eswareinmal | Orb (and action): 13th of Rebirth

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Orb (and action): 13th of Rebirth

[Steve hadn’t learned as much as he’d hoped from his audience with the King, but it was a start. He had ideas about where to start looking for the information he needed and when the weather cleared, he would ride out to see the thorns for himself, if Harley cooperated.]

Clint. Thor. I spoke with the King about why we were brought here. I didn’t learn much about it, but if you want to know what he said, please come see me. [He pauses, eying the Orb cautiously. Years of trying to keep the Germans from intercepting messages made him suspicious of most forms of communication until he was certain that it was safe.] I’d prefer not to discuss it over the Orbs.

And... [When he'd been in town, he'd noticed something had changed. The fawning over the heroes had faded and there was something almost mean in the air that made him cautious.] Be careful. Something's going on, but I'm not sure what yet.

[He says a brief farewell before ending the ‘call’ and turns toward Tony’s workshop, sure that his friend is going to give him hell for speaking with the King without him.]

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Tony doesn't even bother with the orb. He hates the thing anyway. And he's so irritated after that, he doesn't even realize the birds are huddled in a corner of his work space not offering a song for his mood this time. Opening the door, he crosses his arms over his chest and levels a look on Steve.

"You went to see him... and you didn't tell me. Any particular reason I wasn't invited or should I start trying to figure it out on my own?" Which... was a bad idea... cause Tony had a terrible imagination.

He's ready for that anger, had been expecting it. He begins to speak, ready to explain, and then realizes that those explanations are nothing more than excuses. And that is followed by the realization that even if he'd had a reason for not wanting the others to know what he had planned, he should have handled things differently.

Before, there had only two people he'd ever felt like he needed to explain his actions to in detail when he was making command decisions. Not that it'd stopped him from giving the necessary orders, but he'd always found the time to explain it to them later. Seeing how angry Tony is, he knows that somehow he'd added another person to that list.

He meets Tony's gaze, not flinching away or offering a challenge. He'd made a mistake, even if it was unintentional, and he'll face the consequences.

"You're right. I should've asked you to come with me. I should've asked Clint and Thor too. I wanted to ask the King something without the rest of you being there, but I should've found another way to do it."

Edited 2012-03-11 21:51 (UTC)

Oh. He'd not expected Steve to not fight back. In fact, the lack of retort had Tony slowly unwinding and thrown off balance. It wasn't easy to stayed displeased with the blonde when he wasn't feeding the fire of displeasure. There were soft little chirps behind him and he turned around to give the birds a threatening look. But they weren't buying into his fake attempts at intimidation.

Finally looking back at Steve, he ran a hand through his hair and tried again. "What did you talk to him about?" At least give the man a chance to explain before continuing to jump his case. It just... really upset him that Steve didn't even think he warranted a warning before something like that.

"I wanted to get some information about why we were brought here. Everything I've heard so far sounds unreal. I figured I'd try to find out the truth from the highest ranking person here." Letting out a sigh, he manages to keep his frustration out of his tone. He'd been hoping the rumors about magic wouldn't be true. Unfortunately, they were. "Basically, the stuff about the thorns and magic is true. Or they think it is."

Rubbing the back of his neck, he wonders how angry Tony will get over what else Steve had asked. "I also wanted to know if there was a way for the three of you to go home."

Understandable. Information was power, but it didn't explain to him why Steve went without him. Not even so much why Steve left Thor and Clint out, but him. Maybe the thought was selfish... but he was genuinely upset by this. Shifting a little he stopped in the process of fully entering the room at the last part.

Lifting his head, he leveled Steve with a flat look. "You did what?" He did the math in less than half a second. There were four of them. Not Three. And that meant that Steve intended to stay. "What right do you have to decide what we want to do? Couldn't you at least ask what we want before you run off and try to send us packing? Or are we in your way?" It was hurt... not anger. He tended to hide hurt underneath the veneer of anger.

For a few seconds, he just stared at Tony, unsure of why he was angry. Yeah, he should've told them all what he had planned, but why would Tony be angry that Steve had tried to find a way for them to go home? "What? I wasn't making decisions for the rest of you. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. If there was a way to go home, I was going to tell all of you that it was possible and you each could decide."

He paused, trying to understand, but his confusion obvious. "Why would I think you're in the way?" He didn't even notice that he hadn't referred to the others.

"There are other ways to do it, Rogers!" It was pretty much rare to none that Tony called Steve that... but right now he was upset. "I don't want to leave till I see this through. I did not just go through hell setting this place up just to say screw it and go home! And what makes you think I want to leave you here alone?" He'd dropped all pretense of the team now. It was about the fact that he was getting used to this whole team work thing with Steve... and now this?

"Why else would you want to send me packing?" Giving him a neutral look, he almost dared Steve to answer him. Because in his mind? Going around his back to find ways to send him home was close to just... betrayal.

He almost flinched when Tony didn't use his given name, knowing that he'd truly done something wrong but not knowing how to fix it. "Tony, I wasn't going to send you home! I just thought - " Letting out a quiet breath, he struggled to find the right words and knew he wouldn't no matter how hard he tried.

"You have a life back home. You have friends and people who need you. I wanted you to have the chance to go back to all that if you wanted to. I - " He ducked his head, staring down at his boots as he let himself think about what waited for him back 'home'.

"I don't have anything to go back to except being some comic book hero that never really existed. There's nothing back there for me, Tony." He didn't think of it often, even when there were times when he had to force himself not to. "Yeah, Fury wants me to set up this team he's dreaming of, but there's no one left for me. I'm needed here, but the rest of you..."

Looking up, he forced a smile. "So staying here wouldn't be a big deal for me. But you - the rest of you - you deserve a chance to get your lives back."

First instinct wanted to say that he didn't have anything worth mentioning to go home to. But he checked all that at the door when he realized how utterly depressed Steve looked. The defensiveness dropped almost instantly and he tried to rethink this all from a new perspective. Tony was emotional. He always had been... Just not in the same way most normal people were.

Moving closer to Steve, he hesitated a moment before reaching out and taking the blonde's wrist. Call it awkward, because he saw himself that way... but he pulled the taller man down and wrapped an arm about his shoulders in a slightly embrace. "All the more reason to stick around."

He kept his chin on Steve's shoulder a bit terrified to look at the expression on his face. "Just means you can get attached to your rag tag team of egotists so we can all go back together right? And if we all work through this, we can fix this problem faster. So just... trust us.. me... even though I know it's asking a lot."

The hand at his wrist grounded him, pulling him out of those thoughts that he carefully avoided. Unresisting, he moved into the embrace, eyes closing when Tony's arm moved around his shoulders.

"Tony, I - " Whatever reassurance or protest he was going to make was silenced by the ache of loss that he's spent months ignoring. What Tony was offering was too much, even if right now there wasn't a way to return home. But he couldn't refuse even if it was selfish of him not to. "Thank you."

Slowly, he began to relax, his arm going around Tony's back. "I do trust you, Tony." He trusted them all, but this was different, reminding him more of how he'd always known Bucky would be there with him, no matter what they were up against.

And for some reason the way Steve started to say his name, made him react by releasing the wrist to wrap the other arm about the blonde's shoulders. It felt good and strange all at the same time. Because he didn't normally actively look for touch. Not like this. But he wanted to just wipe away that moment of pain from Steve's voice.

"We may be a sorry consolation prize, but we may surprise you in the end, right?" Turning his head to touch his forehead to Steve's neck, he furrowed his brow. He wasn't the comforting type... not even a little bit. But damn it all if he wouldn't try.

"Just not that much?" And then he heard it... the sound of whistling song in the room behind him that suspiciously sounded like 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love'... Sometimes he wanted to pluck them. Seriously he did.

This break, even if it was small compared to what the therapists had been expecting, should have embarrassed him. Maybe it would have been if it had happened in front of someone else. No, he wouldn't have let it happen in front of someone else.

Tony was different, seeing Steve Rogers instead of the hero everyone had wanted to return to the world. That gave him a measure of freedom he hadn't been allowed since he'd been revived.

And that was more important to him than he could explain, causing him to mentally flinch at Tony's words. "You’re not a consolation prize. It’s just – it’s a lot to get used to." He sighed quietly, letting himself be Steve instead of who almost everyone expected him to be. "I’m getting better. I promise."

He didn’t know what the birds were singing – sometimes he’d recognize something familiar and other times he had no idea what the chirping might be – but it was more cheerful than he expected and he smiled a little at their ‘help.’ He couldn’t help smiling at their enthusiasm. "You’d be surprised by how much I trust you, Tony."

Between the lack of motion and then that flinch. Tony suddenly wanted to hide. He really never labeled himself as the typed to be huggy of comforting. But he wished he could have pulled it off. At least once, right?

Sighing a little, he squeezed the younger's shoulder and pulled away slowly. "Not, huh? Good to know." He offered a weak nod at the fact that Steve said he was getting better even though he had to wonder. This place was... not home for any of them. But that at least put them on equal playing ground right?

Shifting back to sit on the edge of the table, he sent a wry look at the birds that fluttered into the kitchen area and stayed out of arms reach as they sang. Rub it in...

"Probably. Considering how little people trust me, I'm already impressed." It was meant to be a bit of a joke to lighten the mood, but his eyes didn't match the bare smile.

The more he learned about Tony, the more Steve wondered about what had happened to him to cause him make those kind of assumptions about trust and friendship. Had it been something Howard had done or was it something in those files that had been carefully edited because of 'clearance levels?'

Moving to stand next to Tony, he considered what he might say that possibly could help his friend understand how important it was that Tony had offered to stay with him. "Before...the crash, there were only two people who I would've told about all that - and there's no one else since I woke up that I would've admitted it to. Well, until now there wasn't."

He glanced over at Tony, ducking his head slightly as he smiled tentatively. "So I guess that means I trust you more than anyone else."

Turning his head to look at Steve hen he joined him, he gave the man his full attention. It was getting easier in some ways. Because with out the other outlets of computers, he needed something else to plug all of the overflow into. Steve was the quiet and calming option. And he rather liked focusing on him.

Rising a brow slowly at that revelation, he looked away with a soft 'huh' as he let that sink in. Why on earth would anyone pick him for that? But he wasn't going to complain... "I'll try not to disappoint you..."

At least until Steve realized someone else was a better candidate. But he'd at least try to be more than everyone thought he was. "I trust you too... otherwise I wouldn't be following you around everywhere. Usually I try to go it alone... but well... feels right to work through it as a team right now. Weird as that is coming from me..."

That is well for me. [the Asgardian prince mumbled from his seated position on the ground before he stood to his full height once more and rose to make his way to where he knew Steve to be.

If Clint were nearby... well. He would see them all, there. A brief smile touched his lips. No doubt Tony would be chattering as soon as they were together again - that would do for some lightening of spirits.

He wondered at what Steve had heard as he hitched his leg against his horses' side to gallop...]

We'll be waiting. [After his fight with Tony, Steve knew he couldn't have this discussion alone. He had to build trust among them, even after doing something that had hurt Tony and may hurt the others.

After a few minutes thought, he headed outside of Tony's shop figuring they both needed some space before Thor arrived. He wished he had more information for them all, but maybe the others had learned something that would help them make sense out of all this.]

[when Thor arrives, it's not in the best spirits. He's concerned and irate for battle deep down from his talk with Sif. Brooding.

He tends to his horse - the journey hard on its pacing in his preoccupation, patting the mane slowly as he resolved to remain calm before he appeared before his fellow Avengers. It wouldn't do to be rash, or brisk in manner. It was none of their faults they were all here, and seperated and desolate.]

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Orb (and action): 13th of Rebirth

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