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Stupid Steve. He just had to be born with a hero complex the size of Texas three times over. He’s making Tony look bad, as if that was possible.
At the last briefing, Fury mentioned a mission in Bolivia and asked for volunteers. This rarely happened. Usually he just jammed a judgmental finger in someone’s face with a rough bark of “You. Quinjet. Now” and that was it. They had already planned on sending Clint since the mission required his particular skill set. It involved infiltrating a warehouse and dismantle the missiles that they were supposedly harboring. That was usually a task that took around four SHIELD agents but Clint insisted that him and a fellow Avenger could take care of it twice as fast. So, in an unusual turn of events, Fury asked if ‘any of you motherfuckers want to deal with Hawkass for a week’.
Steve was the first one to raise his hand. Actually honest to god raise his hand. Who does that anymore? Tony didn’t even do that when he was in school.
“Wait a second. This involves missiles right? Isn’t that more up my alley than anyone else?” Tony had argued, rising out of his seat. They weren’t exactly comfortable if you just spent your time getting thrown around in a metal can.
“Stark, sit your so called genius ass down. If they run into any trouble, someone will walk them through it. This job requires finesse. Something you don’t have”
“Sorry Tony” Steve had told him later, in private, which meant their bedroom, “I have to go”
“No you don’t! You volunteered. You went willingly. Willingly Steve!”
“I know, I know. I just figured Clint would need some help and you two always get into trouble” Steve explained.
Tony huffed and crossed his arms “Nu-uh”
“You are acting like a child Tony”
Steve said fondly.
“Am not” he mumbled, turning his body away from Steve. Which was pretty hard to do when the blanket are all tangled around your legs.
Steve just put an arm around him and pulled him close “Yes you are. But it’s adorable; I like it” a soft kiss was placed on top of Tony’s head.
“Why do you have to be all sweet and romantic? I can’t be mad at you”
“That’s kind of the point, love”
And that was the end of that. So Steve and Clint were going to be gone for a whole week with no communication. Great. Now he doesn’t have anyone to pull pranks for or cuddle with. What had his life come to?
Pepper had told him that he should spend his time of celibacy doing something constructive. At first, he had laughed. Then she used the override code to kick him out of the lab. It was only one day in! He took the rest of the day to actually eat something and get some sleep since there wasn’t going to be anyone to throw him over their shoulder and carry him to bed.
The second day he had spent trying to bake. He read somewhere that it was relaxing and he figured it was at least something everyone could enjoy. Tony had come to the conclusion that all baking was, was simple chemistry. Some basic chemical reactions and vanilla flavoring and you got a cake. Right?
He could not have been more wrong.
After reading a recipe out of one of Bruce’s books that he totally borrowed, Tony decided that this so called ‘formula’ wasn’t good enough. So in the name of Science, he tinkered with it and did some tweaking. All he had to show for it was a ruined cookie sheet and scorch marks on the ceiling. Dummy had dumped the rest of his batter into the bin reserved for thinks that were possibly hazardous. He for one was greatly offended.
On the third day, he went down to the communal gym to brush up on his hand to hand combat. Looking at all the failed kidnapping attempts, it may come down to him having to fight without the suit. Which is fine as long as he has things to make an explosion. But Natasha had insisted that he be able to physically fight his way out of everything. Sparring with her made him sore in places he didn’t know was possible to be sore in. The next time some misogynist says that Natasha shouldn’t be on the team because she was a weak woman, he would personally escort him to her. She could do more damage to him anyways. Plus it would get the point across a lot clearer.
The fourth day, he called Pepper.
“Pepper!” he whined, knowing that unlike Bruce, she wouldn’t throw a remote at him. That man does not like to be interrupted while NCIS is on, that’s for sure.
“Missing Steve?” she asked, very condescending if you asked him.
“What? No. No of course not.
would I miss Steve?”
“Tony, it’s normal to miss your boyfriend. Especially if they are in a potentially life threatening situation”
Tony winced. If he wasn’t mistaken, which he never is, that was a dig at their past relationship. It was one of the reasons they had broken up. And why he and Steve worked. They
understood how it felt on both sides.
“Ok maybe a little. I do love the guy, give me some credit. But I’m bored Pep! Bored!” he said, collapsing onto the sofa.
“How about you go clean that disaster you call a room? How you managed to get it like that in four days is beyond me” Pepper told him.
Tony pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it scandalized. “I have people for that. You do realize that right? Your 4,000 dollar shoes sure do”
“Give them the day off then. Just do something besides bother me. I’m trying to run a certain someone’s business here”
Before he could give a witty response, the dial tone was ringing in his ear. She usually didn’t get her way with things like this. At least not until she threatened body parts very precious to him, Steve too he bets. With afore mentioned shoes. That would get him working for a while. Then he would see something shiny and the cycle would begin again.
He was bored though, insanely so. And maybe, just a little, desperately missing Steve. Besides, Pepper had a point. Steve tried to keep their bedroom in a constant state of military neatness Rhodey had commented on after seeing the room after he and Steve got together.
“Steve made an honest and clean
man outta you? What will the media get to talk about now?” the bastard.
Without him to tell Tony to pick up his clothes, it had gotten a little out of hand. Letting out a heavy sigh, he dragged himself into the elevator to take him to his room.
The mess he was confronted with was worse than he remembered it being this morning. He started with the dirty clothes because that was relatively simple. Pick up, sniff, be disgusted, throw in hamper. Easy peas-y. Slowly but surely, the floor became more and more visible. The scrap bits of metal and food, which he had learned the hard way was not something you put next to each other, were thrown away, or put away for later in the case of the left over projects.
He made his way around the room, looking for anything else. Steve is going to be so proud of him when he got home. It was like he knew that Tony grew up with compliment being far and in between. He would go out of his way to comment on how smart his bots were, or how astounding the suits were. There was also the little things, like remembering his birthday. It should make Tony feel like a little kid, being praised for everything he does right. But weirdly, he didn’t. Or if he did, it felt kinda nice actually. Not that he would ever admit that out loud.
Just as he was about to leave, he caught something in the corner of his eye. It was hanging off the back of the door, about to slip off the knob. Tony swooped it up, curiosity getting the best of him.
It was the Captain America hoodie that Tony had bought Steve on some random date, thinking it was the best thing ever. At the time, Steve had said it would just be silly wearing his own merchandise around. A week later, Tony had seen him slip it on when woke up in the middle of the night, nightmares making him think he was freezing.
“It’s warm” Steve had said, head down and blushing.
Tony thought it was the cutest thing ever. That an hey, it helped with his nightmares. He told Steve this and found that he would wear it more and more. He never wore it out in public of course. But when they were lounging around with the team, Steve would always put it on.
Now, as he picked it up, all he smelled was something that was distinctively Steve. Like leather, Old Spice (because Steve was convinced that it was the best thing ever), and the special soap he used to take the paint off his hands. A wave of loneliness washed over Tony, even though he knew it was stupid. He was going to see Steve in three sleeps. No need to be missing him that much.
That’s what he told himself as he pulled the hoodie over his head.
When he looked at the clock, it was closing in on ten at night. Tony decided to call it an early night and lay in bed to watch a movie. Not even thirty minutes in, he fell asleep, one hand curled into the soft fabric of the sweatshirt.
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Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped off the elevator onto his and Tony’s floor. Like Clint had said, they were able to finish the job much faster than anyone had expected. It was just passed midnight so Steve figured that Tony would still be up.
“Jarvis? Where’s Tony at?” he asked, placing his bags down, not wanting to drag them around on his hunt for his boyfriend.
“Sir is currently asleep in your bedroom Master Rogers” Jarvis informed him.
Steve was surprised. He was completely assured in the fact that Tony had the worse sleeping patterns to ever exist. Why would he be asleep?
Sure enough, when he pushed open their door, Tony was on his side, his back to Steve. But of course, since Tony can’t just have a peaceful night, the soft click of the door shutting behind him woke him up.
“Steve?” he asked, in a sleep slurred voice.
“Yeah babe. It’s me. Mission ended early. Just give me a second and I’ll be right with you. Go back to sleep” Steve whispered, starting to slip off his jacket and shoes.
“Well I’m up now. How can I sleep when my handsome hero just returned home safely?” Tony jumped out of the bed and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
It was a little awkward because he hadn’t quite managed to get his jacket all the way off and now his arms were trapped behind him. It left him to flail his arms with his shoulders one more pull away from being dislocated.
“You’re a dork. C’mere” Tony said, making a ‘turn around’ motion with his hand.
As he got a better look at his boyfriend, Steve noticed that the sweatshirt he was wearing was quite familiar. On Tony’s smaller frame, the sleeved went past his hands and the bottom hit him around mid-thigh.
“Is that my hoodie? I don’t mind but…?” he asked once they had managed to free Steve from his jacket, along with the rest of his clothes, leaving him in an undershirt and boxers.
Tony looked down, like he couldn’t remember that he put it on, and blushed “Oh yeah. It’s stupid, don’t worry about it. Let’s just go to bed ok?” Tony grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bed.
“Oh come on. I bet you have a very legitimate reason”
They landed on the bed and Steve waited for him to answer as they got comfortable under the covers.
Tony mumbled something, low and unintelligible.
“I can’t hear you love. Is it that embarrassing?”
“It smell like you ok? And it’s really soft. And I just missed you a lot” he finally said, spitting out the words so fast Steve could barely keep up.
Steve tried not to laugh because that would just upset Tony. He dint want to laugh because it was funny, but because it was the sweetest and most adorable thing Tony had ever said.
“Aw, Tony. I’m here now. I think you look absolutely beautiful. You should wear it more often" he said, bringing Tony closer to his chest and kissing his nose.
“You’re such a sap, Rogers”
“You love it”
“Unfortunately for me, yeah I do”
“Love you too darling”