Chapter 6
They finally leave the restaurant after signing a few autographs and taking a picture with Grace for her grandchildren, and Tony sits quietly for a moment before he starts the car.
“What?” Steve has reclined the seat as far back as it can go and pushed his baseball cap over his face.
“Do you ever regret it?”
“Regret -? Oh. Signing up for the experiment? No.” He shakes his head and pulls out the compass from his pocket, and shows it to Tony. “Never would have met Peggy.”
“She thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread.”
Steve sits up and stares at him. “You know Peg?”
“Grew up having Sunday dinners with her, she’d come over for holidays. Man, the stories she would tell about you and the old days. She’s the one who helped me apply to MIT as early as I did. She loved my dad, but she knew how toxic he was for me. She knew I needed to get out of that house. Saved my life.”
“She saved both of us. I wouldn’t have survived the war without the serum.”
“Hell, Steve, you didn’t survive it with it, idiot.” Tony laughs and starts the car, but after a moment, he wonders if he’s gone too far, and he turns it off again, then turns to look at him. “Shit. I’m sorry -”
“No, I should have at least tried to bail out - but all I could think about was making sure I got the jet down, and I didn’t know what I was doing. It was stupid. There are days when all I think about is what might have been with Peggy. I just lost so much time. And I don’t - I know what you think of me.”
“What, you’re a mind reader now?” Tony snorts, but he sees Steve’s face change, and he begins, “Steve - look.”
“I’m old enough to be your grandfather, we’re from different generations, I see what you can do - what you have created, you’re amazing, Tony. When we don’t have a mission, I try to catch up on all the stuff I missed out on. I have days, weeks, sometimes when I wish they had never found me and pulled me from the ice. I don’t belong here, in this time, and I know you resent -”
Tony shakes his head. “I’m not a strategist, I’m not good with people. Give me a problem that needs tech, and I’m your guy, that’s my schtick. I fix stuff. But what you did back in New York? Somehow you made us believe that the six of us were enough to beat the Chitauri and Loki, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here now. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to go home to Pepper and, well -” He reaches over and pops open the glove compartment, and pulls out a black velvet box, then puts it back and says quietly, “if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t be able to propose to her when we get back to California. You’re a leader, Cap. Without you bossing us around, we’re like what Banner said on that ship, we’re a lab experiment - a chaotic mess, but you let us do the things we can do, what makes us unique, and you got us all home. So, thank you. I never did thank you after.”
“I got you killed, Tony. You were dead for half a minute.”
“Steve. It was the only way, and you know it. Wasn’t your fault.”
“Tony.”
Tony turns and offers Steve his hand. “I’m not great at the friendship thing, just ask Rhodey and Happy, they’d tell you to run, but I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.” Steve shakes his head but finally nods and holds Tony’s smaller hand in his and manages not to bruise his fingers. “Now, if I remember correctly, you like baseball, yeah? JARVIS?”
“Sir."
"Find us a baseball game on the radio that won’t put me to sleep.”
"I will do my utmost, sir."