Work Text:
Steve pats away the last of the water from his shower, a towel around his shoulders as he heads towards the communal area, mentally working through recipes and what he think he’d cook for that morning…
Only to pause at the smell of something cooking.
Tilting his head, Steve continues on, curious; he usually cooked, having learnt from his mom when she knew she’d have to be out working, then from his friends when in the Howling Commandos.
Tony is humming softly, FRIDAY playing what Steve thinks is either swing or Jazz as Tony is chopping carrots, onions caramelizing in a covered pot.
Steve dries his hair, watching quietly as the track changes, Tony singing along.
“ Put your glad rags on and join me hon'
We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one.
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'till broad daylight
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight. ”
Steve can’t help but be infected with the joy running through the cooking mechanic.
FRIDAY seems to pick up on their joy, the track changing to something just as upbeat.
The juxtaposition is pretty amazing; the Futurist, cooking along to music that sounded older than his usual stuff of heavy rhythms.
Tony sweeps the carrots in to cook, as he pulls the eggs out, using his foot to open the oven, before checking on whatever was inside.
Finally he notices Steve, nearly falling back into the stove in shock.
“Oh my god! I thought golden boys weren’t meant to sneak up on people!” Tony says, a hand gripping the cloth covering his reactor.
“Didn’t want to disturb you,” Steve says, smile still in place, “you listening to swing?”
“Nope!” Tony grins, “What your hearing right now is Little Richard, the man who inspired the most well-known boy-band in history; the Beatles!”
“Huh,” Steve grins, moving to check what was cooking himself… “You can cook?”
Tony shrugs.
“Felt like it. Though between you and me, don’t tell the others, they’ll think I’ve poisoned it o something, which would be the biggest offence to Mama Ana ever .”
“Mama Ana?” Steve asks.
“‘She was Jarvis’ wife, back when I was a kid Si‒ Dad was always unable to take care of me ‘cause his work and then getting drunk and Mom was always networking, so J and Ana brought me up. She was like a second Mom, so Mama,” Tony shrugs, “We’d always listen to her records, like Little Richard and Bill Haley.” Tony shrugs, before moving to stir the stuff on the stove and flip the bacon and pork pieces that were cooking, “I thought we could do with something a bit European today, so I’ve got toast, sausages, cooked veg, bacon and baked mushrooms and tomatoes. Should be done in a bit.”
“Need any help?” Steve asks, raising a brow at the list.
Tony hums.
“How would you make your mash? My method’s a bit big.”
Steve grins, as the two are soon prepping the rest of breakfast, the music playing in the background…
Peter emerges first, soon setting out cutlery at everyone’s seats at the breakfast table.
The others follow shortly after, following the smell of food, slinking out one-by-one, though Natasha and Sam had already been up and sparring with Bucky watching them.
They arrive to find Steve and Tony serving up a spread that filled the table, music drifting in from the kitchen as Tony hums along, body vibrating and moving a little with it, Steve keeping things steady as they serve up.
“Little Richard? He’s a classic!” Clint remarks.
“I prefer Nina Simone,” Sam says, “She’s got the sass down pat.”
“Oh, she’s a Queen ,” Tony agrees, “But Little Rich’s my kinda tempo.”
“I prefer Madonna,” Natasha says.
“Oh, she came two decades after these artists started. She can slay, but she still can’t hold a candle to these guys,” Tony retorts.
“I have no idea who these other people are,” Steve says, as they’re finally fetched everything from the kitchen, Loki and Thor entering.
“ Oh my god , FRIDAY, pull up that fifties-to-eighties playlist I got!” Tony says, “We are taking Steve and Buck for a ride!”
“Yes, Boss,” she says, the music changing, as they all settle down for breakfast…
“So Tony helped cook?” Nat asks, “Or has he been hiding his skills in his lab?”
“Oh, he can cook,” Rhodey says, catching sight of Tony’s shift in attitude, embarrassment and “I recognise your cooking anywhere, Tones, especially your veg and meats.”
Tony glares , as Clint is happily floating in a cloud of meat , a piece of pork poking out of his mouth.
Though at Rhodey’s words, he shoves the rest in, swallowing it down, before exclaiming “ He made this?!”
Tony stays quiet, though he’s now looking a bit flushed, Peter happily scoffing down a plate overflowing with food, May smiling behind her fork at the pair on her right.
“Once we invited him over to ours and he took one look at the stuff May had burnt, before cooking us an entire meal and trying to make May accept money for proper food,” Peter says, “I can do some cooking, too, but then I also keep on being told I should focus on school and stuff.”
“ Tony can cook ?!” Clint repeats, as Wanda and Vision glance up, Vision not really eating, though he still likes sitting with everyone for the usual conversations breakfast brings out.
“To be fair, it’s not entirely different from chemistry, even though the chemicals are grouped up, not by themselves,” Bruce says.
Clint just snatches the entire plate of pork from under Loki’s fork and ties to take the rest, only for Loki to use his magic and levitate half of it onto his and Thor’s plates.
“No hogging the pork!” Loki states, “I like it, too!”
Clint just sticks out his tongue, Loki scowling as Thor distracts him with a “brother! Let’s spar after breaking our fast!”
So instead Loki just throws a knife into the spot just in front of Clint’s plate, as Tony stops Peter from trying to sneak a sip of coffee ‒ he did not want to be pulling a squirmy, teenage kid off the ceiling, thank you very much.
“Don’t think I’m not letting you get away from learning how to cook properly ,” Tony says, Peter perking up at the promise of more time with his mentor/Dad…