Ow, fuck! [ Tony hisses, more out of reflex than actual pain, though a memory that isn't his plays out in his mind's eye: A shard of glass is dragged down his arm, just barely cutting him before he does it again, digging it in deeper... He clears his throat a second later. ] Mm. [ He contemplates. ] Fruity, effervescent, a bit sticky; like drinking juice from an unripe mango mixed with seltzer and rum... [ Truly Tony, what the fuck is wrong with you? ]
Think we can do better than that. [ He beckons Clint closer with his fingers while pulling the next brightest crystal over to him with his tongs. Normally, Tony would be grabbing at that wrist-mounted taser to immediately start dissembling and speed the process up, but- As his eyes brush over Clint's wrist, he decides against it, hand hovering in midair, paused on its way over. ]
Hey Tony? [Hey my GUY:] What the fuck. [that's what i'm SAYING-
But whatever helps him mentally categorize crystal zaps. He holds out his wrist and...waits...except that. Hm. Except that Tony does not seem to be interested, currently, in doing the thing.]
...You need me to pop the old one out so you can pop the new one in? [Is that?? it??]
[ A beat where Tony freezes. And then he snaps out of it, snapping his fingers and stepping closer like he's totally comfortable with this. ] Yes. Yeah, that'd be great.
[Or. Rather. If he needs Clint to not be here, he'll...go. He'll still fuss with the weapon, popping the crystal out of place and depositing the crystal as best as he can without directly touching it. (Look, it might still have a charge, and he doesn't think he's immune to a shock even if it originated from himself. No thanks! No thank you.)]
Tony sighs a moment later, a slight scowl on his face. ] Exposure therapy. [ A beat. ] The sooner I stop avoiding you, the sooner we get to put that shit behind us. Had to do it for the- [ Hole. He cuts himself off before he says it, not exactly wanting to compare Clint to... That. ] Had to do it before. [ Comes Tony's correction. Followed by a brief smile that someone could blink and miss.
He deposits the next crystal in the weapon, it slides in nice and easy like a syringe going into his arm and Tony wastes no time shutting the weapon back up for round two. He claps Clint on the shoulder with only a stutter of hesitation. ] You're up.
Didn't even know you were avoiding me. [Which he supposes is part of the point. Though he's not exactly a fan of exposure therapy involving being around him. Yeah, that version of him was really, deeply fucked up. Does that really make him scary?]
I get that you're the king of Not Talking About It. And in this case, I'm good with that. I just...don't want something neither of us actually did to fuck things up here. We do that enough ourselves.
Oooh, shit! [ Tony says as he's hit. Yeah, that's... Stronger. Owie. He takes a couple seconds to catch his breath. ] That's... WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on my tongue. Not terribly dissimilar from the feeling of shrapnel. [ To rate this particular crystal, first, while he comes up with the right answer to the rest of the... The Rest. ]
Wasn't avoiding you, really. Just... Busy. [ A beat. ] Wasn't exactly the worst time to get busy, though. [ Another beat, Tony lets out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. ] Anyway, no one's fucking anything up. You forgave me for the months of really awful Narsicko [ Thank you, Till. ] jokes.
So alternate me can forgive alternate you for wasting his booze. [ He says with an easy smirk, like that was the biggest sin. ]
[Mmmmmm forgave feels like a strong word, but, he does know that Tony wouldn't have been that kind of dick to him if he had actually realized what had actually happened. So it's also not an incorrect word.
Don't mind Clint looking particularly unimpressed. Clearly that's his default state.] The fact that shit got fixed like a day later didn't make alt me very happy. God forbid people experience starvation in the torture laboratory, I guess.
[But, y'know, more to the point:] I hope you're gonna write down these ratings in a way that other people can actually understand at some point. Feeling of shrapnel at least is... [Not, uh, not universal, but a lot more people are gonna understand it. He starts the process of carefully ejecting that crystal out to let Tony load the next one up.] Makes more sense to people generally.
Gonna convert it to numbers, don't worry. [ He reaches for the brightest one, the yellowish citrine point and pops it into place, faux-casually letting his fingers brush against Clint's hand as he takes a step back to get shot again. ] Last one was a 4. [ Tony explains. ] First one we tried was like a... 2-point-5? A pinch is point-5, the Bites are normally like a... Seven? [ He shrugs a shoulder. ]
I owe you a shitty decaf coffee one-a these days. For old time's sake.
We gotta get these bad boys up to at least a six if not a seven. You glutton for punishment.
[We are NOT. talking about shit-ass decaf coffee though. Clint decides you know what, maybe that's enough talking about it for now. Tony's even improving as they talk. Look at him, touching, even! They'll get over this hump.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brandingproblem) wrote2025-03-24 12:12 pm
no subject
Think we can do better than that. [ He beckons Clint closer with his fingers while pulling the next brightest crystal over to him with his tongs. Normally, Tony would be grabbing at that wrist-mounted taser to immediately start dissembling and speed the process up, but- As his eyes brush over Clint's wrist, he decides against it, hand hovering in midair, paused on its way over. ]
no subject
But whatever helps him mentally categorize crystal zaps. He holds out his wrist and...waits...except that. Hm. Except that Tony does not seem to be interested, currently, in doing the thing.]
...You need me to pop the old one out so you can pop the new one in? [Is that?? it??]
no subject
[ This is fine. ]
no subject
[Or. Rather. If he needs Clint to not be here, he'll...go. He'll still fuss with the weapon, popping the crystal out of place and depositing the crystal as best as he can without directly touching it. (Look, it might still have a charge, and he doesn't think he's immune to a shock even if it originated from himself. No thanks! No thank you.)]
We could get your boyfriend to do the tests.
no subject
Tony sighs a moment later, a slight scowl on his face. ] Exposure therapy. [ A beat. ] The sooner I stop avoiding you, the sooner we get to put that shit behind us. Had to do it for the- [ Hole. He cuts himself off before he says it, not exactly wanting to compare Clint to... That. ] Had to do it before. [ Comes Tony's correction. Followed by a brief smile that someone could blink and miss.
He deposits the next crystal in the weapon, it slides in nice and easy
like a syringe going into his armand Tony wastes no time shutting the weapon back up for round two. He claps Clint on the shoulder with only a stutter of hesitation. ] You're up.no subject
I get that you're the king of Not Talking About It. And in this case, I'm good with that. I just...don't want something neither of us actually did to fuck things up here. We do that enough ourselves.
[Also zap, asshole.]
no subject
Wasn't avoiding you, really. Just... Busy. [ A beat. ] Wasn't exactly the worst time to get busy, though. [ Another beat, Tony lets out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. ] Anyway, no one's fucking anything up. You forgave me for the months of really awful Narsicko [ Thank you, Till. ] jokes.
So alternate me can forgive alternate you for wasting his booze. [ He says with an easy smirk, like that was the biggest sin. ]
no subject
Don't mind Clint looking particularly unimpressed. Clearly that's his default state.] The fact that shit got fixed like a day later didn't make alt me very happy. God forbid people experience starvation in the torture laboratory, I guess.
[But, y'know, more to the point:] I hope you're gonna write down these ratings in a way that other people can actually understand at some point. Feeling of shrapnel at least is... [Not, uh, not universal, but a lot more people are gonna understand it. He starts the process of carefully ejecting that crystal out to let Tony load the next one up.] Makes more sense to people generally.
no subject
I owe you a shitty decaf coffee one-a these days. For old time's sake.
Anyway, shoot me.
no subject
[We are NOT. talking about shit-ass decaf coffee though. Clint decides you know what, maybe that's enough talking about it for now. Tony's even improving as they talk. Look at him, touching, even! They'll get over this hump.
Get zapped, asshole.]