Chapter 6
“You were a real ass, no offense,” Tony says to T’Challa. It wasn’t meant as an insult, he was just stating facts here.
T’Challa, thankfully, doesn’t seem to take offense to Tony’s blunt statement or if he does Tony doesn’t notice. That could be because they were currently talking over video call rather than “And you were not. I was expecting… well the man I’ve seen in the media and the one the Avengers described. You were nothing like that in real life but these people can not all be perceiving someone totally different than I am,” T’Challa says.
He considers his words for a long moment before he speaks. “Everyone tells me that I don’t work well in a team, that I’m emotionally closed off, that I don’t trust easy. All of that is true and all of those things have managed to ruin near every relationship I’ve ever had. I figured I’d switch it up this time, be honest and open, let go a little emotionally. Then when this all goes to shit it won’t be my fault.” No one could blame him not being open enough, or not nice enough, or too distant, or whatever other bullshit excuse that was tossed his way this time. It was always something new and oddly no one ever seemed to hear out why he thought the relationship failed. Sometimes things were his fault, well, most of the time, but sometimes it was someone else who did something wrong but no one talked about what happened when it wasn’t actually him that tanked a relationship.
T’Challa’s eyebrows lift, “so… in an attempt to arm yourself against me you are opening yourself up to me? Interesting tactic. Does this happen often? You being blamed for relationships ending, you have implied that being open is not normal for you,” he says, waving a hand dismissively.
“All the time. I figure I haven’t really got much to loose by trying something different with you, besides, we’re supposed to be perfect for each other or something like that.” Not that he believed that for a second- indisputable biological evidence only supported a strong chemical reaction in the brain, not that those people were any more suited to each other than he would be to Dummy.
“I do not believe in a single ‘perfect’ person for someone. That is illogical and limiting,” T’Challa says, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
“Agreed. I mean what if either one of us was a total ass? Is that seriously the best the other person would get? Talk about awful. Not to mention that the biological basis of the bond only promotes human bonding, it doesn’t ensure it, nor does it ensure compatibility. Plus people like to assume kink compatibility, relationship compatibility, sexual compatibility, and general lifestyle compatibility are all the same thing. In short people are idiots,” he says. He and Pepper were all kinds of compatible, but they just didn’t work in a romantic relationship. They weren’t all that compatible sexually either but they managed to work with that just fine, probably because they pretty much matched each other perfectly as far as kink went. Who knew?
T’Challa smiles, “you know I have not met many people who make that distinction but I agree. Though that is almost certainly due to my incompatibility with near everyone I have met. I do not make a very good sub.” The comment isn’t meant to be self-depreciative, Tony can tell, but it makes him snort in disbelief nonetheless.
“Or you’ve only ever dealt with Doms who don’t know how to handle a sub that has been trained since birth to hold themselves with a large amount of authority. I doubt people would view you as a competent leader if you fit America’s idea of a sub neatly,” he says. People liked to criticize Pepper heavily and she by no means carried herself the way people thought a sub should when she was with him. He never expected her to either, especially after he appointed her CEO. People just wouldn’t take her seriously even though she was extremely competent, more so than him in some areas. That didn’t stop people from assuming that her being a switch- or half sub as people liked to assume- would somehow interfere with her ability to lead. Wakanda might not discriminate against subs but he doubted they’d like a flimsy leader.
T’Challa rolls his eyes, “America’s idea of a sub is a slave, and not in the negotiated kind of way,” he says, distaste coloring his tone. “So no, Wakanda would not appreciate a leader that could not possibly hold any kind of control over the country sub or not. But I am curious about your capabilities as a Dom. I have never met one that did was not threatened by my position,” he says. Tony didn’t doubt that, and given the obvious dominance T’Challa held naturally he doubted any Dom knew what to do with that. Accept it was what they should have done. It shouldn’t matter how dominant T’Challa was in his political life or anywhere else, when he was a sub that would be his position and he’d know it. But most Doms didn’t understand that.
“I don’t care that you’re a king, T’Challa. I’m not so insecure in my orientation that I feel the need to be threatened by my sub having power. Besides, I very much prefer that my sub be in a position of power anyways, it makes the submission worth having.” Some flimsy sub doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted just because he wanted it wasn’t his style. First, he had no clue how to gauge limits with a sub like that and in his experience they weren’t fond of setting limits to begin with. That was a big no-no for him legally given his position, and personally because it reminded him too much of Howard. More than that though it was far more of a rush to have someone with an actual backbone submit to him because it make him in particular better than some other Dom- not everyone could handle a sub like that.
“Out of curiosity how did that develop? Your culture is not fond of a sub with a backbone. Or a sub without one. I am unsure how a sub is to function in America, they appear to be demonized no matter what they do,” T’Challa says, frowning. So Tony knew from his experiences with Pepper and Rhodey. Except Rhodey was a next level badass and punched the only superior in the army stupid enough to try and Dom him into doing what he wanted. Needless to say that guy’s life was ruined after Tony was done with it and he got fired from the army. To rub salt in the wound Rhodey got his position too.
“Yeah, subs are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. My fondness of subs with a penchant for pissing people off is a mix of ego and a really shitty childhood.” Howard wasn’t much fond of limits and due to his kicking Tony’s ass too Tony ended up identifying more with his mother than his father. Limits in kink ended up pretty important to him even if they fell to the wayside everywhere else until rather recently.
“Ego? I would assume that having an ego would mean preferring subs without backbones,” T’Challa says.
“Yeah, to a fake narcissist maybe. If the person was always willing to do what you say it doesn’t mean much. That’s like being happy gravity held you to the planet today, ohh, you’re totally a great Dom, all hail your infinite skills,” Tony says sarcastically, earning a laugh from T’Challa. “No, that’s just not for me because I actually like to work for my submission. It means that after the end of the night I know my sub enjoyed themselves because they would have pointed out if they didn’t and there really isn’t a better feeling than that. Plus it’s an ego booster to deal with a difficult sub and come out on top, obviously.” People always wondered how his relationship with Pepper worked and that was all part of the thrill for him. Let them wonder, it just meant they weren’t as skilled as he was.
T’Challa seems to consider him for a moment, head tilted to the side. “You are odd, certainly not mentally well, but you are not the unstable egotistical ass your team described, nor are you the person you present to the media. I… if you are alright with it I would like to see where this might go, if anywhere,” he says.
Tony startles, just about falling out of his chair because he hadn’t expected that but he regains himself quickly. “Sure, if that’s what you want. We should probably discuss expectations first, though,” he says. It only made sense, especially coming from different cultures that apparently treated subs in considerably different ways.
*
Rhodey frowns at Tony, confused on when he started talking to Hope again. Last he checked they stopped speaking years ago after some disaster wedding or something like that. “I don’t really want to be that guy but I also don’t want to see you hurt. Is it possible that she wants something?” he asks. He’s seen his best friend hurt enough; he didn’t want to see Tony get hurt yet again. This time might be the last time he tries to reach out given how much he got burned when he did. Rhodey has met some guys with bad luck but Tony has to take the cake and the ice cream too. It didn’t help that he spent half of his time being an asshole and the other half of the time struggling to show how he wanted to connect.
“‘Course she wanted something, Rhodes. I already got the Ant-Man suit back for her. So do you want to come to dinner with me or not?” Tony asks as he rearranges Rhodey’s legs. Rhodey didn’t much like having to get Tony help with pretty much everything but his physical therapist said he’d relearn things eventually and Tony was good about only stepping in when something wasn’t working. He had never really considered how well Tony knew him because he usually took care of Tony, not the other way around. But if this incident has taught him anything it’s that Tony knew him a lot better than he ever gave the man credit for.
“Yeah I guess, it isn’t like I’ve got anything better to do with myself,” he mumbles. Between physical therapy, trying to relearn how to do everything all over again from a different height, and the general inability to function in the chair at the moment he was a bit limited in what he could do. Tony at least visited regularly though apparently van Dyne was taking up more of Tony’s time now that she crawled back out of the woodwork.
“Hey, I’m sure you could find something to do. You do have a whole apartment build for you,” Tony points out. Yeah, because Tony has always had a habit of overdoing things he got an entire apartment renovated to cater specifically to a person in a wheelchair. It was nice to at least be able to make his own coffee even if he hadn’t quite mastered pants yet.
“Oh sure, I could wheel myself around it again. Dinner with your sketchy old friend sound infinitely more interesting than that,” Rhodey says.
“Okay Hope is not sketchy, we just fell out of touch for awhile. She doesn’t like Lang either, you two can bond over that. Besides, if I hadn’t gotten that Ant-Man suit back from her I wouldn’t be on speaking terms with T’Challa so there’s that,” Tony says, grinning.
Uh huh, and then there was the T’Challa issue too. Damn. “And how is that going?” Rhodey asks more to gauge how good or bad this was about to go so he could be prepared to help Tony out either way.
Tony thinks on his answer for a long moment while he hands Rhodey his coat to put on. “Honestly surprisingly well,” he says eventually, “I mean neither one of us really trusts the other but we’re talking and it isn’t horrible.”
Rhodey is pretty sure he should be worried about how Tony categorized his communications with people. “Do you even know if you’re compatible like… at all?” he asks. That was probably Tony’s number one problem with people- they just didn’t seem to understand him or he flat out didn’t understand them. Usually it was a mix of both.
“Personality and opinion wise yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re compatible there. He seems to think he’s a difficult sub though, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because the Doms he’s had the misfortune of dealing with were incompetent,” Tony says. Rhodey snorts, shaking his head because that was all he needed to know about T’Challa to know that he and Tony were compatible on some level kink- wise. Tony had a thing for plucky subs, which was odd considering everyone else seemed to hate them. But then Tony has always liked a challenge, and thinking outside the box was one of his favorite past times. It made sense that he wouldn’t like the traditional sub; he didn’t like the traditional anything.
“Well I guess he’s found the right person to do his worst with. I never will understand your preferences,” he says. He’s never felt the need to be difficult unless something about the dynamic felt off or some jackass Dom overstepped their bounds.
Tony shrugs, “I’ll never understand why everyone else prefers the perfectly obedient sub right off the bat. Where’s the foreplay and excitement? You all sound dead boring to me,” Tony tells him.
“That’s because you don’t find the excitement in obeying right away like a normal human,” Rhodey points out.
“I’m a perfectly normal human, it’s everyone else that’s weird. Now come on wheels, we’re going to be late and Hope will skin me if I’m late. She has a thing for being punctual,” Tony says, wrinkling his nose.
“I don’ know if I should be offended by that,” Rhodey says, considering.
“Would you prefer to be called legs?” Tony asks.
“Keep in mind that I’m at the perfect height to punch you in the dick,” Rhodey says, raising an eyebrow as Tony half turns to shield said body part.
“If you could not do that I would be eternally grateful,” Tony says. Rhodey shakes his head and rolls himself out the door, managing to turn to lock the door without hitting anything this time. Well, that was a small improvement at least.