Tony: „Hey Cap, wanna play a little drinking game?“
Steve: „Come on Tony, you know I can't get drunk!“
Tony: „Ha, you're just not trying hard enough! Drink with me, I'll get you drunk!“
Steve: (chuckles) „You'll get alcohol poisoning first!“
Tony: (already filling two glasses with hard vodka) „Hey, that's half the fun! Now don't be a killjoy, here!“
Steve: (gives him a skeptical look, but then agrees) „Alright, I'll play. But you have to promise that you'll stop, before you pass out!“
Tony: „Aw, how unfair. Alright, alright, I'll watch it. Now, let's play!“
Steve: (eyeing his drink) „What are we playing?“
Tony: (downing his drink in one gulp) „Har. 'Twenty things about myself'! I'll go first... Ehm... Ah, got one. The first time I undressed for a girl, I was five, and we were playing doctor. I think her name was Rosie.“
Steve: (gives him a long look) „Okaaay. Well, let me think, uhm...“
Tony: „No, Rogers, now you have to tell me the truth about when you first undressed for a girl! That's how you play, I went first with something interesting and intimate, now you have to follow up! Then, you can chose the next truth, which I'll have to answer to!“
Steve: (embarrassed) „Aw man, Tony! Really? I should have known this was a bad idea.“
Tony: „Now come on Steve, it can't be that bad! Just say it, and move on to the next thing, then you can take revenge on me.“
Steve: (sighing) „Alright. Well... This is hard... I can't remember ever undressing for a girl... Does my Mom count?“
Tony: (looks at him amused and baffled, then laughs) „Waha, wait, you never played doctor with a gal? And when you were older, you never, you know, stripped for a honey? Come on, those army nurses must have tried to get you out of your pants!“
Steve: (bright red) „Well, I don't really know... I can't remember much from when I was a little kid. And I never did something like that, it wasn't appropriate! Sooo... Oh. Oh no.“
Tony: „What?“
Steve: (looks at him shy) „Well, the part about the army nurse. I forgot. After I was, you know, transformed, they had me make some tests and check-ups. For one I actually had to strip, so that a doctor could make observations. And, well, I thought it would be a male doctor. But it was a woman! I almost died of shame that day! I guess, that's why I tried to forget it.“
Tony: (laughs, then smiles at him) „So nurse Joy got you good that day?“
Steve: (cringes) „More like nurse Ratched! She was this big bully of a woman, with small, evil eyes, and a double chin. And man, did she have cold hands!“
Tony: (laughs even more)
Steve: (drinks, then gives Tony a mock-angry look) „You just wait. Hmm... something embarrassing to admit, that you'll have to admit after me. Thing is, I don't think there are many things you're ashamed of, if any!“
Tony: (smiles) „Yeah, could be true.“
Steve: „Well... there are not many things I fear, but I'm still afraid of centipedes. When I was little, they used to crawl around everywhere, and even nowadays, when I stumble across one and it slithers away, it freaks me out! I'm really not fond of them. There. Now you can laugh.“
Tony: (makes a pitiful face) „Aw, come on Rogers, I don't laugh at peoples fears. Well. Most of the time. I don't really like those creepy crawlies either, so, don't strain yourself.“ (drinks his glass empty) „Well, now me... I'm actually still afraid of large dogs! We had a neighbor with a rottweiler, that used to chase me, even when I was a teen. Don't mind small dogs, but since then, I'm always a bit uneasy, when people with big mutts try to get close to me. It's gotten a bit better in the last years, but I avoid them nonetheless. There, see? I can be reasonable with these games!“
Steve: „Yeah, well, it was my idea, so... Now what are you gonna say?“
Tony: „Ah, yes. Ehm... Something I bet you didn't know is, sometimes I like to go commando!“ (he grins at Steve)
Steve: (puzzled) „Commando? What does that mean?“
Tony: (grinning more) „It means to go out without underwear! I sometimes like to feel free and unbound, ya know? Makes me think of the possibilities!“
Steve: (rolling his eyes) „Wouldn't I know it, you always have to think up naughty things!“
Tony: „Hey, it's what y'all love me for, am I right?“ (he winks at him)
Steve: (downing his glass, looks away) „Well, I only ever do that, when I have no other choice. Such as when my only pair of underpants is wet. Like when we have a fight in the rain, and I forgot to bring extra clothes, or something like that.“
Tony: (interrupts him) “Or something like that, riiiiight!“
Steve: „It's true, I never do that on purpose!“ (thinks, looking away again) „Though I must admit, there is something strangely attractive to it.“
Tony: „Oooh, attractive ey? Naughty, naughty, Captain!“
Steve: (gives Tony a stern look) „Hey, I was just honest. Now... I'm next again, right?“
So they keep going back and forth, with Steve stating, that he never tells the truth about someones bad cooking, because: „Hey, if you had to eat cabbage for weeks, and drink raw liver juice daily, you wouldn't complain about a salty steak either!“, and Tony agreeing with: „I'm a terrible chef myself, so I never say something, unless I'm in a restaurant.“ Then he admits to having lied in interviews, and Steve to having lied during the army drafts. He then goes on to say that, from time to time, he cries during children's movies. Which Tony finds surprising, yet „cute“, stating he sometimes gets scared by them, despite everything being animated or drawn. Then he admits to sometimes pausing videos, just to stare at people he finds interesting, and Steve gives up that he likes to look at 'hot' butts, regardless of gender, throwing Tony totally off his guard to chuckle. Steve is surprised to find the vodka is taking some effect on him, while Tony becomes less and less fluent in his own language. Finally it happens:
Tony: (already very tipsy) „Okay... One, more, very, secret, intimate, fact about me... I had my first gay crush when I was nine years old... He was big, blond, strong, and incredibly handsome... And I've had wet dreams about him ever since.“ (he's holding his glass up to his cheek, looking over the top at Steve with a shy grin)
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Steve: (blinking) „Oh. Wow. So you like to fish at both ends of the pond?“
Tony: (has to laugh, bending over) „Hahaha, Cap, that's a good one, yeah, you could put it that way.“
Steve: (a bit red and actually a bit tipsy from the alcohol) „Well... aren't you going to tell me, who it was? Or is, if you still dream about him?“
Tony: (Coming closer in a wiggly line, half the time looking away and half looking straight at Cap) „Oh yes. I still do dream about him. Very sweet, wet dreams.“ (he stops in front of Steve, looks at him, raises a finger to wipe over Steve's right cheek) „It's you!“
Steve: (blinks fast, pulls back head, furrows his brow) „I... beg your pardon?“
Tony: (smacks his lips, looks past Steve and raises his glass to his lips to swallow the last drops, then looks at him again, a bit sad) „Jup. It's you. Good ol' Captain America. (he gestures) I used to have this huge poster of you in my bedroom, right over my bed! Spent whole nights, imagining what it would be like to cuddle up against those big, broad shoulders. To feel those big hands caress my body. (looks back at Steve) To look up into that sweet, handsome face of yours. Juppp!“ (smacks his lips again, takes a step back and wipes the back of his hand over his nose)
Steve: (blinks more, keeps looking away and back, giving of awkward laughs) „Wow. Um. I mean... Well I'm flattered Tony... I don't know what to say. Eh. Thank you?“ (he looks at him with a mixture of pride and worry)
Tony: (looks him in the eye, then turns around as if nothing happened) „Well. Now you know. Make of it, what you will.“ (he walks around the room aimlessly)
Steve: (clearing his throat, tries to move on) „Okay, eh, when I... When I first met Nick Fury, I found him a bit scary!“
Tony: (looks straight at Cap) „Come on Rogers, everyone who meets Fury thinks he's scary, the man has a face only a mother could love! So... You never had one?“
Steve: (confused) „Had one what?“
Tony: (still staring) „Gay crush! Did you forget your answer?“
Steve: (looks away embarrassed, starts turning the glass in his hands) „Well, I... It... We, we didn't... It wasn't really a crush.“
Tony: (alert, puts down the glass, comes closer again) „Oh, it wasn't? But there was something? Someone?“
Steve: (squirming) „Well, it was this one time... We were drinking... I couldn't really get drunk, though I tried, after Bucky died... He asked me to drink with him nonetheless, bit like you... Said I just didn't have the good stuff. So I tried it. We did get more relaxed, and started kidding around, laughing and nudging each other... I didn't know what was going on, until... It sorta just happened.“
Tony: (now very close) „Who was it?“
Steve: (looks away even more) „It didn't really matter, we never spoke about it, it was just this once...“
Tony: „Who, Rogers?“
Steve: (looks at the floor a long time, then finally raises his head a bit, but continues to look up, trying to hide his eyes behind his bangs, speaks very quiet) „Howard. Stark. Your dad.“
Tony: (stumbles backward, raising both hands to his mouth to cover his face. Stares at Steve bewildered. Shakes his head slightly, breathes) „You... you kissed my dad?“
Steve: (gnawing at his lower lip, shifts from one leg to the other, looks at Tony) „Well, yes, that too...“
Tony: (inhales sharply, lets his hands fall onto his thighs, still staring) „That too? You... you had sex with him?“
Steve: (opens his mouth, shakes his head, his eyes wander, but he doesn't deny it)
Tony: „Oh my God! Oh my God!“ (Starts pulling his hair, grabbing his head, begins to pace to and forth)
Steve: (tries to calm him down) „Tony please, it was only this one time, he was very drunk, and I was very lonely, we never talked about it, I'm sure it didn't matter to him...“
Tony: (yells) „Didn't matter to him?“
Steve: „Please, it really was an accident, I'm sure he only loved your mother!“
Tony: (stares at him with his mouth open, slowly shakes his head. Then closes his eyes, lets his head drop to his chest and covers his face with one hand. Looks back up at Steve with watery eyes)
„You think it didn't matter to him? He forgot birthdays, Steve, his, mine, mom's, he forgot their anniversary, he sometimes forgot how old I was! But he never forgot the day you crashed into the ice! He kept saying: Today, thirty-nine years ago! Today, forty years ago! Today, forty-one years ago!
(he gets louder and louder) Every goddamned independence day: Rogers would be sixty-four now! Rogers would be sixty-five now! My father missed Christmas, to go on a search for you! He kept collecting memorabilia from the thirty's and fourty's, because that was 'The best time of his life'! He searched for all kinds of items that might have belonged to you, so if he ever found you, you might 'Feel at home'!
I thought he had a fanatic obsession with this, this, supersoldier lab rat, because he was a scientist, but he wasn't! He was looking for YOU! And now I know why! Now I know why.“
(he starts crying and covers his face with his hands)
Steve: (at once too sober for his own liking again, looks over to Tony helplessly, sits down the glass, wrings his hands) „Oh Tony... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything...“
Tony: (suddenly runs up to him, stops short right in front of him)
Steve: (startled, bends back a bit with a guilty face)
Tony: (very quiet, but firm) „And you? Did it matter to you?“
Steve: (confused) „Did it... what?“
Tony: (breathing heavy, eyes jumping from Steve's left to his right) „Did. It. Matter. To you?!“
Steve: (getting red again, this time from guilt, raising his hands for a halfhearted defense) „It... it did. I'm sorry! I never tried to do it again, it wasn't okay, it wasn't allowed, I kept my distance after that, he never asked me about that night...“
Tony: (still close, interrupts) „But it mattered to you!“
Steve: (eyes watering, apologetic) „Yes. Yes, I... I never forgot it. I couldn't shake it. Though I tried... But it always came back to me. Still does. Sometimes, when I look at you...“
Tony: (doesn't budge, but raises his brows)
Steve: „Sorry, but... you look so much like him! Your face, your smile, your walk, the way you move your hands when you talk about things that are important to you... It's so... (closes his eyes for a moment, breathes deep) God, you even smell like him! (opens eyes again, whispers) I'm so sorry!“
Tony: (to Steve's surprise just looks at him, then slowly raises his hands up to place on his shoulders, calmly hums) „Do you believe in second chances?“
Steve: (eyes him puzzled, then realizing inhales sharply) „Tony!“
Tony: (in a firm whisper) „What? I don't hold it against you. Sure it was a shock, but...“
Steve: (now also grabbing the shoulders, though very delicately) „You're his son! You're not him!“
Tony: (unshaken) „But don't they say, part of us lives on in our children? Maybe that's the reason I fell in love with you in the first place!“
Steve: (takes a step back, shocked) „Fell in... love?“
Tony: (bridging the gap again) „Yes. Well. Once I really got to know you. Worked with you. (eyes him up and down) You're so much more than beautiful! It's what caught me first, but... I thought, you could never love a man. And now this...“
Steve: (overwhelmed) „No... Tony... It's not right... I couldn't...“
Tony: (pleading) „At least give me a chance! Maybe it is fate, that brought us together! (grabs his hands) Please Rogers. Just one kiss...“
Steve: (looks away, closes his eyes, resting his chin on his chest, hums) „How...“
Tony: (very carefully leans in, cups Steve's face with both hands, and places a tender kiss on his lips)
Steve: (breathes deep a few times while being kissed, then pulls back as the kiss is broken, to look at Tony, puzzled at first) „You're not... You're not him.“
Tony: (pulling back, looks hurt, scared)
Steve: (realizing, suddenly euphoric) You're not him... You're not like him at all!“
Tony: (confused, blinks)
Steve: (with a sudden smile grabs Tony's shoulders again) „I just realized... I always saw him in you... It was as though he was standing between us... But your lips... (he looks at him very intense) Your eyes. You have his eyes, yes, but they don't have his look! You... you are you, Tony... God, it's like I see you for the first time now! (raises one hand to gently stroke over Tony's cheek) So unique... beautiful... Kiss me again Tony! Please!“
Tony: (radiating a smile, cups his face again, kisses him more passionately, over and over)
Steve: (starts giggling) „Oh Tony! Tony... wow!“ (pulls him close, overjoyed, kissing back)
Tony: (cries happy tears) „Steve... oh Steve! Thank you!“
Steve: (confused, grins at him) „What for?“
Tony: (happy, petting his cheek, rubbing the broad chest and shoulders) „For playing with me... I don't think, I would ever have told you otherwise!“
Steve: (calm) „Well. Thank you too. For lifting this shadow from me.“
Both cuddle up for the night and kiss until morning, and Tony never had to resort to drinking games again.