Chapter 2
The funeral is on a Thursday.
It's kind of overcast- there's sun in the distance, if you look to the far left, but other than that, the sky is just a dull grey.
More people turn up than Tony had expected- not just agents, but civilians, huddling around the grave, most of whom Tony doesn't recognize.
"Darcy Lewis," a dark-haired girl nods at him. "Coulson and I were taser buddies."
Tony blinks. "Ah," he says, and then mentally hits himself over the head- you're Tony Stark, act like it- "You must be lethal."
Darcy shrugs. "I try. I tazed Thor once."
Tony barks out a laugh, and then stops himself, because hello, funeral.
"Oh, you're that Darcy. Nice one. So, were you guys like a club, with the tasers? The Taser Crew? The Taserettes?"
Darcy shakes her head. "Nah, he just taught me how to inflict the most damage. He might have looked mild, but I swear to god, he was one crazy motherfucker."
Tony smiles. "I don't doubt that."
Darcy zips up her jacket a bit more, huddling down into it. "You're shorter in person, you know."
Tony smirks. "You have smaller boobs than I thought you would."
"Touché. So, did you know him well?"
Tony glances at the headstone:
PHIL COULSON, A G-
The rest of it is obscured by a man standing in front of it.
Tony remembers saying to Pepper, "Ah, his first name is 'Agent.'"
"Nah, not really," Tony says. "But he was a good guy."
Darcy nods. "Damn straight. Hey, have you seen a petite brunette anywhere? A specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving-"
Tony snickers and Darcy half-leaps into the air. "Tony Stark watches Doctor Who! Fuck, can you get any more awesome?"
"I try," Tony says. "And since you're Darcy, that would make the petite brunette Jane Foster, right? I've met her a few times. Didn't get a good look, seeing as she was naked and wrapped around Thor, but-"
"Ugh, those two just can't keep it in their pants," Darcy wrinkles her nose. "They asked me to go on a condom run yesterday. Y'know, like a beer run, but with- yeah. Anyway, I should probably go and find her before she bursts into hysterics; she always cries at funerals."
She takes a step before stopping and folding her arms. "Doesn't matter, found her. In Thor's freakishly huge arms. As usual."
Tony says, "Not harbouring any grudges, I see."
Darcy shrugs again. "I roll with the punches. And if a punch is that my best friend has way too much sex with a god, then okeydokey. Hey, is that Captain America?"
Tony glances over his shoulder to where Steve is rapidly approaching with a solemn expression.
"That it is. Hey, Cap." He half-slaps-half-pats Steve on the shoulder twice before dropping his hand.
"Hi, I'm Darcy," Darcy grins, waving goofishly.
Steve puts on his best 'greeting civilians' face. "Nice to meet you, Darcy. Thor talks about you a lot."
"He better," Darcy says. "I have to put up with his loud moaning from the other side of the wall for hours on end. My god, that man has mad stamina. Now, if you'll excuse me, El Capitan, I have to run away and fangirl about meeting you. Oh, and sorry for your loss. Um. Bye."
She turns and flees, trying to conceal the big grin on her face, because funeral.
Steve blinks, half-gaping.
"Yeah, she's a pistol," Tony smiles. "You okay, Cap?"
"Steve," Steve says, but he smiles, so that's okay.
"Steve," Tony nods, remembering. "Right."
"Yes, I'm fine," Steve says. "They're lowering the coffin, and everyone's going over, so."
"Oh, yeah." Tony follows Steve and stands wedged in between him and Natasha, who, as usual, has no expression and just nods at him- then Clint nudges her and something in her face softens a little.
There's music playing, which in Tony's opinion is cheesy as fuck, and the coffin gets lowered into the grave soundlessly with everyone's heads bowed.
Tony can hear someone crying, but he's not sure who it is. Probably Jane, like Darcy had said.
Tony waits until the crowd is dispersing before tapping Steve's elbow.
"Hey, C- Steve, can I talk to you somewhere private for a second?"
Steve looks vaguely confused for a second, but says, "Sure, Tony," and allows Tony to guide him under a tree, out of earshot.
Tony just stands there for a second, really, really regretting ever thinking of doing this, before stuffing his hand in his pocket and holding out the half-bloodied Captain America cards.
"Uh, I heard you saying that you- yeah. Um. So I got them off of Fury. Which was kind of a stupid idea, I-"
"Thank you," Steve cuts him off, sounding way too grateful to someone who had just handed him a deck of cards with a dead guy's blood on them. "Really, I- thanks, Tony."
"No problem," Tony mumbles, wishing desperately for a lighter topic. "So, uh. I guess I'll be seeing you."
"I guess," Steve says, putting the cards into his back pocket. "I, uh. Had a nice time a few days ago. Firefly's a good show."
"Hell yeah it is," Tony says. "Joss Whedon packs a fucking punch. Always kills the fan favourite, though, the bastard."
"Oh, god, don't remind me." Steve scrubs a hand over his eyes.
"I am a leaf on the wind," Tony says. "Watch how I-"
"La, la, la, la," Steve says, clapping his hands over his ears. "Not listening, he recovers and lives a long and happy life with everyone on Serenity, la, la, la-"
Tony laughs, and Steve starts, and then they're both cracking up again for the second time in a week and it's at a fucking funeral, what the fuck, and they both force themselves to stop guiltily after a few seconds.
"Uh," Steve says, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, we probably shouldn't burst into hysterical laughter at a funeral," Tony agrees.
There's an awkward silence, where Tony rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet.
Finally, Tony can't take it. "Joss Whedon has done a lot of shows, by the way."
Steve perks up. "Yeah? Wait, does he-"
"Of course he kills people in them, but that's half the fun," Tony waves a hand dismissively. "It's a TV writer's job to brutally rip your hearts out through fictional characters, they get paid for it. Heard of Buffy?"
Steve frowns. "I. I might have?"
"Vampire slayer," Tony prompts.
Steve opens his mouth, and then shakes his head. "No. Definitely not."
"That makes it more fun, then," Tony grins. "Want to come over and get emotionally invested in a show that will stamp all over your chest?"
"Uh," Steve says. "Will there be popcorn to accompany said chest-stomping?"
-
The last time, they had gotten through all 14 episodes of Firefly ("How the heck can there only be 14 episodes," Steve had said blankly) and 'Serenity,' all in one sitting, which had pretty much taken them an entire day, complete with bathroom breaks.
'Buffy,' however, is 7 seasons long, and none of them are prepared to get pins and needles in their asses for that long, no matter how good the show is, so Steve, Tony and Natasha, surprisingly, only watch the first nine episodes before stopping for the night.
"So," Tony says. "Better than Firefly?"
Steve looks almost wounded as he says, "No, but it's good." He smiles. "I like Willow the best."
"I thought you would," Tony nods, the sides of his mouth twitching.
"Captain!" Thor's voice booms around the lounge and both Steve and Tony wince.
Thor is grinning as he walks towards them. "It is good to see that you have finally joined us in abiding under this roof!"
Steve translates that sentence into words a normal person would say before saying, "Oh, I don't live here, I was just visiting."
Thor's grin dissolves slightly. "But you are the only Avenger who does not! You do not wish to live in the Avengers Tower with the rest of us?"
"No," Steve says, and then backtracks: "I mean, no, I don't not, I-" he stops.
Why isn't he living here?
He turns to Tony. "Why aren't I living here?"
Tony looks flabbergasted, which is an expression that looks new on him.
"I. Uh. Do you want to live here?"
"Sure," Steve says.
Tony bounces his hands off of each other. "Well, that's settled then. Welcome home, I guess."
Steve blinks. "Well, dandy."
Tony cracks a smile. "You're just going to keep bringing that up, aren't you?"
Thor is frowning now. "I am glad that the Captain now resides with us, but what exactly are you referring to, Man of Iron?"
"Private joke, Thor," Natasha pipes up from the couch. "It's a human thing."
"Ah," Thor says.
-
The next day, the world doesn't need saving (again, apparently that's a 'once a month' type of thing), so the mighty Avengers all huddle down to watch the rest of the season one of 'Buffy.'
Not that they plan it- at first, it's just Steve and Tony, but everyone starts migrating towards it- Clint comes up for breakfast and ends up on the couch, Bruce comes out of the workshop to ask Tony about particles and ends up on a chair on the far side of the room, joining Tony in talking about half the things on the show are scientifically impossible.
Natasha comes in next, looking for Clint to spar with, and ends up leaning against him watching Buffy kick the living crap out of the Master.
Thor comes in last- he's confused to where everyone has gone, and had been wandering the house for the last ten minutes (it's a big tower). He shows up at the season finale, and watches in horror as Buffy 'dies.'
Tony stays in the same place- with his hand on Steve's thigh, again, and Steve's starting to think he's doing it on purpose.
Not that he minds.
-
The next week passes like this:
Steve gets up before everyone else, goes for a run, comes back, showers, and sits down for breakfast.
Natasha, Clint and Bruce all seem to come in less than half an hour apart from each other, and Clint manages to finish off the last box of Lucky Charms before anyone else can.
Thor gets up around nine and his presence practically fills the room.
Tony- if he sleeps the night before- comes in around 11 a.m. and demands coffee, then slumps at the table for twenty minutes before he actually talks to anyone.
Most mornings, they catch the news, or finish off an episode- they are now on season 3 of 'Buffy,' and Bruce won't shut up about how pissed he is about what happened to Angel.
"He was such a good character," he says, waving his hands. "I mean, for god's sake, you don't just-"
"He comes back, you moron," Tony yells across the lounge. "Now shut up and pass me my tablet."
-
Every morning, Steve starts thinking about how cute Tony's hair looks when it's ruffled like that- then he catches himself, thinks don't, it's illegal, and then remembers that it's not, and starts smiling to himself, because he's allowed now.
In the 40s- still less than a month ago, for Steve- he hadn't seen anything wrong with liking the same gender, except with the whole 'it's against the law' thing.
He had still grown up thinking he was a freak, though, because he had never actually met anyone in person who had liked the same gender- the people who were gay never spoke up, and fair enough, Steve has always thought.
He had had other options, though.
Yes, he noticed guys. Yes, he had had a crush on a guy once.
But he still liked women- their breasts, their hair, how they moved, how they spoke- and he had never acted on his half-formed feelings for Bucky (which he still avoids thinking about, because it hurts too much), so that was okay.
He's not used to allowing himself to think about other guys, least of all Tony.
But one morning Tony shuffles blearily into the kitchen and Steve bumps him with his shoulder, and Tony glares up at him.
"Got your coffee," Steve says, and holds out a mug.
Tony swipes it and takes a sip. "Thanks," he says quietly, mildly confused.
Steve watches the cords in his arms flex and thinks, I could get used to this.
-
Steve keeps Coulson's cards next to his photographs in his drawer- photos of Peggy grinning, photos of Bucky with his arms around them both, photos of his mother- and keeps them away from them so the blood doesn't flake off onto them.
It takes him a few days to get around to finally signing them:
Better late than never, I guess.
-Capt. Steve Rogers.
-
On the 12th day after moving into the Avengers Tower, the world still doesn't need saving, and he walks in on Tony pulling the arc reactor out.
At first, Steve just thinks he's shirtless, "Sorry, I didn't-" then Tony turns and Steve sees that there is a wire running out of a hole in his chest, which is attached to the arc reactor, which Tony has in his hand.
Steve's heartbeat stutters. "What are you doing?"
Tony looks unfazed. "Replacing it. Otherwise it runs out in a few days and my chest goes owie and I go bye-bye."
Relief washes over Steve. "Oh. Oh, okay."
Good to see you're not trying to kill yourself in the most painful way possible, because I think that might put a damper on our friendship.
"Shrapnel, right?" Steve says, and then wants to internally whack himself over the head.
But Tony says, "Yeah. Gnarly, huh?"
"Mmm," Steve agrees, looking at the criss-cross pattern of the scars around the hole.
Tony's not watching him now- he bends sideways, and picks up another glowing circle of light before clicking it into place in his chest.
The light casts the scars into soft definition- some of them are wider than other, and some are just thin ribbons that start and stop around his torso.
He's not aware of shifting forwards, but suddenly his hand is moving towards Tony's chest. He splays his fingers, hovering his hand over the arc reactor, letting the blue light spill over his wrist.
He pushes his hand forwards slowly, hand touching the cold, humming metal. It reminds him of the ocean, sort of, or a star- luminous, brilliant, blazing.
Like Tony, his mind supplies dumbly, and Steve wonder briefly if someone put a pheremone in the air or something.
Steve rests his hand on the arc reactor for a few seconds, his hand warming the metal. He skims a thumb over the curved edge of it, only barely nicking Tony's skin before moving down to trace one of the largest scars with the tips of his fingers.
When his hand touches it, Tony, who has been frozen into place at this point, lets out a strangled, choking sound.
Steve startles, whipping his hand back.
Why the heck did you do that? "I- sorry, I was just-" he stops, because he suddenly can't think of anything to say.
"Sorry," he says again, lamely.
Tony looks shaken, but he composes himself quickly.
"Uh. Yeah."
Tony clears his throat. "Whatever, Cap. Steve," He corrects himself, and Steve can't help smiling at that.