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After the Battle of New York, things unravel rather slowly, yet surely. Tony offers everyone a place of their own in the tower and to his surprise everyone takes him up on that offer.
It is Steve who first moves in, leaving Tony speechless which should say something because Tony always has things to say on subjects. A witty or snarky comment or even a disapproving grunt but this, Captain fucking America jumping on the offer of sharing a living quarters with him is clearly the exception to the rule.
And Tony is pretty transparent on what the offer entails too. Given the damage the tower took during the battle, most of it is under construction. Sure there are many workers helping with the rebuilding process but these things take time and Tony underlines that they will share a kitchen and living areas which apparently are not deal breakers for the guy. Fine by Tony.
Considering the rock start they had, he is sure the guy hated his guts. And Tony is a scientist, a man of logic, -although he barely follows the bath of what is considered reasonable- so it makes zero sense for Steve to agree on living with him.
Then another surprising development happens, Tony likes the guy, like really really likes him. They even become what Tony calls fragile friends in the process and if Tony’s line of friendship blurs every time he sees Steve come back from his morning runs with T-shirts two sizes too big, almost transparent with sweat, it is no one's business but himself.
Then comes Dr. Banner who packs up his things and finally feels safe enough to call a place home. In the meantime the construction finishes and all the floors are furnished and ready to be occupied by the members of the team.
It isn’t long before the spy twins follow suit and make the tower their home, settling down. And of course the God of Thunder with his frequent visits to Midgard, needs a place to crash during his visits too.
Although everyone now has their own floor, the tradition Steve and Tony started continues, everyone using a communal kitchen and hanging out on the floor that has since turned into a group hang area.
So it almost feels reflexive when they all plop down on their respective places in the living room for a team movie night.
Steve and Tony run to the loveseat they usually occupy, Clint peches on the back rest of the armchair Nat’s sitting on cross legged. Thor sprawls on his bean bag chair and steals Bruce’s one too while he’s in the kitchen fetching some snacks for the whole gang.
When Bruce comes back with two huge platters filled with freshly baked cookies and takeout bags from Thor’s favorite Thai place, someone obviously wants to please a certain God, they are all set.
“Hit it J.” And a cheesy rom-com starts playing in the background as they settle into a nice convo.
One thing Tony filed under ‘Things people don’t know about Steve Rogers’ is he loves eating dessert before any meal like a kid, jelly beans, gummy bears, chocolate bars, cookies you name it and he’ll sneak one before dinner.
But he also feels like he needs to set a good example for everyone, even to people around him so he tries to be subtle about it and Tony secretly loves that he’s one of the only few people who possess such knowledge on him. This is the kind of stuff you can not read about him in history books.
Steve gives him a child-like, impish smile, the cutest glint in his eyes that do not make Tony’s insides do a cartwheel because he is not a school girl with a crush, thank you very much, and reaches for one of Bruce’s cookies.
Tony is lost in thought about how much younger Steve looks when he acts this carefree and how actually young he is when Steve makes the most sinful noise upon biting into the triple chocolate chip cookie that brings him back to the present moment.
“Bruce! You are a magician in the kitchen!” he exclaims, unable to suppress his excitement. “You should bake more for us!” and continues munching on his cookie.
Tony’s attention turns to Bruce for a second who is blushing with the compliment from where he is laying in between Thor’s legs then he looks at Steve once again, their eyes meeting.
Steve gives him a sheepish smile, eyes curious, clearly trying to decipher the look on Tony’s face -it’s jealousy, he is jealous he is not the reciprocant of Steve’s praises- then proceeds to inhale two more cookies while Tony mentally takes a note about mastering baking.
He just wants to provide freshly baked goods for his teammates and ease Bruce’s burden on the matter, not fish for compliments from Steve or make him moan by any means.
For the next few weeks, Tony thinks he got everything under his control. He spars with Steve without embarrassing himself, they have two more movie nights and he manages to watch the movie enough to at least know what the hell is going on instead of watching Steve the whole time, and he only walks through a wall once upon seeing Steve shirtless.
Then it happens…
He is down in his workshop and no he is not avoiding anyone for how he reacted. It is a perfectly reasonable reaction to storm out of a room after Mr. Apple Pie touches Clint everywhere and tells him how hot and sexy and strong he is. Okay, maybe events didn’t unfold as such but he is still right.
He comes down the communal gym for another sparring session with Natasha this time, and finds a certain archer and Captain talking near the benches. After hurting his back a few months ago in a Hydra facility raid, Clint has been working on building more muscle mass and getting more flexible to avoid any future injuries.
And there stands Steve, his hands roaming all around Clint’s back, telling him to flex and relax his muscles, touching everywhere while waxing poetics about his back. “Good job, Clint. Your hard work has been paying off!”
He is as chipper as ever, voice sounding so happy and proud. Then his stupid supersoldier hearing picks up Tony and his head snaps to his direction, looking like a deer caught in headlights. His hands drop down to his sides as Clint lets out a “Geez.”
Tony doesn’t know what happens next because he leaves immediately after and locks himself in his workshop, shooting a text to Nat about a SI emergency he knows she won’t buy.
*****
They are in the middle of raiding another Hydra facility. Tony, with the help of Jarvis, disables security systems in a matter of seconds, takes down three Hydra agents singlehandedly, clearing the area for others and on top of it all he locates four crates of stolen SHIELD technology. He is feeling pretty proud if he says so himself.
One agent that for some reason didn’t show up on Jarvis’ scans of the facility, who probably was outside of the facility at the time of the scan and idiotically thought he could take down all five members of the Avengers himself (Bruce is waiting by the Quinjet), tries to sneak up on Natasha of all people and gets his ass handed to him in 0.1 seconds.
Only Nat and Thor are in the room when it happens but everyone hears it through comms.
“Widow, report.” Internally shaking his head, Tony rids his mind of dirty thoughts that flood whenever he hears Steve talk in Captain voice.
“A stray Hydra agent was dealt with, Captain.”
“Good job, Widow.”
Tony thinks it is a little unfair when he did all of that but only Nat got a ‘Bravo’ but dismisses that thought. He doesn’t do what he does for praises and pats on the back, but a little bit of acknowledgement would be appreciated.
And it doesn’t stop there either. During their post-battle debriefing, Steve gives Fury and Hill play-by-play of their raid in great detail. He explains everything with precision and paints a meticulous picture for them.
As always he is very objective and reasonable, yet when he explains about neutralizing and handing the Hydra agent to SHIELD operatives, he can’t stop himself from telling how agile and hypervigilant Nat has been.
“Thanks to Widow's excellent reflexes the situation was defused almost immediately.” He turns to Nat and places a hand on her shoulder, as he squeezes he gives her a one last “Well done.”
Thank god Tony is still wearing his faceplate -a common practice to hide the fact that he sometimes falls asleep during these things- because he could not explain the face he makes.
Steve then turns to Tony, opens his mouth then closes. He almost, almost pouts and his brows are furrowed in a way that makes Tony want to reach out and smooth with his finger. In a totally platonic way of course. Then Steve dismisses everyone.
If Tony flies in the suit and does not join them in the Quinjet, it has nothing to do with him feeling like an invisible kid who can not make his father proud. And no, he does not want to get into the daddy issue implications of the situation.
*****
Once or twice Tony can accept it as a coincidence but after the third time Tony is convinced it is on purpose. For whatever reason, -the self conscious part of his brain thinks it is because Steve hates him- Steve never thinks anything Tony does is enough. And what happens with Thor solidifies his beliefs much to his dismay, if even only for a short time.
Thor and Tony are doing a PR event for Avengers. Stealth ops and recons are Nat and Clint’s area of expertise, if they need more of a muscle support, they employ Cap’s help. However, if flashy entrances and big shows are what they need, Thor and Tony are your go to members of the team.
They are on a late night talk show, promoting a fundraiser they are going to next week. Tony is doing most of the heavy lifting by donating to the shelter himself but they want some press so the animals there can get adopted and find their forever homes.
There is a designated area where dogs are running around and even he’s gotta admit, Thor playing with a bunch of dogs and puppies is a sight to behold while trying to answer some questions.
“I love Midgardian movies.” he says while a golden retriever tries to lick his face, answering yet another one of questions people sent through twitter. “Bruce, well Dr. Banner makes sure I watch his favorites when we have time. And my personal favorite out of all so far is Pretty Woman.”
Crawd awws unprompted andTony is a scientist, the statistics he gives are fairly accurate, so you should totally trust him when he says ninety percent of the viewers at home are drooling in front of their screen at the moment.
Even before they end the show, all the dogs get adopted and they return to the tower happy and satisfied with themselves. But that doesn’t mean Tony isn’t drained. One would think doing these types of events since childhood would give him some sort of immunity but on the contrary they take more and more out of him with each passing year.
He hates flashing smiles that don't reach his eyes, masking the fact that he’d rather be anywhere doing anything else. And although it truly was a delight being surrounded by all these dogs and watching Thor play with them, he is glad to be back at home.
They both missed dinner which was cooked by Steve tonight and once they walk through the door both of them beeline to the kitchen for some delicious lasagna. Of course Steve is waiting for them in the kitchen looking unfairly attractive even in his pajama pants with dim lights illuminating his cheekbones. Tony is not sure what he wants more, to kiss him or run away screaming.
“Congratulations on tonight's success Thor.” Scream and run away, it is.
But the thing is, Tony is tired and when he is tired his mouth to brain connection gets severed, so the words leave his mouth on their own accord. “What the hell is your problem, Cap?”
He hears Thor mumbling something about checking up on Bruce and Jarvis confirming his takeout order that will be delivered to their floor but can’t process any of it because enough is enough and he is seeing red. If he were any more careless with experiments he does down in his workshop, he probably would turn into a rage monster just about now.
Steve just looks at him, mouth agape and looks at Tony with an expression he can not decipher. So he just repeats himself because he had enough. “What is your problem Steve?” And his voice is angry but also resigned.
He just wants Steve to confess the fact that he can’t stand him and is only polite to him because they are teammates and he funds everything so he can go up to his penthouse, cry, jerk off and sleep.
He gets angrier as Steve stands there looking like a fucking kicked puppy which he has no right to look like that when he is the one crushing Tony everytime he ignores him, everytime he acts like Tony doesn’t even exist.
And this is even beyond his feelings for him, because he is not the easiest person to like, he has a lot of flaws but damn if he isn’t a dedicated, hardworking member of this team. And more often than not he does not drop the ball. “Close your mouth Steve before flies fly in.”
He lets out an angry chuckle and decides, in for a penny and whatever all that good stuff is. “I know you don’t like me and think I deserve nothing. But it wouldn’t kill you to lie once in a while. Or are you incapable of lying for the sake of being a decent human being? Can you not physically pronounce the words ‘good job Tony’?”
Steve closes his mouth with an audible sound and looks so hurt it makes Tony wanna cry, among other reasons, but he is not that tired and he has embarrassed himself enough for one night.
“You are so stupid.” And Tony can spot the resignation on Steve’s face two miles away.
“Excuse me?” Okay out of all the answers he was thinking of hearing, this is not it.
Then Steve does the most unexpected thing, confusing Tony even more and laughs. It is more of a nervous chuckle more than anything but he laughs. “You are so stupid for a genius, you know that?”
This time it is Tony’s turn to stand with his jaw on the floor because nothing makes sense. His brain does a little calculation about the probability of Steve being high or drunk and concludes, no.
Steve takes a few steps towards him, cornering the kitchen island then stands in front of him planting his socked feet firmly on the floor. Tony knows this stance, it is his ‘I’m ready for battle’ stance but with more data, this equation gets even more unsolvable in his head.
“I do not hate you, or think you are doing a bad job. In fact I think you do more than your own share and are the most hardworking member of this team.”
Tony is pretty sure Steve is abducted by aliens in between his arrival in the kitchen and now. His face contorts in confusion, eyebrows not almost touching. “Further data please.”
Steve takes a few more steps and is now standing right in front of him. They are now so close Tony can practically feel the heat coming from his body. “I just never praise you, because I am afraid if I say something nice about you, I’ll say more than I mean to.”
Yeah, no, things still don’t make any sense. Because if Steve means what he means, the only logical conclusion is that he has feelings for Tony and even in the realm of impossible things, this is beyond believable.
Then Steve reaches out tentatively and holds Tony’s hands in his own, face completely dropped. His voice is laced with sadness. “But my actions have upset you, I see. And I never wanna see you upset Tony.”
His thumbs brush the back of Tony’s hands. Tony’s brown eyes first dart down to their hands then back up to his face and Steve’s bluer than the ocean eyes are now filled with hope.
“Would you give me the chance to right my wrong?” he asks and Tony is only human, a weak one at that so he nods. “Would you give me the opportunity to tell you how much I admire your courage?” a small kiss finds its way to Tony’s left hand.
“How I think you are generous beyond reason.” to the right one. “How hard working you are.” this time the kiss lands on his cheek. “How this team is a team thanks to you.” on the side of his nose.
“And if I’m lucky.” he once again looks deep in Tony’s eyes whose brain he is pretty sure is melting from his ears. “How gone I am on you.” And Tony closes his eyes, the only thing he can feel is the soft touch of Steve’s lips on his.
Their first kiss is nothing like Tony thought it would be. He always imagined it to be under fireworks or after a fancy date in front of Steve’s door because he is old fashioned like that and Tony wants to appease that side of him, a big hot kiss that in his dreams always ends with a tumble in between sheets.
This is chaste, an innocent brush of lips, in the middle of the communal kitchen when he is tired out of his mind wearing a suit and Steve in a T-shirt that has kittens on them. This is comical and unreasonable, it doesn’t make any sense and it’s just… perfect.
Finally Tony’s brain turns online, his body getting with the program and he grabs Steve’s T-shirt, pulling him down for a more passionate kiss that holds more promises than it gives, licking his bottom lip asking for permission which Steve obliges more than enthusiastically. Then Steve abruptly stops, pulling away.
“Okay I did not just read this wrong, did I?”
Tony’s question draws out a big laugh from Steve. He just holds Tony’s hands again, giving him a smile brighter than the sun. “No, I just wanna do this right if that’s alright with you too.”
His cheeks turn the prettiest shade of red as he ducks his head. “I want to ask you out on a date before we take this any further.”
And Steve is so sweet, he is too sweet and Tony is so high on endorphins this feels better than any experimental drug he did in college or any fancy drink that rolled down his throat. So he can not control the needy sound he makes.
He drops Steve’s hands, gives him the biggest smile because he can not help it and pulls him by the hem of his shirt. “Okay but I want cuddles as compensation! We are going to watch a show while I eat cause I’m starving and you are going to cuddle me.”
Steve gives him a mock salute, grinning from ear to ear and walks towards the fridge, to possibly heat up some leftover lasagna.
“And now that you know I love praises, I expect to hear them in the bedroom too, Captain.”
The big casserole in Steve’s hands drops to the floor, glass shattering. Well, take out, it is then. And if Tony kisses him more while they wait for their burgers, who can blame him.