ironmonger | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's one of those days where there aren't enough hours to get everything done. That's where Milliways comes in.

Obadiah just wishes he could use it for business lunches.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Obadiah smiles, resting a hand against Tony's back.

"I know," he murmurs fondly.

Tony wraps his arms around Obie's waist with a heavy sigh.

He runs his fingers through Tony's hair.

"You're very important to me," he says. "You know that."

"Yeah. I do."

But sometimes it doesn't help as much as he'd like.

"Good," he says, tone still fond. "I think I've run out of ways to prove it to you."

"...fuck's sake," he mutters.

Obadiah raises an eyebrow.

Tony may not actually see the gesture, but perhaps Obadiah's silence will be sufficiently indicative of it.

"I mean, you don't really have to prove it to me? Like, I get it. I just... I know you don't love me the way I love you and sometimes it fucks me up inside."

God, where the fuck did that come from? He isn't even drunk. Then again, maybe that's the problem.

. . . that is, to put it mildly, not the kind of response he'd been expecting. Tony is more emotionally honest than he thinks himself to be much of the time, but not out loud like this.

He's so caught off guard that he can't come up with an appropriate answer right away. That annoys him.

"Jesus, Tony."

He laughs, or smiles and makes a sound that resembles laughter.

"Sorry. Dumb of me to bring it up."

"Not at all," Obadiah assures him immediately, back on familiar ground. "You just caught me by surprise. Your double isn't usually so open about things."

Tony closes his eyes and, without quite noticing he's doing it, leans on Obie a little more than he was.

"Yeah, well. He's not screwing you, either."

Obadiah rubs Tony's back gently, just between his shoulderblades.

"No. I don't think he'd be interested," he agrees, a bit dry.

So fucked up.

So fucked up.

"Yeah, no," he murmurs.

"That's important to me, too," Obadiah assures him.

It would cause more trouble than it would be worth, especially now, with all the effort he's gone to to resecure Tony's affections. That, and he has a Tony now who is interested.

He sighs again and snuggles in a little more and doesn't say anything.

Because when it comes right down to it—he believes that, but he's not sure if he should.

"I would never make him do anything," Obadiah tells him. "And not because Sherlock would kill me. There are lines even I won't cross. Can't cross."

He wants that to be very clear in Tony's head. Any kind of doubt that might grow in that area could cause all sorts of difficulties.

"I don't... I don't know how to know that," he says softly.

Christ.

"For starters," he says, "if I were going to, I would have by now. I doubt very much that I could get away with it now like I could have even just a couple of years ago.

"But more importantly, I'm not interested if he's not interested. I like sleeping with you because you enjoy yourself. It's not a minor detail."

The logic of it makes sense, and it's compelling, but he's aware enough to realize that it's compelling because he wants it to be true.

On the other hand, jokes about magical lie detector kisses aside, Tony really is starting to be able to tell when Obie is bullshitting him. He doesn't seem to be.

It's not really okay and it's not really enough, but somehow it's okay enough. Some of the tension goes out of him.

That's better.

"And if that's what you think of me," he says, not unkindly, "then I have to admit to being relieved my double isn't around any longer. It's starting to sound like you might be safer that way."

"Oh my God." He snorts. "Y'know, I love you, and I kind of love him, but—I'd shoot him first."

He laughs.

"You know," he says, "I believe that."

Tony grins up at him.

"I wouldn't shoot you, though."

A second later his mind flashes to a few of the really disturbing implications of that sentence, and he concludes that he obviously does trust this Obie. A lot.

Well, okay then.

Obadiah grins back at him.

"Again, that's very sweet."

If any of those implications surface in his mind, it doesn't show on his face.