textbook narcissism.

❝  what can i say,  stark. we’re living through some astonishingly lawless times. where nothing makes sense and they refuse to take my suggestions renaming their cold brew ‘ carol danvers ’ to reflect those chilly witticisms of hers.  ❞

❝  about THAT  …  there’s actually nothing for thor there. but don’t tell him,  he has magic lightning face powers and probably doesn’t like being excluded.  ❞

❛ Oh I’m DEFINITELY telling him. ❜ 

Clark heaves his breaths and lets the practiced shake of barely masked terror reverberate through his voice. It was a good thing Stark was ever the prepared tactician, but they, and the other people stuck on this floor with them, weren’t out of the woods yet. “No yeah…I mean…do you have another explanation for why it’s seems to be chasing after us?”

❛ UH, I DUNNO–– heat-seeking missile type technology, maybe? There’s more than ONE way to skin a cat. ❜ He turns, the technology in his lenses already mapping out multiple escape routes. ❛ Feeling like a hero today? Help me herd that group of people toward the fire escape–– I’ll cover you. ❜

His jaw SHIFTS, just short of GRINDING HIS TEETH together because OF COURSE Stark’s gonna come out SWINGING.  All Clint wanted to do was pick up dinner ingredients.

❝ Why WOULDN’T I be willing to FACE YOU ? ❞ Clint wants to know.  ❝ Pretty sure I could SNAP YOUR NECK before you ever got the suit on. ❞  

( There, how’s that for a FLEX, Stark ? )

❝ As OPPOSED TO PRISON, you mean ?  I LIVE HERE. ❞

❛ SO WHY HAVEN’T YOU? ❜ Stark asks, venom in his voice. ❛ Rumor ‘round town is that you’re sorta INTO that these days. ❜

He squares his shoulders, still feeling dwarfed despite being several meters away and trying not to SHOW it. Brows flick upward, challenge enough because he knows the brief gesture won’t go unnoticed by the archer. 

“you asked how living a life of peasantry was going. i assumed you were genuinely interested and thought i’d show you the fun of public transportation.”

that’s a lie of course. kate was an asshole and she was bored and convincing tony to take the bus to jersey seemed like a fun thing to do.

❛ IT WAS MOSTLY A JOKE–– ❜ he huffs quietly, listening as F.R.I.D.A.Y. runs a subtle background check on the bus operator, complete with results on their last training session.

It’s rather graceless, the way Thor beams into the lab with a stack of pizza boxes a dozen high. He pretends that he isn’t dangerously close to knocking a mechanical doohickey off its table and sidesteps over to Tony, hoping that the sincerity of his smile would infect his unsmiling friend. 

“Don’t be absurd,” he says calmly, like he didn’t almost crash into something important-looking. “On my planet, I am much wealthier than you are. I can afford pizza. Especially with my Avengers discount.” He scans the space for the best place to set the offending boxes down and decides the corner of the table Tony is sitting at will do. “It’s late and I had a feeling that you would be here, and an even stronger feeling that you’ve had nothing but coffee for quite some time. But, er, I couldn’t remember what kind of pizza you like the best, so I just got you one of each.”

                  A HAND CUPS HIS EAR , feigning as though he hasn’t heard–– because he doesn’t want to KNOW about a so-called ‘Avengers discount’ ( a Clint Barton invention if he’s ever heard one ). ❛ Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see your tax returns, buddy, ❜ he grumbles. 

IT’S NOT ANNOYANCE    which shades her otherwise calm disposition.    (    Look, there : the rhythmic way she drums her fingers against her arms, the give and pull beneath marbled cheekbones.   )    ——-    But half the fun is in maintaining passivity. Transparency can, then, be saved for someone else. 

Finally, she speaks.    “    Now why would you want to go and do that?    ”  

REGRETFUL–– –– the way he can never get a reaction from the woman, but DAMN if that doesn’t stop him from continuing to try. Electric blue, the shade his irises filtered through the holo-screen at his console, GLIMMERING with mirth barely hidden. A brow twitches, the pads of his fingers roll the pen upward to GESTURE.

He makes a lot of JOKES about having BAD LUCK but somehow it REALLY DOES always seem to BITE HIM IN THE ASS.  NEW YORK CITY is huge & over-crowded & the PROBABILITY that he’d randomly run into someone HE KNOWS should be absurdly low.

& YET. 

There’s nowhere for him to go now –––––––– he knows he’s already been SPOTTED ( & he isn’t really the type to TURN TAIL & RUN. ) 

❝ STARK. ❞

@tstvrk !!

❛ SURPRISED YOU’RE STILL WILLING TO STAND AND FACE ME. ❜

             Already on the offensive. Well done. It’s easy to be THAT GUY when you’re packing heat in the form of nano-tech at your wrist ( and suit, shoes, and glasses ). A step, the buttery leather of his sole not making much of a sound atop the pock-marked side alley asphalt. Stark pauses.  

❝  that’s exactly what i’m saying.  ❞

❝  —  they’ve made a MOCKERY of the licensing game. their hulk out mochi coffee isn’t even creative. but damn them, if they aren’t the best in flavor infusion. we should go there every. day. really teach them a lesson on parody laws.  ❞

❛ Mochi coffee instead of your standard MATCHA latte? This place should be out of business. ❜

———  DADDY ISSUES ?  he loved his pa. and for one fleeting,  human moment,  arthur almost felt bad that this clearly wasn’t tony’s case. would explain a lot though.  ❝  i’ve been warned that someone topside has stolen goods they have no rights to. things that belong buried at the bottom of mariana’s trench never to be seen or heard from again.  ❞

fingers relax,  threading between prongs of neptune’s trident. ❝ got any leads about that ? cases of weird tremors, maybe a blanket sense of inexplicable dread ? ❞ preferably not related to this conversation.

❛ AGAIN, YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR JURISDICTION. ❜

“WHA-?” kate gaped in the doorway, face indignant. she’d barely walked in the doorway before tony started speaking.

      “i have not asked for a single thing, Stark. can’t a girl just visit with a family friend?” 

❛ NOPE. Not today. Full schedule. Very busy–– ❜

He’s on his way out the door, except she’s in it, and he doesn’t want to FORCE contact by squeezing past ( that’s just awkward ). 

“You seem to feel STRONGLY about this.”

“Pretty sure a concrete dissolving sentient goo is an absolutely not for most people Mr. Stark,” Clark returned as a matter of factly as he slammed the current door in front of them shut to halt the encroaching slime.

Elevators are a no, stairs are now also a no. This is going to be bad for them and all the other stuck on this floor with them unless gets here to help soon - someone not him since he was stuck in civilian garb. That or Stark finally decided to summon his suit instead of being squeamish.

The suit’s up before he even finishes the thought, nano-tech slotting into place more like a REFLEX than an actual command, but he’s still looking his companion–– the skepticism on his face doesn’t translate through the gaze of the mask. 

Steve didn’t know what to expect — something to mark the PASSAGE OF TIME, he supposed. And maybe Tony looked a little tired, maybe he looked a little scruffier… but maybe Steve was just looking at a ONCE-FRIEND and not recognizing much anymore.

“Haven’t had much access to clippers.” 

A LIE in and of itself — a sharp prod about his current status as fugitive, one that almost made him smile. ( He has gotten used to all this, hasn’t he? ) 

“…You doin’ alright?” It felt strange on his tongue, like small talk died somewhere between the first and second punch. He doubted very much that Stark brought him here to APOLOGIZE — they chose their respective sides long ago. Hell, maybe they’d chosen them before they’d ever taken the title of Avenger. 

❛ WE ALL SUFFER, ❜

                 comes his response to the beard comment, delivered deadpan and without any sort of empathy–– teetering on the edge of a joke but not quite coming to fruition with the amount of VENOM lacing its undertones. Many times Stark found he was matched parry for parry in verbal battles with Steve. It wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed unless he was in the MOOD for it, and right now he’d really rather secure the last word, if only for his own EGO’S sake.

The silence stretches out again, slow like the growth of an oil slick from a spill. 

❝   I find it difficult to believe you’re GREEN when it comes to anything.   ❞  she smiles in return, the slight growl in her tone highlighting the tease of possibility. Truthfully she was interested ——- rich men never want ANYTHING easy; and Tony Stark is no exception. What he can’t get either isn’t worth mentioning or the exact opposite. But then again, she’s had a lot of that lately. The situation at the MET had been the icing on the cake.  

(  a challenge is a challenge after all ——- and being on the edge of something this big was filling her with a different but equally satisfying sense of exhilaration… )

❝   … and you’re good for it, right ? I mean, I know where you work.    ❞  she drawls again, her tone warming, taking a step closer and tipping her head downwards, encouraging him to land on the rooftop where she stands. ❝    I don’t get out of bed for less than half a mil these days. So whatever you want better be worth my time.   ❞ 

❛ I THINK IT’S PRETTY OBVIOUS WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR–––

                    –– or do I need to spell it out for you? If you’re sniffing around for a hint, you could try the headlines in the Daily Planet, I guess. ❜ His words are accompanied by a dismissive one-shouldered SHRUG. She’s got a read on him, that’s for sure, so any ACT he’s trying to play up might as well be for his own ENTERTAINMENT. 

Tony actually LAUGHS, exposing a sliver of his throat in the darkness. He wants to laugh again when he realizes that the woman might not be JOKING. ❛ I’m good for it, sweetheart, and then some. ❜

❝ BELIEVE ME, M’NOT REAL DELIGHTED, NEITHER. ❞

Not that any o’ that is gonna stop him takin’ up three - quarters of the doorway like he’s got ANY BUSINESS whatsoever.  ❝ — — I take it flattery isn’t gonna get me anywhere ? ❞

❛ DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO ASK FOR, ❜ 

❝  you didn’t let me finish,  ❞   déjà vu, you saucy minx.  

❝  —  they have one called the captain americano that’s sold 75% off with a mustache mocha.  ❞

❛ –––– Wait. ❜ Stark pinches the bridge of his nose, mostly for EFFECT.

closed starter for @tstvrk

generated from here

“SORRY, it’s just that I get very nervous when someone else is driving.”

❛ YEAH, well, you should be–– I’ve seen the training documents for these bus drivers and I’m not really convinced most of them have the capacity to operate these things. ❜ 

He’s looking at his watch, eyes flicking between the lenses of his glasses and the array of passengers.