Captain Steve Royama Isn't Moving (stillamerican) wrote in angellogs, @ 2019-05-21 15:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | clint barton (hawkeye), steve royama (captain america) |
Who: Steve Royama, Tony Stark, Clint Barton
When: Current
Where: Angel Grove or that general area, California
What: Tony's at the thrift shop, and meeting Steve. They're supposed to be taking weight of each other, and instead end up planning dinner. Clint's invited over.
Rating/Warnings:
Status: Complete
Tony's in California, and not a public figure as long as he's careful enough to not look like the guy in the movies. Which is cool. Not a rich billionaire, which is - kind of neat. He's ended up working at a thrift shop, repairing broken toys and toasters, and right now it's a lineup of various typewriters with varying levels of problems. And some cash registers. Should be a noisy early evening, but pleasant.
He's in a tank top and not hiding his arc reactor too much, since it's just him, and one window's got the blinds slightly pulled down. Besides, he needs some windows open while he's soldering. He's expecting Steve to pop by. Maybe he should do more of a shirt? Does Steve care? Does this Steve care?
It’s weird, but nice, for Steve to be able to slip into some anonymity too. Since there’s not another Captain America here, even if he doesn’t look like the one in the movies, he figures he’ll go out if they need him, but at the moment, he’s perfectly happy with the fact he’s managed, just to today, to get a minimum wage tea shop job. Hey, they gave him something to start here, so he has time to find a decent job, but this one is interesting for the moment, and he can use some of the things that Mrs. Kimura taught him in Utah about tea way back when. It’s a weird blast from the past, but he’s willing to go with it.
And, when he found out, that he’s not the only Avenger here who doesn’t look like the handsome guy onscreen? He oddly felt comforted by the fact he’s not alone and weird here. Tony seemed pretty nice, sort of nicer than his Tony seems sometimes, even if he knows the guy likes him and it’s not on purpose so much as Tony is stressed out, and has some issues. He’s off to find THIS Tony, after punching in the coordinates.
A little bell dings as he steps into Tony’s shop, glancing around at everything there.
Tony looks up, and grins. "Hey. Can I help you? I should warn you I'm working on a cash register, so if you want to look around a bit, it'll be a bit - loud." He blinks. "So - uh - this'll sound weird, but - how are things with you?"
Since look, he's read about the super soldier serum and what it could do to you. He knows how it can make you more muscular.
“Hah.” Steve laughs at that, since Tony definitely knows him now and all, and it’s probably got to do with the serum. “Good to meet you in the flesh, Tony. Especially…I know it’s...kind of weird, considering I’m...me, and people seem more used to the all American type of Cap here, but…” he shrugs. “They were taking enlistments when I was at Topaz, and Dr. Erskine saw no reason a Nisei couldn’t be the face of the war. I like to think it maybe helped our case a little.” He shrugs a bit, and offers a hand, “Let’s make this official. Steve Royama.”
Tony reaches to shake his hand. "Dude, that - that must have been - wait can I try that again? I'm sorry. That must've been awful early on. Is it rude to say you're as American as you want to be? I could see telling us to shove it."
“It wasn’t great right off the bat.” Steve says. “Fine when I was a kid, I mean. Or well. No one bullied me because my parents were from Japan then, anyway. They bullied me for the usual small and probably annoying ones.” He laughs at that thought. “And, sure, parts of it were...pretty hard. I had good friends along the way. And since they unfroze me, I’ve made decent ones. People like you...or well…” he squints at Tony.
“I THINK future you. You look a little more like my universe’s Tony, not so much Robert Downey Jr. I’ve watched a few of his movies here, last night. A channel had a marathon, thing, since they just put out the last Avenger movie. Liked him as Sherlock Holmes, but the ones about super hero-ing I’ve left alone so far. It just seems kind of too weird to go there yet. Like I’m going to I don’t know, be going through someone’s underwear drawer. And nah, I like that thought, American as you want to be. Given what I’ve seen from the headlines here, there’s a lot of people trying to claim some Americans aren’t, and…” he makes a face. “It seems way against the spirit that everybody intended here.”
"Yeah, I can agree with that. Uh - I barely met you? Kind of? I've seen videos of serum related stuff, so -" Tony waves a hand. "Look - I'm terrible. Would a cookie and some coffee sound awful? I've got a sinfully comfortable chair, if you're interested."
Steve laughs. “That’s ONE way to meet me, sure. I mean the videos DO exaggerate a whole lot. And all of those sound pretty fantastic. I’m going to be selling tea, as of this morning, and I started training there, so I’ve been without my preferred caffeine source most of the day. Tea’s nice when it’s raining or when I’ve got an art project I’m working on, but…”
"What kind of art do you do? Are you traumatized by really bad student artwork?" Tony's getting up to flip the sign over and shut the door before waving him back. Since well, it's a thrift shop. The university spits out some stuff every year that ends up here, and some of it's - memorable.
“Drawing, mostly.” Steve grins. “A little painting. Before the war, I was in school for it. I sort of thought, well. I’d wanted to work for Walt Disney? Not so much making the cartoons themselves, but in the backgrounds or drawing characters. I WAS selling things for ads though.”
"Bet you'd be amazing, if you got back into it. If you didn't do my thing and glue yourself to the art equivalent of ten typewriters with varying faults." Tony's starting a fresh batch of coffee. "Sit? Blue chair's pretty comfy."
“I’d like to pick up a brush again. I did a little back at home after I was back, when there was time. The Avengers got asked to help with this charity calendar. Photos or drawings or things that were important to us...You designed a really cool blueprint for an easy worktable kids could make with their parents for June, and had some old photos of Dum-E and U through the years for one of the other months, Natasha did some ballet poses for one of hers, next to a Degas dancer picture, and did a close up photo of some dancing shoes she used, and so on. Mine was a portrait of the team after the Battle of Manhattan...do you know about that yet? It was how we came together in my neck of the woods, , and then I did another picture of the group as cartoon animals. It was fun.”
"I think that's - after my point in time." Tony's got two non matching mugs, and two spoons, and a clean plate for the cookies. "I met Natasha. So - probably close?"
“Oh wow.” Steve nods. “Right around all that. You were the last one to join our team before Thor, actually. Thor just kind of...appeared. And he’s...Well. I don’t want to spoil THAT surprise. Can I help with anything?”
Tony waves a hand. "Sugar's up there, creamer's in there, and I've got almond milk? Pick what you like? And let me tug a chair over for me."
Steve does add a fair amount of sugar, grinning a little sheepishly as he does that, then grabs the other stuff. “This is nice. Cozy. Feels like coming home, in a way.”
Tony smiles back at him. "It does, you know? I kind of - I got here, and realized that people wouldn't know who I was. And - I could do whatever. It's hard to get a chance to do that."
“It’s kinda nice, huh?” Steve nods. “I mean, if it comes to it, I still want to help people but I’d like to be anonymous. I think. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing, not for my image and all.”
"Having an escape valve and downtime? Union rights, so to speak?" Tony's pouring the coffee. "Tell me off if I'm doing a thing I already blathered at you about. And - uh - you've been doing a tea shop thing? I've been - I work here."
“They hired me as the first place I looked.” Steve says. “I mean, they gave us a stipend here, but I didn’t want to fall back on any of that or get lazy. And I know a little about tea. One of my friends in the camp was this older lady who taught me about different types of it. It made me want to know more after I woke up so I did that research, and hey, it’s helping here. But definitely downtime is good. “
"Well, you're welcome to visit? I mean - if you want. I'm not the exact same guy you knew." Tony stirs his coffee and leans on the table.
“Yeah, you’re not.” Steve agrees. “But closer than the Clint here. Who seems nice, don’t get me wrong. I’m looking forward to hanging around with both of you. Just, wow, we’re like...the alternate, counter reality Avengers aren’t we? If you count yourself as one. And Barton says some guy named Deadpool’s running around who’s sort of in this. I think he helps us out from time to time in his reality. Anyway, we should all be friends. Because we’re in this weird together, huh?”
"I haven't met him. It sounds like he's kind of - a joker, I'd guess? Which probably means he's got some issues. The one I was told about was more of - you know - million diseases that are being held back by the serum, traumatized and not really trustable at all times from that. Which means nothing, considering their version of me was probably equally not trustable." Tony slides the cookies closer. "We're in this together, if you'd have me, Captain."
“So, I’m hearing.” Steve snags a cookie. “We might wanna be more cautious there. Let Clint handle the heavy lifting til we’ve got a better read on the guy? If we’re gonna be asked to help occasionally if stuff goes wrong, we wanna make sure we’re doing it with people we can trust not to clench it at the last second, right?”
He laughs. “People DID think I was untrustable too, for a while and that turned out okay, so might be anybody’s actual guess. But, we can be nice while still keeping an eye out, yeah?”
"Yeah. Just - I wouldn't suggest we share a tent in a blizzard without knowing him better. Admittedly, I'd probably be a bad tentmate." Tony stretches his back. "Have you had dinner? I've got coupons."
He's refilling coffee mugs. "Clint's - good from what I heard? A little - people have been strange at him, probably different canon's stuff, and he got some hearing damage." He frowns. "Couldn't sleep, read the message boards thing. I know I'm awful for it."
“That’s what they’re there for, right?” Steve says. “To read, I mean? It’s a quick way to figure stuff out. Looks like there’s MAYBE a Natasha around, I saw one thing she’d put up, and a couple random others.” He’s not going to think about the fact there’s a Bucky he saw mentioned. That wound is too fresh for him to contemplate other than being glad that, somewhere, some Steve was able to save him.
“And yeah, sharing tents with slightly crazy people under any circumstances is generally a weird idea. But especially body heat sharing ones.” He shakes his head, laughing. “The Commandoes had to do that once or twice, you know. I definitely avoided Dernier and Farmsworth.Of course, it meant they giggled to each other all night like girls at a slumber party, when we just bunked them together, but it worked for the others in the group. And coupons are a great idea. I probably have some too. Welcome to the neighborhood sort of pamphlet.”
Tony smiles and offers his hand. "Yeah. Welcome to the neighborhood. Can I get you dinner?"
“If you let me help with offsetting SOME of it.” Steve shakes his hand. “OR we do this another time and I get it then. I’d also say I could make something sometime, but I get the impression, judging by how hard you’ve fought for it, that you’re interested in living and that’s not an activity conducive to life within a thirty block radius.”
Tony snorts. "That bad, huh? And sure. Let's go through the menus and see what you like. I've got some food here. but I bet you need more calories than I do, right?"
“I, yeah, actually.” Steve eyedarts. “I’m probably, say, going to polish off a whole pizza, along those lines. Makes groceries a LITTLE expensive so I can definitely help with that, out of just plain not wanting to be a total jerk.”
"isn't that just your metabolism? That's like blaming yourself because you eat more than a baby does." Tony's eating another cookie. "Right. Menus. I live upstairs, and I'll need to crack the windows while the fans are going. But - shall we head up?"
“Well, yeah.” Steve grins around another cookie of his own. “I don’t think science counted on THAT one, oddly enough. At least it’s not a matter of not being able to go on. That would have been bad in the field, huh? I’m fine for heading up.” he stands.
Tony clicks off the lights and takes the coffee pot with them. "I can make another batch. Grab your mug, please?"
Steve grabs that up. “Need help with carrying anything else? I”m pretty fast and could do a couple trips.”
"I think that'll do it?" Tony's grinning. "We can check the menus and pick what to order. I think there's - want to grab the cookies?"
“Got it.” Steve grabs the cookies now. “Anything you especially want? I’m pretty easy.”
"I'm open to ideas. I literally order from like four places and have a stack from a dozen more." He's setting up his stack of menus as he moves to open up the windows and get the fan going. "Couch is pretty comfortable. Radio's tuned to a station that does concerts from the school."
“Nice.” Steve laughs and goes to help with the windows. “Concerts are nice. I like the stuff you’d think, and some from just a little after, so that’s probably a lot of ground that might get covered.”
Tony gets the fans going. "I do have an air conditioner, but - well - getting the heat out is cheaper. Right." He drops the big folder of options. "Top four is in front. Shall I throw some music on and pull out my bowl of dip and chips and salad junk while we flip through it?"
He waves a hand. "I nibble better than sit down to eat. So - I just buy bags of like - cucumbers or carrots and do this while I'm deciding what to order." Tony hesitates. "Want me to call Clint? See if he's game for almost strangers and some dinner?"
“Sure.” Steve says, “To the music and to Clint. He’d probably like this. I get the impression...there was a Steve here for a while and a Tony and Thor, and it was...awkward with them all and Clint. He seems like he felt not wanted. Good idea we include him from the start.”
Tony digs out his phone and types in a message to warn Clint before calling him. If he's not somewhere that he can pick up, he might get a reply back.
Clint’s pretty quick to respond to the text. He’s interested that Steve’s around and eager to meet a new one. He’s just got to get Cupid out of the dog run and back into his harness and they’ll be over. Should he bring anything with him? He’s pretty sure the cookies he has in the freezer are still pretty good if they don’t mind them having Christmas M&Ms in.
Tony welcomes him in, and totally does not mind Christmas M&M themed cookies. "Hey. Want to help pick out what to order?" There's some quiet music going on. It sounds like a college station. "We've got a couple of options, and I was saying that maybe doing it was a group isn't bad. Thanks for coming over."
“That sounds like a good idea.” Clint says, nodding. “Offhand, I’m not really up for anything Mexican tonight since I JUST did tacos this weekend, but anything else is pretty much okay.” Cupid’s trotting by his side and sniffs Tony, and then Steve, then relaxes a little, finding a spot under a table where he can keep an eye and ear on things.
And Clint’s now turning to Steve. “Wow a different Steve in the flesh. AND a different Tony, of course. It’s...that feels kind of good. I’m not from the same place either. There’s comic books and...yeah. That’d be me. Older run of them, actually. They started a new one a few years back. We’re similar, but…”
“Nah, I get that.” Steve smiles. “Glad to start things here with two of you. If we’re a group, no matter what we’re doing these days, we need to stick close.”
"I'm up for that." Tony slides in to sit and tugs the menus over. "So, no Mexican, Clint voted. I did the Greek Burger place last night. Good fries, good guacamole. But that's no help. We could do flatbreads and mezze stuff. That'd be some sliced meat, some dips, maybe a flavored yogurt. Probably honeyed pastries of some sort. They're nearish. Just at the end of the block."
Tony eyes Cupid. "I'm just thinking we could walk over, and Steve could relax? I don't know." Admittedly, they could order stuff from the Russian deli and get noodles and cabbage and stews and eat just as well. Or the Chinese place at the end of the road going the other way isn't bad either.
“That could be good.” Clint nods. “I’m up for this idea. And oh hey, those all sound pretty good. I’m up trying that. Steve?”
“Sounds good.” Steve nods. “It’s kind of funny, the flatbread idea. After the first big fight with the Avengers? We went for Shawarma. It’s comfort level close enough to sound awesome.”
"Their chicken's actually better than some of the other options. How much should we - or do you have an idea, Clint?" Tony's snagging a shirt to pull on and a jacket. It's a loft like space, so his closet is basically hidden by the first easy to find curtain he found (which was a block printed tablecloth from a sale from the school.) Thankfully there's walls enough that they can't see that his bed's not made, or the three fans pointing at it. It was a warm night, and the air conditioning isn't great if you don't run it all day. "I was thinking something like four pounds of meat, and about - I don't know - that'd be like eight little containers of dip?"
The place is dog friendly too.
“That would probably work.” Clint says, eyeing Steve. “That okay for you or...how’s YOUR super soldier fuel requirements?”
“I think I could handle those.” Steve says. “And the dips are usually pretty good at that kind of place. Could be fun. I’m up for fun.”
Tony grins. "Want to relax on the couch while we pick stuff up? Or come along? They're good with dogs, so we should be fine. And I know you want to chip in. Maybe fifteen or so would be about a third." Since let's be realistic, they all eat well, in Tony's experience.
“I can head along.” Steve smiles. “It’d be nice to see what’s all out here, you know?”
Tony offers him a hand up. "You just look so comfortable."
Steve grins and takes it. “It’s comfortable here, with both of you. It’s nice to know I can make new friends here and all. Feels nice. Less isolating.”
Tony laughs. "We're terrible, aren't we? I think I want to figure out how to keep doing this. Next I'll suggest a movie night. Or a sleepover." He picks up one of those reusable shopping bags to help carry things. "It is nice. I don't think I was - lonely in the same -" He frowns. "I like the idea, of being Avengers in this way. Just - trying to get friends working, and not being isolated. Is that a bad thing to say? Instead of fretting about how to be cautious? Because - I don't want to be."
And maybe that lack of paranoia is being lonely, but - he trusts them. Clint and Cupid, and Steve's cheerful willingness to be - just him. Not the guy that Tony's dad talked about.
“Sleepovers sound good.” Steve laughs. “Kind of teenage girl like but that doesn’t mean teenage girls can’t be brilliant most of the time.” He’s met more than a few who he really admires, in fact.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. I got here and...I didn’t freak out exactly, but it was daunting to think about not having anybody I had common ground with, you know? I already have that SORT of, with the timeline thing, at home. And I agree, being cautious is...not the best.”
Clint nods.
“The last set of other Avengers who were here...I never really had a place with them. It...there were issues and I screwed something up and emotionally damaged that Tony, accidentally, but it was better to step away. Thor kind of showed me that, the one that was here, so I stepped back. It’d be nice to get back into things, if it’s needed, and if not, to have you guys anyway. I mean they’re not mutually exclusive.”
"Which isn't fair on you, no matter what they had going on. I know I've got issues about people acting like I need to - be good enough to be seen or something. And I probably -" Tony sighs. "I get migraines and sometimes my chest is pretty tender, and that makes sleeping and a lot of things unpleasant. And I'm sloppy and hurried or - way too focused on stuff." Which - he usually doesn't discuss, but - it's Captain America, here. Or well, the idea of him. "But I like you guys, and well - you both know a me, if not this me, if that makes sense? It's not as exhausting, the idea finding how I should act. Ever since I got back, just - imagine having to run down the list of stuff I can't handle with a new doctor? Or a new person? Or bluffing."
“We’ve got a Doctor Strange here…” Clint says. “Uh, probably you won’t know he does the superhero thing now, wizard, but he’s around for medical consults in addition to all of that. He was a brain surgeon in New York before stuff caused him to need to quit and sent him uh…”
He glances at Steve.
Steve shrugs. “I have no idea...I’ve seen the name in my New York but he was in a pretty bad wreck or something not that long ago. Vanished. So he’s doing...magic now?”
“Pretty much.” Clint nods. “And since he’s still legally a doctor, he’s been known to pop in on stuff. Obviously he’s kind of crap at general stuff, but for something like migraines a neurologist is probably a good idea? And he knows people.”
"The main thing I was told was that I've got - classic mild migraines. Caffeine helped, as did triptans. Some of it is -" Tony waves a hand. "I set myself off sometimes, working too long and too late, high stress sort of stuff. But I was told no triptans until they knew how stable my heart was, and even then, probably no triptans. I could ask him if he's willing to consult though. I'm guessing the answer is that the cure is worse than the symptoms."
Since Tony wasn't - you know - debilitatingly sick, and a lot of it was his own fault sometimes.
He hesitates. "I should also probably mention that if I start drinking again, you've got my full permission to drag me down to get detoxed and someone making sure I don't keep doing it. I'm dry right now, but addiction is addiction." And going dry as a hostage in a country that mostly doesn't drink will always be worse than doing it here. "Shall we start walking? I'm ravenous for some reason."
“That sounds like a thing to look out for.” Steve says, nodding. “If you want to talk about anything like that, you can. I don’t get it exactly from the point of having dealt with it, or anything, but I’ve known people who struggled and things. And I bet there’s people here who can do that kind of thing, understand it, better than I could, but...I’m here.”
“Me too.” Clint nods.
Tony scrubs his face with one hand. "I kind of wish I could tell my therapist I'm doing the talking about feelings thing." He smiles slightly. "The offer's open to you guys. I'm kind of a mess, but - I won't learn if I don't try."
Tony does remember to get some more bags, and they still end up with his coat carrying the bag of assorted flatbreads. They had the lavash that Tony loved. The owner remembered him, and was happy to see him again, and cooed sweetly at Cupid. They've got about a dozen tubs of various dips, and some grilled meats to go with them. Apparently someone donated a mountain of pomegranates from the co-op, so they've also got tub of seeds and some juice for a song. Tony does catch himself glancing at the others as they head back. "Does - this all seem good?"
The radio's moved on to jazz, judging by the second hand clothes shop which has the same station on. “Looks amazing.” Steve’s shifting his bags that he’s carrying a little so he can grab the door for everyone “I think we should be good to go. The mint tea idea sounded really good too.”
Clint’s carrying that, and a few other options to go with the pomegranate juice and he’s nodding. “Should work with the pastries. That’s a thing, right?”
"I think I've even got the right glasses if you're game for tiny cut glass things. And the mint is trying to take over. I swear I'll wake up and find the pansies downstairs gone in favor of mint." Tony gestures at the second floor window basket of it.