Atlas Gym, Monday Afternoon

[so_hawkward]

The gym had pretty much recovered from the shark attack, and Clint was glad to see the place was nearly full. It also helped, he figured, that people had Halloween candy to work off, and Thanksgiving to prepare for.

Clint had already done his own workout, and was relaxing at the desk and going through his email. Somewhere in the spam abyss, there had to be real messages, right?

[Open!]

Comments

[heroic_jawline]

"How sturdy are your punching bags?" Steve asked, walking in dressed in gym clothes. "I've got some...stuff to work through."

By punching. Because Steve.

[so_hawkward]

Clint frowned and looked Steve over. "Some of them are brand new, so they're good, but maybe not superhuman sturdy. Is something wrong?"

[heroic_jawline]

Steve shrugged a shoulder. "Nobody's hurt or kidnapped," he said because their lives and he needed to get that out first. "Just...a bit of awkwardness because of Halloween. Tony and I thought we were--" he waved his hand to kind of indicate "vampire and werewolf" but it was mostly flailing, "--and maybe got a little ahead of ourselves for people who've only been dating a few weeks?"

[so_hawkward]

"What, like really intense sex?" he asked, making a face and shaking his head. "Forget I asked that, I don't want to know what kind of sex you guys are having. I mean, unless you're worried something's wrong or you're maybe not doing something right." He'd taught Sex Ed for a whole semester, clearly he was qualified to help.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve let out a (terribly manly, really) squeak. "Um."

Very helpful, Steven, truly. "I think we're doing it right? Not that I want to discuss this. At all. Ever. Ever ever ever." Why couldn't the floor swallow him up right now? Please?

[so_hawkward]

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't have a lot of experience with your particular type of relationship, but I'm sure the kinds of things Kitty and I work on could be helpful to you and Tony," Clint said with a smirk. "Communication is the key, especially making sure you're on the same page about what you want."

[heroic_jawline]

"Oh, Tony can talk," Steve said with a fond smile and an embarrassed chuckle. "I'm not as good at it."

[so_hawkward]

"Why does it not surprise me that Tony's a dirty talker?" Clint said, laughing. "Just remember, whatever you say, he's probably heard it before. Unless it's something an old person would say, in which case that's just you being you, and he likes you so it'll be okay too."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve laughed, still blushing. "Yeah, I guess he does. We're just more awkward together than we've been in a while and it's...strange. It's like missing a step I didn't know was there."

[so_hawkward]

"If I say 'awww' will you give me your disappointed dad look?" Clint asked. "Seriously, what's wrong? Did you guys have a fight or something?"

[heroic_jawline]

"The opposite, actually," Steve said, running a nervous hand through his hair. "We said stuff--it's too early to say. Way too early. And 'sorry, I was a werewolf' seems like a really stupid attempt to take it back. And I don't want to take it back."

Because Steve said what he meant. And was too stubborn to take anything back. But still--awkward.

"But Tony might not have meant it, and I don't want him to feel guilty, either."

[so_hawkward]

Oh, well now Clint felt bad for all of his teasing. "Did you break out the L-word?" That was exactly how comfortable he felt using it, bleh.

[heroic_jawline]

The floor of your gym was fascinating, Clint.

"Yeah," Steve said. "It got really sappy."

[so_hawkward]

"Aww Steve," Clint said. This was definitely not the conversation he thought he was getting into, but he couldn't exactly make Cap leave. "Are you sure you don't want to just pretend it was Fandom weirdness? Or do you... you know?"

Clint liked Tony, sure, but...

[heroic_jawline]

Steve blushed again, kiiiinda praying for some kind of immediate disaster to stop this conversation about feelings.

"I might?" he said. "I don't exactly have a huge range of things to compare this to."

[so_hawkward]

Uuuuuugh, feelings. "Oh wow, okay," Clint said, thinking. "I mean, the whole thing with you and Tony is new, but it's not like you guys just met. I mean, we've been a team for a while now. Maybe this stuff has been there for a while and you just needed to get through the sex part first?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Maybe," Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And the...sex part...is still kind of a work in progress."

Because Steve had no idea what he was doing. None. Those PSAs hadn't exactly been heavy on useful information.

[so_hawkward]

"I'd tell you to take a trip to Dite's, but you might scar whoever's working there, especially if it's a student," Clint said, laughing softly. "And I'd tell you the sex stuff gets easier, but it's actually kind of better to be in the part where you're still learning about what each other likes. Are you really worried Tony doesn't feel the same way about you?"

[heroic_jawline]

"I am never, ever going into Dite's," Steve said. "I'd probably spontaneously combust. And...yeah. I know he likes me, but I keep waiting for him to remember that I'm a guy who never went to college and can't follow a quarter of what he's talking about."

[so_hawkward]

That got a genuine look of surprise from Clint. "You really think Tony gives a crap about that? No one can follow a quarter of what he's talking about. I think he gets insulted when people can actually keep up with him. You're Captain freaking America, what more could he want?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Someone where everything special didn't come out of a bottle?" Steve muttered.

That was still rattling around in his head, yeah. Thanks for that, Loki.

[so_hawkward]

"Okay, that's crap and you know it." It was so much easier to tell other people that Loki was a liar. "The serum gave you awesome abs and whatever, but it didn't change your personality. You're a leader--a good one, one actually worth following--and... I mean, you're just such a good person, Steve. Tony would be stupid to not care about you if you care about him."

He was never going to admit to any of these feelings again, Steve, so enjoy them now.

[heroic_jawline]

Yeah, they would never speak of this again. So much emotion. Ugh. The worst.

Steve blushed again, having no idea as usual what to do with a compliment. "I'm hardly perfect," he demurred.

[so_hawkward]

"Neither is Tony. He's brilliant, but you have to admit he can be kind of a jerk sometimes," Clint said. "You make him better though, so... look, all I can say is, when I found out you guys were... you know, together, it just made sense. I mean, I was momentarily blinded by the mental image, of course, but I don't know, you guys just seem like a good fit."

Ugh, so many compliments, this was the worst day.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve snickered, desperate for something non-emotional to grab onto. "The mental image was that bad, huh?"

[so_hawkward]

"You know how trying not to picture something just makes it harder to resist? It was kind of like that," Clint said. "Imagine if I told you Sam and I got really drunk and stuff happened. It's weird when your friends hook up."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve made a face. "Plus I'd have to give you a really disappointed lecture about stepping out on Kitty."