Note: Spoilers for Agents of SHIELD, S02E16 ('Afterlife'). Takes place just after the stinger.
"Not the First Time"
"Actually," Leo said around a bite of sandwich, and oh, that pesto aioli, "could you take me to the train station?" He didn't need as much identification as he would for air travel.
"Won't get you there as fast," the driver said.
"I'm in no hurry." Not while 'real' SHIELD didn't know that Jemma had performed a switcheroo.
"Don't get crumbs everywhere, okay?"
"I'm being careful."
It was time for a change of plans. Leo had ideas on how to open the toolbox, but if it was keyed to only authorised individuals, he would need help finding those individuals. If only he knew where to find Coulson… but wherever he was, Gonzales would be looking for him. And they had to keep the toolbox as far from the others as possible.
"Say," he said, leaning forward, "there's a national railway system, isn't there?"
"Yeah, dude, there's Amtrak."
"Does it go to every state?"
"You might have to change at a couple of stations."
"That's alright." No one would be looking for him. "What about getting to New York?"
"Yeah. Penn Station's the one you want, if you're looking to get to NYC."
Leo nodded. "Thanks. Big fan of Disney. There's usually some Disney show on Broadway, isn't there?"
The taxi driver laughed. "My girl loves Disney. She nearly bankrupted us going to Matilda, but she thinks it was the best thing ever."
"I'll make a note of it," Leo said, smiling as he raised his phone and looked up how to get to Stark Tower from Pennsylvania Station. "Thanks."
Damn good thing it wasn't too busy, or Leo would feel even more in over his head. He clutched his bag close, tried to make himself as small as possible, and kept his eyes peeled for danger.
Ah, bless whoever decided to number the streets so neatly. It wouldn't take all that long to reach Park Avenue from here. He grabbed a drink on the way, and then… it started to feel like everyone was watching him. That there were eyes on him, HYDRA's eyes, everywhere. He bought an Avengers cap (because why not?), shoved it down low over his head, and kept moving. Every red light slowed him down, and his heart didn't stop racing until he was safely inside the lobby of Stark Tower. Keeping his face away from the obvious cameras, he hurried to the desk.
"Hello, I'd like to see Mr. Stark," he said. The receptionist raised an eyebrow.
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.
"This was kind of a last-minute thing." If only he could mention SHIELD. "We… we have a mutual acquaintance. The same with the rest of the Avengers, really, but it's Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner I need to see most of all. Please? I can wait down here. Go through a weapons check, whatever's necessary."
"Sir—"
"Tell him I know Phil."
She looked at him dubiously. "Phil?"
"That's it. Just… tell him… them… that I know Phil."
"Last name?"
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"I'd rather not."
He continued to stare at her until she sighed, picked up the phone, and dialled a number.
"Mr. Stark? A young man here to see you. He says he knows a mutual friend named Phil." Her eyes widened. "You will? Very well, sir. I'll send him up."
Leo could hardly believe it as she replaced the phone in its cradle.
"Go into that elevator," she said, pointing to a lift with silver doors, "and it will take you straight to Mr. Stark."
"Erm… thank you." Slightly dazed, he walked over to the lift, and the doors opened on cue. It was obvious that one wrong move would end with him unconscious, and probably chained to a chair or thrown in a cell. He couldn't let them get their hands on the toolbox, so he was careful not to fidget at all. When the doors opened, he expected (hoped) that he'd be at the famous workshop, or on one of the research and development levels, but instead he appeared to have arrived at the Avengers' common area.
And they were assembled there because of him. Oops. He cleared his throat and stepped out of the lift, and immediately noticed Tony Stark standing to his right, leaning against the wall. It was an amazing moment, and he swallowed.
"I need your help, sir," he said. All he got in return was a raised eyebrow, and he tried not to hyperventilate under the pressure as the rest of them watched him, unmoving and intimidating.
"It'd better be interesting, Scotty, or I'll beam away," he finally replied.
No.
"Holy Christ!" Leo said. His carry bag fell to the floor. Like a shot, Clint Barton was there, kicking it away, and Natasha Romanov had Leo kneeling down with one arm bent behind his back. He swore loudly.
"JARVIS, have you scanned the bags?" she asked.
"There is an item made of vibranium in the backpack," a British voice said. So it was true about the AI running the tower. "It is a small cube."
"Don't touch it!" Leo said, knowing better than to struggle but desperate to nonetheless. "Please. I don't know what to do with it. That's why I need Mr. Stark, and possibly Dr. Banner."
"Don't touch the larger bag at all," Steve Rogers – Captain Bloody America! – said. "The Germans hid explosives in pens and left them lying around for children to pick up. Who knows what HYDRA might have rigged?"
"I'm not HYDRA. I'd never be HYDRA, not after what they did. I'd rather die. Hell, I said as much to Garrett." God, that'd been a horrible day.
"Mr. Stark, the elevator is about to arrive on this floor," JARVIS said.
"Are there any explosives in the bags?" he asked.
"Nothing detectable, sir."
Agent Barton nudged the carry bag away, and the door opened. Leo's jaw dropped.
"Agent Hill!" he blurted out. "Oh, thank God!"
"Agent Fitz?" Maria Hill said, staring at him. "Natasha, let him up. He's one of us, although I'd like to know what he's doing here."
The pressure was relieved, and Leo was helped to stand again. He glanced at Tony (he had to be Tony, just had to be), who was watching him suspiciously.
"Fitz?" he said. "You look familiar."
"Leopold Fitz. Erm… could I have my bag back?"
Agent Hill nodded, and Agent Barton handed it over.
"Thank you," he said. The archer just cocked his head slightly, and Leo swallowed before turning back to Agent Hill.
"Turns out there's another SHIELD," he said. "Gonzales is in charge. He sent two spies undercover… an' yeh know, I'm really sick and bloody tired of being betrayed by people I considered friends."
"Calm down, Fitz," she said. "What happened?"
"They came for this." He shifted his backpack around and fished out the toolbox. "Jemma made a fake one. I have no idea where Coulson is, nor where Skye or Hunter are, I can only hope they're with him. Jemma and May are still back at the Playground, and I haven't seen either of the Koenig brothers. Mack and Bobbi were the spies for… they call themselves the real SHIELD, but they're not. Fury gave this to Coulson, which means that it's important."
"Coulson?" Agent Romanov said. "Phil Coulson?"
"Our mutual friend," he said. "Did… didn't you know?"
Agent Hill sighed. "He was going to tell them himself one day."
"It's too bloody late for that! He's gone, and he needs this, but I don't know where to find him. I don't even know how to open the toolbox. I can only assume it's somehow keyed to him."
"Let me see."
True. She'd been deputy-director while Fury was alive; perhaps she could open it? He handed it to her, and then glanced at Tony, who was still watching him, his lips thin and white.
"Coulson was alive all this time?" he asked. Screw secrecy. Fitz couldn't lie to him.
"Except for the five days he was dead," he said. A few of the Avengers inhaled sharply.
"You really have no idea where Phil is?" Agent Hill asked. Leo shook his head. "I'll make enquiries."
"Thank you, Agent Hill."
"No," she said. "Thank you, Fitz. For getting this away from… the others."
"It was really Jemma," he said. "She made the copy, smuggled the real one into my bag, made me a sandwich… a really good sandwich, one of the best…"
"He's definitely not HYDRA?" the captain said.
"I don't have my lanyard anymore," Leo said. "They took it away when I left." Agent Hill rolled her eyes.
"Fitz nearly gave his life on more than one occasion when SHIELD fell," she said. "He's a good agent and a genius. Graduated from the SHIELD academy eleven years ago."
"How old are you?" Agent Barton said, sounding shocked.
"T-twenty-seven."
Tony Stark's grin was the very definition of unholy, and he held up a tablet with old newspaper clippings from Scotland. Christ. Skye hadn't deleted those, what the hell?
"You remind me of me when I was your age," he said. Leo's cheeks grew warm.
"Yeah, well." He couldn't think of anything else to say, and chose to stare at the floor, nervously shifting his weight. Agent Hill sighed.
"Stark, take him to your workshop," she said. "Help him figure out how to open this thing." She shoved the toolbox into Leo's hand. "I'll start looking for Phil."
"And ask him whether Hunter and Skye are with him?"
"Of course."
"We have to get the others back as well. They let me leave because Jemma told them that only she could open this, or I'd still be there—"
"Fitz." She touched his shoulder. "We'll handle this."
He nodded, and followed Tony into the lift, still holding onto his bag and the toolbox like his life depended on it. Perhaps it did? The lift doors closed, and he realised that he was alone. With Tony Stark. Who was possibly…
"I'm sorry," Leo said, putting the bigger bag down. "But I have to check."
"Check what?" Tony said. Leo raised his shirt and bared his torso, where his soulmark was written across the sensitive skin.
"Is this your writing?" he asked. Tony tensed, but stayed silent. "I'm sorry, but you said my words, and I had to ask, because no one else has ever said them to me, not those ones exactly, and certainly not as the first thing, and I… No, I'm sorry, it was stupid. Forget it." He shoved his clothes back down into place, cursing himself creatively in the privacy of his own mind and picking up the case again. Swallowing back the disappointment, he stared at his hands, feeling an unwelcome twitch where there shouldn't have been one, not anymore.
"…Let me have another look."
"What?"
"C'mon, kid, put the bag down, lift your shirt."
"No!" He backed off when Tony stepped forward. "I must've misheard. Just something I've been waiting to hear all my life, sometimes I think someone's said it, but they haven't. It'll happen one day, so…" He turned to face the doors, and prayed they would open soon. He hated his ears popping as much as the next person, but surely the lift could move faster than this?
"Been called Scotty a lot, have you?"
"When you're a Scottish engineer living in America, the nickname is inevitable."
Finally, finally, the doors opened. Leo hurried out, and tried to force himself to be excited that he was in Tony Stark's lab. But… he couldn't. He'd thought, for about five minutes, that he'd found his soulmate. Someone he'd admired nearly all his life, aspired to be like, had an extremely reasonable crush on, especially after Iron Man… Well, he was getting used to disappointment. And he would find his soulmate one day.
"Do you wanna see my soulmark?" Tony said, leading Leo into the workshop. "Put your bags there. Yep. Now give me… that's right. Do you wanna see my soulmark? Don't make me repeat myself again."
"No, I'm okay," Leo said. "It would only matter if I said your words, which I didn't—"
"You did."
"…Oh."
"But I'm used to people asking me for help. We let it get out that my soulmark was someone asking me to do something for them, but nothing specific."
"You'd have every reason to be suspicious."
"Billions of reasons, all right in the bank. Or on the stock market. Or… wherever. The point is… you said my words. I'm asking whether you want to check to see whether it's your writing or not."
Slowly, Leo shook his head. "I'd rather just get on with this, if you don't mind. I can be out of your hair as soon as possible, but I needed equipment in a place I could trust, an' could be safe from HYDRA. They want me dead, so…"
Tony gestured to a holograph table and switched it on. "Is it because I'm that much older than you?"
"N-no."
"Then what is it?"
"…Nothing. Can we just—"
"I'm thinking it's not nothing," Tony said, getting closer. Fist still clenched around the toolbox, Leo stayed where he was. He felt like a rabbit caught in a trap. Ah, hell.
"I… I need to—"
"I'm a genius, you're a genius; you can't seriously be intimidated, can you?"
"O' course I can!"
"And you don't have anything against Americans, or you wouldn't be in this country. Do you hate facial hair?"
"No, you're… perfect." Tony snorted. "For me. I mean, t-to me. I'm the one who's… who's…"
"Who's what, Leopold?"
"I p-prefer Leo." Oh God, he was too close. Oh God, hands were on his hips.
"What's the problem, Leo?"
He shut his eyes tightly. "We're not soulmates."
"Why aren't we?"
"`Cause I'm not that lucky."
Tony scoffed. "You and I have different definitions of 'lucky'."
"T-to find my soulmate at all."
He felt fabric shifting, and opened his eyes to see Tony kneeling before him and studying Leo's soulmark. Before he could get a good look, Leo wrenched away.
"Don't—"
"Is this your writing?" Tony stepped in front of him and raised his left sleeve. He peeled away a masking device, revealing… "No, look at it properly. Is it your handwriting?"
It was. Goddamnit, it was. But the words wouldn't come, no matter how hard he tried to find them, to force them out. Tony moved closer, so close, and rested their foreheads together, eyes fluttering shut.
"Say yes," he whispered. "Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, please…"
Leo nodded, brushing their noses together. "Y-yes. It's m—"
The rest of the words were muffled as Tony kissed him; cupped his cheeks, parted his lips, and bloody well kissed him. Leo's legs nearly went from under him in shock. He whimpered as two callused hands roamed up the skin of his back. They were warm where the air was cool, and felt so very safe. Gradually, he relaxed, just went with it. It took a clattering noise on the table to break them apart. Fury's toolbox, which Leo had dropped. Fortunately there was no damage, either to toolbox or table, and he laughed.
"Pretty sure Coulson and Jemma would both have my head if anything happened to this," he said, spinning it nervously. "Erm…"
"Do you have anything else?"
"That… that I need to study? N-not at the moment—"
"No, aside from your bags." Tony gestured to them. "Do you have anything else?"
"No. It's mostly projects and some clothes. I don't need much outside of what can be found and tinkered with in a lab."
"I'd say a man after my own heart, but you definitely need more than just that. We'll have to do some shopping. Here." He reached around Leo and switched off the table again. "Forget about Fury's toy for now. Let's go to my floor and—"
"But we need to do this, right now—"
"Hill will find Coulson. Right now I want to get to know my soulmate."
"Soulmate." Leo smiled. "I've wondered for a long time…"
"Not as long as me, kid. I'm nearly forty-five years old and you're not even thirty, Jesus Christ."
"I don't care `bout that. I want someone who could keep up with me intellectually, and… doesn't treat me any differently `cause of the brain damage."
"Brain damage?" Tony said, eyes narrowing. "Someone hurt you. HYDRA, wasn't it? Am I right?"
"I should've died, but Jemma saved my life. I was without oxygen for awhile, though, and unconscious in the water, and… So I'll understand if you'd rather not…" He avoided eye contact.
"…Leo, I'm just glad you're alive. I don't want to lose you because you think I'm better off that way. I'm not. I've waited all my life, spent nearly half of it thinking I didn't have a soul. The only thing giving me any real hope in Afghanistan was the thought that I still had to meet you, and that if I didn't get out of there then you – wherever you were – might get killed by one of my bombs, and it would be all my fault."
"Don't say things like that, Tony."
"You're my soulmate. You'll have to get used to the angst."
Leo touched their noses together. They were very nearly the same height. "I think we'll need to drag each other out of the doldrums."
"You'll stay here? With me?"
"Aye. I'd rather be here than anywhere else."
Stick two woobie engineers together. Smex them up. Watch productivity in the lab soar (and everyone else invest in headache medication).
So! Pairing requested by the_girl_of_a_thousand_words. Couldn't help myself, after the latest episode. Have tech thing but no lab? Need lab protected from HYDRA and 'real' SHIELD? Head to NYC! And invoke the sacred name of Coulson in the hallowed halls of Avengers HQ.
Please review, folks! Still working on other chapters *grumble-grumble* but I was on a roll with this one. (Referred to Matilda because the music was written by an Aussie. So there.)