Tony was in his workshop, trying to concentrate on the newest update he was making for the StarkPad, but he couldn't keep his mind off the video recording he had watched just a few minutes ago. He knew that he couldn't keep avoiding the subject any longer and the time to confront it head on was coming closer, whether he was ready or not.

Over the last few days he had seen on various recordings from around the tower that their team mates, as well as Pepper, had obviously deemed it necessary to have The Talk with Steve. Not that he had actually listened in, because that would have been a horrible invasion of privacy (and he may be prepared for this to happen, but that didn't mean he was actually ready to hear what they had to say about him to Steve).

Those talks didn't last very long, but they usually ended with Steve being patted on the back by the other person and being left alone, probably to think about what they had said. And Tony knew what they told Steve, without needing to hear it. So it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened and Steve came to the only logical conclusion of those talks. The only question was if Tony should wait for Steve to realise it on his own or if he should make it easier on him and tell him he understood and he had expected this all along. Then he could discreetly put some distance between them and go and lick his wounds in private.

But even though the second option would probably be the wisest decision, Tony had not yet been ready to give up so easily.

At least until he saw today's recording of Natasha's talk with Steve.

When she had finally walked away after what seemed like the most torturous five minutes of Steve's life, the super soldier had looked like he wanted to crawl under the kitchen table and hide and maybe do something undignified like cry. But then he had visibly steeled himself, straightened his body in determination and left the kitchen. Tony hadn't bothered to look where Steve was going and see what he would do, too agitated by what he had seen.

There was no way that Steve would continue their budding relationship after The Talk with Natasha.

Natasha knew things about him that most didn't have a clue about. Things about the time when he had been at his lowest, and he should have anticipated that she would tell Steve all about it and warn him that it could probably happen again, at any time.

But she couldn't possibly know that Tony was trying. He was trying to fit in into this pile of people he had once considered as a bunch of crazy lunatics and were now not only his colleagues and friends, but also made Tony think of them as some kind of strange family (though he still had trouble admitting that to himself).

He was trying to do his best while in the suit and prove himself as an invaluable asset to the team. Admittedly, he was still not good at listening to orders when he knew that his own plan was better or more efficient, but he was making a big effort to communicate with the others anyway and start relying on them for their support (which was still scaring him sometimes, because relying on someone to catch you when you fall had never ended well for Tony in the past).

And most importantly, he was really trying to make his relationship with Steve work. He didn't just want a warm body for a night or a short distraction from every-day-life. This meant more. Even more than his previous (and failed) attempt at a relationship with Pepper. After they had ended it on a more or less mutual decision, Tony had been sure that he would never again try for a long-lasting relationship again. After all, if he couldn't make it work with Pepper then he couldn't imagine anyone else being able to deal with him for long periods of time either.

Of course Steve had to choose that time to appear in the tower after his little road trip across the country and ask if there was also a place for him to stay. He also apologised for their spat on the Helicarrier, and looked so goddamn earnest and friendly while doing it, that Tony had shooed him in and told him that all was forgiven and forgotten and they should have a drink and get to know each other. Steve had accepted and now, three months later, Tony knew that his luck had run out.

He had tried to keep their growing relationship from their team mates in a selfish attempt to keep Steve for himself, but four days ago Steve had asked him outright if there's a reason to hide their relationship from everyone else and Tony had done what he does best. He lied. And told Steve that of course there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't make it public. Somehow he didn't think it would have gone over well if Tony would have admitted to suspecting that everyone would think Steve to be crazy for assuming that Tony was able to have a healthy long-lasting relationship with anything other than his bots.

He sighed and shut down the screen in front of him in defeat. If only he would have more time…

"Sir. Captain Rogers is requesting entrance."

JARVIS' voice snapped him out of his mellow thoughts and he looked over to the door to see Steve gesturing towards himself and the inside of his workshop. Tony hesitated for a short moment, but then answered, "Let him in, JARVIS." Hiding (which had been his initial plan, thus the fact that Steve couldn't get in with his own code) didn't seem very appealing now that it seemed like Steve had heard enough. Best to get it over with.

Tony put on a fake smile, knowing that Steve could see straight through it if he wanted, but wanting to face the situation with some dignity. "Hey, Cap. How's your day?" he asked in his best polite voice, which was usually reserved for meetings and galas Pepper forced him to attend.

Steve frowned at him shortly, but cracked a small smile while sitting down on an empty stool in front of him. "It's been rather interesting so far. But I'm actually here to…"

"Oh, really?" Tony interrupted him, in a terrible attempt to stop the inevitable. But then he remembered that it was obviously time to face the truth and he asked, "Anything special happening?"

Steve's frown deepened, though Tony wasn't sure if it was courtesy of the things he was saying or the shrill note in his voice which he totally needed to keep in check. He coughed once and added in a much calmer tone, "Come on, Cap. Tell me all about it."

"What are you playing at, Tony?" Steve asked, somewhere between confusion and amusement.

And there went Tony's patience.

"I saw you today. With Natasha. And yesterday. With Thor and Clint. And Pepper and Bruce the day before."

"You saw what exactly?"

"You. Talking to them. Or rather, they talking to you. About me," Tony elaborated and stood up, not able to sit still.

"You saw all that?" Steve asked and averted his eyes, while rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.

Tony turned his back on him and simply nodded, while trying to brace himself against Steve's next words.

"Well, I was a bit surprised when Pepper first approached me, but now I'm actually glad that they all said something," Steve told him without hesitation and Tony had to close his eyes against the harsh reality of hearing Steve say that.

He laughed humourlessly and turned back to the soldier, who was also standing now. "Yeah, I'm sure they all had some interesting things to say."

Steve grinned wryly. "Interesting is putting it mildly."

Tony felt a sudden surge of anger run through him at that. He had expected Steve to end things between them after everything he had heard, but he hadn't expected Steve to mock him for it. But two could play that game. He would just tell Steve exactly where he could put his highly regarded morals and then get himself a nice drink. And maybe take a trip to Vegas. Yeah, that was long over-due.

"They were quite intimidating. Especially Ms. Potts and Natasha. Why is it that women can be so scary? Though Coulson was just as good," Steve mused loudly, snapping Tony out of his scheming.

"Coulson?" he demanded. "Coulson had The Talk with you?"

Steve nodded and winced as if in remembered pain. "He told me about some special taser he always carries around."

Tony gritted his teeth together to keep himself from cursing the Agent to hell and back. Of course that bastard had to tell Steve about the time Fury had ordered him to babysit Tony and keep him grounded like the Supernanny he was. Enough was enough.

"Alright, Cap. Stop evading it and get down to business," Tony ordered, while trying to steel himself against what was to come.

"What do you mean, Tony?" Steve asked confused.

Tony growled impatiently. "Tell me if it had any effect! Tell me if they managed to talk some sense into you!"

"They did leave an impression, but I don't…"

"Well, then stop talking around the main subject and just say it finally!"

"Say what?"

"That you're breaking up with me."

"That… what?"

The dumbfounded expression on Steve's face gave him a slight pause, but he quickly got back on track, not wanting to prolong this any further. "Look, if you want to feel better about this, it's not like I wasn't expecting it. And I probably should have warned you myself that getting involved with me wasn't exactly a wise decision. But then I thought, what the hell, I have enough people around who can do it for me and this way I can maybe get a chance to prove to you that it's worth it and…" Tony trailed off, realising that he said too much.

The look on Steve's face confirmed it.

"Uh, you know, we should just consider it over and try to move past it. For the team's sake or such rot," Tony said and sat back down in front of his workshop table, his hands immediately busy tinkering with some tools laid out there. "I was busy anyway," he added and hoped that it actually looked like he was doing something purposeful with them and not like he was only trying to find something to distract himself from the present.

There was a short silence, but then he barely had time to register Steve moving beside him before he was turned around in his chair and pulled up by his arms to face him. "Hey, watch it, super soldier! No need to become physical" Tony hissed, because Steve's grip was really just a tiny bit too strong and he really didn't want to deal with this any longer.

Steve's grip loosened a little, but any thoughts of struggling out of his hold were forgotten when their eyes met. There was a sliver of hurt swirling in Steve's baby blue orbs, but it was overshadowed by a look of intense determination and … affection. Tony wondered about that for a moment, calculations running through his head as to how it was possible that Steve was looking at him like that after all the things he had surely heard about him during the last days.

But then Steve bent down to press a short kiss against his lips and whispered, "You are an idiot."

Distracted from the tingling sensation on his lips, Tony needed about three seconds to register that and get affronted. "I'm sorry, what did I tell you when we first met? I'm a genius…"

"A genius who is an idiot from time to time," Steve cut in and smiled indulgently. "What exactly do you think those conversation were about?"

Steve was apparently a sadist who wanted him to spell it out. Well, alright. If it finally made him go away, Tony was willing to indulge him. "They had The Talk with you. About how I'm not good enough for you, or for anyone with a normally beating heart for that matter, and you should cut your losses before you get hurt. Because that's what's going to happen. You'll get hurt. I'll do something incredibly selfish and stupid and you're gonna get hurt and you're gonna wish that you never got involved with me in the first place. Because let's be honest, my track record with relationships isn't something to be proud of and I'm sure that everyone was very thorough with pointing that out to you. Which is good, great even. Because I was a selfish asshole and tried to get you in bed with me without telling you any of it, so it's good that they did."

Tony forced himself to shut up when he noticed he kept repeating himself. He had bared it all and now Steve could finally put an end to it.

"Oh Tony…" Steve sighed and shook his head. "You really have no idea, do you?" Before Tony could get a word in, Steve continued, "They didn't warn me about you hurting me. Rather the opposite, actually."

"Huh?" was the only response Tony could muster. Because that really didn't make any sense. At all.

Steve smiled a little, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Bruce was the first to come to me. He asked me if I truly realised that those judgemental things I was spouting the day we met were wrong and if I realised that you're a good person at heart," Steve explained softly. "I told him that I did and that I wouldn't ever let you hide from me again behind that cool exterior. He just nodded and told me I should do that and always remember that the Hulk has grown to like you very much and seems to bristle inside him with protectiveness and the urge to smash whenever someone hurts you."

Tony blinked in a way that was very unlike the genius he proclaimed himself to be.

"Ms. Potts was next to find me," Steve continued undeterred. "She said that she hoped that I could be there for you like she didn't have the strength to and that I wouldn't abandon you when it matters. She also warned me that she knows about everything going on here in New York, even if she's not in town, and if I should ever hurt you in any way she wouldn't need to lift a single finger to make me pay for it."

"Pepper does know everything, she's like that since I've met her. I don't know how she does it. She's scary like that," Tony muttered, because he still couldn't wrap his mind around the other things he was hearing.

Steve's smile grew and he nodded in agreement. "She's a special woman, that's for sure. And she cares a lot about you, Tony."

Well, Tony knew that. Though he didn't understand it, even after all this time, why Pepper stuck around.

"I don't think you realise that there are a lot of people out there who care about what happens to you," Steve said and gently pushed him back into his chair.

"But you mentioned Coulson. And his taser," Tony protested, while Steve kneeled down in front of him so that they were on the same eye level. Pepper and Bruce were one thing, but Coulson would never…

"I did. Because he not so subtly threatened to use it on me in case I didn't do my job as your Captain and protect you."

"But that's ridiculous!" Tony exploded exasperated, because this conversation was going in ways he would have never anticipated. "Coulson adores you! He's got this whole big fan-boy crush on you and your star-spangled butt and he has those vintage trading cards of you which he keeps under his pillows! He wouldn't ever use that taser on you. Especially not in my defence."

A slightly pink tinge rose on Steve's cheeks at the mention of Coulson's crush on him, but he shook his head. "Tony, you spent endless nights in the hospital by his side after Fury revealed to us that he's not dead. Even if you believed that no one noticed. You tracked down his girlfriend and had her brought here so that she could be with him. You threatened to cut Fury off from any funding and from every piece of Stark Technology and expose every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide if he ever pulled something like that again. You made sure that he got the best doctors and the best treatment. And when he was released you offered him to move in with us so that he wouldn't need to return to those people who lied to us about his death."

"But he refused," Tony said, while fighting off the heat that was rising in his own cheeks at that.

"But he clearly appreciated the offer," Steve countered, smiling widely now.

And really, why was he still smiling if got threatened so much during the last few days that any other person would have probably fled the country by now? That really didn't make any sense. So Tony did something a genius rarely did. "I don't understand," he admitted.

Steve squeezed his hands (and when had he started holding his hands, that sneaky bastard?) and looked at him with such a fond expression that Tony would have averted his eyes if he would have been able to move. His heart was beating wildly beneath the arc reactor, as the fear and adrenaline which had filled his body and mind for the last few days, slowly evaporated.

"I know," Steve said and dropped a kiss against his knuckles. "And that's the reason they all came to talk to me. You don't trust this. You don't trust me." Tony wanted to protest, but Steve didn't let him get a word in. "You don't trust me not to leave, whether by choice or not, and you're scared of letting yourself fall. People have always used you in their own interests and you've been hurt so many times before in the past that you've build up all those walls and defensive mechanisms to protect yourself from more pain. And the thing is, I'm only just starting to get behind all that and I still have trouble understanding you sometimes. But just like you're trying to let me in, I'm also trying to see beyond that. And I can promise you that if I truly want something, I'll do anything to get it," Steve ended earnestly. He clearly waited for a reaction, but when none was forthcoming he added lightly, "It's how I finally got myself admitted into the army."

Tony snorted at that, well aware of how many times Steve had tried to join and been denied before finally been allowed to enlist. He sobered quickly though and looked down at their joined hands. "I'm glad you do," he responded in a whisper. "I know I can be quite difficult, but..." He took a deep breath, ignored the voice screaming inside his head (don't do it, don't do it, don't trust him, he'll leave you, you don't deserve this) and continued steadily, "I am trying do this right. I want to trust you and I know I'll get there one day. Even if I'm still not sure what I did to deserve you."

"I'm sure you will and I'm going to be there for you on every step on the way," Steve promised, never breaking eye contact. "You're a good person, Tony. And you deserve good things."

Another sigh broke from Tony's lips as he felt a weight lifted from him, now that they had talked about everything openly. He felt tired and worn out, but also relieved and content in a way he never had before. Maybe Pepper was right and communication was the most important part in a relationship. He really should listen to her more often.

But right now...

"Then why are we still talking and not kissing?" he asked with a sly grin.

Steve's lips were on his immediately, and Tony closed his eyes happily.

Right now he had everything he wanted right in front of him.

English isn't my first language and I'm in search for a beta reader. If anyone would be interested (or if anyone noticed some errors) please contact me. I appreciate any help! :)