Return to Malibu - PSL for Arthur

[starknaked]

After certain delightful interludes in the office, as well as teasing the pointman rather mercilessly on the plane ride back to Malibu through teasing looks and comments that wouldn't mean much to anyone but him and Arthur, Tony found himself ready to do nothing but avoid work.

Which left him in a precarious position because he wasn't entirely trying to avoid Arthur.

Sleeping in, he had taken calls he couldn't avoid, made one to Mal that revealed nothing but was designed to ensure she wanted to know more. Having planted that idea in her head, he considered his options. In the end, he went down to the lab.

Surrounded by work, by Dummy and parts and things that could well explode, the chances were good that even if Arthur did seek him out, this would not be a place for the sort of work they were meant to do. It wasn't that he didn't want his mind militarized and protected to keep the suit safe. It was that he was certain that Arthur would do his job, do it quickly and efficiently, and he wasn't quite sure he was ready to let him leave his life. Not yet.

Comments

[starknaked]

"They're horrid people doing worse crimes than you and I would ever do and that, in the end, is their problem. They hate competition," he pointed out, smirking.

Dummy, despite the program, moved closer to Arthur.

"It means he thinks you'll protect him. He's probably right," he said, not trying to hide his fondness for the robot.

Grinning, he pointed out a panel on the wall. "Go and press your hands flat to that so that you're programmed for the virtual monitor."

My mind thinks that when Arthur does so, Tony soon finds out about the name Calvin soon after! LOL!

[specification]

Arthur had to agree with him on that. They were doing far worse things than even criminals and men like Tony did. He said as much to Tony. In the end, all he could remember was what they put people like him and his fellow soldiers through in the name of science and dreams. Half of the men he originally started out with had succumbed to madness or worse. Arthur couldn't find it in himself to regret joining the dream share project but it didn't make what they did any more right or wrong.

His lips quirked up when Dummy moved closer to him. Oddly, Tony was right - Arthur would protect him. If you had told him that some kind of robot would have taken a liking to him last week he would have scoffed but this was Tony Stark and a part of his genius. Normal rules didn't seem to apply. "He's probably right," Arthur agreed.

Arthur grinned and moved over to the panel that Tony had indicated and placed his hands flat on it, not exactly sure what to expect.

[starknaked]

Tony watched Arthur, a twitch of his lips showing fondness, though for Dummy, the point man or both was up for interpretation. Whatever it was for, he waited until Arthur was connected to the system and then he moved to start punching at the air as one might a touch screen. “All right. Here’s your controls. You can do just about anything you want and it doesn’t have to obey the law of physics. Except, you know, if you do it too poorly, the little people will fall out or be squished by G forces,” he said with a chuckle, amused obviously by his own programming. “But that’s how you find out what you’ve done wrong, right? Better here than with real people.” He stepped back, giving Arthur a nod. “You’re up.”

[specification]

If Arthur noticed anything, he didn't mention it. Instead, he walked back over and looked over the controls, studying it. He chuckled and sent Tony a smirk. "You can't laugh if I don't figure it out right away," he teased. There was a bright spark in his eyes though that said in not so many words that he didn't care if he did it wrong or right - it was just about enjoying himself for now.

[starknaked]

"You kill virtually people and I will laugh," he said, not going to lie about it. He laughed at himself when he did it. "But beyond that, no laughter. Promise."

Okay, maybe he would at a lot, especially with the way Arthur was smiling. "Have at it."

[specification]

Arthur chuckled, nodding his head. "I would too," he admitted, knowing himself and the given atmosphere between the two of them. He gave Tony a grin before turning back to the controls and giving it a shot. It took a few minutes for Arthur to get the hang of both the technology and what he was supposed to do but soon he grasped it. It wasn't too much longer after that, that Arthur would, every once in a while, intentionally do something wrong in order to watch the virtual people falling out. If anyone he normally did business with saw him now, they would wonder if he was even the same point man.

[starknaked]

For Tony it was a delight. He did this often for his own amusement, and had shown it to Pepper but most that ever saw the lab were there for business. Or insisted on business though more often than not, Tony worked hard to avoid it. Arthur though, he seemed to be willing to leap right in.

“Remember, you’re working on virtual space. You can do things here that true architecture would never support,” he noted with a laugh as the people went flying out due to the centrifugal force.

Moving his hands, sections of track moved and rearranged themselves, spiraling downward from a steep peak and then dipping down below the floor, unseen though he picked it up a bit further down and, when activated, they disappeared through the floor, coming back up on the other side.

“You can make them virtually aware of that and they panic too,” he said, shrugging at the programming he himself had written.

[specification]

"So like the dream space," he mused once Tony said he could do anything here that the laws of gravity and physics didn't apply. He chuckled and watched as the people flew out of the carts.

Arthur made a soft noise and started to move pieces together this way and that, manipulating the track so that it never ends and reverts back on itself. Effectively, what he was trying and hoped to successfully create was a paradoxical roller coaster filled with twists and turns and upside down spots where it folded back in on itself. "So you built this," he asked, looking over at Tony as he arranged pieces of the track and put it back together. It was a pointless question of course, it had Tony Stark written all over it but still - Arthur was amazed. Truly amazed.

[starknaked]

"From what Mallorie told me, yeah," he said, nodding. It sounded a lot like the things she had told him, if he was honest about it. And some of it may have come from playing at it without being ready to enter the dream world as she had often invited him to do.

"The simulation program itself? Yeah. It only works with the same virtual screen program itself and I'm one of the few that have a fully working prototype of it," he admitted. "Because I created that too."

[specification]

"It's really impressive," Arthur said, giving credit where credit was due. Because it truly was an impressive simulation and program. He might be intelligent on his own merit but he was on no where near Tony's level of intellect.

"I'm surprised," he admitted, sparing him a glance. "You two are such good friends -- she must have invited you into a dream before. Did you never want to?"

There was something about being around Tony that allowed Arthur to feel comfortable enough to lower his guard and to enjoy himself to this degree. He was usually the so-called stick in the mud point man around all others but...well, come to think about it, he was more like his old self with Tony. He was more like Calvin -- the man inside the point man who wasn't nearly as uptight as most thought and knew how to enjoy himself.

[starknaked]

He shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. "I thought about it but there was something about it. Still makes me nervous." Facing his dreams, his subconscious possibly revealing things he never wanted to talk about, that was something he worked hard to avoid facing. "She offered several times but I declined, then Cobb didn't want me around. Something about chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate dip."

"Why didn't you ever sleep with her," he asked, taking a stab in the dark.

[specification]

Arthur nodded. He could understand that feeling. It wasn't exactly something that many people wanted to face because you couldn't hide from your own psyche nearly as well as one might hope. He made a slight face at that. That's something he didn't exactly what to hear either.

"It was never like that," Arthur shot him a look. "I care for her and adore her but it has always been more of a familial feeling with her than it was a romantic one." He turned back to the track in front of him and tilted his head. There was once a time when he thought of her like that but when it came down to it, it just wasn't like that.

[starknaked]

Tony blinked at that, staring at Arthur. "Wait. Never. You never thought of her like that? Did you ever see her in those vintage swimsuits she wore? And you never thought of her that way," he asked, stunned. "Are you actually gay? Or just for me?"

[specification]

"Trust me, I've seen but just never thought of her in that way." He paused and looked at Tony with a smirk. "You realize that men and women can in fact care about each other without having thought of the other in a sexual sense, right?" He shrugged a shoulder and looked over the track he was building closely.

He bit out a laugh and smirked at him. "I'm bisexual and I won't deny that she's beautiful because she is but it's just not like that and hasn't been."

[starknaked]

Tony was impressed. He had worried after he said it that Arthur might get pissed, and it wasn't like he wouldn't have a reason to either.

"I've heard these rumours but I'm not sure I believe in them," he said, smirking as he watched Arthur work on the roller coaster track.

"If Cobb asks, I never mentioned this," he said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I'd like to keep him from forbidding me from seeing her entirely."

[specification]

"Well now you have living proof right in front of you," Arthur said, sending him a smirk. He could feel Tony's gaze as he set up the roller coaster track. He tilted his head as he looked it over and studied it silently. It would just be like a roller coaster if there weren't any lines or a place to get on and off at. Still, the track folded back in on itself and it actually looked pretty cool. He expected most of the virtual people would either fall out or be sick by the time he stopped it.

He chuckled. "I don't plan on telling him anything," Arthur looked over at Tony. "Doubt he'll ask, anyway. He's not exactly supposed to know." Arthur had gotten a call from Mal not too long before he started looking for Tony asking when he planned to come for dinner. As it stood, he was going to try and make it out to LA by Friday to have dinner with them and the kids.

[starknaked]

Moving to stand behind Arthur, he ran his hand along the narrow line of his hip. It was almost possessive, caressing the lines of his body. "But men and men that you deal in different ways," he asked, chuckling as he leaned down, kissing the back of his neck.

"Just don't want to make life more miserable for her because of a past before he ever knew her," he said with a snort, nipping the back of Arthur's neck.

[specification]

Arthur felt the heat from Tony's body and couldn't help but lean into that possessive touch. He hummed and tilted his head for that kiss and licked at his bottom lip. "There is a man," he said, his voice a little lower than he had intended. "That I've been having sexual thoughts about," he admitted before continuing. "A very distracting man if I must say." His lips curled up and glanced back at him with a teasing wink.

He started up the track and watched as the cart started down the track going through the loops and twists and turns before the track folded back in on itself and started all over again. He smirked and bit back a soft moan. Oh, he liked that. "No, I wouldn't want that either," he said. "Going to dinner with them on Friday." Arthur wasn't sure why he felt he had to share that but he did it regardless.

[starknaked]

Tony was taking the time, nipping and suckling at the back of Arthur's neck as he talked. "Is there now? Must be a pretty damn sexy man, I would think," he said with a low growl, half watching the cart as his hand slid around to splay over Arthur's stomach.

He stopped though at that. "Oh? Are you? Planning to be done by then," he asked, voice low but not as rumbling.

[specification]

Arthur suspected that by the time Tony was done on his neck, there would be a rather impressive mark there from his teeth and sucking. He couldn't help the low groan that slipped from his lips in response. Arthur cleared his throat before responding. "Oh, he's a very handsome and sexy man," Arthur said, barely keeping his gaze on the cart now. Tony's age just factored into the sex appeal for Arthur.

When Tony stopped nibbling on his neck, Arthur blinked and tilted his head to look at him. "Haven't planned on anything yet. I should know by the end of tomorrow how much time we'd need. Typically, it doesn't take any more than a week to two weeks. If we're not done, I figured I'd just return after dinner."

[starknaked]

He could still taste Arthur on his lips as he licked them but there was a hint of bitterness there. He was finding himself becoming quite attached to the point man and he'd kind of denied himself any idea that he wouldn't get what he wanted. The downside was that Arthur was much more determined than many he knew, and Tony was starting to realize that if he did keep enjoying his company, he might not keep it for long.

"Right. Understood," he said, eyes closing briefly. He wanted to kiss him, to hold him and maybe not even try and undress him but he felt he was getting himself much too attached. "I'm sure it'll go well."

[specification]

Arthur's eyebrows knit together, not exactly sure what had just happened there only that at one moment, Tony was nibbling on his neck and after Arthur mentioned dinner with the Cobb's, he wasn't any longer. He had to admit, he missed the mouth on his neck or on his lips like the first night. Arthur did know one thing, he was already starting to become more attached to Tony than he had been anyone in such a long time. He wasn't really sure how that had happened or when that had happened but it was happening and Arthur was just glad they had a week or two to go.

"You have me for at least the next few weeks." That was, if Stark wanted him for the next few weeks. He wasn't really sure what made him say it only he wanted to feel those arms stay around him. Arthur wasn't due in Germany until early next month for a job he had been called about last night.

[starknaked]

"What if we're done," he asked softly, leaning in once more to kiss the back of his neck. He shouldn't care. He knew he shouldn't care. But he did. He wanted Arthur around, at least for more than a few days if only to see that smile he got playing on the simulator.

"You told me you don't want Mallorie," he said softly, considering his words. "I didn't think to ask if you and her husband had something going," he said, holding Arthur a bit tighter in case the question pissed him off.

[specification]

Arthur was silent as he thought about it. If anything, he could have sworn that Tony would not be the one saying something like 'what if we're done.' Considering Tony's history with women, Arthur would have sworn that he would grow tired of him and that it wouldn't worry him in the least. He turned in Tony's arms and looked at him. "We're only done if we say it's done. I thought you would grow tired of me..."

He tilted his head and arched an eyebrow. "Me...with Cobb? Fuck, no. It's dinner between friends, Tony. Nothing more. I don't want either of them." He paused. "You realize that it was you that I was talking about, right?"

[starknaked]

His arms stayed around Arthur as he turned, keeping him close. He took a breath, realizing he had acted a bit too needy. It was a deep concern he had, one that led him to become the man he was. It rarely reared its head with women but men were another story. "We'll be where we are, but I barely know you to be tired with you."


"Yeah, I figured it was me but was just curious," he said, making a bit of a face. "I don't see men often and I'm handling it bad."