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Stephen woke to the feel of eyes on him. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know Tony was watching him. Of course, the fact that it was a new staple to their mornings made that an easy guess. Tony watched him more now then he had before, as though he could see into Stephen’s soul and into their past. “Good morning, sweetheart,” Stephen murmured.
“Hmm. Sweetheart,” Tony repeated. “I wouldn’t have guessed I was a sweetheart person.”
Stephen cracked open an eye to take in Tony’s expression. It looked thoughtful. Tony had enjoyed the endearment before. Stephen remembered the first time he’d called Tony sweetheart, the way Tony’s eyes had widened in surprise, and then softened with warmth. “If you don’t like—”
Tony shook his head. “No,” he said. “I like it. I’m surprised I like it, true, but I do like it.” He shifted, setting his chin on crossed arms. “Do I have a term of endearment for you?”
That made Stephen laugh. As though Tony would ever limit himself to one. “What do you think?”
Tony wrinkled his nose. “I think that limiting myself to one would be entirely impossible, but maybe you’re my honey bunny.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Stephen said, not even bothering to hide his grimace. “I refuse to be called honey bunny.”
“Well, that answers that,” Tony said, tone teasing. “My darling honey bunny.”
Stephen wondered if it would be worth it to push Tony out of bed. “You don’t know this about me—” for a moment his heart twisted, because Tony had known him better than anyone and now Tony didn’t, ”—but I can be very vengeful.”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Tony said.
Stephen’s heart dropped. What did that mean? Stephen had been teasing. What had he done that would make Tony think he was a vengeful person?
Tony must have felt his tension. “That wasn’t a critique. I’ve been asking the other Avengers about you. Clint complained about the last time he started a prank war. Apparently you gave as good as you got. If not better.”
Stephen smiled. “Oh, better by far. You and I won that prank war by miles.”
“We took on the Avengers as a team?” Tony asked, suddenly quiet.
“Of course. We’re a good team,” Stephen said. “The best, really. We always have been.” Despite everything, Stephen wanted to believe they always would be.