Mistaken Identities
When Pepper asks later how it all started, Tony will respond with the truth:
He had been minding his business, eating a croissant, when Steve decided Tony was his best friend.
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Tony didn’t dislike business meetings, not matter what anyone else would tell you. He just liked it when they were spaced out, multiple meetings over a couple days instead of six meetings in one day dragging on from eight in the morning to seven at night followed by a corporate dinner. It’s why he he was so prone to forgetting to show up, resulting in Pepper wanting to kill him, and then a meeting would need to be rescheduled for another day.
It was on one of these bouts of forgetfulness that he somehow found himself in a cafe, picking apart a croissant with his fingers and ignoring the multiple ‘pings’ on his tablet that meant he was receiving emails. The cafe was a cozy little place, as cozy as it could be in the Financial District, and he seemed to be the only person deciding to settle in and enjoy his coffee instead of running towards making millions. Tony was one of the few fortunate enough to make millions by sitting on his butt and eating a bread-product.
After the seventh email alert in less than a minute, and half his piece of croissant had been turned into a small hill of crumbs, Tony was jolted out of his fantasy of buying an island to run away to by a large hand clamping warmly onto his shoulder.
“Hey, I was hoping you’d be here today.”
He turned, expecting it to be one of his business partners discovering him skipping out on the meeting, but instead it was a well-built blond who was smiling down at him. Before Tony could ask who this man was he had already slipped into the chair across from him, the latte that had been in his hands now on the table along with a battered-looking journal. He stared at Tony like he was an old friend who he had happened to run into, his blue eyes tracing every feature with a certain fondness.
“Um, well, I was in the neighborhood?” Tony answered, hurriedly scraping his crumbs into his empty cardboard cup to clean the table up a little. “You know how it is, work and all, makes my schedule a little crazy?” Tony said, waiting for the other person to realize they had the wrong person and leave after apologizing.
Instead, Blondie grinned and ducked his head slightly, “You’ve said that numerous times, but this is the first time I’ve actually been able to catch you outside. Are you busy? Can we chat a while?”
Tony responded with a quick, “Sure”, before he could stop himself, his mouth unconsciously answering when his mind drew a blank. Maybe he met this guy at a charity event? He obviously hadn't slept with him, a shame, but he would have remembered those-oh god, he flexed and those biceps had to be bigger than Tony’s head.
“Was just wondering how you’ve been? You haven’t emailed me lately and you’ve been avoiding me on the server as well.” The man took a sip of his latte and Tony did not stare as the tip of a tongue swiped out to erase the foam mustache, “I just miss hanging out with you. Skyping about stuff going on at work. I was just lucky that I remembered you worked around here in the city, and you mentioned this place. Figured I would try my luck during second period break. Just happened to find you and your red Starkpad here.”
The man squinted down at Tony’s footwear, converse that were picked to match the referenced red tablet, a fond smile tracing his lips as his eyes traced slowly up Tony’s suit-clad body. “Of course, I didn’t think you would look like this. You always struck me as thinner...maybe not as corporate? You made it seem like as a recruiter that you didn’t have to wear suits too much?”
Shit, shit, shit. This guy obviously thought that he was somebody else and he should tell him right now before he got too deep- “You’re a lot taller and a lot more buff than I imagined.” -what. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? THAT IS THE WORST ATTEMPT AT DEFLECTION I’VE EVER HEARD, That was not a smart move, Tony, not a smart move. Stop looking at his lips when he smiles, Pepper is going to kill you, you are definitely going to miss your 10:30 at this rate.
Blondie laughed, leaned back in his chair so Tony would have a great view of his throat, and almost fell over when he couldn’t balance on the back two legs of his chair. Slamming it back down to earth, and shooting a guilty look at the barista who was glaring, the man gave a much quieter chuckle and rubbed away a little tear. “You were surprised? Really? I mean, you know I’m ex-military, just like you? It’s why we both did so well in the co-op game.”
Tony chuckled nervously, glancing at his watch to check how late he was, and just happened to see the name “Steeve” written on the guy’s drink. “Ah, well, there were a couple of guys shorter than me who enlisted. I figured you could have been one of them.” Fuuuuuuuck. Now he was blatantly lying at the guy who thought he was someone else, and Tony was beginning to really wish he was the guy who this guy thought he was if it meant he could keep getting those smiles.
“Uh...Steve?” Shit, hopefully that was the guy’s name and the barista didn’t fuck it up writing it on the cup. When the guy didn’t look confused or enraged, Tony took it as a plus and continued, “I’ve got to get going. Have a couple meetings to get to before the days up.” He tapped helpfully on his watch, grinning to hold back the truth that was threatening to spill from behind his teeth.
Steve, who had been taking a sip of his drink, gave a soft cough and placed the cup down quickly, wiping his hand on his jeans that were a tad too-tight. “Ah, yeah, yeah, sorry to keep you. I guess I can try to see you tomorrow?” He asked, watching as Tony gathered up his croissant-filled coffee cup in one hand and his tablet in the other.
Tony looked down at the larger man, taking in the bag that said he was probably a teacher, and the small, hopeful, smile pointed in his direction. He should just tell him the truth, that he wasn’t Steve’s buddy from online who played co-ops with him and was some sort of military recruiter who worked nearby. That he was really Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries who had skipped out on three meetings with people who could own small countries, to have a conversation with the blond.
Instead he replied with a, “Sure, Steve, see you tomorrow.”
Was answered with a, “Same time, same place, Jim?”
And Tony nodded with a grin before he walked back into the bustle of the Financial District.
Pepper was going to kill him when she found out.