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Tony looks at him and says, “A whole year, huh?”
They’re all sitting together in the house Tony has dubbed Avengers Mansion. It had belonged to Tony before - he offered it up when Steve needed somewhere to stay and Dr Banner needed a lab. Neither of them were comfortable staying at SHIELD. Now the place seems to be the team headquarters. Steve doesn’t know if Tony had meant that to happen.
“I’m sorry?” Steve is caught up in trying to decipher Colonel Fury’s requests for more post-mission reports. He feels a real rush of sympathy for General Phillips, who had always maintained that he didn’t mind the danger, it was the paperwork that would be the end of him.
“One year tomorrow,” Tony says. “Since we found you.”
“Fury’s men found me.”
“And aren’t we all Fury’s men, when it comes right down to it?” Tony drawls. “And women, of course.” He grins at Natasha, who rolls her eyes.
“You still didn’t have anything to do with the actual finding,” Steve says. Steve doesn’t remember that part, but he knows Tony wasn’t involved.
Tony nods. “True. Anyway. We should celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
Tony slaps his hand in the middle of Steve’s papers. “I’m beginning to think I don’t have your full attention.”
“You went right from – apparently – a count on how long I’ve been in the twenty-first century, to wanting to have a party.”
“I always want a party. This is just an excellent excuse.”
“What is?”
“Steve!”
Steve tries to put the conversation back together. Tony talks like other people fight: all jabs and uppercuts. It’s difficult to keep track. “You want to celebrate that?”
“One year anniversary, sure.”
Clint laughs. “First time you’ve remembered one?”
Tony balls up a loose page of Steve’s report and tosses it at Clint’s head. “Any more from the peanut gallery, and you don’t get an invite.”
Clint pretends to glare. “Oh, and I’m sure all the pretty girls have killed and died to get into one of Tony Stark’s parties.”
Thor startles very briefly – Steve can see the slight movement of his head. It’s been a little less than a year for Steve, and a little more than one for Thor, and the world still sometimes throws them on a loop. There’s so much here that makes no sense but is nonetheless true; it can take that split-second to discard the false parts. Steve says, “I’m pretty sure that was a joke.”
Thor smiles. “Although Tony does seem to inspire many people to want to kill him.” That earns him a paper missile aimed at his head too. Thor shakes it off like it didn’t touch him.
“Anyway,” Tony says. “Party.”
Steve frowns. “I don’t really see what’s to celebrate.” He corrects himself, struck by the hush and by the odd, pained look that finds its way to Tony’s face. “Not about that day in particular. I don’t even remember it. I didn’t wake up for… a while.”
“And we weren’t a team until a while after that,” Tony says. “Still, we have to pick something.”
“I have a birthday, you know.”
“I know. July fourth. I checked three times. I don’t even know what to do with that information. But we missed that one anyway. There was the thing. Explosion. We were busy.”
“And we won’t be busy tomorrow?”
“I bet if I went out and told the bad guys that Captain America needed a day off, they’d play nice. People like you.”
“Tony.”
“What?”
“I have to finish this, anyway.” He goes to fetch the pieces of paper Tony had crumpled and presses them flat again. If Steve was being honest, there are other people who would happily do this for him, now that he has completed the broad summary information. But it gives him something new to focus on. He’s not sure what to think about the fact that a year has gone by and he has barely noticed.
* * *
In the morning, Tony is still in New York, and still hasn’t given up. “Bruce, tell Steve he needs to let me throw him a party.”
Bruce turns around from his notebook. “You could do with some relaxation.”
“And this is from Bruce,” Tony points out.
“I relax. Parties aren’t relaxing,” Steve says.
Tony raises his eyebrow. “We could get a theme together. Maybe a dance.” Whatever he sees on Steve’s face, his expression changes. “Okay, no dance. Just a regular party: music, alcohol – yes, I know it doesn’t affect you – and some friends. Superhero friends and their significant others, granted, but that still counts.”
“Why is this so important to you?”
“It’s not.”
“Then stop it.” From Steve’s perspective, a little more than a year ago, he lost one of the people he loved best in the world. Then, a little less than a year ago, he woke up and found that he had lost the other one in his sleep. But Tony wants him to celebrate.
Tony shrugs. “Fine.” He turns back towards Bruce, leaning over the computer interface. Steve thinks Tony may have been lying, when he said it wasn’t important. Steve just doesn’t know what the important part is.
* * *
Either Tony didn’t manage to let all of the ‘bad guys’ know that Steve was supposed to be having a day off today, or Steve isn’t as likeable as Tony thinks. The alarm goes off in the mid-afternoon, and they are bundled off in one of the helicopters. It shouldn’t take all of them to deal with this, but Fury is concerned about their ability to function as a team. They probably deserve that.
Tony stands beside him, about to jump out into the battle. They’re still too high up for anyone else to be thinking about moving, but Tony likes to make an entrance. Steve smiles, barely meaning to do it.
Tony catches it anyway. His mouth twists, wry. “Okay then. Let’s get this party started.” He dives.
Steve waits until they get a little lower before he jumps out. There are voices in his ear, and others there with him: he tracks the movements of his team and listens to the instructions Coulson is giving him through the earpiece. There are three men, armed with purloined experimental weaponry.
“Left!” he calls, and Tony twists to the side, letting Steve throw. It’s simple, this part. He holds the pieces in his head – his team, and where they are and where they will need to be. They are still learning how to do this, but Steve can see the shape of it now. They’ve nearly had a year.
Steve directs Clint’s attention to the one attempting a getaway, while Thor disrupts the weaponry. Natasha grabs the last one and knocks him out, not un-gently. They still need to find out how the weapons were stolen.
Agents come in to do the clean-up, and Tony is beside Steve again when they are pulled back into the air. “I’m glad you’re here,” Tony says abruptly.
“Where else would I be?” Steve asks.
“I mean, I know that you’d rather be back there. And that’s fine, I get that. But if you were going to be somewhere, you know, I’m glad it’s here.” Tony’s eyes are unguarded, not hidden by sunglasses or the mask of his helmet.
“Tony.”
Tony shrugs, hard to see in the suit, but Steve knows the movement. “This doesn’t work without you. Fury… I think he was waiting. I think he knew. Because this would never work without you doing your… okay?”
“Okay.”
“They’re all listening, aren’t they?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, well, I have work to do. But anyway. That’s why I thought we should celebrate.”
Tony shoots off, headed who knows where. Malibu, for all Steve can guess. He watches the streak Tony paints against the sky.
Thor pats Steve on the shoulder. “For Tony to say all of that....”
“I know,” Steve says. “I know.”
* * *
Tony reappears just before midnight. He doesn’t come into the house, but Steve can hear the noises on the roof when he walks upstairs to his bedroom. When Steve walks up there, Tony says, “We could celebrate me and you meeting, I guess. I don’t remember the date, exactly, but Coulson’ll have the record somewhere. I think I was late.”
“You were,” Steve agrees.
“You weren’t.”
“I had nowhere else to be.”
Tony sighs.
“I’m sorry,” Steve says. “I know that I’ve been a little…”
“Sad. It’s okay, you can say that you’re sad. It’s only been a year.”
“I’m sorry about your party.”
Tony shrugs again. “We can celebrate without a party.” He nods out at the city below them. There is a flash of light from the Mansion’s garden – a firework streaks up into the dark sky. It explodes into lights: red, white and blue. Tony grins. “Couldn’t help myself.”
Steve hears footsteps on the stairs. Clint is trailed up there by Natasha, and then Thor. Bruce looks a little less certain of why he’s there, but he still follows after. Clint smirks. “Little late for Fourth of July, isn’t it?”
The next firework bursts out with expanding circles. Clint looks at it consideringly for a half-second before reaching for his bow. The arrow explodes in the dead centre of the circles, firing more light.
Thor cheers. “I would offer my own demonstration but-.”
“-no one wants a midnight thunderstorm?” Natasha folds her arms. “I wouldn’t mind. But you’re probably right.”
Bruce asks Tony, “Are you controlling these remotely?”
“A little bit,” Tony says. “Programmed, with the possibility of remote override. But really, Jarvis is in charge.”
Steve looks at Tony. Either way, that seems like a lot of work. Although Tony doesn’t view work the way Steve knows most people seem to. Tony either cares with all of himself or barely anything at all. Steve is somewhat surprised to find himself on the 'all' side of that balance.
He blinks and when he opens his eyes, the others have gone to look over the side of the roof. It’s just Tony beside him. Tony says, “Like I said. We’re glad you’re here.”
Steve thinks about all of the times he could have woken up, and all the people who could have found him. But instead he wound up beside Howard Stark’s son, who had run an assessing eye over him and said, “I’m going to make you another suit. I’ve got the specs right here.” He had found himself beside Tony who is nothing like Steve at all, but who had looked at him these past few days and decided that he needed to be reminded of something. There is a place for Steve here, even if it’s not where he imagined he would end up. There’s something in that, but Steve is too tired to think about it right now. Another firework casts light across their faces. Steve is not glad of everything, but he’s glad of this.
Tony has started to look back out towards the fireworks. Steve bumps against his shoulder. “Just so that you know-.” Tony meets his eyes curiously and Steve smiles. “I am too.”