps,
stopping now and again to kiss him on the lips or neck. Steve
began to make his way up the stairs before he lost his balance,
causing him and Tony to fall, Steve landing right on top of Tony
and blacking out.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia placed a light hand on Bruce's arm, and smiled. "From
what I saw the other guy do during the rein Loki, I think you
got him pretty much got him under control. You'll be fine Bruce.
He'll be fine," Natalia let her hand drop from the man she
admired.
His question made her frown a little. Not because she was
offended, but because she just didn't really want to think about
that right now.
"I ran into a man from my past who... who made me into a
freak... Who gave me all my problems. Also, the man I considered
to be my father left and I'm really worried about him," she
said, downing the rest of her drink.
"By the way, I don't care that you asked... It actually feels
good to be able to tell someone.... Someone that I feel like I
can trust. Most people don't like me. You're a good guy,
Bruce... and so is the other guy." Natalia had to grip the side
of the table fore she was feeling a little more dizzy now.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony made a surprised kind of noise as Steve picked him up and
carried him, but accepted it as freaking awesome and wrap his
legs around Steve's waist, tangling his finger in the other
man's hair. He didn't care what everything else saw or what they
thought, he just wanted--
"Oo-- ah... ow..." Tony groaned -- he hadn't even felt himself
falling before his spine collided, painfully, with the steps. He
heard a tiny crack from somewhere inside his body, and fire that
had nothing to do with the alcohol radiated across his ribcage.
He sucked in a breath, that hurt. He tried to move out from
under Steve's suddenly limp body, that hurt. He tried to create
some logical thought process in his head -- that didn't hurt,
but Tony was drunk and confused.
"Help," he squeaked feebly, trying to shove Steve off of him,
but Steve was deadweight on top of him and the only thing Tony
succeeded in doing was making something move inside him that was
definitely not supposed to move. Flustered, defeated, irritated
by very insistent, very painful... well, pain, he laid back his
head, listening as the room suddenly quieted and then morphed
into an uproar at the two's state.
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Bruce frowned at the drink, hesitant -- he'd long since gained
control of the Hulk, sure, but there were times that he got
angry or scared or excited and it ended... disastrously. Just
thinking about it... he decided, hey, what the heck -- and
lifted the glass up to his mouth. He stared at it in surprise at
the first swallow -- yes, it was very potent. Dangerously so.
"Thank you," he said simply, not looking at Natalia for a
moment. "We're similar in that sense," he said, voice suddenly
darker. "That we were made into... "freaks"." He smirks at the
description. "But unlike you, I have no one to blame but myself.
For what I am, for what I've done... I'm sorry," he adds
suddenly, looking away, "It's rude of me, to talk about my
problems while I'm listening to yours. I'll--"
He was cut off by a very loud thud behind him, and then a moan
of pain. He turns his head, eyes wide, and sees Tony pinned
under an unconscious Steve on the stairs.
"We should... probably... help..." he says, and while a less sad
Bruce might simply set his glass down, he downs the rest before
doing so, and then rushed over to join Natasha, Clint, Thor, and
Pepper, who are all peering curiously down at the pair.
"Seriously, guys?" Tony mewls pathetically from under his
captor, "I-I'm just in a lot of pain and I kind of... I need
help... so..."
"THIS HILARITY PLEASES ME!" Thor booms, chuckling. He is
followed by Natasha, and then Clint, and Bruce really tried not
to laugh but Tony looks really funny and Bruce is feeling really
weirdly loose and he hides his mouth behind his hand, shoulders
shaking, falling in line with the rest of the Avengers.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia nodded at Bruce, following him to the two men lying on
the floor. She was going to help until Thor spoke, causing her
to erupt in giggles. Natalia quickly covered her lips, trying to
silence her laughter. She turned to see that Bruce was in the
same state as her, making it harder for her to stop.
"We... we need to... call a... hospital," she said in between
giggles, putting a hand on Bruce's shoulder to keep him from
falling over along with herself.
"I'm beginning... to think that that alcohol... wasn't th-the
best idea.... I'm really sorry, Bruce..." she said, grabbing her
cell phone. "Our conversation... isn't over..."
It took awhile to tell the hospital where they were and what
exactly happened, but she managed to give them enough
information, and they were there before they knew it.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Alright, sir, just let me know what hurts, okay? ... Here?"
"No, no, that's fine, can you stop, um, poking me, it just feels
like my entire chest is going to--"
"Here?"
"No, that's specially designed to not hurt me, and it's very
delicate so please don't--"
"What about here?"
Holy f---ing-- christ, yes, don't do that, you're really not
that good at this, JARVIS already could've figured out that I--"
"You have a fracture in your number five rib--"
"Exactly that, so if you could please--"
"Please stay here, Mr. Stark. You'll feel much better soon."
Tony, frustrated, run a hand through his hair as he stared up at
the water-stained ceiling. Oh, god, he was going to die, judging
by the pain that was slowly invading the corners of his mind.
The headache was going to be killer, the rib was already bad
enough, jeez, couldn't he ever get a break? He looked ruefully
down at his body, frowning.
"You'll never stop giving me trouble, will you?" he growled to
himself, and closed his eyes. Sleep would be impossible, sure,
but at least-- "Oh," he murmured as a very calming, numb
sensation swept through him. Was this what the doctor had meant
by better? "Oh," he said again, and a very blissful smile
crawled across his face. It felt very vaguely familiar, but for
the life of him, the only thing he could remember was the
yellow, dancing flowers that had been taken out of his garden
some midsummer's day because they attracted too many dragons.
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Bruce had no idea why he was here.
He sat quietly in the waiting room, legs crossed, hands in his
lap, waiting patiently for, perhaps, a doctor's report on Steve
and Tony. Honestly, given the resources, Bruce could've figured
it out himself, but he didn't really trust his hands at the
moment -- even just a glass of that stuff had made him a little
dizzy. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and
heaving a sigh, once again, waiting patiently, for either
doctors or friends or maybe just waiting for the sake of it.
* * *
Clint have no idea why he had chosen to take first watch again.
It's been bad enough with Tony -- the man had cried, cried, and,
okay, Clint got it, sure, he'd even related, kind of. But, you
know, that was then, when Tony had actually been awake and
talking and not totally, entirely boring (definitely good stuff
to talk about with Natasha -- behind her b*tchy exterior she
loved the sap stories). But Steve, geez, would the dude ever
wake up? Of course, he'd drunk, what, two bottles of Thor's
happy juice? Clint could barely hold down a couple swallows
before he was on the brink of passing out -- it probably been
the most short-lived party he'd ever attended.
* * *
Thor had no idea why everyone was staring at him.
He had been told many, many times that he was very odd, mostly
by Tony, but Thor had taken these as terms of affection by the
puny Misgardian -- if it were anything more he would crushing
the Iron Man in a single movement. But it struck Thor as odd
that everyone still looked toward him as he stood, grinning, the
the center of the... "waiting room" with Natasha. Perhaps he
should not have worn his cape? Perhaps he should have put on a
shirt underneath it? Or, perhaps, the mortals were not staring,
but merely admiring.
...Yes, Thor liked that thought the best.
* * *
Natasha had no idea why she'd been assigned baby-sitting duties.
Weird glances were being exchanged between nearly everyone in
the waiting room, staring at a grinning Thor like he was a
lunatic. Of course, he kind of was -- he'd worn only pants and
his ridiculous cape into the waiting room, which made him look
like some kind of 1800th century Indian royalty on steroids. And
Natasha, of course, had been voted off the island, cast away to
the middle of the room where she had to stand, grumpily, with a
giant child on her arm. And she was still drunk, she was pretty
sure.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve had no idea why he was so cold.
Tony hardly ever woke up before him. Actually, he didn't even
remember going to sleep. He slid one of his hand across the bed,
searching for Tony's body, but in stead found his hand had slid
off the bed.
Steve's eyes flew open. He wasn't in his and Tony's bed. He
slowly scanned the room with his eyes until they landed on
Clint. A sudden wave of pain went throughout his chest, and
managed to grab the bowl on the table just in time to vomit in
it. Steve sighed, feeling strange. His heart beat seemed to be
awfully slow for a man who just got sick.
Why was he in the hospital? What happened? Why was Clint here?
"Where's Tony?" he decided to ask out of all the other questions
in his head. He hadn't been sick ever since he became Captain
America... Even when he was just plain-old-tiny Steve, he didn't
get sick hardly at all.
He wanted Tony. He wanted his boyfriend. That would make him
feel better.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
It's unusual to hear about extraordinary people in Chicago, and
Natalia definitely didn't consider herself to be an
"extraordinary person." Then again, she wasn't ordinary either,
her parents had made that quite clear. Well, at least her father
did, but he was always drinking, so he described everyone as
"hideous, mutant freaks." Her mother, on the other hand, didn't
say much at all, considering she had Huntington's...
Natalia clang to her purse, walking a little faster as the sun
began to set. She was barely old enough to be doing this alone.
Eighteen and alone were two not good things to be leaving the
house with. Of course, there was no one else to do the grocery
shopping when her mother got moody while her brother was away at
war in Afghanistan and her father was out either in jail for the
night or in a bar, about to be put in jail for the night. But
hey, life was good, yeah? Other people had it worse, right?
F*ck that logic, there were times where it was okay to feel
sorry for yourself.
Anyways, the point was that there weren't a lot of extraordinary
people in Chicago, even if Natalia could name two off the top of
her head, but one was in bed unable to walk and was, well...
different, and the other could be shot or blow up at any minute.
Funny how to people in the family ended up extraordinary. Being
extraordinary was the only thing she really had in common with
her father, besides her eyes, but even he wasn't really a
mutant. That's what they called them too -- mutants. People with
"dangers powers and should be wiped out." Yet she was still the
one going outside alone. At least she had something to help
protect her, no matter how freakish it was. Sam used to think it
was cool, but now Sam was the extraordinary man that could be
shot or blown up at any moment.
Natalia walked into the grocery store, which was the same one as
always. Her life was basically a broken record, playing that
same old dumb line of a song that you eventually learn to just
live with so matter how annoying it really is. She had to be
grateful for what she had, right? At least she still had a
mother, a father, and a brother.
She got the groceries, and left the store, a brown paper bag
fresh in her arms. She probably needed to drop by the drug store
as well...
Natalia stopped when her phone started to ring. Quickly, she
gripped the grocery bag in one arm, struggling with the other to
find her phone. She found it right as the last ring was about to
go off, and answered.
"Hello?"
"Natalia Stone?"
"Yes..."
"You were listed as the emergency caller under your mother's
name."
Yeah, that was usually how it worked, but...
"My name is Dr. Williams, and I'm very sorry, but your mother
had a heart attack."
Suddenly everything in the air grew thick, and everything inside
of her grew tight, like her body was threatening to cave in on
itself. A heart attack... but, but that couldn't happen. Her
mother had Huntington's, not a... a heart attack...
"She didn't make it."
Natalia covered her mouth to hold back a sob, knees wobbling
with the force of it, eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm very sorry..."
And wasn't that such a cruel word? Sorry? It was just the word
people used when they had nothing better to say. Nothing real.
It was the word without feeling that was suppose to mean
everything, but it didn't, and at least she knew that.
Natalia let herself go, collapsing onto her knees on the side
walk, groceries spilling. What were they for now that her mother
had died of a heart attack. The woman had been fighting
everything Natalia could possibly think of, and she died from a
common heart attack? Why? And wasn't that the question of the
day, or of just life. Everyone wanted to know why bad things
happened to them, or others, but that was life. Life wasn't
fair. Life was a game that you had to play right to be
successful.
She pulled her hand away from her mouth to grab her phone lying
on the ground, closing it and shoving it forcefully back into
her purse. It wasn't fair. It really wasn't fair. Nothing going
on was fair.
"Excuse me, Miss?"
That was not a familiar voice.
Natalia stood quickly and spun around, her eyes briefly going
from green to grey, hair from blonde to black. Okay, damn, that
wasn't suppose to happen. She was loosing control, she couldn't
loose control, there was no way he didn't see that.
The man's face suddenly changed, going from lost and confused to
relieved and grateful almost as fast as her hair and eyes
changed for a second.
Yeah, he noticed.
She started to take off, but the man grabbed her wrist.
"Sorry, sorry, probably not the best first impression," the man
said quickly, sounding legitimately sorry, but the hold around
her wrist... she didn't like that. "My name is James. James
Lenard. I'm a doctor," he told her, and she started to relax.
A... doctor. Right. Her mother just died, but... how would a
doctor know that she was at the grocery store?
Natalia started to struggle again, but James insisted on trying
to comfort her and reassure her of his strange innocence.
"No, no, no, please don't keep trying to jerk away. Listen, I'm
here to help you," he tried, but Natalia wasn't having any of
it. "I'm a mutant too," he said quietly, a secret she
understood.
"You're... a mutant?" she repeated, still cautious.
The man laughed, softly, nodding. "Yes, I'm a mutant. Quite like
you, too. Bird transformation... thing. I still haven't found a
good way to explain it."
Things weren't getting any less weird.
"How did you know what I do? I mean, how did you know that I--"
"Transform into a bird... thing? We try and keep tabs on
mutants."
Natalia slowly started to ease up. "Okay, so you're a mutant
doctor that keeps tabs on other mutants... Why the hell should I
be letting you touch me, because none of the stuff your telling
me is making me want you to touch me," she said a bit harshly,
her face still wet with tears. She knew she looked vulnerable,
and she knew what men liked to do with vulnerable woman, no
matter what the cost.
James smiled, just slightly, looking a bit sympathetic. "You
still don't trust me..."
"And I have good reason not to," she pointed out.
"Right, because you don't have any proof."
Slowly, James let go of her wrist, and she didn't move, but her
body did tense, readying itself. Then, without warning, the
man's hair turned from a chocolatey brown to black, and his eyes
hazel to black (but the pupil was still visible), wings starting
to sprout from his back, talons from his nails. The streetlight
above them illuminated him, giving his jet-black wings a
beautiful shine. Wow, his wings shined...
"Proof enough?" he asked.
Natalia paused for a moment, observing the man in front of her.
He was quite handsome, especially in this form, his hair short
and sticking up, his face the perfect shape, his abs defined
through his shirt. God, he was like something out of a magazine.
the perfect misleading type, but then again, she couldn't find
his transformation misleading. She did, however, find it a bit
idiotic.
"Yes, but you do realize that there are still people around
here?" she told him.
He smiled, his wings folding in to a rested state. "Look around,
there's no one in sight."
Natalia looked around, and, indeed, there was no one in sight.
"But the man inside the grocery store is--"
"Is one of us. Well, not one of us, but he's a doctor, like me."
"And a doctor of what, exactly?"
"Well me, I'm more of a chemist, he's more of a medicine type of
doctor. A physician," James clarified, and then stood there,
looking expecting like he knew she's have another question,
which she did,
"And why did you come after me?"
"Wow, you make it sound like we're here to attack you and sell
your organs."
"Are you?"
James laughed, this one much louder, but still just as pleasant
as his last laugh. "No, we're here to take you into our
facility. We're here to help, like I said. We know your mother
just past away, your brother is at war, and your father, well,
frankly, he's a bastard, so we're here to take you in and help."
Natalia was eased up by now, but still not impressed. These
people were just going to... take her in, moments after her
mother passed away. As simple as that.
"Whaddya say?" he asked.
What would she say? Funny enough, the idea of going somewhere
with someone like her and being helped, whatever that implied,
sounded great.
"By "help," what do you mean?"
"I mean we help. We cater to your basic needs, stand by for
emotional support. We help."
She didn't even need another moment to think. This was it for
her. This was were her life would begin right after it ended.
"Okay."
James approached her, placing a hand on her arm, but... she
suddenly felt something sharp and...
She blacked out.
***
Natalia woke up later on a what looked like a hospital bed, but
she wasn't in a hospital, she was trapped in so sort of... clear
dome or containment center. The whole room was white, and the
lights that shined through into her room were bright. Where was
she?
"Oh good, now we can start," she heard a voice coming from
outside.
She turned her head to see strange men in lab coats, a little
metal table set up next to them with various chemicals on it.
What the hell was going on? Start what?
"James, be a good lad and get the first cure ready," said the
same voice that belonged to a man with graying red hair, his
accent obviously Scottish.
"Yes sir," came James' voice who wasn't standing too far away
from the other men, all of their hair graying.
James walked over to the table, grabbing a small vile of
something orange and sucking it up with a syringe.
Natalia immediately braced herself. It wasn't hard to start
piecing things together now, and she didn't like where any of it
was going. James had kidnapped her. He had offered her help,
even spread his wings, but then he... took her here to be...
tested?
James came over to her little room, unlocking the door and
stepping inside, closing the door firmly behind him. There was
three other men besides him... she could take them. She just
needed to wait until James came closer.
He walked slowly up to her, looking down at the ground as he did
so. "Um, I'm going to have to inject you with this, but I
promise it'll only hurt a little bit, alright?"
Natalia's eyes turned from green to grey, her hair blonde to
black, nails growing longer, large, black wings sprouting from
her back. "You're not going to be injecting me with anything,"
she snapped, spreading her wings out, hitting James in the
process and sending him flying back and hitting the wall.
He coughed once and held up his hands, syringe out of his hands
and a few feet away. "Wait! Wait! Natalia, don't! I can
explain!"
"What, explain to me why you knocked my out and took me here?
I'm obviously your little guinea pig, but it may impress you
friends to know that you too are a mutant!"
"They know that!" James tried to explain quickly, getting to his
feet. "Natalia, they know that, that's why they're trying to
help..."
Natalia stayed silent for a second. "What the hell are you going
on about?"
"We're mutants. One of the same. We're trying to find the cure,
and the only way we can think of achieving that is by having two
mutants with a similar mutation."
"So, what you're saying is that, because my mutation is similar
to yours... they can use me to help find the cure?" Natalia
asked her wings lowering just a bit.
James nodded. "Yes. Well, at least, they can find the cure for
us," he further explained.
"And if I don't want to be cured?"
"James, enough talk. We've waited long enough fo this, lets get
to it!" another man in a lab coat snapped. This man was balding
on the top of his head, and wore glasses that were slightly
crooked.
James looked back at the men and then turned back to Natalia,
looking apologetic. "Doesn't everyone like us want a cure,
Natalia?" he asked her, slowly approaching the syringe he had
dropped.
Natalia raised her wings again, defenses rising. "Not everyone.
At least, not me."
"Then you'll just have to learn to want a cure, Natalia. I'm
sorry, but this is for betterment of mankind."
James grabbed the syringe and then grabbed Natalia's arm, so she
quickly swung her free fist at him, only to have him move his
head back and away just in time, jabbing the syringe into her
arm and injecting it's orange contents.
Dammit.
He let go of her, and she stumbled back, the serum making her
knees wobble. She quickly sat back down on the bed she had woken
up on, feeling sick to her stomach.
"I think it's working..." said the Scottish doctor.
Natalia's whole body began to shake, and she turned her head to
see some of her feathers coming out. No... no, they couldn't do
this to her. After all the years she had been called a freak by
her father, and had been treated like her abilities were
something to be ashamed of, she still viewed her powers as a
gift. No one was truly born cursed, were they?
"Natalia?" James said quietly, slowly approaching her.
"Stay back!" she yelled, gripping the sides of the bed, her
talons turning back into plain nails. She felt so sick... and
dizzy, she was getting dizzy.
Natalia blacked out once more.
***
When she woke up this time, she found herself completely alone
and hooked up to a heart monitor. She was also hungry. Very,
very hungry.
Natalia sat up, running a hand through her black hair. Wait a
minute... black...
She looked to her sides to see her wings still out, feathers
back and shinning. Looking at her hands she saw that her talons
were bared again as well. The serum didn't work.
Suddenly, the doors from the outside room opened, and in walked
James, holding a tray of food. "Hungry?" he asked, approaching
her containment room.
Natalia stood up, ripping off the wires connecting her to the
heart monitor, practically growling. "Get the hell away from me.
I'm not taking anything you offer me."
James frowned and set the tray of steaming food down on the
table with the different so-called cures. "Listen, just let me
explain--"
"I'm getting a bit tired of your explanations," Natalia hissed.
"I know, I know, just... keep your voice down," he demands,
speaking quietly. "They have cameras everywhere, and if we talk
loud enough, they can hear us."
Okay, nothing was making sense again. What was James' angle? He
didn't seem like a threat, then again, he was the one trying to
get rid of her mutation.
"Listen, I'm on your side," James began, voice hardly above a
whisper. "They've got tons of mutants captive here, and I'm here
to rescue them all."
Natalia raised a brow before laughing bitterly. "You're here to
rescue mutants? You really expect me to believe that? Come on,
you're the one who wants a cure!"
James shook his head. "No, no, that's what I want them to think.
I knew the only way I could get in here and rescue the mutants
was to pretend to want to join them and their cause.
Unfortunately, rescuing the mutants has been harder than I
thought, and it eventually led up to me having to capture you."
"So you don't really want to be cured of your powers?"
"Hell no," James replied, letting a smile grace his features for
only a second. "However, there are tons of mutants that work
here that do want their gifts gone, and I'm afraid there's no
saving them, but that's not the real problem here."
"What is the real problem then?" Natalia asked, letting her
wings and talons disappear, her hair and eyes turning back to
their original colors. James didn't seem like he was lying, and
Natalia couldn't really figure out why he would anyways.
James looked away from Natalia, staring at a wall instead. "The
real problem is is that until I can figure out a way to save the
mutants without getting caught, I have to keep performing tests
on you," he told her.
Natalia's heart sank and she set back on the bed. She was hoping
she wouldn't have to hear that.
"There's still a bright side, though."
"What?" she said a bit desperately, their eyes meeting once
more.
"They're letting me work on the cures for you. I convinced them
that I new the most about mutant DNA, so I can sabotage the
cures, make them only have slight symptoms, but keep them from
actually working."
Now that was some good news. "Will it really work?"
"As long as they don't suspect anything, it should, so I'm
afraid I'm going to have to keep playing mad scientist until I
figure out a better plan."
Natalia nodded. She trusted James. There was just something
about it that she just knew she could trust.
***
Weeks went by, and Natalia started to grow used to the sickness
she got every time James gave her a dud cure, and the blackouts
that followed. After awhile, he even started to spice things up,
just to make himself less suspicious, making her skin turn
purple for a few hours, and even making her grow a third wing.
"Feeling okay?" James asked as the last effects of the most
recent dud cure began to wear off. Today it made her grow
feathers on her arms.
"Yeah, but those doctors seem to be growing more and more
frustrated with you," Natalia pointed out, drinking a glass of
water James offered her. Over the past few weeks, she had grown
to really like James and enjoy his presence. He even managed to
convince the scientists to remove the cameras from the room so
they could talk normally and do whatever they want.
James sat down next to her on the bed, frowning. "Yeah, I've
noticed. Every day they talk about how displeased they are with
me, so I think it's time I started actually making the duds more
believable, but it will be more dangerous."
"Dangerous how?"
"Dangerous as in you might actually start to loose your wings,
like what happened the first day, or your talons."
Natalia smiled and bumped James' elbow with her own. "Hey, I
have a pretty good healing factor, ya know. If the serum doesn't
work too quickly, then my body should be able to heal itself."
James turned his head to look at her, smiling. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," she confirmed.
***
So the tests continued, and became more believable, making
Natalia's feathers start to fall out again, or her talons, but
her body worked faster, just like she said, always completely
healed by the next day or two.
It had now been three months since she had first been taken to
the lab, and her relationship with James only seemed to grow
more and more serious. She had learned many things about him,
like what he liked to do, what his life was like before his
rescue mission, and what his dreams were. Natalia would be lying
if she said she didn't have strong feelings for the man, and
James made his feelings known too, giving her flowers from the
greenhouse that was apparently part of the building, bringing
her books that he managed to smuggle in with written messages
inside and poems. He was a real life Romeo, and Natalia felt
herself falling more and more for the man daily.
The doors opened from the outside room and James came in,
opening the door to her containment center and joining her like
he always did, sitting on the bed next to her. He looked
extremely happy today for some reason.
"What's gotten into you?" Natalia asked, chuckling softly.
James smile grew, laughing shortly. "I have some news for you,"
he told her, reaching out to take one of her hands, his eyes
sparkling. Dear god, this man belonged on a calendar or
something.
"Yeah?" he laughed, his happiness contagious.
"I think I've finally figured out a way to break out the
mutants!" he announced, practically bouncing up and down with
excitment.
Natalia's eyes widened, surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah!"
"How?" she asked, eager to know and eager to escape.
"Can't tell you."
Natalia frowned. Can't tell her? "Why not?"
"Because, it's too risky."
"James, that doesn't make any sense," Natalia argued quietly.
James shook his head. "No, it does, it's just that..." James'
voice drifted off. "Listen, Natalia, I promise I'm going to get
you out of here, but there's something I want to know..."
Natalia scooted a little closer. "Yes?"
"When we get out of here, I know you have no where to go. Not
really, anyways, with your mother gone and your brother at
war..."
Natalia frowned a bit more and looked down. She thought about
her mother and brother daily, but having them being brought
up... it just seemed to make everything worse.
"And I know your father is no where near the kind of man you
need to take care of you, so... I was wondering... Would you,
maybe, want to come live with me?"
Natalia's head shot up like a rocket, more surprised than ever.
Live with James? Like, in a house? Together? "What do you mean?"
she asked, awe-struck.
"I mean you come lie with me, because... because I love you."
The air seemed to grow thin in that moment, but not in a bad
way, she was just... surprised, was all. Very, very, happily
surprised.
"Natalia?" James said, looking very nervous.
"I love you too," she said quickly, finding her smile. "I-I love
you too," she said with a bit more confidence. "And I'd love to
live with you."
***
After that, things started to change, and change for the worst.
James warned her that the other scientists had decided to start
working on cures again too, meaning they might actually find
one that works, and the curses did start to get more serious. As
for James' plan of escape, well, every time Natalia asked, James
seemed to embarrassed to answer. Maybe something was still wrong
with the plan.
"James, my boy, do you have the next serum ready?" the man with
the crooked glasses asked.
"Yes sir," replied James, stepping into Natalia's room with a
syringe filled with a green serum.
It was those parts that were the worst, when James could do
nothing but inject her with something that could very well be a
cure for her mutation.
James took her arm and slid the needle in, injecting the burning
serum into her. He slid the needle out and stood back, and
Natalia felt sick to her stomach, but this time was different
than the other times. This time, her skin began to bubble. She
gasped, but the gasp quickly became a cry of pain. She tried to
transform, but nothing was happening, and she fell off the bed,
curling into a little ball as her body shook.
"It's working," said a doctor, she couldn't even hardly tell
which one it was anymore, her ears ringing.
"You did it James!"
Wait... what? James? But, but the others were the ones who
were...
Natalia forced her eyes open to see James squatting before her,
staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite read, but
there was a certain gleam in his eye.
"James..." she whimpered, trying to get out a scentence, but the
pain was too much.
"Shh..." said the man, the corner of his mouth twitching up a
bit. "Don't worry, Talia, you'll grow used to it."
Natalia's eyes started to grow wider with fear. What did he
mean? What was he smiling? "James..." she tried again.
"Don't speak, just let me explain," he insisted. "You see, I was
lying."
Natalia's body started to shake more violently.
"But you see, I had to, you wouldn't have been so willing any
other way. I really do want to find a cure for my mutation,
Talia, and now, thanks to you, I have."
Natalia tried to speak, but all that came out was a scream of
pain.
James placed a hand on her shoulder. "There, there, Talia, it's
almost over. The pain will stop soon enough, and then you'll be
better. Mutations are not meant for people, Talia. They're too
dangerous. We have to cure all mutants to make the world a safer
place, you see? I know you don't understand right now, but once
we're living together, you will."
Strength found it's way into Natalia's body,and she used it to
spit on James' face, causing him to fall back. He lied... the
whole time he had lied, and that hurt more than the cure did.
But she was stronger than this. She couldn't let a thing like
that break her. Her mutation was a gift, and it was all she
truly had. It couldn't be taken from her.
Natalia let out another scream as she turned onto her belly,
nails digging at the floor. She had to fight it... She had to
fight it.
"Talia, stop! You don't understand! We were meant to be like
this! We were meant to--"
Wings started to sprout from Natalia's back, her nails growing
out into talons, hair turning black, eyes grey. It was working.
"Talia, stop!" James begged, grabbing her arm. "Give me another
dose!" he called to the scientists.
Oh no he doesn't...
Natalia lashed out at James, cutting through his clothes and
skin with her talons. He hollered out, falling back again before
he too started to transform, his defensive instincts kicking in.
"You b*stard!" she shouted, body still shaking as she fought to
stand up.
"Talia, stop, I don't want to hurt you."
"You already have!" she screeched, finally standing as her body
continued to shake. "Our mutations are not bad! They can be used
for good! To help us!"
James, now in his mutant form shook his head. "No Natalia,
you're wong!"
Natalia threw herself at James, lashing out viciously as he
dogged each attack. Meanwhile, the scientists scrambled to get
another dose of the cure ready, the Scottish one approaching
her. Quickly, she knocked James' feet out from under him, and
spun around to slice into the red haired man. He cried out and
fell to the ground, blood oozing out from his chest, syringe
breaking on the floor.
The other scientist pressed an alarm, and Natalia knew she was
in trouble, but she didn't care, she could do this. She was
strong.
James stood back up, and men with guns and tasers started to
pile into the room, firing and swinging. A bullet penetrated
Natalia's right wing, causing her to cry out, but she kept at
it, slashing and slicing and cutting. Anything she could do to
get out.
She started to work her way out of the room, the door open
thanks to all the men piling in. She could hear James calling
out behind her, telling her to stop and wait, but she didn't
listen. She was wrong to have ever listened to him, and she
would make sure to never trust someone so easily ever again.
Natalia battled her way through the halls, things moving so
fast. Eventually, she made it to a door, and kicked it open.
Outside. She was outside.
She flapped her wings and quickly started to ascend, but
something grabbed her by the ankle, slamming her down onto the
ground.
James. It was James.
She turned onto her back just as he climbed onto top of her,
back in his human form, and wrapped his hands around her throat,
squeezing.
~~~
Natalia gasped as she woke up, this time, for real. She was in
the hospital waiting room, sitting in a chair. She quickly sat
up and brushed herself off. Next to her sat Bruce with his
elbows on his knees, waiting. It had all just been a dream... It
wasn't just any dream, though, it was her memories, every bit of
it exactly how it really happened.
A lot had changed since then. She had changed a lot since then,
and she couldn't be scared, not anymore.
"Any news yet?" she asked, trying to forget about her dream.
#Post#: 29--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:39 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled at the ceiling, waiting patiently for whoever would
come to see him to come and see him. Of course, maybe nobody
would come see him. But that was okay -- he was having a very
pleasant time all by himself, chatting animatedly to the clouds
outside. But in about five seconds they got really depressing,
so he instead looked around as best as he could with the weird
thing on his neck. It look kinda like a marshmallow.
Tony waited, he would say, maybe five minutes, or probably an
hour, but like a million bazillion years, too. Finally, the door
opened and a smiley Thor came walking in, which made Tony all
smiley, too.
"FRIEND!" Thor boomed as he sat down next to Tony. "You are glad
to see me?"
"I sure am!" Tony laughed, eyes glossy. He couldn't really turn
his head much because of the marshmallow thing, and because the
doctors had told him not to, but he could see Thor out of the
corner of his eye so it was good enough. Thor was probably his
most favorite Avenger, probably, besides Steve, but that was
because he loved Steve. He loved Thor, too, just more in a
brother kind of way except Thor was way cooler than a brother,
but of course Tony didn't ever have a brother so he wouldn't
know, but he'd always kind of wanted a brother, and Thor was
pretty close, he thought, so he liked him a lot. "Hey," says
Tony suddenly, pointing at the ceiling. "Look. Look at them,
they're dancing. You see em? I think that one is doing the
tango. You seem em, Thor? They're stepping in time with The
Parent Trap Suite."
Thor grins as he looks up to the ceiling. "I see many things,"
says Thor simply, because he isn't sure what exactly Tony sees
but he knows that he, himself, sees many wonderful things all by
himself.
- - -
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Thor expected to wait very long as the doctors check up on Tony
and Steve, but within no time, it seemed, a doctor was down the
stairs, walking toward he and Natasha.
"Stark and Rogers are stable," said the doctor, "Last time we
saw, Rogers was unconscious and Tony may be feeling a little...
um, loopy, but you're free to visit them." He left them,
probably going to repeat the information to Bruce and Natalia,
who actually had chairs (Thor preferred standing anyways).
Thor grinned widely, looking at Natasha with hope sparkling in
his eyes. "I would like to go see my friends!" Thor said. He
knew Clint was already with Steve, though, so he would probably
go visit Tony. He didn't understand why people misunderstood
Stark so much -- he really was very much fun, you just had to
catch him when he was on drugs. Thor could relate to most people
in that way.
"Whatever," said Natasha, shaking her head. Thor had learned
that someone shaking their head usually meant no, unless it was
accompanied with the word whatever. It didn't really matter,
then. So Thor, feeling quite happy, bounded up to Tony's room.
* * *
Clint sat up as Steve awoke, expecting, you know, the usual
where's my lover kind of thing. One thing he kind of didn't
expect, though, was Steve turning over, looking at him, and then
promptly throwing up.
"Nice to know what you think of me," Clint said smoothly, but
decided to answer Steve's question (kinda) because he really
couldn't do much else, could he? "Your boyfriend, after you
dropped him on the stairs, was sent to the hospital room three
doors down, where he has been diagnosed with a fractured rib and
head trauma. Guilty yet?"
* * *
Bruce looked toward Natalia as she woke, frowning at both her
question and her expression. "Not yet," he said simply, looking
a bit distracted. He was -- there was something about Natalia's
face that was terribly familiar... and then it hit Bruce. Ah,
yes. He'd seen the ghosts of his past too many times in his own
eyes. "Bad dream?" he asked softly.
But Natalia didn't get the time to answer Bruce's question, for
at the exact moment a doctor scuffled quietly over to them.
"Steve and Tony are both stable, if you'd like to go see them,"
he said.
"Thank you," Bruce replied cordially, and the doctor simply
shook his head and left. "Guess that's answers your question,"
said Bruce to Natalia, giving a little shrug.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve raised an eyebrow before his face fell with remembrance.
He could somewhat remember falling on Tony at the top of the
steps along with some other things.
Steve place a hand on his face, feeling guilty and embarrassed.
Why did he drink two bottles of that mead? Well, he wasn't
touching alcohol anytime soon.
"Do you have any advice? You know... romantic advice?" needing a
way to make it up to Tony.
He propped himself up in the bed and awaited Clint's answer.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia frowned, not looking at Bruce. "Yeah... Bad dream..."
she repeated as the doctor left. She hadn't had a dream like
that in about six years. Why start now? She wished she could get
James out of her head, but she always found that hard.
Natalia placed her arm on the arm rest and her head in her hand,
feeling a little tired. She suddenly remembered something that
Bruce had said before Steve and Tony fell. Something about being
responsible for him becoming the Hulk, and how he was sorry for
talking about his problems.
"It was my fault..." Natalia whispered, but loud enough for
Bruce to hear. "I let it happen. I was stupid and blind." She
knew that Bruce wasn't really going to understand, but she just
didn't want to talk about that too much right now.
"And it's okay, you can talk about anything at anytime around
me. Also, you shouldn't cut yourself down like you do
sometimes... Like I said, you're both good men." Natalia gave
Bruce a small smile before looking back at the floor.
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Clint laughed at that -- was that what normal guys did? Tried to
make it up? Eh, okay, so he did that, too, but he was
considerably worse at it. And, honestly, he had no idea. What
kind of advice could he give to two... um, gay dudes?
"Go tango with him," Clint joked, though, it was kind of hard to
tell whether or not he was joking. Natasha liked dancing, sure,
but he wasn't really sure if Tony and Steve... eh, he kind of
needed to stop using their names in a sentence together. It
really weirded him out. "He probably already forgives you,
anyways, though -- everyone likes you."
* * *
Bruce, nothing but courteous, didn't dare delved deeper into
Natalia's whispered words, knowing that he, himself, certainly
didn't like talking about his past. Instead, he leaned back in
his chair, listening as Natalia continued. So, she was being a
bit of a hypocrite, but Bruce had learned that, you know, it was
a lot easier taking someone else's advice than their own. "I
appreciate the sentiment," Bruce says politely, and when he
realized he doesn't sound sincere, adds, "I do, really." He
looks down at his hand, folded across his stomach, and sighs.
"But I'm not me anymore when I... loose control. I'm not a man
anymore. I supposed you'd have to... see it, to believe it." He
frowns. "That's not an invitation, by the way."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
A smile slowly formed on Steve's face. 'Tango...' he thought
before hoping out of the bed, still feeling a bit queezy but
choosing to ignore it.
"Clint, you're a genius!" he exclaimed, rushing to the door. "I
really owe you one! I hope you and Natasha are, and will stay
very happy together! Thanks!"
Steve quickly went outside his hospital room and searched until
he found the room with Tony in it along with Thor. He knew that
everyone was probably blaming this on Thor, but Steve couldn't
help but blame himself. He didn't have to drink any of the
mead... but he chose to drink two bottles.
Steve walked over to Tony's bedside, taking one of his hands in
both his own. "I'm truly sorry, honey. I-I shouldn't have drank
any of that stuff. I'll make it up to you, I promise," he said,
thinking about Clint's idea.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia put a friendly and gentle hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I
have seen before," she began, looking at Bruce. "And you're in
there somewhere. Trust me."
Natalia stood up, taking her hand off Bruce and looking at the
exit. "I have someone I need to find. I hope we'll meet again
soon, Bruce." She began to walk away, but turned her head back
around to look at the troubled man. "Don't give up hope, Bruce.
These days, everyone needs a little hope." She gave Bruce a warm
smile before walking through the exit doors to go look for
Dante. She really had to apologize to him.
{:: A V E N G E R S ::}
Minus Steve and Tony
"We will fight as one."
Clint blinked slowly as Steve left a room, surprised at the fact
that Steve had actually chosen to take him seriously. "Um...
okay," Clint said blankly to the empty room, shaking his head.
He was tired of trying to figure out love logic.
* * *
Bruce smiled after Natalia -- he felt no different about
himself, but, it was nice to have somebody care at least. Not to
say that nobody else cared, of course, Bruce loved his friends
-- but Natalia could relate at least a bit better. Bruce,
suddenly, saw Natasha from the corner of his eye, coming over
and sitting next to him.
"What do you think about her?" she asked.
Bruce hesitated, frowning at the now-closed doors that Natalia
had disappeared behind. "She's okay," he said finally, "She's
nice."
Natasha made a noise in the back of her throat. "I don't like
her," she said, sounding pouty.
Bruce chuckled. "I bet your don't".
* * *
Thor brightened as another guest came into Tony's room, and when
he turned, he saw no other than, of course, Steve. "Hello
Steve," he said, "I was just having a wonderful conversation
with Tony about Asgard and it's poisonous vegetation." He stood
up, clapping Tony across the shoulder. Thor was loud, nosy, and
arrogant, but he knew when it was his time to leave. He knew
love -- he preferred to be with Jane, alone, and figured Steve
and Tony would enjoy the same thing.
"But I think that he would much rather talk to you -- I'll be
going," he added, and with a warm smile on his face and a happy
skip in his stride, he left the room, probably to go look for
Clint, who was no doubt still sitting in Steve's room, shocked.
- - -
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Bye, Thor!" Tony called cheerily, waving after the retreating
back of his friend. He turned his eyes to Steve -- not his head,
though, because he wasn't physically capable. "Hi Steve," he
said, smiling, "I'd turn my head but the doctors told me I
can't. Something about head trauma or something."
He waved Steve's apology away, rolling his eyes. "Don't
apologize, silly!" he laughed, "I'm fine, it doesn't even -- oh,
hey you want some coffee? They have the best coffee here." He
smiled, motioning vaguely to the table beside his bed. "Hang on,
though, that's mine, I'll find you another cup..." He grasped
wildly, suddenly, at the air, scowling. "Sorry, they're
really... slippery... got one!" As if he were holding something,
Tony held his hand out to Steve, grinning proudly. "Happy
birthday!" he said merrily, and burst into giggles.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve rolled his eyes and smiled right as Tony began to speak.
He never really knew exactly how to feel about Tony on pain
killers. The first time had been a bit of a trip, but this time
seemed a bit more... stronger.
Steve chuckled as he took the imaginary coffee cup, feeling as
though he was playing pretend with a little child. "Thank you,
Tony," he said, pretending to take a sip of coffee. "Wow! There
coffee really is good!" Steve chuckled again, setting the
"coffee cup" on the table.
"Did you have fun talking to Thor?" Steve could only imagine the
interesting conversations the Demi-God and Tony have when Tony
was like this. He specifically remembered Thor and Tony skipping
hand and hand down the hall, Thor swinging his hammer the last
time a doctor gave him something like this. It was amusing, but
Steve always found himself missing his sarcastic boyfriend more
than he like the crazy loopy one. Either way, it was still
Tony... sorta... and Steve loved everything about him.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grinned, trying to nod enthusiastically but, you know, he
couldn't move his head. He frowned at that, but was smiling
again in a second. "Yes!" he piped, and then reached forward,
grabbing Steve's arm a dragging him down so they were face to
face. "Did you know he's from another planet?" he asked, eyes
full of wonder. "It's so cool." he stared at Steve for a moment
more before the tiniest of smirks tugged at his mouth, and he
let go on Steve's arm, giving a little laugh.
"Oh, look!" he shouted suddenly, pointing up again, "A puppy!"
He reached up again, clasping at nothing, and dragged that
nothing down to his chest, smiling as he stroked it. "I love
puppies." He looked down at the imaginary animal, looking
suddenly sad. "My dad never let get a dog, though. The only
thing he tried to buy was my love." he frowned, looking back at
Steve. "It didn't work."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
It was all a winding vortex, twisting and turning, past and
present and future all combining into one big mess, and this was
the one thing that Dante didn't fight against. You couldn't
really fight time, though. It would rip you apart, sending half
of you backwards and stick several other pieces of you in little
corners of different time periods. He did, however, fight
against the two people holding his arms -- they underestimated
him, they didn't believe that a man from such gentle upbringings
could be so strong, so determined, but Dante threw them off
savagely, with an uncontrolled rage.
"JOHN!" screeched the woman, as the man with the scepter grabbed
a hold of her. They watched as the brown-haired man flew,
reaching out for a handhold, but time could not be grasped by
any mere mortal. He was gone in the blink of an eye. The woman
paled.
"He's gone, Jordan -- we've got to get Dante back."
"Why's he not gone?"
"Because he knows this place. He's been here before."
Dante looked down at himself. Any normal person without the
other man's weapon would be flung into the vortex of time and
would likely never be seen again, but Dante seemed to have his
feet firmly planted and was still traveling with the group of
three-now-two. He felt a reassuring steadiness as he went
flashing past all his memories, all that had came and was to
come. This was his domain, though he had no idea how to control
it.
"You talk as if I don't know how to throw us off course."
"That's because you don't," spat the man viciously, pointing the
scepter threateningly. "This is no game. I hold the only weapon
here." But the man was not talking about the blade -- Dante
knew. He was talking about the pocket-watch, dangling from his
jacket pocket. Dante had never seen this before, but he
recognized it, for some reason. Perhaps because it was
rightfully his. But, of course, he wasn't to figure this out
until much later. That's another story.
"I was the first to travel here," Dante said darkly, "Your
actions, your goals have killed all I love. And for that, I will
also be the last." Suddenly, Dante lurched for the two, grabbing
the man by his jacket and punching him in the gut. He crumpled
over, and Dante grabbed the scepter from his hands, turning and
jabbing it into the woman's stomach. She gave a choked cry as
Dante scowled and pulled the end of the weapon out of her body.
She crumpled and fell, remaining where she was -- of course,
that was expected. Her position would remain steadfast with the
watch around -- or perhaps only Dante.
"Fool!" spat the man, "You're going to rip a whole through the
tunnel! You have no idea what time you'll be tossed into!"
"That--" growled Dante, snatching the watch from the man's
pocket, "Is a risk I am willing to take."
Dante wasn't sure what he was going to do now, wasn't sure how
to escape -- so he simply did what felt right. With surprising
calm, he closed his eyes, and he thought. He thought of home. He
thought of family. Of life. There was a sudden jerk, and scream
that Dante wasn't sure where it came from, and, quiet suddenly,
a loud bang, followed by a fwoosh as the world around him was
engulfed in flames.
"The research!" the man screamed above the flames, eyes wild.
They were in a blinding white chamber, turned red by fire. "What
have you done?! You've ruined it!" Dante turned, eyes cold.
"I've done only my part," he snarled, "Isn't that the point?"
And then he turned -- he didn't fear the flames, and they stayed
back, miraculously.
"I will find you!" screamed the man, as a gate of fire shield
Dante from the man coming after him. Dante ignored him, ignored
the others who were screaming, ignore the fire that licked at
the ground so close to him. As soon as he stepped foot on
ground, the building behind him exploded, violently. Dante had
the fantastic sense of flying, then falling, and, finally,
darkness.
* * *
Dante's eyes opened suddenly.
It was still raining, and Dante was drenched to the bone, but he
was not cold. He was, however, very sad, very angry, and very
alone. He looked very intimidating, leaned against the wall,
stock-still, dark and tall and dressed in less than conspicuous
outfit. He was pretty sure he had been called a creep more than
a few times by passing pedestrians. But he found that he was
oddly numb to the world. Getting lost in thought was almost more
dangerous than getting lost in time.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled once again, watching Tony grab an invisible puppy
from the air.
Steve was quick to frown when Tony talked about Howard. He had
always thought Howard would be a great father, but obviously he
didn't really spend to much time with Tony. However, whatever
Howard and done to Tony made Tony who he was today. The man
Steve was perfectly in love with.
"I'm sorry, darling," said Steve, giving his boyfriend a kiss on
the forehead. "I wish you would have seen the Howard I knew."
Steve pulled up a chair next to Tony's bed and sat down.
He watched Tony stroke the "puppy" on his lap, smiling. "Maybe
we can get a dog one day. Would you like that?" Steve asked,
imagining Tony holding a puppy away from his body, glaring at it
which caused Steve to laugh a little.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
It took Natalia awhile to find Dante, especially because it was
raining, but she finally spotted him.
She landed behind him in an ally way. She quickly changed her
appearance the her normal self which Dante had never seen
before. Natalia walked over to him, feeling more horrible for
what she did with every step she took.
"You need to be careful. You might catch a cold, old timer," she
said, smiling slightly. She was happy to see him again. It was
kind of funny who she didn't realize how much she missed Dante
till she saw him. It was true, she did need him. She needed to
protect this "father" since she couldn't protect her real one.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned, pointing at his lap -- which, you know, in his
eyes, a dog was sitting on. "Can't we keep this one?" he asked,
sitting up, and suddenly growled. "I hate this thing," he said,
pointing to his neck brace. In one dramatic, smooth movement, he
suddenly pulled in off of him, sighing when his head was free to
move around. "See, the doctors say that I could probably hurt
myself if I took if off, but I'm so messed up in the head
already I don't really thing anybody would notice." He shrugged,
and handed the discarded item to Steve. "Here -- souvenir," he
explained, and then suddenly turned his head, frowning down at
his lap. "Dog's gone," Tony said sadly, taking up that little
kid voice that said I'm trying to be strong. His lip trembled
slightly.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante turned his head at the sound of a familiar voice, confused
when he thought he was staring at the wrong face. But, no, he
realized, same face. Just... different hair. No wings. It was
her, but it was... not. She was normal. Or, at least, she looked
like it.
"Natalia," Dante said -- he should've sounded bitter, but his
voice was full of nothing but warmth... and, surprise, of
course. "I see you've... swapped in your wings," he said, and
tilted his head curiously, brow furrowed. "I pray that this is
not permanent?"
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve frowned at the neck brace in his hand, debating if he
should put it back around Tony's neck for his safety. He set it
down on the table, figuring he would be alright since some of
his own blood rushed through Tony's veins.
He looked at Tony who looked quite sad now that his "dog" was
gone. "It's okay, Tony," said Steve with a tiny smile. "He's
happy..."
Steve could kind of tell that Tony was returning back to
normally, slowly. Pretty soon they could go home and sleep
peacefully together. Tomorrow morning however, Steve was going
to go somewhere for tango lessons.
#Post#: 30--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:40 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia had expected Dante to be bitter, possibly even ignore
her, but his voice was filled with warmth instead.
She laughed a little at Dante's question. "Of course you don't
want it to be permanent." Natalia shook her head. "This is what
I looked like before James changed me."
Saying James's name out loud made her feel terrible. Not just
because of what happened to Dante, but also because of what she
did to James... to herself. She knew now that she didn't like
James like that. Natalia forgave him, but wouldn't love him
anytime soon if at all.
"Dante I'm so sorry for hitting you," she whispered, looking
into his familiar eyes. "I'm sorry for everything, actually,"
she continued before slowly wrapping her arms around Dante for a
hug, filling her with warmth in the freezing cold.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Yeah," Tony sighed, sitting with his legs criss-crossed and
putting his chin in his hand. "I guess." He looked very pouty.
Suddenly, a thought seemed to occur to Tony, and he looked at
Steve, surprised. "You fractured my rib," he accused, but he
didn't look angry -- in fact, he was bestowing Steve with his
puppy-dog eyes, peeking up at him through his lashes. "It kinda
hurt," he said again, "But everyone was laughing, so I guess it
was kinda funny too."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned, giving Natalia a once-over again. She was very
pretty like this. Not like she hadn't been pretty before, of
course, but she was just as nice, just as beautiful, which Dante
kind of hadn't expected. He'd heard that he looked better after
his powers were given, more powerful, more intimidating... It
kind of made him dislike James anymore, changing something that
didn't need to be changed.
Dante's eyes widened in surprise as Natalia hugged him. He
hesitated, but, eventually, wrapped very gentle arms around
Natalia, as well. It was... odd. He was pretty sure the last
person he'd hugged was his dying wife, so, to be frank, it'd
been a while. Which was kind of sad, if you thought about it.
"You do not have to apologize," Dante said, "Perhaps I acted a
little brashly. Breaking his leg was probably a little much."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve looked down at his hands on his lap in guilt. "I'm really
sorry, Tony. I didn't mean to fall or hurt you." He placed his
hand very gently on Tony's side where his ribs were, not wanting
to hurt him.
Steve suddenly looked up and smirked. "Now do you understand why
I don't like getting drunk?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
His face turned back to one of seriousness. "But like I said,
I'll make it up to you. I promise I will. I told you a long time
ago I didn't want to make love if one of us was drunk because I
want us to remember every special moment we have like that,
and... and I just screwed up, Tony. I really screwed up," he
said, his hand sliding down from Tony's side to rest on his hip
instead.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia smiled into Dante's trench coat as he hugged her back.
This is what it really felt like to have a family... to have
someone who cared for you. It felt nice. She hadn't remembered
being this happy in many, many years. To be honest, this was the
first time she had ever hugged someone and they hugged back. She
had tried many times to hug her father, but he would just shove
her away.
Surprisingly she felt a tear run down her face. No one had ever
cared for her as much as Dante did. Not even her mother.
She chuckled, pulling away from Dante's warm embrace to look at
his face. "He deserved that to be honest," she said, laughing.
She was never going to act that way to Dante anymore. She needed
him and she knew he needed her.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled softly, taking Steve's free hand in his, pressing
his lips against it. "I told you, goose," he chided, "Don't
apologize. I forgive you. Really. It was a party... I mean, it
was a party, right?" He suddenly looked confused, interlocking
his fingers with Steve's as if that would help him remember. "I
think it was," he assured himself, then grinned, yawned, and
laid back on the bed, looking very at peace.
"S'weird," Tony said, waving his hand in the are in some grand
gesture that could have meant anything. "This. You. Me. Us.
Like, I dunno, I just, sometimes, thinking back to, like,
however long ago when you walked it on me, all depressed over
Happy... I mean, Pepper, sorry, they're actually dating now, can
you believe it -- and I just think wow, I'd be dead right now if
it weren't for him. Isn't that crazy?" Tony looked over at
Steve, smirking, and nodded, as if to answer for him. "I think
that's pretty crazy. In, like, a fantastic kind of way."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante smirked as Natalia laughed, repressing a happy sigh.
Natalia was... well, she wasn't family. Dante's family was dead
as he had excepted that a long time ago. But she was as close as
Dante was going to get, and Dante loved her just as much, and,
you know, he'd kind of replaced Alice with her as his daughter.
Which sounded harsh, but it was hard to be alone -- and Natalia
was there to prevent that.
The rain continued, and a drop rolled down Dante's nose, landing
right in the center of Natalia's forehead. He chuckled quietly.
"Would you like to get out of the rain?" he suggested lightly,
and didn't wait for an answer before they were gone into time.
"How long has it been since you were here?" Dante asked,
sweeping his arm around time -- which, right now, looked kind of
like a tunnel.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve nodded along with Tony, lying his head on the side of the
bed and looking up at Tony, a small, sweet smile on his face.
"Kinda like us, huh? Crazy in a fantastic way." Steve closed his
eyes for a minute, remembering the night Steve had found Tony,
drunk and miserable.
"I would have never thought that something like this would
happen to me after I got out of that ice. I thought I would
always live in my small house made for one, all alone."
Steve opened his blue eyes to look back at Tony. "I really owed
Fury a lot. This would have never happened without him. I never
thought I'd be this happy," he continued, sitting up and leaning
up to give his boyfriend a kiss.
"I know I've said this before a thousand times, but you truly
are perfect." Steve kissed Tony again, a little longer this
time. Being with Tony.... It just made Steve the happiest man in
the universe.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked around at the vortex of time before looking
straight ahead.
"Feels like I'm in here all the time the way I think about the
past," she mumbled, thoughtfully. How long had it been, really?
Six years? It didn't seem that long ago.
Natalia sighed, looking back at Dante. "I kissed him. James,
that is. I really regret it now, but... I don't know. Maybe it
was my way of saying that I forgave him. I've just had so many
feelings and thoughts lately that I don't know how I feel."
Natalia had always been confused and somewhat corrupted. She
never truly knew how she felt. It really sucked to have so many
things going on in your head.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grinned into kiss, one gentle hand resting on Steve's face.
"Mm, I've got to say," he said dreamily, "I think I've got a
new-found respect for Fury." His lips reshaped on Steve's a
million times over, but it wasn't crazy or urgent or wild -- it
was just slow, constant, calm, even. When Tony pulled away, he
smiled softly.
"Only perfect with you," he mumbled, eyelids drooping, and then
frowned. "Is this stuff s'posed to make you tired. Cause I'm
tired and I dunno why..." he gave a yawn, rubbed his eyes, and
then, surprisingly, winced. "Oh," he said, "I-I think it puts
you to sleep when the painkillers start wearing off."
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante frowned as Natalia admitted to kissing James. He wasn't
exactly angry, but he certainly disapproved. "That is okay," he
said, and was surprised to find that he meant it. I meant, he
wasn't happy about it, of course, but he could deal as long as
it didn't happen again. He'd kind of expected it, anyways. "I
wouldn't forgive him, but, I supposed I am not you." He sighed,
looking particularly somber. "Perhaps that it my flaw. I cannot
let go. And time only makes it worse.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as him and Tony kissed. They had never been so...
perfect in their kissing. It just felt so right, like their lips
were puzzle pieces, finally fitting together. Then again,
nothing in the world could really compare to this except
perfection. Steve wasn't even sure if that was a worthy enough
word for it anymore.
Steve chuckled softly as he watched Tony rub his eyes, getting
sleepy. He nodded before giving Tony one final soft, sweet, and
gentle kiss. His hand that was on Tony's hip, coming up to be
placed on the side of his boyfriend's face, rubbing his cheek
with his thumb. "Then go to sleep, I'll be right here when you
wake," he assured him, taking both of his hands to hold the one
of Tony's closest to him.
"Goodnight, Tony. I love you," he whispered, giving Tony's hand
a light squeeze.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia sighed a somewhat happy sigh. "I find that keeping
grudges doesn't get you anywhere, it just makes things worse.
Once you forgive someone, there's not much left to worry about."
She knew forgiving was hard for Dante. His wife had been taken
away from him after all and Dante wasn't the most forgiving
person. Yet, he managed to forgive her, and that was always a
start.
Natalia thought back to when she killed all those scientists.
She wished she would have just forgiven them instead of killing
them. Now she had to live with the fact that she had killed five
people. Natalia had even killed more people after that, but that
was because she had no other option. She didn't want to kill
anyone. She hated killing, but when you're a superhero, there
comes a time where you have to make a choice between killing
someone, or getting killed.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed, looking to Steve with a tired smile. "You better
hope I don't find that chair empty when I wake up," Tony said,
closing his eyes. Darkness crept up into his mind, dragging him
into sleep. "Or I'll... um... I'll..." He couldn't really
remember what they were talking about anymore. He guessed it
didn't matter. Steve's hands were warm.
Tony drifted.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante chose not to answer Natalia, only drop his head and stare
at his feet. He had long since stopped trying to understand the
complexity of anyone else's mind -- time was the only other
thing he was good at. But Natalia was probably right -- it was
better to forgive. To forget. Unfortunately, the only thing that
faded to Dante was faces. But history stayed. Memories stayed.
Pain stayed. Always.
"What's that?" said Dante suddenly, staring at something not
entirely visible. They stopped flying, and Dante stepped closer
to the side of the tunnel, peering intently. "There," he said,
motioning to what looked like a tiny little ripple. But he knew
what it was -- it was a tear. A rip in time. And he'd made
enough to know that they were not very easy to do on accident.
"I didn't make this," he growled, backing away, looking hostile.
Dante wasn't that careless -- he always sealed his holes. This
was the work of... someone else. But if there were anyone else
with his abilities, Dante didn't know of them.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled, watching Tony drift off to sleep mid-sentence.
"Don't worry Tony... you got me," he whispered, not sure if Tony
could hear him or not.
He watched Tony's face become one of complete and utter
calmness. Steve lifted Tony's hands to his lips before lying his
head on the side of Tony's bed.
Steve wasn't really tired, so he thought about things. Things
like the way life use to be for Steve before he had met Tony,
meaningless. Then he thought about the way life was after he had
met Tony, happy. Finally, he thought of the way things are now
and when he and Tony first admitted their love for one another,
indescribably perfect.
With that last thought, Steve drifted off a well, incredibly
happy.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia followed behind Dante to look at strange thing in the
time vortex. When Dante said he didn't make it, Natalia looked
at him with worry.
"Then what did make it?" she wondered out loud, glancing back at
the ripple.
She studied the thing a little more before turning back to
Dante. "Is it dangerous or something?" she asked, not really
understanding all the things that go on in a time vortex.
However, Dante didn't seem to happy about it, so neither was
Natalia.
He knew time more than anybody, so she trusted him when it came
to these things.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony woke up to the sound of a door being lightly knocked. He
opened his eyes, blearily, to find Natasha standing quietly in
the doorway.
"Hi, Tony."
"Is this important?" he asked irritably, rubbing sleep as best
he could from his eyes. "Because, this is..." he glanced toward
the window, and then wince as his side protested. "This is not
optimal waking hours."
"Um, yeah, kinda..." Natasha started. "We figured, you know,
we'd better go home, if you guys are sleeping here. Um, Clint
drove your Ferrari here, so you can get home that way... also,
the doctors didn't want to make you freak out by putting your
brace back on, but they said that if you moved your head too
much your spinal cord might snap."
"Oh," said Tony, making sure to add lots of fake cheer. "That's
just f---ing dandy." Something else strikes him, and he groans
in despair. "Wait, Clint drove my car?" But when he turns back,
Natasha's already gone.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
"Who," Dante corrected, "Who made it." He stood back up
straight, looking at Natalia worriedly. "And, no," he added,
answering her next question, "This is not dangerous. Time is
dangerous. This is deadly." Dante was troubled -- he didn't like
this, not one little bit. Anyone powerful enough to create a
tear would be powerful enough to seal it. This was not
accidental.
They started moving again, flying slowly past the ripple and
then picking up speed. "Where would you like to go?" Dante asked
absently -- it wouldn't be good for either of them to be
traveling here much longer.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve awoke at the sound of voices. Slowly, he opened his eyes,
yawning.
"Is it morning?" he asked Tony, stretching and causing his back
to pop a few times. Steve turned his head to look out the
window, seeing that it was still night.
He had been sleeping quite peacefully even though the position
he had been in would appear uncomfortable to most people. He had
been sleeping on a chair with his head lying on the side of a
bed, but he had remained holding Tony's hand which made
everything more comforting.
Steve lied his head back on the side of the bed, sighing
quietly. "What was all that talking about? All I heard was that
your spinal cord might snap and that Clint drove your car," he
mumbled, looking as concerned as he could at the moment.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia looked ahead of her, trying to forget about the ripple.
Who would do this? Who in there right mind would leave a tear in
time?
Although Natalia didn't know that much about how time worked and
such, she did know that time was not something you should really
mess with. Even them saving Steve and Tony was dangerous.
Whoever did this was defiantly trying to stir something up...
but why?
Natalia shook her head, realizing that Dante had asked her a
question. "Um... Home. Home would be nice," she replied somewhat
absentmindedly. At least when they got home they could relax a
little. Back home in their tiny apartment in Cali... away from
Malibu and all its troubles. Away from James and the
Avengers.... The Avengers....
Natalia looked back at Dante, a frown still on her face.
"Dante... I'm going to try to join The Avengers," she told him,
looking away in fear of seeing displeasure in his eyes. She just
wanted to feel like her... other self had a purpose. She just
wanted to be somewhere surrounded by friends (which she didn't
really have yet, but she would work on it). She just wanted to
feel like she belonged.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled softly as Steve woke, squeezing his hand softly. The
smile was short lived, though, for he look out the window again
to answer Steve's question again and frowned. "If by morning you
mean way too early in the morning, then, yes, it is," he said,
and turned back.
"And... uh... that was Natasha. She and the others are leaving,
I guess we're not really the life of the party anymore. And, um,
you know, she said if I move around too much my back could snap
in two." He seemed terribly unconcerned about dying in this way,
in fact, he seemed more concerned by his next statement. "Clint
drove my car here," he said, pouting slightly.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante turned his head back to Natalia as she announced her plan
to join he Avengers. Surprisingly, he didn't seemed concerned by
this. He even actually gave a little smirk. "Yes," he said, "I
figured you might." This was something Dante had thought about
quite a lot, and something that he found he had become
surprisingly okay with. The only thing that really bothered him
was the fact that it would mean Natalia couldn't spend so much
time with him, but he'd kind of thought of a solution to that,
as well. Or, rather, Natalia had, a while ago. Dante merely
agreed to it now.
"I have... also been thinking..." he added slowly, "That perhaps
Stark would not be... entirely capable of directing such a team.
Perhaps they would need someone... more... abrasive... as
director." He stood, looking very important, but didn't let on
much more than that.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled at Tony's reaction to Clint driving his car,
sitting up and leaning over to give Tony a nice, long kiss. "I'm
sure your car is fine, Tony. Actually, I think it was quite
thoughtful of Clint," he whispered, only an inch away from
Tony's lips before closing the distance again.
He broke away and leaned back in his chair, looking at his
boyfriend. "I should probably let you go back to sleep." Steve
lightly squeezed Tony's hand. "Unless you think it would be
alright to go home," he added as an afterthought. Steve wasn't
really a huge fan of hospitals anymore. They seemed to be going
to hospitals too much for comfort.
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia quickly turned her head back to Dante, surprised. She
smiled, happy about the words he was saying.
"Dante, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you are
thinking about taking Stark's place," she said, raising an
eyebrow.
She didn't want to leave Dante alone at home while she went out
and fought crime with The Avengers if they excepted her. If
Dante did take Stark's place, she wouldn't have to worry about
him being alone. Dante was very capable of replacing Fury and
taking all the pressure that came with it. Dante was pretty good
with pressure.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony wasn't really planning on forgiving Clint for driving his
car -- he figured, you know, once he got better, he would go and
kick the guy's ass. But Steve was kind of... you know... right
there... and Tony couldn't help but think, between kisses, that
he was feeling a bit more forgiving than usual.
"Oh, yes," he said brightly at Steve's next comment, sitting up
and then wincing as pain laced through his ribs. Okay, he would
have to be careful. "Home, please, now." Hospitals were probably
on of Tony's least-favorite places. They were clean and orderly
and very, very organized -- it was disgusting.
- - -
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante, despite himself, gave a small smile, but still didn't
look at Natalia. Instead, he stepped forward suddenly, hand
lightly touching Natalia's arm, and within a moment they were
back inside a small, dingy flat in Cali, Columbia.
"Stark is strong," Dante said, a bit lightheaded as he glanced
around he and Natalia's home. Is was late. "But he is no Fury.
Neither am I, of course, but... well, I do look a bit like him,
don't I?" And if Dante making a joke wasn't shocking enough, him
actually volunteering to be the director of SHIELD certainly
was.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve frowned, watching Tony wince in pain. And to think, it was
because of Steve. However, he knew if he apologized to Tony
again he might get mad, so Steve kept all his guilt inside.
"Okay, but I'm driving," he said, running a hand through Tony's
hair and bringing back around to rest on his boyfriend's face.
Steve thought about Tony having to walk to the car, wincing in
pain as he did so and stumbling slightly. He slid his hand down
Tony's neck and arm until it wrapped around his back gently
before taking his other arm and wrapping it underneath Tony's
legs, picking him up very carefully.
Steve walked him to the car and set him in the passenger's set
before shutting the door and going to the driver's seat. He shut
the door and started the car before looking at Tony. "You go
ahead and get some rest, I'll wake you when we get home."
✣Natalia Stone✣
"You shouldn't give up on life.
If you're still here,
You still have purpose."
Natalia blinked a couple of times when they landed in their
small apartment. She had to admit, she had really missed the
place. At home, there never seemed to be any problems, troubles,
or worries. Of course, Natalia now had a lot of things on her
mind she had to sort through.
She smiled at Dante-- and wow, was he joking? Natalia laughed
and nodded. "The resemblance is uncanny," she said, returning a
joke. Man, it was good to be home.
Slowly, she yawned and stretched. "Well, if you'll excuse me I
think I'm going to turn in for the night," said Natalia, giving
Dante a small pat on the shoulder before making her way to her
room.
The window was still a jar from where she had flown out to go
rescue Tony, filling the room with cold air and getting the
floor damp from the rain. She let out a sigh as she closed the
window and collapsed on her bed. It had been a very long and
tiring day.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grumbled to himself as Steve picked him up, something about
feeling like a bride, but hooked his arm around Steve's chest
and resting his head on his chest anyways. It was a mystery how
they got out of the hospital without being seen, but, hey, it's
not like Tony really care. He was just glad to be out.
He reclined sleepily in the passenger seat as Steve placed him
inside his car, yawning heavily, unsure when he became so tired.
He looked toward Steve as he climbed in, and gave a tiny smile,
reaching to grab the other man's hand. "Hey," he said quietly,
reading the other man's expression like a book. "Don't blame
yourself, okay? I'm gonna smack Thor upside the head as soon as
I get better, but, you know, no regret. The party was fun while
it lasted." He paused, looking as if he were going to say
something else, and then added, as an afterthought, "And, uh,
don't crash my car." With that, Tony closed his eyes, and once
again, drifted.
- - -
#Post#: 31--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:41 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: D A N T E ↭ G R E Y E ::}
"Time does not go.
Time stays; People go"
Dante didn't reply as Natalia retire to bed -- he didn't need
to, really. He did, however, need sleep, even if he didn't try
to get to that immediately. Instead, he stood staring out a
window, frowning, thinking to himself. He'd neglected to mention
that every tear a person leaves in time gives off a signature, a
signature of them, as a person. The only other person he'd met
who could travel through time had been Curio, the man who, Dante
had left in the burning research building so long ago. The
signature did not belong to Curio, though -- Dante had defeated
him long ago, as well.
But the signature was... familiar. That was what worried Dante.
It was so close, but so distant, fully formed but untouchable,
forbidden. It was like the feeling of something being just out
of reach, just on the tip of your tongue, but for the life of
him, Dante couldn't place it. But, finally, drowsiness pushed
these worrisome thoughts out of his mind, and he, finally,
slept.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled as Tony spoke and held his hand. "You're too good
for me," he whispered to his love before Tony drifted off to
sleep. Tony always seemed to know how to brighten Steve's
spirits... even if it was just a little. Steve still blamed
himself for getting drunk and doing all those things to Tony...
especially fracturing his ribs like an idiot.
Steve drove to Tony's fairly quickly, surprised at how close the
hospital was to his house. He pulled up in the driveway and was
about to wake Tony up until he saw his peaceful sleeping
face.... He couldn't wake him up.
Carefully and quietly, Steve closed his car door and went around
to Tony's side. He scooped the man back up in his arms as gently
as possible, making sure not to wake him. Tony was quite light,
making it easier for Steve to carry him though the house and up
the stairs. This time, without falling. Of course, a car would
seem light to Steve.
When Steve had reached the bedroom, he lied Tony on the bed like
he was a small, sleeping child. He leaned down and gave Tony the
lightest kiss on the lips before going to get dressed into his
night clothes.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony woke up only once after falling asleep in the car, and that
was when Steve set him down on the bed. He would've changed into
pajamas or something, really, but he was already wearing those
hospital pants that were close enough, anyways, and he was
really tired, so he didn't. Instead, he stretched out on the
mattress luxuriously, taking up more space than he probably
meant to, and with a happy little sigh, fell back into sleep.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go to bed.
However, the sight he saw on the bed was not what he had
expected. There lied Tony, spread out on the bed and leaving
hardly any room for Steve to lie down on.
Steve smiled a little, chuckling quietly. There was no way he
could push a man with fractured ribs on his side without hurting
him, so Steve made his way to the guest bedroom, but not before
taking the sheet that had been kicked at the bottom of the bed
and sliding it over Tony.
Once Steve was in the guest bedroom he had slept in most of the
night he stayed at Tony's, he was about to lie down, but stopped
himself. He wondered who Tony would react to Steve not being in
the room when he woke up? Then he wondered if he himself could
even sleep good without Tony in the room. Probably not. He hated
not sleeping with Tony, so he grabbed a blanket and pillow and
made his way back to Tony's room.
He dropped the pillow to the floor at the edge of Tony's bed
before lying there and throwing the blanket over him. It wasn't
very comfortable, but it was worth it because he was doing it
for Tony.
Very slowly, he drifted off into a somewhat peaceful, but then
again uncomfortable, sleep.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Wake up, Tony."
Tony sat up suddenly at the sound of a familiar voice, dark and
unsettling even though it appeared he was in no immediate
danger. "Pepper?" he asked, rubbing his tired eyes. He found he
in a corner, sittling calmly, face illuminated by the glow on
moonlight through the window. "What are you doing here?"
"He wanted to say goodbye."
"Who...?"
Suddenly, the scene changed.
Tony was falling away from the mothership, watching the flames
blossom, but instead of being trapped in the dark, he fell back
through the portal, sped right down through the atmosphere. And
he actually expected it to play out like it actually happened,
for once, expected the Hulk to come flying from a building and
save him, but the time passed when he realized that he'd been
falling just a bit too long for that. Wildly, he twisted, just
in time to catch sight of the Avengers' horrified expressions as
he fell, unstoppable.
He found Steve's face, and then saw only darkness.
Tony awoke for real this time, eyes flying wide and breath
catching in his throat. The bed was empty.
"Steve?" he said to the seemingly empty room. The windows
brightened, dark tiny disappearing, but even in the morning sun
Tony could see nothing, no one. "Steve?" he said again, voice
strained. He turned wildly, panic settling in his belly, heart
thudding in his chest, hands gripping the sheets as he came to a
bone-chilling realization.
He was alone.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve's eyes flew open at the sound of Tony calling his name,
voice strained. He quickly sat up and turned his head to see
Tony, terrified and gripping the sheets.
Quickly, Steve scrambled up and climbed into bed on his knees
and got in front of Tony. Not knowing what was wrong, he placed
his hands on Tony's shoulders, looking directly into the man's
eyes. "Tony! What's wrong? What happened?" he asked, worried.
Steve had only seen him like this once before the first night he
stayed when Tony had a... bad dream. "Was it another bad dream?"
Steve asked, pulling the man close and wrapping his arms around
his waist. He felt like he already knew the answer, but just
wanted to make sure.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Suddenly, Steve was there, arms warm and eyes deep, and Tony let
him relax slightly, though the tremble of his shoulders was bit
harder to stop. "Um, yeah..." he breathed against Steve's
shoulder, eyes closed. "It was just... um... you... and... me
and... Pepper and then... um... just..." He shook his head,
pushing himself away from Steve, curling his legs up to his
chest.
"God," he started angrily, pressing the heels of his palms
against his eyes, until spots of color bloomed under his
eyelids. "I feel like such a little kid. I mean, I'm supposed to
be... Iron Man, you know? And I'm still afraid of monsters under
the bed... how's someone like that supposed to be a hero?"
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve frowned as Tony pushed him away, and listen intently. He
hated it when Tony cut himself down, even if it was rare for him
to do so.
Steve knew exactly what it was like to be afraid of a dream.
Steve always had the fear in the back of his mind that he was
going to dream about being in World War II again.
"Shut up," said Steve, surprising himself. "I'm sorry," he
apologized quickly, taking one of Tony's hands in his own. "It's
just... you shouldn't talk about yourself like that. Everyone
gets scared, Tony. Especially when you are a superhero."
Steve lightly squeezed Tony's hand before continuing. "Tony,
when I was in a coma, I had a dream that I woke up and I was
back in World War II. Peggy was there and told me that I had
been in a coma and that you were just a dream. Howard, your
father, came in and told me the same thing.... I eventually
believed them. Tony, I was terrified. I thought I'd never be
with you again... I thought you didn't exist." Steve sighed,
remembering the horrible dreams. "I'm still afraid that one day
I'll dream that again.... I'm still afraid that I'll believe
that you are just a dream..."
Steve squeezed Tony's hand again before whispering, "Come here,"
and leaning in to give Tony a loving kiss, letting him know he
was alright.
He broke away, and looked back into Tony's eyes. "You don't have
to be afraid anymore, Tony. Neither do I. Being afraid doesn't
make us any less of a hero than we already are. You'll always
be... the greatest hero to me. The one that everyone needs, the
one that they love, the one that they deserve," he told him,
repeating the words he had said to Tony the night he found Tony
a drunk mess because Pepper had left him. "You got me,
remember?" he whispered, rubbing Tony's cheek with his thumb.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony's head snapped up as Steve told him to shut up, and he
glared, surprised at his boyfriend's lack of empathy. Of course,
then he apologized, again, and Tony relaxed a bit, though he
couldn't help but feel a bit irked, he supposed.
And then, of course, Steve started talking even more,
recollecting his coma-induced dreams, and Tony was... kind of
speechless. What could he say to that kind of thing? What could
he say when Steve kissed him, or repeated a choice of familiar
words that tugged at the strings in Tony's heart. Nothing,
that's what he could say, absolutely nothing. So he simply
stared, slightly open-mouthed, eyes search Steve's face all wide
and lost and still a little scared because that was something he
couldn't help at all.
"Yeah," he finally breathed, "I remember." He leaned in, kissing
Steve again, slow and even and sweet. He pulled away, rested his
forehead against Steve's, sighing, and then cast his eyes toward
the blanket and pillow that were on the floor. "Did you sleep
down there?" he mumbled softly, changing the subject before they
delved any deeper into it.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve closed his eyes as Tony began to kiss him like he did back
in the hospital, perfectly. Steve sighed in utter happiness when
the kiss broke and Tony rested his forehead on Steve's. When was
Tony ever going to realize he was perfect?
"Yeah..." breathed Steve in reply to Tony's question. "I didn't
want to wake you in the car so I carried you in here and lied
you down on the bed before getting ready to go to bed. When I
came back... Well... you were kind of taking the whole bed up. I
was going to sleep in the guestroom, but didn't want to be
without you so I grabbed a pillow and blanket and slept on the
floor in here," he said, telling him everything.
Steve felt like there was something he needed to remember, but
couldn't think what it was.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Oh," Tony said as Steve explained, frowning. "You didn't need
to do that. I wouldn't have minded if you woke me up." He looked
trouble, but the look on his face was quickly replaced with a
sly smile, and he leaned forward, kissing Steve again, this time
more playful, energetic. "I'll tell you what, though, we can
make up for lost bed-time right now, hm?" he suggested easily,
clambering onto Steve's lap, cupping Steve's face in his hands,
and kissing him once more to emphasize his point.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve let a tiny moan escape from the back of his throat as Tony
began to kiss him. He would love nothing more than to make up
for the lost be-time. Make up.... Those words echoed in Steve's
mind as if they were trying to tell him something.
'Tango lessons,' Steve remembered, grudgingly pulling away from
Tony's sweet lips. "I just remembered I have to go somewhere,"
he said, hoping out of the bed. Tony was not going to be happy.
Steve walked into the closet and grabbed some clean clothes
before stepping out and getting dressed. He quickly went into
the bathroom and began to fix his hair. "Do you want me to cook
you some breakfast before I go or do you just want JARVIS to fix
you something or do you want me to pick something up for you?"
Steve asked as an afterthought.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned as he was deposited unceremoniously back on the
bed, watching Steve hop about disappear inside the bathroom,
twittering about places to be and breakfast. Tony stood up a bit
confused, and blearily made his way over to the bathroom. "Uh...
no, I'm fine..." Tony said lightly, scratching the back of his
head as he gave Steve a scrutinizing gaze.
Had the man said anything about going anywhere before? Tony felt
like he would've remembered it... "Um, sorry, where exactly are
you going, again?" he asked lamely, feeling like he was being
way too obsessive but, hey, Tony like his stuff. He didn't like
people touching it. He didn't like it going places without him.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve turned to Tony who was now in the bathroom with him.
"Nowhere important," he replied simply.
He actually felt a little bad for leaving Tony. This would be
the first time he left Tony without being forced away from him
ever since they got together. He wouldn't be gone that long,
hopefully.
Steve set down the hairbrush and walked over to Tony, wrapping
his arms around his waist. "I promise I won't be gone long.
Perhaps when I get back we could make up for that lost
bed-time," he suggested, giving Tony a chaste kiss. "I love you,
darling," he whispered before going downstairs.
Steve stopped before opening the door, looking up at the
ceiling. "JARVIS, please make sure Tony eats something. Also,
make sure he doesn't move around too much with his fractured
ribs, thanks," he said, smiling before leaving.
•••
It took Steve awhile to find a place that offered tango lessons
but finally, he came across one. He stepped inside the small
building to find a very familiar woman with short brown hair and
bright green eyes.
She looked up from the papers on her desk, eyes widening.
"Captain America! What an unexpected surprise! Do you remember
me? Barbara Fenton?" She stood up from her desk and made her way
over in a few, swift movements.
Tony raised an eyebrow in confusion until it hit him. "You...
You're the girl I dance with at the charity banquet!" he
exclaimed, a little embarrassed. The last time he saw her Tony
was shooing her away after Steve had been stepping on her feet.
As if reading his mind, Barbra laughed and said, "Don't worry
about what happened at the banquet. No harm done. What can I do
for you?" she asked, smiling.
Steve smiled back before sighing. "Can you keep a secret?" With
Barbra's nod he continued. "Well... Tony and I are boyfriends
now... I know it sounds weird, but it's true. I did something
stupid recently, and I want to make it up to him by tangoing
with him," he told her.
Barbra stared at Steve, surprise written all over her face.
"Wow... I wasn't expecting that...." She shrugged before smiling
again. "But love works in mysterious ways! I'd love to teach you
how to tango! Doing this for Mr. Stark is like something out of
a movie!" she said, looking quite excited. "I'm thinking you
should dance to El Tango de Roxanne. It's romantic and sexy,"
she said with a small giggle. "Come on! Let's get started!" She
took Steve's hand and led him to the dance floor in the back.
Steve spent about an hour or so, learning a few steps to the
tango Barbra was teaching him. He was doing pretty well, but
Barbra said it still might take a few days for him to learn it
all. When he was through for the day, they exchanged phone
numbers in case they needed to schedule. He was about to pay
Barbra for the lessons, but she insisted it was on the house.
Finally, Steve got to leave and started to go back home.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed as Steve left -- this was bound to be a long day,
now. What was he even supposed to do? Eat? Please, yeah, right.
Sleep? Nope, might dream again. Work on stuff? His muse was
gone. Boo-hoo. Poor Tony. Baby.
Thankfully, though, he could save his moping for later, for at
that moment his phone rung (and was it weird that he always had
his cellphone in his pocket, at all times?), and Tony actually
was not that nervous to find that the caller was Pepper. They
were friends now, at least, and Tony was assured that there were
no hard feelings about anything. "Hey Pepper," he said brightly.
"Tony, hi. Are you holding up okay?"
"Better than last night," he said, putting the phone on speaker
so he could get dressed. It's just faster, okay, who cares if
it's awkward. "Are you? Doing better?"
"I would be," Pepper said, "But Happy's been off on business for
the week and I've had to deal with an arrogant billionaire with
weird friends who like to kill themselves with magical mead."
"Yeah, that's still a little weird," said Tony, "The whole
you-and-Happy thing. Can you, maybe, not mention that anymore?"
"Oh, shut up," Pepper said fondly, and then, of course, went
down to business. "You remember that you promised a press
conference, right?" she asked. Tony hesitated before he admitted
that, yes, he did.
"Mmhm," he said as he picked up the phone. "I could do that
today, actually. It'll be Steve's punishment for leaving so
early in the morning."
"Geez, you're like an old married couple."
"Maybe we will be." Tony paused as he realized what he'd said,
and frowned at the frightening hugeness of it. "You know,
someday. Far, far, far away."
"See? You're sweet when you want to be," said Pepper, and Tony
could just about hear the smile in her voice. "So, where is he?
Steve? He just, what, disappeared?"
"No, Tony said, now rifling through the kitchen cabinets
because, hey, he was kind of hungry if he thought about it.
"Just, uh, you know. Errands or something. He didn't tell me,
exactly, what he was doing."
Pepper paused for a minute, which, admittedly, made Tony a
little worried. "You don't think that's a little... um, weird?"
she asked softly. "I mean, sorry, I'm sure he's great, but I
don't want you getting hurt or anything."
Tony chewed thoughtfully on a Bugle, which was just fine for
breakfast, thank you very much. So he wasn't the only one who
thought this whole Steve thing was suspicious, then? Hm.
"Steve's not... like that," he said finally, "Besides, I'm
pretty sure the 90-year-old virgin couldn't really play up
anybody else, you should've seen him the first time I tried
to--"
"Um, okay, Tony. Enough."
"Right. Sorry." Tony wasn't sorry at all. "That it, then? Press
conference? Show my face? Admit my love for a man?"
"Please try and be a little more eloquent than that."
"No promises," Tony said cheerily.
"Goodbye, Tony. I'll see you later."
"Yep, sounds good, give Happy a smooch for me, I haven't seen
him in--" The line went dead. "Touchy," Tony said to himself,
and grinned.
The rest of the morning passed dully -- Tony did find the
drawing that Steve had done of him, though, and stared at it for
a while, letting himself be quietly impressed by his other
half's skill. Nothing really compared to Tony's real face, of
course, I mean, please, but it was a fantastic likeness. Tony
finished a bag of Bugles, tinkered with a few things in the lab,
set a few things on fire, whacked Dummy upside his great dumb
arm with a wrench when he started extinguishing everything in
sight (JARVIS told him not to strain himself, by word of Steve,
Tony was sure), and because, hey, he was also surprisingly
tired, too, fell asleep on the couch again by the time noon
rolled around, feeling a lot more relaxed and a lot less
suspicious than he had in the morning.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve walked up the driveway and was about to knock on the door,
but heard the little 'click' of the lock before he did so. "Oh!
Thanks, JARVIS," he said, feeling more at home.
Steve walked inside and walked into the living room to see Tony
asleep on the couch. He smirked as he quietly made his way over
to his sleeping boyfriend. Now was the time to make up for the
lost bed-time... even if Tony already looked to be doing
something like that.
Steve climbed on top of Tony, making sure to be careful not to
wake him just yet. Then, he began to plant open-mouthed kisses
all over Tony's neck, working his way up to Tony's lips, hoping
he wouldn't startle Tony too much.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony had been having a wonderful dream -- it had been a little
flowery, there was a lot of dancing and puppies and it had been
vaguely familiar but Tony had no idea where he'd seen it all
before. He came to the sudden realization, though, that he could
feel something tickling at his consciousness, something warm and
wet and entirely too pleasant that suddenly had his heart
beating like a rabbit's.
"Jesus f---ing Christ," Tony muttered as he came to, nerves on
end when he found out exactly what had woken him up. Okay, so,
it wasn't like this wasn't a good way to be woken up, but only
woken up once before with someone sitting on his lap and that
had been much less fun that this. "I think Honey, I'm home
would've been sufficient," he said, but his hand was already in
Steve's hair, pulling him up so Tony could plant a kiss on his
lips.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
"Mm," said Steve as Tony kissed him, smiling. He pulled away,
looking into Tony's eyes and his smile growing. "But I'm sure
you're enjoying this much more than you would have enjoyed that,
right?" he asked, jokingly before putting a hand behind Tony's
neck to pull him closer for a heated kiss.
Steve pulled away so he could take Tony's shirt off. Steve
scooted father down the couch so he could kiss around Tony's
arch reactor. "I missed you," Steve mumbled against Tony's skin
before very lightly kissing Tony's side that had the fractured
ribs. He still felt extremely bad for what he had done, but now
wasn't the time to feel bad, to was a time to feel good.... very
good.
Steve lowered his arm that had been next to Tony's head to move
it down to rest on his boyfriend's hip, unintentionally brushing
his other side as he did so. He smiled as he continued to kiss
Tony's side, lightly to not cause any pain.... and maybe also to
tease a bit.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Steve--" Tony started, as his boyfriend kissed lightly down his
side. It could have been mistaken for pleasure, that slight
strain in his voice, like he was trying to hold something much
bigger, but, no. And Tony tried to hold it in, he really did,
but as much as he bit down on his lip and squirmed he couldn't
really stop it when Steve's arm brushed his side.
The laugh sputtered weakly out from Tony's lips, shoulders
trembling as he tried to contain himself, but, oh god, Tony was
ticklish. "Steve," Tony said again, little, breathless laughs
escaping him. He squirmed away, because, yeah, he was laughing
but he didn't really know anyone who liked being tickled to
death. "Sorry," he added, grinning stupidly, still chuckling.
"Just, um... that tickled."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve thought that Tony was enjoying what he was doing to to his
sides, but when Tony started to laugh, Steve became a bit
confused.
When Tony told Steve he was ticklish, Steve couldn't help but
laugh a little. "You mean the Tony Stark is ticklish?!" he asked
laughing again before an evil grin spread across his face. The
kind of evil grin that hardly anyone had seen.
"Well, in that case..." Steve slowly reached out and began to
tickle Tony, laughing as he did so.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Okay, so, first off, Steve's grin was kind of scaring Tony, and
so was that hand reaching out toward him with all the terribly
wrong intentions. "No!" Tony squeaked, trying to struggle away,
but he was kind of pinned beneath Steve and it didn't worked at
all. "Steve, no!" he gasped between ridiculous little giggles
that didn't fit Tony at all, but that somehow only made it all
the better. He desperately attempted to swat Steve's hands away,
but when that didn't work, he reached for the nearest throw
pillow and thwacked it upside Steve's head. Okay, so, maybe that
was a weak offense, but his lungs were practically begging for
air and his ribs hurt from laughing so hard. I mean, at least it
was something, right?
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve continued to tickle and laugh as Tony giggled and
attempted to stop him.
Suddenly, Tony hit Steve with a pillow, causing him to stop
laughing and tickling his boyfriend. Steve tried to look hurt or
upset with Tony, but couldn't hold it in a he chuckled and threw
the pillow back at Tony, lifting another pillow in front of him
like it was a shield. He stood up and moved away from the sofa,
smiling as he did so.
It was amazing how such a heated moment could become so playful
and somewhat childish. Then again, who cared? It was fun.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony struggled off of the sofa and to his feet, clutching the
pillow like life support. It had saved him thus-far. "You," he
panted, breathless from the attack. "I'm going to... to..."
Alright, so, hit you with a pillow didn't sound very
threatening, but Tony did it anyways, aiming for Steve's arm,
intent to cause as much harm to a super soldier as possible
wtith a lump of fabric and feathers.
Sadly, his odds did not look good.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve laughed again as Tony threw another pillow, hitting his
arm a little harder.
"Two can play at that game," he chuckled, throwing the pillow he
had used as a shield at Tony's bare chest. He was having way too
much fun with this.
Steve quickly picked up the pillow Tony had just thrown at him,
and threw it back at Tony pretty hard, accidently hitting his
boyfriend in the face.
Steve's laughed stopped and his smile faded as he realized what
he had done. He walked over to Tony and cupped his face in his
hands. "Oh, I'm sorry, honey," he said, giving Tony a small kiss
on the lips.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony stumbled as his head was buffeted with another pillow,
stunned, slightly. He didn't even make sense of where Steve was
until he was right there, leaning in to kiss him. Of course,
Tony could never, never, never, resist a kiss, but he could damn
well frown afterwards.
"You're very mean," he protested, glaring, but even if he
sounded serious there was just that little ring in his tone of
voice that said he was, of course, joking. "You'd better do
something to make up for it," he said, and he didn't really have
a threat to go along with it, so he just added, "Or else," and
then leaned in for another kiss.
#Post#: 32--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:43 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled into the kiss before pulling away. "I can think of
a few ways to make it up," he said, putting his hands on Tony's
shoulders so he could set him down on the sofa.
Steve began to kiss Tony heatedly again, slowly pushing Tony
down to where he was lying on the sofa so Steve could resume his
position on top of him, not breaking the kiss. However, he broke
it after awhile so he could look into Tony's eyes and say, "I
really care about you, you know?" he said, meeting Tony's lips
again briefly, unable to resist. "And I really love you," he
added, kissing Tony again. "So I'm really sorry for leaving on
such short notice." Another kiss. "Sadly, I'm going to have to
leave again in the morning," Steve whispered before kissing Tony
and not stopping.
He wished that he had already known how to tango before he got
into that plane crash so he didn't have to leave.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony cursed himself for his curiosity, because this was nice,
and Tony really didn't have to ruin it by asking questions, but
his mind was just whirring with them. He couldn't help it. So,
grudgingly, frowning, he broke away from Steve, searching his
face for answers. "Where are you going off to?" he asked, and
almost scowled as suspicion creeped into his voice.
It was fair and it wasn't right to think something, anything bad
of Steve, especially when the man had been nothing but good to
him, all this time, nothing but faithful, through everything.
But Pepper's voice rang in his head, over and over, nagging him
irritably. Don't you think that's a little weird?
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve frowned as Tony asked again where he was going. He wanted
to tell Tony so bad because he was looking a little suspicious
and... oh god... He better not be thinking he was cheating on
him. Then again, would Tony really think that about him, because
Steve would never, ever think about cheating on the perfection
in front of him.
Steve placed a hand a the side of Tony's face, giving him a soft
smile. "Nowhere important," he repeated, calmly. Tony would find
out soon enough... hopefully. "Trust me," he whispered, leaning
down to kiss Tony slowly, constantly, and all together lovingly.
After awhile of kissing him, Steve couldn't help but have a
feeling that Tony was upset with him or something, so he broke
their lips apart. "Please tell me you aren't angry..." Steve
said, running a hand down Tony's chest to rest on his hip again.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"No!" Tony denied quickly, "No, Steve, I'm not angry... I
just--" He hesitated as he tried to find the words. He trusted
Steve. Of this, he was sure. He trusted him inexplicably,
wholly, and completely, on a near cellular level, and perhaps it
was just huma nature that was trying to betray Tony into
thinking like this.
Tony heaved a heavy sigh, putting a hand on the side of Steve's
face, pulling him in for another kiss. "Forget it," he mumbled,
"I'm acting like an obsessive teenage girl, sorry... It... it
doesn't matter. None of it matters. Only this matters."
And Tony was satisfied with his answer, perfectly content to
believe it too, at least for now, and he just really want to get
Steve's clothes off right now, but Pepper's voice rang in his
head again and he groaned, pulling himself away for a second
time. "Press conference," he said, and frowned. "I promised
Pepper. Today. Right now, I think."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled into yet another kiss, glad Tony wasn't thinking
anything badly of him.
Steve slid his hands down to work on Tony's zipper, but his
boyfriend's words stopped him and he groaned. I mean, he
literally groaned. "Can't we be a little late?" he asked-- and
wow, he was starting to sound like Tony.Oh well, who cared? He
had been looking forward to this all day, and he wasn't about to
give up without a fight. "It won't take that long," he pleaded,
still hardly believing the words that were spilling out of his
mouth.
So this is what Tony felt like when Steve made him stop...
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony fought back a whimper, because, wow, Steve begging, that
was, way too, entirely too, wow, um... wow. But his phone buzzed
in his pocket at that exact moment, and that was, no doubt,
Pepper, furiously texting him to tell him to get his ass over
there now.
"I know," he said, apologetic, "But you know how she is --
actually, you don't, I don't think you've met her yet, but, the
point being -- she's going to flay me alive if I'm not there and
probably do several worse things involving whatever creative
ideas she has up her sleeve, so it really wouldn't be wise to
refrain from... um... arriving... on time..." He babbled these
last words as he wiggled out from under Steve, sadly,
tortuously, and promised to himself that he would have to pay
Pepper back, somehow, later, for this. "Later," he promised, and
then added, as an afterthought, "Oh, and, uh, you have to come
too. Before you ask, yes, it's completely necessary."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve sighed, collapsing on the sofa once Tony had moved. "We
better later," he muttered, swearing to get revenge on Pepper
even if he didn't really know her, and, okay, he really had to
stop acting and thinking like this because he was just reminding
himself of Tony.
He sat up, raising an eyebrow and smiling at Tony. "Completely
necessary?" Steve shrugged and chuckled. "Very well."
Steve stood up, making his way upstairs and changing into a
suit. He wondered exactly why he had to come to this press
conference. Then again, he wasn't complaining because he wanted
to go with Tony anyway.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed as Steve went upstairs -- he had been oh, so close.
Grudgingly, he pulled out his phone, where there were at least
four, no, five, text messages awaiting him, all from Pepper, as
he had assumed, and he read them all with a tired kind of face.
Tony. Ur late.
I will set fire 2 all those u love.
U promised.
Coulson lives.
Sh-- that was mean sorry. Rhodeys here tho.
Tony was just about to try and reply to that mess, but of
course, he wasn't fast enough, and at that moment, Pepper called
him. Grumbling to himself, he took the call.
"Late, late, late.
"Yeah, I know, we're on our way, look, just--"
"You are late, Tony, and as of now I am officially holding a
grudge--"
"Oh, you know what? You can shut up, because me and Steve were
just--"
"Calm it, cowboy. No details. You have exactly five minutes
before I decide whether or not to feed your carcass to the
bears." Pepper really seemed to like hanging up on him lately.
Tony was actually kind of worried.
"Steve?" he called up the stairs, "Pepper is about to explode, I
think, so unless you want the press' meaty bits all of
television tomorrow morning, we should probably move it."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve was fixing his hair again before he heard Tony calling
him. Quickly, he went back downstairs to Tony.
"Sorry, honey. Sorry," he apologized, somewhat jogging into the
living room. "I'm ready to go now," he said, giving Tony a
small, sweet kiss.
Steve chuckled, feeling as though him and Tony were married or
something. He stopped right there because the thought of
marrying Tony was just too much wishful thinking right now. One
day he hoped for such a please, but he knew Tony probably wasn't
up for that right now. There was also the question of who would
propose and who would be the "bride" and who would be the groom
and lots more questions he didn't feel like thinking about right
now because they were in a hurry.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony hurried out of the house, casting Steve an odd look as he
caught his chuckling. "Yeah, it's funny when Pepper's after me,"
he said, not really knowing what Steve was laughing about but
cracking a joke anyways. "Just wait until she's after you."
* * *
It was with exaggerated grandeur that Tony Stark made his
entrance, speeding in with a gleaming Porsche and sweeping along
the crowd, answering questions as he went. He was sure that once
or twice, he caught Pepper's piercing, disapproving eye, and
perhaps the face of Rhodey, but he was too caught up right now
to know or care or feel anything. He was Tony Stark. He was Iron
Man. He was untouchable. It was surprising what fame did to a
man.
"I think," Tony said, as he climbed onto the platform, "That
I've answered enough questions for now." Indeed, it'd taken him
over fifteen minutes walking the twenty feet from the entrance
to the podium. "I'm only here, by force -- and I do mean force
-- of a... friend." Tony couldn't find Pepper in the crowd, but
he was sure she was there, watching him. Glaring. He could feel
it.
"Needless to say, I think the biggest question is what happened
at that run-down, abandoned, cliche excuse for a building that
somebody just happened to see me fall out of. That was due to an
unfortunate incident with a group of villains called The
Revengers..." He went on to tell the tale, or, rather, an
altered version of it. He was thrown out of the building by an
early explosion (couldn't put Steve in a bad light), his three
days of drunken sorrow was referred to as recovery, and what was
not explained, Tony simply refused to.
At the end of it all, only hushed murmurs filled the room, and
kind of is that it? that spread collectively through the crowd.
Tony cleared his throat. He had only one more thing to say.
"Some may question the integrity of my choices," he said, and,
of course, the room was silent. "I am not a man that... cares.
At all. I do what I do, and I take the consequences. Oftentimes,
the consequences are too much to handle, and I've learned this
from many near death experiences. But that's... only the bad
side to these things. There is a good kind of consequence, as
well, one that comes from your actions, your thoughts, your
words, and, most importantly, the receiver of these things. I'm
sure we all know what it's called." The room gives him a fairly
blank look.
"Love," he sighs. Suddenly, he reaches behind him, finds Steve's
hand, interlocks their fingers so that they fit together
perfectly, as always. "I am talking about love. One love,
specifically. Mine. Steve Rogers. I am... in love... with
Captain America. There is a prolonged, stunned kind of silence.
And then, the room explodes in noise.
Tony has dragged Steve out the back door before a single
question can be finished.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve followed behind Tony up to the podium, standing behind
him. He still wasn't completely sure why he was there, but he
was happy to be because he was with Tony.
He stood and listened as Tony told an altered version of what
happened the night he almost died, and looked at the giant crowd
in front of him, getting a little nervous for no apparent
reason.
Then, Tony started talking about choices and consequences. Steve
wasn't exactly sure where Tony was going with this, but it
sounded nice so Steve just went along with it and listened.
Suddenly, Tony's hand reached behind him and took Steve's,
interlocking their fingers. He took a step closer to Tony,
squeezing his had lightly and wondering if Tony was also getting
nervous for some reason.
"I am... in love... with Captain America." Steve gasped slightly
at the sudden announcement. Their secret was out. Now the whole
world would know that Tony Stark was in love with him, Steve
Rogers. However, they wouldn't know Steve felt the same for him,
but he had a feeling the press would find out quite soon.
Steve allowed Tony to drag him out the back door fore the
eruption of questions from the audience was a bit unnerving.
Once out side, Steve looked at Tony with admiration in his eyes
and a smile on his face. "So that's why you wanted me to
come..." said Steve, placing his free hand on Tony's face. He
was happy... so very happy. Now he could freely kiss Tony
anywhere and anytime he wanted to. Now they could walk down the
street holding hands. The only problem was... how were people
going to react to Iron Man and Captain America being in love? He
was sure some of them right now thought it was some sort of
joke, but would others hate them for loving each other?
'Who cares?' Steve asked himself, kissing Tony with much
passion, pinning him against a wall. "This is... wonderful," he
said between kisses. "I love you, Anthony.... so much..."
Life couldn't get much better than this, freely expressing his
love for Tony and not caring if someone walked in and found
them.
"Lets get out of here..." Steve whispered, taking Tony's hand in
his again. He was ready to get back home to show Tony just how
much he really loved him and appreciated him and all that Tony
has done for him.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grinned as Steve kissed him, all passion and happiness and
love. He knotted his hands in Steve's hair, pressing himself
closer because this, well, they could do this now. Anywhere.
Even if they were arrested for public indecency. Whatever, Tony
had done worse things in public.
He smiled once again as Steve pulled away, giving a vague
interpretation of a nod at his suggestion. "Sounds like a
perfect idea," he said, a tad breathless, "Might have to run,
though, to escape the wolf pack." And he suddenly pushed forward
off the wall, meeting his lips with Steve's very briefly before
pulling him along again, around the back of the conference hall
to the car where it looked as if, indeed, a wolf pack was
chasing them. He peeled off onto the road, tires squealing,
laughing his head off, and then, because he was feeling
oh-so-sentimental, whipped out his phone as snapped a picture of
Steve, not caring what kind of state the other man was in.
It would have been a quiet ride back home, but, of course,
Tony's phone decided to ring. He could only think of what Pepper
was going to say to him.
"So before you get irrationally angry--"
"That was a big surprise for such a little dude."
"Rhodey!" Tony grinned. "You're using Pepper's phone, lost yours
again, huh? I could make you one that you could track, you know,
it would be pretty cool--"
"Chill, Dexter, I'm just calling to congratulate you."
"Congratulate me? On what?"
"You know, you and Steve. Didn't know you had it in you."
"What's that supposed to mean?'
"It's supposed to mean that you've never said the word love in
public, or around me, or Pepper, or anybody, really. And, you
know, judging from what the Avengers told Pepper and what
Pepper's told me, you guys had a lot of unresolved sexual
tension before--"
"Alright, alright, I get it." Tony rolled his eyes. "If you're
in the states, you should come and visit, you know the doors
always open--"
"This had better not be an invitation for a threesome or I'm
going to kill you."
"Wouldn't dream of it. Besides, I'm the only one who gets to see
him naked." Tony cast Steve an exuberant smile, as if to say,
yes, we are talking about you.
"You always gave too much information."
Tony gives a little chuckle, then peers out his window and
frowns, just slightly. "Hey, Rhodey, speaking of naked, I'm
about five seconds from pulling into my driveway and I--"
"Alright, Tony, please. Spare me the details. Goodbye."
"Bye Rhodey." Tony chuckled again and hangs up as he pulls into
the driveway, ever so glad to be home.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve laughed a long with Tony as they drove away from the crowd
of people. Everything just seemed so... happy now... like
nothing could possibly ruin their happiness.
Steve listened to Tony talk to some guy named Rhodey, who he
guessed was a good friend of Tony's. When Tony said something
being the only one who gets to him naked, Steve knew exactly
what he was talking about and blushed. Tony sure did like to
give people a bit too much information.
When Tony stopped the car, Steve turned to him, lust burning in
his eyes. He really wanted Tony, and he wanted him right now.
So, he reached out to grab Tony by the tie and pull him in for a
long, passionate kiss, his hand roaming Tony's fully clothed
body.
Steve broke the kiss after awhile, want flaring up inside of
him. "Backseat... now," he said, using Tony's tie to drag him to
the backseat with him, not getting out of the car to do it.
He lied Tony down in the backseat, climbing on top of him like
he did on the sofa while removing his own jacket. He leaned down
to kiss Tony heatedly, placing a hand on his back to lift him so
he could remove his boyfriend's jacket. The was just too much
clothing right now.
Steve continued to kiss Tony with heat and passion, wondering
what on earth had gotten into him. He had never, ever wanted
something this bad before, and it was a little frightening he
the way he was acting. Oh well, it was worth it. Steve moved his
lips from Tony's down to his neck, leaving sloppy kisses along
the way. He kissed the crook of Tony's neck, slowly unbuttoning
his boyfriend's shirt as he did so.
"I love you..." breathed Steve against his lover's skin before
continuing to place open-mouthed kisses on his neck.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony gave a surprised kind of gasp as Steve grabbed him
suddenly, crushing their mouths together. He hadn't known what
he was expecting from Steve, but it certainly wasn't this. But
he didn't protest (how could he?) as Steve dragged him into the
back seat, climbed on top of him, dropping clothes everywhere.
"Steve..." Tony sighed, pressing up against him, not wanting to
stop, but, at the same time, knowing a much more comfortable bed
was awaiting them inside. "Steve... house is...right--" He cut
himself off with a moan as Steve hit that spot on his neck that
had always been peculiarly sensitive, and his mind gave up any
rational attempt at thought. "Car's fine," he breathed quietly,
pulling up Steve's head for a mind-blowing kind of kiss.
Yes, the car was just fine.
asdfghjkl.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve sighed in utter happiness. They were now on the couch,
both fully clothed and cleaned. Steve had his head on Tony's
lap, eyes closed and a big smile on his face. It felt good to be
able to calm down and relax after what had just happened in the
car.
Steve couldn't remember ever being this happy before as he
traced tiny circles on Tony's knee. They were deeply in love
with one another, their secret was out, they had made love like
four times altogether now. Yep, everything was perfect.
Steve turned to where he was now lying on his back so he could
look up at Tony's face. "Honey, do you believe me when I tell
you you're perfect?" he asked, grabbing Tony's hand and bringing
it up to his lips to kiss it a few times before holding it on
his chest. He wasn't asking it to see if Tony was going to give
a narcissistic answer or anything, he was asking to see if Tony
knew just how mind-blowingly amazing he was.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony looked down at Steve, smiling, as his fingers threaded
repeatedly through the other man's hair. Steve had really soft
hair. Did he brush it often? Okay, right, Steve was talking.
Listen, Tony, listen.
Tony hesitated, mulling the question over before he gave a
little frown. "Now, see," he started, leaning down to plant a
light kiss on Steve's lips. "Even if I said yes, you wouldn't
believe me. That question is a trap." He smiled, slightly,
looking almost apologetic, like he was going to say something
like sorry I'm not actually the confident bastard I pretend to
be when I'm in public, I'll try harder. Instead, he simply sat
up, giving a content kind of sigh as he did so. "But, your
argument is invalid anyways. Perfection does not exist. It is
our imperfections that make us real." He grinned down at Steve
again. "We just idolize each other... did I tell you I love you,
today?"
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve gave Tony a small smile, loving the man in front of him so
much it was unfair.
"Perfection does exist. You're perfect and real, and this...
this is beyond perfect," said Steve, referring to their love as
he sat up to kiss Tony slowly and evenly. "And it is very
real..." he said before kissing Tony lovingly again.
Steve knew that what he was saying was not only for Tony to
hear, but for himself to realize that this really was real. He
no longer needed to be afraid of waking up on day to find Peggy
and Howard because that would be the thing that is unreal.
He drew away, but kept his lips barely an inch away from Tony's.
"And yes, you did tell me you loved me today. You told the world
you loved me today," he reminded him, running a hand through
Tony's wonderful hair and giving him another kiss. "God, you're
amazing," whispered Steve in Tony's ear before nibbling slightly
on his earlobe.
It was a shame that he had to leave again in the morning fore he
would love nothing more than to stay wrapped up in Tony's arms
for the whole day tomorrow.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Mm, didn't count," Tony grinned, "Not personal enough." He let
himself get lost for a moment as Steve's mouth roamed, nipped at
his ear, but finally pulled back to give Steve a light kiss.
"So, uh, I love you," he said. One more kiss. "A lot."
He pressed his mouth to Steve's only one more, letting the kiss
linger before, looking a bit bashful, he pulled away. "Hey,
okay, crazy question," he started, "Um, would you like to,
maybe, go out on a date with me, tonight? Because we've never
actually, you know, been on a date, due to, uh, conflicting
circumstances, so I was thinking, maybe, dinner, and a movie,
and um... yeah."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled into the kiss, very satisfied with Tony telling him
how much he loved him.
Steve's smile only grew when Tony asked him on a date. That's
right, a date. Steve had never really been on a date before. I
mean, he was going to go out with Peggy until he crashed the
plane and remained frozen for seventy years, but that didn't
count at all.
He squeezed Tony's hand lightly, running a hand down the side of
his boyfriend's face, tracing his jawline. "I would be honored,"
he replied, quietly. He had to admit he was quite excited about
going to his first date with a man he already loved so dearly.
It was going to be fun.
"I guessed that means I have to get up and get dressed in
another suit then, huh?" Steve chuckled, giving Tony a kiss on
the chin.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smirked, slightly, giving a tiny shake of his head. "No,"
he said, decisively. "Don't be fancy. Just be... yourself." He
bent his head, kissing Steve's collarbone, adding, "You've gotta
meet the whole gang, by the way. Pepper, Rhodey, maybe a couple
of douche-y senators, if you'd like." He paused. "Later, of
course," he put it, and grinned.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
"Mmhm..." said Steve, closing his eyes and smiling as Tony
kissed his collarbone.
"You do realize... people are going to be over us like... a
hungry pack of wolves when we go out, right?" he said, pulling
Tony's head up so he could focus a little better. He was
beginning to realize that he enjoyed being kissed on the neck a
little too much.
He could just imagine stepping outside and the press surrounding
them, and asking the questions they didn't get to finish before.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Hm... good point," he said, frowning. He didn't know, really,
how ha could remedy thought, but thought hard about it, holding
Steve's hand and rubbing his thumb across the back of it.
Eventually, he stopped, looking up with an odd kind of gleam in
his eye. "Do you like hats?" he asked mischievously, eyes
twinkling.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony's question about hats. "Um...
not particularly..." he replied, chuckling.
"Look sweetie, you just admitted to loving me in front of the
world. I told you you could tell them because I don't want to
hide anymore. If the press starts asking too many annoying
questions, I can just do my bodyguard thing again. It shouldn't
be that much of a problem." he said, kissing Tony's hand again.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony scoffed slightly, giving Steve a fond kind of look.
"Spoilsport," he said, but he was smiling as he leaned in to
kiss Steve again.
* * *
As it turned out, questions were not a problem at all -- they
arrived at the restaurant, unhindered by people asking for
statements or asking questions. The only problem was the
paparazzi, snapping pictures with bright flashes and murmuring
to themselves twenty feet away, everywhere. Tony, however,
remained unfazed, no matter how annoyed he was, simply hooking
his arm in Steve's and pulling him into the restaurant, where it
was, thankfully, a bit more quiet.
It was very quaint, very elegant, and kind of small inside --
not quite as extravagant as expected of Tony Stark. In fact, it
was almost perfectly ordinary. Tony asked for someplace quiet,
and within a moment the hostess had led them to a small booth in
the corner, walled off on two sides. She must have understood
Tony's pain, because this way, it would be very hard to take any
pictures of he and Steve.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
You would think that the world's first superhero would be use to
cameras right? Wrong.
Steve squinted every time a camera flashed out of the corner of
his eye. He was use to video cameras and large crowds from his
days of traveling the word and socking Hitler on the jaw on
stage, but cameras and paparazzi were a different story. He had
always traveled with the military, so he avoided most of his
fans.
Steve smiled as they finally made it to the restaurant, sitting
in a private booth. He slid on the seat across from Tony, taking
a hand to hold one of Tony's on the table. "Well, that wasn't
too bad," Steve said, raising his boyfriend's hand to kiss it.
He released Tony's hand to pick up his menu.
Steve raised an eyebrow and chuckled once he realized what type
of restaurant they were in by the food they had on the menu.
"Who would have ever thought that Captain America's first date
would be with one of his old friend's son in an Italian
restaurant?"
He sat his menu down, already knowing what he was going to get
without even finding it. Italian restaurants always served
spaghetti with meatballs. Besides, looking lovingly at his
boyfriend was much more fun. He sat with an elbow on the table,
his face resting in the palm of his hand as he slowly reached
out to take his boyfriend's hand with his free one again. "I'm
glad you thought of this," Steve began with a soft smile. "This
is the first time we've been able to just relax in public," he
continued, not taking his eyes off Tony.
#Post#: 33--------------------------------------------------
Re: 1x1 || TinyGoliath & MagicNightStar
By: TinyGoliath Date: February 6, 2013, 8:44 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned at the words old friend's son. Right, he'd almost
forgotten -- Steve knew Howard Stark better than his own son
did. Which, of course, was more than a little sad. He glanced at
the menu, at the script writing and names which he couldn't
read, and promptly gave up -- he wasn't really here for the
food, anyways.
Tony suddenly seemed to realize, as Steve reached out and
grabbed his hand, that, hey, he shouldn't be frowning. They were
on a date. Be happy, Tony, stop thinking about your father. So
he gave a small smile, thinking to himself that Steve really did
look adorable. "This is the first time you've been able to relax
in public," Tony said pointedly, smirking. "Public is basically
my second home."
A waiter came, suddenly, to take their drinks, and seemed to
make a point of staring distastefully at Tony and Steve's
interlocked hands. "I'll have a water, thanks," Tony said, not
bothering to hide the I dare you to say something tone of his
voice -- he gave Steve's hand a gentle squeeze, just for
emphasis on the point that he could and would buy out the whole
place just to fire this one man if he stepped out of line.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve rolled his eyes, still smiling. "Fine, first time we've
been able to relax in public together," he clarified himself
before their waiter came.
Steve could see he wasn't very happy about his and Tony's public
display of affection, but he would just have to get over it.
Just like may other people were going to have to do.
Steve smiled at the waiter in a friendly manner, even if the
waiter was being somewhat rude to them. Oh well, people had
their own opinions. "I'll just have some water too, please,"
said Steve, cheerily. After all, who wouldn't e happy if they
were going out with Tony Stark?
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
The waiter, of course, left quickly, seemingly a tad more
flustered than he had been a second ago. Tony, satisfied, turned
back to Steve with that same little smile. "We should really
give them something to gawk at," he said, something like
mischief twinkling in his eyes. Of course, the press couldn't
see them here, like this, but perhaps if on (or both) of them
leaned forward then they could. Tony, of course, wanted to take
advantage of this.
"C'mere," Tony said, suddenly, one hand rising up to cup the
back of Steve's neck and drag him forward so their lips could
meet in the middle of the table. It was a tame, albeit rather
long kiss, but had the desired effect -- Tony could hear several
faint, hesitant clicks of pictures being snapped.
There was a sudden clatter of a tray and a clink of glasses, and
Tony, not being that rude, pulled away as their waiter placed
their drinks on the table, tight-lipped and mumbling something
about coming back for their orders later. Looking very
embarrassed, he left.
Tony look rather pleased with himself.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve laughed, thinking Tony was joking about the gawking thing,
ut next thing he knew he was leaning over the table with Tony
kissing him. He was a bit surprised, but didn't pull away.
Instead, he kissed Tony back and smiled, ignoring the sound of
pictures being taken because he wasn't afraid to express his
love for Tony in front of them.
Steve blushed a little when Tony pulled away as the waiter came,
feeling a little guilty. "Sorry," said Steve to the waiter while
he was walking away.
He turned to Tony who seemed to be quite pleased with himself,
making Steve swat at his hand playfully and saying, "Don't look
so pleased, we need to be more respectful. Have you even decided
what you want yet?" Steve chuckled before pulling Tony in for
one, quick kiss since the waiter was gone.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"You sound like a nanny," Tony says fondly, and nods in answer
to Steve's question. "Yeah -- or, at least, I hope I do. I
didn't actually chose anything but I figure every Italian place
has the same few things." At that moment, somebody else comes
up, this time a waitress, looking considerably more bubbly and
very eccentric -- she has bright pink hair that sticks up in
spikes all over he head.
"Orders?" she asks cheerily.
"Yup," say Tony, "Love the hair, by the way -- do you have
pizza? I didn't bother to check but you should definitely have
pizza."
"We do, sir."
"Great -- you sound like JARVIS -- you don't know who that is --
never mind -- just, uh, everything, just put everything on it, I
don't even care, whatever you want, actually, because I want the
whole thing but I won't be able to finish and I won't be able to
take it home because I don't want to." He gives a small smile
and motions to Steve, as if to say, yes, I am insane, you should
take his order now.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve chuckled once Tony was through ordering before looking up
at the waitress. "You'll have to excuse him... It's our first
date," said Steve like that would explain Tony's usual craziness
(it was always cute, though). "I'll have the spaghetti and
meatballs if you have that, please," he said, smiling kindly.
He turned back to Tony before taking both of his boyfriend's
hands to hold as he stared dreamily into his eyes. One could
just get lost in Tony's eyes. It was like a rainbow made up of
shades of brown. They were stunning, just like the rest of him.
Steve didn't even know if the waitress was still there or not,
but he didn't really care since she seemed more "supportive"
than the waiter. "I love you," Steve murmured to Tony, giving
him a big smile.
He couldn't help but have the feeling that people were staring
at them. Even if they were, Steve would get use to it. He would
do it for Tony because he'd do anything for his love. "more than
anything," continued Steve, finishing his sentence.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
After scribbling everything down in her handy dandy notebook,
the waitress bounced off, a skip in her step. Tony, however,
didn't really notice that she was gone, because Steve had
started giving him that look. It was ridiculous, really, crazy
how everything just seemed so perfectly flawless,, and for once
Tony felt a prickle of doubt, wondering when the honeymoon stage
would end and they would hit their bumps in the road. He pushed
those questions away -- for another time, he thought.
"That's probably unhealthy," Tony says lightly, a tiny smirk
playing on his face. "The feeling's infectious, though." He
feels like he should do something, some grand gesture that could
just prove it all, but his mind is blank as he stares at Steve,
and they might as well but love-struck teenagers. But Tony
doesn't even feel like moving -- he feels like he could sit here
until their food comes, just staring into each other's eyes.
And he actually ends up doing so, as well, doesn't even notice
anyone coming until a whole pizza, topped with things Tony has
seen and things he hasn't, is pushed under his nose. He blinks,
the spell broken, and grins up at the waitress. "Thank you
dear," he says fondly, and the girl smiles broadly at him
before, once again, flouncing away.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve continued to stare into Tony's eyes, only replying with a
simple nod of the head at his boyfriend's words. He never
thought being in love would be like this, so blissful, so....
perfect. Everything was just smooth sailing for him and Tony
really. They never seemed to fight or have many problems (except
sexual frustrations of course). Steve couldn't help but think
that this wasn't the way love appeared to be in movies or
reality. Perhaps in a fairy tale yes, but everywhere else you
look couples seem to be having lots of problems.... Steve hoped
that wouldn't become them.
Steve frowned once the food came, having to grudgingly break eye
contact. However, his smile quickly returned when Tony thanked
the waitress before she walked away, looking quite happy
herself. Steve wasn't even bothered by the fact Tony had just
called her dear because the two obviously only had eyes for
their other half. It was obvious for Tony, right?
Steve let go of Tony's hands, slowly taking his napkin and
spreading it on his lap and grabbing his fork. "Mm, looks good,"
said Steve, eyeing his spaghetti and meatballs.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony, of course, had already stared eating, not even bothering
with napkins or silverware (not that he needed to, anyways -- it
was pizza), and was well into his first slice before Steve
spoke. Chewing thoughtfully, Tony eyed Steve's food before
nodding in agreement.
"You're right," he said, grabbing his own fork. "It does look
good; here, I'll try it and let you know." He then promptly
preceded to reach across the table, stab a poor meatball and
bring it over to his side, where he of course took a bite and
smiled his approval. "Yep, it's fine; you can go ahead now."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve raised an eyebrow in surprise when Tony snatched one of
his meatballs. "Thief," he mumbled before chuckling and using
his fork to taking a piece of sausage off of Tony's pizza. He
quickly popped it in his mouth before looking thoughtfully at
the pizza as he chewed. "You know, I'm not really sure that
pizza is safe, hold on," he said jokingly before stealing a
pepperoni and eating it as well and shrugging. "I guess it's
alright," Steve said, giving Tony a wink.
Steve looked back down at his spaghetti and began to twirl in
around his fork and stabbing a meatball and eating it. "And
thank you for the taste-testing, Mr. Stark," he chuckled.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony grinned, motioning to Steve's food. "I probably just saved
your life right there," he replied offhandedly, "It could've
been poisoned, or something, and you would've never known." He
took another bite of his pizza, and the meal went on, as normal,
or, as normal as it could get for two superheros sitting in the
corner booth of an obscure Italian restaurant.
* * *
Tony had finished seven slices of pizza (it was, really, very
good pizza), but at the sight of five more still sitting on the
tray, he had to give up. "Okay," he said, leaning back in his
seat and patting his stomach. "I'm... definitely... full..." he
says, looking dazed by the amount of food he'd just eaten. Never
again, he told himself. This was why food was never really a
priority to him -- he tended to overdo a lot of things. Eating
was no exception.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve watched Tony with amusement as he ate his pizza, counting
each slice the man ate. Seven. He chuckled quietly before eating
his last meatball. "Well, I think you just made up for all the
meals that you skipped this week," he said, folding his napkin
and placing it on his empty plate. It was a very good meal, and
he himself was also full. The best part of the meal, though had
to be the fact that it was with Tony. Sure, they had been eating
their meals together for weeks, but this was different.
"So what's next? The movie?" Steve asked, looking out side to
see some paparazzi still hanging about. "Hopefully the theater
isn't too far from here," he added as he looked at their
patently waiting crowd.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Sure, movie. Right." The check had been left for them a while
ago, and Tony paid for their meal with a very generous tip (he
really liked that girl's hair). He eyed crowd, wondering if
there were some way past it, but then though, oh, screw it. Tony
could flaunt around however he wanted now.
"Look alive, soldier," said Tony, standing up and offering out
his hand to Steve, grinning broadly. Thankfully, the theater was
not too far away (though Tony had no idea what kind of movie
they were going to see), and they had a car, which was basically
a protective force-field to keep wild animals (AKA people) at
bay.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve casually took Tony's, standing up and not letting go of it
as they walked to the car. Right when they stepped out of the
restaurant, the crowd of people immediately started snapping
pictures again. Steve was just thankful no members of the press
have come yet to ask more questions.
They finally made it to the car and drove to the theater, losing
the paparazzi behind them but were probably going to be met with
a new group at the movies. When they had arrived, Steve stepped
out of the car and walked around to open the door for Tony,
checking for more fans. Surprisingly, there were none to be seen
so far. Perhaps because it was getting dark.
"So what movie are we going to see?" he asked Tony, praying it
wasn't a World War II film. Steve was positive he wasn't going
to be able to watch anything that had something to do with the
horrible war he had to be a part of.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Hm..." Tony said, glancing around at the movie posters that
were displayed on the sides of the theater walls. He pointed to
a rather dark-looking one, probably some detective movie or
murder mystery. "How about that one?" he suggested. He didn't
really care what they watched, actually -- he'd get to sit next
to Steve and -- oh, you know, all the sappy junk. That was good
enough for him.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve nodded at the movie poster Tony pointed at, not really
caring what the movie was as long as it wasn't war related. He
wasn't really picky when it came to movies or music.
Steve reached out to take Tony's had, walking up to the ticket
booth. This would be the first movie he had seen since his
unfreezing. Surely things wouldn't be that different. Steve also
wasn't sure if Tony was the type of guy who would actually sit
and watch the movie on a date, or the type of guy who just
stares and whispers things to his date, because Steve was the
type of guy who always watched the movie. He always thought it
was disrespectful if people started cuddling and talking and
kissing during a film.
His mind went back to the time a man started yelling at an
advertisement to join the military, telling it to hurry up and
show the movie. Steve had told him to show some respect and he
had ended up getting beat up behind the theater. He remembered
picking up the top to a trash can to use as a shield and getting
it knocked out of his hands before Bucky came to his rescue...
Steve shook his head. That was in the past now. He could protect
himself now. Now he was the one to come to the rescue.
Steve lightly squeezed Tony's hand for some comfort. He had Tony
now, and that's all he really needed, right? Steve looked at the
man he loved, his brown eyes still visible in the fading light
with his perfect jaw and hairline and everything. 'Right,' he
thought, smiling.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony ordered the tickets quickly (they had coincidentally gotten
there at the perfect time), ignoring the concessions because,
come on, they'd just eaten and Tony was still feeling pretty
full. Very full. He dragged Steve by his hand to the correct
theater, trying to find the stairs in the darkness, and,
eventually, made his way to the back row of seats, where not
many people were seating. Tony made sure they were well hidden
in shadows (just because he didn't want people staring at them),
and settled down to watch the movie, keeping his hand locked
with Steve's.
Tony was a quiet movie-goer, which probably surprised some
people, but he enjoyed a good movie as well as anybody else.
And, you know, it was a good movie, it was just that Tony had
distracted himself by holding hands with Steve, and every time
Tony glanced at him it got harder and harder to look away.
Finally, Tony just gave up, satisfying himself by looking at
Steve, at the dim light that cast dark shadows under his
cheekbones and eyes, making him look like he was about to sink
into the shadows. His eyes were still dazzling blue, though, and
Tony felt entranced, a lot more interested in watching his
boyfriend than the movie.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve watched the movie, enjoying it and was quite fascinated
about how movies had changed over the years... Everything was
just so colorful and loud... it was thrilling.
After awhile, Steve got that feeling that someone was staring at
him. Someone by the name of Anthony Edward Stark. Steve ignored
him, thinking Tony was going to look away, but he didn't.
Eventually, Steve couldn't help but look at him, and wow he
looked like he was under some sort of spell. He smiled at his
boyfriend, squeezing his hand lightly before giving him a chaste
kiss on the cheek.
Steve turned his attention back to the movie, restarting his
attempt to keep his eyes off his gorgeous boyfriend. He had to
admit, Tony was very distracting.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smirked at Steve, for some reason taking pride in the fact
that he could draw Steve's attention away from the movie just by
looking at him. Then again, Steve could distract Tony by doing
absolutely nothing. That didn't seem fair at all.
Feeling daring, Tony leaned toward Steve, kissing lightly down
his jaw, down his neck, across his collarbone. "You're
distracting me," Tony accused, mumbling against Steve's skin,
one hand on Steve's knee, traveling gradually upwards.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve sucked in a breath as Tony began to kiss him, closing his
eyes as he gripped the armrest. He was not expecting this from
Tony. However, it was when Tony's hand (that was on his knee)
got a little too close for comfort that Steve shifted a bit.
"T-Tony... we're in... a theater," he murmured, finding it hard
to speak.
As quickly as he could, he put his hand over Tony's and moved it
back down to kiss knee before knotting his hand in Tony's hair
to pull his head away. Steve cleared his throat, face turning
red, and crossed his legs, looking back at the movie screen.
That was way too... um... exciting for a moment like this. They
were surrounded by people who were trying to watch a movie. What
was Tony thinking? Steve couldn't say he hadn't enjoyed it,
though.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony frowned as Steve tugged him away. Okay, so, he was being
kind of selfish, but it was Steve's fault for being entirely too
handsome. "Steve," Tony muttered, a whine in his voice. The hand
on Steve's knee moved up to his face, thumb stroking his cheek.
"C'mon; humor me."
Tony gave a small smile and leaned forward again, just a bit, so
that his lips brushed the corner of Steve's mouth as he spoke.
"Gimme a kiss?" he requested quietly, and he actually sounded
genuinely polite, like he was actually asking instead of just
taking.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve sighed, looking at incredibly wonderful boyfriend who had
just asked harmlessly for a kiss. "Okay, but only because you
asked so nicely," Steve whispered, placing a hand behind Tony's
head to pull him in for a soft, sweet kiss. He felt like he was
breaking some sort of rule as he kissed Tony slowly, evenly, and
lovingly in the theater. He was going to just kiss him quickly,
but found himself unable to resist his boyfriend's sweet lips.
Very slowly, he pulled away from Tony. "There," he whispered,
smiling and giving Tony a small wink. He figured it would be
alright to uncross his legs now, thinking Tony would be
satisfied enough now. However, he couldn't seem to stop staring
at Tony's flawless face. "You're so perfect, it's unfair," Steve
said quietly, giving Tony one more small kiss. The things this
man could do to him were unbelievable.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled into the kiss, feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Steve, of course, pulled away eventually, and Tony smirked at
him, love, and, okay, maybe lust in his eyes as well, but this
was Tony we're talking about, here.
Tony was sure that Steve meant for their second kiss to much
shorter and a lot less exciting, but Tony wouldn't have it so,
kept his lips pressed against Steve's and didn't let him pull
away. "I love you," Tony said quietly, hand clutching at the
fabric of Steve's shirt, pulling him closer.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve was once again surprised as Tony grabbed the back of his
shirt and pulled him close, causing him to gasp slightly. "I...
um... love you too..." he said in between kisses. Steve could
feel the heat rising through his body as Tony kissed him, but
they were in a movie theater of all places.
Steve placed a hand on Tony's chest, pushing very slightly to
pull away from his boyfriend but was trying really hard.
"Tony... Tony no.... Tony..." mumbled Steve before finally
pushing away a bit breathless. "Not here..." he whispered,
hoping Tony would understand that Steve was getting a little too
excited and so was he. "Later," he promised, slowly turning his
head back to the screen.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony sighed as Steve pushed him away again -- really, it had
become more of a game for him. See how far you can push Steve
before he gets all adorably embarrassed and pulls away. It was
actually pretty fun. Tony would win once Steve finally gave in.
"We're just kissing, Steve," Tony said innocently, hand sliding
down Steve's arm and ending up back on his knee, tracing tiny
circles there. "I think even you can agree that this is one of
the more tame things I've done." He kissed down Steve's neck
again, brushing his lips on the other man's collarbone and
sucking a mark there. "Besides," he muttered, "You're not
exactly easy to stay away from."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve closed his eyes and leaned his head back, letting Tony
kiss him as his mind became all foggy. He let a tiny moan escape
his lips as Tony began to suck on his collarbone. "Nor... are
you..." he breathed, pulling Tony's head up and knotting a hand
in the man's hair while the other ran up and down his back as he
began to his him passionately. Steve knew he was giving Tony
what he wanted by giving in even though they were in a theater,
but Steve couldn't resist this man.
Steve slowly let the kiss heat up, pressing himself as close as
he could to Tony with an armrest in the way. They were in the
back, it wasn't like anyone was going to see or hear them,
right? Besides, when Tony seemed to be doing all the things that
made Steve get excited, he couldn't help but kiss him back.
Fighting it seemed useless anyhow.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled to himself as Steve dragged him in for a kiss,
bringing his hands up to Steve's face, holding him there. I win,
he thought smugly, melting into the kiss.
"I think it's time for you two to leave."
Tony broke away as a harsh light shined suddenly in his eyes,
and he squinted to make out a dark figure, glaring at them
harshly. "Huh?" he asked, dazed. Was the movie over or
something?
"I'm here to escort you out, sir."
Tony glanced around -- several patrons were glaring at he and
Steve, and he finally got it. They were being kicked out. Great.
Who had tattled on them? Some stuck-up homophobic, Tony guessed.
Hmph. "Alright..." he said, eyeing the man in front of them and
deciding that he could probably not taking him in a fight.
Tony got up, dragging Steve by the hand with him as he pushed
down his disheveled hair. With that, they were escorted out of
the theater and back into the now-dark street. Tony looked
around him, not sure what to say to Steve, so instead of saying
anything, he cast the other man an almost-apologetic smile. It
had kind of been worth it, though.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve stood on the dark street, staring at a lamp post. They
were just kicked out of a movie theater. "I can't believe it..."
he said, quietly. "I just can't believe it!" he said, much
louder. "I'm Captain America! People look up to me! I basically
represent America, and I just got thrown out of a movie theater
because Iron Man couldn't keep his hands off me!" Steve ran a
hand through his hair in frustration. He was a superhero.... He
was suppose to be setting an example to other people.
Steve turned to Tony, his face slightly red. "You know what you
are? Spoiled. You're just a spoiled, manipulative, selfi-" Steve
stopped himself. What was he saying? What was he doing? Was he
was blaming Tony for loving him? Tony was here because he wanted
to take Steve out on a date because he loved him. Also, Steve
had also sort of caused them to kicked out as well.
"I'm sorry, honey..." said Steve, more quieter and calmer now.
"I didn't mean that. I'm sorry," he apologized again. He felt
like such an idiot and a big letdown.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony heaved a sigh as Steve yelled at him, crossing his arms
over his chest and very pointedly looking away. The words didn't
surprise him -- he'd heard them a million times over. The
apology, though, that was something different. Tony's eyes
flickered over to Steve, frowning.
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, and it wasn't rhetorical.
He was, genuinely, curious. "You're right," he said, "I mean,
you totally started it, being you, and all, it was your fault,
but, spoiled? Check. Manipulative? Yes. Selfish? Oh,
definitely." He turned to face Steve, giving him an odd kind of
look. "You're right," he repeated, "So I'm sorry... But, still
your fault, you know."
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled, chuckling a little as he walked over to Tony. He
wrapped an arm around his waist while his other ran through
Tony's hair. "I'm sorry because I shouldn't have said it like
that," Steve explained. "You're spoiled, manipulative, and
selfish," he said in a loving voice, if you could imagine. He
gave Tony a quick kiss before continuing, "and I love you for
being all those things. I love everything about you." Steve gave
Tony the most genuine smile he had probably ever given to
somebody.
Steve rested his forehead on Tony's, noses touching. "And yes, I
guess it was all my fault. However it was you're idea about
coming here," he said with a wink. Steve sighed happily, closing
his eyes and enjoying the close contact with Tony. "It was all
worth it, though. I had fun," Steve admitted, truthfully.
{:: T O N Y ::}
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
Tony smiled softly, locking his hands together behind Steve's
neck. "Damn right it was fun," he grinned, pecking Steve quickly
on the lips. "You're still a prude, though." How was it, he
thought, that they always managed to forgive each other? Love,
Tony supposed -- it would never completely make sense to him.
"Wanna head home?" Tony suggested quietly. He did want to go
home -- public had kind of worn him out for the day, but at the
same time, this was kind of nice, standing so close and staying
so warm, though it was kind of chilly outside.
✩Steve✩
"I won't judge you.
I'm not going anywhere.
You got me."
Steve smiled, cupping Tony's face in his hand. "I'd love to," he
said, the hand around his waist taking one of Tony's hands.
"Besides, I think I promised you something back in the theater
about something we were going to do later," said Steve, winking
again before walking to the car with Tony.
Okay, so they had gotten kicked out of a theater. So what? Steve
wasn't ashamed anymore. He loved Tony, and why should he be
ashamed of that?
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page