mucked | entranceway

I don't.

[ Realize, that is. ]

If I meet them, I might listen. There's like -- a solid 65% of me listening to them. That's a good shot, it's more than most people have.

[ Rogers is here, he is here, Pepper isn't and home is in flames. That's enough to earn him a solid second spot in the line.

He's more than willing to give her the first spot, however. ]

I can deal with him being here. The place needs him, he needs a purpose and a shave, I can live with that.

[ finally, he sits, he gives her a look. ]

You were right. We didn't fight. I can't promise you the same if Barnes shows up. You said last time they were both here. If he -

[ he shakes his head. ]

I don't know. I can't promise.

[ tony talks. peggy, for her part, is trying rather hard to listen. it's not often that she finds her powers of perception so crowded out of her own head -- but today it proves a struggle. her eyes meet his eyes, she tightens her hold on the mug, and starts talking before she starts thinking: ]

It was him. [ she breathes out the admission. ] Barnes. That's who Steve was so embroiled with, last time, that...

[ she'd told bits and pieces to tony, already. the fact that steve had found romance elsewhere. and deep down she knows she shouldn't be telling him this piece at all. it'll only make a strained peace all the more tenuous. ]

If he shows up again -- I can't promise I won't break his nose.

[ not quite as dire as what tony suggests, maybe, but there's a telling pained edge to it. and a mild censure, too, that tony should know better than to even imply death. ]

[ but the man he met the other day was drunk and tony half suspected it might have been linked to his aunt, if only because he found Rip Hunter in a similar state.

Which means - ]

He doesn't remember does he? That part?

[ if he did, it'd be too easy. of course it's going to be complicated. ]

No.

[ and tony's right. that missing memory makes it hard. because suddenly she'd been the bearer of twice the bad news. and steve, the ruddy decent bastard that he is, he apologized for it. ]

And I didn't tell him. [ she knocks back a mouthful of hot hot tea. ] Not everything, at any rate. I told him that he'd gotten himself involved with someone else, last time, and that I'd been holding a grudge. I didn't tell him who.

[ peggy doesn't want to talk about it. not with steve. for fear, maybe, that he might turn around and tell her those feelings for barnes had been there all the time -- that she'd been reading him wrong right to the very end. ]

Great. So he doesn't remember being a total douche and none of us can actually blame him for it since it's not his doing. He always does that. Somehow He gets away with things. He'll write you an apology letter tomorrow for things he can't remember and he'll still be sorry about because he's nice and decent that way.

[ how does that always, always!! happen. ]

God, I want to punch him.

[ she gives a rather uncharitable snort. ]

He already did. Well, there was no letter -- but he said sorry all the same. Sat right there, [ she gestures to tony's very seat, ] and ate crow.

And I bet it made you feel much better.

[ but after a moment, he lays the heavy sarcasm to rest and covers her hand with his. ]

You want me to get you my good scotch?

[ look, he tries not to drink anymore but one has to admit, this could be counted as an exception. ]

Oh, tempting though it is -- [ she holds onto tony's hand ] -- I may have actually had my fill of drink these past few days.

[ martinis (of all things!) with jane. scotch alone. and then there was rip, once she'd come across him, pickling in his own conclusions. oh yes. peggy's looking a little worn around her edges.

but with a glimpse at the minifridge... ]

But I'm curious about that ice cream you brought.

You know, before that one, I was off dairy? I promised Pepper - no dairy, no red meat.

[ he gets up, wanders to the minifridge and takes out an ice cream tube ]

Stark Raving Hazelnuts. It's brilliant, half of those came with an Iron Man action figure. This one doesn't but I have a feeling I can search long enough to add it into your collection.

[ she waves him in the direction of the tea cart -- suggesting, then, that it might be the only place to find spoons in her modest studio apartment. it's not as if she keeps a cutlery drawer. but there are few teaspoons sitting upright in a cup beside the kettle. next to a sugar dish, actually, despite the fact that peggy doesn't take hers sweet. ]

I wouldn't call it a collection. [ a beat. ] It's something more like one man's lost and found.

It's a collection.

[ he argues and tosses a spoon at her general direction ]

It shows your great pride. I can't whip up a picture of me from when I was five, I know what will happen. You'll show it to people and tell them, 'oh yeah that's my nephew, look how cute he was, I have no idea what happened'.

[ a snort of laughter. he's incorrigible, yes, but he has a way of brightening her bleak mood. they might both of them find themselves in an emotional pickle now that rogers is here, but his arrival doesn't spin this relationship of its axis. they find their beat and rhythm like they have for a while now -- almost since the day tony arrived. ]

What makes you so certain I don't already tell people a variation on the same?

[ He takes a spoon for himself and claims his seat once more. It cheers him up, getting to hear her laugh. It feels like a small victory against Wonderland. Honestly, it's a roller coaster - his whole stay here has been but it does feel just a bit better now. ]

Do you?

[ it seems like the thought is encouraging in its own right. ]

[ if she leans forward now then it's to scoop some ice cream for herself. ]

I've mentioned, off-hand and a couple of times, that I've got a nephew in the mansion. Yes.

[ even in this, she plays coy. ]

No names?

[ He asks, he tries his luck. ]

I mean, not that I can't imagine the shocked, 'not that douche?' but then you can always tell them I can do a double Windsor in my sleep so you obviously taught me something.

Try not to take it too personally, [ she counters, ] but tend not to go out of my way to defend your honour. As it were.

[ which has less to do with tony's bad behaviour and much much more to do with the fact that peggy isn't the sort to play verbal white knight for anyone -- unless it's a moment that really truly matters. she saves her emphasis for actions.

like right now when she, vulnerable, lets her enjoyment show after she samples a bit of ice cream. ]

Because we both know how much my honor means to me.

[ he takes a spoonful of ice cream himself but not much else. Instead, he simply leans back and shrugs ]

It's pretty liberating when people learn to expect the worst of you.

Or the least of you.

[ she watches him -- eyes shrewd, and inside wondering what are the odds that she'd be saying this exact same thing to tony, now, that she once said to steve. ]

I know a little of what that's like.

And you've never used that to your own advantage?

[ he gives her a little look, not devoid of a smile ]

Besides, that's different and you know it.

Oh, piffle. [ yes. piffle. ] It's only barely different. Either way, it's about leveraging everyone else's expectations against them. Taking what's unfavourable and making it work for you.

[ a beat. ]

And not letting anyone else's opinions define you. [ ... ] Not where it matters.

[ she taps her heart. ]

Don't they, though?

[ define him, that is. ]

There's no paying the debt I owe to people. To my world. I've tried to for years before realizing it's not going to happen, maybe it's not what Iron Man should be about. Not about me.

[ he rolls his eyes ]

Shocking, I know.

Making good on your debt and being defined by it are two very different states, Tony. [ she cautions him. ] And you'd be wise not to confuse the two.

I spiraled the world into a mess.

[ The weapons, first, the New York attack, later, Ultron, Vision, the Infinity stones, the whole lot. ]

I put us on a road and I'm not sure where it's going to end.

[ or perhaps he does, he had seen the vision, after all. ]

I promised not to waste my life, I made that promise. I still want to keep it I'm just not sure how.

Frankly, I don't care.

[ now that's not accurate. she cares a lot about the state of the world, about what's going to happen to it, about the road taken to get it there. but that's not what tony needs right now -- never mind that he'd come to her door with ice cream as means of settling her concerns and sore feelings.

she leans in; she takes another scoop. ]

You can say all the shite you want about yourself, Tony, it doesn't change how real those words were: your debt and your definition needn't be the same thing.

[ Perhaps it doesn't but he, as always, deflects, finds another line of questioning he has always wanted to pursue: ]

Ok, I have to ask you something but you may not like it - but I did give you ice cream.

[ so that has to make up for it, surely. ]

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