A/N I based this on my own experience of learning that my best friend had called her pillow Steve. She called the other one John, but that's not important, so shoo, off you go, read on.
(I'm shooing you from this author's note, not the actual story, so don't go getting any ideas of leaving until you have read and coughreviewedcough).
Note: COULSON IS ALIVE!
(And yes, I said no updates until after my exams, but I had time to update today as my exams start tomorrow. Wish me luck!)
Before opening his eyes, Tony becomes aware of warmth pressed against his chest. Steve, Tony thinks happily, and tightens his arms around the source of the warmth. Waking up with Steve in my bed is the best way to wake up full stop.
Suddenly, the warmth disappears from within Tony's protective embrace and the lasting heat fades quickly, until the only temperature Tony is aware of is the cold metal of his arc reactor.
Tony reaches out with his hands, blindly feeling for the warmth, as he still has yet to open his eyes.
"Steve!" Tony calls out in a fretful voice, only half aware of what he's saying. "Give Steve back!"
"What."
Hold up, Tony thinks, that's Clint's voice. Tony cracks open an eye and sees Clint standing in front of where Tony is lying in bed, holding Tony's pillow and wearing a slightly confused but mostly amused look on his face. It makes him look like he has gas and Tony tells him so, but Clint acknowledges this comment with nothing more than a roll of his eyes before he suddenly grins.
"Steve." He chuckles.
"No, 's not my name." Tony yawns, stretching. "Tha's Cap. I'm not Cap. I'm Tony, thanks for remembering."
"I know, but when I took your pillow, you said to give Steve back." Clint reminds him cheerfully.
"Oh." Tony blinks. When he doesn't offer any further information, Clint hits him with the pillow and jokes, "I bet you were dreaming about Steve, weren't you?"
"No." Tony grabs onto his pillow and tries to snatch it back. "And what are you doing in my room anyway? Watching me sleep? Creeper."
"I was assigned the task of waking you up. With the bribery of freshly made coffee –," Tony moans happily at that thought, "– which I am now going to use as blackmail. You don't get your coffee until you explain what you were babbling about before."
"You're heartless, Barton, I love coffee and you're keeping us apart." Tony pouts, and gives up trying to wrestle the pillow from Clint because a) Clint isn't letting go that easily and b) he just woke up and hasn't had his coffee yet, obviously, so he has limited energy.
"Tell me about before or you'll never see your beloved coffee again." Clint threatens.
"What are you going to do if you go through with that threat?" Tony demands suspiciously.
"Tony." Clint presses.
"I mean, don't even think about sabotaging the coffee machine. There are more of those where that came from."
"Tony, tell me."
"Did that make sense? Yeah, it did. It's a little hard to tell since I've just woken up."
"Tell me goddamn it!" Clint whacks Tony over the head again with the pillow.
"Ok! Just, stop." Tony manages to cease Clint's playful but annoying beatings. "I wasn't dreaming about Steve. That's . . . the embarrassing part. Because I think you'd easily accept that and move on."
Tony sits up in bed and scratches his neck before sighing. "It's called Steve."
"What's called Steve?" Clint frowns.
"My pillow." Tony gestures at Clint vaguely. Clint looks down at the plain dark blue pillow in his hands as if he's not sure if it's completely hygienic to be touching it. He then looks back at Tony like he's not sure if he should throw him the pillow and back away slowly or just run from the room altogether. Tony groans.
"Oh God, please don't give me that look."
"I'm sorry, but it's not everyday your best friend admits to naming his pillow, of all things, after one of your other best friends." Clint shakes his head and tosses "Steve" onto the bed. "Here."
"Careful, don't hurt him." Tony gently pulls the pillow into a hug, stroking it softly and whispering, loud enough for Clint to hear, "I know, Clint's mean, isn't he? He threatened to take away my coffee . . . no, no you'll always have a place in my heart, but I love coffee too."
"You have got to be kidding me." Clint raises an eyebrow. "Why do you call your pillow Steve and talk to it? What else do you do to it?"
"Firstly, I do nothing but sleep with it, as in cuddle it, not that it's any of your business, and not that you're going to repeat any of this," Tony says sternly, "and I talk to it because I call it Steve and I call it Steve because . . . I don't really know. I just decided on the spot that I would call this pillow Steve." Tony shrugs.
"Ok . . . so . . . what are the others called? Oh wait, I forgot that when your friend shows signs of losing touch with reality, you're not supposed to encourage them." Clint crosses his arms while Tony rolls his eyes.
"It was just a random thing and it stuck and can we never again talk about the fact that I've named my pillow Steve?"
"Hey Clint, did you manage to get Tony up?" Steve asks, sticking his head around the door.
"Steve!" Tony yelps, guiltily for some reason, and Steve frowns, concerned.
"Hey Steve." Clint smirks. He turns back to Tony. "Why don't I leave you to talk with Steve?" He ruffles Tony's already dishevelled hair before strolling out the room, again smirking at Steve on his way out.
"Clint, don't forget my coffee! You promised!" Tony yells.
"Whatever, Tony!" Clint yells back.
"What was that about?" The blonde questions. "Tony, what was that about?"
"Good morning sunshine, come in, and I don't know." Tony lies as Steve comes and stands where Clint had stood. Tony slowly reaches out his hand and pats the bed. "Sit down, if you want. As long as you're not going to use coffee to blackmail me."
"Why would I do that?" Steve chuckles, and settles himself on Tony's bed.
"Never mind." Tony waves dismissively and then just sits and studies the super soldier quietly. When Steve shifts on the bed, Tony immediately realises that he's making the captain uncomfortable.
"Oh, gee, sorry for staring. When did you get up this morning?" The brunette queries.
"Um, about half an hour ago? Why?" Steve replies. "And did you just say "gee"?"
"I guess you're rubbing off on me." Tony grins. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you wake up with your hair all perfectly done like that, or if God sends down his angels to style your hair once you're up."
This makes Steve laugh and shake his head.
"Tony . . . you're funny." Steve smiles at him, completely honest and innocent, and Tony has to shift his gaze and does so under the pretence of scratching his head.
"Well, thanks Cap." He beams, looking back at the blonde. "Now scoot – I need to get out of bed and grab something to wear today."
Steve moves to the end of the bed so Tony can pull the covers back and get out, and when he does, Steve freezes, his face firing up.
"So, what have we got planned for today?" Tony calls over his shoulder as he stretches his arms.
"Um, uh, don't you think, um." Steve replies eloquently. Tony shoots him a smirk over his shoulder before strolling to his walk-in closet.
"Hmm, this'll do." Tony grabs a shirt, some underwear and a pair of pants and walks back out. As soon as he approaches the bed, Steve jumps up, clearing his throat, and says, "Uh, guess I'll leave you to um, get dressed."
"Oh please, have you never seen another guy naked before?"
Because that's what Tony is – naked. Completely. Stark. Naked.
"Well, yeah, back when I was with the Howling Commando's the showers we had to use didn't exactly offer a lot of privacy. But, uh, that's different." Steve doesn't openly shield his eyes but he averts them to the window.
"Oh, Steve, you like me naked, don't you?" Steve looks at Tony quickly in confusion, but Tony isn't talking to him.
"Are you . . . talking to your pillow?" Steve asks slowly, as Tony thankfully pulls on his underwear, but then goes rigid.
"Uh . . . that wasn't meant to slip out. My tongue has a mind of its own sometimes." Tony winks, and pulls on his pants but leaves his shirt on the bed for now.
"You called it . . . Steve." The blonde smiles.
"Well, no, I . . . again, that just slipped out since you are here, and your name is Steve, and this early in the morning when I haven't even had my coffee, well, my brain isn't totally connected to my mouth." Tony babbles.
"Right. Well, hurry up and get dressed. We don't have anything specific planned for today, but Phil said we should be prepared in case we're called in."
Steve tells him, finding his voice again now that Tony is wearing pants, although he finds the genius oddly distracting without a shirt. He nods at Tony and then promptly turns on his heel and leaves. Tony huffs, slightly . . . unnerved maybe? About how Steve had so easily and casually called Agent Coulson "Phil." On the other hand he feels a little smug, because don't think he missed the way Steve's gaze lingered on his chest before he left.
Friday night is officially movie night. Tony had wanted to make it "drink until you pass out Friday" but everyone else had told him to shut up and they went with Steve's decision of movie night, not that Tony actually minds, come to think of it. Because it's fun, lounging around with the team, and observing them in their natural habitat, off the battlefield anyway. And ok, Steve is always snuggly and warm, and every movie night Tony makes sure to sit next to the super soldier and once the movie has ended, he always finds that he's almost resting his head against Steve's shoulder. Well, not always. But Tony could do an experiment. You know, for science.
Thor and Steve haven't seen most movies, for obvious reasons, so the team usually lets them pick the movie.
"I vote we watch the delightful but tragic tale dubbed "Bambi"." Thor declares from the floor.
"We are not watching Bambi." Tony groans. When Steve shoots him a "be nice" look, Tony grins at him and says, "We don't want Steve to have nightmares."
Steve grabs the cushion on his right and swings it around to his left, hitting Tony in the face. Tony just takes it in stride and grabs the cushion and says, "Hey, a cushion, thanks Steve. You're so nice."
He puts the pillow on Steve's shoulder and rests his head on it. Steve doesn't move. Tony is comfortable. Clint chooses a decent movie because Thor can't decide between Bambi and Pirates of the Caribbean. Everything is perfect.
And warm.
When Steve wakes up, the first thing he takes notice of is the fact that he's been sleeping with his arms crossed over his stomach, and when he moves them, they seem to creak with protest. Steve looks down and his eyes widen in surprise. Oh. Tony's head is in his lap, facing away from Steve. After they had fallen asleep, Tony's head must have fallen into his lap – it was an accident, of course. And yet Steve is already blushing furiously at . . . thoughts. About Tony. With his head. In Steve's lap. Knock it off, Steve, the blonde mentally scolds, please don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.
"Good morning soldier." Tony rolls over and grins, but his eyes are still closed.
Steve is about to open his mouth to say hello, when Tony wraps his arms around Steve's neck, pulls him down and presses their lips together in a chaste but warm and surprisingly amazing kiss. Tony lets him go and rolls back over, eyes still closed, and keeps rolling right off Steve's lap and hits the floor with a cry of surprise.
"Steve!" Tony sits up and frowns at the soldier, who has lent back and is staring at Tony with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open. "Uh, Steve? You ok?" Steve makes some stunned, indecipherable noise, so Tony goes on to say, "Did you push me off the sofa? Because you could have just woken me up and asked me to move. No need to be so rough."
"Wait," Steve suddenly frowns. "I thought . . . you were awake when you rolled off the sofa."
"No?" Tony yawns. "All I remember is, well, leaning against you and watching Star Wars and then the next thing I know, I'm face planting the floor."
"Oh." Steve says, still staring.
"Steve?" Tony shuffles closer, puts one hand on Steve's knee and waves the other in front of his face. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm, uh, fine." Steve's voice raises an inch as he realises he's staring down at Tony between his legs. Tony between his legs.
Steve suddenly jumps up, shaking his head, and fast-walks out of the room, calling over his shoulder a quick, "I-need-the-toilet-be-right-back," to Tony, who is still kneeling on the ground, watching Steve with interest.
"Jarvis, is Steve ill?" He asks, slowly standing up and stretching.
"No, sir, Steve's reaction has probably got to do with the shock he received shortly after waking." Jarvis replies, sounding amused.
"What, my head in his lap?" Tony scoffs, and then his vulgar mind catches up to his words and he chuckles. "Oh, that's funny."
"Actually sir, Steve awoke and realised you were sleeping on him moments before you kissed him and then rolled off the sofa and woke up." Jarvis informs him.
"What?"
Tony freezes, because that word did not come out of his mouth. He turns slightly and sees that Clint has just entered the room, a mug of coffee in his hand.
"Hey, Clint, that my coffee?" Tony smiles cheerily, but it is quite clear, to Clint anyway, that he is praying that Clint did not just hear that.
"Not any more." Clint downs it all in one go and shakes his head once he's finished. "My God, we all agreed last night to let you and Steve sleep on the couch because you looked so peaceful and I knew you'd kill us all if we woke you up anyway, but I didn't actually think something would happen between you two."
"Nothing . . . nothing happened." Tony frowns, as Clint sits on the sofa next to him and puts the empty mug on the coffee table. "Not that I remember anyway."
"Well I just heard that you kissed Steve. And then rolled off the sofa." Clint says with a grin.
"I did not kiss Steve! You'd think I'd remember that." Tony points out.
"Sir, might I shed some light on this subject matter?" Jarvis interrupts.
"Go on, shed light all you want." Tony waves dismissively.
"You were actually talking in your sleep when you said, "good morning soldier" to Mr. Rogers, who had just awoken, and then you pulled him down to you and kissed him. This all happened while you were still sleeping. You woke up when you rolled off the sofa." Jarvis explains.
"So you sleep-kiss now? I had better warn the team, although it's too late for Steve." Clint ponders, as Bruce enters the room.
"What's too late for Steve?" He asks.
"Tony kissed Steve in his sleep and any one of us could be next." Clint informs him solemnly. Bruce just looks at him, and then at Tony, and then turns around and leaves.
"Guess it's a little early in the morning for him to hear news like that." Clint grumbles.
"Um, hello, what about me?" Tony groans, and kneads his temples. "I freaking kissed Captain America."
"Well, look at the bright side," Clint shrugs, "you kissed Captain America."
Tony stares at him, obviously considering this, but then he points at Clint and says, "not the point."
"Where's Steve anyway?"
"He freaked out and basically ran out the room. God, I feel like such an idiot." Tony sighs.
"Go after him." Clint urges.
"Excuse me, what. This is not a romantic movie moment."
"I mean, go tell him that you sleep-kissed him." Clint rolls his eyes.
"Would it be better to let him think I kissed him while I was awake, or would it be better if he knew that I was dreaming about kissing him, and therefore actually did?" Tony wonders, and when Clint says, "ooh lala," Tony throws his cushion at the archer.
"I mean, it was just a kiss – which I don't even remember – and he saw me naked yesterday anyway, so a kiss shouldn't be that awkward."
"Um, what? Why did Steve see you naked?" Clint demands.
"Jealous?" Tony wiggles his eyebrows and Clint throws the cushion back at him. "Yesterday after you left and Steve came in, I got up to get some clothes. And, you know, I wasn't wearing any clothes to begin with and I guess that made Steve uncomfortable." Tony shrugs.
"You guess?" Clint repeats incredulously and then suddenly points out, "you stole his lip-virginity."
"No, I did not. That Peggy Carter chick did." Tony protests.
"Ok then, his eye-virginity."
"Is that even a thing? That is so not a thing. And he said he's seen his male friends naked before, you know, Bucky and all them. But . . . he did say it was different, for some reason."
"He probably thinks your tiny dick is a disgrace to our gender." Clint theories.
"My dick is not a disgrace to our gender, thankyou very much. Here, want to see?" Tony stands up and starts to unzip his pants, but Clint throws another cushion at him and yells, "No, Tony, stop, stop!"
"Um . . . if this is a bad time, I can just leave. And you know, never come back." Clint and Tony turn and see that Steve is standing in the doorway, his arms behind his back.
"Oh my God, this is not what it looks like." Clint tells him.
"Contraire, my friend, this is exactly what it looks like." Tony winks at Clint before zipping up his fly. "Anyway, Steve, I have to apologise for earlier when –,"
"Actually, Tony, I have something I want to tell you." Steve cuts him off.
"Um, do you want me to leave?" Clint stands up but Steve shakes his head and smiles.
"No, that's ok. I just wanted to . . . give Tony this." Steve brings his arms around and throws a plain red pillow to Tony, who catches it and tilts his head in confusion.
"Wow, thanks Steve, is it our anniversary already? I didn't get you anything."
"No. It's . . . you kissed me." Steve blushes and Clint grabs his mug and says, "yep, I'm outta here." He smacks Tony on the butt as he walks past; whispering in his ear, "don't stuff this up."
Once he's left the room, Tony turns to Steve and goes, "look, I think you should know that I was asleep when I kissed you. I kissed you on the lips, right? God, that's awkward. Sorry. Can we move on like nothing's happened?"
"See . . . well, if you want." Steve clears his throat. A realisation suddenly hits Tony and he has to sit down.
"Oh my . . . Steve, we don't have to pretend like nothing happened." Tony tells him quickly, and Steve looks at him when he says that. "Also, do you, uh, want your pillow back?"
"Tony."
"Yeah?"
"No, Tony. I call my pillow Tony." Steve flushes, speaking quietly.
The billionaire just gapes at him and Steve takes this as disapprovement, so he runs his hands through his hair and babbles, "I know, it's weird, but when I heard you call your pillow Steve, I just found that cute – uh, funny, since I name mine Tony, because, it's red like your Iron Man suit and Tony's a nice name and I thought, you kissed me and that . . . freaked me out, not – no offense, it was just sudden, and I couldn't think straight so I just thought, I might make things less awkward if I told you . . . that I call my pillow . . . Tony?" Steve looks so uncomfortable right now, like he'd wish the floor would open up and swallow him.
"I think," Tony says softly after a moment of silence, "that that is the most adorable thing ever."
"Um, excuse me?" Steve gives a small smile, but it's clear he's waiting for Tony to reject him any moment now.
"You named your pillow after me. How. Adorable." Tony grins. "I guess that makes me adorable too, since yes, actually, I named my pillow after you."
"So . . . what does that mean?" Steve looks down at his feet, and then back at Tony, through his goddamn eyelashes.
"I think I had better kiss you before I die from how goddamn adorable you are!" Tony throws the pillow down, stands up and rushes at Steve, his arms going around Steve's neck as he pulls the surprised blonde down to meet his lips.
"Oh my god. Did that just happen?" Clint whispers to Natasha, who is crouching beside him up in the air vent, also eavesdropping on Steve and Tony.
"Did they just kiss? Yeah." Natasha confirms, watching as Steve and Tony passionately make out in the room below. "That's an understatement, actually."
"No, I mean, their pillows brought them together. Not me, Steve's wingman." Clint complains.
"You are Steve's wingman?" Natasha raises an eyebrow. "Does Steve know this?"
"Well, I was going to ask him about it today, because I was going to try and hook him up with Tony, who has definitely been crushing on Steve for ages, but I guess I'm not needed." He pouts.
"Shut up, Clint, be happy for them." Natasha nudges him. "Also, they're going to need our support when they tell the world that Captain America is gay."
"What about Tony coming out?"
"It's hardly surprising. You're not the only one who recognised how head over heels Tony was for Steve." Natasha smirks. "Even Bruce noticed it, why do you think he quickly left the room when you told him that Tony had kissed Steve?"
"Wait, you saw that?" Clint frowns.
"Oh, I've been up here all morning." Natasha chuckles. "I saw everything." When Clint just smiles at her, she says, "everything Clint."
"What do you mean?" Clint asks carefully, wondering if today is going to be the day that Natasha follows through with her castrating threats.
"You smacked Tony on the ass." She raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, so?" Clint says defensively.
"Are you jealous of Steve then?" She grins.
"What? Wait . . . I am not gay for Tony!" Clint shouts and then there's silence.
"Pity, Steve and I were thinking about including you in a threesome." Tony calls from below. Natasha and Clint peek through the vent just in time to witness Steve whacking Tony in the head with a pillow, both of them laughing.
Tony pulls Steve into a deep kiss, which makes Clint and Natasha groan with disgust – and decide to leave before they witness other things they don't want to see.
"Baby, you know I love you." Tony grins against Steve's lips. Steve pulls back suddenly and Tony tilts his head, confused.
"You . . . love me?" Steve blinks, sounding afraid to get his hopes up.
"Oh, did I just say that? Slipped out." Tony flushes.
"Let me guess, you haven't had your coffee yet this morning?" Steve mumbles, pulling Tony close and pressing their bodies together.
"Clint drank it." Tony pouts.
"Well, you don't need coffee. You have me." Steve smiles, and kisses him.
"In that case, you, me, my bedroom." Tony grabs his hand and starts to lead him out of the room, but when Steve suddenly stops, Tony looks back at him inquisitively.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"Love you too."