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To say that Tony is surprised when it first happens is an understatement.
When he shuffles into the kitchen one morning, sleep-mussed and not quite awake yet, a mug is pressed into his hands. Tony’s attention focuses solely on the coffee and he practically purrs in delight.
What stops him in his tracks and snaps him out of his sleepy haze, however, is the voice telling him: “Good morning, Tony. I love you. Enjoy your coffee.”
He blinks, the mug frozen halfway to his lips. Tony swears he can see a flash of red hair disappearing but-
Why would Natasha tell him she loved him?
It must be a dream, Tony decides. People don’t just tell him they love him. People tell him his flaws, they tell him everything that he does wrong, they tell him very clearly how much they hate him, despise him, how he’s arrogant and self-obsessed and only ever caring about himself.
But they do not tell him “I love you”.
He writes it off as a sleep-induced hallucination and focuses on his coffee.
.
The second time it happens, he has been awake for about 30 hours. There had been a conversation with Bruce that had sparked an idea and Tony is practically buzzing with energy, he can’t stop.
He doesn’t notice the door to the lab sliding open. He misses Steve’s “Hey, Tony”.
He only reacts when the scent of strong, black coffee hits his nose and Tony moans. He makes grabby hands at Steve until the blond is close enough to give it to him, greedily taking a sip. It’s hot and perfect and Tony closes his eyes in bliss, noticing finally how his exhaustion is catching up on him.
Steve’s still standing by his side, blue eyes trained on him. Tony raises an eyebrow. “Anything I can do for you?”
Steve gives him a crooked little smile. “No. I just wanted to bring you the coffee… and maybe tell you to get some sleep. You’ve already been up for too long, shellhead.”
Tony rolls his eyes, but maybe he’ll actually do this. He is tired, after all. “Fine, mother hen. Let me finish this coffee and give me one more hour and then I’ll sleep. Happy?”
Steve grins. With a pat on Tony’s shoulder, he turns to leave – and he’s almost out of the door when Tony hears him say: “Sleep well later. Love you.”
Tony whips around so fast his neck hurts, but Steve’s already gone and- This can’t have happened, right? Surely this has been Tony’s imagination, his own tired mind playing tricks on him. Because there is no way in Hell Steve Rogers would tell him that he loved him.
.
It can’t be a hallucination or a dream, Tony thinks, because it happens again. Clint talks to him about some arrow design he had in mind and of course Tony, always striving to provide the team with new and better gear, goes to build it.
He doesn’t expect anything in return; it may sound a little upsetting, but Tony is used to doing things for others and not even hearing a ‘Thank you’.
So when he hands a set of new arrows to Clint, Tony thinks the archer will run off immediately to try them out.
He does not expect Clint to slap him on the back with a big grin and tell him: “Thanks man! I love you”, before dashing off.
Tony…. Tony honestly doesn’t know what to do with this. It happens twice, it’s a coincidence; but it happens three times and you have a pattern.
He furrows his brows and thinks hard. What has changed that three people of the team suddenly decide it’s time to tell him ‘I love you’? No one has ever done that before and-
Oh, that thought hurts more than it should. Tony tries to think back and remember an occasion where he’s heard these words. Where they meant something and were not just whispers during a moment of passion that held no meaning.
He disappears down in his workshop again but gets no projects done. Tony keeps thinking about what has happened. Why are his teammates suddenly acting like this? Sure, he has become quite affectionate with all of them but that had to happen eventually. They’ve been a team for three years now, fighting and living together.
Tony cares about them all and he tells them so. He remembers that he has told every single one of his teammates that he loves them already. He’s told Rhodey. He has told Pepper, too. But none of these people, Tony realizes with a sinking feeling in his stomach, has ever said it back.
Until now.
.
It happens more frequently. And it always leaves Tony stunned and flustered but happy.
So happy.
He never recovers fast enough to say anything back, but it’s nice to hear these words so often and at the most random times. Sometimes it’s over breakfast (“You hungry, Tones? I love ya”), sometimes it’s after he’s finished another upgrade (“That is so cool! Thanks man, I love you!”).
Tony has thought he’s past the blushing but apparently, these three simple words still get his cheeks to heat up.
He lets it go on, expecting it to blow over sooner or later. Maybe Steve has given the others a lecture about treating Tony better; it’s nothing that hasn’t happened before so the effects of that will die down soon.
.
Except they don’t. Three weeks have passed and the others still tell Tony randomly that they love him. And by now he wants to know why.
So he waits for the next movie night, then tells JARVIS to pause the movie and marches into the room. Arms crossed over his chest, he looks the assembled team over and raises an eyebrow.
“So, why are you doing this?”, he wants to know.
Steve looks at him confused. “Doing what?”
“You know what! The whole- the whole ‘I love you’ thing. What is this about?” Tony taps his fingers against the reactor, eyes flicking to each member of the team.
Natasha looks mildly amused, if the restrained little smile she wears is any indication. Thor… Thor looks strangely hurt, as if it pains him to hear Tony ask this question. Bruce sports a similar expression, while Clint just shakes his head.
When Tony looks back at Steve, the blond’s eyes are soft and gentle. He pats the spot next to him.
“Sit down, Tony. I’ll explain.”
The brunet stares Steve down but eventually sighs and does as he’s told. Immediately, Steve wraps an arm around his shoulder and pulls him against his side. To his surprise, Natasha casually curled closer too, fitting herself against Tony’s other side.
The whole team suddenly huddles around him, all of them piled over each other and Tony feels heat rising to his cheeks. This- This is ridiculous, he should-
“Sometimes I think we don’t appreciate you enough”, Steve murmurs softly and Tony goes very still. “You do so much for us. For anyone you meet. You care and you give everything you have and… well…”
“We noticed something”, Natasha continues. Tony licks his lips, not moving. “We noticed that you tell us you like us, but we didn’t tell you in return. So we investigated.”
Clint, sitting behind Tony on the back of the couch, briefly ruffles Tony’s hair. “Guess what we found out. Asked your girl, she said you told her you loved her but that she never got the chance to say it back. Same for your sidekick.”
“Rhodey’s no one’s sidekick”, Tony mutters automatically but he curls in on himself, trying to make himself smaller.
“Tony”, Bruce speaks up softly and the brunet feels fingers on his knee. “We appreciate you. And we thought it was good to let you know about that. Tell you daily, so you’ll believe it.”
Strangely enough, Tony does believe them. He sinks deeper into Steve’s embrace, returns the gentle squeeze of Natasha’s hand around his and hides the few tears that he can’t hold back, but he’s smiling so hard his cheeks hurt.