wrathfulkhan | IC Inbox

Gene picks up.

"Yeah, go ahead, I'm here."

"Hey. Uh. Where are you right now?"

"The Hotel."

He pauses, a little suspicious. "Why?"

"Something kind of big just happened. This huge bunch of foreigners have been coming in, right? Well... Um." Long pause while Tony works up his nerve. "...My dad's here. I already explained some stuff to him," Tony says, the words now spilling out of him in a rush, "and he knows you're here and he's not going to freak out." Probably.

There's a clatter; Gene's dropped the handset.

He picks it up, and hoarsely says, "What?!" into the receiver.

Tony winces. "Yeah," he says, when Gene picks up the handset again. "I think it'll be okay," he continues, a little desperately. "I told him how you've been doing better here and he believes me; he says he'll give you a chance. It'll be fine."

'Fine' and 'Howard Stark is here' don't even belong in the same zip code, so far as Gene is concerned. He takes a couple breaths, his mind racing.

"I need to pack up and leave, don't I? You didn't-- you didn't mention us, did you?"

"No—! It's not that bad, Gene, really. I... No, I didn't tell him about... that." Tony glances over his shoulder to make sure Howard hasn't wandered into hearing range. "I'll, uh, wait a little longer before I mention that."

He hopes nobody else mentions it first. Their relationship isn't exactly a secret in Keeliai. And Howard hearing about it from a third party... Whooo boy, that would be bad.

"Shit," Gene mutters, sounding very distressed. "Shit...! Still, if you're bringing him back here I need to hide...any evidence that I'm staying with you. At least for now. I can work something out, I just...!"

He's definitely sounding worked up.

"Relax, Gene," Tony says. He tries to sound calm himself; he's not sure if it's working. "We'll figure it out. I don't have to show him our room. If he asks... we'll just say we're rooming together to save money." Howard doesn't need to know that the suite these 'roommates' are sharing has only one bed.

"And I won't bring him to the Hotel yet. I'll show him around the construction site and the metal sector, places like that. Get him a room in the Hotel at the end of the day."

Where they go from there is a thornier issue, but first things first.

Yes! Platonic roommates! Ha ha ha!

Gene snorts. "As if he'd believe you would ever lower your guard around me enough to sleep...!" Tony's lowered his guard a lot more than that, to be real.

But he breathes a little easier when he realizes he has a little time. "Okay. I'll...I'll try and work things out over here. Make it less obvious that we're...involved."

...Okay, point. "Um... It's so I can keep a closer eye on you?" Tony laughs nervously. "The Hotel's getting pretty full, it's... not that weird, right?" It's a little weird. "Actually, let's not mention that yet either. I'll just keep him out of the room." Yes, that's a great sustainable long-term solution, Tony.

"But you should probably tell people we know not to, you know, mention... anything." This is going to get really complicated really fast, isn't it?

"Yeah. Okay." Gene opts not to mention that Tony's idea is terrible, because he gets the feeling Tony already knows that.

"I'll put the word out."

"Yeah." Okay. That's the plan. They have a plan. Maybe it's not a great plan, but it's something. It's better than Howard and Gene bumping into each other completely unexpectedly, that's for sure.

"Are you going to be okay?" Tony asks, a little hesitantly.

There is a substantial pause - pregnant, one might say, and the baby is a 'NO'.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Liar.

Wow, that's the loudest 'no' Tony's ever heard from somebody saying 'yes.'

"I'll come find you after I've got my dad set up. We can grab some dessert from the fridge and go up to our room and... talk this out. Figure out what we're gonna do."

He makes very sure to say 'our room' - he doesn't want Gene getting it into his head to grab all his stuff and move out while Tony's out with Howard. He doesn't want Gene to leave. Not permanently. Worst case scenario, he has to crash somewhere else for a while until Tony can find the courage to break it to his dad that they're together.

"...yeah. Yeah, okay," Gene says, and while the words are the same as before the reduced tension is audible. "Should I find myself having to do some urgent errands in the meantime, until you give me the all-clear? I can go shopping, we need a few things anyway."

"Sure, that'll be good," Tony replies, his own relief evident. "I'll keep you in the loop. Check for text messages in case I can't call."

Like, you know, if he needs to send Gene an emergency 'DAD HEADED TO HOTEL, DIVERSION FAILURE' alert.

"Will do."

Gene takes a deep breath. "Have...fun, I guess."

He knows how much this has to be freaking Gene out, but he still can't quite keep the excitement out of his voice when he says, "Thanks. I'll... Yeah. It'll be fun." Despite the drama that it will inevitable cause, he can't help but be happy that his dad's here.

"See you soon, okay?" And then, in a lower voice, with another glance over his shoulder, he adds, "Love you."

Gene's paranoia is ratcheting up - now that his father is here, Tony won't need him anymore - but at the endearment he smiles a little, and says softly, "Yeah. Love you, too."

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