Tony Stark cradled the phone by his ear. His neck was bent to keep it there and he was having fleeting notions about making a monitor that tilted sideways so he could read the text that was scrolling down his office computer screen a little easier.
He smiled.
"Steve, I know you're upstairs. You could come down here and we could talk just as well. Better even." Tony offered, opening another file on his desktop.
"I don't want to smother you. I'm not hovering." Was the other man's response.
Tony's smile widened. "I meant 'hovering' as a term of endearment. If I'd known it'd be reason enough for a self inflicted restraining order I'd have used different terminology."
"I'm just glad you're back at work. Everything seems to be settling down. Even the Illanians and the Skrull have been quiet lately."
Tony's eyes ran along the text he was reading. "Why did you have to say that? Didn't Peter teach you the rules? He taught me the rules. It's the same as saying 'I'll be right back.' or 'What's the worst that could happen?' It's asking for trouble."
"I'll keep that in mind." Tony could imagine Steve shaking his head.
"Sure… It has been forgiving lately though. We'll have to take full advantage." Tony started typing on his keyboard.
"And we're fresh out of science conventions." Steve replied in a sarcastic tone.
"For once I wasn't thinking about science. Though last Sunday was amazing. Thank you again for that."
"I would say anytime but that place scared me."
"Graviton arrays and particle accelerators aren't scary. They're breath-taking." Tony said, pausing from his work and swiveling his chair left and right.
"Fusion. Fission. It's all the same to me."
"Remind me not to let you near Hank's lab again." Tony pointed out, moving the phone to his other ear. "Though I don't understand why you had to yell at that one Professor."
Cap grunted before answering. "He was smoking."
"A pipe. It was very distinguished."
"In front of you and the baby." Cap continued.
"I think you made him cry."
"I have no real problem with that."
Tony smirked. "So does that mean when Logan finally comes back from his trip, he can't stay in the Tower anymore?"
"That's correct." Steve replied instantly.
"I'm sure that'll go over well." Tony moved back to his computer and opened another data file.
"So what were you thinking about if not science?" Cap asked, his tone of voice making clear what he was thinking about.
"And for once I wasn't thinking about that either."
"No?"
Tony paused in his work again. "I was thinking about telling everyone. Everything."
"Really?" Cap asked, the excitement in his voice evident. Tony knew Steve had only been waiting for him to be ready. Tony wasn't sure if that day would ever actually come, but he'd have to tell them all eventually so…
"No time like the present, considering I can't button half my jeans. And maybe it'll keep Hank from having a stroke… and you from hovering."
"I don't hover. I protect things." Steve stated defensively.
"Right, and you don't sulk you just brood emphatically."
"You're lucky I find your banter endearing."
"Someone has to."
A red light activated near Tony's intercom system signifying his next appointment had arrived.
"Hmm, gotta go. Meeting time." Tony informed Steve.
"Okay. Don't forget we're going over to the HUB in an hour." Tony could almost hear the panic rising in Steve's voice as the blond wouldn't be in direct contact with him for that long.
"Yeah. No problem. Especially since it's Reed. I doubt he knows what day it is, let alone when he has appointments." Tony admonished.
"Take care of yourself!" Was his fiancé's response.
"Bye Steve." Tony hung up the phone.
His next engagement opened the door without waiting to be formally announced. The man looked him over and then eyed him scornfully. "You makin' every day casual Friday now?" He asked.
Tony looked down at the clothes he was wearing. Oversized t-shirts and sweatpants rarely did wonders for bettering suave sharp executive fashion.
He looked back up at the man in his doorway. "Glad you could get over here on such short notice."
James Rhodes pursed his lips.
"What short notice? You told me yesterday. That's like the longest warning of anything you've given me in years. Remember when Mrs. A called me in a panic to fill in for you at the board of director's meeting?" Rhodey asked, a certain acidic tone to his voice.
"That was three weeks ago." Tony replied.
"Yeah, well the scorch marks in my best suit aren't making themselves go away." He crossed his arms from his stance against the doorframe.
"Scorch marks, Rhodey?" Tony leaned back in his chair.
"Hey, I had to make it here from L.A. and I don't know anything faster then the armor."
"Your best suit Rhodey?" Tony raised a hand to his chin.
"My only suit."
Tony rocked forward in his chair, unable to hide his smile any longer. "Will you sit the hell down? People are going to start taking you seriously." Rhodey smiled back and took a seat in Stark's office, closing the door behind him.
"They should be taking me seriously! And you too." Rhodey grabbed a PDA off of a large stack of papers on Tony's desk. "You plannin' on another vacation Chief? And just when I'd thought I'd escaped this executive soul-sucking crap."
Tony all but rolled his eyes. "It was not a vacation. It was complicated." He moved his hands to his desk, interlacing his fingers. "And I really appreciate you coming to help me out like you did."
"All you gotta do is ask." The other man replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, so I have to ask again."
Rhodey stopped going through the PDA and met Tony's eye. "Everything alright with you? We never got a chance to really talk before I went back to Los Angeles."
"Hm, that was my fault. But I'm good. I've just been going over my calendar and I need you to fill in for a few things."
Rhodey narrowed his gaze. "Like what?"
Tony looked to the file on his desk. "Namely armor field tests for the military, and training runs for SHIELD. Plus I'm going to need you to drive in the Monticello Motor Club charity race for me this year. I was going to just donate the money but it would look better if I at least got a replacement. And--"
"Where are you gonna be?" Rhodey interrupted him.
Tony looked up from the events he had highlighted.
"I'll be here. Making sure Stark Industries doesn't go the way of Stark-Fujikawa… or SWORD."
Rhodey just looked at him. The sting of knowing Tony was keeping something big from him was beginning to show clearly on his face.
"You wanna tell me something so just tell me. You could've asked me for all of this over the phone. But you wanted me here." Rhodey settled forward in his chair. "I'm here."
Tony grinned. It looked more like a grimace. Then he chuckled softly.
"And here I thought I could stall for at least ten more minutes." He shook his head. "You're never going to believe me."
Rhodes sat back in his chair. "Last time you said that to me, a technological internet anomaly had high-jacked your brain and got you drunk while hitting on interns. Come on Tony!" Rhodey smiled, leaning forward once again, resting his elbows on his knees. "I know the crazy life you lead! Time travel, alternate dimensions, magic rings--"
"I'm pregnant."
Jim paused, his hands still out in front of him.
"And I really didn't see that one coming…" Rhodey said after a while, fixed in his movements.
"Me neither." Tony acknowledged.
The man rested his chin on his hand, his fingers covering his mouth. He sighed. Tony took it as a good sign that he hadn't jumped out of the window by now.
"How did that happen exactly?" Jim asked finally, giving Tony another glance-over.
Tony ran things over in his mind, trying to come up with the best way to explain it to his friend.
"Remember when Ultron hacked into Extremis and--?"
"Oh yeah." Rhodey laughed in what was almost decisively a cackle. Suddenly a look of horror came to his eyes. "Damn, she didn't do it with anyone while in your body, did she?"
Tony immediately shook his head. "No!" He replied, though the thought of that happening had never even been entertained as a possibility. "It's more leftover… kind of."
"Oh okay." Rhodey paused. "What?"
"Never mind." Tony stated quickly.
"Is this why you needed a vacation?"
"It wasn't a--" Tony sighed. "That was… complicated. Apparently Extremis was afraid I'd reject the baby and was keeping it hidden from me. There was an error loop-- Whatever… Apparently, I had an issue with being pregnant." Tony held his breath apprehensively, though the panic over telling Rhodey had somewhat subsided.
"Yeah well… men don't usually do that sort of thing."
"Not usually." Tony agreed, looking up at Rhodey. He was still eyeing him in an odd way.
"You're taking this a lot better then I did." Tony had to admit. "And Cap for that matter."
"Cap huh?"
Tony felt a wave of annoyance shoot through him. "Don't do that. Seriously?"
"No it's fine Chief. You can do whatever you want." Rhodes looked away.
"Rhodey…" But Tony knew there wouldn't be much changing Rhodey's stance on Cap at the moment. They had always gotten along in the past but Rhodey was convinced that a lot of the things that had occurred during the Civil War, and its subsequent ramifications on the Skrull Invasion, would have never happened if Cap had been open to seeing both sides of the issue. Of course hind sight was 20/20 but Rhodey vented that it went all the way back to the armor wars they had fought together.
The only thing Tony knew was that Cap and Jim were both equally stubborn.
"He only thinks about his side of things, and he always thinks he's right." Rhodey stated quietly, as though to himself.
"Are you talking about me or Steve?"
"You weren't—I'm not defending you to yourself Tony." Rhodes shot him look.
"I wouldn't ask you to. I just want you to be okay with who--"
"Who you're sleeping with? It's none of my business."
"Who I'm going to marry." Tony finished.
Rhodey's face withdrew in surprise. "What the hell is this? Give Rhodes a heart attack day?"
"I hope not. Those are never fun." Tony joked, a serious expression on his face.
Rhodey's face was in his hands. "Wow, okay, I might need a minute."
"I could just email you the list of things?" Tony suggested sardonically, lifting the events planner for Rhodey to see, waving his hand like it was no big deal.
"Sounds good." Rhodey replied breathlessly. He didn't look up.
Tony gave the other man a minute to process things. Maybe saying everything all at once hadn't been the best of ideas, but it had seemed important to do. There had been plenty of other secrets Tony had wished he'd told Rhodey before they had blown up in his face. Rhodey was an honorable man who honestly cared for him. It wasn't something Tony necessarily understood but he was grateful for it. Tony knew he didn't give himself as much as he should to his friends. And if anything, Steve had taught him that if he allowed himself to open up, not everyone was going to spit in his face, call him weak and leave him behind. Tony felt he should give as good a man as James Rhodes the same benefit of the doubt.
Rhodey looked up at him and finally shrugged his shoulders. "Well, congratulations man. That's… crazy."
And it really was.
"So you get why you have to handle the drag racing and commando missions for a while?"
Rhodey closed his eyes for a second, now fully aware of why Tony Stark would not be in the armor.
"Yeah." Then his own shock gave way to a softness that Tony rarely saw in his friend.
"Anything you need Tony. The offer always stands." Then Rhodey's face grew animated. "What did Pepper say?"
Tony looked away apprehensively. "I haven't told her." He admitted. "I mean she knows about Cap and getting married and was more then a little pissed that you two are sharing the role of best man but--"
Rhodey wore a big grin on his face. "Best man huh?"
"I haven't told her about the baby." Tony finished. "It's... a difficult topic with her. You're the first person I've told other than Steve. The first person I've told other than Steve, intentionally." He corrected.
Rhodey caught on quickly. "So that'll be a fun Avengers meeting."
"I was thinking about leaving a note." Tony admitted, grimacing slightly and bringing a finger up to rub absently at his temple.
Rhodey shook his head. "Damn, how do you feel man?"
"Like a seahorse." Tony stated irreverently.
Rhodey laughed. "That's a fair assessment… But you said this was caused by Ultron?"
"Oh, that." No one ever let that part slide…
Tony leaned his elbows on his desk and rested his head upon his hands. "Hence weekly visits by the brain trust. Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and the Beast all here to make sure we don't go evil."
"That's a possibility?" Rhodey looked mildly concerned.
"All signs mostly point to no. It's more an exploration of something "fascinating" and "unprecedented"." Tony said with air quotes. "Plus how could a baby with Steve Rogers' genetic make-up possibly go evil?"
"Yeah cuz the man is rainbows personified." Rhodey stated dryly.
"Aww, don't be jealous kitten." Tony winked.
Rhodey glared at him, then his features mellowed.
"In all seriousness Tony, you alright?"
Tony Stark was surprised to find himself smiling.
"Yeah, yeah I am. This is all at once and it's scary but like you said I live a crazy life… And I'm going to be okay." Tony paused. "I am." Tony tilted his head in thought at what that statement truly meant to him. "He makes me happy and this baby… makes me happy."
Rhodey nodded slowly. "I guess there's nothin' else you can really ask for."
Tony soaked that knowledge in, wanting to accept it wholeheartedly. His chest felt a little lighter.
Then he grinned.
"Except for pants that fit." Tony countered, picking up a pen from his desk and twirling it in his fingers.
James Rhodes sat back in his chair. His face looked like his brain had finally caught up with reality. "So, how pregnant are you?" The word had quotations around it.
"All the way." Tony replied snidely.
Rhodey didn't look amused. "You know what I mean."
Tony's hand fell to his stomach, he looked down. "Guesstimation puts it at 14… 15 weeks."
The room was silent and then, "Take it off."
"Excuse me?" Tony looked over at Rhodey in surprise.
"Tony Stark tells me he's pregnant and he doesn't expect me to want to see? Take off your shirt."
Tony's eyes settled into a glower. "We have sexual harassment seminars that I know I've sent you to."
Rhodey folded his arms. "You used to strip in front of me all the time."
"Yeah," Tony exclaimed. "In an attempt to get you to take your shirt off."
"Oh… trust me… I know. After five years of you doing that I figured it out."
Tony laughed, searching the other man's dark brown eyes pensively. Finally he stood by his desk. He looked down at the old MIT shirt that had been given to him in a gift basket at a ten year reunion. He'd never worn it before last week. "Alright." He said, lifting his shirt hesitantly. "What do I look like?"
Rhodey eyed him for a second. "You look like Tony. But more..." Rhodey made a hand motion that caused Tony to raise an eyebrow. "More convex." Rhodey finally opted to say.
"Did you just say I have a baby bump?"
Rhodey's face went blank. "I'm not touching that one… but you don't look pregnant."
Tony smoothed his shirt out and sat back down. "Sorry to disappoint. Come back in a couple of months."
Rhodey managed to grin. "Tony… This is big." He looked over at his friend. "So, thank you… for trusting me with this."
Tony rung his fingers through his hair. He fought to get the guilty look off his face.
"I trust you Rhodey. I've always trusted you; I'm just no good at showing it." He shook his head. "But I'm working on things. Steve really helps." Tony stated, before he realized he'd said it out loud.
To his credit, Jim only nodded. "Okay." Rhodey allowed. "I guess if he got you to stop hitting on me he can't be that bad."
"That's the spirit." Tony said, smiling again.
------------------------------
"Reed, what's going on with the Avengers?" Sue Richards stood sternly, blocking her husband's path. "I know you were called up by Steve a while back for Tony, but now he's going to see you at work?"
Reed felt a certain hesitation build up inside his chest. He avoided her gaze as he realized she wasn't going to move until he told her the situation. Well, if he really wanted to he could easily stretch past her, but the problem with that was that she knew where he slept.
"Sue, it's more fascinating than anything. You know how it is for me to be working on all of this Skrull-tech for SHIELD. This thing with the Avengers is a… unique distraction from all of that."
Her leer lasted only a fraction of a second longer, and then Sue smiled at him; she was easily the most beautiful woman in the world.
"As long as everyone is ok?" She asked.
Reed nodded.
"Great! Well, since you're going in to work on an easy day you have no excuse for not taking the kids with you." Reed opened his mouth to protest.
"I told you," Sue continued, putting a finger to his lips. "in case you don't remember, I have plans, and Ben is with Alicia and Johnny is at the studio. And you already said yes." Sue kissed him before turning around and literally disappearing.
She hadn't even waited for an answer... and she had switched keys with him during their kiss!
Beautiful and cunning.
Reed eyed the keys to Sue's car. The car that had the child seat in it…
"I guess, I should get the kids ready." He said, a look of astonishment still on his face. "Tony and Steve shouldn't mind... it'll be good practice." Reed continued, talking mostly to himself, and partly to Franklin's goldfish located on the table near his bedroom. He moved around in their moderately sized temporary apartment, squeezing past unpacked boxes and went to wake Valeria up from her nap.
-------------------------
Steve Rogers and Tony Stark walked into the main lobby of the Baxter Building's temporary replacement, also known as the HUB. They were right on time despite the traffic they'd encountered and the slightly wrong direction Tony had gotten their car into.
Reed's new workplace hadn't been exactly where they thought it would be. Steve had suggested they stop to ask for directions. Tony had responded with Happy would've been able to find it. Steve had left it at that.
As long as Tony was driving safely, Cap didn't contend with the fact that there had been a silent agreement that Tony Stark would never again hire another driver.
While Tony went to speak with the woman at reception, Steve eyed the building. It was white metal and clear glass. Perfectly up to code with unoriginal technological chic.
"Reed's not here yet." Tony said, returning to Cap's side. "Do you wanna check out the magazines in the non-existent waiting room?"
"Uh, ok?"
Steve followed Tony to the far end of the main reception area. They both decided to lean against the wall.
Steve looked to his surroundings. There was nothing living inside of this place. No trees or shrubs, not even a fish tank… just the people, who looked half dead themselves.
He didn't like it here, and with the way his lover was eyeing the lights above them Steve could tell Tony didn't like it either. It was a place of hard science, technological advances with none of the care and love and desperate joy for exploration Tony placed in to every single one of his inventions. This was a place where people were forced to produce advancements instead of being able to swim ashore with treasures they had found.
Cap hoped Reed was doing okay.
"Thanks for coming with me." Tony stated softly, folding his arms across himself.
Steve turned to face him. "Of course I came Tony. I'm coming to every one I can!" He answered truthfully.
He'd been to two by Hank and one by Beast thus far.
It mostly consisted of him sitting next to Tony in a lab not comprehending monitors that were full of what Tony insisted wasn't binary code but Steve still figured probably was, while Tony worked on something SHIELD had assigned him.
Well, except for the Beast appointment… that had consisted of much more hugging then Steve was comfortable with and assertions by Beast that Tony at least play cards with Cap while Henry completed the scans.
"I know. It's just something I had to say." Tony responded.
Cap rubbed the back of his neck before placing an arm around Tony's shoulders.
"Alright then, for what it's worth, you're welcome."
"I told Rhodey." Tony admitted quietly.
Cap tightened his grip on the other man. "How'd it go?"
"It went well. Great actually."
Steve sighed, relieved. "See, I told you."
"That you did."
"I told Sam." Steve offered in return. "He's really excited for us. Redwing might have suffered a nervous break down but… Sam's really excited."
Tony's face softened. He smiled faintly. "I'm afraid to tell the Avengers… and everyone else."
Steve studied his lover's expression, trying to understand. "Because it makes this all real?"
Tony shook his head. "I know it's real, but it's… if I can keep it a secret I can protect it better. If it's a secret, nothing can hurt it." He whispered.
"I've been told I have trust issues." Tony laughed. He sounded exhausted.
Cap's thumb smoothed across the fabric of Tony's shirt. His mind fell back to when Tony had held on so desperately to his secret identity. It had recently become a theory of Steve's that Tony hadn't wanted to keep his identity a secret in so much as he didn't want people to realize that behind the superheroic persona of Iron Man, a flawed man stood trying to distance himself from his mistakes.
Tony might act as though he had trust issues, but Cap had never truly believed it. The man had been taught to hide his problems, and that had somehow been interpreted in Tony's mind that he should hide himself to protect those around him. Or even worse things would happen.
"You won't hurt the baby Tony. And no one is going to think you will." Steve replied gently.
His fiancé's breath staggered. It wasn't quite a sob. Tony looked up at Cap through tired steel blue eyes. "You're not allowed to understand me like that."
"Sorry." Cap responded. He wasn't sorry. "We're not in a rush to tell anyone." He smiled. "Don't think you have to until you're ready. I'm just glad you told me." Cap pulled him closer.
"I'm glad you're glad." Tony said finally, leaning further into Steve's embrace. Then he straightened suddenly, composing himself. "Reed's here." Tony said. Then he tilted his head. "Oh look… he brought the children."
-------------------------------------
Reed Richards would never again complain to Sue about the amount of time it took to get everything prepared to travel with their children. There were so many things in his hands that it looked like he was taking a week long trip rather then a one day work walk-in with the Avengers. Reed shifted his hold on Valeria as the security doorman to the HUB deftly avoided getting hit with a bag full of toys.
He walked up to the main desk in reception. Franklin strolled in after a minute, waving at the man who had opened the door for him.
"Do you need your lab space today Dr. Richards?" The auburn-haired associate asked him as he neared.
"Yes and--"
"Uncle Tony!" Reed heard his son shout out as the boy ran over to the far end of the lobby.
"Unca Tooney!" Valeria mimicked from Reed's arms.
"And guests." Reed finished as Franklin returned to his side with Steve and Tony in tow. He placed Valeria on the ground, as she was squirming in his arms, and she toddled over to the two men and her brother.
Tony dispensed a hug and Steve stooped down as well.
"Sue had plans and the others were busy. I forgot." Reed took the guest badges the receptionist handed him and passed one over to Tony, and stretched his arm longer to hand one down to Steve, who was still crouched on the ground. "Is it three already?"
"Close enough." Tony answered. "Whada'ya say we get this over with and then go and do something fun." Tony said spinning to wink at Franklin and Valeria.
Franklin smiled back. Valeria was examining Steve's chin.
Tony smiled. "Actually, Steve, would you mind--" Tony motioned to the two children. "Just so Reed can do all this faster?"
"Oh! Yes, would you mind?" Reed agreed, not taking his eyes from Tony Stark.
----
"Of course not." Steve replied, looking around at the various things Reed had brought with him. He eyed Tony pensively.
Tony grinned in return. "I'm fine. And I promise we'll fill you in when we're done. Just like always."
"Ok." Cap responded, seemingly satisfied with that response. He faced Reed. "Can we go to the park?"
Reed Richards had already started scanning Tony with some remote device. It was currently whirring and shining yellow lights at Tony's neck. "Hey Reed?" Tony said with dry amusement. "Can your kids leave the building?"
The scientist looked up from his device. He glanced at Tony for a second before looking over at Steve. "Certainly." He finally retorted.
"Great!" Cap replied.
"Great." Tony mimicked. "Did you want to do this in your… lab? Reed?" Tony asked irreverently, looking at the people in the lobby. No one seemed to notice Dr. Richard's antics.
"Lab. Sure." Reed acknowledged. "Have a great time kids." He said before leading the way.
Tony caught Steve's eye and smiled before following Mr. Fantastic and his brain.
Steve, with a put upon expression, turned back to the children.
"So, Franklin. Do you play catch?" He asked, scooping Valeria into his arms.
"Sure. Dad and I made this great interface for it!" Franklin replied with a smile.
"Cats!" Valeria added, twiddling Steve's ears with her fingers.
"Then we are off to play it, properly." Steve stated heroically, grabbing as much as of their things as he could with his other arm and heading toward the front door.
---------------------------------------------------
Tony followed Reed past security into the depths of the building called HUB.
It seemed to take forever for them to get to Richards' section of the building. Four safety check-points later, Tony finally looked around Mr. Fantastic's new lab. It was extremely different from his own garage, but that had always been the case. In Tony's workspace everything had form and foreseeable function. Not so with Reed's creations. Tony couldn't exactly decipher what precise or theoretical purpose all of the things he saw could have.
Tony scratched his goatee absently.
He should have brought something to work on with him. Now he was going to be bored for how ever long this took. It was the first time Reed had had a clearing in his schedule however, and he did have a unique perspective that Tony wanted to have looking at this thing.
Tony had suggested that Reed just be a consultant if they were to need him eventually, but Reed had insisted that he be more involved for some reason. It was far from Tony Stark to argue with the savior of human kind.
And with all of the government contracts and such Reed had been busy with; it wouldn't have been fair to ask the man to come to the Tower.
So Tony Stark fully expected to be bored as he looked about the lab at all the Skrull related assignments Reed was working on; he wished Extremis could work just for fun.
He missed the machinery in his head.
"How's everything with the Avengers?" Reed asked, pointing to a chair for Tony to sit down in. Tony eyed him for a second. He hadn't expected Reed Richards to start making small talk.
"Ah, fine. We're getting a lot accomplished. I didn't expect that so soon after SI was back up and running." Tony sat, the chair's material instantly sticking to his skin. Great. "So how do you like it here?" Tony asked in return, gesturing toward the lab.
"It's not the Baxter Building." Was all the other man would say.
Stark nodded, eying the lab again.
Tony found a camera in the corner of the room. He wondered if it had audio as well as video. Again he wished he could access Extremis.
"Nick Fury's gonna find out about this thing isn't he?" Tony nodded toward the camera.
"If he doesn't already know…" Reed retorted, looking oddly at the device in his hand.
Tony thought about that for a second, then decided he'd just worry about it later.
"The kids seem great. How's Sue and Johnny? And Ben…" Tony asked lightheartedly, wishing there was a window in the place to escape out of. The artificial lights above him were beginning to give him a headache.
"Everyone's good. I think we're all just happy to be together again. Be a family." Reed stretched his arm past Tony to grab at a device that looked identical to the one in his hand.
"Something wrong?" Tony asked him, leaning to his left to look at both devices in turn.
"I'm not sure. I thought it was just this bio-registrar, but now they're both acting up." Reed replied.
"Let me take a look." Tony took one of the devices and spun it to face him. The little monitor was flickering on and off.
Tony sighed. "It's nothing. Electronics act weird around me." He conceded.
"Really?"
Tony nodded in reply and leaned back in his chair. "There's sort of a pattern. It only acts up if I haven't been around that type of device before, if it's new to me. Well… new to me since the baby." Tony handed the compact scanner back to Mr. Fantastic. "It doesn't affect my phone or my electric shaver anymore. In fact it usually loses interest in anything that doesn't perform complex actions… It likes to mess with computers a lot."
Reed placed the device down on the table that sat between them. "And by it you mean..?"
Tony considered that for a second. "Extremis." He answered. "But just give it a minute, the malfunctioning will stop. It doesn't even affect the scanner in the garage or the one in Hank's lab anymore."
"Fair enough." Reed stretched his arm past the table and withdrew written documentation from a stack of seemingly identical papers. "What insights can you give me from Pym's reports then?"
Tony shook his head. "I haven't been reading them." He admitted.
Reed responded with a genuine look of surprise. And it was surprising, even to Tony. Usually he'd be all over something of that nature. He'd had plenty of times when his own body had betrayed him. He'd hated it and had tried to do everything in his power to rectify the situation.
Tony liked to feel in control of things, and the more knowledge you had about something the better you could understand it. But every time he reached his hand out to read the actual reports Hank or Beast gave him, anything that wasn't the spark-notes run down version they told Steve, he couldn't touch it.
It was just too big for him.
"I honestly can't tell you why." Tony lied.
Reed considered that before crossing his arms. "You probably understand all of the intricacies of the reports better then I do. Better then any of us."
Tony nodded. "That may be a part of the problem. If I find something... wrong that I can't change, that'd be like--" Tony paused to think. That'd be like going off to boarding school, his heart condition, his alcoholism, the SHRA, the Skrull invasion, Steve dying… "That'd be like a lot of things." Then he smiled. "It's not like you can trust my word on the matter anyway. Ultron's kind of notorious for mind control. Better for you and Hank and Beast to take care of it."
Reed's expression grew concerned. "You seem to be taking that possibility rather well." He stated, perplexed.
"What? Mind control? I eat mind control for breakfast." Tony stated with mock enthusiasm, the pain in his voice perfectly masked.
Silence fell between them.
"How are all of your projects going here?" Tony asked finally.
"It's just more of the same." Reed admitted. "These assignments from SHIELD are tedious."
"But necessary right? That's what they always say." Tony responded as Reed eyed the scanner once again. "We just ask for it don't we? Guess who decided designing the new Helicarrier would be a good idea." Tony pointed to himself.
"Congratulations." Reed stated, moving the scanner against Tony's temple and sampling the readouts. He frowned at the device. "According to this you're in a coma."
"Give it a few more minutes." Tony suggested. "And thanks. The blueprint in itself is taking forever considering I can't use Extremis to help aid in the designs and virtual space. And I've really gotten used to doing all of this by myself."
Reed Richard's face perked up. "Extremis. It really is astoundingly complex. It's marvelous…" Then his face narrowed. "But the more I learn about it, the more insidious it becomes."
He looked Tony in the eye. "I never would have taken it."
Tony laughed nervously. "It was a calculated risk." He said quietly.
"You didn't want to die."
Tony shook his head. "I was on a mission. I didn't want to lose." He took a deep breath. "Too many lives at risk."
Reed alternated the scanner between his hands.
"It worked out in the end." Richards stated after a moment.
Tony thought about that.
He had often blamed Extremis for the distance he'd been able to put between himself and his friends during the Civil War. Extremis ate at compassion and left you feeling invincible… decisively not human.
Extremis was also responsible for the child growing inside of him.
"Yeah, it did." Tony didn't quite smile. His eyes moved to find an imaginary window again.
He definitely felt human now. He didn't want to equate his condition with the word compromised, but it wouldn't leave his mind. Invincibility was a thing of the past, and just when he had so much more counting on him… so much to protect.
"Reed... doing this, being who you are… how do you keep your family safe?" Tony stated, suddenly very serious. "How do you keep your children safe?"
Reed Richards grinned for a second letting his gaze float to the ceiling, then down to the floor. "You have to trust yourself. You worry about them, I won't lie. You worry all the time. But you can't let it stop you from doing what you know needs to be done. You're making a better future. A better future for them." Reed placed the scanner down on the table and forgot about it.
"You keep them safe by making the world a safe place. It's as simple as that. It has to be. And you have friends and family that help. Hell Tony, you have an entire team of superheroes to help you. I have a twenty year old who likes to set things on fire."
Tony smiled at that. He and Reed had talked about family before, but this was the first time Tony was able to see the love that went behind every word Richards said.
He found himself cringing at the thought that he hoped he would be as good a dad as Mr. Fantastic.
"And another tip, if you don't want any orange rock covered uncles to crush them into a fine powder you don't give them sugar." Reed was serious.
"I'll keep that in mind." Tony said, thinking he'd never seen Reed act so human before. "Okay I have to ask you something else… It's been bothering me…"
"Yes?"
Tony smiled. "Why do you call yourself Mr. Fantastic and not Dr. Fantastic?"
Reed raised an eyebrow impossibly high. "Well, that would just be bragging wouldn't it?"
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