Work Text:
It was never a surprise to find Tony Stark in his lab, working on some new piece of equipment or update to one of the Avengers’ uniforms. It was actually a regular occurrence, considering Tony practically lived in his labs and really only came out when he ran out of coffee beans or when one of the others forced him to join the land of the living for some group activity or a better bed. And these instances were usually accompanied by Tony’s constant complaints that he had a bed in the lab, thanks, and family bonding wasn’t really his thing.
It was a surprise, however, to find one Captain Steve Rogers in the lab. This thought occurred to Tony as he stared at Steve through the glass doors, and he wondered briefly if maybe the captain was snooping for something he thought Tony might be hiding. But Tony immediately dismissed that thought, because willing participation be damned, all the group therapy had actually sort of paid off for the Avengers and he actually felt like there weren’t really very many secrets left amongst the small group.
But that still didn’t explain why Steve was in his lab.
“Consultation hours are every other Thursday, Cap,” Tony called as he entered his lab, trying to watch the other Avenger carefully for any reaction. He may mostly trust his teammates, but odd behavior was off behavior and the captain was swimming in it. Steve jumped as he heard Tony and turned to face the billionaire.
“Tony,” the man said quickly, looking much like the child with his hand in the cookie jar, “I was… uh… I was…”
Tony chuckled, because it wasn’t very often that Captain America ran out of things to say. The man looked completely out of place, standing awkwardly between two of Tony’s workstations and shifting one of Tony’s smaller projects between his two hands. Tony immediately recognized the project as the small communications device he had been fiddling with for a week now, but he suspected Steve didn’t much know that.
“Why Cap, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were up to something uncouth,” Tony remarked, crossing his arms and positively grinning back at his teammate. Steve’s only response was to turn a bright red and turn towards the workstation nearest him, clearly looking for something to say. Tony waited patiently, which he thought was a very gracious thing to do, for the captain to find something.
Finally, Steve looked back at Tony, his face still a little sheepish but starting to reform into its usual confident Captain America mask. “I was just looking into some of your gadgets. It seemed silly to think I might be able to help, but I… I want to help. I like seeing your work.” His face was completely red by now, but Tony was magnanimous enough to not comment.
“Go ahead,” he replied instead, “I was kind of wondering how I was going to get that piece to work.” He approached Steve, looking to the device in the larger man’s hands and back up to the captain’s face, but the man had not stopped blushing and was staring at the communications piece like it had insulted his mother. “You’re… not really down here to help me with my tech, are you Cap?” he asked when he received no answer for his first question, and he noted that the man beside him actually flinched.
“No,” Steve finally admitted through a heavy sigh, “Although I really do like seeing your work.” Tony smirked, knowing he had been right (it was always such a shock, really), and opened his mouth to retort again. But Steve was staring at him now, and Tony unfortunately recognized that look all too well. He shut his mouth immediately, trying to assess the best way to go about his new discovery.
This time Steve beat Tony to the punch, grasping the smaller man by the waist and pulling him towards himself. There was only a moment’s hesitation before Steve’s lips were upon Tony’s, pressing insistently and desperately while Tony processed his situation. It was as Steve was pulling away that Tony finally realized just what had happened, and he mentally cursed the blond for slowing his mental capacities so effectively. Steve conversely looked like he might be cursing himself for quite different reasons.
“Well you could have said that in the first place,” Tony finally quipped, deciding he rather liked the tingling of his lips and the fluttering of his heart behind the arc reactor. It wasn’t like he hadn’t entertained the thought before, after all. “Because I’ve been thinking about this a while and I have a few ideas, if you’re interested…”
Steve looked back to Tony and offered his most genuine smile. And later, as more ideas were tossed around as the two basked in the afterglow, Tony decided he quite liked the idea of Steve coming to help out more often.