Chapter 9: Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without (Confucius)
Had there ever been a person to establish a chart on how much fussing was appropriate for a certain kind of injury?
One of these from 1 to 10, how much fussing is needed? things, with 10 being fussing as an Olympic discipline, and 1 equaling meh, get over it!?
Paper cuts. A paper cut would reach a 10 on that scale. It needed copious amounts of fussing. That, and kisses from at least 10 beautiful women to properly heal.
The sniffles… would equal a 9.5, then. After all, dying of the man-flu was to be taken seriously, lots of whining was required to be appropriately mourned after having succumbed to that traitorous disease. No kisses, though, at least not from beautiful women. Those would stay away from snotty noses, and the significant other already had been infected, anyway.
Then, there were the more mundane, the manly types of injuries, like… hitting your thumb with a hammer, or cutting yourself with a kitchen knife or a razor. Those simply required the creation of a blood trail through the entire flat, taking every unnecessary detour one could think of before finally reaching the bathroom to adequately treat the war wound with a band aid sized big enough to also bandage the entire limb. Well, unless it was the razor, then you already were in the bathroom, so no blood trail. Medium fussing plus a battle scar to show off. Totally deserved a 5.
Gunshot wounds. Huh. Well, those ranged from I'm fine to Just a through and through, no biggie, equaling a 3 or a 4 on the scale, depending whether the bullet just grazed you or actually hit the target. Heroes didn't need much fussing, plus another battle scar to show off.
The reaction to the pneumonic plague had been I'm fine, breathing's a bit hard in the moment, but I've orders not to die so I won't. Was that a 1 or a 2?
And how the heck did you rate being blown up by your own bomb, shrapnel wounds, into that schematic? Having your chest carved open while wide awake, regaining consciousness with a feeding tube down your throat and a fucking electromagnet where once your breast bone was?! How did being tortured fit in there? Dying from heavy metal poisoning? Almost falling to your death first from your own building and then from a portal into outta space?! How the hell did you fit in almost being barbequed alive, almost suffocating from a collapsed lung in?
Tony DiNozzo had not said much since fetching his boyfriend from the airport. He was thrilled to have T back, of course, but he was not so sure if the engineer had forced his release from the hospital, if he was jeopardizing his convalescence because he was too stubborn to admit that he was far from being back to a 100%.
The way the shorter man had climbed into the car, all stiff and careful movements, it spoke volumes. He did not contradict Dino carrying MARK V, and once they had reached their flat it was rather clear that T's first and maybe final destination would be either the couch or the bedroom.
On the other hand… the lack of contradiction from both the lovely Miss Potts as well as J.A.R.V.I.S. to T's travel plans not even two weeks after his surgery in addition to outpatient rehab measures that had been organized and planned at a hospital here in DC made him hope that T was not overdoing it.
His prognosis was actually pretty great. The casing of the reactor had put pressure on his lungs, making T slightly asthmatic. Breathing was easier now, and the dull, perpetual pain from that foreign object was gone. They had talked about all of this, about the scar on T's ass to get skin for a transplant to cover the hole where the reactor had been, God, they had talked for hours every day, and now, as he climbed up the stairs towards their flat right behind T, MARK V in hand, Dino did not really know what to say.
So he just stashed the suitcase in the hallway right next to the shoe shelf where it always stood. He followed T into the kitchen like a shadow, getting himself some apple juice and asking whether they should order something for Dinner.
They ordered pizza instead of healthy food, both not really hungry, and before long T declared that he was tired. Dino followed him into the bathroom, once more thinking about his how much should I fuss scale. Did T even want a shadow, following him everywhere, afraid that… something… would happen the moment he let him out of his eyes?
He got a few confused glances as he stood there, his eyes glued to the new scar, still so fresh and by far nicer and… well, looking less life-threatening than he'd assumed. T had always been self-conscious about the reactor, didn't like having it touched, most probably because of Stane ripping it out of there…
Oh God, Stane… how did that incident fit in his scale?!
By then, T had decided to reduce his grooming rituals to a cat's lick, brushing his teeth and combing his fingers through his hair and the full beard that would undergo appropriate trimming on another day. He slipped on his pajama and then turned to his boyfriend, taking the towel that the NCIS agent was strangling ever since they had entered the bathroom out of his hands and putting it back on the towel rail. Then he reached out, placing both of his hands on the other man's cheeks and made Dino look at him.
"Are you ok?"
Was he ok? He had thought he was, he had seen T in the hospital, they had joked around, there had been kisses, hugs (even though really carefully), hour-long phone calls every night once Dino was back in DC. They had talked about what had happened. It was Dino who finally had talked the lovely Miss Potts into talking to Phil and explaining why she had tried dumping him during one of their breaks in the cafeteria while T had to undergo another battery of tests and refused to have any audience, significant other included.
He had seen the scar… he'd seen both of them, also the one on T's ass, appropriately teasing the other man about it.
Why the hell was he freaking out now?
"Dino?"
Worried brown eyes caught his, and wasn't it him who should be worried? T was the one who almost died, an Asgardian God rushing to his side and having to save his life.
"I… I was too slow… reached them too late… Tony was out of the suit, already on the ground, bleeding, and… and…" Pepper had told him, her fingers cramping around her cup, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"I went for the heart then. Fucker couldn't regrow that. And then I just remember screaming for help and Loki appearing right next to me."
For that, Dino would have to thank Loki on his knees should he ever meet him. The Prince had left for Asgard, though, after ensuring that Anthonywould be as well as he could be, refusing to leave the hospital for the first two days, just like Pepper. Obviously, Odin was really desperate to get the Bifrost working again, and used previous misdeeds as well as Thor's puppy-dog please help me look as a means to blackmail the young God into coming back to the realm eternal.
"Dino… please, talk to me", T was pleading by now, startling him out of his thoughts. What should he say?
"You almost died", was what he blurted out, his fingers shaking as he reached out, hand stopping midair, right in front of T's chest.
He only peripherally realized that T made him change into a shirt and some fresh boxers, urging him to also brush his teeth before guiding him into their bedroom, staring a little longer than he wanted at the heap of additional blankets that were rolled up on his side of the bed.
"Okay, c'mon, get in…"
Dino only noticed that he had been maneuvered into bed with the other man when T started tugging, looping his arms around him and pulling him close until his head rested against the smaller man's shoulder. He then took Dino's hand and placed it right over his heart, over the scar… over… over…
"I'm fine", he said, his hand firmly holding Dino's where he had placed it, refusing to let it go until Dino finally relaxed a bit, hiding his head in the crook of T's neck.
"And yeah… I almost died… and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that I put you through that, and that most probably it will happen again. Maybe I'll tease Rogers too much at some point and he'll snap… or some other super villain is coming after me. Then, there's still Thanos…"
It was not often that T regretted making the suit, becoming a superhero. Putting the bad sides that came with all of that on Dino, though…
"I'm so sorry", he sighed, burying his nose in his boyfriend's soft hair, his fingers still locked with the other man's over his heart.
"'m sorry for freaking out… must be the same for you every time I leave the Navy Yard hunting for the bad guys… I just thought… the suit… I thought with the suit…" Shifting into a more comfortable position, Dino pulled up the blankets around them, linking his legs with T's.
"I thought you were invincible", he whispered.
Yeah… T himself had thought that at some point. Palladium poisoning had put a pretty blunt stop on those thoughts.
"It's gonna be a while before I can even think about climbing into the suit again. And… I've been thinking about reducing that already before this happened. I don't wanna hunt terrorists. I wanted to hunt down my weapons, I wanted to save our planet. I didn't sign up for playing world police. We need some regulations, Rogers wants to call for an assemble every time he hears of a bank robbery. No matter where it is. That's not what the Avengers are for. Thanos, sure. Saving Peps, definitely. I'm not a cop, though. Neither are they. They're spies, a physicist, Rogers, as far as I know, never really had a job."
"He was a cheerleader for the USO tours", Dino countered, and both of them snorted at that. This for sure would be another way to annoy the super soldier should he strain T's nerves the next time.
"So… what does that mean? You want to quit the Avengers?" Dino asked then. T shrugged.
"I don't know. We were never planned to be what they're trying to make us. The Avengers were a last resort, should anything else fail sort of thing. For… alien invasions… the Thanos situation. S.H.I.E.L.D. has their own agents, investigating paranormal bullshit, and every time I get involved I feel like entering the X files. The only reason that I didn't already step down was that Rogers would try to step up and lead the team. And I don't want to even think about that."
"He still bugging everyone about his former army friend?" Yeah, technically that was top secret, and nobody was supposed to know. But right after the battle of New York and the WSC sending a nuke after them, Tony Stark had been beyond pissed and hacked the agency. And talked to Dino about all the BS he was going through with S.H.I.E.L.D..
It took J.A.R.V.I.S. half a day to summarize everything that might be a reasonable threat to his creator – starting with H.Y.D.R.A. being less dead than everybody assumed.
Alexander Pierce had committed suicide before they could apprehend him.
Nick Fury had to live up to his mistakes. The information had been there. On the servers of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Nobody knew if he simply didn't care, or if he was more involved than anyone wanted to assume. The bastard still remained silent.
Sergeant Barnes… the Winter Soldier… It had taken T two days and a bottle of Jack (plus Pepper hovering over him when he prayed to the porcelain god afterwards) to not want to destroy everything within reach because Edwin Jarvis and his parents had to die because those assholes were as active as always and nobody cared or realized it.
They, Phil and Tony, had kept Rogers out of the loop after figuring out that Barnes had been his Bucky. It was one of Phil's teams that found the base where the Winter Soldier had been kept in cryostasis. It was abandoned…no people, lots of dust, a few rats (of course), no electricity.
Nothing to run the life support systems of the cryo chamber.
Contrary to the layman's belief, you did not simply freeze and defrost people. Regular freezing was too slow, the ice crystals forming out of the water in the body would destroy cells. Whoever had developed the method to snap-freeze people should receive an award… well, had he or she not decided to work for murderers plotting world domination.
Slowly defrosting a body would be just as detrimental. It would die long before it reached a viable temperature.
And that was what had happened to Sergeant Barnes. The body was already decomposing for quite a while when it was found, they could not really tell whether it had been an accident during defrosting, or if he'd simply been left there, nobody caring what happened to him.
Rogers didn't believe it was Barnes when Coulson told him.
"He's as stubborn as a mule. And only sees what he wants to see."
"Well… then it's good he has someone who rubs his nose in it when he's an asshole, huh?" Letting go off T's hand, Dino lifted his arm, caressing his fingers over the other man's cheek, making him turn his head, so he could brush his lips over the engineer's.
"I think my freak out's over."
T reciprocated Dino's tender peck, smiling when the agent started crawling his fingers through his beard. He still wanted the goatee™ back, but maybe he'd indulge Dino for a while, grinning about the slight facial hair/lack of facial hair kink his boyfriend seemed to have.
"If anybody has the right to freak out, it's you, Dino", T responded, bumping his nose against his boyfriend's, getting another peck in return.
"Significant other, huh?"
"Yep."
They simply smiled at each other, Dino's fingers still carding through the wiry hair on T's cheek. It would take him some time to get over the need to lock up T somewhere safe. Having him here, at home, being able to touch, to cuddle, that was really helping, as long as he didn't think too much about his how much should I fuss scale.
T was on sick leave, would have to do some rehab, was banned from even thinking about using the suit for the foreseeable future with the prosthetics in his chest. Christmas was around the corner, and before long everything would be back to normal. At least that was what both of them hoped.
Cuddling even closer, Dino reached over T to switch off the light.
"I like that. I don't think I've ever been anybody's significant other before." Not even Wendy's. It had really hurt back then when she left him, when she'd said yes when he proposed and suddenly did not to want to spend her life with him anymore.
In the end it was better that way. Maybe Pepper had been right? Maybe they had been together all the time, and just didn't want to see it?
T chuckled as Dino nuzzled against his neck, catching his hand again and positioning it over his heart.
"Yeah. I like that, too."
Dino's nose once more was grazing the side of his neck, making T grin even more. Somebody really liked the beard, huh?
"You're going to get rid of the wood gnome looks, though, right?" was what Dino asked next.
They had to postpone sleeping then, because T was laughing so hard that he started hiccupping.
Now, where did you put that on the fussing-scale?
