Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: ONE Glance
Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark had to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark had to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators.
It wasn't in his nature to simply say he enjoyed Cap's nature-because he didn't. When he first met him, he automatically felt attacked by his presence of...well, manliness and perfection. He was simply made that way, literally. But that didn't mean he couldn't try to be friends with him. Fuck it. Not friends. Acquantances, if you would even call it that. Either way, Tony Stark did not like him, but he was going to have to get along with him because he was his team mate in the end. They had to work together in order to accomplish anything.
Now as for Steve, with one glance, he knew Tony was only slightly like Howard, and not a good slight at that. Tony was egotistical as all hell, too smart for his own good, and way too bossy for his liking. And he also spoke in big terms that he didn't understand, just to piss him off he figured. But Steve was a good man. He wouldn't let Tony get to him so easily. He was his team mate; his partner. But by God when Tony angered him or annoyed him enough, Steve challenged his authority, trying to dumb him down much like a bully would. Now, that wasn't what he had meant to do, but it just happened.
With one glance, the men found a new life as a duo instead of just Captain America, Steve Rogers, Iron Man, or Tony Stark. They were partners for life. But they were broken toy soldiers fighting for a better cause.
Steve stepped up to Tony and gave him a smug look, looking down his nose at him. "Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony shot back, looking slightly amused, yet still shocked even.
Steve clenched his jaw tightly, seeing Tony react so defensively, yet amused. Couldn't anything shake his hope? With a quick breath, Steve shot back at the enemy. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
Oh! So Blondie wanted to play this game, did he? Well then. "I think I would just cut the wire," he twisted his mouth into a slight thoughtful form.
"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"
That had been the last straw. Steve backed down and took his seat next to Bruce Banner and clenched his fists tightly under the table. Tony was not a hero. What the hell did he do to be given the title? Given. Not having earned. Maybe he did a few good deeds, then figured he had had enough and decided to go and put up Stark Tower in the middle of New York to show off what a "good" person he was. Yeah, right.
Tony stared Steve down across the table, listening only halfly to Fury talk about God-knows-what. How was Steve a hero? Everything special about him came out of a bottle. His father helped make him! Make. He was made. That's got to be it. He wasn't a real human being. He was a broken toy soldier that no one wanted. And a liar too. He had lied about his home state many times to try and get into the army, but always turned down until he was created into a blonde Ken doll.
The meeting let out and Tony got up quickly, tossing his keys into the air and catching them with little effort, but perfectly. Great. Steve was still staring at him. "Do you have a problem, Capsicle? I can have you re-frozen until I die, then thawed out. You're just like meat. You can be frozen many times, because that means no one really needs you at the moment. That's all it is. Hero my ass. You're a liar."
Steve stood up and walked towards the door, Bruce on his tail to try and calm him down.
"Um, Cap? Please don't take it personally. Stark is this...genius-with words even. He'll make you feel like crap...well, everyone but me, but he really doesn't mean it. He's nice to Pepper Potts and Natasha at least. See? There's hope. You're a good man, Rogers. And we need you. We want you."
Aww. Bruce was a really nice guy. "Thanks, Bruce. I guess...I knew his father better than he could ever wish to have known him, and that gets to him. All I ever do is try to be a good man, but it's people like Tony Stark that makes life hard. He's so...broken. Can't you see it? I can't stand looking at him for too long. I can see the cracks through his painted on expression of-...of sarcasm and humor."
Bruce smiled slightly, nodding slightly in response to Steve describing Tony so artistically. "I guess I do see his cracks now that you explain it like that. But you can't dwell on things that make you angry. You have to learn to control it and substitute something in that makes you happy. Then, that happy feeling takes over and you just...smile."
Steve paused from walking and looked at him, nodding. "We'll see. I just couldn't stand him since I had one glance at him."