Author's Note: This is going to have another chapter. I just wanted to split it into a couple parts so it wasn't such a long read. It's a blend of the comic and the movie versions of the characters. Thanks to my Lex for catching my spelling mistakes xD

"Steve."

"Steve."

"Steve."

Tony sighed, utterly and entirely unimpressed when all his resident man-out-of-time did was roll over, rumpled blond bangs falling over his eyes. When was the last time he got a damn haircut, Tony wondered. He knew they'd been busy but really, that was no excuse to look so unkempt, Tony wasn't going to let him out of the mansion like that. For that matter though, when was the last time Steve had slept this soundly? He must have known Tony needed him and got tired on purpose. Well, that was too damn bad. Tony needed him and he needed him now.

So he leaned over the bed, and cleared his throat. "Hey, Cap!"

"Wha-!" Wham.

Tony's usual lack of foresight was suitably punished when Steve sat up so fast he cracked their foreheads together with enough force where Tony was sure the rest of the mansion heard it.

"Damn, hell, shit. Even your head has super strength, did you know that, you should be less, damn, I don't know, solid."

Steve, clueless sleepy Steve, was all confusion and concern, asking Tony what was the matter, if he was okay, and all the other genuine little things that only Captain America could say without sounding like a total condescending asshole.

Twenty minutes later saw them both in the kitchen with a cup of coffee each, and in Tony's case, an icepack. Tony grimaced as he shifted the ice and saw the telltale signs of grounds in his cup. Steve hadn't updated his tastes from that lethal, capable of engine-degreasing strong coffee from the frontlines. Tony never should have let him bring that percolator into the place, but the damn thing made Steve so friggin' happy, even if the tar coloured brew that resulted could barely be considered coffee in Tony's world.

Steve took a contented sip from his cup, so Tony took a quick swig of his own and tried not to imagine it burning a hole through his stomach lining.

"Are you going to tell me why you woke me up tonight? I don't think it was for me to make you a drink."

"You got that right, honestly, if it wasn't for the whole serum and healing thing, I think you would, let's face it, be dead from drinking this stuff. I think the fumes melted my last tablet's interface when I brought it into the kitchen."

"Tony."

"Okay, okay, don't give me that look, are you always this serious? Wait, don't answer that, I know the answer. Just, give me a minute; I think I deserve a little slack after you tried to knock me out cold."

He took another gulp of his life-span-shortening drink and put down the icepack, tentatively prodding the tender spot on his forehead.

"I need you to teach me how to be a gentleman. No, act like a gentleman. No, act like a convincing gentleman."

Steve looked momentarily puzzled, and made a vague gesture with his empty cup. "Ah, I'm sure that the modern concept of a gentleman is different from the 1940's version-"

"No, no no." Tony was quick to cut the other man off. "You see, when girls say that they want a gentleman, the 1940's version is exactly what they want. The chivalry, the ma'ams, the let-me-take-your-coat, all of it. If they could somehow make the evening in black and white it'd be absolutely damn perfect for them."

"While that may be so, the next question Tony would be why?"

Tony tapped his fingers erratically on the counter top, and pushed his almost full cup across to Steve, figuring that he'd appreciate it, because there was no way in hell Tony was touching it again. He was positive that a spoon would dissolve in it at this point.

"It's Pepper," he finally said, smacking the icepack back onto his head, "and it's the function we're going to next week. Pepper said that yeah, Tony Stark is great, but this is big and important and could I please be a gentleman for just this one time. 'Cause according to Pep, gentleman and charming are two way different things."

"Alright. Should we start now?"

There were times when Tony couldn't believe that there was someone in this world with the amount of patience that Steve had. Clint would have shot him in the foot for waking him up for any reason, Bruce would go back to sleep, and there was no way Tony would even risk trying this out on Natasha.

"Start now? Are you kidding me? It's two in the morning and I feel like I tried to break down a brick wall with my head. I'll get you after I've had a decent sleep and then we can start. Honestly Cap, give a guy a break."

Tony took off down the hall, grinning at the last look he'd gotten of Steve's face, which was a cross between bemusement and annoyance. Sometimes he just couldn't help teasing the star spangled man. It was too easy.