✷ ✷ ✷ ɐılnɾ ✷ ✷ ✷ (hurlyburly) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-06-08 19:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | julia wicker, peter parker / spider-man (mcu), tony stark / iron man (mcu) |
Who: Julia Wicker & Tony Stark, guest appearance by Peter Parker
What: According to Peter Parker, he was hanging with Mr. Stark, got some free sushi, but then things got awkward, but then got more free sushi so it was okay.
When: Thursday, June 8th
Where: Tony’s Place
Warnings: A ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTIONS!
Status: Complete in gdocs
She liked getting his texts. A picture a day, with the newspaper, just as she asked. It was more like an inside joke than anything. The types of pictures Tony took made that clear, but they also made her smile broadly each time like a secret. She saved each picture and kept them to herself, even if it did make her feel slightly stupid to do so. Enjoy the feeling, she told herself, just enjoy it for what it is. No need to beat herself up. She deserved to let herself have that much. Some days that was easier to do than others. When she wasn’t at her day job in the morning, or working on one of her personal projects in the afternoons, currently it was improving wards with Severus, Julia found herself leaving Tumbleweed more frequently to get away from the heat. It was winter south of the equator. Sometimes that was fun, even if her Spanish wasn’t really very good. It had been raining in New York. She missed the city, and may have hit a few ATMs with hedge magic just because. Japan was a result of having a nightmare the night before, the images having haunted her the rest of the day. She’d wanted to get as far away from Tumbleweed as she could. Julia came back when she realized she didn’t want to be alone. So she showed up at Tony’s unannounced, with very real, very fresh Japanese sushi she had secreted away with her and mochi. Nevermind those were foods you could get in the US fairly easily. The food she brought was somehow more real. She had a few moments to come up with an excuse for showing up once J.A.R.V.I.S. let Tony know she was at the door. Tony was quite certain Julia had been joking about her request for a daily selfie to ensure his lack of beard. So of course that meant he had to do it. He was assuming they were going over well, but aside from a few replies to his texts, Julia seemed to be making herself scarce. With how much time they had been spending in one another’s company lately, her absence was most palpable. He wondered if he ought to feel guilty about what had transpired between the two of them and their handling of it -- or lack thereof. The alcohol and party atmosphere had weakened his self-restraint, and the magic of the spell and the musical stylings of Prince had taken advantage of it. It would be easy to chalk it up to the moment and say that it meant nothing. Except he wasn’t so sure that it had. When J.A.R.V.I.S. announced Julia’s arrival, Tony was sitting in the lounge area of his workshop with his feet kicked up on the coffee table, listening to Peter enthusiastically recount his time putting together Legos with the kid from the fairy tale show. Recently, Tony had set aside a separate workspace for Peter to use (or neglect) at his discretion. Personally, he thought the kid showed promise. He was impressed by the synthetic webbing Peter had designed and was curious to see what else he could come up with if given the opportunity. The Stark Internship had essentially become a real thing, even if Tony didn’t exactly have a company to speak of. Tony promptly got to his feet with a “hold that thought,” to Peter, cutting him off mid-sentence. He had already figured out that if he waited for Peter to stop talking, there would never be an exit window. Rather than have J.A.R.V.I.S. let her in, Tony made his way upstairs to greet her in person. When he saw her standing on the other side of the large glass doors, he smiled and ran his hand over his chin. There was a small amount of stubble which had grown since his most recent shave early that morning. When he opened the door and motioned for her to come inside, he greeted her with, “Come to check up on me after all, have you?” Julia’s eyes went a little wide as she realized he’d given her the excuse to show up. Her lips pressed together in a smile and she nodded. “I had to make sure it wasn’t photoshopped. Have you eaten? I have sushi. Like, a lot of it. Um, sorry. I know that’s random.” There was a nervous energy to her. It wasn’t actually Tony. Just the reaching for calm when unpleasant visions and dreams showed up to remind her of her past. Marina thought her roommate was wound up too tight. That wasn’t untrue, but it wasn’t just the projects that occasionally got her wound up. Her words were shooting by fast: “You don’t have any allergies? I should have asked. Some people can’t eat fish or shellfish. Have you had mochi? It’s like little balls of ice cream wrapped in sort of rice fondant.. thing.” The more she spoke, the more obvious it was. She didn’t clutch her hand like Tony sometimes did. She had her own ways of dealing with it. The right way should have been calm meditation or reading a book in a lovely park or the beach. But it was usually in the quiet when her eyes would play tricks on her and show her exactly what she didn’t want to see. “I would never!” Tony exclaimed, feigning offense. “Obviously, I am treating this whole situation with the utmost respect and reverence.” As he led her inside, his eyes fell on the bags of food she was carrying. “Sushi?” He perked up like a dog, but before he could inquire further, she was rambling. Tony’s eyes widened at intervals the more she continued to talk. When it seemed like she had finished, he waited a moment longer, just to make sure. “Hi,” he said calmly and conversationally, while looking her directly in the eyes, hoping it might throw her enough to focus on that for a moment instead of her evident anxieties. Her nervous energy rang familiar. His own had been what had fueled the creation of his Iron Legion. Judging by the bags, Julia apparently traveled. There was nowhere in Texas to find that kind of Sushi on this side of San Antonio. He’d checked. “Kitchen?” Tony asked, motioning in that direction with a nod of his head. He would not ask her about what was troubling her. That was the very last thing that he needed when it was him bursting with nervous energy, so that is what he was going with. Tony Stark had very pleasant eyes. Julia cleared her throat, but smiled at the hi. She loved her friends, but if she had gone to them they would have asked what was wrong or if she was okay. And that wasn’t a bad thing, but that wasn’t what she needed right then. It was the moment he spoke to her that Julia realized Tony’s friendship was so much more valuable than worrying about a single kiss. “Which one?” she teased. He apparently had three. It didn’t really matter. She only had to follow him to where they were going anyway. “I suppose we could always go to the guest house and check for squatters?” Even if they both knew there was zero chance of any potential squatters bypassing the security system. Instead he took her to the main kitchen, lingering for a moment instead of seating himself at one of the stools at the counter. “Drink?” Water, tea, coffee, booze, whatever. The offer was purposefully a vague one. He would choose water for himself, unless Julia chose something a little stronger, in which case, he would change his order to match. “Whatever,” she said. Julia was happy to have whatever he was having. The containers of food were cool to the touch. Julia had mildly enchanted them to keep everything fresh in the Texas heat. She started opening the containers up, which looked neat and beautiful and folded like a present. Nothing like the to-go boxes in the US. She had definitely not been anywhere close when she picked out food for them. The mochi container looked frosted over and was kept closed. “I’ve been working on the wards at my place,” Julia started, unprompted. Perhaps if she had thought more carefully about why she wanted to improve the wards, she would have seen the cause of her nightmares the night before. “I guess Marina liked the video I posted. You actually have permission to be inside now. I’m working on making a sort of key so you can drop by like a normal person, if that’s something that interests you. Not like a key key, just a get past the wards key. Sorry, I know that sounded kind of weird.” Julia found a very good looking piece of mackerel nigiri and popped it into her mouth, chewing so she would be forced to stop talking. Tony scored two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and brought them over to the counter. He positioned a stool from under the countertop so that he could sit opposite Julia instead of beside her. He still had a faint recollection of the magical wards that had been in place around Julia’s warehouse apartment. It had seemed a bit like overkill, but he never asked about their necessity. It seemed like He also distinctly remembered her rather colorful warnings about her roommate. “What,” he inquired after Marina’s change of heart, “does she have a thing against facial hair?” Tony grabbed a pair of chopsticks and selected a hamachi nigiri as he listened to her explain the key. He knew she had not meant it like that. When the power swap happened, he had given Julia her own security code granting her access to his workshop (which he had yet to revoke, even after they had righted everything). It was the same idea, in principle. Still, his first instinct was flirtation, and he could not help himself. He raised his brow suggestively, his chopsticks positioned halfway between his mouth and the table. “The key to your place, hm? What will that get me?” He placed the nigiri into his mouth and twirled his chopsticks. “In?” Julia said a little lamely. “The Marina in my timeline died, in part, because she put her wards up--” Julia frowned, taking a sip from her bottle of water to find the words. “--we used her as bait to catch Raynard and he was inside her apartment with her. So, I’m going to try and design something different.” After a beat, Julia pivoted. “Brakebills has amazing wards. They use keys they give to the alumni so they can come back to the school at any time.” Julia popped another piece of sushi into her mouth and chewed. Slowly. Tony shrugged indifferently when Julia shot him down and chose another piece of sushi. “Makes sense to have a contingency plan in place. Or several, if you can manage it.” He set his chopsticks down on the edge of one of the containers and twisted open. His bottle of water. “Made any headway?” He took a drink. He would have liked to have been able to offer more than just a friendly ear. Unfortunately, the differences in their specialties was quite large. She had a better chance in coming over into his than he did in venturing into hers. No Hogwarts letter for him. “I know Severus can crack the wards if he needs to,” Julia said. “I haven’t told Marina that. She doesn’t trust people easily. Still takes him longer than I’d like.” She shrugged. Julia had been so caught up in her own project, she hadn’t really registered Tony’s flirting. The part of her brain that did pick up on it, thought it was harmless, maybe a joke, certainly not serious. “What are you working on? Anything new?” Julia asked. Behind her, just outside the kitchen, Peter Parker had surfaced from the workshop to find out where Mr. Stark had gone. Only now Peter looked trapped, uncertain if he was supposed to say introduce himself or not. Wasn’t this the lady Mr. Stark kissed? And now they were eating sushi? (Did they bring him any?) And just talking? Was Peter supposed to fade away and let them continue to talk or? Peter began to quietly, only slightly frantically motion between him and Tony’s guest. Wondering if he was supposed to say something or leave them alone, or just stand there awkwardly until the lady Mr. Stark was talking to realized there was someone behind her. A couple months ago, hearing someone casually name-dropping a Harry Potter character would have given him a headache, but now, Tony took it all in stride. “Let me know when you’re ready to test. I’ll be your key guinea pig, provided it doesn’t leave me eviscerated. I’d like to avoid that.” Lately, he’d had a bit less time for his own work after taking on a couple quickie projects at Stark Solutions and having a look-see at Leo’s Greek Trireme. “I have been looking into integrating nanotechnology into my armor. Starting out with something small, like…” But as he spoke, he was distracted by the sudden appearance of Peter over Julia’s shoulder, gesturing wildly, and somehow managing to be more awkward in silence than he was in speech. Tony’s face scrunched together. “What are you--” He turned to Julia apologetically. “Excuse me.” Back to Peter. “What’s with all the flailing? You want to join the conversation, walk over here like a normal person.” Peter’s face fell. “What?-- I didn’t--” The teenager looked wildly between Julia and Tony before waving awkwardly at her and stepping in closer toward the kitchen. “Uh, hi. I didn’t know if this was a private conversation or like, uh, is that sushi? Where did you get the sushi?” Julia stared at the teenager with a soft, amused smile before gesturing to it. “Oh, thanks! Hi. I’m Peter. We met at the party the other day. Um, Mr. Stark were you planning on coming back down or…?” Peter let his eyes slide back to Julia, not entirely sure how to interpret her presence there. The fact that Julia wasn’t saying anything didn’t help him figure out socially what was happening. So he grabbed a plate and started picking at random food to put on his plate, only half as much as he wanted to out of politeness. “Well,” he said. “Uh, thanks for this.” Peter was almost about to leave when his eyes spotted the frosted over container. “Is that mochi! ...Can I have…?” Julia’s amused expression didn’t budge. “Mhm.” “Oh! Thanks! This is great. Okay. Oh. Well, I’ll be in the workshop if you need me or finish or…” Peter took a rounded balls of ice cream muttering, “What is that? Mango? Looks delicious. Okay, thanks!” His plate loaded up, he waved at both of them again before heading back for the workshop. Julia turned and looked at Tony. “So… why is there a teenaged boy living here?” Tony had not uttered another word during the rest of the encounter, just sort of watched it all unfold with a kind of perplexed amusement that was quickly becoming his default reaction to Peter Parker. He rolled his eyes as the teenager disappeared down the staircase to the garage. “There’s a story there,” he replied, surveying what remained of the food. “The short version is, back home he’s under my patronage. His options here were limited, so...” He shrugged, keeping his eyes down. “I feel responsible for him.” The last was spoken in a softer, affected tone. He was thinking, of course, of what Nebula had told him about the events in his and Peter’s future. But he wasn’t going to go down that road, not if he could help it. He gave a sad sort of half-smile and looked up at Julia. “Isn’t every rich eccentric allowed a ward?” Julia had been about to tease him when she noticed the softer tone when Tony mentioned responsibility. “I hear they’re very in,” she said, her lips curling into a smile to suppress a chuckle as she tried doing her best impression at a sagely nod. “So is that Spider-Man?” she asked, looking back the way Peter Parker went. She didn’t know her comic book superheroes as well, but it was hard not to know Spider-Man with how many movies had been cranked out in the past couple of decades. “Do you have non-superhero friends? Am I your token non-superhero friend?” “You are my token non-superhero friend, yes,” Tony confirmed. He smiled more lighthearted now. “Wear that badge with honor.” He picked up his chopsticks again and went straight for the mochi, now that Peter had uncovered it. “More of a Spider-Boy when I found him, but he’s done quite a bit of growing up.” He bit into the mochi and closed his eyes as he chewed and swallowed. “Oh, yeah. Forget about the sushi. Just give me more of those. Where did you get all this, anyway?” “Sendai,” she said. Julia shrugged as if she’d mentioned a grocery store down the street. “So nanotech in your armor?” Julia didn’t expect to understand the science. She just wanted to hear him talk. They could go on talking about anything, as long as Julia didn’t have to be alone with her thoughts. Her eyes drifted to his lips, no longer surrounded by a practically trademarked goatee. She hadn’t meant to, and the moment she realized she was doing it, she looked down at the food to reevaluate what was left. “Is that north of Dallas?” Tony quipped. After finishing off the other half of his mochi ball, he asked, “Just how often do you go globe trotting anyway?” If he had the means to travel as quickly and easily as she did, he would have a hard time staying put. At least until the shiny newness of it all wore off. He had been looking into nanotechnology before being kidnapped by the portal. But he had recently been made aware of the vastly more advanced nanotech of the Wakandans and was trying to figure out a way to sweet talk Shuri into sharing her research. “That’s the idea. But like I was saying before. Start with something small. Like my HUD glasses. Or a new and improved gauntlet.” He motioned toward her watch. When he noticed her staring at him, he ran his knuckles along his jawline. “Miss it yet?” Another crooked half-smile. When it came to the question of travel, she shrugged. Mostly because she didn’t want to admit she’d been doing it more than usual this week, or why. Julia did, however, have the decency to look mildly embarrassed when she was caught watching him, avoiding eye contact while her fingers rubbed the back of her long neck self consciously. The watch slid half an inch down her slender wrist when the position of her hand moved. She might have been blushing slightly when her mouth opened to speak, “I like both looks equally.” Which sounded diplomatic but in reality it was the truth. Tony took the hint and dropped that line of questioning. If it was something she wanted to discuss, she would. Instead, he pressed the facial hair issue, spurred on by her evident embarrassment. “Equally? No one ever likes two things equally. Even parents have their favorite child, no matter what they say.” He did not actually believe what he was saying, but he could still sell it. “I don’t know. I think I might keep it like this for awhile.” “Probably easier to maintain,” Julia said conversationally. “Also you won’t have to go through the awkward phase of growing it back.” Julia grinned a little too broadly at that, and tried not to worry about if she’d somehow destroyed her chance to really act on her crush. “Lighter on the beard burn, too, I'd expect.” He raised his brow and looked at her facetiously. Because what the hell? There was a time when that little stunt with the Prince song would have ended with Julia in his bed. Then again, that version of him would most likely have bailed on her, leaving her to wake up alone to be ushered out of his house by his A.I. Or worse, Pepper. He decided the least he could do was poke the issue a little and see where it went. Julia paused. There was a time, before everything happened, that she might have subtly and smoothly hinted where his facial hair would have felt more than welcome. But that wasn’t the Julia who was sitting in front of him, because her life had changed, even if the thought had been there. “Should I be concerned about that going forward?” she asked instead. Julia met his eyes, trying and unable to gauge his interest. “Here's the thing,” Tony began, trying on a little emotional honesty for size. “I like this thing we have going on.” It was remarkable that a friendship and collaborative arrangement had somehow blossomed out of a chance encounter at a cruise ship bar. “Some might argue that we’re a little too similar, in a way that typically leads to nothing good. I don’t know where they would get an idea like that. But I like this. I like you.” He paused for a moment before saying matter-of-factly, “I also like your ass.” He dug her smile, too, among other things, but of course that is not what he said. “Which is problematic for any number of reasons. Reasons that are difficult to keep in mind when you’re looking at me like that.” He grabbed another mochi ball with his chopsticks and ate it in a single bite. He could use the impending brain freeze. Julia tried to look mildly offended at the ass remark, but mostly she found it funny. The way she was trying not to smile said as much. But after a moment to collect her thoughts, she replied, “I like you, too. I also like this. I’m…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words to express her feelings. She tried again. “It’s been a while since I had these kinds of feelings. And I didn’t want to make a big deal about it because for most people, liking someone isn’t a big deal. It just sort of is for me. I wasn’t sure if those feelings were going to come back,” she admitted. “And I’m glad they did, and I’m glad it’s you and I don’t really know where I was going with this…” Julia had a self-conscious sort of smile that was half formed as she watched him put the entire mochi ball into his mouth and watched him with an amused expression. “I think it’s your turn to speak. I can wait.” Julia propped her head in the palm of her hand, balancing her elbow on the countertop, watching him patiently. As expected, the brain freeze hit, and Tony took a swig from his bottled water and pressed his tongue to the rough of his mouth until it abated. Julia's confession, while flattering, only reinforced the idea in his mind that this was not a good idea. His face softened. “See, you say stuff like that, and I don't see how this could be anything but disastrous.” He was serious, but couldn't stand for it to appear that way, so he added, “I don't want to wind up on the wrong end of one of your Shrubwitch scorned spells.” Julia felt the wind leave her suddenly. Maybe if he’d just said it was a bad idea, that would have been alright. They could agree, should agree, they were better off as friends. But he had brought up the kiss, and he had brought up liking her, and he had joked about her ass. But Julia had opened up her mouth and that made it a bad idea? She was doing her best to keep a neutral face as she took that emotional gut punch in, when he made the joke about her casting dark magic. And it was true, she hadn’t told him about the things she had done with magic, things she was not remotely proud of. And she hadn’t explained the full connotation that hedgewitches couldn’t really be trusted. She stood up, with her hands in the air as though making it clear she was unarmed and would not be casting spells in his direction. “Wow, um.” Julia was still trying to process the sharp downhill direction the conversation had turned. “You’re right,” she said. “I’m going to go. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m so sorry.” And then she kept her lips pressed together tight to stop herself from saying anything else. And though he hadn’t said it or meant it, Julia couldn’t help but think what scared him off was damaged goods. “What?” Tony's eyes narrowed, his ever expressive face making it plain he wasn't sure what had just happened. See? Disastrous. He had no idea what had set her off, his telling her he didn't see how this could work, or the crack about her magic. Neither one seemed particularly loathsome, but he had no way of knowing what was going on in her head. He looked up at her, his expression still one of surprise, but his brown eyes filled with the disappointment of someone who is tired of being right all the time. “Look, I’m not sure what I said, but I think we can both agree that only about half of what I say at any given time should be taken seriously.” He tried to smile at her, but it looked more like a grimace. “Sit down. Eat. We can forget about beard burn and pretend I told you I was going to grow a mustache next.” Julia did not sit. She did blink a few times, uncertain if she wasn’t the one under some sort of hex, or if she was supposed to trust her ears anymore. “I’m getting emotional whiplash. First you tell me you like me, then I tell you I like you, this is, of course, after you bring up the kiss, and then you tell me there’s no way it could work out. I’m fine with just being friends, Tony. I wasn’t planning on saying anything because your friendship is important to me.” Julia was just a few degrees short of being heated to the point of angry. She was talking. Firmly. Maybe even sternly. “I figured you’re an adult and you would decide what you wanted. But maybe do me the favor of figuring it out first.” “It's called backpedaling,” Tony chimed in unhelpfully at the whiplash comment, then held his tongue as hers became more heated. Now it was his turn to hold up his hands in surrender. “You’re right, I’m sorry. This is me apologizing.” But the need to explain himself overruled the rational part of his brain telling him to keep it at that. “But can I just say, this wasn't totally unprovoked. You do know that your little demure routine is basically like catnip when I know you're bold as hell.” Julia’s jaw dropped. She wasn’t sure if borderline being blamed for this was supposed to enrage her, stun her, or something else. Julia raised a hand to her ear as if to make sure she’d heard that correctly. “Sorry?” she asked. The question was a trap and the only way to win was to not answer it. “I am bold about some things, Tony. Finding answers. Standing up to shadeless psychopaths. Learning magic. Helping people. Killing gods that have it coming. It wasn’t just some act, it was me being cautious to avoid making an idiot out of myself.” Or risking their friendship. Julia let out an exasperated sigh. Tony closed his eyes and sighed as Julia went through her list. Wrong thing to say. Again. His mouth had talked him out of many scrapes. It had gotten him into many more. Tonight, his mouth had dug him into a hole just about as deep as it could go. And so he did what he should have done ten minutes ago: he stopped talking. He just looked at her and blinked. This was why the only one he could ever make it work with had been Pepper. She knew him well enough not to take the stupid things he said to heart, because she knew where his was, even when he was lousy at showing it. It was the kind of understanding that could ruin a person for all other relationships. And it was why she was too good for Tony. Finally, after a moment, he spoke, all the mirth and levity that had been present in his voice before was gone. “I’m sorry. I don't know how to do this.” This being speak about what he was feeling. Not deflect. Not self-sabotage. Shit, talk about damaged goods. Julia’s expression softened. “What are you trying to do? Let me down gently? Yeah, you kinda suck at it.” But then she smiled despite herself. “So…” She took a breath. “You’d rather pretend like none of this ever happened?” Julia didn’t betray whether she thought it was a good idea or not. “Just friends. You never made a comment about my ass.” Or the kiss. Or admitting that they liked one another. Julia kept with the humor however, because they both kept failing to lighten the mood. She might as well try. Tony was not sure how best to proceed. Honesty -- or the best version of it he could do -- had not gone over well. Yeah, he was into her. But he also trusted her. A shocking fact considering how very short the list of people who had his trust were. Maybe that should have been the perfect reason for him to give it a try with her. But perhaps what it really boiled down to was that he didn’t trust himself. Not to be an idiot. Not to hurt her. Not to ruin everything in that inevitable way he always did. She had been through enough. He didn't know all of the details, but the importance she placed on being able to feel for another person again spoke volumes. He was not the right person for those feelings. So maybe he should turn her down. But then he remembered something Rhodey had said the night before. “She’s half your age, but she’s old enough to make her own decisions. So, just be wise about whatever moves you make.” Tony was many things, but wise was not one of them. It was why he was currently clean shaven. And why this delightful meal straight from Japan had turned into, well, this. One more crack at honesty? “I was trying, despite my dismal execution, to explain.” He pressed his lips together for a moment, actually thinking about what he was trying to say rather than blurting out the first thing that came to the front of his whirring mind. “Would I rather pretend the last five minutes never happened? Yeah.” He should have responded to her line with one of his own, and she would have blushed, he would have smiled, and they would still be eating their sushi and talking about nanotech. “But, they happened, and unfortunately, you were subjected to my misguided attempts to explain how I feel. What I should have said is: I like you, but I feel like the last thing you need is to get involved with an emotionally incompetent asshole like me.” There. He had used I feel in a sentence. His therapist would be so proud. “So, I guess I leave it up to you. You want to pretend like none of this ever happened, I’ll follow your lead. You want to constantly remind me of what a jackass I am, that's fair game, too.” Julia was quiet and sat back down at the kitchen table with him. “I mean, we’re pretty much both jackasses,” she said with a smile. The powerswap was on her. Tony’s biggest mistake led to his clean shaven face and maybe this conversation. “I like you,” she said, trying this again. “Even if you are an emotionally incompetent asshole. I would be open to something more, but if you’re not, that’s okay. For whatever reason. You don’t have to justify it to me.” After a beat she added, “For what it’s worth, even if it is a bad idea, I think you’re worth the risk.” Julia took in a slow breath. Now it was Tony’s turn to rub anxiously at the back of his neck and flash an awkward smile. He had spent his entire life taking risks in one way or another. He could not be sure why this particular one was giving him so much pause. He had the courage to face an army of murderbots, to fly a nuclear weapon into space, travel through the air at Mach 5 in a metal suit he had made with his bare hands. But something as simple as opening himself up to another person in a way he had only rarely done, that was were his courage began to fail him. It would require some prodding, some patience, some trial and error, if it was going to be more than a one-off. But who better to give that to him than a friend. Tony looked up at Julia from across the table, his expression earnest, maybe even a little vulnerable, even though his voice was back to its usual playful irreverence. “Alright. This is me being ‘open to something more.’” Her words were spoken back to her in an exaggerated tone. “But, uh, do we really need to hash out what that means right this instant? With the sushi airing out and the mochi on its way to collapsing into a soggy mess?” “Nope,” Julia agreed, maybe just a smidge too quickly. Maybe that was unwise. It seemed like a half step further than they were before, but she wasn’t against taking things slowly, either. And after the conversation they just had, she didn’t want to risk yet another confusing back and forth where she wasn’t sure if they were on the same page or not. She reached for the mochi with her fingers like the heathen that she was. The rice fondant outside and powered mochi flower meant it could be eaten cleanly enough that way. Taking a bite, she smiled at him, as though they hadn’t just admitted their feelings for one another but clarified some technological feature on her watch. She was alright with taking it slow. They finished their meal without further incident, talking about their research, what to screen in his screening room, the best meals they had ever eaten -- his #1 was still that cheeseburger after he got off the plane from Afghanistan. There was food left over after they had both eaten their fill, and Tony suggested leaving it out for the strays (Peter), unless Julia wanted to take it with her. “Thanks for dropping in,” he said nonchalantly later, while walking her to the door as if it had been just any other night for the two of them. But the smile he gave her said otherwise. He leaned in, then, and kissed her, his lips brushing softly against hers in stark contrast to the passion-filled, heat of the moment kiss that had happened at his party. It was brief, but he was still smiling on the other side. “Thought I’d see what that was like without the guitar solo.” Peter Parker walked up from the garage just in time to see the kiss, and without word or warning, quietly turned around to go back to the garage when he spotted uneaten food in the kitchen and beelined for the food. Julia pretended not to notice, focusing on Stark instead. The first time they kissed, Julia gave Tony a look, “Hm, I’m not sure. I think I might need another point of reference…” And she leaned in again to steal another brief, soft kiss before grinning smugly. Though Julia thought of some especially clever things to say, she decided it was best to leave it on that note, turning and walking out the door. Peter Parker stood in the entryway of the kitchen, plate piled with all the remaining food, stuffing his face when Tony turned around. He meant to say something encouraging but with his mouth full of sushi all he managed was a thumbs up to Mr. Stark. |