Collide (Steve Rogers)

Chapter 28

"How is he?" I asked Pepper as she walked into the tower. She shook her head slowly. "Really? He's that pissed?"

"Well, I mean you know him." She said softly. "Well he needs to get over it." I mumbled and crossed my arms across my chest. "I agree. I tried to get him to come with me but he refused."

I heard Steve's footsteps approaching and looked over at him with a smile. "Pepper." "Cap."

"How is Tony?" He asked. "Grumpy." She replied with a slight laugh. "Oh, he wanted you to have this." Pepper said, holding out a wrapped box to Steve. Why is Steve getting a gift?

"Thank you?" Steve took the box, a confused look on his face. He started unwrapping it and inside of the wrapped box was stuff about him that our dad kept. "That's my dad's." I said, walking over to him and looking at some of the photos. "He kept all of this stuff about you." There were photos of Steve and Howard. Steve and Peggy. Steve and who I know as Dr. Erskin. Articles about Captain America. About Bucky. The Howling Commandos. Vintage Captain America trading cards.

"Why would Tony give me this stuff?" Steve's brows furrowed and I shrugged. "I didn't even know he had it. I would have thought he would have thrown it away." I picked up an old photo of Steve, obviously pre serum Steve. "Gosh look at you."

"Yea." He laughed slightly and shook his head. "I could have easily beaten you up." I joked. "Oh I'm sure." He laughed again and took the photo from my hand. He stared at it for a few moments and put it back in the box. "Well, tell Tony thanks..I guess." He said as he looked back up at Pepper. "Sure. Liv, just come by the apartment. I'll let you in." She said, glancing at me. "Fine. But I'm not apologizing to him for electrocuting him. He was trying to murder my boyfriend."

Pepper laughed and gave us each a hug before leaving the tower.

"Did your dad really prioritize me over Tony?" Steve asked, looking at the box. "No...he just...well..." I sighed and looked at the box. "Yea. Yea he kinda did. Our dad was obsessed with trying to find you. Recreate the serum. He talked about you all the time. I honestly loved hearing about you but a Tony... it was like everything Tony did, it was never good enough. Hell, dad even missed Tony's highschool graduation when they thought they found you in the ocean. Turned out to just be the tesseract but then he spent years studying it. He really wasn't around all that much."

"Liv..." Steve started but I shook my head. "Don't. It's not your fault. Look dad just wasn't the best dad at times. Always focused on work." I sighed and sat down on the couch. Steve sat next to me and let me lay my head on his check.

Shit...I know why he's pissed. I groaned and looked at Steve. "Tony isn't mad that we're dating. Tony is upset because our dad favored you over him for years. Made him feel like he would never measure up to the man you were...and now that we're dating..." "He feels like you picked me over him."

"Yea." I sighed again and wrapped my arms around Steve. "Tony does like you, Steve, it's just complicated. I think our dating just shocked him."

"I mean falling in love with you shocked me too." Steve laughed. I hit his chest and rolled my eyes. "I'll talk to him."

-

"Tony??" I called out. No response. "The silent treatment is getting a little old, don't you think?" I said as I walked towards his office. At least that's where Pepper said he was. I turned the corner and saw his office door open. "Tony?"

He looked up at me and rolled his eyes. "Seriously? How much longer are you gonna be upset?" He shrugged and continued to ignore me. "This is getting old. I'm sorry I stabbed you in the neck with Nat's widow bites. But what did you expect?? You were trying to shoot Steve."

"You should have let me shoot the capsicle." His eyes met mine and I huffed. "Tony. Be reasonable."

"Letting me shoot him with my repulsors was reasonable." Tony shrugged and kept working on whatever technological thing he was working on. "Tony." He continued to ignore me which pissed me off, so I did what any loving little sister would do. I walked over to him and unplugged some of his equipment. He threw whatever was in his hands on the table and it clattered loudly.

"You know what, fuck you, Olivia." He glared at me and walked closer to me. "You're a brat."

"Oh I'm a brat?? Have you met yourself??" He huffed and we continued to glare at one another. "You have no reason to be pissed off at me Tony. You're acting like a child." Tony scoffed at me and looked around the office. "I'm not a child. I can date who I want and you have no say. So get the hell over yourself."

"You could have dated anyone, Olivia!!" He yelled. "What does it matter to you??" I yelled back. We were getting nowhere and we were both too stubborn to admit the other was out of line or wrong. "What the fuck is your problem with me dating Steve?"

"Nothing." He snapped and started walking out of the room.

"Oh please." I scoffed and rolled my eyes, following behind him. "If you didn't have a problem then you wouldn't be acting like this." I followed him through the hallway and into his bedroom where he tried to slam the door in my face. I stopped it with my hand and foot and slammed it open. "Fuck off, Olivia!"

"No. We're talking about this. Tell me what your fucking issue is." I stood in the doorway with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Fine. You wanna know what my fucking problem is?? Steve fucking Rogers. He's the problem. With his perfect hair. His perfect teeth. His perfect face. His perfect personality. He's just this perfect man." He snapped, waving his arms around. "Steve this. Steve that. Oh back in the 40's you'll never believe what Steve did. Steve's a hero. Bla bla bla." Tony yelled, sending daggers at me. "I heard it all from dad. I don't want to hear it from you. Now get out, Olivia." He pointed towards the front door.

"That was all dad! It wasn't me!" I yelled back at him. "Yea well I'm proactively removing myself from your life before you decide I'm a disappointment of a brother. Now get out or I'll have you removed." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Tony, I love you. You're my big brother. I've always looked up to you and you'd never be a disappointment to me." I said, my voice softer. "Well I'm sure you'll change your mind the more time you spend with the Capsicle." He looked down at his feet. "Just like dad. He's always gonna be more important than me." He whispered.

"That's not true, Tony, and you know it. You are important to me. You're my brother. I want you in my life. I want you in my wedding one day. Hell I want you to walk me down the aisle one day. You're one of the most important people to me. Steve too. I care about you both so fucking much and I'm never going to choose between you two." I sighed and hesitantly stepped closer to him before pulling him into a hug. "Don't make me choose." I whispered. He was tense but I felt him hesitantly wrap his arms around me in a hug.

"I just..." He sighed and stepped away from me. "I need a minute, okay Liv?"

"T..."

"Please just give me that. It's a lot." I looked up at him and could tell he was conflicted and in his feelings. Of course he wouldn't admit that but I'm sure this has brought up a lot of emotional trauma he's buried since he was 21. "Okay, but please don't shut me out."

"I won't Liv. I promise." I smiled at him and turned around, walking out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I found Pepper in the kitchen and she gave me a small smile. "How'd it go?"

"You heard the yelling." I said. "I did. But I mean it didn't sound all bad. He'll come around." She walked up to me and rubbed my arms. "I hope so."