strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-In Day: Pastabilities

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[GP/EP] Check-In Day: Pastabilities

The last check-in day had come and gone as quietly as most other days, but Tony had made it a point to linger around the lobby every two weeks. It was tradition, after all. You could only be cynical about a pink eldritch prison for so long before you felt the need to inject some decorum, however half-assed.

During a quiet trip to a Wisconsin suburb Otherworlds, Tony had snagged an old Harley-Davidson calendar at a garage sale (why not), unique in that the previous owner had filled every single square with national holidays. Today was National Linguine Day. Truly, the most hallowed of all holidays. To celebrate, he made an order to the kitchen to bless the inn with trays of pasta, inclusive to all diets. No gluten or dairy for him, see how long that lasted.

Despite the swift approach of fall, San Luis Obispo boasted sun and 70 degree weather, so Tony arranged a chair and table outside and fiddled with a little mechanical orb the size of a jawbreaker. He prodded at its insides with a screwdriver while his half-eaten pasta dish sat ignored, his glasses magnifying the orb's internal features.

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"Someone's got to. And I'd been doing so well with carbs." Tony didn't look up--he didn't need to, even before Steve Rogers opened his mouth. His aura alone was unmistakable to Tony at this point.

He did, however, look at the drinks like they were a test, and immediately claimed the coffee anyway. "None of this for you. You'll stunt your growth."

It was by no means a test; Steve was just offering his friend something to drink. He smirked a little when Tony reached for the coffee, and pulled the tea back to himself to lift it for a sip.

...which came out in a little sputter. He grinned, green tea all over his lips now at the laugh. At least he hadn't been in full sip. That would have been a spit-take.

"What are you working on?" Steve asked, lowering the hot tea once more.

“Now? Making you a bib, mi Capico.” Tony, heedless of boundaries, took up the cloth napkin and patted Steve’s face. That beard wasn’t gonna dry itself.

“You sure you wanna see what I’m packing? It’s kind of spooky.”

"You can't make jokes like that when I'm mid-sip. It's just not fair." Of course, it was just like Tony to come out with the dry humor pretty much at any time of the day or night. Steve really enjoyed that about his friend.

"Thanks," Steve mumbled, muffled against the napkin dabbing his lips and chin. "Appreciate it."

...what I'm packing?? Was that an innuendo? Steve raised an eyebrow. "Kind of spooky, is it?"

Tony was already sealing up the orb as Steve spoke, giving it a little flick when he was done. Eight legs emerged from the metal and lifted up its body perkily. It's abdomen lit up with a red sensor and it began to tap the table with its forelegs before circling the perimeter to investigate.

"Wanna name her?" He smirked as it crawled over Steve's hand to follow the length of his arm over his bicep. "She likes you."

Well, yeah. That explained it. The little orb grew spider legs and then started to skitter all over the place. All over the place meaning up Steve's arm. Steve jumped just slightly in his seat, because even Captain America has a thing about spiders, but he relaxed a little as he grew used to the sight of it.

"How are you sure it's a she?"

“I’m her dad. I know.” Tony scoffed as if was an obvious affront to even be questioned. The little machine danced up to Steve’s collar, combing its forelegs through his facial scruff. “Want me to take her?”

Steve gave a little laugh. "It tickles. Hey, I kinda like her, too. Think she's flirting with me?" Which was a very not!Steve like thing to say about the whole ordeal.

He reached up to try and gently clasp the mechanical spider's body, then lowered it back down to the table again. "Charlotte. You should call her Charlotte."

It was Tony’s turn to spurt fluids, though more at the sheer unexpectedness of Steve’s remark.

“Rogers, if I built a robot to seduce you, you’d know it.” He wasn’t a subtle man—and hell, neither was Steve. There’d been a comfortable and simultaneously discomforting shift ever since Steve appeared at the inn, in that it put Tony at ease even when he didn’t want to be.

“Don’t ask, by the way. That wasn’t an offer.”

Steve simply grinned. It was nice to catch Tony, even if it didn't happen very often at all.

"I'm not sure I'd want a robot." Steve glanced down at the spider. "I mean, there's only room in my life for one. And that role's already taken by Charlotte."

"How on-brand." Charlotte tapped around in circles, apparently flourishing in the attention, much like her creator. "Even if this wasn't how I saw myself wing-manning..."

Honestly, Steve wasn't sure he wanted a wing-man. He wasn't sure he was ever going to have romance in his life again. He didn't miss it the way he thought he might, though. And having a little, mechanical friend was a consolation, anyway.

"Would that make you my father-in-law?" Steve asked, then frowned just slightly. "This conversation just got weird, didn't it?"

Edited 2019-09-30 03:49 (UTC)

"A little." Tony managed with his famous straight face.

Then, the urge struck.

He didn't know why--he wasn't planning this today. At all. Or even in the foreseeable future--he was being a coward like that.

"You mind if I make it weirder?"

The look on Tony's face was a little sobering. Steve sat up a bit in his chair, on the edge of worried.

"What's on your mind?"

Tony waved his teammate down, hoping the look on his own face didn't look that bad. He was just going to be honest... This isn't scary. HE isn't scary. C'mon, Stark.

"I've been involved with someone for awhile." He cleared his throat. "Here."

Steve nearly laughed with relief. That wasn't something to worry about!

"That's excellent news, Tony! Congratulations!" Steve reached over and clapped Tony on the shoulder, gently. (Because hey, he was strong, and it wouldn't do to accidentally put Tony's shoulder out of its socket.)

"You deserve every happiness in the world!"

Unable to help but blink and smother a yelp (thanks nerves) at even the gentle handling, Tony gestured with his chin at some room unseen but whose direction he was very certain of.

"You know 'em. Him." Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. "Call me thunderstruck."

Him? Steve's face fell just slightly at that revelation. Of course, Captain America was nothing but accepting and understanding, but this did come as a bit of a surprise to him. Tony was that way? The 1940s in Steve took over for a moment, and he felt some of those old (really really old) societal stereotypes for men of that persuasion come bubbling up in his mind.

Thunderstruck. Thunder. Wait.

"Thor??" Steve asked, more shocked than anything else.

Tony merely reached for his coffee to fill the silence. It would have been natural to expect the punchline, there, but he was going to make it clear that wasn't one.

"It's a weird place, but we're weird people. We find each other." He took another sip, unable to tell what was warmer--his face or the drink. "Love with a capital 'L.'"

Steve's reaction was probably not very encouraging. He was shocked and speechless for a moment, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Well, that's just... I'm happy for you. For both of you, really I am. I just--I had no idea."

"Yeah, that was me." Even if he didn't say it outright, and he so rarely did, the apology was hidden somewhere in his voice. "Thor wanted to shout it from the rooftops. I wasn't gonna tell you...not for awhile, anyway."

Steve lifted his mug of tea as if in a toast. "I'm glad you did." Then he clinked his mug against the mug of coffee in front of Tony.

Now Tony and Thor didn't have to pretend in front of him, or put on a show, or change the way they acted. Steve wasn't sure how this was going to all play out, but he was going to be supportive. That's what he did. He wasn't lying when he said he was happy for them. He really was. Steve loved them in a very, very different way from the way they loved each other--lower case l--and was truly happy they found one another here.

"Cheers." He said, then sipped his tea.

"Cheers." Tony took a sip, feeling him settle back into his chair with a slow burn of relief. "And another. To our health."

[ooc: fade?]

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[GP/EP] Check-In Day: Pastabilities

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