#background samsteve

The guy says stuff like “I shot myself with a boomerang arrow.” “I was skydiving with my dog and my parachute got caught on a tree branch, and an eagle attacked me.” “I think that pizza I ate was too old.” “My old circus buddy tried to kill me. He failed.” “I fell out of the vents, and the bad guys beat me up.”

 Today Tony comes in because he had to jump through a window to avoid Sunset Bain. He now has glass sticking out of his side, and he’s sitting calmly until a doctor can see him. The man limps in, bloody and skin mangled on his leg. The others in the ER gasp as he signs in and takes a seat beside Tony. “Hey man, what you in for?” He asks.

 “Jumped out a window to avoid my ex.”

 “Mood.” The man nods sagely. “I just battled a cougar and won. Before you ask, yes it was the cat kind, although I don’t doubt that a middle-aged woman couldn’t do this if she was rejected.” He gestures to his leg. Tony barks out a laugh.

 “Oh, they could. Trust me. By the way, I never got your name. Or did you want to stay anonymous?” Tony asks.

 The man shakes his head. “We’d go great no matter how we do it. Name’s Clint.”

 “I’m Tony.”

“Yea, I know.” When Tony looks at him, surprised, Clint pats his shoulder placatingly. “You’ve got these people fooled with your greasy shirts and hats, but I never forget a face. Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out. But why do you come to this crappy ER all the time? Aren’t you supposed to go to the ones that are made for rich people?”

 Tony shrugs. Truthfully, the first couple time he came, it was because he had happened to be in the neighborhood when disaster struck. He had struck up conversation with Clint, and he decided that if he were able to talk with him, Tony would keep coming to this ER. “I don’t know. I’m in the area a lot, I guess.”

 Tony gets that he has problems. He knows that he quickly falls in love with anyone who will show him kindness or even just the time of day because he didn’t get enough love and attention from his parents as a child. He goes to therapy, and he does make an effort to figure out which people are being nice only because they want something, which people are just simply being nice, and which people are flirting. It’s still hard sometimes, like now. He doesn’t think Clint wants something because 1.) he just said that he won’t rat Tony out and 2.) he could have taken Tony’s wallet very easily many times. But is Clint just a nice dude, or does he like Tony?

 A nurse gets Tony just as another comes for Clint. Tony lies on his side for far too long as they pull glass from his body. When he’s cleared to go, the doctor tells him, “You have to be more careful, Mr. Stark. You’re not invincible, and I’d hate to see anything happen to you.”

 “Thanks Doc. I’ll do my best.” He shakes the man’s hand.

 On his way out, he sees Clint talking to a beautiful redhead. She is reaming him out in Russian, calling him and idiot and a few other unsanitary words. Clint tries to console her, but she grabs his hand and pushes him into her car. She speeds off, still shouting in Russian. Tony’s heart drops. He has no chance with Clint now. No one would give up a woman like her for him unless they wanted something.

 The next time Tony gets hurt, he goes to the ER near his home. He is in and out shortly, but Tony feels incomplete. He misses the easy camaraderie with Clint. I can still joke with him as friends, right? There’s no harm in that. He reasons, but he chickens out the next time, when he accidentally burns his arm with his blowtorch, and then when he gets shot. This keeps happening until it has been at least three months since he last saw Clint.

 Tony gets drunk in a bar | in Brooklyn. Very, very drunk. The thing about being a Stark – you can hold your liquor very well, and even when you are so drunk most people black out, you can still walk and talk albeit hindered a little. Well, Tony is that drunk, and this is when he tends to overshare. He’s telling the bartender, a beefy man with long brown hair, about Clint. “So, there’s this guy, you know. Only time I see him is when I go to the ER. He’s really cute, he’s got like tons of biceps, and he’s funny. We used to see each other all the time, and I think I love him. But one time, I saw him, and he had a girlfriend. Super, smoking hot redhead – like I don’t even stand a chance. So, I’ve been avoiding him. It’s dumb because he doesn’t know I like him, and I keep convincing myself that I can still talk to him as friends and such, but then my brain just tells me he has a girlfriend, and I end up going to an ER near my house. You know?”

 “Not really.” The bartender grins. “But I’m not an ER regular.”

“That’s too bad. It’s fun there sometimes.” Tony pats his hand somberly. “Sometimes we freak people out with our injuries. But we’re calm. It happens so much that we’re just like ‘meh’.  The doctor told me to be careful because I wasn’t invincible, and I was like ‘ok, I’ll tell my enemies to stop trying to kill me. I hope it works.’”

 The bartender throws back his hand and laughs. Tony drains his glass of Scotch and asks for another. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” The bartender asks. What was his name? Barney? Barn?

 “Barnes!” Yells someone from the other end of the bar. “I need a mimosa stat!”

 “Shut your whore mouth Wilson!” Barnes yells back. “I’m not serving you anything after what you and Steve put me though last night!” He turns back to Tony. “The dude’s dating my step-brother, and our walls aren’t soundproofed. I hate them so much.”

 “I could soundproof your walls for you.” Tony offers. He’s not sure why he offered, but he did. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before.

 “Thanks for the offer, but Nat and I will get them back at some point. Maybe we’ll do it on the couch.” Barnes grins. “Someone else can make Sam’s mimosa. Wanda’s working that end of the bar anyways.” He gives Tony one more Scotch and says, “This is your last one. I’m going to have to cut you off because I don’t want you to die.”

 Tony quietly sips on his drink while Barnes makes other drinks. Once done, he stuffs a few hundreds in the tip jar and turns to leave when a scarlet-haired woman sits on the stool beside him. Tony blinks at her for a second, thinking that she looks familiar. Barnes’ face lights up, and he comes over to her. “Hey, come here often?” He asks, fake seductively.

 “Don’t be an idiot,” She tells him and pulls his face in for a kiss. Tony realizes why he thinks she looks familiar. She’s Clint’s girlfriend!

He spins on his stool to face them. “You bitch!” He yells at her, then clamps a hand over his mouth as Barnes growls a warning. “I am so sorry. I don’t know your situation. You could have broken up with him, or hey, you’re a threesome, or an open relationship. I’m sorry. I was just caught up… and I’ll just go.”

 Tony stumbles off the stool and heads out of the bar. Mind swirling with liquor and shame, he doesn’t notice he’s in the street or the ugly purple car headed towards him until it’s too late. Frozen, he stares down the lights until the car smacks into him.

 Lying on the ground, the last thing he remembers is a person jumping out and yelling, “What are you doing, you idiot? Tony?”

 Tony wakes up in a strange place. He feels like he should be in the hospital, but he’s not. Looking around, he sees a lot of… purple. “Ugh, no one should have this much purple anything,”

 “I take offense to that.” A voice says. Wait… that’s Clint. Tony wildly tries to sit up, and Clint comes into his line of vision. “Hey, hey lie back down! I don’t think anything’s broken, but you should probably just let your body rest for a while.”

 “What happened?”

 “I hit you with my car because you were standing in the middle of the street. Why were you standing in the middle of the street?” Clint looks worried.

 Tony tries to wave him off. “You know, just for the thrill.”

 “Tony, most things I do are just for the thrill, and I know it’s idiotic to stand in the middle of the street.”

 “Yeah well, the thing I did before it was idiotic, too, so I’m pretty good at that.” Tony sighs. He doesn’t really want to get into it because Clint will probably make him leave. Tony’s good at leaving. Everyone makes him leave after they learn his true self. Ah, well, what does he have to lose but the love of his life?

 “So, last time we were both at the ER, I saw the woman who picked you up. I guess I just figured you were dating the way you both interacted with each other,” Tony explains. “Well, at the bar last night, she came in and made out with the bartender. I called her a bitch because my first thought was that she was cheating on you. Then I remembered that it had been three months, and I didn’t really know anything about you – you might have broken up, or were poly, or open relationship. Point is, I’m an idiot who speaks before he thinks then faces the consequences, even if they’re not direct.” He is very confused when Clint starts to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

 “I can’t believe you called Natasha a bitch and still live to tell the story.” Clint says between gasps. “That’s fuckin hilarious. I am sorry that I hit you with my car.”

 Tony is thoroughly confused, and Clint takes pity on him. “Natasha is dating Bucky, the bartender. She’s my best friend and confidante. She gets angry when I do stupid things, but I still do them. We are not dating, never have, and never will. Hopefully, that clears things up.”

 “A little.” Tony just feels disoriented. This is not something he has ever had to deal with before.  

 There’s a knock at the door. This “Natasha” pokes her head in. “Hey Clint, is he ok?”

 “Yea, come in. Tony meet Natasha Romanoff. Natasha, this is Tony Stark.” Clint gestures to the both of them.

 Natasha smirks. “Hi Tony.”

 “Hi,” He says weakly. “I’m sorry for calling you a bitch. I sometimes talk before I think, and I’m sorry.”

 “Just don’t do it again. Are you guys hungry? Bucky’s making blini.”

 Clint nods. “Tell him I love him. We’ll take two plates. You like blini, right?” He directs the question at Tony.

 “I think so. I’ve only had them once or twice,” Tony says. When Natasha leaves, he tells Clint, “You don’t have to stay with me. I’ll be fine.”

 “Well this is my room, so I want to stay here. By the way, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while. I was starting to think you took my fancy ER comment seriously.”

 Tony grimaces. “Well, it’s a long story. But I did end up going to the ER near my house a couple times. It’s hard to get no injuries in the stuff I do.”

 “Well, I don’t blame you for going to the uber fancy ERs, you know, because there’s better service or whatever. But if you do, can we hang out somewhere other than the ER, then? I kind of missed you, man.” Clint looks at Tony earnestly.

 “The main reason I stopped going to our ER is that I saw you with Natasha and thought, ‘how could I ever compete?’ I would tell myself to just go. I could talk to you as a friend, and not me crushing on you, but I always psyched myself out when I got hurt, and I just went to the ER by my house.”

 “You’re crushing on me? Wow. I did not know that. I crushed on you the first day I saw you, and I thought you were just being nice. I’m a dumpster fire on my best days.”

Tony is the son of a millionaire. His father has disowned him because he had refused to follow the family business of making weapons. Tony is a pacifist and will only blow things up for entertainment value.  He has bad dreams that keep him up most nights. Clint likes to be the one who holds him when the terrors get too bad.

  The next to arrive are two adopted bothers, Steve Rogers and James “Bucky” Barnes. Once hearing Rogers’ voice and enthusiasm, Mr. Fury makes him ringmaster immediately.

  Bucky always had a way with animals. Mr. Fury had acquired some new cubs, and Bucky raised and trained them, never once using a whip. He loves those cats, and they love him. It’s always a wonder to see them interact.

  Thor comes next, then Bruce Banner, who is Hulk. Everyone fits in well together, becoming a found family. Clint, Tony, and Bucky grow closer and begin to date each other. Life on the road is tough, and one needs to love those around them.

  “Next stop is St. Louis,” Bucky says, resting his head on Clint’s bicep. “I wonder if they’ll let us look around. I always wanted to see the Gateway Arch.”

  “It usually depends on how quickly we set up and the weather. Hopefully we can, though.” Tony looks up from his drawing. “I can’t wait until we get to Philadelphia. My best friend in high school lives there. We’ve talked a little recently, and I want to see him.”

  Sam Wilson, the human cannonball and Steve’s boyfriend, saunters into their train car. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Fury says if we get set up right away, we will have time to explore. First show doesn’t start til three. As long as Barnes’ kitties cooperate.”

“Shaddup Wilson.” Bucky flips him the bird. He and Sam have a love/hate relationship on the outside, but they truthfully enjoy each other’s company.

  Sam is right, though. Sasha and Angel have been sick the past couple of days, which makes them cranky. When the big cats are cranky, Bucky is the only one they allow near their sleeping areas. He hopes they will be ok without him for at least an hour.

  As Sam takes a seat at their table, Clint produces a deck of cards. Tony puts away his drawing, and the four play a game of Texas hold ’em until they arrive in St. Louis.

  Set up goes fairly well, and Bucky, Tony, and Clint make their way to the Gateway Arch. Clint buys them all turkey legs for lunch. Tony buys pins that they stick on their bags. They hope to collect at least on pin from each major city in the US.

  All too soon, their fun is over, and they have to prepare for their show. Clint chooses his targets and arrows, Tony finds the perfect area to set off his chemicals, and Bucky gets his girls ready for the show. Sasha is feeling better, and she shows it by pouncing on him playfully. Angel is more reserved, but he can tell she is happy to see him. Gloss runs in circles around him, and Petey practices her stalking routine. Sultan, the old tigress, lies on her bed watching them tiredly. She doesn’t do much, except emit a loud roar on cue. Bucky loves her.

  The show is about to start. Steve begins the show by welcoming everyone. He goes on his routine spiel about the wonders to be seen. Clint is part of the first act, and he kisses his men on the way out. Bucky and Tony never get tired of watching his show with Nat; the way they fly through the air, twisting and bounding. Clint shoots arrows at targets behind Natasha, and the crowd gasps as she lithely slips out of the way. Sure enough, Clint’s arrows always hit each target dead center.

  Bucky goes on near the end of Clint’s show. The crowd oohs and ahhs at the young cats’ tricks. When prompted, Sultan sits up straight and lets out her mighty roar. Bucky is happy. Everything is going well.

  Tony’s act is not until the end. He sends everyone off with a beautiful light show. Bucky is wowed by the show even though he has seen it every night for the past three years. Tony somehow outdoes himself each night.

  One week later, the circus is in Toledo. Unfortunately, so is HYDRA circus. They are known for poor working conditions and animal cruelty. Mr. Fury sets up a guard so that SHIELD circus does not get sabotaged.

  Someone still somehow sets off firecrackers near the cat car. Confused and agitated, they young cats don’t recognize Bucky when he comes to feed them the next morning. They attack, badly mangling his left arm. He is able to get them to recognize him before they do too much harm, but his arm is broken and barely attached to the shoulder. He will be unable to perform for a few months at least.

  The owners of the circus sent Bucky a letter, firing him and sending a large severance check. In the letter, they tell him they are sorry for the unfortunate circumstances, but his job does have the tendency for occupational hazards. After reading, Bucky throws the letter down in frustration. “I raised those cubs for him. I trained them all to be completely obedient. And now that I’m indisposed for a month or so, they’re going to fire me?”

  “They what!?!?!” Tony is incensed. He storms over to Fury’s tent, Clint following closely behind, with the letter and demands to know what’s going on.

  Fury shakes his head. “I didn’t vote for it. Barnes is the best in the field, but you can’t reason with dumbasses.”

  “You call the owners.” Tony smiles sweetly. “And you tell them that if they fire Bucky, I quit.”

“So do I.” Clint puts in. “And you know I bring in most of the crowd. I haven’t missed yet, and you know about the betting pools.” He crosses his arms. “Let us know what they think.”

  Bucky cries when Fury tells him that he is ok to stay on. His arm heals as best as it can within the span of a few months. Steve and Tony design tattoos for Bucky to get to hide the scars on his arm.

  When the circus finally gets to Philadelphia, Tony introduces his best friend, Rhodey, to them. Rhodey fits in quite well with the others for the few days they stay in Philly. They say goodbye to tour the rest of the country, but once this tour is over, everyone as a whole decides to retire from life on the move.

  They buy a large house in the Philadelphia suburbs and live as one happy family. Rhodey moves in once his apartment lease is up. Tony’s parents die a year later in a car accident, leaving their fortune to Tony. He buys a bigger house and becomes their sugar daddy. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Quickly finding out what he had been changed into, Tony had to learn how to contain his lust for blood. Instead of drinking the blood of a human, he would instead drink the blood of animals. The food did not taste nearly as good, but Tony knows it’s a small price to pay for immortality.

 He figures the best way to stay undetected is to live in obscurity. If no one knows him, no one will notice if he lives on throughout the centuries. Finding odd jobs here and there, he is hired by a painter to be his muse for an art piece. Unfortunately for Tony, the painting is now hanging in the Louvre.

 Tony takes part in different protests and wars as they come and go. He just lives, finding and outliving his friends and lovers. Several have asked him to turn them, but he always refused. Tony never wanted to be responsible for someone else’s future.

 After four hundred years, Tony grew tired of his immortality. He would start to hint to his species. Once he told so many people, they first tried to exorcise him, then burn him at the stake. When neither of them worked, they pushed him out of their lands.

 Tony comes to America in the 1800s. He helped build the railroad, mined for gold in California, freed slaves, bought a farm, wrote a few books, fought in World War I, struggled through the Great Depression, fought in World War II, protested the Korean and Vietnam Wars, went to Woodstock, created a multi-billion dollar hi-tech corporation, and most recently, started a band. He came out to Rhodey within the first month of meeting him. Rhodey, the angel he is, took it in stride. Although he had his own life away from Tony, he told the vampire to call if he ever needed help. He would later join Tony in his band.

 He takes the proper precautions to make sure he is not caught. To make himself sound like “an eccentric genius”, he will not pose for pictures. He only likes painted and drawn portraits. When he’s in the sun, his irises turn a blood red. When he’s out in the daylight, he makes sure to wear dark-colored shades to hide his eyes. He moves from place to place and changes his name or isolates himself long enough to seem like the son of his former self. His secret has stayed safe for seven hundred years… only to be figured out by some fucker who believed in conspiracy theories. But he’s a cute fucker, so Tony will allow it. What are they going to do, kill him? Good luck with that.

 Tony corresponds with Bucky until his tour is over. Returning to Bucky’s city, he meets up with the man. Going on dates, they hit it off very well. After the third date and a very enthusiastic fucking, Bucky introduces him to his flat mate and his flat mate’s boyfriend. They are concerned to learn that Tony is, in fact, a vampire.

 “Are you going to suck Bucky’s blood?” Steve demands.

 Tony grins toothily, letting his fangs show. “Darling, I haven’t had human blood in seven hundred years. I’m not going to start now.”

 Bucky’s post goes viral. There are memes about it everywhere. In an interview, someone asks Tony if he’s aware that people believe he’s immortal. He just laughs and says, “There’s not a wrinkle in sight. If I’m not immortal, my moisturizer must be great!”  People realize he never denies the claim.

 Tony quickly realizes that he is in love with Bucky, like love of the ages, in love with Bucky. He’s never felt this way before, and he doesn’t know how to react. He wants… he’s ashamed to admit it… he kind of wants to turn Bucky. He won’t ask, though. He doesn’t want to damn anyone else to this fate.

 One night in bed, Bucky notices Tony is not his talkative self. “What’s up, buttercup?”

“I’m just having an existential crisis.”

 “Your first ever?”

 “I think so.” Tony rubs his eyes. “It’s nothing.”

 Bucky rubs his hand up and down Tony’s back. “If it matters to you, it matters to me. I’m willing to listen.”

 “It’s just…” Tony caves. “Do you ever think that you’re going to get old and die, and I’m going to be left heartbroken?”

 Bucky looks like he was going to say something, but he catches himself. He instead says, “It has crossed my mind several times. Why?”

 “I’ve had plenty of partners throughout my lifetime, but none that made me feel like you do. And it made me think, would you want to be turned?”

 “I’m interested.” Bucky looks Tony in the eyes. “What would happen to me if I did?”

 “You’d have to isolate until you are fully trained to eat animal blood. We cannot afford any deaths due to bloodlust.” Tony tells him seriously. “It will be very hard at first, but you’ll get there. You’ll never get sick again, but you will have to get used to having to leave those you love to quell any suspicion.”

 “Does living feel any different?” Bucky whispers.

 Tony shakes his head. “Other than the realization that you will probably never die, no.”

“Did… did you just say that… I’m a… vampire?” Stark asks. Bucky nods, not trusting his mouth. Stark sags into his chair. “Oh Hallelujah.” He sighs. “Do you know how long I had to keep that secret? EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS!”

 Bucky’s eyes widen. “You-you’re serious?”

 “Take a picture of me,” Tony suggests.  Bucky slowly pulls out his phone and takes a picture. It’s like he took a picture of an empty room.

 “No shit.” He breathes. “You mean to tell me… I’m actually right for once? Yo. I. Thank you.” He hugs Stark, who looks bemused.

 “Happy to help? But remember, blackmail is not an option. No one will believe you. Believe me, I had a rough patch where I tried to convince people. They didn’t even believe me when they set me on fire, and I still lived.”

 “Why would I blackmail you? You made my life have meaning.”

 The door bangs open, and a clean-shaven black man barges in. “Tones, Happy said you have a visitor. Want me to take care of him?”

 “I’m right here.” Bucky raises his hand.

 Tony shakes his head. “No, I’m having a good chat. Listen, I’d love to talk more, but unfortunately, I have to be in the next city by tomorrow morning. Not very fun. How about I give you my number, and we text each other?” He fishes out his phone.

Bucky is not taking any of it. “You’ll see. I’m going to meet him.” He holds up a ticket. “I’ve got a VIP stage pass for their concert here in two weeks.”

 “Woohoo.” Sam waves his hand boredly. “Steve, you really want to call this guy your best friend?” He jokes.

 “Shut up, Wilson. Next time I won’t let you share my peanut butter crunch cereal.” Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch is a sacred food in Bucky and Steve house. You do not eat it unless 1.) you bought it or 2.) the owner of the crunch lets you have a bowl. Bucky hoards this peanut butter crunch like a crow hoards its treasure.

 Sam apologizes. “I’m sorry. Please let me eat the crunch.”

 “Bow before the crunch king!” Bucky yells. Sam falls to his knees.

 “Forgive me!”

Bucky nods solemnly. “By the power vested in me by the Holy Crunch, you are forgiven. Be free to crunch said crunch once more.”

 Bucky loves Steve and Sam. They’re his best friends, but they just don’t get why he’s interested in conspiracies. Why he needs this.

 After getting discharged the Army for losing his arm in combat, Bucky was drowning. He was sinking further and further with nothing to hold on to… until he found his people. Now, Bucky knows more than half of the theories are at least 98% percent untrue, but they keep his mind focused on something. He’s not stupid; he’s not a Flat-Earther. He also knows there’s a big chance that Tony Stark is not a vampire, and he won’t care if he’s wrong. To tell the truth, Bucky started researching him because he found Tony incredibly interesting and attractive. He then started seeing the signs. Now he believes it. Tony Stark is a vampire. He’ll take garlic backstage if he needs to.

 Tony Stark – a Vampire? He types out as on his blog to post. He types out his long explanation, showing his reasoning and examples. Hitting “Post”, he logs out and goes to bed. He’s too tired to look at any replies he might get tonight.

 There. Are. 15k notes on his post when he logs back in the next day around noon. His online friends have added their thoughts. The one he really paid attention to is the reblog of BlackWidow who added more pictures and a long addition. She said, “Wowwwww… you made me think. And think I did… got no sleep last night. Look at this! Here’s a picture of immigrants arriving here in the 1800s. Someone took a black-and-white photo, while someone else painted the same scene. Who do you see here, in the back?” She circled a person in the painting that does not show up in the photograph. “Tell me that does not look like Tony Stark.”