Tony thinks that Steve doesn't really care for him. Steve proves him wrong.
"Tony, you have been in there for more than 2 days. You haven't seen the sunlight since then." Tony can hear Steve's voice over the intercom as he finished welding a new addition to his suit.
"Dum-E, can you please let the good Captain in. Just so he stops whining." He hears the robot whiz towards the automated door and unlock it ala R2-D2. Tony thought it would be hilarious to let Dum-E pretends he is the famous bot. He even thinks R2-D2 is his pet's idol.
"Tony, you know you are not a robot, right? You need to eat and sleep like all living things do. Please don't make us worry about you more than we should. It would affect the team's effectiveness on the field if you become a liability." Captain Know-it-All is spewing the same non-sense that Tony gets every 3 days or so, depending on how many hours he spends in his lab.
"Look, Cap. My tower, my rules. I sleep when I want, I eat when I feel hungry. And excuse you, when did I become a liability?" The playboy-billionaire-philanthropist continues to tinker with the arm of his Iron Man suit while paying no mind to the big bulk of the super soldier on his right.
"I get that you are all Captain and leader of the Avengers, but as long as we're off the field, can you please, please, please, let me play with my toys? I mean, it's not like I am dying or something." Tony stops, and looks Steve straight in the eyes, showing that he means every word.
"I work because I need to, okay? You all hid my liquor stash, and for some reason, you all corrupted Friday so she won't buy me some. So, this is the least you can do for me, Captain." Steve can almost hear the eye-roll that ends his rant. The Avengers all agreed to throw out or hide all alcoholic beverages in the tower after they saw Tony drowning in his own vomit and tears. The break-up with Pepper has been tough on Tony, and "losing" Jarvis to Vision also didn't help. Steve's heart broke every time he looks at Howard's son and the man that he is becoming. As Tony's friend, he would not let him do this to himself.
"Sir, if I may interrupt. It was you who programmed me to exterminate and disregard all your requests of alcoholic purchases. I believe it was on the night of the Avengers Gala, when you saw the Cap—"
"That's enough, Friday. Thank you." The voice of Tony echoed throughout the lab that even Dum-E and You rolled under the desk. Steve looked at the inventor and saw a man who thinks his whole world fell apart. It has been 8 months since that day, and he looks like he just saw Pepper in the arms of another man just yesterday.
"Look, Tony. We are all your friends. We all care about you and your well-being. I know it has been a tough year, not just for you, but for all of us. We are all family here. Let us help you." The super soldier placed his hand on Tony's shoulder and felt the warmth seep through his cotton t-shirt that hasn't been replaced for 2 days.
"You know your way out, Cap. Ping me when we have a mission." Tony softly shrugged Steve's hand off his shoulder and continued with his work.
"You don't really care about me. Because if you do, you'd know that I am not like this because of Pepper. You'd know that this is because of you and these fucking feelings I shouldn't even feel." Tony scoffs as he heard the automatic door close before he let out the deepest sigh of the week.
He didn't realize he was crying until he saw that his armor is now wet with tears. He wipes them off and orders You to put in his favorite Celine Dion album into his stereo. The loud music drowned out the mild shuffling in his air vents.
Bucky is cooking breakfast when Steve entered the communal kitchen. If the 5 plates of 10-stack pancakes aren't enough proof, it means Thor is in the tower. Steve smiled at Bucky and went to the sink to wash his hands and start frying bacon.
"So, Stevie. How's Stark? I heard you tried prying his hands of his suit last night?" The former assassin is flipping two pans with pancakes effortlessly as he glanced at his best friend. The slight frown on the blonde's forehead increased when Bucky did not look away until he answered.
"I don't get it, Buck. I try so hard to show him that we care and that we are all here for him, but it seems like he doesn't see it at all. We bring him food, we ask him to join movie night. He joins, sometimes, but you know that he isn't the same Tony we knew 8 months ago. The Tony who laughs at every joke, the Iron Man who is flying in to save the day, not try to kill himself every other mission. I just," Steve sighs as he fills the plate with bacon, "want him to be back to the way he is."
Steve was so focused on his monologue that he didn't notice that Natasha, Clint, and Wanda are already sitting on the high stools of their breakfast counter.
"You know, Steve, Tony knows. He knows that we are all here for him. He knows that we leave sandwiches and Chinese take-outs for him to eat whenever he prefers. He knows that we know he's not really watching the movie during movie nights. It's just the way it is." Steve turned to Natasha as she spoke, carefully lowering his shoulders that shook up due to shock.
"But Tony thinks that you only check up on him because you are the Captain, you are the leader. That it is your responsibility to keep everybody in check. He thinks that you feel he is not worthy to be in the Avengers. I know, because I heard him talking to Friday last week. Here. In the kitchen, when I was to get a glass of milk before bed." Wanda spoke with a sad tone to her voice.
Steve is astounded. He could not believe what he was hearing. He has been trying his hardest to make Tony see, and feel, how he felt. That he truly, deeply cares for him. That he loves him more than a friend should have.
"I have some input in this matter," Clint suddenly walks into the kitchen, as if he knows his timing very well, "I heard about your small visit session you had with him last night. Well, let's just say you didn't hear his ending rants."
FLASHBACK – Last night, after Steve leaves the lab
Clint is travelling through the air-vents because Natasha played a prank on him again. She took out all of his door knobs and replaced them with bolts. Like seriously, how did she do all of that while he was in the shower, for like 5 minutes! He had no other choice but to go through the air-vents. He was about to drop into the vent directly below his walk-in closet when he heard some loud noise, well, music to be exact.
The archer followed the music because nobody, as in nobody plays Celine Dion in this tower except for Clint himself. He has to know because if it is Wilson or Barnes, because he'd never stop laughing. As he went deeper into the web of vents, he noticed that he is 3 floors higher, Tony's floor, and as he rounded up the corner, he saw a neon sign.
Turn back, Hawk. I mean it. -Tony
As if signs like this ever held Clint Barton back. He went on crawling into the cold vents, in his boxers, and closer to the stereo belting out "All by Myself".
"Care for me? HAH. Who are you kidding, Captain Steven Rogers. How dare you say that to my face after that statement 3 months ago. HOW DARE YOU. You think all of this is because of Pepper? NO. Pepper and I are friends already, but then you don't know that, BECAUSE YOU NEVER REALLY CARED. You just cared about the team," Clint heard a crash, or something breaking, "but not me. Not Tony. Just, " CRASH, "the", another CRASH, "team." Clint kept on crawling to see what Tony's crashing, because if he is hurting himself, the Hawk would gladly swing down in his X-Men boxers to punch the living daylights out of his friend.
"No. You don't really care, Captain Perfect. After you told Barnes that I am just like all the other bullies, that I am selfish, obnoxious, and, and what did you call me? Oh right, a DIVA. You called me a diva? For what? For snapping at the waitress who kept on hitting on you? WHY?! Is it wrong to be mad at people who hit on the person you like? URGH." Clint finally sees what Tony has been doing. He's throwing PLATES and TELEVISION SETS on Captain America's real-life standee that is superglued to the wall.
But wait, what? Tony likes Steve? Stark? Likes the Captain? Clint has got to be hearing things wrong, because – well because that's Tony. And he doesn't like Cap. So, he listens more as Tony takes 4 small knives and continuously throw them at cardboard Steve's genitals.
"I like you, Captain Labrador! How can you not see that? Well, of course, you are too busy ogling Sharon Carter to notice that I, Tony Stark, has been pining for 8 months now. How can I compete with Aunt Peggy's niece whose all blonde hair, nice boobs, and a pretty face! WHY? I HAVE A PRETTY FACE TOO, AND A NICE ASS! ARGHHHHHHHH." The final blow was a repulsor laser into the Captain's neck, severing his cardboard head.
Clint has been frozen in the vents for a while now and could not believe what he just heard. Tony Stark is pining over Steve Rogers, and the Captain doesn't know it? What's more surprising is that nobody knows it.
Hawkeye starts crawling backwards because he knows that the Avengers should have a meeting about this. The last he hears of Tony is him singing along to Celine Dion's "Beauty and the Beast".
PRESENT DAY – Breakfast
"And that's the whole thing. It's up to you, Cap. What do you want to do with the info." Clint shrugged his shoulders, and as he looked up from his pancakes, he saw all the open mouths and shocked faces of the Captain, Bucky, Nat, Wanda, and Bruce (whose coffee mug is frozen in the air). He knows his information is new to all because even Thor and Vision who are attacking their own plates seem to have a hard time absorbing the fact that their two leaders seem to have a budding romance.
"You are interested in Sharon Carter?"
"Clint, you climbed through the vents in your boxers?"
"Who is this Captain Labrador that our friend, Tony, is speaking of?"
"Tony likes Celine Dion?"
"You called Tony a diva?!"
Everybody was talking at the same time, but what made them all stop was Vision's take-away from the whole thing.
"It seems that the Captain and Mr. Stark are in love with each other, don't you think Wanda? The story is similar to those movies you had me watch." Vision is just looking into Wanda's direction, while the latter is astonished at the fact that Tony likes Celine Dion.
5 seconds of silence went by before Steve realized what he has to do.
"All by myself, don't wanna be, all by myself anymoooo-" Tony is singing to himself as he worked upgrades on Dum-E when he heard his lab door burst open. Friday must have intervened, again. This is the reason why he misses Jarvis, Jarvis always has his back.
"Anthony Edward Stark. I have something to say to you." The engineer quickly turned because he was called by his full name. Who does that? Only the Captain, either when he is angry, or he is playing around. By the look on his face, it is the former.
"To what do I the visit, my dear Captain Underpants?" Sarcasm seeped through his words as he removed his work goggles and gloves.
Tony stared at the super soldier and waited for him to speak. But he didn't.
"Okay, you are wasting my time. Dum-E and You need their upgra - hmmmph." Tony wasn't even done speaking when warm lips pressed into his. Soft, plump, lips of Steve Rogers are on his. THEY ARE KISSING. OH MY. He has to kiss back. Tony is so grateful to the God above that he recently took a bath and brushed his teeth before going back to work, because if not, well that would be embarrassing.
"Tony. I am sorry I have been an oblivious fool, but I want you to know that I love you. So much. And -," Steve could not finish his confession because Tony's hazel eyes are staring up to his blue orbs, and he just can't stop himself from nuzzling the man.
Tony, on the other hand, is too shocked to what has happened and could not function very well. He just recently made out with the hottest 90-year-old super soldier (shut up Barnes, Steve is way hotter than you and you know it), and Tony has no idea what brought this on.
"I wasted 8 months of what could have been happy times for us. And I am really sorry for calling you, uhm, a diva that time. I wasn't really paying attention to the waitress, it's just, you were rude to her, and," Steve noticed Tony's right eyebrow slowly rise so he changed the course of his statement, "and, for everyone's information, yes, including you all from the other side of the glass windows," Tony turned his head to see all the Avengers standing so close to the window that they are fogging it up, "I am not interested in Sharon Carter, in fact, I have just talked to her and she said she would really like to go on a date with Buck," Bucky's eyes went wide as saucers and his cheeks went red that Tony tried hard not to laugh because the woman in question was his rival for Steve's heart 5 seconds ago, "and that I, Steven Grant Rogers, is hopelessly in-love with the oblivious Anthony Edward Stark. There, I said it. You don't have to belt out "All by Myself" anymore, because you'll have me, if you want me that is.
Tony was speechless again. Nobody makes Tony Stark speechless except this man. He has no words at all so he just kissed the man in front of him, for the nth time. When he had his fill of kisses, and was supposed to start his own heart-felt confession when he saw Clint from the other side of the window.
"Wait a minute, how did you know I was belting out Celine Dion?" Everybody laughed, and Tony knows that their resident Hawk has got to be the culprit.
Tony hugged his real-life version of his Captain America plushy when he was a kid, and whispered, "It took you long enough. I know you couldn't resist my charm." Steve squeezed back and kissed Tony's forehead.
Obliviousness can really be a gift sometimes. But let's not forget the divine intervention of the Hawk.