Chapter 22
*Back with Steve and Nat in the training arena*
"Good choice, it suits you." Clarisse nodded approvingly at the spear in Steve's hands. She was panting slightly as she had just finished sparring with Natasha or Nat as he called her. They were both fighting for a good half an hour before Nat managed to slip in her guard and disarm her in two clean moves.
Suffice to say Clarisse was impressed, Nat was the only one who could probably have kept up in dagger fighting with Annabeth, the girl was a complete demon with her dagger. The thought of Annabeth saddened her but she pushed it away, No use dwelling on the past now.
"Now my main weapon is spear too," she showed 'Maimer' to him, "It was a gift from my father."
"Okay, I'm just not really used to it so it may take a while to get the hang of it." Steve started a little unsure of himself, he obviously had never used a spear before and it would take some time getting used too.
Clarisse smirked before replying, "Well that's what I'm here for, pretty boy. Let's get going." With that she went up to the mat, Steve following her.
Clarisse placed herself in the basic stance her spear held expertly in her right hand. "So you fight with a shield right?" She questioned the super soldier.
He nodded and she continued, "Fine we'll work on learning to use just the spear first and then move onto using both the spear and the shield."
Steve nodded to show his assent and took a deep breath calming himself before copying Clarisse's stance. They started slow, with the much younger girl walking him step by step through the moves, then speeding it up.
Eventually they moved onto light sparring with a few breaks in between. They practiced throughout the day taking a big break for lunch and only a few breaks in between. Clarisse trained him relentlessly, he didn't complain but even with his superhuman stamina, he was definitely tired.
By the time the conch horn rang again signalling dinner, Steve had made a lot of progress even managing to pin Clarisse down during a spar (She had gone easy on him, of course). The both of them got up, soaked in sweat and panting but overall Steve was quite happy about his skills with the new weapons.
Clarisse gave him another few pointers and a small smile before jogging away to lead her cabin. Steve and Natasha went up to meet with the others, they would be dining on the main table. They chatted quietly among themselves comparing their days.
Bruce told them how amazing Ambrosia was, but unfortunately it couldn't be taken by mortals yet he'd learnt a lot of new things including herbal medicine with the satyrs. Tony had also had a blast with the Hephaestus cabin redesigning the team's armors and weapons.
Natasha seemed a little quieter but did giver her input from time to time, Clint was the only one who noticed this. He silently elbowed her asking her what was wrong. She shook her head mouthing later. Clint nodded, satisfied for now and rambled about his time with the archers.
Loki was telling Thor about his time with the magicians in Hebe's cabin. Thor himself had done some research, but he didn't reveal what.
Later that night, Clint and Natasha were sitting on the roof of the Big House looking at the stars, the redhead had her head resting on her best friend's shoulders, both of them just enjoying the quiet.
Natasha then spoke up breaking the silence, "I like this place, I really do but just looking at the kids here- they're- they're so young and they are preparing for a war. Gods Clint they shouldn't even know what a war is, let alone be fighting in one."
Clint simply sighed tightening his arm around the redhead's shoulder, "Yeah Tasha, I know how you feel and I don't like it either but sometimes you can't control what happens to you, you just gotta flow with it. I asked around Nat, most of these kids come from horrible families, half of them have run away here. This is like the only place they can be themselves and they love it here."
Natasha doesn't reply instead just exhaling a sigh before standing up and muttering a quiet goodnight to Clint before heading off. Clint for his part spent some more time on the roof, he knew first-hand what running away and abusive parents were like after all he had ran away from his house and joined the circus as a child.
He then got up and left too, hoping to get some actual sleep that night, trying not to let the nightmares in.
"You should be asleep." A familiar voice called from the doorway.
"So should you." Tony replied without ever once looking up, his face looked gaunt lit up only by the blue glow of the phone. It seemed that he was staring at a picture, specifically a picture containing one, Miss Pepper Potts. His fingered hovered over a text button, coming close enough but not actually touching it.
Steve looked over at his friend eyebrows creased in concern, "Tony what's the matter?"
The billionaire sighed his usual mask slipping down, "Nothing Cap, everything's absolutely fine." His tone was drenched in sarcasm, Steve simply sighed and began in a slightly scolding tone, "Tony-"
Tony cut him off saying, "Drop that tone Steve I've heard it enough." At that Steve's eyes noticeably softened. He then continued in a much gentler tone, "Can you at least tell me what happened?"
"Nightmare." Tony allows, the blonde simply sighs and asks gently, "Want to elaborate?"
Tony looks to be having an internal debate for a moment before replying, "I was talking to the kids around here, and they told me about their stories and God- you wouldn't believe it, half of them had run away from their houses due to abusive parents, I see the scars they have and- and, damn it's stupid anyways, let it go" Tony tries to say but Steve interrupts speaking softly yet firmly,
"No, it isn't stupid Tony, you had a nightmare, I have them too. Wanna talk?"
"Listening to stories triggered some memories, I think, some which honestly, I'd rather forget." Tony said in a bitter tone.
Steve simply sat in silence before Tony caved in, he fixed his hardened and dark stare upon the empty table and started talking, "Growing up I never really had the best childhood. I know people say that it must have been amazing having THE Howard Stark as your father and having so much money. Trust me it wasn't, I barely saw Howard during the day, he would lock himself up in his lab, then when he got out he'd drink and yell at me, those bottles more often than not ended up on me. Ma was good but she never interfered, Jarvis helped but it was only because he was paid for it he'd never risk his job."
Tony took a deep breath before continuing, "Growing up you were my hero. I always wanted to be like you, because in my dad's eyes you could do now wrong and were the perfect. He'd always go, Captain this and Captain that, he'd remember your birthday but I doubt he even knew mine. I did all I could to impress him, graduated from MIT at 17, but all he did was yell at me about how much of a disappointment I was. Then he was killed, when I heard the news I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Peggy was my Godmother she was the only person who I think genuinely cared for me and the other was Rhodey who I met at MIT. So that's what my nightmare was about been a while since I've had one of his."
Tony didn't quite know how everything had come spilling out of his mouth, but...it felt good to get it off his chest.
Silence filled the room, Tony didn't dare look up, Steve was just staring at his friend in silence. Suddenly so many things made much more sense, how he didn't like being handed things, how he would flinch just slightly when anybody raised their voice and how he first resented Steve and now Steve wanted to kill Howard.
Steve went through a range of emotions, first he was surprised, then shocked, then angry and he burst out, "How could Howard do this? That man..."
This time it was Tony's turn to look up in surprise, Steve looked at him questioningly but the brunette just shook his head giving the super soldier a grateful smile. And even though Steve felt like punching something, to be specific Howard Stark's face, he decided to leave the man to his thoughts for now,"If you need to talk I'm always here, Tony, Night."
Tony stared at the doorway through which Steve had left a small smile playing on his lips. He'd always resented him or he was jealous of him because even dead he was the one his father talked about, not Tony. The genius shook his head and decided to get some sleep for the night.