Tony Stark (in_extremis) wrote in oh_marvelous, @ 2010-04-05 15:24:00 |
|
|||
Ĺmigus
Characters: Tony, Quicksilver and Iron Man
Setting: Madagascar
Content: Explosions?
Summary: Magneto doesn't seem to like that Iron Man is so close to his territory and sends Quicksilver to tell him that.
Unlike Fiji, the beaches of Madagascar were all deep, rich colours; the sand a milky tea, and the waters pure paint chip blue. So early in the morning they were black, with strange shimmers of gold on the peaks of sparse waves where they caught the first light of the sun still hidden over the horizon. Tony wasn't expected at the starting line for another four hours, but he leaned on the railing of his balcony looking out at the ocean; a silhouette in the morning light with a glowing heart and a burning spark in the darkness with each drag on his cigar, the smoke a grey smudge floating to catch the last of the stars. The sweet vanilla scent of it filled the room behind him, overtaking any lingering trace of the woman that had woken him with honeyed French farewells whispered in his ear before she dressed and slipped away, probably back to the bar he found her to enchant someone else the way she had him.
He couldn't sleep again after that, restless, not thinking about her skin darker than the Malagasy beaches like chocolate or the coming ring of the church bells that signaled the beginning of the day of raucous celebration to contrast the solemn recognition of the Sunday before. He stepped into his jeans and called for coffee and went out onto the balcony where the air was the coolest it would be all day and still it tasted as thick as the smoke of his cigar. He thought about all the ways this day could go wrong. Even if it seemed perfect, and he won the cup and didn't flip his car and poured champagne and celebrated long into the night and the next morning, if all of this happened that meant Pietro wouldn't, or couldn't even come this far to explain what had gone wrong. Or maybe he was too busy to watch the news. Tony couldn't believe the stupid kid had just stopped caring about them so quickly, though, not when Tony was still thinking about him every day. There had to be some reason for this. There had to at least be something to flip that switch.
Tony stared out at the beach, and across the ocean to where Genosha was somewhere in the distance, listening to the first signs of wakefulness on the island below. Cap and the Avengers didn't yet have a proactive plan. Baiting and hoping was at least something for Tony to do to keep his mind busy. If he could just see Pietro, he could offer some comfort to Wanda, and he could go back to Avengers Tower with something to offer other than a unsettling presence in the room. He knew Steve wanted nothing to do with him. Tony didn't blame him. He wasn't Iron Man for him anymore; he had Happy for that now. And Happy was proving a capable and enthusiastic hero, as Tony expected. And maybe he resented Happy a little for that, but Tony knew it was a baseless and cruel feeling. Seeing Happy fail wasn't worth putting the armor on again in his place; Tony had said enough that he didn't even want it. He shivered despite the warmth, hunching over the railing and closing his eyes to just listen to the lap of the waves on the beach.