stardustly | au scenarios open post

Things faded in and out of focus for Steve, the biting chill to the air making everything sluggish and grotesque in view. The mountains blurred in a mess of white with pinpricks of oozing red haze. Meanwhile, his mind blurred between the past and the present, red and gold exchanged for gray and black. A void of colors because of his color blindness and the general atmosphere usually curled around him at any given time? The scratchy blankets hardly kept out the cold and the whooping cough chased away any dreams of sleep and comfort. His body only shook, blurry eyes trying to latch onto something, anything to keep him grounded and from floating away. Would this be the illness to sweep him up to his ma for once and for all? Sometimes, he dreamt about it - an end to the never ending pain but he couldn't leave Bucky.

He had to fight.

Focus. Focus.

Slowly, his heavy eyes managed to open but he didn't feel the pain from before, in fact, he felt nothing at all. A sort of numbness he ever experienced before, especially with the serum usually kicking in to fix his most foolhardy moves. Kind eyes met his, not Bucky's but just as devastating and consuming. "Hmmm," he managed, fighting to comfort Tony but unable to form any actual words at the moment.

His eyes slid closed again and his mind drifted back to Bucky curling around him after one of his dates to keep him warm. To save him from the mind numbing panic always clawing at him about dying.

Tony may not have liked being ignored on a good day, but the complete lack of a response kicked his swearing up a level. Steve was fading fast, that much was obvious, too fast to be able to wait this out. He had no idea what would actually happen if Steve's body shut down again, and he wasn't about to let either of them find out.

With one last hiss, Tony straightened up and took a couple of steps away to strip jerkily down out of the rest of his clothing. The cold air barely had time to hit him before he took a deep breath, let it out, and before he could second guess himself he changed.

He'd been warned. Over and over, it had been drilled into him never to let anyone find out. Enough for even his teenage rebel without a cause self not to even consider it. But all of those warnings had never mentioned an emergency situation like this, so fuck it. Tony would be damned if he would see Steve hurt when there was something he could do about it.

He kept the change slow in deference to the small space, but Tony was pretty sure he'd have no trouble fitting. Skin flushed red and then hardened into scales, his entire body slowly stretched and then expanded, his shoulderblades twitched as two massive wings pushed their way outwards. By the time he was done, his dragon form did take up most of the cave space, but not without room for him to move. Okay. A few more twists to make sure he could maneuver if another fight came to them, and then Tony settled his greater bulk down, carefully curled so that he was facing the cave entrance.

Once that was done, he reached out with one clawed hand and almost delicately tugged Steve's unresisting form into the curve of his body, tucking him right against the heat of his flank. Once he was sure Steve seemed as comfortable as he was getting, he draped one wing over the man, just make sure he was as insulated as possible. No point in doing this if he didn't do it properly.

And then just set his head down on his forelegs and settled himself in to watch the snow drifting down outside.

Despite the immense cold, Steve's mind remained active just like before when he froze in the water. No one really knew how long it took his body to shut down and the sheer amount of pain he experienced until it did. The serum had been a curse then and throughout those seventy years his mind wandered and cried out for something; anything. Would this be the same? Who would find him this time? More importantly he worried about Tony and what havoc the elements would wage on him. It picked up the panic churning deep inside of him but what could he do about it when opening his eyes proves too difficult?

Another person he couldn't manage to save.

As time wore on, the chill penetrating his bones started to subside and oddly enough warmth returned to him. The feeling in his muscles became easier to move and even if he still ached something fierce, he forced himself to move and wake back up. Tony needed him to be stronger and better; to save them from the mess hydra dropped them into.

Letting out a pained groan, his eyes fluttered slowly open. He only saw red and the appearance of - well, his muddled mind couldn't seem to put it properly together. What. "Tony," Steve croaked out, hesitant to move from the cocoon of warmth but he needed to save them. He had to be there for Tony. Pushing himself up, he reached out with trembling fingers to touch the - wing? No. That didn't make sense at all.

"Tony?" Where had the man gone? And what was surrounding him? He twisted a little, hand brushing against - scales? Something? No.

It took a moment or so before the wing lifted away and the scaled form against Steve shifted until one glowing, blue, reptilian eye appeared over the mass of red.

"Hey there." It was low, rough and barely human, more like the sound of grinding metal than an actual voice, but still somehow unmistakably words. And somehow even more unmistakably, Tony. "You back with us, Cap?"

Tony shifted again now that Steve was conscious again, unwinding a bit more from the tight ball he'd curved himself into. He lifted his head high enough to see Steve properly over his own shoulder, bright eyes darting over him like he was checking for injuries.

Okay, a wing lifted up from around him and Steve's mind went a little blank with trying to process the information. Had he actually died this time and went to - well, the area around him sure didn't look like much. Scales and wing aside. The voice, though, clued him in to a few possibilities - he died and landed himself in a limbo, he had fallen into the in between again or Tony could turn into some kind of - what? The voice sounded too much like Tony, plus all the red he tended to have around him.

"Okay, I need to know what's going on before I lose my mind." Lose more of it anyway than what trauma already stole from him. Shifting onto his knees, he slid his hand against the flank surrounding him, letting out a soft ow from the prickle of blood the motion invoked.

"Tony?"

A sound almost like a low rumbling laugh rolled out of that scaled throat. "Yeah. That's me. A little unfamiliar looking, I know, but I was...out of options." He tucked the wing back down against his side since Steve no longer seemed to need it, mostly to give himself something to do. It was...odd to feel slightly self-conscious about the whole thing, but he'd never let anyone else see this side of him before. Not purposefully. What exactly was he planning to do if Steve freaked out on him?

He let out a long breath, a plume of smoke curling out of his mouth. "How are you feeling? Better?" Obviously he was back mentally, but who knew what the cold had done to the rest of him. It definitely wasn't just an attempt to turn attention back away from Tony's current shape. He was worried.

"No one else has come by, incidentally. So we weren't followed. Though that may just be because of the storm." One blue eye flicked back towards the cave entrance, and what was practically a wall of white beyond it.

Tony being a dragon really didn't make sense because how could it? People shouldn't be able to turn into mythical creatures at will and like nothing out of the ordinary. Dragons were supposed to be confined to story books or fantasies of knights and camelot. Okay, so he read a lot of fantasy as a kid to try and escape the horror around him but the dragon never one in all the stories saved anyone. Then again, he sure wasn't a knight.

Moving back to take in more of Tony, the pain in his body nearly crumbled him but he managed to keep steady. "I'm fine. Thanks for the assist." Clearly, he'd freak out later when his mind sharpened out of the fog. "They'll try to find us after the storm dies down. We need to plan before then."

Ignoring any aches and pain, Steve forced himself up. He still felt cold but refused to focus on that either. "Can you - shift back?" A conscious Steve never accepted help easily.

"I can," he said, lifting his head to follow Steve's movements with those bright blue eyes. Tony was well aware of just how stubborn Steve could be when he was insisting he wasn't injured, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to watch carefully. Just in case. "Don't really see a point at the moment, though. Armor's dead so it's not going to be much help. And it's warmer like this." Was that a pointed statement? It might have been.

And because he couldn't help himself, Tony's head shifted like he was trying to roll his eyes. "No one's going to be out in this, and even if they were our tracks are long gone. We're safe for the moment and...well, not reasonably comfortable, but at least as close as we're going to get. You can stand down for a moment, Captain. Rest."

It was probably pointless, but he at least had to try.

Getting sassed by a dragon had never been something he thought would happen in his lifetime or really in any realm of reality. Even if he had loved dragons as a kid but it had been a whole Knight complex for him. Swallowing down his frustration, he pushed against Tony's side, just to feel and maybe to prove to himself he hadn't lost it after all. "Are you going to explain any of this?"

And because he still felt shaken despite his words he sat back down but not pressed up against Tony. "Any other secrets I should know about?" The lingering panic over nearly freezing to death again kept the tension in the forefront. "I still want to keep guard."

Stubborn to a fault.

"That's pretty much it. And I think it's pretty self explanatory."

He watched Steve for a moment, before letting out another huff of a gust of smoke. And then, taking blatant advantage of the fact that he was both bigger and stronger than Steve for a change, he delicately reached out and hooked an arm around Steve's midsection to tug him in against the furnace that was Tony's chest. And just held him there, in case Steve was feeling the need to be especially stubborn.

"I've always been like this, if that's what you're asking," he added once he'd gotten Steve settled.

More sass but why did he even feel surprised by it when it came to Tony? Sighing, he let dragon pull him in closer and out of the chilly draft of the area, which he felt deeper than usual with the memories continuing to plague his mind. "I meant explain how this is possible because dragons aren't supposed to exist and --" He broke off for a moment, considering. "Why haven't you ever told me?"

Why were there always so many secrets all over the place? "Who all knows?" If hydra found out they were in worse danger than ever before. Settling down more, Steve let out a soft huff, loathe to admit he enjoyed the heat.

"Still worried I'm losing it here." How else could he rationally explain the current situation? "Was your - was Howard -"

“No one,” Tony said in a soft rumble, and slowly lowered his head to rest on the arm he didn’t have curled around Steve’s waist. One glowing blue eye shifted to fix on him, though Tony’s head was still pointed towards the mouth of the cave. “No one alive. Just you.”

He hesitated for a moment, smoke curling out of his nostrils. “Howard never knew, as far as I know. My mother...” he trailed off. The side of his wide mouth twitched, into something that might have been an attempt at a smile. “Apparently being so endangered that you’re mythological is a good reason to hide. And for a long time it...didn’t matter. I couldn’t shift.”

Somehow he managed to keep from glancing towards his own chetst, at the circle of scarred and pitted scales.

While he wanted to believe Tony, he had a feeling someone knew or would find out. Things were never smooth sailing for them, especially with something so explosive. Dragons were a potential game changer and did others exist? Tony couldn't be the only one.

Warmth spread through him as he settled more against Tony, letting some of the tension seep from him. Tony would be able to handle anything coming their way and no one would be able to move through the weather.

"When's the first time you shifted?" Quiet for a moment, he added, "I won't say anything - kinda glad you're mythical now. It was really cold." More psychological than physical but still.

Edited 2018-01-01 22:14 (UTC)

Once it seemed like Steve was going to actually stay in place for a change, Tony unwound the arm he'd curled around him, though he dropped it down on the other side of Steve's body so that the man was tucked between his forearms. And pressed close enough that he could probably feel the low, considering rumble Tony gave in response to the question.

"Three or four, I think. I don't really remember it. Mom would take me flying sometimes." When they could get away from everyone, not a single prying eye. In retrospect, it seems obvious that Jarvis knew -- he'd always been there with him. But the man had been good at keeping his secrets.

"Glad I can be a useful space heater, though."

It made sense why Tony mourned the loss of his mother much deeper than that of his father. But Steve preferred to not think about Howard if he could help it because it hurt too much. The man became something darker than he ever anticipated and it seemed to have been partly his fault on top of that. Both because of the serum and from losing himself in the waves. Not that he would take any of it back or could when he knew the outcome. If he saved others, it didn't matter what happened to him.

"Is that why you built yourself a flying suit?" A light tease and not even a biting one for once. "Hey, can you breathe fire?" Okay, he might have a lot of questions. "Wonder if any of the team is hiding something like this." Were there other dragons around? It would be something to look into.

He waited patiently until it seemed like the flood of questions was done for the moment, then let out one of those rumbling almost-a-laugh sounds.

"I can," he agreed, though showing that off would probably be best left to a time when Steve wasn't quite so near his head. He'd wanted to warm the man up, not set him on fire. "And I don't know. Honestly I've never looked into it much." Because it might have depressed him, knowing he was one of so few? Or because he was worried he'd already been rejected for one reason or another? He'd just really never thought about it that much. It was one of the few parts of himself he'd managed to hide for so long, maybe the answer was just that he'd liked that.

"I mean, one of them is a god. I'm not sure how much weirder they can get."

Breathing fire sounded like a handy trick they should have found a way to make use of in the past. Then again, he would never want to put Tony at risk for capture or far worse by the hands of hydra or other crime organizations. The use of a dragon would be a game changer and much harder to eliminate than regular agents. Still, there had to be some use of a dragon for their world saving opportunities. "Maybe you can show me sometime," Steve murmured, tilting his head up to look rat Tony. Even with all the scales he could still see him, the one who always pushed him.

"Being - this must make you feel alone a lot too huh," he added after a few moments of silence, thinking about how the confession made him feel closer to Tony. He could relate in a way being a man out of time. "All I'm saying is there's something about Clint we should look into." Mostly a tease.

"Don't let me fall asleep."

One of Tony's wings twitched slightly, just enough to create a slight breeze before he forced it back down against his side. He'd never really considered loneliness, at least not where this was concerned. He had enough things that set him apart -- he was rich, he was a genius, he'd never really fit in anywhere. Being able to turn into a giant lizard was just something else to add to the list.

He tipped his head down to meet Steve's eyes before his face creased into something that might have been a draconic attempt at a smile.

"You can, you know," he said a little more softly. "You probably still need to heal up, conserve strength. I can keep watch for a while."

Stubbornness only played a small factor in Steve's insistence on not wanting to sleep, the bigger reason being the nightmares he tended to endure and the flashbacks. He really needed to deal with all of it but kept pushing it down instead. One day he would slow down but not anytime soon. "I think you've done enough for one night," Steve insisted, the lingering feel of the waves crashing along his subconscious. No. Absolutely not. But it pressed along his chest, blackness seeping along the edges of his vision.

"You rest and I'll keep watch. Hopefully, the storm will be over in the morning. We have agents to ttrack." Before they handed off whatever they managed to steal.

"Can you fix anything on the suit here?"

"Then we can both keep watch." Like it was any surprise that Tony could be just as stubborn, and he hadn't even gotten dunked. Well, not accidentally, anyway.

At the reminder, he swung his head back over his shoulder to glance at the pile armor sitting abandoned in the corner. "Don't think so," he said after a regretful moment. "If there are shorts in the wiring, I don't have the tools to fix it here. And I don't exactly have as good dexterity like this." He flexed one huge, clawed hand like it was exhibit a.

He was quiet again as he shifted his head back to settle it onto his forearm, one blue eye moving to fix on Steve. "I can still fly us out if we can't get a hold of anyone."

Even in dragon form, Tony just so happened to be the most stubborn person he had ever met. Letting out a slow exhale, he tilted his head back against Tony, the heat blasting through the worst of the chill but the whispers of the ice continued to surge through his veins. The memories never really left him and in the silence they positively screamed. "The team will notice soon that we haven't gotten back." But they might not have a way to track them, especially in the storm. It left them vulnerable but hydra wouldn't be able to do anything either until things let up, which made him want to brave the elements more.

"Tony, you can't fly us out like this. Someone would be bound to notice a dragon and I know you don't want that press conference," he responded, eyes opening to look at Tony. "I'm fine, you know." One of the biggest lies he ever told but he wore the words well, allowed them to become another kind of shield to place in front of himself.

"Worse comes to worse, we can punch ourselves out." He paused. "Do you know what it was they stole?"

Tony's eyes closed briefly, the only sign that he would have liked to have been rolling them. Sure he was fine, of course. But he could at least tell when a fight was going to be pointless, so he just let out a long gust of a breath, slightly smoke-tinged.

"You let me worry about press conferences." It was hard not to sound slightly irritated about it. Steve seriously thought he'd strand them here just because he wanted to keep something private? His wings shifted a little before he made them settle back down. This was the other thing he hated about this shape, it was harder to keep his tells under control.

"And no. Does it matter?"

The frustration he bypassed completely because they were often pushing at each other and things turned frequently enough to a slightly negative edge. He wanted to remain calm at the moment, not only because of fire possibilities but also because of exhaustion. If they pushed too much, they could react impulsively.

"Of course it matters what they took!" Okay, the calmness did not last long at all did it? "Hydra wants to take over everything and I know shield has plenty of things they shouldn't and so much they don't tell anyone about."

He let out a sigh. "I wish we could reach Jarvis. He might be able to hack into shield and see what they might have that would interest hydra enough to do something this stupid."

He made a low, annoyed sound, deep in his chest. Probably rumbling right around where Steve was resting, actually, at much as Tony was trying to fight the emotion down. Now was really not the time for them to get into yet another fight.

His tail twitched restlessly behind him, but when Tony spoke, his tone was forcibly even. "What I mean is," he said carefully, "that it doesn't matter what they took because none of them got away. So they clearly didn't get it. We can worry about what they were trying for when we get back."

[ Annoyance spread throughout him, his arms folding tightly against his chest because excuse him Tony for not knowing the full gory details! He decided to keep more choice words from escaping his lips, though. ]

Okay, I didn't know what you did after I - [ He waved a hand out in the air as if it explained the rest of his words for him. ] Maybe I will try to sleep more. [ Preferable over falling into yet another fight. ]

We'll have to think about what to tell shield about what happened. [ Shifting around, he situated himself on the ground, resting curled up on his side. ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject