Ch.1

Tony barely made it up the stairs. He had left a trail of his iron man suit behind him as he slowly tore it off piece by piece. The repairman that passed him on the stairs almost killed himself tripping on the pieces.

"Sorry." Tony said. The repairman didn't look back.

They had just saved New York from yet another alien invasion. But this time it took them a good three days.

Tony collapsed on the couch in his undergarments.

"Jarvis, order pizza. Where's Steve? He usually doesn't want pizza. Jarvis, ask him what he wants and get it for him. Lord knows how much food that dude needs right now."

"Sir, Captain Rogers is not in the Tower."

"That's weird."

The whole team said they were on their way to the Tower after they visited first aid, and Steve had left before they did. He should be here by now.

"Maybe he stopped to pick up something for himself."

The team arrived shortly after and sat in Stark Tower in silence as they successfully ate 10 whole pies. Thor ate half of that on his own and he wasn't done.

This was their usual ritual after large battles like this. They ate, they rested, they watched tv. It was great for recuperation and team bonding. They had truly become a family in the past few months. None of them would admit it, but they all silently agreed that they loved being together. You really learn a lot about somebody after you've been to war with them. A person's true character comes out when they are faced with death. Needless to say, they all knew just about everything about each other. There were no real secrets to be kept.

A few hours later, they all sprawled out in the living room as Tony put Star Wars (their favorite movies) in. About 20 minutes later everyone fell asleep.

Tony awoke at the sound of footsteps creeping in the hallway. They were silent and slow. Tony's heart raced. Its an intruder he thought to himself. It was dark inside the house but he could clearly see the hunched figure walk by.

It was Steve.

"Cap. You scared me. I thought you were another alien coming after us.", Tony laughed. "Want some food? We've still got some left. I had to hide the last of it from Thor though."

Steve shook his head and kept walking to his room. Tony heard the lock turn.

"Ok, that was weird." Tony said to himself. He resumed watching the movie and promptly fell asleep like the others.

Tony woke up from the same position he fell asleep in. The Star Wars title page was on the screen and light was peeking in through the blinds.. He looked around and found that no one else had stirred. He stood up slowly and stretched his sore limbs. It felt like he had been hit by a bus. Well, actually he had. Or rather, the bus had been hit by him.

He heard the kitchen sink running and found Steve washing his dishes. It looked like he had just finished breakfast.

"Hey there," Tony said as cheerfully as he could, despite the fact that it was 7am and he was NOT a morning person.

Steve didn't look at Tony. "Hey."

"Where were you last night?"

"Huh?"

"Where were you? I mean we have a ritual. Every time we save the world from impending doom, we meet back here for food."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You still didn't answer my question."

Steve turned off the water and grabbed a towel and started drying. He turned to face Tony.

Tony swore he saw bags under his eyes. He didn't look right.

Steve finally answered, "The chief wanted to talk to me about some things."

"The chief wanted to talk to you about some things? For four hours? After you had been fighting for 3 days?"

Steve shifted, "It wasn't four hours."

"Umm yeah it was big guy. We got home at 7, you didn't roll around til after 11."

"Oh… well I guess time got away. Anyway, I have to go."

Steve turned to grab his coat, but Tony wouldn't let it go.

"Have to go where?"

"I have things to do Tony, believe it or not."

"You were out all night, now you have things to do first thing in the morning? Steve, you don't look so good, you need to slow down. Your body needs to recuperate after such a grueling experience."

"I know what my body needs, Tony. You sound like my mother."

"Well sorry for caring about you. I thought that was what friends did for each other."

Steve didn't respond, but marched out of the room.

Tony was angry. Why was Steve being so weird all of a sudden. He was always the one to be the 'mother' of the group. He always was telling people to rest and to allow time to rest after battles such a these. But today, their places had been reversed.

He decided not to be bothered by the issue any further. After all, this was not the first time he butted heads with Steve and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

He went to his room and fell asleep… Like Steve should have been doing.