dear_mun | (no subject)

I'd invent things way ahead of my time and get rich. Obviously.

[that gets her to smile a little]

So you'd just do what you're doing now.

Well, yes. But with a nice hat. Hats were much better in your day.

[That gets a small laugh to bubble out of her. Then another, soon, she's holding back a series of giggles and covering her mouth to not laugh too loudly]

What? I want a nice hat. I saved the world, you know. It's not a lot to ask.

[she's wiping tears from her eyes, Tony, and trying to keep herself from doubling over in giggles]

You-you save the world and all you want is a hat. I suppose it's fitting for a man who can get anything.

I can't get anything. I mean, I try, but eventually the world's supply of Crystal Pepsi is going to run out.

...I just made myself sad.

...Crystal Pepsi? Why would pop make you sad?

They don't make it anymore and I haven't been able to reverse engineer the formula.

[that just sends her into poorly stifled giggles again]

Steph, you're making it really hard to do this whole 'opening up' thing. The day they announced they weren't making Crystal Pepsi anymore was one of the worst days of my life.

Oh Tony, I'm sorry.

[she controls her giggles, not wanting to go on that jog anymore]

This is why I don't cry on your shoulder. Well, that and I'm pretty sure you'd think I was putting a move on you.

Tony, I'm sure you wouldn't be. Aren't you all about super models?

Remember how there's different Tony Starks here? I'm not really dating right now. Anyone. At all. Partly it's the arc reactor, and partly sobriety has killed a lot of my prospects.

[There's other reasons, but what Steph doesn't know won't turn into a shitstorm.]

And, you know. You're Sleeping Beauty.

Why would the arc reactor be a problem? Is it on the Fritz?

[and she goes from concern to confused]

What does that have to do with anything?

No. I just don't like people staring at it like slack jawed morons. My eyes are up here.

Steph. You're the gold standard for all superheroes. I'm not exactly a role model. Let's just be real, here.

...It's a part of you, Tony. Keeps you alive, right? That's what...well that's what I've been told before.

Are you saying that we're not in the same league and that's why? [confused because he said he wasn't dating. Did that mean he wasn't interested in dating?] Are you one of those Tonys that is...

[she just waves because she doesn't know if 'queer' was acceptable anymore.]

That doesn't tend to make it any less uncanny. Uncanny as in disturbing, not cool. At least I had a decent run of things before I got it.

I swing both ways, if that's what you're asking. Amazingly enough doubling my odds hasn't helped. I have... issues. Not drinking issues, but issues. And you're pretty much perfect. [As Howard used to tell him again and again. It took Tony a while to work through the leftover resentment. Whatever. He's still a damn good super hero, so it all evens out. He readjusts his sleeves for the tenth time since this conversation began.] So yeah. You're out of my league.

[she's quiet for a long while before moving to put a hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes. She knows what its like to be ogled because of what your body was and knew how much it meant to look at anyone in the eyes.]

Tony. Wouldn't I get a say in all this too? Or have things changed in the past few decades where the fella makes all the decisions?

[This close, she can probably smell what makes him AU with those enhanced senses of hers, so it's all he can do to reign in an impulse to jump and move away. He meets her eyes, trying to maintain his usual arrogant air and failing.]

There's nothing to have a say in. We both know I'm in the Friend Zone. And after how things started out after Loki's little schoolyard bully antics, I'm still pretty amazed I'm even in the Friend Zone.

[There was definitely something off about this Tony. There was something. A scent she can't really pinpoint. She's concerned and wants to ask. So she takes a step closer]

Did I...the me that you know...if it's even a Stephanie, because I think I might be a Steve in your uh...world. Did I put you in the friend zone?

[He instinctively reaches up to put a hand on her shoulder, as if he could really push her away. As if she doesn't have the strength to completely ignore that. Belatedly, he realizes he might just have made his own problems worse. If she couldn't smell him before, she can now.]

It was a Steve. And, uh... things were rocky. They got better and then kind of worse. It's complicated. I've been told that's a normal friendship thing.

[It clicks. She'd experience that smell before but it had been so long. The blood was something familiar but the burnt smell...They both knew, she could easily brush his hand aside and that he couldn't push her around so easily. She should recoil away, she should. But she stays firm even when he touches her shoulder. But Steph is a patient woman. Always.]

Tony...?

[Her voice is quiet, letting him say what he needed or wanted to say. She knows that he should know what she's asking about. Still. her eyes are on his, no where else.]

[He feels trapped, caught, but he manages a shaky breath and a solid twelve seconds of silence as he tries to think of something.]

...I'm an AU Tony, remember? I don't drink. So I'm fine. Everything's better. Fury let me on the team based on that. Everybody's happier this way. [They sound like excuses rolling off his tongue, but it's the truth.]

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It's really late for me, I'm gonna get some sleep. I'll tag you when I'm up. Sorry!

Sleep well!

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