Tony knew the streets of Malibu like the back of his hand. He had grown up in a giant house surrounded by expensive furniture and awesome toys he used to play with all the time as a kid. Everything he wanted, he got. He could point at the biggest object in a store and his dad would happily pull out his wallet. He was granted piles of the most expensive technology and the most popular video games all the way up to his teenage life. He was famous and intelligent. He was handsome and social. Never hungry or tired, and when he was tired, it was because of the long long nights of willingly studying physics.
It had been the light before the storm.
Now he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, a vape in his hand, and a black car parked behind him. You could see it between the trees as it was standing down on the road, the car he had taken from his dad's house right after passing his driver's test a few weeks ago. He was looking thoughtfully at the city underneath him, the sweet scent of the vape smoke filling his nose as he brought it up to his lips again and breathed it in. If it would've been Tony one year ago, he would be smoking a cigarette. He would light it up and inhale deeply, letting the nicotine calm in down and do its work. But after spending several minutes inside a burning building that one time, he wasn't exactly a fan of having fire smoke in his lungs...
The vape was good enough. He felt calmer...relaxed in some strange way while he was inspecting the sight in front of him. He took in the beach, the houses, the streets, the lights. The grass under his sneakers and the silence all around him. He used to like the silence on this hill. It was the same and peaceful silence that had surrounded him and Steve that late night in September.
Had it been September that night? Heck, he couldn't remember. The only thing that was crystal clear for him, was that Steve had kissed him. For the..eleventh time? He lost count after they had had sex on Tony's birthday, not that he'd been counting.
The raven-haired could hear how one of his friends behind him whispered something. They were all gathered behind him, his friends, settled on different places in complete silence. Natasha was sharing a cig with Bucky where they sat on the wooden table behind him with Sam resting against Bucky's back. Bruce was quietly discussing something with Rhodes while Clint was looking over the city, also with a cig between his fingers.
They hadn't asked him any questions. They had just stayed at his side, understanding, and quiet. Waiting for him to tell them goodbye, even though none of them exactly wished for him to do so.
Clint was the first one to speak after he had checked his phone all of sudden. "Pietro and Wanda wish you good luck in the future." He mumbled before putting his phone away again.
Tony blew out the strawberry-smelling smoke in the air without answering, but they all knew that he appreciated it.
"You all act like I'm going to die." He said after a while with a little snort, making some of them smile at him.
"You kind of are," Natasha chuckled. "If none of us can contact you anymore, it feels like you're dead."
Tony smiled sadly before he turned around, making his way to their table. He looked at Bucky and Sam hesitantly before he looked between the trees, checking if there was a car other than the ones belonging to his friends. Bucky, who had caught his gaze shook his head carefully and Tony's hopeful facial expression fell.
"You want me to call him?" Sam asked, but Tony shook his head, appreciating the offer the other guy gave him, even though they were never the closest of friends.
"This is my own fault." Tony explained.
Natasha blew out a stripe of smoke. "He'll be here." She said calmly.
Tony looked at her relaxed facial expression before glancing at the empty road. He narrowed his eyes slightly, waiting for a white car to pull up on the driveway and make its way towards him.
But there was no car.
"I have to go." Tony said, defeated by the truth. Steve wasn't on his way. This was their goodbye.
"Just wait another minute." Bruce said softly.
"For what? For him galloping up this hill with flowers in his hair and forgive me?" Tony asked sarcastically.
"Maybe he forgot it was today?" Natasha suggested. Tony gave it a thought before he shook his head and made his way past the table and into the forest. His friends looked at each other before quickly following him.
Steve wouldn't forget. Tony didn't need to think it twice because he knew that Steve knew that this was the last chance to speak to each other. That's what Ryan had reminded him right before he took off towards the airport a day earlier, making sure that the men who were searching for them didn't know about their plans. Tony knew that when he left Malibu, the names and numbers of his friends and past life must be deleted. Every track must be covered and every little sign of his past must be destroyed.
Anderson already knew one of his friends. He knew about Bruce, and that was already the riskiest thing about the future. If Anderson found Bruce...god Tony didn't even want to think about it.
"What if this doesn't work?" Rhodes asked behind him as they got to the cars. "What if you breaking contact with everything you know isn't the solution?"
Tony rested his back against the door to the driver's seat. He looked at Rhodes with unreadable eyes as his friends stood before him, Sam and Bucky a bit in the shadows.
"I don't know." Tony admitted, meeting Bruce's eyes behind Rhodey. "Maybe I'll learn from my mistake in that case." He shrugged.
"We all know that you never do." Rhodes pointed out with a little smile, making similar smiles grow upon the rest of their faces.
"Ouch," Tony said before throwing a quick look at his wristwatch. He frowned slightly as he looked at the road toward the city, once again hoping to see a silhouette of a certain car approaching them. But it never did. He wasn't coming.
"Gotta go?" Natasha asked lowly and Tony nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah..." He said, lightly chewing his inner lip while his wishing gaze didn't want to remove itself from the road, but eventually, he shook the unpleasant feeling and turned to his friends again. "I guess this is it." he said with a little smile, but his voice wasn't as steady as before. They were all watching him with sad smiles on their faces as his sights shifted between them.
Bruce was the first one who walks up to him with his hands in his pocket and hair blowing in the wind. Tony met his eyes, feeling a little hesitant when his best friend pulled him in for a hug and wrapped his arms around him. The genius relaxed after a moment before he returned the embrace, feeling how the small ball in his throat grew. This was the last time he would see Bruce. He was never going to be able to talk to him, or Rhodes, or Clint, or Natasha for that matter. Tony couldn't help but start doubting his choice. Maybe breaking contact with them wasn't going to help. What if Anderson found them anyway? What if this wasn't the right thing to do?
Tony snorted slightly at Rhode's smug facial expression at their height difference when he pulled him in for another hug. "Make sure to be fucking rich when I see you next time." Rhodes said and Tony laughed.
"If you make sure to be a soldier or some lame shit."
Natasha rolled her eyes behind them as Clint was up next and hugged Tony a little awkwardly. They hadn't really hugged before, at least not sober, so approaching each other and saying goodbye wasn't really something they were used to. It was mostly short pats on the shoulder or quick "no homo" hugs, but this one was a little more serious. Or at least for a short while before both of them had gotten the same thought in mind and hit each other's backs harder than necessary.
"I'm gonna miss you asshole." Clint smirked as he pulled away.
"I can write you letters if you want." Tony responded jokingly.
"Do that so I can ignore them."
Next up was Natasha who smiled at him warmly when she approached him with little teary eyes. Tony smiled back and tried desperately to swallow down that arching pain in his throat, and it didn't get much better when Natasha said a quiet "don't die" and placed a feather-like kiss on his cheek. He even had to bite his lip to not change his mind as the redhead hugged him tightly. This was his friends. His friends who had risked their lives to save him a few months ago. They had supported him through everything horrible in his life, even though he didn't let them in very far. But they hadn't cared. They had accepted him and never left his side.
They had saved him.
Was he really going to be selfish and let Anderson get to them?
"Do you have a gun on you?"
Tony looked at Clint with a raised eyebrow. "What? Why do you ask?"
Clint shrugged while the rest of them smiled at him. "You're gonna live with some badass mafia boss. Wouldn't surprise me."
Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow before he rolled his eyes. "He's not a mafia boss."
"But you do have a gun, right?" Rhodey asked.
Tony sighed before he turned around and opened the door to the driver's seat. "Yes, I have a gun." he said while putting on a pair of sunglasses on his nose, causing his friends to smile at him as the two guys kept teasing him back and forth. Tony ignored them with a smile growing on his lips while he checked his phone casually, checked himself in the mirror above him before starting the engine of the car.
He was five minutes late, he had to go or Ryan would get concerned.
"Remember to delete my number and snapchat, and you know...everything you can delete." he reminded them stiffly.
Bruce's smile faded. "Even pictures? Videos?"
Tony didn't look at him as he grabbed the steering wheel tighter and nodded his head slowly.
"Damn it. I have this really interesting video of you from senior year with Barnes I've been dying to publish online." Clint said between his teeth. Bucky's little smirk immediately dropped as his head turned towards the blonde quickly.
"What?!" Both Tony and Bucky said while Sam almost fell to the ground, his laugh loud and clear and probably heard all the way to the city.
"Oops. Deleted it."
***
Steve groaned frustrated as the traffic once again stopped him from pressing his foot hard on the gas. The traffic lights a few meters in front of him shone bright red and he cursed under his breath before throwing a quick look at his phone watch. Steve had never been the guy who got angry on the road, but right now, he felt like shooting lasers through his eyes. The irritating sound of people walking over the road caused him to tap his fingers against the steering wheel quickly, stressed and irritated at the slow-going pace, while once in a while checking his phone. The clock was ticking and according to the Snapchat map, Tony was still at the hill.
What he was doing there, Steve had no idea. Maybe he wanted to take one last look at his hometown before disappearing. Was he going to change his name? Tony had a nice name. Steve really loved his name, just like he loved everything else about him. His looks, his smile, his personality. Maybe not his attitude.
Fine, Steve also loved that.
The blond closed his eyes for a second as that cursed word seemed to have poisoned his mind. It was frustrating and Steve felt rather ridiculous by his soft heart. Maybe he should just let him go. This was Tony's choice. Maybe he should just move on.
Steve opened his eyes when he heard how the traffic began to move. He immediately stepped on the grass. He could move on after convincing Tony to keep him in his life.
He drove out of the city (luckily not meeting the police on the way) the same way he drove that night with Tony, his eyes looking at the phone screen while getting closer and closer to the hill. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to find the entrance to that small parking place between the trees. But when he finally got an eye on the road, he couldn't spot any cars.
"Shit.." Steve whispered to himself at the empty sight. He turned off the blinkers with a quick movement of his finger while keeping the same course forward.
He was not going to give up that easily. He was going to follow Tony to Boston if that's what it takes to keep him. Maybe he could catch him at the airport.
He drove away from the city out in the open. The music from the radio beating in his ears and he soon decided to turn it off with a frustrating hit against the off-button. Only to realize that his action had been a terrible mistake because now his thoughts were louder than before. Memories of Tony. Pictures of Tony. Sentences and words which Steve constantly kept repeating in his head.
He was everywhere. His face. His eyes. His laugh...
Steve woke up when he heard the loud sound of a car honking. He had accidentally gone through a roundabout without waiting for the cars inside to pass by, but thankfully the other driver stopped just in time.
"Sorry," Steve mumbled while gaining control over his driving again. He focused on the traffic with tired eyes again while letting his gaze slip over a small gas station on the right of the road. There were about four cars in the parking lot. Two white cars, one blue, and one black.
Steve's unfocused eyes opened more when he saw someone walking up to the black car. A guy his age. With black hair.
Steve forgot to but on the blinkers when he quickly turned right and drove down on the parking lot. He didn't care about the sound of another car honking behind him as he drove up to the black car and parked his own next to it. He threw one last glance in the back mirror to make sure that the person he had seen was the one he hoped for.
Short guy, messy black hair, sunglasses, hood over his head, a coffee in his hand..
It was him.
****
Tony raised an eyebrow at the maniac who was driving down the road towards the gas station behind him. They were driving way over the speed limit and Tony had to stop to make sure that the idiot kept their distance. Apparently, that guy or woman had no idea what driving safety meant. He took a sip of his coffee while looking down at his phone. The screen is dark and hard to read from when the sun was making the screen light darker.
Fuck he was already late. Maybe the short coffee stop had been a mistake.
Tony looked up quickly when he heard how the car driven by the maniac stopped. A few meters away from his own. The raven-haired narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Warning bells started ringing in his ears in a matter of seconds. He looked around himself, realizing quickly that he was alone in the parking lot.
He quickly turned around when he heard how the car door opened and how someone approached him. He thought quickly, his mind racing and processing just as fast as it always had while he pulled out the small weapon he kept in the sleeve of his jacket.
He listened to the stranger behind him. How he or she approached him with fast steps. They were right behind him now.
"Tony-"
The genius spun around with the gun in one hand and pointed it right between his attacker's eyes. His finger dangerously close to the trigger. His eyes were serious behind his glasses as he opened his mouth to speak. Only to become speechless..
***
I'll try to publish the next chapter as soon as possible! Love ya!