Magic Box | Thursday

[dishesonthetoprack]

Scott didn't really like to cut things this close as far as the portalling back and forth between here and San Francisco thing, but last night had been parent-teacher conferences for Cassie. And while she was, of course, doing great (and still trying to take her ant to school with her, despite parental protests all around), it had turned into dinner with Cassie and Maggie and Jim, and then a drink to discuss this whole ant thing after Cassie went to bed, and....

And anyway. The long and short of it was that Scott was a little tired today when he opened, between the red-eye portal and the many elementary school-aged friends Cassie had introduced him to and the two whole drinks he'd had (stupid body, stupid inability to metabolize alcohol anymore.)

And what that all really meant was that while Jeff got a nice slice of pumpkin cake roll, Scott had a giant coffee he was nursing behind the counter today.

[lil' bit of method RP today. open with a little SP here and there!]

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[heroic_jawline]

Steve took Tony!cat's completely unnecessary puking into his running shoes as a subtle hint that he'd like Steve to leave the apartment, so here he was.

On a walk. At loose ends.

"Hello, Scott," he said with a tiny smile.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Hi Steve!" Everyone ignore the way that Scott was just this side of falling asleep with his chin in his hand. A visit from Steve was an outstanding reason to wake up, even if he'd deny being sleepy in the first place. "How's it going?"

[heroic_jawline]

It was compleeeeeeeeete shit, but Steve was going to stiff upper lip about it until it killed him.

"Well. Tony's a cat," he said with a little smile.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Aw, man," Scott frowned. "I'm assuming he didn't do it on purpose."

Look, not only was Tony a genius (his version seemed to be kind of a jerk, sure, but a genius nonetheless), but they both knew a super-powerful witch who could probably turn people into cats on request. (Even if Scott had not seen her in awhile? Let's put a pin in that for when he was less tired, hmm.)

[heroic_jawline]

"Not if the dramatic huffing and coffee mug destruction have anything to say about it," Steve said with a little, rueful smile. "Hopefully it'll be over soon."

[dishesonthetoprack]

"This kind of thing usually doesn't seem to last too long, right?" Scott asked, thinking back over the reports he'd heard on the radio about people turning into animals.

Though there was probably a first time for everything. Maybe not the thing to say to Steve right now, though.

[heroic_jawline]

"Generally not longer than a week," Steve said. "Though there was a time he was an alpaca for almost two weeks--"

That had been weird.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"That sounds...fuzzy," Scott offered, really hoping he didn't end up stuck as an alpaca or something for two weeks. If nothing else, "And like it was probably pretty hard to live with."

But also: soft!

[heroic_jawline]

"He was a very polite alpaca," Steve said, "at least until I had to go upstate for a mission. Then he was a lab alpaca for the other Tony, who took so many notes."

For the science. And the mocking. But mostly the science.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Wait, your Tonies know each other?" Scott asked, eyes widening. "Oh, that's like, a whole new wrinkle to the thing where we all know other versions of each other."

Like, he didn't really want to meet other Scotts. How weird. (He also didn't need confirmation of how dorky he knew he was; it sounded like hearing yourself on a recording or seeing yourself in a picture and realizing you'd put on some weight or you were really nasal -- times at least ten.)

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's mouth quirked up. "They do. They mostly get along. One's taller than the other, and the other one pretends he's fine with it."

[dishesonthetoprack]

"See, that would drive me bonkers," Scott decided, ignoring the fact that his height was in variance regardless of which version of himself he was, anyway. He'd definitely lost or gained an inch or two to your machinations, Hank! "Good for Tony, 'cause I don't know if I'd be able to pretend I was fine with it."

He'd probably interrogate the other Scott about whether he took vitamins or had fallen for the scam of jogging or something.

"So do you know his Steve?" he had to ask.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve shook his head, biting his lower lip. "His Steve died before I got to Fandom."

Way to bring the room down, Steve.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Oh, shit." Well. At least Scott immediately knew he'd stepped in it and was more willing to blame himself for it? "I'm sorry. That's even weirder than knowing the other version of yourself, I'd bet."

Give it time, Scott. You were dead in a few universes, too.

[heroic_jawline]

"It's pretty weird," Steve admitted, nodding. "The Tony of my universe still bumps pretty hard on me marrying any version of him anywhere."

[dishesonthetoprack]

"I mean. I've never looked at the Iron Man and Cap that I know and gone, 'Man, they'd make a cute couple,'" Scott offered slowly, striving not to accidentally insult Steve's marriage, here. Different universes! And the Tony here absolutely seemed like way less of a jerk than the one Scott vaguely knew. "But I also met everyone at a really weird time."

Probably the weirdest time, in terms of then having to wrap his mind around the idea of Tony and Steve being married and adorable in a different universe.

[heroic_jawline]

"Was it in Germany?" Steve asked with a wry smile. "Because I just got back from that."

'Weird time' just about covered it, yeah.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Oh, cool, you're caught up!" Scott probably didn't need to be quite that excited about it, but he was bad at keeping secrets, so it was also kind of a relief? "I mean. Not cool, because that was all a lot more of a big deal for you than it was for me, huh? I just got jet lag and arrested."

Though it had also been kind of a big deal for Scott, you know, bah dum tss and all.

[heroic_jawline]

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the arrest part," Steve said. "And, um, very glad you didn't tear yourself apart when you got big?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Yeah, me too," Scott admitted, eyes widening a little at the thought that he totally could have been. #YOLO, or whatever? "It's so much easier to go small. Less tiring, too. But no worries on the arrest. Wasn't my first time, and I'd do it again."

Especially since it hadn't ended up being that bad (see also: being here, and not in jail.)

[heroic_jawline]

"That's nice to hear," Steve said with a genuine smile. "That whole thing was just--"

A huge fucking mess.

[dishesonthetoprack]

"A clusterfuck?" Scott offered, his smile tempered a little by his (equally genuine) sympathy. "How're you doing?"

Scott, weirdly enough, had not seemed to be on his Steve's list of people to call to catch up with after all of the shit in Germany and being in jail and all. But he'd wondered.

[heroic_jawline]

"One foot in front of the other," Steve said. "At least with Tony as a cat right now, he can't yell?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

Scott had kind of wondered, yeah. "So I take it your Tony -- "

Hang on, he needed a second to organize his Starks here.

"Your Tony as in your husband," he amended, "didn't wholly, um, disagree with the Tony back home?"

Jesus. That sounded -- messy. He'd be grateful his spouse was a cat in that case, too.

[heroic_jawline]

It was very confusing. "He didn't," Steve agreed quietly. "And he didn't love getting left behind as I ran around Europe helping Bucky. Stark--back home--isn't talking to me at all. And he has my shield."

Ugh.