Archive of Our Own

I don't wanna waste no time, yuh
You ain't got a one-track mind, yuh
Have it any way you like, yuh
And I can tell that you know I know how I want it

Steve and Tony had gotten off on the wrong foot. Steve never even bothered to read the file on Tony Stark, wanting to judge the man with his own two eyes and not the words on a page. That had backfired on him when a beautiful woman strode into the conference room and eyed Steve up and down.

“Just what is a war relic like you doing in a place like this?” she asked.

“I’m waiting for Mr. Stark,” he said. Her eye twitched.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait til you’re dead to meet him, and then you’ll have to show your passport the the gatekeeper in hell.”

“That’s no way to speak of the dead! And I don’t mean Mr. Stark Senior, I’m meeting his son, Tony Stark.” said Steve. The woman’s eyes seemed to glow and she barked out a laugh.

“You’ll have to wait until a portal to another universe opens up for that one. I’m Tony Stark.”

Steve goggled. “ You’re- Tony Stark?”

“The one and only.” Her grin was a knife.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that you were a woman.”

“Neither did dad, since he never changed my diapers. Let’s move on, we don’t have a lot of time to chit chat. End of the world, remember?”

Tony was brash and overconfident in battle, ignoring Steve’s orders and rushing off into collapsing buildings. Steve would yell at her and she would shout back. They once had to be forcibly separated from the room, both fuming, but they were a team no less. They got better at working together after the Chitauri, where they had no choice but to band together to save the world. But after the alien invasion of New York and Tony fell from the sky like an angel woke up to Steve smiling his best boy-next-door smile to her, something was different. Something changed between them that kept leading them to each other like gravity. Tony invited all the Avengers to live in her newly repurposed tower, but she looked straight at Steve when she offered. He felt a shiver run down his spine and felt himself say yes, even as he thought he should probably get his own place. He didn’t regret it though when Tony’s face lit up like he’d offered her her favorite candy instead of accepting her offer to let him freeload.
Steve learned just how distracting modern life was when he was on Avengers tower, with all its screens and technology. But when Tony invited him in her lab so she could take measurements for the new suit prototype she was drumming up, he felt all his focus grab onto her like lead shards to a magnet. She talked and babbled technological jargon he probably would never understand, and berated her bots and flirted with JARVIS. In her oil-stained jeans and cut up t-shirt she was the most riveting thing he’d seen this century. When she wrapped a measuring tape around his chest he knew she could've found some other way to get his measurements, and she was standing a hair too close for sheer scientific purposes, so when she looked up he leaned down to kiss her. She grabbed his neck and drew him down faster, pressing her body up against him.

“Tony,” he breathed.

“Let’s not waste any more time, yeah?”

“Yeah”. He dragged his arms up her torso, feeling the strong muscles in her back contract as she leaned into the touch. He kept a hand on her hip and buried one in her long dark hair. She hummed in encouragement. She gently dragged her teeth over his bottom lip and moved her hands down to squeeze his ass. He bucked and she chuckled.

“You like that?” His face was bright red as he nodded. “Good,” she said, and went back to kissing him.

/////////

Ain't nobody else can relate
Boy, I like that you ain't afraid

Tony found Steve standing on the edge of the launch pad one night, looking at the sky. Tony was coming back from installing some more energy efficient gadgets and wasn’t expecting anyone to be waiting up for her.

“What’re you doing out here?” she asked when she touched touched down.

“Just thinking, sorry, I could go.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Lay it on me, what’s up?”

“Do you ever… I guess I already know you do but… I’m just wondering how you deal with all your regrets?”

Tony’s eyes went wide and she dramatically sucked in a breath. “Damn. That’s a hard one to lay on me, I’m not the best person to turn to for mental health advice. I’ve mostly drowned my problems in alcohol and sex in the past.”

“What changed? I haven’t seen you touch a bottle in months.”

“I guess I found a better reason to stay sober.” She shed the suit behind and revealed she was in a flight shirt and fluffy cookie monster pj bottoms. Steve cracked a smile. She came and stood beside him.

“What was your reason?” he asked.

“I’ve got a little more good to look forward to now that I’m part of a team. I feel like I have people I belong with, it feels good to know they’ve got my back. Least I can do is have theirs too.”

Steve wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist and she leaned against his shoulder. He responded by resting his head on top of hers.

“Sounds like a pretty good reason.”

“You know you’re… part of that reason.”

Steve smiled and kissed her hair. “Good.”

///////////

Baby, lay me down and let's pray
I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it

On the anniversary of Tony’s kidnapping in Afghanistan Steve found her asleep on her feet as she worked, trying to push the memories away with 17 different projects at once. Dummy was putting out a fire and Butterfingers was poking her when Steve walked in. She started awake.
“Oh, hi Steve. Check this out, it’s a rape whistle you can implant in your body that detects when coitus is being performed while you’re in distress so it’ll automatically call your emergency contact then the police!”

“Tony…” Steve said softly.

“And look over here, I’ve got a hat that camouflages itself into any hair type you want.”

“Tony,”

“And this lil baby over here acts as incentive for kids to learn! Groundbreaking.”

“Tony, that’s a bag of gummy worms. You’ve been in here since 6 last night, it’s 8 pm now. You need to get some rest.”

“NOoPe. No rest for the wicked, haha. I’ve still got so much to…do.” She yawned, and covered her mouth with a screwdriver. Steve stepped closer like he was confronting an unknown animal.

“I know what day it is, Tony and I’m sorry. But you’re falling asleep on your feet and I’m worried about you hurting yourself on accident. Or worse, you drinking one of Dummy’s smoothies.” The bot in question had finished putting out the fire and looked at Steve like a kicked puppy, despite not having eyes.

Tony grumbled. “I’m fine, babe. I just have a lot of work to do.”

“Come to bed with me.”

“You’re just tryna trick me into sleeping, you bastard.”

“I should have never told you my mom didn’t marry my dad, you love that insult too much.”’

“Yeah, but you love me,” she smiled blearily.

“That’s right, I do.” She stopped and turned to him, screwdriver falling from her hand.

“You- that’s. That’s the first time you’ve said that.”

“You want me to say it again?”

“Yes please,” she whispered. He bent down and picked her up by the thighs and touched his forehead to hers.

“I love you. Come to bed.” He felt her breath hitch. She brought a grease-stained hand to cup his head and smiled tenderly. She tucked her face into his neck.

“I love you too," Tony murmured.

“I know.”

Tony was asleep when they got to their room. Steve gently lay her down on the bed. He brushed her hair out of her face and ran a thumb over her cheek like she was treasure he was polishing. She sighed and he pulled the covers over her and turned out the lights.

“Stay,” she whispered.

“Of course.” He settled into bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He'd keep her safe from her dreams tonight.

////////// 

And I can be all the things you told me not to be
When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing
And he see the universe when I'm in company
It's all in me

“Who do those scoundrels think they are? Talking about kicking you out of the company, saying you’re not fit to run it. Why I oughta -”

“Easy there, big guy. I’m a tough girl, I won’t let those old windbags yank me around. Who am I?” Tony put a hand on Steve’s chest, stopping his pacing.

“You’re Tony Fucking Stark,” he muttered.

“That’s right, I’m Tony Fucking Stark, and I don’t give a shit what people think of me, I won’t let a bunch of sexists pigs and bribe mongers in congress make me give up the Iron Man suit, or hand over the controls of my company to someone I don't trust. I got 4 doctorates by the age of 21, I privatized world peace, I sure as hell can do this too.”

Steve sighed and crossed his arms. “I know, honey. I just don’t like the way they talk to you. You’re worth 10 of each of them.”

“Aw babe, you’re sweet.”

“Not sweet, just honest.”

“You’re so getting laid tonight.” Tony was rewarded with Steve’s ears turning a nice shade of pink. She loved doing that to him.

 //////////

You, you love it how I move you
You love it how I touch you
My one, when all is said and done
You'll believe God is a woman

“Hey Doll, listen to this song I just found!” Steve bounced into the common room where Tony was working on her ipad. She'd just come back from a meeting and was wearing his favorite suit, black with gold trim and a red tie.

“This is Ariana Grande. Who introduced you to Ariana Grande???? I was saving that for a special occasion!” Tony set down her ipad when she heard the song playing.

Steve rolled his eyes and pulled Tony up into a slowdance. “I can find some things on my own you know. I have The Google.”

“Oh my GOD stop calling it that!”

“What? You don’t like me using the internets?”

“Steve, you're killing me.”

“The world wide web is a sea of knowledge. A fountain of virtue.” Tony barked out a laugh, the same one she gave when they first met.

“It’s a fountain of something alright, Virtue? Debatable. Definitely not. Too much porn and illegal sales.”

“I illegally downloaded this song.” said Steve. Tony gasped theatrically and swatted Steve’s shoulder.

“MY Captain America? Stealing songs? In this country? It’s more likely than you think.”

“Stop quoting memes at me,” Steve whined.

“I’ll stop when you stop saying ‘ The Google.’”

“Never gonna happen,” he shook his head.

“I guess we’re at an impasse then,” Tony purred.

“Guess so. We’ll have to battle it out.”

“Let me go get my suit.”

“I’d rather you take off that suit," said Steve, undoing the red tie Tony was wearing.

“Are you trying to seduce me?” said Tony, shrugging off her jacket.

“I think I already succeeded in that,” said Steve, and he nipped her neck.

“Fuck,” Tony whined.

“Sure, why not?”

“God, the mouth on you, what happened to my innocent boy?” He grinned and kissed her necks slowly.

“Wanna know what else my mouth can do?”

“Hell yes, like so much yes”

“And I, I feel it after midnight,” Steve sang in Tony’s ear. She shoved his face away playfully.

“Steve!”

“A feeling' that you can't fight” he continued, rubbing her back gently. He licked a stripe up her neck and Tony gasped, clutching his shirt. He backed them up into the sofa and tipped them onto it so she was resting on the seat while he crouched in front of her. He slipped his fingers into the waistband of her pants and looked up, asking for permission, Tony responded by raising her hips so he could slip them down. He kissed at her thighs, whispering love into her skin.

“My one, it lingers when we’re done, you believe God is a woman.”