Quite unmissable
Chapter 2
Quite unmissable
To say that Steve was pissed would be an understatement.
He was fucken fuming.
He specifically told Tony to attend the event, but NO, Tony always knows best and what was best for him officially meant ‘ Do not arrive, and piss off everyone who works for/with you'.
It was the morning of Tony's flight to Afghanistan.
Steve was dramatically woken up by Tony's dedicated ringtone. He had a quick shower and ran to his car since Tony told him that it was an emergency. As he sped down the highway towards Tony's house.
After maybe receiving three or was it four speeding tickets, Steve finally made it to the Malibu mansion.
He ran into the house and then again down the stairs as he entered his pin to access the lab. Steve walked into the lab as he was blasted the song " Institutionalized " By Suicidal Tendencies. Once Tony noticed him he grabbed an old and oily cloth and began to wipe the spanner that he used to fix the car's engine. So either Tony lied about an emergency or the emergency was handled, either way, Tony was going to get it.
" What the fuck, Tony!" He whisper-shouted. "why the hell am I here, when there's clearly no emergency."
Tony gave him an incredulous look, then laughed, " Oh, it's Tony again?" When no laughter was returned, he continued, " Well then Steve, if I'm going, to be honest… There's definitely an emergency which unfortunately you're just on the wrong level of. Oh and the wrong room too."
Steve looked as if his head was going to explode, but took a deep breath in then he walked over to Tony, Steve narrowed he eyes as he looked at Tony and calmly asked, " Where's the emergency NDA?"
" Top left in the main house office desk draw. You know the password. Enter it and then do your magic." Was the reply he received, as Tony turned his back on Steve and continued to work on the car engine.
Sighing, he asked, "where are the clothes? I'm right to assume that you left it in the back of the phantom and Happy took it to get it cleaned."
" For all I know... and care. it should be on the couch in the living room?” was all he heard as he left swiftly to get the NDA from the office.
He placed the NDA and the dry cleaning on the couch nearest to the kitchen and made his way to the kitchen to go make himself a cup of Earl Grey tea, that Tony kept there just for him. About two and a half hours later he heard the startling alarm of J.A.R.V.I.S and this alerted him that the guest was awake, and was in the process of snooping.
He grabbed a Tic-Tac from the ‘candy and mint’ draw, ate it, and made his way to the packages the laid on the couch, grabbed them and ultimately his way to stand in the middle of the lounge with a neutral expression. He waited until she finally realized that she was not the only one in the room.
"So you must be the famous Steve Rogers," she said in a mocking tone.
"Indeed, I am," Steve said stiffly.
" Huh," she said in a condescending tone, " after all these years, a person would think that you moved up but it looks as if Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning."
Steve jaw tensed, "I do anything and everything Mr Stark requires. Including occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?" He said as the gentle thew the NDA document on the glass table and stretched out an arm, with the fountain ink pen in hand, and told her in a cold voice, "sign please."
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Making his way downstairs with the NDA signed. He saw that Tony was not ready for his trip and was presumed to have left around an hour and a half ago. Steve asked J.A.R.V.I.S to turn down the music as he walked towards Tony.
"Tony, I was gone for two hours. You're supposed to be on your flight already. Why are you still here, Tony?"
Ignoring the question and changing the subject, Tony asked, " So how did she take it, Steve? I'm going to assume by the expression your face say that everything went perfectly well right?"
" Like a champ," was his reply, then he changed the topic back to the original one, "Tony, why are you still chit-chatting to me. Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago. What are you still doing here, you know how Rhodey gets? Now get moving!” Steve insisted.
"Why you're trying to hustle me out of her? It's my plane, when I arrive we'll leave. And anyway Rhodey will understand. But seriously what's with the rush? Do you have some secret plans that you didn't inform me about?" Tony said
"As a matter of fact, I do." He said quickly
"Honestly," Tony stated, "I really don't like it when you have plans made, especially when I have no idea about it.”
"Well, it's my birthday, so sue me." Came the jab from Steve.
" It's your birthday? Already? " He asked, shocked.
Nodding Steve looked at Tony, "Yeah, isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year, and the year before.” He said sarcastically.
Rolling his eyes Tony informed Steve to buy something for himself from and present it as a gift from ‘Tony’.
"Don't worry," Steve said with a smile, " I already did. And it's very nice… very tasteful, not to mention expensive. Thank you very much, Mr Stark."
Smirking, Tony uttered, " I see that we're back to Mr Stark again? Well, then I do hope that you have an incredible day further. Mr Rogers. Oh, and goodbye, I'll see you soon. Don't miss me too much."
Full-on smiling, Steve replied, "Well sir, it would be hard not to, you're quite unmissable. Goodbye, Mr Stark. See you soon"
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Dinner with Bucky was fantastic.
Steve and Bucky were two peas in a pod since the moment that Steve was born. Besides the fact that they grew up living in opposite townhouses and that they were cousins, they evolved into more than that, more than the titles of being neighbours and just cousins. They became best friends and now sitting across him in the restaurant, he could say his brother.
Bringing his Heineken bottle to his mouth, Bucky stared at Steve, " So Mr I Am Officially 30 Today, are you going to be on the prowl tonight," he asked with a wink.
Sighing he responded, " Tonight, Buck I told you no. But if it does happen…whoever I do leave with needs to know that it is strictly on a one-night stand base. I definitely do not want a repeat of what happened last Sunday morning. The guy could not take a hint that it was a one and done thing," he stopped to take a sip of his Corona, before he thanked the waiter for bringing their food and wine, then continued, “I'm a man in my sexual prime… okay maybe I'm just a bit passed it but still, I have the right to my sexual freedom. But honestly why… why do most men, when they see a man of my stature and then they hear my age, they always assume that I'm always after some sort of a relationship?
With a smirk on his face, Bucky whispered, " Maybe you're just comparing all the men that you sleep with, to the man that you know is completely off-limits Stevie?"
"Nope! Lies and fucken blasphemy. His my boss, buck!" Steve whisper-shouted, " Yes, I'm not going to even deny the fact that he is good-looking, however, I respect him too much, we have a great working relationship besides I like the way my life is now." With a loud exhale Steve carried on, " I see him as my mentor, he took a chance on me when nobody even gave me the light of day. Even if I were to have a microscopic crush on him, I would never express it out of concern towards the friendship that we have built. As I said, I care and respect him too much to want to fuck it up like that."
Bucky looked at him with wide eyes, that was the most Steve had ever spoken without being interrupted. It was at that moment he realized that Steve was hopelessly in love with Tony, he just needed to learn how to accept.
“You know,” came Bucky’s voice as a shit-eating grin formed on his face, “I never mentioned that it was your boss.”
Steve looked at Bucky, like a deer caught in headlights and he whispered, “Shit,” as he picked up his bottle of Corona and drank what was left of it in one go.
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Waking up to kisses being littered across his shoulder blades, Steve knew that he definitely wasn't at home.
If he was being honest with himself he could not remember anything after they left the restaurant they headed to the West Hollywood club called ‘The Abbey'.
Steve hadn't known whether it was the beer and wine he had at dinner combined with the beer or the shots afters shots he drowned at the club, but for the life of him, Steve could not remember the man's name or the fact that he left with him the night before. However, there was one thing that he knew that he had to do, and that was to leave A.S.A.P and grab a grande cold brew with at least 2 Advils.
The only good thing about that morning was the fact that he had the day off since Tony was halfway across the world, however, he knew that before the end of the working day he had to have set up the three meetings for Tony.
He got up from the bed, much to Michael or was it Matt's dismay, and grabbed his things before driving the short distance towards his apartment. Once he got there he called Bucky, since he was on his work leave, and asked him to meet him at the Starbucks near his place.
Arriving before Bucky, Steve place both of their orders since Bucky always went for the same thing, he sat at the seating area by the windows and could not help but recall the conversation he had with Bucky at the restaurant he previous night.
How could he say that Steve compared all of his one night stands with his boss?
Tony was the complete opposite of what he went for. He was arrogant, a workaholic, forgetful, a straight, womanizing playboy and most of all the man who signed his payslips.
He knew for a fact that jumping down that rabbit hole would only cause a rapid destruction that he defiantly would not be ready for.