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[arcreact]

Who: Tony Stark (arcreact) & Steve Rogers (starspangle)
What: Peggy Carter locking two emotionally stunted men in a building to talk about their feelings
When: Early/mid-May
Where: Olympia
Warning(s): Obligatory Marvel communication breakdowns

[ It was probably inevitable for things to come to a head.

Tony has been grateful for a place he knows he can trust, a place he can let his guard down somewhat. Everything else in Olympia is still a wildcard, and he's a long way from letting go of his healthy sense of paranoia. And yet, despite that, he does his best not to hang around - indeed, has things to occupy himself with elsewhere the vast majority of the time - but there's still no avoiding crossing paths in a shared space so small. Things have been... civil. Terse. Tense.

Having Peggy around to act as a universal buffer has been indispensable, of course. Which is why Peggy excusing herself and locking them in behind her until they sort their shit out is particularly alarming. (Alarming enough that Tony actually casts a frantic glance at the nearest window, just to confirm where it is relative to where he's sitting, you know, just in case.)

He'd stood as the door latched, but he slowly swivels to look at Steve in the deafening silence that follows. ]

We just got got.

[ In case Steve SOMEHOW didn't notice. ]

Comments

[america]

[ Steve spares a glance over his shoulder for the now-locked door before he turns back to Tony and meets his eyes.

He puts his coffee down. Lets out a breath. Shrugs. ]

Seems like we did.

[ Obviously if either of them wanted to, they could bust the door down and escape this small slice of awkward hell without issue, but Steve knows that doing so won't put an end to the frosty civility between them, and besides which, he's pretty sure neither of them want to deal with Peggy being pissed off at them in the following days.

So he stays where he is and hopes that Tony does too.

He lets out another breath. ]

Listen. Tony --

[arcreact]

[ Tony gives the door a lingering look, then briefly (pleadingly) turns his gaze skyward. No matter how much he's dreading whatever comes next, Peggy Carter is one of the few people to exist that he'd rather not cross, so - miraculously - he sits back down.

One hand goes back around his own coffee mug, the other raking back through his hair. ]

I'm listening.

[america]

[ Now that he's got the proverbial floor to speak on, Steve finds himself at something of a loss for words. Not exactly common when he's the guy who can come up with fairly inspirational pep-talks on a whim ... but maybe the situation is too complicated, too laden with old wounds still unhealed that it's a little outside of Steve's expertise. No pep-talk can save this.

He thinks on the last time he'd spoken to Tony, thinks about the fact that when he did, it was over a recording machine. He tries again. ]

You know, I meant what I said to you - before all of this stuff happened.

[ Assuming he a) received the package containing the phone and b) listened to the message at all. ]

[arcreact]

[ Tony'd spent some time imagining how this interaction might go, one day. It always varied wildly depending on how he was feeling that day, and it certainly didn't include the post-apocalyptic alternate universe setting. But still, now that it's happening, it feels... anti-climactic. ]

Yeah? Which part? "If you need me, I'll be there"?

[ What, did he memorize that letter? Absolutely Not Except Yes, Of Course He Did. ]

[america]

[ There's a mild raising of eyebrows.

Did Tony memorize what he'd said? ]

Yeah. That. [ He pauses. ] We may have had our differences - [ And boy have they had their differences. ] - but that has never changed.

I just hope you believe that.

[arcreact]

[ There's a long pause while Tony stops to consider. A pettier, worse version of him would throw it back in Steve's face, but he finds he doesn't really want to do that. There'd be no real satisfaction. Farther removed from the whole ordeal, he just feels... tired. ]

I do believe you meant it. [ A pause. ] And I might even believe you'd follow through, if it came to that.

[ He's not surprised to find it's the truth. After Steve had sent him that burner phone, he'd been careful to always keep it close... just in case. It's hardly an "all's forgiven," but it's a base level of trust that's no trivial thing. ]

[america]

[ Steve isn't about to ask Tony, 'Then what's your problem?' even if a part of him wants to. No, he understands that Tony needs time - still needs time - and he's going to respect that no matter how impatient he might be.

For all that Captain America is known for his unwavering patience and strength of will, Steve Rogers admits he doesn't always live up to that. He'd always been able to punch his way through a conflict in search of a solution, but punching won't help this. It certainly didn't when Earth still existed and they fought it out in Siberia. ]

Whatever it might mean here, the offer still stands.

[ It's about as much of an olive branch as he can extend. ]