Sunnydale AU: redux

[americas_son]

The day after Sherlock's phone call, Cal gets up early to stop by the Stark residence as promised.

He pulls into the driveway in the car Tony gave him - the only car he drives now - and sits there for a moment after he kills the engine. He takes a slow, steadying breath, hands still on the wheel.

He willingly volunteered for this, but he's not looking forward to it.

(Behind him, a security vehicle pulls into place. Peter doesn't usually send bodyguards with Cal to the Stark residence, but this morning he's sending a message, discreet but clear, that Cal is under protection at all times.)

After a couple moments, he gets out and heads for the door.

Comments

[poeticterms]

"Oh, I know. To get any safer than Tony's house you'd have to visit Cheyenne Mountain. I don't know why I still worry about him."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Neither do I," Cal says. "Like I said before, he can take care of himself."

He slips a pack of American Spirits from his pocket and holds it out.

"Want one?"

It's a deliberate gesture. This isn't like before, when he couldn't wait to get away. Now he doesn't care how long they're both here; cares so little, in fact, that he's even offering up an excuse for Stane to stick around.

He's not scared this time.

[poeticterms]

"No, thank you."

Out here, away from Tony, Obadiah is less cautious. He smiles politely and says, "Maybe it's not Tony I'm worried about."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugs and puts the pack away.

"No?"

[poeticterms]

"Sherlock is such a troubled boy. It's good of you to be there for him."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Last time, the remarks about Sherlock, with their veiled threats and hidden implications about Cal and Sherlock, made his blood run cold.

Now, with that party a hundred years in the past, and Cal having dealt with so much worse -

(cool fingers on the pulse in his throat, for just a second)

- he laughs. It's not much more than a huff of air, but it's definitely a laugh, and the smile lingers as he raises the cigarette to his mouth again.

[poeticterms]

"Laughing at him behind his back? That's not very nice," he chides. "But I suppose the whole thing is a little ridiculous. Just between you and me."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Yeah."

Cal exhales and looks Stane in the eye.

"This whole thing is a little ridiculous, isn't it?"

[poeticterms]

Obadiah smiles.

"You're right," he says. His voice is agreeable, but the smile is vicious. "Discussing him with you won't do any of us any good. I've known him longer than you have, after all."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

- okay, yeah, that's a bit more unnerving, and for a second or two, a small part of Cal wants to retreat.

The rest of him, though, is glad to have it a little further out in the open. It means he's forcing Stane to play by his rules, instead of the other way around.

"That doesn't seem to make much difference as far as he's concerned."

[poeticterms]

"Doesn't it?"

And now the smile says, I know something you don't know.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal draws sharply on his cigarette, a show of impatience.

"Was there something you wanted?"

[poeticterms]

"Oh, no. Just passing the time. You know," he jokes, "it's lonely coming all the way out here just to sit around Tony's house while he's at school. Maybe I should turn around and go back to New York."

Where Sherlock is.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you should," Cal says, just because he knows it's the last thing Stane will expect him to say.

[poeticterms]

"I could never do that to Tony."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Cal just bets.

"Maybe a late-night walk, then," he suggests. "Sunnydale is beautiful at midnight."

[poeticterms]

Now it is Obadiah's turn to look impatient.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal wonders idly if Stane knows what Sunnydale is really like.

Not that it matters.

"What?" he asks. "You're the one who came out here. Am I passing the time wrong?"

[poeticterms]

That gets an actual laugh out of him.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

That was unexpected.

Cal turns his attention back to his cigarette and waits.

[poeticterms]

"You grow up so fast," he muses, "all of you."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"And then your crap doesn't work on us anymore," Cal agrees.

(Ever since his growth spurt -

It's just a small echo of old anxieties, but for a second or two, it's there.)

[poeticterms]

"Oh, I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve," he says, as though they are talking about something entirely innocent.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

The look Cal shoots him is laden with amusement.

"Such as?"

[poeticterms]

Obadiah chuckles.

"An old man like me needs to keep a few secrets."