Chapter 8
Tony and Pepper were taking dirty plates to the kitchen, where Captain America was standing alone and strangely lost. As if all confidence had disappeared from him without his shield and typical suit. Tony was amused by the look.
"I'm glad you came," he said cautiously as he put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Pepper glanced at him and smiled to herself before quietly leaving the kitchen and closing the door. A strange silence fell between them. They stared at each other in embarrassment for a moment, apparently wondering what to say. Eventually Tony cleared his throat; after all, he excelled in social conversation a little more than Steve. "Since Peter's rescue, we haven't had a chance to talk normally. So I'd like to fix it now. Sit down," he suggested, gesturing to a chair at the table with a sweeping gesture. Steve agreed with a nod and sat down.
"I want to thank you," Stark began cautiously, "for coming. And for coming with us, even though you didn't have to. After all, you didn't owe me anything—"
"I wouldn't say that," Steve said abruptly. "I think I owe you a lot. An explanation, an apology, something to make up for mine—"
"No, please, that is not necessary," Tony interrupted now for a change, shaking his head, "I probably don't want to deal with it anymore. All I had to do was in my free time, think about what had happened, and analyze it from all possible angles. Which, of course, didn't work. Over time, I wasn't even angry with you, even though I wanted so much. It was actually Natasha who made me stop waving in that self-pity and constantly blaming you, and looked at it from another angle. From your point of view. You're just Captain America. Noble, who wants to protect everyone from problems and pain. Then you decided not to tell me about it, fine, now I respect it. That's when I..." he exhaled and clenched his fists. Steve watched him and was quiet. "It does not matter. It's just... if it's going to work... everything... any relationship... then we just have to be honest with each other. We have to say everything, otherwise, we will return to where we were. Silence sometimes hurts more than telling the truth, no matter how cruel it may be.“
"That was good," Steve said, smiling, breaking the slight tension between them a little.
Tony grinned. "I spent the whole night on that statement."
And then Rogers laughed. "I... I really appreciate it, Tony. That you took me back. And once again, I sincerely apologize. It should have occurred to me that it could go to such an extreme that you would go after me. But I probably hoped you'd never know. You don't even know how many times I wanted to go back and reconcile with you. But it didn't work. Firstly, my pride didn't allow it - and I don't think yours allowed it to you - and secondly, I kept saying that you wouldn't listen to me anyway. I took it as a pre-lost fight and now I'm ashamed of it. And when you mention Nat... she also spoke to my soul. When we were on the run together, we spent the first Christmas together. I guess I could see that I was thinking about what had happened and that I would like to be back at the Avengers base, where we could all celebrate that Christmas together. Even though I hate parties," he added with a smile.
Tony stared at the closed door. There was a muffled conversation. "Yeah, Natasha is an expert at commanding and giving advice to others. But sometimes she could get her own advice too. It wasn't perfect between her and Bruce lately, but now that it's a little calm, I hope they finally make it work again. All right, now that everything's fine between us, we should go see the others and put together everything we know," Tony decided, rising from his chair. Steve agreed and imitated him. "Yeah, one more thing. As for Barnes... you can stay at the base, of course. I just... I probably need some more time to entertain him at our house.“
Steve looked serious and nodded understandingly. "Of course, that isn't a problem. Honestly, Bucky didn't even expect you to accept him at all and let him come with us."
"Trust me, it cost me a lot of self-control," Tony muttered. "But I think I'll be able to do it after a while. You guarantee me he won't go brainwashed here and try to kill us all," he warned him, and yet he threatened to point a little at the seriousness of his words. Steve smiled.
•••
Peter, meanwhile, was walking down the hall, holding a phone to his ear. He called Michelle, he needed to talk to her, he needed to hear her voice. But he was nervous as if they were just starting to date. He was surprised because he thought he had overcome his nervousness.
"Peter?" His heart fluttered when he heard her cautious voice as if she wasn't sure if Peter was really calling her or if it wasn't his mom with some unpleasant news...
"Michelle!" he blurted out, perhaps too eagerly. "I mean, I mean... hello. Hi. God, I'm so glad to hear you again. I... how are you?" he asked.
He heard a hint of a smile in her voice as she replied, "I'm glad to hear you, too. And I'm fine. There's nothing new about me, more like you... how are you feeling? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he smiled stupidly. "Yeah, yes. Listen, do you... do you think we could see each other now? Sometimes soon?" he asked hopefully.
"I'd love to," Michelle said.
Peter exhaled. He shone with happiness. "Great, so... so I'll get back to you? ASAP?"
She agreed. They said goodbye, and Peter sighed with joy inside. He didn't want to talk to her on the phone for long, he needed to see her. Both were a little more clumsy in social conversation - especially at the beginning of their relationship - but it was still better than on the phone. Peter locked the phone and tucked it in his pocket, heading back to the dining room to join the others and give them everything he knew. He won't tell them anything about his sister yet. He still wasn't 100% sure she was real. He has to find her.
"They were thorough. They swept the tracks perfectly and I don't like that at all," Natasha said, pulling a phone out of her pocket that was definitely not hers. "It's his. It was all he had with him. Maybe we'll find some messages, calls... even if I doubt it a little. He would be really a fool if he didn't make sure everything was always erased."
"You know I still don't understand these technologies very well," Steve said, "but even if he deleted it from the phone, couldn't it stay somewhere... somewhere? In some deeper memory or something?"
"We'll find out soon," Tony told him.