Second Chances

Thirty-One

Steve sat in the booth for another twenty minutes before his brain finally realized Tony wasn’t back. 

He guessed it was fair. Steve did run away from Tony after they first kissed. And he did push Tony away when his feelings towards Tony got too serious for him to process. It was fair. Tony was having an off day. He told Steve that he had to help out with the company─as flimsy as that excuse was. Maybe Steve really did say something wrong. It wasn't his fault he had the social skills of a man that’s been dead for seventy years. Steve knew this. He only had a few friends, and the only romance he ever had was Bucky, his childhood friend. 

And Tony. Tony was amazing. He could have anything and everything he wanted. He was brilliant, sexy, kind, rich, funny, and everything Steve has ever dreamed about. Of course, he didn’t think some lame-ass robot was neat. He probably was building something in his lab that was ten times better. He was Tony Stark, for fucks sake. He didn’t have time for Steve, and his excitement over a silly robot. He was just some guy. And Tony was...and Tony was amazing.

Steve sighed, leaving his half-empty cup of Iced Americano on the table. He tucked his hands into his pockets as he exited the store, looking up at the sky. 

The sun blazed down on him, hot and unyielding, and Steve started walking towards the parking lot where he parked his bike. He kicked at a rock on the road, watching it flip and skid across the pavement until it flipped off and into oncoming traffic. Steve rubbed the back of his neck and continued walking into the parking structure. 

He didn’t even notice the loud voices carrying through the room until he reached the men that they belonged to. One man, sporting a five o’clock shadow and too much gel for any person to use was leaning back against Mercedes-Benz, as another man yelled at him, throwing his bronzer-covered hands in the air.

Steve stood behind one of the pillars holding up the parking structure, hoping that the two men would walk away, and he could get on his bike without interrupting whatever they were talking about.

“You don’t get it, Aldrich! Tony─Tony is the investment of a lifetime. With this, um, thing? I can’t remember what Stane called it, but with this thing, your program could become number one. And the military is gonna see my name, in big sparkling letters on the side, and bam─” the man clapped his bronzer-clad hands together “─Nobody isn’t gonna want Hammer Tech. I know, I know you aren’t here to save lives or whatever bullshit you are cueing yourself up to believe. You want the money. You want it bad.”

“Hammer, keep your voice down,” the man with the hair gel─Aldrich, Steve’s mind supplied─looked around the parking garage as if someone was going to pop out and yell “gotcha!”

“No!” The other guy─Hammer─snapped. “No, I will not keep my voice down. You agreed to help Stane and me out. You promised. Can’t take back a promise, buddy. I have friends who can fucking take you out if you even dare to go back on this. I promise. That little show with the bomb last night was fucking nothing. I’m a tech company, there is more where that came from.”

“Your tech is shit and could’ve killed the thing we need for this to work out. You can have your fun killing Tony Stark when we’re done.” 

Steve’s body went rigid, and he had to keep himself from making any noise. 

“C’mon, like you don’t want to kill him too,” Hammer scoffed, and Steve very slowly took his phone out of his pocket.

“Think about that time in Switzerland you were telling me about. What was it? 1999? He left you on the roof. Tony Stark gave you no chance and now look at you. Healthy, handsome, and wealthy as ever. But you could be more. Plus!” Hammer threw his hands in the air, and Steve pulled up his messaging app.