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Tweak says, "Wash behind your ears!!"

Tony Stark (campusking) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-04-28 19:25:00

Entry tags:

steve rogers (avac), tony stark (avac)

WHO Tony Stark (avac) and Steve Rogers (avac)
WHAT: Sliding into DMs leads to
WHEN: Sunday afternoon
WHERE: By the River

After the night at the bar and his kind of sort of heart to heart with Old Fashioned, Tony had kind of thought a lot about Steve, about talking to him and his spastic-ness and well just what he wanted things to be between them. Better at least, a little less.... insane on his end hopefully, though Tony wasn't entirely sure he could do that, but talking to Steve felt like a good place to start, at least that was what he hoped.

Maybe he'd end up with his foot in his mouth again, but it was probably better than just imagining how this conversation might go over and over again in his own mind. Tony was very good at visualizing even without JARVIS to help him out, and this was something he'd visualized a lot and well it usually ended fairly poorly on his side of things, but maybe he was just selling himself short? Maybe.

Whatever, Steve was his friend, that counted for something and he didn't want to feel like he had to avoid a friend for fear of embarrassing himself constantly. So you know he was trying, making strides, being a better person, all of those things. At least that's what he told himself as he made his way down to the river to meet Steve and prayed that he had all his clothes on this time.

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shieldtoss
2019-04-29 07:08 pm UTC (link)

Steve merely grinned. "What? You don't think you could keep up with me?" He was joking, of course. "You could use a bit of exercise instead of relying on just genetics and your armor, you know." Just like Steve to throw in a pearl of wisdom in between ribbings. "You should join me next time." He paused. "I promise I'll take it easy on you, Stark." He pulled the shirt from off his shoulder, spinning it around as he threaded his fingers inside, spreading it open--muscles flexing as he did so, and slipped on the shirt that fit him like a second skin.

"What'd you want to talk about?" he asked. "Is it because Buck and I decided to run around taking out Hydra instead of sticking around NYC?" He offered Tony a small smile. "Y'all were fine. You didn't need me around." Besides, Hydra was the real threat. And if the Avengers actually needed him? Steve would've obviously been there. As if to try and make Tony relax, he slipped that muscled around the young Stark's neck. "All you had to do was call if you needed me."

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campusking
2019-04-29 07:17 pm UTC (link)

"Maybe for the first two miles." He huffed, Tony wasn't in bad shape, but he certainly didn't work out the way Steve did - and well he wasn't a super soldier either, so no he definitely couldn't keep up. "You're not going to run circles around me if I do?" He asked, eyes narrowed just a little when Steve made the offer to go easy on him if he decided to join him the next time he was working out.

Tony was definitely not watching Steve put his shirt back on, they were just talking to each other, of course he was looking at Steve. And honestly putting the shirt on didn't help in the slightest, it just fit him too well. Tony wondered briefly if Jan was tailoring his clothes for him or if there were just shirts out there that managed to fit Steve like that right off the shelf.

"What? No that's not - no." He frowned a little, it had been a little disappointing when Steve had decided not to stick around, but well... Tony got it, Hydra was still out there even if the Academy was closing, and Steve was good at taking them out, of course he was going to go. "I know, and I would have." He wanted Steve to know that, because Tony had never doubted that if he'd needed Steve or any of the other Avengers they'd have shown up if he called. "I just... I miss hanging out with you. I know I'm kind of... well me, but things have all gotten so complicated." Not just ending up here, which yeah made things a lot more complicated, but also the Academy ending and everyone going their own ways. Tony missed it, the nearness.

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shieldtoss
2019-04-30 04:43 pm UTC (link)

"You could do 5 miles," Steve replied. "I believe in you." Okay, maybe he couldn't, but it'd be funny to see. Plus, he knew Tony liked a challenge -- even if it was at his own expense. He wore a shocked, almost wounded expression at Tony's accusation. "Tony. Do you think I'd do something as mean as that?" He wore that genuine smile, though, to show he wasn't nearly as wounded as he played. "If I'm asking you to run with me, it's because I want us to run together." He leaned forward and added: "I promise to go normal speed. Nothing super-soldiery. A fair fight." So to speak, anyway.

With the shirt now secure, those he never got used to the fact at how...uncomfortable he felt in them. Not because the shirt felt funny (there were definitely some fabrics that took some getting used to in the modern world), but because of how much it showed. Steve had never been much of a show off (regardless of what Tony believed), and so sometimes he wished his shirts were a bit looser.

"Complicated?" he asked as he slipped his arm away and letting his hands fall to his waist and tilted his head.

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campusking
2019-04-30 07:45 pm UTC (link)

"Five miles?" Tony scoffed with wide eyes, he was pretty sure that was probably being a bit generous, maybe he could do four, but... maybe? Well he could die trying at the very least. "No, no I mean... I know you wouldn't." He huffed seeing that grin on Steve's face even after he'd given him a face that read far more kicked puppy than Tony really knew what to do with, that said Steve was definitely teasing him again. "Well I'd like that." He said finally, five miles or not, he'd like to go on a run with Steve, even if Steve did run circles around him if he was being honest.

Tony missed the weight of Steve's arm around his shoulders almost immediately, "I just -" He paused trying to find the right words, he'd spent the last week thinking about what he actually wanted, not just obsessing the way he'd been doing and had a version of this conversation more times than he could count, but suddenly it felt much more difficult to remember what he'd wanted to say in the first place.

"I just mean you know everyone going off and doing their own things, you and Bucky and me and Jan and just everyone," It wasn't like they had an excuse to just hang out the way they had back at the Academy anymore, but Tony found that was something he wanted, "And then being here, and the other versions of us - I don't know. I'm probably just over thinking things, the way I always do."

"Do you think we're destined to do the things the other versions of us have?" He asked veering off in another direction, he thought about the weight he'd seen on the older version of himself - the heaviness of his life and what he'd lived through, even if they didn't talk in great detail about it. Tony wasn't an idiot, he could see that sort of thing, the older version of Steve had it too, and he wondered if they were headed for that as well.

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shieldtoss
2019-05-03 04:14 pm UTC (link)

Steve let out a soft chuckle at Steve's clear frustration, but bent forward to pick up the towel that lay on the grass along with a water jug. Missing, of course, was his shield that seemed to almost always carry while on campus. However, in a place like this, he doubted he had to worry about anything just yet. So far, things seemed fairly quiet which meant they should enjoy what they had while it lasted. A gut feeling told him nothing stayed peaceful for very long. That was just their lives. And being whisked away from a reality and stuck in a giant foreign land didn't exactly bode well.

Glancing at Tony, he quirked a brow. "You didn't really have very many friends in high school did you?" he meant that, of course, in a non-shady way. It was asked with a healthy dose of friendly concern. He wore that damn understanding smile of his and he merely added: "You get used to people being gone like that." He paused as he stood up straight, slipping the towel around his neck, and thought about how lucky he'd been--Bucky had almost always been by his side up until he got recruited for the army. He'd be lying if a part of him hadn't been so aggressive in joining the army if a part of it hadn't been the thought of losing the only family he'd had left in the world. He glanced at him. "People get busy sometimes," he replied, "and no one gets to just hang out in a hot tub whenever they want, Mr. Stark." He squeezed Stark's shoulder. "But I understand."

He started ambling away from the river bank and motioned for Tony to follow--mostly so that he could buy himself some time to think. He merely responded with a shrug. "Haven't met the other me," he said. "But I think we might've already been through what most of them have." He paused. "Or some version of it." He glanced at Tony. "I just think we had each other sooner to make it..." Was easy the right word? He wasn't sure what was, so he let the sentiment hang in the air unspoken hoping in the absence of a word, Tony understood.

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campusking
2019-05-03 10:31 pm UTC (link)

"I didn't really have a lot of friends before the Academy." Tony shrugged, he'd never gone through school at a normal pace, he'd already earned a couple degrees by the time he'd been recruited to the Academy. It had been important to Howard that he get an education as quickly as possible, for Tony that had meant he was in graduate school when most people were thinking about prom and things like that. Maybe that was why he'd been eager to join up with the Academy in the first place, it was something like the normal schools that he'd missed out on.

"That's what this place needs isn't it?" Tony said with a short laugh, not being entirely serious, but if people were going to be improving the place, why not a hot tub? Sure it wouldn't be the amazing one he'd had at Stark Tower but he could probably make something kind of cool. But as far as priorities went that one was a little down the line.

He walked with Steve as he moved away from the river a little bit, "Yeah." He agreed, Tony didn't need whatever word was going to follow on the tail end of that, because he got it - they had each other earlier on that made things different for them, maybe not easier - they were still them after all, but having Steve around had made him better. That much tony knew. "Tony and I - it sounds like we maybe lived through some of the same things," And the other Tony had lived through a lot of things he never had too by the sound of it. "I guess it's probably a good thing that they managed to find each other eventually, who knows what Tony would get up to on his own." Sure he had poor impulse control, but he did think a little more often these day about where his choices might lead, thanks in part to Steve.

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shieldtoss
2019-05-12 12:13 am UTC (link)

"They didn't have hot tubs in my day, and they got along just fine," he said, hoping to reassure him. He chuckled a bit as Tony spoke and shrugged at the idea of what the older Tony would've done if he'd never met the other Steve. "Probably nothing good," he began, "lots of parties and booze and women." He smirked a bit. He was mostly kidding. Steve hadn't really done anything other than hold Tony accountable for the choices he made.

Plus, he was fairly certain a part of Tony wanted people to be proud of him when they seemed to be good people or unlike the men and women he was often surrounded with. It was easy to be "great" when you had a ton of money. It was harder to be great among people whose definition of greatness had little to do with amount of money you earned or whether or not you were arrogantly the smartest person in the room.

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campusking
2019-05-12 01:27 am UTC (link)

"But just think about how much better you'd have gotten along if you had one," He teased, bumping his shoulder into Steve's with a wide grin. They probably didn't need one, but the idea was up there in his head now, he'd probably have to make one before too long, just to get it out of there.

He nodded when Steve guessed about what the other him would have done on his own, and well - it was probably a lot of what he would have done too. He was quiet for a moment, thinking about that, about what Steve might think about that other version of him, and this version of him and not really knowing what to do with all of it. "Do you think that's all I'd have ever done?" He asked finally, because he really just kind of needed to know. Though the why of it was a little more complicated and confused.

Steve made the things he thought and felt a lot more confused than they should be, he had an idea of how he'd wanted this to go earlier, before he'd found Steve out here with his too tight shirt and perfect hair. But it was all getting lost the more they talked.

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shieldtoss
2019-05-16 01:42 am UTC (link)

Steve's brow furrowed at the question. He shrugged in response. "I think outcomes are directly proportionate to how much effort you're willing to put into it," he said. "You have a tendency to run away from committing to things that don't always align to your needs and you're arrogant enough, sometimes, to think that your needs are what's right sometimes, but ultimately, you mean well." Running his fingers through his hair, he lets that hang in the air.

Finally, he says, "Ultimately, though, I think you're a good man despite how cocky you are." He looks up to meet Tony's gaze and offers him a smile. "Worry less about what could have been," he replied, "and just keep trying to be the best version of yourself and you'll be fine." He knocks his shoulder, gently, into Tony as they continue walking. "Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked with an amused grin. "About your possible future?"

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campusking
2019-05-16 05:24 am UTC (link)

Tony was quiet as Steve spoke, listening to his assessment of what he saw in him. Part of him wanted to deny it, he wasn't arrogant, it wasn't arrogant when you were a genius - and that's exactly what Tony was. But he didn't say that of course, because he knew it was true, he'd seen first hand the way his ideas could get away from him, especially when he barreled right ahead on something he was sure he was right about. At least Steve saw that he meant well - that was better than arrogance without meaning well in the end.

And when it came down to it, Steve thought he was a good man, that meant something - whether or not Steve thought he could be arrogant at times. He nodded with a soft huff of something kind of like laughter but probably more like nerves when Steve knocked into him.

"I mean, kind of." He said and then frowned, it wasn't really, "I mean not quite like this, but it was part of it." He admitted. "I don't know, I guess being here has me thinking a lot." Not just because there were older versions of both of them running around, but also just because Steve was here again, like they were back at the Academy and hanging out all the time again, he wasn't out with Bucky doing his own thing. "It has me thinking about the things I want, I guess. About you too." God Tony could just not make himself say it to save his life.

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shieldtoss
2019-05-16 07:11 pm UTC (link)

"Wanting to be a good guy is never a bad thing," he replied with a chuckle. "And we've already established that I've not stopped being your friends, so there's that." He clasped his hand on the young Stark's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "I think we've hit your agenda, yeah? Avenger friends reunited, adventures on the horizon, and once again, we'll be the heroes we need to be." He slipped his hands into his pockets. "Sounds pretty epic to me, don't you think?"

He paused and tilted his head. "I'm going to try and find a tub to bathe in since we don't really have showers and then try and find Jan." He started bouncing on his feet from side to side as if warming up to start running again. "Meet up later for a reunion dinner?" He paused. "Unless there was something else you wanted to talk about?" He flashed Tony that charming Steve smile, used the edge of his shirt to wipe away some of the sweat from his brow -- exposing the tummy as if the universe were trying to make Tony's life all the more difficult.

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campusking
2019-05-17 05:52 am UTC (link)

Right, yeah wanting to be the good guy wasn't a bad thing, except when it meant he got himself into trouble when he went at it without thinking it through. And yes Steve was still his friend, but it wasn't really what he'd meant by all of this. But even Tony couldn't deny that it was the sort of thing that totally did sound pretty epic to him too. "Yeah, yeah you're right it does sound epic." Even if it did make him laugh a little hearing Steve describe something as epic like that. "We're gonna have a lot to look forward to."

And then it was like there was some sort of switch that flipped - Steve was going to try and find a tub and Tony's brain just kind of followed that thread to it's logical conclusion and that was truly a mistake on his part if he was going to actually be able to say anything more to Steve. "Yeah?" He asked, just a little surprised by the offer but liking the thought of it none the less. "Yeah I'd like that."

The flash of bare skin made it that much more difficult for Tony to keep his head on straight. "I - " He started and stopped, tearing his eyes away from the flash of skin and back up to Steve's face. "No I mean - yeah." Someone really just needed to put him out of his misery. "No it can wait, you should... you know go clean up."

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shieldtoss
2019-05-18 03:53 pm UTC (link)

"Super," he replied with a broad smile. "You, me, Jan. Glad we got a chance to bring the band back together, right?" He offered him one last wave and said: "See you later, Stark. Try to not to get into too much trouble." It was mostly a tease, but they both knew Tony often found himself in situations that didn't always go to plan. With a quick turn, he headed toward the place he called his home leaving his friend to get cleaned up.

Uncertain what they would do later, and perhaps hoping maybe Jan could construct something else for him so he wasn't wearing the same three shirts and two pants over again. He didn't exactly want to bring up his delicates in front of the lady, either, but he supposed under garments were a social construct that people had lived with long before 1942. Either way, he was glad that he wasn't here alone. It was going to be a good day.

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