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Steve stares at another man’s eyes in Howard’s face, and his heart aches. He’s so similar and so different all at the same time, this new Stark. Just as bold and brash as his father, just as arrogant, just as charming. But there’s something…brittle about him.
It’s something Steve saw in the eyes of countless men during the war. That diamond hard shell with a single crack. You could drag those men to hell and back and they’d never break, but if you hit that crack just right, just once, they would shatter.
Howard Stark had been a scientist, an inventor, a man whose strength was untried and untested.
Tony Stark is a soldier.
Not a perfect soldier, not by any means, and he still hides himself behind layers of play-boy personality, but it’s there.
They all have it, each of the avengers. It was something he could spot from the moment he saw someone; they held themselves differently, those who had taken the burden of war, one kind or another, and borne it. They joked and they laughed and they played, here, where it was safe, but the moment their skills were needed all of that vanished, and all that was left was the warrior, ready to work.
It just throws him a little, seeing that hardness in Howard’s son. They look so much alike…
He snaps out of his reverie, his body reacting almost before his mind registers the movement, snatching the small paper projectile out of the air in front of his face. He raises an eyebrow at Clint, who just smirks and winks at him before flicking another paper football at Natasha across the meeting table.
The Black Widow calmly brushes it aside with the blade of the knife she is sharpening, sending it cascading into the pile of similar projectiles already littering the table around her.
Neither of them notices Agent Coulson glaring at them as he continues the briefing. Steve feels a little guilty for letting his mind drift during a team meeting, because most of the time he’s the only one who actually seems to pay attention. Coulson has long since given up chastising them, and just gets through the mandatory briefings as quickly as possible. He will remind them of any relevant information when the need arises.
He stops for a word with Agent Coulson as the other avengers file out of the meeting room, and resists the urge to salute when he bids the agent farewell. Coulson too has that bearing that screams soldier to Steve’s instincts.
He steps out of the room and freezes.
There is Tony, standing with a man in civilian clothing and they are…kissing. Passionately. Right in front of at least three S.H.I.E.L.D agents.
Steve tears himself away from the sight, blushing and confused, and nearly flees down the hall, slipping into an empty room and leaning against the wall. He’d noticed the flirting, the way people looked at each other no matter their gender and without any hint of fear. He’d surmised that the general attitude was just some fluke of modern culture, that he was reading it wrong. To see that, right in the middle of the hallway…wasn’t something he had ever expected, even in the twenty first century.
There’s a soft knock on the door and Clint pokes his head inside. “Cap? You ok? You looked kinda freaked out.”
Steve stands away from the wall quickly, composing himself. “I’m…Yeah. I’m fine.”
The archer crosses his arms over his chest and gives him a skeptical look.
He sighed. “It’s just…Tony and…that man…”
Clint’s eyes narrow. “You have a problem with that sort of thing?” He asks, his voice a bit less friendly.
Steve hesitates. “I…No?” he says a little warily. “It’s just that they didn’t seem worried, at all. About people seeing them.”
Clint’s expression clears abruptly. “Oh that’s what this is about.” He grins at Steve. “Don’t ask don’t tell is a thing of the past Cap,” he says. “I won’t say that no one cares…there’s always someone willing to stick their nose where it doesn’t belong. But as far as most people are concerned, your love life is your business.” He pats Steve on the arm and turns to go. “Try not to worry about it too much.”
“Hawkeye,” Steve calls before he can walk out the door and Clint glances back at him. “Who is he? The man Tony was with?”
The archer shrugs. “Fuck if I know. Tends to change from week to week.”
Steve stands for a while after he leaves, and lets his mind absorb one more change in his world. Then he smiles. Of all the things he’s had to adjust to over the last few months, this one really isn’t so bad.