Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Steve returned from his everyday jogging in Central Park to Stark Towers. In the penthouse the smell of coffee greeted him. He walked into the kitchen to find Peter before a big bowl of cereal. Steve poured himself some coffee. "Where is everybody?" he asked. Peter stopped the spoonful of his sugary breakfast on the way to his mouth. "MJ´s at a casting, Jarvis and May have gone out to shop for groceries, don´t know where Luke or Jessica went, don´t care for where Logan went, Tony´s in the-" "basement." Steve finished the sentence for him.
Tony had told him all about a new development in the S.K.I.N technology yesterday and he had gotten this "kid before christmas"-beaming smile. To Steve it had been little more than technobabble, but Tony was happy and that was all that mattered.
Steve poured another cup of coffee.
"Greet the mayor of Tinkertown for me, will ya?" said Peter before continuing to munch on his cereal.
Steve found Tony working on the upper half of an Ironman armor. Tony turned around to him and his face brightened. "Steve, what brings you here?"
"Maybe this" Steve said and offered Tony the steaming cup of coffee. Tony´s expression became soft and he started to smile.
"Thank you." he said. Steve felt warmth spreading through him at this sight. Tony put the tools away and his fingers brushed Steve´s when he took the cup.
While Tony devoted his attention to the coffee cup, Steve looked around the workshop. A little robot rolled up to him and beeped cheerily.
Tony chuckled. "Steve, that´s Dummy. Dummy - Steve"
"Nice to meet you, Dummy" The robot beeped.
"Is there are particular reason why this one is equipped with a fire exstinguisher?" Steve asked mildly concerned. "I gave him that when I started to build the jet boots - just as a last resort-" he quickly assured Steve, "and now I can´t convince him to do anything else but to follow me around and wait for an opportunity to use it."
"Did he ever had to use it?" Steve asked, only mildy confused why he was adressing a machine as a "he".
"The problem is that Dummy doesn´t need to use it," began Tony, "he just does it whenever he feels like it."
Steve needed a minute to absorb that. Whenever he felt like it? Dummy beeped again. Steve told himself that the robot did just not understood what he had said.
"Do you want to go upstairs and keep Pete some company? Everyone else has gone out."
"I don´t know, I´m sure he can amuse himself with the new X-Station Cube" Tony answered. He looked longingly at the armor.
"Or do you want to go upstairs and keep me company?" Steve offered with a grin.
"Definetely!" Tony pulled Steve into the direction of the elevator when he paused. He turned around: "You keep an eye on the things here, Dummy, ok?" The robot beeped. Tony grinned and took Steve´s hand. "Come on!"
Tony might be a superhero, billionaire, CEO and maybe a little weird sometimes, but Steve wouldn´t have it any other way.