Welcome!

I've been batting around this story for a while. I think I probably started it about a year ago and have been working on it on-and-off ever since. I'm not sure why I haven't started posting long before this, but I'm several chapters out ahead of myself now so I should be able to keep up on posting.

Not many Original Characters in this story, though I do pull characters from X-Men ...but that's Marvel Universe, so it's allowed, right? Right?! I wouldn't say you need to know a ton about the x-men to follow the story- I think I explain any important history characters mention.

So on with the show! Enjoy, and let me know what you think :)


Introduction

Everything was sleek lines, expansive, and most certainly expensive. It was aesthetically pleasing in some ways, sure, but it couldn't possibly all be necessary. This behemoth skyscraper was about flash, proving what the owner had.

"Stark," Steve sighed.

After paying the cab driver, he'd fetched his duffle bag from the trunk and then lingered upon stepping out onto the sidewalk in the sun. He craned his head back to fully take-in Stark Tower and it's repaired glory. The place had needed some fixes after Loki's staged invasion those months ago. Of course, Tony Stark was also making efforts towards the cleaning up of the rest of the city, which Steve could only respect. Iron Man was nothing if not for (most of) the people.

Iron Man was well and good; it was Tony Stark that Steve tended to have the trouble with on a day-to-day basis.

Though not so seriously as to skip visiting. Stark had seemed sincere in his invite that any of The Avengers were welcome at his tower- 'humble abode,' as he liked to try to call it. Steve had never been certain he would take the Billionaire up on that, but he'd been feeling an itch to get out of D.C.

Captain America, despite fame and positive acclaim, didn't have a lot of good pals to call up.

So, he'd found himself back in NYC.

Inside of the white-tiled lobby, there was a long glass desk, behind which sat a tall blonde woman and two dark men in suits. An inexplicable, yet not exactly unappealing, contemporary art piece stood as a tall statue behind the desk in the middle of the atrium, bordered by straight-angled chairs facing the elevator bank.

Unsure where exactly he was supposed to go in the massive building, he approached the streamline desk. The woman, with her high ponytail, watched him and waited expectantly as he approached, free hand pressed into the pocket of his brown leather jacket.

"Hi, I'm-"

"I know," the blonde beamed at him. "Mr. Stark is expecting you, so he's waiting upstairs- he's in his lab," she pointed a red-painted fingernail towards the elevators. "It's on level 56 just over there."

"Thank you, ma'am," he nodded and did as he was directed.

An elevator pinged open to accept him and slid swiftly upwards.

...

Upstairs, Captain Rogers' host was in his lab muttering under his breath.

"I can year you, so you might as well speak up," the woman in the room rolled her eyes.

"Well, ya know ...you're letting me down," he told her frankly, tossing his hands about. "You're supposed to be a whiz-kid, but -"

"I'm not a kid," the brunette protested.

"Well, whiz-woman just sounds stupid," he waved away her reasoning with childish logic of his own.

"You sound stupid"

Okay, so maybe the entire thing had devolved into rather childish bickering.

"Listen to us," Tony grumbled and raised his eyes towards the heavens -he'd clearly come to the same conclusion as her.

"Look," the young woman sighed, looking up from schematics before her in an attempt to start over. "I don't know what you're all pissy about. I helped you with cracking into S.H.I.E.L.D's network on their helicarrier-"

"For the record," Tony overrode her, holding up a finger for absolute silence so he would have a chance to clarify. "I did not need your help- JARVIS and I are a perfectly fine team. That was like testing your resume to decide if I was going to let you stay here or not..."

"You had already talked to Hank and agreed," the girl reminded him simply.

"I could have gone back on my word- Senators don't scare me," he informed her, carelessly tossing a small screw at her.

The screw was followed by a paperclip he had plucked off of her work table.

"Now you're just being annoying. What I'm saying is: are you sure we want to push our luck? If S.H.I.E.L.D is leaving you alone, can't you just let it be?" she reminded him of the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D was not prowling around trying to get him to do this or that with them at the moment.

"I don't let things go," he chirped. "That's not who I am ...I like to know things. I'll pick and poke until I find out -I thought you were supposed to be the same way? I mean, you were all for hacking that helicarrier," he used her example against her.

The brunette rolled her eyes and shifted in her seat. He wasn't completely unaware of her nature, curious even if just for the sake of being curious.

"I'd prefer to lay low," she told him. "It's sort of why I came here."

"You came to New York City to work in the city's newest, high-profile building to lay low? No," Tony smirked. "Maybe for a change of scenery, but not to lay low. Have some fun!"

"I -fun," she scoffed. "I'm perfectly capable of having fun."

"Do you go out?" Tony wondered aloud, clasping his hands behind his back so he could rock on the balls of his feet.

"Sometimes"

"Where?"

"...wherever I want, dad."

"Ah, so you go after my age," he nodded sagely, knowing this meant the argument was over because she was out of prime logic. "...this is gonna happen," he shrugged, nodding more to himself than to his befuddled friend. "We're going to have this fun."

He nodded again, perfectly confident, and waltzed away, across the lab and down the side hall that lead to the break room and bathrooms.

"Fun is a subjective term," she called after him not so loudly.

She was not fully convicted either way on the topic at the moment. She wasn't looking for trouble, but Tony also wanted to know some very interesting things. Either way, she had learned from observing Ms. Potts that it was sometimes beneficial to play devil's advocate with Tony Stark, if only to get him debating with himself and actually think about his ideas.

...

Fifty-six floors seemed to fly by awfully fast, for Steve was soon stepping out into Stark's personal lab. High tables dotted the floor with chairs and stools here and there; they were filled with tools and equipment that he could not begin to guess at the purpose of. Computer screens hung from the ceiling at about chest-level, some blank and others with numbers and diagrams he didn't bother looking too closely at.

His eyes instead scanned the space for Stark himself, yet the only person he saw was a brunette woman perched on a stool, eyes focused forward at one of the wide data screens.

"Um-"

"Cap!"

Tony had rounded a corner from around the elevators, looking cheerfully aloof as ever. A smile creased his face, and he clapped Steve on the shoulder in a good-natured and welcoming way.

"Trip alright?"

"Sure; didn't kill me"

"Once the air pad is finished, next time you can fly right to me- no need for commercial flights and cabs," he waved away the need for such frivolous time-suckers.

"It was fine," Steve chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm sure you flew Coach -don't tell me," the man held his hand up to stop any story the other man might want to tell. "Kat! Get up and come say hello!"

Steve's attention was forced back to the woman on the stool, who looked up now that she was addressed.

"Never heard of manners, Stark?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Not likely," the woman snorted.

"Stop," Tony pointed a finger at her as he lead his fellow Avenger into the lab. "You already know my friend here," he gestured to Steve. "Captain, this is Katherine Pryde."

"Nice to meet you," she did slide of her stool, then, and covered the remaining distance to offer her hand. "Call me Katie."

"Steve," he had the manners to introduce himself properly, and more humbly, than the billionaire. "Pleasure's mine, Katie."

He enveloped her hand with his own larger one, shaking firmly before placing his hands back into his pockets. He was pretty sure there was little in this room he ought to actually touch.

"She's my newest acquisition," Tony smiled proudly, which seemed awfully odd ...not to mention rude. "A toy I haven't tired of ...yet. I'm sure your time will come."

"...where's Pepper. She can control you," Katie muttered. "I just moved here a couple months ago to work for Stark Industries for a while..."

"Forever," Tony butted in, voice chipper.

"We have a mutual friend"

"My condolences," Steve nodded.

She grinned and pulled her long cardigan a little further around her shoulders. As she wasn't the one Rogers had come to visit, she retreated from the pair and sat back on the stool she had vacated. Her hands tapped away on the screen before her, something Steve still found strange to see sometimes. He certainly didn't consider himself caught up on technology.

"She's here from Westchester ...Xavier Institute," Tony turned his full attention back to Steve with a keen look

"Okay," Steve supposed maybe this was a college.

"...wanna know what that is?"

"...no," he decided.

"You don't want to know anything about her?" Tony glowered.

"I don't think it's polite to talk about someone who's only feet away," Steve leveled at the other man, incredulity in his voice.

"Thank you," Katie called over, flashing a thumbs up in their direction.

"Kill joy. I'll show you your room then- top few floors just above us are a gym and living quarters. You'll love it," he changed topics and lead the Captain back to the elevator so they could continue to ascend higher.

Once the men were gone, Katherine Pryde smiled to herself.

Tony was exhausting at times, but she found she often enjoyed his energy. He sometimes said stupid things and could be mildly insensitive, but she had never gotten the feeling that he was actually trying to be brutal or hurtful. He seemed like a good guy, and Hank has vouched for him, so she was happy to be there.

She twitched in surprise as her pocket vibrated, and she dug out her phone to check the call. It was from the school, where she'd long lived and taught, so she hesitated and stared long at the lit screen. It was a short war within her. Part of her wanted to pick up and see who was calling...it was her home, after all. She'd done most of her real growing up there, found acceptance there, and learned to respect herself ...

Home.

On the other hand, part of her had come to fear the kinds of calls that could come from the school and the kind of news she might receive.

The part of her that was nervous about answering and hearing whoever was on the other end won out. If it was important, they would leave a voicemail- she promised herself that she'd listen if a message was left. That was the best she could do today


"Thanks for having me," Steve thanked the other man once they were in the elevator and no longer distracted.

"Course," Tony shrugged. "Told you I had plenty of room. Renovations are done and hardly broken in."

"I'm sure they're exquisite," Steve grinned truthfully.

He imagined the living quarters Tony spoke of would be complete apartments, fully stocked and lavishly furnished. More than he'll ever actually need, in other words. He had his own apartment in D.C., but it was quite simple. It had what he needed and nothing more; he couldn't imagine that anything in Tony's life was that way. Practical, he was sure, had not been on the playboy's mind when he built the place.

"Pepper toned down some of my decorating wishes, but you'll want for nothing," Tony nodded proudly and spread his arm grandly when the elevator doors hissed open again. "Welcome home."

Steve ignored the clear implication that Tony believed that he'd never want to leave this apartment once he stepped foot inside.

He was greeted by a spacious living room filled with stylish, deep blue furniture before floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan. A fireplace separated the sitting room from a full dinning area and small, granite-countered kitchen. Past the dining area, Steve could see there was a balcony, but Tony lead him down a dim hallway. Lights came on the further they walked, guiding them to the sprawling bedroom and connected master bath.

"Wanna get comfy now, Cap?" Tony allowed him to move forward into the room ahead of him. "Or wanna head out on the town ...dinner's on me."

"Let's do dinner," Steve agreed and dropped his bag inside the door.

He could see the bed and small couch here were plush as expected. It was beautiful and, of course, much appreciated, but ...it also made Steve feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"JARVIS, notify the necessary staff that I'm leaving," Tony spoke aloud as he lead Steve once more to the elevator bay.

'Certainly, sir'

Steve stopped and looked around, for he had not been aware of anyone else on the floor.

"Computer system," Tony informed him, seeing the problem immediately. "He's installed throughout the building, used on the private levels of the Tower. It's programmed to know you, take orders, answer questions ...he'll help you out in a pinch. JARVIS, say hello to Captain America."

'A pleasure, Mr. Rogers'

"Hi," Steve answered to no one, thoroughly wrong-footed.

Tony didn't seem at all bothered.

"So, when was the last time you were in New York? You know, besides the time we were saving the world," Tony asked in the elevator.

"This is where I woke up," Steve told him, leaning against the metal wall. "S.H.I.E.L.D thought it might help ...ya know, being back where I came form, but so much has changed. Didn't really help at all..."

Tony sighed uncomfortably. That wasn't really the turn he'd hoped the conversation would take; he'd hoped they'd have a perfectly fine night out- he planned to get Steve something that would make him rue the days of bland military rations he'd once had to live with.

"Well," he straightened himself proudly. "I'll show you today's New York. It's not so bad."

"Sounds good," Steve smiled with forced fondness. "We can have dinner later if I came in the middle of something, though."

He remembered suddenly that Tony had been in his lab, perhaps working on something important. Steve was not much of a fan of the billionaire's conceit, but he couldn't deny that the other man could clearly do amazing work.

"I own this place; anything can wait for me."

Though immodestly stated, Steve didn't doubt this.

"No one can stop me, and Kat can handle what we were looking at ...smart girl," Tony conceded. "Computer wiz ...kind of quiet lately, though..."

"You really want me to ask about her, don't you?" Steve raised a perplexed eyebrow.

"Yes, I do"

"...does Ms. Potts know how interested you are in her?"

"My interest is more intellectual than personal ...mind in the gutter much, Stars and Stripes? You need a girlfriend? You can buy those in New York..."

"Absolutely not," Steve scowled.

Tony chortled gleefully.

"Alright ...because, if we're honest, you wouldn't have to pay for it. Captain America and all ..."

"Is that what you do with your name?" Steve crossed his arms over his chest in disapproval.

The solider was back to stoic, unamused face. Tony just didn't have an easy time winning with this guy.

"I'm locked down," he shrugged inconsequentially. "If I was single ...I'd mingle. In the absence of that, I'll live vicariously through you."

Eyes rolling up to the ceiling, Steve shook his head minutely.

"Maybe I was better off in D.C..."

"No, no, you'll enjoy your visit ...time away from Patches will loosen you up. I think I'll need to prescribe you regular visits so you don't go permanently frigid out there..." he considered.

"You as a doctor is a scary thought..."