Chapter Text
“I’m surprised you’re even going for this,” Sam said from over Steve’s right shoulder.
“A fake boyfriend? Seems a little disingenuous.”
Steve shrugged, reading the latest reply from Tony, “Yeah it is. Normally I wouldn’t actually go for something like this, but I need the money for supplies for next semester. Also Nat knows this guy.”
“Oh that’s promising,” Bucky said as he walked in, pouring coffee into his mug. “Nat knows a lot of people.”
“I’d trust someone Nat knows that someone you know,” Sam said, smirking at Bucky from across the room. Steve rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. Nat said he’s trustworthy enough,” Steve hit send on his own confirmation. “We’re meeting tomorrow at a café here in Brooklyn.”
—————
Despite trying to appear confident to Sam and Bucky, Steve was actually really nervous about meeting Tony. Sam was right about this not being the sort of thing Steve would go for. He doesn’t like lying, and this is quite literally lying to Tony’s entire audience (which is 1.3 million followers, Steve checked). It doesn’t really give him a good first impression of Tony as a person. Not to mention that Steve has no actual experience in having a social media presence. Sure, it’s going to be Tony’s profile and there’s no obligation for Steve to have his own, but just knowing he’s going to be on display and playing this role in front of a million people makes his head spin. But he needs the money, a lot. And it is a good deal. All expenses paid is something that Steve could never even dream about turning down.
The entire morning was spent pacing his bedroom as he debated whether or not to actually go through with the entire thing. It took three calls with Nat reassuring him that Tony was a good guy and not some online creep to even get him out the door. The walk to the cafe was hell too. All Steve could picture was every worst possible scenario ranging from Tony being some entirely insane evil person, to his instagram photos being heavily photoshopped and he looked nothing like the man in the pictures at all. By the time Steve actually reached the cafe he hardly had fingernails left from the constant nervous biting he’d been doing on the way.
One of his worries disappeared almost immediately after the bell alerted the employees to his entrance, because he saw Tony waving at him excitedly from a small table in the back hallway connecting the main lobby to the area where local bands came to play on Fridays and Saturdays.
“Hey Steve, glad you made it!” Tony was smiling at him and Steve wasn’t expecting such an excited welcome or such high energy. He smiled back politely, sitting down across from Tony at the small table.
“Hi Tony, it’s good to meet you,” Steve set his bag on the floor next to his chair. He’d brought his sketchbook with him, not knowing if Tony was going to be late or not. “Just wondering, is there any reason there are three chairs here?”
“Oh! Yeah, Rhodey - my photographer slash best friend - is going to be coming in a little while,” Tony shrugged, quirking another smile at Steve. “Kinda wanted to do a test run and see if we photograph well together, but figured we could get to know each other a little first. You know, you’re pretty buff for an art student.”
“Well, I like to work out,” Steve said, feeling a little awkward. He got comments like that far more often than he liked. “My two best friends, Sam and Bucky, they’re both big exercise freaks too. We all work out together.”
“That’s cool,” Tony said, tapping his fingers on his phone screen. Steve nodded, not really knowing what to say.
He’d never been particularly good at filling the silence when he meets new people. That’s why he usually goes out with Sam, Bucky, or Nat, they’re much more outgoing and Steve always lets them lead the conversations.
The silence stretches for a few more minutes, and Steve has to resist the urge to start fidgeting. Tony was a lot less subtle about the uncomfortable silence, Steve could practically see him vibrating from across the table. Steve was beginning to wonder if the whole thing wasn’t a mistake.
“Okay anyway, top five favorite movies: go!” Tony said suddenly, startling Steve a little bit.
“Um… I’m not sure,” Steve paused, trying to think about all the movies he’s seen. “I don’t like the really gory stuff. I like the Disney Pixar stuff, it’s really interesting to follow their animation techniques and see all the updates and the stories are cute too. Some Wes Anderson movies are nice too, a little overrated at times. Stoker is a really fantastic movie!”
“Okay okay art student brain I forgot,” Tony rolled his eyes. Steve resisted the urge to glare. How was it fair for Tony to roll his eyes at Steve when all he did was answer the question? “Well, what about movies like They Live ?”
“Haven’t seen it,” Steve said shortly. “I’m going to go order a coffee quick. Do you want anything?”
“No, no thank you,” Tony waved a hand dismissively, scrolling through what looked like a list of classic movies on his phone. Steve held back a sigh and walked over to the counter to order.
In line he let his shoulders slump a little, scrubbing a hand over his face. He was starting to think that this whole arrangement might not work out. It’s not that Tony was mean or anything, but he was more high energy than Steve had been expecting. Steve knew he could be a little judgmental, but they felt like opposites. Opposites didn’t always mean they couldn’t work well together though, so Steve decided he’d try again. If Nat got along with Tony then surely Steve could, right? He was probably just working himself up out of anxiety, Sam always said he did that too much. Nothing really bad had even happened. He told himself to keep an open mind and dropped a dollar in the tip jar after he ordered his coffee.
With his cup of liquid patience in hand Steve sat back down across from Tony, who was smiling at him again. Steve smiled back, a little confused, “What?”
“Okay, forget all of the other movies,” Tony started, spreading his arms out in a dramatic gesture. “Do you like Star Wars ?”
“Of course I like Star Wars , I’m not an idiot,” Steve said, scoffing.
He watched as Tony breathed a sigh of relief and he took another sip from his cup of coffee, letting the warmth seep into his veins.
“Thank god,” Tony grinned. “That would’ve been a dealbreaker. Well, now we have two things in common.”
“What’s the first?” Steve asked, raising one eyebrow. He didn’t recall anything they’d agreed upon earlier.
“Liking Disney movies,” Tony rapped his knuckles on the table. “I’m a sucker for them.”
“Really?” Steve couldn’t keep the shock from his voice. “Your response before seemed more like judgment than anything else.”
Tony winced a little, a reaction Steve took as agreement to his assessment, “I promise I didn’t mean it like that. Okay maybe a little, but not because I disagree, it’s just that it was obvious you’re an art student from your response. I mean, who says animation techniques as a reason they like Disney? It sounds so pretentious.”
Steve pursed his lips, trying to avoid giving voice to a judgmental response of his own. He could feel the annoyance seeping back in. He took another sip of his coffee instead, letting the silence hang.
“You sure know how to let a silence grow,” Tony said a little sourly. “Don’t you have anything you want to know?”
Steve glances around them, pretending to contemplate that question for a moment, “I only have one question. It’s my dealbreaker, I guess.”
“Well spill”
“Does your boyfriend know about this whole arrangement?” Steve asked, keeping eye contact like he knew him well enough that he’d be able to tell if Tony was lying just from that. It’s the one question that had plagued him the most since he even replied to Tony’s ad. Either way the fake boyfriend thing was disingenuous, but Steve really couldn’t go through with it if it was entirely in secret.
“Of course he knows,” Tony said, looking a tad offended and with another eye roll thrown in. Steve was getting tired of Tony rolling his eyes. “I have a huge online presence, he’d find out anyway.”
“Well does he approve?” That’s another thing. Steve doesn’t get how someone would just be okay with their partner having a fake boyfriend for online appearances.
“I thought you just had one question,” Tony said, not bothering to hide the bitterness he feels at being asked that. “All you have to know is that he’s aware and we’re still together.”
Steve bit back the “that’s a no, then” comment he wants to make and finishes off his drink. He goes to throw his cup out and to get a small break from the tension clouding their entire table. When he gets back the bad mood is still hanging over both of them, and the heavy silence hangs for a long stretch until a shadow crosses over them.
“Well, it looks like you two sure hit it off well,” is what the shadow said sarcastically, taking in Steve and Tony’s body language and their silence. Steve looked up and sees a man about Tony’s height carrying two coffees in the crook of his elbow and one croissant in his right hand. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Tony jump up.
“Rhodey! It’s about damn time you showed up,” Tony said, excavating the coffee and single croissant from Rhodey’s arms and putting them in the table so he could more comfortably fling his arms around Rhodey’s neck in a hug. Steve looked away from the display for a second, feeling like he was intruding on seeing Tony so happy and affectionate after most of his own exchange with Tony had been stilted and laden with tension. Rhodey hugged him back with the arm that was now entirely free before removing himself from the embrace and setting his own coffee down, then taking a seat himself.
“I would’ve gotten you something, but I don’t know what you like,” it took Steve a second to realize Rhodey was addressing him.
“Oh! No that’s fine! Thank you for even thinking of it,” Steve smiled at him, genuine this time. “I just got done with my own coffee, so I’m good.”
“That’s good,” Rhodey said, returning his smile. “Anyway, I’m James, but literally everyone who knows me just calls me Rhodey, so you probably should too. I’m assuming you’re Steve?”
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you,” Steve held out his hand and Rhodey took it, a polite two shakes before they both let go and Rhodey went to grab his own coffee.
“Likewise,” Rhodey grinned again before turning to face forward, addressing them both at once. “So, was the meeting so horrible that you guys had to sit in silence until I came?”
“Eh, could’ve been a lot worse,” Tony said, drawing Steve’s attention back to him. He’s picked apart the croissant Rhodey got him, popping chunks into his mouth every so often. “We agree on Star Wars and Disney movies.”
“Ah, the two most important things,” Rhodey nodded seriously and Steve smiled again. “Well, should we get to know each other, Steve?”
They ended up talking for close to an hour. Steve told him that his best friend was also named James, but that nobody called ever him that and instead he went by Bucky. They debated the best movie in the Lord of the Rings series, and commiserated over the cost of art school. Steve found out that Rhodey had been planning to go to the Air Force before, but changed him mind. In turn, Steve told him he’d originally been planning to enlist in the Army straight out of high school, but by the time he actually grew up he couldn’t see himself as part of that. Tony joined in here and there, talking about updates to Rhodey’s camera, and how he was considering starting his own social media app. When it turned personal though, he got quieter, not saying anything more than that he hadn’t wanted to follow in his father’s weapon-making footsteps. That was something Steve respected. He found out that Tony’s favorite princess was Ariel, with Belle close in second, and Rhodey loved Aurora and Cinderella.
With Rhodey there it was like the tension from before disappeared entirely, which only made Steve think that he was the problem even more. Rhodey was someone Tony knew, but he was also easy enough to get along with that Steve didn’t worry about uncomfortable silences or tension hanging over them again. By the time Rhodey pulled out his camera and directed them into the alley out back that was all vine-covered brick, Steve thought this might actually work out.
Of course they photographed great together, though it took a little bit of time and direction from Rhodey for Steve to loosen up entirely and look more like Tony’s boyfriend than someone who had only just met him. When Rhodey's shutter clicked for the last time and Tony said, “Well, looks like this thing’s a go.” Steve couldn’t help but be a little more optimistic than when he walked in.