AN: This is story is part of a series, it follows on from Of Taverns, Hot Boys and the Good Ol' Days.
So, I'm posting this now because it's ready and it's been a while since I posted anything for this series. Think of this one like a post-credits scene. It's a peek at what's to come. Enjoy...
There were holes in Tony's life. Well of course there were, his dad had told him often enough how careless and abrasive he was. Specifically though, there were two gaping great voids.
One was Pepper-shaped, after the whole disagreeing-with-Cap-over-the-Accords thing she declared she'd had enough. She hadn't signed on for epic battles and life threatening catastrophes. The only catastrophes she wanted to deal with were of the scheduling and end-of-month deadline kind. The crux of the thing was that she wanted him to change. She wanted him to be someone he wasn't and as much as he loved her that wasn't gonna happen. Iron Man was his calling, he'd finally found something that made him the man he wanted to be and giving it up wasn't an option.
So yeah, he could've changed. Could've stayed with Pepper and been miserable. Or he could do what he'd done and end it... and be miserable without her.
Miserable yeah, but not surprised. The loss of Pepper was kind of an inevitability. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd always known it was a question of when, not if. A strong, capable woman like Pepper Potts was only going to put up with his crap for so long.
There were other people though, people who he'd thought would always be there. People whose loyalty he would've bet his entire fortune on. Luckily he hadn't though because he'd be penniless now if he had. Those people were his friends. Girls came and went, he was Tony Stark for God's sake, he knew that better than anyone, but friends were supposed to be for life. Friends you had disagreements with, sure, but they didn't ask you to change. Friends were supposed to be more forgiving. Friends didn't abandon you.
He could count on one hand the number of good friends he'd had in his life. There was Rhodey who he'd met back in college. Rhodey was the first person he'd met who not only put up with his eccentricity but liked him because of it. Bruce was a pal, someone just like him who was easy to hang out with. He loved Bruce to bits but Bruce had issues of his own, he was even more messed up than Tony and boy was that saying something. Tony'd never actually tried to kill himself, Bruce had. So yeah, Bruce was awesome but unreliable.
The other person he'd really counted on (and admired, not that he'd ever tell him that) was Steve. Good ol' Captain America himself. He'd hated the guy right up until he'd met him (and for a while after that if he's being honest) but in the end he'd come to respect him. He was a different kind of friend. Cap was nothing like him, in fact they were pretty much polar opposites, but Cap challenged him, forced him to be better. He'd had to work extra hard for the other man's approval and respect. Something he'd never really had to do before. Like he said; Tony Stark, people! But because of the struggle, it had meant so much more.
Despite the inevitability of Pepper's departure (or whatever you want to call it because she lived in his tower and ran his company while he hung out at Avengers HQ) he'd expected to feel the hole she left. Before they'd become an item, she had run his life for ten years after all.
The emptiness left by Cap's absence however wasn't one he'd anticipated. Falling out with Cap shouldn't have been a massive deal, one less person to be on his case, telling him what he was screwing up and what he could do better, but he'd be damned if he didn't miss the guy. Like to the point of distraction.
He probably thought about Cap way too much, but he couldn't help going over it all, time and time again. When had it gone so bad? When had they reached the point of no return? Whose fault was it really?
They'd never exactly liked each other but they were good for each other, that was undeniable. They pushed each other and they got shit done. Brains and brawn. What a team.
He bounced back and forward on who was to blame (and then of course there was the whole Barnes issue) but maybe it was his fault. He'd signed the Accords so Pepper wouldn't leave him, when in reality she was always gonna go anyway. Cap hadn't signed because he'd believed in his actions. He'd done what he thought was right. That probably did make Cap the better man.
Asking Cap to sacrifice freedom was stupid, obviously it had been too much. This was a guy that had fought in World War II, of course asking him to compromise on his freedom wasn't gonna fly. Tony should've known that, but that was only the beginning. If Steve had been unreasonable (or not, depending on who you asked) about the Accords, he was downright unhinged when it came to Barnes. Yes, they'd known each other their whole lives, yes they'd fought side by side in a war, but some things were unforgivable, Thor could attest to that. Loki was his own brother, and still Thor had done what needed to be done when Loki needed to be stopped. Cap it seemed couldn't handle that. He had tunnel vision where Barnes was concerned and he'd torn his whole damn life, not to mention the team, apart for the sake of one broken man. He'd chosen Barnes above everything else, everyone else, and damn if that didn't sting. Tony'd kinda just assumed, after everything with Loki and the Battle of New York, and then Ultron, that he and Steve were in it together. That they were leaders and that they had each other's backs. That the battles they'd fought had bound them together unbreakably, but boy had he been wrong.
Sometimes, when he was just hanging out, mucking around with tech, coming up with new gadgets for the kid, and forgetting for a second how utterly depressing his life had become, he half expected to see Steve walk through the door and give him that exasperated yet amused look. The one Tony'd come to rely upon as his compass. If Steve was irritated then he knew he was on the right track. It never took him too long to remember the reality of the situation though. It was a dark and lonely path he walked now.
And the thing was, that if Steve had made it a clean break, maybe Tony could've moved on. But no, Cap had to go and be his perfect and noble self, and send a goddamned phone. Just in case Tony ever wanted to call. At first, he'd wanted to snatch that phone up and tell Steve exactly what he thought. About how hurt he was, how betrayed he felt, how much being lied to felt like a knife in the back and how absolutely stupid Steve was. Tell him that he and Barnes deserved each other (except that Cap would probably be positively thrilled by that) so he'd kept his mouth shut and focused on Rhodey, using his anger (because Rhodey's injury was essentially Cap's fault) to fuel his determination to see Rhodey walk again. It worked, which incidentally had set Rhodey off on a path of helping returned soldiers with similar injuries. It took up all his time. His dedication to the veterans was something he and Wilson, wherever he might be, would probably actually agree on.
Days became weeks, weeks became months and then it was just too hard. Even the lie he could forgive for a couple of reasons. One, it was a shitty thing to have to tell someone. And two, how many times had he himself needed forgiveness? He couldn't blacklist Cap for making one mistake. But too much time had passed, too much had happened, and he didn't really need Cap, not really.
That was until he reached crisis point. He knew it when he started listening to Celine Dion songs. When the Canadian diva became the soundtrack to daily life he knew it was time to act.
So Tony stopped staring at the phone (it was a wonder he hadn't stared a hole right through it), flipped it open and turned it on. There was only one contact in the address book. Capsicle. The involuntary twitch of his lip may or may not have been a smile. Was it possible Steve Rogers had a sense of humour?
His heart pounded in his chest as he hit call.
"Stark." The voice that came through the speaker was a familiar one but not the one he'd expected.
"Blondie? Wait, I thought Cap was the only one with access to this phone..."
"Steve is out of range at the moment so he's entrusted me with taking care of it. Do you require assistance?"
"Sort of..." Tony answered as Celine belted out Think Twice in the background.
"It can wait then? I'm sorry to rush you but you've caught me at an inopportune time. Steve needs help and I must get to Asgard now."
"Asgard? You weren't kidding when you said out of range." That might explain how Cap had so successfully fallen of the grid, not that Tony had been looking... "Wait, Cap's in trouble?" Instantly Tony knew what he had to do. Space travel or no space travel. It wouldn't be like last time, there was no Chitauri army waiting for him. Hopefully... "You got room for one more on your frosty rainbow space-bridge thingy?"
"How fast can you get to London?"
"I've just got one thing to grab and then I'm on my way."
AN: So yeah, I know listening to Celine Dion is a ridiculous reason for Tony to call Steve (or is it...?) but I never claimed to write anything other than crack. Really it just makes me laugh, like when I listen to Think Twice and imagine Steve and Tony being all melodramatic. Give Celine a go if you're looking for a laugh (or maybe a cry...) Thanks for reading :)