Colour My Heart

by funghoulprincess

"I'm happy," Tony whispered. "For you know, how it ended. We're together. "Me too," Steve also whispered, smiling now softly. He ran his fingers down Tony's cheek and neck, caressing lightly the skin. "I love you, you know that, Tony Stark?" "Yeah. I always did, Mr. Rogers."

Work Text:

Tony first learned about the Kinsey scale when he was about seventeen. And if zero is completely heterosexual, and six is completely homosexual, Tony Stark was a three. So very much a three.

He likes women. Loves women, actually. They're so soft and pretty and, yeah, he's kind of a sucker for high heels and short skirts. He loves long hair and painted nails and, oh man, boobs. Seriously, breasts are nothing short of amazingly, incredibly awesome.

He doesn't think it's particularly chauvinistic of him to enjoy occasionally being the big, strong man around a woman. He doesn't ever treat a girl like she's weak or anything - because he knows that most women aren't, just like Pepper isn't- but sometimes it's kind of nice to be called in to kill a spider or lift something heavy for them.

He loves sex with girls and driving them crazy with his hands, his mouth, his dick. He likes to go down on women, which apparently some guys don't. He doesn't understand how anyone could not like it: the way it makes them arch underneath him and grab his hair, and the way their thighs shake and they're dripping wet, and the way they cry out when they come. It's just so fucking good.

Yeah. Tony really, really loves women.

He also really, really loves men. Their bodies, their muscles, their strength. Tony loves it when guys take the lead and shove him into a wall to kiss him or blow him or fuck him.

And, speaking of fucking, their cocks. While more domineering women aren't really his type, Tony knows that when it comes to guys, he's a total bottom. He loves fucking a guy, but being fucked is so much better. He can't think of anything better than a big, thick cock stretching him, filling him. Except maybe his own buried deep in a girl's cunt. Or, better yet, both at once - happily, it happened in real life because come on, he's a playboy and he does what he wants because he's fucking Tony Stark.

It's actually possible that Tony just really enjoys good sex.

So basically, when Tony met Steve, he knew that if he fucked up his big chance at being in The Avengers, Pepper would skin him alive, Fury would kill him and Rhodey would talk shit, not because he was being a bad team mate, but because he was attracted to one of his mates. But The Avengers were kind of the furthest thing from his type that he could get. Everything was fine. Golden.

It's such a cliché: Everything was fine. Until. Until one day. One morning, when Tony got off a plane in New York, for some quality team-bonding time and some training, he spotted his team mates picking him up. There was Natasha, sexy and beautiful in a black tight pencil skirt and a light blue blouse. Clint was standing beside her, loose Black jeans and a grey long sleeve shirt. And then there was Steve. Steve Fucking Rogers, aka Captain America in fucking fit blue jeans, a white t- shirt and an unbuttoned dark blue suit.

Thinking about it later, Tony knew that it had happened fairly gradually, as such things do. Steve had begun dressing accordingly to the twenty first century after he went back to California. Pepper and Natasha gave him some tips and he also had the internet to research about fashion. And it wasn't like he didn't know Steve could be totally handsome or anything. But, Christ, who knew he'd fill out so well or look that damn good if he just dressed like a normal human being of the 00's and not as his grandfather.

After a brief, stunned moment, Tony managed to walk forward again, helped along, no doubt, by that obnoxious ten-year-old who'd been three rows up knocking into him. Natasha and Clint were arguing about something and missed his whole embarrassing jaw-drop thing, thank god. But Steve was staring at him, smiling softly and clueless. As he got closer, he heard Natasha's, "Shut up," and Clint's answering, "No, you shut up."

"Nat, why didn't you tell me?" Tony asked taking off his sunglasses.

"Tell you what?"

"That Steve Rogers actually accepted living in the twentieth-century?" Tony stood with wide eyes that weren't completely an exaggeration.

Clint laughed. Steve bit his lip, "Ms. Potts and Natasha helped me while you were away," while his face turned just the slightest bit pink.

Tony smirked as he shook hands with Steve and gave Clint a bro-hug. When he turned to Natasha to do the same, she just raised her eyebrows knowingly and said, "Hell no, keep your distance."

Tony staggered back, clutching his chest. "That hurts me, Nat. Hurts deeply."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You'll get over it, Stark. You got bags or anything?"

"No," Tony answered. "I've got my tower here in New York. I have my clothes here. My cars. My 40-years-old scotch. My tech stuff. I've got JARVIS. Why would I bother bringing bags?"

"I don't know, Stark. We should go before that group over there gets courageous. Besides, Bruce said he would bake us Shor Bhaja. Indian cake or something. He said it's tastier when still hot."

Natasha glanced over at the group of paparazzi looking like they really, really wanted to come over and get stories for their next gossip site posts.

"Oh god," Clint whispered, sounding horrified. "They've got cameras! I look like shit today! Let's go!" He rushed them out of there and to the car.

Tony was in trouble. Big trouble.

All Avengers lived in the Stark Tower. Natasha. Clint. Bruce. Steve. Even Thor had his own room when he decided to drop on Earth. Tony himself invited them to live there. But being back at the tower also meant he got to see Steve almost all the time. In the morning over coffee, cooking for the team eggs and bacon and toast. Fighting with Clint for Pop-Tarts. When he was practicing at the gym, all sweaty punching hard a punching bag in tight white t-shirts and loose grey sweatpants. When he was playing hide and seek with Dummy. In the afternoon when Steve was lazing around on the couch and "I'm just flipping channels, Tony, seriously. Not watching Honey Boo Boo, I swear." After a shower, when he ran into a still wet Steve – who blushed violently - covered only by a towel slung low on his hips, showing off his incredible arms and shoulders and back and that chest that was just screaming touch me.

And he didn't even have real work to distract him. This trip was just supposed to be some bonding and relaxing. After their adventures in the wilderness of Loki's alien attack, they had all taken a break from each other. Thor went back to Asgard with Loki after the attack, however, Tony heard about a guy called Malekith – seriously, who is called Malekith? – a dark elf or something like that tried to take over the universe – cliché – and for some fucking reason decided that London – always damn Earth – was the perfect place to place his fucking portal and wrecked havoc. After that, Thor went back to Asgard again and since then no news were heard from him. Natasha went to somewhere in Eastern Europe, Croatia or Slovakia whatever, on a mission – she was still a fucking spy – for two months and disappeared. Clint was stuck between the tower and SHIELD, archery training and shit. And Steve was... Doing whatever. Maybe training, buying some new clothes and drawing because that's all that guy does.

But yeah. Big, big trouble. That was what he told Pepper when she called. Thankfully Steve was quiet at his room that afternoon. Tony didn't know why, but Steve recently was always wandering around his workshop, hanging with Tony while he worked on some improvements on the Iron Man suit. All the eye-fucking was making him crazy and he really, really needed a break from Steve. He went with the oldie-but-goodie fake headache to avoid the blonds' company.

"Pep- Pepperoni, my sweet darling, seriously. I don't know what the fuck to do."

Pepper was quiet for a moment. "Tony... I'm probably the wrong person to talk to about this. You know I'm just going to tell you not to go anywhere near him. It'll ruin everything, and you got a good thing going with the team. Don't lose it."

"Shit. Yeah, I know. You're right." Deep breath. "You're right, always right Pep. And anyway, it's just a crush or whatever, isn't it?. It'll go away. It'll be fine. Completely, totally fine."

"Right." Pepper said but Tony just knew she wasn't buying that shit. But, hell, neither was Tony himself.

Tony took another deep breath. "Okay. So, hey, one more thing I need advice on."

"What?" Pepper sounded relieved about the change in subject and then Tony remembered that talking about feelings with Pepper might hurt but it wasn't like he had other friends he trust to talk about it. He had Rhodey but no.

"How do I get rid of the perpetual boner I've got every time we're in the same damn room?" Tony practically shouted into the phone.

Pepper hung up. Which was totally fair.

"I might go stay at SHIELD for a couple days," Steve said nonchalantly over coffee the next morning.

Tony looked surprised and then a little hurt. "Oh. Um. Okay."

"I mean, I've been living here for months now and I don't even pay you anything. Besides, Fury asked me for help. He wants me to practice with some of his new agents in two weeks. Don't think I'm going just because you've arrived here or something."

Tony glared. "Not really possible, Rogers. Just... Whatever. I mean, go if you want."

Steve took a sip of coffee. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything," he said a little awkwardly.

"No, you didn't. I'm just... Tired or something, I guess. I don't know." Tony stood up and put his mug in the sink. He stretched his arms up over his head and his t-shirt rode up just enough to show the skin of his hipbones and he could catch Steve's glance, cheeks turning into a pink shade. "I'm gonna go take a shower." Tony said, because he was a fucking douchebag and he needed to tease the guy.

Steve waited until Tony left the kitchen to drop his head to the table and groan. Why did Tony have to just announce shit like that? Especially after showing just a tiny bit of skin. Steve really did not need that mental image, thank you very much.

Tony laughed when he saw from the corner of his eye Steve banging his head on the table a couple more times for good measure and then got up and poured himself another cup of coffee before heading back to his room. Tony figured he might as well go back up to the workshop.

"JARVIS, live feed of Captain's Rogers floor now." Tony asked, after running some tests on the suit, an hour after breakfast.

"Wouldn't that be invasion of privacy, sir?" The AI asked with a hint of sarcasm and if he wasn't a fucking robot, Tony would have punched him in the face.

"When did you turn into a brat?"

"When you built me with my own personality, sir." JARVIS answered and Tony detected sass on his tone.

"What the fuc- Whatever, you better behave JARVIS."

"I'm sorry, sir. Live feed is on."

And there he was. Half-naked Steve in his room doing yoga. Fucking yoga. He was all stretched, hips up and hands on the ground. He kept the pose for what felt like ages, concentrated as ever and Tony couldn't take his eyes off the screen.

"Fuck," He moaned, reaching for his hardening cock. He stroked it desperately, calloused hand and tight grasp. When he came after few minutes, he realized that for the second time that morning he was jerking off thinking of Steve.

Stupid Steve.

Bruce's latest hobby was cooking, and he decided to make dinner for the team and they decide they'd do some sort of world food tour. The night was Russian, so he cooked beef stroganov with rice. Clint made sure to buy three bottles of vodka – well, who knows - and Natasha said she'd make them Russian martini. Steve bought dessert, which he promised would be something really good he recently ate at a coffee shop. The team beat it would be something like pecan pie or raspberry cake, though.

After a surprisingly delicious dinner, when Natasha and Bruce were far too intoxicated with alcohol, laughing and joking like old friends with a displaced Steve by their side, Clint was stuck doing the dishes. Tony hung with him drinking his martini, chatting about whatever. Suddenly, the archer leaned over to Tony and said, "You guys haven't done it yet, have you?"

"Who hasn't done what?" Tony asked as he sipped his drink. He also made a memo to compliment Natasha, her bartender skills were kind of a surprise.

Clint gave Tony a knowing look. "You and Steve? The red hot monkey horizontal tango?" he asked in a very "duh" tone.

The glass on Tony's hand almost slipped from his grip and cracked on the floor. "The what?" he sputtered.

"I'll take that as a no. But dude. Come on. You've been, like, slipping surreptitious glances at Steve since you got to New York. And he's been giving you surreptitious glances since you two met or something."

Okay, what? What the fuck was that shit?

"Where the fuck did you get surreptitious at first place? No, really. Have you been reading dictionaries when you've got nothing to do?" he asked in an admittedly weak effort to distract Clint.

"The point is, Tony, I'm sure that you do know what it means. What I don't know is when you're going to put poor Steve out of his misery and just hit that already."

Tony coughed. "Could you just... Not?" His face had to be bright red, he could feel it.

Clint shrugged. He was quiet for a moment, but when Tony's drink was over and he placed the glass on the sink, he turned to look him in the eye.

"You did know that, right? About Steve's big crush on you?" His tone was much quieter and more serious, even if his words weren't. Tony opened his mouth to try to answer, but he couldn't seem to say anything. He just looked down. "You didn't? Seriously? Damn, I really thought..." He paused. "So, uh, I probably shouldn't have said that. I made the whole thing up! All of it! Even the surreptitious glances thing. I swear."

Tony looked back up and met Clint's eyes. "Barton..." was as far as Tony got before they heard Natasha's voice in the hallway. Steve's and Bruce's voice also sounded much closer to the kitchen than Tony felt comfortable with. He looked at Clint and gave a weak attempt at a smile in answer to Clint's grimace of apology.

Steve and Natasha walked in and no sign of Bruce. Natasha went to the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of vodka and ice. "I gonna make some blue lagoon. Bruce is totally drunk and he still wants to drink, I don't really see a problem," she laughed. "He's so relaxed, never saw him this way. Whatever, do you have high ball or hurricane glasses?"

"Yeah, over there." Tony pointed to a cabinet beside Steve.

When Natasha was done preparing the drink, she handed one to Tony and Clint. Steve's and Bruce's glass were still untouched.

"C'mon, let's take this one to Bruce." Clint said, grabbing the glass and taking Natasha's hand. Tony noticed she was far more friendly and happy. He wanted to believe that she was starting to get used to the team, but something said that's what alcohol does to people.

Steve was looking from his glass to Tony and back again. "What's going on?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing," Tony said quickly. "I was just thinking, you know."

"Oh, okay." Steve whispered. "Something's wrong?"

"No, not really." Tony said and thought God, that's getting really awkward. "Why don't you drink it? It's really good." He asked, sipping the blue liquid. He knew he shouldn't be drinking, but it was just a couple of drinks so whatever.

"Yeah," Steve agreed, looking suspiciously at the glass. "What is this by the way?"

"Oh, it's a cocktail made with vodka, blue Curaçao – it's kind of a liqueur, tastes like orange or something citric, it's really good, a little girly maybe, but yeah – soda and lemon juice. Drink it."

Steve did and Tony followed him. Tony kept glancing over at Steve, and when the Captain blue eyes met his own, Tony quickly looked at the floor.

"We should..." Steve said and gestured towards the doorway.

Tony was little astonished but all he said was, "Yeah," and he walked out of the room. Steve took a deep breath and followed. Yeah, Steve may had heard at least part of that conversation with Clint. Fuck.

"Tony, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to be all up in your business and I-" Clint said, the morning after. He was sit on the table, drinking coffee quietly in the kitchen.

Tony cut him off, his head ached. Fucking hangovers. "It's fine. Promise." He smiled to prove he meant it. "Don't worry about it." Clint smiled back and nodded, leaving Tony alone in the enormous and empty kitchen.

Tony stood still and watched Clint disappear down the corridor, and then headed to his workshop, taking a cup of steaming coffee with him. Steve was up – it was fucking 8 o'clock in the morning, come on – and was sitting on the couch, reading a book quietly. The communal living room, was half dark, the blackout curtains totally closed, just a dim light from the luminary by his side. Suddenly, he sighed and put the book aside, laid his head back and closed his eyes.

Tony simply sat down on the other side of the couch. He glanced around for something, the remote control maybe, but it was on the end table next to Steve. He just sat and waited for the blond to say whatever it was that he was clearly trying to convince himself to say. He could tell that there was something.

They'd been sitting there for a few minutes when Steve said, without even opening his eyes, "What was Clint apologizing for?"

Tony just said, "Nothing."

But Steve was clearly having none of that shit. He turned his head and opened one eye to glare dubiously at Tony. "It was just something he said when he was washing dishes last night, that's all. No big deal. I wasn't even upset about it."

"Um," was all Steve said. They were quiet for a few more minutes. Just when Tony was considering getting up and going to the workshop as planned, Steve spoke again. "What did he say?"

"Hmm?" Tony hadn't been expecting Steve to talk again.

"Barton. What did he say that he felt like he had to apologize for?"

"It was nothing, Steve. He just... It was nothing. Really."

Steve still had his eyes closed, still wasn't looking at Tony. Which meant that a) Steve was uncomfortable, and b) that Tony could look all hewanted. And he did.

Tony looked at Steve's golden hair and imagined his hands pulling it as Steve sucked him off. He looked at Steve's mouth, rosy and perfect and wanted to kiss it. He could see himself leaving a trail of wet kisses down Steve's throat, leaving a mark just below Steve's collarbone, where it could be hidden or seen easily. Tony's imagination kept going down, over Steve's body, and right into the gutter. Tony thought of licking Steve's nipples and leaving another trail of kisses down his stomach. And then Steve would flip them over, settle Tony so that he was half-sitting with pillows under his head, and kneel over him. Steve would slowly guide his cock into Tony's mouth, but he wouldn't be gentle about it. He'd go slow, but he'd just keep going until Tony had no choice but to deep throat him.

Tony nearly moaned out loud, filthy, just thinking about it. He had to shift around just a little to accommodate his erection. His mouth was watering, he wanted to taste Steve so bad.

"Was it about me and you?"

Steve's voice shocked Tony right out of his daydream. "Huh? What?"

Steve was looking at Tony now. "Whatever Barton said to you. Was it about me and you?"

Tony was still trying to get the images out of his head. He was distracted. His defences were down. Before he knew it, he said, "Yeah, it was."

Steve nodded. "Okay... So what do you want to do about it?" he asked slowly.

Tony was really glad that his brain-to-mouth filter was starting to kick in and he did not say, "You should fuck me right now, right here, on this couch."

Instead, he just lamely said, "What do you mean?"

Steve shrugged. "Option one; we can pretend Barton never said anything and that this entire room isn't full of tension. Or option two; I'm attracted to you and you want it too so we could, you know, make out and see where it would lead us. I know you're one into casual sex, so we could just fuck sometimes and we'd be still okay." he said matter-of-factly.

Tony really, really liked the sound of option two. A lot. Non-string sex with a fucking hot guy like Steve.

But it was still Steve. Tony had been telling himself no since the airport. Like Pepper had said, Tony had a good thing going with this team. Even more than he wanted Steve, he wanted to keep The Avengers. He couldn't just ruin everything. Tony couldn't help hearing Clint's voice in his head: "Steve's big crush on you." The way Barton had said it, in that serious voice, told Tony that it was more than just sex that Steve wanted. And Tony... Well, Tony kind of just wanted sex. He didn't really want a relationship at the moment, and he knew that one with Steve could never be casual.

He said quietly, "I don't think it's a good idea, Steve."

"Why not? I mean, we've been dancing around this since you got here, Tony. You can't deny that. I may be slow, but I'm not blind; I've seen you looking. We're adults. We want each other. I don't see why it has to be that big of a deal."

"Because, Steve." Tony stood up and started pacing. "Because of the team. I am not fucking that up. Things would get all awkward."

"Things won't get awkward if we don't let them get awkward," Steve said pointedly. "We want each other, we fuck, we get over it. It wouldn't be more than that."

Tony was starting to have trouble coming up with coherent counter-arguments. He just knew he had to say no. He could remember exactly why he had to later. He took a deep breath and said, "No. It's not a good idea. I'm going to go downstairs to my workshop and get work done. And, no offense, but I'm going to lock the system down there." He paused on the third step, turned back, and added, "Maybe you should go to your floor."

Steve gave Tony a positively wicked smile. "Yeah, maybe. But I'm going to SHIELD next week, you should hurry up this dance."

Tony rolled his eyes. When did Steve turned into a fucking tease? "Doubtful, Rogers. Very doubtful."

Two months ago, Tony would have said that Steve was made of pure awesomeness, pride and honour. Two days ago, Tony would have said he was made of pure hotness. But two minutes ago, Tony discovered that Steve Rogers was actually made of pure evil.

Tony had gotten up first and was just sitting down at the table with a cup of coffee when Steve came into the kitchen into nothing but grey sweatpants and a towel on his neck. He was all sweaty and sticking, breathing heavy. Gym, Tony thought. He stared as Steve grabbed a glass and headed right for the refrigerator.

"G'Morning," he greeted Tony. He poured his morning juice and didn't seem to notice that Tony was sitting at the kitchen table and practically drooling.

Steve just stood at the and sipped his juice like he wasn't the hottest, sexiest, most evil man that Tony had ever seen. "So what are you up to today?" Steve asked casually.

"Um. What?" Tony was never at his most eloquent before his second cup of coffee, but he just could not think with Steve standing there.

Steve gave him an amused smile. "I asked what are you up to today?"

"Oh. Um." Tony tried to think. "I don't... I don't know? Actually, I have to go downstairs now. Bruce is helping me out with some stuff." Tony didn't even pause for more coffee. He got up and practically ran to the elevator, as best he could with a hard-on, anyway.

He slipped into his bedroom, slammed the door behind him. He leaned back on it, and lasted about two seconds before he shoved his pants down and put his hand on his cock. He jerked himself quickly, and when he came, he banged his head back against the door and couldn't quite keep in a probably embarrassing noise that sounded too much like Steve.

As he stood trying to catch his breath, he could have sworn he heard footsteps walking away from the corridor, but was sure it was just his imagination.

The next night, they decided to watch all three original The Godfather movies. Tony invited Bruce, Clint and Natasha, hoping for chaperones, but Clint and Natasha had training back on SHIELD and Bruce was doing research, so it was just Tony and Steve. But it would be fine. By the time Tony had gotten up enough courage to go back upstairs the day before, Steve was dressed and acted perfectly normal the rest of the day. And then that morning, he had showered and dressed after gym before he even went for breakfast. Just in case, though, Tony sat on the couch, curled into the corner, as far away from where Steve sat on the armchair as he could get without being in another room.

The first movie went just fine. Steve stayed where he was, Tony stayed where he was. But then, just as Tony was getting comfortable, evil Steve struck back. He got up to bring more popcorn and coke so went to the kitchen. At the time he came back, Tony had already asked for JARVIS to start playing the second movie and Steve sat on other side of the couch, not nearly as far or as close as Tony would have liked.

They were only partway through the movie when Steve shifted around and lay on the couch with his head in Tony's lap. "This okay?" he asked as he glanced up at Tony.

Tony glared. "I hate you."

Evil Steve gave him an innocent, angelic smile. "Shh, just watch the movie. It'll be fine." And then he settled in on Tony's lap to do just that. Which meant Tony was going to spend the rest of the night trying to tamp down his erection because Steve's head was right there. And his hand was resting on Tony's knee, his thumb rubbing lightly back and forth.

Tony tried to watch the movie. He really did. But if he had never seen it before, he would have had no idea what it was about. There was a short-too short, in Tony's opinion-reprieve when the second movie ended and Steve shift until the third started. But when it did, Steve was right back, head in Tony's lap, hand on his knee.

About forty minutes in, Tony was having a tough time keeping still. Even the prospect of the Corleone's clan couldn't distract him and those dudes were pretty awesome. All Tony could really think was that he wanted Steve to turn around and put his mouth on his dick. That would be amazing. If Steve would just turn over, slowly unbutton Tony's jeans and pull out his cock and take it into his mouth... Tony cleared his throat and shifted just a little under Steve.

"Everything okay?" Steve turned his head to look at Tony.

Stark looked at him in disbelief for a moment. "No, Steve! It's not."

"Oh." Steve pushed himself up a bit on his elbows. "What's wrong?" That did, thankfully, get his head off of Tony's lap. But it also put his mouth within kissing range.

"Steve," Tony ground out. He put his head back and closed his eyes. "What are you doing to me? Why are you doing this?"

Tony opened his eyes and watched Steve sit up and kneel on the couch, his knees digging into Tony's thigh a little. "JARVIS, turn it off please." He asked and then looked at Tony. "I'm not doing anything to you. I'm not doing anything."

"Steve, it's such a bad idea. Seriously. It could fuck up everything. You saw what happened with Tasha and Clint."

Steve rolled his eyes. "That's because they were stupid about it. They're both emotionally idiot people who couldn't just talk to each other and solve everything. We never knew what happened in Budapest and I guess we'll never know. Besides, it'd just be a thing. Not even a thing. Just, you know, whatever. We fuck a few times, and then you go back to California next month or whatever."

"Would that really be it, though?" Tony asked quietly.

"Yes! Tony. I want you. You want me. We're both consenting adults who would have safe sex. It'd just be a good time, just for fun. Friends with benefits. There's no reason that it would have to be more than that."

"I'd never think you'd be one for casual sex."

"You don't know a lot about me." Steve assured.

Tony took a deep breath. He was so close. So close to taking Steve at his word, ignoring everything that Pepper told him, ignoring everything that Tony didn't ever think about. "I just... I can't lose this, Steve. The Avengers are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't lose it."

"You won't, I promise. It'll be fine. We won't let it be anything else but fine, okay?" Steve whispered as he leaned in close. His lips brushed over Tony's lightly, it was barely a kiss, but if Tony had any fight left in him, it disappeared at that first touch.

Steve shifted until he was kneeling over Tony, one knee on each side. His hands were on Tony's cheeks, holding his head in place exactly where he wanted it. Tony's hands slid up under Steve's shirt. Steve broke the kiss to pull his own and then Tony's shirt off. Tony's hands got caught up, and Steve just grabbed his wrists and held them above Tony's head. Tony couldn't help the moan and the way his hips jerked up at the way Steve was holding him down. Steve pulled back just a little. "Like that, huh?" he asked with a smile.

Tony just nodded and leaned forward to catch Steve's lips again. Steve's hands slid down Tony's arms and Tony shivered. He managed to pull the shirt off his hands and drop it somewhere. Steve kept right on going, running his hands over Tony's chest and arc reactor. He touched it softly, eyes amazed, feather-like touches. The blue glow illuminating his face when he was unbuttoning and unzipping Tony's jeans. Steve climbed down until he was on the floor, between Tony's legs. He pulled Tony's jeans and Tony lifted his hips for Steve to pull them off.

Apparently Evil Steve was not just into seducing Tony, he was also all about teasing. He licked and nipped and kissed Tony's thighs, his stomach, his hips, avoiding his cock altogether. "Steve, please," Tony gasped. Steve smiled up at him and then ducked his head and licked a stripe up the underside of Tony's dick and over the slit. He paused and smiled at Tony again, just to let Tony know he was doing it all on purpose.

Tony let out a whine and pushed his hips up, telling Steve what he wanted without words. Steve narrowed his eyes and put his hands on Tony's hips and shoved Tony down. He held on so tight, kept Tony so still, that Tony knew he'd have bruises later. The thought of that just turned Tony on even more.

And then, thank fucking god, and then Steve took Tony in his mouth. Tony knew he wasn't going to last long at all. Steve squeezed Tony's ass and hips tighter and pulled him up, and then pushed him back down, and then he did it again. And that was so hot, Steve controlling every second of Tony fucking his mouth. (Tony fucking loved sex with strong guys.)

Tony felt it building up inside him, knew he was only seconds from coming. He tugged at Steve's hair a little, but Steve just pushed Tony's cock further down his own throat, and that was enough. Tony came, harder and, fuck, louder than he had in a long time. He was pretty sure his throat would be a little raw later, especially if Steve let him go down on him too.

Steve swallowed and eased off of Tony's dick. Tony collapsed back on the couch, but he grabbed Steve's arm and pulled enough for Steve to get the hint and climb back over Tony and kiss him. Tony ran his hands up and down Steve's sides before reaching down and unbuttoning Steve's jeans. He pulled back from Steve's mouth to ask, "Want me to?"

Steve shook his head. "Won't last. Just. Hand. Please," he breathed. He was right. Tony jacked him three or four times and then he was coming, all over Tony's chest.

He dropped his head to Tony's shoulder, breathing heavy and loud. He ran his fingers over Tony's chest and then brought his hand up to Tony's mouth. Tony looked over and kept eye contact while he opened his mouth and sucked Steve's fingers in and licked them clean. "Jesus," Steve whispered as he pulled out his fingers and leaned over to replace them with his tongue.

After a few minutes, or maybe hours, Steve leaned back and said, "Bed?"

Tony looked down at the mess on himself and said, "Shower."

Steve smirked. "Yeah, okay. Shower, then bed."

Tony nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Going to sleep alone tonight?" Steve asked as they walked to the elevator.

"Fuck you," was Tony's brilliant, cutting comeback.

"Mmm, something tells me you'd rather I fuck you."

Tony's mouth went a little dry at the suggestion. "When did the American golden boy turned so nasty?"

"Don't you wanna know," Steve laughed.

There were a couple of things Tony knew about Steve. Stuff he'd noticed right away and stuff he'd picked up after all that time spent living with him with almost no personal space. While Tony had known these things before, he never would have considered the impact on his sex life.

One; Despite looking like Steve was slow and obtuse, he was pretty good at reading people and figuring out what they wanted, sometimes even when they didn't know.

Tony figured it came from years of being a captain and deducting and leading battles. But, for Tony, it meant that Steve had already figured out that he didn't really want to be in charge during sex.

For instance, their second time was a few hours after the first. They had showered and collapsed in Steve's bed, sated and sleepy. Until Steve had woken Tony up before dawn with his mouth around Tony's cock. Tony was just waking up and realizing that it was, in fact, not the best wet dream he'd ever had, but real life, when Steve was pushing Tony's legs a little further apart and slipping a finger behind his balls. He'd barely gotten in a fingertip when Tony came. Steve swallowed and crawled up over Tony and kissed him. Tony had enough presence of mind to reach down and wrap his fist around Steve's cock.

He only stroked a couple of times before Steve was pushing up off of him and crawling up further. He kneeled up, over Tony's face and Tony eagerly took Steve in his mouth. Steve didn't seem to be in much of a hurry and his thrusts were shallow. Tony gripped the backs of Steve's thighs as he slowly sucked at the blonde's pace. He couldn't help arching up a bit, trying to get more of Steve, and trying not to whine when he didn't get it right away. Steve backed off a little, gave Tony only the head of his cock, as he looked down at him with a wicked smile on his face. Tony did the best he could to glare back. It was kind of tough to pout with his mouth so full, though.

But then Steve pushed forward and kept pushing, slowly but deliberately, stopping only when he hit the back of Tony's throat. Tony's eyes slid shut and he moaned around Steve. Steve inhaled quick and deep and began to really fuck Tony's mouth, harder and faster. Tony could tell when Steve was getting close and he kept his hands on Steve's ass, pulling him close and not letting him pull out. Steve came down his throat and Tony had to admit he liked it.

Steve shifted back and dropped to Tony's chest. He buried his face in the pillow, just above Tony's shoulder. "Fuck," he murmured.

Tony couldn't help wrapping his arms around Steve and giving him a little squeeze. "Yeah," he said, his voice raw and used. He could feel a smile touch his lips. "Yeah."

Two; Steve didn't like interruptions.

Two days later, Tony still couldn't get enough of Steve. Steve showed no signs of slowing down either. They were on Tony's bed in the middle of the afternoon. Tony was on his back with a pillow under his hips, legs spread wide. Steve was kneeling in front of him, working a slicked-up finger inside him. Tony was about to ask for another, when his phone started ringing on the nightstand.

"Ignore it," Steve said.

Tony nodded. But instead of a beep for a message, it rang again. Steve's hand stilled, but stayed where it was. Tony stretched and grabbed it, worried for a quick second that it could be an emergency. "It's Pepper. She'll keep calling," Tony said as the phone started ringing for the third time.

"Then I guess you better answer it and talk to her," Steve told him as he pushed his finger deeper into Tony.

Tony tried his best to not sound breathless as he said, "Hey, Pep."

"Hi! Thought I'd see how things were going with you and your golden boy out there."

"Things are fine," Tony said through gritted teeth. He accidentally let out a small, "Ah!" as Steve added a second finger.

"What are you- Are you jerking off, Tony? That's sick, why'd you answer the phone?"

"'I'm not jerking off, and anyway, you would have kept calling." Steve was adding a third finger, stretching Tony further. Tony bit his lip to keep from making any other awkward noises.

"Then what are you doing, Tony?" Pepper paused and Tony couldn't say anything. Steve had just wrapped his hand around Tony's cock. "Are you two fucking, Tony?" Tony couldn't help the way his hips twitched when Pepper figured it out. There was maybe a possibility that Tony liked the idea of being watched. "Jesus Christ! What did I tell you? And why am I still on the phone with you?" Pepper shouted.

"Don't know," Tony said in a rush.

Pepper hung up. Which was fair. Again.

Tony hung up the phone and dropped it on the floor. "Fuck, Steve! That was-oh God!-That was just mean! You're supposed to be a good boy."

Steve shrugged as he continued to use both hands to drive Tony absolutely insane. "I was in the middle of something. I don't like to stop what I'm doing. And don't think I didn't notice how excited you were when Pepper guessed that we were fucking. I could hear her. Are you an exhibitionist, Tony?" Steve leaned forward to steal a quick kiss.

"No?" Tony answered breathlessly.

"So the thought of getting caught doesn't turn you on?" Steve asked as he pulled his fingers away from Tony's ass and cock. He reached for the condom sitting on the blanket next to him.

"Uh-uh, oh fuck!" Tony answered Steve's question as Steve thrust deep into Tony with barely a warning.

"I think you're lying to me, Tony," Steve said, his voice getting breathier. "I think you like to imagine people watching you. I think you want someone to walk through that door right now."

Tony was limited to incoherent noises by then. Steve's hand was back around Tony's dick, jerking him hard and quick to match the rhythm he set. "You do, don't you? Should I call Nat and Clint later? Maybe Bruce... Shoud I ask them to come over? And just coincidentally happen to be fucking you on the couch when they let themselves in?"

Tony met Steve's thrusts, shoved his hips up and back hard. His hands were gripping Steve's ass, trying to hold him closer, to bring him in deeper. Steve's cock hit his prostate one more time and Tony came, head back and mouth open but silent.

Steve fucked him harder, saying, "God, Tony. You're so hot like this. Want to-" And then he stiffened, one, two, three deep thrusts and he wasn't very silent when he came. He let out a noise that Tony was pretty sure was supposed to be his name.

Steve collapsed over him, biting Tony's shoulder lightly. After a minute, he moved, pulled out and rolled off of Tony. He took a deep breath and then got up to get rid of the condom. He disappeared into the bathroom and came back with some toilet paper. He wiped off the mess on Tony's stomach, then his own. He tossed it on the garbage and then laid back down on his stomach, head pillowed on his hands and looked at Tony.

Steve was wearing a satisfied, almost smug smile.

"What?" Tony asked suspiciously. He had the distinct impression Steve was laughing at him.

"Nothing." Tony raised his eyebrow at that. Steve shrugged. "I like knowing things about you, that's it."

Tony considered that. "See? I knew us fucking was a bad idea," he said, but he couldn't even keep the smile away to finish the sentence.

"Shut up," Steve answered. "I know you're having fun."

"Yeah, I am."

"And you're such an exhibitionist!"

Tony shoved at Steve's shoulder. "I am not!"

"You so are! I'm definitely telling."

Tony groaned. "Please, whatever happens, do not let Clint find out."

Steve laughed. "Why not?"

"Because you know how he is. When he finds out, he'll tease us about this forever. Besides, I don't know how Fury would react if he knew about this thing." Tony said.

Steve smiled softly, agreeing. "Sure."

Tony's eyes drifted shut, changing the subject for him. "Captain, I'm in need of sleep."

"That's weird coming from the man who doesn't sleep for three days and doesn't even notice it."

"Oh, please, Rogers. Just let me."

"Fine." Steve smiled. "Anyway, it's late indeed. You should go to bed."

"Yeah," Tony agreed as he got up. He stretched his arms over his head and said, "Goodnight." Steve stood up and Tony gave him a quick kiss before heading into his bedroom.

Three: Steve was a fucking revengeful guy.

That morning Bruce and Tony were doing science. They've locked themselves in the workshop for about six hours and Bruce was helping Tony non-stop on Clint's arrows and bow and Nat's jump suit. After the Russian night, they've done Japanese night about three days later, with lots of sushi, sashimi and sake. Tony had drunk a lot in that night and said things he didn't really mean. He said that Natasha and Clint were fucking stupid and told them to fuck themselves after an argument with the redhead about the amount of alcohol Tony was allowed to ingest.

"I don't fucking care what Fury would think about that! What the hell, I'm in my fucking house! I do the fuck I want! If I wanted, I could drink all the alcohol I have in my tower." Tony shouted when Natasha said he should slow down with the drinking. "You know what, I don't know why the fuck I've invited you to live here. You suck! You and Clint actually," He said pointing to Clint, who was quiet in a corner. He looked at him when he's name was said and took a deep breath. "Yeah, you both suck! You want to tell me what I should do even when your life is full of fucking unresolved shit. Why don't you take care of your fucking damn business?"

"Stark, you're drunk. You should go to bed." Clint said, sounding a little upset, but not really angry. Since forever the archer knew that arguing with someone drunk wouldn't solve anything.

"You shut up," Tony said. "Oh God, I'm so fucking tired of your shit, Barton. You're always trying to solve things for me and help me out but you're not helping me, you're just trying to get into my life and control it! But you're weak because you don't even have control of your fucking messy life."

"Tony, stop this!" Bruce said suddenly, getting up from the couch and grabbing Tony by his arm. Steve was still sit, quiet and eyes wide. "Come on, let's go to your room."

"Bruce don't you touch me!" Tony shouted, avoiding Bruce's tight grip. "You all sound like Pepper. What the hell! You were fun last time drinking vodka an- And now you're all like this! All boring! I wish Thor was here, he's fun. God, I hate you all. Why did I ever invite you to live here. You all should leave."

Steve, who was still quiet, simply stood up and seized Tony by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the elevator without making a sound. Once they were in the man's bedroom, Steve closed the door and threw Tony on his bed.

"Stop this! Stop acting like a child, Tony!" The blonde said firmly, voice rising up a tone. "You're drunk and you don't even realize you're saying things that can hurt people. Telling your own team mates to leave? You should watch your mouth!"

"I bet you'd rather wish my mouth was occupied by your dick instead." Tony teased, voice cracking, the alcohol affecting his thoughts completely.

"Shut up and go to sleep. We'll talk about this tomorrow morning." He said once he got to the door. He took a final look at Tony – hair dishevelled, red and swollen eyes and mouth dry – and left the room without saying another word.

The morning after Tony woke up with one of the worst headaches ever and his cell phone ringing non-stop. Pepper shouted at him, saying she couldn't believe Tony had done such thing and then she shouted again and louder, which was fair. Tony was totally sorry and regretful and then he remembered Steve's angry tone when he put him in bed. God, he was totally fucked.

Tony didn't have the guts to show up for breakfast and sneaked into his workshop right after he took a shower and drank a big cup of coffee to relieve the effects from the hangover. He'd been felling a little guilty about Clint, Nat and Bruce. Shouting and telling them to fuck themselves was not a very good idea if he wanted to keep the team united. Once he got to the workshop, he found out that Bruce was already in there, doing his biochemistry stuff, ever so quiet, like he wasn't even there. Tony knew he should bribe him. He should also bribe Clint and Natasha for that little ridiculous show.

After apologizing and buying three big cinnamon buns for Bruce – which the scientist loved he had to admit - Tony worked out on a little surprise for Clint and Natasha. He knew they would be really pissed with him – specially Natasha – but hey, it was not like he wasn't fucked anyway.

He went out for shopping and half an hour later, Tony came back home with a beautiful and luxurious silver wrist watch for Clint, a nice pair of pearl earrings for Natasha and a thousand dollars less rich.

The moment he stepped into his bedroom, Tony thought he was going to a) pass out or b)have a heart attack because fuck, there was Steve there, a very naked and glorious Steve on his bed. The blonde pulled Tony by the hand and rolled him onto his back, holding his arms up. Tony couldn't even process what was happening because Steve was kissing him, messy and hard and hot.

Tony didn't think before he couldn't help but whisper, "Jesus, Steve."

Steve opened his eyes and leaned back on his elbows to look at him. "Hmm?"

Tony cleared his throat. "Nothing."

"You sure?"

Tony nodded and continued kissing him. Steve pinned him down and bit his neck and shoulders and his hands started trying different touches and areas. Tony's eyes followed him ruthlessly whenever he could and couldn't help allowing himself to slowly get hard. And, man, Steve had some moves.

Steve whispered as he nipped at Tony's ear, "You should take your clothes off. I wanna fuck you." Tony nodded as his hips thrust up at the thought, his cock was already hard. Steve put his mouth back to Tony's and kissed him, hot and wet, but short. He palmed Tony's erection and licked a stripe on his neck, biting hardly at the end. Good, a fucking hickey. Before Tony could really get into it, Steve simply stood up and started putting his clothes on.

Tony sit on his bed, mouth hanging open. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

"Leaving." Steve said, combing his hair with his fingers when looking at the mirror.

"You can't!"

"Exactly. I can't leave. Neither do Clint, Natasha or Bruce. We're a team, Tony."

Oh, there it is, Tony thought. Steve was taking too long to punish him and he didn't show up at the morning to talk. So yeah, Steve was punishing him with a sex strike. Unbelievable.

"Oh my God! Are you really doing this?" Tony asked, laughing to not cry.

"Yes. You need to apologize. If you don't, then no sex."

"Oh, Steve. I get it, it's really sweet what you're doing, team-bonding and stuff, but you were the one who started with the sex thing. But I don't understand exactly how you're punishing me with a sex boycott if who really wants it's you."

"So you don't want?" Steve asked, arching an eyebrow. "You didn't like last time?"

"It was ok, I guess." Tony lied because truth it was; Steve was one of the best fucks of his life.

"Just ok, yeah I see," Steve wasn't buying that shit so he laughed. Tony wanted to know when the fuck that perfect and honoured and old-fashioned man turned into a bag of sarcasm, lust, cockiness and sass.

"Just so you know, I've bought something to apologize. I got Clint a watch and Nat a pair of earrings. They weren't cheap." Tony said.

"You don't need to buy anything, all you need to do is say that you're sorry."

"But- Oh God, it's humiliating. I never say I'm sorry."

"Now you'll," Steve smiled. "Tonight. Dinner. We can order Chinese, I'm done with Japanese for a long time."

Steve laughed a little and knelt in front of him. He put his arms around Tony's neck and kissed him again, still quick and hot as hell. This time it was Tony who pulled away first. He knew what he wanted, so he turned around and settled on his hands and knees in front of Steve. He heard Steve cursing as he grabbed Tony's hips, fingers already clutching tight enough to leave bruises.

Then Steve did that thing, where he knows what people want before they know themselves. Tony was waiting, wanted Steve's fingers, neededsomething inside him. But before he could even ask, he felt Steve's hot breath, Steve's lips, Steve's tongue.

Tony let out a surprised moan and dropped down so that his head was resting on his arms on the mattress. He tried not to push himself back into Steve's face, he didn't want Steve to stop, but Christ, it was hard to keep still. Especially when Steve reached around and wrapped his hand around Tony's cock. And, oh god, if he kept that up, it would all be over way too soon.

"Steve... Fuck, Steve. Fuck me. Please," Tony said breathlessly. Steve squeezed the base of Tony's cock as he pushed his tongue into Tony even further. "Jesus motherfu-Ah!" Tony couldn't get out any other words, just noises.

Steve lifted his head and Tony heard him opening the lube. He'd barely put two fingers into Tony, barely stretched him at all, before Tony was telling him to, "Fucking fuck me, Steve! 'M ready! Christ!" He knew he could stand to be a little more prepared, but he was hoping that the burn and that hurt-so-good pain of Steve's dick would bring him back from the edge and give him a little more stamina. As it was, he almost came just from the sound of the condom wrapper as Steve opened it.

It did burn a bit when Steve entered him, pushing steadily until he was all the way in, until Tony felt Steve's thighs lined up with his own. Steve stopped, and for a minute the only sound in the room was their harsh and heavy breathing.

Tony felt Steve slide out, almost unbearably slow, driving him crazy. He pushed in slow and steady again, but when he paused, he let out a quiet, "Tony. God."

"Steve, please," Was all Tony could reply. He felt Steve lean forward and press his mouth to Tony's neck. That was sweet and all, but Tony really, really needed to be fucked. He pushed his hips back, not all that gently, trying to fuck himself on Steve's cock.

He felt a breath of laughter on his neck and shivered when Steve sat back up and the cool air hit his back. But the important part was that Steve listened to him. After a couple of quick, hard thrusts, Steve's cock hit Tony's prostate. A few more and Tony was coming, without a hand anywhere near his dick.

He managed, thanks mostly to Steve's grip on his hips, to stay up on his hands and knees. He loved that feeling, when he'd already come, and Steve was getting closer, holding Tony up and basically just using him to get himself off. It was incredibly hot, and made Tony a bit disappointed that there was no way he'd be able to go again anytime soon.

Steve came and they both collapsed onto the bed. Steve stayed, still inside and on top of Tony, for a minute or two while they both tried to catch their breath. Just when Tony was about to maybe complain that Steve was too fucking heavy, he felt Steve pull out. He must have dealt with the condom quickly because he was back in a second, draping himself over Tony's body. Tony hummed and said, "So this is what I get when I'm a good boy and apologize?"

His face was turned toward Steve's; they were inches apart. "Kind of," Steve said back in a rush tone. Steve was quiet for a few more minutes, but when Tony thought he might have been asleep, he said, "I bet Natasha hates pearls, did you see her face when she opened the box?"

Tony laughed and closed his eyes.

The five of them hung out the night before Tony was due back in California. Pizza and some random movie Clint Netflixed. "At least there aren't any subtitles," Bruce pointed out when Tony started complaining.

Bruce dropped to the floor as Clint and Natasha stretched out on the loveseat, which left the couch for Tony and Steve. Tony sat at one end and instead of taking the other, Steve flopped down and put his head on Tony's lap. "This okay?" he asked with a knowing smile.

Tony glared. "I hate you." He flicked Steve's head to make his point.

Steve simply said, "Yeah, you keep saying that. Yet, you won't leave me alone for a second." His big blue eyes went wide and he tried to pretend he'd said nothing – or at least too low and no one had heard him.

Clint just said drolly, "Please. Get a room or something, this is kind of embarrassing."

"Wha-" Steve started but Clint cut him off.

"Oh come on, Steve. We can be observant too. Maybe you've forgotten, but Natasha's a spy and Bruce's a scientist. And I'm not blind myself. Did you really think you could hide it forever? You two are ridiculous together."

"Yeah, whatever," Natasha said, crossing her arms. "Can we just watch the damn movie now, please?" Clint shot her a smile and she rolled her eyes.

Tony looked over and met Clint's eyes when the movie started. He gave him a grateful smile. The archer winked and turned back to the big screen.

Tony decided not to think about anything, to just enjoy the company of his team mates. He was flying back to California the next morning and he'd be there for at least a month. He was excited about that. He definitely missed Pepper, Happy and Malibu.

By the time Tony had been back in Los Angeles for two weeks, he'd done his rounds on hanging out with everyone and catching up on the company stuff. Happy and Rhodey were on break too, so he'd been spending some time with them.

Tony, Rhodes, and Happy went to a club one night, and Tony possibly drank a little more than he'd planned. They ran into a group of women Rhodes knew and the five of them were beautiful.

There was a girl who was pretty hot, brunette with blue eyes in a very tight jeans. He asked if she wanted to drink something and when they were in the bar, she put her hand on his knee, he gave her a little smile. They did the careful game of one-up flirting (she shifted a little closer, he put his hand on her knee, she uncrossed her legs and spread them just a little, he slid his hand higher up her thigh) until she got up, gave him a knowing grin, and went towards the bathrooms.

Tony was right behind her. There was a short line for the ladies' room, so Tony took a quick look in the men's room and pulled her in after him. There was a guy washing his hands and leaving, but he just smirked at them as they went right into a stall.

She leaned back against the wall, grabbed Tony's shirt, and pulled him in to kiss her. Tony put his hands on her waist and his thigh in between hers and couldn't stop himself from thrusting forward a bit as he opened his mouth to her tongue. She let out a little noise and her hips shifted forward to rub against his thigh. Tony kept his mouth on hers as he reached down and undid the button and zipper of her jeans. She pulled them down a little, giving him easier access, and he ran his fingers over the barely-there scrap of fabric she was wearing as underwear. He couldn't help but moan as he felt just how hot and wet she was already.

He pushed her panties aside and slipped a finger inside her. She immediately started fucking herself on his hand and god, that was fucking hot. Another finger inside her and he pushed his palm up to give her something to rub against.

She'd stopped kissing him, was just breathing hot and heavy against his mouth. He shifted a little and mouthed and licked down her neck. She was making small, ridiculously hot noises as she continued to thrust against his hand. When he pulled back a little to look at her face, her eyes were closed and she was biting her lip, head back against the wall. He slid his other hand up under her shirt, and shifted her bra out of the way. She gasped when he rubbed his thumb over her nipple. He pulled the other cup down too, and leaned down to lick. Boobs were seriously just fucking amazing, he thought as he sucked her nipple through his teeth.

She ground down hard against his hand and he felt her contracting around his fingers. He pushed up and rubbed his palm faster against her. She let out a loud, "Oh! Fuck!" as she came harder. He kept his hand still for a minute as she shuddered and collapsed against him. He held onto her for a moment and then shifted her panties back in place and zipped up her jeans. She adjusted her bra and pulled her shirt down.

"You live up to your reputation, I guess Mr. Tony Stark." She said breathlessly, nipping his earlobe.

Tony knew it was a little obnoxious, but he also knew that his smile was incredibly smug. He couldn't help it. "Do I?"

She nodded with a satisfied smile. She slid her hand down his chest and cupped his cock through his jeans. He was so fucking hard, so fucking horny.

And that, of course, was when they heard the door creak open and Rhodes voice. "Tony Stark, you in here? Hannah's friends are looking for her."

"Yeah, okay," Tony said, hoping his voice wasn't too rough. The door slammed shut as Rhodes apparently left.

"Oh, shit," She said. "We're supposed to be somewhere by twelve." She squeezed his dick a little. "I can make them wait, though."

"You sure?"

She grinned as she pushed him around so that he was the one leaning back against the wall. Then she unzipped his jeans and slid them and his boxers down a little. "Yeah, you're Tony Stark anyway." she said as she dropped to her knees.

She didn't waste any time, just went straight for his cock and took it in her mouth. She sucked hard, using her hand to do the rest. Tony clenched his hands at his side to keep from grabbing her hair. She was good; he was definitely not going to last long.

She ran her tongue up the length of his dick and flicked it over the head of his cock before tonguing the slit a little. When she slid back down, to touch her lips to her hand, he knew he was going to come. He warned her, but she let him come in her mouth. God, he loved that.

Tony stood, leaning heavily on the wall, head back and eyes closed. He heard her spit into the toilet and then flush it. He tucked himself back in and zipped and buttoned his jeans back up. "Jesus," he said breathlessly.

She stood up and smiled. "Good," she said. Tony nodded and then put his hand on the back of her head to pull her in for a quick kiss. "Now I've really gotta go," She told him. She didn't offer her number, and he didn't ask because he was used to one night-stands and casual blowjobs are totally normal. But she did say, "Maybe I'll run into you again sometime, Tony Stark." With a sexy smile.

He couldn't help but grin. "Maybe."

She turned and left. He didn't move until he heard the bathroom door shut behind her. Then he locked the stall door again and leaned back against it. He blew out a breath. Oh man. Women. They were so different from Steve.

He froze for a second. They were different from guys. Not just Steve. Right. Because Tony wasn't having sex with Steve anymore. He had just gotten used to the frequent fucking and missed that part of it. That was all. He just missed cock.

Right. Yeah.

Tony was sleeping it off the next morning, when his cell phone began playing the national anthem. Fucking Steve. Tony had forgotten he'd given the team an "ironic" ringtone. He was really, really not a morning person, so he just let it go. But it started ringing again, actually sounding more insistent. So he rolled over and felt around the nightstand for it.

"Mmm?" was all he got out. It was way too early for words.

"Unlock your door," Steve said irritably.

"Huh?" Tony was not exactly at his best before coffee. Steve knew this. So why the fuck was he calling?

"Open. Your. Bedroom. Door." Steve said slowly.

Tony could just barely hear knocking. Oh. Apparently there was someone at the door. He hung up the phone without saying anything else to Steve and dragged himself out of bed and through the bedroom. He was yawning and scratching his head as he opened the door.

Steve raised his eyebrow as he gave Tony an once-over. It was then that Tony realized he was wearing a pair of boxer briefs. And nothing else. After that, he realized that it was Steve who'd been banging on the door.

"What the fuck?" Tony asked. He really needed to be more awake for this.

"Hello to you too," Steve said. "Are you going to let me in?"

"Oh. Right," Tony said as he stepped back, opening the door wider. Steve dropped his duffle bag on the floor next to the door and then sit on the edge of the bed. "What are you doing here?"

Steve shrugged. "Just wanted to get out of New York for a bit, I guess."

"Oh. You running away from New York? That's new." Tony really had no idea what was going on, but he did know that Steve was lying. "You go get me coffee," he said, pointing to the door. "I'm going to go get dressed." He went to his closet and grabbed a pair of jeans. A quick sniff revealed that they smelled like bar, and were thus the ones he'd worn last night, so he grabbed a clean pair from his dresser and a white t-shirt. There was already a faint smell of coffee in the air when he went back to the living room. At least he'd taken a shower before he passed out so he didn't smell like bar.

"So..." Steve started.

Tony held up a hand. "Coffee first. It's too fucking early for this shit."

"It's one o'clock, Tony." Steve gave a knowing look.

"Oh. Really?" Tony looked at the clock on the wall. It was indeed a few minutes after one. "Huh. Well, I'm not awake yet."

"I can see that. Out late last night? Did you get laid?" Steve gave him a teasing smirk.

Tony felt his face heating up. He had absolutely no reason to, but he felt a little guilty. "Kind of," Was all he said.

Steve's eyes widened and then his expression was blank. "Oh. Oh. Damn, is there someone here?"

"No! No. There was just. There was this girl at the bar last night. I went out with Rhodey and Happy. And. Yeah. We didn't even go home together."

Tony hadn't realized how much Steve had tensed up until he relaxed a little. "A girl, huh?" His voice wasn't quite back to the teasing tone he was obviously striving for, but he sounded a little looser.

"Yeah. She was kinda hot. Brunette, blue eyes, big bobbies. She, you know, let me know she was interested."

Steve cut Tony off. "I think your coffee's ready." He jumped up from the chair he'd been sitting on and practically ran to the kitchen. Tony waited a moment, and then followed him. Steve had gotten mugs out and put them on the counter, but he had his phone out and was sending a text.

"Everything okay?" Tony asked.

Steve looked up and gave him a quick smile. "Fine. Just Natasha. You know how she is."

Which explained nothing, because Natasha was always a fucking bitch when it came to Tony but he just said, "Okay," and let it go. Something was definitely up with Steve. The first clue, of course, was showing up on Tony's doorstep unannounced and uninvited. Not that he was unwelcome. Because he was welcome. Very, very welcome. But the whole thing was just weird.

Tony poured himself a cup of coffee and went back to sit on the couch. Steve was right behind him and took the other end. Tony sat sideways with his feet up on the couch. "So what brings you here?"

Steve just shrugged. "Don't really want to talk about it."

Tony nodded. "Okay." He took a sip of coffee. "How are things back at The Avengers Tower?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Everything's fine. Bruce is developing three projects at the same time and taught me how to cook curry. Natasha was wearing those pearl earrings yesterday and Clint had decided he's in love with Nat."

"Uh, hasn't Clint always been in love with her?" Tony asked.

Steve laughed. "Well, yeah. But now he's apparently admitting it out loud. And he has decided that Natasha must be seduced."

"Oh my God! Well, I'm sure that will be complicated and take much convincing on Clint's part," Tony said with a laugh. They had all noticed the sparks between Clint and Natasha. (All except Clint and Natasha, anyway.)

"God. I know, right? They're ridiculous." Steve took a sip of coffee and then put it on the table next to him.

They both fell quiet. Beneath the easiness of silence between friends, there was a growing tension that Tony didn't bother to define as anything other than sexual. But it was all supposed to stop when Tony left for Malibu. That was the deal. Just some fun. A temporary friends with benefits situation.

But Steve was right there, right next to him. Tony could see him, smell him, feel the heat of his body. It was probably because he was there that Tony was forced to admit that he'd maybe missed Steve, even though he'd only left New York two weeks earlier. But who could blame him? It had been the best sex of his life.

Tony reached over to put his now-empty coffee mug on the coffee table. He caught the glance Steve had been giving him, or, more accurately, had been giving his crotch, and felt himself harden a bit. "Hey, Steve?"

Steve looked quickly up, his face flushing a little. "Yeah?"

"You want to see my room?"

"That is a terrible, terrible line, Mr. Stark." Steve said, but he was already getting up. He grabbed Tony's hand to pull him up off the couch. "Lucky for you, I'm easy."

When Tony woke up the next morning, he was in bed alone. For a minute, he thought maybe he had dreamed Steve coming to visit him. And then he caught a whiff of fresh coffee. That was worth throwing the covers off for.

Steve was sitting on the couch, talking on the phone. He made a face and rolled his eyes when he saw Tony. "Yes, of course," he said to whoever he was talking to. "No! I wouldn't do that Sir. I have to go. Yes, I know. Thank you, Mr. Fury. Goodbye."

Steve closed his eyes and let out a frustrated noise. "Oh my god, sometimes he drives me crazy!"

Tony laughed. "I know the feeling, man. What's up this time?"

Steve sighed. "Nothing. He just wants to know why I'm here." He took a sip of his coffee. "Anyway. What are you doing today? I don't want to mess up with any plans you have; I can entertain myself."

"Oh, is today Saturday?" Steve nodded with a smile that meant he was totally laughing at Tony for not knowing the days of the week. "Then I have a party later. Victoria's Secret party. You're welcome to come along if you want. There'll be lots of hot girls in lingerie and shit. You know you want to," Tony tried to entice Steve, even though he knew Steve wouldn't go, it was not the kind of party Steve would be at. Not that Tony could blame him. Possibly because he could think of lots of other things to do with him. Things that involved lube, condoms, a bed, and Steve.

Steve looked thoughtful for a second. "If I go, will you take me to drink something later?"

"Yeah, sure. But you really don't have to go. I don't even want to go but I need to, I've got some friends there."

Steve shrugged. "Girls in lingerie and you don't want to go?" He arched an eyebrow. "If I go, you might have an excuse to get out of there earlier and then we can drink something and then we can come back here and you can get on your knees for me."

"Oh! I'm scandalized by your language, Mr. Rogers. Is that how this is going to work? You go with me so I owe you and pay you in sexual favours?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But I'll make it worth your while," He said with a wink. The wicked smile Steve gave Tony said that he would definitely keep that promise.

It turned out that all the models kind of loved Steve. Possibly more than they loved Tony - which, by the way, not cool.

Steve was polite and charming and fucking gorgeous and everyone loved him. He played with the girls and talked to them about old movies and how the forties were and laughed at their jokes. It was like he was trying to win them over or something, which was a little ridiculous considering they already liked Tony more than him. But, well, Tony wasn't going to pretend he understood Steve, even after all this time.

Tony was sitting at a table, waiting for the waiter to come back with another martini for him. He saw Steve over by the mirror. Steve was laughing with a Japanese model and they were almost fucking flirting. Steve caught him looking and smiled over at him, one of those truly happy, bright, could-bring-about-world-peace-if-patented Steve Rogers smiles. Tony was sort of blindsided. He smiled back because it was the only thing he could do.

"Does he make you happy?"

"Huh?" Tony hadn't noticed Pepper approaching, but everyone knew that she had ninja skills. Maybe Natasha was giving her some classes.

"What are you doing here, Pep? You don't like lingerie shows." Tony said, trying to change the subject.

She sat down next to him. "I like Victoria's Secret. And don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Does he make you happy?"

"What are you talking about? You know the team makes me happy." Not when I'm drunk, but whatever. Tony thought.

She leaned into him and bumped his shoulder. "Come on, Tony. I'm talking serious. What about the way you two were just smiling at each other," The redhead suggested.

Tony really didn't want to believe that his ex-girlfriend was going where she seemed to be. "What? Pep, I don't know what you think, but-"

She gave him a look. "Tony. I've known for years that you would be just as happy with a man in your life as you would with a woman."

Tony sputtered. "But- I... What? I don't—That's not the point. I'm totally okay with my sexual preferences, thanks."

Potts laughed at him. "I don't know why but ever since you two started dating, you're different." she said with a teasing smile.

"We are not dating!" Tony was a little bit completely mortified. He dropped his head down onto his arms on the table. He was totally not dating Steve. They were just fuckbuddies and nothing more.

Pepper leaned in and dropped a kiss on top of his head. "Yes, Tony. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, if you're just on casual, be sure to not hurt anyone or get hurt yourself."

Before Tony could come up with a polite, appropriate way to tell Pepper that neither Steve or Tony himself were going to be fucking hurt, that Tony and Steve were just fucking, she said, "You do know I love you, right?"

Tony felt his heart sink and smiled softly. "Yeah, Pep, I know. I love you, too."

"Good. I just want you to be happy. Steve's a good guy."

Tony nodded, considering what she was saying. "I don't know, Pep. I don't think I want a relationship. I'm not ready yet." No, no relationships. Since Pepper, Tony gave up on relationships.

"That's fair," she said. "But you did bring him to Californi-"

Tony cut her off. "Pepper, he just showed up the other day needing to get out of New York. I don't even know what happened there to make him do it. The guy loves New York. Anyway, I didn't want to just leave him for the day. He just came along to keep me company," he protested.

She smiled softly at him. "Yeah, I know. But have you noticed that he hasn't talked to you for five minutes since you got here? And that he's trying really hard to impress you?"

Tony shrugged. "I- How is he impressing me if he's talking to models and left me here alone?" He asked.

"It's just a way to show you that he can be social and cool and he knows you like it. Whatever I just want you to be happy. And you have to work with Steve and live in close quarters with him most of the year. And most importantly, he's your friend. So maybe you should think about it and let him know what's going on in your head."

Tony nodded. Then he sighed, kissed her on the cheek, and said, "Am I done being the daughter you never had now? I want to go drink some alcohol and talk about girls with some guys now. At least they don't make me talk about my feelings and shit."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Watch your fucking language, Tony." she admonished him.

He smiled and told her, "I learned from the best, Pep."

She rolled her eyes again at him and shooed him away.

Tony did get to spend time with the men at the party, but he still had trouble forgetting what Pepper had said. Tony had been pretty quiet on the way to a bar next to the party, but Steve didn't even try to talk over the silence. It wasn't until they sat down and were halfway through the drink Tony had promised, that Steve finally called him on it. Tony really, really hadn't meant to ignore Steve, but he just kept thinking about the stuff Pepper had been pointing out.

And then Steve was snapping his fingers in Tony's face. "Tony."

Tony shook himself out of his trance. "Hmm?" He looked down and realized he was holding his glass. He thought he should maybe do something with it, so he took a sip.

"What's with you? You've been weird since we left the party."

"Oh. Sorry, it's nothing. Just some stuff Pepper said to me," he said distractedly.

Just because he was Steve, the first question was, "Is everything okay with her? Or is it about the company? Is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine." Tony kind of wanted to yell at Steve a little for being considerate and asking about his problems and being all nice and shit. If Steve had ignored it or just went on talking about himself or something, Tony could say, "See? He totally doesn't care about me! He's not into me at all."

To avoid thinking about it more, Tony changed the conversation. "I saw you got cornered by Mizuki Watanbe. What was she talking about?" Tony smirked because he knew that this girl only talked about make-up, Japanese culture and how she missed Tokyo.

Steve gave him an innocent look. "We were talking about the stock market and the current state of the economy."

Tony laughed. "Right. Sure you were."

Steve smiled back and said, "Okay, fine so we talked about hair and make- up and how she applied her dark eye shadow to make her Asian eyes pop and that fuchsia creamy lipsticks didn't work on her, only the dark red mattes ones. She also said that last night while eating sushi and temakis, she saw a documentary about Tokyo and almost cried because she missed Japan."

Tony laughed because Steve sounded exactly like the Japanese model. "I am so sorry, Steve. We should have worked out a signal so I would have known to save you."

Steve waved him off. "It was fine. I was just really glad that I knew that matte and creamy lipsticks were different things, actually." He smiled again. "I liked these girls, they're nice."

Tony tried not to show his immediate reaction, which was along the lines of, Oh, fuck, please don't say that. I'm jealous. Please don't let Pepper be right again. Instead, he just said, "Yeah," and went back to his martini.

They were quiet again all the way back to Tony's place. Tony went straight to the living room and plopped down on the couch. "Ugh. So tired." Steve didn't sit, just stood between the couch and the front door. Tony looked up at him. "If you want, we can watch some TV."

Steve was looking at the floor, arms crossed over his chest. He was silent for another minute and then he looked up and said, "Tony, look. If- If you don't want me to be here, you just need to say so."

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. There was no way in hell Tony was ready for this conversation.

"Ste- Steve, I do want you..." Tony's words sounded hollow even to him.

Steve gave a small, bitter smile. "But."

"I just." Tony leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and dropped his face into his hands. "I- I don't know what to say, Steve. I don't know," he finished quietly.

When Steve didn't respond, Tony looked up. After a moment, Steve met his eyes. "You want me to go?" he asked quietly.

Tony didn't know what to say. Because, no, he didn't want Steve to go. But it was becoming even more apparent that Steve wanted what Tony didn't.

"Tony?" Steve said.

"No, Steve. I don't want you to go..."

"But...?"

Tony sighed. "But it might be best."

Steve let out a sigh as he ran his hand through his blond combed hair. "Okay," Was all he said before going into Tony's room to get his stuff. Tony didn't move from the couch.

Two days after the party, after Steve walked out, after Tony pushed him out, Pepper called him. He answered the phone because she wouldn't give up anyway.

"How's Steve?" Pepper asked almost immediately. "What have you two been up to?"

"Steve left, Pep," he said quietly.

"Oh," She sounded surprised. "Did you have a fight? Are you okay?"

"No, we didn't fight. I'm fine." Tony tried to sound fine. "I'm good."

"Okay," she said. "Actually, I was calling to ask you a favour."

"What?" Tony asked cautiously.

"Relax, it's nothing too bad. I'm going to San Diego to have lunch with some investors. Keep me company."

"Well, I don't know. That depends." They both knew that was a lie; he was already looking for his car keys. Tony was kind of having a bad week. So what if all he had left was lunch with some old investors?

"Oh?"

"Yeah. What are you having?"

She laughed. "Well, I'm not sure, but maybe French or Italian food."

"Not Japanese again?" Tony whined. He heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. I'll be there soon." He hung up the phone and put on his shoes. God, he was pathetic. He was excited to go hang out with Pepper.

Yup. Tony's life definitely sucks.

"All right, Tony. Tell me what happened."

Tony sighed. He hadn't been expecting to get out of it, but as the day went on and she didn't ask, Tony thought that maybe he might. Turned out, she was just plying him with delicious Italian food and now really good coffee. The investors had a meeting and left half an hour before, so they were alone and she could interrogate him all she wanted.

"I don't know, Pep," Tony said.

"When did he leave?" she asked.

"After the party on Saturday. We went out for a drink after, and then when we got back to my place, he said he could go back to New York if he was bothering me and then I said it might be best." Tony put his coffee down on the table.

Pepper was quiet for a moment, chewing her bottom lip. "Tony, the other day you said you're not ready for a relationship."

"Right," Tony agreed.

"There's obviously nothing wrong with that, but I'm curious as to why," she said.

Tony sighed again. Why did Pepper always ask hard questions? "I don't even really know," he said. "I don't- I'm not the material for a relationship." Tony trailed off, not even sure what he wanted to say.

"You don't want to be tied down yet?" She guessed.

"No, it's not even that, really. I guess I just don't want to make such a big decision that could potentially go horribly wrong and screw up the rest of my life and the team. Not yet, anyway."

She sighed. "Is this because of us?"

"No!" Tony said, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Just because we, you and me, together didn't go so well, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be in a relationship anymore. Sure, there are plenty of reasons not to get into one, but there will always be reasons not to."

"Are we really having this conversation?" Tony asked, disconcerted.

"Tony, the way you look when you talk about him says so much. And the way he looked at you while he was at the party tells me that he is head over heels for you." Pepper said, smiling and pulling her hair in a ponytail.

"Head over heels for me," Tony echoed and when he understood the real meaning of the phrase, he almost chocked on his own spit.

After calming down, Tony was quiet as he considered all of that. If he was being honest with himself, his experience with Pepper and love and romance and marriage had made an impact, apparently a bigger one than he had even realized. And if he was really being honest with himself, he'd known for a while that starting a relationship with Steve would be a big deal. A very big deal. He could maybe admit that it wasn't that he didn't feel ready for a relationship, but that he didn't feel ready for a relationship with Steve. It was all just overwhelming: the uncertainty, the sex, the feelings. And, oh yeah, that little thing where they were in a superheroes team together.

"Aren't you going to mention the part about the team, and how if it all goes wrong, I could fuck that up for good?" Tony asked.

Pepper sighed. "Honestly, Tony? I'm not really quite sure what to say about the part."

"Helpful, Pep, Thanks."

She laughed. "Well, yes, you could get into a relationship with Steve and it could all go horribly wrong and everything could be awkward or you could even have to leave the team. Or, there's a possibility that you don't get involved, and then there's just a bunch of unresolved tension between the two of you which could cause tension in the team and that could make you have to leave. Or trying to keep the team together while practicing and fighting could make you all crazy and the team could break up. We're back to the part where there are a million things that could go wrong. But if it went right..."

"It won't." Tony stated.

"Anyway, just keep in mind that I'm kind of a big romantic who loves a good love story sometimes. And I suppose I just can't help but consider the possibility that you could have everything you want. You're my friend, Tony. So that's what I want for you," she finished and reached over to run her hand over his head.

"I know. Thanks," Tony said quietly because Pepper knew that it meant I love you Pepper but he wouldn't say it out loud.

"I love you too, Tony."

Steve had left six days ago. Not even a whole week. Tony was going to see him in another two weeks. So it was stupid to miss him. He didn't really miss Natasha or Clint or Bruce as much. Besides, it was pretty much his own fault that Steve was even gone. He would have stayed if Tony wasn't such an ass.

Tony had spent the majority of those six days alone with his thoughts and his suits. The more Tony thought about the things he had refused to think about before, the more he realized just how much he missed Steve. And the more he thought about that, the more he realized what an idiot he was. Just sex? Really?

Tony had failed to take into account that Steve was pretty much his favourite member of the team - even though he tried not to show it. He enjoyed spending time with Steve when they realized that that stupid fight when they met had no meaning at all. He had really liked staying with Steve at the tower, and while the sex was amazingly, incredibly, mind-blowing awesome, Tony liked how he and Steve could still sit and watch movies together and make fun of each other and talk like they always had. But then they could touch and, well, cuddle - and, god, wasn't there a less... Girly word for that shit? - too and it wasn't weird. Steve liked to swoop in for stealth kisses, and sometimes it didn't even turn into sex. Sometimes it was just a quick peck on the lips and Tony liked that. It was comfortable and new at the same time. It was exciting and fun.

Tony was... Okay, Tony was a little bit in love. Or, you know. A lot. Yeah. Maybe a lot in love.

Fucking fuck.

"'Tony?" was how Pepper answered the phone.

"I'm in love, Pepper," Tony said with a smile. "In fucking love."

Pepper was silent for a minute. "With Steve?"

"Yeah." Tony was successful in keeping the ridiculously happy sigh from slipping out. Not so much with the big-ass romantic smile though. He was really glad Pepper wasn't there to make fun of him. There was a reason he had decided to tell her over the phone.

"Tony."

"Yeah?" He was still sort of daydreaming about Steve's smile.

"I'm happy for you. I really am."

Pepper's tone pulled Tony back to the conversation. "But...?"

"It's just... You know how I feel about relationships with team members, people who work together..."

"Pepper. Are you worried about me?" Tony teased.

"Oh, Tony!" Pepper sighed. "Of course I'm worried about you! It's not like you can take care of yourself."

"Yes, I can." Tony hesitated before he said, "Look, I'm not that ridiculous and non-sense guy that dated you a few years ago, I changed, I'm better. I think it's gonna be okay."

Pepper was quiet. "Yeah, okay. Just, if it gets fucked up, you're going to be the one who has to go. You know that, right? They won't get rid of him."

"I know," Tony said softly. That was the biggest reason he was unsure about trying to start something serious with Steve. Tony fucking enjoyed being in the team now. "But I don't know if I can, you know, not."

Pepper sighed. "I get that." And then she seemed to be done with the warnings. "Because you're in love." Pepper finally sounded like she was smiling, which made Tony start smiling again.

"Yeah, I kind of am." Tony accidentally let out the most embarrassing fucking giggle that had ever left his mouth.

"Aww, Tony, you're in love!" Pepper said in a high-pitched, girly voice.

"Ok, that's enough," Tony told her.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Wanna get food later?" Pepper asked, changing the subject.

"Sure. Gimme a call."

"All right. Later."

Tony unfortunately spent the next two weeks running through all kinds of scenarios in his head. They included, in no particular order:

a) the one where he told Steve he loved him and Steve laughed in his face and said all they had was casual but awesome sex;

b) the one where he told Steve he loved him and Steve coldly told him he didn't want him anymore, that he was so over him;

c) the one where they were all happy in love but the rest of team was too worried about fucking up the The Avengers that Steve and Tony wouldn't be able to stay together;

d) the one where they lived happily ever after.

e) the one where they got together, there was lots of fantastic sex, and then Steve realized what a jackass Tony really was and dumped him.

f) the one where they got together, there was lots of fantastic sex, and then Steve realized what a jackass Tony really was and dumped him.And kicked him out of the team.

g) the one where Steve told Tony he loved him, he really did, but he was totally straight and he'd really just been experimenting with Tony and all he really wanted was to find a nice girl and marry with her and then have perfect kids and live in a house with yellow fences and a cute dog;

h) the one where they came out and people hated their team and it was all Tony's fault that he ruined everything, because clearly, he would be the one who couldn't hide his feelings for Steve and would kiss him in public or something.

By the time Tony's plane landed in New York, he'd made up and changed his mind approximately 328 times about whether or not to tell Steve how he felt.

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked when he got off the plane and saw that Clint was the one waiting for him.

"Oh, yeah, it's nice to see you too, Tony! Why, yes, I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking! Of course you missed me, for I am awesome," Clint said with pointed fake enthusiasm.

Tony ducked his head. "Sorry, pal. How are you, for real?" he asked.

"I'm good," Clint said with his usual big grin. He hugged Tony tight, obviously excited to see him.

"Good. But seriously, what are you doing here? You hate driving to airports," Tony reminded him. There was definitely a reason that an employee always picked him up at the airport. It had to do with Clint's white-knuckled hands on the steering wheel and the expletives he often yelled at the cabs and buses and cars trying to pick up or drop off passengers.

Clint put his arm around Tony and started walking towards baggage claim. "Well, yeah. But Natasha had stuff to do and Steve... Let's just say Steve nominated me to pick you up."

"Of course," Tony said. "I'm not exactly surprised."

"Yeah," Clint said, drawing out the word. "Anyway, we're meeting Bruce for lunch. We have some things to discuss."

"Oh. I'm not going to like this, am I?" Tony asked.

"It depends. If you give the right answers to our deep and profound questions, then I think you'll be just fine."

"And if I don't?" Tony asked warily.

"If you don't, then we might have to stop on the way back to bury your body in the middle of Central Park," Clint happily informed him.

"Excellent."

Bruce was already waiting for them at a coffee shop. Once Tony and Clint got coffee and two pieces of chocolate tart and joined him, Bruce gave Tony a calm smile. "Hey Tony," was all he said.

"You're acting weird," Tony observed. "What's going on?"

"Something bad, I guess"

Clint jumped in with, "So, Tony. You know how Steve ran away to Los Angeles because he missed your stupid face so much he couldn't function? And then he came home, like, two days later?"

"Um, yes?" Tony said and then, "Wait, really?" as he registered the part about Steve missing him that much.

"What did you do to break him? Because, let me tell you, he has not been fun to be around since then," Clint said.

"Seriously. He's been awful. Fury called us to complain about him and find out what was wrong with him," Bruce said. "Natasha said he hasn't been eating properly and you know, that guy eats a lot. All the guy is doing now is to destroying punch bags and hiding from us. He doesn't even show up at the common floors. We don't really know what to do since he refuses to talk to us. But we know you will talk. What the hell did you do to him?" Bruce asked.

"Hm. I don't know?" Tony tried.

"Yeah, I don't believe you," Clint said. "You need to fix him, Tony. Seriously. He's driving us all crazy and I think it might possibly be worse with you here. I don't know how we're going to keep this team up." Clint stopped sounding blithe and started sounding really worried.

"We really need you two to get your shit together. Fury has been calling and asking what the hell happened to the golden boy and telling us we need to fix him." Bruce said.

Tony took a deep breath. And then another one. "Well, here's the thing. I was kind of a dumbass when Steve came to Cali," Tony started. Clint and Bruce both made noises of agreement. "But, um, after he left, I sort of thought about some stuff..." Tony trailed off.

"And?" Bruce prompted.

"And I'm kind of in love with him. A lot more than kind of, actually," Tony said in a rush. "But if you guys think I'll fuck up the team if I do something about it, just say so. Because I really don't want to fuck up what we got here. I can't," he added a little desperately. "The team, saving lives is way more important."

Bruce smiled. "That's debatable, but I've been thinking about it a lot. Clint and I have talked about it at length," Clint rolled his eyes and nodded. Bruce ignored him and continued, "I've already mentioned this to Natasha. This is what I think: I will be pissed if you and Steve ruin the team. And you know what happens when I get pissed." He paused, as if he was letting that settle in Tony's mind and then Tony remembered that Bruce was the fucking Hulk. "But this is your team and Steve's team as much as it is mine or Clint's or Natasha's or Thor's and I know that you would both do anything to keep it together. Anything." The look that Bruce gave him clearly said that would be an order if it was necessary.

Tony nodded his assent. "Yeah."

"Good. Now, that said, you have to fix this. There is no way we can save people or the world like this. If you and Steve don't figure your shit out, you will ruin everything."

"So what do you want me to do?" Tony asked slowly.

"Whatever it takes," Bruce said.

Tony had been hoping for something a little more specific, like written instructions and maybe a script. He turned to look at Clint hopefully.

"Oh, hell no," Clint said. "I am not telling you what to do. You already know I give bad advice."

"True," Tony replied. Clint had been the one to tell Tony that of course it would be hilarious to hide Steve's shield and Natasha's guns somewhere in the tower. And then accidentally forget all about them. Apparently the "But we were really drunk!" excuse just didn't cut it when they didn't find the items to go practice. Oops.

Tony sat and thought while Clint and Bruce finished their food. He picked at his fork, but he just wasn't hungry.

Bruce had a point: there was absolutely no way they would be able to save the world with his and Steve's relationship the way it was. He hadn't heard from Steve since Los Angeles, and if there was one thing Steve did well besides fighting, it was hold a grudge. Tony had no idea what Steve was thinking about him, but at that point, he figured the best he'd get would be the silent treatment; the worst, thinly-veiled hostility.

Clint interrupted his thoughts. "Tony."

Tony looked up. "Yeah?"

"What do you want to happen? If it all went your way, how would it go?" Bruce smiled knowing that he always asked the right questions.

Tony knew that one. "You'd drop me off at the tower and I'd go find Steve. I'd tell him I love him, and he'd say he loves me too, and then he'd fuck me through the mattress."

Bruce made a face. "Ugh. Could you not say stuff like that? I really don't need the dirty details."

Clint leaned forward, his eyes laughing. "So Tony, you're a bottom, huh? I kind of thought so," he said eagerly. "Oh! Or do you guys switch it up every now and then? I always thought Steve would be a good lay. He is, isn't he?" he added.

Tony blushed even as he started laughing at Clint's very "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" expression. Bruce punched Clint's arm and said, "I hate you."

"Dude, you fucking love me. Don't fight it. It's not worth it. I always win in the end," Clint said matter-of-factly. Bruce rolled his eyes, but didn't deny it.

"I think I need to see him first, you know? I've got to try to see how he's feeling and stuff. He might not even talk to me at all," Tony said.

Clint was already pulling out his phone. "We'll go get coffee," He said as he waited for Steve to pick up. "Steve. Meet us at that cool coffee shop near MoMA. Yes, the one we ate almond cake last week. I don't know. Leave now." He didn't bother with saying good-bye, just hung up the phone. "Oh, he's coming. It won't take 10 minutes, he was nearby buying some art supply." Clint announced.

Tony couldn't completely hide his first reaction, which was fear. But he just swallowed and said okay. He wanted to stay there, but he wasn't sure how that'd go over. "Uh, does Steve know that I'm here?"

Bruce and Clint looked at each other instead of Tony. Bruce cleared his throat. "Not exactly."

Clint said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of getting your stuff from my car to the tower while you talk. It'll be fine, really"

"Yeah, just calm down. Let me buy you another coffee." Bruce offered, smiling. "Clint, come help me."

Before Tony could ask anything else along the lines of "Oh, shit, you guys are just going to completely leave me here alone with him, aren't you? I hate you", he saw Steve walk in.

Fortunately, he went right up to Bruce and Clint to order himself a coffee. Tony took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He watched Steve smile at a joke Clint made, and knew two things instantly: he was in love, and he was scared completely fucking shitless. If Steve rejected him he didn't know what he'd do.

Tony may have had all those ridiculous scenes in his head on the plane ride to New York, but the thought of real rejection pretty much knocked the wind out of him entirely. He couldn't even consider the possibility without panicking.

Steve sat down first so that he didn't have to sit next to or across from Tony. Clint sat down facing Tony and handed over another coffee he'd gotten for him. Tony took it and sipped gratefully, mostly so he didn't have to say anything. No one else seemed too inclined to break the silence either, until there was a little commotion under the table and Steve jumped and then glared at Bruce while leaning down to rub his leg. Steve still took the hint though.

"So how was the flight?" he asked Tony without actually looking at him.

And Tony had just regressed to a 14-year-old girl talking to the captain of the football team.

"Oh, fine. It was fine," he managed to say without too much trouble, and he could live with the stuttering and stammering. It was the ridiculous goofy smile that he couldn't get rid of and the red cheeks and the ducking of his head that all humiliated him. But Steve! He was just right there! Even if he wouldn't look at Tony, which was probably for the best, actually.

Clint, though, oh man, Clint was trying to disguise a laughing fit with a cough. He laughed so hard that it turned into an actual coughing fit, and between Steve patting him on the back, Bruce just laughing, and Tony jumping up to get a glass of water, the tension sort of just disappeared.

When Clint had settled down, Bruce asked about their practice space. That was Steve's cue to get out his planner.

"Okay, the space is being booked by SHIELD for some of the next couple of weeks, so here's when we have it." Steve waited for Bruce to pull out a pen and grab a napkin and for Clint to pull out his iPhone. He looked at Tony pointedly.

Tony shrugged. "What? It's not like I'm not going to be with one of you all the time."

Steve shrugged at that and rattled off dates and times. He looked up at Clint and said, "You are sending that to Natasha too, right?"

Clint glared and said testily, "Yes, I'm sending it to Natasha too." If Clint didn't send it to Natasha for her to put it on the calendar, the rest of the team would spend a lot of time waiting for Clint to show up. It annoyed Clint sometimes when the rest of them acted like he couldn't be trusted, but, well, sometimes he couldn't be trusted.

After the scheduling, they started talking about the training program. Bruce had thought about the team doing yoga together to improve flexibility and help with stress relief and concentration. Clint surprised them by saying he had something in mind between the lines of hand-to-hand combat and talked with Natasha about practicing with guns. He also said that Thor was coming from Asgard and spend some time here and with Jane by the next month. About five minutes into the conversation, Clint's phone rang.

"Oh, hey Nat. What's up?" Clint answered. "What? Hold on, I can't hear you. Bad reception" He got up and went outside. Tony noticed Steve looking ever so slightly suspicious. Tony glanced at his phone and saw that he had five bars. He had a sinking feeling that he knew what was going on.

He knew for sure when Bruce said, "I have to, uh...yeah. You two make nice while I'm gone." And, yeah, Clint and Bruce were out of there.

Shit.

Steve's back was to the front door. He sighed and looked at Tony. "They're not coming back, are they?"

Tony saw them talking for a minute before they got into Clint's car and left. "Yeah, no. They just left."

"Right." Steve looked a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "So..."

Tony was pretty uncomfortable himself. He sipped his coffee. "So." He took another sip. "Since we're here, we should maybe talk?"

Steve sighed and played with the napkin on the table in front of him. He didn't look up at Tony. "Probably." They were both quiet again, and then Steve looked up and said, "You can start."

"Yeah, okay. I just." Tony took a deep breath. One. Two. Three. "I just feel like we should clear some stuff up, okay?" Steve nodded. He didn't look too impressed with Tony.

Tony cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the table, like the conversation would be that much easier if he told it to the fake wood. "After you left Cali, I thought a lot, about a lot of stuff. And the thing is, Steve, I missed you a whole hell of a lot. I was miserable. Even Pepper and Happy started to avoid me." Tony paused and when he looked up back up, Steve was looking at him. Their eyes met but Steve looked away before Tony could try to figure out what he was thinking.

"And I talked about it with Pep," Tony started again.

Steve smirked and said, "Pepper? About this kind of subject? Smooth, Mr. Stark." Steve was smiling a little, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Fuck you," Tony said again. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Steve shrugged like he really didn't, but knew he didn't have a choice.

"Like I was saying, I talked to her, and she maybe made a few good points. She kind of helped me realize some stuff. Like the fact that I can be really dumb sometimes. And basically, what it comes down to is," he paused to take a deep breath, "Is that I'm a little bit crazy about you, Steve. Hell, I am completely in love with you."

Tony glanced up to gauge Steve's reaction, but the look on Steve's face didn't really give anything away, which was just unhelpful. Tony needed something to work with, even if it was amusement or disgust or annoyance. "Steve?" he said quietly.

"What do you want me to say, Tony?" Steve answered after a minute.

That frustrated Tony. He felt the mood changing and he suddenly preferred the awkward, weird atmosphere. "I don't know! Something! Do you want to do something about this? Do you hate me? Is this going to ruin the team? Just something. Whatever you feel. I don't know."

"Well, it's not exactly a surprise," Steve admitted. "I mean, I didn't know for sure, but I kind of thought that you felt that way." He paused, but before Tony could react, he said, "I'm not really sure what you think this will change, though."

Tony couldn't help the look of disbelief. "Everything?" Tony tried. "I... Steve, I love you. I think we should be dating, not just fucking. That whole 'friends with benefits' thing is bullshit with us. There are feelings. I hate sounding like a fifteen-year-old girl, but Steve, I want you to fucking be my boyfriend, okay? I don't think I can spell it out better than that."

Steve rolled his eyes. Tony took a deep breath and convinced himself that punching Steve in the face would not help his cause. "Look. It won't happen, okay? I mean, I am obviously attracted to you and we're really good in bed. But it won't be more than that."

Tony closed his eyes and took a moment to figure out what the hell he could say or do to make Steve agree with him, and then he gave up. "Steve. What do I have to do to convince you that I love you?" he asked.

"Tony, that's not the issue. I believe you. I really do. And I know Clint told you before, so you've known all along that I've got feelings for you, too."

Tony couldn't keep in the frustrated groan that interrupted Steve. "Then what's the problem? How is this even turning into a fight?"

"Tony, the only thing that's changed is that you actually admit you have feelings for me now. That's it. Everything else is the same. The reasons that we didn't get together before, they still exist." Tony selfishly took a little bit of comfort that Steve's speech made him look sad.

"But it is different, Steve! That's what I'm trying to tell you! I want it to be different." Tony was feeling desperate.

Steve gave him a small, sad smile as he said, "Then I guess that's the part that I don't believe." Steve sighed. "Look, those reasons you had a couple of weeks ago? Those were valid and rational. They make sense. If we're not both ready for something serious, and with us it would be, you know it would, then it's not going to work. Not to mention all the ways it could ruin the team, The Avengers. The Avengers is all I have know, everything I knew doesn't exist anymore, just this team. But now you're expecting me to just toss all those concerns-that you raised-out the window? I can't! And I have no reason to think that you have already either. I get that you missed me. I missed the hell out of you. But that's not a good enough reason to ignore everything else."

"Steve," Tony tried again. "I didn't just miss you, okay? It's not-"

Steve cut him off with a look and said, "Tony, I'm not going to risk the team for it, I'm sorry but saving people is my priority."

Tony let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He stared at his coffee cup. "Fine," he finally said. He was just going to have to find a way to prove to Steve that he meant what he said or he wasn't Tony Stark.

"I'm, uh, gonna go lay down for bit. Take a nap," Tony said to Steve when they entered the elevator of the tower. It was the first thing either of them had said since leaving the coffee shop.

"Yeah, okay," Steve said and pushed the button to his floor.

Tony just nodded and then pushed another button for his own. He wanted to stay in Steve's floor, he really did, but his goal wouldn't let him. Having sex with Steve would just lead to falling back into the same pattern they had before, and Tony didn't want that. Sex this time would be more than just friends-with-benefits if it killed him.

At least, that's what he told himself as he dropped his bag on the floor and flopped on the bed. He wasn't even really tired, he just thought that he and Steve both needed a bit of time to think about their earlier discussion.

And Tony had to start plotting. At least he didn't have to convince Steve to fall in love with him. Operation Make Steve Be Tony's Boyfriend, step one: check.

Step two. Tony considered his options. He could follow Steve around looking at him adoringly with puppy eyes until Steve was so irritated and annoyed he just agreed to get Tony to stop. (Though to be honest, Tony probably would be staring adoringly at Steve every chance he got. Just, not on purpose.) Well, that was an option, anyway.

Or could play hard to get and ignore Steve, make Steve chase him. He sort of already knew that would backfire though.

Tony sighed as he tried to think of a few more options. His life would be so much easier if he could just be Steve's boyfriend. Tony could be a good boyfriend if he wanted to. Steve would totally love him. Tony always took their dates to great restaurants and fancy parties and bought them expensive gifts. He could be sweet and romantic if he wanted. Not that he would treat Steve like a girl or anything; Tony just would like to make him happy and feel loved.

Tony shot up and jumped off the bed. That was it! He would just pretend he was Steve's boyfriend until Steve saw how awesome he was and made it official. Time for the real plotting to begin.

During his plotting and planning, Tony accidentally fell asleep. He woke up about an hour later, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. After that, he went to the common floor to grab coffee. Steve was in the kitchen, getting some chips and salsa. He glanced up and asked, "Want some?"

"Sure," Tony replied with a smile. He walked up behind Steve, wrapped his arms around his waist, and hugged Steve tight. He rubbed his cheek against Steve's t-shirt and sighed. He was still sleepy and it was really good to be snuggled up to Steve like that.

"Um. Hi?" Steve didn't move to encourage Tony, but he didn't discourage him either, so Tony took it as a win.

"Hi," Tony said. Steve awkwardly patted Tony's hand and Tony squeezed tight again and pulled back.

Tony reached in front of Steve to grab a tortilla chip while Steve was clearly still distracted and giving Tony that 'you're freaking me out' face. Tony just grinned at him, grabbed two beers from the fridge, and headed for the living room. Steve came in a couple of minutes later with the plate of chips and bowl of salsa. He pulled the coffee table closer so they could both reach the food and picked up the remote. "What do you want to watch?" Steve asked.

Tony shrugged. "Whatever." Steve flipped around and found Die Hard playing on one of the hundreds of movie channels he got.

They watched in silence for a while, and Tony may have gone for chips at the same time as Steve and maybe purposely brushed their hands together. After the second time, Steve looked at Tony with narrowed eyes. "What?" Tony said in his best innocent voice with his best innocent wide eyes.

"You're acting weird," Steve said suspiciously.

"How am I acting weird?"

"You know how," Steve gave him a knowing look.

Honesty was the best policy, right? "The truth is, Steve Rogers, that you did not convince me at Starbucks. I still think you should be my boyfriend. And I still think that somewhere not-so-deep-down, you agree with me. So until you tell me that you really, really don't want me and can make me really, really believe you, I plan to prove to you that I am an awesome boyfriend," Tony said definitively.

"Uh-huh," Steve said slowly. He looked kind of sceptical though. Then thoughtful, and finally hopeful. "Does this mean we still get to have sex?"

"Nope," Tony said cheerfully. "I am a gentleman, Steve, just like you were when we met back at the Loki's invasion. I don't what happened to you but anyway. I would never want to take advantage of you like that, Steve. You should really just be glad that I'm not going to save you for marriage. Just a relationship," he added.

Steve blinked at him. "You suck," he said before turning back to the TV.

"Nope, not yet," Tony said with a smile.

Steve didn't shoot him down entirely. That was all Tony needed for the moment.

At Steve's subtle urging (e.g., asking over and over if it was), Tony decided that making out was not banned with the sex. Which was how, two days later, Tony was under Steve on the living room floor, and was remembering how much he liked Steve's mouth.

Tony dragged his lips over Steve's cheek and down his neck. When he bit a little and started sucking hard, Steve groaned. "Tony," he breathed out. "Tony, can I tell you I want a relationship now?" he asked and Tony could hear the smile in his voice.

That had the same effect as being doused by a bucket of ice water. Tony stilled and dropped his head to the floor and closed his eyes.

"What?" Steve asked. "What's wrong?"

Tony pushed Steve off of him and sat up. He looked at the floor while he said, "It's not a joke, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, just stood up and went upstairs. He shut the bedroom door behind him and laid down. He didn't even feel like jerking off. He just covered his face and let out a frustrated groan.

Stupid Steve.

Thankfully, whatever tensions and weirdness that existed between Tony and Steve didn't seem to impede the writing process. The team was making some really good progress with a bunch of programs. Steve was able to accept or ignore Tony's little attempts to treat him a bit more special than Natasha or Clint or Bruce. For the most part, they just smiled indulgently or rolled their eyes at Tony's attention to Steve. Tony tried to make sure he didn't do anything that could be too much, but he liked making sure he got Steve's coffee just the way he liked it or suggested Steve's favourite Chinese food for dinner. It was nothing he wouldn't have done for any other person he dated.

One afternoon, after they'd all spent a morning arguing over gun practice - Natasha wanted it with a Glock 19, Clint wanted it with Glock 45, Steve wanted it with a SIG Sauer p226 S and Bruce thought they should just get rid of it entirely, and Tony mostly agreed with Natasha. After that, they split up for lunch to cool off a bit. Tony decided to stay back at tower, and just asked Natasha to bring him some muffins.

Tony stayed and went to sit on the balcony front and have a drink and think. Natasha had apparently just hit the coffee shop because she was back just as Tony was finishing his first glass of scotch. Natasha sat down next to him and silently split up the food.

When Natasha finished her mulberry muffin, she turned to Tony and said, "Thanks. For, you know, backing me up today. I mean, I know, like, you didn't..." She trailed off like she was trying to figure out what came next.

Tony was quiet for a minute. His first instinct was to be insulted by Natasha insinuating that he would have agreed with Steve just because he was Steve. But after sometime, he'd learned to read between some of Natasha's lines. It sounded like Natasha's way of saying, "It would have been easier to agree with Steve to make him fall for, but you didn't and I never thought you'd be one of those guys who lose their balls in a relationship, but I really appreciate the confirmation anyway."

"I told you I don't want to fuck up the team and I meant it. Yeah, I want him to be my boyfriend, I don't know what the hell happened to me because I always avoided being in relationships but here I'm, in love with fucking Steve Rogers, fucking Captain America. He's mocking me. Can you believe it? Steve's mocking me!" Tony made a face. "Anyway, I'm in love, Nat, but I'm not deaf or blind or stupid. Your choice sounded better than Steve's, that's why I agreed with you." Tony finally said with a shrug.

"Yeah, it really did," Natasha said with a smile. She waved a hand and added, "He knows it too. He capitulated after hearing I showed him, but he hates to be wrong, so he's just being stubborn."

Tony laughed. Yeah, that just about summed up Steve. "Then why did you keep pushing him?"

Natasha smirked. "Mostly, it's kind of just habit at this point. I've been doing it with Clint since I met him." She said with a laugh. "You have to admit it's fun when someone's turning purple and shit because they think you are just ignoring them."

Tony laughed again. "It really is," He agreed. "Just, uh, don't tell him that? I feel like it would set me back a step in my operation to make him fall for me." He laughed. Oh, that was just lame.

Natasha stared at Tony. "Oh my god. Operation to make him fall for you? Seriously, Tony? Seriously? Wow. That is lame!" Natasha just laughed as Tony felt his face heat up.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"So fucking lame!"

"What's lame?" Clint asked as he walked up.

"Nothing," Tony said.

"Tony!" Natasha said between giggles – yeah, she was totally fucking giggling. "Tony is in an operation to make Steve fall for him. Do you believe that?"

Clint laughed too, but he did seem to be laughing more at the way that Natasha was wiping tears from her eyes and practically falling off the balcony than at Tony's humiliation.

"I hate you both," Tony said with a glare. He looked up at the skyline and blinked as the sun blinded him. "And if you could not say anything about this Steve, I'd really appreciate it. Which means, Natasha, shut the fuck up now because he's-Hey, Steve! How was your lunch? What did you have?"

Steve ignored him. "Is she okay?" he asked, pointing at Natasha, who just laughed harder.

Tony jumped up. "Yeah, she's fine. We were mocking Clint." He put his arm around Steve and started walking him back to the building. "So, Steve, I can't remember, what did we decide to do for the next practicing? Pankration? Muay Thai? Can you come to the gym to spar for a bit?

If one thing could distract Steve, it was sex. But if two things could distract him, the other was sparring. And Tony had no problem exploiting that to save face.

The third week of training ended with a two a.m. trip to a Mexican food restaurant near downtown. Their waiter was pretty hot actually, and flirted with Natasha the whole night.

Or so Tony thought. They had asked for separate checks and Tony's was the one that came back with a phone number. He double-checked the order, and yeah, it was his. And there was no way to mistake the wink the guy gave him when Tony looked up. But yeah, Tony was used to randomly get phone numbers like that so whatever.

After paying at the register, Tony put the check in his pocket. It felt rude to just throw it away where the waiter could see him. He waited until they were outside to do it, while Clint laughed at Tony's obliviousness and red face. Natasha and Bruce laughed at Tony's protests that he "didn't know! And what the fuck, he'd been flirting with Nat the entire time!" and Steve just had an uncomfortable smile on his face.

"No, really, Stark, he was totally into you!" Natasha told him as they all settled in Tony's car, Bruce, Tony and Steve in the back.

"Well, he wasn't my type anyway. He's not-" Tony cut himself off before he said Steve's name. "Anyway. Fuck off, all of you! You drive this time." Tony threw the keys to Clint.

Clint drove them all back to the tower, where they all split up to their own floors to shower and rest. On the elevator, Steve turned to Tony and said, "Actually, he sort of was your type."

"No, he wasn't." He had been actually, and if Tony hadn't been all about Steve, he maybe would have called. Or. Well. That was a lie. He wasn't used to call people to fuck, it was more like they just showed up naked at his bed. "And it doesn't matter anyway," Tony said. "It's not like I would have ever called, even if I wasn't stupidly in love with you."

"I see," Was Steve's only comment, but Tony was watching close enough to see the small smile Steve obviously tried to hide.

Tony kept doing little things for Steve. He got up early and prepared breakfast to Steve - and that had been totally worth it for the coffee-flavoured kiss he'd gotten. He bought Steve's favourite brownies at the grocery store. He bought Steve new art supply, for fuck's sake. He cuddled with Steve when they were on the couch watching a movie. He made sure to pay extra-close attention so that he could give Steve long kisses and cuddles when he was tired from training or stressed because of Fury's orders.

It was a Tuesday afternoon when Steve showed up at Tony's workshop wearing a nice pair of khakis and a white t-shirt with a blue plaid shirt.

"Tony?"

"Yeah, Steve?" Tony asked, turning around and taking off his goggles. Steve was leaning on the glass doorway between the workshop and the elevator.

"Why do you keep doing this?" Steve asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Tony knew exactly what he meant.

"You know." Steve crossed his arms. "You're treating me differently. You're being nice and considerate. You bought me new soy ink, you prepare me breakfast every day, with the brownies I like."

"Hmm," Tony pretended to think. "Oh, it's probably because I'm completely in love with you and want you to date me." He gave Steve a bright smile. "And I need to prove it for you, that I can be an awesome boyfriend.

Steve, on the other hand, just sort of sputtered. "You. You-what? I can't even- I... You can't bribe me to be your boyfr-" Steve took a deep breath and straightened up. "You know what? I'm going to the gym and punch something for a little while, okay."

Tony watched Steve go with a little smile on his face. He was starting to get him, he could tell. And he really hoped it wouldn't take too much longer. Tony was ready. He wanted to be Steve's and he wanted Steve to be his.

Tony was hanging out at a craps table watching Clint and Natasha lose money at a famous casino midtown. Steve had texted them to say Bruce wanted to go home and he was going to take him. Tony hung around so he could take Clint and Natasha home. He was a bit bored just watching the game and drinking, so he decided to wander around a bit. Casinos were fantastic places meet interesting and beautiful people.

He'd only gotten about three steps from the table when he was approached by a pretty blond he'd noticed earlier. She'd been standing near them at the table and had watched them, but Tony was fairly certain she didn't actually know who they were.

"What's the hurry?" she asked, putting her hand on his arm.

She was gorgeous, and not long ago, back before Steve, Tony would have already been imagining the best ways to get her out of her ridiculously tight black bandage dress. As it was, he just said politely, "Oh, nothing. Just heading to get another drink," and subtly stepped out of her reach.

She stopped touching him, but stepped a bit closer. "Want me to get you a drink?"

"Sorry, that's not a good idea," Tony said, smiling and scratching his beard. "I'm seeing someone. Kind of." He added.

She smiled, perfect white teeth contrasting with dark red lipstick. "'Kind of doesn't sound too serious for me, honey."

"It is to me." Tony said with a shrug. She took it gracefully, smiled again and told him to have a good night. Tony wished her the same and turned around to head in the opposite direction, didn't even watch her go.

He almost ran right into Steve, which was confusing. "Oh! Hey, Steve. Wait, I thought you were taking Bruce home..."

Steve just looked at Tony for a few more seconds before saying distractedly, "No, he decided he wanted to hang out at the bar instead. I was coming to see if you and the others wanted to join us." He looked at Tony like he was inspecting him.

"What?" Tony asked. Steve was hard to read sometimes.

"Tony." Steve cleared his throat. "Tony, I think we should get a room."

That didn't help clear up anything in Tony's head. "Why? We live fifteen minutes away. I can ask someone to drive us home."

"No," Steve said. He smiled at Tony, amused, as he grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him out of the middle of the floor. They were practically hidden in the corner by a huge flowering plant of some kind. It was a pretty plant, but Tony stopped caring when Steve cupped his face in his hands and leaned in to kiss him. It was one of those kisses that Steve was so good at, the ones that completely and totally stole Tony's breath away. Steve just kept going, his tongue playing with Tony's as Steve pushed him up against the wall and Tony felt Steve's hard cock on his thigh.

Steve pulled back a little and said, "Tony. We should really get a room."

Steve was still nipping at Tony's lips, which made it a little tougher to say, "No, but Steve..." And that was as far as Tony got before groaning because Steve ran his hand down Tony's stomach and rubbed Tony's dick through his jeans. Tony was panting against Steve's mouth.

But this time, Steve pulled back far enough to look Tony in the eyes. "Yes. Okay? Yes, Tony."

"You're sure?" Tony asked.

"Yes. Now can we please go get a room?"

Tony didn't bother with an answer, just pulled Steve along behind him as he headed out of the casino and into the hotel lobby. In an effort to be at least a little discreet, Steve went to book the room while Tony waited by the elevators and texted Natasha with "operation's success see u tmrw".

Steve practically ran over and handed Tony a room key as an elevator door dinged behind them. There were two other couples in the elevator, so Tony and Steve stayed on opposite sides of it. They were the first ones off on the tenth floor and Steve grabbed Tony's hand to pull him along down the hallway. Tony couldn't stop smiling and Steve couldn't stop touching while Tony tried to get the door open. It took a couple of tries, but he got it eventually.

Steve was taking Tony's shirt off before the door even slammed shut behind them. Tony went right for Steve's belt, and leaned in to kiss Steve after letting him pull off his own shirt. And then somehow they made it without clothes to the very inviting king-size bed.

Tony was straddled over Steve, leaning down to kiss him as he ground his hips down and causing them both to moan as their cocks moved against each other. "Wanna fuck you," Steve said against Tony's mouth.

Tony's hips jerked down again at the thought. "Fuck, yes." They shifted until Steve was on top of Tony.

And then Steve stilled and pulled back a little. Tony gave a little whine at Steve's mouth just up and disappearing. "Do you have a condom?" Steve asked.

Tony closed his eyes. "Fuck," he said, for an entirely different reason. "No. You?"

Steve shook his head. "Neither do I."

"Oh, that's sad." Tony pursed his lips. "However, it's your fault. If you're on top, you bring condoms."

"How did I know you'd say the perfect thing tonight?"

"How about you tell me what the perfect thing was so I can say it all the time, but do it later, after I suck you off. Yes?" Tony asked hopefully.

Steve countered with, "How about you suck me off while I suck you off?"

"Hell yes," Tony said as he climbed off of Steve and shifted around. 69-ing was actually something they hadn't done before and now that they were about to, Tony had no idea why they hadn't.

He took Steve's hard cock in his mouth and moaned around it when he felt the wet heat of Steve close around him. It wasn't long before they fell into a hard, quick, complementary rhythm. They followed each others' leads, Steve taking Tony in further when Tony did it to him, Tony sucking harder when Steve did.

Tony was distracted when he felt Steve put two fingers in his mouth along with Tony's dick. His head stilled, but he tried to remember to keep sucking as Steve slid those two fingers over and behind Tony's balls and into him. Once Steve hit the right spot, it was all over. Steve kept his fingers moving and his other hand was holding Tony's hip nice and tight. Tony thrust probably too hard into Steve's throat. Steve's cock slipped from his mouth. He gripped Steve's thighs hard and let out a loud sound that tried and failed to be Steve's name.

Steve swallowed around him, but didn't give Tony too long to recover. He thrust his hips in Tony's face, reminding him that even if he had come, Steve hadn't. Tony wrapped a tight fist around Steve's dick and licked the head. Steve moaned and tried to thrust forward more as Tony tongued his slit and then pushed his lips down to his fist.

Steve always got louder when he got close. He said Tony's name and variations of "God, Tony, fucking-" interspersed with moans and gasps. Tony loved to listen to him. Loved it when he could make Steve lose control like that, loved that it was his name Steve was saying in that rough, breathless, sexy voice.

When Steve started getting louder, Tony pulled off and jacked him. He closed his eyes and let Steve come all over his face. As soon as he could, Steve shifted around and leaned in to wipe and lick the come off of Tony's face and to press little kisses over Tony's forehead, his cheeks, his jaw. "Tony," he whispered. " Tony, that was amazing. Only next time, we're doing that where I can look down and see you."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, okay." He rolled onto his back and pulled Steve on top of him. "Love you," he whispered in between kisses.

Feeling Steve's weight pressing him into the mattress and hearing Steve say, "Love you, too, Tony." in return was better than anything Tony had ever experienced.

A quick glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand next to Steve told Tony that it was 4:47 am, which was just ridiculous. He rolled on the bed and then Steve's eyes were open and he was smiling at Tony. "Hi," he whispered.

Tony smiled back. "Hi. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay."

Steve leaned in and gave Tony a little kiss. Tony shifted closer and took Steve's hand under the covers, lacing their fingers together. They lay there, facing each other, bodies close, and smiling like idiots. They were quiet for a moment or two, and when Tony realized that neither of them were going to fall back asleep right away, he sort of just blurted out.

"Why?" He really hadn't meant to ask right then, thinking the talk could at least wait until morning. But he needed to know. Mostly he needed to know because whatever it was he had said, he needed to say it all the time, because he wasn't about to lose Steve when he'd finally gotten him.

Steve took a deep breath. "Because of that girl."

"What girl?" Tony didn't remember a girl.

Steve rolled his eyes. "The one in the casino? Asked you to get a drink?"

"Oh! Right. Her. She was pretty hot."

"Yeah, she was," Steve said quietly. "And you turned her down. You thought I wasn't even there and you turned her down."

Tony was confused. "Well, yeah, obviously. I mean, she had nothing on you. I told you Steve, I love you. I want you. I want us to be together, be dating, be boyfriends, be going steady, whatever the fuck you want to call it. You can pick, I don't care. Whatever you want." Tony wished he could come up with a better way of saying it, but he couldn't. His brain still wasn't quite right from the mind-blowing sex.

Steve looked down at their clasped hands between them, avoiding eye contact. "Remember when I got to Los Angeles? You told me you met a girl the night before."

Oh. Yeah, Tony remembered that. He didn't remember the girl's name, but he definitely remembered that really brief look of disappointment and hurt on Steve's face when he found out. "Steve, I was trying so hard to not be in love with you. It was, like, a way for me to prove to myself that it was just sex with us. It was stupid. I'm sorry."

Steve put his hand up to Tony's face, brushed his thumb over Tony's temple. "Yeah, it's okay. I mean, it's not like I had any right to be upset about it. It was supposed to be just sex with us."

"It never was, though," Tony admitted. "We fucked that up from the start."

Steve laughed. "Yeah, we really, really did." He tilted Tony's face up a little and leaned forward for a soft, lingering kiss.

And then Tony remembered something else. "Hey! What about that guy? The waiter from that Mexican restaurant or whatever? I turned him down and that was ages ago. How come we didn't have really awesome sex then?"

"You knew that if you wanted me, all you had to do was walk down to my bedroom," Steve said with a shrug. "I just figured you didn't want it. I wouldn't be able to handle you having one-night stands with girls if we were, you know, together or whatever. But then, like I said, you thought I was gone, not even in the casino. Clint and Nat weren't paying any attention whatsoever, Bruce was supposed to be gone too, so how would I have ever known? But I overheard your conversation and finally realized that maybe... Maybe I just have to trust you." Steve smiled. "Besides, I really needed to kiss you." He said, almost as an afterthought.

"For the record, all I really wanted was the sex. Everything else was foreplay."

Steve laughed. "Right. Well, at least if you start messing around with girls, I'll know. You can't lie."

Tony grinned. "This is true." His smile softened as he said, "I love you, Steve. You can trust me. I promise."

"I know," Steve said quietly. "I do. I was just scared. You know, it's different for me. I don't wanna get hurt or mess up with the team. Being in love makes me remember of Peggy and it hurts, you know? The thought of ever losing yo- "

"Hey, stop that." Tony said, narrowing his eyes. "You're not losing me, okay? And just so you know, I was scared too. You must know about my reputation, I was never a kind of guy who gets attached or in love. Did you know Pepper and Natasha gave me advice about us?" Tony laughed. "I don't know what the hell happened, but the sex wasn't enough."

That made Steve smile, eyes bright and wide. "Sorry for the hard time." He tried.

"I'm happy," Tony whispered. "For you know, how it ended. We're together.

"Me too," Steve also whispered, smiling now softly. He ran his fingers down Tony's cheek and neck, caressing lightly the skin. "I love you, you know that, Tony Stark?"

"Yeah. I always did, Mr. Rogers."