Peacocks
(Inspired by the song Peacocks by The Mountain Goats)
It was their cooing that woke Steve up in the first place. He always had been a light sleeper and now any unusual noise woke him from his slumber. When he glanced at the alarm clock, he saw it was nearly half six, not too long before he would have woken any way. The faint cooing persisted, and he got out of bed and pulled on some pants to investigate.
Steve loved these early mornings, time before he went back to being Captain Rogers and Tony went back to being genius billionaire philanthropist (never play boy anymore). These mornings tasted like expensive coffee and looked like sunlight and smelled like sweat and felt like love, all encompassing. A life time away from mud in water and flashes and blood and a different kind of love. He checked the bathroom to see if a pigeon had flown in through the open window. Nothing.
He wondered if he would have time to make Tony breakfast today, or if they would make it together. Tony burning eggs and tinkering with the toaster because "we eat a lot and it only makes four at a time, who thought this was efficient, where's my screw driver goddammit?" while he laughs and hides the screw driver and sets the pan to soak and pours cereal. No open windows in the kitchen either.
He didn't bother checking the lounge even though the strange sound is louder in there, because he knew he locked the door before he went to bed last night, and anyway the balcony overlooked the garden and he didn't know why he hadn't looked there first for strange bird-like noises. He stepped out onto the balcony, where later they would take their burnt eggs and toast and cereal and watch the sunrise. For now though, he looks over the edge. And stares.
He can see the causes of the cooing. Watch them preening their iridescent feathers as they strut around the garden. What he cannot do is assimilate the data. He noted, through the fog of confusion and no coffee, that there were red and white ones along with the usual blue. Just as he was going to go and shake Tony awake and demand an explanation, he heard the patio door open behind him and a long, low wolf whistle.
"Enjoying the view? I know I am."
"Tony."
"Yes darling?"
"Tony?"
"Sweetest most gorgeous guy, love of my life?"
"Tony. Why. Peacocks."
"Steve, honey bunny, I don't think I quite caught that."
"Tony, how come there are peacocks in the front yard?!"
"They're for you! Red white and blue, see? I thought you'd like them!"
"Why?"
For the first time during the entire conversation, Tony looked a little crushed. Steve immediately forced his mouth into a smile, and was well rewarded when Tony perked up minutely. Steve's smile became a lot more real as Tony went on to explain:
"Well, I'm building a zoo. The New York zoo is having a few issues with funding at the moment, and I figured I had the space, I might as well take them in for a while, until the zoo gets sorted. I've hired some of the employees to look after them. If you really don't like them, I could move them somewhere else, I guess?"
That would be unacceptable. Steve reached out and grabbed Tony by the t-shirt, pulling him close and tucking him under his chin. He could feel the arc-reactor, even through the shirt, against his chest. The blue glow was a constant reminder that he hadn't lost him yet, that he was alive and safe and buying peacocks for God sake, and how was this his life? (He could remember a time when the phrase for God sake would seem like blasphemy. Those memories are distorted with blue tinged glass now, and it numbs the pain a little.)
"I love them" he says and he does, because they are Tony and blue red and white isn't America any more, its Steve&Tony because in an America that feels like a dream and where the War which bought America together has faded into history and people don't even know what was lost and "Hitler was that guy with the moustache, right?", Tony is constant and there, a million miles ahead of everyone else and so confusion was normal and okay and he was okay and safe. Breathe. "I love you."
And Tony is soft and quiet and knows and so he replies "I love you too. I made eggs?" and Steve just has to laugh because the world may be spinning and Tony may be a genius but he cannot make eggs to save his life and thank god that Tony is always kidnapped for his brain and not his cooking skills. Because Tony is brilliant.
Steve turns Tony towards the door so he can rescue breakfast and maybe he would make pancakes today, and they could sit on the balcony and feed their breakfast to peacocks instead of pigeons today.
"How did you get a red one?"
"Genetic engineering."
"Tony…"
"Fine. Animal chalk. Perfectly washable. The white one is genetic fluke though."
"Yes. I know."