InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Gettin' jiggy wit it."

Steve Rogers (captainhandsome) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-02-22 10:54:00

Entry tags:

america chavez (616), clint barton (616), clint barton (mcu), gamewide plot, janet van dyne (avac), kamala khan (avac), kate bishop (616), peter b parker (sv), steve rogers (mcu), tony stark (mcu)

WHO: Everyone and anyone!
WHAT: Something smells like dinner?
WHERE: The square of the unnamed town that is here
WHEN: The second day
RATING: Low

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Steve liked the fresh air, he hadn't got a chance to enjoy it in Wakanda, hadn't got a chance to do much except what had been done. Then like the dust in his hands it had all slipped away, reality and earth did as well. At first he'd been alone, he'd had time to explore everything by himself, had slept and eaten and there had been days of that kind of echoing quiet. It gave him time to think, this hadn't been part of his plan. He'd cleared out a house, put together a tool kit from things he'd found around. The tools had needed some care but worked well for his basic needs.

Once he'd seen to cleaning, washing windows inside and out, then it was building up firewood. Steve must have spent an entire day taking apart dead trees, carrying the stores into the square. It was good, he didn't think too much then, just that it might get cold, there might be more people.

And there were more people, strangers who appeared much the same as he had and Steve tried to give them space, be welcoming and yet not threatening. He wasn't sure how well it was working. But he'd decided that usually the best way to make peace and the like was through someone's stomach. Which is what had lead him to taking a little walk down to where the trees got closer together and twigs cracked under foot.

He never wanted to kill something, but he also understood foodchains and the like. The large boar hadn't stood much chance against the impact of his shield and it was quick at least. The rest of it took longer and Steve didn't have a lot of experience but it wasn't the first time he'd butchered something so he got there. Steve carried it back to the square, where he'd already lit the fire under the metal rack he'd dragged out from behind a shed was scrubbed clean. A spit would be better, but that kind of machinery wasn't his forte. Coals and what looked to be an old metal gate would do fine.

It was practically a barbecue.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-22 12:14 am UTC (link)

Practically a barbecue, sure. It looked like one completely to Tony, who had (beyond a meeting with Janet Van Dyne who was most certainly his new best friend) been laying very low the past day. He'd found some more water and a house that had been empty (like most things seemed to be) and bunked down to maybe catch up with the bone deep tired feeling that had been sitting on his back for days on end now.

Sleeping hadn't seemed like a good choice when he'd been drifting in space, worried he'd run out of air. Tony had been adamant that he wasn't going to die in his sleep if he was going to die at all.

So. He'd slept here.

Food though, he hadn't really had time for after the water had made him feel sickeningly full. But now? Now he smelled it, and from his window he could see the fire, the silhouetted shoulders of someone so familiar that it'd nearly made his heart stop.

He left the house he'd not-quite claimed and wandered over, uncertain but not willing to show it. "I see you found a grocery store." Those didn't exist here, but it didn't matter because from close up, Tony knew his eyes hadn't tricked him. Those shoulders were more than familiar. Steve was achingly, hauntingly familiar.

It had been a very, very long time.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-22 12:31 am UTC (link)

It didn't take long for the meat to get going, juices dripped onto coals and the smell traveled through the town. There was a garden and some things growing, fruit trees as well if you looked hard enough, but a hot meal smelled a certain way. Steve had found some plates and cutlery in one of the empty houses and set that up on a table, so it was rustic, but not too rustic. Leftovers wouldn't keep and Steve hoped people would come and share, or at least take later what he'd leave.

He heard someone coming and he'd been about to turn, about to greet them when they spoke. There were some voices that stuck, stayed with you forever no matter how long it had been and that there was one of them. Steve froze facing the fire for a beat and then another, like he wasn't quite sure. It seemed too impossible, perhaps he'd been alone too long and had descended into madness.

But he turned and there was madness looking just as uncertain as he felt.

"I forgot milk, mind picking some up later?" Steve asked when he found his voice.

Of all the people he'd expected Tony Stark was not even on the list of possibilities. It had been a quiet and introspective couple of days so to be suddenly confronted with him was a lot, close to too much. "Hungry?"

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-22 01:58 am UTC (link)

Admittedly, Tony felt a little like madness, like something had gotten all jumbled and wrong out there in space and he wasn't sure how to make it right again. There was time, he figured. The water and sleep had helped, he didn't doubt whatever giant animal Steve had strung up over that fire might, too.

The pause was telling, admittedly, but then everything seemed to tilt spectacularly into the surprising when Steve actually made a joke. A laugh bubbled out of him, weird, like maybe he'd forgotten how. He hated that, but there it was. "Yeah. And bread. Why do I bother even making a list?"

Steve looked a little bit like shit. Tony wasn't sure it'd be wise saying so.

He chewed his bottom lip, glanced over at the smoking meat and fire. "I think I'm starving, actually. Maybe literally. When did you get here?" Both of those topics were easier than Hey, I know it's been over a year, how's all.... that going?

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-22 02:18 am UTC (link)

It wasn't the time for jokes, but it also wasn't not the time. It was all thrown off axis and Steve had no more answers now than he'd had when he got here, actually less because he'd ruled some things out. The laugh was bordering on hysterical and Steve could relate. "At least I remembered dinner."

Tony actually looked like he might be starving, gaunt and a little sunken and Steve beckoned him forward. "A few days maybe?" Steve said thinking about it now as he grabbed a plate. Some parts weren't cooked yet like the belly and shoulder, but there was plenty of good parts that were and Steve cut off what came easily away from the bone.

A few singed fingertips later and Steve set the plate on the table in front of him. "There's apples in the bag, carrots and beans in this one," he added before popping the first piece of meat into his mouth. It maybe needed seasoning, but after a few days of not much on a super soldier stomach it tasted darn good. "What about you? How long?" Steve asked once he'd swallowed.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-22 03:09 am UTC (link)

"Well, if anyone had to be the provider," Tony said, although he wasn't actually sure he believed that. Once upon a time, he'd been the one to offer people a home, a roof, food. Times changed, he supposed, and so far Tony had done a whole lot of nothing for anyone.

Not here, and not back home either.

"Missed you," he said, and decided that sounded absolutely fucking wrong on a lot of accounts, and it didn't matter if it was the truth of the matter or not. "I mean, I didn't see you. When I looked around."

The meat was hot, and normally he wouldn't go for much of anything that glistened the way this did, but he licked it off his fingers before he even bothered to try the meat and it was so full of flavor and calories that he actually had to shutter off his expression in fear that he might burst into tears for how good it was, and for how long it'd been since he'd eaten.

He'd worry about vegetables afterward. And apples. The concept of that many flavors was slightly overwhelming.

"Not long. Yesterday? I haven't done much exploring." He certainly wasn't out there chasing down meat with his hands alone.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-22 04:42 am UTC (link)

Steve wanted to help people, that's all he'd ever wanted. He'd taken the serum to help people, he'd fought in a war, fought aliens, done it all to help people. What these people needed was a meal and so he'd help there, do what he could. "Might have had a better set up if you'd been around," Steve said with a nod to the fire. It worked fine but it was primitive and something designed by Tony would have probably cooked things more evenly.

Tony's words struck him like a blow and it was everything he could do not to crumple his shoulders under the weight of it. Even once amended it didn't much help the staggering weight of it, how long Steve had spent looking at his phone and praying for it to ring, wishing for it and dreaming of the name that would flash on the screen. He'd been gone, but never completely. "I've been collecting what I could," Steve said, pushing forward through the blockage in his chest.

The smell of cooking meat would bring people out, because clearly they'd be in a similar position to Tony who was far more than just hungry. Steve broke the pieces up smaller and pushed them to Tony's side of the plate, they'd cool quicker, be easier to eat.

"There's not much to see," Steve admitted as he took another piece for himself, tossing the scraps onto another plate, probably for the dog he'd seen earlier. "I've cleaned the last house up here," Steve explained, pointing with the end of a bone. "Put together a bed. There's a garden and then back there some fruit trees."

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Re: Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-22 04:56 am UTC (link)

True, it would have been a better set up if Tony'd been involved. He eyed what Steve had working and thought of at least a dozen ways to improve it. Too little too late though, considering it was all hot metal at this point. Good enough. There was food, and that was really the point that mattered.

It was obvious his words had done harm, and Tony didn't have it in him to further backpedal, he only stared at Steve and wondered if any of this could have been prevented if they hadn't both been idiots, too concerned with their own ideals to be concerned with Thanos until it was too late. Stupid, really, since Tony had been trying to prepare for it for years. Ever since that wormhole. "Good," he said after a long silent beat, punctuated by Steve apparently feeling the need to further help him with his food. Which was. Finicky. But fine. "Good. That's smart." And here he'd just been sleeping.

He glanced over at the house in question, chewing at smaller bits of meat as he looked. "I just picked an empty one earlier," he admitted, but it didn't really matter, it hadn't been anything more than the first one he'd seen. He might not even stay there, once he had time to check the others out. "I met someone. From a different world than ours. She knows us though. Same people, different situations."

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-22 05:12 am UTC (link)

There was room to grow from there. Maybe it was easy to accept because what he'd left behind had been so terrible, so crushing that something simple like this, easy, was all he could cope with. But having Tony there threw him, it always seemed to. But there was no denying that together making a meal like that would be easier, everything was easier.

All the harm was done, what was left now was the echos of pain they'd caused each other. When he thought about it sometimes his hand worked itself into a fist and he didn't know why. It was a long time since he'd been angry about it, if he ever had been. Steve felt everything that had happened to their world and who knew how many others, as a personal failing and something that maybe could have been avoided if he hadn't been so dang sure of himself.

"I've got a tool kit, lots of things were sort of laying around, or half buried or broken, then the weapons I had with me from before," Steve explained as he nodded toward the box of things under the table. "You should, if you wanted, mine's clean," he shrugged but he meant it. His eyebrows raised thinking about someone who knew them, but was from somewhere else. From what he'd seen there was some of that going around.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-22 05:34 am UTC (link)

Easier, sure. But also more difficult. Like nothing could be smooth sailing, not with them. Not really. But before all of this, it'd been a sure thing, despite that. Almost comfortable with all of the bumps.

Not anymore. Even now. Especially now, it was just... stilted. Awkward. Strange. There was too much left unsaid and it was clear to Tony that they'd probably have to get to that eventually. The silence, despite there being words between them, was nearly as deadly as going without air.

And Tony, he'd know plenty about that.

He finished off the meat he'd been offered, licked his fingers clean with very little regard for how it may or may not have looked (or that he hadn't washed them before hand -- look, he'd been starving) and decided to not get into the idea of more food just yet, because even this was making him feel tired again, nearly heavy. "I'll check out the tools later. I've got some stuff I can add to the pile. The ship I was in is over --there." It was a ways away. At least he thought it was. It'd felt like a very long walk to civilization.

At the offer, Tony glanced at Steve, rose an eyebrow in question. "Well," he said after a moment. "If it's clean." But what he really knew was that it'd be doubly defended.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-22 11:35 pm UTC (link)

There was so many different parts of their friendship, the rocky start, then a coming to an understanding, building a team and realizing the extent of their strength together, then the end. It's like they'd let their own petty bullshit eclipse the end of the damn world, because it was proven that together they were virtually unstoppable.

He didn't know where to go, how to hold his mouth when he wasn't talking, how to hold onto all of what had happened between them and then what had happened all at once. Super strength or not that was a load to shoulder. So they left it, like an uninvited guest who showed up early, ate all the good snacks and passed out in the corner.

A ship, even for scrap, would be a good edition and Steve nodded. There was more to be found, dressers with clothes in them like the t-shirt he was wearing now rather than still being in his full gear. But it would take time and it would be easier now with someone he knew he could trust. Even if it was awkward.

Steve knew what he meant, what they both meant. Things that seemed safe weren't always that way, things that seemed innocent might not stay that way and it was one less side to keep an eye on when you had someone with you. Besides Tony looked like he needed a proper rest, the kind in a bed after a good meal. He grabbed two mugs and scooped some glasses of fresh water from the bucket, before drinking from one and setting the other in front of Tony. "It's clean, pretty comfortable as well, when you're tired enough and I know I have been."

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-23 12:00 am UTC (link)

The uninvited, passed out guest was about the size of an elephant though, so it was more likely than not that eventually one of them would be tripping over it. Tony didn't want to be the first one to do it, not really, but he also kind of did? Maybe some yelling or apologizing or -- something, anything -- would help.

Clearly, they had all new and different problems now anyway, and Tony couldn't sit around with a phone burning a hole in his pocket in response anymore.

"You sold me at clean," Tony said with a little smile, although there wasn't particularly much humor in it. "But comfortable doesn't hurt, either." He didn't doubt Steve had been tired; being on the run did that to someone, Tony figured. And since then -- since Thanos. Well. Tony hadn't slept. Not really. He doubted many people had.

He curled his fingers around the mug, but didn't lift it just yet. "Tell me what happened."

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-24 12:32 am UTC (link)

They were going to have to face it, that giant thing they were pretending wasn't there. But there would be another day, a better time to try to work that out into something- well workable. Steve felt too tired to try that now, too ruined and like he was only just managing one foot in front of the other. Everyone was dead, half the universe and that crushed him under the incredible weight of it.

It was a house, there would be room enough for two either temporarily or not. But until things got sorted, until they figured out what next and where to, what Steve had salvaged was enough to share. One bed would separate into two, blankets as well, Steve didn't much feel the cold anyway.

Steve had managed a few hours, of course he'd wake up sitting upright already practically on his feet as the horror of it pushed him from asleep to awake. But he was used to that, you didn't fight in a war and come out the other side unscathed, not ever. It was lucky really that Steve didn't have his mouth full when Tony asked his question, because he would have choked.

Instead he stayed quiet for a moment, watching the fire and then moving to turn some of the meat not wanting it to spoil. How could he answer something like that? "We lost," Steve finally said, mostly to the coals.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-24 12:51 am UTC (link)

It'd been the wrong question to ask, Tony knew. It was probably too soon (when wouldn't it be), and they had other things to be worrying about just now but - well. He had to know, no matter how much he already knew the answer. Filling in the blanks wasn't hard, even if Tony had none of the specifics. Whatever was left of the Avengers had assembled on Earth, and they simply hadn't been enough.

He wondered after Rhodey, after Pepper. After the rest of his make-shift family, too. Tony was not certain he could handle any more specifics though. He had enough blood on his hands, enough ash for any one life time.

"Yeah," he said after a long beat, sorry he'd brought it up, that he'd put that look on Steve's face. It seemed only wise to stare off into the flames, too, because being manful about it would make it easier, obviously. Only vague feelings allowed here by the fire. "So did we." Technically, Tony had lost first. The battle should never have even made it to Steve in the first place.

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

captainhandsome
2019-02-27 05:57 am UTC (link)

It wasn't wrong, not really, Tony needed to know and they needed to talk about it. Because if it was doing to Tony's insides what it was doing to Steve's it was tearing him apart. But that didn't make it easy. It didn't make talking about his failure and then his loss, their loss any easier. "With the time stone- we couldn't- there wasn't- I-" his voice was low and easily just drifted off into nothing, like the words died at the source.

Steve clenched his fist for a moment, working some of the feelings out in an action. Running or hitting something worked better, but now wasn't the time for that. There were more people coming as they smelled food and Steve took a plate back to load it with more cooked pieces. That was something to focus on, being useful.

They would both blame themselves, carry it on their shoulders and in their chests and Steve lay down the plate, eyes following Tony's into the fire for a moment before he reached out to grasp his shoulder. Not hard or some masculine display, gentle and closer to affection or shared pain, whatever you wanted to call it. "It's good to see you."

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Steve Rogers | Tony Stark

allaboutego
2019-02-27 04:11 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. The time stone. That was no surprise. Strange had spelled out that there wasn't any other way to win but -- this hadn't felt like a win, and it didn't feel like something they could come back from. And that was definitely on Tony. They'd been so close. He should have just kept a better handle on Quill. Not let anyone get distracted. Something.

Tony didn't need to say anything in response. He knew. Steve knew. It was all bad, and very very fresh. This place was practically a good distraction though-- if Steve loading up plates for strangers was any kind of indication.

The shoulder grab was a bit surprising and Tony had to really focus up and look at Steve over it because it was -- well. Not really an apology. But something close. Something that spoke of solidarity and -- something else. He didn't want to read too far into it, not right now. "Yeah," he agreed, flashing a smile that was nearly real this time. "You too. If I had to be stuck in a weird alternate dimension town, there aren't a lot of people I'd rather do it with."

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