Ch. 12: Spring, Sprang, Sprung
I'm so, so sorry that this chapter came late, but it's extra-long so I hope that makes up for it.
Tony woke up the next morning to the melodic tinkles of the Reginaphone; it made him smile for a bit, but then it registered in his mind why that sudden situation was out of place.
He rose slowly, quite afraid to face Steve; he now knew that the man knew that he'd been upstairs. Well, on the bright-side, he was still here (meaning that Steve hadn't found it within himself to kick him out, yet).
He fixed the bedsheets and prepared himself for work. Taking a deep breath, he faced the door and opened it. He had to apologize immediately, not only for trespassing, but also for lying about it. If they were going to build a relationship, it couldn't be built on a foundation of lies.
He walked, slower than usual, towards the direction of the sound. Tony found Steve waltzing by himself as the machine turned the disk around. It was a shame that the songs couldn't be longer than a minute or so. It really broke the atmosphere when you constantly had to readjust, crank, and press play.
Steve caught his eye, momentarily shocked to the find the brunette standing there. He walked over to the Reginaphone and restarted the music.
"Steve I'm-
"Shh." Steve said, not letting Tony formulate his apology. He took the smaller man into his embrace and commenced a slow waltz. "I take it you were upstairs yesterday?" Steve asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, I'm-
"And you fixed the machine right?" Steve interrupted again, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah, but-
"That's all I wanted to know."
"But Steve-
"That's all I wanted to know. Everything else I forgive you for it." Steve said sincerely. They stopped their waltz as the music stopped. Tony wanted to apologize, but it was futile. The man had already walked back and changed the disk.
"I made breakfast if you're interested." Steve said. They still had about thirty minutes before it was time for them to leave for work and make it there on time. Tony sighed and made his way to the kitchen, where freshly made scrambled eggs and some toasted bread sat with a fresh batch of orange juice—freshly squeezed.
He took his time to savor the flavor, content that they had at least one cook in the house. Tony looked to his right where some parchment and a pencil lay on the countertop. He decided to ignore it this time, his curiosity won't get the best of him—enough trouble it had caused already.
ooOOoo
"Steve, were you writing a letter to someone?" Tony asked during their lunch-break. Today had been the same as usual, nothing seemed to change in their day to day work environment. Clint was in his own little world talking to a new hire, Blake or Bruce was his name, Tony couldn't be bothered to remember.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, biting into his sandwich.
"I saw some parchment on the counter today, I usually never see you communicate with anyone outside of Clint and me and so I was wondering if you had spoken to anyone else recently." Tony clarified.
"Oh, right, I was just replying to a letter from my father. He likes to keep me informed about anything he can and I like to write back to let him know everything is okay." Steve said, nodding his head as he remembered the letter he had picked up yesterday.
"Have you told him about us?" Tony asked, all of a sudden. He had tried to keep it below a whisper so as not to attract any unwanted attention.
"What do you think Tony?" Steve asked rhetorically, his sad smile the only answer Tony needed, but the brunette still wanted to know more. What was to become of him when Mr. Rogers returned?
"I see." Tony said, nodding his head in acquiescence to his approaching fate. He knew he couldn't have been with Steve forever; it was his house after all—Tony was just overstaying his welcome.
"Tony, talk to me, why did you shut off like that?" Steve asked, noticing immediately the sudden shift in mood from the brunette.
"I can't expect Mr. Rogers to be happy about me staying in his home." Tony admitted, no longer hungry for the rest of his food.
"It's not his house." Steve said, almost angry with the revelation.
"What do you mean? I thought your great-grandfather, or something like that, built it." Tony said, now confused.
"Yes, but it was from my mother's side. That house belongs to me, not my father." Kind of. It was his under the condition that he marry, he didn't think his family would find it in them to be too accepting if he chose to take Tony's hand in marriage.
"Regardless of who's it is, I'm sure he wouldn't take it lightly." Tony said, sighing into his thermos.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. He won't be back for a couple of months after the war, he told me so himself, so we can just relax and-
"So are we winning then?" Clint asked, interrupting the tense conversation, he had tried not to eavesdrop (with his condition, that task was quite simple) but he had strained his ears regardless, trying to catch little snippets of the conversation.
"According to my father, yes. It seems like we are taking the upper hand." Steve said, turning his head to Clint and answering his question.
"That's great, that's really freaking great." Clint said, nodding his head in pride.
Tony rose from the table without preamble, taking his lunch bag with him and leaving without a word.
Steve sighed and picked up his own materials following the other man.
Tony led him to the locker room where they could be mostly alone, he wanted to talk in peace, not have seeing eyes and hearing ears all around them. He shoved the food into his locker, uncaring whether it spoiled or not when he got back to it.
Steve stood directly beside him when he turned around. "Steve, I just want to know what my options are here. I can go back to living with Clint, I'm still paying rent after all, but I don't want to. The weeks that you and I have been together have been the most fulfilling and I don't think I could take letting go of that. What kills me is that you're the only other person who knows this. No one cares if we're broken up, people would rather have us killed than see us together." Tony said, his face creasing with worry. His brown eyes were shiny, as if he were getting ready to cry. He wouldn't though, not while he was at work, not in front of Steve.
"Tony." Steve said, it was all he could say. What else could he possibly do to comfort the man?
He looked around, pulling Tony suddenly into a kiss, he let his hands cup the side of his face, hoping that the caress showed how much he hated their upcoming predicament.
"I wish it were different too. I wish I didn't have to sneak around with you, that I could hold your hand, or place kiss on your cheek whenever I wanted, but I can't, we can't, and it kills me too. I don't know what we're going to do when my father returns, but I'll try to explain it to him to the best of my abilities." Steve promised, placing another kiss on Tony's lips.
"We have to go; people will start wondering where we went." Tony said, a couple of minutes later.
"I doubt people care enough about us." Steve said, dipping his head low to kiss the brunette again, that man's lips were so addicting, he couldn't get enough of them. (He also couldn't wait until the day Tony was ready to give him more, but he'd wait, even if it took forever.)
"People talk Steve; can't we wait until we get home?" Tony asked, pleading with the man to think sensibly. It wasn't as if he didn't want it too, he was practically bursting at the seams with pent up lust, but they couldn't be doing this, not in a place so public.
"One last kiss, to tide me over and I promise I won't bother you again." Steve said, holding up his index finger and rounding out his eyes in such a way that made him look like a giant puppy. Tony found that impossible to say no to, even if he knew better. The way Steve kissed him then, had him gasping by the end. The blonde smirked and walked away, leaving Tony with a little problem. He'd ignore it for now, there was no more time to take care of it.
The rest of Tony's shift was an incredible hassle; Fury had introduced them to about ten more employees, all of them requiring assistance. Clint took the new guy he had been talking to at lunch (Tony still didn't really know his name) and Tony was assigned to Heinrich Zemo, a name that turned many heads (some, not so kind) towards the man's direction.
Tony raised a suspicious eyebrow at the name, but let it slide, for now; if Fury hired him it must have been for a reason.
"Hello, I'm Tony. I hope you're ready to learn because I'm only showing you this once." Tony said looking at the brunette up and down. He had sort of a dead look in his eyes, as if he were still half-asleep.
"Okay." Tony said turning back to his station and motioning for the other man to do the same. "Grab a pair of gloves and follow what I'm doing. You're in parts, which means that you're going to prep each box with the appropriate materials for assembly." Tony continued, motioning to the large lists directly in front and behind them. Tony filled each box carefully, making sure that Mr. Zemo could absorb what he was doing.
"They have to go in a certain way or else assembly gets delayed." Tony pointed out, doing another box for good measure, as his silent companion looked on. Never once speaking; it made Tony wonder if the man could speak at all.
"Do you understand; I'm going to need some form of confirmation Mr. Zemo." Tony said, getting a bit irritated with the man for not responding to anything he had said. When he'd trained Steve, the man hadn't shut up for two seconds, here he kind of wished for that sort of chatter. The silence, now, was just creepy. Zemo looked at him, his eyes narrowing a bit as he nodded. Tony felt his heart stop and start again when Zemo looked at him like that, it was as if he'd looked into his soul. Jesus, he needed to go on break.
They worked in silence, the entire time Zemo packed his boxes almost as perfectly as Tony did, it was as if he were a natural at this.
"Where are you from?" Tony asked, trying to break the ice with the man. Training normally lasted about four hours in his department and he wasn't about to spend it all in silence.
"Germany." Zemo said, finally replying to something Tony had asked. His accent was thick, even from that one word Tony could figure that much out.
"What brings you to the United States then?" Tony asked, moving the conversation right along.
"My family and I want… were trying to escape the war." Zemo said, struggling slightly with his English. Maybe that's why he had refused to talk to Tony in the first place.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Tony said, keeping his mouth shut after that.
"It is not your fault." Zemo replied a couple of minutes later, Tony had almost forgotten what they had been talking about when the man spoke up again.
"Well, you're doing a great job for your first day. Keep it up and Fury might move you to assembly." Tony said, flashing a bright smile to cheer the man up. It was obvious he was sort of a downer. Tony wasn't a particularly cheerful-butterfly either, but he would smile from time to time, especially when he was engaged in silly banter with Clint, or anytime Steve opened his mouth.
Zemo smiled back, but smile is too strong of a word to use in this context, it was more like a pained expression of someone who didn't smile very often. Well, he really couldn't blame him, the man was from the country they were currently at war with, anyone who looked twice at him and heard his name was bound to misjudge him. He wondered how long he had been here for, it couldn't have been that long. Tony didn't want to ask and seem rude, enough he had dipped into his personal life already.
"In a couple of minutes I'll show you around the factory, just let me finish these two boxes." Tony said, heaving one of the boxes which turned out to be a lot heavier than he expected and having it almost fall out of his hands had it not been for Zemo's quick reflexes perfect timing.
"Be careful Mr. Stark." Zemo said, his eyes bugging out of his head.
"Thank you, a-and Tony will do just fine." Tony replied, putting the box back on the belt. "I think now is a good a time as any to take a break." Tony said removing his gloves and waving them at Clint to try and catch his attention.
"What?" The dirty-blonde asked looking up from his work.
"Take over, won't you, I'm gonna show Zemo around the factory." Tony said, pointing at the other man.
Clint looked them both over, raising an eyebrow. "Is that really necessary, you lazy piece of shit?" Clint asked the smile on his face letting Tony know he was joking. Tony just rolled his and motioned to Zemo to follow him.
"Um, Tony, he just insulted you." Zemo said, looking back and forth between Clint and Tony as they walked away from parts and made their way to assembly.
"Oh that, it was just some witty banter, don't go saying that to just anyone out here though; you'll get your teeth punched in." Tony cautioned.
Zemo nodded, keeping a hairsbreadth away from Tony's space. The brunette found it a bit intrusive, but he wasn't about to say something about it and make it awkward.
Tony made sure to stop at assembly first to surprise a certain someone, very rarely did they intermingle during work hours and Zemo's appearance was his perfect excuse to do just that.
"How's it going?" Tony asked, suddenly, pushing Steve a little out of the way so he could see the way he handled assembly. He wished for the millionth time that he could lift the heavy machinery required to assemble these cars, he loved working with his hands and parts didn't do him enough justice.
Steve instantly lit up, he had been momentarily startled when Tony had spoken to him, but once he got over the shock he was incredibly elated. "What are you doing here?" Steve asked, pausing his work to pay full attention to Tony.
"Don't stop working! I'm just showing the new recruit around the company and I thought I would stop by." Tony said, bringing Zemo into Steve's line of vision.
"Oh, hello." Steve said, "I would shake your hand right now, but mine are incredibly greasy."
"No problem, pleasure to make your acquaintance." Zemo said, nodding his head curtly.
"This is assembly, parts go down that line from the very top over there—Tony pointed with his finger as he spoke—and they end up down there where the Cars are released. Each particular section has a specific part that they implement until it is all done at the end there." Tony explained. He looked at Steve one last time as they walked away, smiling softly in his direction.
This didn't escape Zemo's watchful stare, but he decided to ignore it for now. No good would it do him to assume things, no good had it done him before…
"Here's pretty much the finished model." Tony said, pointing to the car at the end of the belt.
"Efficient." Zemo replied, nodding his head in approval.
"You can thank Henry Ford for that, come on, let me show you the rest of the factory."
ooOOoo
"…And this is the locker room, through there are the showers and Fury should have given you a paper with your locker assignment, you'll be sharing with someone so do try to compartmentalize." Tony reminded.
"Thank you, Tony, for showing me around." Zemo said, his gaze intense as his brown eyes pierced Tony's own. The brunette looked away then, they were too much for him to handle this late in the night.
"Don't mention it, really, it's my job." Tony said, clapping his hands together and motioning for the man to walk back to work with him.
The rest of the shift was a quiet one as Tony methodically packed boxes and Zemo followed closely behind him, Clint had gone to do the tour with the other recruit. Tony watched the clock, the last minutes of his shift ticking by, once the end of his shift approached, he packed the last box of the night and signaled for Zemo to do the same.
"Well, you did an excellent job for your first day, I hope you keep it up." Tony said, leading them towards the locker room.
Zemo tried to hide the sudden blush that overtook his features, but it didn't quite escape Tony's curious gaze.
"You have been very kind, especially to someone like myself." Zemo admitted.
"Well, until you prove me otherwise, I'm going to assume that you're not hell-bent on the destruction of America." Tony replied, a hint of seriousness coating his otherwise playful statement.
"I will try not to disappoint then." Zemo said a bright (true) smile erupting on his face.
Steve was already in the locker room and watched as Tony and the new guy smiled at each other, a sudden foreign emotion overtook him then as he stared on. It made his face hot and his nostrils flare. He had to take a step back and acknowledge the sudden anger that overshadowed his thoughts. He's never felt like this before, what the hell?
Zemo walked over to his locker observing silently as the other two men talked, they seemed to be taking their time putting on their coats and simply talking to each other. Zemo wanted so much to hear what they were saying, but he was halfway across the locker room. Something the blonde had said amused Tony though, as the brunette let out a small chuckle and a big smile, much bigger than any he had given him.
Zemo shook his head, turning back to his locker and his task at hand.
"So… the new guy…" Steve trailed off as they rode home. He wanted to explore that feeling he had had in the locker room, but he wasn't quite sure how to approach it.
"Zemo, Heinrich Zemo." Tony filled in.
"What a name." Steve said with a hint of spite, having not been there when Fury had presented the new recruits.
"Hey, watch the hostility. He's not with them." Tony cautioned as he noticed how tense the blonde suddenly became.
"How can you possibly know that?" Steve asked, turning for a second to look skeptically at the brunette.
"Because, he told me so himself, he escaped Germany with his family to avoid the war." Tony explained, knowing that it was not his place to reveal that information, but not finding any harm in doing so.
"Hmf." Steve harrumphed, not believing the story fully, but having no other choice. "You were getting pretty friendly with him today. What, did he not piss you off as much as I had?" Steve asked, letting some of his earlier emotion flare up.
"What? I was only trying to encourage him, besides, it's definitely not the same as you… I wanted to kiss you." Tony admitted, murmuring the last part. But Steve heard it regardless, it made his mouth burst into a face-splitting grin.
"Really, that soon after meeting me?" Steve said.
"Shut up." Tony said, his cheeks brightening.
"No, I want to know. Was I really that charming?" Steve asked.
"Shut up." Tony replied again burying his face in his hands. Why had he said that?
"I want to know." Steve said, stopping the car once they made it home.
"Yes, okay, I wanted to kiss you the moment I saw you. I have no idea what that says about me, or you, but that was my thought process and I hated you for it." Tony replied, talking into his hands out of some form of shame or embarrassment.
"Do you still hate me now?" Steve asked only half serious.
Tony looked at him with a raised brow and a look in his eyes that asked him if he was kidding. "What do you think?" Tony asked.
"Just making sure, you never know with these things." Steve said as he smiled. They stepped out of the vehicle and ambled towards the house.
ooOOoo
"So what are we going to do?" Tony whispered to Steve as they lay in their customary position.
"You mean about my father?" Steve asked, though he knew damn well that was what was bugging his beloved.
"Yes, about Father Rogers." Tony agreed.
"I don't know, Tony, I really don't know. What I do know is, I don't want this to end, even if…" Steve said shaking his head and squeezing Tony tighter.
"Even if what Steve, don't leave me hanging now." Tony urged, he didn't want it to end either, but he wasn't about to keep it a secret forever.
"Even if we have to run away." Steve said. Tony chuckled lightly until he heard silence from above. "Jesus Christ, you're serious." Tony said once he realized Steve didn't find it half as amusing as he did.
"Yes, I actually am."
"Where the hell would we go, I have no money, I have no family; I'm a nobody compared to you." Tony said, trying to get Steve to understand his own faulty logic.
"That doesn't matter if we have each other." Steve stated innocently.
"Steve, darling, how naïve can you get? Love is only half the battle, the other half would be money, food, shelter, water… we'd end up hating each other by the end of it." Tony said, "Life isn't a fairytale."
"I think we could make it work." Steve said, a little less confident now than he was before.
"Do you even know what work is? Steve, I know you've been in the army, and that takes rigorous training, but it doesn't hold a feather to breaking your back every day for a measly two cents." Tony reminded. "We come from different worlds, when is the last time you had to go without food because your parents couldn't afford it that day?" Tony asked him.
"Never." Steve whispered, losing his entire argument.
"Exactly, I love you Steve, I really do—but it takes more than love to build a house." Tony said.
"Okay, I'm sorry I suggested it." Steve said, feeling like a scolded child.
Tony sighed and sat up to get a better look at the pouting blonde. "Come here." He said, bringing Steve's face close to his and placing a kiss on his forehead then his lips. "We'll figure it out, okay, but save the 'running away' for a rainy day." Tony said, making Steve smile (which was his only intention at the moment).
They resumed their position on the bed, today he had wanted to talk to Steve about his mother's paintings upstairs, or just his mother in general, but they hadn't gotten the chance. Maybe he'd ask on their next day off.
"German pig!" One of the worker's shouted. As Tony approached the locker room that morning he was greeted with the sound of fist hitting flesh and Zemo being pinned to the floor as he was beaten, almost to death, by an overbearing brute.
"What the fuck is going on in here?" Tony shouted, trying to break the large crowd that had formed, Steve following closely behind.
"This heini, tried to get into my fucking locker! What the fuck were you doing in there?" Punch. Zemo tried his best to block the biggest of the punches, but he couldn't deflect them all.
"Hey, hey! Get off him, you dumbass! That's his locker too." Tony shouted, looking at Steve for some help since the blonde was in the same weight class as the bulking Neanderthal.
"What are you now? A defender, piece of shit. Fuck you both." The brute said, spitting in Zemo's face as he got off him. "Get out of my way." He said, moving through the crowd like a large bull.
"Jesus Christ." Tony sighed, as he leaned down low to help Zemo get up and out of the locker room and into the small make-shift infirmary that they had in the back. Steve followed promptly, getting Tony a warm bowl of water and some gauze so he could aid the bleeding man.
"Scheisse." Zemo cursed as Tony placed the warm cloth over Zemo's eye where the worst of the damage had been taken.
"Steve, go tell Fury what happened. I'm gonna stay here and try to patch him up." Tony instructed the blonde.
"Got it, don't go anywhere." Steve said leaving the room.
"What the hell happened, Zemo?" Tony asked, though he could probably guess by the derogatory slur and outrageous response.
"I was trying to open my locker and just, bumf, came out of nowhere and started screaming in my face. I tried to explain to him that it was my locker, but as soon as he heard my accent he exploded and you caught the rest of it yourself." Zemo said, flinching as Tony rubbed the area again trying to wipe off most of the blood, the eye was pretty much shut now, and the side of his face was purple and red as well.
"God-damnit." Tony cursed, shaking his head, how could people be so intolerant? "Any place else hurt?" He asked the brunette.
"He banged my head pretty hard against the floor and I think he bruised my arms when I was trying to block him." Zemo said, rubbing the blooming bruise in the back of his head.
"Here, let me see." Tony said, moving behind the other man and feeling around for the bruise, when Zemo hissed he knew he'd found it. "I'm sorry about this, I think if you ask we could maybe get your locker changed." Tony said, rubbing small circles around the bruise.
"Could I move in with you?" Zemo asked tentatively as the other brunette massaged his head.
"I don't know; I guess we'll see what Fury says." Tony said. In actuality, he wasn't too keen in sharing a locker with the man; he currently didn't have a locker buddy, but he didn't know Zemo well enough to grant him that trust.
"Thank you, Tony, for showing such kindness. I know people are weary of me because of my accent and my name, but I really was just trying to escape the war." Zemo said. Tony stilled his hands for a second and looked at the back of the man's head, assessing that statement.
"Don't mention it, I know how you feel… Trust me. But we can't help how or where we're born, now can we? If only certain people would get that through their thick skull." Tony said, revealing another piece of himself to the other man, if he cared to listen that is. Zemo nodded in acquiescence, relating to that statement in more ways than one.
"I normally don't like it when people show sympathy for me, but with you, I don't mind it so much." Zemo admitted, his cheeks and the back of his neck turning bright-pink. Tony was too focused on the bruise around the man's skull that he either didn't see or didn't care much for the pigment shift.
"I'm not showing you sympathy because I feel sorry for you, I just can't stand bigots." Tony clarified, after thinking it over.
"Whatever the reason, I appreciate it." Zemo replied. Before he could continue, someone knocked on the door, forcing Tony to move from behind Zemo and open it. It was a disgruntled Steve followed by a fuming Fury.
"Jesus Fucking Christ." Fury cursed when he saw the state Zemo was in. "Who did this?" Fury asked rubbing an annoyed hand down his face.
"I think his name was Jerry, or Jeffrey." Zemo replied, holding the side of his face which was in most pain.
"Big brute, light-brown hair, greenish eyes. Ugly as all hell." Tony said, filling in the physical aspects of the man.
"That's Jeffrey alright, Mr. Zemo, did you do anything to aggravate this assault?" Fury asked, turning his attention to the man on the bed.
"Other than being German, no." Zemo replied.
"Humf." Fury harrumphed, putting his hands to his waist and tapping his foot impatiently trying to think of what to do with this situation.
"Are you going to fire him?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't particularly care for the Zemo guy, but Tony obviously found something in him worth caring for, and though it made him extremely hot inside (he still hadn't isolated that emotion) if Tony thought it best, then he did too.
"He just got out of the army." Fury said, looking at the ceiling as if it held all the answers.
"So, let them take care of it." Tony said, suddenly outraged by the excuse.
"He was dishonorably discharged, no one's gonna hire him like that." Fury said.
"What was he kicked out for?" Steve asked skeptically.
"Fighting." Fury said reluctantly.
"Figures, why did you hire him?" Steve asked. He was now looking back and forth between Zemo, Tony, and Fury.
"I don't have to give you an answer, Rogers." Fury said, suddenly getting angry at the blonde. Who did he think he was?
"No, but that gentleman over there deserves some form of reparation for getting assaulted, you're the one who hired him. He's only been here for two days, god-damnit." Steve said, urging Fury to look at the situation clearly.
"Mr. Zemo, what if I increase your pay and move you to assembly." Fury said, turning to Zemo.
The man on the bed looked up then, he looked between Tony and Fury (ignoring Steve).
"I'd take it." Tony said, looking between the three of them as well. "Steve, you can train him right?" Tony asked, raising both of his eyebrows at the blonde.
"Yeah, that'd be no problem." The blonde said.
"I'll take it, on the condition that you move my locker." Zemo said, "With Tony's." He continued.
"Deal."/ "What?" Fury and Steve said in unison. Fury turned to look at the blonde and raised an eyebrow while Steve turned to look at both brunettes, one with a slight smirk on his bleeding lips and the other with an apologetic look on his face. That burning hot passion that had taken him suddenly yesterday returned in full force, and it took all it had within him not to finish what Jeffrey had started.
"Then it's settled, now could you all please return to your stations." Fury pleaded, he was just glad Zemo hadn't tried to extort him out of everything he owned.
"Yes sir." They all replied with various levels of emotion.
"Okay Zemo, I'll follow you and Steve to the assembly line and observe the both of you. If you need anything, you know where to find me." Tony said.
Zemo nodded, finding it a little difficult getting up from the bed as his bruised ribcage gave him trouble.
"Are you okay?" Tony asked, suddenly grabbing the brunette by the arm to try and help him stand.
"I think he may have bruised my ribs when he pinned me to the ground." Zemo hissed as he moved his arms around.
"Oh Christ, take your shirt off, let me see." Tony said, motioning for Zemo to sit back down.
"What, are you a medic all of a sudden?" Steve snapped. Making both brunettes look at him. Tony noticed immediately just how red Steve's face had become, a clear sign that he was incredibly angry... but for what?
"I'm just trying to help." Tony said, narrowing his eyes, Steve rolled his, looking at anywhere but the two of them, and nervously pacing the small width of the room.
Tony ignored the sudden outburst, more interested in finding out the root cause of Zemo's sudden pain. Yep, there it was, in a bright-big purple blotch on the left side of his ribcage lay a bruise.
Tony touched it delicately, his cold hands providing some form of comfort for the aching man. "Jesus Christ." Tony said, uttering that name more in the span of an hour than he had his entire life. "He did a number on you didn't he, and everyone just stood and stared, some of them egging him on." Tony said more to himself than anything.
"I suppose so." Zemo said, looking intensely at Tony.
"I guess there's nothing you can do now but take it easy and sleep it off." Tony advised as Zemo put his shirt back on.
"I will try my best." Zemo said, trying his hardest not to wince as he gave Tony a small smile.
Steve caught the latter end of that, finally reaching his boiling point and exiting the room. Tony looked to the door and then back at Zemo. "Stay here for a second, I'm gonna go see what his problem is." Tony said, following Steve's hot trail.
The blonde was pacing even quicker outside.
"What the hell is your problem?" Tony asked the steaming blonde.
Steve didn't respond, he simply pushed Tony into the nearest wall and kissed him, roughly, for once not caring if anyone were to see. Actually let them! Especially that Zemo guy, let him see just who Tony belonged to-
Woah, woah, were had that come from? Steve did basically everything but call Tony 'mine' at that moment. Like a petulant child with a toy.
Tony hadn't been expecting such outward expression from the blonde, suddenly very intrigued with this sudden passion that had erupted from seemingly nowhere.
"Sorry," Steve apologized as he broke the kiss and held his head in shame, his blonde hair touching the tip of Tony's nose, almost making him sneeze, "I don't know what's coming over me, I just had to kiss you." Steve admitted.
Tony smiled, placing a small kiss on the exposed part of Steve's head. "You should be a little more careful next time, where exactly you stop to kiss me." Tony whispered, conspiratorially.
Steve smiled, letting his fears ebb and flow out of his system and into the ground bellow, no use clinging onto them when Tony didn't find anything wrong. Or at least that's what he kept trying to tell himself as he noticed how quickly Zemo and Tony acclimated towards each other.
ooOOoo
"May I sit here?" The familiar accent asked as Tony, Steve, Clint, and Bruce (Tony finally bothered to remember his name) sat down to eat lunch.
"Yes, you're more than welcome to." Tony said, to the displeasure of the blonde and the curiosity of the other two.
"Thank you." Zemo said, sitting down into the bench with some difficulty. There was an odd silence that overcame the four as they each ate their food.
"Your food looks delicious, who cooked it?" Tony asked Bruce, to try and break up the silence.
"Ah, I did." Bruce replied looking down at his meal, it wasn't anything special just some rice and beans with some lettuce garnish.
"Cool." Tony said looking down at his bland sandwich and wishing for the millionth time that he could afford better meals. (Sure, he could simply ask Steve, but he didn't want to give off the impression that he was a freeloader.)
The silence resumed, but this time was cut short by the sound of the evening bell which signaled the end of lunch. They all walked towards their respective places, putting their items away where they needed to go.
"Tony." Zemo almost shouted as he ran into the locker room, Tony was halfway through putting his jacket on when the brunette burst in. "Oh thank goodness, you're still here." Holding his side as the sudden pain hit him, why had he run so hard?
"Hey, don't hurt yourself, what is it?" Tony asked, closing his locker.
"I hate to ask, since you've done so many nice things for me already, but there is no way I can walk all the way home in my condition. Not by myself anyways, my sister is too young and mother is not fit enough to walk the entire way. I was wondering if maybe-
"We can take you home, right Steve?" Tony said, turning to look at the blonde who narrowed his eyes at Zemo. He kept quiet for such a long time that Tony had to prompt him again for a response. "Right… Steve."
"Yes, we can take you home. But just on this one occurrence, you should feel better by tomorrow." Steve said curtly, walking past the both of them and to the outside.
"Thank you, I will repay you one if these days, I swear it." Zemo said, his face erupting into a smile.
"Don't even mention it, I'm not quite sure what Steve's deal is today, but he's normally not that hostile." Tony said, apologizing for his beloved's behavior.
"Maybe he just doesn't like Germans." Zemo suggested, opening his shared locker with Tony and taking out his coat. (They'd switched the items earlier, at a time where the brute Jeffrey couldn't cause another scene.)
"That can't be it, not with you anyways." Tony said, mulling it over. Steve seemed angry with the fact that Zemo was around Tony, not necessarily that he was of any other nationality.
"Well, I just hope I can get on his good graces before the week is through." Zemo said, approaching the other male.
"Let's hope indeed." Tony said.
The ride to Zemo's house was a quiet one, no one really had anything to say as Steve maneuvered the night, luckily it was on the way and he really didn't have to go out of their normal direction to get there.
"Here we are, just up there." Zemo instructed as Steve parked the car on the street corner, he didn't kill the engine, he just waited for the brunette to get out. "Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers, goodnight Tony." Zemo said, personalizing his affection to Tony alone.
"Nigh Zemo, I hope you feel better by tomorrow." Tony said to the male as he exited the car.
Steve didn't wait to see if Zemo made it in okay, honestly, he couldn't give two shits; he really just wanted to get Tony and himself home, where he could analyze these emotions in peace.
"You really don't like him, do you?" Tony said, as they drove away from the other man.
"What makes you say that?" Steve said, just going through the motions of the conversation.
"You're normally an incredibly bright bubble of kindness, now, with Zemo at least, it's as if the mere sight of him send bugs crawling up and down your skin." Tony observed.
"Your point?" Steve said.
"My point, Steve darling, is that I just can't pinpoint your anger. It can't possibly be that you agree with how cruelly he's being treated by his fellow employees." Tony said.
"It's not, I don't care that he's German, or Prussian, or whatever other nationality he could possibly be. I fought against the Germans, sure, but even I know where to draw the line." Steve said, calming down a bit. The last thing he was, was a racist.
"Then what is it?" Tony asked, curious now.
"You've seemed to warmed up to him in the short amount of time you've known him." Steve said, flipping the script and turning the tables on Tony.
"Excuse me?" Tony asked, almost offended.
"In only two days he's managed to make himself your best-friend, how am I supposed to take that lightly?" Steve asked, some of his steam returning.
"Are you saying I can't make friends?" Tony asked. They had finally made it back to Steve's home, thought he hadn't realized it with the onset of an argument going on. They continued the conversation into the living room and up the stairs until they were finally in the bedroom and could look at each other in peace.
"What? That's not what I said at all. I'm just saying that it took you way longer to befriend me." Steve said, some of his insecurities bubbling towards the surface of his bravado.
"What the hell does that mean? Steve, you know our situation is much different than that! I thought we settled this last night." Then it clicked, almost violently, in his head why Steve was acting so outrageously angry towards Zemo, and that kiss… "Wait a minute Steve, are you jealous?" Tony asked.
Steve shut up then, confused for a second because he hadn't quite understood the question, a couple of seconds later his cheeks darkened to beet red color and he couldn't face Tony directly. "No." Steve refused immediately, but all the signs point to a lie. He was jealous, like a toddler who's lost the attention of his parents to a baby.
"Oh my god, you are!" Tony said, a smug smile eating away at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm not, I'm just simply-
Tony didn't let Steve finish his excuse as he practically tackled him in a kiss and embrace combination that had them both tumbling clumsily towards the bed.
"You are and you can't deny it." Tony practically growled in Steve's ear, making the younger man shiver.
Tony found himself straddling the blonde, dipping his head even lower to get a better advantage into Steve's mouth.
"So maybe I am a little jealous." Steve admitted as his mind clouded over with lust and passion and his thoughts slowed to a sluggish drag as his tongue found its way into Tony's mouth.
Tony chuckled contently, finally able to break down Steve's resolve so the blonde could tell him the truth.
"Can you blame me? I hate that you're paying more attention to him than you have to me all week." Steve said, pouting his lips when they separated for air.
"Is that so, Steve, the week barely started." Tony reminded.
"Still, I can't stand it." Steve replied, bringing the brunette's mouth closer to his and resuming the kiss.
It didn't take long before the blonde found his footing and he flipped them over, hovering slightly over Tony. Here he had the upper hand, and was able to caress Tony's face while simultaneously placing another hand delicately over the brunette's hip and up his side.
In the meantime, Tony's heartrate increased as Steve started to use his hands. He was starting to get nervous and a little bit scared. The last thing he wanted right now was Steve on top of him. You're so pretty, so soft...such beauty in such a small boy-
"Stop!" Tony choked out it his attempts to get Steve off him. The blonde immediately ceased his actions and rolled over so that he was no longer hovering over Tony.
"Shit… Steve, I'm sorry." Tony said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Why, why did he still have to ruin his life up to this day! It's been seventeen years damn it!
"No, don't ever apologize for something like that, it was not your fault." Steve said seriously. Tony turned to look at him and smiled sadly. He offered his hand and Steve took it, gladly.
"I'm still sorry, I'm leaving you with the mysterious case of anticipation." Tony said; motioning, with his eyes, just what exactly he was talking about.
"Oh don't worry about me, it'll calm down in a bit." Steve said, confidently.
"One day Steve, I promise it won't be like this forever." Tony whispered into the moonlit room.
"I know, but until that day comes, this will always be more than enough." Steve said taking Tony's hand a placing a small kiss on it.
"You're the sweetest person I know; how could you possibly think anybody else could replace you. Jealous…" Tony said, trying to lighten the ruined mood.
"I don't know; I guess that's why they call it an irrational response. I'll try to be nicer to Zemo tomorrow, hmm, but no promises." Steve said.
"That's all I ask." Tony said, contently. And with the exception of their respective showers, that's how they stayed the remainder of the night until Steve woke them up promptly at six.
A/N: All right, Zemo has been introduced. I wonder what fresh hell he will bring with him.
Alright, so a couple of notes, one: the schedule has been consistently to upload on a Thursday, but I can't do that now (I have a job and a lot more responsibilities) so I'm switching it to a Friday.
Two: After chapter fifteen there will be a one-month break, I need to start bulk writing and this will be the perfect opportunity for me, so this is just a heads up.
Thank you so much for sticking around, and I appreciate you all!