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CHAPTER 2

Steve knew it was the right thing to do and he always did the right things but somehow today everything was turning out downright wrong. First Dum Dum caused an accident then the man he tried to apologize to snapped at him and when he tried to be the reasonable one and convince him to turn off the phone they were both banned from the plane.

The man was rude and unfriendly. Steve didn't like people like him. He was probably some cold hearted businessman who destroyed orphanages and dog shelters to build profitable clubs and offices. Still, he was a human being and Steve knew that the right thing to do at the moment was to help him. They were heading in the same direction after all and the man seemed pretty desperate. From what Steve overheard his wife was expecting a child and he wanted to be there for her and... It was definitely the right thing to do. Steve would do it for the baby.

Definitely NOT for this rude person!

Tony was awfully quiet. He was constantly fiddling with his phone but didn't talk to Steve. The problem was that Steve was a rather friendly person. He liked people, he liked to talk to them and befriend them.

This actually looked like a challenge.

"Tony... When is the due date?"

"Tomorrow. Now look, we have 2 765 miles ahead of us. It's about 42 hours in a car. Try not to speak and I'll try not to kill you. It's almost 11 am. Our first stop will be around four pm, somewhere in Arizona. There we switch. If we do that every five hours we can go on without stop for the night and be there on time."

"Umm... alright. We can try, but are you sure we should? I mean, I have some money. We can rent a room on the way, bath and get some real sleep."

"I don't have any clean clothes anyway."

"Right... So, no stop. What were you doing in San Diego?"

"Business." He shuddered thinking of Phil being an insensitive asshole and asking him to go to San Diego while Pepper was about to delivery. Bastard.

"Okay... Do you often travel for business? Because we're both on the 'no fly' list now."

Tony's head slowly turned to look at the man behind wheel. Steve shivered from the icy glare but shrugged it off and patiently waited for an actual verbal answer.

"Yes, I travel very often, but luckily I never use the public planes! Now, I think you can see why! Things like that doesn't happen when you have your own plane."

"You have your own plane?!"

With the excited tone the soldier seemed even younger and Tony could feel the tugging of his lips, tempting him to smile.

"Yes... As I said I travel a lot. But someone, whose ass I'm going to kick when I get back, forgot to fill in some papers or get some document, I don't know... My plane is out of order until tomorrow and I have to get to New York and be there when the little Howard is born."

"You're going to name him Howard?"

Tony was looking at Steve curiously for a long moment and Steve fidgeted not knowing what the intimidating man was expecting.

"No, I was just trying the name out. It sounds horrible, just as I thought."

"Why don't you just call him Anthony, after you?"

Tony snorted amused, and suddenly Steve couldn't help but smile too.

"Pepper would NEVER agree to that. I think one Tony is a handful enough for her to deal with."

Steve felt warm. It was nice to have someone to talk to. He didn't want to be alone on this trip. It was hard and Bucky couldn't go. He didn't get the leave from his unit... So even if Tony wasn't the best companion he was the only one Steve had, so he would go with it. Maybe the man wasn't actually all that bad. Maybe he was just stressed because of the whole baby situation and unexpected troubles with his private plane.

"So... Steve... Why are you going to New York?"

"For my mother's funeral."

"Oh..." THAT's why Tony didn't want to ask! He wasn't good with stuff like this. He never knew what to say or do in situations like this one. It was just not his thing.

"Sorry..." Was that good enough?

"Me too. She was all I had in this world... But I knew she was sick so I was... kind of... ready for this. I mean, as much as you can prepare yourself for your mother's death."

Now Tony could ask some more questions to start a conversation and maybe learn something about the younger man. He could ask about his father, or ask if he had any siblings, family, wife, or whatever. But of course he didn't ask, because he simply didn't care. This man was just a bump on the road that was supposed to bring him to his first godson.

"Do you have parents, Tony?"

Ok, now Tony regretted that he didn't do the asking because this was even worse.

"No." Tony turned his face to the window. That should do.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to touch the sensitive subjects. I really-"

"It's NOT a sensitive subject. There is no sensitive subjects for me. It's just a fact. I don't have parent's. That's it. You don't have to pretend you're sorry. Even I'm not sorry anymore. And it's not your fault. It's nobody's fault and it was long time ago, so chill."

"I understand that you don't want to talk about it. It's hard to deal with your parents' death. My father died when I was eight so my mother practically raised me alone. But I still remember my father. He was a great man. He took me to baseball games and loved my mother very much."

Tony wanted to cry or punch something, preferably the big blond soldier currently boring him to death! What kind of person talks about things like that with a stranger? Was this guy for real?

"Look, Steve, can we change the subject? Or just stay silent for a moment?"

"I'm sorry. Of course, you don't want to talk about the family you've lost. I didn't mean to hurt y-"

"Fuck, man! It's NOT a sensitive subject! I don't have problem with talking about my father! So why don't you shut up for a moment?"

Steve closed his mouth. He blew his chance to make friends with Tony. He should have known. The man wasn't the most open person and obviously HAD some issues with his parents, or at the very least with his father, so Steve would leave it for now.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Tony rubbed his temples. How bad would it be to throw a murder to the list of his crimes for the day?

"No." Short answers, pissed tone and a glare should scare him off.

"I don't have any sibling either. Only Bucky. He's like a brother to me. We know each other since forever and we were always best friends. He often help me when other guys were beating me..."

Ok, that was interesting.

"You? I thought you were the one beating the shit out of the nerds. I mean... you're huge!"

Steve chuckled softly.

"Yea, I guess I am now. But at school I was really small and sickly. So I took a lot of beatings. Sometimes Bucky was there to help me, other times not. I learned how to box, but I was too scrawny to make it work."

"You should probably train how to run faster!"

"That's what Bucky was always saying! But he knew I would never run away."

"Why? You like pain? Kinky!" Tony raised an amused brow and then smiled in delight seeing the blush spreading on Steve's young face.

"No. It's just that... If you do it once, you'll never stop. You will always run. I didn't want to run away from troubles. I needed to fight them to be stronger. That's the right thing to do."

"You're just really naive, aren't you, Steve?" And by naïve Tony kind of meant stupid, but whatever.

"You can call it whatever you want. I don't care. I'm not ashamed of who I am."

Tony only rolled his eyes.

"And who are you, really? You kill people."

"To serve the country."

"Yea, this country loves those who like to kill."

"I don't like to kill. I just don't like bullies."

"Oh really? Aren't you the one yourself now?"

"You know nothing about me, Tony."

"And I would be more than happy if it stayed that way!"

"...FINE!"

"Fine!"

Guess they just would do best if they didn't talk.

...

"Tash, I need you. They're getting closer and I still have some cleaning up to do."

...

Few hours of, not really awkward but certainly incredibly boring, silence passed since their banter. Tony wouldn't admit it out loud but he wanted to talk some more. He liked to talk in general. For him talking was like breathing! He would call Pepper but it looked like she turned off her phone for some reason. He was trapped.

"You know... I worked for the army for many years and I'm too well aware of their ways, to respect their goals. It wasn't personal. I didn't mean to piss you off..."

"Apology accepted! You worked for the army? How?"

"I did NOT apologize!"

"Ok, so what were you doing for the army?"

"I was... making weapon and other stuff..."

"And you reproached me on killing?"

"I didn't use my weapon, just sell it."

"Wow, and I thought you're just an ordinary businessman."

"I'm anything but ordinary, Steve."

The soldier looked at the older man. When he had first seen him he felt intimidated and had some weird second thoughts about approaching the man. Not just because he looked really busy and unapproachable, but because he immediately stirred attraction in Steve. The man was handsome and elegant, probably very rich, heartless, cynical... Steve didn't like to deal with this kind of people. Especially when they looked like that. Tony really was extraordinary and he was apparently very well aware of that fact about himself. He was so self assured and bold. Normally Steve didn't like that in people but this time it kind of impressed him. If he had ten percent of this man's poise...

They stopped for something to eat. They were right on Tony's schedule. The bar didn't look half bad and the aroma in the place made their stomachs roar with need. Tony ordered some spaghetti and Steve classic dinner, some fish with mashed potatoes and salad.

"I need to go. I'll be right back."

Tony stood up and went to look for a bathroom. It turned out to be outside, so he left through the back door.

"Hey you!"

Tony turned around and felt pain in his guts from the huge fist that was boring into his stomach.

"Yea, that's it. Be quiet, TONY STARK! It's you, right? I saw you on TV billion times. Let's see what you got on you?"

The man tried to search Tony's pockets but the billionaire wasn't weak, by any means. He hit the man in the jaw and turned around to kick him, when someone grabbed him behind and restrained.

"Hold him Bob! This fucker hit me!"

The first one was bleeding pretty badly from his mouth. Tony didn't wait and head butted the one who was holding him.

"Fucking shit! My nose! I'll kill this fucker!"

Tony was free for all three seconds before another guy caught him. Ok, that was just too much. Few more guys appeared from between the buildings.

"Hey! You! Let him go!"

"Steve... Don't come here!" Luckily Steve didn't listen to Tony. He was beside Tony in a blink of an eye and about the moment he appeared the bad guys were all crawling in dirt at their feet.

That was so cool.

"Tony, are you alright?"

"Yea man, thanks."

"Three on one, but you were still standing. Nice job!"

Steve clapped Tony's shoulder but his hand seemed reluctant to leave the shorter man's body just yet, so he squeezed his shoulder tighter and smiled.

"You weren't half bad either. You do Pilates or something? It looked impressive..."

"I don't even know what that is..."

Steve's hand rose up and brushed Tony's bruised cheek. It hurt like a bitch but it was still fun to have a fight in some dark alley. It was refreshing! They were smiling like idiots at each other and neither moved for some time until people on the ground reminded them that they were not alone. There were five of them. Shouldn't there be at least seven?

"Fucking faggots..."

Tony kicked the one who didn't know when to shut up and then he disappeared in the toilette. When he came out Steve was still there, waiting for him, and the robbers were long gone. Maybe the soldier boy wasn't all that bad after all... And the scene of him levelling all those guys in few great moves will surely stay with Tony for long.

TBC.