fandomhigh | Outdoor Activities, Week 1, Monday 1

The students in Outdoor Activities should have gotten an ~~handwavey~~ e-mail ~~or other handwavey notification if they couldn't read or receive e-mail~~ the day before asking them to dress for the weather and movement, and to meet at the edge of the preserve behind the dorms.

When they arrived, they would find Mr. Rogers waiting for them, dressed in a t-shirt and track pants, looking bright and cheerful. He also had a whistle. The students were going to learn to hate that whistle. "Good morning!" he said. "I'm Steve Rogers, and I'll be your instructor this term in 'Outdoor Activities.' We're going to get our fitness levels up--" well, not Steve's; this sort of thing was like a stroll in the park for him "--and hopefully have some fun along the way. Today we're going to start with a warm-up run, followed by some exercises, then an activity, and then some more exercises before a cool-down jog back to the dorm. Does that sound like fun? Good," he said without waiting for an answer. His whistle peeped and he barked, "Fall in!" and ran off at a pace a teenager in reasonable fitness should be able to keep up with into the woods.

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"Oh," Steve said, looking suddenly very tired. "Well, yes, that...happened."

Steve didn't like to talk about the divorce, okay? It had been bad. Really bad.

"Yeah," Tony replied with a nod as he looked away quickly. "So, I think we can safely say I'm not going to do any of that."

"Don't ever say never," Steve cautioned him. "It's hard to say what you'll do when the chips are down. It's hard to say how what you think is right will suddenly change. But just...be careful with your decisions. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was saving lives. Maybe he did." Of course, Steve got shot, so he wasn't inclined to be terribly charitable about it and sounded doubtful despite his best efforts to be neutral.

"Did he at least put bad people in jail?" Instead of employing them. God damn it, Tony.

Steve had to pause to think about it, which...said just about all that needed to be said, probably. "I'm sure he did," he tried, but it was a little weak.

"...yeah, other me is a jerk."

"He has his problems," Steve said, "but he's a good person, really." Deep down, under all the douchery.

Suuuuure he was. And Norman Osborn's hair wasn't terrifying.

Tony just sighed and let him keep thinking that. Because things were way more black and white when you were sixteen. "So, have you ever heard of a guy called Mr. Fix?" All causal like.

"...why would you ask?" Steve asked warily. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Tony insisted. Because that wasn't suspicious.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, head ducked, before looking at Tony and asking, "Would you like to try that again?"

"It really was an emergency," Tony assured him. "So, this girl from Rhodey's school was in trouble. Like, guys with guns trouble."

Police, Tony. They existed. "Go on," Steve told him.

"And he put her dad in the hospital already." A beat. "The guy with the whips did that, actually. But it was under Mr. Fix's orders because Mr. Potts was on the FBI task force investigating him."

That wasn't the important part, Tony.

"So, she called Rhodey for help after they started chasing her and since SHIELD doesn't seem to like taking anonymous tips on secure channels, I went to help."

Steve couldn't imagine why SHIELD would be reluctant. Really. Oh, teenagers. "What guy with the whips?"

"He called himself Whiplash." Tony was not impressed by that choice. "He was working for Mr. Fix."

Yeah, you get aaaall the villains.

"Ben cut off his hand."

The entire Z list, at least. Steve covered his face for a moment, muttering something about kids, before asking, "Is everyone okay? Should I know who Ben is?"

WAIT UNTIL THE UNICORN SHOWS UP. AND THE BLACK KNIGHT.

"Skywalker," Tony offered promptly. "And I won't be using the suit for a while, so you don't have to be concerned about that."

"You broke it, didn't you?"

"No!" A beat. "I'm making sure he can't hack my systems again."

That was actually more competence than Steve generally expected from the Fixer. "Yes, that would be a good idea. As would be not messing with him again and letting the adults handle it."

"I'm just keeping an eye on things in case he goes after Pepper again." Because SHIELD weren't there. Really. Not at all.

"...Pepper?" There was Pepper now? Good. Tony clearly needed Pepper in his life. She would fix things.

"...Rhodey's classmate?" Tony replied slowly. "She's insane, I swear. I have, like, twenty texts from her about if I know anyone in SHIELD because she wants a jet pack. But it's not twenty different messages, it's just one, long message."

"Pepper Potts?" That would be the sound of Steve's hopes for someone to inject reason and sanity crashing and burning.

Re: Talk to Steve

hoorayimrich.livejournal.com - 2011-05-10 05:18 (UTC) - Expand

screwyoumarvel - 2011-05-10 05:37 (UTC) - Expand