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1. Acts of Service
Clint’s halfway through his cereal when Tony walks in, suit jacket in hand. His sleeves are rolled up and his tie loose around his neck. He takes one look at Clint and sighs dramatically.
“I hate being alive,” he says, slumping over the coffee machine and mournfully pressing buttons to make himself a drink.
Clint snorts in response, used to the melodrama of Morning Tony.
As if on cue, Steve enters, carrying a box of donuts and a cup of coffee.
“Tony!” He says, grinning brightly. He sets the donuts down. “Glad I caught you before your next meeting.”
Tony remains slumped over the coffee machine, making a sad sound as it slowly whirs to life.
“I got you coffee,” Steve says gently. He places it on the counter in front of Tony, and from where he’s seated, Clint can see that his smile has faltered, a little.
Huh, Clint thinks to himself.
“God answered my prayers!” Tony says, jumping to life and taking the cup. He takes a sip, then turns to Steve, surprised.
“You know my order?”
“Yeah,” Steve says, coloring slightly. Clint only notices because he’s watching them closely. “I remembered you had a big meeting today and figured you’d need a pick me up.”
Tony looks down at his coffee, trying and failing to hide his smile.
“Thanks,” he says.
The kitchen goes quiet, save for the coffee percolating.
“Well what about me,” Clint cuts in, because it’s just too much.
Steve laughs, and looks a bit grateful for Clint’s interference. “I got the team donuts.”
“Well, I’m off,” Tony says, clearing his throat. “Thanks for the coffee, Cap.”
“You’re welcome.”
Tony hesitates at the door, and he turns to say something else, but Steve beats him to it.
“And don’t worry about your report from yesterday, I got it covered,” Steve says in a rush.
“Oh,” Tony says. He blushes a little, and Clint briefly considers stabbing himself with his spoon. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Steve waves Tony off. “Go on, you might be late.”
“They can wait,” Tony says, smirking at Steve. “But okay. Thanks, really.”
Once a few moments have passed and Clint is sure Tony’s out of earshot, he turns to Steve with a raised brow.
“Never expected you to play favorites,” he teases.
Steve rolls his eyes. “Go eat your donut.”
2. Quality Time
It’s a perfectly normal Tuesday afternoon. That in itself should have been warning enough, but Bruce is sitting comfortably beside Tony on the couch, and he figures that he ought to make the most of the silence. Tony hums absently to himself as he adjusts calculations on his tablet. He’d come up from the workshop earlier to ask for Bruce’s help, and elected to stay upstairs in case he needed Bruce’s input again to save him the trip.
Then Steve steps out of the elevator, evidently freshly showered.
“Hello,” he says, smiling at them. Bruce nods in response, then goes back to reading.
“Hey,” Tony looks up from his tablet and stands up. “How was the mission?”
“Fine.” Bruce tries not to eavesdrop, but can’t seem to focus—he’s read the same sentence thrice now.
“Wanna get a snack?” Tony asks. “It’s been a minute.”
“Yeah?” Bruce looks up just in time to see Steve scratch the back of his neck, looking vaguely embarrassed and a bit flushed. “I’d like that. If you’re not too busy.”
“Of course not,” Tony says, smirking. “Come on, there’s an apple pie in this cafe I found that has your name on it.”
Bruce frowns back at his book. Tony had mentioned earlier that he was working on something urgent, hence the need for Bruce’s support.
Evidently, it wasn’t as important as getting pie with Steve.
He hears the doors to the elevator slide open.
“Oh, shit,” he hears Tony hiss. “Bruce?” He shouts, across the living room.
“I’ll pass,” Bruce says, waving his book at them. “Enjoy the pie.”
He bites back a smile when he sees both of them blush at the same time, then look away from each other. If he were a more scheming man, he’d discuss this with the rest of the team. But he isn’t, and he goes back to reading.
3. Words of Affirmation
Thor slumps down on one of the seats in the quinjet and lets out a sigh of relief. The battle earlier was exhilarating, but he hadn’t gotten any rest the night before.
He’s about to nod off when Steve speaks. Thor cracks an eye open to look at Steve talking to Tony.
“The new suit you made,” Steve says, patting his side as if to make his point, “it fits like a glove. I have a much better range of motion.”
“Great.”
“Seriously Tony, thank you. It means a lot that you keep working on upgrades for us.”
Thor watches as Tony turns an amusing shade of pink.
“Yeah, it’s—it’s whatever.” Tony turns away.
Thor sits up a little straighter. “Indeed, Anthony,” he says. Tony stops in his tracks. “Even I, for all I’ve seen, am amazed at your abilities.”
“Oh,” Tony says, looking shocked. “Thanks.”
Steve beams up at Thor. “See. Like I said, you’re amazing.”
Tony’s blush deepens, and Thor laughs.
They arrive in the Tower soon enough, and it’s still early in the day that Tony can still make it to meetings. Steve and Thor are eating their second breakfast in front of the TV when Tony steps out of the elevator, looking immaculate despite the frown on his face.
“You okay?” Steve asks. He shifts forward, as if to get up, but stays seated.
Thor quirks an eyebrow at the movement, but Steve doesn’t notice.
“Yeah I just.” Tony waves his hand around, not finishing the rest of his sentence. “I think I need a coffee, or fifty.”
“Sure, let me,” Steve says, apparently deciding to finally get up.
“No I—I was just saying,” Tony sputters, following Steve into the kitchen.
Thor huffs, brings his bowl of cereal, and goes into the kitchen as well.
“It’s the least I can do,” Steve says, already pouring some beans into the grinder. “Seriously, Tony. You’re already doing so much, it’s honestly kinda amazing how much you juggle every day.” He turns to Tony, looking a bit embarrassed before he finishes by saying, “Well, I guess my point is, you weren’t exaggerating when you said you were a genius, huh?”
At the compliment, Tony turns to Thor with a look of disbelief.
Thor scoops a large amount of Froot Loops into his mouth. From behind Tony, Steve gives Thor a look.
“Indeed,” Thor says, chewing a little before adding. “You are a marvel.”
Tony makes a few strangled sounds, accepts the cup of coffee from Steve, and turns to walk out.
Thor is sure that both he and Steve notice that Tony stands a little straighter, despite his sputtering.
4. Physical Touch
Natasha notices it first over dinner. Tony touches Steve almost incessantly, first to get his attention to pass the salt, then a pat on the back to say thanks for cooking, then ruffling Steve’s hair when he makes a joke.
She decides, as Steve and Tony jostle over who does the dishes, that this is for further observation.
Then, as it is, the world’s on fire.
Still, on the quinjet, Natasha turns to Clint and tilts her head toward Tony and Steve’s general area, her eyebrows raised.
Clint looks, then snorts. “Maybe we should put up posters.”
They don’t have time to say anything else, arriving at the scene of the AIM attack. Natasha’s too focused on staying alive, listening on the comms for the next move, when she notices that a line has gone silent just as the battle winds down.
She finds them first; surrounded by rubble and quiet. The tenderness of the scene almost takes her breath away. “Is he—” she starts. Tony looks up, startled, his hand stopping mid-motion from stroking Steve’s hair away from his face.
“Yeah, I. Medical’s on the way.” Natasha breathes out, and fully takes everything in now that she’s adjusted to the threat level.
Tony’s helmet is on the ground, right beside Steve’s. She picks them up as she walks toward them, watching the way Tony cradles Steve’s head to his chest, keeping his head elevated. With his other hand, the one not carding through Steve’s hair, he’s pressing down on a hole in Steve’s stomach. He keeps touching Steve, his hand moving erratically from Steve’s hair, to his face, to his shoulder, his neck. When Natasha finally gets close enough, she can barely hear Tony whispering.
“Stay awake, I got you,” Tony says, and Steve is looking up at him, probably too exhausted to speak, but his eyes are open. There’s a bit of blood on the side of Steve’s mouth, and Natasha only notices it because she was wondering why Steve was smiling.
5. Giving Gifts
Steve takes a deep breath before he punches in his code for the workshop. As he enters, the volume of Tony’s music goes down considerably.
“Ah, Steve,” Tony says, lifting goggles up and off his face before turning to smile at him. “C’mere.”
Steve keeps his hands behind his back as he walks, his fingers flexing around the book he’d brought along. He takes another deep breath.
“Before you,” Steve pauses. “I mean, I was out this afternoon and.” He pulls the book out from behind him—a first edition copy of Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales. “You mentioned it was the only one missing from your collection,” he finishes.
Tony looks down at the book, taking it gingerly in his hands before looking back up at Steve. “You remembered,” he says, sounding shocked. “I mean, thanks. Wow. You remembered?”
“Yeah,” Steve tries to smile. He’s not sure if he actually achieves it. “Anyway. You said you wanted to talk?”
“Oh,” Tony says, looking away. If Steve wasn’t so focused on his own shyness, he’d say Tony looked a bit timid, too. “Well, this is perfect, really, because I got you something too.”
He turns around and pushes things around his workbench, then turns to Steve with a flourish. “A few weeks ago you talked about how you never got to see Europe during peacetime, and well…” Tony pauses and licks his lips. “I figured you’d never gone on vacation, either. After everything. So.”
He hands Steve a piece of paper, and when Steve glances down at it, he sees a printed ticket and an itinerary.
“I have a bunch of places there anyway, so you can stay wherever you want, JARVIS can set you up,” Tony says in a rush.
Steve holds the paper, then looks up at Tony, smiling a little.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Well,” Steve stops himself from fidgeting, and swallows hard when he meets Tony’s gaze.
“Maybe you’d like to take some time off so you can read.” he gestures to the book in Tony’s hand, only to notice Tony's white-knuckled tony’s grip on it.
It gives Steve a sorely needed boost in confidence. “I was thinking we could go on vacation together.”
Tony makes a soft, choked sound. “Huh?” Then he holds up his hand. “Wait. Really?”
Steve bites his lip and looks away. “I mean, if you have the time.”
“If I have the time,” Tony repeats to himself, sounding disbelieving. “Steve.” He steps in front of Steve, forcing him to meet Tony’s gaze. “I have all the time in the world for you.”
A laugh bubbles out of Steve, joyful and unbidden, and a little bit shocked. “Good,” he says, reaching out and holding Tony’s hand, which is as disgustingly sweaty as his own. “Good.”