7. Sins Of The Father 6

The next few missions were small ones, surprises that seemed to come out of nowhere for the express purpose of interrupting the Avengers at dinner. Everyone was on high alert but Steve's assassin was laying low or doing something else.

Steve was so used to being on guard for his personal safety and that of his team on missions that he forgot to be on guard against anything else.

HYDRA's attempt to rob a bank, which turned out to be a cover for them trying to rob the safe at a nearby experimental genetics lab, nearly flattened a city block. A very popular block, or at least it was popular at 11pm at night when HYDRA moved in.

Between Coulson's operations management and Steve's field tactics, it was a short battle once the Avengers figured out what was going on. However, that was after two busy nightclubs suffered extensive damages. As Steve helped clear out debris, looking for survivors, he pulled a short, stocky drag queen up out of the mess with a grimace. She was not severely hurt but she was covered in small cuts from shattered glass and her dress was ruined. Steve smiled reassuringly at her.

"It's okay, ma'am. I'll get you out of here."

She looked up at him uncertainly, still a little dazed, and Steve suspected she might have a slight head wound. "You're Captain America."

Steve tried to put his arm around her waist to support her, but she stumbled backwards. "Ma'am, please, I'm trying to help you."

"I'm not a ma'am. I mean, you know that, right? I mean—" She blinked at him, unsteady on her heels but holding a hand out to keep him at bay. "You're Captain America."

"Yes, I am." Steve nodded, trying his best "trust me" expression. "And this building is unstable, and we need to leave."

She shook her head. "You'd help me?"

It was Steve's turn to blink. "Of course."

"I'm a drag queen, not exactly American heartland values here, sweetheart."

Steve rolled his eyes. "For pity's sake. You're enough of a lady for me." He stepped forward and hauled her into a bridal carry and walked out, passing other emergency workers who were helping other people out as quickly as possible. There had been few casualties over all, but HYDRA had blown enough support struts and beams that the building was not safe. The little drag queen started waving merrily at the first responders as they passed, and Steve had to hold back a chuckle because apparently fairies were just as outlandish in 2012 as they were in 1940.

He stepped out on the street into a wall of flashbulbs going off. The drag queen squealed unhappily. Steve tightened his hold and aimed for one of the ambulances, ignoring the way the reporters and bystanders were yelling at him. When he put her down on a stretcher, he brought one of her hands up and gently kissed the back. "Take care, ma'am."

"Oh you can do better than that!" She said and reached up, grabbing his head and yanking him down for a kiss. Steve laughed at the sloppy attempt, enjoying the light scrape of her stubble against his chin. He was mindful of all the cameras around, though, so cut it short by gently pushing her back down on the gurney. When he stood up she was grinning at him. He saluted her smartly and headed back to the building. Iron Man landed in his way.

"Speaking from experience, you might want to wipe your mouth off after tonguing a drag queen."

"What?" Steve stared at him.

"You've got cherry red lipstick all over yourself."

Steve pulled a wet wipe out from his utility belt (one of Bruce's suggestions, and one of the most useful things in Steve's kit; he really wished someone had thought of those things prior to the War) and wiped down his mouth, laughing. "Thanks. She was pretty stubborn."

"Yeah. You knew she was a drag queen, right?" Tony's faceplate flipped up as they walked towards the broken building.

"Tony, believe me when I say that some things are even older than I am. Yes, I knew she was a drag queen. Fairies like that are kind of hard to miss."

Tony's arm swung out and slammed into his abdomen. It wasn't enough to hurt but it winded Steve a little. "Hey! What?"

"You don't get to use that word." Tony looked furious.

Steve replayed his comment and came up blank. "What word? What are you talking about?"

Tony leaned in, hissing. "Fairies. You don't get to say that."

Steve shoved him backwards, mostly out of confusion because he had no idea what they were arguing about. "And you do?"

Tony's head tilted and he literally snarled. "I've been bashed by every media outlet on earth from the time I was twelve, Rogers. I'm too gay for Fox News and I'm not gay enough for the Village Voice. If you want to talk shit about queers then okay, do it to my face, because at least I can fight back. You do not get to play the bigot card on a drag queen who just lived through a HYDRA attack."

Remembering his lessons with the SHIELD social studies tutors about changes in language use since the 1940s ("negro" was out, "Ms." was in), Steve nodded, keeping his expression still. "Got it."

Tony studied him quietly for a moment. Around them the evacuation and rescue proceeded loudly, people running too and fro and sirens wailing as ambulances tore out to get people to hospitals. Finally Tony nodded. "Okay, yeah, I get that things used to be different."

The offhand comment finally riled Steve, tired of being coddled by a team who clearly thought he was both ignorant and naive. He poked Tony in the chest, for all the good it did through the armor, although Tony looked genuinely surprised. "And you're, what? Helping? I don't think you have any damn idea how much things have changed or stayed the same," Steve snapped. "She wasn't the first drag queen to lay one on me by surprise and she won't be last. I really don't give a damn. People can live whatever lives they want to live. In my day we called gals like her 'fairies' and it didn't mean anything, unless you were trying to beat them up—and in my neighborhood, we took care of that problem. Get it through your super-smart head that not everything I do or say is because I'm a backwards hick. I went to war, Tony. I've seen a hell of a lot of the world. More than you know."

Tony stood his ground and stared up at Steve with dark, unreadable eyes. Finally he nodded again. "My bad."

"Whatever that means," Steve sighed and stomped off to get back to helping the rescue effort.

He did not think too much about the exchange until the following day when Coulson called him to his official "SHIELD/Avengers Liaison" office on the 37th floor of the tower. Coulson motioned for him to sit, then pulled a monitor over, swinging it out from the wall.

"I know you only read the New York Times, so I suspect you missed this." Coulson tapped the screen and a recorded newsreel started playing, showing Steve's impromptu kiss with the drag queen.

Steve groaned. "She grabbed me by surprise, what was I supposed to do, deck her?"

"Shhh." Coulson raised a finger. Surprised at the curtness, Steve sat back in the chair.

"The kiss was followed by a heated argument with Iron Man. Was that jealousy, Mr. Stark?" The reporter, a greasy looking guy wearing a loud but stylish tie, grinned as Steve's discussion with Tony played in a corner of the screen.

The overly-made up woman next to him smirked. "And what does this say about Captain 'America', stopping to kiss drag queens in the middle of a rescue operation?"

The guy laughed. "Maybe it says he doesn't get out enough?" They both laughed harder and Coulson froze the screen so that their grins look more like pained grimaces.

Steve shook his head. "The press used to try to start rumors about me and every chorus girl on the line, back in the USO. And I have to say, she wasn't the first fair—er, lady-guy who's tried to have a go at me. I don't care what they say, it was all harmless. Suggesting that about Tony is rude, but he's used to it, right? I don't know what you expect me to do about it." Steve crossed his legs and arms, looking out the window.

"Understood. However, Captain America kissing drag queens is not exactly on the historical record." Coulson sighed. "I'm not sure how much you know about Stark's past—"

"I can google, Phil. I know that he's been seen around with men, and drag queens. And yes I know what the word 'hedonist' means."

Coulson looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You don't seem bothered by that."

Steve slapped his thighs. "Why does everyone treat me like a kid? I was in the Army where I led a desegregated special ops team consisting of an international roster of troops marching across Europe. Every town we walked into had a line of whores ready to do business. I was an orphan raised by relatives in Brooklyn, where the fairies and the brothels lived on the docks three blocks from my apartment. I was on my own by the time I was fifteen. I understand I've become some kind of mythical icon but trust me, under the uniform, I'm just a regular joe."

Coulson looked shell shocked for a moment before rallying. "I try to remember that, Steve, but sometimes it's difficult and I'm someone who is very familiar with your biography." He blushed a little, then cleared his throat. "What I'm getting at is that now there will be rumors about you and Stark, together. It's going to cause controversy." His expression was somber, indicating the seriousness with which he was taking the media's accusations.

For a brief moment, Steve considered telling Phil the truth. It almost felt like it would be easy to just say "I've kissed men before, I'm a pervert, I'm gay" and be done with it. The future was not perfect but it was, at least, more accepting of Steve's preferences than in his own day. But as he pulled his attention back from the window to Phil, Steve knew he was not going to do it. That part of his life was as good as dead, it died with Steve Rogers in the ice. He was Captain America, that was all he really had left, and bringing down controversy and scandal on the uniform for no reason was not acceptable. Even Phil, who was in a relationship with another man himself, was worried about reporters casting aspersions of queerness onto the Avengers, and Captain America in particular. It was different for Tony, who grew up amid scandal. Steve did not have those options, he did not even deserve them. He had his place in history and it was his job to uphold a reputation that he had only a small part in making. He had his duty left to him, and that much he could at least fulfill.

"Steve?" Coulson's frown deepened.

"Am I supposed to make a public statement? I think that would only feed the gossip pages."

Coulson shook his head. "No, let the PR team handle all statements. Honestly our official stance is to ignore the innuendo, but we have to accept it's out there. Just keep it in mind, and don't get insulted if some of the more unethical reporters throw inappropriate questions at you during press junkets."

Steve rubbed his forehead. "There's nothing to get insulted about. Gossip is gossip, it's all lies and everyone knows it." He stood up. "Is there anything else?"

"No. We simply wanted you to be aware." Coulson looked displeased but Steve was simply not interested in finding out why. Instead he nodded in acceptance and excused himself. He went down to the gym floor and set up to work against the super-strength resistant boxing bags.

He had been at it for a while, trying to blank his mind out and simply focus on the strength and form of his punches, when he heard Tony come in.

"Steve! Let's spar!"

Steve stood up straight, stilling the bag with one hand. Tony looked anxious, stripping quickly out of his business suit and grabbing a pair of sweats from his locker, sliding them on over his expensive, silky and form-fitting briefs. Steve forced himself to look somewhere else.

"You hate sparring, Tony."

"No! I love it!" Tony buzzed over to the rack of masks and gloves, gearing up faster than Steve could walk over to the boxing ring. "It's my favorite thing!"

"Tony—"

"TONY!" Pepper marched in, be-suited with her hair pulled back into what she called her 'business bun', a slick, tight wad of hair pinned to the nap of her neck. Steve found himself looking somewhere else yet again.

"Sparring! Important Avengers business!" Tony crawled into the ring.

Steve followed as a matter of course, but gave Pepper a look that he hoped adequately conveyed his helplessness and confusion. She just glared at Tony.

"You're not getting out of this!"

Tony finally stopped and looked over at Pepper. "Yes, I am. This is why you are CEO, this is why I gave you the reins, so that I could get out of things like this. Man up, Pepper."

Steve found himself stepping backwards away from Tony at the look she was giving him. "If you think a little condescension is going to get you out of dealing with these lawsuits, you are very wrong."

Tony's mouth went flat. "I don't need to make a statement."

"Yes, you do." Pepper finally slumped. "I know you hate this part, but Tony, yes, you do. You have to participate in this."

"I can go—" Steve gestured at the door.

"We're sparring." Tony snapped the words and turned on him.

"Fine! Spar! I'm going to sit here and answer email. As soon as you decide to stop being a child, we can get back to these interrogatories." Pepper sat down in one of the chairs in the "waiting area" (which Tony called the "observation deck") and looked hatefully at her tablet.

"You get sued a lot?" Steve asked, setting up in a defensive posture, figuring that Tony was probably wound up enough to basically throw himself into the match. He wasn't wrong; Tony drove into Steve's personal space with punches and jabs. It was fairly easy to avoid Tony's wild offense, so Steve upped the ante by swinging his leg out and taking Tony down. "Gotta watch all angles, Iron Man."

Tony muttered as he got up. As they faced off again, Tony answered his question. "All the damn time. By the law suits you'd think I never had an original idea in my life. Most get kicked out of court by my lawyers, but a few make up the chain." They exchanged some hits, Tony finally slowing down to pay attention. "Then I have to bring JARVIS in to give dates and times, but since he's not actually human his answers are not legal tender, as it were. So Pepper has to pester me about the interrogatories. It's boring and ridiculous and ugh!" Tony bowed up from a blow Steve landed on his mid-section.

"See how distracted you are? Focus." Steve stepped back and raised his bare fists again. He never geared up to spar with Tony, since they were already so mismatched. Tony growled unhappily but took the advice, and they soon fell into a hard practice. It didn't tax Steve anywhere near the way it did Tony, who had soaked through his tee-shirt within fifteen minutes, but by an hour into it Steve stripped off his tee-shirt because if there was one thing that still functioned the same as always it was his sweat glands. Tony stepped backwards and blinked at him through his face mask. "Well, that escalated quickly."

Steve was rolling his eyes when he heard the squeak from Pepper. He glanced over to see her clutching her tablet to her chest, her cheeks flushed and red.

Stark hmmm'd next to him. "You like that, baby? Two guys getting all hot and sweaty for you? Maybe it's time I gave Jude a call and—"

Steve felt his arm snap out and slam into Tony's mask, sending him rolling. Pepper screeched incoherently and jumped up as Tony flopped awkwardly to his feet. Steve was on the verge of apologizing when Tony rushed at him, a full-body dive that slammed his shoulder into Steve's torso. He could take a hit like that without damage but it still sent Steve sprawling into the ropes, the two of them crumpled up all over each other.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled, but it was too late. Tony was visibly furious and Steve didn't really know what they were fighting about and that kind of pissed him off. He threw Tony away from him, sending him into the ropes across the mat, but Tony's reflexes were pretty well honed from being a superhero. He bounced and spun around, landing in the middle of the mat with his fists raised. Steve walked straight into the attack, swinging hard with his weaker left, planning to hook Tony with his right and end things quickly, but Tony was fast, ducking around to try and land a jab to Steve's kidneys.

It was a weird fight because Steve was holding back and they both knew he would win a real contest, but they kept going, Steve landing the odd and ineffective punch with Tony throwing himself into every opening in Steve's defenses that he could grab. Steve figured they could have gone on like that for hours until he swung and almost hit Pepper. He pulled his fist back hard and over balanced, giving Tony a chance to swipe at his stable leg and take him down, apparently not realizing that Pepper had materialized in the ring with them. Tony fell on him with fierce punches that Steve didn't dare try to deflect for fear of throwing them both onto Pepper, who had jumped on Tony's back and was yanking at his arms. Steve curled up defensively, figuring Tony would figure things out quickly, especially with Pepper yelling "Stop! Stop!" at the top of her lungs while trying to wrestle Tony.

They ending up in a weird pile, Tony laid out flat perpendicularly over Steve's turtle impression with Pepper on top of them both, still yelling. "What the hell is the matter with you two? What was that? Anthony Edward Stark I'm going to kill you!"

Tony rolled off onto his back and Pepper stumbled to her feet. Tony propped himself up on his elbows. "Steve started it."

"What did I do?" Steve asked, sitting up on his heels.

"You threw that punch out of nowhere!"

Steve was not about to admit that it was because he did not like Tony talking about Jude Law, but he was kind of stalled on any other reason to give. Fortunately, Pepper's temper was redder than her hair.

"I don't care! I! Don't! Care! That was some kind of grudge match!" She towered over them, her heels punching into the soft surface of the mat.

"Admit it, Steve, you got your prim panties in a bunch when I talked dirty to Pepper. Admit it!"

Steve grabbed at the excuse, because as dishonorable as the lie was, it was better than the truth. "You don't talk that way to a lady in public, Tony! I don't care what you do in your bedroom but you don't talk about it!"

"Fuck you, Rogers, I—"

"Shut up!" Pepper roared, the echo bouncing off the walls. Steve froze, and noticed that Tony did too. Pepper slashed the air with her hands. "Both of you! Shut up! I'm tired of this! I understand that everyone is stressed out about the mysterious assassin—"

"Not stressed." Tony laid down and crossed his arms over his chest, the thick gloves getting in the way of the gesture.

"AND we've got a PR disaster on our hands with about the drag queen—"

"Wait, what?" Steve sat up.

"BUT I will not allow you two to go at each other like grade school ruffians!"

"Do not get Captain Righteous-Pants started about the drag queen." Tony rolled his eyes.

Steve bounced to his feet. "Why is this a problem?" Steve realized he was yelling but even the startled reactions from both Pepper and Tony did not slow him down. "Why does anyone care? It's not a big deal! A drag queen kissed me, so what? Maybe I liked it! Maybe I didn't give a damn! This isn't a fucking problem!"

Tony had shuffled to his feet and was muscling Pepper behind him, but they were staring at him in complete shock.

Steve stepped backwards, his blood roaring in his ears. He knew his skin was bright red and probably looked frighteningly like a red version of the Hulk, so he turned his back and rested his hands on the ropes in front of him, leaning forward and trying to catch his breath. Fear and anger warred, battling at him in a fight over his secret perversions and the danger of discovery while the two people who could bring all of that spilling out onto the floor were just a few feet from him.

"Steve?" It was Pepper, her voice low and soothing. Steve heard her step closer in the silence of the gym.

"Hey buddy, you gave us a scare there. Hot button issue, we got it. Not a problem."

Steve breathed in heavily through his nose. "I'm Captain America. Everyone is equal in my eyes."

"Got it, Cap." Tony was closer, but the hand that rested high on Steve's back was Pepper. He almost wanted to sob, thinking that he had made a clean escape out of Phil's office only to be cornered by the two people most likely to break him.

"That's our press release. That's what I'll tell the PR team. Women try to kiss you all the time during meet-and-greets, and this wasn't any different." Pepper spoke firmly, her hand curling around the back of Steve's neck. "We'll take care of it, Steve."

"I don't…I don't mind what you and Tony do. Or what anyone does. That's their right. Your right."

"Ah, fuck. Steve, that was just me running my mouth." Tony leaned against the ropes, smiling at Steve out of the mask. "I know you're not that much of a prude."

Pepper sighed. "Tony."

"I'm not, though. I was in the USO for six months, then all over Europe." Steve stood up, and Pepper's hand fell away. He kept looking at the far wall of the gym. "But I get it. Knowing what I do of history now, I understand the controversy. There is still a lot of hate, a lot of bullies, in the world. But it's not a problem for me, and I want people to know that. Live and let live."

"Live and let love?" Tony laughed.

Steve nodded curtly and ducked out of the ring. He walked straight out of the gym, refusing to humor his baser instincts to turn around and look back at them.