ironmonger | (no subject)

(no subject)

He does have to go back home eventually.

But can you blame him for lingering over breakfast at the Bar so he can bask a little while longer?

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"I don't get you," Howard concludes.

"Most people don't."

He likes it that way.

"But I don't really have any reason to lie to you anymore, so why bother?"

Wryly: "I appreciate it. I think."

"It seems like the least I can do."

He finishes off the strawberry.

"Not killing me would've been nice, too," Howard points out.

"It would have," Obadiah agrees. "I wish you'd left me the option."

"Why do I have the feeling we'll still be arguing about this when you're dead?"

"Because you're stubborn," Obadiah answers matter-of-factly.

"Howard, if I'd wanted you dead, I would have done it years before I did. I wasted more than a decade exhausting every other option I could find instead of just doing it when Maria found out she was pregnant like I should have."

Howard jabs the fork into his pancakes with unnecessary force.

"Your son is perfectly safe in my care, by the way. I know that was your immediate first concern."

Obadiah calmly forks up some eggs.

"You're not going to kill him, too?" he says, halfway between sarcasm and a dangerous growl.

He eats his eggs before replying.

"A few months ago it seemed like I wasn't going to have a choice, but I managed to turn the situation to my advantage. I don't think it's going to come up again in the foreseeable future."

Obadiah went to some lengths to be sure of that.

Howard watches him for a few seconds.

Quietly: "Good."

Obadiah glances up at him.

"He's very attached to me. He got a bit upset when he realized how you really died, but all he needed was a little reminder."

He touches the scars on his neck.

"In a way, I suppose your shitty parenting saved his life."

...He snorts.

"God. My gift to Tony," he says, but he doesn't try to gainsay it.

Obadiah chuckles.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"I'm not."

"There's at least one version of him who comes here," Obadiah says. "He's not my Tony, but still, I imagine you could ask him. I'm sure you'll run into him eventually."

Because that's how Milliways operates. He's surprised it hasn't happened already.

"I probably should," he says, tapping his fork against his plate and staring dejectedly into his pancakes.

"He already knows everything."

So Howard won't be able to use it to alienate him from Obadiah.

"His Obadiah is dead, it's where I got the idea."

"I ought to hit you again."

Obadiah raises his eyebrows inquiringly.

"On general principle."

"Tony was glad to have the chance to help out," Obadiah says, mildly reproving. "It was important to him."

"It was important to him because he wanted to stop you killing him," Howard points out. "Even if it was a different him. I'm not letting you off the hook here."