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Tony watched from the door as Steve groaned and threw another crumpled up sheet to the ground. His entire studio was overrun by these balls of paper, and Steve was no closer to finishing his project than when he started. Tony could only look on as Steve kept adorably grumbling and groaning, he couldn’t help himself from spying on the man. Eventually, he decided it’s been enough staring, and he has to step in to give Steve some semblance of a break.
“Hey Cap! I heard your brain breaking down from down the hall, what’s up?” Tony saw the blonde’s head pop up, startled by the interruption.
“Tony! What’re you doing here? Jarvis didn’t let me know you were on my floor.” Steve started scrambling, gathering up and covering up all the drawings over his table. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. Totally. But damn, does he look so cute when he’s panicked.
“So choosing to ignore you hiding your stuff, I’m just gonna ask what you’re doing instead?” Tony grinned as he saw Steve’s ears turn red, it was one of the cutest things about him. Oh look, it’s on his neck and face now too. Sometimes, Tony hated having a secret crush on his teammates. Only sometimes. Only when they’re on giant blonde dorks with legs for days that could crush his skull. Is he too far gone for this man? Yes, he is. But as long as he keeps it contained, everything will be fine.
“Nothing! I’m just trying to work on this drawing, but no matter what I do it just isn’t turning out right?” His expression became more withdrawn, his shoulders slumping. The blush was still there, but his face looked so sad. Tony decided that from this moment onward, he would never allow Steve to feel sad again. It was illegal. He approached the table, maybe he could get a glance at what Steve was working on.
“I mean you’re amazingly talented, I don’t know how you’re struggling? It always seemed like it came so easy for you.”
“Usually it does! Except for now, I just can’t get it right. I think I’m slipping.” The pout is back on Steve’s face, and Tony is realizing how much he hates that he gets so affected by that face. “Like, nothing is going right with it? I was trying to do a series of portraits for…the team? Yeah, the team. And I just can’t get it right. It’s been really hard to draw people recently, and like this used to be the thing I was good at? Before the serum, you know. And without drawing, it feels more and more like that old Steve Rogers is gone.” He lays his head on his arms on top of the table. And Tony was at a loss, he didn’t really have any advice for what to do if you’re going through an art block and suffering an identity crisis at the same time?
“Listen winghead, it’s alright to be going through an art block. It happens to every creative. You aren’t losing your talent, you just need a break. Don’t stress about it.”
“I don’t know Tony, I’ve never felt so stuck.” came the muffled response from inside the puddle that was Steve.
“Come on, we’re gonna have a lazy day. I’ve just decided that I’m going to skip the lab today. My favorite winghead needs me right now.”
“Favorite? Is there any other?”
“Well maybe Thor sometimes tops, but don’t let him know that.” The brunette reached over and yanked Steve up and out of his seat. Holy- This was a bad idea, he forgot that the soldier had bulk to him. And he still had the puppy eyes. Tony really should’ve just asked Nat or Clint to drag him down. How was a man supposed to keep his feelings a secret when he literally wanted to punch Steve’s face with his face whenever he saw his cute pouty face?
He dragged the floppy moping man out of his room and asked JARVIS to alert the other members for a nice team cuddle movie night to distract the captain. Steve was an incredible man, and he needed to let loose tonight. Knowing him, he was probably putting so much pressure on himself for an art project for the team that he chose to do on his own. What a precious human being. Damn, he was going into a whole spiel about why this huge puppy dog of a human only deserves good things, and it was a shame that it would only be in his head. Oh well. As Tony dragged him down to the communal floor for a good movie night, he was still curious what the project Steve was doing included. Maybe he could help out? Get some input from some art critic friends? Maybe Pepper could help out with finding people too. The whole gang showed up slowly, with Clint looking like he just woke up.
Ungraciously, Tony shoved Steve into the middle of the long sofa.
“Stay.” And of course, the blonde sat still, even if his face did have a sour expression at being treated like a dog. Slowly, Clint stumbled over the couch and cuddled into Steve’s shoulder, and Thor took up his other empty side. Shit, okay Thor is his least favorite now. Then they hear a cough from behind them, and four heads turned to look at Natasha ominously standing behind them, crossed arms and all. Scary. She actually was looking at Tony, so maybe she needed something from him? She just jerked her head to the counter, red locks bouncing, a clear gesture to follow her to the kitchen area.
“Well looks like Nat needs my help in the kitchen, gotta make a lot of popcorn to feed big blond 1 and 2. You two let Steve choose the movie, he needs it.” And Tony sped away.
In the kitchen, Nat was already popping away, and absolutely didn’t need his help.
“Clearly you’re here to unleash some deadly secret information because you apparently don’t actually need help,” Tony said as he approached Nat.
“Nope, do not need the help. And please refrain from exposing me to your weird mix of horny and longing face whenever you look at Steve.” Wow. No hesitation. Alright, better rip off this bandaid. He just accepted Natasha knowing everything that went on.
“What do you want? I’ve got some arms to definitely not ogle at.”
“Well, I’m here to be the voice to tell you to get it together. Today’s the day. I’ve reached my peak of dealing with your ass making us do team movie nights even though you want it to just be you and Steve.” She added an extra eye roll at the end.
“Listen, I’m homing all of your asses. The least you can do is give me this so I can cuddle against that man and pretend it’s platonic. Ungrateful really.”
“Hey, I’m trying to make life easier for everyone. Steve deserves to have a dude brave enough to admit his feelings to him. And I’m gonna be transparent with you, Steve has the biggest crush on you too. I’m good with people, please just believe me.” Her brows slightly raised, a look only someone on the team could recognize as her getting frantic. Natasha started to look frantic as she kept going on.
“But like, I’m just me? Steve is…..well you know. Nat you’re absolutely wrong about this one.” He faced back towards the cuddle puddle happening in front of the movie, which seemed to be Dinosaurs. Yep, just like Steve Rogers to choose a movie about a dinosaur protecting and saving other dinos from a bully. Why did he have to be so cute? It really was terrible to Tony’s weak conviction. “I’m not exactly the all-American goody-two-shoes that would really suit Captain America. So like please don’t try and make it seem like I have a chance.” The businessman curled into himself, the sadness of Steve never being interested in him really hit hard.
“Yeah, you guys are definitely meant for each other. Only two idiots as oblivious as you guys would be perfect as a couple.” Tony could hear the irritation now. Well, she was being rude. “I’ve had enough, it violates Steve’s privacy. It’s gonna save you guys even more years of heartache, so he’ll probably forgive me.” She walked over to Tony, and yelled over to the other guys, “I need to show Tony something important, we’ll only be a few!” Then the redhead proceeded to drag the billionaire out of the communal floor. The elevator took the pair down several floors.
“Why are we on Steve’s floor?” He was baffled following Natasha to what appeared to be Steve’s bedroom. She doesn’t reply, and just instead pushes him into the room towards Steve’s work table.
“So you think he doesn’t like you right? Well, I got some evidence that’s gonna ruin that train of thought.” The spy dragged him over, and ruffled through his sketches.
“Wait! Romanoff, this is Steve’s stuff. He’s working on a project for us, why do you gotta flip through it,” Tony started to panic, trying to push the woman out of the way to at least preserve some of Steve’s privacy. However, as he shoved her off the papers, Tony couldn’t help but take a look. And what he saw was for sure not what he was expecting.
It was all of Tony. His face, his eyes, his hands, even his bots. The brunette kept searching through the pages, trying to find any drawings of others. Nope. Just him. All of it just conveyed how much effort and attention the captain gave him. And Tony had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t going to break in front of Nat. Yes she’d seen him pee inside his own suit, but that didn’t mean she needed to see him sob about how much he loves Steve.
“So are you getting it finally?” She came closer to the shell-shocked man and softly laid her hand against his back. “Yeah, I think you have a shot with him. Don’t gotta worry about that.” Natasha gave him a reassuring rub on his back. After a minute, she stepped back and let Tony know that she was going to return to the movie night. As soon as she left, Tony fell to the ground. He crumpled the sheets as he held them close to his chest, and finally let his heart explode. The man started giggling, as adult-like as he could, but he was only human. The beautiful human being he had a long-ass crush on, had shown signs that his feelings were reciprocated! Tucking one of the papers into his pocket, he composed himself and rushed out of the bedroom.
He returned to the group with a bounce in his step. And Tony barged through the room until he stood in front of his teammates, with a smug little smirk on his face. “Thor, I believe you’re in my spot.”
“But, I was here first. The spot next to the captain was empty, and from what I’ve learned here, it goes somewhat like ‘You snooze, you lose’.” Thor indignantly argued. Steve looked up confused, but started to make room for Tony next to him.
“Thor, this is my tower. I’m making the rules.” Thor still refused to move, but as he looked over past Tony, he was met with Nat’s death glare from the single-seater next to them. Quickly, he ambled out of Steve’s cuddle range. And in his place, the inventor quickly slithered into his spot. The soldier’s arm naturally slid over his shoulders and pulled him in closer, and everyone settled in to finish the movie after Tony interrupted it. For the rest of the night, the genius had a plan developing in his mind. And the best part? Steve’s arm around him only helped his brain make these plans.
The next afternoon had a certain blonde slouched over a familiar desk. He took Tony’s words to heart, and gave himself a nice morning where he didn’t have to think about this project, that was definitely not about the team but Tony didn’t have to know that. He worked out, showered, fed some birds in Central Park, found a stray cat and gave it some pets too. And after a nice separation, he felt refreshed to get back into it. Recently, he was trying to make a painting for Tony, to confess how he felt about the genius. He was no good with words, but he definitely knew how to make images. But everything felt wrong, he couldn’t do any justice for how amazing Tony and all his achievements really were. It had gotten so bad that he started doubting his feelings for a short period. Maybe he didn’t love Tony as much as he thought. Clearly, that was wrong but it was an awful thought to have. But last night, the inventor was being so adorable cuddling up to his side as they watched four more Disney movies. And it definitely helped reinvigorate his efforts to get this project finished. And as he was starting the sketch out the curvature of Tony's glorious brows, the artist got interrupted by an announcement from JARVIS.
“Excuse the interruption, captain. But Sir has requested your presence in the workshop.” came the message from the AI. Obviously, when a request came from the love of his life, Steve needed to fulfill it. So he left his work midway, and traveled down to the workshop. It was always an amazing time going through the genius’s workshop. Steve got to see Tony in his natural state, and he always felt so relieved that he was allowed here.
Imagine Steve’s surprise when he found it blacked out, which only happened when the man didn’t want visitors. Okay, now the blonde was confused. Well, he was asked to be here so obviously Tony meant for him to come in either way. As he unlocked the door and entered the room, he was greeted with a dim spotlight on an empty platform.
“Tony? You asked for me?” The super-soldier yelled out to the seemingly empty room.
Suddenly a voice popped out of nowhere, “Steve! My favorite super-soldier, glad you came for a visit.” The blonde scrambled around trying to find Tony’s voice. And he finally saw as he turned around. Okay, Steven Grant Rogers had decided he could die now, he’s made peace with the world and has seen all he needed to see. Because what stood before him was something he needed to burn into his memory forever. Tony stood in front of him, probably nude, with a beautiful lovely sheet wrapped around his shoulders. Exposing his arc reactor that framed his face with beautiful blue light.
Shyly Tony looked up and gave him a small smile. Steve tried to make his mouth form words, any words, but only blabbering noises came out.
“Hey, winghead.”
God Steve just melted, whenever he heard Tony’s nicknames for him. It made him feel loved, like he was someone special enough to make a nickname for. Steve only garbled out more noises.
“So I know you had some struggles with this secret project, but I just wanted to offer some more interactive help. I decided that I’m gonna be your model today so you can get some good practice for drawing me. Now, just know that this sounds like a great deal for you. But, I want to ask for something in return.” Steve went from awestruck back to confused. Something in return?
“Sure, ask me for anything. I..um. I really appreciate you doing this for me. But I just wanted to ask why?” Steve doesn’t deserve Tony to be praising him and objectifying himself for the soldier.
“Well, see I have a problem. And I need your help. Maybe you can help me answer some questions.” The naked man approached Steve, closing in on his personal bubble. Pausing to adjust his whole sheet situation, the brunette looked up to stare directly at Steve’s face. “There’s this man, I have a huge crush on him. And I recently came across information that shows that he might also return these feelings. So I just needed a good answer if I should go for it?” Steve deflated at that question. Oh. So Tony already liked someone else, meanwhile, Captain America here has been pining for him since...they met. That was great. But he would be a terrible friend if he sabotaged Tony’s chances at love simply because he was sad and ignored.
“I mean Tony, he’d be an idiot to not return your feelings. You should definitely chase after him. You’ll regret it if you don’t.” The longer Steve talked, the more dejected he was feeling. Well, maybe this would motivate him to finally try and get over his feelings.
“Steve, I’d prefer if you looked at my face while I’m talking about important things.” And of course he had to listen to the billionaire, Steve shyly met Tony’s beautiful brown eyes. Within a second, Tony grasped the front of Steve’s shirt and proceeded to yank him forward until his face crashed into Tony’s, and ungracefully their lips met each other. It was a painful sorta kiss, until Steve’s brain finally caught up with what was happening. He was kissing. He was kissing Tony. He was kissing Tony! The blonde finally got his bearings, and pushed Tony away.
“Wait, this can’t be right. You said you had a man you liked? This isn’t right.” Steve tried to make sense of things while Tony was catching his breath. But as soon as he heard that, he just started chuckling.
“What? Is this what Nat feels? I really feel bad for her now.” Tony mumbled to himself, clearly not trying at all to clarify what was going on. “Well, l suppose you need some clarification, my good sir.” He reached over on a table, and grabbed a folded sheet. The nude man brought it over to Steve. He unfolded it, and finally realized what it was. A sketch of Tony in the workshop. Steve was mortified, how could Tony have found this? “Listen, I felt bad for invading your privacy, but I just wanted to look at your project. And I found this? And of course Nat had to tell me what it meant, but I just wanted to do something for you with it.” And now that Tony was explaining it, he started to become more nervous. Wringing his hands, and he was talking so fast now.
“Tony I-” Steve tried to start, but alas Tony was in full panic mode, fearing he misunderstood the drawings.
“Okay maybe the nudity was a bit much? Or maybe this whole thing was too much and I completely misread the situation. Well I guess I’ll stop listening to Nat from here on out. Clearly she was wrong..” Steve definitely needed to step in, before the brunette talked both of them into a spiral. So the supersoldier grabbed Tony's arms to stop him mid-sentence. The workshop was silent, it’s just the sound of Tony’s muffled words into Steve’s shirt cutting through the quietness.
“Tony, stop. Just listen to me. I think we both just need to calm down. What I’m hearing is that you like someone, but then you kissed me. Now you’re telling me you saw my sketches of you and decided to become my nude model to help?” There was no way that Steve’s feelings were reciprocated, this has to be a dream. Naked Tony admitting his love for him has definitely been a recurring image in his dreams.
“Okay, yeah calm. I can do that. So I can explain the kiss?” Tony sounded unsure, but Steve encouraged him to proceed. “I mean, what other answer is there besides that the someone I like is you?”
Wait a second. Steve needed to hear that again, just to make sure he didn’t imagine it like the other times.
“Wait, say it again?”
“What? That I like you? Well, yes that is a fact. I do indeed have a giant, supersoldier sized crush on you.” And immediately after that, Steve crashed into Tony. He gathered the man wrapped in sheets into his arms and just held him tight. Probably suffocating him.
“Yeah, I heard you the first time. But definitely needed to hear it again to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.” Steve admitted into his shoulders. Relief flooded his body, but also happiness as well. Meanwhile, Tony caught off guard, could only just wrap his arms around Steve’s shoulders as well. “You were always so far away from me, I could only imagine what it’d be like to actually have you like me back.”
“Well I mean, I understand you. You are this all-American, wholesome, good man, meanwhile I used to be the merchant of death. So I mean I didn’t seem like a stellar match for you, and you could do so much better.”
“Nope, definitely no one better compared to international superhero, Iron Man.” Steve definitely shut that down.
“I can definitely say that Captain America is way better than Iron Man, confirmed. I’m a scientist, I did my research you can’t argue with me.”
“We’ll agree to disagree.” Tony only nodded against his shoulders.
“Well now that we have agreed that we’re the best, I’m standing in a workshop naked hoping to get drawn. And now, guess who’s not getting drawn?” Steve had to let go of Tony for him to explain.
“So you see, I lied about the project. It was just gonna be a painting of you, but nothing turned out right. I was gonna use it to confess to you, but looks like you beat me to the punch.” Steve sheepishly explained to the inventor. He knew that Tony doesn’t have the knowledge to help him out with his art on a profound level, but of course he just had to help no matter what. What a ridiculous man, posing naked for a person to show that they love them. But as the realization that his feelings were returned was finally settling in, Steve could only start to tear up from how ecstatic he was.
“Even better, I can relax knowing that I don’t have to ask the others to model nude for- Wait, are you crying? Did I offend you? I promise I won’t do anything after this. I’m gonna try my best for you-”
“No! It’s nothing on you, I just am really happy right now. And to be fair I don’t even know why you decided nude would be the standard. I would only have needed your face.”
“But I was hoping to lure you in with my dashing physique, and my bedroom eyes.”
“I mean you can still do that, you just have to understand not much work would happen with that.”
“Oh, we’re definitely gonna do that.” Tony responded with a smirk. “But also, I know you felt some identity issues with being able to draw my face, and I hoped that like if I did this you wouldn’t feel so much pressure. And you could feel more comfortable again. I know what it’s like to question your skills, and to do it when you’re thrown 70 years into the future with a million other things to worry about just sucks even more.” Yeah, Steve is certain that he loves this man. He even feels tears start welling up from just how adorable this whole situation is.
“I’m glad you stripped nude to help me out. Muse-worthy truly.”
“You better be glad, it’s freezing in here and I need to have JARVIS keep it warmer in here. Especially if I’m going to be doing any more ‘modeling’.” The genius gave Steve a warm smile, and started pulling him towards the platform. “Let’s get started! We can talk dinner plans, while you admire my chiseled features.” But before Tony stepped onto the platform, he dashed over to give a peck on the blonde supersoldier. And of course, a bright blush starts to take over his face.
Well guess Steve would toss away those other sketches, because now he had the real thing and he’s never gonna let it go. 