Title: Five Minutes
Fandom: Avengers
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Summary: Tony gets the single most important phone call of his life while in the middle of a meeting. It’s a good thing that he chooses to pick-up the phone. It’s from Captain America!
The call comes at 0900 that Monday morning. Tony is in a meeting with the board of trustees. His phone is on silent but it keeps on lighting up intermittently over the last five minutes. He takes a chance on Pepper being engaged with Takahasi or whatever his name is and sneaks a glance at the call logs.
It's SHIELD, meaning, it's not important. He goes back to his presentation.
Sir, JARVIS' dismembered voice sounds in his bluetooth earpiece, the Captain in attempting to make contact on your cell.
Tony has to stop, momentarily stuttering at his presentation. He shoots Pepper a distressed look as if to wordlessly apologize. He raises his finger to the receiver. "Are we assembling?"
No, sir, comes JARVIS' response. But the Captain is adamant that he speak to you.
"Patch him through, J." He says while giving the rest of his board a hand. "I'll just be a moment. Captain America needs to speak to me."
"Mr. Stark!" the other guy, pudgy with grey hair, stands up to protest. "We cannot, as the board, sit down and wait while you speak with your... your..."
Tony narrows his eyes. He doesn't even know this man's name. "My what?" He challenges daringly.
"Tony" Pepper intervenes, for whose benefit would be left to dispute. She frowns at him and says a billion chastising things with her eyes. "Five minutes, Tony" she reminds him before ushering out of the room.
"Five minutes" He repeats with a wink. "Got it, Pep." He steps out into the terrace. He hears JARVIS patching through the Captain's call and eagerly waits for Steve to greet him. He's never turned down a call from the Captain ever. He will not start now.
"Hey, Cap" He greets the moment that the connection was stable.
"Hey, Shellhead." Steve's voice is mellow and clear and a little bit affectionate. "How's Malibu?"
Tony throws his head back and laughs. Steve is just so... Steve. Times like this remind him how much the Captain really is human underneath the super-enhanced body of Adonis.
"I'm actually in the middle of the meeting." He hears Steve whine on the other side and he quickly reassures him. "Don't worry. I got about five minutes to spare. It's just the boring old prunes. Not important, really."
"Tony!" Steve sounds just a bit chastising. "Don't call them that! It's rude."
Tony cannot help but smile. "Aww, come on, Cap, just teasing a bit." He chuckles a bit as he watches a plane in the far off distance. "So what's with the impromptu hello? Not that I'm complaining. It's a very welcome surprise to get me out of my pretentiously long presentation."
Steve laughs on the other side. "I just wanted to check in, that's all."
"Well I'm fine. Malibu's great. It's warmer than New York. Great sun. Good views. Fantastic women." He says playfully. "You should come visit when your decide to finally cash in your vacations days."
"Sounds nice, Tony." Steve tells him. He swears he can hear the smile in Steve's voice. "I'd really like that."
Tony glances back and sees the team had dispersed for a short break. "How's the Big Apple?"
"Just the usual." Steve replies with a big of a wince. "Still the number one favourite spot for big bad baddies to attempt their reign of terror or world domination. I swear it's like they only place in the world is Manhattan and Times Square!"
Tony throws his head back and chuckles with Steve.
"Hey, it's got the biggest population of Earth's mightiest heroes. I'll say that enough of a reason to challenge us, the Avengers" He says with pride. They've gotten real close over the past year and have finally formed into a functioning team.
"Speaking of which" he adds after a quick peek at his watch. "Shouldn't you be at lunch or something? What time is it there about noon, right?"
"Since when did proper meal times and avenging go hand in hand?" Steve snorts. There's a beat then he continues. "But I am feeling a bit empty right now. I can eat some of that nice oven-baked Brooklyn Pizza. What was that store again?"
"Rollo's?" Tony mused. "Sure, just tell JARVIS to order the usual after this call." He pauses and checks over his shoulder again. "... unless of course you've got any requests?"
"No, no" Steve declines. "I like that one we ordered last time for movie night. I forget the name."
"Ahh!" Tony exclaims. "Blockbusters Hits it is! Good choice, Cap. Make sure you order Thor some Hawaiian. You know how the god of Thunder gets."
"I will, Tony." Steve says with a bit of resignation. "Hey, can you do me a favour?"
"Sure, Cap" Tony nods eagerly. "Whatchaneed?" There's fierce tapping coming from the glass behind him. He looks back and sees Pepper's furious red face staring back at him. He takes a deep audible breath that's obvious even on the phone.
Steve does not comment if he heard it. "Call my name." He asks with a pleading tone.
The tapping intensifies and for a moment Tony's concentration is split into two places---Steve and Pepper.
"Excuse me?" Tony recounts over the phone. "Did you just ask me to say your name?"
"Y--yeah" comes Steve's breathless response.
Tony, ever the playboy Tony, raises his eyebrow and lowers his voice an octave. "Like this, Steve?" But the response he gets isn't what he expected.
"NO!" Steve remarks harshly. "Not like that. I want to hear you say it just like you normally call me... like Cap or Capsicle or... or anything." It comes out really desperate.
By now, Pepper is all but banging against the glass wall with her first and Tony listens to each thud. Thank heavens for thick glass windows. She won't be able to shatter them.
"Steve" he finally says in confusion. "Steve? What's wrong?"
The other end of the line is silent.
Tony feels the worry start to boil in his blood.
"Steve" he calls out again, loud and stronger.
"STEVE? STEVE!" he all but yells.
A loud thud from behind him catches him by surprise. The board is no longer there. Pepper looks dishevelled and a chair lies not far from the window, turned over. He realizes that she must have tried to break the glass door. Fear spikes inside him.
"STEVE! STEVE!" He shouts frantically over the receiver. His eyes growing wide. He check the phone but the line still is connected. "Steve! Answer me damnit. Goddamnit Rogers" he growls. “You better talk you motherfucker!”
Pepper points to something on the large monitor. But all Tony can see it the timer on his screen: 00:04:56:45.
He looks up and pales at the news footage projected: Captain America body, found.
He hears the rumble first, a groan, then the people shouting. But most of all, he zeroes in on Steve's weak voice over the phone.
"Language" It sound so weak like a ghost, like a whisper. But he knows that Steve just said it.
He watches in horror as the screen shows Captain America's mangled body with a large gaping hole in the middle of his stomach from the wreckage. He knows, for a fact, because his phone is in his white-knuckled grip that the reason Cap's hand is on his ear instead of his stomach if because of him.
Thank you @stonyficideas for the, well, erhm, idea~
