"Good morning, sir. Or should I say, good afternoon." Jarvis' fluent voice interrupted Tony trying to go back to sleep. As soon as Tony cracked an eyelid, Jarvis knew he was awake. Stupid smart artificial intelligence.
Tony looked over to his clock on the bedside table. "It's only just gone 12, not too late."
"Perhaps you should go to sleep earlier, sir. It would mean an earlier rise the next day."
"Perhaps I should stay up all night melting you down. Oh, the options life gives you." Tony muttered as he stretched in bed before lifting the cover back and getting out.
"Mr. Barton has prepared breakfast for you." Jarvis spoke, causing Tony to frown.
"Breakfast? I don't eat breakfast."
"He has prepared coffee for you sir, I thought 'breakfast' would be more appropriate."
Tony walked out of his door, still not fully awake, yet awake enough to notice the note on the floor. He picked it up and read it, before 'hm'ing and putting the note in his pyjamas bottoms pocket.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Clint said loudly in an overly-happy voice.
"Don't talk so loud on a morning. In fact, don't talk at all." Tony said as he slouched in the chair next to Clint in the kitchen, grasping the cup of coffee before him with both hands.
"What was that?" Clint nearly shouted.
"Fuck you, Barton." Tony mumbled before taking a sip of his coffee, sighing contently, and gulping down the rest of the cup. "Can I marry coffee?"
"That'd be a shorter marriage than Kim Kardashian. You'd run out of it within the hour."
"Suppose it'd make a good honeymoon."
Clint laughed as he stood up to get the pot of coffee. As he refilled Tony's cup, Tony noticed a note next to his hand.
"Hey James Bond! This note wasn't here two seconds ago, S.H.I.E.L.D. teaching you new tricks?"
"What you on about?" Clint pulled a puzzled face at Tony before sitting back down in his seat, leaving the coffee pot within Tony's grasp.
Tony pointed at the note without touching it. "This. It wasn't there, you moved, and it appeared. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Whatever." Tony accidentally-on-purpose elbowed Clint before picking up the note.
"What does it say?" Clint stage whispered as he tried to read the note over Tony's shoulder.
"Like you don't already know." Tony rolled his eyes. Again, he read the note, 'hm'ed, and put it in his pyjama bottoms pocket. "This is you messing around with me, isn't it?"
"I told you, it's not me." Clint glared at Tony. "Knowing you you're probably writing them to yourself. Anything to make everybody else thinks the ladies actually want you."
"Hey, the ladies do want me."
"Course, Stark, course." Clint grinned at him.
"You can't accept how much I'm wanted because you're not." Tony smiled at Clint, to which Clint stuck his tongue out at him. Tony poured the rest of the coffee into his cup and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the lab.
"Washing up!" Clint called behind him. "It's your day on the rota."
"Shit." Tony said softly. "If you do it, I'll pay you."
"I don't want your money. I want to watch you do something you've never done before." Tony could hear the glee in Clint's voice.
"You're a knob."
"You're a posh twat."
Tony walked into his lab, opened up the last folder he worked on, and became completely immersed in his work.
Tony didn't notice Steve had come in. When he did eventually look up from his work, Steve had made himself at home on the couch Tony had bought especially for him (but Tony didn't tell him that) and was drawing. Feeling Tony's gaze on him, Steve looked up and smiled.
Tony's stomach flipped.
'If anyone's writing these stupid notes, I hope it's Steve.' Tony thought as he wheeled his chair over to Steve's couch.
Before Tony bought the couch, Steve had come down to the lab every day to sit on a chair. Steve never said anything about it, but Tony could tell that it wasn't the comfiest thing to draw on. After Steve fell asleep sitting up three times, and always woke up with an aching neck, Tony decided to buy the couch. When Steve asked about it, Tony said he needed it to crash on when he was too tired to walk to his room. Tony likes to think Steve bought that, but they both know he didn't. Nevertheless, Steve had sat in it so often the cushions were sculptured around his body shape, and even when Steve had sat in it for days, Tony would sleep on the couch and be able to smell Steve's aftershave.
Tony Stark did not have a crush.
Tony Stark was in love.
With his best friend.
It still surprised people today, to compare how Steve and Tony were when they first met, to how they were now. Not a day went by without them talking, whether it be face-to-face, or through the S.H.I.E.L.D. earpieces, or even through Stark phones, when Steve remembered to take it out with him.
Slowly, Steve and Tony had realised that they didn't clash because they were completely different, they clashed because they were the same but different. It took everybody else longer to realise that, but by the time they did, the two were inseparable.
Tony knew he liked Steve when he first met him. Hell, Tony knew he liked Steve when he was 12 years old and staring up at the Captain America poster above his bed at night.
Truth be told, Tony had had a crush on Steve since he was a kid, and meeting him only made it worse. When Tony laid his hand on Steve's shoulder, whilst he was still wearing the outfit, Tony's feelings grew.
At first, Tony's feelings for Steve were just lust. That's all Tony had felt all his life, apart from Pepper. Lust was what he knew and what he knew better than anything else. Once Tony got to know Steve, got to see the man Steve Rogers behind the legend of Captain America, those feelings changed from lust, to love.
Of course, he hadn't told a soul. He'd take the secret to the grave.
He was in love with somebody who was from the 1940's. The 1940's were more against homosexuality than what the most religious people are today. From the stories his dad had told him, Tony figured out that if you were gay in the 1940's, and people found out about it, it was inevitable that you would be beaten up.
Tony had never had the conversation with Steve. As far as he knew, Steve could have been in charge of who beat up who.
"What are you drawing today?" Tony asked, encouraging the butterflies in his stomach as he moved his chair until he was sat in front of Steve.
Steve smiled shyly. "Tony, I'm not showing you."
"Show me."
"No."
"Show me."
"No."
"Please?"
Steve hesitated, then said "No."
"You, are a bad friend." Tony said as he wheeled over back to his work.
"I think that's unfair, just because I won't show you what's in my book?"
"Yes. You're in my house, in my lab, drawing on my couch. I'm sure there's some law somewhere stating it's illegal for you not to show me what you've drawn. I could hunt it down, or you could save that time and effort and show me the drawing." Tony turned away from his work to smile at Steve briefly, but turned back when Steve shook his head.
"Nice try Tony, but no."
"Eurgh. Get out."
"What?" Steve looked taken aback for a second, unsure of how to react.
"If you won't show me then get out. My lab, my rules."
Steve laughed at him. "Fine, I'll go. I'll go draw on the roof, the sky looks beautiful today."
"Ew, take all your art talk with you, I don't want to listen to that."
Steve laughed louder at Tony's childish behaviour. He walked over to Tony, pausing as he stood over him. Tony looked up at him, and for a second, he thought Steve was going to kiss him. Then Steve put his hand on Tony's shoulder, squeezed, and left the lab.
'Well,' Tony thought, 'that was better than nothing.'
Tony ran his hand through his hair then placed it on the table, accidentally knocking something on the floor in the process. He bent down to pick it up, stalling when he realised it was another note.
"Steve!" Tony shouted. "You're in on this too?"
Tony got no answer. Sighing, he unravelled the note, read it, and placed it in his pocket with the other two.
It was three minutes later when he 'hm'ed.
When Tony went back into the kitchen to get coffee, there was only Natasha in there, sitting on one of the chairs with her legs crossed.
"Do you sit like that when you're alone?" Tony enquired as he turned the coffee machine on.
"What?" Natasha didn't bother putting down her book to reply.
"Like a lady."
"No, when I'm home alone I sit with my legs wide apart and I slouch. Kind of like Clint does, but worse."
Tony imagined this for a moment. "Really?"
Natasha looked up from her book and raised her eyebrow.
"I'll take that as a no. You're a better liar than Clint, you should teach him how to do it." Tony nodded at her as the coffee machine beeped at him. Turning around to pour his coffee, Tony noticed a note on top of the machine that definitely wasn't there a moment before.
He turned round quickly and narrowed his eyes at Natasha. She looked just like she had when he walked in, she couldn't have put it there.
"Nat?"
Natasha sighed and looked at him. "What?"
"Do you know who's sending me these?" Tony picked up the note to show what he was talking about.
"How am I supposed to keep up with all the women you sleep with? I'm not Pepper."
"I haven't slept with a girl in months actually."
"That's not what you said this morning." Clint said as he strolled into the kitchen. Perching on the kitchen counter, he asked "When was the last time you got laid?"
"I'm not talking to you about my sex life."
"You know you want to."
"Again I repeat, you're only intrigued about mine because you're lacking one." Tony turned his back on Clint as he poured his coffee.
"Lacking what?" Steve asked as he came into the room.
"A sex life. We're just talking about the last time Tony got some." Clint said.
"Got some?"
"You know, got some." Clint emphasised the last two words as if they weren't spoken clearly before.
"I don't understand, got some what?" Steve asked frowning.
"Sex. Vagina. Penis. Whichever one he prefers, it depends what day it is."
"Oh. Okay. Erm. Anyway," Steve turned bright pink. He pointed back into the living room. "There's something on the television about animals, I'm going to go watch that."
"Just watch Tony having sex, he is an animal." Clint said with a straight face, something Tony gave him credit for.
"I'm, erm, okay. Thanks?" Steve turned and went off into the living room.
"Scaring off Steve, well done Barton."
"You're just horny and Steve's the finest piece of ass walking around here."
"Steve's the finest piece of ass walking around anywhere, you can't deny that." Tony said at the wrong moment, as Steve had heard his name and come back into the kitchen to catch Tony's words.
Nobody spoke for a moment before Tony said "What? We all know it's true. You're very good looking Steve."
Steve didn't say anything. He turned around and walked back into the kitchen.
"You want him. You wanna touch. You wanna kiss him…" Clint went around the kitchen singing as he looked for something to eat.
"You want Natasha so you can't talk."
"Can't want what you've already got." Clint said before a book hit him on the head.
"You saying you don't want me anymore?" Natasha asked as she walked over to Clint. Clint stayed where he was, unsure of what to say.
"I'll always want you?" Clint said with too much of a questioning tone. Tony left before Clint guilt tripped him into sticking up for him.
"You do not want to go in there." Tony said as he plonked himself down next to Steve on the living room couch. They weren't touching, but Tony's heart was racing. When Steve turned slightly so his body was angled towards Tony and the television, his name was leant against Tony's, which only increased Tony's heart rate.
"What are you watching?" Tony asked, trying to get his thought track on something other than how he could get closer to Steve.
"Programme on animals, I told you."
"I have every film and television show ready at the click of a button for you, and you're watching a documentary about animals?" Tony did not understand Steve right now.
"I like animals. I like to draw them later."
"Show me the drawing book."
"No."
"Fine. I'm putting something good on."
Tony decided to put on The Walking Dead. When they were halfway through the second episode, Clint and Natasha, both looking very happy, came in to watch it with them. Clint caught Tony's eye and winked at him, something which Tony pointedly ignored.
They were about to start season two when Bruce walked in. He sat on the couch next to Tony, meaning Tony had to move closer to Steve to make room, which made Tony become hyperaware of how much of his body was in contact with Steve's.
"Tony, I've been looking for you." Bruce asked in a quiet.
"What's wrong, my dear smart friend?" Tony turned to him and leaned on Steve's crossed arms to give Bruce his full attention. Steve looked at Tony.
"What? There's no room on this couch." Tony said innocently.
"I could move?" Steve suggested, beginning to get up to move onto the other couch, which had a lot of room on it.
"I was hinting at you actually, you've put weight on soldier. I told you to stop eating those French fries." Tony shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with the couch, it's you."
"That's not what you were saying earlier." Clint chirped up from the other couch.
"Shut up Clint. Bruce, what's wrong?"
"I found this in my lab coat. I think someone put it in the wrong coat, because this definitely was no written for me." Bruce handed Tony another note, which Tony covered over straight away.
"It's not rude, it's just…" Bruce searches for the right word to describe what he'd read. "Personal."
"They've all been like that." Tony muttered, turning over the scrunched up note in his hand.
"You've had more than one?" Bruce asked.
"I've got several." Tony pulled out the contents of his pocket to show Bruce the other four notes Tony had got throughout the day.
"Tony?" Bruce said gently.
"Yes?"
"Do you know what day it is?"
Tony thought momentarily. "Thursday. It's February, right?"
Bruce smiled slightly. "It's the 14th of February."
"So?"
"Do you know what the 14th of February is?"
Tony hesitated before he remembered. "Valentine's Day! Please don't tell me you believe that crap, it's just something the shops made up to get more money."
"Stop hating on Valentine's Day, it's a good excuse to get a blowjob." Clint said, which was followed by a slap from Natasha.
Bruce ignored him. "No, but obviously somebody else does."
"Guys, shush." Natasha told them. If Clint had done it, Tony would have spoken louder, but it was Natasha. If Tony was honest, he'd admit that Natasha scared him enough to make him do as she says.
They sat quietly as they watched the rest of The Walking Dead, talking only when they changed over onto season two. As it got later, Bruce went off to bed, and Natasha went half an hour later, who was closely, very closely, followed by Clint.
"I can't decide if she's going to kill him or treat him now." Tony said.
"She'll treat him. She doesn't show it, but she loves Clint talking about her like that." Steve said, still looking at the tv screen where a zombie had just got beheaded.
Tony looked at him. "Steve Rogers, I am appalled!"
Steve turned to face him. "What?"
"You never talk like that, not without going the shade of a tomato at the same time."
Steve rolled his eyes. "Shut up Tony, watch the zombies die."
They sat in silence for ten minutes, which, to Tony's surprise, Steve broke.
"Have you figured it out yet?"
Tony turned to face him, his brain figuring everything out as he looked at Steve's face.
"You… You got everybody to give me the notes?" Tony asked, bewildered.
"I wasn't sure how to do it until I spoke to Natasha. She told me everybody would help and I wanted to do something."
"Why?" Tony's voice shook with something that caused Steve to turn fully so he was facing Tony. They were both sat facing each other, The Walking Dead forgotten about.
"You don't realise it, but you are incredible Tony. I've never met anybody like you, and I know I never will again. You're unique. You're special. You're special to me."
"Why?" Tony asked again.
"Have you not read the notes?" Steve looked at him as if he was missing something.
Tony went through all the notes, reading them again to make sure he took it all in.
Because when I needed someone, you were there.
Because you're everything I've ever wanted, without realising I wanted it.
Because you've faced so many challenges, and continue to, and overcome all of them. You're an inspiration.
Because you've never stopped being who you are, despite all the chances you've had to hide away. You could have let go a long time ago, become somebody you're not to please somebody else, but you didn't. You stayed true to you.
Because you make all the bad memories seem worth it. Without the bad memories, I wouldn't be here today, and I wouldn't have met you. I'd take all the bad times again, a hundred times, as long as I met you at the end.
Tony looked back up at Steve, afraid to ask what he desperately wanted to know. "What are you explaining?"
"To say you're a genius, you're not that clever are you?" Steve asked as he leant forward, gently placing his lips upon Tony's. He moved back slightly, to whisper against Tony's lips "I love you. And I'm going to tell you why every single day, until you realise how much you mean to me. You mean everything Tony, and I refuse to let you believe otherwise."