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Of Movie Nights and Misunderstandings
“What is it with you and Doctor Doom, anyway?”
Reed wished he could answer, but he couldn’t, not in a way that Tony would understand. His villains were business rivals, former associates, and other scientists bent on proving their tech superior to Stark’s. Reed’s enemies were monsters, mad scientists, and...Victor, when the Latverian ruler was in a pissy enough mood. They couldn’t be reasoned with, they couldn’t be talked down, and half of them used magic (or technology sufficiently advanced enough to appear that way). Victor especially. He was both frustratingly magically inclined and impossible to be reasoned with. Reed sighed, trying his best to stay out of the way of the volley of projectiles. That was part of the problem; he wasn’t Doom to him. He was still Victor. He looked at the imposing man in terrifying armour and still saw the confident, cocky boy he’d known in better days. Maybe that was why he still did this...thing with Doom. Victor's gaze was usually cold but his eyes were still beautiful, hidden behind his mask. Part of him relished that he was the only one to really see them.
His face was too, and his body was also quite lovely, but that was neither here nor there.
“It doesn’t matter right now!” Reed ground out. “I don’t know what he’s here for, but we have to stop him!”
Tony looked at him incredulously but he really didn't. Their fights were usually a cover to make sure no one found out that they were much more friendly behind closed doors. Something told him this one wasn't. He wracked his brain, trying to remember if he...forgot something important. One of their anniversaries, maybe. Maybe Stark was the reason Victor was so hell-bent on making his evening miserable. He'd never liked Tony, and....
“Why now? Why is Victor attacking now? With two Avengers....”
That was it, wasn't it. Victor was so smart, but so, so predictable.
Tony fired a blast at a doom bot. It probably didn't matter how Reed answered. What mattered was that there were doom bots trying to kill him, and the how and the why were variables that weren't part of the equation right now.
“Because he hates you. A lot. Didn't he shoot the Baxter Building into space once?”
“Yes. Yes he did.” That...had been an accident. That's what Victor said, at least. Reed was pretty sure that incident took place because he hadn't called on Victor's birthday and the expensive present he'd bought his mercurial lover in lieu of said call hadn't arrived at Castle Doom yet. “But he had a reason. Just like he has a reason for doing this. We just need to figure out what it is.
And his reason, knowing Victor, was probably very, very petty.
This was just perfect. Between Susan being clingy, Ben being far too observant for his own good and Johnny setting off the fire alarm six times in four days, Reed was exhausted. Victor's doom bots were almost an insult. Victor was going through the trouble to break into his home and he couldn't even be bothered to show up in person to do it. Well, he'd take the fight to Victor if that was the case. At least he went to Latveria when he had a problem with Victor, and didn't just interrupt a pleasant visit with an old friend when his feelings were hurt.
*
It was all a blur after that. Doombots, madness, and broken glass. And then Doom had the gall to try to blow up his house with his stupid robots and kidnap Susan. Again. If Victor wanted him to move in, he could stand to be less transparent about it. This was exactly the sort of thing that made Reed hesitant to pull the trigger and take that next step. Of course, now Reed had to go to Latveria to deal with the problem and rescue Susan and Janet, and he hated that Victor was getting exactly what he wanted.
“You know,” Tony said on the flight over, his words echoing in Reed's heard both literally over their comm line and metaphorically, “I think hating you is his reason. I don't think he has any other motive. I think he just wants to see you suffer.”
“That...” Reed sighed. “That makes sense.”
Not the hating part. He knew Victor didn't hate him. Reed's life would be so, so much easier if Victor hated him. However, he definitely wanted to see Reed suffer. That much was clear. Especially looking back on it now, safe and sound in what remained of his living room at the Baxter building. The note that Victor slipped into his uniform when he'd wrapped himself around him had no words, just a frowny face, and Reed wanted to scream. He'd be going back to Latervia once Tony was at home, and he'd be having words with his least favourite dictator but somehow most favourite person. Some of them would be nice.
Most of them would not be.
Probably.
Depending on what Victor was wearing when Reed finally showed up at Castle Doom.
#
Doom looked up from his very important work. He was most certainly not playing solitaire on his computer, one of the best machines of it's kind in the world. Certainly not. He wasn't so entranced in computerized card games that he didn't notice his doombots letting Reed into the castle, he was reviewing the data he'd gathered from his raid on Avengers Mansion. He didn't miss, however, Reed's footsteps as he entered his private chambers, nor his ragged angry breathing. Sighing, Victor minimized the window on screen and turned around. “Richards. So pleasant to see you here. You must have broken air traffic laws to get here so quickly.”
“Oh, shut it Victor.” Reed scoffed. His cheeks had a faint blush to them and his hands were balled into fists. “After what you pulled today....”
Victor took his mask off so Reed could see the fullness of his displeasure. “Do not presume to lecture me, peasant.”
“I told you not to call me that outside the bedroom, Victor.” Reed reminded him.
Oh. Yes. Well, even geniuses forget. So much to contain in one mind, sometimes things simply....slipped out. “Do not presume to lecture me, Richards. Doom does what Doom pleases.”
“And you don't be doing me at all unless you explain why you just bust into the Baxter Building....and Tony's house, for that matter!”
Tony. How interesting. Not Avengers Mansion. Not Stark Manor. Not even Stark's house. Tony. How....fascinating. “I do not have to explain myself to you.”
“Oh, I think you do!” Reed snapped, walking up to Victor and sticking one of his lovely, elegant fingers in Victor's face. Lovely? Elegant? Doom was more lonely than he'd previously thought. It was not his fault that Reed valued saving the world over date night, and yet he had to suffer the consequences. Doom had done nothing to deserve such a thing, and yet here he was, plagued with the thought of sucking that finger into his mouth until Reed was putty on the floor before him, and...What was he doing again? Oh right. Reed was snarling in his face and shouting. “I have friends, Victor! I have a life! You can't just burst in and start blasting every which way, and....”
“Don't you want to know what I found?” Doom asked, raising an eyebrow. That usually charmed Reed into lessening his anger.
“That Sue is a skrull?” Reed said, crossing his arms. “I've known that for months! Namorita hasn't seen her and she's been very “wifey” to me, which didn't make sense. She knows the terms of our arrangement. I cover for her, and she covers for me. When Sue suddenly forgot that....I knew something was up.”
“Oh.”
“You could have just told me, instead of interrupting me when my friend was over, and making us both look foolish!”
“You have friends, and I have Doombots!” Victor finally snapped. “I went to the trouble of forcing Disney to send me American films, for an exorbitant amount of money that Doom could absolutely afford to spend,” by patenting one of his prize inventions, but that was neither here nor there, “to play them in the theatres for my people....and for us to watch together. And you insult Doom by ignoring my text messages and going to your precious Tony's house, and....”
“Wait, wait. Stop.” Reed took a step back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You flew all the way to New York, broke into Stark Manor, tried to kidnap Susan and broke a bunch of Tony's stuff....because you were mad I didn't return your texts about date night?”
It sounded so banal when he put it like that. It was certainly more important than that. It was an insult to Doom's honour. “No!”
Reed groaned. “Victor, you know I love you, but you need to relax.”
“Doom does not know that you love him, because you won't respond to my text messages.”
“Victor....” Reed sighed. “I love you. I know you've been stressed lately, but you need to just...think before you fly off the handle.”
“Doom does NOT fly off the handle.”
“Doom most certainly does.” Reed scoffed. “You were jealous that Tony was coming over. Admit it.”
“Doom does not...”
Reed raised an eyebrow.
Victor sighed. If he wanted to make this visit pleasant, he'd have to suck up. He hated to do so, but he wanted to negotiate for a different kind of sucking later and Doom would do what he had to do. “I was envious. Tony Stark is much like Doom. Arrogant, intelligent, attractive. But unlike Doom, he fights for good, while Doom fights for Latveria. And also Doom. You fight for good. Why would you want to be with a despot when you could be with a billionaire?”
“You're only superficially like him, but you're different people. Very different people.”
That wasn't reassuring. “You could be with him in public.”
“No, I could not. For the same reason I can't be with you in public.” Reed sighed. “Sue needs me to protect her from the bigotry and backlash she'd face if she was herself, you know? I don't feel any shame about who I am, but she's just so...worried. I think she'd be fine, but that's not my business.”
“So if you weren't helping Susan....”
“I still wouldn't be with Tony, because I'm in love with you.” Reed grabbed Victor's hand and gave it a kiss, like a fairy-tale Prince. “You have nothing to be jealous of.”
Victor couldn't meet his eyes. He had shamed himself this day, and he was grateful that only his precious Reed was here to witness such weakness. “I love you too, Reed.”
“Good. Glad that's settled.” Reed cleared his throat. “I'm sorry I didn't respond to your messages, Victor. I left my phone in the negative zone and I only got it back yesterday, but by then I figured you were already either in bed watching your stories or playing solitaire.”
Victor glanced at the computer. “Well, you were in luck, because Doom does not watch stories, nor play insipid card games.”
“Oh, Vic.” Reed chuckled. “So, what were you doing instead, then?”
“Something of great importance.”
“I'm sure.” Reed stroked Victor's knuckles with his finger. “Can you spare a moment from solitaire to watch one of those movies with me, since I came all this way? Or we could just...uh....”
“We could, yes.” Victor blushed, finally looking into Reed's eyes. “Why don't we enjoy each other's company and then watch a film?”
“That sounds wonderful.” Reed smiled brightly. “Please stop interrupting my time with my friends. Just...come to the Baxter Building and see me, okay? You know you're my one and only majesty.”
“And you are my most precious peasant.” Victor said sweetly. He wasn't going to apologize for his recklessness, as Doom did NOT apologize, but he would just endeavour to be as loving as he could be in recompense.